Guy Verlinde – “Me & My Blues”

A Defiant Roar From The Heart Of Belgian Blues

Review By Glen Parkes

When you speak about European blues royalty, you cannot ignore the towering presence of Guy Verlinde. A two-time Belgian Blues Award winner with seventeen albums and over a thousand shows under his belt, Verlinde returns with a statement of intent in “Me & My Blues”—a slow-burning Chicago blues that doesn’t just whisper resilience… it bellows it from the rooftops.

This isn’t just another single. This is a man staring adversity square in the eye and daring it to blink first.

Written during a gruelling four-year legal battle that drained him emotionally and mentally, “Me & My Blues” is rooted in darkness—but it refuses to stay there. Built around a traditional 12-bar Chicago framework, the track carries the weight of lived experience. It’s raw, it’s honest, and it’s delivered with the authority only someone who has truly walked through fire can command.

From the first note, you feel the atmosphere settle. The groove is unhurried and deliberate. Tom Eylenbosch’s piano rolls in like late-night smoke across a dimly lit barroom floor, setting the emotional temperature. Then comes Stef Paglia’s guitar — restrained, tasteful, and soaked in tone rather than flash. This is blues done right. No gimmicks. No unnecessary frills. Just soul.

Verlinde’s vocal performance is where the song truly grips you by the throat. There’s gravel in his delivery, but there’s also clarity. When he sings, “They can try to knock me down… but at the end when I get up, people, me & my blues will get stronger than before,” you believe every syllable. It’s not theatre. It’s testimony.

Steven Troch’s harmonica weaves through the track like a second voice — sometimes answering, sometimes provoking. There’s a gorgeous tension in the way it rises and falls against the rhythm section. Speaking of which, René Stock on bass and Frederik Van den Berghe on drums provide the kind of pocket that every blues band dreams of. Solid, grounded, immovable. They don’t overpower the song — they carry it.

What makes “Me & My Blues” so powerful is its refusal to become a lament. This isn’t self-pity wrapped in minor chords. It’s defiance. It’s resurrection. Verlinde isn’t asking for sympathy; he’s declaring survival. That shift in energy is everything.

The production, handled by Kristof Maes at Closed Session Recording Studio and mastered by Frederik Dejongh at Jerboa Mastering, keeps things organic and warm. The instrumentation breathes. You can almost feel the room around the band. It sounds like musicians playing together — because that’s exactly what it is. In an age of over-polished releases, that authenticity matters.

“Me & My Blues” stands as both a personal exorcism and a universal anthem. Every Blues fan has faced their own version of the mud, the knockdowns, and the long nights wondering if the weight will ever lift. Verlinde gives that struggle a voice — and then turns it into strength.

In a world that often tries to flatten authenticity, Guy Verlinde rises taller. And as he says himself, nobody’s going to take away his blues.

Stronger than before? Absolutely.

This is resilience set to a groove — and it’s magnificent.