BIOGRAPHY

The Connecticut native's interest in guitar was encouraged by his father and his uncle, jazz musician Louis Mastrobattisto.  Ruest began taking lessons at 15, hoping, rather typically, to emulate blues-based rock guitarists { Duane Allan, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page, but soon discovered the artists who inspired them. Gradually his core group of touchstone artists expanded to include the likes of Hubert Sumlin, Pee Wee Crayton, Robert Nighthawk,Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Pat Hare, EddieTaylor, Freddie King, Luther Tucker, T-bone Walker, Albert Collins, Tiny Grimes, and many others. After playing around New England between the ages of 17 and 25, Ruest resolved to make music his main priority, gave up his factory job, and relocated to Texas in 1999. Already a serious student and lover of traditional blues and blues-oriented jazz artists, the singer guitarist came up through Brian "Hashbrown" Calway's band (justly regarded as the finishing school of choice for aspiring Dallas blues musicians.) He soon began working with the top talent in Dallas and Austin, cultivated solid connections to Texas blues and rock and roll history  through friendships with Sam Myers and Ray Sharpe. ("Linda Lu")
​Chris Ruest belongs to impressive class of serious Texas blues guitarists, a group that includes Johnny Moeller, Shawn Pittman and Nick Curran. While the others may have wider name recognition, Ruest has quietly built a reputation of excellence  that is spreading beyond his Austin home base. A veteran with well over decades experience on the bandstand, Ruest's passion for classic blues ( jump, Chicago and Gulf Coast) and roots rock forms comes through in an original voice that combines immediacy and authenticity. Dead on song writing and savvy selection of covers provide a platform for his unaffected, honest vocals and tough guitar. 2004 brought Ruest's recording debut as a solo artist, " Too Many Problems' , aspirited collection crisp performing in glorious performance in glorious, true-to-vintage sound. The notable players who appeared on that disc, including Preston Hubbard, Matt Farrell and "Kaz Kazanoff in addition to Curran and Hash Brown, offer testimony to the respect Ruest commands among his colleagues. Having performed at clubs and festivals throughout Texas and coast to coast in the United States, Ruest has expanded his touring schedule internationally to include Costa Rica, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, and multiple tours of Sweden. " My goal is to play everywhere and keep playin' '' 
Chris recoded a sophomore CD " No 2nd Chances" (2008); a 3rd release, "Live at Shakespeares with Ronnie James and JD Dtullio" (2011), a collaboration with piano legend Gene Taylor and drummer Brian Faheyof the Paladins, "Too Late Now" (2017, El Toro Records, Spain) and "Been Gone Too Long" (2017, Enviken Records, Sweden). These recordings demonstrate Ruest's winning formula for making outstanding blues records: Guitar playing that ranges from savage to sophisticated, honest vocals and a lockstep connection with the band that gives the set powe, finesse, and a fine tuned dynamic range.
The essence of blues tradition, past, present and future, is in good hands with Chris Ruest.

-Tom Hyslop
(Contributing Editor, Blues Music Magazine)

Featuring Chris Ruest, Preston Hubbard, Eric Mathews, Brian Calway, Kevin Schermerhorn, Matt Farrel, Nick Curran, Kaz Kazonoff and the Texas Horns! Recorded and Engineered by Billy Horton Ft Horton Studios, Austin Tx Chris Ruest belongs to the impressive class of serious Texas blues guitarists in their thirties, a group that includes Johnny Moeller, Shawn Pittman, and Nick Curran. While the others may have wider name recognition, Ruest has quietly built a reputation of excellence that is spreading beyond his Austin home base. A veteran with nearly two decades’ experience on the bandstand, Ruest’s passion for classic blues (jump, Chicago, and Gulf Coast) and roots rock forms comes through in an original voice that combines immediacy and authenticity. Dead-on songwriting and savvy selection of covers provide a platform for his unaffected, honest vocals and tough guitar. 
The Connecticut native’s interest in guitar was encouraged by his father and his uncle, jazz musician Louis Mastrobattisto. Ruest began taking lessons at 15, hoping, rather typically, to emulate blues-based rock guitarists Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page, but soon discovered the artists who inspired them. Gradually his core group of touchstone artists expanded to include the likes of Hubert Sumlin, Pee Wee Crayton, Robert Nighthawk, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Pat Hare, Eddie Taylor, Freddie King, Magic Sam, Robert Lockwood, Luther Tucker, T-Bone Walker, Albert Collins, Tiny Grimes, and many others. After playing around Connecticut between the ages of 17 and 25, Ruest resolved to make music his main priority, gave up his factory job, and relocated to Texas in 1999.

