CD Reviews on projects by Indie Blues Artists
Colin James Open Road Stony Plain One of Canada’s most renowned blues artists, Colin James, has reached a milestone, issuing his 20th album, Open Road. It’s the third in a trilogy of records. It’s the follow-up to 2018’s Juno Award -winning Miles to Go, and 2016’s Blue Highways. Even though the travel motif is in […]
Dionne Bennett Sugar Hip Ya Ya Hunnia Prepare for blast-off. This one comes as an explosive surprise. British Jamaican singer-songwriter, producer, and radio personality Dionne Bennett, who has forged most of her career in Europe, means business. We can thank Little G Weevil for bringing Bennett to our attention as the album was recorded in […]
Various Artists Highway Butterfly – The Songs of Neal Casal (3 CDs, 5 LPs) Royal Potato Family Neal Casal never got his due as a complete artist and certainly as a songwriter until now. Spread across 5 LPs and 3 CDs from a stunning list of artists are 41 of the late Casal’s songs in […]
Dave Specter Six String Soul – 30 Years on Delmark Delmark Guitarist Dave Specter lives up to the enticing album title Six String Soul, with his career-to-date selection of 28 remastered tracks spanning his three decades with Chicago’s Delmark records. It’s so tempting to engage in the kind of wordplay found in the liner notes […]
Sue Foley Pinky’s Blues Stony Plain Canadian-born and longtime Austin TX resident Sue Foley is back with Pinky’s Blues, the follow-up to her acclaimed 2018 The Ice Queen. The title references her signature pink paisley Fender telecaster, “Pinky.” Foley is at the peak of her still growing career as she won “Best Traditional Female (Koko […]
Ben Levin Still Here VizzTone Still Here is the third release for the youthful pianist/songwriter/vocalist Ben Levin, who has already matured well beyond his years. When we last visited him on his 2020 release Carryout or Delivery on these pages, Levin was still in college, having just reached drinking age. And, as we said then, […]
Zac Harmon As Long As I Got My Guitar Catfood Long As I Got My Guitar is the latest from Texas-based blues singer/guitarist Zac Harmon who returns to Bob Trenchard’s Catfood label and again taps producer Jim Gaines, recording at Trenchard’s base studio, the Sonic Ranch, near El Paso. Although Harmon is based in Texas, […]
The Delevantes A Thousand Turns Moon River A Thousand Turns is the third album from Americana band The Delevantes, helmed by New Jersey brothers Bob (the main writer) and Mike (lead guitarist). They are a band that first appeared in the mid-‘90s in the early gestation of Americana but many thought they disappeared as their […]
Avey Grouws Band Tell Tale Heart Navy House The Avey Grouws Band hails from Quad Cities, Iowa, which is not your usual home for a blues-based unit. Yet, they have leveraged the strong impact of their 2020 The Devil May Care by hiring Grammy-winning engineer/producer Casey Wasner, who has worked with Keb’ Mo’,Taj Mahal, and […]
Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps Rose Colored Glasses Vol. 1 Blue Heart Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps are a Los Angeles-based band, but James was raised in Houston and has been able to mix Texas style blues with a West Coast jump and swing sound for over five decades now. They have received […]
Hector Anchondo Let Loose Those Chains VizzTone Every so often a wonderful surprise comes along, and this is one of them. Let Loose Those Chains is one of the most finely crafted, song driven blues releases of this year. Hector Anchondo is the 2020 IBC winner in the solo/duo category, and this is his first […]
Colin Linden bLOW Highway 20 We associate Colin Linden with the blues, yet bLow is his first electric blues release of the fourteen he’s made as a solo artist over his four-decade career. Linden, of course, has been equally or even more prominent on the roots scene with his band Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, […]
Jimmie Vaughan The Jimmie Vaughan Story (5 -CD Box Set) The Last Music Company The living legend Jimmie Vaughan has documented most of his recording history through the auspices of Malcolm Mills’ Last Music Company across 5-CDS in a deluxe box set that in the vinyl size box also includes: An autographed full-size replica of […]
Elly Wininger The Blues Never End Earwig New York Hall of Fame Inductee (2014) Elly Wininger is socially conscious, highly skilled acoustic guitarist and songwriter based in the Woodstock area. She’s been at her craft for decades now but The Blues Never End is only her fifth album since the end of the ‘90s, the […]
Brad Vickers and his Vestapolitans The Music Gets Us Thru Man Hat Tone This is the seventh release for Brad Vickers and his Vestapolitans, a throwback sound as indicated by the 1950-ish red pickup truck on the CD cover. The core band includes Vickers on guitar, bottleneck guitar and vocals, bassist Margery Peters, drummer Bill […]
Lindsay Beaver & Brad Stivers VizzTone These two names, Lindsay Beaver and Brad Stivers, should be familiar to blues fans, especially the former who caught attention with her 2018 Alligator release, Tough as Love. Stivers released his VizzTone release a year earlier. Both played on Beaver’s album and are considered two of the hottest musicians […]
George Gritzbach Full Circle The thing l love about this job, is receiving music that’s completely new to me . A blank canvas so to speak . No preconceived ideas about either the album or the artist. Listening to this album one word comes to mind quality. Each song is crafted with such feeling and passion, even the […]
