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ANSON FUNDERBURGH Is Back COLIN LINDEN from Canada to Nashville

ANSON FUNDERBURGH Is Back COLIN LINDEN from Canada to Nashville

The Phenomenal RUTHIE FOSTER

HADDEN SAYERS Breaking Free Is Back COLIN LINDEN From Canada To Nashville

NUMBER ONE www.bluesmusicmagazine.com US $5.99 Canada $7.99 UK £4.60 A$15.95

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY © SCOTT ALLEN / VIVIDPIX

4 BLUE NOTES NUMBER ONE From The Publisher 5 RIFFS & GROOVES 6 RUTHIE FOSTER From The Editor-In-Chief Timeless Voice by Tim Parsons 20 DELTA JOURNEYS “Rock Stars” 11 HADDEN SAYERS 22 AROUND THE WORLD Back To The “Good Night, Ann Rabson” by Phil Reser 24 Q&A 14 The Many Facets Of with Michael Hill ANSON FUNDERBURGH by Grant Britt 27 BLUES ALIVE! Damon Fowler 17 COLIN LINDEN Master 30 REVIEWS by Larry Nager New Releases and Box Sets 70 LEGACIES 72 DOWN THE ROAD A P S L G A R S A I © H Y A P G R O T O H P

PHONE TOLL-FREE 866-702-7778 EMAIL [email protected] WEB bluesmusicmagazine.com Issue Number One

So here we go, our inaugural issue of Blues Music Magazine. This was not my original plan as my sixtieth birthday approaches. It was to slow down, travel the world, and play a little poker. Sometimes the path resets itself, available in this issue and in each issue of the and we are thrown headlong into a new magazine going forward. And our Digital adventure. So why continue on this path? Edition can be viewed on all mobile devices. It is because of the incredible blues In addition, you can participate on our community we have become a part of – our FaceBook page or Twitter and share some of subscribers, advertisers, , and the your favorite blues experiences. And our Blues music itself – that we have accepted this respon- Society Network website is live and was sibility. That being said, we have assembled an designed to support and connect fans with impressive team of professionals to assist in this Blues Societies around the world. new venture of publishing an exciting magazine All of these will keep Blues Music Magazine about this music we all love so much. moving forward. We hope that our vast variety With the digital age in printing upon us, of contemporary methods will enhance your we believe a publisher who continues to print blues experiences. today must offer more to subscribers and As we travel from show to show and advertisers to increase our value. At Blues festival to festival, it is clear to our staff that a Music Magazine we are working to create a magazine with a modern vision to expand this unique blues experience for our fans. musical genre is vital. When you visit our website you will see Our goal is to be a portal connecting fans the many ways Blues Music Magazine is striving with blues music, musicians, and the commu- to enhance your enjoyment of the blues. You nity through the multiple outlets of print, digi- can now listen to our new radio station tal, radio, internet, social media, and in person. MojoWax Radio at Live365 absolutely free. As you read through the pages of our MojoWax Radio will showcase artists and premier issue, we encourage you to share on advertisers from around the world. Download FaceBook, Twitter, and E-mail your favorite the FREE Live365 Radio App for your iPhone CDs that we reviewed, and if you enjoyed our or Android and take us with you on the road. feature, stories please comment on our web- You can sign-up to receive our weekly site about the artists featured. newsletters via e-mail from Blues Music Maga- The blues community is an extended family zine and Blues Music Magazine Festival Guide. that honors those who came before us and These newsletters are very timely and include whose music will continue on after us. We at news items about artists, blues shows, festivals, and new releases. Blues Music Magazine will do our part to share the blues with you. You can visit the Artist Showcase which was designed to For joining us on this journey, we sincerely say, “Thank You!” connect artist with fans and features downloads from artists we feel you'll want to know about. A Digital Sampler for download is Jack “Sully” Sullivan, President, MojoWax Media, Inc.

4 Blues Music Magazine PUBLISHER: MojoWax Media, Inc. “The party said ‘, PRESIDENT: Jack Sullivan another mule’s kickin’ in your stall’” . EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Art Tipaldi CUSTOMER SERVICE: Kyle Morris It is with joy and promise that I welcome blues fans to the premier issue of an exciting GRAPHIC DESIGN: Andrew Miller new music publication, Blues Music Magazine , a bi-monthly publication devoted to all aspects of the music you love, the blues. Though the name is different, it is and CONTRIBUTING EDITORS staffed by the writers and photographers you have trusted for decades. MojoWax David Barrett / Michael Cote / Thomas J. Cullen III Media Inc., headed by Jack Sullivan, has contracted a staff of editors, designers, writ- Bill Dahl / Hal Horowitz / Tom Hyslop ers, and photographers who previously worked for multiple publications to cover the Larry Nager / Bill Wasserzieher / Don Wilcock music. Our vision and mission statement is to provide very much the same coverage COLUMNISTS you have become accustomed to, just with a new, fresh identity. / Roger Stolle This begs the question, “Why start a magazine?” in an age when print media is on CONTRIBUTING WRITERS the decline. We say this is exactly the perfect time. Our vision will use print media, a Vincent Abbate / Grant Britt / Michael Cala medium we know our readers love, to augment all the digital options available. Thus Tom Clarke / Kay Cordtz / Ted Drozdowski Robert Feuer / Rev. Keith Gordon / Tim Holek our subscription options offer you the ability to receive Blues Music Magazine on any Brian D. Holland / Stacy Jeffress / Chris Kerslake of your mobile devices, so that you can instantaneously enjoy our coverage of the Michael Kinsman / Brian Owens / Tim Parsons blues wherever you are. Our website, www.bluesmusicmagazine.com, also offers a Bob Putignano / Tony Del Ray / Phil Reser variety of ways you can enjoy the blues through news and articles, downloadable Nick DeRiso / Richard Skelly / Eric Thom M.E. Travaglini / Bill Vitka / Eric Wrisley music, streaming radio, and, in the future, in-studio video of current blues musicians. Blues Music Magazine wil l continue to cover legends of the past, shed a light on CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Scott Allen / Robert Barclay / Mark Goodman exciting newcomers, sit one to one with timely interviews, bring our readers front row Les Gruseck / Aigars Lapsa / Doug Richard seats for shows and festivals around the world, and offer insightful reviews of CDs, Joseph A. Rosen / Dusty Scott / Marilyn Stringer books, and DVDs. As with any new enterprise, there will be growing pains, and we Jen Taylor / Susan Thorsen ask you be patient and supportive. In the future, there will also be design and content changes as we integrate our print publication with the online expansions. In short, SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION everything that blues fans around the world crave and loved will be available in our Web: www.bluesmusicmagazine.com Blues Music Magazine. E-mail: [email protected] In this premier issue, we have traveled from Austin, , to central Canada to EDITORIAL QUESTIONS AND QUERIES illustrate the power and reach of this music. These four we have profiled E-mail: [email protected] each has deep roots that personally connect back to originators of the blues. Yet at the BUSINESS AND CIRCULATION QUESTIONS same time, each has distinguished a modern career based on thoughtful interpretation E-mail: [email protected] of traditional blues songs, personal songwriting, and, in some cases, being the produc- MEDIA SUBMISSIONS tion hand in the studio. Mail 2 copies to: Blues Music Magazine Box sets. when a ’s release of an artist’s career was an P.O. Box 1446, Bradenton, FL 34206 event fans and collectors looked forward to. Thankfully, there are record companies ADVERTISE today still releasing these indispensible sets. In this issue, we are reviewing three Call Toll-Free: 888-565-0554 recent and vital box set releases. E-mail: [email protected] Most notable of the three is ’s Bear Family Records, which has, among Web: www.bluesmusicmagazine.com the many sets in its catalogue, recently released two box sets, totaling 12 CDs, collect- ing nearly everything recorded by . Today, Bear Family’s Definitive Collection is a 12 CD, history of electric blues from 1939-2005. At the same time, the company has released The Sun Blues Box , a 10-CD set that assembles all blues, R&B, and gospel record- ings from 1959-1958. At the same time, and in this digital economy, has released its beautifully produced Sk ydog, The Retrospective. Blues Music Magazine welcomes articles, photos, and any material about the blues suitable for publication. Please direct queries to With today’s generation’s obsession over downloading its music as quickly as [email protected]. Blues Music Magazine assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or possible, music fans like myself are clearly appreciative of these record companies’ illustrations. Material may be edited at the discretion of the editors. To be credited and reimbursed, all submissions, including photographs, efforts that seemingly go against that current tide. must be properly marked with name, address, telephone number, “Let the music keep our spirits high.” e-mail of author/artist/photographer. Payment for unsolicited materials is at the full discretion of the publisher. All material becomes the property of Blues Music Magazine. ArtTipaldi, Ed itor-In-Chief Blues Music Magazine © 2013 MojoWax Media, Inc.

BluesMusicMagazineis published bimonthly by MojoWax Media,Inc., 1001 11th Avenue West, Bradenton, FL 34205. Periodicals postage is paid at Bradenton,FL and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates (for 6 issues) are: U.S.— $35/year, Canada & — $40/year, Overseas — $50/year. U.S.funds only, cash, check on a U.S.bank, or IMO, Visa/MC/AmEx/Discover accepted. Allow six to eight weeks for change of address and new subscriptions to begin. If you need help concerning your subscription, e-mail [email protected] or call 866-702-7778 Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST, or write to the business address BluesMusicMagazine, P.O.Box 1446, Bradenton, FL 34206. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BluesMusicMagazine, P.O.Box 1446, Bradenton, FL 34206.

Blues Music Magazine 5 PHOTOGRAPHY © AIGARS LAPSA

“SPIRIT BROTHER,”“Big Mama,” and talking about Mavis Staples. I’m talking about Rosetta Tharpe. “Papa Mali” knew Ruthie Foster was special. So does everyone I’m talking about and . I’m talking else who seen her soul put her head back and listened to her about all of those great voices that just seem to embody the sing. Foster, a gospel and soul singer, said she felt validation soul of a people, if you will. Ruthie’s got all of that. I know these when she asked George Porter Jr., the bass pioneer from sound like big words, but her voice and her soul really match , to contribute to her latest studio , Let It Burn. that mission.” “I had no idea he knew who I was, let along somebody I Soul-based blues Tommy Castro said, “When I first could ask to play on any one of my projects,” Foster said. saw her on stage, I hadn’t been moved by a performer like that in “For me, I got a kick out of just knowing his e-mail address.” a very long time. Maybe the last time I saw many A native of the tiny Texas town Gause, Foster said she was years ago. I’d like to get her on the (Legendary Rhythm and once a shy, 10-year-old girl with a stuttering problem. The last Blues) Revue but she’s gotten too big for us.” thing she wanted to do was sing in front of an audience, which Foster’s church and her grandmother, who she calls “Big has become a gift so authentic her peers are awed. “Ruthie is Mama,” helped her as a girl overcome stuttering and shyness. carrying on a wide and deep tradition,” country bluesman Eric The church once a month has a youth day in which children put Bibb said by telephone from his home in . Foster calls together all of the music and poetry and Bible readings. “Big Bibb her “Spirit Brother.” Mama” helped her grand-daughter overcome her nervousness “She is the perfect incarnation of all of those wonderful with enunciation practice and by speaking in front of a small voices that have become iconic in the African-American roots crowd, which included a group of women in the “Amen Corner.” tradition,” Bibb said. “I’m talking about Mahalia Jackson. I’m She sang in the choir where she sat directly behind preachers,

6 Blues Music Magazine RUTHIE FOSTER Timeless Voice

by Tim Parsons MARILYN STRINGER © HY AP GR PHOTO

and she acquired the visceral cadence and rhythm of the “Papa Mali” knew Foster was special, too special to be the Pentecostal Holiness church. small-town folk singer he knew her as. “I was very aggressive in “The church is such a beautiful and nurturing environment encouraging her to make a soul record, kind of a retro soul to be in when you’re not sure of yourself,” Foster said. “These record,” “Papa Mali” said. “I really thought that’s where she was women, especially in the Amen Corner – you get stuck, you’re not coming from. She was clearly influenced by people like Aretha sure where your headed and (you are so scared) you can’t even Franklin and Chaka Kahn and and that sort of feel your legs – they had a way of just bringing me right back thing. And she, of course, as soon as I started talking to her down and letting me know, ‘It’s okay, baby, take your time. You’re about it, I could see the light came on inside of her. all right. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen.’ They’d sit and smile and nod “Talk about somebody who’s the real deal. She grew up in a their heads and let me know I was okay, and I would go on.” small little town in Texas. She was the musical director of her Foster’s involvement with church led to a friendship with church choir. Her mother sang. You talk about natural God-given “Papa Mali,” a artist who first became known as a reg- soul and talent, Ruthie Foster is it. And here she was like gae player. (Malcolm “Papa Mali” Welbourne” was given his stage to a small kind of folk crowd. When I convinced her that she name by the Winston Rodney, better known as “Burning Spear.”) needed to make a soul record, it didn’t take a lot of convincing “He (“Papa Mali”) was part of a gospel brunch group that on her part. It was hard to convince her to get away from the I kind of came in and out of when I was living out of town,” kind of people pulling her tiny little career at the time. Once she Foster said. “He was my introduction into Austin. We just kept did, it was like suddenly just opened up for her. She in touch and called each other when on the road. He was immediately got signed with good management and a good always checking in on me.” agency and everything just took off.”

Blues Music Magazine 7 “Papa Mali” produced the breakout 2007 Blue Corn Music minister, and I grew up in holiness churches, speaking in tongues album, The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster, helping her move beyond and all that. She and I could certainly relate in our upbringing in a coffeehouse mind-set. In the studio he encouraged Foster to the church. take a new approach to an song. “She’s one of the best singers I’ve ever heard,” he said. “She “Little things like that that he did as a producer really could stand against anybody in the world and hold her own. She stretched me,” Foster said. “We did a lot of listening before going has got pipes very few people are blessed with. She’s a very gen- into the studio for Phenomenal, and he has this incredible record uine person and very soulful. She’s a friendly person and that’s a collection. I guess he saw that I really clicked with Donny Hath- quality you can’t say many things that’s better than that as a person. away, Mavis Staples, even Bobby Gentry, some of the old school Nice people are few and far between these days, I am sad to say.” soul that I hadn’t had my ear next to in a while. Bibb met Foster, whom he calls his “Soul Sister,” more than a “I grew up with that sound, and I guess he dialed in on that decade ago at Alberta’s Canmore Folk Festival when they shared a and helped me bring a lot of that workshop stage. “I was so taken out. A lot of the songs we did in with her voice, that I basically, the studio were stripped down to in a kind of gentlemanly way, what I call the richness, the soul- accosted her after the workshop,” ness of the songs.” Bibb said. “I kind of just Even the album title was a ambushed her. I said, ‘Ruthie, throwback to vinyl offerings such listen, if I can set up a studio as 1960’s The Wonderful World Of session later today would you and 1962’s The Ten- please join me and sing a song der, The Moving, The Swinging that I wrote a long time ago that’s . The Phenomenal been waiting for your voice?’ Ruthie Foster introduced her to a And it’s a song called ‘For You.’ wide audience. “I wrote it in 1988. I’d per- “It’s funny,” Foster said, “I formed it and recorded it, but recorded it in Austin, but it got me always felt it needed another out of Austin. Not to say that in voice and that voice was Ruthie any derogatory way.I love my Foster.We set up a portable stu- town. But that record really intro- dio in the festival director’s living duced me into the realm of main- room and, with his dogs locked stream. It was another level. It up in the basement; we recorded was a way to get to another level and put it on my Friends album. with my musicianship, my song- It’s a duet I felt had been waiting writing and even the songs that I for her.” chose to do on stage and in the EN Empathy is a characteristic OS studio. R Bibb said makes Foster a great

“It really catapulted me to a H A. singer. Foster said she brings EP

place where I knew I was ready OS gospel into secular songs, citing J for. Or maybe I didn’t know I was © adjusting a lyric: “I woke up this ready for, but ‘Papa Mali’ was HY morning with my mind set on AP really instrumental in letting me GR Jesus” to “I woke up this morning feel confident and comfortable with my mind set on freedom.” with getting to that place which is PHOTO “It was my way to bring just putting that jacket on.” gospel into anything,” she said. The jacket is highlighted with blues. “I Ruthie is the “Just by the sound and the feel, but not necessarily to bring reli- female blues singer from Texas right now,” said fellow Austin artist gion into where I’m at. I’ve always known how to bring that with Marcia Ball. “That voice is an amazing gift, and she knows how to me without preaching. To me, it just wasn’t necessary. I fell love use it. She’s just got that tone and that place she comes from that with how gospel made me feel. And I think that’s with any genre of is so real and evangelical in terms of being able to carry you music that moves you.” along. She’s amazing, and she’s a great gal.” Gospel is undeniably the root of blues music, and Foster has Austin ex-pat , a Northern Californian now, said, taken it to modern times. “I only got to see Ruth once for an Antone’s anniversary. And “She’s not a museum piece,” Bibb said. “She’s not a tradition- some friends of ours, the Paul Thorn Band, did some gigs with her alist even though she’s a great torchbearer for a great tradition. out here because she wasn’t very well established. They said, She’s that and more. She’s a very funny, witty, contemporary soul ‘Well, she’s gonna be now because it was such a great show.’” who will surprise you with all kinds of quirky things about her, like Thorn and Foster quickly bonded. “I was very impressed with her love of cowboy boots, for example. She doesn’t fit any mold. her ability on stage but beyond that actually became friends Ruthie has broken all the molds, but she also has this amazing because she’s a nice person and her whole organization is made ability to bring back to life a sound that really is from another time. up of real nice people,” Thorn said. “My father was a Pentecostal It’s alive and well with us in a modern gal named Ruthie Foster.”

8 Blues Music Magazine And this is someone who once was a stuttering little girl afraid to sing in public. But it turns out, it is her calling. “That’s when I’m most open, and I’m most comfortable and really feeling I am doing what I came here to do,” Foster said. “It’s when I just got my head back and am really taking in the moment. When I’m really present is when I’m onstage.” MARILYN STRINGER © HY AP TRUE GR PHOTO HADDEN SAYERS, FOSTER, BANKS, AND RICHARDSON

SOUL are just traveling sisters, as far as I’m not only play it, but live the music. It was a concerned. We were friends first, and the rest great place to learn and experience their blues.” just fell into our laps. We just figured out.” After moving back to Texas, Banks met SISTERS So the trio the road with Foster as the Richardson at an all-women’s performance “VP of Transportation” and Banks the “VP of benefit arranged by Travis Peoples and the REGARDLESS if it is considered blues, Cuisine.” Like Foster, Banks leaned about Blues Society. “She was playing with gospel, folk, or soul, the music of the Ruthie music in church. Early on, she played key- Joe “Guitar” Hughes, and he called me to play Foster Band, more than anything, is as boards, but after the family moved to a differ- a few gigs and we ended up going to authentic its members’ friendship. ent church, Banks was exposed to drums, with him,” Richardson said. “That’s how we Drummer Samantha Banks, five-string bass, and guitar. started playing more on a regular basis.” Tanya Richardson, and Foster play with “I started playing violin, then I took Richardson joined Banks’ fusion and three hearts beating as one. “They make eye lessons,” Banks said. “I took guitar R&B group.Her background was R&B, blues, contact with one another, and they enjoy one lessons, but drums just stuck out for me. It and soul, and she grew to learn music of bands another on stage,” said artist Paul Thorn, who was more my personality. It was just more me. such as Spyro Gyra and . “It has toured with the group. “And if ’s I just loved it.” just stepped up my playing game,” she said. enjoying itself on stage, it will Richardson’s first instrument perpetuate into the crowd RICHARDSON BANKS also was the violin, but some- because the crowd’s going to feel thing else came along. She was whatever is on the stage. They moved upon hearing Stevie Won- send off a really good vibe from der’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” the stage.” and Booker T and the MGs’ Success came quickly after “Melting Pot.” IX

Foster decided to have a band P “The bass – it picked me instead of performing solo or in when I was a little kid,” she said. a duo.“We were just playing any- VIVID “In the ‘60s I heard, ‘girls don’t

where that we basically could for OTT play basses.’ But I was just so Y SC little or no money,” Banks said of T ALLE N/ attracted to it. I played it 15 years T OT the early days. “I think that one US before I picked up an actual bass, SC D © of our first gigs as a band, we did © because I was playing the bass HY a biker bar, and it was cool. They HY parts on my . My parents AP AP GR were a great audience. Bikers GR kept giving me guitars, not have hearts, too.” basses. But I’d been playing the PHOTO Months later, the band was PHOTO bass line all my life.” getting gigs in Japan and all over Three years ago at a funeral, the world. The trio had no plan to coalesce into Her love of music led Banks to , a relative who studied her genealogy told an all-women band. It had more to do with where she studied at the American Conserva- Foster and Richardson they were cousins. chemistry than gender. “I knew Samantha tory of Music. Then there was night school That might help explain why some folks who when she played with Big Otis in Houston,” where the classroom was a Northside blues haven’t seen them play live get them confused. Foster said. “Willie Bennett, who was the man- club, the Kingston Mines, and a regal profes- “People are always calling me Ruthie and ager for Third Floor Cantina in Brian College sor was named , the Queen of sometimes Ruthie’s there and I’ll just kind of Station area, called me up one night and said, the Blues. go with it,” Richardson laughed. ‘You’ve got to check out this chick drummer.’ “That was actually more important than So what happens when they request an It’s been at least 15 years. I just kept in touch. going to school,” Banks said about the noctur- autograph? “She had her own band that nal tutoring. “(Koko) was full voice at two “When they get to that part, I’ll intro- played around Houston. She knew Tanya and o’clock in the morning, just belting out the duce her.” brought Tanya into the fold just a few years blues like it was nobody’s business. I never Another chance for the traveling sisters after I met her. Eventually we just dropped knew what a shuffle was until I moved to to share a laugh as they tour the world, mov- what we were doing with other people, and we Chicago. Some of the best of the best live there. ing listeners with their music. decided we needed do this together. Now we They not only live there, they live the music, – Tim Parsons

Blues Music Magazine 9

Hadden Sayers BACK TO THE BLUES

by Phil Reser Hadden Sayers is back in the blues business again. As a child, his parents encouraged him H to take up the guitar. They bought him a Yamaha acoustic, and he started taking lessons, but he put it aside. In high school, he became engrossed in 4-H type endeavors, wearing a cowboy hat, boots and driving a pickup truck. “I was involved in Future Farmers of America. I lived in a rural area in Texas that was soon to be entirely engulfed by the Houston suburbs. It was fascinating to me because we had lived in the suburbs of and they didn’t really have the agricultural stuff that Sugar Land had. It was still like a country town, so I just jumped into the idea of farming and ranching. I had a heifer that I raised, and I went to all the livestock shows.” Sayers would become immersed in music, only after he enrolled as a student at Texas A&M University. Recalling that college time, he says, “I’d hole up in my dorm room and try to emulate what I heard on the radio,” acknowledging in particular the influence of Austin pickers like and David Grissom. “I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I never felt like agriculture was going to be my future, it was just something that I had grown up around as a cultural experience. I got a small scholarship to study the field, so that’s the main reason I decided to work on an Agricultural Journalism degree. However, halfway through my freshman year,I began searching out local bands to play with around College Station.”

PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER Blues Music Magazine 11 Studying took a back seat to attending songs for Molly, I did as much as I could, all-night jam sessions and performances in support of her music.” by blues and Texas music legends like Next, he put together The Hadden “Gatemouth” Brown, , Omar and the Sayers Band, eventually releasing inde- Howlers, and . pendently five of his own records, while It wasn’t long before, Sayers was lugging his battered Stratocaster guitar all playing with different bands at a popular over the world and performing 200 shows watering hole, a funky little burger joint annually. called the Cow Hop. Soon he graduated to After a strong decade of performing a larger venue called the East-gate Live, and independently producing, trouble which regularly brought top-notch local started. Sayers’ momentum was sapped and national acts to town. by “a haze of bad business deals, “I started working in this band with a excuses, and rip-offs,” one record com- guy named Dru Wilson, who was a great pany disappearing literally the day after a . He was a few years older than handshake deal. me and was constantly saying, ‘there’s no He relocated to , where his wife point in going out there and playing other had taken a job. people’s songs.’ “I did my music for many years as a “He wanted us to get good at writing trio based out of Texas. During that time, our own songs and base our band on that. my wife was getting her PhD and working I understood that point and I took it to heart. on a Post-Doc. We knew, she was going to I never felt any other way about it, and I’ve become a university professor eventually, always written my own songs. Not to say and we were going to go wherever her that the first songs I put together were the work took us, and it ended up being best, but about my third or fourth album, it Columbus, Ohio.” sank into me, that a song really needs a Next, his uncle and drummer Rick bridge. For years, I had accidentally put Frye collapsed after a gig and died shortly bridges in them without totally understand- thereafter. Then one of his best friends ing that process. In my younger days, I was died of a drug overdose. “My career was at afraid to buy a book that explained some of its lowest, and while I was still working those fundamental things because I didn’t dates, I hadn’t produced a record in about want my songs to sound like they were two years. I was tired, and things had coming out of a book.” turned rather bleak.” After graduating from college, Sayers So Sayers decided to retreat to a moved to Austin, where he began his “blues dilapidated fishing shack in Southern Ohio. internship” with the legendary B.B. King He turned his back on music, left his guitar rhythm section of Tony Coleman and Rus- at home, and focused on making the sell Jackson in a band called Silent Partners. decrepit structure habitable. An old man in “It turned out to be the perfect blues battered work boots and a fishing hat indoctrination and finishing school for me, arrived to rebuild a stone chimney. In the getting out there with these real blues pro- coming days, retired stonemason Conard fessionals.” He later joined bluesman McCorkle and bluesman Hadden Sayers, ’s touring band and spent two men of completely different ages and time learning the finer points of keeping a backgrounds, forged an unlikely friendship. juke joint band on the road. The goal of simply patching the shack After his stint with Peterson, Sayers evolved into a full-fledged rebuild. Walls returned to Houston to begin his three- came down. New ones were built. The year association with regional sensation small chimney project grew into a two-year Miss Molly and the Whips (with vocalist rehab for both the shack and the soul. Molly Elswick, bassist Charlie Knight, McCorkle’s silent strength, patience, and drummer , and guitarists friendship revived Sayers’ resolve. Sayers, Keith Blair, Bert Wills, Stephen He began humming tunes and Bruton), making his recording and song- melodies on the drive to the shack. He writing debut on their first two recordings. hauled in recording gear and began work- “Miss Molly was a well-known ing through songs, sometimes recording regional act then,” says Sayers. “That was lyrics as voice memos on a cell phone until my first experience working with a female he could reach the studio. artist. It was surprisingly easy and com- Just as the stonemason and the fortable working with that band. I wrote bluesman shared a beer and a handshake

12 Blues Music Magazine Sayers immediately began writing songs with Foster in mind and their duet “Back To The Blues” became the corner- stone of Sayers’ recent album Hard Dollar along with being nominated for the for Song of the Year, his first BMA nomination. Hard Dollar is the first album Sayers has released with a record label, Blue Corn Music, a Houston-based Sony subsidiary, that works and promotes, Foster, Steve

OTT Forbert, Caroline Herring, The Austin

Y SC Lounge Lizards, and others. (In early 2013, T

US Sayers released Rolling Soul, a collection of D

© 12 stunning originals reviewed in this issue.)

HY In his words, “The challenge for me AP

GR now, is identifying and creating a way to draw attention to my music. I think the best

PHOTO way is to continue to release records on a 12 to 18 month interval. Of course, these celebrating the completion of the new cot- “I started really focusing from the have to be the best products I can pro- tage, Grammy-nominated vocalist Ruthie inside out. It just created all this new energy duce. My path will be to enjoy the ride, to Foster called in search of a guitarist. in me. Ruthie’s a star and non-stoppable, spend my time writing, recording, and per- She had built her career in the Brazos when it comes to her music goals and forming my songs year after year. I’m not Valley area of Central Texas, Sayers’ old directions. To be a part of her music and to going to hit every dive bar like I used to. stomping grounds, and they share a love see the way audiences would respond to I’m not up for that anymore, but I’m defi- for the Brazos Valley hybrid of blues, her performances was the biggest single nitely going to be out there in the bigger Tejano, country, soul, gospel, and reggae. kick start in my own career.” venues and festivals.”

Blues Music Magazine 13 THE MANY FACETS OF

ANSON by Grant Britt FUNDERBURGH

Anson Funderburgh’s guitar is the sound of Texas. When he plucks one of his vintage ‘50s Strats, Memphis, , and Alabama are heard from on occasion as well. But even though you can track Funderburgh’s guitar geography, his style is not so easy to pin down. Growing up in Plano, Texas, Buck Owens, Porter Wagoner, and the Wilburn Brothers were on the TV every Saturday night. But Funderburgh’s musical horizon was broadened when he got his first guitar. “The woman that my mom and dad bought the guitar from gave me a box of 45s,” the guitarist remembers. Included in that stash was Freddie King’s “Hideaway,” ’ “Snow Cone, Pts. 1 and 2,” Bill Doggett’s “Honky Tonk,” Wilbert Harrison’s “Kansas City,” and a bunch of records. At that time, there was also a popular dance called The Push. “You had to play ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Honky Tonk’ and those staple songs all those Push dancers liked to dance for,” Funderburgh says of the tunes any working guitarist had to play in ‘60s-era Texas clubs. It was a lesson in pleasing an audience that has stayed with the guitarist to this day. “To be honest with you, if people ain’t up dancing, I don’t guess I’m doing a very good job.” But Funderburgh had bigger ears for tunes not in the box. “Man, I loved and I loved Billy Butler.” (Kessel was known for his beautifully articulated, mellow jazz style, working with artists from to the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” Butler is considered one of the founders of acid jazz, playing with everyone from Rhaasan Roland Kirk to B.B. King to on “Outta Sight.”) “I love all that music did with Jimmy Smith. Some of the music of those guys I like the most are blues-oriented, but they’re jazz, they’re more complicated,” Funderburgh says. It shows in his playing. The guitarist has the phrasing of a jazzman, as well as a highly developed sense of when to lay out. Blues legend once said of Funderburgh’s playing that it’s what he doesn’t play that impressed him the most. Funderburgh and Myers’ 20-year relationship began in 1985. Previously, Funderburgh had appeared on the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ ‘81 release Butt Rockin’ and that same year released his debut, Talk To You By Hand, with his band The Rockets. Myers replaced original Rockets harpist/singer Darryl Nulisch when he left four years later. Funderburgh speaks of Myers with a reverence most people have when reminiscing about close family members who have passed. Myers was a force of nature, a man prone to making everything he said in interviews seem like a proclamation you didn’t dare contradict. But even though he could be self-aggrandizing at times, Funderburgh just shrugged it off. “Well,” Funderburgh says, in his slow Texas drawl, “Sam once told me, ‘I don’t mean to pin no bouquets on anybody, but if you smell the roses, it’s probably me.’” Even though Myers’ proclamations were entertaining, it makes it difficult to pin down some of Myers’ musical background. Funderburgh is sure Myers played on ’ 1961 release, “Look On Yonder’s Wall,” the flip side of “Shake Your Money Maker,” and on some cuts on ‘94’s Fire Fury Enjoy Recordings, Elmore James: King Of The . “He also says he plays drums on some of that stuff, and there’s other people who say that’s King Mose playing drums,” the guitarist says. “I tried to tell him, ‘Sam, tell people what you did. Tell the truth. You’ve made those beautiful records like, ‘Sad, Sad Lonesome Day’ and ‘My Love Is Here to Stay.’ And on ‘Poor Little Angel Child,’ he sang and Elmore played guitar. So that’s true, some of it, but what he played on and what he didn’t play on, I’m not absolutely accurate on that and I don’t think he was either.” At times in live performance, Funderburgh and Myers could be seen going back and forth like a and a , with Funderburgh calling a tune, and Myers shaking off the sign and calling one of his own. “Sometimes that happened and sometimes it was the other way around,” Funderburgh acknowl- edges. “I ain’t saying he wasn’t like that. Sometimes he didn’t want to go in the direction I wanted to, and he’d just kind of stumble through something else, but Sam pretty much did what we asked him to do.”

14 Blues Music Magazine B lues M usic M agazine 15

PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER Even though Myers mostly harpist/singer John Nemeth and went along with the program, he also played on and produced still let his presence be felt. “When Nemeth’s 2007 release, Magic I met Sam and took him with me it Touch. With the soul of Little was blessing for him and it was Willie John, Nemeth has the

also a blessing for me,” Funder- OTT voice of a ‘50 s crooner and

burgh says. “We were really able Y SC plays harp like . “I’m T

to achieve a lot together. Sam was US here to testify man, I think John D a great guy. He wanted people to © Nemeth is an unbelievable love him and need him so bad he HY singer,” Funderburgh says. AP

was always threatening to quit. GR “ was in the “But in two months of moving studio with us one day when we to Dallas from that one room PHOTO were redoing things and Jimmie shack where he had absolutely said if he could sing like that he nothing, he was always threatening to quit, and for a minute I could rule the world, and it’s probably right,” he chuckles. fell into that trap, where you just say ‘Oh shit! Really? You’re Recently Funderburgh’s getting back into the scene. He gonna leave? What the hell? No, you don’t wanna do that!’ made some appearances with -based singer/ “But then, after a while, the big line was (drops down into a guitarist Eric Lindell whom he met a year ago on one of Delbert husky baritone) ‘Well, what are you boys gonna do when I leave McClinton’s cruises and is at work on a record with him featur- this outfit?’ He’d never tell me that, he would tell the new guy, or ing older country songs. “Eric is a special cat,” Funderburgh someone else in the band and they’d go, ‘Oh shit!’ and come says. “To me, he doesn’t sound like Delbert, but like Delbert and talk to me about it. But his big line was, ‘What are you boys he’s got a little bit of soul in him, he’s got a little bit of blues in gonna do when I leave this outfit?’ And I’d say to him, ‘You’re him, and he’s got a little bit of country in him. His way of singing leavin’? And he‘d say, ‘Yeah, I’ll be walking on softer sand.’” just does something for me. Any time he can figure out how he Funderburgh pauses to compose himself, and then repeats in a can use me, I’ll be there, because I enjoy it that much.” soft whisper, “I’ll be walking on softer sand.” Within these two years, 2011-2013, he also produced a It’s obvious from Funderburgh’s tone when discussing record for Nashville’s Andy T and Nick Nixon Blues Band for Myers that the bond between the two was much more than just a Delta Groove Records, produced and played on Ellersoul business relationship. “He was a dear friend,” the guitarist says. records’ Four Jacks release with Big Joe Maher and Kevin “Sometimes we argued just like family, but you know, he could McKendree, and is a producing a record for Texas-based gui- talk about me and I could talk about him, but don’t ever let any- tarist Holland K. Smith. He toured Europe with , body else talk about either one of us. It was one of those kinds Little Charlie, Wes Starr, and Richard Grigsby as the Lone Star of relationships. I never worked with anybody who had a bigger Golden State Blues Review, will play the King Biscuit Blues voice than him. Or that was any more unique on . Festival in Helena, , for the 28th time in October The little things that he did, they were his, man. Nobody 2013, and, two weeks later, will sail on the Legendary Rhythm sounded like him.” & Blues Cruise partnered with Lindell. Myers passing in July of ‘06 left a giant hole in Despite the large body of work behind him and more to Funderburgh’s personal and professional life. “In 2005, he got come, Funderburgh says he wants his legacy to be more about sick. I tried to take care of him, I tried to him than his music. “I want people to get all the medical help, we tried to do remember me as a guy that somebody everything we could do to make every- could always come up and talk to, shake thing ok,” Funderburgh says. “We buried you hand and look you in the eye and him, we took care of him, we even bought say “Glad to see ya,” the guitarist says. a headstone for him and for his mom, “I’m always gonna be the same guy. I’m who didn’t’ have one. That was some- more interested in being nice to people. thing he wanted to do, and we did it. He Seems like that’s a more important thing wanted to be buried in Jackson, Missis- in life.” sippi, and we did that, we buried him by Funderburgh says he realizes that him mom and his dad.” the way he plays is a gift from some- Funderburgh had more to get over where. “When people give you a gift, than just the death of his longtime partner. you’re supposed to use your gift, but I’m “In ‘07, I found out I had prostate cancer,” not sure you’re supposed to brag about

he admits. “And while I was home, (wife) APSA it,” he chuckles. “Somebody asked me a Renee became pregnant with my son. So long time ago, when I decided I was it did seem like a good time not to be on GARS L gonna be a ? I don’t think I ever AI the road playing, so I just didn’t feel like © did. I always had my head down won- getting out for awhile.” HY derin’ when the dream was gonna be AP

Funderburgh fulfilled his remaining GR over, and I had to do something else to dates by replacing Myers with Idaho make a living.” PHOTO

16 Blues Music Magazine GuitarDMasterEEP ROOTS COLIN LINDEN’S Journey from Howlin’ Wolf to

Hollywood by Larry Nager

WHO YOU THINK sideman deluxe flying under the radar for pre-war blues to his eerie recreation Colin Linden is depends on which side in his trademark black hat and shades. of ’ “Hard Time Killing Floor.” of the border you call home. In his native Specializing in the bluesier side of He toured arenas with the O Brother Canada, he’s long been known as one Americana, he can be heard on spinoff tour of the world’s premier blues and roots wide-ranging, high profile projects and put in a year backing guitarists and producers, lending his including the O Brother Where Art Thou? Hall of Famer . Most distinctive guitar lines and studio skills to soundtrack, where he brought his passion recently, he’s been an important part recordings by such North Country icons of ABC-TV’s glossy nighttime soap, as , Blackie & The Rodeo Nashville, playing on the soundtrack and Kings, and blues-rocker . regularly appearing onscreen. That’s him In the States, where he’s lived playing guitar for tortured heartthrob in Nashville for the past dozen years, (Nashville has lots of those) “Deacon Linden, 53, is relatively unknown, a Claybourne” (played by Charles Esten). I ART TIPALD © HY AP GR PHOTO

Blues Music Magazine 17 But Linden still finds time to hit the interested in helping me along and passing hear some new nuance of what he was road, both as a solo artist with a new CD, it along. I think that’s something that con- doing, some little bit of meaning or different Still Live (Yellow Dog), his twelfth solo disc, nects people from seemingly different cul- emotion in his voice. It’s an endless well. and fronting his longtime Canadian band, tures and different generations.” Those guys, really, that generation, Robert Blackie & The Rodeo Kings. That covers a He also gave the youngster some and the generations slightly earlier than lot of ground, musically and geographi- practical advice on learning the blues. him, gave us an unbelievable body of art.” cally, but Linden says it all started with his “Wolf told me the first time I met him, ‘If Even as he broadened into more mom and Howlin’ Wolf. you really want to learn this stuff, listen to electric, rocking music, he incorporated He was just an 11-year-old kid feeling the people that I listened to.’ And he told that early feel in his use of his way around a guitar when his mother me about , which of course finger picking and a seamless ability to took him to see the blues great at Toronto’s was like giving me the key to the kingdom switch from fluid slide to blazing fretted Colonial Tavern. “You talk about the life- in terms of what to listen for and what to playing. He also developed his singing changing moment, well, that was it,” Linden learn.” (Editor’s note: Linden still shares and songwriting and soon made a name says. “There was a bunch of them, but that timeless photo on his iPhone.) in the and roots scene. none of them was bigger than that one.” He took that advice to heart and Then in 1987, another musical mentor You might think that a 61-year-old though he’d been playing since he turned changed his direction again. “I got to meet Mississippi/Chicago bluesman and a little eight, he began to dig a lot deeper. “I (of The Band), who would sing Canadian kid wouldn’t have much in com- became kind of obsessed by it and by the on my album, When The Spirit Comes. The mon, but the venerable cliché is true, the time I was 13 I was really practicing hard.” Band was always my favorite group from blues really is a universal language. He bought reissues of first-generation the time I was a kid. Even when I got into “The Wolf was a very deep guy. I think country blues masters and made that the blues in a big way, to me, they embod- he understood that my heart was honest in repertoire his own. You can hear it on his ied everything that was great about blues, that I truly loved the music and I sincerely early , in deeply felt covers of Bo that was great about country, that was wanted to know what he had to say, to find Carter’s “Go Back Old Devil” (Southern great about folk and all different kinds of out about him,” explains Linden. “The Jumbo) and, on Easin’ Back To Tennessee, roots music, all that was great about rock. closeness that you feel for the music is Charley Jordan’s “Keep It Clean,” and Blind And I never stopped loving them. Even completely connected with the closeness Willie McTell’s “Broke Down Engine.” when I got into country blues, they were that you feel with the people. And the way “In a lot of ways, I’m still obsessed by always in my mind and in my heart.” Wolf treated me, how sweet he was to me that music. When I listen to the 100th birth- Linden started occasionally playing and how encouraging and interesting and day re-masterings of , I’ll with Danko. When The Band reunited T SALTZMAN OT SC © HY AP GR PHOTO Colin Linden and Colin James, Ottawa Bluesfest, 2001 18 Blues Music Magazine without lead guitarist , Danko invited him down to . There, Linden met Band backup musicians (guitar) and (key- boards). He and Weider wrote “Remedy” for the reunited Band, and the song remains in Linden’s setlist. Linden calls Bell “the great- est musician I’ve ever played with.” They formed a close personal and professional bond that lasted until Bell’s death in 2007. “My wife and I basically adopted him, and we played together for 18 years.” After Bell died, Linden wrote a couple songs about his friend, but they were pretty mournful. On a drive from Nashville to Toronto with his wife, Janice Powers, Linden decided to write one more. “I said, ‘I want to write a song about Richard that just celebrates how great he is.’ He loved , that was his favorite of all the New Orleans piano players. And I wanted to make up something like that that would let me play guitar kind of like the way he played piano. My wife and I wrote it together, which was right because he wasn't just a gigantic part of my life, he was a gigantic part of all of our lives.” OTT Y SC

The result, “Smoke ‘em All” remains T US

Linden’s signature solo tune, a guitar tour D de force that he recorded for Still Live (the © HY

title, by the way, is a joking reference to his AP

1980 debut, Colin Linden Live). His experi- GR ence with The Band raised his profile in the States, and he remained friends with PHOTO the group, including the late and his daughter Amy, of Ollabelle fame, Davis (Linden’s experience on the big snow-bound Ontario club, a Hollywood who has recently been touring with screen includes playing a singing priest in soundstage, or a luxury cruise ship under Linden’s Rodeo Kings. The younger Helm the George Clooney-Catherine Zeta tropical skies, it all springs from the music also sang on the Rodeo Kings’ album Jones-Billy Bob Thornton dark comedy and the men he learned from as a blues- Kings And Queens, which featured a Intolerable Cruelty). And of course, there’s besotted Canadian kid. dizzying, genre-busting array of female his role in TV’s Nashville, on which Burnett “When I first traveled through the vocalists, from to Exene is executive music producer. South, I stayed with Sam Chatmon and Cervenka to Cassandra Wilson to Patty Linden continues producing artists, Peg Leg Sam. I visited Robert Pete Loveless to . Their tour including Big Bill Morganfield’s current Williams, Henry Townsend, Buddy Moss, across Canada featured guest spots by CD, as well as longtime Canadian pals Little Brother Montgomery, , the women of Kings And Queens, along Bruce Cockburn and Colin James. He’ll Willie Trice, and spent time with Tampa with Keb’ Mo’ and Ron Sexsmith. also be touring behind Still Live in 2013 Red in a nursing home in Chicago. I got to At home in Nashville, Linden remains with longtime drummer Gary Craig and know these people a little bit, be around a first-call session guitarist (he’s played on bassist Johnny Dymond. But as he fin- them and get a feel for them. They took more than 300 albums and produced ished Blackie & The Rodeo Kings’ 2012 me in like I was family. They treated me around 100). He’s a favorite of producer tour, he was mostly looking forward to get- with affection and love and positivity. They , who has called on him to ting away with Janice early in 2013 for the were so good to me, it felt like home. play on such diverse projects as The Delbert McClinton Sandy Beaches Cruise, These people were my home and my Hunger Games soundtrack and albums where Linden’s cheerful, easy-going per- home was around music, and that’s how by , Diana Krall, Cassandra sonality and merciless guitar chops make it’s always been. That’s where I feel I’m Wilson, and the Chieftains, as well as the him an MVP in any of the diverse musical supposed to be.” aborted second album by Robert Plant scenarios onboard. And no matter which side of the and . It’s been a long road for Colin border you’re on, anyone who has ever He’s also slated for the soundtrack to Linden, but no matter what he’s playing heard Colin Linden play and sing knows the next Coen Brothers film, Inside Llewyn or where he’s playing it, whether it’s a that exact same feeling.

Blues Music Magazine 19 – Roger Stolle Rock Stars BELFOUR I did some more blues traveling recently with a few of my favorite “they broke the mold” Mississippi blues characters. Never a dull moment, I can assure you. Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania’s WXPN public radio station has booked several of our guys over the past year for their super cool Mississippi Blues Project. My buddy Jeff Konkel (Broke & Hungry Records) and I have sent or brought them Big George Brock, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, OPP

and others as well as our most recent blues film UB

We Juke Up In Here. LO ©

Last February, WXPN asked me to bring HY some guys to Philly to appear on World Cafe AP GR Live, a syndicated radio/concert series. Robert

“Wolfman” Belfour, 73, represented the vanish- PHOTO ing North Mississippi tradition. Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, 28, represented the future of Clarksdale, Mississippi, blues. And 76-year-old Robert So, with no working phone and no personal transportation, “Bilbo” Walker represented...well...some old-school juke joint Big A’s February booking in Philly was looking pretty debatable by chaos! (To round out the bill, blues harmonica player/drummer late January.Fortunately, there’s always “Plan B.” Bilbo’s phone Stan Street came along as a voice of reason.) was also not working, but I managed to track him down in To be completely factual about it, I actually booked Bakersfield via a mutual friend. Since I couldn’t get a hold of Mr. Belfour and Big A, originally. Unfortunately, as is often the Big A,I instead booked his now father-in-law Bilbo with Big A, case with the real-deal blues stuff here in the Delta, things quickly thereby providing transportation for Big A and motivation for his got a bit more complicated than that. Long story short: Big A driver – Bilbo. married Bilbo’s daughter and left out for Bakersfield, , Of course, even that wasn’t so simple. Three days before to hang with Bilbo & family through the Christmas holidays. we were scheduled to board a Memphis plane to Philly, Bilbo and Not having a job, Big A’s money soon ran out, as did the Big A drove up in front of my Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art minutes on his cell phone. store here in Clarksdale. I could have hugged them both. Turns out that: A. They had driven straight through from WALKER California since there was no money to spare for a hotel. B. Bilbo’s wife had done most of the driving because no one else in the car had a valid driver’s license. C. They’d been pulled over twice by the Highway State Patrol for an expired car tag. Yet, somehow, they made it! Amazing. That Thursday morning, I drove our rag-tag team up to Memphis to meet Mr. Belfour at the airport. Bilbo was wearing his crazy puffy-wig, and Big A was carrying his with no case. On the drive to Memphis, we’d seen OPP hundreds of migrating geese in some of the UB

LO fields running alongside Highway 61. It got Bilbo © thinking. During our layover in , he told us HY

AP a hilarious story that went something like this: GR “I was driving on Delta Avenue one day, just out from downtown Clarksdale. I looked out to PHOTO

20 Blues Music Magazine my right, and said to myself, ‘I’ll be darned. Look at all those massive, Big A had the crowd up on their feet from minute one, geeses. I’m gonna get me some of those and cook ‘em up.’ So, and Bilbo’s one-handed guitar playing had everyone’s cell I drove my pickup into this park where they were and noticed they phone cameras flashing. weren’t afraid of me, so I drove right up to ‘em. I got out, real slow After the Friday shows, we headed (late, of course) to the like, and they just let me walk right out into the whole pack. So, I’m Philly airport. Belfour, Big A, and Stan made the flight. Bilbo and looking for some big ones and thinking about how I’m going to I missed the plane. After Bilbo verbally-assaulted some folks [acts out twisting their necks] like this, you see. I got way out into vaguely associated with the airline, I managed (with WXPN’s them. Boy, there was a whole bunch of geeses. Suddenly, one of fabulous assistance by phone) to get us onto a different flight. the geese signals the others. He yells, ‘Eeeeh!’, and they all It was on a different airline, however, which meant it was damn started attacking me! They came from everywhere, jumping on near in a different airport. me, biting me and trying to pull me down into the pack. I was Picture yours truly (a 45-year-old, clean cut white guy carrying fighting them off, and I’ll tell you the truth, now. Lord, I thought my luggage and Bilbo’s guitar case) running through the airport they were going to kill me! I fought my way back to my truck with with a 76-year-old African-American bluesman wearing a puffy wig, them hanging on me, tearing up my paints, bloodying up my suit. pale blue zoot suit, and black-and-white Stacy Adams shoes. We I finally got back in, and they’d hurt me, now. Pull meat off me! I stopped more than a little traffic, and I fully expected TSA to per- drove straight down to the police station and reported them. And manently add us to their Watch List. do you know what those policemen did? They laughed at me! To this day, Bilbo randomly blames our buddy Stan Street for [Bilbo laughs.] They laughed. And then the game warden came abandoning us at the boarding gate. (Works for me.) When it was down and told me I shouldn’t have been messing with them, to all said and done, the trip was a riot, the music was amazing, and begin with. Now today whenever I see some geeses, I just shoot the bluesmen...well, they were as they started – absolute rock at them to get revenge for the ones that attacked me. They all stars in my book. know each other, you know.” That night at the hotel in Philly, Bilbo attempted to use UPCOMING JOURNEYS chopsticks at dinner. That elicited almost as much laughter as his story about the day he got goosed. The next morning, the For live blues happenings in Mississippi, check out the calendars gigs went amazingly. (You can hear the radio broadcasts at at www.mississippibluesproject.org and www.cathead.biz. Also, www.mississippibluesproject.org. on the “Listen” page.) please check out a brand-new blues reality show coming this fall Mr. Belfour’s amplified, open-tuned acoustic guitar sounded to www.moonshineandmojohands.com.

Blues Music Magazine 21 – Bob Margolin Good Night, Ann Rabson

Only one thing could stop serious health issues since 2007, but by the Ann Rabson from playing her blues for us. end of 2011, she was running out of hopeful She passed on January 30, 2013, at the age medical options. We played a New Year's Eve of 67. Nobody I ever knew craved to play 2011-12 show together in Fredericksburg, Vir- blues for music lovers more than she did. Her ginia, where she lived. Ann was worried that gift inspired both the musicians she worked she might not be strong enough to play her with and the audiences she thrilled. best or for very long, but she did great and Ann began playing and singing profes- enjoyed it. sionally in 1962, a soulful acoustic guitarist, On this night, Ann also transitioned from LIN

singer, and songwriter. She took up piano GO being managed by her dear friend Bonnie when she was thirty-five years old. She fea- Tallman, who had also managed Saffire. tured both guitar and piano in her shows. She B MAR Bonnie was retiring and Pat Morgan, who had never over-played, but delivered an assertive brilliantly managed and Willie

accompaniment, melodic solos, and rhythmic tesy of BO “Big Eyes” Smith, would manage Ann. In ur groove. She chose her chord voicings deliber- co 2012, Pat did not get much chance to help ately to reflect the mood of her song. Her HY Ann, but Bonnie and I and Ann’s family, AP

speaking and singing voice were contralto, GR friends, and neighbors spent that wonderful the lowest female register. She conveyed New Year's Eve together. Bonnie took this womanly warmth and authority without PHOTO photo of the good time we had playing: singing loudly. Her full-bodied tone of voice Ann Rabson at Papa Mojo’s Ann and I have been close friends since in Durham, N.C., 2010 was one of her trademarks. Indeed, she was 1987, and over the years, we performed many one of those special musicians you can name after hearing only shows together. We always intended to record an album together. a few seconds of her music. When she was feeling relatively well in the spring of 2012, we Ann was a founding member of Saffire – The Uppity Blues sprang. I drove to Fredericksburg. We ate a big Southern breakfast Women, a very popular and successful band for 25 years. They in a ‘50s-style diner. Kind friends lent us their quiet house to use as parted amiably in 2009, after thousands of shows and eight a studio. Ann had already made demo recordings herself of the albums on after their self-released debut. Gaye songs she wanted to record. Actually,I think those would have Adegbalola, one of Ann’s partners in Saffire along with Andra Faye, made a pretty good Ann Rabson solo record. observes, “In all 25 years, we never had a money fight. (The clos- It would have taken many days for Ann and me to develop est we came was whether to include mileage to rehearsals as indi- , rehearse them, and then record them as our best vidual or group expenses.) And, we still loved each other, but as effort. We found another way that worked, perhaps ultimately better. we aged, our individual agendas changed and we went separate In a day and a half, Ann recorded almost all of her piano and ways. The ride, literally and figuratively, pure magic. We had the vocal parts for the whole CD. I just tracked her at high resolution honor of making a living doing what we loved and, at the same time, we had the joy of deep and abid- ing friendships.” Andra Faye adds, “She was always so strong, until she just couldn't be. I nicknamed her the Timex woman probably on my first tour, cuz she just kept on keeping on.” During and after Saffire, Ann also gave us an instructional piano DVD, Blues And Barrelhouse Piano (distributed by Hal Leonard), and four albums that featured her as a solo artist: Music Makin’ Mama, Struttin’ My Stuff, In A Family Way (a collaboration NNIE TALLMAN with her family), and finally most recently Not Alone, with me. As I take compliments that her fans would tesy of BO

like to give to Ann, I answer, “I’m the frame around ur her latest masterpiece.” co HY

The story of Not Alone, a phrase about blues AP in the liner notes Ann wrote, reveals the musician GR and the person. She had faced and prevailed over PHOTO Ann Rabson and Bob Margolin, New Years Eve, 2012

22 Blues Music Magazine on my laptop. After plugging her piano and a vocal mic in, all I did was click to record, listen carefully, and click to stop. Ann, by contrast, put every bit of herself into those recordings, with the natural talent and the authority of 40 years of being a music makin’ mama. Very few young musicians in great health would be capable or working and playing as hard as Ann did only a year ago. Gaye Adegbalola says, “Ann is the strongest person I know.” Though Death sat silently and impatiently in the room with us as Ann recorded, she snubbed him. She might have given Death the finger if she hadn't been using all of them to play piano. When we were finished, Ann told me that she was exhilarated from her effort. In April and May, I recorded my guitar parts around Ann’s songs and added some vocals. I always checked my parts with Ann for her approval or advice. She had a clear idea of what she wanted to hear. Sometimes I pleased her right away, but when I didn’t, I reworked my parts until she was pleased. When we deemed the tracking to be finished, I drove to Charlotte, , a few times to have the music mixed by Mark Williams at his East Oak Studios and mastered by Dave Harris at Studio B. The CD was released by the VizzTone Label Group, in which I’m a partner, at the end of last summer. Not Alone won the 2013 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Album of the Year. The last gig I did with Ann was at the Mockingbird in Staunton, Virginia, on November 10, 2012. We had North Carolina’s finest with us: Chuck Cotton on drums and Tad Walters on guitar and harp. Ann’s illness was progressing, and the show was set up so Ann could do as much or little as she was able. Ann’s husband, George, did everything with love, grace, and strength to make it as easy as possible for Ann to play her blues. Ann surprised us all by sitting out only three songs of a 90-minute set. That last live gig, she played at full power. On December 8, 2012, Gaye put together a show in Fredericksburg with a lot of Ann’s friends, and Andra Faye flew in from Indianapolis, hoping to reunite Saffire onstage for at least a song. George drove Ann to the show but Ann had just started a last-chance new chemo treatment, and she was too ill to stay; she left before the show started. Her friends hugged each other and cried, very worried we had just seen her for the last time. And so it was. We all played blues the music and blues the feeling that night. The memory of Ann and her immortal recordings keep her with us, as does her family. Ann’s daughter Liz says it sweetly, “I got lucky in the Mom department. I hope that I can pass on to my daughter the ability to live life, do what you love and be real.” Ann Rabson, the musician and the woman, was a force of nature for her ability to touch our hearts. I should end this homage by saying that she also loved to make us laugh, both in casual conversation and in her music. Her wit was razor-sharp, but she never used it to hurt anyone. She had a highly developed appreciation for the ironies and absurdities of life. Her sense of humor was bawdy but not vulgar. Well, maybe sometimes. Personally, Ann Rabson was a big sister to me. Now I'm going to do what she would want, play some blues for her and celebrate her life and hold her in my heart forever. If you see me on a bandstand, and half-close your eyes, you'll see her next to me.

Blues Music Magazine 23 career in music. If you’re not going to tour, you have to have a day job, and since it seemed that I might be doing this for as long as it took Seth to get through high & school, I wanted a job that I could actually care about. OTT Y SC T BMM: Tell me about your day job. US D ©

HY Hill: Humanities Prep is small progres-

AP sive high school. I work with one student GR Michael Hill at a time in all of his or her classes to help

PHOTO that student succeed. The student may have behavioral issues, emotional issues, learning issues – it can vary. It has its own intensity because you’re up close and per- inger/songwriter/guitarist and play with the T Blues Band a couple times sonal and there’s a reason why they get Blues Mob boss Michael Hill has a month. But around 2006, I put touring that service. But I enjoy it, education is built a satisfying existence for on the back burner because I was unhappy really important to me. himself, centered on his wife Katy Hill being away from my son, and I realized and their son Seth, now 15. For years, Hill that family was more important than a BMM: Tell me about the new record. has grappled with the difficulties inherent in integrating family and business consid- erations into an artist’s life. Hill still gigs with the Blues Mob at festivals and with the T Blues Band at Terra Blues in NYC and is about to re-release his 2005 Michael Hill CD Black Gold And Goddesses Bold. On Goddesses and Gold Redux, Hill is joined by the Blues Mob, Bill McClellan on drums, Mike Griot on bass, and David Barnes on harmonica. During the school year, Hill works days as a crisis educational paraprofes- sional at Humanities Preparatory Academy in . He has written a children’s book, Bi g Top And The Blues, about keeping a family connected when one member is on the road. It is currently being sold through Bailey’s Café, a Bedford-Stuyvesant arts and services organization. We sat down one summer afternoon at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens near his home to talk about work, family and the blues.

Blues Music Magazine: Wh at has been keeping you busy lately?

Michael Hill: The Blues Mob was just in Brazil a few weeks ago at the Rio das Ostras festival. We had played there several times before and for their 10th anniversary, they invited back the

favorite acts. There’s a festival I host in OTT

Kaiserslautern, Germany, every October Y SC T

– it will be six years now – that’s been a US D

pleasure. I emcee and create a vibe and a © lot of artists from the road come through HY AP

and that’s been fun. And I get called to GR PHOTO 24 Blues Music Magazine Hill: In 2005, I did a project for JSP BMM: Although much has changed since allowing people to thrive. But an artist’s lot Records, Black Gold And Goddesses Bold, 2005, making a living in music has many of has always been marginal for the most part with just guitar and drums, a sort of the same challenges. and dependent on the kindness of angels. thing. It was a lot of And art is something that people are going fun, but once we started playing those Hill: It’s hard for artists to support being on to do regardless of the financial reward. songs with the Blues Mob they took on a the road because of the dearth of clubs, Music – blues, jazz – has something that’s different life. Last summer my family took venues closing, and the blues, along with elemental and primal and healing, so there a vacation in London where I met with jazz, not having the exposure that other will always be people playing it even the head of JSP, and he suggested reissu- music has. So if you’re out there Monday though the conditions are not thrilling. ing B lack Gold in 2012. I thought if we’re through Thursday with no place to play, it’s gonna reissue that album, let’s put the bass really hard. In City too, there BMM: How do you integrate things that on there! So we put Mike Griot on all the were all sorts of restrictions placed on clubs you’re concerned about into your songs? tracks, and then recorded three new that did not facilitate growth or give people songs. a sense of freedom to enjoy the music. Noise Hill: Anything that shows up in someone’s I wrote five of the 10 original songs ordinances, dancing – there was a whole art is going to reflect something that addressing what was going on in our coun- thing where people couldn’t dance unless they’re concerned about, whether it’s try in 2003 and 2004 like the run-up to war the club had some particular kind of license. romance or social issues. I grew up with and all that. It really captures the feelings I But also the economic climate in NYC parents who were cognizant of the civil and a lot of other people had at that time. hasn’t been conducive to clubs thriving or rights movement and made us aware of Adding the new songs kind of shifts the even surviving. Terra Blues opened in 2000, that, and later on the Black Power move- balance towards hope. “Audacity Of The and we first played there in 2001 but at that ment and the Vietnam War movement. Blues” was inspired by President Obama’s time was there, Manny’s Car- I was drawn to artists who talked book, and I rewrote lyrics to “U.S. Blues wash, and Tramps were booking blues. All about more than romance, whether it was Again” to reflect my feelings about his elec- these clubs are no longer there. James Baldwin or or Curtis tion. Because whatever one’s perspective is When I first started gigging in the late Mayfield, , or Country Joe and on his politics, just the fact that a black 70s, it was like $50 a night, which was cool. the Fish. Particularly as a blues artist, play- man could be elected President of the But now you can play clubs 40 years later ing a music that comes out of slavery and is cosmic. and still be offered $50. It doesn’t speak to was a voice for people who had no voice in

Blues Music Magazine 25 society, I would feel like I was a counterfeit you overdrive them. So I’ve been playing a Goddesses Bold,I thought I’d polish the blues artist if I didn’t address social justice Strat again for the last three years and it lyrics up to tell the story I really wanted in a serious way. feels like going back home. to tell. And that became “Mr. Hubert I try to write with a sense of hope Sumlin.” We had Hubert come in and because that’s what I believe, that things BMM: You actually got to play on that song and he played my Les will get better and the essential human play on “Mr. Hubert Sumlin” on the new Paul gold top. That’s one of proudest drive is towards things being better for record! moments in my life – to write that lyric everyone. One thing that I anticipate writ- and have Hubert play on the song. Like ing about is education. I feel that there’s a Hill: Yeah! I first met Hubert at the Bergen the lyrics say, “Lots of people play guitar/ move in the United States to privatize edu- Blues Festival in 1998, but he was always and you can’t believe everything you hear/ cation and disempower teachers, commu- one of my heroes. The solo he did on But when you hear Hubert Sumlin/ nities, and families so people can make a “Killing Floor” is a stroke of genius – the The truth gets in your ears.” lot of money on education. percussive, rhythmic thing he does and the joie de vivre that always comes out with BMM: Anything else you’d like to talk about BMM: What’s new with your approach to his glisses – you listen to that solo and today? guitar playing? think there’s only one guy in the universe who could have played it, it’s just so per- Hill: A lot of what I do is possible because Hill: The biggest thing is I’ve switched fect. He was just an amazingly huge spirit of my wife, Katy Hill. She has been incred- back to a Stratocaster. I started playing and it showed in his playing. And when ibly supportive for a long time. Before we with a ‘75 Strat and in 1988 I got a Stein- you meet him, it has an impact on you for had Seth, she used to be my guitar tech. berger, a little guitar with no headstock. the rest of your life. We backed him up at a She’s an educator and one of the founders Ten years later I realized that while tour- number of shows over the years, and it was of the NY League for Early Learning. She’s ing, no one would have parts if anything always a huge treat and an honor. incredibly creative in many different ways went wrong so I went to a , and I After he became ill, we did a radio and one of the foundational supports for played those for about 10 years. But a few show together on WFDU in . anything I do. And I love seeing my son years ago, I started hearing the call of that We were interviewed and we jammed and every day, watching him grow into a Strat, those five distinctive, clean tones and I improvised a lyric about Hubert. So young gentleman, which is what I hope. the way they still ring through even when when it came time to do Black Gold And – Kay Cordtz

26 Blues Music Magazine

RONNIE EARL B.B.King’s February 15, 2013

February 15 was a good night for the blues in New York City. My old friend Ronnie Earl and his band, The Broadcasters, tore it up at B.B. King’s. I’ve known Ronnie for over 30 years – as a friend, a fan, and a follower. In recent years, he has been playing mostly locally in , so his appearance in the Big Apple was much anticipated and most welcome. It was great to see him again and hear his incredible playing in person. He’s a guitar player’s guitar player at the top of his game. There are very few musicians who can keep an audience engaged, must less thrilled, for over two hours solely with instrumentals, but Ronnie did it with seeming ease (and superb support from the Broadcasters). He walked the large room without the aid of a wireless rig as audience members willingly and happily managed the cord between his guitar and amp. He stood on his toes and dropped to his knees. He played loud, soft, harsh, and sweet, all the time informing the music with taste, emotion, and intelligence. Toward the end of the night, Ronnie called up a few friends, including NYC’s own . It was a rare treat to hear two players of this caliber, complimenting, supporting, pushing, and enjoying the music together and sharing it with an ecstatic audience. It was definitely a night to remember. – Joe Rosen

PHOTOGRAPHY © JOSEPH A. ROSEN Blues Music Magazine 27 DAMON FOWLER of fans yelling out orders for more rounds Community Arts Cafe for the band. You’re gonna get us Winston Salem, North Carolina hammered and we’re gonna forget all February 7, 2013 of our songs,” Fowler said. “That’s the only way I remember songs,” Riley quiped. “I’ll have a Cabernet,” Damon Fowler said. “Don’t Call Me” sounds like an Nice choice for a wine connoisseur, but extremely funked up Dave Matthews band somewhat of an odd one for a hardcore doing Delbert McClinton’s “Giving It Up bluesman just before stepping onstage for For Your Love” with a Duane Allman-style his Winston Salem tour opener. Fowler and solo in the middle. “Gonna do on old his rhythm section looked like seasoned Robert Johnson tune,” Fowler said. “Not circuit vets, more familiar with a bottle of ‘Crossroads,’ but a type low rent spirits than a glass of vino. song,” which got a rowdy reaction from When the band ordered Cabernet as local blues society members familiar with well, and Fowler stuck his nose in his the locally raised genre. He performed snifter like the cognoscenti fruit drinkers do “They’re Red Hot” a little slower than before imbibing, one wondered what sort Johnson’s breakneck, ‘36 version, but just of blues was gonna transpire at this unex- as lively with some jazzy licks missing from pected wine-tasting soiree. But after Fowler Johnson’s mostly rhythm-based original. took a healthy glub, picked up his big red Then, Tom Waits’ “Get Behind The Mule” Les Paul, and started cranking out the got a slippery slide workout on Fowler’s slinky, funky, licks of “Fruit Stand ‘50’s vintage Harmony H44 Stratotone. Lady,” the high tone veneer was sanded The wine merchants were calling for right off for an evening of mighty satisfying, ’s “Tightrope” throughout the down and . set, and Fowler finally caved. “It’s been six “We’ll start a little mellow and work months since we played it, and we’re ourselves up into a frenzy,” the guitarist drunk now,” Fowler said. “If we screw it up, said after revealing he, bassist Chuck Riley, we’ll start over.” Sure enough, it took three and drummer Scott Key had just traveled tries and restarts for Fowler to be satisfied nine hours in a van ride up from his Florida with the elephant walk/shambling lope home. Fowler unlimbered the mellow and intro dropdown into the main melody. But started the mild frenzy part of the evening’s once he locked onto it, he tore it up, mix- program with “Wrong Side Of The Road,” ing up a flamenco type intro with a Buck Owens meets Willie Nelson tossed in with a bunch of wiggly flourishes, feel, from his debut ‘08’s Sugar Shack. like Jeff sitting in with Russell, and Fowler’s guitar work doesn’t follow finishing it off in Willie Nelson territory with conventional patterns, often lagging just a some Nelson-inspired chord clanging. second behind the beat like Stones’ drum- “We made it,” Fowler said after the mer Charlie Watts, giving it a laid-back, sweaty finale, but it was obvious he had no funky feel. Fowler has a soulful rasp to his plans for leaving right away. “Let’s do some voice, sounding a lot like with songs about Jesus,” he said, “in the key of some in there as well. The Jesus.” Mississippi John Hurt’s “I Shall Not guitarist never introduced any of his songs Be Moved” was a countrified version with by name, merely mentioning that it’s an Fowler playing some fine finger picking original or naming the artist if it’s a cover. guitar on his big Red Les Paul classic. He A few more glasses of wine, and the closed with B.B. King’s “It’s My Own Fault, band was slinging out blues by the bucket Baby,” bringing up local pianist Clark Stern load, and showing off their road dawg cre- to sit at the white baby Grand for a fitting dentials by discussing their familiarity with finale. As Stern added Jerry Lee Lewis the merits of the Waffle House menu they flourishes, Fowler came to the front of planned to sample when the wine wore off stage to sing off mike. Fowler brought the later in the evening. “Devil Got His Ways” proceeding to a halt with a big, string featured Fowler slinking along on lap steel, bending, B.B. King-worthy climax. squeezing out some serious Waffle House This evening was a trip though wine grease and bassist Riley laying down some country you won’t find on any vintners’ tours, ominous, lumbering funk behind him. but as rewarding a one as you’ll ever come “See what a few glasses of wine does across if you like your fermented fruit hang- for the band?” Fowler asked the crowd, ing close to the roots, lowdown and dirty. and was immediately rewarded by a table – Grant Britt

28 Blues Music Magazine

Through its decades of personnel changes, the Fabulous Thunderbirds continue to be on the cutting edge of American music. In the ‘80s, they rocked the world with “Wrap It Up,” today they tackle economic plight in one of the year’s best songs, “Do You Know Who I Am?”

THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS of backing voices, the conviction shines more profoundly. At 62 years of age, remains an emotional rip on harp, and On The Verge somehow sings in a voice further burnished and warm. In fact, Severn he’s at his all-time best. Burning the reeds as he does in the dark “Lonely Highway” surely cements his reputation The latest edition of the Fabulous Thunderbirds as one of the blues harp greats. – founding singer and harmonica player Kim The songs, all written by the band members Wilson, guitarists and Mike and associates, are for the most part superb. Keller, bassist Randy Bermudes, and drummer “Lovin’ Time” could be the soundtrack to a Jason Moeller – did a hell of a job living up to 1950’s black and white film reel, the soul gliding the brand on a self-titled album in 2009, avail- and Wilson beaming. Even better and in a simi- able only briefly at shows and online. Highly lar vein, “Diamonds Won’t Kiss You Back” finds recommended, it captures the spirit of the old, Wilson in terrific sprit about what really matters dented-fender Texas T-Birds, but with a fresh in relationships among all the superficiality these coat of paint. days. The T-Birds are in serious lock step and Four years later, On The Verge finds the wonderful, no matter the groove. Only “I Want same crew and a slate of guests stripping off the To Believe” suffers slightly by its worn-out Roadhouse grime, and applying several coats of polish to that and message, although ultimately its tough R&B does sink in. Rich paint, resulting in a full-fledged feast of soul. Of the four numbers production mixes the old school and the contemporary to perfec- dusted off and spit-shined from the previous record, “Runnin’ tion, and the cover painting depicts the mythological Thunderbird From The Blues” retains the darting tenacity of the original, but the in the guise of a Phoenix rising. The implication it seems, is that amped-up soul meter surely enhances it. “Do You Know Who I this is a band ascending from its own ashes and producing thun- Am?” still pleads for an end to social callousness and inequity, but der. In actuality, there’s no question about it. with its new washes of horns and organ, funky guitar, and a chorus – Tom Clarke

BOBBY out “I Ain’t The One,” with its tough, producer Paul Brown’s rollicking Professor barking vocal and classic swamp-pop Longhair-ish piano solo. Down In Louisiana vibe. Later, the anathematic “Tight Money” Interspersed throughout Down In Deep Rush traces a family’s departure from Louisiana Louisiana are a series of new, classic addi- toward the promise of a job elsewhere. tions to the Rush legacy. He tells off a lover Underneath ’s good timing, You might have expected a trip to the bot- with a wandering eye on the thunderously groove-slinging persona is a canny musi- tom of a brown bottle with a track called groovy “You Just Like A Dresser,” refer- cian who traverses musical styles with “Raining In My Heart,” but instead Rush ences the classic “It Hurts Me Too” on his such a broad, contagious smile that he sings amid a rough-hewn, Crescent City harp-driven, deep-blues lament “Don’t You makes it all look deceptively easy. Down cadence – made complete by Cry,” then sizzles through the lean, Chuck In Louisiana, featuring nine originals over Berry-inspired “Boogie In The Dark.” its 11-song length, makes it clear all over “Rock This House” and “Bowlegged again just how much true talent, and very Woman” feature these coiled, greasy riffs real emotion, lies beneath Rush’s outsized that would make James Brown proud, persona –honed after decades along the while “What Is The Blues” finds Rush Deep South’s chitlin’ circuit. downshifting into a frank rumination on In keeping with the album’s title, hard times and lost love. He closes things Rush begins with a series of expected out on Down In Louisiana with a gospel- Bayou State textures and themes. The infused rumination called “Swing Low” – title track rumbles with an accordion-laced one more example of Bobby Rush’s easy, sense of fun, right down to his note-perfect underrated ability to blend genres, textures pronunciation of “looz-ee-ana.” But check and moods.

30 Blues Music Magazine Of course, he does it with so much the advice to fit the many ways we “run affable style, you might never notice; in with the devil.” He explains that the idea particular during one of Rush’s raucous behind “The Entitled Few” came from live performances. This album gives you those who erroneously own a blue handi- that chance. cap card and park in those entitled spaces. – Nick DeRiso Then he ends with Memphis Slim’s classic “mother earth” reference to those posers. On “I’ll Be Walking On,” MacLeod takes an idea from a B.B. King verse and turns it into a better way to end a relationship. He describes his six-minute “Black Nights” as “the lonely feeling when you can’t under- Cotton Mouth Man Nest On The Ground,” nascent soul-blues stand what’s going on with the one you Alligator from 1967, is the lone cover (oddly love.” With its heavy acoustic bass under enough, there was no harmonica on the MacLeod’s vintage Gibson, this precisely I’ve known James Cotton for over 40 original). The set concludes with “Bonnie picked, middle of the night hurt accurately years, produced half a dozen shows with Blue,” a harmonica and resonator guitar addresses those tore up times. him, am familiar with his solo recordings duet with Colin Linden that features Cot- Sometimes, you can put the notes and his extensive work as a sideman, and ton’s talk-singing raspy whisper. As I was aside and let the song tell the story. have seen him live countless times; how- extolling Cotton’s playing to my wife Mau- “Dubb’s Talkin’ Religion Blues” harkens ever, this is the first time I’ve reviewed a reen when we first listened to this Album back to an era in when every new album by him. I can say without hesi- of the Year contender, she turned to me artist, Guthrie, Seeger, Dylan, recorded tation that this is his best album in years; and said, “It’s like he’s defying time.” some version of “Talkin’ Blues.” This the two main reasons are the 12 well- – Thomas J. Cullen III bouncy, six-minutes illustrates a conversa- crafted originals co-written by renowned tion where Dubb (George Smith’s nick- producer/drummer name for MacLeod) debunks religious (seven with Cotton) and, most importantly, absolutes with a street corner zealot. the 78-year old Cotton’s masterful har- (These ironies remind me of Dylan’s, monica, fierce-toned and lyrically raucous, DOUG MacLEOD “whether Judas Iscariot had God on his similar to his visceral playing on mid-Six- side.”) Other highlights include ties albums like Johnny Young And His There’s A Time MacLeod’s hilarious “My Inlaws Are Out- Chicago Blues Band (Arhoolie), Otis Reference Recordings laws,” the picturesque “St. Elmo’s Rooms Spann’s Chicago Blues (Testament), and And Pool,” and the grave vision on “The the three Verve releases that auspiciously Night Of The Devil’s Road.” launched his solo career. Doug MacLeod continues to breathe On this effort, MacLeod, bassist Cotton’s regular vocalist, the always fresh ideas into his music. MacLeod’s Denny Croy, and drummer Jimi Bott soulful , is heard on six warm, almost conversational, vocals cou- traveled to George Lucas’s sound studios songs, Keb’ Mo’ on two, and Gregg All- pled with his pinpoint finger picking have at Skywalker Sound and spent days holed man, Delbert McClinton, Ruthie Foster, been the center of his art for decades. up in this spacious, state of the art edifice and (also guitar) on one On every stage, live or recorded, and lovingly recorded these 13 MacLeod each. Cotton’s long life in the blues is cel- MacLeod regularly sings and plays with originals. This studio is the sound produc- ebrated in the title track boogie (featuring deep reverence for this art form and tion and recording division of the Lucas’ on lead guitar), the those originators whom he has learned assertive Muddyesque stop-time shuffle, from. If you see him live, songs are “He Was There,” the plaintive tale of child- accompanied by stories of gentle blues hood, “Mississippi Mud,” the leisurely souls like Ernest Banks, George “Har- satori gently propelled by Glenn Worf’s monica” Smith, and many other legends. throbbing bass, “Wasn’t My Time To Go,” Those stories are here, but imbedded the slinky swamp-grinder whose title says with the lyrics of his stories. it all, “The Blues Is Good For You,” and To that end, MacLeod introduces the bristling “Midnight Train,” which starts each song in the sleeve notes with its his- with train effects from Cotton’s wailing tory. For example, he honors Banks’ sage harp and then bursts into a frenetic blend advice in “Run With The Devil.” Played on of blues and funk. Muddy Waters’ “Bird his National Style O, MacLeod modernizes

Blues Music Magazine 31 films. Vast orchestras come her to record leads, a perfect complement to Taylor’s the music of his films. Bott told me during heavy, rhythm-dominated approach. these sessions this high tech studio Channeling , Taylor lays “tuned” the room to fit the exquisite sound down droning bass lines that put the of this trio. focus on the stories of these songs. If you Decades ago, Doug MacLeod haven’t heard Taylor’s work, “trance learned that a bluesman reaches people blues” isn’t just a catch phrase. The throb- and makes them feel something that bing drone of banjo, guitar, bass, and per- helps them get through our world easier. cussion truly seems to change your Every song he plays touches the world in mental state. that way. The standout track for me is the mel- – Art Tipaldi low groove of “Blue Rain In Africa,” written departure from much of his previous from the perspective of a Native American work, which focused on the African Ameri- who sees a sacred white buffalo. And can experience, and slavery in particular. here Taylor plays with anachronicity – the Thematically he returns to the same over- natural and woody strumming of an OTIS TAYLOR arching meta-narrative of displacement, acoustic guitar, Nanji’s electric leads are identity crises, and culture clash in a sup- clean and modern, the vocal harmonies My World Is Gone posedly egalitarian society. The harsh are spot on. The much grittier “Huckle- Telarc message is a little easier to hear when it’s berry Blues” is the best of the “trance couched in the kind of deep soulful, blues blues” sound on the disc, with the percus- that Taylor brings. sive banjo anchoring the tune. A different There are two things Otis Taylor is known Nanji fronts the band Indigenous, kind of banjo keeps “Girl Friend’s House” for: his patented “trance blues” style and with a style that is all American blues and fun and bouncy, and the band is joined by his socially conscious songwriting. On rock. On the surface, his style is informed brass that lends an almost-Mariachi feel to My World Is Gone , Taylor delivers both in by and , this number. It’s a song about a man who style. Inspired by a conversation with his but goes much deeper. There is an ethe- discovers his wife is cheating on him with collaborator Mato Nanji, the record is a real quality to his electric and acoustic her girl friend, so it needs that bounce.

32 Blues Music Magazine Straying from the blues motif, “Jae Jae fills on the barnyard struttin’ “Just A Waltz” is a pure dance number that’s Heartache.” “Annie Get Your Thing On” is going on my next party playlist. a funky update on the Hank Ballard As with most of Taylor’s catalog, My “Annie” series, with Portnoy’s raw Delta World Is Gone deals with weighty sub- harp under Robillard’s slinky guitar jects, but like a true bluesman, the bounc- accompaniment. ing and driving rhythms supply levity. For the second CD, the production is There are nuggets of humor hidden in a a little harder and more soulful. “Miss Dis- number of the tunes here, too. The blues satisfied” sounds like in is meant to lift you up, not bring you its heyday, brassy, funkin’ soul with down. Taylor is a master at using the Basile’s cornet barking like a junkyard music to do just that. dawg. “The Streak” seems cut out of the – Eric Wrisley Funky Meters playbook. “I’m a Closer/I’ll devotees). Every tune is enjoyable, be the last to go,” Basile announces on recording engineer Kid Andersen does a the last track. If he continues to turn in this fine job in capturing the energy, and the kind of performance, that’s a self-fulfilling album serves its purpose well. If I had to prophecy. pick a favorite it would be Musselwhite’s AL BASILE – Grant Britt stompin’ version of “One Of These Morn- ings.” Musselwhite and Arnold were At Home Next Door friends with Little Walter; I imagine their Sweetspot friend would be most pleased. – Thomas J. Cullen III VARIOUS ARTISTS Might as well call this a release. Though it features Al Basile’s Remembering Little Walter vocals throughout, producer Robillard Blind Pig sets the tone with his guitar on every one of the double CD’s 27 tracks, as he did ANN RABSON when he was Basile’s boss in the Roomful Little Walter’s Checker canon is sacred with BOB MARGOLIN Of Blues band. The first CD, At Home, is scripture to musicians and fans alike. This dedicated to reviewing Basile’s blues exuberant tribute album was recorded live Not Alone material for his own Sweetspot label. The in 2012 at San Diego’s Anthology and VizzTone second one, Next Door, takes off in a produced by Mark Hummel as part of his slightly different direction, bringing in soul Harmonica Blowout events. Here, Hummel and gospel influences with a new collec- is joined by , James When an artist’s last recording is released tion of tunes. Harman, , and Sugar near their death, some fans seek to find Robillard gives a chicken pickin’, Ray Norcia. The band is comprised of the messages they may have left for us. string bendin’ tutorial on “Picked To Click.” guitarists Little Charlie Baty and Nathan Some artists address their imminent “There’s a lot of work goin’ on down James, bassist R.W. Grigsby (of Hummel’s demise directly. For example, Warren there,” Basile announces on “Termites In Blues Survivors), and current Musselwhite Zevon did it with the song “Keep Me In My Basement,” and he ain’t kidding. Sugar and former Nightcats drummer June Core, Your Heart” on the last studio album he Ray Norica lays down some back porch, one of the best in the business. created while dying of lung cancer. On Delta drenched harp graced with some Readers of this magazine know Little Ann Rabson’s last studio album Not Alone funky key work from Delbert McClinton/ Walter changed everything or as Hum- she chose a different route, although, as Gregg Allman keyboardist . mel states in the liner notes, “Walter she described in her own liner notes, Legendary Blues Band harpist Jerry changed all the rules and raised the bar “This recording contains some songs I Portnoy steps up for some low key, soulful so high that nobody has yet surpassed wanted to set down for the future.” And him either in innovation or technical she added that, “There are happy, nasty, prowess.” Each man performs two songs good-time blues that make you feel good, with characteristic swagger and soul. and sad blues that make you feel like Overall, their versions are fairly faithful you’re not alone.” recreations of the originals with some Not Alone has a very intimate vibe slight variances in tempo. Except for to it. There are no vocal or instrumental charted singles “Mean Old World” (Nor- histrionics here; just two veteran musi- cia), “You’re So Fine” (Arnold), and “My cians and good friends who know when Babe” (the boisterous jam finale with six to cut loose, when to complement each harp solos including one by Little Char- other, and when to let space help inter- lie), the tunes are slightly lesser known pret the song. Some full bands could (but certainly not to hardcore Little Walter learn from songs like “Caledonia,” where

Blues Music Magazine 33 familiarized himself with through his trips to Mali. Later, “Black Rag” features Harris’s COREY HARRIS banjo picking and Jones’s soprano sax working together to recreate musical part- Fulton Blues nership from another time. Njumba Supported by only Harris’s guitar and Hook Herrera’s harmonica, the title cut is a traditional Piedmont style reminis- In 1619, the first 20 African were sold into cent of the blues Cephus and Wiggins slavery in Jamestown, Va. From that dark played. It’s a musical story about the life date, the James River and Richmond of these Fulton residents, then and now. ports like Fulton became well-known for His follow-up, Skip James’s “Devil Got My Rabson drives the rhythm with her force- slave markets. Once known as the Fulton Woman,” showcases Harris and Herrera ful left hand, doles out perfect fills with Bottom, this east Richmond area, after recreating the mournful Bentonia sound her right, and Margolin plays superb emancipation, was where African-Ameri- James fathered. Two other covers include rhythm figures to complement the song’s cans lived and worked. Then in the middle Blind Blake’s bouncy, “That Will drive, giving it all the dynamics it needs of the 20th century, it fell into shabby dis- Never Happen No More” and the full without added instrumentation and a full repair and was demolished as part of band treatment of ’s rhythm section. urban renewal. “Catfish Blues.” Highlights are the leadoff track, “I’m Corey Harris has chosen to capture Some of Harris’s originals address Going To Live The Life I Sing About In My the African-American experience through darker aspects of African-American his- Song,” where her piano and Margolin’s Fulton’s history then and now. Through tory. “Tallahatchie” tells about the river in electric guitar perfectly complement her originals and covers of blues classics, Mississippi where Emmitt Till’s body was voice and the song’s melody. You know Harris has recorded a set of short, poetic found after his murder; “House Negro Rabson is really feeling the song’s mes- stories, which, though sometimes rooted Blues,” makes known the often tragic and sage and makes it her own. The Ashford in the blues of a bygone era, still have quiet lives of the “house Negro;” “Maggie & Simpson song “Let’s Go Get Stoned” relevance in today’s world. Harris smartly Walker Blues” celebrates the life of forgot- gets a great interpretation; making it seem grabs classic floating blues phrases and ten inside help, and “Lynch Blues” contin- like a far older classic than the 1966 initial cobbles them together with his own ues the “strange fruit” image as Harris version by Ray Charles. The New Orleans modern stories. Don’t be surprised to remembers the thousands of nameless flavored “Let It Go,” penned and sung hear references to “brownskin women,” victims of this unspeakable horror in solo by Margolin, features some fine Cres- “don’t let dark catch you here,” “lying on American racial history. cent City piano playing by Rabson and a pallet,” or the singer as “your daddy,” His lyrics are the stuff of poetic acoustic rhythm and lead work by Mar- all archaic by today’s standards, yet pre- imagery, short descriptive phrases that, golin. Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is Or Is You sent in the earliest Delta blues that Harris when stitched together, reveal distant sto- Ain’t My Baby” showcases Rabson’s reveres. ries. Like the poems of Gwendolyn smoky, swinging vocals. Another song on The themes are, however, much the Brooks or Langston Hughes, Harris’s col- this set also has a connection to Ray same – loneliness, wandering, irony, fear, lection is essential reading. Charles. It is the dark “River’s Invitation” companionship – today as in last century’s – Art Tipaldi written in 1953 by Percy Mayfield, who earliest blues. Harris opens the record with also wrote “Hit The Road Jack” and other his big band take on “Crying Blues.” Gor- hits for Charles in the ‘60s. Here, Rab- don Jones’s horn makes an son’s subtle, jazzy piano and Margolin’s otherwise lonely, Delta song into a more moody slide work enhance the song’s uptown offering – think Delta meets Beale somber feel. Street, circa 1948. When Harris delivers Some may search for a final mes- “Underground,” an ominous warning Blues With A Mood sage on Not Alone. Does the album title about wandering roads alone, he utilizes a Black Shuck have a deeper meaning? Is “I’m Gonna West African guitar style that Harris has Live The Life I Sing About In My Song” a reflection on her own life as a blues musi- Mud Morganfield is getting a lot of ink cian? Is Margolin’s song “Let It Go” with these days – and deservedly so – to go the lines “Find your pleasure while you along with multiple Blues Music Award can, Take a breath and let go” alluding to nominations for his 2012 debut Son Of what she was facing? Only the two old The Seventh Son. But Muddy Waters’ friends knew. What we know is that, over other blues-singing son has been quietly her long musical career and with this final building a legacy of his own for better album, Rabson gave us a lot of important than a decade and a half. Since the 1999 music that will always make us feel good release of Big Bill Morganfield’s Rising and not alone. Son album (which won him a BMA for – Mark Caron Best New Blues Artist), the singer,

34 Blues Music Magazine very fast. The peak is arguably the disc’s lone instrumental, “Tribe,” which Popovic ANA POPOVIC could easily end by nicking that line from ’ “Helter-Skelter” about having Can You Stand The Heat “blisters on me fingers.” ArtisteXclusive But it’s not all Popovic. Lucky Peter- son and Tommy Sims individually join her for duets, and she draws from high-end A Warner-Reprise executive told me sources for her few covers – the Stones’ several decades ago that Bonnie Raitt and for “Rain was a sure-fire bet for his label. After all, Fall Down,” Andy Fraser of Free for “Every he said, “She plays great guitar and is Kind Of People,” ’s “Can’t You songwriter, and guitarist has become a shaped like one too.” Nowadays no label See What You’re Doing To Me,” and Buddy popular live performer and perennial mogul would dare say something so Guy’s “Leave My Girl Alone,” which gets a festival attraction. sexist in public, but truth be told attractive gender switch to “boy” and is linked to For his fifth album, Morganfield goes women wielding guitars remain a sexy Popovic’s own “Blues For Mrs. Pauline.” indie all the way; Blues With A Mood is marketing combination. At the moment, Whether Can You Stand The Heat will released on the artist’s own Black Shuck Ms Raitt’s Slipstream is in its 56th week on stay on the Billboard chart as long as Records imprint. Recorded in Nashville the Billboard blues chart, lodged in the Raitt’s Slipstream remains to be seen. And with producer Colin Linden and an all-star No. 8 slot. Right behind her is Ana whether sexy cover art is a factor can be cast that includes guitar greats Eddie Popovic’s Can You Stand The Heat in its debated elsewhere, but Popovic’s naked Taylor Jr. and Bob Margolin, as well as first week of release. Popovic’s disc has a appearance on the preceding release, keyboardist Augie Meyers (Sir Douglas cover shot of her stroking a Stratocaster Unconditional in 2011, probably didn’t hurt Quintet, Texas Tornadoes) and harp and wearing a micro-mini. sales. As blues fans tend to be male, pretty player Richard “Doc” Malone, Morgan- Popovic, like Raitt, is a terrific gui- women still have a leg up, so to speak. field scatters a few well-chosen covers tarist. She plays faster, shreds more, and – Bill Wasserzieher across Blues With A Mood, surrounding isn’t inclined toward the poignant material them with solid original tunes written in that Raitt favors, but her discs for Ruf, an undeniably retro style. Eclecto Groove, and now ArtisteXclusive Morganfield’s stated intent for Blues show a remarkable talent, one which With A Mood was to deliver a moody set evolves with each new release. It’s too HADDEN SAYERS of performances that would evoke memo- soon for a career retrospective, but if ries of old-school John Lee Hooker, there were one it might be titled From Rolling Soul Howlin’ Wolf, and Muddy Waters, and I’d Belgrade To Memphis, for the Serbian Blue Corn say that he’s accomplished his goal. Only native has indeed come a long way in a the original “Money’s Getting’ Cheaper” short time, and not just by moving from evinces any sort of contemporary lyrical Central Europe to Staxville. For this outing, sounds like Houston- influence – then again, poverty has She opens with the title track, one of based singer guitarist Hadden Sayers has always been a part of the blues land- 11 originals in this 14-track collection. It’s had an Al Greene transfusion. His previ- scape – socially-conscious lyrics accom- a fast five minutes of scorching guitar and ous effort, Hard Dollar, was more Texas panied by a raging vocal performance, vocal, with prestige backing from John twang, but this one is rooted deep in soul. ’s icy blasts of sax, and Meyers’ Williams of ’s combo on bass, “Don’t Take Your Love Out On Me” has fleet-fingered honky-tonk piano. “No Harold Smith from B.B. King’s All-Star the Green footprints all over it, from the Butter For My Grits” is a humorous, but Band on , the Bo-Keys on funky Al sound-alike vocal to the wiggly starkly realistic talking blues with a horns, and heavy-hitter Tony Coleman on Philly soul wah-wah guitar treatment. Chicago blues swagger and a swamp- drums. The track serves as a template for Once again, “Something Wrong In The rock vibe that showcases the hypnotic what follows in the 60-minute collection, World Tonight” sounds like a Willie guitar interplay between Taylor and tempos varying from fast to sort-of-fast to Mitchell production on an Al Green ses- Linden. sion, but with Bill Withers behind the mic. Altogether, Blues With A Mood is a As an extra-added attraction, this Al can throwback to the Chicago blues and R&B play a hellacious guitar as well. The of the and early when giants melody could be related to Green’s “Love roamed the streets of the West side. And Happiness” with Albert Collins laying Morganfield has this stuff hard-wired to on some chilly frosting. his DNA, and Blues With A Mood isn’t so The soul groove gets even deeper much an attempt to recreate those golden with “Lay Down On Your Worries” as Say- days as it is an inspired tribute to the era’s ers works his hoarse, Withers growl with long-lasting influence, lovingly delivered Ruthie Foster adding some gospel funk with no little style and energy. punctuation and churchy harmony to the – R ev. Keith A. Gordon mix. Sayers gets back to Texas on

Blues Music Magazine 35 Felice Brothers, but the label still has its Back in the day, Fat Possum put out roots in Mississippi soil. a series of sampler discs called Not The Now Fat Possum has now hooked Same Old Blues Crap . With Mathus’s up with , who has done White Buffalo, that slogan’s back in place. yeoman work, along with his friends in – Bill Wasserzieher the North Mississippi Allstars, in keeping the bedrock blues of the region alive. Mathus, since making his mark with the , has put out an impressive string of solo and band albums, recorded with , worked with and Alvin Living The Dream “Unlucky,” featuring a reverb saturated Youngblood Hart in the South Memphis Blue Leaf vocal with a ‘50s honky-tonk feel. He dips String Band, and serves as the proprietor deep into territory with at the Delta Recording Service in Como, “Insomniac Blues,” his guitar work remi- Mississippi. Albert Castiglia’s creamy and crunchy niscent of former Bland guitarist . For his new White Buffalo with the guitar tones, hearty vocals, and original “Can’t Get You Off My Mind” has a Tri-State Coalition on Fat Possum, Mathus songs and covers always make for inter- funky, Little Feat shamble with some great enlisted Eric Ambel (Steve Earle, Nils esting listening. These features continue greasy Lowell George-flavored slide, Lofgren, the Bottle Rockets) as producer, on his latest CD, Living The Dream . With a some Billy Payne-style juke joint piano perhaps under the theory that a “lawyer guitar talent that reaches back to 1996, and a New Orleans second line Richie who defends himself has a fool for a when he got his big break to play along- Hayward-inspired undercurrent suitable client.” It seems an affable pairing, though side , Castiglia is still living the for struttin’ and hanky waving. there was little to fault with Mathus’ own dream. And he’s showing enormous Sayers comes up with an interesting efforts as self-producer on his previous respect for the Chicago blues background twist on the crazy woman theme shuffling Confederate Buddha (2011) and Jimmy that he and Wells were all about. However, along on “Crazy Enough.” Turns out that The Kid (2009). it doesn’t stop there. this crazy woman is that way because White Buffalo opens with him singing Living The Dream is a diverse and she’s crazy about him and even though plaintively, “In the garden there was well-rounded display of Castiglia’s musi- she’s inclined to tell him specifically where something wicked,” over strummed cal being that stretches the blues to the to go when the occasion arises, “she’s my mandolin. The rest of the Tri-Staters, Matt max and enters it into potent areas. In the baby /and I’m just crazy in love.” Pierce on Telecaster, Ryan Rogers drums, lyrics to the title song, he says he’s, “Play- Rolling Soul is a perfect description Eric Carlton keyboards, and Terrence ing the blues everywhere I can.” And in of what Sayers does. Fluid, flexible, and Bishop drums, then make a loud entrance mentioning the craziness of constantly funky, this release is the perfect traveling after a few seconds, shifting the song being out on the road, he sings, “All of my companion for wherever your journey from Hank Williams country to roadhouse heroes have done it this way.” Those two might take you. rock. That turn-on-a-dime ability runs lines undoubtedly say it all. In the midst of – Grant Britt through all ten tracks. Songs shift from influences that molded him into the musi- the heartfelt folk of “Hatchie Bottoms” cian he is today, the veteran performer (about trying to get a drink in a dry county has come full circle into his own, in style, after a funeral) to the spooky, organ- sound, and tone. driven alternative called “Run Devil Run,” The title song gets right into the high JIMBO MATHUS and to a tune called “Poor Lost Souls” that level of raw energy and enthusiasm Cas- THE TRI-STATE could easily segue into any of The Band’s tiglia is known for. The midway COALITION best songs. The title song, “White Buffalo, takes it even higher. Energy soars again in is almost an odd-man-out basher. “Freddie’s Boogie,” where he pays instru- White Buffalo Throughout, Mathus proves himself a, mental homage to Freddie King’s “Boogie Fat Possum expressive and versatile singer. Funk” in a way that stays true to the blues icon. In the funky “Lovin’ Cup,” Sandy Mack’s harp work complements Paul But- Back in the 1990s, Fat Possum did a terfield nicely. Though the riff still exists in spectacular job of reminding listeners that ’s slow blues “Directly From not every Mississippi bluesman had My Heart To You,” Castiglia takes out the caught the train north. Thanks to the label, piano and inserts some raw guitar dyna- R.L. Burnside, , Cedell mite and a powerful pace. The funky Davis, Robert Belfour, and others finally Chicago drive is augmented by pianist found audiences and made money from John Ginty, who performs a sweet solo music. They have passed, and Fat Pos- midway through. Following the next verse, sum these days concentrates on such Castiglia wails electric blues. The solo alternative acts as the Black Keys and the grows in intensity all the way to the end.

36 Blues Music Magazine Castiglia is undeniably one of today’s proficient guitar slingers who push the buttons of genre limitations. But he also has an incredible knack for stay- ing within blues boundaries, no matter how electrified and intense it gets. The music herein is an unambiguous display of the blues from the mind, voice, and fingers of Albert Castiglia. – Brian D. Holland

Castiglia’s voice is impressive. It’s where their bluesabilly takes on powerful, and it often complements the grit . and emotion the lyrics call for. This is CASH BOX KINGS Even though the CBK say that they’re prominent in “Sometimes You Win,” written trespassing on Stones territory with a cou- by longtime collaborator Graham Wood Black Toppin’ ple of tunes, “Blues Fallin’ Down On Me” Drout. Castiglia’s acoustic guitar prowess Blind Pig and “My Tinai,” the only crime they’re is highlighted in this folk song, and raw guilty of is making the Stones wish they passion surfaces in the haunting lyrics. He sounded this raw. On the Jimmy Reed stays on acoustic and heads down a blue- For their second outing on Blind Pig, the extrapolation “My Tinai,” featuring a harp sier road in “I Want Her For Myself,” Cash Box Kings (CBK) widen their musi- solo by Joe Nosek that’s dead on Jerry wherein the atmosphere is augmented by cal horizons a bit from the country blues Portnoy, the Kings sound more Legendary Mack’s harmonica. The album ends with a interpretations on 2011’s BP debut, Blues Band than ‘70s era Stones. The sundry version of Mose Allison’s “Parch- Holler And Stomp. This time out, they’re Legendary Blues Band influence pops up man Farm” which begins as an acoustic rocking a little harder, delving into music once again on “Hot Biscuit Baby,” with blues and then electrifies, making it the from the swamp to the Delta with a few Oscar Wilson’s vocals resembling LBB ideal display of everything Castiglia. stops in Chicago before heading west bassist/vocalist Calvin Jones. The other

Blues Music Magazine 37 Legendary connection is with former Big Blues Band and the stellar honking of Muddy Waters and LBB drummer Willie former James Brown saxman Pee Wee “Big Eyes” Smith’s son Kenny “Beedy Ellis, Martin and company honk and stomp Eyes” Smith anchoring this group. their way through a Texas guitar flavored Harpist/vocalist Nosek captures the landscape filled with Martin originals. essence of ’s voice on “Run Run But the only gimmickry here is the Run,” but their version of the tune has lyrics. The music is serious business. more in common with ZZ Top than the Martin often appears as a one-man band Velvet Underground. On this one and and here shows off his dexterity by con- throughout the disc, Nosek’s harp slices tributing guitar, vocals, harp, and piano, into the mix like a straight razor, ripping taking the listener on a tour of genres open passages that bleed blues blood spanning 50 years of musical history. from ‘50s vintage Chicago veins. “Oscar’s Johnny “Guitar” Watson gets a nod they have now added RSB’s Devon Jump” recalls the big band, on the title cut, with Martin doing a slow Allman to a roster that is setting the stan- sounds of and Wynonie burn on guitar backed by a buttery smooth dard for quality modern blues. Turquoise, Harris, honkin’, fast paced boogie-woogie horn arrangement. Like Freddie King Allman’s first solo release, is a mature, that slaps you upside the head and com- fronting the JB’s, “Funky One Too,” fea- thoughtful, and soulful collection of songs mands you to move your feet. Nosek’s tures a funky, wiggly Ellis solo slithering that should receive plenty of radio plays “Gimme Some Of That” exemplifies the and sliding around Martin’s nasty string way beyond the specialist blues and rock Kings’ bluesabilly hybrid, mixing rockabilly pulling twang fest. “Second Chance stations. with ‘40s jump blues sliced up and served Romance” resurrects Elmore James chan- In RSB, Allman is a featured gui- with tasty chunks of ‘50s Windy City harp. neled through George Thorogood with tarist, but don’t expect this to be an Like its predecessor, this one’s got all Martin wrenching vicious, down and dirty album of lengthy guitar workouts or the right stuff, all wound up and ready to slide licks from his National Steel. Martin jams. This is all about the words and rumble. Put it on, stand back and get down. cites influences from Cole Porter to Elmore music as Allman’s gritty vocals deliver – Grant Britt James and is not afraid to mix those styles, songs that are about or influenced by his often on the same tunes as he demon- life and twenty year career to date. All- strates on “Tough Times,” laying a Chuck man is responsible in whole or in part for Berry guitar riff on top of a big band all but one of the songs on the album, arrangement worthy of . The collaborating with RSB band mate Mike EDDIE MARTIN big band shuffle “Frog In The Long Grass,” Zito on the rocky “Don’t Set Me Free” overlaid with some clanking Freddie King and the groovy “Strategy,” and with ex- Looki ng Forward To licks, was written for his six year old son neighbor Tyler Stokes on the Latin influ- Looking Back and is cool without being cutesy. enced “There’s No Time.” The single Blueblood Martin doesn’t just pay lip service to cover on the album, Tom Petty’s “Stop the blues. His latest offering hopes to Draggin’ My Heart Around,” features a expose a new generation to the work of sultry playing Stevie For this outing, British guitarist/harpist the early electric blues pioneers (he often Nicks to Allman’s Petty. Eddie Martin doesn’t play by conventional runs harp workshops for young players). While these songwriting collabora- blues rules. The music may be straight-up With this level of dedication and talent, tions dominate the first half of the album, blues, but the subject matter isn’t the type Eddie Martin is poised to join the ranks of it is the second half that is most absorbing usually associated with this genre. In the bluesmen he pays such heartfelt as Allman’s songs become more personal Martin’s world, zombies attack, “Zombie homage to. and heartfelt. Songs about and for family Attack,” genders bend, “She’s A He,” lack – Grant Britt and friends dominate, culminating in “Turn of headspace makes him homicidal, Off The World,” Allman’s song about “Headspace,” and rivals for his prospective reconnecting with nature and a perfect new girlfriend’s affection get locked in a chilled out album closer. car, “I Want That Girl.” Aided here by his This is a deeply satisfying album to listen to. It’s not blues, it’s not , and it’s not soul, but you can hear Turquoise the influence of all of these throughout. Ruf Don’t just throw it in the car CD player as background music. Don’t download it onto your MP3 player and let the tracks Things are going pretty well for Ruf turn up randomly. Sit quietly and listen Records right now. Not only do they have from start to finish and you will find your- Royal Southern Brotherhood, surely one self become immersed in a recording that of the best new bands to have emerged signals the emergence of Devon Allman for some time, and recent BMA winner as a very good solo artist and songwriter. Samantha Fish leading the charge, but – Chris Kerslake

38 Blues Music Magazine swampy blues, rockabilly, and twang, driving it home with wildfire guitar and MARK ROBINSON locomotive rhythms while the swinging “Cool Rockin’ Daddy” is a magnificent Have Axe – Will Groove slab o’ West Coast styled jump blues. Blind Chihuahua Robinson’s cover of the classic “” is brilliantly spot- on, delivering both the tears and the When most people think of Nashville, their anger with a blues-hued ambiance. It’s first thought is probably something about the perfect lead-in to his original “Blue country music. What many don’t know is Moon Howl,” a Delta blues dirge with that the city has also hosted a thriving haunting guitar play, hypnotic vocals, and rock ‘n’ roll community that dates back to a claustrophobic instrumental vibe. wrongly lumped, and Koité is a kindred the late , as well as significant rap, Robinson proves with Have Axe – Will soul. metal, and other music scenes. Long Groove that he’s a talent to be reckoned The disc opens with an up-tempo before folks like the Black Keys, Jack with, and you can climb on the band- number from Bibb about being on his way White, Jason Ricci, Colin Linden, and wagon now or wait until he’s a festival to Bamako, the capital of Mali, to meet Keb’ Mo’ decided to make Nashville headliner, it’s your choice! Koité and his family. Then Koité counters home, blues music reigned supreme on – Rev. Keith A. Gordon with a song about going to the streets of the Music City, and legends and drinking too much tequila, sung in like , Jimi Hendrix, Charles several languages (tequila being a drink Walker, and Johnny Jones once haunted that tends to make a man speak in multi- the smoky clubs of Jefferson Street on the ple tongues). From there the tracks North side of town. HABIB KOITÉ & ERIC BIBB bounce back and forth between the artists Thanks to contemporary artists like in a harmonious mesh of acoustic guitar, Mark Robinson, the long-smoldering Brot hers In Bamako banjo, and eight-string ukulele. The Mali Nashville blues scene is staking a claim for Stony Plain influence, with subtle percussion from status as a world-class blues city on par Mamadou Kone, offers variation and color with New Orleans or Austin. Robinson’s to most of the material. Bibb’s “With My 2010 debut Quit Your Job, Play Guitar was Collaborations involving American artists Maker I Am One,” in particular, gets extra one of the year’s best records, but the gui- and world music players serve two good texture from West African rhythm, just as tarist’s sophomore effort, Have Axe – Will purposes: They allow the artists to bend Koité’s “Foro Bana” benefits from a slow Groove, surpasses all expectations, deliv- the boundaries of whatever genre defines traditional blues framing. ering a high-wattage jolt of blues, rock, their careers, and they bring in additional They wrap their 13-song, 53-minute soul, and Southern-fried funk that listeners looking for something new. Ry set with a stately, almost funeral-paced enhances Robinson’s reputation as a Cooder is the crossover king, having “Blowin’ In The Wind,” followed by the gifted songwriter and guitarist with a fluid recorded with Ali Farka Toure (Timbuktu), album-closing “Goin’ Down The Road technique that he applies effortlessly to a V.M. Bhatt (India), the Chieftains (Ireland) Feelin’ Bad,” which presumably is untrue myriad of styles. and the Buena Vista Social Club (), for either artist or for most listeners. In Have Axe – Will Groove, Robinson as well as the Pahinui brothers from – Bill Wasserzieher has delivered an entertaining, intelligent Hawaii and Tex-Mex legend Flaco set of songs. His original “Drive Real Fast” Jimenez. , Cooder’s long-ago is a high-speed Hooker ‘n’ Heat styled infi- partner in the Rising Sons, has recorded nite boogie-rocker with slash and burn almost as many collaborations. Eric Bibb, fretwork, T.J. Klay’s howling harmonica who has worked with Taj, is the latest to BEX MARSHALL licks, and a deep, funky groove. A cover of merge musical cultures with Brothers In obscure Americana artist Michael Conner Bamako, which pairs him with West The House Of Mercy Rogers’ “Baby’s Gone To Memphis” mixes African string player Habib Koité. House Of Mercy How is it? Pleasant, which is either a solid endorsement or a mild damnation, depending on the individual listener’s There are some mighty weighty accolades inclinations. The songs, mostly originals, in her on-site biography, but they’re vindi- some drawn from traditional sources, as cated in song after song in The House Of well as a Dylan cover, are mellow and lilt- Mercy. Britain’s Bex Marshall does it all ing. There aren’t fireworks, but then because she has it all, and did it all. Let maybe there needn’t be. Bibb has always me explain. The album bubbles over the seemed a more reserved player than rim with gospel-infused blues and more, other African-American acoustic blues- wicked straight and slide guitar, ingenious men (Keb’ Mo’, Guy Davis, Diamond Jim phrases, and songs that constantly spell- Greene, etc.), with whom he is rightly or bind. So, on the surface Miss Marshall is

Blues Music Magazine 39 reminiscent of former Rockets vocalist/ harpist Sam Myers, to the Texas-flavored guitar of ex- guitarist Andy T STEVE STRONGMAN (Talamantez). Longtime Rockets’ drummer Wes Starr and pianist Gentleman John A Natural Fact Street are also onboard for this project, as Independent are recent collaborators keyboardist Kevin McKendree and bassist Steve Mackey, both of whom were a part of Funderburgh’s There are so many new acoustic blues recent release with Big Joe Maher, 4 Jacks. releases each year, many of them dedi- Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s fifties clas- cated to kick-starting the careers of long- sic “Don’t Touch Me (I’m Gonna Hit The lost masters and most of them attempting wildly talented. But check her story; she’s Highway)” is old school soul, with Nixon’s to replicate what will never be again. Few lived it, too. When she was a child her fam- gravel gargling screams putting big dents of these have the power to pick me up ily would prop her on a table and urge her in the melody while Andy T props him up out of my chair and throw me to the to sing as novelty. At 11, she had her gui- with some juicy barbequed blues licks. ground like this one does. Like all good tar. When she took off at 18 dealing cards The title cut gets poked sharply by Andy bluesmen, Canadian bluesman Steve on cruise ships and in shadowy back T’s barbed wire riffs as Nixon plods along Strongman has been struggling away room games around the world, she carried doggedly on this heavy-footed ode to quietly perfecting his craft with little sup- that trusty guitar with her all the way. She excess. “No Use Knockin’” sounds like a port or recognition for years. Winning last made up her stories while living them. rattly Little Richard cut from the ‘50s with a year’s Maple Blues Award for Guitarist Of Imagine the unlikeliness of an ancient Lee Allen-style sax burbling throughout The Year (think Canadian Grammy – but Southern blues man and a mountain folk behind rather restrained Nixon baritone. colder) signaled some momentum, but geezer rocking together on a porch Funderburgh steps up on “High Heel nothing says success like money in the thinkin’ about . That’s one Sneakers” with some laid-back stinging pocket. And now comes Strongman’s way to picture the implausibly great music licks exquisitely phrased for maximum (largely) single-handed assault on the of Bex Marshall. twang and burn which burrows under the category of acoustic blues, a twelve-track In her abraded but oh so very soulful skin and keeps on heatin’ up, eliciting disc of originals (self-penned or co- voice, Marshall fosters the idea of a gospel whoops of praise from Nixon at the writes). The album starts off slow and “Love” of everything that can comfort and end. Nixon sounds so much like Sam unassuming – if you could ever describe hurt, while her guitar rumbles and purrs Myers on “You Look So Good,” it’s eerie. Strongman’s aggressive style of guitar like an automobile engine. “House Of Funderburgh’s guitar comes in slightly playing as “unassuming.” Yet he confi- Mercy” itself ends in a hillbilly space after behind the beat for maximum soulful dently strums and picks his way through beginning life as a clipped soul-rocker. twang. Add in Brian “Hash Brown” Cal- the first song, solo, drawing attention to The similes in “Gone Fishin’” are pushed way’s mournful harp, and this one has all more than his harp and substantial and pulled on a slippery bed of sassy the makings of a Rockets’ classic. Nixon guitar skills, but to his abilities as a funk, and yet “Big Man” tackles bluegrass handles Ray Charles’ “I’ve Got A Woman” skilled singer. as straight as an arrow, and “Rent My masterfully with pianist Christian Dozzler’s He adds a band for “The Mood,” Room” could have come out of Muscle accordion adding some Cajun spice to the adding more muscle to his sound, yet it’s Shoals circa 1968. “Rattlesnake” slinks mix. “On My Way To Texas” has a Tex-Mex his vocals that rise to the occasion and with jazzy style and spooky ooh ooh’s feel courtesy of some Augie Myers-style shine on their own. Everything really and ultimately strikes and inoculates with organ backing Andy T’s Jimmie Vaughan- comes together with “Can’t Go Back,” as the heady venom of slide guitar. This lady inspired guitar work. solid a blues song as exists, as he stands out in a Southern field all her own, This is a great record from a tight injects it with raw energy. One of the an amazing feat for a Brit. ensemble cast that would kill knocking disc’s brightest lights, “Secret,” is a song – Tom Clarke this stuff out in a live setting. More please, bridging rock, folk, and blues, adding and soon. handclaps (a percussive stroke of genius – Grant Britt recalling Led Zeppelin’s “Gallow’s Pole“). An upbeat duet on “Leaving” with Canadian blues woman Suzie Vinnick, ANDYT and NICK NIXON and a full band, features some tasty piano from Jesse O’Brien and serves to Drink Drank Drunk demonstrate his ability to work magic in Delta Groove all scenarios, holding his own with the talented songstress. “Coming Home Tonight” is another highlight revealing a It’s easy to see why Anson Funderburgh softer, more sensitive Strongman set wanted to produce this record. The sound against minimal accompaniment and is very similar to his own, from the full lush, heavenly harmonies. We move to throated bass roar of singer Nick Nixon, the back porch for “Rockin’ Chair Blues”

40 Blues Music Magazine

FOUR JACKS Deal With It Ellersoul

They may not win you the big pot in a game of Texas Hold ‘Em, but if you’re holdin’ these four jacks, you’re a winner. Anson Funderburgh, Big Joe Maher, a slinky, down-home blues number off- Kevin McKendree, and Steve Mackey are This record is a rich gumbo that setting the mind-boggling nimbleness of the face cards for this group debut on the reflects the styles and influences of all four Strongman’s guitar on “I Got Trouble.” Ellersoul label. Mackey and McKendree players. The title cut is funky, organ- He injects the quiet song with more life are both Delbert McClinton vets, and driven, ‘60s era Jimmy Smith, one of Fun- than usually belongs in the category, Mackey has worked with Leroy Parnell as derburgh’s influences, covered here by eclipsed only by his tender vocal. Even well. With his jump blues band the McKendree. “Painkiller” sounds like a an a capella “Just One Thing,” accompa- Dynaflows, Big Joe has been crooning Meters cut, an instrumental featuring a nying himself on harp, refuses to sound smooth, vintage big band blues from George Porter with ’s anything but fresh and invigorated. This behind his drum kit up and down the East sassy organ funk burbling on the side and is a bold new Strongman fronting the Coast for three decades as well as per- a Leo Nocentelli-style guitar riff on top best album of his career as it sets up the forming as a duo with Anson on Delbert’s with a Texas twist courtesy of Mr. Funder- fact that, at his age, he’s only just begun. Legendary Cruises. burgh. “Your Turn To Cry” is a nice retry of Do your acoustic blues collection a favor Funderburgh is making a strong come- James “Thunderbird” Davis’s magnificent and pick this up. Then go and seek out back after losing harpist /singer Sam rendering of that tune, first in ‘64 then his electric self. Myers, his partner of 20 years, and surviv- again in ‘88 on ’ Check – Eric Thom ing prostate cancer. Out Time featuring Funderburgh on guitar.

42 Blues Music Magazine Although nobody could outdo Davis’s Dan Prothero captures is a band at the heartrending vocal on the original or the peak of its powers, fully in command of its ‘88 retake, Maher does a good job here of towering influences, and ready to put its not chewing on the scenery with Funder- unique stamp on them. burgh giving a tutorial on what not to play, For instance, “Somebody Else” has exquisitely phrased guitar sprinkled taste- the bawdy horns (courtesy of Art Edmais- fully over the top. ton and Dennis Marion), and the visceral From the first note of this shuffle, it’s pain, of every great Stax side, but Grey’s obvious that “Have Ourselves A Time” is approach is all his own – though it’s pow- nestled snugly in Big Joe Maher’s comfort ered to these very different places by zone, a ‘40s big band, late-night cabaret adding the junkie danger of Exile-era feel with Funderburgh adding some Bar- Stones, a throwback rockabilly guitar from ney Kessel-style guitar on top. The Four Andrew Trube, and a rangy vocal from Jacks’ version of “I Don’t Want To Be Grey that is by turns clinched and then President” is slower and funkier than howling in pain. Percy Mayfield’s ‘74 original, with Funder- “The Of Larry Webb” plugs burgh showing off some frosty Albert into the sad stoicism that seemed to run Collins string pulling. just beneath the surface of Duane All- It’s an impressive collection of vintage man’s best sides, while “Tame A Wild tunes superbly performed by a great One” has a fizzy cadence from drummer lineup of veteran interpreters. Whether Anthony Cole that likely brings a twinkle to cruisin’ on the high seas or on the back the eye of any Booker T. and the MGs fan. roads of your hometown, this is the sound- Still, in both cases, Grey and Co. are too track you want for a smooth, satisfyin’ ride. restless to settle for simple mimicry. They – Grant Britt make these sounds their own through sheer emotional commitment. “Standing On The Edge” rattles out like a rusted- through old Cadillac, before making a sharp left turn into this anathematic R&B JJ GREY and MOFRO shouter. “This River,” powered as it is by one of Grey’s most unguarded turns at This River the mic, underscores his lasting connec- Alligator tion to Florida’s threatened environment. Even randy rockers like “Your Lady, She’s Shady” and “Florabama” turn on the kind Combining the heartfelt dynamism of of every-day moments that make up a life. and the scuzzy grooves the Mofro’s layered triumph on This River Allman Brothers, JJ Grey and Mofro are only gets better, more engaging, and reanimating a memorably greasy turn-of- more completely their own, through the-1970s Deep South vibe for a new repeated listens. generation. Taking its name from the – Nick DeRiso St. John’s River, a defining element of JJ Grey’s childhood home in Jacksonville, Fla., this sixth studio effort drills even deeper into their backwoods influences. This River was played live, with everyone in a single room, and put to tape in & THE BLACK ITALIANS nearby St. Augustine. What producer 13 Live Blind Pig

Jimmy Vivino, band leader and music director for O’Brien’s TBS show, assembled his old band mates, The Black Italians, to host a public rehearsal on November 30, 2012 followed by a live recorded concert the next evening at the late Levon Helm’s Grammy winning barn studio in Woodstock, N.Y. The result is a

Blues Music Magazine 43 James Brown’s “What Do I Have To Do To B.B. King jabs. Kim Wilson’s harmonica Prove My Love To You,” Vivino’s Ameri- joins Smith on the funky, ‘70’s soul of “I’ve cana infused “Miss Mona,” the beautifully Always Been.” heartfelt remembrance of Levon Helm in The CD closes with a double shot of “Song For Levon,” and the meticulous emotional release. First, there’s seven min- rendition of The Band’s, “Shape I’m In.” utes of “The Middle,” a minor key ballad – Brian M. Owens where long time listeners can appreciate Smith’s growth as both guitar player and singer. The closing tune, “That Ain’t Love,” takes Smith back to his first love, the power trio as bassist Calvin Turner and drummer JOSH SMITH Carl Lemar Carter hold the pulsating rousing assemblage of thirteen songs groove while Smith frenetically solos up that feature four well-penned Vivino origi- Don’t Give Up On Me and down the fretboard with some of the nals as well as cuts from well known CrossCut most inspired guitar blues on the record. like (“From A – Art Tipaldi Buick 6” & “Maggie’s Farm”), (“Fast Life Rider”), Jim Capaldi Back in the olden days of the blues, the (“Light Up Or Leave Me Alone”), James 1990s, there was no shortage of blues Brown (“What Do I Have To Do To Prove wunderkind. Seemed like every night some My Love To You”), and Robbie Robertson news broadcaster was open-mouthed LIZ MANDEVILLE (“Shape I’m In”). gasping at the 16-year-old guitar kid play- The Black Italians were originally ing the blues. Guitarist Josh Smith is one Clarksdale formed 20 years ago around a residency of those who has survived the early crush Blue Kitty at the Downtime Music Bar on W. 30th of the press and has emerged today as a Street in New York City. Vivino, bassist mature musician stepped in the blues. Cur- and drummer James Worm- rently, Smith has signed with Germany’s Blues radio programmers [often times, worth had been acting as the backing CrossCut Records and released a gor- men] sometimes complain, “there just band for revered piano player Johnnie geous collection of American music. aren’t enough good women blues singer- Johnson when they started attracting Smith’s eleven original songs touch songwriters out there.” Clarksdale, the world-class players to join in on the every area of the blues. The opening tune, new album from guitarist, singer, and impromptu jams that Vivino describes as “Bad Side,” is a smooth, five-minute R&B songwriter Liz Mandeville, is something “Third world blues with New Orleans groove where Smith’s B.B. King guitar for programmers to latch onto, as she swagger.” Vivino would dub the collection punches are accented with flute, , offers up 11 spry original songs that break of musicians from various ethnicities as and strings. “Made For Me” is a joyous, up new thematic and musical ground in con- “The Black Italians.” beat song about the redemptive powers of temporary blues. And for those who say For 13 Live, Vivino brought together love in today’s world. Here Smith’s satisfy- the most compelling blues these days are Mike Merritt and James Wormworth along ing tenor plays with a call and response coming out of , Austin, and New with singer Catherine Russell, singer-har- horn and vocal chorus. Since 2006, Smith York City, consider that Mandeville has monica player Felix Cabrera, has been immersed in soul bands, specifi- been based in Chicago for at least the last keyboardist/trombonist Danny Louis, per- cally Idol winner Taylor Hicks touring band. two decades, and her earlier recorded cussionist Mike Jacobson, timbale player Those years are evident in his big time soul efforts were released on the highly Fred Walcott, and percussionist Justin approach to tunes like “Sneaky Jo Turner,” regarded Earwig Records. Guip for the historic event. And although “Letting You Go,” and the title cut, where Mandeville is in fine voice and offers the group had only performed together he displays the perfect guitar for soul up solid guitar playing throughout her occasionally over the years, Vivino and music. Throughout the disc, Calvin debut for her own Blue Kitty Music label, company proceeded to set fire to the Turner’s horn arrangements offer the per- and she’s accompanied by some Chicago barn’s performance stage with their red fect background for Smith’s thick toned, icons, including saxophonist hot playing. Vivino’s voice is sterling and sadly, the late drummer Willie “Big throughout and equally matched in inten- Eyes” Smith. If “Roadside Produce sity and soul by Russell. In the meantime, Stand,” her opening track doesn’t grab the band is spot-on from song to song your ears, then surely “Mama & Daddy displaying blazing chops and world-class Blues” will. With so many blues hounds in precision. the thirties to fifties demographic dealing Tracks of note include the stirring with what we all must, parents who’ve Russell-led “Soulful Dress,” the ‘50s passed on but whose advice about life inspired “Heaven In A Pontiac,” the top keeps ringing in our ears. Standout tracks shelf funk of “Animalism,” the band’s faith- include “Clarksdale/Riverside Hotel ful rendition of Traffic’s “Light Up Or Leave Blues,” “Bye Bye,” “A Soldier’s Wife,” and Me Alone,” Russell’s sizzling rave up of “Sweet Potato Pie.” She’s also not afraid

44 Blues Music Magazine blues and bar scene in and around Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, has teamed with long-time musician friends to create a fresh slate of compositions that affectionately embrace the blues and balladry. “Sugarface,” the earthy, punchy initial track on The Crux, has a nice melody; solid instrumental parts, guitar, horns, rhythm section. Contrast that with the graceful “Cerulean Blues,” which possesses a literary quality and imagery to be topical and political, something not often achieved by those who strive course just that much more. A nice little contemporary blues needs more of, as for it. Cajun-style two-step called “I Want You demonstrated on “4:20 Blues.” The Crux’s ambitious tableau To Be Happy” finds Tom “Little Red” – Richard J. Skelly deserves a complimentary frame; that’s Corradino stitching the song together what King has wisely constructed for us with his piano accordion. Supplying the here. Ronnie Earl plays guitar for her on bottom are two of the finest several tracks, and (a available in this or any region, John friend since grade school) mans the frets Previti (who worked with the departed CATHY PONTON KING for most of the others. Dan Hovey and ‘Master of the Telecaster’ Dave Chappell — celebrated in this and the late songstress Eva Cassidy). The Crux region, if not beyond, offer their guitar Then there’s The renowned bassist Long Gone artistry to the effort as well. Saxman Butch Warren. He’s recorded with jazz extraordinaire , who’s piano colossi Tommy Flanagan, Herbie worked with , Susan Hancock, and Joe Henderson; trum- Cathy Ponton King, a female vocalist Tedeschi, Darryl Trucks, Root Boy Slim, peters Donald Byrd and the mystic Miles and guitarist and 40-year veteran of the and of late, Sweet Leda, elevates the dis- Davis; and reedmen Dexter Gordon,

Blues Music Magazine 45 Jackie McLean, Stanley Turrentine and Joe Henderson. Namedropping? Well, yes. But these names are of a heft that, CRAIG CHAQUICO when dropped, like E.F. Hutton, the musi- cal conversation stops. Fire Red Moon Oddly, King has no instrumental part Blind Pig on The Crux. Nor did she on at least one earlier recording (1992’s Lovin’ You Right). She is in fact and in performance a fine Fire Red Moon is neither the arena rock of guitarist who’s quite capable of cutting on Craig Chaquico’s days with Jefferson and with all those on this disc, and Starship, nor the chart-topping smooth beyond. jazz that he initially turned to as a solo I do have one slight grouse, not of artist. It’s something grittier, more primor- side touring vocalist Rolf Hartley, instead King’s doing. Too often she’s been por- dial – and utterly surprising. settles into a dusty-booted groove on trayed as another Bonnie Raitt (presum- Yet, there he is, chugging and juking “Devil’s Daughter,” then goes to the bot- ably because she sings and also plays a with vocalist Noah Hunt (Kenny Wayne tom of a brown bottle with singer Eric E. guitar. Duh!) That’s not an apt compari- Shepherd Band) through “Lie To Me,” the Golbach on “Bad Woman.” “Little Red son. Her voice lacks Raitt’s range and first of seven originals on Fire Red Moon. Shoes,” as with “Devil’s Daughter,” occa- sonority (which can be said of many a Chaquico also tears into tracks from the sionally betrays just a hint of his pop- vocalist). King knows her comfort zone, likes of Muddy Waters and Robert John- chart-topping penchant for a hook, while however, and she stays within it; her sensi- son, and brilliantly reworks the Albert King “Blue On Blue” almost gets quiet enough bilities and presentation achieve a bluesy classic “Born Under A Bad Sign” as a to recall his more recent smooth jazz past, style worthy of a far larger footprint than scalding instrumental. but Fire Red Moon never strays too far she already enjoys. She (along with hus- There’s none of the brawny crunch from its central roots-rocking, occasionally band Jimmy King) writes sophisticated associated with his mainstream Starship Santana-esque theme. blues music; she delivers it honestly, hits, and none of the satiny ruminations of Meanwhile, instrumentals like the proudly, and gracefully. Acoustic Planet, nominated for a new age fire-kissed title track, the groove-laden – M.E. Travaglini Grammy in 1995. Chaquico, often along- “Fogtown Stroll,” and of course the

46 Blues Music Magazine Booker T. Jones/William Bell-penned “Bad Sign,” give the guitarist the chance to use muscles he hasn’t in ages. Finally, there’s BUTCH THOMPSON “Crossroads,” which Chaquico, in a nod to & PAT DONOHUE his classic-rock beginnings, performs with the double-time virtuosity of ’s Vicksburg Blues Cream. As with his take on Muddy’s Red House “Rollin’ And Tumblin’,” there’s little chance to do something definitive here, so ingrained are these musical memories. But Before RCA fell into an urban sinkhole as give Chaquico credit for this: Here, as part of the Sony and BMG merger, the elsewhere, he flings himself into both “His Master’s Voice” label let producer tunes with a furious abandon. While Fields’ stab at clever wordplay Josh Sherman run loose in its old vaults, A central figure in may not endear him to a blues audience resulting in a superb multi-disc series from 1973-1990, Chaquico wrote or co- per se, his winning ways with a guitar and called When The Sun Goes Down. These wrote hits like “Find Your Way Back,” stomp box might buy him some house- recordings, drawn from the dusty Victor “Laying It On The Line” and “Jane,” while room. And with portions of Detonation’s and Bluebird archives, stretch from 1926 adding signature guitar elements to material having been built on, in or through Little Richard’s first single and are “Miracles,” “Count on Me,” “We Built This around the skeletal remains of some eas- a reminder that there is more to blues City,” “Sara,” and others. Many were ily recognizable riffs of the classic rock than just electric guitar and a bit of harp surprised when he spent much of the variety, Fields proposes to indulge both (though a fast check of recent releases next period downshifting into quieter blues fan and rocker alike. might make it seem otherwise). instrumental efforts. In some ways, Yet despite the familiar ring of guitar With this preamble in mind, consider Chaquico’s new turn toward blues and god riffs baked into their DNA, the resultant a new disc on the Red House label called rootsier music on Fire Red Moon is just tunes themselves sound like a synthetic Vicksburg Blues by veteran musicians as unexpected. version of their exemplars, with none of the Butch Thompson and Pat Donohue. Both But Chaquico, who came of age in visceral effect. The album opener, artists turn up regularly on National Public the polyglot-rock atmosphere of turn-of- “Addicted To Your Fire,” resembles Hen- Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, and the-1970s , clearly has a drix’ “Foxy Lady” only at a quicker tempo, like that show each is a throwback to deep affinity for this, as well. As he tears while “Better Be Good,” runs Stevie Ray another time. Thompson plays what jazz through the familiar mid-century triumphs Vaughan’s “Cold Shot” a very close sec- critics call pre-bop piano and New included here, even while adding similarly ond. More similar still is Detonation’s key- Orleans-style clarinet, and Donohue is constructed originals that both celebrate stone piece, “Pocketful Of Dust,” a track such a fine acoustic guitar player that the and amplify those earlier influences. that so closely parallels Led Zeppelin’s late Chet Atkins pronounced him “one of Along the way, Chaquico stakes his claim epic blues odyssey, “Since I Been Lovin’ the greatest fingerpickers in the world.” in yet another musical genre – and, even You,” that it probably does so intentionally. For Vicksburg Blues, Thompson and though he just arrived, already sounds In what appears to be a never-ending Donohue did their own deep vault dig, right at home. quest to find a sound, Fields assigns a dif- unearthing wonderful old tunes by such – N ick DeRiso ferent guitar texture to nearly every track: past masters as Leroy Carr, Blind Blake, Wah-wah for both the ‘80s-inspired power Eurreal “Little Brother” Montgomery, Jelly pop of “In The Night” and the reggae-fla- Roll Morton, and King Oliver. The duo also vored, “Bad Hair Day.” The funky, “Dr. came up with five equally worthy originals Ron” receives heavy distortion treatment, for this 19-song, 59-minute collection. DAVE FIELDS while the Beatle-inspired ‘60s groove, I suspect When The Sun Goes Down “Prophet In Disguise” relies on the phase- producer Sherman will approve of Vicks- Detonation shifter for inspiration. The more toys the burg Blues, especially the tracks where Field Of Roses better, it seems. Thompson steps out on either the keys or In addition to all the accessorizing with gadgetry and effects, Fields has Upon receiving a copy of guitar wun- brought in renowned hit-maker David Z derkind Dave Fields’ new release, Detona- (Prince, Billy Idol, Fine Young Cannibals) tion, two thoughts come immediately to to produce the disc, making it obvious mind. First, how much did that sweet axe that no expense has been spared in the he’s wielding on the cover set him back? making of this album. The only question And secondly, what kind of high roller is that remains is whether Detonation is of this cat? Printing a complete set of lyrics sufficient musical quality to warrant such for each of his dozen self-penned tracks extravagance in the first place. Don’t bet on the album’s gatefold as cringe- the farm on it. inducing as some of it reads. – Tony del Rey

