GA-20 is an American Blues band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band is named after the guitar amplifier manufactured by Gibson from 1950 to 1961. They primarily play Chicago Blues.
Matthew Stubbs formed GA-20 in early 2018 during a hiatus from playing guitar with Charlie Musselwhite, due to Musselwhite touring with Ben Harper.[1] Stubbs sought to put a new project together to do blues gigs aside from his Psych-Rock group The Antiguas. Stubbs met vocalist Pat Faherty through his many local Boston gigs. Faherty was a regular at these gigs and even took guitar lessons from Stubbs.[2] Early performances by the band had a rotating group of musicians with Faherty and Stubbs as the core members. Some early performances used different drummers and various other musicians including Matt Prozialeck on harmonica, sometimes playing as a four-piece band. They adopted the name GA-20 in early 2018. The group became a trio by 2018 consisting of two guitars and drums. About a year after their formation, they scored a deal with Karma Chief Records.[3] The group has been described as a trio that plays stripped down 1950s/1960s-style Chicago blues with a lot of distortion and no bass.[4]
After signing with Karma Chief Records in December 2018, the band released the single "Naggin' On My Mind" which featured Charlie Musselwhite and Luther Dickinson.[5] [6] [7] It was recorded at Q Division Studios in Somerville, Massachusetts and was produced by Stubbs. Musselwhite performed harmonica on the track, Dickinson was on slide guitar and Chris Anzalone was brought in to play drums. During the session Matthew Prozialeck provided background vocals and played harmonica on what would become the B-side to "Naggin' On My Mind". Additional recordings from this session became the Lonely Soul album.[8]
Their first record a 7" single was released in August 2019 with "Naggin' On My Mind" and "Sit Down Baby" on Karma Chief Records.[9] Their debut album Lonely Soul was released on October 18, 2019. The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Blues Chart. In September 2020 they released an EP called GA-20 Live Vol. 1. The EP debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart.
Their August 2021 album GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor: Try It...You Might Like It! also debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart of September 4, 2021 and was the first album ever to be played in its entirety on the Dr Boogie radio show.[10] Released to mark the 50th anniversary of Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, Taylor's first disc, the GA-20 tracks are cover versions of songs from both that album and Taylor's second record Natural Boogie. In September of 2022 the band released the studio album Crackdown which debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart. They followed up Crackdown with the live record Live In Loveland, which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Blues Chart.
In July of 2024 it was announced that Tim Carman would be replaced, on drums, by Josh Kiggans.[11]
In 2018, GA-20 were nominated for a Boston Music Award for Blues Artist of the year.[12] They have been nominated for the award 7 years in a row. Winning Blues Artist of the year in 2019,[13] 2021,[14] 2022,[15] & 2023.[16] They were nominated for their first Blues Music Award in 2022 for Best Emerging Artist.[17] In 2023 GA-20 was nominated for Blues Band of the year and the album Live In Loveland was nominated for Live Blues Album by the Blues Blast Awards.[18]
Their 2021 album Try It... You Might Like It! received 4 star reviews in both The Guardian[19] and Rolling Stone France.[20]
Past members
| Act | Release title | Catalogue | Year | Fmt | Notes # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Naggin’ On My Mind" | Karma Chief Records KCR12004dig1 | December 2018 | Digital | [21] [22] | |
| "Naggin’ On My Mind" / "Sit Down Baby" | Karma Chief Records KCR-105 | August 2019 | Vinyl, Digital | ||
| "I Ain't Got You" | Karma Chief Records KCR-12004 | July 2020 | Digital | [23] | |
| "No No" / "Two In The Ground" | Karma Chief Records KCR-001 | May 2021 | Digital | [24] | |
| "GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor LIVE!" | Karma Chief Records KCR-12017 | December 2021 | CD, Digital | [25] | |
| "ATL" | Karma Chief Records KCR-002 | November 2022 | Digital | [26] | |
| "Jolene" / "Still As The Night" | Karma Chief Records KCR-128 | September 2023 | Vinyl, Digital | [27] | |
| Release title | Catalogue | Year | Fmt | Notes # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lonely Soul | Karma Chief Records KCR12004 | October 2019 | LP, CD, Tape, Digital | Debut on Billboard Blues Albums at #2 |
| GA-20 Live Vol. 1 | Karma Chief Records KCR110 | September 2020 | EP, CD, Digital | Debut on Billboard Blues Albums at #1 |
| Try It...You Might Like It! GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor | Karma Chief Records KCR12017 | August 2021 | LP, CD, Digital | Debut on Billboard Blues Albums at #1[28] |
| Crackdown | Karma Chief Records KCR12007 | September 2022 | LP, CD, Digital | Debut on Billboard Blues Albums at #1[29] |
| Live In Loveland [recorded 1/09/20] | Karma Chief Records KCR12016 | March 2023 | LP, CD, Digital | Debut on Billboard Blues Albums at #2 |