After a brief stay in Austin, where he held down a night at the storied Joe’s Generic Bar, Ruest moved to Dallas at the suggestion of Brian “Hash Brown” Calway, another transplanted Northeasterner who is at the heart of the Dallas-Ft. Worth blues scene. Ruest credits his occasional gigs with Hash Brown as important steps in his development – “He taught Johnny and Jay Moeller and Paul Size and Shawn Pittman - all those guys came through him, and Nick Curran played with him for a while, and Elliot Sowell - some of the best guys came through his band” – and gained valuable experience backing singers Robin Banks and Wanda King (Freddie King’s daughter). His most indelible lessons in blues and life came from the legendary Sam Myers: “When I got to Dallas, I spent a lot of time, like three years, with him. Before he died, I started spending more time with him. I actually did a couple gigs under my name with Sam, which was awesome.” More recently, Ruest has enjoyed the mentorship of Mr. “Linda Lu” himself, the great (and elusive) performer Ray Sharpe. After 7 years in dallas Chris has returned to Austin and has been playing there for 4 years.

Ruest’s band has opened for Bobby “Blue” Bland, Johnny Winter, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, and Little Charlie and the Nightcats. 2005 brought Ruest’s recording debut as a solo artist, Too Many Problems, a spirited collection that captured crisp performances in glorious, true-to-vintage sound. The notable players who appeared on that disc, including Preston Hubbard, Matt Farrell, and “Kaz” Kazanoff in addition to Curran and Hash Brown, offer testimony to the respect Ruest commands among his colleagues. Now expanding his performance schedule to a wider circuit that includesHouston, Corpus Christi, andSan Antonio, and club and festival dates outside Texas, Ruest recorded a follow-up CD  No 2nd Chances that went to #1 on living blues charts and #3 on BB KIngs Bluesville.  “My goal is to play everywhere and keep playin’.” written by tom hyslop "blues revue magazine"

Featuring Chris Ruest, Gene Taylor, Eric Mathews, Ben Prengler, Ralf Ibarra, Greg Izor, Derek Bosanova, Dan Torosian, and Nick Curran! Produced by Nick Curran Recorded and engineered  by Billy Horton at Ft Horton Studios Austin Tx It's been about five years since Chris Ruest released the criminally under-recognized Too Many Problems, a terrific set of '50s-inspired blues and rock. Those who heard it and have been awaiting its follow-up have at last been rewarded: Ruest is back with a sophomore album. No 2nd Chances picks up where the guitarist left off: writing and performing vintage-style R&B with soul, personality, feel, and chops. Ruest's guitar work is toneful, tough, and electrifying; his singing is exciting, with stutters, yelps, and shadings clearly conveying emotions and moods. Relocating from Dallas to Austin put Ruest in contact with Nick Curran, who produced No 2nd Chances and who plays on it, along with notables like Gene Taylor of The Blasters and The Fabulous Thunderbirds on piano, and members of The Lowlifes (Derek Bossanova, piano; Billy Horton, bass) and The Rockets (Eric Przygocki, bass; Greg Izor, harp). Dynamics and band interplay are outstanding across the board; the Chicago-style "Unclaimed Freight," with its swooping, dramatic harmonica break, insistent piano, and rolling guitar solo that pushes the band to crescendos during the ride out is but one instance. Recording again at Fort Horton Studios helped ensure the truest-to-vintage fidelity possible; it seems as if all the best-sounding contemporary projects come through the Horton Brothers' tape machines. The music is a satisfying survey of classic roots styles. Hard-riffing horns and hammering piano drive the chugging New Orleans R&B of "You Ain't Right"; "No Use But O' Well" takes off over a tough box shuffle drawn straight from Ray Sharpe's "Linda Lu"; Nick Curran shouts "I Wanna Rock Ya," with the ghosts of Wynonie Harris and Gatemouth Brown inhabiting the jumping number. For "In This Heart Of Mine," a tribute to Sam Myers, Ruest appropriately channels the slide guitar style of his mentor's onetime bandmate, Elmore James. Among the other influences threading their way through the set are Little Willie John; Little Walter and the Aces on "Get What You Want"; a bold combination of Freddie King, Ike Turner, and Johnny "Guitar" Watson on the pop-R&B confection "No Room For 2nd Chances"; and Watson again, in the "Space Guitar"-inflected Ruest-Curran guitar romp "Late Nite Shuffle." We are reminded that artists adopt personae and do not necessarily write directly from personal experience. For Ruest's sake, let's hope that is true, because No 2nd Chances takes as its primary material some very dark subjects. In addition to the eulogy for Sam Myers, there is one for (I hope) a dog (the disturbing "Poor Little Greta"); other songs are concerned with desperate loneliness, and heartbreak is a recurring theme. What saves No 2nd Chances from desolation - apart from its deep, tasteful musicianship and raw, rocking feeling - is the sense of humor that balances and relieves the negative emotions ("Hit You With My Guitar" and "'You Suck" are but two examples). And isn't one of the paradoxes at the heart of the blues singing about feeling bad in order to feel good? Chris Ruest knows the blues. Highly recommended. TOM HYSLOP Contributing editor, Blues Revue

