Blues Matters 96

BLUES MATTERS!

Our name says it all!

FEATURES IN THIS ISSUE

Blues in Russia

European Blues Challenge

Scandinavian Blues Part 2 Down to the Crossroads

ALBUMS, FESTIVALS AND CONCERTS

The biggest collection of blues reviews including Blues on the Farm and Scarborough TOP SECRET Blues Festival

VALERIE JUNE

THE ORDER OF TIME

NO NEW KID ON THE BLUES BLOCK

JOHN MAYALL

TALKING ABOUT THAT

CHART UPDATES

Andrew McKenzie

24th July - 30th July 24th July - 30th July

WILLE AND THE BANDITS

SAM GREEN AND THE MIDNIGHT HEIST

TROY REDFERN | ELLES BAILEY | HIP ROUTE

ECHO TOWN | DEBBIE BOND | SWAMPCANDY

BLUE HORIZON | LISA MILLS | THE ACHIEVERS

RUZZ GUITARS BLUES REVue "THE BIG BAND"

REVEREND ROBERT | HALF DEAF CLATCH

EARL JACKSON | WILL EDMUNDS BAND

HAMILTON LOOMIS | THE WORRIED MEN

DIRTY CELLO | GLAS

7 days of blues music | 20 bands | hog roast | bbq ale and cider festival | outside stage free entry

celebrating 15 years of blues at cafe rene

WELCOME

WHAT’S THAT SHOUT I HEAR? ‘Hey, your latest issue has arrived so at last I’ll get some peace while you sit and read that and stay out of my way for a bit!’

So, what’s new this time around? Well another election to vote in for the UK, President Trump has completed his first 100 Days, several other elections around Europe, lots of political feathers being rustled about, plenty of posturing around the world, weather systems doing amazing stunning and sometimes devastating things and we still wait for a ‘good news’ channel to cheer us up… BUT while we wait at least Blues Matters has arrived!

Rory Block graces our pages for the first time as the honours keep on rolling in for her, the legend that is John Mayall rides on and hot on the heels of her latest album we have Valerie June for you as we find out what has been going on since she appeared in issue 72. From Canada, we bring you up close with Colin James and Justin Johnson, we ambush Willie & The Bandits and steal some words with them whilst we also take the Mississippi Heat and cool them off for a chat. Keeping the well varied selection as always, we also have James Montgomery, Jack Hutchinson and the Hitman Blues Band are back and touring the UK.

Variation in the Features section this issue as we a new and so far, ‘one-off’ on one invasion that was ok with the British Blues Invasion of Russia. Welsh bluesman and writer Rowland Jones, gives you the lowdown on his visit to USA and we report on the European Blues Challenge and a well-deserved successful year for Kaz Hawkins.

The regular sections are here with CD reviews galore plus festivals and gigs. If you could put a weight on the quality and variation of content we’d have trouble getting through customs as standard baggage! ENJOY!

As notified in BM93/4 we reduced the App price to £23.49 The Digital version is also now available to all print subscribers at no extra cost or separately.

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Adam Riggs, Adrian Blacklee, Andy Hughes, Andy Snipper, Beau Theige (USA), Benjamin Mcnair, Billy Hutchinson, Bob Bonsey, Boris Litvintsev (RU), Brian Kramer (SWE), Christine Moore, Clive Rawlins, Colin Campbell (Sco), Dave Drury, Dave Scott, David Osler, Dominc Pipkin, Ewa Matysik (Pol),Graeme Scott, Iain Patience (FRA), Liz Aiken, M.D.Spenser, Mairi Mclennan (Sco), Martin Cook, Mel Wallace, Merv Osborne, Michael Ford, Norman Darwen, Paul Natkin, Pete Sargeant, Peter Moody, Rowland Jones, Roy Bainton, Steve Yourglivich, Stuart Hamilton, Toby Ornott, Tom Walker, Trevor Hodgett.

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Christine Moore, Arnie Goodman (USA), others credited on page.

COVER PHOTOS

RoryBlock by Sergio Kurhajec, John Mayall by Arnie Goodman, Valerie June by Jacob

Blickenstaff

© 2017 Blues Matters!

Original material in this magazine is © the authors. Reproduction may only be made with prior Editor consent and provided that acknowledgement is given of source and copy sent to the editorial address. Care is taken to ensure contents of this magazine are accurate but the publishers do not accept any responsibility for errors that may occur or views expressed editorially. All rights reserved. No parts of this magazine may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise without prior permission of the editor. Submissions:

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JOHN

REGULARS

BLUE BLOOD ������������������������������� 28

What’s new on the scene, both here and abroad. Andrew McKenzie, Blues Arcadia Mothers Follow Chairs, Radka Kasparcova, The Bad Day Blues Band and The Jake Leg Bug Band

FEATURES

IN THIS ISSUE ����������������������������� 12

European Blues Challenge, Radiating the 88’s Pt6, USA Travels, British blues invasion of Russia Pt1, and Scandinavian Blues Pt2.

INTERVIEWS

RORY BLOCK (USA) �������������������� 34

After over 50 years in the business, Rory has many tales and interesting old pickers that she knew, focusing on their music for her new album.

JOHN MAYALL (UK) �������������������� 40

Godfather of the UK blues, talking about his music and instruments used on the album and on his current tour.

VALERIE JUNE (USA) ����������������� 44

Distinctive lady with a distinctive voice and style. She even caught the eye of Michelle Obama.

COLIN JAMES (CAN) ������������������� 50

Hear how he recorded the latest album, with 18 albums between his first 28 years ago. He also talks about playing the same stage as SRV..

JACK HUTCHINSON (UK) ����������� 54

Read about his move to London from Burnley to hopefully make more money in the music business. Find out how it is shaping up.

MISSISSIPPI HEAT (USA) ����������� 58

Find out about their extensive touring all over the world. As well as their latest album and who is guesting on this latest offering.

WILLE AND THE BANDITS (UK)� 64

Looking the very part of eco warriors, they let us into their journey on the musical highway.

JUSTIN JOHNSON (USA) ������������ 70

Justin talks about his new album, running through the tracks with our interviewer.

HITMAN BLUES BAND (USA) ����� 76

Russell “Hitman” Alexander has been coming to the UK for quite a few years and has built up a following. See why he loves blues music and touring.

JAMES MONTGOMERY (USA) ���� 80

A harp blower who was inspired by Paul Butterfield. He also talks his new album.

REVIEWS

ALBUMS ��������������������������������������� 85

The blues takes many forms, we try to cover them all within our reviews section. Which other magazine reviews over 80 every issue.

SHOWTIME �������������������������������� 113

FESTIVALS – Blues on the Farm, Ilfracombe Blues, Rhythm & Rock Festival, Scarborough TOP SECRET Blues Festival and Waterfront Blues Festival. GIGS – Bad Day Blues Band, Martin Taylor, Nine Below Zero, Orange Circus Band, The Producers, The, Record Company and Sari Schorr and The Engine Room.

John Francis Carroll

Andrew Hehir (Drums)

LONNIE BROOKS

18TH DEC 1933 - 1ST APRIL 2017

Grammy-nominated Chicago blues icon Lonnie Brooks, died on Saturday, April 1, 2017 in Chicago, according to his son, Ronnie Baker Brooks. He was 83. With his booming, gritty vocals and fierce six-string firepower, Brooks created an instantly recognizable signature sound. It combined Chicago blues, rock ‘n’ roll, Memphis soul, swampy Louisiana grooves and country twang into a style that his fellow musicians called voodoo blues. He was inducted into the Port Arthur Historical Society Hall Of Fame in 2001 and the Blues Hall Of Fame in 2010. On June 12, 2012 Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared Lonnie Brooks Day in Chicago. Lonnie Brooks was born Lee Baker, Jr. on December 18, 1933. Over the course of his 60-year career, he recorded 11 full albums and dozens of 45s for a number of labels. His career began in Port Arthur, Texas in the mid-1950s. Recording under the name Guitar Junior, he scored a string of regional hits, including Family Rules and The Crawl. The success of his singles led to numerous southern tours and a busy performance schedule that included dancehalls, juke joints and roadhouses across Texas and Louisiana. In 1959, Lonnie befriended the great Sam Cooke, who suggested his move to Chicago. Once settled, he changed his name to Lonnie Brooks and became infatuated with the sound of deep Chicago blues. He soon landed a job as a sideman with blues hitmaker Jimmy Reed, with whom he toured and recorded. Brooks cut a handful of singles throughout the 1960s, as well as appearing on a number of Chicago blues and R&B recording sessions. He played nightly in the bars on the South and West sides of Chicago and in Gary and East Chicago, Indiana. In 1969, Capitol Records released Brooks’ first album, Broke an' Hungry under his old stage name, Guitar Junior. His Alligator debut, Bayou Lighting, was released in 1979. The album, along with Brooks' roof-raising live performances, brought him to the attention of Rolling Stone, which ran a six-page feature on the legendary musician. The album won the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque Award

from the 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival. Constant touring in the U.S. and abroad kept Brooks in the public eye. His scorching 1980 live performance of Sweet Home Chicago on the Blues Deluxe album, resulting in Brooks' second Grammy nomination, is now considered the quintessential version of the song. A 1982 trip to Germany resulted in an hour-long Lonnie Brooks special shown on German television. BBC radio broadcast an hour-long live performance across all of Great Britain in 1987. Brooks spent the summer of 1993 on a national concert tour with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells and Eric Johnson. In 1995 Eric Clapton honored Brooks by inviting the bluesman on stage for an unforgettable impromptu jam at Chicago's Buddy Guy’s Legends club. In 1998 alone, he appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000, and co-authored, along with his son Wayne Baker Brooks and music scribe Cub Koda' the book Blues For Dummies. His final two releases, 1996's Roadhouse Rules and 1999's Lone Star Shootout, recorded with fellow Gulf Coast blues veterans Long John Hunter and Phillip Walker, showed Brooks at his very best, an electrifying guitarist with full-throated vocals, clever original songs, and a dedication to having fun. His recording of It's Your World from Roadhouse Rules was featured in an episode of HBO's The Sopranos. Among Brooks' proudest accomplishments was the success of his talented guitar-playing sons, Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks. Lonnie always encouraged and mentored the boys as they were growing up. Ronnie even toured with his dad while still a teenager. Both Wayne and Ronnie lead their own bands and have released critically acclaimed recordings. In 2011 and 2012, Lonnie, Ronnie and Wayne toured as The Brooks Family Dynasty, showcasing three world-class blues guitarists -- a father and his sons -- standing shoulder to shoulder, delivering thunderous performances. Lonnie's last recording appearance was as a guest on Ronnie's latest album, Times Have Changed.

VERBALS: CLIVE RAWLINGS VISUAL: ARNIE GOODMAN

'DOWN TO THE CROSSROADS' FROM JOHNSON'S BLUES!

Verbals and Visuals: Rowland Jones

The drive from Nashville was amazing – huge trucks, enormous Mississippi cotton fields – the sheer scale of it all is startling – when your 'sat nav' says: 'Stay on Highway 61 for 270 miles– you have arrived at your destination' you know you're in a BIG COUNTRY. We stopped at the Gateway to the Blues Museum to get in the mood, and then went on to the junction where Highway 61 and Highway 49 meet – the Crossroads where Robert (or maybe Tommy!!) Johnson pledged his soul to the devil in return for unimaginable guitar skills! (I wonder how many of us would have considered this Faustian shortcut to cool licks and serious chops.)

In fairness, there is nothing there other than a crossed guitars sign and usually several blues geeks 'falling down on their knees' in homage to the iconic song. Although appreciating the significance of this location, my wife was equally intrigued by the 'Swine Dining' restaurant located at this historic point – we wondered whether this referred to the type of meat being served or the eating habits of its clientele.

Clarksdale is a small town of about 18,000 inhabitants, the centre being a grid of mainly single-storey buildings with streets

Yes, a mere 50 years after hearing Robert Johnson's 'The King of the Delta blues' I was finally going down to the Crossroads!

called John Lee Hooker Street and Blues Alley.

Our first outing was the Blueberry cafe where I sat in for a couple of tunes with an Italian guy who was also doing a similar trip to me. It was good fun, but by the time we had finished, they had unfortunately run out of food. Even worse there was no food available anywhere in town and no taxis to get home. However, help was at hand, and the friendly owner of the Blueberry offered to ferry us back to hotel, which was, in fact, typical of the helpful and friendly people we met everywhere we went in the States.

The following day we began our exploration of Clarksdale and found Hambone where a young guy was chalking the board with the details of that night's gig. He seemed happy when I asked if he reckoned I could sit in with them – he said he thought it would be fine – and he actually turned out to be the drummer. We also met Stan Street the owner of Hambone which as well as being a live music venue also contained The Rock and Blues Museum.

After a great lunch at Yazoo Pass (which I can thoroughly recommend), we headed for Cathead – a great shop selling all sorts of stuff – CDs books posters and all things blues. Roger Stolle, the owner, is a mine of information and the store is a must for all blues geeks.

So, full of anticipation we headed for Hambone that evening – we met owner Stan Street – a harmonica player (among many things!) and the band Heavy Suga' & The SweeTones with

Heather Crosse on bass and vocals Lee Williams on drums and Rachelle Coba on guitar. We also met Tim Williams – a harmonica player from Sheffield! While we were enjoying the band, I was beginning to wonder whether I'd been forgotten, then suddenly there I was playing with a band in Clarksdale! It felt really good though my heart skipped a beat when Rachelle pointed out that Charlie Musselwhite and his band were in the audience – though they seemed to enjoy it!

The following day we were off to Indianola to see the B.B. King Museum which was well worth a visit as you'd expect, but there was more to come. We'd noticed the Highway 61 museum was nearby in Leland and walking through the door we were greeted by a man behind a desk and a stereotypical blues man – missing teeth, grey hair and a big smile – who was just sitting in a corner playing guitar and singing for himself.

'Son' Thomas who played with Brownie McGee. Pat has an authentic style which was brilliant – not restricted by structure he'd change chords when he had sung what he wanted to sing – after four bars or maybe five! It wasn't 'wrong' just how it used to be. Great experience. Thanks Pat!

And so, we returned to Clarksdale and Red's – Reds is they say, 'the last real juke joint” – dark inside with most of the illumination coming from a 'Bud Lite' sign; patchy carpet with mismatched chairs and tables scattered randomly around the room. The band that night was Anthony 'Big A' Sharod with two brothers on bass and drums. They were great, again the real thing so I was a little nervous when I asked to sit in – and my nervousness reached panic level when big A said 'I ain't feeling so good you go ahead!' So, there I was again 'on stage' in Clarksdale still feeling nervous but what the hell – the blues is the blues, yeah? Anyway, I had a wonderful time and the

The museum was small but contains a great exhibition called 'Stones in my pathway' – fabulous photographs of blues musicians by Bill Steber. After a short tour, we came back to the front door where our man was still playing: I said, 'let's play together!' And so, we did. It was great fun and was my first experience of playing blues 'old style' Pat Thomas had learned his playing from his father James

audience enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. After I don't remember how many tunes, I put my telecaster back in its case and went to the bar for a beer. I was wondering what Red himself would make of this weird Welshman arriving out of nowhere –AND then expecting to play. He handed me a beer and leaned forward – he growled rather than spoke – 'you know man, when you came in, I

I BASKED IN THE GLORY OF ACCEPTANCE WITH A BEER AND MY WOMAN

thought you was bullshit, but you got it!' To say I smiled would be an understatement – I beamed! He and I did the 'fancy handshake' thing and I basked in the glory of acceptance with a beer and my woman. (Cue for a song).

There was plenty of music going on in Clarksdale, though we had arrived on the Monday when one festival ended and were leaving on Friday when another one began – not good planning. The festival which was about to start was at The Plantation – a collection of slightly modernised shacks with a central bar. We went to check it out and met many Dutch blues fans many of whom had been Red's the night before. It's an amazing location with rusting old vehicles everywhere, including inexplicably a 1950's Standard.

We returned to Clarksdale and visited the Delta Blues museum – again an interesting visit but a word of advice regarding museums in Mississippi and Memphis. All of them are interesting but inevitably they do cover a great deal of the same ground so be prepared for repetition – different mementos often of the same people.

Our last night was to be Ground Zero – Morgan Freeman's club. It's a great place which is basically a larger and newer version of Red's – as Red had carefully explained to me.

We'd already planned to visit but the fact that Heather (bass) had already invited me made it a little easier.

The house band consisted of Heather and Anthony from Heavy Suga' & The SweeTones with Dave Dunavant on guitar. I did

several tunes with the band and Tim Williams, joined me on harmonica. There was also a young lad who they allowed on stage and though his guitar wasn't plugged in – he mimed along with us and everybody gave him a high five and the 'fancy handshake thing' at the end. He was happy and so was I. And that's how our visit to Clarksdale panned out – there was loads of other stuff too; Deak's Mississippi Saxophones & Blues Emporium; Bluestown Music where I played some tasty guitars. 50 years of expectation for five days of music and fun – but it was well worth it – in fact it would have been worth it just for Red's compliment. Thanks, man.

PS But it didn't end there.... next stop Memphis.

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EUROPEAN BLUES CHALLENGE & EUROPEAN

HORSENS, DENMARK

6 TH-8 TH MARCH 2017

Verbals: Ewa Matysik (EBU Board Member)

Abeautiful, though intense, weekend filled with the blues (in its many shades and forms), overthe-borders camaraderie, new connections & friendships, a lot of networking, and - most importantly - lots of fun (all this framed with pretty scenery & typical Danish aesthetics): that’s the 2017 European Blues Challenge & European Blues Union General Assembly held in the picturesque Danish town of Horsens in early March, in a nut shell. Intense it was: 21 bands competing in the Challenge that performed at the Horsens Forum Friday and Saturday were merely a portion of the attractions that this weekend had to offer to blues lovers who came to Denmark from literally all over the world (bands & EBU members from 21 European countries plus visitors from the USA and…

Australia!) The events started as early as Thursday night at the beautiful Ny Teater with a „Danish Blues Showcase, featuring Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado, Big O & The Blue Quarters and The Blues Overdrive. The General Assembly is the meeting where the members of the Union come annually to choose new EBU Board members. This year, we welcomed Dave Raven (from the UK!), and voted Italy’s Davide Grandi the new EBU president (following Tom Ruf’s resignation after six years of service). Among other matters decided by the GA was, for example, the location of future Blues Challenges. Next year, we will meet in… Hell -- Hell, Norway, that is; in 2018, it will be the paradise-like Azores, and we will end up in the sin city of Amsterdam in 2020!  This was followed by

a general discussion about the state of the European blues scene, and what can be done to improve it. It’s good to see how year by year the European blues community becomes a community, and not merely a numer of individuals working parallelly in their respective countries. Of course, there are differences of opinions, discrepancies in visions, interests and ideas. But the beauty of the EBU is that, once a year, we come together, willing to engage in a conversation, and hoping to move forward together, to the satisfation and benefit of all parties involved - for the main goal of the EBU has always been to stimulate, encourage, and enable the cross-mobility of all participants of the European blues scene. The most direct tool to enable the networking is the so called Blues Market, held Friday and Saturday afternoon (in a former prison-turned hostel/conference center), where EBU members can (at

Kaz Hawkins band by Pertti Nurmi

BLUES UNION GENERAL ASSEMBLY

no additional cost) display what they have to offer, and see what is being offered by others. Having seen the Market develop over the last few years, I am happy to say that it’s becoming more and more popular (as the displays are becoming more and more elaborate and entertaining), and is serving its purpose more and more. The Challenge, the GA, and the Market, combined, are a great example of what this business called the blues is all about: yes - it’s business, but it’s also pleasure, and it relies as much on proper business relations as it does on friendships and the good times spent together listetning to music. It’s the Challenge, though, that attracts the most people, both EBU members, and local music lovers. Looking at it in terms of an annually held festival (which it is, really) presenting over 20 acts, it’s worth noticing that it’s probably the only one with over 20 acts coming from a different country each! This being the 7th edition of the Challenge, it seems like it’s become the place for festival promoters and club owners to search for new talent. Which means that all participants of the Challenge walk away with a lot of new contacs and probably a few engagments -even though only the winners are guaranteed the prize in the form of major European festivals bookings (this year, the list included: two Belgian festivals - Blues Peer and Swing Wespelaar, two Norwegian - Notodden Blues Festival and Blues in Hell;

Hondarribia Blues Festival/ Spain, Blues Heaven Festival/ Denmark, and Lucerne Blues Festival/Switzerland). The jury (composed of blues experts from all over the world – including Australia, with the UK being represented by the legendary Mike Vernon) was evaluating acts based on the criteria of: originality, instrumental talent, vocal talent, stage presence and blues content. Friday night’s competition made for a promising start: acts performing that night varied greately: from the traditional-sounding bands from the Netherlands, Austria and Denmark (called Detonics, Blues Infusion, and The Cornfeds, respectively), New Orleans-sounding Bayou Moonshiners from Italy to the rocking French lady Gaelle Buswel, John Meyer-channeling Messias and the Hot Tones (Portugal), to the ultra-contemporary representant of Germany, Chris Kramer & Beatbox ‘n’ Blues. Topping off this truly post-modern mix were the Mississippi Hill Country-style duo Slovak Blues Project, a traditional acoustic act from Poland - Hot Tamales Trio, and Southerman Robbie – a one man band from Romania (playing guitar and trumpet, simultaneously!) While Friday night’s acts set the bar rather high, bands that followed on Saturday kept it right up there! The second night of the competition started with a highly energetic set by Switzerland’s Pascal Geiser’s soul blues-styled, horn-driven

band (who ended up winning the “brown medal”), followed by Luxembourg’s Santana-ish Kid Calling and UK’s own the Kaz Hawkins Band - who took home the 1st prize! Norway was represented by Daniel Eriksen in an interesting duo made of Dobro guitar and drums, Estonia by the Rene Paul Blues Band (with Rene singing and playing keyboards - both very skillfully), and Spain – by the only instrumental band of the whole competition, Los Mambo Jambo. Last, but not least, was the Belgian band, the Bluesbones, impressing with vocals and guitar work, who was awarded the 2nd place. The final few moments before the announcement of the three winners were dedicated to the presenting of the “Blues Behind the Scenes” Awards that recognize European individuals or organizations that have worked actively and devoted their life, making significant contributions, to advance and support the blues in Europe”. Among those awarded this year was Mike Vernon –another British accent of this fine weekend, together with Dave Raven’s election and Kaz Hawkins’ victory adding up to a true British hat trick! Congratulations to all the winners, and see you in Hell, Norway 15-17 March, 2018!

P.S. Individuals and companies wishing to join the European Blues Union are very welcome, and will find all information on how to join at the EBU’s official website: www.europeanbluesunion.com

BLUES IN RUSSIA

For almost ten years, Boris “The Blade” Litvintsev has been bringing to Russia famous British blues/blues-rock musicians. He organizes their concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and promotes their participation in major Russian jazz and blues festivals, organizing tours around the country.

In October 2013 he established ongoing “The Great BRITISH RHYTHM & BLUES INVASION Festival” and over the past three years since, he has managed to organize about 50 visits to Russia of the best bluesmen, who played almost 200 concerts at various venues in more than 15 cities in Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Yaroslavl, Cherepovets,

Suzdal, Rybinsk, Uglich, Kostroma, Ivanovo, Saratov, Saransk, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Surgut, etc. “Music accompanies me from my very childhood," says Boris. - I grew up in a hospitable family, guests often gathered at home. I remember that my parents had a record player, a strange burgundy suitcase, it was called, if memory serves, "40 years of October". The records

were jazz, blues, pop music: Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, tango. And I always associated this music with the holiday: when guests came, all dressed up, they danced. At the age of seven, being a schoolboy I heard tapes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones for the first time. My brain exploded - I became a massive music lover, rock fan. I owe this to my older brother. When I was 10 years old I heard Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Doors, and at the age of 12 I heard Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon - that was the first time I heard the stereo sound...

Verbals and Visuals: Boris “The Blade” Litvintsev

Since then, this kind of music has been going on with me for almost 50 years.”

About twelve years ago, due to personal circumstances, Litvintsev spent a lot of time in London, where he was able to fully realize his passion for music - he became a regular to famous jazz and blues clubs, visited numerous festivals, set a wide network of acquaintances among musicians and music journalists. For over 8 years he wrote reviews on major music festivals for the Classic ROCK Russia magazine. All this became the foundation for a new direction in his life - the promotion of British blues in Russia.

BLUES DOWNSHIFTING

Graduate of the Moscow Institute of Management., he worked at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant for nine years. In the early 90's he returned from the Far North to Moscow and from 1993 to 1998 he was engaged in architectural design, historical building reconstruction and project management. After the 1998 crisis, he went to Canada to study business administration. He returned to Moscow in the early 2000s and later with two friends and colleagues, founded a design bureau and a construction company. The work was creative, well paid and gave the opportunity to engage in his own projects, in particular, the promotion of British blues in Russia. But after the crisis of 2008 so much has changed.

“Unfortunately, the work caused an extreme level of stress that led to a hospital bed. Lying in the hospital

after the second mini-stroke, I realized: I need to stop otherwise the Matrix will get me. I just must quit or stress will kill me ... In that mad race for a new level of well-being, I probably reached the limit. Everything seemed to be at a dead end... I should do something completely different, something that brings joy and pleasure, but not stress and problems. And I decided to devote my life entirely to music, specifically to the British blues promotion.”

Promoting the British blues in Russia since 2008 and occasionally giving concerts to his friends-musicians, in 2013 Boris decided to focus on this activity and founded the year-round blues festival - now it has been going on for the fourth year in a row. His current occupation in his own words is "a very expensive hobby" and does not bring any special income, but gives an endless joy of life and an every second pleasure from what is happening in it. A classic example of downshifting.

MORDOVIAN FOLKLORE, MORDOVIAN CAMPS AND ROADS

Two years ago, I joined forces with fellow journalists and Boris Litvintsev and arranged an extraordinary adventure for British musicians Will Jones, Eric Clapton’s nephew, and Malcolm Bruce, Jack Bruce’s son - with the participation of the Mordvinian ethnopop group Oyme, and the team went on a tour to Mordovia, national republic some 650 km to the East of Moscow, sadly known for it’s GULAG camps.

“One of the points of the program was a charity gig in a prison. As the late, great B.B. King and Johnny Cash did, our British bluesmen prepared to perform - for the first time in history - in a modern times Russian prison, can you imagine? Everything was agreed and approved at the very top level, we drove to the prison, passes were issued, we were searched and went in. And only then we did discover that it was a women's prison for serious crime convicts!” The spectators were wearing identical green suits and white kerchiefs, like nuns of an unknown order. Malcolm swallowed nervously, the musicians took their guitars, and the thoroughbred English blues swam from the tiny speakers. Later they said that it was very difficult to look into the audience - they felt like they were under the most powerful X-ray. Of course, the public in prison is decidedly different from those one is accustomed to meet at any venue. Tough grandmothers wearing spectacles, clearly grown up on completely different music, pretty girls, ready to squeal with delight, several women with frighteningly severe faces. They did not hear "live" music – let alone that they haven’t seen ordinary men, not guards – for years! Grannies squinted, and the girls, in excitement, pressed their palms to their mouths or started applauding. It was clear that for musicians and spectators it was an extraordinary experience. Will said that at times he was choked with tears. "It was a very emotionally

charged performance." Later that evening when we headed our way to the final destination Podlesnaya Tavla village, the center of the ethnic culture of Mordovia, strong winds created a blizzard. Our first expedition car at full speed ran into the snow drift that blocked the road and, having lifted a thick snow cloud, got stuck in the snow. The driver of the second car got blinded with the snow cloud was unable to avoid the collision. Bang! Can you imagine?

Far from any civilization, literally in the middle of nowhere nine people trapped in two crashed cars locked in a snow blizzard!.. Alarm lights flashed, the darkness, snowstorm and endless snow fields and forests around. The temperature was unlikely to be lower than -5, but it was quite possible to

freeze to death very quickly. Fortunately, the engines of both cars did not die out and the heaters in the cars were working. Somehow a miracle - with the weakest signal, one of the phones luckily "hooked" on the network and we phoned the Republican traffic police, reported that we’ve had an accident ... and in 3.5 hours, the help arrived. Survived in Mordovia!

BLUES - MUSIC FOR THINKING PEOPLE

In Soviet times foreign music – mostly British and American rock and blues/ blues-rock – was a really Big Deal. Especially among those who were “cool”, not only because of rebellion against Soviet officials who considered that music as “distractive”, or even “destructive” and banned it from radio and TV, but

mostly because it gave us young Russians of 60-70-s a feeling of breathing fresh air, a hope for freedom. 30-40 years passed by and as almost everywhere there are no more stalwarts of rock who can stand equal to modern times plastic popstars. It looks like modern Russia accustomed and implemented all the worst nightmares Communist Party leaders had threatened us – in politics, economics, and even in culture – it’s everywhere. There’s a sad joke: some say that Russians have built a huge memorial to George Orwell in Russia – where you could ask – well, pretty much everywhere!

Modern Russian pop music is the most awful one can imagine – much worse than anywhere else – and it’s everywhere, it penetrates to every radio station and

Eddie Martin

Julian Burdock

TV channel leaving no space for real stuff. The sad truth is – the majority of Russian audience followed this bullshit and do not care for anything else. There are not so many rock and blues fans as there used to be 40, 30 even 20 years ago. Only little army of die-hard hard-rock and metal fans and a bunch of real blues fans are still standing. “Blues scene in Russia isn’t big, alas. It’s very shallow and narrow. We’ve got a good bunch of great blues players and a few great blues/bluesrock bands here, but their audience hardly exceeds the amount of musicians themselves. We’ve got just a few blues promoters here, but only me who books British acts. By some irony, Russians blindly believe that blues musician should be black. Period. There might be two guys touring Russia at a time, playing in different well established venues in Moscow on the same night – no-name black guy from States and British Blues Awards winner and/or multi-nominee, and believe it or not – there would be sold-out at the black guy’s gig and probably hardly half-full at the BBA-winner gig. It’s a paradox! Nobody cares about the music. It’s a matter of color of the skin of a bluesman! So many people who count themselves as blues fans have become victims of a stereotype – a true bluesman must be an old black guy (or gal). If not – it’s not a true one and this act doesn’t deserve checking. So promoting British Blues act is somehow hard stuff to do. Any reviews/articles on British blues acts in UK or in

Europe, any awards they’ve got means nothing here and does not sell tickets. At all. Just a few names from British blues scene were known in Russia when I’ve started. And I’m glad I’ve added some two and a half dozens of great names to the bill.” I’ve had the pleasure and privilege to work with so many great British blues musicians – Giles Robson, Eddie Martin, Bex Marshall, Marcus Bonfanti, Big Joe Louis, Will Johns, Danny Giles, Ron Sayer Jr., Ian Siegal, Jon Amor, Innes Sibun, Todd Sharpville, Ben Poole, Julian Burdock, Lorna and Jules Fothergill, Dani and Will Wilde, just to name a few – and all of them said in their interviews that they were really impressed with the level of musicianship of Russian blues players they happened to play or jam with. Frank Ash, who three times toured Russia over the years said: “There are some incredible blues musicians in Russia. Those I played with during the tours, those I met and jammed with as well. They all know what the blues music is all about, some are really genuine blues characters, I mean they live, they are the blues. Mikhail Mishouris who I met in Moscow is truly one of this kind for instance. I hear that here and there things are not easy right now, pretty dire and tough at the moment. Russians got the blues in the bad way.” Tom Attah was aware of the effect that music can have on the community: “I don’t think we will have to wait too long before a number of serious blues contenders emerge

from Russia to advance the development of blues music and blues culture worldwide.” Blues harmonica player and charismatic performer Rollo Markee recounts: “Being a blues musician is not a lifestyle for the faint hearted! It has taken me to several countries. In 2014 Boris "The Blade" contacted me and asked me to come to Russia. It was the only place I had ever felt nervous about visiting due to its political history. I have just finished my third Russian tour for B, my affectionate nickname for him. While in Russia I have met musicians and other folks who I will always consider to be my friends. I have found the people to have great generosity of spirit and as a musician and performer I couldn't have wished for better audiences. Boris has been bringing Blues to Russia for the last 6 years facing almost insurmountable obstacles. It is not an overstatement to say that continuation of The British blues Invasion is culturally important for Russia”. Who is my audience? In addition to real fans of blues, they are also those searching, thinking, open-minded people who love "live" music, those having their own taste, people who are not so easily duped by the mass product and bullshitted by anti-western propaganda. Those who are not afraid to have their own opinion about the cultural phenomenon which is blues, British blues in particular, and who will not blindly follow the crowd. They are looking for and finding what they like.

SCANDINAVIAN BLUES PART 2

Verbals: Iain Patience and Brian Krame

Aleading, ageing acoustic US bluesman, a guy who has picked alongside countless legendary bluesmen and woman over the course of a half-century career as a professional musician recently told me he saw no reason to expect bluesmen to take part in ‘jams,’ an initially surprising thought until he explained that in his view it would have been unlikely to find or mix Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf with the likes of Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi Fred McDowell or Skip James. For him, it was an absurd notion that such diverse stylists and players would have enough in common to make them want to or be prepared to get

together and jam together. A near-contentious view that is interesting and decidedly subjective: he also added that he, himself, never took part in such jams at festivals or the like. Despite the fact that he does engage in what can only be called jams at times in teaching, workshop sessions in the USA. I guess his point was to mix traditional, countryblues acoustic pickers with the more northern, Chicago electric end of the business is just a no-go, for him, at least. And yet, blues is blues in many ways. It’s a feeling, a way of life for many and a mode of expression that seems to lend itself to getting down, getting down and dirty and getting together

to play guitar – be it acoustic or electric – banjo, mandolin, harp or keys. It’s a genre that seems to naturally, in an almost organic way, lend itself to the format; to share the music and the pleasure of just sharing it between friends and people of a similar stripe. It simply crosses boundaries. In addition, blues jams often provide the first true taste of performance for many fans and players who might otherwise miss out on the opportunity of public performance. It develops confidence and skill, pushing talent to the fore without the need for absurd, unnecessary competition, and at times opens new professional pathways for those who take part.

