JOHN
NEMETH
MEMPHIS
S
O
U
L
2 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 3
From all of us, to all of you,
Happy Holidays...
6 JOHN NEMETH
5 RIFFS & GROOVES
by Tom Hyslop
by Art Tipaldi
Memphis Soul
From The Editor-In-Chief
10 ROY ROGERS
24 DELTA JOURNEYS
by Phil Reser
by Roger Stolle
Still Slidin’
Life In Hell
12 KIRK FLETCHER
26 AROUND THE WORLD
by Pete Sardon
by Bob Margolin
California’s In-Demand Guitarist
14 DOUG DEMING &
DENNIS GRUENLING
Making Music Together
by Mark Thompson
16 ANTHONY GOMES
Celebrating Blues-Rock
by Don Wilcock
18 SUGAR BLUE
No Longer Alone
by Matt MacDonald
20 MIKE WELCH
Monster Mike Grows Up
by Karen Nugent
22 ALBERT CUMMINGS
Workin’ Man
by Art Tipaldi
4
Young And Old Blues
28 REVIEWS
Over 65 CD, DVD, And Book Reviews
Available At BluesMusicStore.com
30 SAMPLER EIGHT
15 Songs To Download
by Various Artists
57 DAHL’S DIGS
12 Re-issue And Box Sets
by Bill Dahl
58 Music Store
CDs, Box Sets, DVDs, Books, And More...
by BluesMusicStore.com
62 UPCOMING
Festivals, Tours, CD Releases, And Events
Mark Your Calendars
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY © Mike Shea
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Art Tipaldi
LEGAL: Eric Hatten
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
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COLUMNISTS
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
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~~~
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Been re-alphabetizing CDs for the past few months. Where do you file Lil’ Ed
and the Blues Imperials? Is it under Lil’, Ed, or Blues Imperials? Ditto Sonny Boy
Williamson. Sonny Boy or Williamson?
The best part of this seemingly impossible task has been to play records
that made an impact on my blues but with the glut of new music filling my mailbox
in the 21st century have become as distant to me as my old 33 and 45s. So permit
me to name check some musicians and records in no particular order from the past
you might agree with or check out if you are new to the blues in the last decade
and need a good fix of the blues.
• Steve James, American Primitive
• Snooky Pryor, Too Cool To Move
• Snooky Pryor and Johnny Shines, Back To The Country
• Reba Russell, Buried Treasure
• Roy Rogers, Blues On The Range
• Otis Rush, Lost In The Blues
• Spencer Bohren, Dirt Roads
• Albert Collins, Live ’92-’93
• Lightnin’ Hopkins, Complete Aladdin Recordings
• Eddie Hinton, Cry And Moan
• Larry Garner, You Need To Live A Little
• James Cotton, Live At Antone’s
• Doug MacLeod, Unmarked Road
• Cephus and Wiggins, Guitar Man
• Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Captured Live
• Big Jack Johnson, Live In Chicago
• Carol Fran and Clarence Hollimon, Soul Sensation
• Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Alone And Acoustic
• Frank Frost, Midnight Prowler
• Booker Laury, Nothin’ But The Blues
• James Harman, Do Not Disturb
• Omar and the Howlers, Hard Times In The Land Of Plenty
• Kelly Joe Phelps, Lead Me On
• Otis Spann, The Complete Candid Recordings
• Angela Strehli, Blue And Blond
• Koko Taylor, Force Of Nature
• Robert Ward, Fear No Evil
• Ruth Brown, Miss Rhythm
• Charles Brown, Honey Dripper
• John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, The Bluebird Recordings 1937-38
• Rod Piazza, Blues In The Dark
• Katie Webster, Two-Fisted Mama
• Maria Muldaur, Richland Woman Blues
• Rory Block, Ain’t I A Woman
• Tab Benoit, Live Swampland Jam
• Lurrie Bell, Mercurial Son
• Carey Bell, Deep Down
• Debbie Davies, Picture This
• Catfish Keith, Cherry Ball
• Sherman Robertson, I’m The Man
• Professor Longhair, Crawfish Fiesta,
• Chicago, The Blues Today
• Antone’s 20th Anniversary
• Deep Blues soundtrack
• Bill Wyman’s Blues Odyssey
• Taj Mahal, Señor Blues
• Mighty Sam McClain, Joy And Pain
• T-Bone Walker, T-Bone Blues
And so many, many more!!!
“Let the music keep our spirits high.” - Art Tipaldi
Blues Music Magazine is published quarterly by MojoWax Media,Inc., 1806 7th Avenue West, Bradenton, FL 34205. Periodicals postage is paid at Bradenton,FL and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates
(for 4 issues) are: U.S.— $20/year, Canada &Mexico — $30/year, Overseas — $30/year. U.S.funds only, cash, check on a U.S.bank, or IMO, Visa/MC/AmEx/Discover accepted. Allow six to eight weeks for change
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/
JOHN NEMETH
Takin’ His Time
by Tom Hyslop
rom his beginnings in Boise, Idaho, through a decade-long residency
in California’s Bay Area, to his recent cross-country move to Memphis,
John Németh has been one of the blues world’s most distinctive and
determined players. A string of artistically successful recordings, including
three for Blind Pig, bracketed by four self-released albums, culminated in the
masterful Memphis Grease (Blue Corn), voted the Soul Blues Album of the
Year in 2015, a year after the singer very nearly ran the table with five wins
at the 2014 Blues Music Awards. Yet a year and a half after that triumph, the
singer almost reluctantly confides, “I feel like I’m really, really, really comin’
into my own. I’ve never felt comfortable about ever saying that before, but I
definitely feel it now.”
During a long conversation, Németh revealed a keen awareness of
how music touches the listener; showed himself to be a scholar of records
and recording techniques; discussed the chief influences on his singing
(Little Walter and Junior Wells); recalled the heaviest vocal performances he
has heard in person (by Buddy Guy and Robert Cray); and took stock of the
contemporary scene, in terms of art and commerce.
F
PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
8 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
making money. Blind Pig told me that stuff has to be in your
face, but I sat in on the mastering sessions on my records to
make sure they weren’t too pumped up.”
“If it’s too pumped up, you’re gonna lose what I do.
You’ll lose the subtleties of the voice when the dynamics dies
down, and you’ll lose the power when things just come out
of nowhere and hit ya. I still make ‘em old school. In fact, I’m
probably gonna keep on makin ‘em on tape. I really like that
sound.” To that end, Németh proudly offers a 33 r.p.m. vinyl
edition of Memphis Grease at his shows.
Mindful of his new headquarters in Memphis, I
suggest that Németh
could cut a superb
country soul album, and
ask about discussions
he once had with the
jazz label Concord to cut
an album of standards.
“What I’m doin’ is me,
and it’s so different.
I’ve always included so
many different stylistic
influences under the
roots umbrella. They’re
kind of unusual records.
I mean, there’s soul in
there, there’s country,
there’s New Orleans,
there’s jazz, there’s many
different blues influences.
It’s still comin’ from blues,
but it’s my thing.
“If I never wrote
a song and I just sang
other people’s material
and worked up my own
arrangements, I think I
could live on that too, and
maybe that day will come.
But I have fun writin’
music. That’s a greater
experiment to me, doing
original material. I think
about doing other things
a lot, and the answer I
keep coming up with is, I
want to do my own thing.”
Németh deplores
a lack of originality.
“The number one thing that irritates me in blues, believe it or
not, is the cuttin’ and pastin’. One thing I’d love to drive into
everybody, what will help blues grow and change and be cool
for the future, is if the blues is approached exactly the same
way all the great guys approached playing blues. You weren’t
shit unless you had your own sound. So if you’re gonna be a
name in the blues, you sure as hell better be able to interpret
music in your very own way. You should not be quoting the
original artist, especially their signature licks. It’s not that hard
to write a lick. Write a lick! If it sucks, sit at home, keep on
writin’ licks until you have cool licks of your own, and go out
and do it.
“I was lucky. I grew up in a club scene where I could
experiment and do things however I was gonna do ‘em. Also, I
didn’t know much about the outside world and harmonica and
PHOTOGRAPHY © AIGARS LAPSA
Németh refuses to exempt his own work from his
unflinching standards, which demand originality in what is,
in essence, traditional music, and integrity in a famously
shady business. “I always wanna do the best job I can do. My
philosophy on performing is, just give everything that you’ve
got. You gotta sing with a hundred and ten per cent. The
singer has a lot of power to inspire people.” His restless and
enthusiastic pursuit of excellence­, and of “filthy” blues, helps
explain why, despite his achievements, he feels that he is only
now hitting his stride.
Németh says developmental time on the bandstand
was crucial. “I have Boise
to thank, definitely, for the
start of my career, and
how cool the town was.
It was really interesting
growing up around there.
The isolation I think
helped me out. There
wasn’t anybody to tell
me I was doin’ anything
wrong. If you were
good at what you did,
you could make a living
playin’ music in Boise at
that time.”
“I got to play
music five nights a week
in one town, from 1993 to
right around 2002, 2003.
The cool thing about
it is that I was playing
stone cold blues for four
and five hours a night.
Long shows, college
bars, it worked out great.
Different culture back
then. People went to the
bar, hung out, watched
some sports, and did
some dancin’. Times
have changed a lot,
that’s for sure. But I feel
like we’re rebounding in
a different kind of way
right now, it feels like the
music scene is pickin’ up
in different places, and
let’s just hope it keeps
rollin’ that direction.”
We talked about how records today often don’t sound
or feel right. “What makes music cool is all the feelings, and
conveying the different feelings in it. If you’re singing songs
you’ve got to understand that. I like emotionally charged music.
I like emotionally charged vocals. I like the gusto. I cut all my
stuff live so the band can feel it, and the band can feel the
dynamics, and we can go places.”
“Part of the reason why music sounds like it does
today is you have studios where nobody can see each other,
and the singer’s isolated, and things sound like they’re all on
their own. And the way they mix stuff these days is they make
it pop. It gets irritating; it wears you out. I don’t like listening
to it. I hear a lot of blues that people want mastered that way.
They’re trying to mix their records like the records that are
stuff like that. I just kinda learned to do it
my way. After a while trying to become a
songwriter and trying to come up with my
own thing, I really understood how hard that
is, and how cool that is. That’s my feelin’
about it.”
“After puttin’ in all this time, to
be somebody and not somebody else,
or 15,000 other people in ‘my style,’ you
really start having
a respect for
somebody like B.B.
King who was an
absolute goddamn
frickin’ genius; he
created his own
thing. Albert King,
he created his own
thing. It was so
good, man, wasn’t
it good?! And all
those guys, you
know, the feelin’
is there. I think we
get too historical
about it. You listen
to those records,
you get the gist
of how the shit’s
supposed to feel,
and then you put
your own feelin’
on it, and come
up with your own
licks.”
“There is
room to recreate
everything, even
within the genre.
It’s a feelin’, and
it’s personality.
Who are you and
what do you have
to say? If you’re
sayin’ somebody
else’s thing all
the time, then
you don’t have
a thing. Take the
time to work that
out. Instead of
tryin’ to book a
bunch of gigs and
tours, man, get
your thing together. If it’s good, it’ll take you
somewhere.”
“My entrance into the music
business was that I wanted to have fun and
sing in a band. People started payin’ us
money to do it. I didn’t book gigs. The gigs
just came to me. If it’s too hard to get work
and to pay the bills, you shouldn’t be doin’
it as a living. And you shouldn’t be tryin’ to
take work from other people tryin’ to do it as
a livin’ either. The thing about the music
business is, there are hobbyists crossin’
into the business. There’s a new bunch of
these people every few years. Sam Myers
used to call ‘em glory seekers. And that’s
what these folks are. I mean, the blues
business? Glory? These people spend
all day tryin’ to get gigs and network.
They should be workin’ on their music.
You gotta have
respect for the
music.”
“Blues would
come back huge
if people took
the time to be
themselves, put
their personality
in it, and create
something
unique. Imagine
if everybody out
there had their
thing, like all the
stars in the blues
back in the day
had their thing.
You could hear
one lick or one
line in the song,
and you’re like,
‘That’s Muddy
Waters.’ I’m a
fan of the music.
I can go, ‘Boom!
Magic Sam, I
know that. Otis
Rush, I know
that.”
Németh can
instantly identify
certain presentday musicians
– he cites Jimmie
Vaughan and
Junior Watson
– and has
made a point of
employing unique
guitar stylists,
including Kid
Andersen, Bob
Welsh, Travis
Swanson, A.C.
Myles, and Eliot Sowell. “They’ve taken
the time. Take your time, man, that’s the
theme of the interview right there. Take
your time. Everybody needs to take their
time with everything. Take time to listen to
the records, take time to write your music,
take time to come up with your own thing.
And then you’ll really be goin’ some
places.”
“Take time to
listen to the
records,
take time to
write your
music,
take time to
come up with
your own thing.
And then you’ll
really be goin’
some places.”
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 9
ROY ROGERS
STILL SLIDIN’
R
by Phil Reser
oy Rogers has been pushing the parameter of traditional
blues for four decades, creating some of the best
contemporary, deep and funky slide guitar out there.
Nominated eight times for Grammy awards and three times
for the Blues Foundation’s prestigious Blues Music Awards,
Rogers started playing the guitar at 12 years of age. As
a young rock ‘n’ roller, influenced by Chuck Berry and Bo
Diddley, he became quickly hooked on the Delta blues. After
touring the San Francisco Bay Area with several bands, he
joined John Lee Hooker’s Coast to Coast Band, which resulted
in the two musician’s forming a lifelong friendship.
In 1986, Rogers left the Hooker band and struck
out on his own with his Delta Rhythm Kings band, releasing
his debut solo album, the BMA (formerly W.C. Handy) Award
nominated Chops Not Chaps. He followed that up with
Slidewinder, which included duets with Hooker and New
Orleans piano legend Allen Toussaint. By 1990, Rogers slid
behind the controls to produce Hooker’s album, The Healer,
and, shortly afterwards, the follow-up record Mr. Lucky, and
then, Boom Boom and Chill Out, which all garnered Grammy
nominations. He was featured on the soundtrack for the film
The Hot Spot that he recorded with Hooker, Miles Davis, and
Taj Mahal.
Around the same time, Rogers begin collaborating
with good friend and harmonica virtuoso/vocalist Norton Buffalo
recording the highly acclaimed R&B album in 1991. The duo
10 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
continued to record and to perform as a duet until Norton’s
death in 2009. Subsequent solo studio albums by Rogers
have been; Slide Of Hand, Slide Zone, Rhythm And Groove,
Pleasure & Pain, Everybody’s Angel, Slideways, and Split
Decision. Legendary Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek
hooked up with Rogers in 2008, producing three records and
performing together over a five-year period.
On his latest release, Into The Wild Blue, he offers
up an assortment of blues-tinged jams recorded with long time
bassist Steve Ehrmann, drummer Kevin Hayes, keyboardist
Jim Pugh, and special guests, violinist/string harp player Carlos
Reyes and singer Omega Rae.
In the following Blues Music Magazine interview,
Rogers talks about Into The Wild Blue.
Blues Music Magazine: You have four reallybeautiful and
original instrumental pieces on the album, “Dackin’,” “High
Steppin’,” the title track, and your closing number, “Song For
Robert.” They are all unique. Would you say something about
each one?
Roy Rogers: The song “Dackin’” is a funk instrumental. I’m a
big fan and I’m known for doing a lot of funky stuff. I wanted
to do a song that approached that type of beat in a different
way. The emphasis is that it’s funky and you feel the pulse and
switches the beat around. I thought that would be so cool to
do, and I came up with this great slide riff that fit perfectly. If
you listen to it closely, I have to stress the beat because the
drummer basically hits one and three and then he switches
PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
to two and four and then he goes back to one and three. That
defines the song. When I was a kid in high school, “Dackin’”
was about if someone was really stylin’. Say they had a new
pair of shoes, or something else, they would have a certain
walk they did kind of showing off to be cool, but still very hip,
and we called that “Dackin’.” I wanted to capture that feeling, in
the song with the beat we created.
The tune, “High Steppin’” is straight out of New
Orleans; I’ve always been a big fan of that music. I just wanted
to come up with a riff that captured a New Orleans kind of
groove. That did it perfectly, and the difference between these
two instrumentals, was funk in a New Orleans way. I wanted to
present that difference; it was part of the pallet that I wanted to
paint musically. I wrote the title cut on the piano. Believe it or
not, I was gifted a baby grand, 1928 Steinway piano by a fan.
I’m not a pianist, but I was inspired by the coolness of that old
piano, started plucking away, and I wrote this song. I wanted
to have something that
sounded rather like an
orchestra that took you
some place, like looking
out at the horizon,
anyway you might
imagine it. I don’t like
to define it; it’s let your
thoughts go.
And finally,
“Song For Robert” was
written for my younger
brother. He was 59
when he died. He was
absolutely my number
one fan from way back.
As a kid, I took him to
see Jimi Hendrix. On this
song, I wanted to capture
a feeling of him because
I miss him a lot. I had a
person make a wonderful
comment to me after a
recent concert. He said to
me, “You know, that song
you wrote to your brother, it reminded me of my dad.” We’ve
all had losses of loved ones and that’s the best compliment
you can get for a song like that. To come up with some music
that expresses human feelings that are common amongst us. It
speaks for itself and I’m honored to have written it.
BMM: And in the same manner, would you comment on the
lyrical songs on the album? We’ll start with “Last Go Around.”
RR: It’s a fun, whimsical song. It’s about the break-up between
two people, a have a nice life kind of thing. I wanted it to be
light, not too heavy. I can get serious, but I’m a pretty lighthearted guy, so something like a break-up, it’s like OK, we tried
to make a go of it, I won the battle, you won the war, let’s move
on with our lives. I enjoy writing lyrically that way.
BMM: How about “Don’t You Let Them Win”?
RR: I don’t normally make statements in my music, politically
or otherwise. I just felt like things around us were a perfect
context to do that. And I made it so people would get it and it
wasn’t polarizing, it’s just making a statement. I was watching
the Pope while he was visiting our country, and he expressed
things so simply and everyone gets it. I’m not the judge of
things; let everyone do that for themselves. However, some
times, you just have to make a statement. I think that “Don’t
You Let Them Win” has a lot of musical elements that appeals
to people; it’s kind of a world beat thing. The lyrics just came
out of me, it seemed like what I wanted to say, and it reflects
my politics, which are somewhat liberal. A lot of times,
whatever political spectrum you’re from, we get sold a bill of
goods and when people ask me what side of the fence I’m on,
I say, I’m for the little guy. If you want to encapsulate that song,
that’s what it’s about. I’m for the little guy, because the little guy
gets the shaft. BMM: What about “Got To Believe”?
RR: I wanted to have an Al Green kind of old R&B tune, which
I favor a lot; a Willie Mitchell produced sort of thing. I wanted to
give a stab at something that has that R&B feel, and I had to
come up with words that reflected that. So the song is entirely
based on old rhythm and blues. It just came out of me.
BMM: And “Losin’ You”? RR: That’s a rocker, the reference to
age and getting older now, a lot of people haven’t been able
to hang together in their years together, for some reason or
another, and they
just have to move
on. It’s reflecting
people that have
been married for 30
years or so and they
have decided to call
it quits. I wanted
this song to be
designed as a rockin’
tune because I like
to keep the music
upbeat. I don’t really
want to reflect anger,
because I’m not that
kind of guy anyway.
BMM: And “She’s A
Real Jaguar”?
RR: The older
woman and younger
guy, a song that is
whimsical and fun
with the lyrics and I
thought jaguar was a
different term for me
to use than cougar.
BMM: And “Love Is History”?
RR: That’s more of an in-your-face statement, accompanied
with a New Orleans sound. It’s another whimsical break-up
thing. “I hope you’re happy with your man downtown,” kind of
thing, and I’m moving on with my life.
BMM: And how about the final song on the album, “Dark
Angels”?
RR: I’ve done a lot of co-writing with Donna Johnston
throughout my career, and she wrote those lyrics. I put the
music to it. It’s about trying to get somebody back into your life
again. This song could produce a lot of different meanings to
people that listen to it.
BMM: Has your songwriting changed over the years?
RR: Any record you make, at any point in your life, you’re
a different person. None of us remain the same person,
personality wise and obviously, our age and influences are
constantly bombarding us. I like to think that my musical tastes
have expanded greatly since I first started playing and writing
songs. I listen to all kinds of music, and it’s a never-ending
story of how I change along the way.
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 11
KIRK
F
L
E
T
C
H
E
R
by Pete Sardon
PHOTOGRAPHY © AIGARS LAPSA
California’s In-Demand Guitarist
K
irk Fletcher’s laugh comes from a joyful happy place
deep inside and is infectious. He was sincere when he
stated, “I want to say that I really really appreciate all
the guys that helped me out along the way and welcomed me
into the blues community. Everyone from Al Blake to Junior
Watson to Rusty Zinn to Rick Holmstrom to Janiva Magness to
Lynwood Slim to Kim Wilson – all those guys. I really learned
how to play by playing with them all, and a ton more! No matter
what I do I just want to say that I appreciate what they’ve done
for me.”
He got his music
righteously as he began
playing in church at age
eight and said his first
guitar was a red and
black Sears acoustic of
nebulous musicality. He
has preferred Fender
Telecasters as backline
and travel guitars and
for roots music although
he got his start with
an electric Squire
Stratocaster at age ten
and he calls the Strat his
“desert island guitar.”
Touring lately
with Joe Bonamassa on
the Three Kings Tour,
which honored Albert,
Freddie, and B.B. King,
has converted him to
using a Gibson Les Paul,
and he is the proud
owner of one of the 300
2015 Les Paul Nickys which is a Collector’s Choice of the
vaunted 1959 Les Paul.
Fletcher says, “This guitar has more sustain than my
Fenders, especially for slow blues and shuffles. For the whole
month of August we began touring on the East Coast heading
to the West Coast and it was fantastic! Joe is a good friend
of mine and we had great material and he is a stand-up guy
and we had a lot of fun talking about guitars and players and
meeting guys and for me it was Five Star all the way, it was
almost like a vacation I had so much fun.”
For our many musician readers, he prefers D’Addario
strings gauges 10-46 (he feels that the lighter strings possess
better tone) and currently plays through a Fender Bassman
amplifier, but will be obtaining a Fender Super Reverb in
Europe. His emphasis has always been on tone and he seeks
to punctuate his music accordingly with this in mind. “It’s not
how many notes you play, it’s the sound, that good soulful
phrasing and taking your time and playing what’s appropriate is
what it’s about.”
He learned his craft initially from his older brother and
then hanging out in music stores, watching other musicians,
reading Guitar Player Magazine, going to swap meets to find
records of music he wanted to learn. The blues hooked him in
a big way when he was eight when he heard Howlin’ Wolf sing
“Little Red Rooster” on KLON. It sounded to him like a
combination of the quartet Gospel music that he was familiar
with along with some darker thing. “That’s what done it!” he
exclaimed.
“I had done a bunch of gigs with Junior Watson, and he gave
me guitar lessons. He was fantastic as he would show me a
few things on the guitar and then would play so many records
for me so I could cop a feel and get the swing. Then he would
show me how to back up a harmonica player. This was just
invaluable in my music education for blues. Around 2000, I was
playing Chicago blues in a blues band with him and was asked
to join the Fabulous
Thunderbirds. That was
the first real touring that
I did. God, it was great!”
Fletcher has
been a fixture around
the Southern California
area and has backed
artists such as Finis
Tasby, Janiva Magness,
Lynwood Slim and was
one of Delta Groove’s
Mannish Boys and
having spoken at length
with him, his personality
appears to be such that
he could connect well
with anyone.
Though he’s
been primarily the
go to guitarist from
SoCal, Fletcher starting
singing about three
or four years ago out
of necessity. He has
decided to no longer be the “hired gun” and wants to move to
Zurich, Switzerland, to be with the love of his life and make it
on his own to “get that full artist thing down.”
Fletcher further offers, “I’m going to take vocal
lessons to learn about breathing and pitch. My whole next
phase will be in writing songs with Kirk Fletcher singing 10
songs that he wrote or in collaboration with others and I’m
having fun and looking forward to it. I want to try using the
guitar first with chords and melody and then write lyrics to the
music. I think this technique will get me to the music faster.”
When playing in Southern California, his go-to
musicians are Travis Carlton on bass (Larry Carlton’s son)
and Lamar Carter on drums (he also plays for Rafael Saadiq),
but he will have to assemble musicians for his band when in
Europe. “I feel successful because I can go out and play guitar
and play with my friends and that’s half the battle won as far
as success goes. No matter how hard it gets, at the end of the
day you can go out and make people happy, that’s what it’s all
about.”
Asked how we can get the younger generation into
the blues, Fletcher feels that it is imperative to have good
songs, that both the musicianship and songwriting of blues
should step up a notch and that good songwriting will appeal to
a broader younger audience.
“It’s not how many
notes you play,
it’s the sound, that good
soulful phrasing,
and taking your time,
and playing what’s
appropriate
is what it’s about.”
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 13
D0UG
DEMING
&
DENNIS
GRUENLING
by Mark Thompson
PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
I
t is rare to encounter a blues band that
hits the stage and never looks back,
projecting a high level of energy that
can fill the dance floor for hours. When
that band is comprised of musicians
with exceptional talent and commitment,
the shows can be a truly memorable
experience. Anyone who has witnessed
the combined efforts of guitarist Doug
Deming and harmonica wizard Dennis
Gruenling can attest to the sheer power of
their dynamic live performances.
Anyone who was fortunate
enough to attend the Harpin’ For Kid
benefit in New Jersey last year can
bear witness to their instrumental skills.
Deming went toe to toe with Kid Ramos
for most of the event, the two guitarists
engaging in some friendly headcutting
with Deming matching Ramos every step
of the way. Sharing the stage with Steve
Guyger, Kim Wilson, and Rod Piazza,
Gruenling left a lasting impression with
his horn-like harp blowing and animated
stage presence.
The genesis of the partnership
goes back a few years. After backing a
number of outstanding harp legends like
Lazy Lester, Kim Wilson, and the late
Gary Primich, Deming started recording
under his own name with his band, the
Jewel Tones. They worked regularly in
their Detroit home when they weren’t on
the road. In 2007, Deming was searching
for a harmonica player for an upcoming
14 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
tour. Mutual friends recommended an
East coast harp player, Dennis Gruenling,
who signed on after a phone conversation
with Deming made it clear that they
shared many of the musical influences.
After several road campaigns
supporting each other, the duo decided it
was time to join forces. For Deming, the
partnership made sense on a number of
levels. “It allows us to offer the buyers and
their patrons a package deal with Dennis
and I each having our own fan base.
From a business perspective, it allows us
to share in the risks of touring as well as
sharing the rewards if we are successful.”
They work together to book their
tours, which put the band on the road for
five or six months of the year, using the
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contacts they have nurtured over the
course of their individual careers.
For Gruenling, one key to their
success is their shared musical interest.
“Doug is not just a jump blues player or
Chicago-style player or just a Texas blues
player. He is into all of the sub-genres of
blues that I am – Excello swamp blues,
swing, and early rock ‘n’ roll. It is not easy
to find someone with varied tastes like
mine. Doug is really well-rounded in all of
the roots music styles.”
That is the key for the guitarist.
“Writing, playing, and creating legitimate
blues and roots music is the paramount
goal for me. If I couldn’t play that music, I
would do something else for a living.”
Their impressive live shows are
jam-packed with plenty of musical delights
that range from rousing renditions of
Chuck Berry tunes to covers of tough
blues from Lazy Lester and the Fabulous
Thunderbirds through T-Bone Walker to
impressive original material that is equally
compelling. Deming handles the lead
vocals with a strong, clean vocal style that
can get gritty when the band goes down
in the alley.
