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CD
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JJ 5008CD
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Tim de Graeve (1978-2022). Raised in rural Westouter in Belgium, Tim discovered his love for blues music through his father's record collection, including an acoustic album by Blind Lemon Jefferson. He took classical guitar lessons from the age of eight and soon began writing his own songs. Tim formed his own blues band at the age of 17. Tim went to Ghent to study biology at university and lived there for the rest of his life. He worked as a teacher for a time, making music with his band The Heartfakers as a hobby. At the age of 20, a nine-year ordeal began. Even as a child he had problems with his liver, but this was not correctly diagnosed at the time. This was to take revenge, because as a young man he spent most of his time in the hospital getting liver transplants and fighting for his life. Meanwhile, Tim focused on learning how to play his grandfather's slide guitar and delving into blues classics like delta blues and writing songs. Back then he swore to himself that if he survived, he would dedicate his life to become a professional musician. In 2009, he released his debut EP Please Dr. Please under the name Tiny Legs Tim & The Concrete Blues Band. He then focused on releasing solo work as a singer-songwriter for a number of years. His stage name, Tiny Legs, was a reference to his small and thin appearance, which was a result of his severe liver disease. Inspiration came from some of his blues heroes like Blind Willy Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, and Sleepy John Estes, who also have three-part names, often describing a physical characteristic. He thought it was a funny name that had a self-relating effect. It was a way of dealing with his "new" body. He recorded more albums, sometimes solo, sometimes with a drummer or harp-player or like on the marvelous 2019 album Elsewhere Bound with an eight-piece band. For Call Us When It's Over Tim founded a new four-piece band that recorded these six tracks during the pandemic (hence the album title). This band blew everyone away at the Goezot Festival in Turnhout in September 2021. Juke Joint 500 instantly struck a deal which hopefully was the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship. This was not to be as Tim de Graeve died during an operation in hospital in May 2022.
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