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Home , Albert Castiglia, Big Bill Morganfield, Bob Corritore, Bob Margolin, Brownie (guitar), Charlie Musselwhite

JANUARY 2021

interview with DUStin ArBUCKLe

interview with CLAUDe BOUrBOn

interview with

ArtiCLe: hiLL COUntrY

LAwrenCe LeBO’S COLUMn

reviewS

viDeOS

Dustin Arbuckle by Gavin Peters

CONTACT:email: [email protected] Web: www.bluesinthesouth.com Twitter: @bluesinthesouth 1 BLUES GIGS: FROM EXMOUTH TO EASTBOURNE AND A BIT MORE BESIDES

ONCE MORE, WE HAVE NO GIGS TO PUBLISH. ALL HAVE BEEN CANCELLED OR OCCASIONALLY POSTPONED. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO

SAY WHEN THINGS WILL RETURN TO NORMAL, BUT BiTS WILL CAREFULLY MONITOR THE SITUATION AND WHEN THINGS START TO RETURN TO NORMAL WE SHALL LET YOU KNOW.

IN THE MEAN TIME, DON’T GO TO GIGS, MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE AND REMEMBER:

THE CORONA VIRUS DOES NOT CIRCULATE

IT IS PEOPLE THAT CIRCULATE IT

Listings are provided as a guide only. Don’t forget to check the venue before you leave home to ensure that the gig is still on. The listing here is far from complete, so check out www.bluesinthesouth.com as that is updated all the time: Last date for inclusion here is the 10th of the preceding month — ie 10 Jan for Feb Do you enjoy Blues in the South?

Why not sign up for regular Monthly delivery?

IT’S SIMPLE

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CLICK HERE or SCAN THE QR CODE TOP 25 BLUES - 2020 by BLUES IN THE SOUTH IN CONJUNCTION WITH WEDNESDAY’S EVEN WORSE

25 Cathy Grier I'm All Burn 24 David Rotundo Band So Much Trouble 23 Ben Levin Carryout or Delivery 22 Half Deaf Clatch Electric Desert 21 400 Bears 400 Bears 20 The Nick Moss Band Feat. Dennis Gruenling The High Cost Of Low Living 19 Elles Bailey Ain't Nothing But 18 Sugar Blue Colors 17 Andres Roots Tartu Lockdown 16 Catfish Keith Blues At Midnight 15 My Blues Pathway 14 Chris Corcoran Band Coolerator 13 Shemekia Copeland Uncivil War 12 Larkin Poe Self Made Man 11 Albert Castiglia Wild And Free 10 In A Roomful Of Blues 09 Johnny Iguana Spectacular! 08 Ice Cream In Hell 07 Frank Bey All My Dues Are Paid 06 JT Lauritsen Blue Eyed Soul Vol 2 05 Shaun Murphy Flame Still Burns 04 Victor Wainright and the Train Memphis Loud 03 The Bigtone Sessions 02 Martin McNeill Cat Squirrel 01 & 100 Years Of Blues BiTS and Pieces: Stuff and occasional nonsense SOME THOUGHTS FOR 2021

No Pollyanna Viewpoint - Good Things Are Happening Right Now

Houston TX (December 8 2020)

by

John in HOUSTON

If you have been in the music business for any length of time you’ve certainly witnessed changes in various technologies. If that were not so we would all be buying wax cylinders and placing our ears close to a huge ear horn. My, but we are not in anymore Dorothy......

I remember when someone told me to buy a four track tape player for my car which I did. Soon afterward the same guy told me to buy a new eight track deck. Of course that led to a cassette player in my car which of course evolved into a CD player. So things change and this pandemic situation is definitely horrible but through its effects on society it is breeding a new normal for artists. Some of you may already be learning about this new live streaming "stuff". This is a new income opportunity that is picking up speed due to COVID and millions of people having ample free time on their hands.

In the near future most major artists will perform at large live events and anyone that could not attend in person will be able to purchase a ticket online and log on from anywhere in the world. Imagine this: if an arena can hold 60,000 people what if the internet could double that attendance? Pretty cool if you are receiving major bookings but what about live streaming on a smaller scale? Actually that’s pretty cool too.

Recording studios see the future and live streaming from an acoustically cool environment is becoming the new wave of change for aspiring artists. One studio owner told me that his first client held a live stream from his studio and brought in $1,500 in tips. A listening room owner told me that some of the artists performing there without an audience but with playing into a three camera shoot have reported generating up to $2,400. The internet is powerful and live streaming is a component of the new normal. Some of you may only want to do one show to see what it's like while others may already be looking to generate weekly or monthly shows. If so then a streaming studio may well be in your future.

Right now if you have down time this could be your time to learn. If so then also be sure to check out Stage It online. There you can see who’s streaming shows each week. My hunch is that you may know a number of the artists already using Stage It to get the word out. Beyond live streaming many of you have thought about licensing your music but have not had the time to look into this

5 income opportunity. Licensing is a good thing. It's another resource of income. Check out the online Stage it service that makes it easy to understand and get started, take a look at Barry Coffing’s Music Supervisors. They present a straight forward easy to understand set of instructions and explain how to get started at no cost. Moving on. Another good thing that is happening right now - established artists are getting their merchandise line in place for 2021.

Obviously they are placing their orders for 2021 Tee’s and some finally have the time to take a closer look at companies like National Pen. These people imprint on more items than just pens and yes, you can afford these smaller items. Merchandise tables need a price range to match the wallets of everyone that stops by and to not just offer Tee's and CDs. As an example they may want a Tee perhaps and an imprinted bottle opener that sells for less.

The bottom line is that you are in this business the same as I am. We’ve got both feet in and we're not turning back now.

Damn the pandemic! Full speed ahead.....

Houston The BiTS CHRISTMAS COMPETITION

Austin Chicago Clarkesdale Houston Jackson KansasCity Madison Memphis NewOrleans NewYork

There was a significant number of correct answers to the BiTS Christmas Competition received, so a draw was held.

The winner was Tracey Knight of Basingstoke. The runners up were, Brian Cope of Bexhill-on-Sea and Nigel Buckfield of Southampton.

The prizewinners have been notified and will receive their bundles of CDs as soon as possible after Christmas.

Sincere Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all for participating!

7

THE BiTS INTERVIEW: Dustin Arbuckle

BiTS: Tell me something about your upbringing. Were you raised in a home with a lot of music?

DA: Well, I grew up in the Wichita, Kansas area; honestly. It was not in a terribly musical household. My dad had been a when he was younger. He was a drummer, but I never actually saw my father touch a drum kit. He loved music and loved blues and classic rock and jazz and things like that, so I have vague memories of hearing some of that music when I was young. I talk about it a lot that my first musical memory was riding in the truck with my dad when I was probably about three years old, and he was the old Leadbelly tune, ‘Gallis Pole’. Which of course is the much older traditional tune, but I mean Leadbelly really pretty heavily popularised it in the twentieth century, and that was the version that covered and all that stuff. I think my parents listened to music and I remember hearing a lot of , old country music in the truck with my grandfather on my mum's side and things like that, and I loved to sing as far back as I can remember, but it wasn't as though I had a bunch of other in the household. I think I probably was fairly average from the perspective of just hearing the music around me. It happened that I stumbled on to the music that made me want to play music when I was in my teenage years.

BiTS: When did you first start to play an instrument? Would that be at school?

DA: Yeah, my first instrument was trumpet in the school band. I guess I would have been about ten or eleven years old and I didn't stick with that for very long, honestly. I was in for about three years and it never really lit me up. It was never something that I had an easy time committing myself to. But I did love to sing and after I quit band, I joined the school choir and that was always something that I liked more, but after I started hearing blues and becoming conscious of what that music really was when I was about 15, that's when I started really wanting to play music and maybe start a band. When I was 16, I picked up the harmonica, and that's been obviously my main instrument ever since.

BiTS: Have you ever played any other instrument? Do you play at all?

DA: I play a little bit of bass. I've tried to play guitar and my fingers are just dumb [chuckling]. I've never had much luck getting anywhere with the guitar, but I did learn to play bass a little bit back in the Moreland and Arbuckle days just so we could have that different tool in the toolbox, but it's always been pretty secondary. From an instrumental standpoint, the harmonica has always been my main focus.

BiTS: What harmonica players were you listening to in the early days then?

9 DA: Well, I would say when I got started, and I think we talked about this last week, the reason I picked the harmonica to try first was because it was small and it wasn't that expensive, and I figured if I had no natural aptitude for it, it wasn't going to cost me or my parents very much for me to try it [chuckles]. You're going to spend a few hundred dollars to get into a decent guitar. You're going to spend some money to get a keyboard or a piano or something like that, so it was kind of a The Duo very practical thing for me was trying the harmonica, though I did like the instrument and I just took to it very quickly, and I loved it immediately.

The man who got me started on the instrument was a local guy here in Wichita, Bill Garrison, who was an old friend of my dad's. Bill was a very good harmonica player and especially a really good rack harp player. Bill was a good guitar player as well, and so he would play the harp on the rack like or John Hammond or someone like that. He was kind of who got me started and helped me understand some of the basic things about the instrument, although he never really taught me a whole lot actively, he was the one who got me started. After that the harmonica players whose music really caught my attention, the first one was Sonny Boy Williamson II. He's still one of my favourite harp players. Of course, the Howlin' Wolf stuff I liked a lot when I was first learning. Wolf's style was pretty rudimentary, but he had a great sense of rhythm, and I tell a lot of beginning harmonica players that you can get good ideas about just kind of basic stuff listening to Wolf. , of course, but particularly with Little Walter, the stuff he did as part of the band in the early days because that stuff, his tone and his technique, it's still there, but in Muddy's band, Walter worked within a little bit more of a box, a little bit more of a framework, so it was a little easier to understand. Whereas his own stuff [laughing] can be a little bit mind-blowing sometimes and so it took me a little while to really start to understand some of Walter's solo stuff, but yes, his stuff with Muddy really caught me early.

In my early years, I was also really heavily influenced by a guy named Lee McBee, who was a fellow Kansan. Lived in the Lawrence area and played a lot around the Kansas City area, which is about three hours away from me but I first heard Lee when I was about 19, at a club here in Wichita and for some reason, there was something about seeing him play that night that just really really caught my attention and really lit me up, and I think prior to that I enjoyed playing harmonica, but I think I viewed myself more as a singer and the harmonica was something that I wanted to be good at, but it was secondary to me and something about hearing Lee live and meeting him, I don't know what it was that night, but that was an experience that inspired me to really want to be better as a harmonica player and really become something more than I was at that point and luckily we ended up getting to be friends, and he was a huge musical influence and a great kind of encouraging mentor toward me for a long time. If you're not familiar with Lee, he was the front man of and The Crawl. It was a based band, and he toured and sang on most of those records

10 and did a lot of touring around North America and Europe with Mike, throughout the 90s and kind of an interesting aside to that is in the last few years since Lee passed away, Mike and I have become more acquainted and have gotten to be friends and Mike and I have played some shows together here and there, so that's been a lot of fun.

