Released date:22-01-2010

2010 Blue Groove vinyl edition, pressing on 180 Gram vinyl -The title of the album Bridges stands for many things, including the creative musical interpretation of the blues as played by Theessink and demonstrated sublimely on this album. But Bridges also stands for the bond between his musicians from Austria, Zimbabwe and Theessink’s country of origin, the Netherlands. Bridges represents not only the peaceful, people-connecting blues music, it also stands for all the bridges destroyed by war that must be rebuilt. Theessink was deeply touched by the events in former Yugoslavia. Bridges evokes emotions in the listener, stimulating the imagination, leaving a free and open space to be filled with personal feelings, thoughts and memories. The vinyl version of BRIDGES really captures the warm sound of the old church in Tuscany and gives the recording an extra dimension. - Presented in colour sleeve.

Tracks:
01 - Behind The Sun 
02 - Believe The Devil Took Her Hand 
03 - Bridges
04 - Dream
05 - Circles
06 - Running Home
07 - Brand New Dawn
08 - Zambezi
09 - Moses
10 - Odyssey 
11 - People Get Ready 
12 - What Will The Children Play 
13 - Rain 
14 - Little Girl 
15 - Mbube 

Personnel:
Hans Theessink - Guitar, Vocals (NL)
Roland Guggenbichler - Keyboards (AUT)
Erich Buchebner - Bass (AUT)
Harry Stampfer - Drums (AUT)
Insingizi - Bg Voc (Zimbabwe)

Theesink began his recording career in 1970 for a variety of small labels in the Netherlands and Germany, and continued perfecting his craft and honing his skills at clubs and festivals across Europe. Through the '70s, his eventual goal was to come to America to learn firsthand from the masters in the Mississippi Delta. It would be 1979 before Theesink would make it to America, and not surprisingly, his first stop was the Mississippi Delta. The trip proved fruitful, as he met and jammed with many Delta musicians, absorbing all he could from them and eventually incorporating their knowledge into his own style.

Dutch blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Hans Theesink has been carving a niche for himself in the U.S. market throughout the late 1980s and early '90s. It's no easy task growing up in the Netherlands and teaching oneself the blues, but perhaps that's the reason Theesink's guitar stylings are so unique. Theesink became hooked on blues as a teenager listening to the radio, playing mandolin and guitar. His favorites became Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee, but later on he was exposed to a wider variety of influences. Theesink was 12 or 13 when he began playing guitar in earnest, and by his late teens he was playing in clubs and coffeehouses around Germany and the Netherlands.