TED DROZDOWSKI MAKES UNCONVENTIONAL PSYCH-ROCK WITH UNCONVENTIONAL GUITARS ON 'LOVE & LIFE'

MUSIC CITY ROOTS SYNDICATED RADIO SHOW CONFIRMED OCT 28 AS ALL MUSIC STREAMS FULL ALBUM

Ted Drozdowski knows his guitars.

A veteran rock musician and road warrior who doubles as a journalist for Guitar World and Premiere Guitar, he fills his newest album, 'Love & Life,' with more than a dozen acoustic and electric guitars. Also included on Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen’s ‘Love & Life’ record, which hits stores this Friday, are a handful of custom-made axes that are as unique as the music itself. The band plays NYC’s Shrine tomorrow and Brooklyn’s Grand Victory on Monday as All Music is streaming all of ‘Love & Life’: http://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/album-premiere-ted-drozdowskis-scissormen-love-life

"I like to play unconventional roots music on unconventional instruments," says Drozdowski, who has driven more than 1,000,000 miles during his tour dates with a series of bands, including his current project, Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen. Along the way, he's carved out a reputation as "both an innovator and interpreter all at the same time" (Pop Matters).

Rooted in electric blues and psychedelic music, 'Love & Life' features guitars like 'Jo Diddley,' a 1960s Eiphone Hollowbody that Drozdowski rescued by ripping off the headstock, securing it back onto the instrument "with industrial glue at a slight-yet-intonation-proof angle," and removed the pickups. The resulting instrument, whose name is a tip-of-the-hat to blues great Bo Diddley, can be heard on "Can't Be Satisfied."

Also along for the ride is Drozdowski's "signature model" Fender Esquire, which features the autographs of friends, tour mates and influences including Dick Dale, Ike Turner and Billy Gibbons. Drozdowski customized the guitar by adding jumbo frets and a pair of late '60s Les Paul pickups. It's heavy, like his music, and he's toured with it since the '80s. "I've even let somebody breathe fire across the neck while I was playing it — in Mississippi, of course," he adds.

And then there's the so-called "Lobster Pot" guitar, which was gifted to Drozdowski by East Nashville artist Mike Windy. Again, Drozdowski modified the guitar a bit, adding a Mexican single-coil pickup — "the cheaper and gnarlier, the better" — and securing it with electric tape. The result is an instrument with "a huge, cutting sound," making it the perfect ax for Drozdowski's arsenal. It also befits Drozdowski’s time spent in the Boston music scene before moving to Nashville.

All three of those guitars will hit the road with Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen this year. The band's upcoming tour includes a high-profile performance at the Music City Roots syndicated radio broadcast in Franklin, Tennessee October 28.

Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen Tour Dates

July 30 – New York, NY – Shrine World Music Venue
July 31 – Somerville, MA – Johnny D’s
August 1 – Lowell, MA – The Back Page Café
August 2 – Middletown, CT – The Cypress Restaurant
August 3 – Brooklyn, NY – Grand Victory
August 9 – Nashville, TN – The Bluebird Café
August 15 – E. Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot
August 28 – Winona, MN – Broken World Records
August 29 – Minneapolis, MN – Hell’s Kitchen Brunch
September 1 – Indianapolis, IN – The Slippery Noodle
September 2 – Kansas City, MO – B.B.’s Lawnside Barbecue
September 3 – Lincoln, NE – The Zoo Bar
September 4 – Fort Collins, CO – Avogadro’s Number
September 5-6 – Denver, CO – Ziggie’s Live Music
October 28 - Nashville, TN - Music City Roots

TED DROZDOWSKI’S SCISSORMEN SLIDE UP TO BROOKLYN’S GRAND VICTORY, MANHATTAN’S SHRINE FOR PSYCH-BLUES POWERHOUSE SHOWS

Rocker/rock writer Ted Drozdowski will bring his band Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen to NYC for a pair of album release shows for slide guitar-driven ‘Love & Life.’ Splitting his time between journalist and musician, Drozdowski has done over 1,000 artist interviews and driven over 1,000,000 miles on tour in a series of bands culminating in Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen, which brings together his loves of psychedelic music and blues. Early spotlights have come from Wax Poetics, Diffuser.FM, Premier Guitar, and beyond. The “Beggin’ Jesus” music video brings to life the dirty groove with lo-fi animation.

