GIGS
GEAR
NEWS
REVIEWS & MORE!
132 PAGES FOR ONLY £4.75!
ARTHUR BROWN STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
The Voice of the Blues! www.bluesmatters.com
FROM THE USA!
Plus
CHARLIE WOOD JP SOARS
FROM THE UK!
TREVOR SEWELL MATT WOOSEY
FROM SCOTLAND! KING KING
REVIEWS SPECIAL THE BIG MUSIC GUIDE OVER 20 PAGES OF BLUES REVIEWS
FROM SOUTH AFRICA! DAN PATLANSKY
ROBIN TROWER SOMETHING’S ABOUT TO CHANGE
BETTYE LAVETTE SHE’S WORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION!
APRIL/MAY2015 ISSUE83 £4.75
SIC U M G ITIN S FOUR” R W D RTE HEN I WA A T S I “ W
contents
Welcome
www.bluesmatters.com PO Box 18, Bridgend, CF33 6YW. UK Tel: 00-44-(0)1656-745628
Another Winter passes, another Spring is coming. That means another festival season is getting closer, so Plus gird your loins and pin back your ears, get the wellies out (just in case) and prepare for some great events in 2015. ROBIN TROWER It is very pleasing that Burnley reappears even if just for a one day event this year, hopefully next year will see the event back at full strength! Blues Matters! is proud to say that the Colne organisers have asked us to run a BM day in the Leisure Centre once again and we aim to have you packing the house to full capacity to see the acts on the Bank Holiday Monday, so don’t miss it folks! We are taking steps with our digital partners to allow you to download our app at venues and events so do check it out on your mobile devices. Once set up we can use a postcode to give a flag on a map and apparently it is that easy then you can download at that location. We’ll keep you posted in future issues. We were very sad to hear of the departure last year of one of our long-time team members Martin ‘Noggin’ Norris, after a long fight against motor neuron disease. Our thoughts are with his wife Joan. GIGS
GEAR
NEWS
REVIEWS & MORE!
132 PAGES FOR ONLY £4.75!
ARTHUR BROWN STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
The Voice of the Blues! www.bluesmatters.com
FROM THE USA!
CHARLIE WOOD JP SOARS
FROM THE UK!
TREVOR SEWELL MATT WOOSEY
FROM SCOTLAND! KING KING
REVIEWS SPECIAL THE BIG MUSIC GUIDE OVER 20 PAGES OF BLUES REVIEWS
FROM SOUTH AFRICA! DAN PATLANSKY
SOMETHING’S ABOUT TO CHANGE
BETTYE LAVETTE SHE’S WORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION!
APRIL/MAY2015 ISSUE83 £4.75
MUSIC RITING UR” TED W I WAS FO “I STAR WHEN
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Contributing Writers: Liz Aiken, Roy Bainton, Andrew Baldwin, Adrian Blacklee, Bob Bonsey, Chris Gilson, Eddy Bonte (BEL), Colin Campbell, Rob Cook, Norman Darwen, Dave Drury, Carl Dziunka (AUS), Sybil Gage (USA), Diane Gillard, Stuart A. Hamilton, Brian Harman, Gareth Hayes, Trevor Hodgett, Billy Hutchinson, Peter Innes, Duncan Jameson, Brian Kramer (SW), Frank Leigh, Geoff Marston, Ben McNair, Christine Moore, Toby Ornott, Merv Osborne, David Osler, Thomas Rankin, Clive Rawlings, Chris Rowland, Paromita Saha (USA), Pete Sargeant, Dave ‘the Bishop’ Scott, Graeme Scott, Ashwyn Smyth (Fr), Andy Snipper, Dave Stone, Suzanne Swanson (Can), Jed Thomas, Tom Walker, Dave Ward, Daryl Weale, Kevin Wharton, Steve Yourglivch.
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Christine Moore, Liz Aiken, Annie Goodman, others credited on page
© 2015 Blues Matters! Original material in this magazine is © the authors. Reproduction may only be made with prior consent of the Editor and provided that acknowledgement is given of the source and copy is sent to the editorial address. Care is taken to ensure that the contents of this magazine are accurate but the publishers do not accept any responsibility for errors that may occur or views expressed editorially. All rights reserved. No parts of this magazine may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise without prior permission of the editor. Submissions: Readers are invited to submit articles, letters and photographs for publication. The publishers reserve the right to amend any submissions and cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage. Please note: Once submitted material becomes the intellectual property of Blues Matters and can only later be withdrawn from publication at the expediency of Blues Matters! Advertisements: Whilst responsible care is taken in accepting advertisements if in doubt readers should make their own enquiries. The publisher cannot accept any responsibility for any resulting unsatisfactory transactions, nor shall they be liable for any loss or damage to any person acting on information contained in this publication. We will however investigate complaints.
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 3
Welcome
contents
REGULARS
06 16 20 94 108
HAPPENIN’
he latest news and views across the T blues world. Including Australian blues, Kitchat and much more!
BLUES TOP TEN
ormer Blood Sweat & Tears frontman F David Aldo tells us his top blues..
BLUE BLOOD
ew blues talent, Catfish, Ross Connor, N Mike Francis, Greg Coulson, Luke Docherty and Backwater Roll.
RED LICK TOP 20
The regular round up from our friends at Red Lick with the hottest sellers.
RMR BLUES TOP 50
he former Revillo and his journey T towards the blues.
BRETT MARVIN
rontman Keef Trouble tells as about F survival, longevity and leading the legendary Thunderbolts.
KING KING
ain man Alan Nimmo talks about M leading one of the hardest-working bands in blues to well-earned success.
MATT WOOSEY
e catch up with one of the brightest W young prospects on the blues circuit.
features
ARTHUR BROWN
80 84 88
BETTYE LaVETTE
REVIEWS
The Roots Music Report in depth independent air play chart.
INTERVIEWS
28 32 42 48 54
60 66 70 76
TREVOR SEWELL
ROBIN TROWER
new album, an upcoming tour and a A new creative energy at the age of 70. ith a stunning new album out, the W flames still burning brightly. e catch up with the Queen of Blues W Soul, ahead of her UK visit.
CHARLIE WOOD
he man who made his reputation as a T world-class songwriter in Memphis and London spills the beans.
JP SOARS
lorida based Cigar Box Guitar legend F tells us about his life in the blues
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U NDER THE RADAR: DAN PATLANSKY
South African Superstar on the verge of taking the UK & Europe by storm.
95 121
DAVE KELLY
he continuing saga of the history of T one of our most enduring bluesmen.
BLUES BROTHERS
e come to the end of this classic Blues W journey with famous Brothers.
CDS AND DVDS
ALBUMS
The ultimate blues review. The best new releases and re-issues. festivals and concerts
SHOWTIME
Skegness, Le Buis Festivals plus shows by Matt Schofield, Davy Knowles, Chris Rea, Marcus Bonfanti and much more. w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
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Welcome
interview
KING KING
BETH HART
PHOTO: ANDY HIBBS
This month’s cover artist talks about her career, her new CD and her plans for the future.
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photo: CLAY McBRIDE
ARTHUR BROWN
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photo: GREG WATERMANN
PHOTO: Christie Goodwin
joe BONAMASSA
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Happenin’
news
Ve r bals: steve yo u r g livc h
all the blues that’s fit to print, from around the world
JONNY’S 50th BIRTHDAY bash singer Jonny Wright will be hosting a Blues ’n’Rock Festival in Civic Hall, Main Street, Shildon, County Durham on April 11th to raise funds for two charities, namely f Cancer Research UK and MacMillan Cancer Support so hoping for a great turnout. Johnny tells us, ‘It’ll be £5 on the door and 100% of the takings will be going to the two charities! I’m hoping we can raise well over £1000 on the day!’ Appearing on the day will be: Appearing on the day will be: Gary Grainger, Neil Gibstar Gibson Abbaretz, Creepy Uncle, Sheikh Ya Mojo, and special guest John Otway and many more. See www.facebook.com/ events/1493660794207289/ for more information. otway, live at jonny’s
new alvin lee tribute new release through groundbreaking digital age platform the late, great Alvin lee
Digital White Label is a new groundbreaking digital age platform launched last year which links artists and fans like never before. The project is the brainchild of Jasmin Lee, daughter of the celebrated late blues-rock legend Alvin Lee, one of whose final accolades was to be nominated by Gibson guitars as the greatest ever exponent of its ES 335 model, ahead of Eric Clapton and BB King. Jasmin is studio manager and responsible for
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artist management at London’s Dean Street Studios. She is honouring her father’s late memory by making Alvin the first musician to feature on the innovative, subscription-based label. At regular intervals, over a 12-month period, a previously unreleased collection of tracks is downloaded, alongside a variety of other exclusive material accessible on-line, all for the price of a single CD. This material includes archive audio and video interviews of Alvin and band members, rare photographs of Alvin on stage and at
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home, and a selection of his personal sketches and artwork. There is even an interactive blog, so it is unlikely that owning a CD will ever be the same again! Signing up is via the DWL website and can be done at any time as the material distributed already will be forwarded to the subscriber. The songs released from this live gig in New York are nearly all from the In Flight double album of 1974 but they are very different in this new format. Thanks to expert mastering, mixing and executive production, the original tapes are transformed into a crystal clear, high quality recording which is far superior to most live albums from that period. His widow Evi, daughter Jasmin and former partner Suzanne work tirelessly to achieve this objective.
New Releases Robin Trower
Something’s About To Change is released by Manhaton Records on Monday March 9th. Trower’s UK tour with special guest Joanne Shaw Taylor, starts March 26th at Lincoln Engine Shed and runs until April 17th at Milton Keynes Stables. Ticket info: www. thegigcartel.com, 0844 478 0898. See feature on page 28.
King King
Reaching For The Light is released by Manhaton Records on Monday May 5th. They play their album launch show at the London Jazz Café on May 6th. Further info: www.kingkingblues.com. See feature on page 70.
Dan Patlansky
Dear Silence Thieves is released on April 27th. UK tour dates include London Borderline (April 27), Sheffield Greystones (April 28), York Fibbers (April 30), Pool Mr Kyps (May 7). Ticket info: www.thegigcartel.com, 0844 478 0898. Info: www.danpatlansky.com. See feature on page 80.
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Happenin’ obit
ROBERT BELFOUR
11th SEPT 1940 – 24th FEB 2015
uar
ies
Probably the last of the old school Mississippi Hill Country musicians who were brought to a wider audience by Fat Possum Records. The young Robert was taught guitar by his father in his home town of Red Banks, Mississippi before his education was continued by the likes of Otha Turner, RL Burnside and in particular Junior Kimborough. Robert married in 1959 and spent the next 35 years working in the construction industry only taking up his music professionally in the 1980’s and after being featured on The Spirit Lives On compilation in 1994 he was signed by Fat Possum. Robert released two albums for them, What’s Wrong With You (2000) and the critically acclaimed Pushin’ My Luck in 2003.
MARTIN ‘BIG BOY’ GRANT Unknown – 7th MARCH 2015
A larger-than-life character who played harmonica and provided ridiculous dance moves fronting All Night Blues Band alongside Sean Apple, one of the best of the new wave of Mississippi Hill Country bands. Early reports are that he suffered a major stroke.
Venue News
sUNDERLAND BLUES CLUB OPENS
george shovlin and the radarS photo: rockpix
Sunderland has become the latest city to open it’s own Blues Club. Based in the Dun Cow, High Street West it opened it’s doors in October to much acclaim. Respected local musician George Shovlin and his band The Radars will perform once a month with other bands invited to fill the other fortnightly slots. There used to be a popular blues venue, Old 29, nearby and there has always been a strong following for blues music in the area so it’s hoped the revamped bar will fit the bill perfectly.
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NICHE PRODUCTIONS 7818
news
Happenin’
Kind of Blue ve r bals: rob cook
aN OCCasIONal serIes abOut WeIrD aND WONDerFul blues releases FrOm arOuND tHe WOrlD ARTISTS: Leroy Carr, Washboard Sam, the fabulous Lonnie Johnson, Walter Davis, Leadbelly, Wingy Manone, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Mildred Bailey, Artie Shaw, Ethel Waters and Joe Williams. TITLE: Symposium In Blues LABEL: RCA Victor DATE: 1966 FORMAT: Mono
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n 1966 drug manufacturer Merck, Sharp and Dohme decided that there was no better way to promote their new antidepressant than to hand out a compilation. Of blues music. Ahem... Records were a well-established sales booster in the 50’s and 60’s, but you’d be hard-pushed to find a more misguided attempt at marketing than Symposium in Blues. Why not drift off to Elavil’s ‘mild tranquillizing’ (sic) effects than the sounds of I’ve Been Treated Wrong, by Washboard
Sam, I’m On My Last Go-Round, by Leadbelly and that perennial chirpy classic, Rocks In My Bed, by Leroy Carr. Not exactly an uplifting selection. Nowadays copies of Symposium... fetch around $30 on ebay. Which should cheer you up.
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GREAT BRITISH
BLUES
IN TWO AMAZING KOMPILATIONS
FEATURING:
RED VINYL EFFECT PRESSING!
ZOE SCHWARZ & BLUE COMMOTION, DAVE THOMAS BAND ROADHOUSE, TOM GEE, SHARON COLGAN BAND, THE WHITE KNUCKLE BLUES BAND, RED BUTLER, THE IDLE HANDS, INNES SIBUN, ALEX McKOWN BAND, DOVE & BOWEEVIL, ROY METTE BAND, JACKSON SLOAN, PLANET GRAFITTI, LITTLE DEVILS, ABSOLUTION KAT & CO, JO BYWATER, SPLIT WHISKERS, JED THOMAS BAND, SAIICHI SUGIYAMA, THE MIGHTY BOSS CATS, DR. A’S RHYTHM & GROOVES, ROBIN ROBERTSON BLUES BAND, SPACE EAGLE, PAUL LAMB & CHAD STRENTZ, JACK J HUTCHINSON BAND FRAN MCGILLIVRAY BAND, ANDY TWYMAN, SHORTSTUFF, GWYN ASHTON THE BARE BONES BOOGIE BAND
www.bluesmatters.com/krossborder-rekords
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ARTIST: TITLE: LABEL: DATE: FORMAT:
Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill’s Blues Epic Encore 1968 (1972 reissue) Mono, 16 tracks
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espite the convenience of digital music, there’s an undeniable charm about putting on a vinyl record – from the occasional pop and crackle to fingering the foot-square sleeve, and even having to get up and flip the thing over after one side when the needle snaps into the runout groove. This review isn’t of a ‘new’ release, but an old one, and hopefully it’ll encourage you to go and seek it out – if of course, you haven’t got it already in this, or some other format. It was a difficult decision, but after a good hour of rooting through some old friends I settled on what is probably my favourite blues record of all time: Big Bill’s Blues, by Big Bill Broonzy. I suspect this release fell off the back of the late ‘60s blues revival, with its original issue being on CBS in 1968. My copy is a blue-label Epic reissue from 1972, (stop complaining at the back there – you want your money’s worth don’t you?), it’s in glorious mono, and it cost me all of £5 from a market stall in Leicester, sometime around 1996. The 16 featured recordings on the disc are from a variety of sessions
between 1936 and 1941 in Chicago and New York, and – for the most part – are taken from the 78s issued at the time on such labels as Vocalion and Okeh. If you want sonic thrills, you won’t find them here, but what you will find – amid both the hiss and crackle of the original recordings, and a 42-year old pressing – is some of the best blues out there. Bill’s voice, from the opening parable of Big Bill’s Blues, to the hopeful Looking Up At Down is the perfect combination of world-weary sorrow and jaded emotion set to music. Musically, it’s relatively sparse but highly competent, with most recordings featuring Bill on a 12-string acoustic backed by a tight band on piano and bass, with occasionally a trumpet or drums finding its way into the mix. By the time the first of these recordings were issued, Broonzy was 43, but the sadness in the voice, especially on side two’s When I Been Drinking is timeless. Fourteen of the 16 tracks are self-written, and the autobiographical theme runs strong throughout – despite the varying dates of the sessions, there’s a strong feeling that you’re hearing the story of Broonzy’s life, each song representing the chapter of a book, or the musical description of a character flaw. It’s an incredibly powerful recording from start to finish, and having heard it again for the first time in nearly three years, I found myself sitting on the sofa in the dark, listening to the run-off groove click
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from the speaker while ruminating on the words. Play this against many modern equivalents, and you’ll be shocked at the raw depth of emotion and feeling it can portray. Bill himself once said: ‘Blues is a natural fact, [it] is something that a fellow lives. If you don’t live it you don’t have it’, and this record bears that out beautifully. The irony is that Bill never lived to see his work undergo a new appreciation – he died in 1957 of throat cancer, and didn’t enjoy the belated boost that several forgotten artists had to their careers, as a result of being introduced to a new and younger audience. A quick check shows that you can get this record on CD, and presumably MP3 as well, but would you want to? To me, this is how it’s supposed to sound, and there’s the very real possibility that any digital cleaning-up will have stripped the soul out of the music. I’m an unapologetic vinyl enthusiast anyway, but this is definitely one recording that won’t benefit from tampering. If you can find a copy of this album, then don’t hesitate, buy it – it will be one of the best records you own.
COLLECTOR’S CORNER
Down AnD oUt ve r bals: cH r is G i lson
IN tHIs aGe OF tHe IPOD aND all tHINGs DIGItal, cHris Gilson taKes a steP baCKWarDs, aND Delves INtO HIs COlleCtION tO Pull Out a vINYl Gem – Warts aND all w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
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Happenin’
news
wizards of OZ Ve r bals: Car l Dz i u n ka
The Blues isn’t restricted to one particular place or one particular point in time. Blues music is universal and ongoing. While the original Bluesmen take up legend status, a whole new generation steps in and keeps the blues tradition alive while recruiting a new legion of fans
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hen people talk about the blues, it is right to say that they immediately think about America and the names that are synonymous with this kind of music. With the likes of Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley, you would be right on the money with your thinking. Now you’re thinking needs to be expanded and move dutch til ders outside the circle. The blues is a genre of music that is on a worldwide scale. Its origins worthwhile. This meant it was the may have been in the Southern perfect opportunity for Australian States of the United States but now performers to create their own blues it’s a global phenomenon. Even scene and develop a following in Australia has got the blues. their own country. Blues music predominantly One of the first Australians to be comes from a cross over from other considered a true Blues musician genres of music like Jazz, Rhythm was a man called Dutch Tilders. and Blues and Rock and Roll. Tilders introduced blues to the Australian blues is no different. A lot Australian music loving public in the of Australian groups had the blues early 1960’s. He has been described influence but their music bordered as The Grand Master and The on to the Jazz, Pop and Rock entities Godfather of Australian blues. Tilders’ as well. A lot of the blues influence influences came from bluesmen seemed to come out of the U.K. like Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi during the 1960’s. Australian artists John Hurt and Blind Blake. Once were starting to see the likes of Tilders had introduced the blues to John Mayall, The Yardbirds and Australia and Australia showed the Peter Green and liking what they world that they could also be serious saw. While all the big names were contenders in this style of music, touring across the United States and Tilders then took a back seat as far Europe, Australia consistently missed as performing went. He stayed away out. The sheer distance to travel was from the music scene in the late part a significant factor for most people of the 1960’s and made a triumphant during that time and for a musician return during the 1970’s when he would have had to have been very
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started releasing a number of albums and touring with some of the best blues artists around.
Dutch Tilders While Tilders took a break from music, a number of other Australian artists took the opportunity to make the transition into the world of Blues music. The next wave of artists to do this started off as Jazz bands. These were The Wild Cherries and The Red Onions. Three members of The Red Onions, Ian Clyne (Keyboards), Kim Lynch (Bass Guitar) and Gerry Humphries (Vocals and Clarinet) banded together with Rob Lovett (Guitar) and Gavin Anderson (Drums) from The Wild Cherries. They formed a new group, called The Loved Ones.
The Loved Ones The Loved Ones arrival in 1966 was marked by their debut single Everlovin’ Man. It was a bluesy swing record that highlighted Humphries
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vocal range and Clynes prolific electric piano sound. The foundation for the Australian blues scene had now been set but it was a genre that attained a dedicated following. With the direction of the youth culture in the late 1960’s, the direction of music across the world was mostly concerned with pop, blues was sitting on the fringe being played in moderation. The next group to appear on the Australian music scene started to change all this. This group possibly did the most to push Australian blues and to really raise its profile. The group is Chain. From their inception in 1968, Chain has remained Australia’s foremost blues performers. Even though they learnt the music by listening to the American greats and were influenced by the British blues, Chain played the blues that would become unmistakably Australian.
Chain Chain had a number of line-up changes in the first couple of years of their forming but the correct mix came together in 1970. The line-up at this point consisted of Matt Taylor (Vocals and Harmonica), Phil Manning (Guitar and Vocals), Barry Sullivan (Bass Guitar) and Barry Harvey (Drums). When these four came together and played it showed the blues had well and truly been cemented in Australian music history. This line-up had a tougher, bluesier edge that they’d had previously and it was a stand out in their music. They recorded a track called Black ‘n’ Blue which smashed the Australian charts and became one of the classic songs in Australian music history. The track appears on the Chain album Towards the Blues, which went double gold, and has become a landmark recording. This album is also regarded as being a huge influence in the direction of blues performers in Australia ever since. Chain were together until 1974 when they parted ways and Phil Manning and Matt Taylor concentrated on solo careers. Over the years, Chain have come
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CHAIN
together many times and continues to play live. The Wild Cherries had a second reincarnation in 1967. One of the members of this line up was a man by the name of Lobby Lloyd. (His real name was John Baslington Lyde but he also used Barry Lyde) The group also recruited Matt Taylor in 1968 who went on to become a member of Chain in 1970. Lloyds work with The Wild Cherries was more on the Psychedelic rock theme. He left The Wild Cherries in 1968 to join Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. It was when he joined with Billy Thorpe that Lloyd encouraged The Aztecs to develop a heavier sound. Lloyd helped to shape the Australian guitar sound and to inspire bands to step forward and play as loud and as aggressively as they could. It was from this influence that the Aztecs started to spearhead the burgeoning Blues scene. In doing this, they got huge recognition in the Australian music scene and became one of the most popular Australian groups in Australia’s music history.
mixture of all the genres of music that Lloyd had played during his career to date. It was a Psychedelic, Hard, Blues rock band. During 1973, which was their most productive year, The Coloured Balls issued three singles and two albums. One of the singles was the Pomus/Schuman tune Mess of the Blues. Their debut album, Ball Power, peaked at number 13 on the national charts at the beginning of 1974. The band was very short lived and came to an abrupt end in 1974. Lloyd cited violence at the live performances between the sharpie and non-sharpie factions and the barrage in the media that accused the Coloured Balls of inciting riots as the reasons for walking away. With the ever changing face CONTINUES OVER...
Lobby Lloyd Lloyd left the Aztecs in 1971 and in 1972 formed another group called Coloured Balls. This group seemed to be a
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Australian blues has had a great advancement over the past years of music during the latter part of the 1970’s and 1980’s only the dedicated blues bands of Australia were carrying on the tradition in making blues music. By the 1990’s, things started to change and a whole new interest started to develop. New artists began to appear and Australian blues was starting to flourish again. This new wave was all thanks to the groups who kept the music alive. It was the likes of Chain and Carson, whose music was a huge influence on the groups of today. These new additions to the Australian blues music really embraced the genre and style and are as successful today as the day they started. Chris Wilson is a blues musician from Melbourne who can play several instruments and has been a member of a number of bands. His stage demeanour personifies the blues. He has got the street tough look of a man doing it hard, a high impact voice that gets the message across and a harmonica style that could stop you in your tracks at any range. Wilson brought a renewed energy to Australian music and it started to spread. Another musician who developed a passion for the blues
chris wils on
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was Geoff Achison. Achison, a selftaught musician, joined the godfather of blues, Dutch Tilders, early in his career. After a number of years he left to concentrate on his own music and become known on the international stage. Achison has won many accolades during his career. The Encyclopaedia of Australian Rock and Pop states that Achison has been hailed one of the finest blues players in Australia. Achison performs regularly around the country and has recently released a new live album, 20th Anniversary concert 1994 – 2014 from The GH Venue in Melbourne. This album is performing with his group The Souldiggers.
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that is needed. With the advances in technology and the age we are living in, it is also easier to showcase the talent that is around and stream it across the world. Something that wasn’t available in the early days and meant a lot of very hard work to get recognised and have your name in everybody’s household. The only way to be streamed to peoples lounge rooms then was to get on the music shows of the day. Today, the world seems to be a smaller place with the internet and artists can be seen and become very popular very quickly. Australian blues has also had a great advancement over the past few years with names like Ash Grunwald, Jeff Lang, The Backsliders, Blue Heat, The Snowdroppers and Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk. These
Lloyd Spiegel Another name on the blues scene in Australia is Lloyd Spiegel. He is a blues player with a powerful voice who gives a high energy performance that can captivate any audience through his incredible command of the guitar. He is another Australian blues legend that has won swag of accolades. Spiegel also passes on his knowledge and experience to the musicians of tomorrow to keep the Australian Blues alive. This shows Spiegel’s passion, enthusiasm and dedication for the blues and to keep it alive and well for the future of Australia’s music scene. After the foundation for blues in Australia had been laid by the pioneers of blues music in the 1960’s, it has started to finally grow bigger and bigger around the country, and indeed the world, today. More artists names are being added to the list and more venues and Festivals are giving it the exposure
artists are pushing the barriers of the music and opening it up to a lot more people to embrace what Australian blues is all about. There are also a lot more places and people highlighting that Blues music is alive and well in the land Down Under. Festivals dedicated to showcasing this music have become very popular places in the last few years. The Byron Bay Bluesfest, in its 26th year this year, has been instrumental in bringing Blues music to the people. This festival is one of the biggest in the country and happens every Easter weekend and now features the best in music, both blues and mixed, from Australia and the world. There are also Festivals that are dedicated to blues music exclusively. These are Blues in the Briars, Thredbo Blues Festival, Bendigo Blues and Roots Festival and many more boutique festivals catering for the tastes of the blues loving public. After the blues scene started in Australia in the 1960’s, it was a very hard journey for the original artists to make their presence felt. Today the blues are alive and well and thriving thanks to the dedication of the artists involved. It’s only going to be onward and upward from here and Australian blues has certainly been carved not only into Australian music history but also on the world stage.
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blues top 10
DAVID ALDO v e r b a l s : P ETE SAR G EANT VISUALS : KIERAN W H ITE .
...is probably most well known for his stint as lead vocalist in the iconic Blood Sweat and Tears. He has also had seven number one singles and been named Best Male Vocalist in his native South Africa
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ow living in LA, David has just released his latest eponymous album, which is the follow up to 2012’s critically acclaimed Halfway To Memphis. David has toured the world, performing in arenas of up to 80,000 fans. Blues has always been close to his heart and he was more than happy to give us his Top Ten.
Clapton 01 Eric and BB King
Three O’Clock Blues “Both Clapton and King are at the top of their game on this tune. Their performances are very convincing and pull the listener right in to the song.”
Cocker 02 Joe with BB King
Dangerous Mood “I’ve always been a Joe Cocker fan and vocally he fits right in the blues genre. There is just so much in his voice.”
03 Jimi Hendrix
Born Under A Bad Sign “Great groove under this tune. The song has an unpredictable and original guitar part showing off why Jimi will go down as being one of the all time greatest. It’s well presented by this version of the Albert King favourite.”
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blues top 10
Happenin'
Guy and Ray 04Buddy Beth Hart 06 Gary Clark Jr. 09 Stevie Vaughan What You Gonna Do About Me “Buddy Guy is a legendary blues artist in his own right, but when he teams up with Beth Hart on this tune, together they blow the listener away and kick things up a few notches.”
Bright Lights (live) “This is another song that I have sung many times and although simple, find it hard to get enough of. This Texas artist does a great live version of this Jimmy Reed song that you can locate on You Tube.”
05
07
BLOOD, Sweat & Tears
I’ll Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know “Of all the Blood, Sweat & Tears songs I sang with the band during my tenure this was my favourite. I could inject huge amounts of passion into the vocals. Amy Winehouse also did an amazing rendition of this song that did it justice.”
Johnny Winter and Joe Bonamassa
Sweet Sixteen “This is a really beautifully recorded song with everything you’d want to hear in a blues tune.”
Ray 08Stevie Vaughan
Crossfire ‘Leaning more towards the rock direction, with big production, this makes for a ‘full course’ meal.”
Little Wing
“I know he’s on my list twice, but the sound of his guitar on this tune is amazing. A Hendrix tune done well.”
10 Eric Gales
Good For Sumthin’ “This is a fun song with a driving groove that makes it hard to not move some part of your body. Perhaps more contemporary too.”
"The sound of his guitar on this tune is amazing"
What’s happenin’next... Interviews: JJ Grey & Mofro, Randy Bachman, Malcolm Bruce, Rebecca Downes, Innes Sibun, Ian Seigal. Live: Joe Bonamassa, Beth Hart, The Sharpees, Scarboroughs Secret Blues Festival, Broadstairs Blues Bash and more. Plus: The magazine regulars, including the biggest CD review section around! Want to subscribe? Then visit bluesmatters.com, or call us on +44 (0) 1656 745628 for details.
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b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 17
Kitchat
part 10
RATTIN’ the BLUES away
V e r b a l s : DOCTOR DAVE V i s u a l s : b o b f e n b y
This KitChat is about the guitarist’s second best friend, the guitar amplifier, and more especially the Valve guitar amplifier which all of you blues guitar fans will realise is the ONLY amp you will choose to play those blues!
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he search for the Holy Grail of Tone is never far from the aspiring six stringer’s thoughts, be it the jazzy smoke filled blues club sounds so sweet to the ear at midnight, pre-smoking ban of course, to the nose bloodying throb of the stadium performers stacked 4x12 cabinets ripping out the best Southern anthems on a summers afternoon festival and of course all stations in between. Quite recently I once again felt the urge to boost my collection of kit by the addition of one new combo guitar amp that was light in the haulage department but heavy, very heavy, in the sound context. This need was fuelled by the restraints of my advancing years, lightweight is a good term here, plus the requirement to have something of a secret weapon when the call comes to combine Chuck Berry with Jimmy Page at volume level 12 in the backroom of the local ‘Blues Auditorium’ or, as most of us know it,
the pub! i.e Jimmy and Chuck had to fit in the boot of Mrs Doctor Dave’s trusty VW Golf! This urge (known in the trade as Axeman’s Angst) was promoted by the need to handle some Christmas gigs in West Wales that required popping in and out of various venues reasonably adjacent without the need to get the ‘nose bleeder’ and associated hardware humped around the streets at all hours – after all I couldn’t expect Mrs Doctor D to tote the 4x12’s AND my two guitars as I had to carry the foot pedal AND plectrum myself! There was only one option available, I needed to call RAT man! Ratman, AKA Andy Talbot, is a man who knows his way around a pair of EL 84’s and has been known to do amazing things with his dual rectum fryer! (maybe that should be spelt rectifier). Rat Electronics is a valve amp manufacturer and modifier of mainstream valve amp equipment based in deepest Cornwall and
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owned and run by the man himself. I came across this guy about six or seven years ago when I was shopping for a small valve amp that I needed for the home recording studio and that had the characteristics of a full blooded valve amp sound at levels more compatible with recording guitar at home whilst not violating the neighbours’ rights to a peaceful evening, again! I was surprised and not a little delighted to discover that Rat Valve Amplification seemed to fit the bill nicely as they produce a five watt amp that boasted all the right attributes – and at the right sort of price to boot! Checking out the website (www. ratvalveamps.com) it reveals that one of Andy’s specialities is taking mainstream manufacturer’s amps, tearing them down, and restructuring them, ground upwards, to the highest possible standards using only premium quality components. As the man had been playing around with amps in this way for over 40 years (without blowing himself up) I felt he must be doing something right and went ahead and purchased the little five watter which was built around the carcass of the well-known Epiphone Valve Junior five watt amp. The remodelled version – sensitively rechristened ‘The Rat’ is however
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part 10
a very long journey away from the original spec as virtually all electrical components have been replaced with the finest quality heavy duty parts available – plus many more modifications which for example ensure a much greater level of safety (e.g no HT build up in the circuit to give you the belt of your life when you poke around it’s guts with an uninsulated screwdriver believing it is switched off!) Absolute silent running, no annoying ‘frying’ sounds when idling (which is crucial when recording a live valve amp , and simply but most importantly)conversion to the correct AC voltage for UK use of 240v. Most American amp makers tend to incorporate a “blanket” European voltage rate of 230v whether selling to us over here or any other country in Europe. This apparently small disparity has a significant downside effect in terms of valve life and performance in relation to the Power valves in the amp. Andy corrects all his amplifiers to the absolute mains voltage required.
Uniquely, a system known as Power Scaling is incorporated into all Rat amp conversions that, in my simple terms, lets you have the exact tones of a valve amp being cranked at full power whilst being able to play at almost any levels you need – see the website if you need more geek speak! Suffice it to say that Andy really does know what sounds a guitarist needs from his amp.