One of the rare guitar players
who don’t have a pathological need to
fire off a steady stream of notes, Deming
understands the value of space and the
emotional dynamic that it adds to his
solos. That approach was developed over
several decades backing singers and
harp players. A big fan of traditional jazz,
Deming pays homage to that genre by
dropping little snippets of familiar tunes
into his solos. Listeners might hear the
melody to a TV-show theme song one
minute, and then hear a passage from the
be-bop jazz classic, “Salt Peanuts,” a few
minutes later.
On the road, he plays a vintage
Kay hollow-body guitar. When the band
shifts to some tougher shuffles, he
switches to a custom Strat. His clean,
fluid playing is run through a Vero
amplifier without the use of any pedals for
effects. As if to validate his work, Deming
was the recipient of the 2013 Blues Blast
Music Award in the Sean Costello Rising
Star category.
Gruenling favors vintage
crystal bullet harmonica microphones
run through a HarpKing amplifier
to complement his array of Hohner
harmonicas. The crystal microphone
element in conjunction with the tube
amp gives his sound warmth and an
extended tonal range that is missing with
other styles of microphones. A master of
the chromatic harp, Gruenling cites Rod
Piazza and William Clarke as two main
influences, and by extension, George
“Harmonica” Smith.
“I love George Smith’s approach
and the sound he got, especially on
the chromatic. Little Walter is another
influence. He didn’t play octaves but had
a great approach to single notes intervals
on the chromatic. George really pioneered
playing octaves on the chromatic, which
can generate an organ-like or tremolo
sound when amplified.”
The Jewel Tones rhythm section,
comprised of Andrew Gohman on upright
and Fender bass plus Devin Neel on
drums, excels at handling the variety of
tempos and styles found in the band’s
songbook. Deming is quick to point out
that their efforts are paramount to the
operation. “The styles of music we play
really require a sympathetic rhythm
section. They have to be on the same
page with the traditional vibe that Dennis
and I go for. Without the right rhythm
behind you, you feel like you are playing
with handcuffs on all night long. Andrew
and Devin have been there on and off the
stage. We are grateful for what they have
brought to the band.”
For the last three years, the
duo has concentrated on their touring
schedule in order to build their fan base
through their powerful live performances.
One tour saw them play 28 shows in
26 days. Last year found them on the
road for a six-week stretch that included
a mere three days off. Two of those
days were spent traveling to and from a
festival appearance in France. The heavy
workload is the result of many hours of
work trying to connect the dots as they
move from region to region across the
country. Recently they have started
working with Blue Mountain Artists to help
the band gain a foothold in the European
touring market.
When it comes time to record,
the two leaders back each other with
the Jewel Tones also lending a helping
hand. Deming’s most recent effort, What’s
It Gonna Take on the VizzTone label,
features his expressive vocals and fluid
guitar work with Gruenling supplying
plenty of his studied harp blowing. Rockin’
All Day, Gruenling’s release on Vizztone,
puts more emphasis on the leader’s
playing with Deming once again handling
the lead vocals and guitar parts. The disc
also includes Gruenling’s first recorded
lead vocal on a cover of “It Went Down
Easy.”
Now that their touring schedule
is completed for the year, both musicians
are preparing for their next recording
projects. With a batch of new songs
ready, Deming wants to highlight his
guitar playing so that listeners understand
that he has more to offer than just being
the guy that backs harp players. “I love
the guitar players that walk the line
between blues and jazz, cats like Tiny
Grimes, Bill Jennings, T-Bone Walker, and
my number one guy, Charlie Christian.
I try to honor them every night. When I
write, I do my best to keep the clichés out
while focusing on a scenario, a story line
that I can believe in.”
Gruenling is also considering
a different approach that would bring
more rock ‘n’ roll elements into the mix
along with his original compositions that
extend the traditions of sax players like
Red Prysock and Illinois Jacquet. His
full-bodied tone and intricate lines can
confuse fans at live shows, causing them
to start looking around in an attempt to
figure out where the sax player is hiding.
When he is not touring,
Gruenling teaches harmonica through
individual sessions or group workshops.
“I mainly go over good foundational
techniques like tongue-blocking and build
from there. Some classes might be on
a particular blues styles or one player’s
style, even different positions to play.” His
other business, BadAss Harmonica, is his
outlet for selling the vintage crystal mics
that are near and dear to his heart.
An avid fisherman, Deming
moved to Florida’s Gulf Coast five years
ago, where he enjoys steady work in local
clubs with the Jewel Tones. The veteran
harp master, Madison Slim (Mark Koenig),
joins the band in place of the Gruenling,
a New Jersey resident. While he makes
the most of his time at home, Deming is
also understandably proud of what he and
Gruenling have accomplished over the
last few years. “We are better musicians
– definitely a better band. We have
made a lot of new fans, connected with
other musicians, promoters, and blues
societies. The amount of success we
have had in today’s shrinking economy
and the amount of positive feedback the
band has received has kept Dennis and
me motivated to keep pushing for further
growth.”
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 15
“The blues is a wide spectrum,
and all points of view or
perspectives should be celebrated.”
“I
’m a white boy from Toronto who loves B.B. King and Deep Purple, and not one above
or beyond the other,” says Anthony Gomes who has a master’s degree with honors
from University of Toronto. But he also has a mane of long hair and wears dark glasses
and leather pants.
He got a jump start on his career by winning the first annual Buddy Guy Legends
Best Unsigned Blues Band competition in 1998 and has six CDs to his credit that range from
16 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
acoustic to heavy blues-rock.
And he does it all with a high
degree of expertise and creative
juice that cuts through whatever
prejudices the blues police may
have toward what constitutes
real blues.
He once spent about
six months with Chicago blues
guitarist Magic Slim on “select
dates” and a small tour as one
of a series of rotating guitar
players. Ground Zero proprietor
and famed actor Morgan
Freeman set up an appointment
with him to see a physiotherapist
when he played the Clarksdale
club with a crook in his neck. “He
whispered to my friend in her ear
and pointed at me. When we got
done, she said, ‘Morgan told me
to tell you, ‘Not bad for a white
boy.’
“If you’re Canadian and
white, you’re white twice,” says
Gomes who won an award for
the highest overall academic
grade point average by a history
major as an undergraduate and
did his master’s thesis on the
racial and cultural evolution of
blues music. “I guess I wanted to
figure out where I fit in the blues
world. So that was my journey
in discovering all those things,
but I certainly didn’t play (my
education) down.
“I mentor young men and ladies
who want to play the blues,
and I tell them, ‘Get as much
education as you can. You have
to write lyrics, and you have to
say something. The more you
can learn from formal education
and from the school of hard
knocks, the better off you’re
going to be. So, the harder you
work, the better you are.’
“I remember one of
the early reviews: ‘Another day,
another hot shot leather pants
wearing guitar slinger.’ And I’m
like, ‘You know, Albert Collins
wore leather pants,’ but whatever
it takes, you know, I get it. At the
end of the day you just have to
be honest with who you are and
what you’re trying to project. I
think it would be a disservice to
try and look like I wore a Zoot
suit and combed my hair back in
a slick way like I was in the ‘50s
because I can’t relate to that.
“I can understand,
PHOTOGRAPHY © ART TIPALDI
A
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GOMES
CELEBRATING BLUES-ROCK
by Don Wilcock
especially in the blues, where it’s seen as
folk art in some ways and an expression
of folk artistry, but sometimes that means
anti-big city education, but the blues is a
wide spectrum, and all points of view or
perspectives should be celebrated.”
Gomes sees music in a much
broader construct than most blues
artists, and he applies that world view to
his music, throwing out limitations and
opening the field, waiting for his audience
– and society as a whole – to catch up.
“The problem with blues, as I see it, is
that it’s marketed and seen as the roots
of everything. Everything came from the
blues, and it has historical relevance
to it that ties in to all other genres, and
because of that there’s a real hesitancy to
change that, and it’s not as much a living,
breathing thing because in order for it to
be the root of everything, it has to remain
in this 1920s to 1940 era, and that’s not
really valid.”
As a person who’s seen the
blues scene from both down in the
trenches and as an academic, Gomes
finds some disturbing trends both in
society and in the blues industry. “Thomas
Jefferson would be thrown in jail today
for saying every generation should have
a revolution. We’ve become passive,” he
says bluntly.
He calls his current LP Electric
Field Hollers. Field hollers were the first in
a long history of blues, gospel, spirituals,
rhythm ‘n’ blues, and rap to use a
language of code to address social issues
indirectly in order to avoid censorship
or even murder in the case of slaves
or music fans living under repressive
regimes.
“You may argue that rock music
was more relevant in the ‘60s, Buffalo
Springfield and Neil Young and acts like
that talking socially about society of the
times. So, it still follows the code to some
degree, but in a lot of ways society has
sort of been dummied down or pacified
a little but, or distracted might be the
best word to say. We have 24-hour news
stations pandering to what attracts us as
opposed to what enlightens us.”
Gomes asks the question,
what ever happened to request lines at
local radio stations now programmed
by national consultants. “I see more
and more of the polarization of art and
music, and it’s being pushed in a way that
celebrates a less refined point of view
meaning country music. I love country
music and their great stories, but I think
a lot of it is about drinking beer, going to
church, and raising hell on your tractor.
“Rap music has a lot of lyrics
about the thug life, and it’s very much
dedicated to a black audience. Country
music is definitely dedicated to a white
audience. What happened to rock and
roll? What happened to blues and its
connection to rock and roll? I see that,
for whatever reason, these art forms are
the ones these powers that be are really
pushing, and I think rock and roll – and
I’ll throw blues in the same category –
scares people and the powers that be
because you used to have a guy like John
Lennon walking around saying the war
is over if you want it to be, and now you
don’t have that.
“Now, you have very surface
bubblegum sort of stuff. It always existed,
but now it dominates, and you’ve got all
these rock guys that are trying to – Steve
Tyler or whatever – trying to penetrate
country music because that’s really the
only delivery device making stadium
superstar acts.
“If you’re blues rockin’ and you
get too melodic, it changes. It goes from
blues-rock to corporate rock. It starts
sounding a little bit more like Journey.
So, you have to be very careful in the
melodies that you choose. I read this
great interview with Jimi Hendrix where
they were talking about use of feedback
and how Jeff Beck and Jimi were sort of
the two pioneers. Jimi was less melodic
than Jeff Beck, and Jimi’s comment
was, ‘Well, Jeff is English and melody is
so important there. Where I come from
a blues background, and it’s more a
feeling.’
“So, I would say you have to be
very careful, especially if you’re straddling
a line with your melody. I think lyrics are
very important. I think they’re the most
overlooked thing in music generally. I
know so many artists that write great
lyrics that they go unnoticed, and the
general public sometimes doesn’t even
pay attention. I guess the stronger the
melody, the less important the lyric needs
to be, and I think sometimes the more
important the lyric is, the less important
the melody needs to be. Leonard Cohen
isn’t exactly Freddy Mercury but….”
If the blues police are reading
this, they must be ready to call out the
dogs. “Blues-rock is the red-headed
bastard child,” laments Gomes. “And
even at the Blues Music Awards or any
time I feel like they have to tolerate us
because we put people in the seats. They
really feel like it’s not really blues. It’s a
necessary evil, and I don’t feel that way at
all.”
In the end, it’s you, the listener,
who supports the artists by buying their
music and going to their shows.
FROM 30 ROCK, SEINFELD,
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
Barnes
&
BAD
News
The Brethren of Blues Band
“90 PROOF TRUTH”
CD/DVD
AVAILABLE NOW!
“I Really Like This Disc. Very Funny and
Clever with Top Notch Musicians.”
— Bill Wax.
“The Blues Plate Special” WPFW
“This excellent new album has been an
authentic and amazing revelation.
I really like Barnes’ personal and satirical
treatments of blues classics and his
original’s sharp compositions are so good,
delivering a 360 degrees vision of blues,
soul and American Roots Music.”
— Roberto Rossi,
European Syndicated Radio Host
“With funky grooves, thunderous rhythmic
assault and performing in his blood; the most
entertaining Blues Releases in Recent History.”
— Mark Uricheck, Weekender
Northeastern Pennsylvania’s No. 1 source for arts
and entertainment.
“Bad News Barnes & The Brethren of Blues
hit you hard. Fun & entertaining with brash
social commentary. Bad News Barnes you
will not forget.”
— Domenic Forcella, Blues Beat Media
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 17
S
SUGAR BLUE
Two more are on the way.
hortly after sunset,
One, due out early in 2016,
Sugar Blue, his family,
is “very much about what’s
and his band climb
going on in America today.
aboard the Fleetwood
It has very much to do with
Bounder parked next to a
current events.” The other is
temporary stage set up in a
quite different. “I wrote a song
small park next to the harbor.
for my little boy and he loves
A few hours earlier, they
it, and Ilaria said, ‘Well, you
had rolled in to the crowded
know, maybe we should do an
and laid back Gloucester
by Matt MacDonald
album of lullabies.’ And I was
Blues Festival, a pleasantly
like, ‘Okay. Why not!’ Babies just know what’s good. They don’t
incongruous combination of blues and the beach. Encapsulating
classify things. They just like what they like.”
this contrast, soon after arriving, Blue was jabbing his head back
The project grew. “I ended up playing some Chopin and
and forth as he quietly scaled up and down a harmonica again
some Bach! You know, basically, I’m an untrained musician. Well,
and again with building speed as his wife Ilaria playfully chased
I mean, I haven’t studied music formally. And so I sat down with
their two-year-old son around the beach volleyball court. They all
(keyboardist) Damiano and he said, ‘You can do this.’ And I’ll be
took the stage together: Blue, Ilaria on the bass, and “Li’l Blue” –
damned if I couldn’t. I did.”
as he had been announced to the crowd – in his stroller next to
Looking at the song listings from those two French
his mom, sporting soundproof ear guards while clapping to the
albums, Sonny Boy Williamson turns up frequently. Two of his
music.
songs make subsequent appearances on later CDs and remain
Now, the crowd gone and darkness moving in, Ilaria
part of Blue’s repertoire. “Help Me” proved transformative the
executes a slightly precarious three-point turn on the sloping
first time he heard it. “I was like, ‘My God! What is he doing?’ I
field, bringing the RV past the shadowed stage, away from the
mean, I played that song over and over and over and over until
harbor, towards the open road.
I had every lick down. And then I cranked the record up to 78,
It wasn’t always like this. James Whiting busking on
and I started working on it at that tempo.” And then he learned
MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village and finding his nom de
it all backwards. Listen to Blue’s first recording of “Another Man
musique at the top of a pile of broken 78s tossed out a window
Done Gone” to hear this: it’s played at high speed on the 365
at him for his efforts. Picking up the only one unbroken – Sidney
Marine Band that Sonny Boy so favored. It also helped Blue
Bechet’s “Sugar Blues” – he took it as a sign: Sidney Bechet,
Sonny Boy, Sugar Blues, Sugar Blue. Then, at the nearby Village win that Grammy. “Now, I don’t use that style all that much. But
sometimes when I play acoustic, I try to channel Sonny Boy as
Gate, working up the nerve to ask to sit in with Memphis Slim,
much as I possibly can.”
visiting from Paris.
In Greenwich Village, the unlit sign for the long closed
It went well. They talked. A few weeks later, Blue was in
Village Gate still hangs above a brightly lit CVS on the corner of
Paris too, trying his luck. Two albums, a Grammy, and a lengthy
Thompson and Bleecker, two blocks southeast of MacDougal.
gig with the Rolling Stones resulted. Then he and Slim talked
Half a block farther up, Sugar Blue takes the stage at Terra
again. “He suggested that I come back here and he made it
Blues and plays his first set to a full house, ripping through a
possible for me to hook up with Willie Dixon, so…” In Chicago,
blur of electric riffs and runs as the band heats up. The nighttime
he met, learned from, and worked with “a plethora of wonderful,
energy, the sound bouncing off the walls, and the closeness of
wonderful blues players.” Among them, three harp players made
everyone and everything infuse the room with a greater intensity
an indelible impression: Big Walter Horton, James Cotton, and
than in Gloucester and, at one point, Blue does something that
Junior Wells. “What they all taught me was: don’t try to sound
he didn’t do there: he puts his harp mic aside to play off the
like me. Try to sound like you.”
microphone stand. The extended solo that followed was, to a
Back before the Internet was big, Sugar Blue was hard
knowledgeable listener, a life affirming recognition: the kind
to find. He was known by reputation, but difficult to hear unless
somebody might experience noticing a subtle but pleasing
one happened to be where he was. There were those two fabled
resemblance between family relations. It wasn’t so much a
French albums, his fine work as a sideman with Willie Dixon and
channeling as a natural expression of elusive lessons well
others, and his song defining accompaniment on “Miss You,” but
absorbed: go ahead and learn those licks every way you can:
it wasn’t until the early nineties, and Blue Blazes, that his jaw
just make sure that you sound like you.
dropping playing was fully unleashed and accessible to a wider
Sugar Blue sounds like nobody else.
listening public. Its follow up, In Your Eyes, went much further,
Out on Bleecker Street, Ilaria wedges some gear into
balancing his playing with his writing and creating an eclectic,
the storage compartment as Blue wisely steps back.
highly original blues sound. And then, in much the same way as
“Off to Philly now?”
he had appeared, Blue became hard to find again.
“We’ll stay in Queens tonight. The baby’s with the
“When I expatriated for the second time, it was to save
nanny.”
my life, basically, because I had to get away from the drugs.”
“James, right?”
It was in Switzerland that he began turning himself around. By
“James Michael Blue Neel Whiting.”
the time he and Ilaria met in Italy, he had finally gotten back to
Ilaria takes the wheel and Rico, CJ, and Damiano
writing and she suggested that he start recording again. “I was
hastily get aboard. It’s been a long trip. Blue chuckles, “Man, I’m
like, ‘Recording? I don’t know. So she sort of talked me into
getting too old for this!” And then he climbs on, too.
it. I’ve got to say that she is my muse. She has been so very
It wasn’t always like this. But I get the very distinct
important in all of the things that I’ve done since we met.” They
impression that it’s all good.
moved back to Chicago and, after a 12-year hiatus, Code Blue
The Fleetwood Bounder slowly rolls down Bleecker
was released in 2007 on his Beeble Music label.
Street, away from the old Village Gate and MacDougal, towards
Since Code Blue, two more CDs have followed.
Queens, then Philly, then home.
NO LONGER
WALKING ALONE
18 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
“Big Walter Horton, James Cotton, and
Junior Wells all taught me to sound like me.”
PHOTOGRAPHY © PERTTI NURMI
MIKE
WELCH
D
throughout the country, receiving seven
2015 Blues Music Award nominations for
their latest CD, Living Tear to Tear.
This is Welch’s second run with
the Bluetones, and it’s a wiser, more
complex Monster Mike in the band. Welch
first became a Bluetone in 2001, following
in the footsteps of guitar luminaries such
as Ronnie Earl and Kid Bangham. It
was somewhat uncomfortable at first, he
acknowledged, because his predecessors
had performed many songs in the band’s
repertoire for years. Also, it was his first
extended period as a sideman after years
fronting bands.
“I had to figure out where my
own voice on the guitar would fit in, and I
think I played pretty well back then, but it
was sometimes awkward,” Welch said.
20 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
He left the Bluetones around
2003 to start the new, more rockoriented Monster Mike Welch Band. (The
“Monster” moniker was bestowed on
him early on by Dan Aykroyd.) The band
did songs written by Welch that were
influenced by the Beatles, Elvis Costello,
and D’Angelo, styles that didn’t fit into the
Bluetones.
After a few years, they
disbanded, and Welch faced a period
of uncertainty until he was contacted by
DixieFrog Records in France, who wanted
a straight blues record. The live studio
album produced, Cryin’ Hey!, is now
Welch’s favorite under his own name. It
included Nick Moss, plus bassist Mudcat
Ward and keyboardist Anthony Geraci
PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
ecades before it became a “thing”
to see a youngster playing blues,
Mike Welch – at age 11 – was
astounding audiences in the Boston area
at the original House of Blues. Now 36,
after finessing his way through several
bands, including his own, Welch is even
more impressive as the talented lead
guitarist for Sugar Ray and the Bluetones
– a band he has loved since the age
of 13, and one that has gone through
several incarnations since formed by
singer-harpist Sugar Ray Norcia in the
late 1970s.
The Bluetones have gone
through several incarnations since they
were formed by singer-harpist Sugar Ray
Norcia in the late 1970s. Today, this New
England fixture is finding appreciation
Monster
Mike
Grows
by Karen Nugent
“This
mysterious
music
contained the
answers to all
of my burning
existential
questions.”
from the Bluetones and Warren Grant,
who’d been the drummer in the Monster
Mike Welch Band.
“I feel like I needed to do both
of those things – exploring different
directions and coming back to the blues
on my own terms – before I was ready to
rejoin the Bluetones. I rejoined in 2006
or 2007, and I know who I am as a guitar
player and where I fit in now,” he said.
Welch, who grew up in
Lexington, Mass., began playing guitar at
age eight, following the lead of an older
cousin who was into playing Beatles’
songs. That led to an exploration of his
father’s record collection, which along
with some Hendrix, Dylan, and Stones,
had a few blues albums.
“John Lennon’s voice was
the first thing I remember affecting
me emotionally in the way the blues
eventually would,” Welch said. “I was
always the kind of kid who wanted to
know more about what I was hearing, so
between reading interviews, liner notes,
and songwriting credits, I was inevitably
drawn to the blues.
“It’s funny, around the time
I started touring and recording as a
teenager in the 1990s, there was a whole
wave of players roughly my age playing
blues and blues-based music. There’s
something in that music that seems to
speak to a certain kind of kid. I know
for me, the directness and intensity
of emotional expression in the blues
appealed to the confused, weird little boy
I was. It was almost as if this mysterious
music contained the answers to all of
my burning existential questions. My
relationship to and understanding of the
music is different now, but it still stems
from that emotional reaction I had early
on.”
However, before any career in
music was contemplated, Welch’s parents
had a few things to say. Actually, it was
a deal, one he had to adhere to or else
forget about setting foot on a stage. His
parents agreed to support his music
career as long as Welch went to school
every day, made it out of high school with
grades and test scores good enough
to get into college, did not drink or use
drugs, and did not become what a “self
important jerk.”
Today, Welch, married and the
father of an 11-year-old, believes those
stipulations are the reason he’s stayed
sane. He’s also a gentleman, well liked
by nearly all he meets, and quite well
spoken. But it wasn’t always easy. Welch
has suffered from hearing loss since
before he even picked up a guitar, due
to chronic ear infections as a child. He
had several sets of tubes placed into
his eardrums, resulting in some nerve
damage. Needless to say, playing music
at stage volume for nearly 30 years hasn’t
helped, although he’s used ear protection
religiously for 20 years. His wife,
Jeannette, is a coordinator for a deaf and
hard of hearing agency and an American
Sign Language interpreter, and she has
helped him find access to support and
hearing aids.
“Most musicians aren’t aware
that there are options out there for them,
and I’m hoping that my being publicly
outspoken about my own loss might help
other musicians in my position,” he said.
With too many guitarist
influences to list, Welch feels the two
looming large right now are Otis Rush,
with his sobbing bent strings and wide
vibrato, and B.B. King’s lyricism and
phrasing. “Both of those guys played
pretty much the same way they sang, and
I’m always trying to play like a singer, he
said.
Welch played a blue Stratocaster
through his teens and early twenties, but
says he has gotten to the point where
his own voice and tone come through on
almost anything. As a result, he plays a
few different guitars based on what feels
comfortable and inspiring in the moment.
He’s enjoying playing a Gibson 335,
Telecaster, and a Gretsch these days, all
modified to varying degrees to make them
more comfortable for him.
Welch, who says he does his
best playing as a foil for a good voice,
has collaborated with many great singers,
including Shemekia Copeland when both
were teens, and more recently. They have
a special musical connection, he said, in
that they seem to be able to get inside
one another’s heads onstage.
“I think she was the singer
that made me realize how much I loved
interacting with great singers,” he said.
Norcia is one of his favorite singers of
all time, and one of the closest musical
partnerships he’s had.
“I can’t imagine a more perfect
situation for the way I play,” Welch said.
“He’s simultaneously the warmest singer
I know and one of the rawest bluesmen,
and I feel like he’s finally getting his due
as one of the world’s best harp players,
too.”
“My role in the Bluetones is a
guitar player’s dream. It’s a constantly
shifting conversation in the moment,
and no one is a faceless sideman. The
Bluetones are just as much of a creative,
expressive outlet for my guitar playing as
my own bands and records ever were.”
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 21
T
PHOTOGRAPHY © MIKE SHEA
he formula is always the same: life
experiences + the ability to share
those emotions through the music
you sing or play = blues. The corollary is the
more you experience, the better your blues.
Today, Western New England guitarist Albert
Cummings is working his way to become
one of the hottest blues guitarists across the
country.
Cummings will readily admit that
without Stevie Ray Vaughan’s influence, he
might still be playing a bluegrass banjo or
building houses. His father was a guitarist
and building contractor. As a rebellious
12-year-old, Cummings settled on bluegrass
and the five-string banjo as his instrument of
choice. Until he heard Stevie.
Five years later, he was given tapes
of Texas Flood and his world stopped. “I
compared what I heard him doing to what
my father played,” says Cummings, “and I
didn’t believe he was real. I thought it was
impossible for anyone to sound like that on
one guitar.”
Soon afterward, while in college
in Boston, Cummings witnessed the truth.
“Seeing him live was mind-blowing. He was
doing amazing things like throwing his guitar
on the floor, playing it behind his head and
back, and playing the songs at the same
time. I walked out of the Orpheum Theater
thinking that now I really wanted to play
guitar.”
But construction was the family
business, and it also called to Cummings.
“I’m a fourth generation builder. When I was
19, I went in as a partner with my father in
the construction business in Williamstown,
Mass. I was so involved in building my
business that I didn’t even play my guitar. Six
years later, after he’d had a stroke, I started
my own company.”
During those years, music was just
a fun activity for Cummings. His time was
spent working building houses and collecting
life’s experiences. When he was 27,
Cummings picked up a guitar at a friend’s
wedding and played a Chuck Berry song
and that rekindled the musical fire. Next, he
started jammin’ with another guitarist once
a week. After a year, that eventually led to
forming an SRV-styled trio.
In 1998 he walked into a Northeast
Blues Society open jam and won the right
to compete in the Blues Foundation’s 1999
International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
A few years later, Cummings
found himself opening for Double Trouble,
Vaughan’s storied rhythm section, at a show
in Troy, NY. What happened next is the
stuff of movies. Bassist Tommy Shannon
and drummer Chris Layton took a liking to
Cummings and offered to produce his debut
record in Austin, Texas.
WORKIN’ MAN
22 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
by Art Tipaldi
A
LC
BU
EM
RM
T I
N
G
S
That first, nerve-wracking recording
experience led to his 2003 debut From The
Heart. “Playing with them is a humbling
experience. To be standing with their support
is tremendous. We’ll play certain songs like
“Voodoo Chile” and Tommy’ll do the stuff that
I was woodsheddin’ off of. When I hear that
live, I realize that I’m playing with Tommy
Shannon. But you can’t even think of it
because if you’re thinkin’, you’re stinkin’. At
the end of the night is when I can sit back
and enjoy the experience.”
That record was the foundation to
Cummings’ blues-rock career. He was signed
to Blind Pig records and released three
CDs, True To Yourself (2004), Working Man
(2006), and his live Feel So Good (2008).
In 2012, Cummings released his critically
acclaimed No Regrets, which debuted at
Number One on the iTunes Blues Chart and
Number Five on the Billboard Blues Chart.