BiTS: Good, that's terrific. Tell me something about how Moreland and Arbuckle got going.

DA: Well, when I was playing locally here early on, my original band which was called Morning After and was with several dudes who I'd gone to high school with or I knew from around the area, was kind of fairly standard blues-rock, and we played some traditional stuff, but we played a lot of the kind of blues-rock stuff that you hear like Hendrix and Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan and things like that. I always had a really strong interest in the more traditional vibe. I really loved and the really early stuff and started to really get into the North sound, and I really wanted to play more of that and so when Aaron and I's paths originally crossed, he was doing that. He was playing acoustic more, kind of really heavy-handedEddie Mac Scoundrels Mississippi at the bluesBlues Clubstyle stuff and so we had a kinship over wanting to gravitate towards that sort of music, and so that was kind of what brought us together and was the basis for our musical relationship.

BiTS: You were together, I think, for about 15 years, is that right?

DA: We were. We started playing together in 2002, and then the band parted in 2017.

BiTS: You travelled all over the world, playing and singing and performing, was there any outstanding gig that had something that you remember as being one of those cases where you're standing on the stage playing or singing and you think what on Earth am I doing here, this is wonderful?

DA: I think I've had a lot of those moments over the years. I've been lucky enough, like you said with M&A, when I say M&A, I mean Moreland and Arbuckle, we got to do a lot. We toured all over North America and Europe, the UK, Australia. We even went and played for the troops in the Middle East at one point back in 2008. I think there were a lot of those moments. I think maybe one of the biggest ones was we played the Suwałki Blues Festival in Poland, one year, and something like 15,000 people came to that festival, and so that was definitely one of the bigger moments and the crowd was going nuts, and I remember that as being one of the wow moments, you know [laughing]. Crazy, we're here, you know. I can think of plenty of others over the years, but I'm lucky to get to do what I do, and we had a lot of great shows with that band and a lot of great experiences over the years.

BiTS: But a few years ago, Aaron decided that he was going to spend more time with his family, is what they usually say these days. How difficult was it to reform a band? DA: Well, forming a new band was actually not difficult at all [laughing]. It came together pretty quickly and easily. After we made the decision to part ways with Moreland and Arbuckle because Aaron was kind of just done with the road and it was sort of time for everyone to move on, but our drummer, Kendall Newby and I, had a conversation around that time, “do you want to keep playing together?” And we agreed that we did and there were some shows that had originally been on the books for M&A that for one reason or another as we played out our schedule, there were a few shows that weren't going to work to play with M&A, but I didn't want to let those shows just go, so Kendall and I decided that we would try to get a new band together as quickly as possible so we could cover some of these shows, and so we called Brandon Hudspeth, who's a guitarist who I'd known for several years kind of casually. I had actually met him because he would play with Lee from time to time, and we had gotten to know each other around the regional scene. Brandon's a great guitar player, very versatile. Great blues guitar player but has a strong jazz Dustin Arbuckle and the Damnations background, and he's from Oklahoma originally so I think somehow, he just instinctively understands country music [chuckles]. I called Brandon and asked if Dorothy Moore with Teeny Tucker he'd be interested in getting together to do some shows and try it out and he was, and I called a friend of ours named Mark Foley, here in Wichita, who had actually done some bass session work on the last Moreland and Arbuckle record and who I had played with for years in kind of a side project, well what at the time, was kind of a side project band called Haymakers which was more of an acoustic Americana string band, and Mark was interested in getting down with this new band, and so the four of us got together and got to have about three rehearsals and one tune-up gig before we had to go open for George Thorogood in front of about a thousand people, but the band just worked. It worked and pretty quickly we felt like we had something good and something special and that's how the Damnations came together, and three years later, we're still working to grow the band and build and try to get ourselves out there. Now what I will say is that there are challenges that come from starting a new band and having to kind of rebuild your fan base and your following and just kind of get the word out there. Even though there are still a lot of people out there who know me and Kendall and remember us from Moreland and Arbuckle, obviously it's reaching all those people again and getting the new music out to them while also trying to get out to a new audience because it is a different band with a different vibe, and we want to try to catch new and different people as well.

BiTS: And you've done so far two EPs, and then this latest of yours; all of your own music or do you cover any other stuff from other people?

12 DA: Well, the majority of the new album which is called “My Getaway”, the majority of it is original material, but we sprinkled in a few songs. We have a very good friend who's a great , his name is Ryan Taylor, and he's been in some bands that over the years, back in the M&A days that we used to split shows with. He's had songs in Academy Award-nominated movies and on TV shows and things like that, so he's a great songwriter, but he's a close friend and he's sent me a lot of good stuff over the years and we've kind of continued that partnership, so there's three songs on the record that Ryan wrote, and we did cover one of Lee McBee's tunes which is ‘My Getaway’, which is the title track, but the rest of it is original material on the new record. We did a live EP a couple of years ago which was mostly cover stuff, some of the favourite kind of cover tunes that we play in our live set, but with the new record we wanted to focus on mostly original material or songs that had been gifted to us by songwriter friends.

BiTS: Tell me something about the track on the album called ‘Swingling’, which I think is absolutely fabulous. Where did that come from?

DA: [Laughing] well ‘Swingling’ is a tune that happened because I had a free afternoon and I was sitting at home and just sat down and had a beer and started playing harmonica just to pass the time and that melody just sort of came into my mind and I started working with it and showed it to the guys at a sound check of a show not long after, and it pretty quickly came together into that kind of mellow swing instrumental. We thought about putting words to it, but we really just liked how it worked as an instrumental, and I think that's a sound I like. It's kind of those mellow sort of swing tunes. I feel like it can put you in a good mindset and we felt like it was kind of a good counterpoint to a lot of the rest of the record and sort of a cool mellow way to send people out at of the album. But the name of the song [chuckles] we had kind of a hard time coming up with it and I was telling the story of how the song came together on stage at a show in City, and I noted that I had been sitting and drinking a Yuengling beer when I was coming up with the song and a friend of ours who was in the crowd said just call it ‘Swingling’. That's perfect, alright. A friend of ours named Jim Kanavy who's a huge fan. One of the biggest supporters of the band we have here in the States. I said hey, Jim, you win, you got it, so that's how the name came about.

BiTS: That's an absolutely terrific story. I love that. Tell me, is there anything special about the harp that you use on that? It sounds very low register to me.

DA: Yeah, so I actually play two different harmonicas on that song. The hook, the head, the melody I'm playing on a Hohner 364, which is a 12-hole diatonic harmonica that is like a low octave C harp. I'm playing in second position in the key of G, but it's an octave lower than a regular C harp, and so it sits more kind of in the tonal range like a chromatic, but it is a diatonic harmonica, so it does have a big rich fat tone. And then for my second solo, I switch to third position which I'm playing on a low F harmonica but also in the key of G, but that's also a low-keyed harp that has kind of a deeper register to it. I felt like those harps kind of fit that vibe of song pretty well. BiTS: That's absolutely fabulous. What about the other songs that are on the album, was there any one that is outstanding for you, one that you look forward to playing to when you're playing a gig?

DA: Well, honestly, I love all of those songs. I think they're all good solid tunes and what I think is fun about the album and about that collection of songs and really just about us as a band in general, is the variety of musical styles that we have there. Blues is definitely part of it, but there's obviously kind of jazzier stuff like ‘Swingling’, there's some stuff that's more soul-oriented and and some country music on there. All of the styles get touched on, and I think that's kind of what's fun about the record. I guess ‘Say My Name’ is a really fun song, the opening track and one that we kind of treated as one of the singles. That's one that Mark actually wrote the bulk of and I kind of helped finish the lyrics on it, but it's got a great hook and it's got a great kind of a unique feel. It's sort of like a soul tune, but it's almost sort of got like a surfie thing going on which makes it a lot of fun. ‘Dealer's Lament’, another one of my favourite songs, it's almost sort of like a kind of Black Crowsie type of a ballad and that's another one that I really always enjoy playing. It's tough to pick favourites. I'm proud of a lot of those songs because I feel like we put together some good tunes there.

BiTS: Have you been badly affected by COVID? Are the gigs starting to come back, or not?

DA: Well, yes. To answer your question, yes, we have been affected by COVID pretty significantly, although I will say because of the area of the country in which we live, we've maybe been less impacted as musicians than other parts of the country. Kansas, because of a variety of socio- political factors [laughing], for part of the year was more open than some places were. And also our virus numbers were lower than some areas for a while as well, so that helped. Over the summer from about mid-June and into the early fall, we were able to play fairly regularly. There were enough clubs that have outdoor stages or places that got creative as far as like doing parking lot shows or things like that where we could play outdoors, and people could spread out and be a little more safe, or at least in theory they could. Many of them didn't choose to, unfortunately, but we were at least able to work somewhat regularly for a few months there and then unfortunately as fall hit, our infection rate around here just went nuts and still are not in a good place and so that kind of coincided with the weather getting colder and us not really being comfortable playing indoor shows, so at this point, we have not been able to do much over the last six weeks to two months, and of course, from about March till June, things were pretty well shut down as well. While we did have a stretch of time where we were able to work some, it's not been anything close to what we would normally do, and we certainly lost almost all of our festival gigs and concert series gigs that are where we make the bulk of our money, so, unfortunately, I think we're probably looking until at least spring, early summer before we're going to get back to working with any regularity again.

BiTS: There are many people who are on their uppers because they haven't been able to get gigs and that kind of thing.

DA: Yeah, it's a tough situation, and from what I've heard from friends in the UK, it sounds like you guys are in a very tough situation as well and so it's a very tough thing it's like it's really hard Dustin Arbuckle & The Damnations- Tombstone Blues - Don Odell's Legends not working, I mean financially but also emotionally and psychologically, it's hard to not do what we do. This is how we've directed our lives. This is what we do, and it's hard to not do that, but at the same time we don't want to put ourselves and the people around us at risk and don't really want to encourage, especially now that it can't be outdoors and people can't spread out, don't really want to encourage people to gather, so it's a tough situation and we're all just going to have to try to do our best to get through it and hopefully, things will continue to move in a positive direction with the vaccines and things like that to where hopefully it won't be too long before things will be able to be a little bit closer to normal.

BiTS: I won't take any more of your time. I'll call this to an end now. Thank you very much, indeed and you have a good day.

DA: Thanks for your time have a great day and Merry Christmas. BiTS INTERVIEW: CLAUDE BOURBON Claude Bourbon is a phenomial guitar player. Living in the UK for many years he has until COVID travelled relentlessly for gigs all over the country and elsewhere. Despite the fact that he has often billed himself as ‘The Frog with the Blues’, his repertoire consists of a wide range of styles and types of music all flawlessly delivered. Ian McKenzie spoke to him by telephone at his home near Penrith.

BiTS: What I want to do is to talk to you about your career thus far and maybe some stuff about what you're doing now. Tell me something about your background. Where were you born, and how did you learn to start playing the guitar?

CB: Yeah, well, I was born in France, in the North East of France and then I grew up in . My parents moved to Switzerland when I was really, really young, I was six months old, so that's where I grew up and then I went back to live in France for a while in the 90s, and then I moved to just over 20 years ago now.

BiTS: You're here permanently now, are you?

CB: Well, yeah, for the last 20 years, yeah. We've been here for a long time. We used to live down there in Portsmouth, and we moved up here to Cumbria four years ago now, and so yes, that's where we are now. Middle of the sheep [laughing]. Sheep everywhere.

BiTS: Tell me about how you started to play the guitar. What music were you attracted to when you first started?

CB: Well you know, that was back in the mid-seventies, early seventies I would say, I was very much into English rock bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, people like that and when I heard these people play like Ritchie Blackmore or Jimmy Page, I felt like I wanted to give it a go and you don't really know where it comes from especially since I don't have any people playing music in the family and yes, I just loved the sound of the guitar and then you want to try it for yourself to see how it goes. Then I started to learn classical guitar when I started to play the guitar. I went to school to learn the classical, the proper way with one foot up [chuckles] and reading the notes and all that stuff. I did that for about five, six years and by then I was in my early twenties and then I realised it's too much discipline playing classical. You have to stick to the score. You can't improvise, and I wanted to write my stuff, and then I like improvising, so I'm glad I learned the basics of how to play classical guitar, but I still use it nowadays. It still helps me a lot now, these days and it's good to understand music anyway. Then I joined a kind of blues-folk band, a guy from Belgium was living in Switzerland and so I used to play with the band. He was a guy from Belgium, so we played a lot in Belgium in the early 80s.

BiTS: How did you find the blues then, I mean obviously through that band but when did you become a blues enthusiast?

CB: Blues music is something you've heard of without knowing it's blues music. It's easy music to understand, so you hear that. The very first I would say, I'm not sure if it's really blues, but the first track that was kind of a blues tune that I really liked was a song by Creedence Clearwater Revival, a song called ‘I Can See the Light’, or something like that. [Singing] Put a candle in the window. It was a kind of a blues tune, and I liked blues music yeah, but I'm not a huge blues aficionado, if you like. Obviously, if you play the guitar you always end up playing the blues somewhere and then I was playing quite a few blues tunes and we also played tunes and kind of Americana stuff and so I ended up learning the blues, well my take on the blues, with them. I always liked mixing up stuff. I like all kinds of music. It can be classical. I really like Spanish music. I like Spanish guitarists a lot, so I think they are the best. I like mixing up different music, different styles of music. A bit of Spanish, a bit of classical, a bit of blues and at the end of the day all the music is made of the same notes, so it's kind of easy to mix all these things together because there's only 12 notes. Andrés Segovia BiTS: You're a very lucky man to be able to play in a number of different styles. I remember many years ago reading an interview with Andrés Segovia, who said that he really wanted to play jazz, but he didn't have that kind of rhythm.

CB: Yeah, I mean like Segovia was really good at what he did, obviously, but if you play jazz music, I'm not sure Segovia was really good at improvising, so I'm not sure he would have been really good at it. People like Julian Bream, he had a take on jazz. He was quite good at it.

BiTS: What decided you, Claude, all those years ago, to move to the UK?

CB: The food and the weather. BiTS: [Laughing] Pretty good English sarcasm!

CB: No, really it just happened, it was the end of the 90s, I was living in France, and then I met a guy from Portsmouth. His name is Clive Goodwin, and he started to get me gigs over here. Early in 2000 there was still a lot of pubs putting on live music, so I had a lot of gigs in pubs and blues clubs, all kind of gigs in pubs and clubs, so I was spending more time in England than in France, and this friend had a big house, and he said why don't you move over here, and I moved over here? My then-girlfriend, now wife came with me. We had a little baby with us and then they started to go to school and then life took over. Now my son is 22, [chuckles] and he's the English one of the family.

BiTS: Over the years Claude, you've made, I can't tell you how many, dozens of records. Do you have any idea how many albums you've made?

CB: No, I haven't counted them. Probably 15, or something like that. I just have a new one out now.

BiTS: Oh, really?

CB: Yeah, a couple of weeks ago and it's called “Home Cooked”.

BiTS: Tell me about that one, where was it recorded?

CB: Here at home. In my studio here and plenty of time at the moment, since March. I did it here and wrote it here, recorded it here and, yeah, it's just been released. There's 16 tracks on it and it’s called ‘Home Cooked’.

BiTS: Is it a solo piece, just you?

CB: Yeah, yeah, it's just me. It's a bit electric, acoustic. I play a bit of electric guitar on it as well and double-track electric and a few vocals as well. It's only me, but it's been a little bit embellished if you want, but it's me, yeah.

BiTS: Where is that available from, Claude?

CB: You can get it from my website www.claudebourbon.org.

BiTS: How do you go about writing a song?

CB: I don't write the lyrics. Most of the tunes are in English, except one, which is in French. There's 16 tracks, there are maybe ten, 11 songs and six, seven instrumentals. The lyrics are written by a guy called Tim Leaning. He lives in York, and we have done quite a few CDs together and so I always have a bit of music here and there and I always play the guitar and record stuff on my phone, so I always have quite a lot of music in store and now and then my friend Tim, sends me his work, his lyrics and then when I find something interesting, I try to fit my music with his lyrics. Or sometimes I don't have any music, but for whatever reason, his lyrics give me an idea for the music. It's usually pretty quick to work out a song. Yes, we've done a lot of CDs together. He writes the lyrics. I've got another guy on this CD. He's an American guy from Houston, Texas and he has written two songs on the CD.

BiTS: How badly have you been affected by COVID?

CB: It's awful. Since March I've played five gigs and we had to postpone, cancel over a hundred gigs so far. The whole of the US. I play a lot in North America, US and Canada, so all of that has been postponed until next year, hopefully, we will be able to do it next year. We still don't know, but we've rescheduled the gigs anyway. Yeah, I don't know. We don't see no end to this thing, so it's a difficult time for the whole industry. It's a catastrophe. I don't know how it's going to start again. It will start again, but when and how, we really don't know. Yeah, and as you are self-employed, you don't have any income. You sell a few CDs online, but that don't pay the bills, so financially it's a really tough year.

BiTS: I can believe that. Have you been able to do anything online?

CB: We have a very poor signal down here, so we can't just do a live online gig, so we pre-recorded a gig, and we've sold it. There was a club in America, they wanted us to record a gig for them, so we've shot a gig down here and they bought it. Again, you sell this thing for $500 once, and that's it, after six months. I played two gigs in England it was earlier, just before the lockdown, between two lockdowns. I played one gig in Portsmouth and another one down in Devon in someplace and three gigs in in September and that's it since March. Yeah, it's not really funny, you know, not at all.

BiTS: Okay, that's terrific, Claude, I won't take any more of your time. I've got one last question for you really, when you're listening to musicians these days, who do you listen to, what contemporary music?

CB: Contemporary music, J.J. Cale. Is he contemporary, I don't know? Yeah, I like J.J. Cale.

BiTS: Yeah, wonderful artist. Lets leave it like that!

CB: Okay, thank you so much, Ian.

BiTS: Bye.

CB: Bye-bye. Welcome 2021 Farewell 2020. Don’t let the doorknob hit your backside on your way out the door!!! 2020 was the longest year of my entire life! As I write this, folks in the UK have started receiving their COVID-19 vaccines and here in the US they have just arrived. So, I’m hopeful that little by little 2021 will see some kind of return to normalality.

To be honest, if it weren’t for my monthly column here in BiTS, 2020 would have been a complete wash for me. My performing and teaching career has been halted. I am deeply thankful to Ian McKenzie and BiTS for having me. The ability to keep writing with purpose and connecting to my music community has been a godsend for me during the pandemic. This Yank is proper chuffed to be a part of BiTS!

Looking back at 2020 I had the pleasure to bring you interviews with many wonderful artists, including current Grammy nominee Ruthie Foster, , Dawn Tyler Watson, , Victor Wainwright, Kaz Hawkins, and Vanessa Collier to name a few. Many were very brave artists who went forward with a new release in the strangest and newest times for performing musicians. I was honoured to interview UK Blues Federation founder, blues broadcaster and music presenter Ashwyn Smyth. He told us all about his varied and fascinating career, the UK Blues Federation, and the blues scene in France. In addition, I interviewed retiring Blues Foundation president Barbara Balin-Newman. She reflected on her time at the helm of The Blues Foundation and all the accomplishments. In the June June issue I interviewed a variety of artists, labels, presenters including , , Kevin Hillier, and A. J. Gross about life in the music business during the pandemic and how fans could be of support. The music kept flowing as best it could during COVID-19 and it was a delight to write about it for BiTS. his month I feature , born and raised blues-rock diva Kat Riggins about her latest Trelease titled “Cry Out”. This is the 40-year old’s first project with the Texas based Gulf Coast Records label co-owned by guitarist Mike Zito and Guy Hale. Zito produced, arranged and played guitar on the album and his recognizable signature is present indeed. Kat penned all 13 songs for the new album, including the title track, her call to action against bias and social injustice: a hot button subject in the year 2020.

I asked Kat about herself and her newest release “Cry Out”. This is what she told me …

LL: Please tell us a bit about the family you grew up in.

KR: My family was the family that all the other kids in the neighbourhood kind of inserted themselves into. Some even called my parents mom and dad too! My parents welcomed it. The more the merrier! While individuality was encouraged, it was important to them that we spend time together. My dad worked 24hr shifts as a firefighter and paramedic. Sometimes he’d pick up shifts and have to work for days at a time. So my mom would load us up and take us all over to the station to visit with him. Then there were our Activities Nights! Once a week we did something at home together as a family…games, painting or drawing, reading, movie night, Kat Riggins Photo by Mark Schoen etc. Creativity was always nurtured. I remember singing and dancing with my sister and cousins in our grandparents’ empty pool, because the acoustics were great! My family is the source of my joy! It’s where I learned to love.

LL: I read that your mother introduced you to the blues. How so?

KR: My parents had an extensive music collection and music was always playing in our house. We woke up to the radio! We would sing and dance along to everything from R’n’B and gospel to country and rap, and everything in between! It was when I heard the fearlessness and strength in the voices of some of my mom’s favourites, that I began to allow myself to believe in a dream. When she played Denise LaSalle, , Betty Wright… I heard my voice, and I kinda liked it! LL: When did you know you could sing?

KR: As I mentioned, I didn’t really like my voice until I heard it in the voices of some amazing Blues divas. Even then, I still wasn’t comfortable using it in front of other people until after my mom passed away. Mind you, I didn’t mind SINGING in front of people. I just never used my own voice. I didn’t start taking the advice my dad gave me when I was 13, until I lost my mother. I started to live in the songs she used to play when I was a kid, and I remembered the feeling I felt in those honest voices! I started to use my honest voice too and it felt like freedom! That’s when I knew I could sing…the moment I felt comfortable in my own voice.

LL: Did you study music/vocals?

KR: I did take 2 weeks of piano lessons when I was 7 years old and 1 year of classical voice lessons in college (Believe it or not, at one time I could deliver a decent aria!), but other than that I got most of my training in the church choir.

LL: “Cry Out” is your first album on Gulf Coast Records. How did you come to sign with them?

KR: Well, from what I hear I owe it to Albert Castiglia! They tell me that Albert talked me up to Mike and Guy and on his recommendation, they checked out my stuff and liked what they heard and saw. I am so grateful to Albert for believing in me. He has seriously been like a big brother to me in his industry and God knows I love him like one!

LL: Let’s talk about “Cry Out”. Can you tell us about your concept and vision for this album?

KR: I just really hope to encourage the listener to be an active participant in life. Of course, there are foot stompin’ good time songs, sassy hard drivin’ tunes and sweet and sultry lovers’ grooves too, but the general message is that there is strength in unity. I’m hoping to spark courage in the face of adversity, oppression and tribulations. It is about breaking the silence in order to inspire hope, peace, and self-confidence for those lacking it, humility for those who could use it and positive change for all of us.

LL: Cry Out is a collaboration between yourself and producer/guitarist/arranger Mike Zito. Please tell us about that process.

KR: It was such a fun experience! I wrote the lyrics and melodies for the songs and sent Mike voice files from my phone. He composed around those files before we took the music to the studio and taught the band. It was exciting to watch his mind work and it was great how he really understood my crazy ideas. He and Guy gave me the reins in the studio and allowed me to be me on this record. I appreciate that so much!

LL: The title track “Cry Out” is a timely reflection on social injustice happening in America and around the world. Within the lyric you write, “Cry out for the little boy who hasn’t had enough. Shunned and rejected for calling himself queer, Cry Out little boy, till somebody hears”.

As a gay, African-American woman working in a male dominated profession and genre, how do you experience the need to cry out?

KR: It is imperative! I represent 3 different minority groups, all of which are significantly underrepresented, undervalued and underestimated. It’s said that as artists, we are meant to be a light in the dark. I take that responsibility seriously. If I really do hope to motivate people to be better people, then I MUST cry out.

LL: On the track titled “Heavy” we hear children’s voices in the background. Who are they?

KR: The voices you hear are those of my niece, nephews and my Godson (ages 2yrs-16yrs). In writing this song I was thinking about them. Their future is what we teach them by the examples we set. It's what we leave behind of the world that God made for us. What we do today... who we are, how we treat each other, how we treat this planet... that all falls on them when we aren't here anymore. THEY'LL be left to carry the load. We can give them an edge by lightening the load and leaving a better legacy... or we can keep up current KAT RIGGINS BY PAUL DEVRIES behaviors and leave them on a dying planet occupied by hate. Those sweet voices at the end of "Heavy" are meant to remind us of who we really hurt when we think we're only hurting EACH OTHER.

How about the musicians who play on “Cry Out”?

KR: I was blessed to have some killer musicians leave their mark on this record! I had Mike Zito on rhythm guitar and lead on every song except for ‘Wicked Tongue’. That’s where Albert Castiglia did his thing! On bass there’s Doug Byrkit. Brian Zielie held us down on the drums. We had Lewis Stephens on keys, Johnny Sansone on harmonica, Eric Demmer on sax and Fernando Castillo on trumpet. KAT RIGGINS PHOTO BY K. STAPS.

LL: It goes without saying that the world-wide Coronavirus pandemic has changed the game for all musicians and releasing artists. How have you adjusted your career to adapt, and what can your fans do to support you through the pandemic?

KR: I’ve been trying to adapt and learn new ways to continue to make and share music. In addition to putting out a couple of streams, we’re gonna be releasing a soon! I’m hoping folks will tune in to watch and that they’ll share those videos with their friends. Also, everyone is welcomed to check out my website and visit my online store! Don’t forget to sign up for the mailing list and when hugs are safe again, I owe you one!

~ Lawrence Lebo Lawrence Lebo is an award winning, critically acclaimed Blues recording artist living in Los Angeles, CA, USA. She can be found on the web at www.lawrencelebo.com Those Mississippi Hill Country Blues by Jim Simpson

Jim Simpson, the owner of Big Bear Records, has been involved in the music business for nearly 60 years, as musician, bandleader, promoter, , festival director, manager, journalist and photographer. Jim’s other life is as the proprietor of Henry’s Blues House a venue in Birmingham and of Henry’s Virtual Blues House a free weekly news letter filled with delights. If you are in Birmingham after this dreadful pandemic is sent packing visit the Blues House at The Bull’s Head, Bishopsgate Street, B’ham, B15 1EJ. In the mean time sign up for the Virtual Blues House by clicking here

Here is an example of the goodies you will receive.

HEADIN' FOR THE HILLS

Mississippi Delta Blues is a well-known and recognisable form of blues music, but there is a lesser- known style that might well have slipped under the radar of some folks. It was in the North Mississippi counties of Marshall, Panola, Tate, Tippah and Lafayette where virtually the only work to be found was in the lumber industry and the small farms that The Mississippi Hill Country Blues originally took shape.

That music is deep Country Blues with a driving rhythm, hollered singing over a basic chord sequence, heavy, riffing, hypnotic guitar, unexpected and irregular song structures and with all the feeling you could wish for. The towns of Holly Springs and Oxford, less than 60 miles from Memphis, are considered to be at the centre of Mississippi Hill Country Blues.

The most familiar Hill Country Blues musician was the massively influential Mississippi Fred McDowell, with artists such as and acknowledging McDowell’s work. Raitt developed her technique from listening to his recordings and recorded his songs, while The Stones laid down a rocking version of his classic ‘You Gotta Move’ on the “Sticky Fingers” album.

McDowell was born in 1904 in Rossville, Tennessee to farmers Jimmy McDowell and Ida Cureay who both died while Fred was in his youth. He worked on a farm, taught himself to play guitar, played local dances until he left home at 22 to hobo as an itinerant musician playing suppers, picnics, house parties, fish fries and dances in Red Banks, Lamar and Holly Springs in the Mississippi Hill Country, before settling in Como to work as a farmer, continuing to perform at weekends. He married singer Annie May Collins in 1940, who stayed with him until the end. They had one child.

25 That’s where he was found by Alan Lomax in 1959 who was the first to record him, but McDowell’s breakthrough didn’t come until four years later, when he was 60 years old and went to his Como home to record him for those good guys at Arhoolie. They recorded two albums in fairly short order, bringing Mississippi Fred McDowell the attention he deserved. He played at Blues Festivals throughout the UK and Europe and appeared in the films “The Blues Maker” [1968], “Fred McDowell” [1969] and “Roots of American Music: Country Urban Blues” [1971].

I was fortunate to see and hear him when he first came to the UK as part of the 1965 American Folk Blues Festival—God Bless Horst Lippman and Fritz Rau—and he was extraordinary.

His subsequent recording output was prolific with releases on Vanguard, Testament, Milestone and others as well as more on Arhoolie. He was mostly inactive during 1972. He died that year in Memphis and was buried in Hammond Hill Church Cemetery in Como, Mississippi. He was 68.

Mississippi Fred McDowell - ‘Baby Please Don't Go’

R.L. Burnside was born in the heart of Hill Country Blues territory in Oxford, Mississippi in 1926. He learned to play guitar aged 7 or 8 years old by listening to Mississippi Fred McDowell, and began playing Juke Joints while in his teens. He didn’t get to record until the late 1960s when he appeared on an Arhoolie anthology.

In the late 1940s he moved to Chicago, where he became a regular, but Chi-Town didn’t treat him well: his father, two brothers and two uncles were reportedly all murdered within the span of one year.

Three years later R. L. moved back South, married Alice Mae Taylor in 1949 or 1950, a union that eventually produced thirteen children and thirty four grandchildren. It is said that R.L. was convicted of murdering a man in a crap game in the early 1950s and sent to Parchman’s Farm where his boss arranged for his release after 6 months as his skills as a tractor driver were required.

R. L. Burnside: ‘See My Jumper Hanging On The Line’

Sid Hemphill, the musical patriarch of Mississippi Hill Country, was born in Como, Panola County, in 1878 according to State records, or in 1876 according to Sid himself. The son of a slave fiddle player he was a blind multi-instrumentalist – banjo, guitar, piano, violin, organ, cane fife and more – and songwriter who hand-crafted instruments.

A local string band leader described him to Alan Lomax as “the boar-hog of the hills, the best musician in the world” and apparently Lomax found little to argue about with that, promptly high- tailing it down to Mississippi in 1942 and recording twenty two of Hemphill’s performances as well as an interview. Lomax was to make a similar trip in 1959.

Sid never recorded commercially, although the Lomax recordings have been widely-circulated. Among his many achievements, he wrote the song “The Eighth of January” which was taken by Jimmy Driftwood and became the hit “The Battle of New Orleans” for Johnny Horton.

Sid Hemphill is honoured with a marker on the . He died in Senatobia in 1967, aged 89 or 91!

Sid Hemphill - "The Carrier Line"

Sid’s daughter was Rosa Lee Hill, born in Como in 1910. She was briefly married to a Napoleon Hill, whose name she kept as well as all the income from his book that she assisted him in writing, “Think and Grow Rich”, on the basis of a pre-nuptial agreement signed when he was broke.

She went on to write her own book, entitled “How To Attract A Man and Money”.

She recorded the album “Rosa Lee Hill and Friends” for , music that was in the North Mississippi tradition. Her song, “Bullyin’ Well”, recorded by Lomax, has been released several times over the years. Rosa Lee Hill died in Senatobia in 1968, aged 58.

Rosa Lee Hill - ‘Bullyin' Well’

The man often referred to as the perfect example of Hill Country Blues, though he referred to it as "Cottonpatch Blues", was born in 1930 in Hudsonville. His childhood friend, country and star described him as “the beginning and end of all music”, a statement that is engraved on the tombstone of the singer and guitarist referred to, .

Born David Kimbrough, he first picked up guitar as a child, influenced by the playing of his father, who was a barber by profession. Junior said that his main influences were Mississippi Fred McDowell and a certain Eli Green, said to be a dangerous Voodoo man!

27 In 1986, Junior travelled to Memphis to record for Goldwax, who then decided not to release the tracks as they were “too country”. These recordings eventually saw the light of day in 2009 on Big Legal Mess Records.

Junior Kimbrough was a popular Juke Joint owner, with his debut album “All Night Long” recorded in 1992 in his Junior’s Joint, sometimes referred to as Junior's Place, previously a church, in Chulahoma [Chulahoma is the Choctaw word for red fox]. This was the album, on Fat Possum, that brought him to wider attention and a 4 star review in “”. His bass guitarist was R.L. Burnside’s son, Garry. His drummer was Junior’s son, Kent ‘Kenny’ Kimbrough.

His last two albums “Sad Days, Lonely Nights” and “Most Things Haven’t Worked Out” were also recorded in his Junior’s Joint, which became a place of pilgrimage whose visitors included Keith Richard, and . After his death, his juke joint Junior's Joint continued successfully under the management of his sons, Kinney and David Malone Kimbrough, until it was destroyed by fire in 2000.

Junior featured in the film “Deep Blues – A Musical Pilgrimage to The Crossroads” [1992] filmed in one of his Juke Joints, Chewalla Rib Shack, east of Holly Springs.

Junior Kimbrough died of a stroke followed by a heart attack in 1998 and is buried in the grounds of The Kimbrough Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, near Holly Springs. Purported to have 36 children, he leaves more than simply the legacy of being one of the leading figures in Mississippi Hill Country Blues.

Junior Kimbrough: ‘All Night Long’

Jim Simpson

A Hill Country Get Together

28 29 BIG BILL MORGANFIELD

Interview, by Mike Stephenson, took place in Chicago in 2017. Many thanks should go to Jim Feeney and to Lynn Orman for their help and support in making the interview possible.

I’m one of the sons of Muddy Waters and I was born in Chicago in 1956. I became aware of my musical heritage as I got older. I was aware that my father was a musician and I was aware that he was my father. My mother took me from Chicago to my grandmother and she told her not to tell me who my father is. But my grandmother thought that was silly and she told me who my father was. I was told that my grandmother raised me from six months old and she passed away six months before my father passed away. My mother moved me from Chicago to South Florida to be raised by my grandmother. I did have contact with my father as he would come by time to time but it wasn’t the kind of contact I was satisfied with. I was always going to have that conversation with him but he passed away before I could and I was going to ask him where he was when I was growing. I found out the answer to those questions myself as I picked up the guitar and started being a bluesman myself so it all unfolded to me that the answer to my questions was there. I had a normal childhood I guess but I can always remember thinking why all my friends had their mothers and fathers there and I didn’t have my mother or my father only my grandmother but in black families it seemed that a lot of fathers didn’t stay around and in the perfect world it would be good to have your mother and father raise you. It didn’t happen for me though. I study history and I look at slavery where black families were ripped apart, kids were sold, spouses were sold, we were snatched away from our country so it’s just a different culture that I was brought up in. Still some of my black friends still had at least their mother there. When I was young I didn’t have any control on my life but I guess I was lucky in that my grandmother gave me a happy home and she stayed at home and she worked two jobs and I understand what struggle is about and the importance of working hard to achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. She instilled those things in me and I’m sure I would not be the man I am today had it not been for her. A lot of kids end up in jail or involved in gangs or drugs it’s so easy to get side tracked into those directions and you can never return from that.

Before I got into music I was a student as my grandmother always impressed upon me the significance of having an education. I left high school, I was an athlete, I went to basketball scholarship at a major university and I graduated with honours and that changed my life and how I looked at things even now running my own business Morganfield Enterprises. I have my own record company and I handle all aspects of the business. I was a good basketball player and I played Tuskegee university and I went to another university working on my masters. I was good enough to get my college paid for by playing basketball. My basketball career didn’t happen though. I broke my foot in a couple of places and that was it I stopped. But that’s destiny I guess if I had been a ball player I never would have been a blues man.

When I was growing up there was a lot of music around my town as we had the sounds and stuff. I would listen to all these songs from Santana, Jackson Five, Motown, Chicago, Smokey Robinson and I got a guitar and I would try and hit the song and play it. Radio stations had rotations so I would hear that same song again so what I didn’t learn the first time I would catch it and try and learn it on the rotation. So that’s how I started playing guitar now this was when I was twelve or thirteen and I also had a drum kit and a bass guitar and this was a young kid. I would play along to Al Green records and I’m self taught on those instruments. I would buy a bunch of 45s. I dabbled back and forth with music all through my high school and college. I remember I was the leader of the boys club band and I taught all the guys the songs and we would enter talent shows this was when I was about twelve or so.

I never listened to my father’s music back then I just listened to the popular music of the day. I thought his music was too easy for me and it was a kind of music that none of my friends liked. It wasn’t until he passed away that I thought I wanted to do a tribute to him and I remember reading somewhere that he said it took him one year to get good so I thought that sounded cool. I thought I was just as good as he was but it took me about ten years to get good. After the first year with his music I was still in elementary school. Blues is a very complicated music if you play it right and learn it the right way. There are so many people who can’t play it right. I’ve had day jobs and night jobs in the past and I was working when I was about twelve years old. My grandmother believed in working and I remember one year before I started working she was poor but did her best to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads she bought me a yellow shirt and pants. I went to a school that had uniform so everyday for a half school year I would wear those same yellow pants and the same yellow shirt so much that they called me yellow pants and that would make me cry. So I thought I’m never going to let that happen again so when I was twelve years old I told her I was going to work and buy me some school clothes. She took me to the farm truck that used to take people to the fields to pick strawberries and beans and stuff so that was my very first job working in the fields all day long. So I made enough money to buy some school clothes. The whole ironic thing about this is when I was in the field my father was out touring the world and making a huge name for himself. Unfortunately he didn’t send any money to have clothes bought for me for whatever reason. These days they don’t let guys do that. I’m not saying anything bad about him that’s how it was back then and because whatever happened to me made me the man I am today. I’m a pretty tenacious fella. My next job back then was as a side field which is clipping grass and was that hot work. I did some dishwashing and then went on to become a chef at fifteen working on the beach in Florida. I got a diploma in commercial cooking and baking. I use a lot of spices when I cook.

When I first started music I got a band together called The Stone Cold Blues Band and we played around and we made $300 but we had six in the band so if you do the maths that’s not a whole lot. I was singing and playing bass guitar and I taught myself how to play Delta blues as I thought I needed to get my musical foundation together. My music kept progressing from there as I got better at it. I started playing other places and other countries. I came out as Big Bill Morganfield in 1998. I remember there was a tribute concert in Washington DC and a guy approached me about being my manager and he called Scott Cameron who managed my father and Scott called my dad’s wife and asked who I was and she told him I was Muddy’s son. So he got me on a show with so many big artists like Keb Mo, Robert Lockwood, and many other famous artists and I was the most unfamous person amongst them and I ended up being the mc for the show as well as playing. So that’s how I became known after that show was aired on PBS. So I’ve been Big Bill Morganfield ever since.

I’ve had great support since. On my first record on Blind Pig ‘Rising Son’ we brought in who I had known for some time and they brought in other members of the band that had played with Muddy Waters like and Willie Smith. That recording session blew my mind being with such musicians who had done a tour of duty with my father and had learned how to play that music. It was great to know that my father was like an ambassador for the blues. I’ve always believed in developing a sound for myself that is important to me as I believe that god bless the child that has his own. I can’t be Muddy Waters and I believe that people like things that are original. If you listen to my records I refuse to be like Muddy Waters. Sure I learned from him.

I now have three albums out on my own label so I have total control. The name of the label is Black Shuck Records and I had a hard time coming up with a name. As soon as I did, I would Google it and someone else had it. I found ‘Black Shuck’ by reading a book and it’s an old mythical creature that originated from England. The first album on my label was ‘Born Lover’ the second was ‘Blues With A Mood’ and the most recent is ‘Bloodstains On The Wall’. Previous to that I had three albums on Blind Pig ‘Ramblin’ Mind’ and ‘Blues In The Blood’ as well as that ‘Rising Son’ album.

There are good things about owning your label an example being the three songs I did was in the series ‘Shots Fired’. I own the label I wrote the songs and I own the publishing so when they wrote the cheque it didn’t get split with nobody it came direct to me which gave me a good feeling. I’ve also been an actor in that series and I sat on the set and acting as though I was singing and playing my music. I was in episode two and four.

On my latest album, ‘Bloodstains On The Wall’, they wanted a blues song that fuses with hip hop and I had some doubts about it but we got in the studio and did it in twenty minutes and it’s called ‘Hold Me Baby’ and it’s amazing how those hip hop guys work. With blues we play the whole song but they split the number and once they got the groove they asked me to write some words to go with it and we got the melody top of my head. The lyrics were like poetry and this was all for the ‘Shot’s Fired’ show.

I’ve not really talked to anyone about the personal side of life such as the yellow pants thing. I don’t want to say anything that will make my father look bad as he was great.

Anything I can hear is an influence on me and my music especially after that ‘Shot’s Fired’ show. It’s interesting how the music thing has gone what with all those free downloads and things. As a record label that has to invest many thousands of dollars to make a record, you have to think of how you are going to get that money back. I like the idea that TV and films give me a way to get returns on my money. So what I have been doing now is when I watch TV and films I listen to background music and I have found that a lot of that music is very moody and sets up a scene. So I am going to go into the studio and record a number of moody songs that may be used in future films and stuff because as I have my own record label I need to figure how I am going to get my returns back. I’ve got one guy helping me to try and match songs to a movie. It’s so difficult at present to make your money back off of making records so you have to look at other options for your music.