Geekmanship I am no graduate of ‘Geekmanship’, but a plethora of info can be gleaned via the Rat website – also through the ebay shop that Andy uses to retail his products. It is very intriguing to learn how significant the rebuild process is – with some withering examples of how some ‘big name’ amps stack up before and then after a Rat rebuild. This is certainly boutique build at high street prices. Just to let you into a little secret confession, I have actually done outside gigs with my little five watter where there is no drummer involved
Kitchat
as it is mighty loud for a tiny terror loaded with a fantastic Celestion Super eight inch speaker, believe me! So to finish up my story, did I pleasure Mr Talbot with my repeat custom on this occasion? Happy to say I most certainly did and the resulting purchase has given me exactly the sound, performance and volume levels I need to handle pretty much any gig I shall require. I eventually coughed up for the 22 watt ‘FBJ’ Clone as Andy calls his blue bound 1x12 combo (and whilst we both had a poor courier experience at Christmas time, despite Andy having given up his weekend to build the beast for me) the wait was more than worth it. The amp really does sing as sweet as a choir girl when needed, or as raucous as dear departed Joe Cocker on steroids if that is your thing! That’s KitChat again for this time folks – do take a look at the Rat website – the ‘Pied Piper’ may lead you where you need to go! Best, Doctor Dave
the rat, front and back
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b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 19
Blue Blood
backwater roll
BACKWATER ROLL
v e r b a l s : DEANO MATT H IAS , STEVE Y OUR G LIVC H v ISUALS : G RA H AM Q UICK
T
Backwater Roll are a powerful Harmonicadriven blues band from Southampton
he line up is Miff Smith (vocals and Harmonica), Deano Matthias (guitar), Reggie Winslade (bass), Chris Pope (drums), Ray Drury (keys) and recent new addition Louis Matthias on guitar, who is Deano’s son. Richard Stickler occasionally takes over keys in the absence of Ray The band have build up an impressive local following and that has lead to them performing at larger venues opening up for the likes of The Hoax, Jon Amor, Aynsley Lister, Deborah Bonham, Michael Katon, Popa Chubby and many more. In September 2014 the band released their live album, Live At The Platform, and that has been
Always an impressive band live, they have produced some memorable nights PAG E 2 0 | b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015
receiving several positive reviews in the blues media, and reached number five in Decembers IBBA play lists, as well as being played across Europe. The set including powerful versions of artists like Elmore James, Freddie King, Muddy Waters and an inspired cover of Fistful Of Dirt by The Hoax. Always an impressive band live, they have produced some memorable nights, none more so than those when special guests have joined in the fun, like Jesse Davey and Scott McKeon. Currently very actively writing and recording new material in the studio for an all original album that should hopefully be ready for release in the Summer of 2015. The guys also hope to bring their high energy fun filled performances to an even wider audience by travelling further to this years festivals and to other blues clubs and venues. This is certainly a band to look out for and go see if they turn up near you.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO: www.backwaterroll.co.uk w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
catfish
Blue Blood
CATFISH v e r b a l s : P AUL LON G v ISUAL s : FIONA LON G
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Catfish is a new Sussex-based blues band whose star is definitely in the ascendancy
aul Long on keyboards and vocals also plays with The Riotous Brothers, who recently played at The 100 Club, Half Moon Putney and the Skegness blues festival. The rhythm section; Kevin Yates on drums and Dusty Bones on bass – have played all over the south east in several well-established blues bands, including the popular South Of 55th. But their secret weapon is the phenomenal 20 year-old guitarist Matt Long, who has played with Buddy Whittington and supported British Blues Awards winners Aynsley Lister and Chantel McGregor. The band has recently released its first album ‘So Many Roads’.This was recorded in one day and was initially made just to send to venues to help get bookings and to sell at gigs. The combination of the great musicianship and superb recording was picked up by the Internet blues radio stations and it took off in a way that none of them expected. Within three weeks of its release, it had been played on many different Internet stations and was Number one in the Independent Blues Broadcasters
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Association playlist chart for January. It was also chosen as one of the IBBA Pick Of The Month albums for February, as well as being played on the Paul Jones Blues Show on BBC Radio 2. Paul’s soulful vocals are showcased in a startling arrangement of ‘Catfish Blues’ and an emotional ‘Loan Me A Dime’. There is a breathtaking passion and power in the playing of virtuoso guitarist Matt, whose vocals exhibit a huge range from true blues grit and growl in ‘Five Long Years’ and ‘Going Down’ to heart-wrenching sensitivity in ‘So Many Roads’. This is blues full of energy, soul, heart and passion and seeing the band live is a fully charged, emotional night. Catfish are now working their own material into the set and will shortly be starting work on a second album. The band is looking forward to a busy 2015, including festival appearances and playing at The 100 Club.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO: www.catfishbluesband.co.uk, OR www.facebook.com/thecatfishbluesband
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 21
Blue Blood
GREG COULSON
GREG COULSON v e r b a l s : C H RISTINE MOORE v ISUAL s : FO X LE Y P H OTO G RA P H Y
Over the years Greg Coulson’s influences have evolved, however his absolute passion for Rhythm and Blues music has remained unaltered
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reg began fronting blues bands at the age of twelve, both singing and playing, regularly gigging in pubs and clubs around Northamptonshire. Rhythm and Blues is the style of music he loves and cherishes. Greg’s first big break was at the age of 19, with the legendary two-tone band The Selector. Known as a Hammond player, and not just a keyboard player, Greg has been with the current line-up for the past four years, having toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe and more recently Australia and America. He is a very talented multi-instrumentalist, and as well as being a hugely accomplished organ and keyboard player he is also a gifted guitarist, which you will hear on his brand new single, Squat That Rabbit. Greg has been writing his own material for the past six years and has relished the opportunity to recently record his debut album. Working alongside Stuart Dixon
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(Eddie Floyd, Danni Wilde), 2015 will be a busy year for the blues singer/songwriter as he begins another exciting musical journey producing and promoting the new album. ‘I’ve been working really hard to write a good selection of Rhythm and Blues tracks. I’ve got this vision to separate myself from my contemporaries, the R&B scene at the moment is mainly guitar lead, I really want to change that and put the big growling sound of the Hammond centre stage where it belongs. Too long has it sat in the wings, this has been such and ambition for me, I’ve loved putting that instrument at the forefront of my writing.’ The excitement builds as 2015 sees Greg touring with the new blues outfit; Roger Inniss (Bass). Adam Gammage (Drums) and Stuart Dixon (Guitar) and release this new album.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO www.gregcoulson.co.uk
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LUKE DOHERTY
Blue Blood
LUKE DOHERTY
v e r b a l s a n d v ISUAL s : LIZ AIKEN
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Luke can’t tell you where his passion for Blues comes from, but at the age of seven he just knew he had to play it and he wasn’t interested in anything else
uke spent hours in his room just listening to as many Blues artists as he could find but he really loved listening to Eric Clapton; who he was delighted to meet when he was 9 and again when he was 12. Eric loved the fact that Luke was so young and interested in Blues. Others he has met and admired who influenced his music including BB King, Peter Green, Andy Fairweather Low and the late Jeff Healy. Luke’s first Festival was when he was 12 years old. It was the Crow Point Festival in Newport to celebrate the 100 years of the Transporter Bridge. It was a three day Festival and Luke was asked to open it, on the main stage. Luke was amazed and shocked that he was asked to play the main stage as there were three stages and big named acts were playing the smaller stages. Luke was told that in order to play at the Festival he had to have an all adult band and that they wouldn’t accept him with kids of his own age; so he asked at all the jam nights he had played and a band was formed just for this exciting event. Luke has been plagued with chronic health issues all his life, making him more determined to pursue his passion for music, channelling all his energy into playing guitar. With such determination to succeed he managed to pass two grade 8’s by the age of 12. Rock School contacted him to say he was the youngest person to pass grade 8, let alone 2; a surprise to his family, as not one member of his family play any musical instruments. He formed his first band when he was 12 years old, gigging ever since, playing lots of Festivals and Blues clubs all over the Country. Luke first played with Buddy Whittington when he was 16, at the Globe in Cardiff. Asking Luke up on stage with him and when Luke was soloing he told the audience that that is how Blues is supposed to be played. Luke was blown away that someone of his talent was saying such things about his playing. The members of his current band are Paul Morgan Vocals/harmonica, Simon Parratt on drums and Ant Biggs on bass. 2014 was a really exciting year for the Luke Doherty Band with lots of great Festivals and their debut appearance at the 100 club in London.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO: www.lukedoherty.com w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 2 3
European Tour 2015 March
27:Vershuset•Naestved•Denmark 28:Varnamo•Sweden 30:Pilegaarden•Bronshoj•Denmark April
1:Fermaten•Herning•Denmark 2:Posten Live•Odense•Denmark 3:Tobakken•Esberg•Denmark 4:Godset•Kolding•Denmark 8:Le Jam•Montpelier•France 9:Le Poste a Galene•Marseille•France 10:Spring Blues Festival•Peymeinade•France 11:Le Sonograf•Le Thor•France 15:Musicburg•Aarburg•Switzerland 16:Eisenwerk•Freunenfeld•Switzerland 17:Chollerhalle•Zug•Switzerland 18:Muhle Hunziken•Rubigen•Switzerland 20:Rockhouse•Salzburg•Austria 22:Garage De Luxe•Munich•Germany 23:Chivari•Ulm•Germany 24:Lindenbraurei•Unna•Germany 26:Harmonie•Bonn•Germany May 6:Jazz Café•London
ROSS CONNOR
Blue Blood
ROSS CONNOR v e r b a l s : ROSS CONNOR VISUALS : LAWRENCE W H EELER
From the day I was born my Dad would always play what I would now regard as real music:Thin Lizzy, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, ELO, or Dylan, there was always something good playing
I
“
started playing guitar when I was 12, my parents bought me my first electric guitar on my 13th Birthday. I self taught myself to an extent, Iistening to The Beatles and pretending I was playing shows with them. I played in a couple of bands in my teens up until I was about 19, by then I was working full time and trying to earn money. I took a break from music for about two years to focus on work and other things. In 2013 I had an operation on my foot and had a month off work. The first weekend I had off I went to my parents house for dinner, my Dad had the Eric Clapton Unplugged DVD playing and his cover of Bessie Smiths’ ‘Nobody Knows You When Your Down And Out’ really caught my ear as it described how I was feeling musically at the time. I became obsessed with Clapton’s acoustic work and went home and taught myself nearly the whole Unplugged album. I started wondering what his other influences were and who had inspired him so I bought and read his autobiography where I gathered a large collection of early acoustic blues artists. I couldn’t stop playing blues after that, and wrote my first song ‘Wondering Blues’ and took to the open mic circuit again, playing an only blues set which I was really proud of. I had read about how Clapton was influenced heavily by Robert Johnson and how he had recorded an album of
just Robert Johnson songs which I bought and is the most influential album I have, this lead me to think about my own songs so I jammed with my good friend Luke McDonnell, the drummer from pop rock band Ocasan. The songs needed a lot of work but Luke was willing to help me. We worked in pre-production and added electric riffs and reworked the lyrics etc. Lee Vernon from Pearl Handled Revolver was called in to provide his harmonica expertise. I released my debut EPAint No Fool in November 2014 with a release show at The Craufurd Arms supporting Marcus Bonfanti. I am really proud at how well it has done, it peaked at number three in the iTunes blues charts and was the 9th most played album for November by the IBBA. I’m looking forward to 2015 and hoping to get another EP out this year, the live band is complete with Joel Blunden joining me on drums so we can’t wait to get out and play some awesome shows and festivals this year and make some new friends and fans.”
for more information go to: www.rossconnor.com
“I became obsessed with Clapton’s acoustic work”
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b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 2 5
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bluesman MIKE FRANCIS
Blue Blood
bluesman MIKE FRANCIS
v e r b a l s : C H RIS CLARKE v ISUALS : ALAN W H ITE
In the ever changing age old world of the blues, artists come and inevitably artists go, but in the unique case of Mike Francis fate along with the boom in modern digital search technology, dealt a pretty unexpected hand
S
ince the 1970’s he had been touring worldwide with a number of renowned rock, blues and soul acts. More recently Mike had also been featured in one form or another on 24 of the 25 years of Colne UK Great British Rhythm and Blues Festivals as well as writing music for mainstream advertisements and even a US television series. Then almost overnight everything changed. A high-profile Italian singer had adopted the same name and unknown to Mike had passed away in January 2009. As time went by and digital search became more important, confusion reigned and the solo gigs and recordings were getting harder to promote for this very reason. Therefore in early 2012 he decided to bite the bullet and rebrand as ‘Bluesman Mike Francis’ and start over again. ‘It was a bit strange at first but eventually I accepted the inevitable’ Mike commented philosophically. ‘It’s actually done very little harm and on a recent return tour to Croatia they actually preferred the new name.’ This seems borne out by the fact that just a year later Mike was nominated in the solo acoustic category of the European Blues Awards along with Seasick Steve and his long-time friend and gigging associate Canada’s Matt Andersen. More recently the Liverpool based Bluesman has been enjoying playing on a number of UK tour dates with the Larry Miller Band who he has had connections with for many years. There is also a new radio session about to be released worldwide to listen out for which features live set and video favourite ‘Song for Imelda May’. Another feature that has changed is that for solo shows Mike has reverted to a former preference for
playing 12 string guitars. Even for the bottleneck material he now opts for a technique that’s been largely forgotten since the days of Blind Willie McTell. In fact Rolling Stones session archivist Martin Elliott was quoted as saying, ‘If Woody Guthrie and Robert Gordon were still around they would probably sound like this guy.’ With a busy festival and gigging season in store for 2015 things are indeed looking promising for Blue’s ‘newbie’ veteran Bluesman Mike Francis.
INFO and REPRESENTATION: ACOUSTICSCONSULTANCY@GMAIL.COM, TWITTER: @BLUESMANMIKEF
in 2012 he decided to bite the bullet and rebrand as ‘Bluesman Mike Francis’ w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 27
Interview
robin trower
R
obin Trower has been one of England’s greatest stylists and iconic guitarists for a number of years. He is about to release a brand new album and undertake an extensive UK tour in the company of Joanne Shaw Taylor. This is the perfect time for Blues Matters! to catch up with him.
Removed and Bridge of Sighs, it’s still you but, it’s almost as different from that as was your solo material against what you did with Procol Harum.
I bet you’re looking forward to touring the record?
I scribbled down a notes about each track, so here goes... On the (title) cut, Something’s About To Change, there’s a definite Peter Green touch. It’s gritty with a stealthy blues feel, with the Stratocaster singing out loud and clear! It sounds nice and relaxed, how did you get the bassline to play here?
Well I’ve just done a quite extensive U.S. tour, so I’m not cho mping at the bit, but I will be by the time the next set of dates gets under way.
On the new album you’re not trying to be Jimmy Dewar, you have your own voice. Well thank you, now that came about because I actually wrote these songs for myself. Thinking about it, that’s what you perceive.
Yes that’s probably the answer. You sing here very naturally,
it’s you communicating, almost conversationally at times. Well, great. That’s exactly what you want, isn’t it?
It’s what you’re achieving here. It’s obviously you, in the sound, in the mix, but it IS different, something IS about to change. It’s like you’re into a fresh chapter.
Agreed – I am starting to move into a different space now. That’s what I feel. I have already recorded some stuff for the next album release. I am moving into a new era, that’s right.
Well that’s nice. I didn’t set out to do that but if that’s what you’re hearing, as you tend to, that is very pleasing, for me.
I’ve been doing basslines for some time now, not on all my albums but I used to get involved quite a lot, to get the moods right. When you do play it yourself you’re a little more in tune with the effect.
It doesn’t slot between Twice
Robin Trower - Track by Track
a change is gonna come V e r b a l s : P E T E S A R G E A N T V I SU A L s : M I K E P R I OR
As he approaches his 70th Birthday, Robin Trower shows no sign of slowing down. an artist at the top of his game he’s preparing to embark on a seventeen date UK tour to promote his latest album, somethings gonna change PAG E 2 8 | b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015
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robin trower
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Interview
b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015 | PAG E 2 9
Interview
robin trower
“I am starting to move into a different space now”
Oh yes, and there’s a jazzy touch in there too. It’s the same as everything really, you come up with an idea, you really like it and then enough to finish it as a song. That initial idea catches hold and it has to be set down.
You tend to play a bit less on the bassline when you lay it down yourself.
And if the vibe isn’t pushing you, it’s likely not one to press home for now, is it? Now Riff number seven, it has this very defined stabbing beat. and the solo with a touch of UniVibe, an older song?
Hmm, it is a deliberate thing as I want the bass to give the guitar room, to stay out of its way, to make the song gel.
Fallen – there’s a great blues lope to this and the subtle keyboards, the jazzy resolve, there’s a line here ‘We could never fool each other.’ That song as much as and probably more than any other is coming from a raft of influences, you know?
I’ve written down here, ‘laid-back Albert King vibe.’
No, these were written as a batch.
Dreams That Shone Like Diamonds – reverb sound over a funk tread. The vocal is very conversational. I agree with that, yes, I wanted that element in there.
It’s the nearest you’ve come to Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man
I remember that film, whilst I’m not trying to get that,
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it does move towards that territory, yes.
An English Tony Joe White?
Oh yes, I do love his voice and music.
Good Morning Midnight – if there’s any such thing as pure Trower, here it is! All the organ on that is Luke Smith, that adds to the ambience for sure. And he is definitely coming from the right place, also going to the right place. It seems a very natural thing for him, he’s a lot younger than me.
A lot of Hammond players play these block chords which eat some guitar and bass frequencies. Yes, but Luke, he gets it, it always adds to the recording and doesn’t take anything away.
What You Never Want To Do –
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robin trower
neat syncopated sound, here. Dr. John tempo isn’t it?
Yes, it’s got that combination of New Orleans swing and straight, which is probably what you mean. Part of that is the great drum part that Chris came up with. Usually we know beforehand what the key drum beat will be, here I didn’t have anything definite so he came up with that.
Strange Love has a very mysterious vibe, you know, I love Caravan To Midnight.
That’s one of my favourite tracks, it has great vibe to it, a mysterious kinda vibe, as you say.
It’s quite poetic as well. Shadow across my mind. Gold To Grey has a rippling guitar motion, very bluesy feel eh?
sound like they were taped at massive volume.
I wouldn’t say that, I was playing through a 100 watt Vintage Modern, through a 2x12 setup. I was cranking it up at times, but still keep it clean.
It’s not so much clean as as it is ‘personal.’
(Laughs) I’m trying to be soulful! that’s the key thing for me, always.
Trying, you’re a bit hard on yourself! TilI I Reach Home – my notes says ‘curly riff over steady beat’ and I like the Steely Dan type changes in it.
Yes again it’s got those jazzier chords behind it, that gives the atmosphere you’re picking up on. I don’t know anything about Steely Dan, though!
The slightly jazzier kind of blues. I do really like the song. I’m not totally certain I really pulled it off, what I had in my head. But I’m happy with it.
A lot of the solo’s, you think ah, he’ll do this. And then you do something entirely different.
It fits well in the sequence. The One Saving Grace uses a choppy tempo, short delay, has a tinge of Mose Allison, to me.
So you now have this ‘new era’ of material which gives you the problem of mixing it in with the numbers that people already know you for, on the live dates.
That’s a bit of an R&B song, rather than blues/rock. I thought it would sit well on this record, a change of style.
Snakes & Ladders – very sad feel to this one.
Now that is definitely a blues song, what happens in the studio, when I’m working on a track I will mess about with the guitar until it works for the riff, the song. To get a particular tone I end up using, it’s messing about on the day, a combination of the amp setting, the effects, the pickup selected.
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Good! That’s a good thing, I try and avoid clichés. That’s part of the job, as I see it.
Ah, I will do two or three from the new album, I don’t want to make it difficult for the audience as they won’t have heard the songs. I only play stuff that I want to play myself. That’s what keeps the energy and the impetus.
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diScograPhY STUDIO ALBUMS: Twice Removed from Yesterday 1973 Bridge of Sighs 1974 For Earth Below 1975 Long Misty Days 1976 In City Dreams 1977 Caravan to Midnight 1978 Victims of the Fury 1980 Back It Up 1983 Beyond the Mist 1985 Passion 1987 Take What You Need 1988 In the Line of Fire 1990 20th Century Blues 1994 Someday Blues 1997 Go My Way 2000 Living Out of Time 2004 Another Days Blues 2005 What Lies Beneath 2009 The Playful Heart 2010 Roots And Branches 2013 Something’s About To Change 2015
LIVE ALBUMS: Robin Trower Live 1976 Live in Concert 1992 In Concert 1996 King Biscuit Flower Hour 1996 This Was Now ‘74-’98 1999 Robin Trower at The BBC 2011 State To State 2013 Rock Goes To College 2015
WITH JACK BRUCE: B.L.T. 1981 Truce 1982 Seven Moons 2008
My favourite track is Dreams, you know me well enough now to know that this is one I go for.
And that is one I’ll be doing on the next tour!
roBin trower’s new AlBUm is oUt on mAnhAton records. roBin is emBArking on A 17-dAte Uk toUr with speciAl gUest joAnne shAw tAylor. more detAils At www.trowerpower.com b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015 | PAG E 31
Arthur Brown
say hello to the zim zam man V e r b a l s : TR E V OR H O D G E TT V I SU A L s : I N G O RU N K E
If you ask Arthur Brown to explain what inspired his new album Zim Zam Zim you need to be prepared to fasten your seat belt for his lengthy, convoluted, mind-bending and frankly bewildering answer!
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his answer takes in magic, the state of the modern world, esoteric spiritual practices, shapeshifting, ley lines and supernatural powers. Let a brief excerpt suffice: “Zim Zam Zim is a traveller through all the dimensions, who has gone through the world training spiritual mind control and deep meditations,” he expounds. “He knows how to enter the formless void and reform himself and he finds a place on the earth where ley lines cross where he can make a living sphere appear and he decides to show other people how to do that and anybody who chooses to do it also becomes Zim Zam Zim...” And so on...
Hard to follow as the concept is, the album is excellent. But Fire, credited, like Zim Zam Zim, to the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and a number one hit in 1968, has so overshadowed everything else in Brown’s career that even though he has continued to work creatively right up to the present day, the average punter probably still thinks of him as a 60s
artist. One wonders if Brown is comfortable with that perception of him or if he finds it constraining. “In order to write about somebody you have to put them in a box,” he chortles good-humouredly. “But I’ve managed to move into acoustic stuff, into electronic stuff, wherever I’ve wanted to go, really, so although the hit was rooted in 60s psychedelia my catalogue is wide enough
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that I’m not totally trapped by it.” Brown remembers the experience of emerging from the 60s underground to become a star fondly. “It was part of the underground coming over ground and being popular,” he reminisces. “And because of the hit I got to sing with people I respected musically, some of whom had been very formative. Like, I remember once, in a small New York club where they favoured jamming, singing on stage with John Lee Hooker and Jimi Hendrix, so that was quite a line-up.” Hooker of course, with his irregular musical structures, was notoriously difficult to play with. “Well, you just let go,” laughs Brown. Rock legend has it that Brown had previously been slung off a tour with Hendrix because Hendrix found it too difficult to appear on stage
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“I’ve always veered towards doing new things” after him. “Well, that’s wrongly reported,” he clarifies. “I was with managers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp who were promoting me as some kind of performance artist so they showed Hendrix pictures of me wearing my mask and flaming helmet and he just said, I can’t play after that.” “But then when Fire was a hit and he started setting fire to his guitar and everything we did quite a lot of concerts together.”
Legend has it that
Brown once pulled Jimi Hendrix’s girlfriend. How, I have to ask, did that go down with the great man. “Well, in those days everyone was a bit wild,” chuckles Brown. “She just decided she liked the look of me one evening and came over and that was it. Jimi was not too pleased with her, he didn’t seem to hold anything against me!” Brown is adamant that using LSD impacted positively on his life and music. “For me it was wonderful,” he declares. “I don’t recommend people taking it willy-nilly because I’ve seen so many people who didn’t [find it wonderful] and you never know until you take it, so that’s a risk, but for me it opened my whole approach to the world and to spiritual things. And I always, apart from a couple of times, took it with a question in mind that I wanted to ask and I always got incredible [answers]. In my time with those substances I’ve seen angels and I’ve entered the spirit of forests – w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
because the forest is one living creature, it’s not separate trees, and had communication. “And sometimes I would take the LSD and improvise, sometimes with other musicians, and sometimes what came out was phenomenal. But there came a point where [I didn’t need to] keep taking it because I’d got the answers I needed. Then I took up meditation and stuff like that because I wanted to be able to enter those realms without having to depend on a drug to do it.” Touring in the States the Crazy World of Arthur Brown worked with the likes of the Frank Zappa-fronted Mothers of Invention. “Zappa was amazing in the studio,” recalls Brown. “When I visited him there he didn’t talk once, he was just focussed, focussed, focussed and as a result everything got done pretty quickly. There were people I met who were completely out of their brains but Zappa was very much in control of everything around him.” On tour in America Crazy World organist Vincent Crane, who took his own life in 1989, and drummer Carl Palmer walked out of the band, later forming the hit-making Atomic Rooster together. Brown must surely have felt horribly betrayed. “Well, it was an awkward situation,” he reflects. “And in the end I came to see their point of view because I had just turned down two thirds of a million pounds that we had been offered (to leave Track records by a prospective new record company). But Track said, “Look, if you’re going to leave the management that’s fine, because we are screwing up, but for goodness sake, we put all this time and money into making this successful record so stay with us for recording.”
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So although we’d gone a way along the path with the other record company I said, “Yep, I think morally that’s right.” But I can see Carl and Vince just thought, “Oh, God, we could go on like this for ever.” ‘It was very awkward the way they did it but, hey, I found another band and managed to finish the tour. And Carl and I get on very well now.”
Following repeated
personnel changes Brown disbanded the Crazy World and formed Kingdom Come. The new band released three interesting albums but never really troubled the big time. ‘There were various reasons for that,” suggests Brown. “Our musical style was different from the Crazy World: it was incorporating what I’d come across in America – the assassinations and killings and disenchantment about the hippie ideals and all of that. Musically it was more adventurous so we had to create a new audience because it wasn’t what the old audience wanted to hear. “And we were also experimenting with the managerial set-up where everybody, including the road managers, had the same amount of money and we all lived together. It was all very experimental.If I look back on my career, I’ve always veered towards doing new things. But unless you’ve got the money. When David Bowie changed his directions there was always a vast amount of money in publicity. With us, there wasn’t. Each time we had to start all over again.” Brown subsequently worked solo, releasing, in 1975, Dance, which included interpretations of Out Of Time and We’ve Gotta Get Out Of
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This Place. “It was originally supposed to be an album with a dance style from every country in the world,” he explains. “But in those days there was no world music and it was difficult to get in connection with people from the other countries. One person who did agree was reggae legend Toots Hibbert and his band, who played on Soul Garden, and we had Balinese marimba and various bits of world music.” Brown’s follow-up album Chisholm In My Bosom, from 1977, included a version of I Put A Spell On You, which he had previously recorded on 1968’s Crazy World Of Arthur Brown album. But such was the mixture of styles on both Dance and Chisholm In My Bosom that it seemed Brown had lost direction. “Well, for both of those albums I was away in different spiritual communities doing different practices and finding my way through all that,” he says. “And I was also developing the spontaneous improvised music so, for instance, one complete side of Chisholm In My Bosom is just improvised. I did it on guitar and voice and then violin etc. were added.” In the same era, in 1975, Brown appeared in Ken Russell’s movie of the Who’s rock opera Tommy, performing Sonny Boy Williamson’s Eyesight To The Blind with Eric Clapton. “Ken Russell knew exactly what he wanted and would drive people until he got it,” remembers Brown. “He said to me, “OK, you want to do some dancing? Here’s eight dancers, go away and make something up.” So I went away and made up the dance and came back. And when we got to twenty three takes I just thought, “This is never going to work, I’m fed up with this.” And I was getting tired. But he said, “Do it again.” And that w w w.b lu E s mAt tE r s.c o m
time, the twenty-fourth time, it all clicked.” By the 80’s Brown was living in Austin, Texas and working as a painter and decorator. As a former rock star and as a creative artist it must surely have been hard to adjust to life as an ordinary working man. “Well, I’d never had a trade so it was a challenge,” concedes Brown. “But I had a company with Jimmy Carl Black from the Mothers Of Invention and that was an amazing experience because he was just such a larger-than-life character. He had swear words you wouldn’t even be able to imagine!”
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actually recorded a blues album, Brown, Black & Blues, which included interpretations of Got My Mojo Working, Smokestack Lightnin”, Help Me and Unchain My Heart. “The idea was to get back to an older type of sound rather than the more mechanical stuff that was coming out,” explains Brown, “because I really loved the old blues. And Jimmy knew all the blues guys around town so we were able to pull in some very good musicians.” Brown returned to England after which he worked with, amongst others, the longestablished Hamburg Blues Band. “We did blues and soul numbers and they also wanted to do early Crazy World stuff because the leader loves avantgarde stuff,” he explains. “I did about fifty gigs.” Meanwhile, of course, Fire remains a rock classic which has been covered by Ozzy Osborne and sampled by Marilyn Manson, the Prodigy and others. Brown sounds underwhelmed when commenting on Ozzie’s 2005 version: “Erm, well, that song doesn’t mean the same now as it did when it was first put out,
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when it was new and shocking. It doesn’t have that now. Ozzy put it out from memory of the effect it had on him and I think that kind of energy comes through, soit was all right.” Brown survived a near tragedy in 1993 when he had a brain haemorrhage on stage. Does that now affect him at all? “Doesn’t seem to!’ he declares cheerily. “They told me I’d done too much fasting in a particular year and it had weakened my constitution temporarily and that I needn’t worry about it happening again. So I never have.” A long-time devotee of esoteric religious practices, Brown is an ordained minister in the Church of Universal Life, so if you’re planning on getting married or, indeed, dying, any time soon he could be a useful guy to know. “I can marry people and bury people and I occasionally do,” he says. “And it entitles me to walk around saying there is a universal energy!”
more info At www.ArthUr-Brown.com
diScograPhY CRAZY WORLD:
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown 1968 Strangelands 1988 Tantric Lover 2000 Vampire Suite 2003 Voice of Love 2007 Zim Zam Zim 2013
KINGDOM COME: Galactic Zoo Dossier 1971 Kingdom Come 1972 Journey 1973 Jam 1994, recorded in 1970
SOLO: Dance with Arthur Brown 1975 Chisholm In My Bosom 1977
LIVE: Order From Chaos 1993
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Beth Hart
straight from the hart V e r b a l s : C H R I ST I N E MOOR E V I SU A L s : G r eg Wat e r m ann
Beth’s new album Better Than Home is a cathartic moment for her, a move away from rocky blues to a singer/songwriter laying deep and profound emotional ghosts to rest from her past
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f any contemporary singer is capable of taking on the mantle of another Etta James it is Beth Hart. This album comes highly recommended. Some of the many accolades written about Beth Hart “America’s Amy Winehouse. Some artists choose to sing the blues; some artists find they have to live them as well” The Times. “Daring, brooding and angry” The Guardian. First, thanks for agreeing to talk to Blues Matters! and by the way I love your new CD Better Than Home. What were your musical influences when you were growing up?
I had so many all across the board from Classical music, Beethoven to singer songwriters like James Taylor, Carole King, Ricky Lee Jones. Of course I love Marvin Gaye, love love Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, Etta James, also some of the Jazz stuff like Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Billy Holliday of course the Blues stuff, Howling Wolf etc. there is so
many people to mention. Then there’s Rock and Roll, Zepplin, Rush - love Rush, Black Sabbath and the list just keeps going. I love it all, there are so many great artists to love and to listen to and be inspired by.
What was the type of music and the songs that you sang when you first started to sing?
When I was first singing as a little girl, when I was about six years old I went to a Broadway show called Annie and I learned all the music from that and would sing them to my Mom. Then later she turned me on to Billy Holliday, then
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more of that kind of music, Ella and stuff like that and I learned from it. I would listen and sing along to those songs. Later some of my friends turned me on to Etta James so I kind of went through cycles. A big Reggae cycle as well, listened to a lot of Reggae, so I was kinda singing many different styles and I think that is why I write in different genres because of listening to so many different styles of music and loving them.
It’s well documented that you had a troubled youth which was later diagnosed as bi polar. How has that effected your performances, do you think it enhances your feelings, which certainly come over in your songs? My Doctor seems to think so, he said ‘It is like a double edged sword, on one side you have a lot of problems when you’re sick. On the other side you’re very creative probably
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BETH HART
in my ear and all I gotta do is figure out what I am hearing. But then I will go through phases where I will struggle as well and there is not really a ritual I have other than maybe just sometimes being patient and waiting for the well to fill up. Having to hang in there and believe that YES the creativity will come again. I just got through a really big creative time, I would say the last couple of years straight where I did nothing but tons of writing and then recently the door has shut. So now I am just taking a break and letting the well refill again.
One of the most poignant songs on the new album for me is Tell Em You Belong To Me, it is full of emotion, as are most of the songs on the album. But it is one of my favourite tracks along with Better Than Home. What was the background behind this song?
because of it.’ He said, ‘Try and realise that there is a balance to everything, nothing is all down there is always an upside to what you’re going through.’ I try and keep that in mind so I don’t pity myself, instead I empower myself and say “Hey you know everybody’s got their stuff and I can get through this and I have got to have a really positive attitude, it’s so important to have that super positive attitude and outlook and be really grateful every day if you can. If I work to do that I definitely feel much better.
What has been your motivation and drive over the years? I have stuck in there for so many years doing it so it must be because I love it, it’s not like I ever had big selling super star record or anything like that, but I have had so much
joy never the less simply doing it and chasing it and taking on the challenges that come my way so it definitely brings me so much joy.
How long have you been song writing? Do you find this an easy process where songs just come to you, or maybe there is some ritual you go through when you are trying to be creative? I started writing music when I was four, not singing or writing lyrics but music, just writing the music. Then later on, say age 13 or 14 is when I started putting lyrics to the music and instead of the music I was writing being more classical in style, I started writing more singer/ songwriter things. So it’s been a long time of writing. I go in and out of periods where it does come easy and it just like someone is singing the song
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Well it’s obviously a love song right and someone has abandoned you, for me personally it’s about my Father, when he left I was a little girl, he left my Mom for another woman. It was such a heartbreak for the whole family and I remembered I had no relationship with him anymore, and I was really close with my Dad up until that time. I was around six years old and then he was just gone. He stayed gone all the way up until that relationship ended with him and his new wife and so I was around 23 when he came back into my life, but it was never the same again. We were never as close as we were when I was a little girl, so that was the biggest heartbreak of my life. I have touched on it in some other songs that I have written in the past about it, but on this one I feel like I really nailed how I really felt about it. w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
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Do you have a favourite song you have written or an album which you think defines you as a songwriter and performer?
I guess every album I have made I would say defines and expresses how I am at the time so I don’t know if I could choose one. Maybe I would choose Screaming For My Supper, which was a record I made early on in my career because it was the first time that I felt I was really getting in touch with more personal feelings and being able to articulate them in a way that made sense to me. But I also like this album Better Than Home, I feel really good about it being very clear in its lyrics and in the music, it help express what I have been feeling this last couple of years and I think it is very honest. So it’s hard to pick one.
I guess you will have realised by now that you are my favourite female singer. I have all of your albums, as well as your collaborations with Joe Bonamassa which are hardly ever off the player in the car. Your new album Better Than Home is fast becoming one of my favourites.
