Blues Matters 84

Ah, is that Spring I feel a creepin’ up on us, with Summer running close behind? But no wait! A damn frost last night. This weather cannot make up it’s mind over these last few years. One day it is shorts and T’s and the next back to anoraks and rain-proofs. Talk about unreliable, well at least we have the Blues that we can rely on for the number of artists out there who provide us with such a cornucopia of styles to enjoy and discover as we wait out the weather and due to the enjoyment in the music often forget the weather altogether and just float away on a riff or a melody, ah the joy!

So welcome to issue 84 and what an amazing array of articles we have for you!

Please welcome a new member to our esteemed team in Liam Ward, a harmonica teacher and player. He will be leading us through the feature series we’ve been planning around the harmonica and it’s role in Blues, the players at all levels as we talk to them from around the world.

We have more great and interesting interviews and features for you. Once again we bring you an upcoming name in Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar who is a rising star in the USA, alongside the likes of guitarmen Sonny Landreth and Innes Sibun, the vocal talent of Australian Mahalia Barnes, the entertaining JJ Grey & Mofro. There’s also the never stops man our own Mr. John Mayall as well as the legendary BTO man Randy Bachman on his new Blues album while the historical journey of Dave Kelly through British Blues continues and we talk to Jack’s son Malcolm Bruce making his own name out there. Another terrific look into the Blues ‘down under’ and a Kit Chat feature for the more technically-minded. And of course there’s the much sought-after huge review section! (Even more reviews are available on our web site)

So with all that great content why are you still reading this? Turn those pages and enjoy!

see You neXt issue!

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Printers: Pensord distributed bY:

contributinG writers:

liz aiken, roy bainton, andrew baldwin, adrian blacklee, bob bonsey, eddy bonte (bel), Colin Campbell, martin 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, liam Ward, Daryl Weale, Kevin Wharton, steve Yourglivch

contributinG PHotoGraPHers:

Christine moore, liz

annie

others

06

20

Happenin’

All the blues that’s fit to print, with Harp Attcak, Kitchat and more!

blueS Top Ten

The Crazy Blues World of Arthur Brown: His influences and inspiration.

24 blue blooD

94

104

108

New Blues from Ali Clinton, Dave Ferra, Michael Littlefield And The King Bees, Tiny Legs Tim and Dr Blues.

reD lick Top 20

The regular round up from our friends at Red Lick with the hottest sellers.

ibba blueS Top 50

The Indepenedent Blues Broadcasters Association half hundred.

rMr blueS Top 50

The Roots Music Report in depth independent air play chart. INTERVIEWS

32

36

42

46

JJ grey anD MoFro

Flying the flag for the blues... the charismatic JJ Grey.

inneS Sibun

The cutting edge guitarist and former Robert Plant sideman talks to BM.

MaHalia barneS

Daughter of Jimmy with a stunning voice and a superb new album.

ranDy bacHMan

The Canadian superstar gets real heavy with his blues story.

52

58

64

70

76

80

rebecca DowneS

The Midlands-based blues singer talks about her amazing year.

SaManTHa MarTin

An exciting new Toronto artist with sweet vocals and a country blues edge

Sonny lanDreTH

Louisiana slide playing legend talks us through his new album.

MalcolM bruce

Multi-talented son of Cream legend Jack tells his own amazing story.

robben ForD

Recognised by many as one of the worlds outstanding guitarists.

JoHn Mayall

John tells us how The Lost Tapes saw the light of day after 48 years.

fEATURES

12

16

84

wiZarDS oF oZ

Blues from Down Under, part two: ‘The Australian Woodstock’ and beyond...

belgiuM blueS

From Boogieville to Le Blues Café, a whole new world of blues awaits...

Dave kelly

Final installment: The birth (and huge success) of the Blues Band REVIEWS 95 CDS AND DVDS albuMS

121

The best new releases and re-issues.

feStiVAlS AND CoNCertS SHowTiMe

Your front row ticket to live blues.

PHOTO: cHRisTiNE mOORE

PHOTO: PiERRE bARON

PHOTO: KARim HAmid

iAN siEgAl AT THE cluNy

bElgium bluEs

mAHAliA bARNEs

PHOTO: KARim HAmid

farewell to delta groove founder

1950 – May 4th 2015

randy Chortkoff was founder, president and Ceo of delta Groove records as well as being a passionate musician. he had a long list of business success behind him before forming the label 15 years ago. delta Groove became one of the leading and most successful blues labels in the world. to blues fans he is remembered as the band leader and harp player for the popular Mannish boys who also include guitarist kirk fletcher in their ranks.

SHAW TAYLOR HiTS THe ROAd

Celebrated british blues rock guitarist and singersongwriter, Joanne Shaw Taylor, returns to the UK in autumn 2015 for an exclusive Planet Rock Live Presents Nationwide UK Tour. The 21-date UK tour starts at Exeter Phoenix on Tuesday 22 September, and marks the very first time that Planet Rock presents a full UK tour by an established UK artist. A 48-Hour Planet Rock ticket presale starts at 9am on Wednesday 15 April via www.planetrock.com.

Tickets go on sale on Friday 17 April and can be booked from www. thegigcartel.com or by from the 24 hour box office on 0844 478 0898. All tickets are priced £20. Joanne will perform songs from her recently critically acclaimed album The Dirty Truth, as well as songs from her previous three albums White Sugar, Diamonds in the Dirt and Almost Always Never. Her four-piece band features Oliver Perry (drums), Tom Godlington (bass) and Joe Leadbetter (keyboards).

AUTUMN 2015 UK TOUR d ATes ANNOUN ced

v erbals: steve Y our G livc H all tHe blues tHat’s FIt tO PrINt, FrOm arOuND tHe WOrlD

PHOTO: PETER FANNEN

LeAd beLLY meeTS ALbeRT

lead belly fest is a tribute festival with a difference, a night dedicated to the life and works of the iconic folk - blues singer, songwriter and guitarist, Lead Belly, whose ability to perform a vast repertoire of songs influenced the likes of Kurt Cobain and Led Zeppelin to name a few.

The one night only event is at The Royal Albert Hall on June 15th. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly`s “Last Session Vol.1” as one of the 50 albums most influential to the formation of Nirvana`s sound)

Performing on the night alongside Van Morrison will be Eric Burdon, Jools Holland, Ruby Turner, Paul Jones, Billy Bragg, Dennis Locorriere, Gwen Dickey, Laurence Jones, Dana Fuchs, Walter Trout, Eric Bibb, Gemma Ray, Slim Chance, Blues Inc. feat. Mick Rogers, Josh White Jr and Tom Paley

Bonamassa uk tour

followinG the reCent release of Joe Bonamassa’s live DVD, Blu-ray and album, Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks, and his critically acclaimed 2014 studio album Different Shades of Blue, the internationally renowned guitarist embarks on 8-date UK arena tour during October.

Dates include Newcastle Metro Arena (21), Liverpool Echo Arena (23), Leeds First Direct Arena (24), Nottingham Capital FM Arena (25), Cardiff Motorpoint Arena (27), Bournemouth BIC (28), Brighton Centre (30) andBrighton Centre (31). Bonamassa will perform songs from his classic albums including Sloe Gin, Dust Bowl,The Ballad of John Henry, Driving Towards The Daylight(the latter reached #2 in the Official UK Album Chart 2012), and his critically acclaimed 2014 album Different Shades of Blue.

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.

farewell to a free spirit

andy fraser

3th July 1952 –16th March 2015

andy fraser has died aged 62 after battling against both cancer and aids in recent years. he will always be remembered as the bass player in the iconic free and the co-writer of their biggest hit all right now which he wrote aged just 17. fraser once described the song as both a blessing and a curse but admitted it had opened many doors for him. he had been a gifted performer from a

very early age, appearing with John Mayall on the recommendation of alexis korner pre free’s formation in 1968. after free he formed the band sharks and released two critically acclaimed solo albums. after moving to California andy drifted out of the public eye for a long period until the release of naked and finally free in 2004. Most recently he had mentored young performer tobi who he performed with in 2013. he leaves behind former wife henrietta, and two daughters, hannah and Jasmine.

wHat makes Harmonicas Blue?

In upcoming editions we’ll have interviews, stories and articles on all things blues harp. This time round Liam asks what gives the harmonica its rightful place in blues history.

In some ways, the history of the blues is the history of the harmonica.

From the day that some anonymous genius in some southern state started to send mournful, wailing sounds through his tenhole instrument, the course of the harmonica’s history was indelibly altered. The instrument is used in other genres, of course, but nowhere as prevalently, or as naturally, as in the blues. How did this little instrument earn its place at the heart of the genre?

Of course it helps that the instrument has always been cheap. Budding musicians in the rural south could stick one in a pocket and head to street corners to play for spare change. In Memphis and Mississippi, it was a step up from homemade alternatives, and a natural replacement for the violin or saxophone (perhaps where the name ‘blues harp’ comes from?).

It’s kind of intuitive too, if you can

breathe, you can play. It lends itself well to imitations, steam trains, fox chases and the like, endearing it to people and their landscape. So perhaps the harmonica was well placed to make it into the earthiest of musical styles.

The harmonica is a simple instrument. It has missing notes, it can’t play all the keys. Ingenuity is required. What makes the instrument sing, then, is not complexity of melody, but the textures possible within those melodies. To make the harmonica sound good, the player must not just know his music, although that’s always important, he must find a way to be creative with limited resources, to get feeling through at all costs. Sounds perfect for a genre which celebrates guts over garnish, doesn’t it?

No oNe caN ImItate SoNNy terry’S emotIoNal outburStS. No oNe quIte SouNdS lIke Walter HortoN

But there is more to it than that. Something more visceral. To me, the harmonica is the closest simulation of the human voice. (If you look hard enough, you can even hear some guys literally making their instrument speak. Check out ‘Mama Blues’ by Salty Holmes from 1947.) Sometimes playing almost feels like singing. Just as your voice can be a window to the deepest sides of yourself, so the harmonica digs into the depths of the player. Vocal stylings make their way into the phrasings, the tones, the sounds of harp players. Perhaps it is the closest we have to hearing the soul.

Verbals: liam ward Visuals: n ambassa t rust and Peter t err Y / wi K i P edia

This makes each player unique, and this has given us distinct voices at every stage of the blues story. DeFord Bailey’s animalistic artistry, Sonny Boy Williamson’s macho aggression, Little Walter’s electric jive, Jason Ricci’s pyrotechnic revolution: the list goes on and on. No one can imitate Sonny Terry’s emotional outbursts. No one quite sounds like Walter Horton. Or Junior Wells, or Kim Wilson for that matter. These men have become landmarks of the instrument, and icons of the genre.

So harmonica is about the heroes. But it’s also about the everyman. Inexpensive, intuitive and portable, it has been the instrument of choice for children for the best part of two centuries. In Asia the harmonica is the first instrument children learn, taking the place we give to that shrill, most outmoded of instruments, the recorder. Stats flying around for a while state that no other instrument comes close in numbers produced worldwide. Stocking filler, childs toy, and good-time melody maker, the harmonica is the instrument of the people.

it’s a HoHner world

Yet the harmonica has been a product of its time too. It has been a pocket pal during wars and revolutions: there are claims that fortunately placed harmonicas have stopped bullets. Abraham Lincoln is said to have carried one at all times, and is quoted with “two of my favourite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica,” though whether he could get hold of a Hohner in his day is questionable. The sound of the instrument has been affected by the cultures around it. No instrument, however inventive, can transcend its time.

Like the guitar, the harmonica has been male-dominated in a male-dominated world. Though Big Mama Thornton isn’t entirely alone in the female blues harmonica canon, it isn’t well populated. The current most prevalent tuning, Richter,

was originally intended for simple European folk songs and, though versatile, has been begging for updates for a long time. That the pioneers of blues harmonica got what they did out of the instrument is to their undying credit.

Only now is the instrument being dragged into the twenty-first century. Having had practically the same design for 200 years, we’re getting more manufacturers making more new models and tunings; we’ve more creative boundary-pushers, and at last more female players. Technology is helping. Without, the internet, YouTube sensations such as Christelle Berthon may otherwise have remained unheard. Without affordable machinery, the radical designs of Brendan Power could

have stayed a pipe dream. Without globalisation, players from disparate and distant communities couldn’t have continued and built on the blues harmonica foundations of old. Not to take anything away: these are the people who deserve recognition.

So in forthcoming issues, I’ll not only be looking at the big hitters in harp history, I’ll also bring you some lesser-known stories from players, manufacturers and teachers across the globe who are making their own mark on blues harmonica history. Grab your harp and come along for the ride!

LiAM WARd is A hARMON ic A p LAye R, Te A che R AN d f R ee LAN ce WR iTe R b A sed i N s OUTh W AL es. i f yOU’d L i K e TO L e ARN h ARMON ic A W iTh Li AM, visiT WWW.Le ARNThe hARMON ic A.c OM

wiZards of oZ # 2

the early 1970’s that Australia was starting to find its own identity in the way it showed its performances to the people, but there was still the overseas influences mixed in with this organisation. It was around this time also that Australia was planning to stage its first music festival, thought to have been loosely based on Woodstock in 1969. This was a perfect opportunity to bring together the best of the Australian music fraternity in one place at one time and showcase the talent that was evolving. It was also a great opportunity to show Australia that they had Blues musicians that were comparable to the ones who had influenced these artists in the first place.

artists like Dutch Tilders and the group, Chain, built up a dedicated following, and other artists started to join the fold which cemented their names in a genre that was very new to the Australian music landscape.

To capitalise on this new found energy that showed the world that Australia could perform with the same passion as their overseas contemporaries, artists were now starting to perform live shows to take their music into the public arena. This started a phenomenon called Pub Rock, which is still alive and kicking today. The term came from the venues where most of these bands originally played — inner-city and

suburban pubs. These often noisy, hot, and crowded establishments were largely frequented by men and women in their late teenage years to thirties. In the early 1970s Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs pioneered Australia’s pub rock movement. In March 1970 Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs consisted of Thorpe on lead vocals and guitar, Jimmy Thompson on drums, Paul Wheeler on bass guitar and Lobby Loyde (ex-Purple Hearts, Wild Cherries) on lead guitar. They released a cover version of Willie Dixon’s Good Mornin’ Little School Girl.

It was also around this time that Australia wanted to show the world they were a serious competitor in the world of music. It was during

The first major music Festival was held in Sunbury on the Australia Day weekend in 1972. The festival was hosted by a local landowner who offered the use of part of his property at Glencoe, just outside the township of Sunbury, about 35 km north-west of the city of Melbourne. Sunbury ‘72 is now widely regarded as the archetypal Australian rock festival, and is often referred to as “Our Woodstock”. It is significant because of the time, the place and the performers. Many of Australia’s Blues performers took to the stage over this festival weekend including Carson, Chain, Phil Manning, The Wild Cherries, The La De Das and Wendy Saddington, who was the only female headliner on the bill. Saddington was actually the singer of the band Chain from Dec. 1968 – May 1969. It is also interesting to

cHAsE THE suN

note that The La De Das were a New Zealand band that was the launching pad for New Zealand born, Australian Guitarist Kevin Borich. Borich wrote Gonna See My Baby Tonight, for The La De Das, which became a top 10 hit in 1971 on the Australian singles chart.

Borich’s new group, the Kevin Borich Express was formed in early 1976 by Borich on lead guitar, lead vocals and occasional flute with Harry Brus on bass guitar (exBlackfeather) and Barry Harvey on drums (Wild Cherries, Chain). Borich continues to perform at Australian and international events and has won the Heritage Award at the 1999 Australian Blues Music Festival and was inducted into the Australian Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2003.

The Sunbury Festival lasted three more years after the inaugural festival happened in 1972 and more Blues players came forward and took to the stage over the time these festivals were running. Two artists in particular appeared at every festival to bring the Blues feel to the line-up. These bands were Chain and Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs. The famous performances by Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs have come to symbolise the spirit of these festivals and the raw energy of Australian rock and Blues music during the 1970’s. While Thorpe has become a handy and widely recognised audio-visual symbol, there are unfortunately few people who would now know or remember the many other fine acts who performed on that stage, which is a great pity

because if nothing else, Sunbury ‘72 certainly brought together some of Australia’s best talent, presenting two dozen of the best Australasian bands of an era that became the start of something big over three hot summer days.

After this great period in Australian Music and a time when the people of Australia had started to embraced the Blues and recognise they had their own musicians that could match the Bluesmen overseas, a lull in the Blues industry seemed to take place. Blues musicians were still plying their craft, but it had gone back to being followed by the dedicated fans that had been with them from the beginning. The music culture across the world was seeing massive changes with the introduction of Punk Rock, Glam Rock, New Wave and Pop. Although Pop music has always been present since the 1960’s, a huge influx of new artists had brought the genre to the forefront with a new generation of fans. All this new activity in the music industry had pushed the Blues back into the shadows. It wasn’t really until the advent of the 1990’s that Australian Blues was ready to come out from the shadows and show it was ready to live again and grow bigger than it has ever been.

New artists were ready to show what they could do, new perspectives on the Australian blues sound were ready to make their premiere and Blues would once again start to reign supreme amongst an even bigger audience than before. This was the time for Australian artists to shine and to start to cut the apron strings of the overseas countries were they first heard the music that would come to influence them. It was now time to stand on their own two feet.

The artists starting to step into the limelight around this time were Chris Wilson and Geoff Achison. Wilson started his blues career in such band as The Sole Twisters and Harem Scarem before going on to from his own band called Crown of

Thorns. He went on to form The Chris Wilson Band and the Chris Wilson and the Spidermen. Wilson still takes to the stage today and plays the blues with many other blues performers around the country.

Geoff Achison’s career started off by playing alongside the Godfather of Australian blues, Dutch Tilders. Achison was Tilders lead guitarist in the band Dutch Tilders & The Blues Club from 1989 -1996. After having a stint as a solo artist he then went on to form his own band called the Souldiggers with whom he continually performs with today.

tHe Backsliders

Another group that is the mainstay of the Australian Blues mould are The Backsliders. The Backsliders have been playing, touring the festival circuit and recording for 27 years. Slide Guitarist, multistringed instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist, Dom Turner, is the founding member of the group. Drum and percussion virtuoso and songwriter Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil), an acclaimed name synonymous with the best of Australian music, has been with Backsliders for 12 years. Hirst stands as one of the world’s great drummers now drawing on his early jazz and swamp-rock influences to produce a sound that is integral to the Backsliders 21st century blues grooves. Joining Dom and Rob are two of Australia’s most innovative and dynamic harmonica continues over...

cHRis RussEll

billy THORPE

players; the legendary Brod Smith (Dingoes, Brod Smith’s Big Combo) and ARIA award winning harmonica genius Ian Collard (Collard, Greens & Gravy). The two blues-harp dynamos play alternate gigs, each blazing his own trail to the raw energy of the Backsliders sound. Their recordings to date number 13 with the latest release ‘Dark Side’ (2014), featuring their trademark driving Delta and Mississippi Hill country blues sounds mixed in with original 21st Century new blues anthems.

One of The Backsliders floating members, Ian Collard, has his own band that plays a gritty, driving down home sound of foot stomping country blues. This band is Collard, Greens and Gravy and features Ian Collard (vocals, harmonica and guitar) James Bridges (guitar and fiddle) and Anthony Shortte (Drums), Collard Greens and Gravy has been together since 1995. The trio have released five albums to date with the fourth album, Devil In The Woodpile, winning numerous awards including Best Album 2008 and Best Band 2008 at the Australian Blues Awards and Best Album 2008 and Best Band 2008 at the Vic/Tas Blues Awards. Collard is also a member of a new group called Three Kings Already being described as a Melbourne blues super group,

Three Kings brings together a trio of this country’s most dedicated, authentic blues artists, with down and dirty, totally inspiring results.

Officially formed in 2011 by Ian Collard (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Benny Peters (vocals and guitar), and Jason Liu Soon (drums), Three Kings’ selftitled debut album took out the award for best blues album in The Age Newspaper Victorian music awards only a fortnight after release. The album entered the Australian Blues and Roots Airplay Chart at number two before shooting up to first place.

A virtual newcomer to the blues music scene in Australia is Claude Hay, but in the short time he’s been around he has certainly made a huge impact. Starting off as a solo artist, he blended Slide Guitar, Bass Guitar and drums to make traditional blues. He is described as a DIY musician due to the fact that he uses looping technology to create a band vibe without actually having a band. Something he does very well. He has also taken the DIY process a step further and built his own equipment. His double necked guitar was built from a kitchen bench top and his cigar box guitar was constructed using a six dollar baking tin. Hay has released three albums to date as a solo artist with the last album, I Love Hate You (2012), winning him Male Vocalist of the Year in the Australian Blues Music Awards. Hay has recently been joined by two members of another Australian Blues band called Chase The Sun to form the group The Gentle Enemies. They are hoping to release their debut album later in 2015. Chase the Sun formed in 2006 and the band consists of Jan Rynsaardt (Guitar and Vocals), Ryan van Gennip (Bass Guitar) and Jon Howell (Drums).

They released their self-titled debut album in 2007. Also in 2007, they won the Australian Blues Award for Best Group and are establishing themselves as a must-see live act through constant touring.You Gotta Go, the lead track off their self-titled debut album also picked up an Australian Blues Award, winning the Title of Best Song.

One of the hardest working Blues artists in Australia today is a band called Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk. Consisting of Chris Russell (Guitar and Vocals) and Dave Folley (Drums). This duo have earned the reputation of being the hardest working blues combo in the country because of the continuous touring and managing to record and release two albums seven months apart. Russell’s style lies within the Mississippi/Delta Blues approach with influences coming from Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Russell puts his own slightly unique blend in the musical style and changes the genre to Chrississippian Blues to describe his own take on the technique.

Blues is now a permanent fixture on the Australian musical landscape. New artists are bringing their own style to the fore and many of the influences are from the home grown artists. It has taken quite a while to get to a stage that was firmly established in overseas countries many decades ago but Australia has finally got there and can be proud of what it has achieved in this genre of music.

clAudE HAy

SuNbury ‘72 IS NoW WIdely regarded aS tHe arcHetypal auStralIaN rock feStIval‚“our WoodStock”

from Boogieville to le Blues cafÉ

BELGIUM BLUES – PART ONE

Verbals: edd Y bonte V isuals : Karim Hamid / lut conin G s and edd Y bonte (overleaf)

WHeN lOCal bluesmeN tINY leGs tIm aND lIGHtNIN’ GuY HaD a Full HOuse FOr tHe FIrst eDItION OF ‘bOOGIevIlle’, tHeY met tHe GOal tHeY HaD set tHree Years earlIer: tO Put tHe CItY OF GHeNt ON tHe blues maP

Notwithstanding its long and rich tradition in various music genres from jazz and folk song to classical, its countless events, venues or festivals, and notwithstanding a young population celebrating anything from the latest wave to the most ancient, there was no blues scene worth mentioning in Ghent, Flanders, before blues brothers-inarms Tiny Legs Tim and Lightnin’ Guy arrived in town.

gHent, flanders

Lightnin’ Guy and Tiny Legs

Tim were convinced of the town’s potential and started fortnightly jam sessions: plugged-in performances at the former jazz café Damberd and plugged-out sets at the Hotsy Totsy, a famous night-club recently turned into a haven for young literary and musical talent by new manager Marie Follebout. Instead of the usual ‘open mic’ allowing everyone ‘to do his thing’, Guy and Tim opted for a format that would create a true blues scene by attracting young blues artists. And most of all: a young audience. Says Tim: ‘We are the more mature musicians who encourage upcoming artists to share the evening with us and other experienced players

who pop in. That way, newcomers can learn a lot. Also, we don’t allow any star attitudes or egos. The idea is for artists to help one another and to learn from one another’. Typically, drummers, bassists and harmonica players will accompany several singers and lead guitarists, boosting mutual understanding and camaraderie. Lightnin’ Guy: ‘When I started out I wanted to learn, but I well-known musicians upstaged me instead. Most frustrating. Here, everyone can make a mistake. To me, blues is a feeling and it’s only normal to make mistakes as you learn’.

As part of the format, Tiny Legs Tim and Lightnin’ Guy register all candidates, compère, put the lineups together, and most importantly, open and close the evening with a short set. They really are brothersin-arms. Tiny Legs is a rather quiet and thoughtful person, a master of folk blues and the acoustic guitar. Lightnin’ Guy prefers the electric guitar, running a full marathon on stage every night.

The magic worked. Being wellknown and relatively young, Tim (35) and Guy (38) did attract more young musicians eager for a communitybased learning environment. In just two years, a whole new blues scene with new talent emerged.

Seventeen-year old Matis Cooreman studied the mouth harp all by himself at his parents’ home and now is a stunning performer. Other examples are classically-trained guitarist Toon Vlerick, Irish-Flemish folkie-turnedblues shouter Alan ‘Good Times’ Temple, Law student Olivier Vander Bauwede (who took up the harmonica almost by mistake barely three years ago) former symphony orchestra drummer Erik Heirman and seventeen-year old guitarist Lajos Tauber. Meanwhile, local blues artists with a pedigree (like Marino Noppe) and touring blues musicians alike (such as James Hinkle form the US) happily share their music with these young Turks.

As hoped for, all these young musicians did attract a new and young audience, thus securing a

future for live blues. Among them, is a troupe of local lindy hoppers who come to dance to the blues like people used to do. With photographers Karim Hamid and Martijn Soenen shooting each night and sharing their work through social media the next day, publicity is taken care of in a most original and effective way.

Their next step was a really bold one: ‘Boogieville. A Celebration Of the Blues’. Advertised as an all-night ‘event’, Boogieville consisted of master classes for musicians, a picture exhibition about the jam sessions, a record fair, information stalls, a bar serving American drinks and Cajun food, vaudeville-like animation on stage and the dance floor by young ladies in bathing suits playing with balloons, a funny

introduction to blues dancing that attracted dozens to the dance floor within minutes, a party with a blues dj playing blues music only that lasted till the early morning – all in a specially decorated room. This was not exactly your habitual blues evening, since stage performances were limited to exactly two short sets with Guy and Tim inviting selected guests.

Boogieville was a hit. I’ve never seen the blues celebrated in so many different ways on one occasion. I’ve never seen that many young people having a ball celebrating the blues, vastly outnumbering your average 60+ blues fan. The second edition is planned for 21 February and will be even more ambitious and diverse.

continues over...

scENEs FROm bOOgiEvillE 2015

mons, wallonia

From Ghent to Mons is a short trip, but one that takes you from Anglo-Saxon oriented Flanders to French-based Wallonia. So, how does the blues scene look like in the French-speaking part of the country? When Paul Jones finishes his BBC2 show, I switch to ‘Classic 21 Blues’ on RTBF. ‘Classic 21 Blues’ has been the benchmark for blues radio in Wallonia for ten years now, so we decided to meet up with the guy who designed the format, cherry-picks the tunes and presents the show too: Francis Delvaux. His dad wanted him to become a doctor and his mum had law studies in mind, but young Francis opted for ‘broadcasting arts and media’ at the IAD in Brussels. He joined the French-speaking national radio RTBF after graduating in 1972, never to leave it.

Francis Delvaux tells us, ‘Apart from my interest in so-called ‘paraliterature’, writing scripts for comic strips and publishing some short-stories, I spent my entire career at the RTBF – but it was quite an eclectic one, from opera and radio plays to what used to be called ‘variété’ music and rock. Now, the blues was there early on; being interested in rock music I wondered where it all came from and ended up exploring its origins, blues and jazz’. His main interest is North-American music, which led to his programme ‘America’ in 1993 and eventually to ‘Classic 21 Blues’ in 2004. Francis: ‘Our once popular station Radio 21 was losing its audience, frustrating young and old listeners alike. When the entire broadcasting company was reshuffled and Classic 21 was born, I suggested various formats and one was the true blues show that has been going for ten years now’.

Francis: ‘The bottom-line of the station is: rock music and its history. Apart from blues, you can listen to classic rock, rockabilly and roots programmes. Moreover, it was decided to cut the talking to a minimum. A pity, because I like a good story and I’m interested in origins. As a result, I’m focused on current releases and rereleases. Also, I cannot go against the ‘sound’ of our station, to be taken literally, so I don’t put on pre-war tunes unless they’re properly digitalized’. Part of his show is ‘le blues café’, which he hosts himself with much pleasure. The blues café is, in fact, a live broadcast from a specially decorated and equipped space at the RTBF’s premises in Namur. Francis: ‘I don’t really have a budget, so it’s mainly Belgian acts on the bill, and visiting artists if we’re lucky. The café formula is successful, many see it as a way to promote a new album or tour, even names like Rob Tognoni and Neal Black.’

Of course, Francis pays special attention to the blues in Wallonia. Is there such a thing as a blues scene in Wallonia? Francis: ‘Most certainly. There are roughly two centres, one in Charleroi, the other in Liège. Apart from the traditional blues genres one comes across everywhere (folk blues, blues rock and Chicago), I’d like to point out a boogie woogie school, on guitar but also on piano. I must mention keyboardist Renaud Patigny here. I must also mention the odd ones out, William Dunker and Elmore D., who sing the blues in Walloon. No, not in French, in Walloon! For some reason, lyrics in Walloon are better suited to the blues idiom than French ones. I discussed the use of French blues lyrics with Frenchmen Paul Personne and Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine when they

released their Amicalement blues album and they assured me it’s quite a challenge’.

As we empty our glasses, Francis Delvaux ends the conversation with one last remark: ‘‘We have great bands, like Fred and The Healers (who represented Belgium at the EBC) or The Moonlamb Project, but we do lack creativity. Many bands just play traditional blues songs traditionally, that’s to say they’re cover bands. I don’t mind a cover band when it’s really good, but an artist should do his own versions; better still, write his own material’. To really round off, Francis pays tribute to the many people who keep investing time, effort and money into the blues in Wallonia, running clubs, organizing small festivals and giving live blues a spot in their brasserie. Like him? He won’t admit to that, of course.

Francis: ‘I’m 66 and retired, but management allowed me to continue my programme. My fee barely pays for the transport bills from my home in Namur to the station’s premises in Mons, but that’s alright’.

The ph OTO s ON pA ges 16-17 W e R e U sed WiTh The The K i N d pe RM issi ON O f KAR i M h AM id, WWW.fA ceb OOK.c OM /pA ges/K AR i M-hAM idp h OTO g RA phy.

fOR M OR e i N f ORMATi ON A b OUT bOO gievi LL e 2015, g O TO: WWW.fA ceb OOK. c OM / bOO gie v i LL e.be cLA ssic 21 bLU es: eve Ry M ON d Ay f ROM 8 Ti LL 10 p.M. UK Ti M e. LisTe N A g A i N vi A p O dc A sTs + bLU es cA fé i N f O ON WWW.RTbf.be/c LA ssic21/e M issi ON s. OThe R b LU es AN d ROOTs sh OW s, see WWW RTbf.be/ c LA ssic21

bluEs mATTERs’ Eddy bONTE (lEFT) wiTH FRANcisdElvAuX

tHe blueS café IS a lIve broadcaSt from a SpecIally equIpped Space at tHe rtbf’S premISeS IN Namur

ARTISTS: Various, including Sonny Terry And Brownie McGhee, Roosevelt Sykes, Jimmy Cotton, Little Brother Montgomery, TITLE: Dealing with the Devil – the Devil’s music

LABEL: One Up / EMI

DATE: 1961

FORMAT: Mono, 12 tracks

all these labels are now a distant memories where bad cover versions and sub-Max Bygraves impersonators go to die. Arguably in the same category is EMI spin-off One Up. A quick hunt for any kind of information about One Up is that while having a terrifying back catalogue of Scottish folk artists –and Richard Stilgoe – on its books, it doesn’t seem to feature much in the grand scheme of things. That is until you come to OU2164 –Dealing with the Devil.

Good old Satan, eh? He’s apparently inspired some crackers in his time – and this compilation is no exception. In fact, it’s 12 tracks of high-quality blues from a variety of artists, with no filler. A quick check of the sleevenotes – by credibly wellknown jazz author and radio host Max Jones – shows that the bulk of the recordings stem from 1961, and surprisingly are all in stereo. Even more curious is that there’s a volume two, which I haven’t heard, and that it retails for as little as £3 on some internet sites (or £20 down the market).

There’s some very familiar names on here, including ‘Honey Dripper’ Roosevelt Sykes, whose incredibly suggestive Ice Cream Freezer makes an appearance, together with dynamite harp player Jimmy Cotton, who gets the honour of having the title track on this set. There’s also three from Little

COLLECTOR’S CORNER

Brother Montgomery – stand out cut, ‘Cow Cow Blues’, but for me the real diamonds on this LP are the contributions from Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, both as a pairing and solo.

Beloved of both major and minor labels alike – think everyone from Vanguard to Eros – Terry and McGhee, harmonica and guitar players respectively have produced some of the most evocative blues on disc, most of which can be found at a very reasonable price. You get four of their tracks here, with I Need A Lover by McGhee required listening.

For those who appreciate such things – and let’s be honest, you probably do or you wouldn’t be reading this in the first place – the actual quality of the vinyl is pretty good too, being EMI’s usual highquality, Hayes-produced fare from the period.

In short, there’s nothing not to like – if you see this going cheap snap it up, and play it very, very loud!

Budget Blues

Verbals: cHris Gilson

t’s a CertaINtY tHat sOme reCOrD labels are DOOmeD tO FaIlure, but OCCasIONallY leave beHIND a traCe OF GeNIus IN sOme FOrGOtteN PressING Or aNOtHer. HallmarK, WINDmIll, alleGrO…

sONNy TERRy ANd bROwNiE mcgHEE

artHur Brown

arthur Brown has produced an amazing array of music since he first came to prominence in1968 with the seminal Fire. The blues has always been something close to his heart so we knew we were in for a treat when we invited him to share his Blues Top Ten.