Brian Kramer & Eric Bibb by Ulf Sandsrtöm

Almost twenty years down the line, blues jamming has become a way of life, a muchappreciated development that has in the past – and continues now – to be a gateway for many aspiring blues musicians in Sweden and neighbouring Baltic states, such as Finland, Norway and Estonia. And, despite – or possibly because of – the central pillar of Stockholm and US bluesman Brian Kramer, it’s a well-recognised and much-loved format that is now part of the very fabric of the music in the region. Among those who involved themselves in Kramer’s International Blues Jam in Stockholm was Eric Bibb, a guy who has now spent around half his life based in the region and who recently turned up to play at the jam’s new, current venue, Engelen Bar in the city’s old town/ Gamla Stan, a few weeks after Kramer’s first anniversary gig at its new venue. This event marked not only the first birthday of the latest venue for the jam but was also a memorial concert dedicated to the life and music of one of Sweden’s true blues-greats, the late Sven Zetterberg, who passed towards the close of 2016. Zetterberg himself was no stranger to the jam, having turned up to take part on numerous occasions where his mere presence was influential and inspirational for many. Many other notable Scandinavian blues musicians appeared that evening including Louise Hoffsten and Roffe Wickstrom. Bibb, who toured, played internationally and recorded with Kramer as principal

support, remarked on the event: ‘You know this blues life has had me travel across the globe for quite a while and I often come across what we’ve been calling cartoon blues. But it’s nice to know the real blues is alive and well right here in Sweden.’ In the fairly recent past, Bibb was no stranger to the jam in Stockholm, often taking part alongside young untried but enthusiastic blues fans and musicians before they themselves gained the confidence to strike out on their own blues highways. One of the many to have benefitted from the jam culture and who grabbed the opportunity with both hands is Johan Eliasson aka Bottleneck John, a bluesman who tends to favour resonator guitar, vintage guitars, slide and acoustic picking with one eye on the tradition and past, another firmly fixed on the future. Eliasson is swift and fulsome in his praise for Kramer and the opportunities playing the jam in Stockholm provided: ‘Brian Kramer and the jam at Stampen was the event that launched my solo thing as Bottleneck John. I had been in bands for many years but when I found my true calling and huge interest to play old school blues on metal body resonator guitars there really wasn't anything like it in my local area. Not even one musician around here played these things but I found some guys in Stockholm that did. Brian was one. So, I went there I think in October 2003 for the first time to try and see what might happen. Like so many other youngsters in Sweden the

jam at Stampen was a place to learn it all. The music itself, the stage and how to perform. I could play solo, duo or with a whole band, Brian was the "conductor" of these afternoons. I went there many times despite the fact that I had to travel around 1200 km's round trip from my home!! It was great, so welcoming and a good way to make new contacts in the realm of blues music. Made many new friends there over the years! It must be almost incalculable the numbers of talented players and singers who, over the years honed their skills at Brian Kramer’s International Jam! I'm one and I'm very happy I took the chance to go there to play, jam and grow as a blues artist in front of a really wonderful appreciative crowd. Now the jam's at a new place (Engelen) and I really hope to be able to go there soon to jam some!’

Eliasson is a great example of the power and purpose of the jam in Sweden. Now with a number of albums behind him, he is in demand across the region as a solo player, and his last two albums, in particular, Northern Heart, Southern Soul and All Around Man, have been widely acclaimed internationally. Lisa Lystam and her partner, guitarist Fredrik Karlsson, also cut their blues teeth performing publicly for the first time at the jam a few, short years ago. Again, like Eliasson/ Bottleneck John, they have cut a couple of albums over the past few years that have attracted international interest and praise. US blues-mando picker,

Bert Deivert also turns up whenever he can make it to play the jam and confirms he has always loved and relished the experience. Deivert is also another to have played and recorded previously with Eric Bibb and whose recent album, Blood In My Eyes For You has also garnered significant international acclaim. Young blues lady, Felicia Neilsson, aka Shoutin’ Red, is yet another example of the power of the jam. She pretty well kicked off her own, personal blues journey playing the jam and absorbing the support it provided as she gained confidence before heading out on the road as a solo blues artist and going on to record her first, debut album a few years ago. Very much an acoustic picker with a clear love of the older traditional US pickers such as Mississippi John Hurt, she found the jam an invaluable experience and opportunity to gain confidence and develop her own skills and interests.

Kramer himself fully appreciates and understands the importance of the jamming blues culture he virtually single-handedly brought to the area almost two decades ago: Fbebruary 27th 2017 we celebrated our One Year Anniversary at the Engelen Blues Jam! It was almost unimaginable that I could recreate something that I'd been doing and a non-stop part of for the past 18 years, just a few streets away in Stockholm’s Old Town, after the devastating fall-out with the new owner of Stampen, yet here we were, one year later to a completely packed house with so much joy and excitement. I felt very at ease and reflected on the journey that got me here, all these amazing musicians that have benefitted and grown from this fertile environment and the renewed interest in the blues that has rippled outward throughout the country for almost two decades! This is what it's all about and

has always been all about; the scene. Making it come alive and connecting to the eternal spirit of the blues and letting the public experience that in the purest way possible. 2018 I am coming up on my 20 Year Anniversary since I started up the Blues Jam in Stockholm. I expect to do something pretty big that will hopefully connect the whole area. Like one huge Blues Jam going on simultaneously through the entire Old Town connecting all the venues! Maybe the world’s largest Blues Jam. At this point with the blues here, anything is possible!’ Looking further afield, Estonia’s primary bluesman, Andres Roots, has also played with Kramer at the Stockholm Jam while also being involved in similar musical experiments both at home in Estonia and in nearby, neighbouring Finland. ‘Ideally, jams are where you learn: for example, my Finnish harp virtuoso friend Jantso Jokelin has

Brian Kramer and Lisa Lystam by Bengt Nyman

often talked about how he got his start at the Down Home Kiwi blues jams in Tampere, Finland. There were no regular blues jams in Estonia when I was coming up, but that doesn't mean we didn't jam: for example, a mate of mine was studying to be a cook and they finished their practical chores well after midnight, at which point he'd come knocking at my dorm room door, guitar in hand: "Wake up, man – now I really need to play!" And I'd happily oblige – thank God I had music-friendly neighbours! At present, there are two monthly blues jams in Estonia: one at Philly Joe's in Tallinn and another at Rock & Roll in Tartu; for many years, the Pärnu Blues Society

used to host one in Pärnu as well, but they seem to be taking a bit of a sabbatical. Of course, different people have different ideas about jam sessions: there are those who show up with their full band, want to do their regular set and leave; then there are those who just want to play Sweet Home Chicago and Red House ad nauseam and never leave. And there can be nights like the one I remember from the Augustibluus festival in Haapsalu when there were five electric guitarists on stage, each with their own big amp in their own little corner, each playing a different tune and not a bassist, a drummer or a vocalist in sight... Which was the point when the management realized they

needed someone to keep things in check and for a few years, that responsibility fell to me; after that, I've been much less keen on official jam sessions. Unofficially, there've been some memorable ones: one night at the now defunct Kantis Goes Roots! club in Helsinki, Finland we had Black River Bluesman, Steve Lury, Jo' Buddy, Down Home King III and Honey Aaltonen all on stage at the same time, another time at Clazz in Tallinn, Estonia I found myself playing with Honeyboy Edwards and Harry Finér. And then there were all those wonderful acoustic club nights in Mossend, Scotland of all places – but that's another story!’

RADIATING THE 88 s

PART 5: LEARNING BLUES PIANO WITH TIM RICHARDS, PART II

Verbals and Visuals: Dom Pipkin

Greetings from the world of all things keyboard related, which of course includes accordions, Hammond organs, Clavinets, Fender Rhodeses, the whole family! Before we dip back into the world of developing blues keyboard chops, let me tell you about a great weekend I just had afloat the “Pride of Rotterdam”. The aforementioned passenger

ship took enthusiastic music fans across the North Sea and back whilst laying on a mini New Orleans Mardi Gras, complete with beads and scantily-dressed dancers, and of course rhythm and blues music. I was on the bill, leading my Ikos in a set each night, and jamming with other artists, all representing the unique appeal of the world of blues, Crescent City-style.

PLAYING WITH SHAPE AND TIME

Ok, so what were we going to mention about playing blues piano? Well, I asked Tim Richards for a recap. “Time! Playing in time” comes the resounding answer. Tim deals with all levels of players, and he tells me this really is his number one concern. Maybe it seems obvious, but it certainly makes sense. The difference between a performance and a noodle has to be rhythmic solidity, and a defining feature of blues (with the exception of some very slow, languid and usually unaccompanied styles) is that it conveys rhythm and groove. So, respect this in your practice and study! says Tim. Don’t gallop ahead and over reach – better to play slow and grooving, without stopping to think or “reset” the fingers. Speed can come later, after accurate repetition of your favourite ideas –but please, we both agree, keep both hands working

together, so that everything improves at the same pace and the style is complete. So, last time we made sure that we had something for the left hand to lay down –the all-important left hand. Don’t stop. Play at a speed that doesn’t stop, and get a little right hand to steady it. This is a simmering bed out of which you can emerge with your expressive blues playing. The right hand can play “licks” which can be thought of by a relative beginner as jigsaw puzzle pieces from which to build an expressive improvised story. These can be learned “as they are”, and Tim has many examples in his book “Improvising Blues Piano” – available of course

Most exciting to me however was that it brought a whole stack of us piano players together on one ship. We are lucky in this country to have some great talent on the 88s. Collectively our most fun must have been the two pianos, eight hand boogie led by Sheffield’s James Booker (among others) inspired Dale Storr. This found Dale jamming along with Justin Randall from the band Tipitina, awardwinning Paddy Milner, and yours truly, on a good pacey boogie proving that once you know the language, you can let the conversation go wherever it wishes. So good!

at https://www.timrichards. ndo.co.uk - this isn’t a massive cheat – it’s a way in, from which much creativity can arise. Licks tend come from a pool of notes - the scale, or the chord tones. Chord tones are notes you find making up a chord. I’ve shown them here as a straight C, then C6 then C7. Chord tones give “landing points” and build a solid recognizable structure when you play from them. I’ve used a little example starting on a C, rising to the all –important flat 7th, then passing through the 6th and landing the 5th. That’s shape!

THE WONDERFUL AND DREADED BLUES SCALE

The other pool that soloing or improvising notes come from is the “blues scale”wonderful because it’s so used and useful, c dreaded because you have to use it right! You can use a run of a few in a “linear” fashion, or you can use a more cut up selection of notes. You can repeat notes, you can repeat a little group of notes. The one thing not to do, and this can be a piano player’s common mistake is to run up and down it, with no variation or purpose. As a beginning player, do

not do this! Tim tells me he does not cover the blues scale until players have an understanding of chord tones. Knowing how important shape is guards against abusing the blues scale! The blues scale is in fact infinitely wonderful – simple, very characterful, and containing all the flavours

to create the sound of blues at its best. Its scope is huge, so I can only scratch its surface here. One cool thing to note is how it is made of symmetrical parts, with a cheeky F# in the middle linking the two. Experiment with its sound possibilities.

THINGS TO DO WITH THE BLUES SCALE

Play a little phrase, and back up the moving notes with unchanging notes (if in the key of C, use C, G, and sometimes Eb or Bb for these “unchanging notes”). This thickens the melody notes and makes your blues scale sound more textured. It sounds particularly good when you repeat just a single duo of notes, like a machine gun. Repeat a cluster of a few notes from it, over and over. Then take a (musical) breath (pause), or finish with a little balancing phrase like I’ve done in the example. Incidentally you can see both upper and lower symmetrical “sections” of the blues scale at work here. All of these are examples to get you experimenting. Don’t look at this a just one thing to learn. It’s far better to be a real player and use your imagination. Find your own versions of these things, and keep your left hand going to accompany these ideas all the time! Did you keep your left hand bubbling away?

Keep going! Don’t stop! https://www.facebook.com/ groups/radiatingthe88s/ https://www.dompipkin.co.uk Tim Richards blues piano

courses can be found at the Morley College, South London. http://www. timrichards.ndo.co.uk/ bluespianotuition.html

ANDREW MCKENZIE

Andrew McKenzie is a driven and focussed musician who has relied on blues to survive, recover, as well as celebrate the life he lives.

Andrew grew up in Darlington, began playing guitar at the age of seven and has been writing, performing and recording from the age of ten. At school, he became immersed in blues and followed the pathways set out by Eric Clapton’s musical journey to discover and study the world of blues. Cassette tapes and CDs of BB King, Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, Taj Mahal, Muddy Waters and many more started to populate his Walkman on the four-mile walk to school. This became Andrew’s paradise of discovery. Sleeve notes became his text books and gave him insights that encouraged his creativity. But, in a school that included a Pop Idol semi-finalist, Andrew soon realised that the modern music industry

would be a difficult place to stay true to his musical identity and many of his songs went unheard for years.

In performances, Andrew draws on an eclectic mix of experiences, from orchestras, musicals, big bands, jazz trios, as a busker, as an occasionally-paid pub-gigger, and in an array of bands playing rock covers with Andrew’s blues grooves and licks integrated into every song. With sell-out theatres and festival performances part of his development, Andrew takes his experience of performing to every audience and leaves them with a renewed and reinvigorated respect for the blues.

As a way to overcome life events, illness and mental pressures, Andrew has never left his guitars far from hand. The result of solitary

Verbals and Visuals: Robin Manson

musings has been humble and honest compositions. In 2013 after entirely solo recording sessions in living rooms, bedrooms and showers across Scotland, eleven songs were quietly released on A Load Off My Mind. Within months, radio stations in Brazil, Canada and New Zealand had played songs and albums had been purchased across Europe, Russia, North and South America via iTunes and Amazon. This success was followed by 2015’s Living The Lie, an album which draws on Andrew’s study of the blues.

Andrew continues to busk and gig locally, and aims to take his creativity further afield by welcoming people from all over the UK and the world to listen to his blues.

www.thebluesgotandrew. bandcamp.com

As songwriters, we've been chasing a tune since we were born. For Harvey (guitar), it was back-peddling down his mother's stairs in East London when he heard Pete Townsend crash into My Generation on a BBC television special. For me (Al, vocals), it was the aching loneliness of Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty on the radio in Ireland when the wind blew off the Atlantic and broke down the front door. We're both drawn to majesty and sublimation in a song, when it just picks you up and puts you somewhere new, or, challenges you to look deeper into it.

After fledging, Harvey spent five years as guitarist and sideman for UK pianist Dino Baptiste, and got himself an education in boogiewoogie, rock'n'roll and the blues that underpinned it all, while getting a taste for travel on European tours. Seven nights a week, every week.

Around the same time, and in much less glamorous surroundings, my schoolteacher loaned me a six-disc collection of records that charted the origin of the blues from 1920's African field recordings to the music of Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, Leadbelly and Billie Holiday. The foundation and structures were all there, and recognisable even to a pasty school kid, but it was the magic between the re-mastered crackles that fractured me. How could a voice capture an experience unique to a singer, and then somehow transmit it across the world and through the century for someone like me to hear? Was it so that I could understand a little of what they had to say? Magic, no other word for it. Magic works in different ways too. Three years ago, Harv and I were put into a blues band together. On the other side of the worldBrisbane, Australia. Of all the

juke joints in all the world, the chances of that happening were pretty rare... And then the songs started coming. Co-writing is a relationship. It's a dance between the structure and the chords, the melody and the words. It can be a Rubik's Cube of colour at the beginning, but when we agree on the shape, everything else falls into place. But blue is not the only colour. With Blues Arcadia, we've each taken what works for us as musicians, and tried to create something new from it while staying true and respectful to the blues and soul musicians who nourish us. Sounds kinda simple, but it's as hard as hell.

Our collaborators, bass guitarist Jeremy Klysz and keyboardist Parmis Rose are post-punk and jazz-trained musicians respectively. We go on tour together along the east coast of Australia this month, so there's going to be some interesting playlists in the tour van... Wish us luck.

BLUES ARCADIA

Verbals: Alan Boyle Visuals: Geoff McLeod

THE JAKE LEG JUG BAND

If it’s authenticity that you’re looking for, then The Jake Leg Jug Band should be a fairly good starting point.

They may not speak with a southern drawl (in fact they make no attempt to hide their Staffordshire and Cheshire accents), but there is something about their performance that, for 90 minutes or so, captures all the sights and sounds of 1920's and 30's America. Songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption - and they even look the part too!

Signed to Cumbria’s ‘Lake Records’, they record their albums as part of the label’s 'Vintage Recording Project' - essentially recording all-live around ribbon microphones as it would have been back in the 1930’s. They’ve released three albums in the last four years; Cotton Mouth, Next Stop!, and Everythin’s Jake, and their latest offering is released in May. Album reviews have

Verbals: Ben Carter Visuals: Neil Hulse Photography

focussed on the Jakes’ attention to detail and their ability to transport the listener back to the speakeasies of the prohibition era, having attracted interest from across the musical spectrum, with Folk North West declaring their album "A masterpiece of nostalgic music”, whilst Blues & Rhythm praised the "Instrumental virtuosity" and The Jazz Rag calling it “Good time music from a good time group”.

If you’re already a fan of the country blues and jug band music of the period, you’ll be pleased to hear material from Bo Carter, Blind Boy Fuller, Gus Cannon and Will Shade throughout their set, but you can also expect to hear jazz numbers from the likes of Fats Waller and even oldtime Carter Family tracks.

The line-up features founder member and vocalist Duncan Wilcox on double bass; vocalist and washboard player Sarah Miller (who began her recording career with Climax Blues Band); guitarist Neil Hulse, a ragtime player from an early age; Toby Wilson multi-tasking on dobro & banjo as well as an array of stomp boxes, kazoos and whistles; and the award winning harmonica player Liam Ward, also showcasing his talents on the jug!

As 2017 sees the fifth anniversary of the band, things are moving from strength to strength with some high profile festival slots and offers to take their British brand of the Southern States music across the water.

www.thejakelegjugband.com

Petra: Mothers Follow Chairs came into existence in 1999. We found ourselves in blues and soul. Even though there were a lot of blues bands with Czech lyrics in our country, we had our own way. I told myself to make music the way I feel it. I don‘t think it needs to be explained - either you feel the blues or you don’t. Even though we sing songs performed by, say, Koko Taylor, I’m not sure whether we can talk about influences. We play our own arrangements. I always try to sing with my own style.

Ivan: The sound of Mothers Follow Chairs is still evolving. We try to sound varied and that’s why we put acoustic instruments into our arrangements too - dobro, washboard or harmonica. Our original classic electric band sound became something more interesting for the listener. We are open to anything. This makes us stand out

in the Czech Republic. We don’t have many records. The first CD was actually a maxi single, containing four songs. The second was a regular CD recorded in 2007. There are also some recorded broadcasts from Czech TV and radio. The new album, All Night Long, evokes an atmosphere of walking through pubs and bars in a small town at night. The last song Černá Jessie (Black Jessie) indicates that this night actually never ends.

We have up to ten blues festivals here. The biggest one is Blues Alive in Šumperk. But it’s hard to get there for young Czech musicians, because there is more of an American orientation at this festival. Of course it’s a good thing that the Czech blues scene is open to the rest of the world. That’s why there are a

lot of blues bands with young and exceptional musicians in the Czech Republic who try their luck abroad or provide accompaniment for foreign soloists.

Petra: My plan is to play as much as possible and spread blues to regions where people never heard of the genre. That’s what I enjoy the most. Blues is not that deeply rooted in the Czech Republic like it is in England or the United States. It’s beautiful when you manage to convince listeners that blues has something to say.

www.mothersfollowchairs.com

MOTHERS FOLLOW CHAIRS

Singer Petra Uvírová and guitarist Ivan Němeček give some background to this five-piece band from The Czech Republic: Verbals: Norman Darwen Visuals: Pavel Ondruj

In 2014, Radka was invited to the stage by blues superstar Buddy Guy and his protégé Quinn Sullivan. Performing with them in front of 2,000 excited fans inspired her first original single High School Blues, released in the same year. Radka fell in love with blues as she wrote her second single, Wasted Years, on which she collaborated with local talent, including Grammynominated harmonica player Mikey Junior and blues vocal master Jessi Teich. Radka has also been an active participant in the local blues jam scene, performing at hot venues such as BB King Blues Club, House of Blues, The Bitter End, The Twisted Tail and many others along with invitations to numerous sit-ins with major local blues acts.

Despise her young age, she was mentioned in bluesE-News magazine as one of the Top 25 women in blues worldwide. She has shared the stage with Buddy Guy, Peter Karp & Sue Foley, Linsey Alexander, Ed Sullivan, Richie Cannata, Georgie Bonds, Dave Fields and many more. Radka is an experienced performer with over 300 performances at more than 100 different venues, nationally and internationally. Being featured in magazines such as Blues Blast, Radka was a recipient of the multiple scholarships from the Blues Foundation which led to her attendance at blues guitar summer camps across the USA including Berklee Guitar Sessions, and she won several awards including

RADKA KASPARCOVA

An 18-year-old guitar talent from Collegeville, PA, who has already established herself as a major blues artist, Radka Kasparcova is continuing her journey in Chicago, IL.

Verbals and Visuals: Jiri Kasparec

Berwyn’s Picks 2015, and the Philadelphia Songwriters Project. In addition to performing frequently, Radka released an EP as a leader of her youth band, Time Gap, taking them to local venues such as Bethelehem Musikfest and the Sellersville Theater, and then the International Blues Challenge 2016.

Since her move to Chicago to study Jazz Guitar and Finance at DePaul University, Radka has been extremely busy in the Chicago blues scene. Performing at House of

Blues, Buddy Guy’s Legends and others on multiple occasions, she has sat in with artists such as Joanna Connor, Tom Holland and the Blue Olives. She has also played at the Kingston Mines Jam several times, connecting with the musicians of the scene and playing for studio sessions. She will be performing as a solo act at the International Blues Challenge Youth Showcase 2017 sponsored by the Central Delaware Blues Society in February.

Unashamedly gritty and rough around the edges, they compose live, new blues material and deliver it in a very old fashioned way.

Featuring a dirty harmonica and an even dirtier harmonica player, known only as Mr Glasses, The Bad Day Blues Band write songs that make you feel good about feeling bad. Their debut EP on Authentic Soul Records, Bitter Sweet Blues reached number two in the iTunes Blues Chart in 2016 and was critically acclaimed by leading blues scholars in the UK.

The five-piece group based in London, initially all met at the legendary Soho blues bar Ain’t Nothin’ But and quickly bonded over their love of improvisation and soulful melodies. Mr Glasses recalls…

“We wanted to watch a blues band that had some attitude about them, a band that could not only play well but who also had some personality and stage presence about them… combine that with some decent melodies and catchy lyrics…boom, you’ve got The Bad Day Blues Band”.

The group occasionally slot into their live set a reworked classic or two from artists like Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf but the thing that really sets them apart is their songwriting ability. New blues delivered in an old way, that’s the group’s mantra. Mr Glasses puts down his harmonica and continues…

“For us it was always about those little dark tucked away blues bars, where you can wander in and find some proper authentic blues

music. It was always about being gritty and real in the music we write and release. It’s always got to be live too. If we can’t do it on a stage then we have no right in putting it out as a record”.

The group are exciting to watch, even for the non-blues fan, as they add personality to their live performance which makes for a great show. Their new album aims to reproduce what an audience would hear live. Close your eyes and you could almost be in one of those little tucked away blues bars, feeling good about feeling bad.

Currently underway with a UK tour to promote their self-titled debut album, you can see the group live throughout 2017, just visit www. baddaybluesband.com for details or download their songs from all the usual places.

BAD DAY BLUES BAND

Ever had a bad day? Well every day is a bad day for The Bad Day Blues Band.

Verbals: Adam Rigg Visuals: Geoff McLeod

Rory Block NO NEW KID ON THE BLUES BLOCK

Verbals: Iain Patience Visuals: Sergio Kurhajec

For over fifty years Rory Block has been picking blues, drawing on a huge back-catalogue and deep understanding of the music and the many old acoustic country bluesmen she knew and learned from over the years from her beginnings as a 14 year-old in New York. Now nearing a seventieth birthday, she has produced the universally acclaimed ‘Mentor Series’ of albums that showcase her extraordinary power, knowledge and ability.

Where do you start with Rory Block? Something of an acoustic blues legend these days, she's a lady who has played with the greats, sat at their feet absorbing their multi-hued styles and tones while always striving to open new boxes with her sassy, savvy driving vocals and strident, percussive fretwork. For over fifty years, Block has thrown down the blues gauntlet, pushing herself to the limit at times, known for her bleeding, scarred and torn fingertips and her refusal to compromise her music in any way.

It's only fitting that she has most recently centred her focus on the old generation of pickers, the guys that influenced, inspired and instructed her in the music, legendary names that every blues-fan both knows and reveres. Guys who were her blues buddies, sharing their own evident love of the music with her, as she honed her craft and powered her way along the care-worn, blues highway.

Currently riding a welldeserved wave of popularity, Block's stunning, Stony Plain ‘Mentor Series' of recent releases have not only reacquainted many with the traditional roots of the music but also showcased her own, startlingly colourful mastery of a range of different and

divergent styles of playing. This is a lady who doesn't just play the blues - she pretty much is the blues incarnate.

It's as a slide-player, however, that Block is probably best-known. But to slip her into such a box is a positive mistake, a failure to fundamentally grasp what this extraordinary lady and her music are really all about. Sure, she agrees that she loves that slamming, sliding, stridently demanding sound and style of picking guitar, and her soaring, searing voice swells perfectly alongside the feathery, ringing, zinging

style of playing that often sounds rather simple at times, belying its intrinsic complexity and skill. With her release 'Avalon' in 2013, Block nails the beauty and glory of Hurt's own approach with absolute clarity and ability.

'I remember John Hurt real well,' she confirms, thinking back to her youth in New York City. 'He was always such a nice, gentle guy; people just don't get how complex his picking was and could be. When I was about to record the album, I tuned in again, listening to his music and it was such a welcome surprise. I was picking to the best of my ability. It was challenging stuff. It took me back to meeting him, watching him play and the way he just did it all, with something extra always there. A sort of embellishment that's too easy

fretwork flourishes, giving her an almost immediately recognizable intent and signature sound. But just take a listen to her recent takes on two entirely different blues masters (part of her current Mentor Series range)

- Mississippi John Hurt and Reverend Gary Davis - to get an instant, delightful hit of her truly remarkable range, power and knowledge.

John Hurt did very occasionally pick up a slide - Spanish Fandango springs to mind - but his was a much more relaxed, melodic, warmly caressing

to overlook and miss. He just blew me away. I listened back then, and still listen to him and think, Oh My God! What a player, what a musician and so very knowledgeable.'

Turning to the Reverend Gary Davis, one of the true powerhouses of blues and gospel music in the late sixties and early seventies in the USA roots music world, Block recalls meeting him many times, especially when she was involved - as a relative youngster - with another near-legendary picker, Stefan Grossman, who often accompanied the blind Davis

I SIMPLY WALKED AROUND THE STAGE FEELING LIKE A COMPLETE JERK

to his gigs and walked him onto the stage. 'Stefan took lessons with the Reverend. He spent a lot of time with him and they each helped each other. His playing is just so complex at times, it's incredibly demanding. Just trying to work through his music is always a wonderful challenge, full of unexpected twists and turns, reversals and rhythmic surprises. I usually prefer to play guitar with just my bare fingers, but to get anywhere close to that bouncing, bassie sound, I had to use a thumb pick - that's all, no finger-picks - just a thumb pick throughout.'

'Of course, everybody does it their own way, but when I had the idea for the Mentor series of albums, there was a shortlist of players I'd been real lucky to know and meet who were always top of the list. The Reverend just had to be up there.'

Other acoustic greats she covers in the Stony Plain series, include another old personal favourite of hers, Son House, and the other-worldy ethereal, minor-chording sounds of Skip James. 'Skip had such a special sound. Sort of haunting, eerie, always memorable, for me,' she adds with a laugh.

And what about Mississippi Fred McDowell, I ask?

Another of the greats she has covered in her current series of releases: 'I recall first meeting Fred when he turned up unexpectedly at our (Stefan Grossman and

Block) apartment in Berkley, California, one day. Stefan was off dong his thing at his record company nearby and I was alone when there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find this unknown - to me - beautiful guy standing there with a battered guitar case. "I'm Fred McDowell," he said. So, I took him in and he pulled out his guitar and blew me away with his picking and voice. A wonderful discovery for me at the time and another genuinely lovely guy. Keen to help, to spread the word and the music.'

'I remember being totally smitten by him. He played slide with a real short piece that just covered the first part of his ring-finger, just down to the first knuckle. I was so entranced and impressed, I went down that same way of playing for many years. Nowadays, I use a more standard size and sort of slide but back then I followed Fred's way and it always worked for me.'

Asked which of the current, six-album Mentor releases is her personal favourite, Block shrugs, laughs a touch diffidently and, with little true surprise, reveals it to be her current offering, 'Keepin' Out Of Trouble,' her own tribute to the style and strength of Bukka White. Clearly delighted by its evident success - it's riding pretty close to top of most US blues charts - she says: 'He was so strong. A deep influence. He was strident and percussive at times and could just about do it all. I've always loved working his songs.'

Now in her mid-sixties, Block looks back to her beginnings as a kid, her time learning and soaking up influences in the hothouse that was 1960s New York and Greenwich Village, with wonder and near-amazement. So many great players were then being rediscovered, given a second lease of life and a chance to shine for a whole new generation of nascent musicians. She remembers Bob Dylan way back at the outset; Maria Muldaur and another good, close buddy and fellow upstate New York resident, Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian. 'I never really had a guitar of my own for much of the time. I'd often borrow John's,' she quips, before adding that though he tends to be thought of as a singer-songwriter and harp-player, Sebastian is in fact a surprisingly talented picker in his own right.

In some ways, it's hard not to think that Block has been under-rated and unacknowledged by the mainstream music world for way too long. While other bluesy contemporaries such as Bonnie Raitt and Maria Muldaur have 'made it' with chart-topping, popular successes, she has never quite gained the acclaim or spotlight that her overwhelming musicianship surely merits. This might be down to the fact that both Raitt and Muldaur have had songwriting success that has just slipped past Block. Again, it might be too simplistic to under-rate Block as a songwriter and some years ago, one of her own self-penned tracks, 'Lovin'

Whiskey' was a surprise hit in Europe, giving her confidence to continue wrestling with the muse - a feature of her current Mentor Series of recordings.

With Rory Block its absolutely impossible not to turn towards the late slide master, Robert Johnson, and she has of course been repeatedly linked to his extraordinary playing, a style that in many ways Block embodies in her own work: 'I started out trying to sound as much like Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton and Willie Brown as I could. They were my mentors. I've always loved dynamic sounds and strong rhythms. It's in my nature to put aggressive energy into my instrument. Charlie's sound was very percussive but Willie's was all out high powered snapping. To play like that you actually have to get your thumb deep under the string, grab it and yank it as if you're trying to break it. If anything, I continue to develop a more and more percussive style, all-out attack without losing the strings.'

And as for the frequent references to possible similarities with electric slide lady Bonnie Raitt, Block jokes about sharing a stage with Raitt - a good friend - some years ago: ' One time I was in Saratoga and Bonnie asked me to join her on stage. She said, "Do you know 'such and such' a song?" and I mumbled, "No, but I'll follow along!" I went out there, and she ended up doing one of her most masterful, complex, signature pieces (which of all of the great Raitt material I had hummed in my sleep

for years, I coincidentally didn't know), and I ended up literally searching for a harmony point and finally singing not a word. I am not one of those people who wishes to contribute unless I know it will be spot on, so I simply walked around the stage feeling like a complete jerk. Later, when I apologized profusely, she looked at me kindly and said, "Well at least you got out there!" I am not suggesting making

for example. And she confirms she has thoughts of the future and even retirement at some time.

For some years, she was introduced - largely in Europe - as being on a 'Farewell Tour.' She laughs at the thought, saying she never did understand why this had happened as it had never then been her own intention. Instead it was a promoter's error but one she just let roll

DISCOGRAPHY

KEEPIN’ OUTA TROUBLE: A TRIBUTE TO BUKKA

WHITE – 2016

a fool of yourself like I did, but there's also real truth in the power of simply "getting out there." And amazingly enough, someone came up to me in the supermarket the next day and said, " I heard you with Bonnie last night... you sounded great!"

Despite the success, she is presently riding, Block remains rooted in her life in upstate New York, around an hour's drive from Woodstock, home to many of her old buddies including Happy Traum, Larry Campbell, John Sebastian and the late Levon Helm. She teaches guitar to a handful of students who make contact and ask for her help and also features as a tutor at Jorma Kaukonen's legendary Fur Peace Ranch guitar camp in the Ohio hills. This year, she'll be helping out with the 'Reverend Gary Davis Weekend' at the camp in October, alongside Roy Book Binder and others,

along with a seeming life of its own. However, nowadays, she is looking ahead and a farewell tour just might turn up on the cards.

Fortunately, however, that remains in the future: 'I still love doing live shows,' she says. 'I just love the energy. I've used up a couple of tour busses, now on my third and have travelled over three hundred thousand miles in each one, so they always seem to need repairs. But I am looking at production work ahead,' she hints, disclosing a reluctance to ever really quit the blues music game altogether. 'I've worked on a few albums and enjoy it. I like to think I can bring something to the projects, based on my own experience, so that's definitely a road I will try out sometime, as I wind down.'

fore more info visit: www.roryblock.com

HARD

LUCK CHILD: A TRIBUTE TO SKIP JAMES – 2014

AVALON: A TRIBUTE TO MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT – 2013

I BELONG TO THE BAND: A TRIBUTE TO REV

GARY DAVIS – 2012

SHAKE ‘EM ON DOWN: A TRIBUTE TO MISSISSIPPI

FRED MCDOWELL – 2011

COUNTRY BLUES GUITAR – 2008

BLUES WALKIN’ LIKE A MAN: A TRIBUTE TO SON HOUSE – 2008

THE LADY & MISTER

JOHNSTON – 2006

FROM THE DUST – 2005

SISTERS & BROTHERS – 2004

LAST FAIR DEAL – 2003

I’M EVERY WOMAN – 2002

CONFESSIONS OF A BLUES SINGER – 1998

THE EARLY TAPES, 1975 – 1976 – 1997

GONE WOMAN BLUES – 1996

TORNADO – 1996

TURNING POINT – 1995

WHEN A WOMAN GETS

THE BLUES – 1995

WOMEN IN (E)MOTION – 1994

ANGEL OF MERCY – 1994

AIN’T I A WOMAN – 1992

MAMA’S BLUES – 1991

COLOR ME WILD – 1990

HOUSE OF HEARTS – 1987

BEST BLUES AND ORIGINALS – 1987

I’VE GOT A ROCK IN MY SOCK – 1986

RHINESTONES & STEEL

STRINGS – 1984

BLUE HORIZON – 1983

HIGH HEELED BLUES – 1981

YOU’RE THE ONE – 1979 INTOXICATION, SO

BITTER SWEET – 1977

I'VE USED UP A COUPLE OF TOUR BUSSES, NOW ON MY THIRD AND HAVE TRAVELLED OVER THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND MILES IN EACH ONE

John Mayall TALKING ABOUT THAT

The Godfather Of British Blues has been back out on the road promoting the current Talk About That album on Forty Below but the schedule had no available time in London for a meet, so Pete called him later in California to talk about everything new and old in – for John – an early morning call…

Verbals: Pete Sargeant Visuals: Arnie Goodman

Morning John, hope you’re fit and well? Yes thanks, good to hear from you, thanks for the album review by the way

How were the recent dates here?

Well it’s Ronnie Scott’s, they’re always good, a more intimate venue, quality sound and keen audiences. A club atmosphere rather than a big place, but yes we always have a good time there

This was in the trio format? Yes – me on keyboards, guitar, harp, vocals plus my guys that you’ve met Greg Rzab on bass and Jay Davenport on the drums. Gives a tight sound and range of material. Been doing that for some six months now, like a well-oiled machine for the live dates

Yes, the nimble lads in the rhythm section – I have met them a few times now and they love the freedom they have, but how do you select the material now with this line-up? Now of course some of the songs in the repertoire are very guitar-dominated so they may not be so suitable now. If they don’t work so well I’m inclined to drop them out, BUT there’s so much else to consider for inclusion. About 80% - I’d say - of what we did as a quartet does work very well still as a trio.

What instruments are you playing on tour at present?

We take the Hammond organ out on dates plus another keyboard for the piano.

Have you added anything to the guitar armoury besides the ones you make? No, pretty much what we have had with us over the last three or four years and they give us the range we need for the songs we want to do.

These days what make of harmonica do you favour? The only ones I use still are Hohner – they go by different names but from my point of view they do all sound pretty much the same, for playing response. Same notes in the same place, that’ll do!

As regards material, I think more and more that for your career it just HAS to be the jazz influence and knowledge that gives you this eternal freedom. That is true – every single show we do there is so much improvisation and by all of us not just me. So even if we’re playing the same song two nights in a row they will have different inflections and emphases. There aren’t any rules, Pete – we play the way we feel in the moment. No right or wrong to it. There’s a direct connection to the jazz attitude being the freedom there to explore.

I am finding that –reviewing a lot of new acts as well as the vintage or experienced – that they just don’t swing ever, mainly

because they don’t have jazz drummers. Which you, Ten Years After, Cream, Hendrix, Tull all did… is that slipping away?

(Ponders) I think it’s quite true that the drummers I have hired – like Jay – ARE versed in jazz tempo’s and as they have to work with the bass players that ready inter-action needs to be there. So that may be declining in that newer wave of acts, yes.

The records can live forever, if they capture that vitality in the studio. For setlists, you do get requests and I think I am probably responsible for recent airings of Broken Wings, but can you accommodate them? It’s not really possible to do that too often. I haven’t stopped to count how many albums or songs I have recorded, but it’s a lot now. This is over sixty years! Now naturally people have their own favourites. In reality it’s going to be rare that they will coincide at any given time. We have about forty songs that we are currently playing together, but from all eras I would say.

I really like Mail Order Mystics…

That’s one we can’t really do now, it’s guitar-dominated in the ideal arrangement. It was always a lot of fun, though.

I was looking at some vintage posters for American shows the other day and the names are just fantastic. Did you ever appear on a bill with Paul Butterfield? Yes, it might well have

THERE AREN’T ANY RULES… WE PLAY THE WAY WE FEEL IN THE MOMENT.

been so BUT it would be a very long time ago.

Electric Flag?

No I don’t think so. I wasn’t a great fan of Mike Bloomfield and I don’t think we did any shows together, anywhere.

Sadness – James Cotton has passed. I so admired that man. Did you ever meet him? Yes, a couple of times in our travels. We did a show about a year ago, on the same bill. Because he’d had cancer of the throat he could barely talk, so it was remarkable that he could carry on playing the way that he did. One of the all-time greats.

John, we’ve spoken a couple of times about the live tapes from the fan of the London gigs with you, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green. Were you surprised at how well those historic albums were received?

Not really – the music on them does speak for itself, doesn’t it? I don’t think you’ll ever hear Peter Green playing that level anywhere else than on those club tapes. In his time, he came up with those fine live performances which I don’t think can be beaten by anybody.

I tend to agree and I find them very repeatplayable. It’s atmosphere. He could take you somewhere, couldn’t he? (Warmly) Yes! Unbelievable! it was a great period for us. It was only a short time that Mick Fleetwood was with us. I am really glad that it’s all preserved.

Looking back – to use a term – what are your thoughts on drummer Keef Hartley?

Well he was always a great friend of mine, we bonded together early on and not just by the music but also by who he was as a person. We had a lot of fun together and it came out in the music, too – you can hear it.

He did like you have the knack of finding good musicians to bring on board Yes, Keef being a drummer he had to find players who could be front men, so in that respect I agree he did rather well. Keef really worked hard at what he did.

Back in the Sixties, you put up the notion of A Great Crusade to get quality and forceful music heard – do you still look upon your endeavours in that light?

I don’t really know how to judge that. I just wanted

and want to make sure that people are listening to me and are able then to maybe enjoy what we do. That Crusade time was one where the press and media were not too aware of the lesserknown acts which seemed a shame to us. As blues men it was an attempt to spread the word, as it were. Crusade was a hook to make people aware of the names.

It worked on my generation but then you made this very brave move of The Turning Point with no drummer! Yeah – that scared a lot of promoters! I think the changeover was about to take place half-way through a German tour, they were fearful that people would be turned off by this drummer less line up and wanted the Mick Taylor ensemble as Part One or whatever. I turned that down said they’d just have to trust me!

When I play that record now there are echoes to me of that old film Jazz On A Summer’s Day

Yes the link there is definitely the Jimmy Guiffre set that is part of it – The Train & The River. That showed me that you could make rhythmic music but without a drummer. I thought, well that should work for me. It was a proving point.

Also, the songs on that album were particularly strong. They were designed for that line up, you see. Ultimately there wasn’t anywhere else you could go with that format so it didn’t last that long. Just over a year and two albums.

BUT then you made another of my favourite records with the Americans –Harvey Mandel, Larry Taylor, Sugarcane Harris - USA Union and still no drummer, till you toured. That was the continuation of that idea, really but with different players. We did ultimately add a drummer.

Paul Lagos, the late Paul Lagos. I saw that tour. I had relocated to the States and I now had access to all these American musicians who wanted to play with me.

Mandel is one of ‘my’ guitar players and you did that ecological-aware song Nature’s Disappearing. Ah! Which is part of what we are doing now, funnily enough. The message is still important, I think.

Can you play it to Donald Trump maybe?

Ha ha! We’re in danger there! Dangerous ground.

What concerns John Mayall about the world right now?

I think it’s crazy. Getting crazier all the time. The world is in turmoil and there doesn’t appear to be any answer to it all. We have people who are dissatisfied with everything and all they want to do is kill each other. For their beliefs. There’s a song on my new album The Devil Must Be Laughing addressing all that. As musicians all we can do is put our opinions out there and that’s as far as we can go.

Cos you did military service, didn’t you?

JOHN MAYALL ROCK THE BLUES TONIGHT TALKING ELEPHANT

This is a re-issue of live recordings made between late 1970 and 71 that were originally bootlegs that came to light and were sanctioned by John Mayall for release in 1999. The packaging here is a bit basic with no venues identified other than the fact that the shows were in various Canadian locations. We do have at least some of Johns original sleeve notes and all of the musicians identified. In his notes John says that he's not thrilled by his vocal performances and also that he's selected tracks based on what was 'salvageable'. Taking that into

What did that do for the young Mayall?

Yes, I was three years in The Army. It was hard work and overall a waste of time, but I did get to see some new parts of the world. All these experiences add to your individual profile.

Your songs are still news and humanity-based, you haven’t wandered off to elves and gnomes and some of those Progressive lyrics. Now THAT’s what the blues is all about – it’s supposed to put out the word of what you are feeling about what’s going on around you. When it comes to making an album, I always bear that in mind.

consideration, the quality of sound and balance is generally of a high standard. It is a good documentation of the era and the Mayall line ups from that historical period that will probably divide opinion. The songs are mostly long with lots of improvisation and soloing going on and over the two hours plus of playing we get two versions each of Took The Car, Crying and Possessive Emotions (at 16 and 20 minutes). That said there are some sublime playing by Harvey Mandel and Larry Taylor on most tracks (there is a totally different line up on the final three tracks) and impressive guest slots by Sugarcane Harris on violin and Blue Mitchell on trumpet. I can't help feeling this could have benefited by having more detailed liner notes and photos from the era but there is no doubting the raw energy and spontaneity captured here from John and the class musicians show why he is such an important figure in the history of blues music.

STEVE YOURGLIVCH

DISCOGRAPHY

BRITISH BLUES JOURNEY – 2016

A SPECIAL LIFE – 2014

SMOKIN’ BLUES – 2012

TOUGH – 2009

IN THE PALACE OF THE KING – 2007

LIVE FROM AUSTIN TX – 2007

ROAD DOGS – 2005

ALONG FOR THE RIDE – 2001

BOOGIE WOOGIE MAN – 2001

BLUES FOR THE LOST

DAYS – 1997

THE POWER OF THE BLUES – 1997

SPINNING COIN – 1995

WAKE UP CALL – 1993

CROSS COUNTRY BLUES – 1992

A SENSE OF PLACE – 1990

Valerie June THE ORDER OF TIME

Valerie June is a truly remarkable young lady, a musician with a distinctive approach and style that has already earned her widespread acclaim and a legion of admirers that include the former first lady of the USA, Michelle Obama, who invited her to play at the White House. Now back on the road, touring in support of her sophomore label album, (she self-produced three earlier works) The Order Of Time, she believes she is in a better place than before, with the enormous uphill struggle she eloquently described in the preparation and production of her debut, Concord first major label release, Pushin’ Against A Stone, in 2013 now firmly behind her. Looking ahead, she is upbeat and optimistic, evidently more than satisfied with recent career choices and the road ahead.

Verbals: Iain Patience Visuals: Jacob Blickenstaff

‘Yea, I really felt like I was pushing against a stone,’ she confirms, looking back over a shoulder at the process and time spent pushing to get her debut album written, completed and released� The title of that offering is clearly understandable given her retrospective view of its genesis� From her initial faltering steps in Memphis, a town with quite a musical heritage and history, June found it incredibly difficult to get her music out and accepted by the mainstream music world

‘I don’t have any particular influences� I just do what I do in my own way,’ she rather fearlessly suggests, before adding: ‘I was brought up in a large family, one of five kids We were all musical, music was always around, part of our life, so I never gave it much real thought� My family is now real proud of my success and I feel like I’m now doing okay out there, alone, like with no driver, no instructor to help or tell me what to do or where to go next�’

June knows plenty about making the most of her talents� In the US praise has piled high with accolades pouring in from almost all media sources: Rolling Stone described her as “unstoppable”; the New York Times also weighed in following the release of her first significant major label launch, Pushing Against A Stone, as being easily one of the ‘……most intriguing, fully formed new

talents,’ while NPR seemed totally enraptured by her muse, describing her as ‘An elemental talent, born with the ability to rearrange the clouds themselves�’ Heady stuff indeed, the sort of praise that would surely be either a heavy burden or a huge pleasure

‘The ideas just come,’ she says� ‘I do have to work on it all but lyrics come to me and I

put down a rhythm alongside to bring it out� It just seems to work for me� I don’t know how or why, it’s just how it is, I guess� I try not to think or care too much about what people might be saying about me and my music� I’d rather just get on down to it�’

Here, in the UK, similar thoughts bubbled to the surface with Mojo and others all jumping on the praise bandwagon and June, herself, being billed alongside the Stones at a Hyde Park concert and an appearance on Jools Holland’s TV show� All grist to the growing mill as far as June is concerned� Having hit pay dirt, so to speak, June recalls the struggle with her own self-produced efforts and the apparent difference and exposure gained by signing to a major label�

In reality she felt liberated by the artistic freedom it gave her, allowing her the time to relax a bit and develop and hone her latest crop of compositions before

recording them, without the feeling of being in any sense rushed, of having to put together an album of material before it was truly fully formed to her own personal satisfaction� By the time, she hit the studio once more to record the follow-up, she had a new confidence and a theme that held personal meaning for her� Her voice and vocal delivery are pretty much in a league of its own, while her at times strikingly a-rhythmic guitar-work is equally surprising and instantly recognisable� This is a lady who produces remarkable songs, sounds and surprises at almost every turn� Folk, blues, bluegrass, rock and soul all fall under her spell From her serpentine hairstyle to her boundary-pushing cross-genre music, she seems able to create unusually memorable musical hooks, looks and tags that seldom fail to surprise and excite�

Order Of Time, takes the process a step further and deals with her own belief that time itself is the sole certainty in this life� To put the album and songs together, June retreated into the snowy Vermont countryside, a world apart from her usual bustling, noisy Brooklyn existence� When I ask how she finds life in Brooklyn after her roots in Memphis, she laughs and says she loves it: ‘I guess I’m really a city person, so it works just fine for me, and there’s always so much happening there�’ But she agrees that her time in the

I JUST DO WHAT I DO IN MY OWN WAY “ ”

Vermont countryside helped focus her attention and intention to deliver a follow up release that highlighted and spotlighted exactly where she is now at professionally. ‘It was a wonderful experience. Friends and family came to stay over and I had the chance to bond more with the band and get to work in a more collaborative way than ever before,’ she says.

Anyone familiar with her music will appreciate exactly how singularly alone June really is: her voice and vocal delivery is pretty much in a league of its own, while her at times strikingly a-rhythmic guitar-work is equally surprising and instantly

recognisable. This is a lady who produces remarkable songs, sounds and surprises at almost every turn. Folk, blues, bluegrass, rock and soul all fall under her spell. From her serpentine hairstyle to her boundary-pushing cross-genre music, she seems able to create unusually memorable musical hooks, looks and tags that seldom fail to surprise and excite.

‘I see myself as a songwriter, in many different genres,’ June says, before expressing herself in a distinctly more introspective and serious vein.

‘I love being able to cross divisions, to express myself across a whole range of styles. I don’t care to be put into any one box, or concern myself too much with what people might say about it. I always try to be soulful, that’s maybe the heart of it all. I hope I’m original and

interesting like, say, Robert Plant or Jimi Hendrix. Guys who were never prisoners of their own style or success.’

June confirms her pleasure with the new album and how much she’s enjoying taking it out on the road: ‘This is fun. I love the energy of being out touring, hitting new audiences, new towns and countries. It’s all going real well for me right now. The new album, ‘Order of Time’ has come together well and I’m absolutely loving it all.’

DISCOGRAPHY

THE ORDER OF TIME – 2017 PUSHING AGAINST A STONE – 2013

VALERIE JUNE & THE TENNESSEE EXPRESS – 2010

MOUNTAIN OF ROSE

QUARTZ – 2008

THE WAY OF THE WEEPING WILLOW – 2006

VALERIE JUNE THE ORDER OF TIME

STAX RECORDS

The first thing that is inescapable about this US soul-blues singersongwriter is her voice, a truly unusual – maybe even unique – vocal range that at times seems

to near-warble. This is a vocal delivery, very much a USP for many, that either works or not depending on your personal tastes and sensibilities. Her fretwork is also unexpectedly distinctive, with a demanding a-rhythmic roll that sure makes a listener take note. Combine the two, vocal and guitar delivery, and you have a genuinely remarkable release. June’s writing is also demanding at times and with this twelve-track offering there’s a strong bluesy flavour that draws you into the lyricism and overall musical mix. The support studio outfit is tight and determined, and June herself confirms this album best reflects just where she is and

what she’s about for now. One track, in particular, Astral Plane, has an immediately compelling, near rocky feel and is a track that would almost certainly hit the chart heights if turned out as a single these days. Overall, Order Of Time is a difficult album to slip into any one musical box. It has some topquality musicianship together with a unique vocal delivery and interesting themed core that inevitably invites comparison with her current female contemporaries while also retaining a genuinely original, near-unique place in the current soul and blues area. Definitely worth catching - for the experience, if nothing else.

IAIN PATIENCE

Colin James GOIN' DOWN THE BLUE HIGHWAYS

Colin James made a major impact from the day he released his debut self-titled album in 1988 and he has grown in stature and influence from his Canadian roots to become a songwriter and performer of international renown.

Verbals: Steve Yourglivch Visuals: James O’mara

Towards the end of 2016, 28 years on from that debut, at the end of a successful two month tour Colin took his band straight into the studio and within two days the album of his favourite blues tracks that he had long dreamed of making was a reality. Blue Highways was born and has become Colin's 16th studio album. I've been a fan since that debut so jumped at the opportunity to talk to Colin via phone link even though our time was limited, hopefully at some point I'll get the chance for a longer chat.

Hello Colin how are you?

I'm well thank you, lovely to talk to Blues Matters. I've got a day off today so it's great.

I'm really pleased to be doing this, I picked up on your career right at the beginning after hearing a track from your debut album on the radio. I bought the album and followed you ever since. What I find interesting about the tracks you've chosen to put on Blue Highways is that they aren't always the best known or obvious ones from the artist you're covering. Yeah, you know when I was 16 to 18 years old I had some friends I would go around to their place and sit down and listen to records. A lot of those records have stayed with me like Chuck Willis, Yonne Harris and Roy Brown. A lot of songs have carried right through my life. Hoodoo Man Blues by Junior Wells is important to me. The Hoodoo Men was the name of my first ever band when I was a teenager so it was cool to record that. And a track like Riding In The Moonlight, I got that from a John Hammond version. So really lots of the tracks on Blue Highways have a connection to my early discovery of the blues and a few others like Goin' Down we put in because they are just fun! I love that track, I know a lot of people

have covered it. I went on a bit of a Freddie King frenzy on You Tube, you know that rabbit hole you can disappear into, and that's where I discovered Boogie Funk the opening track, I didn't really know it before that, but on all these live clips it was a showcase song for him.

I believe you pretty much recorded the whole album in two or three days? Yeah, you know whenever I've done straight blues albums I've been signed to major labels, Warners, Virgin etc., and there was always a level of pushback to making a blues record, it was always you know 'we need a hit'.

I suppose with major labels there is always added pressure to achieve sales targets? Yeh, my first producer wanted nothing to do with me playing blues. I think he had done it with too many people long before I got there. He thought I should be sounding like The Eurythmics. So, at the beginning my career had this juxtaposition of pop guy versus blues guy. And the blues guy would often lose out when it came to working with major record companies, they would sometimes say OK we'll let you do a blues record but it won't count on your contract So like when I did Little Big Band or National

Steel it was against the record labels wishes. So, like with this one I've just done it myself and it's been such a pleasure and I do love it.

And this is released by True North Records who have a roster of people more steeped in blues. Maybe they specialise in it a bit more?

I think it's the right label at the right time. True North have worked with Matt Andersen and people like that so they seem to know how to get to the right people and the right places like us being on the Beth Hart tour. You know coming over to England on some of the Beth Hart shows really meant a lot to me, I hadn't been back for several years and had such a good time, the audience were really fantastic to us.

It must have been fun recording it so quickly? Exactly, we had been touring about two months, so after a while the playing just magically gels, something just happens without really thinking about it. So, on the back of that we went into the studio as soon as the tour finished and we recorded 30 songs in two days. It was a neat thing to do.

On lots of your records

I feel you have a good blend of blues, rock and soul. Is that deliberate or how it just comes out?

I guess it's just kinda influenced by what I like. And singing is something that has crept up on me through my life. Initially I was a guitar player who sang a little bit and over the years singing

just became more and more important to me. Now I just love it, I listen a lot to Otis Rush because I think you can learn so much from someone like him. I love all kinds of music and I am a fan of soul, rock and blues music so I guess my stuff is just a mix of those influences.

It's interesting to hear you say that. Often with young guitarists the songs become vehicles for the solos, but over time the guitar parts fit the requirements of the song. I think the best guitar heroes whether its Otis Rush or

whoever do a mix of both. Their singing is part of their guitar playing, you know like Albert King, his voice and his playing blend into part of the same thing. Magic Sam had that vibrato voice that matched his playing. He had that kinda yearning voice, similar to Otis Rush too.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was an important influence on your career, wasn't he? He was a huge influence. I first heard him on that David Bowie record and remember thinking wow David Bowie hired Albert King! Not long after that I met him It was bizarre so soon after discovering him and becoming a massive fan about five months later I shared a stage with him. We hit it off really fast and became friends. It was always such a thrill to play with him, sadly there's only footage from a couple of things.

I think there's a bit of a story behind the first time you supported him?

I had to lie to the promoters. I'd opened up for George Thorogood about a year earlier in my hometown and then I'd moved to the West Coast. I had just gone back home for a couple of days, to be honest to borrow money off my parents. Then the phone rang and it was the promoter saying that SRV had just fired the opening act and could I get to town by the next night with a band. I said no problem, and started phoning guys I knew and had played with but nobody could make the gig. So, I phoned the local jazz society and asked do you have a drummer and a bass

player, anybody! So, met at the venue for the first time a started rehearsing. Stevie came bursting in and said, 'Is this right you guys just met?' I wasn't gonna miss that gig, no way. I mean at that time I had no manager or anything, I had one guitar, and as soon as I got onstage I snapped two strings! I remember there were about 2000 people there, I went behind a big speaker stack and looked at Stevie’s crew, and shrugged my shoulders, like what do I do? Next thing Rudy Martinez, Stevie’s guitar guy comes running out with a guitar. So, it all started from there, I supported him another time and then eventually went on the road with him for a couple of weeks. You know I was booked to support him at Hammersmith a week after Stevie died.

DISCOGRAPHY:

BLUE HIGHWAYS – 2016

HEARTS ON FIRE – 2015

TWENTY FIVE LIVE – 2013

FIFTEEN –2012

ROOFTOPS AND SATELLITES – 2009

LITTLE BIG BAND

CHRISTMAS – 2007

LITTLE BIG BAND 3 – 2006

LIMELIGHT – 2005

TRAVELLER – 2003

FUSE – 2000

LITTLE BIG BAND 2 – 1998

NATIONAL STEEL – 1997

BAD HABITS – 1995

LITTLE BIG BAND – 1993

SUDDEN STOP – 1990

COLIN JAMES – 1988

Jack Hutchinson BOOM BOOM BROTHERHOOD

Since migrating south a few years ago, Jack J Hutchinson has made an impression on the London blues circuit. Renowned for his contribution to jamming/open mic sessions, after a hard slog, Jack is finally carving himself a career, along with his band, The Boom Boom Brotherhood. Jack will also be found busking at festivals and I caught up with him at the Skegness Rock & Blues Festival in January for a quick chat.

Verbals: Clive Rawlings Visuals: Rob Blackman

BM: For the uninitiated, who is Jack J Hutchinson?

JJH: I grew up in the NW, Burnley to be precise and in my mid-twenties moved to London in order to make it as an artist/musician. There was more money in music, I built up my confidence by going to the Ain’t Nothing But, The Blues Bar, where I joined in jams and open mics. I found feeding off other musos gave me confidence both in my playing and writing.

Did you play from the off?

No, I suffered from reactive arthritis, I was ill for about a year, it took something away from me that I enjoyed. After that I felt the need to go full throttle.

When did you start recording, can’t have been long after that?

I independently recorded songs gleaned from my life. Music from the heart, learned

from original blues guys, broken heart, relationships etc., you don’t have to feel pain to write blues songs. As long as it sounds authentic, something inside you needs to get those emotions out. That applies to both lyrics and guitar riffs/solos.

Were you homesick, at a relatively young age finding yourself in the big Smoke?

For the first year, yes, I found it tough. I missed Burnley, my mates, I was skint and had to borrow money for the rent. I remember a heckler at the 12 Bar Club shouting at me through a megaphone, threatening to smash my guitar, that was a real eyeopener! The irony of that story is that whilst running for a train, I tripped and broke the head stock on my guitar! That’s the blues, I guess!

How did the band come about?

I was at Universal Studios and got chatting with a session musician, bassist Rick Baxendale. We had a lot in common, mainly older bands such as Zeppelin. I already knew drummer Jim Brazendale from gigging with him. We met up for rehearsals, had the same ideas re the direction the band would take, i.e. a power trio, less egoistic, wanted to be part of a gang rather than just performers, managing players rather like a football manager, bringing out the best in them. The main thing was we all got on.

Listening to the album, I have to ask, why the Floydian title, Set Your Heart For The Sun?

It’s about trying to think things will get better, rather than wallowing. The album takes you on a journey with a happy ending. Some of the songs are melancholy,

some negativity but with a positive outcome through music. Yes, there is a tip of the hat to Floyd in the title! Track 2, Boom! came about after playing some Charlie Patton stuff, messing about trying to play Bay Blues, couldn’t hack it, but liked the riff. It’s a song about being cheated on, Boom! being a metaphoric reference to a shotgun going off. In terms of the album, Fight Fire With Fire is the lynchpin of it all through mucking about in the studio, made into something coherent, complete with Beatle-esque harmonies. I met the great harp player, Tom Brundage at Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues and he adds to the whole blues/roots authenticity. Tom nailed Souled Out in about fifteen minutes, he’s wonderful to work with and has a lot of stories from his time on the road! Theme Of Jezebel is great to play live. My Gibson Les Paul into 3 split amps in a separate room makes it loud. I suppose the more straight blues track is Loving Man, which came about through listening to Mac’s Drifting, complete with atmospheric Les Paul solo.

You sound happy with the album?

Happy with what we’ve achieved, yes, it took 18 months to bring to fruition and have enough tracks for the next album.

Great stuff, thanks for taking time out to speak with me, one last question, what’s your favourite biscuit?

Got to be my childhood favourite, Jammy Dodger!

Mississippi Heat TURN UP THE HEAT

For the past twenty-five years Chicago-based, Mississippi-inspired blues band Mississippi Heat has been spreading traditional Chicago electric blues all over the world. Mississippi Heat have just released their twelfth recording, their sixth for the Delmark record label. Cab Driving Man consists of sixteen tunes, eleven composed by bandleader and harp master Pierre Lacocque, three by guitarist Michael Dotson, and two covers. The last time I talked to Pierre, he had just released the highly acclaimed Warning Shot in 2014, which held the number one slot on radio for five months. Since that has got to be a hard act to follow, I wanted to find out what his latest project was all about. All indications point to another winning effort by these talented messengers of traditional blues music.

Verbals: Monte Adkison Aka The Blues Stalker Visuals: Alfonso Zirpoli and Daniel Brunner

Cab Driving Man has some special guests in addition to the regular members of the band. For those who don't know, who is currently in the regular lineup and what guests contributed to this new release?

Inetta Visor is our lead vocalist. Michael Dotson is on the guitar and also does vocals. Bryan Quinn is on bass. Terrence Williams is our drummer. And I'm on the harmonica. That's the regular lineup.

In terms of guests we went with guitarists Giles Corey and Dave Specter. Chris "Hambone" Cameron appears on clavinet, organ and piano. I also invited Billy Branch's pianist Sumito Ariyo. Sumito guests on two traditional blues songs. Ruben Alvarez is on Latin percussion on four songs. Finally, Sax Gordon

You play more acoustic harp on this release. Is this a trend that we can expect to continue?

I am naturally attracted to the deep horn sound of the harmonica which requires an amplifier. I enjoy sounding like a tenor saxophone, a clarinet or a trombone. Yet to my ears, I felt that this record called for an acoustic harmonica presence on songs like Mama Kaila, Lonely Eyes and Life Is Too Short. I have to say that I did not expect to be as happy playing acoustic as I am on this record. It opens up exciting possibilities for future recordings.

You have said that to play the blues, you must be a student of the blues, i.e. "woodshedding." Explain the feelings behind that statement and why you feel that it's important.

is on tenor and baritone saxophone on five songs.

Our long-time drummer Kenny Smith (since 1997) appears on three songs.

Terrence Williams is now the official Mississippi Heat drummer. Kenny has always been part of the Mississippi Heat family, but his schedule is such that it made it impossible for him to stay on as a full-time member. Terrence has been with the band for the past five years. So have Michael and Brian. Inetta Visor has been a central force for the Heat for the past sixteen years.

I think that to play blues music well you have to play it with respect for its cultural context. And you have to play it with knowledge of the history of that musical genre. There is a blues vocabulary that is unmistakably part of that music. There are blue notes and musical phrasings that unmistakably belong to it. The “blue notes” in blues music are primordial and non-negotiable. Just give me a minute (or less) to listen to a blues player and I’ll tell you how cultured he or she is. You can play “blues”

by using a lot of different notes from any genre, really -- funk, jazz, rock or what have you. And yet it can quickly stray away from its original soul and respect for a specific cultural music. There are blues originators that have paved the way for us today. I have friends and colleagues who will only play what’s already been recorded; that is, blues covers. At best, they will hesitate to venture into new phrasings, new expressions, because they have such an awe and admiration for the old masters like Otis Spann, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Little and Big Walter, and legendary artists like them. I can only respect their commitment. Myself, I have a need to creatively use these contributions and turn them into my own. All the while giving a loving nod to those trailblazers. I am happiest that way. The sky is the limit when it comes to creating within the blues genre. I may choose reggae, I may write a song from a calypso music vantage point, or rumbas, but I don't deviate from the basic blues spirit and culture. Taj Mahal and John Mayall do this admirably well.

You and Steve Wagner at Delmark co-produced Cab Driving Man. You credit him with a great ear for detail. What is the key to working together so successfully?

I think it's our personalities. There’s a natural chemistry between us. From the very beginning of this project, we were on the same

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT WHEN IT COMES TO CREATING WITHIN THE BLUES GENRE

“ ”

wavelength. There was never a question as to the guests I wanted to bring in, like Dave Specter or Chris "Hambone" Cameron and Giles Corey.

So, from a creative point of view, I felt honored and supported. We never had a conflict we couldn’t resolve easily and amicably. I trust him. We co-produced Cab Driving Man as we have other Delmark albums before this one. For the past eleven years, I have felt at home with that record label.

You have a stable lineup and a European booking agent that keeps you quite busy on that continent now. What countries have you performed in during the past year?

We just returned from a twenty-day tour - and it was an exciting one. We went to France, Belgium, Poland, Greece, including Athens for several days and the island of Patras. Then we went to Switzerland and Germany.

During the past year we've also performed in Austria and again in Germany.

We've toured Canada many times, from Quebec to the western parts of that country. And we played in Istanbul in late 2015.

Is there any place you have not performed where you would like to play the blues? Yes, definitely. I would love to play in Japan. Also, Australia and New Zealand. Sweden too. We've played in Scandinavia a few times in the past - specifically in Denmark and Norway - but we’ve never been in Sweden.

We've played in (and enjoyed) Mexico and a little bit in South America. We've performed in Venezuela, but we've never been farther south than that. I'd love to perform in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina.

I know you are a fan of Latin rhythms, and I see Havana is on your schedule. Having spent some time there, I can only imagine the energy and experience you'll gain. I know a wealth of new material is going to come from those

infectious island rhythms. Do you have any contact with musicians there?

I will try to connect with musicians and blues DJs in Cuba. Many of the emails and websites I have found on Google do not seem to be operational! But I know there’s Miguel de Oca at the Havana Blues Society and Lazaro Morua who I hear is a superb harmonica player. Hopefully I’ll be able to track them down. There's also Miquel in Varadero, who I’m trying to contact. (Actually, Monte, this is a name you gave me to pursue, so thank you.) Whatever the luck I’ll have tracing blues musicians in Cuba, we will definitely go to popular Havana bars like the Irakere, the Oasis, and the Montserrate. I will bring Mississippi Heat CDs as I hear there are radio stations playing blues.

As I did my research, I don’t know how bluesy Cuba’s so-called “blues bands” are. From what I see on YouTube I don’t hear 12-bar Chicago blues songs. What they call “blues” seems pretty much like Afro-Cuban Jazz, Salsa, Cha-cha-cha, Cuban rumbas and the like.

With rapid changes in technology, with music streaming and the internet, how important do you think that radio is today in spreading the gospel of the blues?

You know, the older I get, the more convinced I am that radio plays a phenomenal role in spreading blues music. It brings fans to our shows, fans who have never heard of us. Like in small towns in France, or in Canada. A

few years ago, we played in Tunisia for an international music festival, for example. Many people came because they heard us on their radio.

I used to be upset with people filming and recording us at our shows. These would often appear on YouTube without our consent. Moreover, the videos’ sound was often amateurish. I experienced being filmed as interfering with my playing spontaneity. Especially since I tend to work on new songs and harp phrasings. It didn't help my creative joy. But I’ve somewhat changed my view on that “intrusion”. Over the years my band has preached to me in favor of being recorded live, telling me it's good to have a presence online.

At any rate, I can’t do anything about people videotaping us. So, I accept it now. I love what I do too much to not want anything to interfere with my joy. As you know, it’s hard being on the road, the long hours traveling by van or plane, leaving after a gig at two in the morning to catch a flight and so forth. For mine and the band’s morale's sake I make big efforts to minimize negativity.

In the studio, many artists are now trying to capture the vintage analog sound of '50s Chicago Chessstyle blues. What makes that retro sound so popular and desirable?

I think there will always be cycles of nostalgia to return to the BEGINNING because it was unbelievably exciting. The analog recordings of that era are vibrant. There was indeed a live and warm feel

when those analog tapes were used. At the time, during the mixing you had to cut and paste the two-inch reel tapes to correct mistakes. It was tedious work. We also used analog tapes on many of our early Mississippi Heat recordings - all the way up to our Footprints On The Ceiling (2002).

You can also hear the difference when you use digital versus analog effect pedals on an instrument. However, it doesn't mean digital recordings are bad, as fantastic digital recording strides have been made recently.

Blues fans are aging and so many elderly blues legends have been lost recently. Do you see evidence in your travels that there is hope for the younger generation to learn to love this genre as we have? Yes, I have hope. We just came back from performing in Southern France, for example, in a place called Tournond Agenais. We saw a French band called Mr. Tchang and The Footstompers who opened the show for us. This trio plays pure unadulterated traditional blues. Wonderful to listen to. And that is but one among numerous examples I could bring up. Anywhere we go worldwide, a blues band typically opens for us. And I have the same experience with them as with Mr. Tchang’s band.

The sad thing for me is that there aren't enough African-American traditional blues musicians making it as professionals. And when there are, AfricanAmerican-led bands tend to

lean towards R&B music, in spite of calling themselves a “blues band”. But there are exceptions: John Primer, Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch, Zora Young, Deitra Farr, Eddie Taylor Jr., Demetria Taylor, are African-American band leaders who do play and sing traditional blues.

Pierre, as a student of dance and a fan of Cab Calloway, I have to tell you that I was very tempted to dust off my tap shoes when I first heard Cab Driving Man. Thank you for that. It made me want to dance. Best of luck with your new release and tours to promote it. You have another winner. Thank you so much, Monte. I wanted to have a cabaret feel for this song. My friend and keyboard player Chris "Hambone" Cameron gave me additional musical ideas for it, so I credited his name as the second author. I love Cab Calloway and his scat singing style. Especially his songs He Do Ho Man (AKA Hi-De-Ho), Blues In The Night, and of course Minnie The Moocher. Thank you for liking that track. It’s a dear one for me too.

DISCOGRAPHY

CAB DRIVING MAN – 2016

WARNING SHOT – 2014

DELTA BOUND – 2012

LETS LIVE IT UP – 2010

HATTIESBURG BLUES – 2008

ONE EYE OPEN (LIVE) – 2005

GLAD YOU’RE MINE – 2005

FOOTPRINTS ON THE

CEILING – 2002

HANDYMAN – 1999

Wille and the Bandits WARRIORS OF THE ROAD

Wille Edwards, Andrew Naumann and Matt Brooks make up this powerful and expressive band, who thunder through their set with tribal vibes and heartfelt musicianship. From bumming around the south coast in a van stopping wherever the vibe and surfing took them, they have moved through to supports for Status Quo and Deep Purple. Let's see what their musical trip is and how they are enjoying it…

Verbals: Christine Moore Visuals: Marielle Newton

How did you all get together?

WE: We all met through mutual friends. I was introduced to Andy and we set up a gig although we hadn’t really rehearsed. We both knew Matt through mutual friends, so we were all pretty much mates. We just started gigging when we realised we all had the same musical interest.

