Here comes the debut album by Blues People, a band from New York and New Jersey, led by singer and guitar player Kelton Cooper and bass player Mike Griot. Both knew each other since they were teenagers and participated in talent contests, jam sessions or anywhere they were called to play.

After years of different separated careers, they decided to form their own band and to do so, they recruited Ron Thomson on keyboards and Gene Lake on drums, this last one was the one who first had the idea of joining them and start a stable band to devote themselves to compose and perform their own songs, instead backing other artists they had worked with like Sue Foley, Josh Smith, Kool & The Gang, Ruf’s Blues Caravan, Bo Diddley, Joanne Shaw Taylor or Michael Hill’s Blues Mob, to name a few.

As a result of the pandemic shut down, they concentrated their efforts to prepare and record an album. It gathers nine songs, they consider that perfectly define their sound they call “New York City/ North Jersey Blues Sound”, combined with lyrics that define their lives and daily concerns.

Although sometimes they have been compared to The Meters, Luther Allison, Keb’ Mo’ or Buddy Guy, they usually say their influences come from so different artists like Lionel Hampton, Ruth Brown, Michael Hill, King Solomon Hinks or Jimi Hendrix. The true thing is this new band explores the blues effects, not only in the new American culture but also on a universal level, something that finally becomes the sound chronicle of four “blues brothers” who live in the America of the 21st century surviving to its many ups and downs.

An album to discover a new band with experienced musicians, wide horizons and quality enough to contribute with honesty and reliability to the actual blues scene.