This blog is on Chris Ruest, I first met Chris at The Blues City Deli in St. Louis, MO. around 2016. I think there were two things that grew me to Chris’s music. One was his distinctive vocals; he has a real almost grit kind of Blues voice which gives his song that extra bit of Texas feel to them. The other thing about Chris is his guitar style, it also has that Texas Blues feel to it with a bit of Roots edge. All I know is that the first time I heard Chris play I was hooked. One other thing about Chris is that he is a real down to earth kind of guy and real easy to talk to. Chris mentions a few of his influences in the questions below. I feel that he really shows the talent of Jimmy Rodgers & Elmore James. Chris also has a real knack for writing songs and collaborating with other musicians. One in particular comes to mine Gene Taylor, an amazing piano player. I would have to say that Chris Ruest is in my Top 5 best Blues Guitarist. So, if you happen to get a chance to see Chris live, I Highly Recommend you go. Also there are a couple links below that you can hear some of Chris’s music and you can read Chris’s answers to the questions I was able to ask him. https://www.chrisruest.com/ https://www.facebook.com/chrisruestband https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeGx5F0MA1jX6ReuIDdqTiw https://www.eltororecords.com/El-Toro-R-B/fbclid=IwAR0scTdBzEyKXk5SBwyeLwVjLp633l5byj7gvHnJGR8uXF9mpzkVxN_JWRM https://envikenrecords.com/ 1. How long have you been playing music? I’m 47 years old now I started playing music when I was 12-13 years old, but I did not play seriously until I was in my early 20s and I left Connecticut for Texas to play professionally at age 25. 2. How many bands have you been in? I have played in several bands over the years Wanda King Linda, Gail Lewis tribute band The Texas Cannonballs, Sean Pittman band, Robin Sylar, Paul Bonn band, Gene Taylor Band and predominantly my own band the Chris Ruest band…. 3. Where were you born? I was born in Bristol Connecticut 4. Are you self-taught? I took guitar lessons at age 13 until 16 from a private teacher… 5. Who are your biggest influences? Sam Myers, Robert night Hawk, Elmore James, Hounddog Taylor, Jimmy Rodgers, Homer Henderson, Robin Siler, Brian Calway, Anson Funderburgh, BB King, Robert Junior Lockwood, Eddie Taylor….. 6. What style of music do you consider yours? I would call my music original music influenced by roots rock ‘n’ roll blues and American music. 7. What was your first gig? How old were you? My first gig was a house party I was 17 years old on a makeshift Stage that fell apart while we were playing, and a drummers cymbal landed on my guitar damaging it permanently…. Lol A true image of what the future had to hold. 8. What advice do you have for someone starting out in the music business? keep it real! 9. Do you write your own songs? I write my own music I do a few cover songs on each album typically under four cover songs with the exception of my live Cd where I purposely played my favorite cover songs. 10. What would people be surprised to hear that you have in your personal song collection? Ozzy Osbourne, Danzig, Django Reinhardt, a lot more 😂 11. What would you be doing if playing music was not an option? Crying. 12. Besides your own songs, what is your favorite song to perform? I like performing my original song called I’m down off of the Gene Taylor and Chris Ruest Albums 13. If you were strictly a songwriter, who would you like to see sing your songs? I wrote a song for Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top although he has yet to hear it. If anyone’s got a recent email address for him let me know HAHA.
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AuthorHello, My name is Michael. I am into music, have been for over 48yrs. Big fan of all kinds of music, right now it has been the Blues for the last 10yrs. I do not play any instruments, But I very interested in the recording aspect of the industry. Have messed around with it a little and always learning new things about it. I have met many wonderful people because of Music.. Hope you enjoy my Blogs... In the last two years I have been producing House Concerts. I also in the past 2 years got to produce and engineer an album for a very good friend of mine from Sweden "Magpie". Archives
February 2024
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