Over the last five decades, the piano player and singer Gene Taylor has performed or recorded with a who’s who of music legends, from Rick Nelson and Doug Sahm to Lowell Fulson, Big Joe Turner, and The Red Devils. He has been a member of the most storied modern-day blues bands: Canned Heat, The Blasters, The James Harman Band, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. His mastery of classic blues, boogie-woogie, and rock and roll is also on full display on five titles as a leader. The veteran drummer Brian P. Fahey’s resumé includes time with Bill Haley’s Comets, William Clarke, Lynwood Slim, and Smokey Wilson. In addition to his definitive stick work with The Paladins. Fahey continues to play and record with blues artists in styles ranging from uptown swing to deep Chicago shuffles. The youngest member of the band, guitarist and singer  Chris Ruest, has been a vital part of the Texas music scene for nearly 20 years, forging close ties with Brian “Hash Brown” Calway, Ray Sharpe, and the late Nick Curran and Preston Hubbard. His three albums display a deep knowledge of real blues guitar, bulls-eye songwriting aim, and a true killer instinct.  It’s Too Late Now was born after Taylor relocated to Austin, TX, from Belgium, and began to work with Ruest. The set covers a wide range of blues history. Taylor opens with “Crazy Mixed Up World”; powers through Blue Smitty’s “Date Bait,” another post-war Chicago classic; and turns to an earlier era with the lilting “Lost and Lonely Child.” Ruest’s witty, New Orleans-inspired “Keep Talking” features his switchblade guitar over a Professor Longhair-esque piano figure and second-line drums. Taylor plays Little Johnny Jones to Ruest’s Elmore James on “That Will Never Do,” and cuts loose on the jumping “Torpedo Boogie.” The band pushes “I Tried,” a sizzling, Texas-style rocker, into the stratosphere. Ruest’s lowdown “Mr. Policeman” comes across like a lost side from the early Sun Records days; “I’m Down” rides a nervous, country blues rhythm. Taylor submits two gospel-inflected songs: the rollicking “Too Late to Stop Now,” with its slamming backbeat, and “Slipping Away,” which ends the set on a spiritual note.   The musicianship throughout is subtle, stinging, and superb. Fahey paces every track perfectly. Taylor’s approach to this music is second to none. On the stunning “Life Like Lightning,” he contributes perfect accompaniment and a powerful solo, while Ruest sings a catalog of woes and lays down tremendous, Muddy Waters-inspired slide. Ruest has in fact developed quite an original touch on slide guitar, whether he is riffing on Muddy, extending Tampa Red’s ideas (“Lonely Child”), adding steel guitar-style lines to the gospel numbers, providing an edgy, very vocal rhythm for “I’m Down,” or boldly approximating Little Walter’s harp on “Crazy, Mixed Up World.” Beyond his guitar playing, Ruest’s collaboration with Taylor and Fahey is remarkable. It’s Too Late Now hits all the essential points. It’s perfectly recorded, at Fort Horton (of course), and its fine, often dark, original songs actually sound original – a rare accomplishment in traditional music.                     TOM HYSLOP http://www.eltororecords.com/eltorowebshop/product_info.php?info=p413_CHRIS-RUEST-AND-GENE-TAYLOR---IT-S-TOO-LATE-NOW.html

