“the new sound of urban blues” the long awaited second album now available at www.katandco.co.uk
contains the singles
calling your name bedroom floor whiskey born under a bad sign and more
“Blues is indeed the new cool in the hands of this tightly-knit band of excellent, multinational musicians. ...This album delivers on its title’s promise - big time.” Down at the Crossroads
What a terrific issue this is (again! – how do they do it?) Not only do we bring you World and UK radio blues charts and one of the best mail order charts anywhere, plus a bunch of great interviewsincluding Chuck Leavell on the new No.1 blues album by The Rolling Stones! - but also, who would believe that Shakin’ Stevens would make a big comeback with a blues album? Well he sure has and we talk to him about that and ask about his favourite blues tracks. We have scoured Scandinavia and bring you chats with rising star Lisa Lystram & The Family Band and the amazing Thorbjorn Risager. We also stretched out to Argentina to have a chat with jazz giant Gonzalo Bergara, who has taken a step away to release a terrific blues album. We talk with the mighty Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, while back in the UK we bring you Kat & Co. who have a wow of an album out now, the rising young (very) Aaron Keylock and the strangely named but awesome Xander & The Peace Pirates… what a mix of super talent you have there! Your usual wide variety of features are here, along with coverage of the Jack Bruce Memorial concert, at which Ginger Baker incredibly was helped to the stage to deliver on the double set drums after a few words about Jack, and that not long after heart surgery. We all wish him well. There’s some spread of festival reports from UK, Europe and USA and of course the Blue Blood section AND the terrific CD reviews. With growing subscriber numbers and an increase in advertising, we aim to include more CD reviews at some point in the future, as we only manage to print around 80 out of almost 200 that we receive for each issue and we feel that they all deserve space. But there is so much good reading to bring you, that we too have to wait for that day to arrive.
As notified in BM93 we have now reduced the App price £23.49 which is down from £24.99. The Digital version will also now be available to all print subscribers at no extra cost.
Footnote: apologies for showing the wrong album cover with King King review in BM93. Also in CD reviews Victoria Clewin & The True Tones – should have been Victoria Klewin & The True Tones.
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BLUE BLOOD
What to watch out for on the blues scene. A J Fullerton, Half Hand Hoodoo Band, Main Street Blues Band, Reece Hillis, Tom Lockwood and Tony Vega Band.
RED LICK TOP 20
RMR BLUES TOP 50
IBBA BLUES TOP 50
Awash with the Blues Pt2; Blues Harmonica Pt9, Chicago Blues Pt3, Radiating the 88s Pt5; Guitar Tech Pt7; and Troy Redfern.
AARON KEYLOCK (UK)
Another young gun on the horizon. We explore where he has been and where he is going!
XANDER & THE PEACE
PIRATES (UK)
Liverpool’s peace-loving Peace Pirates - find out how they Dance With The Devil.
KAT & CO (UK)
Two musicians, from Los Angeles and Italy, unite in London and create a multi-national take on the blues.
GONZALO BERGARA (ARG)
Born in Buenos Aires - how do you move from Guns N Roses to blues?
BILLY GIBBONS (USA)
Hear about ZZ Top’s Live Greatest Hits From Around The World.
FIND OUT HOW A SWEET, BLUEEYED, RURAL SCANDINAVIAN GIRL DISCOVERED THE BLUES ON A LIFECHANGING VISIT TO STOCKHOLM.
LEARN ABOUT THE BENEFIT OF BEING THE YOUNGEST OF THIRTEEN CHILDREN - AND WHERE THE NAME CAME FROM.
THE STONES' KEYBOARD PLAYER OF CHOICE SHARES THE INSIDE STORY OF HIS PART IN THE NEW BLUES ALBUM.
COPENHAGEN'S FINEST TALKS ABOUT HIS BAND, THE BLACK TORNADO, AND THEIR GROWING PROFILE IN EUROPE.
76
SPENCER MACKENZIE (USA)
Sixteen year-old Canadian schoolboy, who is gigging regularly in and around Toronto.
REVIEWS ALBUMS
83
More than 80 reviews in this issue. Plenty of choice and variety for you to browse.
117
SHOWTIME FESTIVALS – Bluesfest, Mountain Harvest Festival, P&O Blues Cruise and The Swedish Blues Cruise. GIGS – Ben Poole, Brook Williams and Guy Davis, Ian Siegal, JD and the Straight Shot and Sean Taylor.
a club called The Raven in Beaumont. The only whites in the crowd, they no doubt stood out. Johnny was only around 18 years old at the time but was already a very accomplished player. He was desperate to get the chance to perform with B.B. so he took it upon himself to ask the Blues Legend if he could join him on stage. B.B was reluctant at first, but after Johnny kept sending up different people to ask if he could join, King eventually gave him a chance. Winter got the chance to perform with B.B King’s guitar and even got a standing ovation for his efforts.
In this issue, we take a look at the Albino Texan guitar-slinger, Johnny Winter. Famed for his BluesRock albums of the 60’s and 70’s, Winter had a unique sound that bridged the gap between the British Blues guys and the American Southern Rock style. Johnny preferred to play with a thumb pick and his fingers, similar to Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. He was just as at home playing fiery speed licks as he was tearing up the fret board on a slide.
Born in Beaumont, Texas in February 1944, Johnny began his recording career at the age of 15. He released an album with his band,
‘Johnny and the Jammers,’ on a Houston record label. Beaumont at that time was rife with racial tensions. Mobs would often riot in the streets and at one point it was so bad that Martial Law went into effect, with over two thousand National Guardsmen and Texas Rangers sealing off the town until it died down. During this time, Johnny never had any problems hanging out in Blues clubs in Black neighbourhoods. It was said that they knew that Johnny was genuine - a real Bluesman.
There is a legendary story about a time in 1962 when Johnny and his brother Edgar attended a B.B. King gig at
Winter’s big breakthrough came a few years later in 1968 when he was featured in a Rolling Stone article about the Texas music scene. After a short bidding war between record labels, Johnny signed to Columbia Records with what was reportedly the highest ever advance payment at the time -$600,000. His self-titled 1969 disc announced loudly that there was a new guitar-slinger on the national scene. The disc included audacious covers of such blues classics as B.B. King’s “Be Careful with a Fool,” Sonny Boy Williamson II’s “Good Morning Little School Girl,” Robert Johnson’s “When You Got a Good Friend” and fellow Texan Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Back Door Friend.” It also
featured two prime original Winter songs, “Dallas” and the controversial “I’m Yours and I’m Hers,” that went into heavy rotation on FM underground radio. The album peaked at No.24 on the billboard chart and was promptly followed by ‘Second Winter’ later that same year.
The album’s success led to Johnny being one of the few artists that actually got paid for playing Woodstock Festival. Winter received just shy of $4000 but missed out on a lot more because his manager didn’t sign him up for the movie citing the reason he “didn’t think there would be any money in it”. Johnny eventually went on to sign for Alligator Records and released several
Grammy-nominated albums throughout the 80‘s, 90’s and into the Millennium.
Winter used a variety of different guitars over the years: Gibson SG, Fender Mustang, Gibson Les Paul. However, the main guitar that he was famed for, was the Gibson Firebird. This was his axe of choice for his slide work. Johnny would mainly use Music Man 130 amplifiers, with 4 x 10” speakers.
Let’s take a look at some licks in this style. In these three exercises, I have chosen to focus on his standard tuning guitar licks, as opposed to his slide work. All of the exercises are in the Key of A and will work well over a 12-bar blues.
Ex.1 is a typical ‘call and response’ style lick, where a short phrase is played and then ‘answered’ by another. The second phrase has some nifty bends; make sure there is a clear distinction between the semi-tone and full tone bends.
Ex.2 begins with an off-beat, double stop lick before moving into a faster, repeating triplet lick. Make sure that you use hammeron’s and pull offs and that you use three fingers.
Ex. 3 looks at one of Winter’s Country style, twanging licks. This lick mixes the major and minor pentatonic and features some rapid-fire fretting mixed with bends.
Chicago is and has always been at the centre of the blues music recording world. When blues musicians made the migration from the south to the industrial north of the US, an industry grew around their talent that helped get their music out to the world.
The first step in this process happened when Phil and Leonard Chess, a pair of Polish immigrant brothers, purchased a nightclub called the Macamba in Chicago. In 1951, they became aware that the artists performing there needed a way to record their music. So, they purchased a share of Aristocrat Records, and eventually changed the name to Chess Records. Their first signing was a former Columbia Records recording artist named Muddy Waters. The first releases were the songs “Gypsy Woman” and “Little Anna Mae.” This established them as the “Home of the Electric Blues,” and soon they were recording John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed and Chuck Berry. In partnership with Sam Phillips of Sun Records (home of Elvis Presley), they formed a musical powerhouse
of recorded music. Soon other labels sprang up. Most notable were Cobra, home to Otis Rush and VeeJay, to Jimmy Reed, and famous for being the first American label to release a single by a British group called The Beatles, after every major US label turned them down!
In 1958, Bob Koester, a young jazz and blues fan from St. Louis, Missouri, moved to Chicago in search of blues and jazz artists to record. He opened a record store (The Jazz Record Mart); Delmark Records, his label, grew up in the basement of this record store.
Throughout the 60’s and the 70’s he recorded and released many of the finest albums in blues music history, including two albums that are usually noted by critics as two of the greatest ever recorded in the blues genre: Junior Wells, “Hoodoo Man Blues” featuring Buddy Guy on guitar and Magic Sam’s “West Side Soul.”
In early 1971, a clerk at The Jazz Record Mart discovered a guitar player he reckoned Koester should record. The clerk was Bruce Iglauer- the artist Hound Dog Taylor. Koester, however, didn’t
like Hound Dog’s music and turned Iglauer down. So Iglauer himself scraped up some cash, hired a recording studio, and recorded the first Hound Dog Taylor record on May 25th and June 2nd of that year. The album was released in August of that year, and Alligator Records was born. Iglauer drove around the Midwest with boxes of records in the back seat of his car, stopping at radio stations and record stores, eventually selling all the records he had pressed.
Fast forward to today and Alligator, having released over 300 titles, including such artists as Albert Collins, Johnny Winter, Koko Taylor and many others, just celebrated its 45th year in business. Delmark has celebrated 55 years in the business and is still going strong, Bob Koester recently sold his world-famous Jazz Record Mart and opened up a little record store on the north side of Chicago:
Bob’s Record Store, on Irving Park, in Chicago.
So, the world turns, and everything that was old becomes young again.
Baton Rouge’s blues artists were among tens of thousands of residents who either had their homes flooded or destroyed as a result of the historic flood that hit southern Louisiana last summer. In the last edition, we heard how blues artist Henry Turner Jr rescued his fellow musicians who lost their homes. The home of Grammy nominated blues artist
and multi instrumentalist Kenny Neal also suffered significant damage. His album, “Bloodline,” has just been nominated for the Grammy category for “Best Contemporary Blues album of the year.” Paromita Saha caught up with him to discuss his career and the impact of the flood on his Baton Rouge home.
Kenny Neal’s garage could literally be described
as a “hall of fame,” for Blues music. The walls are covered in pictures of his illustrious career, going back to the 70s when he played in Buddy Guy’s band to eventually becoming a successful Grammy nominated blues solo artist in his own right. There are photos of him either in the company of or playing with many blues greats - John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins and BB King, whom Neal was close to until his death in 2015. “I saw him six months before he passed. I first met him in 1977. From that day, we became good friends. I was freelancing as a bass player, got my record deal and the next thing I know, I am touring with BB King in Japan.”
Luckily, Neal’s irreplaceable hall of fame and his garage just about remained intact after his North Baton Rouge home was flooded last summer. I meet him at his home in a neighborhood close to Baton Rouge Airport. After travelling for miles on the interstate from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, I find myself driving down a narrow country road to end up in what could be described as an archetypal, aff luent middleclass American neighborhood with neatly mown front lawns, plush cars and sprawling houses. However, a few months after the big flood, there are still small piles of furniture and debris
outside some houses. It’s pretty clear these homes have been vacated. Neal tells me, “there’s probably five people on this whole street. Everyone is gutted out right now.”
Kenny Neal was born in New Orleans in 1957 but raised in Baton Rouge. He is the son of the late blues harp player Raful Neal who had a local band comprising members Buddy Guy and Lazy Lester during the fifties in Baton Rouge. As a result, the young Kenny Neal was constantly in the company of local greats such as Slim Harpo, Tabby Thomas, Silas Hogan as well as Lonesome Sundown. Neal was 13 years old when he started playing in his father’s band and eventually became Buddy Guy’s bass player at the age of seventeen. Neal later teamed up with his brothers and they were known as the Neal Brothers- a band he still plays with. His solo career started in 1987 with his debut album “Bio on the Bayou,” which tells the story of his life: “It was a good way of introducing myself to the blues audience at that time.”
Neal signed with Alligator records and became known for his swamp blues sound. “In Baton Rouge, we are getting the New Orleans sound and the Cajun sound from Lafayette,” he says, “So our sound is a combination of these two with the Delta Blues. This is because a lot of folks would come down from Mississippi and make their home in Baton Rouge.” Since the late eighties, Neal has received numerous accolades and awards for his work including Grammy nominations,
W.C. Handy Blues award, as well as various BMA’s. After many years on the road and living in California, Neal recently moved back to Baton Rouge with his wife and horses to be close to his mother and extended family. His father Raful passed in 2004. Neal and his wife had only been in his current home for a year, when the historic flood struck on August 11th. Neal recollects that fateful moment: “It was crazy, no wind, no lightening, no thunder. A big cloud moved in and stayed for several days, and just loaded off.” Neal’s house was three feet above ground, unlike the rest of the houses in his neighborhood. However, it was not enough to keep the water away. He recaptures his initial shock: “I was like oh my God Fortunately, the Neal’s did
not have to join the hundreds and thousands of residents in shelters across the city. One of the members of his family took them back to Neal’s other Baton Rouge home. The couple settled in for the night, when in the early hours of the morning, Neal heard his brother knocking loudly on his door. “He is saying, ‘get out, the water is coming in!’ I could not believe it. He said we had to get out now as the water was heading this way.” At this point, local phone provider AT &T was not working. As a result, Neal was unable to reach any of his family or seek advice about where to head. However, a neighbor reassured him that his home, which he owned for thirty years, was on a street that was the highest point in Baton Rouge. Neal and his wife took a risk and
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decided to stay in the house until the waters receded. “We were trapped, we couldn’t leave. There was water all around us. We were there for three days. We had to go back to the cabinets and get what we had to survive.”
Neal and his wife eventually returned to their new home and found the place looking, as he describes it, like a war zone. He lost his cars. Neal had no flood insurance and had to pay out of pocket to renovate his house: “I got my crew in who cleaned and dried everything out. They put the floors down. My daughter’s house cost me $40,000 to rebuild.” Neal counts himself lucky compared to other family members such as his sister who lost their homes and had to completely rebuild from scratch. His dear
friend, ninety one year old blues legend Henry Gray is currently residing in Neal’s other house, after loosing his home and everything in the flood. “Henry is living it up there. I am stuck with him forever,” he laughs. “I guarantee he won’t be going anywhere soon!” Overall, Neal comes across as sanguine given the trauma of the historic flood: “I keep counting my blessings. We survived. It was a crazy nightmare, surreal.”
At the time of writing, Kenny Neal’s “Bloodline” is nominated for the 2017 Grammy award for Best Blues Contemporary album. The album is a celebration of his family heritage and draws on the talents of various members of his family. Neal joined forces with Grammy award winning producer Tom
Hambridge in Nashville to record the album. “I stopped playing for one year, and then I decided to go to Nashville, where I know everybody would be ready at my finger tips.” I ask if he feels compelled to write a song about the historic flood, to which he responds that he has thought about it. Recently, he provided the music for his friend’s memorial after he died in the flood. In the meantime, the blues player is upbeat in his tone, as he talks about a possible UK tour in the not so distant future. It looks as though Kenny Neal and his family are staying put at home, despite the devastation of the flooding. He laughs: “This is still my home. I am good. I am here to stay. I’ve got flood insurance now.”
I’ve written before about the tragic lives of 1920s blues harmonicists Will Shade and Noah Lewis, whose prodigious talent eventually gave way to abject poverty and anonymity.
As The Rumblestrutters have just released our debut album, ‘Prohibition Blues’, it’s time for a deeper look at blues music during the Prohibition era, the surprising stories of some of its protagonists, and the great debt that modern blues musicians owe to that period. Culture is a melting pot, and the societal tides of the times affect the music an
Verbals: Liam Ward – LearnTheHarmonica.com
mention of them – in public). This meant fewer big bands, and more small music acts, leading to the promotion of blues and jazz acts (and also, incidentally, the creation of a new breed of tableside singers, dubbed ‘crooners’). One such speakeasy is recorded in ‘Shout You Cats’, by the brilliantly named Hezekiah Jenkins. The Rumblestrutters have included our own version on Prohibition Blues, and it features some extremely evocative lyrics: “…In this room they was thick as bees, you could hardly tell the he’s from the she’s…” In the song, the police turn up and it seems the party’s over until it becomes apparent that the police come to have fun too: “…the cop said ‘Buddy, everything OK, listen to what I say’…”
era produces. As such, it’s not easy to pin down one single element of a trend, or catalyst for a genre, but the implementation of Prohibition in the USA certainly played a bit part in shaping the music of that country. The banning of alcohol led to the creation of speakeasies – illicit drinking houses for those who just couldn’t go without alcohol. Before 1920, bars would have advertised all sorts of performers, the bigger the better, but speakeasies needed to be discreet (hence one would ‘speak easy’ about themavoid too loud or enthusiastic
The speakeasies, and the music therein, became synonymous with gangs and corruption, further enhancing the raciness and appeal of the music. Ironic, given that one of the government’s main intentions with Prohibition was to reduce crime. Most of American drank, and so millions of people were suddenly expected to change lifetime habits: they didn’t. What they did instead was to find liquor wherever they could. This meant that speakeasies broke social boundaries like nothing before. Gangsters drank
with the upper crust, and women sat with men (no chaperones!), listening to the music that would become the defining sound of the decade.
Outside the speakeasies, America was a country going through great changes, not least mass migration from rural to urban areas. Uprooted musicians were writing of life on the road and the ‘blues’ that come with relocating to an alien environment. The way these artists would get their drink was varied, ingenious, and often dangerous. The Tommy Johnson song ‘Canned Heat Blues’ (recorded in 1928 and covered by the Rumblestrutters on the album) talks of drinking methanol from cooking fuel, a highly hazardous habit which would affect Johnson’s health until his death.
Another method of getting alcohol was through medicinal substances, such as Jamaican ginger extract, which contained 70% to 80% ethanol. The extract was also known as ‘Jake’ and provided an easy way to get around the licensing laws. Unfortunately, overconsumption led to drinkers losing the use of their hands and feet. If still able to walk, they would do so with a strange gait, which came to be known as the ‘jake walk’ and the aff liction known as ‘jake leg’.
The title track from Prohibition Blues is our most explicit tribute to the dry era. For ‘Prohibition Blues’ I searched high and low for authentic language from 1920s America: “she gave her icy mitt to me”, an icy mitt being a rejection akin to a cold shoulder; “I ain’t
no egg”, as in the ‘squares’ of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writings; “sneak into church just to get some wine…”, a common way to bring home alcohol; and my tribute to the hidden drinking holes: “It gets so hard to speak easy, when your throat is dry”.
The first popular blues singers were women: Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Ida Cox et al. For the first time in modern American history, female artists were touring stars. With their touring schedules, and the increasingly available (though still very expensive) phonograph machine, their music was reaching further than any music had before.
The touring circuit was called the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA - Ma Rainey is said to have called it ‘Tough On Black Asses’). These women were social and musical pioneers, and without them there would have been no music industry: Bessie Smith records are what saved Columbia Records from bankruptcy.
With the new technology came the first recordings of black musicians, both rural and newly urbanised, playing arrangements often rooted in what would come to be termed ‘blues’.
Along with the blues, of course, came jazz, and the most memorable image of the jazz age is of the ‘flapper’ – a free woman, showing her ankles, out on the town for a good time. Within months of Prohibition becoming law, women got the vote, and flappers were the symbol of women’s changing place. Their short skirts, bobbed hair and supposedly loose
morals were blamed on the music of the age, and said to be leading to the downfall of society. Of course, the real fear was that women were being brave enough to break out of the confinement imposed by a sexist establishment.
The Rumblestrutters set contains our own brand of jazz-tinged songs, including the classic ‘Sadie Green, the Vamp of New Orleans’ – a vamp being a free-spirited lady (and most likely a flapper). ‘Axeman’s Jazz’ is an original inspired by the true story of a murderer who refused to kill anyone listening to jazz. There’s also a fair sprinkling of jug band music (with jug by yours truly), which was also popular in the 1920s in poor areas where proper jazz instruments were unaffordable.
Wallets were hit even harder in 1929 when the stock market crashed. The roaring ‘20s were over and the relative lightheartedness of the era came to an end, which would lead to the even deeper and darker recession blues of the 1930s. There’s space for this on the Rumblestrutters album too, with ’32-20 Blues’ a tip of the hat to the great Robert Johnson. Prohibition would last until 1933, when alcohol would be reintroduced and the great experiment would be over. A legislative failure, one saving grace for the era is that it helped to give the world the Prohibition blues.
‘Prohibition Blues’ by the Rumblestrutters is available at www.therumblestrutters.com, and via iTunes, Amazon, Google Music, and CDbaby.
Troy Redfern combines the rawness of Hound Dog Taylor, the free-form approach of Sonny Sharrock, the fi rebrand playing of Johnny Winter and the technique of Dave Hole, mixed with the ghost of Elmore James. There's something about the Welsh Marches; as guitarist Troy Redfern tells it, he grew up in the shadow of Hergest Ridge, made famous by Mike Oldfield. The Welsh borders - roughly that area between Hay on Way, Brecon and Hereford - might not quite evoke the arresting geography and climate of, say, Louisiana, but there's something about the freedom of that area...it all fits perfectly into Troy Redfern's world. He's a passionate, intense, free-spirited indie blues artist whose ferocious slide guitar style twists and turns timeless themes and ideas to his own ends.
In the studio, the multiinstrumental slide guitarist and producer is a one man band who painstakingly pays attention to the minutiae of his tone, the imaginary arrangements and noir fi lled lyrics. As a band leader, he's trusting-enough to know that wherever his spontaneity takes him, he has a locked in rhythm section that will push him to the
limit while also giving him a safety net. Back in the studio, he does it all himself, and it's hard to grasp his unrelenting energy. He's a musical visionary unafraid to trample on the boundaries of restricting labels. His talent spans ferocious slide playing, thoughtful production, passionate vocals and an approach to contemporary indie blues that references delta blues roots, while turning familiar emotions, themes and riff s from a bygone era into a broad-based contemporary musical template.
Troy ushers us into a restless, musical journey that spans big musical vistas. He's a guitarist for whom tone, feel and grooves are his working tools and while his songs range from a whisper to a scream, he performs a balancing act between pure spontaneity and deep grooves. His music is physical, engaging, emotive and worthy of hip references like indie blues, except it's backed up by real substance and stretched to the limit by virtuoso solos. When you listen to Troy Redfern you're buying into a new world vision where his high-energy approach uncompromisingly hits you in the guts before making a cerebral connection.
“We met at John Mayall’s house in Blackheath. It was Eric Clapton’s twenty-first birthday party and he was wearing a gorilla suit!”. Lulu has just entered the crowded North London rehearsal space and Cream lyricist and long-time Jack Bruce collaborator, Pete Brown greets the diminutive icon who recorded Everybody Clap with Jack Bruce in 1971. It’s day one of Blues Matters being in crowded rooms overflowing with seventies musicians. Mick Taylor, Terry Reid and Corky Laing are talking in the parking lot while members of Colosseum and John McLaughlin’s band are stepping all over each other between songs. An hour later Lulu tears into Neighbour Neighbour with Bruce's son, ringmaster and event organizer, Malcolm on
bass. There’s a “long-time-nosee, how-ya-been” vibe among many who have just arrived.
“[Jack] lived for the spontaneous in music”, Gary Husband, who played drums in various Jack Bruce bands from 1992 - 2007, tells MOJO as Dennis Chambers from takes over the drum seat. “He loved playing off people. He loved the challenge of coming back with phrases that turn things upside down. He liked to make accidents on purpose and the joy was the way we came out of it. Charlie Mingus said jazz was the sound of surprise. [Jack] was all about that.”
“We both loved Monk,” adds Pete Brown the next day in a rare moment of quiet at the beginning of the sound check. “One of the things we learnt from Monk was that if you’re creating a piece of music, not
to repeat the same phrase. Very, very hard to sing but very interesting to do”. It’ll be the last time there will be elbow room. An hour into the sound check brings “heavy traffic on the South Circular”. Terry Reid one of the few present to enjoy the dressing room beers is talking to Chris Spedding. Bob Harris, who will be one of the announcers is talking to Trevor Horn who has stopped by to play bass on “Without A Word”, session musicians walk in and out and Blues Matters is arguing with Bernie Marsden, sporting a Sun Records T shirt, over Mississippi blues versus New Orleans R&B.
Jack Bruce’s Scottish roots are acknowledged by Eddie Reader who sang Robert Burns’ Red, Red Rose, “His mother sang him Burns’ songs when he was a boy”,
Malcom Bruce tells Blues Matters two days later over coffee in North London. “And he did the same to me. I wanted to acknowledge the Scottish side of his life” A sentiment echoed by fellow Scot Lulu who dedicated “Neighbor Neighbor” to “The Scottish Mafia”
Steve Hackett who spent much of his backstage time being rather quiet – shuff led onto the stage behind singer Nathan James and shredded Spoonful in a room full of guitar players, he provided one of the evening’s highlights, Even one of the stage helpers was from back in the day - Jimi Hendrix’s roadie and The Who’s sound man in the sixties, Neville
Chesters helped keep things moving with some deft stage management. Tributes tend to run longer than expected and given The Shepherd’s Bush Empire’s strict 11pm blackout, intermission is scrapped and songs are cut including I Feel Free (“our attempt at writing a pop song”, according to Pete Brown). Though Eric Clapton cancelled his appearance two weeks before the show due to ill health, there are murmurs of anticipation as rock scribe Chris Welch walks onto an empty stage to the sound of an audience holding its breath and introduces a very frail Ginger Baker, on the mend after heart surgery. After reminiscing about the first time he met “this scruff y old bugger”
at a Cambridge University ball, he managed a couple of minutes of dual drums accompanied with friend and minder Abass Dodoo. After being led off the stage to thunderous applause, more of the bases in Jack Bruce’s life were covered - especially his jazzier/fusion side, all of which lead up to an all-star cast led by Lulu singing White Room and including Mick Taylor and….well…everyone. All this ended perfectly at ten minutes to eleven. Shepard’s Bush was happy.
Gianluca Tramontana is a music journalist and broadcaster. You can listen to his interviews - including blues legends Honeyboy Edwards and Louisiana Red - at www.sittingwith.com
Hi piano people! I’m going to get technical over the next few episodes, and talk about some actual piano playing. In this episode, I’m addressing the needs of the real beginner, but there will still be useful tips buried within for more experienced players.
I caught up with the father of blues piano education in this country, the wonderful Tim Richards, in his Aladdin’s cave study, surrounded by sheet music, endless files and folders, tour posters, sturdy upright, and original photos of artists such as John Lee Hooker taken by Tim when sharing a stage. I was curious to hear how he got into the music, and how he has been able to pass his knowledge
on to so many people. We also had piano licks to discuss!
Tim’s website https://www. timrichards.ndo.co.uk
Starting at the age of 8, Tim had classical lessons, then began listening to Otis Spann, Thelonious Monk, and our very own Dudley Moore, working out what he was hearing. A playing career ensued, and then, moving in to London from a stint in Bristol, Tim found a location, and set up what he believes to be the only weekly blues piano evening classes in the city, still running today –now at the Morley College. The classes started in 1990, and by 1997, Richards had collected his experience into his much-loved tutorial “Improvising Blues Piano”
(Schott ED 12504) which has remains in print.
Listening:
I ask Tim, how do you learn to play blues piano? “By listening” is his immediate answer. It might sound obvious, but you do need to have a clear idea of what you’re going to be imitating – imitating follows deep listening, and hopefully creativity builds from there. Tim’s courses contain listening recommendations, and the shortlist is published here.
Transcribing:
This means copying pretty much note for note what you hear. Tim and I have done plenty of transcriptions – they can be painstaking affairs as you attempt to hear exactly what sound is being made on the instrument. I love doing it! Thankfully many people have published their own great transcriptions. Tim mentions the Leeds (publishers) series by Frank Paparelli. Then notably there are also the transcriptions in “Barrelhouse and Boogie Piano” by Eric Kris, and a whole raft of New Orleansbased repertoire by my buddy Josh Paxton. So, using exact transcriptions, you can then play back what you have either read or memorized, and then you’ll sound like Little Brother Montgomery, right? Well, perhaps you will, but… Leaving the transcriptions behind and improvising.
…will you be a blues piano player? No, you won’t! You won’t be expressing something of your own, you won’t be able to play with a band – with all its arrangement and discipline, and you’ll certainly be lost if
you forget your sheet music or forget the transcription. We both agree that recreating the sounds of others is a solid basis, but then, depending on your ‘natural’ ability, you need to construct a way of using the language yourself. Some people seem to pick up material quickly and voraciously – others may need more assistance. We discuss the needs of the more “steady” student, and I’m going to take you through some of the core principles here.
Rhythm and the left hand: The left hand plays an especially crucial role when working solo – but it remains vital for integrating the whole rhythmic thing whatever way you chose to play. Rhythm is king in blues. Tim says he rates it higher than playing good notes. I know what he means. There is power in defining a good rhythmic pulse, and without it, music becomes a lifeless meandering jelly! So, get that left hand going with a good walking, boogie-woogie or barrelhouse pattern. A
“walking” pattern is what it sounds like – even steps –almost always starting low and moving high. A boogiewoogie pattern is a rhythmic thing unto itself. You can play just a boogie left hand and it sounds nice. Try some out. Reading is not a requirement. Go to the Radiating The 88s Facebook page, and watch some videos there. Try to copy what you see.
THREE BOOGIE PATTERNS IN C
Drumming with your hands on the keyboard
Sit down. Take your left hand, and tap it on your thigh, counting up to 4 with one count for each tap. Tap
(one), tap (two), tap (three), tap (four), tap (one), tap (two) etc. Then take your right hand and tap it in between the left hand taps, on your right thigh – so the hands alternate. This will be your walking left hand, and the right hand will be a skipping off beat. You are now being rhythmic, and all you need to do is to translate this to notes on a piano or keyboard. The ability to think and feel rhythmic coordination between the two hands is vital, and you should encourage it in your playing from the very beginning.
SIMPLE WALKING BASS IN C
You need to know what a C, F, and G chord is. You need to know how to make these. They are easy – three notes played all together with (in this case) the right hand. Guides to chords will go up on the Radiating Facebook page. The magic comes as these chords and left hand patterns start to come together.
But what about the blues scale?
Both Tim and I agree that you will become a more rounded, musical player if you mess around with the sounds made by chord tones – experiment, invert those chords, and make up melodies. Maybe you’ve heard
or know about the blues scale. Well, it’s a wonderful tool, but we are not going to approach it yet. Melody comes first. Once you find you can form chords, then it’s great to rock these chords in the right hand – building strength, knowledge, and the start of lick playing. Look at this rocking pattern.
You are now making a basic blues sound, and you are playing in time, and you are not slowing down, or stopping, right? Tim says that stopping and correcting, or slowing up to make a change are perhaps among the biggest stumbling blocks. You have to be rhythmic, to keep
going. There is much more to cover, in subsequent parts of this feature – including the blues scale, and how to use licks and sequences, so get your copy ordered – and you’ll benefit from it. Happy playing!
Pinetop Smith
Jimmy Yancey
Pete Johnson
Albert Ammons
Meade “Lux” Lewis
Professor Longhair
Otis Spann
Ray Charles
https://www.facebook.com/ groups/radiatingthe88s
https://www.dompipkin.co.uk
A Guitarist/Songwriter has been a professional muso for 35 years. You will have heard him, probably without realising however – TV reality shows about croc hunters, vets in the Rockies - adverts for sofas – he’s all over the place!
Verbals: Miles Gilderdale Visuals: Fred White
Miles’s first love is R‘n’B and his first band “Zoot and the Roots” got their first break in the very early ‘80s supporting the newly solo ‘Wilko Johnson’ on three dates. After augmenting this trio with a small horn section and receiving a hand-written letter of encouragement from no other than Paul Weller, a great review in the Melody Maker magazine the band were on their way.
By the mid ‘80s one of the UK’s finest sax-players Snake Davis had joined the band, Mark Radcliffe gave them a half-hour Radio One
special. This led to another TV special on the TX45 show and numerous other TV features. Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin was a regular to see the band when they played at JB’s in Dudley (legendary Birmingham venue) he fi xed it for Miles and his outfit to be Ben E King’s band at the London Palladium when he was at No1 in the UK charts with Stand By Me. Ron Wood joined in the fun on this gig also.
Two tours opening for soul legend Curtis Mayfield followed and an offer from James Brown himself to do a 6-week tour (while he was
chart-topping with Living In America) was rather foolishly turned down by an agent who shall remain nameless!
After literally hundreds and hundreds of gigs playing the UK/European scene, the band split and in the mid ‘90s Miles joined a very well-established outfit who played VERY different music. Fronting the band with co-writer Greg Carmichael “Acoustic Alchemy” although not massively well-known in the UK extremely well established in the US and pretty much everywhere worldwide! Miles has spent the last 20 years touring the USA, China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, Latvia.
