Chris is releasing a collection of eleven CDs, a DVD of "Dancing Down The Stony Road" and a collection of his paintings, plus photographic and written insights into the journey that spanned the creation of this epic release, all bound in a wonderful deluxe book package. The idea was to create an all-encompassing body of artistic work keeping pace with his new-found output and also his desire to approach things in a different and interesting way. Having created the cover of "Stony Road" and interpreted the cover of "The Blue Juke Box" the close relationship between his music and his painting was defined. This relationship was clearly leading in one direction, a ground-breaking idea to link the two driving forces in his life. The idea of "Blue Guitars" was born. This work includes eleven albums from Chris Rea in one book pack, 130 brand new Chris Rea songs inspired by the blues ranging globally across all his own interpretations of this musical form, songs that Chris believes are some of his best to date.
He now had a body of work that would in normal circumstances have taken a decade to create; songs that conjured up all his favourite musical influences that had set him off down the road nearly thirty years previously. Instead of releasing all the albums in one go, or over a period of six months or a year, he decided to create something that combines his paintings with his music. Not out of some egocentric notion that his paintings and music would be appreciated in the same way, but simply that they are now inextricably linked. In order to underline the accessibility of the creation, he wanted to retail it at a very low price. As Chris aptly sums up: "Blue Guitars" is something I have loved to create, and has been eighteen months, seven days a week, twelve hours a day in the making and I have enjoyed every single second of it. The research, the recording, the writing has inspired me and I hope the enjoyment and fun I have had comes across. "Although I have been inspired by the blues, this is not a series of albums that is meant to educate.
This is a collection of songs that, even if you have never even thought of the blues as being close to your heart, you can still enjoy because the roots of Motown right through to metal have their roots somewhere in the blues. I hope you enjoy it." The eleven CDs are titled as follows: "Beginnings"; "Country Blues"; "Louisiana and New Orleans"; "Electric Memphis Blues"; "Texas Blues"; "Chicago Blues"; "Blues Ballads"; "Gospel Soul Blues and Motown"; "Celtic and Irish Blues"; "Latin Blues" and finally 60's and 70's.