Blues Matters 69

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Another issue, another year gone, so much good music has passed between us and you, the reader, and, sadly, we’ve lost a few more Blues ‘names’ along the way. Much credit to our ‘Team BM’ for all their work once again and it is so nice to hear from the number of you in touch who ask us to pass on their kind words. Now we look forward again to a New Year which will be our 15th Anniversary with you in this world of Blues we all love.

With a New Year comes a new web site, new layout and design, and of course new challenges and talking of challenges – we look forward to the BM Poll Best Newcomer nomination doing well at the EBU Blues Challenge in 2013.

With Blues Matters having moved from it’s early quarterly appearances to bi-monthly publication which once even reduced it’s subscription rate and only once since having to increase to what is still great value for the content you get, we’ve gained a terrific reputation for our efforts for the Blues. Not bad for a totally independent publication.

This issue BM69 will be the last in it’s current layout so BM70 will be all new looking along with the new web site.

We wish to express our deep and sincere thanks to Christine who has recently retired and taken to having ‘a life on the road’ that she had been waiting for and is settling into. You will still see her with the stand at some events next year and she will still be contributing to the magazine so it ain’t goodbye folks. Christine –we love ya! x

Record companies, look to your budgets and work with us, we are on the same mission for the Blues. Now everyone please spread the word, subscribe digitally and to the print version and we will emerge bigger and better through 2013 so we can do even more for the Blues and you!

Remember giving a subscription to someone is a great idea for a present that lasts!

Oh and let us not forget Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our supporters… Ho Ho Ho.

Danny Kyle & Pete Shaw (118), Hans Theesink, (118), Ian Siegal (116), Jon Amor Blues Group (116), Kirsten Thien, (119), Marcus Malone (117), Mo Blues (116), Smoke Faries (117), Stephen Dale Petit (119)

14 INTERVIEWS

Andy Frazer (84), Bex Marshall (20), Bob Brozman (26), Gwyn Ashton (30), Hans Theesink (28), Ian Parker (12), Joe Caruso (34), John Lee Hooker Jr. (72), Laurence Jones (24), Sir Oliver Mally (16), Ted Boomer (100), Mud Morganfield (72)

54 FESTIVAL FEVER

Blues on the Farm (64), Blues at the Fold (62), Colne Great British Blues Festival (58), Harvest Time Blues Festival (54), Isle of Wight Festival (60), Newark Blues Festival (57), Shetland Blues Festival (63)

102 FEATURES

Blues Under the Radar (110), Blues DJs pt. 4 (122), Euroean Blues Challenge (108), The Saloon (102), Two Sides Of The Same Coin (106), Roots Music Report (125).

124

Blues Matters Writers Poll (124)

with Pete Sargent

Teenage rising star Tobi Earnshaw talks about his Top Ten Blues choices with Pete Sargeant In the wake of a storming and thoroughly musical new album showcase at London’s Gibson Guitars HQ, Tobi and I agreed to put together the 17 year olds favourite blues track listing for a piece and we spoke a few days later. In the meantime Tobi and his band (which includes bass god Andy Fraser) had played at the bad-weather-battered Isle of Wight festival and earned a standing ovation from the muddied crowd AND had confirmation of his appearance at the forthcoming London Wembley show celebrating Marshall amps. His cheerful demeanors and eagerness to learn more about roots music is very engaging. He knows that at his age he can only have heard a little of what is out there to be discovered and savoured, though he is already a fine guitarist and had been lent a vintage Les Paul guitar for his Gibson spot by none other than Mick Taylor!! So the deal was that I would try to tell Tobi something of interest about some of his own selections... over to TOBI.

The very start of my love of blues music, funnily enough I was watching Eric Clapton playing at the Crossroads Festival on TV. Eric Clapton - ‘Crossroads’ (Live)

What struck you about that?

Well I just loved hearing it - the guitar solo especially knocked me out. I had already started playing blues but that was also I think the time that I started getting into what another guest was doing – John Mayer. Not an ‘iconic blues player’ as such, but I really like the way he played, what he did with the guitar, to make his songs work. It wasn’t about how fast he played…hard to say exactly, really but I just liked what he was doing. It was a time when I just sat down and listened to everything closely. I was quite young, and then my Dad told me to come and have a look at that show. I wanted to do what I was watching and love it all as much as they obviously did.

Do you have a favourite John Mayer song?

I like so many of his songs. ’Slow Dancer In A Burning Room’

Now he doesn’t throw everything he’s got straight into that song, he holds some back for a while. Yeah he builds up for the solo, and the end riff. How did he write that? Same with ‘Neon’ as well…that’s a song I am really into…he must have a heavy jazz influence, cos of the way he phrases in his playing.

Sometimes in his touring band he features guitar ace Robbie McIntosh, ex-McCartney and Pretenders, fabulous player. Once showed me a faux harmonic neck run method backstage when I was MCing a show of his…

Jeff Beck… Beck has made so many great recordings. He’s such an original. Apparently he likes cars?

Jeff likes cars more than people.

I do mechanics, on study courses and everything; it’s something I am really into Jimi Hendrix - ‘Red House’ - This is a great groove, terrific guitar runs. Then I saw Gary Moore playing it and though well what’s the point?...

There’s no bass on the original ‘Are You Experienced’ studio cut of this. Really…?

No, Noel Redding is playing electric rhythm guitar while Jimi sings and plays the lead lines. Mitch Mitchell on drums.

Right…

Oh and there’s an Albert King version of this song, which is worth a listen. I’ll have to check that out…isn’t there an acoustic Hendrix track somewhere Pete?

There’s a 12-string acoustic of ‘Hear My Train A-Coming’ yes.

BB King - ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ - Everyone would probably put this one in a favorites list wouldn’t they?

Yeah – it’s lovely. From ‘Completely Well’ which might be his best album? Jerry Jemmott on bass, great player. Stevie Wonder is on a cut as well. What do you like about it?

Definitely the simplicity of it, it’s heartfelt you can tell, sincere. The whole feel and emotion comes over as really meant. Every time you listen to it. I don’t know whether it’s me. I just got Joe Bonamassa’s new album and I have fallen in love with that. One of my favourite ones of his, apart from the track he did with Albert King. He plays such chilled jammin’ tune, he’s laid back and you can feel you’re laying back! Just getting into the atmosphere.. You don’t feel anything but the guitar... When that drops out you have the bass and drums and you’re just humming along, that’s all you need.

I had a long chat with Joe, all about Rory Gallagher. He is a massive fan of Rory’s style. That hadn’t been obvious to me, at all. His brother Donal had let Joe play The Battered Strat in some live shows, Bonamassa felt honored

Next choice?

Well you probably won’t like this at all…but it’s by Gary Moore. When I was 12 I wanted a new guitar so I asked my mum and she said she’s think about it if I could play a song on the one I had. Mum and Dad weren’t convinced I really needed a new guitar; I had to make my case, as it were! She said I had to sing a song and play the solo for it, and then they’d see… they didn’t think I’d do it, but that song was.

Gary Moore - ‘Still Got The Blues For You’ - I had fallen in love with Gary Moore’s playing and that was it, I was serious about blues from that day on, really.

There’s a ‘trigger track’ for all of us who play… then we are ‘through the door’. Lots of players are indeed inspired by Gary Moore. That is a fact. Next?

Jimi Hendrix - ‘Johnny B Goode’ - (This would be the live one which I think is on ‘Hendrix In The West)

Is that where he quotes ‘Strangers In The Night’ in the solo? Had you heard that song in the ‘Back To the Future’ film?

Oh no!! I used to hate that film! My Dad used to love it so much, I hated it. I could never stand watching it, ever.

John Martyn - ‘The Easy Blues’ - I’d love this song. Oh wow! Now that’s an interesting choice (Laughs) I am going to learn that, it such a great song and everything.

The first folk gig I ever went to was Patrick Sky, in a church crypt in Richmond..Spooky place! But opening up was a young John Martyn, even then a fluid blues stylist but such an eerie individual voice. You have ‘Solid Air’?

Yes I have that album, that’s how I know the song, from there. And?

Stevie Ray Vaughan - ‘Empty Arms’ - I just love the beginning of that and the way it builds up.

I saw his first ever London gig, Bowie had recorded with him but wouldn’t let his open for Bowie’s shows, so he went his own way Bowie..?

SRV’s all over ‘Let’s Dance’..and ‘China Girl’. I like the ‘In Step’ album, with ‘Riviera Paradise’’

Oh yeah, that a great album, I learned that tune when I was younger. Jazz chords…SRV put me onto Grant Green FREE - ‘The Stealer’ - I may as well put this one down, it such a good track. Andy is amazing, as he is now, of course‘.

I was talking to him at your show, about early Free gigs.

John Mayall - ‘Hideaway’ / ‘The Stumble’ - (On early Bluesbreakers albums, Clapton and Green respectively) Well I love those great instrumentals, when I was learning I kept listening to those, they’re classics.

You need a ‘Best of Freddie King’ They were his tunes I probably do then!

When Chicken Shack with Stan Webb were touring the States, their van broke down, so the guy in the main band came back from his truck to open the bonnet and get it restarted – Freddie King himself ! I’d have been worried he’d cut his fingers but these blokes would shrug things off, you know. Texas tough. You always find yourself listening to same blues tracks over and over again… well, that’s what I find anyway… you can’t help yourself.

It’s how you learn. It becomes natural. My mates – bless ‘em – have no interest at all in the blues, it’s not what they’re into at all in any way whatsoever….so there must be lots of things I would like that I just haven’t had the chance to hear.

Well I can email you some artists and titles to check out if you like..Shuggie Otis maybe.

Yes please ( email addresses are noted –PS) I have been just ruining that Bonamassa album…playing it over and over …’I’m What You Need ‘...that last track…the one that sound like a soap opera ..’Paint the Town’?...’Blues De Luxe’.

Is that the Jeff Beck slow blues… you could check that on the ‘Truth’ album. Nicky Hopkins on piano I think. Playing music, it’s always good to find that sound that hasn’t been heard..Or that melody that is new….Andy has always had that searching thing, driving him along (We had earlier been discussing singing influences and I told Tobi I had one name in mind that his album had echoes of, for me) That singer that your evokes to me – it’s Van Hunt… Oh my Lord! AAAGH! I should give myself a slap in the wrist for not checking this out before! – I did an interview for MOBO actually and the lady talking to me, she said the exact same thing..she told me to look him up, but I forgot!

Well, you have two reasons now, maybe… Van Hunt understands roots music, but he’s taking it somewhere of his own I’ve a strong feeling now that I may like his stuff.

Tobi’s own album featuring him on guitar and Andy Fraser on bass “Spirit In Me” is coming out on Mctrax – details most likely per www.tobiofficial.com

What YOU want to vent!

Dear BM

I was interested in the fact that the British Tinnitus Association (BTA) is advertising in the magazine because I was diagnosed with tinnitus in April 2012 and initially had problems coping with the symptoms. There are many misconceptions as to the causes and even my GP wrongly stated that loud music had damaged the nerves in my ear and that the condition would get worse as the nerves continued to deteriorate. It is important to establish the facts via BTA or to see a specialist. I saw a consultant who explained that for every musician who has tinnitus, such as Clapton, he knows of a librarian who also suffers! Six million people in the UK have the condition which is caused by hair cells vibrating in the inner ear most of which die off naturally with age leading to longer term improvements. He arranged some very effective masking treatments which trained my brain to ignore the ‘rogue’ ringing sounds so I only hear these very faintly now. The important thing is not to get depressed or upset as this makes the noise seem far worse because it makes the brain focus on the erroneous signal it picked up in the first place. The good news is that tinnitus won’t kill you. It will get better with time if you ignore it, keep busy and try out the proven treatments. Above all, it won’t affect your enjoyment of the blues. If any readers are worried, I would be happy to reassure them and to pass on some advice via the editor.

Dave Scott

BM:Thank you Dave, there are many sufferers as you say and all have differing causes, symptoms, reactions and ways

to deal with it. It is something that can become quite debilitating. Apparently there is continuing research going on to find a process to implant new hairs to resolve the condition but it is likely to be about 12 years + before there is anything useful in this area. It is amazing how many people do not know what Tinnitus is so it is a good idea to refer people to the site where they can actually listen to a selection of sounds that replicate only some of the sounds sufferers have to put up with –they will be shocked!! I played a disc of these to family who had no idea and they were horrified. Sufferers have been known to commit suicide due to the problem having no answers or ending so it is a real issue when the Government have broken down NHS areas claiming they work better when in fact all they want to do is to lay blame at someone else’s door rather than theirs for the lack of centralised and uniform action across the country that might lead to real and practical help. In many areas they do not even have the funding for Tinnitus awareness courses anymore because of Government ‘interference’. These issues should all be dealt with on a true National basis so that all can get access and it is not a post code lottery (as so many things have become!) Hope the rant was not too deafening for some of you.

You asked for some feedback in issue 68 on text size. Where you used the larger size (interviews with Jon Cleary, Lewis Hamilton & Henri Herbert), it was so much easier to read. This has been an issue with these old guys’ eyes since I subscribed. My good lady also agrees. Appreciate that might mean a little less content but this would be worth it in my opinion. Cheers

Ally

BM: Thank you Ally and your good lady. Not many came back but you share our view that a larger font would be desirable which would mean less content. We get praised for the

amount of content we have BUT also have had one person comment that he did not get to read enough for the same reason. Think it is the same old saying that you can’t please all the people all of the time. Keep an eye on it as we are moving into change and 2013 will see a new presentation that we will copy to the new webs site we just launched.

Dear Blues Matters

I was astonished to hear recently from a friend that my name was being mentioned in somewhat controversial circumstances in the Readers Letters pages of edition 67 of BM. I should explain that I am a former subscriber to the magazine having decided against renewing in the summer of 2011. A letter bearing my name, making suggestions to Blues Festival organisers as to what they needed to do to attract bigger and younger audiences was published in the previous edition and prompted a curt response from Nick Westgarth – organiser of the Carlisle festival accusing me of sporting “Blues Blinkers”, and another from Stephen Court who “takes exception” to “my” letter and the mention of certain acts which were part of the reason he previously ceased to subscribe to your magazine.

Nick also said he recognised the words and views expressed in “my” letter in the previous edition as remarkably similar to those posted in a facebook article by one of BM’s regular contributors. Firstly, let me respond by stating that I did not write that letter, neither have I ever written to BM – other than to try and get to the bottom of who is falsely using my name to put forward their views. I also agree with Nick that the words and views contained in “my” letter as being very similar to an article I saw posted on a facebook Blues page which has subsequently been removed. The team at BM told me they have twice emailed the sender of the letter for an address to send the harmonicas to and had no response. They also tell me they are unable to trace where that email originated. The real Ian Connelly has stood up – now I’d like to know who is impersonating me.

Ian Connelly. Stafford

BM says: We have been in touch with Ian on this matter and tried to trace the source

without any luck. This is a sad state of affairs that any individual would try to do this sort of thing, how deluded can people get we wonder and to what purpose? At least if you have something to say have the courage to do it under your own name.

Hi BM,

Well what can I say!

I was fortunate to stumble over this great magazine while I was rushing through Frankfurt airport in September (I live in Germany and rushing through airports is something I do quite frequently!)

To say I was surprise to see this magazine is an understatement as I have been a blues/ rock/music fan for many ,many years (even dabble in a little guitar playing myself from time to time) but this is the first time I have had the pleasure of this publication.The content kept me interested for most of a long flight to the US and it was worth every cent of the €12.70 (Yes €12.70 that’s over £10 in real money!) that they charged me for it.You will definitely be getting a subscription from me, after all it will be much better value than €12 + per copy at the airport!Keep up the good work.

Martin Vickers

BM says: Martin, nice to show folks that we do get around a bit.

ERIC JOHNSON UK TOUR

Eric Johnson, the celebrated American electric guitarist, hailed by Joe Bonamassa as “one of the greatest guitar players of all time” returns to the UK in 2013 for a tour that kicks off at the London o2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Wednesday 3rd April.

Planet Rock will start at ticket pre-sale on Wednesday 26th September, followed by general on-sale date of Friday 28th September from www.thegigcartel.com and 0844 478 0898.

The 6-date tour will showcase material from his current album Up Close, as well as from his rich back catalogue, including the classic Cliffs of Dover.

London o2 Shepherds Bush Empire (April 3)

Harrogate Theatre (April 4)

Edinburgh Queen’s Hall (April 5)

Manchester Royal Northern College of Music (April 6)

Birmingham Town Hall (April 7)

Salisbury City Hall (April 8)

MARCUS BONFANTI NEW ALBUM & TOUR DATES

“I have been working very hard on my 3rd studio album over the last 4 months and it is almost finished, it’s been a great experience and i have lots of stories to share but that will have to wait for another email, the record will be out in early 2013 and i am very much looking forward getting out on the road to play these new songs to you lovely people.” Blues as we know it today wouldn’t be the same without Johnny Winter. The masterful guitarist from Texas taught the genre how to rock. Dozens of albums - collaborations with Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, Bob Dylan and, of course, his brother Edgar amongst them - speak not only of a career, but an entire life in the sign of the Blues. The Grammy-awarded icon has probably never sounded better than today.

SEE JOHNNY WINTER LIVE IN April 2013

16 Apr - Gateshead The Sage

18 Apr - Bath Komedia

19 Apr - Manchester RNCM

20 Apr - Holmfirth, Picturedrome

JOE BONAMASSA, the world’s premiere guitarist, will perform fourexclusive London concerts during March 2013

Each concert will be specially filmed for DVD and will feature never-before performed live tracks. The four London concerts will chronicle Joe’s atmospheric rise from the intimate club atmosphere of The Borderline, to the prestigious Royal Albert Hall. The live in-concert DVDs will be released during fall 2013.

Hailed as The Guitar Event of the Year, Bonamassa will pay homage to the historic London venues he’s played by going back to his ten studio albums to perform songs for the very first time. The four London 2013 concerts will individually showcase a unique band configuration that will highlight diverse elements of Joe’s style. Each performance will be distinctive with different set lists. Collectively, there will be upwards of eighty new and old songs performed over the four nights that even the most

die-hard Bonamassa fan will experience for the first time. The London run will start at the intimate 200-capacity LondonBorderline on Tuesday March 26.Bonamassa will then play the 02 Shepherds Bush Empire and HMV Hammersmith Apollo on Wednesday March 27 and Thursday March 28 respectively, before finishing the week at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday March 30. The Royal Albert Hall and Shepherds Bush concerts are currently sold out. Tickets are still available for the Hammersmith Apollo, as well as VIP tickets for the exclusive Borderline concert that also includes the best seats in the house for the remaining three concerts including the Royal Albert Hall, Shepherds Bush and the Hammersmith Apollo. For further information about the VIP tickets, visit www.thegigcartel.com/joevip “London is like my second home,” says Bonamassa. “I want to give the fans attending the London concerts a real treat – a thank you for their unwavering support. Over the years I’ve received requests for tracks we’ve never performed live. Now, it feels right that we delve into the back catalogue and dedicate London fans with unique versions of tracks they’ve never experienced live.”

Eric Clapton Announces May 2013 Irish Dates

Eric Clapton has announced two Irish dates as part of his 2013 Tour. Next year’s tour will help mark his 50th year as a professional musician. Eric and his band will play Dublin’s 02 on 9 May and the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on 10 May. Tickets for the shows go on sale to the general public on 31 October. On sale details will be posted on the Where’s Eric Tour page when they become available, usually 24 to 48 hours before the on sale.

Deluxe Edition of Six-String Stories By Eric Clapton Available For Pre-Order From Genesis PublicationsLImited to 350 Copies

Deluxe copies of Six-String Stories by Eric Clapton are now available for pre-order from Genesis Publications. Only 350 numbered copies of the deluxe copy will be produced. They feature a leather and wood bookbinding with guitar detailing and are all signed by Eric Clapton. Additionally, each deluxe copy includes an original drawing by Eric Clapton reproduced as a limited edition art print. It will benefit The Crossroads Centre, which was founded by Eric Clapton.

St. Mungo’s 2012 Celebrity Hat Auction Ends In Two Days! It’s Not Too Late To Bid On EC’s Hat!

Homelessness charity St Mungo’s is offering people the chance to own the hats of some of the world’s most famous faces in film, music and sport via an online auction from Friday 19 to Sunday 28 October. To aid this organisation in its work, Eric Clapton has donated and signed a brown John Pearse flat cap to St Mungo’s 2012 Celebrity Hat Auction. Other lots include a cast and crew baseball cap signed by Daniel Craig from the new Bond film “Skyfall” plus hats from Hugh Jackman, Kevin Spacey, Renee Zellweger, Michael Buble, Annie Lennox, Roger Federer, Kate Bush, Jenson Button and many more.

BOWNESS BAY BLUES WEEKEND, 22-24 MARCH 2013

A stunning line-up of brilliant blues musicians in the heart of the Lake District

After the success of the 2012 Bowness Bay Blues festival, we have exciting plans for the next one - so do keep 22 to 24 March clear in your 2013 diary.

There will be top-quality music on offer all weekendranging from sizzling electric to mellow acoustic blues and foot-tapping R’n’B - in some wonderfully atmospheric venues surrounding Lake Windermere.

Headline acts include:- acclaimed Irish blues singer and guitarist Grainne Duffy, talented young guitar-slinger Ben Poole (highly praised by the likes of Gary Moore, Jeff Beck and Richie Kotzen), and John O’Leary’s Sugarkane, one of the best blues ensembles in the UK.

Also featuring:- Fuschi4, Snakewater, Tin Pan Alley, Dan Burnett, The Deluxe, Stark, The Bullfrogs, Buzz Elliot and The Elderly Brothers. Keep checking the website for further details as we count down to the festival. Tickets will be on sale from January @ www.bownessbayblues.co.uk

Make sure you book yours early, as word is getting round about this great new festival!

Bowness Bay Blues is organised by the Rotary Club of Windermere, and all profits will go to charity.

WHAT PEOPLE SAID ABOUT THE FIRST BOWNESS BAY BLUES:

‘I was very impressed with the venues visited and the way the programme was tailored so that most artists could be seen over the weekend.’

‘Just wanted to say what a brilliant weekend it was!!!’ ‘enjoyable festival, with a varied, well-chosen programme’ -Blues Matters Magazine

‘a thoroughly great weekend’ North West Evening Mail

IAN PARKER

Chats with John Hurd

A songwriter genuinely literate, sometimes almost literary, Ian is an original craftsman. expressed through a distinctive bitter-sweet vocal delivery, Ian’s songs hold nothing back. His ability and willingness to share with his audience, naked honesty and genuine emotion, is what sets him apart. Ian spent much of 2008 writing new material, and at the beginning of 2009, under the management of Ralph Baker of Equator Music, sessions began in bath’s famous Riverside Studios. The resulting five track ep,“Demons And doubters“ (Equator), was recorded under the guidance and supervision of Clive Deamer (Robert Plant, Portishead, Massive Attack), and Jon Jacobs of Sir George Martin’s Air Studios Fame. With these songs, Ian began an exciting new chapter in his career. much of his live work over the last couple of years has been solo acoustic, and following tours on both sides of the Atlantic in this format, The Bare Bones’ live album was released in April 2011. Back in the studio with other musicians again, Ian is currently working on a new album which is expected to be released in the autumn of 2012.

BM: On the internet it seems like you’ve done more live discs than studio ones. Is there a reason for that?

IP: That’s actually probably quite true. I don’t know if I’ve done more, but I’ve done probably as many live and studio which is unusual. That’s partly financial. There’s always a demand for live CD’s on the circuit that I’ve always played on. People seem to like it. And to be honest about how the business side of it works, it’s really cheaper to make a live CD compared to a studio CD. It’s difficult with grass-roots music. It’s difficult to keep a band on the road or keep going, and when you know there’s a demand for it and you know you can put this out after the show and people will enjoy it, then let’s do that. There have been a few stages where I’ve had to do that for financial reasons, but also people do seem to like it.

Do you like the live discs of others?

Ironically I don’t really listen to a lot of live albums myself. I love listening to studio albums – maybe because I know how much work goes into actually making a studio album. I’m more a fan of studio records – but people seem to like the live stuff.

You have a CD in the making, called I believe ‘The Stonehouse’?

That’s the working title and probably will become THE title I think.

You had around twenty songs, and had to cut it down to ten, which suggests there is a lot of good unreleased Ian Parker material out there?