That’s so good to hear, thank you I needed to hear that. Yesterday I went and had my first rehearsal with the band and I guess, cause I was so excited I messed up my voice a little bit, so today I have no voice and I am like feeling Oh my God I can’t sing any more, but again I have to go back to being patient and trust that it will always come back, you just sometimes have to sit and wait.
Your voice is obviously your number one instrument, but you play keyboards and I read that you used to busk in LA with a guitar so you obviously play guitar too. Are there any more instruments that you play or are trying to master? w w w.b lu E s mAt tE r s.c o m
I grew up playing Cello, a little acoustic guitar I am not very good at it but I do know how to play acoustic guitar a little bit, and the bass, the bass was the instrument I wanted to learn more than the Cello but the school didn’t have any bass’s left so I said just give me the next biggest instrument that you have that I could have and learn to play. They didn’t have any pianos or anything there, but I was already playing piano you know and I really wanted to be in the orchestra so I took Cello which I really loved and I played it for a long long time, but the bass is something that I wish I could have learned far better because it is such a fun instrument to play YEAH.
Have you always been a solo artist or did you play in bands when you were younger?
Yeah I have always been a solo artist which has been weird because as a young person I was so sad when my family dispersed from each other. I remember a psychologist said to me “Make your own family,” so what I thought I would do was I would build a band but it just turned out it was always a solo band. I had a band it was called Beth Hart it was always geared around me. I remember always being envious of what I call real bands, bands that were a collective. I remember thinking that was so cool cause I just wanted to be in that family and just be one of the members of it and not have all the stuff on my shoulders. I enjoy it now, I feel comfortable. It has been this way for a lot of years, but when I was younger I definitely felt the pressure and was not very comfortable with it.
Having sung or have performed with Jeff Beck, Slash, Joe Bonamassa and Buddy Guy, are
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there any other musicians you would like to perform with?
Oh Yeah I would love to write or to perform with Tom Waits, I have always adored him so much, I got turned on to him when I was in my mid late twenties and just fell in love, couldn’t believe the talent. The song writing the singing everything that he does just blows my mind so I have always had an ambition to work with him.
You live in LA, is there a hotbed of music in your hometown? Do you ever check out music in your town? Yeah; we just moved but we only moved six blocks away from where we were living. I don’t check out the music in town I don’t really know why I don’t I guess if there is someone playing I really love maybe I will go see them. But I don’t really do the music scene, when I am home off the road I just kinda really enjoy being in the house and maybe visiting some family and friends and just keeping it really low cool chilled vibes. I don’t know it gets me a little anxious when I go out in the night life like that so I don’t really do that.
check oUt Beth At www.BethhArt.com
diScograPhY SOLO:
Beth Hart and the Ocean of Souls 1993 Immortal 1996 Screamin’ for My Supper 1999 Leave the Light On 2003 Live at Paradiso 2005 37 Days 2007 My California 2010 Bang Bang Boom Boom 2012
WITH JOE BONAMASSA: Don’t Explain 2011 Seesaw 2013 Live in Amsterdam 2014
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Interview
BETTYE LAVETTE
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mmediately signed to Atlantic Records whilst cutting her teeth as a singer in Detroit as Motown was emerging Bettye Lavette has been on an a miraculous journey just the ‘other side of the track’ to fame. Now, 2015 sees the arrival of acclaimed new album Worthy. Bettye Lavette has a way of really getting into a song and pours her soul through each note with raw power vocal finesse. For those that don’t know much about her I urge you to read her autobiography A Woman Like Me. I could not put it down. Although it was after reading about the lady herself, I rather tremulously dialed the buttons to have a chat about her life and opinion. I need’t have worried, Bettye was funny, gracious and a blast to talk to.
I read your autobiography before the interview and couldn’t put it down. How did writing the book come about?
Well, I always thought someone would write a book
about me, I just thought it would be after I died but then I got a new manager, Eric Gardner. Somebody was talking and said ‘you should write a book’ and Eric said ‘would you like to write a book?’ All I said was ‘well I don’t know.’ He put David Ritz and I together and well, it came about.
How long did it take to put together and go down memory lane? Well, just before this fourth career of mine started happening ten years ago, these stories were all I had. I didn’t have any great
memorising to do, I didn’t have any records, I didn’t have any success all I had were these stories. I’m always spouting one or two of them off just to try to iterate my own importance in groups when people say I’m from Detroit but I’m not a Supreme and I’m not a Temptation, I’m not Berry Gordy and I say ‘well I know this.’ I thought writing a book would be just like that. The only thing I found out that it wasn’t, because when I’m sitting with a group of people and saying I know everyone in Motown or I know when this happened or that happened and everyone would just chuckle at my stories, but in the writing book, David Ritz would say ‘and what were you doing at the time? well, that part kinda floored me and made me cry a little, I’ve never been asked that part.
Okay, I’m getting carried away with your book so for those who haven’t
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read it, let’s go back. When was your first gig?
A week after my first record! The record came out on the Friday and I did my first show, well it was a record-hop, I didn’t have a gig really. I was just 16, I didn’t really have gigs, I was a ninth grade student, at least I should have been. I was a high school dropout one week whose name was Bettye Joe Haskins, the next week my name was Bettye Lavette and a month after that I was on the road with Clyde McPhatter, Ben.E.King and Barbara Lynn. I’d never been on a stage before.
What was that like?
That’s something I don’t remember, we’re talking 52 years ago, it’s no longer a vivid memory but of course I was scared. I’d never done anything like that before in my life but I was a show off and I was willing to pull my dress up over my head.
From there you decided to go to New York? Did you just decide ‘right! I’ve got to go there?’
I’d always wanted to go there because of a small black magazine called Jet, when I say small I mean only in size, every black person in America read it then. They had a page called the New York beat that would say what was going on in Harlem at The Paradise and the Baby Grand, Sugar Rays and I wanted to see all those places so badly. When I came back from the tour I still didn’t really know anything about the business but I knew they were doing more of it in New York than Detroit and my record company was there, I wasn’t with Motown I was with Atlantic and because I was with Atlantic straight away I just say Motown as a little local company because PAG E 4 4 | b lu e s mat te r s! | F e b r uary-Mar c h 2015
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“my voice is in a really good shape now, I’m in a really good place” I was with one of the biggest companies in the world. I thought there would be so many record labels there, that was my first business move, I thought I would leave my record company. Somebody should have said to me right then ‘we see you’re gonna be an a’hole.‘
How did the record companies treat you? I mean you were only sixteen, did they look out for you? Well, Gerry Wexler told me it was probably not the best thing for me to do but goodness you can barely tell me what to do now but when I was sixteen you could tell me nothing. I thought, well I’m in New York, I’m a nationally known artist, I could walk into any record company and get another record deal. I don’t know what I thought.
So you had guts! Do you think that helps in show business, is it best to be fearless? Yes, absolutely in show business. I think especially when you’re young, if there’s someone trying to give you good advice like the people surrounding me, thank goodness they didn’t give up. They knew I was an idiot but thought I was adorable and talented.
You had a mentor Jim Lewis who guided you in your early career?
Yes, he died almost twenty years ago, he advised me all the way up until his death and I eventually started to listen to him. I listen to him more now, w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
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his words ring more true now, words he told me that keep me from feeling frightened. When I walked out on stage at the Kennedy Centre, I was able to stand there in the wings and tell myself that people are getting ready to see you that you have wanted to see you for your entire career and you must do it flawlessly.
Oh no, I’m just worried about making some money now. I thought I would die broke and obscure. Well, I won’t die obscure but I’ve got to work on the broke bit.
What are your memories of performing at the Kennedy Centre? You performed in front of The Who with a version of their song Love Reign O’er Me.
Is it that still the case? Knocking on everyone’s door? I think a lot of musicians will relate to that.
It was many things. Well, I viewed the British Invasion as a discouragement like many black performers but my husband who was Irish was a big fan of anybody in a lace shirt and a velvet coat during the 60s. To see my husband there in the wings looking at me standing somewhere it took me 50 years to get and then looking up at his idol Pete Townsend crying, well. Also, to my left was Aretha Franklin, in the middle Beyonce, up in the balcony Barbara Streisand. I call that my three stooges slap. It was absolutely wonderful, I wanted them to know, I exist too and not only that but I am just as talented as all of you and that’s really the only thing I wanted known. By the public as well but my contemporaries. But, I’m the broke one. It meant an awful lot to me, getting over a lot of suffrage.
The song Love Reign O’er Me had Pete Townsend in tears. Do you pick songs that ultimately reflect that feeling?
I’m sure it does. I pretty much say I live my life in B minor. Even when I sing happy songs it’s sad.
How has that performance made a difference? Do you still worry about the future?
And your next plan is the Worthy Tour? Yes, I’ll go everywhere and knock on everybody’s door.
Oh, now I’m almost 70 years old. I don’t feel like doing that sh*t. I’d like to walk into a big concert hall like my contemporaries who are successful. I’m still trying to be known from town to town. I’m known from city to city but I have to get from city to city which is really arduous and exhausting. Town to town I could have a tour bus and sleep during travel but flying means travelling and then performing that night. It’s really taxing but I’m really grateful for everything that’s happening and all good things are happening, no-one is ‘sticking’ on me or being horrible but it’s not coming together quite as quickly as I thought it would. I thought perhaps one or two more big things would happen, perhaps one of those Grammy’s might bump the money up a bit so I could have a tour bus and more people to help. I have my entourage but they all have their mortgages and families and need paying so I can’t relax. Trouble is the bigger it looks on the outside the more it costs, managers, agents and if expect a band to be loyal to me instead of gigging everywhere else each night I need to pay them to be on call to me. Clothes too because of the cameras. As
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bettYe LaVette
soon as go on stage in my tight clothes and high heels and say I’m almost seventy everyone’s camera comes out. Then it’s on You Tube so then I have to change clothes more often. It’s expensive.
You tube and social media, that’s a completely different music scene to when you started. Like you say you’re nearly seventy and on the road a lot. How do you maintain such a voice (sorry folks, now we’re talking singer to singer). Well, my voice is in a really good shape now, I’m in a really good place, I know how not to damage my voice and I get a proper amount of rest. Now I sing really, really hard and I get rest. Now, I used go out after every gig, in every town you could see me out for another two hours. I spend so much time in my room now my band took a picture of me out of the room one day. All you can do for hoarseness is rest. I don’t drink any heavy alcohol or drugs, I drink champagne, I have my vitamins piled high, I know what to do and how to look after myself. If all this success had happened when I was younger? Well, look at my contemporaries, some of them are dead. I used to lose my voice all the time. After singing so hard then staying up all night running my mouth, well you see how much I talk. It took me, it took Jim a long time to start looking after my singing, you can’t do both, sing hard and play hard. I just want to get to do bigger concerts less often so that pays for me to have a rest in between. When Mick Jagger comes off stage someone massages him. well, I need that, too!
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given up. Felt like quitting?
Oh I quit. Now I only quit once or twice a year but I quit every week when times were hard. Every time that sugar turned to sh*t I quit but the people who are around me are like, ‘Oh stop crying! Here’s some money for your condo, here’s some champagne.’ I have a small group of people who have been there for all of this time. They won’t let me quit, I say they just want me to work so that I can take care of them. They are my entourage but my entourage are all old. If we go on the road we need a nurse in attendance!
Your entourage have followed you throughout your career? You’re in the UK for your Worthy tour but you’ve previously been over here with your album Let me Down Easy and in the 90’s with DJ Levine?
Yeah, people over in the UK knew me from Let Me Down Easy. DJ Levine knew me from that record too and came to Detroit to work with everyone who had worked with Motown. While I had by then had a record with Motown it wasn’t considered to be the ‘real’ Motown. Because he knew me from my work in the 60s and 70s he used my Motown record as an excuse to put me in the project. All the Motown artists were angry ‘She’s not from Motown!’ The usual crowd got upset about it, it’s cliquey. That’s why he asked me to do that project and I’m glad he came and did that, every little bit helped me but he didn’t give anybody any money and my attorney has checked the contracts from back then. He owns my voice from the recording and it’s on 90 different tracks somewhere. Of course that could be good for me as long as my name is on those tracks and being read by people.
Interview
How about now? Are things fairer?
Only in that so many artists are doing things themselves. Artists are about to run record companies out of business and I don’t really care for that. As my mother used to say, ‘I’m really glad I’ll be dead soon.’ I don’t really like all that, artists have to be producers, dancers, writers, PR. That’s all too much and I don’t believe you can be all that in one week.
Seems like a good point to round up. I know you have to pay your entourage but are you happy now with the ways things are in your career?
I just need a lot of respect and I need some money. I need them to do for me some of the things they do for everyone else my age. They can’t sympathise too much because I don’t live in a car and nobody beat me up, not after the first time, that was the end of the beating up. My story might be tragic but it’s not that kind of thing. I did go through all floods of things but I never went to any church or anything. I remained Bettye Lavette the whole time.
check oUt Bettye At: www.BettyelAvette.com
diScograPhY Souvenirs 1973 Tell Me a Lie 1982 Not Gonna Happen Twice 1990 Nearer to You 1990 Best of the Motor City Recordings 1996 Bluesoul Belles 1999 Let Me Down Easy in Concert 2001 A Woman Like Me 2003 I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise 2005 The Scene of the Crime 2007 A Change is Gonna Come 2009 Interpretations 2010 Thankful N’ Thoughtful 2012 Worthy 2015
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Interview
charlie wood
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Charlie Wood
‘‘It’s good to be your own harshest critic and edit down what you write’’ V e r b a l s : TR E V OR H O D G E TT V I SU A L s : COURST E S Y C H A RL I E WOO D
The music of Charlie Wood, who established his reputation in Memphis in the 1990s but who now lives in London, appeals equally to blues, jazz and r’n’b fans and, as his current, totally self-written CD, New Souvenirs illustrates, he is formidably talented as a singer, as a keyboard player and as a songwriter
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ood himself asserts that it is his songwriting that is most important to him. ‘The thing I’m most interested in, that motivates me the most to make a record, is the songs,’ he says. ‘I was really pleased with this collection of songs and the variety of them and happy with the way a couple of them came out.’ The lyrics of songs like Ghost Town, in their cleverness and technical skill, could have been written by Lorenz Hart and Wood acknowledges the influence of writers from the Great American Songbook on him. “That’s high praise which w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
I very much appreciate,” he says. ‘Yeah, those are the folks one has to compare oneself to. People of that period almost always divided the writing tasks between lyrics and music and that’s an interesting way to do it because usually a
writer will have a strength and weakness. So if you have a really strong lyricist together with a really strong composer you’ve got a very, very rich mixture and that’s maybe part of what made those songs so great and so enduring. “They got up every morning and clocked in to work and wrote. They wrote hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of songs – and they’re not all great but we remember the great ones.” Music Is My Monkey
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charlie wood
Wood first Emigrated to London in 1994 but soon returned to Memphis sounds autobiographical with Wood singing of being addicted to music. ‘Yeah, I do feel that way but I hope it’s a healthy addiction,’ he smiles. ‘That song’s about a monkey on your back but also, like an organ grinder’s monkey, it’s the thing that attracts people to you and enables you to make a living. And it’s also a very primitive part of you so I’m using the monkey thing to mean a lot of stuff.’ Given the literacy of his lyrics it’s no surprise to learn that Wood studied literature at university (‘Yeah, I wasn’t a music major, I was an English major,’ he says) but he left before finishing his degree to go on the road with Albert King. King, of course, often came across as a terrifying character. “That’s pretty accurate,” laughs Wood. ‘He was a rough customer. He wasn’t a nasty guy, he had a kind heart in there deep down, but he was extremely stern. He started in professional music quite late and before that he was a sharecropper. He had had a very tough life and had suffered a great deal psychologically, emotionally and also perhaps physically – and certainly members of his family suffered physically – as a result of racism so he was extremely wary of that and very mistrustful. He’d been through a lot and was scarred. ‘And he knew exactly what he wanted and if you weren’t
giving it to him he told you so, in no uncertain terms. And I tell you, if everybody in the band was doing what he wanted, it did sound great. He knew exactly what made an electric blues band work.’ Wood regards his time with King as invaluable. ‘Gosh, I was young and I learned an awful lot,’ he says. ‘I obviously learned the hardships and the amusements of life on the road. Mostly in the hardships category, I would say. And I learned to play in every key – because he was notorious for playing songs in bizarre keys that neither pianists nor guitarists tend to like!’
crucially important to Wood’s development were the years he spent resident in King’s Palace on Memphis’s fabled Beale Street. ‘I started about 1990 and I finished in, gosh, 2005 or 2006,’ he says. ‘You had to be very self-motivated because there was nobody telling you how to do it. Obviously if you’re playing four hours a night, seven nights a week, you need an awful lot of material so you were constantly learning new stuff and coming up with new approaches to things and trying out a lot of originals too. And playing to maybe a hundred people is a different experience than playing to a larger concert audience but it’s a really good experience because you know exactly how those people feel. You can see them and you’re very connected to them so you get a really good sense of how you’re going over and what’s working and what’s not. It’s much more of an exchange than a presentation and I think it makes you a more humble and engaged performer.’ Wood’s first albums, Southbound (1997), Who I Am
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(2000), Something Else (2005), Lucky (2006) and The New Memphis Underground (2007), were all well-received. On the latter two he played many of the instruments himself. He concedes, however, that in so doing he missed the interplay with other musicians. ‘Yeah, very much,’ he says. ‘There have been some great records done that way but by and large I think the good stuff is collaborative. When someone who has been playing drums their whole life comes along and says, “Well, that’s a way to do it but what about this?” it’s almost always better.’ Lucky includes Never w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
charlie wood
Going To Stop New Orleans which Wood wrote after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. ‘I went to school there in the late 1980s and I feel very connected to the city,’ he explains. ‘And Memphis and New Orleans are quite connected as we found when Katrina hit and we got a lot of refugees.’ The song was covered by Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas. ‘As a songwriter the greatest thrill is when somebody else does my material,’ says Wood. ‘Especially when it’s someone of that stature, it’s fantastic, w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
the highest accolade.’ On Flutter And Wow (2009) Wood interpreted songs by rock stars like Elvis Costello, Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen. ‘I grew up listening to those people,’ he says. ‘And others like James Taylor, Sting and Police and Squeeze were a big influence on my writing. A good song is a good song and I think the best of those songs stand up to the best from the Great American Songbook.’ Wood first emigrated to London in 1994 but soon returned to Memphis, moving back to London more permanently in 2009. ‘I wasn’t getting a lot of traction in
Interview
terms of working over here in the mid-90s and I knew I had a steady job waiting for me back home, so the lure of the Beale Street gig drew me back to Memphis,’ he explains. ‘But I loved playing over here and I missed the way that people in Britain seem to appreciate not just musicianship but songwriting and are really knowledgeable about it. Audiences here respond more, they care a little more about music and their culture and take it more seriously.’ Strangely enough, with no preparation time, Wood
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wood regards his time with albert king as invaluable recorded the solo Lush Life album while back home in Memphis on holiday in 2011. ‘That’s true,’ he says. ‘I hadn’t made a record in a while and I thought, ‘I’ve never made a standards album, why don’t we do that while we’re here?’ It took a couple of days and came out with almost no forethought whatsoever. ‘But it was more challenging than I expected. I’ve performed so often in that format that I thought, “This will be easy, I’ll just go in and do what I do.’ But you have to strike exactly the right balance and you can’t fix it later. So I had to think about what I was doing and the overall effect of it rather than just being purely in the moment and trying to express myself through the song as I do when I’m just performing.
‘but i’m glad i did
that record and I might do another one like it and see where I am now.’ Wood has become an integral part of the British music scene and is now married to the wonderful English jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth. In fact Wood and Dankworth co-produced New Souvenirs. ‘She probably produced more than I did,’ he concedes. ‘I wrote the songs and did the arrangements so there wasn’t a lot of handwringing about what material to use or how to do the songs. But it’s really tough for me to step outside myself and decide whether w w w.b lu E s mAt tE r s.c o m
or not I’m doing something well so in terms of evaluating the performances and saying, “That’s a good one,” or “Can you do it more this way?” or “Don’t do it so much that way?” Jacqui, owing to her long experience as a musician, singer and songwriter, and because she knows my work really well, is uniquely qualified. So she was the absolute arbiter of what was working and what was not so that was hugely important.’
wood’s relationship
with Dankworth has given him opportunities to expand his skills. ‘I did the arrangements for a big concert Jacqui did at Cadogan Hall with elements of the BBC Big Band and the LSO and I expanded the arrangements for (Ireland’s) RTE Orchestra. It’s a lot of work and exhausting but it’s great fun to do arrangements for all those instruments and all those combinations of instruments and you learn a lot about colour and texture. That’s probably what enabled me to more confidently and more fluidly incorporate string and horn arrangements into New Souvenirs. I feel a bit more acclimated to that world now after all that writing.’ Wood has also written for the famously adventurous classical string quartet, the Brodsky Quartet. ‘I did an arrangement for them of Jacqui’s composition Please Answer and also set a poem by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore called Patience,’ he explains. ‘It’s an absolute thrill. Any time anybody asks me what I’ve been up to I always say, “I’ve been writing for the Brodsky Quartet!” I’m knocked out to be writing for such an organisation. They’re incredible musicians and lovely people. There’s nothing you can write that they can’t
Interview
execute flawlessly. You get a lot of freedom when you’re working with musicians of that calibre.’ Given his ever-increasing experience and developing skills it is perhaps no surprise that Wood feels that New Souvenirs represents a progression from his earlier albums. ‘I hope it is,’ he says. ‘I hope there’s no filler. It’s good to be your own harshest critic and edit down what you write to the ones you particularly like and I think more than any record I’ve done to date this is a distillation of what I think is working about my writing. ‘And if people connect with it and appreciate it then I’ll feel very good about that. I’ll feel I’ve succeeded in communicating with them which is ultimately the goal.’ Wood’s achievements were recognised in October 2014 when he was honoured by receiving a brass note on Memphis’s Beale Street Walk Of Fame. ‘It was great to be recognised for having played there so long and having put so much of my life into that street,’ he says. ‘It’s something I really appreciate but the main thing is to be included amongst all those people whom I’ve admired so much and have learnt so much from. Some of them people who were dead before I was born so I’m really proud to be there and it’s motivating, it’s something to live up to.’
find more info At www.chArliewood.Us
diScograPhY Somethin’ Else 2005 And The New Memphis Underground 2007 Flutter and Wow 2009 Lush Life 2011 New Souvenirs 2014
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Interview
JP SOARS
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JP Soars
Tasty, Smooth and Versatile! V e r b a l s : C l ive Ra w l ing s V I SU A L s : Z I E L I N S K I P H OTO G R A P H Y
JP Soars was born in California, but raised in Arkansas, relocating to Florida in 1985. His influences are many, and he plays a home-made cigar box guitar
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ogether with his band The Red Hots, he tours extensively. His new CD Full Moon Night In Memphis has received many accolades and best illustrates Soars’s broad range of styles and tastes. He took time out last year to record with Damon Fowler on the Southern Hospitality project. Who were your early influences?
My earliest influences were stuff my parents were listening to like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Ozark Mountain Dare Devils, Creedence Clearwater Revival and an Indian artist named Paul Horn that my dad was really into. My Father played guitar as well and had friends who played also. They would have parties and sit around playing all night long. So those were some of my primary initial influences. I would sit there watching them and be mesmerized by the sound and the fun that they were having. I associated that with peaceful times in the home as a youth. w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
When did you take up guitar, was/ is it your primary instrument, what was your first guitar?
I started playing the guitar at the age of 11. My dad played and showed me the basic chords and some simple songs. I played the trumpet from the sixth grade until the 12th grade. I used to go and play at all the football games. I loved music class, it was my favourite. One I always seemed to do well in. It captivated my interest. That’s the key, to be interested in it and really love it. I was never really any good a sports so music was it for me. My first guitar was a Teisco we bought at a pawn shop for $30.
What’s the best description of your style? Tasty, Smooth and Versatile. Good music and Bad music.I have never been good at mimicking something or learning something note for note, I always feel most comfortable when I am doing my own thing. When I try to emulate someone else I feel like I’m faking it.
Did I hear correct that you started in a Metal band?
That’s right, I didn’t really ‘start’ playing in a metal band but I did play in some very extreme metal bands. Not like Bon Jovi or stuff like that more like Slayer, Metallica etc, I always like the precision and the futuristic sounds of that kind of music, the evolution of the sound of the guitar and the inventiveness of it. It captured me as a youth. When I first heard that stuff it was cutting edge and nothing
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JP SOARS
“When I try to emulate someone else I feel like I’m faking it” sounded like it. That’s what I liked about it, as well as the rebelliousness of it. That screw the norm mentality.
Did winning the 2009 Memphis International Blues Challenge help your career? It helped me tremendously, before that we were basically a regional Florida band, just playing around Florida, that really opened the door for us and a was a gateway to the international blues scene. I am very grateful and feel blessed for what it has helped w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
us achieve. It introduced us to a whole other world. It’s been great!
How important is it to have a settled band backing you?
It’s very important to me. It’s really the only way to sound like a real band and to be really tight, polished and professional. You can take four of the best musicians and put em together and it very well may be good but there is nothing like a group of guys who play together as a unit all the time. There’s really no comparison. That’s one thing I took from playing in the metal bands. How to really rehearse a band and get tight. How to work things out and try to get it as perfect as possible. That’s what make a band a band, when you can read each other minds and anticipate what the
Interview
guys gonna do next without thinking about it.
I see you have worked with Jimmy Thackery, how did that come about?
A very special treat. I met Jimmy back in 2010 at Sean Carney’s blues for a cure. We were in the studio recording the next blues for a cure CD and Jimmy was there on the session. We got to talking and he was living in Arkansas at the time, right near where I grew up, so we had that connection going. One of the first blues bands that I played with down here in Florida was called the Shadow Casters and we used to cover a few of Jimmy’s tunes. We actually recorded a couple of his tunes for a demo that we did. So when I met
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BURNLEY BLUES DAY with: KING KING MIKE ZITO AND THE WHEEL VIRGIL AND THE ACCELERATORS Main concert 7pm Tickets £20
Food available | Two licenced bars | Fringe Venues
BANDS PERFORMING THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON IN THE DOWNSTAIRS BAR, FREE ADMISSION. In partnership with Burnley Council
BOX OFFICE: 01282 664400 burnleymechanics.co.uk
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“i get a lot of influence from the guys i play with” Jimmy I explained this to him. I later played him the demo of us covering his tunes and he really dug it. We wound up doing quite a few gigs with Jimmy when we would travel through Arkansas. He and his wife would have us over for dinner and stuff. He then asked me to join him on the Oct 2011 Blues Cruise. That’s when the Live CD was recorded. I have always dug Jimmy since I first heard him back in the Shadow Caster days. He’s like a mentor to me now. I have gotten some great advice from him and picked up quite a few tricks as well. It’s quite an honour to have that connection.
What does your latest release Full Moon Night In Memphis mean to you, how did the balance of guitar and voice go, any favourite tracks?
It’s my favourite recording that I’ve done so far. I really tried to stretch out and showcase some versatility on this one, not limit myself. I get bored very easily and that happens when I see a band sometimes or listen to a CD. It was my primary goal to keep the listener’s interest. I feel that this is a well rounded CD with lots of surprises. It take’s the listener on a little journey. My favourite tracks are Missin’ Your Kissing, and The Viper. I love the horns on those cuts.
Do you take the brass/woodwind section on the road with you?
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be able to bring them on the road with us, perhaps in the near future, fingers crossed!!
Where do you get your inspiration for songwriting?
All sorts of places. It can be from watching the news to watching people. I also get a lot of influence from the guys I play with. I play in a band with Damon Fowler and Victor Wainwright called Southern Hospitality and I have gotten influenced quite a bit by those guys. I also get influenced by my travels, seeing different cultures, places and environments.
Any highs or lows in your career so far?
Winning the IBC was absolutely a high point. Going to Europe for the first time with the Red Hots was a high point, each time I complete a CD and put it out is a high point. I try to focus on those and forget about the low points. There are plenty.
Who would be in your dream band (living or dead)?
Django Reinhardt on Guitar, Jimmy Hendrix on guitar, John Bonham on the drums and Buddy Rich, two drummers like the Allman Bros. Keith Emerson on the keys, Jaco Pastorious on the bass, Frank Sinatra on Vocals and Muddy Waters on slide guitar.
You play a cigar box guitar, what relevance does that instrument have to the blues?
It was the first instrument of a lot of great blues guys, it’s the root of it. If you couldn’t afford a real guitar, you could build a cig box guitar and make some music. Its origins go back to Africa.
You build them with your brother, is that right?
Interview
Yes, We custom build them to order. it’s a lot of fun. They force one to come up with no conventional approaches to playing.
How did the gig with Southern Hospitality come about and are there plans to go back in the studio with them?
It came about after a jam session at a club in South Florida. We all have a lot of respect for each other and it’s a very magical, organic thing that happens when we all get together. It’s loose fun and quite inspiring. We are planning on doing another CD next year some time. Probably early next year.
Must have been great working with Tab Benoit? Its was quite an experience. It was very spontaneous. His studio is down in the bayou of Houma, Louisiana, down in the swamps. You can’t help for that vibe not to rub off on you. He’s a great artist. We had a blast!
Will we see you over this side of the pond anytime soon? Hopefully this year sometime. Perhaps July.
more info on jp soArs AvAilABle At www.jpsoArs.com
diScograPhY SOLO:
Back Of My Mind 2011 More Bees With Honey 2012 Full Moon Night In Memphis 2014
WITH THE RED HOTS: Live From The Netherlands 2013
WITH JIMMY THACKERY AND THE DRIVERS: As Live As It Gets 2013
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Interview
trevor sewell
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Trevor Sewell
the atomic bluesman V e r b a l s : I A N R AV E N D A L E
V I SU A L s : j o hn fin l ay s o n / ada m kennedy ( page 6 9 ) l e s y o u ng ( page 7 1 )
How North East bluesman Trevor Sewell took Hollywood by storm. Versatile? Trevor Sewell wrote the handbook and blues matters! finds out how he did it...
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laying blues rock guitar for Topaz, newwave-ing with Erogenous Zones, being signed to EMI for a huge advance and then dishing out hardcore cartoon retro as ‘Max Atom’ in The Revillos, going new age with Prelude’s Irene Hume, touring Europe with The Monroes (Norway’s biggest band of the mid-1980’s) and lots more besides including advertising soundtracks and sessions for PJ Proby, The Tygers Of Pang Tang, Venom and others. He’s now back to his first love – the blues. Sewell’s two recent albums, Calling Your Name and Independence have been very well received both in the UK and the US, where he’s won five major music awards over the last couple of years. Trevor received one nomination in the 2012 British Blues Awards. This year it’s three. And it’s all down to following his heart. “I’ve always liked playing blues, but hadn’t played it for decades. So in 2011 I wrote and recorded some songs. I’ve w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
got back to doing what I fancy rather than second-guessing what the music industry wants, or doing stuff for other people. I wrote my first song when I was 13 and the band I was in used to play it live and it went down really well. I should have written some more! By the time I was 15 we would have had a completely original set. I could play pretty much how I can play now by the time I was 17. If I’d had a couple of albums worth of material that would have been the way to go with record
companies as it was the land of opportunity back then. But we didn’t realise it!” After earning his spurs on the North East CIU circuit, Sewell was lead guitarist for a couple of years with the bluesrock band Topaz. The outfit played all the major London gigs, including supporting The Scorpions on their first UK show at the Marquee and by the end of 1976 were close to being signed. Things were changing, as Trevor recalls: “By the beginning of 1977 the labels were saying “You sound so 1976”. When it was only ten days ago! We didn’t really know what was happening. But of course we found out. We played the Nashville Rooms and went down great. The venue manager was talking about having the Sex Pistols there the previous week. I had no idea what they did but thought it was a great name. The manager told us people
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new Album
R O O T S & new
EricBibb
by organ Groove Master Raphael Wressnig
D I G I P A K DFGCD 8774
Raphae� Wressni�
Guitar Tab
Songbook Volume 1
Released on Vinyl LP (hand-signed limited edition) & CD on Pepper Cake Records/Zyx Music
Enter the magical world of
Eric Bibb
and play his songs! p, that‘s it...” “Cool, funky & hi
(Jazzthing)
“… one of the finest blues/jazz/ soul B-3 operators anywhere.” (Downbeat)
B-3 groove master Raphael Wressnig made a trip to New Orleans, literally and spiritually, to cook some Gumbo. Soul Gumbo, that is. Featuring: Craig Handy, Stanton Moore, Jon Cleary, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, George Porter, Jr. (The Meters), Eric Bloom (Lettuce),Tad Robinson & Alex Schultz
www.raphaelwressnig.com
For this long awaited songbook, Eric Bibb has re-recorded ten of his best known songs. In the CD you will find a solo guitar recording and a guitar plus voice recording of each song. The DVD contains two filmed versions of each song, shot from different angles plus technical explanations. The CD Rom is comprised of tablatures, sheet music and lyrics. To be released on april 13th UK Distribution by DISCOVERY RECORDS LTD 01380 728000 available from all good record retailers or order direct from
www.discovery-records.com
Stay tuned to Dixiefrog artists at
www.bluesweb.com PAG E 6 2 | b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015
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trevor sewell
comfort zone during his “I could Hollywood trips was playing play pretty gigs, as he recalls: “First time round I did a show in Laurel much how Canyon at Kulaks Woodshed I can play which is a lovely famous little gig. When I went out for the now by the second Hollywood Music and time I was 17” Media awards last November were queuing round the block and the place was absolutely jammed. I asked him what they were like: “Absolutely awful. I just don’t get it!’ he told me, “But put their name up and there’s thousands of people trying to get in!” Sewell looks upon his musical apprenticeship fondly and is also enjoying the recent recognition from the home of the blues: “It came as a big surprise! Calling Your Name got into the US Blues Scene chart and was no. 1 for seven weeks. The first American award I got was the Hollywood Music In Media award. But because I didn’t go to the ceremony I maybe didn’t take enough advantage of it. When I was then nominated for the Artists In Music Award I did go out. I knew I was nominated but didn’t know I’d won it until the ceremony.” Americans never do anything in half measures. How did Trevor feel about the whole limo, red carpet, TV crew scenario that he was catapulted into? “The first time it was a bit surreal and I was like a rabbit in the headlights! Even when they asked me to stand beside the stage. I thought they’re either going to throw me out or I’ve done alright! When they got me up on the stage I couldn’t do the big speech thing so I just said, “Thanks mate! That’s champion!’ As I was going off the compare said, “What Trevor actually meant was he was very pleased to be here!” Much closer to Sewell’s w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
there was quite a difference. I’d talked to Gus Summers of the In Show on Sunset Boulevard and he put me on the day of the awards. I also made sure that my album came out the same day just on the off-chance that I might win something! The award ceremony is a big one because it’s for movies as well and held at the Fonda Theatre which is beautiful. When I won again I felt quite comfortable and in a much better position to enjoy it. The general buzz was much bigger. In February this year I won the Artist In Music award again and also won the Indie Music award in April.”
