CD Reviews on projects by Indie Blues Artists
Charlie Musselwhite “I Ain’t Lyin’…” Henrietta Records Charlie Musselwhite, harp and vocals, was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi in 1944. His parents moved the family to Memphis where he acquired the nickname “Memphis Charlie”. He moved to Chicago’s South Side and continued his musical education from mentors Junior Wells, Little Walter and Big Walter Horton. Musselwhite […]
Daddy Mack Blues Band A Bluesman Looks At Seventy Inside Sounds Every blues community has its elder statesmen. In Memphis that would be Daddy Mack Orr. At the age of forty-five Mack decided he would teach himself the guitar. He got so good that he began playing with the legendary soul blues band “The Fieldstones”. […]
Slam Allen proves that his nine years playing lead guitar and singing with James Cotton have honed him into one fine songwriter and musician as he slams the soulful blues on “Feel These Blues.” Here he is accompanied by Jeff Anderson on bass, Dan Fadel on drums and the great john Gintry on Hannond B3 […]
The Lucky Losers A Winning Hand West Tone Records The Lucky Losers are vocalists Cathy Lemons and Phil Berkowitz. Lemons is from the Dallas area where she used to run with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Anson Funderburgh. In 1987 Lemons toured with John Lee Hooker. She has lived and performed in the San Francisco Bay […]
Omar Coleman Born & Raised Delmark Records Omar Coleman was born in Chicago in 1973. He didn’t begin to play the harmonica until 2003. Coleman appeared on Severn records’ 2006 “Diamonds in The Rough: Chicago Harmonica Project” produced by Twist Turner and Rick Kreher. In 2010 Coleman was asked to join the 2007 IBC winning […]
Aki Kumar Don’t Hold Back Greaseland Records Aki Kumar, born in Mumbai, India aka Bombay, is a San Jose, Ca. based harmonica player. His performance credits include playing with the band “Tip of The Top”; Rockin’ Johnny and Tommy Castro. This is Kumar’s first studio recording. The album is co-produced by Kumar and Kid Anderson […]
The Texas Horns Blues Gotta Holda Me Vizztone Records Mark “Kaz” Kazanoff, John Mills, and Adalberto Gomez starting calling themselves The Texas Horns in 1999. They began backing up artists and appearing on albums as a unit and also took appearances at festivals. But they also played together before becoming a unit. Kazanoff has appeared […]
Royal Southern Brotherhood Don’t Look Back Ruf Records This is the Royal Southern Brotherhood’s third studio recording. A lot has happened to them since their last album “Heart Soul Blood”. Led by Cyril Neville, the youngest of the Neville Brothers, and the strong rhythm section of Charlie Wooton, bass, and Yonrico Scott, drums, the Royal […]
Lazer Lloyd is not your typical blues man. How did a Jew who was born in New York and raised in Connecticut end up playing the blues in the Holy Land? On his self-titled album, Lloyd explains it all in a song: “Rockin’ in the Holy Land” tells how he played a concert with a […]
Arlen Roth Slide Guitar Summit Aquinnah Records Arlen Roth is known as the “Master of The Telecaster”. He released his first album “Guitarist” in 1978 and it won the Montreux Critics’ Award for Best Instrumental Album. He recorded “Toolin’ Around” in 1993 with Danny Gatton, Duane Eddy, Jerry Douglas, and Duke Robillard and an accompanying […]
Breezy Rodio So Close To It Windchill Records Breezy Rodio is the guitarist in the Linsey Alexander band. This is the third album of his own and the follow up to his 2012 “Playing My Game Too”. Like many guitarists of his generation Rodio first fell in love with the guitar from listening to Stevie […]
Debbie Davies Love Spin Little Dipper/Vizztone In 1984 Debbie Davies played lead guitar in the all-female Maggie Mayall and the Cadillacs led by the wife of John Mayall. In 1988 Davies became a member of the Albert Collins Band. Davies appeared on John Mayall’s 1990 album “A Sense of Place”. Davies also appeared on the […]
