GHOSTWRITER

Description

BJ Baartmans is one of the most sought-after guitarists in Dutch rock and Americana. He has worked with his own bands and added beautiful tones and colors to the performances of Carter Sampson, Jeff Finlin, Oh Susanna, Matthews Southern Comfort and notable Dutch artists such as Jack Poels, Hidden Agenda Deluxe or Frans Pollux. A little over 25 years after the release of his first solo album The Pawnshop Guitar Chase, songwriter/guitarist/sideman/producer BJ Baartmans steps fully into the spotlight with GHOSTWRITER: 13 songs with easily recognizable stories, accessible but at the same time very personal, the opinions and beliefs that underpin it. They already cover more than 40 years of traveling in music with 14 albums under his own name, appearances on hundreds of album sessions and something like 4000 concerts while raising a family, dealing with serious life-changing events, making but also losing lifelong friends, chasing dreams and discovering little treasures. “A nègre always has someone to blame” is a line from one of the songs on the new album. The stories come forward but must then find a way to connect with listeners. So they can make them their own. A songwriter may be hiding behind his own characters. And then again not. They have to be real. Musically, the album is a mix of Americana, 70s Pubrock, Reggae and Folk. But GHOSTWRITER is fundamentally a Rock & Roll record, even where it is soft or slowed down.