Wentus Blues Band - Family Album (2004)

While most people associate the blues with the steamy bayous of Louisiana and the cotton fields of Mississippi there is also a thriving blues scene in Scandinavia.

In the heart of this Nordic blues explosion is the Wentus Blues Band from the town of Kokkola in central Finland. And while the pine studded wilderness of their homeland is about as far as you can get from the juke joints of the Deep South, there’s no doubt about their musical credentials.

Established in 1986, the band has acquired a reputation as the hardest working blues band in Scandinavia and they have played over 2.000 gigs around Europe. Wentus Blues Band has toured in fourteen countries, released seven albums, done several TV-shows, headlined festivals and toured with many great bluesmen like Duke Robillard, Mick Taylor, Carey Bell and Louisiana Red, just to mention a few.

CD “Family Album” represents the blues family of Wentus Blues Band. Honored guests are Kim Wilson from The Fabulous Thunderbirds, blues legends Carey Bell, Louisiana Red and Eddie Kirkland, Omar Dykes from Omar & The Howlers, harmonica wizards Gary Primich and Sven Zettenberg and Finland’s own blues old-timer Eero Raittinen.

“These guys play the kind of rhythm & blues that would make America proud.” -Kim Wilson