American blues band GA-20 continues to build on the raw Chicago blues of the 1950s and 1960s. Formed around 2018 in Boston, the trio has earned a reputation for its stripped-down, electric sound and deep respect for tradition, while steadily shaping a voice of its own.

Guitarist and co-founder Matthew Stubbs grew up in Hampstead, New Hampshire, in a household filled with blues and rock ’n’ roll. He picked up his first guitar at 13 and joined his father’s band at 15. Early inspirations included Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy Guy, but Stubbs soon traced their roots back to artists such as Buddy Guy, Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. “For me, it really started when the blues became electric,” he says, pointing to mid-’50s Chicago as his creative touchstone. “Raw blues feels the most honest. It was more about what you can say with very few notes.”

That philosophy defined GA-20’s 2021 tribute album Try It… You May Like It: GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart. Stubbs even used a Kingston Teisco Kawai guitar, similar to the one Taylor played, to capture the original spirit.

GA-20 features Stubbs alongside singer/drummer Josh Kiggans and guitarist/singer Cody Nilsen, who joined in December 2024. The band operates without a bass player; Stubbs and Nilsen share bass lines, rhythm parts and solos. “It’s not just about playing guitar, but getting the right sounds out of the instrument and amplifier,” Stubbs explains. Nilsen’s ability to sing, play slide, and add acoustic guitar, pedal steel and lap steel has expanded the band’s sonic palette.

Their latest album, Orphans, collects songs long in their live set, including material associated with Ike Turner, Isaac Hayes, James Brown and Elmore James.

Interview © 2026 Peter Schavemaker Tekst, Audio en Podcast Producties.