Well yes, but we didn’t rush into the studio and make twenty songs up. At the end of 2008 I got to a point where, I actually burnt myself out a bit on the road. I was doing a lot of shows with the band. Playing Blues-Rock basically and I’d just really burned myself out to the point where I had a sort of mini nervous breakdown at the end of 2008. I remember touring Holland, and I just couldn’t sleep at all. I just became a complete insomniac, got too stressed. I realised at that point I needed some sort of a break and started to make some changes. I came off the road so to speak and really, over the last three years I’ve still been doing tours here and there, but I’ve scaled it all down. I’ve spent most of my turn learning to be creative again from scratch and writing lots of material, and that’s why, three years on, we’ve got twenty songs. I demoed them all and decided on about half that number, ten songs that really fitted together well and decided to make a record with those ten. But some of the other ten I think have got some merit – they just didn’t fit on this particular record; so I feel I’ve already got at least half of another album waiting to go out.

Was the stress problem your reason for getting back to a more grassroots style or is that just coincidence? Partly, it might have been. I was always sort of a reluctant bandleader really. I don’t want to be the Boss of anything at all, because if you happen to be the songwriter, singer, or the lead guitarist you become defined as ‘the Artist’ and it’s inevitable that you employ other people to help you make that music, which means you have to become The Boss and I don’t like telling people what they must do, and you have to in that role. It has nothing to do with the individuals I’ve worked with, I’ve been fortunate to work with some very lovely people and indeed I intend to work with other musicians in the future to. It’s not that I have plans to never ever tour with anyone again, but the responsibility for other people – I think that was part of what was building up over the years, so this has been refreshing - right now being in Germany with just my friend Mick who’s my Tour Manager. The two of us just driving around really relaxed. It has nothing to do with the other people involved. It’s just dealing with responsibility and I feel really free like this at the moment. A de-stressing situation you know...

You said at tonight’s concert (introducing ‘Your Basket Has Never Been So Full’) “This is the only cheerful song I’ve written.” Do you consider yourself a born pessimist?

I used to be. I wrote a lot of sad songs. It’s actually easier to write songs like that. The rawness of emotion seems to lend itself to artistic expression. But I realised that I did overindulge in that stuff and I’m quite a different person now. I joke about that now because now, when I feel I’ve got a more adult perspective on my music and stuff, it seems to me now that I really did indulge myself in this “How depressing is my life!” you know.

It became ‘Grist for the Mill’ – ammunition for your songs?

IAN PARKER

Yeah, but now I realise the human condition is about much more than the sad stuff, you know. I just found it easier to write songs from that. But on the new album the emotions are much more wide ranging and actually I’m a really happy person these days. I love life now, whereas before I really wasn’t sure about it. Like I had a wheel ‘out of kilter’. I had that feeling throughout my twenties. I was having a good time; it wasn’t that - I just wasn’t really at one with myself. But I feel completely different now. I’ve got a lot more perspective and I’ve stopped feeling so self-important actually. What I do with my music, it really doesn’t matter. In the wider world it has no importance whatsoever, other than for the people who pay money to hear me. Hopefully they enjoy it, and if they buy the record that’s great, but that’s about it.

There are more important things in life?

Of course. I’ve got interested in other things in life and that’s really important. Before it was waking up to write and play music, and booking the tours and that. It was nothing – just music, music, music...

And then it becomes difficult to write about themes outside of music?

Well that’s true. If you’re the person writing the songs and doing the creative work from source you need something to talk about. I found myself becoming a boring person in conversation with really nothing to talk about. Nowadays it’s great to talk about things other than music. Obviously people want to talk to me about that, and that’s nice, but it’s good to end up chatting about other things. I’m interested in other stuff now. It’s given me loads of balance. My music is still important to me but it’s an element of who I am now, not the whole thing.

You are no longer with RUF Records and although you did the Robert Johnson and J J Cale your set this evening was much more Folk oriented.

Yeah, I never really know what to say about all the different genres. Blues music is really important to me. I heard it at a really young age. My parents were into Blues and playing the British Blues things like John Mayall. So I heard that as a kid, alongside the Beatles and BB King of course and I love it. But it’s not crucial to me in terms of my sense of identity to be a Blues Musician because I like lots of other stuff and I quite enjoy the freedom too. If I call myself a Blues Musician I don’t want to miss-sell myself. So if I say I’m a Blues man I don’t want 150 Blues fans to turn up at a show and be disappointed. I want to feel free to delve into different things and do that, and some of it is Folky. There’s a whole scene that’s emerged in Britain. A sort of Folk/Pop thing that’s come out in the last few years where you’re getting these artists that, probably in the same way I grew up with Blues, they grew up listening to traditional Folk but they’ve made it relevant

and given it a Pop element so you don’t have to be a Folky to get it, and I started to get it, and I don’t know the traditions of Folk. There are people coming up like Ben Howard from the south-west who’s making Folk based cross-over music. Seth Blake, Laura Marling is just an unbelievable talent although she’s only in her early twenties she has three records out – the first made when she was sixteen – and I don’t understand how she could do it, but these are people who came out of the Folk tradition to make something that’s contemporarily relevant. That’s something I feel personally I’ve missed in the past. Whether I’m recording or writing something that’s Blues or Folk or whatever. I’m trying to give it some sort of contemporary relevance. I’m not sure if I’m succeeding. I thing the danger of genre Music is that because there’s a tradition involved it’s very easy to pay too much homage to that tradition.

Why sound like BB King when we already have BB?

Exactly, like I played a Robert Johnson this evening (‘Walking Blues) because I ran out of material and I love that stuff myself and I know there’s some Blues Fans here at the show in Bonn), but there are some Artists in the Blues World – and I’m not criticizing them, they want to replicate the past because they feel that’s the way to keep the Music alive, and maybe they’re right. I’m not making a value judgement here. For me, I want to take the spirit of that music. It could be the spirit of Robert Johnson from 1932 or whenever but I want it to be relevant to people in 2012. I don’t want it to just be for people to just sort of remember that, you know?

And you have a modernising approach to acoustic music onstage.I noticed your use of vocal tape loops and the drum pad. Actually you didn’t need a band in that case... It depends on the context. I’m not saying it’s forever or that I never intend to play with other musicians again. I’ve brought other musicians in on this record with their own styles. I’ve brought in Beth Porter on cello for instance and where a lot of Classical players come in and just do some Pop work she’s not like that at all. She actually calls herself a Pop musician and not a Classical musician, and she’s great. I really feel that it’s been great to sit down and collaborate with other people over the various parts. So it’s not like I’m shutting myself away from other musicians and doing everything on my own. I really enjoy working with other people. To be honest part of it is just that when I’m on the road I don’t like being responsible for everything whereas when you’re in the studio for a couple of days it’s great.

Finally Ian, after all this music genre talk, What about the new cd. Will it be Blues? Pop? Or more Folk oriented? It will be a broader spectrum than before. It won’t be all ‘happy, happy, happy’ but what I’ve tried to do is, if I’ve gone into something that’s dark, I’ve tried to resolve it. I think life itself is like that.

Ian. Many thanks and good luck with your new CD. Thank you.

“SIR” OLIVER MALLY

by Norman Darwen

“It all started with me destroying the album sleeve” - Sir Oliver Mally has been at the forefront of the blues in Austria for the last couple of decades. Just after this interview, he was due to play with Ian Siegal and ace Italian guitarist Mike Sponza. He shared thoughts about his music, his influences and the state of the blues with Norman Darwen:

BM: When and why did you begin to play the guitar?

OM: When? I started at the age of 15 0- actually pretty late – and I am self-taught. Why? I loved the sound of electric guitars and the amazing noise you could obviously make with them!

How did you get interested in the blues?

First, as a kid I remember my parents listening to Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Elvis, Randy Newman… not a bad introduction to music, not a bad way to start! No plastic crap! I’m thankful for that. Then, about 30 years ago I borrowed a vinyl record from a guy. I destroyed the cover and therefore had to replace it. So, now that I owned that “brand new” LP, I gave it a listen. It was “Hard Again” by Muddy Waters – and that was it! It blew me away, it still does! It was a musical awakening. After that I kept searching and re-searching music like that and… I’m glad I ruined that art-work.

Who would you say were your influences?

Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, Albert King… The acoustic blues- and songwriter stuff like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, John Hammond, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle, that came years later.

Where did the “Sir” come from?

It started as a joke. I thought it was kind of cool after a while and never got rid of it. It’s like a bad tattoo.

Can you tell me about The Blues Distillery - was that your first project?

No, it wasn’t my first project – there were other weird projects before that, just jam bands, nothing serious, but the Distillery was the first project you could really call a band. The band was formed in 1991, and since then there have only been slight changes in the line-up. It’s a quartet – drums, bass, piano/ organ, guitar and vocals. We do mostly originals written by the whole band or by different band members. Varying from blues and songs with a rock edge to R&B… whatever we like! And we’re still on the road whenever that is possible. You know times have become so much harder for musicians

You have worked with a lot of visiting Americans. Which ones do you remember best and did any give you any advice which you value?

Steve James, Louisiana Red, Sugar Blue, Big Lucky Carter, Johnny “Yarddog” Jones, Doug McLeod and others. Doug McLeod told me what a guy once told him: “Don’t ever play a note you don’t believe in!” I value and try to follow that deeply wise advice.

Over the last ten years or so, you have moved towards a more acoustic based sound. Why is that?

I have always felt attracted to playing solo acoustic shows. To me it seems to be the biggest challenge, but once it works it gives you the most freedom you can imagine. It took me quite some time to figure out how to make it work for myself, to write the right songs, to pick the right songs, to work out the essence of the songs, to find out the right sound and so on. Meanwhile, I’m pretty happy I got all of that together. Besides the fact that I like playin’ solo or duo so much – for me it’s the only way to stay alive and busy.

How do you approach working solo?

I try to find a nice balance between straight blues tunes and songs! But also here there is no method, I try to somehow read the audience and take ‘em on a journey – and if they go for the ride, it’s a blast. Nothin’ can beat that!

‘Sidesteps’ was indeed a little different - What kind of reception did this group get?

This was a side-project built around my songs, with violin and accordion. We did great and played some nice tours. It was a lot of fun, but after a couple of years we split up due to different interests!

You have worked closely with Raphael Wressnig - can you tell me a little about him? He’s a great organ-player with a lot of skills. We spent some time together on the road. After some years we moved into different directions. He’s still pretty busy these days and works his ass off. He has earned a great deal of respect and deserves it. Over the last years he has made some cool records with Alex Schultz and Enrico Crivellaro! I really like ‘em! And I’m glad it’s all working out great for him!

Bob Dylan seems to be a big influence on you - is that correct? You have made some memorable covers of his songs. Do you have any particular favourites?

How could you not be influenced when you’re trying to write bluesy folk-songs? You want a list of my favourite Dylan songs? Ouch…this one could easily become too long for here. But just to name a few: ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’. ‘Shelter from the Storm’, ‘Simple Twist of Fate’, ‘All I Really Want To Do’, ‘Girl from the North Country’, ‘Love Minus Zero-No Limit’, ‘Standing In Your Doorway’ etc, etc.

How do you write your own songs?

There’s no certain method or plan. I keep my eyes open, and I write down what comes to mind and try to find the right chords to support the lyrics or vice-versa. Sometimes the music comes first then I add the lyrics.

Can you give me a rundown on your recordings?

OK. “Bulletproof” was 2001, “Radio” 2007, “Fleeting Moments” 2011, they are all with “Sir” Oliver Mally’s Blues Distillery. “Steppin’ Out” from 2006 was with “Sidesteps”, “So What If?” from 2008 was with Martin Gasselsberger, “Love Is A Devil“ from 2006 “Candystore” from 2008, “Ol’ Dogs –Nu Yard” from 2010 and 2012’s “Strong Believer” are all solo. There have been other recordings before that, but these are the ones which are still available!

What is the blues scene in Austria like these days?

The scene is growing and the number of artists is gettin’ bigger, while the number of clubs is gettin’ smaller and the working conditions are getting shittier! It’s become a struggle. But we

got some real fine artists like Ripoff Raskolnikov, Raphael Wressnig, Peter Müller, Christian Dozzler, who has lived in Texas for years, Hans Theessink... and luckily they all keep goin’!

How do you think the blues has changed since you started out?

There are really some amazing artists out there these days! High class acts with serious intentions - an attitude – and a big sound. Like for example Ian Siegal, Alvin “Youngblood” Hart, the Tedeschi -Trucks Band...to name a few. But in a lot of cases it’s so much more ’bout posing than ’bout music! I miss the “personal” sound! And therefore Blues has become a sell-out! There are more heavy, guitar playing clones out there than twenty years ago! All tryin’ to sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan, who I love so much. But most copies suck! They are too busy tryin’ to sound like someone else. So c’mon and let’s get more personal!

And how do you see “Blues in Europe” as opposed to “Blues In America”? Do you see a difference?

In Europe you pretty often get to hear, “You can’t do it like this or like that!” Never heard that from American musicians! I think there are too many “12-bar professors” on the loose, tryin’ to tell people what Blues music should “be/sound & look like” - and that’s bullshit! Sure there has to be respect for tradition, but there should also be enough space to try things! But by mentioning the fact that you’re playing mostly originalsduring a show - makes em’ shut up fast!

Any thoughts on the blues business?

Hunter S. Thompson said it best: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

Can you tell me about your new album on Mono Recordings, “Strong Believer”

It’s stripped down to mostly one acoustic / electric guitar - vocals – foot-tapping. That’s it. Pure and raw. It’s just like I sound during my live-shows. We’ve been using one ribbon microphone – a Beyerdynamic M130 through a Grace Design M101 preamp. Frank Schwinn – an amazing musician and sound-engineer - came up with that equipment and did a fabulous job. It was the first the time me and Frank ever met in person and the chemistry was right there… especially after we decided that we both loved T-Bone Burnett’s production of John Cougar Mellencamp’s ‘No Better Than This’. A great record! Frank is a character! He spontaneously sat in on four songs and played some real mean guitar! We did the whole record in six hours. I’m very happy with the result. It sounds fresh and spontaneous. And the mono-sound is awesome!

And finally, what are your future plans?

To stay on the road as much as possible. But as I mentioned before, times have changed and being on the road all the time is not that easy anymore. But I strongly believe it’s got to go up again and that me and the Blues will keep rollin’. Cos’ – and here’s another one –“The times, they are a-changin”.

with Clive Rawlings

Bex Marshall’s name will be on everyone’s lips, if the current “House Of Mercy” CD is anything to go by.Having caught her live, performing solo at the Ranelagh in Brighton, Clive Rawlings managed to pin her down - her schedule is hectic, to say the least - for a chat, including the story behind the title of the new CD.

I see you were born in Devon ofIrish Romany/blue-blooded parentage, good combination for the career path you’ve taken.

Yes from a very early age I have been influenced by my family,on my mother’s Irish-Romany side her brother was in The Marauders, a band from the 60’s which had a few minor hits. His perfect pitch voice would always blow me away. Onmy father’s side, where his father was the Squire of Cornwall, there is a very strong history of wordsmiths and story tellers. The combination led to regular family gatherings of playing and drinking, so for as way back as I can remember I was being called upon to sing for the family and this initially got me started.

How did you start out on that path?

Jumping up and singing a song at any opportunity was a natural thing for me to do and by the time I was eight I had added guitar playing to my show, I had such passion for the guitar and wanted to play everything, my fantastic guitar tutor taught me to finger pick.

Any influences, is it correct you started playing classical guitar?

My guitar tutor would have me play classical guitar from Cavitina (The Deer Hunter) to flamenco, then jazzy ragtimes, I wanted to learn it all, as my fingers stretched with the difficult chord changes I would become hooked on the next piece of ragtime or cool instrumental. I just couldn’t get enough and I have never stopped learning and searching for new music since.

Did you have a band back in the day, or were you solo?

I did have a band when I first moved to London to start my music career; I put a band together and gigged. I was playing acoustic up front and not really pushing the boundaries of my playing, I think because I was sort of expected to strum an acoustic and leave the serious playing to the guy on the electric.... no one could ever here my voice or guitar because everything else was so loud....now all that has changed

I see you also had itchy feet, including travelling across Australia, a good grounding I would have thought?

Travelling the world has been one of the most rewarding and inspirational things I could have ever done, and now being able to use my music as a vehicle to do it, it›s all the more incredible for me. The first Australian trip I was only busking and really learning my game. That country in particular has some serious musicians, even on the streets busking, it was in fact on return from Australia that I decided to take it all a bit more seriously, so inspirational as well as grounding.

Whilst I am not a great one for making comparisons(but I will!) putting Oz together with the ‘blues ‘n’ roots’ music you do, the name John Butler springs to mind, any influences there?

I think he is phenomenal yes that’s definitely in my ball park ... I get inspired a great deal from the Australian blues and roots scene they really got it goin’ on... The festivals they put on are more blues and roots orientated than anywhere else ... I did a 10 week tour there with the ‘Kitchen Table’ album and had a blast, playing festivals as far apart as Tasmania to Cairns with loads of clubs and bars in between!

Who inspires you lyrically, is song-writing a painful experience, or does it come easy?

It’s a wonderful experience for me actually I just need to be alone and in a secluded setting, then just playing every day I get creatively juiced up, then riffs and songs start to come.. I really enjoy it, when a song comes together and you just know it’s working...it’s a great feeling.

Which audience are you aiming yourself at?

I think anyone who digs it ... but I hope to make my music accessible to people from across the board... I don’t like to pigeon hole anything so if someone likes a piece of guitar picking or likes the lyrics of a song that’s cool, one could be 20 the other one 79.

Who do you most admire musically?

Far too many to narrow too one but if I really had to say someone at the moment then it would be Toby Baker who plays keyboards in my band.... I have never seen anyone produce moments of such genius musical playing while ranting about the state of the country and these really rude kids on the bus while trying to get to the studio, ha ha!

You have a blank piece of paper, who, past or present, would you have in your dream band?

Ok - Keith Moon on drums, Tina Turner bvs, Tom Waits bvs, Leon Russell keys bvs Roger Waters bass, Jose Feliciano acoustic guitar

BJ Cole is a notable inclusion on your studio stuff, how did that liaison come about?

BJ Cole is a regular visitor at the House of Mercy and as well as a good friend, he has been seen several times at the dinner table in front of a super cleaned dinner plate! it was an honour to have him on the record!

What do you think is your greatest achievement so far and where do you hope to be in,say, five years (professionally)

This record is by far musically the most challenging project I have ever done... And the best of it being it was mostly done in The House of Mercy Snake Pit Studio, (as well as Boogie Back Studios in Muswell Hill), so after finding and working up my band, this record is so far my greatest achievement. In five years I am sure Iwill still be hungry to play, write and record with my band.

Would you have done anything different, given your time again?

No

our new CD is entitled “House Of Mercy,” can you expand on the reasoning behind that? (Over to Barry, maybe?)

Barry - Just after Bex and I married I had the chance to buy The Borderline Club in Soho, where I had been the promoter/ booker for 6 years, to but the club the restaurant/bar above was to be included, I didn’t want to call it The Borderline Cafe, it was to be intended as a dinner show venue, where 250 discerning music and food lovers could see and hear great artists in residence in an Americana western bordello style setting. I researched the location and found that St Barnabas Church (next to The Borderline) had in the 18 & 1900’s been a prostitutes’ refuge on the site called the House of Mercy - perfect. I lost out the bidding war to corporations but kept the name for our company that now includes a weekly syndicated radio show, the Snake Pit Studio and our record company. The radio show has two ‘as live’ radio sessions

BEX MARSHALL

a week, taken from the wide vista of Americana, so we are always full of musicians and their music, jams happen all the time and that’s where Bex got the House of Mercy song from and now the title of the record. It’s a great song that encapsulates all of her styles that eventually appear on her record.....

Speaking of the new CD (which I have reviewed in this edition) all the songs are self-composed, a rare commodity these days, are they a self-portrait of life with you? I refer in particular to ‘Bite Me’, ‘Gone Fishin’, ‘Tough Times’ and the selfexplanatory ‘Barry’s Song’?

Bex - Not really I let my imagination run away with whatever seems like the best thing at the time.... There may be traces of the truth in there but don’t take it all as gospel ... Barry’s song is different that was written as our wedding day gift from me to him..so yes that pretty much is what it is!

You’ve recruited hubby Barry to play harmonica on the CD, did his arm take much twisting?

Well, seeing as the song really is about the jamming and sessions which we have at the House of Mercy of which he is regularly involved in, it was a no brainer.

You’ve toured the States as well as here, how do audiences’ reaction to you compare?

The last album “Kitchen Table,” had more success in the States so I ended up rolling with the flow and kept touring; after three long US tours, staying very focused and with the backing of a good US team, it paid off. The audiences are extremely receptive in America and definitely love lady guitarists who play out, I was also one of the few finger pickin’ resonator ragtime rockers about.

Any funny or embarrassing stories you can relate from the stage? Wigs falling off, boobs jumping out, tripping over boot laces coming off stage, drunken punters climbing on stage, the usual mad antics of being on the road ... Playing a show in South Carolina when I played a slow tune one guy started smooching with a chair....

For all the geeks out there, what is your favourite guitar? 1963 Gibson hummingbird which I own, ha ha ....It was passed down to me when I was 11 by my Uncle from The Marauders.My road dog guitar is my black Ozark Resonator, we got it eight years ago and it is played almost every day, has done every show I have.

Do you have any message for our readers?

Yes please go to more gigs and buy the record and don’t eat the yellow snow...

Finally, my trademark question..... What’s your favourite biscuit (Barry as well, as he’s contributed!)

Bex - Without doubt Ginger Nuts.

Barry - The full blooded American baked Chocolate Chip.

Photos supplied by artist

by Gareth Hayes

It says something about the new crop of young blues princes when we look at the likes of Mitch Laddie and Marcus Bonfanti and see them as old timers. Joining other 2012 inductees Virgil McMahon and Aaron Keylock, comes the latest prodigy of the UK blues scene in one Laurence Jones. Launching his debut album this year, at the age of only nineteen, Jones proclaims to aim as high as his diverse collection of blues heroes. Loving the excess of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Rory Gallagher, Laurence combines a progressive tone with an innovative sensitivity in the Proper album “Thunder In The Sky”. Paying unusual dues to the Blues by obtaining a degree in music from the Birmingham Academy of Music & Sound, before heading out on the mammoth learning curve of life on the road, Jones is ready-dressed for success. With a definitive focus on style, he dons his maroon velvet jacket and is more than ready to make some noise in 2013. Gareth Hayes tries his best to keep up with Laurence Jones

BM: You first started, aged eight, playing classical guitar, how did you get interested in the Blues?

LJ: Well, I first got into blues about five years ago. My dad used to take me down to the local Blues club at The George in a village called Brailes on the Oxfordshire Warwickshire border, not far from Banbury. It felt like it was one of those just a turn-up-and-play venues but they had a blues band on every Monday night. I remember great people like Joanne Shaw Taylor and Sherman Robertson playing there.

You seem to joining in the trend for a stage presence through some snappy dressing?

Well I think it’s really good to have an image, and that includes the dress code rather than just jeans and a t-shirt. I’d like the audience to recognise the image, my image, and to be able to say “that’s Laurence Jones” as they do with the real maestros like Buddy Guy or did with Jimi Hendrix. Yes, you’d recognise their style of playing but you also knew they were there from their presence in the room.

As well as dress code then, do you seek identity through the sound, through your guitar?

I’m really attached to my Fender Stratocaster. That’s my favourite guitar. It’s the first guitar I had. I have spent a lot time watching other great guitar players, like Rory Gallagher, Hendrix again, and have found the guitar I like. That’s not to disrespect others. Of course, I like other guitarists who have a different type of tone though, Gary Moore and his Les Pauls. Oh, I can’t forget Carlos Santana too.

With tone in mind, having seen you live, you quite like the long note!

I’d say our music is more modern Blues, rather than traditional on the porch material. I’d like to think that this maybe

extends our appeal. I’d like to think our music, my music, is a different kind of Blues that the normal 12 bar Blues. Add the clothes and yeah, there’s some showmanship in there too. A lot of the people who come want to see that combination. I also don’t see the concert as me doing loads of solos with a song attached. There has to be a personality attached, and an interaction with the audience.

You are gigging furiously, doing double headers with Mitch Laddie, and some great support slots. People like Joanne Shaw Taylor, Pat Travers, Aynsley Lister. It must be quite a ride?

Yes, it’s great for me, not only getting me in front of different people but watching and learning from those great acts. Don’t forget Royal Southern Brotherhood and Buddy Whittington! And others on the rise such as Stacie Collins!

Has the touring taken you out into Europe?

I went over to Holland, and I’ve played The Blues Express Festival. It was an amazing experience. I love the prospect of broadening our horizons by doing these European Festivals as well as the stuff at home. I’ve tried to build up an audience in the UK before heading out there and I’d like to think that it’s coming off so far. I hope to get to Europe in 2013.

Let’s shift from the live scene to the new album. Is the same band for both?

I’ve got a great line up for the live shows on the road at the moment but I know that it sometimes has to be different for life in the studio.

Can you tell us about the debut album?

It took three days to record. I went into the studio and wanted it done as a total experience so we slept at the studio and spent all day and all night immersing ourselves in it. Also, I went into the studio knowing what my sound was going to be. I guess the adrenalin of doing my debut worked in keeping it exciting and fresh at the same time. It certainly helped me keep it in my own style.

There are a couple of standout tracks and one has to be a cover of B.B. King’s ‘The Thrill Is Gone’. It’s in my own style again so it’s neither slow nor ramped up. I think you’ll enjoy that one! It’s different. It goes from being chilled out at the start, in a Pink Floyd vein, and then it hits off. I added a distortion effect and held the chord with my drummer tapping the bridge of my guitar, the whammy bar and wah-wah. Then we reversed it into a wave sound. It’s such a brilliant song and I love B.B. King. He’s a tremendous showman too, look how he gets the audience eating out of his hand.

A little bird tells us that you are also a fan of Tony McPhee. I love The Groundhogs, one of my favourite bands. I haven’t played with them, yet, but I think I’ve played with Alan Fish their bass player from their offshoot band, Egypt.

Back to the album, what about the title track?

It’s a slow blues with a different progression; it’s got a progressive progression! Oddly, I was sitting in bedroom having trouble getting a track, this track together and the lyrics wouldn’t come. I wanted to write a proper traditional Blues number about women with metaphors and innuendos and it wasn’t coming at all. Then I noticed it was thundering outside, it was chucking it down outside my window. Then, this is brilliant, it was there, I had the song.

Let’s pick another track. The last track on an album is usually significant. Can you tell us about ‘Going Down’?

Actually, no, a better track to focus on would be ‘Gotta Get Back Up’. That’s the only track I recorded at a different place at a different time. I actually wrote it after we had done the recording but I felt it was so strong that it had get in to the album. That track took six hours to lay down, but it had to go in.

With all the touring, have you time to write and work?

I am writing for the second album. I think it’s important to get that one right. I hear that second album’s are always the hardest. With the current album I approached it by never playing any of the songs live until we were in the studio. I think with the next one we will test the new songs on the road. As regards work, well, I teach guitar in the day, and gig at night. I’m not just teaching Blues guitar, a lot of it is classical, and even heavy rock. When I’m writing I tend to sit down with the acoustic. I can’t be too noisy at home; we have to look after the neighbours!

Talks with Dave Drury

Bob Brozman started playing guitar at age 6 and then went on to study music with an emphasis on the earliest roots of Delta Blues. He then broadened his scope and became a respected authority on Hawaiian music and diverse world music cultures. He is now a prolific performer, recording artist, producer and author who tours worldwide extensively and has collaborated with musicians from around the world incorporating their various styles into his music. His latest album ‘Fire In the Mind’ is in his words “a collection of mood stories featuring driving rhythms and compelling exotic guitar sounds”. We caught up with Bob during his European tour to find out more.

BM: Where did you grow up and what was the first music you heard?

BB: I grew up not far from NYC and at age 3 I was struck by a record of Ravel’s Bolero

When did your interest in Blues develop?

I was 7 or 8 when I first heard Mississippi Blues and that would be around 1961.

Is there one artist who really hit the spot and decided your destiny?

Absolutely yes - Charley Patton whose anima still resides in every kind of music I play. Nobody else had his intensity, rhythmic freedom and integrated singing and playing.

What led to your love of National resonator guitars and subsequently your interest in Hawaiian music and other musical cultures and styles?

I fell in love with old National resonator guitars back in 1966 and found my first one in 1967. While deep into Delta Blues I discovered 78 rpm records of Hawaiians playing Nationals during the same period (1920’s), and that started my whole open-minded approach to other cultures, finding deeper similarities rather than differences. Later I became good friends with John Dopyera the inventor of the National and subsequently wrote the book detailing the history of these instruments, the company itself and the musicians who played them. Ironically they were intended for Hawaiian and Jazz musicians and then Blues players just happened to like them too!

Blues Matters! 26

I believe that at this time you also started collecting instruments including presumably the Hawaiian guitar and maybe the Weissenborn which has since become more known through Ben Harper and others. Do you have a vast collection?

Not a vast collection but all good instruments. I got my first Weissenborns in the in the 1970’s before Ben was born. He, of course, has the biggest collection of these fine instruments. I was lucky to find mine back when nobody knew or cared what they were!

Is it difficult to introduce all these instruments and music from different cultures to your Blues audience or are they very open minded?

I have very slowly developed my abilities on a lot of instruments, not all at once, and of course I am still learning how to play. There are certain sounds that allow the transmission of deep feeling, in many cultures, and for me those sounds are the essence of Blues. Most people are open-minded though sometimes older Blues fans can be a bit conservative in their tastes. It is important to remember that all the great old Blues heroes we all admire were heroes because they were innovators, not nostalgia boys.

Can you remember your first paid gig?

I began as a street musician a long, long time ago. Extracts of those years and the following 35 years can be seen on my DVD Par Avion.

Tell us about your most enjoyable gig and also your most difficult?

I’ve worked in 65 countries and have had many intense experiences, these days I enjoy all my gigs. Forming deep and lasting friendships with great musicians around the world and being constantly in a learning mode has been a rich experience for my life. These days, with increased age, I appreciate being able to transmit feeling with music and feel at my best when playing an instrument.

Where are you playing at the moment and are there any plans to tour UK?

Right now I am on tour in France. This year has been spent mostly working in Europe and also recording. I have been working this year on several new collaborations in Romania, Italy and Belgium. My future plans are still coming into focus.

Your exhilarating and passionate new album ‘Fire In The Mind’ utilises instruments from various different cultures - National guitars, Hawaiian guitars, Greek bouzouki, Hindustani slide guitar, Django style guitar and tablas etc. Is there a common thread somewhere here between the music or between the different cultures and areas of the world that you visit?

The common thread, I hope, is simply the transmission of feeling through music. I have taken more risks musically and also with singing and I think the result is more personal than earlier Blues albums I’ve made.

Tell us about your favourite track from the album. I am really happy with ‘Nightmares And Dreams’, since I was really trying to paint with sound, using mainly one instrument, both in minor and major tonalities. The primary instrument, the Hindustani slide guitar was played live with Jim Norris, my drummer, and most of the sound-painting was done in one pass with this instrument and the others adding only some colour and dialog. I forgot to mention in the sleeve notes the Okinawan sanshin included in this track. I think the two most personal tracks are ‘Strange Mind Blues’ and ‘Lonesome Blues’. They are both extremely sincere pieces of work’

Thank you Bob and a final message please for the readers of Blues Matters!

If you play music, just keep playing and enjoy the ride. If you play professionally be kind to sound engineers. For those who enjoy listening thanks for your support for us working musicians over the years.

Talks with Mike Owens

In 1948, the Netherland city of Enschede close to the German border, was struggling to recover from the ravages of World War 2. But on a brighter note, it was there on the 5th of April that one of Holland’s foremost blues performers was born. Now in his 64th year, Hans Theesink is as prolific as ever in his performing, touring and writing. He performs solo, duos or with a full band according to the promoter’s budget. Having recently issued his twenty-second CD ‘Delta Time’ with a DVD and a songbook, his work has been lauded worldwide. Especially in America, which was where the last CD was recorded in LA, in collaboration with Terry Evans and Ry Cooder, Arnold McCuller and Willie Greene Junior. All of them Cooder associates present and past. Listen to Hans, who is a year younger and you are immediately reminded of the commonality of Ry’s nuances and bottle necking expertise. As with Ry, Hans’s output is an eclectic one embracing blues, roots gospel, soul and many other stations west. UK residents may have been lucky to witness his recent tour here and he’s now back home in Vienna regrouping for a promotional tour in November 2012 of Delta Time with Terry Evans. It was from there that I caught up with him.

BM: Hans, I would first like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to give this interview for our readers. I notice that presently Amazon is currently out of stock of your new CD ‘Delta Time’ so I would guess its sales are going well?

HT: Yes, Delta Time is doing really well. I hope Amazon will restock soon. They ought to order plenty of them.

So to take you back to your first home in Enschede. Was it there that you first found an interest in music? Who or what was the influence and was it blues?

I liked the guitar and played in some skiffle and folk groups in the sixties. My first meeting with the blues was Big Bill Broonzy on the radio - a key experience that set me off on a long journey that still continues.

Did the Britblues explosion of the 60’s affect young Hans or did you look to the USA for inspiration?

I heard Alexis Korner, The Stones, John Mayall a.o but I was more into the acoustic side of things and tried to get hold of US records: Broonzy, Leadbelly, Brownie McGhee - but also white performers like Woody Guthrie, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Derroll Adams...

When and where did you start performing publicly?

In the mid-sixties at youth clubs in and around Enschede. I’d never thought of making money playing music but my first fee changed that around.

When did you start composing your own material?

I wrote songs almost right from the start. My first EP record was released in 1970 and I had a few of my own songs on that one.

What are the external influences, if any, which inspire your own compositions?

I listen to all sorts of music and like the more rootsy side best. My compositions are usually blues-based but there are influences from lots of other music forms too: rootsrock, folk, world, gospel, soul etc.

The recent collaboration with Terry, Ry Cooder and friends recording ‘Delta Time’ in LA was your second one I think, so what was the circumstance of your first visit to the USA and was it then that you first met Ry?

My first records in the US came out on the Flying Fish label out of Chicago in the late eighties. These releases got me invitations to play at many blues-, jazz- and folk festivals in N.America (a.o. Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans and the Chicago Blues Festival). I first met Terry Evans at a folk festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1992 where Terry performed with his partner Bobby King. Fantastic singing. We jammed back in the hotel and I invited Terry & Bobby to sing on CALL ME; a record I was working on. Since then I’ve collaborated with Terry on and off; he sang on several of my albums and also was part of my band for a while. Our first duo record was VISIONS about four years ago. I’ve always been a big Ry Cooder fan and had met Ry on a few occasions in the past. Terry has sung with Ry for many years and when we recorded DELTA TIME Terry called Ry, and Ry agreed to come by the studio and sit in on the session. I was on cloud 9 - great to work with your idol. Ry is such a fantastic player that can enhance the mood of any song with his trademark sounds. (on VISIONS we had Richard Thompson as a guest - not a bad picker either).

You and Terry complement each other in every respect and that comes across so well in your collaborations. When did you discover this compatibility?

Working with Terry through the years, I always felt that our voices would go well together. I had a stripped down approach in mind where both voices have a lot of space. We’d been talking about it for some time and finally got together to cut visions which proofed that my baritone and Terry’s versatile gospel-soul voice were a perfect foil for each other. Also our different guitar styles fit well together. Terry plays very basic groove oriented chords and I tend to play the more elaborate slide- and finger picking parts.

I notice that at most blues concerts there is a notable lack of younger people in the audience. The Blues Foundation actively supports musicians taking blues into schools in their BITS campaign. What is your take on that?

I think bits are a great initiative. Especially in times like these where blues music is more or less absent on the radio. Kids haven’t got a chance to hear this music unless they know somebody that has a record collection. I do play some concerts in schools and admire people like Michael Roach who really work hard to inform kids about this wonderful music. The thing is: as soon as they experience a live performance, they love it.

In contrast to the audiences, there continues to be a healthy influx of talented young musicians to the genre. How do you see their future twenty years down the line?

Hard to say, but if the music means something to you, you have to go for it and try to make the best of it. You got to be dedicated. I think there will always be room for well executed handmade music that can get emotions across. When I started more than forty years ago, I didn’t think I’d still be doing it in 2012.

Looking at your website your gig list is still very busy but given the worldwide economic downturn that has radically affected blues promoters in some areas, in what way has this affected your touring?

Personally I’m not affected. I still get loads of invitations and have to turn down gigs. I do play solo-, duo- and band-gigs and maybe that helps too. If a promoter can’t afford to put up a band he may be able to do the soloact.

Finally Hans, if you had to reduce your guitar collection to just three, which ones would you choose and why?

That’s the hardest question of them all and you’ve got me there. I’m a guitar freak and own loads of great instruments (guitars, mandolins, banjos etc.). When I drive to gigs I usually take 3 guitars: Two 6-strings (one standard- and one open tuning) and a 12-string. Those are probably the guitars I’d keep but I’d try to at least hide a resonator and a mandolin in some secret place too.

Hans, thank you so much for giving Blues Matters your time and your music for us to enjoy.

My pleasure and regards to all the Blues Matters readers. Blues really matters!

GWYN ASHTON

by Peter Sargeant

Musician and singer Gwyn Ashton talks about his latest gritty and varied album ‘Radiogram’ to Pete Sargeant I have a problem with Gwyn Ashton. It’s far too easy for any chat we have to veer off into non-stop guitar geekworld! This happened last time I interviewed him backstage at the HalfMoon in Putney ( I ended up MC’ing the show) when he put on a typical fiery performance which revved up the audience and sent them out into the chilly night air humming blue-note riffs and energized. Ashton’s pretty much in the tradition of the late Rory Gallagher, plays it straight and with a masterful touch. With too many current bluesbased albums sounding overslick and sonically airbrushed, Gwyn wants his latest outing to go against the grain. Having just listened again to the record and not aided by any liner notes or having info to hand, I rang Ashton at his English Midlands base to sound him out on what I was hearing.

BM: You.ve called the new album ‘Radiogram’ and indeed it starts with the sound of a radiogram loading, so what’s the thinking there, matey?

GA: Well..I kind of…I’ve been listening to a lot of old albums. Pete and I’ve been listening to a lot of new stuff as well.. Things that have come out in the last few years..and for the last twenty or so years, I guess the emphasis has been on the big production sound..on most people’s albums.

Yeah customers now, they do expect those production values to be present, don’t they?

Yeah. and I’m not a big fan of that multi-track and layering up the sound over and over…it just doesn’t sound real to me, everyone’s tweaking it all up and making sure it all sounds just…perfect. Squeaky clean, and all the records that like to listen to they’re scratchy. Imperfect…a few mistakes or bum notes here or there…it doesn’t appeal to me.

I think if Papa Lightfoot went into a studio now, they’d have no idea how to capture that sound.

Hmmm..not really..it’s very easy, you just set the band up in a corner of the room and press ‘Record’ and just play.

Yeah but that’s because you are one of the bosses of live performance you want to make records that you can reasonably reproduce live, or am I wrong?

Yeah, that’s it I guess…I mean, we do different versions of live stuff anyway, we put different feels to things, keys, tempos, it what happened there on the night – you know what I mean?

Of course I do! ask my poor band ….hey talking of keys the opening cut has a slide setting but what’s the tuning. Cos it sounds like it’s in F!

It’s F sharp but I’m tuned down a note..so yeah it’ll come out F…..I really like the organic sounding stuff like ‘Layla’ – Derek & The Dominoes, The Band.

Do you not think that once you’ve heard and absorbed Little Feat, your ears are changed somewhat? Not everybody playing at once on the song. It has to put some 3-D in your music..not everything blaring away all the time.

No, exactly. The bigger anything else sounds in the mix, everything else suffers. So, the bigger the drum sound, the smaller the guitar will sound…now what really impressed that on me was about twelve years ago, they brought out all the Rory Gallagher catalogue [since corrected, with the new re-masters ! see my reviews – PS] and y’know, the drums sound BIG on it..but the guitar..?..and that’s not how I want to remember Rory’s music. A great drummer will play AROUND the guitar sound.almost framing it, like a painting. In a guitar band the drums do follow the guitar, really…using the guitar for cues, y’know..in a modern rock band, everybody follows the drummer, he’s keeping the whole thing down.

The other thing is, Gwyn – are these players looking at each other? Or are they just there looking grim and playing their planned parts? You won’t get this interplay thing, like the Meters or someone. That’s gone from a lot of modern music. The interplay, the spontaneity, that sort of way of thinking musicians used to know their instruments so well that they would be able to play around with stuff. Now there’s a lot of this indie stuff that‘s just strumming and banging.

I can’t stand it… guitars round their necks, so pleased to be holding down a chord they hammer it to death. I know!!! I’ve seen some horrendous stuff on TV. Now, it’s great that the younger bands are out there doing it.

But many haven’t learned the use of space, how to ease off.

The difference between the modern British blues scene and the 60’s is that in that time, they all came up from the jazz bands, Graham Bond, Chris Barber and the musicians were really really good and they’d be playing blues and just charging it up..y’know, like Cream those guys could take it anywhere because they were qualified.

The older bands used to swing not strut

Yeah that’s right, it’s all hair-flicking now, it’s for television.

But you and I loved records before we even knew what people looked like Exactly, so ‘Radiogram’ I’m just trying to get back to the old days approach. I never really left them to tell you the truth.

Let’s run through these tracks - you know what I’m like, I listen to things closely and points occur..First track ‘Little Girl’ is that a National Steel?

Yeah…

It then goes into this hard-drivin’ rock feel..a bit ZZ Top there Ok, the whole thing is a ZZ Top nod..I play bass on the album as well; the outro harmonica is Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds)

The second track ‘Don’t Wanna Fall’, sounds like you’re writing a single for Alice Cooper! It does have swagger, I love it, I must say.

Oh thank you! Yes it’s a bit Tom Petty/Alice Cooper mixed. That shows you can do these things, when you’re in that frame of mind. ‘Let Me In’ is a more Texas-style number. What inspired that?

The riff is inspired by Hound Dog Taylor, in the band live I use that riff to play ‘Rock Me Baby’, so it’s has that groove and I have been listening to a fair bit of Hound Dog, Muddy Waters, just thought I’d bastardise it all, throw it around. I thought, we can’t really record ‘Rock Me Baby’, Everybody’s done that and the turnaround’s a bit funny..goes from G down to F or something..and it’s not a twelve-bar it’s more like eighteen-bar..I had just got into the way of thinking like John lee Hooker. Well when I was listening to it, I wondered whether it was a touch Lightnin’ Hopkins. Oh right..well, yes I have been listening to him and Fred McDowell.

Don’t try and disguise this from me, mate!

(Laughs) OK and I messed up a few notes there and it was live and we just did it in one take..so I went upstairs and wrote the lyrics, then I got Johnny Mastro to play on that one, from Mama’s Boys out in Los Angeles, was over there at the time and had me laptop with me.

‘Fortunate Kind’ – now this is interesting cos hitherto on your records I haven’t noticed much of a Delbert McClinton or even Van Morrison leaning BUT this track seems to touch that countryish zone, reflective Yeah, yeah… I wrote that a couple of years ago, well maybe seven years ago. I was on Train going to Hamburg from Heidelberg, bit of a long haul. I had a whole carriage to myself so I just wrote that and it was just after Xmas. It’s not about a person, it’s about missing Australia, my family and friends.. I was by myself, thinking It chimed with Van’s ‘St Dominic’s Preview’ album mood. For me.

Well, that’s good! Now also when I recorded that, Levon Helm has just died, I wanted to give it a bit of a Band treatment..to sound just a little bit like ‘The Weight’. I had Ronnie Blunt and half of Robert Plant’s Honeydrippers playing on there!

The Muddy Waters song here has a very dirty, fuzzy, delay broken-up kinda sound..like drunk lurching home. Yeah that was a Hendrixy, 60s psychedelic kind of sound there [‘I Just Wanna Make Love’]

‘Dog Eat Dog’ is the sort of cut that Paul Jones might pick for his radio show. I hope so.

A very exuberant sound

Again that was song I’d written a fair time ago. I wanted to get a bit AC/DC actually, get back to my first inspirations, my Australian Roots.

I preferred the Radio Birdman/New Race strain of Aussie bands..more Detroit-linked GA: And I still wanted it to remain true to where it came from in the first place - The Blues. Again it’s got a different turnaround, you’re expecting the 5.

But it’s the 3. The next cut is Hendrixy…

‘Angel’? it’s a song of min. The chorus I wanted to get more of an Abbey Road sound to it. Is that a Strat on that?

Yeah.

‘For Your Love’ is not the Graham Gouldman – Yardbirds song

Nope, it was another Abbey Road-triggered song.

You wouldn’t hear that and know straight away it was Gwyn Ashton, I venture. Well that’s fine! Thing about music is you don’t necessarily want to be pigeonholed to a particular style.. you want to grow a little, as a musician. To bring it all together. The good thing about the old records is that you might not like that [individual] song but if you put the album on, you might eventually like it. Might be your favourite song on that album in six months’ time..

Yes – the first Jethro Tull album ‘This Was’, I didn’t like some of the cuts originally but now I realise how it flows. Jazz drumming, Clive Bunker.

You were kind of allowed to be varied in those days. I wanted that with ‘Radiogram’. There’s a lot of different stuff on there, the different styles. I sequenced the whole album deliberately like it is so the tracks would indeed flow into each other, was thinking Side 2 of ‘Abbey Road’.

The kings of that were Spirit – ‘The Family That Plays Together’ album

See, that’s what kids are missing out on when they’re downloading..I don’t like that song [immediately] so I’m not going to download it’. Albums used to be sequenced for effect, so you’re missing out on the entire experience or original vision.

I think you’re right. Shuffle fragments what the artist intended.

I’m a little bit guilty of that when I’m driving I have my iPod on shuffle..you get songs that you haven’t played for a long time..in that aspect it can be good.

’Coming Home’ has a ‘Get Back’ tempo which you don’t normally venture into.

That started off as a Rockpile type song, when we recorded it sounded too much like Status Quo. Change of key..it’s kind

of Eddie Cochran meets The Clash..Steve Earle? If you know what I mean.

Curiously it sounds a bit like The Flamin’ Groovies. Never heard them.

San Francisco rockers..there’s some homework for ya!

The baritone I was aiming at was Link Wray/Dick Dale there.

Final cut: ‘Blues For Roy’ …..I’m guessing Buchanan.

Yeah, that’s it. A total jam, let’s not listen to the song, let’s just record it and see. And it is quite long. It’s laidback.

I wanted to get halfway between Roy Buchanan and Jeff Beck. Is that a Telecaster?

Yeah, a ’52 Tele.

Have you got that one where Roy does Neil Young’s ‘Down By The River’? that’s scary.

Oh yeah – he did it better than Neil Young. Some reviewers haven’t really understood where that is coming from, that cut…I just got back from Finland and I’m there again next week so we’ll be promoting this set.. playing with Johnny Winter, so that’ll be fun! I want to play this all over the world…right now I’m focusing on songwriting, I guess..I have always appreciated songs. Without a song in there it’s just a jam.

Just finally Gwyn – your beautiful face appeared in a magazine ad for a PA system recently I spotted!

I do a lot of acoustic gigs around the place and I got an endorsement with HK Audio. It’s ideal for the acoustic side of my career..I wouldn’t use if it wasn’t any good!

Thanks Gwyn, keep in touch re gigs down south.

by Sybil Gage

Survival For The Fittest

Sybil Gage Talks with Joe “Survival Caruso” New Orleans native Joe “Survival” Caruso is the very definition of a Bluesman. The blues defines the melancholy side of life and Joe has certainly walked that walk When you hear Caruso sing his original tunes, like ‘State Of Pain’ or‘Down This Road’ from his new CD “I Got The Voodoo Baby”, you know he is no stranger to the lyrics. Survivor? Yes, he survived prostate cancer back in the 90’s. 2005 found him homeless in Louisiana, compliments of Katrina. He lost everything he owned except a watery guitar and some old photos, protected because they were stored in an empty coffee can. Joe made his way to Florida, with his elderly mom, Mrs.Verdadelle in tow Joe, you have been playing the blues for a long time. Your hometown, New Orleans is well known for jazz and rhythm and blues. How were you exposed to the blues?

I was exposed to the blues when I was a baby. There were more blues players in my neighbourhood on Desire St. in the 9th ward. My mother played blues in our home on 78rpm records. Big Joe Turner, Dinah Washington, she played the first blues I ever heard. The clubs back then had mostly blues on the jukeboxes. Country Western too. I like Gene Autry and Patsy Kline, pure country.

For many years in your career you thrived as a sideman. Who were some of the acts you were involved with. I could go on with that all day, but, I backed Johnny Adams, Bobby Marchan, Ernie K Doe, Aaron Neville, Mathilda Jones, Al “ Lil Fats” Jackson, O. V Wright, Brook Benton, ZZ Hill. I toured the West with Rockin’ Jake.

Have you ever toured Europe?

In 1991 I toured Germany with the great R & B singer Buddy Ace. We toured in Berlin, played at Quasimodo’s. There were so many people waiting in line for tickets, we thought Michael Jackson was in town. Then we found out they were waiting for US! The next day we were on a train, and we played all over Germany by rail. A C Reed and Tailgate were also on the bill.

What made you decide front your own band?

People always told me to stay in the back. I went to school for music on the West Coast. There I found a mentor in my teacher Ms. Jackie Hairston. She encouraged me and made me believe in myself in that regard.

