Aynsley Lister
Album: Home
Label: Straight Talkin'
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.aynsleylister.co.uk

Since '98, British blues rocker, Aynsley Lister, has delivered seven albums and two DVDs, predominantly for RUF, but more recently to Manhaton, from where he's delivered his two most recent, until now, including the award winning, "Tower Session" that picked up 'Best Live Album' in the Blues Matters Writers Poll. "Home" sees him cutting ties to the labels and bringing the whole thing, well, home.

Arguably more than many of his contemporaries, Lister, understood that the traditional approach to blues and blues rock isn't the be all and end all, if you truly want to establish your own sound some forty years after the Great British Blues boom you need to bring in something different otherwise you are in serious danger of being a tribute band, a damned good tribute band, with new songs and everything, but a tribute band none-the-less.

"Home" is very much the album of an artist that has reached beyond his genre, pulling in broadminded music fans who may not see blues as their first choice, but who recognise good music when they hear it and he's been able to do that without compromise.

Predominantly the reason for that is his writing style. Lister has grown up in the twenty first century and whilst he's heard the words and music of his blues heroes, it's not the words of his day to day life, it's not how he talks to his friends, it not the phrases that dominated the playground at school. Consequently, "Home" is a blues album of the here and now, one with all the instrumental integrity of a blues rocker, great riffs, top power ballads, but in a context that is very much of the here and now.

That's not to say he doesn't occasionally drop back into the language of the fifties and sixties, the language of hips and cherry lipstick, because that's as much part of his dna as his contemporary upbringing, it's the way he fuses it all together that gives him a sound that is Aynsley Lister and "Home" is where is heart is. As an aside, keep your eye on his website for the autumn tour.

Neil King