So in 1984 across the pond in Leicester, England an eight year old Aynsley Lister was given his first guitar. By the time 1989 rolled around the 13 year-old played his first gig and had a band. When he turned 18 he opened for Buddy Guy and had self-released two albums of his own material. He also caught the eye of Thomas Ruf and he was signed to Ruf Records a union that would produce seven albums and two DVDs over the next ten years!
Now the rising young guitar slinger was playing along side of Walter Trout, John Mayall and Robert Cray, not bad eh? His music appealed not just to blues fans but he also started to gain rock music fans that allowed him to play festivals with bands like Fun Lovin’ Criminals. So while firmly rooted in the blues, his branches reached the rock crowd. This led to his being the only British artist to be named in in Classic Rock magazine’s “Top 10 Contemporary Blues Artists”, alongside John Mayer, Derek Trucks and Joe Bonamassa!!
In 2008 he left Ruf and moved to Manhaton Records and released two more highly acclaimed albums Equilibrium and the Tower Sessions. The later album was voted ‘Best Live Album’ in the 2011 Blues Matters Writers Poll!!
Now with all that said I want to know why did it take so long for me to find this guy? And yesterday when I did it took a recommendation from Spotify to point him out!! I know all the people he’s played along with, well except, for the Fun Lovin’ Criminals, but yet he has remained hidden from me!
Anyway, Home is a great album. His guitar playing blends so nicely with his fine vocals. His guitar work is what I call “tasty” just a the right level, enough that you can see he’s great, but it’s not there just to be there, but there to complement the music!
So check him out – As for me I have about twelve albums of his back catalog to check out because i think this is the start of a great audial friendship!! any recommendations as to where to start?
Here’s Aynsley performing the title track from the album Home