https://www.amazon.com/Live-Shakespeares-Chris-Ruest-Band/dp/B00IT72PNG FOR HARD COPIES CONTACT ME @ [email protected] put cd info purchase in the subject matter Featuring Chris Ruest, Ronnie James, and JD DiTullio! Recorded and mixed by Gos Blank Record Review If you haven’t been paying attention to his career, this is the short version of what you need to know: Chris Ruest is the real thing. The New Englander has been a resident of Texas for well over a decade. Already a serious student and lover of traditional blues and blues-oriented jazz artists, the singer-guitarist came up through Brian “Hash Brown” Calway’s band (justly regarded as the finishing school of choice for aspiring Dallas blues musicians), and has worked with many of the Lone Star State’s most important talents, including the great Ray Sharpe (“Linda Lu”). Ruest cut his third CD, Live at The Shakespeare Pub, in March of this year, with JD Ditullio on drums, and the great Ronnie James (Nightcats, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmie Vaughan, Nick Moss) on bass. This brand new album revisits only a few selections from Ruest’s previous releases, 2005’s Too Many Problems and 2011’s No 2nd Chances (both excellent sets, recorded with all-star bands and loaded with well-written original tunes), but those provide an overview of his stylistic range. “Poor Lil’ Greta,” Chris’s apologetic ode to a deceased pet, spotlights slide guitar and a deep blues groove, both unmistakably cut from Muddy Waters’s slow blues template. “My Baby Loves Me,” with its swaggering shuffle and slashing slide guitar figure, is firmly in the tradition of Elmore James. And “You Suck” lulls us into thinking it is a garden-variety you’re-mistreating-me song, until Ruest sings the laugh-out-loud funny chorus. James and Ditullio lay down a quirky, throwback R&B groove a mile wide, reminiscent of “I’m Shakin’.” The balance of the playlist expands on these elements with intelligently selected covers that give insight into, and pay tribute to, some of Ruest’s favorite artists. He dials up the reverb for a harrowing take on Magic Sam’s fabulous (and rarely covered) “Out of Bad Luck,” replete with a blistering guitar break, and ratchets up the rumba feel behind an update of Arthur Crudup’s “Mean Ole Frisco,” filtered through B.B. King’s version, with lead guitar that nails King’s ’50s style. There’s a strong take on Muddy’s “Champagne and Reefer,” a hard-shuffling adaptation of Lonesome Sundown’s swamp classic “Don’t Say A Word,” and two of Elmore’s greatest songs: a bristling romp through “Cry For Me” and a greasy reading of the stop-time Latin-influenced “Can’t Stop Loving My Baby.” I know “Bark” best from the Darrell Nulisch-era Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets; the band deftly handles this loping shuffle. What do Elmore James and The Rockets have in common? Why, Sam Myers, of course. The harmonica great was a bluesman in the truest sense of that now-debased word, and perhaps the strongest influence felt by Ruest, who acted as the legend’s right-hand-man during the last three years of Sam’s life. Ruest pays tribute to his close friend by singing Sam’s “Sad Lonesome Day,” adorning the slow blues with elegant guitar lines à la King and Funderburgh, and his vintage gem “Sleepin’ in the Ground,” which presents Ruest’s guitar playing at its meanest, dirtiest, and most low-down. The presence of the proto-punk nugget “Strychnine” reflects the influence of another of Ruest’s closest friends. The late, great Nick Curran was a fearless free spirit who was apt to follow a T-Bone Walker chestnut with a selection from the catalog of The Stooges, or to pair a Little Richard song with an AC/DC number. Viewed in that light, the seemingly improbable inclusion of The Sonics’ wild ’60s rocker makes perfect sense. Two excellent instrumentals, one by Albert Collins (“The Freeze”), the other from Ike Turner (“Cuban Getaway”) bracket the set. Ruest politely converts a mid-show request for something by Stevie Ray Vaughan into a teaching opportunity, instead performing yet another iconic instrumental: a stinging version of Freddie King’s “Funnybone.” Like the rest of the program, these three songs let the band work out on touchstone tunes that still sound fresh, owing to their relative scarcity in the playlists of contemporary bands, and demonstrate Ruest’s control of the essential themes of real blues guitar. His playing, sometimes deliberate, frequently savage, is always intense, carrying the threat of violence that was imminent in the approach of Curran, or Pat Hare. Paired with this outstanding rhythm section, Ruest–one of the toughest players anywhere–is on fire. Live at The Shakespeare Pub is his master class in blues history, vividly performed, and should attract a great of overdue attention. TOM HYSLOP