01 Howlin’ wolF

thE rOcKING chaIr alBuM

From the early sixties - someone left this for me to listen to when I house sat for them over Xmas. At the time, a revelation of rhythm, passion, electrics, and authenticity. Many years later I traced many of the rhythms on different tracks to specific tribal villages in Africa. Howlin’ Wolf was, amongst other things, a compendium of regional African rhythms. World Music indeed.

02 cHaMpion Jack Dupree

Recorded in 1958, it was the first one I owned. I was at that time going to trad jazz concerts and found this in a shop somewhere. As my dad was a self-taught jazz pianist, I felt an early connection with the piano.

A huge influence lay in this album, from the piano style (that led, for instance, to Fats Domino) to the vocal style. Jack was a Golden Gloves Champion boxer (like James Brown and Jackie Wilson)

and had been a prisoner of war in Japan (like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.) The directness and personalness, including earthy sexual language, was a revelation to me.

03 MuDDy waTerS at NEWPOrt 1960

One of the greats to bridge early city blues and the modern electric styles. Although his album Electric Mud showed he was still experimenting in an influential manner, his album After the Rain is perhaps the completest representation for me. However, I’ll choose

At Newport – one of the earliest released live recordings. Muddy was a great guitarist, and worked instinctively with his chosen group of musicians. His interaction with keyboard player Otis Spann was amazing. He also was a great singer who was good at choosing other people’s songs to sing – such as Willie Dixon and Big Bill Broonzy. I choose this album because my band Blues and Brown in Reading University in 1963 used it as a template for several of his songs that we did in our set.

04 ligHTnin’ HopkinS

BluES IN My BOttlE

Country blues from Texas. A true poet. Not limited by the 12 bar frame. Personal expression. I felt I had found a friend. I listened to him for hours - and tried to play guitar like him. The album Blues in my Bottle, released in 1961, is my choice.

05 buDDy guy

lIVING PrOOF

totally influenced the dramatic way I sing. He is the guitarist who has had the greatest influence on modern music. I saw him not too long ago performing in Austin, Texas. Still passionate. Still creating with each solo. Amazing.

I choose this album because, as these tracks cover the working life of a professional musician, they ring lots of bells.

06

JoHn lee Hooker

OrIGINal FOlK BluES

John Lee was of course one of the main inspirers of the English R&B scene. He did lotsa free form stuff (quite close to jazz in that regard). When told by one English backing band they were finding it hard to know which was beat one of a phrase he said, “Son, when I play a note, that is the first beat.”

I loved his shuffling, elastic rhythms. My band Blues and Brown at Reading Uni did several of his numbers. He was one of my heroes.

He had humour, irony, and imagery close to graphic in his songs. In about 1969, whilst down in some club or other, I found myself singing with John Lee Hooker and Jimi Hendrix in a jam. It was a fantastic experience.

07 variouS arTiSTS

laDIES SING thE BluES

This is a recent album showing what the new females are up to. Passion and artistry and drive. Subtlety and sledge hammers.

08 variouS arTiSTS

GrEat WOMEN BluES SINGErS

Usually I prefer albums devoted to a single artist, but this gives a view of the diversity of styles of the early female performers in a (then) man’s world. They had a great influence on me. Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, Victoria Spivey and Big Mama Thornton opened up my view of what a real woman might be like.

09 MaTTHiaS DupleSSy

My MONGOlIa

There is a freshness about this sound. Blues has always been about reinterpreting original folk melodies and rhythms from Africa, Europe, India etc, in much the same way that gipsy music did. Here the rhythms of the horse, running feet, and rivers are to be found. A joy of nature. The honest of ancient acoustic sounds. Great musicianship. And a sense of fun. The blending of bluesy form with Mongolian throat singing gives a further addition to the blues vocabulary.

10 liu Sola BluES IN thE EaSt

I first came across Buddy on his single The First time I met the Blues, recorded in 1960. Sensational. He

I also like, of the female artists blowing people away at the moment, Orianthi (especially as I met her a couple of years ago when I sang with Alice Cooper and found her to be a bright spirit) and Ana Popovic. This album features Dana Fuchs, Samantha Fish and Joanne Shaw Taylor.

I like cross cultural blues attempts so Blues in The East featuring Chinese musician Liu Sola comes into view. Recorded in 1994 and produced by Bill Laswell, it contains many world influences. Also present in it are Chinese story-telling, folk singing style from China, classical opera style, and appearances by several fine musicians from different traditions.

The ability of the blues to be a continuing absorber of new musical terrains is a testimony to the universality of the concerns and emotions it has always addressed.

Home recording for tHe Bluesman

PART ONE

Verbals : dave ward Visuals : d avid Jones / wi K i P edia commons

DOCtOr Dave Is baCK! tHIs Issue, tHe mYsterIes OF HOme reCOrDING FOr tHe NOvICe bluesmaN – Or aNYONe else INteresteD IN learNING HOW tO COmm It YOurselF tO vINYl, CD, taPe Or OtHer PermaNeNt tYPe OF reCOrDING meDIa

firstly we ain't getting mega techie here as your regular issue of Blues Matters! would look and feel more like the Argos catalogue! However it is nice to get a feel as to how best to get that stonking Robert Johnson style riff you have just torn off onto something that retains the sample of your virtuosity for future reference and, who knows, your claim to fame (and fortune of course!)

Being a guitarist principally, I will inevitably lean towards methods of getting your sounds into the recording process but the mechanics of doing this does also largely apply to most if not all instruments – voice included - and this is the point from where we begin.

Assuming we are going to use a computer based system we need to be able to get the instrument to communicate with the music software recording system of choice. The accepted term for the music recording computer system is the “DAW” representing the Digital (some people say Desktop) Audio Workstation.

More good news here is that there are many low cost and even free “shareware” DAW software programmes available on the internet (some maybe limited time trial programmes which is great because you can try them for a month with zero outlay). One such popular system being “REAPER” which is pretty representative of the audio recording multi track systems out there. So, you can pay anything from zilch to many £hundreds for top end system software based around programmes like Pro Tools, Cubase etc. but this issue we are going to focus on the simpler software based systems .It is also recognised that there are still many users of hardware based multi-track recorders out there although they are arguably less versatile and often quite a lot more expensive than the DAW option, albeit you can still pick up a bargain used multi tracker for very little outlay on the auction site of your choice. There is also a resurgence in what are known as “Field“ recorders – often used for recording gigs etc. (legally of course!) These are

portable/hand held digital recorders which are great for making quick musical notes, like riffs you need to recall etc. but do not have the flexibility generally to manipulate your music across many real and virtual tracks as in the DAW situation.

taking taBlets

One thing you will have to acquire is a way of getting your sounds into the DAW and this can be achieved in various ways. Cheapest options would include a USB cable for your instrument that would plug directly in to the computer or a microphone to place close to your acoustic instrument which could also plug directly in via USB. A well-known and reasonably priced brand of this type of microphone is Samson, but the type to use needs to be a condenser mic which differs from your usual stage vocal type mic. Where you may be contemplating using a tablet type computer/iPad you will need to communicate with it by way of an audio interface – again there are many available for very little outlay and a browse of your usual online auction site will turn up loads of examples.

At this point it is worth noting the different operating systems used by the two major computer manufacturers – Microsoft PC and

you caN pay aNytHINg from zIlcH to maNy HuNdredS of pouNdS for top eNd SyStem SoftWare

Apple as any programmes, software and hardware need to be compatible with the relevant operating system. Apple’s iPad is very popular for recording as it has it’s own very well established DAW called Garage Band and available at very low cost for Apple devices. There are also reasonably priced hardware kits called “docking stations” which can convert the iPad to a fully functioning and highly portable multi track recording machine including the audio interface and pretty much all you will need to get going.

The one investment I would suggest you don’t scrimp too much on are the monitor speakers as they are really important in hearing the mix correctly, this also applies to the quality if you use headphones.

So once you have got some software into your machine, an appropriate interface, also called a sound card sometimes, and

something to listen through you are ready to become the Joe Meek of bedroom land.

sound cHecking

What do we do next once you are all hooked up? Play something through the system would be good and assess the sound – all the software packages have great support/help/ tutorial facilities so if you hear no sound coming through check back that you have done the correct audio set up.

A point to bear in mind here is about monitoring the sound of your instrument so that you can hear clearly what is going on. Sometimes it takes a while to understand that there can be a delay between you playing a note and then hearing it back. This delay, known as “latency” is the curse of the computer recording system but is easily overcome. Two

things to watch here are firstly make sure the software driver is the ASIO type preferably and check you have monitoring switched on. This way you can hear yourself play in real time without having any delay. One really exciting thing about computer based recording is that you are able to use “virtual instruments”. These are built into the software so you don’t even have to have physical instrument skills, if you want for example to lay down a Hammond organ track to compliment your masterpiece. How about creating some backing tracks for yourself to use at the local Blues Club gig?

Keep tuned in until part two next time when we can look at how we actually put tracks down, manipulate them to your liking, mix them down and finally add any finishing touches (mastering) to produce the finished article.

See y’all in BM 85. Doctor D.

suN sTudiOs – mEmPHis TENEssEE. As ANAlOguE As iT gETs

ALi CLiNTON

by the age of 12, Ali had played with the Irish legend Pat McManus of The Mamas Boys and Celtus, Bernie Marsden of Whitesnake and Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash. At the age of 13, Ali made his first album appearance on Pat McManus PM, playing rhythm and lead guitar on a cover of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind.Since Ali began playing/singing, he has been playing in various bands across the country, one of these included his early band ‘Brother’. As a young three piece, they gigged around the country making a respectable name for themselves across the circuit. However, after a few years the band split.

At the age of 16, Ali auditioned for the role of rhythm/ duel guitar for the legendary Uli Jon Roth. With only days to learn a full set, Ali got the gig, pulling off solos from early Scorpions classics such as We’ll Burn The Sky, In Trance and many other virtuoso pieces. Within months of touring with UJR in the UK, Ali got offered to tour with Uli across Northern America and Canada for six weeks for the recording of UJR’s 40th anniversary Scorpions live album, where he played with guests such as Michael Angelo-

Batio, Wayne Findley, and Cofi Baker (son of Ginger Baker). Ali has recently released his debut EP under the veteran production skills of Mudd Wallace, and is currently writing and recording his debut album. Ali’s style is quoted as containing “fire, passion and real expertise” and has been sighted by many as “one to watch”.

Ali’s band consists of a three piece line-up, including Owen Thomas on drums and Will Ganner on bass. Owen Thomas has both a fiery playing style and stage presence, pushing the band’s songs with a high-powered energy and powerful rhythms. Owen’s style is influenced by various different genres from progressive rock to jazz, making him a very versatile musician. Will Ganner’s strong bass sounds are essential to the energy of the band. Drawing influence from funk, jazz and rock, Will can easily adapt to the various moods and styles in Ali’s set. Coupled with Ali’s raw talent, the band makes every performance seem effortless, making them a must-see up and coming band for the years to come.

V erbals: a li c linton Visuals : m ic K s c H ofield

beNJAmiN bASSFORd

the rural setting of Rainworth balanced perfectly with the neon lit life of Nottingham, presenting two spaces to become the grounds that would shape this young artist.

At the age of 16, with an old classical guitar in hand, Benjamin stepped away for drumming in bands and turned his attention to solo acoustic guitar. With some chords learnt and some song lyrics in mind, Benjamin stepped foot into the dark, dishevelled settings of the Brown Cow. This was to become one of the first of many trips to the Mansfield Folk Club. The Guitar Bar in Nottingham also became a regular haunt for Benjamin.

After relocating to Scarborough for University, Benjamin’s passion for music became overpowering, as he began to define more clearly his style and taste. With his influences forever growing & the likes of Ian Siegal, Howlin’ Wolf and Tom Waits infusing with the backdrop of Scarborough’s surroundings, his music continues to grow and develop.

2014 saw the release of Road Sickness, the Debut E.P. from this young artist. A five track studio solo recording, which would gain its first radio airplay on Dave Watkins Blues and Root’s Radio Show. The release of this E.P was followed with a week-long tour covering; Nottingham, Glasgow, Brentwood, Bolton and would see Benjamin return to both the Mansfield Folk Club and then to the newly refurbished Brown Cow Pub.

The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival in Colne, soon became the next host to Benjamin. As a Jessica Foxley Unsigned Act Playing the Acoustic Stage Benjamin received an overwhelming reaction.

The end of 2014 and the start of 2015 seems to be an exciting time as Benjamin steps back into the studio to record his first full album. The new band also continues to forward their work and define their sound. Born under the backdrop of Scarborough's tempestuous sea, The Bassford Bandits bring a whole new tone to some of Benjamin’s original work.

V

tHe great brItISH rHytHm & blueS feStIval became tHe Next HoSt to beNjamIN

dAVe FeRRA

Ising blues, rag times and spirituals accompanying myself on acoustic guitar, slide and rack harmonica. I started performing this material in folk clubs. I was fascinated by stories of Big Bill Broonzy, Rev Gary Davis and the like. I love the way folk singers engage an audience, drawing them into the performance with a story, a joke or a chorus. This is something I try to get into my performances and the nicest complements I have received are how entertaining people find my performances.’’

“The Folk and Blues club at the Penny Theatre in Canterbury is where I met, amongst others, Katie Bradley and Nigel Fiest (harp player, singer and organiser of the Broadstairs Blues Bash). I also had the privilege of making friends with ‘Yorkie’ Al. We busked together, he taught me open tunings and lent me many CDs and even VHS tapes of Son House and Lightening Hopkins. He would just pose questions like, 'Dave have you heard Corey Harris?' or 'you'd like Slim Harpo'. I owe a lot of my repertoire and CD collection to Alan. As a guitarist I am proud of my small part in the career of the wonderful Katie Bradley, a singer who I never tire of hearing. Seeing the affect she has on an audience is magical.’’

“Last year I was lucky to play a number of folk and blues clubs and festivals as support or headline and even took my band to France for Le BeBop festival, which whet all our appetites for playing more in Europe. I am constantly amazed by the effort made by club and event organisers.

Their commitment and effort (often on a weekly basis) help keep music live, providing musicians and audiences with great experiences. I am looking forward this year to doing more for the Blues with Bottle organiser Sue Revell, John Spooner at Spooners' blues in Deal and Dover's own blues festival, The White Cliffs Blues Festival. I am thrilled to be on Friday night's bill with Babajack and The Katie Bradley Band.’’

“The CD, Ain't No Hand Me Down, has received pleasing feedback. I have a love of traditional sounding blues (it is what got me into blues in the first place!) so when Blues in the South said that my own songs sat comfortably next to the old covers. I was particularly thrilled. I’m glad that people get to the heart of what I am trying to do.’’

V erbals: dave ferra Visual s: K enn wards

Dave Ferra Put ON a sParKlING NIGHt OF aCOustIC blues IN tHe INtOleraNt WIFe at tHe brOaDstaIrs blues basH IN FebruarY. Here, Dave reFleCts ON, Well, Dave Ferra

miCHAeL LiTTLeFieLd ANd THe KiNg beeS

the young family man is an automotive engineer, with an uncanny talent of making the Blues come alive to his very appreciative audiences. His previous M.O to The King Bees: being a member of Slow Train and The 78’s. Up until now Michael has only penned a couple of songs though their quality bodes well, hopefully he can continue with that. Whether he is playing acoustically solo or in a duo with Scott Taylor on harp/shared vocals, or in their electric Blues band The King Bees,

with once again, Scott Taylor harp/shared vocals, Dominic Hornsby – piano, Simon Hedley – bass and Giles Holt – drums. The band play mostly Chicago based Blues though they also play swing. The band has played at some great local venues such as The Monkey Junk Blues club @ The Butterfly Cabinet, The Boilershop Steamer, The Tyne Bar, The Schooner, and the Cumberland Arms. Solo Michael has successfully backed Matt Anderson at his Jumpin’ Hot Club gig at The Cluny. Michael plays acoustic guitar and resonator along with an Epiphone Sheraton. Michael excels as a Blues revivalist, particularly when covering J.B. Lenoir, Magic Sam and Robert Johnson. With a fine falsetto and deft touch, his talent demands attention, and has garnered much praise and applause already.

TiNY LegS Tim

IN 2008, He HIt tHe alterNatIve CIrCuIt WItH HIs GraNDDaD’s aCOustIC GuItar aND a buNCH OF selF-WrItteN sONGs abOut PaIN, Near-DeatH aND reCOverY. meaNWHIle, tHIs FlemIsH bluesmaN Has WON auDIeNCes all Over CONtINeNtal eurOPe aND Has releases HIs tHIrD Full album sOON

When Tiny Legs Tim’s first solo gigs met with instant success, the Flemish-Belgian blues circuit was taken by surprise – wondering where this 30-year old debutant came from and how he could sound that mature and authentic. As it happens, Tim had been in and out of hospital for six years, fighting for his life. When he started writing his own material shortly afterwards, he was directly and profoundly inspired by the black acoustic players from the 20s till the 50s. Yet, there never was any danger of him becoming a clone.

For one thing, the theme of his songs alone set him apart: this personal voyage of ultimate suffering and relentless fighting for life resulted into most idiosyncratic lyrics, as in Cortisone Blues(My belly is a war-zone) or Please Dr., Please (Let me die or let me go). Having won that battle, however, equally explains the drive that fuels his singing and playing, as well as the counter-balance in his lyrics: Tiny Legs Tim is definitely not a symbol of doom, but rather a messenger of relativity (Ain’t no use

in counting money’) and hope. His energetic approach expresses just that. Moreover, his most distinctive voice underlines the lyrics with rising and falling intonations, plus a dose of irony.

As for style characteristics, Tiny Legs Tim is a oneman band comprising guitar, harmonica, a home-made stomp box and a hi-hat. The energy produced by the stomp box is alternated with a continuous base-line and melody, both in the slide and the finger-setting. Tim: “Shortly after my discharge, I wrote four songs for slide guitar using that old, battered acoustic guitar of my grandfather’s which I’d found. Slide was entirely new to me, but a few months later I had written an entire set of songs for slide guitar. It just happened.” At the end of 2008, Tim parts with the band he’d played with occasionally and decides to strike out on his own.The first full album follows in 2011 and number three is due soon.

fOR MORe iNfORMATiON, gO TO: WWW.TiNyLegsTiM.cOM

Verbals: eddY bonte Visuals: Heleen seY

dR bLUeS

after playing in many blues based bands during the 60’s blues boom including progressive Blues Rock band Edge playing support to New York Dolls, UFO, Medicine Head, Blackfoot Sue, Atomic Rooster, Roger was not going to miss this opportunity of realising his dream and Dave, who though relatively new to performing live, could sing, particularly Blues with feeling and Man! Could he Rock?

Creating their own arrangements on Old Blues numbers of Willie Dixon calibre, and with Dave’s natural flare for song writing combined with Roger’s feel for music, originals were added to this dynamic Duo’s repertoire, and on the road they went, performing to many appreciative audiences in the Midlands area.

An Album recorded 2012 sold around the local area like Hot Cookies, so it was time to put together a full electric blues outfit in addition to the acoustic based band.

April 19th 2013, Jason Luke Drummerish Rushby, at 23 young enough to be Roger or Dave’s son, (heaven forbid!!) joined them on drums. From playing in a successful Metal Band, Jason too had a passion for Blues, and was also an accomplished Bass player which he took on as another drummer, Johnny Green joined to

complete the line-up. Dave added harmonica in addition to Rhythm Guitar and throughout the following 18 months they played many successful Gigs adding Classic Rock and R&B covers including Yardbirds, Pretty Things, Nine Below Zero, Peter Green, Gary Moore, Dr. Feelgood, Stones, and Hendrix plus more of their own material. An extremely loyal fan base was soon created, many traveling great distances to follow the Band. These people make what we do so worthwhile.

John stood down in August 2014 allowing Jason back ‘Smackin’ them Pots ‘n Pans!’, and Eifion Howells, who played with Roger years ago, joined with his beautiful 5 string bass guitar which he had lovingly made himself, his own mastery accomplished with many different bands playing various types of music in a long and successful career, and Oh Boyo! As he’s from Wales, can he sing! joining Roger with additional harmony on Dave’s lead. This year’s plans are to broaden their playing field, write more material, and record a new album with a view to touring the UK festivals in 2016. Look out for these Guys, as DR Blues are definitely going places.

V erbals: d r blues Visual s: mar G aret ellio

Grey & Mofro - Track by Track

FLYING THE FLAG FOR THE BLUES

An accomplished writer whose style covers all of the best traditions of American music JJ has created something special. With his band’s latest release, Ol’ Glory, due out soon let’s get the lowdown on some of those songs.

Tell you what, JJ – when I played the new record through it’s obviously not blast in your face rock n’ roll. It seems to be going for sequence of moods and tapping into what I’d call elemental music, gospel, blues, folk, rock n roll, funk. Kind of a journey, in your head, is that about right?

I hope so. I hope a seasoned listener would get that because I didn’t aim at that when I was writing the tunes, however when I put them together I wanted it to feel like a show. Comin’ out, not full guns blazing but just come out with a little bit of everything of the song , just back off a little bit and then keep lifting it. Move through different things and different moods. I just listened to it in my head and that’s

how I hoped it would come out when I played the record and it was finished.

TRAck ONE: Everything Is

A Song, has a Ben E. King sort of change, sounds very confident. How do you get such a rich guitar sound? It’s got a sort of Gretsch sound to it.

I tell you, I played very little guitar on this record. I played solo on one or two songs but Andrew plays the rest. Andrew Drew, he’s playing through a Guild T100-D. ’66. He also has a ’64 which sounds just as good if not better, actually. That’s why I went out and got one and it’s what I play on in the studio. It’s a true hollow body, it’s not a semi-hollow body and Jim

there has a whole collection. He’s got an entire collection of all the Fender Tans, all the Fender Black Faces, all the Fender Tweeds. He’s got one of everything. It’s just so much fun to play in his studio on his gear. The other secret weapon to me, which really took it to a different place was, believe it or not, a relatively cheap ribbon mic, it just for whatever reason, just beat the pants off every other microphone we had.

We had never used it and Jim had just got it back and re-ribboned. I don’t even know if it sounded like that before the ribbon was redone. Another secret is Dan very rarely uses compression, he uses it straight to tape. So we record a two-inch tape and smack it on tape pretty hard, to even it all out.

Elementally, it’s almost like a Mel Tormé sort of recording but your

voice is so different from his, you’re getting a different edge on it and it’s a tender sound.

I hope so. I sort of lost my voice while I was singing on this record. Everything I sang on this record was at my house in my personal recording studio.

This is in Florida? Yeah. The studio I recorded all the tracks in is the same studio I’ve recorded every one of my records in. In fact, it’s about the only studio I’ve ever recorded in in my life. It’s in St Augustine, an hour from my house in Florida.

When I was in the studio with some of the guys, some of the lyrics weren’t finished and honestly my voice was going through a wonderful change. When I got home, I really learnt how to sing like without shouting or yelling. It got to

where I just opened my mouth and it would just fly out.

Well, Elvis Presley wasn’t a loud singer.

No. I sing loud live but I learnt that even that doesn’t need to be as loud.I grew up singing over loud bands with crappy PA systems but you can’t do that in the studio. I had to learn to not be the guy I am a hundred and seventy five times a year, for that one day in the studio.

You tell me it’s recorded in Florida and I believe you. But it sounds like Muscle Shoals.

Ha! My biggest influence is the Muscle Shoals rhythm section. Roger Hawkins my favourite drummer of all-time and all those cats. They played on lots of different records. Dan our producer loves all that kind of music as well so he knows.

We’re on mostly the ribbons, mostly the tape and that kind of gear and influence from those tracks.

TRAck TwO: The Island. A very lonesome sound and I wrote ‘Kriegeresque slide’ a la The Doors. It has a load of midnight sounds with the slide. The vocal sounds like it’s down a well. What inspired ‘The Island’?

There’s an island near where I live and it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth I’ve ever been. I’m gonna end up living there at some point; it’s nine hundred acres and eight hundred acres of it is national forest and it is right near the ocean. All the different things and its history made up the lyrics then in the studio I just played acoustic guitar and just added everybody else one at a time.

It sounds as though there’s a guest maybe? I have no notes. Some of the bits of slide that may really leap out is my buddy Luther Dickinson from The North Mississippi Allstars.

TRAck THREE: Every Minute. There’s a female vocal on there isn’t there? Who is it? There is. It’s a friend of mine’s daughter and she’s young and actually runner-up in Miss Florida. Her name is Karen Dennis.

She sounds like Becca Bramlett! Well she did a great job, she came in and sang all the stuff for me in one day over just a few hours.

“I cAN TRY ANd cHANNEL OTIS BUT IT’S NOT GONNA SOUNd LIkE OTIS!”

TRAck FOUR: A Night To Remember is a real foot-tapper. Grainy horns and a great tone from a Fender Rhodes piano. The reverb, there’s the very first Dr John record called ‘Gris Gris, but the only other record I know that has a reverby sound like this is one you may not know called ‘1969’ by The Afghan Whigs.

I don’t know it but I’ll have to listen to it though, cause’ I’m a reverb freak. Well I tell you what the reverb unit was. You’re gonna laugh. It’s a Sansui reverb unit that used to come with stereos in the sixties/seventies with this little psychedelic window lit up in it that doesn’t really do anything. It’s just a spring reverb unit in that and that’s one reverb. The other reverb that Dan uses is another spring one that he has.

TRAck FIvE: Light a Candle, very deep soul sound. It has a Little Milton feel to it and I don’t know if that’s someone you’ve soaked up or heard in your travels. That was definitely me trying to channel my Otis I think in some ways?

It’s gotta be because you don’t wanna be a doppelganger or a tribute act. No and I can try and channel Otis but it’s not gonna sound like Otis! No matter how hard I try! I had to learn that the hard way a long time ago.

TRAck SIX: Brave Lil’ Fighter. Neat clavinet!

Yes there’s a clavinet on that number. We tried to play it through amps and stuff to bust it up a little bit more and get it a little meaner.

That’s the best vocal on the record. It’s the one song I didn’t have lyrics for until the last minute and I knew what I wanted it to be about. It just sang itself man I didn’t even try. It was

my favourite vocal track on the record, so it’s funny you say that.

Sometimes the music’s in your head and you have to channel what comes out. Exactly. The crazy thing was, the day I sang it my back was against the wall as the record was needed now and we’d blown through every deadline by months. My voice was shot and I went down there and it just flew out with no effort. I’m very happy with that track.

TRAck SEvEN: Home in the Sky, there must be a story here as it’s a really spooky number? Yeah it’s just about the whole idea that all this information in our heads, in my opinion, is not just trapped in our heads it’s floating around everywhere and you pull it out and that’s when you feel like you don’t have anything to do with it.

TRAck EIGHT: Tic Tac Toe and the Hurricane. Explain this to me please, there’s a side to you which is halfway between James Taylor and Pete Seeger. The folk Anglo-American tender sounds and that comes out on these songs. I’m wondering if you do solo shows. I do. I do shows where I just play foot drums and I’ve got a whole acoustic drum kit with real snare, real kick drum everything. I play it and I play acoustic guitar. I did two full tours of that a couple of years ago when I had some time off but normally I’ve been so busy and I just love playing with the band. I did four shows like that this year and then I went out and did a thing that my manager and I put together called ‘Southern Soul Assembly’. I got Anders Osborne, Bruce Sard and Luther Dickinson and the four of us went out and we just passed songs around. For me,

the solo shows are as much to about telling stories, talking, bull*****ing the audience, and drinking beer. I try and make it like we’re just sitting on the porch.

Your Jimmy Buffett side! There you go! Sat on the porch just having fun. Funnily enough, we just did a show with him recently and we opened up for him and Alan Jackson in Pennsylvania. I’ve never seen him live and I was just not prepared for how much fun he is in real life and how much fun he is onstage. When he was there, everybody’s attitude was relaxed. He’s so relaxed that even security was relaxed and I learnt a lot from him in two seconds. The good thing was, he watched our whole set and he told me afterwards ‘ I’ve been a huge fan for years and I’m just glad I finally got to see ya!’ I was blown away.

You’re gonna have some fun playing these tunes live. I’m gonna enjoy it. I’ve gotta get on with those guys when I get home because they all live in different cities and we don’t ever rehearse and we never have. I just send them CDs and they learn it. We play the first night because they are that good. I’m not but they are.

check out www.JJGrey.coM for More inforMation

DisCOGRAPHY

Blackwater 2001

Lochloosa 2004

Country Ghetto 2007

Orange Blossoms 2008

The Choice Cuts 2009

Georgia Warhorse 2010

Brighter Days 2011

This River 2013

Ol’ Glory 2015

Inspired by BB King to learn at the age of 12 he has never stopped learning even after being part of Robert Plant’s band. He has gone on to record and release a number of critically acclaimed albums, the most recent of which, Lost In The Wilderness, is out now.

Thanks for taking time out to do this interview, let’s start at the beginning, at what point did it all start for you?

I was around 12 years old when I first heard BB King on the radio and it blew me away, I had to hear more so I went looking for records and ended up getting hold of Live At The Regal which I played endlessly. I did a paper round and got myself a cheap acoustic guitar which I used to try to play along with and started to pick up some of Mr. King’s licks, his playing is so lyrical and melodic that he was the best teacher to have as I was able to

sing the lines and then work them out on the guitar. I went on a musical journey which I’m happily still on, to discover more blues artists.

When I was a youngster we didn’t have the internet with Spotify and You Tube so I spent a lot of time in record shops checking out the blues sections and buying albums on the strength of how cool the record sleeve was. So I would be buying an Otis Rush or a Howling Wolf album without actually knowing what they sounded like, I would literally run home to play the album, it was such a thrill and the more

I read the sleeve notes about the lives of these great players and their influences it made me dig back deeper. So I was looking for Robert Johnson and Skip James albums, it was like a real education for me on the roots of this fantastic music.

At the same time I was also listening to bands like Free and Led Zeppelin because they were very blues influenced, but I think by then I was so hooked on playing the guitar I was very open to any style of music that I could get hold of, so I was into punk as well as reggae, jazz, soul and rock. I also blagged my way into playing gigs with any band I could persuade to let me play, thinking about it now I had some balls because I didn’t worry about making mistakes or sounding ragged I just wanted to learn from

OUT OF THE wILd BLUE YONdER

i nnes s ibun is one of the M ost excitin G G uitarists currently playin G in the uk. after 20 years in the business (solo and with a certain ex-zeppelin vocalist) he’s about to break the bi G ti M e with a new albu M

other musicians so I was very lucky that I was tolerated and accepted.

Who were your early influences? Well, BB King was my first influence and all these years later I still get the chills every time I hear him. My next big influence was Otis Rush, it’s not just his guitar playing and singing but also his song writing which had a huge impact on me and still does, even though sometimes as a young English kid I didn’t really understand what some of the lyrics meant. It was the emotion and conviction which they were sung with that had such an effect on me which is why the blues grabbed me by the neck and shook me. Of course Freddie King and Albert King were massive early influences too, at that time I listened to whatever I could get hold of and blues compilation albums were usually a lot cheaper than regular records which looking back on it now was good for me because that’s how I discovered artists as diverse as Little Walter and Reverend Gary Davis.

My best mate at school had an older brother who had a big record collection and we would skive off from school to go back to his house to listen to music. That’s where I first heard people like Rory Gallagher and Roy Buchanan who are both still massive influences on me. I know it’s a cliché, but Roy Buchanan literally made the guitar talk and cry, I didn’t know how he did it but I love his playing so much and never tire of listening to him. Rory Gallagher also has been a massive influence on my playing and also because of the great songs he wrote. Live in Europe was one of the many records I wore out when I

was a kid, the energy in his playing was superhuman, he really was and still is a god. I guess I have to include Jimi Hendrix too, it was like being smashed in the head the first time I heard Electric Ladyland, it was so innovative and still is, again Jimi had everything, the guitar playing, singing, song writing and the image, watching him on DVD is like watching someone from another planet, unbelievable talent.

Has guitar always been your primary instrument?

Yes, but I wish I could play Hammond organ. There is so much that I can’t play on the guitar which I want to be able to play so I’ll never stop learning, it’s great because I still have the same fascination and love for the instrument that I had when I first started trying to play it. I play mandolin too which I started a few years back after I was bought one for Christmas.

Like the guitar, I taught myself to play it so it’s all a bit hit and miss, I never learned to read music so everything I play is by ear. I’ve played the mandolin on the last couple of albums. It’s good for writing songs with too because it gets me out of playing the same old things. Another good way of writing I find is to play guitar in different tunings, again it’s all by ear and it’s a great way to come up with some different ideas.

The song Where Are You? from the Lost In The Wilderness album I wrote in open C tuning, I was thinking about my mum who had passed away the year before and this song just happened. I also dabble with lap steel guitar which is fun, I tune it to a C6 tuning which gives you all the Western swing sounds. I like to play bass guitar too and play it on the song Old Time Used To Be on the new album. The other instrument I play but have never recorded with is the ukelele but I’m thinking about making an acoustic album next so it may make it’s debut.

With all due respect, your name might not roll off the tongue of some readers, but your CV speaks volumes, can you enlighten us to some of the people that you have played with?

I’ve been lucky enough to work with some great musicians who I’ve learned a lot from. My first band, Blues Explosion backed some great American blues musicians, the first guy we toured with was Wild Child Butler who was from Alabama, he was the real deal, he sung like Howling Wolf and played the harp. We had to work pretty hard to earn his respect which was a good thing because it kept us on our toes. He would never tell us what key a song was in before he launched into it, he used to say ‘if you can’t feel it you ain’t got the blues’.

So we had to be pretty fast off the mark to hit the right key. He had some great stories about Muddy Waters and the Wolf who he had worked with, I couldn’t get enough of hearing his stories. Another tour we did was with Johnny Adams from New Orleans. I was so excited about it as I was such a fan of his and listened to his albums all the

time. Again we had to gain his respect I think because he didn’t really talk to us for the first few dates, which was a bit difficult, but he warmed to us in the end I think.