Dale Webb Take a Little Chance Today I want to introduce you to Dale Webb, singer / songwriter who was born in Wales and raised in Ireland. Dale didn’t have an easy life and started playing guitar after a stroke he suffered as a child when he was just 12 years old. He knew that […]
Seth James Different Hat Tiny Ass Seth James has all the trappings of a West Texas cowboy and looks the part attired in his white Stetson. He is a life-long working rancher. Somehow, though James picked up the same kind of roadhouse blues bug as that mostly retired singer from Ft. Worth, Delbert McClinton. Yes, […]
Gabe Stillman Just Say the Word VizzTone Pennsylvanians are well acquainted with guitarist Gabe Stillman’s energetic, acrobatic, showman-like performances. He leaves no doubt that he can wield an axe gracefully, swaggeringly, and demonstratively depending on the tune. Nonetheless, this debut, Just Say the Word, will surprise even his most ardent fans due to his accomplished […]
Andy Peake Mood Swings Big Little Mood Swings is the debut for singer/songwriter/drummer/percussionist Andy Peake who invites a wide cast of mostly Nashville-based musicians to join him in his eclectic mix of blues and roots tunes. Seven of the eleven are either penned or co-written by Peake with two highly recognizable cover tunes and two […]
Johnny Tucker Featuring Kid Ramos & The Allstars 75 and Alive Blue Heart/ HighJohn There are not that many seventy-plus original bluesmen, certainly few with the pipes of venerable Johnny Tucker who still has plenty left in the tank based on 75 And Alive, recorded on his 75th birthday in October of 2020. For that […]
Los Lobos Native Sons New West Besides their 2019 Christmas album, Llego Navidad, it’s been six years since we heard from the iconic band Los Lobos who return now with Native Sons. They are indeed native sons of Los Angeles, hence the album title and an album that pays homage to L.A.’s musical heritage and […]
Mick Kolassa Wasted Youth Endless Blues The prolific, recently relocated to Memphis, resilient Mick Kolassa returns with a smile on his face after as devastating a year as any could endure. Kolassa lost his wife and many close friends but rather than sinking into maudlin self-pity, these losses inspire the album as Kolassa, in his […]
Andy Lindquist Stand Abide Endure This album is really special for a number of reasons. Firstly it’s the 75th album of Andy’s career an achievement in its self. Secondly it’s a return of another blues album which I have to say finds Andy in his natural musical habitat. Vocally Andy on this album has given […]
The Brothers March 10, 2020/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY Peach The Brothers is like having the Allman Brothers greatest hits performed live in one handy 4-CD package. Given that only one member of the original lineup, Jaimoe, is still alive, this is the second incarnation of The Allman Brothers Band (2001-2014) plus some guests who […]
Steve Dawson at the bottom of a canyon in the branches of a tree Pravda Besides having one of the longest and strangest album titles seen in some time, Chicago-based singer- songwriter Steve Dawson brings us a powerful album of loss and rebirth. Dawson is vastly underrecognized and underrated but has long been one of […]
Adam Schultz Soulful Distancing Blue Heart It’s rather common for an established bluesman to have a younger protégé that he is mentoring, with Buddy Guy and Quinn Sullivan being perhaps the most recognizable example to most blues fans. But Pennsylvania’s Clarence Spady has an apprentice too, 18-year-old guitarist Adam Schultz. After a long recording hiatus, […]
Robert Billard & The Cold Cuts Stop Self-released Robert Billard, formerly mostly a folk singer and now a bluesman, may be the only one of that ilk living in Nunavut, Canada’s newest province, a massive, sparsely populated territory of northern Canada, forming most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Its islands have expanses of tundra, craggy […]
Sean Chambers That’s What I’m Talkin About This album is a tribute to Hubert Sumlin, a musician who had a huge influence on Sean’s life and future career in music. For a number of years Sean was a member of Hubert’s touring band , an experience that Sean will tell you himself made a significant […]
Various Artists A Sweet Relief Tribute to Joey Spampinato True North This is an amazing group of artists all generously donating their proceeds from these recordings to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to support NRBQ founding member/bassist/songwriter Joey Spampinato with his current health issues. Joey’s wife Kami Lyle and producer Sheldon Gomberg rallied a group […]
Gerald McClendon Let’s Have a Party Delta Roots Chicago soul singer Gerald McClendon, the “Soul Keeper,” makes a quick return from 2020’s Can’t Nobody Stop Me Now, a major statement, which he now quickly follows with Let’s Have a Party. McClendon first got a lift from 2019’s Delta Roots release, Battle of the Blues: Chicago vs. Oakland, […]
Patti Parks Whole Nother World VizzTone Working nurse and blues belter Patti Parks hails from Buffalo, NY but made the trek to Baton Rouge, LA to record Whole Nother World, her second full-length release, at Kenny Neal’s studio. After hearing Parks at the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge, Kenny Neal signed her to his Booga […]
