Roots & Wings
Amani Burnham
Roots & Wings is the debut album from Amani Burnham, a 20-year-old Ethiopian-born, Connecticut-raised guitarist, singer, and songwriter, released on May 29, 2026 — one day before his 21st birthday — via Blind Pig Records. The 12-track record was produced by label head Jeff Schroedl, with whom Burnham co-wrote ten of the songs, and was recorded over five days in October 2025 at Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut — a room with a storied legacy that includes sessions by Paul Simon, Gov't Mule, and Marcus King. Built around a classic power-trio setup with drummer Ray Hangen and bassist Matt Raymond, the album was largely tracked live and centers on a single continuous guitar performance, drawing comparisons to the lineage of Clapton, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Robin Trower while signalling a voice distinctly Burnham's own. One of the album's more distinctive technical details is that Burnham plays exclusively with his right-hand thumb rather than a pick, producing a tone and attack unlike most of his blues-rock peers.
Thematically, the album balances the visceral and the introspective. The title track reflects directly on Burnham's Ethiopian heritage and his adoption — "the roots, I haven't forgotten where I'm from, and the wings is the journey that I'll have down the road," as he has described it — while other tracks venture into subjects like sleep paralysis ("The Last Thing I Remember," the album's slow-blues opening single) and broader questions about identity and life. The turbo-charged instrumental "Fastlane" showcases the album's more ferocious side, while Guitar World notes that Burnham's style, though inevitably drawing Hendrix comparisons, draws from the same original wellspring rather than simply imitating downstream players. It is a debut record that carries the weight of a fully formed artistic statement.
Roots & Wings
Amani Burnham
Roots & Wings is the debut album from Amani Burnham, a 20-year-old Ethiopian-born, Connecticut-raised guitarist, singer, and songwriter, released on May 29, 2026 — one day before his 21st birthday — via Blind Pig Records. The 12-track record was produced by label head Jeff Schroedl, with whom Burnham co-wrote ten of the songs, and was recorded over five days in October 2025 at Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut — a room with a storied legacy that includes sessions by Paul Simon, Gov't Mule, and Marcus King. Built around a classic power-trio setup with drummer Ray Hangen and bassist Matt Raymond, the album was largely tracked live and centers on a single continuous guitar performance, drawing comparisons to the lineage of Clapton, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Robin Trower while signalling a voice distinctly Burnham's own. One of the album's more distinctive technical details is that Burnham plays exclusively with his right-hand thumb rather than a pick, producing a tone and attack unlike most of his blues-rock peers.
Thematically, the album balances the visceral and the introspective. The title track reflects directly on Burnham's Ethiopian heritage and his adoption — "the roots, I haven't forgotten where I'm from, and the wings is the journey that I'll have down the road," as he has described it — while other tracks venture into subjects like sleep paralysis ("The Last Thing I Remember," the album's slow-blues opening single) and broader questions about identity and life. The turbo-charged instrumental "Fastlane" showcases the album's more ferocious side, while Guitar World notes that Burnham's style, though inevitably drawing Hendrix comparisons, draws from the same original wellspring rather than simply imitating downstream players. It is a debut record that carries the weight of a fully formed artistic statement.