Have any of you had formal musical training?

MB: I think I am the only one who has had formal training. WE: He is the only one who keeps in tune and looks like he knows what he is doing! MB: I started formal training when I was quite young, with private lessons. My brother was getting guitar lessons, so I went along in Dad's car to the same tutor to learn bass, as Dad was driving there anyway. I ended up going to the ACM in Guildford for a year - I had a lot of private lessons.

Did you enjoy music college? What I remember of it! The college was above a twostoreys Wetherspoon’s, so maybe I spent more time in there than at college.

So Wille, you and Matt were friends first?

No, Andy and I were friends first. We had a line-up sorted and we asked Matt to join us. He turned us down. We went on gigging and when our profile went up he decided to join us.

Do you just play bass then Matt?

I play a little bit of other stuff - piano is my next instrument

apart from double bass. Piano is what I started with when I was very small, but my proficiency is pretty low.

What about you Wille, apart from lap slide and guitar do you play any other instrument?

I used to play a bit of trumpet and I have a piano, but I am nowhere near good enough to let anyone hear me.

Andy is not here right now, but does he play anything other than drums?

WE: Andy plays a bit of guitar, bit of piano and trumpet. He is brutally loud. MB: He is the loudest trumpet player I have ever heard (both agree). We all dabble in other instruments. WE: I wouldn’t want to be caught on stage with anything but playing guitar and singing.

people in front of you?

WE: Yea, I like to think I don’t get nervous but I think I was nervous that day. I am not nervous about the playing, just that something will go wrong, because we are sort of self-sufficient on the road. We are lucky enough to have Adam or should I say he is lucky to have us! But besides that, he is front of house and if anything goes wrong on stage... (It’s his fault?) Yes everything is his fault. (lots of laughing) But if something goes wrong on stage with that amount of people - your pedal dies or your amp blows up - that’s the sort of things I worry about.

MB: Playing is sort of second nature now so it is something breaking that worries you. The most nervous I have ever been for a gig was the first Deep Purple support we did. WE: He didn’t even

What is your favourite gig up to now? Which one has been the best experience?

MB: Difficult call. I really enjoyed Cropredy Festival - that was excellent – and Hamrock festival in Germany, where we met Peggy who actually booked us for Cropredy. They were two awesome festivals.

How many people go to Cropredy Festival?

Twenty-five thousand in front of us and they went mad for it.

Is that scary, does it faze you with so many

know the songs.

MB: It was the first year I was in the band and I was pretty green behind the ears. First time out touring and we got word we were support for the Deep Purple tour. I was terrified.

But you didn’t tell the rest of the band you were terrified?

MB: These guys had already done the Status Quo support tour. They were kind of more relaxed about it.

WE: We were s******* ourselves!! (lots of laughing again)

IT WAS IN FRONT OF SEVEN THOUSAND AND MY MOUTH WAS DRY, I WAS SWEATING, I WAS COLD, PROPERLY SCARED.

MB: It was in front of seven thousand and my mouth was dry, I was sweating, I was cold, properly scared. WE: One of my favourite shows was a Deep Purple show, I don’t remember which one, but we got a standing ovation. It sort of made us realise that we must be good, we were not bad at this. It sent us a bit heavier, more rocky. We knew we had a sound that could fill an arena. We started out very acoustic, more folky. We got more effects pedals and the sound just got louder.

Does that progression show in your albumsfrom folky to rocky to something heavier? Yes, our back catalogue is more eclectic. Now we are more blues/rock.

Do you have any more support tours lined up? We go on support soon with New Model Army, we have six dates with those guys.

Your new album Stealhow is that going down?

WE: It’s going really well and the reviews have been amazing. It’s the most press we have had on any record. It is nice because it was recorded analogue and it sort of captures the live feel of the band, very much what we are about. It’s the performance, not fixing it afterwards.

MB: We need to mention Grange studio. We had great studio time with Dave.

What is your favourite song on the album, do you all have different preferences?

WE: Yea, I really like Crossfire Memories and

WILLE & THE BANDITS STEAL

JIG - SAW MUSIC

The album packaging sets the scene for the album, there is a real sense of sun and freedom evoked in the nine tracks. The album opens with Miles Away setting the mood, with a soundscape of rock blues, opening your senses to their unique playing. Wille Edwards lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, electric lap steel, weissenborn and dobro. with a driving beat from Andrew Naumann on drums, djembe and congas, along with Matt Brooks evocative sounds on six string electric bass, five string double bass and backing vocals, Don Airey is a featured artist on tracks one, three & nine playing hammond and keyboards. There

Scared Of The Sun. I think the ones I always like on the albums are the ones like 1970. They are straightoff rock songs, they don’t change as much in the studio. Songs like Scared Of The Sun, Crossfire Memories - the ballads - they take another direction, like adding strings etc. We accentuate the melody lines on the slower ones. I am more pleased with it as some are no different to when we play them live. MB: I completely agree with that, Scared Of The Sun when you have finished recording it, it is a completely different song. You come out thinking, 'I did not think it was going to sound like that'.

are many favourites on this album but some of them are, Hot Rocks, a slow ballad, starting with a haunting bass and keyboard, rising to a crescendo, when the slide lap steel and vocals come in, a foot tapping beat encouraging you to sing along with the chorus. One song that is a favourite at all live performances 1970 evoking happy times of my youth and obviously strikes a chord with many others in the audience. They sing and play with conviction about their own life experiences and how the world is changing. Our World, Living Free and Bad News, all of which hit your soul. The nine tracks on this album are full of emotion and heartfelt lyrics and musicality. I guess that is what music is all about, feeling the emotion, baring your soul and being carried along for the ride. I can thoroughly recommend this album, so buy it, but also make sure you catch a live performance from Wille & The Bandits as soon as you can. Disappointment is not on the cards.

CHRISTINE MOORE

Do you rely a lot on the engineers in the studio?

WE: Well more for the sound of the record, not the performance. We power through that really and lay a track down in a day.

MB: We test our songs on the audience - they sort of pick the songs. The popular ones we play before we go to the studio are the ones we usually lay down. By the time we come to record it, we have it pretty much under our belt. We can just go in there - especially analogue as it's all live - so we just go in and Andy is in one room and we are in another and it’s like a gig without the audience. That’s what goes down on the album.

Have you any favourite areas in the UK or in Europe you like to play?

WE: Not really, we just find the gigs in Europe have bigger audiences. But we have some very strong audiences in the UK and gigs sell really well as they

do in Europe. The most important thing is the journey, meeting people, seeing the world. We have just been up to Scotland and it's beautiful - the lochs and mountains. It’s not always about how many people are at the gigs.

MB: When you’re travelling as an artist it’s not like being a tourist. You see a different side of people, they accept you in a different way. They invite you into their lives and into their homes, so you see a different side than tourists.

Do you find it is hard to build an audience at new venues?

MB: Last time we went to St Boswells in Scotland, it was a small audience of only about 70 and this time it was sold out - and quite quickly. That’s one of the differences between UK and European audiences. European crowds will go out to see something new. They go out to socialise and see live music - it doesn’t matter so much that they don’t know the band.

I think in the UK it is more about what beer is being served!

WE: I like that idea.

MB: Who was that musician who booked his whole tour around the best ale houses?

WE: I think it was Dr Feelgood. In the UK, we do more sleeping in the van and people’s houses. In Europe, you're always in hotels. It’s part of the dealfood and accommodation.

WE: Sometimes we come off stage and drive through the night and straight to another festival and don’t get any sleep. Even though we had hotels, we had to say 'No we can’t take it, as we are driving from France to the west coast of Germany'. It’s the same if you are in Northern England with back-to-back gigs - you literally have a twenty-hour drive.

Are the long drives the real bugbear with being a musician?

MB: No, I don’t dislike any of what we do. The driving is probably the most tedious part as it just goes on and on, especially when you are stuck in traffic. That is the least favourable part, but I wouldn’t say I dislike it. We have a nice van where we can chill out and we can watch a film on the iPad, and we take turns with the driving. WE: Eating kebabs! But that is still good though. Motorway service stations are up there on the dislikes. The downside of travelling is missing the family. I miss them but at the same time I do love being on the road. We get the balance just about right, I don’t think we would push it too far. You have your family on the road and your family back home.

What is your expectation for the future of the band?

WE: I would love to play Red Rocks in America, but realistically it would just be nice to get our music out to the right people. All the things going on in the press are great at the moment and we just want to keep the momentum going, to see where it takes us. I would love to just do an album and not worry about the costs, we could hire more musicians.

Have you got any other ambitions like woodcutting or surfing, would you like to teach surfing?

WE: I wouldn’t like to teach surfing I would just like to be a professional surfer but I am just not good enough. I am getting

too old and I am too tall. MB: Yes, he just can’t find a surfboard to hold his weight! WE: We just want to sell out our shows and get more people into our music. The problem we have is we don’t really fit into any scene properly - we are on the edge of lots of genres. Unfortunately, the way marketing is they want to put you in a box. We know if we can get it out to the right people it will work, but it is trying to get it out to the right people. Everything we have done has been very organic - lots of hard work. Now the press are getting to hear about us is really great. We just want to keep stepping it up and writing music we like. We have so many different styles of writing in the band, if we had the financial stability we could churn out three albums a year.

Do you find it easy to write? Who is the main writer or do you all write and then bring it to the band?

MB: It comes from all different places - we all write. Wille writes a lot of songs and I bring bass lines to the fore and we write songs around that. Andy brings drum lines or beats. We all jam and it just comes out like that.

Lots of musicians struggle from writer’s block, does that happen to you?

WE: We have such a lot of stuff we haven’t used. We have a back catalogue of songs that don’t fit at the moment where we are musically. Lots of acoustic stuff - almost like

Jack Johnson stuff - more world music stuff which is percussion based, Latin flavours. What I don’t want to happen is to get old and get restricted to what we do. At the moment were on a bit of a rock mission. MB: It's really fun to play. You can get out all your frustration. Maybe a little way down the line we will go more acoustic album. I never want to be in a band that is pigeon holed! I want to surprise the listener and bring stuff they don’t expect. Unfortunately, when you get record labels and managers, they want you to produce the stuff they think will market and know will sell. But then it becomes like a factory churning out the same thing. Where is the fun in that as a musician? Also, as a listener, I don’t like that. I get bored if people churn out the same thing. WE: It takes time to build the fan base and we want to explore different territories and textures. Push it in different directions and don’t leave any stone unturned sort of thing.

Thanks, and we at Blues Matters wish you all the best for your tour and your future in the world of music, wherever it takes you. Thank you always good to see you

Justin Johnson ROOTS JUKEBOX

MUSIC FOR THE ROAD

Verbals: Billy Hutchinson Visuals: Justin Johnson Music

Justin Johnson lives guitar. If he isn't playing live, he's making instructional videos or he's making YouTube videos, on the hundreds of the guitars luthiers send to him. I got the chance to have a transatlantic conversation with Justin to get a lot of personal insight into his new double CD, Drivin' It Down.

Let's start with the new double CD, and work backwards.

With Drivin' It Down, the new album, the theme is the perfect soundtrack to the road-trip. There is something special about that feeling when you get behind the wheel, and you have that open road in front of you, and you put on that perfect song. John Lee Hooker is one of our favourite musicians. We like to listen to him when we are out on the road, and the Allman Brothers, some of that good classic old time rock 'n' roll, mixed with that Southern rock and heavy blues element, that kind of driving rhythm. Then we either started to write songs or think about some classic songs that we know we want to cover to make that happen. Kickstarter is such a great platform for making music, as not only does it connect you with the fans, it connects fans to artists too. It takes away pressure that some artists get from their label, to put out what is marketable over what they are artistically driven to make.

Baby Please Don't Go, whoa! That standup bass is right up in the mix. Oh man, yeah, that's Mark Winchester. He was really big on the early rockabilly scene here in Nashville. He had a band called the Planet Rockers that were really popular. Then he got picked up by the Brian

Setzer Orchestra. As far as I'm concerned, he is one of the kings of slap bass on that upright rockabilly style. I really wanted to showcase his abilities on a few of those tracks. The album starts with him going to town on the upright bass. I love it. The Hammond B3 is played by another great musician, Michael Webb. He has played with everybody. He is just a good, tasteful, seasoned key player. He plays all kinds of instruments, but he did all the B3 organ on almost every song. He did some upright piano, and even did some bass on a few songs, so he is great multiinstrumentalist there, too.

Graveyard Blues has a continuous riff, great organ again with solid beats. Well, Graveyard Blues, that was one of my favourite original tracks. It started out with just the drums, and me playing my three string shovel guitar. There's this nice heavy slide riff, real swampy, then I think I play three different six stringed electric guitars, and then a lot of slide on it, in addition to the organ, and then the electric bass. Then I overdubbed two twelve string, a Rickenbacker, that used to be owned by Peter Frampton, that they have in the Cash Cabin studio where I recorded it. I just loved that instrument. When I picked it up, it was the first Rickenbacker 12 string that I had ever played, and that

is a good classic rock 'n' roll instrument. I played both fretted and slide on that. You don't often hear slide guitar played on an electric 12 string. At the end of the song it builds up into this almost symphony of electric guitar. At the end of the song I am playing about six different electric guitars at the same time, just weaving together.

Who is the guy singing in a smooth soulful voice on I Put A Spell On You?

Oh, that is Bill Miller. He is a three time Grammy award winning singer. He does all kinds of genres, all the way from rock to gospel, but he is really known for his Native American music. He is Native American, and he has a killer, soulful voice, that is really his own. Bill Miller sings on four songs, John Carter Cash is the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter. He owns Cash Cabin Studio. Both he and his wife Anna Christina Cash sing on my rendition of Ghost Riders In The Sky.

Ghost Riders In The Sky begins true to the original. Once again you improvise and embellish towards the end.

Absolutely, yeah, I wanted to make sure that one really told a story with the music, and started somewhere and took you on a journey. Getting back to the singers, Bootsy Collins, who has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Of Fame, known as one of the most famous funk musicians, especially funk bass players, co-wrote and co-produced with me the track, Rollin'. He also sings on that track, so he is the final vocalist.

JUSTIN JOHNSON DRIVIN’ IT DOWN INDEPENDENT

Now here is the real deal seamless and effortless blues played with maturity and traditional style and this time he has brought a band together including Bootsy Collins John Carter Cash and Bill Miller a formidable force and all recorded at Cash Cabin Studio Tennessee. Full of standard rhythm and blues covers a treat for the listener on two discs of sixteen songs. A real innovator he is renowned for playing three string guitars whether it be cigar box or ironing board or his own Justin Johnson signature three string shovel guitar notably played with gusto on the final track Crankin’ It Up a

Misteroso #2 is the only jazzy piece on the album. I tried some really unique techniques that I hadn't tried before. There is an awesome reverb chamber, natural reverb chamber at Cash Cabin Studio that not too many studios have. We wanted to fully employ using that, so for the guitar part you can hear this whisper that comes before every note. We did that by reversing the entire guitar part, running that through the natural reverb chamber, and then reversing them both again. You actually get reverb before you hear the note, and that added to that mysterious

huge hit on Social Media. Loose Change is a funky instrumental slide guitar intermingling with soft percussion and fiery bass. His guitar technique changes throughout and now a homage to Chuck Berry his Johnny B Good he exhibits a rocky vocal with mystifying guitar riff blending with backing organ his fret work is sublime. This is a fun release the haunting tones on Ghost Riders In The Sky would adorn any film soundtrack. Mixing styles comes naturally on the soulful and mesmerising instrumental Misterioso. So many influences on this it just gets better with each listening Funky Bootz have a horn section and so many other layers to it. His interpretation of the Sonhouse song Grinnin’ In Your Face has a haunting reverie and sounds so fresh sung with true passion keeping the blues alive. An addictive release the clarity of tone and sound is exquisite every track a gem. Justin is a true statesman for the blues.

COLIN CAMPBELL

vibe, that atmospheric, ghost-like quality, to the guitar playing, then just every piece of percussion we could tastefully use. We wanted to almost do the percussion like Foley effects for a movie, like, you're wondering, "what is that sound?". I think if you listen, you will hear something different every pass through. We have everything on that from Johnny Cash's slide whistle to some cool effects, some railroad spikes, even a ratchet I used on the road to repair my R.V.

The classic Mystery Train starts off in a boogie

fashion, and then slips into full on rockabilly mode. That was John Carter Cash singing that one. We wanted to go straight on up old fashioned rock 'n' roll. We used a lot of analogue tape echo on that one, like they used back in Sun Studio, on those early Elvis and Johnny Cash recordings. We not only wanted to pay homage to the musical styles and genres, but to the production and recording techniques that make some of those old rock 'n' roll songs so cool. We started with just that train build up with the guitar, then it goes to straight up old rock 'n' roll shuffle style, gets a little funky, goes into rockabilly mode, and then almost goes into a B.B. King homage with the slow blues style.

With John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom there is loads of bass, but, countered with that, there is some bright fresh lead work, at a length that allows you to play around with the tune. Exactly. I was mentioning the Allman Brothers being a big influence on me. We wanted to have that live element in some of those tracks to make you feel you are listening to that band live. The only way to really do that is to play it live with all of the guys in the room, just having a good time, and letting the energy and the mood take over. There were a few tracks in which we did that, Boom Boom being one of them, where we did it live with no dubbing. Loose Change; Rumblestrippin; Got The Chick'n, those were all the tracks we did that way. We ended each song with a

smile on our face. You can actually hear us laughing on the ending of Boom Boom.

On Funky Boots I have noted that you have at least one foot in Stevie Wonder's Superstitious. Absolutely, that clavinet that Michael Webb was playing is one of the sounds in old funk that I needed on this album. I turned to Chuck Turner, the co-producer and engineer, and said we need some clavinet to drive those tones home, because you just can't fake that vibe. When you listen to Superstition as it starts with that, and hits that low note, oh man, you know you are listening to some classic funk music. It's got a four piece horn

section, kind of like James Brown bands used to have, and then that clavinet kicked those low notes in there to make sound like you said, that Stevie Wonder-like kind of vibe in there.

Your cover of Grinning

In Your Face builds up to a crescendo, then slows right down at the end. That is one of my favourite all time songs, that original recording of Son House just singing it by himself, and clapping his hands are just the most raw and emotion blues. What is so cool about that song is that you can apply that melody over so many different harmonic and tonal palates, and it works so well. I recorded a sparse

arrangement of that on a six string cigar box for my first album Smokin' Mirrors, and I wanted to show a different side of it. So, we juxtaposed the melody and the words of Grinnin' In Your Face over the chord changes to House Of The Rising Sun. You get a taste of both songs. Bill Miller again with his vocals just nailed the vibe on that song so well. The solo on that, we wanted to keep the arrangement space. John Carter Cash has an all original 1959 Gibson Les Paul goldtop, one of the most prized guitars out there right now. You plug that straight into a vintage Princeton amp and you crank it to ten, and you don't need anything else, you don't need any effects;

it just screams with that classic rock and blues tone.

On, Got The Chick'n, the track sets out, then as the drums are added the tune is turbocharged. I love that intro. It starts off as a hill country blues song basically. It almost sounds as if you are listening to it on an A.M radio on one of those old recordings. Once the band kicks in with the upright bass, the organ and the drums, then you're right there in the modern day, full rocked out, wah wah pedal, almost like a Santana jam. Then you mix it in with that hill country blues style which is some of my favourite music. It is one of those blues styles that hasn't played as much on mainstream radio. It is some of the most driving rhythmic blues music you can find. There are a few tracks on Drivin' It Down that I wanted to make heavy on that hill country blues vibe.

Have you always been taken with Southern roots, and backwoods juke joint styled music? That is just some of the most raw, dirty, nice, pure blues, and that's just the atmosphere where so much of that was written. You think about those old juke joints back in the early 1900's when people were inventing blues. Back then people weren't even calling it blues, it hadn't been put into a genre, it hadn't been something that people considered one thing. It was just music that people were playing, it was just raw energy, you know when you listen to recordings from back then the energy is just

that little bit more electric, a little more powerful I think.

The shovel guitar has caught a lot of attention, where and how did that come from?

Like a lot of instruments, that was a gift. A great builder called Robert G. Berry gave me it on my last tour through Mississippi about a year and a half ago. He brought it down as a three string shovel, it was really ingenious the way he put together, and how the action was, how the electronics worked and everything. It just sounded

and looked really good and balanced. It just resonated, and had a beautiful voice. We got just over 40 million views on that initial video, which is globally amazing, how people connected with that. Now, I am actually working with the builder, Mr. Robert T. Berry, and another great builder, Kevin Hamilton, from Hambone CBG's of Texas. We have assembled this group that are building these really nice three stringed shovel guitars based on that original design.

Russell

STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

“Hitman” Alexander

Verbals: Colin Campbell Visuals: Laurence Harvey

Irecently got the chance to talk to Russell “Hitman” Alexander, founder and consummate frontman for New York based Hitman Blues Band. Playing many oversea tours and with five CD’s, the band uses humour as part of their act but the main attention is you as a listener in the audience. An uplifting experience, the conversation covered a variety of topics including music influences and Swingers Nightclub….

Thanks for taking time out how’s it going?

Cheers! All of a sudden, it’s turned to Spring here in New York, feels about 80 degrees. I guess global warming is taking its cue from Trump - it changes its mind every two or three minutes.

Anyway, swiftly moving on to less Political issues, tell us about your background?

Growing up my dad Ray Alexander was a world famous jazz musician. He started as a drummer and vibraphone player played with George Shearing. He taught himself to read through a hypnosis programme. We didn’t have a stereo, we had a record player hooked into an amplifier with four speeds the needle was a threepenny nail. That’s what I played all my albums on growing up. There was always a lot of music in the house with folk rehearsing and practicing. I grew up thinking this was a normal way to make a living. My father would sleep until noon and do gigs all night.

What effect did that have on you growing up and why you wanted to be a musician?

Other than when I was eight years old wanting to be an astronaut, all I wanted to do was play music, an honourable thing to do to entertain people. My brother

who is a magician said our job is to give a cathartic experience, when they come to a gig they come to something special and no matter what is going on in their lives our job is to make them forget about that and just be glad that they came that night because they’ll remember this. It is something that will stay with them and that is what we have to do. I try to keep to this, to do the best that you can and when enough people tell you I’ve never been to a blues gig before but I like what you do, that makes me feel I’m on the right track. Some people live lives of quiet desperation and I think music is a way of bridging that gap and letting them know not only are they not alone but someone wrote and recorded a song about it. There have been times in my life when horrible things have happened and one particular song or songs have helped me.

Tell us about your song writing, how did that start and what sort of music do you like playing?

I got into this as a means of expressing. Earliest song I remember writing was when I was about twelve you just keep plugging at it and hopefully get better and you listen to all these great songwriters. I was a freelancer for most my life meaning I played with lots of

different bands of differing styles rock progressive rock even jazz. Also from different countries German and Greek, Irish and Polish speciality bands and on top of that, standards which they now call The Great American Songbook done by the likes of Rod Stewart. Got my ass kicked a lot but learned a lot. I played with phenomenal players but that whole world seems to have gone now. I like to play almost everything but I don’t like playing Disco or rap music, it doesn’t move me or plastic pop. I’m a lyrics guy!

So, what made you choose the blues as a genre to follow?

As I grew older I found myself gravitating to the blues like most other blues players. There’s a great show “Tuesday’s Just As Bad” on WMYU radio I listened to a lot of blues shows. At first I was happy to regurgitate old blues songs. Then The Blues Brothers and Stevie Ray came along reinvigorating the whole genre and eventually I found out I wasn’t happy just redoing this so I took my own take to the music I have written on my albums. I call it modern blues because it is a synthesis of blues that have gone before. It’s the blues but not the blues everyone else has been playing, said my agent Derek White. Muddy Waters and Charlie Patton had already done those songs you’re not going to do them any better than them.

Who are your influences regarding guitar playing and do you have a favourite guitar?

I’m not a guitar collector I have a 1975 Stratocaster that I bought in 1975 because I couldn’t afford a Les Paul and my back is very happy about that. I wanted to learn “tapping” and how to use a whammy bar. So I bought a cheap Fender with a whammy bar, got a couple of Acoustic guitars and my wife bought me a Dobro.and a Gibson SG. This is my main guitar and doesn’t go out of tune much. My friend and harp player Frank LaTorre a.k.a “The King Bee” told me to put metal pickups on it and it sounds great. Also have a Fender blues boy guitar. You need the right guitar for the right amplifier we’re using Marshall Amps when we come to The United Kingdom, you’ve got to match them up. Was really influenced by Rory Gallagher covering old songs like Laundromat Blues. Influenced by any

musicians I hear like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. If the music hits you you’re going to be influenced by them.

You have any favourite venues, you play any interesting ones or ones you want to forget?

Yeah, the ones that have beer! No seriously looking forward to UK tour the 100 Club in London is good. We’re going to The Eel Pie Club and Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh really looking forward to that one. As long as there is a good sound system and people can be comfortable in it that’s all I ask for, I’ve played every stage and club you can think of. Strangest being in a video games club huge place felt you were in the game. Also, we played a swinger’s nightclub for two months. The guys in the band got kind of freaked out by the naked women dancing

with you on stage and porno movies on every screen. No shortage of double entendre blues songs we played then. Squeeze Box for example you can make any lyrics sound filthy if you phrase it right. You’re a very flamboyant lead singer, is your stage persona the same off stage? Where do you stay, and are there good venues there, what’s the scene there? Any young blues players you listen to? Just ask my wife! I have a very dark sense of humour from where I was brought up in New York. Humour is different all over the boroughs. I live in Brentwood, a rough area but we’re making progress in cleaning it up. Good music venues all over the place. I like people who reinterpret the blues there are so many great players in New York. I like locally Big Ed Sullivan who plays on Bleecker Street great slide guitar player and band leader. I am a frontman but still get stage fright, it’s flight and fight, nothing you can do about it, accept it and do it. Emotion and logic is pushed through when you’re talking to an audience.

Music is so accessible now, what works for you in this respect and what about quality of sound? There is overload. The way we do it is on Social Media mailing lists. I recently took a course, an ad campaign on Facebook for musicians and added 1000 onto the mailing list. There are free samples of our songs on the website, good feedback there. People download music for free and

don’t consider it stealing but it is! Merchandise sales are the best way to keep costs down. I compared cost of living project relating to old 45 singles versus price of today’s mp3’s and found a download of 99 cents now to be 17 cents in real money so still very cheap to produce. Depends what you play music through. Vinyl is good but so too are high quality mp3’s or Cd’s. Engineers and masters are the guys that can make or break quality. Mixer and engineer of our last two albums, Bob Stander I‘ve known since first grade. At Gene Paul Studios, they have equipment no one else has and it sounds brilliant.

Newest album has reinterpretations of old tunes you have released how did that come to be?

My friend and fellow blues singer Roxy Perry and a few friends encouraged me to do this. I added horns to these songs and remix and rerelease the material. We loved the sound and added backing vocals. Then Gene and Bob made it sound like it was all done at the same recording session. The song Miss Catherine a New Orleans type from the Pale Rider album was the catalyst for keeping the horn section and now when I’m writing I start with the horn section in mind.

Do you find much difference between European and American audiences?

All audiences are different it’s not the geography of the audience but the mindset. Being open and receptive is the best you can hope for. The French and Italians are

real music lovers though and not locked into the genre but quality of playing. We played a club in Austria where nobody clapped until the end of the concert but because they stayed to the end the Club Manager said we were a success! The same applies to Long Island, the North Shore people applaud the South don’t. I have no idea why. If they don’t run out screaming you’re probably doing okay. We like applause, it gives us energy! As a frontman, I can usually see if an audience is getting into the music we play, that’s a reason I wear the sunglasses. We really appreciate our audience.

What’s the best advice you have had in your life and how do you measure success?

One from my father “Never cancel a gig”, stick by your commitments. Also, the most important part of your gig is the audience. Everything should be geared for the people you are playing for. Success is being able to play the gigs I do with someone carrying my equipment for me. Also, paying my guys and girls in the band a living wage so they don’t have to do anything else. On a musical note success means making people happy. I tell my band for a certain percentage of people music is background noise. Music is a primal need.

What kind of music did you listen to growing up and how do you get a younger generation interested in the blues?

The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Gentle Giant, Slade, numerous bands and music

types.ELP I loved, that was the first rock concert I saw Tarkus tour. Huge Jethro Tull fan, the list is endless. Enjoyed a bit of punk and rockabilly. I hung out with David Peel, now he was a street showman, could work a crowd. The blues is not a museum piece not locked in time, its evolving all the time. Young people have to find it relevant to themselves the blues is always there when you want it. We make it we play it you like it we’ll make more.

What’s the future for The Hitman Blues Band?

More touring on a regular basis. Possibly a live album in United Kingdom with the horns and backup singers maybe add a trumpet. Also, looking at possibility of doing an acoustic album possibly ten tracks or so, I’ve written a few tunes and may record Nobody’s Fault But Mine.

Thanks for that Hitman, I will be seeing you in Edinburgh on your tour in July. Good speaking to you, see you there.

James Montgomery

DRAWING ON AN ICON

Harpist and singer James leads The James Montgomery Blues Band and he and Pete share the same main inspirational player from their earliest days – Mr Paul Butterfield. However the latest album on Cleopatra Records blues imprint shows that the band has no fear of stepping forward from the Chicago master’s style to channel their own ideas…

Verbals: Pete Sargeant Visuals: Brian Sullivan

Hi James, we really are both on source recordings here. I must have played the track East West hundreds of times and I still do it live, in the right company. Oh what a great and adventurous recording, with the whole Butterfield Band blazing away. Even then he was striving to do something different, something of their own - even with fairly well-known tunes. It all had such an effect upon me as a young man. To play with that power and sound that confident when you did. Did you ever see Paul?

Unfortunately not. We had Keith Relf, The Pretty Things, Mayall, Cyril Davies and of course the visitors like George Smith, Wolf, James Cotton. Well that ain’t a bad bunch of players!! My own enlightening experience was out in Detroit, right near the front of the stage. The Chessmate Club, Maria Muldaur and the jug band guy Jim Kweskin had been mentioning Butterfield and really Pete, I was expecting some sort of folky performance, if I’m honest. The bills often had local rock bands wrapping up the sessions and so seeing amps and stuff didn’t alert me to what was about to occur.. haha.. then they announced The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and on they all walk. Not dressed up or anything, you understand – still no real clue. Well when they played I was like pinned back in my seat! The power, the energy – all the things you dug on the Elektra records – plus the great presence, of course. It

felt like something important was being delivered, in the here and now. I’m sure you have experienced that?

Yeah – The MC5. Power, there you go. But that keen sense of experiment, of not just repeating what they liked. They got to back Dylan, getting stick for it of course. But what an effect they had on the San Francisco scene, with their fiery sound and all! The extended solo’s, the raga influences, the jazz element that enabled them to improvise. My own jug band went electric the very next day, THIS was the future for us, now – propelled forward in the one swoop. No going back after that

Did you not get to know Paul a bit?

That’s correct and this was when I was playing with a group called The Colwell Winfield Band and they were based in Woodstock. At that same time, Butterfield was living in Woodstock and we became friends. Mind you, it wasn’t till 2015, long after Paul passed that the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. At least it was by Peter Wolf of The J Geils Band. I always enjoyed hanging with him, he had done so much, with so many people. The Last Waltz, Fathers & Sons.

So, approaching this new record now, when I heard it I thought some of it was pretty much homage to the original recordings and fair enough BUT most of the time you as a band are doing your own thing and with the singers varying.

(Emphatically) Yes! Yes, you get it! Good! We felt we should show respect however we should also strike out with our own ideas and arrangements, include an instrumental, have the singing passed around. Just as he did, that is the point. I think it shows Paul’s positive influence on not just us, I would say but other groups and artists. We thought collectively that taking that stance would make it all more satisfying for us AND make it a better listen. For people like you, I guess.

In that sense of adventure, Butterfield is more akin to Miles Davis than many may realise, ever moving on. Who’s your key band here? Jeff Thompson on drums, David Hull bass, George McCann on guitars, me on the harp and most of us singing

THE JAMES MONTGOMERY BLUES BAND – CD

1. ONE MORE HEARTACHE

Ah, Smokey Robinson! I liked that handclap and bass-led PB version, the guitar is kind of skewed on the solo, makes it unusual and the harp Paul at his most potent. But this is James Brown territory. Absolutely right! All those 45s back in the day just got into your system. Here we made the guitar totally different from Paul’s take and the bassline. I like singing this one!

2. BORN IN CHICAGO

I wouldn’t have gone near this one! but the slinky Albert King thang works

Thanks – again it was a

deliberate shot to treat the song a bit differently, but keep the edge

3. BLUES WITH A FEELING

We kept this fairly close to the original version, Little Walter, y’know

4. YOUNG WOMAN’S LOVE

Original song, your George singing. I like the swamp blues feel. We were pretty happy with the way this one came out. We did want some originals on the record.

5. MARY, MARY

I got Peter of The Monkees to put a blues in their last show here and they did this great song, too.

That’s cool! Yeah – the Mike Nesmith song indeed. Plus we had Mark Naftalin from PBBB to play on it! keyboards, plus Mr Nelson on guitar.

6. I GOT A MIND TO GIVE UP LIVING

That searing blues workout, just seminal if you ever play that style, the key

seems highish for you. Probably is, just a little. Our version is a little less frantic, maybe more reflective in atmosphere.

7. SHAKE YOUR MONEYMAKER

The trouble we had here was that Jeremy Spencer of Fleetwood Mac used to roll out endless Elmore number exactly the same way. That’s a shame, cos as you know now most likely, Elmore James had a great songbook. And yes I am singing a bit into the harp mic.

8. GOOD QUESTION

This is great! Going To A GoGo pace. Hmm, you are onto something there, yes…a great tune to play live.

9. ONE PLUS ONE

Man – the full-blooded brass on this!

Our bassist David singing on this one, he wrote it.

10. MYSTERY TRAIN

Little Junior Parker! And Elvis I guess, but this talking thing and Yardbirds approach, really cooking. (Laughs) Now that just evolved over time, with the story and all, that’s how we bring that one in! I am glad you like that, being from the London scene.

The best Mystery Train for me is on Southern Fried by John Hammond, with the Muscle Shoals cats. Duane is on that record as well. This I ought to hear.

I know Paul Nelson, your producer. When we were talking about

his band’s record, he mentioned this project. My bandmate when on the road in Johnny Winter’s band! Well he brought so much to this record, getting the right sound, the arrangements just so…I credit him with a lot of the impact as he knew and understood the whole concept and what we were aiming at. As you know. He is a really fine player and his own recordings are fantastic. Plus what he achieved with Johnny Winter on that final record.

One of my favourite Butterfield Band performances is them backing Chuck Berry on It Wasn’t Me, on the album Fresh Berry’s. (Phased) Is that them? Really?! I had no idea, it has passed me by.

Oh yeah you can hear the harp and the slide guitar, there’s an instrumental as well. I will send it to your email. Please Pete, do just that. I would love to hear it! – and that John Hammond cut? Thanks for the chat, man –fellow enthusiasts! see you when we are over?