Nancy Wright Putting Down Roots Direct Hit Records In college Nancy Wright was a classically trained bassoon player but it wasn’t until she found the saxophone that she felt she had the right instrument. She discovered the world of improvisation. While still in the Dayton area Wright found a mentor in guitarist Lonnie Mack. She […]
Muddy Waters 100 John Primer and Friends Raisin’ Music Records Raisin’ Music Records is the independent blues label led by director and producer Larry Skoller. In 2009 Raisin’ Music released the Grammy nominated “Chicago Blues: A Living History” and its sequel 2011’s “Chicago Blues: A Living History – The (R)Evolution Continues”. Muddy Waters 100 celebrates the […]
J.B. Hutto & His Hawks Hawk Squat Delmark Records Joseph B. Hutto was born in South Carolina in 1926. His family moved to Augusta, Ga. where he wound up singing in church. When he was 23 his father died and the family relocated in Chicago. Hutto played the drums and piano before switching to guitar. […]
Little Richard “Directly from My Heart: The Best of the Specialty & Vee-Jay Years” www.ConcordMusicGroup.com Little Richard was and will always be known as one of the originators of rock & roll. Richard successfully merged gospel with New Orleans R&B pounding it out at the piano with his signature wailing vocals. Numerous other R&B greats […]
Roy Rogers Into The Wild Blue Chops Not Chaps Records Roy Rogers is a delta slide guitar master. From 1982 to 1986 Rogers was a member of John Lee Hooker’s Coast to Coast Band and he plays guitar on, and produced, John Lee Hooker’s albums ‘The Healer”, “Mr. Lucky” and “Chill Out”. Rogers also appears […]
Victor Wainwright & The Wild Roots Boom Town Blind Pig Records Victor Wainwright was born in Savannah. He attended college in Daytona and moved to Memphis where he was employed during the day as an Air Traffic Controller at Memphis International Airport. At night he honed his piano skills in the clubs along Beale Street. […]
Billy Price/Otis Clay This Time For Real Bonedog Records/Vizztone Otis Clay is a soul blues icon. In 2013 he was an inductee into the Blues Hall of Fame. Now in his early seventies Clay may arguably be making the sweetest music of his career. In 2013 Clay released “Truth Is” and received Blues Music Award […]
Amy Black The Muscle Shoals Sessions Reuben Records Both of Amy Black’s parents where born in the Muscle Shoals area. When visiting her grandparents Black would drive by the FAME studios unaware of its history or significance. As an adolescent Black had sung hymns in Church but it wasn’t until graduating college in Boston and spending […]
Toots Lorraine Make It Easy Independent Originally from Florida Toots Lorraine and The Traffic released their first cd “Wrapped in Blues” in 2011. For this follow up husband and wife Tyra and Chad Dant decided to record in Campbell, California at Greaseland Studios. Greaseland Studios belongs to Christopher “Kid” Anderson. Anderson is the guitarist with […]
Deb Ryder Let It Rain Bejeb Music As a youngster Deb Ryder hung out at her step-fathers nightclub “The Topanga Corral”. While still in her teens she opened for The Canned Heat’s Bob Hite, Charlie Musselwhite, Taj Mahal, and her biggest influence Etta James. Her debut album was 2013’s “Might Just Get Lucky”. For her […]
James Harman Bonetime Electro-Fi James Harman, harp and vocals, has had an illustrious career having backed up Big Joe Turner, John Lee Hooker, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Albert King, T-Bone Walker, Lowell Fulsom, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Johnny “Guitar” Watson” and Albert Collins among others. Harman’s first album was released in 1987 however his […]
Sugaray Rayford Southside Nimoy Sue Records The Sugaray Rayford Band was formed in 2010. Rayford released his first cd “Blind Alley” soon later. Upon hearing him in 2011 the late Randy Chortkoff, of Delta Groove Records, asked Rayford to join The Mannish Boys and he appears on their 2012 BMA winning “Double Dynamite” album where […]
Tad Robinson is a soul singer worthy of compare to greats like Al Green and Marvin Gaye. He is also a talented songwriter just as capable of writing and performing his own songs about the many nuances of relationships as he is of doing a great c0ver like the one on Day Into Night of […]
