MAY 2021 Issue #410

interview with Arne SKAGe interview with LUCY PiPer

LAwrenCe Lebo’S CoLUMn: teenY tUCKer reviewS viDeoS

CONTACT:email: [email protected] Web: www.bluesinthesouth.com Twitter: IN THE MEAN TIME, DON’T GO TO GIGS IF YOU ARE NOT SURE THEY ARE COMPLETELY SAFE , MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE AND REMEMBER:

CORONA VIRUS DOES NOT CIRCULATE PEOPLE CIRCULATE IT Paul Oscher (April 5, 1950 – April 18, 2021)

Oscher was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He was married to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks from 2001 to 2011.

He first began playing harmonica at the age of 12. His career as a musician began at the age of 15 when he played for the musician Little Jimmy Mae.

Oscher played harmonica as a member of the Muddy Waters Blues Band from 1967 until 1972. He was the first Caucasian musician in Muddy's band and lived in Muddy's house on Chicago's South Side and shared the basement with the blues pianist Otis Spann. Oscher recorded with Muddy for Chess Records and in 1976 he toured Europe with Louisiana Red. They both appeared at the WDR-TV music show Rockpalast. In 1999, he played with Big Bill Morganfield on his debut album, “Rising Son”. In 2003 Oscher was featured on harmonica, guitar and vocals on Hubert Sumlin's album “About Them Shoes”, along with Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Levon Helm. In 2006, Oscher collaborated with Mos Def and recorded the song ‘BedStuy Parade and Funeral March’ on Mos Def's album “The New Danger”. In 2008, he recorded with Keb' Mo' on the soundtrack of a film about the blues, “Who Do You Love?”.

Paul Oscher, who moved to Austin, Texas eight years ago was 71. He had been hospitalised with COVID-19 for several weeks, his former manager, Nancy Coplin, confirmed Monday.

Max Frost, a long time friend and in whose mother’s house Paul lived until his hospitalisation said, “He lived through a part of history that few people understand really happened the way it did. It was a rough life, and for Paul to have been that young and to have suddenly slipped into that world and survived it is pretty remarkable. He was a really great player, and Muddy obviously really respected him. It was a huge chapter of his life.”

Paul Oscher toured the UK with Muddy in 1968, played gigs in Birmingham and Hull University and in recent years was a driving force in saving Muddy Waters’ old house from demolition, seeking to turn it into a museum. MARGIE EVANS ( July 17, 1939 – March 19, 2021)

Margie Evans, a legendary, international Blues and Gospel entertainer, songwriter, music producer, actress, music historian, community activist and motivational spokeswoman, who broke barriers for African American female Blues performers with poise, dignity and sophistication, died on March 19, 2021. In addition to her musicianship, Evans is noted as an activist for parity in music education as well as a promoter of the legacy of Blues music. As she often said, “I’ve been around a long time and I’ve really paid my dues.”

The lengthy career of the unsung, effervescent entertainer is chronicled in her first biographical memoir, “Margie Evans: The Classy, Sophisticated Queen of the Blues”, due for release on Amazon in two weeks.

Marjorie Ann Johnson was born in 1939 in Shreveport, Louisiana. She chose to be known as Margie. Raised as a devout Christian, Margie Evans’ early exposure to music was through gospel, inspired by her mother, Mrs. Veva Williams, who taught Latin and piano. After graduating from Grambling College, majoring in elementary education, in 1958, Margie moved to Los Angeles, where she later married her longtime friend and neighbour, Rev. Jim Evans. Always very intelligent, well read, talented and articulate, she gained the position of a background vocalist with Billy Ward, with whom she sang between 1958 and 1964, before joining the Ron Marshall Orchestra between 1964 and 1969, singing in Monterey, California. She then successfully auditioned to join the Johnny Otis Band. During her four-year stay there, she performed on The Johnny Otis Show Live at Monterey and Cuttin' Up albums. In addition to her recording and performing duties, Margie used her powerfully positive influence to help set up the Southern California Blues Society to help promote the art form through education and sponsorship.

Evans then commenced her solo career in 1973, and found almost immediate chart success. Her single track "Good Feeling" (United Artists 246) entered the R&B chart on June 30, 1973 for four weeks, reaching number 55. However, it was another four years before her single, "Good Thing Queen - Part 1" (ICA 002) entered the same chart-listing on July 9, 1977 for eight weeks, peaking at number 47. Also, in 1975, Margie supplied the background vocals on Donald Byrd’s album, “Stepping into Tomorrow”.

She was always jovial, effervescent and full of life. When resting or preparing for a performance, she could often be heard praising God, praying and singing Gospel hymns in her hotel room and dressing room. Also sandwiched between these hits, in November 1975, Evans appeared on German television filmed at the Berlin-based Jazz Tage concert with Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Bo Diddley and James Booker.

Using Bobby Bland as her record producer and part-time song writing partner, Margie co-wrote the song "Soon As the Weather Breaks”, which reached number 76 (R&B) for Mr. Bland in 1980. She variously worked with Johnny Otis, Bobby Bland, T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, Lowell Fulson, Joe Liggins, Lloyd Glenn, Willie Dixon, Al Bell, and Monk Higgins. Her main influences were Mahalia Jackson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Big Maybelle and Big Mama Thornton.

Ever moving forward, in 1980, Margie performed at the San Francisco Blues Festival and the Long Beach Blues Festival, repeating the feat at the latter a year later. During her international touring, she took part in the American Folk Blues Festivals, sponsored by L+R Records in 1981, 1982 and 1985. As the momentum continued, in 1983, Evans was granted the Keepin' the Blues Alive Award by the Blues Foundation at the historic Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Performing into the early 1990’s, Margie Evans toured the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia and Europe, in addition, participating in the DuMaurier Jazz Festival and appearing with Jay McShann at the Toronto Jazz Festival.

The CD and DVD, “Unplugged” was recorded in 2016 with her dear friend, Swiss Blues singer Philip Fankhauser, with whom she also recorded other albums, “Thun: San Francisco” and “Blues for the Lady” in 1989, 1994 respectively. In 2015 and 2016, Evans returned to the stage, guesting with Fankhauser in front of sold-out venues throughout Switzerland.

I WANNA TELL YOU A STORY…. By Bob Pearce

I guess it’s best to start at the beginning. After watching a rather good movie, the music used as the credits rolled was so impressive it had me searching Google to find out more about the artist.

There have been many great acts to emerge from Canada. The first to grab my attention were the McKenna Mendelson Mainline, a blues band from Toronto who I’d see reasonably regularly at Southampton’s Concorde Club around 1968. Since then, others who’ve impressed me include the brilliant guitarist/vocalist Colin Linden, singer/songwriter Wyckham Porteous, and the wonderful and much missed Leon Redbone.

O.K., not all of these artists perform blues exclusively, but hey, neither did Charlie Patton, Blind Willie McTell or many of the ‘blues’ acts in Chicago.

Now, here’s a man originally from St. Louis who relocated to Canada in the mid seventies. He sings, he plays, he acts. He’s Jim Byrnes and it was him being played over the credits to that film, a song co-written with Steve Dawson, ‘I Need A Change’ (more on Dawson later).

The album with that track just had to be purchased of course and it wasn’t long before ‘St. Louis Times’ was in the cd player, volume at max!!! Oh, what a revelation. You’ve heard the expression ‘where have you been all my life?’ Well, Vancouver apparently.

This album contains influences ranging from old time New Orleans jazz, sixties soul, blues, and even a little Chuck Berry. The production and overall sound is superb. ‘I Get Evil’, ‘Nadine’, ‘Cake Alley’, ‘The Duck’s Yas Yas’ and more. ‘You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone’ features a vocal collaboration with Colleen Rennison. Other guests include John Hammond and Colin James.

Yep, you’ve guessed it, I bought more of his releases. Next up was the gospel based ‘House Of Refuge’. Why Jim Byrnes is not more well known is a complete mystery to me. Although there are many gospel songs on here, including his own truly superb ‘Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid?’ You’ll also find ‘Big Bill’s Blues’, ‘Last Fair Deal Gone Down’ and somewhat amazingly, ‘Stardust’. Once again, musicianship, production and sound are all first class. The Sojourners deserve a special mention for their backing vocals.

There appears to be no musical style this man can’t handle, his album ‘I Hear The Wind In The Wires’ is, on the surface, country. But don’t take much notice of that, he makes each of his recordings uniquely his own and records whatever he feels like recording. On this release you’ll find ‘Pickin’ Wild Mountain Berries’, another fabulous duet with Colleen Rennison (originally recorded by Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson in 1968), along with ‘Big Blue Diamonds’, ‘I’m Movin’ On’, ‘Big Iran’ plus a great version of Nick Lowe’s ‘Sensitive Man’. Yet another ten out of ten for everything.

O.K., as promised, more about Steve Dawson. Steve is the guitarist on all of the above mentioned albums, he also produced them. The man is such a great asset to Jim Byrnes, and together they’ve given us some of the best and entertaining recordings currently available. By the way, when I said he plays guitar, that includes acoustic, electric, slide, pedal steel and bass. Yep, very talented. Hear him on these albums, mind blowing!!!

House of Refuge—Black Hen Music—BHM-CD-932 (2006)

I Hear the Wind in the Wires—Black Hen Music—BHMCD 71 (2012)

St. Louis Times—Black Hen Music—BHMCD 73 (2014)

Now aged seventy-two, Jim Byrnes is still gigging and my prayer is that he’s able to do so for many more years. A real hidden treasure and, just so you know, I have two more of his albums on order. Americana at its best.

Bob Pearce

The two other CDs ordered have now arrived and it has to be said that ”Everywhere West” is most highly recommended to readers of BiTS.

Once again, produced and arranged by, and featuring the guitar talent of Steve Dawson. Tracks include superb versions of Bo Carter/Sheiks ‘Bootlegger’s Blues’ and Lowell Fulson’s ‘Black Nights’. Bob Johnson’s ‘From Four Until Late’ get’s a N’awlin’s treatment, it works great too. The Jimmy Reed song that was a staple of us early sixties British blues bashers – ‘Take Out Some Insurance On Me’ brings back some very fond memories indeed. In fact, as my dear wife commented about Mr. Byrnes, “Just when you think he couldn’t get much better”. A superb album.

Everywhere West—Black Hen Music —BHMCD 67 (2010)

The other cd “My Walking Stick” is another collection of blues, soul and gospel worthy of your attention. Let’s not beat about the bush….go and buy all of Jim Byrnes’ albums. If you like class acts, produced and arranged by class producers and arrangers, bringing you great songs performed by someone you’ve probably never heard of—this is him.

My Walking Stick —Black Hen Music—BHMCD 54 (2009)

Bob Pearce With the government’s recent announcement, it won’t be long before venues are again OPEN for music gigs.

When you start getting bookings, don’t forget to put them on the BiTS website ‘Gig Guide’.

YOU CAN ENTER THE GIGS THERE YOURSELF—IT’S VERY EASY—OR AS AN ALTERNATIVE, SEND THE INFORMATION DIRECT TO OUR GIG GUIDE MASTER Andrew Cadwell

THE BITS GIG GUIDE HAS BEEN CALLED “THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE GIG GUIDE I HAVE EVER SEEN” BY DJ AND GIGGING MUSICIAN IAN MCHUGH (Jazz Fm). Tell your friends about it too and let’s get back to NORMAL! BiTS INTERVIEW: Arne Skage

Arne Skage is a Norwegian guitarist who fell in love with the blues and in particular the music of New Orleans a long time ago. He has played on dozens and dozens of other people’s records but has shunned and delayed the limelite himself. That is one of the principal reasons why his stunningly good album is called “Procastination”. Ian Mckenzie spoke to him by telephone. BiTS: Let’s make a start. I want to talk to you about the new album that you’ve had out recently and also about your background. Let’s start with the background. How did you get into music in the first place?

AS: Just general interest, listening to records and stuff, and I had some older brothers that had pretty good record collections and all that, so my taste kind of developed because of that influence and got into American music and blues and all that. That set the path for what was to come.

BiTS: Did you play an instrument in school?

AS: They put me on piano lessons when I was five or six, and I hated it. I did that for a while, then when I moved to this town where I’m currently living, I was 15, 16 and I got to know these guys and we said, ‘let’s start a band’. None of us played any instruments, so we started from scratch. We actually became a band after two or three years and we’re having a reunion this summer with that band and I’m going to play at this festival that we started 40 years ago.

BiTS: That sounds terrific. Where is that happening?

AS: We’re playing the 16th July and it’s called Fjellpark Festival. It’s actually the longest continuous running rock festival in Norway. We started that festival because we didn’t get any gigs. We played all this eclectic music, we would play Van Morrison, Jackson Brown, Little Feat, Muddy Waters, that kind of music, and that was not what the general population wanted to hear, so we didn’t get any gigs. We had to make our own gig.

BiTS: That’s wonderful. I hear a lot of New Orleans sounds in your music. How did you get interested in New Orleans music?

AS: It’s always appealed to me. I don’t know whether it’s an influence from my dad’s record collection, which included people like Louis Armstrong and other jazz artists from that area, but it’s always resonated with me, so after a while, I found out that everything I liked, or I’m influenced by comes from Louisiana. BiTS: Have you played in New Orleans?

AS: Yes. I’ve been guesting with my friend John "Papa" Gros a couple of times, but I haven’t gigged there. I’ve been over there five or six times now over the last decade and I’ve produced two records for another guy called Joe Rusi and I also did my own record there, plus I’ve done some other stuff, recordings in New Orleans. Not much gigging, but I’ve been recording in New Orleans with good people. People like George Porter Jr and John Vidacovich, Doug Belote and John "Papa" Gros.

BiTS: Tell me about the new record. First of all, you’ve appeared on dozens and dozens, you’ve probably lost count of, other people’s records. This is the first one that’s gone out under your name.

AS: Yes, I’ve always been the sideman, if you can call me that. I always played with other artists and on other people’s records and all that. It took a while, but it’s kind of boiled to the surface that I had to make my own stuff eventually and now is the time. I procrastinated. So that’s the title.

BiTS: Is this an album that was made in lockdown when everybody’s been battling COVID?

AS: Actually, I left New Orleans just weeks before they closed down the whole world. The COVID thing has just dragged everything out for me, and I thought that it would be over by now. I had actually planned gigging around the release date, which was in February, but that’s not happened yet. If everything works out, I’ll have my first solo with band gig next weekend, actually. Hopefully, they’ll open up a little bit more. We’ll know this Tuesday, actually, if they’re going to open up more here.

BiTS: Have you been badly affected?

AS: Yeah, everything’s closed down. There’s no gigs. They can’t have concerts. People can’t congregate. It’s like it’s all over.

BiTS: People in Sweden thought they’d got it covered and then it turned out they hadn’t. Tell me about the album. Do you have a favourite track on it?

AS: Which one is my favourite baby? I’m not sure, there’s different temperatures in every song and I don’t know, I like the first track a lot, ‘Dressed Up To Get Messed Up’. Then, I kind of like all of them [chuckles].

BiTS: [Laughing] Of course you do.

AS: I can’t really tell, it’s too close.

BiTS: How’s it going? How is the album selling? Is it going okay? AS: Well, streaming-wise, it was pretty good for the first month and now it’s panning out and I’ve sold almost half of my stock of LPs. I don’t know if that’s good or not because you can’t compare it to anything. There’s never been a pandemic before, so you don’t know what’s good and what’s not. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from all over the world, so that’s nice.

BiTS: Absolutely. When things ease up, are you planning to go out and specifically gig the album? Do a set which is based on the album, or are you planning to do something which is more normal?

AS: It would probably be based on that album, and at the moment, I don’t have enough of my own material to do a full night set, so I’ve put up a list of cover songs too, and almost all of them are by New Orleans artists. It’s going to be pretty cohesive with the album, style-wise.

BiTS: Arne, when you’re listening to music yourself, who do you listen to? What current musicians do you listen to?

AS: I don’t know. I like Derek Trucks a lot, The Derek Trucks Band. I try to find stuff that is in the genre that I like but are new artists, so I pick up on stuff that I haven’t heard. There’s so much music out there now. It’s like you’re being a detective. You have to dig for it. That’s the hard part of doing your own album too and trying to market it because there’s so much out there that it’s really hard to get through to the media and everything if you’re not famous in the first place. That’s really the big hurdle these days. It’s not putting out music. Everybody can do that, but to get the attention of the media and get published in the media, that’s really hard if you’re not famous from some TV show or something.

BiTS: I asked you a few moments ago about your favourite song. What about the dozens of records that you’ve played on, is there anything particularly outstanding which you say to yourself these days, thank goodness I was on that because it’s wonderful?

AS: Yes, there is a couple. There’s a young artist in Norway called Thomas Dybdahl. He played Britain and had an American record deal and everything and got produced by Larry Klein in recent years. His debut album I played on. It’s called “That Great October Sound”. That album is pretty good and there’s also the band that I used to play a lot with in the 90s named Eriksen, the first album that I played on with them was a really big hit. We got actually a Platinum record on the release party and that was when there were LP sales and CD sales, so you actually sold physical objects. That album is pretty good. It’s called “The Water Is Wide” and we actually did that. You probably know the song ‘The Water Is Wide’, we did a pretty good version of that. That was the most played song on one of the top radio stations in Norway that year. That was in 94 and yes, there are some records that I’m pretty proud of having participated on.

BiTS: There seems to be a terrific interest in blues in Scandinavian countries. I’m thinking particularly of Finland and Norway. I’m not sure about Sweden. I guess they’ve got blues there, but I don’t know very much about it. Why do you think that is? AS: Probably appeals to the melancholic temperature of the people there [chuckling]. It’s dark half the year, so the blues is the perfect soundtrack to that, I guess. That’s my guess.

BiTS: That’s a wonderful answer. I love that. That’s absolutely terrific. What plans do you have for the upcoming year? Are you going to the studio again?

AS: I’m trying to salvage the momentum that I had with the release. I got some pretty good press and stuff and that’s the sort of momentum you use to get gigs and stuff, but nobody’s booking anything. Now, a couple of days ago, the Prime Minister released a plan for reopening, so now it looks like after July, things will open up a bit more. I have to get my associates that do the bookings for me to find a way to salvage the momentum that we had and try to book gigs and get up and play. That’s also a thing now. There’s almost no record stores anymore, so to sell the records, you have to be out there and sell them one by one at the gigs. If there’s no gigs, you only rely on sales via internet and all that. It’s like a slow dripping process. The web sales are like one every few days, but it’s not big quantities that go out.

BiTS: Yes, I think it’s going to be a different world when things get back going again—a very different world.

AS: Yes. Hopefully, there’s a live scene, places to play. How many businesses can we have closed for one and a half years and [still] stay in business. It’s pretty horrible all over the place.

BiTS: I’m not going to take very much more of your time, Arne, but I’ve got a couple more questions for you. First off, when did you start to become a slide player?

AS: Actually, my cousin was visiting us when I was a kid and he showed me. He’s two years younger than me and I was maybe eight. He said “If you take this glass and pull it over the strings, you make this Hawaiian sound”. It started there and I’ve always been fascinated with guitar players like David Lindley and Ry Cooder and Lowell George, so that’s always been the go-to thing for me. I actually got a photo the other day from the first time I was in the studio. This was in 82, 83 maybe, and I’m playing the slide there, so it’s always been part of the weaponry, but it’s been a thing that I’ve been called to do a lot. Most of the recordings I’ve done for other people have been slide related. Maybe bottleneck or Hawaiian guitar or lap steel and some pedal steel. It’s always been slide related. That’s my go-to thing.

BiTS: Arne, one final question, please. You’ve played all over the world. Has there been someplace you’ve been playing in and you’ve suddenly thought to yourself, good grief, what am I doing here? This is absolutely wonderful. Nikel, Russia AS: Wonderful or horrible? The worst place I’ve played was in 1990 in Nikel, Russia. This is right across the border from Norway. That’s way up as far east as you get in Norway and it’s only like one hour by bus over the border and it’s a factory town and the pollution is so bad, there is no life for kilometres around the city. That was horrible.

BiTS: It must have been an experience. It sprang straight to your mind. AS: That was the worst, but there have been so many good gigs too. Fantastic. It’s always different things that make them fantastic. It might be the audience. It might be the whole setup of the gig or just what happened on stage, so I can’t just pick one place.

BiTS: Arne, that’s wonderful. I’m not going to take any more of your time. Thank you very much indeed for doing this. Let’s call it a day now. Thank you. Bye then.

AS: Bye-bye.

The 2021 Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival in Colne, Lancashire has been cancelled due to the ongoing Covid- 19 pandemic, organisers have today confirmed.

This legendary festival was due to take place over bank holiday weekend, 27th - 29th August 2021 headlined by Band Of Friends, Kyla Brox, Layla Zoe, Davy Knowles, Mike Farris & more.

Festival organisers, Colne Town Council, have concluded that, at this time, it is "not possible" to run the event safely.

Naomi Crewe, Colne Town Council's Town Clerk, explains "It is with great regret that, in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we cannot find a way to guarantee the safety of our festival goers (often upwards of 25,000 people), venues, traders, performers and staff at this time. Although we love the blues festival here in Colne, we love and respect our residents and visitors more. It is the safety of everyone involved in the event which is the motivation for our decision."

All ticket holders will be contacted directly by Friday 2nd April, and given a refund on their purchases.

Updates will also be posted regularly on the festival website and via the festival social media.

The previous Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival (August 2019) was the 30th Anniversary of the event, and won the much-coveted UKBlues Award for the Best Blues Based Festival Of The Year. The event in 2019 was particularly successful, and was enjoyed by thousands of visitors from across the UK and Europe, as well as being a much-loved event for people of the local area. BiTS INTERVIEW: Lucy Piper

Lucy Piper was brought up with the blues. Her dad Julian, until his sudden death last year, was the blues in south-west England. Founder of Blues South West, he was a superb guitarist who also produced, recorded, toured and promoted concerts in the UK and Europe. Lucy is a world class drummer, recently tagged by Thomas Ruf, and who is making quite a name for herself.

BiTS: Back to the very beginning. How did you become aware of your capacity to become a drummer?

LP: Okay, with always just tapping Julian Piper with Lucy Piper along at school. That annoying child hitting the table because I had songs in my head endlessly, albeit back then, they wouldn’t have been blues songs. They would have been more popular stuff which adults wouldn’t have liked. I started lessons at 11, when I went to secondary school and they had this awesome drum teacher. He was Irish and had an afro and a great character. He’s still playing now. Yeah, he massively inspired me and showed me the way, really. A guy called Steve Crossen and he’s still teaching and performing round here now. He’s Exeter based. I actually started on the guitar first, but because Sam (Lucy’s brother) and my dad were big guitar players, I thought this is silly. We don’t need another guitar player in the band.

BiTS: How far did you get playing the guitar?

LP: I never joined the band playing guitar, but I was fairly able in terms of just able to pick up stuff quickly, songs and so on, but I never made it to playing with others on guitar.

BiTS: How did you discover that you’d got a sense of rhythm, was it just tapping along with people playing and that sort of thing?

LP: Yeah, it’s very hard to explain other than you just know it’s inside you and it’s got to come out. I found it as my way of expressing good emotions, but I don’t know, really. I used to jam with dad from the age of maybe 12, 13 onwards, just up here in the garage. Yeah, so just from jamming with dad, that’s how I learned that I was able to play with others.

BiTS: What was the drum kit that you were using? Was it the one from the school, or did you get one for yourself? LP: To begin with, there was a drum kit at school, yeah, and at primary school, my dad put together a little band called the X Beats and I think my first ever gig was outside what used to be called Solo, which was a CD shop. Do you remember that?

BiTS: Yes.

LP: In the Guildhall. I just remember dad took a bunch of us in and the school band performed, I can’t remember what, but outside that record shop. There was a drum kit at school and I think I probably got my own about the age of 11, something like that. I’ve now got four.

BiTS: You’ve got four. Four full kits.

LP: Yeah, my babies.

BiTS: Where do you store them, in the garage still?

LP: Yes, I don’t know if you’ve ever been up here.

BiTS: I have never been in the garage. I’ve heard about it on many occasions but never been in it.

LP: Yeah, our rehearsal room slash I teach up here now as well. I’m here at the moment. Yeah, it’s a godsend.

BiTS: When you first started, you were mostly playing with your dad and your brother. When did you start playing with other people and how difficult was it?

LP: I think my first band was when I was 16 at college because I started meeting other creative people. I went to a private school before college and music was never really on my radar apart from having private drum lessons, but when I went to college, it brought me into contact with all these different people, which was amazing for getting involved with stuff that I hadn’t had the option of, being in quite a strict private school. The music at the private school was all orchestras and jazz bands and I felt like it was way beyond me and very theoretical. Yeah, my first band was not blues, it was kind of pop punky. From that, from starting to perform just around Exeter, I guess I gained some attention because back then, I mean we’re talking 12, 13 years ago, there was literally no other female drummers around. I was way more rare back then than now. Now there’s so many more, which is great and it’s quite frustrating at the same time because I’m not so niche anymore. You said about how was it with my first band, well I was ultimately playing with my friends in that first band which kind of eased me in to the musical world, but I used to be petrified. So shy, nervous on stage it was literally I just didn’t want to be up there but something, I think probably the fact that I was playing with my friends and we’d written our own material, yeah, some kind of shift happened and there was some kind of drive as to why I was going up on stage even though I hated it. I’m not sure.

BiTS: When you were first learning to play, who did you listen to? What kinds of drummers did you listen to? LP: Good question. I was exposed to a lot of different genres of music through my drum lessons, even though I wasn’t necessarily listening to good music outside of my lessons, if that makes sense. With my drum teacher, we did ‘Come Together’ by the Beatles, for example, and we were covering the great kind of rock songs, I guess. I’d rather quote drummers from my 20s onwards because I was just absorbing. I wasn’t like obsessed with anyone at that really young age. It was only as I’ve got older do I know who my inspirations are.

BiTS: What happened when you were in your 20s then? Who were you listening to then?

Clyde Stubblefield LP: Yes, coming into contact with some of those funk greats like Clyde Stubblefield, James Brown’s drummer, Bernard Purdie, who has played on over 4,000 albums, including Aretha Franklin and Steely Dan, people like that. Al Jackson, the Stax drummer—love his playing. I think Ringo Starr is great.

BiTS: At some stage, Lucy, you started going to Mississippi with your dad, specifically to Clarksdale and, I guess, other places as well, and you started to play in clubs over there in jams, I guess you would call them.

LP: Yes, so a life-changing trip was in 2116, going out just with dad. A father-daughter trip from the classic Memphis to New Orleans, but we spent a whole week out of the two and a half in Clarksdale because we just were making so many great contacts and creative friends. The first night that we got there, and this was key, it was jam night at Ground Zero, Morgan Freeman’s club and I’d already had contact with a drummer over there in Clarksdale who basically we met up with, had a drink with and he enabled us to get up on stage. I think I performed with dad that first night we were in Clarksdale and because there were a lot of people there that night and obviously lots of locals and musicians, we very quickly both got attention for being able to actually play the genre and because there’s music there every night of the week, albeit in different venues. You go to a different venue the next night and you see people that you’ve just seen at the jam night and really quickly you make friends, musical connections. If you’re in the room and someone knows you can play, especially at that point, dad and I were a bit of a freak, not necessarily a freak show, but the father-daughter duo that could both play from England and white middle-class. We weren’t your average tourists that were out there, we were also musicians that loved the genre. With drumming, it’s different, but with guitar and singing, people are going to be way more judgy, aren’t they? If dad went up and was really cringy or something, then he may never have got asked up with anyone else for the rest of that week that we were there, but because they could see he was coming from a good place and people knew I was his daughter and he’d obviously shown me the way, we kind of got accepted very quickly. Made friends very quickly, and yeah, literally wherever you walked into, not instantly, but at some point, they’d say, “hey, do you want to get up and do a couple?”. And it just went from there. Every time you were playing to different audiences and with different musicians and very addictive.

BiTS: I think that since that time you’ve been back to Clarksdale on a number of occasions as well, is that true? LP: Yes, notably, I spent three months out there in 2018 on my own. I’ve been back about seven times since 2016 and one of them was a three-monther and I even spent Christmas there, which was very weird. Christmas and New Year in Mississippi is not your average. There was hardly any sign of what time of year it was. There’s no trees out there, well not where I was.

BiTS: No, that’s right—all completely flat.

LP: It was just like groundhog day, not much change in the weather. It can be the same every day for what feels like forever, but it was life-changing trips going over there and I’ve made lifelong friends.

BiTS: I’m sure you have. I believe at some stage you contacted or were contacted by Thomas Ruf, which later led to you taking part in one of the Blues Caravans.

LP: Yeah, so that was off the back of the trips to Mississippi. I met a couple of artists over there who worked for Ruf, or were signed to Ruf. One was Heather Crosse and the other Ghalia Volt. I met and played with both of them. I dropped their names in an email saying, hey, Tom, just so you know, if you ever need a blues drummer over here in Europe for any of your acts that come over, then I’ve been hanging out in Mississippi, made friends and played with a couple of your artists, amongst other people that I kind of named dropped.

I sent him a couple of pictures so that he knew I wasn’t lying, and I just left it really casual, and I didn’t think I’d hear anything. But in fact, he got back to me pretty quickly, which was a nice surprise, and he didn’t offer something straight away, but he said something along the lines of oh, this is very interesting. Good to hear from you. Yeah, maybe we’ll work together at some point and Ghalia Volt then it took about two-ish years and several failed attempts. A couple of times, he offered me things and they fell through. That was him, not me. But third time lucky, yeah, everything aligned, and it was April 2019, I had an email from him just saying are you free for a video shoot in Berlin in the July for the Blues Caravan, which was, as you know, Whitney Shay, Ryan Perry, Jeremiah Johnson and went from there? From that, I really connected with Ryan and ended up doing his album some months later.

BiTS: That’s “High Risk, Low Reward” yes?

LP: Yeah, that was the one. It was nominated for a BMA (Blues Foundation: Blues Music Award) a so that’s quite cool and we’ll find out in a couple of weeks.

BiTS: Tell me, what are you doing at the moment? You’re obviously doing some teaching from what you said earlier, but what are you doing with gigs? Have you been badly affected by COVID?

