Dennis Gruenling & Steve Guyger

DENNIS GRUENLING & STEVE GUYGER Tribute to Little Walter Record-Release Party special guest Doug Deming

“They don’t just play the songs of Little Walter, they express themselves with fluency within the idiom of Little Walter’s blues…Gruenling pulls out all the stops, showing his mastery of all aspects of Little Walter’s music, and providing sensitive and dynamic support behind his guest artists. This is deep blues played by some of the best practitioners active today, period” - Scott Dirks (co-author of Blues With a Feeling: The Story of Little Walter)

Dennis Gruenling is “a leading light among the new generation of harp players” (Blues Revue Magazine). After spending some time in New Orleans in the early 90’s, he’s been laying down some of the best blues & roots harmonica on the East Coast for 15 years now. Along the way, Gruenling has shared the stage with many top names in the blues world, such as Pinetop Perkins, Snooky Pryor, Homesick James, Little Sammy Davis, A.C. Reed, Mick Taylor and Jimmy Dawkins, as well as contemporary masters such as Rod Piazza, Little Charlie & The Nightcats, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, Rusty Zinn, Steve Guyger, and Mark Hummel.

Now after 10 years of leading a swinging jump-blues outfit of his own, being awarded “Best Modern Blues Harmonica Player” 3 years in a row (Real Blues Magazine) and developing “a sound that promises to re-define the role of the harmonica” ( HIP Magazine), he goes on to pay tribute to the greatest and most influential harmonica player in blues history ­ Little Walter Jacobs.

On board for the new Little Walter tribute disc are several guests including the Grammy-nominated Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Kim Wilson, vocalist and harp player extraordinaire from Little Charlie & the Nightcats - Rick Estrin, and alumni of the legendary Jimmy Rogers Band - Steve Guyger.

• “…Gruenling stands poised to claim a spot in the pantheon of blues harp greats.” - Blues Revue Magazine
• “Gruenling has climbed up on the throne to share top honors with Piazza, Hummel, as a current harmonica king.” - Real Blues Magazine
• “…quite simply, it’s of some of the best harmonica blues being played today…” - Scott Dirks (blues historian/author)