Chris Duarte Group emerged on the scene out of Austin, Texas in the early
90’s and gained notoriety after wowing a packed room of industry
insiders at the South X Southwest convention. In the wake of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s
passing, Duarte quickly gained a national reputation as young man imbued with a playing style comparable at times to the late guitarist. After fielding interest from a number of labels, Duarte signed to Silvertone Records and his debut album “Texas Sugar/Strat Magik”
reportedly sold in excess of 100,000 units in the United States, no small feet for a blues/rock guitarist. This coupled with Duarte’s strong commitment to touring, was the impetus for Chris’ winning the “Best New Talent” in Guitar Player’s 1995 Reader’s Poll.
He also finished fourth in the magazine’s “Best Blues Guitarist” category that year
behind legends Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and B.B. King. Throughout the last decade, Duarte honed his chops as a guitarist, songwriter and singer as he recorded three more critically acclaimed records, “Tailspin Headwhack” in 1997, “Love Is Greater Than Me” in
2000 and “Romp” 2003, the latter two of which were on the Zoe/Rounder label.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Duarte has constantly worked on his
growth as a musician and the years of recording culminated
purposefully in this decade’s “Blue Velocity”, “Vantage Point”, “396”
with Bluestone Company and now “Blues In The Afterburner”. All
records aptly showcase many sides of this brilliant artist in the context
of high energy blues rock with moments that bring to mind legendary
artists as diverse as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robin Trower, Jimi Hendrix
and Eric Johnson.
Chris’ recordings have always been rooted firmly in the blues with a
rock and roll edge which further established Duarte as one of the rare
musical talents of his generation. “Blues In The Afterburner” continues
in the tradition of smokin’ blues with doses of heavy psychedelia
throughout. Blues In The Afterburner contains a heavy dose of Duarte’s
legendary blues guitar chops over a diverse set of grooves and lyrical
themes.
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