LP: Yes, I have. The last gig I played to an audience was March 14th 2020, at the Hour Glass in Exeter. I am involved in four projects though, at the moment, which are all very different and we’ve still been able to rehearse and write new material, which is great. There’s been a lot of creativity going on and general improvement all the time, but what I’ve tried is to get all of my bands as ready to go as possible so that as soon as that barrier comes down, we’re ready. Rather than suddenly, oh my God, we can gig, but we haven’t played together for a year or something. I’ve tried to keep rehearsals and so on as regular as possible when it’s been allowed. But yeah, I’m in a blues trio. I’m in a Bob Dylan, Tom Waits-y band, I don’t know what it is. That’s with Ian Jennings and Adam Sweet and this guy Rob Brown. So two new bands have come out of lockdown for me. I play with a folky local girl called Jess McAllister and a girl in London called Ruby Cross and that one with my brother. And then there’s other people also around the edge of all that. But they’re my four bands.

BiTS: That sounds as though you’re pretty busy. Do you do a tremendous amount of practice? They say 10,000 hours to become proficient or something or other. You must have done more than 10,000 hours already.

LP: I would love to know how many hours I’ve spent and I couldn’t tell you, but I’ve played 18 years and if I tallied all the gigs and all of the rehearsals and all of my solo practice, I mean, I’d hope it might be nearing that kind of target. I try and play five times a week even if I don’t have any rehearsals or anything like that, I come up to the garage and just do 30 minutes to an hour a day on my own up here. Try to do new stuff or constantly improve. It’s very easy to just put a play list on and jam out and think that you’re practising, but you’re not. You’re not actually getting better. I’ve only realised it in the last couple of years, so better late than never, but I wish I had realised it sooner.

BiTS: Find something particularly difficult that you hear or see somebody do and keep on until you get it right.

LP: Definitely, yeah. I mean, it goes for any instrument and anything that you do.

BiTS: Any idea what the future holds? Have you got any plans for making any more records or anything like that?

LP: Yeah, well obviously I’m keen to get all of these bands out there as soon as we’re allowed. Festivals, gigs, maybe a couple of little tours as well as growing my teaching business. I want to go in the studio with the blues trio and get something down with them. The Ian Jennings band we’re going to be launching and getting video material and stuff like that together. I’ve just been in the studio with the girl from London, two weeks ago. We were in the middle of nowhere at somewhere called Propagation House, that’s a really good studio. We spent the whole weekend there. Stayed there for three nights and that’s great, so that’s an exciting new recording that’s going to be coming out. BiTS: Let’s talk about the memorial festival for your dad, Julian Piper. What are the plans now? How is it coming along?

LP: Yeah, better since we last spoke, actually. I think we’re even more firm on the acts and we’re going to be releasing the line up imminently within the next month. Getting the poster and all of that stuff done. We’ve got over 30 bands, three stages.

There’s going to be a couple of different charities that we’re supporting, including the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale. Also, Help Musicians, who are a UK based music charity who have given me a lot of help over the last year. Yeah, all the bands are somehow going to be connected to dad. Either people that he played with, was friends with, worked with, everyone has to have some kind of a connection there.

BiTS: I gather it’s going to be all over Exeter Phoenix, Gandy Street, Exeter, the place in the Phoenix. Every bit of the EX4 3LS place that’s available to put a band in. Tel: 01392 667080 LP: Yeah, pretty much. Obviously, the October 10, 2021 from 3pm main auditorium, Voodoo Lounge and then there’s this new space out the back An all day festival of Blues & Roots to celebrate and called The Workshop. That’s on the remember the extraordinary life of Topsham born British blues guitarist, writer, promoter and record producer ground floor and then we may also have Julian Piper. some blues and soul DJ type stuff going Described in The Guardian as "one of the UK's foremost on. We’re going to have a merch stand champions of African-American blues", Julian not only as well. Maybe get some t-shirts done played alongside leading US blues musicians but and have lots of the Junkyard Angels produced, recorded, toured with and promoted their archives. concerts in the UK and Europe. Often bringing these acts to the South West with his band Junkyard Angels, BiTS: Any big names that you’re able to some of these names included Phil Guy, Eddie Kirkland, Tabby Thomas, Chris Thomas King, Carey & Lurrie announce now? Bell, Lazy Lester and Louisiana Red. LP: It depends what you class as big. Over the span of 4 decades Julian recorded & helped There’s going to be people that you produce 11 albums - two of which won WC Handy know of, Adam Sweet will be playing Awards. with his band. Vince Lee, Jess McAllister, they’re not huge names here, but I think probably Ian Briggs will be performing. Craig Milverton. I’m not going to say too many yet, but that’s just a little handful.

BiTS: I won’t push you any further because there’s stuff going on in the background, obviously. As they say in the detective shows, Lucy, for the benefit of the tape, say what the date is, please.

LP: Sunday 10th of October.

BiTS: I think I remember seeing a message from Sam, saying that you could get tickets already.

LP: Yes, on the Exeter Phoenix website. (https://exeterphoenix.org.uk)

I’ll see you in October, if not before.

BiTS: Hopefully before. GO to the UKBues Awards website

As you will be aware, the winners in the 2021 UKBlues Awards will be announced at our virtual Awards show on Sunday 9th May 2021 at 18.00 BST (GMT+1)

Join us for this very special event on the UKBlues Federation Facebook page or our YouTube Channel

We have a wonderful line-up of guests who will be presenting Awards to the category winners and, of course, the evening is compered by the legend that is Paul Jones.

However, none of this would be happening without the very generous support of those firms, organisations and individuals who agreed to provide sponsorship both for the event and for the Awards themselves.

In particular we would like to thank the four companies who agreed to offer generous event sponsorship for the 2020 live UKBlues Awards event which, of course, could not take place but who, nonetheless, stood by their sponsorship thus giving us the funds to run the acclaimed virtual event in 2020 and also this year's virtual event.

So a big thank you to FORM Fit-out, Milletts Electrical, NE Electrical Solutions and Oxden Floors

Our thanks also go to all the sponsors of the individual Awards:

Blues Matters! Blues in the South Darlington Rhythm & Blues Club Digital Blues Hohner distributed by Sutherland Trading for the UK & Ireland Goin' Up The Country Blues Club, Worthenbury Sarah's Sussex Blues Terry & Lesley Marshall The Colourblind Blues Show White Noise Studios Blues & Boogie Festival at The Carrington, Bournemouth 10th - 13th September 2021

With lockdown restrictions due to be lifted on 21st June, we are taking bookings for this fabulous event! Lightnin’ Willie & The Poorboys (USA), TBC Ricky Cool & The In-Crowd, Boogaloo Blues All-Stars, The Spikedrivers, Bad Influence, Robin Bibi Big Band Hugh Budden & The Blue Chords, Jason Stretch

Book the Blues & Boogie Festival and you get to go to the Rock 'n' Roll festival FREE of charge! That's TWO festivals for the price of ONE! Click here for details of the RNR Festival. Full booking details are on our website together with a link to pay the deposit by card, as well as details for paying by cheque or bank transfer. Blues Weekend at Norton Val Cowell Grange, IOW 8th - 11th- October 2021 One of our favourite venues for it's excellent location on the Isle of Wight, the superb food and the cosy chalets. This will be our twenty-fifth year. To celebrate, we've booked many Boogaloo favourites, some of whom have been with us from the start! Blues 'Super Group' featuring Val Cowell, Jess Hayes and more... Cry Baby & The Hoochie Coochie Boys The Cadillac Kings Guy Tortora Band Angelina (of 'JC & Angelina'!) The Black Cat Blues Band Stompin' Dave & Earl Jackson Late night jam sessions run by The Black Cat Blues Jam (all the way from the IOW!) MC/DJ: Earl Jackson To book, go to Warner's website, and don't forget to quote code RNB21. Blues Weekend at The Heathlands, Bournemouth 3rd - 6th December 2021

new date We're looking forward to this special weekend in the intimate atmosphere of 17TH TO 20TH JUNE 2022 The Heathlands. We love this hotel for it's quirkiness and great Blues Weekend at The atmosphere. We also love the late bars, the Toorak happy hours and the bacon butties at midnight! Great value at just £239 per rescheduled person including all the music, three nights Sadly we have had to move this weekend to accommodation, dinner and breakfast. next year, as it was scheduled to take place before the (earliest) date when Greg Coulson Big Band, lockdown may be eased. Big Dez (France) The Toorak is one of our favourite venues, Papa George Band for it's location, the lovely staff, the superb food and the great welcome we always get. Eddie Angel Blues Band We've held 2022 at this year's price of £259 for the time being, so if you'd like to Frankie Connolly Band take advantage of this and have something Shufflepack to look forward to, do get in touch! Just £50 per person secures your place! El Mondo Combo Full details are on our website. Late night jam sessions hosted by Robin Bibi Acoustic blues sessions MC/DJ: Earl Jackon

Full booking details here. Blues Weekend at The Heathlands, Bournemouth

3rd - 6th December 2021

We're looking forward to this special weekend in the intimate atmosphere of The Heathlands. We love this hotel for it's quirkiness and great atmosphere. We also love the late bars, the happy hours and the bacon butties at midnight! Great value at just £239 per person including all the music, three nights accommodation, dinner and breakfast.

Greg Coulson Big Band,

Big Dez (France)

Papa George Band

Eddie Angel Blues Band

Frankie Connolly Band

Shufflepack

El Mondo Combo

Late night jam sessions hosted by Robin Bibi

Acoustic blues sessions

MC/DJ: Earl Jackon

Full booking details here.

TEENY TUCKER – SHE’S NO SMALL TALENT

By Lawrence Lebo

Regina B. Higginbotham, known professionally as Teeny Tucker, is an American blues singer and songwriter. She is also known as the daughter of the late blues musician Tommy Tucker. Yes sure, she’s taken her father’s famous last name, but the Ohioan (US) entertainer is a force of talent all her own. Teeny has received a host of awards and nominations. In 2011 she was honoured with the Carter G. Woodson Award, named for an American historian often referred to as the “father of black history”. It is a federal award that honoured Tucker’s work in the community. She has also been inducted into the Department of Defense Hall of Fame, which is a rare honour for civilians or women. She’s been nominated for the “Blues Blast” Artists of the Year award in 2008, 2011 and 2013, and currently Teeny is in the running again (she was nominated in 2012 and in 2014) for the 2021 Blues Foundation Traditional Female Blues Artist (Koko Taylor) award.

Ms. Tucker’s latest release Put On Your Red Dress Baby, is a love song to her famous father in honour of his 2017 induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. The album contains both original material and covers, including the title track, Teeny’s female version of her father’s 1964 smash-hit ‘Put On Your High-Heeled Sneakers’. Teeny makes each cover her own through great mastery of her instrument. She runs through her several octave vocal range utilizing traditional growls, belts and shouts, to clean, clear falsetto tones. It’s a singer’s joy to listen to her!

I asked Teeny to tell us a bit about herself and her career. This is what she told me ……..

LL: So, most folks know that you are the daughter of the famous blues singer/songwriter/pianist Tommy Tucker. What was it like growing up in your household? TT: I did not live with my father, however, I visited him growing up quite often and particularly during the summer when he moved to New York in the 1960s from his hometown of Springfield, Ohio. My parents were never married. He was a blues man who caught the eye of a lot of beautiful women. In that era, it was the musician's Chitlin’ Circuit gigs and segregation was still very much alive and well. My mother who was a young white girl who lived in Dayton, Ohio (a twenty-five minutes from Springfield Ohio) with her family would sneak to the Blues clubs to hear Blues. That’s when my mother and father met, in the midst of some good old blues singing and music. The rest is history! LL: When did you know that you could sing? TT: I believe I knew I could sing when I was six years old. I actually sang my first solo at age 8 after hearing the voice of Mahalia Jackson's blasting through my radio, my only Christmas gift. I was around 8 years old when I plugged that radio up and heard this big contralto voice coming through the radio and I knew then I wanted to sing like Mahalia Jackson. At age 10, I sang my first solo ‘Gonna Lay Down My Burdens, Down By The Riverside’ in church to my first largest crowd of around two hundred plus.

From then on, I sang in the church choir and many solos. As a teen, I was a lead singer in the church gospel choir until I was in my early twenties when I started singing Top 40 at wedding re- ceptions, special and private events.

LL: You have an impressive command of your vocal instrument and of your musicality. You can go from mean growling notes, to clean strong notes, and then to a clear falsetto. How did you learn that? TT: As a young girl I was not real sure of my own vocal style until after I learned to trust my inner gut, my own feel and my own soul. I had to learn to trust my feel, and be somewhat, but not be solely or heavily influenced by vocalists that I admired. I do feel that I discovered my own feel by practice, trial and error. I also believe that singing in the church choir contributed a major influ- ence to my vocal style. In church you sing with a growl demanding the devil to flee, or with a soft pitch seeking the spirit of the Lord, and then a clear falsetto from your head voice when they needed me to sing in the so- prano section when someone didn't show up. I do feel I never sing the same song the same way no matter how many times I sing it, because I sing based on what I am feel- ing at the time. I loved listening to soul, gospel, and R&B; the rhythm I believe I was innately drawn to. When I sing a song, I tried to tell a story like I would read a poem or paint a picture. I like to use col- our, technique, and style when I sing a song. If I can’t feel it, then it wouldn't be attractive to anyone else.

LL: What did your father teach you about Tommy Tucker songwriting and performing? TT: Ironically, my father passed away un- expectedly at the young age of 48 on my 21st birthday in 1982. I clearly remember on one of his visits with me in Ohio when I was 14 years, asking him to hear a recording of me with my gospel choir under the direction of the famous hymn writer, Doris Akers. Ms. Akers auditioned a few of the young choir members to sing her songs that was produced on a 78 rpm. I sang and recorded her composition "Meet Me In Heaven" at age 14. My father heard it and he was in awe that his daughter could sing like that. That is how I came up with the song "Daughter To The Blues". I've always loved writing poetry so when I wrote my first songs for my second blues CD, it was not as complex as I thought because I learned to tell the stories of my everyday life experiences. Outside of singing in the gospel choir in front of a church audience, I did not sing in front of a blues music crowd until mid 1996. I had to develop confidence in my style and how I projected it to the audience.

LL: What did your father teach you about the music business? TT: When my father passed away, I was only 21, married with a daughter, and worked for my local state government as a caseworker. The only singing I was doing during that time was in my church choir, weddings, private and public events, and the local theatre. In 1996 I was asked by a former European promoter for my father if I would like to come to Europe and sing at some of the Blues Festivals. I listen to and learned many songs from many pioneer blues ladies until the Blues lived in my soul with no exceptions. I agreed with the terms and conditions of his contracts and the rest is history. My professional blues music career took off. For most of my career I never had a booking agent, publicist or promoter. I had to learn the business mostly on my own, along with knowledge that Robert Hughes shared and contributed. I did hear my father say many times in the past, not to be a sellout. My terms and conditions trump most all others. While I did really well and worked plentiful, agent support may have been a double posi- tive for me. At times when I look back, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I built a daytime career and a 25 plus years music ca- reer at the same time and looking back I have no regrets. LL: In 2014 you made a presentation on the theme "Women in Blues,", as part of the state series speaker forum at Penn State University, PA. In your experience, what is the current state of women in the blues? Have we come a long way, baby? TT: As with anything, women in blues has evolved. It should be noted that a black wom- an and pioneer of woman in blues was a ma- jor contributor to the blues music world and American roots music. In 1920 when the in- dustry discovered a black woman's high profit potential in the race music market, specifical- ly after the recording of Mamie Smith's ‘Crazy Blues’ expressing how she couldn't eat or sleep because the man she loved wouldn't treat her right. Many women black or white from the south, east, north and west could relate to those words. I believe the blues women of today should know about the foundation of women in blues and how they as pioneers moulded its culture, industrialized its market, and added appeal to its art form. If you don't want to learn its origins, then don't play it or sing it! LL: Let’s talk about your latest release Put On Your Red Dress Baby. You co-penned 8 of the 13 tracks with your guitarist/producer Robert Hughes. Can you tell us about your and Robert’s vision and concept for the album? TT: In 2017 "Hi Heel Sneakers" written and performed by my father Tommy Tucker in 1964 was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame! Robert and I have written songs together for more than twelve years. Our goal for this album was less about a theme this time and more about honouring my father’s song “High-Heel Sneakers” has been recorded by many other artists including the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Ramsey Lewis and Stevie Wonder, etc. In his honour of the 2017 BHOF induction, we used the title "Put On Your Red Dress Baby". Before then, we were writing songs that we wanted to feature, and because during my festi- val performances I get multiple re- quests to perform Etta James "I’d Rather Go Blind", we included the short and the long version on the CD. The long version works the crowd into a lover’s lane and teardrops. The CD lin- ers notes explain the original concept of each song. LL: Track 7, the title track, you cover your father’s famous “High-Heeled Sneakers” under the title of “Put on Your Red Dress Baby”. Was it a lot of pressure to cover your father’s work and make it your own? TT: Well, one might feel that, but I didn't feel that way. “High-Heeled Sneakers” is one of the top 10 classic songs in Blues music and perhaps the most played song practiced by blues musicians to cut their teeth into the blues music world. I fig- ure I could join them and especially since my father wrote and played the original. I was more con- cerned about making it sound like me, with a touch of love and honour. I just needed to let the women know it's exciting and fun to put on your red dress, go out with your man, and have a good time for the night. LL: Please tell us about the musicians contributing to this album. TT: Robert Hughes is the producer, music arranger, and lead and rhythm guitar player on this CD. He is also, I don't think many people know, is a blues music historian and has played with some of the music legends in the early years of blues, and of other genres. Robert Blackburn is on bass. He’s played with Robert and with other successful groups in the early days of music. Dwight Cartier also plays bass on track #6. Ryan Pakervich, my longtime drummer is on drums, David Gastel, who studied for many years Little Walter's harmonica techniques, is on harmonica … and he filled in on some keyboard parts. Linda Dachtyl a well-studied and accomplished jazz pianist joined us on the B3 and piano, and her husband Carey Dachtyl also studio producer, played the maracas on tune 11 “Jump Back”. Background vocals are from Mary Lusco Ashley, Paula Brown (also vocalists in their own right and singing with me for many years), Robert Blackburn, and myself. LL: How have you fared during the pandemic? TT: I am a news buff, so I started wearing a mask in January 2020. My children laughed at me, they thought I was crazy until they realized in March that there was a true pandemic that followed isola- tion and a world shut down. Prior to the pandemic gigs were cancelled, appointments were can- celled, and many things happened from the corners of your home. I started painting and teaching myself piano and music theory. I was surprised how I started creating ideas and then put them on canvas. During the pandemic, I believe I've painted over 100 paintings. My grandson was so im- pressed with my paintings he convinced me to let him make me a site at www.teenys.art to sell a few. The isolation from family, friends, and fans has been devastating, but hopefully the end is in the near future. LL: Besides a possible Blues Foundation “Traditional Female Blues (Koko Taylor Award) Art- ist” win, what can we look forward to from you? TT: More art, songwriting, and piano self-lessons. I like to introduce some of my songs to other art- ists to sing and perform. As far as my artwork, I will keep painting in hopes of creating a master- piece before I leave the earth. I’d also like to finish an autobiography of my life as a biracial child and all the obstacles and triumphs that I have overcome. Very interested in ‘Blues in the Schools’ and continuing my ‘Women in Blues Workshops’. ~ Lawrence Lebo

Lawrence Lebo is an award winning, critically acclaimed blues recording artist living in Los Angeles, CA, USA. She can be found on the web at www.lawrencelebo.com

The Invisible Me by

Teeny Tucker The Association for Cultural Equity (ACE) is pleased to announce the launch of the Lomax Digital Archive. archive.culturalequity.org provides free access to audio/visual collections compiled across seven decades by folklorist Alan Lomax (1915–2002) and his father John A. Lomax (1867–1948), and was supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities’ NEH Cares program.

For nearly ten years, ACE has hosted online the entirety of Alan Lomax’s photographs and tape recordings—made throughout the US and the world between 1946 and 1991—as well as transcriptions of his 1940s radio programs, and a selection of clips from his film and video-work of the 1970s and 1980s. The LDA offers all of this material through a totally redesigned user interface, with more intuitive search and browse functions, as well as easy embeddability and instant social-media sharing on the item (recording / photo / video) level.

The LDA also expands the old site exponentially through the inclusion of collections compiled by the Lomaxes under the auspices of the Library of Congress’ Archive of Folk Song between 1933 and 1942. First and foremost, these include the entire 70 hours of their Kentucky recordings and the 39 hours of Mississippi recordings. This latter material includes the first recordings of Muddy Waters, Honeyboy Edwards, and Sid Hemphill. Although this material has been issued in assorted iterations over the years, the LDA makes it possible to listen to them in their entirety in their original recording contexts. As funds become available to digitise and catalogue other collections from this period, they will become available here. (These collections include recordings made by several of Alan's collaborators, among them John W. Work III and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle, and are presented here in partnership with ACE’s colleagues at the LC’s American Folklife Center.)

The catalogues are searchable and browsable by a range of taxonomies (performers, instrument, location, genre, etc.) and every recording and image is described by extensive item-level metadata. Nothing is left out — every microphone check and struck tuning fork is included.

Lastly, a crucial aspect of the LDA is its capacity for exhibits, which will allow for thoughtful, context-rich explorations into specific aspects of the collections: be they instruments, locations, traditions, performers, or themes. The inaugural presentation is “Trouble Won’t Last Always”, which compiles the several dozen performances that comprised ACE’s daily song series of the same name, launched in the early days of the pandemic. “Trouble” consists of recordings from across the Lomax collections that speak to themes of loneliness, isolation, optimism, endurance, transcendence, selected and annotated by LDA curator Nathan Salsburg, and with an introduction by Dom Flemons, the American Songster. Do you enjoy Blues in the South? Why not sign up for regular Monthly email delivery? IT’S SIMPLE &

CLICK HERE or SCAN THE QR CODE The Nitecrawlers remember the notorious Race Records ace producer and founder of Black Patti Records, Mayo Williams...

Around about the same time that Al Capone was strutting his stuff around Chicago, a pioneering producer of Race Records was operating his own smaller scam, ruthlessly chiseling his artists with contracts that only ever played off in his favour. “The only way to make money is to screw the artist before he screws you”, cynically claimed the man who provided a platform for Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Tampa Red, Alberta Hunter, Blind Boy Fuller, Roosevelt Sykes and Sleepy John Estes amongst many others.

Jay Mayo Williams, also known as ‘Ink’, (because of his capacity to get artists to sign on the dotted line ED) came out of Arkansas but after his sawmill working father got shot dead the family moved to Monmouth, Illinois. Mayo played pro football, but the pay wasn’t good so to make a living he also hustled bath-tub gin and acted as a collection agent for Black Swan Records.

Silvery tongued Mayo saw an opportunity when the mysterious Wisconsin Chair Company decided to form Paramount Records and buy up the masters from a now pretty near bankrupt Black Swan, and by somehow convincing the naïve Chair Company owners that he’d been a big noise in the Black Swan organisation, Mayo conned himself into the job as Paramount’s talent scout and race recording manager.

Setting up office on South State Street in the heart of Chicago, Ink started searching for talent. “I went to some low-class areas when I worked for Paramount”, said Ink. “A man could get shot there, robbed, anything”. Fortunately for him, Ma Rainey had just quit the talent show circuit and moved up to the Windy city. Ink found her singing down at a heel juke joint close by the railroad tracks, signed her up and recorded eight sides that made her a star and Mayo Williams a big name in the Race Records business.

The thing was, Ink was too smart for the steady stream of rural bluesmen knockin’ on his door and he grabbed the opportunity to fleece those naïve country boys who were happy with a thirty-dollar recording fee and free whiskey while signing their copyrights over to Ink’s Chicago Music Publishing Company. “He was a thief from the day he was conceived”, declared Alberta Hunter.

After Williams left Paramount and set up his own short-lived ‘Black Patti’ label, he continued writing crooked contracts and recording from cheap studios, while his partner Fred Gennett pressed and shipped poor quality shellac records from his plant in Richmond. The trouble was, Black Patti sides only ever sold in hundreds, so Gennett pretty soon pulled the plug on the whole operation, and Ink moved on to Brunswick for a while until the Wall Street crash brought the record business screeching to a halt.

When Ink resurfaced he was head of Race Records for Decca and still peddling the Chicago Music Publishing Company’s raw deals, but Mayo was going out of style and Decca Studios in Chicago spent more time as a warehouse than a studio. There were more small independent labels and more shady contracts but as he struggled along with microscopic budgets, Ink realised his time was done and decided to quit and enjoy his ill-gotten gains.

There was no question Ink Williams played a big part in bringing a whole chunk of blues music to the attention of the public and without him many performers just wouldn’t have made it. But he had no respect for any of them, “they were just drunken low-down guys…not people I wanted to hang around with for more than it took to do my business”.

There is no question he was a trailblazer, a sharp guy with a head for business and they were rough, tough times he was operating in when it was every man for himself, but us Nitecrawlers figure that if he’d played a straighter hand, Ink Mayo Williams might well have gone down as one of the more influential and important characters on the whole blues scene.

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NEW ALBUM ‘MAVERICK’ OUT FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2021

Due to the pandemic and uncertainty about when live concerts can take place, regretfully the decision has been made to reschedule the King King February 2021 UK Tour to February 2022 . All tickets remain valid for the new dates.

Tickets are available via www.kingking.co.uk/tour and www.thegigcartel.com .

King King , who have been going from strength to strength in recent years, released their fifth studio album “Maverick” came out on Friday 27 November 2020 via Channel 9 Music – King King’s new independent label. The 10-track album, released on CD, vinyl and various bundles, is

REVIEWS

Dustin Arbuckle & Matt Woods—2020—Dustin Arbuckle ASIN: B08D3PS1SJ

The first track 'You Got To Know' is an Elmore James-style blues featuring Matt on acoustic slide guitar and vocals and Dustin on harmonica, it's nicely played back porch blues and the video for the track (and the whole album) was recorded with the two players separated and Dustin adding his harp to tracks that Matt had already put down - not ideal but needs must! Dustin (formerly with the duo Moreland & Arbuckle) is from Wichita, Kansas and Matt is from central Iowa and has worked as a solo artist and with his band The Thunderbolts. 'laks Shuffle' is a nice old-timey instrumental and 'V8 Ford' features Matt's ragtime guitar and Dustin's old-timey harp. 'Everybody Loves My Baby' has vocals by Dustin and a Muddy Waters feel (but is still acoustic) whereas 'It Ain't Stealin' has an earlier jug band vibe and the album closes with a version of Fred McDowell's classic 'Keep My Lamp Trimmed and Burning'. I thought that both men played well here but overall I felt there was something lacking, not sure if it was the songs or the detached way of recording but I just felt that the album lacked a certain spark. I know that they have gigs planned for summer 2021 so hopefully they can get back together and regain their mojo.

Graham Harrison

A. J. Fullerton—The Forgiver And The Runaway—Vizztone ASIN : B08VF3GFLQ

I did see A. J. Fullerton a couple of years ago at the Red Rooster Festival in Suffolk but sadly I don't remember a great deal about him, the singer/songwriter/guitarist hails from Western Colorado but this album was produced by Canadian Steve Marriner of the band Monkey Junk in Ontario and features Canadian musicians. The band includes Fullerton and Marriner on guitars, Jesse O’Brien on keyboards, Anna Ruddick on bass and Glenn Milchem on drums, with harp players Paul Reddick and Jake Friel. 'Remind Me Who I Am Again' and 'Healing Time' are two nice openers, soulful Americana rather than blues but 'Slippin' Away' is a rocking blues with boogie piano and good lead guitar that was issued as a single. 'Say You'll Stay' is a swampy mid-tempo rocker with a harp solo by Friel and the title track is a moody song with restrained slide guitar and AJ's soulful vocals.

On 'I Cried' Paul Reddick adds his harp to this atmospheric bluesy song and 'Wish You'd Tell Me' is a melodic funky track with more harp from Reddick, while 'Cherry Red' isn't the Big Joe Tuner song but a cover of a blues by J.D. Taylor with more rolling piano from O’Brien and harp from Jake Friel. 'Never Was' is a Chuck Berry-style melodic rocker with great guitar, piano, backing vocals and a lovely slide guitar solo and 'Homesick' is a poignant country song with Aaron Goldstein on pedal steel and we finish off with the Colin Linden country blues song 'Hooks in the Water' done semi- acoustic with Reddick's gorgeous harmonica. AJ is very much his own man, he's obviously influenced by roots music but doesn't really sound like anyone else and this is a really good sounding album with great playing throughout and the slide guitar, piano and harmonica give it a real bluesy feel - combined with AJ's excellent vocals.

Graham Harrison

Damon Fowler—Alafia Moon—Landslide Records ASIN : B08TFFNCH7

Blues/roots rocker Damon Fowler hails from Florida’s Gulf Coast, also home to blues slide guitar master Tampa Red, and like Tampa Red Damon is a fine slide guitarist and also a good singer with a distinctive southern drawl. This album features him with a band comprising Chuck Riley (bass), Justin Headley (drums), Mike Kach (keyboards), T.C. Carr (harmonica) and Betty Fox (backing vocals). The album was co-produced by Fowler and George Harris and features ten original songs and one cover. We start with two mid-tempo swampy-sounding tracks 'Leave It Alone' featuring Carr's harp and 'I’ve Been Low' with Damon's slide guitar, then the title track slows things down with Damon's vocals being really soulful on this blues ballad.

The album's cover song is 'The Guitar' by Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson which tells the intriguing story of finding a guitar in a pawn shop (watch out for the surprise ending) and features some nice acoustic guitar picking. 'Hip To Your Trip' is a blues written by Damon and fellow slide player Jim Suhler and has some great slide guitar, while 'Some Things Change' is a powerful song with T.C. Carr back on the harp and 'Taxman' (not the Beatles' song) is a slow blues guitar workout. 'Wanda' is a fun, funky song about a local character, while 'The Umbrella' is a mainly spoken track which sounds like it was recorded live (hence Josh Nelms’ credit - "bottles and background noise") and we finish with 'Kicked His Ass Out' a jazzy fun song - the consequence of the previous track. I've really liked many of Damon's earlier albums and while he is still a very good guitarist and singer felt that this album lacked a few really killer songs - possibly the result of lockdown regulations.

