Founded the Mojo Blues Band in 1977. Intensive study of blues music, tours throughout Europe and the USA and, finally, collaborations with countless international stars shaped his musical skills.
With his convincing, emotional and at times very witty delivery of both traditional and self-written blues pieces, he always manages to captivate the audience. When the Golden Medal of Merit of the Republic of Austria was awarded to Erik Nikolai Trauner on 16 December 1999 in the venerable rooms of the Art Section of the Federal Chancellery, this was anything but a matter of course.
As a musician, Erik Trauner has worked – both solo and with the Mojo Blues Band – with an unrivalled number of artists. Names such as Dana Gillespie, Axel Zwingenberger, Katie Webster, Johnny Shines, Joe Carter, J.B. Hutto, Charlie Musselwhite, Big Jay McNeely, Champion Jack Dupree, A.C. Reed, Willie Kent, Taildragger, Red Holloway, Louisiana Red and many more speak for themselves.
Trauner is as much at home in Chicago blues as in the zydeco- and cajun-infused tradition of Louisiana – who doesn’t remember the mega-hit „Rosa Lee“. In terms of intensity, Trauner is hard to beat, especially solo. The focus is not on the sterility of technical perfection but on the emotionality of reducing and leaving out – in short: the deeper essence of the blues.
( Dietmar Hoscher )