Drozdowski knows how to tell a story in song as well, portraying his immigrant grandfathers suffering from mining-related illnesses in “Black Lung Fever,” sketching a portrait of armed forces veteran, former truck driver, blues music player, and MENSA member Watermelon Slim on “Watermelon Kid,” and recounting a true hang with his mentor RL Burnside that also tells of the complexities and contradictions of race relations in America. ‘Love & Life’ is his masterwork.

WHO: Nashville Psych-Blues Band Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen
WHAT: Album Release Shows For ‘Love & Life’
MANHATTAN SHOW: 8pm, July 30 at Shrine, 2271 Adam Clayon Powell Blvd. w/ Pork Chop Willie supporting
BROOKLYN SHOW: August 3 at the Grand Victory, 245 Grand Street w/ The Nowadays and The End Men supporting

TED DROZDOWSKI’S SCISSORMEN BRING ROWDY, SLIDE GUITAR DRIVEN SHOWMANSHIP, KILLER NEW GARAGE/BLUES/PSYCH ALBUM ON TOUR

Club crowds are as likely to find slide guitar virtuoso Drozdowski flying through the air, sitting in their laps, standing on tabletops and sliding with every object imaginable — from dinner plates to, at one Mississippi juke joint, a 9mm revolver — as they are to see him on stage.

 

Or as Anthony DeCurtis (Rolling Stone, New York Times) said, “His slide playing shears the skin off your bones, and he can unleash roaring gales of sound. But lyricism and musicality lie at the heart of even his wildest moments. I have never listened to him and not been transported to a strong, beautiful place I’d never been before.”

 

Fans can appreciate Drozdowski’s dangerous style of showmanship on tour this summer and fall.  When the garage/blues/psych bandleader got hit in the face with a ceiling fan during a particularly rowdy show in St. Paul, he went out on the street, covered in his own blood, to play slide with Delta bluesman and Fat Possum Records alum T-Model Ford's Jack Daniels bottle.

 

Ted never hesitated after the injury. “I got sliced right to the skull on the first song, played an hour set and then went to the hospital,” he recounts 

 

Earlier this month, at a taping of Beale Street Caravan (the syndicated radio show based in Memphis), Drozdowski took his soloing outside of the club entirely. Blurt Magazine posted a “slide challenge” of Ted playing slide on some truly bizarre objects, including a vibrator and a Blade scooter. Watch it here: http://blurtonline.com/feature/blurts-slide-guitar-challenge-scissormen-2/ 

 

Besides returning to his child hood turf of Middletown, CT and his longtime home of Boston, MA, several shows stand out. The East Nashville show will also serve as a benefit concert for Mighty Sam McClain, former Nashville resident and all-time great soul singer. McClain appears on the album, singing lead on “Let’s Go To Memphis,” and is battling cancer and the after-effects of a stroke.

 

In addition, Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen will return to the Slippery Noodle in Indianapolis, where part of the Robert Mugge movie about the Scissormen, Big Shoes: Walking and Talking the Blues, was filmed.  ‘Love & Life’ comes out July 31 on Dolly Sez Woof Records.

 

Also, July 31 Drozdowski, who is also an award-winning music journalist and educator, will publish the first in a series of e-books, Obsessions of a Music Geek, Vol. 1: Blues Guitar Giants. Private, press-only stream of the album (please don’t share or post) here.

 

Drozdowski's Scissormen have performed at Bonnaroo, King Biscuit, and Muddy Roots, among other festivals. 

 

Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen Tour Dates

 

June 19 – Marietta, GA – Darwin’s Burgers & Blues

July 26 — Nashville, TN — The Basement

July 30 – New York, NY – Shrine World Music Venue

July 31 – Somerville, MA – Johnny D’s

August 1 – Lowell, MA – The Back Page Café

August 2 – Middletown, CT – The Cypress Restaurant

August 3 – Brooklyn, NY – Grand Victory

August 9 – Nashville, TN – The Bluebird Café

August 15 – E. Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot

August 28 – Winona, MN – Broken World Records

August 29 – Minneapolis, MN – Hell’s Kitchen Brunch

September 1 – Indianapolis, IN – The Slippery Noodle

September 2 – Kansas City, MO – B.B.’s Lawnside Barbecue September 3 – Lincoln, NE – The Zoo Bar

