Interviews and Features on Indie Blues Artists
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Mike Schafer of the Mike Schafer Band Vocalist, Guitarist and Band Leader Mick Schafer has been singing since childhood. Mick’s voice was made known to him in the 7th grade church choir. At 20 he quit college and ventured to Europe to perform for tips and […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Ilana Katz Katz Ilana Katz Katz is a Blues and Appalachian fiddler, singer, songwriter, novelist, screenwriter, essayist, watercolor painter, apparel artist, longtime subway busker, and budding children’s book author who strives to bring good mojo wherever she goes. Ilana’s writing career began in college where […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Tas Cru Tas Cru is truly a blues eclectic who refuses to let his music be bound to just one blues style. With a repertoire of over 90 original songs from multiple albums and dozens of crowd-pleasing classics, this seasoned road warrior gives folks what they want […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Ra’Shad the Blues Kid Ra’Shad The Blues Kid is a Blues Musician and Artist from Mississippi. Ra’Shad was born September 30, 1987 as Larry Ra’Shad McGill in Laurel, MS. From an early age, he was recognized as a unique individual. His immediate family consist of 3 […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Dom Martin This interview was recorded live just before Dom took the stage at Kelly’s Hotel Portrush to give what would be a spellbinding performance to the many music fans present. In this my third interview with Dom we catch up with what has […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Jon Spear! Award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist Jon Spear doesn’t admit how long he’s been performing but here’s a hint: Jon was in a band that opened for the Isley Brothers at the Capital Theatre in Port Chester NY when Twist and Shout was top-40 hit. Since […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Dionne Bennett Dionne Bennett is a British/West-Indian singer-songwriter, producer, and radio personality. She started singing and performing live at age 14 and released her first soul single by the time she was 15. She is now internationally known for her unique and diverse vocal style that covers all […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Eric Johanson “Eric Johanson’s music and the distinctiveness of his voice makes his music memorable, and unforgettable.” Eric music is steeped in magical influence of New Orleans where he currently resides. However the music has a power and cutting edge that puts it well up […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Lady A This songstress began singing at age 5. She began her performance career as a back-up singer in a Motown Revue band during the 90’s. Her love of music, gospel background, Louisiana roots, and musical family always led her back to the Blues and Gospel music, mixed […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Little G Weevil Little G Weevil is a highly esteemed member of the worldwide blues community. He is the solo winner of the Blues Foundation`s International Blues Challenge in 2013, and has been nominated for USA Blues Music Award, Blues Blast Music Award and USA Independent […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Hanna PK Hanna PK is a solid pianist, soulful vocalist, and vibrant performer, born and raised in South Korea, currently residing in Rochester, NY. She plays a wide variety of the blues & swing, old school folk, and boogie-woogie. She has a dynamic songwriting style – […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Roy Roberts Roy Roberts became hooked on music while growing up in a small town in Tennessee, listening to blues and R&B on radio stations WLAC out of Nashville. Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me to Do” was the clincher and at the age of […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Miss Lady Blues Kesha Boyd who is professionally know as Miss Lady “Blues” is no stranger to the music industry. She has assisted many artists, writers, and producers with their careers. She is a songwriter and singer. She has worked with the Major Record labels to […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Joe Veloz of Joseph and the Velozians Throughout my career as a musician, I have strived to accomplish a high level of skill as a bassist by creating and developing deep organic grooves along with strong song and melodic sensitivity. As a GHS […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Chris “BadNews” Barnes Chris BADNEWS Barnes and Grammy Award-winning producer, Tom Hambridge, have teamed up for Barnes’ first ever original blues album, BADNEWS RISING. This is Barnes’ third release with Vizztone Records. All ten original offerings written by Barnes & Hambridge were recorded at Nashville’s Sound […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Krissy Matthews It was 1995, Krissy was 3 years old and his father invited him on stage to play along to Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison. This is when the story started for British Norwegian Krissy Matthews. Now at 28 years old, he has gained a reputation […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Luca Kiella! Luca Kiella Chiellini left all he ever knew when he was 26 years old. With nothing but his suitcase, his keyboard, and the big dream of