The Blue Stones

The Canadian guitar-and-drums duo the Blue Stones developed a vigorous blues-rock style that draws from both vintage classic rock and polished modern alt-rock. Emerging from their home province of Ontario in the early 2010s, the pair reached a broader listenership with the gritty 2016 album Black Holes. Several prominent placements, notably on ESPN's Monday Night Football, gave the track "Rolling with the Punches" sustained traction and eventually led to a contract with Entertainment One, which issued a worldwide re-release of Black Holes in 2018. The duo sharpened their studio approach ahead of the 2021 full-length Hidden Gems.

Tarek Jafar on vocals and guitar and Justin Tessier on drums and vocals, friends and creative partners since high school in Windsor, Ontario, adopted their minimalist two-piece format at an early stage. Their influences spanned the classic rock of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, the blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, and contemporary acts with comparable lineups such as the White Stripes and the Black Keys. The Blue Stones made their first official recording with a self-titled EP in 2011, then spent the next two years performing across Ontario's club circuit. Their debut album How's That Sound arrived in 2013, followed by touring that extended across Canada and into adjacent markets including Detroit, where they supported Fitz and the Tantrums, the Stone Foxes, and Justin Nozuka. Working again with producer Ian Blurton, they pursued a rawer direction on the 2016 album Black Holes. Its lead single "Rolling with the Punches" gained exposure through placements on Suits, Shameless, and Monday Night Football, widening their audience considerably. At the start of 2018 the band signed with Entertainment One, which delivered the global reissue of Black Holes later that year. In 2020 they issued the limited-edition EP The Blue Stones Live on Display, pairing four live performances with the corresponding original studio versions. Recording sessions with producer Paul Meany shaped 2021's Hidden Gems, an album that merged large-scale rock riffs with the duo's blues-rooted sensibility.