aj - amazon s3€¦ · blues alive! sonny landreth / tommy castro dennis gruenling with doug deming...
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Taj MahalAndy T & Nick NixonNikki HillSelwyn Birchwood
JOE BONAMASSA DAVE & PHIL ALVIN&
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JOE BONAMASSA DAVE & PHIL ALVIN
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COVER PHOTOGRAPHY © ART TIPALDI NUMBER FIVE
RIFFS & GROOVESFrom The Editor-In-Chief
DELTA JOURNEYS“Jukin’”
AROUND THE WORLD“A Life In The Music”
Q&A with Joe Bonamassa
Q&A with Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin
BLUES ALIVE!Sonny Landreth / Tommy CastroDennis Gruenling with Doug DemingThorbjørn Risager / Lazy Lester
SAMPLER 5REVIEWSNew Releases / Novel Reads
IN THE NEWS
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KEB’ MO’Keeping It Simpleby Art Tipaldi
TAJ MAHALAmerican Maestroby Phil Reser
NIKKI HILLA Knockout Performerby Tom Hyslop
ANDY T & NICK NIXONUnlikely Partnersby Michael Kinsman
SELWYN BIRCHWOODStuff Of Greatnessby Tim Parsons
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Blues Music Magazine 5
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Last May, I attended the Blues Music Awards for the twentieth time. I began attending theW.C. Handy Awards in 1994 and attended through 2003. I missed 2004 to celebrate mydad’s 80th birthday and have now attended 2005 through 2014. I’ve seen it grow from itsdays in the Orpheum Theater to its present location which turns the Convention Centerinto a dazzling juke joint setting. Today’s event features an all-access pass to every ticketbuyer. There is no VIP pre-party; instead there is an hour cocktail party featuring selected
nominees playing for everyone. Beginning atseven, there is a sit-down dinner, award presenta-tions, and non-stop music from nominees untilafter midnight. The other biggest change is theeffort of the Blues Foundation to have as many ofthe nominees and winners present.
This year’s highlights were the pure soul show-stoppers of Ronnie Earl and Beth Hart. They werethe distilled essence of the blues. But there havebeen many other vivid moments.
In 1996, after Luther Allison won his thirdHandy Award, Ruth Brown warned, “Luther, youbetter stay off my stage!” After he copped hisfourth, Allison ran out of words of gratitude andannounced, “I’m gonna let my guitar talk!”After his fifth, the guitar spoke Luther’s heart-feltgratitude for over an hour.
In 1997, Luther gave me the finest picture Iever took. His leap is forever etched in the events of that night. An hour after I snappedthe shot, my camera broke and I have no pictures from the rest of the weekend.
There was also the standing ovation for Johnny “Clyde” Copeland who received anew heart on New Year’s Day. Copeland showed no ill effects as he tore through threesongs. Tragically, he and Luther passed away within three months of that night.
In 1998, it was all Bonnie Raitt. From her acoustic duet with Keb’ Mo’, her fingerwaggin’ gotta move from this neighborhood with Ruth Brown, and her “Walkin’ TheDog” with Rufus Thomas. However, after the Orpheum cleared out for the jam, I foundMs. Raitt at the rear of the hall talking with her dear friend, the wheel chair boundJessie Mae Hemphill. Not many saw this simple act of kindness and respect.
I’ll always remember the shivers from Ike Turner’s guitar in 2002. I rememberJohnny Adams in 1998 running from his sound check to the Peabody lobby to watchthe ducks leave the fountain. One of my favorite memories was the 2000 pairing ofGov’t Mule with Little Milton. As Warren Haynes and Milton exchanged guitar jabs,I was stopped walking out of the auditorium by a large, tie-dyed shirt.
“Who’s the dude with the Mule?”... “Huh?”“Who’s the dude with the Mule?”... “Which dude?”“The black dude with the guitar?”... “Little Milton.” “He’s pretty good up there with the Mule.”
“Let the music keep our spirits high.”Art Tipaldi, Editor-In-Chief
“Leave your ego, play the music,love the people.” – Luther Allison
LUTHER ALLISONMEMPHIS, 1997
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6 Blues Music Magazine
opens his
current album,
BLUESAmericana, with “The Worst Is
Yet To Come.” The opening lines on this
record, “Woke up this morning,” harkens
back to the earliest blues verses. Those
archetypal blues songs, recorded on 78s
or shared in juke joints after weeks of
harsh labor supporting the sharecropping
system in the Mississippi Delta, offered
some collective relief – the sun is gonna
shine on my backdoor someday.
Keb’ Mo’s song serves exactly the
same objective. He sings about concerns
like Americans losing factory jobs and more
immediate problems like cars needing work
and one’s mate taking everything. Even the
dog shows no respect. But through it all,
like the resolve in those 78s, there is the
determination that if I can survive this,
I will survive.
Though he will object to the notion
that BLUESAmericana is a blues album,
the songs Keb’ Mo’ has written address
the challenges of our modern world in
the same way that Charley Patton, Skip
James, or Bessie Smith sang about the
issues in their world. These songs hit a
modern nerve of where people are in
jobs, relationships, and economy in a
very powerful way. Songs like “More For
Your Money” “For Better Or Worse,”
“The Worst Is Yet To Come,” and “Move”
all tackle the heavy, dark themes of
modern life.
At the same time, Keb’ Mo’ counters
with songs about the strength that love and
companionship provides when one fights
the battle with the outside world. “I’m
Gonna Be Your Man,” “The Old Me Better,”
and “Somebody Hurt You” all address the
power to fight against the world when love
is at the foundation.
“The focus of the new record is that
every song tells it’s own story,” said Keb’
Mo’, “and the collective theme of all those
stories is about a feeling. I didn’t have any
thematic thing in mind. I just wanted to tell
stories about my life right there. There are
some really heavy songs on it. Then I
went back to record ‘That’s Alright’
because that’s the equivalent of going
back to something real. That’s the blues.
That’s making the mark.”
Keb’ Mo’s last CD, The Reflection,
was recorded in 2011 and was nominated
for a Grammy for Blues Album of the Year.
Recorded only months after he and his
wife Robbie Brooks Moore moved to
Nashville from L.A., Keb’ Mo’ is slowly
integrating himself into the local music
scene, especially its songwriting society.
“We moved here four years ago to
raise our son [Carter Mandela Moore] in a
better environment,” said Keb’ Mo’. “The
kind of scene here certainly keeps me on
my toes. The biggest difference to me is
the songwriting community. It’s just stel-
lar. The people, the writers, and the spirit
in which it’s done is just fantastic. The bar
is so high. If I go to any songwriters’
showcases, I don’t go to play, I go to
listen and learn.”
Because of that, these ten songs were
not dashed out in the studio during the
recording process. Rather Keb’ Mo’ crafted
them over an extensive period of time.
“These songs were picked from over
a year of different writing sessions. I like
words, so the words come first for me.
I thought I ran out of musical ideas 15
years ago [Laughs.] Lyrically, I feel I’m just
getting started. I have an idea that I take
to a writing session and generally ask,
‘How about this?’ then we proceed to do
our best to craft a song in a way where
that idea can be best relayed.
“My first responsibility throughout the
process is to be honest to myself and to the
song. Then I have to take that responsibility
and craft it to the best of my ability so that
people can really get the most out of it.
“Once I have a song written and I
think it’s finished, then, I’m ready to go into
the studio. I don’t want to waste any great
spontaneity on a demo. So the demo and
record process is all the same. The most
important thing is to pick a tempo for the
song. If I get the tempo right, that’s half the
battle. I can always change small things,
but if I get the tempo wrong, the song
goes nowhere.”
With little workshopping, these songs
go on tour ready to compete with Keb’ Mo’
staples like “Henry,” She Just Wants To
Dance,” Shave Yo’ Legs,” “Soon As I Get
Paid,” or “Dangerous Mood.”
“It’s hard because I have a history of
songs that people have really latched
onto. I could play ‘She Just Wants To
Dance’ for days. I have a lot of songs that
really work like that. So far, audiences
have been receptive. I have a feeling that
people are curious and open to this new
record. This feels fresh and new people
are paying attention. Instead of always
going back, it would be great to have this
as a fresh start where I can grab two or
three songs from the past that are crucial
to what I do and move forward.” KE
B’
MO
’
Every since Kevin Moore rechristened
himself Keb’ Mo’ over 20 years ago, he has
been speeding forward on the industry’s
fast track. In 1994, I met him during the
Beale Street Music Festival where he
handed out cassettes and shared the
Acoustic Porch with Piano Bob and the
Snowman – an hour performance, an hour
off, all weekend.
He says, “I put some songs together
then that worked. It was a little bit of
calculation and some dumb luck.” But it
was much more then that. He was born in
1951 and grew up in Compton. “My early
musical experience was playing steel
drum in a steel band when I was 10.
I played in that band all the way through
high school. At the same time, I was
playing the French horn in the orchestra,
and I was playing guitar in a cover band
at the school.”
Yet a chance encounter with authentic
blues sowed the seeds that would later
mature. A little known singer, Taj Mahal,
came to a high school in Compton in the
late-1960s. In the audience sat one Kevin
Moore. “I’ll always remember my drafting
teacher in my senior year of high school
because he had the foresight and wisdom
to let me go see Taj twice. He singled
me out because he knew I that I liked
music. No one in the school,
including me, had ever heard of
him, but I was totally getting it.
“Nobody knew who
Kevin Moore was. I was
virtually unknown. I made
my living in L.A. playing
a combination clubs,
sessions, theaters, and
film work. I played with
Papa John Creach for
three years on the road.”
After leaving Creach in
1976, he began honing his
song writing skills. In the early
1980s, he spent five years in
what he terms, “Song Writing
College,” working in a workshop
setting with other writers for
Casablanca Records.
He came into 1994 with years of
experience in the industry, working in a
variety in L.A. bands, supervising
demos for Alamo Music, and working
in some theater productions. Today’s
developmental standards suggest that
to achieve mastery of sport or music,
10,000 hours of practice are necessary
before an athlete or artist turns
Blues Music Magazine 7
byAr
tTip
aldi
PHOTOGRAPHY © DUSTY SCOTT
8 Blues Music Magazine
20 years old. Imagine how many hours of
practice and experience Keb’ Mo’ accumulated
from age 20 to 40?
Today, Keb’ Mo’ is twenty years into what
he calls, “the start of my third career.” Thought
there is a solid foundation, he is still working
towards a mastery of an identifiable sound.
That includes all aspects of the artistry.
“Everyday, I’m working to become a better
guitar player. Lately I’ve been working with a
three piece, so I’m learning how to take the
songs and figuring out how to make one guitar
handle more in the arrangement. I feel much
more freedom these days on my electric guitar.
Even on some songs that I’ve always done
with my acoustic guitar, I’m now transferring to
electric and it’s working because I can translate
better even thought they might have been done
on the record with an acoustic guitar.
“I’m not thinking so much about how I did
a song on the record or with which guitar. It’s
about creating the same feeling. An audience
isn’t really concerned about whether I use the
same guitar live that I used on the record.
They just want to hear those certain signature
licks or they want it to feel interesting enough
that they may even like the live version better.”
Though Keb’ Mo’ calls his shows a soul
revival, there are many stringed instruments
he uses to get the feeling of each song
across to the audience. He’ll employ Dobro,
National Steel, electric and acoustic guitars,
but it’s his signature slide on each that is
most identifiable.
“The slide fits into my sound because
I think that the slide guitar is so important
to the blues and the roots of what I’m doing.
Slide is important to a lot of genres. So
branching out musically, like I do, using a
steel guitar and slide is a reminder to me
and the audience of where I come from.”
In these twenty years, Keb’ Mo’, a
three-time Grammy winner, feels blessed
to have been included in so many artistic
projects. His songs have been featured in
numerous TV shows, he has performed in
movies like John Sayles Honeydripper and
he portrayed Robert Johnson in The SearchFor Robert Johnson, and in theater produc-
tions like The Rabbit Foot, a play adapted
from three Zora Neal Hurston short stories
at the Hartford Stage Company, and he
wrote the original music for Keith Glover’s
play, Thunder Knocking On The Door.In recent years has been invited to
perform twice at Eric Clapton’s CrossroadsGuitar Festival, been the voice of Martin
Scorsese’s 13 episode radio series,
The Blues, in 2003, been featured on
“What youcan conceiveand believe,you can create.”
PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
Blues Music Magazine 9
Martha Stewart Living, performed the
opening song on Mike & Molly, been
recruited for tribute albums for Jackson
Browne and Gregg Allman, and performed
“Henry” at In Performance At The WhiteHouse Red, White And Blues.
“When I look back at the Grammys
or being with Eric on Crossroads twice,
doing work with Martha Stewart, the
Honeydripper movie with John Sayles, or
being at the White House, it’s amazing.
“I like to keep my memory in the
moment. Because the moment is what is
creating all the things in the past. It’s like
when Henry says, ‘I can see my future
and I can feel my past when Henry plays
his steel guitar.’ That’s the moment. That’s
living in the moment. That moment is
everything. I’m doing all those things right
now in this moment.
“A lot of people look at other people
and think they are lucky and that I don’t
have any chance of getting there. While
they are saying ‘I can’t do that,’ they are
making that come true. That will never
be me. We’re all creating our own good
fortune, our own opportunities in our
minds. What you can conceive and
believe, you can create. I don’t have any
special skills. I try and let people know
that they have this power.”
The moment today is BLUES-Americana. It debuted Number 1 in the
Billboard Blues Chart, Number 2 on the
Billboard Folk Chart, Number 8 on the
Billboard Independent Album Chart and
Number 2 in Amazon’s Blues sales.
“The acceptance of my original songs
lets me know that I’ve touched listeners
with my heart. When you have a record
that reaches a high point of visibility, all
the expectations go up. So I’m in the
process of thinking of how I present the
songs and what kind of band I can bring
to do it. But it’s still hindered somewhat by
finance. Having a great album means I
need a certain amount of musicians to
show the subtleties of the record. There’s
a lot of prep time. I have to find the people
who can do it; there’s rehearsal and
production time to get it so it really works.
That takes finance.”
What does Keb’ Mo’ say about his
encounter with Taj Mahal nearly 50 years
ago? “If there was no Taj Mahal, there
wouldn’t be a Keb’ Mo’.
“Taj Mahal has been infinitely
important to me and my journey.
He’s infinitely inspiring to the making
of Keb’ Mo’.”
Blues Music Magazine 11
keeping blues music alive, singer,
composer, and musicologist,
Taj Mahal has felt from the beginnings of his
career that he was preserving his African
heritage. Born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks
in Harlem, New York, on May 17, 1942, he
was, from the start, influenced musically by
his parents, his mother, a gospel-singing
South Carolina schoolteacher, and his
stepfather, a piano-playing West Indian
jazz arranger. He grew up hearing all kinds
of music from his parents’ large record
collection and over the family’s short-wave
radio.
Wandering around New York City as
a young boy, he says, “There were all these
street players who played tambourines
and sang, guitars and sang, harmonicas,
accordions, and just singing on the street.
A live person playing the music was what I
remember. I didn’t have the distance of
hearing the music only through the recorded
side of it or just on the airways. I heard it as
a living thing.”
Musicians from the Caribbean, Africa,
and all over the U.S. frequently visited his
family home, and he became fascinated with
the origins of the various forms of music he
was hearing. So he threw himself into the
study of older forms of African-American
music, which the record companies of the
day were largely ignoring.
“When I was growing up, there was
no difference in breathing and music, it was
always a part of my family. What I didn’t
know was it wasn’t a part of every family out
there. My grandparents didn’t speak with an
American accent; my mother spoke with a
Southern accent, and my father’s people
spoke with a Caribbean accent, although my
father had a little bit more of an American
accent put into it.
“Nonetheless, once they started talking
together, everybody sounded like they
were West Indians, and when I went to my
other grandfather’s house, it was all deep
Southerners. So, to me, all of it was a great
tradition in front of me. I’m just investigating
the lines of the music, culture, and traditions
that came in to me.”
“He’s an American treasure.
TAJ
MAH
ALby
Phil
Rese
r
he’s all of it.”He’s the root doctor,
– Keb’ Mo’
PHOTOGRAPHY © JOSEPH A. ROSEN
12 Blues Music Magazine
In addition to learning the piano, he begin playing the clarinet,
trombone, and harmonica, and loved to sing. He now plays more
than 20 instruments, adding the banjo, the National Steel, and
Dobro guitars to his mix.
“One of the first things I learned about the world is that you
don’t really do anything when you live in a city. You’re led around
by the nose, led around as a consumer. But if you live and work on
a farm or ranch, you have to do it all. You milk the cows, feed the
calves, clean the barn, and check this and that. So, if you have
that kind of interest and history, as I did for a while in my life, you
don’t think anything of the idea of spreading your knowledge and
activity into more than one thing.
“And if you go from being a city kid, raised in an urban setting,
the tendency is to find that one thing you want to work at during
your life. They don’t think about the natural ability of people to
devote themselves to developing multiple skills. It’s all down to one
thing, as opposed to planting the vegetable garden, haul out the
manure, get the milk from the cows, filling up the silo, bundle the
hay, all those things, not just one thing.
“With music, if I didn’t play something and knew somebody
that played a particular instrument, I’d have them show me, and
I’d pick up the mandolin and just go for it. Like David Lindley, he’s
a multi-instrumentalist; most of the guys, I’ve played with are
talented in that way.
“Look at George Benson. Everybody thought he was only a
guitar player when his music became popular, and then one day,
you hear him singing. And you find out he could sing all along. I’ve
never let any producer tell me what to do or what I can do. This is
what I’m out here for, to do my thing.”
Mahal studied agriculture at the University of Massachusetts
at Amherst in the early ‘60s. He adopted the musical alias of Taj
Mahal and formed a popular university party band, the Elektras.
“Taj Mahal came from thoughts and dreams I had when I was
a kid,” he says. “I was trying to figure out the world around me.
I felt that even though there was nothing about my ancestors in
the books that I was reading, it would be my job to get my story
together and make my life mean something.
“One of the questions I had was who are the good people on
this earth? Back in the ‘40s, a person that impressed me was
Mahatma Gandhi. He made no compromise with the negative
forces in the world. That led me to an interest in India and the Taj
Mahal, a well-known architectural structure. Well, I’m not your
average bear and never have been.
“As I admired and researched the old blues players, there was
a rich tradition of these performers taking on signature names,
which was useful to building their act. I figured that if you’re going to
embark on a musical career, you need a name that draws attention.
I think that if you look at what I’ve done with my music, throughout
my life time, the body of work I’ve been able to contribute, there’s
no argument, that I selected the correct stage name for myself.”
Attending the Newport Folk Festival in ’61, ’62, ’63, Mahal
witnessed the folk and blues revival first hand. The opportunity to
watch traditional blues players like Gus Cannon, Mississippi John
Hurt, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Furry Lewis, Mississippi Fred McDowell,
and others perform and meeting them in person reinforced a
decision to devote himself to music rather than fulfill an earlier
farming interest.
In 1964, he moved to Los Angeles and formed the Rising
Sons, which consisted of Ry Cooder, Ed Cassidy, Jesse Lee
Kinkaid, Gary Marker, and Kevin Kelly. After signing a contract
Blues Music Magazine 13
with Columbia Records, the group broke up before releasing their
first album.
After the Rising Sons broke up, Mahal remained with
Columbia, signing a solo record deal. His first four albums,
Taj Mahal (1967), The Natch’l Blues (1968), and Giant Step and
De Ole Folks At Home (1969) mixed his originals with updated,
often funky versions of blues and roots music classics. The
albums are widely considered to be the blueprint for his sound,
and they are among the era’s best examples of updated blues.
“My main personal goal with my music is for people to have
a more positive attitude toward indigenous music around the
world,” he says. “They need to
understand that the blues are a
world-wide classic music that
has been out there for so much
longer than people are aware of
and how much attention there
has been toward it on an inter-
national basis.
“I never wanted to fall into
the trap of complacency,” says
Mahal. “Blues is a broad brush,
with lots of tones and colors to it.
I always wanted to keep pushing
my understanding of jazz,
African, and Caribbean music.
I wanted to explore all the con-
nections between different kinds
of music from around the world.
“My ancestors were taken
off the continent of Africa and
tossed everywhere around the
world as slaves. And so why
wouldn’t I want to have a clear
view and connection to who and
what it is that I am? Why would-
n’t I be interested in not only
what is happening in my own
country, but what’s happening to
my people in the Caribbean,
Central, and South America? In
all those different places and all
of the music that’s a part of each of those places.
“You find the music and movement of these people in song
and dance. All those rhythms – the tango, mambo, salsa, calypso,
reggae, conga, mambo, ska – are the musical languages that were
developed by people who were mostly kidnapped from their original
culture and language and not allowed to keep their native customs.”
Mahal has recorded 50 albums and earned six Grammy nom-
inations, winning two, in 1997 and 2000. He also recorded several
film soundtracks and has made multiple big screen appearances
in several major motion pictures. His interest and passion for world
music pulled him into exciting projects, resulting in collaborations
with international artists, and producing albums like Mumtaz
Mahal, recorded with Indian musicians; Sacred Island, which
blended Hawaiian music and blues; and Kulanjan, recorded with
African master musician Toumani Diabate.
And each musical endeavor has turned a new page in his
creative resume. Mahal’s 2008 album, Maestro, was a highly
acclaimed collection of blues, R&B, and soul with guest
appearances by musicians like Ben Harper, Los Lobos, Ziggy
Marley, and Angelique Kidjo.
One of his recent contributions to roots music has been his
support and encouragement of the Carolina Chocolate Drops,
the Durham, North Carolina band whose revival of old time black
banjo music and bands of the ‘20s and ‘30s has become popular
with today’s Americana fans. The band revives music that he has
been honoring for decades.
“They’re my babies,” he says. “When I came along with the
banjo, everybody was going to funk and soul. I didn’t have a lot of
company. I was thrilled when I heard that band.” The Chocolate
Drops represent what Mahal
sees as missing in much of
American music, a knowledge of
what has gone before and an
awareness of what is going on
outside of its own culture.
“Every generation should
learn the rudiments of the gener-
ation that went before,” he says.
“The music we hear, pop music,
is so narrow. It’s shameful that
one of most powerful nations in
the world listens to the least
amount of music from other parts
of the world. The international
language is music.”
A good part of Mahal’s
musical career is now available
with the release of Taj Mahal– The Complete ColumbiaAlbums Collection. A deluxe box
set which includes all ten of his
original Columbia albums, plus
one movie soundtrack and the
two previously unreleased
albums which comprised last
year’s The Hidden Treasures ofTaj Mahal: 1969-1973 package.
Says Mahal, “I have
always been an outside-the-box
composer/musician/performer
and not always understood by the music industry, so it gives me a
phenomenal amount of personal pleasure to have Sony/Legacy
reissue my whole catalog of music. Musicians are offstage, until
they’re onstage. To me, that’s what a musician is, being onstage.
And that’s it. But, it’s exciting that they put all of that out there
for folks. My hope is that they develop an excellent promotional
campaign, so that more people get to hear it and get to enjoy
the music.
“These recordings remain alive in my mind and onstage;
there is hardly a song that I don’t have a history and connection
with over all those years of putting them out. For myself, it’s great
hearing these songs in one collection again, freshly cut with all
the original artwork.
“This is fabulous news for my fans who have always been
unfailingly loyal to me. This is the music we’ve shared for the
duration of a wonderful and still on-going career of touring and
playing live for fans around the world. I’m thrilled that this music is
finally coming to the light of day. I made it all from my heart.”
PHO
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AL P
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14 Blues Music Magazine
was a Sunday afternoon in Duluth, Minnesota,
in August 2013. Patrons at the 25th Bayfront Blues
Festival had already heard from such luminaries as
Robert Cray, Mark Hummel with Anson Funderburgh and
Little Charlie, and Nick Moss, and titled artists ranging from
Chief (Eddy Clearwater, of course) to Empress (in the
person of Irma Thomas) and were anticipating the appear-
ance of the new Queen of the Blues, Shemekia Copeland,
when Nikki Hill took the main stage and practically burned
it down.
