GA-20 – Crackdown

22-09-2022

GA-20 is an American blues band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band is named after the guitar amplifier manufactured by Gibson from 1950 to 1961. They primarily play Chicago blues. Together with fellow classic blues, R&B and early rock and roll lover Pat Faherty, Matthew Stubbs formed GA-20 in early 2018. Stubbs had already garnered much praise playing guitar for Charlie Musselwhite. He sought to put a new project together to do blues gigs aside from his Psych-Rock group The Antiguas. Faherty had spent several years studying blues guitar and teamed up with Stubbs to form a new group. Early performances by the band had a rotating group of musicians with Faherty and Stubbs as the core members. Some early performances used different drummers and various other musicians including Chris Anzelone on drums and Matt Prozialeck on harmonica, sometimes playing as a four-piece band. They adopted the name GA-20 in early 2018. The group became a trio by 2018 consisting of two guitars and drums. About a year after their formation, they scored a deal with Karma Chief Records. The group has been described as a trio that plays stripped down '50s/'60s-style Chicago blues with a lot of distortion and no bass. In 2018, GA-20 were nominated for a Boston Music Award for blues act of the year. They were nominated a second time in 2019. They were nominated for their first Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Artist. GA-20 are a three-piece blues combo whose sound is a raucous throwback to the raw immediacy of vintage Chicago blues. Founded by guitarist Matthew Stubbs, their performances are simple but potent, stripping the songs to their frameworks with just two guitars and a drummer, while the tunes are modern-day variations on the joyous menace of the heyday of Chess Records. GA-20 clearly is on to something big. It's a movement, a new traditional blues revival. The dynamic, throwback blues trio are disciples of the place where traditional blues, country and rock 'n' roll intersect. "We make records that we would want to listen to," says guitarist Matt Stubbs. "It's our take on the song-based traditional electric blues we love." Stubbs, guitarist/vocalist Pat Faherty, and drummer Tim Carman have been at the forefront of this traditional blues revival since they first formed in 2018. It's no wonder they skyrocketed to the top of the Billboard Blues Chart. According to Stubbs, "Since we started the band we've focused on the story, the melody, and on creating a mood. Playing live as much as we do, we're finding more and more that people are discovering how cool it all is. Traditional country, soul and funk music have all had these massive recent revivals, but traditional blues so far has not." With their new Colemine album, "Crackdown", and an intensive tour schedule, that's all about to change. On "Crackdown", GA-20's third full-length release, the band creates an unvarnished, ramshackle blues that is at once traditional and refreshingly modern. Expanding on their previous releases (2019's "Lonely Soul" and 2021's "Try It ... You Might Like It ! GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor)" GA-20 finds inspiration on the edges of the genre, where early electric blues first converged with country and rock 'n' roll. The album's nine original songs include the loping, Louisiana-flavored 'Dry Run', the dirty, and bare - bones 'Easy On The Eyes' and the melodic, garage-tinged 'Fairweather Friend'. With tight, propulsive performances and a brevity and punk energy reminiscent of The Ramones, Crackdown is rowdy and fun, filled with instantly memorable, and well-crafted songs.

1. Fairweather Friend 02:45

2. Dry Run 03:16

3. Easy On The Eyes 03:31

4. Crackdown 04:04

5. Just Because 02:30

6. By My Lonesome 02:19

7. I Let Someone In 02:41

8. Double Gettin' 02:13

9. Gone For Good 02:58

10. Fairweather Friend (Final Goodbye) 01:57

Drums - Tim Carman

Guitar, Vocals - Pat Faherty