All four records were expertly produced by
Jim Gaines and featured Gaines’ Memphis
musicians.
Those recordings opened the eyes
of the blues world to this late-blooming
talent. He was tabbed to open for B.B. King
nearly two dozen times, and expanded his
audience by opening for the likes of Johnny
Winter and Buddy Guy. During that breakout
decade, he began to find bookings from
blues clubs and festivals throughout North
America.
Cummings’ current record,
Someone Like You on Blind Pig, is both a
bold new step in his career and, at the same
time, contains the classic elements of the
blues that Cummings embraces.
“I thought I’d try something totally
different on this record. I love Jim Gaines;
he’s been a personal friend for years. When
I told Jim I wanted to try something different,
he told me to go ahead. I never worked with
David Z, and it was a totally new experience.
“Jim pushes you in a silent way. He
extracts things from you that you didn’t know
you had. With me, he’d say, ‘Don’t worry if
you mess up, we’ll redo it.’
“David told me, ‘We’re gonna do
this live.’ I thought sure; we’ll record it live
and then fix it. He said, ‘No, we’re gonna
do the whole thing live.’ This was gonna be
David’s approach. My best performances are
when I’m under pressure, like the pressure of
recording my live record in 2008.”
So in the middle of one of New
England’s most brutal winters, Cummings
boarded a plane for David Z’s home turf,
L.A., and his stable of musicians. In today’s
connected world, Cummings sorted through
YouTube clips before he flew and chose his
supporting cast. “I had no idea who I picked.
I showed up at the West Hollywood studio
and didn’t know really who they were.”
So who survived the YouTube
auditions? Mike Finnigan, Reggie McBride, and
Tony Braunagel. “I’ve played with B.B. King and
Double Trouble, so I really don’t get intimidated
any more. Mike is presently Bonnie Raitt’s
keyboard player. He was Joe Cocker and Crosby,
Stills, and Nash, Taj Mahal, and he played with
Hendrix on Electric Ladyland. He’s one of the
most gifted keyboard players in the world, a
genius of a guy. Then Reggie McBride (bass) and
Tony Braunagel (drums) come in. Reggie plays
with Stevie Wonder and Keb’ Mo’, and Tony’s
played with Robert Cray, Taj, and Eric Burdon
and everyone else.
“I had all the songs done, but I’d never
played them before. The way we set up was that
I would be in the control room with David behind
me, and these three guys were in the other room.
That way they could isolate my vocals.
“We took the first song and started
messing around a bit and all of a sudden they’d
say, ‘OK, we got it. Let’s go.’ That was the way it
happened on every song. No rehearsal, just four
guys who didn’t now each other and went into the
studio and joined through music. That’s what I
love about music, the spontaneity of the creation.
“The songs really didn’t change much
from my demo tape, except the guys would add
little things to them. It was like I took a lump of
coal in and they all got their little polishing things
out and they turned them into diamonds. The
birth of these songs is captured on this record.
There were some conversations about each
song. Everybody would find a part or a location
where they could compliment the song, and that’s
how it would come alive. That’s the most exciting
part for me, each song was born right there.”
Once home, Cummings took his songs
that were born in the studio with an all-star band
of hired musicians and shared them with his road
band to be played each night. “They are starting
to evolve. Those babies are starting to get their
personalities as they continue to grow. It’s always
gonna be a different vibe. That’s what keeps me
on my toes. I like to let it take me where it takes
me.”
“It’s all about the mood of the song. Just
like an actor plays a part based on the character.
The song is its own entity. Double Trouble taught
me to always find the pulse in the song, that’s
what you gotta start with. Once you get the pulse,
then you’re alive and you let it go.”
It’s taken more than a decade, but
the blues world is realizing that Cummings has
something important to say as both songwriter
and guitarist. In August, Someone Like You
debuted at Number Two on the Billboard Blues
Chart. “This album finally answers the question,
‘Who is Albert Cummings.’ It’s got a good variety;
it’s not straight down one road. If you want to
know what I sound like, it’s this album. I wanted
to send this message out for years. I can finally
say this is straight up, honest me.”
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 23
delta journeys
Story and photos by Roger Stolle
Life In Hell
This past October, I was asked to give a lecture on “Blues
Entrepreneurism and Mississippi’s Creative Economy” as part
of Delta State University’s ongoing International Blues Project
and that week’s International Conference on the Blues. Delta
State is in nearby Cleveland, Mississippi – home of the Delta
Center for Culture &
Learning, Delta Music
Lucious Spiller
Institute, and the first
Grammy Museum
outside of L.A. – but my
presentation was at the
historic Cutrer Mansion
in Clarksdale, where I
live and work.
For readers
who may not know,
after several years of
visiting, I moved to the
heart of blues country
thirteen and a half
years ago with a main
mission to “organize and
promote the blues from
within” and a secondary
mission to help revive an
increasingly ghost-town
downtown. As an early
blues entrepreneur in
the Delta, I can tell you
that nobody was coining
phrases like “Blues
Entrepreneurism” or “Mississippi’s Creative Economy” back
then.
To give you an idea of the state of things in 2002, one
older local woman I met my first month here almost fell over
when I told her I had moved to here instead of away from here.
After she picked her jaw up off the floor, the only words she
could growl at me were, “Why’d you move to HELL?!”
MOVING TO HELL FOR PAST AND FUTURE
So, why did I move to “hell” – or at least The Crossroads
that may get you there? As I wrote in my 2011 book, Hidden
History of Mississippi Blues (The History Press): “I moved to
Clarksdale to circle the wagons, to mount a defense, to help
the last generation of cotton-farming, mule-driving, juke-joint
playing bluesmen deeply inhale the final breath of this amazing
tradition we call Delta blues. My idea was to help other likeminded individuals and entities organize and promote this
uniquely American art form from within – and by all means
necessary.”
Shortly after the hell-raising experience, I attended
a local City Hall board meeting. During the public comment
section, an older gentleman stood up and declared, “The blues
ain’t gonna save our town!” before going on to complain about
the attention increasingly given to blues in Clarksdale.
24 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
Another anecdote along these lines comes from the
press, right around the time I started visiting Clarksdale as a
blues fan. At a 1995 Chamber of Commerce meeting where
the subject of blues came up for discussion, the then-chairman
of the local tourism commission shouted, “Nobody is going to
come to Clarksdale, Mississippi, to hear a black man play the
guitar!”
I’ll just get this out of the way and say that the
“hell” woman, “ain’t” man, and
“chairman” were all older, white,
and in no way fans of the blues
or the culture that gave birth
to the art form. As the thencommissioner of my ward – an
older white man, by the way
– told me later, “A lot of things
in this town would be solved
with about a dozen funerals.”
Translation? We need new
generations with new blood and
new ideas to solve old problems.
He said it as the kind of joke
that’s so serious it stays with you
in your heart because you know
it’s not untrue.
HEY, HEY, THE BLUES IS ALL
RIGHT
Blues is a positive force that
runs deep in popular music. It
is also not just another genre
on Sirius/XM. It is the voice of a
black Southern culture that was
once allowed to speak only in the shadows of juke joints or the
Sunday morning sunshine of church (where heavenly names
were substituted for “baby”).
The progress I’ve seen in just the last decade here
is phenomenal. We keep moving forward and gaining speed,
bridging the gaps. I say “we” because in today’s Mississippi
Delta, it is a combined force of young and old, transplanted and
native, black and white. Simply put, music unites. It has the
power to put people of diverse backgrounds in the same room
at the same time and put smiles on their faces.
True blues comes from a culture. It’s connected.
Every time the music is acknowledged through markers,
awards, museums, films, festivals, etc., then the culture is also
acknowledged and celebrated. “Blues Tourism” is “Cultural
Tourism.” And successful tourism efforts result in an even
bigger “we.”
Aside from positive social gains, blues efforts here
benefit music fans, musicians, clubs, juke joints, museums,
hotels, restaurants, and blues or otherwise tourism-related
businesses – plus those directly involved with tourism
agencies, arts entities, and blues societies. Local and state
sale taxes also receive a boost. In Clarksdale, the effects of
blues promotion have helped fill empty buildings and led
Mississippi I had in my head. The culture there
hadn’t been chopped up and homogenized and made
into something plastic. It was still alive.”
In my book, that’s the biggest compliment
our little Bluestown, USA, could ever receive.
EXPERIENCE THE “CLARKSDALE COMEBACK”
Experience Clarksdale for yourself. We have live
blues seven nights a week, around a dozen festivals,
two blues-related museums, and plenty of interesting
overnight accommodations. Information at www.
clarksdaletourism.com, www.visitclarksdale.com,
www.msbluestrail.org, and www.cathead.biz.
Elmo Williams
dozens of visitors to actually move here over the past decade
to be part of the renaissance.
For me, that is what Mississippi’s blues-fueled
Creative Economy is all about – historical recognition, business
growth, race relations and amazing music.
A CASE FOR “AUTHENTICITY” IN TODAY’S DETA
“KEEPING
IT
REAL”
In
BluesTown
Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram
In my aforementioned lecture on “Blues
Entrepreneurism and Mississippi’s Creative
Economy,” I took considerable space to talk about
authenticity. Like Coke, we’re selling the Real Thing
here – blues in the land where it was born.
“Authenticity” has always been important
me, so I’m always interested to hear thoughts on
the subject. In his TED Talk, business consultant/
author Joseph Pine said, “We view things that have
a particular place in the world as being authentic –
they’re rooted, they’re grounded.”
Where I am sitting, that couldn’t be more
true. After all, Clarksdale’s Ground Zero Blues Club
was so-named because we are at ground zero for
the music and culture. The City of Clarksdale’s
quasi-official tagline is “Keeping It Real!” for a
reason. It means that we are trying to keep an air
of authenticity about us. We know why people visit
here. They want to walk into the pages of a history
book and have an Alan Lomax moment.
To this end, we’ve been pretty successful
so far. In the National Geographic book My Favorite
Place On Earth, blues-infused rocker Jack White of
the White Stripes writes, “Clarksdale was the
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 25
around the world
by Bob Margolin
why he fired Mud. This legendary, venerable bluesman
patiently explained to me, “Muddy was getting all the women.”
That’s not the word he used, but “women” conveys what he
meant.
I wrote a song called “Young And Old Blues” for my new album,
I went back to Muddy’s dressing room and told him,
My Road. It’s a lighthearted swing through my experiences
“I just met Big Joe. He said he fired you.” Muddy laughed,
from when I was 20 and it surprised me that 44-year-old B.B.
“That’s right, I was getting all the women.” It’s gratifying that
King was not too decrepit to play. The song runs through
Muddy learned “Baby Please Don’t Go” from Big Joe, and I
stories of my own aging, with one recently where a musician
learned it from Muddy. Sometimes before I play it today, I tell
I hadn’t seen for a while says, “Bob, is that you? I didnt know
the story. The song is still carried on though none of us gets
you were still alive, you look like your own grandpa!”
all the women anymore. But I do play the song with younger
I wrote my stories in a form that would work well in
musicians, sharing it with a fourth and sometimes even a fifth
song. I raised serious questions, but just wanted my audience
generation past Big Joe. Some of the teenagers who play it
to rock and smile. The questions and observations and stories
with me may be alive in 2103, 200 years after Big Joe was
that didn’t get into the song remain, and I hope you’ll still rock
born. Blues music conquers time and I enjoy and appreciate
and smile as we consider them together.
being in the middle of it.
All you need to enjoy
Big Joe seemed ancient to me
blues music is to know it feels
when he was in his 70s and I
good or moves you. When
was in my 20s. By 2011, I had
I first heard it on a college
been onstage with Pinetop
radio station when I was in
Perkins who was 97 then.
high school, I was taken and
Now, I’m 66. When my mother
shaken. It would not have
was my age, she told me,
surprised me then to see 50
“I feel like the same person
years into the future to today
inside, but I wonder who that
and find I live my life around
old lady in the mirror is.”
loving and playing that music.
I remember taking a
Today’s Blues World, a useful
shower in a hotel room,
expression for a commercially
getting ready to go to a
small but spiritually powerful
recording session. Naked, I
“club,” is a sweet home.
noticed myself in the mirror
If we were hanging
and realized “I’m not a kid
out, probably at some blues
anymore.” I had aged. I
event where I was playing, I’d
sighed at the inevitable and
be deeply interested to know
resolved to do my best for as
what you feel. It’s the same
long as my body and spirit
and different for each of us,
could hold up. I was only 27,
I’m sure. Here are more of my
on my way to record the “Hard
stories of young and old blues.
Again” album with Muddy
I’m just the right age,
and Johnny Winter. With
born in 1949, to have met
39 more years of stage and
and played with a generation
recording experience, I think I
of musicians that were born
can entertain and play music
100 years ago, like Muddy
better than I ever have, but
and Pinetop Perkins. I even
I don’t look like I did in1976.
met one of Muddy’s mentors,
No matter how I dress or
Big Joe Williams, who was
carry myself, I think most of
born in 1903. In the midthe audience looks at me and
1970s, he was still performing,
before they think about the
and Muddy’s band was on
music I’m about to play, they
a festival with him. I had a
think “old guy” and whatever
backstage pass, so I went
that means to them fromtheir
into his dressing room to
individual ages and attitudes.
“Big
Joe
Williams,
1976.
Photo
credit:
Bob
Margolin
thank him for the great blues
I know Muddy understood this
he had given us for so long.
too. I remember staying at his
And I introduced myself and mentioned that I played guitar for
house in 1973 and Muddy looked at a blues book with a photo
Muddy.
of him in it from 35 years before. Muddy sighed, “I sure was
“Mmm, Muddy. I fired Muddy,” Big Joe scowled. That
a pretty m.f.” Judging music and musicians with our eyes is
might have been in Mississippi, maybe even in the 1930s. I
something most of us, I too, do unconsciously and naturally.
replied that Muddy was a good guitar player and asked Joe
Young And Old Blues
26 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
The Last Waltz, 1976 with Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, Muddy Waters, Bob Margolin, Paul Butterfield.
Photo Credit: Martin Scorcese
teen-ager who leads a band or sits in with older players is
Entertainers, or at least those who manage and
going to have an advantage with the audience too. You got a
promote them, are very conscious about “image.” And let’s face
problem with that? I don’t. That’s just the way it is.
it, an entertainer has a big advantage if he or she is sexually
I am often asked in interviews if the blues will die
attractive. Right or wrong, that’s the way it is. Yet there are
now that the older generations, the originators, creators, and
many blues musicians of
legends, have passed on. My
all ages and genders who
2015 Pinetop Perkins Foundation Master Class. Photo credit:
perspective of playing with
might not be considered
courtesy of Pinetop Perkins Foundation
them, today’s players, and
conventionally “hot,” but
tomorrow’s as well makes
do very well if their music
me a good person to ask. I’m
and ability to entertain is
happy to report that I often
powerful. That happens
meet young players with the
in the soulful little blues
same passion for playing
world, not so much with the
blues that I saw in Muddy
more commercial genres.
Waters and Big Joe Williams.
Style is always helpful,
They live to do it. Some
but substance is important
will carry on the tradition
too. Sometimes older and
strictly, some will use blues
experienced musicians my
as a foundation for their own
age tell me they resent that
creative contribution. I meet
younger or sexier musicians
these musicians at gigs,
are more in demand by
workshops, and especially in
promoters. They’re not
the master class workshops
wrong, but it is overhelp by the Pinetop Perkins
simplifying and there are
Foundation in Clarksdale,
too many exceptions to say
Mississippi, every summer. In Clarksdale, We can feel the
that success is a beauty contest. Old, overweight musicians
ghosts of Muddy, John Lee, and other Delta blues musicians
who may not dress flashy nor inspire lust are some of our most
who were born there. And I feel the spirits of young people
successful. I’ll just say, in my observation, that the sexually hot
finding blues in their spirits at the crossroads.
ones do have an advantage. I’ll add that a child or young
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 27
60 CD Reviews
BETH HART
Better Than Home
Provogue
Better Than Home marks
a couple of firsts for Beth
Hart. One is she has new
producers after having Kevin
Shirley produce her last three
solo efforts. Hart explains
the other: “This record is the
first time in my life I feel – if
I were to pass on – that I’ve
expressed the heart of my
truth.” This is a personal
album exploring her life,
relationships, and feelings and
expresses those in a more mainstream popular music setting.
Strings, horns, and background vocals are present on many
cuts. Some newer fans may be a bit surprised to hear her in
this aural atmosphere; especially those who are more familiar
with her work with Jeff Beck and Joe Bonamassa.
Most songs are mid-tempo and soft ballads. Lyrically,
her explorations of love seem to need to be forged first by
sadness, anger, or darkness. “Mechanical Heart” is an ode
to her husband, “Tell Her You Belong To Me” is a demanding
statement to her father and another song is to her mother. The
mellow mood of these are balanced with the slightly more uptempo Memphis soul of “Might As Well Smile” and “The Mood
I’m In”.
As usual, Hart conveys the emotion of the songs with
her usual passion and stirring voice, but the delivery is mostly
quietly intimate. If there is concern that she’s lost some fire
amid this introspection, the guitar heavy “Trouble” puts that to
rest. It’s a double barreled, bad girl song where she spits out
the line, “I ain’t your bitch or your baby, don’t make me trash
this place.” The album closer, “Mama This One’s For You,”
is to her mother. The song, with just Hart’s voice and piano,
is excellent. It makes you wonder what a Beth Hart acoustic
album might sound like.
With Better Than Home, Beth Hart is passionately
following her inner vision. It’s hard to expect more of a talented,
creative, singer/songwriter exploring her art. Her next album
will likely tell us more.
– Mark Caron
-----------------------------
DAVE ALVIN AND PHIL ALVIN
Lost Time
Yep Roc
Up until recently, brothers
Dave and Phil Alvin hadn’t
played together regularly
since Dave exited their
original, classic band the
Blasters 30 years ago
amongst legendary, heavyduty feuding. Phil kept the
Blasters alive and well, but it
was rarely as spirited without
Dave, who’s sustained a
highly-regarded
roots/rock solo career all the while. The key Blasters – sans
sax man Steve Berlin who’s wholeheartedly in Los Lobos –
toured a bit in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until 2013 that the
brothers reunited in the studio.
The impetus for Common Ground was Phil’s sudden
brush with the hereafter, resulting from, of all things, an
abscessed tooth. That rockin’ folk/blues foray focused on the
songs of Big Bill Broonzy, an inspiration and hero to the Alvin’s
since their youth. The album’s artistic and critical success, and
the tour that followed, prompted the brothers to keep it up.
Thank God they saw the light and buried the hatchet.
Lost Time, like Common Ground, highlights the
perfect melding of Phil’s wholly unique, but Big Joe Turnerinfluenced voice and Dave’s spitfire guitar within a snappy little
band. And it’s better. And this time around, there’s more of
their sound – yes, Blasters-like – permeating the exceedingly
well-chosen covers throughout. Opening with a forceful blast
through Oscar Brown, Jr.’s “Mister Kicks,” the Alvin’s set a high
standard, and almost never disappoint. The traditional “World’s
In A Bad Condition” rumbles like a locomotive, old words sung
by the brothers, separately and in duet, worth a fortune today.
Phil’s performance alone within the soft-shoe blues of Big Joe
Turner’s “Cherry Red Blues” alone makes the album. All these
years haven’t diminished his incredible timbre a bit. Dave sings
the traditional “Rattlesnakin’ Daddy,” his dusty, rootsy persona
and rip-roaring guitar solos driving the band, and eliciting
fantastic harmonica blowing from Phil. Another Turner gem,
the freewheeling “Hide And Seek,” could be vintage Blasters;
it’s amazing how the years melt away here. The classic “In
New Orleans (Rising Sun Blues)” would have benefitted from
a harder arrangement, almost like the one employed on “Sit
Down Baby,” the Willie Dixon barn-burner two songs later. All
in all, these Alvin Brothers belong together. More of this purely
American music, please.
– Tom Clarke
-----------------------------
EDDIE COTTON
One At A Time
Dechamp Records
Eddie Cotton’s may be a
minister’s son, but for his own
musical ministry, the sermon
is soul. His sophomore effort
for Grady Champion’s label,
Dechamp Records, has the
Mississippi native delivering
funk saturated blues painted
with a thick coating of soul.
Cotton pulls some serious
strings on the opener, “One At
A Time,” his fiery stinging lead
demonstrating why he’s the
2015 International Blues Challenge band winner.
Cotton pays homage to his home state on
“Mississippi,” declaring “there’s no place I’d rather be/ if you
get a chance, come visit me,” touting it as the birthplace of the
blues and southern hospitality. He’s got some pointy Albert
King licks poking holes in the melody while the band conducts
a state spelling lesson on the chorus. The guitarist pulls out his
B.B. King lick catalog for the autobiographical “Hard Race To
28 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015 - Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More...
Win,” recalling his daddy’s teachings about trusting in the Lord,
tempering that message with some self-help advice: “always
do the best you can/ if you fall get back up again, ‘cause the
race against time/is a hard race to win.”
Cotton seems comfortable in a wide array of vocal
and guitar styles. “Catch I Wanted” recalls Al Green’s Hi
Records/Memphis soul sessions, a funk loaded thumper
reeking with gospel soul, Cotton nailing Green’s falsetto
perfectly. He comps Curtis Mayfield’s mellow soul crooning on
“Dead End Street,” a young man’s urban coming of age tale.
“There was no Twitter, didn’t have time to tweet,” Cotton sings,
but he did find time to explore the joys of young womanhood:
“She showed me life could be so sweet/in the back seat of a
car on a dead end street.”
All the songs are originals, but Cotton’s melodies
show he’s well acquainted with the soul greats of the past.
Tyrone Davis is obviously the model for “Ego At Your Door,” a
tune that could be inserted without a ripple in Davis’ catalog
right alongside “Turning Point” or “Can I Change My Mind.”
Even though there’s considerable homage paid here to a
variety of artists, Cotton still remains his own man, channeling
the spirits of the great ones without stealing their souls.
– Grant Britt
-----------------------------
FIONA BOYES
Box & Dice
Reference Recordings
It is uncertain whether Joseph
Haydn or Leopold Mozart
wrote the “Toy Symphony”
in 1820 which used items
such as a ratchet, cuckoo,
nightingale, and drum.
Fiona Boyes, after having a
baker’s dozen of recordings
in her Aussie tucker bag, has
created something unusually
special in her 2015 Box &
Dice CD as she uses both
four- and six-string cigar box
guitars, an insanely rare (one of two in existence) baritone
National ResoLectric guitar and is accompanied with items
such as a frattoir (metal washboard), double bass, drum,
congas, a pocket full of loose coins, chains, and horse shoes.
The listener is drawn in instantly from the first Boyes’
penned cut entitled “Juke Joint On Moses Lane” with virtuoso
baritone guitar finger picking, slide, and sparse drumming.
Her vocal range melds well with this lower voiced guitar and
after a few bars, the sounds are seamless. Of the eleven cuts
on this 44 minute CD, eight are by Boyes with Howlin’ Wolf’s
“Smokestack Lightning,” J.C. Johnson’s “Black Mountain
Blues,” and Magic Sam’s “Easy Baby” completing the song list.
Anyone who is lucky enough to have listened to
this will clearly understand why Fiona Boyes copped the
International Blues Challenge in 2003 as a solo act and had
been nominated for Blues Music Awards four years in a row.
The outstanding cut is track five: “Louisiana.” Foregoing two
strings by playing a four-string cigar box guitar, the cadence is
haunting, the slide otherworldly and the lyrics memorable. One
could very easily listen to this
song several times in a row and still want to hear it again.
A fellow writer who had been on October’s Legendary
Rhythm & Blues Cruise emailed me that Fiona Boyes was the
musical highlight of the cruise. Pick up Box & Dice please, and
you’ll see why.
– Pete Sardon
-----------------------------
SHEMEKIA COPELAND
Outskirts Of Love
Alligator
For her seventh album,
Shemekia Copeland returns
to Alligator Records, which
released her first four discs
and introduced her to the
blues world. But the singer
brings along with her the
producer who helmed the two
albums she recorded while
she was away at Telarc.
On Outskirts Of Love,
guitarist and songwriter
Oliver Wood helps Copeland
explore the links between blues, rock, soul, and country,
pushing Copeland to explore the full range of her voice and
expressive powers. Wood provides the perfect sonic template
for Copeland, keeping the production uncluttered with a Staxstyle sound anchored by guitar, bass, drums and keyboards
and occasional flourishes like horns and background vocals.
While the 12-track disc is comprised mainly of outside
material, the three originals Wood co-wrote with collaborator
John Hahn carry the same brand of undeniable spark that led
the team to choose the covers that make up most of the rest.
The title track, which kicks off the album, is a full-throttle rocker
in the spirit of the Rolling Stones with Copeland showing off
those powerful pipes. “Crossbone Beach” (featuring steel guitar
ace Robert Randolph) gives the singer the chance to show off
her storytelling skills, spinning a tale of menace and danger.
Copeland gets to do the same on the tongue-in-cheek “Drivin’
Out of Nashville,” which pronounces that “country music
ain’t nothing but the blues with a twang.” It’s a delight to hear
Copeland with pedal steel guitar trailing her vocal line and that
chunka-chunka Johnny Cash-style driving the rhythm.
Copeland pays tribute to her father, guitarist/singer
Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, with a version of “Devil’s Hand” that
brings her back to her blues roots. She gets an assist from ZZ
Top guitarist Billy Gibbons for that band’s classic “Jesus Just
Left Chicago,” and invokes the power of Aretha Franklin in the
gospel-laced “I Feel A Sin Coming On,” one of the strongest
vocal performances on the album. Other highlights include
Jesse Winchester’s “Isn’t That So” and John Fogerty’s “Long
As I Can See The Light.” All in all, Copeland sings along the
outskirts of the blues but never leaves the heart of the city.
– Michael Cote
E-mail: [email protected]
Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More - DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 29
SAMPLER EIGHT
Visit the Members Area at Blues Music Magazine to download all
these amazing songs. SAMPLER UPDATE: You asked for it, and we
listened! It’s now easier then ever to download these songs as either a zip fle,
or as individual tracks! Congratulations and thanks to all the artists appearing
on sampler eight.
1. Andy Poxon - “Next To You” from the album Must Be Crazy on EllerSoul Records
2. Andy Santana & the West Coast PlayBoys - “You Small Like Cookies” from the album Watch
Your Step on Delta Groove Music
3. Guy Davis - “Kokomo Kidd” from the album Kokomo Kidd on M.C. Records
4. Chris O’Leary - “Letters From Home” from the album Gonna Die Tryin’ on American
Showplace Music
5. The Ragpicker String Band - “By Your Side” from album The Ragpicker String Band on Yellow
Dog Records
6. Henry Gray/Bob Corritore Sessions - “Boogie Woogie Ball” from the album Blues Won’t Let
Me Take My Rest on Delta Groove Records
7. The Jimmys - “I Wonder” from the album Hot Dish on Brown Cow Productions
8. Kevin Selfe - “Fixed It Til It’s Broke” from the album Buy My Soul Back on VizzTone Label
Group
9. Fiona Boyes - “Louisiana” from the album Box & Dice on Blue Empress Records/ Reference
Recordings
10.Dave Weld & The Imperial Flames - “Take Me Back” from the album Slip Into A Dream on
Delmark Records
11.Jonn Del Toro Richardson - “ Tall Pretty Baby” from the album Tengo Blues on The Bear In
The Chair Productions
12.Deb Callahan - “Slow As Molasses, Sweet As Honey” from the album Sweet Soul on Blue Pearl
Records
13.TC Carr & Bolts of Blue - “Good To Be Loved” from the album TC Carr & Bolts Of Blue – selfreleased
14.Ben Rice Trio - “Ida Mae” from the album Live @ The Purple Fox Loft – self-released
15. The California Honeydrops “Cry Baby Blues” from the album A River’s invitation on Lefse
Records
30 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
WALTER TROUT
Battle Scars
Provogue Records
Here’s the CliffsNotes version
of the Walter Trout saga: the
beloved blues-rock guitarist
was to spend much of 2014
taking a victory lap in honor
of the 25th anniversary of his
solo career. Instead, he was
fighting like hell just to exist
before and after his life-saving
liver transplant. Before illness
had sidelined him in late 2013,
he recorded The Blues Came
Callin’, a powerful 12-song
celebration of life in the face
of mortality. After much struggle, pain, and prayer, the guitarist
has come out the other side a wiser, but no less determined
man.