With assurance and verve, Hill strutted and shimmied,
played off her guitarist (who also happens to be her
husband, Matt Hill), and sang a tantalizing blend of wild
roots rockers, simmering soul, and hard-edged vintage-style
R&B. The set encompassed much of her CD Here’s NikkiHill, augmented by scorching covers of Little Richard,
Etta James, and Bobby “Blue” Bland numbers.
Almost from the first notes of the Tarheel Slim and
Dale Hawkins classic “#9 Train,” much of the crowd was on
its feet, where it remained,
dancing and transfixed,
for the next hour, except
for a brief interval when Hill,
perhaps out of mercy, called for her stunning deep soul
ballad “Don’t Cry Anymore,” a move that slowed the set’s
tempo momentarily, but did nothing to relieve its intensity.
She closed with AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie.” The auda-
cious choice seemed natural, an extension of what came
before, and had the audience screaming its enthusiasm
and surprise.
Mighty Mike Schermer, guitarist for Marcia Ball, who
was scheduled next, arrived backstage shortly after Hill took
control. He listened approvingly to the R&B-singing fireball
for a few minutes before leaning over to say, “I haven’t seen
her before. She’s great. She’s like Lou Ann Barton!” The
comparison is apt vocally, as both singers have effortless
control over that essential grind in their voices, and musi-
cally, for both, steeped in tradition, lean on a repertoire that
leans on roots music from across the spectrum, with R&B
ballads, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll shading their blues.
The question remained: Was Hill unheralded royalty or
an irresistible rebel leader? Just three years ago she was a
young lady with a college degree and excellent, eclectic
musical taste, a music lover in a relationship with the Blues
Music Award-winning guitarist Matt Hill, and scarcely thinking
about singing.
Today, everyone is talking about her, with good reason.
In 2014 she will appear at about 30 festivals, including
Australia’s internationally acclaimed Byron Bay Bluesfest
and the Main Stage at the Chicago Blues Festival. Her
precipitous rise is evolving as the natural result of tireless
hard work, a deep love of music, and talent and charisma
(Don “T-Bone” Erickson flatly states, “Best stage presence
anywhere”).
Felix Reyes, who recorded albums for both Nikki and
Matt Hill at his House of Tone studios, says: “She’s poised
NIK
KI
HIL
Lby
Tom
Hys
lop
“THIS IS MUSIC FOR EVERYBODY.”
PHOTOGRAPHY © AIGARS LAPSA
Blues Music Magazine 15
to be something really great. They’re doing the roadwork right
now, and they’re gaining fans all over the world. Nikki and Matt
together, that’s like a one-two punch, it’s ridiculous.
“What’s cool about them is that there’s a tremendous respect
for the history and the tradition of the music they’re playing, but
they’re not afraid to throw an AC/DC song in there at a blues
festival as their encore. Which I thought was just the most brilliant
thing I’d ever heard. It’s totally authentic to them, ‘cause that’s the
music they grew up with as kids. It’s not a lie; they’re not just doing
it as some shtick. That kind of honesty is really refreshing in the
music biz.”
A native of Durham, North Carolina, Hill shares Southern
roots and a background singing in the church with many great
American voices. “I think one time I joked with someone that it
was a lot less of that Fender Rhodes church and a lot more of
the scene from The Blues Brothers, you know? The super holy,
rejoicing, on their feet, clapping, dancing, fainting–the full-on
thing, it was the full-on thing. You feel the soul in it, it’s driving
rhythm, it’s call and response. Gospel to me is just the formula.”
Combine that with an enthusiasm for popular music.
“Growing up I was a music fan. I would listen to anything. When I
was a little kid, my sisters were pre-teens or teenagers, so they
were always gonna listen to whatever was new and hip, but I’d
get to drive to the beach with my dad, and he might turn on the
oldies station, and it was like, ‘Oh man! Creedence Clearwater.
I don’t know what this is, but it feels good.’ Felt good to drive too,
felt good to hang out with my dad too, and felt good to fish too.
Stuff like that, Otis Redding, the Stones, I loved it.”
A music-loving crowd at school helped spark Hill’s interest.
“I’d seen a pretty good mix of shows by the time I met them, too,
everyone from Janet Jackson to AC/DC, but they really introduced
me to a lot of harder-edged music. I was on the edge of the
generation still making mix tapes, and then it became CD trading.
“So when I started really heavily listening to the Cramps
and Motörhead, for example, I’d go back and read about who they
listened to, and you kept hearing about Chuck Berry, and then
paying attention to the covers the Cramps were doin’, and hearing
the huge blues influence in a lot of AC/DC tunes, or hearing their
cover of “Baby Please Don’t Go,” and then you go back and
you see all the people that covered it, and man, you talk about
explosion! And that’s just how it kicks off, you know?”
Today even a brief conversation with Hill touches on a
dizzying range of favorite artists, beginning with her primary
inspirations Mavis Staples (“Her voice peaks #1, she’s got
16 Blues Music Magazine
something that’s beyond human!”) and Otis Redding, and
continuing through Little Richard, The Faces, Phil Alvin, Link Wray,
and Bukka White. “Eddie Hinton and James Carr: I’m a soul
vocalist fan, big time. That’s good stuff.”
Other touchstones are Booker T & the MG’s and The Meters,
Toots and the Maytals, A Tribe Called Quest, Billie Holiday, Jerry
Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Lazy Lester, and Otis Rush (“He’ll kick
you off with that good voice and then that fuckin’ slammin’ guitar!”).
Live records by James Brown, Sam Cooke, and B.B. King are
special favorites. And “obviously
Tina Turner, I think she could have
fronted AC/DC easily.” (It keeps
coming back to AC/DC. “Rock ’n’
roll and soul? Bon Scott nailed it
beyond nailed it.”)
Hill’s musical awareness
makes her at once a traditionalist
and an iconoclast who firmly
rejects any categorization,
although several cliques would
claim her. Her own attitude is
more inclusive. “My bass player is
gonna wear his Notorious B.I.G.
shirt sometimes. It’s not to be
ironic, it’s because he fuckin’
listens to Notorious B.I.G.. Those
people that do like Notorious
B.I.G. see us bein’ ourselves and
think, ‘OK, I don’t have to feel like
if I don’t know all this music
they’re playing, that I don’t know
anything.’
“I want to reach those people,
too. I want them to hear what
we’re playing and for them to dig
it. You can be an ‘Artist’ about it
and say, ‘Nobody label me.’ At the
same time, I don’t want to be one
of those ‘We’re a rockin’ soul-
blues-a-billy-honky-tonk band.’
For me it’s important to capture all
music lovers. I think a lot of us in scenes get really caught up in
just playing for each other. And that is zero of what this has
anything to do with. This is music for everybody.”
As bandleader and boss lady, Hill is keenly aware of the hard
work that has gone into her success. Still, it seems sudden. “What
a trip! My very first tour was at the very end of 2012 and that’s
when everything started. I quit my job while we were on that tour,
and here we are a couple years later. That’s pretty much just how
it kicked off. I gotta give it up to the power of YouTube. That really
gave me the boost of hearing people asking, ‘Where’s the record?
I wanna buy whatever she’s got.’ I didn’t have anything. I didn’t
have a thing.”
Since then she has recorded an EP that was folded into
2013’s full-length Here’s Nikki Hill CD, as well as a second EP,
Soul Meets Country, a side project recorded in Memphis with
Deke Dickerson and the Bo-Keys. “Everybody really came
together and did a great job. I did miss my band, but man! if you
can’t work with your own, I like to set the bar up there. A lot of my
stuff has been written on the fly, not necessarily by choice. It’s fun
now to be on the road, having time to write, and also having the
chance to audience-test, too. The plan is to record again very
soon when a break comes up. There will be another album comin’
out, which is kinda where I’m leaving it right now.
“People ask why I’m making certain decisions. A lot of time
there’s not much thought to it. To me, the most important thing is
to play. Getting in front of people is our goal, playing and pouring
out what we pour out, and hoping the people like it. And it’s really
just as simple as that. We’re out on the road, getting new faces
into the clubs every time. It’s great
to see fan response and see
people spreading the word with
us and for us.”
Hill is justifiably proud of
her band: drummer Joe Meyer,
electric bassist Ed Strohsahl, and
Nikki’s husband, guitarist Matt Hill,
who has two solo albums to his
credit. Dubbed The Pirate Crew,
the trio is the engine that makes
touring fun under any conditions
(everyone in the group is a
genuine hash tag wit and
bon vivant).
“I consider them the guys.
I can focus on the numbers and
the press et cetera, and I can lean
on those guys musically. I don’t
think a lot of people are so lucky.
I can put out an idea, I can tell
‘em this is what we’re gonna do,
and I know they’re gonna do it
beyond better than I predicted.
I can just let myself fall into the
music, and I can really absorb it
and put the passion into it.
“The Pirate Crew and I really
deliver something solid. I whole-
heartedly believe in that. And all I
can ever support it with is, just
come see the show. Once they
see the show, there’s not anybody that disagrees. And that’s the
calling card, that’s the business model, and it feels good that we’re
able to do that.
“I’m thankful I’ve got a great team on my side. It’s like I woke
up on January 1st, 2013, and it was ‘Alright, I’m a small business
owner, here we go!’ I can’t really ever say that was on my goal list,
and then boom! it happened, and that became the ultimate
challenge. And things are goin’ great.
“It’s good to work on the songs together, record them
together, and listen to how they’re changing, and how tight they
are, and then all our focus can just go into the show. And as
cheesy as it is, it feels good to be able to do something that I love
so much, and that my husband loves so much, and that we get to
do it together.
“We got together not knowing at all that this would be the
result, but to be able to work with him and play with him and hear
his music getting better, hear me getting better, it is all so cool.
What more can you ask for than to be successful, just based on
you, based on how you give that to people?”
PHO
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JOSE
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Blues Music Magazine 17
one could have known it at the
time, but Andy T and Nick Nixon
needed each other for a lot of years. Even
they didn’t have a clue.
But four years ago when journeyman
guitarist Andy Talamantez first heard James
“Nick” Nixon sing at a Nashville blues jam,
he realized he was listening to a blues voice
he needed and wanted. He’d already been
in the studio off and on working on his debut
CD with Texas guitarist Anson Funderburgh,
yet there were holes in the music and both
knew it. A couple of singers were called in,
but neither proved to be a good match.
Finally, Funderburgh challenged
Talamantez in 2010 at the King Biscuit
Blues Festival in Helena, Ark. “You live in
Nashville,” he said. “There’s a lot of good
singers there, and I’m sure you can find one.”
Talamantez already had Nixon in mind,
but he wasn’t quite sure how to approach
him. “I really didn’t think he would say yes,”
Talamantez says. “I knew he liked singing
as a hobby and that held me back.” Still,
he’d gotten goose bumps the first time he
heard Nixon singing at a Nashville blues
jam and he trusted that first impression.
Nixon, who like Talamantez had set
aside his music career years ago to raise
a family, decided the time was right to give it
a shot. The result was the surprising DrinkDrank Drunk debut CD that resonated with
blues fans and promptly landed a spot
among the top blues CDs of 2013. It also led
to an ambitious touring schedule and
another date with Funderburgh at the studio
controls. Their second CD Livin’ It Up was
released in June on Delta Groove and builds
on the first CD, depending on more original
songs and basking in the confidence of a
band that knows where it is going.
The recent past has been period of
growth for the 58-year-old Talamantez and
the 73-year-old Nixon. They count them-
selves fortunate that the blues isn’t as
age-sensitive as most forms of music today.
“I’ve always wanted to do this, and I never
considered age to be a stumbling block,”
Talamantez says. “If anything, I think my
guitar playing is better than ever, and I
find myself playing things that I never
have before.
“Part of that comes from Nick. He’s so
inspirational. You hear his voice and your
own work to rise up with that. It’s really been
amazing in how our relationship has devel-
oped and how well we seem for each other.”
byM
ichae
l Kin
sman
PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
ANDY
T&
NICK
NIXO
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18 Blues Music Magazine
Nixon got his first exposure to music in a Pentecostal church,
where there was plenty of rhythm and percussion. By the time
he got to high school in Nashville in the 1950s, choir director
Shannon Williford – himself a notable opera singer – heard
Nixon’s booming voice and recruited him.
“He trained me to sing opera,” Nixon recalls. “I didn’t like it all
that much, but I was learning to use my voice.” He would spend
many years trying to shed some of his operatic techniques.
“The hardest thing I’ve ever done was undoing that.”
He eventually wound up in King James & the Sceptres, an inte-
grated R&B group that featured Nixon in the staring role. While that
band only lasted five years, it nurtured Nixon’s singing enough that
he landed with another group called Past, Present and Future, who
would record a single, “Behind Closed Doors” for Chess Records.
In the early 1960s, he met up with two soldiers from Fort
Campbell, Ky., who would spend weekends gigging on Nashville’s
Jefferson Street. Like Nixon, bassist Billy Cox and guitarist
Jimi Hendrix were enamored of local guitar
hero Johnny Jones. It seemed that every
guitar player in Nashville at the time wanted
to emulate Jones.
“All Jimi wanted to do was practice his
guitar,” Nixon says. “All the girls were crazy
about him, but he loved that guitar more.”
Nixon says Hendrix grew disenchanted with
Nashville, believing his guitar playing wasn’t
appreciated. “It wasn’t that we didn’t like it,”
he says, “but we didn’t understand what he
was playing. It was so different from what we
were used to. It sounded wrong.”
Nixon kept at his music, but with a
growing family decided he’d better find some-
thing more stable to support it. He joined the
Nashville Parks & Recreation Department,
where he taught music to kids and while his
personal music would become secondary.
He and his musical partner Williford created
an educational workshop that they ran for
15 years, eventually earning them a Keeping the Blues Alive
award in 2000 from The Blues Foundation.
During his 35-year tenure as a city employee, Nixon built a
home recording studio where he would produce 10 gospel and
R&B albums with various groups, but never scored a hit.
Meanwhile, Talamantez was raising his own family in Los
Angeles. The guitar player really got excited by music when he saw
Cream playing on the Ed Sullivan Show, an event that would even-
tually lead him to the blues. But music remained secondary in his life
as he settled into a job working in an aerospace machine shop.
“I’d been playing music for a long time and always had friends
in a band, but while I aspired to play music, reality set in and I
knew I had to get a regular job,” he says.
By 1996, he’d grown antsy and began getting more involved
in music. Encouraged by his wife, Kathy Bolmer – now a member
of the Board of Directors of The Blues Foundation – Talamantez
got more aggressive with his music career, playing in the band of
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Mississippi transplant Smokey Wilson, who operated a Los
Angeles club. That led to a fill-in role with Guitar Shorty that
eventually turned into a three-year full-time gig. In 2003
Talamantez set his sights on his own band.
“I had met Anson on the road and we became friends,”
he says. “We had been talking about me making a solo album for
several years and getting Anson to play on it. Eventually,
he decided to produce it.”
They initially thought Talamantez would handle vocals as
well as guitar duty, but he quickly realized that his vocal skills
weren’t up to the standards he wanted. Still, Funderburgh urged
him to press on, realizing that they had laid down some intriguing
tracks, and that they would simply be wasting money unless they
found a vocalist worthy of the job.
Funderburgh knew the issue Talamentez faced. He had
founded Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets in the 1980s with
Darrell Nulisch as lead singer. But when Nulisch left in 1986 for a
solo career, Funderburgh had to fine a replacement voice.
He recruited veteran bluesman Sam Myers to sing and play
harmonica and what blossomed was not just a musical partner-
ship but also an endearing friendship that lasted until Myers’s
death from cancer in 2006.
“I know it seems strange coming from a guitar player, but
I’ve always been attracted by vocals,” Funderburgh says. “I love
singers and I love words, and I’ve always built bands around a
singer. It was that way with Darrell and Sam and John Nemeth.
With Andy, we seemed to be going about this a different way.”
Once he heard Nixon sing, Funderburgh was sold. “When
I first heard him sing, I was blown away,” he says. “I said
‘There’s a hit in that voice,’” he says. “I’ve been in and out of
Nashville for years and I’d never heard of him. I couldn’t believe
that someone with a voice like that existed.”
Nixon’s booming voice is perfectly matched with
Talamantez’s flowing guitar work. Talamantez says he marvels
every time he hears Nixon sing. “He’s never off-pitch. He has that
great tone and amazing control. He sings like I wish I could sing.”
They are hoping the in-roads they achieved with their debut
will spill over to Livin’ It Up. The CD features 10 originals among
the 13 cuts. Talamantez says because of the band’s constant
touring, recording the CD was easy.
“I think the first one surprised a lot of people,” Funderburgh
says. “Our biggest challenge this time was that we’d had such
success with Drink Drank Drunk that we felt we need to make
one that’s better.
“But we knew we had the right people after a year and a half
of touring and that helped a lot. We didn’t have to worry about
who would play on what. We were committed to using who we
had in the band and that helped. There were no hurt feelings or
tension. We all knew what we had to do.”
With their second CD out, the band is happy to be on the
road again, traversing the country to dates in a 1953 GMC bus
whose history is as traveled as its occupants. Acquired from
Funderburgh, the warhorse as been a Greyhound cruiser and
then home to a gospel group and the bands of Funderburg and
Bugs Henderson among others. It has an estimated four million
miles on it and has been christened “The Funderbus.” Nixon has
his own swivel lounge chair that he plops into drifts off just like he
was at home in front of the TV.
“He feels right at home, and for Nick that’s just what he likes,”
says Talamantez.“I hope he likes that feeling for a long time.”
20 Blues Music Magazine
you have a passport?”
the old bluesman interrupted.
Teenaged Selwyn Birchwood had
waited six months for the opportunity to
play guitar for Sonny Rhodes, who stopped
him in the middle of his song to ask the
question which doubled as a direct and
sudden offer for a job and an invaluable
apprenticeship. A year later, 19-year-old
Birchwood asked Rhodes why he had
hired him on the spot when there were so
many accomplished guitarists from whom
to choose.
“He just laughed and said I reminded
him of himself when he was younger,” said
Birchwood, now 29 and with his own band
and a new deal with Alligator Records.
Birchwood heard that comparison again
after he assembled a veteran group, each
a jazz aficionado but with many years of
experience with blues bands: Regi Oliver,
a baritone sax player, Donald “Huff” Wright,
a bassist, and drummer Curtis Nutall.
“I’ve watched him grow at a startling
rate,” 50-year-old Oliver said. “He’s very
serious about what he’s doing. He’s not
one of those shoot-yourself-in-the-foot,
afraid-of-success musicians. That kind of
attentiveness and discipline reminds me
of a younger version of myself.
“We pride ourselves in picking
winners and Selwyn’s definitely a winner,”
continued Oliver.
He has the hardware to prove it. A
year after reaching the Blues Foundation’s
2012 International Blues Challenge finals,
the Selwyn Birchwood Band won the 2013
IBC, and Birchwood, who plays electric and
lap steel guitars, was given the Albert King
Most Promising Guitarist Award, which
doubtless led to more comparisons. Blues
fans covet the exciting new, young gun-
slinger, and the 6-foot-3-inch (not including
afro) tall Birchwood fills the bill.
“I don’t think he wants to be another
Stevie Ray Vaughan,” Nuttall said. “He
wants to be a game-changer more than
he wants to take the place, or be in the
pantheon, of those guys. I think he just
wants to take the blues to what his per-
spective is. Because when you look at the
genre, there are not too many people in his
age bracket that are into blues. I like his
concepts and ideas because he’s trying to
take the blues to the next level.”
“I look at him with the perspective of
him being more than just a blues guitar
SELW
YNB
IRCH
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OD
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arso
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PHOTOGRAPHY © MARK GOODMAN
Blues Music Magazine 21
player,” Wright added, “because the whole blues genre as we
know it is evolving. And it’s evolving to the point where it’s includ-
ing a little of this style of music, a little of that style of music, yet it’s
assembled under the blues umbrella. Selwyn’s very versatile like
that because he is able to play different styles and the evidence of
that is on the new CD that was released June 10. That’s clearly all
the evidence you need.”
Twelve songs written by Birchwood appear on Don’t CallNo Ambulance, which has a flavor of traditional blues in an Elmore
James vein, but it’s also explorative and fresh. Each song has a
different blues-based sound. The instrumentation is unique.
“I love the texture of high-screaming guitar and that low
baritone,” said Alligator Records President Bruce Iglauer, the
album’s executive producer. Birchwood said signing with Alligator
is “sort of surreal.”
A gravelly singing voice, onstage presence, phenomenal
musicianship, and business acumen make him seem much older
than his age. What gives Birchwood away
is an exuberant countenance from a baby
face and a tendency to finish thoughtful
sentences with “and stuff.” The adolescent
characteristic to exude boredom stoked
an intellectual fire to blaze a trail toward
high achievement. He started guitar at 13.
“I was just playing whatever music
was on the radio and what my friends
were listening to at the time,” he said.
“I got bored with it. It didn’t excite me.
I was going to quit playing guitar, and
then (at age 17) I heard (Jimi) Hendrix.
I’d never heard anything like it, and I
was really curious where the hell it came
from. It was just bizarre sounds to me.
“I did some research to see where
he got his stuff from. He talks about a lot
of the old blues guys, especially Buddy Guy. Buddy just happened
to be coming into town the very same week. Walking blindly into a
Buddy Guy concert, I didn’t know what I was in for. I couldn’t
believe what I was seeing and what I was hearing, but I thought,
‘That’s what I want to do.’”
Music and basketball were Birchwood’s passions, but he later
came to appreciate the poetry he was forced to read in English
class. It helped build a songwriting foundation. He credits his
mother, a painter, for encouraging creativity. “I always thought it
was interesting how people put words together and how they
would tell a story,” Birchwood said. “There is nothing that bores me
more than hearing a song that’s just not saying anything. I can’t
imagine sitting down and writing on a piece of paper and handing it
to somebody and say, ‘This is my song,’ and the reading is just
words. And it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t say anything.
“So when I write a song, I try to have some sort of subject or
story or substance to it and try to word it in a way that’s just relat-
able and gets the point across. I’ve always found it weird in this
genre that a lot of people are content playing other people’s
songs. I enjoy classic blues tunes and older songs other people
have written, but I can’t bring myself to just sit play other people’s
songs all the time. I want to say something myself. That’s where
my head is at.”
Birchwood had known about his friend’s neighbor for a while,
but when he was a senior in high school, he heard one of Sonny
Rhodes’ captivating albums, and he tried to set up a meeting.
Because Rhodes was on the road so often, it took a half-year
before Birchwood’s friend called and said the bluesman was at his
house and wanted to see the young player.
“I went over there and played a tune,” Birchwood said. “He
looked at his bass player and smiled and looked back at me and
stopped me in the middle of a song and asked if I had a passport.
I started doing gigs (as a rhythm guitarist) with them when they
were around home, and then when I graduated high school, I went
on the road all through my college summer and winter breaks.
“He really showed me what was out there and the ins and
outs of surviving the business. He showed me how to be a band-
leader consciously or unconsciously just by watching him. It was a
very cool learning experience, and stuff.”
Rhodes played bass behind Freddie King and Albert Collins,
but he is best known for his skill on the lap steel guitar, which he
encouraged Birchwood to play. Rhodes also told him to finish
college. Birchwood, who went on to complete a Master’s Degree
in Business Administration, was able to look at his situation analyti-
cally. “There was nothing else that I wanted to do but play guitar,”
he said. “But there’s so much competition in this business that you
have to have something to fall back onto. I don’t know what this
business will look like in 10 years. There are a lot of clubs closing
and who knows?”