Blues Music Magazine 47 clarinet. The takes on Jelly Roll Morton’s boy do it? Was he in an AP class in high “213 Blues” and James P. Johnson’s “You school, one devoted to life’s vicissitudes? Can’t Lose A Broken Heart” are enough to Oh, yeah. He also plays the guitar make a listener think that electric current quite nicely, with elements of rockabilly, isn’t all that necessary for good blues. swing, and R&B infused into the blues he This disc is just two old-school musicians performs. Tasty licks; tidy phrases. His playing away on preferred instruments as producer Robillard brings his savoir-faire they have done for decades, combining to the project, a not inconsequential the past with present. alliance that might account for its mature – Bill Wasserzieher sound. Poxon may resemble a wooly- headed red matchstick; but when he strikes up his band, the music burns with a My Mind is well-paced and diverse with serious, blue flame. touches of Stax-style soul (the title track), As I wrote in reviewing Poxon’s initial CASSIE TAYLOR an acoustic-guitar ballad (“Lay My Head release, Red Roots, about this time two On Your Pillow”), second-line rhythm years ago, this phenom is Out Of My Mind (“New Orleans”), horn-laced gospel (“For- headed somewhere special. Tomorrow is Yellow Dog giveness”), and (“No No”). It’s a long, confident step in that direction. a richness that will make Cassie Taylor Definitely, check this one out. hard to pigeonhole, and that’s exactly – M.E. Travaglini For anyone who remembers the shy, what she wants. pouty teenager Otis Taylor introduced to – Michael Cote his fans as his new bass player a decade ago, watching Cassie Taylor emerge in her mid-20s as an artist with her own sin- SUNNY CROWNOVER gular vision is a cause for celebration. On her second solo album, Taylor takes after ANDY POXON Right Here, Right Now her trance-blues dad, asserting the level Blue Duchess/Shining Stone of creative and commercial control that To morrow ensures she can convey her creative EllerSoul vision unfettered. Out Of My Mind shows Texas-raised, Boston-based vocalist Sunny her growing stronger as an artist in every Crownover takes contemporary blues in way, from the depth of her songwriting to Andy Poxon is at that awkward age. new directions on Right Here, Right Now, the expressiveness of her singing, which Awkward, in that he’s of an age (18) where her debut for Shining Stone Records. To has never sounded more self-assured. there’s a tendency to be somewhat dismis- be sure, she’s a force to be reckoned with, While her songs should find strong sive of his abilities with a backhanded and her domineering, headstrong persona appeal with listeners her own age – such compliment along the lines of “He’s pretty is given free rein on nearly every track on as the leadoff single “That’s My Man” or good, for a youngster.” Yet his sophistica- this album, from the opening tune, “Oh, the would-be wedding bells plea “No Ring tion – with guitar, with voice, and with pen – Yes I Will!” to “Love Me Right,” to “I Might Blues,” Taylor chose to kick off the album belies that. Not experienced enough to Just Change My Mind.” Her bossy manner, with the two-part “Ol’ Mama Dean,” a have already had the kinds of heartbreaks in the women’s blues tradition, extends to song about a woman who kills an abusive he describes in, say, “Too Bad,” “You tracks like “Hi Heels And Home Cooking.” spouse. It’s the kind of dark subject more Lied,” and “All By Myself,” three cuts on his She’s expertly accompanied by a akin to her father’s rough sketches, brand new recording, Tomorrow, they still group of Boston-based musicians hand- though Cassie Taylor’s approach is more smack of authenticity. And they’re his origi- picked by guitarist, bandleader, song- straightforward and the lyrics are set to a nals, as are all but one other on this 14- writer, producer, and impresario Duke traditional rock blues structure, fueled by song offering. (One was co-written by his Robillard. Crownover began singing blues guitarist Steve Mignano’s screaming slide producer, Duke Robillard) How does the in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, then moved solos and drummer Larry Thompson’s to Austin in her high school years before driving beat. finally settling in the Boston area. There, In contrast to her 2011 debut, which she began singing with 2120 South Michi- largely was produced for Taylor while she gan Avenue, a Boston-area blues band was on tour for the Girls With Guitars pro- led by Harvard University professor ject, Out Of My Mind has her full creative Charles Sawyer. Robillard heard stamp. She produced and arranged the Crownover singing with Sawyer and was 13 originals on her own. In addition to her immediately smitten with her on-stage trademark bass, she plays keyboards on swagger and vocal stylings. a couple of tracks. Taylor and her newly- Crownover proves herself to be a wed husband, executive producer Charles major new force in the world of women have a good handle on the A&R. Out Of blues vocalists, and this is a good thing,

48 Blues Music Magazine Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin, and Boston. Right Here, Right Now, is a thoroughly entertaining first effort from Crownover. No doubt, we’ll be hearing more from her. – Richard J. Skelly

LI’L RONNIE & THE GRAND DUKES because there aren’t enough ladies Gotta Strange Feelin’ would be at home on a Bobby Charles around singing real blues. Though she EllerSoul record. But when the harpist gets down to wrote none of the songs on this collec- some serious Chicago blueswork on tion, I suspect she’s got them tucked “Sweet Sue,” an Owens original, he’s got away for a forthcoming release. Li’l Ronnie Owens doesn’t cover Little Walter’s ghost walking around in the solo. She’s accompanied by a short who’s Walter on his latest outing, but there’s still “Late Nite Blues” also has Walter’s mourn- who of nationally-known musicians, most plenty of homage going on through ful howl as well, with a throbbing, penetrat- of them contemporaries of Robillard’s, all Owens’ harp work. That’s not meant as a ing quaver that chills down to the bone. of them based in the Boston-Rhode Island criticism, and it’s certainly not all-inclusive. But this isn’t all about Owens. Grand corridor: saxophonist , har- “Can’t Buy My Love” shuffles along the Duke guitarist Ivan Appelrouth co-wrote ten monica wizard , drummer corridors of the school of laid- of the originals on the record with Owens Mark Teixeira, bassist Brad Hallen, and backness, and “Cold Hard Cash” has a and adds a unique, but vintage guitar keyboardist Bruce Bears, among others. Little Feat feel, backed by some seriously sound to all of the cuts. The Grand Dukes The end result is an extremely fine slinky second line backthumpery. tackle Louis Jordan’s “Buzz Me,” with gui- record from a woman who has clearly Owens obviously has some swamp tarist Appelrouth replacing the horn lines of paid her dues in the blues clubs of pop in his veins as well. “Love Never Dies” the original with some appropriately funky,

Blues Music Magazine 49 mellow jazz licks. ’s “C’est La accented, sweet-voiced, country-style Vie” is a note for note cover, but still rocks offerings had been her style since her hard, with John Fralin doing a great job eponymous ‘02 debut. The Texas native covering Johnnie Johnson’s exquisite tin- moved to Nashville in ‘08 to concentrate kling on the original. “I Won’t Take It Any- on her songwriting. That paid off when more” sounds like Buck Owens sitting in Bonnie Raitt took “Not ‘Cause I Wanted with Chuck Berry with Kim Wilson step- To,” a song Bishop co-wrote with Al ping in on harp. Later, Owens goes on a Anderson, to put on her latest, Slipstream. reed-bending spree on “Fat City,” blasting Free came after Bishop’s marriage his away around Chicago with a James and divorce, which obviously took a toll Cotton feel. on her voice and her attitude. “Keep On Although his roots are in his native Usin’ Me” sounds like Virginia, Li’l Ronnie obviously speaks sweet tune where they blend well bustin’ loose on a Leon Russell cut from Chicago as well. As a major part of the together. The mood shifts on Mann’s the ‘70s. Her delivery is as subtle as a EllerSoul Revue, his label’s traveling R&B “Have I Told You I Love You Today,” with sledgehammer on “Shrinkin’ Violet,” as caravan, a Li’l Ronnie live show never fails acoustic guitar, bass, and drums shining a Bishop proves she’s anything but, sound- to rattle the windows with a diverse selec- light on Mann’s diverse vocal styles and ing like Tina after going a coupla rounds tion of city and country style blues, R&B, her keen and heartfelt songwriting skills. with Ike; bloody, a little the worse for jump blues, jazz, , and what- This tune might start softly, but concludes wear, but still willing to keep punchin’. For ever else Owens might have on his mind with a rush courtesy of Knudson’s soaring the title cut, she comes across a little that evening. Until you can bear witness in electric guitar. Mann shows off her vocal softer, her voice creaking like old leather person to that, this’ll have to do. range covering the moody and gentle as she tells of her broken heart coming – Grant Britt “Alone.” Mann’s voice soars on Maxwell back to life. Davis and Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s Bishop goes all out country for the “Don’t Touch Me,” where it’s blues time in honky-tonk flavored “Bad Seed,” about a high style especially with the addition of politician’s daughter caught smokin’ pot, horns. Mann’s “Doin’ Alright” takes us her scratchy-voiced narration sounding LISA MANN home funky with gospel undertones and like she’s been up all night engaging in exciting vocals by Mann and guest Brian similar activities. Bishop cuts her no slack: Satis fied Foxworth who sings background and “Whatever comes to her/ she’s only got Self-release plays drums. herself to blame,” she informs her con- For the moment, Mann is mostly a stituents in the chorus. She does show off Northwest regional secret, but I suspect a softer vocal side for “World Like This,” Lisa Mann is from Portland, Ore., and has that brighter days are within range for but there’s still a world-weary flavor to it, been a mainstay of the Northwest music Mann, as she’s a talent to be reckoned like a female . scene for several years. She was inducted with. With music that deserves to appear Bishop closes out the set with “Right into the Cascade Blues Association’s Hall on North American radio charts, she Where You Are,” voice crackling like she’s of Fame in 2011. In 2011 she and her should begin to receive an abundance of plugged into a 220 socket as she pulls off Really Good Band represented the CBA at strong press reviews, and thus be in posi- a perfect Maggie Bell impersonation. the International Blues Challenge in Mem- tion to garner fans from coast to coast. Hopefully, this is just a temporary phase phis where they were semi finalists. Mann – Bob Putignano she’s going through. It’d be a shame to plays bass, sings, writes nine tracks, and toss away her softer, more melodic vocal also produced this fine (and diverse) disc. style for a lifetime of leather-lunged Her solid band is made up with Jeff Knud- proclamations. The variety is interesting, son’s guitar, Michael Ballash’s drumming, but a little sweetening tossed in once in and Brian Harris’ keys. Lloyd Jones also BONNIE BISHOP awhile wouldn’t hurt in the future. makes an appearance adding his distinc- – Grant Britt tive voice and guitar. Free “See You Next Tuesday” starts this Be Squared album in good-natured high-gear fashion featuring Mann’s hard-hitting vocals and a powerhouse performance by the entire Bonnie Bishop sings like she’s got a bone band. More high-paced antics ensue on stuck in her throat and has screamed and Oliver Sain’s “Satisfied” herself bloody raw trying to hawk it up. that finds Mann and company flying low Bishop’s music has a country flavor, but to the ground with solid keys from Harris, her hoarse, raspy vocals make it easily heady guitar from Knudson, and Mann’s adaptable to blues rock as well. powerful vocals. “Always Nobody” adds Her sound here is a big departure Jones’s guitar and vocal; it’s a short and from her former work. Twangy,Texas-

Blues Music Magazine 51 guys, Talton plays his heart out in a variety of settings MIKE WHEELER here. He rips in “Sunk Down In Mississippi,” which makes Self Made Man for a sort of perfect universal Delmark blues song. Talton describes the foibles of Robert John- son in a context Johnson Chicago bluesman Mike Wheeler has been on the scene for nears may have used writing about to 30 years sharing stages with the likes of blues legends Koko someone. He sings lines like Taylor, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, , and , among “You’re six feet deep and others. Over that time, he’s plied his trade as a member of Cadillac buried; you knew the girl Dave & The Redhots, Sam Cockrell & The Groove, Nellie Tiger was married.” Hear that and unfortunately you recognize the Travis, Big Ray & Chicago’s Most Wanted, The Grooveshakers, heavy-duty shit that went down as commonplace now. For every and finally hittin’ the top of the Chicago heap with Big James & The rocker there’s something like the ethereal “Dream Last Night” and Chicago Playboys. Now it’s time for Wheeler to shine on his the tender ballad “Make It Through The Rain.” Confederate vet Delmark debut, Self Made Joe Cain is feted in the honkin’ “Slacabamorinico,” titled for the Man, and shine he does. Chickasaw Indian chief character he paraded as during Mardi With a tight backing band Gras in New Orleans and before that, Alabama. that features keyboardist helps pump that story with his completely one-of-a-kind piano. Brian James, bassist Larry Picture Miss nose-up hot stuff, slinkin’ past a saloon. Hear a big, Williams, drummer Cleo Cole guitar and horn-fueled funky groove titled “If Your Attitude Is Funky along with a guest appear- (Nobody Wants Your Monkey).” That all makes for one great song. ance from rising hot shot This album as a whole requires a whole bunch of plays, and harmonica player Omar luckily compels that anyway. Coleman, Mike Wheeler tears – Tom Clarke it up track after track. Fans of Larry McCray and will really dig Wheeler’s deep, masculine vocals and stinging electric guitar work. His upbeat delivery and street savvy lyrics bring Chicago blues roar- DARREN JAY ing into a new era. Best tracks featuring Wheeler’s bold vocals and dexterous soloing include the take charge call of “Here I Am,” the Drink My Wine snarling blues-rock swagger of the album’s title track, “Self Made Self-release Man,” the funky Curtis Mayfield inspired “Join Hands,” the John Primer infused “Walkin’ Out The Door,” the soulful tip of the hat to the blues, “Chicago Blues,” and the groovin’ “I’m Working,” Darren Jay Fallas won’t be touring right away in support of his featuring the impressive harp of Omar Coleman. latest release. He has a previous engagement in Kuwait with the – B rian M. Owens U.S. Navy Reserves. But on his return in December, based on the quality of Drink My Wine, the Society President should have a nice groundswell to help re-launch his career. Although the Florida native has only been based in Memphis for a couple of years, he’s soaked up the soul and sound of the TOMMY TALTON city. And like the gumbo of blues, soul, rockabilly, and country that makes that city’s music so eclectic and vibrant, Fallas, as his alter Let’s Get Outta Here ego Darren Jay, serves up an eclectic musical stew as well. Hittin’ The Note Surviving Memphis Horns’ trumpeter puts a fat Memphis imprint on “Workday Blues,” sounding like it was recorded in Stax studios cornered the market in the heyday of Southern by Booker T and the MGs. rock, but offered so much more than what a bad tag suggested. “Baby Don’t You Lose My Case in point: Cowboy, led by Tommy Talton and Scott Boyer out Number” is jangly ‘50s- of Jacksonville, Fla. Fine lyrical shrewdness and melodies that style rockabilly featuring a combined Southern rhythm and blues with California country-rock Jerry Lee Lewis style makes many of the songs on their four 1970’s albums stand out in piano break and some that crowd, and still hold up. The new Talton solo album Let’s Get boiling Memphis guitar. Outta Here finds him and a bunch of his cohorts from back then in Starting off with a Profes- similar territory but in time-fortified much better shape. sor Longhair feel, an infec- A soulful guitarist, and still a member of the Capricorn tious second line overlaid Rhythm Section that nearly rivaled the Muscle Shoals session with Jay’s clanging guitar,

52 Blues Music Magazine “Lovin’ Man” changes to a shuffle about halfway through, changing the venue from swamp pop to a urban, hard edged Chicago sound. Jay injects a B.B. King guitar feel into “Too Late Baby,” but, thanks to the brassy backstop provided by Jackson and company, the throbbing background is pure Memphis. ’s “Hootchie Coochie Man” isn’t quite as mud stained as the most famous version, but Jay tosses in a creepy hoodoo vibe singing a chorus through what sounds like a harp mike for a creature from the bayou feel. The instrumental “Zilla” reeks of ZZ Top, with Jay crank- ing out bucket loads of greasy, Texas style bar-b-qued licks. “River” sounds like it might have slipped out of a Marshall Tucker session. With his blend of ingredients, Darren Jay’s recipe for a bluesy stew is as tasty as anything and served up from the Stax vaults. Get you a big spoon and dig in. – Grant Britt

PAULA HARRIS Turning On The Naughty Self-release

Big, bold, and brassy, Paula Harris comes out roaring on her debut album, Turning On The Naughty. The classically trained Harris fronted symphonies in her native South Carolina before relocating to Georgia in ‘95, signing with legendary R&B per- former William Bell (‘61’s “You Don’t Miss Your Water”), but somewhere along the line she picked up an affinity for back alley blues. Now based in San Francisco, Harris and her band are destroying the competition, winning last year’s Monterey Blues Festival’s Battle of the Bands, then backed by her band The Beasts of Blues and her placing third in the 2102 IBC Challenge in Memphis, and adding a 2013 nomination for a Blues Music Award as Best New Artist Debut. Harris’s original, “Just Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore” is a rollicking lament on aging from a woman who just can’t get no respect for appearing in her birthday suit. When she takes it all off for a sunbathing session at a nudist beach, one sun worshiper shouts out “I think a whale just washed up on the shore.” Covering an Etta James classic is risky business, but Harris has no problem recreating “Damn Your Eyes,” making it sound as fresh as when Etta first recorded it in ‘88 for Seven Year Itch. “I’m in complete control,” Harris assures us through Etta’s lyrics, and she’s not kidding. It’s a damn near perfect copy of Etta’s gritty rendition, Harris becoming James down to her mama bear growl. Channeling her best Etta on “Nick Of Too Damn Late,” Harris belts out an original lovesick ballad with guts and soul. Robert Johnson’s “Dust My Broom” gets reinvented as a torch song, unrecognizable as the tune that Elmore James shrieked and slid his way to female freedom on. Harris has a & THE TEARDROPS Diane Schuur thing working here backed by a funky bassline from Joey Fabian and Simon Russell’s Fender Rhodes strut. For “Mr. Bad Boy Right For A Night,” Harris walks around in Shemekia Copeland’s Blind Pig shoes, spreading sass around with a trowel, taking care of her business one man and one night at a time. This is one hell of a debut, well worth a trip to the Left Coast Magic Slim’s larger-than-life personality showed through in every to get a shot of. But a sound like this ain’t gonna be contained in note he sang, whether gruff or tender; his guitar playing was force- one area for long. Look for a Harris infection coming soon to a city ful, dynamic, and instantly recognizable; and, as a bandleader, he near you. imprinted a trademark sound on every musician who passed – Grant Britt through his Teardrops from the 1970s onward. On Bad Boy, his ninth album for Blind Pig, Slim showed again why he was long rated among the most admired artists on the scene, and one of the last real Chicago bluesmen. Magic Slim recorded extensively in , the U.S., and JESSE DEE , and had previously cut a handful of these songs for other labels. He invests On My Mind/In My Heart Junior’s high-powered “I Got Alligator Money” with a crisp rhythm and all the humor the lyric demands; burns through his Although the J. Geils Band covered a variety of soul tunes on their own stormy “Gambling albums by artists like Dyke & the Blazers, the Contours, the Show- Blues.”From the Teardrops’ stoppers, , Eddie Floyd, Bobby Womack, Don good-time backing vocals to Covay, and Harvey Scales, as well as composed soul-inspired Slim’s distinctive lead guitar, originals (check out their under-the-radar album Ladies Invited ’s classic “Bad from 1973), Boston, great music town that it is, is not known for Boy” is distilled to Chicago soul artists. blues perfection. Others are But now here is 33-year old soul crooner/songwriter/guitarist familiar from live shows but Jesse Dee with a collection 11 tasteful originals inspired by the clas- new to CD: the pumping, infectious groover “Girl What You Want sic soul of the Sixties and the pre- Seventies. Dee had his soul Me To Do,” perhaps the album’s strongest cut; and Lil’ Ed’s “Older music epiphany as a Woman,” a gritty shuffle driven by Jones, with stinging guitar and a teenager and became knowing vocal from Slim. hooked on masters like Otis On what would prove to be the last album released during his Redding, Solomon Burke, lifetime, Slim contributed two new gems to the canon. On the instru- , et al. He’s mental “Country Joyride,” he lays twangy, major-scale guitar lines à performed regularly in the last la “Hideaway” over an energetic boogie shuffle. “Sunrise Blues” decade with several bands nods to Jimmy Reed, but the punishing groove is pure Teardrops, and having seen him recently and the stinging guitar can belong to no one other than Magic Slim. I can attest that he is an Always good for a surprise, Slim here dipped into his legendarily earnest, affable, and hard- bottomless repertoire for other songs he rarely, if ever, performed: working performer. Backed by Albert King’s churning “Matchbox Blues,” the funky grind of “Some- horns, keyboards, Latin per- one Else Is Steppin’ In,” and Muddy Waters’s “Champagne And cussion, vibraphone, and Reefer,” an ode to the high life that Slim loved. Like everything plenty of shimmering guitar, he generally sings of the vicissitudes of Magic Slim played, Bad Boy is blues of the highest order. romance from the sunny side of the street on tunes like the san- – Tom Hyslop guine title track, an ebullient shuffle-bump; “I Won’t Forget About You,” a strutting call to the dance floor; “Sweet Tooth,” a blend of swirling cheesy organ, crunching guitar, and pulsating horns (think at Stax); and the duet with Rachel Price, “Tell Me (Before It’s Too Late),” a pop-tinged ballad. His tough but tender IGOR PRADO BAND style is a mix of Al Green and Sam Cooke with hardly a trace of more tortured deep soul singers like James Carr and O.V. Wright. Blues & Soul Sessions As far as contemporary artists go, he is comparable to Raphael Chicago Blues Saadiq minus Saadiq’s eclecticism and more mature songwriting. Fans of Mayer Hawthorne and Nick Waterhouse will also find much to enjoy on this solid debut of sincere and timeless . Brilliant Brazilian guitarist Igor Prado leads his band (brother Yuri on – Thomas J. Cullen III drums and bassist Rodrigo Manotvani), three different keyboardists,

54 Blues Music Magazine a horn section (including Sax music, but that’s not the point. It’s about passion and being true to Gordon on five cuts), and the spirit of the music, and this album abounds with both. (There is assorted guest vocalists (Cur- also an accompanying DVD of the recording session.) tis Salgado, Tia Carroll, J.J. – Thomas J. Cullen III Jackson, and Greg Wilson) through this robust homage to the Memphis triumvirate of Stax/Hi/Goldwax. The ram- paging instrumental “Prado’s STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN Special” opens the album AND DOUBLE TROUBLE and sets the tone: imagine a viscerally assertive Albert Collins with the Hi Rhythm Section or Booker T. & the MG’s sea- Epic/Legacy soned with the Memphis Horns. Even though the focus is on the Memphis sound, only three lesser known soul songs are directly attributed to the Bluff City’s Golden Age of Soul: Al Green’s “It Ain’t To commemorate the 30th anniversary of SRV’s beloved debut, No Fun to Me,” Sam & Dave’s “Don’t Turn Your Heater On” (both this “expanded” re-release contains the previously issued bonus sung by Igor Prado), and James Carr’s “Lucky Loser (sung by Cur- track “Tin Pan Alley” which also appears on the previously unis- tis Salgado); the remaining covers come from a variety of sources sued second disc: Live At Ripley’s Music Hall. Live was recorded (Little Richard, Little Willie John, Isley Brothers, , Etta for a WMMR-FM broadcast at the short-lived South Street venue James & Harvey Fuqua, Little Milton, and the Meters). There are (early to mid-Eighties) in Center City Philadelphia on October 20, also two more showcase Prado instrumentals, “Funky Screwdriver” 1983, several months after Texas Flood’s release to universal and “One for Duck Dunn.” I can’t praise the virtuoso Prado highly acclaim. enough. His encyclopedic knowledge, dazzling technique, and Most readers of this magazine are familiar with (and most likely tasteful, intelligent, uncluttered solos make him one of the most own) Texas Flood. It’s filled with signature originals like “Pride and exciting guitarists on the scene – and he’s not yet 30 years old. It is Joy” and “” and gritty homages to his influences clear from first note to last that Prado and his versatile band love like Buddy Guy (“Mary Had A Little Lamb”), Howlin’ Wolf (“Tell Me”), soul and R&B. They know they are not reinventing classic soul and the lesser known Lone Star guitarist Larry Davis who originated

Blues Music Magazine 55 the title track. The above- mentioned tunes (excluding “Tell Me”) as well as the RONNIE EARL AND THE BROADCASTERS George Clinton-penned Par- liament soul strut “Testify” are Just For Today performed on disc two. The Stony Plain remaining live tracks are his original “So Excited” and Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child It’s an involuntary reaction to heap praise on Ronnie Earl. Hundreds (Slight Return)” and “Little of magnificent guitarists of every blues-oriented stripe dot the U.S. Wing/Third Stone From map from coast to coast. Earl towers over many in the Northeast The Sun.” corner. Earl witnessed a Muddy Waters concert while at Boston Uni- I was fortunate to see SRV twice, and he always played some versity in 1973, picked up the guitar, and six years later, at 26, joined Hendrix, so their inclusion is hardly surprising. This hour set may Roomful Of Blues, a gig that enabled him to absorb the qualities of not be the most polished at times, perhaps the band may have many of his heroes firsthand, experiences he’s put to practice pretty been a bit road weary, but SRV is playing with the unbridled gusto damn nicely. he would become known for. SRV’s joy in playing radiates From the time he formed the first version of the Broadcasters throughout. His incendiary playing on the Hendrix’s tracks, mus- in 1983, Earl has continually become a more intensely focused cular wah-wah with some snarling licks at times like Albert King on blues guitarist in his own way, burning always, but lyrical from tan- “Voodoo Child,” and dreamy and lyrical on “” is jaw- talizing to fierce. Of the handful of shows the Broadcasters play dropping. There is strong audience response throughout, but the each year, three were carefully picked over to comprise Just For people seemed particularly pumped on the Hendrix tunes. Kudos, Today, which may as well have been done in the studio, the sound of course, to Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris “Whipper” Layton is so pristine. But an added level of strength from playing in front (drums) for their supple and sinewy support. This collection also of a live crowd is definitely there; clear from the start in the quick includes informative and extensive liner notes about Texas Flood warm-up romp through “The Big Train,” one of several collabora- by music historian Ashley Kahn. The new edition of Texas Flood is tions by all four band members. a winner on every level. For some time now, the Broadcasters have been Lorne Entress –T homas J. Cullen III on drums, Dave Limina on piano and B3, and Jim Mouradian on