There is a welcome trend in blues music lately, of people wanting to get back to basics, to create music that is as authentic and natural as possible on record, so that the listener feels as though he or she were right there with the band listening as the music goes down. That is the […]
Delta Moon has been setting the bar high for a long time now, but they reach new heights with the just-released Low Down. They offer nine original compositions here and three fantastic covers. Frankly, the cover of Bob Dylan’s “Down In The Flood” was enough to send this reviewer into raptures. There are few better […]
My husband and I had the privilege of seeing Too Slim and The Taildraggers Saturday night and he gave me a copy of his CD, Blue Heart, which actually came out before last year’s Anthology, but which I somehow missed. If you did, too, you need to get this CD in your collection right way! […]
Darrell Nulisch One Night in Boston Independent Darrell Nulisch is the singer currently on tour with The James Cotton Blues Band. Nulisch is featured on Cotton’s 2014 Blues Music Award winning and Grammy nominated “Cotton Mouth” album. Nulisch, harp and vocals, was the original singer with Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets and he first recorded with […]
This is what happens when you put a group of legendary guitar players together to make a live recording called Guitar Heroes. You get gold. Originally this performance was supposed to be just a souvenir for the players, who were performing at the Vancouver Island MusicFest in 2013. But when James Burton, Albert Lee, Amos […]
Kirk Fletcher Burning Blues: Live At The Baked Potato Independent Kirk Fletcher is one of the most complete guitarists on the scene today. He can lay down the rhythm before taking a guitar solo and knows how to play behind a harpist or vocalist to make them sound better. Fletcher will turn forty years old […]
Jimbo Mathus is almost impossible to categorize. This Mississippi native’s music is a combination of all sorts of Southern styles from gospel to blues to country to rock, fueled with mysticism and given a psychodelic twist. Add Mathus’s growling vocal and masterful storytelling and you have something strange and wonderful. You feel at times as though […]
Boz Scaggs A Fool To Care 429 Reccords William Royce “Boz” Scaggs was born in Canton, Ohio but his family moved to Oklahoma and later to Texas. He met Steve Miller at a Dallas private school. They both attended The University of Wisconsin. After school Scaggs spent time in England. In 1967 Scaggs re-united with […]
Chris Daniels & The Kings Funky To The Bone Independent Chris Daniels formed his first band “Spoons” in 1981. He started the concert series at the Sheridan Opera House in Telluride Colorado in 1983. Spoons as he is sometimes called formed the Chicago styled horn band Chris Daniels and The Kings in 1984. The Kings […]
The Nighthawks Back Porch Party Eller Soul Records This is the twenty-eighth album from The Nighthawks who formed in 1972. The earliest lineup on record included Mark Wenner, harp; Jimmy Thackery, guitar; Jan Zukowski, bass; and Pete Ragusa, drums. Thackery left in 1987 to form Jimmy Thackery and The Drivers. Drummer Ragusa left the band […]
Greg Nagy Stranded Big O Records Greg Nagy is the former lead guitarist for the blues and soul band “Root Doctor”. Their 2008 recording “Change Our Ways” received a Blues Music Award nomination as Best Soul Blues Album. In 2009 Nagy released the first album under his own name. “Walk That Fine Thin Line” helped […]
The Blues Hawks out of New Jersey are a rocking blues band! They just released an EP, Bad Ass Blues consisting of 5 very solid songs and I was lucky enough to receive a copy to review. The group consists of Frank Sonsini (Guitar), Mike DiFrank (Vocals and Bass Guitar), Dave Brodnick (Drums), and Jacqueline […]