Iglauer was intrigued when he learned Birchwood was
mentored by Rhodes and has an MBA. He said he’s the first
Alligator artist with a master’s degree.
“The fact that he knows how much Sonny Rhodes made on
the road, that he had a Master’s Degree that certainly could get
him employed at something that might involve a suit and tie but
certainly would pay him more than he would be paid as a blues
musician, and that he’s chosen to be a blues musician, says
something very important about the kind of person he is and his
determination and love for this music,” Iglauer said.
Birchwood was astute enough to volunteer to be the driver in
order to get two more inches of leg room when the band rode a
Ford Fusion from Los Angeles to Detroit. He also learned lessons
about being a bandleader himself when he was in his mid-20s in
Orlando.
During that time, he won the Orange Blossom Blues Society
competition to play at the IBC. One of the judges was his future
band mate Oliver, who also is highly educated. He said he used to
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22 Blues Music Magazine
be ridiculed and called “college boy.” Nowadays, Birchwood and
Oliver’s favorite subject is Blues Vocabulary.
“We’ll play a game with each other,” Oliver said. “I’ll call out a
name, say Albert King, and he improvises sounds just like Albert
King. Or I’ll say Kenny Neal. You close your eyes and will swear
Kenny Neal was sitting in front of you playing. He loves Elmore
James and Muddy Waters and can basically play just like those
guys. When you develop and cultivate that kind of mastery it draws
you home. You know what you’re listening to. You don’t have to
guess, is this rock blues or electric blues? You just know that it’s
blues. I lend a jazz sensibility to what’s happening.”
Cognizant of the importance of band chemistry, Birchwood
sought the right line-up during the time when he completed his
degree at University of Tampa. Oliver introduced Birchwood to
Wright, who has recently left Joey Gilmore’s band.
“I look at him as a very, very mature 29-year-old gentleman,”
Wright said. “If I didn’t see that maturity in him, he would not have
my services. First and foremost, he has a very good sense for busi-
ness. He understands the roles of the people who he has working
for him. He understands what it takes to keep a band at its highest
level, performance wise and business wise, and it’s just as impor-
tant to have good chemistry between the people who are working
for him and he clearly understands that. Those are the kind of
things that will take him further than he is now.”
Nutall agreed. “One thing that I like about him is he’s
organized,” he said. “I’ve been a bandleader myself, so I know
what the job entails, and so far, so good with him. He’s been doing
a good job. He keeps us working, and he takes care of business.
He’s a smart guy. He’s real bright.”
The band was intact by 2012 when it represented Tampa at
the IBC. It reached the final round of nine and captured Iglauer’s
attention. “I was very impressed by his set at the finals and sought
him out after the show. I found
that he was a very smart, articu-
late, and nice person, and that he
was extremely driven to make his
career in the blues, but at that
point he was still in college,”
Iglauer said.
The IBC is a stressful musical
version of the NCAA Basketball
Tournament where there is one
winner and more than 100 devas-
tated losers. But Birchwood used
the experience to develop a win-
ning formula for his third trip to
Memphis. “If you go there thinking
that you’re going to win, you are
going to end up disappointed most
likely,” Birchwood said.
“When we were done playing,
I was just running around to
every bar trying to talk to as many
people as I could, shake as many
hands as I could, and handing out
my business cards, fliers, posters,
and CDs. I did that every year that
I was up there. By the time I got to
2013 IBC, a lot of people had
already heard of us. They were
having to cut off the venue, stop letting people in, because so many
people were coming out to see us.”
Crowd response is just one of the judges’ criteria. “We saw
where we were lacking so we went back to the laboratory and worked
on that,” Nutall said. “We needed a little bit more cohesiveness in
terms of the order of the presentation. I think we needed to be a little
more upbeat, smiling, showing that we are having a good time.
“And the musicianship, the technique part and also make sure
that everyone in the band got featured a little bit. So it wasn’t just
going up there and doing some tunes. It was showing the full scope
of the band, what everyone can do and what everyone is bringing
to the band as a whole. Also, we had to time it where we could get
all of that in within 25 minutes. So we flushed it out.”
Iglauer was a judge for the finals in the Orpheum Theatre.
“As far as I’m concerned, he won them easily,” Iglauer said. “There
was nobody else that brought that level of excitement and blues
feeling to the stage. Plus he had the nerve to get down on his
hands and knees with a microphone and work the floor like Howlin’
Wolf. It takes some balls to get on your hands and knees in front of
a theater crowd that isn’t ready for that.
“I was impressed by that. And I was impressed by the fact that
he was doing all original material. I loved his playing. His singing
was well developed already. He had a signature voice with a certain
amount of gravel in it, but not as theatrical as like a Wolf imitator.
The vocalist he reminds me of most is Kenny Neal.”
Birchwood’s channeling of Howlin’ Wolf was born in the Alley,
a blues bar near his native hometown Orlando. “We always have a
sold out crowd there and people are always buying drinks and stuff,”
Birchwood said. “Everybody knows what I drink, so they buy a shot.
I ended up a couple more shots in than I would like to be and I was
doing “Creeping Green Gator.” I ended up putting my guitar down
and just crawling across the ground like an alligator and everybody
loved it. I read a bunch of stories
about Howlin’ Wolf. I was whiskey
strong enough to try it out that night.”
The “Creeping Green Gator”
went on to become an artist for
Alligator. “It’s good to be with a group
of guys who are poised and capable
of pulling something like this off,”
Oliver said. “Combine that with a
beast of a machine like Alligator
Records, and the components for
success are there. I’m elated about
our relationship with Bruce and our
record label. The whole gang at
Intrepid Artists is working very hard,
diligently presenting us all over the
planet. It’s a very good win-win
situation and we will do our best to
make this happen.”
Oliver was the final band
member to speak with Blues MusicMagazine for this article. He called
from Washington Dulles Interna-
tional Airport just before the group
flew to Norway for a festival.
Selwyn Birchwood is going
places. It’s a good thing he has
a passport. PHO
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24 Blues Music Magazine
know I write a lot about juke joints or at
least the music and musicians that call
jukes “home.” Jukes are the blues clubs
– house parties, really – where the roots of
popular music still live and breath, even if
the breaths may not be as deep as they
once were. The simple truth is that today
there are very few juke joints left in the
American south and even fewer that still
offer regular, live blues music.
For these reasons, you owe it to your-
self to make a juke joint pilgrimage sooner
rather than later. Tonight, you can still fall
into an authentic juke joint experience.
I can’t promise that tomorrow. Drop by my
Cat Head blues store any time you swing
through Clarksdale, Mississippi, and we’ll
happily point you towards the real-deal.
WHERE THE JUKES ARE
Starting on the fringes of Mississippi, you
might try a weekend night at Wild Bill’s in
Memphis, Tennessee, Teddy’s Juke Joint
in Zachary, Louisiana, or Gip’s Place in
Bessemer, Alabama.
Wild Bill, himself, was an old dude
who used to “hold the door” (collect the
money) at his namesake juke in Memphis.
He’s passed on, but his joint still rolls on
each weekend, which is a rarity since
most jukes go the way of the dodo upon
their proprietor’s demise. Wild Bill’s offers
a deeper Memphis juke experience than
anything you’re likely to find on better-
known Beale Street.
Teddy’s is a bit down and out of the
way in Louisiana, but well worth seeking
out. The owner has made the trip to
Clarksdale several times is as colorful a
character as you’re likely to find. His place
comes highly recommended for blues
tourists headed to Louisiana.
Then, there’s
Gip’s. Mr. Gip is the
“Old Man” in the game.
Now in his nineties,
he seems blissfully
unaware of the math
involved. Like a much
younger man,
he often plays the first
Saturday-night set
– awesome old blues
slide guitar numbers –
and is fond of dancing
with the ladies after the main act begins,
always with a beer in hand. His place is
unique among surviving jukes since it
features as much outdoor partying area
as indoor. Like other genuine jukes, it is,
less “up to code” than perhaps a modern
music venue might be. More on Gip’s in
a moment.
MISSISSIPPIAIN’T NOTHIN’ BUT A JUKE
In Mississippi, there are three jukes left
that get most of the headlines (when
occasionally a headline finds them).
Jukin’
I
by Roger Stolle
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RED PADEN AND GIP GIPSONGIP’S PLACE
Blues Music Magazine 25
Blue Front Café in Bentonia, Po Monkey’s
Lounge near Merigold, and Red’s Lounge
in Clarksdale. There is also the Queen of
Hearts in Jackson, and the occasional
juke operating in the Hill Country region of
the Magnolia State, but basically, the first
three are the ones to concentrate on.
The Blue Front is owned and oper-
ated by the last of the culturally-connected
players from the so-called “Bentonia
School” of blues – a haunting style pio-
neered by Henry Stuckey, Skip James,
and Jack Owens. Blue Front owner
Jimmy “Duck” Holmes is a true torch-
bearer in at least two ways. He inherited
the family juke from his parents and his
style of blues playing from Owens. There
aren’t regularly scheduled shows at the
Blue Front, but it is still an essential stop
on the blues trail. And who knows? Spend
a little time and money with Duck, and he
just might pick up his guitar for you.
Po Monkey’s Lounge is – how should
I say it – ridiculous! The owner, Willie
“Po Monkey” Seaberry, just wants to
everybody to have a good time, so his
world is full of as much humor as it is
blues. Thursday nights are his night in the
Delta. His rural juke is lost to time, out in a
cotton (ok, last year it was corn) field near
Merigold, Mississippi, but that doesn’t
keep folks from finding him. His place was
clearly built without the aid of an architect,
but don’t think it’s not a work of art.
(Please just note the exits upon entering.)
Monkey’s is not normally a “live music”
juke joint. Deejays only on Thursdays, but
occasionally, Delta State University nearby
will book some non-Thursday blues
happenings. Either way, smiles abound.
Now, what can we say about Red’s?
“BACKED BY THE RIVER,FRONTED BY THE GRAVE”
In owner Red Paden’s mind, the slogan
above is as good as any GPS coordinates.
His 30-year-old Red’s Lounge faces a
graveyard (technically, it’s catty-corner)
and is backed by the Sunflower River in
downtown Clarksdale, Mississippi. I’m not
saying that makes “hiding the bodies”
easier that at most jukes. I’m just sayin’.
Red is the self-proclaimed “King of
the Juke Joint Runners” and deeply
dedicated to keeping both the culture and
the music of Mississippi jukes of yore
alive in the modern age. He takes his job
very seriously, even if he is quick to crack
a joke (often at his patron’s expense).
I like to tell blues visitors to Clarksdale
that a Saturday night at Red’s with a
Robert “Wolfman” Belfour, Robert “Bilbo”
Walker, or Leo “Bud” Welch performing
is as deep a blues experience as you
can have today. The combination of
bluesmen who are 70 and 80 years old
at a juke that’s still run like a juke – well,
that’s THE BLUES, y’all.
A JUKE RUNNERS’ SUMMITIN BESSEMER, ALABAMA
Recently, one of Red’s customers (thanks,
Don) brought Red and me over to Gip’s
in Alabama, so the “King” could meet the
“Old Man” in the game and check out his
operation. It was a riot, of course, and
involved buckets of alcohol, plenty of
women and more bull*** than a Texas
cattle drive. They compared notes, con-
gratulated each other on keeping the
blues alive, and then went on to have a
damn good time.
Gip has actually visited Red a couple
of times, now. He also played his mega-
old-school blues at an April blues festival
you might like to hear about.
JUKE JOINT FESTIVALCELEBRATES THE ROOTS
In Clarksdale, Mississippi, we celebrate
juke joints every April, featuring over 100
blues acts and the true stars of the show,
our local jukes. Red’s is a main attraction
that weekend, but other lesser known
jukes join in the fun. From DJ Hype’s R&B
Lounge in an old gas station on MLK
Drive to the juke-inspired Ground Zero
Blues Club downtown and 18 other
true-blue venues, it’s an unforgettable
weekend of jukin’. In 2015, plan to attend
Juke Joint Festival & Related Events from
Thursday-Sunday, April 9-12. Details at
jukejointfestival.com. For hotel and other
info, check out my “Clarksdale” web page
at cathead.biz.
HIGHLYRECOMMENDEDFOR BLUESTOURISTS
26 Blues Music Magazine
I joined Muddy Waters’
band in August 1973,
I met some of his friends. I remember the
first time I loaded my amp into Muddy’s
van, double parked outside of Paul’s Mall
in Boston as the band left to drive back to
Chicago the day after my first gig with
Muddy. Suddenly, Bo
Diddley pulled up to load
in for his own gig and
greeted and joked with
his friends in Muddy’s
band. I realized I’d be
meeting legendary music
icons through my new
Muddy connection.
I also met a young man
who was about my age
but had already been
friends with Muddy for a
couple of years: Terry
Abrahamson.
Terry hung out with
Muddy’s band often then.
I shared his awe of the
legendary blues musi-
cians we laughed with,
and I enjoyed Terry’s
musician-like sense of
humor – cynical, vulgar,
and quick to laugh at life’s
challenges. He had a
camera and used it often.
In February 1974, when I
first recorded with Muddy
at the last Chess studios in Chicago, Terry
had written some of the songs Muddy
recorded.
After 1980, Terry and I sent an
occasional hello through mutual friends,
but I didn’t see him much until the last few
years when he showed me his new photo
book, In The Belly Of The Blues. I was
deeply impressed with how Terry had pre-
sented his now historic photos, and his
soulful stories from a time we now call
“back in the day.” This is not a review, I just
want to introduce you to Terry, who deeply
loves blues, other blues lovers, and the
musicians, and shows you his memories
today in photos and recordings. Now I
invite Terry to tell you in his own words.
BOB: Terry, your photos and the
songs you’ve written show how much you
love the spirit of blues music, and you had
so much access to it while the legends
were still with us. Tell us more.
TERRY: I had the luck of being a
teenager in Chicago in the ‘60s, weaned
on The Stones, Yardbirds, and Cream. In
1969, I went to see a band I’d read in the
newspaper did The Stones’ “Little Red
Rooster.” That was Howlin’ Wolf, the first
real Chicago blues singer I’d ever heard:
powerful, primitive, and totally rocking.
And somehow familiar: he had a lot of
moves I’d seen from Mick Jagger. He
roared through “Killing Floor,” “Spoonful,”
“Sitting On Top Of The World,” “Back Door
Man,” and the light went on and my life
was changed.
I went home, checked my record col-
lection and realized the music of the
bands I loved originated with a bunch of
Black guys who were all in Chicago. I
started going every weekend to see
Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers.
I met Muddy using the band’s bathroom at
Alice’s Revisited. He was regal and digni-
fied, but tremendously generous of spirit. I
took his picture, talked about how I dug
Cream’s version of “Rollin’ And Tumblin’.”
But there was another level to the
allure of the blues. These
were the Civil Rights years.
My dad made sure I under-
stood and valued all that.
And here were all these
guys who had gotten out of
Mississippi, and brought me
their music. It had weight,
history.
The blues became my
religion. In college, I joined
a group producing shows
with Furry Lewis, Jimmy
Dawkins, and Hound Dog
Taylor. In ‘73, I moved to
Boston and brought Jim
Brewer out on tour. And
the more guys I had
missed – Robert Johnson,
Elmore James, Sonny Boy
Williamson – the more I
valued those who were
still around, and became
obsessed with not just
seeing them, but knowing
them. I wrote songs with
Muddy, fried chicken in a
motel with Hound Dog,
sat in Homesick James Williamson’s
bed with him and his sister passing the
moonshine jar, sat in Willie Dixon’s front
room – just us two – as he played the
session he’d just done with Reverend
Balenger; I still have the cassette. I cre-
ated a Levi’s commercial for John Lee
Hooker and wrote the song he played.
I even cast Willie Smith in a Bar Mitzvah
video. And as Eddie Shaw sings in my
song “All That Stuff,”
I started out when I was young,And get ready baby, ‘cause I ain’t done.
BOB: You told me at the Blues Music
Awards that it’s a thrill for you to get back
by Bob Margolin
A Life In The Music
When
FREDDIE KING AND MUDDY WATERS, RHODE ISLAND BLUES FESTIVAL, 1975
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Blues Music Magazine 27
into the blues scene after decades of
pursuing other interests. Tell us about
In The Belly Of The Blues.
TERRY: Robert Gordon was doing
Muddy’s bio around 12 years ago, and
found me through you while looking for
undiscovered photos. You knew I always
had the camera. The photos had, except
for maybe six on my walls, sat in a box on
a shelf in a closet for decades. When
Robert used a few, the Rock & Roll Hall
Of Fame saw them and wanted to buy
the negatives, but I was advised to keep
control because I had “unique access”
as reflected in the intimate moments of
Muddy with The Stones, Taj Mahal,
Freddie King, and others.
The early ones of Muddy were
taken with an instamatic and a flashcube.
Then I graduated to a Minolta and a mini-
Chinon with Lincoln Continental suicide
doors. There are roughly 100 photos in
the book, including a bunch with Muddy
and the Stones at the Quiet Knight three
years before the legendary Checkerboard
show. I self-published In The Belly Of TheBlues two years ago and am going into
my second printing.
It’s gotten a tremendous response,
It’s part of the permanent collection of the
library of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame,
and has inspired my live show, The Blues
LoveFest including rare video and music
and the tales behind the photos. I’ve done
libraries, schools, and I’m doing a Mensa
gathering this weekend.
The greatest honors have been two
exhibitions running concurrently right
now: at Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven
Museum at 2120 South Michigan Avenue
within the hallowed walls of the old Chess
Studios; and down in Clarksdale at the
Delta Blues Museum, in the same exhibi-
tion hall as Muddy’s Stovall Plantation
cabin. It opened down there on his birth-
day weekend. I’d still love to get them up
on the walls at Fur Peace Ranch.
The book is available at some stores
around the country, at Shakespeare’s in
Paris, on Amazon.com, and through my
website inthebellyoftheblues.com, where
– if you turn up your speakers first, you
can also hear some cool tunes and enjoy
some rare vidoes.
BOB: Thanks Terry. You’ve had
some great experiences and the photos
you took show them to our readers in
a way that words alone can’t. Let’s con-
tinue in the next issue of Blues MusicMagazine with more of your photos and
some stories about your songwriting with
Muddy forty years ago to Eddie Shaw
now. And let’s toast Furry Lewis because
he’s sure toasting us.
FURRY LEWIS, 1971
PHO
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www.dickwaterman.comTO ORDER
BETWEEN MIDNIGHT & DAY“This book presents, for the first time,
many of Dick Waterman’s mostsignificant photographs from
his blues archive.” – Chris Murray
28 Blues Music Magazine
rarely takes a break. A lookat Joe Bonamassa’s recenttouring and recording
schedule confirms that this self-professedguitar geek thrives on a non-stop musicalcarousel. London, Vienna, Amsterdam,New York, his guitar cases could beplastered with hundreds of travel stickers.At the same time he was completing theexhaustive Tour de Force – Live In Londonproject, Bonamassa was taking time tojet to Nashville to work with some of
America’s finest songwriters for his nextrecording, Different Shades Of Blue. Whenwe spoke, Bonamassa was preparing toplay another sold out experience, hisblues tribute at Red Rocks Amphitheater.
Blues Music Magazine: What was theartistic aftermath after your Tour DeForce project?
Joe Bonamassa: We had all this pressbooked in New York City after the gigs
and I was so exhausted from that weekof rehearsals and gigs. It was a reallyrewarding week, but it was very stressfuland work infused. I lost my voice so thatI couldn’t do interviews.
Kevin Shirley, my manager RoyWeisman, and I were at the MontreuxJazz Festival eating Thai food next toTaj Mahal. On paper it seemed prettystraight-forward. I know all the tunes,I wrote some of the tunes, I’ve playedthem all live before, so this shouldn’t bethat hard.
By the time the first three piecegig at London’s Borderline was done,it was clear to me that this was goingto be more involved than I thought.That was an intense gig in front of 200people, and now I have to wake up thenext morning and do the horn band atShepherd’s Bush Empire. Then wakeup the next morning and do Hammer-smith Auditorium. Then, I get a dayoff and then do two sets, one of themwith the acoustic band, at the RoyalAlbert Hall. By the time it was over,I was spent.
&JOE
BONAMASSAPH
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Blues Music Magazine 29
BMM: What took youto Nashville to co-writewith songwriters GaryNicholson, Jerry Flowers,Jeffery Steele, James House,and Jonathon Cain?
Bonamassa: A lot of theorganic songwriters havemoved out of New Yorkand Los Angeles andthey’ve moved toNashville. I went therebecause I thought I owedit to my fans to do a pro-ject where I’ve had a handin the writing of thewhole record. I went therefive times on the sly lastyear when I’d come homefrom my tour. I’d dothree-day writing sessionswith those guys. I wentone more time this yearbefore we recorded therecord and really gotsome of the best stuff. I’mproud of the fact that Istuck to it and was able toget this at the same timeI was recording theLondon shows.
BMM: What do you contribute to thewriting of these songs?
Bonamassa: It’s a lot like going to adinner party. You gotta show up withsomething. Gary Nicholson, JefferySteele, Jerry Flowers, Jonathan Cain,and James House are lyric writers. Oncewe had a title, and a good flow with theverses, it’s much easier then if you justhad a riff and nothing to say. Often, I’dcome in with a verse or chorus. I hadthe idea for “Love Ain’t A Love Song”and Jeffery and Jerry added the chorus,cleaned up the words, and basicallygave it a structure. That’s how it allgets going.
You need to prep for the studio.There’s no worse feeling then to walkinto a studio and saying, “whatta got?”hat just wastes everybody’s time. I don’twant these guys just sitting around.
At the end of the day, Kevin hasa lot to do with the arrangements.We make crude demos then get in the
studio and hash out the arrangements.Things like, let’s put the chorus here orlet’s start with this verse. We map it outand two or three takes later, the song isfinished.
BMM: How did this experience rechargeyour creative batteries?
Bonamassa: It was really great torecharge the batteries and to get writingagain. It’s been so long since I’ve had thetime to write for a complete album. Andbeing introduced to guys who are sogood at creating definitely helps.
BMM: With so many songs usingLee Thornburg’s horns, what will touringbe like to support this record?
Bonamassa: Next year we’re gonnatravel with a horn section to play thesesongs. This year, we’re committed todoing a split show where I play the first45-minute set acoustic and then do
90 minutes electric. Nextyear, I’ll take the hornsection out.
BMM: You always list theguitar and amps you use torecord. What should ourreaders know about theguitars you used here?
Bonamassa: I have my goto guitar tool kit, but onthis record, I played moreStratocaster and Telecasteron a lot of the songs. I’vebeen a Gibson guy for solong. The vintage guitarhere is on “I Gave UpEverything For You,‘Cept The Blues.”
I play a beautifulblonde over ash 1956 StratI got in Nashville on one ofmy writing trips. For somereason, people like to hearme geek out on guitars.Come to my house and it’sa guitar shop.
BMM: Now that this recordis complete, what are youworking on at this moment?
Bonamassa: It’s a trial run where thefirst set is Muddy Waters songs and thesecond set will be Howlin’ Wolf songs.I’ll end the show with five of my songsthat I’ve gotta play or else the fans willbe disappointed. I have an all-star bandwith Reese Wynans, Kirk Fletcher,Anton Fig, Michael Rhodes, and LeeThronburg with his horns. For me, to beable to sing and play with that support isawesome. We’re doing a secret show andplay for an empty Rod Rocks the nightbefore the full show and we’re gonnafilm it. They’ll be about 50 people witha special invite.
One of my fans gave us a veryexpensive guitar for my foundation andwanted me to give it to a deserving kidwho will really rock it. John Catt fromBlue Star Connection found the rightkid. At the rehearsal night before theRed Rocks show, we’re gonna give it toAustin Young.
