Dutch composer, guitarist and producer Guy Renardeau, known as The Blues Guy, has released The Blues Guy & The SHADES OF BLUE: Colours in Your Mind, a seven-track contemporary blues album featuring an international line-up of vocalists and musicians.
Running for 26 minutes and 51 seconds, the album explores pain, love, resilience, ambition and self-expression through a sound that blends blues with rock, jazz, soul, R&B, ambient music and cinematic composition.
Based in Los Angeles, Renardeau brings a background spanning blues, rock and film and television composition to the project. A headliner at the international Jimi Hendrix Music Festival, he has also worked with and performed alongside a range of established artists. His work has received recognition from music and film organisations internationally, while his industry roles include GRAMMY voting membership and jury positions with BAFTA and the European Film Academy.
Renardeau produced, engineered and largely performed Colours in Your Mind at Apollo Recording & Film Studio, providing a consistent musical foundation for its guest performers. Each track introduces a different collaborator and perspective.
Award-winning singer-songwriter Glenda Benevides appears on “Addicted to the Pain” and “Love on My Mind,” bringing a blues and soul-influenced vocal style to songs centred on emotional experience, relationships and empowerment.
American singer-songwriter Class Vee features on “Nonsense” and “Beautiful Words,” combining contemporary pop and R&B influences with an energetic and personal approach. Polish harmonica player Łukasz “Wiśnia” Wiśniewski joins Renardeau for “Harmonica Blues,” adding another dimension to the album through his distinctive playing.
Canadian singer, songwriter and actor Melody McArthur contributes the lyrics to “Heartache’s on Me,” while Los Angeles-based Dutch-Indonesian soulwriter KIA Knoester appears on “Watch Me Work,” bringing alternative R&B and soul influences to the record.
The album moves through these collaborations in a compact sequence. It opens with Benevides on “Addicted to the Pain,” followed by Class Vee’s “Nonsense,” before shifting into the harmonica-led “Harmonica Blues.” McArthur then contributes to the emotional “Heartache’s on Me,” with Knoester taking the lead on “Watch Me Work.” Class Vee returns for “Beautiful Words,” and Benevides closes the album with “Love on My Mind.”