Mike Stephenson RESCHEDULE FEBRUARY 2021 UK TOUR TO FEBRUARY 2022 TICKETS ON SALE VIA www.kingking.co.uk/tour & www.thegigcartel.com + OCTOBER 2021 UK TOUR NEW ALBUM ‘MAVERICK’ OUT FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2021 Due to the pandemic and uncertainty about when live concerts can take please, regretfully the decision has been made to reschedule the King King February 2021 UK Tour to February 2022 . All tickets remain valid for the new dates.

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

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

“ Maverick” follows 2017’s critically acclaimed album “ Exile & Grace ” and includes the new line-up featuring Alan Nimmo (vocals/guitar), Stevie Nimmo (guitar), Jonny Dyke (organ/piano), Zander Greenshields (bass) and Andrew Scott (drums). The album was engineered and mixed by Liam McCluskey at Morsecode Studios in Glasgow.

Produced by Alan Nimmo, Jonny Dyke and Liam McCluskey at Morsecode Studios in Glasgow, the new album is co- written by Alan Nimmo (guitar, lead vocals), Zander Greenshields (bass), Jonny Dyke (keyboards), Andrew Scott (drums), with all lyrics co-written by Alan Nimmo and newest member Stevie Nimmo (guitar). BiTS is delighted to announce a new partnership with MusicGurus who provide music courses & training from the world's top musicians. Watch video lessons to improve your playing and get 1—on—1 coaching.

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ERIC GALES RESCHEDULES UK TOUR TO FEBRUARY 2021

WITH VERY SPECIAL GUEST “DANNY BRYANT”

TICKETS ON SALE VIA www.thegigcartel.com/artists—profiles/eric—gales

ALBUM ‘THE BOOKENDS’ OUT NOW VIA PROVOGUE

“One of the best, if not the best guitar player in the world” –

“He is absolutely incredible” –

“How isn’t the hugest name in rock guitar is a total mystery” –

“This guy could be the best player on Earth” –

Eric Gales has rescheduled his 2020 UK tour to February 2021 and has added two extra dates at the Brighton Concorde (Feb 3) and the Dover Booking Hall (Feb 4). The tour follows the release of his album ‘The Bookends’ via Provogue/Mascot Label Group earlier in 2019. The album features collaborations with B. Slade, Doyle Bramhall II and . Tickets for the Brighton Concorde and Dover Booking Hall shows go on sale via www.thegigcartel.com. Tickets for all the other shows that have been rescheduled are still valid.

Special guest on all shows is the critically acclaimed British guitarist Danny Bryant. Hailed as “A National Blues Treasure”, Bryant recently released his 11th studio album ‘Means of Escape’ via Jazzhaus Records to a great fanfare.

The challenge for making ‘The Bookends’ was for Gales to push himself. “As a guitar player it’s been established that I can play a little bit, just a little bit”, he smiles. But for this album he not only wanted to motivate himself as a musician, but also as a vocalist, to build up his vocal discography. “What spearheaded that was the artists that I have on the record”, he says.

Written over a nine month period, the album was recorded at Studio Delux, Van Nuys, California, The Dog House, Woodland Hills, California, Blakeslee Recording, North Hollywood and the day before he was due to fly to LA for pre—production the original producer David Bianco tragically died. It was Bianco’s management who then suggested Matt Wallace. “I heard his work and the kind of people he has produced such as Maroon 5, Faith No More and all these cats. When we met up together it was just perfect. I just trusted the guy and it ended up being great, I love Matt Wallace”, says Gales.

For more information, click here – www.noblepr.co.uk/press—releases/eric—gales/2021—uk—tour.htm

Brighton, Concorde 2 Leeds, Brudenell Social Club Wednesday 3 February 2021 Wednesday 10 February 2021 Dover, The Booking Hall Gateshead, Sage Thursday 4 February 2021 Thursday 11 February 2021 , Islington Glasgow, Oran Mor Friday 5 February 2021 Friday 12 February 2021 Southampton, 1865 Manchester, Academy 3 Saturday 6 February 2021 Saturday 13 February 2021 Bristol, Fleece Bilston, The Robin Sunday 7 February 2021 Sunday 14 February 2021 Nottingham, Rescue Rooms Monday 8 February 2021

36 37 R E V I E W S

Dennis Jones—Soft Hard & Loud—Blue Rock Records

Originally from Baltimore County Maryland, Dennis who has been a Los Angeles resident for over thirty years now went straight into the Matai studios in Los Angeles after his recent European tour had finished, to craft and record, this, his seventh album of 10 original numbers. Dennis who takes lead vocals and guitar is backed by Cornelius Mims; bass, percussion and keyboards with Raymond Johnson providing drums. Dennis also shares production credits with Cornelius Mims. Work on the album began in February, but was interrupted by the current medical climate, so a winter release was chosen.

Dennis is primarily known as a bluesman with hard rocking tendencies, but his sublime and tender guitar work here is matched with a mellifluous vocal on numbers such as the opener ‘Revolves Around You’, a tale of complete and utter self-centredness, that contains an enticingly gentle rhythm delivered by Dennis, his guitar slowly and angrily rises matching the obvious frustration in his voice as he tells the tale. The autobiographical slow blues of ‘I love The Blues', allows Dennis to again delightfully stretch out his gentle vocals and lyrically expansive and exquisite guitar work, while a simmering B3 courtesy of Bennett Paysinger lingers hauntingly in the background. On ‘Like Sheep', Dennis thrillingly arcs, dives and weaves his raucous guitar into AC/DC territory on the subject of thoughtless conformity. ‘Nothin’ On You', is a gentle sweet R&B ballad that has Allison August and Michael Turner delivering gossamer-like backing vocals, while Dennis delivers an equally shimmering vocal that matches his crisp, sparkling guitar. Dennis returns to his hard and heavy trademark guitar playing on ‘When I Wake Up', a tale of love, lust and desire, while guitar, bass and drums grind out their raucous musical offering, Dennis provides a rip-roaring vocal. The epic blues of ‘I’m Not', has the trio rising and falling like a ship in a storm, with a burning B3 added for good measure, courtesy of Jason Freeman. The album finishes with the snarling, gnarled ‘Burn The Plantation Down', a heavy and hard response to age old, racial ‘Southern Charm’.

Greatly endorsed!

Brian Harman.

David Rotundo—So Much Trouble Dreams We Share— DSWCD0002

Toronto based, Canadian harmonica player David’s first release ‘Blowin’ For Broke', was nominated ‘Blues Album’ of the year in 2001 by the Canadian Independent Artist Association, but was unsuccessful, although the following year 2002, he won the Maple Blues Award ‘Best New Artist of the year’. In 2007 he won the ‘Maple Blues Award for Harmonica player of the year’ and in 2009 ‘The CBC/ Galaxie Rising Star Award’. His first band was The Blue Canadians then in 2003 he formed The David Rotundo Band. Since then he has played at a good number of venues and festivals with many and varied artists including musicians from Estonia. Over the years David has shared the stage with many musicians including harmonica player Lee Oskar, who not only became a friend and mentor he also signed David to his company ‘Lee Oskar Harmonicas in 2019’. Here are the fruits of this collaboration; eleven of the twelve numbers here are original compositions, with the exception of ‘Trouble In Mind’. David has surrounded himself with a splendid array of fine musicians with the bonus of Lee Oskar in the producer’s chair. David takes lead vocals and harmonica with a core band of Milky Burgess on guitar, Dean Schmidt; bass and Dean Clouter; drums.

The opener ‘She’s Dynamite', splendidly combines swinging percussion burning B3 and guitar, with a jaunty dancing harmonica and honking saxophone, courtesy of Darian Asplund while over the top David’s pleasing tenor vocal urges the toe-tapping onwards. On ‘I Must Be Crazy', a melancholic tale of deceit is recounted by David; his raw emotional vocal is joined by a steadily rising, guitar and B3, courtesy of Ron Weinstein, a seething harmonica solo tops it off. Continuing this dark and dismal theme is ‘Foolish Love', David’s gentle vocals splendidly evoke memories of a tender and wistful . ‘Long Road', is a thoughtful ode to the journey of life, featuring a marvellously haunting and contrasting combination of slide guitar, cello and tabla, courtesy of Phillip Nelson and Joseph Ravi Albright. The atmospheric and slightly psychedelic influenced mixture of swirling harmonica, guitar, B3 and saxophone on ‘So Much Trouble', refers to the present day woes of the world, as does ‘Hard Times Coming', which features a splendid slow Delta slide and laidback harmonica, focusing upon the political and climate changes coming upon us.

Greatly endorsed!

Brian Harman.

Andy Cohen with Moira Meltzer-Cohen Small But Mighty (Songs For Growing People) EARWIG CD 4977

Andy Cohen Tryin’ To Get Home EARWIG CD 4976

When he was 16, Andy heard the Rev. Gary Davis perform, and the effect of Davis’ performance was such that he became a young musician who was highly influenced by the work of pre-war artists such as and the Jim Kweskin . As time passed. he started to perform on the road and over time began to share the stage with many of his heroes including Jim Brewer, Reverend Dan Smith, Brother Daniel Womack, Reverend Gary Davis, ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards and John Jackson. Throughout his career, Andy, as a ‘keeper of the flame’ has focused his attention upon studying, promoting and playing pre-war blues and folk music from across the world. He plays in the Piedmont tradition, which is an East Coast finger picking style which is thoroughly soaked in . To further his understanding of the music and its traditions Andy has gained a Masters Degree in Anthropology also, in 2011 he was given The Eisteddfod Award from The Eisteddfod Traditional Music Festival, for his contributions to the genre. The following year The California Autoharp Gathering awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The question is, where to start? The 30 numbers contained within these 2 albums are quite simply, stunning. The friendly, calming, unruffled rasping voice of Andy, combined with his astonishingly crisp and enticing finger picking and keyboard skills makes for an excellent educational and musical journey into the past. ‘Trying to Get Home', focuses upon Andy’s and America’s musical heritage while ‘Small But, Mighty' (”Songs For Growing Up People”) is a collection of blues songs written and/or adapted for children. He decided make this album with his daughter Moira to educate and entertain children of all ages. Moira not only came up with the album title; but also takes lead vocals on 2 numbers. These are ‘Gravy Waltz', and ‘Funnel Cakes.’. The first was sung to Moira by Andy when she was a child and now he is a grandpa, she eloquently returns the favour. The latter is a jolly banjo tale on the desirable benefits of home baking. Another sparkling ditty is the wonderful ‘Uncle Stinky', this an ode to smelly feet, the joys of not washing and the benefits of being paid to go away. There are four numbers featured on both albums, these include; ‘Mississippi’ John Hurt’s ‘Talking’ Casey', which is the tale of a fateful train crash caused by Casey himself, here Andy’s delicate and emotion filled use of a national steel slide is simply mesmerizing. Blind Arthur Blake’s jaunty ‘', features a rare guest in Randy ‘Da Bones Man’ Seppala who supplies an irresistibly snapping percussion with his ‘Bones’ complementing Andy’s attractive picking. The other two are original numbers, ‘Reverend Gary Rag', a splendid delicate little toetapper and ‘Planxty: Miss Joanna Swan', this sweetly quiet acoustic piece possesses all the grace and tranquility of a real gliding swan. Reverend Gary Davis’s ‘Trying To Get Home', is a faithful and haunting rendition that describes mans difficulties in finding the right path home. On a lighter note Andy gives Sonny Terry’s’ ‘One Monkey Don’t Stop The Show', an uplifting and cheerfully sarcastic feel. Larry Penn wrote the maudlin yet, uplifting tribute ‘Time To Go', for railroad hobo, ‘Steam Train Maurie’ when he died. Here, Andy’s piano and guitar playing gently give grace and elegance to a time of desperation and poverty. Sadly, at this moment in time the mournful but, despairingly accurate Reverend Gary Davis’s ‘Death Don’t Have No Mercy', says it all, for now and forever.

