2013 AUSTRALIAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR 

Rhythms Magazine Reader's Poll

2013 AUSTRALIAN ALBUM OF THE YEAR 

Rhythms Magazine Reader's Poll

#1 Australian Blues Roots Airplay Chart 

November 2013

Hot on the heels of the Australian Blues and Roots Chart #1 debut, VIC/TAS awarded best debut, and Canadian Blues Underground Network #1 smash album, BLOW THESE TRACKS – Live on The Blues Train with special guest Chris WiIson, comes MR BLACK & BLUES second full length album and third release: LONG ROAD HOME.

This is a feel good roots blues rock "band in a room".

"So hot it melted my car stereo!" - Lloyd Spiegel

"One hot album! Usually the follow up album to a number 1 charting album is a hard act to follow, but with 'Long Road Home' Mr Black & Blues hits top gear with this very fine album of blues. World class, every track!"”

- Geoff Pegler from BluesBeat Radio 

“Matt Taylor invented Oz Blues & Michael Pollitt is cut from the same cloth. Long Road Home is a gritty, heartfelt work of wonder.”  - Duncan Smith at TOP SHELF MUSIC 89.7FM

"The new album is fabulous. Great feel, sparse rootsy Banjo and smokin blues delivery. This one is up two more notches. Love it!" - Salty Dog - Blues N Roots Radio

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Recorded by ARIA winner Jason McGann, and Michael himself, in a house in Colac, country Victoria and mixed at OneMusic Asia by sonic architect genius Colin Wynne, the record is a feel-good roots blues rock "band in a room” and features founding John Butler Trio drummer McGann on kit, piano, and bass, as well as session hero and former Giants guitarist Tony Forbes on banjo and guitar, and ARIA winning Waifs bassist and Stillsons producer Ben Franz on double.

Michael Pollitt features on guitars, vocals, bass, and harmonica, as well as handling production duties.

The album is also the first full length release hot off the desk of production legend Mark Opitz's OneMusic Studio in Melbourne and was mastered @ 301 in Sydney by Steve Smart.

“Long Road Home tells the story of my journey to find the true meaning of the word “Home”.

The songs are forged out of the transition from living in London for 10 years then suddenly moving back to Australia.

The change was driven by some brutal and unfortunate circumstances, which is always cause for reflection, but life is never all good or all bad and as I found my feet back in Australia my journey gave me “silver lining” moments which culminated in the formation of the friendships that would eventually come together to make this record.

They say ‘home is where the heart is’. Home is my friends and family to whom I am eternally grateful, regardless of time and distance. Home is knowing I can be myself regardless of what anyone else thinks. Home is a state of mind, it is the ball of light in my chest I have learned to go into and grow each time I play. Home is the stage on which I stand that night, the flash of light between everything else, wherever I am in the world. And the long road that leads me there is my journey.

The subject matter takes in all the relationship shifts and the emotional rollercoaster that any major life change will drive but specifically tells the story of my move back to Australia and the process of making a new Home again here.”