In this time the band have had three Grammy nominations and received the prestigious “Gibson guitars” Jazz guitarist of the year in 2002.
In 2015 Miles managed to take enough time out to put an r‘n’b album together, rediscover his roots so-tospeak. The album “10 Rockets for Ya Pocket” received a great review in Blues Matters and was album of the year on Tony Corner’s radio show.
The ‘Guardian’ newspaper once described Miles as ‘a natural frontman’ who writes great songs and always gives 100%. He has played alongside some serious luminaries but as a modest and humble fellow he has never really blown his own trumpet - guitarplaying is more his thing!
A new line-up and release are planned for 2017 as well as featuring at the Scarborough TOP SECRET Blues festival in April 2017.
Reece Hillis is a hard working 21 year old soul blues guitarist, singer and songwriter from Scotland who is rapidly gaining many new fans throughout the country both from his energetically and emotionally charged live shows and also his recently released debut recording ‘Eclectic Soul’, a solo CD containing a well-crafted collection of self-penned songs which showcase his singing, playing and songwriting talents beautifully.
Reece's love of music started at a very early age, and while most of his peers were listening to electronic pop rock and dance music, Reece found himself drawn more towards the real and gritty sounds of the original masters of blues and soul. At the age of 13 he was listening to the likes of Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and John Fogerty. With his passion for music well and truly ignited, Reece set out to discover even more artists and music styles. Through the power of the internet. He discovered a whole new world of artists such as Sam Cooke, Al Green and Wilson Pickett to name but a few.
Reece spent the rest of his teenage years listening to the music he now loved and he'd constantly sing along to the songs that were inspiring him to think about becoming a musician, until one day, totally out of the blue, he heard a knock at the door, and to his surprise he found the neighbour from the flat above, standing there with a guitar in his hand. He smiled at Reece, handed him the guitar and said “I think you'll be
Verbals: Gordon Band Visuals: Christine Moore
needing this now.” Reece took the guitar and immediately locked himself away in his bedroom, where he spent the next four years learning how to play. Through trial and error and constant practice he eventually managed to play a few chords and before too long he wrote his first song.
In 2012, at the age of 17, Reece finally plucked up the courage to have a go at playing in front of an audience, when he played at an open mic night in a small club close to his
home town. Despite being nervous as hell, he took to the stage to play his first song and to his surprise the crowd seemed to love it. The reaction he got that night gave him the confidence to take things further and before long offers to play at local clubs and bars started flooding in. To date he has played almost 600 gigs throughout the UK. https:// soundcloud.com/reecehillis, https://reecehillismusic.com/, https://reecehillismusic.com/ store/
Founding the Tony Vega band in 1997, followed by countless tours, including many throughout Europe, and prestigious awards including three wins for Best Blues along with honors for Best Male Vocalist and Best Guitarist from the Houston Press, Vega recently released his seventh album, Black Magic Box.
Named for the inspiration of Tony’s 1947 Gibson hollow-body guitar used to write and record the album, and like the greats who’ve brandished the same weapon throughout the years, Vega’s ability to conjure the instrument’s enchanting power is evident. “Funny thing is, I am, and always will be, a Fender guy,” Vega explains. “I've disliked every Gibson I had played, owned and encountered, except for this one vintage Gibson hollow-body I had tried years ago. It was amazing in every way, but beyond my grasp.”
Vega stumbled upon “that guitar’s identical twin” about a year and a half ago at Houston’s Rockin’ Robin guitar shop and asked to play it. “I have literally not put it down since. That day I took it home, and I never brought it back.”
The lo-fi, barebones, blues sound of the record is captured with immaculate care that pays homage to the classic blues recordings of the mid-twentieth century. Whereas his earlier albums were closer in spirit to the roadhouse-rock sound of groups like the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Black Magic allows him to explore various mid-century R&B styles like the jump-blues of the '40s
Chicago-born, Houston-bred, Tony Vega began playing guitar at age thirteen and by the time he was sixteen, he was playing bars as part of his older brother’s heavy metal band.
Verbals: Jodi Eisenhardt Visuals: Tracy Anne Hart
Drinking Beer; the deliberate, hard-edged Chess-style electric blues of the '50s and '60s on Little Black Dress and I'm Leaving You (a vintage Bob Reed tune). The tough, Texas-style guitar-flogging of Frisco, and even early rock and roll on the pounding LoFi Betty. The very last song, the swingin' Begin the Blues, takes it all the way back to some of the artists who inspired the album - great jazz guitarists of the 1930s and '40s like Texas-born Charlie Christian and Oklahoma native Barney Kessel.
Produced by Vega in the blues-drenched music mecca of Austin, Texas in just five
days, Vega worked with noted Austin musicians Guy Forsyth and Johnny Moeller, with his band's longtime bassist, Larry “Lownote” Johnson, graciously agreeing to slide into the executiveproducer role for the album.
Tony Vega Band has been singing the blues since 1997, stomping across the globe ever since and leaving a die-hard throng of cultivated fans in their wake. Tony Vega Band’s Black Magic Box will cast a spell that transports you to the golden age of the blues, further proving he is indeed the “blues monster” that Billy Gibbons proclaimed him to be.
Verbals: Supplied by artist Visuals: Nicole Solway
Some of my earliest memories involve being around music. In Los Angeles, where I was born, my Dad was involved in recording Dixieland Jazz musicians who had migrated to LA from New Orleans because of the work there. This would be in the early 50's. I tagged along to many recording and jam sessions as a tyke and the experience of loving music has always stayed with me.
I took up guitar years later, after the family relocated to Canada, inspired by the playing of Mike Bloomfield in the late 60’s. I played in the usual high school bands and then spent years on the road honing my chops. I settled down and began teaching guitar, and continued my own studies in jazz and classical.
After attracting the attention of one of Canada’s finest classical guitarists - Liona Boyd - I began releasing a series of selfproduced acoustic records that were a mix of Jazz Standards and originals and were very well received.
But about ten years ago, I began to get the itch to get back into playing the blues. I really honed in on the playing of Robben Ford, because he had such a jazz influence on his work and I felt that could be a direction I could go in.
In 2009, I was hired to do guitar parts for singer/ songwriter Johnny Rocca’s
CD and was able to work alongside of saxophonist Ray Manzerolle (George Benson/ Earl Klugh). In 2011 I was asked to co-lead a project with Nashville based vocalist Jaimee Paul and that was a truly exciting project. It was a blues record, where I did the arrangements and contributed two originals. The “Common Ground” CD with Jaimee and myself has been heard in 45 countries around the world!
In 2015 I was able to do my first blues CD under my own name. Entitled “Ace In The Hole” it was an even split between originals and covers
and was well received here in Canada and even got a review in issue 92 of Blues Matters!
It was a major thrill to be so recognized.
This February I’ll be playing with vocalist/ guitarist Paul Langille in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis! Looking forward to promoting my music in the States and whatever comes next!
“Common Ground” with Jaimee Paul and Tom Lockwood and “Ace In The Hole” by Tom Lockwood are available on iTunes.
Visit
AJ Fullerton is a 21 year old bluesman who recently won an unprecedented 4 awards as the best young performer, the best acoustic act, the best slide guitar and the best solo/duo winner in the 2016 Colorado Blues Society’s IBC competition.
Verbals: Darrell Sage Visuals: Scotty Kenton
AJwill be representing the state at Memphis, Tennessee’s 32nd International Blues Challenge in 2017 in their solo/duo category. His equally talented buddy, Nic Clark, will play with him during the duo event. AJ is a native of the west Colorado town of Montrose, but now lives on the Front Range in Berthoud and gigs primarily from near the Wyoming border down through Metro Denver with a few shows on the other side of the Continental Divide in or near his hometown. His
collection of guitars now includes a ’91 Seagul S6C, a Colorado - made 2014 Dobrato Resonator, a Guild Starfire and a Colorado - made 2016 Kro Dog Mahogany Cigarbox guitar given to him as an endorsement gift for his 21st birthday. AJ’s first release is a self-produced EP simply titled, AJ Fullerton, with seven original songs recorded at Green Garage Productions in his hometown.
He is a highly confident showman with an easy, often amusing banter between songs. When gigging solo or duo he accompanies himself
on a stomp box made in high school woodshop from scraps of old oak and walnut with a reversed wired speaker from an old Motorola TV used as a pickup. ‘I have made several more since, but my first one was the best one’.
‘Woodworking is my second hobby’, he says with a clever grin. AJ has a voice made for the blues with the chops to go with his bottleneck blues style of finger picking. His song, She’s So Cold, is a sure-fire hit getting plenty of airplay on area radio stations. Influences include Shakey Graves, Otha Turner, RL Burnside and all the usual suspects like the Kings and Stevie Ray. ‘My biggest influence was dad who taught me my first few chords and got me hooked on the guitar and the blues.
‘When I was an early teen my dad gave me a guitar and said, here, you need a hobby. It felt like the missing element in my life I had been looking for’. AJ, has never taken formal guitar lessons, but says, ‘I had plenty of mentors who either showed me things here and there or let me sit in with them’. They include Rob Jones, guitarist and songwriter from his hometown, Kipori Woods, a New Orleans blues man who spent some time in western Colorado, Lobo Loggins, a Texas guitar player/singer who lived in Montrose briefly and famed Colorado guitarist/ songwriter, Nick McMahill. His guitar is a satin black Epiphone Les Paul.
Check out AJ Fullerton at http://ajfullerton.com Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Booking@ ajfullerton.com
The Half Hand Hoodoo Blues Band are a four-piece based in York.
Verbals: Andrew Rawnsley Visuals: Laura Toomer
Formed in 1995 by singer/guitarist frontman Dave Smith, the band became well known on the North of England blues circuit with several residences in the City of York as well as numerous appearances at the Colne and Burnley festivals.
Introduced to the blues at an early age by his father’s Big Bill Broonzy records, Dave’s seminal moment came hearing the Acme Blues Co. at the legendary John Bull Inn in York. Acme front man Neil Dalton’s fingerpicking Chicago Blues style convinced Dave that this was the music he wanted to play. In 2012 Dave met guitarist Karl Moon at a gig and they quickly formed a friendship through mutual appreciation of great guitar playing and real blues music. Karl began playing at age 16 and after studying
music at York College quickly developed a love of blues music cutting his teeth with various blues bands around York. In 2010 he formed TC & the Moneymakers with harmonica player Tom Cocks, playing in the band for five years. The band appeared at festivals all over the UK, supporting blues greats such as Charlie Musselwhite, Billy Branch, Sugar Blue, Ian Siegal, Giles Robson. Dave also played with TC & the Moneymakers until Tom Cocks, departure in April 2016.
Half Hand Hoodoo’s rhythm section comprises of Mark Wooton on drums and Angus Milne on double bass. Mark has played with Dave for over twenty years and the two share an almost telepathic musical connection. Angus has played with the band for four years and his under-
stated bass lines are reminiscent of the great Willie Dixon. The band play a mix of different blues styles from the slide of Muddy Waters “Louisiana Blues” to the swing of Eddie “Cleanhead” Vincent “Kidney Stew Blues”. A typical set often closes with a one-chord North Mississippi Blues instrumental in open G. Audience response to this tune proves that simpler can often be better! Above all, Half Hand Hoodoo believe that blues music should be played with fire and passion: you must give more than 100% to do it justice. Dave’s vocal delivery is where this total commitment is most clearly evident. The band are currently recording for a CD to be released in time for their appearance at “The Top Secret Blues Festival” in Scarborough, March 25, 2017.
Formed in 2005 by singer and guitarist Derek Smith, Main Street Blues has been through a number of personnel changes before settling on its current line-up with Derek as the front man on vocals and guitar, Iain Hanna on keyboards, John Hay on Bass and John McAvoy on drums.
Main Street are a regular around the blues festivals in Scotland and the North of England and have progressed from supporting bands such as Caravan, The Blues Band and Wishbone Ash to headlining on its own Scottish theatre tours.
With three albums to its name and a fourth planned, the band is never happy to sit back and relax. Playing a mix of own compositions and a range of carefully selected blues tracks, the band has developed a very tight “funky” sound with influences from artists such as Warren Haynes, Walter Trout, Bill Perry and Albert Collins.
As you would expect for a band hailing from Edinburgh, Main Street are very active in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and each year play both electric and acoustic shows to sell out audiences. After one of these shows, crime writer and fan, Ian Rankin, tweeted – “Main Street Blues at the Jazz Bar. So tight you couldn’t slide a rizla between them.” Great Gig. The band has also sold out its shows at the prestigious Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival every year since 2012.
In 2015 the band decided to focus on tours around theatres and art centres.
These tours have been very successful, with many of the venues having the band back for a second & third visit within 12 months.
After their second visit to the Eden Court Theatre, Inverness the review in the local newspaper (The Press & Journal) under the heading “Simply First Class” said –‘Playing to a packed theatre, the four piece band strolled onto the stage, then proceed to blow everyone away with a show featuring blues served
with a heavy slice of funk and soul. Regular performers on the blues circuit, they are deservedly breaking out to a wider audience. I suspect the box office will be busy today with people booking to see them again.’
With the band’s popularity spreading across Scotland, they were chosen to play the main stage supporting The Darkness at the Belladrum Festival near Inverness and part of their set was televised by BBC Alba.
With a brand, new blues album out from the veteran rockers, our man Pete catches up with Stones’ keyboard ace Chuck Leavell to discuss the project, the songs and more.
Verbals: Pete Sargeant Visuals: Rick Diamond and Robb Cohen
Ibelieve British Grove Studios were used and that it’s owned by Mark Knopfler, did he drop by? I just saw him at Bill’s 80th Birthday show, playing a Danelectro at one point. I honestly don’t know if Mark came, Pete, as all of my playing that you hear on the cuts was done as overdubs in the studio in New Orleans with Don Was. Just the two of us. But I know that Eric Clapton dropped by as he is on two of the tracks, playing great.
Was the record really done in two or three days?
I think the original tracks were done in three…maybe four. All of my overdubs were done in one day at The Parlour Studio out in New Orleans. A great studio… and on an upright piano, not a grand…to make the sound more authentic, as all the track sounds are. That is one great thing about the record…the sounds certainly match the songs and the era in which they were originally done.
I have to ask this, Chuck! Did the ghost of Ian Stewart visit you at any point? I know you were mates and you sometimes stayed at his. (Laughs) Well, during my overdubs I often thought to myself…WWSP…what would Stu play? Diamond tiaras, of course. That’s what he used to call the “high tinkly bits” in the upper register of the piano. The guys used some open tunings on the guitars, part of the reason why to my ears it sounds just so authentic.
Mick Jagger is a distinctive harp player – can he be persuaded to play more harp on stage? Indeed, might future live shows draw on this album? Keith loves it when Mick plays harp, we all do. Certainly, if some of these songs work their way into live sets, he’ll be blowing on them. That is something we’d all like to happen!
Re Muddy Waters, I was lucky enough to see him with Otis Spann fi rst time around…did you see Otis perform?
No, but I certainly studied him throughout my career. I did Boots and Shoes back on my Back To The Woods record which you and I discussed of course, a tribute to blues piano players.
The second time I think the pianist with Muddy was Pinetop Perkins and if I recall you rated him? (Warmly) I got to meet
Ronnie Wood comments on the recordings: "They sound so authentic it's frightening. We didn't spend any time rehearsing them or anything. We just picked a song that suited Mick's harmonica or a guitar riff... and they worked out pretty good. ‘It was like, 'this is what the Stones do, we play blues.'” British Grove Studios are in Chiswick, West London, just a couple of miles from Ealing, Richmond, and Eel Pie Island, where the band built their reputation in the 1960s. The album, in effect, tips its hat to the blues versions they enjoyed playing before
Pinetop in Austin, Texas when the Stones played Zilker Park there a few years back. He was a sweet guy and it was a thrill to be in his presence. We traded licks a bit backstage, a real gentleman as I’m sure you found, too.
Eric Clapton was aboard for a couple of songs – if memory serves, you have played with Clapton many times before but please fi ll me in.
Oh yes, Eric was a special guest on several shows on the Steel Wheels tour. They set him up right next to me on stage, and we played Little Red Rooster. We had a nice “musical conversation” on stage…and when I got back from the tour, there was a message on my answering machine from him asking me if I could play some shows at the Royal Albert Hall. That was 1991, and I joined in and played with Eric through ’93. I did three records with him, 24 Nights, Rush (Movie
canny manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Mick Jagger and Richards in a room and instructed them to come up with some original material. Among the tracks on the new album are Little Walter's Just Your Fool, Everybody Knows About My Good Thing by Little Johnny Taylor and I Can't Quit You, originally written by Willie Dixon and made famous by Otis Rush. "This album is manifest testament to the purity of their love for making music, and the blues is, for the Stones, the fountainhead of everything they do," opines Don Was, who coproduced the new recordings.
Soundtrack) and Unplugged. In fact, the latter remains his best-selling record ever. We also did George Harrison’s Live In Japan.
From what I have heard, the Stones have, as one would expect, total respect for this material, Chess era and so on. Might a Memphis or New Orleans project be a possibility at some point? That would be up to them – suggest it when you next see Ronnie! But I will likely do a follow-up at some point on my Back To The Woods record…to give at least one or possibly more blues piano recordings. As you’ll recall, Keith guested on the last one.
Whilst we’re talking, any favourite cuts on the Havana live release? As I mentioned to you at the time, the piano was really clear on the Stones Sky News footage here when they covered the occasion. It’s difficult to say as I have yet to hear the full soundtrack…but I can tell you that it was a very special gig… certainly one for the books!
Now let’s list the blues album tracks and talk about them?
JUST YOUR FOOL
Jagger’s harp roars into this stomping cut and we are off, the guitars hitting on the changes like a vintage Chess session indeed and with that rolling piano in the mix. A great start to this set. A Buddy Johnson tune, made popular by Little Walter. Mick does great vocals and blows
some strong harp. The piano comes in on the second verse.
It’s one of those riffs like Wang Dang Doodle that it is very hard to wrap up! Listeners may know the Wolf original which was a kind of update by Chester of a 1958 number called I’m Leaving You and the live Stevie Ray Vaughan version. Just listen to Charlie smashing those cymbals as Mick’s harp puffs through the song.
PS: Hearing Howlin’ Wolf roar this out in a small club in Tolworth told me everything about the power of the blues and as you know I have put together a few tribute shows to this man.
CL: A blues giant, for sure. The bits I did were taken out of the final mix. But it’s a nice repetitive riff.
A powerful punchy intro and then the doomy vocal delivery which reminds me of the great Otis Rush. I did see Rush at the Dominion in London in the 70s and he did none of the numbers we knew him for e.g. Double Trouble, So many Roads. Jagger’s impassioned harp playing here is a highlight of the album. Little Walter tune with Chuck on Hammond.
CL: Keith suggested this one, nice slow blues and a cool tip to Little Walter. Clapton plays some strong guitar. No keys.
Magic Sam song sung at a laid-back pace with a mesh of guitars ringing over the mean riff with classic upright piano. Mick sounds
spirited and again there is a lovely harp break.
CL: Close again in style to Otis Rush…they gave me a nice short piano solo, here.
A count-in and one of the fastest tracks is in motion, harp-led. Jagger sounds fresh as a daisy over the churning, chugging guitars. You do wonder why Mick never put out his album with The Red Devils, which to this day sounds terrific, on my copy.
CL: Another Little Walter. Mick again blows nice harp and does a great vocal. Again, they left my keys off.
Authentic electric slide guitar from Clapton who was recording next door and invited in. Jagger puts the vocal over like a story as only he and Bobby Bland can do. The piano on this sounds fantastic.
PS: Little Johnny Taylor!
CL: Yes…but Z Z Hill did an equally popular version. I got to do the ‘ol eighth note chord pattern on the intro, then loosen up with some blues piano licks and then go back to the eighth pattern on the guitar solo.
Eddie Taylor song from late 1955. A stomping pace here and a spring heeled Mick gleefully singing the song as if it was just written. The electric guitars dance along against the snare. Sure sounds like Keef at @ 1:30.
CL: Fun shuff le. Keys are a bit buried in the mix and the Hammond here is Matt Clifford.
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
www.bluesmatters.com/krossborder-rekords
A Little Walter thumper with an overtone in these hands of John Lee Hooker. Again, such a great harp sound! If you like songs like Mellow Down Easy, this is your bag.
PS: Ghost of JLH on this recording, EH?
CL: Great Repetitive riff, though no keys. Nice Mick vocal and harp here, don’t you think?
A late Fifties single on Excello from Lightning Slim, a co-write by Otis Hicks and Jerry West. Pounding beat and nagging guitars, verse kicks in on the four. The similarly titled track Hoodoo Man Blues from the truly seminal Delmark album cut by harp maestro Junior Wells and guitar star Buddy Guy, playing though an organ speaker due to studio gear problems was sometimes performed by Ronnie’s late brother Art at his Eel Pie Club sessions. Ronnie often sat in.
PS: As a quick aside, I have discussed the Hoodoo Man Blues album with Buddy Guy. He cannot believe it influenced so many young musicians. I said ‘Buddy, it’s The Bible for guitar and harp interplay’ and he just says ‘Pete – you are TOO kind.’.
CL: That’s Buddy. Nice slow blues.
1957 Jimmy Reed song which you don’t often hear compared to Big Boss Man etc. Some Hammond from Matt over the hypnotic and weaving guitar figures. Maybe the best vocal here,
it’s a fine shot at the song, brush drumming. High register harp ices the cake. CL: Acoustic keys left off. Deep groove, great guitar sounds and on the vocal and harp, too.
JUST LIKE I TREAT YOU
The other side of Wolf’s I Ain’t Superstitious single in the US. This version bursts with life with authentic Chess Studios reverb and fancy guitar figures in the mix and ‘Big Eyes’ style drumming. CL: Fun up-tempo “jump” groove, and while they took some piano out, it does come through nicely in places.
Willie Dixon tune. And Otis Rush’s only hit single. There have been many versions of this song and here the tempo is steady and mean. Eric is given space to do his thing.
Jagger is a tad OTT in his singing here for whatever reason, but no matter, he has played and sung so well throughout the collection he deserves every plaudit. PS: SO, makes me think of Johnny Winter, this song… CL: Ah! Clapton does his thing. Piano shines through in spots, and I really enjoyed playing that one.
Ronnie on the new album… “It was just like the Stones in the early days when you used to hear them do I’m A King Bee and Walking The Dog. It was a complete accident that it happened. It was just on the spur of the moment, very spontaneous. We suddenly had an album in two days which it’s a real kick up the pants for you, it’s great.”
With his long-awaited debut album Cut Against The Grain due out on Mascot, our man catches up with Aaron to talk gear, touring and all things related. After a busy 2016 the teenage guitar slinger looks to be just as active in 2017…
How are doing, Aaron? Can we talk about your debut long player please? Good thanks, Glenn! Yes, that would be great
Firstly though, how is your tour with Joanne Shaw Taylor going? Really well! We’ve been out for about three weeks now and just finishing. It’s been a real adventure and fun and we get on very well. As a tour it has gone down as a good one
Oh, and how was the Wilko Johnson set of dates? We did something like six shows kind of round the UK. Again it was really cool tour for us as a band, we visited some places we had not played before, very nice venues and receptive crowds. The first proper run of dates since June, so we were raring to go. That got us fully back into it and warmed us up for the later Joanne shows run.
I recall that I fi rst saw you, even before we met at Ramblin’ Man would have been The Empire when you opened for Blackberry Smoke, on my birthday (Warmly) Oh yeah! that was a great experience obviously. They are a really nice bunch of people, not just fine players and we got on with the group really well. First tour with them, I was sixteen in 2014. I so liked their music and we do keep in contact. At that time they were looking for a support for dates here and we hadn’t anything on so we could readily do them. I was already talking to them and then they gave us the invite, which was great! Being a
huge fan of theirs, they were a huge inspiration and of course their fan following is wow! It is always an honour to go out and play with people you love and respect, like Blackberry Smoke. You pick up so much on how it all works for one thing
Let’s move on to the album, Aaron. One track we’ve heard you do at the Borderline and elsewhere is Medicine Man…
the album came together and we caught up over Skype a few times when he was in LA and we seemed to get on really well on ideas and all – I was impressed that he was keen on capturing character in the recording. It wasn’t about perfection, so if something’s slightly out of tune or the timing slows then catches up, if the vibe is there it can stay if the character and personality is in the captured sound. And that was what I
Now that’s probably the first proper recording I did, that song. That was few years ago we did it, it’s quite an old song now, I was like fourteen when I wrote it, I think it probably came from watching an action film. It was kind of comparing rock and roll lifestyles to the outlaw thing. So, first proper song I wrote that I was happy with at the time and we recorded it then changed it around a lot later. We went in for a day to complete it and I am proud of it as a starting point for my writing. And we changed it again for the album. It’s stayed with us, as a song.
One point we have in common, here – your album was produced by Fabrizio and my Dad interviewed him about his band, the Supersonic Crew also on Mascot. What was that experience like? He’s worked with some pretty big names
It was pretty cool, I was talking to a couple of producers when the idea of
was going for. I didn’t want a clean or hollow sounding record at all. There’s just be no soul to it. The whole time we were out there it was to make an honest rock ‘n’ roll record, you know?
It was how I heard it when I wrote the songs rather than a compromise. It was a great experience and we still talk now. It’s cool to have a good working and personal relationship like that, isn’t it?
Had you been to America before?
Only on holidays, when I was say 9 or 10 years old. The Disney thing, in Florida. But I hadn’t played out there, no. Professionally it was the first time. I went to LA when I was quite young, but I can’t really remember that.
Although you were busy recording, did you get to go to any music venues or gigs?
We didn’t get to play live anywhere this time, but some of our friends were out there so we caught up.
IT’S
Blackberry were playing at The Wilton. Went to NAMM obviously! So no we didn’t play but we did a lot of musical things on the trip.
Who is currently in your touring band?
I’ve got Sonny Greaves on drums (Denis Greaves’ son – GRS) and Jordan Maycock on bass. Doing a power trio
kind of thing. The album is mainly that, we did add some percussion bits here and there. Some piano, some backing vocals.
People mention the Gary Moore tinge to your song Just One Question. Was he an influence?
(Ponders) I wasn’t really listening to him at the time
that song was written. I did indeed listen to him early on. At that point I was going back and hearing Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, that era. That was like where that composition came from. When Gary started he was keen on Albert Collins and so on. So if I am tipping my hat to that Chess material, he was doing the same to his favourite predecessors. I was likely thirteen or so when I wrote that, but I think it still has a lot of soul and feeling about it, especially live.
A bit of a curveball – can you recall the fi rst album you bought that you loved? (Emphatically) It was Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pronounced. Their debut.
You are from a village up in Oxfordshire. How would you describe it, in three words? Could I do that in three words? It’s a small village. Farm, farm, house, pub, farm. An empty small village…
How do want people to respond to the album as a fi nished piece of work?
I haven’t really thought about that, Glenn. If people get it that would be very good. If it touches people in a positive way….when I was making it I wasn’t thinking about the buyers or the public, to be honest. You have to make an album that’s real to you. I think. Something to you, emotionally. If people like it, all is well but I wouldn’t want to make one that everybody likes but I hate!
Turning to gear, what are you using at the moment
for live shows? I see you with Gibsons, often Well I don’t use any pedals, I am old school and they kind of confuse me. I am using a Marshall plexi head. A Marshall cab. Really vintage! I am taking out a FireBird, a Les Paul, a Custom Jnr made by some friends JSR in Oxford.
Late in the year 2016 you are doing a tour with Federal Charm and our good friends Simo… The idea of that three-act bill really appealed to us, I suppose. We have played with Simo some three times now, so we know those guys quite well. We met Federal Charm at Ramblin’ Man, where we spoke before. It’s going to be a good tour I think. Cool venues I have been to before plus some new ones I am looking forward to playing.
Now one track of yours I have heard which I fi nd interesting in the way it’s done is called Down. Seems to have three time signatures. Yes!! I had three different parts, of different songs I guess. I just put them all together, to come up with the song. Written on the acoustic. I didn’t know whether it was good, bad, weird or whatever. I took it to the band to see what they thought. Late last year, before pre-production. It just worked really well on a couple of shows. It’s a cool blend of different stuff, Chet Atkins, classic rock.
The record’s out in January. Do you then tour it?
Well we are sorting 2017 now so yes hopefully we will get the chance to present it everywhere now it’s out.
Festivals have been a big factor in your career. Any thoughts on the best ones? Yes, Download started it off, we went for the weekend just sleeping in the back of a Transit van. They gave us a great slot and we went for it. A great vibe, great audience
Is Johnny Winter a big influence on your slide guitar sound? Not at first. But then I got into him via what he did with Muddy Waters, I suppose. Then he became a mad obsession! As a guitar player but more than that, he had such a strong character. I am always looking out for artists who can show me different styles that I can maybe absorb and draw on.
At last the debut album from the thin but lively blues-rock firebrand is available. Whilst the record has been coming together, Aaron has been touring with the likes of Wilko Johnson, Simo, Dan Patlansky, Cadillac Three. Supersonic BM’s Fabrizio Grossi produced the record. All The Right Moves opens the album with a fast tight groove. It is lyrically very strong which will no doubt help any future radio airplay. Down has tempo changes and is technically well done but it doesn’t have as much bite as the other tracks. Medicine Man was the first song that I saw the younger Keylock perform – this was when he was 16 in front of a packed O2 Shepherds Bush Empire in London opening for Southern rock stars Blackberry Smoke. Since then it has always been a live favourite. Falling Again has a clear Louisiana
feel and the electric guitar solo is very much in North Mississippi Allstars territory. Just One Question allows the listener to hear what Keylock is really capable of with an axe in his hands. An album highlight for sure. Against The Grain seems a tad too busy for me. That’s Not Me interesting production which weirdly reminds me of Elbow with the rich choir backing. Keylock does give it feeling but does it work well on what is meant to be a blues/rock album? The verdict is still out on that one for me. Try is a slower cut which showcases his versatility as a player suffers from the over repeating of the chorus. Spin The Bottle, a current stage favourite due to the ease of singing the song’s chorus. Hats off to the rhythm section on this who really help it swing. Sun’s Gonna Shine was a track I first heard live at the O2 Academy Islington and it has a real punch in a live setting and some of that is lost on the studio recording. It does grow on you though, No Matter What The Cost closes this chap’s debut with steel guitar and heartfelt lyrics. Aaron has honed his considerable skills by playing live for five years plus and there is something for everyone on this release.
GLENN SARGEANT
Playinghost to the most popular blues jam in Scandinavia for over 18 years, you see quite a bit of talent on every level (this is me being kind here). However every once in a while you get a glimpse of a spark of someone with that little extra “something” and then you get to see it emerge and blossom in an extraordinary way, like a rare bird hatching and breaking through its shell under just the right balance and conditions. This was my good fortune – to be there at the right moment in time the day Lisa Lystam decided to travel three hours on the train, along with her partner in crime, Fredrik Karlsson, to participate at my blues jam in spring of 2012. They both arrived early and took seats by the “jammers holding area” to the side of the stage at the legendary Club Stampen, the oldest jazz & blues venue in Scandinavia. I noticed them, sensed their nervous anticipation and then welcomed them both to the stage. Lisa & Fredrik, barely 20 years old and stepping into a world there was no turning back from.
Ican’t say I recall exactly which blues songs Lisa choose to sing that moment, but I can say that she did not hold back anything, yet she had a sense of control and authority, as well as a deep soul that made you look twice coming from this rather innocent looking, sweet, blue-eyed, blonde who could essentially be “any Swede” from a genetic standpoint - except she could really sing the blues…
Lisa and Fredrik used this environment and they came as often as they could, travelling from their secluded home town of Mjölby to Stockholm and just dove in and made every moment on my stage count.
Fast forward now - just four years later and Miss Lisa Lystam is on her second release, “Give You Everything” and touring regularly with her own group “The Family Band”, which also features the love of her life, Fredrik Karlsson as a core member and Matte Gustafsson guitar, Mikael Fall harmonica, Patrik Thelin drums and Johan Sund bass. They are reaching farther out, making ripples into the European Blues community
and even as we speak, getting ready to head off for the first time to Germany for a month long tour.
Well, this is kind of surreal, you and I have had hundreds and hundreds of conversations before, and here we are, now we have to “officially” have a conversation. I’m just thinking, what if we knew this three years ago? It’s funny…
What if we did know this three years ago? We could only fantasize. Let’s go back a few years. So, what’s the blues doing in a teenage girl’s head, alone in her room in Mjölby and who is getting inside there as an influence?
The blues music was something I always liked, before I came to Stockholm. I listened to Beatles and Elvis, David Lindley and Ry Cooder because my dad played it. Now when I look back and I realize what songs I enjoyed and liked the most.
I can hear that it was the bluesy songs, but I didn’t know that at the time. So
I think the rhythm… the blues rhythm, the feeling and everything, it’s been there since I was very young. I think I’ve always loved the blues music, but it took a trip to Stockholm to realize what it was and to explore it even more.
What kind of confidence did you get from playing live at all the jams around the Old Town in Stockholm? For me doing that - that decided the next step in my life with everything. Because I always loved to sing, I’ve been singing in the choir in school but I never ever had a dream to be a singer and to work with it. I think I didn’t have that dream because I thought it was impossible, like I can’t do it here, I’m from this small town… “I don’t have any contacts or anything and it’s a huge step to work with it.” But then when I came to Stockholm and stood on the stage with you guys for the first time, it felt like - NOW I really know! I want this so much I’m gonna work one hundred and ten percent to get it, because it felt so right. I don’t think a lot of people will be able to have that feeling in their life - in one night, OK this is what I want to do.
