Now Playing: Fred Hostetler’s ‘Fred’s Blue Chair Blues’

American recording artist Fred Hostetler has released a new album. It’s titled Fred’s Blue Chair Blues. But first, for those not yet familiar with the act in question, a bit o’ background.

Fred Hostetler

Fred Hostetler is an author, guitarist, and singer-songwriter. His resume also includes co-founding the popular blues-rock band Blue By Nature with Karen Lawrence and ex-Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay.

Blue By Nature's albums are reported to be “genre jumping Americana romp[s] through...blues-rock.’ Their nigh-legendary live gigs were known for vocalist Lawrence's individualistic, “raspy vocal style.” They even worked with famous producer, Jack Douglas (John Lennon, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, and Patti Smith). More recently, Hostetler, was awarded 2019 Best Singer Songwriter by LA Music Critic.

Signature sound

Fred Hostetler’s signature sound is a melange of multiple music genres including (but not necessarily limited to) Americana, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Fred’s Blue Chair Blues

This disc includes nine tracks complete with an old school blues sound. This is due largely to the way in which the work was created. In a recent interview Hostletler discussed the CD’s inspiration and origins:

"This is what I call living room blues. By that I mean stripped down, unplugged, and recorded at home in my living room. Whatever you may think of it, I find it intimate and refreshing during this time of Covid 19 to see artists performing in their kitchen, barn, patio, bedroom, etc.”

He added: “It inspired me to video an hour show for the Facebook page/group ‘Can’t Stop the Blues.’ It was shown in May 2020 and is still available to view. It is a platform supporting blues music and artists. I was able to make a little money and donate half of it back to organizations supporting unemployed blues musicians.”

Hostetler continued: “After that I did a playlist on Spotify for artists who have appeared on ‘Can’t Stop the Blues.’ I never thought much more about it until one September night when a voice woke me up with the words: ‘Release your living room recordings as an album.’ My first thought after sitting up in bed was: But they’re not good enough…they’re not perfect.”

He concluded: “The thought came back: ‘What does it matter? Let the audience decide.’ So here we are with a really different kind of album made up focused living room recordings.”

Track by Track

This album opens on his personal rendition of the Jimmy Reed classic, "Bright Lights Big City.” Indeed, he appears to be emotionally connected to each cut here. Opening with a cover here provides new listeners with a welcome inclusion to any release since it oers new listeners something friendly and familiar.

The second selection is "Hey Corporate Vandals.” It has a relevant, musical message that simply speaks for itself.

The next number is “Deep Deep Well.” This is a strong track that effectively introduces new listeners to Hostetler’s talents and old ones to what he can do with nothing more than am old guitar. .

The storysong “Taming The Wolf" opens with a little narrative that gives the song a wonderful, live, intimate, “old-bluesman-teaching-the-young'uns” feel.

“What’s Ahead And What’s Behind” is an early fave of the critics. It is deserving of the attention too as it includes some noteworthy slide guitar work.

“Rain On My Window Pane” may seem like an almost expected inclusion and yet it has its own stand-alone strength and really works.

The upbeat “I’m A New Man” follows. Hostetler’s signature sound remains strong and he effortlessly continues to hold one’s attention too.

He slows things down with the honest, introspectie song “There I Go Again.” You can’t help lending him an empathetic ear here.

The closing cut, “Salt Tears”, allows the artist to assure us all that everything will be alright. It’s an apt album endnote or the end of a recent, troublesome era.

Overall…

Overall, this disc is a noteworthy, homegrown, acoustic blues album. What makes it distinctive is the no-tech, no nonsense recording and presentation of wholesome, old-fashioned music that might ring to mind images of spontaneous neighborhood porch concerts on warm summer nights.

Readers who appreciate the simplistic treatment o the sincere songs of Woody Guthrie should also like these heartfelt compositions. So check out Fred Hostetler’s Fred’s Blue Chair Blues and discover “What’s Ahead And What’s Behind.”

(Images courtesy of​ Doug Deutsch Publicity Services)