Graham Harrison

New Moon—Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Volume 2—Stony Plain ASIN : B08RRDTDGZ

This is the second volume of a session recorded at Jim Dickinson's Zebra Ranch Recording Studio in Coldwater, Mississippi in 2007 with Jim and his sons Luther and Cody, harp legend Charlie Musselwhite, blues guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart and Jimbo Mathus (bass & vocals). The first edition was issued last year and both volumes are a fitting tribute to Jim Dickinson who died in 2008. I must admit I did wonder if these were going to be the sub-standard leftovers from the first volume but from the first track 'Blues for Yesterday' (featuring Charlie Musselwhite) I thought the standard was really high, Jimbo Mathus' 'Searchlight' is a rocking Chicago blues track with wailing harp and guitar, with Jim's rolling piano in the background. 'Oh Lord, Don’t Let Them Drop That Atom Bomb on Me' is a lovely slow blues based around Jim's piano with his vocals sounding like Roosevelt Sykes and Luther throws in a nice slide guitar solo, while 'Hams and Greens' is a loping jug band number with Jimbo on vocals and everyone else following on lazily behind.

The ensemble rip through Junior Wells' 'Messin' with the Kid' and Charlie's 'Black Water' is a laid back trance blues while Alvin's 'If Blues Was Money' sounds like it was recorded in the 1930s. 'Can’t Stand to See You Go' is the old Jimmy Reed track featuring Jim on vocals and piano, 'Blue Guitar' is an instrumental on the theme of 'You Shook Me' and we finish with another slow blues - 'Blues Is a Mighty Bad Feeling' - again with Jim up front. I was pleasantly surprised by this album, it is every bit as good as volume one, which should have come as no great surprise really given the talent of the people involved. It is very much an ensemble project and the participants do make a really good band together but I would have liked to have heard Luther Dickinson's guitar featured more.

Graham Harrison

Jane Pearl—Misfit Pearl and the Odd Fellows—577950 Records ASIN: B08XK1623N

Jane Pearl is originally from Kentucky but has lived in the Wild West of Gloucestershire for many years before recently moving back to the States. She's played in a variety of bands in a variety of styles without ever really finding a unit that could make the most of her talents as a powerful singer and a versatile songwriter. She ended up backing herself on ukulele and various wind instruments including harmonica and exotic modified kazoos.

We get off to a great start with 'The Barnyard Dance' a catchy melodic mariachi song with humorous lyrics, 'Wildcat' is a bluesy song with slide guitar and harmonica and 'My Coffee Cup' is a nice sad country ballad with nice fiddle. More fiddle on 'You Can Talk To Me' a ballad that blends country and Celtic influences, 'Can't Die Young' is a heavier blues rock song with Hammond organ while 'Boom Boom Boom' is a more acoustic bluesy song with slide guitar and harmonica. 'Escape To The Country' is a catchy rocker, 'Hold Every Minute' is a lovely melodic country song with fiddle and steel guitar that reminded me of a song that Bonnie Raitt might sing and 'Tik Tok' is a thoughtful song about time passing (not about the computer app!) I thought that this was a really good record that shows off Jane's talent as both a singer and a songwriter, there's lots of variety here and the band play their part in providing great accompaniment without detracting from Jane herself.

Graham Harrison Ally Venable—Heart Of Fire—RUF Records ASIN : B08QW83BWJ

Looking at Ally on the cover she looks like an unlikely blues artist - she's young (21), pretty and sweet but I guess that's the same kind of comments that were aimed at Susan Tedeschi when she first started. The album's first track, the title track, reassures any doubters - she can both play guitar and sing - she doesn't put on a harsh, screaming 'blues voice' but sings naturally and still has the power to up the intensity for the choruses. Her guitar playing is confident and has great tone and while this is very much rock- blues the following track 'Played the Game' features her on nice bluesy acoustic slide guitar and also has great vocals. Ally is backed by Bobby Wallace or Landon Moore (bass), Elijah Owings or Cody Dickinson (drums), Rick Steff and Pat Fusco (keyboards) and Jana Misener (cello),

Perry Bradford's 'Hateful Blues' starts with a sample of Bessie Smith and on the melodic 'Road to Nowhere' (written by Ally and Devon Allman) Devon adds a nice bluesy guitar solo, and the next track is a similar melodic blues with Kenny Wayne Shepherd adding his fluid blues lead guitar while Ally provides the rhythm and the vocals. 'Hard Change' is a riffy rocker, 'Do It In Heels' is like a female version of ZZ Top, I really liked the very dirty guitar sound on this one. 'Use Me' is a Bill Withers song that adds a bit of funk to Ally's sound and 'Tribute to SRV' is an instrumental that has Ally paying tribute to her hero and fellow Texan Stevie Ray Vaughan, it's very tasteful building up from a restrained almost 'Albatross-y' opening and then alternating between this and more fervent, intense passages. I must admit this album was a lot better than I expected, it sounded good courtesy of producer Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller, Santana) the only downside for me were a few weak songs, however this is still a great achievement for someone so young and like Susan Tedeschi I'm sure that Ally will go on to bigger and better things.

Graham Harrison

Ale Ponti—Dead Railroad Line Chronicles—Independent

Ale Ponti is a Milan-based Italian singer/guitarist specialising in pre-war acoustic Blues and Ragtime.

Outside Italy he has performed in New Orleans and at the 2018 Chicago Blues Festival, and has also toured with Corey Harris. He quotes the Rev. Gary Davis, Big Bill Broonzy and Robert Johnson amongst his influences, and echoes of their music, among others, can be heard throughout this fine album of 13 original songs recorded at his home in April 2020 during lockdown. His very dexterous finger-picking on 6 and 12-string guitar and very tasteful slide on resonator, demonstrate his mastery of pre-war styles. He is also a strong, authentic-sounding vocalist, with very little trace of an Italian accent and an only occasional lapse into the “faux-black” growl that many white Blues singers seem to consider de rigueur. Although entirely self-penned, these 13 songs are very convincingly “pre-war” in style and underline how thoroughly Ale Ponti has studied and absorbed the music of the Masters. Particular favourites of mine are “Locomotive Papa” (echoes of Bukka White), the Broonzy- inspired “Big Fat Mary”, and “Sunny Day Rag” in the style of Blind Blake. Highly recommended to lovers of pre-war Blues and Ragtime.

Pete Harris Bob Corritore and Tail Dragger—Longtime Friends in the Blues—Delta Groove Productions Chicago-born and Phoenix-based harp player Bob Corritore has been active on the American Blues scene for over 40 years, appearing on countless albums either as frontman or as guest on other artists' recordings. He has also featured as producer of albums for artists including R L Burnside, Robert Junior Lockwood, Louisiana Red and Kim Wilson. He is joined on this 2012 recording by Chicago veteran Tail Dragger (real name James Yancey Jones) for an album of no-nonsense, 50s-style Chicago Blues. Jones, a Howling Wolf disciple, apparently acquired his stage name from his habit of arriving late to Wolf's gigs, and the Howling Wolf influence is evident in his raw, guttural vocal style. Though not as powerful a singer as Wolf (who is?) he nevertheless does a fine job fronting a top-notch band, featuring guitarists Kirk Fletcher and Chris James, veteran pianist Henry Gray, and the rock-solid rhythm section of Patrick Rynn on bass and Brian Fahey on drums. Throughout proceedings Bob Corritore blows the back off his harp, James Cotton-style. With the exception of John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson's ‘Sugar Mama’ and Henry Gray's instrumental “Boogie Woogie Ball” the ten tracks are Tail Dragger originals, mainly shuffles and slow Blues in classic Chicago style. The production is up-front and punchy, lending the music an intensity reminiscent of Muddy Waters' late-career recordings on Blue Sky produced by Johnny Winter. That Jones and his band had a ball making this album shines through on every track. In conclusion, an album of classic lowdown Chicago Blues unreservedly recommended to all lovers of the genre.

Pete Harris

Chris Cain—Raisin' Cain—Alligator Records

Despite his relative lack of recognition in the UK, California native Chris Cain is simply one of the world's top Blues guitarists. Don't just take my word for it, Joe Bonamassa, no less, calls him, “Hands down my favorite Blues guitarist on the scene today”, and in the words of the great BB King, "Chris Cain? Now that boy can PLAY the guitar!" Active on the US and international Blues scene since the 80s, Cain released his debut album “Late Night City Blues” in '87. This, his 15th, is the first on Bruce Iglauer's prestigious Alligator Records label, and it's a masterwork of uptown contemporary Blues and Soul. As a guitarist I am in awe of the the fluidity, inventiveness and sheer feel of his playing - jazzy, funky or down-home in turn. Allied to his prodigious fretboard skills is a powerful and soulful vocal style reminiscent of BB King and Bobby Bland. What's more, as these twelve original tracks ably demonstrate, he is also a talented songwriter.

Difficult as it is to pick out favourite tracks from an album of uniform excellence, particularly impressive to these ears are the Albert King-inspired ‘I Believe I Got Off Cheap’, the humorous and funky ‘Hush Money’, the autobiographical slow Blues ‘Born to Play’ and the Gospel-inspired Soul ballad ‘Down on the Ground’. None of the tracks outstays its welcome, the longest being 4:38 mins. long.

Cain is superbly backed throughout by his excellent, ultra-tight road band, and the album is enhanced by first-class production values. Do your ears a favour and buy it.

Pete Harris

Aris Paul Band—Ghosts—Independent

(www.arispaulband.com)

Aris Paul is a singer, a monster guitarist, a band leader and songwriter from Pittsburgh, PA, and on this, his second album, he leads his three musicians (organ, bass, and drums) through a set that mixes blues and soul with classic rock. Some of these songs are out-and-out rock (try ‘Burn’ with its nods to vintage Black Sabbath); on other tracks they can be extremely bluesy.

For a strongly blues-inflected track, lend an ear to the slow ‘One More Time’. He has The Soulville Horns (sax, trombone and trumpet) helping out on the title track and adding a definite Stax feel to this soul-influenced song. In the rocker ‘Little White Screen’ he even interjects a minute or so of ‘Hey Joe’, Hendrix-style, and it works well.

For the most part Aris leans towards the rock side of things – this is more of a rock-blues approach than blues-rock, if you get my meaning. It is a sound that often crosses over onto the blues scene these days, and if that is what you go for, you’ll definitely go for this.

