Bottleneck John - All Around Man / Opus 3 Records

It's an open secret that the revival of the acoustic blues scene in recent years, especially in Scandinavia, has brought a whole host of established musicians into the public spotlight! Jan-Eric Persson and Bottleneck John

(real name: Johan Eliasson) met quite by chance in September 2012. After another meeting and some test recordings at the Opus 3 Records studio, the first task was to organize the many ideas they had for Bottleneck

John's debut album on Opus 3. The result is an unusual blues album with a selection of very personal and varied songs. In addition to his solo performances, Bottleneck John is accompanied by his “Blues Brothers” on a variety

of instruments (grand piano, Hammond B-3, Wurlitzer, resonator and double bass, percussion, violin, mandolin, etc.). The man with the distinctive voice loves his resonator guitars and prefers a dry, authentic sound.

“Jan-Eric Persson has created an unusual blues album with a very authentic sound. Perhaps now you can better understand why the British blues press calls him the Van Gogh of European blues.” (Regina Wegers, Hörerlebnis 84)

“Yes, yes, it's a real treat for the ears...” (Günter Brämswig, hifi & records 3/2013)

The LP (180-gram vinyl, 33 RPM), which boasts outstanding sound quality, was pressed by Optimal Media. Andreas “Lupo” Lubich (Calyx Mastering, Berlin) is responsible for the lacquer disc cutting.

MUSICIANS

Bottleneck John: guitars, banjo, kazoo, mandolin, vocals
Kent Ögren: basses, resonator guitar (A5)
Mattias Olofsson: drums, percussion, tambourine 
Mattias Nordqvist: piano, cajón, Wurlitzer, Hammond B-3
Lars Åstrand: fiddle, mandolin 
Patrik Idell: guitar (A4, B1)
Stefan Swén: harmonica
Karl Eneland: tuba

Opus 3 is an independent Swedish music label dedicated to recording timeless acoustic music such as jazz, blues, folk and classical. Founded in late 1976 by sound engineer Jan-Eric Persson, the label has made it its mission to reproduce

voices and instruments as naturally as possible. To achieve this, Opus 3 selects recording environments with good natural. The label's recording techniques were developed specifically for acoustic music and were originally based on the use

of tube gear and “Blumlein” miking. In 2001, Opus 3 switched to digital eight-track technology and later to 16 channels – in the brand-new mixing and mastering studio designed and set up by Sweden's leading acoustic engineer Lennart Nilsson

to mark the label's 30th anniversary. Apart from a few digital intermediate steps all processing is still done exclusively analog.

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" LP cleaner to wet wash your vinyl. Even new records of high quality production will benefit from this.

Title

Side A
1.    Lonesome Valley
2.    Come On In My Kitchen
3.    No Matter How She Done It
4.    Autumn Rime
5.    Do You Call That A Buddy?
6.    Jesus Gonna Be Here
7.    Out Of The Rain

Side B
1.    All Around Man
2.    Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues
3.    Mandolinferno
4.    How Long, How Long Blues
5.    Only A Woman
6.    You Can't Get That Stuff No More
7.    Wade In The Water