CLEARFIELD – Anthony Gomes will perform in Clearfield at 120 Pub & Grub on Nov. 28.
He is currently on tour in support of his new album Peace, Love & Loud Guitars, which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Blues Charts.
Gomes has been carving out his own space as an unapologetically rock-influenced bluesman and songwriter since first coming to national attention in the 1998.
Gomes’ new record, Peace, Love & Loud Guitars, is the culmination of a life spent honoring blues traditions while never losing sight of his own identity.
He writes memorable new songs that exist somewhere between Willie Dixon and Billy Gibbons. He stands his ground as a creative artist, not a derivative history lesson, and is eager to push the blues back into the mainstream.
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Gomes relocated to Chicago in the late 1990’s.
During a brief stint as a sideman for Magic Slim and the Teardrops, Gomes put together his own group and won the first annual Buddy Guy’s Legends “Best Unsigned Blues Band” competition in 1998.
Later that year, Gomes released his debut CD, “Blues in Technicolor,” which introduced him as a guitar-slinger loaded with impressive firepower.
On 2002’s “Unity,” he accomplished the album’s title with a heavy mix of styles leading Bandit Blues Radio to name it one of the “Top 30 Essential Blues Albums” of all time.
Gomes was elevated to the top of the blues field just one year later when BluesWax Magazine named him “Artist of the Year,” a nomination he would claim for several years in a row due to his endless commitment and touring.
“Music Is the Medicine” (2006) peaked at number four on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart, only to be outdone by LIVE (2008) debuting at No. 1.
The accolades continued, with “Up 2 Zero” (2012), “… Before The Begining” (2013) and Electric Field Holler (2015) all claiming real estate on Billboard’s Top 10 Album chart and critics ‘best of’ lists.
Gomes has taken his blues to 17 countries and performed with luminaries like B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Robert Plant, Heart, Sammy Hagar, Joe Bonamassa, .38 Special, Jonny Lang, Robert Cray and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
His high-level guitar, vocal and songwriting skills have made him one of the top drawing artists in the blues/rock world.
His 2015 release Electric Field Holler, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Blues Chart and he has had five records make the Top 10 there, including 2008’s Live, which debuted at No. 1 and his song “Love Sweet Love” has racked up over 3.5 million plays on Spotify.
Fresh from his victory at the European Blues Awards for “Best Musician/Live Performance” comes Anthony’s latest Peace, Love & Loud Guitars.
He bares heart and soul on “Come Down,” a modern work song with the startling plea “Come down from heaven B.B. King, cause this kingdom has no king.”
“White Trash Princess” describes a princess from “Texarkana” who “keeps a loaded gun, right next to her bible,” for a memorable aural portrait of a femme fatale.
Gomes always crafts memorable content, with the grinding slow drag “Blues in the First Degree” a prime example.
Over industrial strength crunch guitars he modulates his voice from accusingly corrosive to purringly sweet while a soaring guitar solo with cascading finger tapping nails the indictment.
Gomes waxes tender on “You Are Amazing,” a classic R&B ballad that should become a standard.
The anthemic blues-rock of the hopeful title track could be a new motto for the post-Woodstock generation.
Acknowledging the past, Gomes pays tribute to Robert Johnson while creating his own crossroads legend on “Stealin’ from the Devil.”
Gomes has nothing left to prove while leaving all his passion on the table. Nonetheless, he continues striving to not only find the legendary “lost chord,” but the ultimate combinations of words, notes and performance.