Echuca Winter Blues Festival 2010

'Your St. James Infirmary Blues had me by the nuts" - Random Radcliffe's patron, Echuca Saturday 24th July.

Peter Goers - ABC Local Evening Radio

"George is one of my favourite South Australian entertainers... all heart... a class act."

"Big" Mike Hotz - Radio Adelaide - (www.radio.adelaide.edu.au)

Choose a batch of tunes, apply the efforts of a fine bunch of musicians, add a large dollop of love and attention to detail ... the end result is ... "Try Before You Die", an enormously satisfying album with its superb production, bursting with vitality and integrity.

"Try Before You Die" will surely appeal to a range of music fans, as Tinfish George and his superb musicians explore country blues, electric blues, jazz, folk, and even a country song. Tinfish is more than capable of evoking the spirit of the early 20th century bluesmen with his smoky vocal style and with the use of slide guitar and mandolin, further dimensions are added to these classic songs transforming them into 21st century gems. The old standard "Step It Up And Go" is a great example of how thinking outside the square can take an old tune and create a contemporary jazz number, complete with clarinet and saxophone.

Complementing Tinfish George's rich, warm vocals, are the musicians employed throughout. Beautiful backing vocals combined with glorious guitar work in shades of dark and light, stunning mandolin, tasty harmonica and silky smooth horns all feature on this wonderful album. Each and every musician is completely at home in his or her role with the rock solid rhythm section of double bass and percussion anchoring the whole thing. (Can we have more banjo on the next project please Tinfish?)

Tinfish's song selection is another outstanding feature of "Try Before You Die". An eclectic mix to be sure, which could cause other musicians to falter, but here they are all handled with ease and sincerity. Whether the song is a gentle ballad such as "Hello In There", the braggadocio of "Way Over Yonder In A Minor Key", or even the irreverent up-tempo number, "Plastic Jesus", each song is delivered with consummate aplomb and ability.

An evident synergy exists between Tinfish George and the album's producer/ arranger/ engineer, Peter Gelling. When prompted, Tinfish said he has been playing some of these songs for 40 years, and when the pair first sat down to begin this project, he felt Peter had been right there playing along with him, such was the apparent empathy.

Together they have created a powerful, entertaining, exciting statement, which will endure throughout repeated listening for many years. My congratulations to all concerned.

Ron Spain - Australian Jazz Scene - Adelaide Edition Vol. 14 Issue 2. October 2008

Tinfish George is a pseudonym for a local singer/songwriter/musician who first picked up a guitar at 14 years, had some lessons from Carl Orr and played as a teenager with John Munro. He took up jazz violin after coming under the spell of Stephane Grapelli and Stuff Smith. With Dave Allen as front man he played in a group called Hot Lips and Shifty Fingers.

TG has been playing, composing and singing for 40 years, most recently as daily relaxation from a demanding "other" career and has been inspired to record this CD by Peter Gelling, who is a well-known Blues aficionado /multi-instrumentalist /recording engineer. In the sleeve note to the CD "Big Mike" Hotz describes the recording as: "an enormously satisfying album with its superb production, bursting with vitality and integrity". Can't argue with that. The music is an eclectic blend of blues by the likes of Billy Bragg and Woody Guthrie, Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Boy Fuller, interspersed with C & W from composers John Prine and Hank Williams and some quirky lyrics on Kylie Does Takeaway and Plastic Jesus.

The voice of Tinfish George is self-effacing and does credit to him and the composers without ever sounding like the originals, while his guitar is complimentary and never intrusive. The added value to the recording is the choice of both jazz and folk influenced musicians to add special voicings to the Gelling arrangements.

This is most certainly one out of the bag and assuredly impressive. Let it creep up on you.