Michael Messer
| Michael Messer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 February 1956 Middlesex, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, slide guitarist, record producer |
| Instruments | Steel guitar |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Labels | PT, Appaloosa, Scratch, Catfish, Cooking Vinyl, Knife Edge |
| Associated acts | Terry Clarke, Manish Pingle, Lucy Zirins, Ted Hawkins, S.E. Rogie, Earl, |
| Website | Official website |
Michael Messer (born 28 February 1956) is an English singer, songwriter, slide guitarist and record producer. He is noteworthy for his ability to combine acoustic National steel guitar, as well as slide guitar, into his playing style. The American magazine, Spirit, listed Messer as one of the greatest slide guitarists alongside Duane Allman and Ry Cooder.
Messer is included in the Virgin Encyclopaedia of the Blues. He also appeared in his own 'blues' episode of the BBC Television show, ZingZillas.
Messer was born in Middlesex, England. In his formative years, Messer played rock and roll, both with his two brothers and in a succession of local bands. He moved to the United States while in his early twenties and in Nashville, Tennessee, both met and heard the country music performances of Roy Acuff, Hank Snow and Johnny Cash. After returning to England, he purchased his own National steel guitar in 1979 and taught himself to play in a delta blues style. He performed solo and in several line-ups, before meeting Ed Genis in 1983. A working relationship with Genis was formed that has lasted to the present day. Through Genis and the blues circuit, Messer met the singer Mike Cooper, and the two of them provided studio work on Ian A. Anderson's 1984 album, The Continuous Preaching Blues.
He formed the Michael Messer Band in 1985, and this initially included Messer (guitar and vocals), Ed Genis (guitar and vocals), Andy Crowdy (bass and vocals) and Jeffro Robertson (drums). Their debut album was Diving Duck (1988). In 1989, Messer's band played on Ted Hawkins album, I Love You Too. Messer’s second album, Slidedance, was released in 1990 and one year later, he won the UK Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year Award, sponsored by the BBC. He began to gain a reputation for incorporating different musical genres, as well as the blues, into his work. These included elements of Hawaiian slide guitar, reggae, jazz and King Sunny Adé's style of world music. Messer noted at that time that "If you look at what was happening in this country, and also what I was doing at that time, there's a big world music influence, which we were all very into - I was also, at that time, producing tracks with S.E. Rogie and with Ted Hawkins ... I intentionally made the album so it wasn't a blues album". A similar fusion was adopted on the follow-up, 1993's, Rhythm Oil. This was a joint collaboration between Messer, Terry Clarke and Jesse Taylor. The album's liner notes were written by Johnny Cash, an honour only shared with Bob Dylan (Nashville Skyline) and Kris Kristofferson. The Austin, Texas based music press named the collection, Import Album of the Year. The accompanying tour saw further experiment and innovation including the use of house and reggae styles, set against a more traditional cover version of Big Maceo Merriweather's "Worried Life Blues".
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