updated 7/2/08...

New album in the can and new band line-up on the road...
The Chris Duarte Group finished their 2nd album with Shrapnel Records in June! The sessions were once again at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California with Mike Varney also back as Producer. Recording took place from June 3rd to the 19th. The sessions were the last performances of bandmates Jeff Reilly (drums) and Joseph Patrick Moore (bass). Jeff is moving to Southern California and Joseph is catching up on other business that he had set aside previously in order to play with Chris this past year. The Chris Duarte Group is now on the road with a new line-up consisting of Chris Burroughs on drums and Joel Powell on bass. They will be going to Italy in the second half of July. It will be a very musical summer with new songs from the album being roadtested!

Chris Duarte and Bluestone Tour announced...
Chris Duarte will be rejoining the great Japanese band Bluestone for a tour this summer! Dates are listed for August and September (go to DATES for more info). If you have not seen this explosive combination I strongly urge you to go see them, they just keep getting better and better with each tour! There is also talk of a possible album in the works! For some great interviews and live footage click HERE.

Chris Duarte meets Roger Mayer
While recently on tour in Europe, Chris got to meet legendary pedalmaker Roger Mayer who came out to hear the band play in Sussex on 4/14 at the Boom Boom Club north of London. Roger Mayer designed Jimi Hendrix's pedals and the Octavia pedal (Chris used to play one of these years ago as part of his array of pedals. It is a silver V-shaped flying saucer-looking pedal). Mayer's one of the most famous names in pedals, and it just so happened that Chris had taken his Mayer designed Voodoo-vibe pedal out for the European tour since it runs on batteries (he didn't want to mess with European electrical currents).

Help spread the word...
There is a "movement" afoot in the taping community, namely at the site bt.etree.org. This is a site which is strictly for "taper friendly" artists only. Chris Duarte now has a category of his own, instead of being in the "other" category. There are now over 25 different shows available of CDG and Bluestone Co. But we need more. If there is any way to encourage fans who tape CDG to go to the site and upload some shows, it would really be great. As we both know, the "Jam Band" community is very much fueled by word of mouth, and the more Chris and Bluestone Co. appear on sites like this, having been recorded by numerous people through the years, the more validity and credibility they attain within that whole scene. I specifically sought out that site to mainly upload Bluestone shows to try and expose them to the Government Mule fans, as they are often compared to Mule, mainly due to Toshi. But as I was writing the text, trying to describe what makes Bluestone fit so well into the jam band scene, I couldn't help but feeling that most of what I was referring to applied to the Chris Duarte Group as well. The long shows, the varied set-lists, the long improvisational jams- all jam jand prerequisite-type stuff. So, after the first Bluestone upload, when it became apparent that Chris already had his own fans on the site, I began uploading Chris Duarte Group shows as well. The first upload, a Bluestone gig from Columbus that I taped, has been downloaded over 280 times so far! Some CDG shows are not far behind. The hardcore tapers out there are heavily involved in message boards, forums and the like. They are always talking about the upcoming gigs that they plan to record, and that's how word spreads. If we can get enough interest from the tapers that flock to taper-friendly gigs in droves, then the jam band community will likely follow - no money or advertising needed! To me, the Mississippi Allstars are a perfect example of a band which is kind of on the "middle" tier of the jam band scene, but whose success and income would be a nice upgrade for Chris and all involved. While I will always prefer to see Chris with 200 people in a small club as a trio, if there is a way to get him, with either band, playing BIG jam band festivals on weekends, or opening for some of the big acts in the scene for weeks at a time, then I'm gonna pursue it. Of course with anything, luck always plays a part. But I don't think that pretty girls in sunflower dresses and tie-dye T-shirts dancing and grooving to "Screenwriters Blues" on a hot summer day at an outdoor festival is all that unrealistic of a vision. Chris could be the one and only flat-out "Guitar God" of the whole scene. I know, I'm getting carried away, but I really feel that Chris's whole range of musical styles and influences, his work ethic, his undeniable talent, along with the all-important "soul" factor, would be much better appreciated by the jam band audience than the smaller (and far more close-minded) blues crowd. So check out the site to download/upload some shows and spread the word!

This is a 2-cd set of live recordings from 1992 to 2007 and features several songs that even die-hard fans have never heard before! Includes "Screenwriter's Blues", "Boogie-Stop Shuffle", "Memorial Field" and much, much more. It is 160 minutes of sonic bliss, but is a limited pressing and then they're gone. Chris has 600 on the road and I have 250 copies available here. Click HERE to order yours!

Listed below are some other releases which feature Chris Duarte as a guest artist or which feature the entire Chris Duarte Group...

"BLUESTONE CO."

Get this rockin' cd from the Japanese band Bluestone! It features Chris Duarte on five cuts (and he wrote the lyrics!). Go to the Reviews page below to see concert photos of Chris Duarte and Bluestone. You can get the cd online here:
BLUESTONE CD
(www.buymusicdirect.com)

BLUEBARI JAM

Chris Duarte is a guest artist on "BLUEBARI JAM", a new CD by the Will Scruggs Jazz Fellowship. Chris tears it up on a bluesy cut called "Willy's Little Men". Will Scruggs, a sax player, recorded the album in Atlanta and it was also produced by former CDG drummer Damien Lewis. Get your copy by clicking here.

"The Benefit Concert" Volume 2

This is a 2-cd set of a live concert by Warren Haynes with the Chris Duarte Group on two cuts. The show was from December 21, 2000, in Asheville, North Carolina, and was known as "The Christmas Jam". The CDG line-up at the time had Jason Patterson on drums and bassist Robert Kearns had just joined the band a few weeks earlier. Other guests include the Allman Brothers, Government Mule, and more. You can get the cd online here:
BENEFIT CONCERT CD

"Retrospective 1991-2006"

Also available is a cd from Tracy Conover that has
the Chris Duarte Group on three cuts back when Ed Miles
and John Jordan were in the band. You can get the cd
online at www.tracyconover.com

Rippin' Live Concert DVD!

Check out this full-length concert of Chris Duarte backed up by the Japanese band Bluestone! Recorded during Chris's tour of Japan in January of 2006, this show features 2-1/2 hours of Chris Duarte performing CDG classics as well as many Bluestone songs. Bluestone, a band also known as The Savoy Truffle, got together with Chris Duarte for a brief Japanese tour early in 2006 and this is one of those shows in its entirety. Chris and the band are great and have a nice Allman Brothers/Government Mule-type groove to the sound. Bluestone has played together for many years before joining up with Chris Duarte and it shows, they are a perfect group to back Chris up. With two drummers, a solid bassist, and an excellent guitar player, Toshihiro Sumitomo, who also plays a mean slide throughout, give the music a tight, rock-solid groove. The dvd was shot from a house camera (meaning it's one fixed shot of the band), but the wonderful sound is direct off the soundboard with crunching clarity! The dvd contains 21 songs, including many you have never heard before! Available HERE or get a copy from Chris Duarte himself at a concert near you!

"AXPLORATIONS"

This eagerly-awaited comprehensive instructional guitar dvd by Chris Duarte is available from the Hal Leonard company at this link below:
AXPLORATIONS DVD

The photo below, by Chris Whitney, is a still shot from the shooting of the dvd.