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Michael Messer (born 28 February 1956) is an English singer, songwriter, slide guitarist, recording artist, producer, guitar designer/manufacturer. He is noteworthy for his ability to combine acoustic and electric
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slide and lap steel guitar into his playing style. The American magazine ''Spirit'' listed Messer as one of the greatest slide guitarists alongside
Duane Allman Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 â€“ October 29, 1971) was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ...
and
Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...
. Messer is included in the ''Virgin Encyclopaedia of the Blues''. He also appeared in his own 'blues' episode of the
BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
show, ''
ZingZillas ''ZingZillas'' is a British television programme aimed at young children, broadcast on the BBC pre-school channel CBeebies, which ran from 5 April 2010 to 11 June 2012. Overview ZingZillas is a music show aimed at children ages six and under. ...
''.


Life and career

Messer was born in
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
, England. In his formative years, Messer played
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
, both with his two brothers and in a succession of local bands. He moved to the United States while in his early twenties and in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
, both met and heard the country music performances of
Roy Acuff Roy Claxton Acuff (September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992) was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the "King of Country Music", Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown ...
,
Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on t ...
and
Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 â€“ September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
. After returning to England, he purchased his own National steel guitar in 1979 and taught himself to play in a
delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...
style. He performed solo and in several line-ups, before meeting Ed Genis in 1983. A working relationship with Genis was formed that has lasted to the present day. Through Genis and the blues circuit, Messer met the singer Mike Cooper, and the two of them provided studio work on
Ian A. Anderson Ian A. Anderson (born 26 July 1947, in Weston-super-Mare, England) is an English people, English magazine editor, folk musician and Radio presenter, broadcaster. Country blues, The Village Thing and "psych folk" Anderson first performed in h ...
's 1984 album, ''The Continuous Preaching Blues''. He formed the Michael Messer Band in 1985, and this initially included Messer (guitar and vocals), Ed Genis (guitar and vocals), Andy Crowdy (bass and vocals) and Jeffro Robertson (drums). Their debut album was ''Diving Duck'' (1988). In 1989, Messer's band played on
Ted Hawkins Ted Hawkins (October 28, 1936 â€“ January 1, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter born in Biloxi, Mississippi. He split his time between his adopted hometown of Venice Beach, California, where he was a mostly anonymous street performer, ...
album, ''I Love You Too''. Messer's second album, ''Slidedance'', was released in 1990 and one year later, he won the UK Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year Award, sponsored by the
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...
. He began to gain a reputation for incorporating different musical genres, as well as the blues, into his work. These included elements of Hawaiian slide guitar,
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
,
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and
King Sunny Adé Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye (born 22 September 1946), known professionally as King Sunny Adé, is a Nigerian jùjú singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is regarded as one of the first African pop musicians to gain international ...
's style of world music. Messer noted at that time that "If you look at what was happening in this country, and also what I was doing at that time, there's a big world music influence, which we were all very into – I was also, at that time, producing tracks with S.E. Rogie and with Ted Hawkins ... I intentionally made the album so it wasn't a blues album". A similar fusion was adopted on the follow-up, 1993's, ''Rhythm Oil''. This was a joint collaboration between Messer, Terry Clarke and Jesse Taylor. The album's liner notes were written by Johnny Cash, an honour only shared with
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
(''
Nashville Skyline ''Nashville Skyline'' is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 9, 1969, by Columbia Records as LP record, reel to reel tape and audio cassette. Building on the rustic style he experimented with on ''Joh ...
'') and
Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...
. The
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based music press named the collection, Import Album of the Year. The accompanying tour saw further experiment and innovation including the use of
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and reggae styles, set against a more traditional
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of
