PRESS RELEASE — French blues guitarist and singer Tia has developed a unique artistic approach. Winner of the prestigious Blues Passions Prize in Cognac, France, in 2012, she brings a singular sound with her guitar, reinvests the blues in a manner that is more and more personal as the years go by. She likes to explore other currents, from African-American musics to those originating in  »Mother Africa. » Her recent trip to North Mississippi, working on one ot the most innovative musical projects in recent years, along with Cedric Burnside, Cameron Kimbrough, and Sharde Thomas, confirms her outstanding itinerary.

This new album, which Tia releases under her name, is a perfect illustration of a musical journey which is enriched by the originality of her very personal compositions and lyrics and the authenticity of her guitar playing.

Written with her partner, percussionnist Marc Glomeau,  »Lil’ Bird » is an album which reveals fantomatic Mississippi sceneries, which immerses us in the darkness of the bayous, which loses us in the mixed crowd of a New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration. There is something magic in this album which benefits from several exceptional participations: talentuous musician Don Cavalli wrote two magnificient songs for her and Senegalese Ibou Sow’s peul flute illuminates a song by Jessie Mae Hemphill.

Tia returns on stage with this admirable album, accompanied by an amazing trio of musicians whose approaches open up new horizons: Manu Borghi on keys, Xavier Nikqi on upright bass, Marc Glomeau on wax drums and backup vocals.

Come and see Tia on stage starting January, 2018. 

Her thins is the blues. Don’t ask her why. That is how it is. You can’t explain music, you can just live it. Tia just came back from the United States, a two-week journey. […] She even discovered a new paradise: the North Mississippi Hill Country. […] With a strange feeling: « It was like being at home. There is something special going on in this area where musicians play a very hypnotic kind of blues. »

In his « Portrait of the Week », Jean-Paul Boithias writes about Tia’s last trip to the United States, her professional path, and the new album she starting working on, her third, which will be released in the fall of 2017.

Read the full story (in French) in Info Magazine.

American magazine Big City Rhythm & Blues ‘s fall issue features women in the blues. Tia is one of the women who are part of the Screamin’ the blues, a collection of photographs by Francoise Digel, currently being exhibited at the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Arkansas.

The collection was previously exhibited at the Blues Hall of Fame, in Memphis, from May to October. Another picture representing Tia’s hand was featured there, part of the Off the Record collection, along with T-Model Ford, Mickey Rogers et Jimbo Mathus’ hands.

© Francoise Digel

The photo presenting Tia was taken during a private event earlier this year in Memphis.

Why the blues? « It is a music which talks to many people because the way it is built is easy. But in the same time it also is extremely rich with feelings, very human. »

Tia & The Patient Wolves just spent two days at the Coopérative de Mai, in Clermont-Ferrand, preparing their show for the Cognac Blues Passions festival on Saturday, July 6, 2013. They will be opening for Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite. On a stage where Tia remembers having seen Ray Charles, B.B. King…

Here is the report on France 3 (in French).

• Tia Gouttebel: vocals, guitar
• Philippe Monange: keys, percussions
• Jean-Marc Despeignes: bass
• Marc Glomeau: percussions, background vocals
• Alain Baudry: drums, background vocals
• Didier Lamaze and Nico Blanc: sound

It is done. The Cognac Blues Passions festival won’t be able to say it any more. What? That a womand has never won their prestigious Award. Tia, last year, dazzled everybody. The resultat? The Clermont-Ferrand native, who has been living in Lille for the past five years, will perform on July 6 on the big stage, opening for… Ben Harper. It is « awesome! » A « gift from heaven », she says ina big smile.

Julien Dodon, for La Montagne, followed Tia & The Patient Wolves’ two day residence at the Coopérative de Mai, in Clermont-Ferrand, as they were preparing the show for the Cognac Blues Passions festival, after Tia won the Blues Passions Award last year.

Photo David Baerst

Two days after this interview, Tia won the 2012 Cognac Blues Passions Award. An award which will allow her to open for an international star on the big stage, next year, in 2013, in front of 6,000 festival goers. A long overdue award which will, I hope, bring this guitarist and singer to the stages she belongs, along with the major French blues musicians.

This is what David Baerst writes before the transcript of the interview he conducted with Tia for his radio show Route 66 – La voix du blues, on July 5, 2012, in Cognac, during the Cognac Blues Passions festival. An interview during which he goes back to Tia’s musical history, her first tours, her first two albums, and her very special link to the Cognac festival, where she will perform, on the big stage, the Blues Paradise, next year, in 2013.

Read the full interview (in French) on Route 66.