Norman Darwen

Katie Knipp - the Well - Independent

California-based singer/ songwriter/ keyboardist and dobro player Katie covers a lot of ground on this five track release, but it all remains close to the blues. Her impressive vocal range is well-presented throughout, though none more so than on the closing ‘Bullet Train’, which also features blues harp by Mick Martin, and the sultry, gospel-steeped southern soul of ‘The Gospel Of Good Intentions’, with its quiet organ cushion and gentle horns.

There’s almost an alt.blues approach (though with a hint of New Orleans jazz) on the opening ‘Sad Eyed Lover’, whilst ‘Chamomile And Cocaine’ is self-descriptive - and certainly not promoting anything - with a subtly funky edge and a blues-rock break. ‘Better Me’ sounds like something from the 60s, with an almost work song like arrangement that also includes a flute - I can’t decide whether it is jazzy or psychedelic (probably both).

That just leaves me to advise you to check out this bluesily eclectic set, and express a hope that Katie gives us a full-length album soon! Norman Darwen

(www.katieknipp.com)

Zed Mitchell - Route 69 - Z Records

(www.zedmitchell.com)

This is the eighth solo album from Berlin-based singer and guitarist Zed, marking a half-century in the music business and his work as a session player with some very big names. Try Tina Turner and BB King for starters!

The vocal on the opener, ‘By Sundown You’ll Be Gone’, recalls the cool approach of Mark Knopfler, pushed along by a throbbing bass and embellished with some stratospheric (but controlled and relaxed) slide playing. This kind of cool, quietly forceful groove and excellent blues-based guitar playing continues throughout the entire album. The laid- back ‘Freedom Trail’ reminds me more than a little of 70s Eric Clapton, and ‘Midnight Melody’ has a slinky, jazzy feel, a breathy vocal and some deft work on the brushes by drummer David Haynes and a fine one-off instrumental break by saxman Max Shurakowski.

‘Is This Life’ is a ballad but with a slightly tougher sound than expected, and ‘Life Will Always Find You’ is an excellent modern blues, more than a little like late period BB King, and the final number, ‘Fake’ reminds me a little of mid-70s Pink Floyd, though the guitar work is perhaps a little bluesier.

So, not a conventional blues album, but a very impressive player showcasing his blues-derived licks and a bunch of notable songs on a classy album. That should certainly interest some readers.

Norman Darwen

Howlin’ Wolf – Rare Wolf: Chess Records Outakes, Demos, Alternates 1948 - 1963 – Retroworld Floatm 6408

No need for a lengthy review with this one. Quite apart from the title of this double CD telling you much of what you need to know, this is Howlin’ Wolf. If that doesn’t make you quiver with excitement, you’ve already got the complete Wolf discography on 78s, 45s, long-gone vinyl, bootleg albums from back in the day, and a whole bunch of CDs. Either that or you’re reading the wrong magazine.

Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett, born 1910 and died in 1976, was and is one of the blues’ greatest performers, and this material, whilst not being his absolute best, is vitally important. Much of it dates from the 50s – raw, rough and ready, wild, ill disciplined, feral, seemingly spontaneous, and incredibly exciting. Most of the music on CD2 is better-produced, a little less anarchic maybe, but still wonderful deep blues. There are glimpses of Wolf’s influences – Charley Patton, John Lee “Sonny Boy No. 1” Williamson and Rice “Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2” Miller, even the jazzy hokum sound of The Harlem Hamfats. But it is all subsumed by Wolf himself into his own style.

About thirty years ago, I was in regular contact with a drummer from Arkansas. He wrote to me once about how Wolf had played at his High School dance around 1952, and even in a letter 40 years later, some of his awe at the show still came through. That’s the kind of impression Wolf could, and still does, make… Just listen.

Norman Darwen

Steve Keenan – in My Hands - Independent

(www.stevekeenanband.com)

The opener of this all-original set is a strong piece mixing southern rock with country. It is presumably Steve playing the fiddle here (it was his first instrument), and it is followed by the country styled ‘Lucky One’. Stick with it though, blues lovers, as ‘Drowning Sorrows’ is a fine, catchy blues with echoes of Creedence Clearwater Revival maybe, ‘Gambler’s Hand’ is a soulful bluesy ballad, and ‘Doin’ Fine’ is a blues with a funky edge.

So who is Steve Keenan? Well, he’s a singer and guitarist from Lethbridge, Alberta in Canada, and this is his debut album, with his band consisting of Gary Drayton on keyboards, David Popovitch on bass and Darwin Romanchuk on drums. It’s not a blues-rock outfit per se (although ‘Dream Train’ has elements of that approach), the music is far more subtle, as on the title track, with its strong Americana tinge (ditto ‘I Don’t Need A Million’), and The Rolling Stones-ish ‘Something New’.

The album closer is ‘Whiskey Drinking Blues’, a lovely boogie-shuffle. I do have a complaint though – the track only runs to almost three and a half minutes, a couple more minutes would have been appreciated!

Norman Darwen

The Hitman Blues Band – Not My Circus, Not My Monkey - Nerus

(www.hitmanbluesband.com)

Prior to lockdown, New York singer/ guitarist/ songwriter/ bandleader Russell “Hitman” Alexander and his band were regular visitors to these shores. With this set, they show us what we’re missing at the moment, and prove that their strap-line of “original modern blues” is just about right.

Hitman himself usually works with a bunch of horn players, and here there are three saxmen (alto, tenor and baritone) and a trumpeter, besides keyboards, bass drums and backing vocalists. As a result the sound is big and often funky blues, frequently with a strong sense of humour, though, a little surprisingly and nicely unpredictably, there is also a brief sacred interlude with Russell’s re-workings of Blind Willie Johnson’s ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’ as a mean and moody blue/soul-styled update and Son House’s ‘John The Revelator’ as a soulful piece of subtle blues- and soul-inflected rock (with a slide guitar solo). The album’s other cover is Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changing’, a tough slab of modern blues-rock with some classic soul touches. There is an introspective piano-led ballad in ‘No Place Like Home’, but more typical are tracks like the loosely swinging blues of ‘You Can’t Say No’ (a very slight touch of Junior Wells on this one) and the rocking blues of ‘Walk With You’ or the soulfully sung, 50s flavoured ‘Everybody But Me’. Then this rather fine set closes with the powerful shuffle blues of ‘Go Down Fighting’.

Norman Darwen

Electrobluessociety Featuring Boo Boo Davis– You Better Watch Yourself – Black & Tan B&T 978 (Single)

(www.blackandtanrecords.nl)

Boo Boo Davis, born and raised in Drew, Mississippi, and the ElectroBluesSociety (Jan Mittendorp on guitar and “buttons”, Jasper Mortier on bass and drums). create some fine if rather different modern blues and here’s another – it’s not the Little Walter song, by the way. Recorded in Holland and Saint Louis, Missouri, as part of the “Transatlantic Quarantine Sessions”, it features Boo Boo’s strong down-home vocals and wailing blues harp over an electronic-styled backing and some sampled effects. It works too. Many blues lovers might shy away from the electronic backing, but this is really just another example of the music modernising itself. Give it a try…

Norman Darwen

Steve Cropper—Fire It Up—Mascot Label Group/Provogue

Steve Cropper is a guitar hero’s hero. Famed for his work with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Johnny Taylor, Albert King, and practically any great musician who booked a room in Memphis. His abiding theme tune must be the revered ‘Green Onions’ with Booker T and the MGs.

It is 10 years since his last recording and this one, which he produced with John Tiven, is a serious disappointment. Not with out funk and some interesting bass-heavy arrangements, unfortunately it sounds to me like Memphis soul by numbers. Cropper reportedly said, “It’s made from old grooves, because during a lockdown, you work on stuff that’s been in your head for years”†. Well, yes, and IMHO, he should not have bothered. Shame though!

Ian K. McKenzie Nitecrawlers—Unlock The Blues—Kerbcrawler Productions

www.nitecrawlers.co.uk

The Nitecrawlers hail from the Birmingham area and have been a gigging band for many a year. A four piece consisting of Roger ‘Brol’ Bromley (gv), Chris Lloyd (d), Roger 'Corkscrew' Hudson (g) and ‘Mysterious’ Terry Reep (b and g), all that setting up, lugging amps and night-time driving, have resulted in a really tight band with a great vibe and a psychic understanding of what everyone else is doing or is about to do.

Back in the BC (Before Covid) era they went to a recording studio and according to reports, three days later there was an album. The album, produced by ‘Mysterious’ Terry Reep is outstanding. The instrumentation is first class and Mr Bromley’s vocals sound to these ears, every now and then, a lot like JJ Cale. No bad thing at all.

There are ten tracks, all covers and they range from Slim Harpo’s ‘Shake Your Hips’ to Walter Jacobs’ ‘Mellow Down Easy’. There is a first class version of ‘Goin’ Down’, the Don Nix, Brian May extravaganza, that makes my neck hairs quiver and a version of ‘Dust My Broom’ ascribed to Robert Johnson but more closely associated with Elmore James and delivered with his passion.

Like so many other musicians, the launch of this album was scuppered by the pandemic. They had a little airplay with it back in August 2020, but I shall be delighted to give it more. Let’s hope that this time, The Nitecrawlers reach places other bands cannot reach!

Ian K McKenzie

Big Creek Slim—Migration Blues / Twenty-Twenty Blues— Straight Shooter SHOT 032/ 033

I have been a lover of acoustic blues since I was 15. I have heard thousands of acoustic musicians live and on albums. There are very few contemporary artists who can deliver acoustic blues with the style, panache and downright force that some of the ‘early’ musicians did. Well, here’s one that does.

Big Creek Slim a.k.a. Marc Rune, was born and raised in Ikast, a small town in Central Denmark and now lives in Brazil. He is a believer in bringing passion and the strong sounds of early blues into the mix. “Less is more if you play it with attitude”, he says.

These two records are ‘stunners’. Twenty four tracks of exemplary music delivered in in a flawless manner with emotion, enthusiasm, a wry sense of humour and outstanding skill. Even if you think you don’t like acoustic blues, check these out and then go and buy both! I am gobsmacked (which is a GOOD thing).

Ian K McKenzie GB CLICK ANY OF THE PICS ON THE LEFT AND YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO YOUTUBE

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