making his mark in the music industry in the United States. All the way from his home in […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Diane Durrett Singer, songwriter, producer Diane Durrett is a board member of the Recording Academy Atlanta Chapter, best known for the GRAMMYs. In 2020, during the pandemic with no LIVE shows Diane shifted adding video editing to her technical skills. She produced three music videos for […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Neil Taylor From The Porkroll Project The band has a collective experience that runs deep and wide, having played together in various other projects for over ten years. They are well seasoned veterans of events such as the Philadelphia Jam on the River, the Annual Chameleon […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Zac Harmon! Zac Harmon is an award-winning guitarist, singer, and songwriter whose distinctive style continues the lineage of American Blues music. America’s classical music. Blues Revue called Harmon “a masterful musician and performer of the blues.” Blues journalist Don Wilcock referred to his “Bobby Blue Bland uptown […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Mark Joseph Mark Joseph’s 2021 third full-length album, Vegas Motel, is a highly personal record rooted in the emotion of the year it was written (2020), yet reaching far beyond the confines of the times. Vegas Motel delicately emotes Joseph’s real-life experiences and relationships dating back […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Jeff Taylor of the Altered Five Blues Band Altered Five Blues Band makes music with a swaggering stomp of bruising, barrelhouse grit. According to Downbeat magazine, frontman Jeff Taylor “sings powerfully” and “Jeff Schroedl’s live-wire guitar reaches the high bar of mixed invention and fluidity.” Blues Bytes magazine declares the […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Johnny Gallagher “What can you say about this man that hasn’t already been said. A force of nature, a rock n’ roll dynamo, a larger than life stage presence. All of them are true and yet they don’t adequately describe the awesome talent that Johnny […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Rusty Ends Rusty Ends is the real deal, a true link between the rock and blues of the 50’s and 60’s and the 21st century. Rusty learned his craft as a teenager playing in the bars and taverns up and down Dixie Highway between Louisville and […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Tony Holiday Not only does he enjoy the cozy informality of making music on them, he’s done some outstanding recording on those porches too. Studios simply aren’t a necessity for the blues harmonica wailer when he’s ready to lay some sounds down for posterity. He just […]
Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Kid Ramos! Having reached a milestone birthday on October 17, 2020, which also happened to be the day the album was recorded, Johnny Tucker released his new opus, 75 and Alive, in partnership with Blue Heart Records. Bob Auerbach selected Kid Ramos to produce this collection of […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Teresa James of Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps Her persuasive pipes slathered in honey and soaked in Texas-bred sass, keyboardist Teresa James and her band, the Rhythm Tramps, have long reigned as one of Los Angeles’ leading contemporary blues outfits, even though their uncommonly imaginative […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Brian Mullen of The Cold Stares Authenticity. A word that is frequently used in describing The Cold Stares, and frequently missing from modern music discussions. “We’re not just a blues band, or just a rock band, or anything other than who we are”, front man […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Hector Anchondo For Héctor Anchondo, the third time really became the charmed one. Anchondo entered the 2020 International Blues Challenge in the solo/duo category and came away with the top prize: winning the solo/duo category. He also took home the Memphis Cigar Box Guitar Award […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Elly Wininger Elly Wininger’s third album “Little Red Wagon” was #8 on the Folk Music DJ Chart for January 2018 and in the top 100 for that year. Her upcoming album, “The Blues Never End” including the award-winning song “Right Kind of Trouble” will be released in September […]
HOME PAGE LINDSAY BEAVER HOME PAGE BRAD STIVERS Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Lindsay Beaver and Brad Stivers Lindsay Beaver When blues-rocking, soul-singing drummer, songwriter and bandleader Lindsay Beaver takes the stage, she makes an immediate and unforgettable impression. Standing front and center at her kit, singing every song from the depths of […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Mike ZIto! Mike Zito is one of the most lauded artists in the contemporary blues arena today and rightfully so, but for him, the thing that counts the most is maintaining his honesty, authenticity and integrity. Those are the qualities that have steered Zito’s career […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Jeff Chaz There is a southern gentleman on Bourbon Street. He is soft spoken, with just a bit of a south Louisiana accent, He still opens doors and holds chairs for the ladies. But when Jeff Chaz plugs in his guitar and steps before the