On May 12, historic avant-garde blues guitarist Loren Connors is receiving a beautiful reissue of his 1990 album Blues: The “Dark Paintings” of Mark Rothko courtesy of Indianapolis-based label Family Vineyard. Connors first released the 1990 album under the name Guitar Roberts through his own label, St. Joan, in an edition of 300. You basically can’t find it nowadays (though looks like there’s one copy on Discogs for $80 if you want to be that guy), and the reissue is a doubly good call given the recent reevaluation of dark, bluesy guitar by the likes of Darkside, Dirty Beaches, etc.
As the title suggests, Rothko’s work inspired Connor’s playing here, and the reissue cover art is an untitled 1969 painting by the artist (above), one that influenced the album in particular. The vinyl reissue will also include the original LP jacket as an inner sleeve and liner notes by music critic and poet Byron Coley.
You can listen to “Blues No. 4” all nice and remastered by Taylor Deupree below, and you can pre-order the album here.
• Loren Connors: https://www.facebook.com/LorenConnors.guitarist
• Family Vineyard: http://family-vineyard.com