Media Reviews of Tim Gartland's Music
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"The Boston-based bluesman is a true triple-threat performer: equally accomplished as emotive vocalist, eloquent harmonica player, and evocative songwriter." - Boston Globe
"...the truth is it’s pretty darned good. Gartland is a great harmonica player...But he’s also proven again he’s a good songwriter and vocalist, someone whose voice and musical style forms kind of a wry, raspy texture. It’s distinctive and that’s what you want from a musician…there’s both humor and heartache to be found...Nearly all songs have clever, road-weary lyrics…" (Tom Henry/Toledo Blade)
"agile and soulful tunes…Tim Gartland is adept at plumbing the genres of rock, country, and Americana as well as the blues…Several of the tracks are clever as well as musically appealing…an accomplished album." (Dan Stevens/Blues Music Magazine)
" Gartland's fifth solo album features a dozen swinging cuts that range from barroom blues and roadhouse R&B to sophisticated blues-rock. At every stop on the journey, Gartland shows he is a clever and talented songwriter, a skilled harp player and a soulful vocalist. And that’s the truth." (Daryl Sanders/Nashville Scene)
""Singing from personal experience in a roasted molasses drawl, he peppers his performances with pied piper-tuneful harmonica. The A-List band...play strong but unfussy music that flows like a lazy trip down the Mississippi and rocks and rolls in the mud of its banks.,,.one of the top roots and blues recordings of 2022." (Tom Clarke/Tahoe OnStage)
"Gartland knows how to write a song, how to present it, how to say something with it the listener will want to hear and maybe identify with. It's as if he's dug down through all blues' roots and rabbit holes and found a way to keep the music's spirit intact and yet to let it breathe afresh, in the manner of one who is at once a committed carrier of the tradition and a subtle, ingenious transformer of it. Satisfied satisfies indeed."
-Jerome Clark, Rambles Roots Music Revews
“Over the course of his career he has developed into a skilled songwriter…his reputation as a superb harp player is well justified...His vocals convey a rich tone and texture…with a richness and resonance that’s stirring throughout.”
- Lee Zimmerman, Living Blues Magazine
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...the man plays a mean harmonica. The blues seldom sound so sweet.”
- Bill Brotherton, Boston Herald
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“The songs (Gartland’s) themselves are smartly-constructed with clever lyrics that often contain quick-witted word play and unusual half-rhymes. A song like “Artifacts” is a genuinely moving testament to lost love. Great songs, great playing, great production.”
- Rhys Williams, Blues Blast Magazine
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“He’s got that brilliantly-deep, aged-in-the-wood baritone that is perfect for the blues. Listen to “Satisfied,” as it is sho’ nuff funky, funny, hip, sexy, and strong, from a mighty entertaining harpoon man!"​​
- Sheryl and Don Crow, The Nashville Blues and Roots Alliance
"Harmonicist Gartland has progressed from being a blues musician to a well-rounded roots artist who blends Southern soul and touches of country into his sound. Gartland is a gifted harmonica player whether using diatonic or chromatic harps. He sings with deep but relaxed soul for his well-crafted songs, replete with a sense of humor and catchy hooks…upbeat, lighthearted, and witty. Nashville is wearing well on him."
- Jim Hynes, Elmore Magazine​
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"He wrote all of these blues- inspired songs, adding electrifying harmonica fills and touching upon various matters of the heart, plus subjects from Wall Street corruption to even LeBron James."
-Steve Morse, longtime Boston Globe Correspondent who has also contributed to Billboard and Rolling Stone
- Charles Sawyer, Harvard University, author of "The Arrival of B.B. King"
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