Greatly endorsed!

Brian Harman.

When Rivers Meet - We Fly Free - One Road Records

In recent months despite the pandemic When Rivers Meet seem to have taken the blues scene by storm. The husband and wife team duo of Grace and Aaron Bond have appeared prominently online and in the printed media with much radio airplay too, so I am keen to hear their debut album, ‘We Fly Free’.

The album opens with ‘Did I Break the Law’ a simple bluesy rocking beat to get the foot tapping. On ‘Walking On The Wire’ Aaron joins Grace on vocals which works really well. ‘I’d Have

40 Fallen’ starts with a lovely tremolo sounding guitar and brings about a different feel with this song. I really liked this one.

I can hear shades of Duffy in Grace’s voice on ‘Kissing the Sky’ which has a nice touch of Hammond organ in there too.

The drums and percussion are an integral part of this album which underpin the songs with such dramatic effect. This works really well with Aaron’s guitar riffs, which in turn acts as the perfect foil for Grace’s outstanding vocal delivery. The lyrics can sound a little dark at times but they let you interpret them how you want.

‘Breaker of Chains’ has that bluesy Americana feel about it and the lush vocal harmonies bring to mind the ‘Civil Wars’.

‘Bury My Body’ brings about a change in mood and style with some nice acoustic guitar and delicious vocal harmonies. Piano and organ sounds add to the mix to produce a beautiful gentle melodic tune that I found really soothing.

Aaron plays a simple single string riff on what sounds like a cigar box guitar, once again Grace excels on vocals. The album closes with the title track ‘We Fly Free’ which has that thunderous power and style of Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’.

This album has been well produced to give a dramatic feel of depth with bluesy guitar riffs and earthy drums but the highlight for me is the voice of Grace a star in the making. Some of the moody tracks on this album would sit well as soundtracks to some of the box-sets we have all been watching in lockdown so there could be synch opportunities waiting. As a debut album When Rivers Met have put down a marker, I am keen to see where they go next.

Ged Wilson

Grainne Duffy - Voodoo Blues - Independent Release

Grainne Duffy is a guitarist, singer and songwriter from Ireland. Grainne is well known on the European blues circuit and the album ‘Voodoo Blues’ is her fifth release.

The title track ‘Voodoo Blues’ opens the album with some nice guitar work that gives off a big rock blues sound. On ‘Mercy’ Grainne’s lovely voice starts to shine. The pace slows down a little on ‘Don’t You Cry For Me’ with some nifty organ work to layer underneath a really soulful vocal delivery.

The lineup consists of Grainne on guitar and vocals, Paul Sherry on guitar, Dale Davis on bass and Troy Miller on drums. It is interesting to note that Troy is also credited with playing the Hammond organ and producing the album meaning he has had a big part to play in putting this album together.

41 ‘Roll It’ has some lovely sounding tremolo guitar that gives off that Credence Clearwater Revival vibe. ‘Tick-Tock’ opens and closes with a ticking clock would you believe! This is a great funky rocking number but does meander a little. The album closes with a big finish on ‘Hard Rain’ a really powerfully song that has some interesting spaced out sounds towards the end leaving you wanting more.

This album has a tight rhythm section with some great guitar work but is not overladen with guitar solos. In fact most songs average around three minutes. The Hammond organ really enhances the recording and the songs all written by Grainne are of good quality. The strength of this album lies in Grainne’s voice, it’s her vocal delivery that makes this album. She has a great country blues vocal style that is appealing, at times you can hear a little bit of Bonnie Raitt in there too. Although this brand of blues rock is not quite my bag I can see its commercial appeal and would recommend you give it a spin.

Ged Wilson

Various Artists - American Folk Blues Live In Manchester 1962 - Records

As well as being the home to the Halle Orchestra, the Free Trade Hall Manchester was the iconic venue in the city for the best music gigs back in the 1960’s and 70’s. In fact I was a regular there at that time and seeing the likes of , The Groundhogs and Rory Gallagher live in concert helped me discover the love I have for the blues. Sadly the Free Trade Hall (built upon the site of the Peterloo Massacre) as a venue is no more but the building remains as a hotel.

So it was somewhat of a surprise to see a new release (December 2020) of a live recording of American blues artists at the Free Trade Hall from 1962. Apparently this recording was originally made for a TV arts programme called ‘Tempo’ which was shown in the UK on ABC TV.

Before I get to the music, let me explain how this show is more significant than you may realise. First off, this was the first major concert in Britain to feature American blues artists which would have acted as a catalyst to the 60’s boom. Secondly, I say this because we know that Paul Jones, Alexis Korner, Mick Jagger, , Brian Jones and Jimmy Page were all in the audience and look how significant they all became.

Although the music is American there is no doubting that this is on British soil as the album opens up with an introduction from Leonard Maguire on behalf of ‘Tempo’ in that old style ‘Pathe News’ type voice which really made me smile. First up it is Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee with four songs including ‘Kansas City Blues’ and ‘Easy Rider’. This acoustic duo need no introduction to blues fans and they are on cracking form here generating a fantastic response from the audience.

Next up it’s Memphis Slim with a great rendition of Big Bill Broonzy’s ‘Just A Dream’. The piano, the vocal and the delivery is what the blues is all about, this is a classic. takes over singing duties accompanied by Memphis Slim on piano with ‘Sittin’ And Cryin’ The Blues’.

The album moves on with T-Bone Walker at his guitar maestro best with ‘Call It Stormy Monday’. Things really start to swing with ‘My Baby Is Now On My Mind’, this guy really led the way and influenced so many great guitarists. During this performance you can hear the audience laugh and whoop which I assume meant that T-Bone was performing his on-stage tricks such as playing his guitar behind his back or playing with his teeth, yes all well before Hendrix! The album closes with all the artists joining together in an ensemble with the aptly titled ‘Bye Bye Baby’.

If you are familiar with these great blues artists you will love this. If you are new to the blues this is a great place to start. The sound quality is surprisingly good considering but what really counts is richness and warmth that comes across from both the artist and the audience just as a true live gig should.

This album is a pivotal moment for British blues and indeed for the Free Trade Hall itself, predating the infamous Bob Dylan and Sex Pistols concerts but that’s another story.

Ged Wilson

Charlie Slavik— A Nice Reminder—Independent

Charlie Slavik, the blues singer and harmonica player from the Czech Republic, travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to record this album, and his joy at doing so is immediately apparent on the rocking opener, ‘Highway Man’. The following track, ‘Devil Inside’ is a rather nice bluesy track with a tinge of country (ditto ‘Do You Remember’), and the band impress once again – Steve Walsh on guitars, who also handled production duties, Brian Allen bass and Wes Little on drums are local musicians very responsive to Charlie’s approach. Listen to the quiet, delicate ‘Riding In The Moonlight’, with Charlie’s regular accompanists, vocal trio The Rhythm Girls, supplying an appropriately ethereal sound.

By now you may have gathered this is rather a distinctively individual release, and you’re right. There is a fun, jazzy, western-swing inflected jump-blues with The Rhythm Girls on ‘Big BBQ’, and ‘Love Me, Let Me Go’ and ‘Juke Joint’ establish the album’s blues credentials beyond doubt. The former is a straightforward blues shuffle, the kind of thing that should be on a vintage 45, and the latter a driving number with tinges of the Mississippi Hill Country sound. The title track would also have made a good top-side of a 45, though in this case it would be a bluesy pop-soul 45 from the 60s.

43 Charlie has put a lot of thought into this carefully-crafted and very satisfying release. Do try to check it out.

Norman Darwen (www.charlieslavik.com)

Tomas Doncker—Wherever You Go—True Groove Records

Tomas kicks off with a powerhouse reworking of Blind Willie Johnson’s spiritual, ‘I’m Gonna Run To The City Of Refuge’ that sounds like a subtle updating of Ike & Tina Turner’s late 60s style, a very appropriate plea for a place of safety to open a set recorded entirely in lockdown. Singer/ guitarist/ bandleader Tomas was kicking his heels in Brooklyn when he should have been touring in Europe; as a result this album was recorded across eight different time zones, with individual musicians, mostly in Europe, adding their own parts separately, though not that you’d ever guess (Tomas is styled as “a pioneer of the Global Soul Network”).

The album’s other cover song is a lazy sounding, urbanized version of Skip James’ ‘Hard Times Killing Floor Blues’ which, somewhat surprisingly, manages to keep some of the feel of the original. The remainder of the tracks are originals. The title track is an impassioned slow number with a big, big sound, a very bluesy ballad rather than a slow blues as such, though ‘Come Sunday’ is a very fine slow R’n’B ballad .

‘Have Mercy Baby’ is a bluesy number with some contemporary touches and a fine blues-rock guitar break at the end. ‘Change’ has something of a classic soul feel to the arrangement, a catchy, beat-y number with a particularly fine vocal, ‘Drown In Blue’ combines blues, soul and street sounds and features some chirpy blues harp, and the final number, ‘Door To The Dome’ is a slow, broodingly atmospheric blues-rock piece.

Tomas has a distinctive and individual approach to his music. It demands closer listening than some modern blues, but it can be just as – or perhaps even a little more - rewarding.

