''Push the Blues Away'' is a collaborative

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Australian

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

musicians

Josh Teskey Josh Teskey (born 31 July 1987) is an Australian blues musician, best known for his work with the Teskey Brothers. Teskey released the collaborative studio album, '' Push the Blues Away'' with Ash Grunwald, on 13 November 2020, which peaked at ...

and

Ash Grunwald Ash Grunwald (born Ashley Mark Groenewald, 5 September 1976) is an Australian blues musician. He has released nine studio albums and has received five nominations for ARIA Music Awards. Five albums have charted in the ARIA Albums Chart top&nbs ...

, released on 13 November 2020 through

Ivy League Records Ivy League Records is a record label based in Sydney, Australia. History Ivy League Records is an Australian-based record label established in 1997 by three ex-musician friends: Pete Lusty (John Reed Club) (RIP), Andy Cassell (Youth Group) and ...

. The album was recorded to analogue tape and features a mix of original songs by both artists, alongside two covers.

Background and release

The album was inspired by both artists' love of blues and mutual admiration for each other's work. The project commenced after the duo began an impromptu jam of " The Sky Is Crying" during downtime between takes filming a video clip for Grunwald's "Ain't My Problem"; a track which featured the Teskey Brothers. Grunwald said "Somebody filmed our little jam, and it became the seed of a great idea: Why don't we do an acoustic blues album? No bells and whistles, something from the heart. This album was made how any good blues album should be in my opinion; Spontaneously and instinctively." The album was recorded in five days at The Teskey Brothers' studio in

Warrandyte Warrandyte is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Warrandyte recorded a population of 5,541 at the . Warrandy ...

. The eight-track album features a handful of songs written by Teskey and Grunwald respectively, along with two covers – Son House's "Preachin' Blues" and the aforementioned "The Sky Is Crying".

Singles

On 23 August 2020, Teskey and Grunwald premiered the song "Thinking 'Bout Myself" on ABC's '' The Sound''. The song was digitally released the following day. The album's second single "Hungry Heart" was written by Josh Teskey and released on 2 October 2020. Teskey said of the track "After spending many years running away, attempting to push the blues away, 'Hungry Heart' is the happy ending, the moment when I stopped running away and found and accepted love. The song is basically the story of spending your whole life searching for love and finding it. The hungry heart is fed! I dedicate this song to my incredible life partner Hannah and our daughter Ayva."

Critical reception

Josh Leeson from ''

Newcastle Star The ''Newcastle Star'' is a free weekly newspaper in Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and L ...

'' said "Subtly is the key to the album. With just acoustic guitar and harmonica, Teskey's raw vocal is left to deliver the colour and feeling. Grunwald, too, produces some of his finest work in years. "

Awards and nominations

AIR Awards

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, ''Push the Blues Away'' , Best Independent Blues and Roots Album or EP , ,

ARIA Music Awards

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ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Blues and Roots Album, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recor ...

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Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes.

Musicians

– writing , vocals *

– writing , vocals Other musicians *

Son House Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902His date of birth is a matter of some debate. House alleged that he was middle-aged during World War I and that he was 79 in 1965, which would make his date of birth around 1886. However, all legal re ...

– writing *

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

– writing * Morgan Robinson – writing *

Clarence Lewis Clarence Irving Lewis (April 12, 1883 – February 3, 1964), usually cited as C. I. Lewis, was an American academic philosopher. He is considered the progenitor of modern modal logic and the founder of conceptual pragmatism. First a noted logici ...

– writing

Technical

Sam Teskey Sam Teskey (born 1989) is an Australian blues musician, best known for his work with the Teskey Brothers. Sam won the ARIA Award for Engineer of the Year in 2019. His debut studio album, ''Cycles'', was released on 8 October 2021 via Ivy Leag ...

– recording, mixing * Joe Carra – mastering

Artwork

* Tom Dunphy – photography * Sebastian White – design and illustration

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2020 collaborative albums Ash Grunwald albums Josh Teskey albums