September 4 – Fort Collins, CO – Avogadro’s Number

September 5 – Denver, CO – Ziggie’s Live Music

September 6 – Denver, CO – Ziggie’s Live Music

PSYCHEDELIC VISIONARY & R.L. BURNSIDE PROTÉGÉ TED DROZDOWSKI’S NEW ALBUM BUILDS A POWERFUL AND UNIQUE BRIDGE BETWEEN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AMERICAN MUSIC

 Evolutionary Love & Life’s uncanny tales, untamed guitars and explosive textures — plus a guest shot by soul legend Mighty Sam McClain — create an epic sweep; Drozdowski’s debut e-book to coincide with album’s release

NASHVILLE, TN — Listening to Love & Life, the new album from Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen, is like taking an acid trip in a time machine. Day-glo guitars slither through stories about old bluesmen and coal miners. Tectonic plates of sound churn the past, present and future of great American music into a stylistic kaleidoscope. And a dizzy spray of vibrant slide six-string permeates the album’s performances, adding a fine sonic mist of unpredictable virtuosity to the mysteries in its 11 tunes, which ricochet between deep truths and bald-faced lies.

Drozdowski made the new album Love & Life in a tent down a dirt road in the woods on top of a mountain in the unincorporated hamlet of Pasquo, Tennessee. That’s just another example of this highly creative singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader and producer’s passion for thinking outside the box. And there are plenty more within the dynamic, evocative sixth album from Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen.

Love & Life will be released on the Dolly Sez Woof label on July 31. That same day Drozdowski, who is also an award-winning music journalist and educator, will publish the first in a series of e-books, Obsessions of a Music Geek, Vol. 1: Blues Guitar Giants.

Love & Life is evolutionary. For Drozdowski, the album celebrates the expansion of his internationally touring duo Scissormen — with stops at Bonnaroo and other major festivals under their belts — into a fiery, flexible trio. That core trio sound is made even bigger, with as many as seven of Drozdowski’s own guitar tracks layered on some cuts, while capturing his finest songwriting and studio performances. He’s also joined on the album by legendary soul singer Mighty Sam McClain and Grammy nominated organist Paul Brown. For great American music, it proves that traditional styles can be celebrated with authenticity while creating tunes that are contemporary, timeless and slammin’.

“I wanted every song on this album to tell a story and be deeply rooted in great American music,” Drozdowski relates. “I also wanted to apply more elaborate production techniques, like multi-tracking my guitars and treating them with multiple effects during and after recording, to create a broader, unpredictable sonic palette, and just plain get weird. That weird streak is what made the pillars of American music — Muddy Waters, Bill Monroe, Sam Phillips and others — original, authentic and evolutionary, and somewhere along the way the truth and beauty of honest weirdness got lost. I want to bring it back.”

Love & Life starts with “Beggin’ Jesus,” a riff-fueled yarn about temptation and the conflict between good and evil, with a wicked, sizzling, doubled slide guitar solo. A few songs later, “The River” unfolds as a ghost story. A swirling mist of guitars and Drozdowski’s soulful voice recreate the mystery and magic of the foggy, moonlit night along the banks of the Tallahatchie River in North Mississippi that inspired the song. It’s one of the album’s few tracks cut without overdubs, recorded live in one take.

Drozdowski pays tribute to two of his friends and mentors on the album. “Watermelon Kid” is an homage to the bluesman Watermelon Slim, and “R.L. Burnside (Sleight Return)” is a funky, psychedelic recollection of a night the juke joint blues patriarch came to visit – replete with a slinky groove and layers of backwards guitar. Drozdowski’s own family history as Pennsylvania coal miners fuels the grinding, visceral Mississippi hill country music inspired “Black Lung Fever,” citing an occupational affliction that claimed both of his immigrant grandfathers before he was born.

The romantic ode to the Bluff City “Let’s Go To Memphis” reflects the classic sound and spirit of Stax Records, with shimmering B-3 organ and four intricately woven guitar tracks. But the song’s star is the legendary soul singer Mighty Sam McClain, who first appeared on the R&B charts in 1966 and whose passionate command and emotional depth are practically unparalleled today. “Sam and me have been friends for more than 20 years,” says Drozdowski. “I’d hoped to someday write a song worthy of his voice, and now I’m thrilled and honored by his performance.”

