From Melbourne, Australia, comes young but hugely talented 23 year-old blues/rock guitarist Hamish Anderson.

Promoting his second EP “Restless,” Hamish Anderson recently finished touring as opening act for BB King this past September and October. Currently residing in southern California, his is one whose career you’ll want to follow closely in the New Year. The new 5-track EP is a real stunner, showcasing variety, hefty songwriting skills, lusty, heartfelt vocals, and throughout it all, outstanding blues guitar finesse.

Variety, you ask? “Burn,” for example, is a tight, classic blues-rock sizzler that flaunts Anderson’s electric guitar prowess, while “Shotgun” is a slower, somber, romantic heartbreaker recounting personal loss via lovely musical phrasing that includes keyboards and subtle pedal steel. Greg Leisz (Tom Petty, Ray LaMontagne) supplies the pedal steel.

Inessa Anderson – PRP’s music director – calls Shotgun “a poetic approach” to the blues. Well-put.

Hamish Anderson: Shotgun

A testament to his talent: after hearing some of Hamish Anderson’s songs, founding member of The Wallflowers Rami Jaffee (and keyboardist for the Foo Fighters) joined him in the studio to record organ and piano for his debut EP.

“Burn,” from the second EP, received an excellent writeup from indieshuffle.com and both EP’s were mastered by Brian Lucey (Black Keys, Dr John, The Shins).

American Songwriter posted a fun and newsy interview with the up and coming blues musician here 

About Hamish Anderson

Anderson’s been writing music since he was 17 and says he got into music at 12 years of age after listening to The Beatles “Back in the U.S.S.R.” After hearing it, says Anderson, “I begged my parents for weeks to buy me a guitar.” “Then, I discovered my dad’s vinyl collection around the same time, and that really set the course for the music I still love the most – bands like The Beatles, The Stones, Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, The Faces, blues, jazz and folk.”

hamish anderson

He’s had quite a year, one “full of so many great moments it’s kind of hard to choose from them,” says Anderson. “I have to say the BB King openers were on my bucket list, so that’s amazing to have experienced.” Also, he adds, “getting to record at Henson studios and releasing my second EP were massive highlights that I won’t forget.”

Portland Radio Project is featuring not just one but two tracks from the new “Restless” EP – “Shotgun” and “Little Lies.” “Little Lies” will be released as a single next year, but why wait to share music this good?

And what’s Anderson’s current fave song to perform publicly? That’d be “Burn,” a track that needs no pyrotechnics or special effects to sound hot-hot-hot.

Hamish Anderson: Burn

Looking ahead

Hamish Anderson’s career seems to be on a continual upswing – first the tour with BB King this year, then he’ll begin the new year opening up for Los Lobos in San Diego January 25th.

After that? “I’ll be meeting with producers for the new songs I am working on now,” says Anderson.

“I can also share that in May, I’ll be heading across to Canada to perform at Canadian Music Week, and we have a couple more shows in the works on the East Coast in the spring and summer,” he says, adding “I’ll be pretty focused on writing and recording demos in the downtime between shows.” Based on the music he’s put forth thus far, it seems a natural conclusion his first full CD won’t disappoint.

You can find his music on iTunes or on his website.

Cynthia Orlando
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