Mountain Men was formed when a guitar playing Mr. Mat from France and harmonica playing Barefoot Iano from Australia joined forces in 2005. Their first album “Mat with Iano – Mountain Men” was released in October 2005 and when the stock was depleted they decided not to re-release because their style was evolving so quickly. However, you can get still get it directly from Barefoot Iano’s website. I’ve been waiting for their new release for a while now but I just can’t hold back on sharing this music any longer. Check this out:
Whew – now I bet there’s a few of us waiting for that new album to be released. The album was due to be released in spring of 2009 so I’m hoping it will be any day now.
For those who can’t understand the“Mr Mat …. Mountain Men” Myspace.com page (it is in French), I can tell you that the duo states they draw on influences of the pioneers of blues including Robert Johnson, Son House, Charlie Patton and Skip James as well as new bluesmen including Keb Mo’ and Eric Bibb. Thats a fine list of influences and I have to respect the fact they mentioned this list of people in particular. The styles and sounds can be heard through out everything I’ve heard by them.
While you and I may not have heard much from these people I can tell you that those who have been aware of them have paid them the recognition they deserve. Mr. Mat … Mountain Men went from meeting in 2005; recording in 2005; wining the band challenge at the 2006 Blues Sur Seine festival in France; invited to perform at the 2007 Montréal Festiblues and then represented France in in the Blues Foundation 2008 “International Blues Challenge”. That’s a pretty impressive progression from from 2005 to 2008. I can’t wait to hear their new album and I’ll be sure to announce it to everyone so stay tuned.
Being an acoustic guitar blues musician and fan myself I am in awe of Mr. Mat’s playing and vocals so I’ll leave you here with this solo performance:
Thanks Mr. Mat … Mountain Men for being a friend of worldofblues.com on myspace.com and sharing your amazing blues with us all.