Jill Newman

Artist Website

It’s always fun to watch electric blues and slide guitarist, Jill Newman walk into a club and pick up a guitar – folks don’t know what to expect, but you can hear a pindrop once she starts wailing on her telecaster.

Jill’s third CD, Little Bit of Luck (2025) was recorded at the iconic Studio Litho (Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews) in Seattle. Little Bit of Luck features nine original roots and blues songs that showcase Jill’s versatile lead and slide guitar work, solid singing and well-crafted songs. The album includes one cover – Jill’s take on Love Has No Pride, previously recorded by Bonnie Raitt. Little Bit of Luck shares Jill’s journey over the past few years of overcoming hardship, facing isolation and making up for lost time. It’s a hopeful album with songs that are honest and vulnerable. Jill’s stellar guitar work and cast of world class musicians bring this new album to life.

Originally, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jill and her family moved to Victoria on BC’s Vancouver Island when she was a teen. It was on Vancouver Island that Jill discovered her love of the electric guitar – playing her Strat copy until she literally wore out the frets. By her early 20s, she was playing guitar full time touring western Canada and playing six to seven nights a week in everything from country rock bands to indie, punk and blues bands. It was Jill’s work playing Jimmy Page’s blues inspired riffs in an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band that led Jill back to her first love – playing the blues.

Jill’s main influences include Freddie King, Joe Bonamassa and the slide work of Elmore James and Bonnie Raitt. As a songwriter she is drawn to the Chicago Blues stylings of Willie Dixon and Americana artist Lucinda Williams.

Jill and her high-energy band perform her brand of roots and blues regularly in the Pacific Northwest scene. Performance highlights include the ladies play the blues stage at the Northwest Folklife Festival, opening for National touring act Danielle Nicole in Seattle, the Maple Ridge Jazz and Blues Festival and the International Arts and Music Festival at Peace Arch Park.

Whether she’s playing a smokin’ solo on her Gibson or sliding across the frets of her vintage telecaster, Jill takes the audience on a musical journey that is well worth the ride.