How did you arrive at the name “Survival”?

The name fits me because I have been through a lot of crazy situations and accidents, but really the story is not that interesting. It was the name of a band I was in called The Survival Band of New Orleans. I kept the name Survival because it set me apart from other Joe Caruso’s out there playing guitar.

You were in the news recently involving another, ‘blues related’ incident. Tell us about it. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I was on my way to a gig at Earl’s Hideaway in Sebastian Florida. I was on I-95, and I was almost there when I noticed smoke coming up from the dashboard on the passenger side. I pulled over, grabbed a towel, jumped out of the van and tried to put out, what were now flames. Realizing that wasn’t going to work, I grabbed a guitar from the inside and a big ball of flame came out of the dash and set the ceiling on fire. I managed to pull out a bass amp and also a bag of wires, but the rest of the sound equipment and instruments went up in flames, my CD’s too. The rest of the band members came to get me. We worked the gig and had a great Sunday afternoon in spite of it.

You have a way of rising from the ashes, so to speak. Did anything good come of that?

Well, I found out who my friends were. One guy lent me a beautiful guitar. People came out to help in many different ways. Even my insurance company came through, and I now have a nicer van than I had before.

The watery guitar we spoke of earlier. Was it in the van and was that the guitar that you rescued from Katrina’s floods?

I wish I could say yes, but, that guitar was my best,favourite guitar. It perished in the flames that day. It was an Epiphone 335 Dot, and I could hear it screaming.

You have a few CDs, but your latest is all original tunes, blues songs you wrote. ‘I Got The VooDoo Baby’. There is an interesting story behind the recording of this CD.

I donated my time as a solo artist to help a foundation make money for the homeless. I didn’t know it but, they entered me in a band contest and I won the money needed to make the recording.

I have often heard you say that the blues makes you happy. Explain that.

It can. The music itself is uplifting, makes you dance. When you are dancing and enjoying you forget about your troubles. The blues can do that.

Life for Joe “Survival” Caruso is on the upswing now. This year you have been

I opened for Chubby Carrier recently, sometime later, Guitar Shorty, David Gerald and most recently soul man Curtis Salgado.

What is the CD that you are most proud of?

That would be “I’ll Never Get out of these Blues Alive”. I am so proud of it becauseIt was recorded in New Orleans Louisiana at Audiophile Studio. Mr. George Buck produced that CD and you can find it at the Louisiana Music Factory, and with me on my gigs. It is very authentic blues and rhythm and blues.

Any musical goals for you in the short term?

I would like to be better known and have my music played around the world.

Joe “Survival” Caruso’s CD’s can be found on iTunes, CD Baby, and Louisiana Music Factory. Sybil Gage is a Writer, Touring Musician and Host of the radio show “Sybil Gage’s Stormy Monday Show”.

MUDDY WATERS

Messin With The Man

1953-1961

Snapper Music

This review could start and finish with just the twenty four track listing on the CD as this should be enough for any Blues connoisseur to appreciate the merits of this album, the period starting in 1953 saw Muddy putting together a band that many consider to be the definitive line up; Otis Span, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter and Elga Edmonds. The years covered on this album illustrate the impact that Willie Dixon had on the Blues scene in Chicago, not only had he joined Muddy’s band by 1954 but just prior to this he wrote some all time classic Blues songs like; ‘I’m Ready’, ‘I just want to make love to you’ and ‘I’m your Hoochie Coochie man’, all included here, what would the British Blues scene have done if these tracks have never been recorded? Other than the 1960 live track from the Newport Jazz festival all the remaining material is taken from the original studio recordings of the time. A must have album in the “Complete Blues Series” that highlights the influence Muddy Waters had and continues to have on Blues and Rock music, six decades after it was originally recorded.

room the energy of a live performance. The highlights for me were Dani Wilde’s ‘Mississippi Kisses’ and ‘Down In The Swamp’ by Samantha.

Liz Aiken

BO DIDDLEY

The Indispensable Bo Diddley Discovery Records 3 CD Set

Adrian Blacklee

BLUES CARAVAN 2012

Girls With Guitars Live Ruf Records

This double offering from the ever confident girls with guitars, Dani Wilde, Samantha Fish and Victoria Smith (Bass) of a brilliant CD and very watch-able DVD in this double package of delight. The only slight disappointment in this combo is the fact that many of the tracks are repeated, but on the plus side you hear them twice and once you have the pure joy of visuals with all the energy that a live performance gives. This package is the perfect way of enabling the girls to demonstrate their huge individual skills on the strings and the giant vocals delivered by Dani and Samantha. It is also the perfect vehicle to see the girls working as a team building up a crescendo of sound that resonates the very best of rock blues. The selection of tracks, many self-penned by either Samantha or Dani, and the covers chosen are not just from the vast catalogues of blues songs available but also great renditions of Motown including Smokey Robinson’s ‘Who’s Loving You’ that so suits Dani’s vocal range. The DVD shows how the live show adds that extra dimension with the witty asides between the tracks providing continuity and giving the songs their own personal context. This is a combo full of energy, youthful talent and dollops of pure talent as these young women take to the front of the stage and strut their stuff with stunning guitar licks and riffs and vocals that add to the lyrics giving them drive and direction. This is modern blues of the highest quality and is a must for anyone’s CD/DVD collection giving the front

64 scintillating, shuffling carpet-ripping R&B nuggets from a true legend, a real innovator who has inspired every generation of blues artists for over half a century. You wanna start a blues band? Not totally content with ‘Woke up this mornin’ or ‘Goin’ Down slow?’ You want your audience to smile and dance at the same time? You like having fun? Then get this set of CDs, listen and learn. Every blue-eyed soul boy, mod and rocker in every band since the fledgling Rolling Stones and Yardbirds cut their musical teeth on the mighty Bo. Everything you need is here. Who Do You Love, Pretty Thing, Mona, Mumblin ’Guitar… these songs are the solid iron rivets which hold the plates of the good ship R&B together. Sadly, in later life, Bo Diddley, alias Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), with his songwriter name Ellas McDaniel, like so many innovators from the great age of Chess Records, took on a sour view of the way his music had been purloined and hi-jacked by so many other, higher-earning acts, agents, producers and managers. In some interviews he justifiably railed against the racism which had been endemic in the music industry back in his formative years, a period where various contractual smoke and mirrors deals deprived him of royalties for many of his biggest hits. “For me” he said, “R&B meant rip-off and bullshit - I opened the door for a lot of people, and they just ran through and left me holding the knob”. Well, it’s sad, but it’s all true. What remains are these splendid records, and with this set there’s a detailed discography and 25 pages of informative notes. These cuts only cover five years, from 1955 to 1960, yet in their vibrancy and quality they serve to remind us of what a terrific age this was for R&B, and you’ll hear the foundation in the Diddley Beat of so many other pop hits which have plugged into Bo’s originality down the decades. Call yourself an R&B fan and don’t have this? Buy it today – it is truly as the title states – indispensable.

Roy Bainton

BOB SEELEY & LLUÍS COLOMA

International Boogie Woogie Explosion

Swing Alley

Boogie woogie has sometimes been described as limited and repetitive. Not so this set though! It had me hooked right from reading the sleeve notes, a wonderful, detailed interview with Detroit pianist Bob Seeley, who met Meade Lux Lewis (one of the original “Boogie Woogie Trio”) back in the 40s, and who left his mark on the young man – as the four Lewis tracks here testify. The younger Spanish blues and boogie ace Lluís Coloma has come to my attention many times over the last few years and I can confirm that he is one excellent musician – so put Coloma and Seeley together for a four-handed boogie fest and the expected fireworks sure do happen on this live set recorded in Madrid in 2011. The basses roll like thunder,

but these guys can also slow it down and think outside the box (try ‘Taboo’). Bob Seeley describes boogie-woogie as “nothing but happy blues” – and that’s just how I felt after listening to this. If you’ve ever been unsure about boogie, buy this CD. Recommended? You bet!

CHUCK BERRY

Norman Darwen

Rockin’ At The Hops / New Juke Box Hits Hoodoo Records

If anyone is going to be throwing cameras against toilet walls in a rage at the American 50 year copyright rule, then it’s going to be Chuck Berry, as a plethora of his material is now appearing on a host of labels. This brace of albums first saw the light of day on Chess Records in 1960 and 1961 respectively, and despite the title of the latter, saw Chuck Berry past his hit making days. Which may be why Chess had him recording the likes of ‘Route 66’ and ‘Rip It Up’. But regardless of the lack of hits, these albums are well worth hearing, especially “Rockin’ At The Hops”, which saw him revisiting his blues roots with takes on ‘Worried Life Blues’, ‘Down the Road a Piece’ and ‘Confessin’ the Blues’, in the company of Johnnie Johnson, Willie Dixon and Matt “Guitar” Murphy amongst others. And there’s still room for a couple of top drawer Berry numbers in the guise of the many times covered ‘Bye Bye Johnny’ and ‘Let It Rock’. “New Juke Box Hits” is less essential, but with a court case hanging over his head, which resulted in a three year jail sentence, it’s understandable that he had other things on his mind. This issue adds on a few contemporaneous bonus tracks including the singles ‘Come On’ and ‘Back In The USA’, and if for some strange reason you’re Chuck Berry-less, then this is a good place to go, after you get his fifties hits. Incidentally, in case you believe the internet, Etta James adds backing vocals to a handful of tracks, as do Harvey Fuqua and Marvin Gaye elsewhere, but that’s all she wrote.

BOBBY WOMACK

Across 110th Street

Charly

This double CD not only marks the 40th anniversary of the successful blaxploitation movie soundtrack album of the title but also contains Womack’s two follow-up albums, “Facts Of Life” and “Lookin’ For A Love

Stuart A Hamilton

Again”. Now some may recall Bobby for ‘It’s All Over Now’, a big hit for The Rolling Stones, others might tend to think of him as a soul man – both are valid enough, but there is far more to him. He began, traditionally enough, working in the gospel field and was quickly mentored by Sam Cooke (from whom he learned Bessie Smith’s blues ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out’, very funkily remade here; and the beautiful ‘That’s Heaven To Me’), enjoyed success with his R&B group The Valentinos (whose ‘Lookin’ For A Love’ he redoes), turned to southern soul (take a listen to ‘I’m Through Trying To Prove My Love To You’), flirted with rock as on the soundtrack’s ‘Do It Right’ or the psychedelic soulman’s version of Hendrix’s version of ‘All Along The Watchtower’, and even tried

country (‘Copper Kettle’) before settling down to life as a legend of Black American music. That’s what he is now, and this CD is well worth a listen!

Norman Darwen

BUTCH THOMPSON AND PAT DONAHUE

Vicksburg Blues

Redhouse Records

Long time exponents of bluesy acoustic and honky tonk ragtime music, laid down by a duo who although have played many times before, notably on ‘A Prairie Home Companion’, this is the first album they have brought out together. Butch Thompson a renowned pianist and clarinet player, played sweetly and laid back on ‘If I Had You’ backed up by Grammy winning acoustic and lead vocalist Pat Donahue. An overall relaxed and fun feel to this release sees them both delivering a much polished performance and great value for a nineteen track release. This is peppered with jazz piano; most noted in such songs as Leroy Carr’s ‘How Long Blues’ and Jelly Roll Morton on ‘219 Blues’ There is also a nod to a musical revue in 1931 “You Can’t Loose A Broken Heart’ although there are also five self-penned songs by the main artists themselves, including ‘Blues For Two’. Thompson breaks out his vintage clarinet for elegantly simple solos, including ‘If I Had You’, which again combines well with Donahue’s finger picking guitar work. The title track ‘Vicksburg Blues’ is pure class Mississippi delta style with Donahue’s wailing vocals echoing the lyrics of one of his favourite songwriters Little Brother Montgomery. A long awaited collaboration between two consummate musicians that complement each other well, a gem.

Colin Campbell

DAVID HIDALGO / MATO NANJI / LUTHER DICKINSON

3 Skulls And The Truth Provogue

This is a collaboration between David Hidalgo the main man of Los Lobos, Mato Nanji of Indigenous and Black Crowes lead guitarist Luther Dickinson and as you would imagine this album contains plenty of muscular lead guitar work with the trio sharing solos and vocals. The raucous sounds of this album will probably appeal to fans of Dickinson’s other band The North Mississippi Allstars. The music here is raw, loud, rough and sometimes almost primal boogie based Blues-rock a la ZZ Top. Opener

‘Have My Way With You’ is a primitive stomping boogie which opens with guitar and vocals before the band kick in and the song culminates in a frenzy with Dickinson’s slide guitar leading the way home. The tempo drops to a steady walking pace for ‘I’m A Fool’ with the rhythm section of drummer Jeff Martin and bassman Steve Evans laying down a solid beat for the triple guitar attack. The material is all original and written by producer Mike Varney, Nanji and Dickinson and consists of 12 good, well-constructed songs with clever lyrics and plenty of axe interaction. ‘All I Know’ is a meaty chunk of Bluesboogie featuring soulful vocals, two punchy guitars and the whole thing is underscored by Dickinson’s chiming slide guitar. ‘The Worldly And The Divine’ starts out as a hard rocking Blues and then develops into a Hendrix style psychedelic workout verging on the chaotic. ‘Cold As Hell’ is an atmospheric slow number which builds in intensity and features a wah-wah guitar solo. ‘The Truth

Ain’t What It Seems’ crashes out of the speakers with the

three guitars weaving in and around each other splendidly without tripping over each other. Closer ‘Natural Comb’ is a slow churning Blues allowing plenty of space for the triple threat axe attack as the layers of guitar set up a wall of glorious sound. I sometimes get a little jaded with yet another blues-rock album but the visceral edge and quality of this one blows away any cobwebs. It’s a belter!

LINSEY ALEXANDER

Been There Done That Delmark

Dave Drury

Opening with a howl of harmonica courtesy of Billy Branch, ‘Been There Done That’ tells you right from the get go that this is classic Blues. Can’t say I mind ‘cause he does that thing real well. Alexander hails originally from Holly Springs Mississippi but he moved to Memphis before the likes of R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough would have had a big influence on him and his sound is really rooted in Beale Street although there is a fair amount of Chicago in his guitar sound as he made the classic trek from Memphis to Chicago when he was 18 and in love. He developed quickly and played with a number of the greats including Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush and B.B. King but his career never quite hit the heights of the greats. Musically, this album hits spots along the route from hard Blues to soul and takes in all the scenery along the way. The title track has touches of Al Green and a wonderfully smooth horn sound while ‘Bad Man’ has the feel of Rufus Thomas and the Stax sound with keyboards from Roosevelt Purifoy and a guitar solo from Breezy Rodio that is just the right side of strangled. ‘The Same Thing I Could Tell Myself’ is a lonesome Blues with tinkling piano and harmonica while the emotion behind ‘Going Up On The Roof’ is bare and dark. Alexander’s vocals are strong all through the album and he really puts a song over brilliantly, full of passion and not short of humour but you can hear the years of playing, all the clubs and all the hard work in his vocal and his words. There are a million players around, middle ranked Bluesmen who just never get the lift up into the top clubs but not many whose songs and music are on this kind of level. I hadn’t heard Linsey Alexander before but this is one man I will make an effort to seek out. Just excellent Blues.

Andy Snipper

leading the way. ‘Funky Miracle’ is an acid-jazz groover which opens with a pumping bass line and features plenty of interplay between organ and guitar. The Bluesiest track on the album is a splendid cover of ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ with guest vocalist Bia Marchese who does a good job on this oft covered number. Borger is a very fine player of both piano and Hammond organ and he skilfully mixes jazz-funk, soul and Blues with a passion that shines through in his music. ‘Boogie Pro Be’ is another boogiewoogie workout which features a great double bass solo from Rodrigo Mantovani. ‘Funky Jam’ is exactly that, a JTQ style number featuring throbbing bass lines, ice pick guitar and slithering funky organ from Borger. Closing track is the original tune ‘Back To The Blues’ which is a lengthy slow Blues giving everyone the opportunity to stretch out and show their virtuosity. Good stuff and an album that can be recommended to those who like their Blues on the jazzy side.

Dave Drury

DIXIE FRIED

Big Rock Candy Records

Dixie Fried are Glaswegians Craig Lamie, guitar and vocals and John Murphy on drums, a line-up in the tradition of White Stripes and Black Keys. The latter are one of their many influences, with an emphasis on Mississippi blues meet stripped down rock, or is it Clyde delta blues/rock? They claim to play their take on the blues as well as two Scottish guys can, and this CD proves that is an understatement. ‘Eastbound’ is a song which typifies this back to basics blues with attitude. ‘Red Light Dreamin’ highlights all the best techniques of a guitar/ vocals and drums duet with skillful interplay and varied dynamics. ‘Crossroad Watcher’ adds changes of speed whilst maintaining a mesmeric riff whilst ‘Gram Jam’ has stylistic variations and light and shade contrasts. Some tracks are a little repetitive and it is worth checking the samples on the website to make sure that the overall sound is for you. The rawness of the duo is a major strength and a refreshing change from the over-produced, over-hyped, multi-instrumental bands on the circuit. They must be sensational live, whether jamming in a garage or on stage at King Tut’s, because if Craig and John can light up a studio then any live venue will be an inferno.

The Bishop

GERRY DICKSON

Blues In My Time Independent

ARI BORGER QUARTET Back To The Blues

Independent

Ari Borger is a Brazilian keyboard player with a love of jazz and Blues which suits my tastes well. As on previous releases there is a Jimmy Smith track and here it is that groovy favourite ‘Back At The Chicken Shack’ which features beefy Hammond organ riffs from Borger and jazzy guitar licks from Celso Salim. The self-penned and rollicking ‘Boogie Train’ features Borger pumping his piano furiously in a headlong rush to the terminus. Big Bill Broonzy’s ‘Key To The Highway’ allows Borger and his band to display their Blues chops with his rolling piano

Gerry is a native of Scotland, initially he became involved in performing during the late fifties rock’n’roll / early sixties Beatles era; during this time he played in a band named The Roadrunners, which, he informed me gave him a modest degree of success and a whole lot of fun. His introduction to the blues came in nineteen sixty four after hearing John Lee Hooker’s ‘Dimples.’ He did not perform on a regular basis again until about ten years ago firstly, in a small blues combo, before going solo a couple of years later, playing in the central Scotland area, mainly in and around Glasgow. Over the last five years he has made regular appearances at the Dundee

Blues Bonanza. The music contained on this album is a personal view of life in the modern world. Gerry’s music has, over the years been constantly evolving and distilling until it has finally become ensconced in the ‘Pre-War’ Blues style; within which he produces strong, sombrely evocative muscular tunes that enable his recollections and reflections to come to life. Throughout the album Gerry uses; a natural six string, with ‘G’ tuned Slide and a ‘C’ tuned twelve string guitars.

His soft, mellow, slightly melancholic Scottish burr evokes, at times a sadness that chills to the bone, the compensation though is in the richly textured, soul stirring playing that emanates from his fingers and also, the delicious images that he creates whilst playing slide; this is especially evident on the atmospherically crisp and slide ringing rendition of ‘Sitting On top Of the World.’ His numbers encapsulate emotion filled, fascinating and perceptive observations on solitary living, independence, friendships and despair. The somewhat jaunty, slightly toetapping ‘I Recognise It’ focuses on violent relationships; while modern day indifference is wonderfully explored on ‘Ambivalence,’ ‘Goodman Blues,’ is a gentle mixture of slide and picking, which focuses on the half empty, half full view of life and ‘Switched Off Mobile,’ explores the frustrations and desperation of trying to contact an indifferent lover. All in all this is a fine, fine album!

JOCK’S JUKE JOINT

Brian Harman

Contemporary Blues From Scotland Volume 1

Lewis Hamilton Music

Fantastic, at last a compilation of some of the best blues talent in Scotland. Over the past few years there has been a plethora of exponents of this genre, keeping up the legacy of such greats as Frankie Miller, and this release gives tasters of such talent. Produced by Lewis Hamilton, one of the best up and coming bands with a much acclaimed album , ‘Gambling Machine’ and also a blistering recording of a new track ‘Empty Roads’ here. The release starts with a stalwart of Scottish blues, Steve Hay, growling through ‘Shake Rag Boogie’ a crowd pleaser. Albany Dawn’s ‘South Of The City’ is an eclectic mix of styles they are well established. Other highlights include Gerry Jablonski and The Electric Band’s ‘Higher They Climb’, Gerry is very energetic live! Laura-May Gibson gives a soulful smoky approach to ‘You Can’t Hang’. The Jenson Interceptors, Sleepy Eyes Nelson and perennial favourites Dana Dixon Band provide a country bluesflavour. More experimental is Missing Cat with a gutsy ‘For The Loss Of It’. The Frank O’Hagan Band featuring Fraser Speirson harmonica provide a big band feel, just class. This release has to be one of the best compilations made this year, taking us on a roller coaster ride of emotions and blues styles, just cannot praise it enough, roll on Volume two!

Colin Campbell

JOHN FRIES AND THE HEAT US50

The opening track ‘Another Love’ has lovely guitar and passionate vocals with a tumbling pedal steel guitar. ‘Defeat’ again has wonderful storylines sung by John Fries ably supported by his band The Heat. All seven songs on the collection are self-penned and there’s not a filler track amongst it. The Heat consists of Pat Perry (Bass), Ron Lewis (Percussion) and John on guitar and vox, but the overall sound has a big band effect. ‘We Can Lie’ and the title track ‘US50’ will get a lot of airplay and I wouldn’t be

surprised to see them over here at festivals and gigs in the coming year on the strength of this album alone.

Bob Bonsey

HOWLIN WOLF

The Back Door Man

Complete Blues Snapper Music

This collection is the second volume from Snapper, focusing on the formidable talents of Mr. Howlin Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett), these twenty-four numbers are taken from his time spent with the Chicago Based Chess label. At this point in time his muscular and genuinely feral blues were a prominent and almost permanent fixture on the Chicago south side club scene with only a certain Mr. Muddy Waters as his perceived possible rival. At various times during this period he recorded with such richly sublime talented musicians as pianists; Otis Spann; Henry Gray; Hosea Lee Kennard and Johnny Jones; joined by the guitarists; Jody Williams; Hubert Sumlin; Willie Johnson; Abraham Smothers; Otis ‘Smokey’ Smothers; Freddy Robinson and Jimmy Rogers, while Willie Dixon and Alfred Elkins provided bass; with Earl Philips S.P. Leary; Freddie Below and Sam Lay supplying backbone drumming. Within these seven years the Wolf unleashed the now legendary numbers that he is famous and rightly revered for, beginning with the enjoyably shuffling ‘How Long,’ with its tripping, jumping drum work, rippling piano and rich guitar all brought together with the dulcet low growl of Howlin and his harmonica. ‘Evil,’ Follows next, with its deceptively low drums and jukey rolling piano and that voice ringing low and menacingly in your ears. Other classics such as ‘Wang Dang Doodle,’ ‘Spoonful,’ ‘Smokestack Lightning,’ ‘Back Door Man,’ ‘Shake For Me,’ ‘Down In The Bottom,’ and not forgetting ‘Red Rooster / Little Red Rooster,’ all explode from the speakers with their satisfying emotion laden mystery still intact. I found, that quietly (well, as quietly as one can,) listening to these numbers the sparse, simple low key arrangements greatly captured the hopes, dreams, humanity and the sometimes fatally dark results of those harsh times, as recalled in the moving ‘The Natchez Burning’ and ‘I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline).’

Simply Essential!

THE RED DIRT SKINNERS Home Sweet Home Independent

Brian Harman

What a delightful album a mix of genres folky, rootsy, Americana with a dash of the blues this is a CD that makes you smile. ‘Home Sweet Home’ is the follow up to the much acclaimed début album and builds on all the experience gained from performing at festivals and gigs. The album of self-penned songs is built on life’s experiences and this honesty shines through. The opening crow of the rooster and jaunty singing with its distinct country feel makes even a hangover seem worth the pain after being ‘Up All Night’. The CD is full of great

harmonies with the vocals of this dynamic duo of Rob and Sarah Skinner who between them sing and play eight instruments – Rob on stringed instruments and drums with Sarah on blues harp and wind instruments. The CD is definitely not monotonal as the moody rhythm and doleful ringing of a bell and husky tones of Sarah’s voice makes ‘Black And White’ a thought provoking soulful track. This is a duo that makes a joyous tuneful sound that would brighten up any festival or gig at a local club. This album should see them being invited to sing their own brand of the blues with their tongue in cheek lyrics at a wide array of venues. The CD definitely sells through enthusiasm and pleasure the very special The Red Dirt Skinners duo sound.

