On 10 November 2002 Lyytinen was the opening act for Robert Plant, the former vocalist of
Led Zeppelin. She has mentioned that the occasion is one of her most treasured concert memories. Erja Lyytinen was the only Finnish act to perform at "Puistoblues" in 2003, the biggest blues festival in Finland, where she played on the main stage. Her second album Wildflower was released at the festival. The artists Koko Taylor and Bonnie Raitt, two of her biggest influences and idols, also performed at the festival, and Lyytinen had the chance to meet Bonnie Raitt there. At the time Lyytinen balanced between touring and studying at the Sibelius Academy. Later on, in 2003 she went to study abroad in
Denmark. In
Kobenhavn Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium she studied with Paul Banks, jazz guitarist Jacob Ficher, singer
Etta Cameron, and with guitarist
Billy Cross, who had played with
Bob Dylan. In the spring of 2003, Lyytinen was awarded a
stipend to attend the
Musician's Institute of Technology in
Los Angeles. There she got to study with
Scott Henderson, who has played in
Chick Corea's Electric Band, and with
Keith Wyatt who, according to her, kept amazing lectures about the history of blues. Thomas Ruf from the German
Ruf Records label brought his Blues Caravan tour to Finland in 2005. There Lyytinen got to jam with female blues artists
Candye Kane,
Ana Popovic and
Sue Foley, who at the time had contracts with Ruf Records. After that Ruf offered a record deal to Lyytinen which led to recording her international debut album, "Pilgrimage". The album was recorded in
Memphis and
Mississippi with two other artists,
Aynsley Lister and Ian Parker. In 2006 Lyytinen had a chance to record her next album
Dreamland Blues in
Oxford, Mississippi with local musicians. On this record, her playing is more
slide guitar-oriented than on earlier albums. In Finland, the album was picked as the "Album of the Year" by Bluesministeri (The Bluesminister) radio show, which was broadcast on
YLE (Finnish public service media company). In the same year, Lyytinen also toured with the Blues Caravan. The
Grip of the Blues album was released in 2008. Lyytinen has mentioned that she think of this record as her first "real" album as it was the first record to feature her own band. The line-up for the album was
Rami Eskelinen (drums), Iiro Kautto (bass), and Davide Floreno (guitar). At the beginning of 2009 Lyytinen toured again with "Ruf's Blues Caravan". Other artists on that tour were
Joanne Shaw Taylor and
Oli Brown. In
Norway at the
Notodden Blues Festival the trio got to jam with Joe Bonamassa, with whom they played the song "Further Up On The Road". == 2010–2018: Awards and career highlights ==