56 Blues Music Magazine bass. Entress is the kind of drummer that while keep- ing strict time, can sound like a lead player, in evi- dence wonderfully during the gentle, but ultimately glorious “Blues for Celie.” The spotlight switches to Limina at the piano for his own “Vernice’s Boogie,” an interlude of rocking excitement. But there’s no mistaking the leader. “Miracle” feels bold and happy, like lovers holding tight. Reminiscent of recent Santana, Earl creates a memorable hook in it, and surrounds that with an upwelling of liquid gold. During “Heart Of Glass,” he engages the band in a bold, fluent conversation on top of their fragile, jazzy blues groove. In “Blues For Hubert Sumlin,” the Chicago blues great’s tough essence shines through without a lick of note-for- note imitation. John Coltrane’s “Equinox” makes for an epic excursion by these players, perfectly melding the qualities of an awakening and a nighttime romp. Earl customarily employs a well-known singer – or one that’s sure-to-be – for a song or two. Towards the end of this set, Diane Blue, from his Boston home- town, sings “I’d Rather Go Blind,” and despite the song’s overuse, makes you take notice with her soulfulness. – Tom Clarke

BETH HART Bang Bang Boom Boom Provogue

She’s a dynamic singer – bits of Billie building into Etta reaching for Robert Plant; she’s an emotive piano player who deftly caresses a wide range of moods; she’s a poignant songwriter who walks the world like a raw nerve which twitches at every stimuli; and she’s battled demons to get herself healthy. Beth Hart turned the heads of the nation when she delivered “I’d Rather Go Blind” with Jeff Back at the Kennedy Center in December 2012 honoring Buddy Guy. Though wildly popular throughout Europe for almost a decade, she’s been under the radar in her homeland. But all that is changing. On the heels of her critically acclaimed CD with Joe Bonamassa, Hart signed with the Mascot Label and released what could be her breakout CD 17 years after she released her original breakout CD on . The opening tune, “Baddest Blues,” encompasses the best of Hart. It begins with only her voice and piano, then jumps the

Blues Music Magazine 57 track with her full studio band exploding around her elastic voice and truths that “love is the baddest blues.” Love has more then one side, and Hart later sings endless praises of her “Better Man,” perhaps dedicated to her husband who’s been lovingly guiding her recovery for over a decade. Ditto “With You Everyday,” which could easily become this year’s first dance song at any wedding. For me, Hart is never better then when she delivers a vocal, front and center ballad. There are two performances of note here. “There In Your Heart” showcases Hart’s vocal caress building to thunderous finish giving the listener time to appreciate the life jour- ney her soul has traveled. Don’t miss the fiery guitar solo by friend Bonamassa. Hart’s touching restraint delivers another tour de force performance on “Everything Must Change,” with its Beatles White Album/Let It Be aura, But there’s one more stunner; Mascot has licensed her force- ful/impressive Kennedy Center performance. If you saw it, you remember the audience collectively asking, “Who is that!” With Beck’s creative guitar as her foil, Hart’s interpretation was a thing of beauty. If you are an old friend of Hart’s, this CD is a welcome addition to your collection. If you are new to her, I envy your back- ward search to collect her catalogue. – Art Tipaldi

ALAN WILSON Th e Blind Owl Severn

Just as most people of a certain age can recall their whereabouts when JFK was assassinated, they can also remember – on a much brighter note – where they were when they first bore witness to the hauntingly distinctive high tenor vocals and simpatico harp skills of Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson. All it takes is the opening strains of “On The Road Again” for the feeling of an entire generation to flood back into consciousness. Such is the power of Wilson’s distinctive voice and the impact made by a ragtag band from Los Angeles who would forever transform the face of the blues. How the sounds of this pale, thin, white man’s blues came to represent an entire generation in the summer of ‘68 is the impetus behind this 20-track collection. Wilson’s sound legitimately blurred the lines between white and black as these young turks redefined electric blues with their onslaught of four albums during Wilson’s all-too-brief reign. The shy, Boston-born music major – so nicknamed by friend for the heavy glasses worn to combat poor eyesight – Wilson was the least likely counterpart to fellow co-founder, Bob “The Bear” Hite. Yet, the two music historians, joined by an eclectic cast of distinctive players – , Henry “Sunflower” Vestine, Frank Cook who was shortly replaced by the still-standing Adolfo “Fido” de la Parra – and armed with some of the era’s strongest original songs, plus covers by , Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James. Credited as modernists, hipping a new generation to the blues of the past by grafting it to and the notion of the end- less boogie, Wilson’s specific contribution was also realized through his writing and guitar playing. His “,” used in

58 Blues Music Magazine the Woodstock documentary You” with guest vocalist Shemekia Copeland; funk-try gospel with and included on the sound- Mylon LeFevere’s “Sunday School Blues”; the lone instrumental, track, is equally timeless performed by the Campbell Brothers, a rousing “Wade In The while the sadly prophetic Water”; and another big surprise with ’s “My “My Time Ain’t Long” Sweet Lord.” matched only “Time Was” for Whether you came to love slide guitar from the blues, coun- its ability to come to fruition try, Sacred Steel, or any combination thereof, this joyful album has as the band, and Alan’s life, . I recently saw the Slide Brothers (with began to fall apart. Avidly Robert Randolph) open for George Thorogood; I didn’t want their ‘green’ long before the term truncated set to end. Catch them when you can. had cachet, Wilson wrote of – Thomas J. Cullen III a troubled world in which man would pollute beyond its borders and out into space, the theme of ‘70’s Future Blues and tracks like “Poor Moon” that would follow. Depression, loneliness and dark thoughts merged with the drug use that would ultimately take his life in September of 1970. SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY Yet one spin of his impressively upbeat, ad lib/jazz scat singing on “Skat” (to Dr. John’s luminous piano) serves as a reminder of a gen- Easy Livin’ tle, giving character deserving of our remembrance for his distin- Blind Pig guished talent and our respect for his still-breathing contribution. – Eric Thom This is a new band, put together just last year, and this is their first outing, and it is in many respects stellar. Of course, the personnel – Damon Fowler, , JP Soars, Chuck Riley, and Chris Peet – have been around for a long time, honing their blues, ROBERT RANDOLPH PRESENTS R&B and rock chops – and this first-time recording, produced by Louisiana guitar legend Tab Benoit, is different and varied enough The Slide Brothers to merit purchase and repeat plays. Concord Easy Livin’ is not a blues CD but it has plenty of blues feeling as the band makes the rounds of various genres of American roots and pop. Ultimately, however, it defines itself ultimately as a hot Robert Randolph has been the secular face of the Sacred Steel Southern rock band with the tradition for the last decade. As co-producer, he recruited Calvin potential of taking its place Cooke, (pedal steel/vocals), Aubrey Ghent (pedal steel/vocals), with southern rock icons the and the Campbell brothers, Chuck (pedal steel), Darick (lap steel), Allman Brothers, Lynyrd and Phil (guitar) from the top ranks of Sacred Steel for this roaring Skynyrd, and the Marshall and soaring set of blues, gospel, and rock that blurs the thin line Tucker Band. that separates these genres. The opening track, Upon first hearing the Campbell Brothers 15 years ago, I “Southern Living” features a exclaimed to friends (and in print) that it was the most exciting rootsy vocal by guitarist music I heard in years. That same exhilaration is present through- Damon Fowler, whose timbre out the 11 tracks. The blues is represented by Elmore James’ “It and phrasing on this track Hurts Me Too” and the show stopping “The Sky Is Crying” (with recall Taj Mahal’s “Fishin’ Randolph, one of the three tracks he plays on), Eric Clapton’s ver- Blues,” while the band sup- sion of “Motherless Children,” and two major surprises: “Help Me ports him with a Skynyrd-like instrumental. The rhythm section, Through The Night,” an original boogie by Calvin Cooke, which Riley and Peet, operates as one, and provides ample support to could be about God or a lost love, and the Allman Brothers’ “Don’t the string and piano work heard throughout. Later on, vocalist and Keep Me Wonderin’,” an attention-grabbing opener that scintillates keyboard man Wainwright serves up a classic jump boogie, while with the nimble interplay of some fine contrapuntal guitar work by Fowler and JP Soars takes all three Campbell Brothers it away on “Shoestring Budget.” cushioned by Marty Sam- Classic country is served masterfully by a cover of Jerry Lee mon’s swirling organ. The Lewis’s “Don’t Boogie Woogie” – only this version features much remaining tunes fall in the more prominent guitar work than the original, coupled with Wain- gospel camp: two uplifting wright’s exciting paean to Jerry Lee’s banging piano style – multiple Andrew Ramsey tunes, frenetic arpeggios and all. More than a hint of Stax R&B comes “Catch That Train” (a com- through on “Certified Lover,” a tune with an arrangement and vocals mon Sacred Steel theme) that conjure a Stax recording – say, Otis Redding’s circa his 1965 hit, and “No Cheap Seats In “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” written with Jerry Butler. The song- Heaven”; Camille writing on “Certified Lover” is a match in sensibility and feel to any- Yarbrough’s churning “Praise thing coming out of Macon or Atlanta in the heyday of southern R&B.

Blues Music Magazine 59 Some reviewers have projected this band as the next hot new Southern rock/R&B band. Given the talent on this CD, and the masterful work on multiple genres, that would not be a surprise. Recommended. – Michael Cala Get It! Heartfixer

Clearly a labor of love, Get It! finds Tinsley Ellis working in a AUSTIN YOUNG & NO DIFFERENCE dazzling variety of instrumental, blues-based settings. The great, Atlanta-based guitarist does not blow aimlessly over generic Blue As Can Be grooves. Instead, he writes good old-fashioned songs, with heads VizzTone memorable enough to hum. Ellis takes on Freddie King’s sweet “Freddie’s Midnight Dream” and ’s wild “Detour,” replete with cheesy organ It takes nearly the entire disk to get to a real down-and-dirty blues and the swirl of a guitar through a Leslie cabinet. Everything else tune on 18-year-old Austin Young’s debut record, but the range of is original, from the regal “Anthem For A Fallen Hero,” which Ellis guitar styles – some blistering, some soft and gentle – and his wrote for but whose piercing tone he sensibly creative songwriting makes it worth the wait. opted not to recreate, to the The 13 tracks are all-in-the-family originals by Young and slamming wah-wah rocker band mates Tim Young (his dad) and drummer Noah Mast, “Fuzzbuster,” with its echoes along with Steven Mast, one of Noah’s four musical brothers. of “Going Down.” “Berry The songs run the gamut from hard-hitting blues-rock to coun- Tossin’,” a shuffle teeming try-like to jump jazz a la Ray Charles. In fact, Young, a with ringing double-stops, Colorado native, makes a vividly captures the essence point of paying homage and of Chuck Berry’s loose style. offering tributes to legends Leslie tone and a hip such as Gary Moore and drum breakdown ice the funky Muddy Waters. “Front Street Freeze,” with The Muddy love, on the Ellis nailing Albert Collins’s second, title track, is proba- signature smears, glides, and bly attributable to Young’s stinging lines. Kevin McKendree’s clavinet brings “Sassy Strat” to enviable status as Bob Mar- Wonder-ful life behind Elllis’s glassy tones, melodic string-bending, golin’s protégé. Young was and flashy runs. The title track, a swinging backwards shuffle that an interim instructor with could have come from a mid-‘60s B.B. King album, pays tribute to Margolin, whom everyone the Texas style in general, SRV and Billy Gibbons in particular. The knows was once Waters’ bass-string figure with harmonics at 3:10 is a thing of wonder. band, at a Pinetop Perkins master guitar workshop last year in Far mellower, “The Milky Way” twangs, yet its stately, calm Clarksdale. Margolin has nothing but accolades, describing progression has an almost classical feel. There is a lot of the origi- Young as a “magnetic new force of nature.” nal in the delicate closer, “Catalunya,” from its But Young’s musical influences sound more akin to Green-like phrasing and careful exploration of variations on a Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Moore, and Clapton than traditional theme to its supernatural feedback. or Chicago blues musicians. Young definitely proves himself on With expressive playing and luscious tones, Ellis communi- electrifying guitar. Some of the songs demand turning the volume cates more effectively through his guitar than many singers do with up real high, especially the hard rocking opener, “Thunderhead,” words. He has certainly “got it” when it comes to playing the blues. which is a double entendre dedicated to the unfortunate towns- His advice holds for you when it comes to his latest release: Get It! people of Joplin, Missouri, many of whom lost everything in a – Tom Hyslop fierce tornado two years ago. Now fast forward to “Give Me One Good Reason,” for seven minutes of pure and basic slow blues, saturated with feeling about love gone wrong, and just the right amount of guitar delay. Described as quite the entertainer, Young’s shows draw big crowds and he has an increasing follow- JOHN PRIMER & ing. The winner of five awards, best guitar, best slide guitar, best blues band, best young artist, and best ‘live moment’ from the Kn ockin’ Around These Blues Colorado Blues Society, he was also invited last year to perform Delta Groove at the King Biscuit Festival in Helena, Arkansas, so his buzz is spreading. It stands to reason this young musician has a bright future. John Primer and Bob Corritore are both seasoned veterans with – Karen Nugent more years playing the blues falling behind them than either would

60 Blues Music Magazine probably care to admit. The highlight of Knockin’ Around These Blues , however, is Both are deeply influ- the raucous cover of Willie Dixon’s “Just Like I Treat You.” enced by the Chicago Primer’s vocals dance fleetly above guitarist Chris James’ rolling blues style, Primer first- rhythms and B-Chuck’s honky-tonk piano-pounding, the song hand as guitarist in the peppered with Corritore’s spry harmonica notes. The album bands of greats like closes with Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Going Back Home,” a potent Muddy Waters and Magic brew of wailing harp, mournful vocals, slow-walking rhythms, Slim before launching his and Primer’s elegant fretwork. Fans looking for a contemporary own acclaimed solo take on the classic Chicago blues sound should look no further career, Corritore as a fre- than Knockin’ Around These Blues, an entertaining collection quent club patron before from two masters. he moved to Phoenix and – Rev. Keith A. Gordon stirred up a reputation of his own. That the two would make an album together was inevitable, perhaps, and Knockin’ Around These Blues is a solid collaboration that won’t disappoint old- school blues fans, the pair backed by folks like , , and Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, among others. CHRIS BELLEAU Little Walter’s “Blue And Lonesome” is offered in tribute in pretty much the same shape that Primer and Corritore found the Knee Deep In The Blues song – slow-paced, mournful, smothering ambiance – the two spic- Self-release ing it up a bit with smokin’ fretwork and slow-burning harp notes. Primer’s “When I Get Lonely” is a bit more up-tempo, Corritore’s spirited harp blasts perfectly melding with Primer’s soulful vocals Chris Belleau is not just knee deep in the blues. He’s at least that and emotional string play, both instruments rising above Barrel- far in on traditional Cajun, and up to his ankles in country. He’s house Chuck’s lively piano rhythms. Corritore’s instrumental “Har- even got a toe in classic mid-1960s rock. The self-released Knee monica Joyride” is strongly reminiscent of Junior Wells’s late-1960s Deep In The Blues, recorded and mixed primarily in Louisiana, recordings, the band falling in behind his manic notes with Stroger’s skips like a flat rock across a still bayou through these many gen- walking bass line and Smith’s busy, albeit jazz-flecked percussion. res, mirroring the state’s own bubbling gumbo of musical styles.

Blues Music Magazine 61 The best of Belleau’s kind performances interwoven with Award presentations. Each originals include the simmer- performance collects nominees together in true all-star pairings. ing “Let It Go,” which finds So for example, nominees and Charlie Musselwhite the multi-instrumentalist began the night backed by the Bo Keys. Other noteworthy pair- switching with a cool-rock- ings included the Chicago Living Blues band with Billy Boy ing ease between lead guitar Arnold, John Primer, and others; Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone joined and ; the country- by Tab Benoit and performing an over the top version of fried “Hole in My Heart,” and Sansone’s Song of the Year, “The Lord Is Waiting The Devil Is the bawdy title track, Too;” Benoit, Zito, and Sansone celebrating Tab’s three Awards sparked by a scorching turn (entertainer, Contemporary Male, and Contemporary Album) with by Belleau on the harp. nearly 10 minutes of “Medicine;” ’s last minute Louisiana native David Egan addition to Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne and Biscuit Miller’s song; is Belleau’s secret weapon on Knee Deep In The Blues, as the Samantha Fish, winner of Best New Artist Debut and resplendent deeply underrated keyboardist contributes two highlights with the in her purple gown, joining her K.C. pals Trampled Under Foot for co-written “Dance To The Blues With Me” (a slinky call to fun) and an outta control “Runaway;” and Koko Taylor Traditional Blues “Angels In The Swamp” (a loping groover, in the style of 1970s- Woman Ruthie Foster joined with Song of the Year nominee Had- era B.B. King). Belleau also offers a deep blues take on the Cajun den Sayers to perform his nominated song “Back To The Blues” standards “Jolie Blonde,” with a key assist from Bryan Basco in and then Foster’s self-help advice, “Heal Yourself.” the fiddle and Michael Garner on rubboard, and “Mamou Two- At the same time, don’t miss the outstanding down home Step,” both of which find Belleau making a seamless switch to tunes of Doug MacLeod, Eric Bibb, and , while accordion. His rollicking take on the Sir Douglas Quintet’s “She’s Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, winners of multiple awards, About A Mover” is stamped with a rowdy salaciousness – with a treated the crowd to a back porch inspired “Back Where I key assist from SDQ co-founder Augie Meyers. Belleau even Started.” The Awards section closes with Band of the Year nomi- adds a little swamp spice to Sam the Sham’s “Wooly Bully.” nee Trampled Under Foot’s Danielle Schnebelen’s devastating, – Nick DeRiso aching , “Goodbye,” which could be a Song of the Year nominee in any year. The other performance section includes a dozen perfor- mances by non-winning nominees. Backed by an all-star band of Bob Margolin, Jonn Del Toro Richardson, and Patrick Rynn, 33rd BLUES MUSIC AWARDS Diunna Greenleaf belted out “Tryin’ To Hold Out.” Later in the program, Richardson joined his musical partner Rich Del Grosso The Blues Foundation for a guitar/mandolin performance of “Time Slips By.” Sugar Ray Norcia and his Bluetones, with a total of five nominations, The Blues Foundation has done it again, only better. In addition to delighted the crowd with traditional, Chicago-styled blues as the annual release of the Blues Music Award DVD, the Foundation Norcia and , one a 1990’s blues guitar has also included a 13-song CD of full-length performances from wunderkind, now a seasoned thirty something veteran guitarist, the DVD. The 33rd Award show was an evening of exciting musical expertly traded musical ideas. highlights, and this two hour, 30 minute DVD accurately captures Tracy Nelson called upon the voices of friends Nick Nixon, 25 of the night’s best. Maria Muldaur, and Reba Russell, and the musical expertise of Each May, the Blues Foundation hosts the Blues Music Wayne Russell, Josh Roberts, Robert Tooms, Dave Keyes, Awards in Memphis. For the 1,500 attendees, is it the blues party Jimi Bott, and Terry Hanck, winner of Instrumentalist of the Year of the year. With many nominees given a 10-minute performance, – Horn, for a soulful “Lead A Horse To Water.” And 2010 IBC the show, which starts with a pre-party for all at 5:30 p.m. and winner Grady Champion, nominated for two Awards, showcased ends well after one a.m., his Mississippi roots as he performed his Song of the Year offers every blues fan’s nominated, “Thank You For Giving Me The Blues.” The two musical fantasy, unlimited songs performed by Victor Wainwright and JP Soars offer an music. For those who have interesting preview of their current trio, Southern Hospitality, never attended this sans Damon Fowler. marathon night of blues After Otis Clay nailed “Got To Get Back,” awards and performances, delivered the night’s best acceptance speech for Male this DVD and accompanying Artist when he quipped, “Thank you, but I voted for Otis Clay.” CD are the next best way to Ending with, “I’d like to saw the foot off and take that and give the experience these unprece- rest to Otis.” dented showstoppers. Though the Blues Foundation releases a DVD each year, The DVD menu offers there are only three years available on the website. If you are a three choices, Award show, fan of the music, or are married to a fan, these stunning DVDs other performances, and a offer performances that only happen on this Memphis stage. With listing of Award nominations over two and a half hours of unprecedented music and pairings, and winners. The Award the 33rd BMA DVD, like the others, is highly recommended. show features 13 one of a – Art Tipaldi

62 Blues Music Magazine

In an age when all music seems to be digitally compressed into MP3 files, two record companies have gone against that rising tide. They have assembled indispensible three box sets totaling 29 CDs, enormous historical reading, and archival photos. Efforts like these are to be lauded.

THE SUN BLUES BOX (Parker)’s ’ “Feelin’ Good” and “,” Little Blues, R&B And Gospel Milton’s raw-edged 1953 debut Music In Memphis 1950-1958 sides, Doctor Ross’ romping Bear Family “Chicago Breakdown,” Billy “The Kid” Emerson’s sassy “Red Hot,” ’s astonishing harmon- ’ Memphis-based Sun ica tour de force with guitarist Jimmy Records has been lauded endlessly for its DeBerry, “Easy” (pushed to the boil- groundbreaking 1950s rockabilly contin- ing point by Sam’s echo overload). gent, Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jackie Brenston’s epochal . Rightly so, since Sun’s con- “Rocket ‘88’” and its equally stratos- tribution to the history of rock and roll was pheric follow-up “My Real Gone and remains vast and eternally enduring. Rocket,” and Howlin’ Wolf’s perpet- But the label’s foundation was laid atop a us that we could update them and reissue ually intimidating “How Many More bedrock of deep Southern blues. them pretty much as they were since they Years,” all out on Chess, are here too, as Sun’s blues catalog has been com- had become iconic releases. But once we are ’s “Booted,” a national piled on LP and CD more than once, but got into it, we realized how much more smash on the Modern label, and never has there been a collection of the important it was to take time to find out B.B. King’s hard-driving “She’s Dynamite,” magnitude of Bear Family’s The Sun Blues what else there was to know. We decided also from Modern’s archives, but not a hit. Box.Ten jam-packed CDs contain 306 we needed to produce a significant An avalanche of now-revered classics by recordings that cover nearly everything upgrade–more information, more photos, , Pat Hare, James Cotton, Ike Phillips put out on his label of a blues more music.” Turner, Joe Hill Louis (including his incredi- nature (not to mention R&B, gospel, and Each member of the trio brought their bly rare 1950 single for Sam’s one-release- even a smattering of doo-wop). There’s also own strengths to the project, which took a only imprint with deejay Dewey Phillips, It’s a generous overview of Phillips’ produc- full year to complete. “A lot of people have The Phillips Records), Billy “Red” Love, tions for other R&B indies at his Memphis taken a lot of interest in Sun for many , Eddie Snow, Sammy Lewis and Recording Service prior to Sun’s official years, and the level of knowledge and Willie Johnson, Woodrow Adams, Charley inception in 1952, and there’s a ton of trea- interest out there is very high,” says Booker, Elven Parr & the In The Groove sures that were buried in his vaults until dis- Hawkins. “So we are wary about using Boys, Honeyboy Edwards, Houston covered by the first wave of erstwhile blues words like ‘unmatched’. But I guess you Stokes, Johnny O’Neal, Tot Randolph, Ray- researchers during the ‘70s and ‘80s. could say that the amount of original mond Hill, and Boyd Gilmore, many of Colin Escott, Martin Hawkins, and research we have done, and the tenacity them unreleased at the time, constitute the Hank Davis, the box’s producers, have with which we’ve pieced together the story bulk of the box. chronicled Sun’s blues history in an of the label and its artists over the years is Locating copies of the truly obscure incredible album-sized 184-page hard- unrivaled. The three of us work well sides was no walk in Handy Park, but the bound book that accompanies the music; together. Hank brings a musician’s ear, a producers had a little help along the way. it’s full of vintage photos, incisive com- writer’s pen, and a fan’s enthusiasm; Colin “Most of the Sun-era (post-1952) music is mentary, and complete track-by-track info. has a real ability to get to the nub of an from tape, but a lot of the early recordings All Sun blues collections preceding this – issue, and the ability to describe things in a Sam Phillips made for Chess and Modern vinyl, digital, whatever – instantly pale by style that has pace and clarity way beyond and Trumpet had to come from the best 78 comparison. the normal; and I think my own desire to rpm copies we could find. We asked liter- “We believe it is the ultimate Sun understand and co-ordinate the overview ally every big collector we could, and peo- blues collection, of course,” says Hawkins. while also including as much detailed infor- ple like Victor Pearlin and John Tefteller “For many years, the original LP box from mation as we can possibly get away with is came up trumps, and so did many others. the mid-‘80s was the ultimate. But then to important too.” “The rarest items here are the acetates mark Sun’s 60th anniversary, Bear Family Obviously, all the Sun blues land- Steve LaVere collected in Memphis around decided that the classic 1980s LP sets of marks are proudly on board, bristling with 1970. I think that started when I was e-mail- Sun country, blues, and rock and roll spiky, electrifying energy: ’ ing with him about Billy Love for a Bear should all be reissued. It was suggested to “Bear Cat” and “Tiger Man,” Little Junior Family CD. Steve produced an unseen

64 Blues Music Magazine photo of Love and then when the blues DUANE ALLMAN start-up FM, underground, radio. From box work restarted, I decided to ask him their first band, The Escorts, in 1965, we what else he had. He had a lot of acetates Skydog, The Duane Allman hear fledgling examples of Duane’s and photos, and I arranged for him to let Retrospective promising lead guitar. When he and Bear Family use them. He became inter- Rounder Gregg turn The Escorts into The Allman ested enough to write a little piece about Joys a year later, one can begin to hear his tape and artist research in Memphis. the start of the search for his tone, “All the members of the ‘blues frater- Walk through any art museum exhibit attack, and phrasing. Still rooted in the nity’ we approached were really helpful, featuring a well-known artist and you’ll common covers of the day, Allman’s gui- and a lot of people produced illustrations witness how sketches become still lifes tar on “Shapes Of Things,” “,” and information they’d held onto for some and landscapes and themes imitate “Mister, You’re A Better Man Than I,” and time. I hope the quality and importance of those who came before. Eventually you “Crossroads” never become a total imi- what we were doing persuaded them that get to a point in the room where the tation of Beck and Clapton’s styles. You life is short and the information needed to artist’s unique vision and individuality can hear the envelope being pushed. get out there.” begins to emerge on canvas. Shapes What you’ll never hear, however, Phillips’ savvy ears weren’t limited and colors become distinct; instead of are the endless sessions Allman spent during those primordial days to a strict diet imitation, subjects break new ground; woodsheddin’ in his room over records of blues recording (as Bear Family’s six-CD and even the mundane has a daring or the hours of unnamed band collection The Sun Records Box – Country freshness. rehearsals before these first recordings. Music Recorded By Sam Phillips 1950- This beautifully packaged and lov- That’s the true artist’s necessary prepa- 1959, also new to the shelves, makes ingly assembled seven-disc retrospective ration phase essential for creative dis- abundantly clear). Disc eight covers Sun’s of Duane Allman offers that same walk covery. Though the next band, Hour handful of R&B vocal groups, most notably through his musical life. These 129 songs Glass, seems to fall prey to the over- the Prisonaires (whose lovely ballad “Just gracefully move from his budding days in produced pseudo-psychedelia and Walking In The Rain” is complemented by garage bands that merely imitated the neo-soul that came wearing Edwardian five more of their titles) but also including music of the day – Cream, , ruffled shirts and stripped bell bottoms, three tracks by the jumping Five Tinos, four soul classics – to his emerging slide gui- Gregg’s vocals and Duane’s guitar from the oddly monikered Hunky Dory, tar and ultimately his stunning virtuosity. delivery of the band’s seven minute and Sunday morning rousers by several And all that within a short, meteoric rise B.B. King medley continues to be a rafter-rattling gospel aggregations. The last from his first recordings in 1965 to his standout of these sessions. Follow that two discs are reserved for rarities – and untimely death six years later.A career so with Gregg’s “Been Gone Too Long,” yes, those bottomless Sun vaults have important that forty years later, in 2009, and brother Duane is emerging as a coughed up some previously unissued Rolling Stone magazine honored Allman musical visionary capable of providing items, including “Play The Game Baby” as the ninth most influential guitarist. the right guitar coloring for whatever a from Lost John Hunter & the Blind Bats’ Like every garage band from the song’s canvas demands. 1950 4-Star session, four lowdown num- sixties, Duane and brother Gregg played And don’t miss the 1968 recording bers by the unknown J.C. Cole, and even a the music that was gaining popularity on of Gregg’s “Melissa,” with Butch Trucks’ radio spot featuring the dulcet tones of young announcer Sam Phillips pushing an elixir called Tree of Life. Serious collectors of the Sun blues legacy simply won’t be able to resist this spectacularly rendered compilation, easily the most complete celebration of the label’s early commitment to the genre ever assembled. “This is certainly the best set Bear family has done in the area of blues,” notes Hawkins. “It’s right up there with

their great sets on the Carter Family and HN GELLMAN JO

pre-war calypso, and the best of their sin- © gle-artist boxes.” HY No argument there – The Sun Blues AP GR Box is a legitimate tour de force.

