Heath Tyler on Hill Country Blues

Photo by Johannes Weber on Unsplash

On today’s episode of Hangnail’s Hollers, I speak with Heath Tyler, who runs Feedback Guitar Academy, where he offers lessons in many styles, with a special focus on Hill Country blues. His YouTube channel has had over three million views, and he’s been a big influence on the blues renaissance that’s been emerging online in recent years. Check out Heath’s courses here, and his YouTube channel here.  

Topics include:

• The Austin blues scene and seeing Pinetop Perkins live.

• The showmanship of Buddy Guy and Eric Tessmer.

• Crazy guitar tricks and how ending a set by ripping out all your guitar strings isn’t as hard as you might think.

• What is Mississippi Hill Country blues?

• How percussion is at the heart of the Hill Country style.

• The legacy of Junior Kimbrough and why he didn’t consider his music Hill Country blues.

• A deep dive into Kimbrough’s style, with Heath playing examples.

• The difference between traditional Hill Country blues and Junior Kimbrough’s self-created style, Cotton Patch Soul blues.

• Juke joints and why Hill Country blues is fundamentally party music.

• Junior Kimbrough meeting Bono and being unimpressed by him.

• R. L. Burnside’s hypnotic boogie.

• The importance of the right-hand groove in Hill Country playing.

• The one-man-band quality of Burnside’s style.

• Why blues is great for people just starting to play guitar.

• Heath demonstrates the “build” method of fingerstyle guitar.

• Why “playing notes without rhythm is almost like trying to speak a language by spelling out the words.”

• Essential players to listen to if you want to get into Hill Country blues.

• The greatness of The Black Keys and how their style is deeply influenced by Junior Kimbrough.

• How the Kimbrough and Burnside families are keeping Hill Country blues alive.

• How “the mighty algorithm” creates blues rabbit holes on YouTube.

• On Heath’s video breaking down Burnside’s song “Jumper on the Line” getting 33 thousand views.

• Are we seeing an internet-driven blues renaissance?

• How Hill Country blues is “anti-shred.”

• Is Hill Country the grunge of blues?

• Heath’s current and upcoming projects, including his new blues course for beginners.