This week’s guest is Matthew Stubbs. As a guitarist and founding member of GA-20, Stubbs has released two well-received albums, toured extensively, ascended the Billboard charts, and helped to usher in a traditional blues revival. With a new album on the way—Crackdown, out September 9 on Colemine Records!—and a bunch of shows on the horizon, Stubbs has a lot of modern day things to talk about. Even beyond his work with GA-20, Stubbs has quite an impressive musical résumé.

Prior to setting out on tour, Stubbs spoke to My First Band host Tyler Maas about the new GA-20 record, what it’s been like to get back on the road, and why he feels it’s important to give new life to traditional blues music. Of course he also spoke about his musical past, including learning to play guitar at an early age, performing throughout New England with his dad’s band, moving to Los Angeles in his early twenties, and making a living as a side man. Along the way, he talked about touring with notable blues musicians like Janiva Magness and James Watson before landing a spot in the band of the legendary Charlie Musselwhite—where he’s spent roughly 15 years and counting.

My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth (“The Junction Street Eight Tigers”) and GA-20 (“Easy On The Eyes”).