Was there a moment you knew this was what you had to do, at any cost?
I remember after the first jam we did, I went into the bathroom and I called my father, and I never call him (laughs), I never did that! I called him and I was like nine years old again and said “oh daddy I did that, and that and I played that song and everything!”, and
people were waiting outside and wanted to come into the bathroom! Maybe that was the one moment because… I felt like a kid again.
Let’s get more to the present - tell me about your concept for starting The Family Band, your group. Well, when I started, like everything I started with Fredrik, my boyfriend, we didn’t have a plan to create a band. We started as a duo and then we met Micke Fall who’s playing harmonica and he was so damn good and we became really good friends too. So then that just happened - we became a trio and I didn’t have any plans to create the band, it was more like; we met this other cool guy who played the drums, and another cool guy who played guitar and I wanted to hang out more with these guys and do fun things like travel and play. So it was more like it just happened… it wasn’t a plan, like “now I need a band”, it was more - OK I like this musician and that musician so let’s create something.
Is it “Family” because you feel so close together, that’s important to you as well?
Yeah, now it is, but when we named the band it was because we didn’t want it to be named “Blues Band” because we want to… we do more than just blues, we think. And from the beginning I didn’t even want to use my name in the name because I really wanted us to be a band. But they were like “you’ve already been around for a few years, so maybe it’s good if we keep your name”. I don’t know how “Family”
came up, but today it really fits because we’re close.
How has it changed for you now over just these few years, from the sense of wonder and spontaneous enthusiasm to now doing a “show” with a large band on the road? It’s still spontaneous… And I’m still happy and feel blessed to be able to do this. I think about that all the time. This is sick that I can travel to another country and get a little pay for it! But in the beginning, the first year… 2012, for me that was the happiest year of my life ever!
I remember it well… Yeah, because I was in the clouds all the time, everything was so new and I had so many dreams and goals and I was exploring everything. It’s still very spontaneous because it is blues music so it’s always spontaneous. But… yeah the first year was special.
Things have developed quickly and you are riding this wave, how do you see the next ten years? Bigger gigs and attention, or deeper development and focus on personal growth as an artist? Have you thought about that? Not that much actually… like I said, I had so many goals and dreams in the beginning but now I don’t have that specific goal anymore… because I’m very happy with where I am now… I do what I want and I play the music that I want with the people I want and I’m already doing the most important things right now. And of course, I hope we
can get to cool festivals, and of course it would be great to maybe go to America someday and do a tour.
That’ll happen. I hope so!
One thing I know about you, from the fi rst time I met you and we played together, you had a confidence about yourself that was already there, even if you didn’t know it yourself or that you’d like to understand the blues. So it’s reassuring to know - you know who you are in the music. That was the cool thing about the whole start-up because it felt so clear; OK this is what I really want in life, this type of music, this type of people, this type of musicians, this environment, this is why I love it. ‘Cause you know my old friends… when we all went to High School, they were out partying and going to the clubs and I never ever enjoyed that.
But then to come to an old bar and have a beer and listen to live music and talk to anyone; old people, young people, that was more my style and still is. I never go to like ah… that’s a funny difference between me and Ida, she’s always out partying with her band, they’re always out on the dance floor dancing. Me and my guys are like; OK let’s have a beer… and chat.
For the record we’re talking about Ida Bang, another great blues singer, up and coming artist, who has developed her skills in the Stockholm blues scene. You now have to admit she’s a party animal…
(Laughs) exactly, she is, more than me. Maybe I drink more beer but she’s more like a party animal.
Is there something you know now that you weren’t expecting after being thrust into a continuous music life, good or bad?
Yeah, a lot of things. It hasn’t been that many bad things at all, ‘cause I’ve been taking it… even though in some ways it’s been going fast, in another way it’s been going slow, also because I always choose my own paths. What I’ve learned by playing so much and meeting so many people is to talk to people in a way where I give them respect and they give me respect. That’s a good thing because I’m much better at maybe saying “no”… maybe tell someone, you know how it is… people are drunk and they come so close to you, right up to you. So I’m better at saying “no” and I have to say “thank you, bye!”
What do you do to keep from being distracted?
That’s a bit sad because in the beginning I had so much energy to give everyone. After a gig I could just walk out into the audience and just be there and chat with people and talk and be nice and smile all the time. But now I’m too exhausted… and you know it’s always someone drunk, one or two or maybe three men that’s gonna come up… and I don’t want to be mad at someone or yell at someone because someone is too close to me or, you know. So it’s better to go to the back stage and just thank everybody and then you have a break and not put yourself in a position where
you have to be around very drunk people that want to tell you who you’re supposed to be and what you’re gonna to do.
What is the blues to Lisa Lystam?
For me it’s… I’ve realized it since I started that it’s such a… people see it in very different ways. Some people think only the 50’s and 60’s kind of blues is the real deal and when you say you love the blues, you’re supposed to love that kind of music. For me in the beginning the blues was the old thing; the Robert Johnson style. That was real blues for me.
But now during these few years, our mission… our mission in the band. has been like, trying to really make the music wider and try to get people, all kinds of people to enjoy the music and that’s
why we didn’t want to name the band something with “blues”, you know? Because we really want people to think – it was good music.
So for me it’s the rhythm and the feeling and the attitude, because it’s cool music. It’s got attitude, you feel tough and you feel like a diva when you’re doin’ it, when you’re singing it. It’s not like pop music. And it fits me, I think… But, it’s roots, rock, country… it’s everything. You will recognize it if you just hear the rhythm, because it’s something special with that - the blues… the rhythm… And like I said when I was a kid, I knew it! I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it as a kid. So, that’s how I see the blues music.
www.lisalystam.se
www.kramerblues.com
After a health scare Shakin’ researched his roots to find out where he came from and turns it into an album!
Verbals: Alan Pearce Visuals: Graham Flack
So many of us know of Shakin’ Stevens whether it be from his huge impact on the singles charts of the 80’s or his early portrayal of Elvis in the original Elvis The Musical stage production (which also featured P.J. Proby). His enduring appeal as a rock ‘n’ roller stands the test of time for sure!
Now, thirty-one years after his last chart album, he has crashed into the charts with Echoes Of Our Times which has brought his fans out excitedly to the fore and attracted many new fans and is taking many listeners by surprise and grabbing deserved attention. We speak with the man himself Mr. Michael Barrett…
Hello Shaky, welcome to Blues Matters!
The youngest of thirteen children! Did your parents want to start their own choir? Seriously how was growing up in the company of so many siblings?
My eldest brother was 25 years older than me, so he had left home by the time I came along. Having said that, there were still 11 of us, including my parents, living in a small three-bedroom terrace. As a result, some had to sleep topto-tail in the beds, while my elder brother and I squeezed into my parents’ bedroom.
We were a very musical family, and at every gettogether there would be several of my brothers and sisters performing their favourite songs. One of the benefits of being the youngest is that you get to hear the music that your siblings grew up with, and as the older ones grew up in the 30s, 40s and 50s, I got to listen to a broad range of artists such as Jimmie Rogers, Billie Holiday, The Ink Spots, and Big Joe Turner.
Many still wonder about your stage name. I remember that it came about in school but was it because you did Elvis impressions in the playground?
I never did impressions of any artist in the playground, I just imagined being myself, and on stage, performing. The name actually came from a friend of mine, who would play air-guitar in the street, and say “Ladies and gentlemen – Shakin’ Stevens”. At the time, I thought, that’s a whacky name – but memorable – so I used it. My friend didn’t go into the music business, but loved to tell the story.
After years of travelling around the UK and Europe in a tin van, playing the circuits and the universities, I went solo and signed to Track Records. I was then chosen to play one of three stages in the career of Elvis, in the West End musical - which was award-winning, and ran for 19 months. Many well-known names came back-stage, including Carl Perkins, David Bowie and Susan George. Jack Good was the producer of the show and he clearly stated that he wasn’t looking for a “wax-work dummy” of the artist – but the was looking for someone who would excite the audience. I played the middle part of his career, the RCA period – and, for me, that was the best one. The show helped me to develop
my stage-craft and it also brought me to the attention of a major record label.
You are a long-time supporter of your ‘local’ football team Cardiff City FC, how often do you get to see them play and how do you see their chances this season for promotion or play-offs (smashing ground they have now!)?
Two of my brothers played for Ely United in the 40s, and my Dad also loved to play football. My brother Jimmy was invited to try out for Cardiff City in the 50’s, but he had a young family at the time, and so he had to keep to his ‘day job”.
Cardiff City have been at their current ground for about seven years now, and it’s a great stadium. They have had a difficult time, but they now have Neil Warnock to guide them, they’re on the up and we all believe that this will be a turning point for them.
John Peel signed you to his Dandelion record label, tell us about that period and how it came about and your hopes at that time John Peel used to come and see us when we played the London circuit and eventually signed us to his label. We then started working with Dave Edmonds, who asked us to switch to Parlophone – which we did. You have to remember that this was the same label that The Beatles were signed to, with all their success. Small wonder then that we took Dave’s advice and made an album for Parlophone. We thought we’d made it! Bring it on!
Unfortunately, Dave then switched labels for his own recording, when it was too late for us to follow and so the label lost their enthusiasm for our band. I guess we all have to learn our lessons the hard way, and in this industry, you can’t harbour regrets, or it will drive you insane.
Opening for The Rolling Stones on their Let It Bleed tour, was that just a one-off performance and how did you feel up there strutting your stuff before Mr. Jagger strutted his? We were very proud to be supporting the Stones. A few years ago, a friend, Ben Waters, asked if I would perform in a charity gig at the Ambassadors Theatre – ‘A Boogie For Stu’ – Ian Stewart, who was the co-founder of the Rolling Stones. This time I was on stage at the same time as Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman. Later, in the green room, Bill related his memory of our gig. That man has the most amazing memory and I performed with Bill and his Rhythm Kings a while later.
Over the years had you tried to break out of the mould/niche/tag/genre of being accepted only as a rock ‘n’ roller… did you feel constricted by record labels to the genre and were you a ‘victim’ of the ‘give us another hit’ syndrome? When we recorded ‘Echoes Of Our Times’ we used mandolin, banjo, harmonica, slide guitar and Dobro –instruments that I have used on stage for years. However, unless you had seen me perform ‘live’
during that time, then you wouldn’t know that. With respect, record companies just want to replay the success of the past – and they continually re-cycle the hits. The fact that these compilations continue to chart, certainly doesn’t help the artist to move forward. If you take something to them that is different, then they rub their chin and tell you that you have such a strong back-image, that it will be too difficult to introduce the new material. I think that the translation is “… and we’re quite happy recycling the back-catalogue and feeding it to the public in different ways – making money with no effort.” We couldn’t find a label with “balls”, and so we released it ourselves – and we couldn’t he happier. We’ve had a great reaction, and that’s in no small way to the brilliant team that was put together to work on the release.
In July of 2010 you overdid some gardening at your ‘home’ (?) in Windsor giving yourself a heart attack (that was originally diagnosed as
exhaustion). Prior to that you had started on a new album. Taking the sensible time to recover before embarking on your 30th anniversary tour in 2011, what did you learn about yourself in that time?
I don’t live in Windsor, and I never have. This must have come from wiki? I did have a heart attack, yes, and it was necessary to delay the 2010 tour to the following year. The healing process was probably the first time in my life where I was forced to slow down for a while, and take time out. It was also a time to take stock, and make changes in my lifestyle. I had already stopped smoking six years earlier, and following my illness, I also decided to cut out all alcohol. I don’t miss either, and feel better for it.
With some time on my hands, I started thinking about my family heritage, and the fact that I really knew so little about my ancestors. This is what eventually led to writing the tracks for the album, ‘Echoes Of Our Times’.
There has been a lot of researching and discovery
of family history and connections during the writing of the new album which is reflected lyrically. How did the discoveries you made affect the music you created to go with the stories in the songs?
I had no idea that my ancestors lived in Cornwall for hundreds of years, and worked as copper and tin miners, eventually emigrating all over the world. I was also unaware that we had Primitive Methodist Preachers in the family. I had 13 uncles and aunts – my father’s siblings – and I didn’t meet them, in fact I didn’t even know about any of them.
We weren’t just listing the names of my ancestors during this research, but we also visited the places they lived and the conditions they worked in. We found a lot of information out about many of the individuals in my family tree, and that helped us to understand the reality of their lives. As each of the stories unfolded, and the characters came to light, so they became inspiration for the songs and determined the feel of the song and the instruments that we used.
‘Echoes Of Our Times’ has given me the opportunity to publicly move on with my career, and so I do feel very liberated by it.
Because I had so much success, and a strong back image, it has been a real struggle to move on. It doesn’t help that YouTube is full of videos of me performing thirty plus years ago, and tracks
continually being posted. Having said that, the fact that the album is on our own label has allowed us to take total control of all aspects of the release, including artwork, production and marketing. That feels good!
Your ‘hits’ will never let you alone but what does it mean to you to be record of the week on Radio 2 and to be played on Paul Jones Blues show? I even heard Chris Evans saying you should be on at Glastonbury next year! This is the first time I have ever been play-listed on Radio 2 and to have my music acknowledged in this manner has been incredibly uplifting. I played the main stage at Glastonbury in 2008, and it was a great experience.
Were you at all tempted to do the new album under your own name as it is such a departure for you in style? Obviously, we talked about the most likely problems that we would encounter, when it came to getting the album listened to. Knowing that most people playlist on a name, there was – only for an instant – the thought that we might do it as a white label, but then we decided that that wouldn’t be right for us. At no time, did we even think about changing my stage name, or reverting to the name that I was born with.
From the time, we started to put our promotional team together, their enthusiasm for the album gave us a second wind and led to the doors opening to have the tracks listened to. They found the right people, who
were open-minded, and judged the album on its merit – and not on any preconceived view of the artist.
Would you like to give a message to our readers?
As well as the critical acclaim in the newspapers and magazines, there have been absolutely fantastic reviews from members of the public. They have listened without prejudice, and embraced the music. Thank you.
We wish the best for the 2017 tour and hope you will play much of the album live and will keep our fi ngers crossed for Glastonbury to call you!
ECHOES OF OUR TIMES 2016
NOW LISTEN – 2007
THE COLLECTION – 2005
HITS AND MORE – 2003
ALL THE HITS – 1993
THE EPIC YEARS – 1992
MERRY CHRISTMAS
EVERYONE – 1991
THERE’S TWO KINDS OF MUSIC..ROCK ‘N’ ROLL – 1990
A WHOLE LOTTA SHAKY – 1988
LET’S BOOGIE – 1987
LIPSTICK POWDER & PAINT – 1985
GREATEST HITS VOL.1 – 1984
THE BOP WON’T STOP – 1983
GIVE ME YOUR HEART
TONIGHT – 1982
HOT DOG – 1982
SHAKY – 1981
THIS OLE HOUSE – 1981
MARIE, MARIE – 1980
TAKE ONE – 1980
SHAKIN’ STEVENS – 1978
Tell us about your Blues heroes and what they mean to you? My blues heroes range through the decades, and some are included in my list of top ten Blues songs, below.
I have recorded the songs of Smiley Lewis, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Joe Turner and Bo Diddley, to name but a few, and I’m sure I will continue to be in uenced by the music of these great artists. There are a lot more that I haven’t even touched on here, Woody Guthrie, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson – just for starters.
Also, there are many more emerging, and who wouldn’t be excited by that prospect.
Also tell us your top ten Blues songs and why?
Choosing just 10 tracks has been the hard part, because when you take time out to think about it, there are so many more you would wish to include.
I haven’t listed the songs in any particular order, but they are tracks that form part of my heritage and have been with me through the years. Indeed, some were covers that introduced me to the genre, and some I have performed on stage in my sets.
There are tracks that I have selected for the pure emotion they evoke, and others just because I love listening to the performances of these amazing artists, who each captured something very special.
1 NINE SIMONE FEELING GOOD
2 SMILEY LEWIS I HEAR YOU KNOCKING
3 ETTA JAMES I’D RATHER GO BLIND
4 BOB DYLAN THINGS HAVE CHANGED
5 SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON ONE WAY OUT
6 THE ANIMALS HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
7 ELMORE JAMES DUST MY BROOM
8 BO DIDDLEY I CAN TELL
9 THEM BABY PLEASE DON’T GO 10JOE BONAMASSA THIS TRAIN
Liverpool’s peace loving, Peace Pirates shot to fame after being picked up by Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz who spotted their track, Dance With The Devil on YouTube and re-shared it, giving them overnight success and an instant following with over 12k views…
…They were then flown to LA to perform for Gibson, this led to them sharing the stage with many legends, such as Joe Bonamassa, Buddy Guy, and Van Morrison. Other band members include Stu Xander, acoustic guitar, Joel and Adam Goldberg on bass and drums, with Mike Gay on slide guitar, vocals, and also co-producer. Inspirational lead singer/guitarist Keith Xander was born with no right hand and was told at school that he’d never play guitar but after a skateboarding accident at 15 where his spleen was ruptured and a period of inactivity, he persevered until he mastered it and learned to play with a pick attached to his hook. This peace-loving band is most notably known for their eclectic and soulful mix of guitar led blues and have just released their highly-anticipated debut album 11:11 through V2 records.
BM: What were your earliest memories of music and was it always the blues that you were drawn to? Who influenced you?
SX: When Keith and I were kids, there was always The Mamas and the Papas, the Eagles and Motown playing. My first memory of the blues was Jerry Lee Lewis with Great Balls Of Fire. From there we researched where these white Americans got their sound from and realised it was rooted in black blues music. From there we listened to Buddy Guy and BB King.
You play guitar and lead vocals – are there any other instruments you play?
KX: I actually started playing trumpet first off and found my way around most instruments but singing with guitar is my true love.
Was that formal training you had to learn the trumpet?
It was a school suggestion as they said I wouldn't be able to play guitar. It lasted only a few weeks as I couldn't manage carrying it. Ha Ha.
Can you read music?
None of us read or use formal music techniques.
I understand your brother and yourself were seen by Henry Juszkiewicz, the CEO of Gibson Brands. What ensued from being spotted by him?
Yeah, we had a video up on YouTube and tagged Gibson. Henry had seen it and before we knew it we were being flown around visiting trade shows and playing on the Gibson stage. We got to meet some amazing and influential people along the way.
Have you played anywhere but the UK? Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Germany, Dubai, Holland, Brussels, Ireland, Norway, Spain.
Were they festivals or tours, you did in these countries? Most of the USA dates were for Gibson although we did play a number of shows around those guitar shows. The Dubai gig was a collaboration between Gibson brands and the Peace One Day Organisation for the International Day Of Peace. The gigs in Europe have all been either tours, supports or more recently our three European album launch dates in Zoom in Frankfurt, Melkweg in Amsterdam
and our sold-out hometown show at the Cavern Club. Some festivals in there too.
Do you have a favourite out of those places you've played abroad? We love playing in Europe and have had many great gigs in Germany, Holland and Belgium. The USA is of course an amazing place for a band like us to play and we loved the two times, at the request of the owner Paul Colbert and living Bleeker Street legend, Willie Nile, to play in the Bitter End in NYC.
Which was the most rewarding experience? At these times of division, it was wonderful to play for Gibson brands in Dubai for the Peace One Day Festival and work alongside Americans, Dubai locals, Dutch, German and someone from Leeds for an event that celebrates the move toward peace and unity.
How far north have you played? Probably Newcastle and Middlesbrough.
What do you have on the horizon regarding CD releases?
We have just released our album 11:11 on the 11/11/2016. There will be more singles released from the album. Although we would like people to listen to the album in its entirety to help us relay the messages we are sending.
Do you have any musical heroes, dead or alive?
SRV, Hendrix, Prince, Sonny Boy Williamson
II, Derek Trucks, Jonny Lang, Doyle Bramhall II.
What would be your dream band of players, you can choose living or dead musicians?
John Bonham on drums, Andy Fraser (Free) on bass, Steve Winwood on Hammond organ, Joe Walsh (Eagles) Guitar, Dwayne Allman on slide guitar and Steve Marriot on vocals.
Do you write the songs for the band or is it a collaborative effort? My brother and I write a lot of lyrics and ideas together, but they really come to life when we bring them to the band.
How does the Song Writing Process work for you? What comes fi rst, the song or the music?
SX: As with all guitarists, we have ideas and riffs that we have played forever and then sometimes you just get a new idea. As far as whole songs, sometimes Keith will present a whole finished song, but other times we have a riff and put it to some lyrics which we have on a shared app on our phones. Usually these lyrics will be something we are discussing or feel passionate about and we share ideas.
Do you prepare everything before taking the songs to the band or is it a collaborative process when you all meet up?
KX: The songs are usually in an arrangement which can be played by acoustic guitar and then taken to the band who add their ideas and suggestions. Mike obviously has an overview as
a producer and ensures the sound stays true to the vision.
Are there any songs that you are particularly proud of, that have a resonance for you? Dance With The Devil. This was what was heard by Gibson and helped us get to where we are. We also feel passionate about this song because it is a protest song against the wars and a message of support to the troops.
Are you seeing any shift in the demographics of your audience or is it mainly older audiences? We have always seen a wide range of people come to our gigs. What we see a lot is families coming and bringing either parents or kids. On social media our audience seems to be anyone who likes guitar music and songs with a meaning, so that’s anyone from an 18 year old Eskimo lad, to a
Is there any song writer you admire? Ray Lamontagne.
Why Ray Lamontagne as a songwriter? He stays true to the tradition of blues/country/soul music in that he creates both a soundscape and a story but never uses cliches in his lyrics.
What has been your best musical experience to date? Selling out the Cavern in Liverpool for our album launch. Just knowing everyone was there to hear it and know the songs was a very overwhelming experience.
What is your ambition for your career, or where do you see yourself 10 years from now? We hope to inspire new guitarists and blues lovers to keep discovering the roots of the blues and playing it the way it should be played.
middle aged German lady. Music is for all, unless it has been moulded by the corporate machine to reach the ‘right demographic’.
Is there anyone dead or alive you would love to meet?
Robert Johnson or John Lennon. Both people inspired us to want to inspire people.
Thanks Stu. It has been a real pleasure talking to you.
WE LOVE PLAYING IN EUROPE AND HAVE HAD MANY GREAT GIGS IN GERMANY
“This is the sort of band that gets booked by unwary festival promoters as an early evening support only to discover they’ve stolen the show by 8 pm. If you haven’t seen them yet, do. If you haven’t booked them yet, do…”
Verbals: Clive Rawlings Visuals: Søren Rønholt
We caught up with Thorbjørn Risager (pronounced Tawrbyoorn ) at Blues on the Farm earlier this year, just before his second ever performance in the UK. The first one being seven years ago at the Burnley Blues Festival. Begs the question why has it taken so long for the UK promoters to bring him back.
Here we are backstage in sunny Chichester, at Blues on the Farm just before you play in a notso-sunny field! I have interviewed you before, but via email, so it is great to meet you face to face. Are you looking forward to playing this festival with your band tonight?
Yes of course we are pretty excited to be here and playing in the UK, because it is only our second time in the UK. We were here seven years ago playing The Burnley International Blues Festival. We had great reviews last time we were here and people kept asking when are you coming back. Finally we are here!
Is this part of a tour or a one off ? No, just a single date in the UK.
So where after this?
Back to Denmark and we will come back in November 2016 and play three shows. Ilfracombe Blues, Rhythm and Rock Festival, The Boom Boom Club in Sutton and The Beaverwood Club, Chislehurst.
You are still with Ruf records and did Songs From The Road album.
Is there anything new in the pipeline?
We are planning to release a new one in January, which we are in the process of recording right now.
Where are you recording that?
Partly in a great studio in Copenhagen called Medley Studio, then we record some of the stuff in our rehearsal room.
So basically you are based in Denmark and record all of your albums there. Have you ever thought or been offered the chance of going to America to perhaps do some work there?
No not really. We have been working a little bit on it but it’s really difficult, also because of all the visa rules, but we are still working on it. But on the other hand, my opinion is that Europe to me is big enough. Since 2010 we have worked hard on conquering Germany. It has been quite successful, so now that is our main focus.
to play in, plus you can use it as the route down to other countries like Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and France.
You are probably more popular in mainland Europe than here in the UK? Definitely.
You get great reviews wherever you play, so it’s a case of getting out there and playing to audiences of different nationalities? Exactly. We had to realise that we have got to start somewhere because we have got some offers around the world. But the salary is always very low, so not possible to do all that we are asked to do.
That’s an interesting point as the Euro probably fluctuates quite a lot, but if you are in Spain it will not be so noticeable. Not done Spain, only France in Southern Europe. We haven’t done a lot in France maybe five or six shows a year.
So you have a pretty good audience as there are a lot of people into the blues there. Henrik Freischlader is from there and so basically there is a market there for your music. There is a niche for us to play our music. In Denmark there are only five and a half million people, in Germany there are eighty million. Of course Germany is also a good country to have a lot of gigs
There is a good following of the blues in France as I lived in Toulouse for ten years and the South West. I don’t know if you have played there? I can't remember exactly where we have played there.
Is the new album going to be a departure from your past albums, or are you going to stay with the proven formula?
No mums. No dads. No brothers or sisters. Not your next-door neighbour or the lady from the corner shop. No grandmas. No grandpas. Not the chap from the chip shop or the noisy lads at the back of the bus. Not your best mate. Not a single stranger. No one whatsoever. No one should face cancer alone.
Text TOGETHER to 70550 and donate £5 so we can be there for everyone who needs us.
We are trying to record a more produced album, we want to go more into the detail. Myself and the bass player do the production. It’s a thing we started on the album Too Many Roads. We produced that ourselves and we found out that is really good for us, to take it the whole way ourselves.
You have the same band with you? Yes, we are a seven-piece band here tonight and we will do everything we can to liven the place up.
Have you ever been to America?
No we did a tour in Canada a couple of years ago. Speaking of the weather it was a disaster we had two big festivals and they were open air and the weather just went crazy.
Who inspires you? Who do you look up to as an inspiration? You mean musically? I have two big heroes which are Ray Charles and B.B. King. I love soul. Ray Charles to me is just the greatest singer that ever walked the earth. I am much into singers and that’s also why I mention B.B. King because I definitely consider him the greatest blues singer ever. People always talk about his guitar playing, and of course he plays a great guitar, but to me it is his singing.
Did you know the peculiarity about B.B. King - he couldn’t play the guitar and sing at the same time? Yea!” HA HA
Anyone modern now that you like? Well I like the Tedeschi Trucks band of course, the way it is right now with the brass section.
There are 11 or 12 members who are like a family in the Tedeschi Trucks band, is that the same sort of thing you get with your band? Yea definitely, we have been together 13 years.
If anyone fell ill in the band do you have substitutes that can easily step in? Sometimes we have substitutes on the horns, but if some of the others fell ill I don’t know what we would do. If they are ill they still play the show you know. We really only use substitutes for horns.
You write a lot of your own songs, do you do the lyrics and the music or just one? I do the whole thing but of course we arrange it together. I don’t come into the rehearsal room and say you are going to play this and you are going to play that. I play the song and then we arrange it together.
So you are all switched on and you really are all in tune with each other? Yes and it is easier and easier along the way. Hopefully, I think the songs get better and better and we eventually get there. We learn every time we make a new album. We learn a lot and take it to the next level.
Your band is called The Black Tornado. Why that name? Why the singular Tornado? Well we were trying to find a name for many years.
Almost from the beginning we were like, what can we call ourselves? It is so difficult to find something and also something that is original. For Danish, in a way it is really strange when you have a typically Danish name and then something English afterwards. So we have Thorbjørn and the Tornado. Of course it makes a lot of sense to use that word as we always come with a lot of energy.
I am looking forward to seeing you play live, as I have heard your music and know what you do but haven’t seen the live version yet. I love the brass and I like this. A lot of artists are using brass these days, like Bonamassa. I use him as an example - he started out as a power trio and now he has the brass which creates a great sound and gets to the audience. Yes, you are right. It creates an atmosphere and gets people moving.
I hope you have a great evening and my last question is, what is your favourite biscuit? England is the country of biscuits, I like a Bastogne which is a dark caramel biscuit.
Kat & Co is a London-based, multi-national band, led by vocalist Kat Pearson from Los Angeles. We caught up with Kat and her Italian guitarist Francesco Accurso as they were completing Kat & Co's latest album, Blues Is The New Cool.
What is the history of Kat & Co and who is in the band now?
You're quite international. Kat: The idea of Kat & Co was born in 2008/2009 when, looking through the Grammy’s nominations, I realised the blues played a minor role at the awards. The genre somehow struggled behind and it occurred to me that something had to be done to revive it. The blues is where my roots are and that is where my delivery has always come from and where my heart is. That’s when I decided to move back to London and put the whole thing in motion.
Francesco: My involvement with Kat & Co. started in 2011; it wasn’t long before Kat asked me to co-write and produce the first album and I gladly took on the challenge. At present the band consists of Kat on vocals, myself on guitars, Federico Parodi on keys, Nicholas Owsianka on drums and Marco Marzola on bass. Considering all our nationalities, I guess we are quite an international act.
Who writes your songs?
Kat: We mainly write our own material, sometimes we do it together and other times one of us comes up with a song and brings it to the table. We generally give ourselves a lot of creative space and this seems to work.
Francesco: Covers play an important role too, it’s really hard to create your own version of a classic but it certainly helps in showcasing your style.
What are your songs about?
Francesco: We generally choose stories of ordinary
metropolitan life, focusing on those issues which best represent the blues in modern society. Every day a new drama unfolds in front of our eyes, from the old man who struggles with the loss of his lifelong partner, to the woman whose busy life interferes with her relationships. People who find refuge in drugs and quick affairs in order to escape their otherwise alienating reality. The material is out there and we try to use a combination of melancholy and humour to tell those stories
You put a lot of effort into fi lming New Spleen Blues from the album I Kat The Blues for YouTube. Tell us about the song and the making of the video. Francesco: This is our very first song and it’s an attempt to describe the anti-social aspects of social media. Nowadays people are obsessed with the idea of connecting with others, but somehow we keep our physical interaction to a minimum. We seem more interested in gaining popularity through likes and tweets than by doing things and meeting each other.
Kat: At the time, the news of a young girl found dead in her fl at, with her body consumed and melted into her sofa, really hit me. Thousands of virtual friends online, but nobody knew she was gone. And what about her close relatives, how is it possible to be socially active but just in a virtual way? It doesn’t feel real.
Francesco: The actual
video has been created by a collective of film makers directed by Federico Parodi. It is a combination of traditional and digital animation techniques, and it also features live footage of the band. Lots of effort has been put into it, from the pre-production stages with early sketches, storyboarding and character design, to the frame by frame handdrawn animation and 3D backgrounds and props. Just like in the lyrics, the video tries to question the relevance of the blues in a contemporary setting; what it is like to experience alienation in the big city, eventually looking for an unspoiled place where to connect with real people.
Is a bit over 8000 views on YouTube a disappointment?
Francesco: We always knew that without the budget for proper advertising, and without a big fan base, the video would have never circulated as much as we wanted. But artistically we are bound to certain choices, we either express our vision, with the tools at our disposal, or we don’t. This is quite a unique achievement, as there are not many animation videos in blues history, and it’s out there for people to view it, when and if they want to.
What is the next album called and when will it be out?
Francesco: The idea behind the title comes from a little joke with my kids. They kept saying that dad’s music is not cool, and so I produced something that they grew very fond of, and I called it 'Blues Is The New Cool'. At
first it was a bit controversial within the band, for obvious reasons, but in the end we decided to be bold about it and enjoy the irony behind it. Plus we love the blues and I believe it can be played, and produced, in a much more contemporary way.
The album is currently on our website at www. katandco.co.uk and it will soon be available for download on every digital retailer worldwide.
of dobros, pianos, Hammonds, cigar box guitars etc…
How important was it to record the project in hi-res? Are expensive studios needed now that recording gear has become so much more affordable?
Francesco: CDs were first introduced in 1982 and audio quality has only degraded since, with the introduction of MP3s and the need for music portability. Now
abroad. The strings in Nobody Dies for Love, for example, were recorded in Brazil at Blues Space Studios; my arrangements were performed by a beautiful quartet from the Sao Paulo Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded by Carlos Sander. And even more important was to choose the right man to mix, and especially master, the album. I can’t stress enough how important is the mastering process - it’s what gives the final product its sound - and once again my choice fell on Anthony Lim, whose expertise and musical insight helped me deliver our best album to date.
What makes your sound more contemporary?
Francesco: As a producer, I constantly question the direction my work is taking. How far I can go to push the boundaries of the genre, for example, without alienating our audience, and what elements are perceived as dated, or not contemporary, by the average listener.
Undoubtedly mainstream music tends to be focused more on the melody and the beat, as opposed to solos and complicated interplay, and every sound is sculpted and shaped to fit a sonic purpose. With that in mind, we worked hard on establishing solid and simple urban grooves and kept the focus of the arrangements on the rhythm section. We then used a lot of instruments from the blues tradition to retain the sound of the genre and we recorded everything in high-resolution, to faithfully capture all the sonic colours
technology and new digital formats, like DSD, FLAC and the more recent MQA, give us the opportunity to finally hear the music how it was originally recorded, and I wouldn’t like to offer anything less to our listeners. But just like hi-res gives us more clarity and definition, it also reveals the limitations of the gear we use. Contrary to what one might think, there is a huge difference between microphones, preamps, converters and the rest of the tools needed to achieve an industry-standard recording. Equally important is to choose the right space for each instrument, whereas a guitar can be tracked practically anywhere, drums and strings need big spaces and great acoustics.
The latest Kat & Co. album required months of preparation. I had to carefully select gear, choose recording spaces and sometimes source studios and musicians
What does bigger production mean?
