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Michael Messer was born in Middlesex in 1956. Throughout his childhood and teens he played rock music with his two brothers and in various local bands. In his early twenties, Messer spent time in Nashville where he had the chance to meet and hear some of the ‘greats’ of country music performing in their home environment. These included Roy Acuff, Hank Snow and Johnny Cash. Back home in England in the late seventies, Messer was mastering the art of Mississippi delta blues slide guitar, buying his first National steel guitar in 1979. He began playing blues gigs, both as a solo artist and in various local bands in the early eighties.

In 1983 he met Ed Genis and they began playing music together, a partnership that has lasted for the past two decades. During that year, Messer started gigging regularly with British blues singer, Mike Cooper, and through him he got known on the folk and blues circuit. The Michael Messer Band was formed in 1985 and they cut their first album, Diving Duck, in 1987 which received some fantastic reviews.

Second Mind, recorded and released in 2002 followed the widespread success of its predecessor, King Guitar. This highly anticipated and critically acclaimed album featured Messer’s regular band, plus the great Ruby Turner on backing vocals. DJ Louie Genis came back into the fold and this time instead of working on one or two tracks, he cut loose and played on the whole album, creating a sound that was both totally contemporary and very traditional. The album won the Best Blues Guitar Album at the 2003 International Guitar Federation awards, beating other nominees including Chris Rea, Sonny Landreth and Eric Bibb. On ‘Second Mind’, Michael delivered a set of recordings that stretch across the musical landscape. Deeply rooted in and inflected with the blues, the album incorporates a rich and diverse texture of different styles that appeal to an array of musical tastes.