Yes. Let’s do East West! It’s agreed!

Red Lick Records, PO Box 55, Cardiff CF11 1JT sales@redlick.com www.redlick.com

DESANTO

BIG FUN TRIO

MUSIC!

OF CHUCK BERRY

COCO MONTOYA HARD TRUTH ALLIGATOR RECORDS

Montoya started out as a drummer with Albert Collins, before a ten year stint as a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. This, his tenth solo album and fourth on the Alligator label, immediately ranks up there with the best. On Hard Truth, Montoya unleashes one careertopping performance after another, the music immediately ranking among the best he’s ever recorded. Produced by Tony Braunagel, the album features eleven songs, each delivering a hard truth of its own. From the radio-friendly, gospelinspired celebration of love, I Want To Shout About It, to the haunting Devil Don't Sleep to the icy-hot cover of Albert Collins’ The Moon Is Full, Hard Truth covers substantial emotional ground.

Montoya’s unpredictable guitar playing and

ALBUMS DVDS BOOKS

REVIEWS

The big blues reviews guide – accept no substitute!

smoking soul vocals blend effortlessly with a backing band featuring renowned musicians bassist Bob Glaub (Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Lee Lewis), keyboardist Mike Finnigan (Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, Taj Mahal), guitarists Billy Watts (Eric Burdon) and Johnny Lee Schell (Bonnie Raitt), and Braunagel on drums. Slide guitar master Lee Roy Parnell guests on Lost In The Bottle. A particular favourite of mine is the cover of Warren Haynes' Before The Bullets Fly, Coco certainly picks them! Thoroughly recommended. CLIVE RAWLINGS

ERIC BIBB MIGRATION BLUES

DIXIEFROG

JAMES O'HARA

JAMES O'HARA

INDEPENDENT RECORDS

This, O'Hara's debut album, opens with a scalpel sharp series of guitar riffs to amply demonstrate that this is indeed a disc with blues music at its heart, Sugar Coated Lies needs no

Eric Bibb is from my perspective the number one acoustic blues musician in the world and this album just re-instates this view, his singling and guitar playing are exemplary, for this release he has called on two friends; JJ Milteau on harmonica and Michael Jerome Browne who plays an assortment of guitars, between them they have delivered a truly emotional blues album that follows a theme of Refugees plight, both historically and the challenges we have in the current day. Surprisingly the title track is an instrumental but what it does not say lyrically it more than compensates in the instrumentation, the two guitars; 12 string resophonic and slide interplay with harmonica creating several layers of

chugging blues, all the vocal tracks highlights Eric’s strong emotional story telling, particularly pertinent is Prayin’ For Shore which recalls the plight of the European refugees and their struggle to reach land, his husky vocals and JJ’s Harp draw real compassion. With the subject matter there is little to cheer you other than the quality of the musicianship on show but this is the Blues and as I have stated there is no better component of it than Eric Bibb, amongst the fourteen tracks he has thrown in a couple of covers, one of which is Bob Dylan’s Masters Of War, no more cheerful I am afraid, the other is the Woody Guthrie American alternative national anthem This Land Is Your Land, this arrangement is close to the original and is the only track on the album I would question, I do not want to finish on a negative though, this album is a significant release and one that I am sure will be receive global recognition in the annual blues awards, truly deserving.

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

SAMANTHA FISH CHILLS & FEVER

RUF RECORDS

Samantha Fish has built up a solid reputation with steady touring and a series of blues-rock albums. Last time out she explored the North Mississippi Hill Country style; this time around she has gone for a selection of soul and Rn’B tunes from the 60’s and 70’s recorded with members of The Detroit Cobras and a New Orleans horn section, the result being one of her most distinctive albums. Although Samantha covered Del Shannon’s Runaway on her debut disc this is the first time she has produced an album that is entirely covers and she has reined in her guitar work to fit the songs. Her voice is well suited to slower paced tunes like Allen Toussaint’s Nearer To You, Hello Stranger which has subtle guitar and the emotive Never Gonna Cry but she can also rock it up

on tunes like the driving You Can’t Go, the funky It’s Your Voodoo Working and a raucous take on Crow Jane that is very different to the Derek Trucks version of a few years ago (and the only appearance of Samantha’s slide work here). Jackie de Shannon’s He Did It provides a rousing opener and the title track is naggingly catchy with the saxophone providing the core riff throughout. Saving the best till last the final two tracks are particularly strong; first Samantha uses her strongest vocals on the big-sounding production of Somebody’s Always Trying, throws in some solid guitar in the middle section which leads into a coda with some spacey guitar set against electric piano and excellent work from the rhythm section; Bert Berns’ I’ll Come Running Over has a tune that recalls Solomon Burke’s Everybody Needs Somebody To Love with great horn section work, the whole band sounding as if it is having a whale of a time on this rocking piece of vintage soul music. Although it is unlikely that we will see this band live it is good that Samantha is trying some new approaches in her music.

JOHN MITCHELL

James O'Hara took the place of Georgie Fame at the Alexis Korner Memorial Concert some 23 years ago, then you'll understand that James O'Hara is a truly time served Bluesman, not only that but Indigo Records signed him on the spot. Vocally though, O'Hara isn't really at his best on track five, Guitars And Stuff but the guitar playing is verging on divine so he is forgiven! The whole ensemble really combine to great effect on track seven, Seven Years and this is where you get to appreciate all of their individual skills. Personally, my favourite is track nine I Wonder Why, albeit as an instrumental diamond. The album though, is the showcase for thirty plus years of putting in the time by O'Hara and it shows that his trade has been finely honed.

TOM WALKER

RAINBREAKERS RISE UP

PURPLE DOOR

coating as it is undoubtedly sweet and that is no lie. The band who all hail from Yorkshire and with a combined pedigree of decades in blues music fairly demonstrate that the

Brits can do blues with the best of them. Track three, A Bottle Of Gin gives you the harmonica playing of Jon Burr to emphasise the Chicago elements of their playing. If you know that

Rainbreakers (the “The” seems to be omitted more often than not) are a young four-piece band from Shrewsbury and this 23 minutes long CD EP is their second release, following on from the EP Blood Not Brass, which earned them prestigious slots opening shows for the likes of Corky Laing, Devon Allman,

Laurence Jones and Ryan McGarvey. There are five tracks on this release, with the opener, On My Own, a slow to mid-tempo strutter immediately showcasing the band’s interest in older styles, containing as it does subtle hints of Jimi Hendrix and Free and with Ben Edwards’ gritty vocals suiting the overall approach very well. The title track is a response to Brexit and the election of the new US President set to a slow funky blues arrangement and with some slightly dubby effects. Waiting On You is a result of the band’s interest in the soul sound of the 70s, more than a little reminiscent of Minnie Riperton’s iconic Loving You with its floating, sophisticated rhythm; wisely Ben does not attempt to sing like Minnie, but adopts a deep, soulful vocal and as the track progresses, the blues band elements come out more strongly, mainly thanks to Charlie Richards subtle guitar playing. Soulful blues-rock is in evidence on Perception, the rhythm and tempo again a little reminiscent of Free - kudos to Peter Adams on bass and Sam Edwards on drums. This excellent set finishes with the riff-laden heavy blues of Living Free, leaving the listener wanting more – which is surely the mark of a very fine release.

NORMAN DARWEN

MATT ANDERSEN HONEST MAN

TRUE NORTH RECORDS

Matt Andersen looks to be a larger than life

Canadian who hails from New Brunswick. Honest Man is his seventh release and upon researching him I discover that he is a multi award winning r&b and blues artist in the Americas. It seems the difference from here to there is the fact that when he visits the UK, he plays solo as opposed to band format at home, and as this album shows, he benefits from the larger backing. However, there can be no doubting the fact that Andersen possesses a beautiful and rich voice, is a magnificent song writer and presents the whole in a very gentle manner which fully warrants the Americana tag. Many times listening to this I could hear the influence of Motown and Stax, and in particular on the slow ballad, Last Surrender, Sam Cooke shone through, his voice beautifully enhanced by the horn section and in particular the fine trumpet accompaniment. In fact, the horns play a very integral part of his music and I can fully understand how different a solo performance would come across. Take the menacing sax that underpins the riff of the title track, Honest Man. They add punch and character and help highlight his superb voice. This is ably demonstrated on the following track, I’m Giving In, where Andersen is accompanied by a solo piano. It is a haunting slow number that is perhaps suitable to the song narrative, but lacks the depth that he feeds off.

For me this is the weakest song on the album. Tipping a hat to country music, Quiet Company is a beautiful song with a lovely sounding pedal steel guitar in the background. Never rocking out, but keeping it all under strict control, the tempo is raised a little for Let’s Get Back a song in which he is able to unleash the voice at a grittier level, until eventually he raises the dancing shoes and ups the beat for the only rocker here, Who Are You Listening To, a song with shades of the Stones buried deep. Controlled and beautifully executed, this is an excellent album of Americana music.

MERV OSBORNE

this double CD live set, their first live recording since 2012’s Everybody’s Talking, reveals, they have a wide range of styles at their disposal, from the blues pure and simple (listen to the stunning, almost eight minutes of Bobby Bland’s I Pity The Fool) to classic southern rock, from jazz inflected jams to psychedelia and vaudeville, soul music to Indian sounds on George Harrison’s Within You Without You and as an additional flavouring on

the mellow These Walls, this latter featuring sarod master Alam Khan. This show was picked for release by the band from ten dates - recorded on 9th September 2016 and running over two hours, the album opens with Don’t Know What It Means, with a huge sounding rock intro, before settling into the southern sound of Keep On Growing which transforms itself into a massive jam session, before Susan eases into the soulful, gospel styled

ELIZA NEALS 10,000 FEET BELOW E-H RECORDS

TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND LIVE FROM THE FOX, OAKLAND CONCORD

Since the band came together in 2010, when husband and wife team Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi made their musical collaboration permanent, the Tedeschi Trucks Band has gone from strength to strength. Individually they already had a formidable reputations (Susan in her own right, Derek initially as a member of The Allman Brothers before leading his own band) and as

Detroit Music Award winner has received the highest critical acclaim from both sides of the pond where comparisons have been made with Beth Hart and Janis Joplin. Another Lifetime and Call Me Moonshine confirm that her raw, emotional voice has impressive range and depth, enhanced by the dynamic, piercing guitar work of Howard Glazer. Indeed, it is the frenetic and empathetic interplay between these two which is key to the power of this album. A variety of drummers and bass players take it in

turns to lay down the tight, rhythmic grooves which underpin the distinctive sound, notably on the title track. Cold Cold Night reveals another side to the blues rocking chanteuse with Paul Nelson adding a cool guitar perspective. The only cover is Skip James’ Hard Killing Floor with its haunting guitar, Eliza’s intricate piano accompaniment and sultry expressive vocals. “I’m a voodoo woman with a cross in my hand” declares Neals on Downhill On A Rocket and you had better believe it! According to the understated publicity blurb accompanying the promo copy, this CD “is spelunking the new depths of the blues with Eliza Neals as your fearless guide” and few will disagree after reaching the final descent, At The Crossroads. Simply breathtaking. THE BISHOP

THE 69TH STREET BAND THE AFRICAN HILLBILLY SESSION/VOL 1

TEPCO RECORDS

This is an unusual bit of bluesy fare. On first hearing, I was unmoved and decidedly unsure about it, despite the interesting title and the hint of hidden treasure the cover suggests. Fortunately, however, by the time I’d given it another couple of runs through the system, it had quietly worked its laid-back charm on me. For me, it does itself few favours by kicking off with the jazzy warmth of Blue

Bossa, a track instantly recognisable but far more jazz influenced than blues music biased. That said, it also features traditional tracks like This Train, Ain’t Nobody’s Business and Palette On The Floor, all welcome inclusions that are delivered with a back-porch sort of sound and strength. The band itself is a mix of acoustic and electric fretwork alongside some African percussive elements from Abou Diarrassouba, with Tom Paronis on guitar and Fred Doumbe on bass. The overall effect of the album is a bit lightweight in some ways though the inclusion of a range of material that slips from blues through jazz to modern country and Americana make for an easy-listening release that has much merit at its simpering core.

IAIN PATIENCE

Bird On The Wire – what a wonderful vocal! There is sadly not enough space to detail each track individually (and I wouldn’t want to spoil the joy of discovering for yourself just how good this release is), just rest assured that come the end of 2017, this release is bound to feature very highly on many people’s lists for “album of the year”.

NORMAN DARWEN

SEAN CHAMBERS TROUBLE AND WHISKEY

AMERICAN SHOWPLACE MUSIC

Trouble & Whiskey. Great title for a blues album - after all, whisky, trouble and the blues often keep company.

Florida’s Sean Chambers is a stirring performer, a powerful vocalist and an impressive guitarist, and this hair-raising CD, his 6th release, is produced by Ben Elliott, famous for recording classic artists such as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons and Leslie West; so, Elliot knows how blues guitar should sound, and here it leaps from the speakers and grabs your attention.

Of the 10 tracks 7 are original Sean Chambers compositions, with three good covers including Rory Gallagher’s Bullfrog Blues, Cut Off My Right Arm by Johnny Copeland and BB King’s Be Careful With A Fool. I particularly enjoyed the thrusting instrumental, Travelin’ North, and this is a collection of songs which will keep you as wide awake as a gallon of Red Bull. So, the news is (and this isn’t ‘fake’, Mr. President) that the blues is alive and well across the pond, and with guardians like Sean Chambers it’ll stay that way. Looking forward to seeing this quartet which includes Michael Hensley on Hammond B3 & keyboards, Todd Cook on bass and Kris Schnebelen on drums, if they ever land on our shores. Rousing stuff!

ROY BAINTON

TAMIKREST KIDAL GLITTERBEAT

Tamikrest just continue to delight. This, their fourth album, takes the bands talents into new zones and while it is unmistakably Tamikrest their music has developed incredibly. The music is still firmly rooted in the desert, evoking mental images of distant landscapes but adding

to their grab-bag a more rocking element that hits the spot square on. The album was recorded in Bamako, Mali’s capital city, but the title of the album refers to the village where they first met, Kidal. They have said before that life was difficult in the desert camps where they grew together and the album definitely feels as though it is telling their story. The history of the Tuaregs would take a lot more than this review to tell but suffice to say that after the Tuaregs declared an independent state, Azawad, they were first attacked by Al Quaeda and then by the French military leaving them still searching for their individual national identity. This searching is something you can hear deep in the DNA of the music on Kidal. Musically, they have grown a more personal identity, moving away from the sounds of Tinariwen – to whom they have often been compared – and into a more compact and less trance-like sound. Tracks such as Wainan Adobat have a harder edge to them, some superb guitar playing and emotional singing, driving rhythms and passion all through but if you are looking for passion then you get it in huge handfuls on Atwitas along with some stunning guitar and incredibly dark mood. It is difficult to stress just how good this album is. The playing is grown up and they have clearly learned from the many artists they have played with in the

last five or six years but the songwriting has also grown, the structuring of the songs is better and there is less reliance on ‘tribal’ sounds. Production from Mark Mulholland is another added joy and he manages to create a vast soundscape with the band spread across all of it. A band whose talents just grow by leaps and bounds and a great album.

ANDY SNIPPER

GEOFF ACHISON ANOTHER MILE ANOTHER MINUTE

JUPITER 2

I am very happy to have received another fine album by Geoff and his buddies to add to the two previous releases I have in my archives. Once again, he has delivered a blues album to be proud of and yet there is, as always, a raft of other influences at work here with jazz, soul and funk elements to be very much enjoyed along the way. Gravel voiced vocals, almost spoken at times, in similar territory to say Joe Cocker, Tom Waits or JJ Cale abound. Geoff is supported by long time band mates Roger McLachlan bass, Gerry Pantazis drums and Richard Tankard on keys. Production values are high with instrumentation and vocals beautifully balanced

and clearly defined. Tracks are peppered by various guests including Shannon Bourne doing a brilliant guitar solo outro on Make No Mistake. There are no printed writing credits so I assume all fourteen tracks are from Geoff’s imagination. For sure I don’t hear or recognise any as covers. There is much to enjoy on this collection if like me you enjoy wailing guitars for example Make My Stand or I’m Gonna Ride and coupled with much more delicate tuneage like Delta Dave or I Wish You Were Mine. Many of the cuts have horns punching in and out, Hammond and other keys and of course we must not forget harmonica interludes. High Wire which opens the album has just a wee touch of Steely Dan in there whilst the close-out Front Porch Farewell is a beautifully understated simple instrumental acoustic guitar solo. By the time this comes out Geoff will have completed an extensive tour of England only so I hope you were lucky enough to see him. The rest of us must wait.

GRAEME SCOTT

me how music from a band like The Mustangs has never actually come across my desk before or figured within my radio programmes. With the delivery of Just Passing Through I finally have the chance to rectify matters. I’ve been aware of the

band of course but I was surprised to learn that this is in fact their ninth album, ten if you include a Best Of package. Listening to the album today for the first time I realised that I was kind of grinning, tapping my feet as I was working away around the

THE MUSTANGS JUST PASSING THROUGH TRAPEZE/DISCOVERY

It never ceases to amaze

JOE BONAMASSA LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL – AN ACOUSTIC EVENING PROVOGUE

On January 21st and 22nd 2016, Bonamassa performed two unique acoustic shows at the iconic Carnegie Hall in New York City, both nights of which will be released in all formats on June 23rd. Part of an all-acoustic tour the setlist contained new arrangements of favourites, as well as some brand new songs. Along with stalwarts Reese Wynans on piano and Anton Fig on drums, Joe has put together a tight oufit with Eric Bazilian on mandolin, hurdy-gurdy, sax, acoustic guitar and vocals. Chinese cellist Tina Guo and Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy, whom some may remember touring on the Page and Plant No Quarter: Unledded Tour

also participate, the final part of the jigsaw being Australian backing vocalists Mahalia Barnes (daughter of Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes), Juanita Tippins and Gary Pinto. All the old favourites are on here, from opener This Train, the listener realises just how Joe's music leans itself to whichever style he chooses. Standouts are difficult to single out, it just all blends together from the off, but Dust Bowl, Driving Towards The Daylight, Mountain Time and the wonderful Song Of Yesterday certainly make the hair stand up on the nape of the neck! As if that wasn't enough, the set closes with two well chosen covers, Leon Russel's Hummingbird and Bette Midler's The Rose. I'm fully aware of the criticism laid at Joe's door as I go to many gigs and carry out loads of interviews, but at the end of the day, you get an artist who strives to vary his approach to the genre and, together with his hand-picked musicians never, in my humble opinion, fails to please.

CLIVE RAWLINGS

house. Now, sitting here in my writer’s garret I’m still smiling and liking what I hear very much. There is a rich and varied texture to the overall sound courtesy of Wayne Proctor & Steve Wright, different time signatures, instrumentation and writing. You’re never exactly sure what is coming next and that keeps it interesting. As a package it works on every level and it sounds very British and yet deeply rooted within the blues tradition. For me there is one couplet which stands out and it is ‘Cos the road from somewhere to nowhere, Can leave you broken and alone’. How true that is and yet we have to believe that it can be better somewhere. All tracks are originals and with just a few listens it is clearly, (dare I use the word a concept?) a journey through life which is often challenging and puzzling for us all. Life may be a one way ticket with no return however we must all hope we can make just a little difference along the way. I’m not picking out highlights as it is really a terrific album throughout. Buy it!

GRAEME SCOTT

SHARON LEWIS AND TEXAS FIRE GROWN ASS WOMAN DELMARK RECORDS

I first saw Sharon Lewis at

the Chicago Blues Festival with her band the Mojo Kings, so I was intrigued to see her fronting Texas Fire. A little research and I discover that Sharon was born in Fort Worth, Texas and experienced her first music via the well trodden route of the Gospel Choir. In 1975 she moved to Chicago and became active in the Chicago blues scene in the early 90’s. However, name change and history aside, this album is full of the quality and feel that one expects of the Chicago blues sound. Not only that, but Sharon is a student of the genre and in many respects, this album is a tribute to the women in blues, and all that they have done for the music throughout the years. The opening song, Can’t Do It Like We Do, a swaggering blues with some great harmonica playing by Sugar Blue is a direct reference to her belief that the black musician holds their own place in the blues and in the title song, Grown Ass Woman, she reveres the role of the black woman in the blues, the fact she believes they possess a different feel and take on life. I love the line”...I don’t need ya if you can’t do half the shit I do”, a line that certainly demonstrates her belief in her own ability. Sharon is more than able to growl and stomp a la Koko or Shemekia, and she owns the material she sings, portraying through her voice the story she

is relaying. There are 14 songs here, 12 of which are penned by Sharon and her guitarist Stephen Bramer, the two covers are BB King’s Why I Sing The Blues and Warren Haynes Soul Shine, the latter allowing her to lower the vocal attitude and ‘sing’ what is a really beautiful song. Throughout, the quality here is top drawer with no filler songs, and with great musicians performing. Fellow Chicago artist Joanna Connor appears on a couple of tracks to add some sleazy slide guitar, particularly on Chicago Woman. One of the best releases I’ve heard so far this year.

MERV OSBORNE

JOHNNY MASTRO & MAMA’S BOYS NEVER TRUST THE LIVING

10 RECORDS

This New Orleans based band have developed a unique blues sound that can be best described as progressive rock blues, while harmonica driven to suit traditional blues material there are strong elements of straight forward progressive rock, this is particularly prevalent on the track Judgement Day which has a Canned Heat feel to it, gritty vocals, searing guitars and some throbbing base and drums,

interspersed with wailing amplified Harp, the lead guitar solo in the middle of the track is to die for, the track is a cover of the original 1956 song of the same name written by Snooky Pryor. The majority of the material is self written, but another cover track is an interesting instrumental arrangement of House Of The Rising Son, which again has standout playing from Johnny Mastro on harp and Smoke on lead guitar, this pair are awesome. The other self written material all follows a similar path of raw rocking blues that is played with a loud boogie style, for just a four piece band they create really high levels of octane, when Johnny is not belting out harp he is a very capable vocalist, especially on the voodoo influenced Snake Doctor. The album was recorded live in the studio, which does give it a slightly rough edge but it is evident that these were ‘one takes’ with a true band sound, I have not mentioned the rhythm section yet but drummer Rob Lee and bassist Dean Zucchero must take a bow as they have built the solid foundation that allows Johnny and Smoke to tear it up, pure energy, time for a breather!

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

DIANA REIN LONG ROAD

RUDE MOOD RECORDS

Long Road is the sophomore release from Rein, a native of Los Angeles and a self-

THORNETTA DAVIS HONEST WOMAN SWEET MAMA MUSIC

With a soulful voice, based in the gospel and blues, and a talented band of musicians around her, the singer Thornetta Davis offers an incendiary mix of blues, rock and gospel on Honest Woman. The high production values on this release mean that the individual players don’t get lost in the mix, and although she leads from the front, Thornetta Davis is only one of the many musical talents that are displayed throughout the thirteen tracks that make up this album.

Brian White’s slide guitar

is featured throughout the album, starting the album on the slow burning almost accapella song of When My Sister Sings The Blues, whilst full bands are employed throughout the rest of the album. The full brass that starts of Get Up And Dance Away Your Blues is the sound of a party just starting, whilst the seven minute slow blues of Can We Do It Again? is a song about the pleasures of the flesh, and the album closer is a funk filled gospel groover, with a foot-tapping beat and pin sharp musicianship from all of the musicians involved. Thornetta Davis is a phenomenally talented singer, with something new to say in her songs, and if you like feel good rock and roll, soul, and blues played by talented and passionate musicians, then this could well be worth some of your time.

BEN MACNAIR

confessed Six String Siren (check out her web site for more about that…)

This album swimming in some astounding guitar playing, and Rein’s vocals are a force to be reckoned with… the title track (and album opener) is astounding, a slow gospel blues number that sails into Aretha territory and just keeps getting better over the following five minutes and fifty seconds. Livin’ Loud packs a blues funk punch, whilst Rebel With A Cause was inspired by

a James Dean photo and bounces along with Rein’s Hendrix-swagger guitar cutting in just when you need it. Another standout track is Come Back Home, an instant earworm of a song that’s crying out for Radio 2 airplay (Bob Harris take note). Closing number Peace is an achingly-sad instrumental number that was written following the death of Rein’s dog… a sad, but beautiful, ending to an otherwise upbeat powerhouse of an album. A dozen cuts of the finest

music from an amazing blues powerhouse and well-worth investing your hard-earned cash in.

MARTIN COOK

MARCO PICCIONI TRIO FAR

INDEPENDENT

It is a pity when a review of such a brilliant and original album starts by questioning whether the contents generally constitute blues or not, but a genre specific magazine owes it to the readers to clarify this matter. Ok, so some of the music comprises contemporary jazz flavoured improvisations better suited to a late night, sultry venue than a blues festival stage. However, Dive with its clever tempo changes and anguished vocal delivery is undoubtedly driving bluesrock. Both instrumentals, Source Hunt and Wanted with their extended, and at times, frenetic guitar solos would grace any mainstream blues album. The eponymous track is slow burning, bluesinfused whilst Failing Game is balladic and reflective. There are plenty of shuffles and 12-bar cycles to satisfy blues purists. What is more important is that all three musicians are technically superb and deliver a live studio set with skill, passion, invention and aplomb. The

intricacy, phrasing and tones of Marco’s guitar are exceptional, enhanced by Blendi Dhami’s measured, complementary double bass interludes and Chris Nickoll’s fluent and expressive drumming. Italian born Piccioni started his career in New York and is now based in London. He is a serious student of blues, rock and jazz who pushes the boundaries of all three in very interesting and innovative directions so just get into the groove and enjoy the journey.

THE BISHOP

SCOTT H. BIRAM THE BAD TESTAMENT

BLOOD RECORDS

Texan infused blues from Scott H. Biram kicks up an attitude from the first note to the last. This is blues that is stirred with rock as head banging collides with lyrics straight from roots music. Opening with Set Me Free, the blues is laid back with country soul at its heart, this is an electric attack of sound not a sit back and chill out on the porch approach the blues. There is a raw honesty to the music as the wildness of Train Wrecker calms down to some acoustic numbers including Righteous Ways, showcasing vocals and lyrics are of now, or people that are stumbling from one day to the next sometimes just managing others in despair. When writing about blues albums the

collision of Lightin’ Hopkins and Lemmy is not a normal sentence but aptly encompass the array of tomes and textures on The Bad Testament. The title reflects the mood Scott H. Birham is creating intense full of sinful emotions as he curls around the lyrics of Crippled & Crazy full of guitar and keys that lift the spirit as the one man band declares that love has grown cold. This is blues with attitude of modern times pulling in roots and rock and creating a sound that gains your attention for all the right reasons. Why? At the heart of the blues is the story to be told of mankind’s struggle with whiskey, good intentions, finding love and the trials and tribulations we encounter on our journey through life. The Bad Testament works as this one-man bands vocals have the authenticity of experience with every note sung and played. Closing with a rip-roaring raw hill country vibe number with Pressin’ On, The Bad Testament message is you just have to keep going.

LIZ AIKEN

ELLIOTT AND THE UNTOUCHABLES BLOODHOUND

BLUE POINT RECORDS

A name that pays such obvious homage to Eliot

Ness and his crack team of bootleg-liquor-busting cops in prohibition-era Chicago must make Elliott and the Untouchables the first band in blues history to identify with law enforcement officers in preference to organised crime. But that slight to the tradition is the only thing to worry about here. This Columbia, South Carolina, based outfit have come up with a CD comprised of 11 original tracks, many of them built around an interplay of six strings and brass instantly evoking prime period Gary Moore. Guitarist, vocalist, harp merchant and sole songwriter Elliott New is clearly the centre of the action, but his five sidemen on bass, drums, sax, trumpet and keyboards come together to give the collective endeavour all the flavour of a large doner kebab with everything. Standout songs include title track Bloodhound, a celebration of spending the night in search of some lovin’, and Till I Found You, a lamentation of what happens when you secure some, only for it to go badly wrong. Fire Inside illustrates just how nicely good slide work can sit alongside a brass section riff. Tell Me Why is the standard blues guy ‘baby you know you’re doing me wrong’ complaint, set against a catchy funk phrase that allows the rest of the band to stretch out a bit. In sum, quality stuff, and worth checking out if it sounds like your bag.

DAVID OSLER

RON CAMPBELL & THE BLUES BUSTERS THE MAIN EVENT

DIRT ROAD

Albums like this always

KYLE T. HURLEY KYLE T. HURLEY II INDEPENDENT

After his much acclaimed self titled debut in 2014 comes a second helping of eclectic Americana country blues style tunes full of passion and just about the right point of delivery to be a classic. Like his debut this has been recorded and tweaked in England but this time in the haloed studios at Abbey Road not bad for a singer born in Los Angeles. There are many influences on this ten track mostly self penned songs ranging from Neil Young type delivery and certainly vocal range akin to Rufus Wainwright in this reviewers humble opinion that is how accomplished this is. He even has Robin Banerjee ex Amy Winehouse on rhythm

cause me a wee problem. My gut instinct is to say that these guys sound like a pub band and, whilst that is true, that should in no way put you off seeking The Main Event out because it is a fine album, most enjoyable and the band are good quality musicians. I think what I am trying to say is that perhaps these sixteen cuts lack a certain

guitar for the slow haunting Getting Home and the catchy uptempo fun fulfilling In The Doghouse with tight drumming by Alessandro Cinelli. Starting with the cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan Pride And Joy it rolls on well in a meandering way. Carolina Cries has some mean guitar riffs and biting vocals. The Holding is heart wrenching and has a distinctive drum beat to match the overall intense emotions relating to cutting lyrics by a songwriter at the top of his game not afraid to push barriers. This also a feature of the stunning track Shot with even a bit of ethereal rapping at one point so many layers to this with a nod to acoustic Jimi Hendrix just divine. Completely Clarissa’s Crimes is narrated well and is pure country with lilting vocals. The Last Long Ride has an easy going Wild West feel to it with a twist. Last number Be Bop A Lua has a shuffle feel very catchy and danceable a real crowd pleaser.

COLIN CAMPBELL

LOL GOODMAN BAND JUST WANNA SAY… A LITTLE BIT MORE RIGHT TRACK RECORDS

One of the UK’s national blues treasures, The Lol Goodman Band have been around for nearly 20 years in various formations. The lineup on Just Wanna Say are Lol Goodman on guitar and vocals, James Horrocks on bass, Jon Firth and drums and Phil Barrett on the finest instrument known to man (in my humble opinion), the Hammond organ. LGB play the kind of blues created by the Allman Brothers, Clapton and Free, hook-laden, Hammond-powered, soul-driven. Just Wanna Say is the band’s third

album and their finest hour to date. Live My Life With The Blues echoes classic Free, with Goodman’s vocals up there with the best of Rogers, Marriott, etc. and telling the tale of his father’s passing. Raw and personal, this is the real deal, the real blues… and the guitar playing is astounding. Colours Of My Heart is one of those numbers that sounds like it has been around for years, a real earworm of a song that hits home with an astounding guitar solo that’s somehow managed to be complex and spare at the same time. Work to Live (recorded Live) is a classic in waiting, with Barrett’s blistering Hammond work pinning the whole thing together gloriously. For my money one of the finest British blues releases for many a year and an album that will no doubt get worn out with repeated plays… so best get more than one copy.

MARTIN COOK

amount of polish in terms of production which was all done in-house by Ron himself. The latter is fairly straight ahead no frills and probably what the band wanted in their heads. However, going back to my gut I would have preferred to have recorded them in full flight in a hot sweaty club somewhere with a receptive audience and atmosphere a plenty thereby capturing the true essence of the band and

then it would have really been a cooking set. So having seemingly written this album off what we have are sixteen tracks all originals from a close knit Canadian foursome augmented three guests players. As far as the material is concerned the ideas are sourced from all aspects of that four letter word love. Add in a few rocking tracks that would be good to dance around to in a pub.

Standout cuts for me were Nothin’ Better To Do, the jump jive of Laid Back Lover, Ben’s Bounce (an instrumental work out), the bluesy soulful Since You Left Me Baby They even stray, and successfully I want to add, into rapping territory on part of Last Day In Disneyland. Ok as I said not perhaps the best produced, which I appreciate takes money, album you’ll find but enjoyable none the less.

GRAEME SCOTT

BROOKS WILLIAMS BROOKS’ BLUES

RED GUITAR BLUE MUSIC

This limited edition CD of Brooks’ favourite blues songs is a celebration of his recent UK tour with New York blues ambassador Guy Davis. It is an ‘old school’ recording with just voice and guitar, live in the studio, using vintage microphones and a creaky chair! Williams is best known for writing superb contemporary rootsbased Americana songs encapsulated in one of the most original albums of 2016, the highly acclaimed My Turn Now. In this latest offering, Brooks pays homage to his birthplace Statesboro, Georgia and those early blues influences including the legendary Blind Willie McTell. One of the world’s most

accomplished acoustic and resonator guitarists, Brooks is rapidly becoming the leading exponent of the 3-string cigar box guitar which brings an incredibly authentic sound to classics like Willie Dixon’s My Babe. Despite versions of masterpieces such as Robert Johnson’s From Four Until Late, Bessie Smith’s Backwater Blues, Memphis Slim’s Mother Earth and of course, Statesboro Blues, this never sounds like a covers album. This is because Brooks brings his unique style, fresh arrangements and distinctive vocals to every song; as Williams explains, “I know these songs but I was never taught ‘em.” Save The Bones is a moving tribute to the late jazz performer Danny Barker whilst Joseph Spence’s On The Rolling Sea and I Will Do My Last Singing by the Reverend Gary Davis represent a spiritual dimension. Sitting On Top Of The World is a tour de force instrumentally and vocally, and Hesitation Blues is another highlight with its classic line, “I’ve got a house full of kids, one of them has got to be mine.” At a time when high energy, electric blues-rock is at the forefront of British blues, it is refreshing to step back in time to remember where it all started.

THE BISHOP

CATFISH KEITH MISSISSIPPI RIVER BLUES FISHTAIL

RECORDS

I’m not sure if anyone is keeping count but this is album number sixteen from Catfish Keith who has made it his life mission to keep the spirit of the acoustic Delta blues alive and well. And if you’re going to have a blues mission then that’s a good one to have. Luckily for Catfish Keith there is a very large well of material to draw from so he’s unlikely to run out of great songs anytime soon. He takes care of all the vocal, guitar, ukulele and feet(!) as he ranges across some deep blues songs from years gone by. He’s got a gritty, listenable voice and is a master of the acoustic guitar. Geeks will be glad to know he lets you know which models he plays in the sleeve credits but the rest of us will be happy to just sit back and enjoy the show. He does sneak in a couple of original songs but you can’t see the join between that and the likes of Just Can’t Keep Form Cryin’ Sometimes by Blind Willie Johnson, The Whale Swallowed Jonah by JB Lenoir and the Jimmie Rodgers title track. As vintage acoustic blues goes you won’t get better than this unless you happen to catch him on one of his regular UK visits and can watch the sparks fly in person.