JOE LOUIS WALKER

Live at Slim’s

Volumes 1 & 2

Retroworld 2 CD set

San Francisco-born

Liz Aiken

Joe Louis Walker is a versatile bluesman of taste and erudition. You can hear his many influences across his varied work, from T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Meade Lux Lewis through to Amos Milburn, and Pete Johnson. He was already well known on the Bay Area music scene by the age of 16. His experience read like the ultimate ‘how to’ manual, and includes him playing with John Lee Hooker, Buddy Miles, Otis Rush, Thelonious Monk, The Soul Stirrers, Willie Dixon, Charlie Musselwhite, Steve Miller, Nick Lowe, John Mayall, Earl Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix. His roommate in the 198os was none other than Mike Bloomfield. When Bloomfield died, Walker put the blues behind him for a while and enrolled at San Francisco State University, graduating with a degree in Music and English. Thus there is a confident cultural underpinning to everything this man does. He knows his business well – and without doubt, that’s the blues. Live at Slim’s Vol 1 features songs recorded over a two-day stand at Slims in San Francisco on November 9 & 10, 1990. It includes terrific outings such as Clifton Chenier’s Hot Tamale Baby, Junior Wells’ Little By Little (with Huey Lewis, no less, on harp, who also appears on volume 2); with Joe duetting with Angela Strehli on the saucy old Fontella Bass/Bobby McClure rocker Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing. Judging by the excitement generated, these two gigs at Slim’s seem to have been quite an event. Volume 2 includes Joe’s forceful reading of Ray Charles’ Don’t You Know, and a cracking version of Little Milton’s Love at First Sight, as well as Roscoe Gordon’s terrific crowd-pleaser Just a Little Bit, along with Joe’s skilful originals. Great live atmosphere, a fine band, and blues to make your eyes water. This is a couple of good nights out in your own living room. Oh, praise the Lord for the wonders of live recording. Treat yourself – you’ll not be sorry.

Roy Bainton

KING CURTIS QUINTET

The New Scene Of King Curtis/ Soul Meeting

Fresh Sounds Records

A rerelease of King Curtis’s (Curtis Ousley) seminal works, they are predominantly jazz albums but there is an under riding rhythm and blues feel especially on the second release when the instrumentals are stripped back and all band members enhance each other with their excellent sound. The personnel list includes jazz greats like Paul Chambers and Wynton Kelly. Taking both releases into consideration you really get the feeling of laid back relaxing sounds and that smokey late night jazz club feel a chance to visualise special moments in jazz. Such jazz gems as ‘Willow Weep For Me’ is so cool, it will last in the listeners memory for a long time. Even those music fans who may not particularly enjoy jazz but can appreciate the intricacies of such a musical style for example ‘In A Funky Groove’ a catchy instrumental to finish off the first release. This instrumental jazz that has strong R&B and even rock ‘n’ roll influences. The second release ‘Soul Meeting’ again resonates with cool grooves, swings and an overall relaxing style none more so than the melodic cover of Cole Porter’s ‘What Is This Thing Called Love?’ With comprehensive liner notes by Nat Hentoff, it proves King Curtis was an influential and much in demand tenor saxophone player. A gem of a release leaving the listener wanting more.

Colin Campbell

JOHNNIE BASSETT

I Can Make That Happen Sly Dog Records

It is with great surprise and sadness to announce in a review the death of an artist only six weeks or so after their latest record release, even more so, when after a lifetime of playing the music he loved so much, also, that he was on the verge of bursting out into the limelight as a solo performer; Johnnie died of complications associated with liver cancer, on the 4th of August, aged seventy- six. He was born in Marianna, Florida in nineteen thirty-five, his family moved to Detroit in nineteen forty-four. He started playing guitar at the age of eighteen and over the years of his enduring career he has worked with such artists as; Dinah Washington; Ruth Brown; Little Willie John; Big Joe Turner; John Lee Hooker; Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles in the pre-Motown days of the Fifties. Also, he was for many years, a session guitarist for Detroit’s legendary Fortune Record label. In the early days of Jimi Hendrix’s career he sought out Johnnie to learn how to understand and use the open tuning method. Johnnie has perfected a loose casual approach to his style of playing, one which contains elements of a cool Jazz inflected richness that oozes ruby red resonances as his fingers carefully caress the fret board, there are at times, hints and whispers of T. Bone Walker and B.B. King but nothing you could prove. His voice exudes a gentle rippling, mellow burr of finely aged wine. Backing Johnnie are The Brothers Groove; Skeeto Valdez; drums James Simonson; bass, Chris Codish; keyboards and The Motor City Horns; John Rutherford; trombone, Bob Jensen; Mark Byerly; trumpet, with Keith Kaminski; saxophones. The eleven numbers all have a bluesy gripping, grooving and gliding feel but are tempered by the magically captivating horns on numbers such as; the dreamy, slow burning ‘Reconsider Baby,’ as is the somewhat bawdy ‘Spike Boy’ ‘Love Lessons,’ continues the amorous theme. The creamy horns, on ‘I

Can Make It Happen,’ completely envelopes you, in a warming slightly Stax feeling. A really standout number is ‘Teach Me To Love,’ where Johnnie shares vocals with the sublimely strong inviting voice of Thornetta Davis, together they create a warm, gentle loving ballad. ‘Dawging Around,’ is a toe tapping horn, guitar and keyboard infectious instrumental. The stark urban feel of the horns is evident on ‘Cha’mon!’ ‘Motor City Blues’ is a classic slow blues describing hard times and strife while ‘Let’s Get Hammered,’ is a fine shuffle on the art drinking to excess! A fine, fine epitaph!

BLUE ON BLACK

Robert Johnson’s Door Independent

Brian Harman

This trio from Cornwall do like to name-drop – as the title track shows – or is it that they are trying to educate? Certainly they have a wide knowledge of the blues in its many forms, taking their name from Kenny Wayne Shepherd and singing about the likes of Walter Trout, Johnny Shines, Little Walter, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lonnie Mack, Chicken Shack and others. The album does open with some fine Delta slide playing as on a scratchy 78, but then it is into loud blues-rock for the title track – “60 million fingers, who’d knock upon your door” – and onto the blues pure and simple for ’Cold Wind Blows’. Every now and then I hear a bit of Creamera Clapton in Keith Howe’s powerful guitar playing, and that’s not a bad thing at all. ‘Poor Boy Do’ is loud and proud, with Paul Arnott on bass and Nigel Masters on drums providing the right kind of kick for Keith’s riffing rock playing and muscular vocals. This is the pattern of the CD, and for ‘Black Smoke Blues’ celebrity fan and guitar ace Larry Miller steps up to supply some heated guitar work as special guest. Overall, well worth a listen.

LARRY GARNER

Blues For Sale

Dixiefrog

Victor Ian Leyland

With a whole new set of songs written by Larry Garner and production credits as well, the man is back in style and sounding fine. You can hear his Louisiana origins in his playing – Reverend Utah Smith was his earliest inspiration – and his vocal harmonies with Debbie Landry give some real soul to the songs. The music has a bounce to it that has been a feature of Garner’s music for many years but he seems to have rediscovered his zest for playing and numbers like ‘’Talkin’ Naughty’ show that the twinkle in his eye is still there. The musicians he has around him add hugely to the result and especially the keyboards of Nelson Blanchard put the New Orleans soul and ‘fonk’ into his sound. He can carry emotion as well as any singer around at the moment and ‘Broken Soldier’ – giving the veteran’s side in a deeply emotive but not overblown manner – is wonderfully understated. When he plays a straight Blues on a track like ‘Last Request (When I Die)’ he manages to call up some long lost Bluesmen with stunning guitar and hard edgy vocals; on ‘It’s Killing Me’ his guitar really catches the ear and with Blanchard’s keyboards and stunning bass from Shedrick Nellon the

tune becomes almost mesmeric at times. Closer, ‘Car Seat Baby’, is my personal favourite, a talking Blues putting down the kind of moneyed trash talker we have all seen around the scene and just jumping with a jazzy bounce. All through the album the playing is of the first order, understated and absolutely on the money and Joe Monk’s (Michael Ceaser) drums plus Mr. Mystery Man on sax are both excellent. There isn’t a duff track or a single piece of filler here and every track sounds as though it would be a killer played live.

Andy Snipper

LIL’ ED & THE BLUES IMPERIALS

Jump Start

Alligator

Not be confused with Little Anthony & The Imperials, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials are a band out of Chicago who first emerged under the wing of the uncle of Ed Williams and his half-brother James ‘Pookie’ Young, J B Hutto, in 1975. They are both classic Blues and steeped in the humour and sassiness of old style Rhythm & Blues – they also play like demons and make a great noise. There is nothing startlingly new or groundbreaking but it is wonderful to hear Chicago Blues played as well and with as much obvious fun as they manage here. Lil’ Ed’s vocals are strong and his clear tenor has a depth of soul about them alongside his jangling guitar style while the rest of the band – Michael Garrett on guitar, Pookie Young on bass and Kelly Littleton, drums, back him to the hilt. With the exception of J. B. Hutto’s ‘If You Change Your Mind’ all the tracks are written by Ed Williams and there are a few that could have become standards if they were written a few years back. ‘Musical Mechanical Electrical Man’ sounds as though it ought to be a double entendre but turns out to be a fast paced homage to being a manslave with a superb slide solo but tracks like the more straight ahead Blues of ‘You Burnt Me’ are right in the classic groove with a dark sound and some superb organ from Marty Sammon as Williams cries in anguish at the wrongdoing of his woman. ‘Weatherman’ again features excellent slide from Michael Garrett but the best track on the album is probably ‘If You Change Your Mind’ with all the power and presence the listener could wish for. An excellent band with seven previous albums and still playing with fun and passion.

Andy Snipper

LITTLE FREDDIE KING

Chasing The Blues

MadeWright

Fread Eugene Martin aka Little Freddie King (no relation) is now 72 years old, and he most definitely has the blues, if his new release “Chasing The Blues” is anything to go by. He’s most definitely a Delta bluesman, who is a cousin of Lightnin’ Hopkins, but after moving to New Orleans in 1954 end up playing juke joints with the likes of Slim Harpo and Champion Jack Dupree. Never a prolific recording artist, he managed to release one album with Harmonica Williams in 1969, before a

twenty seven year gap took him through to the 1996 release “Swamp Boogie”. This is his fourth studio release since then, and he’s certainly not going to be breaking any new ground nowadays. Instead he sticks to the tried and tested on this set of original songs. I say original, rather than new, as the opening track ‘Born Dead’ dates back 40 years. But, hey, they’re his songs, so I’m not going to argue. He rarely gets out of first gear, but when he hits a groove as he does on ‘Louisiana Train Wreck’, it really is a treat. In the finest tradition of the blues, he’s quite happy to re-appropriate some very familiar grooves as his own, but I don’t imagine anyone is going to sue. Its one chord and a beat, and all the better for it.

Stuart A Hamilton

MAGIC SAM Raw Blues! Live 1969 Floating World

In case you don’t know, Samuel “Magic Sam” Gene Maghett (1937 –1969) was a Chicago blues musician, who first made a name for himself on Cobra Records with ‘All Your Love’ in 1957. He was drafted into the army, deserted, was caught, sentenced to six months imprisonment and given a dishonourable discharge. He came back to public note later in the sixties, signing to Delmark Records, as well as performing with Charlie Musselwhite and Sam Lay. His big break was a show stealing slot at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969, but he died of a heart attack in December 1969, aged just 32. A posthumous benefit show saw the Butterfield Blues Band, Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, and Nick Gravenites paying tribute, such was the musical esteem he was held in. None of which would be apparent if this was the first time you heard Magic Sam. For sure, the sleeve talks of “ambience” at this show, which was recorded five months before his death. Apparently, down a foghorn, secreted in the toilet. Sometimes you detect a flash of brilliance, on Willie Cobbs’ ‘You Don’t Love Me’, Junior Parkers’ ‘I Feel So Good’ or Bobby Blue Blands’ ‘I Don’t Want No Woman’, but they’re few and far between. Not for the casual listener, who really ought to start with a compilation of his Cobra and Chief recordings, this is definitely for completest fans only.

Stuart A Hamilton

MAGIC SLIM & THE TEARDROPS

Bad Boy

Dixiefrog

Magic Slim has now probably moved into the veteran category and will be known and loved by most readers of BM! The one word always associated with Slim and his music is GROOVE and this latest album is no exception. Opening track is a cover of Eddie Taylor’s chugging rocker ‘Bad Boy’ with The Teardrops setting up a solid rolling backbeat and Slim adding his rough edged vocals and stinging guitar solos. Denise LaSalle’s sassy, funky ‘Someone Else Is Steppin’ In’ finds Slim in bitter, accusing mode and his punchy guitar lines and declamatory vocals

perfectly match that sentiment. Emotion is never far away from Slim’s earthy vocals or his fiery guitar work which is totally without any Blues-rock excesses. ‘I Got Money’ features a galloping bass line with Slim boasting that he’s got money and a Cadillac and tells his girl he ain’t going to work today and will buy her a new coat. If only! There are three original songs here with the pick of the bunch being the infectious, bouncy instrumental workout ‘Country Joyride’. Roy Brown’s classic slow burner ‘Hard Luck Blues’ finds Slim bemoaning his ill fortune and delivering a telling and emotion packed guitar solo. Muddy Waters classic ‘Champagne And Reefer’ is set to an insistent but steady beat whereas J.B. Lenoir’s ‘How Much More Long’ positively rocks along furiously. Slim’s 75-year old voice cracks and wheezes with pain and The Teardrops provide the perfect backdrop with a performance that must be the envy of any aspiring Blues band. Another classic cover is Albert King’s uptempo ‘Matchbox Blues’ which is one of my favourites on the CD with its catchy rhythm and sharp incisive guitar licks. Lil’ Ed’s lascivious slow Blues ‘Older Woman’ promotes the delights of “older women who know how to treat their man” with Slim’s heartfelt vocals set against a throbbing beat. Magic Slim is a master of this Delta/Chicago Blues style and is considered by many to be “The Last Real Chicago Blues Band”. It’s hard to disagree and this album comes highly recommended.

Dave Drury

MAMA ROSIN

Bye Bye Bayou

Mama Rosin are a band who don’t believe in doing the ordinary or in standing still and this new album definitely sees them moving forward in their own way. Their sound has generally been rooted in Cajun Zydeco with Blues overtones and a punk attitude but they moved in with Jon Spencer for this album and the result is harder, faster and very different to albums like ‘Black Robert’ but Spencer seems to have found something that is utterly true to Mama Rosin but that takes their sound into a new classic place. Typically, Spencer turns the dials to 12 and there is no mistaking that overpowering distortion on the opening track, ‘Marilou’ but the vocals and the spiky guitar line cuts through the murk and the result is a brilliant deranged love song in rock ‘n’ roll time. The power continues on ‘Sorry Ti Monde’ with a massive groove and vocals that echo and howl. At this point you know that the title is pretty accurate; ‘Bye Bye Bayou’ but hello to a whole new Mama Rosin. But this is still the Mama Rosin that made ‘Le Pistolet’, just evolved. The most Cajun number on the album is ‘Casse Mes Objects (You Broke My Stuffs)’ and, reading the blurb, this was the first song that they recorded with Spencer; it has a wonderful rollercoaster feel to it along with great playing and some frantic drums. They sing an ode to Wivenhoe in Essex where the locals seem to have taken these crazy Swiss to their own but they also play an eerie Americana number in ‘Seco e Molhado’ which features banjo as well as some guitar from Jon S himself along with a chillingly reedy organ backing. When I saw their launch gig at London’s 12 Bar they played a superb version of ‘Sitting On Top Of The World’ with a pounding drum line and this comes out here with all the joy they put into it that night. The album closer is an homage to Leonard Cohen, possibly the softest number on the album and perfectly suited to the lads playing. I make no apologies for being a fan of Mama Rosin for a few years now but I am quite astounded by

the change in direction this shows and how it still fits with all the music I have enjoyed from them. A wonderful album that gets better with every play.

ALEXANDER WOLFE

Skeletons Dharma

Andy Snipper

Now this is a really lowkey, downbeat album, with Alexander’s quiet, intimate vocals backed mainly by minimalist guitar or piano work and some muted string arrangements. It is certainly not the blues - the late, great Nick Drake is mentioned in the publicity, and Nick was not a bluesman by any means - but there are occasional bluesy touches to the guitar work, and Alexander’s association with Jamie Cullum is witnessed by the odd jazzy touch; furthermore, the version of Neil Young’s ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’ could certainly be included on a contemporary blues album without too much fuss or disruption. The lyrics on the original songs can be rather obscure at times, in the vein of mid-60s Bob Dylan, but really, only readers with a strong interest in folky singer/ songwriters will go for this set. If that is you, though, do investigate - it is rather classy!

Norman Darwen

MALCOLM HOLCOMBE

Down The River

Gypsyeyes Music

Its album number nine from the country blues maverick, Malcolm Holcombe, and it might just be his best to date. Now, a word of warning, his country blues most definitely errs on the country side of things, something that should be apparent from the roster of musicians which includes the likes of Kim Richey, Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle. It’s also been produced by Steve Earle’s sometime producer Ray Kennedy, and is utterly fabulous from beginning to end. Granted, his growl of a voice takes a wee bit getting used to, but when it’s allied to songs as good as ‘Butcher In Town’, ‘Whitewash Job’ and the duet with Emmylou Harris, ‘In Your Mercy’, it just sounds right. The band, which includes include Darrell Scott, Ken Coomer and Viktor Krauss, are uniformly excellent, and the arrangements are spot on as well, with Holcombes excellent guitar work aided and abetted with some fine banjo, steel guitar, mandolin, fiddle and Dobro. You won’t be surprised to learn that his songs are full of hippy liberal hand wringing, but when he steers himself away from politics, he has an excellent way with words. A few more like ‘The Crossing’ and I would have been claiming classic status for it. As it is, it’s a truly marvellous recording.

Stuart A Hamilton MARION JAMES Northern Soul Ellersoul Records

This retro looking CD is the latest from Nashville’s MARION JAMES, this is not an album of soulful covers simply showcased but one where over half the tracks are self-penned and the rest have artful adaptations that remain at all times true to the original but also brings a unique dimension. This is an expertly crafted album with a

mix of blues, funk, soul and jazz whatever genre you want Marion to be pigeon-holed in she will deliver with style. ‘Crushing My Heart’ delivers a big jazz sound that was found in many a club in the past and Marion is supported by a phalanx of skilful musicians, with background singers delivering harmonies and supporting the powerful lead driven by Marion s bluesy and sultry voice, bass lines that replicate the thumping heart beat giving structure as seen on the blues track ‘Corrupted World’ and a funky gem shows of guitar playing at its best in ‘Smokin’ Hot’. This is an album that varies in pace and tempo with different members of this musically close knit team coming to the fore driving each track in a different direction the constant force is Marion’s sultry southern voice. This is a CD that should be bought to truly appreciate the production, musicality and the stylish delivery by Marion; above all buy it for the last track that will remain seared on your memory an inspired cover of Willie Dixon’s ‘I Just Want To Make Love to You’ arranging it with funky overtones makes it along with the album a delight to listen to again and again.

MARY COUGHLAN

The Whole Affair

Hail Mary Records

Liz Aiken

This double CD with thirty five tracks of impeccable pedigree that reflect and celebrate the last Twenty Five Years of MARY COUGHLAN’s career that has spanned the world and had many different experiences some of which have been difficult but they make “The Whole Affair” the appropriate title of this CD. The first CD is a collection from the previous albums recorded and has a bluesy, jazzy mellow feel with evocative tracks that reach into your soul from songs that have been selected with care utilising the skills of a wide range of great writers including ‘Magdalen Laundry’ with its haunting intro of pizzicato strings imitating the difficult steps being taken. The studio CD does not disappoint every track is subtly different with different vocal tones and textures for example the almost African drumming on The Whore of Babylon’ and the guitar playing in ‘Mary Mary’ a blues adaptation with the chorus harking back to the well know nursery rhyme of our childhoods. The second CD is a live album which in my view is the better of the two probably for the added depth and tone the live sound brings as shown on tracks such as ‘Ancient Rain’ and ‘Blue Surrender’ and includes my favourite track of the whole album with Mary’s moody, smooth and gorgeous vocals and searing saxophone Sam Cooke’s ‘You Send Me’ - what a version. Throughout this retrospective album, the influences of Mary’s are seen including Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday. Above all it is her smoky, bluesy voice, her story and journey’s experienced the good and the not so good that shine through adding that extra dimension to every track, this album is pure class with its beautiful orchestration, moody melodic vocals it is simply ‘The Whole Affair.’

Liz Aiken

MARY GAUTHIER

Live at Blue Rock

Proper Records

This is Mary at her finest the album recorded at Blue Rock Artists Ranch near Austin Texas Live at Blue Rock transports you to a live gig you are there, the CD is definitely the second best thing to being actually at a ‘Mary Gauthier ‘ gig. Every song tells a poignant tale, not full of syrupy solution but life as it is in the round. After hours of touring, a live album has been a long time in its formation but when it arrived it is perfectly formed. This is ,Mary Gauthier ‘ in all her complex simplicity playing songs that bring pain and heartache as the songs develop and you get to know and understand despair as she shapes the lyrics with her brilliant vocals and glorious accompaniment of her soulful guitar work, searing heartwrenching chords from the fiddle and rhythmic beat of a drum in the distance. Her vocals are an amazing combination of soaring purity and a raw intensity like her hard hit melodic songs she mesmerises you drawing you into a vortex of song that becomes entrenching in your mind, soul and beating heart. This is no easy listening album, the subjects covered are at the edges of society, with drugs, drink, homelessness with all the loneliness and despair at times it is a desert of desolation. This is a roots album where folk meets the blues but above all it is encapsulates Mary in all her glory and why the live sound is perfectly formed with its simplicity of production and the warmth of the audiences applause. This is an album with 11 strong tracks the highlight is impossible to single out but for me as ever her signature ‘I Drink’ is awesome and ‘Cigarette Machine’ with its great lines including …’ thought I saw your reflection in a cigarette machine, in a bottle, in a gutter...’ that sums up the whole album for me that we have all been at one of these dark places at some time if not then there for the grace of God goes you.

MEMPHIS SLIM

1940-1961

Fremaux & Associes

like a complete jazz ensemble. He began to move away from Chicago into new areas of the US, recording outside of Chicago for the first time and this period lasted until the early sixties. Eventually, Slim found the number of gigs was lessening so he moved to Europe in 1961, and CD3 follows this move with recordings both from the US and London. Each CD offers 20 tracks each, with the majority being original songs. Slim was never afraid to revisit his old material and make them more modern, 1950’s ‘Rocking The Pad’ became 1959’s ‘Rockin’ the House’, a track which tilts a hat to Rock & Roll. Favourite tracks here are ‘Marack’, ‘Sitting On Top Of The World’ and the classic that just about everybody has covered, ’Nobody Loves Me (Every Day I Have The Blues).

Merv Osborne

MISSISSIPPI HEAT Delta Bound DelmarkRecords

Very hard to believe that this is the tenth release by the band and also a twentieth celebration of Mississippi Heat’s contribution to the blues art form. This is an eclectic mix of mostly electric guitar but there is acoustic and a nod to the New Orleans, specially noted on their take of ‘Don’t Let Me be Misunderstood’ quite sublime with the whole band pulling together and really sounding they are enjoying themselves. This is a first class release with harmonica player and lyricist Pierre Lacocque, who also produced this release just gelling the band together with constant power and efficiency. Such is the reputation special guests are a plenty such as zydeco frontman Chubby Carrier on ‘New Orleans Man’ , guitarists Carl Weathersby and Billy Flynn and the forthright vocals from Deitra Farr, especially her range on the honky-tonk styled ‘Sweet Ol’ Blues’. This is obviously not to outshine regular vocalist with similar style and range Inetta Visor who leads the way on last track ‘Easy To Please’. A very tight band which sort of centres around its overall Chicago style blues sound and these two women whose resonant vocals give them the proper voice of the blues. Around it the harmonica playing is just so good. This release also has a true old style feel about its their best release yet, long may the celebrations continue.