I’ve worked with Joe Louis Walker who really should be a massive star the same as Sherman Robertson who unfortunately isn’t playing any more due to his health, I recorded Blues For Sherman on the new album for him. Along the way we have opened for people like Peter Green, Johnny Winter, Steve Cropper and the Fabulous Thunderbirds which has been a thrill, when I met Johnny Winter I couldn’t speak, I was so nervous I got tongue tied. You must have some (printable!) stories from the road?

One story that comes to mind is actually when I was at home in Bath, my eldest daughter Amy and myself had tickets to see Peter Green at Moles Club in Bath that night, I popped out to the shops to get us something for tea and as I passed Moles Club, I saw Peter and his band going into the club to sound check. We had opened for Peter several years before in New York at the Bottom Line Club and I had spent some time chatting to him so I thought I would be cheeky and go in to say hello to him. The band went to ask him and I was allowed to see him, he remembered chatting in New York and also mentioned that I had played on a tribute album called Rattlesnake Guitar many years back.

I remembered that my buddy Arnie Goodman from New York had told me that Peter was crazy about pocket knives and fishing so I told him there was a shop in Bath

“BB kING wAS mY FIRST INFLUENcE... I STILL GET THE cHILLS EvERY TImE I HEAR HIm”

called Crudgington’s which was an old fashioned fishing tackle shop, Peter’s eyes lit up and he asked if I could take him there. So the next second I’m driving my Ford Ka through the streets of Bath with Peter Green sat next to me. When we got to the shop I found out it had shut down which was really disappointing, I’m sure Peter thought I was making it up, anyway the gig was great and Peter really seemed to enjoy himself with his new band.

Another time we were on tour in Germany and were in Berlin to play a club called Quasimodos, we met up in the hotel lobby to go to sound check and this German guy comes into the hotel speeding off his tits and asks if we are the band so we say yes and he ushers us into his vehicle and sets off at break neck speed through the streets of Berlin and drops us off at the venue which is pretty impressive, but none of us think to say anything as we get taken into the dressing room which is full of champagne and really nice food. It’s only when one of the sound engineer’s comes in to ask which one of us is Ian Anderson that we realise we are in the wrong venue and that Ian Anderson is probably still waiting at the hotel for his transport.

Notably, you did a full tour with Robert Plant, do you find that a bit of a monkey on your back, or did it help your career?

It was such a great time and

opened up a lot of doors for me although it was a while back now. I used to have to pinch myself some nights playing the Led Zeppelin songs to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Robert is a really easy person to work with and a fun person to go drinking with too.

When we toured in South America it was pretty crazy, we did the Hollywood rocks festivals in Brazil and Argentina with Aerosmith, so during the day we are all hanging out by the pool with the Aerosmith guys. Whitney Houston was also there and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know who she was but to be fair she probably didn’t know who I was either. The security to get from the hotels to the stadiums was unbelievable in Brazil. Armoured cars and motorcycle cops with rifles stopping all the oncoming traffic, it was like something out of a film. In America I was able to meet a lot of my hero’s like Buddy Guy and James Cotton as Robert knew them well. Some of the best times were jamming in clubs after the show.

In Austin, Texas we went to Antones after our show and it was Clifford Antone’s birthday, so the cream of the Austin blues scene were there, I was lucky enough to get up and play with Chris Duarte, Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton, Don Henley was there too I remember he was wearing a long rain coat. Another night in Vancouver I ended up jamming with Robert on guitar and the guys from Bryan Adams band and a couple of Motley Crue which was fun.

We’re obviously here to talk about you, what is your favourite guitar? I love Telecaster’s probably as a result of listening to Roy Buchanan’s Polydor albums,

I like the way they sound, but also that the volume and tone controls are nice and easy to reach because I use them a lot in my playing. I also like to bend the strings behind the nut which is something I nicked from Rory and Roy Buchanan too, they may be a bit tougher to play than Gibson guitars but they are more versatile in my opinion. I endorse G’Zan guitars which are made in Tennessee, I’m playing the Dallas guitar festival in May so I’ll be picking up my new G’Zan Telecaster there so I’m looking forward to that. I also love Gibson non-reverse Firebirds, some people think they look ugly but I think they look cool. My acoustic guitar is a Northworthy, they are hand built in Derbyshire, I have the Ashover model and it sounds beautiful, really rich and full.

As I compile this, I’m listening to your take on Rory Gallagher’s Million Miles Away, I realise you are a songwriter yourself, but is there any song you wish you had written ? Ha ha there are a lot of songs I wish I had written and Million Miles Away would be one of them. Another song that I love to play is Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix, that is probably one of the most beautiful songs ever written, just perfect.

Just about every Beatles song too, I only really started listening to them about ten years ago but those songs are unique. I’m not sure if she wrote it but I Can’t Make You Love Me recorded by Bonnie Raitt is a real heart breaker. There would every Robert Johnson song, also Death Letter Blues by Son House is just so powerful. JB Lenoir wrote the most amazing songs. Peter Green’s Man Of The World has to be one of the most perfect and heart breaking songs too.

“THERE IS A mASSIvE AUdIENcE IN THE EASTERN EUROpEAN cOUNTRIES”

You have an excellent band yourself, but what would be your dream band, dead or alive? Wow where would I start? The Muscle Shoals rhythm section Roger Hawkins on drums and David Hood on bass, Dr. John on piano and vocals, Donny Hathaway on Hammond organ and vocals, Cornell Dupree on guitar, King Curtis on sax.

What do you think of the current state of Blues/Rock in the UK, do you get to listen to any of them?

I think it’s really healthy at the moment, there are so many fantastic young players coming out of the UK and lots of them are female which is even more exciting. I think that maybe the whole X Factor thing has had a good effect, because people have had enough of this manufactured boy band crap and are going back to real honest music. The blues has never been in fashion so it can’t ever go out of fashion but I think it’s in good shape at the moment. I did a festival in Lithuania a few years ago and Krissy Matthews was playing too and he was brilliant, I also did a festival recently with Laurence Jones on the same bill and he really impressed me.

I think I’m right in saying that you’re working a lot in Eastern Europe at the moment, do you think there’s an untapped market there?

Yes I think that there is a massive audience in the Eastern European countries who have been starved of blues and rock music for such a long time. I’ve played in Poland, Russia, Latvia and other Eastern European countries where people have literally had to risk imprisonment for listening to this music in the past, which is very difficult for us in the West to understand. I’ve recently done two tours in Russia through

a guy in Moscow called Boris Litvinsev and the passion and drive he has to get British blues artists over to Russia is remarkable especially with the worsening political situation. I met some musicians and blues fans in Moscow who in the Soviet times risked everything for their love of music, blues records were sold by word of mouth and it was all underground, that is pretty powerful stuff. In Latvia the promoter of a club I played at was imprisoned for listening to a Rolling Stones album which shows a lot of commitment to music so these people are passionate about blues and I find that moving.

I recorded the new album in Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina after having played the Mostar blues festival twice and getting involved with the Rock school there which brings young people from all the different ethnic backgrounds together after the war which is something the politicians haven’t been able to do. They have a studio at the Pavarotti art centre which was set up by the War Child charity, with people like Eno and Peter Gabriel providing recording equipment, so I ended up going back to Sarajevo and taking a long bus trip back to Mostar to record the album with Bosnian musicians.

You have a new CD, Blues Transfusion, out, what can your fans expect from that, and are you touring that CD? Well I tried to make this album as different as possible from the last album, Lost In The Wilderness so, like I said, I recorded most of the album in Bosnia. I also have Clive Deamer from Radiohead playing drums on a couple of songs and Charlie Jones from Goldfrapp playing bass

on one song which was a real honour. I’ve known them both for a long time and they are both incredible musicians. I think it is a pretty eclectic album, hopefully not too eclectic. There are a couple of instrumentals, some acoustic stuff, several pretty straight ahead blues numbers and some more rocky stuff. I tried to concentrate more on the singing too, last year I had surgery to remove two growths from my throat and I’m hoping my voice will improve because of it. I’ve done a cover of Gil Scott Heron’s I’ll Take Care Of You, as well as a cover of Rory’s, I Fall Apart. The only tour I have lined up at the moment is three weeks in Spain with my Spanish band but we have a few festivals too in the UK coming up.

When will we get a chance to catch you in the UK?

We have some festival dates coming up in summer. I’m also doing some solo acoustic shows which I enjoy, I’m using a looper pedal which can take some getting used to and doesn’t always go to plan but I’m trying to keep up with the technology.

check out www.innessibun.orG.uk for More inforMation

DisCOGRAPHY

Superstitious 1995

Stardust 1997

East Monroe 2001

Honey Pot 2005

Farmhouse Blues 2005

Tail Dragger 2007

Lost in the Wilderness 2014

Blues transfusion 2015

LIVE:

After Dark 1999

Can’t Slow Down 2012

01Do you know anyone else with your first name? It’s a fine name to have

I have met one or two girls named Mahalia over the years, but not many. I was named after Mahalia Jackson, one of the most incredible gospel singers ever. My Dad said he saw her sing in a movie when he was about seven or eight years old and knew then that his first daughter would be named after her!

best stuff happens on stage.

03

Name a film soundtrack that you enjoy.

I love the soundtrack for a movie called The Mission, it’s incredibly beautiful and emotive. It was all composed by Ennio Morricone. Otherewise Good Morning Vietnam has a lot of killer songs on it!

04

Miles Davis was of course the partner of Betty Davis for awhile. He used to encourage his players thus, don’t play what you know, play what you don’t know. What encourages you to be adventurous?

02

A great crowd always pushes me, as do my incredible band members. There is nothing like the excitement of playing live with great musicians and singers, you push each other, inspire each other and encourage each other to take risks. That’s when some of the

Suggest a really great song intro that you dig. There are so many killer intros. I love Always On The Run by Lenny Kravitz, Day Dreaming by Aretha Franklin. Walkin’ Up The Road by Betty Davis was my husbands ring tone for abour four years.

05 Stagewear, what styles and colours suit you best? Do you take advice and if so, from whom?

Black. Almost always black, a little white or maybe a little leopard print. I’m not really into wearing colours. I like

to be comfortable on stage, I want to look good, but I need to feel comfortable. I prefer to be focused on giving the best performance and not thinking about sore feet or restrictive clothing. Every now and then I like dressing up a little more girly, but usually leather, lace, denim, t.shirts, sneakers or platforms. I take a little advice from my husband but generally speaking I know what I like.

06 Name a track that really relaxes you.

Stevie Wonder, I Believe When I Fall In Love, from the Talking Book album. My favourite song ever I think, it really makes me happy and relaxed. Or anything from the album Bitter by Meshell Ndegeocello, it’s such a beautiful sounding record. It is dark, heavy, heartbreaking, but also really soothing and warm.

07Your favourite recording by your dad, and why?

but I guess any good R&B music will make me move, I really wouldn’t call it dancing though! Something with a great bass line and a heavy drum groove I suppose.

11

What is a favourite album to play while driving?

I love the whole Talking Book album by Stevie Wonder, but I also find myself listening to a fair bit of Lewis Taylor in the car. I tend to make up play lists of soul, blues and rock for drives.

A mix of Ike and Tina, Aretha, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Prince, The Black Crowes, The Band, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding. Stuff along those lines. I also really love a bit of D’angelo and The Roots in the car!

12 Randy Jackson or Randy Newman? Randy Newman, great song writing.

I love his Soul Deeper or his Rhythm + The Blues albums. Amazing band, and I just love it when he sings soul stuff! I think people underestimate his ability to sing beautifully cause he sings rock and roll so well.

I also really love his latest album, 3030 Hindsight. It is an amazing record, I was honoured to be a part of it.

08

What record label do you rate highly for its output?

I think I’d have to say Motown or Stax. The music that was put out by those two labels was incredible. All such great sounding records. The Motown stuff redefined pop

and was lush and beautiful. The Stax was just awesome.

09

Tell us a recording you can’t bear to listen to if it comes on the radio and why that might be.

I honestly don’t know where to start. I don’t listen to the radio much. There’s a lot of music I don’t like to listen to, but in particular I can’t listen to things like The Crazy Frog Song or those gimmicky pop dance tracks. I’m not a fan of dance pop music really. Or Nickelback.

10

Name a track that always makes you want to dance. I’m not much of a dancer

13 Name a recorded vocal duet you favour and tell us why. I love Don’t Give Up by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, such a beautiful song. I also really love nything Marvin and Tammy sing, or anything Dad and Ian Moss sing together in Cold Chisel. It’s an incredible combination of voices. Duets are awesome, it brings different things out of each artist.

14 Have you ever sat in with or seen Joe Bonamassa’s funk pals and what did he bring to your new record? No I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing them or sitting in with them. Joe brought some incredible guitar playing and energy. It was such a pleasure working with him on this project. He really is an unbelievable player. I am so thankful he wanted to work with us.

15

An extended version of a song that really works for you and why?

I love the extended version of I Wanna Be Your Lover by Prince. It’s incredibly funky. It has really tasty little guitar bits. I’m always disappointed when I hear the short version because I love the outro so much on the long version.

16

Which is your favoured microphone?

In the studio I love a U67, on stage a Shure KSM9. I like that they can handle anything I sing, pick up the warmth and the grit and don’t freak out in the top end.

17

Do you have a favourite Betty Davis cut?

My favourite Betty track to listen to is Game Is My Middle Name, for a start, what a killer title! I love the concept. It’s such a heavy

groove, I love the riff, and the singing is incredible. It gets so exciting when the girls are trading lines in the middle of the song. It is uch a powerful track.

18

What do you aim at with each live performance?

To have fun and connect with the audience. I love being on stage so much, I feed off the live energy and the adrenalin. For me I always try to give an audience everything, I like to push my band to their limits, make people dance, feel heartbreak, joy, get lost in the moment. I wan them coming back for more!

19What is your favourite James Brown recording? There are so many great James Brown recordings. I think I would have to say Live At The Apollo. The whole record is unbelievable.

20Worldwide, do you have a preferred venue to play live on stage in?

I haven’t had the pleasure of playing at many overseas yet, hoping that will change. I love playing a bit of gritty standing room, probably where my music is most appropriate.

Where people are not too uptight and feel that they can be relaxed and free and really get lost in the moment.

check out www.Mahaliabarnes.coM for More inforMation

DisCOGRAPHY

Live at the Basement 2006 Mahalia Barnes & The Soul Mates 2008 Volume 1 2008

Ooh Yeah! - The Betty Davis Songbook 2015

Randy Bachman

RETURN OF THE HEAv Y BLUESmAN

‘I’d gone through a bunch of changes. My personal relationship changed,’ he says, alluding to the ending of a marriage that had lasted nearly thirty years, ‘and where I lived changed, because I moved to Toronto from the Canadian, West Coast, I changed my agent, my band changed and I got a new record label. When there are changes you leave behind a lot of pain, you leave behind a lot of joy and you move on to something new and the album reflects that.’

Bachman’s original plan was to record an album of classic blues songs. ‘I was going to do like Jimmy Reed and Howlin’ Wolf but the old ones have been done so many times,’ he says. ‘But producer Kevin Shirley encouraged me to write new songs to honour the old ones, ‘Pick a Howlin’ Wolf or Jimmy Reed song, write your own song around it and speed it up and make it heavier,and that’s kinda what I did.’

‘I would write the song overnight and go into the

studio the next morning and the band would jam it once or twice and Kevin would go, “That’s it, that’s the power and heaviness I want.” He would get it on a first or second take and we would move on to the next one.’

Apart from spectacular contributions from guests like Joe Bonamassa and Peter Frampton the album is essentially in power trio format. ‘The power trio blues guys in the late 60s took the American Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters kind of stuff that was

treated lightly and honoured it,’ argues Bachman. ‘They had bigger amps and played louder. Hendrix, Cream, the Who and Zeppelin, it was inyour-face, recycling these riffs and bringing them back to America. If you were a guitar player you could turn up loud and play three chords again. That’s pretty much the essence of rock’n’roll and everything else and it’s liberating.’

Bachman’s core accompanists on the album are drummer Dale Anne Brendon and bassist Anna Ruddick. ‘The girls play with wild abandon,’ enthuses Bachman. ‘They’re in their thirties, half my age, but they studied the blues explosion because if you’re a bass player or drummer that’s exciting music. When you put on a Who record or Cream live, like Wheels Of Fire, guys are going crazy, it’s a free-for-all of expression and jamming. So I

Verbals: tr E vor hod GE tt VI s U al s: c A li ANNE b A chm AN

f or M er Guess w ho and b ach M an-turner o verdrive G uitar hero r andy b ach M an’s new albu M h eavy b lues. r andy and his band play with ferocious intensity... a result of tur M oil in his personal life

would say to the girls, “Let’s do this song: what would John Entwistle play? What would Keith Moon play? I’m going to play what Pete Townshend would play.”

‘Then I’d go, “OK, let’s do the next one like Zeppelin,” and we would do Ton Of Bricks.’

The album has a spontaneous-sounding live feel to it. ‘Guys are emailing me complaining they’re getting speeding tickets because they put this on in their car and crank it up and drive like mad,’ laughs Bachman. ‘There’s a lot of mistakes, a lot of sonic errors where the tom toms are ringing and the bass is hitting frets and even guitar mistakes. But we left it because it was a moment in time that was magical to capture. And when you crank it up it’s like you’re on stage with the band.’

One of the guests is, posthumously, Jeff Healey, who died in 2008. ‘We did a lot of gigs together,’ explains Bachman. ‘I contacted his widow Cristie and said, “I’ve got this song, BB King’s Early In The Morning, that I recorded live with Jeff, in the key of G. I’d like to write a song in G and use Jeff’s guitar solo from Early In The Morning. Would that be OK?” And she said, “Jeff would love it.” So I lifted Jeff’s guitar solo out of Early In The Morning and wrote Confessin’ To The Devil and it fits absolutely perfectly. I’m so thrilled to have him as part of this album.’

Another guest, Neil Young, was a contemporary of Bachman’s on the mid-60s Canadian rock scene. ‘He was like me,’ reflects Bachman. ‘He had this dream, this vision and nothing was going to stop him from achieving that vision. I’m the same way. Plan B was to stick to Plan A! No matter what happens, no matter who screws you, you honour your talent and your dream and you never change.’

It’s incredible to reflect that in his youth in Canada Bachman took lessons from Lennie Breau, who later was recognised as one of the world’s greatest jazz guitarists. ‘I was fifteen, he was sixteen and I played hookey from school every afternoon for two years,’ he recalls. ‘I’d knock on Lennie’s door and he’d be waking up and I would watch him play and say, “How do you play that?” and he would show me. He would teach me how to leave spaces and he introduced me to Chet Atkins and jazz trumpeter/singer Chet Baker, whose style was very minimal. He taught me so much stuff I still draw on today.’

AmERIcAN wOmAN

The Guess Who became one of the biggest bands in North America, their hits including the classic American Woman. Bachman explains that the song emerged from an onstage jam, with singer Burton Cummings improvising lyrics: ‘He yelled out, “American woman stay away from me.” And it wasn’t the woman on the street – basically it was the Statue of Liberty. The next line was “We don’t want your war machine, we don’t want your ghetto scene” so it became obvious it was an anti-war song.’

Unlike his bandmates and virtually everyone else on the 60s rock scene Bachman, a

Mormon, eschewed drugs. ‘I was tempted but my fear was greater than my temptation,’ he says. ‘My parents never smoked or drank so when I got into the band and guys were smoking I never did because I couldn’t stand it. I tried it and choked. Then they switched to smoking weed and it frightened me too much. And somebody would bring acid to a pop festival and I would see people laying on the ground writhing and I figured, “I don’t want to do this. I do not want to be controlled by something that I have no idea of what it is.” At festivals like Monterey they glamorise how cool it was to get high but you were killing yourself, you were destroying brain cells, you were losing control.’

Bachman found himself frustratingly out of step with his contemporaries. ‘I’d go to a party or backstage and start a jam session with the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin and the guys in the Byrds and Country Joe and Moby Grape,’ he says. ‘They’d be passing around bottles of Jack Daniel’s and smoking hash and dropping acid and they would last half an hour and pass out and throw up. I would stay for five or six hours! It’s all demon stuff. I’ve left the Mormon church now because I think all churches are a scam but I’m still very spiritual and I still embrace staying straight.’

‘Most of the guys who survived that era have been to rehab seven or eight times and they’ve all come to me saying, “You were smart, you’ve never had to go through this and you’ve got millions of dollars more than us because we blew it all on stuff going up our noses.’

The difference in lifestyle between Bachman and his bandmates was a factor in his leaving the band in 1970, after

“mOST OF THE SONGS I wRITE ARE IN A kINd OF cHET BAkER STYLE”

six hits, as was a gall bladder operation that necessitated lengthy recuperation.

Within a few years, however, he had formed Bachman-Turner Overdrive who had huge international hits like You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet and Takin’ Care Of Business.

‘Most of the songs I write are in a kind of Chet Baker style,’ says Bachman surprisingly. ‘When I wrote You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet it was very slow and bluesy and jazzy, and then we sped it up and goofed it up.’

AN ALL STARR BANd

The songs on Heavy Blues developed similarly, Bachman explains: ‘They’re all basically pretty jazzy and I just eliminated a lot of the chords and cut them down to one and two and three chords and called it blues, played it heavy and called it heavy blues.’

Bachman left BachmanTurner Overdrive in 1977. In subsequent years he had success with BachmanCummings, reunited on various occasions with both the Guess Who and BachmanTurner Overdrive, and released several solo albums. He also, in 1995, toured as a member of Ringo Starr’s AllStarr Band, alongside the likes of Who bassist John Entwistle. ‘I think Ringo was the funniest of the Beatles and it was a joy touring with him,’ he says.

‘One of the very funny moments was we had a day off and a fan who owned a big 1,800 seater movie theatre invited us to see Mel Gibson’s Braveheart. Ringo said, “He’s going to give us an Elvis moment, we get the whole theatre to ourselves.”

‘So Ringo and his wife Barb sit right in the middle. Ringo’s

about five foot four and I’m six foot two and at the time I’m 320 lbs – now I’ve lost a lot of weight because I work out every day – and I go and sit right in front of him! And he taps me on the shoulder and says, “Excuse me, sir, you forgot your f***ing sombrero.” The film hadn’t started yet so I run out into the mall where the cinema was and buy a great big straw hat and go back and sit in front of Ringo with the hat on, as a joke. So we had a great laugh over that. We shared a ridiculous, Pythonesque humour.

‘So it was a lot of fun and the band was incredible. To get to be friends with John Entwistle and Billy Preston and those guys was the highlight of my life.’

FIFTEEN cHORd SONGS

As a guitar player Bachman prioritises feel. ‘A lot of these heavy duty guitar players with a zillion notes only appeal to other guitar players and musicians who admire their dexterity and their knowledge of notes and chords,’ he says.

‘If you ask me to sing a solo of Joe Satriani or one of those guys I couldn’t do it. It’s just [and here Bachman tries to make the sound of a zillion notes]. But if you ask me to sing Sunshine Of Your Love, I’d go [and here he sings that famous guitar riff].’

Bachman actually places more importance on songwriting than on playing.

‘I think so,’ he agrees. ‘I think the essence of music is song. A good song transcends any style. I wrote Little Girl Lost to copy Light My Fire and it had fifteen chords in it. And to make it a two or three chord song, to make it into a blues, I had to change the whole song and that made it a better song. And then Neil Young playing over it made it a cooler song because he makes these gronks and noises that normally as a guitar player you wouldn’t leave in. He’s totally unorthodox.

‘A lot of the songs were unfinished when we started recording. I finished a lot of them in the studio and they’re some of the best lyrics I’ve written because they were not thought out.’

Bachman’s expectations for the album are realistic. ‘There are no record stores anymore and radio formats are so tight that I don’t expect airplay. But I hope enough people like it

that my label says to do one more because I’ve got songs left over and I’m writing new songs and I’ve got other guitar players saying they want to guest on the next one. But I’ve got to get this one rolling or the next one won’t happen.’

check out www.randybachMan.coM for More inforMation

DisCOGRAPHY

Axe 1970

Survivor 1978

Any Road 1992

Merge 1996

Songbook 1998

Every Song Tells A Story 2001

Jazz Thing 2004

Bachman-Cummings Songbook 2006

The Thunderbird Trax 2006

Jazz Thing II 2007

Jukebox 2007

Takin’ Care Of Christmas 2008

Bachman & Turner 2010

Heavy Blues 2015

“TO GET TO BE FRIENdS wITH jOHN ENTwISTLE wAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF mY LIFE”

b lues Matters cau G ht up with r ebecca d ownes recently to find out M ore about her back G round and what has happened to cause this sudden sur G e of interest

Rebecca has had an amazing twelve months. Her album Back To The Start has been getting rave reviews and huge amounts of airplay, and her name is suddenly appearing with great regularity on festival line ups across the country.

Hi Rebecca, how are you doing?

I’m doing fine, good to hear from you.

You’re having a pretty amazing year so far.

Yes, I can’t quite believe it to be honest. Everything is really gathering speed at a rapid rate.

The album has done really well and getting lots of great reviews. I been really bowled over by some of them. I mean, I love the album but it’s absolutely

magical when you get stuff like that, it really makes things seem that you’re not on your own. I’m not going crazy.

I first started hearing you around August of last year, now you’re getting loads of reviews and bookings. We know there is never any such thing as overnight success. You must have been working towards this for a long time.

Well I’ve been doing this for a long time. Not with this band, but I’ve been performing since

I was 13, singing live in bands. Tell us a bit about your background. My love of singing all started when I went for an audition for a band at school who were asking for a singer. As soon as I started singing at the audition I just knew, this is it! This is what I wanna do! I was always singing before that but I guess I hadn’t quite sorted it out in my head. From that moment on it’s been music, music, music. Various bands and incarnations, solo work. I played Ronnie Scott’s when I had just turned 19. I’ve always been used to trying to beat people’s doors down and push my way through. So I’ve not been off the music scene since I was 13.

Rebecca Downes

‘‘I’ve always loved the blues. It was always in my blood’’

Verbals: st E v E your G livch VI s U al s: mick schofi E ld / r A y tr APNE ll

Influences growing up?

I’ve always loved the blues. I grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and all of those kind of artists. It was always in my blood. I met my co-writer, Steve Burkett, probably about four years ago now. Previously I’d written on my own or with other people but found that ideal partner. I find it really helps having someone to bounce ideas off, stops you getting too precious about it. You don’t get too locked into an idea about one of your songs. And then we did a gig that I invited an old friend and producer along to, not really thinking anything would come from it, just to see him again. He had produced lots of things with me but never seen me live. After the gig he just said he wanted to help us, and support us as much as he could. He

produced the last album and has given me huge amounts of support, and advice. That’s Mark Stewart from Wolverhampton. He and Steve have been the turning point. Obviously I push as hard as I can doing what I do, but they were the key I think.

Before meeting them, you said blues was always in you, but were you playing different things? It’s always been there, the songs I’ve written have always been in that vein. I was in heavier rock bands when I was younger. Even then any solo spots I did were heavily blues based. I did a lot of jazz singing as well but blues is where my soul is.

You can hear some jazzy influences in your voice.

I think it does come out from time to time. I want to find

different tones and textures all the time. I try to aim for different voices on an album, and live as well, so it’s not one direction all the time. Just like on guitar I think the voice should go where the song takes you. I’m fascinated by voice, you know all the singing techniques. I teach that too. I’m always trying to extend my tone, my range, I’m fascinated by how the body works in relation to the voice.

And now it’s all starting to pay off. You know, I just feel so grateful. Not just for me, but for the band and everyone that’s been with me and behind me. It’s been a long road. The biggest privilege for me is playing gigs where people have paid to come along and see you. That’s

why I’m strict with myself in preparation, because they deserve the best you can do. I’m never going to get complacent. So long as I can keep gigging I’m happy.

Your album, Back To The Start, is that your debut?

Yes, it’s the debut album, there was an EP before that but under a different name, and we’ve just recorded a video for the song Messed Up. It takes such a long time to put an album together. To whittle down all of the ideas and fully fledged songs until you get to hopefully your best work. We’ve just started working on the next album. We’ve got about 15 ideas at the moment. We’ll see how they develop.

Do you have a release date in mind? I would say before the years out. More towards the winter. We want it to be the best it can be.

Another part of your exciting year has been touring with Norman Beaker in Serbia. That was incredible, it came out of nowhere. Norman really likes the album and played it on the tour bus with Chris Farlowe, and they all liked it. I went to see them at a blues club and had the privilege to get up and sing with them. We talked afterwards like you do, wouldn’t it be brilliant to work together, and then I got a message, you OK to do something next week? I was like wow! It just came out of nowhere. I just had a brilliant time, we did seven gigs in

seven days. I am hoping to do something else with them later in the year. Also hopefully I can go back Serbia with my band too.

You read on your website that you are going to play some shows in Los Angeles too. Yes, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It’ll be great, I did some gigs in New York last year and the same guy has fixed it up for me. He’s the drummer from Diamond Head, Carl Wilcox. He absolutely loves blues and jazz, so he’s set up the gigs and a band for me. We’re just finalising everything but it should go ahead. When I played in New York I was apprehensive about what they would expect but they were really nice, very receptive.

The guys in your band, have they been with you for a long time? There have been a couple of changes in the lineup due to work and family commitments, but they are pretty settled now, a pretty tight unit.

I guess that can be tough. Reaching a level of success that leads to more bookings and not everyone can make that commitment. It’s very tough organising five people to be in the same place all the time for gigs and rehearsals. I’m very lucky to have the guys on board that I have. I always say, it’s my name on the door but it’s a band. They know how much I value their commitment.

Did you ever go through moments where you thought this just isn’t going to happen?

Of course you have dark times but you pick yourself up again in the morning and start again. If it’s in you, if it’s really there, you’re just not going to stop. I’ve had moments when

I’ve thought am I driving myself mad? But then when you get really good reviews or something it makes you think it’s OK. So long as gigs keep coming in I’m happy.

With the second album, do you think you’ll change anything? You always hear the term, difficult second album. It really hasn’t felt difficult. Because we constantly write it just feels normal. I think it’ll be more bluesy but that’s just because that’s where the songs are taking it. I just want the best possible songs that work cohesively. If anything the songs are maybe a bit deeper blues, plus a couple of more oddball songs. I’m really chuffed with them so far. Some of the songs we are playing live now so it’ll be interesting how they develop.

Well good luck with everything. Maybe next year will get even better.

Thank you Steve. It would be amazing to keep the momentum going.

for More inforMation check out: www.rebeccadownes.coM

“I TRY TO AIm FOR dIFFERENT vOIcES ON AN ALBUm”

Samantha Martin SENd THE NIGHTINGALE

s end the n i G htin G ale is toronto-based s a M antha Martin’s lyrical and M usical dedication to her M other. blues M atters! G ets the lowdown on this new albu M and how a factor G rant helped start the ball rollin G...

In the liner notes she shares a lovely pensive photo of her mother and quotes Oscar Wilde from The Nightingale and the Rose. So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.

However, this album is more than a lament, much more. From the opening track this little lady with the big powerful voice grabs hold of your heart and doesn’t let go. Give Me Your Mercy was written right after I found out my mom was diagnosed with cancer. That lady always got a shit hand at the card table of life and she was a bad bluffer. She had a hard life, and I really felt bad that she didn’t find more happiness before she got sick.

Samantha’s strong gritty voice here reminds me of an early Bonnie Bramlett but with more of a grown up edge to it that will occasionally crack at just the right place. And on occasion she has that Linda Ronstadt tear in her voice.

‘I think my projection is more thanks to my dad telling me to sing to the person in the back of the room instead of shoe gazing because at the age of 14 I was a lacklustre performer.’

Samantha has been compared to everyone from Janis to Mavis, but she’s her own driven self. This is her Canadian country roots album inspired by desire, family and music absorbed through folks like Hank Williams, Big Momma Thornton and The Staple Singers. Send The Nightingale carries a wonderful gospel feel throughout the album. ‘I just sing. Whatever comes out is what is meant to be and is my voice. I had listened to Linda Ronstadt as a child, she was a favourite of my

mothers, but I had never heard of Bonnie Bramlett until I released this record and everyone started comparing me to her. I prefer the Bonnie comparison over the Janis comparison. Every female vocalist who doesn’t sing like a small wounded bird gets compared to Janis. I like to listen to Janis Joplin as much as the next person, but I don’t sound like her even though that is the general public’s go to comparison and cover song request.

First song I ever learned was I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams. I had a lot of country music in my life thanks to my dad and he was a big Beatles fan too, but my mom was a rocker. Janis, The Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt. Mom really loved blues based music. Personally, I love a lot of music that my parents listened to, I just dug a little deeper. Muscle Shoals soul and blues was what I was listening to when I wrote Send The Nightingale.’

Another album ago Samantha

Martin drove headlong into the heart of Mississippi looking for the spirit of Robert Johnson. She stayed and played at the Hopson Plantation, just a couple miles from the crossroads where cotton, hard working poor folk, superstition and religion gave birth to the Blues and much that followed. Somewhere out there in the night the spirits of Sam Cook and Son House play in joints like The Ground Zero Blues Club or Red’s Lounge.

‘Mississippi Sun was written when I visited Clarksdale, and was staying in a place called the Shack Up Inn. Basically it’s old sharecropper shacks that have been rescued from the area and set up around an old cotton mill, kind of like cabins. It was February and I was sitting on the porch in a tank top with a beer. You think I would have wrote a blues tune, but out popped a country song. Probably for the best. I don’t force songs out just because I want to write a certain style of

tune. My songs are better when they are organic.’

There’s a lot of organic country in her music. Close your eyes and let the album take you to any farm town beer joint on a Saturday night. The band is off in the corner singing country songs of love, heartache, hope and salvation. Hard working town and country folks leave half empty drinks for a lust filled last slow dance evoking Milton’s, nightingale where passion fraught with frailty and uncertainty fall to siren song moments of desire, sometimes with consequence. Addicted.

‘...a fast burning love. Infatuation with a person can be a dangerous thing. When we are young we are quick to mistake lust for love. When your whole world revolves around one person. When it crashes its catastrophic, much like a drug addiction.’

Won’t You Stay, two minutes and fifty one seconds of a fortunate son’s siren song. ‘This was written by guitarist and my partner, Mikey McCallum. He wrote the music as an upbeat Roots Reggae vibe while jamming one night. I recorded him doing it and then I wrote the lyrics about how I met him. Because we don’t have drums or bass,

“ONE mORE dAY wAS

ORIGINALLY A SLOw cLASSIc cOUNTRY SONG”

Roots Reggae doesn’t quite work for this outfit, so we slowed it down into a soul tune. He is the lucky guy and he knows it, or at least the last time I checked he did.’

Lucky guitarist Mikey shares the stage with eye and vocal candy, Delta Sugar giving Samantha those sweet three part harmonies throughout the album. In lieu of a drummer and bass player Delta Sugar keeps the time with handclaps and honestly, I didn’t even notice the lack thereof through first playing, and the album certainly does not lack from it.

‘Stacie Tabb and Sherie

Marshall are my co-vocalists. Stacie was born Montreal, and Sherie in Trinidad. For live shows we actually try to have a drummer as often as financially feasible. Stomps and claps are hard to reproduce live as I have my hands and head full enough trying to play guitar and sing.’

Not surprisingly, Samantha named her resonator, Birdie.

‘Birdie is from Texas, she’s from Republic Guitars. I was looking at different resos online, when I came across her. Birdie was on

sale with a case, pick up and shipping. I think it cost me $700. Online she was silver, but when I opened it, I was actually excited it was gold! My boyfriend thought I was crazy. ‘You bought a guitar and didn’t even play it, see it, hear it? It’s not an audio book from Amazon, Sam. It’s a guitar!’

I wish there was more of Birdie on the album, but that’s just me. ‘I play some tunes at live shows with it. I just hadn’t written any decent tunes on slide for the album and the action is way too high to fret on that guitar. I love my acoustic Gibson Blues King. It’s a parlour so its small and I don’t look like Kermit the Frog trying to play a giant guitar that I can barely get my arm over with two little legs sticking out from underneath.’ This nightingale has continuity though hard to place in any specific genre.

‘People have had a hard time nailing down what genre of music I play, making me

somewhat difficult to market, not on purpose of course. Most people call me Roots as most of music is rooted in Early American styles of music. Is it Blues? Often, but not necessarily in the traditional sense of the word. Is it Soul? It’s my soul, so yeah I suppose it is. Is it Gospel? It sounds like early gospel at times, even though I don’t go to church. Is it Country? Classic country in the Hank Williams sense, but not pop music in a cowboy hat kind of country.’

One More Day is country roots, but could easily crossover to cowboy hat pop. It’s catchy with a good dance beat and been brain worming me for two days. I’m still not sick of it.

‘One More Day was originally a really slow classic country song but I had to pump it up and it’s one of the only truly fast songs on the record. My family worried about me and the stress of building a career in a fickle business was causing me. I kept making the, I’m too busy, excuse and my

mom and dad both reminded me that tomorrow is never promised, so make time today. Because of my ambition to have a successful career, at times I lost sight of what was truly important, which are the people in your life that will be there to celebrate your wins and there to pick you up if you don’t achieve your dream. ‘One more day to ramble, one more day to dream, and one more day to love you’.

Samantha Martin supported her early music career with day jobs while at night roughing up her voice ‘projecting’ over lead guitarists who probably thought they were the show. After taking her parents’ suggestion of making time for her career it went serious when earning a FACTOR grant and hiring Sarah French Publicity, which sent me this marvelous CD.

‘FACTOR grants are intense, they require a lot of thought and planning. I was fortunate that my former management and label helped me with the process of applying and putting my vision for the recording into words and a plan of action. I don’t want to put this much time, money, and blood into a career to sell 400 records to my family and friends. I am a full time musician now, which is why I needed Sarah.’

A poet is a nightingale who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; – Shelley

find out More at www.saManthaMartin.ca for More inforMation

DisCOGRAPHY

Back Home 2008

Samantha Martin & The Haggard 2011

Send The Nightingale 2015

Sonny Landreth - Track by Track

time, I headed back to the blues... it’s a simpler format’’

s onny l andreth, Mississippi born but G rowin G up in l afayette, l ouisiana, a town that is steeped in the blues. blues M atters! phones in to talk roots, blues and resonator G uitars to the G reat M an

Sonny’s new album Bound By The Blues is a deliberate return to his bare blues roots, full of mountainous riffs and nods towards his heroes and influences

It’s a new album and it’s completely different territory from your art gallery type album with the blue cover which was a lovely piece of impressionism really wasn’t it? Bound By The Blues is a really very different project, using an orchestra and doing it harmonically was what I did previously. This time, I headed back to the blues and it’s a simpler format. Actually, it is just a three-piece band and we basically went into the studio and cut like we would do at a gig. Several of these songs.

I’ve got this theory that the two

things in the world that can actual unite people are not religion, not politics, not anything mystic its music and comedy. Well you make a good point. It’d be hard to argue.

We can all join in those things. People can enjoy what’s being created in front of them. I think with blues and rock music, it’s the fact that it is not a score and things can happen. Tangents can slip in and I’m sure that’s why it’s universally appealing but what do you think?

Absolutely. I think people do relate to it and it’s get to the

heart of the matter. We all relate to the challenges of life on many different levels. I think part of the perspective of music, as you say; you share that without a barrier. I’ve played with musicians all over the world and it’s a really beautiful thing.

Marcus Miller’s the same and he plays with guys from Africa and Cuba and he manages to create something good that’s the best of all of them.

Yeah I once played a festival and they had a great guitarist who didn’t speak enough English and a little bit of French. It was a really wonderful experience. We started playing together and

‘‘This

Interview sOnnY LAnDREtH

sharing the tune. That was a really blast for me and a great lesson in what we’re talking about here.

Are you playing a Resonator on that title track?

Yeah I did. I mixed it a little bit more with the reso on a couple of songs and that one in particular. Especially with the second round of the verse and a National guitar and it sort of bridged the gap between acoustic and electric.

It’s quite a catchy chorus. I mean, in a slightly heavy arrangement this could be Bad Company, Sonny. Yeah that one goes in a lot of directions at the same time. I just let it go. I had a bit of a struggle with the melodic chorus. It’s really more a song about the influences and the music. It’s not really the blues.

It could be a radio-friendly blues rock hit like Foghat or something and that’s great because that’s how so many people get into the music we love.

Sure. What we do is promote the message of traditional music to bridge the gap. I think it does open doors.

I was talking to Marty Stuart and I said there was one particular track and that got me into him and he goes ‘It doesn’t matter which door you’ve come through as long as you’ve arrived here!’

(Laughs) That’s it man!

Let’s just walk through the tracks. Walking Blues, it’s a steadier tempo than most versions. That was my biggest influence Paul Butterfield.

I’ve got ‘Paul Butterfield’ written down here in my album notes. That’s the first version I heard! Yeah then he came back and did it again. He called it New Walking Blues. Covers like that are songs I heard first and

that speaks better for me with electric slide. I used different techniques voices on the slide for that.

It’s got that liquid sound that you do. The first album I got of yours was South Of One Ten. That got me into that sort of liquid thing that you do. Yeah that comes from starting on the trumpet. I played trumpet for several years. You do have to take a breath and there’s something about the legato break. I loved it man.

Now you’ve done a song on here that I can’t stand but it’s nice, It Hurts Me Too. The reason why we Brits are not so keen on Elmore James is because the original Fleetwood Mac had Jeremy Spencer. He’d come on and he’d do six or seven Elmore James songs in exactly the same key and tempo. By the end of the sixties I’d had enough of Elmore James! (Laughs) Too much of a good thing! Believe me; I knew I was taking on a lot by playing some of these blues standards. In a way, I have had no business doing it but the truth of the matter is I’m a creator. It’s a lot of work taking these songs that have been done so much and putting a breath of fresh air into it. And another thing, these are songs that I started playing a long time ago and they developed so much over the years they’d come in and out of different bands. They are songs that just kept evolving and every song has a life of its own. I think that’s really important.

The track I really love here is Where They Will. Track five and it has a stealthy tempo that man. It’s such a distinctive vocal and it’s a killer track. I really like it. It almost begs for a string quartet. Well it could’ve been! In a way, that song was kind of a misfit just because it’s right on the border in the sense of different direction. Then again, that’s what I love about it. I also like to infer things, you can infer string arrangements. You can hear string arrangements.

That’s what I’m hearing. Yeah. When I began mastering it, my master engineer and I kind of hit on the same thing and he said ‘This song kind of has its own life in a way.’ But then it has so much of the overall picture I think of this project so I couldn’t let it go.

No. But you could take each note of the string that’s ringing and have a bow-stringed instrument playing it. That’s what rolled into my ears. The string arrangement is there isn’t it? Yeah I always think about the future and working with artists like I did a few years ago, I definitely wanna get back to maybe a live project with strings or something.

The song Cherry Ball Blues is real fun number, isn’t? It’s a Savoy Brown-style rock out. Sounds like you were having some fun on that! Oh always! But that was one that came about there was a blues festival in New York City several years ago it was a tribute to Jesse Gibb and it was just a duo. We went back through Gibb’s back catalogue. We just started playing it and it went on from there.

The Johnny Winter tribute I think I’ve spotted on the album is Firebird Blues on track seven. Is that sound intended? Yeah we were just going into

the session to do this album and we heard on the news that Johnny had passed. I just felt that I wanted to do something as just a small way to remember him and he was an influence on so many of us.

At one time you said you were going to Japan to do some shows with Johnny. Yeah we did and it was great fun. We got to hang out a bunch. It’s so funny, the first thing he asked me, and he said ‘I’ve got a question to ask you?’ I said ‘What?’ He asked ‘Did you really play with Clinton Shanner? (Laughs) I said ‘Yeah man I did.’ He goes ‘Oh man he was so great. I used to play with him in Texas.’ We talked about all kinds of stuff.

What I like on that, obviously it’s very sincerely played straight but it’s got this buzzy sound with slight delay and that does give it that Johnny Winter tinge. The tempo is the same tempo as do you remember a track called Be Careful With A Fool off Johnny’s first Columbia album? It kind of goes into that sort of tempo, that Johnny was so very good at. He just did a great slow blues. The other thing, Johnny was a big fan of Hendrix and so I wanted to get a little bit of that and make it melodic. We literally cut it without any practice. We just played the blues and I think it’s like the second take.

It sounds very fluid and it does sound like it’s got some depth to it. The penultimate track has a stately tempo and loving playing with delay. I think it’s Key To The Highway actually. Again, that’s a song that everybody does. Oh yeah everybody does it and I just started playing that in the early seventies. I always loved the song and I love

“I kNEw I wAS TAkING ON A LOT BY pLAYING THESE BLUES STANdARdS”

Little Walter Trout’s version. I was trying to find a way to keep the sound but to take in different elements for these songs ‘Key To The Highway’ in particular. That has been familiar song for me because I’ve been playing it for so long. I just took it to another place.

Sue was a label that put out 45’s here with Homesick James stuff. We loved it because it wasn’t Chicago, it was country blues but electric. It was what Taj Mahal delivered in spades. I wondered if you remembered Homesick James?

Oh absolutely! You know, that’s probably a really good point because I always did that too. You went to the city but didn’t quite get there was the sound. This particular song, we were gonna record it for the last album but I guess I had to decide on the changes. It was like the next track we didn’t get to it so I kind of always wanted to come back to it. Once I did, I came up with the

rest of the changes to it. That’s an interesting way to work too, where you have ideas you didn’t quite finish and then you come back to them later. Once you know you’re gonna record it, it’s a completely different focus. Some of my favourite ideas come from that. That’s one of the most exciting things about writing and recording.

That isn’t heavy Chicago streets music. It’s coming from the country but it’s actually in motion towards the city. Do you know what I’m saying?

Yeah almost like making the drive from the Delta and stopped along the way. I heard Lightning Hopkins play a couple of times and I saw him in Texas. That must have been back in the early seventies. I saw him in a place in town down by the river. They used to get bands playing there for a while and Lightning would just show up and they’d hire a local bass player. That’s a good

way to put it. This album goes in another direction for sure.

You’re always thoughtful about what you do but you’ve seemed to let feel through here to dominate it and the techniques just come with the feel. Is that fair?

Sure I mean feel is everything. You’ve gotta be inspired man. If you don’t have the soul or feel for it. There’s nothing wrong with practicing technique I mean I do that too. If I’m working on something, it’s not long before an idea comes up and that goes into getting the right feel, dictate the path you’re on, the changes you come up with.

Yeah. This way you play for the heart but you satisfy the head. If that’s true it makes me very happy. I’m a happy man.

When are you coming over here?

I keep hearing that. That’s definitely part of deciding to make the deal with Mascot is to get over to your way and Europe. (Laughs) I’ll try not to blow up the amps!

sonny landreth’s new albuM, bound by the blues, is released on the 8th of June 2015. for More inforMation visit: www.sonnylandreth.coM

DisCOGRAPHY

STUDIO:

Blues Attack 1981

Down in Louisiana 1985

Outward Bound 1992

South of I-10 1995

Crazy Cajun R ecordings 1999

Prodigal Son: The Collection 2000

Levee Town 2000

The Road We’re On 2003

From the Reach 2008

Elemental Journey 2012

LIVE:

Live At Jazz Fest 2007

Grant Street 2005

Malcolm Bruce

RISING SON OF THE BLUES

Malcol M b ruce is the son of for M er c rea M bassist Jack and is probably best known to blues fans as part of f resh c rea M, but there is a lot M ore to Malcol M, as blues M atters! is about to discover...

Malcolm is almost ready to release his new album and as well as performing and recording with his Dad he has worked alongside Leslie West, Corky Laing, Bill Ward (ex-Black Sabbath) Dick Heckstall-Smith, jazz rockers Brand X and many more.

Hi Malcolm, everything fine? Absolutely, got lots going on.

Tell us about the new album and what’s happening with that. We have a pledge campaign that we’ve just extended. For me it’s a big building exercise, we’re shooting some videos and other promo material.

I came along to the pledge launch at the Jazz Café, I think you’re doing something similar in New York? We are planning to do something similar over there, either The Cutting Rooms, Meridian or BB Kings, one of those three. They are all great venues. Also we are doing some house party gigs on the

East Coast. We’ve already done a couple in the UK. Pledge gives me time to get things done, I take forever because I’m so much of a perfectionist.

The musicians I saw you playing with at The Jazz Café, will they be on the album?

The bass player and drummer, Louie Palmer and Jonathan Hardman, are on the record, yes, they came over to Nashville with me. I’m not sure who else will end up on there yet. When we played at Shepherds Bush recently, opening up for Colosseum’s final gig, we used different musicians including a string quartet.

Where are you at writing wise?

Everything is pretty much written, we’re now recording. We’ve tracked about 16 songs. Between nine and eleven will make it onto the album. We’re also gonna do an ep in the next few weeks, that’s part of the pledge campaign, a free ep download. That’ll be five new songs.

A couple of those songs I wrote with Pete Brown. I just played piano for him at Michael Horovitz’s 80th Birthday Party at The Pheasantry. My mum told me she used to go there in the late 60’s, Eric Clapton lived there with his then girlfriend Charlotte, and Pete Brown lived there and lots of people involved in that scene, almost like a commune, and now it’s a Pizza Express. It’s a lovely venue, they had a three day residency for Michael. He was the man who first brought Allen Ginsberg over.

The poetry and everything about that era was great, in a way we’ve all become conformist again by comparison. It was little window into creativity. I’m really quite eclectic but this album is about the songs. I’m trying to keep a certain type of energy.

You recently spent time in Russia didn’t you? Recording different types of music. Yes, there’s a short documentary coming out. We were touching on things, more of a cultural exchange. Will Johns and I were taking what we do into villages in the extreme outskirts of Russia, with very much a folk tradition.

I don’t want to romanticise it too much but it was interesting.

It reminds me a bit of the early guys collecting blues field recordings. It was a bit like that. I’m writing an opera at the moment about a guy called Emmanuel Dunn. There is very little recordings of him, one of the few was made in a South American prison. Emmanuel wasn’t a prisoner but he’d heard about people turning up to record prisoners.

He’s on an album called Prison Work Songs on Arhoolie Records. He’s on three songs. In a similar way we went 500km outside of Moscow to record this traditional music. In terms of

collaboration we touched on it and hope to do more.

That’s interesting because you played in a women’s prison while you out there didn’t you? Yes, I’ve just been looking at some photos. That was quite a difficult thing to do. Myself and Will were holding back the tears, young Russian girls in there for murder etc, apparently it was a prison for very serious offenders. It was very moving, conditions are extremely tough.

We didn’t know it was a women’s prison until we got there, even the camera crew who were Russian and had just got back from filming in Iraq and Afghanistan found it tough. A few hours after we left the prison we were involved in an accident too. We were all shook up for a bit but we were all fine thankfully. We had to spend five hours waiting for the police to turn, at least we had heating because we were stuck in cross winds and snow drifts.

Another thing your involved with is Fresh Cream, tell us about that. We recently completed a short UK tour, which was lots of fun. It’s myself, Will Johns and Chris Page playing mostly Cream songs. I feel I’m at a crossroads in my life, for the last few years I’ve been playing my Dads music in various line ups. The music of Cream is incredible, it’s different every time, it’s almost jamming.

It has this very exciting spontaneity, in the moment element of losing yourself in the music. Having said that I feel I’m at this point where I have to make this change, a transition to getting my own music, my own writing out there. I feel I’ve got my own vision, something I’ve inherited from my father I guess, as a writer. People are

saying now Jack’s not around anymore you should be playing his music to keep the tradition, keep it alive, but I feel to truly honour him I have to create for myself.

In a way I’ve been in his shadow which is understandable, that band was so iconic, so incredible. So it’s been very hard to find my way outside of that. Now he’s not around anymore the best way for me to honour him is to start getting my own music out there.

I’ve just been a musician my whole life, song writing all types of music, it’s all I ever wanted to do. In the same way that he would, in a single year be playing hard rock with Corky Laing, or playing in one of the greatest fusion bands ever with Tony Williams, or John McLaughlan, people like that. My Dad had that eclectic element.

Obviously Cream is foremost in peoples minds when they remember Jack, but he was such a virtuoso musician in so many ways. In this country, unless you really know and study music most people won’t know much about my Dad outside of Cream. And that’s unfortunate, that’s just the way history is written. There was a time Jack was pushing boundaries no one else was doing. My Dads own inner demons perhaps prevented him reaching an even higher level of potential. He still achieved a lot. So if I aspire to carry on that tradition I have to get my music out there and make my mark as a writer and performer. We’ll see what happens, I think it’s the next chapter of my life.

Did it feel very different doing the Fresh Cream tour this time from

“IN A wAY I’vE BEEN IN (mY FATHERS) SHAdOw, wHIcH IS UNdERSTANdABLE”

before, having lost Jack in the meantime?

Well yeah, I mean I still don’t think I’ve come to terms with Jacks death. There’s still stuff to work through. Yes, in some ways it was quite difficult to do it because he’s not here anymore. It also felt revelatory, OK, I’m doing this but I need to stop now. I need to start moving forwards to who I am.

So you feel you are drawing a line under that period?

It could be or it could be revisiting it at some point. Doing it because you want to rather than building a career around it. Previously we did it with Kofi Baker and then there was a gap, I brought Will Johns in because Will’s dad wasmy dad’s best mate for many years. Obviously Will’s father, Andy Johns was one of the most important producers and engineers of that era.

They all knew each other and Will, Kofi and I were the kids from that time. Ginger’s son, Jack’s son and Eric’s nephew made perfect sense. It just didn’t work out in the way I thought it would, I’m actually quite happy about that because I think it’s time to embrace who I am. I don’t have to be in the shadow and utilise my Dad’s music to get me somewhere in the industry.

You know it’ll be fifty years soon that Cream formed, 1966. I saw my Dad struggle throughout his whole career to do something subsequent to Cream, everyone wanted him to play Sunshine Of Your Love and he was writing on synthesisers or doing something with classical music or something completely outside of blues rock. It became a bit of a monkey on his back.

I guess all three of Cream have felt that at some point?

I think Eric embraced it and nullified it. My Dad did very well but Eric was always a bluesman at heart, that’s who he was. Whereas for Jack, although the blues was of prime importance to him he was also a classically trained musician, and read music and played jazz, met Ginger in the jazz context and went on from that. All three were quite incredible musicians, Ginger discovering African music, really he was the founder of what we now call World Music. No one else was out there in the early 70’s living in Africa collaborating with Fela Kuti and bringing that music to other cultures. Eric’s role in championing the blues is indisputable, helping those early guys get recognition.

You told me in your mind there was never any question of being anything other than a musician. What was it like growing up alongside all of that?

I never knew anything different but I think there were always other elements in my life that balanced things out. One memory that sticks with me is when I was about 14, deciding I was always going to be a musician. I’d always done music, all the time. We always had great musicians at the house working with Dad, you know Allan Holdsworth, Larry Coryell lived with us for awhile, or hanging out with Billy Cobham. They were the kind of people I was around. I was hearing those sounds in the house, you know Dad would be playing piano or I would be playing piano. We’d be jamming together, it was just the fabric of my life.

So even as a young child you were included in that?

Sometimes I’d be listening from outside, when my Dad

was making his music with whoever he was working with. I wasn’t included on every level but I was encouraged to join in when I could.

Ther’es always lots of positivity about just playing. When I was young I played bass first, piano very early on and guitar when I was ten. I remember it was Christmas, he gave me an electric guitar, we were in New Jersey, and we at David Sancious house. He was in my Dads band at that point and he took me and gave me lessons. So the first day I had a guitar David Sancious gave me a lesson. I’m grateful for that. When my parents split up my Mum had a boyfriend called Dave Flett, he was a session guitarist, he was in Thin Lizzy for awhile. He would show me how to play.

Perhaps what people don’t realise about you is that you’ve played and recorded with some top musicians. Yeah I have but I feel I’m just beginning. Being the son of someone very famous it’s been hard to find my own way. Sometimes we have to be true to ourselves whatever the cost. I can only dream of achieving the greatness Jack did in his early to mid-twenties.

c heck out M ore at www.M alcol M bruce. M oonfruit.co M

on stage at the o2

Robben Ford - Track by Track THE SUN IS SHINING

the us G uitar star has a new albu M, into the sun, out on p rovo G ue/Mascot and has flown to l ondon ahead of his e uropean tour dates to talk about the record. blues M atters! M eets r obben and the collection is dissecte d

So here we are. You released the Day In Nashville album last year which sounded to me like it was such fun to make. What’s your take on it now?

Well, it’s very interesting that you say that. It was made under tremendous pressure and so all the good things that exist within the context of that record, I attribute entirely to the band.

(Laughs) Mr Modest!

It’s true. I did write the songs.

What Jimmy Haslip says is ‘Robben will take credit for nothing’.

(Laughs) Right. Well seriously, it was nine new pieces of music, six of which they’d never played and three of which they’d played twice with me. We had the tour which was leading up to that recording and I woke up with a fractured wrist after the second show. We had to call off the tour.

How’s the wrist now?

It’s ninety nine per cent. Yeah I’m fine. It’s just a slight notion that something’s there

but no problem. So indeed. These guys just manned up and the drummer I’d never played with before and we met at sound-check for the first show of that two-week tour that got cancelled.

This isn’t how you like to work, really?

You gotta do what you gotta do but I like to take as much time as I can. I’m not neurotic in that direction, it’s not a neurosis, and it’s not a superperfectionist. Nothing like that. Make it as good as we can get it and then do go over the deep end with it. Don’t kill it. I know that place and I know exactly where that place is and I just don’t. I know when to quit.

So from the back of that which was made in less than extreme circumstances, we arrive at Into The Sun and for various reasons this sounds very fresh to me. I don’t know if that’s your intention. I think what’s happened is, maybe, you’ve let yourself be open to what’s incoming to create this music. Well I do live a little bit away

from what’s going on today. I go on the road, I work, and I go home and I live in a beautiful small town in a beautiful valley surrounded by trees, sky and oranges in California. So, the openness where it paid off was the trust I had in my rhythm sectionbass and drums. Those are the guys to me I counted on for a fresh approach to the rhythm section. That I think is what the difference is on the record.

That makes perfect sense. A lot of the tempos are very unusual. The other two guys on the record are me and Jim Cox who’s also one of the old dogs. Jim Cox the organ player.

This is probably premature, but the other person who must come into the conversation about ‘Into The Sun’ is Kyle Swan. (Laughs) I think you’re giving him a little too much credit! Alright. Let me show you what Kyle did. (Robben picks up a copy of the album) Kyle wrote the lyric to Howlin’ At

The Moon and he really is an out there guy. You should really check him out…Kyle Swan online, there’s a record and you can just go listen to it and it’s called ‘Gossip’ it will blow your mind. So what the hell is he talking about is the question you will be asking yourself throughout. It’s very out there. I said ‘Kyle!’ I’m trying to work with him cause’ I like him as he’s talented and he’s great. I said ‘Write me a blues man’. I wrote the music for it and gave him the melody and just said ‘write me a blues’. Prior to that, there were several things we got together on; so Kyle wrote the last verse to ‘Justified’. The other he contributed too was ‘Steam Train’ is his song and that’s the most reined in I’ve ever heard him. He is a big lover of Mingus and Monk and these are my heroes.

TRAck ONE: Rose Of Sharon has the softest of starts and it has the kick-drum and the organ. It has this really understated guitar and you don’t have to tell the band to lay back. What you’ve achieved here is a sort of mix of Nashville Skyline and Steely Dan.

You know it’s the artist in me. It’s important to me that from the very beginning there’s a serious statement being made. There’s something coming from a genuine place. I think it’s the best song on the record.

TRAck TwO: Day Of The Planets’ a lovely song. There’s a hint of The Meters in here. I love the ending of it.

Well I will confess a little bit there. (Laughs) I figure I need to cop to something! Do you know the band Alabama Shakes? That has been the one band that I have heard in the last several years and they’ve only produced one record so far, the new one’s coming out

imminently. That is the one band, they kind of gave me faith in the tradition again. They’re an RnB band that’s what they are. They write their own music and that electric guitar is way up front.

You know, he reminds me of Pop Staples. The way he plays? Well it’s coming from that tradition. I can dig that, but it’s also a modern take on a lot of other things too. It’s not even that modern. Also very Motown so there’s a lot of influences in there. It made me happy that something that ‘of’ the tradition could really get my attention as something brand new. So those guys opened a little bit of a door for me and Day Of The Planets is kind of a product of that and there’s one other song Rainbow Cover. Both of those songs, I can really give a little bit of credit to Alabama Shakes for ‘allowing’ me to write those songs.

TRAck THREE: Howlin At The Moon has this acoustic chug and great electric piano on it. Hard edge. Again, there’s a slight resolve on the end and the guitar solo is very biting. What’s the choral bit because the backing vocals work very well. Yeah. Well I can’t say their names off the top of my head I’m sorry, Pete. But it’s these two black girls who live and work in Nashville. They double and triple themselves so you wind up with six voices. But it’s two girls. They came up with pretty much their own thing on that. We just cut them loose.

TRAck FIvE: Justified, yes Kevin is on this, Keb Mo. I thought when it started off, it was gonna be John Sebastian or Donovan. It’s like ‘porch music’ isn’t it? That was a bit of a journey

that song. That song took the most time to write. I had several aborted attempts basically from the first two line of the chorus ‘I’d be justified to pick up my things and walk’. Those lines haunted me for literally two and a half years so when it came to this album I just decided I was gonna write it come hell or high water. If it didn’t work who cares. I didn’t know if it was gonna work and the way the band played it, they played it so traditionally. With the piano and everything.

That’s Jim Cox piano on that?

Yeah that’s Jim. He’s class, that guy. He’s just wonderful. It’s not as weird as I wanted it to be. I wanted it to be weirder but after a while I realised that was the song. It sounded like that and sounded great and then when we put Keb Mo on it, it sounded perfect. Robert Randolph plays his ass of I love what he does on that. It’s obviously tongue in cheek, I mean the opening lines of the song ‘Creaky stairs and ladders, I feel the floor might cave’ I mean come on. It’s out there, quite honestly, I’m amazed at how well it fits into the whole fabric of the record.

These tracks ≠ they sound organic but it also sounds adventurous in the right kind of way. I like it when people actually pick up things I feel and what I’m doing instinctively. I know exactly what I’m doing. But it comes out of a group. I’ll tell you one thing, a little piece of insider information. It cracked me up quite frankly but I was in Nashville for ten days and I think we recorded for eight

“IT’S THE BEST SONGwRITING I’vE EvER dONE”

of them, I think we took a day off. We worked for five days and took a day off and then we came back and did another two days.

Everybody was exhausted at the end of the day. I could see it in these guys and I talked to them about it. They said ‘For one thing, we never do this. Nobody ever asks us to contribute. People come in and ask us to play this chart.’ They work in Nashville and that entire two-five-one six chord in the key of A is formulaic. Nobody ever asked them to think for themselves.

I was like ‘What have you got for me guys?’ and they came to the party. They’d be going ‘we’ve gotta make it better’. So there was a real beautiful feel in particular with the drummer and bass player. Jim Cox and I have been working like this for our whole lives. (Laughs) Our job is already there. We know about this and this is what we do. I think for these guys, it was a new experience and they are the younger guys. They had never been asked.

TRAck SEvEN: High Heels

And Throwing Things. This is fun! Steady tempo, Warren Haynes is on it and it’s most original. I’ve not heard a song like this. Well it’s largely bass and drums and almost the whole thing.

Guitar wise, who’s doing what?

I cut it with an electric, you don’t hear any of my live guitar track as all of my electric is overdubbed. It was after the fact I went to the acoustic guitar. While we were cutting it, I couldn’t find anything I was happy with. It’s got these big loud chords, power chords that happen on certain accents. So that was written in but there was no part. They’re two songs where

I did that; Stone Cold Heaven is the other one.

The last track, yeah?

I just borrowed this acoustic from a record store ‘cause it’s just this really funky guitar. I just went ‘Put a mic on it. Roll it.’ I just beat the s*** out of the guitar quite frankly! Hopefully in an artistic fashion. So it’s bass, drums, percussion from the drummer and my acoustic guitar. Then you’ve just got me and Warren.

TRAck EIGHT: Yeah. Well again, it’s part of this adventurous thing that I’m picking up on. Cause Of War, I wrote ‘relaxed attack, unusual tempo and busiest cut here.’ It’s quite busy. It’s intense is what it is. It’s not really busy, just pretty intense.

TRAck NINE: So Long For You is the one that Sonny Landreth is on. He’s playing this wonderful slide sound. My ears tell me, is there a mandolin or a Nashville stringing on this?

Actually it is a ukulele. I picked it off the wall in the studio. It’s right up front.

Sonny comes in and he’s got this thing like Frank Zappa where it’s coming up to the solo and you don’t know what’s coming and then he’ll come in with something original. I’m a Zappa nut. He still scares the life out of me.

(Nods) One of the most creative people we’ve seen.

TRAck ELEvEN: Stone

Cold Heaven has a very solemn tempo and the guitar tones seem very similar from the left and right channel. But you’re on one and Tyler’s on the other. Yeah Tyler’s left and I’m right. I’m playing a Telecaster and he’s playing a Strat.

How happy are you with Into The Sun?

I have never made a better record, it’s the best songwriting I’ve ever done and I couldn’t be happier with how well the collaborations turned out. I was afraid of them at first and I was worried it would turn the record into something inconsistent and therefore incomplete. (Laughs) Like half an artistic statement! But instead, all of these people just brought it, man. They just enhanced the record and made it a better record you know?

for More inforMation visit: www.robbenford.coM

DisCOGRAPHY

STUDIO:

Sunrise 1972

Schizophonic 1976

The Inside Story 1979

Love’s A Heartache 1983

Talk to Your Daughter 1988

Blues Connotation 1996

Tiger Walk 1997

Supernatural 1999

Blue Moon 2002

Keep on Running 2003

Truth 2007

Bringing it Back Home 2013

A Day in Nashville 2014

Into the Sun 2015

LIVE:

Discovering the Blues 1972

Jimmy Witherspoon & Robben Ford 1976

The Authorized Bootleg 1998

Soul on Ten 2009

WITH THE BLUE LINE:

Robben Ford and the Blue Line 1992

Mystic Mile 1993

Handful of Blues 1995

WITH THE YELLOWJACKETS:

Yellowjackets 1981

Mirage a Trois 1983

WITH MARK FORD

Mark Ford and the Robben Ford Band 1990

Mark Ford and the Blue Line 1998

John Mayall

can’t believe we now have them available’’

Verbals: PE t E s A r GEAN t

blues M atters! talks to John in l os a n G eles about the 1967 l ive b luesbreakers tapes [featurin G the e M bryonic fleetwood M ac] and how they finally saw the li G ht of day after so M any years hidden away

With a Dutch fan’s tapes now mastered onto CD, followers of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers can get some idea of how the 1967 Mayall/McVie./Fleetwood/Green line-up sounded as they toured the London clubs. They are not Hi Fi, but they are blues history in the making.

When I heard about these tapes getting onto CD I begged to hear the album and to speak to you again, as all this wasn’t on the horizon when we last met, in Guildford. That’s right, since then we’ve been putting it all together.

You must realise, this was such a stellar lineup, that to hear it now live, just as we heard in in the London club, it’s a real bonus?

I can’t believe we now have them available to us. I have known about them for quite some time but in the past I’ve only heard bits of them, one minute of the songs here and there. The owner of the tapes

didn’t want anybody to have them.

I’d be grateful for the odd five minutes of music, but it’s 76 minutes on this release. It is pretty listenable, it’s quite extraordinary. From a reel-toreel recorder. Anyway he’s a real nice guy and we got on fine when we finally did the deal over in Holland so now he’s very happy that it is going to come out.