– Art Tipaldi
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ADVE
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30 Blues Music Magazine
1979, brothers Dave and PhilAlvin were founding membersof the Blasters which gained
international recognition playing withbands like X, Black Flagg, the Cramps,and Queen. The music was called L.A.punk roots and rockabilly, but the broth-ers learned music playing blues by men-tors Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, and LeeAllen. Phil was 12 when he started har-monica lessons with Sonny Terry. TheBlasters’ best known song was a cover ofLittle Willie John’s 1959 tune “I’m Shakin.’Jack White’s recent version of the song isbasically a cover of the Blasters cover,which is highlighted by Phil Alvin’sshouting blues vocals. Dave Alvin left theBlasters in 1986 to pursue a solo careerand other projects. After a Phil survived aserious health issue in 2012, the brothersdecided to make their first recordtogether in almost 30 years. On June 3,Yep Roc released Common Ground: DaveAlvin And Phil Alvin Play And Sing TheSongs Of Big Bill Broonzy.
Blues Music Magazine: Is it true thisreunion was inspired by a close call withPhil?Phil: I had a close call, a brush withdeath, in Spain in June 2012. And I guessthat motivated David. I always liked play-ing with David, periodically, since theBlasters, and we did a song together onhis last record (in 2004), “4-11-44.” But Ithink the imminent flat lining possibilityprobably motivated things a little bit.
BMM: How is your health, Phil?Phil: I am doing fine. I was doing fineafterward. But they gave me atracheostomy so I had to let that healbefore I could do anything.
BMM: Before the one song in 2004, whenwas the last time you two had recordedtogether?Dave: Phil and I hadn’t made a fullstudio record together since the BlastersHardline in 1985. Over the last few yearsboth of us have lost family members andvery close friends. It just seemed liketime. We’d never done a full albumtogether, just the two of us. It was alwaysin relation to the Blasters in a bandconcept. I just thought the sooner wecan get this done, the better because noone knows how much longer we’rehanging around.
So I called Phil andasked if he wanted to dosome Big Bill Broonzysongs and he said, “Yeah.”We did four songs andthat sounded really good(then decided to make a)whole album. He[Broonzy] had not onlygreat material, but mater-ial that will stand all sortsof styles from ragtime,finger-picking blues toChicago blues to urbanblues to jump blues.There was a lot to choosefrom.
BMM: One of the songswas “You’ve Changed.”How did your workingrelationship change?Phil: Of course on“You’ve Changed,”I don’t sing, so thatchanged. And wedidn’t have anything tofight about.
Dave: We hold Big Bill in such highregard, there was really nothing to fightabout. I think the only heated discussionthat we got in over anything was overan F sharp note that I wasn’t playing.Then he showed me, and I said, “Oh,you’re right.”
BMM: You used to fight?Phil: The whole band fought.Dave: We all grew up together. Phil wasalready playing with Big Joe Turner andLee Allen when he was 16 years old.Guys like that were part of our child-hood – Lee Allen, the great tenor saxplayer from New Orleans who was on allthe Fats Domino, Little Richard andProfessor Longhair records – we grew upwith them. The Blasters, it’s a hackneyedphrase now but we were a family bandand we would fight.
BMM: I hear Big Joe Turner in Phil, andboth of your singing styles has the cadenceand delivery that you hear with blues.Phil: I never distinguished betweenrhythm and blues. The first time I sawBig Joe Turner it was just magic. I have aloud voice and I used to imitate JoeTurner. He gave me a piece of advice
&DAVE ALVINPHIL ALVIN
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Blues Music Magazine 31
that was stunning. I think I was 18 whenhe said, “Why don’t quit embarrassing meand yourself and sing in your own voice?”That was good advice. From that day on,I took off the affectation and sang in myvoice. But I left the cadence and the JoeTurner style of jump blues, blue shouting.I think Big Bill was sort of a bluesshouter, too. I was into Big Bill before Iwas into Joe Turner. I think both of themaffecting my singing style quite a bit.
BMM: Did Big Bill write all of the songson Common Ground?Dave: They were all written by Big Bill.“Key To The Highway” was co-written byJazz Gillum. I was on the BMI site, and Iwent through everything. The songs Ipicked were a mixed bag.
BMM: How did you decide which to use?Dave: I was about 13, and he [Phil] wasabout 15, when Phil brought home areissue album and there were certainsongs on there, “Bill Bill Blues,” and“Feel So Good,” that Phil started singingimmediately. He would perform them inthe blues band he had as a teenager.So that one was a given. We have to dosome of those.
My other criterion was stretchingthe boundaries. He did a song like“All By Myself ” from about 1940, andI thought the music of “Long TallWoman,” the guitar part, would workgreat underneath.
BMM: So you arranged hybrid songs?Dave: Big Bill’s styles changed. On hisearly recordings, “Long Tall Woman” and“How You Want it Done” were structuredaround guitar. And later on, through thelate ‘30s and ‘40s, he was in a band contextwith a piano, sometimes trumpet, some-times saxophone, sometimes harmonica.I wanted to capture all those styles that henot only played but what he influenced.I chose “Southern Flood Blues” becausewhen I was a kid, I liked the imagery of thesong. But what I am doing on the guitar isa combination as if Big Bill Broonzy andMagic Sam made a record together. Thechords and the progression are Big Billchords, but the solo parts are all sort ofMagic Sam. I was looking for things whereI could stretch the boundaries.
Or you mentioned the song “You’veChanged” which he cut as a pretty straight-ahead, horn-driven, jump blues. I alwaysdug the lyrics, but I thought one of his
more popular pieceswas a song called “HeyHey.” I thought “You’veChanged” is a moreobscure song, but “HeyHey” has that great gui-tar part. So I figuredwe’ll take the guitar partfrom “Hey Hey” andmake it electric andthen use the lyrics from“You’ve Changed.”
BMM: What about“Stuff They Call Money”and “All By Myself ”?On those you sing adual back-and-forth.Phil:We figured we’dhave some dual thingsin there and “All ByMyself ” was a good oneto do with the paradoxof not being all byyourself. I had neverheard of “Stuff TheyCall Money” untilDavid found it. It’s like
a hokum song. Big Bill also made recordswith Georgia Tom Dorsey in that style,and he was in the Hokum Boys.Those were two songs that affordedus to swap lines.Dave: He recorded “Stuff They CallMoney” with Washboard Sam and theyare swapping vocals and I thought Phil hasthe voice to pull off the hokum stuff. He’sgot the voice to pull anything off, but Ithought for me to jump in on that we needto approach it a different way. So insteadof a hokum style, I did it sort of JimmyReed. Big Bill, especially later in his career,felt comfortable enough to write socialcommentary and songs about race rela-tions. “Stuff They Call Money” is a playfulsocial commentary but he did songs thatdue to our skin color we can’t honestly do.Stuff like “Get Back.” “If you’re white, it’sall right. If you’re brown, stick around. Ifyou’re black, get back.” He was one of theblues guys who dealt with some pretty bigissues. “The Stuff They Call Money” ispointed, yet playful, and I wanted to getthat part of Big Bill in. It’s also in that song“Just A Dream,” a playful, sarcastic look athow things be sometimes.
BMM: Was the arrangement on “TruckingLittle Woman” a nod to Blasters fans?Phil: It’s going to sound like the Blastersif I’m singing (with) guitar playing theboogie-woogie licks. There’s not much youcan do about it, and I wasn’t trying to doanything about it. But yeah, the Blastersdeserve a nod there.Dave: It’s not like we set out and said,“We need one that sounds like theBlasters.” It happened organically. Whenwe were finished it was, “Wow, thatsounds like a Blasters record.”
BMM: The album ends most appropriately,I feel, with the instrumental “SaturdayNight Rub.”Phil: That was just to show what a BigBill Broonzy ragtime style was like as bestwe could. I don’t know if you’ve heard theoriginal. It’s just phenomenal. “SaturdayNight Rub” is a magical song. I wasn’tinvolved in the sequencing, but I thinkthat’s a good place for it to have been.
BMM: Will you be touring on this album?Dave: Nonstop.
– Tim Parsons
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32 Blues Music Magazine
Sonny Landreth has, long ago, surpassed what is expected of
a guitarist, having reinvented many of the rules and playing
techniques through his endless exploration of the instrument.
He is one of Louisiana’s most explicit exports, creating original
compositions which reflect a heady, distinctive sense of place
more accurately than any travel campaign could. His praises
are shouted from the mountaintops by the biggest names in
the industry –lauding him for his jaw-dropping accomplish-
ments and serious inroads into the musical process itself. The
opportunity to witness Landreth live satisfies the need to hear
the music you’ve grown so attached to. It’s also a chance to
watch it unfold – a magic show unlike any other – devoid of
deception, tricks or pretense.
Some of these custom techniques already have names
– many do not. He creates new ones as he searches for just
the right note, the ideal tone –while his accomplished band-
mates (Dave Ranson, bass; Brian Brignac, drums) set the
stage, maximizing his creative space through touch and
feel – fueling Landreth’s inner flame as they respond to each
unconventional cue. Each composition is alive – an evolution-
ary process benefiting from ever-refined skills and the subtle
nuances of live performance. There’s always something differ-
ent to watch or listen for. Each song gets fresh girth under the
watchful care of a perfectionist who seems unable to accept
personal limitations in his quest to take things further,
constantly raising his personal bar.
“Z. Rider” was the entry point into this 13-song, two-hour
set, replete with a scorching encore. “Native Stepson”
continued his fluid assault with a dizzying display of artistry,
whether adding whole chords or fragments behind his slide
as he played, his right hand hammering, tapping or picking
the strings for effect. Deep in concentration, the occasional
smile will appear as he succeeds in achieving something
particularly pleasing, otherwise impossible. “The Promise
Land,” with a tip of the hat to hero Sonny Boy Williamson
(the “d” dropped intentionally), lost a little steam in its pursuit
of paradise, Landreth’s usually strong vocals weak in the
mix. Biting into Skip James’ “Cherry Ball Blues,” vocals
stronger, Landreth steered his styling back into the straight
blues of his youth while
“The Milky Way Home”
underlined an absolute
fleetness-of-fingers,
Brignac lending a
tasteful, tonal approach
on drums.
Song after song, a
reordering of traditional
compositional design
committed to the satis-
fying journey that only
Landreth’s otherworldly,
slide-driven approach
and driving, Delta-born
rhythms can offer. Yet,
as stand-out as covers
like Elmore James’
“It Hurts Me Too” and
Robert Johnson’s
“Walking Blues” were,
buttressed against his
own raucously slinky
“A World Away” and the
storm-warning known
as “Blue Tarp Blues,”
it was the gentle touch of Elemental Journey’s “Brave New
Girl,” segueing into the head-spinning, grinding groove of
a hyper-blasted “Uberesso” that proved the true game-
changer. The molasses-thick power shuffle of “All About You”
merged with a gentler “Back To Bayou Teche,” uniting the
voices of all three players, deeply steeped in Cajun soul.
A compulsory encore brought on the near-feral, always
ferocious “Pedal To The Metal” which, when it comes right
down to it, is core Landreth – his high-energy assault a life-
long tribute to the rich musical influences of his upbringing.
To have reinvented the very nature of his instrument and
the way music is played is suitable legacy – but only the
beginning.
To meet the man after a show deserving of a full-bore,
Saffir-Simpson hurricane rating is a surprise. This unassuming
musical giant remains completely ego-free and a soft-spoken,
Southern gentleman – his generous persona reinforced by a
personal elegance.
– Eric Thom
SONNY LANDRETHHugh’s RoomToronto, Ontario, Canada
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Blues Music Magazine 33
In 2012, Tommy Castro disbanded his
highly successful band and returned to
his early musical roots. Gone was the
six-piece R&B unit augmented by punchy
horns. Castro scaled down to an edgy,
four-piece band with led by original
Painkillers, Randy McDonald (bass),
Byron Cage (drums) and newcomer
James Pace (Keyboards).
“It the old band was awesome. We
had a great time, and I loved everything
we did, but it was time to do something
else,” said Castro. “What different for me is
that I feel like a kid again playing with my
friends.
“When I first switched gears and
started this new group, we hadn’t released
the new songs, so we had to go back to
my old songs and play them with this new
band. Now that we have the new material
created by this group from my album,
The Devil You Know.”
Castro’s set, the mid-point of this
ten-day, idyllic Canadian festival, was a
thoughtful fusion of the old with the new.
Fan favorites like “Memphis,” “Serve
Somebody,” and his slide guitar salvo
“Serves Me Right to Suffer” mix seam-
lessly with current favs like “”The Devil You
Know,” “When I Cross The Mississippi,”
“She Wanted To Give It To Me,” and “Two
Steps Forward.”
“It was a matter of the sounds I was
hearing in my head, said Castro. “I was
listening to guys like Tab Benoit and Taj
Mahal with a trio and numerous four-piece
bands and I thought it was time for me to
do something like that.
“This requires more from me as a
guitar player. So I’m playing more slide
guitar, using pedals, using different sounds
and even learned some slightly different
styles I can use with different songs.”
Castro also played “Leavin’ Trunk” for
Mahal, “Nasty Habits,” and closed out his
show with “Keep On Smilin’” for Jimmy Hall.
After the set, Castro looked out over
the Mont-Tremblant ski village venue and
spoke of having McDonald back in the
band. “He pushes me creatively. When I’m
ready to settle for something, he’ll push me
creatively. He knows how I work and can
tell when I’ve given it my best.”
– Art Tipaldi
TOMMY CASTROFestival Internationaldu Blues De TremblantMont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
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34 Blues Music Magazine
Sleek, cool, and sinister, dapper and dangerous,
Dennis Gruenling looks like a harp player’s
supposed to. Shoulder length hair slicked back
into a fancy ponytail, sporting coke bottle dark
glasses, and a blue velvet smoking jacket over
corduroys and lizard skin cowboy boots, Gruenling
looked fit to kill for the June gig at the recently
closed Papa Mojo’s Roadhouse in Durham, N.C.,
and proved he was there to do just that.
At first glance, cohort Doug Deming and his
band the Jewel Tones and Gruenling are an
improbable match. Deming’s trio looks like a
rockabilly band, pompadours and vintage ‘50s-era
clothes, while Gruenling comes across as a
hipster/knife fighter, a street-wise cat you wouldn’t
turn your back on in a bar.
But even with distinctly different looks and
styles, the two compliment each other. Deming is a
ferocious guitarist, fiery but clean, with a crisp,
clear tone reminiscent of Charlie Christian’s style. Gruenling
sounds like a big band horn section filtered through Little Walter,
back-alley Chicago blues that knocks you down and sticks a
knife in your ribs.
The group dumps a handful of genres in a big blender and
switches it on high. “Put It Down” is Deming’s reworking of what
he labels a “blues rhumba,” an original that sounds like Slim
Harpo goes Latin. Deming’s “I’m Ready” is more Carl Perkins
than Fats Domino. Gruenling steps in like Little Walter walking
into a saloon in the middle of a rockabilly throwdown, injecting
some Chicago bad-ass swagger into the mix.
Gruenling’s harp sounds like a bari sax on “A Pretty Girl,
A Cadillac, and Some Money” from Deming’s latest, What’s ItGonna Take. Deming’s solos again evoke Charlie Christian:
crisp, clean jazz-infused guitar with snippets of Roy Orbison’s
“O Pretty Woman” sprinkled in.
Deming says that the Cajun food, now sorely missed, he ate
at Papa Mojo’s tonight put them in the mood to play “Saturday
Night Fish Fry,” from Gruenling’s latest, Rockin‘ All Day. It’s
raucous big fun, fish grease splattering all over the place.
The band treks back into rockabilly territory for the stomper
“Mama Didn’t Raise No Fool,” from ‘09’s Falling Through TheCracks, Gruenling blowing more hillbilly than hip on this one, but
like a hillbilly with all his teeth plus an extra set of lips. “An Eye
For An Eye” is also from Deming’s latest, a deep Delta groove
like Muddy’s “I’m A Man,” Gruenling letting out great whooping
WAAAHs like Cotton on harp. The stuff Gruenling does with a
harp is magical. Several times during the set, your ears fooled
you into thinking he was playing a chromatic harp when he was
coaxing notes out of a diatonic.
“Whisper” is the loudest, most raucous tune in the set.
Gruenling works the upper end for this one but manages to get
down and slither as well. Deming demonstrates he’s
got plenty of funk luring underneath that jazzy exterior,
tossing in some slashing Albert King licks.
“We’re feeling it,” Deming says “so we’re not
going to take a break but play straight through,” he
told the sparse but enthusiastic crowd. “Blues is a
language we can all speak, so let’s speak it loudly,”
says Gruenling, as he and owner Mel Melton engage
in a harp blowoff with Lazy Lester’s “I Hear You
Knockin’,” Melton on top and Gruenling holding down
the bottom like a horn section.
And when it’s time to go, Deming has an
interesting pitch for the band’s catalog. “The weight
is really hurting our gas mileage, so won’t you help
out and buy some?” It’s worth a wheelbarrow full.
Live and on record, this stuff is just too good to
pass up.
– Grant Britt
DENNIS GRUENLING WITHDOUG DEMING AND THE JEWEL TONESPapa Mojo’s RoadhouseDurham, North Carolina
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Blues Music Magazine 35
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado,
Copenhagen’s outstanding blues, soul,
and rock ‘n’ roll combo, took to the road
this January in support of their latest
creation Too Many Roads, hitting Sweden,
France, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, and
Germany by the time the weather warmed
up and the album was officially released in
Europe and the U.S.
The conservatory-trained bandleader
– who possesses a tough, gritty voice com-
parable to that of Ray Charles – perfected
his blend of styles on this, his fifth studio
album, then steamrolled across Europe
fronting a seven-piece unit that seems to
get better from year to year. Fittingly, their
springtime appearance at the Harmonie in
Bonn, Germany, drew twice as many folks
as the year before. There was still plenty of
space for dancers to move in front of the
stage, but enough attentive bodies in the
room to energize the band, which in turn
ignited the crowd with tight, dynamic
ensemble playing. The give-and-take
between the musicians and audience on
this memorable Thursday evening was
just sensational.
Leavening their intelligently
structured songs with a healthy dose
of humor, Risager and his mates started
strong and got progressively better over
the course of two unforgettable sets of
music. These included a handful of covers
and some staple cuts from the back cata-
logue, but for the most part, the focus was
on Too Many Roads.
The septet’s execution of the intri-
cately arranged material provided a study
in teamwork. Singer/guitarist Risager is
undeniably the ringleader, but his playing
and singing is never over the top. Instead,
he applies his skills economically and is
more than happy to let the musicians
around him handle the heavy lifting. Sec-
ond guitarist Peter Skjerning delivered nifty
slidework throughout. Keyboarder Emil
Balsgaard added deft touches on organ
and shot off a few lightning quick piano
solos as well. Horn players Hans Nybo
and Peter W. Kehl complemented each
other beautifully and when their respective
number was called, honked and squealed
like there was no tomorrow. With so much
instrumental firepower, a rhythm section is
easily overlooked: bassist Søren Bøjgaard
and drummer Martin Seidelin were rock
solid regardless of whether it was time to
boogie, shuffle or just lay back and groove.
The band is truly remarkable for the
amount of stylistic ground they cover.
We’ve all seen blues musicians play two
hours of mid-tempos, up-tempos, and
slows with varying degrees of commitment.
In Bonn, Risager & The Black Tornado
moved easily from churning Delta blues to
jazz-tinged ballads, from boogie-infused
rockers to classic R&B. And not once did
you get the feeling they were mailing it in.
They brought the funk early with “Paradise”
and offered their breathtaking reinvention of
Nat King Cole’s “China Gate” before clos-
ing the first set with the guitar-driven, high-
powered groove of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Ride.”
The even more compelling second
set started off with a bang – the
Stones-esque “High Rolling” – and was
highlighted by another polished gem
from the new record, “Drowning,” with its
haunting, Gypsy- influenced horn lines.
Nowhere was Risager’s love for Ray
Charles more evident than on “Single
Tear,” a standout cut from the 2012
release Dust & Scratches, delivered here
with knockout force. Hard to top, but the
band matched it at least on the raucous
“If You Wanna Leave.”
The encore with “Let The Good
Times Roll” could not have been any
more appropriate in summing up what
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado
put down over the course of two glorious
hours. Great musicians playing with this
kind of spirit is all it takes. Lassez les bon
temps rouler!
– Vincent Abbate
THORBJØRN RISAGER & THE BLACK TORNADOHarmonieBonn, Germany
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36 Blues Music Magazine
Dave Edmunds, The Kinks, and The
Fabulous Thunderbirds are some of the
musicians and bands who found inspi-
ration (not to mention profit) in mining
material associated (if not created) by
one Leslie Johnson, aka Lazy Lester,
the unquestioned celebrity in this room
tonight. Some among the audience
were drawn by admiration, familiar with
the man who personifies swamp blues.
There were a few, curious younger
patrons who responded mainly to
songs covered by the aforementioned
acts like “Scratch My Back,” “Bright
Lights, Bright City,” and “I Hear You
Knocking.”
With the supremely adroit backing
of “Big Joe” Maher (drums, vocals), for-
mer Nighthawks guitarist Pete Kanaras,
and electric bassist Tommy Hannigan,
Lester took us all through the musical
wormhole that is the link to his past as
a young man growing up in rural
Louisiana. It’s said that a chance meet-
ing with Lightnin’ Slim put Lester into
Excello’s recording studio.
So what accounts for this 81-year-
old’s tenacity in nailing another top-
drawer performance? Maybe it’s simply
that this man loves doing what he does,
entertaining. He certainly does act like
that, offering an occasional jibe to liven
up a brief chat with your Blues MusicMagazine representative, who asked
permission to take photos during his
performance. “Who gets the reward?”
he challenged. We’ll determine that
after the pictures are posted on the
post office wall, was one response.
“Hunh,” he snorted “Right next to
yours?” Point, set, match to the star.
“I’m not as good as once was, but
I’m as good once as I ever was,” this
recent Blues Foundation Hall of Fame
inductee shouted out to the audience
before jumping into “Blues Keep
Knockin’ At My Door,” followed soon
after by “Sugar Coated Love” and “I’m
A Lover, Not A Fighter” (comprising,
incidentally, both A and B sides of one
of his Excello singles). Lester’s singing
style is characterized by languid,
slurred voicings, which helps put the
“swamp” in his music. His brand new
harmonica (a birthday gift from
Baltimore Blues Society’s mainstay
Larry Benicewicz) soared during
“Who’s Loving You Tonight?” luring a
few couples onto the intimate dance
floor. He also treated us with some of
his better known material, like “I Hear
You Knocking,” Lightnin’ Slim’s “Baby,
Scratch My Back,” and “Jambalaya,”
which prompted him to comment about
how much he loved country music and
performers like Hank Williams and
Jimmy “The Singing Brakeman” Rogers
while growing up in rural Louisiana.
With his recent Blues Foundation
Hall of Fame induction, one couldn’t
help but note how few men of his
pursuit remain. Who shall succeed him?
Might there be someone in his extended
family, perhaps? Lester started to say
no, but then his eyes flashed. “Yeah, I
do,” he said, smiling. “I got a little grand
nephew (in Louisiana). I didn’t ever get
his name (and) I never saw him. But
(they) sent me a little video. YouTube,
or whatever you call it. He’s three and
he’s bustin’ on the harmonica,” he said,
laughing. “So he might be one (some)
day.”
Big Joe, who has seen and heard
Lester many times, was almost rever-
ential when we chatted in the afterglow
of Lester’s show. He thought Lester
had rendered a superb performance
particularly by surprising us all with two
numbers he doesn’t often perform:
David Houston’s “Almost Persuaded,”
a country weeper infused with regret
about a barroom temptation; and the
rollicking, old-timey bluegrass style
number “New River Train,” on which
Lester adroitly picked out the melody
on his electric guitar. After which, the
lanky octogenarian sporting the Excello
tee and cap was through. He had given
us a wonderful evening in the space-
time continuum that is music. Now,
after his third show in four days, it was
off to Norway, proof that Lazy Lester is
anything but.
It should also be noted that a nice
performance by opening act Dean
Rosenthal and his blues band, local to
Annapolis, put the us all in the proper
frame of mind to engage with a legend.
– M.E. Travaglini
FESTIVALCONSULTANT
FOUNDER OF THE
NORTH ATLANTIC BLUES FESTIVAL
Paul E. Benjamin
Rockland, ME
207-596-6055
© www.dustyblues.com© www.dustyblues.com
LAZY LESTERMetropolitan Kitchen & LoungeAnnapolis, Maryland
Jim Liban with The Joel Paterson Trio –“I Say What I Mean” from the album I Say What I Mean on Ventrella Records.Singer, songwriter, and harmonica player Jim Liban joins forces with Chicago’s Joel Paterson,
who has distinguished himself as a talented guitarist who is expert in all forms of American music.www.americanbluesband.com
Jim Byrnes –“Somebody Lied” from the album St.Louis Times on Black Hen Music.Byrnes takes listeners on an intimate journey through St. Louis’ place in American music.
This song is Byrnes’ homage to the musical legacy of Jimmy Reed and features John Hammond on harmonica.www.blackhenmusic.com
Lisa Biales –“Graveyard Dead Blues” from the album Belle Of The Blues on Big Song Music.On this offering Biales is, as advertised, the Belle of the Blues. “Graveyard Dead Blues” is a deadly love song.
With the help of some mighty fine Dobro work from Tommy Talton, Biales belts it out Bonnie Raitt-style.www.lisabiales.com
John Mayall –“World Gone Crazy” from the album A Special Life on Forty Below Records.In 2014, John Mayall celebrated his 80th birthday with the release of his first studio album in five years. Joined by guest C.J. Chenier
and Mayall’s touring band, Mayall has recorded classic songs on this album by Jimmy Rogers, Albert King, Eddie Taylor, and Jimmy McCracklin.www.johnmayall.com
The Nighthawks –“You’re Gone” from the album 444 on EllerSoul Records.Now in their fifth decade of recording, Mark Wenner and The Nighthawks continue to follow the band’s unique blueprint to reinvent blues and rock ‘n’ roll.
Led by founding member Mark Wenner, 444 is a jam-packed record of blues, soul, roadhouse country music,and rock ‘n’ roll performed through the trademark Nighthawks sound.
www.thenighthawks.com
Jimmy Carpenter –“Walk Away” from the album Walk Away on VizzTone.For over 25 years, Jimmy Carpenter has lived in the music. His tenor has been a constant part of the bands of Walter “Wolfman” Washington,
Jimmy Thackery, Mike Zito, the Honey Island Swamp band and many, many others.www.jimmycarpenter.net
Raoul and The Big Time –“High Roller” from the album Hollywood Blvd on Big Time Records.Canadian harmonica player and singer, Raoul Bhaneja thrives in recreating the harmonica-driven styles from the 1950s Chess catalogue.
This record features guests Curtis Salgado, Rick Holmstrom, Junior Watson, Rusty Zinn, and others.www.raoulandthebigtime.com
Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and Terry “Harmonica” Bean –“Lonesome Church Bell” from the album Twice As Hardon Broke & Hungry Records.
Together guitarist Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and harmonica Terry “Harmonica” Bean continue the Delta guitar/harp legacyas they recreate the blues of Jack Owens and Bud Spires.
www.brokeandhungryrecords.com
Trudy Lynn featuring Steve Krase –“Every Side Of Lonely” from the album Royal Oaks Blues Café on Connor Ray Music.On the heels of her 14th record, Trudy Lynn was nominated for her fifth Blues Music Award.
On this cut, Steve Krase adds harmonica and Jonn Del Toro Richardson brings guitar behind Lynn’s expressive vocals.www.trudylynnblues.com
David Vest –“That Happened To Me” from the album Roadhouse Revelation on Cordova Bay Records.Recorded live at a house concert just outside Edmonton, Canada, this cut is a gritty blues shuffle that gets its depth from Vest’s dynamic piano.
www.davidvest.ca
Madison Slim –“Close But No Cigar” from the album Close But No Cigar on All About Blues, Inc.Madison Slim bought his first harmonica after hearing Little Walter. He has toured with the Legendary Blues Band,
Sam Lay, Jimmy Rogers, and many others. This is Slim’s first recording under his name.
Bad Brad & The Fat Cats –“Leghound” from the album Take A Walk With Me on Fat Cats Entertainment.Bad Brad represented the Colorado Blues Society at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis as its Youth showcase entrant.
www.fatcatsofficial.com
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community by either going to the websitewww.bluesmusicmagazine.com
or calling toll-free 866-702-7778.
Blues Music Magazine is featuring a Digital Sampler for download in every issue.Please go to www.bluesmusicmagazine.com/BMM5 to download this Digital Samplerand visit the artists’ websites. Enjoy!5
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38 Blues Music Magazine
THE NIGHTHAWKS444EllerSoul
The first time you hear it, you’ll think
somebody’s put the wrong record in
the sleeve. Until Mark Wenner jumps
in on harp, “Walk That Walk,” sounds
like a rockabilly band doing doo-wop.
The cut is from the ‘50s gospel-
turned-R&B group the Du Droppers,
and is way out of line from The Nighthawks’
usual fare. But as soon as Wenner jumps in with
his Little Walter-style harp contribution, he puts it
firmly back in their sack of blues.
The group quickly gets back into recognizable
Nighthawk territory with “Livin’ The Blues,” an apt
description of the band’s five decades on the road
promoting that genre. The current lineup of ten
year alumni Paul Bell on guitar and bassist Johnny
Castle with five year vet Mark Stutso on drums is
one of the tightest units the group has ever had.
As an extra-added attraction they all sing, making
for smooth four-part harmony on several cuts.
Castle penned the title track, a twangy
rockabilly number glazed with a thick coat of
Wenner’s bluesy harp varnish. Stutso contributes
“You’re Gone,” a bluegrass number written by his
brother-in-law that Stutso vocalizes on and Bell
renovates with some shimmery Jimmie Vaughan
guitar. Wenner’s “Honky Tonk Queen” sounds like
a Dr. Hook translation of the Stones’ country honk
style. There are a couple of Elvis tributes. “Got A
Lot Of Livin’” is from Elvis’s second film, 1957’s
Lovin’ You, capturing Elvis in his rockabilly years.
The ‘Hawks replicate it perfectly from the
Jordanaires’ backing vocals to Scotty Moore’s
twangy guitar licks. The Hawks’ version of
“Crawfish” is a bit different than the version Presley
performed in ‘58’s King Creole. His was a duet with
a female street vendor taking the high parts on the
chorus, while the ‘Hawks harmonize smoothly on
the chorus and clone Presley moaning like Hank
Williams on the swampy verses.
As is customary on any Nighthawks project,
Muddy Waters gets a turn on “Louisiana Blues,”
done here in lockstep with Waters’ ‘59 version. As
usual, The Nighthawks are still dead on, preserving
the blues tradition in a way that never gets old.
– Grant Britt
Now in their fifth decade, The Nighthawks, led by harmonica master and vocalist Mark
Wenner, continue to hang close to the music that initially inspired this iconic band.
40 Blues Music Magazine
JOHN NÉMETHMemphis GreaseBlue Corn
John Németh’s 2007 Blind Pig debut
Magic Touch and his four subsequent
albums were prologues to this scintillating
set of soul-blues that includes ten origi-
nals and three choice covers. Now living
in Memphis, Németh recorded his dream-
come-true album at producer/bassist
Scott Bomar’s Electraphonic Studios with
the Bo-Keys (drummer Howard Grimes
of the legendary Hi Rhythm Section, gui-
tarist Joe Restivo, keyboardist Al Gamble,
trumpeter Marc Franklin, tenor saxophon-
ist Kirk Smothers, baritone saxophonist
Art Edmaiston, and veteran vocalist
Percy Wiggins).
The predominant sound is a seam-
less mix of muscular funk and Southern
soul testifying with a touch of the blues
(provided by Németh’s raucous and
slashing harmonica). Each song is a gem
and Németh sings with passion and
poise throughout. One important indica-
tor of a soul singer’s fervor is the deep
ballad and there are three magnificent,
transcendent ballads that lay bare
Németh’s soul: the lilting “I Wish I Was
Home,” the gospel-tinged “Testify My
Love,” and Roy Orbison’s ethereally
plaintive “Cry.” These last two tunes were
gripping showstoppers during Németh’s
recent Philadelphia performance. The
other covers are the Howard Tate pleader
“Stop,” also a showstopper live, and Otis
Rush’s “Three Times A Fool,” which is
given a funky arrangement so unlike the
original. A few other favorites are “Her
Good Lovin’,” a slinky slab of percolating
funk, “Sooner Or Later,” a Southern soul
stroller, and Song of the Year contender,
“Elbows On The Wheel,” an infectious
boogaloo twister about life on the road.
I’ve had the opportunity to talk with
Németh on several occasions about the
long history of Southern soul music
recorded by the famous and the obscure.
He is a devoted and knowledgeable fan
who can’t learn enough, and it is reflected
in his music. Németh fans, as well as fans
of harp-slinging soul singers like Tad
Robinson and Curtis Salgado, will want
Memphis Grease. So will fans of South-
ern soul. It is among the year’s very best.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERDGoin’ HomeConcord
It must be tough having been a child
prodigy. Get a few years on you and
people start sayin’ stuff like, “Yeah, he’s
good, but you should have seen him
when he was 15.” But with Kenny Wayne
Shepherd, that’s not a problem. As his
latest on Concord demonstrates, at 36,
Shepherd still blazes as hard as he did
as a prodigious teen.
On Goin’ Home, Shepherd covers a
wide spectrum of guitar heroes. The three
Kings, B.B., Albert, and Freddie, are
included as well as Buddy Guy and Junior
Wells, Muddy Waters, Magic Sam, Stevie
Ray Vaughan, Bo Diddley, and Johnny
“Guitar” Watson.
The selections are impressive
enough, but the guests Shepherd assem-
bled to help him really take it over the top.
Warren Haynes steps in for Al Jackson
Jr.’s “Breaking Up Somebody’s Home,”
recorded by Albert King. Shepherd had
played the tune with Gov’t Mule in a cou-
ple of their shows, and their blistering ren-
dition here mixes the best of the Allman
Brothers, Mule, and King for an electrify-
ing performance. Shepherd follows that
with B.B.’s “You Done Lost Your Good
Thing Now.” Shepherd says King has
mentored him since he was 15, becoming
a father figure for him. There’s as much
piano here as guitar from Shepherd’s
keyboardist Riley Osbourn, but Shepherd
manages to get in enough King-style
guitar to firmly establish B.B.’s personality
before tossing in a fistful of fiery chunks of
his own design.
Joe Walsh steps in on for an inter-
pretation of Muddy Waters’ version of
Willie Dixon’s “I Love The Life I Live.”
Shepherd says Waters’ vocals intimidated
him so much he didn’t sing for years
because he wanted to sound like Muddy
and couldn’t. But here, his Muddy Waters
vocal impression is spot on. Walsh flays
the flesh off the melody with Kim Wilson’s
harp Little Walter-ing off the walls.
Shepherd brings in Robert Randolph for
another Waters’ tune, the hill country
drone of “Still A Fool” broken up by
Randolph’s frenzied string manipulations.
Shepherd’s cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s
“When The House Is Rockin’” sounds
like it’s about to fly off the rails. Double
Trouble pianist Reese Wynans’ electrify-
ing boogie-woogie piano is captured
perfectly by Osbourn, with Shepherd
paying homage to Vaughan’s fiery,
twangy glory with some of his own
pyrotechnics.
Shepherd says he felt like he was
retracing his steps here, going back and
listening to artists and songs that inspired
him to master the guitar as a child. Obvi-
ously he’s learned his lessons so well that
this could be a tutorial for the next genera-
tion: keeping the tradition alive while
inserting your own interpretations without
compromising the integrity of the originals.
– Grant Britt
RONNIE EARLGood NewsStony Plain
Hot on the heels of his triumphant return
to Memphis as the 2014 Blues Music
Award Guitarist of the Year, Ronnie Earl
has given his world of fans another
stunning reflection of his deep soul.
Though he’s been nominated 18 times
as Guitarist of the Year, Earl has only
won three times, 1997, 1998, and 2014.
That record speaks of the critical acclaim
Blues Music Magazine 41
Earl’s playing generates. His mostly
instrumental outings feature Earl’s sharp
phrasing and tight, compact lines crest-
ing to emotional crescendos that ebb
and flow into fresh musical vistas. This
effort continues to deepen Earl’s journey
into the connection between spirituality
and artistic output.
Though he rarely tours outside of his
New England base, he is prolific in the
studio, recorded nine records since 2000,
keeping his legions of fans around the
world enthralled. As on his past six Stony
Plain recordings, Earl’s emotional medita-
tions are supported by his veteran Broad-
casters band, Dave Limina (piano and
B-3), Lorne Entress (drums), and Jim
Mouradian (bass). His guests include
Diane Blue (vocals), Nicholas Tabarias
(guitar), and Zach Zunis (guitar).
Each song explores human passions.
His opening “I Met Her On That Train”
features the heavy thumb picks on the
E-string augmented by a twangy, country
marching drum beat. Here Zunis handles
the first guitar solo Tabarias the second,
and Earl the third. On Junior Wells’ “In The
Wee Hours,” Earl, Zunis, and Blue deliver
a slow blues knockout performance. Blue
sings of the darkest hour while Zunis’ han-
dles the first solo until Earl’s guitar playing
bends, dives, and soars through his own
dark meditations. Limina’s after hours
piano oozes a similar sensibility. For more
then ten minutes, these musicians have
transformed the deepest emotions into
notes on a canvas. By following that with
the swinging title cut, Earl provides the
artistic euphoria of tension and release.
Blue and Earl take Sam Cooke’s “A
Change Is Gonna Come” into rarified air
with their stirring voice and string give and
take. “Marje’s Melody” has Earl exploring
within a jazzy trance for over six minutes.
With the church-like B-3 of Limina, there
is almost a gospel quality to every note,
bend, or run. And Earl’s “Blues For Henry,”
a song originally recorded on 1995’s
Blues And Forgiveness Live In Europe,
provides seven minutes of Earl’s instru-
mental testimonial for this friend.
The CD ends with Limina’s torrid B-3
as the support, Earl’s “Puddin’ Pie” which
again eradicates the blues-jazz bound-
aries followed by Ilana Katz Katz’s very
moving “Runnin’ In Peace” which is dedi-
cated to the Boston Marathon bombings
and vividly captures the emotions of that
horrific day.
Earl spent most of his days in
Memphis sharing his inner joy through
his peerless playing; Good News
announces that joy to the world.
– Art Tipaldi
RICK ESTRINAND THE NIGHTCATS
You Asked For It...Live!Alligator
Sporting Clark Kent-style glasses, a
pencil thin moustache, custom made
threads, and a combination smile and
sneer, Rick Estrin leads his Nightcats in
a memorable live concert on his October
birthday in 2013 from San Francisco’s
Biscuits and Blues Club.
Estrin’s Nightcats address the audi-
ence with a sound that would be the envy
of any blues artist. Enough can’t be said
for the guitar talents of Kid Andersen,
who also mixed and co-produced the CD.
The night showcases with clarity his facile
ability to coax virtuosic sounds from his
Epiphone guitar that can replicate jump,
swing, and traditional blues. The 13-song
set list includes all of Estrin’s most popular
songs like “Clothes Line,” “That’s Big,” and
“Smart Like Einstein.” Finally, near the end
of the set, the audience yells out in unison
for a rendition of “Dump That Chump.”
Opening the set with the shuffling
“Handle With Care,” Estrin produces a
full sound via a chromatic harp and then
allows each of his fellow musicians to
showcase their chops. Throughout the
set, Lorenzo Farrell switches from organ,
piano, and synthesizer and also provides
the bass via a standup instrument. And
drummer/vocalist J. Hansen gives Estrin
a break as he handles the vocals on his
“Baker Man’s Blues.”
Estrin’s commentary and slick lyrics
are worth the price of this CD alone and
the recording invites the listener to be part
of the fraternity that binds the band with
the audience that night. There is a bit of a
theme to some of his songs with titles such
as “My New Old Lady,” “My Next Ex-Wife,”
and “Never Trust A Woman.” After bringing
the music to a fever pitch, Estrin wisely
chooses his final song to be a more tradi-
tional and softer blues rendering Sonny
Boy Williamson’s “Too Close Together”
that has Andersen jettisoning his versatile
electric guitar for Lorenzo Farrell’s stand
up bass – a perfect way to dismiss the
riled up audience without incident.
– Pete Sardon
TORONZO CANNONJohn The Conquer RootDelmark
Despite Toronzo Cannon’s fine songwrit-
ing and excellent musicianship circa
2013, there’s something retro about him,
too. Like many of everybody’s favorite
blues heroes past and present, Cannon
has a day job as a city bus driver.
In addition, like Robert Johnson,
Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and a host
of other bluesmen, he uses the world of
voodoo and magic as a leitmotif. In this
case, the opening track – with reprise –
is drenched in old school blues hoodoo.
Then, he pays superb, creative tribute to
his forbears from Texas and Mississippi
all the way to Chicago, marking nearly a
century’s progression in rich and inven-
tive guitar licks, in your face vocals,
superb arrangements, and a percussion
and horn section the envy of any South
side blues band. Cannon praises blues
musical history from early electric
Chicago to New Orleans and down to
offering up props to blues fusionists like
Stevie Ray Vaughan.
This is definitely not all straight
Chicago by way of the Delta.
42 Blues Music Magazine
On “Cold World,” for example, we get
more of a taste of mid-20th century
R&B (a riff on Sam Cooke’s “Mean Old
World”), with stellar horn work from
Dudley Owens (sax), Kenny Anderson
(trumpet), Jerry Di Muzio (sax), and
Norman Palm (trombone). Listen to the
excellent backing vocals by Kay Reed,
Theresa Davis, and Vanessa Holmes
that add additional texture and depth.
On the other hand, “Gentle Reminder” is
more blues-rock, offering up a nod and
wink to Texas blues-rock icon Vaughan,
especially when it comes to the guitar
riffs on this catchy track.
Some standout tracks include a
swing-style tribute to Big Ray Bop and
the Latin-tinged “Shame.” For a nice
change-up, “Been Better To You” opens
with a big horn blast in New Orleans-style
funk that has us easily convinced that
Cannon knows much about a lot of blues
and jazz musical idioms and has the
chops to write and perform an album that
even jaded Chicago fans are going to like.
– Michael Cala
DAVE SPECTERMessage In BlueDelmark
Like his mentor Ronnie Earl, Dave
Specter is an expressive guitarist who is
equally adept at wringing the deepest
blues or exacting the hippest jazz from
his strings. Specter has long understood
that his talent is fingers on strings, thus,
like Earl, Specter has always called upon
the finest Windy City vocalists like Tad
Robinson, Lenny Lynn, Jimmy Johnson,
Barkin’ Bill Smith, and many others to
augment his musical messages.
On Message In Blue, his tenth
album on Delmark, Specter enlists
Chicago soul icon Otis Clay to deliver
the emotional essence on three soul
blues classics. The massive Chicago
Horns coupled with Specter’s Cropper-
like guitar riffs provide a Stax feel to
Clay’s leathery “Got To Find A Way.”
Clay and Specter next pay tribute to
Bobby “Blue” Bland on his timeless
classic “This Time I’m Gone For Good.”
Clay’s tour de force voicing of the Wilson
Pickett classic “I Found A Love” is a
masterful blend of Specter’s succinct
guitar jabs with Clay’s pleading vocals.
Keyboardist Brother John Kattke han-
dles the vocals on three other tunes,
Don Nix’s “Same Old Blues,” Lonnie
Brooks’ “Watchdog,” and Specter’s
name checking tribute to his hometown,
“Chicago Style.”
The other seven songs are Specter
originals featuring guitar and keyboards
vocalizing the emotional colors. “New
West Side Stroll,” a remake of his 1995
“West Side Stroll,” opens the record with
a healthy dose of the Chicago blues
championed by Magic Sam, Otis Rush,
and others that has always been at the
center of Specter’s music. Adding Bob
Corritore’s harmonica to “Jefferson
Stomp,” a vivid Chess-styled blues, and
“Opus De Swamp,” a slow blues medita-
tion, Specter further establishes his place
among the finest guitarists in the genre.
But, like Earl, Specter can also coax a
variety of stringed approaches. With its
funky underpinnings, Specter erases the
lines that separate jazz and blues on
“Funkified Outta Space.” Ditto the tenor
sax guitar jazz featured on “The Specti-
fyin’ Samba.” While the title cut has faint
phrasing references to Jimi Hendrix
instrumentals.
Dave Specter knows his place is to
allow his strings a freedom of expression
that, like the finest vocalists, can capture
every human emotion from the fervor of
a gospel sermon to quiet contemplations
of love.
– Art Tipaldi
WALTER TROUTThe Blues Came Callin’Provogue
This isn’t an album surrounded by the
light-filled redemptive power that it might
have had today. After all, when Walter
Trout was in sessions for The Blues CameCallin’ last year, the bluesman’s health
was failing as he desperately awaited a
liver transplant that seemed like it would
never come. Then, less than month before
the scheduled June 2014 release of this
already completed, scorching new project
on Provogue, that miracle happened.
Trout is recovering his health, even as
fans await what at one point looked like it
might be his final musical testament.
The Blues Came Callin’, then, is a
peek inside the roiling emotions of some-
one facing dark prospects, a certain doom,
and it plays like that. Don’t come looking
for messages of happy uplift on songs like
“Wastin’ Away,” “The World Is Goin’ Crazy
(And So Am I),” or “Hard Time,” moments
that push back against that sad fate with a
ferocious tenacity. Trout, who was in fact
wasting away, was determined to go down
swinging, and The Blues Came Callin’ is
that kind of record. There are times when
doubt creeps in, as on “The Bottom Of The
River” when Trout becomes entangled in
an inexorable current, one that’s dragging
him ever deeper. Later, he ends up in the
belly of “The Whale.” More often, though,
Trout lands blow after blow after blow with
his suddenly fraying voice, with his still
muscular guitar upon the forces working
against him. By the time Trout settles into
the impassioned groove of “Nobody
Moves Me Like You Do,” a furiously con-
nective assertion of life-long love, it’s easy
to see how Trout made it through these
unimaginably difficult times. He’s a fighter.
– Nick DeRiso
Blues Music Magazine 43
ROD PIAZZAEmergency SituationBlind Pig
When Rod Piazza steps back in time,
he causes quite a stir in the old audible
vibrations. For his latest, EmergencySituation, Piazza has one foot in the
past, one in the present. He reaches
back to the ‘50s for the opening cut, a
cover of New Orleans native Wee Willie
Wayne’s “Neighbor, Neighbor.” What
Piazza comes up with has a jump blues
base, but when Piazza jumps in, his harp
leaps up to the stratosphere, bouncing
around like a comet pinballing in a
gravity free zone.
Except for some low-key harp
moaning on the outro, Piazza’s cover
on Amos Milburn’s “Milk And Water” is
note-for-note, his vocal as smooth and
laid back as Milburn’s original. If Piazza
ever wants to come south, he could have
another career playing this one for shag-
gers who would eat up the laconic shuffle.
His own composition, “Frankenbop,”
moves a whole lot quicker than its sham-
bling zombie namesake, with Piazza run-
ning around harpily like an over amped
creature shrieking at the heavens while
the enraged citizens pound along behind
him with torches aloft.
Covering Sam Myers’ ‘57 classic
“Sleeping In The Ground” is a task few
would dare to undertake. Myers’ bends
the reeds so hard on his first solo you can
actually feel them lying down and weeping
in protest. But Piazza matches him lick
for reed-stretching lick, then puts some
bottom on it as well. It’s a great tribute.
Unfortunately, Piazza’s cover of “Ya
Ya,” sung by Mighty Flyer guitarist Henry
Carvajal, doesn’t fare as well. It just does-
n’t have the punch and quirkiness of Lee
Dorsey’s original. Piazza usually is able to
take old rockers and breathe new life into
them like he does in his live shows with
“Rockin’ Robin,” but “Ya Ya” needs to go
back in the vault, it’s just too hard to
improve on the classic.
But Piazza gains it all back with his
original, “Colored Salt,” a reed-buzzing,
instrumental tutorial on how to make a
harp talk. Piazza makes that harmonica
do everything but stand up on its hind
legs and bark on a tune that sounds
T-Bone Walker inspired but driven
relentlessly into the future by Piazza
and his quartet featuring wife Honey on
barrelhouse piano.
It’s another solid performance by
Piazza, but seems a little low in energy.
Maybe a live record next time to really
capture the power and glory of Piazza
and his band.
– Grant Britt
DAVE ALVIN & PHIL ALVINCommon GroundYep Roc
It can be argued that the first rock ‘n’ roll
band was Big Bill Broonzy’s right thumb.
The primordial thump that country-blues
giant’s opposing appendage brought to
the bass strings of his guitar was power-
ful enough to rock any house, from the
Mississippi jukes of his 1920s’ boyhood,
to the European clubs and theaters that
saw his final gigs in the 1950s.
Powerful enough, in fact, to inspire
the most fractious brothers in Americana
– lead guitarist/singer/songwriter Dave
Alvin and singer/rhythm guitar man Phil,
founders of seminal roots rock band
The Blasters – to reunite for a Broonzy
tribute, their first studio album in almost
30 years. The dozen songs here span
Broonzy’s amazing career, from his early
ragtime picking (“Saturday Night Rub”)
to his leading swing/blues outfits in
Chicago (“Tomorrow” and the ballad
“Big Bill Blues”). They include such aber-
rations as Broonzy’s quasi-bluegrass
flat-picking masterpiece, “How You Want
It Done?” The Alvins always add their
own stamp, revving up “Trucking Little
Woman” into electric Blasters-style rock-
abilly, as Dave quotes Paul Burlison’s
“Train Kept A Rolling” guitar licks.
Broonzy’s biggest hit, “Key To The High-
way,” is done Brownie and Sonny style,
Phil blowing country blues harp. Broonzy
was Muddy Waters’ idol and Dave’s
menacing take on “You’ve Changed”
shows the connection.
That eclecticism creates a fitting
homage to the versatile Broonzy, whose
uncanny ability to tailor his approach to
his audience inspires disdain from some
blues purists. What they overlook is
Broonzy’s mastery of everything he played.
Common Ground is a fiery, varied set of
great songs performed with passion that
should please Broonzy and Alvin fans
alike, and send us all back to the original
records for renewed inspiration.
– Larry Nager
TERRY HANCKGotta Bring It Home To YouDelta Groove
Calling his style “Greasy Soul Rocking
Blues” this sexagenarian sax player is
accurately pitching his product. Half of the
songs on this ten song CD are over five
minutes long and he penned four of them
and shared co writes with Kid Andersen
and JoJo Russo on another. Having toured
for ten years with Elvin Bishop, Hanck
started his own group in 1987. Accordingly,
the first cut is Elvin Bishop’s “Right Now Is
The Hour” and this opening song sets the
mood for nine more joyous tracks.
Hanck can hit high notes on his tenor
just shy of a dog’s hearing range, yet he
manages to honk his horn in a unique
style that never results in dissonant
squealing. Such command of this instru-
ment earned Hanck the 2012 Blues Music
Award for “Instrumentalist Horn” and the
nomination again this year. Hanck’s
vocals resonate in a style that one can
feel his emotion in the lyrics
Guitarist Johnny “Cat” Soubrand dis-
plays a style that has you appreciating
44 Blues Music Magazine
the craft of a talented musician. Hanck’s
core band includes Soubrand, Tim Wagar
on bass, and Butch Cousins on drums.
Andersen and Debbie Davies (two of the
“Friends” in the title) add their expertise
as well.
“Jam It Up” and “T’s Groove” grace
the CD with very listenable instrumentals
that make one want to keep hitting the
repeat button on the CD player. He covers
a whole palette of pleasing sounds with the
Cajun sounding “Pins And Needles,” a B.B.
King-esque, “Whole Lotta Lovin’,” and an
early Electric Flag sounding “My Last
Teardrop.” His skillful rhythm section allows
Hanck the room to have his horn sounds
soar at will when his lips are on the reed.
Delta Groove certainly has added
a thoroughbred to their blues stable by
having Terry Hanck recording for them.
– Pete Sardon
GARY CLARK, JR.LiveWarner
For the past three years, the blues buzz
has been centered on Gary Clark, Jr.
Problem for most blues fans is that Clark
no longer can play your local blues club or
even your favorite blues festival. His
recent notoriety has his career accelerat-
ing directly into the musical fast lane.
For everyone who missed out on those
musical growth spurts a decade ago in the
blues haunts of Austin and find his current
mega-festival appearances difficult to
frequent, this double disc, live recording
easily captures Clark’s art.
Recorded over his tours during 2013
and 2014, the set list includes ten Clark
originals augmented by another six blues
classics. With a deep, personal reverence
for the blues, Clark opens the record with
Muddy Waters’ “Catfish Blues,” utilizing a
gritty Jimi Hendrix-styled guitar over
Muddy’s male posturing lyrics. This one
song immediately connects the blues from
Robert Petway’s 1941 original joined with
Muddy’s rework in the ‘50s then strung
through Jimi’s psychedelic ‘60s guitar and
vocalized by Clark, 2014’s blues torch-
bearer.
From there, Clark follows with three
from his critically acclaimed 2013 Blak &Blu record, “Next Door Neighbor Blues,”
“Travis County,” and “When My Train Pulls
In,” his modern blues statement showcas-
ing both the range and power of his guitar
acrobatics and articulate vocals. Just when
you think the blues train might have left the
station after guitarist King Zapata and Clark
sped guitar all over the map on “Don’t Owe
You A Thang,” he brings the crowd back to
the deep blues with the warm tones of
B.B. King’s “Three O’Clock Blues.” Clark’s
every note rings late night melancholy and
each syllable he sings pleads forgiveness.
The first disc ends with two more from
Blak & Blu, “Things Are Changing,” Clark’s
modern R&B tune, and “Numb,” a crashing
mash-up of fuzz, distortion, and hardcore
noise not for the faint of heart.
Amid four more Clark originals from
Blak & Blu, including the title cut and the
heavy blues-rock of oft-recorded “Bright
Lights,” the second record features three
special covers: Albert Collins’ “If Trouble
Was Money,” attacked more to honor
Magic Sam’s “All Your Love” than Collins,
Clark’s ten-plus minute nod to Jimi and
Little Johnny Taylor on “Third Rock From
The Sun/If You Love Me Like You Say,” with
Johnny Bradley’s bass solo and Johnny
Radelat’s drum spot, and Leroy Carr’s
“When The Sun Goes Down,” surprisingly
stripped down to only Clark with guitar and
harmonica. If a talent like Gary Clark, Jr.
can encore on this song with only guitar
and harmonica and compel audiences to
listen to time honored blues like this, then
maybe the blues is gonna survive.
– Art Tipaldi
THE HOLMES BROTHERSBrotherhoodAlligator
As storied as this threesome is, The
Holmes Brothers are still the most under-
rated band on the blues circuit. I say that
because their deeply soulful sound clicks
with a telepathic smoothness that tran-
scends blues, classic R&B, country, and
gospel while staying true to their live
sound honed from their rural Virginia
roadhouse roots.
Brotherhood is their 12th album in
25 years and one of their best. Most note-
worthy is their seven-minute version of
“Amazing Grace,” the traditional gospel
mainstay they render at the end of each
concert. Other than Mavis Staples, there
is not another act in blues that more com-
fortably blends the secular and sacred,
whether it’s on the Booker T standard “My
Kind Of Girl,” the mournful Ted Hawkins’
song “I Gave Up All I Had” or in the eight
originals including Wendell Holmes’ tomes
about the vicissitudes of relationships.
Produced by three different veterans
whose credits include such disparate acts
as Olabelle, Seal, and David Bowie, this
album lives up to its title by every nuance
of the various definitions of the word
Brotherhood. Their three-part harmonies
are a near perfect blend of fraternal
brother Wendell Holmes’ gruff tenor,
brother Sherman Holmes’ baritone, and
honorary brother Popsy Dixon’s flawless
falsetto.
Universal but never generic, The
Holmes Bothers are as comfortable to the
educated blues listener as Muddy Waters,
familiar in their delivery to the casual lis-
tener without being predictable and under-
rated in their superb musicianship.
Wendell is facile in his ability to glide from
gospel piano to electric guitar with effects.
Blues Music Magazine 45
Sherman is rock steady on the bass and
drummer Popsy is squeaky tight while
never becoming a metronome.
The reason Joan Osborne is so raw
but right is that she woodshedded with
The Holmes Brothers for years at Dan
Lynch’s in the Big Apple. The reason the
Brothers have shared recordings with
everyone from Lou Reed to Bruce Spring-
steen, Merle Haggard to Van Morrison is
because they attract talent like the mag-
nets of universal good that they are.
This album should go in every blues
fan’s permanent collection.
– Don Wilcock
ROYAL SOUTHERNBROTHERHOODHeartSoulBloodRuf
This album begins with a telling song:
“World Blues.” That opening title is as
good a description as any of what unfolds
on HeartSoulBlood, the Royal Southern
Brotherhood’s incendiary blending of cul-
tures, sound, and themes. Its members
may be famous enough in their own right
for this amalgam to be dubbed a super
group, but there’s too much authenticity,
too much gravitas and grit associated
with these 12 original songs for that often-
deflating tag to stick.
Instead, the Royal Southern Brother-
hood plunges a ladle deep into the Deep
South’s bubbling gumbo pot of musical
influences. They arrived there not as dilet-
tantes, but as respected practitioners of
the musical culinary arts. The group is
anchored by Devon Allman, son of Gregg;
Cyril Neville, of the Neville Brothers; and
blues dynamo Mike Zito. Drummer Yon-
rico Scott and bassist Charlie Wooten
augment this core trio. Together, Heart-SoulBlood charges past the typically sta-
tic genres of funk, rock, blues, and reggae
like a farm truck between shotgun-blast
rows of cotton, corn, and soybeans. Push
the pedal far enough down, and all of it
tends to blend together in the rearview as
they do here.
How these guys came to this place is
a story of happenstance and hard work.
The Royal Southern Brotherhood have
followed up their well-received debut with
scores of collaborative dates worldwide,
in between their main gigs. They’ve
emerged with something more complete
than before, in the sense of this album
and of this band. As they trade vocals,
trade licks, and trade songwriting credits,
these guys give new weight to the last
word in their band name, even as they
continue to make good on the other two.
– Nick DeRiso
DEANNA BOGARTjust a wish awayBlind Pig
There may be some blues on Deanna
Bogart’s latest, but her music is such an
eclectic mix of jazz, country, slow ballads,
and something akin to smooth standards
that she’s hard to pin down. Some call it
“blusion.”
just a wish away has a New Orleans
feel attributable to recording the disc at
Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana,
with a host of local talent, including Char-
lie Wooten (Royal Southern Brotherhood),
Scott Ambush (Spyro Gyra), and Bon-
erama Horns. The CD was produced by
JoeBaby Michaels, who recruited the
locals to create the broad range of styles.
Bogart, a Detroit-born vocalist-
pianist-sax player who grew up in Phoenix
and New York City and later spent much
of her time playing around the Washington
D.C. area, impresses on piano and sax
throughout the 11-track disc. Her deep,
introspective songwriting talent is obvious
in the seven originals, which weave inter-
esting story lines into melodic songs.
Something like a blues song emerges
about halfway through, on the funky
“Tightrope,” written by Doyle Bramhall and
Stevie Ray Vaughan. Otherwise, there’s a
lot of slow, easy listening music here, with
a few ballads early on. It’s a melting pot of
several genres that mainly showcases
Bogart’s talent as a lyricist.
The opener, “If It’s Gonna Be Like
This” is a good ole shit kicker about a
relationship that isn’t going well. The
lyrics, “I was waiting at a café on a
crowded afternoon. Whiling away the time
and thinking was I too late or too soon,”
tell a wistful story. “Fine By Me Good
Bayou” is a lively song infused with that
swampy Louisiana theme including
voodoo, magnolia wine, and cypress
trees. It’s obviously influenced by her time
in New Orleans making the record. “Col-
larbone” an instrumental is a tight, moody
piece full of soulful horns and Bogart shin-
ing on sax. In keeping with Bogart’s
diverse style, the end of the disc finds the
‘70s hit “Hot Fun In The Summertime”
(Sly and the Family Stone) and the jazz
standard “Bye Bye Blackbird.”
She does have blues credibility.
Bogart three times won Blues Music
Awards for Horn Instrumentalist of the
Year, and is featured in the Legendary
Rhythm and Blues Revue, from the blues
cruises with the Tommy Castro Band and
Magic Dick. She also played for U.S.
troops in Iraq, Kuwait, and Egypt as part
of the Bluzapalooza tours.
– Karen Nugent
JOSH HOYER& THE SHADOWBOXERSSelf-released
The resurgence of soul music continues
to flourish, maintaining its position as a
“kissing cousin” to the blues. Lincoln,
Nebraska, may not be anyone’s choice as
a hotbed of soul, at least until you hear
this debut release from singer Josh Hoyer
and his crack nine-piece band. They
blaze through eight Hoyer originals, each
one packed with in-the-pocket rhythms,
punchy horns, and the leader’s muscular
vocals.
46 Blues Music Magazine
The band plays with a confident
swagger on tracks like “Illusion” and
“Dirty World,” the horns blasting away
over the tight interplay between Benny
Kushner’s guitar riffs and Hoyer’s swirling
keyboard work. “Close Your Eyes” has a
tastefully layered arrangement with
Hoyer’s baritone sax booting things
along, joining Mike Dee on tenor and
Tommy Van Den Berg on trombone.
Hoyer doesn’t pull any punches on
the opener, “Shadowboxer,” his rough-
hewn performance tempered by the
sweet backing vocals from Hanna
Bendler, Kim Moser, and Megan Spain.
The band’s funky nature emerges on
“Everyday And Everynight” as Justin G.
Jones lays down some Latin percussion.
The emotionally charged “Just Call Me
(I’ll Be Sure To Let You Down Again)”
finds Hoyer using his distinctive voice to
try to put an end to broken relationship.
The band gives “Til She’s Lovin’ Someone
Else” a rollicking New Orleans-style strut
anchored by Brian Morrow’s fat bass line.
On a disc full of highlights, “Make
Time For Love” stands out as a stone-
cold classic, utilizing a strong Memphis-
style groove mixed with plenty of attitude
as Hoyer pleads for understanding. Don’t
let this one slide by – it comes highly
recommended!
– Mark Thompson
JAREKUS SINGLETONRefuse To LoseAlligator
Clinton, Mississippi native and electric
blues-rocker Jarekus Singleton busts out
of the gates with fervor and intensity on
his national debut, Refuse To Lose,released on the Alligator label. Formed in
2009, featuring band members drawn
from the musicians he played with in
church, Singleton self-released the
album Heartfelt in 2011. That disc caught
the attention of regional blues fans and
critics alike while B.B. King’s Bluesville
channel on SiriusXM spun three songs
from the album in regular rotation.
Singleton’s time had come. He would go
on to win Guitar Center’s, “King Of The
Blues” contest for the state of Missis-
sippi, and receive the Jackson Music
Award for Blues Artist of the Year in
2012, as well as Local Entertainer of the
Year in 2013. He also competed in the
International Blues Challenge in 2011,
2012, 2013 and 2014. At the 2013 IBC,
he was scouted by Bruce Iglauer, the
president of Alligator Records, and
signed with the label in late 2013.
In October 2013 and January 2014,
Singleton and his band recorded at PM
Music in Memphis. Iglauer and Singleton
co-produced. The results of those
sessions are recognized on this CD.
Displaying a searing guitar tone and
nimble soloing skills, Singleton leads an
outstanding band of superb players that
include James Salone on organ, Ben
Sterling on bass guitar and John “Junior”
Blackmon on drums through twelve high
octane originals that highlight his lead gui-
tar prowess and gutsy, alpha male vocals.
Whether he’s blazing glorious on
the six strings on “Refuse To Lose,”
“Purposely,” “Keep Pushin,” or “Come
Wit Me,” funking it up on “Gonna Let Go”
and “Hero,” waxing the blues on “Crime
Scene,” “Hell,” and High Minded,” or
paving new ground with the songs
“Suspicion,” “Blame Game,” and “Sorry,”
Jarekus and company are in a total con-
temporary blues-rock zone. At age 29,
Singleton and his band have the chops,
swagger and talent to make a real name
for themselves in the music world and
with a debut album as fiery and satisfyin’,
as Refuse To Lose, you need to check
him out. Good stuff.
– Brian M. Owens
DELTA GENERATORSGet On The HorseSelf-released
The devastating 1889 flood in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, was tragic enough, but the
Delta Generators make it even more
haunting with singer-songwriter Craig
Rawding’s imagined back story in “Night
Of The Johnstown Flood.” Rawding
incorporates his rich story-telling flair with
a parable about the death of one brother,
while the other suffers survivor’s guilt
all pushed along with guitarist
Charlie O’Neal’s deep blues throughout
the seven-minute masterpiece.
The song comes about halfway
through the New England based band’s
third album, Get On The Horse, a well-
produced mixture of blues, rock, soul, and
a bit of country that captures everything
from great songwriting to tight arrange-
ments on this 12-track disk of originals
produced by Grammy winner David Z, of
Prince, Clapton, and Buddy Guy fame.
The four-member powerhouse
band consists of brothers Charlie and
Rick O’Neal on guitar and bass, singer
and harpist Rawding, who penned all
of the tunes, and the ever-steady Jeff
Armstrong on drums, percussion, and
piano. This record has the added voice
of Keri Anderson on backups and John
Cooke on organ.
“Spider Bite” is a hard-hitting blues-
rocker with a nod to Led Zeppelin. Charlie
O’Neal did two takes of the solo, and his
band mates dug the chaotic sound of both
at once. “Diablo Rock,” toward the end of
the record, is a fun, danceable blues-
rocker about the devil stealing God’s
Lincoln and driving it to Mexico to start a
band. A slow, sexy blues called “The More
I Find Out (The Less I Want To Know)”
was inspired by Albert King’s Lost Sessionalbum. Rawding successfully channels
King’s delivery and sense of humor, while
Rick O’Neal excels on stand up bass.
Charlie O’Neal picks up a banjo (and
uses an e-bow on his electric guitar) on
“Against The Cold” which swerves toward
the folkie side of the street, although
enhanced by Rawding’s harp and soulful
vocals. He really has an outstanding
vocal range and wonderful emotional
expressiveness. After little more than a
year as a band, the Generators made
Blues Music Magazine 47
the top 10 at the 2009 International
Blues Challenge in Memphis. They have
steadfastly improved and matured to a
well-honed, talented group.
– Karen Nugent
DOWNCHILDCan You Hear The MusicLinus
The Downchild Blues Band changed its
name simply to Downchild many years
back to avoid the stigma and perceived
limited appeal of the genre. But this leop-
ard hasn’t changed its spots. It’s still your
utilitarian Canadian blues band founded
more than four decades ago by guitarist
and harp player Don Walsh, who was
smitten at age 16 when he first heard
Jimmy Reed in the mid-60s. They are to
Canada what The Nighthawks are to the
United Sates blues scene, stalwart meat
and potatoes electric blues based on post-
war Chicago blues but, with double the
manpower six strong, there’s some jump
blues thrown in. Walsh runs the show. He
produces, writes most of the songs, and
plays guitar, slide guitar, and harmonica,
but doesn’t sing. He’s had the same engi-
neer for 30 years, and the current lineup
solidified 15 years ago. This is a good
band. To be a great band, they’d need
more soul than I hear, although vocalist
Chuck Jackson does rise to the occasion,
particularly on the slower, simpler num-
bers like “This Road” and “Don’t Wait Up
For Me” with its fundamental Elmore
James-styled slide with piano filigree.
Walsh calls “One In A Million” a
guitar melody different from anything he’s
written with a juicy slide guitar sound and
almost gospel feel: “My crutch when I’m
limping. My compass when I’m lost.
One in a million is what you are.”
– Don Wilcock
Anyone looking for proof that the blues is alive and well and living in Europe
need look no further than this year’s European Blues Challenge, organized by
the European Blues Union and held in Riga, Latvia, on the second weekend
in April. There, 18 acts – each of them a winner of their respective national
competition – showcased their talents on two consecutive nights of 20-minute
live performances. The event felt less like a contest than a celebration: An
enthusiastic crowd made up of locals, visiting fans, and participating musicians
cheered each band in a spirit of community and fair play. On the surface at
least, no one seemed to care much about winning.
In the end, a panel of industry insiders gave Spain’s A CONTRA BLUEStop honors. The abundant talents of this five-piece outfit from Barcelona are
apparent on their 2013 CD release Chances. The opening two numbers,
“A Hole In My Pocket” and “Just Arrived” – the former rooted in rockabilly, the
latter in Elmore James-style blues – show off the key double-barreled weapon
in their arsenal: Héctor Martín Díaz and Alberto Noel Calvillo Mendiola, two
equally gifted guitarists who create an exciting and playful tension. In contrast
to the band’s previous album, which relied heavily on classic covers, Chancesshows off impressive songwriting chops. “Barkin’ Dog,” for example, is a tense
and gripping acoustic track immediately followed by an exhilarating swing
workout, “Don’t Do That City,” recalling Brian Setzer’s finest moments.
The singing of Jonathan Herrero Herrería is rather heavily accented, but his
phrasing, tone, and feel for rhythm make him a riveting front man.
Dark-haired, tattooed Finnish singer INA FORSMAN was surely a visual
highlight of the weekend in Riga, and what she lacked in vocal finesse, she
more than made up for with her undeniable spirit and energy. As she did at
the EBC, Forsman teams up with harmonica veteran Helge Tallqvist on
Ina Forsman With Helge Tallqvist Band, an entertaining collection of covers
recorded in the summer of 2013. The material here paints a pretty clear
stylistic picture: Several cuts by Magic Sam, Slim Harpo, and some popular
tunes made famous by Etta James. The cheeky video clip to “What Have I
Done,” easily located online, provides a glimpse of what these Finns have to
offer both the eyes and the ears.
The EBC’s strongest country blues entry came from Denmark by way of Brazil,
Marc Rune aka BIG CREEK SLIM. The Danish singer and guitarist is
inspired by the first generation or two of recorded bluesmen – Charley Patton,
Son House, Muddy Waters – and has a voice rough and tough enough to pull
it off. Ninety-Nine And A Half, recorded in 2012, is a solo effort showcasing
Slim’s unique feel for the old-school blues. And he’s not just copying, either:
“Biggest Leggest Woman” and “Should I Chase The Wind” are excellent
examples of a young inhabitant of the 21st century tapping into a well of
musical history 100 years old.
Overlooked somewhat and thus deserving of a very honorable mention here:
DAVID MIGDEN & THE TWISTED ROOTS, the hard-to-categorize
representatives of the U.K. in Riga. Voodoo blues? Jazz-inflected soul?
Whatever you call it, the quintet’s current release Animal & Man is a gem.
Every tune is laced with compelling imagery and chock full of atmosphere.
The playing is top-notch without once going over-the-top and the production
lets it all shine through – above all, Migden’s soulful voice, which is almost too
pretty for the blues. This brilliantly executed album belongs in the hands of
anyone for whom music is the ultimate medicine.
– Vincent Abbate
THE BEST OF THEEUROPEAN BLUES CHALLENGE 2014
48 Blues Music Magazine
COCO MONTOYASongs From The RoadRuf
Few people have mastered the art of blues guitar by playing the
instrument left handed and strung backwards. Albert King comes
to mind and so does Coco Montoya. Originally a drummer for
Albert Collins, he developed a passion for the guitar and learned
it as he says, “by feel.”
Songs From The Road is a double CD compilation of two
live concerts at the Triple Door in Seattle from 2012. Montoya’s
touring band includes Nathan Brown on bass, Rena Beavers on
drums and vocals, and the
stellar Brant Leeper on key-
boards and vocals. Montoya
handles the guitar and main
vocals. Each disc holds
seven songs, but some cuts
take almost a ten-minute
ride which more than allows
each musician to showcase
their talent. One standout
song is “Good Days, Bad
Days” which has a sublimely
lovely piano/organ solo by
Leeper that has the audience applauding and then, not to be out-
done, Brown plies his bass playing talent in a solo that earns him
the same accolades. Montoya finishes out the song with his well
articulated and pleasing guitar notes and then gives these two
musicians a shout out as the band has taken this song to a higher
plane through their expertise.
If you’ve had the pleasure to see Montoya play live, than you
are aware of how each note or guitar phrase is evidenced on his
facial features. There are five photographs in this CD package
that catch him in an array of musical ecstasy that proves, as Dave
Van Ronk once said, “I cannot sing a lie.” Montoya co-wrote three
of the fourteen songs – two with Doug MacLeod. His softer blues
renderings, “Too Much Water,” “I Wish I Could Be That Strong,”
and “The One Who Really Loves You,” on this double CD offer an
emotive timbre to his voice that is not only pleasing but also infec-
tious. If your current blues library lacks a spot for Coco Montoya,
Songs From The Road would be a wise purchase to fill that
vacancy.
– Pete Sardon
ALBERT CASTIGLIASolid GroundRuf
Albert Castiglia is a Southern Florida guitarist with a pretty
impressive resume. His stint as the guitarist in Junior Wells’ last
band took this guitarist into the heart of the blues at an early age.
Since then, Castiglia has released five critically acclaimed albums
and cemented a reputation as one of the finest young guitarists on
the scene. All that hard work
paid off when Ruf Records
signed him in late 2013.
Castiglia enlisted the
multi-talented Dave Gross,
who recorded and produced
Solid Ground, to add his
expert guitar behind
Castiglia on nine tunes. His
touring band of Bob Amsel
(drums) and Matt Schuler
(bass) are also on board.
The CD opens with two stellar Song of the Year candidates.
“Triflin’,” is Castiglia’s bare boned, guitar and percussion-centered
criticism of urban meddlers and liars. The shufflin’ “Keep You
Around Too Long” features Castiglia and Fields tradin’ guitars over
Jeremy Baum’s lush piano accenting the song’s overdue mes-
sage. Long known for his sense of humor onstage and in song,
Castiglia calls on Debbie Davies to sing and swap riffs on his “Put
Some Stank On It,” a male call for his lady to trash up her attitude.
Castiglia’s deepest blues surface on “Sleepless Nights” and
Walter Williams’ classic “Bad Avenue” where Amsel’s heavy
emphasis on the backbeat is reminiscent of early Chess record-
ings. His energetic guitar workout on Jimmy Oden’s “Going Down
Slow” provides Castiglia room to explore the depth of a blues song
over 70 years old, yet still relevant. While his own “Hard Time”
combines Castiglia’s acoustic slide guitar and Field’s mandolin to
explore 2014’s struggles.
His partnership with Miami songwriter Graham Drout, whose
songs are major components of Castiglia’s earlier work, continues
here. In Castiglia’s hands, Drout’s three songs “Celebration”
(originally on Castiglia’s 2008 record These Are The Days), “Just
Like Jesus,” and “Searching The Desert For The Blues” are perfect
examples of the modern bluesman as singer-songwriter. His appre-
ciation of his Cuban heritage surfaces on the instrumental “Little
Havana Blues,” while his love of Stones blues-rock is apparent on
their 1971 “Sway.”
With this fresh start on a major blues label and his touring on
the Ruf Caravan throughout Europe in 2014, Albert Castiglia is
poised to show off his world-class blues.
– Art Tipaldi
JONN DEL TORO RICHARDSON& SEAN CARNEYDrivin’ Me WildTony’s Treasures Productions
The 2005 International Blues Challenge brought guitarists
Jonn Richardson and Sean Carney together, Richardson per-
forming with Diunna Greenleaf, and Carney with Teeny Tucker,
Carney recalls in the liner notes to this spirited collaboration.
Since then, the veteran IBC award winners (band and guitarists)
have recorded a trio of Blues Cures studio jam CDs with some
all-star guitar players.
On Drivin’ Me Wild, the duo take turns on lead vocals on
a 13-song set dominated by originals written by Carney or
Richardson. But the emphasis here is more on playing than
Blues Music Magazine 49
singing, with the guitarists
sparring back and forth
on solos, giving the per-
formances the spirit of a
live recording, empha-
sized by Carney when he
shouts “Here we go!”
before an instrumental
break on “Cloud Nine.”
The format is rooted
deep in the blues tradi-
tion, such as on the title
cut, a shuffle by Carney that sounds immediately familiar, a
tried-and-true blues structure that offers plenty of space for
these guys to show off their chops. On a few tracks, guitarist
and fellow International Blues Challenge Albert King Award
winner JP Soars joins the proceedings, adding yet another
distinctive voice to the lead guitar attack. Singer Omar
Coleman lends his lead vocal growl to a pair of songs he co-
wrote with Richardson (“A Man Like Me” and “Hold Me”) and one
of his own “Slow Down.” Coleman also guests on harmonica on
Richardson’s soulful ballad, “Peace Of Mind,” one the album’s
most moving cuts, thanks to Richardson’s mournful vocal.
The album’s one cover song is an inspired choice: Tom
Waits’ “Chocolate Jesus,” a tune from the latter-day catalog of
songs Waits wrote with his wife, Kathleen Brennan (misidenti-
fied in the notes as “Katherine.”) Richardson and Carney might
consider throwing a few more left-field choices into the mix next
time around to punch up that comfortable groove they inhabit
so well. While the good-time style blues can be comforting,
lacing it with a bit of dark humor and perhaps an acoustic touch
(bass player Sam Van Fossen uses an upright on this track,
as he does on the instrumental closer “One For J.B.”) can be
so refreshing in a genre that too often plays it safe.
– Michael Cote
VANEESE THOMASBlues For My FatherSegue
Back in the first half of the ‘90s when I was music editor at the
Memphis Commercial Appeal, Rufus Thomas and his family
were everywhere, even the phone book. Yes, you could pick
up the White Pages and dial the man who gave Sun and
Stax their first hits and who fathered some of the city’s most
talented musicians.
But though Marvell and
Carla Thomas were very
much part of the local
scene, Rufus’ youngest,
Vaneese, was the
missing Thomas. With
Beale Street in ruins and
Stax long gone, she’d
headed to New York
years earlier, becoming
an in-demand singer for
50 Blues Music Magazine
national jingles like Pepsi and doing backup for the era’s biggest
pop and R&B stars. But blood will tell, and this is her musical
journey back to the Home of the Blues.
However, “back home” doesn’t mean “downhome.” This is
not her father’s blues. The sleek professionalism that made her
a busy session singer in the ‘80s and ‘90s is much in evidence
here. Most of the 12 songs were recorded at her studio in
New York with some of the area’s best session players, including
David Letterman bassist Will Lee.
Vaneese is a wonderful singer, with a soulful, raised-in-the-
church sound that’s equally at home duetting her father a la Nat
and Natalie Cole on “Can’t Ever Let You Go” (a 1991 session
Rufus did at Sun Studio) and singing with Carla on “Wrong Turn,”
which also features her keyboardist brother Marvell, their parts
recorded at Royal Studio in Memphis, fittingly with Willie
Mitchell’s son Boo at the controls.
Other than the Rufus duet, the only other cover here is
Vaneese’s appropriately swampy take on John Fogerty’s “The
Old Man Down The Road.” That’s the biggest surprise here,
what a fine songwriter she is. “Southern Central Blues” opens
the album with the declaration, “I got the blues,” and she goes
on to decisively reclaim that birthright, from the numerical put-
down of a cheating love, “10X The Man You Are”; the slow burn
of “On the Corner of Heartache and Pain”; the autobiographical
“Southern Girl”; and the gospel-tinged acoustic closer “Blue
Ridge Blues.” Through it all, Vaneese Thomas does her
daddy proud.
– Larry Nager
GENE “DADDY G” BARGEOlioWildroot
The raucous tenor sax solos by “Daddy G” on Gary U.S. Bonds’
string of LeGrand hits in the early 1960s were a call to rowdiness
for me and my hormonally challenged pre-teen buddies.
Suffice to say the diverse music on Olio is somewhat mellower.
Self-produced on his Wild-
root imprint, 88-year-old
sax legend Gene “Daddy G”
Barge recruited some spe-
cial Windy City guests like
vocalists Otis Clay, Willie
Rogers, and Eric Thomas,
guitarists Buddy Guy, Criss
Johnson, and Will Crosby,
and baritone sax stalwart
Willie Henderson for this
set of nine originals and two
covers (an instrumental
version of Bonnie Raitt’s plaintive ballad “I Can’t Make You Love
Me” and Buddy Miles’ rollicking “Them Changes” featuring
Johnson on vocals and guitar). Most of the originals are jazz,
both smooth and funky, and classic soul. The slinky
Blues Music Magazine 51
“Shame On Me, Shame On You” is the lone blues: a vocal duet
with Guy whose acerbic licks intensify the torment of love gone
bad. The non-ballad soul tunes are the horn-heavy funk grinder
about a fortune telling femme fatale, “Reader Woman,” and the
lilting “We’ll Be Friends” with Clay, Rogers, and Barge (all friends
for over 40 years) sharing the vocals. The upbeat instrumentals
are “Safe Sax” and “Sweetness,” a tribute to Chicago Bear great
Walter Payton. Barge’s glorious sax is heard in abundance
throughout this eclectic album whose main appeal will be to sax
and soul fans.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
EDDIE COTTONHere I ComeDeChamp
Ten years ago, I saw Eddie Cotton at the Mississippi Valley Blues
festival. Playing on the bandshell, Cotton electrified the crowd
with a set that featured his fine vocal skills and impressive guitar
playing. An added bonus was that I was able to purchase a copy
of Cotton’s hard-to-find recording, Extra, that he had released the
previous year. Since then, Cotton simply vanished and, except for
an occasional mention in a blues publication, he was missing in
action. A search of the Internet revealed that he had spent much
of his time working with his father, a pastor, to run their church in
Mississippi, especially after
his father passed away
in 2009.
Now Cotton is back with
a new release that highlights
all of his talents as a singer,
songwriter, and musician.
DeChamp Records was
formed by Grady Champion,
a talented artist in his own
right. Champion plays har-
monica on two tracks. Other
members of the band include Myron Bennett on bass, Samuel
Scoot Jr. on drums and percussion, and Carlos Russell on harp on
two cuts. Producer Sam Brady, who also engineered the recording
sessions, appears on four songs playing organ.
The opening strains of the title track make it clear that
Cotton has a bad case of the blues, laying down a smoldering
groove punctuated by fiery guitar solo. “A Woman’s Love” slows
the pace even further as Cotton offers an incisive testament to
the strength of his love for his woman. Bennett’s popping bass
establishes the funky driving rhythm on “Get Your Own,” as
Cotton paints a vivid portrayal of a bluesman’s financial plight.
Champion blows some mean harp over the propulsive, driving
beat on “Leave Love Alone,” then fills in behind Cotton’s lusty
singing on “Berry So Black.”
“Pay To Play” is a toe-tapper about a woman tired of being
mistreated. Cotton fires off a steady stream of staccato notes that
52 Blues Music Magazine
drive the message home. The downhome, country feel on “Back
In A Bit” offers a different mood with Russell’s harp echoing
Cotton’s multi-tracked vocals. Slipping into a slinky, infectious
groove on “My Boo,” Cotton uses his honeyed voice to convey
his excitement over his woman’s new hairstyle. Cotton’s taste-
fully layered vocals take you to church on “No Love Back,” with
a hint of reggae capping off a memorable examination of love’s
transformational power.
It may be early in the year, but you can bet this recording
will be getting plenty of attention come awards time. It is great
to have him back. Don’t miss this stellar recording.
– Mark Thompson
ANDY T & NICK NIXONLivin’ It UpDelta Groove
The list of people who can successfully cover a Delbert McClinton
song is a short one. Put Andy T and Nick Nixon at the top of the
list. “Livin’ It Down,” from their latest has that signature salty,
snaky, funky groove McClinton built his career on. Nixon’s vocal
combines the gospel feel of the Holmes Brothers’ Popsy Dixon
and the bluesy vocals
of B.B. King with
some King-style guitar
courtesy of Andy T
(Talamantez). Pianist
Larry Van Loon sprin-
kles some Professor
Longhair over the top
and around the sides to
enhance the second
line backbone.
Anson Funderburgh
is back producing once
again as he did on their last release, Drink Drank Drunk, and
playing rhythm guitar on one track, “Oh Baby.” Funderburgh
coaxes an easygoing vibe out of the band throughout the disc,
Andy T’s guitar reflecting his T-Bone Walker influence on the
shuffle “Baby Right Now.” The Jimmy Reed-flavored “Best In
Town,” written by Nixon, glides along on greased rails aided by
Christian Dozzler’s harp. “My Baby Is Now On My Mind” shuf-
fles along smoothly, combining T’s Albert Collins guitar treat-
ment with a B.B. King-flavored vocal by Nixon. “Last To Leave,”
co-written by T and saxophonist Dana Robbins, is a Jerry Lee
Lewis-style rocker with some frenetic King Curtis-style honkin’
from Robbins. “Whatever You Had You Ain’t Got It No More”
features Nixon and sounds like it crawled out of church and
through the window of a juke joint to rest in the lap of a two
timin’ Jezebel who’s finally getting her comeuppance for her
sleazy ways.
If this music don’t cure what ails you, you might as well
check in at the boneyard. Do yourself a favor and write yourself
an Andy T – Nick Nixon prescription for the best music this side
of the grave.
– Grant Britt
Blues Music Magazine 53
IAN SIEGALMan & GuitarNugene
Ian Siegal is best known for his most recent work with his
North Mississippi brethren, Kimbroughs, Burnsides, and
Dickinsons. In that setting, Siegal expanded his blues-rock
trio base into the groove laden, hill country styles. This current
disc presents Siegal in a totally different environment, light
years from the land
where the blues
began. Seated in
London’s prestigious
Royal Albert Hall and
armed with only his
acoustic guitars,
Siegal has recorded
an exquisite set of
traditional music.
Siegal opens the
early afternoon gig
with his high flyin’
cowboy tale “The Silver Spurs.” After some banter with the
audience, Siegal accelerates the traditional “Mary Don’t You
Weep” at a pace that’s more Springsteen the Aretha. Both
tunes were originally part of Siegal’s 2008 acoustic record,
The Dust. His “Mortal Coil Shuffle,” recorded on his Swaggeralbum in the Chicago blues style of Muddy’s “Long Distance
Call” is presented here acoustically in the same arrangement
as Clapton’s “Walking Blues” from his Unplugged record.
Siegal calls Charley Patton “the greatest guitarist” then
flies into Patton’s seminal “Pony Blues.” Patton’s original style
on guitar and vocals is tough to replicate, yet Siegal’s heavy
thumb picking and gruff vocals augmented by falsetto are
enough for the casual fan to appreciate. His other blues
standards are a ragtime flavored “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business,”
(performed a la Taj Mahal) and a medley of Son House’s
“Preachin’ Blues,” the Sensational Nightingales’ spiritual
“Live So God Can Use You,” and Mississippi Fred McDowell’s
“You Got To Move.” His gospel placement should remind of
the separation of blues and gospel in the minds of Delta
blues originals.
Siegal’s humble “Falling On Down Again” offers the sad
tale of the fall that every human faces. His anguished plea to
stand up again amid life’s downfalls touches deeply. For me,
this was the night’s finest performance. Siegal ends the night
with “a song from the fifties, the 1850s,” Stephen Foster’s
“Hard Times (Come Again No More).” His pristine finger pick-
ing, ringing slide, and weathered voice center this universal
song in a timeless world. A second highlight.
For one special night, Ian Siegal has expertly connected
the blues and gospel music of the rural American South
with the lordly posh Royal Alberts. (And don’t miss Siegal’s
hilarious comment about his front row seat at a Kris
Kristofferson show.)
– Art Tipaldi
Blues Music Magazine 55
KELLEY HUNTThe Beautiful Bones88 Records
More than the bones prove beautiful on
this scintillating release by one of soul’s
best-kept secrets. Bulletproof originals
like the funky “Golden Hour” to the high-
torque, torrid gospel blues of “Release
And Be Free” prove Kelley Hunt’s time to
shine is here. She’s been belting out her
version of Memphis soul blended with
barrelhouse blues, funk, and R&B for the
past 20-plus years – her delicate fusion of
styles ever-evolving.
Yet it’s her voice that has grown
even larger over time, maturing with the
soulful, velveteen finish and finesse that
only comes with time-tested talent. TheBeautiful Bones represents two things:
first, it’s a culmination of all the music the
Kansas City native has grown up with,
and two, there’s something entirely fresh
going on as she takes a firmer hold on
her own voice.
The addition of John Jackson on
guitar has injected the band with a
refreshing twist in both the band’s and
Hunt’s sound. Her seasoned players
(Bryan Owings, drums; Tim Marks, bass;
Mark Jordan, B-3) distinguish themselves
by their ability to adapt to whatever
Hunt throws at them, stylistically – and
Beautiful Bones covers a broad musical
landscape. Take the funky, wah-wah
guitar-laced, horn-backed, piano-driven
testifying of “This Time” with its tasty
McCrary Sisters’ back-up vocals to the
gentle, heartfelt ballad “Let It Rain,” with
its lightly-caressed piano notes as Jack-
son’s guitar recalls Brook Benton’s cover
of “Rainy Night In Georgia.” Front and
center, vintage Hunt, her vocals capable
of light and dark and all tones and
textures in between. From the
church-schooled gospel of “Release And
Be Free” to the more aggressive, horn-
driven sass of “When Love Is At The
Wheel,” Hunt takes full control, earning
those countless comparisons to big-
name singers who work half-as-hard.
Yet, it’s the new path taken which awak-
ens you to the fact that Hunt’s talents
know no earthly limits. From the ethereal,
drug-trippy “Gates Of Eden” to the sweet,
gentle soul of “I Want You There,” it’s the
transcendental “Miracle” which truly
breaks fresh ground – a soulful epic and
deeply introspective opus that pushes
skyward like an aerial ballet, driven by
some of Hunt’s most powerful vocals
ever. This is the true evolution of a talent
who only grows more cherished each
time out.
– Eric G. Thom
DAUNIELLE HILLDaunielleCatfood
Currently touring with Huey Lewis and the
News, Memphis’s own soul/blues singer
Daunielle (dawn-yell) Hill took the time to
record her debut album at Catfood
Records in Texas. Given the sonic foun-
dation of The Rays, a nine piece band
that sports four horn players along with
the requisite guitar, bass, drums, and key-
boards, Hill’s vocals clearly shine through
this full sound and the purchaser will find
this an eminently listenable CD.
The outstanding track “(Your Love
Has Lifted Me) Higher And Higher” will
force you to stop and listen and feel the
energy of her phrasing as she starts out
slowly and then finishes with a wonderful
up-tempo rendering of this classic. Having
been a backup singer herself, Hill gets
assistance on six of the songs with vocals
by Reba Russell and Tameka “Big Baby”
Goodman. Besides doing all of the lead
vocals on the ten songs, Hill also tracks
her own voice as one of the backup
vocalists.
Catfood’s house band, The Rays,
add just the right touch of organ, piano,
guitars, and a tight rhythm section.
Smooth would be proper way to describe
their sound. Hill’s vocal range can glide
from softness to a full forte sound that
showcases her depth as a singer.
Fittingly she includes “Damn Your Eyes”
in the set list, as she wanted to pay
homage to Etta James. She has two
original songs, “I Got A Voice” a tribute to
her daughter and “Nobody Cared” which
speaks of her life’s journey.
If this was intended as an audition for
even better songs to come, Catfood
Records would be wise to record Hill
again as her voice is one that has earned
more than just a back up role.
– Pete Sardon
JJ THAMESTell You What I KnowDeChamp
JJ Thames possesses a marvelously
expressive voice that gets a full workout
on her debut recording. Thames has done
backing vocals on stage for everyone
from Marvin Sease to rock bands like
Fishbone and the English Beat. Right
from the start, she makes it clear that her
talents deserve the spotlight.
On the opener, “Souled Out,” she
moans and shouts with gospel intensity
over sparse percussion and backing
vocals. “Hey You” is another original that
borrows the familiar guitar figure from
“Smokestack Lightnin’” to create a hyp-
notic hook while the singer explores the
breadth of her tonal palette.
The title track acknowledges the
road Thames has traveled, with her
voice taking on a husky tone that threat-
ens to overpower the lush arrangement.
“I’Ma Make It” and “I Got What You
Need” features harp from Executive
Producer Grady Champion. The later
track also gets a boost from a three-
piece horn section, giving Thames a
solid platform for her saucy performance.
Label mate Eddie Cotton plays guitar on
three tracks, including “No Turning
Back,” as Thames’ vivid tone rides the
56 Blues Music Magazine
rich organ tones courtesy of Sam Brady.
Her meticulous phrasing on ballads like
“Rhinestones” creates layers of emo-
tional depth. Perhaps the finest moment
is an inspired cover of Ray Charles’
“I Believe.” The singer takes a measured
tone that gradually shifts to a grittier
approach as her sense of betrayal
grows.
By the end of this recording, you will
have reached the inescapable conclusion
that JJ Thames is one of those rare com-
binations – a singer with huge voice and
the understanding of how to use it to
accentuate her material. You can bet we
will be hearing more from her for years
to come.
– Mark Thompson
JEFF JENSENRoad Worn & RaggedSwing Suit
What I usually note at the outset when
first listening to a recording is the
performer’s voice (assuming someone
sings). Don’t know why. Musicianship is
certainly something I listen for as well,
along with the melodies, tempo, and
overall coherence. On all points, Jeff
Jensen has presented us with a superior
product in Road Worn & Ragged.
Jensen’s voice grabbed and held my
attention throughout, no matter the
particular song’s style or provenance.
It takes a few measures’ worth of
instrumentation (measures filled sweetly
by Brandon Santini’s magnificent harp
playing) on the shuffle, “Brunette Woman”
to get to Jensen’s verse, sung in a gruff,
strained blues style: “I got a pretty little
woman/her hair turns red in the sun/
everything was beautiful until the
preacher said ‘We are one.” Hmmmm.An interesting premise, there.
“Good Bye Portland,” another of his
compositions, is a gentle, piano-backed
tale of Jensen’s departure from that City of
Roses and arrival in Memphis, his home
for the past few years, where he teamed
up with the superb musicians included
here: the aforementioned Santini (harp),
Bill Ruffino (bass), James Cunningham
(drums), Chris Stephenson (organ), and
Victor Wainwright (piano).
Jensen does a passable and compli-
mentary cover of Tom Waits’ “Heart Attack
& Vine,” also the title song of Waits’ final
record on the Asylum label. Not an imita-
tion, but he gets the famous Waits growl
and intonation down and frames the
verses with a spare electric guitar solo.
A spry original instrumental shuffle called
“Pepper” could easily have come from a
Chet Atkins and Les Paul collaboration.
