Rio Grande - Rainy Day (2011)

The mighty state of Mississipi is the cradle of what is considered to be the most ancient blues style: the Delta, which evolved from the XIX century end work songs. The word Mississipi derives from the expression Misi Ziibi, which means Big River (Portuguese: Rio Grande) in the Ojibwe people language – one of the largest native-american groups.

By the 80´s, Texas has contributed to the blues revival, which has long been forgotten by the recording companies, radios and the mainstream. The genre became known as Modern Electric Texas Blues. The most important river that crosses Texas´ dry desert landscape and also serves as a natural frontier reference between the USA and Mexico is also called by the Texans Rio Grande.

In this fusion between the traditional and contemporaneous context Rio Grande Band has been created. It´s a project that aims to disseminate the oldest and most diverse musical genre in the north American culture to the southern lands. The band tastefully blends many blues sub-genres, effectively embracing the culture of over a century in musical evolution. Besides the Delta and the Modern Electric Texas, their gigs are filled with Chicago, Slow, Detroit, Urban, East and West Coast, Louisiana, Funk Blues and Blues Rock flavors.

To translate all those influences in their own musical language, Rio Grande Band has released in 2011 their first CD, an independent album called “Rainy Day”. Comprised of 10 original songs it had special guest appearance by Marcos Ottaviano.