J.P. REALI PRESS INFO
  • JP Reali Band Photo 2024
  • J.P. Reali Bio

    J.P. Reali is a blues guitarist and singer/songwriter currently living in Newark, Delaware. Originally from New York, J.P. spent nearly 40 years living and performing in the Washington, D.C. area where he was nominated for multiple Washington Area Music Awards. He won the D.C. Blues Society battle of the bands three time, and competed in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. J.P. has released several self-produced albums that have all received critical acclaim: 2012’s “The Road To Mississippi,” 2019’s “A Highway Cruise” and 2024’s “Blues Since Birth”. In 2021, J.P. relocated to Delaware to concentrate on performing and guitar teaching, sharing his passion for the blues by helping the next generation of musicians learn from his years of performing and lessons he took with master guitar teachers including Jorma Kaukonen, Ernie Hawkins, and Mike Auldrige.

    Raised on a steady stream of Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, and the blues - all frequent spins from his parents’ record collection (and not coincidentally, all influences, themselves, on the Grateful Dead) - Reali gravitated towards artists that alchemized it all into arena rock gold. Whether Jimi Hendrix, or Yes, or The Allman Brothers Band - and, of course, the Grateful Dead - Reali found overflowing founts of inspiration. He studied guitar as a prodigious young student encouraged by his public school music teacher. He formed bands and played the blues.

    The obligations and opportunities of Reali’s life merged into a successful career as an audio engineer, working in studios booking everything from the Rolling Stones to Barbra Streisand. Additionally, he spent a tenured stint turning knobs at the venerable Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital.

    In 2026 J.P. embarked on a new adventure with "Grateful Blues," a tribute to and expression of his passion for the Grateful Dead. The culmination of dozens upon dozens of Dead shows in the 1980s Reali consumed (along with some psychedelic companionship) while pulling double duty as an aspiring musician and audio engineering student at American University in Washington, DC. Now, over forty years later, the veteran guitarist and singer-songwriter’s trip on the bus arrives here, as Reali offers a six-song valentine to the iconic and enduring ensemble and a showcase for Reali’s luminous guitar work.

    All the bumper-stickered journeys converged at this crossroads. Reali read the signs, accordingly. “This album is an intentional effort to move my music into the jamband scene.”

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    Photo credit Michael G. Stewart
  • JP Reali Grateful Blues Cover
  • 2026 CD Release
    JP Reali "Grateful Blues"
    For J.P. Reali, it all began when he spotted a bumper sticker in a Long Island record store. To his teenage mind, on that fateful day nearly five decades ago, that gleaming, glossy, rectangular vessel of rock-and-roll promotion spoke like a muse: On the Eighth Day God Created The Grateful Dead. Reali was hooked.

    There was, serendipitously, a baptism by babysitter; her copy of Shakedown Street, with the welcoming wah-wahs of Jerry Garcia’s trademark guitar, piquing his curiosity. And of course, there were the concerts; the dozens upon dozens of Dead shows in the 1980s Reali consumed (along with some psychedelic companionship) while pulling double duty as an aspiring musician and audio engineering student at American University in Washington, DC. Now, over forty years later, the veteran guitarist and singer-songwriter’s trip on the bus arrives here, as Reali offers Grateful Blues, a six-song valentine to the iconic and enduring ensemble.

    The half-dozen Dead nuggets in the set run the range - from early, blues-laden rarities to deeper album cuts to fan favorites - each reimagined in Reali’s own vernacular. Just like the notoriously adventurous group that sparked the project, Reali welcomes the risk. “On all these songs, I saw a gem of a blues song within a Grateful Dead song,” Reali says.

    “Easy Wind” shines on the folk blues of the gestational Dead, ironed it into a three-chord firecracker, and live vehicle for his J.P. Reali Band. There’s “Loose Lucy,” originally a funky twister, turned rocker, replete with robust call-and-response piano breaks. As well, there’s a knowing nod to the 1987 peak of the Dead’s commercial popularity, with “West L.A. Fadeaway,” akin to a B.B. King minor blues, and a showcase for Reali’s luminous guitar work.

    Keeping in the spirit of blues guitar giants, there is Reali’s take on “I Need A Miracle.” Here, the Bob Weir-penned bopper gets a lyrical shave, and an infusion of Texas shuffle a la Stevie Ray Vaughan, before dovetailing into a tease of “Bertha.” On “Mr. Charlie,” there’s an homage to the art form’s venerated originator, Robert Johnson, citing the hallowed style of Delta blues. Finally, the collection concludes with a cap-tip to Piedmont blues - and Weir’s idiosyncratic rhythm approach - on Garcia’s cherished “Tennessee Jed.” Says Reali of the finale, “There is not another version in existence like this one.”

    Truthfully, he could contend the same for all six on the EP. Recorded at Turtle Studios in Philadelphia, mixed and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Andy Kravitz, and produced by Reali’s longtime friend and drummer Jim Larson, Grateful Blues is as unique a compilation as its creator. Too, it’s as fitting a tribute to the Grateful Dead itself.

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  • JP Reali Blues Since Birth Cover
  • 2024 CD Release
    JP Reali "Blues Since Birth"
    American Blues singer, Guitarist and Songwriter has performed the Blues for over 40 years, mainly in the Washington DC area. On this album he is joined by lifelong friend Jim Larson who plays drums and has jointly produced the album with JP, in addition to this duo Gill Glass and Josh Borden play Bass and Keyboards respectively. All but one of the nine tracks has been self-written. The album gets off to a cracking start with The Devil’s Take, a pulsating John Lee Hooker style song with strong lead guitar work and a solid vocal from JP. The following track is called The Virus Blues playing reverence to the COVID epidemic, which includes some clever lyrics surrounding the periods of isolation due to lockdowns and travel restrictions, covering the period perfectly. While JP predominately plays electric guitar throughout the album, he does dabble with some acoustic work on his Steel Guitar and plays a mean harmonica, both highlighted on the final two songs, the moody Cold Steel Blues, and the autobiographical song Blues Since Birth. For me he is at his best when playing electric guitar, the song emphasising this is Blues In A Minefield where JP draws inspiration from the greats like Albert King and Robert Cray to create a very smooth “floating” guitar sound alongside his menacing vocal, this is a standout classic blues song which deserves to be heard by a wider audience, hopefully this review will start the progression. This is a standout release full of excellent playing and meaningful lyrics, you can understand from this why JP is such a sought after “Blues Teacher,” a role which enables him to pass on his passion and skills to the next generation. - ADRIAN BLACKLEE

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  • A Highway Cruise Cover
  • 2019 CD Release
    JP Reali "A Highway Cruise"
    There’s nothing quite like the fun you can have when you pack up some provisions and a few choice friends and head out for a road trip adventure to explore new frontiers, and hidden bi-ways and bask in the glorious landscape or just ride along treasured old roads. Guitarist J.P. Reali, a veteran of the DC music scene for over thirty years, headed up to New England to meet up with old friend Duke Levine to record a session that became a musical road trip across genres of blues, country and good old rock ‘n’ roll for a five-song EP “A Highway Cruise.”

    Best known as an MVP for hire by Peter Wolf, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Otis Rush, Duke Levine has an encyclopedic knowledge of blues, R&B, rock, pop, and jazz. Reali and Levine met on the road two decades ago and have been kicking around the idea of recording together for years. Levine assembled a group for the session that boasts a crack rhythm section of Jim Haggerty on bass, Mark Teixeira on drums, Dennis Brennan on harmonica, Tom West on piano and organ, and fellow Boston six-string guru Kevin Barry on lap steel and Dobro.

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