Which is to say there’s more thrum
than strum in this briskly paced track.
A provocative treatment of Willie Dixon’s
“Little Red Rooster” wherein it’s played
against a beat put down in military march-
ing style on a snare drum shows there’s
room yet for creativity within the outlines
of that blues standard.
“Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You?”
affords Jensen the opportunity to demon-
strate his grasp of jazz standards with
gentle fretwork evocative of Grant Green
or perhaps George Benson. This song is
a true classic, composed by Andy Razaf
and Don Redman (uncle to Dewey
Redman and great-uncle to Joshua
Redman). Jensen’s voicing is respectful
and subdued, putting him in the company
of so many other great interpreters of this
venerated number. Geoff Muldaur’s and
the late Eva Cassidy’s are a couple of
versions I particularly admire; Jensen’s is
not quite up to theirs, but close.
If you aren’t familiar with Jeff Jensen,
this recording serves notice that it’s time
to get to know him. His ability and tastes
demand it.
– M.E. Travaglini
SLEEPY JOHN ESTESWITH HAMMIE NIXONLive In JapanDelmark
The blues has always had its share of
unforgettable musical duos. The more
memorable include Butterbeans and
Suzy, Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell,
Lonnie Johnson and Victoria Spivey,
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Buddy
Guy and Junior Wells, and Sleepy John
Estes and Hammie Nixon. The latter
began their lifelong friendship and musi-
cal partnership in the 1920s that lasted
until Estes’ death in 1977 (Nixon passed
in 1984).
Like many blues performers, Estes
and Nixon were forced by changing times
to cease recording after their heyday,
which ran from 1929-1941, and return to
lives that were difficult and impoverished.
Fortunately, however, they were ultimately
swept up in the big blues revival net that
unfurled in the 1960s and revived the
careers of so many great blues talents
too numerous to mention here.
After a couple of false starts in the
1950s with unreleased Sun and Ora Nelle
sides, Estes was lured back into the
recording studio in 1962 under the aus-
pices of Delmark Records’ Bob Koester.
Accompanied by pal Nixon, Estes recorded
and toured for more than a decade in a
great second act for both men.
Live In Japan is an excellent exam-
ple of what the duo sounded like in the
1970s, performing for sold out Japanese
audiences in four big tours across Japan
between 1974 and 1976. Despite advanc-
ing age – Estes was in his mid-70s, Nixon
was 10 years younger when these record-
ings were made – the duo displays an
energy and enthusiasm that belies
advancing age.
Opening with “Corinna, Corinna,”
the duo demonstrates a synthesis of
talent that spanned half a century at that
point. With Nixon alternating with Sleepy
John on vocals, and accompanying him
on blues harp, jug, and kazoo, this tune
has a call-and-response quality that
surprises those of us used to the Blind
Lemon or Mississippi Sheiks versions.
This symbiotic playing is evident
throughout, punctuated numerous times
by spontaneous audience applause.
Also contained on this 21-track
recording are reprisals of tunes the duo
had performed at the peak of their
careers, including “The Girl I Love,”
“Broke And Hungry,” “Divin’ Duck,” and
“Stop That Thing,” [all Delmark] and “Rats
In My Kitchen,” which Estes had recorded
for Sun Records in 1952.
Given their long history together,
the men play seamlessly, with Nixon
effortlessly accompanying Estes’
acoustic guitar and vocals on every tune,
alternating among blues harp, kazoo,
and deep-down vocals that complement
Estes’ lighter voice. Other tunes reprised
by the duo include “When The Saints Go
Marching In,” “Holy Spirit, Don’t You
Leave Me,” and Nixon’s version of “Fox
Chase.” The last four tracks – “Sleepy
John’s Twist,” “Love Grows In Your
Heart,” Brownsville Blues,” and “Jesus Is
On The Mainline” – feature the Japanese
blues band Yukadan backing Estes and
Nixon with taste and reserve.
– Michael Cala
GILES COREYGiles Corey’s Stoned SoulDelmark
Guitarist-singer and bandleader Giles
Corey is a Chicago-based musician who
just happens to also be the guitarist for
Mississippi Heat. Upon graduating from
the University of Chicago in 1997, Corey
joined Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues.
This was his first exposure to national
and international touring. In addition,
Corey played shows and recorded with
Syl Johnson and Buddy Miles around that
time. In 2001 Corey was hired by his
long-time guitar hero, Otis Rush, to play
in his band. Corey toured with Otis Rush
until the elder guitarist’s 2004 stroke sadly
made live performances impossible.
58 Blues Music Magazine
Stoned Soul is Corey’s newest band
and this self-titled disc is his debut album
not only for the Delmark label but for
GCSS. It’s immediately apparent that
Corey is a superb guitar player. His tone,
chops, and technical ability are above
reproach as he blazes through eight well-
penned originals and five well-chosen
covers like Wilson Pickett’s smash single,
“Don’t Let The Green Grass Fool You,”
Gary Clark Jr.’s inaugural hit, “Bright
Lights,” the songs “Right On!” and “Watch
Myself Go Crazy” written by fellow Stoned
Soul band members, keyboardist Marty
Sammon and drummer Rick King and the
Cedric Burnside tune, “That Girl’s Bad.”
Whether Corey is putting his stamp
on one of those well-played covers or
delivering his own righteous guitar driven
blues-rockers, he and his band (that also
includes bassist Joewaun Scott), ignite
the stage that they’re standing on with an
unmistakable electrifyin’ vibe.
Corey’s vocals are every bit as good
as his guitar slinging too. It’s a mixture of
high quality Cuban tobacco, finely blended
Southern whiskey, and a naturally innate
sense of emotive talent. This guy is no
stranger to the blues world, but it is his
time to shine and shine he will.
– Brian M. Owens
JEFF STRAHANMonkey AroundSquaw Peaks
Jeff Strahan gave up a career as a
successful trial lawyer to become a
fulltime Texas blues rocker. He was a
five-time semi-finalist in the International
Blues Challenge from 2005 to 2009.
He advertised this, his latest album, on
the back page of this magazine. And then
in January 2014 at age 53, he died.
“Give me a little bit, just a little more
time. Don’t draw the curtain on this life
of mine,” he sings on “Curtains.” He
dedicates “The One” to his mother and
sings, “I don’t want to be the one to say
goodbye when we’re done.” His website
biography says that he “had to beat a
terminal illness and regain his strength
to perform, tour, write, record, and
compete in the IBCs.” And although no
cause of death is listed there or in his
obituary, one source was quoted in a
local newspaper article saying he had
Blues Music Magazine 59
double pneumonia, a stroke and liver
failure.
Listen to his lyrics before knowing
his back-story, and it’s easy to pass off his
thoughts as I’ve-got-the-blues clichés.
Listen again after you know the back-
ground, and you realize this guy was the
blues, in more ways than one.
I remember hearing Elton John sing
“Candle In The Wind (Goodbye Norma
Jean)” at a memorial service following the
death of Princess Diana. I heard the song
in my mind’s ear completely differently than
on the single. The reality of that song in
specific context took on a much heavier
tone. Blues is very good at capturing a
heavy tone. Monkey Around is not a great
record by technical standards. It almost
sounds like it was never mastered. And a
casual listen to this Texas troubadour finds
him lacking the kind of energy we’ve come
expect from the “blistering guitar” we’re
promised in his ad. His faster numbers like
“Can’t Change Me” and “Hard Headed
Woman” have a garage band rawness
to them.
But what rises to the top with an
informed listen is the weathered weari-
ness of a man forced to live his life in half
time and determined to get his emotions
out in spite of his growing limitations.
I want to call “Curtains” lachrymose, but
then I hear the knowingness of a Dr. John.
I hear the wisdom of a man who has
one foot over the line.
– Don Wilcock
DEBBIE BONDAND THE TRU DATSThat Thing Called LoveBlues Root
Alabama singer/songwriter/guitarist
Debbie Bond has an impressive resume.
She has been active in Alabama since
the late 1970s, co-founded the award-
winning Alabama Blues Project, and
has worked with Johnny Shines, Jerry
McCain, Eddie Kirkland, James Peterson,
and Willie King among others. She
recorded her third album live at
OmegaLab Studio, a M.A.S.H.-style tent
on a mountaintop outside of Nashville,
backed by the Tru Dats (keyboardist/
producer/songwriter/husband Rick
Asherson and drummer/percussionist
Dave Crenshaw). There are six originals
60 Blues Music Magazine
and two covers courtesy of the Holmes
Brothers, “You’re the Kind of Trouble”
(penned by Adam Wright) and “Feed My
Soul” (penned by Wendell Holmes).
The music herein is sweet, soulful,
and reflective, often reminding me of a
female version of fellow Alabamans Eddie
Hinton and Dan Penn. There is a blues
feel throughout, but overall this is more of
a Southern soul album with jazz and coun-
try nuances. Asherson’s electric piano is
an essential component and he also con-
tributes keyboard bass; his nimble playing
often reminded me of another Alabama
soul music legend, Spooner Oldham.
Bond’s mellifluous vocals are comparable
to Bonnie Raitt and Maria Muldaur while
her spry, intricate guitar playing is similar to
Raitt’s. The title track, a ballad concerned
with the vicissitudes of love, best captures
the prevailing mood of the album. The
most upbeat songs are the mid-tempo
“You’re The Kind Of Trouble” and “I Like It
Like That” while “Steady Rolling Man” has
a turn of the 20th century honky-tonk feel.
A heartfelt album of love songs for those
who enjoy their music at a leisurely pace;
however, I would prefer a bit more fury in
her slow-burning soul-blues fire.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
SHAUN MURPHYCry Of LoveVision Wall
After fifteen years, Shaun Murphy decided
to leave Little Feat for a solo career that
will concentrate on blues music. After
several excellent releases, her vocal talent
was acknowledged October 2013 when
she received Blues Blast Magazine’s
Music Award for Female Blues Artist of the
Year and Contemporary Blues Album for
her Ask For The Moon release.
Now she has shifted gears, releasing
a collection of songs that have a special
place in her heart. Murphy is a consum-
mate singer able to effortlessly glide from a
whisper to shout, utilizing her remarkable
range to illuminate new emotional dimen-
sions in classics like “Nickel And A Nail”
and “I Wouldn’t Treat A Dog (The Way You
Treated Me).” Backing the likes of Bob
Seeger and Eric Clapton have taught
Murphy the art of just letting her voice flow,
avoiding the trap of relying on excessive
embellishments to create an impact.
She summons up the spirit of
Koko Taylor on “I’m A Woman,” her deep-
throated vocal trumpeting a fierce, soul-
shaking attitude. A rendition of “Cry To Me”
packs plenty of grit plus a melodic guitar
solo from Kenne Cramer. “Gotta Mind To
Travel” is an up-tempo shuffle that
matches the fleet-fingered guitar work of
Shawn Starski with another of Murphy’s
potent vocals. “Broken Things” and “Some-
where Between Right And Wrong” reveal
Murphy’s exceptional control as she elo-
quently gives voice to the heartache and
pain in both ballads, the latter number a
vivid lamentation on cheating bolstered by
fine keyboard work from John Wallum.
Several acoustic performances fea-
ture the country-style harp playing of Tim
Gonzalez. Murphy’s sassy nature shines
through on “Go Back To Your Used To
Be,” telling off a hard-drinking lover over a
solid rhythm from Randy Coleman on
bass and Tom DeRossi on drums.
Producer TC Davis has worked his
magic once again, putting together a strik-
ing package of performances from a truly
exceptional vocalist. Cry Of Love makes it
clear that Shaun Murphy is in a class of
her own. Don’t miss this one.
– Mark Thompson
Blues Music Magazine 61
Statement Of Ownership
As required by the United States Postal Standards, below is theStatement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation of Blues MusicMagazine. USPS 1091-7543. Blues Music Magazine is published six timesa year with a $40.00 annual subscription price.
The known office of publication and general business offices arelocated at 1001 11th Avenue West, Bradenton, FL 34205. Exclusivelicensee MojoWax Media, Inc., managing editor, Art Tipaldi, P.O. Box 1446,Bradenton, FL 34206.
Blues Music Magazine is owned by MojoWax Media Inc. whosepresident and chief executive officer is John Sullivan P.O. Box 1446,Bradenton, FL 34206. Known bondholders, mortgages, and other securityholders: NONE.
The average number of copies of each issue during the preceding12 months are: (A) Total Number of Copies Printed: 10,000; (B1) MailedOutside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 8,500; (B2)Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 0; (B3) PaidDistribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers andCarriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid DistributionOutside USPS: 0; (B4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes Mailed Throughthe USPS: 500 (C) Total Paid Circulation: 8,500; (D1) Free or Nominal RateOutside-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0; (D2) Free orNominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0; (D3) Freeor Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS: 0;(D4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or OtherMeans): 150; (E) Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: 0; (F) TotalDistribution: 8,500; (G) Copies not Distributed: 1500; (H) Total: 10,000;Percent Paid: 85%.
The actual number of copies of single issue nearest to filing date(Oct/Nov Issue) are: Total Number of Copies Printed: 10,000; (B1) MailedOutside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 8,000; (B2)Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 0; (B3) PaidDistribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers andCarriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid DistributionOutside USPS: 0; (B4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes Mailed Throughthe USPS: 500 (C) Total Paid Circulation: 8500; (D1) Free or Nominal RateOutside-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0; (D2) Free orNominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0; (D3) Freeor Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS: 0;(D4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or OtherMeans): 150; (E) Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: 150; (F) TotalDistribution: 8,500; (G) Copies not Distributed:1,500; (H) Total: 10,000; (I)Percent Paid: 85%.
I certify that the statements above are correct and complete.Signed John Sullivan President MojoWax Media, Inc.
SEAN CHAMBERSThe Rock House SessionsBlue Heat
I knew nothing about Sean Chambers, so I
went to Wikipedia. Here’s the skinny. Sean
Chambers is about 46 years old, he sings
and plays guitar, and he’s pretty well
known and liked in the greater Tampa Bay
region. If his sound mimics that of Stevie
Ray Vaughan, that’s because that’s what
he does. He acknowledges SRV as a
major influence; even fronted a tribute
band that toured playing SRV songs. What
sets him apart from other SRV-influenced
guitar slingers? Hubert Sumlin, perhaps.
With whom he toured for a number of
years, starting around 1998. From there,
he wound up meeting and sitting in with the
likes of Derek Trucks, Gregg Allman, Kim
Simmons, and Tab Benoit.
So, what’s this new recording, TheRock House Sessions, like? Well, it’s kind of
like a Stevie Ray Vaughan recording. No
surprise there, especially when it was pro-
duced by Vaughan’s Double Trouble band
mate Reese Wynans, who also contributed
his keyboard talents to this album, paradoxi-
cally recorded at the Rock House studio of
yet another virtuoso keyboard man, Kevin
McKendree of the Delbert McClinton band,
which accounts for the accurate if not so
imaginative title. The surprise (for me, at
least) is that the recording is pretty darn
good. Pretty nice songs in the blues-rock
tradition (take “Healing Ground” or “World
On Fire” for example). Chambers con-
tributed three songs of the 11. Some others
were crafted by the likes of Russel Smith,
Tom Hambridge, and Gary Nicholson;
“Choo Choo Mama” by Alvin Lee; and
“Come To Poppa” by Willie Mitchell and Earl
Randle. The latter is quite good. It’s another
rock-ish number, but lushly augmented with
a nice selection of background singers and
punctuated with horns wielded by Steve
Herman (trumpet) and Jim Hoke (sax).
If you like blues rock (and really, deep
down, who doesn’t) you should check out
Chambers’ current touring dates.
– M.E. Travaglini
VARIOUS ARTISTSThe Bluesmasters Volume 3Direct Music Distribution
Initially a vehicle to feature the former
vocalist of the Jefferson Starship singer
Mickey Thomas, the Bluesmasters are back
with their third CD. The standout song on
Bluesmasters Volume 3 is Eddie Money
and James Lyon’s, “Baby Hold On” which
Thomas nails and the backing musicians hit
their stride in full on this final cut of the CD.
Lead guitarist Tim Tucker addresses his
instrument with call and response tones
with the two vocalists and seems to find his
true comfort zone when playing the Eddie
Money tune. The prior nine songs are in the
blues genre and offer two other vocals by
Thomas, six by singer Hazel Miller.
The legendary Howlin’ Wolf guitarist
Hubert Sumlin along with drummer Aynsley
Dunbar of John Mayall and Jeff Beck fame,
are together on Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What
You Want Me To Do.” Tucker and harp
player Doug Lynn lay down a fine instrumen-
tal blues piece called “Colorado Boogie.”
Mitch Towne’s piano and B-3 organ
add a nice touch throughout and the bass
of Kassidy Tucker offers a steady beat that
allows Tucker’s guitar to soar acrobatically
as if it knew it had a safety net beneath.
The band complements Miller’s vocals
nicely, but after listening to this CD several
times, perhaps their next venture might be
better served more in the rock genre with
maybe one blues song instead of the other
way around.
– Pete Sardon
Blues Music Magazine 63
Boston-based organist Ron Levy has been active
since 1966 when at age 15 he began backing
touring blues artists. He toured with Albert King
in 1969 and in 1970 joined B.B. King for the next
seven years. A quarter of the book recollects
his time with both blues luminaries. Having seen
B.B. King several times prior to 1974, I vividly
recall seeing Levy, the first white member of
B.B.’s band, at a concert in New York City (with
Bobby “Blue” Bland). Returning home to Boston,
he performed with notables like Luther “Guitar
Junior” Johnson and Roomful of Blues, produced
a variety of blues, soul, and jazz artists for Black
Top, Bullseye Blues, and Cannonball and
achieved prominence as a jazz organist and
composer with his Levtron recordings. Levy has
been a ubiquitous presence in a number of roles
for 45 years and his relaxed, conversational style
makes for an easy read.
His vast experience provides
many insights about the music
and musicians I’ve loved as
long as he has. I especially
appreciated his interview
about the elusive soul legend
Eddie Hinton (whom he pro-
duced for Bullseye). I feel a
kinship with Levy as we are
contemporaries in age and
have both been involved with
the blues since we were
teens. I was half way through
the book before I took a pause. I read it a second time at a slower
pace delighting in all the details again. Available in print and as a
Web-book or eBook from Productions, www.levtron.com.
– Thomas J. Cullen III
Alan Paul has assembled
the definitive oral history
of America’s favorite
blues-based, rock and
roll jam band. From their
beginnings in 1969 eat-
ing soul food at Mama
Louisa’s and building a
rabid following by playing
free shows in Atlanta’s
Piedmont Park through
the addition of Gregg
Allman and his subse-
quent songwriting
achievements for the
band, life in the Big
House, the untimely
deaths of Duane Allman
and Berry Oakley, through the band’s many line-up shuffles, the
origins of its Beacon Theater shows up to the past decade’s
most consistent grouping. There are legal fights, drug use, band
squabbles, colorful characters on the periphery and musical
insights all told through the voices of nearly everyone, over 60
people, involved with the ABB over its 45 years.
After struggling to harness it’s originality through song and
style (double drummers and double lead guitars), the band
recorded a self-titled debut in 1969, which included “Trouble No
More,” “It’s Not My Cross To Bear,” and “Whipping Post,” and
“Dreams” and Idlewild South in 1970. That album included ABB
standards like “Midnight Rider” and “In Memory Of Elizabeth
Reed.” It’s astonishing that most of the songs included on these
early records have stood the test of time becoming the most
elevated staples of its repertoire. Thought the band’s first
records didn’t sell as well as hoped, it was the groundbreaking
At Fillmore East record in 1971 that catapulted the ABB into the
musical stardom establishing its instrumental prowess and
improvisational authority. From there, Paul takes fans through
the twists and turns that have kept the ABB together and apart.
For me, the best parts of the book are the Sidebar chap-
ters. These are two and three page insights into various aspects
of the ABB’s musicianship. They include Warren Haynes and
Dickie Betts discussing the band’s revolutionary dual-guitar
approach, and Gregg exploring the roots of and influences in his
songwriting. There are also sidebars delving into the life and
death of Twiggs Lyndon, the origins of the March tradition at
the Beacon, the story of Gov’t Mule, and the youthful infusion
Derek Trucks brings.
With a complete discography and dozens of intimate photos,
Paul’s 400 pages is your backstage pass into 45-year world of
this iconic American band. Put on At Fillmore East, eat a peach
with your brothers and sisters and enjoy.
– Art Tipaldi
Tales of a Road Dog:The Lowdown Along The Blues HighwayBY RON LEVY
One Way Out:The Inside History Of The Allman Brothers BandBY ALAN PAUL
64 Blues Music Magazine
The Blues Foundation officially began construction on the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis, Tennessee. Led by sledge hammer-wieldingHall of Famers Bobby Rush and Eddie Shaw, the assembled crowd of Board members, former Board members, musicians, and fansfrom around the world cheered as Rush and Shaw took the ceremonial first swings.
The Blues Foundation, founded in 1980, inaugurated its Blues Hall of Fame induction program that same year. In the intervening34 years, 143 performers, 51 non-performers who played behind-the-scenes roles in the continuing saga of the blues, 83 iconic bluessingles (or album tracks), 76 blues albums, and 40 “Classics of Blues Literature,” have been enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
The Blues Hall of Fame will occupy a 12,000 square foot site located at 421 South Main Street, directly across from the NationalCivil Rights Museum, and is scheduled to open on May 8, 2015 during the Blues Music Awards.
Blues FoundationHall Of Fame Construction
AWARDSUPDATE
PHO
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DO
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BOBBY RUSH AND EDDIE SHAW – BLUES HALL OF FAME CEREMONY
In 1920, Mamie Smith, a polished cabaret performer anderstwhile blues singer, broke the race barrier by recording“Crazy Blues,” the first release by an African-American. That songis reported to have sold over a million copies in its first six monthsand paved the way for a major talent search and the ascent ofAmerica’s first blues stars, the classic blues women of the ‘20s.
Sadly, Smith has been buried in an unmarked grave inFrederick Douglass Memorial Park on Staten Island, New York,and has been without a headstone or grave marker since herdeath in 1946.
That has all changed thanks to the efforts of Blues MusicMagazine writer Michael Cala. Through his first Inddiegogointernet fundraising campaign, Cala raised just enough to place adown payment on the headstone, which is to feature an etchedlikeness of Mamie Smith in addition to the following epitaph:
BY RECORDING “CRAZY BLUES” IN 1920, SHE INTRODUCEDAMERICA TO VOCAL BLUES AND OPENED THE RECORDING
INDUSTRY TO THOUSANDS OF HER AFRICAN-AMERICANBROTHERS AND SISTERS.
So far, the Inddiegogo campaign has attained 70 percent ofits goal. All funds raised beyond what is needed for the stoneand its installation are being donated to the Frederick DouglassMemorial Park, one of the first all-black cemeteries in theUnited States.
MAC ARNOLDVocalist, bass player, and gas can guitarist Mac Arnoldreceived an honorary degree of Doctorate in Music fromthe University of South Carolina. In addition, Dr. Arnoldopened his Plate Full O’ Blues Restaurant on PendletonStreet in West Greenville, South Carolina.
CYRIL NEVILLECyril Neville was awarded OffBeat magazine’s LifetimeAchievement Award. Neville has made his fame as amember of the Neville Brothers, the Meters, the Voice ofthe Wetlands Allstars, the Uptown Allstars, and Tribe 13.Currently he combines his solo career with his integralpart of the Royal Southern Brotherhood band.
ROBERT HUGHESGuitarist Robert Hughes from Teeny Tucker’s band is alsoan internationally recognized photographer. This year, forthe seventh year, Hughes earned the title of Photographerof the Year of Ohio. He won the Kubiac Award for themost outstanding and creative image, the juried LexJetSunset Award for the highest scoring print, as well as theKodak ASP State Elite Award.
Mamie Smith Headstone Project