Media | Jill Newman

“Jill Newman’s solid work always comes down on the right side of tasteful, so close your eyes and cue up the title track and you’re transported to a honky-tonk somewhere deep in Tennessee.” Mike Usinger, Music Editor, The Georgia Straight, Vancouver

“Jill Newman is a treat to behold, a guitarist with impeccable taste and ability! We love welcoming her to Guilt & Company - and every time she plays she captivates the room with her wit, great songwriting, and of course incredible chops!” Tonye Aganaba

"...a very talented blues songwriter and guitar player." Eric Steiner, Editor Bluesletter, Washington State Blues Society

"Jill Newman is part of the new vanguard of female Canadian blues guitar slingers... I've seen her in action giving a solid and confident performance. Her songs are well crafted and her playing is tasteful, articulate and calculated. She deserves the opportunities to be heard, and blues fans would be better for knowing her work." Bill Johnson, Juno nominated blues guitarist

“...bright vocals, skillful (and electric) electric-guitar playing, cheerful interactions with the audience and a playlist of well-written, original songs.” Cynthia Ramsay, editor The Independent, commenting on Jill’s CD release show

“ Jill is an authentic electric blues guitarist – a treat for all audiences." Bruce Gerrish, Producer, Vancouver City Limits

“ Jill Newman...knows how to rock a crowd with Chicago style blues.” Oliver McTavish-Wisden, City of Port Coquitlam

"Newman shows notable guitar skills.....she shows that she knows her way around the slide." B'man Blues Report

Electric blues and slide guitarist, Jill Newman plays guitar in a way that few women do. She is a fierce guitarist, able to squeeze out a raw emotional sound, but with the technical skills to play a smoking lead solo. Jill’s CD Lovestruck Blues, has been featured on At the Crossroads Blues Radio Network (www.atcblues.ca) on internet stations throughout Canada, the United States, Spain, Belgium and the Philippines.

Lovestruck Blues features ten original blues and roots songs that showcase Jill’s tasteful lead and slide guitar work and solid songwriting. Lovestruck Blues was self-produced and recorded in Seattle and Vancouver, BC with a little help from her friends, award winning Seattle bassist, Polly O’Keary, Tommy Cook Jr., drums and Vancouver’s Scott Smith, rhythm guitar.

Originally, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jill and her family moved to Victoria, BC when she was a teen. It was on Vancouver Island that Jill discovered her love of the electric guitar – playing her Strat copy until she literally wore out the frets. By her early 20s, she was playing guitar full time touring western Canada and playing 6-7 nights a week in everything from country rock bands to indie, punk and blues bands. It was Jill’s work playing Jimmy Page’s blues inspired riffs in an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band that led Jill back to her first love – playing the blues. It is the Chicago blues, where Jill’s unique voice and gutsy guitar playing truly shine. Jill’s main influences include Freddie and Albert King, the slide work of Elmore James and the rockin’ blues of Joe Bonamassa.

Jill and her high-energy blues band perform regularly in the Pacific Northwest scene, and have been playing shows from Vancouver, BC to Seattle, WA. Recent highlights include a performance at the Ladies Sing the Blues showcase at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife Festival, Blues to Do Performances at Seattle’s Spinnaker Bay Brewing Company and return engagements at the iconic Conway Muse and Vancouver’s Guilt & Co.

Whether she is bending her Gibson strings or sliding across the frets of her vintage telecaster, Jill takes the audience on a musical journey that is well worth the ride.