Featuring: Gene Taylor, Billy Bremner, Kn ock-Out Greg, Marti Brom, John Lindberg, Wes Race, Christian Dozzler and more….   Tracklist: I’m Goin’ Home / Can’t Take No More / Henhouse To The Doghouse / Sufferin’ Mind / True Found Baby / Been Gone Too Long / The Girl That Radiates That Charm / Mind Out That Gutter / Nobody Cares / I Quit / Real Proud Papa / Too Cool For School  / Jivetalk   In 1999, Chris Ruest moved from the northeastern United States to Texas, where he soon began working with the top talent in Dallas and Austin, and cultivated solid connections to Texas blues and rock and roll history through friendships with Sam Myers and Ray Sharpe. Since 2005, the Texas-based artist has released three solo CDs, featuring performers including Hash Brown, Nick Curran, Preston Hubbard, Ronnie James, and Kaz Kazanoff. Those albums, and his contributions to the all-star group Texas Cannonballs, reveal one of the strongest, most original voices in contemporary blues and roots rock. In 2017, Ruest recorded the impressively real and raw blues project It’s Too Late Now, with a trio rounded out by the storied Gene Taylor on piano and Brian Fahey (The Paladins) on drums.   Been Gone Too Long is Chris Ruest’s first truly international project. The new album taps into the rich network of connections the guitarist-singer-songwriter developed during his many tours of Europe, where he has played frequently as a headliner, with the Cannonballs, and as part of a revue paying tribute to the late Gary Primich. Three years ago, Enviken Records’ owner Patrik Staffansson attended one of Ruest’s shows in the company of American country-rockabilly songstress Marti Brom and her Swedish touring band. Ruest remembers that Staffansson “asked me if I’d be interested in playing on a few Marti Brom tracks” at his studio. During that session, Staffansson saw potential in cutting a record with Ruest.   Fast forward to 2017 and another trip to Sweden, when Staffansson brought Ruest together again with Mattias Hyttsten (drums) and Peter Fröbom (bass). “They are a great rockabilly backing band, with an almost Howlin’ Wolf feel. I geared a few songs toward that and just let the guys play what they felt, and they kicked ass. They are big fans of Nick Curran and my CDs, so they knew the style and sounds I was looking for.” The fabulous piano playing belongs to the storied Gene Taylor, a citizen of the world. Among the other musicians on Been Gone Too Long is Knock Out Greg, one of Sweden’s premier bandleaders and a touring partner of Ruest’s from the Primich tribute, on harp. Austrian native Christian Dozzler, a longtime Texas resident and friend of Ruest’s, plays accordion on the Gulf Coast-style rocker, “Henhouse To The Doghouse.” If “Henhouse” sounds a bit like a lost Rockpile tune, it’s because Billy Bremner plays guitar on it. (Ruest met the Scottish great at the band house maintained by his Swedish promoter.) Marti Brom, who happened to be in the studio, blows the top off of the Jimmy Reed-inspired “Get Your Mind Out Of That Gutter,”, John Lindberg one of Swedens premiere Rockabillies whom is a regular at the Enviken Studio dropped by and layed down some real cool guitar on ”Nobody Cares” and even a bassline on the aforementioned ”Henhouse” and Wes Race, Fort Worth, Texas’s preeminent hipster, raps over the funky grind of “Jivetalk.”   Been Gone Too Long extends Ruest’s winning formula for making outstanding blues records: Guitar playing that ranges from savage to sophisticated, honest vocals, and a lockstep connection with the band that gives the set power, finesse, and a fine-tuned dynamic range. The program offers a couple of fresh covers–Guitar Slim’s “Sufferin’ Mind,” reimagined as an intense Elmore James number, and Arthur Alexander’s timeless “The Girl That Radiates That Charm”–and a host of incisive original songs: the swinging “Real Proud Papa”; “Too Cool For School,” with its big, Bo Diddley beat; the Latin-tinged “Nobody Cares”; the Wolf-like stomp “I’m Going Home”; the rocking “I Quit”; “Can’t Take No More” and “True Found Baby,” which acknowledge B.B. King’s early sides; and the slow drag of the title track. The essence of blues tradition past, present, and future, is in good hands with Chris Ruest. // Tom Hyslop Contributing Editor, Blues Music Magazine.

Brian Chatton

SAM MYERS

"you all ARE what the blues NEEDS!" Billy Gibbons about Eve Monsees Mike Buck and Chris Ruest

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CHRIS RUEST RONNIE JAMES

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