Grant Haua

Grant Haua – Mana Blues (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 41:42 minutes | 509 MB | Genre: Blues, Blues Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dixiefrog

Those familiar with my music will notice this album is a lot different from previous releases which were written around the acoustic guitar. I often ask myself if it is a mistake to release an electric album (and a pretty heavy one at that) but in the end I thought what the hell you only live once ! Being Generation X these songs are heavily influenced by that period which I consider in pop/rock history, musically arguably the best. I know it will probably be criticized for being too “old fashioned” by some but I can honestly say I’ll take that as a compliment as my musical “D.N.A” is defined by that period in time.

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Grant Haua – Awa Blues (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 40:21 minutes | 496 MB | Genre: Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dixiefrog

Here we are in the deepest south. Not in the USA, but much further down. In New Zealand namely, these two islands near Australia,and in the Antarctic it is then also not far. This is so far from everything that the people there are probably a little freer than elsewhere and simply do not perceive certain customs of the rest of the world. Take Grant Haua, for example. He plays guitar, but unlike what you usually hear. He plays like a disgruntled percussionist who clambers around frantically on the strings. Or like the banjo player of a Bluegrass group. He is a virtuoso, a quite extraordinary one at that. This at the same time crackling and fast guitar playing can be heard first in Awa Blues, his album released by the French label Dixiefrog. Then comes his voice. This voice of a man who has probably sung very often at night in bars, when he was already a bit intoxicated after several drinks donated. It is a loud, seemingly robust voice, but behind which soul and feeling hide. Grant Haua rarely plays a blues in the truest sense of the word, as it is in the album title. Depending on his current mood, he prefers to serve it as a mixture of rock, folk and pop, which he always spices up with sounds from the southern countries. With acoustic guitars, organ and a bit of harmonica these songs will be the familiar companions in the summer morning breeze and connoisseurs will think of the Americans Greg Brown or Tony Joe White.

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