That was my next question, you’re psychic! I was going to ask what we know about this chap, Tom Huissen. Well this is a chap, Dutch fan of

the band, with a tape recorder!

The bass sounds good, on my reviewing gear. Yes it’s quite remarkable, he captured some spirited things but not only that but what with McVie and Pete and then Mick. It’s just so tight together.

Eric Corne’s done a great job with the transfer to digital. How did he approach the recording? Fact is, the reel-to-reel tapes for the time were really very good. The differences Eric had to make were not all that drastic, whatever was on that tape, that’s what we had to work with. The fade ins and fade outs were sometimes a bit abrupt on the original tapes so we did the best we could with it, but basically it’s not much different from the original tapes we acquired.

‘‘I

Obviously in and around this time there was the Hard Road album and the wonderful Butterfield/Mayall EP but you knew so many songs, you guys. There are selections here that were never put on the Decca records.

I guess so, I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and compare them, but yes, it was our live repertoire and there are things on there, well, we were constantly changing that, just like today, to keep the music fresh and not playing the things over and over.

One thing I learned from you John, at very early age was, vary the keys and vary the tempos. It does help, because there are so many bands who play a set of the same songs and falling all in the same key as well, in a list where they’re next to each other, that can sound like you’re listening to one long song! Like you said I like to vary the tempos and keys and keep it rolling along with some variety. It keeps people’s interest.

The album kicks off with All Your Love, it’s a very fine version of it? Yes and we still might do that one today, because it’s a piece that’s a kind of signature of my music. I do include some songs from the old days in the current repertoire as people seem to like hearing them, they relate to them maybe. It’s a vast catalogue, now of course, with the newer albums and all.

Mick Fleetwood had been in the Bo Street Runners for a while and Pete was in Shotgun Express. How did you know that they would be so cohesive?

Peter Green had been with me almost a year when these recordings were made. Mick came in and then John had been with me longer than that, four years maybe? Mick arrived with y’know basic drumming, very solid rock’n’roll style playing in essence, so it wasn’t a planned thing in any sense, it was a period of transition.

There’s some great harmonica on Brand New Start, a real pace on it. (Laughs) I find it pretty hard to judge my harmonica work! Or anything else, I always do the best I can.

It sounds driven. What keyboard were you using at this time? The Hammond B-3.

On the song Double Trouble, there’s some desolate guitar over the organ here. It’s also a wonderful vocal on this.

Thanks, it was part of the repertoire and of all the slow blues we were doing at that time, well it’s all displayed on this album, Otis Rush, Freddie King are so much part of our musical foundations, from then and onwards.

There are two BB King instrumentals on here, for me, it’s worth buying for The Stumble. It is fantastic, a band firing on all four. And San Ho Zay... well that number wasn’t on an album until the 1990’s.

Five minutes in, Peter hits that ‘voodoo note’, the long one, but the most important thing in Freddie King music is the stops. There is another album’s worth coming out at the end of the year on my Private Stash label via our website.

The last number on this collection is Stormy Monday, it’s a great vocal. Ah well, before Eric was in the band, we had been on tour backing T. Bone Walker, hence we played that song a lot, even after the dates with him.

The other track I really like is Streamline, it has a catchy riff. That one went on to the Crusade sets, it has a fine Latin feel. It’s a nice one to do.

Ah and Hi Heel Sneakers here has a touch of the rhumba about it. We were doing that pretty much the same as Tommy Tucker and that was quite a hit record, in its day.

There’s a lot of interest in this release, I mentioned it at a gig last night and many wanted to talk about it after the show. It’s wonderful that there’s so much interest in this release. It makes putting it out worthwhile.

Are there any live recordings of you and Paul Butterfield I wonder? No, anything I might have had was likely burned up in the fire, in ‘79.

In Laurel Canyon?

Yes, it was an Oh My God passage in my life. Walking away in the shoes you were wearing.

That’s as blue as you can get! So these recording are even more precious to you?

Absolutely, Pete. But Peter is probably here sounding better than anything he has done before or since, you know. He was on fire, there was some blues with Fleetwood Mac, but nothing like what you hear here, all improvised and no set arrangements. It captures him in his finest hour.

J ohn M ayall – live 1967 is available on www.fortybelowrecords.co M

“IT’S wONdERFUL THAT THERE’S SO mUcH INTEREST IN THIS RELEASE”

Dave Kelly - Part Five THE BIRTH OF THE BLUES BANd

Verbals: d A v E thom A s in part five of our in-depth interview with dave kelly we talk about J a M es burton and rick nelson and the birth (and unexpected success) of the blues band

Dave: On my Family and Friends CD there’s a track from the Howlin’ Wolf tour and various things recorded with Chris Barber, Joe Louis, various guests and Joanne, and when I did my acoustic tours with Maggie Bell. We threw in a number of songs which would surprise both sets of fans and said how about this, and we did Nancy Griffiths’s Full Coast Highway, which is a lovely song. Emmy Lou and Willie Nelson had done it, so we did that and recorded it so that’s on the album.

I got an email back from Vancouver from Doug the promoter and he said “I didn’t know you did Country, would you appear on my Country From All Angles stage with Albert Lee and James Burton? Well that was a lot of fun. It’s up on You Tube actually. I did Two More Bottles Of Wine by Delbert McClinton which I’d done in my set. I’d recorded it years ago and I knew they’d both done it with Emmy Lou! The other one I did with them was Dock Of The Bay. My version, which is slowed

down a bit and I reverse the phrasing really. Whereas Otis’s phrases are at the end of the line, I phrase at the beginning of it. No point in doing it like Otis. And that was lovely. And James and Albert did solos on it. And the lovely thing was, James Burton and then Rick Nelson, originally, who was John Denver and Elvis’s MD for most of the Vegas era. As we came off he said “well Dave man, I love your voice” and I thought to myself. I will take that as a fucking big compliment!

James Burton, he’s in his 80’s and he’s still doing it. He wrote Suzie Q. Yeah .That was good.

You still get touches of it, from time to time.

I used to get involved with Gill on the agency side, but it’s a lot of work. Risky and I get emotionally involved.

I know we’re moving about quite a bit I don’t want to miss anything. Can we get back to The Blues Band which formed in 1979 but stopped for a while?

We formed in’79 to do a few pubs. Paul’s idea you know and it just took off. The first gig at The Bridgehouse in Canning Town and we sound checked and went back through the Blackwall Tunnel to Tom’s house for some dinner and came back and couldn’t park anywhere near it. I said “I think there must be a wedding or something” but it was for us – the place was

the blues band, FRoM leFt: gaRY FletCheR, Rob toWsend, Paul Jones, daVe KellY, toM MCguIness

heaving – The Bridgehouse (Canning Town, London).

We flew back from the Rock Palace in Germany, where we’d just been playing to 15,000 people live and on telly. That’s just been released by our record company –Repertoire Records – and a nice little package it is, too!

We were on Rock Palace with ZZ Top, Joan Armatrading and the Ian Hunter Band. We were the opening act and it started about 11 o’clock at night and went all the way through the night. People would have parties around it. Russia/ USSR took it that year. It was right the way across Europe. Most of the countries took it except the UK. That was April 1980. It still goes on. There was a nice one with Dave Edmund’s Rockpile and Nick Lowe, Billy Bremner and Climax Blues Band Terry Adams. There’s one of Micky Jupp, Rory Gallagher. That was 1980. It all took off from pubs and it just started escalating and we did the Spring Cruise tour with Lou Stonebridge’s Dance Band.

Lou and Tom (Lou had been in McGuiness Flint) had been doing a few production jobs and they had a manager and it seemed that things were escalating and we needed someone to deal with all that so we went with Ray Williams who was their manager, people wanted recordings and we didn’t have

them.

That’s when we went to see Brian Shepherd at EMI and he said “You’re too old” you know. A few people turned us down - ‘not much market for Blues these days’ so we self-financed it and recorded at Nova Studios with Richard Dodd engineering (Bryanston Street off Marble Arch) and we ran out of money and we knew we had this market for it and that’s why it became The Official Bootleg Albu, because we bootlegged our own album! We had ‘listening tape’. They weren’t properly mixed. We Mastered from them. We pressed 3000 copies and we thought, well, with that money we can pay the studio off and get enough money to it mix properly.

Our Price Records were still trading at the time and we pressed 3,000, we signed every one on a blank cover. We numbered them all, from one to 3000. It was a real cottage

industry set up in our Manager’s office in Regent Street and even then we were, you know, we’d be taking people’s names and addresses and cheques.

You didn’t have the Internet in those days but there was an ad somewhere and the money was pouring in and Our Price Records said they’d take 300 immediately and they took them one Friday afternoon and the next Monday they said “We’ve got to have more. They’re all gone!” And they said “We’ve got three shops in London and we want 300 in each” or something like that.

They all went very quickly. And a bit like today really with the internet – having shown the record company what could be done they all started queuing up! We signed with Arista Records and we said

“OUR pRIcE REcORdS SAId,“wE’vE GOT TO HAvE mORE, THEY’vE ALL GONE””

right “Now we’re gonna mix properly” but they said “No, you’re not touching it” so it’s never been mixed! I mean we should mix it now really – we should do a Director’s Mix. It’s a bit rough really. There are a live tracks. On “Boom Boom Out Go The Lights” I’m taking a solo in E and suddenly it’s in D. I quickly move out of it but it’s, definitely ‘Jazz!’

All of a sudden, you realised you had something wonderful on your hands again - but after a lot of bloody hard work. And Paul was right there with you?

Oh yeah. And he was doing theatre. And he was doing Shakespeare at the Lyric and in Hammersmith – one of the theatres but as soon as he could get out of that he could see something was happening so he didn’t sign up for anymore theatre work and off we went. Within the year we had the record out and we got on the Roc Palace programme and so we played our year’s birthday gig at the Bridgehouse having just played to millions of people in Germany and across Europe. Then we did three albums in two years. I mean it was silly but the fourth one, Brand Loyalty, it was tailing off a little bit .

What were the names of the albums?

Bootleg... was the first one. Ready was the second onewhich was my favourite. Itchy Feet was the third one and Brand Loyalty was the fourth album. And then, it was you know, well sales weren’t what they had been. I think the first three had all charted in the album charts and then Paul was invited to join the National Theatre and he wanted to do that. Duh, we said “Why would you want to do that?”

Ha, ha.

It’s not Rock ‘n’ Roll.” And he said “Oh dear”. Had we been a bit more accommodating it might have worked out alright. He might have done it for two years, and we’ll get back together again. But no, it was a bit acrimonious. Anyway we did the last album Bye Bye Blues Band which was the live album from the Venue which had Ian Stewart on it sittingin, Joanne sang a couple, Phil May, Alexis Korner, you know – you know various people sitting in and, that was it .

After Bye Bye Blues Band we went our separate ways and I formed The Dave Kelly Band and it was nice, you know, on the back of The Blues Band I had quite a nice number of gigs in Germany and Scandinavia for a few years, that was nice.

In 1985, Michael, who was then the landlord of the Half Moon in Putney – his wife had died of cancer and he said they were putting on two weeks of benefit gigs at the Half Moon to try to raise money for a scanner at St.George’s or Tommy’s or whatever and did I think we could get the Blues Band back together? You know, he had loads of artists doing it and it was good.

I rang everyone and they said alright, OK, I can do that, it’s this Sunday and, you know, everyone (with their little amps) ten minutes in everyone was grinning! Well, Paul had commitments. My wife Gill, then was working for the Asgard agency. She had worked for our management and didn’t have anyone to manage anymore – heah, heah.

Was Gill getting gigs for you as The Dave Kelly Band?

No. It was The Blues Band’s then Agent Nick Peel who was doing all that but I spoke to her boss Paul Charles at

FORmEd IN’79 TO dO A FEw pUBS. pAUL’S IdEA YOU kNOw ANd IT jUST TOOk OFF”

Asgard when we done the Half Moon, Putney and I said “If I could get the Blues Band together again do you think you could get them work?” and he said “ Yeah you bet!”

So Asgard became your Agency? Yeah and, that year, he got us on to the Montreux Jazz Festival. We couldn’t do a lot then because Paul already had commitments. It was late ‘86/early’87 that we actually went back full time. Someone dropped out at Glastonbury. So we were top of the bill at Glastonbury. I think that was ‘87. We’d done Glastonbury in ‘82, Main Stage but in ‘87 we were the ideal deps!

What’s it like playing Glastonbury? It’s nice. My kids love it.

They came down? Yeah. They go for the whole bloody weekend!

I bet you don’t. You don’t hang about?

Heah, heah. I did a couple of years ago. I saw Toots and the Maytels

How old are your kids now?

My youngest, a drummer, is 40 this year– the other Sam Kelly! They know each other well. Sam Kelly (Stationhouse) is also a great drummer.

There shouldn’t be too much confusion between them! No! My son Sam played with

“wE

the Blues Band when he was 17! Yes. He said I’ve got a cheque for a video shoot and he didn’t remember doing it so we said “ Do you think it belongs to the other Sam Kelly? I didn’t know him then but I got his number and I rang him up and he said “ Can we get a copy of the video and if there’s any glimpse of the drummer we’ll know immediately because I’m black.” We got it and it was by him! Homer, my bass player, is 21. He played with me last weekend as well.

So you only breed musicians ? Yeah. My daughter Lucy is 38.Gill and I have three: Homer, Lilly and Evangeline. Homer, Lilly and Eve all went to the Brit School. The Brit School is the Performing Arts School in Croydon, which produced Amy Winehouse and Jessie Jay. It’s a State School but it’s a Performing Arts Academy. It’s great! ”

Both my daughters display musical talent. I guess it must be in the genes. There’s a big age gap between them but they share a lot in common although they have different Mums too. My eldest is the daughter of a singer/ songwriter and my youngest’s Mum was a dance teacher in Switzerland! I suppose it’s quite logical really. They carry some of the stuff.

Do you see a lot of Pete Emery still? Does he live close? Oh yes. He lives in Mitcham. Ellie, Pete and Jo’s daughter got married recently, to Adrian, who’s very nice.

And what about right now? Right now. More Blues Band. Well we did a studio album about two or three years ago called A Few Short Lines, and it would be nice get in and start another one. I loved

pulling together the Family and Friends CD which is a mixture of all odds and sods of people I’ve played with.

People came and did a track for it. I’ve been given live recordings by a sound engineer in Germany who did all my solo tours in Germany and he said “ I recorded every gig.” He’s given me all of it and said “Do what you like with it” and my record company had said “How about a solo acoustic album just you, doing old country blues?” and I think it might be there already! I just haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet because they’re in some sort of strange files. I’ve got to get it onto CD’s and go though all of them.

You should have a solo acoustic album shouldn’t you? Yeah! Yeah. I haven’t ever done one that is just that. I’ve always done things that have got tracks like that, but not a whole album.

That sounds really exciting. So that’s likely?

Yes, but I’ve got to, you know, but nothing is really urgent these days is it?

Oh God! Well, yes, I know what up mean. And , obviously, The Blues Band, but you do other things don’t you? Christine Collister? Oh yeah. I love doing that. We do some Blues but we do Country; we do Folk; we do Soul, anything that we fancy.

But you love it and it goes down well. And do you gig with Christine regularly?

No. We do a two or three week tour about every couple of years because she lives mostly in LA these days but the last one was Christine, Peter Filial and me. The year before it was before Homer had started university and we’d been

thinking it would be nice to have a bass player on this but we couldn’t afford a band so we roped Homer in on a youth opportunities scheme. It was great fun and great for him as well. He played bass and sang harmonies as well.

And this last tour (in September) he and I were talking and he said I would love to do the song Africa”. You know, Toto, with all the band he said “Yeah I’d love to do that, but it’s hard without drums.” So he pulled in a drummer from his band in Brighton. I said “We can’t pay them much it was better than their temporary day jobs.”

He came in and I realised just what a great experience it was for them and how good he was so we did it.We went out to Africa. Three old farts and three 20 year olds, which brought down the average age of the band considerably!

check out www.thebluesband.coM for More inforMation

DisCOGRAPHY STUDIO:

Official Blues Band Bootleg Album 1980

Ready 1980

Itchy Feet 1981

Brand Loyalty 1982

Bye-Bye Blues 1983

These Kind of Blues 1986

Back for More 1989

Fat City 1991

Homage 1993

Wire Less 1995

Brassed Up 1999

Scratching on my Screen 2001

Green Stuff 2001

Stepping Out 2002

Be My Guest 2003

Thank You Brother Ray 2005

Few Short Lines 2011

LIVE:

Live at the BBC 1996

18 Years Old and Alive 1996

INA fOrSMAN

BORN TO sING, BORN TO PLAY

f inland continues to raise its b lues profile with artists and bands that have the M usical chops. one such talented artist is ina forse M an, a real force to be reckoned with

We are NOT talking Blueslite! Ina Forsman is barely in her twenties, has appeared in Finland’s version of ‘Pop Idol’ on TV, and has performed with several top European Blues musicians in various sized ensembles.

I believe you had made up your mind really early that you wanted to become a singer.

IF: When I was about six years old I knew I wanted to become a singer. In 2012 I took part in the Finnish “Idol” TV singing competition. That got me noticed. I started to play with a normal acoustic cover band straight after that, and then I contacted with Helge Tallqvist, and soon I was playing the Blues. I have been singing in blues bands for about two years now.

Which artists have had the

greatest influence on you?

My first influence was probably Etta James, and after that came lots of different Blues singers like Big Mama Thornton, Ruth Brown, then also of course from the new side, Christina Aguilera, and Amy Winehouse. I think with Etta James it all started, so perhaps that is my biggest influence.

Do you listen to a lot of songs to see what you like, and what suits you?

Yeah, like right now making my second album, I am

basically trying to eat and breathe Blues music all the time, so I get some new ideas and inspirations. I am listening to Blues music almost constantly at the moment, and searching new songs. Next summer I am going to search out some old Blues classics to re-create.

Watching and listening to your videos on YouTube, it is obvious you have been involved with some interesting and talented musicians. Yeah. I have just come back from my first European tour; well it was actually my very first tour. It took in Belgium, Holland and Germany. I worked with Lightnin’ Guy Verlinde, and he gathered a band from Belgium. We have Steven Troch on harmonica

“mY FIRST INFLUENcE wAS pROBABLY ETTA jAmES”

from Belgium, Richard van Bergen on guitar from Holland, Rene Stock on bass and Erik Heirman on drums. It was really great.

I love your professional video of How Have I Done. Have you done any acting work, or do you hope to? No, I haven’t, that is the only music video I have done, but I would love to do another one. That is a funny music video, yeah. Actually, it was really nice that the company sponsored the music video for us. It was done in one day, and I feel it was really professionally done. It was good experience for me to get to know how these things are put together. It is a whole lot of work, and you have to get up really early.

I learned that you got to sing with Steve’West’ Weston while he was playing in Helsinki with Trickbag. They play in Storyville, the jazz club in Helsinki about a couple of times a year, and I got to play a couple of songs with them recently. They are really a great band.

I notice that you move really well on stage, putting on a show, not merely a performance. Is that from watching past performers, or does that come instinctively?

I’d say it comes naturally, because usually I don’t usually think things out when I go to the stage, I just sing. What comes other than singing on the stage just comes.

I don’t plan it, and

“SINGING ANd pERFORmING cOmES NATURALLY”

sometimes its bad (laughs) because I’m not that good with speeches. That does not come naturally. The performing is what comes far more easily for me. In talking to the audience I have to get more natural in dealing with that. Singing and performing comes naturally for me I think.

I cannot watch you without draw comparisons to the great Etta James. What do you like about her?

I think she has this really tough attitude, and you can hear that from her music. She does not have this pretty beautiful voice, but she has

another kind of beauty in her voice, it is really rough and loud. I really like that kind of singing, and all her songs are touching. Really like her music, appearance, everything!

You have told Blues Matters! that you are comfortable singing within a live situation, are you comfortable in the studio too? Yeah. I really like to be in the studio, too. Of course it is different than live singing, but it’s nice when you can focus more on the songs and the lyrics. You can do so much more with the song. You have to analyse every song a little bit so you get the right feeling to every song. In a live situation time goes very fast. You don’t get the time to analyse what went wrong and what went right, you just do it.

What can we expect from you in the future?

Right now I am making my second album so that is something coming along. We have all the songs written and ready. I think it is going to be a really good blues album. Almost every song is going to be original, because the first album I did was just covers.

It was an album we did fast so we could sell it at the summer festivals. With the second album we are focused. With penning songs there has been a lot more work involved. It has been to make it more uniquely Ina Forsman as possible; I have a good feeling about it.

discover More at www.inaforsMan.coM

Ina Forsman with Helge Tallqvist 2013

J.B. Hutto Bluesmaster

(JsP CD)

various rhythm ‘N BluesiN’ By the Bayou – mad dogs, sweet daddies & Pretty BaBies (ace CD)

various le mississiPPi (accords Croises 2CD)

various the Perfect roots & Blues collectioN

(Columbia 20CD)

LigHtnin’ sLim: i’m a rolliNg stoNe – louisiaNa swamP Blues, the siNgles a’s & B’s 1954-1962

(Jasmine 2CD)

JoHnny adams i woN’t cry –comPlete ric & roN siNgles 1959-1964

(ace CD)

JoHn CoLtrane Quintet/eriC doLpHy so maNy thiNgs – the euroPeaN tour 1961

(acrobat 4CD)

08

LittLe miLton chicago Blues aNd soul Via memPhis aNd st louis – his early years 1953-1962

(Jasmine CD) 09

tHe souL stirrers Joy iN my soul

(ace 2CD)

various comPlete history of the Blues 1920-62

(Properbox 4CD)

ian siegaL the PicNic sessioNs

the big blues reviews guide – accept no substitute!

aLvin Lee & Co

liVe at

the academy of music, New york 1975

Digital White label

This innovative digital online platform comprises a previously unreleased collection of tracks which is downloaded over 12 months, with a variety of other rare, exclusive material accessible on-line. The whole package is available now, the final track having been released in April. Alvin’s powerful vocals and trademark blistering and incisive guitar solos steal the show from the start but his tasteful, versatile and inventive playing highlights the difference musically between this band and Ten Years After. The mellifluous All Life’s Trials with Mel Collins’ sumptuous flute accompaniment confirms Alvin’s status as a consummate wordsmith. Lee is clearly at home when playing the blues, notably Every Blues You’ve Ever Heard, a masterpiece of the genre. Pure rock and roll influences are evident in Elvis’ Money Honey whilst the funky There’s A Feeling provides insights into Alvin’s inner thoughts and emotions.

The full-on aural assault of’ I’m Writing You A Letter is raw energy from start to finish, Alvin and keyboard maestro Ronnie Leahy stretching their chops and duelling like Wild West gunslingers. The show’s finale is Ride My Train with its mesmeric rhythm, screeching vocals, crunching chords, bent notes and sinuous solos. How the roof of the theatre did not come crashing down at this moment remains a mystery 40 years after! Thanks to expert mastering, mixing and executive production, the original tapes are transformed into a crystal clear, high quality recording, making this a fitting tribute to Alvin.

THE BISHOP

tHe reverend

peyton’s Big damn Band

so delicious

Yazoo label

The first thing I have to own up to; is an inability to pigeon hole this album, it is a bit of a cross over in the sense that it has blues, country, roots

and with a bit of Americana coursing through its veins. It is a raucous stomp through the southern states of America and without any technological assistance or 21st century aids in its production. It is what it says on the cover, a So Delicious journey back to another age. The Reverend tends to incongruously play like the devil with his guitar playing

in track four Raise A Little Hell, with his supporting choir named The Raise A Little Hell Children’s Choir! Whether or not he is an actual ecclesiastical Reverend, his playing and soul are most definitely in this music. Breezy Peyton (or the Reverend’s wife, if you prefer) adds her soaring voice in addition to wearing her fingers down to the knuckle on the washboard, and Ben “Birddog” Bussell adds his considerable ability on drums and general percussion. You can take it that Ben is not connected to the ex-Ballerina Darcey from ‘Strictly...’ in the remotest sense, but is on his toes with his role in the production.

The trio have been aided by a host of friends in the making of this musical extravaganza, and when you realise they apparently play at several hundred gigs a year then you’ll understand their ability and popularity across the pond. I suspect Seasick Steve of Glastonbury fame took some of his style from this trio, so that may give you a flavour of So Delicious.

TOM WALKER

Bassekou

kouyate & ngoni Ba

Ba Power

Glitterbeat

Since Kouyate first appeared in 2007 with the Segu Blue album I have been following

his development as a musician and as a leader in the music of Mali. Ba Power is, without question, his most powerful and most confident album yet but somehow he manages to keep the special character that his music embodies.

For those who don’t know, the ngoni is a lute like stringed instrument that looks like an undersized cricket bat, fretless and apparently made of hide and calabash it is normally played as a solo instrument. In addition to the standard ngoni there are also bass ngoni and where Kouyate made a difference to the traditional sound was to bring a number of ngonis together and mix in electronics and percussion to create an ngoni band or Ba so Ngoni Ba means ngoni band and the title of the album refers to the sheer power of the band.

This is a massive leap from his last album Jama Ko which was subdued and saddened by the civil war that was raging in Mali at the time (in fact the studio was in the middle of a raging firefight while they recorded). Right from the opening strains of Siran Fen with the ngoni riffing and furious percussive clicking bringing in a vocal chorus that almost seems exultant you feel the emotive release of the music. When Kouyate’s wife Ami Sacko takes up the lead vocal she rises out of the mix like a

pauL Jones

suddeNly i like it

Continental blue Heaven

Paul Jones, the legendary Manfred Mann singer and stalwart of the British blues scene courtesy of his long stint in The Blues Band and his Radio 2 Rhythm and Blues show has now released his second solo album. Are You Lonely For Me Baby is a cover of the Bert Bern’s penned Freddie Scott hit and features soulful vocals from PJ plus a superb guitar solo from Jake Andrews. Jones has certainly put together a great band and they boogie splendidly on Lonely Nights with PJ’s wailing harp and rollicking piano work from Mike Thompson.

The self-penned Sit Back Down is a blues/rocker driven along by Alvino Bennett’s drums and then Joe Bonamassa adds his trademark lead guitar to the funky Beggar For The Blues. The oft covered jazzy soul-ballad Brother Where Are You grooves nicely with an added brass section and backing vocals from Little Willie G. Mountain Boogie is an instrumental jam featuring PJ’s harmonica and Jools Holland’s piano. The band rock out on title track Suddenly I Like It before the pace changes for the stunning late night jazz standard Don’t Go To Strangers with PJ crooning superbly. Holland adds Hammond organ to his own song Remember Me which also features resonator guitar from Todd Wolfe.

The brass section reappear for the classic Temptations hit Soul To Soul which gets an excellent big production job with PJ singing soulfully. The old blues standard Trouble In Mind gets a stripped down instrumental treatment as Jones’s harp and Holland’s piano take it home. There is certainly variety here as Nat King Cole’s Straighten Up And Fly Right gets a swinging, jazzy arrangement. The gospel feeling Chairmen Of The Board hit I’m On My Way To A Better Place lifts the spirits and the album closes with the funky full band instrumental jam Above & Beyond. Proof, if any was needed, that Paul Jones is still at the top of his game.

DAVE DRURY

siren and in addition the track features a guitar solo from Chris Brockaw that takes the music to a whole further place. The number is massively expressive and powerful and almost seems to be a statement that “we have survived, nothing can stop us!” The album was recorded in the family compound just outside Bamako with all the original recordings made with family – brothers, nephews, spouses – playing together. The production is by Chris

Eckman (of Tamikrest and Dirt Music fame) and he brought some superstars of African music in to the mix; Samba Toure, Zoumana Tereta, Adjama Yalombo, the aforementioned Brockaw, but the essence of the music is Bassekou Kouyate’s vision and sheer musicianship.

Ami Sacko sings with more passion and heart than she has shown in the past and the family relationships of the band ensure that they are playing as a whole. If

any proof were still needed this is where the Blues originated and while the music has different timbres and rhythms to Stevie Ray Vaughan or Muddy Waters you can hear much of this in Son House or Charlie Patton’s music. Without question the best that this remarkable musician has made and a must for anyone with any understanding of Blues and World music.

ANDY SNIPPER

Brandon santini

liVe & eXteNded Vizztone

I immediately classified this album as Bar Room Blues on first hearing and this still stands after several plays, from the opening track to the last this is really crunchy electric Blues performed by a four piece Memphis based band led by Brandon Santini on vocals and Harmonica, who is your archetypal front man with his commanding expressive gruff vocals and a good stage presence that has the audience eating out of his hand.

The album was recorded live in Quebec last year and benefits from studio quality sound, the twelve tracks include a mix of self written songs and a couple of covers, an exceptional track is one Brandon co-wrote with Charlie Musselwhite called This Time Another Year, which as you can imagine is a Harp players paradise but also includes lively doses of Timo Arthur’s guitar breaks.

The album appears to have been recorded at one gig with two sets, the second set includes some crowd pleasers including My Backscratcher, which is played at a slow pace letting the band stretch out

with plenty of instrumental breaks, the final encore track is Come On Everybody where Brandon highlights that he is up there with the current crop of leading Harmonica players and in doing so probably owes a debt to Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson who have clearly influenced him. An excellent live album of Harmonica led blues.

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

denis parker and tHe

modern saints

deNis Parker aNd the moderN saiNts

Independent

Most well-known for his acoustic work, the Canadian singer songwriter Denis Parker has decided to pick up an electric guitar and assemble a band for his latest, self-titled release.

The nine songs of this album range from slow blues, to medium paced funk, as well as providing new readings of more traditional material. With Parker on guitars, lead vocals and harmonica, he is accompanied by John Clarke on electric guitar and lap steel, bassist Mick Davies and drummer/ percussionist Elliot Dicks on an album that sticks to a live, gritty, but polished recording style.

We are treated to count in’s for some of the numbers, which lends an immediacy to proceedings, whilst also giving some indication of the group’s prowess on the live stage.

Album opener Where Warm Winds Blow is a slow brooding blue, with lap steel and growling vocals to the fore, whilst Blue Wave acts as a call to arms, in a laid-back Tulsa style, whilst the title track Modern Saints,

has a backing track that would find a place on FM radio, but a radio unfriendly central premise. Two of the covers, Rock Island Line and Shady Lane finish the album, and are different, more brooding versions than the ones which we are already overly familiar with. So, the album offers nothing really new, but it is a well thought out collection that is well recorded and lively. Visit //soundcloud.com/ denisparker for a taste of what the album has to offer.

BEN MACNAIR

eLiZa neaLs BreakiNg aNd eNteriNg

Independent Detroit has, over the years, produced some extremely fine music and musicians, and it’s fair to say that the trend continues in the form of Eliza Neals, singer, songwriter, keyboard player and producer. On Breaking & Entering, she is ably backed by a number of musicians, including a trio of guitarists, one of whom, Kenny Olson, is Kid Rock’s guitarist. Opening with Detroit Drive, one is immediately hit by the slide guitar played on Dobro by Howard Glazer. This country Blues stomp consists of drums, Dobro and vocals, but stands out because of Neals rasping voice into which she injects a great deal of feeling and soulfulness. Think Janis and Neals is not far away, a voice which demands attention.

The songs here, either written or co-written by Neals, tend towards the Blues Rock vein, with some tasty guitar soloing throughout. At times however she does veer towards radio friendly poprock as in Pretty Gritty, a

song with boogie style piano and heavily distorted guitar, behind very pop oriented vocals. Jekyll And A Hound is another of those easy to listen to radio friendly songs, but that doesn’t detract from the quality of musical backing to the song, which is extremely high.

Goo Goo Glass has a very funky opening with heavy guitar riffing that wouldn’t sound out of place on a ZZ Top album, and rocks with attitude throughout. Slowing things down with the heavily poignant You, Olson plays some strong aggressive guitar both behind the vocals and during his solo.

A very moody but fitting piece of music. Neals tips her hat towards Country in Southern Comfort, another song featuring Olson. My personal favourite here is the title track, Breaking And Entering, a real Bluesy swagger on which her vocals are surely suited. Glazer’s guitar playing is truly down home dirty Blues playing and the whole song is a glorious modern-day interpretation of hot Chicago Blues. Suitably, the album closes with a radio edit version of the song, a great way to end this release.

MERV OSBORNE

gLas from the Blues to your shoes

Independent Glas (the Welsh for blue, not the Irish/Scotch for green) are a blues trio from Blackwood in South Wales. They’ve been gigging round the pubs and blues clubs for a wee while now, and this CD is one that they’ve put together for selling at their shows, as a souvenir of a good night out. And their mixture of blues, rock’n’roll and even country certainly

sounds like a good time. The band are fronted by Dai John on vocals and bass, with Huw Hannan on drums and lead guitar courtesy of James Oliver, with the latter a particular find as his slide work is uniformly excellent. It’s a mixture of originals and covers, with the opening The Sky Turned Red And My Face Turned Blue the best of the originals, as it ranges over seven minutes, with plenty of time for showing

off their musical chops. However, if you wonder what a night out with Glas would sound like then a quick listen to their covers of Dust My Broom, Shake Rattle & Roll and Shake Your Money Maker should give you a good idea. Largely aimed at gig goers, this CD does everything it’s supposed to.

STUART A HAMILTON

Joe Bonamassa muddy wolf at red rocks

Provogue

Mr Marmite is at it again, but maybe this release will bring a more favourable response. Recorded over the Labor Day weekend last year at this wonderful venue cut into Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, this is a treat. As the title suggests, this is a tribute to two blues legends, both major influences on today’s artists. It’s also worth noting that this is the biggest crowd, 9,000 that Joe has played in front of. Disc one has eight Muddy tracks, prefaced by the man himself talking. It’s difficult to single any one track out, to be fair, but if push comes to shove, to get the full feel of the band, Stuff You Gotta Watch and Real Love stand out, followed closely by All Aboard.