Interview
there’s more action and the gigs I get asked to do have been getting better and better. I seem able to get in more places and play with more of the Los Angeles Musicians.” Although, as Sewell admits, he sometimes doesn’t fully realise exactly how famous some of the other players he’s sharing a stage with in LA actually are: “One of them had something in the charts but I don’t remember his name because I met so many people! People keep asking me who I’ve met but I don’t know what a lot of these famous people
“Last time I went out I played at the Whisky A Go Go and recorded at Capitol Records. Every time I go out-and this is without trying to do it-a network starts appearing. The Americans are great because if something’s happening for you they’ll say “That’s brilliant! How can we help you?’ People do go out of their way which leads onto all sorts of other things. Every time I’ve been
b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015 | PAG E 6 3
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treVor SeweLL
look like! Apparently you can’t walk down Hollywood Boulevard without seeing somebody really famous! I’ve walked down it loads of times now and I haven’t noticed anyone famous, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t there! I’ve got a feeling I might have played with a couple of movie stars.” Sewell’s growing reputation amongst the US blues fraternity has brought him several collaborations including tracks with Wild Cat O’Halloran and Brooke Nickerson. Says Trevor: “I’ve produced and written eight songs on Brooke’s upcoming album. There’s another couple of people I may be working with but I’ve haven’t done them yet so I better not say.” Trevor is a very experienced live performer with literally thousands of gigs under his belt. He currently plays around 100 gigs a year, either solo or with bass player James Ward and drummer Steve Vine as The Trevor w w w.b lu E s mAt tE r s.c o m
Sewell Band. For Sewell, that’s taking it easy, as he explains, “I used to do 250 or 280 gigs a year at one time! I don’t do many gigs with the band and only do shows with them that I want to do. I won’t play anywhere I don’t think is a good place for the band.” “The UK gigs have been going really well. I did the Orkney Blues Festival recently, which was great as were the Maryport and Hebden Bridge festivals. I’d like to get my profile up a bit more on the UK festival circuit. Far more people have heard of me now than 12 months ago! It’s been a gradual thing.” Trevor has had his own studio for many years, can play guitar, bass, harmonica and keyboards and is continually recording. Even though the Independence album only came out on the Austrian WAR label halfway through 2014 the prolific Sewell has already recorded some of the followup, provisionally called Hollow. “I was going to have it out last
Interview
November but I’ve put it back because Independence is still going strong. “So instead I’ve put out Face To Face, an acoustic album which just happened when I was at Capitol Records in Hollywood. Engineer puts headphones on, plugs my guitar in, I hear my microphone coming back, and he’s got a great sound on it. So I say, “Can I make an acoustic album while I’m sitting here?’ And he says, “Go on then!” It took three hours to do ten songs, including setting up time. The only rule I imposed was absolutely no overdubs. It’s one guitar and one voice. I wanted it to be as pure as possible but nicely recorded.’ “I wasn’t going to release it but I played it to a few people and they all said I should. It’s out as a download and CD and on this month’s Independent Blues Broadcasters Association playlist of about 35 programmes.” Sewell was nominated for a Grammy in 2014 and there are several other awards this year that he’s waiting to hear about. Concludes Trevor, “I’ve got lots of gigs coming up as well as the chance to record in a fantastic studio in Europe for nothing! Everything just seems to lead on from one thing to another.”
fAce to fAce cAn Be downloAded from itUnes And AmAZon. A digipAck is AvAilABle from www.trevorsewell.com
diScograPhY Home Alone 2010 Hundred Years 2011 Where The Wild Ones Go! 2011 Devil Went Down To Georgia – Live in London 2011 Calling Your Name 2011 Surf, Spies And Film Noir 2012 Independence 2013
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Brett Marvin and The Thunderbolts
‘‘It started at school. We formed a band, made our own instruments’’ V e r b a l s : P E T E S A R G E A N T V I SU A L s : P E T E R J . R I MM E R
Cracking tunes still abound as the 60s survivors weather all storms and return with a brand new album, longtime fan Pete Sargeant talks to front man Keef about the past, present and future
A
s Christmas week starts in London’s West End and after a weekend of troubles, what better way to unwind than to catch up with Brett Marvin frontman Keef Trouble? They have lost a couple of band members on the way, but that strutting, good natured blues music is celebrated once more on a new album release from the group, this time assisted by various alumni from the legendary electric soul maestros Kokomo. If we start at the beginning, I used to see you play gigs in Newport Court near Leicester Square tube station at weekends when I was at school. Yes, I think you’re talking about Studio 51. We indeed used to run the club and the sessions there. We took over from JoAnne Kelly and Dave
Kelly..the Stones had it before us and we did it then for about three or four years..
I compered a Dave Kelly show but two weeks ago, his sons are in the band! So the lineup then was, well we had Jona Lewie on piano, Jim Pitts on vocals, Pete
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Gibson on vocals, yes, three lead singers in those days,with mandolin, washboard, guitar.
And you play the zobstick..I remember Graham (Hine) on slide guitar. Oh yes, a very accomplished slide player.
I had a chat with him one time at the 100 club..he used open G tuning. Well we played there so many times, usually headlining.Ron Watts used to run it, didn’t he?
You guys had met where, though?
It started at school Pete, the Sixth Form. We formed a band, made our own instruments and our lead singer Gibbo was
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brett marvin and the thunderbolds
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Interview
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Interview
brett marvin and the thunderbolds
“Mike Raven loved our band used to come to shows” an art teacher, he came down from Liverpool Art College, got into the Royal College of Art but blew it out and came to teach us at Thomas Bennett Comprehensive. We did art in the sixth form, unheard of in those days, formed a little blues band. Gibbo had a blues club he used to run, so we started there. Dave Kelly spotted us, got us a few gigs sorted in London. Mike Raven loved us and started playing our tracks
on the radio. Not forgetting John Peel, too.
Pirate radio?
advert as well, but on the Xmas one, he plagiarised Mozart’s Rondo In D, to get that,probably unconsciously.
No, the BBC by then, Mike Raven loved our band used to come to shows.
Well, yeah a major scale melody, lifted …
I remember, Jona Lewie had all his song lyrics written down in a book and he would select one and mutter ‘It’s from the heart’ as he started the number!
As were Pete Townshend and Bryan Ferry.
He’s still doing the same numbers now that he did then..that he did forty-five years ago (Laughs).
Then there’s those two songs which made him a mint. I don’t know about a mint, but I wrote the lyrics to the ‘Kitchen At Parties’ song. I think it’s been on an IKEA
So we were all at art colleges thereafter, around London and all over the place.
Yes, Brian Ferry was at the Royal College and half the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band were at art college.
Viv Stanshall?
Yes, we did a few gigs with Ruskin Spear, the thing about those days, you did the music for love, you didn’t do it for wages and you did your art, for love, got a grant for college if you were lucky, you were paid to go to art college and develop your own ideas, be creative and that’s how the music all came about. Now John Peel, when Fleetwood Mac did ‘Albatross’, he refused to play it, because ‘They’d sold out!’ Those times, if you did anything commercial you were selling out, you were a bread head.
That was thrown at Jethro Tull and everyone who came after. Nowadays it’s very different – everyone’s into wages and self-promotion.
Let’s get to the hub of this – how come you guys were so into blues music? I think when we at school, in the Sixth Form, we played blues records while we were working. Robert Johnson, we had the Rural Blues compilation, everyone else was into Bob Dylan and The Beatles, but we for some reason, mainly Graham I suppose, we liked the old country blues. PAG E 6 8 | b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015
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brett marVin and the thunderboLdS
Sleepy John Estes?
Yes, Estes. Slim Harpo, SonHouse.
Son House?
We opened for him at a Town Hall gig, incredible, you know, the Blues Federation brought all these old blues guys over, to play here.He was maybe 65, we thought he was like a granddad! He had a big bottle of whisky with him, they got him up onstage, he had a guitarist supporting him, but there we were supporting our hero! Now at Studio 51, Howlin’ Wolf came down,Dave Kelly brought him down.
I saw that tour, when they played Tolworth, Wolf played the whole show to a little blond girl
I had just bought an album in Scotland and I got him to autograph it.He was looking at it, checking out the royalties to see whether he had been paid.He wrote ‘Chester Burnett’ right across the album. Kelly had met him at Heathrow, as he arrived in the country and Wolf went straight to the khazi, to change out of his suit and get his levi’s on, his wife nagged at him to dress up smartly and he didn’t dare disobey her, a big bloke like that!
You as a band had this almost good-timey sound going..it wasn’t miserable blues it was very upbeat.
In those days, prog rock was about and all very serious.. Hawkwind would play the colleges and go on for about half an hour on one piece! We went on and got the whole audience up dancing. We’d give out cans and maracas and get the audience to play along, it was great really and of course, we toured with Clapton, didn’t we? ‘Derek &The Dominoes’ doing the Greens Playhouse and Hinesy had his gold National, w w w.b lu E s mAt tE r s.c o m
all tuned up and ready. Clapton had got it before we went on and changed all the tuning back to standard! So we go on stage and Hinesy’s guitar is all in the wrong tuning. Clapton actually wanted to buy this guitar off Graham, he said I’ll give you any one of my guitars, take your pick.. Hinesy refused. Of course, now whatever guitar he’s chosen would be..er..valuable...
I opened for Lonnie Donegan once and we were talking about blues.. that’s how I heard early blues, on Donegan records.
The Alberts also played Studio 51 and that was Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.Milligan was going to play trumpet with us at the RoundHouse, but he got cold feet and pulled out, he loved Brett Marvin.Then we used to pay The Marquee, the old Marquee.
With Jack Barrie? you were always a band out of kilter, not part of the heavy mainstream yet you could play the music so well. Musicians seemed to like us!
What we could see was a roots thing..not long after this, Taj Mahal came along and immediately I felt, hang on,this is from the same place as the Bretts. Quite correct, that and early Captain Beefheart.
It’s the rickety, syncopated feel isn’t it?
Yes. It’s similar to the Stones. usually everybody follows the drummer, like a metronomic thing but with us and the Stones, the drums tend to follow the rhythm guitar. Graham had a nine-string guitar, home made and Jim Pitts used to pay slide mandolin!
That’s where I stole it from. I do that today!
Jim, Lord rest his soul is gone
Interview
now, but a lovely chap.Anyway for the new record, because two of us had snuffed it, Brett Marvin were quite depleted, so I started using some of my mates, from the band Kokomo. Mel Collins who played with the Stones, Tony O’Malley the keyboard star. I thought let’s use friends on it, same as the Stones and the Beatles did, hence we’re carrying on the legacy. I wrote ‘The Night’ and ‘Blue Boar Inn’ and ‘Stranger Than Strange’, with Gibbo. We’re trying to keep the name going and do things and why shouldn’t we? Gibbo and I think it’s the best album we’ve ever done.
What pleased me is, it doesn’t sound slick. I’m not saying it sounds duff, it just doesn’t sound airbrushed.
It’s not all done to a click track and we’ve tried to make it varied somehow different from before.The first track is our piano player who died ,Taffy Davies and I thought let’s put him on there, to remember,so we’re going to do another one, again with the friends we’ve made over the years.
more info on www.keeftroUBle.com, or At www.BrettmArvin.com
diScograPhY SOLO: Bottleneck Blues 1970 Bowery Fantasy 1976 Brett Marvin presents Graham Hine 1973 You’ll Be Hearing From Me Real Soon 2007
BAND: 1st Album 1970 12 Inches of 1971 Alias Terry Dactyl... 1972 Ten Legged Friend 1973 Boogie Street 1993 Vintage Thunderbolts 1999 Singles and EP Releases 1981
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Interview
king king
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King King
well plaid, that man! V e r b a l s : ST E V E Y OUR G L I V C H V I SU A L s : A N D Y H I BBS
The mighty King King, one of the Blues world’s hardest working bands finally release Reaching The Light, the long awaited follow up to the acclaimed Standing In The Shadows, in May
W
ith the band embarking on another huge UK tour BM! felt the time was right to catch up with bandleader Alan Nimmo and talk about the new album and the recent John Mayall tour. Hi Alan, how’s it all going?
Pretty good, we’re so busy, we’re rehearsing today.
I don’t know how you guys do it, you seem to be working all the time. There’s not enough hours in the day anymore. I’m not complaining, this is what we wanted, why we started this in the first place.
I was surprised to realise that it’s two years since Standing In The Shadows came out.
That’s right. The way we look at it is we are constantly playing new places, to new audiences who to them Standing In The Shadows is new. So we didn’t rush into the new album. More importantly w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
we had to make sure this album was the right one.
Standing In The Shadows was such a good album you needed that gap really. Definitely, we got lots of nice awards and the album did great things for us. We couldn’t get away with releasing something on a par with it, it had to be better. I think we’ve managed it but lets wait and see how it goes. The touring schedule has been so gruelling that we’ve literally been grabbing time in the studio over the last year whenever we can. Over that time some songs got binned. Over time you see the shape of it build and you sense what
will fit and what won’t. That’s not to say we won’t return to those at some point.
That’s interesting, didn’t that happen with the track Rush Hour on the new album?
I wrote some lyrics for that song, the basic idea for that when I was in my teens, I had one or two verses, but doing this album it just felt right to go back and add to it and it fits. It’s one of my favourites. Same with You Stopped The Rain, that was one that didn’t make Standing...
I love the way you open the album with the track Hurricane, it really whooshes in!
Aye, I think for some of the blues fans it’s gonna be a real shock. It’s representative of where we’re at. It’s edgy and has excitement.
The song writing on Reach The
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Cyril Davies was perhaps the pivotal figure in the development of UK Blues and R&B, his pioneering work with Alexis Korner between the mid ‘50s and early ‘60s laying down the roots for a scene from which bands like The Stones later emerged. Sadly, his own life and career were cut tragically short in January 1964 when he died, suddenly and unexpectedly, of endocarditis. This is the first anthology of Cyril’s work, features virtually every track that Cyril is known to have played and/or sung on, ranging from a 1954 home recording to a clutch of tracks with The R&B All-Stars, cut in 1963 at the height of the British R&B/Beat Boom that, had tragedy not intervened, threatened to make him into a household name.
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king king
Light generally is more interesting.
I think that’s just experience. You keep learning every time. The last album established the King King sound, this time it’s about taking it forwards in a natural progression. It would have been easy to follow the same formula, but I’ve got bigger ambition and drive than that. For me it’s personal, I wanna keep moving on and taking this thing as far as I can. I think we’re just scratching the surface.
The fact that you are now a settled unit is showing through isn’t it? The last two years but especially the last year we’ve really pulled it together as a unit. And I think if you don’t do that you’re dead. We’ve had a couple of different guys in the line up but I’ve always strived for the right formula, not just musically but the right people because you spend more time together w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
than with your family. None of us are kids anymore so that helps, we all have experience of being in bands, so that helps. Now we are all pulling in the same direction. If anyone’s commitment was going to be tested over the last two years it was these boys. We’ve all been away from home for a long time and that’s hard work, normal things in life just disappear. It’s a 24/7 business for us, then going onstage you have to learn to shut the other side off.
Going back to the new Reaching The Light album, one of the outstanding tracks for me after a few listens is Lay With Me.
We’ve actually just been discussing that in the studio, I had these two chords ages ago but couldn’t decide where to take it or how to write it. I knew there was something in it, I nearly let it go but I’m glad I stuck at it. It’s probably
Interview
one of my favourites on the album the way it’s turned out. Hearing it back it’s just how I wanted it, I love it.
There’s almost got a gospel thing going on with that number.
Absolutely, we thought about bringing in some gospel singers but in the end there was something about the organic bare bones feel of it.
How do you write? Your timetables are always so tight so I wonder do you try to write to fit the schedules or do the songs just happen? We have deadline dates and studio time booked but I can have ten songs ready or I can have none. I find it a struggle to just sit down and write, I can be driving across Europe when some little idea for a line or a riff will come to me whenever it decides it’s gonna come to me. I don’t
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king king
“we thought about bringing in some gospel singers...”
have a process for writing it’s whatever way it comes. Thank goodness for iPhones! I just shout things into the phone. When I play it back I’m trying to remember what was I thinking.
I suppose it can be a help going to different places and having different experiences?
Well definitely, it all adds to the flavour. Things come together whenever they are meant to.
Lovely choice of cover again on this one, Paul Carrack. Yes, I’m a big Paul Carrack fan, always have been. It’s all about those little challenges in life, you listen to Paul sing and he makes it sound so easy, an absolute doddle until you try to sing it. Then you realise how good he is, he’s so laid
back with
it. Trying to learn his technique is so difficult. Great singer and songwriter.
Your just about to embark on your UK tour, but the albums not out until May 5th, so will you be playing much of the album on tour?
Well, the official release date is May 5th, but I can reveal that I have several thousand copies of the CD in my
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Interview
possession right now, so going to have them on the road for the start of the tour. We’ll play a good few of them, I don’t think it’s right to blast the audience with a whole set of brand new material, alongside the songs that they know. As we go along we’ll add more in.
What strikes me with the new songs is there’s plenty of space to develop as live numbers.
Oh of course, yes. Some of them were going that way and in pre-production we shortened them for the album. I’d rather it was in live performance that we extended something, songs evolve as time goes on, they become something else in the live environment.
You supported John Mayall last year and I remember you telling me how great it was playing in front of a new audience who might not have known you. Has that reflected in ticket sales for this tour? I definitely think so. Just by keeping an eye on social media, so the plan to get out in front of other people worked as far as I’m concerned. We want to keep increasing the number of people we play to. I think there’s a separation in the audience for John Mayall or John Mayer and Joe Bonamassa and we want to reach those people. It was a great thing for us to do as a band and as an investment. If you don’t invest in your future it doesn’t happen.
check oUt All things king king Are At www.kingkingBlUes.com
diScograPhY Take My Hand 2011 Standing In The Shadows 2013 Reaching For The Light 2015
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Matt Woosey
Stray cats and wild dreams
V e r b a l s : B E R N I E STO N E V I SU A L s : m agi c c and l e / and r e w t h o m p s o n ( o ve r l eaf )
Multi award winning singer songwriter Matt Woosey is gaining more and more fans as each day passes. He’s just turned thirty, recently married and the quality of his output is consistently of the highest quality
H
aving released a wonderful studio album, Wildest Dreams, in November, he has now released his first live album called While The Cat’s Away. This latest release was recorded at The Gallimaufry in Bristol while Matt was on a weekly residency in 2014. Blues Matters! was given exclusive access to the songs, in advance of the launch party at the Heath Street Baptist Church in London on the 19th March. We were also able to chat to Matt about both of his recent albums, his main influences, and life in general. Which came first, the voice, the guitar, the songwriting, or the blues?
It all started when I was about eleven. I took classical guitar lessons which to me at the time, was just like extra homework at school. My parents were keen on me learning music. After I left school I continued with the guitar, joined a few different bands, started to sing a little, then started to write a few songs.
How did you first become interested in the blues?
It happened the first time I was old enough to be left alone at home. My parents went away for a few days and I just took out a pile of my dad’s old vinyl records and started to play them. I really loved Led Zep l, Led Zep ll, and Rory Gallagher. After that, as I delved more and more into their influences, I became interested and inspired by the first and second generation
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bluesmen, people such as Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Josh White, Mississippi John Hurt, Sleepy John Estes, and so on. Then it was just a matter of exploring random CDs in record stores. I fell in love with it all.
Having listened to you playing live and on your albums I imagine you are also into other types of music, not just the blues?
Yes. Blues is only about 50% of what I do. I think of myself as a singer songwriter first and I incorporate a lot of different styles into my songs. I’m also constantly changing as a person, my voice has changed over the years, I’m always experiencing new stuff and, as I do so, I expand my music into other areas and incorporate new styles and techniques. Many different artists and styles of music have influenced me. I’m very
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MATT WOOSEY
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Interview
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Interview
MATT WOOSEY
seems to be a very commercial track. Is it one of your favourites?
I like it of course but I’ve Seen The Bottom is also a good blues number and the track we released as a single was Exactly As We Please. That’s a sort of blues pop track, reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac during their Rumours period. It has had a lot of air play on the radio including a simultaneous broadcast on 39 BBC Stations. It’s a very accessible track.
You’ve had lots of recognition recently, received many awards, you appear to be getting lots of work. It really seems to be coming together for you now?
keen not to just concentrate on the blues. On the folk side I have listened and admired many people, especially John Martyn, Nick Drake, John Renbourn, and Bert Jansch.
How does the songwriting work? Do you always work alone or is it a collaborative effort? Which comes first, the music or the lyrics?
I’ve always done it on my own. I’m a bit precious that way because, while some of my songs are tongue in cheek and humorous, most of them are very important to me, so it’s not something I can share with anyone else. As far as the process is concerned, I like to experiment, try new tunings, new melodies. I start with the music and then move on to the lyrics. It’s a joy. It’s natural to me. I’ve done it since I was about 18. If something doesn’t work I will shelve it, sometimes for years. I certainly don’t force anything.
One of the things I really like about your new studio album – Wildest Dreams – is that every track is different. I have listened to it a great deal and I was never tempted to skip a track because I’d ‘heard it all before’. It seems to showcase every aspect of your talent. Was this deliberate? Not really. That’s what I do anyway and Tony, the producer of the album, has become a good friend over the years and I trust him. He gave me a lot of freedom to do my own thing. I don’t like to repeat myself. Producing carbon copies of things I’ve done before is not really me. I have an innate fear of repeating things and it makes me delve into other stuff and seek out stylistic change.
While every track is good, one that particularly stood out for me on Wildest Dreams was Same Old Blues. I noticed that Paul Jones recently played it on the radio. It
PAG E 78 | b lu e s mat te r s! | F e b r uary-Mar c h 2015
Well I feel as though it’s been coming together for about six years. Things are getting better every year, and I’m slowly getting more and more bookings. There have been lots of ‘little victories’ along the way. It’s good because it means that I am able to keep up my enthusiasm.
I notice that some of the tracks on Wildest Dreams use special effects and in some your vocals are distorted a little. This voice distortion really seems to work well as it gives the album a ‘vintage’ feel. Is this something you enjoyed?
Yes. The lyrics in Love Is the Strangest Thing are ethereal, so we wanted to shape the sound for that track around those words. Stylistically that involved spacious production, lots of reverb and vocal effects. For the recording we used Ribbon microphones and special pre-amps on the vocals. This produced an analogue sound. We then applied digital effects afterwards. I was absolutely thrilled with the result.
I notice that, in addition to being
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matt wooSeY
very talented musically, you appear to have a very professional attitude to everything else. You have a superb website, well designed newsletters are circulated regularly. You also have an agent and other advisers helping you. This must be very helpful? I did everything myself until about 18 months ago. Then one of those wonderful things happened. I was on a tour of South Africa at the time. Jeff Barnes was at one of the gigs. He’s a business guy and just came up to me and offered to help. It’s great. He introduced me to Mark Robson, my now marketing man. We have weekly meetings. They are a great help but they don’t interfere artistically
I don’t wish to pry too much into your private life but I know you married recently and I notice that Wildest Dreams is dedicated to your wife Lisa. Lisa must have made a tremendous difference to your life and I suspect a couple of the songs on Wildest Dreams are about her?
Yes. We married in October. Before I met her I was leading a very different life, often living in a van, I had no home, but I enjoyed it. We met, she moved to the UK and life is now very different. Nowhere Is Home is obviously about her. It’s all about living in the moment, letting it flow.
In addition to the studio album Wildest Dreams, you now have new live album scheduled for release on the 19th March. I’ve just had the pleasure of listening to the .wav files and will be doing a review for Blues Matters!. Can you tell me a little more about it from your perspective?
It’s called While The Cat’s Away... It was recorded at The Gallimaufry in Bristol, while Dave (Big Dave Small) and I were doing a weekly residency there in 2014. w w w.b lu E s mAt tE r s.c o m
There are twelve tracks on the album. They cover the wholes spectrum of blues, folk and acoustic music that we have performed over the years together. It’s meant to be a very raw and basic album and hopefully conveys the sort of thing we do at a typical gig.
One of things that occurred to me while I was listening to While The Cat’s Away... was how close the quality of your singing comes to your studio work. It’s a great showcase for your talents as a live performer. It’s also very honest because it doesn’t attempt to filter out the noise that some members of the audience are making while you are playing. Was that intentional? It was. It’s our first live Album and we very much wanted it to be authentic, to just turn up and press record. It’s meant to give a feeling of the raw basics of what we do, with me on guitar and Dave on Cajun, nothing else. This is the sort of gig we have done for years. We’ve played all over like this, just jumped on a train, jumped off and performed. It’s how we prefer to work. That’s what we do. As well as being a music venue, Gallimaufry’s is also a bar and a restaurant so it was inevitable there would be some noise in the background.
Well you certainly get the feel of a live performance but I suspect that many lesser artists would have recorded several different nights and picked the best. It’s quite evident that the whole album was recorded in one take, without interruption and produced in the same order as your set list. You must be very pleased with it? Yes. At first we were not sure because some people who were talking while we were performing but, after it had been mixed and mastered, it sounded good. Studio albums are completely different. They
Interview
allow us to add colour and special effects but we wouldn’t do any of it if it didn’t also work raw and live and on stage.
I recently saw you perform a very short, early afternoon, late advertised set at Carlisle Blues Festival. On that occasion the audience was completely with you, taken by the sheer energy of your performance and you received a standing ovation. There are very few people who can do this. I think a lot of that energy comes across on this live CD. Thank you. That’s very kind of you to say so.
What else have you got planned over the next few months as I see you are on a European tour, starting in April. What’s happening after that? I think the next big thing is an appearance at the 100 Club on the 26th May. I’m really looking forward to that. The place has so much history, it’s well run, you are well looked after, it’s a proper music venue, and you’ve only got to look at the photos on the walls to realise how much history is attached to the place. The last time I played there it sold out. This time I am sharing the bill with Virgil & The Accelerators.
check oUt www.mAttwoosey.co.Uk for more informAtion
diScograPhY Old Smithy 2008 White Lies and Black Ice 2009 Matt Woosey And The Strange Rain 2009 Frame Of Mind 2010 All Or Nothing 2011 On The Wagon 2012 Hook, Line and Sinker 2013 Draw A Line 2014 Wildest Dreams 2014 While The Cat’s Away 2014
b lu e s mat te r s! | F e b R uARY-MAR c h 2015 | PAG E 7 9
dan patlansky
the Sixteen year OVERNIGHT SUCCESS V e r b a l s : ST E V E Y OUR G L I V C H
V I SU A L s : P ie r r e van de r Wa lt / Y o l anda Saay m an ( o ve r l eaf )
Dan Patlansky has the potential to be this years big thing in the Blues world
D
an’s latest album Dear Silence Thieves is receiving glowing reviews and accolades across the globe not least being named number one blues rock album of 2014 by the prestigious Blues Rock Review. He was hand picked by The Boss to open his Johannesburg show in front of 64,000 people. His blues credentials were tested by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 where Dan thought he’d lost his precious 1962 Strat, but he got that and his mojo back to emerge stronger and better and ready to take his blues to the world. Hi Dan. I’ve been listening a lot to Dear Silence Thieves, really enjoying it, there is a lot going on in there.
Yeah, I really enjoy mixing it
up, some classic rock stuff, with blues influences, of course. It’s nice to at least try and mix all that stuff up and marry it together.
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You can certainly hear lots of different things, a clear Stevie Ray Vaughan influence, which I know is an easy comparison to make, but also for instance on the opening track Backbite some Jeff Beck stuff happening.
As a kid I was heavily into SRV, it completely freaked me out, the sheer power. He was and still is a massive influence on me. I was also into that British blues sounds, Eric Clapton, and yes Jeff Beck was a big one.
Am I right in thinking we are going to be seeing you in the UK soon?
We have played the UK in the past, we’ve played at The Half
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DAN PATLANSKY
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Interview
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Interview
DAN PATLANSKY
“I pride myself on what we do at live shows” Moon in Putney twice. This year we launch the UK album release at The Borderline on 27th April and we’ll be adding some more dates around that. In the last two years we’ve toured a lot around Europe, we plan to play the UK as much as possible in 2015.
I guess the album will get a big official launch in the UK too?
That’s right. People have been downloading it but we plan a big UK and Europe release programme.
We better talk about 2014 because that turned out to be a massive year for you one way or another.
Yeah, it started well, we were invited to play as support act for Bruce Springsteen which was amazing as he normally doesn’t have a support act, you know he plays for about three hours. So it was great to perform in front of 64,000 people with Bruce watching from the sidelines. Then we did a couple of tours, Scandinavia, Germany and other parts of Europe. And then of course to cap off our year was the Blues Rock Review voting Dear Silence Thieves album of the year ahead of people like Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Philip Sayce. That was just fantastic!
Must be thrilling to get that level of recognition? That’s exactly it. Obviously you put your heart and soul into it, but you never know how what you do is gonna be perceived. So to get that PAG E 8 2 | b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015
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dan PatLanSkY
nomination was simply fantastic. Some of the other guys on that list are absolute heroes of mine, just to be on the same list would be thrilling but to end up number one.
Hopefully that will open up doors for you and people will now take more notice.
Yes that’s right. Hopefully we can get out and fly the blues flag as it were.
For a lot of people you are a new name and in the UK this year will be the first major tour, but actually you’ve been doing this a long time, a seven album overnight success almost.
(Laughs) That’s damn right. I’ve been playing all across South Africa for the last twenty years, since I was a teenager. And this is album number seven. You’re right, in the UK not many people know my name, it’s strange starting from the bottom again but it’s exciting, really exciting to try and build my name up there.
What can people expect when they see you live? I’ve read some great live reviews but will you mix up the electric and acoustic stuff. Good question. I pride myself on what we do at live shows. I think in the UK this year, especially on the first tour it’ll be an electric set. Generally in South Africa we mix it, sometimes we do an acoustic unplugged tour, we have an acoustic album. I looking forward to playing for the UK audiences because they have no expectation, it’ll be new to them, so we want to put a show together to make them remember and come back again.
What I like about the new album is that there are proper songs, not just vehicles for guitar workouts, w w w.b lu E s mAt tE r s.c o m
although there’s room for live improvisation too.
That’s so true. That hasn’t always been the case. Obviously when I was much younger I played really long guitar solos and wrote that way to display all my tricks on guitar. Awhile ago I did a little stint in New Orleans and worked with some top people. They taught we it’s better to hear a great guitar solo on a great song rather than on an average song. So I’ve learnt it’s a lot more about the songs now. I hope that comes across.
You mentioned New Orleans, you got caught up in Hurricane Katrina didn’t you?
I went across in 2005, I had planned to move for good, I packed up South Africa, I was there for about three months when suddenly Hurricane Katrina appeared. We don’t get National disasters in South Africa so I didn’t know what to expect. Luckily I was with people who knew what was going on and they got me outta there. It was such a shame, we had great opportunities on that trip, we were going to be the support act for BB King, that would’ve been a dream come true. That tour got cancelled, we lost lots of guitars and equipment too, but everything happens for a reason, when I look back I think maybe I wasn’t ready then.
I love the power and dynamic on the acoustic album, Wooden Thoughts too. Great cover of Kashmir. Thank you. It’s one of my all time favourites. It’s great to play acoustically as a guitarist, it pushes you, there is no hiding place.
When you play in the UK will you bring your regular band with you?
Yep, for the shows in April I’m hoping to bring my regular
Interview
touring band, that’s the plan for now. Clint Falconer and Andy Maritz, the same guys on the album. Clint’s been with me since 2009 and Andy since 2010. I absolutely love that classic three piece format.
Tell us a bit about your early days, growing up.
The blues has always been a niche market but in South Africa when I was growing up it was non-existent. I heard the blues through my parents really, they were massive music fans so I grew up listening to classic rock, blues and jazz. So when I started playing guitar at around fifteen years old that music was natural to me because I’d listened to it so much. It was impossible for me to find other kids my age who wanted to play blues so I hooked up with these 60 year old guys. Recently though popularity wise the blues has just exploded in South Africa. I’ve always been quite hardcore about it, I’ve only ever wanted to play traditional blues. Once a year I like to run guitar workshops for aspiring players, we go away into the country at a beautiful place called Clarens for three days, it’s fun.
cAtch dAn in the Uk At the Borderline, london April 27th, greystones At sheffield, April 28th, fiBBers of york April 30th And mr.kyps poole on mAy 7th. tickets Are AvAilABle viA gig cArtel: www.gigcArtel.com
diScograPhY Standing at the Station 1999 True Blues 2004 Real 2006 Move My Soul 2009 20 Stones 2012 Wooden Thoughts 2013 Dear Silent Thieves 2014
b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015 | PAG E 8 3
Dave Kelly – Part Four
dummer and beyond V e r b a l s : D A V E T H OM A S
in part four of our in-depth interview with DAVE KELLY we talk about JOHN LEE HOOKER, SON HOUSE, HOWLING WOLF AND FREDDIE KING
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e’ve missed out a whole era of the Dummer Band backing Hooker and Wolf! Let’s go back to that for a minute... ‘68 was the first Hooker tour. We toured with John Lee Hooker backing him in the UK. We did two tours with him then the tour with Howling Wolf. We were booked at The Roebuck in Tottenham Court Road where Arthur Crudup wrote that song Roebuck Man. We were all set up thinking we were going to rehearse (me, Tom and some other guys) for the tour starting the next day. Then he walked in...
him a whisky before each show.
Oh, so he was allowed one?
Yes. And, because English measures are so tiny I’d buy him a double. Yeah, a large one…but just one. And Wolf would say “You been drinking this stuff boy?” and I told him it would be cheaper to buy a bottle at the off-licence but he never did that. Just one large one.
