2006: Brian Kramer, I Want My Illusion(BKB 0003)
Featuring National slide guitar wizard Bob Brozman, Brian Kramer & the Couch Lizardz make available for a ‘limited pressing’ - 13 new songs with that same, cozy BK & the CLs spirit lifting vibe you've all come to know and love!
“Brian Kramer lays it down with the real feeling of the blues; communication between people. His easy groove puts everyone in the blues spirit, in the best sense of the word. Great Stuff!” — Bob Brozman
“Brian Kramer keeps pushing the boundaries of himself. His most original, focused and evolved work!”— KITTO
“...one of the most satisfying examples of the new blues song-writing genre” — Bluestime
“I Want My Illusion makes the top 100 blues CD awards list for 2006” – Real Blues Magazine
“...you hear the blues of way back, at a time when Son House, Bukka White were in their prime, or presently Eric Bibb or Keb Mo, but the incredible thing is that the music you listen to here is played with such intensity and power, it is just like you were listening to the great masters recordings but with good hi-fi sound! I had not discovered such great acoustic blues since... A MUST for fans of slide-guitar-blues.”— Celis Freddy, www.RootsTime.be
“Brian Kramer and his Couch Lizardz perform acoustic based Blues that lifts on light wings, floating high above the grey dust of the ordinary day. And it plants itself right there in the dust and soil, and on the pavement where we stand. I like this so much! Like all really good blues, you feel good from it, something eases you. If there's something we need in these dark months of autumn, it's good life-affirming blues!”— Magnus Sundell, Trots Allt
“Really mature Blues in fairly unpretentious arrangements. Summer-soulful, with carefully placed percussion, harmonica, and a good dose of patio-barbeque atmosphere.” — Patrik Hamberg, Dagens Skiva
“As usual it is musicality above the ordinary. Lyrics that are thought through & want something more than to just go in one ear and out through the other. It is seriousness, it is stories, it is life-philosophy and it is reflections that make you want to pick up the booklet to follow along. It is hard to find better newly composed music within the narrow path of blues today than what Kramer and Qwarfordt achieved and the Couch Lizards perform. Yet another knock-out-victory for Brian and his fellow musicians to carve a notch in the master belt.” — Jefferson Magazine
Available at live BK performances and through this site, for a limited time!
2004: Brian Kramer & the Couch Lizardz, No Regrets (ARMD 00019)
The first official release on Armadillo records. Recorded in the UK during their June 2003 tour in the shadows of Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. Twelve original tunes ranging from stompin' blues to intimate confessions. No Regrets has risen to the Top 25 Roots/Blues Chart on National US radio, as reported in Living Blues Magazine.
“No Regrets is one of the most satisfying examples of the new blues song-writing genre - Recommended with no reserve.” — Bluestime, Italy
“Brian Kramer & The Couch Lizardz live up to their name. This is laid-back, lazy-afternoon, folksy music, well-written and played… and produced with a gentle touch.”— Juke Blues, UK
“Brian Kramer & the Couch Lizardz must be one of Sweden’s best kept musical secrets... Their new record No Regrets shines strongly.”— Jefferson Blues Magazine, Sweden
“Known for his stand-out flourishes on National Steel guitar and bottleneck slide, this album tastefully showcases a surprisingly competent singer, exceptional songwriter and arranger who has clearly learned all the right lessons from his esteemed list of teachers… The focus here is on the songs – and they are clearly Kramer’s ace in the hole… This even-paced recording drifts down a lazy, meandering stream like something out of a Mark Twain novel, pausing to reflect on life and love along the way… The musicianship is spellbinding as dual guitars merge with an upbeat rhythm section. No Regrets is a casual stroll down a country lane in a comfortable pair of shoes… Just pure, subtly delivered material that is artfully played and kissed, as it is, by the soft soul of country blues.” — Eric Thom, Blues Revue, USA
2002: Brian Kramer, Everybody’s Story(BKB001)
The long awaited for, high spirited, ‘alive’ in the studio album with BK and the boys is now available here on-line. With special guests like Jump4Joy's Ulf Sandström, Derrick ‘Big’ Walker & Jane' Kitto... Ten original songs & one old obscure classic, flavored with National slide, vintage acoustic warmth and the Couch Lizardz's crazy, back porch grooves! Everybody's Story, blues from now to the future of a new century.