Deb Ryder Memphis Moonlight Vizztone Label Group Deb Ryder got her start when as a teenager she would open for visiting artists at her father’s nightclub. She wound up opening for Etta James, Big Joe Turner, Charlie Musselwhite and Taj Mahal. Ryder recorded her debut album “Might Just Get Lucky” in 2013. Her fifth studio […]
Tia Carroll You Gotta Have It! Little Village Foundation Tia Carroll has been performing in California’s Bay Area for decades. She made her own successful albums in both Italy and Brazil, This is the album her fans have been waiting for and her first stateside studio recording. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by […]
Mary Hott with The Carpenter Ants Devil in the Hills – Coal Country Reckoning Self-released You may be thinking that The Carpenter Ants may not be the most inviting band name, but this is as an important concept album as you’ll find. Singer-songwriter Mary Hott is a seventh generation West Virginian who has devotedly researched […]
Elizabeth King Living In The Last Days Bible & Tire Recording Co. After a terrible car accident King was told she would never walk again and so she has since pledged herself to the Lord. Elizabeth King, primarily recorded singles, but she quit recording Sacred Soul in the mid-seventies to raise her fifteen children. Producer […]
Chris Bergson All I Got Left 2 Shirts Coincidentally as we sit down to write on this day of Levon Helm’s birthday, we have one of his many disciples – singer-songwriter, blues guitarist Chris Bergson, offering his new solo effort, All I Got Left. It’s solo in the true sense of the word as you […]
Etta James The Montreux Years Montreux Sounds/Montreux Media Ventures Jamesetta Hawkins was born in 1938, known professionally as Etta James, she was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, and Jazz. Starting in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as ”At Last”, “Tell Mama”, “Something’s Got a Hold on […]
Wee Willie Walker Not In My Lifetime Blue Dot Records Born in Hernando, Mississippi, Wee Willie Walker’s career spanned six decades as he was one of the last real soul singers. He recorded nine sides for the Memphis based Goldwax label in 1968. More recently, between 2004 and 2011, Walker recorded three albums with the […]
Kendall Carter Introducing Kendall Carter Lladnek Music Recently one of my review comments was that organ trios are far from dead. In fact, we’ve seen several contemporary twists on the idiom lately, but newcomer B3 master Kendall Carter mostly embraces the tradition on this soulful, bluesy debut. Impressively he teams with one of today’s most […]
Dara Tucker Dreams of Waking Green Hill Productions The blues readers of these pages probably know the name Dara Tucker, ostensibly a jazz vocalist on this outing – Dreams of Waking – Music for a Better World. She co-wrote and sang on the title track for ‘Keb Mo’s Grammy winning Oklahoma. Tucker indeed hails from […]
Donna Herula Bang at the Door Self-released Donna Herula, a killer slide and resonator player and singer-songwriter, is releasing her third album, Bang at the Door. She brings ten originals, a co-write, and three well-chosen covers. While Herula’s slicing guitar is usually front and center, she is joined by quite a cast including FJ Ventre […]
Various Artists 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music Alligator Records Alligator, the Chicago based label, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. In 1971 Alligator President Bruce Iglauer started operating out of his efficiency apartment. The first album issued was “Hound Dog Taylor and The Houserockers”. The catalog now contains over 350 titles. Iglauer has stuck to […]
Maria Muldaur Let’s Get Happy Together Stoney Plain Records Six-time Grammy nominee Maria Muldaur was raised in Greenwich Village. In 1963 she began her recording career as a member of The Even Dozen Jug Band. She left the following year and joined The Jim Kweskin Band where she married Geoff Muldaur. As a duo she […]
Rale Micic Only Love Will Stay Whaling City Sound Organ trios generally take the soul-jazz path, to the point where such a configuration is too easily stereotyped. Guitarist Rale Micic will argue that he still brings plenty of soul in this quartet setting, Slavic soul that is. As such, it is a refreshingly different sound […]
Tony Joe White Smoke from the Chimney Easy Eye Sound Smoke from the Chimney, a nine-song album of never-before-heard Tony Joe White tunes, is the posthumous album that most thought never existed. Produced by Dan Auerbach and rounded out by Nashville’s most seasoned studio musicians, Smoke from the Chimney started as several unadorned voice and guitar demos […]
Van Morrison Latest Record Project: Volume 1 BMG Perhaps no artist was more upset about the pandemic lockdown, at least to the point of railing against it in song, as the ever prolific Van Morrison. And yes, he used the time to generate a ton of new material, indicating that this tongue-in-cheek entitled Latest Record […]
Bob Corritore & Friends Spider In My Stew Vizztone Label Group/SWMAF Records Bob Corritore was born in Chicago and as an adolescent got hooked on blues harmonica. He studied and received playing tips from some of the cities finest, including Carey Bell, Big Walter Horton, and Junior Wells. Corritore moved to Pheonix when he was […]
Dumpstaphunk Where Do We Go From Here Mascot Label Group/The Funk Garage Art “Poppa Funk” Neville formed the New Orleans Funk band, Neville Sounds, in the early 1960’s and later changed their name to the Meters. With his brothers Cyril, Aaron and Charles, he also formed the Neville Brothers; and The Funky Meters with a […]