STUART A HAMILTON

THE MOODY MARSDEN BAND NEVER TURN OUR BACK ON THE BLUES

TALKING ELEPHANT What's not to like? Two outstanding blues rock guitarists playing a set of popular tracks and favourite covers live. Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody joined by Zak Starkey and Jaz Lochrie and playing a high energy set to an appreciative audience in late 1991. You'll be guaranteed to have your mood uplifted and be singing along to at least some of these classics. This re-issue originally came out in '92 by which time Marsden and Moody had already made major contributions to the UK rock & blues scene in bands like Juicy Lucy, UFO, Snafu and Babe Ruth before going through the Whitesnake machine where they helped co-write some of the enduring tracks. The best of which are included here, Fool For Your Lovin' and Here I Go Again along with live favourite Ain't No Love (In The Heart Of The City). The blues masters are well represented too, Baby What You Want, Have You Ever Loved A Woman, How Blue Can You Get, Wee Wee Baby, Going Down, It Hurts Me Too and the self penned title track. Free's The Stealer gets a rousing rendition too and the 11 tracks are completed by Foolin' With My Heart. This all uplifting

stuff played with aplomb, ok it’s not boundary changing but it's exactly what you would expect and want from the band at that time. It’s a credit to Bernie and Micky that 15 years on from this and they are still key players on the circuit, with Bernies solo albums and the recent Moody/Maas releases as vibrant as ever, this helps to show how their reputation blossomed and the esteem they are held in today. Worth checking out if you missed it first time around.

STEVE YOURGLIVCH

RUST ON THE RAILS TALISMAN INDEPENDENT

Rust On The Rails are a roots rock quartet, based in Seattle, who comprise Cody Beebe (vocals, guitar), Blake Noble (guitar, didgeridoo), Eric Miller (bass) and Chris Lucier (drums). There’s not much blues on Talisman

STEVE KOZAK BAND IT’S TIME

INDEPENDENT

One of Canada’s finest blues artists, Maple Blues Award winner Steve has been a pivotal member of the Vancouver music scene since the mid 1980s. The core band comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Kozak, Dave Webb on piano and Hammond organ, bassist Roger Brant and drummer Chris Nordquist. They are joined by special guests including the Axe Murderer and The Harpoonist, aka Matt Rogers and Shawn Hall; the latter blows some particularly fine harp

on Magic Sam’s Every Night And Every Day and Kozak’s Tell Me Why. A nice balance is achieved between easy listening, good time swinging blues epitomized by That’s Cool With Me, and deeper, more challenging material such as Trouble. Kozak’s versatility as a vocalist is highlighted by the mellifluous tones on Anson Funderburgh’s One Woman I Need. Steve shows his lyrical competence on the autobiographical Stranger In My Hometown and Goin’ Fishin’, songs at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. The best cover is Little Willie John’s Love, Life And Money written by Glover and Dixon with its excellent piano solo and intricate guitar interludes. A very respectable album, and well worth a listen.

THE BISHOP

IBBA TOP 50

but all four members are good musicians and their playing is creative and adventurous. The opening track, Every Little Thing, for example, begins arrestingly with haunting didgeridoo played by Noble, who is in fact Australian, followed by Beebe’s other-worldly wailing, underpinned by Lucier’s primal drumming. Several other tracks including Far Cry and Lost And Found also feature Noble’s didgeridoo playing and the unusual sound of the instrument gives the band some distinctiveness. Several tracks are also massively enhanced by Andrew Joslyn And His Passenger String Quartet whose masterful arrangements and playing give the band yet further distinctiveness. On Secrets, for example, a confessional ballad on which Beebe sings angrily about a relationship breakdown, the strings are strikingly effective in heightening the mood. Elsewhere, Abbot And Costello, with its big chorus and singalong quality is very commercial, Play The Fool is an attractively melodic romantic ballad and Foolish Pride, another love song, is sung delicately, again with a marvellous string arrangement by Joslyn.

TREVOR HODGETT

TINY LEGS TIM MELODIUM RAG

Tiny Legs Tim aka TLT represented Belgium at last

year’s European Blues Challenge after releasing Steppin’ Up - a somewhat unexpected upbeat album with a full band. It would seem that first loves are hard to dismiss though, since TLT went back to the studio with his cherished 1943 Martin 0-17 acoustic guitar, left the headphones on the hook and recorded direct to tape using exactly one microphone: a vintage Melodium, the type used by Django Reinhardt way back then. Only his mate and harmonica ace Steven Troch was allowed in to accompany Tiny Legs on eleven originals and Son House’s Death Letter – Son House being among those first loves together with the likes of Mississippi Fred McDowell and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. Tim’s assets are easy to point out: he’s an accomplished player excelling on slide, gifted with an instantly recognizable voice possessing an occasional shrill ring that gives more weight to the darker emotions, and lyrics that happen to be about something real and lived. Tim’s main asset is his skill to compose a faultless melody and a real tune, absent too often in today’s riff-ridden blues. The album starts with a real statement, Religions Serve The Devil Well, followed by the sing-a-long Hard To Admit and the melodious Love Is Worth A Fight. Down To This serves American folk blues with a Johnny Cash-like bass-line cut by a lovely refrain. Two instrumentals showcase all

of his prowess on the guitar without showing off. Yesterday’s inspiration notwithstanding, this is a true contemporary album with several songs reflecting TLT’s personal bad luck in a tone and mood the listener can easily relate to. I once wrote Tiny Legs Tim epitomizes blues ‘chanson’ and I should like to add he’s very much alone, but also quite unique in this category.

EDDY BONTE

CHARLES BROWN DRIFTING BLUES

SOUL JAM RECORDS

Soul Jam Records have released Charles Brown’s underrated 1957 vinyl long player in its entirety, but with the added

TORIAH FONTAINE BLACK WATER INDEPENDENT

The very titles of some of the tracks on Black Water, such as Sleeping On The Wrong Side, Marked By Sin and Blood Runs Thin, suggest that Toriah Fontaine, who many on the British blues scene are tipping for success, is a striking songwriter. Her raw and rasping vocals are also impressive but at times her delivery seems overwrought and she too often defaults to harshness. And too often her lyrics, which seem so interesting, are difficult to decipher. Several songs are about romantic tribulations. Give Back My Loving, which includes a

simple but elegant guitar solo (either by Aidan Conlin or Ifan Jones), is about being unable to move on after being left by a lover, for example, and Howling At My Door is about a two-timing lover. Marked By Sin is addressed to the singer’s child, but, frustratingly, I couldn’t make out some of the maternal advice presented, Sunday Best, on which Fontaine is accompanied solely by Ethan Thomas’s mournful piano, is sung with sombre intensity but I’m having to guess that the song is about a death and I’m having to guess that Sleeping On The Wrong Side is about having an affair. Those many blues listeners who don’t give much attention to lyrics won’t share my reservations about Black Water but, with the talent that she clearly has, I expect Fontaine to release albums in future that I enjoy with fewer reservations.

TREVOR HODGETT

bonus of 15 hard-to-find sides issued by different labels, such as Aladdin, Ace and King Records during the fifties and early sixties. Described in the original liner notes as “...the exclusive classic blues singer of all time, whose unique style started a new trend in blues singing”, it’s difficult to quantify the veracity of that statement some sixty years later. What is undisputable is the fact that he was a great singer, and in many instances the word crooner comes to mind. With a smooth velvet voice, Charles certainly created his own path in the great story of the blues, giving Nat King Cole a run for who would rule the Hollywood supper clubs in the 40’s. Everything here is as you would expect from Charles Brown. Sublime piano accompaniment, great arrangements and of course that voice, but perhaps the most interesting cuts here are the bonus tracks. Educated Fool and I Wanna Go Home have Brown in both piano and vocal duets with Amos Milburn, and Brown’s own classic Black Night proves to be a very menacing piece with some haunting sax. An interesting reminder of a very influential elder in the blues fraternity, but I suspect this album to be a collector’s item or something for the serious student of the genre.

MERV OSBORNE

NEVERFALL WHEN THE DEVIL COMES A’CALLIN INDEPENDENT

Neverfall are a Swiss band comprising Leo Berney on vocals keyboards and harmonica Yves Conde on bass guitar Laurent Thiemard on drums and Damien Ulmann on guitar. This is their second release after much acclaim for their debut Double Gold Quits. This is less in your face rock and has a slant to a more bluesy rock feel. Ten songs varying in quality and stature this has a good overall feel but stutters in places and keeps to a similar pattern of anthemic tunes mixing with long organ mixes such as on I’m Alive and Four Horses. Late starts things off and has a bit of a swagger quite punchy vocals exhibiting a tight band.Ragnarocks is probably the most catchy and commercial of the tunes with fine bluesy undertones and stomping rhythm and harmonica vibe. Under Dirty Cage has gritty vocals and a big Wurlitzer sound. Come On Down has a Southern Rock style to it with fine harmonies. I Do Want More is a bit bland apart from the organ playing again. It’s All Too Much rolls along well a song about addiction with some very good intertwining play between guitars and keyboards. The

final tune called The Edge Of The Worlds is the softest in tone and is certainly a highlight. A solid piece of work by a hard working band peppered with passion and good grooves and overall big sound. Fans of classic rock will not be disappointed with this one.

COLIN CAMPBELL

TIM GARTLAND IF YOU WANT A GOOD WOMAN

TASTE GOOD Nashville-based Tim Gartland is a fine blues harmonica player who generally favours tasteful restraint over technical fireworks, a likeable singer and a skilful songwriter. Indeed every song on If You Want A Good Woman, his third album, is an original (five of them composed with keyboard player Tom West) and they’re all catchy and cleverly-written. Too Many Groceries, for example, is a humorous, mocking character sketch of a woman who is “as subtle as a train wreck” and has “too many groceries for one bag” while Willie That’s Who is a witty and sincere-sounding Chicago blues-style tribute to Willie Dixon. “He put the hooch in the coochie,” sings Gartland affectionately. “He was a back door man … He put the wang in the doodle/He was born the seventh son,” the lyrics going on to reference other Dixon compositions like The Red Rooster and Spoonful. Elsewhere I Come When You Call is a tender love song, the

title line of the reggaeinfluenced If You Want A Good Woman is smartly followed by the wise advice “you got to learn to be a good man” and in I Had It All the title line is followed by the bitterly regretful “except I had it all wrong”. Tom Britt contributes a characteristically terse and incisive slide solo to the latter song and the excellent Tom West plays an effervescent piano solo on Too Many Groceries. Wendy Moten’s oftenprominent supporting vocals impress throughout.

TREVOR HODGETT

STEVEN TROCH NICE ‘N’ GREASY SING MY TITLE

For some reason, Belgium boasts a number of top harmonica players – not counting Toots Thielemans! – and Steven Troch is the latest to emerge on the scene. With a bang. Wanting to avoid the ‘local hero’ label, he went to California to assemble an all-West Coast band consisting of Rusty Zinn guitar, Bob Welsh guitar, bass, keys, June Core drums and Kid Anderson bass, the latter also taking care of the production, engineering and re-mastering. He carried a portfolio showing the results of harmonica contests where he was

placed first by Mark Hummel. Yet, Steven Troch doesn’t blow you away with a bag of tricks, on the contrary. He uses this proficient band to optimal effect and allows ample space for his voice, preferring to sing his own songs with his own lyrics himself. The result is a laid-back album with slow to mid-tempo grooves that at times remind you of Jimmy Reed or Little Walter but may also venture a little into reggae or mambo land. Troch’s funny and witty lyrics create a world that fits the overall slow, laid-back mood: the lazy who can’t get out of bed, the hypocrites who fly high as a kite on Saturday but are to be found in church or Sundays, womanizers considering themselves irresistible, why, even Mr. Troch shouting out loud he’s following the steps of his low-level mischievous dad... A master of subtlety and an advocate of the ‘less is more’ approach, Steven Troch plays his harmonica unamplified most of the album. This special sound is used to introduce, underline or complete a song and never as a stand-alone feat, not even on the first-class instrumental tracks Rainin’, Outdoors and Alligator Fryolator. Lest I forget, Troch wrote all twelve songs himself. In the booklet, Mark Hummel calls Steven Troch ‘an original talent’ and that sums it up pretty well actually.

EDDY BONTE

RALPH DE JONGH TRILOGY: DANCING ON A VOLCANO

RALPH DE JONGH RECORDINGS

Some boys want to grow up to sing like Jagger; some boys want to grow up to play guitar like Keef. Ralph de Jongh obviously couldn’t make his mind up, and decided to do both instead. This elaborately packaged three-CD box set celebrates the Dutch blues artist’s 20 years in the music business, and its debt to the Glimmer Twins is always to the fore. That’s not necessarily a criticism; most recent Stones albums have been pretty lacklustre offerings, and de Jongh plays with a vigour that has long eluded the bus-pass bearing Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World. It’s just that when you play Highway Man, the title track on the first of the trio of recordings, the chord progression compels your head to hear ‘pleased to meetcha, won’t you guess my name’. Breakfast Served is quite an amusing offering, bringing together the familiar Dust My Broom slide lick with smutty lyrics on a first-mealof-the-day theme. But once you’ve heard one ‘hot sausage in your pan’ joke, you’ve heard ‘em all. Weird, the opener

and highlight of disc two, deftly recycles a Steve Earle riff. The third album is acoustic guitar oriented, showing off de Jongh’s singer-songwriter side, and includes some live recordings and outtakes. 10 Or More Women stands out as a serious tribute to the Delta style. Give this guy a listen if you if you are a Stones diehard, it might just float your boat.

DAVID OSLER

THE SHARPEEZ THE TUESDAY NIGHT MUSIC CLUB: KEEPING MUSIC LIVE INDEPENDENT

I’ll keep this review short and sweet, in contrast to the CD, which is long and boring. There are 16 tracks here, each indistinguishable from the one before. They’re all sort of mid-paced, mid-toned electric something-or-other – not necessarily blues, as the standard blues progression is nowhere in sight. The Sharpeez – who seem to spell their name sometimes with a ‘z’ at the end, and sometimes with an ‘s’ – is basically a vehicle for Bill Mead, who has been kicking around the UK since the 1970s. There’s a reason why, 40 years on, he’s still doing self-produced CDs. He doesn’t seem to have the

imagination and vision to be a frontman. He and other members of the band are highly competent on their instruments. They probably make great backing players, even for the best musicians in the world. Tell them what to play and they’ll execute it well. The music world is full of such talents –musicians who will do you proud if you lead the way. But 16 tracks by a band under Mead’s leadership is a tough listen. There’s little point in discussing individual tracks. First of all, the order of the tracks listed on the CD cover bears no relationship to the order of the cuts on the CD. Secondly, they all sound the same. This is a live recording and a few people do seem to be applauding at the end of each song. Maybe you had to be there.

M.D. SPENSER

COREY LEDET AND HIS ZYDECO BAND STANDING ON FAITH

CPL RECORDS

Sit back, perhaps not, this is foot stomping standing up and dancing music. Not surprising as the giveaway is Zydeco, from South Louisiana, described as black Cajun music, lively, combining French dance melodies

with Caribbean weaving in some blues, featuring squeeze box and guitar. Standing On Faith, is true to the form of Zydeco, lots of rhythms and squeeze box that shapes the sound. The intro is applause and cheers, this is an album that will lift the heart as Corey Ledet introduces the music to a backdrop of a modern vibe, as hip hop collides with Prince as a jam begins where Zydeco has led popular music and counter intuitive to what follows as the squeeze box pulls up the beat with Push Me Away, let the Zydeco party begin with Corey’s vocals full of warmth and joy. By the second track you know that Corey wants you to expect the unexpected as he pushes the sound to the limits spinning into the musical mix soul, reggae, pop, rock and the r&b of Love Never Felt So Good. The keys from Cecil Green are full of fizzing energy, a bassline that pings with intent and guitars and Corey’s squeeze box joins in on this instrumental fun. The energy levels dim slightly for a cool clean ballad of Take Me There, with the smooth vocals from Corey leading the way over keys. New York City courtesy of the driving beat of Corey’s squeeze box re-shaping the album bring back to its heart the Zydeco traditions. Closing with Street Light, we have pop tones with reggae beats and the infectious quality of Zydeco that takes us from the past to now with a pop song that rings with

listenability. Put musical preconceptions on one side and enjoy the journey that Corey Ledet and his Zydeco Band takes you on as he shares his tones on Standing On Faith.

LIZ AIKEN

add really, to what I said before. Recommended.

CLIVE RAWLINGS

STRONGMAN NO TIME LIKE NOW

SONIC UNYON

JULIAN SAS

FEELIN'

ALIVE

CAVALIER RECORDINGS

It only seems like the last issue that I reviewed a retrospective 5cd box set of Dutchman Sas's, in fact it was the last issue! Newly crowned as both Best Blues Musician and Best Live Performer, what we have here is another live CD recorded on his 2016 Coming Home tour. With Sas taking guitar/vocals, he is joined by Rob Heijne on drums, Fotis Anagnostou making his debut on bass and new addition Roland Bakker on keys. What you get is full on blues/rock from the opening Jump For Joy. The vocals do tend to be a little monosyllabic, but there is no doubting the quality this band possess. Taking tracks from various albums, his last studio outing, Coming Home accounts for a fair percentage of what's on offer here. Any true follower of Sas will enjoy the customary closing tracks, Highway 61 Revisited and Bullfrog Blues. Not a lot else to

Now this is how I like my blues to rock! Fiery, funky and fervent, this is an absolute treat of a record. It’s the fourth album from Maple Blues Award winning Steve Strongman and across the ten tracks he plays up an absolute storm. Unusually he’s as good as singer as he is a guitarist and with a red hot set of musicians along for the ride this is shaping up to be one of my favourite records of the year. It’s hard hitting without being heavy as he mixes up the likes of Peter Green and ZZ Top on an electrifying set of songs. You can plant the needle down in any groove and be guaranteed a good time which makes it hard to pick highlights. But the title track, Bring The Hammer Down and I’m A Man are shaping up rather nicely after the first few spins. As well as the more mainstream blues rock he touches on rock’n’roll, swamp rock, throws in some gospel licks on Love Love Love and can even carry off a big ballad like The Day They Carry Me Away. With the added bonus of a guest appearance from Randy Bachman on a rearranged cover of the Bachman Turner Overdrive You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet this

makes for an invigorating listening experience.

STUART A HAMILTON

JESSE DAYTON THE REVEALER

BLUE ELAN RECORDS

This is hot country/ Americana music at its best. blues per se it is not, but I loved it, as the lyrics are all meaningful and need to be listened to. The album opens with Daddy Was A Badass a country tale of oilfield trash and a hard upbringing for both the boy and the father, but it is played with smoking hot guitar playing throughout, but sadly with an inevitable ending to Daddy. This is swiftly followed by a Preacher extolling the need for divine intervention with track 2 Holy Ghost Rock 'n Roller to keep them good old boys from the evils of the Devil Music, that is rock. This album is a rubicon for me, on the basis that in the past I'd rather have had my eyes gouged out with a stick than listen to country music! I have to recant as this album has helped me to cross the river, with its scorching guitar playing all from Dayton. Even the lyrics have me converted as they are mentally stimulating and, when delivered by the main man with his gravel like voice, force you to pay attention.

Track 5 Possum Ran Over

My Grave slows down to remind you that essentially this is country music and again his vocals are a real highlight even delivered at an almost sedate pace by comparison to the rest of the album. The prize for the strangest track title has to go to Track 8 with 3 Pecker Goat and for the life of me I daren't think what he really means. However, it is another nugget in the goldmine that is this country seam. I can't say in truth that I have a favourite track as the fact is that I enjoyed them all, and that is some admission on my part.

TOM WALKER

SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS THE PLANET SESSIONS

ACE RECORDS

In essence this is the first official reissue of his now very rare second album recorded in 1965 in United Kingdom called The Night And Day Of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins it also has remixed and unreleased bonus tracks some recorded at Abbey Road

Studios doubling the track list to twenty four a fine compendium for collectors and fans alike. It also has a fascinating documented booklet written by Alec Palao with rare photos and background to release. It

did seem difficult in those years to release some of his songs as a lot had been banned. He was a great showman and extrovert a real virtuoso performer using props such as a skull on a stick called Henry but it is his voice that generates most interest for this reviewer. He can scream yodel and generally attack any song with gusto and panache making standard songs like Cole Porter’s Night And Day into a weird almost operatic take a wonderful opening tune with laid back backing group possibly London session musicians conjuring up a smoky Jazz club feel. In My dream is a slow ballad pace fitting the low vocal range. I Wanna Know is sharp with good saxophone solo and double meaning lyrics. Your Kind Of Love is an uptempo dance number. Change Your Ways is silky smooth every word dripping with pain and sincerity.Alright OK You Win has a ska feel and rolls on into the pleading lament Please Forgive Me. A real gem showcasing the talent of one of the best rhythm and blues singers of the sixties era.

COLIN CAMPBELL

All and any references to Bram Stoker and Vlad the Impaler a.k.a. Count Dracula on this review are entirely coincidental and based my puerile sense of the preposterous. But, I have to mention that it is a live recording from a blues festival, in the Carpathian region of Romania known as Transylvania. This live recording is characterised by the lack of hootin' and hollerin' from the usual suspects trying to get themselves heard, and that is to the credit of the audience. The album opens with a tumbler of sweet nectar in Jacqui Juice, the brass section in the group and the main man Voegeli on keyboard amply quenching any thirst. It is foot stompin' from the first beat and a combination of blues, R&B, funk and a small dose of jazz thrown in to make a cocktail to slake even a vampires thirst. There are virtuosos throughout this seven piece band and every single one of them contributes to make this a thoroughly enjoyable listen for an hour. Which also represents value on top of quality for the paying public. Track six Cold Woman is anything but lacking in temperature, this is red hot showcasing of the brass, hammond, guitar and drum concoction that is the Band. There is not a drop of bad blood in this vampires feast of Transylvanian blues and the locals will have been treated to the best of the west. It really is an absolute

corker of a live album, with every track the very lifeblood of funky blues.

TOM WALKER

ROWLAND JONES STILL THE BLUES

INDEPENDENT

UK based singer songwriter uses a descriptive moniker of “Contaminated Blues” which probably an indication that he brings in other styles to his music but from my perspective this CD contains just pure blues expertly written and performed, there are only seven tracks on the album but there is more than enough to make a considered judgement. Rowland has forsaken some of his acoustic material with an injection of electricity, incorporating bass and slide guitar played superbly by Mark Lewis and Chris Hillman respectively although these guys also cover on double bass and pedal steel guitar as the mood dictates. The material is all self written and covers everyday events, he is particularly strong on relationships, Rowland’s vocals are very precise and on a couple of tracks are probably just one step up from a spoken level, which does aid his story telling, particularly telling on Squeeze Me Right. The guitar and slide

BROWN COW PRODUCTIONS

guitar work throughout the album is exquisite, while it is kept fairly low key from an amplification perspective it definitely provides a smooth edge to the songs, best track on the album highlighting this is Blue Ain’t Just My Colour, a gentle soulful blues track that would sit comfortably on a Robert Cray album. The tracks gel nicely together and this is a very easy going blues album that while short in length is full of promise.

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

ELAM MCKNIGHT BAND RADIO

BBH MEDIA

How interesting to find that Radio reached No. 1 on the Country Blues Album Chart in the week of Oct 29th last year. Interesting because whilst there are hints of country blues here, there are also many other genres played, from delta blues to country to rock and even a hint of punk. Truly, this is best described as a roots album. I would love to sit with the band and ask for their explanation of the vocal presentation on the opening track, I Feel Like Rocking. It sounds as if they were strangling the studio cat and I have still to make out a single word of the vocals. I

wondered if this could potentially put others off from exploring deeper. The Elam McKnight Band are a trio with Elam on guitar and vocals, Dudley Harris on bass and Eddie Phillips on drums, and they come from West Tennessee. Elam had previously played solo, but formed the band to solidify the sound he was searching for, and whilst in songs like the blues rocker, Night Wanderer, there is reliance on heavy distorted guitar sounds, equally they are at home in the context of a countrified song such as Hold Me (Just A Little Bit Longer), featuring acoustic guitars and some sweet harmonica courtesy of Bob Bogdal. The title track is a memory jaunting song to youthful lust and a desire to recapture the feel and excitement of that period. Once again Bob provides some lovely harmonica which completely enhances the whole. Whilst not the most original of albums, Elam hasn’t tried to hide his influences. Indeed, Well I’m Bad is a straight cover of the feel and riff of Muddy’s I’m A Man, and Love Me is a twist on Rock Me Baby, nevertheless this is an honest dose of Roots music from an artist steeped in the tradition of Memphis and Nashville.

MERV OSBORNE

THE ANDREW COLLINS TRIO AND IT WAS GOOD MAPL

An absolute delight! From the first moments of Light

From The Darkness to the last shimmering moments of the title track, this is an album of such rare and uplifting skill that it left me breathless with awe. Andrew Collins is a well known and highly regarded mandolin player on the Canadian scene and he is joined here by string maestro Mike Mezzatesta and bass player James McEleney. Each of the three is an essential part of the album, inspired by the late Oliver Schroer - a fiddler who was a major element in the Canadian Avant Gard scene and played on hundreds of roots and inspirational pieces; his Twisted String comprised a whole series of his young musician students and was captured on the Camino album recorded in churches up and down the Camino river. The music that these three produce here is clearly inspired by Schroer but if you knew nothing about him it would still be a magnificent piece of work. On the face of it, this is not outrageously complex music, with the mandolin or mandocello or fiddle taking the lead and the other instruments creating a bucolic and natural air around the lead but as you listen deeper into the music there are rare depths and outrageous skills in the mix. The three carry you along on a featherbed of beauty, sometimes in the roots arena and occasionally moving away into bluegrass and Americana but with a folk purity at its heart. McEleney’s bowed

bass is a delight as is the support given by the Phantasmagoria String Quartet adding shade and some challenges to the mainline players. It is an album that rewards listening to time and again, always finding something new to take you down into the music and sending me away to check out the work of Schroer again.

ANDY SNIPPER

VARIOUS DOWN HOME BLUES DETROIT SPECIAL WIENERWORLD

I have to say a big WOW about this three CD set that is so authorative with a fantastic 48 page booklet by Mike Rowe who combined with Peter Moody on sessionography while Mr Moody managed the co-ordination and what a stellar job they have done here. You get the history giving a full flavour of what, why and how this all happened in Chicago. Of course there are several John Lee Hooker tracks here as well as Eddie Burns (terrific Biscuit Baking Woman), Detroit Slim, but one of the joys is in the lesser known acts that appear like Bobo Jenkins, I had not heard of Harvey Hill Jnr or his String Band, L.C. Green was new to me as was Clarence Posey. Slim Pickens here with

Papa’s Boogie clearly is not the actor version with the same name. Baby Boy

Warren features several times including his Nervy Woman Blues, loved Bobo Jenkins version of Bad Luck and Trouble, Calvin Frazier pumps up on Rockhouse, while Martee Bradley gives Winter Time Is Coming. Baby Boy

Warren brings a smile with Please Don’t Think I’m Nosey while Earl Chatman goes hypnotic on Loving You Baby. I could go on and comment on every track as there is so much great stuff here but then you’d have not need to go out and buy it so go on, get to the record store or online and order up a copy of this enlightening three CD set in solid card fold out within a box so good for your library shelf and you will be well pleased

TOBY ORNOTT

MARTY MANOUS KNOW MY NAME

LUCKY STREET MUSIC

For what it is – hard-ass, bass-driven, highly familiar, late-’60s-sounding blues rock – this album is quite good. The songs are borne along by highly amplified, fuzzed-up bass riffs, most of which will be familiar to long-term devotees of blues rock. And by long-term, I mean fans who saw age 50 fading in the rear-view some years

back. What’s the album like? Think Cream, the mid-’60s power trio of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. If you’re of that vintage, you’ve heard these bass lines before, almost note for note. Occasionally, the fuzz of the bass is pierced by the scream of an ultrafast high-pitched guitar solo –seemingly aimed more at demonstrating dexterity than musicality. All but one of the 10 tracks – Look Over Yonder Wall, the best cut on the album – were written by Manous. The instruments are played with skill and panache. There is expert slide work on the song Duh-Bro. Manous works out of the Atlanta area and, so his website says, plays 160 dates a year. The site also says he is a “triple threat,” as a skilful songwriter, singer and guitarist. “This separates him from many other performing artists,” the site says. Um, no. You could fill many a stadium with all the good songwriters who’ve also played and sung well. And that, for this reviewer, is the part of the problem. There is little here that’s distinctive. You’ve heard it all before – many a time. Also missing is any subtlety or emotion. There’s nothing too sad or wistful. There’s not much swing, nothing too danceable, nothing really joyous. Blues? Well, this is a long way from the plantation – which in itself is no crime. But it’s a long way from the present, too, stuck somewhere 50 or 60 years back. What you have

here – as skilful as it may be – is essentially guitar as phallic symbol. If that’s your bag, pick this one up. The guy can really play.

M.D. SPENSER

THE REVEREND SHAWN AMOS LOVES YOU

PUT TOGETHER

With a mentor like Solomon Burke you surely can’t go wrong, Solomon showed him the value of being an entertainer, he was also a father figure to Shawn, who was there for him at pivotal crossroads in his life. One of which was the suicide of his mother when he found a whole new side of her he never knew of, as singer/ songwriter, he also saved his marriage! One great lesson from Solomon was “put on a great show, take people away from their troubles, make their asses move” good advice for any performer. With this album, Shawn has certainly taken this on board. There are 12 tracks on this album 10 of which Shawn wrote himself with sub title of “12 ways the reverend loves you”. Starting off with Days Of Depression, a hand clapping gospel rendition with the Blind Boys of Alabama’s joyful voices in the background. Brand New Man, a slinky blues, one for the slow dancers. Boogie, with

guest Missy Andersen on sax, twice nominated for a Grammy. Incidentally, she helped produce this album and brought together the guests. Brothers’ Keeper, another slow smooth catchy number. You’re Gonna Miss Me (When I Get Home), a self-penned number, about love lost. Minnie L Joliet Bound, a wonderful interpretation of a Minnie Lawler composition, starting with guitar, then just guitar and vocals, eventually bringing in some bass and drums. Will You Be Mine, great vibe on this, just wonderful vocals and feel. Hollywood Blues, co-written with Mindi, they have the blues, with great sax breaks. Bright Lights, Big City, an unmistakeable Jimmy Reed song, given the Shawn Amos treatment, with Mindi Abair, giving him a helping hand on vocals. If you haven’t heard of The Reverend Shawn Amos, check him out, I can Thoroughly Recommended this album.

CHRISTINE MOORE

TAJ MAHAL & KEB MO TAJMO UNIVERSAL RECORDS

Two of modern blues music’s true greats finally matched and paired in a simply wonderful release that’s bound to gain

both multitudes of new fans. This is an album bound for well-deserved glory; an award winner for sure and already - on only a few listens- in line for album of the year, I reckon from start to finish this absolutely rocks, jam-packed full to bursting with stunning musicianship and vocals from both guys and a powerful, commanding, compelling, demanding riotously good understanding of good blues-based music. Not a sign of slippage or in-fill here at all – a welcome change from much around these days. At times, there’s a powerful Memphis soul sort of backing in the mix, a sound that adds sheer beauty and determined power. I’ve had the luck to catch Taj a fair few times in recent years and know he can produce stunning sets, full of power, and at others he can kick off wildly inventive and strong but weaken and fade. Here, teamed up with possibly his own nearmirror image of yesteryear, Keb Mo, there’s no sign of this undercurrent. Instead we have a genuinely excellent offering. An absolute must-have album of the year for blues lovers of every stripe. Grab this one when you can, satisfaction guaranteed.

SELWYN BIRCHWOOD BAND PICK YOUR POISON ALLIGATOR RECORDS

Selwyn Birchwood is a relative newcomer to the blues scene but a guy

who is fast making his mark with a growing trail of top-dollar albums under his belt since he picked up two major blues awards at the Blues Foundation’s IBC in Memphis back in 2013. Last year, the South Florida band stepped up to the plate with their first professional-studio release on Chicago’s Alligator label with the popular, well-received Don’t Call No Ambulance, an album that also featured the fretwork of Joe Louis Walker in parts. Pick Your Poison is the band’s second Alligator release and again features frontman Birchwood’s searing guitar-work, lap-steel slide-work and gritty, well-pitched vocals alongside thirteen tracks written by Birchwood himself. As a sophomore Alligator release, this album delivers more than its predecessor – no mean feat given the quality and strength of Don’t Call No Ambulance itself. Indeed, if anything, Pick Your Poison is a much more powerful, confident and self-assured offering, high-lighting the strength and power and purpose of Birchwood and the band members who all work flat-out together to produce an album that simply screams quality as it rips and roars along full of blues goodness with every turn and track. This is a wonderful, soulful, southern bit of music, swampy, searching, stirring and full of excellent delivery, quality and class. Pick Your Poison is well worth grabbing, for sure.

IAIN PATIENCE

VIKA BULL AT LAST THE ETTA JAMES STORY

TARGET LIVE

This terrific CD tells us much about its subject, the lady who lived the blues, the great Etta James, but it tells us little of the brilliant singer, Vika Bull, who here interprets Etta’s work. So, suffice it to say she’s one hell of a vocalist. This is the CD from the touring show, At Last, The Etta James Story, currently touring the UK. 13 of Etta’s masterpieces, including the wonderful I’d Rather Go Blind and At Last. I note this was recorded in Australia, and by the sound of Vika’s highly skilled band, as ever they’re nurturing some fine musical talent down under. Vika’s a Melbourne girl, but judging by her delivery, she’s imbued with the spirit of Chicago or Detroit. Of course, you could ask why buy this collection when you can buy one by Etta James? Well, first of all, going by reviews, this live show is truly memorable, and as a souvenir it would be essential. Secondly, known as The Essential R&B Band, her musicians live up to their name. The arrangements are superb. So, there are tribute acts and there are tribute acts, but when they’re as good as this, they stand

alone. What would Etta think? I reckon she’d have loved it. I know I do.

ROY BAINTON

REVELATOR HILL ATLANTIC DETOUR

ROOT NINE RECORDS

Virginia-based Revelator Hill fires up the electric in electric blues. On Atlantic Detour, they combine masterful musical soundscapes and their love of the blues to create a powerful and distinctive sound all their own.

Bobby Thompson’s guitar work is astonishing and inspired, tapping into a deep connection to blues giants such as Albert King, Muddy Waters, and Eric Clapton while creating a fresh, dynamic sound filled with passion and emotion. Revelator Hill’s songs come on like a locomotive and take you with them.

Enough To Go Around, surges with the intense dynamics of Thompson’s growling guitar and Wes Lanich’s ethereal electronic piano that ripples into psychedelic rock. Let It Roll, rocks with heart and soul and builds to a potent guitar lead-out. I can’t say enough about their powerful rendition of How Many More Years, with its dynamite dual guitar line, Gary Crockett’s pulsing drums, and the rock solid bass of Seth

Morrissey – it’s ferociously good and offers up a thrilling new take on this definitive classic while also paying tribute to Howlin’ Wolf himself. Thompson's soulful voice brings it all home. Both classic and original, Atlantic Detour, reveals the heat and intensity in its creation. The music will get in your bones and stay with you.

