More Guitars than Friends from “Australia’s First Lady Of The Blues.” – Anni Piper
This morning I decided to start my week with a little blues. I reviewed the Roots Music Report Blues Chart and came away with six albums that I wanted to listen to this afternoon. Anni Piper was the artist who came first alphabetically. Anni’s latest release More Guitars than Friends, currently sits at number 29 on the chart up from 45 last week. How could I go wrong with an album title like that!!
The Track One Introduction….
My decisions about whether or not I will like and album are often made by listening to the first few minutes of the first song on the album. In the case of More Guitars than Friends, the first song is “Wonder Woman” which just blew me away. Strong music from the bass to the guitar and then Anni’s sultry voice sounded just right to me.
Further Explorations….
So I moved on to the second song “Just a Little Bit” just as good. Then came “Buckle Bunny” – and some great piano was added to the bass,guitar and drums and I was a fan!! Things slowed down a little on the next track which is the title track “More Guitars Than Friends” But the pace picked back up again on “Paper Bag”. Some sax was added to the mix on this track!! The great music went on and on it went for five more great tracks. So now the question became who is this great blues woman who I’ve never heard of?
More About Anni and More Guitars Than Friends
Well, part of the answer to that question may lie in the fact that while Anni Piper now resides in Cocoa Beach, Florida she originally hails from down under in Australia. That;s where she started playing guitar at the age of 12 and then switch to the bass at 14. Actually Anni is so revered in her native country, that she is known as “Australia’s First Lady Of The Blues.”!!
More Guitars than Friends is Anni Piper’s fifth studio release. She began her career with the release of Jailbait in 2004 and that’s when those accolades started piling up for Anni. The success of Jailbait lead to Anni …..
…..winning the category of ‘Best New Talent’ at the 2005 Australian Blues Music Awards, plus making finalist for ‘Best Female Vocal’. Piper also achieved first place in the 2004 ABC Radio ‘Fresh Air’ competition. These weren’t the only accolades for ‘Jailbait’ and Piper went on to become a top 5 finalist in the blues category of the 2004 MusicOz competition, and 2nd place winner in the blues category of the 2005 Australian National Songwriting Contest.
The above achievements awards were followed by other career achievements that
……include nomination as a top five finalist in the 2010 Musicoz Awards in the Blues / Roots category, and finalist in the 2009 APRA Professional Development Awards. Piper was also a finalist for ‘Best Female Vocal’ at the 2008 Australian Blues Music Awards and received a nomination for the ‘Rudy Brandsma’ award at the 2007 Australian National Songwriting Contest. Read More at Reverbnation
So you get the idea this woman is a fine singer, songwriter and bassist! She has also surrounded herself with some equally great talent in her lead guitarist Dave Kury and drummer Frank Hetzler. The great piano I heard on “Buckle Bunny” and “Eugene that’s Mike Franklin and the saxophone on “Paper Bag” – Charlie De Chant (Hall and Oates)!
So Check Out More Friends than Guitars and while you’re doing that I think I’ll check out Ms. Piper’s other releases!!
Links for the Further Explorations of the Blues of Anni Piper
Artist’s Website
Facebook
CDBaby
Reverbnation
Amazon
Here’s my Favorite song from More Guitars than Friends – “Buckle Bunny” or is my favorite “Wonder Woman” or ,,,,,,,,,
