Biography
An argument could easily be advanced that the Blues Broers—pronounced “brews”—were simply returning the blues to its African roots, the continent from which the musical impulse traveled via the slave trade. A stronger case, however, rests on the group’s formation as a deliberate act of resistance to the South African recording industry, whose executives insisted that audiences had no appetite for the style the band championed, a stance lampooned in the hidden track “The Ballad of Barry Dale” on their fourth album, Been Around.
Early in 1990, musicians drawn from the Flaming Firestones, All Night Radio, and Black Frost assembled the initial lineup; the Breakfast Brothers horn section joined in 1996 during sessions for that fourth album. The musicians launched an intensive touring regimen across South Africa, cultivating a loyal following while failing to secure interest from any domestic labels. Undeterred, they cut their debut album, Shake Like That, in 1990 and issued it the following year as a cassette on their own Guava Records imprint; the set contained nine original songs by former member Johnny Frick and sold out rapidly. A second cassette, Damn Fine Mojo, was tracked in mid-1994 under the band’s steadfast producer Willem Moller and appeared in October of that year, spotlighting sixteen-year-old guitar prodigy Albert Frost.
After further personnel shifts, the third album, Sharp Street, arrived on CD in June 1995 to widespread praise, presenting additional original material that spanned ragtime to Chicago blues. By then the group had begun drawing international notice, notably an extended Los Angeles Times profile that dwelt on the band’s striking visual presentation. Released late in 1996, Been Around broadened their reach with fourteen original tracks ranging from the group’s skiffle repertoire to a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan. The CD’s arrival prompted a string of festival bookings alongside the customary heavy schedule of live dates.
Early in 1990, musicians drawn from the Flaming Firestones, All Night Radio, and Black Frost assembled the initial lineup; the Breakfast Brothers horn section joined in 1996 during sessions for that fourth album. The musicians launched an intensive touring regimen across South Africa, cultivating a loyal following while failing to secure interest from any domestic labels. Undeterred, they cut their debut album, Shake Like That, in 1990 and issued it the following year as a cassette on their own Guava Records imprint; the set contained nine original songs by former member Johnny Frick and sold out rapidly. A second cassette, Damn Fine Mojo, was tracked in mid-1994 under the band’s steadfast producer Willem Moller and appeared in October of that year, spotlighting sixteen-year-old guitar prodigy Albert Frost.
After further personnel shifts, the third album, Sharp Street, arrived on CD in June 1995 to widespread praise, presenting additional original material that spanned ragtime to Chicago blues. By then the group had begun drawing international notice, notably an extended Los Angeles Times profile that dwelt on the band’s striking visual presentation. Released late in 1996, Been Around broadened their reach with fourteen original tracks ranging from the group’s skiffle repertoire to a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan. The CD’s arrival prompted a string of festival bookings alongside the customary heavy schedule of live dates.