Francesco: The traditional way of recording blues and jazz, consists in putting the musicians in a room and catching the best possible representation of their live performance. This preserves the freshness and intuitive elements of improvisation and interplay, while containing studio costs. Bigger productions tend to use the studio more as a creative tool, and the producer usually has a much bigger influence on the shaping of the final product. Songs are often recorded and re-arranged several times before the final takes are selected, and great care is taken in polishing the final masters.
Francesco: In my experience, the really young are generally prone to follow mainstream trends and the blues hasn’t seen the light of the charts
THE BLUES IS WHERE MY ROOTS ARE AND THAT IS WHERE MY DELIVERY HAS ALWAYS COME FROM AND WHERE MY HEART IS.
for years. I know that virtuosos like Bonamassa are gaining consensus, but we are still far from the time when Clapton was filling up stadiums around the world, and guitar music was pulling crowds of all ages. In my opinion the blues needs to be deconstructed and rebuilt with a slightly different shape, form and sound, and then relaunched. That would create both an interest in the new and the old, and hopefully people will go searching for the roots again. We saw that happening in the 60s, 70s and
80s, but lately the interest in re-styling the genre has failed to take shape, and I am interested in addressing this gap in the market.
How are you connecting with the young other than through music?
Francesco: The obvious answer to that is social media, but the nature of the content posted online needs to specifically target each age group. I also contacted a couple of universities, with the view of organising talks with the students and a few performances.
Do you play in Europe?
Kat: We have been visiting Spain for a couple of years now, and we have an agent in France who is consistently giving us work. We have also been offered work in Italy and the Netherlands and we are working on getting there in 2017.
Where does your music gets the best reception?
Francesco: Our performances are generally well received everywhere, and we noticed a great number of musicians showing up at our concerts in the UK, but it’s probably
Continental Europe where the band gets the greatest public response.
How much thought do you put into the look of the band?
Francesco: The imagery of the blues is timeless and never really lost its appeal. Suits, hats, long dresses and feathers are common in its tradition and we like to integrate them in our look.
Kat: This is the entertainment industry; people don’t pay for a ticket to see you wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and we work real hard to give them a good show.
How can people discover your music and fi nd out about upcoming events?
Kat: We try to be very active online and use those sites which seem to be more
popular today. YouTube, Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all great apps which help us connect to our listeners. We also rely on radio and blogs to raise awareness about the band, and the DJs of the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association in particular, are tremendously supportive of our work.
Francesco: Our website is also constantly updated and I invite people to sign up to our mailing list in order to receive news about releases and upcoming events.
And fi nally, what are your influences and who would you like to influence?
Kat: Tina Turner, Diana Ross and Etta James spring to mind but also Bettye LaVette for her incredible story of endurance and strength.
Francesco: In my case, they are way too many to mention, I just hope our work will encourage others to experiment more with the blues; it is direct, straight to the point and extremely sexy, and I believe it has a lot more to say.
Read more about Kat & Co's music at www.katandco. co.uk and you can see them and their strong and engaging stage shows around the UK and beyond in 2017.
Blues in South America? Gipsy-jazz? Guitarist Gonzalo Bergara has a new blues album out. He gave Norman Darwen the lowdown
What were your earliest musical experiences?
Well, I was born in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires on September 9th, 1980. When my dad was around our house, until I was six years old, he played piano his whole life, to a pretty high level, but he never pursued it professionally. He loved music and besides the piano, he had a drum set, and a guitar. My first encounter with music was watching him play the piano and then me sitting on the piano stool and imitating his moves, just striking all the keys I could reach, I imagine. Some of the first CDs I got when I was a little bit older, around ten years old, were The Beatles and AC/DC. How did I begin playing guitar? I was eleven when I watched, by mistake, a Guns N’ Roses video clip. It was a song called Estranged. Slash, the guitar player, does a lot of sound effects with just the guitar on this track, and those sounds really captured my attention. Six months later my mom was able to give me a guitar as a present.
Who were your earliest influences, and what do you think they taught you?
My earliest influences were a lot of song writers, more than actual guitar players, I have always preferred the music in a general sense rather than the guitar itself. Of course, today the guitar is the language I speak best in music, but I still think that what has made me the guitar player I am today was the melody in the music, regardless of the guitar in it. When I started
actually studying the guitar, the first people I imitated were BB King, Jimmie and Stevie Vaughan, Freddie King, Albert King and two Argentinian guitarists named Oscar Aleman and Pappo. I have learned everything I know about music from music. My constant listening to them made me a better guitar player day by day, in the sense of maturity, tone, choice of notes, technique and sound. They have taught me everything.
How did you begin playing guitar professionally? We played a party once when I turned 16 years old, just for friends and family, at a theatre in the city of Buenos Aires. There was a television producer in the audience that we didn’t know. He approached us after the show and mentioned that he didn’t like our singer and if we didn’t have him, he would be interested in playing with us. It turns out we didn’t like our singer either, so that was easy. The next thing we knew, we were working almost weekly in a town where it is very hard to work weekly with music.
When did you fi rst hear the blues, and what was it? When I was twelve years old, I had another friend at school who was starting to play; it turns out his dad was a professional musician who hosted jams at his house that lasted all weekend. Everybody slept there, ate there, drank and partied, and they were great gatherings. My friend invited me there once because he knew I played, and when his dad heard me, and saw
that I knew all The Beatles and Rolling Stones songs he wouldn’t let me go and they brought me there every weekend for the entire year. You have to think that I was twelve years old, jamming with all these people in their forties, all night, and we just ate candy while they drank ‘til they fell on their beds. On Sundays, after the Friday and Saturdays like that, there was a chill moment where somebody would bring a VHS tape and we'd watch it all together to bring the party down a bit, I guess. One of those tapes one day was Stevie Ray Vaughan Live at The El Mocambo. My life was never the same. That was my main door into the blues.
You have become known as a gipsy jazz player. Do you feel that there are any links between gipsy jazz and the blues?
I feel the blues is everywhere - our tango in Argentina is your blues. Of course, blues is also a musical progression, 1- 4- 5 etc. but mainly the blues is a way to play music. The blues is the feel you can put into anything you play. Like all the jazz players we love, Django Reinhardt had the blues in his playing. The gut, the emotion. I hope the links between bues and all music will continue to grow.
BB King used to name Django Reinhardt as an influence - what would you say BB took from him?
I have heard both enough to tell you there are no actual phrases that BB took from Django. Their similarity, something that BB might have heard instantly in Django,
is their musicality. I have never heard either of them play a phrase that is not a hundred percent pure music, a hundred percent pure feel.
You played with John Jorgenson – do you have any particular memories of him?
I first heard John Jorgenson in a guitar trio called The Hellecasters. Very impressive stuff.
John was my first “big school” I could say, and not just for music. In the three years I was with him, I learned about being a professional, I learned about how to put a show together, I learned about travelling, composing, sound, band mates and being a band leader, about touring, and about booking shows. I don’t think there is an area in my life around music that he hasn’t indirectly touched with his knowledge.
Who would you say are your main blues influences and what do you particularly like about each?
Today I am very moved by the tunes and vocals of Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James and Jimmy Reed. My guitar heroes we know, of course: the three Kings, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy. Today I love listening to Jimmie Vaughan, Johnny Guitar Watson and Little Charlie Baty. I have stolen phrases from all of them and I still do today.
Can you talk about the Little Charlie Baty connection and how he came to write the liner notes for your new album?
Little Charlie and the Nightcats was a very important band in my life. I first saw a live video when I was about 18 years old. It was the first time I had heard somebody playing with more of a jazz background but still with all the fire of a blues player. It was another one of those moments that change something drastically in you. I saved money and for the first time I got a bigger, jazzier guitar, and I started learning all of Little Charlie's phrases. When I first arrived in Los Angeles, I met some musicians and we decided to do a demo together to see about getting some gigs. We recorded five songs, I believe, and one of them was very, very inspired by one of Charlie's songs, and I played with his phrases and style. When he came to town, I went to see him and really without knowing him, I just gave them the CD, saying that he was a big influence to me, and could he maybe check it out some time. I think it was two weeks later when I received an email from him telling me how impressed he was and how much he had liked the tune. Probably one of the greatest surprise moments in my life! Since he liked it so much, I asked him to name the tune, which he ended up doing – it is “Whoosh” - and eventually he became a big Django Reinhart fan and we started communicating more often. I am happy to call him my friend today. He has been a giant inspiration on my album.
And of course the album is Zalo’s Blues – how did it come about?
Me and this trio have been together for twenty years now. I left Argentina and since then we have stopped playing together, but every once in a while we would gather together and play again. This is a celebration for us, of our friendship and the music we have done together. All of the influences, the compositions and the colours we love are on this album, from A to Z.
The only cover on the album is Jimmy Reed's You Don’t Have To Go - why did you pick that particular song? That is a tune that I have always loved, we always covered Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, or Howlin’ Wolf stuff. I have always just liked their songs better. We picked this one because I love the melody he does with the vocal, and I don’t seem to hear it very much. It is a classic that everybody knows, but yet it is not the tune you hear at every jam session.
You had not sung on record before - how daunting was it?
I love singing. I have been singing since I got my first guitar at eleven years old, so even though I’m no stranger to it, I have always preferred instrumental music. Even today, I listen mainly to classical music or instrumental jazz. The record was done all live, the vocals I did on top, and I can tell you that for some of those songs, I went in day after day after day. I am not gifted with a deep or loud voice, so, it’s always a bit of work for me, but I am able to find the expression and hopefully be convincing when I am heard.
Have you thought at all about doing an acoustic blues album?
Never have. We have thought about doing a more traditional blues album, maybe along the lines of what I have mentioned before - only Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf tunes, but no, I have not thought about using any different instrumentation for the blues just yet.
How popular is the blues in South America? Is there a blues scene as such?
I can tell you that in Argentina there is a very healthy blues scene. We have
a festival every year, and at different times, different people actually bring blues people from America and produce their own shows. It is small enough that we all know each other, but very, very big for being the blues in Argentina. There are radio shows devoted to it, clubs devoted to it, societies, you have it all here. Argentina loves the blues.
What can we expect from you in the future? More blues maybe?
I love the sounds of my trio, whether it is blues or a little more tune oriented like Ines
or Singing My Song from the album, it is going to be something with these colours. We are always looking to try and master a cover as well; we've been working on Howlin’ Wolf's Killing Floor for a while now, trying to master this blues, not too rocky, with a traditional, yet modern, sound.
Is there anything else you want to say?
Yes – don’t forget Mariano D’Andrea on bass and Maximiliano Maki Bergara on drums. Thanks!
Capturing a series of red-hot shows by Z Z Top all over the world, the Texas trio prepare to release a new live album. Pete catches up with the blues-rock wizard to talk songs, stages and everything else.
Verbals: Pete Sargeant Visuals: Ross Halfin
It’s Pete from BM, Billy. Yeah!! I’ve been looking forward to talkin’ to ya…it’s about time!
Congratulations on bringing out this live album…but before anything else I must mention Bill Ham. Oh, yeah he passed away recently, and we’re sorry to see the guy go.
Looking at the tracks listed here for the release, you have the obvious problem of having so much material to draw from. These recordings though are from all over the place, the NY version of Got Me Under Pressure, is that a set-starter?
(Warmly) Well, Pete – the set is anybody’s guess! I think one important aspect of what is going to be heard in this collection here is that we had the luxury of sifting through quite a large number of recordings and live captures. So when we started out we were going to just pick a night and put out the set from that night and just run it, BUT we kept finding these errant trips to the Bahamas, finding that, gee whiz, there’s an even nicer version to select from, so, that extended the search. Anyway, we did have a number of recordings to work from.
Yes, to get to choose what we all feel is the superior version to use and I have to hand it to the engineers. They took all these bits and pieces and made them sound fine and clear and very ‘live’.
And so they managed to create a very pleasant listening experience out of it all. If you turn it up loud enough it’s like you are there, with us in the auditoriums.
Like you, I am mainly a guitar player and I HAVE to play the room, like ride the horse you’re given. I did a solo gig last year and when I played the first chord I dumped the six songs I had and substituted others as the room had a certain vibrancy. (Emphatically) Absolutely! that is something you just HAVE to do…you must be a seasoned player, cos yes you do have to forget what happened the night before, the room or space you now have now is your canvas and that factor must keep you on your toes.
What Carlos does is wander round the stage at sound check till he fi nds the sweet spot for most sustain, then marks it.. (Chuckles) Yeah that’s where he stays! Ha ha…. and he knows what he’s doing, after all!
I was particularly pleased to see Pin Cushion on the record, In Berlin –maybe a song that doesn’t get played enough? Yeah, now what happened there was that we were playing it live then we switched companies and for some reason it slipped away, but it always was a band favourite and we found ourselves coming back to it for concerts. The fi nal discussions on the
tracks to include was kinda interesting, I have to say.
I like cuts like I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide for the reason that the tempos vary within the song, it couldn’t be a click-track job, in fact if a young muso asks about ZZ Top I play them that and they say ‘Can you do that??’ (Laughs) Now! That one is a longstanding favourite with us and goes pretty far back…you’re spot on as the slowing down does make it very different-sounding, the ebb and flow timewise that you note. Round about ’83 we learned the value of ‘good time’ – it became an obsession. A three-minute song is not that. If you slow it down or speed it up, it becomes something different, with its own impact. But we took on the arduous task of learning to play in proper time. The challenge of taking your place on the live stage as you know is not to get too excited, not to let things run away and take you along. It demands that grip that prevents you getting too much caught up in the moment. Cos next thing you know, you’re playing at breakneck speed which sometimes…it can kill the groove, y’know?
Indeed – the other track that appeals to me as a player on use of time is the great Cheap Sunglasses as that is polyrhythmic and it sounds as though you are playing across time. (Sighs) True – it’s another good example. The thing for us to avoid is double time as that can cause havoc!
How about Master of Sparks? It’s not here but I like it.
Oh Gosh… we haven’t done that one in a while. It’s a quite a mouthful to deliver, the lyrics go on and on. Believe it or not, the original track was pared down from a nineminute version! The story went on and on and it was a tad stretched. Hey talking of double-time there, way back there’s Precious & Grease, another oddball tune that would make its way once in a while, the ZZ Top nightly set list has a couple of blank spaces in the middle and everyone is given a special turn at calling out their own favourite – which I think for a live play – and you may agree – it will keep you on your toes. It’s preferable to settling into the same songs, same order every night – “ OK – you pull one out of the hat”… you better have your thinking cap on because going back now over very early records, it gets to be interesting! The first album yeah! what key?
Master of Sparks I always thought of as your Dylan moment. Well as close as WE could get, I suppose that would be very game, yes we found ourselves kinda lacking in the Dylan department overall and chose Howlin’ Wolf Alley.
You couldn’t leave off
Are you ever tempted to speed those up because of the cool groove? I guess you couldn’t, they have to pump their way out? For this release, the version you hear, we very strictly adhered to the original
timing as a courtesy to our guest James Harman. He was in town and we had the pleasure of hanging out beforehand and told him we’d play it straight like the record so his harp could cruise in on it. He just said he’d fall in.
Well he’s like Kim Wilson for that, isn’t he? Yeah! I ran into Kim a few nights ago at Notodden, up in Norway at a festival, there’s a few guys like him that can handle the harp that way, like Little Walter used to.
Have you heard the Phish live version of Waiting? it’s covered in piano, really good? Ah! somebody turned us onto that a while back, it’s actually not a bad version, I agree.
There’s a touch of Johnny Johnson that guy draws upon?
(Explodes) Yeah!!!! Man, what we wouldn’t give to have Johnny around, still. He was so much the backbone of so many recordings. The story goes that, when Chuck Berry stepped into the studio, it was Johnny’s established band that got it all together, his orchestra. So all Berry had to do was fall into it and rock….
How do you get on with Jeff Beck?
Famously, that guy can turn the guitar inside out as we all know. I’ll be with him tomorrow night, actually – we are performing in Los Angeles, Hollywood Bowl. You’ll see he’s on our record, on Rough Boy.
Yes and the Ernie Ford tune.
Sixteen Tons! He’s a guy we love to play with.
Here’s a question from Caro – ‘Are you continuing to appear in Bones?’ Yes, if the series continues and they go with the character it is odds on, let’s say.
One from Leigh – ‘Is it true you use .008 gauge strings?’ Yes, following B B King’s admonition to me to make things a little easier on myself. ‘Don’t work so hard!’ We are starting to develop a .007 along with our friend Jimmy Dunlop, super-light!
One from our Glenn – ‘Do you still have those furry guitars that spin round?’ Tell him yes and you gotta remember to lean well back when they go! Now I have to head to the airport, Pete and it’s been really great to talk music with you.
ZZ TOP LIVE – GREATEST HITS FROM AROUND THE WORLD – 2016
LA FUTURA – 2012
MESCALERO – 2003
XXX – 1999
RHYTHMEEN – 1996
ANTENNA – 1994
RECYCLER – 1990
AFTERBURNER – 1985
ELIMINATOR – 1983
EL LOCO – 1981
DEGUELLO – 1979
TEJAS – 1976
FANDANGO – 1975
TRES HOMBRES – 1973
RIO GRANDE MUD – 1972
IST ALBUM – 1971
Spencer Mackenzie is your average Ridgeway-Crystal Beach high school teenager sporting a recent G-2 driver’s license, loves his mom’s spaghetti, has a strong liking for soup and eating steak at high-end restaurants with his parents. Other than that he gigs regularly throughout the Toronto region in clubs and at festivals, has an eight song CD, plays a mean Strat, sings like Caruso, won at the IBC for the youth showcase category in 2016 and will compete with his band at the 2017 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Well okay, maybe Spencer is not so average after all since he also likes his vegetables..
Verbals: Darrell Sage Visuals: Chris McCooey
Thanks for this second attempt at an interview. My fault for being old and in the way. No problem. Anytime.
Where do you call home?
It’s called Ridgeway, but a lot of people don’t know where that is, so Fort Erie? Which is a border town. And if you don’t know that, then it’s Niagara Falls, Ontario. I’m like forty minutes from Niagara.
So, what time did you get out of class today? Maybe two hours ago.
What grade are you in now? Grade 11, I have one more year.
Did you get a car to go with your new driver’s license? No, not yet. Just drive around in my parents' car.
This has been quite a progression for you. You released a first CD, Infected With The Blues and I noticed today that on Canada’s Roots Music Reports that it’s at number 23 up from 49. Yeah, that’s great. It’s a real honor.
And you have been receiving some really great reviews. There was La Hora Del Blues from Barcelona, Australia’s Rock Magazine, and even from Blues Matters in issue 92.
All very well deserved. Yeah. Thank you very much.
You’ve been gigging a lot, mostly festivals like the Kitchener Blues Festival. Talk a little bit about that one.
Kitchener was one of the, if not the, best festival this year. It was right in downtown Kitchener. They close off the street and a few other places. I got the spot because I won the youth competition with the Grand River Blues Society. I was very thankful for that. Kitchener was very posh and I got my own trailer. It was a pretty big deal and great to play.
Tell me about the Grand River Blues Society competition. They do it every year and there were a few other entrants and it just so happened that I won it. I got to meet a few people which expanded on my career, like Bruce Hall the President of the Grand River Blues Society and made contact with local bar owners, like from Warmington’s and Bobby O’Brien’s.
Also in September you played the main stage at The West Coast Blues Festival. That was another great festival with David Gogo, who closed the night. They had Smoke Wagon Blues Band and others like The Water Street Blues Band. The accommodations were really great and another one where they close down the street and set up a huge stage in the local park. It’s pretty cool.
I GOT THE BLUES RUNNING THROUGH MY VEINS, PEOPLE SAY I’M TOO YOUNG, THAT’S A SHAME
Tell me about Blues on the Rideau.
I played that in late September. That was a really good gig at the Cove Inn, a really small place in Westport that’s just outside of Kingston in Ottawa. It’s an amazing venue and such a small town, but once a month they have live music and pack the place with local people. I got to stay in their hotel at the Cove which is really nice. That was one of the highlights of this year too.
You went to the Blues Camp in Chicago also. I got money to go to a camp of my choosing from blues organizations in Canada. I picked the one in Chicago because it was more focused on blues. I didn’t get to play a lot of venues there because I had to be 21, but I got to play The Hard Rock and at a private event and at Reggie’s Rock Club.
You also won the Toronto Blues Society’s Talent Search. Yeah, that was in July. It included a day at Phase One Studio here in Toronto, a thousand dollars to split between the band and some photo shoots, and to play some festivals like the Southside Shuff le and a chance to play The Summit in Toronto. And now they are sending me to Memphis to compete at the International Blues Challenge. Last year I won at the Youth Showcase finale there and this year I get to compete with my band.
The accolade that impressed me most was from the Niagara
Music Awards where you were nominated for the best bar band. Yeah well, I don’t play a lot of bars since I’m underage.
Let’s talk a little bit about your album. What really impressed me was the maturity of your three original songs. Infected With The Blues, which is the title track and really says a lot about your age and what the blues mean to you. How were you introduced to the blues and why did it stick? It’s a long story. I started playing guitar at 5. A little before that there would be music at the house. Dad would play music all the time, not just blues, but the Beatles and Rolling Stones. So, when I picked up the guitar I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do and it wasn’t until I got really serious when one of my mentors had me listen to some of the blues legends. I kind of remembered them from when I was five and six years old, so now when I’m playing old school music at such a young age people say, “Oh you’re too young because you don’t feel the thing”. But the blues is really about feeling it through the music. You don’t really have to get it all through the lyrics, but if you really feel it then it doesn’t really matter what you’re singing about or how old you are.
The lyrics in Goodbye Lucille are the best musical tribute to BB King that I’ve heard to date. To me, it’s as if BB is on his death bed and lamenting that he will miss most his guitar. Thank you. Well me and my
co-writer, my dad, he woke me up on a Friday morning and said that BB King was gone. I said that’s not right and I was kinda upset. The album was coming along and I was trying to write original songs. I was thinking and thinking for days on how to write a song about BB King and we knew that people were going to write songs about him. So, we focused on his guitar which is really significant and not just a song about him, but the love affair about him and his guitar. We wanted to differ from other BB King songs.
Your song, Devil Under Her Skin isn’t your typical teenage angst song about a girlfriend that dumped you or some such thing. The lyrics and melody are spot on and quite mature. Well, it was a song that we had for a long time, much before the album was even thought about. It’s a song about staying away from temptation. A song with average blues meaning, but without a regular blues progression. It’s a one four without the five. Just a tiny bit different. The slide work was done by a great friend of mine, Brant Parker, an amazing mentor. Funny story - we actually thought it would be one of the underdogs on the album until we got the background singers, then all the elements came together and it ended up sounding like one of the best songs.
I’m curious about why you picked certain cover songs like Mess Around to add to the album. That’s an old Ray Charles tune from
the 60’s written for him by Ahmet Ertegun the then president of ah, umm… Atlantic Records. I’m a big Ray Charles fan and it’s one of my favorite songs. We needed like a really fast song. It’s pretty much my first if not second or third favorite song of his. It’s still a blues formation, but really R&B with the piano and the up tempo.
You included Memphis Minnie’s, Kissing In The Dark and very apropos for a teenager. First time I’ve heard a cover of it. What’s the story behind that one? Another long story. I had a local event for a cable company near Hamilton that we had to do a royalty free public
domain song for. My parents suggested the song. At first I was kind of not sure, but once I played it with the band I really enjoyed it. But once we actually got to the venue we didn’t end up playing the song. So, when we were looking for songs for the album I didn’t want to do a standard cover that everybody knows. People know Memphis Minnie, but not too many have ever covered Kissing In The Dark.
And then you did Jumpin’ From Six To Six by Colin James. Did your parents help you pick some of these cover songs? Yeah, that’s a swingin’ one too. No, not really other than Kissing In The Dark. We have similar tastes in music.
The last number on the album is Dylan’s, All Along the Watch Tower and from that I’m assuming you are a Jimi Hendrix fan. I really like the addition of the chick backup singers. They helped make it much more than a cover of a cover song. Yeah, I’m a big Jimi Hendrix fan.
What do you listen to when you’re just kicking back, chilling out or decompressing?
I like to always change it up to musicians that I listen to. I listen to a lot of Robert Cray, Joe Bonamassa, Johnny Lang. Some female vocalists like Etta James and Aretha Franklin. I
listen to a lot of guys that I’ve listened to forever like Stevie Ray and all the Kings. I could go on and on.
Do you have any college plans after graduation next year? Well, I would like to go to college, but I have an apprenticeship thing going with the teachers that I have now. But I would like to go to music school and learn a higher standard of music to keep progressing. So really after school and depending on where I am musically I would like to go to college.
You really need a backup plan. Music is a really iff y business. One is either going to make it
or have a terminal case of the get-by’s. And you mentioned teachers. Want to give them a shout out? My guitar technique and vocal teacher is Elton Lammie. And also for guitar, John Navarroli. And there’s Brant Parker who I really need to mention. I don’t take lessons from him, but when I fi rst came into the blues scene he kind of picked me up, took me under his wing and introduced me to all these guys. So it escalated from him and kinda like a tree it just went branch to branch to branch. So it’s pretty cool.
Well Spencer, I appreciate this second opportunity to talk with you and your
mother’s help in hooking us up. I can hear her in the background helping you now and then. It’s been great chatting and I wish you the absolute best. Ahh, thank you very much. It’s been my pleasure.
Spencer MacKenzie can be found at: www.spencermackenzie.ca
now.
OUR MISSION
Spencer's debut Album Infected with the Blues is available
To preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form.
Red Lick Records, PO Box 55, Cardiff CF11 1JT sales@redlick.com www.redlick.com
08 JOHN HENEGHAN & HIS HEN-PECKED HUSBANDS EVER FELT THE PAIN? East River CD
09 LURRIE BELL CAN’T SHAKE THIS FEELING Delmark CD
10 WEST COAST JAZZ 2MILESTONES OF LEGENDS Documents 10CD
11 PERCY MAYFIELD LOST LOVE – THE SINGLES As & Bs 1947-1962 Jasmine 2CD
12 JAMES MONTGOMERY JAMES MONTGOMERY BAND Cleopatra CD
13 RAY CHARLES LIVE AT NEWPORT 1960 Fremeaux 2CD
14 JOE BONAMASSA LIVE AT THE GREEK THEATRE Provogue CD
15 FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS STRONG LIKE THAT Severn CD
16 SWANNEE QUINTET THE COMPLETE NASHBORO RELEASES 1951-62 Acrobat 2CD
17 POPA CHUBBY THE CATFISH Ear CD
18 BACKTRACK BLUES BAND WAY BACK HOME Harpo CD
19 ALI MAAS & MICKY MOODY BLACK & CHROME Armadillo CD
20 SANDY DENNY FIVE CLASSIC ALBUMS Universal 5CD
JIGSAW MUSIC LTD.
Steal is the most poignant and progressive album to date from multiinstrumentalists Wille and the Bandits; recorded at The Grange, Norfolk in analog. WATB comprise of lead vocalist and guitars Wille Edwards, bassist extraordinaire, Matt Brooks and innovative percussionist Andy Naumann; with Deep Purple’s Don Airey providing Hammond & Keys on tracks 1,3 & 9. This album really captures the raw, emotive, live sound of WATB, it’s fantastically powerful, and their sound is heavy, blues, roots and rock. The opener, Miles Away is an enjoyable feel good blues/rock number. Scared Of The Sun, ‘got nowhere to run’ has falsetto harmonies, keys, and big dynamics which feature throughout the album. Atoned leans towards psychedelic rock/ blues, ‘we bleed countries, we bleed them dry, we’re
locked in the system’, this track preserves that 70’s feel and traditional analog sound while also holding the modern sound of bands such as Royal Blood. Crossfire Memories is big and spacy and has those deep, passionate raspy vocals of Wille’s that we love. Next up is 1970 with a happy feel and repetitive lyrics, ‘got me dreaming of a good time, love and peace,’ a real psychedelic classic rock tune. The album is very much in the vein of 70’s rock bands such as Cream. Overall, Steal cannot be pigeon-holed into any genre, it has a strong political message for us all, its instrumentality brilliant, unique and deserves a listen, WATB are a must see live act!
MAIRI MACLENNANCLIFF STEVENS
GRASS WON'T GROW
INDEPENDENT/CARGO RECORDS
This is my first time of listening to Canadian Cliff Stevens and what a pleasure it is from the man from Montreal, clear precise lyrics that do tell a blues tale in every song, allied to awesome guitar playing! I am entranced by the all-round performance of Stevens but equally enthusiastic towards the support he's getting from Bassist Alec McElcheran, Sam Harrison on drums and with a special mention to the keyboard work of Eric Sauve. These are all consummate musicians and that quality oozes out of every track on this album. Notwithstanding a physical resemblance to Eric Clapton, Stevens is every inch a performer
NUGENE RECORDS
This collection is a showcase of the 25 years of professional touring
accomplished by Ian Siegal. Along with the three CDs covering 38 songs, there is a wonderful 25-page lyrics booklet with
in the same mould. This is praise indeed, and justified with this diamond compact disc. I'm not known for going overboard in terms of praise when I've just heard someone for the first time, but this man is totally awesome and worthy of such praise. It was surprising to me at any rate, to find that this was only his second album despite have played for decades. His life story goes in some way to explaining this dichotomy, but now having cleared his lifestyle, the quality of his writing, singing and guitar playing is a tribute to a long apprenticeship in blues/ rock. The title track, Grass Won't Grow is a perfect specimen of this all-round ability and for me was the track of the album. Though, they are all very pleasing in their own way, and make it an album to listen to again and again. Verily my cup overfloweth with the quality of CD's sent to me this time round.
TOM WALKERfull-colour pictures and a foreword by Tom Russell. It’s presented as a boxed set, and includes a 40% discount voucher to save
BEJEB MUSIC
On this, her third release, singer Deb is joined by guest vocalist Suga Ray Raiford on lead and background vocals, Tony Braunagel, the disc's producer, on drums and percussion, husband Ric Ryder on electric and upright bass, Kenny Gradney on bass, Kirk Fletcher on guitar, Johnny Lee Schell on guitar, slide guitar & background vocals, Albert Lee on guitar, Mike Finnigan Hammond B3 organ, piano & background vocals, Jim Pugh on piano, Joe Sublett on tenor saxophone, Darrell Leonard on trumpet, Peter Van Der Pluijm and Bob Corritore on harmonica, and Leslie Smith on background
on a limited edition, vinyl double-album of One Night In Amsterdam. His 25 years have seen Ian in a myriad of guises. Never one to sit back on his laurels, he has conquered Europe as well as making connections in America, collaborating with some very fine artists, including Alvin Youngblood Hart, Cody and Luther Dickinson as well as Jimbo Mathus - and I am sure the
vocals. The disc features a dozen new Deb Ryder originals covering several styles of blues. Contrary to the title of the opening track, Ain't Gonna Be Easy, it's gonna be really easy for you to immediately be impressed with this ensemble. Sugar Ray joins her for the funky duet, Get A Little Steam. Schell adds some tasty slide on the southern rocker Blink Of An Eye. The title track is a lowdown blues stomp, Corritore replying with wailing harp. Albert Lee lends his signature guitar pickin' to Just Her Nature, the Texas boogie Prisoner Of War demonstrates the vocal power and finesse Deb puts into her lyrics. The full band come together for closer Right Side Of The Grass, Ryder giving it all about the power of positive thinking. This is by far and away, Deb's best offering and I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of award winging its way to her.
CLIVE RAWLINGS
list will not stop there. Now down to the three CDs. Disc 1 has four live tracks to start the album: I Am The Train; Brandy Balloon; Earlie Grace; and Queen Of The Junior Prom. Anyone who has been to a live gig will know these are always crowd-pleasers. Disc 2 has one of my favourites, Mortal Coil Shuffle, which may be my choice for the song to send me off! Disc
3 includes another four live tracks, all recorded at solo gigs, which give you a real feel for Ian's solo performances. The Silver Spurs; Mortal Coil Shuffle; I Am The Train; and Falling On Down Again are the live tracks showcased on this disc. This box set is a must-have for anyone already a fan, and a fabulous introduction for any newcomer to Ian’s music. I could list the full selection of songs on these three CDs, but be assured that they are all worth exploring again, even if they are already in your collection – and the live versions are treasures to be savoured. I strongly recommend purchasing this box set to enhance your record collection - you just can’t have too many Ian Siegal albums! No doubt about it he is the Master of entertainment.
CHRISTINE MOORE
REDLINE MUSIC
This album is everything you would expect from Marcus Malone. This consummate singer/ songwriter, came over from Detroit many years ago, and luckily for us made his home in the UK. Better Man is out in 2017 and is also being released on
vinyl, so I'm glad I kept our turntable! If you got rid of yours, it might be time to invest in one again as it seems all our favourites are bringing out vinyl releases. Marcus has brought in his usual suspects to create this latest album. As you would expect, there are some amazing players on the album: Sean Nolan guitar; Stuart Dixon guitar; William Burke guitar; Chris Nugent drums; Paul Elliot percussion; Winston Blissett bass; Johan (YoYo) Buys bass; Moz Gamble hammond; Steve Murphy on Hammond; Stu Watts keys; Alan Glen harmonica; and Chantelle Duncan with Eno Williams on backing vocals. An absolute cornucopia of musical talent! Marcus never disappoints and once again he has produced an outstanding album. Since I got this CD, it has been on continuous play in the car. Twelve tracks and all stand-out songs. Anyone would be happy to have at least one on their album. We start with House Of Blues, which will rock any house, one to get your dancing shoes tapping. The title track, Better Man, has me thinking maybe everyone should listen to the words of this and try to improve themselves. On track 7 Compilations, the guitarist is none other than Robin Bibi. Track 8 The Only One, is a real move away from his normal fare - it has a psychedelic 60’s feel with great harmonies, which remind me of The Eagles and transports me back to that era! Shine
Your Light, the last track, is a real slow soulful ballad. All of the tracks are what we have come to expect from Marcus, great rocking blues, with plenty of dance beats. Sultry, Sexy, Soulful Singing with Soaring guitars. Sensational.