That wouldn’t have touched the sides with him would it really? This is the Wolf?
Yeah. He said “Play me a slow Blues… “mmm, mmm, mmm”...nodded “Mmm” then said “Play me a shuffle” and he turned to the Tour Manager from the Tempest Agency and said “Yeah. They’re fine” and turned to us and said “See you tomorrow boys.”
And that was it?
Yeah. And he never used to tell us the key or what the song was. He’d just start and you’d fade in.
I was going to ask you about that
because he looked so terrifying!
Yes, yes, yes. No, but he was lovely. He’d say “You can have a drink after the gig but not before”.
That was the rule?
Yeah, yeah “…or smoking that shit. It’ll kill you!”
Can I quote you on that?
OK “No drinking before the show and don’t go smoking that shit because it’ll kill you.”
And did he mean dope?
Yeah, he meant dope. And, of course, I had to go and buy
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Whereas Son House used to have half a bottle before he went on stage “Just get myself primed” he’d say. The only slight falling out with Wolf we had (well, there was a couple actually)…one at The Flamingo. In fact, the best gig of the whole tour was at the London Polytechnic (our second or third gig. It was absolutely heaving. He was absolutely wonderful - he was on all fours, lying on his back, howling, going into the audience. Absolutely brilliant. You know. He never topped
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dave kelly
Interview
Dave with the blues band, on the cover of their Debut LP
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Interview
dave kelly
“You can have a drink after the gig but not before” that. I think he absolutely wore himself out on that one. I’ll tell you the ones I particularly remember. You want all the Wolf stories?
Yeah, yeah.
The one falling out was at The Flamingo where it was an all-nighter. We were on early. It was the Ska era and there were all young West Indian dudes there.
Who didn’t know about the Blues?
No. And we died a death. We came off and Wolf said’ “You boys let me down tonight - the first show in front of my own people and we didn’t get them”
Oh no!
I said “Wolf they’re West Indians. They don’t know who you are. They don’t know about the Blues. They’re here for the Ska disco.” As soon as we left he poked me in the chest and said “ Don’t tell me how to play Coons. I’m a Coon myself” I said “well, fine leave it at that. I’m going to pack the gear away I’m getting out of here” But, he soon forgot it.
Did he understand do you think?
I don’t think so. I don’t know. I wasn’t going to start long explanation.
No. You might have lost that one. Hmmm and Il Rondo in Leicester was wonderful as well. In fact I met a guy a couple of months ago who was there, and he came up to us say he remembered it a the greatest gig. Towards the end of the tour Wolf was
getting homesick and he was on the phone to his wife and he went out into the audience and he had them all sitting on the floor and he sang “I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings I didn’t mean to do you no wrong.” You could see the young girls - so moved . It was so moving and if anyone tried to play anything he’d say “Whoah! Down”.
You mean you were playing…but playing quietly we were playing very quietly?
Yeah But if you started doing a fill that was too much it was “Down!”
Down Boys!
I remember at the Speakeasy Lowell Fulson sung with us and there was this young guitarist who was all over the shop, you know, guitarist diarrhoea and Lowell Fulson turned round and said “ Shut up. It’s his song . Not Yours”.
That’s so important isn’t it. Being able. When you’re backing the real you’ve got to owe them the respect but you’ve got to give them… I remember Wallace Coleman passing on the advice from Robert Jr Lockwood “You’ve got to get behind the man” and that would be true, obviously, for RJL fronting his own band, but whoever took a solo - the whole band would get behind the man.’ Yeah Yeah.
So that was ‘69. Were you only working in the UK?
Yes. It was only three weeks and weekends.Wolf got rid of his tour manager. He said “I wanna go in the bus with boys.” Transit. But in the front. Chris was our Roady lives up your way as well-Bury St Edmunds. He came to a gig I did in January at the Half Moon, me and Paul. Wolfy used to call him Squirt. He said “ Hey Squirt. You start
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falling asleep driving and I’m going to play my harmonica to wake you up!” I guess that was March 69 and then we went to Scandinavia with the Dummer Band but after I left the band and did solo stuff. Then it was Ron Watts who asked me to tour with Son House. I guess it was April so I did two weeks touring with Son House. Dick Waterman, Ronnie Watts, me and Ken Carter. When we got to The Club they recorded with Al Wilson playing Harp (I wasn’t on that gig) they gave me the tour. I came in after the tour started so I recorded with him as “Delta Dave” because I was still under contract to Mercury then.
Good old tradition – Muddy Waters/Dirty Rivers and all of that kind of stuff! Yes, and the friendly Chap, AKA Buddy Guy.
Yes, yes -Buddy Guy!
So, that was great, so there they were recording in the 100 Club and Dick Waterman said “Do you want to get up and play with him?” so I did and they recorded it. He had borrowed McGuinness’s National for the tour but he had it tuned down so low I didn’t know where it was. I tuned down with him. He must have had 16 gauge strings with him but mine disappeared. They went like rubber bands. I should have just capo’d up and done something different you know but I was trying to cover him. Well by then he was still a great singer and a great performer but his guitar playing wasn’t was it was. It was on that tour that he said “Get myself primed.” He’d get through a bottle of whisky – but he could still perform. Getting back to Howling w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
dave kelly
Wolf, the last night of the tour was at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester and Freddy King who had been touring with the band Killing Floor for the same promoter on the same bill and what you said about getting behind the Man... Freddie King came out for the encore and played with us behind Wolf and was awesome, absolutely awesome. He sounded to me like a less frenetic Buddy Guy – beautiful tasteful stuff – NOT playing like Freddie King. He was getting behind Wolf.
Paying respect. Playing with respect.
Though they did wind each other up a bit. ‘Cos Wolf said to us “Interesting. Look at that Freddie King. He’s got tits. He should wear a brassiere.” Ha, ha. Afterwards , we all went out for a meal, both bands and Freddie King said “I’ll buy the drinks Wolf - you get the food” and Wolf said “I know he thinks he’s got me on that. I know the food will cost more than the drinks but I’m earning a shedload more money than he is” However, it was friendly banter. If you know what I mean.
does it feel to be a real piece of living history Dave Kelly?
(Laughs) as long as it’s living history. I don’t want to be history!
You made me think. Joanne went to Kingston Poly didn’t she? To read history I think?
Yes. Chris Youlden was there as well. Became the singer with Savoy Brown. Very good singer. She was at Kingston later than I was. I went back as a ‘mature student’ at the end of ‘76. It was the hot summer. I read a Modern Arts Degree majoring in English but, in the first year, I studied Visual Arts, Philosophy and History and I remember, when we walked into the first history seminar, the history professor looked at me and said “Do you realise you’re a piece of living history?” Well, I was .
Interview
I was a long haired survivor of the 60’s and early 70’s and although I’m not sure were going to get on.
These days do you get any chance, work with Black Americans? I haven’t been to the States for years. I went to Canada last year where I got to play with Terry Adams – he’s one of Cooder’s backing singers. Willie Green was bass singer. Bobby King was the high tenor. Terry was probably a baritone but he had his own Blues Band there. The promoter puts you together on the stage.
Oh, mix and match?
Yeah. I’d sent him my latest album which is called Family & Friends.
for more information, go to www.thebluesband.com
I mean it must have been fantastic to have been so close to all that...
Yes. Something you’ll never forget 600 years ago my daughter, 20 year old had this exercise book and she said you’ve got to let me have all your stories because when you’re gone. I’ve done two detailed ones on my laptop and I’m really enjoying it but it took me a long time to get going. “My friend she’s from Shetland, and trio? “My grandparents – their lives were so different” You’ve got to get this down.
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Blues Brothers - Part 6
THE LEGACY V e r b a l s : D A RR Y L W E A L E
“Buy as many Blues albums as you can!” roared ‘Joliet’ Jake Blues, aka John Belushi, to the audience at the Universal Amphitheatre, during the first performance FROM THIS SOON-TO-BE LEGENDARY ACT
P
erhaps that suggestion, which many obeyed, is the single biggest legacy of the Blues Brothers. Nearly three million people bought their debut album, Briefcase Full Of Blues, and the more adventurous will have bought albums by those who inspired the Blues Brothers, Downchild, Curtis Salgado, Delbert McClinton, Elmore James, Sam and Dave. The list goes on. Then there will be the music buyers who went on to get into current artists like Joe Bonamassa, Seasick Steve, and Gary Clark Jr., often because the Blues Brothers introduced them to the music. That is quite a legacy. Put simply, the Blues Brothers helped fulfill a claim that many make, to keep the Blues alive. Where are the performers in the Blues Brothers now? Sadly, of course, not all of those who are part of the Blues Brothers story are still with us. In fact, the most poignant moment in these fresh tellings of Blues Brothers tales came early on in an email exchange with Tom ‘Bones’ Malone. ‘My pleasure to speak with you... But we’ll never get Mr. Fabulous.’ So, we will pay respect to those of the Blues Brothers we will now never get, starting with Tom’s thoughts on the late, great Alan Rubin, trumpet player extraordinaire, who was, and always will be, Mr Fabulous. ‘Alan Rubin had the
funniest sense of humour and had no shame and would say things others wouldn’t say as they were too outrageous. He was not afraid to say anything, he was by far the funniest person in the band. I met him when I was on the road with Lee Castle and the Jimmy Dorsey Band. We were to play the Riverboat Room in the Empire State Building. We got on the bus and were told Frank, who played lead trumpet, had died. We were told about a twenty two year old kid who plays lead trumpet for the Robert Goulet Band. That was Alan. He played the whole show with no rehearsal and did it perfectly, as good
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or better than the usual lead trumpet player. Lee Castle said to him afterwards, ‘You played pretty good, kid’ and Alan told Lee, ‘I played a lot better than you did!’ We didn’t really become friends until the start of Saturday Night Live in 1975, when the core of the band was Lou, Alan and myself. We were inseparable, we hung out together. We were close friends to the end. The last picture taken of Alan was at my wife’s birthday, nine days before he died. He was a piece of work. Thinking of him cracks me up. A brilliant musician, very warm.’ Dan Aykroyd reflects, ‘Alan was the sarcastic, caustic, sceptical voice. He and Steve Cropper had their clashes, exciting conversations, two bowls in the same arena. There was a lot of love and friction. Alan provided a view of what we were doing, helped protect us.’ Like Mr Fabulous, Blues Brother and vocalist ‘Joliet’ Jake Blues, John Belushi, too has passed and Murphy Dunne recalls how it was that the comic actor was able to generate the energy and excitement in his performances, ‘John used to say, ‘I can’t sing, but
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BLUES BROTHERS
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Part 6
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N� oN� sHO�lD fA�E c��C�r aL�Ne No mums. No dads. No brothers or sisters. Not your next-door neighbour or the lady from the corner shop. No grandmas. No grandpas. Not the chap from the chip shop or the noisy lads at the back of the bus. Not your best mate. Not a single stranger. No one whatsoever. No one should face cancer alone. Text TOGETHER to 70550 and donate £5 so we can be there for everyone who needs us.
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18/06/2013 09:55
BLUES BROTHERS
Wayne Catania and kieron Lafferty take the BB legacy into the future
I can Soul the Blues’. John’s widow, Judy Belushi, says ‘John would be very proud of what has happened with the Blues Brothers. He was proud of it to begin with. To continue to get a great response, the stories people tell me, touches my heart. It can be fun and frustrating and it’s like a boomerang.’ The late bass player Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, whose career was paired with that of guitarist Steve ‘The Colonel’ Cropper, is constantly in the mind of his close friend, who recalls a line from the first Blues Brothers movie, ‘The line ‘goats piss into gasoline’, Duck was fed that line – it was written into the script – but he had a lot of one liners. Every day I’m spitting out something that I think ‘That’s a Duck Dunn.’ Like, ‘I feel more like I do now than when I got here’ and on leaving, ‘Look guys, I’m glad you got to see me, get in touch w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
with yourselves.’ Dan Aykroyd was briefer, ‘Duck Dunn was the sweetest and funniest and most humorous and sardonic heart of the Blues Brothers.’
Several guest
musicians who graced the Blues Brothers movies have passed as well: Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker and more. Steve Cropper recalls another, ‘James Brown was awesome. We all looked up to him from school. He was real hard to get near to, he was bigger than life, a great. He comes up to me one day and said, ‘Do you know when I started liking you? When you inducted me into the Blues Hall of Fame in California’. On stage he was Mr Energy. Period. He was one of the top two energy performers I ever saw, James Brown, and Tina Turner. Too bad we’ve lost him. There’s been lots copying him, but they’ll never do what
Part 6
he did. He could put as much energy into a ballad as an up tempo song.’ Dan Aykroyd continues as Elwood Blues live and on his radio show thebluesmobile and is valued by Judy Belushi, ‘Dan, I could not ask for a more sure friend. He is just a lovely person, so kind and thoughtful as a friend and amazing as a business partner. I inherited the business and was not able to put on the suit. I think the world of him. I miss the kind of friendship we had when John was alive, but all these years we have retained a good friendship.’ Keyboard man Murphy Dunne is now in The Enzymes, which he descries as ‘A very lyric oriented, whimsical hard Rock ‘n’ Roll and Blues oriented band.’ Having heard their album, this is a very accurate description. Drummer Willie Hall is busy and recalls what happened to his souvenirs from the movies, ‘Right after the films I had eveything – clothes caps sticks, I gave them to the Memphis and Stax museums. That which I got from God I gave to God, what I got from people I gave back to people.’ Fellow drummer Steve Jordan is also very busy and when interviewed was appearing with Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall. Organist Paul Shaffer and sax man from the early days, Tom Scott, are also very active still in music. Tom Malone is highly sought after as a producer and appears with New York band The City Boys Allstars, along with Blue Lou Marini, and in other musical acts. He was responsible for the appearance of another musician in Blues Brothers 2000. ‘John Popper, I met him on the Letterman Show. He told me he’d started
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bLueS brotherS
the blues brothers and those in the story are far from finished playing harmonica having seen Dan Aykroyd in The Blues Brothers. I told Danny and Dan put him and Blues Traveler in the second movie. Dan liked to put truth in.’ Although his health has had its challenges, Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy is active, and says, ‘I still play pretty good. Matt Murphy is still alive and kicking and playing some hot Blues licks.’ Dan Aykroyd recalls some of those who helped along the way and his very small stock of souvenirs, ‘Steve Martin was a great banjo player and helped us at the start, when we opened for him at the Universal Ampitheatre and recorded our first record. There are a lot of people to thank: Curtis and Steve Martin, Steve Jordan, Duck Dunn, Steve Cropper, Alan Rubin and more, so many contributors. I do have a brick from the wall of the mall we smashed up in the first movie. Someone sent me that. The cigarette lighters thrown out of the Bluesmobiles – some props department has that, if they’d ebay them and could prove the authenticity, they’d be worth a lot of money.’ Perhaps the last words from those involved should go to Dan Aykroyd, ‘They were all talented, magnificent musicians.’ Yet the Blues Brothers and those in the story are far from finished. Don’t forget the official touring Blues Brothers w w w.b lu E s mAt tE r s.c o m
revues, one European, one American, details of both to be found on the Blues Brothers official website, as well as The Original Blues Brothers Band, who have themselves been having fun on the road for getting on for thirty years. But what of the fans? One, on Twitter, is @ O_ Canadaykroyd. Asked ‘What do The Blues Brothers mean to me?’ The reply came: ‘The following is what I feel ‘The Blues Brothers’ teaches us: You never forget your roots; When friends need help, you do everything in your power to come through for them, no matter the obstacles you may face; When it comes down to it, you are smarter than you think, and stronger than you realize; The bond of brotherhood is infinite; Music is a powerful force that can inspire and unite in ways you never thought possible.’ Then there is Linda Cain of The Chicago Blues Guide, who when asked, immediately quoted Aretha Franklin, ‘The Bah-looze Brothers? Sheet! They still owe you money, fool!’ Linda explains, ‘Well that is my favorite line. And the other is about ‘both kinds of music’. In fact, one of CBG’s contributors, Al Finley, hosts a show on a local college radio station titled ‘Both Kinds’. And yes, he plays Country and Western music. ‘There is a scene in which Elwood and Jake first get pulled over. It was filmed on the north west side of Chicago, near my aunt and uncle’s home. Whenever we pass that intersection by the Nelson funeral home, we always say, ‘Uh oh, rollers. They’ve probably got SCMODS.’ Or something like that. The Blues Brothers film is truly ingrained in Chicago culture and vernacular. I had the good fortune to attend a Blues Brothers party when John
Part 6
Belushi and Dan Aykroyd were filming their movie in Chicago. I was covering country music in the late ‘70s and I was backstage with Willie Nelson when he played at Chicago Fest at Navy Pier. John Belushi was there hanging out with Willie, too. Willie and his band had recently performed on Saturday Night Live. After Willie’s show, John invited the whole entourage to a party. So I jumped on one of Willie’s buses, with Delbert McClinton, and rode to the party. It was in a coach house behind the folk music club, The Earl of Old Town. It was one helluva a party room. They had a bar, a jukebox and a band set up. Belushi started playing drums and some of Willie’s road crew picked up the guitar and bass and launched into Johnny B. Goode. And I sang backup vocals. Belushi and Aykroyd were a lot like their characters, Jake and Elwood. John was a real party animal, he got really drunk and had to be dragged out by his manager after everyone had left. At one point during the party, a song by The Cars came on the juke box and Belushi pulled the plug on the machine. He apparently preferred hearing 45’s of soul music and R&B. I had a chat with Dan and he was the opposite: very straightlaced and sober in the midst of this Animal House party. Dan was really excited because he got to ride in a cop car on patrol with some Chicago cops that day. Once the movie was out, you saw that cop cars had starring roles. Even the Bluesmobile was a cop car.’ So many years on, the Mission from God continues, and the boys are still wearing sunglasses.
check oUt www.BlUesBrothersofficiAlsite. com for the lAtest news
b lu e s mat te r s! | AP R I L-MAY 2015 | PAG E 9 3
01 02 03 04 05
Magic Slim & The Teardrops: Pure Magic
(Wolf CD)
Junior Wells:
Southside Blues Jam: Expanded Edition (Delmark CD)
Parchman Farm hotographs & Field P Recordings 1947-59 (Dust-To-Digital Book & 2CDs)
various
peak Easy – The RPM S Records Story Vol 2 (Ace 2CD)
various
hen I Reach That W Heavenly Shore – Unearthly Black Gospel 1926-36 (Tompkins Square 3CD)
06 07
Eric Clapton
Trains, Planes & Eric (Eagle DVD)
Bessie Jones With The Georgia Sea Island Singers
08 09 10 11 12 13 14
Little Feat
Live At Ultrasonic Studios, Long Island, April 10 1973 (Keyhole CD)
Jeff Beck Live In Tokyo (Eagle DVD)
Captain Beefheart
un Zoom Spark S 1970-1972
(Rhino 4CD)
Mose Allison
The Mose Allison Collection 1956-62 (Acrobat 4CD)
Pink Anderson
Carolina Medicine Show Hokum & Blues, With Baby Tate (Unesco CD)
15 16 17 18 19 20
Dave Ray Trilogy
(Red House 3CD)
Allman Brothers Band Boston Common 1971
(Peach CD)
Taj Mahal
Live At Ultrasonic Studios, Long Island, October 15 1974 (Keyhole CD)
Larry Miller
Soldier On The Line (Big Guitar CD)
Alice Gerard Follow The Music (Tompkins Square CD)
Big Dave McLean
Faded But Not Gone
(Black Hen CD)
Gov’t Mule
Dark Side Of The Mule (Provogue 3CD & DVD)
Dana Fuchs
Live From The Road (Ruf CD & DVD)
Get In Union
(Tompkins Square 2CD)
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reviews
Albums
the best blues reviews guide – accept no substitute! BETH HART
BETTER THAN HOME Provogue/Mascot Label
This is the seventh solo CD Beth has released, all self-penned songs that take you on a journey through significant moments in her life, this album is a move away from the rocky blues CDs she released in the past, it’s more singer/songwriter than rock diva. To me this re-enforces my belief that Hart is the complete artist, there isn’t a style that she can’t deliver. My favourite on the album is Tell Her You Belong To Me which is an obvious love song but written about her relationship with her father and the pain she felt after her parents divorce. Mechanical Heart is a love song dedicated to husband Scott Guetzkow who we should all be grateful to for saving Beth from her demons. Mama This One’s For You is a song for her mother and everyone can relate to the words of this touching tribute. Better Than Home is another favourite ballad where Beth does what she does best and wrings out the emotion in every word. Better Than Home sums up for me what the album is all about. Beth Hart is a powerful brooding force of nature who puts her heart and soul into all her performances. Buy this CD and go and see her when she is on tour in Europe and the UK in April/May this year and I guarantee you will be a fan for life. CHRISTINE MOORE
ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW & THE LOW RIDERS ZONE-O-TONE
Proper Records: PRPCD110
Andy Fairweather Low is a Welsh superstar, without doubt. Think Wales and Tom Jones probably comes to mind. But think again: AFL is the guy who brought the 1960s hits Paradise, Bend Me, Shape
Me etc. to the musical table as frontman of Amen Corner. In the 70s he again hit the UK charts with the wonderfully colourful and wittily emotional, Wide Eyed And Legless, before going on to help Clapton put together the arrangements for the multi-million selling, Clapton Unplugged release. Indeed, for the past couple of decades, Low has been a permanent annual touring fixture, as guitarist, with Clapton’s own band. In addition, he tours regularly
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with ex-Pink Floyd Roger Waters, and former Rolling Stone bassman, Bill Wyman. He has also played with a veritable who’s who of rock and modern music royalty: Bob Dylan, Elton John, Dave Crosby, BB King, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, The Who, Jimmy Page, Van Morrison, Phil Collins and The Bee Gees. The list is virtually endless, impressive and illustrates the importance and high esteem with which this guy is held among his critical contemporaries. A major figure who, despite the astonishing credentials and CV, somehow always seems to ride and roll just below the radar. Now actively touring with his own excellent band, The Low Riders, Zone-O-Tone is a 13-track album featuring Fairweather Low’s strong and subtle songwriting skills together with marvellous ensemble performances from a fabulous foursome. This must be one of the most enjoyable, polished albums of the year. An absolute winner! A sparkling gem from a true genius. IAIN PATIENCE
TOMMY EMMANUEL
THE GUITAR MASTERY OF TOMMY EMMANUEL Favoured Nations
If you aren’t au fait with Tommy Emmanuel then a) shame on you b) you have a treat in
store. Tommy Emmanuel is a virtuoso of the acoustic guitar and he makes music of incredible depth and beauty with a variety of instruments, many named and identifiable even to a klutz such as myself. From the opening Somewhere Over The Rainbow – credited to his Maton EBG808, aka The Mouse, his picking is clean and precise, getting deeply into the melody and the soul of the song. The self-written Endless Road sees him playing a Jim Merrill Cutaway called Dreadnought and meandering through the pathways of his life with occasional little explosions of passion and excitement. He isn’t just a master of the technical aspects of his instrument but also delivers emotion and intrigue through his playing. He veers towards classical playing rather than Blues or jazz but he has enough soul about him to do justice to a number such as Moon River played as an instrumental. He does sing on numbers such as I Still Can’t Say Goodbye – willed on by the great Chet Atkins – and has a voice to match his guitar, soft and melodious without any raucousness about him. For me he is at his best with a number such as Gameshow Rag/ Cannonball Rag – played on a Travis Williams Dreadnought bought CONTINUES OVER...
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 9 5
Albums
reviews
CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN ZIMZAMZIM Dirty Discs
The first album in almost a decade by the man of Fire! And amazingly only the sixth Crazy World album in a career that started in 1968. Arthur has had a long standing connection with Pete Brown (Cream, Piblokto etc) and The Pretty Things (having narrated and sung on their 1998 live on the net re-working SF Sorrow and appeared on the DVD of same name). Now I must confess to a long musical affection for Arthur Brown having seen him perform Fire before it even hit the charts so long ago. At seventy-two years young he has the energy to leave younger musicians standing, he is his own man and lives life his way. If we were in the Wild West he would be one of the Mountain Men of old. This album then is a refreshing appearance and indeed does refresh and intrigue the mind and ears as it hypnotises and dances around your speakers with the voice so recognisable, soulful, plaintive, so playful and menacing together with well constructed songs that are searching and restful and eerie but you find yourself wanting to hug them. Arthur narrates his way into the closing track The Formless Depths which is great played loud with its laden percussion and ending in chants and horns. The opening title track starts with reminiscent sounding spoken words that bring Fire back to you then off into a rhythmic, tribal sound wave. Listen to it as the complete album, it is an entire work. Just loved it! FRANK LEIGH
specially for Merle Travis type numbers – where he can let rip and show his remarkable speed and control; as near to shredding as he can get. The album is well named – it is all about his skill and mastery of his instrument and shows off his abilities across a wide spectrum of music: he is a master of his craft and anyone interested in guitar should enjoy this guy. ANDY SNIPPER
BLUE SWAMP VOODOO SOUP Independent
Voodoo Soup is the first album from the wonderfully entertaining Blue Swamp.
Headed up by the earthy vocal talents of Mike Bowden (formerly with Dr Truth) and the amazing musicianship of Johnny ‘Guitar’ Williamson (12 year’s with the Animals), this is probably one of the most original bands on the UK blues circuit. Their live performances are always full of self-deprecating jokes, and insane ramblings, but they are certainly no joke. This nine-track album is full to the brim with classy, ironic, sometimes mystifying, but always entertaining original material. It’s worth purchasing just to listen to Johnny ‘Guitar’ Williamson and his wonderfully mellow guitar solos. However, Johnny is not the only star on this CD. The whole band reeks of class, with chief
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lyricist Mike Bowden producing the poetry and all four contributing to the vocals and wonderfully relaxed vibe. If you want to hear yet another version of Voodoo Chile or Shake Your Money Maker this may not be your ideal purchase. If, however, you like the idea of listening to original songs about the tone of a solitary bell, dancing a tango in a dead man’s shoes, or wasted days, this will probably be right up your street. One day this may turn out to be a classic album. It reminded me a lot of JJ Cale, Mark Knopfler, and unplugged Clapton but these are just reference points. It’s mainly Blue Swamp, and all the better for that. BERNIE STONE
MIGHTY MO RODGERS MUD ‘N’ BLOOD Dixiefrog
The album is the sixth part of the Blues Journey where Mighty Mo Rodgers evokes the dark history of the Southern States, including the recalled memories of an uncle who spent twelve year’s on a chain gang and his own father who was born only twenty year’s after the abolition of slavery. This is an album full of dark tales that sets the spine tingling and brings a chill to your heart as the words tell the reality of the misery and dirt that the blues has a foundation; racial injustice, cruelty and intolerance. The track listing splits the album into three sections Twilight: the opening two tracks, The Dark and The Light: the last seven tracks giving the album a shape and a narration that feels like a book. Goin’ South opens
with narration with quote from William Faulkner; “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi” and then his statement to ‘understand Mississippi you must understand the blues’ leading into Haunted By The Blues an emotionally charged opening and now it gets darker! The Ghost Of Highway 61 is full of imagery starting with moody music and rumble of thunder the atmosphere is created this is music in poetry history told in the beat, the ghost is given a ride and educates with his words, that shaped Mississippi, this is the blues Jim Crowe, Slavery and chain gangs must be put in your songs. This album is the blues full of powerful imagery with hollers, and the words that shape a dark history. Then we move into the light, with an upbeat Juke Joint Jumping’ blues that makes you dance but with its feet firmly attached to the past. This is an album to listen to from beginning to end and consider the roots of blues and real journey that leaves you moved as the last notes of Almost Home fades away and epic story has been told. LIZ AIKEN
ADAM NORSWORTHY LOVE & WINE Acrobat Records
In Blues circles Adam is best known as the energetic front man for the popular Mustangs, stalwarts of many festivals across the country. Here he displays a very different side of his character, this is very much mellow singer songwriter mode. These are well written songs, many of them w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
reviews
giving the impression that lyrically they are based on personal experience. If that isn’t the case than the feeling and emotion Adam gives them certainly brings the aural images created to life. My personal favourites are Ballad Of John and Angie and the very haunting My Fathers Books, although I’m sure any of these could strike a chord with the listener. The arrangements and playing remind me of an earlier more innocent time, and I think the overall feel benefit the more for it. Adam appears to play everything on here, I can find no other credits, as well as producing so this is a solo record in every way, no real blues but highly recommended all the same. STEVE YOURGLIVCH
SAMBA TOURE GANDADIKO Glitterbeat
Gandadiko translates from the Sonhai as “Land of Drought” or “Burning Land” which is a pretty fair description of what much of his homeland has become since 2012 and the rise of Sharia law and radical Islam in Northern Mali. The album is dark and emotive, played without any great excess but it is entrancing and draws you into the plodding beat, howling njurkel and fuzzed guitar that characterizes much of the album. Plodding rhythms in the same way that a Robert Johnson Walking Blues is plodding and entrancing in the same way that the Tuareg nomads like Tinariwen or Tamikrst build their patterns and pull the listener into the song as they go. You may not be able to understand a word of his songs but the way
he sings and the structure of the music tells volumes of the new hope and hard life in modern day Mali. Samba Toure has worked with Ali Farka Toure and there is little question that the master’s style and playing have rubbed off on the younger man but he has, over a number of albums, developed his own form and style and while his last album Albala was an international breakthrough this is a more satisfying album from the point of consistency and the playing from Toure, Djime Sissoko on ngoni, Adama Sidibe (njerkel and njarka) and Sidi Maiga (doun-doun) is brilliant. The rise in music from Africa and particularly from Mali has brought many new names to our ears but the remarkable thing, as a Blues lover, is that the roots of Blues come through so strongly from the likes of Vieux Farka Toure, Bassekou Kouyate and now Samba Toure. The music is rich and unique but it tells stories about the human spirit and histories of the land that bred the music and to my mind that is what great Blues is all about. ANDY SNIPPER
BOTTLENECK JOHN ALL AROUND MAN Opus3
Bottleneck John, aka Johan Eliasson, is a big guy in every way. With a big voice that stretches from his home in the North of Sweden to the Delta and all points in between. He’s also a true master of resonator/slide guitar, as this latest release clearly illustrates. With a few albums already under his belt, Eliasson/Bottleneck John’s All Around Man
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comes from Sweden’s highly respected blues label, Opus 3, a recording company often associated with US bluesman Eric Bibb’s efforts in recent year’s. The fourteen tracks featured here range across the full traditional blues cannon from Lonesome Valley, through gospel classic, Wade In The Water, to the welcome levity of the eponymous title track from the pen of the late Bo Carter, the undisputed master of the single entendre.
Albums
Throw in a couple of Tony Joe White and Tom Waits covers and you have an excellent album of traditional acoustic blues played by a stunning Scandinavian guitarist who really knows how to get down dirty and boogie. These days, Scandinavia appears to have a thriving blues sub-culture, with many very fine musicians and artistes playing the bars and clubs of their native lands. Maybe there’s something CONTINUES OVER...
IAN SIEGAL
ONE NIGHT IN AMSTERDAM Nugene
Ian recorded his first album in 2002 and like buses, we get two live CDs in 12 months, first a solo acoustic from last year’s Albert Hall concert, but this latest offering recorded on his recent tour does it for me. Having had the privilege of catching this tour, have to say how brilliant this CD is. I could be wrong, but he discovered the young Dutch band, The Rhythm Chiefs, whilst on tour and they back him on here. Guitarist Dusty Ciggaar is joined by Rafael Schwiddessen on drums and Danny van’t Hoff on bass, Tess and Joel Gaerthe provide guest vocals. For me, Ian’s performances revolve around his brilliant song writing, but on here it’s not always his own work that impresses. He obviously has an affinity and admiration for the likes of Harry Stephenson’s Writing On The Wall, Ripoff Raskolnikov’s Temporary and the highlight, Tom Russell’s Gallo Del Cielo, but he is no slouch himself on the writing side. Recorded at Amsterdam’s North Sea Jazz Club, I would imagine it’s the small, intimate venue that brings the best out in Ian. I cannot praise the young band enough, though, complementing the intricate guitar work of the man himself. Mr Ciggaar is a revelation, taking on extended solos in his stride, what a find! Opener I Am The Train has a distinctive Rock ‘n’ Roll feel to it, but on Early Grace, Ciggaar’s slide illustrates how easily he can switch genres. Anyone who has seen Mr Siegal does not need any comment on Gallo Del Cielo, absolute brilliance, worth the money alone. With the assistance of the aforementioned Tess and Joel Gaerthe, there is a cover of Boudleaux Bryant’s Love Hurts and closer Please don’t Fail Me from a local (Dutch) songwriter Rudy Lentze rounds off a brilliant souvenir of a classic concert. Last year’s Man And Guitar was one of the albums of the year, this surpasses it. CLIVE RAWLINGS
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 97
Albums
reviews
STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES TERRAPLANE
New West Records
This is Steve’s sixteenth album and he has focused solely on the blues, this decision came about whilst he was touring around Europe alone and armed with the skeletal ideas for numbers in his head; they became fully developed whilst in Nashville’s famous House of The Blues studio D; with R.S. Field in the producer’s chair. Together with The Dukes; Kelly Looney; bass, Will Rigby; drums, Chris Masterson; guitars and Eleanor Whitmore; fiddle and vocals, a fascinating collection of eleven numbers have been meticulously put together evoking the many moods and styles of the blues. Initially the overall sound that emerges from the speakers is rich, dense and seemingly slow moving especially so with Baby, Baby, Baby where the harmonica led tramping shuffler consists mainly of the word baby but, once you get past that singular word and start to actually listen to the song you begin to appreciate the care and attention to detail that Steve lavishes on this album. On The Tennessee Kid, a sombre and morose, preacher like monologue is delivered to all that will listen, warning all and sundry of the perils of even considering dealing with the Devil; underneath the music swings to a low, darkly brooding John Lee Hooker inspired motif. Better Off Alone, is a slow building number, with a mournful fiddle and guitar reluctantly extolling the virtues of a solitary life after being wounded in various engagements on the battlegrounds of marriage. Acquainted With The Wind, is a mandolin, guitar and fiddle led jolly foot tapper that recounts the tales of a preferred life travelling on the road as free as the wind. King Of The Blues, is a brooding, buzz sawing, guitar slow burner, trampling all in it’s wake. BRIAN HARMAN
Nigel has a colourful history. Aged 23, while working as an assistant engineer at Air Monserrat recording an Elton John album 30 year’s ago, a car accident cost him the use of his left hand. But with 14 year’s of changing the clutch on his Harley Davison, Nigel’s hand power has returned, and judging by this ambitious project, with great musical success. These 12 stirring tracks are like a musical history book, each chapter driven along by atmospheric blues rock. The lyrical content is lucid and informative. Big stories, told in epic style. Wyatt Earp, The Alamo, Custer’s Last Stand, the Cherokee Trail of Tears. It’s all here, a great idea, a laudable musical history primer masterminded by a man of vision and determination. Hard to believe Chiswick is so wild and woolly, so saddle up and give this a play. Forget Dances With Wolves – this is the American West in eleven dynamic chapters. Mighty fine, Pilgrim! ROY BAINTON
DAVID VIDAL
WORLD OF TROUBLE Wilmac Records
in the water up there, or possibly it’s simply the Vodka and Aquavit! IAIN PATIENCE
COWBOY HAT AND THAT FUZZBOX VOODOO
A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WEST Permanent Records
I’ve been told by publishers that Americans don’t like Brits telling them their history. Well, that may be the case for writers, but when it comes to music, we’ve
been re-packaging US heritage and selling it back to Uncle Sam for over 50 year’s. Remember, the title song on The Sopranos TV show, Woke Up This Morning, was by the Alabama 3, a UK band who are to Alabama what Anne Widdecombe is to hang gliding. Now here comes a superbly packaged slab of Americana masterminded by Nigel Barker of Chiswick. Check out this band’s website at www. cowboyhat.tv and be amazed. Most folk in Texas or Louisiana would love to be as American as Cowboy Hat and Fuzzbox Voodoo.
