Taj Mahal Andy T & Nick Nixon Nikki Hill Selwyn Birchwood JOE BONAMASSA & DAVE & PHIL ALVIN NUMBER FIVE www.bluesmusicmagazine.com US $7.99 Canada $9.99 UK £6.99 Australia A$15.95 COVER PHOTOGRAPHY © ART TIPALDI NUMBER FIVE 6 KEB’ MO’ Keeping It Simple 5 RIFFS & GROOVES by Art Tipaldi From The Editor-In-Chief 24 DELTA JOURNEYS 11 TAJ MAHAL “Jukin’” American Maestro by Phil Reser 26 AROUND THE WORLD “ALife In The Music” 14 NIKKI HILL 28 Q&A with Joe Bonamassa A Knockout Performer 30 Q&A with Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin by Tom Hyslop 32 BLUES ALIVE! Sonny Landreth / Tommy Castro 17 ANDY T & NICK NIXON Dennis Gruenling with Doug Deming Unlikely Partners Thorbjørn Risager / Lazy Lester by Michael Kinsman 37 SAMPLER 5 20 SELWYN BIRCHWOOD 38 REVIEWS StuffOfGreatness New Releases / Novel Reads by Tim Parsons 64 IN THE NEWS ANDREA LUCERO courtesy of courtesy LUCERO ANDREA FIRE MEDIA SHORE © PHOTOGRAPHY PHONE TOLL-FREE 866-702-7778 E-MAIL
[email protected] WEB bluesmusicmagazine.com PUBLISHER: MojoWax Media, Inc. “Leave your ego, play the music, PRESIDENT: Jack Sullivan love the people.” – Luther Allison EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Art Tipaldi CUSTOMER SERVICE: Kyle Morris Last May, I attended the Blues Music Awards for the twentieth time. I began attending the GRAPHIC DESIGN: Andrew Miller W.C.Handy Awards in 1994 and attended through 2003. I missed 2004 to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday and have now attended 2005 through 2014. I’ve seen it grow from its CONTRIBUTING EDITORS David Barrett / Michael Cote / Thomas J. Cullen III days in the Orpheum Theater to its present location which turns the Convention Center Bill Dahl / Hal Horowitz / Tom Hyslop into a dazzling juke joint setting.