Mark Telesca Heavy Breathing Independent Originally from New York City Mark Telesca studied music at Florida Atlantic University and now lives in West Palm Beach. Telesca held the “bass chair” in many Broadway productions but his real passion is the Blues. Formerly a member of the band “Blues Dragon” Telesca competed in the 2012 International […]
Jackie Payne I Saw The Blues Blue Dot Records Jackie Payne was born in Athens, Ga. in 1946. At the age of seventeen he released his first single “Go Go Train” on the Jetstream label. As a result he toured with the Stax revue which then featured Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and Carla Thomas. […]
Slam Allen Feel These Blues American Showplace Music Raised in Alabama, Slam Allen played drums in his families soul band “The Allen Brothers”, led by his father and uncles. Therefore Allen was schooled in the music of Otis Redding, Albert King, B.B. King, James Brown and Wilson Pickett. It wasn’t long before Allen picked up […]
Bobby Messano lives on the road. Music is the one constant in what can be best described as a turbulent life. He’s been playing for decades and even did a stint as Steve Winwood’s guitar player and music director. He is an amazing guitar player and a passionate and powerful vocalist. With every album he […]
Moondog Medicine Show Let It Go Independent This is Moondog Medicine Show’s second cd. Their first cd “Elixir” was released in 2013. The band is fronted by Lana Spence. Spence is one of a dozen Janis Joplin type replacement singers used by Big Brother and The Holding Company from 1987 – 1997 and again between 2008 […]
For all of the legions of fans who have missed Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women since they split in 209, you will be happy to know that former member Gaye Adegbalola is still making the same sort of smart, honest, usually sassy but sometimes profound music that she made with that group, only now with three […]
Eight O’Five Jive Too Many Men Red Rudy Too Tunes Eight O’Five Jive were the winners of the 2014 Nashville Independent Music Award for “Best Live Blues Performers”. This 12 song jump blues “operetta”, as they humorously call their debut album, is a set culled from vintage Rhythm and Blues recordings. The band is led […]
Doug MacLeod Exactly Like This Reference Recordings Doug MacLeod has been nominated for thirteen Blues Music Awards. He finally won in 2014 for both Acoustic Album of the Year, “There’s a Time”; and more importantly as Acoustic Artist of the Year. His song “The Entitled Few”, from that album, also received a 2014 nomination as […]
Jerry Williams “Gone” www.RealGoneMusic.com Jerry Williams (AKA Jerry Lynn Williams) is more known as a songwriter than solo artist. From this recording Delbert McClinton covered and notched a hit with Williams’ “Givin’ It Up for Your Love.” From later Williams’ albums; Eric Clapton covered “Forever Man,” “Pretending” and “Running on Faith,” with millions of copies […]
Ghost Town Blues Band Hard Road to Hoe Independent The Ghost Town Blues Band represented the Memphis Blues Society in both 2013 and 2014 at The International Blues Challenge. A finalist in 2013 they took 2nd place in 2014. It seems that with time this band just gets better and better. This is the bands third […]
Tad Robinson Day into Night Severn Records As a fan of Memphis styled music there are few singers that affect me the way Otis Redding and Al Green did way back in the late sixties and early seventies. One of them is Tad Robinson. Robinson is a blue eyed soul singer. This is his sixth […]
Vanilla Fudge was one of the most interesting groups of the late ’60s, with a sound that was definitely psychedelic but also heavy enough to verge on the later heavy metal. Amazingly, almost 50 years later they still have the same sound! Not only that, but all but one of the original members are recording […]
Betty LaVette “Child of the Seventies” www.RealGoneMusic.com It has taken nearly forty years to have Betty LaVette’s “Child of the Seventies” unearthed, but the wait was worth it as this lost gem has aged like a fine bottle of wine. Soon to be seventy years young – the youthful soul diva had several brushes with […]
