In the city to play at Mahindra Blues Festival, the new Grammy Award winner talks about his recent win, evolution of blues music, playing the guitar in the ‘unorthodox way’, and getting inspired by Indian sounds
Grammy Award winner Eric Gales gave a power-packed performance at Mahindra Blues Festival 2026 on Sunday. Photo Courtesy: Special Arrangement
It has been less than two weeks since American blues guitarist Eric Gales has won two 2026 Grammy Awards, but it’s still sinking in, says the humble musician. He won it along with other artists for ‘Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media’ and ‘Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media’ for his contribution to the Sinners (2025) movie soundtrack. Gales particularly worked on ‘Elijah’ and ‘Grand Closin’ with composer Ludwig Goransson, to lend his mind-blowing electric guitar solos. He shares, “I'm still somewhere in the clouds. It is just some work from an amazing, miraculous movie. It is still shattering records, having a massive success, and to be tied and connected to that movie, I just couldn't have planned this out, or predicted it."
Such has the been the effect of the win on him that Gales, adds, “For the world to know, not just the United States, but the world to take notice of this movie, and hear my work is just huge. To see some awareness and notoriety from it is just beautiful.”
Visiting Mumbai for the third time
Gales was in Mumbai for the Mahindra Blues Festival 2026, where he played for the third time since it started, and he is more excited than ever to return. “Anytime that I have an opportunity to connect with somebody in the audience, it is an excitement for me.” The one aspect of the Mumbai blues festival that stands out for him has been the energy, and the sense of familiarity. “I can see the people have a yearning to just connect musically with something, and they're feeling some sort of energy, and that type of energy is priceless. To have that connect with the audience is what I look forward to. So, when that happens, it is a beautiful thing.”
This feeling must stem from the fact that Gales has been making music for over three decades now, but more importantly it is his hunger to always challenge himself that keeps him going and helped him evolved. “It is just not giving up and continuing to keep rolling. Keep pushing because every step is a step in a good direction, and career-wise, it's a step in a beautiful direction. Expanding and touching not only the blues but, expanding what I do because I involve myself in many different styles as I'm inspired and influenced by many different styles of music. So, I try to engage myself with many different styles and facets -- from R&B to rock to funk to hip-hop to rock to blues, gospel because I like it all and in the course of my show, you will experience parts of this within my show. I think that's the ultimate definition of an artist. I think it would be hurtful if I didn't engage in it. You have artists that are just strictly focused on, that style of what they do, and nothing wrong with that but I like it all, but I like everything.”
Experimenting with different genres
While experimenting with everything he can, Gales does it uniquely by making use of a right-handed guitar but playing it like a left-handed guitarist or rather ‘upside down’, a unique element of his playing-style and performance. Ask him about how he has navigated it, and he says, “They just are shocked when they see it, but it's never been a problem for me. When I picked up the guitar, that's how I picked it up. When I first started playing, I never knew it was a “a weird or unorthodox way”. It was what was right to me. So, when I learned that the world was saying that it was like the "wrong way". It was way too late. I was already playing and then come to find out there were some others that played that way. So, either way, whether nobody else played like that ever, it didn't bother me because I was already learning how to figure stuff out. I didn't even know that the people that I was listening to, to learn what I was learning were playing a different way from me. It didn't matter. I just know that I liked what I heard and whatever it took for me to figure it out, I was going to figure it out.”
It has been a journey since then, and even though Gales has been a part of the evolution of blues music not only in his home Memphis but also the US, he sees a bright future for the genre. I think American blues music has progressed in a great way. Kingfish is doing a really great job by definitely bringing the blues to a younger generation and carrying the torch really, really well. D.K. Harrell is doing a great job in the younger generation, and to see that is amazing.” Noticing how this has helped a lot more younger listeners gravitate to blues music. “To see that not everybody is out there doing rap or hip-hop, not that there's nothing wrong with that but there are other things that are on the table as well. So, to have a light shine on it is amazing,” says the musician, who plays the blues, but reminds he dresses like a “hip-hop guy”.
With him now being in Mumbai, people got a glimpse of how much India has inspired him over the years since his first visit to make him include elements into his music. Ask him about it, and he says, “I have incorporated some Indian sounds, particularly the sitar, which I used as an instrument in a song or two of mine. It's certain scales that I play sometimes. It’s something very calming and very mystic about the whole Indian scale and mode and that whole style. So, I just randomly venture off into that style. My band knows exactly that my mind just went there for a minute.” A spectacle that many people witnessed on Sunday, during his performance.
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