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This is an album that has loads of listening appeal, not blues as such fits into that general Americana mould. David Vidal has given his listeners eleven tracks that demonstrate his talents as songwriter, singer and the instruments that he plays giving the album shape, tone and texture. The cover gives a clue as to the music inside David with his cigar box guitar and combined with his slide guitar this is the tone you will hear throughout. The songs are full of revelations as he discloses feelings and
thoughts that are close to him in the eleven self-penned tracks. This is an album with styles that reflect much of what is now classified in the broadest terms as blues, the combination of moody songs and acoustic earthy guitar sounds. It works on this album because it has blended the country, spoken approach to songs and the words have merit and the vocals are full of gravelly charm as heard on Sometimes You Hurt The Ones You Love. Ramblin’ Blues is full of lonesome travellin’ blues and the title track towards the end World Of Trouble has some beautiful guitar work and an album that brings pleasure and satisfaction as you listen and enjoy, David Vidal reminds me of Guy Tortora and he is definitely worth getting acquainted with. LIZ AIKEN
EMPIRE ROOTS BAND
MUSIC FROM THE FILM HARLEM STREET SINGER Acoustic Sessions Recordings:
Fabulous album of raw roots music with strong, driving guitar-led punch from New York master, Woody Mann, this release is a first – hopefully not a last – from a marvellous ad-hoc outfit who come together to re-interpret the music of legendary New York acoustic blues-gospel man, the Rev Gary Davis. There is also a scattering of originals in the stew. Mann is largely responsible, as co-producer, for the recent/current documentary film based on the life of Davis, and the film and album title comes from one of the late Rev’s finest albums, Harlem Street Singer. w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
reviews
Woody Mann is a former guitar student of Davis’s from the 1960s, a guy who certainly knows the man and his music better than most. He has also played and recorded with other huge former bluesmen including Son House and Bukka White back in the day. On this excellent release he is supported by Dave Keyes on piano (ex-Bo Diddley, Odetta, Gladys Knight, Lou Rawls, etc.); Brian Glassman, Bass (ex-Kenny Burrell, Lionel Hampton etc.) and Bill Sims Jr, vocals. The overall result here sparkles with the very essence of Gary Davis and his positively enormous, undiminished contribution to blues and gospel music worldwide. IAIN PATIENCE
ROB TOGNONI THE LOST ALBUM Blues Boulevard
Tasmania’s finest blues-rocker originally issued this album in 2002 and sold it himself at gigs. Prior to this he had recorded four albums for Provogue and established himself as a premium blues-rock guitarist and singer, but the label changed direction around the end of the millennium and Rob moved on. Later of course he signed with his current company Blues Boulevard, but in the interim he recorded, arranged, played all the music on, produced, mixed and sold this set himself, first issued as Retro Shakin’ – rather apt, as also is the new title for an originally limited edition release that vanished for a good few year’s. Rob has a strong rock feel throughout, as on the track Retro Shakin’ itself, where he lists some of
his favourite songs from the past, or the opening Comin’ Home Tonight, which should get more than a few manes shaking. His blues credentials are intact though, as on Mr. John Lee (The Boogie Man), about, yes, guess who, though musically Rob does it his way, even if he does throw in a few Hookeresque how-how-hows, and 24 Hour Blues is a fine slow-ish blues played fairly straight, whilst Guitar Boogie Refried is an insanely fast instrumental showcase. This CD closes out with a live track from a Danish festival in 1996, with Rob backed by a fine three piece, classic powerhouse blues-rock, and well-received. It is good to have this this album back in catalogue, retro it may be, but it still sounds just fine and modern. NORMAN DARWEN
ERIC SCHWARTZ THE BETTER MAN Claritone Music
Eric has a strong reputation as a satirist, but this is a pointed and perhaps surprisingly very listenable set, both musically and lyrically (or as this American singer and multiinstrumentalist puts it on his website, “more music, fewer genitalia references” – though there is one on the first track). That opener, Don’t Ask, is a strong piece of bluesy funk, leading into the quieter but more dramatic Professor Boulevard. Martini has an old timey rock and roll groove and has a fine guitar solo from Stevie Gurr, who also fills the same role on the excellent, sadly all too relevant modern blues of Another Mother Flood – he has some impressive
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blues credentials. Is It Wrong? has a smooth late 70s soul ballad sound, and several other numbers have a rock approach (try the moody Cool Down Baby with echoes of The Doors and some searing bluesrock guitar by multi-talented Fuzzbee Morse) or a Broadway feel, though Take It Out On Me incorporates both of those, plus a reggae
Albums
interlude! Welcome Back To The USA is country flavoured and a homage to those GI’s who did not make it back alive. UK readers may also be interested to note the presence on two tracks of keyboards player Bob Malone, who toured the UK in September 2014 – listen CONTINUES OVER...
ROBIN TROWER
ROCK GOES TO COLLEGE Repertoire
Take a step back in time to the notable musical concert series created by the BBC known as Sight and Sound – the programmes being broadcast simultaneously to an eager audience on BBC television and BBC Radio One between 1978-1981. They were a follow- on to the successful mid-60’s series Jazz Goes To College. The resulting Rock Goes To College series embraced such acts as The Boomtown Rats, Crawler, Climax Blues Band, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, George Thorogood, The Police, Rory Gallagher and Tom Petty to name but a few of the total 45 acts who graced the airwaves and screens of the nation from a variety of venues. This particular Sight and Sound concert features the Robin Trower Band at one of their many peaks from 25th February 1980 live at the University of London Union introduced by Pete Drummond. The line-up is Robin’s classic three-piece with the bass and vocal parts given stoic and masterful care by Jim Dewar (not long from the legendary Stone The Crows). The drummer here is the American Billy Lordan (who replaced Reg Isidore) and had been with Gypsy, Sly & The Family Stone before joining Robin Trower’s band in 1977 and staying through to 1981 appearing on eight albums. The music featured here comes as the band had released their album Victims Of The Fury. Nine tracks with no histrionics from Robin but you see clearly that ‘oneness’ of man and guitar that few achieve. The band are solid as they come, Bill and Jim lay down such a foundation so naturally and the vocals and guitar ebb and flow over, in and around, above and beyond the backdrop right from the off on the rocking Day Of The Eagle. The set continues with the essential Bridge Of Sighs with its soaring sonic smoothness and underplayed vocal passages. A classic of rock music. The tempo lifts with The Ring. We’ll leave you there to enjoy and discover for yourselves the joy of this release for yourselves. We believe you cannot fail to enjoy this audio and visual package of a master at work (and play), a joy to add to the collection and recommended. FRANK LEIGH
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to his gospel flavoured playing on the closing, title track. Overall though, although this is not a blues album as such, I do suspect that most readers will find that at the very least a couple of these tracks will attract and hold their attention. NORMAN DARWEN
BLUE HWY
CARPE DIEM: LIVE AT THE COACH HOUSE Far West Mississippi Recordings
Formed in nineteen ninety-three, in California, B.H. played an attractive mixture of Southern Blues and Rock, they consisted of: John Harrelson; guitar, vocals, Rob Donofrio; bass, vocals, “King” Roger Ehrnman; tenor sax and Rick Campos; drums. Their vigorous and foot tapping style garnered them quite a following and they proved their worth by
BOB CHEEVERS
ON EARTH AS IT IS IN AUSTIN Private Angel Records
Singer-songwriter Bob Cheevers is a hard-working, road-hardened troubadour in possession of a rambling, gypsy spirit highly attuned to the importance of story in his craft. On Earth As It Is In Austin finds Cheevers on trademark storyteller form, and is full of down and outs, rebels, outlaws and relics of an America long gone and, by most, forgotten. The album’s fifteen tracks are some of Cheevers (and Austin’s) finest and venture out across the old American West, taking in the ghosts and histories of the Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, New Orleans and the album’s titular namesake. Cheevers is clearly a highly skilled songwriter and wordsmith and possesses a plainspoken country-twang delivery akin to Willie Nelson, a resemblance clearly paid tribute in the lovingly tongue-in-cheek You Sound Just Like Willie. This is not to detract from Cheevers’ talent in anyway however, and he quickly steps out from the shadow of his hero with the quality of the material on offer here. Opener The Sound Of A Door conjures up the same cinematic majesty normally associated with the likes of Springsteen or Dylan; the southern gothic Snake Oil Man brews with sweltering and sinister mystique, and the gun-slinging tale of Hey Hey Billy rattles along jauntily thanks to some mesmerizing and propulsive fiddle-work. There are of course Country ballads a plenty, and Falling Hard On Easy Street, My First Rodeo and Blue Eyes On My Mind are all fine songs, evocative titles and all. But it’s perhaps on the title track that Cheever best achieves his MO, describing a dream of playing Amazing Grace with Willie Nelson and managing to turn such a simple (and imaginary) premise into a meditation on the history of Country music, youth and old-age, love, regret and mortality. Perhaps Cheevers says it best in his liner notes when he offers in lieu of explanation, ‘I don’t know if these stories are true but they happened to me’. Tall tales or not, you’ll feel as though you were right there alongside him. RHYS WILLIAMS
supporting such artists as; Koko Taylor, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Ben Harper, Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers, Coco Montoya and Charlie Musselwhite. Due to the failing health of John Harrelson the band decided to cease activities in two thousand, later, in response to the demand of their fans there was a reunion concert in two thousand and eight but, this was to be their last performance together for sadly, John died in two thousand and thirteen. In two thousand and fourteen the band re-formed and as a tribute to John the band have released this nineteen ninety-five live recording of a concert they performed in support of Charlie Musselwhite at the Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, California. This short and sweet burst of energy is contained in seven up-front and no holds barred foot tapping numbers, for from the moment Rob Donofrio’s raw, rough and tumble vocals and rocking guitar bursts forth from of the speakers on Cut You Loose, he begins a sparking duel with the barking and honking tenor saxophone which takes up the running only to have the stinging guitar steal a solo until they run out of steam. Fire And Gasoline, stretches and flexes the saxophone’s emotionally wailing muscles, with John Harrelson on vocals, while the slow burning, Full Time Lover allows Rob Donofrio’s vocals to entwine with the alluring saxophone as the guitar richly and emotively weaves in and around them. BRIAN HARMAN
GRADY CHAMPION
BOOTLEG WHISKY Malaco Records
PAG E 10 0 | b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015
Singer and Harp player Grady Champion hails from Mississippi and plays authentic soulful blues although his initial musical career saw him performing Rap style music under the moniker of MC Gold, I can assure you that this influence has not carried forward into his current musical output, he is a hundred percent Blues man even with one track on the album titled Who Dat. Grady is not a new artist he has released albums on a regular basis since the late 1990’s but it is only during recent times that his music has been firmly established. He won the International Blues Challenge and during the past two years his albums and songs have received nominations for several Blues awards. On this album he has written or co-written the majority of material although the title track was written by the late George Jackson and is one of the standout tracks on the album, a very soul influenced track that highlights Grady’s vocal strengths, accompanied by some horns, the closing track White Boy With The Blues starts as a traditional Gospel and then involves into a semi spoken blues story with some great backing vocals by The Crowns of Joy. Grady is an artist who looks ready to start to gain some justifiable wider recognition. ADRIAN BLACKLEE
HOWARD & THE WHITE BOYS ROSA’S LOUNGE 3011 Records
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by jamming together, their break coming when they opened for BB King and they haven’t really looked back since. Out Of Chicago, surprisingly enough this CD was recorded in the coveted Rosa’s Lounge in August 2013. For my sins, I hadn’t heard this band before, I now know that I’ve missed something. The band consists of Howard McCullum on bass and vocals, guitarists Roco Calipari and Peter Galanis along with Jim ‘Bucka’ Christopulos on drums. There are guest appearances by Steve Asma on slide on Black Cat and Neal O’Hara adds keyboards on the only studio recording, closer That’s Alright. Perhaps the CD is best summed up by the inside cover picture which has the band members sitting at the bar, a clear shot of something in front of them, smiling, looking very relaxed. Every one of the eleven original tracks on here are stunning in their own way, but I’d like to pick out a few of my favourites. The lead and rhythm guitars are both on fire and there’s a funky feel on the opener, as Howard tells his woman that he has a Heat Seeking Missile, great chat-up line! Strung Out On The Blues is what Chicago Blues is all about, smouldering lead guitar, passionate vocals and Christopulos never missing a beat. Howard lays down an infectious bassline and a relentless drumbeat accompanies wah-wah guitar on Trouble Follows You. Walk Away is a poignant blues ballad, with just the right dash of R&B, eight minutes of pure joy. If you don’t manage to get to Chicago, the least you can do is invest in this superb collection.
ERNIE HAWKINS MONONGAHELA RYE Corona Music
This marks the first release from Pittsburgh picker Ernie Hawkins in some year’s. 13 tracks of superb Piedmont picking with forays into straight southern blues styles and some surprising additions with a positively jazzy undercurrent. WC Handy’s original version of Hesitation Blues is included together with Blind Blake’s Too Tight, Jelly Roll’s State and Madison, Bill Broonzy’s Stovepipe Stomp and Hoagy Carmichael’s Rockin’ Chair. Real surprises include Red, Red, Robin and What A Wonderful World. An eclectic mix that reflects Hawkins’ personal interests and passion for cross-genre material. This album also highlights this guy’s sheer class and skill. A former student of Rev Gary Davis in 1960s New York, Hawkins is always drawn to his late mentor’s music and here turns his hand to one of Davis’ most popular instrumentals: Catfish is acknowledged by Hawkins’ as widely known – by Stefan Grossman and others - as Rag/Blues In C. Hawkins is a master of most US acoustic blues/ gospel guitar styles and can switch effortlessly between styles and genres at the proverbial drop of a hat. It’s good to hear a fresh offering from this monumentally talented musician. A highly recommended release. IAIN PATIENCE
MAGNUS BERG CUT ME LOOSE
Screen Door Records
CLIVE RAWLINGS
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Magnus Berg is a fresh faced Norwegian teenager and
Albums
JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE ABSENT FATHERS Loose Music
This album is a companion piece to his Single Mothers album but it stands in its own right as an album of subtle and beautifully played alt-country. If it leads you to the other half of the pair then that is no bad thing either. Earle has a soft voice, well matched to the pedal steel that is used throughout the album and singing just behind the beat in an almost lazy manner, although there is nothing lazy about him, which he claims is mirroring the style of Billie Holliday. As his heritage is having Steve Earle as a father, Townes Van Zandt as a namesake and being brought up with the cream of Nashville around him I will take his assertions as fact. As to the album, this is 10 tracks all telling little stories of real life and with a gentle melancholy pervading. Songs like Day And Night are real heart grabber material but even a rocker such as Round The Bend has a slight sense of loss and pain. Least I Got The Blues is superb with the pedal steel howling softly behind the vocals until it gets a solo of its own and the song just reeks of loneliness and the pain of lost love. The album is pretty short for the 21st century but every song is a little diamond, a statement of the human condition and played beautifully, simply and with real feeling. He wears his name(s) proudly and like all the best leaves you wanting a little more. ANDY SNIPPER
is a truly sensational talent whose debut album here demonstrates that he has got all the credentials to make a name for himself in the world of blues, his guitar slinging and vocals show so much maturity for someone who is still attending High school in Norway. On the album Magnus is supported by a very tight band who cover the rhythm side of things, additionally Bjorn ‘Daffy’ Larsen is used throughout the album, performing heroics on Harmonica, the ten tracks, seven of which have been written by Magnus, cover a solid electric Blues formula, the pick of the bunch is the album title track which has some extended rock influenced guitar soloing and has a great vocal that belies Magnus’s age, the cover of Freddie King’s
instrumental San-Ho-Zay is another highlight which is full of rawness and intensity, very reminiscent of the early British Blues bands performing in London during the middle 1960’s. There is one contrasting track called When Its Gone which includes Kirsten Thien on vocals, while veering into Country Music it gives Magnus the chance to showcase his more laid back slide guitar dexterity. Magnus shows on this album that he has real affection for the Blues and at only just eighteen year’s of age he has got to be a major talent in the year’s to come, this is one of the best debut albums I have heard in a very long time. ADRIAN BLACKLEE
CONTINUES OVER...
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 101
Bouquets From A Cloudy Sky The Complete PRETTY THINGS Collection
Produced for their 51st anniversary with the full cooperation of the dirtiest, hairiest, nastiest, loudest, most controversial and influential band the world has ever seen.
STRICTLY LIMITED TO 2,000 COPIES
• LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED 100 PAGE HARDBACK BOOK • 11 STUDIO ALBUMS ON CD • 2 ‘RARITIES’ CDS • 2 DVDS • 10” REPLICA ‘ACETATE’ • FAMILY TREE & TESTIMONIAL POSTERS • COURT CASE HISTORY • BRAND NEW ART PRINT BY PHIL MAY
the original of which will be randomly placed in one lucky set!
AVAILABLE NOW from WWW.THEPRETTYTHINGS.NET www.madfishmusic.com
facebook.com/madfishlabel | twitter.com/madfishmusic | youtube.com/madfishmusic | soundcloud.com/madfishmusic | vimeo.com/madfishmusic
PAG E 10 2 | b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-MAy 2015
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reviews
RAPHAEL WRESSNIG SOUL GUMBO Pepper Cake
Soul Gumbo is just that: a heady Hammondfuelled slice of boiling bayou blues and soul served up by an Austria-based musician who has already served his time with well over a dozen albums in his own right and as a guest on another 30-plus releases. The nine tracks on this offering include input from Britain’s own Louisiana piano master, Jon Cleary, and a bunch of US sidemen; Alex Schultz shares guitar credits with New Orleans’ own Walter Wolfman Washington and Stanton Moore on skins. This gives the album a solid groove and grounding in Basin-Street boogie and soul. The influences, Jimmy Smith and Booker T Jones, are clearly on display in this self-penned release. Indeed, one track is entitled Mustard Greens, a transparent pointer to Wressnig’s admiration of Booker’s original work on Green Onions. But that’s not to say or suggest that this is another ‘covers-type’ album. Instead, it rolls along soulfully with bags of verve and brio, a full Down-South sound backed by horns and strong writing from Wressnig. Soul Gumbo is a positively pleasing album if you enjoy classic sixtiesstyle soul music. Wressnig’s vocals are fine and mature while his command of the gargantuan Hammond B-3 Organ is second to none IAIN PATIENCE
KING OF THE TRAMPS JOYFUL NOISE
Old School Records
K.O.T.T. is the brainchild of guitarist and lead vocalist Todd Partridge, who is based in Auburn, Iowa, his previous band Salamagundi released three albums between nineteen ninety-eight and two thousand and eight. Six year’s and three albums later he is firmly ensconced in a band which encompasses the rough and tumble world of a roaming whiskey sodden horse drawn musical caravan with the spirit of the itinerant train hopping hobo. K.O.T.T. is comprised of Todd Partridge, Justin Snyder; guitars and mandolin, Adam Audlehelm; keyboards and percussion, Ryan Aum; drums and Ryan McAlister; bass. Their sound invokes memories of the Allman Brothers and the Stones in their more carousing seventies period and when you add Todd’s vocals into the mix which has definite echoes of Mick Jagger and Van Morrison in their prime you have the makings of a goodtime, blues blasting, country-rock and roots band. On the ever so inviting Weather, the louche slide driven guitars sidle up to an urging and pumping organ and together they ride over a roaming ramshackle percussive beat. The mellifluous and ambling guitar intro to War is simply a ruse to trap you into the striding, strutting drum work and alcohol sodden urging slide that draws into it’s mesmerising heart. Rain, continues in this vein culminating in raw fuzz guitar drowning in a downwards spiralling organ. A rambling, slow burning Deadman, explains the solitary nature and loneliness of a life on the road until the inevitable grave.
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GEOFF CARNE ONE TO ONE Advision U
Debut album from North London singer/songwriter Geoff Carnes, consisting of 9 self-penned numbers played with a full band and 2 further acoustic tracks, billed here as bonus recordings. Now I have said it before, WHY? If it’s on the CD, it can hardly be a bonus can it? I am sorry, that’s just one of my pet gripes. I said that it was a full band recording, but looking at the sleeve notes, it appears to actually be a two man production with Producer Paul Mexx playing the bulk of the other instruments. I am sitting here looking over my notes trying to find out if anything caught my attention long enough to make a note of it, and I am afraid that it didn’t. This is the sort of record that must be being produced all over the country, by singers and bands who want to get their stuff out there at gigs at every opportunity, to spread the word about their music and hopefully make some money at the same time. I didn’t make any comments either way, and I can’t recall any of the songs, and if I had bought the CD at a gig, it’s likely to be another one that ends up in the glove box. DAVE STONE
The banjo, fiddle and slide of Wandering Kind, invokes a back porch homely feel while a stomping percussion extols the virtues of an impulsive travelling man. The song Rock Island Line is a guitar and mandolin led tribute to the hoboes of the world. Recommended! BRIAN HARMAN
REBECCA DOWNES
BACK TO THE START R2R Records
Singing since she was thirteen Bekah Downes has been bubbling under for a while now. She delivers a range of material that is all the better for hearing live. Teamed up with a strong musical team it was no surprise then she was voted best band on the Introducing Stage at Skegness last month. This
release of ten originals, co-written with guitarist Steve Birkett, move from blues belters Messed Up, through rockabilly-shuffle on Basement Of My Heart to the gentle lament of Laughter From Her Room. Catchy hook lines stay with you long after the song is over; “when I’m good I’m not so good, but when I’m bad I’m better”, from When I’m Bad. The heads-down rocker Round And Round takes the tempo up with stinging vocals and complimentary guitar work, while Walking With Shadows features care-worn sulky vocals more high-end guitar this time with understated keyboard. This is a strong first album of well-constructed songs, intelligent lyrics and well produced music. There is no filler here, and the arrangements on each number show the attention CONTINUES OVER...
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 10 3
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to detail which give Rebecca the space to show off her vocal range. Additional plays bring out different nuances in the music from a mixture of her touring and studio sidemen. Don’t listen to the comparisons, buy the album like I did and judge for your-selves. Expect to hear more of her before she takes the main stage at Skegness next year. MEL WALLACE
BOBBY SPENCER HURRICANE UNLEASHED
R Music Unleashed
This album of ten originals, including four tracks as bonus tracks
from his debut album cements his reputation as a “force of nature” playing his tenor saxophone in the guitar-centric world of the blues. The funky, opening track Gotta Get Back to Chicago with saxophone plays with the yearning of getting back to the home of the blues this just wants you to turn up the volume chill and listen to the next eleven tracks. This is another album where a superb backing artist who has played with greats over the year’s brings the experience by melding into the tracks influences from the music world far beyond the constraints of the blues. This is an album full of tone and texture that weaves it way into your soul, we
GEORGIE FAME & ALAN PRICE TOGETHER
MIG (Made in Germany)
The first thing to say is that for those of us of a certain age who remember with more fondness than clarity, that in the era of British Rock/Pop music in the sixties, these two Musicians ranked as Giants. Here we have a digitally remastered cross sample of their capabilities. I’m not keen on using the term Pop when describing musicians of the ability of both of them, but the era was lacking the broader range of definitions that came along. The album opens with the classic Rosetta and it is the eponymous Alan Price and Georgie Fame sound with slick guitar work allied to background piano rhythmic foot tapping and instantly recognisable lyrics. This is swiftly followed by the politically incorrect ditty that is Yellow Man. You just couldn’t get away with lyrics of this hue in this day and age, yet then was such a different age. Alan Price’s very distinctive vocal reach is featured with clarity as well as the Hammond Organ in The Dole Song, yet here you have two keyboard maestros for the price (rubbish pun intended) of one and the fame of two. The track which almost sounded like the sort of music produced by the Beatles with a type of Lucy In The Sky arrangement, but written by Georgie under his own real name is Time Moved On. Cherish these two septuagenarians as they’re the very best of British Rhythm and Blues, and we don’t get this quality too often. This whole album is a classic of the genre and you have four bonus tracks added for true value. TOM WALKER
PAG E 10 4 | b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015
have a real mix ballad driven blues on I Got The Blues, humour as we listen to Little Mama we have humour and hints of gospel on Lovers Hill. The vocals throughout are distinctive and throaty full of emotion, adding to the feel of the album. Easy listening putting a smile on your face, dancing in your feet and then some ice in your drink Hurricane Unleashed is and album sparkling with musical gems taking you to blues driven saxophone heaven. If you like blues stirred but not shaken with jazz, doo wop a touch of Latino and funk this album will not fail to please.
1930’s classic Over The Rainbow, virtually playing solo with just a small dose of piano, while it does not necessarily sit comfortably with the other tracks it is probably technically his most accomplished playing on the album. The best track from a Blues perspective is Ocean of Tears which has a superb vocal from Steve Strongman who also delivers some waling lead guitar on this slow blues number, a couple more tracks like this would have made this a very strong album, as it is this is a good debut album by an artist who has certainly earned his dues.
LIZ AIKEN
ADRIAN BLACKLEE
ROLY PLATT
STEVE HUNTER
Independent
Singular Recordings CD/DVD
Canadian Harp player Roly Platt has released his debut album thirty five year’s into his musical career, which has seen him provide a sideman support role to a host of recording artists including Ronnie Hawkins and David Clayton Thomas both on the road and in the studio. On this CD he is supported by an excellent group of session players including special guests; vocalists and guitarists Steve Strongman and Jordan John, who add vocals to two tracks, Roly takes one vocal lead on the boogie-woogie Rippin It Up and does a good job but clearly not confident enough to tackle any more, the rest of the tracks are all instrumentals. The opening track is a cover of Joe Sample’s Put It Where You Want It and this is a great track that Roly leads from start to finish creating some smooth rhythmic harp, he is very brave in tackling the
Guitarist Steve Hunter is renowned for his work with Peter Gabriel, Alice Cooper, Jack Bruce and Aerosmith and especially by me as half of the twin guitar assault on Lou Reed’s famous live album Rock ‘N’ Roll Animal. Who could forget the lengthy duelling guitar intro to Sweet Jane where together with Dick Wagner he set up my favourite live track of all time. Hunter is an exceptionally melodic guitarist and this album captures a career-spanning anthology which was recorded live in the studio with Tony Levin on bass, Phil Aaberg on keyboards and Alvino Bennett on drums. Opening track The Idler is a jazzy rock instrumental which was originally featured on Hunter’s 1980’s album The Deacon. The funky 222 W. 23rd adds judicial use of wah-wah pedal to produce an even broader range of textures to the mix.
INSIDE OUT
TONE POEMS LIVE
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Hunter uses the guitar as his voice and the playing is immaculate, soulful and lyrical and the band fill around him with taste and great empathy. The beautiful Deep Blue and the rocking funk of Rubber Man both come from 1977’s Swept Away album. Hunter is a big fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s soulful Riviera Paradise and his interpretation forms the centrepiece of this wonderful album. Levin played bass with Hunter on Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill and they produce a jazzy, swinging version here. Other highlights are the bluesy Freeway Rider and the lovely ballad Of All Times To Leave which closes the CD. The DVD contains interviews and three extra tracks with Skin, Marvin Gaye’s heartfelt What’s Going On and the romping Brooklyn Shuffle. This album is a masterpiece of tasteful guitar playing with sheer quality from start to finish. Highly recommended. DAVE DRURY
MATT WOOSEY
WHILE THE CAT’S AWAY Robar Music Records
I was eager to see if this live album was any match for Woosey’s studio release (see above, right). I was not disappointed, or surprised. Recorded live at The Gallimaufry in Bristol, in one take, on a busy evening in June 2014, While The Cat’s Away... is a perfect compliment to Matt’s earlier output. Five of the twelve tracks on this CD are live versions of those on the earlier album but this should not be a problem for anyone who wants to have a memento of him performing live. There is virtually no difference in the quality of
Matt’s voice, guitar accompaniment, or the playing of his loyal sidekick (Big) Dave Small on percussion, so you will not be disappointed in that score. Mind you, if you have not heard Matt perform live, don’t expect too much gentle, introspective, or ‘sensitive’ singer songwriting stuff. That’s not really Matt’s style. This album is a very raw, powerful, emotive, and ‘honest’ recording, complete with background chatter from some members of the audience who were clearly not quite aware that they were sharing the room with one the UKs finest young singer songwriters. Their loss is our gain. BERNIE STONE
UZI RAMIREZ
CHEESE IN MY POCKET Mountainmusic Records
This is the first time I’ve ever experienced music from what the accompanying info describes as the “Israeli Indie scene”. Quite clearly not Blues, and on first listen I was ready to bin it. Several plays later, and there is a sneaking admiration for the sound on offer. Very retro in its sound, with influences ranging from The Beatles to early Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett to Dylan and Dr John, there is a pleasant naivety that recalls my student days of the sixties, those heady, head thrashing gigs and those, where we laid back and let the music flow over us. Notwithstanding the aforementioned comments, I fail to see where Uzi is going to find a gap in today’s formulated music scene, where to many, gigs mean nothing and the net means all. Uzi plays guitars, banjo and keys along with
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Albums
MATT WOOSEY WILDEST DREAMS Independent
Matt Woosey has always been an accomplished singer songwriter, guitarist, and live performer, so I was not surprised to find that Wildest Dreams is a wonderful studio album, full of original material, and an excellent showcase for the multiplicity of Matt’s considerable talents. It’s one of the best acoustic albums I have heard for quite a while, probably because there is never a dull moment in the entire CD. It’s also a very mature album. Perhaps this has something to do with Matt’s recent marriage but perhaps it’s just because he’s just reached that stage in life where all his songs have an authentic ring to them. In my view this the true mark of a top blues-man. All the tracks are great but it’s worth purchasing just for the third, Same Old Blues. This really socks a punch, driven on by some great guitar work, percussion, bass, and organ accompaniment. It could easily become a standard for acoustic and electric blues artists alike. Watch out for the royalties Matt. Nowhere Is Home is one of the mellower tracks on the album, full of tender lyrics, and accompanied by some subtle percussion. Another slower number - Love Is The Strangest Thing - really shows off Matt’s intricate guitar picking, starting with an almost three minutes of instrumental, before moving into an ethereal hymn like vocal section. However, even these slower numbers have an element of excitement, intrigue, and anticipation that should keep all blues lovers enthralled by this first class CD. BERNIE STONE
Shacham ‘Chakamoon’ Ohana on bass and Tal Tamari on drums. Alongside them is the Extra Cheese Orchestra, playing a true plethora of instrumentation. Uzi is also quite a wordsmith, all tracks having been written by him. This is truly an alternative hippy rooted album with sounds ranging from something that would sound quite at home on The Beatles Sgt Pepper album, as with the opening track Surrender with its lush violins trading against a staccato guitar riff and vocal through a foghorn to the voodoo dripping atmosphere o f a Dr. John trip as with Love You All The Time. Papercuts is pure Lou Reed, swift rhythm with
lyrics tripping over each beat. On Sundown Blues, the closest Uzi comes to the actual Blues, he strives to shred like some of today’s youngsters but doesn’t quite hit the mark. Honey Tree Evil Eye opens with some eerie string playing from the Extra Cheese Orchestra before breaking into I Know It’s Mine, a Leonard Cohen style acoustic song with beautiful trumpet accompaniment. Bodean, a song he cowrote, is a lovely country ballad that he manages to sing with wavering country styled vocals and southern accent. Interesting stuff! MERV OSBORNE CONTINUES OVER...
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Albums
reviews
JOHN LEE HOOKER
THE FOLK LORE OF JOHN LEE HOOKER/FOLK BLUES HooDoo Records
Two classic Hooker LPs, all digitally re-mastered, 22 solid slabs of dark, leathery, brooding nostalgia. This is the electric blues at its very roots. If there’s still anyone out there reading this magazine who hasn’t at least one Hooker album in their collection, then you’re still a long way from qualifying as a blues aficionado. So this is a good place to start. This stripped-bare, one man and a growling electric guitar (on most tracks) music is the stuff those guys who fled the south for the auto production lines in the north used to listen to. Hooker’s ‘talking blues’ style is well represented on Folk Lore. Great numbers like I’m Going Upstairs (and we all know what John was going up for), I Like to See You Walk and My First Wife Left Me start to haunt you like some swamp ghost. The Folk Blues tracks are no less powerful. Half A Stranger, Shake, Holler And Run, Down Child and Gonna Boogie all roll into one another to form a big, dusty landscape punctuated by mid-20th century American industry. Hooker has always been, and will remain, one of that Holy Trinity with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, the men who form the very bedrock of dark, primeval music. Original, inspirational, often imitated, but never duplicated. What is there to say about this CD other than… you need it? Play it in the dark with a bottle of Jack Daniels - it’ll either scare you to death or thrill you out of your skin. Is it that good? Damn right it is. It’s John Lee Hooker! ROY BAINTON
WILY BO WALKER AND KARENA K A LONG WAY FROM HOME
Mescal Canyon Records
A Long Way From Heaven is a mini album of contrasts. Over six songs, the contrasting singers Wily Bo Walker and Karena K deliver a set of brass heavy, swinging songs that range in intensity from full on rockers to lighter, almost Doo-wop songs. Wily Bo Walker is a talented songwriter, with a distinctive voice that has the depth of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, and the weight of the much missed Joe Cocker, particularly in the opening
title track. Love Will Find A Way is a Doo-wop, 50’s inspired pastiche, whilst Angels in the Night is a brooding slow blues song, with one of those saxophones solos that is both technically perfect but dripping with emotion. Did I Forget (To Tell You I Love) is a swinging jazz blues number, with a pleasing beat, and clean guitar, and The Danny Flam Big Band add a lot of depth to Rendezvous De Cheminots, one of those brass heavy songs that is part Bond theme, and part good time Saturday night song, whilst the EP closes in good style with Light At The End Of The Tunnel, a slow, brooding atmospheric song that shows the vocal
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contrasts of Wily Bo Walker and Karena K to good effect. At only six songs, this release is a good taste of what this ensemble offers live, and promises good things for a full album. BEN MACNAIR
CAROLYN FE BLUES COLLECTIVE BAD TABOO Independent
Canada has never been short of great blues artists, and here’s another. 13 original songs by a singer totally in control of her material who can deliver a sharp lyric with passion and clarity. The band, the Carolyn Fe Blues Collective, is proudly sponsored by Canada’s House of Jazz and Sennheiser, the company who make excellent microphones and headphones. The latter sponsor proves a point because this is a very nice production, with Carolyn’s smooth, clear delivery floating brightly over a balanced six piece band. The guitar player on this set, Asia’s Shun Kikuta, deserves special mention. His playing on some tracks put you in mind of Steely Dan, and as a blues player (dubbed by Koko Taylor as ‘The Asian B.B. King’) he adds an extra level of enjoyment to these fine compositions. There’s some real hefty blues on tracks like Life’s Just That Good and Whole Lotta Trouble, which both feature Guy Belanger’s impressive harmonica playing. The final track, Not Worth The Show will no doubt be the perfect finale to a Carolyn Fe gig. This is seductive stuff, fiery and passionate, from an outfit totally at ease with and
steeped in the blues. Seeing them live seems to be the next step, so let’s hope someone brings them over the pond soon. A fine album. ROY BAINTON
MOJO MAKERS DEVILS HANDS
Hypertension Records
Something’s stirring in Scandinavia! Dane Thorbjorn Risager & The Black Tornado and Sweden’s Blues Pills are joined by this young blues band from Denmark. This is Mojo Makers follow up to 2013’s Wait Till The Morning and a good one it is too. Throughout the eleven original tracks on here, you can see influences from early Zeppelin and Doors, whilst staying true to their own blues/gospel sound. Main man Kasper Osman plays lead guitar and sings, joined by fellow guitarist Kristian Hoffman, Lars Emil Riis Madsen (keyboards), Kristian Bast (bass) and Morton Haesum on drums. The mix on here is fascinating, from the rock of Man Fire Soul, gospel on Devils Hands and jazz influence blues like Naja, but the predominant feature is the delta blues, proving that Osman has overall mystic control over the whole project. This is best illustrated on the stripped down dobro inflected blues of Howl Away, while the slow drifting blues of Fly On Baby owes a lot to early Peter Green. All in all, a good album, worth investigating if you like your blues with a bucket load of rock. CLIVE RAWLINGS
JAMIE THYER POSTCARDS FROM BEDLAM Independent Release
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reviews
Jamie is wonderfully energetic enigmatic and one of the best frontmen in the blues rock scene today and hard to believe he has been four decades in the business. This time along with his band The Worried Men they have gone back to basics and have brought out a mainly covers release with their own inimitable over the top style. These could indeed be anecdotal pieces forming a possible best of type compilation of in your face rhythm and blues. No wonder they are a well sought after band for live gigs the energy here is immense. CLIVE RAWLINGS
CROBOT
SOMETHING SUPERNATURAL Nuclear Blast Records
Too often the modern Blues-Rock band is heralded as the ‘next big thing’ or the ‘saviour’ of the genre in the 21st century. Even more predictably, this initial wave of journalistic hyperbole invariably piles so much pressure onto a young band they inevitably fall short of the greatness so eagerly expected of them. Of course there are exceptions (just look at the genuine success story of Rival Sons) and, at the risk of tempting fate, this debut LP release from Pennsylvania-based Crobot is just the sort of release capable of making you believe again! The record is a full-blown, rolling, funky, Blues-Rock assault on the senses delivering real swagger and an endless flurry of pop-tinged hooks with metallic intensity. Whether it’s the stellar (and
interstellar) opening salvo of Legend Of The Spaceborne Killer and Nowhere To Hide, which are built on the same monolithic riffery you’d expect from the likes of Alter Bridge, but with the kind of melodic craft and enigma that band can only dream of. Frontman Brandon Yeagley does in fact audibly resemble Myles Kennedy in no small way, particularly in his control and technique when effortlessly swooping to stratospheric vocal heights come nearly every chorus, but his timbre and delivery is infinitely more varied and tasteful. At times he, and the band, can conjure comparisons to Clutch (Chupacabra), Soundgarden (Skull Of Geronimo), Mastodon (La Mano De Lucifer), RATM (Fly On The Wall) and even Reef (Cloud Spiller) to name but a few, but never settle on any one for long enough to risk sounding derivative. The Necromancer is a sci-fi reworking of Sabbath’s The Wizard revised for the space-age, and album closer Queen Of The Light manages to display the band’s subtler-edges whilst maintaining the same sinister intensity that runs through the core of the record. This is a band that moves too fast and too furiously to be pigeonholed and the resultant ride is far too recklessly enjoyable to be ignored or easily forgotten. Potentially this is Crobot’s moment. Let us hope they can, like so few before them, rise to the occasion. RHYS WILLIAMS
KYLE JESTER AFTER ALL THIS Independent
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Kyles website says traditional electric Blues and early rock
n Roll, and that is exactly what you get on this latest album.14 tracks with as far as I can tell just two original numbers from this four piece band that are occasionally augmented by various guest musicians. Early 50s Rock and roll is just what comes out of the speakers with no concessions to personalities and no self-indulgent twiddles and twirls, this is just no nonsense music played like it was meant to be played. As you would expect all of the influences are here to be heard and there are touches of Chuck Berry
Albums
(Big Fat Wallet), with those familiar riffs, and then along comes some Jerry Lee Lewis, nice piano from Sid Morris. Aki Kumar on harp, played sparingly but with a great feel for the era that the band are trying to recreate. This is good Fish fry music, played with a great feel for the period. The title track is self-penned and has the additional benefit of strings and is all the better for it, BBs Boogie, is probably the first time that I have heard anyone else playing this, and as with all of the other tracks, does it full justice. CONTINUES OVER...
JOHN LEE HOOKER
SINGS THE BLUES + SINGS BLUES Soul Jam Records
First thought on receiving this collection of 26 numbers was “Why does anyone need yet another John Lee Hooker reissue?” but I was playing it when a friend of my son walked in and asked “Who is that? He’s incredible” and I got the answer. Anyone who knows Blues will be familiar with Hooker, as they would with Muddy Waters, BB King and Albert King etc. etc. but there are generations who haven’t heard these masters at their best and they deserve to hear this in all their glory to understand what music with heart and soul really sounds like. The main album here is the classic John Lee Hooker Sings The Blues, which sounds exactly like it is – multiple recording sessions and line-ups from raw stomping Blues like Let Your Daddy Ride coupled with a piece of R&B in I Love You Baby, early foot stompers and full band stage monsters. The band on the most cleanly recorded numbers was Hooker plus Eddie Kirkland, Bob Thurman on piano, Tom Whitehead on drums and Otis Finch on tenor sax but there are also numbers recorded in Chicago and Detroit with unidentified musicians that show the raw side of his playing. The Sings Blues part of the set was recorded solo in Detroit between ’52 & 1955 and for my money they show Hooker at his finest, totally in the groove and providing his own percussion with foot stomps. Hooker was one of the greatest Blues musicians and definitely one of the most original. This set shows much of what made him special but leaves so much more still to be exposed but still should be de rigeur listening for anyone whose idea of the Blues is limited to Bonamassa and Clapton. ANDY SNIPPER
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Blues Top 50
February 2015
blues top 50 Ranking Artist
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
Tas Cru Tinsley Ellis Brad Hatfield Altered Five Blues Band Steve Earlex Eric Bibb Magnus Berg Gary Clark Jr. Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King Marcia Ball Devon Allman Johnny Winter Billy Boy Arnold Dave Specter Brad Absher Blue Lunch Elvin Bishop Jorma Kaukonen The Bruce Katz Band D.A. Foster Doug Adamz Selwyn Birchwood John Ginty Trigger Hippy JP Blues Ruthie Foster Mississippi Heat Mike Osborn Nathan James Steve Krase Jarekus Singleton Lisa Mills HowellDevine JP Soars Benny Turner Brandon Santini Rob Stone JJ Grey & Mofro JW-Jones Shaun Murphy Jeff Jensen The Mike Henderson Band The Duke Robillard Band Markus James Mud Morganfield & Kim Wilson Alexis P Suter Jimmy Thackery Eliza Neals Balkun Brothers Missy Andersen
CD Title
Label
You Keep The Money Tough Love For A Change Cryin’ Mercy Terraplane Blues People Cut Me Loose Gary Clark Jr. Live Fat Man’s Shine Parlor The Tattooed Lady and the Alligator Man Ragged & Dirty Step Back The Blues Soul of Billy Boy Arnold Message in Blue Lucky Dog Above the Fold Can’t Even Do Wrong Right Ain’t in No Hurry Homecoming The Real Thing Doug Adamz Plays National Steel Don’t Call No Ambulance Bad News Travels Live Trigger Hippy Live at Darwins Promise of a Brand New Day Warning Shot In the Dog House Hear Me Calling Buckle Up Refuse To Lose I’m Changing Modern Sounds Of Ancient Juju Full Moon Night In Memphis Journey Live and Extended! Gotta Keep Rollin’ Ol’ Glory Belmont Boulevard Loretta Morose Elephant If You Think It’s Hot in Here... Calling All Blues Head for the Hills “For Pops” A Tribute to Muddy Waters Love the Way You Roll Extra Jimmies Breaking and Entering ReDrova In the Moment
Crustee Tees Records
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Home State or COUNTRY
Heartfixer Self Release OmniVibe Records New West Stony Plainx Screen Door Warner Bros. Blind Pig Alligator Ruf Megaforce Records Stony Plain Delmark Montrose Records Rip Cat Records Alligatorx Red House American Showplace Shaboo/Vizztone Self Release Alligator American Showplace Rounder Midnight Circus Records Blue Corn Music Delmark Je Gagne Sacred Cat Recordings Connor Ray Music Alligator Mills Bluz Records Arhoolie Soars High Nola Blue OLM / Vizztone Marquee/VizzTone Mascot Blind Pig Vision Wall Records Swingsuit Records Eller Soul Stony Plain Firenze Severn Records American Showplace Blind Pig E-H Records Self Release Main Squeeze Records
USA USA USA USA USA USA NOR USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA CAN USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
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reviews
The track No fightin has a very nice bass line from Kid Andersen and everything seems to come together just right on this particular favourite track, great one to keep in the car. DAVE STONE
ROOTBEATS, with BILL OHRSTROM LINE OF FOOLS Turenki Records
If you’re a UK or American blues act starting out, it’s easy to overlook the immense popularity of the blues in Europe, and especially in Scandinavia, where blues acts have toured successfully for over half a century. Singer and harmonica man Bill Ohrstrom has obviously soaked up all this enthusiasm because since the 1960s he’s been one of Sweden’s most respected exponents of the music. This ten-track CD from Sweden is a well-produced mix of originals and some skilful choices in between. This isn’t heavy, pile-driving rock blues. It’s intelligent, listenable music where you can hear all the words, and on a great song like Two Angels that’s important (and Bill’s gurgling scat during the bridge demands attention). Throughout, Nipa Niilola’s balanced guitar playing weaves in and out of these fine songs, especially on Bill’s great, laid-back composition Hazy. On the poignant Ken Hensley song, Rain, the mood is enhanced by some fine fretless bass bay Juuso Nordland and pedal steel from Olli Haavisto. Maybe it’s not, overall, a blues album. It’s a bit more than that. These are memorable songs played
with confidence and skill. Just one listen to Bill’s harp playing and the ease with which he delivers Desperate Call is enough to make you want to play this again. There’s much more to Sweden than Eurovision. Let’s hear it for Swedish blues - especially played by Rootbeats. ROY BAINTON
NEAL RICHARDSON
BETTER THAN THE BLUES Splash Point Records
Establishing where the crossover point is between Blues and Jazz is an impossible task but this album sits somewhere between the two musical genres, Neal Richardson is a renowned producer in the Jazz world where he has produced artists such as Ian Shaw and Liane Carroll, now he gets the chance to perform in this his own right on this debut release, writing all but one of the thirteen tracks. There are two tracks with “blues” in the title and these unsurprisingly are the two bluesiest tracks on the album, they follow a 1930 laid back swing style with confident vocals from Neal, throughout the album Neal accompanies himself on piano and Organ with some top notch support from an assortment of players, including his wife Sue who plays a mean Tenor Sax. Of the other tracks the final track Yours The Future is the pick of the bunch with its samba beat and understated Violin by Ricardo Herz although there are slightly too many La La Las for my liking towards the end of the track. I understand that on the full release the CD package
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Albums
LUKE DOHERTY BAND
LIVE AT CAMBRIDGSHIRE ROCK FESTIVAL Independent
This is an album recorded at the festival and released as an album with no post production; it is what it says on the cover the band playing Live At Cambridge Rock Festival. Without post-production you may lose the tweaks that create a polished sound but the advantage here is you get what it says on the tin; a mono recording using the on stage microphones only and taken straight from the mixing desk including blemishes and engineer alterations! This is a band that loves to play the blues and the heart of the group standing off-centre stage and back behind his hat is Luke Doherty on his guitar who delivers blues with a rock and full of driving rhythm that is embellished with licks and riffs. The album is full of raw emotion that a live performance brings whether covering The House is Rocking or delivering a medley of Hendrix. Paul Morgan with his gravelly full-on vocals are the perfect foil to the stylish pure guitar work from Luke this pair of front-men have the support of a rhythm section full off enthusiastic beat, Simon Parratt on Drums and Ant Biggs on Bass. This live album shows what they are capable of and will make his many fans excited about the forthcoming studio album out very soon. Until then we have Luke Doherty live doing what he loves to do play the guitar to entertain you. LIZ AIKEN
comes with a coffee table hard-backed book, incorporating photographs by Peter Prior to complete and enhance the music, if you like well constructed songs with a relaxing Jazz influenced base this could be the album for you. ADRIAN BLACKLEE
MEMPHIS SLIM AND WILLIE DIXON THE BLUES EVERY WHICH WAY PLUS WILLIE’S BLUES SoulJam Records
Most Blues lovers will know the names of Memphis Slim, the piano thumper and Willie Dixon, bassist, bandleader, songwriter and all-round good guy who helped just about every
Chicago Bluesman to a degree of commercial success. Indeed, hordes of musicians since have enjoyed success with Willie’s songs, Cream, The Doors and the Stones to name just a few. But how many of those fans knew that the pair played together during the late fifties and early sixties, recording both studio and live albums and racking up great success in Europe in particular. This CD brings together two of their lesser known recordings into one album. Willie’s Blues was originally released on the Prestige/ Bluesville label in 1959 with The Blues Every Which Way being released the following year on Verve. This album has never been released on CD before. CONTINUES OVER...
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Albums
reviews
T-BONE WALKER
T-BONE BLUES PLUS SINGS THE BLUES
to be reminded of the talent of two of Blues greatest protagonists.
Hoodoo
MERV OSBORNE
Many year’s ago I had the vinyl copy in a brown cover of T-Bone Blues, but I don’t remember it sounding this good! I do remember well that I certainly enjoyed it; it was recorded in three sessions in the second half of the 50s for Atlantic Records, and has T-Bone’s smooth vocals and inventive guitar work right out in front of some swinging backing, plus Play On Little Girl, a 1955 Chicago recorded number with a fiery Junior Wells on harp and Jimmy Rogers on guitar; some of the other titles include T-Bone’s nephew R. S. Rankin on guitar (the original notes gave Rankin as T-Bone’s son), and on one track, vocals. The difference with this CD is the sound – really big, leaping at you right out of the speakers. The other half of this CD contains the LP Sings The Blues which presents earlier material recorded for Imperial and initially released on 78s – these are the titles that established T-Bone as one of the blues top artists of the time (or of all time if you prefer), and all feature his hugely influential single string guitar work – before they were put onto album in 1959. Two albums back in those days is a good indicator of how highly Walker was regarded (though the notes for both seem to be aimed more at jazz lovers – there was no white blues interest as such back then). Hoodoo expands the running time of this CD to almost 80 minutes with the addition of another five vintage tracks. If you do not have too much T-Bone Walker in your collection, do investigate this CD – the blues would not sound the way it does today without this music. NORMAN DARWEN
The difference between the two albums is that the latter relies solely on the two artists vocal and musical talents, no other instrumentation appears. Sample the sublime intonation between bass and piano on Choo Choo, or the tremendous barrelhouse boogie of 4’Oclock Boogie where Dixon’s playing sounds almost as though there is a drummer playing with brushes. Pure Magic! Willie’s Blues on the other hand is recorded in New York with accompanying musicians and was Dixon’s first as a bandleader. However, this is not the usual Chicago Blues backing musicians; instead
it is recorded with a trio of New York mainstream jazzmen, playing sax, guitar and drums. The jazz sound becoming evident through Wally Richardson’s Chet Baker sounding guitar. Most obvious on That’s My Baby and Nervous. Of the twenty two tracks, Dixon has penned seventeen, with the traditional John Henry making an appearance and the remaining four credited to P Chatman (Memphis’ father, to whom he paid homage by using his name). My favourite track is the classic Built For Comfort. In an age of mediocrity where fame and fortune is a reward for so little talent, it’s a joy
QUEEN ESTHER THE OTHER SIDE EL Records
Queen Esther’s a prize-winning lyricist, songwriter, actor, playwright and performer who grew up in the Deep South. She’s shared the stage with The Neville Brothers, Crowded House and Chuck Berry. Her colourful history includes the guitar player “Big Al” Gilhausen introducing her to another great influence, blues guitar icon Hubert Sumlin. This is Americana at its best, and there’s a lot going on here. Judging by this versatile, excellent set of performances, she’s a force to be reckoned with, and there’s talk of her coming to Europe in the Spring this year. No doubt she’ll pop up on BBC TV’s Later... with Jools Holland. Steeped in Southern gospel music traditions from a very early age, Esther none the less seems to straddle a variety of musical styles. There’s gutsy blues here, with tracks such as Jet Airliner and Somebody Else’s Baby, but this album has a distinctly country flavour, which is hardly surprising as she performs regularly in the Rodeo Bar, as featured in the sleeve photographs. So there’s no shortage of lap steel and pedal steel guitars on great songs such as Will You Or Won’t You, plus a definite flavour of George Jones about the wonderful I’ve Come Undone Again. The musicianship from a dozen of the finest payers is exemplary, and the crisp, clear production acts as a
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laudable showcase for a truly remarkable talent. If there are such entities as musical Monarchs, then Queen Esther’s throne is secure. ROY BAINTON
SPIRIT LEVEL KOLOSSI BLUES Independent
I’ve always loved Cyprus as a holiday destination, but never been aware of any Blues scene there. Admittedly I haven’t gone looking for it, but this release sure changes my viewpoint. Spirit Level are Chris Louvieris and Chris Kyriacou, the former having been born in London. His epiphany came whilst watching Peter Green playing with the Bluesbreakers in a pub in north London. He gave up studying classical guitar to get a cheap electric guitar and since then, Blues has been his love and base. An horrific car accident left him facing a future where he would never use his left hand let alone play guitar again. Nevertheless the call of his first love was too great, and by purchasing newer guitars with thinner necks, he has returned to his music, writing and recording in his own studio in Limassol. Kolossi Blues contains nine original songs by Louvieris and Kyriacou and in truth, they are all good. The duo from the core and are joined by a number of Cypriot musicians. Subject matter in true Blues style is mainly autobiographical, incorporating drinking, women and gambling. What You See Is What You Get, the opening track is a solid, strutting stomp of a song with some great electric playing from Kyriacou. Louvieris takes the w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
reviews
fore on the Elmore James sounding It’s Gone, his Dobro slide guitar a major feature of this song. It’s A Hard Life is a slow Blues with haunting, wailing guitar, almost a la Peter Green. The title track is extremely familiar but I can’t place it with its line about “... drinking, thinking, thinking about drinking”. This could easily be a jug band stomp. Next up is The Gambler, a rocking song whose subject is all about the title. My favourite song is She’s So Hot, almost an acoustic lullaby that suddenly bursts into gospel style life with full vocal backing, before returning to its laid back cradle. With the number of problems Louvieris has faced in life, he may not have been born in the Delta, but sure feels he has every right to have the Blues. MERV OSBORNE
THE NO REFUND BAND CURRENT STATE OF BAND Independent
This album’s somewhat clunky moniker is a rather bold and confident statement that could very easily backfire on the group should it’s material disappoint in any way. Fortunately this release, the second from the Texan five-piece, will leave it’s customers well and truly satisfied. There is a clear, yet natural, progression illustrated across the record’s twelve tracks as the band have obviously found their collective niche, both as musicians and songwriters. Opener Buy The Blues is a none-more-Texan shuffle that recalls both Stevie-Ray and Jimmie Vaughan in all their gritty house-rocking glory. Yet the band very quickly
make moves away from the obvious bar-band set, first to the jazz-tinged title track, then the trumpet-led Favourite Fool, sulky and sultry, smoky yet smooth, it’s an unexpected but very welcome approach. The Latin-fusion rhythms of the funky Love Unmade ensure the pace doesn’t lag for too long however and the cover combo of Bell Bottom Blues and Mississippi Queen draw the listener back into more familiar territory yet remain fresh and original enough not to jar with the rest of the running order. The reworking of Mountain’s calling card in particular is an album highlight, raucous yet highlighting just how tight this group of musicians are. The band shines throughout, whether it be the rock solid rhythm section, piercing guitar punctuation or interweaving horn lines, all corralled and given a uniformity by bandleader Ricky Jackson’s fine soulful vocals. Refreshingly varied and somehow managing to be reverent yet relevant, Current State Of Band reveals exactly where the No Refund Band is at this moment in time, yet also subtly and tantalisingly teases at any number of directions they may be heading in the future. Well worth the price of admission. RHYS WILLIAMS
king king
Reaching the light
Manhaton Records. The hardest working band in Blues have found time to release the follow up to 2013’s critically acclaimed Standing In The Shadows and they’ve done it in style. Launching into Hurricane, the first track, its obvious the band are taking no prisoners. An edgy hard hitter that tells you Alan and
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the boys mean business. The album should be played and considered as a whole though, it’s a well thought out constructed set of songs with a nod to some early classic rock influences as well as the finely honed blues we all love. There is some real classy song writing going on here with virtuoso contributions from all of the musicians. Second song in You Stopped The Rain,
Albums
written when Alan’s brother Stevie was battling cancer, and tracks like Rush Hour are all written from personal experiences and the listener connects easily. Crazy shows the band displaying a funky rock edge that works brilliantly. My favourite track is the stripped back, bare bones Lay With Me with its rolling gospel vibe. The band are renowned CONTINUES OVER...
DVD
Joe Bonamassa
MUDDY WOLF AT RED ROCKS Provogue Records
A stunning DVD of a stunning performance by a stunning band at a stunning location. It doesn’t get much better than this. Recorded last May at Red Rocks, the natural theatre carved into the Rocky Mountains this is Bonamassa on top form with a band augmented by Kirk Fletcher and Mike Henderson playing alongside his regulars Michael Rhodes, Anton Fig and Reese Wymans and joined by a superb horn section. The DVD opens with a short clip of Joe exploring Mississippi before segueing seamlessly into the Muddy section of the show with the band playing Tiger In Your Tank. Basically split into a Muddy, a Wolf and a five track Joe B encore section, each with it’s own moments of sublime brilliance. The version of You Shook Me is outstanding with Reese Wymans showing why he is so respected on keys, while Kirk Fletcher comes into his own on Stuff You Gotta Watch. We get some classic Muddy sounds and tone on My Home Is On The Delta. The Howlin’ Wolf section is equally impressive, the band handling the more menacing Wolf tunes with excellent results. Kicking in with How Many More Years. No one can replicate Wolf’s vocal delivery but Joe delivers the vibe and feel of the original with great authenticity. Kirk excels again on Shake For Me, while tracks like Spoonful and Killing Floor are sublime. Evil is full of true menace and malignant energy. The final section sees the band called back onstage by the 9000 fans and launcing into the Hendrix track Hey Baby ( New Day Rising) Oh Beautiful and rousing version of Love Ain’t A love Song from the recent Different Shades Of Blues opus before the show climaxes with two Bonamassa showstoppers, Sloe Gin and the epic Ballad of John Henry. This is certainly up with the best of Joe’s releases and proves beyond doubt that he not only understands the blues but has it coursing through his veins. steve yourglivch
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www.bluesallstars.com itunes.apple.com/us/album/red-hot-blue/id668825124
reviews
for the quality of the covers they chose to do and they don’t disappoint this time with Paul Carrack’s Just A Little Lie, a deceptively difficult track to do justice to but successfully done so here. The album closes with two longish tracks, Take A Look and Stranger To Love. The latter reminding me in places of early Free. What is exciting is that these songs are all well written and we can look forward to the band improvising and embellishing them on the forthcoming tour. I fully expect several of these to become long time crowd favourites.
earned himself a reputation for a unique way of playing the guitar one handed while using the other hand to draw on a cigarette, there are a couple of tracks showcasing this aspect on the tracks here, while somewhat of a gimmick it does demonstrate his total understanding of the electric guitar, and provides justification for him being known in the USA as the Texas Blues Guitar Tornado. U.P. has a rough edge to his vocals and guitar playing which makes him a very authentic performer of Texas electric blues, the sound recording and camera work is top notch. This is an essential purchase.
Steve Yourglivch
ADRIAN BLACKLEE
DVD
Compilation
LIVE AT THE 100 CLUB LONDON 1998 DVD
SPEAK EASY: THE RPM RECORDS STORY VOL. 2 1954-57
U.P. WILSON JSP Records
This ten track DVD is a unique chance to hear and see the late Texas Blues artist who unfortunately passed away in Paris during 2004 at the age of seventy, he was not overly recorded during his long career so this is an ideal release that showcases his remarkable talents as both a performer and guitarist. The release is part of the Blues Archive series which has captured American blues artists when visiting London to play in Club venues, none of these artists are mainstream which makes the series even more important in the history of the Blues. U.P. Wilson performs here with a three man backing band and leads from the front on vocals and guitar, during the past two decades U.P. has
VARIOUS
Ace Records 2 CDs
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We’re lucky bunnies to have record companies around such as Ace Records. When I first arrived in the USA in 1960, scouring the record shops of New York and Philadelphia, these 53 glorious tracks had already been and gone, and that lusty teenage sailor I was back then would have to wait half a century to hear them. But, at last, here they are. RPM was a subsidiary of Modern Records, lasting from 1950 to 1957, when Modern shut RPM down. It was an important label in the early year’s, with a roster including Howlin’ Wolf, Rosco Gordon and Lightnin’ Hopkins, but by the time the tracks on this compilation were released, they still had B.B. King and
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Albums
DVD
TOM FELDMAN
THE GUITAR OF SKIP JAMES Stefan Grossmans Guitar workshop series
This is the latest in a long line of superlative DVDs produced by the mighty Stefan Grossman team, and each time that I get one to review, I am reminded just how much I have still to learn. This particular session is taught by Tom Feldman who is a superb fingerstyle guitarist in his own right and he has several recordings to his credit. The set consists of two discs, covering most of Skip James recorded output from the Thirties, together with his more recent sixties product (if you can call fifty years ago recent!) Each disc opens with a short clip of Skip James performing one of his songs, before it cuts back to Tom. Beautifully filmed as always with no other visual distractions, you get a split screen showing both hands in play, and it is quite easy to see which fret and string is in play at any time, but just in case there were any doubt, Tom tells you what he is doing. He first of all introduces each song and then plays it through, before breaking it down so that you can follow as required. Each disc is divided into east to follow sections and the first disc covers almost all of Skip James 1931 recordings in Crossnote tuning (DADFAD). The disc ends with audio files of 4 of the recordings, and the quality is a little poor to say the least, but there are plenty of recordings out there if you want to hear the original versions. Disc two also opens with a short film clip and then once more goes to the same format and consists of a further two songs in Crossnote tuning, then going into standard tuning for a few of Skips songs from the Sixties before closing with Skips only song in Spanish tuning Special Rider Blues. As if that were not all, each disc has PDF files that will enable you to print off the full TAB for every one of the tunes on the discs, and having done just that, I can confirm that the layout and print quality are superb. DAVE STONE
Ike Turner. B.B. features a lot here, sounding energetically youthful, billed as he was then as B.B. ‘Blues Boy’ King & His (very jazzy, swingin’) Orchestra. Nine of these tracks are B.B’s, including Every Day I Have The Blues, his version of Merle Travis’s hit, 16 Tons, and a fine rendering of Sweet Little Angel. But, as ever, it’s the exotically unfamiliar tracks which grab you and won’t let go.
There’s simply too much joy in these two discs to list here. Darrell Glenn and the Commodores, The Teen Queens, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, The Meadow Larks... there’s not a dud track among them. If you love musical history crammed with exuberance, then this has to be on your shelf, and all the info you need is provided by Tony Rounce’s excellent notes. ROY BAINTON
b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015 | PAG E 113
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Live
reviews
the BM! round-up of live blues
GREAT BRITISH ROCK & BLUES FESTIVAL BUTLINS, SKEGNESS
23rd – 25th January 2015
main stage
A whole year has flown under the musical bridge since we last descended on Butlins, Skegness, a venue any other date in the year is not associated with blues or rock. The annual moans and groans about the
weather, (the East Coast is always cold in January), the line-up etc; yes this year did have a distinct lack of rock and young bands on the Reds and Centre Stages, but there is the Introductions stage back for a second year, this time we had an opportunity each day to vote for their favourites, those with the most votes have the chance to play on a main stage in 2016.
Friday
Meanwhile back to the main stages Friday night after long journeys for
many the Kyla Brox Band at Centre Stage kicked the proceedings off with an accomplished set, with Kyla leading the band that is full of polished musicians that understand each other so well, we were treated to songs from her recent album and those from her back catalogue. Kyla’s voice as ever was the shining star of the show adding a wide range of vocal tones to numbers that spanned blues, soul and a hint of all that jazz. What’s Left On The Table is a Kyla favourite giving every member of the band a chance
Girls With Guitars at skegness. photo: liz aiken
Danny Bryant at skegness photo: liz aiken
Del Bronham and The Blues Devils at skegness. photo: liz aiken
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to show their skills. By the end Kyla had the audience hollering along to All Night Long, a perfect encore for Skegness on a Friday night when there were going to be many long nights. There was more blues than rock on the two main stages this year with the likes of Steve Gibbons and Trevor Burton Band winning fans with their accomplished delivery of the blues. Girls With Guitars then graced us with their presence on Centre Stage, RUF records has for 2015 revamped the Blues Caravan with three talented guitarist Eliana and Sadie on guitars whose styles complimented each other and Heather on bass with a token man completing the rhythm section on drums. The three women were front of stage with minimal effects and they delivered an array of stylish guitar licks and riffs as each of them took turn to lead and delivering the vocals, they certainly came to Centre Stage to entertain. With boundless energy and pure delight they delivered
marcus malone aT skegness. phoTo: chrisTine moore
cherry lee meWis anD The Blues Devils aT skegness. phoTo: liz aiken
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a set that was powerful, the name Girls With Guitars may have caused some debate but the quality of the musicianship was in no doubt.
Live
kyla BroX BanD aT skegne ss phoTo: liz aiken
saturday
Today opened on Reds with Kyla Brox acoustic, a gentle re-introduction after a long Friday night and as ever delivered an accomplished set. On Centre Stage at the same time was a more energetic set full of energy, Pete Brown and Krissy Matthews, with Cream’s White Room reflecting the collaborations between Jack Bruce and Pete Brown. Krissy’s guitar playing never disappoints and with Pete Brown on vocals that is all he had to concentrate on and he definitely thrilled as the guitar squealed and the chords filled the auditorium. Sunshine Of Your Life bought sunshine in the room and Pete’s skill with the cow bell was demonstrated on Hendrix’s All Along The Watch Tower a great interpretation. The audience were delighted with what they had heard and were excited that following next was Laurence Jones and his band. The rhythm section that gives his style of the blues such depth and colour, provided by Miri Miettinen and Roger Innes. The interplay between Laurence and Roger was magic and we were treated to a mix of old familiar favourites and an introduction to his forthcoming album. There is no doubt that Laurence is raising his personal bar higher every time he plays the guitar he is becoming an all round leader of a band, with this increased confidence and maturity his voice is strengthening as demonstrated on Southern Breeze. His little asides encourage the audience to react when telling the tale about the size of the rat in his room, which inspired a track, this was a consummate set of blues guitar and the final offering Evil from
the Kyla Brox Band kicked the proceedings off with an accomplished set
his next album certainly whetted the appetite for another Laurence Jones CD to add to the growing collection. Following a short break to draw breath and the curtain went up for Federal Charm a hard hitting Rock Blues outfit that knows how to charm the crowd. Last year they played the introducing stage this year they were entertaining a larger more demanding audience. They certainly delivered the rockier end of blues and their new number Hercules shows the band are continually developing their sound with the two frontmen on guitar up front, a band to listen out for. Another shade of blue then continued over in Reds with Babajack who delivered an energetic rootsy based show that had the audience on their feet with delight. Many had not seen the band before and the queue for merchandise at the end proved they hit the right music spot for many. We were treated to the old favourites that are the heart of the Babajack set including Gallows Pole, tracks from previous albums and a new song co-written with Pete Jones with a heavier bass line that suits the fourpiece version of Babajack, they were simply Spellbinding. At the same time Connie Lush was wooing the crowds in Centre Stage, as she delivered her powerful bluesy vocals and the witty stories as she related to the audience the highlight of a strong set was Lonely Boy from her new album. Following this on Centre Stage was the soulful Marcus Malone with vocals full of emotion the atmosphere was electric and the dancing happy. Every song coNtINuEs ovEr...