Colin Campbell

Liz Aiken

This 3 CD compilation traces three distinct areas of Memphis Slim’s career spanning the years 1940-1961. CD1, “From Memphis to Chicago”, offers the early recordings in Chicago following John Chatman’s name change to Memphis Slim, a name given to him by the powerful producer Lester Melrose. During this period, Slim joined Big Bill Broonzy’s band and together they set Chicago alight. Refusing to go to Europe with Broonzy in 1950, Slim remained in Chicago and never one to ignore contemporary styles, he added electric guitar to his band, the House Rockers, putting it up front. The success was due largely to the young Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy, who figures on 17of the 20 tracks on CD 2. Titled “Memphis Slim USA”, the tracks portray an artist who had moved from the roots and barrelhouse/boogie-woogie style of pre-war Blues piano on CD1 to a more complete and holistic style of early urban Chicago Blues, indeed sounding at times Blues Matters! 44

MANFRED MANN

The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann Umbrella Music

Back in the mists of time (mid 60’s) I used to frequent The Marquee in Wardour St. and one of the regular bands appearing was Manfred Mann and this seminal debut album dates from that period. The philosophy in those days was to feature a medley of their hits to “get them out of the way” and then get on with the serious business of playing Blues interspersed with occasional jazzy forays. Opening track ‘Smokestack Lightning’ perfectly illustrates their more measured, musical approach as opposed to the frenzied, energetic stance of The Stones, Pretty Things and Yardbirds. Of course Paul Jones’ vocal and harmonica lead the way on the

aforementioned track and also on his self-penned tracks ‘Without You’ and ‘You’ve Got To Take It’. Cannonball Adderley’s instrumental ‘Sack O’ Woe’ gets a good seeing to with Mike Vickers blowing furiously on sax and Mike Hugg adding vibes to the mix. ‘Hoochie Coochie’ and ‘I’ve Got My Mojo Working’ are both present and correct and ‘Down The Road Apiece’ proves that the band can rock when required. Great Stuff! They even have a bash at the soul drenched ‘It’s Gonna Work Out Fine’ and do it justice. No sixties British R&B album would be complete without a Bo Diddley cover and The Manfreds tackle ‘Bring It To Jerome’ complete with maracas and fine harp and vocals from the sainted Paul Jones. One unusual feature here is flute from Vickers on ‘Without You’ where he sounds like an early Ian Anderson. The fourteen tracks are presented in both mono and stereo versions and the sound quality is good throughout. It’s great stuff and takes me back to those heady days in the hot, sweaty, smoke filled basement of The Marquee. Now who’s on in the next few weeks? Oh! Spencer Davis Group and then the Graham Bond Organization and later on Sonny Boy Williamson is over from USA. We’ll give them a try!

Dave Drury

MITCH RYDER

Live At Rockpalast 1979+2004 Rockpalast

This is a three CD live box set covering two concerts performed in Germany in 1979 and 2004, each CD is in excess of sixty minutes in length, while probably marketed for ‘Mitch’s fan base only’ there is plenty here to enjoy for the casual listener, if only to have the opportunity to hear one of Rock n Roll’s great voices. The first concert was recorded in 1979 and included Mitch’s American band and they perform at full throttle delivering some of his well known tracks including; ’War’ and ‘Ain’t Nobody White (can sing the blues)’ while there is evidence of some liquid excess Mitch Ryder’s vocals are superb throughout. The other two CD’s cover another concert twenty five years later, again in Germany, the band on this occasion are a German based band called ‘Engerling’ who support Mitch and American guitarist Robert Gillespie, the vocals are definitely showing their age by this time and have become more ragged, at times very reminiscent of Alex Harvey. The only gripe I have with this package is that these two recordings do have six repeated songs between the two concerts, including the Doors ‘Soul Kitchen’ which has a combined running time of twenty five minutes, mind you the counter argument is that these recordings do cover two complete concerts, representing exactly what you would have heard if you had been there. Mitch Ryder is a true ‘Rock n Roll’ survivor he even performs a couple of tracks he originally recorded in the mid 60’s under the name of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, a worthwhile release but may just be too long in length for some.

Adrian Blacklee

versatility and command of the English language, putting down a strong vocal performance, very reminiscent of the traditional Chicago bluesmen from the 1950’s, he accompanies himself on harmonica and is at his best when teaming up with David Maxwell on piano, the other guests have less opportunity to shine as they only get to play on a single track but by attracting the likes of Rod Piazza and Mike Welch, Nico has highlighted the respect his fellow musicians must have in him. Nico leads the band well, occasionally veering away from Chicago Blues, by introducing some subtle jazz swing sounds, all driven though his excellent harmonica playing, pick of the tracks is ‘Deep Down in Florida’ that has a cameo from JP Soars playing the Cigar Box, overall a very good blues album highlighting a talented musician.

MICHAEL BURKS

Show of Strength

Alligator Records

Adrian Blacklee

NICO WAYNE TOUSSAINT

Lonely Number

Dixiefrog

The French nation do not have a pedigree for singing and playing the Blues although on the evidence of these sixteen tracks the situation may be about to change, Nico has pulled together a tight band that is supplemented by some of America’s top Blues players to perform on this harmonica driven Chicago Blues album, which ticks all the right boxes. On previous recordings Nico has sung in his native language but on this album he demonstrates his

The “Iron Man” of the blues has produced a blues album that is in the top drawer, this is a man that knows and loves the blues drilling down the lyrics and capturing the blues guitar sound with sheer natural brilliance. “Show of Strength” is everything in a sapphire nutshell what the shining star of the blues should be delivering clear ring guitar with harmonies and licks that match the lyrics resulting in the combination is being greater than the sum of the two parts. Michael has the talent to make the guitar squeal and then be sweetly melodic all held together by his voice that can be smooth as silk and then on a turn of the beat can be deep moving with the edge of darkness. He is a complete blues machine moulded out of cast iron talent. With his charismatic charm and exploding guitar sound it is impossible to think this was going to his last CD. Michael here demonstrates that he is on top of the tree and destined to reach even higher heights with tracks where the guitar playing is executed with diamond cut precision and his special bluesy soulful voice as shown on ‘Take a Chance On Me Baby’. This is sublime electric blues which showcases the wide range of vocals Michael’s baritone can produce from gruff gut wrenching angst through to sexy hot and smooching romance. The covers are full of originality and tweaks that make them the “Iron Man’s” property they all have that edge of burnished steel provided by the twang of the guitar string reaching the perfect pitch touching your heart and soul as only true blues can do.

Liz Aiken NONA HENDRYX Mutatis Mutandis

Righteous Babe Records

Nona Hendryx has released and self produced this CD which incorporates songs and lyrics that appear to highlight all her frustrations and injustices with the world, the final track called ‘Mad As Hell’ may have been a more appropriate title for the album! Nona came to fame in the early 70’s as a member of Soul band Labelle, a US

trio who came to the UK shores virtually unknown but soon ignited their career here, performing with a harder edge to their music, incorporating Rock and Funk, even famously toured with the Who at one stage. Forty years on Nona has again brought some edginess to her music, on this album, mixed with the soulful tracks, there is a harder edge incorporating rock and blues influences, aided by lead guitarist Ronny Drayton. As a vocalist Nona has a great range and she tackles the soul and funkier numbers without breaking sweat, she introduces some unique touches to the 1930’s protest song ‘Strange Fruit’, besides delivering a very emotional vocal she includes programming, sequencing and overdubs part of an historic Martin Luther King speech into the track. Not an ‘out an out’ Blues album but definitely worth a listen, for the strong material and excellent vocals.

Adrian Blacklee

Campbell’s iconic ‘Wichita Lineman’. As to be expected, there is a considerable amount of self-indulgent noodling; ‘Jellybread’ is an exceptionally dull variation on Booker T & the M.G’s ‘Green Onions’, and ‘Tasty Dish’ kills any momentum the album might have gathered to that point. That said, Wressing & Schultz are consummate musicians at the peak of their powers, and the fun they had making “Soul Gift” is both tangible and infectious.

Adam Bates

PAUL THORN

What The Hell Is Going On Blue Rose Records

Paul Thorn has put together a very punchy Blues/Rock album here that includes no self written material, just covers of some of his favourite songs, the material here does not represent songs you would immediately associate with blues but they all get the Thorn treatment; crunchy electric guitar and strong vocals. On the album besides some excellent supporting musicians there are guest performances by Elvin Bishop, performing guitar on his own track; “What the hell is going on” and Delbert McClinton, who adds vocals to the Country influenced “Bull mountain ridge”. The other tracks were originally performed by a wide variety of artists including Free’s ‘Walk in my shadow’ and Allen Toussaint’s ‘Wrong number’, the most striking track though is ‘Snake Farm’ which has a pulsating rhythm and catchy lyric, the song was written by Ray Wylie Hubbard a country singer who I have not previously heard of but on the evidence of this song, he is an artist I will look up. An excellent album performed by a talented musician who clearly has a good ear, as all the tracks on this album are superb.

Adrian Blacklee

RAPHAEL WRESSING & ALEX SCHULTZ

Soul Gift

ZYX Music

Two of the West Coast’s eminent jazz musicians, organist Raphael Wressing & guitarist Alex Schultz, so much enjoyed collaborating on the 2008 album “(Don’t Be) Afraid to Groove”, they decided to do it again. The result is “Soul Gift”, an eclectic collection of original compositions and blues standards graced by some exceptional special guests. Alongside the obvious musical prowess of Wressing & Schultz, there are some notable cameos here: Soul Diva Deitra Farr’s vocals are superb on album opener and Billy Preston cover ‘All That I’ve Got’; the aptly-named Sax Gordon’s saxophone playing drips with feeling on ‘Go Now’; Kirk Fletcher guitar duels magnificently with Schultz on ‘Double Bubble’. Wressing & Schultz even miraculously reanimate the battered corpse of Glen

PAUL GILBERT

Vibrato MTR

On first hearing the opening track, I immediately thought of Hendrix but as the track continued I thought jazz (modern). The second one ‘Rain and Thunder and Lightning’ (very clever but I found difficult to listen to) but then modern jazz isn’t my bag. I should have seen the clues when the album listing stated that the fourth track was Brubeck’s Blue Rondo a la Turk’ followed by the Yes song ‘Roundabout’. Even Willie Dixon’s standard ‘I Want to be Loved’ is messed about with. The playing is very professional but doesn’t tickle my pickle, but if blues with a John Coltrane/Thelonious Monk feel is where you’re at you’ll possibly like this.

Bob Bonsey

SISTER ROSETTA THARPE

Volume 7 (1960-61)

Fremeaux and Associes

The final volume (3 CD box set) in this interesting and comprehensive series takes us up to 1961. Sister Rosetta was a favourite of performers as diverse as Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin. She may have been the only female artist of her generation to sing gospel and play a solid body Gibson guitar on stage , a true pioneer and much copied by her peers. The first CD consists of live recordings made in Europe, including three previously unissued tracks with the Chris Barber band, who was that impressed with her that he took her on tour then. Commencing with ‘Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho’ a song exemplifying her vocal range and the happiness and joy she shared with singing such songs and interpretations as her ‘Can’t No Grave Hold My Body Down’ her Easter Song as she called it. Also her guitar work is powerful on ‘This Train’ CD 2 is shared with tracks from a rare LP which her mother Katie Bell Nubin cut with the Dizzy Gillespie orchestra. Sister Rosetta’s mother played on the first nine tracks including a highlight ‘Where’s Adam’. CD 3 ends with nine songs from Sister Rosetta’s long-term confederate Marie Knight, featuring a heartfelt ‘Who Rolled The Stone Away’. With extensive inner sleeve notes this is a must have compilation by a true gospel icon. Excellent.

Colin Campbell

STEPHEN DALE PETIT & THE HIGH VOLTAGE BAND

Live at High Voltage 2010 Smokehouse

By the time you read this it will probably be impossible to get the album in its original form. The release is on vinyl only with a limit of 1000 copies but it is expected that there will be a digital download available soon. So, why bother reviewing it? Because it may well be the finest live album since ‘The Who Live at Leeds’ and may even surpass that classic. The band consists of Stephen Dale Petit and he is backed by Lorenzo Moufflier on harp, Jack Greenwood (Pretty Things) on drums and, incredibly, Dick Taylor on bass – Dick was the original

bassist with the Rolling Stones before picking up lead duties with The Pretty Things. The result is awesome! The instruction on the sleeve is play the music loud – the way it was recorded – and it is one of those rare albums that sounds better and more coherent the further up the dial you move the volume button. The fire coming off the stage is palpable. Jack Greenwood’s drums pound and sizzle - he brings to mind Keith Moon in his pomp – while Dick Taylor’s bass is fluid and almost jazz-like. Petit’s guitar cuts to the bone as he tears out slashing riffs and hammer-blow power chords and the intensity just pushes you back in your seat. Mr Moufflier is the icing on a very fine cake – damn fine harp. Petit’s ‘3 Gunslingers’ is stunning on the ‘Crave’ album and live it snaps and crackles with Greenwood’s drums and Moufflier’s harp while Petit tears out the melody and Taylor runs through with his bass insistent and underpinning everything. ‘Summertime Blues’ has all the dash and verve of the original – the first Punk song? – while ‘Juke’ and ‘People Talk’ carry a straight Chicago line with superb harp and Petit shows he can think on his feet with complaints about being told to turn it down (apparently he was drowning out Emerson Lake and Palmer!). The album was recorded on the Ronnie Lane Mobile and the use of valves al through the recording, coupled with pre-1965 amplification and instruments, means that the recording is seriously LOUD without uncomfortable distortion and the band have used that to their advantage playing hard and fast and rocking like beasts. In terms of live albums this one deserves all the plaudits and it really does stand comparison to the greats. A modern classic.

MATTHEW CURRY AND THE FURY

If I Don’t Got You Independent

Andy Snipper

Matthew Curry is a young man with considerable skills on the guitar combined with a rich, soulful voice - blend this with a fine array of musicians and excellent production and you have a stylish début album that has definitely not put style over substance. Seven of the nine tracks are self-penned and the two covers are from very different eras and style and have been executed to the highest standard with a twist of Curry’s youthful talent shown on both of them, Charlie Patton - ‘High water Everywhere’ and Warren Haynes ‘Soulshine’. This is not a young man who lets his guitar dominate the licks are skilful and the considered use of fine saxophone, trumpet and keyboards give the album depth and musical maturity beyond his years this is blues that is modern and has a real soulful feel, this is music that is played from the heart and soul. Matthew has blues running through his blood as demonstrated by the lyrics and guitar sound he produces. He is the real deal as shown on ‘Blinded by The Darkness’ with beautiful tempered guitar playing and the gorgeous opening trumpet that is threaded throughout the track. The album demonstrates his skills backed by the Fury and it would be great to see the sound live stripped of recording studio production to ascertain if this young man is destined to be the next ambassador for the Blues.

Liz Aiken

SUBURBAN DIRTS

Suburban Dirts

Old Jank Records

With a sound that takes in vintage Dylan, early Fleetwood Mac, and classic folk blues sounds, the Suburban Dirts could be seen as being a retro band, but for the amount of energy, and new sounds and techniques that have gone into their eponymous release. With instruments used ranging from the traditional blues band line-up, they have added ukulele and violin to engender a more pastoral sound within some of the songs. The band takes an equal share in the credits, having written most of the songs on this album. A cover of ‘Need Your Love So Bad’ takes its cue from Fleetwood Mac’s version, and allows singer John Wheatley and lead guitarist Dave Moyers to show their blues skills. Both deliver admirably, but there is a lot more to enjoy on this album. The downhome country blues opener ‘Tacho Breakdown Blues (part two)’ and just turned electric Dylan homage in ‘Lost in Translation’ gets the album of to an energetic start, whilst the ambient folk of ‘Ada’ and the traditional blues framing of ‘I Ain’t Cut Out For Working 9 To 5’ add to an album that already has a lot to recommend it to fans of the genre. The slow burning efforts of ‘Stoned’ with its atmospheric harmonica would work well on a film soundtrack, whilst the ending of ‘Tacho Breakdown Blues (part one)’ shows that this could be a band that is just getting into stride.

Ben Macnair

ROB TOGNONI

Energy Red

Harmonia mundi

Counting actor Errol Flynn and world champion woodcutter David Foster amongst its chief exports, it is safe to say that Tasmania is not a hotbed of the blues. However, in Rob Tognoni, it appears the island 150 miles south of the Australian mainland has found a keeper of the musical flame. First introduced to Europe by fellow Australian bluesman Dave Hole in the early 90s, Tognoni has had a sporadic forty year career, with countless peaks and troughs. Yet Tognoni has always come back, and Energy Red sees the veteran guitarist/frontman on top form. This is blues rock at its rawest, with the Tognoni band power trio marching through a selection of original compositions and blues standards. There is a relentless, mechanical groove to the music here, epitomised by the hypnotic riff to ‘Boogie don’t need no rest’. There are some slower numbers too: ‘Someone to love me’ seeing Tognoni play with some real feeling, an acoustic interpretation of The Rolling Stones song ‘A Tears Go By’ offers some respite from the musical bludgeoning, and ‘Don’t Love’ even features an enjoyable scat section. Having enjoyed a stop-start career to date, it feels on Energy Red as if Rob Tognoni doesn’t have a moment to spare, as evinced by his breathless music. They don’t call him The Tasmanian Devil for nothing.

Adam Bates

SWEET ANGEL

Mr Wrong is Going to Get This Love Tonight Independent

A big production fronted by a big lady. All songs except Purple Rain are by C. Dobbins who is I presume Sweet Angel. The whole thing has a big band sound complete with brass (Sweet Angel plays alto sax). The title track

has a great dirty feel to it. ‘Juking at a hole in the wall’ really funks along. ‘Blow that Thang Again’ is actually not what the title says.’ Zydeco Funk’ does exactly what it says on the tin. The entire collection is great fun and just what you need in the car or over a few late drinks indoors. Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ is a revelation. This album makes you want to dance.

TOMMY WOMACK

Now What!

Cedar Creek

Bob Bonsey

Womack arrived in Nashville from Kentucky following the demise of his post-punk band Government Cheese. After his band bis-quits also split Womack formed a fruitful writing partnership with Will Kimbrough, well know in the Nashville alt-Country and Americana scene. Womack has a joint project band with Kimbrough as well as regularly appearing in both his Kinks and Clash tribute bands! This CD “Now What!” carries on where his previous CD “There I Said It!” left off, and is the type of autobiographical Americana so beloved of Bob Harris. For all this musical form has sought to break away from what is termed “fake country”, it seems just as formulaic, in that it takes a number of reflective, (one might add self-indulgent), and wordy songs, sets them to a plodding accompaniment and uninspiring voice and leaves one uninspired. That’s not say that the album doesn’t have its moments, the telling ‘On & Off The Wagon’ and semi-rap ’90 Miles An Hour Down A Dead End Street’ sum up Womack’s reflections of life on the road, while elsewhere he sings of family life in ‘Play That Cheap Trick, Cheap Trick Play’ and ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be That Good’. A sax unusually illuminates ‘Guilty Snake Blues’. The highlights of the album are the cute ‘Wishes Do Come True’ and ‘Over The Hill’ where Lisa Oliver-Gray’s sweet voice lightens the mood. Sonically this album generally lacks variety and illustrates where organic and roots intentions are lost in fairly mundane singer-songwriter fare. In a similar genre, and when John Sebastian was writing his charming and witty ditties in the 60s, it all seemed so much more amusing and touching. I think I’d rather hear Womack’s Kinks’ tribute band.

Noggin

THE CHRIS O’LEARY BAND

Waiting for the Phone to Ring Independent

The Harmonica player and singer-songwriter Chris O’Leary leads his band through 13 tracks of quality blues, jazz, soul, and rockabilly songs on their latest release ‘Waiting For The Phone To Ring’. A definite 50’s era sound colours the production, with elements of Doo-wop, early rock and roll and rockabilly sounds, whilst a talented group of musicians breathe life into the songs. With a full brass section, stinging lead guitar, and a tight rhythm section, not to say a high production level, this is a lovingly compiled and recorded album. The Surf music rhythm, and resonant guitar that starts ‘Give it’ with its steaming Blues Matters! 48

Harmonica riff gets things off to a good start, whilst the Jazz Saxophone of ‘Without You’ continues the trend of a foot tapping rhythm and quality musical interplay. The laidback feel of ‘History’ and ‘Questions’ are all a fit in this album. The lyrics are of a high quality, and the singing of both O’Leary and Willa McCarthy help to add a lot of spirit to this release. There are no grand standing solos, just tight, crisp ensemble playing, and it is all the better for it. This is a collection for fans of classic blues, soul, and jazz, and it is well worth giving a full listen sometime.

Ben Macnair

THE MENTULLS Time Flies Independent

The Mentulls are a young band from the north east of England, and are currently making some noise on the British circuit. I think, given Otis Grand’s recent comments, he will not be rushing to hear these youngsters, but there are many who have. Sherman Robertson, W T Feaster and Wishbone Ash are but three who have invited the young 16 year old Andrew Pipe to sit in on guitar. Pipe’s interest with the guitar started when he was 10 and fuelled by his dad’s DVD collection, Bonamassa at the Albert Hall and Wishbone’s 40thAnniversary gig in particular, he formed the band with his brother Jamie on keyboards. Their initial foray into live music as a duo was playing Floyd type music, but when drummer Nick Colman joined the music became harder and followed the Blues Rock style. Pipe’s hero is Bonamassa and it has to be said that his fluidity of style can be heard many times in young Pipe’s playing, Wishbone Ash is also detected in the playing of this bass-less trio. I am presuming that all tracks here are originals, as I don’t recognize any, and if so, the maturity in writing is a credit to the trio, with a good blend of both soft and heavy tunes. The playing is also exemplary and I’m looking forward to seeing them, Andrew Pipe is another young, talented guitar player who has quite a future in front of him. Try the last track, it’s a steaming slow Blues, dripping with emotion and some great playing that reminds me of Vergil at his best.

Merv Osborne

THE STUMBLE Lie To Me Independent

With a rising reputation on the live Blues circuit, it is no surprise that ‘Lie to me’ delivers on the promise that The Stumble have been building for a while. A six piece band that play and write their own material, they play swing jazz blues, with a swagger, and play well written slower material as well. Led by the singer Paul Melville, and featuring saxophonist Simon Anthony, guitarists Colin Black and Rob Livesey, and powered along by the rhythm section of drummer and songwriter Boyd Tonner and bassist Cameron Sweetnam, this is a feelgood selection of songs, featuring the distinctive vocals of Melville, and tellingly shared solos between the three soloists. The music ranges from the well thought out, swinging ‘Little Margarita’ with its unison sax and guitar lines, or the slow burn, six minute epic of ‘Jumping off the

Loving Train’ and, the rockabilly swing of ‘360 Degree Blues’, to the acoustic ballad and album closer ‘Numb

The Pain’. Harmonica player Paul Routledge brings the spirit of Chicago to ‘I get a little hot’, whilst ‘My Life’ starts life as a slow jazz blues piece, before a coda brings the energy levels back up high. This is a very good album, full of fine songs, and performances from an ensemble who’s reputation can only grow following this release.

Ben Macnair

TIM HAIN & ALAN GLEN

The Glenhain Gold Reserve

Jamside Up

The dominant force both in terms of writing and stylistically in this partnership is Tim Hain who continues to pursue his love of reggae music. Apparently, he is only in part steered in a Blues direction by Alan Glen’s subtle influence. This is particularly evident in Glen’s tasteful harmonica. The latter deserves great historical credit for his fine work with Nine Below Zero and subsequently the Incredible Blues Puppies, whose two albums should grace any serious Blues collection. Amber Jolene’s vocals add a new dimension to the duo’s take on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Black Magic Woman’, which is one of the strongest tunes on this 14 track CD. ‘Honeybun’ (written by Rogers & Hammerstein), strangely works, but some of the West Indian influenced tracks lose their way, for example ‘Going To Jamaica’ and ‘Stranger In My Home’. ‘You Bin Drinking’ typifies Glenhain’s enigmatic approach to this new musical idiom, but some excellent slide guitar helps this track. It seems slightly odd to combine the contrasting musical genres - Blues lyrics to a reggae beat - but I guess to some ears this way be both novel and appealing. Humour often lurks in the lyrics, and the delightful ‘Death By Chocolate’ is a case in point. Hain sometimes adds spoken parts, especially in the coda, and these bring the song to an unnecessarily abrupt and unsatisfactory halt. The final track, ‘Eel Pie Special’, is a joint composition and references the genesis of the 60s Blues boom. This CD, leaving aside these reservations, will grow on you.

VARIOUS

The Blues Master Vol 2

Noggin

In Memory of Pine Top Perkins and Hubert Sumlin There is no information on this album about when or where it was recorded, only that the band consisted of Pine Top and Hubert with Doug Lynn on harmonica, Aynsley Dunbar on drums, Cassie Taylor on bass and Tim Tucker on additional guitars .Basically a blues gig to be revered; you have Cassie on seven tracks which include ‘Bring it on home to me’, ’Talk to me Baby’ and ‘Same Old Blues’. ‘Tangoray’ and ‘Big Boss Man’ features Hazel Miller, and ‘Red Roost4er’ has Mickey Thomas on vocals. All the tracks are standards .This is a total blues album with great musicians which wouldn’t be out of place in any muso’s record collection.