The trump card for this reviewer is that Joe has recruited a crack brass section, Lee Thornburg (trumpet and horn arranger), Ron Dziubla (saxophone) and Nick Lane (trombone). Add long-term drummer Anton Fig, bassist Michael Rhodes, Double Trouble keyboardist Reese Wynans, harmonica player Mike Henderson and guitarist Kirk Fletcher into the mix and you have one hell of a band. For all the critics out there who don’t like the elongated guitar solos Joe is renowned for, these are pruned down considerably, and shared equally with the band. Disc two is dedicated to Howlin’ Wolf, three tracks in all, but don’t feel short-changed, again his voice opens proceedings followed by How Many More Years, Shake For Me and Hidden Charms.

After the band introductions, there is a cracking medley of Spoonful, Killing Floor, Evil (Is Going On) and All Night Boogie. As if that’s not enough, we are then treated to five of Joe’s own favourites, Hey Baby (New Rising Sun), Oh Beautiful!, Love Ain’t A Love Song, Sloe Gin and closer Ballad of John Henry. All in all, a brilliant CD, worth remembering even more for the fact that the concert is presented by Keeping The Blues Alive, a charity founded by Joe and helping to promote the heritage of the blues for the next generation. Ticket sales raised $40,000 for schools across the USA.

CLIVE RAWLINGS

Albums reviews

JoHn mayaLL’s BLuesBreakers liVe iN 1967

Forty below records

So a Dutch fan of Mayall’s decides to lug a reel-to-reel tape recorder around to various London club gigs and all these years later, our bandleader is able to hand the tapes to an engineer (Eric Corne) to get the best shot he can onto a CD master. So whilst not of present-day audio quality and more akin to an eavesdrop ‘live’ recording, we get to hear a historic set of recordings from 1967 of a short-lived BluesBreakers line-up, three-quarters of which would soon team up with Jeremy Spencer to form Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Many of you love the Hard Road album originally on Decca and in its current format including the fabulous team-up with US harp maestro Paul Butterfield. But good live recordings are scarce of that line-up, let alone this one. Something Mayall commented upon when I gave him a book called London Live documenting the metropolis’ venues and scene of the Sixties at a show in Guildford a couple of years ago.

The drums recording sounds OK, the bass the right side of good, the organ fairly full, the harp work very listenable and the Peter Green guitar work overall capturing his haunting and fluid Decca era sound. How this man felt the Blues! Peter shrugs it off when you speak to him saying that’s where he was at that time and even now he just doesn’t realise how captivating his sound was – let alone his choice of notes and distinct vibrato – not just for listeners but for nascent guitar players.

For the lowdown on the release we’ll be featuring a chat I had with Mayall in LA last week but this for the fan is 76 minutes of wonder, for the main part. Some of the cuts were not featured on contemporary albums e.g. Hi Heel Sneakers, Stormy Monday and Freddie King’s San-Ho-Zay. During the latter at around 5:00 Green hits that voodoo note! Double Trouble; is pure desolation in musical format; Streamline has a catchy riff. Green powers through The Stumble with a flowing torrent of notes that are driven and forceful. Lookin’ Back is the jaunty inclusion it always was. A treat for fans, in my humble opinion. I am one, for sure…

PETE SARGEANT

isaiaH B Brunt

Just the way it goes Independent

Isaiah defined his music for me as “Indie blues with a modern approach infusing reflections of the past.” There is a definite individual approach to the blues on this set – a little spacey, a haunting,

coherent and cohesive feel, a tightly controlled power, and a strong understanding of the music. This is certainly deliberate as this Australian singer, guitarist and songwriter has many years of experience working as a producer and studio owner, participated in 2011’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis (an article on his website notes

he may not have won, but he was certainly the best-dressed artist that year!), and has taken the blues into aboriginal communities.

This album though was recorded at the Audiophile Studios in French Market Place in New Orleans, using local musicians like pianist and Hammond player Mike Hood (take a listen to Precious Stone), owner Richard Bird on bass, drummer Mark Whitaker and for one-off appearances, David Stocker on mellotron on the rather different (for a blues artist) closing number Which Way To Go with its rich orchestral sound, and Kenny Claiborne applying some wailing blues harp playing to the down-home sounding The River Runs High. Isaiah’s vocals are deceptively.

Lazy but very effective, and his guitar playing always in context, impressive without being overly-flashy, even when he plays some concise slide work as on the opening She’s So Fine or combines this with wah wah, Earl Hooker style, on The River Runs High. Incidentally, all the songs are thoughtful originals - there’s no slinging together of a few common stock verses on this very individual, entertaining and thoughtprovoking set.

NORMAN DARWEN

tHe Luke doHerty Band

siX striNgs aNd a stetsoN Independent

This CD has a powerful introduction and is recorded with a live feel. The title Six Strings and a Stetson hints that the guitar plays a major role in the line-up, and the feel of the album has a

blend of pure foot tapping Blues and Southern Rock, like ZZ Top (original – not the commercial stuff!) meets Country, Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan in a bar somewhere and they Jam! Luke Doherty has the skill as a musician to compliment the songs with his, on times, powerful guitar playing which is very reminiscent of the late Stevie Ray’s style without needing to completely dominate the songs, a skill many guitarists sadly lack! The album has an authentic, seasoned feel that could have been recorded back in the day, the on times smoky vocals have no pretensions which is just what the album needed.

The drums give a good steady beat and some tracks have a foot tapping ‘skiffle’ feel. The bass gives a strong backbone to the whole album. There have been no special effects or over production on this album and the ‘no frills’ approach to song writing and playing give the album it’s live band feel which is similar to the way that Rory Gallagher and his band played. Favourite tracks would have to be 100 Bricks and Hey Man but to be honest there isn’t a track that I dislike. Each has it’s own flavour, the harp lending the Blues feel. Don’t miss this! The Luke Doherty Band are destined to go on and do great things! “Play it loud!” It just grabs you and demands that you listen!

CLAIRE WILLIAMS

d.a. foster the real thiNg

shaboo/Vizztone

This is an album full of the experience of playing and being the blues, the quality musicianship combined with

impeccable timing oozes through the grooves and out through your speaker, as the tracks unfold this is not a guitar led blues with percussive beats, horns and backing vocals who highlight the phrasing.

The opening track Good Man Bad Thing, is full of horns that echo the vocals from D.A. Foster himself and draws you in to wanting to hear more. The following track has a harsher edge both in the drumming and vocals and then a layer of piano that makes this a honky-tonk number with attitude, this is, as the title says, The Real Thing. Pick any of the dozen tracks and you will be rewarded with a sound that makes you empathise with the lyrics, you relate instantly to the sorrow, hurt and joys the yearning and hopes as in I Need A Good Woman Bad.

The rocking and rolling blues of Smack Dab in The Middle really gets your dancing feet moving. Closing with Down Home Blues you will know that you have spent time with D.A.Foster and his band who understand the blues and reflects the decades he has been around the music scene as the hands on co-owner of Shaboo Inn, a legendary Connecticut Roadhouse, who introduced newcomers to the wider music scene including Elvis Costello, AC/DC, Dire Straits and then a lexicon of the blues greats Willie Dixon, BB King, Koko Taylor and many many more. The album title does not lie this is the real thing R&B that can be trusted, It Is the Real thing, genuine unadulterated R&B nothing more nothing less, as relevant today as in the heyday of this style of albums I the 1950’s and every decade since.

LIZ AIKEN

Jeff HeaLey Band liVe at the horseshoe taVerN 1993 eagle records

This live album was recorded in his home town, in front of his loyal fans, and is a great tribute to his mastery of the guitar. Forget about his blindness, forget about the way he played the guitar on his lap and just remember he was wrapped up in his love of the blues. His take on ZZ Top’s Blue Jean Blues is powerful, as is his rendition of Mark Knofler’s I Think I Love You Too Much.

There are acoustic gems mid-gig, such as his own That’s What They Say; and You’re Coming Home; and John Hiatt’s Angel Eyes has vocals to melt your heart. The Roadhouse Blues from the film soundtrack of the same name is a killer rendition. A reminder of Jeff’s dexterity as a guitarist is on his version of George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps. The final track, possibly the best song by BB King, The Thrill Is Gone is given a12-minute rendition. For anyone who needs an insight into Jeff Healey’s prowess this is an invaluable album to own. He will be sadly missed.

BOB BONSEY

duke roBiLLard Band calliNg all Blues

Dixiefrog

Duke again has done an album covering various American Blues styles and is a return to his past catalogue of unrecorded tunes played on various

guitars which he describes in the liner notes. The album kicks off with Down in Mexico inspired by a holiday there. I’m Gonna Quit You Baby is played with a broken hand thus giving a funky slide effect. Svengali is based on the John Barrymore character in the 1930 film of the same name. Sunny Crownover does a great vocal on Blues Beyond The Call Of Duty. Ron Sexsmith’s tune which is Emphasis On Memphis has the band giving a salute to the Memphis influence on the Blues. Motor Trouble is in the boogie style of Frankie Lee Sims. Nasty Guitar is his take on early rock and roll and how Sam Phillips changed the world of music. Temptation is a re-recording of a song Duke wrote in

the early 90s (a sort of Pink Floyd meets Miles Davis).

The Carter Brothers opus She’s So Fine is reproduced with a feeling that only Mr Robillard can achieve. This album is another gem for the Duke fans.

BOB BONSEY

eriC sCHwartZ the aristocrat

Claritone

I enjoyed Eric’s album

The Better Man (see the preceding issue of BM) and this CD certainly will probably appeal even less to the more conservative side of the American public. Just to make sure, the outspoken

Ian Siegal is one of the UK’s top bluesmen who has regularly won awards for his albums and song writing, on this live release recorded at the North Sea Jazz Club last year in Amsterdam he showcases his new young Dutch band and rattles through the first three tracks without any real interaction with the audience, it is only after this that he starts interacting with them and explains his song selection over the remainder of the album, which includes old and new songs as well as tracks by his heroes. I was surprised that Ian’s heroes were not the recognised names I had expected, he kicks off this section with a track by Harry Stephenson called Writing On The Wall, which includes a very hard edged vocal by Ian, a further highlight is the lengthy Wild West flavoured Tom Russell song Gallo Del Cielo, which includes an authentic guitar solo by Dusty Ciggaar. The latter songs include backing vocals by Joel and Tess Gaerthe who between then put in a really emotional stripped back version of Love Hurts, in total there are twelve tracks which are not what you would consider to be out and out Blues, there is a mix of several styles here all with a strong Americano feel to them. This album did slightly throw me as I was expecting a raucous live Blues album but what you get instead is to hear a commanding vocal performance from one of our best and an interesting insight into Ian’s musical influences.

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

Albums reviews

Mr Schwartz comes out with the 17 second STFU Ann Coulter (google her name to see why she provokes this rather angry reaction).

Elsewhere, Eric switches music styles and juxtaposes some more rather direct lyrics with seemingly inappropriate arrangements, usually drawing on roots styles like soul music, funk and country (W.G.F.T.S really does subvert the norms of romantic soul music – or is it putting them straight?)) . Mind you, many readers of this magazine will certainly enjoy the self-explanatory Black Man In The White House, which rather neatly draws something of its inspiration from southern soul-blues singer

innes siBun

blues boulevard records

Latimore’s 1975 hit There’s A Red Neck In The Soul Band, whilst Male Pattern Baldness is a loud bluesrock item with some heavy guitar work from Reb Beach. Just to confirm Eric’s opposition to bigotry, he has a straight (or as straight as Eric gets) gospel workout with Jesus, Leave The Bible Belt Alone, again with lyrics that make some relevant points and should ensure more hate mail. Most of the tracks on this CD won’t be coming to a radio station near you any time soon – not when you have tracks like Welcome To The Working, Wanking Week. But if this review intrigues you or makes you curious, then do investigate this release.

NORMAN DARWEN

Well here we go for another exploration of the blues genre and beyond by this much acclaimed guitarist and songwriter. Always seems to be looking at different styles of music and melodies when to be loud and expressive such as in his live concerts or in the studio. Here we find him again experimenting on a release so eclectic it is a joy to behold. On this twelve track he covers two songs the slow and melodious Gil Scott Heron song I’ll Take Care Of You and I Fall Apart by Rory Gallagher. He wrote the rest and also produced this release. Interestingly most of this release was recorded in Eastern Europe with musicians from Bosnia and Herzegovina but also adding to the band he introduces Charlie Jones on bass and Clive Deamer on drums on the final track Give Up The Fight which is very interesting and challenges lead vocalist Innes to hit high notes. Otherwise this is an excellent release full of surprises. There is honky tonk piano tune Find My Way Home played by Gabrijel Prusina in amongst such gems as the funky blues rock on One Of These Days. Old Time Used To Be is a particular highlight where Innes plays mandolin acoustic and bass. Nonetheless his powerhouse fretwork is never far away especially on the opener Love Light and the blistering Blues For Sherman a nod to his pal Sherman Robertson. An altogether professional stunning release.

tHe mCCrary sisters let’s go

mcC records/thirty tigers CD Let’s drop some names here. The Black Keys, Dr.John, Ry Cooder, Mavis Staples. These are just a few of the artists these fabulous women have worked with. This is wild, uninhibited Gospel-based vocalising of the highest order.

There’s only five tracks on this CD, but I could handle fifty from these artists. Talk about dancing in the aisles! Ann, Deborah, Regina and Alfreda McCrary are the daughters of the late, great Reverend Samuel McCrary, one of the original members of the legendary gospel quartet, The Fairfield Four.

Powerful, dynamic, their scintillating harmonies are to die for and this CD’s production values are as high as you can get from ace producer Buddy Miller. From the opening song, That’s Enough, through to the stunning arrangement of Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Round, what you have here is a totally electrifying celebration of life, hope and love. You would doubtless be a total plank of wood not to have the hair on your neck raised by just the opening bars. CD of the year so far for me. Hallelujah, I not only see the light, I can feel it. Brilliant stuff.

ROY BAINTON

JosH smitH

oVer your head

CrossCut records California based Josh Smith’s last album Don’t Give Up On Me was a superb lush, soul-drenched, string and

brass laden affair but here he has stripped his band back to a power trio and produced a hard rocking disc. The mightily rocking How Long opens proceedings with Lemar Carter’s crashing drumbeat and Calvin Turner’s thumping bass backing Smith’s aggressive vocals and fiery lead guitar.

Over Your Head finds Joe Bonamassa adding his guitar to the mix as the pair whip up an axe storm trading with blizzards of notes. It’s always hard to avoid mentioning Hendrix when reviewing power trio’s and I certainly hear some echoes of Jimi in this music. Good stuff! Carter’s funky bass rumble introduces When I Get Mine featuring Smith’s menacing vocal and excellent chiming guitar.

The loping Still Searching is a slightly jazzier number, featuring Jeff Babko on organ and playful guitar work from Smith. First Hand Look (At Down And Out) is a crunching blues-rocker with distorted guitar sounds. The fast shuffle instrumental. The song And What features wah-wah guitar and a guest appearance by Kirk Fletcher. A lengthy psychedelic phased guitar intro leads into Smoke And Mirrors and then comes the spare backdrop for the painful tale of lost love Pusher.

Longest track on the album is the eight minute slow soul-ballad Better Off featuring sweet soulful vocals by Charles Jones, smoky piano by Jeff Babko and tasteful guitar by Smith. Better Off is a tour-deforce and the highlight of the album for me as all the players get a chance to shine. Charlie Musselwhite adds his tasty harp licks to the bluesy closing track You’ll Find Love. There is also a short Jimi style reprise

COLIN CAMPBELL

of How Long featuring feedback, distortion and wah-wah as the band close out this album of mainly rocking blues which has enough quality to appeal to the blues lovers and rockers.

DAVE DRURY

igor prado Band and deLta groove aLL stars way dowN south

Delta Groove music

The world of blues keeps spinning and this time it stops for a thirteen track sampler by Brazilian blues impresario Igor Prado and his band comprising his brother Yuri on drums bassist Rodrigo Mantovani and saxophonist Denilson Martins playing tight grooves. Add to this a galaxy of guest stars loosely related to the Delta Groove record label then you cannot go wrong.

It may be a long way from his home in Sao Paulo to Chicago New Orleans and Texas plus other music styles on this release he has the balance right with a mainly covers retrospective. Sugar Ray Rayford kicks things off with an Ike Turner cover Matchbox with guitar licks provided by Monster Mike Welch and the piano tones of Ari Borger.

Kim Wilson sings Ride

With Me with the backing band taking a more relaxed rootsy approach. Larry Mud Morganfield blasts out She’s Got It in the style of Muddy Waters this also being a showcase for Igor Prado to lay down some slide guitar as homage to one of his main influences. A particular highlight is Baby Wont You Jump

With Me written by Lowell Fulson and sung by Richard Lynwood Slim Duran whom

this disc is dedicated to. Taking down the pace on Louisiana styled blues tune If You Ever Need Me again shows off the bands skill to adapt classics. A quite outstanding release, stylish and heart felt.

COLIN CAMPBELL

krissy

mattHews sceNes from a moViNg wiNdow

Promise records

I first encountered Krissy’s music many years ago when I reviewed his debut album Influences and noted his promise whilst suggesting that some hard touring on the circuit would help him gain experience and maturity. Happily Krissy has done just that and learned well while still retaining the swagger of youth. Now at 22 Krissy has made a smart move and enlisted legendary Cream lyricist Pete Brown as producer and co-writer.

Opener If I Had A Time Machine looks back to the 60’s and makes reference to some of Krissy’s inspirations like Clapton, Winwood, Mayall, Korner, The Yardbirds and Albert King, Peter Green etc. as he wonders which direction the music will take. I’ve Been Searching is a thumping rocker with Krissy letting rip with a wailing solo and Paul Jobson contributing some Deep Purple organ riffs. The pace drops for Day By Day featuring acoustic guitar and Jobson’s tinkling piano and then builds to a climax. Can’t Get It Down On Paper is a reflective song where Krissy looks back on his travels and the people he met along the way.

The oddly titled standout track Bubbles And The Seven Phones starts

BLues piLLs Blues Pills liVe

A year on from their first studio CD, this American, Swedish, French four piece release their first live offering. Swedish vocalist Elin Larsson and compatriot drummer Andre Kvarmstrom are joined by American bassist Zack Anderson and young French guitarist Dorian Sorriaux on these ten tracks of Psychedelia, Blues, Hard Rock or whatever handle you want to put on it. One thing for sure is they know what they’re doing. I suppose Larsson’s howling, soulful voice will evoke comparisons with Janis Joplin, given that the music offered here wouldn’t have been out of place in the late 60’s. High Class Woman gets the album off to a perfect start, with its thumping bass line, fuzzy guitar fills, over a rolling drumbeat, before a refined solo reminds the listener that this band is not all ‘bang and crash’. Eighteen year old Sorriaux opens Ain’t No Change with a delicate solo, before Larsson jumps in with her frenetic vocals.

The closest the band come to mellow, briefly anyway, is on Black Smoke, Larsson bringing things down before crunching guitar and heavy drums come in, this track has the lot, in fact, a feedback laden solo, loud vocals and an even heavier outro, showcasing Sorriaux’s expertise. No Hope Left For Me is a midtempo rocker. Devil Man opens with an unaccompanied Larsson in strictly Blues mode, before the band kick in, definitely a 70’s feel to this. Album closer Little Sun is a power ballad telling of lost love, with an unusually subdued guitar feel, an all-round mellow feel to it, before a kick ass outro. All in all, a contender for live album of the year. If, like this reviewer, you were there in the 60’s, you’ll associate strongly with this.

CLIVE RAWLINGS

off atmospherically with restrained vocals, as Krissy tells the tale of a dodgy ex-manager, until he finally unleashes some fretboard fireworks in a frenzy of psychedelic chaos.

The only cover on the album is Blind Willie McTell’s Searching The Desert For The Blues which gets a powerful blues-rock treatment and a frenetic guitar solo. Roadsick Blues is a honky-tonk style romp complete with harmonica, banjo and rowdy sing-along chorus.

The soul-blues ballad Heading South is a tasteful affair with Krissy joined on

sweet harmony vocals by Nikki Loy and features a fine spare guitar solo of the less is more variety. Hard riffing Language By Injection rises and falls dramatically with sturdy guitar licks and a huge swirling organ solo. Closer Bad Boy is a big production rocker as Krissy trades incendiary licks with Jobson’s stabbing organ and the whole band race to the finish. As Pete Brown says: “Krissy is getting better all the time and is already streets ahead of most.” Enough said.

DAVE DRURY

Blues Top 50 APriL 2015

IBBA top 50

This album is acoustic Delta Blues of the Deep South and is a testimony to the talents of Larry Garner and Michael Van Merwyk. Both are masters of the laid-back blues genre and Up Close And Personal is just about the right description for this album. Recorded in an intimate environment in front of an invited audience, this pair gives a performance which is very special indeed. The anecdotes between songs and performances are very personal to this pair.

Ease My Pain deals with broken hearts and is Larry in peak form. Bad Blues has a Canned Heat feel to it but, there again, I feel a lot of Blues have a ‘been there’ quality. When the duo gets into a groove the telepathic pairing is unique. Bull Rider, the slide guitar of Mr Van Merwyk is beautifully counter balanced by Garner’s spoken vocal. Dreaming Again is a joyous talking blues experience. The Bear has Van Merwyk doing his thang on a classic Delta Blues. The Blues Keep Calling My Name and Road Of Life tells of lost love, bad love and mean women and their version of Lightning Hopkins’ Mojo Hands is a master class of technique. This is a perfect album to chill out to, grab a bottle, turn down the lights and enjoy an up close and personal gig.

Because Mahalia’s band sounds so good on this set of songs, let’s name them upfront: Farnco Raggatt gtr, Clayton Doley keys, Lachlan Doley keys, Ben Rodgers bass, David Hibbard drums, Yanya Boston perc. Darren Percival, Jade MacRae, Juanita Tippins bv’s – all recorded at Freight Train out in Sydney, Australia. The other notable muso on this set is none other than Joe Bonamassa the ace guitar man, who happened to mention this when we were talking together about his own last release. Now as I told Joe I know the original material by Betty Davis inspiring this album really well, I bought the import and Island albums as they came out way back. I did wonder how Joe would approach the project, but I kinda knew he would get the right vibe, knowing what he had attained with the Rock Candy cats.

A brief background here: Betty Davis the singer has nothing to do with the scary Hollywood actress and screen partner of Joan Crawford. She was the young wife of jazz legend Miles Davis, no less, for a while. Her albums had a unique and way-aheadof-her-time funk attack, clavinet and electric guitar spitting out riffs over James Brown/Meters drumming and very cool laidback electric basslines, over which barely-contained sonic maelstrom our Betty would roar and coo out her lyrics. These were a melee of wit, scathing commentary, impassioned sexiness and drag-you-to-bed feistiness. Not the greatest tuneful singer in the world but one with the strongest drive delivery and taunting horniness. At the time,

various artists

krossBorder komPilatioN Vol 2

Krossborder records

Krossborder Records have done a great service for the many blues bands that feature on this album. 16 different British acts are featured, ranging from one man bands and solo performers to funk, blues and blues rock bands, with much to offer both experts and more casual listeners. Many of the songs are of a more upbeat nature, and offer bands a great chance to showcase their sound. From the humour of Andy Twyman’s I Eat Pot Noodle With a Plastic Spoon to the Latin tinge of Jed Thomas’s Rainy day there is a lot of variety here. The acts included range from established names such as Gwyn Ashton, Paul Lamb and The Bare Bones Boogie Band, to names that are new to me like Sanchi Sugiyama, and the sole instrumental track in Shimmer. Other gems include The Scene by Kat and Co to I Need A Friend by The Mighty Boss Cats, which has that melodic Tulsa. Blues sound and strong musicianship to match. For anyone with an interest in the British blues scene, this is the perfect album, or if you are wanting to get a taste of someone new, there is bound to be something to please even the most jaded of ears.

BEN MACNAIR

none of my musical friends could stand to listen to it. Mind you these were the ones who had sneered at Velvet Underground when I suggested they check them out or lent them albums and then a few years later tried to tell me about this great chap called Lou Reed that they had discovered.

Me, I loved it all and soaked up the staggered rhythms and splintery guitar tones, regretting that I’d likely never get to meet her. And I still haven’t. I always dreamed that maybe Nikka Costa and Vernon Reid might team up and play some of the Betty Davis material, however here we have the belting vocal talent and stylish delivery of it all by Jimmy Barnes’ daughter, Mahalia. She has kindly via her label completed one of our 20 Questions pieces which we are featuring on our site, so you can see what she is about.

Bonamassa instinctively

knows that adding guitar to these tracks mostly means self-editing into meshing with the band sound then lashing out with harsh curling licks. The occasional axe solo sounds great (of course) but like James Brown music, the mix of chattering keys and stuttering guitar work is what gives the spot-on platform for our little lioness to sing over. Barnes’ performances are magical and apposite to the songs. Hence a whole new set of music fans are led to the rainbow funk fountain of Betty Davis’ recordings. And hey, Joe B is doing the same with his current tributes to Muddy and Wolf. I always contend, fans make the best music as long as they bring something of their own to the party and don’t just Xerox the originals.

That’s good here? All of it, the spirit of the project

Albums reviews

is sustained throughout. But twist my arm and I’ll point you at the churning and vengeful opener If I’m In Luck, full-blooded Hammond and echoplexed guitar dives, hammer-ons et al. Then the loping crank of He Was A Big Freak and sly tread of Game Is My Middle Name; then Nasty Gal with its spitting tumble and emphases. You can picture the band smiling at each other as the music bounces around the studio. For sheer edginess the take on You Won’t See Me In The Morning would leave even Chaka Khan in the rear-view mirror.

Walking Up The Road might just be the best vocal performance here and the ensemble puts just enough airiness in the

instrumentation to roll the tune just so. To his credit, Bonamassa brings a distinct vibe to these recordings that is nothing like his foil work with Beth Hart which is equally good for different reasons.

A churning, burning, fiery smoking of great material by a masterful and exciting chanteuse

PETE SARGEANT

markus James head for the hills

Firenze records

Like Taj Mahal, Corey Harris, and Ry Cooder before him

Markus James has been to the birthplace of the blues and returned a changed man. Ever since visiting Mali,

Lead Belly, the name always fascinated me on its’ own and then I discovered his music what seems so many years ago now! Friend of Woody Guthrie, fellow icon of the American music history. He was born Huddie Ledbetter and his travels Took him from the Swamplands of Louisiana to the prisons of Texas and New York streets.

I found I have pronounced his name wrong for so long now as ‘huddy’ when in fact it should be as ‘hewdee’ so there’s one lesson for me. His powerful Stella 12 string has played, oozed, pounded and poured out so much emotion and music that is legend and has re-recorded by numerous notable musicians world-wide that he is history itself. In this truly amazing box set we have the man and his music brought to you over five discs bearing 108 tracks (of which sixteen are previously un-released!

And they are certainly worth it, take in Princess Elizabeth and the riff that others have utilised in their songs, nice to hear him introduce Packin’ Trunk Blues himself) that play for five hours plus two fifteen minute radio shows broadcast in 1941 worth attention, plenty of historic photographs with most extensive notes and essays in a massive 140 page book all in a solid heavyweight 12” book/box set that has made life awkward to fit in my usual storage system so needs and deserves a special place indeed in your collection. Most worthy collection but not cheap.

and playing and recording with local musicians, James has made a point of incorporating the trance-like rhythms of West-Africa into his trademark Mississippi Hill Country Blues. Head For The Hills sees a continuation of this process, though this time James has chosen to remain stateside, both geographically and sonically, through the use of more traditionally western arrangements. That being said, the instrumentation here is sparse, eerie, and more dynamically varied than your run-of-the-mill modern Blues release. Aside from drums, percussion, and even beatbox on one track, all instruments are played by James himself.

An impressive virtuosic arsenal that includes vocals, guitar, gourd banjo, dulcimer, diddley bow and blues harp. The lo-fi recording approach lends a deliciously menacing mysticism to the album’s 16 tracks and brings to mind the work of fellow Mississippians Luther and Cody Dickinson, whereas James’ raw and visceral vocal delivery is comparable to Real Gone-era Tom Waits.

The album has an arresting, hypnotic quality that grabs you from the chicken-picked opening of Just Say Yes and doesn’t let up; forcing repeat listens verging on the obsessively compulsive. Head For The Hills is undoubtedly one of the finest releases of recent years, both within the genre and beyond, and James truly belongs to that rarest category of artists, the genuine articles, a modern Blues troubadour who wholeheartedly lives his craft and embodies this most ancient of art-forms. Perhaps put best by African legend Ali Farka Toure in the documentary of James’ Mali trip, Timbuktoubab;

‘he is someone who is seeking the source, reality, and understanding of the culture’. I, for one, am glad he is out there, still seeking.

RHYS WILLIAMS

tHe Corey Harris Band liVe from turtle islaNd

blues boulevard records

Country blues with a twist is what this reviewer would vaguely categorise Corey Harris approach to the blues. Probably not for the purists but a great singer song writer and musician mixing all genres of music into a world music melting pot and bringing it to a boil. On this his first live disc there are all kinds of influences going on with reggae infused material as well as ska and West African beats even a nod to rap music showing what a talent he is.

Turtle Island, it is noted, is in the Caribbean and there are certainly notes of calypso to add to the atmosphere. Nonetheless on some tracks there is no sound of a crowd. Santoro the opening track is a jazzy saxophone led tune played by Gordon Jones then there is the raw blues take on the acclaimed E Blues track mixing Catfish Blues.

Onto the metamorphosis of reggae and calypso feel of Sista Rose. Much influenced by reggae the next track is a medley of songs starting with Cleanliness from his Rasta Blues Experience days with the added help on bass Jayson Morgan and rhythm drumming by Paul Dudley. More jazz tones on Where All The Kings Gone and ska rhythm on Better Way .Basheads exemplifies more crossover styles with a good rhythm and blues beat.

Lead BeLLy the smithsoNiaN folkways collectioN smithsonian Folkways recordings

FRANK LEIGH

Last song A Blues brings us back to a bluesier feel in a Texas style.

COLIN CAMPBELL

Joe Jammer

headway

angel air

This guy has so much history behind him the book could go on for years! Given his name by none other than Jimmy Page when he started working for them as a drum roadie on a USA tour as Led Zeppelin were touring to promote their first album, he moved up to become Jimmy’s guitar technician. And that happened after he had been roadying for Jimi Hendrix before he was even sixteen and The Who at seventeen!

The story goes that Jimmy Page recommended Joe (formerly Joe Wright) to their manager Peter Grant who took him to London from Chicago to record a solo album which was released on Regal Zonophone in 1973. The second album was recorded with a line-up including Mitch Mitchell, John Gustafason. Recorded in 1974 the album never saw release due to complications with work permits.

His background is well explored in the sleeve notes by Malcolm Dome with this album including how he turned down the chance to join the formative Aerosmith, played on over 150 albums as session guitarist, played guitar in Tommy when it was a London Rainbow show. He was in the Olympic Runners band formed by Mike Vernon, they released six albums as a funk band and even recorded the theme song to Joan Collins’ film The Bitch. The music here then certainly stands the test of time after being ‘lost’ and

only recently re-discovered then after sorting out where it stood legally to be tackled by Angel Air to bring it technically up to date. It is not a blues album but more a lost gem. Lots of blues has been involved in Joe’s story along the way, not that you will find much here but it certainly is interesting. The musicianship on display is awesome, the songs clever, some funky. Broken Little Pieces has a lot of AWB, loved the closing Not Tonight in particular, Poli, Palmer (Family) plays flute on Alive Another Day, Someone should sit with Joe and get his story for a book (or even a series). Next please Mr. Jammer!

FRANK LEIGH

teXassippi

souLman danny Brooks and LiL’ miss deBi this world is Not your frieNd

His House records

Despite the suicidally depressing title this Canadian duo have produced a quintessentially “Bluesy” album which is everything I could want from that genre. I could visualise myself in the swampy southern states as soon as it opened with a track with the album name This World Is Not Your Friend, such was the atmospheric vocals and guitar work with occasional mouth organ accompaniment. In truth this is the most Blues sounding album I’ve heard for some time. Brooks has a vocal ability which belies his racial profile, he genuinely does sound like an African American in tone and tenor, making his ability in the blues a stick on winner. There is a soulful facet to this album which hits the

stepHen daLe petit

stePheN

333 records

dale Petit at high Voltage

When vinyl albums were considered to be emphatically consigned to the dustbin of time and digital download was forever to be king this was released on limited edition vinyl only; now only four years later as vinyl is making a comeback, it is has a digital and CD release, strange ain’t it. The ‘get-out’ clause here is that the original recording was made on old-fashioned analogue tape with the use of the Ronnie Lane Mobile Studio at the High Voltage Festival, London in two thousand and ten. The brilliant use of the LMS quite simply energises, enthuses and enhances the music’s character, warmth and feeling. Add to that, the high calibre of musicians involved; Stephen Dale Petit; guitar, Dick Taylor; bass, Jack Greenwood; drums and Laurenzo Mouflier; harmonica, together they create a memorable concert that easily matches up to any favourite live album you may or may not own.

The seven numbers here emit a raw raucous romping, stomping malevolent atmosphere that must have easily sliced through the late Londo n night air. From the Rockabilly underpinning undercurrent of Jack and Dick to the deafeningly, crawling, rapaciously snarling and rapid fretwork of Stephen that seems to be instilled with ringing echoes of Jeff Beck and Cliff Gallup. The starting crescendo of the opener 3 Gunslingers reveals a venal spitting barrage of guitar and harmonica, as they storm out in front of demented metronomic driving drums SDP’S guttural vocals spout forth. A frenetic, wailing harmonica and machinegunning guitar on It’s All Good leads into a primeval emotion soaked version of Summertime Blues, a searing jangly, pounding guitar competes with crashing and bashing drum violence to silence your mind into head-banging submission. Side-tracked, has wonderful echoes of Freddie King on this powerfully tramping and prowling guitar blaster. An unstoppable asthmatically wheezing harmonica dominants a hugely enjoyable version of Juke. The clincher is a marvellous predatory deep bass ridden Shakin’ All Over, with just the right amount of spine tingling terrorising and wailing guitar. Recommended!

