Fighting pancreatitis and back to the blues
Following a severe bout of pancreatitis, and a predicted 50% chance of survival after an operation called a Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy) in 2001, Rea promised himself that if he recovered, he would be returning to his blues roots.
This near brush with death was the catalyst for a complete change in musical direction and motivation.
The resulting Blue Guitars 11 CD collection of 137 blues inspired tracks recorded in just 18 months, completed with his own paintings as album covers, is seen by himself as his finest work to date.
In an interview with the Britsound Radio Show, Rea revealed that
"it’s not until you become seriously ill and you nearly die and you’re at home for 6 months, that you suddenly stop to realize that this isn’t the way I intended it to be in the beginning. Everything that you’ve done falls away and start wondering why you went through all that rock business stuff."
This near brush with death was the catalyst for a complete change in musical direction and motivation.
The resulting Blue Guitars 11 CD collection of 137 blues inspired tracks recorded in just 18 months, completed with his own paintings as album covers, is seen by himself as his finest work to date.
In an interview with the Britsound Radio Show, Rea revealed that
"it’s not until you become seriously ill and you nearly die and you’re at home for 6 months, that you suddenly stop to realize that this isn’t the way I intended it to be in the beginning. Everything that you’ve done falls away and start wondering why you went through all that rock business stuff."
So, in 2002, Rea returned to his blues roots, releasing the album Dancing Down The Stony Road following recording sessions in France and the UK. (An abridged version of the album was later released with the title Stony Road.) The album was followed by a DVD of the same name, comprising a "Making Of" documentary and footage from a concert in Cologne.
Rea set up his own JazzeeBlue label in 2003 to free himself from the pressure of record companies and their expectations. Since then he has released the blues albums Blue Street (Five Guitars) (an instrumental jazz-blues album) and then The Blue Jukebox (another jazz-blues influenced album released to critical acclaim). He has worked with David Knopfler for two albums, Wishbones (2001) and Ship of Dreams (2004).
Rea set up his own JazzeeBlue label in 2003 to free himself from the pressure of record companies and their expectations. Since then he has released the blues albums Blue Street (Five Guitars) (an instrumental jazz-blues album) and then The Blue Jukebox (another jazz-blues influenced album released to critical acclaim). He has worked with David Knopfler for two albums, Wishbones (2001) and Ship of Dreams (2004).
Blue Guitars and Retirement
Chris Rea released his final box-set album, "Blue Guitars" in 2005. Consisting of 11 CDs and 1 DVD (Dancing Down The Stony Road), the album is Rea's testament to blues. Each album contains self-compositions, played and performed in a specific genre of the blues. The box-set includes a book containing reproductions of colourful paintings by Rea.
In an interview with the Britsound Radio Show, Rea declared that this box-set album is a result of his love for the blues:
"it’s just my first love. You know if you take music as romance, then blues was my first love you know, it’s my wife. And it’s with me all the time, and I just adore it."
This album closes the final chapter of Chris Rea's solo career as he does not intend to make any further solo records. He has stated that he would continue to make records with some of his favourite players under the name "The Memphis Fireflies". A double DVD set and a separate double CD set was released in 2006, including live selections from Rea's farewell tour titled "The Road To Hell & Back".
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