Bob Bonsey

of the American sound. Blue Beat Records in London began releasing music for the immigrant population from the Caribbean in 1960, and it was R&B that they wanted - as proved by the 50 tracks on this double CD set. A conservative estimate would be that 80% of the songs are R&B numbers, albeit with an island touch, from jump-blues, sax blasters, boogies and cool shuffles to blues ballads, doo-wop, rock and roll and early soul. Take a listen to Laurel Aitken, The Blues Busters, Derrick and Patsy (covering New Orleans’ Shirley & Lee), Theo Beckford – even jazz pianist Monty Alexander, here on a Little Richard kick. Cheaply priced – in the United Kingdom at least - and definitely worth checking out.

ZAC HARMON

Music Is Medicine

Urban Eagle

VARIOUS

The Story Of Blue Beat 1961 Part Two Sunrise

“Part One” was reviewed in BM # 66. Although Jamaica became independent from Britain in August 1962 and the resulting surge in national pride helped create a national music in ska, only the year before the most popular music on the island was still Rhythm & Blues. In the mid-50s local musicians began playing their own version

Norman Darwen

Zac Harmon is a talented musician hailing from Jackson, Mississippi, steeped in the Blues history of the Farish Street district, home to the incomparable Elmore James. In his hometown Harmon rubbed shoulders with the likes of Dorothy Moore, Sam Myers and ZZ Hill. Eventually he relocated to Los Angeles, but has never forsaken his roots. Harmon’s Blues career as writer, session man and bandleader began in earnest this millennium. This latest release is entirely self-penned, and backed by his super tight band this represents the very best of soul influenced Blues. ‘Miss American Girl’ is a strong opener, before he gets into his stride with the funky ‘Blue Pill Thrill’ and typical Mississippi Blues theme of ‘Running From The Devil’. The ballad of ‘Grandma’s Prayer’ is classic soul music, replete with spoken testifying parts. ‘Drowning In Hollywood’ elucidates the love / hate relationship with LA so enjoyed / endured by thousands of aspiring artists and actors alike. ‘Country Boy’ sits in perfect juxta-position with the earlier LA diatribe. Reggae beats present a further contrast in ‘I’d Rather Be With You’, followed by the Albert King like monologue which introduces ‘Talk To Me’. He duets with Sueann Carwell in the classic Motown influenced ‘Wounded’, (think Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell). The title of the album is taken from the lyrics of the wonderful ‘I’m A Healer’ – great harmonies and tasteful guitar licks – like the best of the Neville Brothers; it’s that good. The Zac Harmon Band, rather than the studio musicians, is featured in the closing track, the smooth ‘Joanna’. Within the fairly narrow field occupied by the likes of Alexander O’Neal this is premier league.

WYNTON MARSALIS & ERIC CLAPTON

Noggin

Play The Blues – Live From Jazz At Lincoln Center

Rhino Entertainment

With eyes closed, the opening track of this album, Louis Armstrong’s ‘Ice Cream’, one could easily be mistaken for a Humphrey Littleton or Bix Beiderbecke record, but then the cultured solo of Eric cuts across the trad jazz being played. Indeed I had to check on first play that I had

placed the correct CD in to the player, such was the gulf between expectation and the music being played. With the two artists named above I had thought this was going to be more mainstream, how wrong can one be. Marsalis picked the band and arranged the pieces with Clapton choosing the songs for this series of live concerts, the majority swinging a tilt to the 1920’s, although Wolf’s ‘Forty Four’ is included and sounds great with trumpets trombone and clarinet. Eric has changed guitar from his beloved Stratocaster to a fat bodied Gibson, producing a vintage sound that so compliments the jazz element within the band behind him. ‘Joe Turner’s Blues’, written by W C Handy, is played in a New Orleans funereal style, with wailing horns and suitably lamentable vocals. “Play The Blues” sees two of the world’s leading artist in their own fields brought together, each taken out of their normal comfort zone. They have surprisingly fit together very easily and ego seems to have been left outside. The only modern song on this release is Clapton’s own ‘Layla’, requested by bass player Carlos Henriquez. This is a song I loved in the seventies then got fed up with, the only version I have been able to listen to being on Clapton’s “Unplugged” album. I can now add this to it, as this is a sublime version. Restyled as a New Orleans slow lament, the trumpet gives it new and meaningful life. I know Eric doesn’t need the money, (maybe the other guys in the band do) but this is a must buy album if you are looking for something different for your collection.

Merv Osborne

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Occupy This Album

Music For Occupy

I’ve never been comfortable with the mixture of politics and music, as if musicians suddenly have the answers, and this 4CD set does nothing to contradict that view. Cobbled together by a group calling themselves Music For Occupy, they claim…”Our governing bodies have allowed the voice of corporate bodies to drown out those of the citizens….. We are the 99% and we refuse to be silent any longer” Hmm. So they are backing those people who occupied Wall Street, and through the sale of “Occupy This Album”, they will support the struggle against corporate greed. Yes! Not surprising then to find Willie Nelson here, seems he always has trouble filing his tax return. Oh, and there are those old protesters, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, they crop up frequently on any half baked cause. David Crosby & Graham Nash offer one minutes worth of acoustic nonsense in ‘ What Are Their Names’ Even Yoko Ono, that talented musician has thrown a track in here,’ Move On Fast’ Well, I guess the advertising is free. With 79 tracks by artists as diverse as Toots & The Maytals to Loudon Wainwright, Tenderflex to Mystic Bowie, and with track titles hammering those of a corporate ilk, ‘I Don’t Need Money’, ‘Something’s Got To Give’ or ‘Can I Sleep On Your Futon’, you’d think there would be something of quality. Sadly, it takes some finding, but Warren Haynes Band with

a live version of ‘River’s Gonna Rise’ and Harry Hayward with ‘Occu Pie’ takes some beating. Just like after any protest, there is a mountain of garbage left afterwards, and this 4CD set is exactly that. Complete rubbish. Buy the albums of artists and let them contribute to the cause if that is their wish.

BOB BROZMAN Fire In The Mind

Ruf Records

Merv Osborne

Bob Brozman has come up with a collection of 11 new songs which are rooted in Blues but also incorporate different styles of World music and sometimes uses instuments which are not always traditionally associated with Blues. Much of the music is very percussive with Brozman’s various stringed instruments entering into a rhythmic dialogue with the drums of Jim Norris. Opening track’ Breathing The Blues’ is essentially an instrumental featuring fine interplay between the two and also finds Brozman using moaned vocals as an extra instrument. ‘Cannibal Stomp’ has a driving rhythm and features various exotic sounding guitars from Brozman as it rushes along furiously. ‘American House Fire Blues’ is a more restrained traditional slow slide guitar Blues with lovely melodic playing from Brozman. A 1915 Vega CelloBanjo and tablas are featured on ‘Rhythm Is The King’ which give it a distinctly Indian feel. Brozman’s music incorporates touches of Blues, jazz, Gypsy, calypso, Hawaiian and Eastern influences and he has over 30 albums and tutorials in his repertoire. ‘Banm Kalou Banm’ features an accordion and vocals sung in Creole which give it a European flavour. ‘Ow! My Uke’s On Fire’ is an enjoyable piece of dextrous nonsense and then ‘Nightmares And Dreams’ is an atmospheric instrumental which features Hawaiian guitar. ‘Memory Blues’ features relaxed slithering slide guitar licks and half-spoken vocals as Brozman tells his love to “Keep your good memories, and let the bad ones fade away”. The album closes with the slow, traditional Delta style ‘Lonesome Blues’ featuring just finger picked acoustic guitar and soulful vocals. Brozman is a restless character constantly touring the world and searching out musical ideas from other cultures and absorbing them into his music. This wonderful album is, sometimes challenging, always fascinating and above all else a joy to listen to.

Dave Drury

WEST, BRUCE & LAING

Why Dontcha

Esoteric

Originally released by CBS in 1972, West, Bruce & Laing, were viewed by many, including guitarist Leslie West, as the natural successors to Cream. West & Corky Laing were two thirds of American powerhouse Mountain, and Jack Bruce had driven Cream with his blinding bass runs and strident vocals. Remastered and re-issued on Esoteric Recordings, this album sounds valid and fresh and has stood the test of time well, something that West recognizes…”A lot of Mountain records sound dated. But

this record is still fresh” he states in the album booklet. Opening with the title track ‘Why Dontcha’, this is pure rock with West laying down a heavy riff. ‘Out Into The Fields’ alters the feel completely. Written by the trio, but with Pete Brown, a long time co writer with Jack Bruce, this song reflects more the type of material that Bruce explored on his “Songs For A Tailor” album, melodic and crafted with piano very much to the fore. However, it’s straight back to the heavy side with ‘The Doctor’, more riffing but with West playing slide. ‘While You Sleep’ is a return to the more melodic side, with choir, acoustic bass, and piano, but also with drummer Laing playing rhythm guitar and West on violin. The closing track ‘Pollution Woman’ is for me the most interesting, posing the question as to whether this trio could have taken the mantle that Cream owned. This song is structured with plenty of interesting side-lines and with Bruce on synthesizer. There are no over the top guitar histrionics, everything being held and drawn along by the melody. The outstanding track here is the cover track ‘Third Degree’ written by Eddie Boyd and Willie Dixon. Really down and dirty, a song that persuaded Joe Bonamassa to appear on West’s solo album “Unusual Suspects”, playing that song!

RORY GALLAGHER

The Re-mastered Albums

Against The Grain / Calling Card

Photo Finish / Top Priority / JNX

Sony Legacy Recordings / Capo Records

Merv Osborne

As if the first batch of Rory re-mastered albums with bonus cuts wasn’t enough to keep fans and new followers happy, hot on their heels come the next five. Again worked on by surviving brother Donal and Rory’s nephew Daniel, these re-released tracks do justice to the no-frills attack and also sensitive side of the late great Rory Gallagher. If you’ve read my chat with guitar hotshot Joe Bonamassa, you will be aware that it is not just those of us who saw Rory live in performance and got to have the odd word with him that enjoy and are influenced by his music. In many ways he set the benchmark for the modern bluesman – aware and respectful of his roots but ever pushing to create something fresh from the sonic ingredients. With great technique but never flashy and keeping well away from gimmicks and dance remixes, Gallagher’s works can be listened to many years after their creation and still get the toes tapping and with the atmosphere of the songs captured to be savoured. Sometimes, he is described as ‘workmanlike’ but this implies plodding which to my mind Rory never was. Of course working with top-flight musicians kept him on his toes and interplay was an integral part of Gallagher’s modus operandi. It is hard to think of another musician who so consistently made dynamics an essential factor throughout a long recording career. Fans would agree that they have their own favourite albums BUT I don’t think RG ever made a duffer. Indeed the late period ‘Fresh Evidence’ is an absolute corker, varied and exciting viz. ‘Ghost Blues…

‘AGAINST THE GRAIN‘ has a rockin’ start with ‘Let Me In’ and its choppy riffing against tinkling piano and classic

Brit Blues drumming. And a lovely sustained note about three minutes in…I recall it brightened up 1975 when some rather stodgy progrock works were released by other acts. ‘Cross Me Off Your List’ is a staccato piece with a fine vocal and again crisp drumming, with a hint of Santana in the guitar phrasing. Moody baroque piano introduces ‘Ain’t Too Good’ which is a pulled-punch admonishment item which I always thought should have been offered to Joe Cocker. The guitar solo is clipped and to the point. ‘Souped Up Ford’ is a very cool slide feature which rocks out in style; ‘Bought & Sold’ is a real toe-tapper with a jaunty tempo and bright vocal on a learned-my-lesson theme. Other highlights on this set are ‘All Around Man’ which has a huge Muddy Waters flavour and the acoustic tread through ’Out On The Western Plain’ which of course became a regular set list choice. Bonus cuts are ‘Cluny Blues’ and ‘My Baby, Sure’ with some studio chat and a rockabilly jukebox feel. ‘Calling Card’ from 1976 has a funky rockin’ start with ‘Do You Read Me’ which has a surefooted vibe and twisting guitar figures over the bass /organ/drums. Rocking tempo’d ‘Country Mile’ kicks up a storm in Jerry Lee Lewis style and sweeping slide guitar runs against that ever-present up-tempo and crisp drumwork. Rory’s dynamic touch is well demonstrated on ‘Moonchild’ which has an ominous progression and I think one of Gallagher’s best vocal performances, would still make a fine film soundtrack opener. The title track swings like crazy and the guitar bursts evoke Buddy Guy’s sardonic phrasing, how cool does that piano sound on this selection? ‘Secret Agent’ is an exercise in insistent edginess with dark slide guitar and almost Deep Purple organ playing; if Van Morrison was ever an influence on Rory, it shows best on the mellow-paced ‘Edged In Blue’ with its lovely melody, giving way to a brisk vocal passage. Bonus cut ‘Where Was I Going To’ has almost a Wailers melancholy-tinged progression and quite different from any other track on this album, reflective lyric et al.

Now it’s 1978 and we have ‘Photo Finish’ which is some followers’ favourite RG set. Opener ‘Shin Kicker’ is a typical rock’n’roll work that Rory would play live; the guitar solos are sharp and inspired – very American-sounding. ‘Brute Force & Ignorance’ is not a tribute to Grammar School teachers of my hapless era of education, but rather an emphatic rocker full of stops and ringing electric guitar chording and overdubbed mandolin. It’s almost a Dylanesque tale and has one of Rory’s best singing performances. This would sit alongside Little Feat’s ‘Dixie Chicken’ as a quirky rock song. A splendid slide guitar with a raspy tone cuts loose towards the end and rides the fade.

This set is also notable for the pumping ‘Cloak & Dagger’ with added harmonica; plus the urgent chug of ‘Shadow Play’ which is an exciting outing to be sure and would suit king rocker Glenn Hughes. A punching bridge mentions Jekyll and Hyde and a fabulous guitar solo appears in the second minute, piling on the tension.

‘Fuel To The Fire’ has an unmistakable Dylan influence as Gallagher pursues his electric-folk muse, a touch of flanger on the guitar. Bonus cuts here are ‘Early Warning’ which is a real stormer and would have been played on Alan Freeman’s rock show, Rory sounds fired up and the band rock out. ‘Juke Box Annie’ is set to a backbeat and has acoustic guitar and harp elements, Rory singing of a troublesome female albeit with an audible wry smile. The standard of singing on this record is up there with Rory’s best, I would say. On to 1979 and ‘Top Priority’ which was a popular release in its day, featuring as it did ‘Phil by’ on the rough theme spy scandal (a heavy rocker with screaming electric guitar and paranoia-ridden lyric… and can that electric sitar sound any more driven?) and ‘At The Depot’ with its tumbling opening and stomping beat. ‘Follow Me’ has a choppy chord intro worthy of Wilko Johnson and driving tempo over splayed guitar chords and maybe Gallagher’s best ever singing. As a rock song this can give Thin Lizzy, Trapeze and others a real run for their money. The guitar is really fluid – a standout and consistent feature of this entire record, readers – but doesn’t outstay its welcome. ‘Wayward Child’ is another pacy song with singing guitars and the entire group sounds surefooted and fiery, especially on the middle eight. More fluid and expressive guitar that the re-mastering enhances. Flanged tone guitar introduces ‘Keychain’ giving a quasi-Hendrixy mood to the cut but this is Rory at his bluesiest; ‘Just Hit Town’ has that RG hurtling tempo slide flavour; a steady electricDelta lope carries ‘Off The Handle’. On this album the extra songs are ‘Hell Cat’ which is a steady rocker but nothing outstanding and ‘The Watcher’ which is a much more interesting piece being a mysterious Link Wraytempo’d song where Rory sounds positively distressed at something he has seen or experienced. He was an avid reader so who knows what he had been absorbing at this time? Intriguing and a tad gothic for the check-shirted journeyman. A pinched-tone guitar break sounds fuelled by concern…and all this pre-dates Alice In Chains by some years!

So now we’re listening to 1982’s ‘Jinx’ and its spiky starting number ‘Signs’ and with the punks having failed to stamp out anyone older than them, Gallagher is still creating punchy rock songs with plenty of racy guitar and his voice sounding good and still distinctively Rory. Moreover he is proving night after night that he can deliver live performances that few contemporaries can match and has amassed a large collection of self-penned gems. Each release has a supercharged-Gene-Vincent style number or two and here it’s ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’. ‘Double Vision’ is as emphatically gritty and catchy as anything ZZ Top were to produce and the slide sounds glorious. ‘Big Guns’ would flatten any New Wave band’s attempt to sound clipped and full of intent as Gallagher and crew sound like amphetamined Kinks on the rampage. Interesting bass figures on this number, too. ‘Jinxed’ is a rolling blues rocker with Noo Orleanz drumming; the pokey-rhythmed ‘Bourbon’ sounds like the Stones in a hurry. It’s way back to blues influences on ‘Ride On Red, Ride On’ which if memory serves nodded to Louisiana Red rather than the Tampa variety. Extra songs are ‘Nothin’ But The Devil’ an assured acoustic outing whilst ‘Lonely Mile’ has a Taj Mahal flavor to these ears, strutting tempo

that wouldn’t have been out of place on ‘Exile On Main Street’. As varied as most RG sets, ‘Jinx’ still sounds good to these ears

OTIS GRAND Blues ‘65

Maingate Records

The number 13 is unlucky for some but applied to the number of tracks featured on this album it is indeed a lucky number for the listener!

Pete Sargeant

Otis gets to work out and stretch out across a good range with his inimitable guitar style. With guests including Sugar Ray Norcia, ‘Monster’ Mike Welch and Michael ‘Mudcat’ Ward amongst others he has assembled a fine crew here to deliver the goods. He kicks off with a swinging intro that gets you bouncing along and you cannot do what the title says – ‘Pretend’. With eight of the thirteen tracks being original compositions and the others being interpretations such as ‘Baby Please (Don’t Tease)’, ‘Please Don’t Leave’, the opener ‘Pretend’ and ‘Who Will The Next Fool Be’ you can expect some good quality Blues in this package and you won’t be disappointed.

C. Richs’ ‘Midnight Blues’ features some stinging guitar notes in the best BB King scope. Brother Roy Oakley delivers impassioned vocal on ‘Please Don’t Leave’ (writer unknown) accompanied by tight choruses of horns, jangling piano and appropriately stuttering rhythm in grand old style (no pun intended there honest!). ‘In Your Backyard’ is simply a wonderfully constructed piece of Blues, just close your eyes and believe it baby. The sleeve notes contain a rundown of some of the events on 1965 for your interest particularly if you were not there at the time these are of note! Musically perhaps in particular the release of BB Kings’ ‘Live At The Regal’ classic album. Sax (Greg Piccolo is outstanding) and guitar sting their way through the resounding ‘Shag Shuffle’. ‘Baby Please (Don’t Tease)’ closes this album all too soon for me. Message to Otis – don’t leave it so long next time!! Great album

Frank Leigh

EVENTS THAT HAVE HELPED SHOWCASE THE BLUES

HARVEST TIME BLUES FESTIVAL @ Monaghan Town, Ireland, 7-9

September 2012

With the traditional Gaelic greeting, “Cead mile failte” (hundred thousand welcomes), a picturesque border town location, soaring temperatures and glorious sunshine, this was the perfect setting for a weekend musical extravaganza. It also had a fairytale dimension in that the star of the entire festival was not a headline act but local singer/songwriter/guitarist Grainne Duffy from Castleblayney, County Monaghan. Her band was confined to the pub trail and played to packed venues, often with larger audiences than the main marquee. Perhaps she will progress to the main stage next year, not that she needs to prove herself given recent appearances at Glastonbury, a worldwide touring schedule and an internationally acclaimed album, “Test Of Time.” Her live performances were sensational and went down a storm in her home county.

Grainne has a voice that could ferment Guinness. Comparisons with other female singers of the genre are irrelevant because of her unique sound, song-writing talent, impassioned vocals and beautiful feel for the blues. This is not Bonnie Raitt; this is Bonnie Raitt on speed! From ‘Rockin’ Rollin Stone’ to the self-penned classical ballad, ‘I Know We’re Gonna Be Just Fine’, Duffy mesmerized her legion of fans. Bassist Davy Watson contributed excellent harmonizing vocals as well as bass riffs that Jack Bruce would be proud of. Indeed, it is the tightness and intensity of the band collectively which is a major factor in the success story of Grainne Duffy. This is no ‘Sex and Strat’ performer, to quote some recent accusations of blueswomen, and in any case it would be a brave person to say it to her face! However, do not be fooled by the moody looks of the publicity photographs, as the engaging Grainne spent hours happily chatting to fans and signing autographs. To misquote Julius Caesar, “she came, she saw and she conquered.”

By contrast, the opening act in the marquee, Dutch band Mike and the Mellotones, played to a handful of spectators which was surprising given their claim to be at the forefront of the new blues in Europe. The set started well with a highoctane version of ‘Not Fade Away’ with drummer Lorenzo laying down a brilliant rhythm. ‘Just A Dream’ from the latest CD “1 + 1 = 3” contained echoes of Walter Trout, and ‘Sensation’ the Freddie King classic highlighted Mike Donkin’s guitar skills. Overall though, there was too much repetitive improvisation and it was a one–dimensional performance by a band which should be renamed The Monotones.Headlining Friday night were Deadstring Brothers, the Detroit bluesy rockers, who livened up proceedings for an ever-expanding audience as the pubs closed. The set had a strong country element, starting with the driving ‘Are You Feeling Alright?’ and moving into strong, catchy self-composed material from the excellent “Sao Paulo” album. The charismatic vocalist/guitarist Kurt Marschke took centre stage, orchestrating everything and looking and, at times, sounding like John Lennon in the process. This is a highly talented, energetic band who ensured a memorable ending to the first day.

The acoustic acts on Friday were in separate venues and the festival organizers had made inspirational choices, starting with 2012 Hall of Fame inductee Lazy Lester, the 79 year old from Louisiana, former disciple of Lightnin’ Slim and a contemporary of John Jackson. He defied his age by playing three consecutive nights, singing duets with his American colleagues and constantly mingling with the festivalgoers. Few artists deserve the descriptor, ‘real deal’ but Lester is one of them. From ‘Blues Come Knockin’ At My Door’ and Professor Longhair’s ‘YaYa Blues’ to country classics such as ‘Blue Eyes Cryin’ In The Rain’ and ‘Your Cheating Heart’, Lester sang his heart out to the hardcore fans. His voice is becoming strained and the harp playing was not always crisp and articulate, but the man is an institution.

Terry ‘Harmonica’ Bean, the 51-year-old traditional Delta bluesman and one time friend of Junior Kimborough worked full time in a furniture factory until turning professional in 2008. He sounded like a one-man band at times, with his powerful vocals, piercing, explosive harp and syncopated rhythms. From boogie to blues, with highlights including ‘Walking Blues’, ‘Telephone Blues’ and ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’, Terry enhanced his growing reputation. He also played duets with Lazy

Lester which were even better as it gave him further opportunities to show his harmonica prowess without also having to sing.

Marquise Knox the young gun from Missouri is a promising talent with a powerful tuneful voice and distinctive guitar style, albeit still very raw. His solo opportunities were limited by the enthusiasm of Lester and Terry to participate in his sets, and the trio triumphed with their superb rendition of Jimmy Rogers’ ‘That’s Alright.’ Marquise will have learnt a lot from the experience and is already scheduled to come to the UK next year. Sean Taylor, the highly acclaimed singer, lyricist and guitarist from Kilburn, London was a tour de force and the best acoustic performer at the festival by a mile. Blues Matters’ review of “Love Against Death” his latest album, recorded in Austin, Texas concluded, “Every note is musical perfection”. Comparisons with the veteran folk/blues singer Michael Chapman are inevitable but Sean has an even harder political edge. On ‘Stand Up’ he makes the impassioned plea, “People of the world we have to unite, For the flame of the love we have to ignite, Wipe away the poverty, wipe away the greed, I’d rather die on my feet than live here on my knees.” Another highlight was the arrangement of ‘Raglan Road’ inspired by the Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh. Lighter material included an innovative shuffle version of ‘Sixteen Tons’, Texas boogies, ‘psychedelic blues’ and a gentle interpretation of Skip James’ ‘Hard Times.’ Sean has a mellifluous voice, at times almost a whisper, with an incredible range when required such as the anguish and heartache expressed during Richie Haven’s ‘Freedom.’ Exquisite piano playing was evident on ‘Biddy Mulligan’s’ a tribute to the former Kilburn pub but it is Sean’s guitar craftsmanship which sets him apart, with beautiful slide technique and the innovative use of capos to produce a distinctive sound and unique style.