BRIAN HARMAN

spot too. Track three, All God’s Children has a meaning to Danny based on an actual experience, and is all the more sensitive for that despite it having a fairly raucous vocal aspect. The very next track Halfway To Heaven has a genuine quasi-religious fervour to add to the southern blues guitar and harmonica

essence. Track nine Got To Find My Way Back Home is so very poignant to both of them, yet they have the strength to perform it. This whole album is essentially roots type blues without make up, writing done with true feeling and performed with a fervour that today’s

BiLLy waLton Band wish for what you waNt

Vizztone

This is apparently the fifth album release from this Jersey based 5 piece, offering us twelve tracks, the majority of which appear to be written within the band. I say that the band are a five piece, but it is an unusual line up with saxophone and trombone, bringing in some Soul feeling. This is very much a band in the Jersey tradition, bringing with them traces of Springsteen and the Asbury Jukes, which is not surprising as Billy was their guitarist for several years.

This is a very sophisticated production, beautifully produced and recorded, played by a band that have earned their spurs by many years of playing live, night after night, polishing their sound and honing their craft, and not trying to slip under the wire on some third rate TV show, having been “on a journey,” giving the band some extra depth to their already full sound (Billy or the producer) has added keyboards additional sax, trumpet and harmonica. This gives them the clout to tackle just about anything and as a result this album is chock full of very tasty tracks with nary a duff note among them. Solo’s appear and disappear without giving you time to get bored or without any hogging the limelight, altogether, I can heartily recommend this superb album.

DAVE STONE

superficial pop stars couldn’t spell much less perform to. The husband and wife team here are truly in tune with each other and have produced an ace for anyone’s blues collection.

TOM WALKER

my own HoLiday

reasoN to Bleed electro Groove records

This duo from California sounds like no other. They are original, brilliant and different. There are no overdubs or long guitar solos, just in-your-face blues/rock. All the songs are self-penned. Joey Crisman on vocals and guitar with Nick Barlolo on drums are a revelation.

Their attitude seems to be – this is us and this is what we do. The opening track called Hold On Me

is a groovy country rocker. Razorblades has a Ted Nugent feel leaning towards Jack White. Devil In Me is what Cream could have grown up to do had they stayed together longer. An acoustic gem follows, Whisky In The Well. The title cut Reason To Bleed has a John Lee Hooker riff segwaying into a cool guitar solo. On The Floor Blues is pure blues with attitude. Stone Free has the sound of a six-piece band (how they achieve this without any technical jobbies is unbelievable). Right Back Where I Started is another cool country blues ballad. In my opinion, this release is one of the best debut albums I have heard since Dire Straits or Henry’s Funeral Shoe.

The energetic force that comes across from this duo makes it a joy to listen to. Raw stripped down, whisky

drinking, shooting from the hip blues with a rock and roll edge. A great album, you will return to again and again.

BOB BONSEY

otis tayLor

hey Joe oPus –red meat

Inakustik

I thoroughly enjoyed this CD by a contemporary artist I had not come across before, the music is hard to pigeon hole as it has an assortment of influences but the musical press have given Otis’s style a name of “Trance Blues,” which is probably a reasonable showcase label. The structure of the album and material is unique, the album starts with a seven minute free form version of Hey Joe, the song is then repeated on track seven but with a slightly different line up, dropping Warren Haynes and replacing him with Keyboards but retaining the length and feel of the track, interspersed through the album are three instrumental tracks with varying lengths all called Sunday Morning, all different but retain the same strident beat, the five remaining tracks are all strong and stick to a more traditional Blues style.

Otis is a multiinstrumentalist and vocalist whose music is based on Country Blues but he can quickly ignite his music with fiery guitar breaks and stirring vocals, the Cornet plays a strong role throughout the album for which Ron Miles must take huge credit. The aforementioned Hendrix tracks are worth purchasing the album alone for as they are stunning spacey versions interpreted with plenty of instrumental

interplay, assisted by guests Warren Haynes and Langhorne Slim, the pick of the album though is Cold At Midnight which has Ron Miles playing his heart out duelling with Vocal and guitar. A must have purchase.

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

ron e Carter cherokee

Independent

Best known as a jazz fusion guitarist, you can pretty much sum up the world of Ron E. Carter by pointing to his previous album Plays Hendrix. Add in some nods to the world of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and you’re off into a world of excellent musicianship. With the exception of one guest vocal, this is a proper solo album with Carter playing, writing and producing everything in his home studio. And he is a very talented individual. For a time in the late nineties it looked like he was set for a breakthrough of the back of his debut album, Ad Idem, when he could be found playing Camden’s Jazz Café and opening for Gary Moore and Jack Bruce at The Chelsea Jazz & Blues Festival.

Time passes, but on the basis of this, he really should be better known. Granted not every song is out of the top drawer, but on the likes of Take The Blues Away, Movin’ On and These Are The Times, you find yourself getting completely lost in his music. Despite his fusion background Ron E Carter has a way with a melody that works really well, and even though it only has tenuous links with the blues, it’s a record well worth checking out.

STUART A HAMILTON

rusty JaCk’s holler aNd howl self release

Holler and Howl is one of those albums that ticks all of the right buttons. Passionate vocals, fluent guitar and harmonica breaks, a rocking rhythm section, fine songs that stand comparison with the two covers, and an inventive spirit that covers blues, rock, funk and jazz styles. The Irish quintet describe themselves as a Southern Rock Band, and indeed all of the touchstones are there, the sounds of the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and JJ Cale, share space with a much more Irish rock sensibility.

The lyrical slide guitar on songs such as Bad Seeds shares as much in common with Rory Gallagher as it does with Duane Allman, whilst there is a certain Irish lilt to the ragtime acoustic of Paid My Dues, and the folk blues sound is carried over in the closing The Sun Is Shining, which features a fine Harmonica solo.

There is much to like on this album, and the covers of The Hunter and the overplayed Good Morning Little Schoolgirl by Sonny Boy Williamson show some imagination in adding something new to these workhouses. Rockers such as Saturday Night Again (Help Me/Green Onions with a faster beat and different lyrics) and long blues numbers, such as Down In The Gutter show that Rusty Jacks would be a good live band, and this album is a fine introduction to an outfit that have already delivereda whole load of fine music. For further information, visit.

BEN MACNAIR

samantHa martin and deLta sugar

seNd the NightiNgale

samantha martin music

The best features of this Toronto based roots and blues ensemble are Samantha’s very distinctive voice which is the key instrument, and Mikey McCallum’s fine background acoustic and resonator guitar tones. Send The Nightingale is Martin’s third release and is a broad mix of soul, blues and gospel, the latter very much in the Mavis Staples idiom. Sherie Marshall and Stacie Tabb provide the harmonies and backing vocals which complement Samantha perfectly without being overpowering.

As Samantha explains, “The world is full of flashy music lately and I wanted to get back to basics with Delta Sugar. We wrote and work-shopped these songs on our tour this summer; the album is the fruits of our labour. It may not win a Grammy and I am ok with that because it changed my life.” The opening track Give Me Your Mercy is powerful and controlled whilst the vocals on Addicted and Mississippi Sun sound more country and western, rather like Bonnie Raitt. When You Walk Away is an intense, slow burner sung with angst and passion, with these emotions also to the fore on I Won’t Justify. The versatility of all three singers is evident on the gospelinfused finale, Tell The Heavens, a fitting conclusion to a highly commendable album. It is not surprising that Samantha is a rising star in Canada’s eclectic Americana-roots scene and this CD should enhance her reputation more widely.

THE BISHOP

sean tayLor the oNly good addictioN is loVe sean taylor songs Sean appeared to have reached a pinnacle in his recording career in 2013 with the brilliant ‘Chase The Light’

album but he has exceeded expectations once again. The Only Good Addiction Is Love is a treasure trove, a masterpiece, a celebration of love, truth and beauty which reflects the aesthetic side of Taylor’s personality. The CD was recorded in

gerry JaBLonski and tHe eLeCtriC Band trouBle with the Blues

GJb

The giants of Scottish blues have at last delivered an album which captures the spirit, energy and spontaneity of their phenomenal live performances. This original, uncompromising and singular take on contemporary blues represents a significant step up from the highly acclaimed Twist Of Fate CD which was consistently rated as one of the best in 2013. The pain of the death of former drummer Dave Innes might never subside but neither will his memory, as it lives on with his talented replacement Lewis Fraser.

From the explosive opening bars of the title track, it is clear that the blues rockers mean business with their infectious rhythms, quirky interpolations and trademark duelling between guitar and harmonica. The wailing harmonica on Down To The Ground echoes Gerry’s anguished vocals whilst bassist Grigor Leslie and Lewis Fraser skilfully lead the crescendos which intensify the blues feelings of this superb song. The eerie atmosphere of The Curse with its clever introductory guitar effects is enhanced by the striking vocal harmonies and brilliant, complementary guitar and harmonica solos.

The beautifully crafted autobiographical ballad, Anybody from the Life At Captain Tom’s album is given an excellent new interpretation and shows how much Jablonski’s voice has matured in recent years. He can sound mellifluous and poignant, powerful and tortured all within the space of a song. The funky, jaunty Rich And Poor along with the show stopping Lady And I generate a real feel good factor with Gerry almost crooning on the latter. It is back to stompin’ blues with the quirky Fork Fed Dog complete with howling harmonica and barking dogs. The band’s gritty, tough approach to life is evident on Big Bad World, Fraser’s spectacular drumming complemented by the sinewy, driving bass and lead guitars. A fitting finale is I Confess with Gerry putting his heart and soul into the lyrics of this intensely personal plea for forgiveness, accompanied by beautiful, intricate guitar picking. This is blues at its best, dripping with emotion as well as sweat, sad but also joyful, reflective yet entertaining.

THE BISHOP

Blues Top 50 APriL 2015

Austin, Texas and produced by the talented, multiinstrumentalist Mark Hallman who also features on most tracks. Whilst there is little in the way of traditional blues, if blues is defined as the depths and peaks of human experience and emotion then it is here in abundance.

A Paul Klee painting inspired the poignant Les Rouges Et Les Noirs whilst The Only Good Addiction Is Love is a beautiful slow ballad based on a quote by former Uruguayan President ‘Pepe’ who gave his money to charity. Both tracks are enhanced by New Zealander Hana Piranha’s unique ability to cast magic spells with her violin. Pure poetry runs through the entire album and not just WB Yeats’ The White Birds but also on self-penned songs like the evocative Rothko: “Every night beauty takes off her dress/The truth is Rothko red/Passion bleeds like death/Our hearts are one breath.” Hallman’s cello on Tienes Mi Alma En Tus Manos and his synergy with Taylor’s guitar playing make this Lorca-referenced song a highlight.

The mood changes and is enhanced by the brass section on We Can Burn and The White Birds. Taylor is equally effective when he performs solo, for example as he intricately finger picks his way through the Spanish influenced instrumental Lorca. The pairing with his touring partner Danny Thompson brings infectious percussive double bass to the timeless MoMa. The vocals throughout are wideranging, from a whisper to a much harder edge and the occasional expression of anguish. Sean has established his reputation as a London troubadour and activist but this album confirms his status as a poet, all-round musical

virtuoso and Renaissance man. It is very hard not to get addicted to Sean Taylor’s music with songs of this quality, sincerity and intensity.

THE BISHOP

tHe pieCes of mind

BorN at the Bosco Independent

When a band takes 50 years to record their debut album they will either be complete turkeys or just bloody unlucky and The Pieces Of Mind definitely fall into the latter category. One look at their history will tell you that this Welsh band are the quintessential support outfit having played as support to ...well, just about everyone, The Who. The Pretty Things, Bowie, Billy Fury, Chicken Shack, The Moody Blues and you are only dipping a toe into the artists they have warmed a stage for. Add to that stints at the Star Club and the Crazy Horse in Hamburg and the term Cult outfit comes to mind.

After forty odd years hiatus the band reformed in 2013 to celebrate their 50th anniversary and finally recorded an album at the Manic Street Preachers Faster studio in Cardiff. And it is really rather good. Adrian Williams and Andy Gibbons share lead vocal duties and the band put in a fine selection of covers and self-written numbers with a Chicago style. Horns and guitar to the fore, this is big and ballsy, confident and feels completely without care – these guys are comfortable doing their ‘thing’ and are doing it for the shits and giggles of playing together, showing 50 years of experience and all the tricks they have picked up along the way.

BaCHman heaVy Blues linus

Bachman is a trio, fronted by Canadian guitarist Randy Bachman who had international hits with The Guess Who (notably American Woman) and Bachman-Turner Overdrive (including You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet) and with a rhythm section comprising bassist Anna Ruddick and drummer Dale Anne Brendon. Those of a sexist persuasion who assume that a female rhythm section must equal genteel, restrained music will have their heads blown off by Heavy Blues for this is a power trio of exceptional potency, with the music paying tribute to the British blues-rock bands of the late sixties/early seventies.

The opening track, The Edge, for example, is The Who in all but name with Ruddick and Brendon making like Entwistle and Moon and the trio blowing up a glorious storm. How to follow such a stunning opener? Well, with the Led-Zeppelin-influenced Ton Of Bricks, which is similarly played with furious power. Rival Sons guitarist Scott Holiday guests on that track and several other tracks have guest guitar-slingers. Joe Bonamassa, for example, plays spectacularly on Bad Child, Neil Young contributes characteristically left-field playing to Little Girl Lost, Robert Randolph’s steel playing is at times dizzyingly flamboyant on Oh My Lord and on the title track Bachman and Frampton slug it out exhilaratingly.

Keen to include Jeff Healey, Bachman found a live tape of his late friend playing a BB King number and transferred his solo, seamlessly, to a new song, Confessin’ To The Devil. The album has a wonderful, spontaneous-sounding vibe, with Bachman using vintage guitars and amps, and if his vocals are less distinguished than his playing, he still sings effectively enough. My head banged so much listening to the album that I sustained minor whiplash – there can be no higher recommendation for lovers of blues rock played with maximum heaviosity!

TREVOR HODGETT

Their version of Hoochie Coochie Man is classic with a big horn blast and thudding drums and they follow up with a cover of Willie C Cobbs You Don’t Love Me that fairly leaps out of the speakers. Their version of Roosevelt Sykes Night Time Is The Right Time is a great way to close the album but my personal favourite here is a selfwritten number Judgement Day which has a dark edge and real cool playing. Good

stuff and a shame it has taken this long.

ANDY SNIPPER

BLue Heat

oNe day too loNg smith sound

Blue Heat is producing a sound that is full of rhythm and horns creating a sound that is as hot as the Australian sun

roLLing stones

forum liVe iN 1975

eagle Vision

A pair of double CD/DVD multimedia packages from Eagle Vision, so a pretty good damn dose of Stones here. Both of these live packages come resplendent in fold-out card sleeves, so you need to handle with care if you want them to last!

These releases come with plentiful and informative sleeve notes of sixteen pages each written by Richard Hovers give you the stories of the gigs and more. Under a broad title for what is to be a series From The Vault these are the first of the series from the Stones own archives getting a first ‘official’ release having been available in various bootleg versions. Here the quality has been taken up several notches and is well noticeable both in visual and audio formats.

The 1975 L.A. Forum gig was part of the first USA tour with Ronnie Wood on guitar and played for forty-four dates after a few low key warm ups down in Louisiana. The 1981 Hampton gig was part of a fifty date tour in support of the freshly released Tattoo You album and grossed around $50m. One of the dates at Hampton, 18th December, was also Keith Richards birthday. What you get here are two terrific Stones shows well restored and enjoyable with any flaws overridden by the sheers energy and enthusiasm of the band and the crowds, what else would you expect at a Stones concert!?

TOBY ORNOTT

they play under; it is no wonder they are winning awards since their debut gig way back in 1991 at Ballarat Blues Festival. They produce a big band blues sound that is full of swing, energy and echoes of Satchmo’s be bop and all that jazz. There is a live feel about the music and there is a fluidity that this is as they want to play, it has a natural delivery and never over rehearsed. This feel is probably a reflection that the album was recorded in an improvised studio at Brad Harrison’s family home keeping the music real. The album gets on the road to take you on a musical blues trip Aussie style with Eatin’ Me Up with some wonderful trombone and saxophone courtesy Paul Lemke and

Brad Harrison respectively, and the driving drumming from Barry Galbraith sets the pace and the whole sound is infectious, reminding me of sunny days just what I needed as the snow fell outside on a grey January day in the UK.

Traded In halfway through the album is full of the blues groove and I wouldn’t while listening to the album trade it in for anything else the vocals are fab and the music is just fine. Chicken Shop an instrumental that has a heavy bass driven sound thanks to Graeme Galbraith that has a twist of funk. Closing with Forgiveness once again we have powerful vocals from and Marco Goldsmith’s guitar work that has been

so strong throughout the album, Blue Heat needs no forgiving while they produce albums of this quality. One Day Too Long, is the bands third album and it is definitely not too long as the sparkling gems of musical phrasing for the listener to relish are scattered throughout every track on this album.

LIZ AIKEN

aLeX

Woodman records

Alex is probably more of a Folksy than an out and out Blues man but on this, his debut album, he does give the Blues a chance and there are several tracks where this influence shines through, never more so than on the opening title track where a haunting Harmonica wails in the background as Alex delivers a meandering paced acoustic blues.

Another Blues highlight is Chameleon which again has Harmonica to the fore and some subtle background instrumentals from supporting musician and producer Rich Young, the majority of the remaining tracks follow the acoustic singer songwriter vein mixing Folk and Soul influences, of these I was quite taken with Bankers Boy, whose lyrics cover some of the commonly accepted themes for this profession.

While this is Alex’s debut album he has been in the music business for nearly twenty years, some of this time spent performing on the streets as a busker, this has given him plenty of subject matter for his original compositions which I am sure go down well in Folk clubs, the spattering of Blues material on show on this album is not sufficient

for Alex to be considered a Blues artist but this should not detract from a worthy debut album.

ADRIAN

BLACKLEE

ma poLaine’s great deCLine get me out of hell

www.mapolainesgreatdecline.com

Fun-filled and fuelled music with this debut release from a fine rootsy quintet from the London area. The self-written material featured here is driven forward at a fair lick by a scrabbling wheeze of squeeze-box accordion and gipsy sax and guitar. Beth Packer’s vocals are always strong, powerfully infectious and strung-out with a classic thirties/forties mid-European feel and vibe. Guitar is similarly pitched and propels the nine featured tracks along with sensitivity and soul from Clinton Hough. John Gillies on Sax and Piano, together with Chris Clavo, Double Bass, and Nick Rye on drums and piano complete this interesting, original and deeply rooted band.

Everything about this launch suggests a band with a love for simmering oldstyle traditional speakeasy background sounds and raucous toe-tapping tradition. There are easily evident genre cross-overs with blues, jazz and country all mashed together in a surprisingly successful, challenging way. The whole package results in a decidedly stylish debut album, well worth a second, third and more, listen. A very enjoyable romp at times tinged with a melancholic aura and tantalizing tales of despair, redemption and hope. Granada meets Gitano without Flamenco. A corking debut. IAIN PATIENCE

terry davidson & tHe gears

soNic soul sessioN bang shift music

Terry Davidson has been performing in the USA for close on fifty years, the album is his seventh release and leaves a really positive glow, the thirteen tracks are all self written but sound strangely familiar, there is a good mixture of soulful and harder Blues here covering all the American styles, with Texan and Chicago most prominent.

The four piece band deliver their music in a style not to dissimilar to the Rolling Stones and certainly take no prisoners, the pace is non stop with all the band demonstrating high levels of musicianship, Mike Gilliland is particularly proficient on Harmonica, Terry Davidson fronts the band on vocals and guitar with a very confident blues easy vocal style that allows him to move between Rock and Roll and slower blues numbers effortlessness.

There are no weak links with the material, highlight is the final track Without the Blues which starts with spoken words setting the scene for Terry to sing about the Blues stars he worked with during his career, very cleverly done and I recognised at least twenty individual artists names. Strong rocking blues album that gets better the more you play it.

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

steve Brookes

ViNtage trouBadour

Independent

Steve has released a beautiful acoustic album of Blues and roots music here

which other than Hugh Budden on Harmonica, is all his own work, the pastoral feel about the album is a million miles away from his early musical career, which started in London when he co-formed Jam with Paul Weller, while leaving the band ahead of their first album in 1976, he is still a good friend of Paul and each musician has supported each other on their respective recordings and concerts during the preceding decades.

Steve provides excellent vocals throughout and while being multi-instrumental he predominately plays acoustic guitar, sometimes with a classical feel, the eleven self written tracks are filled with some great lyrics which due to the stripped back style are easy to follow and digest, particularly impressive is Vintage Troubadour which could be autobiographical looking at Steve’s career.

There is one instrumental called Delta Celt which is very reminiscent of the work Rick Haywood did for the Blue Horizon label after he left Jellybread in the early 1970’s, this is a very peaceful and easy to listen to album that highlights an accomplished musician clearly playing the music he loves, the background Harp also helps create the right ambience. While it may not make in-roads to the commercial market it has been expertly recorded and is definitely an album to listen to, really enjoyable.

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

Harvey mandeL sNake BoX

Cleopatra records Inc.

It’s 1968 and I am in a groovy clothes and records

boutique up in London, about to buy an orange shirt.

I hear a string-laden instrumental coming to a close on the store’s record player, slow and haunting. I later find out it’s a Duke Pearson theme, given a swirling orchestral arrangement. The next cut is a bustling organ-driven instrumental with crisp horns and a driving beat, jazzy and fiery and then. This amazing legato guitar appears, sniping and snarling its way through the tune. Before the guitar player even hits the singing sustained note I

Compilation various artists

electro-Blues Vol: 2

Freshly squeezed music

am crossing the shop to get this record at any price and take it home. The hippy chap behind the counter shows me the sleeve – it’s Cristo Redentor by one Harvey Mandel and “at any price” is right as it’s an import and the shirt has to go back on the rack.

But the door is now open for a musical education via this record. Before he puts the disc into its sleeve, the vendor smiles “Check the next track” and a train starts up before Charlie Musselwhite harp steams in over the scratching damped

This double CD is not strictly Blues per se, but it does have some indefinable magnetic hold on you from the outset. Despite my initial misgivings to this modern version of vintage music, with its electronic gizmos and quirky sounds, I stuck with it and had my faith repaid. Not everyone will find this to their taste, especially aficionados of Delta Blues as espoused in Mississippi. This is very definitely one for the clubs of London with its crossover of hip-hop, dub and electro jazz with occasional hints of blues. Track six Work Song by some Swiss guy called Cee-Roo epitomised this funky double album. It did have some overtones of blues on it, but don’t hang your hat on it appealing to the purist. Immediately following this, is some almost genuine Delta Blues in track seven Keep On, courtesy of the King Chubby studio in Brighton. If anything though this repetitive style of playing blues guitar grated a bit which took away from the quality but only slightly. Track nine is, Toe The Line and is a fairly raucous soulful cacophony with skilful saxophone laced through it, and again best suited for the clubs.

The second CD is more traditional and opens with a cracking Miss Peaches, a.k.a. Etta James number, Good Rockin’ Daddy. This side is the classical Rhythm and Blues meets Jazz with the Blues as the icing on the cake. It is the guitar work of Freddie King on track five San-Ho-Zay that takes it into the stratosphere. This double album has something for everyone, from the clubber to someone of my age who remembers the acts on the second disc.

TOM WALKER

coNtINuEs oVEr

Albums reviews

chords. When I get the album home and hear it in full, plenty more revelations follow. An orchestral take on the old gospel theme Wade In The Water’ finds the guitar going from rippling arpeggios to an angry wasp fuzztone that careens across the steady rhythm.

Then there’s a moody melodic piece called Lights Out which captivated this reviewer and some country pieces, with sly steel guitar in the weave. This guy is a genius! And that’s the first item in this six-disc set by Mandel. The second album Righteous has more intriguing strings-and-guitar pieces like the torrid and nimble Jive Samba and Summer Sequence.

The third disc Games Guitar Play broadens the scope yet again, with side one featuring Russell Dashiel a rather good

singer and Mandel bringing the blues quotient up with Leavin’ Trunk and I Don’t Need No Doctor, then on the reverse side more instrumentals including the pop-country title tune, a hit for Joe South and here played straight with a few dashes of slide guitar.

A stealthy tread through Capurange works well, as does a gorgeous reading of Horace Silver’s theme Senor Blues, at once biting but spring-heeled.

On to record four and this is a popular release Baby Batter which takes in Midnight Sun, sometimes played during Canned Heat shows and the funky One Way Street. It’s the mix of grit and sophistication that makes Harvey Mandel special. He obviously knows about Wes Montgomery and Charlie Byrd but doesn’t just turn up the fuzz

and rock those styles, he finds a way of electrifying tunes and making them float away.

As for technique, I have been more than happy to steal his way of bending a note first, then picking it and bring it back to the tonic. As you may know already (or certainly should know) the young Eddie Van Halen watched Mandel in his formative years tapping notes on the guitar neck. Speed that up and you have early Van Halen! For the real thing get Harvey’s Feel The Sound or Shangrenade albums.

Disc five is the Snake album, by which time Mandel is developed, fluid, masterful and intriguing as he runs through Pegasus and the touching Ode To The ‘Blind Owl’, his Canned Heat buddy.

Disc six is unreleased

stuff, Live At The Matrix being four tunes live and including You’ve Got To Feel It and She’s A Mojo Worker, what a feast of a master at work and making it sound easy. A quick moment I treasure, having lived with this album for a while I find myself at the Royal Albert Hall in London for an album launch, Deep Purple’s and In Rock, no less.

The other acts are Jim McCarty and Keith Relf’s reflective post-Yardbirds ensemble Renaissance and Canned Heat for his solo, Mandel steps forward cool as a cucumber and drops the volume to play a few bars of his gentle theme Lights Out. I wonder whether he remembers that? I certainly do. These records remain varied, colourful and a true education.

PETE SARGEANT

tHe J geiLs Band house Party liVe

iN germaNy eagle Vision

The Boston blues rockers threw an old fashioned party for 9000 enthusiastic fans at the Grugahalle, Essen which was recorded live for the television show Rockpalast in 1979. This high energy set of classic songs reflects the band’s roots before their later pop stardom and showcases the immense vocal talents of charismatic front man Peter Wolf as well as Geil’s guitar wizardry and Magic Dick’s harmonica pyrotechnics.

The high tempo is set from the start with Jus’ Can’t Stop Me before slowing down to the bluesier I Could Hurt You and the soulful vocals of Sanctuary. Teresa is sung with emotion and sincerity by Wolf and keyboard player Seth Justman. From this point the band is on fire as they scorch through Nightmares, Wild Man and the hit single Give It To Me.

The tight rhythm section of bassist Daniel Klein and the flamboyant but solid drumming of Stephen Bladd is the perfect platform for the innovative improvisations of the rest of the band.

The juke-joint Whammer

Jammer and Ain’t Nothing But A House Party have the audience ecstatic, the sweat visibly dripping off fans and musicians alike. The encore lasted a further three songs, the highlight for blues lovers being Pack Fair And Square by the late Big Walter ‘Thunderbird’ Price.

Not many current blues artists generate the frenzy evident in this performance, except perhaps for the outstanding Gerry Jablonski

and The Electric Band, which is a shame given the fact that blues can thrive in a fun packed environment. The main criticism is that the sound and visual quality could have been much enhanced as evidenced by the much superior Rockpalast production featuring Alvin Lee from the same era. Nevertheless, this DVD is a worthwhile piece of musical history.

THE BISHOP

good roCking tonigHt

9th BurNley Blues

festiVal

blues archive

I sat and watched this several times before I decided how to review it which was more difficult than it might seem, here’s why, the event on film here dates from 1997, so I always find it difficult to be fair in judging something that is long since faded from recent memories. So is it an archive, or is it meant to be a promotional plug for future events? It has been hidden for some time, and when the masters were found, somebody had to decide what to do with them, and here we have the result.

Artists featured are as follows; Howard McCreary, TW Henderson. Herbie Goins, Sam Payne, Barrence Whitfield, String Dazzler, Eric Bibb, Dave Peabody, Joe Louis Walker, Connie Lush, Mighty 45s, Jet Martin, John Pearson, Johnny Mars’ Holmes Brothers, Angela Brown and The Norman Beaker Band.

First off a professionally filmed and recorded opus, so no problems there, the sound quality was apparently cleaned up and

JaCk BruCe rockPalast: the 50th Birthday coNcerts

Recorded over two nights in Cologne, this is a belated 50th birthday package which this reviewer bought on CD on its release in 1993, although back then it had the title Cities Of The Heart. Obviously, after losing Jack last year, the record company has now released it in every conceivable format. Have to say, time has not tainted my view of it, the musicianship is still fantastic. Jack got together a veritable assortment of friends including Clapton, Ginger Baker, guitarist Clem Clempson and sax man Dick Heckstall–Smith to run through a huge chunk of Bruce’s vast back catalogue. Whilst not bemoaning the quality of his jazzier stuff, it’s the blues offerings that really turn the heat on.

First Time I Met The Blues, having been preceded by early classics such as Running Thro’ Our Hands and Over The Cliff, will make the blood flow, using Heckstall-Smith, Clapton’s guitar skipping along on slamming drums. On Albert King’s Born Under A Bad Sign, Baker is replaced by Simon Phillips, with the addition of Bernie Worrellon keys, the song remains a classic, hard to imagine that when Cream covered this song on Wheels Of Fire, the song was only a year old. Jack moves to a piano and adds a horn section for his own Never Tell Your Mother She’s Out Of Tune, from his debut album. Maggie Bell joins Jack for the ballad Ships In The Night, but for me, disc two holds all the trump cards. After a trio of solo tracks, the real meat of the whole event comes off the bone.

A drum solo from Simon Phillips (now of Toto), precedes a fest of predominantly Cream classics, Clapton giving way to Gary Moore, not a bad substitute, to be fair, in a power trio which was to evolve into BBM. A couple of tracks are duplicated, Clapton appeared on the first night, as I say, Moore took over the second night, but that does not detract from what turns out to be a brilliant investment and souvenir of one of Britain’s best Blues/Jazz/Improvisation musicians.

CLIVE RAWLINGS

it is certainly very good, so good in fact that you rarely pick up any of the crowd reaction, there is nothing in the way of introduction, other than a black and white clip of the artist that then cuts to the full colour live version.

There are 16 tracks with 16 featured artists, so that irrespective of who they are, they all get one song. Camerawork for the most part concentrates on close ups of the performers,

showing little of the venue and even less of the audiences, and I would have liked to get more feel than this DVD gives.

As a promo for future events, I don’t think that it works, so looking at it as a standalone historical archive piece is really the only way that it works. I understand that there is some further footage still about, so who knows what may come next? Watch this space.

DAVE STONE

the bm ! round-up of live blues

SCARBOROUGH TOP SECRET BLUES FESTIVAL

THE SPA, SCARBOROUGH

20th – 23rd march 2015

Skies straight out of the opening credits for The Simpsons, sea breezes, South Bay surfers riding wild waves, wooded cliffs paths lead down to the vast Spa Complex. The grand Victorian façade is linked by an open-air bandstand to a more modern building. This houses

a 2000 seat theatre, the Ocean Room comfortably holding 500 and a smaller Promenade Lounge with raised mezzanine bar. The festival moved between the Promenade Lounge and the Ocean Room. The Promenade ‘Acoustic’ Lounge had standard seating rows and informal tables with burgundy cloths and a backlit mid room stage. The main Ocean Room had similar tables with nightlight lamps adding to the small club atmosphere.

Friday Night

Lucy Zirins two sets in the Promenade

mixed intimate rootsy covers with original compositions of the Tapestry confessional kind. Along with the introspective were gospel and blues as she moved from acoustic to resonator. Blue Swamp in the Ocean Room featured delicate electric slide from John Williamson and Mike Bowden’s acerbic wit. Stream of consciousness Respect For The Wolf had obligatory audience howls, and there was a Waits-like amble through childhood characters of the surreal in Top Cat. The main room also hosted the outstanding Kyla Brox Band. Shaken

GOLDiE REED phOtO: chRistiNE mOORE

And Stirred a big piece of funk cake covered in the warm chocolate sax of Tony Martin, with creamy smooth vocals from Kyla. Other numbers melted into the room, with dreamy sax and Brox small hours vocals, while Wang Dang Doodle saw her scat singing over the “all night long” audience chant. The acoustic room saw Benjamin Bassford blend intricate acoustic finger picking, jazzy blues licks, and slide. Original Storms impressed. Headliners Jon Amor Band started loud and dangerous with the song Juggernaut, powered by the driving keys of Bennett Holland over which Jon animated his guitar. Audience favourites included Feeding Time and the prowler-car menace of Cut Through The Graveyard.

