Juke My Joint

Blues-rock trio Band Of Heysek recorded their new album „Juke My Joint“ in the USA. Recording took place in North Mississippi, with local blues legend R.L. Boyce (2017 Grammy nominee). The original sound of the album is co-created by Kenny Brown, another legend of the authentic and raw style called Hill Country Blues.

The album comes straight from the blues heart of our planet. With musicians R.L. Boyce and Kenny Brown, Band Of Heysek recorded eight tracks over the course of one long afternoon. The recording was full analog, on reels, all together, live.

“The energy in the studio was tight. We had a couple ideas, which we wanted to try out with R.L. and Kenny, but R.L. took it all into his big hands, saying „i’ll do it my way…“ He took my lyrics and started to phrase those in real time into his deep, hypnotic rhythms, while we were recording. We just jumped on that wave, it was all improvised. I am convinced that this is why the sound of the record is so mystical, unique and present,“ says Jan Svihalek from Band Of Heysek.

When BoH members played together with the Hill Country Blues legends on their Czech/Polish mini tour in 2018, nobody was aware of the consequences of such collaboration. In the Summer of 2019 the Czech band was invited to join the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, a cult festival, which has the reputation as the most authentic and unique blues festival in the world. During this trip, Band Of Heysek played other gigs as well (Shack up Inn - Clarksdale, Fox Fire ranch) and travelled around the area. The cherry on top of this whole adventure was the 2 day recording session in Water Valley, together with blues icons, R.L. Boyce and Kenny Brown.

Two days in the studio resulted in two recordings. The first one is „Juke My Joint“ (Juke Joint is a well known expression for a place where gambling, drinking, music production and dancing are at home). R.L. Boyce, who was nominated for Grammy in 2017 in the category of Blues, plays guitar and sings on this album.  Guitars are played by Jan Švihálek, and the great Kenny Brown, who was dubbed by R.L. Burnside as his ‚adoptive son’. The Bass is played by Mojmir „Bob“ Sabolović, drums by Lukas Kytnar, the rhythmical section from Band Of Heysek.

The analog recording and mixing and final mastering was done by Bronson Tew, long term collaborator and sound engineer of legendary Bruce Watson, co-founder of Fat Possum records. His input on sound and final production are remarkable.

The second recording from this two-day session, with songs exclusively written by Band Of Heysek with Kenny Brown on guitar and slide guitar, will follow.

The connection of Czech blues with roots in Mississippi is truly unique. Band Of Heysek are just confirming how close they are to the true, real, authentic source of the music. Hypnotic rhythms and the overall feeling of their new recording will suck you in that you won’t want this album to ever stop.