“Our friendship has grown over the years to a very beautiful place in our lives,” McClain concurs. “When Ted asked me if I would do a song with him, Hell, I couldn’t wait. When he sent me ‘Let’s Go To Memphis,’ I liked the title right away, because it was so Ted. I’ve heard him talking about Memphis and Nashville for so long. So ‘Let’s Go to Memphis’ was a no brainer for me! I would have sung almost anything for a chance to do this with Ted. But ‘Let’s Go to Memphis’ is a great song, written by a great person.”

Fans of the stripped-down juke joint aesthetic that has governed the sound of Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen until now will dig “Can’t Be Satisfied,” a raw take on the Muddy Waters classic as a full-throttle duet for drums and diddley bow – in this case, an intensely electrified version of the home-made one-string instrument that gave Bo Diddley his name. There’s also a solo number, “Dreaming On the Road,” that features Drozdowski playing resonator guitar. But throughout the disc a multitude of effects-laden six-strings slip in and out of the mix like foxes in a henhouse, defining his own sonic terrain among musical innovators.

To Drozdowski, risk-taking is an essential part of being an artist. Since the 1980s his bands have always pushed toward new ground. As a primary force in the alternative-rock band Vision Thing, the textural music ensemble Bloodblister and the explosively guitar-intensive Devil Gods, his narrative songwriting and tireless sonic explorations won him a cult following.

That cult has grown considerably since he established Scissormen a decade ago, under the influence of R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill and other totems of Mississippi hill country blues. “R.L. in particular got me to play this music, which I initially resisted,” Drozdowski says. “But his encouragement helped me find my voice and my sound.

“After meeting and becoming friends with R.L., Junior and Jessie, who were making some of the most profound music I’d ever heard, yet living in obscurity and poverty, I devoted myself to bringing the music they and similar artists made to more people,” Drozdowski says. First, that was as a music journalist, and he received the Blues Foundation’s Keeping the Blues Alive Award for Journalism in 1998, in part as a result of that effort. Next, he became a visceral torchbearer with Scissormen, physically taking this deeply rooted music to a wider and more diverse audience with playful, high-energy performances built around his singing and incendiary slide guitar showmanship. Club crowds are as likely to find Drozdowski sitting in their laps, standing on tabletops and sliding with every object imaginable as they are to see him on stage. Another mentor, free jazz guitar granddaddy Sonny Sharrock, also had a major influence on Drozdowski’s slide playing.

Drozdowski has released five earlier recordings bearing the Scissormen name, including the 2012 collaboration with the award-winning music filmmaker Robert Mugge, BIG SHOES: Walking and Talking the Blues. The CD+DVD set was built around a Mugge documentary starring Drozdowski that premiered at the Denver Film Festival. He has also taken the band across the US and to Europe, playing up to 100 dates a year at everything from the major festivals Bonnaroo, Memphis in May and France’s Cognac Blues Passions to theaters to clubs to coffeehouses.

“Love & Life begins a new chapter for me, where I can connect all the dots of what excites me musically to realize my own vision of great American music as a vital, original and still evolving art form,” says Drozdowski. “But I couldn’t have begun to record it without help. I conceived of this album five years ago, but didn’t have the funds to go forward.” Enter Robert E. McClain, Jr., owner of the one-of-a-kind Omega Lab studio atop a mountain high above Nashville’s famed Loveless Café, and Whit Hubner, host of the Mando Blues Show, a program on Radio Free Nashville that’s recorded live at the tent — a ProTools based “green” studio with surround sound capability that draws less power than the average blow dryer.

“Rob and Whit, who are dear friends, invited me to make the album at Omega Lab,” say Drozdowski. But eventually costs intruded on the album’s progress, so Drozdowski turned to his fans, launching a successful Indiegogo campaign that raised nearly $14,000. “Knowing that more than 160 people from nine countries had my back when I needed them fills me with gratitude and makes me feel like I’m on the right path,” Drozdowski says. “And I intend to keep following it, wherever it takes me.”