Stony Plain Records has announced the signing of acclaimed Blues singer/guitarist Rory Block and the September 30 release of her label debut, Blues Walkin’ Like a Man: A Tribute to Son House. The new CD features a special guest appearance by Block’s long-time friend John Sebastian, who contributes harmonica on three tracks.

Rory Block was a 15-year-old guitar prodigy when she first met the legendary Son House in 1965 backstage at a well-known Greenwich Village club. “Son House virtually radiated a golden light,” Block remembers of that first meeting. “I learned a deep lesson about the power of the music, which became an inseparable part of me. Later, I had a chance to play for him. I will never forget his amazement as I played Willie Brown’s ‘Future Blues.’ He was asking people, ‘Where did she learn to play like this?’”

That meeting helped set a teenaged Rory Block on the Blues path that has brought her international recognition as (Guitar Extra proclaimed) “one of the world's most important preservers of the roots of American music...a national treasure in the form of an uncompromising mature Blues artist.” The New York Times summed up a Rory Block performance by stating: “Her playing is perfect, her singing otherworldly, as she wrestles with ghosts, shadows and legends.”

In addition to the critical plaudits she’s received over her extensive career, Block has won five W.C. Handy Awards (now known simply as Blues Music Awards) from the Blues Foundation: two for “Best Traditional Blues Female Artist” and three for “Acoustic Blues Album of the Year,” the most recent being last year. She also tours constantly all over North America and throughout Europe.

On Blues Walkin’ Like a Man, Rory Block interprets 13 of Son House’s most powerful Blues songs, including “Preachin’ Blues,” “Death Letter,” “Grinnin’ in Your Face,” and Jinx Blues.”

Rory Block will tour extensively in support of her new CD and is booked by Steve Hecht of Piedmont Talent (steve@piedmonttalent.com). For more information on Rory Block, visit www.roryblock.com or www.stonyplainrecords.com.