MERCEDES MILL

LAZY EYE POCKET THE BLACK INDEPENDENT

As previous articles in this magazine has highlighted recently, there is a great blues scene and some great artists and music coming out of Australia and Lazy Eye are one of these. Their 2013 album, which was called More Me was awarded Album of the Year and they were awarded Group of the Year in 2015. This 10-track self-penned, live album is a cracker from the start. Opening track Keepin’ From Lovin’ is a nice slow-Blues with languid vocals from Evan Whetter, who also plays the Hammond B3 organ on most tracks. The drummer Mario Marino is quite incredible and lays down a rhythm, which is unsurpassed. Erica Graf on guitar is intuitive on her input throughout the album. When the band

describes their music as ‘think Booker-, sharing a scotch with B B King’ its not far off the mark. Let Me Down Easy is blues at its best and the organ and guitar solos are brilliant. Mucho Jalapeno is a breezy instrumental. Shack O’ Mine is pure Bo Diddley and takes you on a trip down south to Delta country. The Do You Know How It Feels cut is a plea to the lover and again Evan’s Hammond keyboards are a joy. The acoustic track Treat Your Lover Right is pure country-blues with a tasteful harmonica fill. The CD closes with It Ain’t Right and Swing For Marz and leaves you wanting more. Evan Whetter states ‘blues is a dialogue not a monologue’ and to quote Renee Zellweger, this album ‘… had me at hello’. I also feel it could be featured in award ceremonies this year.

BOB BONSEY

ALVON THE BLUES CHOSE ME INDEPENDENT

Alvon Johnson has previously worked as a vocalist with The Coasters and his early influences were Wes Montgomery, Segovia, Charlie Christian and Jimi Hendrix. Opener I Love The Blues is a country blues featuring Alvon’s

acoustic guitar and smooth vocals, tuba and banjo with various other acoustic instruments. Title track The Blues Chose Me is a tribute to Alvon’s grandfather and is a slow blues featuring Alvon’s heartfelt vocals and tasty, jazzy guitar licks. The beautiful instrumental Heaven is a slow blues featuring Alvon displaying his prowess with some passionate and tasteful guitar playing. Breakfast In Bed is a slice of tasty Southern Soul With Alvon crooning softly to his lady along with smooth, grooving horns and soulful backing singers. Ooh that’s nice. The material is all original apart from Son House’s harrowing old favourite Death Letter which gets a complete makeover here with Alvon’s slide guitar being joined by the violin of Mads Tolling. Something completely different follows with the song Frustration which has a reggae feel and features some Hendrix inspired guitar riffs as Alvon finds the going tough and tries to blast his way out. Closing track Look At The World is a thoroughly modern electric blues with a midtempo funky groove and features a scorching guitar solo as Alvon tries to put the world to rights. Alvon has a wonderful voice and applies it well especially on the soul numbers and the band are excellent throughout. He has toured extensively in USA, Canada and Europe but not yet in UK. Maybe next time. A fine album of good material which should increase

WILKO JOHNSON KEEP IT TO MYSELF/ THE BEST OF WILKO JOHNSON

CHESS/UMC

It must have been around 1975 to 1976 when I first saw Doctor Feelgood, in a boxing arena in Liverpool – an appropriate venue for their swaggering, full-on brand of punchy r & b. And just who was that wild-eyed guitarist with the pudding basin haircut and crumpled suit who played those manic guitar lines and zipped frantically across the stage and back as if on a giant piece of elastic? Of course, it was Wilko Johnson and 40 years on he is still instantly recognisable. The Feelgoods frontman Lee Brilleaux is sadly long gone (he died in 1994) but Wilko has survived the vagaries of the music business, Game Of Thrones and a serious, serious health scare. Of course, Wilko’s time with the Feelgoods was short and a long time ago, but as it is referenced on this double CD set with the presence of such seminal Essex estuary rhythm and blues as Roxette, She Does It Right, Back In The Night and Sneaking Suspicion, I have no reservations whatsoever

Alvon Johnson’s profile. DAVE DRURY

about mentioning them. Wilko’s guitar playing is as distinctive on his newer material as it was back in the 70s, and just as catchy, though with the occasional ballad and a nod to the freakbeat that preceded psychedelia (think Jeff Beck era Yardbirds), though generally this is the sound of the Rolling Stones, The Kinks and others of that ilk in the early 60s, filtered through a proto-punk energy level and attitude. Wilko might not be the world’s best vocalist but he is always passable and generally tailors his songs to suit his voice. And if all this is new to, you need this release!

NORMAN DARWEN

For this, the follow up to their debut, Runman, Farkas is replaced on drums by Istvan Bencsik and these boys can certainly rock. All twelve tracks are originals and standouts for me are opener Down In The Dirt, the calmer December and the pure Southern Rock of Doctor Tease. Gabor Skoke and Miklos Vegh guest on dobro and harmonica respectively on My Old Town and Wicked Woman. The title track and Lies save the second half of the album, which does tail off after a 'full at you' beginning. As is the danger with a few continental bands, Lorincz's vocals don't have any notable accent, close your eyes and you could be down in Alabama or wherever. Definitely worth a listen if Molly Hatchett etc. are your thing.

CLIVE RAWLINGS

ASPHALT HORSEMEN BROTHERHOOD GRUNDRECORDS

Asphalt Horsemen was formed in Hungary in 2012 by Károly Lörincz (lead voc. guitar), Géza Matyasovszky (guitar, backing voc.), Balázs Megyesi (bass, backing voc.), Gergely Farkas (drums). Their roots are blues-rock, hard rock and sleeze, guitar riffs abound very well under tuneful vocal melodies, with a double guitar attack, so no great surprise that their influences initially were Black Stone Cherry, Skynyrd and Pride & Glory.

VARIOUS CHESS ‘JUST GO WILD OVER’ ROCK‘N’ROLL

SPECTRUM 2-CD SET

39 historic firecrackers and one dud. Most of us older blues aficionados came to the music via Chess Records, because as Chicago’s finest label that’s where blues was king. But there was much more to the Chess empire. The

Chess Brothers didn’t want to miss a thing so they had their own subsidiary labels such as Checker, Argo and over here Pye International. If Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Wolf and other blues giants were admirals of the blues fleet, there was a whole flotilla of rock‘n’roll, rockabilly and r&b acts worthy of support, and Chess certainly pushed the boat out on their behalf. (That’s enough nautical metaphors for now, thank you). Russell Beecher’s erudite and fascinating 16 pages of liner notes tells of an electric, exciting period of mainly rock hits with a few misses, with no less than two cuts from Jackie Brenston, including that contender for ‘the first rock‘n’roll record’, Rocket 88. For example, you may not be familiar with Sugar Boy and his Cane Cutters, Bobby Siscoe, Lou Josie, The Jet Tones, or the remarkably named Bobby Tuggle, but these were all Chess rock‘n’roll releases offering ample evidence that the label had its finger firmly on the 1950s pulse. The great majority of the songs on this set are classics, famous titles from Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley Eddie Fontaine and Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry. But it’s the also-rans which fascinate, Paul Gayten’s You Better Believe it, Bobby Dean’s title track, or Blast Off by the Satellites. Bobby Tuggle’s The $64,000 Question is a true curiosity, with the drums in your face and the rest of the band ostensibly playing in the building next

door. The set is worth it alone for the Diddley and Berry tracks, by why, oh why was Chuck’s My Ding-a-Ling tagged on the end? It always seems sad that after providing a global template for R&B guitar style, that the Poet Laureate of rock‘n’roll might only be remembered by Top of The Pops fans for this twee dip into playground innuendo. But that fails into insignificance as these 40 tracks are a sheer delight, yet again proving that we think we know our musical history - yet there’s many a chapter we’ve still to read. Exhilarating stuff.

ROY BAINTON

MADCAT ROUGHRIDERS MOONSHINE WHISKEY

INDEPENDENT

A five track mini CD from ‘Madcat’ Frank D'Heye, Blue Cat, aka Kenneth Vanbrabant, guitar Bramaconda, aka Bram Gourmand, bass and Mr. XXX, aka Niels Deglin, drums. The band hail from Belgium and play a neat line in hook-laden Chicagostyle blues, washed down with some amazing harp playing and a swinging backbone. Moonshine… is catchy stuff and what it lacks in length it certainly makes up for in quality. Madcat Frank belts them out in a voice that crosses Howlin’ Wolf with Bob Hite and the five numbers here (all penned by the band) and Blue Cat is a hell of a guitar player… the solo on Stone Cold Woman

is well worth checking out and the harp on the title track is something very special indeed.

MARTIN COOK

BLUES ENGINE TRACKS INDEPENDENT

Blues Engine aren’t hanging about. They only formed at the end of 2013, played their first gig in 2014 and they’re already onto their second album as well as gigging regularly around the London area. Their first album ‘The Quick and the Dirty’ came out in 2015 and went to number one on the Independent Blues Broadcasters’ Association’s chart leading to a nomination for a UK Blues Award for Best Emerging Artist. Made up of Alex Cooray guitar, Katya Chernyakova vocals, Alexander Liutai bass, and new boy Hamish Birchall drums, it’s easy to hear why they’re making a bit of a name for themselves. Granted there is nothing earthshaking going on but the band know how to write a decent song and there are some strong musical performances. I’m not wholly convinced by the vocals which have a transatlantic country twang to them but on songs like Tell Me A Riddle, Boatman’s Blues and the closing cover of

Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out it’s obvious why their rootsy performances have been going over well. They vary their sound with some funky guitar lines and there is a lively spark to the album that lifts the more generic numbers so that they remain very listenable. If you do like your blues to come with an acoustic twist, then the Blues Engine may well be the ticket you want to ride to.

STUART A HAMILTON

SHORTSTUFF BIG BLUE

BLONDE ON BLONDE

Given the plethora of CDs from the latest pubescent blues sensations it is refreshing to find a debut album released over 40 years after the artists started performing.

Guitarists Dave Thomas and Hugh Gregory were resident at the iconic Half Moon in Putney from 1974 and made several appearances at the Cambridge Folk festival in between touring UK clubs. Fortunately, some recorded tracks of the duo’s live set survived from that period and form the basis of this album alongside later material. Charm, character and authenticity are guaranteed from a quarter -inch Revox tape machine, especially

when the musicians are playing classic Epiphone Texan and Yamaha guitars with their original DeAmond pickups! However, more significant than the discovery of lost tapes is the renaissance of Shortstuff who can now claim their rightful place in the history of British blues. Listening to Big Blue is like hearing Terry and McGhee for the first time especially as the latter’s Sitting On Top Of The World and Love’s A Disease both feature. The good choice of covers, all given original interpretations, includes: Johnny Cash’s Hey Porter with some intricate guitar work by Hugh and tasteful harp courtesy of Dave; a couple of JJ Cale songs, Magnolia and Same Old Blues; a jaunty, jazzed up O’Reilly At The Bar from Dan Hicks’ repertoire; JB Lenoir’s I Sing ‘Em The Way I Feel and the traditional Honeybabe, the latter a major highlight with its haunting vocal harmonies. Congratulations to the dedicated production team and the meticulous mastering, mixing and engineering, all contributing to the exceptional sound quality.

THE BISHOP

BOOGA RED THE BACK DOOR SHUFFLE INDEPENDENT

It’s time to go back, back, back in time to the days of jump blues and boogie woogie.

At least that seems to be the mission of Booga Red, a piano, guitar, vocal, kazoo, stompbox duo from Essex. And when you think just how life affirming some of that music was then resurrecting it for the 21st century seems like a mighty fine thing to do. This is the second album from Booga Red who are Claire Hamlin on the piano and Steve English on everything else. The former has spent a couple of decades performing on the jump, jive and rock’n’roll revival circuit while the latter has been a professional musician for even longer and has worked with the likes of The Searchers, The Suzi Quatro Band and Cockney Rebel. But this is the music he loves and if you’re in need of a genuine houserocking party, then this is the place to be. It’s a mixture of covers from the likes of Amos Milburn and originals from Mr English (under his Earl Essex alter ego). They even manage to close with a Rory Gallagher tune without it sounding out of place. That’s Pistol Slapper Blues, fact fans. It’s a really enjoyable album, especially for the likes of me whose first exposure to the blues was via a boogie woogie piano fan who worked in a nearby record shop when I was just a boy. Songs like Diggin’ The Boogie, Don’t Knock It Till You’ve Tried It and Darktown Strutters Ball are a sheer delight and this one comes highly recommended.

STUART A HAMILTON

WALTER BROES & THE MERCENARIES MOVIN’ UP

ROOTZ RUMBLE

Walter Broes is known as the Godfather of the Belgian roots scene and here with his new band The Mercenaries he has produced an album of 11 self-penned tracks featuring a mix of rockabilly, Americana and blues music. Title track Movin’

Up is a lively rockabilly stomper complete with chiming guitar licks and solid work from the rhythm section of Bas Vanstaen on bass and Lieven Declercq on drums. The speedy shuffle of Come On Down leads into the rocking twangy guitar led song Closed with the band racing to the finish. There is more of a country twang to Downtime which features pedal steel guitar from guest Tom Vanstiphout and atmospheric echoing guitar from Broes. Sideshow features some frantic Elmore style slide guitar riffing from Broes as he berates the “bankers who are going to take you for everything you’ve got”. Amen to that! The steady rocking No More leads onto the thumping Bo Diddley beat of I Got My Own Kick Going complete with slithering runs down the fretboard as the rhythm section pump out that

familiar beat. Roel Jacobs guests with his honking sax on the jumping Don’t You Ruin My High as the band go into party mode. There is a Latin feel to Man Child which features guest Chantal Acda on vibraphonette. The driving You And Me is an exhilarating rockabilly stomper leading us into closing track Black Star. This atmospheric track features Chantal Acda on backing vocals and Broes plays lashings of twangy guitar which make it sound for all the world like the theme to a David Lynch Tex-Mex movie. The playing is excellent throughout and although there is no heavy blues here there is plenty to enjoy for lovers of Americana and rockabilly stylings.

DAVE DRURY

BEN HUNTER, PHIL WIGGINS & JOE SEAMONS A BLACK & TAN BALL INDEPENDENT

Three musicians, Hunter, Wiggins & Seamons joining forces to create a self-produced album full of rootsy fun and mellow tones. A Black &Tan Ball, takes its name from Seattle’s Black & Tan Hall, anyone who has seen the trio live will be aware every night is different as they bring their distinctive interpretation

of pre-war Americana music. Sharp and full of musical wizardry as banjo and harmonica collide. Phil Wiggins’ harmonica playing is inspirational pulling out the banjo’s tone and the fiddler’s energy. It is not surprising they won the International Blues Challenge, Memphis 2015. With the blending of hollers and country blues with a verve and energy they delight listeners included all those in Glasgow at the Celtic Connection. The music is distinctive with a sharpness of tone that is redolent of a distant time Po Howard, the Leadbelly classic is given the trio’s treatment showing the strength in the lyrics. With the spoken words of chatter between the three of them including “we are recording” and a dedication before we hear John Henry, as this American folk number is re-interpreted not in a Bonamassa way but as a Hill Country number, the fiddling is superb. With an obscure number from Lane Hardin - Hard Times Blues - is pulled from the depression era, delivered with compassion and deep hurt. Closing with Stop & Listen Blues, this is an album all lovers of country blues will stop and listen to as Phill Wiggins sings a classic Mississippi Sheiks number. With the mix of ballads, depression blues and country this is a blues album full of roots music given a lively outing from Hunter, Wiggins and Seamons.

LIZ AIKEN

THE MCINTOSH COUNTY SHOUTERS SPIRITUALS & SHOUT SONGS FROM THE GEORGIA COAST

SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS

How deep do the roots go? When the blues revival began, it was just about still possible to talk to exslaves, and certainly outfits like the Georgia Sea Island Singers could still perform authentic material from the eighteenth century. But certainly, by the advent of the millennium, these were distant memories, weren’t they? Well, enter The McIntosh County Shouters. Their first album was issued as a Folkways vinyl album in 1983 – these were “Geechie” people (as Blind Blake referred to people in this area in ‘Southern Rag’) from the Georgia coast, performing ring-shout songs in an unbroken line since slavery, the third generation of this small community to do so. All those who participated on that original album have now died, but the next generation now continues their legacy. The ring shouts are undoubtedly African-rooted - songs accompanied by handclapping and a stick beaten on the floor as the dancers move anti-clockwise, with some evidence of the music’s evolution being noted as they sometimes

also include a tambourine. Incidentally, “shout” is from an African-Islamic term, not a reference to the method of singing. The songs themselves were either spirituals, little slices of plantation life or celebrations of the end of slavery – astonishingly, the ring shout has been celebrated in Bolden, Georgia every Watch Night (New Year’s Eve) since emancipation in 1862! This totally fascinating music is complemented by the excellent booklet, which gives the music’s history, excellent photographs, details of the individual songs and biographies of the major performers.

NORMAN DARWEN

BILLY T BAND RECKONING

BIG H RECORDS

WTF! Seriously, where did this awesome voice come from? Opening track Reckoning is a delicious piece of classic Philly soul with strings and a sinuous bassline (played by Billy T) and THAT voice; deep and dark and carrying all the soul you could wish for. Production on the song puts me in mind of America Today period Curtis Mayfield. That leads into a big and sassy piece of bold as brass Muscle Shoals groooove in the person of T. O. George’s

Shame Shame. Billy T has been around for decades and his time with the likes of Eddie Kirkland, Tom Russell, Lightnin’ Hopkins and mentoring half the Norwegian blues scene in his time there has developed his skills to the point where he has a truly recognizable voice and the talent to switch to any genre he likes. The band he put together here was the backing band for the late great Louisiana Red on the Back Top The Black Bayou album. So, he has a track record but he also has an album here that just grabs hold and demands that you listen and groove to it. None of the tracks are weak but some, such as the North Mississippi meets Eddie Kendricks styled It Ain’t Right are just exceptional. The playing all over the album is superb, Ian F. Johannessen delivering great slide and Haakon Hoeye playing organ like the greats before him. I expected a fairly ordinary blues album, well played but slightly soulless – what I got was one of the most real and meaningful albums I’ve heard this year. Lovely piece of work.

ANDY SNIPPER

are the brainchild of one Georg Altziebler, an Austrian musician and purveyor of what can best be described as ‘blues noir’. Heike Binder, aka Mrs Altziebler provides hushed backing vocals on most of the numbers, whilst the multi textured instrumentation across this release is obviously the end result of a lot of studio time and trouble. Dorado is the band’s fifth album and follows their relocation to the Californian desert in 2013. The crossover between European folk and US desert blues makes for an inspiring listen – Dorado sits somewhere between JJ Cale and Wilko, via Nick Cave and Scott Walker. Opener Carry On sets the tone for Dorado from the get go, Fender Rhodes, brush drums and violin blending into the sunset. Other standouts include Shadow Dance and Blood Red Shoes (with backing vocals by the great Victoria Williams), whilst Tiger Honey curls around you like cigarette smoke in a twilight bar, with some achingly beautiful lap steel playing from one Gar Robinson. Album closer Franklin Avenue is a fittingly haunting end to an album floating in mystery and beauty.

MARTIN COOK

BOB

GARDNER

SON OF THE VELVET RAT DORADO

FLUFF AND GRAVY RECORDS Son of the Velvet Rat

LUCKY MAN INDEPENDENT Information about Bob Gardner is scant other than the fact

that he is a Las Vegas singer and this is his debut album although it soon becomes obvious that he has been around the block with his rough-hewn, care-worn and effective vocals. The songs and production were written and masterminded by lead guitarist Eric Walters and he has given us a top notch album of modern electric blues, much of it horn driven. Opening track Ain’t Gonna Worry No More kicks off with a horn blast and a few crisp notes from Walters’ stinging guitar before Gardner’s forceful vocals take centre stage. Great start! Dallas has a slightly Latin feel to it and the whole band are on sparkling form. The funky big band sound of Shotgun Shack is an exhilarating ride with the horns riffing and providing concise solos all topped off by Gardner’s soulful vocals. Walters fine slide guitar playing adds a bluesy edge to the poppy What’s Your Name and leads into the soul-ballad Not Gonna Let You Go which features a superb sax solo by Bill Holloman. Walters plays an excellent guitar solo on Part Time Lover Man as Gardner croons soulfully and the horns riff gently in the background. Walters actually wrote these well-constructed songs for an album and tour with Buddy Whittington but circumstances changed and it is a testament to all concerned that they have produced what feels like a working band album rather than a solo singer fronting

a pick-up band. Johnny’s Door is a jazzy late night soul-blues number but title track Lucky Man is a jaunty upbeat stomper. The album closes with Ain’t Dead Yet a Crescent City style rave-up featuring a tuba bassline and wailing trumpet solo from Holloman and tinkling piano from Jack Myers. A great finish to a very accomplished album and I hope they are able to achieve more and build on this impressive debut.

DAVE DRURY

PORTER NICKERSON BONFIRE TO ASH

WEASEL RECORDS

Quite lovely really. Willy Porter has a soft voice and plays guitar with real verve and syncopation, while Carmen Nickerson has a sensual and rich voice that just envelops your ears and a shimmer in her tone that arrows straight for the emotion centers. The songs are predominantly relationship related and they tell stories that we can all relate to, whether they are singing about new love affairs or the exquisite tremors of a love affair just beginning to become a full on relationship. They make you feel accepted as they manage to include so much of human life in songs such as I Need You as Porter’s voice leads

softly and slowly and Nickerson’s vocal fills in the holes in the same way that couples complete each other, making each single greater than the parts together. The musicianship on the album is superb with stunning bass (electric and acoustic) from Zev Katz and Ben Wisch’s piano & Hammond adding so much, so subtly. Mai Bloomfield guests on a couple of numbers on cello and the darkness and depth of tone are remarkable. My personal favourite track is the haunting Living Proof with stunning lead vocals from Ms Nickerson and gorgeous lap steel courtesy of Sean Williamson. It is a delight of an album, recorded with passion and love and every track suggests that it would transfer to the live environment without any troubles.

ANDY SNIPPER

LIL' CHUCK UTILITY BLUES

BACKYARD MUSIC

Lil' Chuck is a UK born musician who relocated to New Zealand in 2003. After playing in various bands he reinvented himself as 'the one man skiffle machine' and this is the follow up to his 2013 debut Blues In Full Swing album. The

notes tell us that Chuck plays harmonica, guitar, kick drum, high hat and occasional kazoo as well as vocals and that all songs were recorded live in the studio with all instruments being played simultaneously. The dozen tracks are mostly original compositions which is refreshing although I did enjoy the one cover, Merle Travis classic Sixteen Tons which was surprisingly close to the original. Considering the limitations that Chuck puts himself under the tracks are varied and interesting. Opener All That Glitters sets a good template and dispels any preconceptions that one man skiffle claim may have set. Personally, I think the best thing on here is the

DVD s

closing track I Call On Jimmy Reed where Chuck tries to evoke the essence of the man and does so extremely well, the tempo, sublime harp and heartfelt vocals leaving the listener wanting more of the same. I also liked the obligatory drinking song Whisky And Ginger but maybe that says more about me? The titles of songs Good Time Mama, Heartache Heartbreak, Honey Leave Your Porch Light On are pretty self-explanatory about the subject matter but having said that Chuck tries to make the lyrics interesting and avoid the usual clichés. Follow the advice of track 4, Stick It In Your Pipe And Smoke It, you might just enjoy it.

STEVE YOURGLIVCH

CORY SEZNEC NEW ORLEANS FINGERSTYLE BLUES GUITAR

STEFAN GROSSMAN

GUITAR WORKSHOP

Another release from the infamous guitar workshop series. After a while you begin to wonder if there is anything left for them to cover? Cory Seznec is not a name that I have

come across previously, and according to the blurb, he is a Franco American musician living in Paris France (Yes it really did say Paris France!) and his speciality is fingerstyle playing on guitar and banjo and other instruments. As ever, the production here is faultless, but here is where I start to make a criticism that I have not made before with any of this series, firstly, I don’t think that this lesson is intended for the beginner, although in fairness, it doesn’t say so anywhere, but I certainly had problems following some of it. Upon reflection, I think that is partly due to the fact that

I hadn’t down loaded the accompanying PDF file when I sat down to watch it, and I have no doubt that it would have been easier to have a written point of reference as I did not find that Cory was as clear in his description of what he was actually doing as for example Stefan Grossman who I love as a tutor. I have no doubt however that any reasonably accomplished fingerstyle player will pick up a hell of a lot from this lesson, I have to say that I myself will be grateful for the Rumba style bass line that I am now practicing daily so perhaps I am being a little too harsh in my criticism. There are 5 songs that Cory demonstrates here, breaking each one down into 4 or 5 parts and then reassembling them. He also covers the thumb dragging style and improved left hand techniques, so once again, another great offering from the Guitar Workshop

DAVE STONE

STEFAN

GROSSMAN FINGERPICKING BLUES GUITAR IN THE KEY OF E

STEFAN GROSSMANS GUITAR WORKSHOP SERIES

Yet another tuition DVD from the ever prolific guitar

workshops, and once again up to the very high production standards that we have come to expect from this series. But looking back at previous reviews, we have had blues in the key of A and I have to ask myself, is it really necessary to have a separate tuition DVD for each key? Can’t people just simply slide their fingers up or down to suit the key? Well apparently, not and when I have compared different DVDs, it is true to say that they have been different in content. Now the one thing that I have always admired about this series is the quality of the PDF files that allow you to download all of the tablature and sheet music, my only gripe is that they usually aren’t far short of 50 or so pages, so take a toll on my printing ink! But this time we have the added bonus of the man himself giving the lesson. Stefan Grossman is a natural teacher and explains everything in crystal clear detail and in simple terms, his explanation of the alternative chord positions that you can use and the reasons why you might want to use the particular shapes was a lesson in itself. On this DVD Stefan covers his arrangement of eight well known and some not quite so well known blues tunes including the very well known Careless Love and one of my favourites Baby Please Don’t go. There is also a bonus audio section on the DVD which

has a wide assortment of different bluesmen playing these tunes in various settings. You cannot fail to come away from spending time with this DVD without having learnt something new, and I will certainly be referring to it in the future, yes that’s three Xs from me.

DAVE STONE

TOMMY EMMANUEL MUSIC GONE PUBLIC

CGP SOUNDS

This DVD is a compilation of live performances of the man who is quite possibly the World’s greatest Acoustic guitar player. It contains a total of 16 tracks, 5 of which have never been previously seen (except of course by the original audiences). I have to confess here that this was the first time that I had seen a live performance

from Tommy, although of course I was well aware of his awesome reputation, and I was brought to my senses by my wife who sitting next to me on the settee told me to shut my mouth because I was dribbling! Not a pretty sight I can assure you. What can I say? I was totally blown away by the artistry and virtuosity of this man and astounded by the speed and skill of his fingers, at times, they really were a blur. He is also very relaxed with his audiences, chatting to them about his family, at one point playing in front of a large photograph of his youngest daughter who inspired his song Angelina. Because of the fact that this was recorded at three different locations, the continuity of the shots left a lot to be desired, but this was not meant to be a document of chronological

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SHOWTIME

The BM! Round-up of live blues

the right outfits in the form of wet weather gear and just as well as the rain seemed to be our friend all the weekend.

BLUES ON THE FARM

16TH - 19TH JUNE 2016

This was one of my favourite festivals, A wonderful outdoor blues festival, which unfortunately I have to say was the last one in its current form, goodness knows if it will be resurrected but suffice it to say for this year 2017 it will not happen. We have been attending this festival for a few years, and

though it is a long way for us to travel usually the weather and a wonderful line up makes this worthwhile. This year was the 25th Festival and with a stellar line up, to say we were excited is probably an understatement. We take all manner of outfits when we attend any festival and luckily this year we had

This is a festival over four days starting on the Thursday, normally with local bands playing and for the campers. But this year was special, three great bands were lined up for our entertainment, starting with Laurence Jones Band who have been building a reputation both in the UK as well as in Europe, only time will see how far Laurence can reach in his musical journey and travels. Next up The Billy Walton Band hailing from New Jersey USA, having seen the band as a trio a few years back it was interesting to see a full line up, the band was a six-strong outfit, with keyboard and a horn section. Think funky blues with a touch of Asbury Park, playing songs from their latest album Wish For What You Want, Electrifying sounds which captivated the audience. The night came to a crescendo with the boogie woogie piano of Mike Sanchez and his band, his explosive start kept going and made the poor weather turn into a hot night of music from a stalwart of the blues scene, who has brought to our attention many great artists and singers including Imelda May who is very hot on the scene at the moment.

Thorbjørn Risager by Christine Moore

Friday: The Hitman Blues Band featuring the New York Horns certainly created a great energetic show, with Russell ‘Hitman’ Alexander, interjecting the songs with his stories and jokes. He certainly tried to blow the rain clouds away with his style of jazz infused blues. Next on the bill, Idlewood hailing from Brighton this was a four piece blues infused Alt-rock band funk, it is always good to see young bands getting a slot on a major festival as it certainly increases their spread and profile. Mike Vernon and the Mighty Combo, Mike has come out of retirement to produce Sari Schorr and as he was tempted back into the production arena, why not give his yearning to bring his interpretation of the 40s and 50s style of blues he has been trying out in his current home in Spain. As he says if he doesn’t do it now – it will never get done. His handpicked musician includes, Wes Weston on harmonica, Martin Winning, tenor sax, Geraint Watkins, vocal and piano, Paul Garner, guitar, Ian Jennings, upright bass and Mike Hellier on drums. Following on from Mike his protégé, Sari Schorr and the Engine Room, took to the stage in an absolute deluge which brought all of the crowd into the marquee, she was struggling at first even with her powerful vocals to stay focused when the thunder and lightning crashed right over the marquee, as she said, “maybe God wants to play percussion.” By now I know most blues fans will have caught Sari and if now then

she is on tour again in the UK at the time of writing this, she will be back again in November. The Blues Band, are always a favourite with the blues crowd, everyone knows what to expect from them as they have been on the blues scene for many years, always an excellent set from these stalwarts of smooth blues. King King, have been growing in stature in the last few years and with the rain still coming down like stair rods outside the hot rock blues coming from the stage kept us warm, lifting a head of steam amongst the audience, who were shoulder to shoulder, enjoying a tremendous set of stunning rock blues. Long may they continue, unlike this festival which seems to have met its demise unfortunately.

CHRISTINE MOORE

The wonderful summer weather we're enduring at the moment (not!) did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of, the 25th anniversary of this awardwinning festival. I arrived to a sea of mud on the Saturday lunchtime in time to catch Red Butler and it soon became obvious to me the progress these youngsters have made in the year or so since I last saw them. There is a confidence in them that comes from spending time on the road, from the opening Kashmir, the crowd were up for it. Albeit they had the unenviable job of opening, they made a great fist of it, Alex even showing his prowess on cigar box, Jane as powerful as I've seen her on vocals, taking a step back during solos, the rhythm

section of Charlie on drums and Mike on bass giving their all. Most of the set was culled from their first album and a couple of new tracks, all in all a great set, at one stage Mike and Alex sharing the same guitar and for closer, Show Me The Money, the obligatory walk about in the audience, tremendous stuff! Sam Kelly's Station House were next up and set the bar higher. Drummer Sam has a fantastic band consisting of Tony Qunta on guitar, Paul Jobson keys/vocals, Richard Sadler, bass and the wonderful percussionist Jerome Marcus. To be fair the set flew by, but the highlight was a reggae version of Little Wing. Brilleaux a New Zealand based band followed, as you can probably guess from the name, it's obvious where their roots lie, yes they play good old Essex rock ‘n' roll and got the place jumping, but I am of a certain age to remember when it originally came out of Canvey Island. The evening opened with the wonderful Gerry Jablonski Band, what a treat they dished out. Their set list hadn't altered much from when I saw them in January, but with a few tweaks, it was loud, fun and enjoyable. When you think it can't get any better, on come Ian Siegal and his young band, special mention going to Dusty Ciggaar for his guitar work that gets better every time I see him. Ian has such a repertoire to call on, but with the usual mix of Tex-Mex and Mississippi blues, it's a fantastic mix. The band have such a chemistry going on, songs like I Am The Train, the classic Gallo

Del Cielo are so engaging. An encore was called upon and duly delivered in the shape of Hard Pressed, containing a snippet of Sign Of The Times and closer, A Walk In The Wilderness. With barely a dry eye in the marquee, Ian was gone as quickly as he arrived, another sterling performance. As seems to be the norm now, Gary Brooker and Friends (they vary each year) closed the night off with classic tracks from his vast back catalogue, which, to be fair, if you've heard once, twice or three times gets a bit waring, even Whiter Shade Of Pale, has a shelf life. He's fine as a musician as are his band, not knocking that, but the set list could perhaps do with an overhaul.

Sunday got underway with the annual Sam Kelly's drum school, the first band up was Blues Issue, a local band who tried hard, but maybe suffered from being first on. Switching from Sussex to Alabama, Debbie Bond was on next and was certainly a surprise package. Joined by husband, Rick, on keys, harp and a mean left hand bass, Sam Kelly on drums and Londoner Ray Carless on sax, this was a pure take on what might be called women's blues, amusing lyrically and beautiful guitar playing. The audience certainly warmed to the band, loving the chat between songs in a lovely southern American twang. I was away from the marquee for the next band, but on hearing bagpipes and a fiddle, soon returned for Brooklyn's Dr Schwamp. At what initially felt like a huge risk by the bookers, this band

Sari Schorr by Christine Moore

turned out to be amazing, if different. Yes, they appeared to be a little Bonzo Dog Doo Da Band like, but they brought a ray of sunshine to an increasingly cloudy afternoon. The real surprise for me came with The Jar Family, a collection of young lads from Hartlepool. To these old ears, I was reminded of early Lindisfarne, with the aching vocals, equally shared by the band, who were also mean musicians. I understand they were here last year, I urge a brave promoter south of the Thames to take a punt on this band, and introduce them to a wider audience.

Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado had a hard job following on, but being the true showman he is, he took it all in his stride. Speaking to him beforehand, I was surprised to hear that this was not his debut over here, but from the opening Burning Up through Boogie Woogie and the slide of Too Many Roads, the audience were captivated. He introduced us to two new songs I Used To Love You and China Gate, bode well for the future. Closing act was the Steve Nimmo Trio along with all the emotions that go with them. Amazing musicianship, vocals really sum this band up to a tee, as anyone has seen them will testify. All in all, from my part a great two days, long may it continue. CLIVE RAWLINGS.

ILFRACOMBE BLUES, RHYTHM AND ROCK FESTIVAL

JOHN FOWLER HOLIDAY PARK

11TH - 13TH NOVEMBER 2016

For anyone looking for an out of season break in a lovely south

country Victorian seaside location, then this festival could be for you. You may also like to explore Ilfracombe itself on the Saturday or Sunday before the proceedings start, there are plenty of interesting shops, and you can take a stroll around the harbour, to take in the view as well as check out places of interest, one of which is an interesting 20 to 25 metre high statue, Verity, which dominates the harbour entrance which is on loan for 20 years from Damien Hurst. Accommodation is part of the

ticket price in the John Fowler holiday park which has recently changed hands and been going through a revamp this year. There is a large Tesco in walking distance for anyone who wants to do the whole weekend self-catering, but there is a café next to the main venue which sells very reasonable wholesome fare, even early full English breakfasts. If you want something different then there is an Indian restaurant just over the road from the holiday park. The venue where the artists play is

Cyril Neville by Christine Moore

large and comfortable with a fully stocked bar in the same room so everything is available on site. Like most holiday parks there is also a small swimming pool, though I have never seen anyone use is at the blues weekend, but there is always a first time. Back to the festival!

