Blues has always been about emotion. It can carry pain, desire, frustration, confidence and hope without needing to explain too much. Dutch composer, guitarist and producer Guy Renardeau, known as The Blues Guy, taps into that emotional language while giving it a contemporary shape on his new album, The Blues Guy & The SHADES OF BLUE: Colours in Your Mind.
The seven song, 26 minute project brings together vocalists and musicians from different backgrounds, creating a record that moves comfortably between blues, rock, soul, R&B, jazz, ambient music and cinematic sound. Rather than treating blues as something locked in the past, Renardeau uses it as a starting point for exploring emotions that remain just as relevant today.
Based in Los Angeles, Renardeau has built a career that stretches across music, film and television. His work as a guitarist, songwriter and composer has taken him into very different creative spaces, from performing at the international Jimi Hendrix Music Festival to working with artists such as Scott Henderson, Snowy White, Omar Dykes, Hans Dulfer and others. His background in cinematic composition also plays an important role in the way he approaches Colours in Your Mind.
The album feels less like a traditional band record and more like a meeting point between different voices. Renardeau provides the musical foundation across the project, handling the compositions and instrumental performances, while each guest brings their own personality and emotional perspective.
Glenda Benevides appears twice, opening the album with “Addicted to the Pain” and returning for the closing track, “Love on My Mind.” Her blues and soul influenced delivery gives both songs a strong emotional centre, moving between vulnerability, relationships and personal strength.
Class Vee also contributes two very different performances. “Nonsense” carries a sharper contemporary energy, while “Beautiful Words” offers another side of her versatile pop and R&B influenced style. Both tracks demonstrate how naturally the album can move beyond traditional blues without losing its emotional foundation.
On “Harmonica Blues,” Polish harmonica player Łukasz “Wiśnia” Wiśniewski adds another layer of character to Renardeau’s composition. His expressive playing gives the song a more direct connection to the blues tradition while still fitting into the album’s modern production.
Melody McArthur brings a deeply personal quality to “Heartache’s on Me,” contributing lyrics that connect music with her wider experience as a performer in both music and theatre. Meanwhile, KIA Knoester brings alternative R&B and soul into “Watch Me Work,” adding a different kind of energy and confidence to the record.
What makes Colours in Your Mind interesting is the way these contributions never feel disconnected from one another. The voices are different, the influences are broad, and the individual songs have their own personalities, but Renardeau’s compositions and production give the project a consistent foundation.
Recorded and produced at Apollo Recording & Film Studio, the album also reflects Renardeau’s experience in cinematic music. There is an awareness of atmosphere throughout the project, with the arrangements leaving space for the vocalists and guest musicians to make their presence felt.
With The Blues Guy & The SHADES OF BLUE, Renardeau continues to treat the blues as something living rather than something fixed. The genre’s emotional honesty remains at the centre, but the sounds around it are allowed to change. The result is a collaborative album shaped by different cultures, voices and musical traditions, all connected by the same basic idea: some feelings never really go out of style.
Guy Renardeau – The Blues Guy & The Shades of Blue
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