After shaking off the ring rust by getting back on stage
and doing what he loves best, Trout took a new batch of songs
into the studio and recorded Battle Scars. No less potent a set
than The Blues Came Callin’, the new album doesn’t stray far
from the familiar, guitar-driven blues-rock blueprint that Trout
has followed for a couple of decades. What is new here is that
Trout, unlike Robert Johnson, has shaken the hellhounds from
his trail for a second chance at life.
Battle Scars opens with the incredible “Almost Gone,”
as haunting a song as any Delta bluesman ever imagined.
Fueled by Trout’s dark, mesmerizing fretwork – which runs
like the river Styx beneath his somber vocals – this is the
lyrical moment of truth, the singer full of regret but icily staring
down the Reaper. The dramatic, tragic “Omaha” offers another
jackhammer performance, as stark as a dark alleyway, but is
balanced by Trout with “Please Take Me Home,” a beautiful,
heartfelt ballad for his wife, who stood by his side during the
entire ordeal.
By the time the guitarist gets to the acoustic “Gonna
Live Again,” the listener has taken an emotional roller-coaster
ride with this underrated songwriter, the song’s fluid melody
and melancholy guitar strum a declaration of a bittersweet
sort of optimism. Battle Scars is Trout’s Inferno, a tale of
redemption and rebirth that doesn’t shy away from reality but
rings loudly with hope. It’s also the best album, in all facets,
that Trout has ever recorded. Here’s to another 25 years!
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
GUY DAVIS
Kokomo Kidd
M. C. Records
Listening to Guy Davis tell
his tales is like walking down
a country road through
the history of the Southern
experience. This Renaissance
blues man comes to the stage
influenced by all forms of art
from blues musicians like
Mississippi John Hurt and
Taj Mahal to writers like Zora
Neale Hurston to his
parents, the great actors Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. With that
background, Davis has learned the essentials of storytelling
through word and music.
With tuba and banjo drivin’ the story, the title cut
opens the record. In 2015, Davis heard stories of Elmer or
Edward Kidd, aka the Kokomo Kidd, from the early part of
the 20th century. Peck Wallace told Davis of this real life
Washington D.C., coal man cum bootlegger to the White
House and Congress. In song, Davis becomes Wallace telling
his story as contraband procurer from Prohibition moonshine
gathering to modern hacking into e-mail to discover a
lawmaker’s personal foibles.
Davis shows off his harmonica chops on “Like
Sonny Did,” a bare-bones tribute to Sonny Terry, complete
with Terry’s trademark harmonica whoops and swells. Davis’
old time clawhammer picked banjo perfectly accents his
acoustic harmonica and Terry’s story. Other Davis’ originals
include “Maybe I’ll Go,” a finger picked love song in the vein
of Mississippi John Hurt, “Blackberry Kisses,” “Wish I Hadn’t
Stayed Away So Long,” Davis’ minor key lament of times
missed while on the road, and the raucous “Have You Ever
Loved Two Woman (But You Couldn’t Make Up Your Mind),
a country blues-styled tale of every travelin’ blues man’s
dilemma. It features Italian harp master Fabrizio Poggi’s
acoustic harp a la the Sonnys, Terry and Williamson.
Davis’ other harmonica guest is Charlie Musselwhite
on the blues chestnut, “Little Red Rooster.” Here, they honor
the Chicago blues ensemble approach made famous in the
1950s with Professor Louie (who stars on keys throughout)
adding Spann-like piano accents and John Platania doing his
best Muddy slide to Musselwhite’s storied harp. Other covers,
recorded in typical Davis fashion, include Dylan’s “Lay Lady
Lay,” Donavan’s “Wear Your Love Like Heaven,” Tommy
Johnson’s “Cool Drink Of Water,” featuring Chris James’
country mandolin, and Memphis Minnie’s oft-recorded “Bumble
Bee Blues.”
Like every Guy Davis record, Kokomo Kidd is a
shining example of cultural understandings passed along to a
larger audience. Davis’ mastery of weaving bits of stories and
moods into unassuming folk narratives continues to grow.
– Art Tipaldi
-----------------------------
JOHN MAYALL
Find A Way To Care
Forty Below Records
Here’s something I find hard
to believe, British blues
legend John Mayall hasn’t
been inducted into the Blues
Hall of Fame. Nor has he
been honored for any of his
classic albums – not even the
essential Blues Breakers With
Eric Clapton. Best I can tell,
Mayall has never received
a single W.C. Handy/Blues
Music Award nomination,
either. All of this represents
an egregious oversight in the mind of this humble critic.
Mayall deserves institutional recognition, if only for providing
a launching pad for the talents of artists like Clapton, Peter
Green, Mick Taylor, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, and many
others.
Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More - DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 31
I doubt that Mr. Mayall spends too much time
considering these things; he’s too damn busy building an
unassailable legacy in the blues. Over the course of a career
spanning six decades, Mayall has released about 60 albums
plumbing the depths of blues, blues-rock, jazz-blues-fusion,
and beyond. Since disbanding the Bluesbreakers in 2008,
Mayall has toured regularly with a talented band featuring
guitarist Rocky Athas, bassist Greg Rzab, and drummer Jay
Davenport. It’s with this road-tested crew that Mayall recorded
last year’s stellar A Special Life, quickly following up that
critically-acclaimed slab ‘o wax with the inspired Find A Way To
Care.
At 81 years old, Mayall still finds ways to make
the blues interesting, whether delivering the occasional
original song or breathing new vitality into deep cuts like Don
Robey’s “Mother In Law Blues” and Muddy Water’s “Long
Distance Call.” The former is provided a jaunty Chicagostyle arrangement replete with juke-joint piano and mewling
harmonica while the latter is an old-school heartbreaker
featuring Athas’s enthusiastic guitar play. Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “I
Feel So Bad” is a revved-up church revival with blasting horns
and flinty keyboards. It’s not all antiques here, though – a
cover of Matt Schofield’s timely “War We Wage” is provided
somber relevance and hot git licks, while Mayall’s title track is
a lively confessional with jumpin’ horns, subtle fretwork, and a
solid rhythmic background. A blues traditionalist at heart and
a gambler by nature, Find A Way To Care proves that John
Mayall still has a few musical tricks up his sleeve.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
THE NIGHTHAWKS
Back Porch Party
EllerSoul Records
Bo Diddley nailed it: “You can’t
judge a book by looking at the
cover.” Which doesn’t mean
we don’t. For instance, James
Thurber and E.B. White knew
that people would pick up “Is
Sex Necessary?” just because
of the title. And so we have
Back Porch Party. Even truth
in advertising types would
agree that this disc sounds
just like the title emblazoned
across its cover implies. It
does indeed sound like an informal party on someone’s back
porch, it offers unamplified blues and pop that was recorded
in a Richmond studio before an enthusiastic audience. The
12-track playlist reprises intimate and compelling send-ups
of some songs you will know and some originals created by
the Nighthawks various contributing members. “Guard My
Heart” is one of these. A Mark Wenner composition by the
‘Hawks frontman and nonpareil harp player from the band’s
get-go some 40-plus years ago, he hits all the right notes in
this tidy little stroller. “Rock This House,” which opens the
disc, is among the judiciously selected cover tunes. The lyrics
also establish the ground rules for this release: “Won’t you
come on down/let me tell you what I got, house rockin’ music/
everybody’s talkin about.”
I’m guessing it’s guitarist Paul Bell or maybe drummer
Mark Stutso (Pete Ragusa’s replacement) who
sings “Matchbox” (the liner notes don’t say), which is not to be
confused with the Carl Perkins song. This one’s Ike Turner’s.
“Rollin’ Stone” is a nice fit here, given its composer, Muddy
Waters, and the long-time association Mark Wenner has
had with key members of Muddy’s most recent bands, Bob
Margolin and Pinetop Perkins foremost among them. “Rooster
Blues” by Lightnin’ Slim (neé Otis Hicks) and Jerry West is
faithful to Slim’s Excello release yet it still bears the hallmark
of a Nighthawks treatment: colorful, gruff vocals framed by
succinct, copasetic instrumentation, especially Wenner’s harp.
Other tunes herein showcase guitarist Paul Bell’s and bassist
Johnny Castle’s voices. (Castle, whose had his own bands and
was a member of Bill Kirchen’s Too Much Fun has a history
with the Nighthawks, but it’s only in recent years that he’s
become a fixture, replacing Jan Zukowski.) Bell is the latest of
a long line of great Nighthawks’ guitarists, lineage that includes
Jimmy Thackery, Paul Kanaras, and many one-and-done’ers.
Highlights include Tom Waits’ “Down In The Hole,” which the
Nighthawks performed as the theme song for the HBO series
The Wire; and “Walkin’ After Midnight,” popularized by the late,
Patsy Cline.
This, by my count the 28th Nighthawks release,
furthers a great and proud reputation.
– M.E. Travaglini
-----------------------------
DAVE ALVIN
Live In Long Beach 1997
Rock Beat
This disc would be more
accurately titled Dave Alvin
and Gatemouth Brown, Billy
Boy Arnold, and Joe Louis
Walker, as that was the lineup
for a “Blues Unplugged” show
that a public radio station
KLON-FM hosted 18 years
ago in Long Beach, Calif. I
did publicity for the station
then and was backstage
within earshot of Dave Alvin
beforehand as he worried he
was going to tank in front the hardcore blues audience filling
the posh, 1,000-seat, tiered amphitheater. “Why’d I ever agree
to this?” he asked.
Alvin had agreed, of course, because of a life-song
obsession with the blues, which have influenced his work with
the Blasters, the punk band X, and his solo career. Still, he was
unknown to many in the audience, and, well, Gatemouth did
have a reputation for telling people what-for if they didn’t meet
expectations.
But as Alvin in those days liked to quote Hunter
Thompson, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro,”
that’s what he did, going on stage and winning over the crowd
with a set mixing traditional blues with original compositions.
He opened with “Barn Burning” from his recent King Of
California album and then worked through Whistlin’ Alex
Moore’s “West Texas Woman Blues,” Big Bill Broonzy’s “How
You Want It Done,” Big Joe Turner’s “Chains Of Love,” and
wrapped to strong applause with his song about a dead man
who is “never comin’ back” in a “Long White Cadillac.”
Triumph achieved, Alvin then stuck around to back
Arnold on the latter’s classic “I Wish You Would” and support
Gatemouth as the latter fiddled at breakneck speed through
“San Antonio Rose,” “Wabash Cannonball,” “Jolie Blon,”
32 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015 - Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More...
“Jambalaya,” and a “Beer Barrel Polka” unlike any Lawrence
Welk ever played. The three artists, as well as Joe Louis
Walker, then jammed out a 12-bar impromptu called “Long
Beach Blues” and closed with “It’s A Long Way Home.”
This live recording clocks in at 63 fast minutes for
the 14 songs that Alvin played solo or as a backing musician,
captured in near perfect amphitheater sound. The only flaw is
that there was another hour to the actual show, but perhaps
that will surface someday too. The voice introducing each
performer and cheerleading the audience, by the way, is Gary
“Wagman” Wagner, still hosting a public radio blues show
18 years later out of Long Beach. That’s also his ear, just his
ear, sticking in the album’s cover photo of Alvin, Arnold, and
Gatemouth.
–Bill Wasserzieher
-----------------------------
OTIS TAYLOR
Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat
Trance Blues Festival Records
Veteran bluesman Otis Taylor
has forged a distinctive career
by defying expectations.
When a legion of blues
guitarists tried to channel the
ghost of Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Taylor began playing the
banjo (and well, I might add).
While many contemporary
bluesmen and women sought
to take an existing form –
Chicago, Delta, Hill Country
blues, Memphis soul, et al –
and claim it for themselves, Taylor created his own unique style
and called it “trance blues.” It could be argued that Taylor has
done more to expand the sonic palette of the blues than any
other modern artist; you just never know what he’s going to do
next.
Taylor’s Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat is the follow-up
to 2013’s acclaimed My World Is Gone, a conceptual song
cycle recorded in collaboration with Native American guitarist
Mato Nanji of Indigenous. Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat takes
the old-school concept album a step further, offering songs
that “explore the decisions that we make and how they effect
us” [sic], tying together the vocal tracks with mesmerizing
instrumentals. Breathing new life into the ancient garage-rock
tune like nobody since Jimi Hendrix, Taylor imbues “Hey Joe”
with an uneasy malevolence, his anguished vocals punctuated
by guest Warren Haynes’ shimmering fretwork and Anne
Harris’ eerie, howling violin.
Taylor uses “Hey Joe” as an artistic foundation for
the album, returning to the song later, but first segueing into
the exhilarating instrumental “Sunday Morning” (reprised twice
later). With Taylor, Haynes, and Taylor Scott swapping guitar
lines, the rest of the band fills in the corners with a breathtaking
display of musicianship. The transgender tale “Peggy Lee”
tackles the uncertainty of gender issues with intelligence and a
gentle Piedmont blues vibe that features David Moore’s nimble
banjo and Bill Nershi’s gorgeous acoustic guitar, while a sevenminute reprise of “Hey Joe” features Langhorne Slim on vocals
for an entirely different take. The urgent “Cold At Midnight”
benefits from Ron Miles’ haunting cornet, the strident final
reprise of “Sunday Morning” sounding judgmental by contrast.
It’s a wild musical ride, to be sure, but Otis Taylor’s Hey Joe
Opus/Red Meat is worth the price of admission.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
DUKE ROBILLARD
The Acoustic Blues & Roots Of Duke Robillard
Stony Plain Records
This release shows another
side of Duke Robillard.
Internationally known for
his incredible electric guitar
playing, this CD is all acoustic
record and features Robillard
using beautiful sounding
instruments from the 1920s
to the 1950s, which is very
fitting since all the songs were
picked honoring many of the
pioneers of true American
music. Robillard’s choices
include drastically different covers of works by Big Bill Broonzy,
Jimmy Rogers, W.C. Handy, Tampa Red, and Sleepy John
Estes. All the melodies are from that period except a cover
of “Evangeline,” a Robbie Robertson tune associated with
Emmylou Harris.
And all the music is country blues with swing blues
and traditional blues mixed in. My picks are the country blues
take on “Evangeline,” with Sunny Crownover, whose beautiful
voice is well suited to this finger-picking classic. For swing
blues, check out “Santa Claus Blues,” with Maria Muldaur
taking command of the song. Robillard’s traditional blues
“Take A Little Walk With Me” is one of two live cuts featuring
an on-stage duet with Matt McCabe whose playing echoes
Otis Spann. The other live track is one of Robillard’s most
popular compositions, “I’m Gonna Buy Me A Dog (To Take The
Place Of You). Legendary harpist Jerry Portnoy is typically
magnificent here bending single notes as he plays flawlessly.
From start to finish, Robillard showcases his great
talent on acoustic guitar, Dobro, mandolin, tenor harp, ukulele,
and the Cumbus, a Turkish string instrument. From the opening
finger picking beauty of Stephan Foster’s “Old Kentucky Home”
to the ending 46 second “Ukulele Swing,” Robillard’s latest
work is very likeable.
– A.J. Wachtel
-----------------------------
TOMMY CASTRO
Method To My Madness
Alligator Records
When Tommy Castro pared
down his band for last
year’s The Devil You Know,
assembling a smaller crew
in the Painkillers that could
double as lean, mean touring
band, you’d have thought from
the criticism thrown at the guy
that he was engaged in some
sort of evil Mr. Burns plot to
block out the sun. Truth is, the
economics of carrying a full
outfit on the road had become
costly, and Castro stripped his sound down to its bare roots for
The Devil You Know, which garnered Castro’s usual heaping of
critical accolades nevertheless.
Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More - DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 33
With Method To My Madness, Castro further cuts
his sound to the bone, keeping only the raw blues, rock, and
soul influences that he originally brought with him when he
first signed up for this cockamamie business three decades
ago. Eschewing the guest stars that appeared on The Devil
You Know, Castro fronts a simple four-piece Painkillers that
includes bassist Randy McDonald, keyboardist Michael
Emerson, and drummer Bowen Brown, with spare percussion
by engineer Ari Rios and background vocals courtesy of
Amber Morris. As a result, Method To My Madness is the most
dynamic and entertaining collection that Castro has delivered
to date, the album recorded live in the studio and featuring ten
original or co-written tunes (and a pair of great covers).
“Common Ground” displays a funky undercurrent
beneath Castro’s blustery, Stax-styled soul vocals, his guitar
ringing as true as Steve Cropper’s, while his slick fretwork
on the title track showcases a definite Memphis influence.
Castro’s gritty vocals on “Died And Gone To Heaven” remind of
British blues-eyed soul legend Frankie Miller so much so that
it could be a tribute, Castro kicking out a powerful, emotional
performance. The more traditional, Chicago blues-styled “Two
Hearts” swings with reckless aplomb, but with the otherworldly
“Ride,” Castro spins a clever, mythological tale set to a
claustrophobic swamp-blues soundtrack. A heartfelt cover of
B.B. King’s “Bad Luck” is played straight and features some of
Castro’s lightest and most effervescent fretwork on the album,
reminding the listener what this blues thing is all about in the
first place.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
ZAC HARMON
Right Man Right Now
Blind Pig Records
Right Man Right Now could
have gotten its inspiration
from Zac Harmon being in the
right place at the right time.
His Mississippi roots exposed
him to neighbors steeped in
the blues, he encountered
many performing artists there,
and by 16 was playing with
Sam Myers and then Z.Z. Hill.
After moving to Los Angeles,
Harmon and his band won the
International Blues Challenge
in 2004 for the Best Unsigned Band and in 2006 won the Blues
Music Award for the Best New Artist Debut of his The Blues
According to Zachariah.
Right Man Right Now features some stellar guest
artists like Anson Funderburgh, Bobby Rush, Lucky Peterson,
and Mike Finnigan. His songwriting is quite enjoyable and
Harmon penned/co-penned nine of the eleven songs with
the other two credited to John Lee Hooker and Little Milton.
“Raising Hell” kicks off the CD and Harmon’s tight band of Cory
Lacey on keyboards, Cedric Goodman on drums and Buthel
on bass keep a tight backbeat that allows Harmon’s guitar to
expressively soar and punctuate his lyrics. This is a beautifully
engineered CD and there isn’t one extraneous note or sound
in any song and Harmon’s pleasant voice can convey a range
of emotions. There are also credits for 11 other musicians,
including the fabulous left handed guitarist, Greg Wright. If you
close your eyes while listening
to “Hump In Your Back,” you can see the lascivious smile of
Bobby Rush through his vocals and unique harmonica style.
Harmon’s rendition of Hooker’s “I’m Bad Like Jesse James”
boils up a cauldron of revenge with a myriad of background
voices that vaults this version of the song into record-setting
heights.
If you’ve ever seen the tall handsome Harmon live
you need to buy this CD. If you’ve never seen him, you still
need to buy this CD! Right Man Right Now is a jewel for any
blues lover’s library.
– Pete Sardon
-----------------------------
IGOR PRADO BAND
and the Delta Groove All Stars
Way Down South
Delta Groove
Sensational Brazilian guitarist
Igor Prado is back leading
his tight and versatile band
(brother Yuri on drums, and
bassist Rodrigo Mantovoni)
through a solid set of 11
old school nuggets and two
originals. The impressive cast
includes vocalists Kim Wilson
(two tracks), the late Lynwood
Slim, to whom the album
is dedicated (two tracks),
Sugaray Rayford (two tracks),
and Mud Morganfield; harpists/vocalists Rod Piazza, Mitch
Kashmar, Omar Coleman, and Wallace Coleman; pianists
Honey Piazza, Ari Borger, and Donny Nichilio; guitarists
Mike Welch and Junior Watson; harpists Ivan Marcio and
the recently departed Delta Groove owner Randy Chortkoff;
organist Raphael Wressing; and saxophonist Denilson Martins.
Igor Prado handles the vocals (with growing
confidence) on two soul shots: Junior Walker’s funky dance
floor anthem “Shake & Fingerpop” and a duet with soul man
J.J. Jackson on Joe Tex’s loping “You Got What It Takes.” The
tunes represent the blues’ related genres with Chicago blues,
jump blues, Nawlins R&B, swamp blues, and Sixties soul.
There is one acoustic number, Omar Coleman’s “Trying To Do
Right.”
This immensely enjoyable CD is filled with intelligent
musicianship and soulful vocals, thus making it difficult to
cherry pick favorites; nonetheless, my favorite, the longest
track (at six minutes), is a rollicking version of Elmore James’
“Talk To Me Baby” featuring the Piazzas. Two more Chicago
blues are also quite noteworthy: the lesser known Chess
classics “She’s Got It” (Muddy Waters) with Mud Morganfield
and “What Have I Done” (Jimmy Rogers) with Mitch Kashmar.
Igor Prado possesses the qualities of some my
favorite living guitarists like Duke Robillard, Little Charlie Baty,
Kid Andersen, Dave Gonzales, Junior Watson, and Ronnie
Earl. Like them, Prado plays with inventiveness, wit, passion,
knowledge, and dazzling virtuosity. If you are not hip to this
South American blues phenom, Way Down South is the perfect
album to start your immersion.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
-----------------------------
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ROBBEN FORD
Into The Sun
Provogue
Robben Ford was so
impressive in his late teens
in his hometown Northern
California family blues band
that Charlie Musselwhite
– eight years his senior –
employed him, forging a
lifelong friendship. Ford
quickly moved on to play with
the great Jimmy Witherspoon
and then settled into smooth
sax man Tom Scott’s L.A.
Express. There he supported,
and immersed himself in the likes of George Harrison and Joni
Mitchell. By 1976, he’d co-founded the jazz-fusion group the
Yellowjackets and also put out the first of his now over 20 solo
albums.
Ford’s multi-faceted expertise pervades his output
more and more lately. Into The Sun once again confounds
even the avid fan trying to predict what it might sound like.
That’s a great thing. Arising with the cautious sway of “Rose
Of Sharon,” Ford, his first-rate bandmates, and several special
guests begin a long series of highly unique and very tasty
grooves. And right off, his glowing way with a guitar and his
soulful tenor singing voice make huge impressions. “Howlin’ At
The Moon” quickly rocks the proceedings up funky and dirty,
Ford and the band fascinating in such a common realm. But is
it in fact so common? With so many lines the caliber of “She
raised the stakes and then left the room,” Ford again and again
proves himself an atypical lyricist, definitely with more than a
few “women” issues on his mind.
Keb’ Mo’ goes back and forth singing with him amid
the New Orleans jazz gumbo of “Justified,” all about packing
up and walking, sick of her ways. When Warren Haynes
jabs through the strut of the tricky “High Heels And Throwing
Things” – a very cool space for these master players to play
in – the matter turns inward. “Too weak for wars he could never
win with high heels and throwing things” about sums it up
for the guy. “Cause Of War” smashes head-on musically and
metaphorically into the havoc caused by a certain lady. Sonny
Landreth steps out of his skin on “So Long 4 U,” an infectious,
ringing call and response highlighting the shedding of the
ultimate kind of problem.
Everywhere throughout all of this, Robben Ford plays
guitar with the kind of facility and tone they write books about.
This is the blues bended without reservation, and with the wink
of an eye. The uncommon variety and riveting performances
make Into The Sun one of the most entertaining albums of the
year – blues-themed or otherwise.
– Tom Clarke
-----------------------------
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GARY CLARK Jr.
The Story Of Sonny Boy Slim
Warner Brothers Records
When the 21st century’s first
bona fide guitar hero – Gary
Clark Jr. – released his 2012
major label debut, Blak and
Blu, blues purists howled in
grief. Hand-picked by Eric
Clapton himself to carry the
torch, Clark’s debut was
deemed “too slickly produced”
and/or “too commercial” to
represent real blues music.
Never mind the fact that the
guitarist had already plumbed
the depths of the blues over the course of four previous indie
LPs.
Touring in support of last year’s scorching Live album,
Clark picked up oodles of new fans, including many old-school
listeners that shed their preconceived notions of what the blues
should be and just enjoyed the jams. With his second Warner
Brothers studio album, The Story Of Sonny Boy Slim, Clark
once again defies expectations…the guitarist isn’t the next
Jimi Hendrix, or even the long-awaited savior of the blues, but
rather a visionary artist following his muse through whatever
roads it may take him down. To be honest, the album’s
throwback musical vibe owes a debt of gratitude to Hendrix,
Arthur Lee, and Sly Stone as Clark gets his soul groove on in
a big way. Throw in a modest hip-hop influence in the album’s
infectious percussion, and Clark has covered all the bases.
Although tunes like “Grinder” offer enough imaginative
guitar pyrotechnics to satisfy the blues-rock fan, more esoteric
fare like “Star” reminds of 1990s-era Prince. “Cold Blooded” is
a stoned soul groove, its dark lyrics concealed by funky horns
and scraps of stellar fretwork, while “Wings” cleverly mixes
hard times-styled lyrics with drums ‘n’ bass rhythms. Clark
gets down to business with the blustery “Shake,” a rocker that
would have sounded comfortably at home on a Yardbirds LP
while “Can’t Sleep” displays some serious 1980s strut that
evokes Morris Day and the Time. Gary Clark Jr.’s The Story
Of Sonny Boy Slim isn’t, strictly speaking, a blues album – at
least not as your grand-pappy would recognize it. Instead, it’s
an entertaining, masterful, fluid collection of blues, soul, and
funk guaranteed to send traditionalists into an apoplectic frenzy
while the rest of us dance to the music.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
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SUGARAY RAYFORD
Southside
Delta Groove
Blues fans everywhere should
be thankful to Buddy Lane &
The Texas Twisters for turning
Sugaray Rayford onto the
blues, as they’d let him sit
in when he’d sneak across
the street from his security
job. Having become burned
out from singing and playing
gospel for 18 years, he’d
joined the military for 15 years
and was out of music. Blues
was something new for him,
and boy did he embrace it!
A fortuitous introduction from the late Rand Chortkoff
of Delta Groove Records to the Mannish Boys has led to
multiple Blues Music Award nominations and international
acclaim and adulation. Not many singers leave it all on
stage like Rayford. His new CD Southside captures his silky
smooth groove and charisma; and he and his drumhead tight,
crackerjack band showcase many sides of the blues.
Rayford wrote all of the material on the CD with his
bassist and bandleader Ralph Carter, who teams with drummer
Lavell Jones to provide a rock solid foundation to build the
songs on. From the back porch, acoustic, fun stylings of “Take
It To The Bank”, to the funky grooves of “All I Think About,”
and the sinewy punchiness of “Live To Love Again” the band
is on fire. Veteran axe slinger Gino Matteo provides a variety
of colorful textures and tones throughout to complement
Rayford’s singing.
