roots

Leonard “Lowdown” Brown Blues is Calling Me Music Maker Foundation Born in Arkansas and raised in Indiana, Leonard “Lowdown” Brown has been surrounded by music most of his life. In 1980 he moved to Houston, Texas for his work with General Electric and became in involved in the local music scene. In 1988, he acquired […]

Guy Bélanger Voyages & Other Stories Bros Quebec’s Guy Bélanger is a multiple Maple Blues Award winner for Harmonica Player of the Year and is otherwise well recognized as both an instrumentalist and singer-songwriter in his nearly fifty-year career. Voyages & Other Stories is his seventh solo album, a mix of originals and covers, featuring […]

Duane Betts Wild & Precious Life Royal Potato Family “My mother she married a ramblin’ man,” Duane Betts sings in “Taking Time,” the snappy little tune that kicks off his 2018 debut EP, Sketches of American Music. The heritage that pours out of Betts in reference to his father, Dickey Betts of the original Allman […]

Franck L. Goldwasser Who Needs this Mess!!? Crosscut Veteran blues fans recall “Paris Slim’s” sets with the Mannish Boys and perhaps some of his other collaborations with West Coast blues artists. Now the French-born guitarist/vocalist, using his given name Franck L. Goldwasser, returns with a solo album, Who Needs this Mess!!?, on which the title […]

Eric Johanson The Deep and the Dirty Ruf Records Louisiana blues-rocker Eric Johanson has a ridiculously cool album with his latest release The Deep and the Dirty.  Enlisting Jesse Dayton (Rob Zombie, X, Samantha Fish) surely accounts for the badassery which abundantly flows out of the dozen original tracks contained on this record.  With Eric Johanson on guitar and vocals, the band is […]

Bruce Katz Connections Dancing Rooster Keyboardist Bruce Katz has a new trio that he’s unveiling on his latest, Connections, which was recorded at the famed Capricorn Studios in Macon, GA, familiar turf to Katz from his tenures with Gregg Allman’s Band, Butch Trucks’ Les Brers, and Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band. While an integral member of those […]

Monster Mike Welch Nothing But Time Gulf Coast Records With Nothing But Time, Mike Welch cements the legitimacy of the Monster moniker that comedian and “Blues Brother” Dan Aykroyd dubbed him with when Welch was a 13-year-old blues guitar prodigy. Welch had recently come off a tough year and a half of long Covid when […]

Larry Taylor and The Taylor Family Generations of Blues: West Side Legacy NOLA Blue Arguably, no single family has been more important to the blues than the Taylor family, headed by Jimmy Reed’s renowned guitarist and bandleader in his own right, Eddie Taylor, Sr. and his wife, singer Vera Taylor, part of the Great Migration […]

D.K. Harrell The Right Man Little Village It’s refreshing to find a youthful talent that embraces the blues tradition. The Right Man is the debut for 25-year-old D.K. Harrell of Ruston, LA.  As a blues singer/guitarist/songwriter Harrell has somehow absorbed not only the history of the blues but its nuances too. While he is still […]

Leonard “Lowdown” Brown Blues Is Calling Me Music Maker Foundation Houston-based blues and soul singer Leonard “Lowdown” Brown is making his debut at age 70. In the tradition of Music Maker Foundation artists, he is again proving that it is never too late. Brown has been performing for four decades but finally made it to […]

Duke Robillard & His All-Star Band Six Strings of Steel M.C. If you’re a follower of Duke Robillard, you’ll notice that he’s changed labels and is back on M.C. Records, where he issued his 2017 Duke Robillard & His Dames of Rhythm. The label change doesn’t produce many other changes, thankfully, as his regular bandmates […]

Arlen Roth and Jerry Jemmott Super Soul Sessions Blue Heart Okay, maybe the title is bit of borrowed interest from the classic Super Sessions album featuring Stephen Stills, Mike Bloomfield, and Al Kooper but it too boasts its share of gems and “super” talent. Guitarist Arlen Roth has long been hailed as a Master of […]