Big Maceo Merriweather Major Merriweather (March 31, 1905 – February 23, 1953), better known as Big Maceo Merriweather, was an American pianist and blues singer. He was mainly active in Chicago through the 1940s. Career Born in Newnan, Georgia, he was a self-t ...
's "
Worried Life Blues "Worried Life Blues" is a blues standard and one of the most recorded blues songs of all time. Originally recorded by Big Maceo Merriweather in 1941, "Worried Life Blues" was an early blues hit and Maceo's most recognized song. An earlier song ...
". In 1995, Messer's next release, this time under his own name, ''MOONbeat'', featured another amalgam of world music and blues, as well as DJ Louie Genis (the son of rhythm guitarist Ed)
scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...
old blues vinyl. In 1999, Messer travelled to
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
to work with the Canadian guitarist and songwriter Doug Cox. One of Cox's songs, "Cold When I'm Dead", featuring Messer playing the electric slide guitar was used in
Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...
's film, '' Tideland''. Following Messer signing to
Catfish Records Catfish Records was a United Kingdom, UK independent record label, initially devoted to reissuing blues records, mostly from the era of Gramophone record, 78 rpm records. Khaled Abdullah and Russell Beecher, concentrated on country blues and del ...
in 2001, they released a
compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
of Messer's work entitled, ''King Guitar''. The album received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, and reached number one in the US ''
Living Blues ''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van Sin ...
'' chart. ''Second Mind'' (2002), his second album on Catfish, saw a guest appearance by
Ruby Turner Francella Ruby Turner MBE (born 22 June 1958) is a British Jamaican R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and actress. In a music career spanning more than 30 years, Turner is best known for her album and single releases in Europe and North Americ ...
on backing vocals, with Genis junior again providing scratched overdubs. The album was named Best Blues Guitar Album at the 2003 International Guitar Federation Awards, and was warmly welcomed by the critics. In 2005, Messer signed a new recording contract with
Cooking Vinyl Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and chairman ...
, who released ''Lucky Charms'' the following February. His live show with the Second Mind Band gained worldwide recognition. The National Debt CD, ''From the Horse's Mouth'', to which Messer contributed was featured by
Mark Lamarr Mark Lamarr (born Mark Jones, 7 January 1967) is an English comedian, writer, radio DJ, and television presenter. He was a team captain on '' Shooting Stars'' from 1995 to 1997, and hosted ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' from 1996 to 2005. Early li ...
on his
BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
show. In November 2007, Messer and B. J. Cole performed their joint steel and slide guitar show at the International Festival of Guitar in Lancashire. The following year saw Messer and Ed Genis mark their 25th anniversary of performing as a duo, with a joint sell-out UK tour. In addition, Messer's own brand of resonator guitars were launched that August. In April and May 2009, Messer toured in the UK with
Louisiana Red Iverson Minter (March 23, 1932 – February 25, 2012), known as Louisiana Red, was an American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. He was best known for his song "Sweet Blood Call". Biography Born ...
. In February 2013, Messer held a workshop on the Mississippi Delta and Chicago-style blues slide guitar at the
Mahindra Blues Festival Mahindra Blues Festival (MBF) is an annual blues music festival that happens in February at Mehboob Studios, Bandra, Mumbai. Living legends of the genre who have performed here at this festival over the past years include Buddy Guy, Walter Trout, ...
in India. Messer has retained a global fan base for his virtuoso guitar playing, enjoying a thirty-year recording career. His most recent live band, known as Michael Messer's Mitra, fuses country blues with
Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...
. The line-up includes the
mohan veena Mohan veena refers to either of two distinct plucked string instruments used in Indian classical music, especially Hindustani classical music which is associated with the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. The first of these was a mix of ...
player Manish Pingle, and the
tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబలఠ...
player Gurdain Rayatt. Their debut album, ''Call of the Blues'', was issued in February 2016. As well as his line of guitars, Messer has issued a series of slide and steel guitar instructional DVDs.


Discography


Albums


See also

* List of electric blues musicians


References


External links


Official websitePartial discography @ Discogs.com2014 interview with Messer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messer, Michael 1956 births Living people 20th-century English singers 21st-century English singers English blues singers English blues guitarists English male guitarists Slide guitarists Steel guitarists English male songwriters People from Watford 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American male guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century British male singers 20th-century British male singers British male songwriters