Norman Darwen (www.tomasdoncker.net)

Brigitte Purdy—Memphis Hotline—Independent

Born and raised in Los Angeles, singer Brigitte has here a wonderfully powerful example of her skills in singing the blues with soul - the music that she grew up with. She has sung backing vocals for both The Who and Paul Rodgers, but she follows up her well-received album, “Still I Rise”, with this single, a cracking, romping Stax-styled up tempo blues, with a fine organ-led backing by Dave Shinning and guitarist Dave Osti given free rein to play his spot-on and BB King licks. Good lyrics too, to complete a rather tasty release.

Norman Darwen www.brigittepurdy.net

Dave Thomas—One More Mile—Blonde On Blonde

Dave Thomas is based in Norfolk and many readers will be aware of him as one of the country’s great champions of the blues, working as the leader of the house band with many fairly obscure African-American blues artists for the much-missed “Shake Down Blues” gigs. He has even appeared at the .

Dave sings well throughout and plays mostly guitar, with occasional blues harp too (Dave has often worked with US harp veteran Wallace Coleman). The first four tracks are masterpieces of modern , with the opening cover of BB King’s ‘It’s My Own Fault’ an outstanding performance guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of any true blues lover. These tracks also feature wonderful horns by the sax and trumpet players from US bluesman Travis Haddix’s band.

Then follow three mellower, folk-based songs recorded in Ireland, moving away from strict blues performances but offering a fine change of pace and approach, before Dave edges towards blues- rock with the final three tracks, accompanied by Ken Pustelnik’s Groundhogs. Dave and these blues boom veterans offer the unapologetic sound of UK blues-rock, even tending a little towards psychedelic blues on the closing ‘Strange Town’.

So, a richly varied album, a fine, rounded portrait of a top UK blues musician. Check it out.

Norman Darwen (www.davethomasblues.uk)

Elles Bailey - Ain’t Nothing But (Outlaw Music)

Elles Bailey is one of those rare few performers on the UK blues scene equally as popular with the Americana audience and she even turns her hand successfully to country at times. The COVID- 19 pandemic meant that, as for many others, there were no live gigs. Instead, singer Elles, plus guitarists Joe Wilkins and Phil King and bassist Joe James (with all three on backing vocals) live streamed a series of shows under the general title of “Ain’t Nothing But”, each with a designated theme. The music was, as Elles puts it, “Stripped back and bare to the bone”.

The two shows contained here focussed on “Lyrics” and “The Blues”; the former includes material by the likes of John Prine, Elton John, Paul Simon and others, providing a snapshot of just how good this material can sound in this setting. “The Blues” offers us material by Bonnie Raitt (Chris Smither’s ‘Love Me Like A Man’’), Leadbelly, , , Bobby Bland, , Howling Wolf and - all performed beautifully, and with the stripped down backing showing just how good this material can be—and how to build up tightly controlled momentum even when resources are limited.

Totally engaging and convincing. This one does, of course, come recommended.

Norman Darwen (www.ellesbailey.com)

Duke Robillard—Blues Bash—Stony Plain ASIN : B08HRSB7L7 This new album from Duke is credited to "Duke Robillard and Friends" - with the friends including amongst others some former members of Roomful of Blues - Rich Lataille, Greg Piccolo and Doug James (sax) Jesse Williams and Marty Ballou (bass), Mark Texiera (drums), Bruce Bears (keyboards), (harmonica), Bob Welsh (piano) and Chris Cote and Michelle Willson (vocals). The album features "50s-style blues and R&B" that Duke grew up listening to and although this isn't my favourite style of blues it is very well-played and produced with tracks like Roy Milton’s 'What Can I Do' really rocking along with riffing saxes, tinkling piano and pounding drums and with Chris Cote crooning out front.

I did like Al King’s bluesy 'Everybody Ain’t Your Friend' and also Dave Bartholomew’s 'Ain't Gonna Do It' both featuring Duke on vocals and Michelle Williams adds a bit of variety in the vocal department singing on the jazzy version of Helen Humes’ 1952 hit 'You Played On My Piano'. As usual on Duke's albums there are instrumentals - 'Rock Alley' and the cool jazzy 'Just Chillin'' - but even here, as on the rest of the album, Duke doesn't dominate proceedings with his guitar playing— everyone gets a turn in the spotlight. If you are a fan of this record is probably right up your boulevard with its mix of rocking R&B, jump blues and jazz, including riffing horns and assured vocals from the guests as well as from Duke himself.

Graham Harrison

Backsliders—Bonecrunch—Rocket Group Pty Ltd ASIN: B08MJQMW5T

Backsliders are an Australian blues-based band who have been going for over 30 years, based around their main man, Dom Turner (slide guitar, multi-instrumentalist, vocals and songwriting). Joining him here are Rob Hirst, formerly of the group Midnight Oil (drums, vocals, songwriting) and not one, not two but three harmonica players - Ian Collard, Broderick Smith and Joe Glover - who apparently take it in turns to play live gigs with the band. The minimal lineup of the band aligns them with bands like the White Stripes and Black Keys and while there is a certain similarity with those bands the harmonica gives Backsliders a slightly more bluesy sound. Rob's drums drive most tracks with Dom's guitar and vocals providing the meat and the harmonica and backing vocals adding the seasoning, the harmonica players each have a slightly different style and sound to add variety. Also, although most tracks power along with the drums/electric slide guitar/harmonica, some tracks have a different vibe. 'Big Dreams and Open Country' is a beautiful laid-back melodic song and 'John Prine' starts off in similar fashion and turns into a song mourning the death of the American country singer. The album closes with two traditional blues songs, an acoustic version of Willie Cobb's 'You Don't Love Me' and an electric take on Fred McDowell's 'Shake 'Em On Down’.

Graham Harrison

Bob Corritore and Kid Ramos—From The Vaults: Phoenix Blues Sessions—Southwest Musical/Vizz Tone ASIN : B08HTJ77F7

Harmonica player Bob Corritore (originally from Chicago) has run Phoenix’s blues club The Rhythm Room for well over twenty years giving him the opportunity to record sessions with the club’s many performers over the years, he's now releasing three albums of unreleased sets from these master tape archives in the 'From the Vaults' series. This is the second release with guitarist Kid Ramos from sessions from the late 1990s to the early 2000s and the sessions feature vocalists including , , Big Pete Pearson, Chico Chism, Doctor Fish and Chief Schabuttie Gilliame. The band includes Paul Thomas (bass), Johnny Rapp (guitar, mandolin), Tom Mahon and Henry Gray (keyboards) and Chico Chism (drums).

We get off to a rocking start with 'Aw Shucks Baby' with Nappy Brown on vocals and the band swinging along behind - great piano from Mahon and harp from Bob - while 'Come On In' features Henry Gray on vocals but this time with really nice lead guitar from Kid. '24 Hours' is the Eddie Boyd slow blues with Dr. Fish out front, more nice guitar and Bob on chromatic harp, then Roscoe Gordon's 'No More Doggin' picks up the pace with The Chief barking out the vocals. We carry on in similar fashion with lots of familiar classic blues songs, great playing from the band and the singers swapping in and out to give some nice variety. This is very much a band album and although the album is credited to Bob and Kid they don't monopolise proceedings, everyone gets a shot, for example there is lots of great piano - both from ex-Howlin' Wolf sideman Henry Gray and also Tom Mahon who also plays beautifully. Despite being recorded in Phoenix the album is tough- sounding, authentic Chicago blues and I really enjoyed it, if I had to pick a favourite track I'd go for 'Natural Ball' with Big Pete Pearson out front and great playing from all the band, although to be fair all the tracks are of the same high quality.

Graham Harrison Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar—The Reckless One—Gypsy Soul Records ASIN : B08J22K25D I'd never heard of Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar before but they had me right from the off with 'Love Is All Around' (not the Troggs song) with its driving Stax-style soul sounds. The band hails from Toronto, Canada and the album contains all original songs, apart from a cover of Dylan's 'Meet Me in the Morning' - which is delivered in the same high-energy manner. 'Loving You Is Easy' drops the pace slightly and features some nice slide guitar alongside the Hammond organ and the horns, while 'I’ve Got a Feeling' is a brilliant stop-time soul ballad with Samantha's tortured vocals riding over subdued horns, organ and clipped guitar. 'Sacrifice' and 'Pass Me By' are both dramatic soul stompers and 'Better to Have Never' is a soul ballad with Samantha's superb blues voice out front and also with a tasteful, gentle guitar solo. This is an impressive album and Samantha has a powerful but versatile voice and she also wrote or co-wrote the songs here, with the band providing great backing throughout.

Graham Harrison

Dr. John—Gumbo Blues— ASIN : B08J16N9K7 Cleopatra records recently put out a record by where old recordings by Junior were augmented by adding guitar parts by current blues artists, they have now repeated this trick with 1974 recordings by Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (Dr. John) with new backing tracks including contributions by amongst others , , Buddy Whittington and Doug Kershaw. I must admit that I was uneasy about this concept in regards to the Junior Wells record but I have to admit that it was done very well with some tracks working fine and the same applies here, I think you'd be hard pressed to realise on first listen that these are 'doctored' recordings.

Most of the guitarists here are very subtle (if not subdued) in what they contribute, although Brit Chantel McGregor is normally quite in your face here on 'Helpin' Hand' she stays very much in the background except for a tasteful solo and Sonny Landreth is almost invisible on his turn on 'Bald Head'. Another Brit playing here is Matt Schofield and he plays wonderfully on 's 'Tipitina' - normally a piano showcase - whereas another European guitarist Finn stays very much in the background. Joe Louis Walker, Buddy Whittington, Rafael Nasta, and newcomer King Solomon Hicks are all a bit more prominent but are still very much part of the overall band and don't detract from Mac's piano and vocals. For me this album wasn't as successful as the Junior Wells 'Blues Brothers' album, I didn't think that many of the guitarist’s featured contributions added a great deal to the original recordings and in some cases they actually detracted from the original overall balance of the songs.

Graham Harrison

48 CLICK ANY OF THE PICS ON THE LEFT AND YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO YOUTUBE FOR A GREAT VIDEO TREAT.

Muireanne plays Blind Blake’s Police Dog Blues

Chuck Berry Performs "You Can't Catch Me" in 1956's "Rock, Rock, Rock!"

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We close this first edition of 2021 with a bit of bad news. We have run every month a cartoon strip of Buddy and Hopkins for many years—but all good things must come to an end they say. This is no exception. The artist Jay Nocera has decided not to do anymore B&H cartoon strips, so last month’s was the last one. We thank Jay for his wonderful work and commitment. But if you are so inclined, click on the self portrait on the left you will be taken to Jay’s website where you can browse his comprehensive portfolio, and savour the breadth of his work. Finally, of you have any ideas about a souse with which we might fill this block on a monthly basis, please email [email protected]