SatUrday

Al Hughes acoustic set included between song stories in his gentle Scottish brogue. Standouts included Eddie Walkers Rag with rapid rasping

vocals and John Fahey’s Steamboat Gwine Round De Bend on resonator. Leila Dee had an early Ocean Room appearance. Autumn Leaves matched the purity of Dee’s voice with the sensuous browns and gold tones of Sam Andrews’ electric guitar. The Promenade and bar were jammed later for a second set which included a stunning Who Knows Where the Time Goes. ‘Pablo’ Jones Trio, also in the acoustic lounge, played selfpenned garage blues with guitar, harp, mandolin and beat box. The Reaper featured punk banjo, while I Cannot Love was a down home ramble. Guy Tortora on guitars, occasional harp and sided by drums, keys and bass provided message songs with a John Haitt sound. When Cotton Was King, a slow talking rap, started out in Peabody, Memphis and travelled around the world on an organ solo highlighting economic decline. Also in the Ocean Room were Wille and the Bandits straddling the genres with folk, rock and dense meshed wig-outs? Crossroads became a psychedelic lap steel workout with wah and driving six string bass. Forgiveness began with bowed contrabass; a freighter becalmed on a foggy night, a psychotic chamber orchestra aboard playing gothic rock. Encore Black Magic Woman deconstructed the original and Frankensteined it together as a monster of discordant Arabic resonance. M G Greaves Played a set of covers in the Lounge from Dolly Parton and Townes to his own original songs of the Humber. David Migden and The Twisted Roots turned in a set of quirky songs. Rougarou conjuring up Louisiana swamp monsters with percussive effects, snake- shakers low down trombone and a Midgen muted trumpet. Rich Adams & Dave Greaves acoustic set included selfpenned Americana. Northern Days with extended guitar interplay on the run out impressed. Jo Harman in

Headliners

the main room included, as special guest, Yolanda Charles on bass. Harman gave us soul tinged vocals acrobatics on This Is My Amnesty and Sideways before getting all funky for Underneath The River. Benjamin Bassford back in the Promenade for a short set featured self-penned rootsy Ain’t The Same As I Once Remember and resonator on Mary Don’t You Weep. Pat McManus power trio closed Saturday night stomping through S Before X, playing pyrotechnic guitar with lightning speed like a pipe chanter. Tributes to fellow Irishman Garry Moore and Rory Gallagher followed while an extended instrumental version of Roy Buchanan’s The Messiah Will Come Again received deserved applause.

SUNday

Joel Fisk’s acoustic set had covers of early blues included redemptive Don’t Mind People Grinning In Your Face from Son House with smart slide, and Robert Johnson’s Travelling Riverside Blues. Diminutive Goldie Reed turned in an epic set with a voice of pure Englishness. Thoughts Of Mine a delta dream as she sang descant while the song built in menace behind her, before breaking out in a fountain of slide and power drums. I Will Build You A House with gentle acoustic accompaniment a mix of folk, pop and hymn. Matt Woosey showcased some originals on a beat-up guitar in the Promenade including opener Hook Line And Sinker with nice runs. Elsie May continued the roots feel on the happy strings. His late set highlighted his lived in voice and percussive guitar work on Exactly

wiLLiE AND thE BANDits

kYLA BROX phOtO: chRistiNE mOORE

Jon Amor Band started loud and dangerous

FestIVALs

As We Please, while Red Rooster had crowd crows and howls as he played slide and flat picked.

TC and the Moneymakers saw Tom Cocks moving between harps on a set of covers including William Clark’s swing style Lollipop Mama. This and Smiley Lewis’s jump blues Real Gone Lover had the line dancers up. LaVendore Rogue had Stones riffing on Gangsters Thieves And Villains, JoJo Burgess assaulting the crowd with his vocals and strutting the stage like a shabby peacock. There was beefy Hammond on rowdy country The Maze, while Charley Patton’s Oh Death received reggae beat with cry-baby slide. Tony Devenport’s voice comes straining through confessional pain. He stilled the Promenade with the likes of 2050 with its sparse guitar and barbedwire vocals. The Jar Family: Dylan on the electric cusp or Jack The Lad on heat. Industrial folk that veers from the heavy foundry noise of Machine to the infectiously folk-lilt of In For A Penny.

Harp racks and top hats, great lyrics and hooks, a band of front men moving easily between instruments. Encoring with I Have To Go, all rasping high harp and harmonised chorus, they received the biggest cheer of the festival and a standing ovation.

Headliners Ian Siegal Band played a set allowing plenty of room for Dusty Ciggaar’s outstanding guitar work. It saw Siegal revisiting his early songbook for a mix of crowd pleasers. The poignant lyrics of Falling On Down Again included an evocative coda moving through snaps of Otis, Cooke and Bell into Sam & Dave’s I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down; a master-class in delivery. They ended the festival proper to huge applause with the infectious Steve Earle jig Galway Girl. Leeds City Stompers played two after-hours sets in the Promenade with trad- jazz and ragtime takes on Shake Rattle And Roll, Folsom Prison and a mic’d washboard stomp on Rollin’ An’ Tumblin.

The Community Interest Company took a huge gamble this year by moving to a larger venue and increasing capacity by a factor of four. There was a taste of the new guard, but the fact that many well established artists agreed to return from previous visits says something about why this most intimate of festivals has succeeded. And that’s not top secret.

MEL WALLACE

JOEL Fisk OF LAVENDORE ROGUE phOtO: chRistiNE mOORE

BROADSTAIRS BLUES BASH

BROADSTAIRS,

KENT

20th – 22nd february 2015

Once a year, the town of Broadstairs on the coast of Kent goes Bluespotty. Even normally, there is a rich vein of Blues running through many a night there, with venues such as The Wrotham Arms putting on act after act and squeezing in a well-informed and enthusiastic audience. Want to see people like Jo Harman before she appears at the Blues Fest in the O2? Drop down to Broadstairs. Want to see prodigies and long-established acts from around the UK and also touring US acts running between the UK and Europe? Check out Broadstairs.

So, this once a year when Blues pottiness took over was the Broadstairs Blues Bash, held over three days and nights in February across fifteen venues. Broadstairs is a lovely place to hold just about anything. Sea views and sea air, actual free parking in the streets behind the main road, plenty of places to eat, art galleries, a very independent cinema, a characterful ironmongers that seems hardly to have changed since it opened in 1890.

Let’s review those three days and nights. The story of Friday 20th February is picked up by one of the festival organisers, Nigel Feist.

Friday

There were twelve bands on Friday night which made for quite an intense evening. Unfortunately they weren’t the kind of bands you wanted to leave either, so I know many people stayed far longer than they intended. First up was Kris Dollimore: he was a bit of a last minute booking, as we managed to fit a date into his busy touring schedule on the way to somewhere else. The Café I stuck him in (The Intolerant wife) was absolutely rammed as he treated them to his gutsy one man blues show. It was great to get Chris Corcoran’s band down from London to play their super tight jazz/blues set. As for the other gigs, I spent most of my evening with my face pressed up to the outside of the glass, unable to get in, but happy

concerts

tREVOR sEwELL

OriENtaL BLUES MUSiC FEStiVaL 2015 CITY HALL, SHEFFIELD

25th april 2015

A quick stumbling introduction by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield and the one day Oriental Blues Music Festival 2015 kicks off with the decidedly un-oriental Trevor Sewell ably backed by one of China’s premier blues rock outfits the Big John Blues Band (minus Big John). There’s a paparazzi-like scrum of photographers and videographers as Sewell warms up the already warm audience with Speak To The Devil and his Robert Johnson celebration A Hundred Years, complete with some fine harmonica from Zhang Xiaosong, one of the players of the night.

Following Trevor is Li Qi, a young soul singer who’s come to national attention on the China version of The Voice television show. She doesn’t have Tina Turner’s intensity but does well on Let’s Stay Together and also Joss Stone’s take of It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World. Li is vocally strong and will undoubtedly get even stronger. Her version of The Eagles’ Heartache Tonight showcases her singing chops although her lack of stage experience becomes apparent when she then lapses into 120 mph Chinese to let the audience know that Chinese students work very hard and live on potatoes most of the time. Or so I was told by a Chinese student.

Compere Jay Wan of the

Oisoi Oriental Food Market who sponsored the festival returns to the stage to introduce headliner Zhang Ling, otherwise know as Big John who he describes as “The Godfather Of Chinese blues” and “The pioneer of Chinese original music.” Playing nifty six string bass John kicks off with Further On Up The Road before going into Come Home With Me, one of his own songs which is a slow, walking blues with Xiaosong’s expressive harp playing adding extra texture to what would have otherwise been a standard ballad.

Li Qi returns to the stage to sing backing vocals on You’re Still Rock, one of several of Big John’s songs that are sung in Chinese. I don’t understand the lyrics, of course, but the warmth, enthusiasm and commitment of John and his mainly young band shines through. If Blues Was Life sees them hitting their stride and relying less on the classic blues formula with guitarist Yu Yifeng (Eric) dropping in a great powerhouse solo.

Left Behind Blues mixes an English title with Chinese lyrics and drips with emotion. Money (a Big John original and not the Barratt Strong number) has a Doors feel to it with the full rock-solid eight-piece band motoring along to a dynamite climax. The set finishes with Li Ci and Trevor Sewell joining the Big John Blues Band for a rousing version of Eric Clapton’s Change The World before everyone hits the stage one last time for an unrehearsed encore.

The 2016 Oriental Music festival is already in the planning stages. If you’re anywhere near Sheffield-or even if you’re not-put it in your diary and get yourself along for some outstanding playing and a great atmosphere.

IAN RAVENDALE

coNtINuEs ovEr...

2015 kicks off with the decidedly un-oriental Trevor Sewell

FestIVALs

in the knowledge that the band had showed up and every single pub was heaving. The Blues Boy Kings were great at the Wrotham, which has a new stage area they are very pleased about. The Mighty Boss Cats were looking good at the Balmoral, who had a new stage in too. Great slide driving blues from them. Zoe Schwarz was sublime in the Charles Dickens and were for many people band of the festival. Or at any rate the most memorable band they listened to while sober.

There was some great three piece blues from festival favourites

The Sharpees and all the way from Yorkshire. The Jed Thomas Band, with their great Rory infused Blues rock. I should mention The Laura Holland Band, who took the Bradstow Mill by storm with their 40’s style, hornarranged class. The main event was in the Pavilion and fifteen pounds got you a ticket to see the wonderful Katie Bradley and old school bluesman Dave Ferra supporting Rosco Levee

and the Southern Slide. They really took the hall by storm and ploughed through their southern rock tinged set with me on harmonica for good measure. Then the Finale was Giles Robson and the Dirty Aces. They are a great three piece harp led blues band and Giles is great on the mic and gives a brilliant show. By the end of the evening the drinks were flowing and it appears that Rosco and I gate crashed Giles last number for which we would both like to formally apologise. It was good, though!

SatUrday

21st February saw a bright, clear day and Blues Matters personal presence in Broadstairs. It was a lovely day and night of taking in music, bumping into passing musicians, such as Zoe Schwarz, taking the air after the efforts of the night before. Looking into those art galleries and wondering at the enterprising cafe selling ice creams in February through a side hatch. The

music? Top notch. Northsyde bursting the beams at the Dolphin pub; Kelly’s Heroes, dressed like the soldiers in the movie, covering some Rock (and Blues) in the Prince Albert pub. Big Dave Bone and his fine beard swinging and growling with his slide guitar and Half Deaf Clatch growling even more at The 39 Steps.

Dave Ferra nimbly picking out some lively tunes including Louis Jordan and Little Walter with good humour in the beautifully named Intolerant Wife cafe. Harper’s Bar giving a small stage to acts including the Acme Blues Company and Red Butler. The Blues folk of the South coast and beyond were out in force, Deborah Gasking among those dancing to The Mustangs in The Charles Dickens, presumably practising for her White Cliffs Blues Festival in Dover in July.

SUNday

Back to Nigel for Sunday 22nd

NiGEL FEist AND ROscO LEVEE phOtO: DAViD kERR

February, the home straight to the finishing line for the 2015 festival. Nigel starts his reminiscences in true Blues style:

“I woke up this morning… no mean feat ‘cause Will Johns kept us all up past midnight with an amazing set in the Neptune. Sunday afternoon is the Wired jam and this is an opportunity for everyone to get up on stage and play loudly and chaotically over the top of everyone else. Actually, that didn’t happen.

There was some great music and Jeremiah Longshanks came along and managed to get booked for next year on the strength of his performance. I did a little set with my old band, the L.A.Doors, which will help us out when we play at Wheels and Fins festival later in the year. It was really well attended and a great start to the afternoon. Robin Bibi was playing in the Dolphin and stopped the traffic as he went outside on a wireless midguitar solo. Outrageous!

My old buddy King Size Slim was in the Wrotham holding court and giving a good account of himself. He did some without PA, “If you can’t hear, move closer. Too loud, move back. If you’re not interested, then leave the pub!” Well that’s certainly the gist of what he said anyway.

So past Tim Aves, Gentleman Tim and The Proof, until we found ourselves in the Neptune’s Hall for the last gig and de facto survivors party. Katie Bradley and her band provided the blues and the audience were able to revel in the show including guest spots from Robin Bibi and Tim Aves – on good form – and, second gig of the day, me on harp appearing tired and emotional and Ben Mills and Rosco Levee appearing exceptionally tired and emotional.

A big thanks from me to all the performers’ venues and audiences who came out and made this without doubt the best Broadstairs Blues Bash so far. When I started this in 2009, there was an instant enthusiasm from everyone involved.

There were only eleven bands but everybody wanted to make it work and that has grown year after year. I’m flattered and humbled by everyone’s positive response and feedback and we’re looking forward to putting 2016 together.”

The Broadstairs Blues Bash 2015 was a smash. Living proof that people can do great things, anywhere, and that people derive a lot of pleasure and entertainment from the Blues and, for the foreseeable future in Kent that will continue. Looking forward to 2016 already? If so, this is the website you need to keep an eye on their web site: www.broadstairsbluesbash.com

DARYL WEALE

TERRI’THOUARS

BLUES FESTIVAL

THOUARS, FRANCE

24th – 29th march 2015

This was the 11th festival held in the small market town of Thouars, about 60 kms South of the Loire in SW France, an area readily reachable by car from the UK inside a day. As usual, the format included an opening show

with a few US players and event sponsors and local big-wigs both present, followed by a few days of educational, blues-inschools type of bits and bobs.

The prime music happens over the weekend, between Friday and Sunday, when it closes with a jam session featuring as many artists as want to turn up and play in a small, riverside bar a few miles outside of town.

This year got off to a flying start on Saturday morning with an American -Scot, Dik Banovich playing a strong, satisfying set of acoustic blues and rootsy Americana in the town’s market hall. Banovich hails originally from Chicago but spent much of his life in Scotland and now lives in France.

US picker Mike Greene and his Harp playing partner, Youssef Remadna, also turned in an absolutely storming gig in the afternoon, possibly the true highlight of the festival for me. Evening sessions featured Canadian Dan Livingstone, another fine acoustic picker from Canada, and from New Mexico, a one-man-band sort of guy with electric slide work, CW Ayon

Two other US players, Ron Hacker and Dave Gross completed the transatlantic visitors, with Hacker backed by French Blues Explosion drummer Pascal Delmas and the same band’s bass man, Fred Juggas, resulting in a cracking, eclectic and at times electric set that clearly went down well with the local plonk and pleased the packed crowd.

This is a very pleasant, intimate festival; laid-back and friendly, the wine flows, the grub is good and the music continues to please. A festival well worth the travel.

IAIN PATIENCE

kiNG sizE sLim AkA tOBiE BARELLi phOtO: DAViD kERR

c w AYON phOtO: iAiN pAtiENcE

concerts

BEN WatErS LICHFIELD GUILDHALL

14th march 2015

With little more than a piano, a pair of saxophones, and years of hard work the father and son duo of Ben and Tom Waters played an action packed set of boogie-woogie and rock and roll favourites to an enthusiastic crowd of music fans.

Ben Waters has had a storied career in music, Jools Holland describes him as a favourite piano player. He has played all over the world both as a solo performer, and as a sideman, whilst he served a thorough musical apprenticeship working with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Shakin’ Stevens, and Ray Davies along with many others.

Fourteen year old Tom, a Jazz saxophonist of some technical skill and musical imagination proved a fine foil to the piano wizardry.

The set ranged from old early

rock and roll favourites, to dazzling renditions of ragtime piano and classical pieces, although in terms of musical imagination, the most stylistically different piece was saved for the encore.

A Girl Up On The Hill and Oreo Cookie Blues both contained some fiery boogie woogie and blues piano to grab the audiences attention, whilst Jerry Lee Lewis’s St Louis Boogie included quite a lot of humour, with quotes from a wide range of music, including the Simpsons theme, whilst Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home To Me became a shuffle time blues piece, as opposed to the expansive ballad form in which it is usually delivered. An Uncle In Harlem looked at the misery caused by poverty, and married a heartfelt sentiment to stirring musical accompaniment to good effect, whilst Blueberry Hill proved to be a popular song within the audience. The second half included some audience requests, and a more wide

ranging and eclectic repertoire. The piano heroism of Ben Waters was particularly evident in Jelly Roll Morton’s Don’t Deny My Name, and Professor Longhair’s Tipitina, whilst a crowd pleasing Route 66 featured some fine throaty saxophone. Ragtime featured in a medley of Scott Joplin’s music, which included snippets of The Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag. The temperature was lifted with sterling readings of Chuck Berry’s C’est La Vie, and an inventive genre skipping and time signature hopping What I Say by Ray Charles. The time keeping of the two musicians was particularly evident in some of the faster songs, and the lack of drums, bass, and guitar meant that the audience could hear piano, vocals and saxophones very clearly.

An encore was almost inevitable, with a very different version of Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode, re-imagined as a Russian ballad, complete with quotations from such songs as

BEN wAtERs BAND phOtO: Liz AikEN

iAN siEGAL AND his BAND At thE cLUNY phOtO: ALAN NichOL

Eleanor Rigby, Live And Let Die and Aha’s Take On Me, the difficult time signatures and Russian counterpoints proving to be no obstacles to the two fine musicians.

BEN MACNAIR

iaN SiEgaL aNd thE rhythM ChiEFS THE CLUNY, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

tuesday 24th march 2015

Billed as the ‘One Night In Amsterdam’ tour to coincide with the release of Ian’s first live album with an electric band, this evening offered so much more than the 12 tracks recorded at the North Sea Jazz Club. The electrifying two-hour set started and ended with musical tributes to friends of Siegal, local Nottingham legend Harry Stephenson and the late ‘Big George’ from Glasgow. The opening number Writing On The

JOE BONaMaSSa LIVE AT EVENTIM APOLLO, HAMMERSMITH

19th march 2015

A few numbers into tonight’s show, which kicked off dead on 8 pm, our man confesses that he is suffering from a chest infection but doing his best. Quite frankly it would have been hard to detect this, as Joe Bonamassa sang and played his heart out. No way will this established professional short change his audience or perform on automatic pilot.

Supported by a wonderful band who played with great rhythmic attack and enthusiasm, the guitar ace hit peak after peak using his bewildering away of guitars, which included a Strat used for slide but mainly a set of Les Pauls. Whether you like what he does or not, who can doubt that he has got where he is by working hard, finding a great producer and securing musicians of such quality that every show sparkles. Indeed, It was worth a horrible drive up the A3 after work to hear Reese Wynan’s amazing keyboard work – it is easy to see why Stevie Ray Vaughan loved his playing and why Joe does, too. Some lightning exchanges between the two went down very well with the eager crowd.

The set was chosen for the latest studio album Different Shades, and many releases from

Joe’s history. The new Muddy Wolf live album cuts will doubtless be featured in later shows or visits. Joe tends to play songs in different ways and thus it was that the version tonight of Ballad Of John Henry was markedly different from that played at Shepherds Bush on the infamous London four-date stint, but it was just as intense and atmospheric. Living On The Moon was biting; the take on the Otis Rush gem Double Trouble follows a crisp Trouble Town. The blues classic Yonders Wall was given a thorough pasting with Rojas’ bass scooting though the tune. Love Ain’t A Love Song included stunning guitar work. So, What Would I Do had the band roaring and the crowd lapping up the action. The familiar soft intro chords of audience favourite Sloe Gin drew gasps of approval, include me in that.

The horn section comprised trumpet, sax and trombone and they rocked out all through the show, taking solo’s as called. Best moment for me was a heavy roll through Don’t Burn Down That Bridge with its distinct chordal progression and punchy Tal drumming. Blazing guitar ices the sonic cake…

A brave show, a varied show, a satisfying show right through to the encore of All Aboard with Joe and crew playing as though it was the first number of the night

PETE SARGEANT

phOtO: kiERAN whitE

GREAT BRITISH BLUES

IN TWO AMAZING KOMPILATIONS

RED VINYL EFFECT PRESSING!

FEATURING:

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

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Wall and the finale Take A Walk In

The Wilderness are examples of how Siegal adapts brilliant songs from lesser-known artists to complement his original material. Because of the personal connections, these interpretations have an emotional intensity and sparkle which set them apart from straightforward covers.

Brandy Balloon showcases the first of many piercing yet tasteful guitar solos from Dusty Ciggaar whereas I Am The Train highlights the power of the Netherlands band’s rhythm section. There are many great train songs in the blues and other genres but it takes disciplined, skillful and mesmeric drumming and pulsating bass playing to create the right atmosphere.

Budapest born Raphael Schiddessen and Gibraltarian Danny Van’t Hoff respectively are immensely talented and provide the perfect platform for Ian and Dusty to improvise and trade licks without losing tempo or synchronisation. These qualities are evident on Hard Pressed a bonus downloadable track on the live CD and a highlight tonight, with shades of

Jim Morrison in the poetic lyrics, the occasional screech and holler and pure showmanship.

Siegal is the epitome of confident swagger, good humour and consummate story telling. He teases the young band relentlessly and speaks of his desire to finish early so that he can get to his Travelodge! But not before a massive dollop of blues in the form of an evocative tribute to the recently deceased Robert Balfour, She Got The Devil In Her, sung with Ian’s most evil sounding voice. A well-deserved short break enabled The Rhythm Chiefs to take centre stage with an eclectic blues, funk, jazz instrumental reminding the audience that they deserve serious recognition in their own right.

With Ian back on stage, Revelator meshes seamlessly with the blues classic Back Door Man, the gritty, authentic vocals and finger picking guitar a reminder of his lengthy sojourn in Mississippi. Other highlights include Tom Russell’s beautifully arranged cock fighting fable Gallo Del Cielo,

the enchanting, soul-touching Queen Of The Junior Prom, the California song, Early Grace with its sublime slide guitar, and the powerful Temporar’, a tour de force both vocally and instrumentally. It has taken nearly 15 years for Ian Siegal to gain the international recognition he thoroughly deserves and live performances of this energy and excellence take him into another stratosphere.

THE BISHOP

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concerts

SEaSiCK StEVE

FOLKESTONE LEAS CLIFF HALL

8th april 2015

The opening venue for the Seasick Steve tour and as expected, it was fully sold out, with standing only in the main auditorium, there were however some seats available in the balcony so that is where my wife and I sat to enjoy the show. The support act were a trio, drums, guitar and assorted other instruments, but their sound levels were out and it wasn’t possible to hear any of the vocals, nor even the trios name. They were an unusual act, is probably the best thing that I can say and I was happy when they had finished.

The Spartan stage was rendered even more so when the stage crew removed their gear and you could see Steve’s stripped down backline, no sign of any big stacks, just a couple of Kustom amps. Steve came on to thundering applause wielding what looked like a comparatively

undamaged or modified Airstream guitar, and very quickly showed the adoring crowd that he is a consummate musician. This was reinforced as the show went on, by the fact that he played a different guitar (or guitar shaped thing) for every number, the guitar tech having to work overtime at this gig. You may have seen in the papers that there was a large degree of talking emanating from the adjacent bar area and it clearly annoyed Steve as he asked them to shut up on two occasions, each time with a cheer from the crowd, he finally lost it during an acoustic number by stopping in mid song and bellowing to them “Shut the f**kup!”

This got a great roar of approval from the audience and Steve finished the set in a more appropriate atmosphere. There is no doubting this man’s pleasure in playing and also the awe that he still has for the route that he has travelled, as he said, he is still expecting to wake up and find

that it was all a dream. Well I am here to say that it was definitely no dream, Folkestone (with the exception of a few pissed idiots) loved you!

DAVE STONE

thE

rUMBLEStrUttErS CAFé BAR AT PORTHCAWL JAzz FESTIVAL, THE PAVILION, PORTHCAWL

friday 17th april

I was lucky enough to witness the first act to play in the Café Bar at The Porthcawl Jazz Festival as they opened the bar to music for this event. The audience were in for an entertaining, foot tapping and educationally humorous treat. I chatted to the band members Jonathan, Liam and Jonathan who have been together for just over eighteen months now and play 1920’s style Blues/Jazz. Instrumentation is harmonica(s), jugs and washboard (Liam), acoustic guitar (the taller, suited Jonathan is the proud owner of a

ROBiN tROwER phOtO: pEtER FANNEN

ROBiN tROwER phOtO: pEtER FANNEN

JJ GREY phOtO: kiERAN whitE

1926 Gibson L1), mandolin(s), kazoo (Jonathan, the waist-coated one) while Liam is the main vocalist but each contribute songs and all harmonise.

Songs included Walk Right In (sang as audience members were doing just that as the numbers grew on hearing them play), WC Handy’s St.Louis Blues 9a song now 101 years old!), a super Sittin’ On Top Of The World, a pacey and energetic foot tapping Sadie Green, Lead Belly’s Midnight Special that was really nicely harmonised and was followed by the Memphis Jug Bands’ KC Moan which was given a sparse and mellow treatment with really good harmony and was very well applauded.

Out came the washboard to great effect on Tappin’ That Thing and drew rousing appreciation. The Bessie Smith song Nobody Knows You was given the jug treatment. Liam got to showcase his prowess on harmonica on Hoof And Mouth with Jonathan following on mandolin for Nobodies

Business then Jonathan (guitar) had treated us to Robert Johnson’s 32-20 Blues and on Blind Blakes’ Jailhouse the mandolin took to the fore. One spontaneous number played was Tiger Rag, just as they felt like it. This was a fine early evening of entertaining old styled Blues/Jazz that everyone enjoyed and though more was wanted sadly the guys had to end as the main event was about to start in the main hall of the Pavilion. The band are writing their own material now and have lined up a studio to do some recording to help spread the word so keep an ear and eye out for them and if you find them playing in your area do go and take your clapping hands with you coz you will need them.

TOBY ORNOTT

J J grEy & MOFrO

ISLINGTON ACADEMY, LONDON

18th march 2015

Given that his latest album on Provogue Ol’ Glory includes some fairly introspective cuts, JJ wisely opts to rock up his set here in London tonight by playing some of the new release plus some stage favourites and deep soul gems. The band hit the ground roaring as JJ plays some vicious wah wah guitar and sings up a storm, his Les Paul player rattling out the chords, bass and drums hitting an ominous groove and the fabulous horns blaring. From that point, the man from Florida can do little wrong and the sound quality carries this over, although this is one of those venues where if you’re not in early and down the front, you cannot easily move forward. Our lens man is made of sturdy stuff and gets some great images for us, shared with our good friend and ace promoter Pete Feenstra for his own site review. Grey is a natural front man, sometimes playing guitar or strident harp and putting his blues–soul pipes to good use, his stage chat is natural and he seems pretty proud of his players. It’s a sort of Southside Johnny group sound moved South, horns a-plenty but guitar and keys driven at the same time.

Particularly impressive – 99 Shades of Crazy, Light A Candle and Everything Is A Song. Electric soul/ blues as it should be delivered.

PETE SARGEANT

rOBiN trOWEr aNd JOaNNE ShaW tayLOr

THE SAGE, GATESHEAD

3rd april 2015

Robin Trower must never have heard of the maxim, “never work with animals, children or brilliant young female blues singers/guitarists”. Trower’s performance was a whiter shade of pale compared with Joanne Shaw Taylor’s innovative and dynamic opening set. JST has improved immensely since her last appearance at The Sage nearly 18 months ago presumably because of her migration to Detroit, relentless touring and constant practice in her determination to be the best. Mud Honey from the latest album The Dirty Truth set the scene with its blistering guitar lines, hard blues rhythm, subtle tempo changes and uncompromising vocals. Joanne’s voice is much more edgy and rasping these days which adds to that dirty blues sound and complements the intensity, speed and variety of her axe work.

Drummer Oliver Perry lays down the heavy grooves like a sledgehammer but is also subtle with a light touch and superb technique; the hallmarks of a great percussionist. Just Another Word from White Sugar has a country flavour and highlights the versatility of this confident performer. From the same back catalogue, Watch ‘Em Burn raises the tempo again and has the blues aficionados in the audience rocking and singing along.

The crowning glory of the whole evening is Jealousy, sung with a

JOANNE shAw

phOtO:tAYLOR pEtER FANNEN

mAtt schOFiELD phOtO: JOhN BULL

thE RUmBLEstRUttER phOtO: pAUL NichOLs

KiNg KiNg/ LaUrENCE JONES TALKING HEADS, SOUTHAMPTON

4th march 2015

Roughly a week into a nationwide tour, these two exciting British blues/rock bands hit Southampton. For the first time to my knowledge, the venue is a 250 sell out, as is the case with most of the tour. Laurence Jones with his trusty rhythm section of bassist Roger Innis and drummer Miri Miettinen get the evening off to a great start, running through a set culled mainly from his own recent release on Ruf Records, Temptation and the Blues Caravan CD, 2014.

By the time this goes to press, Laurence will have represented the UK in the European Blues Challenge held in Brussels. I have seen a fair bit of Laurence recently and as a personal observation, notice he has started to up the volume a little, maybe this is a sign of growing confidence.

After a quick changeover, the main man, Alan Nimmo is on the stage, resplendent in trademark kilt, along with bassist Lindsay Coulson, drummer extraordinaire Wayne Proctor and Flying Dutchman Bob Fridzema on keyboards. Promoting the forthcoming disc Reaching For The Light, on sale at gigs, but not

released until May 5th, they start as they mean to go on with the rousing rocker Hurricane.

As good as the new material is, it’s the sortie into the classic back catalogue that draw the most appreciation, in the form of Long History Of Love and the Clapton/ Cray classic, all 15 minutes plus of Old Love. I fail to see why punters can’t manage to keep quiet for the heartfelt guitar break, but there you go! Frankie Miller’s Jealousy has become a staple of any King King set, but that is not to detract from the excellent new material, You Stopped The Rain, Waking Up and the beautiful Stranger To Love, to name but a few. Two hours flashed by and it was all over, including encores Crazy and Heavy Load.

The evening just goes to confirm that not only are King King a great band, they are also great mates, respectful of each other’s musicianship, most noticeable when Alan and Bob trade solos. Alan possesses an infectious exuberance that has the audience in the palm of his hand from the opening note. They impressed the godfather of British blues on his tour, so if they’re good enough for Mr Mayall, they’re more than good enough for us!

CLIVE RAWLINGS

passion and sensitivity which puts JST right at the top of her game. Jump That Train is the perfect platform for Joanne’s vocal range as well as her searing fretwork, underpinned by the superb rhythm section and mesmeric bass of Tom Godlington.

The melodic Tried Tested And True from her latest album highlights considerable story telling skills with maximum sincerity, the mellow guitar reflecting the mood. The finale, Tied And Bound is fitting in that it leaves the audience pummelled by an amazing vocal and guitar attack of a ferocity rarely experienced in contemporary blues. Trower churned out material mainly from the Bridge Of Sighs era and it was a pity that so many songs from the excellent Something’s About To Change and Roots And Branches were overlooked. Not that Trower’s legion of adoring fans cared as they cheered their 70-year old hero for the full 100 minutes. It seemed a lot longer as the performance was somewhat jaded and the extended guitar solos too often repetitive and predictable.

THE BISHOP

Matt SChOFiELd JAzz CAFé, LONDON

3rd march 2015

The guitar/drums/organ set-up isn’t my favourite but Schofield makes it work pretty well. This evening Schofield has the mighty Evan Jenkins on the drums and I can vouch for being on stage with him as exhilarating, very nimble footwork that you can feel behind you and much in evidence tonight.

The Hammond sound is rich and full and Matt’s Stratocaster played in a full-blooded manner, ringing out squealing notes and deeper groovy phrases. Sam Hare jumps up to play additional guitar, on All You Really Need (I think, Schofield is poor at clearly announcing the numbers) being a BB King style shuffle. Everything rocks out. The high point is some fluid wah wah work on Found The Connection (I think) and also the choppy funk on the Meters opus People Say. The Day You Left was an anguished crowd-pleaser, with doomy changes and an ominous tempo and vibe.

More accomplished than exciting for me, but a rock-solid and wellreceived show.

PETE SARGEANT

The Storm Inside is the 4th album from Little Devils and the first to feature the current line up of Yoka on lead vocals, saxophone and flute, Big Ray on lead guitar, Sara on drums and Graeme on bass and occasional vocals. This is the line up that has drawn fantastic reviews for their storming live performances at festivals and venues throughout UK & Europe.

100 Club, London – named by Music Riot as one of the BEST 5 GIGS OF 2014 It’s blues Jim, but not as we know it; Little Devils are fronted by singer and multi instrumentalist (sax and flute), Yoka. The rhythm section of Graeme Wheatley and Sara Leigh Shaw (aka the Pintsized Powerhouse) built a solid base for Big Ray’s guitar and Yoka’s vocals and solos. The quality of the playing alone would put this gig up there with the best this year but this is also great fun; the band obviously enjoy themselves and audiences will always pick up on that. Great performances and big smiles all around the room; that’s a pretty good combination for a great night.

Allan McKay, Music Riot

Carlisle Blues Festival It was nice to see a 'full on' stage performance, giving blues a fresh edge with hints of rock and funk.

Rosy Greer, Lancashire Blues Archive

Saltburn Blues Club A band with real presence, brimming with talent, energy & performance knowhow. Lead singer Yoka had the audience rapt. There were no glasses clinking or background chatter just a room mesmerised by talented musicians & the story they were telling.

Fantastic! Liz Ayres, Blues Matters

Gt British R&B Festival A brilliant set, loving Little Devils music.

Liz Aitken, Blues Doodles Magazine

Banana Peel Blues, Belgium Little Devils claim they play 21st Century Blues which is exactly what they do Yoka with the graceful smile, charm, finesse & pure power had the audience eating out of her hand.

Antoine Legat Roots Time

The album is released on Krossborder Rekords and is available in all record stores, from the website www.littledevilmusic.com and at gigs from the band.

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