Trance Blues is dance music for movement played with Mississippi and roots-blues rhythmic themes. The theme or pattern is played at the beginning of the song by some or all of the musicians depending on how the public inspires them at the time. The musicians who do not play the theme play in unison, a counter melody or nothing at all as they choose. The music is fresh, not nostalgic.

Rhythm and improvisation are the main ingredients. Repetitive rhythms give movement to the songs but the songs can sound different at every concert. Solos are used only to reinforce the rhythm, beat and feeling and reduced to a minimum. The Trance Blues idea is the natural outcome of my 40 years’ experience with music and performing in all parts of the world. For these recordings I use two guitars, drums and harmonica. Because there is no bass player, it is possible to have additional rhythmic patterns and chording possibilities from the second guitar as well as more space and air in the music as the bass frequency is not always there. It also gives the music a different feeling, swing and bounce. Simple analogue effects add tones and help create the “trance” mood of these recordings. Moog, tremolo, reverb, delay, vibrato and a Leslie organ cabinet were used to make Trance Blues. I purposely chose existing songs for this album, a selection from a variety of backgrounds and musical styles. The songs date from the 1930s to the late 1960s and include composers as diverse as Billy Boy Arnold, William Brown, Allen Toussaint and Charlie Musselwhite. The idea was to show what you can do giving songs the Trance Blues treatment.

After seeing the Junior Wells - Buddy Guy Band he put his first real band together, Blue Lightning. They played material by Junior Wells, Jimmy Rogers, Aleck "Rice" Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II), and also James Cotton and Muddy Waters. Dunn's second band was called the Honeydrippers which was a guitar/saxophone driven group. Dunn presently lives in the Netherlands. He has performed with James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin, Roy Eldridge, Big Walter Horton, Lurrie Bell, Jimmy Rogers and Big Mama Thornton. He works as a record producer and gives master classes in harmonica. He regularly tours with The Love Gloves and The International Blues Band and also appears as a guest musician with different artists, for instance Big Jack Johnson.

That Keith is an exceptional songwriter is made evident by his thirteen compositions on this CD. "Need To Make A Dollar" a song about joblessness leading to crime and "Strange Things Are Happening" a chronicle of inner-city problems caused by the US government received songwriting awards from the ISC. The attention brought to Alone With The Blues by these awards caused the CD to be boycotted in some places. When asked about this Keith's response was, "I am happy for the debate that the boycott of Alone With The Blues has caused. These are subjects that should be discussed." In addition to the awards, the record has received favorable reviews from Living Blues in the USA, Blues and Rhythm in England, Soul Bag in France and Concerto in Austria, Alone With The Blues has enjoyed airplay in Russia, Brazil, Australia and Japan as well as throughout Europe and the USA.

Keith Dunn Alone with the Blues 1998 - http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/keithdunn