Riverside Blues

Riverside Blues is an acoustic blues band from Montreal, influenced primarily by performers of the 30's & 40's like: Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Reverend Gary Davis, and contemporaries such as Keb`Mo, Taj Mahal and Colin Linden.

Riverside Blues was created in 2001, and since, has been playing the blues scene in Montreal. In the beginning Riverside Blues was a trio of which Martin Goyette, vocals and harmonica, was a member. Born in Montreal, in 1977, Martin Goyette started playing the harmonica at the age of 18 influenced by Little Walter, James Cotton, and Sonny Boy Williamson I. Some time later he became the singer for a group called Dirty Blues band which won a blues competition in Valleyfield in 1998. The Dirty Blues band played the region of Vaudreuil-Dorion and started piercing the Montreal blues scene. Unfortunately the group disbanded and a while later Martin Goyette was asked to be the lead singer of Kingdom Blues. They played the Montreal area for two years. During this time he decided to form the Riverside Blues along with two friends and talented guitarists, Patrick Robert and Tytus Zurawski.

Patrick Robert was born in France in 1976 and decided to come to Canada to expand musically. His style is primarily influenced by jazz guitarists like Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, and Charlie Christian. Patrick Robert has since been a guitarist with several local bands. He went from funk to blues while going through jazz and popular music. Tytus Zurawski, a finger picking guitarist in the pure tradition of the delta, was influenced by Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, and Stefen Grossman. When Tytus Zurawski started playing guitar, about 10 years ago, he studied with Michael Jerome Brown to learn his finger picking style.

The three won the Festiblues competition in 2002 and play in different pubs and venues in the Montreal region. In November 2003 they were invited to the Festival Blues sur Seine in France for a series of concerts and the opening act with Bob Walsh. The latter could not be present and Martin Goyette was asked to replace him in the Bob Walsh band and the school of music of Mante la Jolie. July 10, he was asked to play at le Cabaret du Saint Cyrille with Cisco Herzaft, a guitarist who also played with John Lee Hooker. Last August Martin Goyette was invited to participate in a show with the crew of Belle et Bum with Normand Bratwhaite. At the start of September he replaced Guy Bélanger of the Bob Walsh Blues band.

The start of 2004 saw a few changes for Riverside Blues with the addition of a bassman and percussions. Jack Fire, bassman born in Belgium in 1967, established himself in Montreal about a year ago after having lived a few years in Los Angeles where he played with Bill Tapia, a ukulele player (who played with Louis Armstrong), and Jim Phantom, drummer for the Stray Cats. Jack Fire continued with The Resophonics and near the end of the 90's he was a member of a Belgium group called the Dominos. Juan Caicedo, percussions, was born in Columbia in 1977 and came to Montreal to study jazz at McGill University. He since has played with a number of Montreal bands and was a finalist at a singing competition in Granby.

Riverside Blues is now an acoustic blues quintet, performing standard arrangements like:
Stop breaking down (Robert Johnson)
Guess what it taste like gravy (Tampa Red)
Going to Chicago (Big Bill Broonzy)
Shake it and break it (Charlie Patton)
Baby let me lay on you (Reverend Gary Davis)
Pigmeat (Blind Boy Fuller)
You can love yourself (Keb`Mo)
plus some originals which will surely wake the spirit of the purists and those wanting to discover the essence of blues: feeling.