CHRISTINE MOORE
Baby Boy Varhama is Finnish, definitely plays a number of forms of blues and makes music that is utterly beguiling. I was actually very surprised at what I was hearing. All the tracks on this album are either covers or traditional but he has such a unique take on his blues that you don’t feel as though you are listening to a covers album. He opens with a Hank Williams classic The Blues Come Around, very much in a country swing, Dan Hicks vein. His voice has elements of the great Leon Redbone and you find yourself wanting to get up and dance to an insistent rhythm, this music is the purest form of toe tapper. That is succeeded by a wonderfully sad and bittersweet version of Paul Siebel’s Louise with a delightful mandolin and harmonium accompaniment. I have heard many versions
but he really catches the song. The drone in Touch Me Light Pretty Mama alongside some melodic double bass and Varhama’s slightly off-kilter vocal is quite remarkable. I could go on, a brilliant Buried Alive In The Blues (Nick Gravenites) that really stretches his vocal or Soledad which comes over like a Cuban crooner after too many cigars. The oddest number is a strange but intriguing version of Casey Jones, back in the Country swing groove and with a lovely fiddle solo. An artist I am not familiar with but one who really understands the blues and plays like he means it. Very fine stuff.
ANDY SNIPPER
GJB INDUSTRIES
Opinions will always be divided when arguing the case for the best current UK blues artists but few aficionados could disagree with Gerry Jablonski and The Electric Band being very close to the top when it comes to live performances. Their showmanship, spontaneity and raw energy are well known to those who have attended a gig but now the live album is here to prove it more widely. The album
was recorded on Polish national radio during the Aberdeen band’s recent Trouble With The Blues tour and the sound quality is excellent, capturing the essence of this eclectic band without overdubs and over production. The show’s opener is Slave To The Rhythm with Peter Narojczyk’s skillful, mesmeric harp riffs cleverly complemented by Gerry’s fast and intricate
guitar interludes. The smooth vocal harmonies on Trouble With The Blues are interspersed with searing guitar solos whilst the slow burning Down To The Ground showcases Gerry’s anguished vocals and Peter’s wailing, atmospheric harp. Lady And I is a jaunty showstopper in contrast to the tear jerking Anybody. The latter is dedicated to former drummer, the late
INDEPENDENT
If only because I prefer my blues served raucous and kick ass, I’m rarely first in the queue for gigs by piano and acoustic guitarcentric woman singersongwriters. But next time Bristol-based Elles Bailey is anywhere near my gaff, I’ll happily make an exception. This six track EP impressed me on every level. For a start, the material, entirely selfpenned or co-written, is a whole size bracket above most of her peers. All the compositions are clearly rooted in blues sensibility, while eschewing 12-bar commonplaces, and come freighted with lyrical introspection by the truckload. And wow, what a great voice, too. Bailey insists on sounding
English rather than affecting a Deep South drawl, and her vocals are all the more convincing for it. She delivers a carefully calibrated degree of raspiness, keeping things throaty without getting into Janis Joplin overdrive. Apparently, such delivery results from childhood illness rather than overdoing the fags and whisky, which may be a first in blues history. The CD opens with Wildfires, built around some quality slide work that gives it a suitably doomy quality, while Waiting Game could be your ideal soundtrack if your relationship is rapidly reaching wristslitting time. Barrel Of Your Gun menacingly informs an unnamed lover that if Elles is going down, she’s gonna take him down too. And you just know she means it. Nice musicianship throughout, always very tasty while careful not to get in Bailey’s way.
DAVID OSLERDave Innes, The song is an emotionally charged tribute made especially memorable by the inclusion of Peter’s poignant harmonica rendition of Amazing Grace adding an intensely moving spiritual dimension. Blues Power
is a fabulous instrumental with its harp and guitar duelling, incisive, powerful drumming from Lewis Fraser and the pulsating, rolling bass of Grigor Leslie. Broken Heart starts slowly and builds up to a series of crescendos
These albums are not "Blues" per se, and could probably more accurately, be described as a sort of progressive rock but with a Celtic edge and only a hint of essential blues. Gerry Quigley is your archetypal Irish guitarist along the lines of Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, and originally played heavy metal/raw, progressive rock in Ireland during the 70's prior to moving to Australia in 1982, where he honed his guitar playing skills in Western Australia. Nonetheless, blues or progressive rock, they are both, of the purest quality in terms of the guitar playing and deserve to be highlighted for the very special ability Quigley demonstrates with his overall strings playing on both albums with their unique and infectious brand of Celtic hard edge blues and rock! Track two on the Shinkickers disc is,
in excess of eight minutes of exquisite progressive rock guitar mastery and features his wife Sharon Quigley, playing keyboards on this popular masterpiece Weeping Willow. The very next track on the album Leaving In The Morning features the vocals of Geoff Bushby and Terry Pugh on Hammond Organ, the former sounding as visceral and raw as you would expect of a Mississippi Bluesman. His is the sound I'd have expected mine to be like if I had continued with the plain cigarettes I smoked excessively in my youth!
The reality is though that Bushby can sing and I can't (except in the anonymity of a choir). The instrumental wizardry is epitomised by track six Sunset with quite superb mandola playing by the principal string magician himself. Moving on to the Nomadic Druids and their debut album Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow; this is an album which opens in an altogether softer tone from the previous disc.
The opening track The Conception has an almost quasi-religious feeling to it, or perhaps that is just my own Irish empathy with all the attendant Sunday morning emphasis with
befitting an encore, the fervent audience reaction clearly audible.
THE BISHOP
There’s a touch of raw
the church. Nonetheless, the progressive rock is regained with fervour in a disappointingly short but nonetheless superb piece of guitar mastery in track two Prelude To Yesterday at a mere 58 seconds in duration. Balance is wholly regained in the next track three, Yesterday with ample support on organ from Jon Pitulej and bass guitar magic courtesy of John McNair all of which is seamlessly held together with drumming played empathetically by Leroy Cleaver. Prelude
To Tomorrow at track six is probably my favourite insofar that it has a very definite Celtic feel to it, that though is not to be critical in any way with any other piece on either of these albums, every one of them is an emerald in their own right. The album closes with soaring guitar riffs in track seven Tomorrow that really did make me think of Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy. Quigley is one of that rare breed, a Cork man with world appeal and these albums are an absolute must for anyone who relates to progressive rock with the merest hint of blues.
TOM WALKERhonesty about this decidedly low-fi album by a couple who seem to live in a remote part of Australia, untamed by the gentle hand of civilization. This effect is enhanced by Hat Fitz’s growl, not to mention his chest-length beard. Not all the lyrics are intelligible, and they do not come with the CD nor do they seem to be available online, imposing a burden on the critic who would like to say just what these songs are about. Fitz is the guitarist. While he sings lead on a couple of songs, it’s good that Cara, whose last name is Robinson, takes the lead on most. All nine songs are originals. The general musical effect consists of fuzzy guitar (and sometimes mandolin) accompanied by clackety drums, blended at times into a genuine cacophony. Tank Man concerns a fellow who lives in a tank with holes rusted through it. And in Rosie Hackett, a song with a more wistful tone, Robinson sings about a woman who “lost her self-belief” and won’t meet your gaze. In Won’t Bow Down, Fitz asserts his individuality. “The system, it tells us what we’re supposed to be,” the song says, though Fitz must have marked that memo “return to sender.” For evidence that he did, we need only turn to the couple’s website, on which Cara describes their return to freezing temperatures back home. “We found ourselves no kidding skinny dipping in a hot tub in minus 30 snow and
…I locked us out with no neighbours or help at hand so Fitzy being the hero had to climb with his jewels in hand through a window.”
I’m not sure the world needed to know about Fitzy holding his jewels but, as I said, there’s a touch of raw honesty here. Because it’s unconventional, this album does not fall easily on the ears upon first listen. But I suspect it will grow on a listener over time. Hat Fitz & Cara chart their own course, and that is what we expect of artists
M.D. SPENSER
Having just spent a month on the road in Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee touring Juke Joints, Dive Bars, Clubs and even the streets when I put this album on it transported me back to those lazy crazy days and nights
filled with the music of the south. The album opens with a blast of soul tinged tuneage You Can’t Say I
Didn’t Love You, wailing guitars, horns punching in and out, tinkling piano, call and response BVs and powered along with a driving rhythm section. Yay! What’s not to like about this? Absolutely nothing. You get ten cuts for your hard-earned
money and it is well worth the investment. Six originals and a clutch of fine covers like Don’t Let The Green Grass Fool You (Wilson Picket) with a nice Zydeco squeeze box on the outro. Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday (William Bell) sounds like it could have been recorded in the Stax studio in Memphis. You want Chicago then listen to Brian’s fine take of Muddy Watters Don’t Go No Further. I really liked Louisiana Love which reeks of New Orleans and the rollicking Tucumcari Tonight is terrific. The title track is pure Delta blues with fine acoustic picking on a resonator and has the kind of groove that I could listen to for hours never getting bored. Deceptively simple it hooks you in and you just get lost. The one cover I didn’t know here was It’s The Whiskey That Eases The Pain but I liked the sentiment for those in pain. Closing out the album is Our Love Is Slipping Away is just that, heartbreaking and nothing you can do to stop it. This is one of the best albums this year for me, excellent stuff.
GRAEME SCOTT
The press release with this says ' Graham explores elements of jazz, blues, classical and alternative contemporary, the avant-garde, almost vaudevillian, presentation underlies themes of evolution and transformation which define the work.' To be honest the blues elements are barely traceable, there is no guitar throughout and the only bass is the upright double kind. This is Graham J's debut album, his background appears to be rooted in classical and operatic circles. He certainly has an outstanding voice and range and on the sleeve notes he describes himself as a torch singer, this is a pretty accurate observation. The album consists mainly of versions of other people’s songs ranging from writers as diverse as Handel, and Gershwin through to Nick Cave and David Bowie via Jacques Brel. It includes traditional folk and more recent
work by respected writers like Barry Grace. Wild Is The Wind is the opening track and you are taken aback by the unexpected vocal and piano only intro before it opens up with strings and double bass. Indeed the whole album is awash with sumptuous strings and gorgeous piano. There is much to like about this album, the vocals and musicianship are outstanding and the whole things engulfs you at times. For me the more intimate numbers work best rather than the big production pieces but this is Graham's debut and I can understand that he wants to display the full armoury he has at his disposal. Tracks like I Miss You Most
On Sundays and All Time Love though allow Graham to prove he has the emotion and tenderness to allow the song to take centre stage. The Nick Cave and David Bowie covers, Into My Arms and Life on Mars both work surprisingly well too. Maybe at an hour the album is slightly too long considering its style and content and not really one to file under blues but certainly not as unpalatable as the press release suggests.
STEVE YOURGLIVCH
DELMARK
Since 1991, Mississippi Heat has been a frequently
changing Chicago based outfit under the consistent leadership of harmonica player Pierre LaCocque, putting out very wellreceived albums on a
reasonably regular basis – this is the band’s sixth for Delmark and twelfth overall. Cab Driving Man finds the band little changed since 2014’s acclaimed Warning
Shot, and is even better than usual, perhaps for that very reason. The band has included some of the Windy City’s finest musicians, although not the biggest names perhaps. As always, the sound is strongly rooted in the Chicago blues of the 50s and 60s - listen to the opening shuffle Cupid Bound for a fine example –but sometimes tempered with other styles, as on the title track which takes some inspiration consciously from Cab Calloway, Rosalie, a five minute long track best described as blue-tinged funk, or indeed, that aforementioned opener which may be a fine Chicago club number, but has subtle hints of New Orleans. Singer Inetta Visor handles these, and many of the remaining tracks, with ease and no small degree of accomplishment. Guitarist Michael Dotson also sings on three numbers, including the boogying The Last Go Round; he also plays some fine slide guitar on his own composition, Can’t Get Me No Traction. Other musicians such as guitarist Giles Corey, drummer Kenny Smith, and guest Sax Gordon (guess what?) all help out, filling out the sound. Mississippi Heat’s albums are always worth a listen and this one is far more than that.
NORMAN DARWEN
Down home Chicago style blues playing as it should be Lurrie Bell has it all his
life has been drenched in the blues and very blessed. Already this new release has been Grammy nominated and like his previous recording Blues In My Soul he has kept the winning formula band. They are Matthew Skoller on harmonica Melvin Smith on bass guitar Willie Hayes on drums and Roosevelt Purifoy on keyboards. There is an intense raw and honest sound to this which has again been captured well by Producer Dick Shurman. Thirteen cuts mostly covers but Lurrie helping pen at least four of them. His reinterpretation of songs like T Bone Walker’s I Get Weary is nothing short of genius and oozes class. Two Willie Dixon numbers have him stamp his authority and uniqueness to them Sit Down Baby and Hidden Charms put a big grin on your face, the band pumping the engines to fever pitch. The simple tones and stripped back take on One Eyed Woman let you know the blues are still alive with piercing harmonica fuelled passionate lyrics. This Worrisome Feeling In My Heart is a stand out full of pain and emotion. Title song is a slow shuffling ditty with a catchy beat. Born With The Blues mixes harmonica and guitar on the longest track. Finishing with him co-writing with Dick Shurman on Faith And Music just captures the moment and is like a condensed biography of Lurrie himself. A true blues legend keeps
Award winning Sas is a veteran of some dozen or so albums, initially in a power trio, but now with added keyboards. This set centres on the early years and illustrates the influences the likes of Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Rory Gallagher had on this Dutch guitarist/vocalist. From the opening chords of Turpentine Moon on 1996's Where Will It End?
You know you're in for some great blues/rock. With his faithful rhythm section of drummer Pierre de Haard and bassist Phil Poffè, Sas draws on each of the gentlemen above for this early example of the genre. Covers are left to a bare minimum, there's the bulk standard Goin' Down, a staple even up to this day and Serves Me Right To Suffer. Other than that, the remaining nine tracks are originals and not a dud there. Sugarcup Boogie opens A Smile To My Soul (1997), segueing straight into the slow blues of Is This What They Call The Blues. Willem van der Schoof adds to the mix with great effect on keyboards on the thirteen originals on offer here. The old compositions Stone Desert and Crossroad Call give great examples
of Sas's slide work, whilst Never Gettin' Tired has a powerful driving rhythm, and the slow blues of Where Will It End brings the Hammond to the fore. Bit confusing having that track (the previous album title) on this album, have to say. There is the obligatory Live album, recorded in his native Holland, and wonderful it is too. A veritable guitar fest contains a standout original Makin' Up My Return lumped in with Hendrix's Hey Joe and Machine Gun Jam, eighteen minutes of bliss. For The Lost And Found was Sas's first release on CoraZong Records and along with the title track and Blues For J and Driftin' Boogie amongst others, this is a cracker. Roel Spanjers contributes wonderful keyboards too. So, to the fifth and final disc, 2000's Spirit On The Rise. You could be forgiven for thinking the spirit of Rory Gallagher guested on the opener Mean Streets. Unusually for Sas, it took all of ten days to get this album done, but there is no let-up in the quality. Once again, all original material, for me the standout being A Light In The Darkness, but, as I've already said, not a dud anywhere. So, there you have it, the first five releases from one of Europe's best blues/ rockers, still going strong twenty years on, well worth checking out.
CLIVE RAWLINGS
PEPPER CAKE
The argument over whether or not white men could play the blues was settled long ago. Now we have proof positive that Austrians can play damn fine soul, in the shape of this two-CD set from Raphael Wressnig. This man’s weapon of choice is the Hammond B-3, which he can effortlessly take wherever that fine instrument can take a guy. Disc one is a studio affair, recorded in Sao Paulo, that sees Wressnig joined by Brazilian guitarist Igor Prado for a set of solid soul. Opener
Without You is straight out of the Stax songbook, while No-La-Fun-Ky and Turnip Greens are a
giving his best.
COLIN CAMPBELLbrace of floor fillers that pay obvious homage to classic New Orleans funk merchants The Meters. Home At Last is among the bluesier cuts, while Heartbreak takes the jazz chord 12-bar progression round the block a couple of times. Disc two is a live recording of a gig at an unrevealed venue, credited to Raphael Wressnig and the Soul Gift Band. It’s very much a twenty-first century take on the Jimmy Smith/Jimmy McGriff soul-jazz genre of 1960s floor fillers, with a guest appearance by Chicago blues vocalist Deitra Farr, a favourite of mine. Don’t let the curious instrumental cover of Wichita Lineman - yes, that Wichita Lineman - put you off. There is plenty of groove worthy stuff here, including a workout on Isley Brothers warhorse It’s Your Thing. An uneven package, yes, but lots of meat.
DAVID OSLER
The guitar and harmonica duo has always been the
perfect portable vehicle for the blues. For example, Paul Jones and Dave Kelly of The Blues Band are always a sell-out draw. Yet you need musical skill and adaptability to pull it off. Thankfully The Sons Of The Delta, Mark Cole and Rick Edwards have all they need. (In fact Paul Jones, has already dubbed them ‘fantastic’.) These twelve tracks were recorded at a packed gig at Pepper’s Café during the 2015
Gloucester Rhythm and Blues Festival. This is a rich and varied menu. There’s the opening track, Wolf’s Smokestack Lightnin’, a great version of Hooker’s Boogie Chillen, and a beautiful rendering of a John Hiatt song, Lipstick Sunset. You can’t beat a good old hillbilly ‘story’ song, and there’s one here, Tom Ames Prayer. It’s also nice to hear these guys tackle a neglected Chuck Berry song, previously memorably recorded by Ry Cooder, The Thirteen Question Method, and they pull it off with panache and confidence. Everything works here; the passionate gospel vocals on Chocolate Jesus, the driving boogie of Skinnybone, and the way this CD is packaged, it’s terrific to see the attractively inviting venue getting as much praise as the act. If you’re a fan of well-played acoustic, stripped-back blues, you’re certainly in for a treat with The Sons of the Delta.
ROY BAINTON
TRIPLE COIL MUSIC
This is the debut album from German blues/ rockers Blue Poets, the brainchild of former Errorhead guitarist Marcus Deml, who, along with
bassist Markus Setzer, drummer Felix Dehmel and Australian Gordon Grey on vocals, have come up with one of this reviewer’s favourite albums of the year. The vocals are very compelling, as they need to be to create the necessary ambiance in emotionheavy blues songs, while the musicianship remains consistently high quality, be it the way each instrument is separately played or the way they constantly interact with each other without any obvious hiccups. The album remains relatable throughout as the band touches on topics such as relationships, pain, loss, and joy, let's face it, all part of our daily lives. While clocking in at a little over five minutes, opener Goodbye is catchy enough that it doesn’t feel like it is dragging on. An electric guitar drives the energetic mid-tempo melody and delves into a catchy solo around the three-quarter mark. Too High And Sad, Sad, Sad have many of the same elements and are even catchier than other numbers in this set. Although quieter, Alien Angel remains suffused with energy, albeit a soothing quieter kind. Similarly, With Your Eyes is calmer compared to the other tracks on the album. Its appeal lies in a couple of things. One is the sparse beginning that builds up layer upon layer. Another is the vocals which listeners can, because of the initial sparseness, appreciate even more how emotion-
laden they are. The way the guitar seems to wrap itself around the vocals, almost like backing vocals, adds further depth to the song. The one cover on here is Sunshine Of Your Love, other than that, Deml shows he has a future and I, for one look forward to following his progress.
CLIVE RAWLINGS
SEGUE RECORDS
The soul and blues singer Vaneese Thomas has gathered a strong team of musicians around her, and written some strong songs for her new release, The Long Journey Home. There are eleven original songs on here, and a fine reading of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain, which shines a light on the song, rather than the instrumental coda which seems to now have a life of its own. The songs are largely all a blues rock soul, with faster songs being the forte of this band’s sounds. As well as a crack team of musicians, such as the whole album rhythm section of Joe Bonado on drums, and bassist Paul Adamy, the album includes numerous pianists, guitarists, various string instruments, violin, a full saxophone section, and a veritable choir of backing
singers, which includes Lisa Fischer, known for her work with the Rolling Stones. Songs such as Sweet Talk Me, and Lonely No More are gentle rolling tunes, whilst the fast swing of Sat’day Night On The River lifts the pace quite considerably, and Mystified is a guitar led brass piece with a soulful vocal performance. Country Funk blends banjo’s, dobro’s, violins, and brass to great effect, whilst Prince Of Fools is a stax like soul song, full of aching vocals, and sensitive musicianship. This is a fine collection of songs, featuring a number of highly talented performers.
BEN MACNAIRfeatures support from her old buddy Susan Tedeschi, she moves on through another with modern Americana guru Jason Isbell, to sort of complete the howling, popular blues set with additional work and inspired input from Derek Trucks. As a result, with this calibre of project support, and her undoubted personal talents and enormous vocal delivery, the entire package
soars and rattles the cage with sheer brilliance and commanding delivery evident at every twist. The Big Noise band is led by her husband, producer and drummer, Cactus Moser, and was recorded at their family down-home studio in Tennessee. This is clearly a roaring, rocking album that has aspects that are best described and being both vintage and modern, a tricky combination to pull
CURB RECORDS
This is a proper, rollicking bit of rock-inspired blues music from a five-times Grammy winner with a back-catalogue that has seen sales exceed thirty million over the years. So, we’re talking maturity and bags of experience at the highest level in the US and elsewhere. This is a twelvetrack, self-titled release that grabs you by the scruff right from the off. Opening with a power-housing self-penned track that
I received this, the latest offering from our own Troy Redfern as a late-runner, and a joy it is too. I managed to contact the man himself and for the first time I will be getting very technical for all of you geeks out there. All the fifteen tracks are originals, all the instruments are played by Troy and it was recorded at his own Dark Horse Studio. Opening with the short instrumental Revelator, it's clear where this is going, pure resonator, slipping gracefully into The Brave and Jelly Roll, played on a '58 Harmony Stratotone through a 70's pignose amp, used on a lot of the album. To
add to the natural reverb, some of the guitar parts were tracked in an old WW11 water tower, like you do, also the guitar solos are all pretty much one take, giving it a raw vibe. I See Love was done on a resonator, vocals through U87 mike, but also a Shure green bullet harmonica mike to get a natural break up. A personal favourite of mine is The Line, with its upbeat, stunning vocals and tasty guitar solo. Sign Of The Times (not that one!) has some slide to die for. With the majority of tracks clocking in at under four minutes, the whole album is very well constructed, concise and to the point. I know Troy is very popular on the live circuit, this will do him no harm at all, He was previously with Blues Boulevard, but circumstances now leave him without a label, a purely temporary measure, I'll wager. Great stuff!
CLIVE RAWLINGS
off at the best of times. But here with this release, Wynona and the Big Noise band have succeeded with ease and flair. This is an album bursting with flair and feel, sound pace and vibe, best played loud.
IAIN PATIENCE
BOSSCATS RECORDS
Bosscats frontman, guitarist and singer/ songwriter, Richard Townend, is one of those guys for whom the adjective ‘prolific’ might well have been invented. Always working on musical projects, he seems to have incredible energy and a wonderful grasp on blues and light-rock-based modern music. With this latest album, Gold Fever, the band has again struck a rich musical seam to deliver a ten-track offering that shimmers with US influences and includes Townend’s fine fretwork on both electric and resonator guitars. Throw in some neat slide work and Townend’s droll, gravelly voice and you have an album that really works well from start to finish. Already a UK IBBA pick of the month for December, Gold Fever is fired by its lead-man’s powerful, driving voice, melodic
underplay and constantly engaging lyricism. It’s hard not to view Townend as a sort of latter-day Mark Knopfler. His lyricism and fretwork both share echoes of the former Dire Straits leader and he also shares an adventurous musical streak with the guy, always prepared to take a theme and work it hard as Hell. Gold Fever is a very fine showcase for a band that clearly knows what they’re about, what they want from the studio and what they’re aiming for. Townend is joined by his usual cohorts, each of whom brings maturity, experience and quality to the table: Phil Pawsey doubles on harp and keys; Phil Wilson on bass; and Glen Buck on drums. Townend himself, not content to add the self-penned material and fine guitar-work, also manages to push in a bit of trumpet when needed. With its strong hints at Americana-cum-blues and rocking drive, this is easily one of the best of British bands out there and Gold Fever an album to enjoy.
IAIN PATIENCE
This is the fourth album released by the highly entertaining six piece Lancashire based blues
rockers, a must-see band on the UK circuit. Although dubbed as a Chicago style group, the opening track New Orleans is straight out of the “Big Easy” with Simon Anthony Dixon’s rasping saxophone and the accompanying ragtime piano. The high-energy sax duelling with Ant Scapens’ equally ferocious fret skills continues on Just Stop whilst the incredible vocals of Paul Melville are a highlight of the balladic Freedom Like A Woman and Under Your Command. The precise, controlled rhythm section comprising drummer Boyd Tonner and bassist Cameron Sweetnam stands out on the up tempo Only You. The temperature rises with Heat Of The Night but this is nothing compared to the feverish passion of Evening, the emotion pouring from Ant’s anguished guitar. One True Rock with its mesmeric violin riffs is the jaunty finale to this fun filled, action packed treasure trove of big band blues from the leading exponents in this country and beyond.
THE
BISHOP
INDEPENDENT
Debut album from UK blues-rockers featuring
seven original songs plus a couple of covers ranging from dark moodiness to full on boogie. Opener Steal Your Love is a hard-driving rocker featuring Phil Dean’s fiery guitar licks and Andi Hall’s soulful vocals. Pete Rea plays rhythm guitar and the no nonsense rhythm section is Pete Betts on bass and Dermot Hall on drums. Title track Sold For Love is a slow soul infused blues-rocker with Andi’s vocals starting out in reflective mode but building in intensity as the tension and volume rises. The heavy riffing River Of Tears finds Andi Hall’s sultry vocal edging towards Janis Joplin’s dramatic style. We have already heard Andi Hall’s rocking prowess and with the powerful slow blues Coco Blue she proves that she is equally adept with a warm and mellow performance. A cover of the late Dee F. Martin’s track 12 Bar Blues is exactly that but Red Moon is a lively rocker with a touch of country added to the mix. Misbegotten Man is another laidback performance from Andi Hall with Phil Dean stretching out on a subtle lead guitar solo. From the opening blast of guitar riffs and blueswailin’ harp from guest Tony Beadle, it is clear that Crazy Kitten Blues is an all-out belter and race to the finish. The album closes with a cover of Shemekia Copeland’s gospel infused Whole Lotta Water with a churchy organ sound from guest Steve Parry and soul drenched vocals. Rhythm Zoo have
been building a good reputation on the live club and festival circuit and this dynamic and energetic album should help bring them to the attention of a much wider audience.
DAVE DRURY
This is Detroit chanteuse
Thornetta’s second studio album and the first since her 1996 debut release Sunday Morning Music. Dubbed ‘Queen of the Blues’ for her powerful voice, highly acclaimed live performances and collection of numerous awards over the past quarter of a century. So, has it been worth the wait? The rousing opener, I Gotta Sang The Blues, single handedly justifies the cost of the whole CD with its throat shredding vocals complemented by mind blowing pyrotechnics from US harp master Kim Wilson. Thornetta’s defiant attitude comes through strongly on That Don’t Appease Me as she throws her man out! Not surprisingly another major highlight is the gospel tinged Set Me Free given that Larry McCray delivers a trademark guitar solo to complement Thornetta’s inspirational vocals. Davis tells compelling stories on I’d Rather Be Alone and the
balladic Shadow where the words “Do you really know me or am I just a shadow?” reach an anguished crescendo enhanced by the superb backing singers. I Need A Whole Lot Of Lovin’ To Satisfy Me is set in a funky groove and showcases the silky piano skills of Phillip J Hale and fabulous brass section. Get Up And Dance Away Your Blues does exactly what it says whilst the title track confirms Davis’ status as the Honest Woman with her soulful, sincere and impassioned delivery.
THE BISHOPare guests. Be that as it may the band are very proficient and play very likeably in a range of blues styles on lyrically interesting songs mainly written by Hudspeth. The title track lopes along beguilingly with the band playing with subtlety and restraint as the singer frustrating laments the coldness of his lover (“You do all the taking and I do all the giving”); Mr Jameson is a jolly song about hitting the town, with skilful guitar and piano solos from Hudspeth and Walser respectively; the band hit a lovely groove on I’m Gone; there’s an elegant slide solo on Charlie Brown; Sunday Afternoon is a tasteful slow blues sung soulfully by Jaisson Taylor; and so on, through fourteen predominantly entertaining tracks.
TOWN
Levee Town are apparently the house band at Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City and Takin’ & Givin’ is their sixth album. Confusingly the press release pictures three unnamed musicians but the album liner notes name seven players so let me guess that the core members are Brandon Hudspeth (vocals/guitars), Jacque Garoutte vocals/ bass and Adam Hagerman drums and that the implausibly named Annie P. Annie Walser piano, Jimmie Meade harmonica, Jaisson Taylor (vocals on two tracks) and Chris Hazelton Hammond organ
TREVOR HODGETTof Country style acoustic blues played authentically, there are several guest players across the tracks, the two standouts are slide guitarist Jason Manners and vocalist Julia Titus. The majority of the tracks are self-written although the standout is John’s arrangement of an original 1937 song recorded by B K Turner called Beggin’ Santa Clause albeit it was originally named Christmas Time Blues; this track has some great slide guitar interplay and the best vocal on the EP. At times the music comes across as a bit fey, particularly on the final track a ballad called Winter Love which loses the blues touch and is not an ideal track to end the EP on, other than this though I did enjoy the rest of the CD, John is a competent vocalist and guitarist who also blows some excellent harmonica, he has been in the music business for over 40 years having started in Tudor Lodge in the early 1970’s, this could be a nice stocking filler.
ADRIAN BLACKLEE
IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME CAST IRON RECORDINGS
It is an interesting idea to release a five track Christmas themed CD as the Blues is not always the most appropriate subject matter for the season of goodwill but John Cee Stannard certainly gives it a go and what you get for your money is a selection
THE LAST MUSIC COMPANY Guyana born Marques has been resident in the UK since the age of 11 and after he attended a Muddy
Waters concert in his teens got hooked on the blues, a love affair which is still strong half a century later. Jerimiah certainly has an edgy, authentic sounding voice and he sings with passion and commitment. His band, the Blue Aces, are raw and energetic, providing a perfect platform for the uniquely individual vocal style. Bukka White’s Shake ‘Em On Down is driven along by Laurie Garman’s mesmeric harp blowing and a tight rhythm section. Howlin’ Wolf fans will appreciate the versions of Riding In The Moonlight and Smokestack Lightning as distinctly different yet maintaining the integrity of the originals, particularly Lewis Fielding’s guitar solos. Other highlights include Willie Dixon’s Bring It On Home, the funky percussion on Tiger Man and Rough and Tough, and the high energy of Muddy Waters’ Read Way Back. This live studio recording has captured the spirit of these refreshingly unpretentious bluesmen.
THE BISHOPBAD TOUCH RECORDS
Having seen Bad Touch supporting the Kentucky Headhunters earlier this year, it doesn’t surprise me
that Truth Be Told comes hurtling out of the traps like a cheetah in need of its dinner. Energy and enthusiasm are their stock in trade. What’s surprising is the focus and quality that burst through in the first couple of tracks, One More Night and 99%. The sound is terrific, with guitars bouncing brightly off each other, swaggering bass, and booming drums. The overall effect has the Black Crowes written all over the back, not least because vocalist Stevie Westwood sounds remarkably similar to Chris Robinson for a guy from Norfolk, and on these opening tracks the sound serves him well too. On 99% in particular he’s entirely at ease, his phrasing on the money in the midst of a varied arrangement featuring the guitars of Rob Glendinning and Daniel Seekings ringing in harmony. Truth be told, things are more mixed after that. Songs like Heartbreaker, Soul Shaker and Let The Sun Shine are cursory, even predictable, though the latter is at least a solid slice of boogie. Meanwhile Outlaw is a more dynamic affair, with good quiet passages, but the lyric is clichéd. On the other hand sometimes they dish up too many ideas for their own good, as on My Mother Told Me, where a piledriver opening riff and a neat middle eight have to compete with a bucket load of other notions. They do offer variety though. Waiting For This downshifts into something more ponderous, more
European, with shades of Zep and Michael Schenker in the jagged riff, and an excellent, adventurous solo from Glendinning. Take Your Time ventures back on to Southern ground, but in a semi-acoustic vein, while the guitars back off on Made To Break and they rely more on the rhythm and the vocal to carry the song. Truth Be Told is a good, bold album, and with a bit more discipline Bad Touch could have made it even stronger. But meantime One More Night and 99% still represent a firecracker of an opening that’s worth anyone’s attention.
IAIN CAMERON
This is a European release of the bands live concert at the Roxy in Atlanta on New Years Eve 1998 and includes four tracks recorded on the night and one song Pygmy Twylyte recorded live in the studio and is included here as a bonus track, I have seen other releases covering this concert although these songs are not duplicated. Warren Haynes is the nucleus of the three piece band with everything revolving
around his meaty vocals and stinging guitar, during the concert he is joined by several named friends who add to the fun which is what this recording is all about, it is solid rock with some blues influences, typified by a lively rendition of The Hunter which I am sure would receive a nod of approval from Free and Led Zeppelin fans, comparing favourably to their recorded versions, guest Marc Ford excels on Guitar. The real centrepiece on the album is the Little Feat track written by Lowell George called Spanish Moon, which is extended to a whopping twenty minutes and includes plenty of free playing aka Grateful Dead era and benefits from Chuck Leavell and Bernie Worrell’s keyboard interplay, the bonus track is a Frank Zappa instrumental which was recorded from the first take but sounds perfect to my ears and is a good song to end the album on, albeit it is probably a filler. This New Years Eve concert from 1998 has been totally plundered and I am sure in the future someone will pull all these recordings together on one release but as a single CD this is still a worthy album.
ADRIAN BLACKLEE
Bulfighter Blues was recorded in Argyle, mixed in Dallas and mastered in Corpus Christi, so Bravo Max, Garrett Padgett on vocals and ‘lectric guitar, Johnny Beauford on bass guitar, Jonathan Jackson on drums, and Alex Johnson on pedal steel are as Texas as Lone Star beer, Frye boots, and the nine-banded armadillo. The tags on their website (70's motown mizzy rock punk rock Dallas) maybe do this review for me. Prelude To Clean Slate sets the scene with shimmering keyboards, bluesey Hendrix-esque wah-wah guitar, a 1969 US West Coast sound-alike where the drums and bass set a cracking pace. Then Clean Slate itself: what a funking tune, with hornladen Mothers of Invention shrewd jazz elements. What’s that you say - you want it mesmerising, meandering spaced, way-cool, dexterous, laid-back? Well, thank your lucky stars, because Salt Stones (track 3) is all those things, and more. Bee And The Boxer is in the slack, riffing spirit of Steve Miller, captivating, melodic, intuitive - the very essence of what guitar music can do to the human heart, the head, and the feet. Shake Loose Paranoia is eloquent, near-perfect, Gregg Alexander calibre song-writing: high praise I know, but well-deserved. Instead of raving on about every track on this CD, I’m gonna get to the point – these boys are ready to lift-off into the big time,
big style and this is (just behind Terry Reid’s Other Side of The River), my album of the year. What a find, and what an end to this Y2016 that has been such a bastard all round.
PETE INNES
SOUL JAM
Born Under A Bad Sign may have been Albert King’s breakthrough album, but The Big Blues was his first long player, not so much an album as a collection of singles recorded between 1959 and 1962 and the sound is rather different. The set kicks off with the excellent, bouncing Let’s Have A Natural Ball, which very much sets the tone for what follows. These are economical songs, only two of the 20 tracks (including 8 bonus cuts) last more than three minutes. Bright, bold horns feature strongly, King’s trademark crisp guitar tone rings out clear as a bell, and the feel is swinging, even jazzy, with drummer Kenny Birdell Rice contributing Latin rhythms to the likes of Tampa Red’s I Get Evil. King may scatter licks liberally around songs like I Walked All Night Long and Travelin’ To California, but he never overplays –his motto could be brevity
is the soul of wit. What’s just as striking though is the quality of his vocals. King’s singing on Born Under A Sign is good, but here he sounds great, on the money, confident, and bearing comparison with Bobby Bland or B.B. King. The songs don’t always live up to the playing, it should be said, with This Funny Feeling in particular sounding pretty corny. The bonus tracks are worthy additions though, comprising sides that were also released on early singles but didn’t make the original album. Need You By My Side sets the standard, with some spiky soloing, rocking piano (uncredited), and urgent vocals. The Time Has Come and Blues
At Sunrise are more laid back, reflective affairs, the horns smooth and smoky in the background. As a document capturing the vital, swinging quality of Albert King’s early work, this reissue of The Big Blues makes for an impressive, enjoyable collection.
IAIN CAMERON
Long-term fans of EC have often been disappointed by his recent albums but
this live set, recorded in 2007 in San Diego with JJ Cale sitting in, is proof positive that Eric can still play great guitar, especially when pushed by a strong band that includes two other excellent guitarists in Doyle Bramhall II and Derek Trucks, Willie Weeks bass, Steve Jordan drums, Chris Stainton and Tim Carmon keys with Michelle John and Sharon White on backing vocals. The set opens with a look back at Dominos era material with a run of five songs: Tell The Truth opens in fine style with Trucks’ slide work standing out and is followed by a funky version of Key To The Highway; Got To Get Better In A Little While has room for a bass feature before two outstanding songs. Little Wing is magnificent with the guitars interweaving majestically over the stately rhythm of Clapton’s original makeover of Hendrix’s tune; always a personal favourite, Anyday is great with Trucks’ slide matching Duane Allman’s contribution on the original studio recording. JJ Cale sits in on five of his songs which range from the almost acoustic treatment of Anyway The Wind Blows to the full-on electric version of Cocaine that is a staple of Eric’s live shows. A thundering version of Motherless Children is superb and knocks spots off the studio version while the backing singers add some nice soul/gospel tones to warhorses like Further On Up The Road, reminding us that the song
was once a hit for Bobby Bland. Solid versions of Layla and Wonderful
Tonight fulfil the ‘greatest hits’ part of the show and Robert Cray adds a fourth guitar to as good a version of Crossroads as Eric has played for many years. That impressively rocking version is in contrast to the extended take on the other RJ tune here, Little Queen Of Spades which across its relaxed 17 minutes allows solo space to all the frontline players and allows us to appreciate their exceptional quality. The disc is a joy to hear with enough searing guitar to satisfy critics of Eric’s sometime laidback style while also containing the almost front porch interlude of the JJ Cale section –highly recommended!
JOHN MITCHELL
Wasn’t Love At First Sight. Grace Under Pressure is typical of this collection of neatly arranged highly original songs performed by a full band of stellar musicians and backing vocalists. Love ‘N The Devil and Something Of Value get closer to mainstream blues, JJ’s sumptuous slide standing out on the latter. Miz Aphrodite is good old rock and roll with ‘Champagne’ Sullivan laying down the groove and Jimmie showcasing his vocal and harp prowess. The blues-rock theme continues through Third World War, Papa Lawd and Question Mark with their challenging, thought provoking lyrics. Overall, an imperious sound which is worthy of serious contemplation.
THE BISHOP
DIXIEFROG
The core US trio of JJ Holliday, Jimmie Wood and Billy Sullivan last cut an album nearly a decade ago, The Calling being their fifth in total. From the opening track, I Gotta Right, the listener can’t fail to be enthralled by the Captain Beefheart influence. This 1960s and 70s psychedelic sound continues in the title track and elsewhere, notably
Well this is a fine kettle of blues. Lonesome Shack hail from Seattle. They comprise Ben Todd on guitar and vocals (and song writing), Luke Bergman on bass and Kristian Garrard on drums and additional guitars and they make a hard angular sort of blues that is completely invigorating. If the term punk blues hadn’t already been stolen, then it would
apply here especially with Todd’s raw and shouted vocals and his hammered guitar. Bergman and Garrard do exactly what they need to, to drive the music along but it really is all Todd coming out of the speakers at you. There is little respite from the harshness and edginess of the music but that’s ok because the commitment and the passion still comes through in great gobs of power. The softest track here is probably Dirty Traveller with a more melodic approach but there are still high levels of distortion and an off-kilter tone to Todd’s keening vocals. Chemicals pounds out at you with the refrain “I think the meds are kicking in … I feel good now” giving you the feel of where they are coming from but rather more Breaking Bad than Easy Rider in the druggy stakes. The album is highly original, very personal and they clearly have a sound that they are happy with. I’m not sure that it will be everybody’s cup of tea but if you like your music harsh and in your face this might be the one for you.
ANDY SNIPPER
The Guitar Angels label is owned by bluesman James Armstrong who has recorded for Hightone and Catfood and he also undertakes some guitar duties here as well as production. However, knowing that that did not really prepare me for this very impressive, frequently sassy debut album from vocalist Mary Jo Curry, who is based in Springfield, Illinois. She has a very powerful but flexible voice and knows her own mind, judging from the content of many of the songs here. Some are originals, written either by Mary herself or her husband Michael Rapier (who also plays guitar here), whilst there are also some lovely cover versions on this album – take a listen to Junior Wells’ Little By Little or the soulful When A Woman’s Had Enough, which comes via Betty Lavette, at a guess. Mary also has the confidence to tackle Koko Taylor’s Voodoo Woman; she also has the ability to make the best of this raunchy song. Café R&B’s Steppin’ is another tough item, a grinding blues with excellent from producer Armstrong The set closes with another slightly menacing item, Homewrecker, followed by the brighter but uncompromising Smellin’, based on a Howling Wolf riff. Throughout this album, the band is spot-on, Mary’s singing is strong and the songs are good and memorable. In fact, the only criticism that I can make is that at
MARY JO CURRY
MARY JO CURRY
GUITAR ANGELS
...available on CDBaby, Amazon, iTunes, and other major outlets. www.blues.james-creative.com • www.facebook.com/blind.pledge
www.reverbnation.com/blindlemonpledge
“Blind Lemon Pledge certainly is a national treasure what with his ability as a songwriter, singer and musician.” — Peter Merrett / PBS 106.7 • “He creates blues that can be haunting or hilarious, sad or happy. He also weaves a veritable road map of regional blues stylings; you may go from the back streets of south Chicago to the bowels of the French Quarter, sometimes in the same song.” — musicmorsels.wordpress.com
• “This album is first-rate and a lot of fun. Something for all blues music lovers on this release. Very original. Very authentic. Very cool.” — AJ Wachtel / Blues Music Magazine • “Pledge Drive is an entertaining and diverse look at blues and Americana musical styles, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better guide through this music than Blind Lemon Pledge.” — Graham Clarke
/ Blues Bytes
35 minutes, the running time is too short – I would quite happily have listened to twice as much!
NORMAN DARWEN
Here we have another 5-piece band, but this time from Italy and believe me, there is nothing anywhere on this 5th release from the band to indicate that they are anything other than a tight knit Good Ole US of A band. All eleven tracks are written by the band, and it is not until you start to read the lyrics in the sleeve notes that anything appears to be slightly odd, in some of the phrasing, but whoever bothers to read the lyrics anyway? (Apart from us sad reviewers of course) Nothing is over long, the songs ranging from a 1minute 30 instrumental to 4minutes 18 being the longest. Musically, the line-up is vocals, harp, washboard, bass, drums, saxophone and guitar and they use them all to full effect getting a nice fat sound, there is some nice sounding slide work on here too. Unless you are sitting there listening intently to the words, there is nothing about this fine recording that jars, it is a
well-produced and nice sounding album, and guys, if you are reading this, there is nothing wrong with your English, I wish that I spoke Italian that well.!
DAVE STONE
Real deal is right. John Primer is old school Chicago, formerly a guitarist with Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Magic Slim, who’s also had his own solo recording career since the mid-90s. And that pedigree shows through. That Will Never Do is a live album recording in 2015, featuring 13 tracks, several of them penned by blues legends, and it pays homage to those roots with an authentic Chicago R&B sound. The tone is set right away with the title track, which is swinging and relaxed, with Primer’s clear, resonant voice punctuated by brief, nifty guitar fills. That serves as a good warm-up for the rabblerousing stomp of Mannish Boy, which is almost as raucous as Muddy’s own version on Hard Again. That’s about as obvious as the song titles get, but the material often sounds familiar nonetheless. You Gonna Wreck My Life is a Howlin’ Wolf composition that’s essentially How Many
More Years by another name, on which Primer produces a plaintive vocal that stands up pretty well to comparison with the Wolf, who gets another writing credit on one of the highlights of the album, Down In The Bottom. With its insistent train-like rhythm, layering Bill Lupkin’s puffing harp, clacking drums from Lenny Media, and rattling guitar lines from Primer, it also gives a passing nod to the melody of I Ain’t Superstitious. Jimmy Reed’s Sittin’ Here Waiting sums things up even more neatly. Pushed along by Melvin Smith’s walking bass, it’s as simple but effective as it gets – R&B stripped back to its tushshaking essentials. Primer and Lupskin do plenty to enliven proceedings at times though, Primer in particular delivering some pinging guitar solos and zinging slide, with their interplay peaking on Confessin’ The Blues. That Will Never Do may not be a ground-breaking album, but give it its due, it encourages you to go back and sample the pleasures of the likes of Wolf and Reed.
IAIN CAMERON
recorded in Texas and delivered by Martha’s superb vocals backed brilliantly by her band which includes dobro, fiddle, banjo, guitar, resonator, mandolin and double bass. What’s not to like? Festival favourite (especially in Europe), Martha Fields grew up listening to music played on her family’s front porch back in West Virginia. Her band certainly deserves a name check; Manu Bertrand, Urbain Lambert; Olivier Leclerc, Serge Samyn, and Denis Bielsa. Listening to this album stirs up all kinds of musical memories, for example, the soundtrack to the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, with moving songs such as the traditional What Are They Doing In Heaven, but seven of these fine compositions come from Marha’s pen and considering the notorious upheaval in US politics this year, there’s an angry message from America’s underclass in songs like Dead End, Hard Times and the ferocious Do As You Are Told. This is down home music with attitude, as much for the head as it is for the heart. The production is warm and clear, the albums artistically packaged, a perfect window into 21st century home grown American talent.
ROY BAINTON
INDEPENDENT
Driving country blues, gospel, folk, and bluegrass,
this side of the Atlantic as guitarist for George Thorogood since 1999, Jim Suhler is a respected Texas Blues musician who has had his own band Monkey Beat for 22 years and has released four previous albums. Thirteen of the tracks here, recorded on 28th November last year, come from those four releases, with two new songs included. All songs are Suhler originals and truly reflect the influence that blues and its associated styles have had on Suhler throughout his life. Whilst he doesn’t have the strongest of voices, the songs he writes do suit his vocal style very well. Opening with the stomping boogie styled I Declare, Suhler shows he is there to party, having chosen the venue because of its intimacy and the fact that the audience are an appreciative crowd, all of which shines through here.
Southern styled music follows with Across The Brazos with what sounds like an unaccredited accordion being played in an attractive zydeco styled song. The band, primarily four piece are enhanced by a second keyboard player as well as Tex Lovera on cigar box! Intriguing, but an indication of the variety of styles that are showcased here. Shifting gear, the heads up raucous rocker Doing The Best I Can has Suhler playing slide. Concerned that audience members may not be able to make church the following morning, Suhler presents his own version
with My Morning Prayer, an almost Albatross sounding song which includes an interesting version of Amazing Grace, hallelujah! Reverting to a classic 12 bar formula, the accordion returns for Déjà Blue, complete with stomping bass. Texassippi is a pleasant road song with catchy vocals and very nice slide guitar lick. Reverie is a musical journey that replicates its title with swathes of dreamy guitar. My favourite track is Po Lightnin’, a song he wrote in tribute to his hero Lightnin’ Hopkins, the song is full of swagger and menace and a funky undercurrent. Live albums are my favourite form of recorded music, far outreaching studio material in my opinion and this is one the better ones.
MERV OSBORNE
RED TAIL RING
Red Tail Ring are a duo based in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Fall Away Blues, their fourth album, comprises original songs, mostly written by Laurel Premo, blues and traditional folk songs. Premo is also the main lead singer and plays fiddle and banjo while Michael Beauchamp sings and plays guitar
and, on two tracks, banjo. Overall the feel is austere, the music strongly atmospheric. The traditional songs include Come All Ye Fair & Tender Ladies, in which the embittered, heart-broken protagonist offers hardearned words of cynical wisdom to young women about the fickleness of men, Premo’s plain vocal delivery somehow accentuating the hopelessness of the lyrics. The Child ballad Yarrow is, in keeping with the duo’s apparent preoccupations, about death, bereavement and loneliness although an exception to the prevailing bleakness is provided by Wondrous Love, a Sacred Harp hymn, which is about defeating death through being saved by God’s love. The original songs, many of which sound as traditional and as dark as the traditional songs, include the title track, a song about what football managers call bounce back ability, or, if you prefer, resilience, the duo’s harmonies characteristically subtle and engaging; Visiting, which is about the inexorability of passing time; Shale Town, a horrified response to fracking; and the heartfelt, anguished Gibson Town about a 2016 mass killing in Kalamazoo. An oddity is the version of Skip James’s meanspirited I’d Rather Be The Devil on which Premo substantially rewrites the lyrics. The effect, however, is somewhat to diminish
the song’s brutal anger. TREVOR
HODGETT
THE SIRENS
Not sure about this at all. I have over the years reviewed a number of Gospel albums, and enjoyed the majority. This however is the result of the third gospel keyboard summit by The Sirens Records designed to engender a spirited Sunday church service with the emphasis being on the keyboards and this is where it fails for me. Gospel is so much more about the vocal offering and the way in which singers interact and feel the music and this is sadly missing although there are vocalists involved on some of the tracks. Indeed, some of the instrumentals were difficult to recognise as the musicians were asked to play with fervour “...so that the music reaches new, unprecedented heights”. I Am Redeemed, a slow Gospel seems to fall short as pianist Bryant Jones handles the vocals whilst Eric Thomas handles piano. In truth, this song would have been better served with the vocals being handled by a choir. This is a heart rending song and the solo voice leaves empty spaces and gaps which should have been filled with the joy that comes from the sound of a choir, this being a song about the joy of redemption after all. What A Friend We Have In Jesus is another example of where the
desire to focus attention on the keyboard element has I believe lost an intrinsic feel of the song. I must at this point qualify my negativity by stating that the musicians featured here are of course top drawer. I cannot fault their playing whatsoever, it just being that this project fails, in my opinion, to hit the mark because I believe the subject genre is not divisible in this way. I just hope the record company doesn’t decide to focus on a drum trilogy for their next project.
MERV OSBORNE
STONYPLAIN RECORDS
The blues can be many things; it’s a palliative when the world’s dragging us down, it cheers us up when it rocks, it puts joy into dancing, and a guitar in the sensitive hands of Ronnie Earl takes it all a stage further; it offers consolation. Ronnie dedicated this album to his departed big brother, David Maxwell. The ten tracks include six original compositions and versions of Otis Rush number, Rush being one of Ronnie’s main mentors. The three instrumental tracks, Mother Angel, Elegy For A Bluesman and In Memory
Of T-Bone set a wistful, reflective mood, with Ronnie’s silky-smooth, fluid guitar taking centre stage. Perhaps the standout performance is the 8 minute long Blues For David Maxwell, a heartfelt instrumental dedication which builds moodily from David Limina’s fine, sympathetic piano to reach a sunburst of emotional guitar playing. There are also driving, soulful vocals from the aptly named Diane Blue, especially so on the classic old song You Don’t Know Me. This album is a poignant work of passion, proving that blues can illustrate and preserve our memories as well as any musical genre. If you’re a budding guitar player, then thoughtful and inspirational are just two accolades for Ronnie Earl. You’ll no doubt find a few of your own when hearing this record.
ROY BAINTONCLEOPATRA
Hands up time here: I’m a fan of James Montgomery and his blasting harpfuelled blues. Montgomery has been around Stateside for more years than I
care to remember and is always guaranteed to bring a touch of class, style and sensitivity to any project he touches. You get more than just a hint at his quality when looking at some of the guys he’s worked with over the years: Buddy Guy; BB King; Gregg Allman; Bruce `Springsteen; New Hampshire acoustic picker, Bob McCarthy. Even Aerosmith benefited from his input. With this release, he is joined by guitarist George McCann; David Hull on bass; and Jeff Thompson on drums. The ten-track album is clearly inspired by Montgomery’s own, personal blues hero, Paul Butterfield and he describes and intends that it should be seen as his own tribute to the revered Paul Butterfield Blues Band of old. Montgomery first caught Butterfield play in 1965 in San Francisco, incidentally the same year that saw Dylan shake up his fans and the folk world by going electric and was immediately impacted and inspired by his playing, an influence that has remained at the very core of his blueslove and performance ever since. Close the eyes and that Butterfield sound pulsing with raw emotion, can be heard. With some sterling keys support from Butterfield’s own Mark Naftalin, together with fretwork additions by Paul Nelson, ex Johnny Wynter. This is an album that is always going to make its mark.
DISCOVERY RECORDS 2 CD
Should anyone ever ask you the question “what is the blues?’ you can just say Son House. After recording for Alan Lomax’s Library of Congress project, in 1943 Son House vanished for over two decades, working as a New York Central Railroad porter and a short order cook for a hotel chain. Although he was born in Mississippi, where he grew up, at the age of 26 he shot a man dead in self-defence and spent two grim years in the Parchman Farm penitentiary. When his case was reheard, he was released, but told to leave the area. It would be 1964 before Son was re-discovered and persuaded to perform again. The 32 stirring tracks on this powerful collection, recorded in those twelve creative years before he chose his spell of anonymity will make you realise why great blues researchers and aficionados like Dick Waterman, Nick Perls and the founder of Canned Heat, Alan Wilson, were so keen to track this man down. For the next eight years, until contracting Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease in
the early 70s, Son House, the Father of the folk blues, wowed audiences across the USA and Europe. This is rugged, no-nonsense blues driven by a fine slide guitar style, including classics such as Death Letter, John The Revelator the epic Empire State Express and My Black Mama. If you truly want to know what Blues is - here’s the answer; indispensable.
ROY BAINTON
This is his ninth studio release for this extremely talented Canadian blues virtuoso guitarist. He likes to mix musical styles together as seen in previous release Belmont Boulevard but this is an even more eclectic mix of bluesy roots tunes mixed with Americana twists. This is down in part to collaborating with Producer Colin Linden and choosing some fine covers and four co-written songs by JW and Dick Cooper best of which are the slow burning contemplative Leave Me Out and reflective Already Know. Ably assisted by regular band members Laura Greenberg on bass guitar and Mathieu Lapensee on drums there is also the addition of keyboards infused by
Kevin McKendree adding a new dimension to the big sound. Price To Pay starts things with a steady riff and cool vocals. Country duet next with Jaida Dreyer on How Many Hearts very quirky harmonies. Title track is a particular favourite High temperature a barrelhouse takes to this Little Walter number with hollers and twangs colliding. The guitar playing is sublime and effortless he is a true player with a real honesty an insight we get listening to on Who I Am which has so many layers glued in classic blues form. His arrangement of the Charlie Rich song Midnight Blues is perfect for the bigger band. The energy is encapsulated in the rockabilly take to last track Wham a tribute to Lonnie Mack exhibiting some truly organic guitar licks. Vocally intricate and musically diverse a feel-good release of style and class.
COLIN CAMPBELL
Earlier this year, some of us made sure we got to the tribute show for Mick Abrahams at The Borderline, with various Rhythm Kings, Nine Below’s, Mungo Jerry’s and Elliott Randall, Clive Bunker and more. Mick
himself, post-stroke was able to perform a few numbers, to the delight of the audience. If any more proof were needed of the industry respect for this original Jethro Tull and Blodwyn Pig guitarist, this fine double-disc release provides it. Taking the form of a CD of instrumentals plus a Live DVD of electric and acoustic shows, Long Long Gone is quite a treat for Brit Blues followers. On the Instrumentals album, all the cuts seem to have two titles eg. Chuck Brick aka Berry Drive, which sounds like an old Chess B-side by the man himself, throbbing bassline and fluid guitar. Forty Three has soaring slide and should be opening a bounty hunter adventure film. Lassoo aka Larrytino has mean stalking axe and claves in the mix whilst Nee Par nods to Bert Jansch and Davey Graham, intricate tumbling notes with an elegant delivery. The Acoustic footage on the DVD takes in stage favourites like Billy The Kid, the chilling Black Night, Going Down Slow and the jaunty Jesus On The Mainline. The electric set includes the meaty The Victim, Muddy’s I Wonder Who and a roaring and freewheeling Cats Squirrel. The crowd at Bishops Stortford Blues Club that night were certainly at the right gig. As an overview of this master muso and an enjoyable set of songs well-delivered this is pretty much an essential purchase and not just for long-time
This sextet from Ontario was formed 20 years ago and has released six independent CDs alongside performing extensively across Canada and beyond, most recently at the 2016 Memphis Blues Challenge on Beale Street. This latest album features 50 minutes of mainly new blues material with tales of the Yukon, New Orleans, voodoo, the underground railroad and even moonshining! The gritty voice of front man Corey Lueck is at times reminiscent of Joe Cocker whilst his harp work on tracks like Hoodoo Woman and Must’ve Read It Wrong is scintillating. Similarly, Gordon Aecihele’s sax playing is never less than soulful and inventive, notably on Walking Cane, Directly Under Her Thumb, the title track and the swing along Bessie Smith classic, You’ve Been A Good Old Wagon. A tight rhythm section underpinning the wash and swirls created by the keyboards further facilitates the unique big band sound. This all comes together brilliantly on Walking Cane, Quarter
fans of Abrahams. PETE SARGEANT
Mile and King Biscuit Boy’s Mean Old Lady. By contrast, the blues ballads I Tried and I Can’t Change are gutsy and back to the roots. Overall, a refreshingly original blues album.
THE BISHOP
Billy is relatively unknown in the UK but has an extensive discography in the USA as well as being a regular at the piano bar on the Blues Cruise. A student of Sunnyland Slim and Jerry Lee Lewis, he plays blues, boogie and rock and roll piano and has a wicked sense of humour in his on-stage persona of the Reverend, direct from ‘The First House Of Polyester Worship’. Long-haired and heavily tattooed, Billy is not your typical preacher and the robust language featured in The Hand Of The Almighty proves that the Reverend is definitely a comic creation! On this CD, he is paired both in the studio and live with roots rockers The Nighthawks and he mixes band tracks with some solo performances. Billy’s humour stands out on Too Old, a storming rocker (“Too old to rock and roll, just right to sing the blues
– think I finally figured out what a mojo is”) and the outstanding Mama Was A Deadhead in which the central character sings baby Billy to sleep with “the live version of Dark Star” and meets an untimely end in a portaloo at a festival during a lightning storm – surely a warning to us all! Recognising that in a relationship with a married woman he cannot be number one and not wishing to be known as her ‘number two’, Billy asks if he can be her One Point Five. Taking a detour down a country road Billy explains the genesis of Daddy Passed Away – a remark by a friend that ‘Daddy passed away and Mama turned gay’ – “in my world that’s a neon sign saying write a song, Billy”. Some of the songs here are reprises of older material, including Mennonite Surf Party which rocks along brilliantly with a fine harp solo from Mark Wenner and Daddy Was A Sensitive Man which pokes fun at the ‘new man’ era when “attorneys became aromatherapists”.
Among the covers are rocking band versions of Charlie Rich’s Breakup and Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee with label boss Lil’ Ronnie Owens sitting in on harp. An entertaining album with solid musicianship which made me laugh out loud – great stuff!
JOHN MITCHELLINDEPENDENT
If a ‘P&O Blues-cruiser’ has
raved to you recently about this top Dutch quintet, the chances are that Little Steve’s spine-chilling extended guitar solo on Otis Rush’s Double Trouble was to the fore. You won’t find that show stopper on this, their first full-length, CD though. Nothing here runs at much more than three minutes with the focus on snappy, dynamic sounds that could have populated the Billboard Rhythm & Blues Charts of 1951; think Joe Liggins, Amos Milburn and the 5 Royales and you’ll be at the right record-rack. Not that Steve is much given to cover-versions, other than one by Ike Turner and another by his tenor saxophonist band-mate Martijn Van Toor, all the songs here are his own.
From the very outset Just Fooling Around sets the agenda with Steve’s ringing guitar joined by the tumbling riffs of Martijn’s tenor and Evart Hoedt’s baritone sax to set a relentless-rhythm, defying your inertia. Holland’s top blues drummer Jody Van Ooijen is utilised to the full, opening I Gotta Know ‘Stubblefield-style’ and recalling Louis Prima on the catchy Live And Learn. His partnership with old-school bassist Bird Stevens is subtle and compelling. The songs are primarily upbeat and danceable, except for the title-track Another Man, where Steve drops the tempo to make space for his fine voice to plead-theblues in a slab of early-Stax testifying. Onstage Steve’s guitar-playing is centre-
stage but here ‘The song is king’ and it contributes with exemplary discipline to the overall musical palate - a vibrant one at that. The band cuts-loose though on Yes, You Can a fabulous jazz/blues instrumental with excellent solos from Martijn, Evart and Steve. Close your eyes and you could be at the Flamingo with the Blue Flames. Don’t imagine for a minute, though, that Little Steve and the Big Beat are a 50s tribute-act. They have drawn on a rich, oft-ignored, phase of Rhythm and Blues heritage and moulded it into a modern, uplifting musical experience. Until you can catch them live, catch them here!
KEITH LEE
BELOW RECORDS
The fruitful partnership between veteran player, singer and bandleader Mayall and producer Eric Corne continues. The current run of studio albums have captured the colour and still-there daring of John and his sharp and versatile group, still comprising on this set Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass and Jay Davenport drums. As regards material, there are
eight originals and versions of a Bettye Crutcher hit It’s Hard Going Up – a bit of a Carry On title – and Jerry Lynn Williams’ Don’t Deny Me plus Goin’ Away Baby, the old Jimmy Rogers song. Horns can be heard on the rousing Gimme
Some Of That Gumbo and elsewhere. The icing on this sonic cake though is the guest appearance on two cuts of the venerable Joe Walsh. A lot of his own hits have had a light reggae inflection of course but The James Gang’s original axe maestro can turn his fingers blueswards in a blink and does so here, on The Devil Must Be Laughing and Cards
On The Table. The title track is Hammond-flecked funk with grinding bass. Piano rolls through The Crutcher song, great vocal too over damped guitar chording, spicy horns cruising through the cut which does evoke On Your Way Down, the Toussaint gem. The Devil is a solemn blues that aches with feel and the odd harmonic jump on the guitar and reflective lyric on the state of the globe at present. The semitone shift sounds really cool as well. Walsh digs deep with a cleanish tone over the unhurried backing. The Rogers tune is harp-led, with fat bass and a guitar figure that is vintage Willie Dixon. The slide is out for Cards on a gum-chewing groove. The best cut for me is the electric piano tread of Blue Midnight, terrific vocal and a biting Athas guitar break. Rocky has now left the
group to pursue his solo/ own band career which is where I first came across him and when we did meet here I found myself on stage with his bass player five minutes later! but that’s another story. Another Mayall collection that bears repeated play
PETE SARGEANT
RED GUITAR BLUE MUSIC
Brooks Williams is a US acoustic bluesman who has been around for many years, laying down some fine traditional music, touring and adding his weight to projects that never seem to get him the recognition he genuinely deserves. With this solo release he may just have managed to break his duck and make it to a wider blues consciousness this side of the Pond in the UK and Europe generally. Tracks covered include Robert Johnson’s From Four Till Late; My Babe from Willie Dixon; Willie McTell’s standard, Statesboro Blues, and Chuck Berry’s rockin’ You Never Can Tell. Other tracks include Gary Davis, Bessie Smith and Memphis Slim with a sideshow of old traditional winners. Williams’ voice is strong, powerful and connected. He clearly knows his way
around this music and his fretwork is always absolutely on-the-button, as he switches from straight acoustic, cigar-box to resonator and some superb, understated, never overpowering, slide-work. Williams has recently been touring in the UK alongside New York acoustic picker Guy Davis. The album here is recorded with an old-school feel and intention, a method that works perfectly here to produce an album positively worth catching. Brooks’ Blues is easily a winner with enormous merit and quality.
IAIN PATIENCE
The great saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. left this world aged 56 on December 17 1999 after suffering a heart attack backstage. His music represents the meatier, more sophisticated cousin of the standard blues; this 24 track compilation is a reminder of how big jazz-funk was from the 1970s onwards. There are hints of so much here; Isaac Hayes, the strut of the New York streets in to 70s. Post Be-Bop, as jazz became more electrified,
a new breed of skilled jazz musicians arose, names like Bob James, Eric Gale (who also features on this collection), Idris Muhammad, the master bassist Marcus Miller and Randy Brecker. You might want to dig out your flares and stack heels from the back of the wardrobe, because much of this music will inspire a strut across the carpet with tunes such as the perky funk of It Feels So Good, and disc one opens with Grover’s elemental hit, Inner City Blues. Disc two includes the sunny Summer Song, Live at the Bijou, and there’s a terrific, silky vocal performance by Patti Labelle on The Best Is Yet To Come, as well as seven totally engrossing minutes as Grover is joined by the great Bill Withers for the chart hit Just The Two Of Us. As blues albums go, this isn’t one; it takes blues and rock ‘n’ roll and dresses it in a sophisticated mohair jazzman’s suit and tops it all off with several layers of additional talent. Grover Washington Jr. has left us a monument of free expression from a time when musicians found the time and space to widen their highly creative horizons.
ROY BAINTON
From an early start playing accordion, Swiss performer Wellkers took up harp, keys and guitar finding his way to his
version of the blues via freestyle rap, grunge and rock. This EP brings us five tracks, all self-produced.
Tu Es Jolie has a moody acoustic piano intro and French vocal, delivered in an almost hesitant smoky alto. It reminds me in mood anyway of the Gallic chanteuse Zazie. Welljudged guitar and drums kick in, with background bass. It has to be said, this is quite haunting stuff with a minimal approach that doesn’t push the song into torch territory, darker in tone than the song title suggests. More piano on the sung-in-English second track but a bit clanky this time, presumably Wellkers is or was a fan of Randy Newman going by this cut. Alex sounds a bit wound up, shame the budget doesn’t run to a soft brass band. Hollywood, LA is the title and it does work.
