Arny Kay - a name which stands for a multifaceted artist in the world of modern, aggressive, emotion-laden Blues & Rock-Blues

Born in Germany in 1947, the German-American Rock-& Blues guitar slinger grew up in Gurnee / Illinois north of Chicago Having spent his school education in Germany, he returned to the States in the mid-sixties Arny was strongly influenced in his early years by the rock n’ roll and the r & b of the fifties and early sixties. In his own words: “I remember when I got my first guitar at the age of twelve or thirteen - it was an old acoustic one my late father used to play - the first songs I learned to play were of Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran. But soon I was increasingly fascinated by country and delta blues - Furry Lewis and Homesick James taught me a lot about this style - and by electric City Blues like T-Bone Walker and B.B. King.” The following years he played clubs mainly in the Chicago area, where he used to live. He was strongly influenced by the Chicago Blues scene of these years, being in contact with well-known artists like Little Wolf, Homesick James, Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Luther Allison and many more In 1978 he took a permanent residence in Germany, now living for the past several years in the southern Germany area The eighties saw Arny Kay frequently on tour with his long-time friend Luther Allison who died in 1997. Their cooperation resulted in the production of a record “Rockin’ the Blues”, released in 1987 By now Arny has his unmistakable personal style of playing the guitar, combining influences of Jimi Hendrix, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan. and, of course, Luther Allison “ARNY KAY could be an idol himself…..”, “ARNY, like Jimi Hendrix, has a guitar fetisch…”, “an outstanding live musician” - and much more - excellent reviews by the international press Arnie’s live performance is power, feeling and authenticity from the beginning till the end! But he is also one of the few blues guitar players who still allow a few older acoustic blues songs to creep into a concert once in a while. Moreover, he is an outstanding slide guitar player. His program covers a wide range of blues styles, sometimes going beyond the boundaries of blues into the realms of Rock or Funk and Soul. For over two decades, Arny is now permanently present in live clubs and festivals in Europe and the U.S. His most recent CD “Live Kay” (2001) spans The Whole spectrum of his style: from classic Blues to Rock` n Roll, from funky Blues to Rock and Soul. The Double-CD "Live Kay" was launched in September 2001. This album was recorded over a period of more than 10 years on different places in Europe. (for example on a Blues festival 1988 with Champion Jack Dupree). Even though the recording quality of the recordings is rather fair, Blues magazines wrote as followed: " raw and dirty Rock-Blues, deep from the bottom of his heart" (Blues News) or "this record lives first of all from the live atmosphere, no redoing, no over dubs, raw, nothing for high-end specialists." (Blitz). 2003 a new studio album is on schedule. Further on it is planed to launch a live-recording "Luther Allison & Arny Kay live in Germany 1980".

Line Up
Jörg Holdinghausen - bass Rafi Michel - drums