“Everybody’s Story is executed with magnificent picking and always a merry rhythm… once is definitely not enough… The guitar, slide rather, is to be honored and demonstrates that the blues is not necessarily gloomy…” — La Gazette de Greenwood, France
“Brian Kramer’s new CD is a record of blues based music that makes you happy while listening to it. Depression blues is nowhere to be found, this is music for the party, good love and happiness… It’s a record full of solid and good lyrics plus superb musicianship… RECOMMENDED!” — Jefferson Magazine, Sweden
“Brian has a clear bright style, full of sensitivity and very good taste present throughout this CD’s eleven songs, all performed with a deep feeling that gets inside blues lovers hearts-GREAT!” — La Hora Del Blues, Spain
2001: Johnson featuring Brian Kramer & the Couch Lizardz, Two Gun Green(ARMD00013)
Available from UK based Armadillo Records website... Larry Johnson's hugely exciting collaboration with Brian Kramer and The Couch Lizardz. With sleeve notes by Samuel Charters.
“It's all here - the music that Larry has been singing and playing all his life - and we're deeply fortunate he's here with Brian and the Couch Lizardz to lay it down for us... The group working with Larry on this album reflects some of the new realities of the blues…”— Samuel Charters
“Kramer delivers some fine acoustic slide, sounding a bit like Muddy Waters with his steel bodied National…” — Living Blues Magazine, USA
2000: Brian Kramer Trio and Friends, Live at the Folklore Center(LTFLC)
Featuring a number of special guests like Derrick ‘Big’ Walker, Harmonica Henry, Siwert Brahmstedt, and more. Recorded in an intimate, all-acoustic environment.
“This is wonderful, spirited music. I'm a sucker for that kind of blues...”— Samuel Charters
“A treasure which will keep the acoustic purists among us smiling with glee.” —
BLUES FREEPRESS
- Judge Jones
1998: Eric Bibb, Home To Me “One of the strengths of Home To Me is Bibb’s original blues tunes, such as the bodacious, struttin’ New Shoes, co-authored with Brian Kramer…”
— CD NOW, review
1989: Kramer and the Bluesmasters featuring Junior Wells, Win or Lose
Brian's very first album, recorded at age 24, featuring some of his friends and mentors who took him under their wing as he developed his blues playing. Through networking with musicians in NYC, the album became an all-star recording produced by Miles Roston, with pianist David Cohen (Country Joe & the Fish), Mick Taylor, Junior Wells, Steve Jordan... This rare album saw only a short run in the market due to disagreements with the record company. An eerie prophecy from a track on the album titled I Want My Money Back:
‘Well I dreamed I made this record, it went high up on the charts,
but when I woke I still was broke, it's just a piece of art.
I want my money back. Got to have my money back.
Well it's sad but it's true they don't make nothin'
like they used to do...’
In addition to recording with Junior Wells, Eric Bibb & Larry Johnson, Brian has contributed to tracks for a children’s recording released in the US, on the Grammy winning Music For Little People label. He has also produced a number of projects recording some of Sweden’s unique and talented, blues artists.
Touched By The Blues(Sunhouse press) Blues for Peace — a book that includes some of Brian's personal, detailed experiences meeting and working with Blues greats over the course of his career:
"My Name is Brian Kramer, I grew up in Brooklyn NY and I have been on this Blues Journey for over 25 years. I never dreamed I would be recording albums or playing along side legends like Junior Wells, Mick Taylor, Larry Johnson, Eric Bibb, etc. as I sat in my little basement apartment as a teenager playing guitar to used blues records. In the..."
Blues Unfolded by Tony Berg & Robert Wangby
Ground-breaking within Swedish music journalism, Blues Unfolded is the first Swedish book published dealing with the blues life in Sweden... top-notch photographs of both international and Swedish blues musicians, exhibiting the intensity and presence of blues music in performance... (Photos of Brian Kramer Trio included)
