past successful seminars:
Annie Raines Dec 07
Adam Gussow
Mark Hummel
Dennis Gruenling
 - Annie Raines

Annie Raines interview:

Annie Raines is an extremely accomplished veteran blues harmonica player from the Boston Massachusetts area. She has put out several recording with her musical partner Paul Rishell, who is quite an accomplished musician in his own right, playing in concert a variety of guitar styles and instruments.

A good number of us Atlanta Harmonica Enthusiasts saw her and Paul Rishell's show and then even got to have a harmonica workshop with Annie the next day - and it was great!!

Listening to the , you'll notice that Annie thought the Atlanta Harmonica Enthusiasts group was exceptional - so take a listen.

THE MYSTERIOUS "BAD" RIFF

Their latest album at the time of the Harmonica.com January 2006 interview was Goin' Home - they played several selections from the album in their show and all were excellent.

Our interview is interspersed with some live (admittedly low-tech!) recordings we did of their show - all well-worth listening to.

Here's a few excerpts from the interview:

E Matthew: We just had a class together and I just realized that your knowledge is really deep, too, and I think it comes out in your playing and performing, but you're also doing deep music - roots music.

Annie: "That's right - I think it calls on you to think that way, to approach it spiritually. I mean, to me it is. The ghosts of these guy that I've learned from - they hover around sometimes - they used to a lot, when I was learning, because I really wanted - even though they didn't exist, in reality, any more, they existed in my imagination and I wanted to please them, I wanted to impress them and make 'em proud of me, you know? It's one of those things where you have to tell the truth to yourself.

another excerpt:

E Matthew: "You mentioned that it was a kind of a spiritual thing - do you make a connection between spirituality and the actual breath, the breathing?"

Annie: "Well, it IS like that - where you... they say to be inspired is to take up the breath.

E Matthew: "That's right - well, the definition of that's inspiration, isn't it?"

Annie: "And playing harmonica is breathing in music - Jerry Portnoy says that - you are breathing in music as well as breathing out music."

Goin' Home is highly recommended, and look for further recordings coming out later this year (mentioned in interview - as is the "bad riff") - so get their CDs and listen to the interview - this interview is interspersed with live recording snippets from their show the night before- ENJOY!!

Their latest album at the time of the Harmonica.com January 2006 interview was Goin' Home - they played several selections from the album in their show and all were excellent. Goin' Home is highly recommended - here's how you can get yours: