The Rootworkers are set to release their debut full-length album, ‘Don’t Beat a Dead Horse,’ on 17 October 2025 via Bloos Records.

The Marche-based Italian quartet is challenging the blues genre’s limitations, delivering a stripped-down, contemporary sound that fuses old delta roots with their own dynamic style. The album marks a significant shift in their songwriting approach. Working with producer Frankie Wah (Little Pieces of Marmelade), The Rootworkers have refined their structures, focusing on minimal arrangements, tone, and timbre to bring a fresh, modern edge while retaining the primal tension of the blues.

The album’s title, ‘Don’t Beat a Dead Horse’—an idiom about not wasting energy on lost causes—is deliberately turned on its head. Instead of giving up on a classic genre, The Rootworkers tackle it with boldness and a critical eye, directly challenging its clichés.

To accompany today’s album premiere, they offered an insight into the nine tracks that make up their debut full-length album, ‘Don’t Beat a Dead Horse’.

‘Love Don’t Pay the Rent’: A heartfelt celebration of love, driven by tremolo guitars and a warm bassline. The band uses the simple act of moving house as a metaphor for personal growth and discovering genuine connections.

‘Unstoppable Pleasure’: This track is a tribute to fellow travellers and the deep bonds forged on the blues path. It’s described as a rough-edged, yet dreamy homage to a timeless space beyond life’s endings.

‘Catfish Blues’: The album’s sole cover, originally by Robert Petway, is a staple of The Rootworkers’ live set. Their reinterpretation features call-and-response guitars and a driving rhythm section, designed to capture the intensity of their stage shows.

‘Desert’: The most tormented song on the record. It’s a surreal, dreamlike journey through existential reflection, suspended between anguished vocals and spacey Rhodes piano, eventually dissolving into dub delays.

‘It’s Gone (And It’s Alright)’: A song of personal redemption that transforms an ending into a new beginning. The initial tension of anxiety melts away into a bold psych-reggae bridge, closing the loop with a sense of lightness and liberation.

‘Proud of My Life (Don’t Ask Me Why)’: A clear statement of identity. The band describes it as a way of being in the world: proud, self-aware, and owning one’s path despite challenges and uncertainties.

‘Not My Cup of Tea’: The most electric track, driven by a pulsating energy. It culminates in an explosive boogie section, featuring a pounding drum that hammers out an obsessive “no” to any unwelcome reality or predetermined destiny.

‘Devil on My Bed’: An intense spiritual encounter where the band channels the spirits of Mississippi blues that crept beneath the sheets. It’s an exorcism of sorts—a whirlwind of fuzz, slide guitar, hypnosis, and psychedelia.

‘Dead Flower Blues (Alt. Take)’: An alternative version of a previous single. This take explores new paths into the darker, more occult shades of Black music, evoking the root-working tradition, black magic, and initiatory rituals.

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