Anyone who has ever seen Rayford’s live knows what
a commanding presence he is live at 6’5”, and that feeling
translates to the CD. This is a man and his band having BIG
fun! His horn section of Gary Bivona, Allan Walker, and Leo
Doubecki drive the music, and you’ll find your neck, feet, and
legs following along. Today’s ills are addressed in “Call Off The
Mission” without being overbearing. Songs like “Miss Thang”
and “Take Away These Blues” up the funk quotient, and fellow
bluesmen from his native Texas like Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Albert Collins, Freddie King, and Lightnin’ Hopkins are honored
in “Texas Bluesman.” This CD is one that should be added to
everyone’s collection.
– Charlie Frazier
-----------------------------
DANIELLE NICOLE
Wolf Den
Concord Records
Former singer-songwriterbassist for Trampled Under
Foot, Danielle Nicole (which
featured Nicole’s brothers,
Nick Schnebelen on
vocals and guitar and Kris
Schnebelen on drums) steps
out on her own for this stellar
Concord Records debut
entitled, Wolf Den.
Nicole comes from a long
line of talented singers. Her
grandmother, Evelyn Skinner,
was a big band singer while her mother, Lisa Swedlund, taught
Danielle everything she knew while growing up. Being exposed
to music that ranged from the Everly Brothers to the B-52s,
was an education that paid off handsomely for the gifted singer.
For Wolf Den, Nicole joins forces with famed
New Orleans musician Anders Osborne to co-write songs,
play guitar, and produce the project. The outcome is an
extraordinary collection of contemporary blues, funky R&B,
and swampy bayou numbers all bolstered by Nicole’s powerful,
soul-drenched voice.
Nicole is an exceptional singer whose vocal range
and abilities appear limitless from track to track. She can grind
like Koko Taylor (“Wolf Den”), croon sweetly like Bonnie Raitt
(“Take It All” and “Just Give Me Tonight”), wail like Aretha
Franklin (“Didn’t Do You No Good”), or belt it out like the great
Etta James (“Fade Away”). In fact, Nicole covers the song “I
Feel Like Breakin’ Up Somebody’s Home” made famous by
her idol, James, with rousing enthusiasm, paying homage to
not only Lady Etta, but the song’s sinful sentiment as well.
Joined by Osborne on guitar, Mike “Shinetop” Sedovic
on keyboards, Stanton Moore (of Galactic) on drums, and
Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars; Black Crowes;
Phil Lesh) on guitar, Nicole’s bass playing is up for the task
too as she leads this first-rate lineup of musicians on her
stunning debut, Wolf Den, into the annals of blues-rock history.
Outstanding!
– Brian M. Owens
-----------------------------
RIP LEE PRYOR
Nobody But Me
Electro-Fi
Rip Lee Pryor, the son of
celebrated harp player
Snooky Pryor, has come back
around to carrying on the
family legacy. He left music
for a full time job and when he
reached retirement, he caught
the gambling disease only
to be brought up short by a
cancer diagnosis. Winning the
battle against both opponents,
Pryor is committed to making
music like he did with his
father back in the day.
The twelve tracks are presented with Pryor on
guitar, vocals, and harmonica. The sparse accompaniment
consists of Alec Fraser on bass and Bucky Berger on drums
and percussions. There is nothing fancy here – the music is
elemental, tailor-made for a juke joint on a Saturday night.
Pryor makes good use of his rough-edged voice on “Shake
Your Boogie,” one of his father’s best-known tunes, answering
himself with some feisty harp licks. An original, “Lonesome,”
features more of his down home harp over the steady “lump”
pattern he plays on guitar.
“Nobody But Me” and “I Got My Eyes On You”
feature faster strumming as the Pryor never uses the guitar
for anything more than rhythm. Pryor delivers another strong
vocal on “You Gotta Move,” an Elmore James tune with
another minimal guitar part. Covers of “Pitch A Boogie Woogie”
and “One Way Out” have plenty of spirited harp blowing
emphasizing feel over technique. “Stuck On Stupid” is an
infectious stomper with Pryor washing his hands of a wayward
woman while Rice Miller’s “Keep Our Business To Yourself” is
another mid-paced boogie with plenty of wailing harp.
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Lacking boisterous guitars and screaming vocals, this release
will face a challenge in getting attention. That’s unfortunate
because Rip Lee Pryor puts more blues in one song than
many artists have in a whole disc. It’s raw and unfiltered – and
sounds just fine.
– Mark Thompson
-----------------------------
RONNIE EARL
Father’s Day
Stony Plain
Boston-based Ronnie
Earl, winner of the Blues
Foundation’s 2014 Blues
Music Award for Best
Guitarist, is once again
augmented by his excellent
band, the Broadcasters, and
joined by top vocalists Diane
Blue and Michael Ledbetter
for on this superb CD. The
authentic West side Chicago
sound echoes throughout the
record, with two Otis Rush
songs and another two by Magic Sam. Then there’s a B.B.
King song and a side trip to New Orleans for a Fats Domino
tune.
What more needs to be said? Only that Earl’s
guitar work is strong, emotional, and treats us to his alwaysrecognizable crisp dynamics and pure talent. The 13-track
record also pulls at the heartstrings because, as the title
indicates, it was made as a tribute to Earl’s father, Akos
Horvath, with whom he apparently had a strained relationship.
It was repaired at the end, fittingly enough, on Father’s Day. A
touching tribute in the liner notes say, in part, “Don’t ever give
up on your family, and don’t quit until the miracle happens.”
Father’s Day is perfected by the addition of vocals
(Earl doesn’t sing and many of his songs are instrumentals)
and a horn section (Mario Perrett, tenor sax and Scott Shetler,
baritone sax) not heard on Earl records for decades. Besides
Earl on guitar, the Broadcasters are Lorne Entress on drums,
Dave Limina on keys, and Jim Mouradian on bass. Diane Blue,
a Boston-based singer and harp player whose earlier work
with Earl caused a sensation, shows off some deep, sultry
vocals, especially on Magic Sam’s “What Have I Done Wrong”
on which she sounds like Aretha Franklin. Her sexy vocals
are complimented by those of Michael Ledbetter (If that name
sounds familiar, he is distantly related to THAT Ledbetter, aka
Leadbelly.), the Chicago-based lead singer of the Nick Moss
Band. Ledbetter sounds like Otis Rush on the opener “It Takes
Time,” (Earl kills it on guitar,) and on “Right Place, Wrong
Time.”
The lone instrumental, a jazzy number called
“Moanin’,” by Bobby Timmons, is a highlight of the record. It
has overtones of blues, and it’s danceable. The eight-minute
title track shows up about halfway through the album, and
as expected, has some deep lyrics expressing the power of
love and forgiveness. Earl has three originals on the record,
including the swingy, happy “Higher Love,” with deep B-3
tones by Limina and sharp guitar solos, and the funky “Follow
Your Heart.” Earl’s version of Magic Sam’s “All Your Love” is
slow and mellow with again, some fine piano by Limina. Being
a spiritual man, Earl ends the disc with the Gospel classic,
“Precious Lord.”
– Karen Nugent
THE KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS WITH JOHNNIE
JOHNSON
Meet Me In Blues Land
Alligator
The story goes like this: The
Kentucky Headhunters, one
of America’s best rock ‘n’ roll
bands from the country side
of life, met the great Johnnie
Johnson, Chuck Berry’s
rollicking pianist, at a Grammy
Awards party in 1992. Instant
buddies, they right away
recorded and released That’ll
Work to all kinds of deserved
acclaim. Ten years later, they
made it work again, and even
better. But that second album they cut went unheard – until
now.
Meet Me In Bluesland is an amazing rock, boogie,
and blues record that comes off as fresh as it no doubt did, and
would have to the public, in 2002. That mark of timelessness
makes it all the more a sin that it sat on a shelf for ten years.
Southern rock to some degree permeates the proceedings,
from the staggering, headstrong opener, “Stumblin’,” to the
harder, still jaunty closer they call “Superman Blues.” That
perception has as much to do with Headhunter Greg Martin’s
stinging slide guitar as it does the overall groove. Martin’s
a marvel, and an obvious Duane Allman disciple. Listen as
he slides the rails to up to Heaven on “Fast Train,” dueling
with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnson’s rippling genius.
Although Johnson left this earth in 2005, his hearty, whirling
melodies will live on in barrels of fun like that, and of course all
the Berry numbers he brightened. In fact, we get one here. As
executed by the Headhunters and Johnson, “Little Queenie”
gets a coat of sweet molasses, but it never slows her down, or
diminishes, her rocking impact.
Self-produced by the Kentucky Headhunters, the
album comes off very solid, and very live. Just as all great
rock and roll does. The beautiful gospel singing at the tail end
of the otherwise raucous “Party In Heaven” really speaks to
what these guys are all about. Authenticity rings nonstop in the
music the Kentucky Headhunters made with Johnnie Johnson.
Glad they got to do it twice, and that we all get to hear it all,
finally.
– Tom Clarke
-----------------------------
GREGG ALLMAN
Live; Back To Macon, GA
Rounder
Since The Allman Brothers
Band have ostensibly called it
a day (actually some 16,000
of them), Gregg Allman
jumped on the opportunity
to focus on his solo career.
Live: Back To Macon, GA
was recorded in January,
2014, four days after Allman
was feted with oomph and
elegance at the all-star All
My Friends concert, and nine
months prior to the Brothers’
grand finale. Leading up to it all was the overwhelming acclaim
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My Cross To Bear, Allman’s recently published memoirs.
This deluxe double CD and DVD package exhibits
without a doubt the best solo band he’s ever fronted, a funky,
horn-imbued nine-piece he’d been honing to perfection the
previous five years. Several striking new arrangements wash
over the room as they play a long set of Gregg Allman and
Allman Brothers classics and more. But from the eternal
“Midnight Rider” to the lovely and underappreciated “Queen Of
Hearts,” and from Muddy Waters’ jaunty “Can’t Be Satisfied” to
Ray Charles’ gently weeping “Brightest Smile In Town,” Gregg
Allman’s unmistakable vocal inflections, bed-of-soul B-3, and
acoustic guitar strumming stand out and lead the way.
Has any other blond man ever made an old black
blues song his own the way Allman has with Blind Willie
McTell’s “Statesboro Blues?” That signature warhorse kicks the
show off and into high gear. Even the somewhat trivial “I’m No
Angel” grows full-bodied wings and flies at this show. Allman
sings a melting pot of Southern soul, muddy blues, and rock
‘n’ roll in a voice that age, scars, and more than a few demons
on his shoulders have actually enhanced. He sounds clear,
inspired, and simply wonderful. Scott Sharrard slips right into
the Allman guitar dynasty with sharp lick after slick slide in
distinctive and fitting fashion. Listen as he runs circles around
the pumping brass in the New Orleans-inspired take on “Don’t
Keep Me Wonderin’,” and as he whips his own “Love Like
Kerosene” – which Allman growls out with hunger – into a fiery
frenzy.
The beauty of “Melissa” envelops as it always has,
especially so, given Jay Collins’ beautiful flute solo. With
“Whipping Post,” the band shreds a lover’s dejection with the
strength of a rhythm and blues militia. Gregg Allman and his
band do not play Southern rock. But they do make real, vibrant
music born of a man from the South who knows how to rock
and roll smoothly with the best of them.
DVD extras include revealing interview clips with
Allman and the band, which also features Booker T. &
the M.G.’s drummer Steve Potts, Allman Brothers Band
percussionist Marc Quinones, former Warren Haynes bassist
Ron Johnson, jazz pianist Ben Stivers, and horn players Art
Edmaiston and Dennis Marion. Additionally, two bonus blues,
the classy “Stormy Monday” and countrified “Floating Bridge,”
complete the package, although I’d have preferred them placed
properly in the context of the show. Regardless, the entire affair
offers the feel of “being there,” and flows very impressively.
Gregg Allman’s created himself a new landmark.
– Tom Clarke
-----------------------------
EUGENE HIDEAWAY BRIDGES
Hold On A Little Bit Longer
Armadillo
The ear-splitting buzz in the
national press (including
the last issue of Blues
Music Magazine) and social
media outlets is about Leon
Bridges and his Sam Cooke
awakening. Nice, but there’s
another Bridges who has
been delivering original music
in that same vein for years.
Meet Eugene Hideaway
Bridges. Born in 1963,
Bridges is a combination of a
young and powerful B.B. King meets the soulful Sam Cooke.
When Bridges lives the blues, his voice and Gibson awaken
memories of B.B. circa his Live At The Regal days. When
Bridges mixes soul into his set, his warm tenor calls to mind an
era when Cooke’s music was the soundtrack to our days.
On this, his eighth CD, Bridges gives fans 13 originals
and two covers showcasing a diversity of styles from big city
blues to nostalgic soul to even country western twang and
WWII big band swing on “Along The Navajo Trail.” The opening
song, “One More Time,” features Bridges’ velvety vocals
and answering horns which deliver his soul take on hand
holding and rekindling one’s love. Fans of Sam Cooke should
especially like Bridges’ elevated voice at the three-minute
mark. With soulful harmonies and more punctuating horns on
the gorgeous ballad “End Of Time,” Bridges offers more Cooke
soul. His sparse cover of “Lost And Lookin’,” from Cooke’s
1963 Night Beat record, is as downcast and forlorn as Cooke’s
original take.
King’s influences show up in Bridges’ confessional
ballad, “Change Your Name.” So close to the King, one almost
expects to see Bridges shakin’ his hips and finger pointin’
as he delivers the eviction notice. Musically his King-styled
guitar vibrato bounces over, under, sideways, and down. On
“Love You In Every Way,” Bridges knows to make a guitar
statement and then let his horns answer. The autobiographical
“I Can’t Stand It” features Bridges vocalizes the modern blues
musician’s lament, that he or she cannot get regular gigs in
one’s hometown. Because Bridges musical life has taken him
around the world, he has songs about his adopted hometown,
“Long Way From San Antone,” his Pacific loves, “Take Me
Back To Perth,” and his love of flying the world to share his
music around the world, “Thrist For Air.”
With pinpoint songwriting, supple vocals, and guitar
playing deeply rooted in the voicings of the Masters, Bridges
again shows why he is one of the finest triple threats in the
blues. This is easily one of the best of the year.
– Art Tipaldi
-----------------------------
DELTA MOON
Low Down
Jumping Jack Records
Formed by singer, songwriter,
and multi-instrumentalist
Tom Gray and guitarist
Mark Johnson, Delta Moon
won the International Blues
Challenge in 2003, and
they’ve since released ten
critically acclaimed studio
and live albums. Low Down
is the latest in a string of
artfully-crafted roots ‘n’
blues collections, and the
follow-up to the band’s 2012
album Black Cat Oil. With nine Gray originals or co-writes and
three choice covers, Low Down takes the next step towards
cementing Delta Moon’s legacy as one of America’s best rootsrock outfits.
The band’s basic sound doesn’t vary much from
album to album – it’s all a heady musical gumbo of rock, blues,
and soul with heavy Delta influences. Gray simply adds a few
new ingredients to the stew each time around, such as with
“Afterglow,” which mixes New Orleans-styled marching band
drums with drawled, gruff vocals and stinging blues guitar.
Gray’s rough-hewn vocals growl and snarl their way through
“Mean Streak,” mixing a bit of Memphis soul with a Southern
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rock vibe, while the up-tempo “Open All Night” blends
1970s-era rock with exotic percussion. The Tom Waits-penned
title track is dirtied up with some Mississippi mud, Gray’s
serpentine lap steel adding a welcome twang to the song’s
foot-shuffling arrangement.
An inspired cover of Dylan’s “Down In The Flood”
is provided the full Delta treatment with a groove so languid
that you can feel the kudzu hanging from every word. Gray’s
interpretation of Skip James’ classic “Hard Time Killing
Floor Blues” is both faithful to the traditional, yet so radically
adventuresome that it’s hard to know where to start. The
original’s hypnotizing guitar line is slowed down and enhanced,
provided a Piedmont blues similarity while a weeping
background guitar enhances Gray’s breathless vocals. It’s a
phenomenal performance of a familiar and frequently recorded
song, but Delta Moon manages to imbue James’ original
take with additional pathos and menace. As shown by Low
Down, it’s Delta Moon’s ability to connect with a song’s heart
– whether an original composition or a cover – that puts them
in a league with better-known fellow travelers like Watermelon
Slim and the Workers and the Nighthawks.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
TED DROZDOWSKI
Love & Life
Dolly Sez Woof
This is the band’s sixth release
and it is a perfect product to
showcase their unique blend
of psychedelic garage bluesrock. From the opening cut to
the last, the songs drip with fat
guitars, effects, and distortions.
In fact, on some of the tunes
there are as many as seven
additional guitar tracks layered
into the mix. Ted Drozdowski
is at the wheel and the
Scissormen are Sean Zywick
and Pete Pulkrabek, with additional musicians Matt Snow on
drums, Marshall Dunn and Robert McClain Jr. on bass, and Paul
Brown on Hammond B-3 contributing their impressive on various
recordings. Drozdowski was a protégé of Mississippi Country
blues legend R.L. Burnside, who toured with Jon Spencer in the
late ‘90s and gained massive crossover appeal from the punk
and garage rock scenes. And you can hear his iconic influence in
every measure.
Drozdowski wrote all the songs except for his brilliant
cover of Muddy’s “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” where he turns Waters’
emotional lament into a fascinating and sparse duet with only
drums, vocals, and his electric one string fiddle bow. You’ve
never heard Muddy covered quite like this before. I also dig his
tribute to his mentor “R.L. Burnside (Sleight Return),” a funky
psychedelic blues melody with a cool groove and a ton of wild
backwards guitars. “Watermelon Kid,” about Watermelon Slim,
and other psychedelic blues standouts. “Lived To Tell,” “The
River,” and “Unwanted Man” let Drozdowski turn his instrument
into a creative wall of sound. My favorite cut is “Let’s Go To
Memphis” sung by the late great Mighty Sam McClain, whose
unmatched Stax/Volt vocal passion takes the audio excitement
produced to an even higher level. On a historical note, McClain
died in June, and this may his last guest appearance on any CD
ever. For best enjoyment, fasten your seatbelts, turn this music
up to eleven, and take a trip.
– A.J. Wachtel
CHICAGO BLUES ALL-STARS
Exactly Like This
Azure Music
This CD is the Godzilla of
blues albums. Not the 1950s
Godzilla featuring a guy in a
rubber suit, but the new and
improved 21st century Godzilla
with digital special effects that
overwhelm with their glossy,
larger than life impact.
In other words, this
album is monolithic
and overpowering in its
presentation, lacking the
kind of intimate heartfelt soul
that permeates the original works of artists like Junior Wells
(“Snatch It Back And Hold It”), B.B. King (“Rock Me Baby”),
Rufus Thomas (“Walking The Dog”), and Koko Taylor (“Wang
Dang Doodle”), all of whom it covers with gusto and bravura.
Like the new and improved Godzilla, this product –
and I use the word “product” with all its negative implications
intended – was created by committee with too many cooks in
the kitchen. Mind you, this album’s liner notes are supplied by
not just one respected Chicago blues journalist, but two, Scott
Dirks – who also plays harp – and Bill Dahl, both rightfully
renowned for their long history in the field. After all, if one good
journalist can describe this CD, two should be twice as good.
And the musicians include such heavy hitters of
“Killer” Ray Allison on guitar and vocals, Roosevelt “Mad
Hatter” Purify on keyboards, and introducing Anji Brooks on
vocals, but the LP is engineered by Danny Leake for Urban
Guerilla Engineers. Urban Guerilla Engineers indeed.
One of the things that separates good blues from
decent rock and roll is that good blues knows the importance
of the spaces between the notes, the breathing room to
let the vocals release the inner emotions of the singer in a
catharsis that bleeds real blood. This album is a big band
bludgeon where the plethora of talent gets lost in a tsunami
that threatens to drown the listener. While its Godzilla bold,
big band presentation may attract an audience that grew
up on Chicago and Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and its bow to
contemporary soul influences is duly noted, hearing “Hoodoo
Man Blues” on steroids leaves this listener cold.
– Don Wilcock
-----------------------------
THE TEXAS HORNS
Blues Gotta Holda Me
VizzTone Records
Hasn’t the Lone Star state
produced more than its share
of acclaimed saxophonists
either born or raised there?
David “Fathead” Newman,
Grady Gaines, Buddy Tate,
King Curtis, the recently
departed Ornette Coleman
and Bobby Keys. Now add
Mark “Kaz” Kazanoff. His
birthplace is in New England,
but he’s established his
musical base in Austin. And
in reality, Kaz is the Texas Horns – his tastes, his experience,
and h
Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More - DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 39
is Austin musician friends. It’s the musical sum of what he’s
gleaned over the course of his migration to Texas by way of
Chicago. This remarkable musician, producer, composer, and
arranger has mastered blues music of and for the ages. With
this release, he certainly demonstrates that he isn’t slowing
down at all.
This release includes six originals and one Texas
Horn collaborative number among familiar and time-tested
material forged by others ranging from Earl King to a couple
of Mayfields. The Texas Horns present a listening experience
that circumscribes much of what we think of as ensemble
blues, jump, swing, soul, and suave included. As befitting a
talent who has produced as well as performed with the likes
of Marcia Ball (who guests here), Big Joe Maher, and Bobby
Parker, Kaz leans heavily on his own sensibilities. What an ear
he must have. “Soul Stroll” (one of the originals) is a swinging
instrumental shuffle that could have come out of the Stax
studio. “Kick Me Again” is another instrumental (credited to
the Horns’ John Mills, who is Kaz’ sax mate) that has the band
performing the soulful melodic lines, in sync, as one. Great
sound; great chart.
“You’re Driving Me Crazy,” on the other hand, has its
provenance in a Broadway musical comedy, “Smiles” (Adele
and Edie Foy sang it to Guy Lombardo’s accompaniment). This
one is as smooth a number as one would hope to hear should
you drop into the Stork Club, circa 1952, the year after Ava
Gardner sang it in the film by the same name. There are also a
couple of Mayfield compositions here: “People Get Ready” by
Curtis Mayfield, which one should think needs no introduction;
and “Lost Mind,” by Percy Mayfield, which may. At least, it
did for me. (I will forever associate it with Mose Allison, who
began singing it around 1958.) The evergreen jump standard
“Caldonia” by Fleecie Moore (and popularized by Louis Jordan)
enthralls as it always does. The Memphis sound saturates
another original, “Home Cookin’,” a savory number steeped in
Nick Connolly’s Hammond B-3 sauce. Finally, “Spanky’s Twist”
ends this session with just what its name implies: a playful little
twist. It’s fun listening as is everything on this disc.
– M.E. Travaglini
-----------------------------
ROYAL SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD
Don’t Look Back
Ruf Records
For any other band, losing
musicians and songwriters
the caliber of Devon Allman
and Mike Zito would be cause
enough to pack it in and call
it a day. For roots ‘n’ blues
supergroup Royal Southern
Brotherhood, however – led
by a bona fide legend in the
form of Cyril Neville – you
simply plug in a couple of
talented young flamethrowers
like guitarists Bart Walker and
Tyrone Vaughan (son of Jimmie, nephew of Stevie Ray), and
you keep on chooglin’.
With Walker and Vaughan joining Neville, bassist
Charlie Wooten, and drummer Yonrico Scott in a reshuffled
Royal Southern Brotherhood line-up, Don’t Look Back, the
band’s third studio album, displays all the hallmarks of a brand
new start. Recorded at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle
Shoals, Alabama, with noted producer Tom Hambridge (Buddy
Guy, George Thorogood) at the board, RSB gets a little help
on Don’t Look Back from friends and family like Jimmy Hall
and Ivan Neville. Although the band still pursues its trademark
musical gumbo of blues, soul, and funk, the addition of Walker
and Vaughan allow them to turbo-charge the RSB sound with
some blues-rock electricity.
The album-opening “I Wanna Be Free” is a perfect
example – although Allman and Zito were capable of a bit
of houserockin’, RSB v2.0 kicks out the jams with a brutish
ferocity. With the three frontmen (Neville, Walker, and
Vaughan) sharing vocals, the guitarists flex their muscles with
some devastating fretwork while the rhythm guys shape the
song’s concrete foundation. Don’t think for a minute that the
band has lost its musical diversity, though witness the title track
which, after a shimmering intro, evolves into an elegant mix
of blues and rock with country fringe while “Better Half” is an
old-school soul heartbreaker. Hambridge’s “Hard Blues” allows
the band to showcase its fret burning guitarists and Neville’s
“Bayou Baby” relies on a deep groove to support its New
Orleans-inspired mojo.
With Don’t Look Back, Royal Southern Brotherhood
doesn’t stray from the well-trodden path so much as blaze their
own fresh trail. Meet the new RSB – as good as, if not better,
than the old RSB.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
D.A. FOSTER
The Real Thing
VizzTone
To call vocalist, arranger and
bandleader D.A. Foster an
interpreter of other people’s
songs doesn’t do him justice.
His recent album, The Real
Thing, is a radio-ready
powerhouse, and there’s
hardly a weak track on the
disc. A full band accompanies
him with a horn section
throughout and the results are
stellar.
For his debut for the
prolific, busy Boston-based VizzTone label, Foster tackles
good songs by good songwriters. Some are familiar and others
are obscure, but he is in fine voice throughout and adds his
own twists to the tunes we’re already familiar with, like Don
Roby’s “Ain’t Doin’ Too Bad,” and Charles Calhoun’s “Smack
Dab In The Middle.” He and the full backing band, which
includes players like pianist Mike Finnigan, guitarists Johnny
Lee Schell and Josh Sklair as well as saxophonist Joe Sublett,
also tackle songs of more recent vintage, like Bill Withers’
“You Just Can’t Smile It Away,” and Dave Steen’s “We All Fall
Down.”
Ably produced by Tony Braunagel, who also plays
drums, keyboardist Finnigan is credited as co-producer while
the whole thing is executive produced by Foster himself and
his Shaboo Productions LLC. Blues fans from the Northeast
may be familiar with the Shaboo Inn, a blues club/roadhouse
that was located in Willimantic, CT. for many years. Foster ran
the fabled Shaboo Inn from 1971 to 1982, a thousand capacity
club that was a regular tour stop for people like Willie Dixon,
Buddy Guy, and John Lee Hooker, as well as then-up-andcoming rock acts like Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, the Police, and
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AC/DC.
The Real Thing is a fine debut from a great vocalist
and bandleader for a healthy label, VizzTone. I’ll bet there’s lots
more to come from Foster and his various bands.
– Richard Skelly
-----------------------------
JAY STOLLMAN Featuring Debbie Davies
Room For One More
Number 7 Records
Jay Stollman sings and
Debbie Davies stings. Great
vocals and a tight band are
the main attractions on this
Connecticut group’s latest
release. Stollman convincingly
goes from gruff and growling
to passionate and powerful,
while Davies’ impressive
ability to make her guitar sing
the blues combine to make
this a very enjoyable listen.
The music is a mix of shuffles,
more traditional and slower tempo blues ballads, up-tempo
R&B covers, and originals. The vocalist is at his croaking,
snarling, and grumbling best on the opening shuffle “Ride ‘Till
I’m Satisfied,” and the classic “I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water.”
Both songs featuring Davies’ ripping Albert Collins-like leads.
Stollman shows his more ardent side on “Tumble” and “Love
Me & Leave Me,” co-written by Stollman and bassist Scott
Spray. Spray was previously in Johnny Winter’s last band.
On all the cuts, the guitar work is first rate and really
showcases Davies’ sizzling and creative chops. And you just
can’t help notice how good this electric ensemble is. Check
out “Another Night To Cry” or “Can’t Slow Down” or “Pucker Up
Buttercup” as these cats really tear down the walls with their
powerful arrangements and performances. I really like their
covers of Johnny Winter’s “Tired Of Tryin’,” which they turn into
a harp song and play much more bluesy than Winter’s version.
