Description:
"Blue enthusiasts in St. Louis have known about Marquise Knox since he was fifteen years old and already demonstrating vocal skills and stage presence that rivaled veteran performers two or three times his age. Now people elsewhere are beginning to catch on; Knox has been fielding requests to appear at blues festivals across the United States and in Europe, in addition to his busy gigging schedule at home". Winner of Best Blues Artist 2010 - Riverfront Times, 2010.
"...how Knox managed to ingest the anima of a 60-year-old in a 17-year-old's mind/body is part of the mystery that makes this LP so compelling...When you realise that he composed nearly all of the material, you'll want to see his birth certificate. Exquisite guitar-driven blues that promises much for the future". Sound Quality = 90% out of 100% - Ken Kessler, HiFi News, November 2010.
"...when you reflect this set was cut at the age of sixteen, the prospects he will be the most notable blues artist of his generation seems a Done Deal...as always there's a lot of flashy and loud player claiming to wear The Raiment Of The Blues-Man, but our bet is Marquise Knox is right now the finest blues artist of his generation, and will be the blues figure to beat for years to come". - Tom "Papa" Ray, owner of Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, host of The Soul Selector on KDHX 88.1 FM in St. Louis.
"...a set that I can unhesitatingly recommend". - Mick Rainsford, Blues In Britain.
Man Child is the title of Marquise Knox's national debut, and for good reason. Yes, he was just 16 years old at this recording, but no, this is not another one of those guitar-hero, someday-my-vocals-may-mature, I might one day write my own material records. This kid is flat-out for real! This is a man-sized offering of serious, mature blues. In fact, it's the maturity that provides the shock value here. Sixteen years old ? Listen to that voice and you'll swear he's lying about his age. Guitar licks that are tasty and restrained, none of this hyper-active, self-absorbed speed metal that somehow gets confused with blues.
Marquise has already won the approval of B.B. King, Henry Townsend, Robert Lockwood Jr., Big George Brock, Bob Margolin, Sam Lay…Read those names again. Do you really think we're talking about a novelty act here ?
And he's an original. All but one of the tracks on Man Child were penned by Marquise, and most of them were written in the studio, on-the-fly, a skill learned at least partially by one of Marquise's main heroes, Henry Townsend.
This is a 16 year old, inner-city kid who somehow has decided to become a dead-serious bluesman of the old-school variety. That just doesn't happen anymore.
Clear the way for the Man Child.
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