Cyril Lance - Stranger in my House (2003)

"Lance has masterminded one of the best contemporary blues albums of the year. His virtuosity on the guitar and lapsteel is undeniable, and his songwriting makes him an instant item in bluesville."
- Billboard Magazine

"One of life's little pleasures is listening to an album and being blown away on the first spin... Lance wades into swampy blues-rock that sizzles and smokes with astounding professionalism and passion."
- Blues Revue Magazine

Cyril Lance first heard Muddy Waters as a kid growing up in Honolulu, Hawai'i - an event set him on the path directly to his latest recording "Stranger in My House" 25 years later. Cyril has played guitar professionally in many different genres soaking up the vibes of rock, blues, jazz, reggae, latin jazz, folk, celtic. But since that first time hearing Muddy, the intensity of the blues has always stuck with him and been his anchor.

Cyril has played all over the country and in Europe most recently finishing a three-year stint with zydeco blues harmonic player Mel Melton and the Wicked Mojos in the late '90s. A child of the 60's and 70's, he fell in love with the great jamming bands: Allman Brothers, Traffic, Grateful Dead, Carlos Santana... His musical journey led him to explore jazz and art-music and he studied at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts while playing in the northeast in the '80s.

In the mid-'90s, Cyril moved down to the piedmont of North Carolina, an area rich in the tradition of blues and American roots music. There he reconnected with his love of this music and started incorporating it into his writing and touring as well as honing his skills on slide guitar and lapsteel.

Stranger In My House, his latest album, incorporates all these diverse influences and combines it with honest, thoughtful writing and intense, spontaneous recordings that capture the soul and intensity of blues, R&B, swing, acid-rock, new orleans funk, latin jazz. This album features the incredible singing of Grammy-nominee Johnny Neel (Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule, Warren Haynes), jamming Hammond B3 and piano playing by Matt Jenson (Ronnie Earle, Johnny Adams, Mighty Sam McClain), and Cyril's road-mates Chris Carroll and Kelly Pace playing bass and drums - one of the finest rhythm sections in the south (Bob Margolin, Skeeter Brandon, Paul Osher, Pinetop Perkins, Rev. Billy C. Wurtz, Detroit Jr...).

This album rocks, it cries, it grooves, and it moves. If you're into Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf; if you're into Otis Redding, Ray Charles; if you're into the Allman Brothers, Carlos Santana, Johnny Winter, Little Feat; if you're into Danny Gatton, Jimmy Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn - then get this album now and turn it up!