Mike Ross - Electric Smoke 1 (2025) Hi-Res

As his friends and fans will know, Mike Ross has been hard at work making music as a solo artist for several years now, releasing top quality albums that have outshone many of his contemporaries. Now, ahead of a change in musical direction, he is about to release 'Electric Smoke', his final album under his own name.

Opening with ‘Better Days’ the album leads the listener into an Americana infused song inspired by the day to day existence of the working class man/blue collar worker. Followed immediately by the slower ‘Keep Going’, both songs highlight the ruthlessness of life’s daily grind combined by the need to keep striving to survive.

Ross is a long-time fan of the Allman brothers and his slide guitar playing washes over ‘Electric Smoke‘ in a way that would make the late Duane Allman proud. Just listen to the melodic ‘Come Away’, where Ross shares vocals with Lindsey Bonnick of Brave Rival, all underpinned by some of Ross’s most soulful slide playing.

The brooding blues of ‘Sweet Wine’ and ‘Bus Blues’ are immediate attention grabbers in which Ross’s guitar playing reaches right into your soul.