Chuck Berry’s “Back To Memphis” is a real bar-room romp
with Davies doing Chuck, and their take on Sam Cooke’s civil
rights anthem from the ‘60s, “A Change Is Gonna Come” has
the musicians turn his gospel spiritualism into a slow Memphis
blues-burner. Really good music from a really good band.
Check it out.
– A.J. Wachtel
MITCH WOODS
Jammin’ on the High Cs
VIZZTONE
The closest I’ve come to
taking a blues cruise was the
time I inadvertently took a
booze cruise from Helsinki to
Stockholm on an icebreaker.
I just wanted to see what a
nighttime trip across the Baltic
Sea in winter would be like, but
it turned out to be less of an
adventure and more of a very
long eight hours of listening
to Nordics yell, fight and toss
their cookies outside my cabin
door. There is no tax on alcohol at sea, so heavy-duty drinkers
take the ship from one port to the other and don’t bother to
disembark.
Certainly Mitch Woods seems to be having a great
time on his new live album, cut aboard the Legendary Rhythm
& Blues Cruise during a Caribbean excursion in January 2015.
In his liner notes, Woods says he’s been shipping out on this
annual voyage since 2002.
On his latest trip he’s in good company with Billy
Branch, Tommy Castro, Papa Chubby, Dwayne Dopsie, Coco
Montoya, Lucky Peterson, Victor Wainwright, and various
members of Roomful of Blues. Apparently they managed three
days of nearly non-stop jamming. Woods says that he’s been
known to play his regular sets, retire for the evening, and then
wander back down in his pajamas to play again before sunrise.
Sounds like serious fun.
Jammin’ on the High Cs clocks in at about 70 minutes
spread across 13 songs and four spoken interludes, with
the guests joining Woods on most of the numbers. Perfect
musicianship slips on occasion, but most of the playing is spoton, especially Woods at his keyboards. Plus the man’s a good
storyteller.
The songs tend to be vintage: Roomful backs Woods
on “Big Mamou,” Wainwright and Julia Magness help out on
“Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness,” Castro rips it up on “Rip It Up,”
Branch and Montoya put some extra bounce in “Boom Boom,”
and Lucky Peterson and Roomful take “Bright Lights Big City”
to wide blue ocean. There’s also an unusual pairing of “Wine
Spo Dee O Dee” with a spoken bit called “Friends Of Bill W.” As
that’s how I often sign things rather than with my long-winded
last name, I guess I’d be among pals on a future blues cruise.
– Bill W(asserzieher)
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ANTHONY GERACI
Fifty Shades Of Blue
Delta Groove
In light of its recent pop
culture popularity, you have
to wonder why it took so long
for one of our creative blues
songwriters to pen a tune
called “Fifty Shades Of Blue”?
Thanks to Boston-based
piano ace Anthony Geraci that
neglected topic has now been
covered. The T-Bone Walkerstyled romp features Boston’s
“Evil Gal” Michelle Wilson
and Sugar Ray Norcia tradin’
bedroom teases about blindfolds and handcuffs while Mike
Welch’s guitar and Geraci’s piano add unrestrained musical
punches.
Along with Ron Levy, David Maxwell, Al Copley, and
Bruce Katz, Geraci is one of the fine keyboard players who
thrived in the New England blues scene back in the 1970s.
In fact, Geraci was the first to play keys with Ronnie Earl’s
Broadcasters and Sugar Ray Norcia’s Bluetones. Today he still
mans the 88s with the Bluetones as they tour the world, and he
also handles solo gigs throughout New England. The Boston
Blues All-Stars are a who’s who of New England musical talent.
Bluetone band mate Welch handles all the guitar chores, while
Norcia (harmonica), Washington, Darrell Nulisch (harmonica),
and Toni Lynn Washington share vocal duties. Marty Richards
and Bluetone Neil Gouvin divide drums while Mudcat Ward,
another original Bluetone, excels on bass.
Among its baker’s dozen originals, the album’s other
standouts include “Heard That Tutwiler Whistle Blow” and
“Blues For David Maxwell.” The former is Geraci’s nod to
Otis Spann and the blues history of Tutwiler, the place where
W.C. Handy says he first heard the blues. In this tune, Norcia
sings of the Great Migration, strange fruit, and backbreaking
Delta days. Musically, all Bluetones are on deck as Norcia’s
harmonica takes on the gritty, electric style that was birthed
when the music migrated to Northern cities.
The latter tune honors David Maxwell, Boston’s piano
master, who lost his battle with cancer in February 2015. Here,
Geraci also invokes the ghost of Spann, whom Maxwell studied
with before Spann’s death in 1969, and Welch squeezes
emotional in this meditative requiem. Midway through, the
blues crosses into the jazz realm with Norcia adding an eerie
Native American wooden flute.
Throughout these 13 tunes, Geraci proves himself
a wonderful songwriter who touches on the many genres of
American music. “Don’t Keep Me Waiting” and “Your Turn
To Cry” are reminiscent of 40’s jazz standards, “Too Late
For Coffee” honors the Western waltz traditions, and “In The
Quicksand, Again” is an instrumental carved from Freddie
King’s early 1960s work. Start to finish, a magnificent record.
– Art Tipaldi
-----------------------------
E-mail: [email protected]
AMY BLACK
The Muscle Shoals Sessions
Self-released
Start with a snappy telecaster,
groove in the sultry vocal, add
horns, and you have a recipe
for aural pleasure that opens
with Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On
Home To Me” by Amy Black
in her homage to the Muscle
Shoals recording studio.
Although she currently lives
in Boston, she was Alabama
bound to return to her family’s
original roots not far from the
Muscle Shoals Studios.
The Muscle Shoals Sessions is her third recording,
and she nails this one perfectly. My wife and I spent a day
cleaning out our garage and listened to it for eight hours over
and over and never got tired of her well sung and arranged
music. Backed by Muscle Shoals notables like Spooner
Oldham on organ, Will Kimbrough on guitars, Lex Price on
bass, the Muscle Shoals horn section, and Ann and Regina
McCrary on background vocals, Black takes their well honed
talents and locks into such diverse tunes as Dylan’s “You’ve
Got To Serve Somebody,” Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “You’ve
Got To Move,” and an inspirational “Starting All Over Again.”
The 12 songs on the CD also include two penned
by Amy Black: “Get To Me” and “Woman On Fire,” which also
would be an apt title for this CD as Black most certainly burns
through a part of her soul as she delivers such classic songs
as “You Better Move On,” “Tighten Up,” and “Watch Dog” in her
own inimitable style. The only way to improve this CD would
have been to have recorded another 12 classic songs to make
it a double album!
If your library lacks a great CD to groove and sway
to while you’re doing other things, Amy Black’s The Muscle
Shoals Sessions would be the perfect soundtrack for that
purpose.
– Pete Sardon
-----------------------------
KIM SIMMONDS & SAVOY BROWN
The Devil To Pay
Ruf Records
After a half-century spent
“treading the boards,” Savoy
Brown has become a British
blues institution. Formed by
guitarist Kim Simmonds in
1966 as part of the blues-rock
boom that included Taste,
Free, and Gary Moore’s Skid
Row, Savoy Brown quickly
found a lasting identity in
Simmonds’ fluid guitar lines.
Commercially successful and
critically-acclaimed 1970s-era
albums like Looking In and Hellbound Train helped introduce
many a teenaged punter to the blues idiom.
Eternally led by Simmonds, Savoy Brown has kept
the flame of guitar-driven blues-rock burning bright long after
many of their contemporaries have gone home. While the band
stumbled a bit during the 1990s, releasing a string of albums
featuring more chaff than wheat, they’ve more
42 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015 - Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More...
than made up for it over the past decade with solid LPs like
Voodoo Moon and Goin’ To The Delta. Savoy Brown’s The
Devil To Pay is their 10th since 2000 and, like most of their
efforts since the new millennium, it’s a mixed bag, musically.
Fronting, essentially, the same road-tested band since 2009
– minus vocalist Joe Whiting – the trio of Simmonds, bassist
Pat DeSalvo, and drummer Garnet Grimm is a dynamic bluesrock bar band capable of putting on a heck of a live show; on
record, results may vary.
The Devil To Pay is a mish-mash of blues styles,
from the jazz-flecked slow-burn of “Ain’t Got Nobody” and the
Chicago-flavored vamp of “Bad Weather Brewing” to the twang
‘n’ bang title track or the blustery, heavy blues of “Evil Eye.”
The band’s instrumental mastery allows them to pull off these
varying hues easily, but the sticking point is Simmonds’ vocal
skills, or lack thereof. On some songs – like the boogieing
“Oh Rosa” or the Texas blues romp “I’ve Been Drinking” –
Simmonds’ raging fretwork overshadows weak vocals, but
on other performances, the strain is evident. Simmonds’
guitar playing is beyond reproach, remaining as inventive and
electrifying as ever, but he needs a bona fide singer like Chris
Youlden or Dave Walker that allows him to just play guitar. This
shortcoming makes The Devil To Pay an entertaining bluesrock disc that could have been so much more.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
BARBARA BLUE
Memphis Blue
Big Blue Records
You do the math. Eighteen
years, five nights a week, two
shows. No wonder Barbara
Blue was honored in May
of 2015 with a musical note
on Beale Street outside
her musical home, Silky
O’Sullivans. As Blue told her
adoring crowd, “Why tour
when I can sing at Silky’s
and see a different audience
every night.” Recorded in
Willie Mitchell’s storied Royal
Studios and produced and engineered by Mitchell’s son Boo
Mitchell, Memphis Blue, her tenth record, is a baker’s dozen
tribute to the musicians who are an important part of Memphis’
musical traditions.
Blue knows how important it is to utilize the right
musicians and songs. Her band spotlights Memphis icons: the
Rev. Charles Hodges (B-3), Leroy Hodges (bass), Lester Snell
(Wurlitzer), Steve Potts (drums), the Royal Horns, and special
guests Bobby Rush (harmonica), and Ronnie Earl (guitar).
Likewise, Blue’s choice of songs are arranged and
charted with an underlying Memphis soul burger grease. Jay
McShann’s “Hands Off” opens with a vocals and Royal Horns
soul stew. Koko Taylor growled this warning, Blue smoothes it
out, relying more on the horns to blast. On the Porter, Hayes
and Cropper tune, “Love Is After Me,” Blue adds elements of
Stax soul, circa 1960s. Blue turns Ann Peebles’ “I’m Gonna
Tear Your Playhouse Down” into a succinct, mid-tempo burner.
She presides over the lyrics with a style developed from
thousands of nights of musical storytelling. While “Memphis
Stomp” provides Blue and the band the perfect vehicle to honor
Papa Willie.
Her blues treats include adding Rush’s harp on
Reba Russell’s “Superblues,” a litany of 21st century super
blues troubles. On “Rudy’s Blues,” Blue pays tribute to Rudy
Williams, the trumpet playin’ doorman who ushered patrons
into the King’s Palace on Beale for decades. Dedrick Davis
handles the trumpet that honors the “Mayor of Beale Street.”
Though Earl guests on three songs, it’s the soulful
guitar and vocal duet he and Blue perform on the CD closer,
“800 Miles.” As Earl pinpoints emotions on his strings, Blue
arrives at vocalizations that perfectly compliment. Or maybe it’s
the other way around.
As the consummate pro dealing out her personal
brand of entertainment every night, Barbara Blue does what
she does best, that is to give herself up to the service of each
song. This CD, like many of her others, is solid proof that she
has learned her lessons well – if you put the song first, the
audiences will follow.
– Art Tipaldi
-----------------------------
ROOT DOCTOR FEATURING FREDDIE
CUNNINGHAM
New Attitude
Self-released
New Attitude is the fifth
release for this Lansing,
Michigan quintet fronted
by the engaging Freddie
Cunningham, a Mississippi
native whose sonorous vocals
are comparable to Latimore,
Big Llou Johnson, and the
late Artie “Blues Boy” White.
The band is comprised of
keyboardist Mike Skory,
drummer Rob Gardner,
guitarist Bill Malone, and
bassist James Williams. They are a tight and versatile unit with
a rich sound and are equally adept at blues, funk, and soul.
There are nine band originals and one cover, Denise LaSalle’s
soul-blues standard “Somebody Else Is Steppin’ In.”
Except for the zydeco stomper “Louisiana Bound”
(with accordion by guest Mike Lynch), the originals are divided
evenly between blues and soul. Soul is represented by the
brawny shuffle-bump suggestive of Otis Clay “The Other Way,”
the deep ballad “Baby, You’re Bad,” the breezy hip-swayer
“Bring It Back,” and some social commentary funk with “Land
of the Free” (“...land of the free is the land of the lost”), a
mash-up of the Meters and Marvin Gaye. Four different blues
complete the set: “Rear View Sight,” a pounding blues-bounce
about moving on from love gone bad, “Pay The Rent,” a slow
blues jeremiad, “Set Me Free,” rollicking Nawlins R&B, and the
funky “You’re Gonna Lose,” a coolly delivered admonition by
a seasoned ladies man. There are ample solos by Skory and
Malone throughout but it is the warm, nuanced, and confident
vocals of Cunningham that carry the album. Soul-blues fans
will find much to enjoy with Root Doctor, a fine band deserving
of greater recognition.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
-----------------------------
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MY BABY
Shamanaid
Embrace Recordings
Helped in no small part by a
tour of big theaters as show
openers for Seasick Steve
plus a number of gigs at this
year’s Glastonbury Festival,
My Baby are finding their
way to a growing audience in
Europe. The band’s Facebook
page lists their genres as
Delta, Trance, Louisiana, Dub,
Indie, and funk and that’s
just about spot on, although
psychedelic is surprisingly
missing. The trance may not be quite as intense as Otis Taylor,
the voodoo isn’t as deep or menacing as Dr. John, and the
Delta grooves don’t have the rawness of R.L. Burnside, but My
Baby combine a whole bunch of influences to great effect on
Shamanaid, their second release and the follow-up to Loves
Voodoo!, the band’s impressive debut.
My Baby’s default setting is undoubtedly Delta. The
three-piece band, sister and brother Cato and Joost van Dyck
and Daniel Johnston, surely the finest joint venture between
the Netherlands and New Zealand, for the most part keep it
simple. It’s all about sparse percussive rhythms, persistent and
hypnotic guitar riffs, a timely slide lick in just the right place,
Cato’s voice anywhere on the scale from sultry soul singer to
wailing banshee via otherworldly and gospel, and lets go from
there.
The grooviness of the band’s live shows is
represented by opener “Seeing Red,” “Uprising,” the first single
to be taken from the album, the nagging “Remedy,” and the
hypnotic “6X2.” But it’s much more varied than that. “The Doors
Of Your Mind” is a beautiful acoustic soulful ballad, “Mary
Malone” would not be out of place on a country record, and
“Panggajo” could be straight from the desert.
Shamanaid works as a blues record for those that
want their blues to meet defined criteria. But this record has a
reach way beyond the blues cognoscenti. This is a very fine
crossover album from one of the most exciting new bands
around.
– Chris Kerslake-----------------------------
BRENT JOHNSON
Set The World On Fire
Justin Time
New Orleans blues/rock
guitarist Brent Johnson
describes himself as “always
a guitar slinger.” Johnson’s
more recent background
includes 10 years with New
Orleans’ legendary Bryan
Lee’s Blues Power Band.
On his debut Set The World
On Fire, his guitar slinging is
joined by Alvin Youngblood
Hart on three tracks and slide
wizard Sonny Landreth on
one. Most of the songs are self-penned by Johnson, but he
also interprets songs by Bob Dylan, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King,
and Paul Williams.
Johnson’s able fretwork on guitar and slide and
raspy, blues-rock vocals are front and center, supported by
keyboards adding colorful and moody fills and a well-oiled
rhythm section. Johnson’s interpretation of Dylan’s “Meet Me
In The Morning” is a denser version with plenty of space for
Johnson to showcase his smoking slide and Hart to provide
dark background rhythms. “So Glad You’re Mine” gets an R&B
groove with hints of the The Rascals. The slower rhythm allows
Johnson to showcase a restrained, more melodic guitar touch.
“Long Way Back To New Orleans” has Johnson sharing slithery
slide work with Landreth who works the intricate rhythm slide
that became a signature sound for John Hiatt in the ‘80s-‘90s.
The mid-tempo “Glass Ceiling” has a funky descending guitar
riff supported by smoky organ. “Meet Me In The Bottom”
takes the song initially recorded by Howlin’ Wolf into full out
blues-rock trajectory with Johnson’s passionate slide backed
by Hart. The surprise cut is “The Hucklebuck,” a 1949 R&B
hit by sax player Paul Williams. Johnson’s guitar recreates
and modernizes the sax lead without losing the swing of the
original. “Set The World On Fire” is the most emotionally
charged song of the group with Johnson singing and playing
his story of a very low point in his own past.
Johnson may not have the world flaming quite yet, but
his fire burns brighter with this release.
– Mark Caron
-----------------------------
LEO “BUD” WELCH
I Don’t Prefer No Blues
Big Legal Mess
Deceptively simple, the
words and beats of Leo “Bud”
Welch are real to the point
of being transformative. The
contradictory title to his album,
I Don’ Prefer No Blues, is
a phrase Welch’s preacher
allegedly responded with
when Welch told the preacher
he was making a blues
album. Might it be a takeoff on
Mississippi Fred McDowell’s
I Do Not Play No Rock ‘n’
Roll, too, given its raw nature? Perhaps. In any event, Welch
obviously sure damn well does prefer these blues.
These are vibrating, reiterating, hard as nails blues.
He comes off like a shaman, the good and the evil mixed into
entertainment of the highest authenticity. One can practically
see the glinting white dust angels loosed from the juke walls
as Welch and his crackerjack band thunder through “I Don’t
Know Her Name,” as secular a sex-driven frenzy as any blues
that side of the South, and one classic notion in so many
that classify this music. That little number follows “Girl In The
Holler,” all primal syncopation and power, simultaneously
rocking and hypnotizing the listener. Welch and his mates
practically deconstruct St. Louis Jimmy’s iconic blues “Goin’
Down Slow,” and rebuild it from the dirt on up, scratching
and dragging it with distorted voice and guitars to Mississippi
blues heaven. The ascendant scraping of guitar inside the
rush of “Cadillac Baby” creates a true blues a yin and yang.
Couple that with Welch’s broken-pipes, gushing emotion, and
well, your blood will be pumping, as intended. Beautiful and
unflinching, this is an album of natural roll and tumble blues by
an 82-year-old, flailing and jitterbugging like a kid.
– Tom Clarke
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MIKE HENDERSON
If You Think It’s Hot Here
EllerSoul Records
Mike Henderson’s latest is
another finely crafted and
performed collection of songs
that testify to his skill and art.
He began receiving critical
notice around the time of his
move from his native Missouri
to Nashville in the mid-1980s,
then in his 30s. There he
became a session musician
celebrated for his slide guitar
expertise, and sought out
by many an established
act. His own songs have been covered and performed by
the likes of The Fabulous Thunderbirds (“Powerful Stuff”),
Adele (“If It Hadn’t Been For Love”), and The Dixie Chicks
(“Hello Mr. Heartache”). He began recording with his own
band, The Bluebloods, in the mid-1990s, when he created a
much-respected if somewhat overlooked album, First Blood
in 1996. Many bottlenecks later, Henderson has brought forth
a splendid record that furthers his reputation as a Hound Dog
Taylor-style guitarist and an Elvin Bishop or Peter Wolf sort of
field-shouting singer.
“I Wanna Know Why” starts the listener out in the
manner anyone familiar with Mike Henderson’s oeuvre might.
It’s a forceful tune, heavy on the percussive piano chords
furnished by Kevin McKendree at its bottom and grace
note tinkling at the top of the keyboard, that accompany
Henderson’s spoken and shouted vocal. Its tempo is
deliberate, machine-like. Then, almost three-quarters of the
way through, here comes Henderson’s rolling, growling, sliding
guitar, building in intensity until its sudden end. The balanced
arrangement seems a natural fit for the lyrics.
The pace quickens with “Send You Back To Georgia,”
a Hound Dog Taylor and Johnnie Mae Matthews’ song treated
here as a piano pounder that builds to Henderson’s scorching,
soaring slide work, racing up and down the fret board to the
end. Bandmates Michael Rhodes (bass) and Pat O’Connor
(drums) furnish the infectious pulse.
The title track, “If You Think It’s Hot Here,” a
Henderson composition, is a latter day lesson in contemporary
corporate morality. McKendree’s piano is melodic, giving way
to a crescendo of a guitar solo, both mournful and regretful in
tone, but with a determined finish, just like a sinner confessing
and at the same time pledging better behavior. “You cooked
the books with the crooks on the hooks/Then y’all tee off at
three/just like there was no such thing as eternity/you catch the
heat ‘cause you’re standing mighty close to the stove” goes the
verse. Appropriately, the refrain is angelically backed by female
voices as Henderson sings “If you think it’s hot here just wait ‘til
those pearly gates close.”
Henderson shows he knows “hot.” It’s this record.
– M.E. Travaglini
-----------------------------
E-mail: [email protected]
SLAM ALLEN
Feel These Blues
American Showplace Music
Guitarist and singersongwriter Harrison “Slam”
Allen made a name for himself
playing blues clubs in and
around New York City in the
early 1980’s and since then,
he has taken his act on the
road to places like Sweden,
Israel and Spain. Raised in a
music loving family, he got his
start playing with his brothers
in the Allen Brothers soul
band and more recently spent
about a decade touring with Austin-based harmonica master
James Cotton. He recorded and co-wrote songs with Cotton
for his 2011 Grammy-nominated comeback album, “Giant.” On
Feel These Blues, he’s accompanied by good people like New
Jersey-based keyboardist John Ginty, as well as bassist Jeff
Anderson and drummer Dan Fadel.
Feel These Blues is a collection of Allen’s originals,
save the closing track, where he offers up a blues-influenced
take on Prince’s hit, “Purple Rain.” Fans of blues guitar by
people like the late Hubert Sumlin and the soul-blues vocals
of the late Otis Redding will find much to latch onto with “Feel
These Blues,” as Allen’s guitar playing is alternately fiery and
raucous and subtle and quiet, depending on the needs of the
particular tune. The title track and tracks like “The Blues Is
Back,” “Baby Please Don’t You Go,” and “35 Miles Outside Of
Memphis” are as radio-ready as they come, and his take on
“Purple Rain” is more soulful and subtle than the original, so it
should serve to make blues fans out of people who didn’t know
they were blues fans.
– Richard Skelly
-----------------------------
TROND OLSEN
Mercy
Toneland
Norwegian singer/songwriter/
guitarist Trond Olsen is a
name new to me. For his
second album, which he coproduced, Olsen recruited
his friend and former John
Mayall guitarist Buddy
Whittington as a special guest
for two numbers. Olsen is
backed on the first ten tracks
by bassist Frank Hovland,
drummer Morten Bergstrom,
and keyboardist Lars
Hammersland; backing vocalists appear on six tracks. The set
closer, “You’ll Be Around,” is a subdued love song performed
acoustically. The lone cover is a duet with Whittington on
Robert Johnson’s “Come On In My Kitchen,” which opens the
album, and is performed as a jagged Diddleyesque thumper.
Whittington also takes the piercing guitar solo on the blues
ballad “Morning Blues.” The originals are, for the most part,
reminiscent of classic Southern rock (an amalgam of Allman
Brothers, Wet Willie, and Little Feat) with discernible blues
influences throughout; the tunes range from the swamp grinder
title track to the crunchy funk of “Real Deal” to ebullient rockers
Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More - DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 45
like “Call My Number” and “Sammy’s” (a tribute to his favorite
nightclub).
As a guitarist Olsen is more into tone and precision
than speed; he is a versatile vocalist with a limited range and
sings in English without affectation or vestige of his native
tongue. The band is tight and versatile with special kudos to
keyboardist Hammersland for his serpentine electric piano
and stout organ cushion. This Norwegian import will be of
most interest to fans of classic Southern rock as well as Buddy
Whittington completists.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
-----------------------------
BILLY WALTON
Wish For What You Want
VizzTone
In the last 12-14 years since
making his professional debut
at clubs in Atlantic City and
Asbury Park, southern Jersey
Shore guitarist, singer, and
songwriter Billy Walton has
been both motivated and
determined. An exceptionally
talented guitarist, he’s been
motivated, and enthused
enough, to take every little gig
that’s come his way in some
obscure shot and beer joints
in the middle of nowhere in southern New Jersey, and he’s
been determined enough to press on and find a wider audience
for his unique brand of blues and blues-rock.
In the last decade he and his band mates have gone
on numerous British tours, selling CD’s across the pond and
developing a larger audience for their style of blues-rock, which
seems to be more in favor right now in Great Britain than it is in
the U.S.
After releasing a slew of self-produced albums, albeit,
recorded in good studios in and around Asbury Park, on Wish
For What You Want for the Boston-based VizzTone Records,
Walton and his band mates take the plunge and enlist the
help of producer Tony Braunagel, who ably pushes them in
new directions. Southside Johnny Lyon contributes harmonica
on one track, “Blues Comes A Knockin’,” as Lyon was one of
Walton’s earliest supporters.
Straight-ahead blues purists will find plenty to latch
onto here, as Walton’s venom-tipped guitar solos and soulfilled vocals are showcased well on tracks like “Mountain,”
“Blues Comes A Knockin’,” and “Worried Blues.” What’s more,
an on-the-mark cover of a Doc Pomus/Willy Deville’s “Just To
Walk That Little Girl Home” shows us that important side of the
band that advances the blues tradition.
– Richard J. Skelly
-----------------------------
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DADDY MACK BLUES BAND
A Bluesman Looks At Seventy
Inside Sounds
Daddy Mack’s seventh album
since 2000 is a bristling set
of fourteen originals (penned
by co-producers Eddie Dattel
and Wally Ford) which are not
as existentially introspective
as the title implies. The
Memphis-based Mack Orr’s
snarling metallic licks and
gritty sonorous vocals evoke
those of Albert King, his chief
inspiration, on many tunes.
Half the tunes are on the
funky side and intended for fun and frolic like “Champagne
Fantasy,” “She Loves Money,” “Fix It When I Can,” and,
“Gamblin’ House Blues.” Shuffles, slow blues, a boogie, a soul
ballad, and an instrumental round out the program.
Confidence and concupiscence are heartily injected
into the slow baked blues “I Like Fishin’” and the jocund plea
for a one night stand “You Don’t Have To Love Me.” The
unsparing combination of bad luck, hard times, and lost love
are addressed in the jeremiads “Red, White, Blue, and Green”
and “Pocketful Of Blues.” The band (drummer “Fast” Eddie
Lester and the Bonner brothers, bassist Harold, and rhythm
guitarist James, who both played with Mack in the Fieldstones)
is complemented on various tracks by various organists,
guitarists, background vocalists, and a horn section (on two
songs).
Those fans unfamiliar with the Daddy Mack Blues
Band, who have been together for 20 years, can start with this
winning album. Soul-blues fans, Albert King fans, and fans of
virile, hard-edged guitar blues like Magic Slim, will find much to
enjoy as well on Daddy Mack’s best album to date.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
-----------------------------
DIANE BLUE
Blues In My Soul
Regina Royale Records
Boston-based Diane Blue,
a popular vocalist and harp
player, is joined by fellow
Bay Staters Ronnie Earl and
Toni Lynn Washington, and a
few more of Beantown’s best
musicians on an album that
drips with emotion – blues,
soul, R&B, and a hint of
Gospel.
The 13 tracks on Blues
In My Soul contains five
originals, including the opener,
“That’s What They Call The Blues,” one of the best on the disc.
It showcases guitarist Earl, whose whopping talent can emote
at both ends of the spectrum. Here he’s lively and happy.