Friday started off with Husky Tones, who gave us their band of punk blues. Followed by Giles Robson

Band, Giles does a great interpretation of a train on his harp, you can believe it’s a real train hurtling down the track. Maybe it is the one taking them on their travels into Europe, where they are blowing a storm with plenty of gigs and festivals. Terry Reid, has some pedigree as a singer, he turned down the front man’s job with Led Zeppelin, recommending his friend Robert Plant instead. He went out to America 40

years ago, he may not be everyone’s favourite now, but in his time, he was the voice. To close the Friday who better than Stray, another blast from my past but they have been on the hard rock scene since 1966, many of us have seen the lead guitarist Del Bromham as a soloist, as well as other bands, he is undeniable a great guitarist and performer. The band rocked the room.

Saturday started off with Mike Dr Blue McKeon an acoustic bluesman playing slide resonator, certainly created a great atmosphere for the start of another music filled day. Yoka & The Sugarbeats, may be new to a lot of the audience in this form but some will remember Yoka and Ray as part of another blues outfit who have decided to make their own furrow and they are reaping the rewards with gigs and festival appearance. Yoka has a great voice and blows a mean sax. Kris Barras Band, are going to make a real splash on the blues rock scene with hard blues rock fronted by an eye catching front man in Kris Barras heavily tattooed with a great rock voice. Edgar Broughton, is another blues stalwart on the scene in the 60’s The Edgar Broughton band, came to the fore with his gritty vocals moving from the blues scene leaning towards the psychedelic movement. He is still a singer songwriter he never stopped touring once the band disbanded and went on as a solo artist to this day. Laurence Jones, is the busiest new kid on the block in the blues rock

Kris Barass by Christine Moore

power trio brigade and what a workload he has touring the UK and Europe, if touring is a yardstick for success then he is on the road to success. What a finish to the second day of the festival the Royal Southern Brotherhood, now with a different line up as Mike Zito and Devon Allman have gone their own way forming their own bands respectively, also Charlie Wooton on bass. Replacing them are Tyrone Vaughan the son of Jimmy Vaughan. Bart Walker is the other guitarist winner of the 2012 International Blues Challenge’s prestigious Best Guitarist award. Excellent replacements for Mike and Devon. Charlie has been replaced by Darrell Phillips. Of course, the beat is still being kept by Yonrico Scott, with Cyril Neville the leader singer/songwriter cooking up a gumbo with his fabulous vocals and bongo’s true style and flare. It was a crowded dance floor that truly enjoyed the new line up, with memorable old favourites and new songs to enjoy.

Sunday began with Amy Eftekhari a pleasing voice and stage presence, but not enough blues to enthral the audience, even though her self-penned songs are I am sure fine with the right audience, she needs to play the blues to keep getting gigs on the blues circuit. Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective, have been on the scene in the South of the UK for a few years now and with Jamie’s singing, self-penned songs they certainly put on a performance with Nick Garner and the guitarist

Laurence Jones by Christine Moore

strutting their stuff among the audience, it does produce a unique show. The Tom Seals Band, were completely new to me but his performance set the room on fire with his boogie woogie piano and between song patter which kept the audience spellbound, a great party band. Thorbjørn Risager and the Black Tornado, the penultimate band of the weekend and for me they should have been the headliners, it’s hard to describe the atmosphere they managed to create, but all of the audience were transfixed and at Thorbjørn’s request for them to get on their feet to join them in an orchestrated dance routine, which was demonstrated by the horn’s section, everyone took up the call. This band are as smooth as they come with every member of the bands ensemble being first class musicians. Great songs, great entertainment great band. Well Dr Feelgood, had their work cut out to follow Thorbjorn Risager but they can always pull it out of the hat and again the dance floor was crammed with all shapes, sizes and ability, determined to enjoy their last chance to strut their stuff. Here’s to another great line up in 2017 in November down at Ilfracombe John Fowler Holiday Park.

CHRISTINE MOORE

P&O MARDI GRAS CRUISE ‘CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF NEW ORLEANS’

HULL–AMSTERDAM–HULL

31ST MARCH - 2 ND APRIL 2017

As the Hawkettes crooned so eloquently – “Down in New

Orleans where the blues was born it takes a cool cat to blow a horn…”

Thankfully, there was a veritable clowder of cool cats blowing to the Mardi Gras Cruisers crossing the North Sea recently.

This was the third P&O event sailing under the ‘Blues@Sea’ ensign and the first to marginalise guitars in favour of keyboards and brass.

Serenaded by boogie piano and marching brass before they had even boarded the revellers were in no doubt that the rich musical heritage of ‘The Home of the Blues’ – blues, jazz, funk, soul and rock & roll – was to be their soundtrack for the next two days.

As the Pride of Rotterdam left Hull across millpond seas M/C ‘Cowling Wolf’ declared‘Let the Good Times Roll’ and a Mardi Gras Parade opened the show. Led by Graham Hughes on Sousaphone, the Brass Volcanoes quintet struck up Whooping Blues in the balcony before descending a vertiginous spiral staircase onto the dancefloor. They were followed by the amazing Transformation Station – a troop of makeup artists featuring several young ladies whose exotic leotards were actually merely body paint.

We hadn’t cleared Spurn Point and already we had the sights and sounds of Mardi Gras in all their joyful, exuberant licentiousness. Next stop, New Orleans! Second-up was keyboard maestro Dale Storr on his way to a seven-gig solo tour of Belgium and Holland. Dale is a disciple of New

Orleans greats James Booker and Allan Toussaint. He honoured the former with a knuckle-twisting Classified before praising the songwriting genius of the latter with Lee Dorsey’s Holy Cow and Ernie K Doe’s scurrilous Mother In Law. He signedoff with a version of Fats Domino’s I’m Ready which really was unique – by the end we had an eight hand boogie with pianists Paddy Milner, Dom Pipkin and Justin Randall sharing the two onstage pianos with Dale in a riotous boogie celebration. Musical collaboration is the USP of these cruises – and that was just the start!

We’d already enjoyed Crescent City jazz and blues, but soul-music is part of the musical gumbo too. Vocalist Debbie Jones joined Justin on stage as Tipitina. Her powerful, charismatic vocal stylings on Chris Kenner’s Something You Got and Toussaint’s Brickyard Blues (once a hit for Three Dog Night) reminded us all of the distaff contribution to the canon from chanteuse like Irma Thomas, Barbara George and The Dixie Cups.

Dom Pipkin had already guested with others twice on piano before leading his super-tight band, the Ikos, to the stage. With a fabulous rhythm section of drummer Roy Pfeffer and bassist

Mao Yamada and sparkling soloist’s trumpeter Trevor Walker and saxophonist ‘Rico’ Richardson up front, Dom led a romp through the likes of Fats Domino’s Blue Monday and the eponymous Mardi Gras anthem Iko-Iko.

Paddy Milner was up next with his jazz uber-trio

Londonola. The understated Spencer Brown and Pat Levett bring the charming and erudite Paddy the musicality his talent deserves. Back from Far East and American tours as Sir Tom Jones’ pianist-ofchoice he eschewed Delilah and What’s Up Pussycat for his own Londonola and the ubiquitous Junco Partner.

Thanks to sound engineers David and Megan from Africa Studios this four hour six act revue was a seamless success right up to, and including, the final act of the night- the Revolutionaires. Durham’s ‘Revs’ glorified New Orleans’ contribution to the history of the rock and roll with numbers like Little Richard’s Kansas City and Dave Bartholomew’s I Hear You Knocking. Vocalist Ed Stephenson’s perpetualmotion performance soon filled the dance floor before aptly concluding with the event’s anthem Sea Cruise. The happy audience and twenty exhausted musicians headed for their beds well after midnight not sure

whether the North Sea or the Gulf of Mexico lay outside their cabins.

After sampling the multifarious delights of Amsterdam (though, sadly, Dom and Paddy found the ‘Pianola Museum’ closed) cruisers and musicians climbed back aboard on Saturday evening eagerly anticipating more Crescent City classics.

Tipitina opened the show with Justin and Debbie welcoming Dom on the second piano for an extended version of Huey ‘Piano’ Smith’s Rocking Pneumonia (and the Boogie Woogie Flu) which brought the night’s first jivers to the dancefloor. The highlight of their set, though, was a poignant, chilling reading of Louisiana 1927 in which Debbie demonstrated her considerable emotional and vocal range.

Such restrained moments were rare though in this carnival with the Revolutionaires turning back the dial to ‘party’ with

Moon Mullican’s Seven Nights

To Rock and, in tribute to the lately departed Chuck Berry, Roll Over Beethoven. Multi-instrumentalist Ed even had the chutzpah, given the company he was in, to play boogie woogie piano.

After their parade heroics on Friday the Brass Volcanos took their place on stage with a powerful set of funky-jazz featuring excellent riffing from Jac Jones and Malcolm Smith. With drummer Alessandro Canini handling vocals we were urged to Hand Jive (letting the more sedate in on the dancing) and Shake Your Rugulator before concluding, aptly, with the Valentino’s It’s All Over Now.

By now it was hard keeping a track of which musician belonged to which band as jamming became the norm. The Iko’s returned with the audience-participationgobbledegook of Don’t You Just Know It before Trevor Walker soloed on a wonderful version of the Louis Armstrong Dixieland classic Basin St Blues before Dom called Debbie to the stage, iPad in hand, to sing Irma Thomas’ It’s Raining for the first time in her life! “What you’re hearing,” said our M/C “Is the sound of musicians enjoying themselves!”

They enjoyed themselves even more as Londonola hosted an ‘all hands on deck’ finale. At one point, I counted a ‘Noah’s Ark of musicians’ – two pianists, two drummers, two trombonists, two trumpeters and two saxophonists – raising the roof on Mardi Gras In New Orleans, Such A Night and, inevitably, a joyous reprise of Sea Cruise.

Mardi Matters brass by John Ashton

For those who had believed the blues was created at Woodstock this exposure to the music of the real ‘Home of the Blues’ must have been a delightful revelation.

MARTIN NOTT

SCARBOROUGH TOP SECRET BLUES FESTIVAL SCARBOROUGH SPA

24TH - 26TH MARCH 2017

With signs announcing, “Sold Out, Thank-you!” and glorious weather outside this year’s festival sofa hopped genres with folk and country acts appearing over a packed weekend.

The venue set-up remained as previous with the main Ocean Room stage upstairs and the downstairs Promenade lounge. Sound system was, as usual, most impressive, a wider selection of food was available this year, drinks sensibly priced, artiste CDs and merchandise readily available, and the small group of discrete volunteer helpers ensured that everything went smoothly.

Friday: Sharing an earlybird lasagne with Wolfpack; Tim Aves on animated stare and mellow harp, steady Rob Barry on bass, inventive slide from Joel Fisk, and Paul Leicester with a tattooed drum intro to Down In The Bottom. The opening set featured recognised standards to settle in the early evening audience. This band formed the bed-rock of the late night ‘jams’ running into the early hours featuring many festival artistes.

The Ocean Room saw Jon Amor, back for the fifth consecutive year, deliver a semi-acoustic set with pedals boxes and loops. Joel Fisk and Aynsley Lister assisted on two new numbers, before being joined by Innes Sibun on Lightening Slim’s We’re Gonna Rock Tonight. Encore 24 Hours had Amor using throbbing loop with fuzzed up electric.

Downstairs Richard Townend gave a selection of clean picked slide numbers over loop effect. Impressive original Batley Boy wandered

a childhood memory lane of life in a northern town. The between song tales however did trail like a ragged sleeve mostly.

The Producers proved crowd favourites with a mix of danceable numbers including a rock ‘n’ roll cover of Lazy Lester’s, Sugar Coated Love. Meanwhile One Kind Favour had a long intro of Mississippi hill blues with a wash of keys leading down a psychedelic well of trance music. In the Promenade lounge, Aynsley Lister’s far too short solo set featured a much appreciated Slow Dancing in A Burning Room.

Sari Schorr & Engine Room took the Ocean Room by storm. There was little let up from a lady who dedicates songs to her three pit-bulls! With full-tilt head back posturing she was ever the rock-chick. Innes Sibun, all hair and dervish dancing producing grand-mal solos. Schorr showed off her range from throat shredder Cat & Mouse to dusky Where Did You Sleep last Night.

Saturday: Main stage; Leila Dee, with Sam Andrew on jazz guitar and father Glen on rhythm acoustic, lent her songbird voice to a range of covers spread over gospel, folk, blues and soul.

Ultimately numbers like Long Time Coming proved strictly white-bread, and too much dead time with re-tunings and stage silence left a jerky set.

Dave Skinner & Harry Saunders played songs at “double the speed and half the length” in the Promenade lounge. Saunders took steady rhythm while Skinner gave athletic pulls, runs and

Bronwynne Brent by Christine Moore

bends. They moved through instrumental St Louis Blues and hokum Gone Fishing, to Skinner solo on the haunting filigree of Arizona.

The Kaz Hawkins Band took a re-arranged slot next upstairs and proved why they are accumulating awards. Sound-checking as they went on an opening instrumental were solid bassist Jan Uhrin, Peter Uhrin behind

drums and heavy riffing guitarist Nick McConkey. Larger than life Hawkins in a billowing black frock with bright red ‘weightlifter’ belt and matching headscarf launching into rasping plead Don’t Make Mama Cry waving her skirts and flirting with the crowd. Hallelujah Happy People saw her mic’dup in the audience. Unfazed by keyboard problems she

brought brooding affront to Feeling Good featuring spiralling guitar runs.

Transport glitches meant Xander & The Peace Pirates took this later spot. Rain saw three guitars built a swirling deluge of sound that washed around the stage. Keith Xander gave solos that cried like a spiteful child with brother, Stuart on rhythm heavy acoustic, Mike Gay added echoing slide while Joel and Adam Goldberg held the back line bass and drums. Their rocky originals were well received, while a funky Mojo Working and Red House with a soul makeover made for a refreshing change.

Vince Lee & Big Combo, with Tom Cocks on harp, moved through shuffles and jump-blues. Lee gave explosive guitar and vocals on Happy Hour while I’m A Nervous Feller had Cox on vocals take an extended journey on harp on a set that bounced along.

Johnny Dickinson, using a borrowed acoustic and “toy” black electric was stunning in his humility and gentle grace. A bluesy version of Donovan’s Hey Gyp had thumbed bass with fingers picking the melody and sliding the rhythm. Traditional folk blues Black Jack Davey had a delicate bass drone, Mercury Blues full of slide and Woody’s careworn Danville Girl a joy to hear. Finishing his set, he mentioned two lads he met in Colchester twelve years pervious. They had come to say hello before their set upstairs next. He recommended we take a listen.

It was JoJo Burgess and Joel Fisk, and they took

Leila Dee by Christine Moore

LaVendore Rogue, and the Ocean Room, for a subStones romp next. Burgess struts with belligerence; Stephen Cutmore pounds war drums as inanimate “Tank” Barry adds tube-line bass. John Amor added Arabian flourishes to Chocolate Cake with organ surges from Warren Lynn, and the whole thing got crazier still on closer Get Off My Cloud.

The Aynsley Lister Band produced a set of molten blues-rock to close the evening. Ably assisted by Andy Price; keyboards, Boneto Dryden; drums and Steve Amadeo; bass, Lister scribbling solos across a page of old favourites, while new number Stay was an impressive slow burner. Joel Fisk joined for solo-jousting on Champagne & Reefer while Purple Rain was the inevitable fan-fest encore.

Sunday had Guy Tortora & Ben Tyzack serve up a gentle helping of guitar virtuosity. Tortora’s One Way Ticket a fast stepping blues shuffle full of Dylanesque couplets and a fine harp coda. Following protracted wrangling the management allowed an encore - Hot Tomatoes – a throw away piece of fun complete with racked Brasso can kazoo from Tyzack and Tortora scat singing.

Mumbo Jumbo, a multi instrumental ensemble trio, gained many new friends downstairs. Baby Just Wrote Me A Letter featured crusty vocals from Oliver Carpenter, Phil Bond on barrel-house piano and Chris Lomas plucking guitar. Carpenter added muted trumpet to jazz-land rag Send Me To

The ‘lectric Chair while Bond picked up accordion for zydeco sea-shanty Gimme Some Light. In this packed half-hour, there was also a spirited talking blues, comedy, gospel, boogie and some spicy Tex-Mex.

Lauren Housley Band, The country pedal steel of Chris Hillman ghosted most of this bands set. Housley is equally at home on songs of reflection, resignation and regret like The Waiting Game or funky readings of Can I Get A Witness. A brave cover of Jolene however, set the room alight. With the discordant swampy guitar of Thomas Dibb, slow ominous bass and funeral drum she pleaded, with a voice of aching passion.

Tom Attah & Mat Walklate gave a strong set of well recognised numbers in the Promenade lounge, Attah with attack dog picking complemented by Walklate’s harp pulsing up and down the register.

The Jar Family brought their usual ensemble bonhomie to the Ocean Room. Sharing lead vocals, they moved through a mix of instruments and styles from gospel Painted Cloud through Lennonesque Daydreamin’. New-ish Fire, was a crackling autobiographical tale of pyromania…. or just trying to keep warm. Encore I Have To Go certainly was not what the audience wanted.

In the downstairs room, Miles Gilderdale and band played a short set of straight ahead heavy blues.

Petite and demure

Bronwynne Brent brought Americana roots music next, sided by Johnny Sangster on

guitar and Mario Caribe on upright-bass. Hoeing a row similar to Devon Sproule, her set of mostly self-penned songs visited heartbreak and betrayal. Apple-pie vocals with cracked country edges were highlighted on Didn’t Take You Long

To Break My Heart. There were covers of Chuck Willis; traditional folk lament Katie Cruel, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Two Little Fishes And Five Loaves Of Bread. After a break where volunteers and sponsors were thanked and the all-important fund raising raffle drawn final act Wille And The Bandits took the main stage. Matt Brooks plucking six string lead bass runs over fizzing white noise before Wille Edwards picked up the riff and Andrew Naumann’s drums arrived for opener Bad News - all throat-clearing vocals and throbbing weissenborn. From Edwards coaxing banshees, the bowed bass beginnings of Forgivness to epic maelstrom Angel they channel shape and colour into their music. As in previous years they received a welldeserved standing ovation.

Tom Attah & The Bad Man Clan provided after hours covers in the Promenade lounge to end this successful weekend. One that featured many old friends but, true to the Community Interest Company’s mission statement offered a mix of different music, some of which wandered off the blues page. That said, quoting Neil Young, who wears a broad brim fedora on such things; “It’s all the same song”…

MEL WALLACE

WATERFRONT BLUES FESTIVAL, PORTLAND, OREGON

1ST - 4TH JULY 2016

Now second only to Chicago’s main event, the Waterfront Blues Festival in a glorious, riverside location in downtown Portland is always a must-do gig for me these days. Each year pretty much the finest blues quality is on display for very reasonable bucks in a four-day festival that usually also offers searing heat and a US Independence Day explosive firework display to cap the mood near perfectly. This year’s event featured a strong gumbo-bias with Louisiana and its swampy sounds taking centre stage much of the time. Headed by the always wonderfully enjoyable Dr John, 2016 also saw Chubby Carrier’s Cajun/ Zydeco outfit blast ahead with huge quality while more local,

CONCERTS

MARTIN TAYLOR

LICHFIELD GUILDHALL

24TH MARCH 2017

With little more than a guitar, a flawless musical technique and music from a range of sources, one of the world’s leading solo jazz guitarists, Martin Taylor gave a masterclass in authoritative music-making when he played at Lichfield Guildhall.

The attentive audience listened intently as he played classics from the jazz songbook, arrangements of big band music, and his own compositions and shared stories from his storied career in jazz, that has now lasted for more than half a century.

The first half of the concert

Rose-City talent included the Too Loose Cajun-Zydeco Band, a top-dollar band who regularly play the event and are easily one of my own, personal festival favourites. On a more traditional blues note, local lad Curtis Salgado again turned in his usual hi-energy performance –Salgado being one of the guys who initially gave John Belushi the inspiration for the famed Blues Brothers movies. Leo Bud Welch, who seems to be on an absolute roll despite his evident ageing, also delivered a simply superb rootsy set that echoes and highlights his decades of experience with the music. The younger generation was also well represented with current whizz-kid Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram pushing the boat out with some surprisingly rooted takes on old standards and a new twist of his youthful own.

Samantha Fish also turned in one of her usual, loud but well-pitched performances. Another local blues-player, Mary Flower – yet again a personal favourite and regular festival feature – did her storming, acoustic ragtime-blues set both as a soloist and with the excellent Ragpickers String Band alongside blues-mando master Rich Del Grosso.

Jimmie Vaughn was pretty much as expected, an old-school blues master who knows exactly how to work a stage and the music. To cap it all, if more was needed, Tedeschi Trucks were blisteringly powerful with a set that was probably the most appreciated of the festival and had a legion of fans eating out of their blues-hands.

IAIN PATIENCE WITH HEATHER BRYSE-HARVEY

consisted of a lot of straight jazz, with songs by George Gershwin, Django Reinhardt and arrangements of songs made famous by the likes of Frank Sinatra. Taylor’s own playing style, encompassing bass parts, partial chords, and dextrous tune and improvisation, playing took as much from pianists such as Bill Evans, as it did from other guitarists, so each piece was a musically complete experience without descending into displays of virtuosity for the sake of it. Songs such as They Can’t Take That Away from Me mixed the vocal melody in with a swinging rhythm and a steady rolling bass, whilst

the version of Ray Charles’s Georgia On My Mind was a display of moody, bluesy introspection. I Got Rhythm, which finished the first half was an exhausting display of dexterity, velocity, and chordal playing that showed just what is possible on a guitar with a lot of talent, and a lot of practice.

The second half of the concert included solo guitar arrangements of songs from the poppier side of Jazz. Opener Some Day My Prince Will Come was an adaptation of Bill Evans’s version, whilst Don’t Know Why, a hit for Norah Jones a while ago took the tune through a number of different moods. Martin

Taylor played some of his own music, ranging from the delicate ballad of True, to the joyful, upbeat swing of Down At The Kokomo, whilst a reading of the familiar I Wish That I Knew How It Felt To Be Free was a fitting way to end a concert that was full of musical adventures.

BEN MACNAIR

NINE BELOW ZERO

THE TIVOLI, WIMBORNE

3 RD FEBRUARY 2017

Cult rhythm and blues heroes, Nine Below Zero, are currently touring the UK in support of their brand new album, 13 Shades Of Blue - a celebration of the expansive genre of rhythm and blues. I think I'm right in saying this is their fortieth anniversary and, along with original members Dennis Greaves on guitar/vocals and Mark Feltham harp/vocals, they now have Andrew Noble on keys, Mickey Burkey on drums and Ben Willis on bass. An added bonus is the brass section of Paul Jordanous on trumpet, local Dorset boy Chris Rand on sax and the wonderful bare-footed Charley Austen on vocals/percussion.

The venue was fairly full for a wet Thursday night and the mood was set from the opening Funky Trip, each member of the band contributing solos, then straight into the classic Homework, Hoochie Coochie Koo and Crawling Up A Hill. Charley took over the vocals for the Ben E King standard, Don't Play That Song (You Lied). This girl has a future, believe me. Riding On The L&N was followed by Don't Point Your Finger, and what

also became apparent was the chemistry between Mark, Dennis and Charley when they shared vocals. The instrumental, Georgie Fame, not surprisingly led by Mr Noble, allowed all the band to stretch out and show what they can do. Again, this was apparent on Stormy Monday Blues, which segued into Rockin' Robin and Wooly Bully - the memories of a misspent youth came flooding back! The title track from It's Never Too Late, You (very Bowie-esque) and the classic 11+11 brought the evening to an end. What an experience. I remarked to Dennis afterwards that the brass had given the band a Madness vibe, added with the cheeky Cockney lyrics which could have been written by Squeeze. Talking of which, look out for

SARI SCHORR & THE ENGINE ROOM/ASH WILSON BORDERLINE, LONDON

20TH MARCH 2017

Teaming up a great singer with an outstanding guitarist is not always the sure-fire route to success it looks on paper. At the very least, bands built around this premise need time to gel, and there’s an ever-present risk that the two feature elements compete for audience attention, rather than complement each other as an integrated whole. Nobody can question the immense talents of either Brooklyn-based blues shouter Sari Schorr or former Robert Plant guitar slinger Innes Sibun, and

the double headliner with the latter a little later in the year.

Mark Felthman of Nine Below Zero by Christine Moore

their musical collaboration is yet young. They are at least potentially capable of honing themselves into one of the best dirty damn blues-rock outfits on the planet, and in short order at that. But for the time being, there is work to be done before this particular Engine Room catches fire; if they get to read this, I hope they accept that contention as fair comment. The Borderline show wasn’t helped by disastrous sound engineering, either. Schorr’s vocals were almost inaudible on minor key opener Ain’t Got No Money, and right until the end of the set, the guy behind the desk couldn’t get the guitar in the right place in the mix. The poor old keyboard player might as well have taken a rain check, for all that anybody heard him. None of that is the band’s fault, of course. But overall, there was too much reliance on cover versions and sundry standards. Songs such as Zepp warhorse Rock & Roll, the Nirvana-viaLeadbelly classic Where Did You Sleep Last Night, and good ol’ Stormy Monday are the proper province of a provincial bar band jam session. While Sibun arguably outplays even the mighty Freddie King with his virtuoso take on The Stumble, something less familiar might have been preferable. On the plus side, a heavily Zepped up Black Betty took the tune several shades of dynamics beyond the Ram Jam Band. Of the originals, Letting Go featured exemplary guitar work over a descending minor chord progression. Demolition Man was a strong shuffle that

brought Beth Hart strongly to mind. Kiss Me was straight southern rock, while Aunt Hazel was endearingly Stonesy down to the cowbell break. And although it’s unusual to close on a ballad rather than a rocker, Ordinary Life worked well. But hey, don’t let this slightly curmudgeonly review put you off; I actually am rooting for this team. Everything’s there, it just needs a chance to come together. Ash Wilson provided the proceedings with solid support with his own brand of 1970s progtinged blues, a genre that’s hardly my personal bag. But gig-goer buddy Pete loves that stuff for some strange reason, and tells me Wilson is exemplary for the style. Recommendation enough.

DAVID OSLER

THE BAD DAY BLUES BAND

THE 100 CLUB

28TH MARCH 2017

As I walked into the legendary 100 Club, I was impressed by the star studded photographs that cover the walls; The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, BB King, in fact basically everyone you’ve ever heard of has played The 100 Club at some point. Now it was the turn of a band that my friend had recommended to me only the night before. The Bad Day Blues Band.

“They proper kick ass in a filthy, bluesy kind of way.” He said with a filthy, bluesy look in his eyes. So I arrived with high expectations, wondering if his praise was justified.

As they took to the stage I noticed a quiet hush fell across the venue. Was I alone in my intrigue or was this the usual calm before the bad

day blues storm? Suddenly the sound of a guitar riff broke cover. It could only be described as the dirtiest bluesy sound I’ve ever heard. It was so dirty it made me want a shower. The frontman/ bass player stood resolute, his impressively gravelly voice soothing out the lyrics to an original song I hadn’t heard before called The Train Song. My friend was right. They were indeed dirty, bluesy and did actually kick ass.

Although the frontman/ bass player is a focal point the whole group really wail as a collective, the two guitarists both really

Bad Day Blues Band by Graham Eveleigh

listened to the music and complimented the songs as a whole, which I liked. The very unique harmonica player added a sprinkle of magic to their original songs, which incidentally I thought were very well written and the drummer can only be described as a powerhouse. They remind me a little of Cream but with shades of Gun’s N’ Roses and a dash of some more traditional blues artists like Muddy Waters.

It’s a little unusual to see a singer/bass player that can both really sing and really play bass well at the same time. I heard three or four members of the audience comment on how talented the guy was. In that respect he reminded me a little of Sting or Jack Bruce in the ease in which he could do both at the same time.

They played for an hour and by the end of the gig I was exhausted. I felt dirty and bluesy and couldn’t help but say to my friend “Shall we see them again next week?”

MIKE HALL

THE ORANGE CIRCUS BAND/WILSON WRIGHT LICHFIELD GUILDHALL

25 TH FEBRUARY 2017

Two bands of widely divergent styles performed at Lichfield Guildhall, when the original folk duo Wilson/ Wright and the almost genre-free, The Orange Circus Band, played there on Saturday 25th February.

Opening the night’s entertainment were Hilary Wilson and John Wright, with a style that encapsulated blues, folk, the high-pitched vocal style of Nick Drake and some haunting low whistle

playing. Their set was mostly originals, with their highly evolved, sympathetic guitar playing matching the blend of their vocals. The songs looked at life as it is lived now, with the opening bluesy rush of ‘All You’ve Got Is A Hammer’ being the highlight of their set, which pushed mature musicianship and song-writing to the fore.

The Orange Circus Band offered something completely different, with a sound that mixed circus-style visuals with hoe-down, bluegrass, blues, jazz and nearly every other form that took the quartet’s fancy. With a set list that blended effortless three and four-piece vocal harmony, and some dextrous playing on instruments ranging from banjo, mandolin to violin and double bass, their two hour set was never less than entertaining. In true Circus style, the ensemble used circus names, and consisted of: Flash Hearth on vocals,

guitar and harmonica; Shep! on mandolin, banjo and fiddle; vocalist and banjo player Jessie Moonlight; and Sergeant Kahn on bass.

Their action-packed and energetic set ranged from the raucous, banjopowered CC My Baby, to the traditional bluegrass song Shady Grove, which included some exhilarating violin playing, to the upbeat, poppy, The Sunny Side Of Life. The second half included such songs as Trouble So Hard, which was a relatively recent hit for Moby, the more down-cast Bury Me At Sea, and The Legend of Willie Rhoads which was a song of both narrative bravery and advanced musicianship.

BENJAMIN MCNAIR

THE PRODUCERS BERMUDA TRIANGLE, PARKSTONE

22 ND MARCH 2017

I didn’t intend reviewing this gig but just went along

Harry Skinner of the Producers by Christine Moore

with a pal for an enjoyable evening in this small but perfectly formed real ale pub to sup beer and enjoy some good blues. The band hadn’t played together for a while and wanted to run through some numbers in preparation for a big festival appearance the following weekend.

The Producers are local heroes, the place was packed and as soon as the band kicked off I knew that this was going to be a special evening. Dave Saunders on bass and Biff Smith on drums locked into a groove and frontman Harry Skinner and keyboard wiz Ray Drury threw glances and solos at each other with abandon. The sound was perfect and straight away the band were smiling and the audience were drinking in the lively atmosphere as old favourites like Rock Me Baby swung mightily and Coming Back

For You rocked along. The casual drinkers soon realised that this was an occasion when the sun, moon and stars were all in alignment and that they had chanced upon a band that was on fire and actually getting it across to the audience who willingly participated. To add even more excitement local harpman and raver Carl Wilson guested on a frantic Killin’ Floor and a few more songs with his down and dirty blowing. The first set ended with a slide guitar fest on One Kind Favour and the heavy riffing Elmore James inspired Mule. Everybody drank beer during the break and came break refreshed and we were treated to an outstanding version of the emotive slow blues You Don’t

Miss Your Water and an extended rip-roaring gallop through Baby Please Don’t Go complete with blueswailing harp from Carl Wilson. Harry and Dave actually played with Lazy Lester a few years back and his song Sugar Coated Love got a good working over tonight. The gig ended with Harry Skinner’s superb slide guitar driven cover of Crossroads which was, as ever, a huge crowd pleaser. A great end to a very special night. My pal is not normally a blues fan but as we left he remarked “it was a privilege to be there”. It certainly was.

DAVE DRURY

THE RECORD COMPANY

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER

17 TH MARCH 2017

The Record Company deliver hard driving rhythm and blues with an infectious level of enthusiasm demonstrated by Chris Vos’s spontaneous joyous tribal dancing around the small stage.

They set their stall out early, first song in fact, On The Move which has its edge added to by Mr Vos shredding his voice down his harmonica mic. for added punch.

No rest – straight into Baby I’m Broken with its bar-anda-half guitar solo, there is no fat on any of these tunes, it’s all beat-driven stuff, with the sheer joy of performing already spreading from the band to the crowd.

It’s Rita Mae Young where the sound of the band really solidifies. It’s down to Chris Vos’s whooping and groaning slide guitar work which echoes Jimmy Page in his pomp giving Dazed and Confused a good seeing-to

on stages around the world.

Further Zeppelin reminders come courtesy of the bass guitar soloing of Alex Stiff who uses the musical spaces afforded to a threepiece band to show his own chops with the bass as a lead instrument. Mark Cazorla’s drums are stripped and hardcore, it’s loud and heavy down in the engine room.

Underlining their intention not to slow down the tempo of the proceedings, or distract with histrionics, any guitar solo provided by Chris Vos is as blisteringly exciting as it is short and punchy, lessons he doubtless learned watching Iggy And The Stooges and deciding he wanted to form a band.

Highlight of the set has to be So What’cha Want which is a Beastie Boys (!) cover and wraps up all this band’s inventiveness, spirit, musicianship and sheer power. It’s all on one chord, like John Lee Hooker, it’s got acoustic lead that sounds like electric, it’s got all the ingredients of a classic right there.

The band advised that this is their first headline show in Manchester. Based on this performance, and the album they showcased with it, this is not going to be their last. Next time The Record Company blow through here, they will definitely be in a bigger venue, with a bigger audience, and their ability and dedication indicates that they not only deserve both, they are absolutely ready as well – it’s just a matter of time.

ANDY HUGHES

RECORDS

SAMANTHA FISH

CHILLS & FEVER // RUF 1241

Nov 20 MILTON Keynes

The Stables

Nov 21 BRISTOL Tunnels

Nov 22 WOLVERHAMPTON

Robin 2

Nov 23 SOUTHAMPTON Brook

Nov 24 LONDON Borderline

Nov 25 DERBY Flower Pot

Nov 26 KEIGHLEY Keighley Blues Live

RUFRECORDS.DE

THORBJ Ø RN RISAGER & THE BLACK TORNADO

CHANGE MY GAME // RUF 1240

Sep 28

EDINBURGH

Edinburgh Blues Club / The Voodoo Rooms

Sep 29 HARTLEPOOL Hartlepool Supporters Club

Sep 30 CARLISLE Carlisle Blues Festival

BIG DADDY WILSON

NECKBONE STEW // RUF 1236

Sep 11 OXFORT Bullingdon Arms

Sep 12 WOLVERHAMPTON

Robin 2

Sep 13 SHEFFIELD Greystones

Sep 14 EVESHAM Iron Road

Sep 15 SUTTON (LONDON)

Boom Boom Club

Sep 16 HARTLEPOOL Utd

Supporters Club

Sep 19 CHISLEHURST

Beaverwood Club