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"Robert Johnson himself, were he to be miraculously ressurected, could hardly hope for better press than American blues guitarist Rainer has recently received..."

Rainer was a living mystery in a lot of ways...

This East-German born Czech raised in a little town near Chicago had moved in Tucson, Arizona.
Pretty weird for a bluesman... In Arizona, Rainer played in several bands, like Howe Gelb's Giant Sand, formerly known as Giant Sandworms, the Band of Blacky Ranchette (still with Howe Gelb), the mysterious Das Combo, and recorded with some other ones, like Dan Stuart and Chuck Prophet's Green On Red. This active member of the Tucson musical scene had a  quiet life with his wife Patty and his children, and worked at the Chicago Store, repairing guitars, and used to play and record in the San Pedro Chapel, to use the acoustic qualities of this place...
        In his guitar playing, on Dobro and National Steel guitars, you can hear some Robert Johson, some Blind Willie Johnson, some Son House, but always a lot of Rainer... He was probably one the most original and personal modern blues player.

To discover a little more of Rainer's life and music, you can go to The Inner Flame, where you'll find a lot of presse releases, testimonies and interviews to know a little more the man. The Discography (still uncomplete, informations are welcome...) and Rainer's Music, with some MP3 musical extracts, will allow you to discover Rainer's wonderful songwriting and amazing guitar playing.  I put in The Links some websites of my favorites musicians (often connected with Rainer), some cool mailing-lists (a few in French, sorry...), and some musical ressources websites.

Have a nice surf!!!

12/09/1999