Another hit is the final track, “Jump For Joy” by the late queen
of the blues, Koko Taylor. It’s got terrific horn by Johnny “Blue
Horn” Moriconi, and great Hammond B-3 by Dave Limina, one
of the members of Earl’s band, The Broadcasters, who finesse
the backups. Limina shines again on keyboards on “Nothing
You Can Do” a Bobby Womack energetic, 70s soul tune.
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Toni Lynn Washington, a tremendous nationallyknown vocalist in her own right, sings backup on four songs,
including the Jimmy Reed-like “I Love Your Loving Ways,” and
“Someday Soon,” a Diane Blue original that’s joyful, danceable,
and fun. It’s made even better by Moriconi, Scott Shetler on
sax, and Diane Blue’s harp playing, with a super solo and
snappy lyrics.
Moriconi and Limina get down on “Soulville,” a fast
and funky one written by Titus Turner and reminiscent of Tina
and Ike in their heyday. “Day And Night” is another funkster
with Limina hitting the B-3 heights again. Blue sounds a lot like
Aretha Franklin on “Today I Sing The Blues” a slow blues on
which Earl turns on the emotion and gives you the chills. Earl
is in the spotlight again in “I Can’t Shake You,” another Diane
Blue original. It’s slow and sexy with Earl perfectly echoing
the heartache in the lyrics. “Cry Daddy” is a sad Gospel-like
personal story about the loss of Blue’s mother, and her father’s
reaction to it.
Diane Blue, who competed in the 2011 International
Blues Challenge in Memphis and advanced past the first
round, has a powerful delivery and a captivating stage
presence. Either with her own band, or singing alongside
Ronnie Earl – she is on his latest album, Father’s Day, which
makes her the first female member of the Broadcasters –
Diane is a top notch entertainer and talented musician.
– Karen Nugent
-----------------------------
GAYE ADEGBALOLA AND THE WILD RUTZ
Is It Still Good To Ya?
Hot Toddy Music
Known to most of us for her
years with Saffire, the Uppity
Blues Women, [1984-2009,]
former Virginia State Teacher
of the Year Gaye Adegbalola
continues to prove, with
Is it Still Good To Ya? just
why she’s one of the most
inventive, creative songwriters
anywhere in contemporary
blues today.
Adegbalola penned all
the songs on the album
with her new band, the Wild Rutz. Is It Still Good To Ya?
includes “These Blues Are Mine,” a co-write with her son,
Juno Lumumba Pitchford. Continuing in the Saffire tradition
of throwing some humor into their live shows as well as their
albums, she includes funny tunes like “The Dog Was Here
First,” as well as consciousness-raising tunes like “The Skittles
Blues” about trigger happy policemen in Virginia and other
parts of the country. With the Wild Rutz, two other fine AfricanAmerican women vocalists and one Hispanic, Gloria Jackson,
Tanyah Dadze and Marta Fuentes accompany her. Their sound
on various tracks is reminiscent of the innovative folk and
spirituals group, Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Years ago, Adegbalola told me at the Philadelphia
Folk Festival, where Saffire was booked a number of times,
“We’re just historians.” That was in the early days of Saffire
when the trio was first starting to find its national footing
among folk and blues festival audiences. In those days, Saffire
performed mostly songs written by classic bluesmen and
women and threw a few originals into
their sets. This album demonstrates just how farAdegbalola
has come as a singer-songwriter and performer, as she breaks
new ground in contemporary blues with smart songs that we
can all relate to in 2015. Her frank, thorough, and witty liner
notes inside the CD are an added bonus.
– Richard Skelly
-----------------------------
JAY WILLIE BLUES BAND
Rumblin’ and Slidin’
Zoho Roots
The music this great band
plays is Chicago bluesrock; and includes all the
passion in blues and all the
power, intensity, and sweat
one would expect from the
rock side of that equation.
To summarize in a nutshell:
these artists are based in
Connecticut, this is their 3rd
release, 2nd on Zoho Roots
Records: and it showcases a
group of top level musicians
who are well-versed in the style of music they play; and who
mean everything they say onstage, and in the studio, with a
vengeance. Translation: they’re not just playing the notes. In
fact, you can hear what I mean when listening to the four songs
that were recorded live at The Newtown Arts Festival in Sept.
2013. Trust me, live or in the studio, this is a New England
band to keep your eyes and ears on.
Included in the 14 cuts are covers and originals
that all clearly illustrate the influences of Johnny Winter,
Elvin Bishop, and Leslie West on Jay Willie’s guitar playing.
Drummer Bobby T. Torello was the powerful pounder in Johnny
Winter’s terrific trio during the ‘80s, and the experience and
expertise he brings to the group are quite impressive. Listen to
his song “Rotten Person” and you will hear what I am talking
about. Bob Callahan on guitar and vocals and Steve Clarke on
bass just kick ass as the rhythm section backing up Jay Willie’s
fantastic Johnny Winter-influenced slide guitar playing,
Other highlights on this release are: Suzanne
Vick’s vocals on the Edgar Winter/White Trash saxman Jerry
LeCroix’s “Fly Away” where a female soulfully singing the lyrics
changes everything. Blues harpist extraordinaire Jason Ricci’s
playing on the tune just blows me away. He is also incredible
on the classic covers of Link Wray’s “Rumble,” blues classics
“Key To The Highway” and “It Hurts Me Too,” and the two Jay
Willie Blues Band originals, “The Leetch” and “Caballo.” Fun
Fact: The latter title means “horse” in Spanish and is also slang
for heroin. The song is a commentary on drugs in the music
industry, so there is a message behind the madness too. The
live performance, with Ron Stahl on drums and Teddy Yakush
on sax, gives a real workout to Steven Stills and Buffalo
Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” too. Play this CD loud!
– A.J. Wachtel
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JEFF TURMES
Wreckage
JT Music
This could be one of those
“sideman steps out” reviews.
For more 25 years, Jeff
Turmes has spent time
backing scores of established
musicians – ranging from
his early days with James
Harman to his present longterm gig with Mavis Staples,
but he’s also been writing,
recording, and releasing
excellent albums on his own
since the 1990s. So let’s
just say he’s a musician who can pretty much do everything.
Wreckage is the latest example.
Turmes sings and plays guitar, saxophone, and
clarinet on this 44-minute disc. He also wrote the dozen songs
and co-produced with Peter Malick, the latter a musician whose
career goes back to apprenticeships with Otis Spann and John
Lee Hooker. Together they’ve come up with a solid successor
to Turmes’ fine Every Day’s My Lucky Day; The Distance You
Can Travel; Five Horses, Four Riders; and It Takes One To
Know One with Janiva Magness.
Many of the songs on Wreckage may have their origin
in one man’s private calamities, but Turmes puts them out
there so they ring true for most people. “Live This Down” nails
the soul-wracking public embarrassment of having good-lovegone-bad, and “I Don’t Have A Fucking Clue” pretty much says
it all about how things go wrong, while “Sugar” is one of the
finest heart-break songs since Sinatra pronounced, “So, set
‘em up, Joe. I got a little story you oughta know.”
But Turmes is careful to balance the material on
Wreckage. Even the “down” songs tend to be up-tempo. For
instance, the opener, “Rickety Men,” is propelled by the searing
slide he coaxes out of a ‘61 Guild electric guitar with a chuck of
its back missing. “I’m Not A Doctor” rocks just as hard, but the
album’s core message, if that’s not an unnecessary reduction,
is best summed up on ballad “My Heart Goes Out” with the
lyrical phrase “the road of life is lined with shiny wreckage.”
Backing Turmes are drummers Steve Mugalian (exMighty Flyers) and Butch Norton, bassists Gregory Boaz (Dave
Alvin Band) and Paul Eckman (D.J. Bonebrake Trio), and Lee
Thornburg (Joe Bonamassa, Ringo Starr) on additional brass.
– Bill Wasserzieher
-----------------------------
JIMMY BURNS
It Ain’t Right
Delmark
With a voice that drips with
mournful soul, Chicago
based singer-guitarist Jimmy
Burns brought the Mojo of
Mississippi with him when
he relocated to Chicago at
age 12. Featuring a core
band of top shelf bluesmen
that include guitarist Anthony
Palmer, pianist Sumito
“Ariyo” Ariyoshi, bassist Greg
McDaniel, and drummer
Bryant “T” Parker along with
musical guests, Roosevelt Purifoy on organ, Marques Carroll
on trumpet and horn arrangements, tenor saxophonist Chris
Neal, and baritone sax man Aaron Getsug, Burns unleashes
a fist full of covers by folks like Billy Flynn, Percy Mayfield,
Eddie Burns, King/Lieber/Stoller, Walter Jacobs, Lowman
Pauling, Abner Reed, Goree Carter, John A. Cameron, Larry O.
Williams, and Melvin R. London on his latest Delmark Records
release, It Ain’t Right.
Burns and company really shine on the two steppin’
swagger of “Crazy, Crazy, Crazy,” the jump & jive of “Rock
Awhile,” the uptown swing of “Surrounded,” the album’s
raucous title track “It Ain’t Right,” the pleading “Will I Ever Find
Somebody,” and the gospel borne “Wade In The Water.” Good
time music guaranteed to satisfy your soul.
– Brian M. Owens
-----------------------------
JOSH HOYER AND THE SHADOWBOXERS
Living By The Minute
Silver Street
From Omaha, Nebraska,
come the Shadowboxers
led by singer/songwriter/
keyboardist Josh Hoyer,
who formed the band in
2012. The band, guitarist
Benny Kushner, bassist
Joshua Bargar, drummer/
percussionist Justin G.
Jones, saxophonist Mike
Dee, trombonist Tommy
Van Den Berg, and flautist
Brian Morrow, is mellifluously
complemented by backing vocalists Hanna Bendler, Kim
Moser, and Megan Spain. It is a tight, polished, wall-ofsound unit that sounds larger than six pieces due to Hoyer’s
expansive arrangements and impeccable production.
Hoyer’s ten originals are mainly inspired by late
Sixties and early Seventies soul with ample jazz and rock
flourishes. The well arranged tunes had me thinking at times of
Tower of Power, Mandrill, Average White Band, and Chicago.
The tradition of social awareness in soul music that traces back
to James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, and the Staple
Singers (among others) also inspired Hoyer: “Misfit Children,”
“Over The City,” “Blood And Bone,” and the title track focus
on the ills of poverty, abuse, injustice, crime, and violence. In
addition to his throaty tenor vocals, Hoyer contributes organ,
clavinet, piano (acoustic and electric), and baritone sax.
His most cathartic vocal performance is the deep
ballad “The First One,” suggestive of Otis Redding, James
Carr, and Solomon Burke. Hoyer summons the listener to the
dance floor with the slightly disco-tinged rump wriggler “Let it
Out” and pleads his case for more quality time to a hesitant
lover with the strutting “Real Time.” Overall, a fine album of
contemporary soul music deserving of a wide audience.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
-----------------------------
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KELLY RICHEY
Live At The Blue Wisp
Sweet Lucy
If you like guitar-driven bluesrock with lots of feedback,
extended jamming, and
distortion, the Kelly Richey
Band’s recent live release is
for you. You’ll hear echoes
of Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray
Vaughan, and Rod Price
on Richey’s album, yet,
the guitarist, singer and
songwriter is from Cincinnati,
where the Blue Wisp is
located. Richey took her
inspiration from folk singer Ani DiFranco and started her own
record label, Sweet Lucy Records, in 1994.
She plys her craft all over the Midwest and parts of
Canada, having started playing guitar as a 15-year old. She’s
accompanied by just a bass player, Freekbass, and drummer,
Big Bamn, and midway through this album, it becomes
apparent they’ve been touring with her for a long time. Unlike
many live recordings, this one is exceptionally well engineered
and produced. However, with the inclusion of an ambience
mike, one gets the sense that she’s playing before a small
audience at the Blue Wisp, and so it goes in much of the blues
world.
There’s an apt description on her website that
encapsulates what she’s all about: “Stevie Ray Vaughan
trapped in a woman’s body with Janis Joplin screaming to get
out.” Standout tracks include “Everybody Needs A Change”
“Workin’ Hard Woman,” and “Sister’s Got A Problem,” which
clocks in at 12 minutes, so it may find favor with radio DJ’s who
need to go foraging around the record library or are otherwise
unprepared for the rest of their show. Richey wisely chooses
to close the album with an 11-minute track, an original called
“Risin’ Sun” – as opposed to the standard “House Of The
Rising Sun” – that must have left the Blue Wisp without a roof.
– Richard Skelly
-----------------------------
MADISON SLIM
Close... But No Cigar
Self released
Harmonica ace Madison
Slim (Mark Koenig) left the
Midwest after establishing
his credentials with Sam
Lay, Jimmy Rogers, and the
Legendary Blues Band (post
Jerry Portnoy). He moved
to Florida and hooked up
with guitarist/producer Doug
Deming and his band the
Jewel Tones. Deming has
considerable experience
playing and recording with
harmonica players; Lazy Lester and Dennis Gruenling are two
notable examples. Slim recorded his solo debut in Sarasota
with a stalwart cast of seasoned old school players that
includes guitarist Billy Flynn, saxophonist Terry Hanck, pianist
Barrelhouse Chuck, and the Jewel Tones rhythm section of
bassist Andrew Gohman and drummer Devin Neel.
Of the 13 tracks, only the instrumental slow blues,
the set closer “Florida Blues,” is an original. The only cover that
comes from a less familiar source is Milwaukee harp legend
Jim Liban’s Muddyesque title track. Eight of the covers come
from Chicago masters like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Eddie
Boyd, Floyd Jones, Eddie Taylor, Willie Mabon, Jimmy Rogers,
and Billy Boy Arnold. Kudos to Slim for spotlighting lesser know
gems like Boyd’s boogie about the police’s sudden arrival
“Blue Coat Man,” Mabon’s stop-time shuffle “Would You Baby,”
and Jimmy Reed’s “New Leaf” replete with piercing high end
harp jabs. Slim reaches down South for Slim Harpo’s bawdy
swamp-blues jangler “Bread Maker Baby,” Roy Brown/Fat’s
Domino’s bouncy “Let The Four Winds Blow,” and Tarheel
Slim’s rockabilly and blues mash up “Wild Cat Tamer.” A robust
exercise in old school mastery with dazzling harp, understated,
straight forward vocals, and sparkling support with ample
solos, the album’s title is a bit misleading. It’s way better than
close...I give it four cigars out of five.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
-----------------------------
NEVER THE BRIDE
Jealousy
Lock, Stock, & Barrel Records
The album of covers “we’ve
always wanted to record”
or “that take us back to our
roots” can go one of two
ways. For every release like
Eric Clapton’s near perfect
From The Cradle, an object
lesson in striking the right
balance between staying true
to the songs whilst producing
new versions right up there
with the classic cuts, there
are any number of uninspiring
tired old recordings that usually end up drawing from the
same list of predictable standards. British rock and blues band
Never The Bride don’t let this deter them though and go even
beyond the usual well trodden claims by boldly promising that
Jealousy, their latest release, is “an album of eclectic covers,
freshly realised and rebirthed.”
A glance at the track listing certainly ticks the first
box with a song selection that covers the whole spectrum from
“Me And Bobby McGee” through to AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way
To The Top.” In between is a healthy amount of blues and
soul influenced material starting with a funky “Cocaine” as
the album opener. The Animals are well represented through
“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “We Gotta Get Out Of
This Place,” the Stones provide “Sympathy For The Devil,” and
there is the ubiquitous “Baby Please Don’t Go,” quite likely a
nod to Them, making up a mini-homage to the British blues
explosion.
Jealousy also meets the claims of rebirthing.
These are for the most part big arrangements, and need to
be to come anywhere close to doing justice to singer Nikki
Lambourn’s voice. Roger Daltrey rates the Bristol, UK-born
singer as being the best female rock singer since Janis Joplin.
Whilst that’s a statement that is going to generate healthy
debate there is no doubt that Lambourn has a one of the most
distinctive voices on the circuit, and that alone is a reason to
check out an album that delivers on its claims.
– Chris Kerslake
-----------------------------
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BOB STROGER & KENNY “BEEDY EYES” SMITH
Keepin’ It Together
Big Eye Records
Inspired by their contribution
to the 2011 Grammy winning
album Joined At The Hip
by Pinetop Perkins and
Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, this
delightful dozen of Chicago
blues (all originals except
for Willie Smith’s wry tale
of senior citizen love, “Old
Woman Sweetheart”) does an
excellent job of keeping the
old school blues flame burning
with clarity and conciseness.
Fans expect nothing less from such veteran musicians whose
pedigrees link them to numerous legends.
Anchored by one of the best rhythm sections in the
blues, the supporting cast of Windy City stalwarts includes
harmonica wizards Jerry Portnoy and Joe Filisko, guitarists
Billy Flynn, Frank Krawkowski, and Kevin Iles, bassist Brian
Leach, keyboardist Barrelhouse Chuck (Goering), and
saxophonist Sam Burkhardt. (Unfortunately, the liner notes
do not indicate who is taking the guitar and harmonica solos.)
Stroger and Smith share the vocals. They are capable but
limited vocalists with styles that greatly contrast: Stroger’s
vocals are dark and sonorous while Smith’s are lighter and
drier. Nonetheless, the sharp, versatile ensemble playing is
the star here. The tunes include several slow blues, shuffles
of various tempos, a funky twist-grinder (“What Cha Say”), a
Jimmy Reed-styled loper (“Sweet So Sweet”), and a lilting soul
stroller (“Love and Affection”).
I most enjoyed the bedrock piano playing of
Barrelhouse Chuck which evoked his legendary mentor
Sunnyland Slim; for a change of pace, organ replaces piano on
Willie Smith’s “Old Woman Sweetheart.” Nothing fancy here:
just old school Chicago blues the way this fan likes ‘em – crisp,
clean, and on the beam.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
-----------------------------
SUGARCANE COLLINS
Going Back to Clarksdale
Self-released
The year 2015 marked this
Australian singer/songwriter/
guitarist’s 35th year in the
music business, 60th birthday,
and the release of his fifth
album, a collection of eight
favorite standards and three
originals. Produced and
arranged by Collins, the tracks
were recorded in Clarksdale,
New Orleans, and Cairns,
Queensland. Chestnuts like
“Sitting On Top Of Yhe World,”
“St. James Infirmary Blues,” “Walking Blues,” “Trouble In Mind,”
and “Flip, Flop, And Fly” may be too familiar for some fans.
However, several tunes are interpreted in a jazz vein, most
notably “Flip, Flop, And Fly,” swinging organ jazz with a horn
section, quite different from the rollicking brawn of Big Joe
Turner’s original, and “St. James Infirmary,” trad jazz with a
clarinet added to the horn section for some Dixieland flavor.
There are welcome surprises like Mississippi John
Hurt’s lilting “Creole Belle” (accompanied only by Kirk Steel’s
accordion), Leroy Carr’s exultant “Memphis Town,” and Blind
Willie McTell’s ragtime bounce “Baby It Must Be Love.” Two
originals are homages: the title track, a mid-tempo shuffle,
and the tale of “Blind Willie” (McTell), one of Collins’ major
inspirations and the only solo performance, more old timey and
folk than blues. “Hungry, Broke, And Blue” is a timeless lament
of hard times evocative of Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie.
Collins performs on acoustic guitar throughout; his picking
is nimble and intricate. His flexible, straight-forward vocals
are well suited to his diverse set list. The mellow eclecticism
of Going Back to Clarksdale will appeal to fans of pre-WW II
blues and music Americana.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
-----------------------------
JeCONTE
Down By The Bayou
Red Parlor Records
San Francisco Bay Area
bluesman JeConte is a bit
of a mystery – even his
own website doesn’t offer
much information beyond
the immediate – but the
talented singer/songwriter
has explored music on
several continents, including
Europe and Africa, and his
unique sound is a gumbo pot
bubbling over with a heady
brew of West Coast and New
Orleans blues styles and West African musical influences.
JeConte sojourned to the Louisiana swamplands to record
Down By The Bayou, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2013
release Mali Blues, hooking up with producer and guitarist
Anders Osborne for a lively set of Cajun-fried, swamp-blues
tunes.
Recording at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana,
with Osborne at the helm, JeConte is backed by a crackerjack
band of veterans, including guitarists Matty Cohen and Chris
Haugen, drummer Wally Ingram, and bassist Carl Dufrene,
who has worked with Osborne, Tab Benoit, and Mike Zito,
among others. Kicking off with the title track, JeConte’s soulful
vocals are joined by Osborne’s subtle slidework above a sly,
shuffling rhythm. It’s the sort of laid-back, Southern rock/blues
fusion that Osborne and Damon Fowler have built a career
around and JeConte slides into this sort of traditional fatback
groove effortlessly.
The remainder of Down By The Bayou follows a
similar engaging musical blueprint. “Evermore” offers more
New Orleans grease along with cavernous reverb, showcasing
JeConte’s not inconsiderable harp skills, and the exotic “Mother
Africa” reminds of Corey Harris in its nod to the continent
and rhythmic melody. The powerful “Stuck In The Mud” is a
near-perfect welding of vintage late-60s blues-rock and John
Campbell-style dark mojo swamp-blues, with howling vocals
and buzzing guitars riding alongside menacing percussion
while the zydeco-flavored “Everything” benefits from JeConte’s
inspired harp playing.
Osborne’s subtle production places the spotlight
firmly on JeConte’s ability as an expressive singer, his vocals
reminiscent of Little Feat’s Lowell George, while Anders’
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considerable six-string skills draw inspired contributions from
the assembled musicians. When all is said and done, Down
By The Bayou is a rock solid collection of roots ‘n’ blues
that should appeal to any dyed-in-the-wool fan of blues and
Americana music.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
WILDCAT O’HALLORAN
Midnight Service Call
Self-released
Wildcat O’Halloran and his
crew is the party blues band
of Western Massachusetts,
and the new CD proves it.
The witty, comical lyrics and
madcap stories complement
O’Halloran’s exemplary
Tampa Red-like guitar
playing, along with some
commendable harp by fellow
Bay Stater Ottomatic Slim,
and excellent sax by Emily
“Dr. Luscious” Duff.
Nearly every tune on the 12-track disc is fun,
starting with “Double Dating At The Divorce Court,” an
amusing account of two couples trading spouses (for good,
not swingers) and ending – you guessed it, double dating.
You’ll laugh again when the danceable title track shows up
a few songs later. It has O’Halloran’s patented sexy-voiced
female rapper talking to him on the phone (some people
find this annoying, others love it.) This time, in a parody of a
heating emergency on a cold New England winter night, the
girl (WMUA’s Katie Wright) calls Wildcat, who is working the
overnight shift at a boiler company. She describes various,
sexual double entendre problems that he can surely fix as long
as her ex-Marine boyfriend (who is upstairs cleaning his AK47)
doesn’t find out. In between the conversation snippets, there
are some nice long guitar and harp solos.
The song “97 Percent” is especially poignant these
days. It’s about a survey which says just three percent of
Americans list blues as their favorite music. Hence, Wildcat’s
assertion that 97 percent of us “think the blues suck.” He goes
to admonish bands who learn “three chords that most anyone
can play (even while drunk), leave the arrangements to luck,
and show up late with a pick up band.”
There are a few serious songs on the record.
O’Halloran is fantastic on the slow, emotion-ridden guitar on
“Sweet Little Angel,” as is Ms. Duff on her sax solo. The band,
with help from female backup singers, does a reasonable job
on “Don’t Let Me Misunderstood,” the ‘65s hit by Eric Burdon
and the Animals.
A live O’Halloran Band performance usually involves
crazy antics such as Wildcat doing the atop-the-bar walk while
playing slide, a la J.B. Hutto, the fetching “Harp Girls” rapping,
and various other fun stuff, but this record captures the spirit of
all that, and will make you chuckle.
– Karen Nugent
E-mail: [email protected]
ARLEN ROTH
Slide Guitar Summit
Aquinnah
Christmas comes early for
fans of slide guitar as this
lethal collision of like-minded
talents pay tribute to past
heroes while lighting fresh
fires all their own. A pet
project for less-than-prolific,
guitar giant Roth – quite
possibly the reason he’s flown
well under the radar for far too
long – this may well return him
to prominence as a guitarist’s
guitarist.
Issuing a raft of quiet, yet influential, releases over
the last 50 years, Roth further distinguished himself as an
instructional guru with his Hot Licks videos and best-selling
books, when not playing sideman to Paul Simon, Danny
Gatton, or Pete Seeger. His instrumental prowess bubbles over
the top in the esteemed company of guests Johnny Winter
(“Rocket 88”), Sonny Landreth (“Sonny Skies”), David Lindley
(“Her Mind Is Gone”), and Cindy Cashdollar (“Steel Guitar
Rag” and “Stranger On The Shore”). Dedicated to Johnny (this
was his final studio session), Roth clearly praises the slide’s
importance within the scheme of modern music demonstrating
its power with each magical interaction – as producer/drummer
Tom Hambridge serves up crystalline production.
More rock than anything more specific, elements of
rock ‘n’ roll, country, and blues permeate the material, an array
of guest-penned originals and re-formulated classics. Too
many high-powered highlights to single out, the best surprises
come from the slightly lesser known purveyors. Jack Pearson’s
barn-burning opener, “Do What’s Right,” starts the party off with
a vicious double-slide offensive, while the disc’s strongest track
(and least likely to pull off successfully) falls to the under-sung
Lee Roy Parnell, as he and Roth revitalize Lowell George’s
“Dixie Chicken” for a new audience.
The duo of Roth and Jimmy Vivino on “Poor Boy
Blues” yields a feral assault while Roth and Parnell’s charge
on Robert Johnson’s “Dust My Broom” leaves no options for
lint’s survival. Despite surprisingly subdued performances from
Rick Vito and Greg Martin, the opportunity to bear witness to
the chemistry between Roth and Winter’s dueling slide work –
and that between Roth and Landreth – is worth the admission.
The tone-friendly blend of lap steel to slide provides texture to
die for, thanks to Cashdollar and Lindley, yet it’s the resonant
beauty expressed through Roth and Martin’s gentle command
over “Amazing Grace” that lifts this summit to even higher
ground. Having emerged from the other side of a debilitating
family disaster, it’s good to see Roth’s return-to-form,
celebrating his mastery over what he does so well.
– Eric G. Thom
Listen To All The CDs
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EMPIRE ROOTS BAND
Music From The Film Harlem Street Singer
Acoustic Sessions
The 2014 film Harlem Street
Singer celebrates the life and
music of the Reverend Gary
Davis (1896-1972), the blind
Baptist minister who had
a profound and pervasive
influence on the post-WW II
folk and blues movements.
Davis was a native of the
Piedmont region in South
Carolina. In 1940 he moved
from Durham, NC to New York
City where he lived until his
death.
Featured in the film is the Empire Roots Band, a
quartet of veteran NYC blues artists: vocalist Bill Sims, Jr.,
pianist Dave Keyes, bassist Brian Glassman, and guitarist
Woody Mann, one of Rev. Davis’ many students (a short list
includes Dave Van Ronk, Roy Book Binder, David Bromberg,
and Stefan Grossman). The album presents the film’s unedited
takes and previously unreleased tracks. Davis was a fingerpicking 12-string guitar genius and his music was a blend
of Piedmont blues, spirituals, and traditional folk. The music
herein is divided between blues and spirituals with both betterknown (e.g., “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning,” “Mean
Old World,” “Hesitation,” and “Twelve Gates To The City”) as
well as less familiar tunes like “Search My Heart” and “Trying
To Get Home.” The performances are warm, heartfelt, and on
the mellow side but always uplifting as befitting the edifying
aspects of the spirituals.
