The Undiscovered: Willy Eberlein

In contrast to some of the experimental CDs just profiled, Willy Eberlein's CD Exothermia is recorded in a style most are familiar with - the blues. However, while you can get away with a lot when experimenting and cross-blending styles, with blues, you've got to deliver the goods with a great performance and compelling original material. Exothermia was recorded between September of 2001 through January of 2002, but the tracks do not have the polish one might expect compared with the generally high quality of independent records released today. As such, the record comes across as sounding unfinished, as if a lot was planned for it, but never quite accomplished. There are passages where you can hear that Eberlein can play, but the decision to release the record with all the mistakes intact and the underlying production weak and thin (each cut features a two or four bar drum pattern repeated from start to finish) was not the best choice in this case. What can one do, but learn and move on...

Willy's love for the guitar started at an early age in Cleveland, Ohio, and he has amassed three decades of experience on his instrument of choice. He had a number of friends and others who provided guidance, encouragement and criticism. When he relocated to San Diego, Willy played with veteran rockers Alvin & Calvin Coker to form the Coker Brothers' Band, who played a diverse mixture of music - Hendrix and Santana songs being the mainstay of their set list. The band eventually broke up, but over the years the dream of making an album remained alive, and fueled many a marathon practice session.

Now, 15 years and about 500 set of strings later, that recording is complete, and the dream has been realized.

John A. Eberlein
United States