Joel Andersson seems pretty young, but he’s certainly a very strong player. His Youtube page says he’s twenty and has been playing for seven years. He’s obviously acquired a lot of skills in that time. This solo performance has plenty of power and color in it.

There is no question in my mind that players now in their late teens and early twenties are learning advanced technique on the harmonica much more quickly than players in my generation did. It’s really amazing to see and hear. I have no doubt that there will be some players in this generation who break through to the mass audience. It would be great if when that happens, other harp players go with them. Y’know, a whole lotta guitarists broke through in the 1960s and 70s; it would be nice for a change if there was room for more than one harp player in the public eye in any given genre at any point in time.