microphone, […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an interview with Gabe Stillman The Gabe Stillman Band is a three-piece machine that runs at full tilt for every performance. While their sound is unmistakably rooted in the blues, the band draws from the deep well of all American roots music. Since landing in the final 8 of […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Michael Katon Part 2! Last week Michael told us about it all started for him, now in part two we hear how eventually the man from Hell Michigan set the world on fire with his red hot blues rock ! Your not gonna want to […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Brad Vickers of Brad Vickers and his Vestapolitans Brad Vickers learned on the job playing, touring, and recording with America’s blues and roots masters: Jimmy Rogers, Hubert Sumlin, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Odetta, Sleepy LaBeef, Rosco Gordon, and Pinetop Perkins—with whom Brad had the good fortune to […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Michael Katon! While it’s entirely accurate to describe the music of Detroit legend Michael Katon as ‘blues’, it also fails to do justice to the power, intensity and raw Motor City attitude that Katon commands with every note and chord. Ever since he first started […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Avey and Grouws! Avey Grouws Band met at a blues jam on the Iowa side of the Quad Cities along the Mississippi River, and have since put their Quad Cities sound into the world with the release of their debut album ‘The Devil May Care’ in […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Mick Kolassa Mick Kolassa, a lifelong musician and hardcore blues fan who, in addition to being an active blues artist, is also the head of Endless Blues Records and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Blues Foundation. He lives in Memphis […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Rob Strong The legendary Blues/ Soul singer, Rob Strong, may be 73 years old this year but as the title of his forthcoming Biography suggests, Rob is STILL GOING STRONG! Rob is celebrating a remarkable 55 years on the road and has sold out concerts […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Shaw Davis of Shaw Davis and the Black Ties Formed in 2017 and hailing from Pompano Beach, Florida, Shaw Davis & The Black Ties feature an incendiary fusion of Progressive Hard Rock and Roots Rock that embodies the soul found within Blues Rock icons of the […]
HOME PAGE MAKING A SCENE PRESENTS AN INTERVIEW WITH SETH JAMES AT FIRST, SETH JAMES’ STORY READS LIKE PLOT LINES HAVE GOTTEN THEIR WIRES CROSSED OR TRANSLATIONS MUDDLED: COULD A WORKING COWBOY FROM DEEP WEST TEXAS REALLY BE A ROCK-AND-SOUL ROOTS FUNK MASTER, EDUCATED BY THE BLUES? One listen to James’ new album Different Hat […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Gerry McAvoy! Gerry McAvoy (Bass Guitar) played, recorded and toured with Rory for 20 years, from 1971 to 1991.Gerry played on every album Rory ever made. His 2005 book, ‘Riding Shotgun’ follows his career and life with Rory (available from www.ridingshotgun.co.uk). Gerry also played with […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Polly O’Keary of Polly O’Keary and the Rhythm Method! A century ago, blues was born in the fields of the South, played on porches and in little backwoods bars by kerosene lamp. The times have changed, and it’s a rare blues musician who grew up picking […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Johnny Ray Jones Johnny Ray Jones grew up in the LA blues music scene. Sam “Bluzman” Taylor, Johnny’s voice coach & mentor, traded him lessons for driving Sam to his shows & recording sessions. Percy Mayfield’s widow Tina Mayfield, Johnny’s godmother, booked Johnny Ray his first […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with the Legendary Tito Jackson Born Toriano Adaryll Jackson, Tito has spent his entire life enchanting music lovers with soulful harmonies interwoven with curvaceous rhythms as a member of Motown’s greatest discovery, The Jackson 5, and presently as a multi-faceted solo artist. Tito’s unyielding passion for blues, […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Rodd Bland! From Blues Royalty, the son of Bobby “Blue” Bland and godson of B.B. King, Rodd Bland rose up from the age of 3 learning traditional blues from his father’s drummers, John “Jab O” Starks, Harold “Peanie” Portier, and Rodd’s brother, Tony Coleman, to become […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Stevie J of The Urban Ladder Society Urban Ladder Society is an all star band with the most diverse and unique musical style ever!! this band offers Blues, classic rock, and R&B all with a heavy saturation of metaphoric hip hop lyrics. front man Victa […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Lea McIntosh It’s only natural that pundits attempt to put artists in boxes and define them within a specific scenario. Yet when an individual is as multi-talented as Lea McIntosh, confining them to any one niche becomes a challenging proposition. An exceptional entrepreneur, Lea initially made […]
Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Pierce Kelly! Pierce Kelly drummer with The Gary Moore Band . Pierce was the drummer for Gary in the early seventies. Grinding Stone was the only album to feature Pierce on drums . He’s a lovely man, so humble and full of great stories Another interview you […]
