“…primordial blues, tough and dirty, that harks back to Robert Johnson’s template and at times comes close to being as powerful… Meyer has a real feel for the music and delivers real blues in a classic style, with equally classic themes… from South London maybe, but unadorned and untarnished,“all this is that” is the real thing…” - americanaUK
“Bob’s songs are modern folklore, backed up by guitar pickings of a different age…
it is unpretentious, and allows for your mind to move through the songs…
his music rises and dives with assurance and manages to create bonafide
country blues out of his obviously fresh brain…” - Blues in London
“an extraordinarily talented acoustic blues guitarist… a man who sings like his heart is buried in a Mississippi swamp…” - Guardian Unlimited
Fatea ""All This Is That" seems like a real throwback to 1930s and 40s folk blues. It's got the strings being picked and some real Ledbelly in it's guts. The antique sound contracts majestically with some really contemporary lyrics to provide an experience that just works. There's not many songs about comets, but even so "Shoemaker Levy No. 9" must rank as one of the best. Bob Meyer appears to have discovered a new twist on an underperformed genre. Good luck to him and the album"
“an extraordinarily talented acoustic
blues guitarist… a man who sings like his heart
is buried in a Mississippi swamp…”
Bridging the great divide from South London to the Deep South, Bob Meyer is one of those individuals who, while showing no desire to crave the spotlight, assimilates and homages his influences to emerge with statements of unadorned and unrelenting honesty. Sounding like they could be recorded in your front room, the songs on these albums intimately straddle anyone from Nick Drake to Blind Willie Johnson but what shines through is the man’s honest and restless, questing musical passion.
Bob’s also a shit-hot guitar player, first picking up the instrument at the age of ten courtesy of his older brother, who built them. Maybe put off by his own left-handedness, Bob didn’t touch a guitar again until the age of 31when he did a Hendrix by turning the instrument upside down along with his teach yourself handbook. Within a month he was writing songs, later recording his 2006 debut album All This Is That in one afternoon at the Chocolate Box in Wood Green – all tracks first takes with no overdubs.
Bob's style is reminiscent of America’s 60s troubadours lashed with the stark guitar stylings of the blues musicians he reveres, particularly Blind Gary Davies, Leadbelly
and Son House. This blues fixation surfaces on tracks like Tilt and the stridently atmospheric I’m A Fool. Southwark Bridge recalls the drowsy observations of Nick Drake while As She Flows and When I’m Gone recall Greenwich Village singer-songwriters
like the Tims Rose and Hardin.
The most enthralling excursions are instrumentals like Rollin’ Part 3 and stunning Fast River Of No Return which recall nobody so much as the late John Fahey, the mysterious American genius who revolutionised the six-string steel guitar in the early 60s, inspiring names like Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho to develop their own individual styles. It seems as if Bob’s quietly become one of the few contemporary UK guitarists to do the same, emerging as Streatham’s answer to Blind Joe Death while as equally at home on the dark blues holler of Mary Lou as the gentle instrumental Escondedo.
“…primordial blues, tough and dirty, that harks back to Robert Johnson’s template and at times comes close to being as powerful… Meyer has a real feel for the music and delivers real blues in a classic style, with equally classic themes… from South London maybe, but unadorned and untarnished,“all this is that” is the real thing…” - americanaUK
“Bob’s songs are modern folklore, backed up by guitar pickings of a different age…
it is unpretentious, and allows for your mind to move through the songs…
his music rises and dives with assurance and manages to create bonafide
country blues out of his obviously fresh brain…” - Blues in London
“an extraordinarily talented acoustic blues guitarist… a man who sings like his heart is buried in a Mississippi swamp…” - Guardian Unlimited
As Fatea said at the time ""All This Is That" seems like a real throwback to 1930s and 40s folk blues. It's got the strings being picked and some real Ledbelly in it's guts. The antique sound contracts majestically with some really contemporary lyrics to provide an experience that just works. There's not many songs about comets, but even so "Shoemaker Levy No. 9" must rank as one of the best. Bob Meyer appears to have discovered a new twist on an underperformed genre. Good luck to him and the album"
credits
released May 5, 2013
All song written and played by Bob Meyer
Produced by Mike Coles
Engineered by Nick Holywell-Walker
Mastered By Patrick Bird
The second EP from Northern Irish singer-songwriter Bea Stewart runs from gentle folk to pillowy pop ballads, all perfectly executed. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 15, 2024