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was special but Wouldn’t Matter was still ringing my ears as the stand out moment. Skegness was really warming up as the blues was celebrated in every form. Saturday night still had lots to offer with Southern Rock in Reds as Skinny Molly delivered what they do best and they certainly got the crowds excited with a set full of energy and they rocked the night away. For guitar led Blues the ever popular Danny Bryant entertained his many fans as he delivered the music he loves to play and the fans so love to hear. The stage curtains fell and the stage fell silent until tomorrow.
sunday
Sunday started early with Dave Kelly on Centre Stage entertaining with some great renditions that were perfect for early on a Sunday after a late Saturday night. Sam Kelly’s Station House bought another twist to the blues, with his band of drums, percussion and the stylish Spy on
bass, with Paul Robson on the keys directing the music and giving the band shape and form as they played the music they loved and the reggae was a refreshing change of beat as they mixed up the tempo; they hit the groove and raised the atmosphere on a Sunday afternoon. The tempo was raised a further notch over on Reds with Del Bonham Band with Cherry Lee Mewis... what power! What was there not to like superb energetic guitar from Del being backed by Pearl Handled Revolver and Cherry adding her stellar vocals. The cover bands Screaming Eagles and Lez Zepplin (an all-female tribute to Plant and co.) followed and they both were crowd pleasers. For many they were one of the highlights of the weekend. We had some festival favourites, including the Blues Band with Paul Jones on harp and vocals who every time delight their many fans and Dr Feelgood will always bring their infectious energy to any festival
marcus ma lone aT skegne ss. phoTo: chrisTine moore
and everyone wants to dance. Yet again Skegness delivered a hot festival on a cold weekend on the East Coast, looking forward to next year’s line-up already; with the winners of the Introducing stage Rebecca Downes, Lost Minutes and The Della Grants who have the opportunity to share their music in 2016 on the big stage. LIZ AIKEN The Blues BanD aT skegness. phoTo: chrisTine moore
main shoT: BaBaJack aT skegness. phoTo: chrisTine moore
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THE SLEAZE BROTHERS INC.
LICHFIELD GUILDHALL
c con
erts
Live
chris rea photo: liz aiken
10TH JANUARY 2015
Lichfield Arts started 2015 as they meant to go on, with a packed room and good live music. Local favourites The Sleaze Brothers bought their action packed good time rock and roll and blues sound to bear in an evening that featured blues, soul and rock songs played with vigour and energy. With a full band line up of drums, bass, keyboard, saxophone, two guitars, two backing vocalists, and the full throated vocals of Martin Derry, the band played a set that was full of musical invention, and energy that highlighted the ensemble sound of the group whilst giving the spotlight to the talented soloists within the band. The band formed in 1986, and since then have played a number of gigs, in pubs, clubs, and at outdoor festivals, and even in a prison, tightening their sound and style, to include classics from within the soul and rock canon, whilst also expanding with new songs and arrangements. During this concert, they played songs by such luminaries as Wilson Pickett, JJ Cale, Bob Dylan, Seasick Steve, Chuck Berry, Randy Newman, Don Williams, Spencer Davies Group and Status Quo. Don’t Want No Woman by Magic Sam was a fine opener, before the more familiar Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett, was played whilst JJ Cale’s Cocaine was a good showcase for guitarist Tim Perks. Bob Dylan’s Watching The River Flow was delivered at a fast pace than the recorded version, whilst the newest song of the evening, Seasick Steve’s I Started Out With Nothing (And I’ve Still Got Most Of It Left) was a fine showcase for percussion, and harmony vocals. The second half featured a lot of more upbeat music, and feel-good grooves that ranged from songs by Chuck Berry No Particular Place To Go and C’est La Vie to Randy Newman’s You Can Leave Your Hat On, whilst Mustang Sally and Gimme Some Lovin’ became singalong favourites for the sizable audience. A long encore included Caroline by Status Quo, delivered here as a swing jazz number and the old classic soul number Treat CONTINUES Over...
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CHRIS REA
ST DAVID’S HALL CARDIFF 15TH DECEMBER 2015
Full house in Cardiff with an audience full of anticipation as they took their seats to hear Chris Rea on his The Last Open Road tour looking forward to quality live music that included their own personal Chris Rea track from his vast back catalogue. The support act were Island Sky, this duo had wonderful voices and lots of anecdotes to warm-up the audience, we would see them again as Chris Rea’s backing singers and gave a sense of continuity. To get the show going with a travelling theme he opened appropriately with Open Road as the elated audience were treated to hearing and seeing his trade-marked Fender Stratocaster. The stage setting was designed to celebrate the guitar, even the lighting rig, and this axe-man may have shared no conversation with the audience but he augmented every track with a series of projected backdrops creating the travelling ambiance. It was as if the audience wasn’t there for Chris Rea, it was a workshop in celebratory slide-guitar what adroitness as he creates a range of sounds that shows the power of the guitar under the fingers of a master. Where The
Blues Come from the slide was icy as he delivered the music everyone was there to hear, the audience were spellbound and full of admiration that they were sitting in front of him listening to the tracks they all loved to hear including Easy Rider, Road To Hell and more. There was one moment of inter-action with the audience when he used his guitar as a musical scatter gun with an effect of staccato notes that he sent out across the auditorium. What an evening, there was not one disappointed person with the encore just had to be this close to Christmas, Driving Home For Christmas, with that he left the stage but the music continued with a recorded Chris Rea and film track continuing to ring out across St David’s Hall, the crowd left singing feeling good and full of festive cheer having heard some marvellous guitar work. LIZ AIKEN
The stage setting was designed to celebrate the guitar
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GREAT BRITISH ROCK & BLUES FESTIVAL BUTLINS, SKEGNESS 23rd – 25th January 2015
jaks stage
The Great British Rock & Blues Festival at Skegness has to be one of the best value events in the UK and, normally attracts over 4,000 customers drawn by all-inclusive deals that guarantee accommodation, food, and a first class line-up for less than most festivals have to charge just for the music. JAKS is sponsored by Blues Matters! magazine and caters for those music fans who prefer the more earthy ‘Roadhouse’ style atmosphere it provides, complete with wooden floor, long bar, wooden furniture and a small stage.
Friday
Split Whiskers took to the stage at 8pm. They clearly have a loyal following
and most of them appeared to have travelled to Skegness to support them. This is a good band and they sing a fair amount of their own material. The place really took off when the moved into the title track from their latest album Money Ain’t Everything and the excitement did not ebb until the end of their set. Next on were Red Butler, a very talented and award winning young blues/rock band with the eponymous Alex Butler on lead guitar and the delightful Jane Chloe Pearce on vocals. Jane is a powerful vocalist and a real live wire, constantly on the move, jiving, jumping and even conducting the audience when required. This is an excellent band that has developed a wide range of original material and, among other things, has clearly grasped the importance of presentation as well as musicianship. It also helps if you enjoy what you are doing and they clearly do. I’m looking forward to seeing them again soon. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem
as they have already been booked for several other major festivals in 2015.
Saturday
The whole afternoon in JAKS was an extended Jam Session, led appropriately by the ‘resident’ band for the last few years, Roadhouse, and featuring a cast of thousands including the bands from the previous night and many more besides. This was immense fun for all but I could not attempt to describe it in this review. Dave Thomas was first up on Saturday evening. The MC introduced him with the laconic comment “He’s been around for a few years”. He certainly has and what’s wrong with that? It was a good solid set, full of familiar material, four seasoned bluesmen just playing blues standards; Talk To Me Baby, Bus Driver, Hoochie Coochie Man, Don’t Touch Me, Help the Poor, et al. They made it sound like they had just strolled in and from the street and were taking their cue Will Johns and Trev Turley of the Malaya Blue Band photo: christine moore
LAURA HOLLAND photo: christine moore
roadhouse photo:john bUll
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from the first note that the lead guitar played. This is the ultimate accolade in my book. It’s not easy, it may not be true, but it looked like it was. If it’s done properly it’s what the blues is all about. Following this was the very engaging vocalist Sarah Coglan, complete with sparkly trouser suit, and her five-piece blues band. Sarah certainly knows what she is doing, which is not surprising because she also owns one of the North’s most popular blues venues; The Blues Bar in Harrogate. This band really came into their own when the trumpet and sax combined to announce the start of their third number Rocky Mountain Way.
Sunday
Sunday lunchtime with someone I’d never seen before, Richard Townend, accompanying himself on a range of guitars, turned out to be one of my favourite acts of the entire JAKS weekend, if only because of the mellowness of his voice and the
this image: red butler, left: malaya blue photos: christine moore
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gentleness of his guitar playing. Like any blues fan I enjoy a good guitar thrash but there is a limit. This was the perfect antidote to two days of high volume rock and blues. Seamlessly moving from acoustic, to steel, to electric and back to acoustic guitar, he somehow managed to play them all, even the electric guitars, with delightful intricacy and quietly! Most of his songs were original numbers from his own pen and there was even some humour. I particularly liked the Essex Delta blues number (about his aunt who is also his cousin). I understand the same joke works in Norfolk and just about anywhere else. Later in the afternoon I managed to catch another acoustic set, this time from the delightful Malaya Blue. I was told that this was only her sixth live gig. If so, it’s clear that this talented young vocalist has a great future ahead of her. Once again, it was a welcome change to see her accompanied by a trio of acoustic guitars and some very
Live
Roadhouse have become a regular participant in the skegness weekend subtle percussion. I particularly enjoyed her sleepy, laid back, soulful numbers. They showed off her lower register to perfection, and were inevitably accompanied by some wonderfully emotive guitar from Will Johns and his colleagues. Unfortunately the subtlety of her set was lost upon large parts of the audience who, by this time, were well advanced in their Sunday afternoon revelry. On the Sunday night JAKS returned to it’s usual energetic ‘Roadhouse’ vibe, complete with the band of the same name. Roadhouse have become a regular participant in the Skegness weekend and you could see whey. They fit in perfectly, complete with two energetic and attractive young lady singers, writhing in front of a delighted audience and, I suspect, an equally delighted band. Two excellent lead guitarists helped to keep everything on the boil. What was there to dislike? This is a really good band, ideal for the venue, the young ladies choreography reminded me of Pan’s People and the rest of the band reminded me of four first class male musicians enjoying themselves. However, it’s all a matter of taste. The penultimate band on the JAKS stage was Laura Holland who, perhaps unfairly, had to compete with Paul Jones and The Blues Band on the Centre Stage and Dr Feelgood on the Red Stage. However, I managed to tear myself away and was pleased that I had. Sharply dressed, all in suits, this seven-piece unit had Laura on vocals, backed by lead guitar, trumpet, sax, bass guitar, keyboards, and drums. This is an impressive line-up for any band. They are from London ‘Stax’ style and I was left in no doubt as the strident brass section punctuated each song in the manner familiar to any fan of this legendary music label. It was a shame I had to tear myself away but eventually I had to. These Skegness weekends take their toll on any man! BERNIE STONE
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LE BUIS BLUES FESTIVAL LE BUIS, France 21, 22, 23 August 2014
Regular readers will know that this is one of my favourite festivals and this year, the 9th Edition of the Le Buis Blues Festival (BBF), did nothing to change that. For the first time, a third day was added which saw another great evening of music take place in another new location. There can be few festivals which take place in three small villages, two of which have a population under 190 persons, and see a large proportion of the populace actively involved in making the event a success.
Thursday
The 21st saw us gathered in a lovely square in front of the church at in the tiny village of Breuilaufa (165 inhabitants) and treated to an excellent couple of sets from Manu Lanvin &
The Devil Blues, a trio comprising Manu on guitar and vocals plus Jimmi Montout on drums and Gabriel Barry on double bass. With a set list which included many original songs as well as some great covers, particularly of numbers which I remembered so well from my ‘yoof’ back in 60s, think Them, the Stones etc. Manu set the crowd alight and set a very high bar for those who would follow.
Friday
Friday night saw a return to Nieuil where the mobile stage was, once again, set up beside the chateau at the edge of a beautiful lake, a magic setting! Sadly, I arrived too late to catch more than the final number from Hatman Session but all reports were good regarding their set. They were followed by Shake Your Hips, a band I had seen earlier in the year in Riga where they were France’s European Blues Challenge 2014 reps. It is difficult to properly judge a band on
the basis of a 20 minute set so I was pleased to have the chance to catch a full offering from SYH. And boy, what a set they turned in. Singer Freddy Miller has a great stage presence to go with a big powerful voice, whilst harmonica player Jean-Marc Henaux is definitely premier league. Guitarist Olivier Raymond plays great Chicago style blues and with the excellent Ferrié rhythm section of Olivier on drums and Jerôme on bass, this is one damn fine band! After a storming set filled with so much great music, they were joined for a couple of encores by the Hatman Session’s Nasser Ben Dadou and harmonica player, Marko Balland, a perfect way of rounding off the evening.
Saturday
We finally reached Le Buis where the stage was set up, as always, across the main street with the bar and food counter surrounding the church! Opening the evening was the
sophie reed photo: Ashwyn Smyth
Swing Your Hips photo: Ashwyn Smyth
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MonkeyJunk photo: Ashwyn Smyth
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wonderful Sofie Reed who had flown from the US, via Sweden, just for this gig. An unknown quantity to much of the audience she soon had them in the palm of her hand, loudly cheering her attempts at a few words in French and even more so her captivating stage performance. A perfect opener and one that had the audience buzzing! So much so that attempting to cross the area occupied by the audience after her set was a slow process with everyone wanting to thank her and shake hands! Laurent Bourdier, the festival organiser, is renowned for always mixing things up and putting on an eclectic mix of artists and following Sofie were French hip-hop blues band, Scarecrow. It was almost a given that this was a band about whom there was unlikely to be too much middle ground. You either like them and what they do or you don’t! My estimation is that the audience were pretty evenly divided, certainly their intriguing set was pretty
well received by a good proportion of the audience. I must admit that after a few numbers I was happier being in the exhibition space, La Grange, listening to Sofie trying out cigar box guitars, thanks Pedro L’Crazy... and jamming! And acting as Sofie’s translator! Saturday’s bill was a truly international one and third band of the night, Nashville’s The Delta Saints, were very enthusiastically received by what was now one of the festival’s largest audiences. Their set was very high quality and very professionally delivered, their blues tinged rock style getting folk moving and grooving and even their lack of French did not create any barriers. A very tight band featuring some great slide guitar, stonking keyboards and powerful vocals, the excitement that preceded them was certainly justified. But the best was yet to come. Top Canadian band, MonkeyJunk manu lanvin phoTo: ashWyn smyTh
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sWing yo ur hips phoTo: as hWyn smyTh
had visited Le Buis before, some years ago they had played in the church to an audience of around 150. They were very good then but on this night they were in another league and demonstrated why, for the past few years, they have dominated the Maple Blues Awards, and many other awards in Canada and elsewhere. Although only a trio, this is a band that sounds bigger! Steve Marriner superb on lead vocals, baritone guitar and harp, Tony D on guitar playing some beautiful slide and drummer Matt Sobb doing what he does supremely well. I will pin my flag firmly to the mast here. I love this band and their set at BBF was sublime. With a minimum of chat and a maximum of music we were treated to quite a few songs from the most recent CD, All Frequencies as well as other material, most of it original. And to an all including vibe from the stage that made you feel you were part of the band, not just an audience member. I think that this was probably one of the best live bands I have seen and certainly this is a band whose reputation and recognition in Europe, particularly the UK, should be way bigger than it is! Simply superb! Congratulations and thanks go to Laurent and the BBF team for another triumph and roll on next year, the 10th anniversary, and to something even more special which I know Laurent has lined up. I will leave the last words to Steve Marriner of MonkeyJunk who, when thanking all involved, particularly the sound and light crew, described the Le Buis Blues Festival as ‘world class’! Few who were there will disagree! ASHWYN SMYTH
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www.shindig-magazine.com PAG E 12 4 | b lu e s mat te r s! | Ap r i l-May 2015
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CELTIC CONNECTIONS GLASGOW 15th January – 1st February 2015
Now a veteran music event, the jewel in Scotland’s musical crown, Celtic Connections runs at various venues across the city for just over two weeks every winter. Despite the biting cold, including some snow flurries this year, huge numbers descend on the city to catch some simply fabulous musicians from both sides of the Pond and beyond. The closing Transatlantic Sessions concert on February 1st in the city’s Royal Concert Hall hosted a staggering range of musical greats sharing the stage together, playing together in an astonishing jam-like near three-hour session and generally having a great time. The closing line-up included the great Danny Thompson (ex-Pentangle, Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch, John Martyn etc.); US Dobro master Jerry Douglas (now a member of Alison Krausse’s Union Station); Nashville’s Rodney Crowell (ex-Emmy Lou Harris); Patty Griffin, Tim O’Brien, Aly Bain; Phil Cunningham; Kathleen
MacInness; John Smith; Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker, Russ Barenberg, Dirk Powell and many more. If you’ve ever watched the BBC TV series of the same name, you’ll know how it works and who is likely to be there. In previous years, blues music played a strong integral part f the event. Nowadays, sadly, it seems to be taking a back-seat and input is becoming severely reduced. This year on January 30th in a beautiful, small, laid-back venue of Glasgow Art Club, a solitary event called the ‘Blues Night’ saw two of Britain’s modern bluesmen strut their stuff. Now mature enough to dump the ‘Blues Boy’ moniker, Dan Owen provided a generous support shot for London’s Mark Harrison. Both played to a packed house and wer well received by a festival audience starved of blues content. Owen is an interesting sort of guy. Everyone knows the YouTube/ Mick Fleetwood background story by now. His guitar work is heavy, hard, thumping, full-on open tuning with ricocheting slide, and his voice is truly remarkable. He ramped through a
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shortish 45 minute set, bouncing like Zebedee on his stool while growling merrily into the mike. There’s little doubt he’s bound for great things (the background story guarantees it) but, his performance was less than satisfactory and a tad disappointing. Mark Harrison, however, played a cracking set, largely built around his current CD release The World Outside, peppered with his dry and wry commentary between numbers. His subtle slide guitar work was elegantly pitched and his vocals languidly delivered. He lit the hall up with his music and his interesting explanations of blues history. Harrison’s brand of modern blues is clearly steeped in the southern US tradition, with his self-penned songs reflecting both old and modern themes; numbers than snugly fit into the genre with a deceptively easy and effortless feeling. Harrison did the blues proud as its virtually sole representative at this year’s event. We can only hope the festival organiser’s reconsider their current path and bring it back into the fold in future years. IAIN PATIENCE
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NEVER THE BRIDE
STONE FREE
28TH NOVEMBER 2014
11th January 2015
Never the Bride is fronted by Nikki Lamborn, who is a force to be reckoned with (if you can imagine a cross between Janis Joplin and Bette Midler) and Catherine ‘Been’ Feeney on keyboards and sometimes guitar, who also is a gifted songwriter. NTB are renowned for discovering and showcasing new talent and so the gig was nicely started by a duo Ambrose Delaney (namely Jamie and Hannah). Enough Hollywood (in the style of an ode to Billy Jo); Disappear, a very stark but angst ridden song about drug addiction from the viewpoint of a partner; and then the twist on the festive season called The Same Christmas. Never The Bride then took the stage with Nikki strutting her stuff like a demonic she-devil belting out Betty’s Song followed by You’re Not Alone, which was inspired by a homeless person living under the Chiswick Flyover. Like the Way I Do and Loser both powerful vocal performances showcased Lamborn’s vocal range. The Living Tree and Tiger Bay, which Shirley Bassey recorded, again proved what a brilliant pair of songwriters these girls are. The second set changed slightly as ‘Been’ and Nikki performed Fleetwood Mac’s Song Bird, only on piano and just voice (you could have heard a pin drop) a jaw dropping performance and was then joined by Sally Jo on electric violin. While Nikki’s rendition of Alice Cooper’s Only Women Bleed was done in a way Mr Cooper could never have achieved. Don’t Trudge Mud enabled the musicians, Paul Cuddeford on guitar, and Sally Jo on violin to do a dueling banjos thing which was quite inspired. A bottle of tequila was passed around the audience which was a nice touch.Their finale, the self-penned Who Do You Love and Zep’s Whole Lot of Love were real showstoppers and finally April Rain, which is always a crowd pleaser, brought the show to a close - and that ladies and gentlemen was it. I then went home having seen a two-hour high octane set that Daltry or Page would have been proud of. NB: The new Never the Bride CD, Jealousy, is available from 29th December 2014 and is possibly one of their finest achievements.
This is a great real ale pub with four bars, coach yard (partially covered) and an outside music bar room. An abundance of friendly regulars and passing trade make merry with well kept and stocked ales and ciders. Pub landlord and local imbiber Pete Clinton have recently decided to put on a monthly Sunday afternoon Blues Session (Jazz is also available during the week). Glyn Knight is without doubt one of the best UK exponents of Hendrix material as well as being once in the line up of Snatch It Back (Wales’s premier Blues Band). Pete has won accolades/TV appearances from several prestigious continental festival performances in the past. Like many of us fans they are getting on a bit – but none of the passion has been lost. The only thing to show it’s age this particular afternoon was Glyn’s amp! It spluttered croaked coughed then gave up the ghost! We had sampled the likes of All Along The Watch Tower,
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Are You Experienced?, Crosstown Traffic, Foxy Lady and Little Wing when it died! No matter! – during the interval (hastily brought forward) an audience member – a local lad dashed out and brought back a brand new one and so the second half commenced loud and definitely clear and very much to everyone’s delight! Glyn on lead guitar and vocals, Niel Jenkins – drums and Bob Winter bass gave us a blistering finale of Purple Haze, Crash Landing and also snook in a Stevie Ray Vaughan Let the Good Times Rol, l followed by Stone Free and Voodoo Chile. I read many years ago, before I started writing for Blues Matters! – one of our rival publications where the reviewer said that having seen many imitators and would be ‘THE NEXT HENDRIX’ that if you want to see the one who does it best of all then Glyn Knight’s Stone Free was his recommendation! Yes that was a long time ago, but I still find this band exciting and damn brilliant. Their second encore finished off a sizzling
marcus bonfanti jams with Trevor Steger photo: liz aiken
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afternoon and the dancers worn out, but managed a few more grooves with Johnny B Good and Wild Thing when I challenged Glyn Why No Red House? Afterwards he admitted it was to be the ‘biggy’ finale but seeing the place packed to the ceiling and many dancers up on their feet decided to keep it up tempo to the end! I’ll just have to go hear it at another gig some time – can’t wait!
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matt schofiled photo: liz aiken
DIANE GILLARD SISTER FEELGOOD
MARCUS BONFANTI
THE PRINCE OF WALES LEDBURY 1st February 2015
In a tiny pub in the alcove near the bar Marcus set up his guitars, in the Black and White timber framed Public House surrounded by photographs of the array of artists who have entertained on a late Sunday afternoon in Ledbury. This afternoon was the second gig on his solo tour in 2015; he showcased the lyric drenched tracks from his new acoustic ep Borrowed Time; recorded at Abbey Road Studios and I can see Layla and Snowflake becoming firm favourites with the fans. Throughout the two hours he played over two sets we were treated to the depth of music Marcus delivers from his previous recordings and traditional songs including John Henry Blues. Marcus opened the session on harmonica with God Only Knows, and we did not hear the harp again until Trevor Steger from Babajack joined him for an impromptu jam at the end of his second set. This duo blew the audience away as we were treated to some gospel and blues and a stylish rendition of Run Long. Marcus delivered an act full of finesse and charisma and that devilish smile meant you were never sure what he was going to say or play next, so much falls off the cuff naturally making the two sets an afternoon of musical magic. This was no laid back gentle acoustic session Marcus rocks the audience with the combination of his glorious baritone vocals, imaginative lyrics that engage and tell a tale all meshed together as an accomplished act by the chords and harmonies from one of his two Gibson guitars. The session ended fittingly with a track from his EP Don’t Make Me Miss You, what a powerful lyric driven song that left the audience
the MATT SCHOFIELD TRIO, the BEN POOLE BAND THE GLOBE, CARDIFF 39TH NOVEMBER 2014
The opening act tonight was Ben Poole, playing in Wales I believe for the first time and confirming that he is undoubtedly one of the best of the current crop of young British Blues Guitarists. Tonight he allowed electric blues to dominate as he gained many fans with renditions of his signature songs including a great take on Mr Pitiful. The great rhythm section supporting him, comprised bass guitarist Pepe Le Moko and drummer Sam Wade. They worked in harmony together and added a controlled platform for Ben’s power driven guitar upfront so Ben could launch into astonishing lead breaks that were controlled whilst combining flourishes of purity. The atmosphere was electric as they welcomed one of Britain’s best blues masters onto the stage. Matt’s set spanned his career, as he dipped in tracks form his back catalogue of live and recorded favourites including some off his wonderful current album Far As I Can See. Opening with Don’t Know What I’d Do, If I wasn’t Loving You, an old favourite of his, the purity of the lead breaks was ‘guitar heaven’ showing he is in the top league of guitarist currently playing the circuit anywhere. Why? It is the
combination of the style of playing, timing and the way each note is given a clarity and texture that flows and melds into each other. His voice is an added bonus full of confidence blending perfectly with the guitar. Live Wire From Heads, Tails And Aces, has a wonderful New Orleans tone and Jamie Little on drums tonight delivered an enigmatic and poised second line. Tonight the trio included Carl Stanbridge on bass, it was definitely strange seeing Matt without Johnny Henderson on Hammond B this line-up did focus your ears and attention on the guitar playing. This was demonstrated perfectly on Siftin’ Thought Ashes, everyone had a solo as we have come to expect on this track that gives every instrument a moment to step forward. Jamie treated us to some clever and imaginative drumming by discarding his sticks and using his hands, this was real ‘handy work’ with Matt adding hints of Santana’s Soul Sacrifice, then Carl had some time on the bass with a great controlled solo. Ben joined Matt for Stranger Blues and they had a jam that they were both clearly loving and the audience was delighted as they duelled in their own styles to create lively blues. A great ending to a quite sensational night of live entertaining music of the highest quality, a fantastic night to end November on. LIZ AIKEN
CONTINUES OVER...
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DAVY KNOWLES
IRIDIUM CLUB NEW YORK CITY 21st & 22nd January 2014
The young man from the Isle of Man Davy Knowles returned to New York City this past January for two nights at the legendary Iridium club. Playing selections from his two solo albums as well as from his previous band Back Door Slam to a full house each night, it was easy to see why those in the know came out to enjoy these performances from this songwriter/ guitar player whose career is definitely on the rise. Davy opened the show with Ain’t No Grave, which is also the opening song on his new album The Outsider. Some wonderful melodic slide guitar playing impressed the audience from the get go. Dressed in a flannel shirt, it’s easy to conjure up comparisons to the late great Rory Gallagher not just in appearance, but in Davy’s guitar playing as well. It turns out Rory is a major influence for Davy, as he told us in a conversation we had the day after the gig. “Rory Gallagher is a massive influence. His fire, his aggression, there’s also a kind of finesse in his playing. You can hear the Celtic instruments when he plays and I really admire that feel he’s got, it’s something undeniably different. I just wish I’d gotten to see him play live; to see the ultimate working man’s musician. His live shows were so
legendary. Everything I have heard about him; a nice guy, really down to earth and the hardest working musician, is inspirational.” We asked Davy which other guitarists he currently looks up to. “At the moment I’d have to tell you Richard Thompson is a huge influence on me. I got the opportunity to sit down and pick his brain recently and he’s just one of the most incredible, versatile players. I’m a big fan of when he can jump from acoustic to electric and play both seamlessly. They are completely different instruments and he’s really mastered both of them.” During the Iridium performance, there was one point where the audience was so attentive; you could hear a pin drop during one of the quieter performed songs. Not an easy feat in a New York City club atmosphere. “Heavy at times and more subtle at others.” He said when asked to describe his music. I would say its roots based guitar songwriting, at least that’s what I would hope it is”. This pretty well describes the new CD The Outsider. “We did a pledge music campaign a couple years ago; it was really fantastic, and “The Outsider” is the result of that. Musically, it’s a really good progression for me. Keeping it pretty much roots and blues based but also incorporating a lot of other influences I’ve had for a long time but I perhaps hadn’t had the ability or the opportunity to really show. On stage we couldn’t help but notice what a great guitar tone Davy has. We asked him about the guitars he’s using. “I’ve been using Paul Reed Smith’s guitars exclusively for a good few years now. I just feel everyone puts these very pretty beautiful guitars in my hands but these are just the most fantastic working instruments I’ve been all around the world with. That main one I was playing last night, it’s been everywhere with me and I’ve never had a problem with it and that for me is the perfect instrument. The company is so wonderful to work with; lovely people. They’re big music fans and I’m honored to be a part of that.” BARRY FISCH
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wanting more and so happy with what they heard. Perfect Sunday afternoon, packed pub full of friendly good cheer and music that filled the space and left you safe in the knowledge that blues and live music is safe with acts of such energy and quality as Marcus entertaining us. LIZ AIKEN
THE STUMBLE
LICHFIELD GUILDHALL February 1st 2015
The six piece blues ensemble The Stumble played a lively set of original material and covers of blues, soul and jazz songs to a large and appreciative audience when they appeared at Lichfield Guildhall on February 1st. With a lively blues based sound that took in influences from BB King, Freddy King, Booker T and the MGS, and Maceo Parker they played songs from their three acclaimed albums, and new material from their forthcoming album. Vocalist Paul Melville, guitarist and harmonica player Colin Black, drummer and vocalist Boyd Tonner, saxophonist Simon Anthony Dixon, bassist Cameron Sweetnam and guitarist Ant Scapens played a lively set, that ranged from epic six minute slow blues numbers to swinging jazz grooves that got the audience up and on their feet. Lie To Me, the title track from their most recent release started the evening in good order, the song’s insistent groove, and unison guitar and saxophone lines melding seamlessly with each other, whilst Just Stop, a new song was a funk blues piece, but it was the slow blues song, Freedom that allowed the musicians to show off their pedigree. Fluent saxophone and guitar solos were underpinned by some fine drum and bass parts, and the duet for saxophone and hand drums that finished were the song had to be seen to be believed. Small World was a livelier proposition, as was The Hougan, a tough, jazz song, full of spiky interjections and a characterful vocal performance from Paul Melville, who also shone during the set closer Evening, one of those haunting blues ballads that featured superb saxophone solos from Simon Anthony Dixon. The second set featured some wellchosen covers, and was started by The World is Tough, the title track from their first album, which was a lively blues w w w.b lu e s mat te r s.c o m
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By the end of the set, the crowd had been totally won over rock song, whilst the jump jive style of 360 Degree Blues was appreciated by the audience. BB King’s You Upset Me Baby received a good version, with its fast beat being in direct contrast to the slow blues of All Over Again, which featured some fine vocals from Paul Melville, and long, technically accomplished guitar and saxophone solos that received rapturous applause from the many blues fans in attendance. Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home To Me bought up the tempo, and featured audience participation before set closer My Life started out deceptively as a slow blues song, before a lively encore bought up the pace. An encore was inevitable, and was delivered with Hound Dog Taylor’s Give Me Back My Wig, which was a good time upbeat song. The Stumble are rightly seen as one of the country’s leading blues bands, featuring a talented singer/ frontman, a tight rhythm section, and three fine soloists, and are well worth the entry price.
him, what I did hear was his usual high standard and he ran through a set that consisted of songs from the Blues greats as well as some of his own material. He must have coat pockets like Mary Poppins, as he seemed to produce an endless supply of harmonicas from the depths. Great start to the evening. Next up was the well-known local Katie Bradley with a different band, which she was to share with Kirk for the tour. Dudley Ross was her main man on guitar with Wez Johnson on drums and Roger Inniss on six string bass, with Vic Martin on keys. Some of the chatter died down when they began, but Katie’s voice and Dudley’s guitar soon cut through the noise and she proceeded to belt out a great set, showing that she now has earned the right to play with the big boys as she has developed a great rapport with the audience and seems a lot more confident with herself on stage. Dudley Ross is a superb guitarist and played everything from slow laid back blues to fast stabbing funky runs and was obviously going to give Kirk a run. Some great Hammond
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sounding work on the keys from Vic Finally it was time for Kirk to take the stage, and he came on with little razzmatazz (Chambers just isn’t that sort of place) and proceeded to show the UK that he was everything that Jo Bonamassa said that he was. In a recent BM interview, Kirk said that he is still feeling his way with his singing, and although you can’t fault his vocals, it was the guitar that he was here to show off tonight, and the set was full of delicious duels between himself and Dudley, and at times it was hard to tell who was playing what, they were so evenly matched. By the end of the set, the crowd had been totally won over, and nobody was chatting, as they were too busy stamping and cheering. I managed to get photos of Dudley and Roger on bass and Dave, but didn’t get into a position where I could see either Katie or Kirk, but the sound was what I was there for, and they didn’t disappoint. If the rest of the tour goes down like this, Kirk will be back in the UK quite soon, a great evening’s entertainment from all concerned. DAVE STONE KIRK FLETCHER
BEN MACNAIR
KIRK FLETCHER
CHAMBERS FOLKESTONE Thursday 16th October
This is the first date of the first UK tour that Kirk Fletcher has made in this country and we are standing in a packed house, for those of you that don’t know the venue, Chambers is a below ground venue, beneath a coffee shop in Folkestone, and is an intimate venue with low brick arches obscuring a lot of the views of the performance area, (this will vary according to the size of the act) Tonight, the fans are out in full force and it is definitely standing room only. However, whether the fans are there to see Kirk, or to see local act Kate Bradley and her band, remains to be seen. Opening up proceedings is local guitarist/songwriter Dave Fear who had to endure playing against the considerable background buzz of chatter from what seemed like half of the audience, at times I couldn’t hear w w w.b lu e s mat t e r s.c o m
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