CD Reviews INDIE Blues

Dustin Douglas & The Electric Gentlemen Black Leather Blues Mo Mojo Like many other regions that don’t receive national attention, northeast Pennsylvania has a vital music scene.  This is the second artist (see also review on Mike Miz) that we’ve covered this week alone who hails from the area. Wilkes-Barre guitarist and emerging singer-songwriter Dustin […]

Big Shoes Fresh Tracks Qualified Fresh Tracks is the American Roots Supergroup Big Shoes’ follow-up to their acclaimed 2018 Step On It! Big Shoes originally formed as a “tribute project” to recreate the early music of the iconic band Little Feat, thus the name. As they developed it became evident that the group boasted good […]

Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia Blood Brothers Gulf Coast Records Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia’s dozens of individual albums all point to their first collaboration working as well as it does. Not to mention that they’re apparently good buddies. The title Blood Brothers encapsulates their bond and shared spirits ideally. Zito and Castiglia have long […]

Otis Taylor Banjo… PS Audio/Octave While Otis Taylor’s 15th album doesn’t bear the thematically driven title like his 2017 Fantasizing About Being Black, the more plainly titled Banjo… speaks to similar themes. Taylor says this about the album, where, in fact, only four of the eleven tunes feature him playing banjo – “This is not […]

The Cash Box Kings Oscar’s Motel Alligator Records Blues fanatics of course, but certainly the culturally minded and perhaps most crucially, regular Joe’s, all should spend at least one night in a classic Chicago blues club. Add it to the bucket list, because soaking up that vibe with a blistering band tearing it down can […]

John Primer Live at Rosa’s Lounge – Teardrops for Magic Slim Blues House Productions Guitarist and singer John Primer releases his second album in the space of only six months, with Teardrops for Magic Slim, a live recording from Chicago’s blues haven, Rosa’s Lounge. The late Magic Slim (Morris Holt) was Primer’s second famous boss, […]

Rhythm Krewe Unfinished Business Rhombus The nine-piece horn band, Rhythm Krewe, from southern California, evoke those glorious West Coast blues records from a decade ago, many appearing on the long defunct Delta Groove label. This band, originally called Floyd & The Flyboys, predate those recordings, having begun in 1990. Like so many musicians in the […]

Sunny War Anarchist Gospel New West It’s been a remarkable run for the punk-blues artist Sunny War, known for her fingerpicking acoustic guitar skills and her deceptively casual, quiet approach to songs, many of which are topical. While her early independent records cast her mostly in a blues vein, her music encompasses much more as […]

Eddie 9V Capricorn Ruf Did you ever play a game with friends where you might give each other names – like bowlers or gangsters?  Well, apparently while on the road with another band, the guitarist/singer Brooks Mason was in such a situation and thus the name Eddie 9 Volt (shortened to Eddie V) was bestowed […]

Diane Blue LIVE! At the Fallout Shelter Diane Blue “Live! At The Fallout Shelter” features the vocalist and harmonica player Blue on an album including seven originals and two covers. Blue is the first female member of Ronnie Earl and The Broadcasters and she appears with them on their last six albums. This album features […]

Tas Cru Riffin’ The Blue Tas Cru “Riffin’ The Blue” is a set of eleven Tas Cru Originals. Featured alongside Tas on two tracks is guitarist Mike Zito. Keyboardist Bruce Katz is featured on all songs except for one with organist Bill Barry. The wonderful overall sound is rounded out by the rhythm section of […]

Making a Scene Presents Tom Clarke’s Twelve Favorite Roots and Blues Studio Albums of 2022 Tedeschi Trucks Band – I Am the Moon – Concord Records Derek Trucks may be the most brilliant and expressive guitarist of his generation, his wife Susan Tedeschi the finest rock and soul singer, and their 12-piece Tedeschi Trucks Band […]

Skip James The Complete 1931 Sessions Org Music This year Record Store Day Black Friday has something exciting for Blues fans and vinyl connoisseurs.  ORG Music is re-releasing Skip James – The Complete 1931 Sessions on transparent orange vinyl.  This is a great introductory record for the music of Skip James.   Born in 1902 near Bentonia, Mississippi, he learned to play guitar in his youth and later […]

Bruce Cockburn Rarities (Digital Only Release) True North For fans who cannot get enough of Bruce Cockburn’s music (this writer being one of them), the artist is releasing Rarities, sixteen rarely heard and newly mastered recordings for digital only consumption. These include two previously unreleased songs that are not included on the Rumours Of Glory limited-edition box […]

Bywater Call Remain Gypsy Soul Records       Maple Blues Award winners Bywater Call have drawn a fair share of parallels to Tedeschi Trucks Band since emerging in Toronto in 2017. Remain will likely bolster those comparisons, but also cement the distinctive character of this seven-member group through their gripping performances of eleven original songs. This […]

Spencer Mackenzie Preach to my Soul Gypsy Soul Records Ranking high on my list of the newest wave of blues artists is Canadian bluesman Spencer Mackenzie.  While just in his mid-twenties, he’s already been nominated for multiple blues awards in Canada, and is bound to push the envelope even further in his career.  His talent for […]

Billy Truitt Abstract Truth Gutbukit Billy Truitt is a veteran musician who goes as far back as Jack Ely and Kingsmen of “Louie Louie” fame. Hailing from southern Idaho, he spent time in the Bakersfield honky tonks and L.A. club scenes. Truitt moved to Las Vegas in the ‘90s and began working with the roots/rockabilly […]

Lee Fields Sentimental Fool Daptone The venerable classic soul singer Lee Fields has joined the Daptone roster. Few things are more fitting. Sentimental Fool finds the septuagenarian Fields in fine voice, backed by the roster’s house band that brings out the singer’s best. The album was produced by Daptone’s Gabriel Roth (AKA Bosco Mann). He […]

Angela Strehli Ace of Blues New West Records Angela Strehli “Ace of Blues” is Strehli’s first album in 17 years co-produced by her and her husband Bob Brown. Many will remember her 1990 album “Dreams Come True” with Marcia Ball and Lou Ann Barton and as part 2009’s Blues Broads also featuring Tracy Nelson. Strehli’s […]

Mud Morganfield Portrait Delmark Records This is Mud Morganfield’s newest album. Included are seven originals and seven covers. The covers include Muddy Waters “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had” and John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson’s “Good Morning Little School Girl. This is Mud’s first album for Delmark Records. All but the first track […]

Dave Keyes Rhythm Blues & Boogie Blue Heart The artist with the perfect name for his craft, Dave Keyes, returns with his sixth album and debut for Blue Heart Records, Rhythm Blues & Boogie. Keyes, here playing piano, Wurlitzer, B3, and accordion has earned three BMA nominations, has played in the Broadway pits, done television […]

Malaya Blue Blue Credentials Blue Heart Unfortunately, the songs on Blue Credentials are the swan songs for the late noted blues songwriter Dennis Walker (Robert Cray, B.B. King, Bettye LaVette) unless someone unearths undiscovered material. Award-winning U.K. vocalist Malaya Blue follows up her 2020 critically acclaimed collaboration with Walker, Still, making this her fourth release […]

Annika Chambers and Paul DesLauriers Good Trouble Vizztone Label Group Annika Chambers and Paul DesLauriers are the lovers featured here. DesLauriers is the winner of many Maple Blues Awards and 2-time winner of the MB “Entertainer of the Year”. Annika is a 2-time winner of the Blues Music Award for Soul Blues Artist of the […]