I Do Feel So Useless is much more punchy, with fuzz guitar, chugging beat after the intro and a strong vocal. A very neat construction on the song itself, emphatic drumming. If you like the electric sneer of The Dandy Warhols, try this track. Jiya is again a bit snarly and angry, highlighted by the way it is sung. It’s making me think this set should have been called Admonition. This number really needs a burning solo but there is a post-Velvets chug instead at one point and the organ chording suits the tune. Where’s This Place starts with a loping electric guitar sequence before settling into the NY stabbing beat
Wellkers seems to favour. Quite an angry-sounding clutch of numbers but did that approach harm Paul Weller?
PETE SARGEANT
BLUE KITTY MUSIC
This fine CD of modern electric blues will make a welcome addition to anyone’s collection. The musicianship is excellent, the singing sublime. The Chicago blueswoman
Liz Mandeville has been around since the ’80s; she knows how to make quality albums. The album is mostly mid-tempo swingin’ blues based on electric guitar with some piano, harp and horns sprinkled into the mix. Pleasing as the album is, there’s one niggle – surprising from a performer who’s won past accolades for her songwriting: Some of the songs are based on ideas that are pretty thin. Reading Mandeville’s liner notes offers a clue as to why. She decided to make an album of songs co-written with other writers. Sometimes it was hard for the schedules to mesh. She wound up with one day to work with Tulsa guitarist Scott Ellison; she agreed on condition they write and record three songs that day. One of those was the album’s
opening number, Too Hot For Love – about how the weather in Chicago just then was too hot for lovemaking. However, winter would come “in just a few months,” at which point she’d be happy to screw again. This might work as semi-humorous filler halfway through the album, but not as the lead-off track. However, the album is redeemed by its good songs, including a couple of slow weepers. One Dance, co-written with the Japanese guitarist Minoru Maruyama, is about a woman with an aching desire for a particular man. They’re both married, she has no intention of acting on her inclination, but sometimes the thought of being together just one time is so strong it makes her moan. And Try Me, a nice, slow, rolling blues, is a welcome ode to the virtues of older women: “I may not have the blush of youth,” Mandeville sings, “But the riper berry has got more juice.” Like fine wine, she says, it took some time for her to get this good. Works for me, and so, as a whole, does this CD.
M.D. SPENSERGallagher Band stalwarts
Its hard to find a stronger pedigree than Rory
Gerry McAvoy bass, electric guitar and vocal and Ted McKenna drums, percussion and vocals, here with Marcel Scherprenzeel electric and acoustic guitar and vocals on their second album as Band of Friends. Other appearances are from Mae and Hugh McKenna vocals and keyboards respectively, and the album’s producer Mark Winterburn acoustic guitar. Coming out of the traps running, Don’t Ever Change delivers up-tempo riffing guitar, propulsive but cleverly interfaced assembled playing. Title track Repeat After Me is a slow-building chunky slabchord thumper that melds a faultless rock vocal with choppy reggae rhythms and a memorable bluesrock waling guitar solo. Frankie Miller’s A Sense of Freedom (the only cover on this album, the other tracks are self-writes) is a rolling Celtic blues, a song for everyman, for every underdog, inspiring, wide-screen 3D authentic, irresistible. Homeland is for exiles the world over, distanced from their roots: if Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia is a heart-breaker for us Scots, this is a tear-jerker for all those, regardless of nationality, who find themselves remote from family, friends, roots. Gerry is bang-on when he calls this album “a melting pot”, stylistically varied and always on-the-money.
The DNA of Nothing For
Nothing, an unrelenting pure driving blues, relates
to Taste and Thin Lizzy (no shit, Sherlock!). The urban acoustic King of the Street, enhanced by a cool Dylanesque vocal, is a monochrome snap-shot of grim down-town life. All in all, this is a talented powerhouse execution of divergent but co-joined blues styles. I’d like to think I’m on the inside of Gerry, Ted and Marcel’s Band of Friends.
PETE INNES
INDEPENDENT
You just never know what is going to pop through your door and this collection comes from a guy by the name of Mickey Pantelous with Greek and Danish heritage. Operating as a one-man band since the mid noughties under the afore mentioned moniker I have no idea where his mind is though. You’ll have to look at the web site for the “back story” but it’s all delightfully bonkers. Apparently, the Can is attached to his foot acting as a snare drum. Who knows or cares why he named it thus as the main thing you want to know is what the album is like. Well it is actually not half bad. The songs have
interesting lyrics, baffling a little at times and even a bit dark, and deeply rooted in the blues. Twelve tracks for your money with titles like Then I Shot Myself, Hanging From The Ceiling, The Madhouse Is On Fire and The Woman With The Beard I think you’ll get a little of the idea of the album. He has songs like Joyce about having a relationship with a prostitute but also love gone away on It Was Spring When I Met You. The negative side of music like this is that after a couple of listens through it can begin to sound a tad the same even allowing for the addition of things like kazoo’s, harmonica and various pieces of percussion effects. Quirky and unusual check it out if that’s your bag. I didn’t either like or dislike this album it was just ok.
GRAEME SCOTT
HARPO RECORDS
This is blues par excellence, raw essential blues and quintessentially this type of music is what the term was designed for! When a group have been together for as long as these guys have in their third decade, then you know you're on the right road to musical Shangri-
La, if nothing else based on the fact that they have survived and played with and for, la creme de la creme. This album is the very definition of Chicago blues with harmonica playing to die for. Originally the group covered the likes of Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson, but evolved their own style with roots very firmly planted in traditional blues. They're also renowned for having worked with absolute legends, such as BB King, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Now to be in support of such maestros of the blues takes a helluva lot of quality and confidence in your own ability. This album is everything you would want in a blues CD. It has electrifying harmonica playing throughout by Sonny Charles allied to visceral vocals from him too. Kid Royal submits white hot lead guitar playing while the rhythm section holds it all together from "Little" Johnny Walter on rhythm guitar, Joe Bencomo on drums, and Stick Davis on bass. It would be churlish to pick a favourite track from this absolute gem of an album, so I'm not going to. Every track on the CD is an absolute belter, each having something to commend them but in truth this album is the best I've been fortunate enough to review. Musically this disc is flawless, the arrangements and the vocals are superb and the instrumental renditions truly
magnificent! It is a must for any aficionado of the blues genre, and even if it was twice the price it would be a bargain. The fact that it is not expensive at $20 makes it a real corker.
TOM WALKER
HARD SWIMMIN’ FISH
True Believer is the fifth release from HSF, a four piece from ‘twisted roots’ combo from Virginia, with a 20-year history behind them. True… was produced by none other Mitch Easter, one-time member of Let’s Active and producer extraordinaire (clients include REM, Ben Folds Five and Suzanne Vega, fact fans). With such an alt-rock behemoth at the controls you’d expect this release to drift into similar territory. Well, think again, True… is 12 tracks of hard-driving, gritty rock and blues in the vein of Howlin’ Wolf (who’s Howlin’ for My Darlin’ cover gets a re-vamp on this very album), alongside originals by lead vocalist Demian Lewis and a stompin’ take on Mess Around (originally cut by Ray Charles). This album sounds like an authentic 50’s blues cut, heavy on the reverb, dust on the speakers, dirt in the notes. There’s humour and swing flowing through these songs,
too, with Lewis’s growling vocals cutting over some astounding harp work by Waverly Milor. Notable tracks are opener and title song, a cover of Need Your Love So Bad (with Milor taking the lead and guest keyboard player John Sharrer earning his keep big time), Come Together (swing slide and harp dancing along a treat), whilst traditional gospel number Don’t Let The Devil Ride takes the Oris Mays version and turns it into a slide and percussion extravaganza (percussionist Jason Walker reaches for the pots and pans on this one). True... is a combination of old and new from a band that has the originality and musical chops to make something that is uniquely their own.
MARTIN COOK
FIRST TAKE RECORDS
This is album number four from Canterbury-based singer-songwriter Luke Jackson who is working in the Netherlands where folk, Americana and acoustic blues are entwined. And he’s very good at what he does, as befits someone who seems to be spend so much time touring and performing. It’s something
that has honed his skills and in the company of his trio compatriot’s bassist Andy Sharps and percussionist Connor Downs he’s produced an excellent album. He has a very powerful and listenable voice which suits the often sombre nature of his material and which gives you the impression of a life lived. The opening song, The Man That Never Was (which was inspired by Glen Campbell’s battle with Alzheimer’s) shows just how good he is, as the opening spiritual sound leads into a heartfelt folk lament. And it’s not alone as he ranges far and wide from the out and out blues of Treat Me Mean, Keep Me Keen, a mucky little ditty to the Americana of Finding Home and the electrified Anything But Fate. There are a couple of songs later in the album that tip over the jazz edge Lucy & Her Camera or go down the beatnik route Leather & Chrome but they are merely minor missteps in a thoroughly enjoyable album.
STUART A HAMILTONWEST
DELTA GROOVE MUSIC INC
So, Cal harpmeister Kashmar does modern blues harmonica with a degree of intelligence,
sophistication and taste not always evinced by every practitioner of the instrument, drawing on a wide range of influences for what marks his first studio offering for a decade. Of the multiple genres in the melting pot, it is the jazz and post-war West Coast jump that are spotlighted most prominently. Pick of the seven originals include opener East Of 82nd Street and closer Canoodlin’, both instrumental workouts that give the personnel on the recording date a chance to show what they can do. My Lil’ Stumptown Shack pays homage to Muddy Waters, while Young Girl offers yet another outing for the familiar Green Onions riff. Covers include Willie Dixon’s double entendre classic Too Many Cooks, as well as slices of Billy Boy Arnold, Sonny Boy Williamson (I not II) and Lowell Fulson. All the sidemen are in the pocket, all the time. Junior Watson’s jazz-tinged guitar work, laden with T-Bone Walker licks, make this a shred-free zone, while Fred Kaplan’s contribution on the 88s and the B3 are also worthy of a shout out. Bill Struve on doghouse bass and Marty Dodson on drums provide sturdy rhythm accompaniment. On the downside, once the band leader takes his gob iron out of his gob, his vocal efforts are revealed as adequate rather than awesome. But then, singing is hardly the point of this CD, which undoubtedly delivers for harp fans.
DAVID OSLER
Most readers are probably aware of the idea that a harsh urban environment helped shape the tough Chicago and Detroit blues sound of the 40s and 50s. In sharp contrast, 3Hattrio’s inspiration comes rather from the expansive desert spaces of south-west Utah and it does not need a romantic streak to hear this setting in the band’s sparse, wide-open sound. Hal Cannon supplies some fine chugging banjo, guitar, and mandolin playing, Eli Wrankle plays an expressive fiddle (listen to his work on Rose –and he is certainly not a conventional player) and Greg Istock is on vocals, bass and foot-stomping. The overall sound of the album then is Americana rather than blues, but deeply heartfelt and certainly qualifies for a definition of American roots music. This is the band’s third album (the first was Year One in 2014, the second Dark Desert Night followed the next year) of what they themselves call American desert music. Most of the songs are originals but Bob Marley’s Get Up Stand Up is transformed – quite stunningly - in an almost Appalachian traditional
number, and the album’s only other non-original actually is traditional, a version of Bury Me Not to close out the set. This is a formally sung cowboy ballad (also known as The Cowboy’s Lament), a little in the vein of Burl Ives, but with a backing that combines Americana and electronica –certainly interesting and different, a description that can just as equally be applied to the album as a whole.
NORMAN DARWEN
Adrian Galysh is a critically acclaimed West Coast guitarist and session musician, and upon reading his publicity and listening to the album, I can fully understand why he is described as a gunslinger (...capable of mixing soulful licks with full-bore rock and a heavy swirl of seventies progressive rock). It does not surprise me then that he has in the past collaborated with the likes of Uli Jon Roth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Robben Ford and Warren Demartini amongst many others. Here on Into The Blue, Galysh has departed from his previous instrumental and prog-inspired style, instead digging into his 70’s era influences to produce
an album that pays tribute to the his Roots, the blues. Along with Kacee Clanton on vocals (Joe Cocker and Beth Hart), Galysh has written six of the tracks with three well recognised classics included. Opening with a chant from a chain gang, Let Your Hammer Ring has the feel of an authentic blues standard. However, the stinging solos that Galysh produces marks it as being a modern song but nevertheless conveying a threat through his playing. Likewise the opening to Barstool Monarchy has Galysh running up and down his fret board with relish whilst Clanton adds some normality with her vocals. The first cover, Messin’ With The Kid is played in a respectful way but with some great country style picking by Carl Verheyen on guitar. Unlovable Me, a sultry, slinky slow blues follows, with Clanton smouldering on vocals and Galysh plays very tasty meaningful guitar, reining back the speed and replacing it with feel. This is followed by another cover and slow blues.
Nobody Knows You (When You’re Down And Out) once again has Clanton giving a top performance and Galysh’s guitar more than empathises with her vocal. This is possibly the best track on the album. The well-worn Further On Up The Road is treated fairly religiously, but there is great interplay between Galysh and Johnny Hiland. The album closes with six minutes of Why Am I
Singing The Blues, Galysh recreating the David Gilmour touch, each note resonating with feeling. Make no mistake, this is a Blues inspired album played by a fret shredder, but if guitar work is your forte, it’s well worth a listen.
MERV OSBORNE
bass respectively and can boast Magic Slim and the Teardrops on their CVs
Donnie Nichilo on piano, also with Buddy Guy and Junior wells on this. Last up, but definitely not least is harp player Russ Green, who numbers Lurrie Bell and John Primer amongst his former bands. Ten tracks of unadulterated Chicago blues, you will probably have to import it, but trust me, it’s worth it!
DAVE STONE
BLUE HOSS RECORDS
This is the first recording under this bands name, but it is certainly not their first experience of recording.
Frank “Bang” Blinkal who leads the band has played as Buddy Guys guitarist for 5 years, who wouldn’t want that on their CV? He also worked in Legends, Buddy’s Chicago club and is steeped in the Blues, but despite that, this is his first Blues record. Recorded in just one day, there are 10 tracks, apparently only 3 of them are self-written, but I can’t say that I was familiar with any of the others, and the notes that I pulled down aren’t forthcoming. But hey who cares? This is a straight down the line no messing Blues album, and despite the bands pedigree, there are no egos at loose here. BJ Jones and Andre Howard are drums and
Aaron Burton is yet another of those Texan pickers who seems to creep in under the radar lodging himself in the mind and memory. With around half a dozen albums already to his credit, with Southern Swagger he brings more than a touch of Down South, low-down and dirty acoustic blues to this new mix. All ten tracks are self-written and feature his laid-back, sensitive acoustic picking with its shades of past-masters and rolling rhythmic licks. Obviously touched by Texan influences including Sam Lighnin’ Hopkins, Burton nevertheless manages to slip sideways into the slipstream and stamp his own character
on the material and the fine fretwork with evident ease. His droll, drawling vocal delivery matches his picking style perfectly and he always squeezes some unexpected humour into the lyrical mix. Burton is one of those guys who is clearly comfortable with the music and has an excellent grasp of the essentials of good ole traditional southern blues. Southern Swagger is one to savour.
IAIN PATIENCEis a full-on rocker, whilst the country funk shuffle of the instrumental Cedar Shuffle has something of a less frenetic Stevie Ray Vaughan. Poor Boy Blues has some great slide guitar playing from Pat Rush. A Simple Truth has something of film soundtrack vibe to it, with Mark Crissinger’s soulful vocals adding a lot to the mood of the song. Wild Wind Fever has a light JJ Cale like shuffle to it, before slide guitars and harmonica add to the rock back-beat. The closing Run has light wah-wah guitar and slow funk undertones, and is a fine and fitting moment on which to end this album of quality music making and lyric writing.
MAPL RECORDS
The talented singersongwriter and guitarist Mark Crissinger sets out his stall of upbeat bluesy rock songs on Night Light. The ten records on this release are all originals, and have a joyful groove and some strong playing from guitarists Crissinger, Pat Rush and Steve Hill, whilst some strong piano, keyboard and harmonica features throughout, with Marty Howe’s playing having some of the summery feel of Stevie Wonder, and adds to the general up-beat feel of this album. Although these songs are blues songs, it is the swing provided by Bill Hicks’s drums that help to separate these songs from so many others. The Sunday Blues
BEN MACNAIR
BROS
Right from the start, the one word that sticks with me throughout is “pleasant”. Adam Karch is a singer/songwriter from Acadia, on the eastern seaboard of Canada, and this album has certainly grown on me since first playing. In fact, there is nothing here to dislike even though I describe it as primarily an acoustic album. The playing is superb and Karch’s voice suits the music totally
and is very reminiscent of Jack Johnson. The styles fluctuate from song to song, encompassing blues, country, folk and just simple pop songs, but all are effective. Again, I feel that Karch is primarily a solo artist, but on this album, he is joined by Bernard Deslauriers on percussion and Marc Andre Drouin on bass, the two adding a subtle backdrop to his performance. There are twelve songs here, eight of which are Karch originals and four covers, all delivered in his own way. The most obvious is Bob Seger’s Night Moves which opens with some attractive acoustic finger work and is recognisable as the intro to that great song even before the lyrics commence. Likewise, Keb Mo’s City Boy is given a beautiful makeover complete with some gracious harmonica from guest Guy Belanger, and perhaps the most unusual cover is Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London which follows the original quite religiously. Yet the true value here is found in his own songs. The opener Seaside Venues shows off the soft and gentle voice that Karch possesses as well as the intricacy of his guitar work. Likewise, in Those Steady Lights, probably an autobiographical ode to a loved one, Karch offers a song that I felt I knew even on first listen. The catchy melody and hook line in the chorus makes for a very radio friendly tune and is possibly my
favourite song on this release. The addition of pedal steel guitar on Louis Collins gives that track a wholesome feel of a rag time player down on his luck. Overall a great album by a very talented artist.
MERV OSBORNEThis is the eighth studio album from Croatian Tomislav Goluban. A new name for many readers of Blues Matters he is respected in Croatia, representing the nation at blues challenges in Demark and USA in 2017. Kaj Blues Etno, even without Croatian you know blues is in the music somewhere before listening to a note. Google translation tells me that the title is What Blues Ethno, having looked at the sleeve notes I think a better translation is What Blues Folk. The CD is divided into three distinct sections. The first is Kaj or What three of the five tracks are rearrangement of traditional music and they have a country folk feel, the fiddle is a cross between eastern European and bluegrass. This is an introduction to the music that is defined as Croatian blues. Vocals are strong and flow with
the instrumentation that is sharp and well produced. Second stage is Blues these are eight self-penned tracks and easily recognised as blues with the train tempo from well played harmonica on Cug the opening instrumental number. We are still on the train with Vlak Vozi or Train Ride an up-tempo number with deep Eastern European vocals and a wealth if instruments making this a goodtime journey. Different vehicle with Traktor and its distinctive opening of an engine starting and again harp that is from the Delta but threaded with European influences. We have delta, boogie and hints of Chicago in this section and an energy that engages. The last section Folk is another eight tracks and mix or original and traditional numbers. Vrata, translated as Doors, opens our musical ears to the blending of traditions the blues is a delicate thread running through and the horns are a delight. The album is interesting yes, the songs are sung in Croatian, but the music tells a story you can connect to blues with an international flavour.
LIZ AIKENColin James remains little known in the UK despite a total of eighteen albums since 1988. Part of the problem may be Colin’s eclecticism as he has produced acoustic, blues-rock, jump blues and singer-songwriter material but this solid blues album and a recent support slot to Beth Hart ought to change that. The album covers artists that have influenced Colin – “my road map”, ranging from pioneers to the giants of post-war blues, even tipping the hat to the UK with Peter Green’s Watch Out. Steve Marriner (MonkeyJunk) adds harp to several tracks including relaxed versions of Muddy’s Gypsy Woman and a medley of Howling Wolf’s Riding In The Moonlight and Jimmy Reed’s Mr Luck which is performed as a duet between Colin’s acoustic guitar and Steve’s harp.
of the terrific slide-driven treatment of Tommy Johnson’s Big Road Blues and the exuberant take on Don Nix’s Goin’ Down with Colin’s slashing guitar and Jesse O’Brien’s pumping piano, while Jimmy Rogers’ Goin’ Away develops from the dobro-led opening into a really catchy tune with gospel-tinged backing vocals. Colin’s versatility shows in a swinging version of Memphis Slim’s Lonesome that harks back to his Little Big Band albums and his sweet guitar licks on William Bell’s Don’t Miss Your Water, the only tune where horns appear. Long-term fans will know that Colin has always played blues; now we have an entire album to savour!
JOHN MITCHELL
Junior Wells’ Hoodoo Man Blues is played as a shuffle with rolling piano, excellent harp from Steve and some fine playing from Colin. In a completely different style Colin’s dobro work on Blind Willie McTell’s Ain’t Long For Day is stunningly beautiful and his solo acoustic version of RJ’s Last Fair Deal makes a quiet close to the album, a good contrast to the opener, Freddie King’s Boogie Funk which sets off like an express train with Colin’s ringing guitar, Steve’s harp and swirling organ from Simon Kendall. Highlights are many but mention must be made
SWEETSPOT
I shouldn’t be surprised really, it has happened often enough, but this release is yet another instance of where “...you can’t judge a book by the cover”. In fact, if I was trolling through CD racks, I’d pass this by. Al Basile is sat, smartly dressed in a leather recliner, shirt and tie and holding his cornet across his lap. All of which belies the wealth of music awaiting the listener. In
fact, his first career move was to play cornet with Roomful Of Blues in 1973, moving to work with Duke Robillard as songwriter and recording member since 1990 and he also has involvement in the Knickerbocker Allstars project. Furthermore, he has twelve releases under his own name and has been nominated five times since 2010 for Best Horn Player under the Blues Music Awards, all of which adds up to a formidable artist. Opening with the New Orleans tinged Keep Your Love, Where’s My Money? Basile proves to possess a strong powerful voice and a backing band that includes Duke Robillard, guitar and producing and Monster Mike Welch on guitar. Next up is the funky Like You Or Despise You with some lovely muted cornet playing. An additional bonus with this album is alongside the lyrics to each song, Basile has provided a small synopsis of the song. Like You Or Despise You is all about trust and taking people at face value. All songs are written by Basile, but it is easy to believe that I’ve Gotta Have Meat (With Every Meal) is a Louis Jordan swing song, particularly as the innuendo is spot on. Then sounding very much like an Albert King original, Like A Woman, Like A Man has song great Blues guitar from Robillard. Black Dog rolls nicely complete with a wall of horns behind the vocal. No Truth To The Rumour
switches feel completely, highlighting the quality of Basile’s voice along with the quality of his cornet playing and indeed this is exemplified by the big band sounding Listen To The Elders. Overall this album projects what is often back line instrumentation, namely the horn and sax section of a band and it works very well.
MERV OSBORNELead Belly casts a long shadow over popular music, bequeathing a large repertoire of songs he either wrote or gathered from his roots, and influencing the likes of Van Morrison, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Rory Gallagher, Lonnie Donegan, and even Led Zeppelin. This 2 CD set gathers together 50 of his best songs, largely recorded by Alan and John Lomax, and straddling blues, folk music, spirituals and work songs. Some of these are exceptionally familiar, such as Pick A Bale Of Cotton, Cotton Fields (later recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival), and even a briefer than brief Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. More particular to the blues world is Goodnight Irene, which may not be
straight ahead blues, but captures a blues mood with its classic melody and sad lyric of a lover so forlorn he’s ready to “take morphine and die”. Black Betty is similarly well known, recently covered by Sari Schorr, but here stripped down to just Lead Belly’s resonant voice and sparse handclaps. Meanwhile Lead Belly’s evident storytelling skills are put to good use on John Hardy, the tale of a murderous gambler recorded by anyone and everyone over the years. Elsewhere both Easy Rider and C.C. Rider reference Catfish Blues, while In New Orleans offers a different take on House Of The Rising Sun, featuring sturdy guitar. Lead Belly’s 12 string guitar skills are well showcased on a frantic reading of Gallis Pole, which wouldn’t need much more horse power to turn into Zeppelin’s version. Pretty Flowers In My Backyard wouldn’t sound out of place on Led Zeppelin III either, a classic blues with chiming guitars, on which Lead Belly duets with Josh White.
The Bourgeois Blues, meanwhile, captures social commentary on racist attitudes with its clever, acid lyrics – “Land of the free, don’t want to be mistreated by no bourgeoisie”. There are also several examples of a capella songs, with powerful harmonies. All told, Midnight Special covers a lot of bases, demonstrating the range of styles Lead Belly
had to offer – and the depth of his legacy.
IAIN CAMERON
MAR VISTA RECORDS
Donald Ray is a Texan vocalist and drummer with more than forty years’ music service mainly to the rhythm and blues circuit and has various awards for this and played with many of his influences such as Philip Walker and The Isley Brothers. He is the consummate frontman and certainly has credentials to whoop a frenzied audience. Here he joins a backing group whom he has toured with before a French quartet
The Gas Blues Band a very tight band of professional musicians. Gas being Gaspard Ossiklan sharing lead and rhythm guitars with Pierre Cayla. They are joined on bass guitar by Philippe Scemama and percussion by Yannick Urbani. Eleven slipping and sliding tunes two written by Donald himself Watching
You a funky saxophone driven tune cool guitar licks and Should’ve Been Gone with laid back harmonies adding to a catchy groove. The other songs are mainly covers opening with BB King’s Bad Luck a fine
horn section and sublime sassy vocals a mainstay of this excellent release. Bluesifyin’ suits his vocal range and Texan drawl narrative sucks the listener into his charm. Big Rear Window the Philip Walker cover is another highlight the band strutting through effortlessly with just a touch of sexual innuendo a much needed ingredient. There is a classical synergy with the band the tone and depth of feeling to tunes like Distant is pure quality keeping the blues alive and well and refreshed pure joy.
COLIN CAMPBELL
SEVERN RECORDS INC.
This fine album of gutbucket blues should please any fan of the good old electric-guitarand-harmonica version of the genre. It’s by turns foot-stompin’ and mournful: If it breaks no new ground, neither does it disappoint. Vocalist and harpist Sugar Ray Norcia is one of several illustrious alumni of Roomful of Blues – others include guitarists Duke Robillard and Ronnie Earl and vocalists Curtis Salgado and Lou Ann Barton. Eleven of the 12 cuts are originals, written by Norcia or members of
his tight five-piece band. The lone exception is You Know I Love You, written by the late B.B. King. And a beautiful instrumental it is. This CD finds Norcia, 62, in fine voice, wailing with the best of them. To emphasize the throwback nature of the album, the opening track, Sweet Baby, features delightfully fuzzed-up vocals and harmonica, as if the amp has been blown out by too many years on the road. And the guitar work from Monster Mike Welch, who wrote the track, is stellar. On the rest of the album, the fuzz disappears but not the old-time feeling. “They say seeing is believing,” Norcia moans on the selfpenned title track. “Baby, I believe you’re doing me wrong/Well baby, I don’t need your kind of lovin’/Oh Lord, the kind that ruins a happy home.” (Stop me if you’ve heard this before.)
On Keep On Sailing, a five-minute harmonica and voice piece, Norcia declares his intention to keep on sailing “until I get where I’m going.” Not that many of us have a choice, but it’s emotion rather than profundity that’s on display. There’s humour, too: On Blind Date, Norcia sings, “I don’t forget a face but for you I’ll make an exception.” And on Not Me, he croons with the best of them.
Throughout the album, the harmonica wails, the guitar shines, the piano pounds, and Norcia moans. This is the kind of CD you’ll never regret slapping in the player. You’ll be shimmying across the floor
instead, bopping around as you do the dishes.
M.D. SPENSER
SUNDAY MORNING REVIVAL
SMOG VEIL RECORDS
This is a real retrospective insight into the Cleveland underground blues scene of the sixties. Recorded in 1967 this nine-track gem was deemed to have been lost but all came to fruition through a cassette being sent to one of the founding members Tom Kriss and there the story begins. Read more in the fascinating liner booklet by Nick Blakey a work of pure persistence and passion. The band features Glenn Schwartz on lead guitar and distorted vocals. Also, Jimmy Fox on drums and Tom Kriss on bass guitar who were also members of The James Gang. Bill Miller aka Mr Stress features throughout on vocals and harmonica and Rich Kriss on guitar and Mike Sands on keyboards. A bit rough and lo fidelity in places full treble in others this is a good quality jam session from a very accomplished bunch of young musicians using the blues genre as musical grounding. Apart from the Sunday Morning Revival sound check sound the rest of the songs
are all blues standards. Opening with Ninety-Nine it is full of growling vocals and Chicago blues harp and visceral drumming a tone set throughout this release. Another Sonny Boy Williamson song Dissatisfied and guitar infused Checkin’ On My Baby roll along with force. Baby Please Don’t Go is back to basics and Sweet Little Angel sees the whole ensemble joining forces in a blues melee same as the highly infused Dust My Broom with more than a nod to The Yardbirds British blues style.
COLIN CAMPBELL
Based out of upstate New York, Tas Cru is one of the more distinctive of modern bluesmen. Though he is certainly no slouch on vocals or guitar, quite the opposite, in fact, he is particularly gifted in the song-writing department. Listen to a song like Tired Of Bluesmen Cryin’, “just because some woman left him cold”, and it becomes apparent that there is some individual and rather quirky thinking going on, allied to a deep understanding of the music and he frequently references food! Tas Cru’s fans might have noticed that the example I
picked is actually the title track of one of our man’s previous albums. In fact, what is happening with this album is that following on from 2015’s extremely well-received You Keep The Money, Tas decided it sounded so good that he has re-recorded some of the less easily obtainable songs from earlier in his career and the exercise has certainly been more than worthwhile. He keeps his “acoustic-ish” sound, tempered with more than an occasional hint of the Sun Records sound, plus a hint of blues-rock in places. The eleven songs feature Tas on electric, acoustic, resonator, and cigar box guitars, but with slightly bigger arrangements, supported by some excellent backing vocals, harmonica, piano and/or organ, over a cracking rhythm section, try the rhythm on Woman Won’t You Love Me.
This is today’s blues with real quality, but if you do nothing else, do lend an ear to the version of Jackie Wilson’s Higher And Higher that ends the album on a truly awesome soul/gospel, high.
NORMAN DARWEN THE BOB LANZA BLUES BAND IT’S TIME TO LET GOaround a little while and this is his fourth album, probably his best to date. He lost both his mother and brother during the recording of the album and it is remarkable that the pain he must have felt doesn’t bleed through into what is a pretty good hornladen blues album. His New Jersey roots do show through on the album, he was mentored in part by New Yorkers Johnny Copeland and Floyd Phillips and his band lay down hard blowing blues and more jazzy material while Lanza’s vocals and guitar are tasty. He isn’t setting any new standards but there is always room for a band that get your feet moving and heart jumping in rhythm with them.
Opener Mind Your Own Business has a steaming groove, very Sea Cruise, and sounds as though it would be a great live track. The Cranberry Lake Horns blow up a storm and Vin Mott’s drums are power packed and funky. The title track is softer and jazzier, very much a New York groover. I don’t know that it was written for his mother but it has the sound and the guitar on the track has an edge of poignancy. When The Sun Comes Up is a funky little number with a wicked guitar sound while Your Turn To Cry is a Chicago style number with some lovely piano (Randy Wall) in the background. Follow Your Heart and You’re Not In Texas show that he has a sense of humour as well but never joking for
the sake of it. There really isn’t a single standout number but the album as a whole shows remarkable skills throughout the band and some damn good songwriting as well. Very well worth a listen.
ANDY SNIPPER
Like seriously swingin’ electric blues? Then chances are high you’ll love this new album from Duke Robillard, one of the best guitarists of the last 50 years. Robillard has paid his dues: He was a founding member of Roomful of Blues, in 1967, serving as the group’s frontman; he’s been a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds; he’s played behind everybody from Tom Waits to Wham!, and released 30 or so solo albums. On this CD, Robillard eschews any tendency to show off. Most of these songs (11 of the 13 are originals) are midpaced swingers rather than pyrotechnic displays. The occasional slow weeper is thrown in for good measure: One is blues for Eddie Jones, in honour of Guitar Slim, who drank himself to death at 32; another is Worth Waiting On, a classic-to-be about a jilted man waiting for his
lover to return. But most tracks are jumpier fare. Robillard’s ragged growl is well suited to the material and his backing band is exquisitely tight, from piano to sax to drums. He trades licks with Jimmie Vaughan, whom he replaced in the T-birds, on Shufflin’ and Scufflin’, a delicious instrumental they co-wrote. Sugar Ray Norcia, another Roomful of Blues alumnus, takes a turn at the mike for a song Robillard found difficult to sing; and Kelly Hunt contributes vocals on her song The Mood Room. This album was a long time in coming. Robillard says he recorded seven of the songs on one of the best guitar days he’s ever had –standing just close enough to his amp to get a level of sustain that guitar players mostly just dream about. Then a shoulder injury led to surgery, physical therapy and an inability to play for nearly a year. But finally, he finished the album. He wrote three of the originals 30 to 45 years ago, when he led Roomful of Blues. Hence the album’s title: Blues Full Circle. The injury might have been agonizing, the physical therapy interminable. But the album was worth the wait.
M.D. SPENSER
Another EP has landed on my desk and this time we get to listen to five tracks. Four are originals and one, Tell Him (remember Billie Davies or The Exciters versions?), from the largely under-recognised Bert Berns (Twist & Shout, Piece Of My Heart, Under The Boardwalk, Brown Eyed Girl etc.). Hailing from Philadelphia Gina has been kicking around the blues world for many years now and the EP is her sixth studio outing and it is rather good. Her vocals whilst not drenched in booze and cigarettes like say Janis have a decent range and she inhabits her songs mixing blues, soul with a touch of gospel thrown into the mix. The opening cut Abandoned is a tale of cast aside love and I liked the lines ‘love can come like a wind in Kansas, then it runs swift as a bandit’. I’d guess that this was written from the heart. I Cried sees Gina belting out in true gospel style and I think it works very well whilst Never Gonna End also treads similar musical territory. Troubled love affairs are always ripe for the telling in song and Gina in a matter of fact way. That is not to say that she does not sing with feeling quite the reverse. Tell Him is arranged and recorded with a nice sixties feel familiar to those of us old enough to remember the original versions. The close out cut is They Never Pay Me and again I was left wanting just a little bit more of this EP.
