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BiTS INTERVIEW:Tia Gouttebel

French blues guitarist and singer Tia has developed a unique artistic approach. Winner of the
prestigious Blues Passions Prize in Cognac, France, in 2012, she brings a singular sound with

her guitar, reinvents the blues in a manner that is more and more personal as the years go by.
She likes to explore other currents, from African-American music to those originating in
“Mother Africa”. Her recent trip to North Mississippi, working on one of the most innovative
musical projects in recent years, along with Cedric Burnside, Cameron Kimbrough, and Sharde
Thomas, confirms her outstanding credentials.

Tia is a French blues singer and guitar player. She started touring with her own band, Tia &
The Patient Wolves, in 2002. She recorded several EPs and two albums, Foggy Head, Warm
Heart (2007) and Travellin’ with My Guitar (2011). Later came Lil’ Bird (2017) under her

sole name, Tia. She received the Cognac Blues Passions Award in 2012. Today, while still
heading her own band, Tia & Her Band, she also tours solo, and as a duo, Tia & The Groove Box,
with percussionist Marc Glomeau. Besides, in 2012, she started playing with Gilles Chabenat
(hurdy gurdy) and Marc Glomeau (percussion) in a trio called Hypnotic Wheels, which
later became Muddy Gurdy, recording two albums so far, Hypnotic Wheels (2014) and the
critically acclaimed Muddy Gurdy (2018). They won the Coup de Cœur Musiques du Monde
(World Music Award) from the prestigious Académie Charles Cros and were finalists for the
Blues Prize from the just as prestigious Académie du Jazz.

BiTS: Tell me something about how music came into your life. Was there a lot of music in your life

as a child?

Tia: I started playing guitar when I was six, and then I discovered the blues when I was a teenager
and it was absolutely something very strong for me like I’d discovered the most beautiful music in
the world [chuckles]. I started playing electric guitar when I was a teenager and then I went to see
some bluesmen on stage, and it was
absolutely fabulous for me because I started

Tia Gouttebel also playing with them and having jam
sessions. I started singing too and trying to
understand the lyrics of the blues because it
wasn’t easy for me as a young French woman
to catch every expression of this kind of

language and also the accents from the older
guys and I realised that I really loved the
lyrics too and I started to play on my own
with my band around 2002.

BiTS: Thank you for that. What is it about
the blues that fascinates you, then?

Tia: The expression of the music. I like everything in it like the subject of the lyrics and the voices,

the great guitar players and it was music where there was also a lot of space and I love that. I love
when there is not so many notes and I love the nuances, the dynamic of this music. I love blues, but
I also love soul music and gospel and all the music that comes from this era.