Paul Rishell & Annie Raines
10-19-2024 (Ballroom)
W.C. Handy Award-winners Paul Rishell and Annie Raines are simply one of the best and most innovative blues duos in the world, with a musical rapport and a wide embrace of styles, from Delta heartache to Chicago drive. Paul and Annie bring their magical combination of soulful vocals, National steel guitar and sizzling blues harp once again to the Bull Run. And we love it every time they do.
When 22-year-old harmonica ace Annie Raines first sat in with 42-year-old country blues guitarist Paul Rishell in a Boston bar in 1992, few in the crowd suspected that they were witnessing the beginning of a musical partnership that would span the next thirty years and counting. But after 31 years and six albums, Paul and Annie have become the blues' most dynamic duo, racking up hundreds of thousands of miles on the road in the U.S. and Europe, collaborating on original songs and releasing "I Want You To Know," "Moving To The Country," the W.C. Handy Award winner for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year, "Goin’ Home," which was nominated for two Handy Awards and the live recording "A Night in Woodstock," featuring special guests John Sebastian, Bruce Katz, and their own backing band, Mojo Rodeo (pronounced Ro-DAY-o). Each release earned them multiple Blues Music Award nominations.
As soon as they start playing, their great talent and good vibes lets you relax, forget your cares and smile like you haven’t done for awhile. Critics are smiling on them too. Reviewing their CD/DVD set, "A Night in Woodstock," Elijah Wald wrote in the Boston Globe “the high energy, fast-moving set of mostly blues tunes features Rishell sounding his usual fantastic self on acoustic, electric and National Steel Guitars and Annie Raines retaining her Queen of the Harp crown!”
Comedian/ Director, David Steinberg in The National Post of Canada said “I have an album called “Moving To The Country by Paul Rishell & Annie Raines that Lyle Lovett recommended to me and it’s just sensational.”
"While their guitar, harmonica and vocals are roiling, muscular and masterful, their shows are down home-friendly and fun-loving." - Scott Alarik, Boston Globe
"Rishell's ability to convey the essence of acoustic Delta Blues is shocking. His guitar playing is tremendous. His vocals are exceptional..." - Skyland Blues News
“…Rishell is a master of country/blues styles, particularly slide played on a National steel guitar. Raines, a rare female ace blues harmonica blower, shows that she is as strong an acoustic country harp accompanist as she is a harder-edged, electrified Chicago-style lead player à la the great Little Walter…” - Billboard