Album Notes

“No Frills” is roots music, fingerpicked country blues, bottleneck slide on a 1931 National and blues mandolin. There's gritty, traditional style acoustic blues (Alla My Money, Boom Boom, Headache Blues); stories of everyday people that never seem to get it (Set You Free) or that need a break from their lives to find some excitement even if it leads to murder (Make Her Smile)! Then there are glimpses into the lives of those that not only accept but really love their little everyday worlds (The Night Away) or that seek a friendly place when mama kicks you out of house (Baja Room). In this all-solo recording, Loren wrote, arranged, performed, recorded and produced all of the tracks. The song Boom Boom from this CD has been in the All-time Blues Top 10 on Garageband.com since early 2004, receiving over 100 reviews from enthusiastic reviewers all over the world.

About Loren…
Currently residing in Battle Ground, Washington just across the big river from Portland, Oregon; he played guitar, bass and mandolin throughout the latter half of the 70’s in a country rock band in bars all over the Cleveland, Ohio area. Then, inspired initially by the music of Ry Cooder and Jorma Kaukonen (with Hot Tuna), he focused on the country blues and fingerstyle blues guitar. That led to delving more deeply into the history of the blues and learning more about the early masters such as Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Sleepy John Estes, Reverend Gary Davis, the mandolin of Yank Rachell and many, many more.

These days he’s mainly a solo acoustic performer and luthier, producing many of the guitars and mandolins with which he performs.