Co-producer Woody Mann’s deft 12-string is a
refreshing treat and we hear the master through him. Hopefully,
this delightful collection will inspire fans to seek out the vast
oeuvre of the legendary Rev. Gary Davis and to be on the
lookout for Harlem Street Singer.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
DAVID VEST
Roadhouse Revelation
Cordova Bay
The title for this release is
dead-on in its assessment of
David Vest. The “revelation”
is that someone this good is
a virtual unknown despite a
career spanning five decades,
including a four years as the
co-leader of the Paul Delay
Band. The “roadhouse”
phrase is an apt description
of his musical stew that melds
blues, country and other roots
music.
His rollicking piano starts the disc off in fine form,
storming through “Freight Train Rolling.” Guitarist Teddy
Leonard tears it up on “Stand Your Ground,” making it sound
like a lost Lou Reed classic. Vest reminisces about his
boyhood Alabama home on “Streetcar” before taking us to the
honky-tonk on “Gone Too Far,” his warm voice reciting the tale
of love lost.
The rhythm section of Gary Kendall on bass and
Mike Fitzpatrick on drums excels on a cover of Hank William’s
“Ramblin’ Man” featuring some mournful slide guitar licks from
Leonard. The other cover, “Crooked Politician,” is a song Vest
wrote with DeLay with a jaunty bounce doesn’t hide the pair’s
scathing assessment of the political class.
Other highlights include the frantic boogie-woogie
instrumental, “Santa Fe Steamer” and “You Came Through,”
a touching tribute to everyone who ever gave Vest a helping
hand. “That Happened To Me” is the blues personified as the
singer relates his experiences on the downside of life.
Recorded live at a house concert, “Heart Full Of Rock
And Roll” offers a succinct summary of what Vest is all about, “I
got a mind full of trouble, and a heart full of rock ‘n’ roll. Nothin’
but the blues ever satisfied my soul.” David Vest has put
together a standout release that is guaranteed to spend plenty
of time in your CD player. Heartily recommended!
– Mark Thompson
Blues Hands By Joseph A. Rosen
Joseph A. Rosen’s 30-plus years of adventure in blues
and music photography. Featured artists include
B.B. King, Gary Clark Jr., Buddy Guy, Al Green,
Willie King, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks,
The Blind Boys of Alabama, and James Brown.
photog
The book holds rich treasures for lovers of music, photography, and the human form. With powerful imagery, as
well as anecdotes and biographical information, Blues
Hands tells a story of human experience.
Now Available
www.BluesMusicStore.com
Schiffer Publishing - Amazon.com
Major Booksellers
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DVD & BOOK Reviews
JOE BONAMASSA
Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks
J & R Adventures
Depending on whom you’re talking
with, Joe Bonamassa is either
the savior of the blues, bringing
hundreds of thousands of new fans
to the music, or else he’s the worst
thing that ever happened to the
genre. Although opinions on the
matter are pretty strong on either
side of the argument, I suspect
that the truth lies somewhere
in the middle. Bonamassa is a
preternaturally talented guitarist
who made his bones as a teenaged
prodigy opening for no less stellar an authority than B.B. King.
Prolific to a fault, Bonamassa’s rapidly-growing back catalog
and rigorous touring schedule deliver what the fans want, and
what they want, it seems, is more Bonamassa.
That’s not to say that the still-young guitarist doesn’t
have his faults. After 15 years and a dozen studio albums,
Bonamassa is still developing his voice as a songwriter
(although he made great strides with Different Shades Of
Blue). Working all these years with producer Kevin Shirley
has been beneficial for both, and it’s produced an easily
identifiable “Bonamassa” sound. It’s also robbed the guitarist of
opportunity – the chance to work with other talented producers,
to expose himself to new ideas. I can’t help but wonder what
might be created if Joe worked with, say, Tom Hambridge
behind the board.
Bonamassa’s Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks was a
Kevin Shirley idea, an arty, conceptual experiment created
to benefit the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation. The
concept is deceptively simple – the guitarist introduces his
young audience to the two pillars of contemporary blues,
Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf with a set comprised in equal
portions of songs popularized by the two bluesmen and those
by Bonamassa. Recorded live at the historic Red Rocks
Amphitheatre in Colorado, some performances incorporate
old voice recordings of the legendary bluesmen. Bonamassa
fleshed out his regular touring band here with the talents of
guitarist Kirk Fletcher and harp player Mike Henderson.
As a concept album, Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks
performs fairly well, falling short in some instances, exceeding
expectations in others. Using a portion of Muddy’s original
“Tiger In Your Tank” to introduce the song offers too bright a
contrast with Bonamassa’s performance by comparison. On
the other hand, “You Shook Me” provides a great showcase for
Bonamassa’s powerhouse guitar style, while “My Home Is On
The Delta” receives a reverent but electrifying treatment.
Howlin’ Wolf’s songs seem a more comfortable fit,
and while Bonamassa’s soulful vocals are no match for the
Wolf’s primal howl, the young bluesman acquits himself well.
A bludgeoning take on “Spoonful” is mesmerizing, while the
classic “Killing Floor” crackles with energy. Wolf’s spoken word
treatise on the blues introduces “Evil (Is Going On),” the song’s
fair-to-middlin’ arrangement salvaged by Henderson’s wailing
harp and Bonamassa’s jagged guitar licks.
Bonamassa’s original material here frequently pales in
comparison, but “The Ballad Of John Henry” stands tall with a
muscular, thunderous performance.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
JOE BONAMASSA
Live At Radio City Music Hall
J & R Adventures
Presented as a deluxe, twodisc CD/DVD set, with gorgeous
packaging and a very cool 40-page
square-bound booklet brimming
over with color photos and credits,
Bonamassa’s Live At Radio City
Music Hall again shows that no
other artist in any musical genre
delivers better value for their fans,
and the care that goes into the
presentation of every J.B. release is
astounding. True, it wouldn’t hold up
to scrutiny if the music wasn’t great,
and the set captured by Live At Radio City Music Hall is primo
Joe B, the audio portion kicking up a dust-storm with a molten
13-song performance of material from his last few albums while
the DVD offers extra songs and the backstage stuff beloved by
the hardcore fan.
Bonamassa fulfills another dream, performing on the
Radio City Music Hall stage, and he put together as rowdy and
impressive a set as you’ll find. Opening with a free-wheeling
reading of Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” this red-hot take is
preferable to that found on the tribute album. Bonamassa’s
“One Less Cross To Bear” hits the audience like a hurricane,
the guitarist’s scorching fretwork pumped up by a full horn
section. The bleak “Dust Bowl” benefits from Bonamassa’s
fraught vocals and Delta-dirty acoustic guitar while “Hidden
Charms” is a jaunty, Chicago-styled romp with personality for
days. All in all, Bonamassa ups his game again with Live At
Radio City Music Hall, he and his band delivering a sizzling,
livewire set certain to satisfy the faithful. Like it or not, Joe
Bonamassa is the face of the blues these days, the guitarist
acknowledging the past while building a new tradition.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
-----------------------------
MUDDY WATERS AND FRIENDS
Soundstage: Blues Summit In Chicago, 1974
Legacy Recordings
In July 1974, Muddy Waters was
chosen to host the inaugural
episode of Soundstage, the beloved
live concert series broadcast by
PBS stations around the country
for 13 subsequent seasons. Waters
was the first in a long run of talented
performers to appear on the
acclaimed TV show, and he brought
some friends with
54 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015 - Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More...
him, resulting in what the producers called a “Blues Summit In
Chicago.” The King of Chicago Blues brought along his Queen,
the phenomenal Koko Taylor, and a full suite of acolytes and
admirers, including Junior Wells, Michael Bloomfield, Johnny
Winter, Buddy Miles, and Dr. John, among others.
After a solid performance of Waters’ “Blow Wind
Blow” that’s interrupted by introductions, the show gets down
to business with a sizzling take on “Long Distance Call.” Muddy
is in fine voice, belting out the lyrics with perfect timing and
emotion, accompanied by Wells’ icy harp and Bloomfield’s
twangy guitar licks, with Pinetop Perkins banging the piano
keys. Singer/songwriter Nick Gravenites joins Wells on his
signature “Messin’ With The Kid,” the pair ripping the roof off
the sucker with an energetic performance, Bloomfield’s wiry
solos underlining a smiling Wells’ lively vocals.
Waters returns to the stage for a raucous read on
his “Mannish Boy,” the band delivering a white-hot groove for
Waters to croon above while Winter and Bloomfield swap licks.
Taylor is joined by Willie Dixon for a romp through “Wang Dang
Doodle,” guitarist Phil Guy receiving a well-deserved spotlight
while Koko outshines her male colleagues with an electrifying
performance. With his usual modesty, Johnny Winter
introduces “Walking Through The Park,” leading the band on
a livewire cover of the Buddy Guy tune featuring three dueling
guitarists and Wells’ raging harp play.
An extended take on Waters’ “Got My Mojo Workin’”
literally has the audience on its feet as everybody hits the
stage. Wells offers a freight-train solo, Winter lays down a
finger-blistering lead, and Pinetop hammers the keys alongside
Dr. John. There are other solid performances here, ten in all for
this first Soundstage release, the DVD a definite “must have”
for any old-school Chicago blues fan.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
These pictures capture the moment when a musician’s inner
emotion meets the musical notes which ultimately touches the
hearts of audiences.
The aged fingers of Perkins, Honeyboy Edwards, LC
Ulmer, Eddie Shaw, Louisiana Red, B.B. King, and “Scrap Iron”
Robinson tell stories of hard working Delta days. While artists
like Lil’ Ed Williams, Rory Block, Kenny Neal, Roy Rogers,
Lazy Lester, and others have mature hands that illustrate the
effects of enduring a lifetime of rigorous road travel.
Whether Rosen’s subjects’ hands are framed by
tattoos or embellished with sparkling jewelry or slide, each set
of appendages is as unique as the music the subject creates.
One can almost anticipate the notes Derek Trucks is about to
play. Ditto the sustain of Chuck Campbell’s Sacred Steel guitar
or the vibrato B.B. King is about to broadcast.
It’s not only about hands on strings. There is a
captivating joy Rosen captures in the hands of vocalists like Al
Green, James Brown, Irma Thomas, Maxine Brown, the Blind
Boys of Alabama, and Mavis Staples.
And there are the instruments. Though the hands are
the focal point, the weathered instruments are the co-stars.
Neal’s battered Telecaster, Susan Tedeschi’s and Allman’s
autographed axes, Smokin’ Joe Kubek’s white Strat, Richie
Havens’ curley strings, Allen Toussaint’s regal piano, and so
many more simply complete the visual story.
Each artist also has a small blurb which gives a brief
biography and identifies where and when each photo was
taken. Finally, Rosen accompanied Bluzapalooza’s tour of
Iraq and Kuwait in 2008. His picture of Shemekia Copeland is
from that experience. As Copeland sings, she is surrounded
by the joyous hands of U.S. soldiers on break from the horrors
of war. Appropriately, this is the only picture in the book, which
captures the joy of fans who adore the fruits of the blues. This
is a welcome addition to every blues fan’s collection.
[Full disclosure: Joe Rosen is a contributing photographer to
Blues Music Magazine and his pictures have been a major part
of each issue.]
– Art Tipaldi
-----------------------------
----------------------------Blues Hands
by Joseph A. Rosen
Schiffer Publishing $30
Years ago, when writing
about Pinetop Perkins,
I wrote, “I’ve heard that
the eyes are the windows
to the soul. With Pinetop
Perkins, I believe it’s his
hands that light the way,
speaking volumes about
his life and telling as
much about the man as
the man himself.”
With the
publication of Blues
Hands, award-winning photographer Joe Rosen has immersed
himself and his art into that concept to explore the life and
music of 95 blues luminaries. From legends like B.B. King, Taj
Mahal, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, and others to newcomers like
Devon Allman, and Samantha Fish, Rosen’s cropped images
capture so very much more than just hands on instruments.
100 Authentic Blues Harmonica Licks
by Steve Cohen
Hal Leonard $16.99
A ten-hole diatonic
harmonica has 20 notes:
one with a blow out and
another by drawing in
the note. Blues players,
however, get a lot more
than just 20 notes by
“bending” on the inhaled
notes to take the note
down by a ¼, ½ , 1 and
1 ½ step. The same
technique can be applied
by “overblowing” the note
to obtain the same amount of step changes.
E-mail: [email protected]
Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More - DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 55
Harmonicas were popular during WWII and were quite
inexpensive. I bought my first Hohner Marine Band harmonicas
in 1966 for about $5 each to replicate the folk sounds of Dylan,
Donovan, and Eric Anderson. Today, Marine Band harmonicas
cost about $37 and more professional models can cost well
over $100 each. Considering there are 12 basic keys to choose
from, a great set of harmonicas will set you back over a grand.
Steve Cohen has taken 74 pages to guide the student
through many of the common harmonica sounds and phrasings
that are easily recognizable to the blues fan. If you don’t read
music (as many professional musicians don’t) his notation
systems showing which of the ten holes to blow or draw during
a lick are fairly straightforward and easy to learn. If you have
some difficulty in transforming these silent markings into usable
sounds, he includes a CD that not only includes all 100 licks,
but also offers just the guitar accompaniment after the lick so
that you can sound like Steve Cohen on your own.
There are all in the key of C, so you only need to buy
one harmonica to follow the book. If you have ever considered
trying to play blues harmonica, this very reasonably priced
book could get you started.
– Pete Sardon
-----------------------------
E-mail: [email protected]
The Amazing Jimmi Mayes: Sideman To The Stars
by Jimmi Mayes with V.C. Speek
University Press of Mississippi $30.00
Drummer Jimmi Mayes was born in
Jackson, Mississippi in 1942. After
high school he was mentored in
Chicago by Fred Below and Sam
Lay. In 1961 he joined Little Walter
for a year and then went on to
work with numerous blues and soul
legends. Here’s a short list: Little
Walter, Jimmy Reed, Robert Junior
Lockwood, Earl Hooker, Junior Wells,
Pinetop Perkins, Willie Smith, James
Brown, and Tommy Hunt (former
member of the Flamingos, best
remembered for his 1961 hit “Human”). Jimi Hendrix was one
of his best friends; they were roommates when they traveled
with Joey Dee & the Starlighters (of “Peppermint Twist” fame)
in the mid-Sixties. Mayes remained with Joey Dee after
Hendrix left to join Curtis Knight & the Squires on his way to
becoming a legend.
Several chapters chronicle his friendship with Hendrix;
these will be of particular interest to Hendrix devotees. For
an autobiography that commences with “Compared to most,
I’ve lived an unusual life, lived in a lot of places, and loved a
lot of beautiful women. I’ve been drummer behind some of
the greatest musicians and musical groups in history” this
is a relatively short book at 175 pages (with 32 photos and
two discographies included). Mayes’ affable, unaffected, and
candid style makes for an easy, enjoyable, and informative
read.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
56 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015 - Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More...
DAHL’S DIGS
With his singularly nasal vocal delivery,
concise, melodic harmonica wails, and
atmospheric bayou ambiance, Slim Harpo
embodied south Louisiana swamp blues.
Bear Family’s spectacular five-CD boxed
set Buzzin’ The Blues – The Complete
Slim Harpo is the ultimate tribute to the
harpist’s legacy, gathering everything he
ever cut for Excello Records from 1957
to 1970 plus his renegade ‘61 session
for Imperial and two live sets from the
same year at a National Guard Armory in
Mobile, Alabama, that occupies the entire
fifth disc (sound quality here is rough, but
it’s historically invaluable). That adds up
to 142 tracks in all.
Guitarists Rudolph Richard and
James Johnson, drummer Sammy K.
Brown, and percussionist Lazy Lester
were among the key sidemen laying
down deep grooves behind Harpo. His
Excello debut, coupling a stinging “I’m A
King Bee” and the spicy “I’ve Got Love If
You Want It,” was produced by J.D. Miller
in Crowley, La., and proved a regional
seller, opening the floodgates for a steady
stream of releases. The country-tinged
“Raining In My Heart” hit nationally in
‘61, and Harpo’s funky “Baby Scratch My
Back” topped the R&B hit parade in ‘66.
The Miller hookup evaporated
shortly thereafter, Slim waxing later
sessions in Memphis with the Hi label’s
rhythm section as well as in Nashville,
Muscle Shoals, Los Angeles, and Baton
Rouge; some of his later stuff edges
into melodic, inviting soul. All the rarities
that squeaked out over the years on
various Harpo CDs are aboard Buzzin’
The Blues, and the accompanying 12
x 12 hardcover book, boasting a huge,
meticulously researched essay by reissue
producer Martin Hawkins, numerous
photos, and a complete discography, is
state of the art. If only every blues legend
received the same lavish treatment.
Too often overlooked by Chicago
blues enthusiasts, Hudson “Tampa
Red” Whittaker was one of the genre’s
foremost pioneers, deftly spanning
the pre-war and post-war eras with his
elegant slide guitar work and raucous
kazoo blowing. Compiled by John Broven,
Ace’s two-CD Dynamite! The Unsung
King Of The Blues concentrates on
Red’s all-too-seldom anthologized
later years on RCA Victor, its 50 tracks
arranged in reverse chronological order.
The set commences in 1953 with a killer
session featuring Big Walter Horton’s
mile-wide harmonica blasts
(the Latin-tinged “Rambler’s Blues” is
stunning) and works its way back to 1941.
Red led a splendid studio
band during his latter days on Victor:
Little Johnnie Jones expertly rolled the
ivories while bassist Ransom Knowling
and drummer Odie Payne, Jr. kept
the bottom tight on “She’s Dynamite,”
“Pretty Baby Blues,” and “Midnight
Boogie.” Powerhouse pianist Big Maceo
Merriweather, Red’s primary accompanist
in 1942, was on the date that gave us
the double-entendre ditties “Let Me Play
With Your Poodle” and “She Want To Sell
My Monkey.” In-depth liner notes by Jim
O’Neal and marvelous sound make this
package a must.
Concord Music’s Directly From
My Heart: The Best Of The Specialty
& Vee-Jay Years slices a three-CD
swath through the blistering catalog of
Little Richard, devoting two discs to his
seminal 1955-1957 exploits on Art Rupe’s
Specialty logo and a third to his mid-‘60s
Vee-Jay output. With the killer rockers
“Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Slippin’
And Slidin’,” “Ready Teddy,” and “I Got It”
powered by the peerless house band at
Cosimo Matassa’s New Orleans studio
(tenor saxist Lee Allen and drummer Earl
Palmer were its linchpins) and most of the
rest featuring Richard’s own Upsetters,
the flamboyant piano pounder with the
flammable pipes was as wild as rock and
roll’s initial onslaught dared get.
Several of Richard’s Specialty
obscurities are marred here by
female backing singers (and in the
case of “Chicken Little Baby,” added
instrumentation) overdubbed after
Richard temporarily retired. The VeeJay sides ranged from a slow blues
treatment of Fats Domino’s “Going Home
Tomorrow” with Sugarcane Harris on
electric violin and a rocking “Groovy Little
Suzy” to the spine-chilling soul sender “I
Don’t Know What You’ve Got But It’s Got
Me” with a then-unknown Jimi Hendrix on
lead axe.
A force of sanctified nature,
Marion Williams was one of the gospel
world’s undisputed queens, a major
influence on Aretha Franklin as well as
Little Richard with her stratospheric wails.
Although Shanachie’s 26-song Packin’
Up: The Best of Marion Williams
concentrates mainly on her latter-day
spiritual exploits (1974-1993), she hadn’t
lost a thing vocally in her more mature
years, rattling the pew rafters time and
again with her thrilling pipes. There’s also
by Bill Dahl
a brilliant version of “Packin’
Up” featuring Williams fronting Clara
Ward’s Famous Ward Singers in 1957 at
the Newport Jazz Festival’s first gospel
segment and a “Swing Low Sweet
Chariot” done a few days later with the
same group both capturing her at her
fieriest.
Joe Ruffino’s New Orleansbased Ric and Ron logos are receiving
the deluxe reissue treatment from Ace.
Baby I’m Wise – The Complete Ric
Singles 1959-1962 boasts all 22 masters
Eddie Bo waxed for Ric, and they’re a hip,
horn-leavened lot imbued with Crescent
City charm. The pianist grooves through
“Tell It Like It Is,” “I Got To Know,” and
the irresistible dance workout “Check Mr.
Popeye,” which almost hit nationally for
him.
They called Johnny Adams
“the Tan Canary” around the Big Easy
for good reason: his mellifluous pipes
were tailor-made for elegant balladry.
Two dozen stunners that Adams waxed
for Ruffino comprise Ace’s I Won’t Cry
– The Complete Ric & Ron Singles
1959-1964, led by the title item and an
impassioned Mac Rebennack-co-penned
“A Losing Battle,” Adams’ only national
hit for the label. In The Same Old Way
– The Complete Ric, Ron And Sho-Biz
Recordings pairs 16 gems by big-voiced
Tommy Ridgley spanning 1960-63,
notably his deeply stirring “Should I Ever
Love Again,” a gliding “Let’s Try And
Talk It Over,” and the churning “The Girl
From Kooka Monga,” with six 1960-61
charmers by Bobby Mitchell at the end.
Chicago’s Chess label
established a bountiful relationship with
Rick Hall’s Muscle Shoals studio facilities
during the late ‘60s; a combination
surveyed compellingly on Kent’s 24-song
comp Reaching Out – Chess Records
At Fame Studios. Etta James, Laura
Lee, Irma Thomas, and Mitty Collier all
made the Alabama trek to cut with Fame’s
stellar house band, Collier represented
by two fine unissued sides. Lee Weber’s
grooving “Party Time,” three tough
cuts by Maurice & Mac, and three
instrumentals by saxman Charles
Chalmers also grace the CD.
The One-derful! Collection:
M-Pac! Records is the third installment in
Secret Stash’s examination of the Leaner
brothers’ Chicago labels, a 24-song
extravaganza full of aggressive soul by
Harold Burrage (his ‘65 hit “Got To Find A
Way” is here in extended form),
Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More - DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 57
"He's one of the
best I ever heard"
- Dickey Betts
2016
Suncoast Blues Society
IBC Challenge Winner
For More Info & Booking
Please Visit:
www.TCCARR.com
Or E-mail:
[email protected]
Willie Parker, Maurice Dollison (aka Cash
McCall), and Stacy Johnson, whose
“I Stand Alone” sports a killer groove.
They’re alongside sophisticated sides by
Benny Turner (Freddy King’s bass-playing
brother) and sultry Dorothy Prince, vocal
group action from the Ringleaders and
Accents, Bobby Davis’ rocker “Damper
Down,” and tough blues by Andrew Tibbs
and Big Daddy Simpson. Ten unissued
titles include Burrage’s hard-hitting “Bad
Situation” and “Mountain Of Soul.”
L.A. soul chanteuse Bettye
Swann made the Muscle Shoals trek
too. It was one of several studio stops
she made during her 1972-76 stint at
Atlantic Records. Swann’s Fame sides,
co-produced by Hall, rate with the
highlights of Real Gone Music’s 23-song
The Complete Atlantic Recordings,
but so does the stuff she waxed in
Philly, Nashville, and Chicago. “Victim
Of A Broken Heart,” one of the Fame
standouts, was a sizable hit for her
in ‘72. Unreleased renditions of Elvis’
“Suspicious Minds,” Bobby Charles’
“The Jealous Kind,” and the Isley
Brothers’ “This Old Heart Of Mine” (vastly
slowed down) make the disc even more
appealing.
The father and son team of
Johnny and Shuggie Otis was behind
Stone Down Blues, Guitar Slim Green’s
last musical statement in 1970 for the
Bihari brothers’ Kent logo, playing all of
Slim’s backup themselves. Back out on
British BGP, it’s a downhome affair by
the L.A. axeman, who began recording in
1948. Green endorses peace on a defiant
“This War Ain’t Right” and takes “Bumble
Bee Blues” and “My Little Angel Child”
at a similarly languid pace. The stinging
opener “Shake ‘Em Up” (with delicious
guitar from Shuggie), “5th Street Alley
Boogie,” and a ragged-but-right “Big Fine
Thing” with Shuggie on harp pick up the
pace.
It’s a natural pairing: two classic
live albums capturing soul revues at their
most electrifying. Apollo Saturday Night
and Saturday Night At The Uptown
were both issued by Atlantic in 1964; now
Real Gone brings them together on one
CD. On the November 16, 1963 Apollo bill
were Otis Redding, a boisterous Rufus
Thomas, Ben E. King, Doris Troy, the
Coasters, and the Falcons, backed by
sax supremo King Curtis’ orchestra. The
card at Philly’s Uptown was just as mindboggling with Wilson Pickett, Barbara
Lynn, the Drifters, the Vibrations, the
Carltons, Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles,
and Patti & the Emblems.
58 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015 - Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More...
Presents The Blues Music Store
Sharing America’s National Music
The Blues
Bonnie Raitt Dig In Deep
Release Date Feb. 26
Renew or subscribe and
receive this
CD as a bonus at:
www.BluesMusicStore.com
Presented By
Blues Music Magazine
B.B. King 5 CD Box Set
Complete Singles 1949-1962
Renew or subscribe and
receive this box set
as a bonus at:
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Presented By
Blues Music Magazine
Visit
Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com
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And More
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DEC 2015
2015 -- Blues
Blues Music
Music Magazine
Magazine -- 59
59
Presents The Blues Music Store
Sharing America’s National Music
The Blues
Elmore James
2 CD Set Releases 12/11
Renew or subscribe and
receive this box set
as a bonus at:
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Presented By
Blues Music Magazine
Down Home Blues
4 CD Set Releases 12/11
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receive this box set
as a bonus at:
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Presented By
Blues Music Magazine
60 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015 - Visit www.BluesMusicStore.com - CDs, DVDs, And More...
Presents The Blues Music Store
Sharing America’s National Music
The Blues
Muddy Waters And
Friends - DVD
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receive this DVD
as a bonus at:
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Presented By
Blues Music Magazine
2016 Blues Calendar
PLUS 20 Song CD
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receive this calendar
as a bonus at:
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Presented By
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DEC 2015
2015 -- Blues
Blues Music
Music Magazine
Magazine -- 61
61
UPCOMING EVENTS
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62 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
UPCOMING EVENTS
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& THE CHAIN SMOKIN’ ALTAR BOYS
"Bloody Excellent" Hugh Laurie
"Best in the Midwest" Johnny Rawls
"Classic Chicago Blues" Ray Stiles, Blues on Stage
"These guys are really good" Bruce Iglauer, Alligator Records
"Standing ovation at Buddy Guy's Legends" Joanna Gray
“They are very, very good. That’s why I keep having them back” Buddy Guy
NEW CD
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DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 63
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Coming In January
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Available Now
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20 Song CD Included
64 - Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
UPCOMING EVENTS
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DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 65
EUGENE
EUGENE
HIDEAWAY
HIDEAWAY
BRIDGES
BRIDGES
HOLD
ON
A LITTLE BIT LONGER
Seven times Blues Music Award nominee
Eugene Hideaway Bridges is back with his new CD
Featuring:
OTTO WILLIAMS - Bassist
BOBBY BARANOWSKI - Drums & Cymbals
CLAYTON DOLEY - Hammond B3 Organ & Piano
JOHN MILLS - Tenor, Alto & Baritone Sax
KEVIN FLATT - Trumpet
JON BLONDELL – Trombone
Special Guest MICKY MOODY
Slide guitar on ‘HOLD ON A LITTLE BIT LONGER’
HOLD ON A LITTLE BIT LONGER
is released in memory of
Othineil Bridges, Sr. ‘Hideaway Slim’
Preacher and Bluesman
8th February 1938 to 27th January 2015
66- Blues Music Magazine - DEC 2015
Now booking for
2015 & 2016
[email protected]
www.bluearmadillo.com
DEC 2015 - Blues Music Magazine - 67