Album Notes

As the leader of Greek blues band Small Blues Trap, Paul Karapiperis has become known for his raspy, guttural vocal style and fiery, take-no-prisoners harmonica playing.

Paul's unleashed more of the same upon us with his new solo album,"Fifteen Raindrops In An Ocean Of Blues Tales".

The record starts out with the short, Delta-like harmonica instrumental "Welcome Onboard! Clap Your Hands!" the perfect intro to a disc ripe with raw, emotional moaning at midnight blues.

"A Voodoo Woman Can..." is a foot-stomping, back-porch blues showcasting Karapiperis' steel slide guitar skills, and nearly a minute of hypnotic tremolo effect as the song fades out - you 're instantly transported to the cotton fields of Mississippi.

"In Wood Alcohol Line" another rural-flavored blues cut, is sparse in instrumentation, but huge in emotional impact.

Karapiperis has a talent for creating emotional depth with very little, often just a harmonica and simple percussion track. "Midnight Ride" is a fine example of that, it's a two-minute-long instrumental that sounds as if Karapiperis' soul exploded and is being filtered through the mouthpiece of his harmonica.

Karapiperis to me has always sounded like a cool hybrid of Tom Waits and Howlin'Wolf. Listen to track "Goodbye My Good Luck" and you 'll see why. The pure, hungry vocal passion of those two artists is present and Karapiperis' vocals only enhance his jagged, piercing, minimalist songwriting.

His style of blues is meant to be felt, you won't have any difficulty feeling music that is this coarse, at times abrasive yet grippingly passionate.

Karapiperis is not trying to rehash traditional blues.
He 's got a style that 's all his own - direct, brutally honest and at times experimental.

The blues has found a home in Greece.



Mark Uricheck (Elmore Magazine)





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