– Bill Dahl PHOTO

Blues Music Magazine 65 31st of February band. Here, with on three the music world can appreci- songs in 1969. ate Duane’s first recorded Then there are the first slide guitar adding a gor- songs from the 1969 birth geous sustain to his notes of the Allman Brothers behind Gregg’s vocals. And Band. Each musical piece like a true originator, there is is anchored by a pounding no hesitation or caution in percussion section, congas, his musical brushstrokes; and organ, which provides rather there is a confidence Duane’s slide guitar and developing. Betts’ country-tinged lead On Disc Two, it’s also guitar freedom to splash important to follow Duane’s across a canvas in a new path to Muscle Shoals. On these 26 cover of the same song. Listen hard and and exciting swirl. Allman and Betts’ har- songs, the listener can begin to appreci- you can hear some of the darting up and monic guitars (Allman’s Coricidin glass ate the development of Duane’s under- down the neck that occasionally surfaces on steel, Betts’ flat picked) archetypal standing of his musical voice. Backing in Derek Trucks. And that just the first surge into Gregg’s “It’s Not My Cross To Clarence Carter, Wilson Pickett, Arthur two CDs! Bear” from their 1969 Capricorn album Conley, Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, and With 129 songs, everyone will find continues to evoke delight. others established the distinct relation- musical paintings to linger over. Here are In total, there are 21 songs collected ship between a singer’s voice and the some of my early favorites. Duane’s slide from Duane’s ABB recordings, eight of answering, emotional voice of Allman’s and dobro on ’ cover of those are live, jam-infused excursions. slide guitar. From Carter’s 1968 “The Fenton Robinson’s “Loan Me A Dime.” Like the music of the Band and the Road Of Love” to Aretha’s “,” At 13 minutes, it continues to thrill me as , those harmonic guitars recorded a year later, Duane is forging a it did when I first heard this in 1969. His and extended jams of the Allman distinct direction for the slide slide guitar with Eddie Hinton and the Brothers Band represent a style of music guitar. Compare this to his slide gooey Memphis Horns on the instrumental that could have only emerged from slide guitar a month later on King Curtis’ “Going Up The Country,” and his work American musical roots.

66 Blues Music Magazine From the band’s studio output, his live “Sugar Magnolia” from a 1971 when Duane died and has spent her life there are ABB classics like “Whipping Dead show, or his work with Lulu, Laura chasing her father’s musical vision. Post,” “Dreams,” “,” Blue Nyro, , Johnny Jenkins, One only needs to compare Allman’s Sky,” “Trouble No More,” and Don’t and on and on. And don’t forget to guitar from the set’s second song, the Keep Me Wonderin’.” Live songs include name check every band member for one 1965 Escorts’ instrumental, with the final “Blue Sky,” Dreams,” In Memory Of surprise after another. tune, his picturesque “Little Martha” record- Elizabeth Reed,” “You Don’t Love Finally, there is the packaging. The ed with Betts six years later, to appreciate Me/Soul Serenade,” “One Way Out,” and cover is Allman’s battered, road worn gui- the breath of Duane Allman’s artistry. blues classics, “Dimples,” Hoochie tar case, the case that was displayed Duane Allman is near the root of the Coochie Man,” “I’m Gonna Move To The before his casket. Open the box and you tree of the modern American slide guitar. Outskirts Of Town,” and “Statesboro are staring at Skydog’s Gold Top Les Paul He imaginatively built on a bottleneck gui- Blues.” surrounded by a golden velvet, an exact tar style that others before him had pio- Need more? How about Allman’s replica of the tool he took to his on-stage neered. Today, over 40 years since his unique work with Eric Clapton on five job every night. And each CD is in a death, it’s hard to find a current slide gui- songs including his iconic work on paper sleeve, replicating the packaging of tarist who has not studied Allman’s sound “” and their acoustic “Mean Old guitar strings. In addition to a well and style. And like Allman, today’s true World?” Or his four tunes with John researched history of Allman and the visionaries are searching for their own Hammond? Or his seven songs, three live band and over 40 timeless photos, there glass on steel voice that will glide the acoustic, with Delaney & Bonnie and is a from the heart, nine-page perspective genre into the future in the same way Friends? Or lest we forget, his three tunes of Allman written by his daughter, Duane Allman did. from 1971 backing flutist Herbie Mann or Galadrielle Allman, who was only two – Art Tipaldi

VARIOUS ARTISTS Floyd Murphy (on ’s “Feelin’ Good”), Plug It In! Turn It Up! Pat Hare, and Lafayette Electric Blues: 1939-2005 “Thing” Thomas, all along- The Definitive Collection side unbeatable sides by more familiar artists: Ray Bear Family Charles, Guitar Slim, Jimmy Reed, Jimmy Presenting any historical survey of a Rogers, and the fantastic musical style is a perilous undertaking. Wynonie Harris. Fortunately for listeners, Electric Blues Part Two concentrates 1939-2005, the new set issued by on the 1950s heyday of Germany’s Bear Family Records (whose John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, or electric blues. Crucial talents represented place among the royalty of historical reis- Detroit bluesman Baby Boy Warren. here include , Robert Lockwood sue labels is indisputable), neatly evades Such vitally important but some- Jr., Eddie Taylor, Big Walter Horton, J.B. any tiger traps. The deluxe presentation times overlooked artists as Lowell Lenoir, George Smith, Hank Ballard, and – 12 compact discs in four packages com- Fulson, Roy Brown, and Robert Johnny “Guitar” Watson, not to mention prise the set – provides a comfortable Nighthawk are appropriately represented. Chuck Berry, Billy Boy Arnold, Bo Diddley, length, and its producer Bill Dahl is as Disc Two offers great but lesser-known and Little Willie John, all on the first disc. conversant with the subject as one could sides by Cecil Gant, ’s gui- Disc Two introduces Bobby “Blue” hope to find. His thoughtful selections and tarist Pete Lewis, Floyd Dixon, Johnny Bland and Little Milton; features Excello’s engaging annotations support a collection Shines, and Boyd Gilmore along with masters; covers that more than lives up to the challenge of selections by immortals like Little Walter, from artists as diverse as Frankie Lee condensing seven decades’ worth of Fats Domino, Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore Sims and Fenton Robinson; and includes America’s richest musical invention. James, and B.B. King. smashes “Kansas City” by Wilbert Harri- The first volume begins with 1939’s Sonny Boy Williamson II’s incredible son, and “Honky Tonk” by Bill Doggett. pioneering “Floyd’s Guitar Blues” by Andy “Pontiac Blues” is matched in intensity by The final CD in this volume is the hippest Kirk and His Twelve Clouds Of Joy; winds Sunny Blair’s pulse-pounding, take on in the entire set, collecting 29 essential through house-rocking numbers by Sister “Please Send My Baby Back To Me.” Disc blues instrumentals. From Memphis Slim, Rosetta Tharpe, John Lee (Sonny Boy) Three unearths Danny Overbea’s jaunty , and Bill Jennings to Jody Williamson, and Stick McGhee; and “Forty Cups Of Coffee,” reminds us of the Williams and Jimmy Nolen, and from includes offerings by T-Bone Walker and raunchy greatness of Papa Lightfoot and , Ike Turner, and Wild Jimmy his disciples. For every elegant side from Joe Hill Louis, presents the down-home Spruill to Freddie King, Lightnin’ Hopkins, or Charles Brown, Lil’ Son Jackson, and ensures that listen- and Albert Collins, every track is a real there is a lowdown counterpart from ers appreciate the incredible guitar players gem. Such revered recordings as

Blues Music Magazine 67 Earl Hooker’s influential cover of “The Koko Taylor; and points to the increasing binding “Your Turn To Cry” and Israel Hucklebuck,” Horton’s impossibly great influence of soul music on the blues, with Tolbert’s original recording of “Big Leg “Easy,” ’s matchless update of contributions from Aretha Franklin, Woman.” “Looking Good,” and Watson’s improba- Tyrone Davis, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Discs Two and Three offer a solid bly wild “Space Guitar” are here, as are Carter, Mabel John, Johnnie Taylor, and overview of the evolution of various blues rarely-heard sides like Guitar Gable’s cool Etta James. styles over the last four decades. The “Congo Mambo,” Johnny Heartsman’s Disc Three covers the blues rock continued relevance of first- and second- “House Party,” and the unbelievably movement, with recordings ranging from generation bluesmen is heard in latter- obscure “Royal Earl Shuffle” (by Royal Ronnie Hawkins’s cover of “Who Do You day sides by Wells, Rush, Guy, B.B. King, Earl, don’tcha know?). Love,” featuring a young Robbie Robert- and Gatemouth Brown, while their influ- Part Three zeroes in on the 1960s. son’s blistering guitar, through The Jeff ence is represented in the music of rock- Opening with the spine-tingling one-two Beck Group’s “I Ain’t Superstitious.” ers ZZ Top, Bonnie Raitt, Rory Gallagher, punch of Otis Rush (“So Many Roads”) Johnny Winter, The Butterfield Blues and George Thorogood. Revivalists The and Buddy Guy (“First Time I Met The Band, Canned Heat, Fleetwood Mac, Hollywood Fats Band, Roomful of Blues, Blues”), Disc One presents Freddie King, Charlie Musselwhite, The Animals, and a and The Fabulous Thunderbirds appear, Frank Frost, Bobby Parker, and Bobby rare recording from Michael Bloomfield as do Chicago- and Mississippi-based Bland. Kid Thomas’s insanely wild are here, though perhaps outside the hard blues artists (Son Seals and R.L. “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” will be new to scope of a blues history. Burnside among them) and a newer gen- many, whereas “You Don’t Love Me,” Part Four covers the years from 1970 eration of stars like Joe Louis Walker and “Come On,” “Messin’ With The Kid,” and to 2005. Disc One extends the look at . “Cut You A-Loose” (not to mention the soul blues, with classics by O.V. Wright, It is a rare pleasure to be able to put Wolf, Elmore James, Bo Diddley, and Latimore, Bobby Rush, Little Johnny Tay- a disc in the tray, press play, and know Jimmy Reed sides included here) res- lor, Z.Z. Hill, , , that every track will be enjoyable as well onate to this day. Tyrone Davis, Albert King, Little Milton, as significant. Blues aficionados as much Disc Two presents huge hits and Al Green; outstanding, but less often as newcomers will derive this sort of plea- (Tommy Tucker’s “Hi-Heel Sneakers”) heard, contributions from Artie White, Lit- sure from Plug It In! Turn It Up! Count it a and rarities (Frankie Lee’s “Full Time tle Sonny, Bill Coday, and Little Beaver. Of towering archival achievement. Lover”); introduces Albert King and particular note are Bettye LaVette’s spell- – Tom Hyslop

68 Blues Music Magazine If you are not already a subscriber, you can join the Blues Music Magazine community by either going to the website www.bluesmusicmagazine.com or call toll-free 866-702-7778. Blues Music Magazine is featuring a Digital Sampler for download in every issue. Please go to www.bluesmusicmagazine.com/BMM1 to download this Digital Sampler and visit the artist websites. Enjoy!

Shaun Murphy – “Mighty Long Road” from the album Ask For The Moon on Sound Ventures Music. Shaun Murphy is one of the best singers of her generation, whether she is belting out a rocking tune or tearing your heart out on a soulful ballad. www.shaunmurphyband.com Billy Seward with his Memphis Brothers – “Better Place” from the album Better Place. Recorded at the famous in Memphis, “Better Place” shows Seward’s love of soul and blues music on a disc that captures his expressive singing and outstanding original songs. www.soulfonic.com/the-band/billy-seward-2/ Long Tall Deb – “Married to the Blues” from the album Raise Your Hands on the VizzTone Label Group. Raised in El Paso, Long Tall Deb Landolt uses her powerful voice to breathe life into original songs featuring her sharp lyrics. Her new release features numerous musical friends, including Jimmy Thackery on guitar on this track. www.longtalldeb.com Jeff Strahan – “River’s Gonna Rise” from the album Blue ‘Til I Die. Texan Jeff Strahan is steadily building a fan base and once you hear his biting guitar and tough vocals, you will be looking forward to catching one of his exciting live shows. www.jeffstrahan.com Andy Poxon – “Fooling Around” from the album Tomorrow on Ellersoul Records. Still a teenager, guitarist Andy Poxon has been playing live for five years. His second release for Ellersoul shows off his rich vocal style and outstanding guitar playing. www.andypoxon.com – “Shoes” from the album Voodoo To Do You on TeBo Records. The sassy Teeny Tucker can take you down in the alley or charm you with her impressive vocal skills. You’re going to love this song about her fascination with footwear! www.teenytucker.com Doug MacLeod – “Dubb’s Talking Religion Blues” from the albumT here’s A Time on Reference Recordings. Take your pick – singer, guitar player, songwriter, storyteller, writer, radio DJ – Doug MacLeod excels at all of them. He has received a dozen nominations for Blues Music Awards and this cut shows why he is held in such high regard. www.doug-macleod.com Brandon Santini – “Got Good Lovin’” from the album This Time Another Year on Swing Suit Records. One of the new generation of harp players, Brandon Santini’s latest is full of great original tunes plus plenty of hard blowin’ on the harp. With Jeff Jensen on guitar and guest appearance by Victor Wainwright on three cuts. www.brandonsantini.com – “Rumba Conga Twist” from the self-released album Blues ’65. Guitarist Otis Grand rocks the house with his latest featuring plenty of past and present members of Roomful of Blues, including Sugar Ray Norcia on vocals. www.otisgrand.com Austin Young & No Difference – “Thunderhead” from the album Blue As Can Be on the VizzTone Label Group. While he might be young in age, Austin Young sounds like a road-tested veteran. You will be hearing plenty from this electrifying guitarist and singer in the years ahead. www.austinyoungband.com Selwyn Birchwood – “FL Boy” from the album FL Boy. The winner of the 2013 International Blues Challenge and the recipient of the Gibson Most Promising Guitarist Award, Selwyn Birchwood celebrates his Florida roots on the title cut from his debut recording. www.selwynbirchwood.com Lisa Mann – “Til the Wheels Come Off” from the album Satisfied. Winner of three Muddy Waters awards from the Cascade Blues Society, including Female Vocalist, Bass Player and Contemporary Blues Band, Lisa will be touring hard this summer, so be on the lookout for this multi-talented performer. www.lisamannmusic.com BOBBY “BLUE” BLAND January 27, 1930 – June 20, 2013

Bobby “Blue” Bland, the elegant voice of the blues, passed away on June 20, 2013 in Memphis. If Bobby Bland’s salad days seemed far behind him to you, listen to the album Two Steps From The have influenced thousands of other artists and are today Blues today, the day after his death at age 83. It is a timeless essay considered standards in the realms of soul, blues and pop music. in the nuances of love, devotion and heartache, as alive with According to Joel Whitburn’s Top R&B Singles 1942-1988, the passion as when it was released in 1961. Bland, who was born in definitive volume on traditional R&B record sales, Bland is tied with rural Rosemark, Tennessee, on January 27, 1930 and began singing New Orleans’ early rock architect Fats Domino for seventh place on with local gospel groups as a youth, rose the list of “most charted artists,” with 63 to fame with the turn of the 1950s laying singles. His ranking among “top artists of the foundation for soul music as a popu- the ‘60s” – an era that embraced the lar style and making that genre one of recordings of Aretha Franklin, Otis the artistic legacies that Tennessee has Redding, James Brown and others – is an EN taken to the world. He has resided in OS even more impressive number four. R Memphis since moving there at age 17 His compassionate life in music H A. with his mother, and his presence was an EP became recognized starting with his 1981 OS J

integral part of Memphis’ ignition and © induction into the Blues Foundation Hall ongoing reputation as a music Mecca. HY of Fame. A year later he was awarded the From his 1952 debut on Duke AP Foundation’s Male Vocalist and Enter- GR Records, Bland set the standard by tainer of the Year. He was inducted in the which soul music was defined. Among PHOTO Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, the timeless songs from those sessions received the Blues Foundation’s Lifetime are “I Pity ” (a title that later slipped into the world’s Achievement in 1997, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement in 1998, vernacular after it was adopted as a tag line by the TV celebrity and many, many more. Mr. T), “Farther On Up The Road” (recorded by Eric Clapton There’s more to Bland’s story and his artistry than a list of and many others), “Lead Me On,” “I’ll Take Care Of You,” “Cry, hits. His fight to overcome poverty and illiteracy is part of the Cry, Cry,” “,” “Don’t Cry No More,” shared experience of many African-Americans who grew up “Little Boy Blue,” “,” and “Two Steps From under the iron hand of Jim Crow. But there’s never been a hint of The Blues.” The latter is also the title of Bland’s classic 1961 Duke bitterness in his music or his warm and openhearted demeanor album, which is considered one of the finest long-playing record- off- or onstage. And onstage and on record is where Bland truly ings in American popular music. It was inducted in the Blues opens up his heart via his warm, expressive and unremittingly Foundation Hall of Fame in 1987, and Rolling Stone gives the soulful baritone voice. Listening to Bland’s vocal performances album its highest rating: five stars. provides a tour of the entire perspective of human emotions and Memphis’ legendary Stax and labels, creative ideals: love, joy, pain, spiritual transcendence, aspiration. It’s all in powerhouses of the 1960s and 1970s that put hundreds of singles the grooves or on stage with the man. And historic sales statistics on the charts and made “soul” the sound of racially evolving bear out that many, many listeners share this feeling. Up to his America, would not have existed without of Bland’s death, he still played more than 80 dates a year with his big band, early Memphis-made recordings such as “Crying All Night Long” reeling back the decades to rekindle the sound and the spirit of and “Dry Up Baby,” which were released by the legendary Chess America’s most artistically and socially important post-War-era. Records in 1951, or the many other massive Bobby Bland hits that – Ted Drozdowski

MORRIS HOLTa, ak MAGIC SLIM August 7, 1937 – February 21, 2013

After weeks of hospitalization, Magic Slim, aka fields during the week and played the blues at Morris Holt, died on February 21, 2013 of com- house parties on the weekends. “I got my hand plications from a breathing disorder. Born in hurt when I was 13 and I switched to guitar. I EN

Mississippi in 1937, Slim witnessed the horrors of OS picked it up by ear off the radio. I never went to sharecropping firsthand and also understood the R school for music. I can’t read music. I wouldn’t H A.

power music has in soothing one’s troubles. EP know what it is if I see it. But I know what OS He took an early interest in music, singing J sounds good and makes people dance,” Slim ©

in the church choir. His first love was piano but, HY told me. having lost a finger on his right hand in a cotton AP When Slim made his first trip to Chicago gin accident, he found it difficult to play prop- GR in 1955, his childhood friend and guitar giant

erly and switched to guitar. He worked in the PHOTO Magic Sam hired him to play bass in his band.

70 Blues Music Magazine Slim returned to Mississippi for five more years, perfecting his craft before he again returned to Chicago. “When I first started in Chicago, nobody wanted to let me play. They said I couldn’t play and wouldn’t let me sit in with them. But I broke through because I kept on playing. Magic Sam was who I got my name from. He gave me the name because I was slim and tall and I’d go around with him.” In addition to the nickname, Magic Sam’s advice was also with Slim throughout his musical life. “When I first started play- ing, he told me, ‘Don’t try and play like me, or nobody else. Try and find a style of your own.’ It took me a long time working on it, but I finally got it. My style is a hard punching blues. It can be fast and people can dance, or it can be slow and people can think.” Throughout the mid-1970s, Slim and his tough band worked the South and North side clubs every night of the week, gaining a huge following and getting the attention of promoters and record labels. Slim’s recording career began with a series of singles in 1966; 12 years later, in 1977, he recorded his first album for Marcelle Morgantini’s French MCM label. He also recorded for Alligator, Wolf, Rooster, Evidence, Delmark, Storyville, Black & Blue, and many others before finding a home in 1990 at , which issued ten albums and a live DVD over that span. His last release, 2012’s Bad Boy, proved that Slim could still deliver the goods. Slim and his group, the Teardrops, have won six Blues Music Awards, including the coveted Blues Band of the Year in 2003. Since the first Blues Music Awards in 1980, Slim and his band have been nominated 44 times, a testament to Slim’s appeal to both critics and fans alike. Three months after his death, Slim won the 2013 Traditional Blues Male Artist. The music world will miss this true original. – Art Tipaldi

OTHER PASSINGS

Micky Baker –November 15, 1925 – November 27, 2012 Johnnie Billington – 1935 to April 1, 2013 – February 22, 1928 – July 1, 2013 Eddie Burns – February 8, 1928 – December 12, 2012 Precious Bryant –January 4, 1942 – January 13, 2013 Rosco Chenier –November 6, 1941 – February 7, 2013 – September 30, 1977 – October 6, 2012 – October 24, 1936 – April 10, 2013 T-Model Ford – 1923 – July 16, 2013 Alvin Lee – December 19, 1944 – March 6, 2013 Shirley Lewis – February 25, 1937 – May 5, 2013 Willie Littlefield – September 16, 1931 – June 23, 2013 Jimmy McCracklin –August 13, 1921 – December 20, 2012 Kathi McDonald –September 25, 1948 – October 3, 2012 Ann Rabson –April 12, 1945 – January 30, 2013 Cleotha Staples –April 11, 1934 – February 21, 2013 Artie “Blues Boy” White – April 16, 1937 – April 20, 2013

Blues Music Magazine 71 Statement of Ownership

As required by the United States Postal Standards, below is the Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation of Blues Music Magazine USPS 1091-7543. Blues Music Magazine is published six times a year with a $35.00 annual subscription price. The known office of publication and general business offices are located at 1001 11th Ave West, Bradenton, FL 34205. Exclusive licensee MojoWax Media, Inc., managing editor, Art Tipaldi, P.O. Box 1446, Bradenton, FL 34206. Blues Music Magazine is owned by MojoWax Media, Inc. whose president and chief executive officer is John Sullivan, P.O. Box 1446, Bradenton, FL 34206. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders: NONE. The average number of copies of each issue during the preced- ing 12 months are: (A) Total Number of Copies Printed: 20,000; (B1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 11,500; (B2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 0; (B3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS: 7500; (B4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS: 0 (C) Total Paid Circulation: 19,500; (D1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0; (D2) Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0; (D3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS: 0; (D4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or Other Means): 500; (E) Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: 500; (F) Total Distribution: 20,000;(G) Copies not Distributed: 0; (H) Total: 20,000; Percent Paid: 98%. The actual number of copies of single issue nearest to filing date (Oct/Nov Issue) are: Total Number of Copies Printed: 20,000; (B1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 11,515; (B2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541: 0;(B3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS: 7245; (B4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS: 790 (C) Total Paid Circulation: 19550; (D1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0; (D2) Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0; (D3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS: 0; (D4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or Other Means): 450; (E) Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: 450; (F) Total Distribution: 20,000; (G) Copies not Distributed: 0; (H) Total: 20,000; (I) Percent Paid: 98%.

I certify that the statements above are correct and complete. Signed John Sullivan President MojoWax Media, Inc.

Blues Music Magazine celebrates the student teacher relationship in the DOWN THE ROAD blues as we feature the exquisite pairing between Charlie Musselwhite and Ben Harper. We cover the recording of their record, Get Up!, and review their live show. In addition, we’ve profiled piano master Marcia Ball, talked with Don Bennett, her bass player for more then 30 years, talked blues roots with Corey Harris, and sat with Otis Taylor, his daughter Cassie, and violinist Annie Harris. We’ll take you on the road with snapshots of exciting shows and tell you about the best of the summer’s current crop of blues.

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