Grant Dermody- Untitled- Amazing Grace

Singer, songwriter and acclaimed harmonica player Grant Dermody’s devotion to the blues naturally leads him in different directions. While his last album, Digging in John’s Backyard, found him collaborating with guitarist Frank Fotusky on a set of songs that paid tribute to John Jackson, a foremost practitioner and proponent of Piedmont blues, his upcoming effort, Behind the Sun, finds him returning to electric blues with a full band and the inspiration and influence of Louisiana, the place where it was recorded.

As he’s done in the past, Dermody worked with an A list of outstanding musicians, including longtime colleague and acclaimed guitarist Dirk Powell, accordion player Corey Ledet, bassist Lee Allen Zeno, drummer Gerard St. Julien, and backing vocalists Teka Briscoe and Ahyris Navarre. So too, the album encapsulates the distinctive sounds of Louisiana, environs that inspire its own take on Americana and the blues, in particular.

Dermody points with pride to the fact that everyone involved were Louisiana artists — “Louisiana musicians, the graphic designer, the photographer. Everybody.”

What’s more, Dermody is quick to tout the credentials of his fellow musicians. Powell is a four-time GrammyAward winner and widely recognized as one of the most skilled musicians operating in today’s traditional realms, a multi-talented instrumentalist who’s adept at guitar, banjo, fiddle, and piano. Zeno’s credits span hundreds of albums, including recordings by Sonny Boy Williams, Irma Thomas, Solomon Burke, and any number of others that span styles ranging from soul to zydeco. He and St. Julian also toured with Buckwheat Zydeco for many years. “It’s like they breathe in sync,” Dermody insists.  “They’re just so locked in and so cool to work with.”  So too, he notes that Ledet, a Grammy nominee, has been cited as the heir apparent to Clifton Chenier, the accordionist hailed as the King of the Zydeco.

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