GRAEME SCOTT
GINA SICILIA SUNSET AVENUE BLUE ELAN
TUERY RECORDS
Jack Blackman is a fascinating artist who sits fi rmly in the folk blues arena although on the evidence of this album he can play some tasty subtle electric guitar if called upon. He has released a couple of albums already during his short career and is still only just in his early twenties, his music is very easy on the ear and his musicianship is top class. Besides been a profi cient vocalist with excellent command of his songs he accompanies himself on a variety of instruments including harmonica, mandolin, Hofner bass and 12-string to name but a few. Jack has a warm vocal that while low on decibels is very imposing, especially when coupled with his well crated lyrics, the song title is probably a bit tongue in cheek, as on the evidence of this eleven-track album he has made it and is already a standout artist in this genre. Two tracks in particular are very strong, they are Bottle Tree Blues which has a very plaintive vocal and the fi nal track Take It From Me which has a guest vocal from a Tom Waits sounding artist called Slopey, which works well
with Jack’s harmonica and slide guitar. Very impressive album by an artist who has talent in abundance and is already receiving plaudits from the likes of Paul Jones and Martin Simpson.
ADRIAN BLACKLEE
Red Butler’s second album Nothing To Lose is perhaps the closest you can get to their live performance without recording a live album. Produced by King King’s drummer Wayne Procter, this CD possesses all the swagger, punch and aggression that are the main stay of their stage act. Alex Butler, lead guitar, has a style and energy which impresses from the outset and includes hints of both Led Zeppelin and Clapton amongst others in his playing. Ably backed by Mikey Topp on bass and Charlie Simpson on drums, they are a veritable powerhouse rhythm section that provides the ideal foil to Butler’s guitar, the two blending to create what is described as a dynamic rock/blues band, but for me the emphasis is surely on their heavy rock sound. The fourth member of the band is vocalist
Jane Chloe Pearce. Live, she is the epitome of the heavy rock chick, throwing faces and body shapes like there is no tomorrow. Here, without the visuals, her voice has to mirror the heavy approach of the music, something that doesn’t always work. Whilst it would be fair to say she handles the slower, less heavy songs well, the punchier, aggressive songs can sometimes find her lacking, her sweet voice failing to meet the rawness required. This is best demonstrated by Sandi Thom’s Born In The Belly Of The Blues, the sole cover on this album. This she sings most sweetly, making this one of the finest tracks on the album, with Butler’s guitar adding a meaningful expressive solo mid-song. Compare that to the aggression of the opener, Got To Make It. Her vocals open almost as if speaking until the chorus when she reverts to sweet range which doesn’t suit the song. Nevertheless, the quality of songs stand out, Nine of them are band originals with one, Say Hello (To My Little Friend) co-written with Wayne Procter. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t too far removed from the King King style, and therefore a great swinging song. Another great song is Big Bad Wolf, an up-tempo but menacing guitar riff with masses of drum and bass backing, and one where Jane’s voice works very well.
MERV OSBORNE
By its own admission on the sleeve notes, this is a historic document of little interest to the mainstream blues community, being as it is a collection of 27 fi eld recordings from the seventies (CD) featuring musicians from that small part of Southern Louisiana known as Acadia, an area which is almost entirely French speaking, and home to Cajun and Creole music. If you know anything about this music, you will know that the accordion features very strongly throughout and all vocals are in French. Recording quality is generally good but with all due respect I wouldn’t voluntarily sit through these 27 tracks again! The film is interesting to students of this strange enclave of French speakers in the Southern states, but will disappoint if you are looking for anything much in the way of music, although certain artists are featured, it all very confusing as to who is who. It will probably help if you speak French, although the accents are strange. It is sub titled and the sleeve notes are in a 28-page booklet in both French and English. So, in summary very much a niche market.
DAVE STONE
by organ Groove Master
“The Soul Connection, Deluxe Edition” includes the new studio album “The Soul Connection” & the fiery live album “Captured Live”!
Pepper Cake Records/ZYX-MUSIC | PEC 2104-2d
Raphael Wressnig joins forces with Brazilian blues guitar boss Igor Prado and cook up a gumbo stew of soul, old school r&b and funk featuring vocal legends Wee Willie Walker, David Hudson & Leon Beal.
Pepper Cake Records/ZYX-MUSIC & Chico Blues Records | PEC 2104-2
Captured Live is a nine song exercise in musical ecstasy thanks to Wressnig and his coconspirators - The Soul Gift Band and special guest Deitra Farr.
Pepper Cake Records/ZYX-MUSIC | PEC 2105
www.raphaelwressnig.com
2016
The festival continues its tenure at the O2, which can be a balmy place on a good day and a windswept netherworld in poor weather. We are somewhere in the middle this weekend. The O2 is really a shopping mall with eateries galore and several performance halls. Getting in to the main Arena is a slow process, with necessary but laborious safety and security checks. Because of this we missed Steve Rodgers on
one night, so apologies to him. Overall we are well looked after by our main PR contact and managed to see the acts we wanted to see. A lot of the time two or more attractive events are going on at the same time, so we have to choose and/or split up to cover what we can. There is a good merchandise stall but overall we found the prices somewhat steep, a tour T-shirt at £25 or more is hardly fan friendly in our opinion. The people that attend this festival, and the C2C one for country fans,
buy shirts, bandanas, mugs, albums, hats and so on. They drink quite a lot and consume a lot of food. They cause no trouble. Our photographers have a great variety of acts to capture and some of the performers cannot – certainly by purists - be termed BLUES. One Arena evening features a double bill of urban queen Mary J Blige and soul maestro Maxwell. During his set I was over at dear Bill Wyman’s 80th birthday beano, but raced back in the break to catch the start of Maxwell’s set. His band were
pure electricity, vicious guitar tones, fat subterranean bass, clattering drums and spiky horns riffing away as the singer prowled the stage, at times probably the bluesiest sound of the weekend and certainly the most powerful. A good half of Blige’s audience look and dress exactly like her - at various stages of her career! - and she leaves the following breathless with excitement and involvement.
Meanwhile, and after a cool illustrated slideshow of Stones and Wyman history in the Indigo room – thankfully seated – Bill and the Rhythm Kings personnel and many others take us on a trip through mostly r&b classic recordings, performed tonight in bustling jukebox style. Every guest looks happy to be there and every guest steers away from
doing their own hit songs to make the sonic voyage work. And what guests! The Stones are in the States, which might disappoint some but the turnout on stage made you glad to be there.
Joe Brown and Henry Gross take the stage, Joe handling mandolin for Ruby Tuesday, then Mollie Marriott slips on for Tulsa Time. A true rockabilly Summertime Blues follows. Mark Knopfler wields a black Danelectro for Donegan’s Gone, playing slide, then switches to a Les Paul. Andy Fairweather Low puts his Strat to use on a rhumba’d Holy Smoke. Van Morrison strides on to the stage, blows sax on Ray Charles’ I Believe To My Soul and a cool trumpet solo floats over the cruising horns. Little Walter’s Mean Old World benefits from
Frank Mead’s rasping harp figures. Wyman’s bass drives Harlem Shuff le, featuring the lovely Beverly Skeete, who is fulsome in her praise of Bill for giving her a break way back when. A ‘bit of gospel’ is delivered on I Shall Not Be Moved - Mead’s soprano break aches. Bill uses an old fairground expression, informing us that it is ‘his turn in the barrel’ and steps up to sing lead on Chuck Berry’s, You Never Can Tell. After the break, Martin Taylor plays fluid Braziliantinged guitar to a warm reception. Hollie Stephenson, the teenage soulster, is upfront for Beast of Burden, in a short silver dress and showing some nerves with this stellar crew. Bill is kindness itself, of course, and Time Is On My Side follows. Bob Geldof plays harp and
sings on Little Red Rooster and Route 66. Steve Van Zandt burns on his Strat. Then a bit of a treat, the never-played-live Wyman chart hit Je Suis Un Rock Star, pumped along by Dave Bronze on the bass. One of Bill’s daughters sings along! Mick Hucknall plays sharp harp on King Bee, getting a real Excello label sound from the band. Glorious Hammond permeates his take on Reconsider Baby, the Lowell Fulsom song. The horns blare out Pickett’s 634-5789. Skeete is back for It’s A Man’s World. Tapping piano and a pleading vocal chills the room. Mike Sanchez sings well on Movin’ On Down The Line which takes Boom Boom and Boogie Chillun. A dark-haired Imelda May lights up Let The Good Times Roll before torching I’m Crying. Then Robert Plant
appears, to belt out Chuck Willis’ Feel So Bad, evoking Elvis’ version at times, then does Let The Boogie Woogie Roll, enough to make writer Clyde himself smile. In the middle of all these riches, a humbled Wyman thanks all his friends. As warm a session as you could ever experience. The various afternoon performances on Saturday and Sunday came together pretty late in the day, but once we knew there would be some afternoon shows, we made an effort to catch some, these being in need of attention and indeed deserving the same. Lisa Mills has a Tedeschi-style approach and uses gentle guitar to put over Sending Me Angels. Jack Hutchinson belts out Boom with rattling slide and a mid-range voice. Paddy Milner tinkles the ivories with his customary New Orleans tinge. Kaz Hawkins aims as usual at connecting with her audience and her gypsy-flavoured torch blues is well-received. Giles Robson shows his mastery of the harp with no showboating, kindly writing out his setlist for me when we spoke after his set. His band display a steady Fab T’s vibe with edgy guitar runs but the superb harp playing is the trump card on Sarah Lee, Shady Heart and Bound For The Border. A fine and cohesive band sound. Mark Harrison of Turpentine album fame, played lively guitar and remarks on songs, worthy of sponsorship by Sarson’s.
by John Bull
I find myself suddenly at a Meet And Greet with the lively Temperance Movement, chatting to their Scottish singer about touring and personnel. Later they appear
before Walter Trout and put over a show crammed with pacy songs, deft guitar interplay, solid drumming and roaming, steady bass. They land somewhere between AC/DC, the Hoax and Frankie Miller a lot of the time and notch a high score for attack. Trout tore into a Howlin' Wolf song and poured out squealing guitar runs for song after song, accompanied by his keys, bass and drums outfit. Bad Company lose no time in grabbing the audience when they hit the stage in the Arena. I first saw Mick Ralphs playing in The Year Dot with Mott The Hoople at the time of their first Island album, on a bill with Status Quo at The Castle, Tooting, for half a pound. But I have never seen him play better than tonight, he is magnificent and sharp, bouncing off Rodgers’ pal from Heart, Howard Leese, on the other guitar. Paul’s best moments come when he pounds the piano perched next to the drumkit. The hits are delivered with the cream of album cuts, a winsome Seagull in the closing part of the show having tenderness and punch in equal measure. Absolutely no surprises or anything adventurous but truly a crowd-pleasing set, especially for those who had never seen Bad Company. Earlier, Bon Jovi axe man Ritchie Sambora brought on a band including his glamorous guitar partner Orianthe – one for the photogs, no beards and grimacing – plus, at one point, Miami Steve Van Zandt. He had read the brief and included some blues songs, but the shot at I Got You Babe cannot
be dropped soon enough. Sambora has personality, good humour and musical chops and did bring in some new fans to the festival. The guest harp player was a good touch, for the day.
Clashes of timings meant we could not take in the fabulous Marcus King Band or the double bill of Van Morrison and Jeff Beck. A Brooklyn Bowl session starred Jo Harman, Hollie Stephenson and Lauren Housley, reportedly all singing up a storm. I really wish I had been able to take in The Strypes, as their gig at The Garage was one of the most powerful shows of this year and the Bay Rays sounded terrific at their sound check. Steve Van Zandt’s own gig started at 11 pm, great if you live in Greenwich but otherwise an awkward timing.
For the most part well-run, this festival has its quirks but does provide a chance to see some world-class acts and many building their reputations. Female artists are well represented. There were smiles on the faces of most attending as they left. As for next year, how about The Rides, Gary Clark, Jonny Lang, Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall, Mahalia Barnes?
PETE SARGEANT
23 RD-25 TH SEPTEMBER
The Paonia, Colorado area has been described as having a climate similar to the Provence region of France. Once a coal mining town, it is re-inventing itself with solar energy; tourism; vineyards; wineries; fruit
orchards; organic vegetable farms; expat musicians like the late Joe Cocker; and spring-to-fall musical and foodie events such as Cherry Days; The BMW Motorcycle Rally; and the Mountain Harvest Festival on the last weekend of September.
The 2016 year was the 16th annual Mountain Harvest Festival with a four-day celebration that, among other events, featured a grape stomp; a chili cook off; a pie contest; a marimba workshop; winery tours; and four days of music from area musicians.
Nestled along the fertile North Fork of the Gunnison River valley, between majestic snow-covered mountain peaks and grand mesas, are a total of nine wineries; dozens of organic farms; goat and dairy farms; a handful
of B&B’s and a three-block long main street. Paonia, has a city population of less than 1800 residents, mostly from somewhere else, who found the slow pace of life more appealing than from where they willingly left.
Fly into Denver and it’s a five hour drive over three high mountain passes, or, take a commuter plane from DIA to Grand Junction and it’s only a two hour drive. Hard to get to, even harder to leave, many folks are finding it the perfect location to retire and kick back with a local hand-crafted brew, or glass of wine, while enjoying the view and climate.
The festival culminated on Sunday afternoon in City Park with food trucks, and music on the Gazebo Stage. The aromas of Thai and
Indian food wafted through the crowd, as some waited as long as 40 minutes for their noodles or eggrolls. The spicy scent of fire-roasted chilies drifted across the decorated stage, as the Bruce Hays Duo played their versions of electric bluegrass. Arts and crafts booths dotted the shady tree-studded park. Hard cherry, berry and apple cider brewed from local orchards, lifted the spirits of revelers dancing with their partners, children, dogs or simply by themselves to the rock and roll of the AJ Fullerton Band from just down the road a piece. The Johnny O Band with guests - 70’s Chicago expat Karen
Tafejian (Yama and the Karma Dusters) on keys, woodworker extraordinaire Richard Marks on congas and harp, and Kyle
Sage on rhythm guitar (all with roots on the other side of McClure pass) - had the massive crowd wildly dancing to blues originals and tribute songs penned by the late Howard Berkman, Chicago’s son and Paonia’s troubadour.
Culminating in late afternoon, with the sun low on the western horizon, was the stage dedication to bluesman Howard Berkman, who passed away five years previously, a longtime resident and musical inspiration to all who knew and loved him. The Harvest Fest Jam Band closed the weekend with Rick Stockton and Helen Highwater from The Scones, both Austin expats from the 80’s, playing with Mike Gwinn and the North Fork Flyers DARRELL SAGE
HULL – NORTH SEA – AMSTERDAM
4TH-6TH NOVEMBER 2016
“Baby, Let Me Take You On A Sea Cruise”
This was the second edition of this ‘floating festival’ and word had obviously spread – almost 600 music fans climbed aboard the ‘Pride of Hull’ for a weekend of prime blues, gospel and jump-jive with not a sea-shanty to be heard.
In fact, even before boarding, ‘cruisers’ were treated to a toe-tapping welcome from the Leeds City Stompers in Terminal 1 check-in lounge. This energetic trio specialises in prohibition-era blues from the likes of Jesse Fuller, Louis Prima and Robert Johnson.
Each of them sings although Christopher Fox features most. Martyn Roper slaps the stand-up bass with drummer Jack Amblin shining on washboard solos. Their versatile good-humoured performance set the right tone for what was to follow.
With bags in cabins and food consumed at one of several diners, the ‘cruisers’ headed for the Sunset Show Lounge, which was filled to capacity long before the
Captain’s announcement that we were at sea and the show could begin.
The opening act, introduced by M/C Michael Ford, was Alabama-resident, singer-songwriter Lisa Mills. It’s an indication of the quality on show that she had just been nominated as European blues vocalist of the year. Accompanying herself on guitar Lisa showcased her new album, Mama’s Juke Book, which finds her re-
working some of her mother’s favourites – including Ray Charles’ I Can’t Stop Loving You and Kit Carson’s Big Blue Diamonds. Her voice moves easily between country-blues and gospel but it was her southern-soul stylings she drew on when Kyla Brox joined her in one of those musical collaborations that are quickly becoming this festival’s USP. Trading verses on Etta’s I’d Rather Go Blind and Sam Cooke’s Bring it on Home, these two wonderful chanteuses belied the old stereotype that girls aren’t competitive. For some this was the highlight of the cruise.
As in 2015, ‘House Band’ duties were ably performed by the Norman Beaker Band Norman has played alongside anyone-whois-anyone in UK blues for five decades, and with his indefatigable sidemen - John Price bass, Nick Steed keys and Steve Gibson drumsprovided this Revue’s spine. They opened with well-crafted originals, such as Only I
Wants, and blues classics, including Sittin’ on Top of the World, from their Live in Belgrade CD before calling back their first featured vocalist – Kyla Brox
Kyla is a force-of-nature with a huge voice, and charm in abundance. She is now an in-demand artist at festivals on mainland Europe, where her experience and talent are hugely celebrated. She stormed into her set with Irma Thomas’ You Can Have My Husband…’ before calming the audience with a wonderful reading of Etta’s At Last.
Kyla’s latest offering Throw
Away Your Blues, features 365, her own wonderful addition to blues/soul ‘number songs’ with a catchy chorus that the audience was only too pleased to supplement, providing a raucous finale to a brilliant set.
We were well on our way towards Rotterdam when Norman’s long-time musical collaborator Larry Garner joined him on the tiny stage. Larry, who hails from the swamp-blues hotbed of Baton Rouge, Louisiana has been described as “... one of the top five bluesmen on the planet.” He quickly demonstrated that he is the complete package – vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. His keen eye for observation and hip word-craft bring to life his life on the road, as evidenced by Juke Joint Woman - dedicated to several of the night’s individualistic dancers. His songs can be motivational, Road Of Life, or simply hilarious as with the show-stopping Keep on Singing the Blues, complete with testifying monologue and pin-sharp rapping.
To complete the four-hour Revue, Durham’s dapper Revolutionaires took to the stage determined to rock. Led by the perpetualmotion machine that is Ed Stephenson, that’s just what they did. Delighted dancers had every opportunity to strut their idiosyncratic stuff to prime 50's rhythm and blues. With stand-in bassist Mike Powell and drummer Mark Matthews providing an irresistible rhythm, Ed’s raw guitar and powerful vocals ripped into Slim Harpo’s Shake Your Hips, Big Joe Turner's Flip Flop and Fly,
and Big Mama Thornton’s Hound Dog amongst many others. Sax-man Gary Hoole intervened to lead on The Champs’ Tequila, before cruisers headed for their cabins aware of an early start just a few hours ahead.
After a lost hour and a hurried breakfast, cruisers found a fleet of coaches (complete with blues CDs) standing ready to take them down the road to the multiple attractions of Amsterdam. Some found museums, some found cafes, but most dodged bicycles to head for the Waterhole, an excellent back-street music-bar. Open to ‘cruisers only’ it hosted Amsterdamresident Ian Siegal at the start of his ‘Twenty-fiveyears-on-the-road-tour’.
In solo acoustic mode, Ian presented two separate one-hour concerts, so great was the demand to see him. Without any repetition, each show featured his own fine songs, Falling on Down Again and I Am the Train, and traditional gospel-flavoured blues Oh Mary, John the Revelator and Ain’t Nobody’s Business. In deference to his blues audience, he returned to his Howlin' Wolf roots with a chilling rendition of Mr Burnett’s, The Wolf Is At Your Door – a powerful reminder of the talent of Europe’s top blues vocalist, whose new CD collection 2WENTY5IVE emphasises the richness and longevity of his output.
It was almost show-time again when we returned to the ship, eager for more high-quality music.
Lisa had left for gigs in Holland, and her place was taken in the return
trip of the Revue by top Dutch band Little Steve and the Big Beat, ready to launch their first full-length album, Another Man.
Whilst the rest of the Revue were again on fine form, for many it was Little Steve who stole the show. Steve van der Nat leads the band with fine vocals and clean, ringing lead guitar. A rhythm section of ‘Bird’ Stevens on bass and the award-winning Jody van Ooijen on drums provide a perfect, disciplined foundation for the band’s 50's/60's rhythm and blues. What sets this quintet apart both musically and visually though, is the wonderful brass section of Martijn van Toor on tenor and Evert Hoedt on baritone saxes. Wilbert Harrison’s Kansas City got the breakneck treatment with an excellent solo from Steve, and Chuck Willis’ influence in bridging jump blues and rock ‘n’ roll was celebrated on his classic, oft-recorded, Feel So Bad. Steve’s own compositions stood their ground in this company with I Gotta Know and Another Man drawing special applause. However, it was Otis Rush’s classic Double Trouble that brought a lengthy standing
ovation after an extended, yet restrained, guitar solo from Steve. How long will it be before a major festival brings this outfit to the UK?
The night wasn’t over though, with the trademark cruise jam taking us to the midnight hour, culminating in a ‘you-had-to-be-there’ supergroup of Norman and band supplemented by Little Steve on guitar, Kyla and Larry on backing vocals and Ed on harp leading the audience on Frankie Ford’s Sea Cruise.
‘Cruisers’ are already clamouring for places on the next sailing under this banner in March – A Mardi Gras Cruise - celebrating the music of New Orleans and featuring Paddy Milner’s Londonola, The Revolutionaires, Dale Storr, Dom Pipkin & the Ikos, Tipitina and Volcano Brass.
“Ooh-ee Baby”, indeed!
22 ND-23 RD OCTOBER 2016
Chicago bluesman Lil' Ed Williams might well have packed them in for his usual, bouncing, boisterous sets in the Caribbean as part of the Legendary Blues Cruise, but only a few days beforehand, he was playing to an enthralled and happy shower of raucous Scandinavian fans, as they sailed from Sweden to Finland and back with wall-to-wall blues music. Ed is clearly enjoying himself, a guy currently rocketing along at the top of his game, as the packed crowd would no doubt agree.
A significantly cheaper, more-affordable gig, July Morning’s Blues At Sea cruise from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, is fast becoming a must-do gig, with a range of US and European blues talent featuring each year. Last year saw Memphis
outfit the Jeff Jensen Band among the runners while for 2016 Lil' Ed crossed the Pond to deliver his own, ever-energetic offering to the 2000-plus, on-board crowd. Other notable players included Sweden’s own, home-grown blues royalty in Sven Zetterberg, a guy who can hack it in spades and is widely revered in his homeland. Zetterberg’s band were on top form and had the packed crowd roaring along with them from start to finish. The wonderful voice of blues lady Louise Hoffsten was perfectly matched and backed by one of the region’s finest blues outfits, Finland’s Wentus Blues Band, this year celebrating their 30th year together. Young rocking bluesman Pontus Snibb also turned in a strong, searing set that had the crowd baying for more and six-piece rock-blues band, Trickbag, featuring UK bluesman Steve
‘Wes’ Weston, also produced a white-hot opening set almost as the boat was still heading out of the quay.
Young Swedish trio, Black River Delta slipped and slid along with their growing popularity and resonating fretwork much to the fore, while true traditionalists were treated to an excellent, back-to-back double set from Swedish-based, Yugoslavian acoustic picker Homesick Mac, here teamed with a young blues lady, Maria Stille. This was a pairing that worked well and Homesick Mac’s evident maturity and experience easily had the substantial breakfast-brunch crowd onside as the cruise crept slowly into harbour towards the close of the event. Material covered a good range of old-style acoustic John Hurt blues to Americana classics from the late Doc Watson’s back catalogue.
Overall, this is a wellconceived project, capitalising on the Scandinavian love of blues and roots music, while always bringing unexpected US blues talent to the table. A totally affordable, warmly welcoming event, this is one to add to the blueslover's diary for sure.
IAIN PATIENCE
GUY DAVIS AND BROOKS WILLIAMS
THE VOODOO ROOMS, EDINBURGH
29TH NOVEMBER 2016
The enthusiastic introduction by the compere of the Edinburgh Blues Club, describing Brooks Williams as “the world’s greatest acoustic guitarist” caused raised eyebrows amongst
the discerning audienceand indeed Brooks himself. However, the brilliant slide guitar playing and his overall six-string dexterity, technique and power on the opening number, Statesboro Blues, quickly justified the eulogy. The eyebrows lowered, the jaws dropped and the final gig of the Inside The Delta tour was underway. Based in Cambridge but born in Georgia, and destined to play the blues from childhood, Brooks drew upon his repertoire of traditional songs including Bessie Smith’s Backwater Blues, Memphis Slim’s Mother Earth and an old style version of Muddy Waters’ Sugar Sweet, the latter played superbly on a three-string cigar box guitar which added to the authenticity. Back to the National Resonator and it must have been the first time blues fans have given a standing ovation to Amazing Grace, this
instrumental version a work of pure genius. Brook’s stories about Mississippi John Hurt and other blues greats were intriguing and entertaining, as was his repartee with New Yorker Guy Davis, who joined forces for Louis Collins and Sitting On Top Of The World. Guy’s innovative harp interludes, smooth vocal harmonies and intricate acoustic guitar accompaniment added a further dimension.
The second half started with a solo performance from Guy and an immediate impact with Little Red Rooster, the audience joining in the bark of the dogs and the howl of the hounds with great gusto. A foot-stomping, 12-string extravaganza called Maggie Campbell Blues preceded a selection of songs from the Kokomo Kid album, including the emotionally charged I Wish I Hadn’t Stayed Away So Long, and a memorable interpretation of Lay Lady
Lay with gorgeous fingerpicking guitar. Tonight, however, was all about the two giants of acoustic blues duetting and dueling for the first time ever, the sparks really flying when they came together again for the finale; My Babe and Deep River Blues smouldered and simmered before the explosion of Mercury Blues. By now Guy and Brooks were rocking harder than any electric band, the mics turned up, the harp screaming and whooping, the guitars thrashing. The EBC is committed to bringing the best international blues artists to Edinburgh and this was certainly achieved with panache tonight. THE BISHOP
24TH NOVEMBER 2016
International musicians of Sean’s calibre and reputation are rarely sighted in rural Northumberland, so the loyal regulars at the monthly ‘Rothbury Roots’ event eagerly anticipate tonight’s visit. This intimate and atmospheric setting is perfect for Sean’s solo acoustic performance, which is inspirational and truly unforgettable: 25 songs and over two hours of Taylormade blues, folk, boogie, jazz and, at times, pure poetry. Sean’s voice has increasingly become a musical instrument in its own right, his vocal range now including a huskier edge to add to the mellifluous, softer, almost whispering tones. This, together with his extensive lyrical prowess, makes comparisons with Leonard
Cohen inevitable alongside the Dylan and Martyn similarities highlighted by so many journalists. However, it is Sean’s uniqueness which shines through tonight’s gig, as he adds a further dimension to classics such as Heartbreak Hotel, Spoonful and You’ll Never Walk Alone. The set opens with the Paul Klee inspired, Les Rouges Et Les Noirs, from the highly acclaimed, The Only True Addiction Is Love album, the title track of which is also aired later in the evening. Sean’s passion for Yeats is reflected in The White Birds, as he draws out the truth and beauty of the poem. Calcutta Grove “a true story about an imaginary place!” and So Fine, are from the extensive back catalogue; however, it is the tracks from the new Flood And Burn CD which intrigue the audience as this
latest masterpiece unfolds. A Good Place To Die, Better Man and The Cruelty Of Man now represent the direction in which Taylor is heading and they are among his best songs yet. The power of religion, the quest for peace over war and the beauty and danger of the troubadour lifestyle are all here. The guitar work is intricate, rhythmical and technically superb, with slide and fi nger picking techniques created without artificial devices. From gigging at all-night ‘hard house raves’ in his youth, Sean Taylor has travelled the world with his guitar and harmonica. This remarkable journey continues apace and it is a privilege to watch such an intense, sincere, talented and entertaining musician reaching the top of his game.
THE BISHOP
19TH NOVEMBER 2016
After more than 25 years as a performing, touring and recording artist it was not surprising that the critically acclaimed blues singer and guitarist, Ian Siegal, was able to attract a healthy audience when he made his debut performance at Lichfield Guildhall, at the closing night of his most recent tour.
Support for this concert came from local blues band, The Foregate Street Blues Band. The three-piece ensemble played a selection of their own songs and some choice covers. The highlights of their short set included their own songs Easy Cold Mama, and Foregate Street Blues, which included a characterful kazoo solo, whilst set closer Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I do,
featured some fine interplay on harmonica and guitar.
Ian Siegal’s band included his long-term bassist Danny Wasthoff, drummer Rafael Schwiddissen and guest guitarist Joel Fisk. His long set included several of his own compositions, which skipped between genres and energy levels, taking in slow blues, brisk funk, and some show-stealing soloing from all four of the players.
Ian Siegal’s voice is also one of the finest on the live blues circuit, ranging from the grit of Joe Cocker and Paul Rodgers, to the cleaner, more soulful sounds of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. His songs often segued into other people’s music, with tips of the hat to Prince, Otis Redding and a show stealing version of
Sam Cooke’s Bring it on Home to Me, which closed the show. Their set ranged from the bluesy I Am The Train, replete with rock based riff s and dynamism, to the wistful, Ry Cooder - like slide guitar that kicked off the ballad Early Grace. Country Shuff les also took a large part of the set, with songs such as How Come You’re Still Here? making good use of Joel Fisk’s talent with a Telecaster.
Jelly On A Plate was a blues based song, with a wide groove, whilst The Revelator/Back Door man was an abject lesson in brooding interplay, darker tones, and some fi ne time signature changing on bass and drums. This was a night of fi ne music, played by some talented musicians who have put the work, and the miles in, and know how to keep an audience entertained.
BEN MACNAIR
28TH OCTOBER 2016
For a part-time band (Jim ‘J.D.’Dolan is a business executive) this outfit seriously cut it, both in terms of material and delivery. They may not do this all the time, but they are absolutely not playing around. The band is all stellar musicians, but any band is only as good as its material and on that basis, they are very, very good indeed. Regular
fiddle player Erin Slaver is off the road for a spell, but Mary Jo Stillip and guitarist/vocalist Erin McCarley ensured smooth Americana still flowed without apparent effort.
What we have here is a rare but welcome phenomenon - adult music dealing with adult subjects from a man who is happy to acknowledge in songs like Where I’ve Been, that he has enjoyed more of life than he is going to get now.
Mr Dolan has a wonderfully downbeat tenor that suits his soulful (but never miserable) vocal outings on songs like Lawless, used in a movie soundtrack, but sung by Willie Nelson, and the message anthem Under That Hood, about innocent black teenager Trayvon Martin, shot by a neighbourhood watch operative. The sweeter tones of the Dolan voice were used to great effect on the Spirit cover Nature’s Way, but the fi nest song of the evening was Better Find A Church – a tale of wrong and redemption that single-
handedly encapsulates the entire appeal of this band. It’s their complete grasp of the atmosphere of Americana blues, played sparingly but perfectly, all instruments in perfect harmony, solos spare and carefully placed and played with the skill you’d expect from musicians of this calibre. Girls Night Out enjoyed a spirited Dr John vibe which carried on into Ballyhoo – seeing J.D. adopt a sinister fairground barker persona with great effect.
The band fi nished on a high note with Little Feat’s perennial concert favourite Let It Roll, and another appreciative audience built another brick in the band’s road to the recognition they deserve for the lyrical, vocal and musical skill they bring to the table.
Detractors may try and say that this is a businessman’s vanity project, but that is to miss the vital point – if you are not good at what you do, you don’t sell records and tickets or get the major support slots that this band enjoys. It deserves to get bigger and a bigger audience, because this is a great live band who clearly love playing together and the future looks bright. Catch them in 2017 before they take off around the world and everyone else realises what a gem J.D. & The Straight Shot is. You read it here fi rst. ANDY HUGHES
30TH OCTOBER 2016
With a solid reputation as a singer, and plaudits from
guitarists such as the late Gary Moore and Jeff Beck, the fast rising performer Ben Poole and his talented four-piece band delivered a set of high powered blues, rock and funk when they appeared in Lichfield, following a gig in Glasgow the evening before.
Much of the music they played during the evening came from Time Has Come, the ensemble’s latest release. With help from long term keyboard player Steve Watts and a talented bass and drum rhythm section, they played the many moods on the album, with Ben Poole’s guitar style and vocals, which were at times reminiscent of both Paul Rodgers and Steve Winwood, being pushed well to the forefront.
The gig started with Let’s Go Upstairs, a funk based blues song, whilst a cover of the blues staple Have You Ever Loved a Woman featured a delicate guitar soliloquy and acapella vocals before the rest of the band joined in. Most of the songs were exercises in mood, with careful dynamics, and wellpaced changes in tempo, with songs such as Lying To Me, If you Want To Play With My Heart, and Just When You Thought It Was Safe all being cases in point. The concert finished with Time Might Never Come, one of those blues ballads that ran through with aching melancholy, and extremely high quality musicianship, which shows just why the name of Ben Poole is one to watch.
BEN MACNAIROne
“
CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE
“ A VIRTUOSO GUITAR PLAYER”
BLUES IN THE SOUTH
“ SINGING-TONE LES PAUL SOARS”
BLUES IN BRITAIN
“ FANTASTIC”
HUGH FEE, IRVINE BEAT FM
DRIVING, EMOTIONAL BLUESY ROCK”
