Since first forming The Nick Moss Band Featuring Dennis Gruenling in 2016, master blues guitarist Nick Moss and world class harmonica virtuoso Dennis Gruenling have become torchbearers for traditional electric blues. But rather than repeating what’s come before, the band’s high-energy take on old school Chicago, Texas and West Coast sounds is completely their own. With their new Alligator Records album (their third for the label), Get Your Back Into It!, Chicago native Moss and New Jersey native Gruenling—together with Rodrigo Mantovani on bass, Taylor Streiff on keyboards and Pierce Downer on drums—deliver a deeply rooted, timeless blue collar blues album.
AllMusic says the band, winners of the 2020 Blues Music Award for Blues Band Of The Year, “makes the case for the vitality of old-fashioned Chicago electric blues in the 21st century.” They are among the world’s very best old school blues ensembles, with each musician expertly playing off the others. “We are a rare breed as far as how authentic we like to keep the music,” says Moss. The guitarist proudly represents the city of Chicago as one of the few bluesmen working today to have learned his craft firsthand, directly from many of the genre’s original creators.