Texan Steve James proudly presented his new national steel guitar and proceeded to entertain the audience with his humorous anecdotes, eclectic songs and considerable prowess on both guitar and mandolin. He skillfully weaved together the Leadbelly melodies from ‘Poor Howard’ and ‘Green Corn’ to produce a wonderful instrumental. Steve is a fine slide guitarist and produces a beautiful tone, not least on ‘Blues In A Bottle.’ His creative song writing and masterful ability as a storyteller were evident on ‘Greens’ and ‘Galway Station Blues.’

The Memphis based superstar and musical missionary, Alvin Youngblood Hart lived up to his reputation on both sides of the pond with a selection of songs from “Home Sweet Home” and his extensive back catalogue. An even bigger legend since his role in Scorsese’s films about the blues, Alvin told stories about this experience in between treating the audience to songs from a range of influences including Henry Townsend, Blind Willie Johnson and the Mississippi Sheiks. The latter’s “Livin’ In A Strain” was about the 1930s depression but was just as applicable today. Another intriguing song was about ‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson which is part of the repertoire of Alvin’s acoustic super group, the South Memphis String Band. Saturday and Sunday nights at the marquee were all -American shows well attended by Monaghan residents alongside the blues fans gathered from across the globe.

The Chris O’ Leary Band from New York had the younger spectators dancing from the outset in a barnstorming set comprising classics such as ‘I Can Tell’ and originals like, ‘I Need You Like A Hole In The Head’ dedicated to O’Leary’s ex-wife! This 6-piece creates a big band sound with its two saxophones and inspirational standup bass player. Chris Vitarello slowed it back down with some tasty lead guitar on ‘Blues Is A Woman’ before O’Leary accelerated the tempo once more with his energetic singing and Chicago-style harp playing.Wayne Baker Brooks is a chip off the old block with his strong vocals and searing guitar on ‘It Don’t Work Like That’ and his extended version of ‘Telephone Blues’ which contained some brilliantly mimed dialogue. Wayne continued to up the ante even further with his sheer energy and ‘bayou swamp music meets Chicago’ playing style in numbers like ‘Everything’s Gonna

Be Alright’ and ‘Watchdog’. In many respects Sunday night was even better, with Tommy Castro and The Painkillers in outstanding form. The band blasted its way through ‘Love Don’t Care’ and ‘Make It Back To Memphis’ from the “Hard Believer” CD before moving on to material from the “Painkiller” album. Tommy is rapidly assuming the mantle of Buddy Guy with his forays into the audience to connect with the fans. He exudes enthusiasm and fun whilst retaining the spirit of the blues, for example in ‘Low Down Blues’ before climaxing with ‘Right As Rain.’

Larry McCray drew the festival to a close with a stunning performance. Brought up on a farm in Arkansas, the second youngest of 9 siblings, he moved to Chicago, brought out his first album in 1990 and has been touring ever since. Not a prolific recording artist despite an excellent studio CD in 2006, he is a musician’s musician and highly respected by his colleagues. Larry has immense stage presence, with Tommy Castro declaring, “I am going to stay around and learn some new licks from him.” McCray has a voice of pure velvet and his guitar playing is sweet and understated rather than flashy, so all in all, a fitting end to an excellent festival. Every band on the pub trail also contributed to the festival’s success. Apart from the aforementioned Grainne Duffy, the other pub trail performer destined for great things was Giles Robson of the Dirty Aces. He sings and plays in the ‘talking blues’ style of his idol Sonny Boy Williamson the second, and other influences include Norton Buffalo and Sugar Blue. Like Grainne, it was hard to find space in a pub to see the band but those who persevered witnessed a phenomenal talent. The wild and boisterous audience demanded fast and furious 100 miles per hour harp playing, and the faster and louder he played the wilder they became.The interplay between Giles and double bassist Ian Jennings was magnificent, whilst drummer Mike Hellier laid down the frenetic beat required for holding it all together. It was not all about speed and brashness, however, as Giles showed his versatility of range and phrasing across the registers of the diatonic harmonica. This was achieved through slower blues numbers and an amazing track called ‘Devil Led Evil’ from the impressive new CD, “Crooked Heart Of Mine.” Giles is leading the way in both popularizing the harmonica for the young generation and satisfying established blues fans who just love to hear a harp maestro at the top of his game. The popular Ronnie Greer Bandfrom Northern Ireland had a strong fan base and wrung the last drop of emotion out of blues classics like ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ whilst keeping the audience’s toes tapping. Similarly, The Hardchargers from Belfast were an innovative and energetic power trio who remained true to the spirit of the blues through classics such as ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Can’t Be Satisfied.’ Crow Black Chicken lived up to their emerging reputation following Glastonbury with powerful versions of ‘Pride And Joy’ and ‘The Hunter’.Unfortunately, the Friday night regulars in the pub were not quite so switched on and so most continued their conversations. However, the band was chosen to headline the ‘Survivors’ post-festival party which was a great accolade for this rocking trio. Another line up adversely affected by the venue was the Dana Dixon Band from Edinburgh who’s highly competent performance did little for the pensioners who had come to the pub for a quiet Sunday lunch and found themselves seated in front of the speakers. Nevertheless, Dana persevered and came up trumps with her beguiling and evocative version of ‘The Thrill Is Gone.’Dublin based Pilgrim Blues had the advantage of the outdoor stage in the sunshine but failed to capitalize on one of the biggest audiences with a fairly low key performance. The Wildcards from the south west of England were cool guys who looked and sounded the part with their perfect harmonization and slick instrumentals. They benefited from the guest appearance of the Ace of Harps, Giles Robson who brought the house down with his rendition of ‘Going Down Easy.’ A refreshingly, alternative musical experience was provided by the Canadian group, Andre and the J-Tones. Not many blues bands have a song list which includes, ‘Do You Love Me’,’On The Road Jack’ and ‘I Feel Good’. However, a combination of clever arrangements, tasteful guitar work and exceptionally talented saxophone and trumpet players, contributed to a jazz, pop and soul fusion sound which the audience loved.Finally, congratulations to the Harvest Blues organizers for this eclectic mix of music, generous hospitality and tranquil location.

The Bishop

NEWARK BLUES FESTIVAL 2012

Lincoln City Radio’s Blues-Unlimited was invited to the Newark Blues Festival and I was delighted to go. Prior to going I was aware that even more pubs and hotels had embraced the idea of a Newark Wide Blues Festival. Some of the bands booked in free to enter pubs were of equal stature to those on the main stage. An example of this was Boston’s Blues Boys Kings.

Two of us arrived at the main festival site just around lunch time. The afternoon sessions were just starting and the crowd was getting a lot bigger than I remember when I was there two years ago.

Imagine the scene, great warm weather (No I am not lying) a stage in the grounds of Newark Castle, good facilities, great coffee and a separate room to conduct radio interviews in.

The lads doing the mixing were rightly complimented on their skills and I would certainly recommend them to anyone planning a small to medium festival. I did canvass some people as to their opinions regarding the line-up this year. The purist felt that 24Pesos were not what they called a proper blues band. I did point out that they had represented the UK in the European Blues Competition and that they were very much a sought after band. The response was that yes they were fantastic musicians and as a band they were incredibly tight but not what a lot of people called blues. A similar response was gained when talking about Cherry Lee Mewis. It was my first exposure to Cherry and I was struck by her superb voice but had to agree with a lot of others that it was not “Blues” but was swing. I responded by asking where are the boundaries between blues and Jazz and are there any. I can only say that when her set finished there was a whole load of people at the front cheering like mad. Two years ago I was struck by the skills of a young guitarist called Alex Cowan from Glossop. Two years have made a lot of difference to this lads set and skills inventory. Before you could have been forgiven if you thought that you were listening to BB King this time there was a broadening of the range of styles from downright slow deep moody blues to some funky styles. It is going to be interesting over the next few years to see which style-wall Alex will nail his coat peg onto.

There were two ‘acoustic’ acts during the afternoon Clare Free who was doing her last gig before leaving the British Isles to go and live in Holland. I saw here a few months ago supporting Chantel McGregor in Grimsby and was struck but her guitar skills. This time I think that her voice has strengthened (Though it could have been better mixing.) Whatever it was it showed that this young lady has a long and successful career ahead of her. Derrin Nauendorf from Australia was his usual self. What’s that you say?? Well in my book Derrin is one of the hardest working solo artists on the blues circuit. I have seen him a few times and even introduced him on stage and he has never failed to live up to expectations.

A local band ‘The unusual Suspects’ were very well received but a large collection of friends relatives and strangers alike. I enjoyed their set which was a collection of old and new as well as a scattering of blues standards.I think that in a more informal situation the “unusual suspects” will be a fun and entertaining gig.

There were other bands playing including the Vanquish Blues band and Platform 58. I did not see these last two due to conducting interviews for my Blues programme and meal breaks. However I did ask others who did see them and was told that they were superb.

The band that caused the audience to sit up and take notice was the headline act on the Saturday evening. The Nimmo Brothers. What can I say? From the first chord and bent blue-note they had the audience in the palm of their hands. Great songswith both brothers alternating lead and rhythm.I could wax lyrical for a long time and that would become boring and that is certainly not what the set was.

If you get a chance to see this great band from Glasgow, do not pass it up. You will not regret it.

A number of features that the Newark team put on were something that I would like to see in other festivals. Firstly there is a concerted effort to engage young people into the blues scene by offering workshops and a chance to show what they had learnt on stage. Secondly instead of just playing CD’s etc between the paid acts there was a group of locals who had not played together before jammed on the bandstand and were brilliant. What they might have lacked in coordination etc was more than made up with a true feeling about what the blues is all about.

Once again I found that this little blues festival came up trumps with more than its fair share of goodies.

Some of the readers will say that I have not mentioned the British Blues awards which took over the festival on the Sunday afternoon. Why because I was not there due to three other events that I had to go for my radio station. I hope that others who were there will write some reports on the award ceremony and the music that was played there.

One little niggle, and only one tiny little niggle, next year more programmes and times of artists please.

See you all at the 2013 Newark Blues Festival.

Tony Nightingale - Blues-Unlimited Radio Show – Lincoln City Radio

Derrin Nauendorf

COLNE ROCK AND BLUES FESTIVAL 2012

I have sat in front of my lap top several times to write a compact account of this festival and failed! It’s a case now of “Do you want the good or bad news first?!” Well let’s get the painful news over before describing the many redeeming factors that make Colne one of the best British festivals going. Colne Great R&B Festival has been happening for 23 years and I have, over my 16 years of attendance, witnessed that there are good years, some absolutely great years; some are not so good and, on this occasion, sadly disappointing. But these last two observations fall into a minority group. I ask readers to judge not this - my personal account of the 2012 festival as a general sweeping account of all Colne R&B festivals - it is not. It’s just that this year errors were made that need to be addressed by the festival committee. Many die - hard fans were dismayed and alarmed at programming and deviation from the festivals original concepts. Several did not attend because of this. Several more have remarked they will not be attending next year IF this is a pattern of what’s to come. Some went as far and cancelled in advance their hotel reservations that were once deemed ‘set in stone’.

Friday - Judging by the seating layout in the “Muni” International Stage numbers must have been lower than usual. Chris Powers MC, OTT and tongue in cheek lead us into a heroic and patriotic ‘Land of Hope And Glory’ flag waving exuberances of an Introduction to the festival (Reminding us that the Olympics and Paralympics were about us all).He then introduced Big Boy Bloater (BBB) and band onto the stage and the festival got under-away with a fabulous outpouring of jump jive R&R and Rockabilly rhythms. This set the crowd alight and dancing duly commenced. I did, however, miss his Missus who used to be his sax object and a mighty fine instrumentalist she was. But she was in the audience with us hoofers enjoying herself. BBB is now very much a band on the international scene as well as the UK and I was there on the night many moons ago when they performed their first professional gig – The Kings – Newport .. Well they have done well since and this evening was no exception. To follow we had the wonderful Linda Gail Lewis to continue the stomping and tremendous gritty piano based dance music. Linda gives the audience what they want – unadulterated Rock and Roll that is the characteristic of the Lewis family. Every performance is a hundred percent of pure professional entertainment. I admit here that I missed the highlight of the set when a young very glamorous lady in stupendous and sensuous nightclub singer style attire won many a male heart over with superb singing with the great band and LGL. I was told all about it on return – after being held up on my way back from the Ladies by someone that wanted to tell me their version of where the festival had it wrong this time!! (I must remove the “Free Counselling Service” tattoo from my forehead some day). Everyone I spoke with the next day agreed that LGL was the “class act” of the opening night. I did not see The Troggs as I had an appointment with a very youthful band at the Leisure centre that I had not seen for some time – Tantrum! Now back on the circuit after line up changes - ? due to college and career concerns? They held sway on the British Stage last thing on Friday. Once again it’s nice to see a band that started on the fringe here years earlier that steadily gained access to the British then International stage. They also made a stunning debut at Butlins’ R&B Festival Skeggy to a four thousand full capacity crowd first band on, first night and won them over gaining a standing ovation – first I’ve seen there!!

Saturday -The day started rather well with a nice set from Top Topham and John Idan Band. According to the program John met Top and Jim McCarty after he split from his Detroit/Michigan located band. Good combination of talent resulted in a great feast of wholesome rocking blues. Next on was Mungo Jerry. Now! His addition to this year’s festival had many a traditional R&B fan question why! Mungo Jerry at this festival? Well I recall he started off his musical career in a Jug band so why not? The hall was full – so he had some following then! From the moment he bounced on stage he made an impression and started what for many was one of the highlight performances of the w/e. He was absolutely tremendous. He sang well, played real well meaningful blues, danced around and most importantly – engaged the audience from the word go! Yes he did sing his hits from the charts but without fuss –they were just slotted in a medley of good time blues numbers and the crowd joined in whole heartedly! He ran a little over schedule but MC Chris Powers sensing the rapturous audience response said that despite over running they could do an encore. So the encore proceeded and eventually the brilliant band

Big Boy Bloater

Mungo Jerry

PaulMelrose“The Stumble”

and very buoyant M. Jerry left the stage. I hope we shall see a return of this group next year and inclusion at other UK festivals. This meant that Hundred Seventy Split Del Bonham’s Blues Devils had their work cut out as Jerry et al had set the standard for the day – possibly the festival weekend that afternoon. I’m glad to report they did hold the attention and admiration of the crowd but I listened from the back bar where I retired to regain breath composure and hydration after all that dancing we all did. What a lovely afternoon. Joan Armatrading: The Muni was packed full for this amazing talented lady songsmith and musician. Her inclusion at the festival was another ‘contentious’ issue with the R&B die hards. I have to say that it included me! Yes – she attracted a large fan base in the hall that evening but that audience was not there for the remainder of the w/e and disappeared post performance. I watched for several numbers both star (and she does have that status) and her audience alike. They were enraptured and ecstatic but alas I did not see or experience what they obviously did. I did know that out on the fringe in a scruffy little clubhouse snooker room a young lad and his band were about to play and as he - Luke Doherty -hails from my neck of the woods I would give him a look in. The Tacklers is a new venue for this festival and as I climbed the stairs I sensed it was pretty full in there. It was and having to walk past the band setting up I was spotted by Glyn Knight bassist with Luke and was soon engaged in reminiscences of the old days when he was lead guitar for Snatch-it -Back (Wales’s premier blues band) – those were the days. Luke started up and played like a demon. He’s a shy retiring lad having started to play when very young as a diversion to occupy his time whilst enduring a debilitating illness that still persists though he has more stamina these days but he plays from behind unlike others of his generation who are up front and up for it. He is making ‘waves’ as he now travels further to gigs and festivals than ever before. It was at Upton this year he held an audience captive in The Star beer garden and did four or five encores! It looked like he may do the same at this venue too. I did not stop for the whole set as I had a date with another- Ben Waters Boogie Band- back at the Muni main stage. Ben Waters: Last band of the night and it was ‘Get yer dancing shoes on’. I saw Ben only a week or two before but he’s worth another set as the infectious rhythms he and his great band generate are astounding. He has played with many of the greats in the musical circles and has even had the pleasure of playing at Jools Holland’s wedding so someone informed me! So there! It was a stonking fast and furious ending to the second day.

Sunday: King Pleasure and The Biscuit Boys. Regulars to this festival (and many others) this band sets you up for the day which in a way is odd as I usually expect them (as I did Big Boy Bloater) to be last on the programme for the same reason – to send you off in a happy content après feasting on R&B. Afterwards we had another ‘interlude’ of Jazz – probably the most controversial of the whole programme. Lady Sings the Blues with the award winning BBC Jazz Players followed by Courtney Pine. The Jazz players were excellent musicians and their chantress charming and eloquent - but the sanitised account of Billy Holidays life fell flat to most people there some of whom are very conversant on Billy and other female Blues singers. Although her voice was reminiscent of Lady Day and she did look glamorous in her black evening dress it was perhaps too smooth a performance about an artist who had lead a seedy often rough and sordid lifestyle –not of her own making but by the times and place she lived in. Courtney Pine: Once again the main Muni hall was packed with Pine’s dedicated fans thronging the front of stage. Once again post performance these fans left and did not stay for the rest of the w/e. and probably did not stay in local accommodation, campsite, ate or shopped in town either. Now I know of Pine’s amazing talent and rise to the zenith of the Jazz world (I was a regular at Brecon Jazz) with his genius talent for this genre but I find it much like the Kings suit of clothes. I see (hear) nothing that makes any sense to my ears or emotions. Yes the technique is amazing and the energy abounds but I cannot dance to it, never tap my feet in time to it or ever go home whistling or humming an iota of a strain from a single piece of music performed. Others obviously see something that I am totally blind to in all comprehension. Am I worried? Nah! I gave him five numbers or so then decided to get some dinner in preparation for later when I was back in my comfort zone on terra firma and terra familiaris (dance floor). The Stumble: NOW THIS IS something I can relate to – enjoyment of an outfit that is stunningly good with songs that make easy listening even sing along with and dance too! The vocals are delivered in style and the instrumental soloing beautiful and emotional. The Stumble pressed all the buttons – and not just with me – I was not alone on the wooden sprung floorboards hoofing away during their impeccable set. It was crammed to capacity. Booker T Jones: A legendary figure from the Stax record label with a multitude of iconic soul/R&B hits as long as my right arm to his credit just floored everyone present. Modest and well mannered accomplished

by Paul Webster

Booker T

musician singer song writer and raconteur make this man so well liked and loved by many. MC Chris Powers was in seventh heaven just introducing him to the eagerly waiting packed hall. Booker T’s band of musicians were lively engaging and obviously out to enjoy themselves and pass that feeling on to a receptive audience. A fantastic set of well known songs and instrumental numbers washed over the greedy, we want more please crowd. A very happy and sated audience danced away the night. I skipped down to the acoustic stage after as I did want to see Pablo & Friends do their set as I have missed them and his other band in past festivals and so deemed this was not to be overlooked this time. It was a lovely easy way to wind down from the day listening to a group of friends playing and singing – laid back and enjoyable! Sunday - Last day was one where I only caught snatches of performances as they were nearly all so familiar to me and other regulars. I skipped completely the first 3 main stage bands but listened to most of Connie Lush. I did wander up to the (unofficial) fringe and catch all of Jamie and the Worried Men who once again gave a frenetic fast and dangerous set of R&B without pretention or care in the world other than to please and occasionally self mock as well as mock his audience - who take the abuse in good humour over the unstoppable 2-3 hours of wicked music. Then it was a case of saying farewells to friends and retire to my bedroom open the window and listen into the Welsh T band playing below in the Crown Hotel’s function room! That was another Colne marathon done and dusted. I hope that after this years’ experience and comments they get back on track again for next year.

THE ISLE OF WIGHT BLUES WEEKEND, 5th – 7th October 2012

This popular weekender by Boogaloo Promotions, now in it’s sixteenth year was, as always, a sell-out.

Friday - first place on the bill in any kind of festival is not the most envious of positions and it fell to Guy Tortora to open proceedings. Guy’s bag of Americana includes both self-penned and traditional material. Patrons of these weekends also like to dance and it’s one measure as to how well you are received by the numbers struttin’ their stuff on the floor. That may not suit some blues purists who like to stand in front of the band, pint in hand, so it’s all about choice. By the time Guy was into a rousing version of ‘Nobody’s Fault’ the audience found their feet. Guy’s noted slide work was much in evidence and supported in the rhythm section by Pete Hedley and Alex Gimson, and he traded solo’s with long time associate Janos Bajtala on keys and the chemistry between them is much in evidence as they push each other on. By the penultimate ‘Good Times Roll’ everyone was well and truly warmed up and Guy reprised with ‘Don’t do it’ to an appreciative crowd.

The sizeable ‘Corporation’ of Nicky Moore was next on the bill and it was sadly Nicky’s swansong with the Blues Corporation now in it’s eighteenth year. This popular bluesman has been a long-time favourite of these weekends with his incredible voice and his earthy banter. But any tinge of sadness was soon dispelled as the set opened featuring his two sons Tim and ‘Julian’ Moore. Two fine musicians in their own right of whom Nicky can be rightly and inordinately proud and it will be interesting to see in what direction they will subsequently be heading. In the wings too is a grandson. To be sure, the skill and humour that pervades their performances will continue for another generation.

The boys kicked off with ‘Ain’t Superstitious’, each bringing their own techniques into play as the lead changed. Daddy then mounted the stage to a storm of applause and brought us a medley of his own material mixed with blues classics. Needless to say his trademark acappella number ‘Blind man’ brought forth a chorus of support from the fans. Another singalong, the quirky ‘All The Kings Horses’, brought the set to a close to emotive applause. However, the swansong was not yet complete, for there was the acoustic set yet to come on the morrow. Next off to the Waterfront Lounge where Tim Aves was running the traditional jams and the room was soon packed. Tim quickly had some guest players mixed and matched into the fray. Guy Tortora’s outfit were prompt to feed into the fun, some using the opportunity to try other instruments. The Moore bros were not far behind. I was told it petered out at about 4.00 am but I had hit the sack before that.

Saturday - at one o’clock saw the disciples returning to the lounge for the acoustic sets. For those bands with alter ego’s, this presents another opportunity to display their wares. Guy Tortora assisted by his bassman Alex Gimson attempted to kick off proceedings with a mandolin but tuning vagries plagued him, so it was promptly ditched and he moved to an acoustic guitar. A selection of rootsy ballads such as ‘If ever I get to heaven’ ‘Early in the Morning,’ helped nurse those trying to get a grip on the day after the night before syndrome. He was soon joined with light and imaginative brushwork by Pete and then Janos on piano. Guy then rounded off the half-hour set on a resonator with ‘Take me Home’. I thought that this session was much better received than the previous night, the band seemingly more relaxed in the informal setting. Now was the time to get the tissues out as the Brothers Moore took to the floor and gave us a couple of great numbers with Julian taking the vocals showing how genetics show through… With a proud beaming smile, Big Daddy Nicky sat in the front row and was heard to comment self-deprecatingly after the second number; “You sound so much better without

Pictures @ Isle of Wight Blues Wknd by Ann Owens

Diane Gillard (Sister Feelgood)

Guy Tortora

that fat git.” That said, he then took his seat out front, giving us some self penned ballads of distinction such as ‘Drifting on a sea of Blues’ and delivering as only he can. A short speech before the encore thanked Boogaloo’s Monica Madgwick and the fans for their support over the years, (which he will no doubt continue to wear). He assured me though, that he’d continue with composing and recording acoustic material. An article in a future edition of BM will elucidate as to the details of those plans. Nicky is a one off and will be sadly missed on the circuit.

Bob Hokum taking a break from his MC/DJ role lightened the mood with a mix of traditional and homespun blues, as always tinged with his own brand of wry humour.

Bad Influence (The UK version not the Washington one for the benefit of our international readers) who were also the evening session openers, were fresh off the ferry but soon put to work. Val Cowell and Richard Hayes enthusiastically knocking out some samplers from their evening set as a pre-taster of what was to come.

Tim Aves on resonator then rounded out the afternoon with birthday boy Rob Barry keen to play his tiny new Kala Ukelele bass that sounds very like a double bass, thanks to some special silicon strings. Paul Lester drafted in on drumsto ensure some semblance of order. As the afternoon session was overrunning, the boys had just three numbers which were very well received, the encore of ‘It’s all over now’ being an appropriate tailpiece. Come 8.30, Bad Influence swiftly got the evening off to a rocking start with ‘I’m on your Side’ with Val Powell on full throttle on the vocals and rhythm guitar with partner Richard Hayes putting out some great solos on his Les Paul. Star bass player Pete Stroud is now part of the band and took an early solo to demonstrate why he takes so many best bass player awards. The quartet’s up-tempo offerings such as SRV’s ‘Pride and Joy’ and ‘Fly’ kept the punters happy and on their feet. There was plenty of light and shade though with the likes of ‘Standing Line’ peppering the set. Harry James and Pete generated a solid beat in the engine room. Another standing ovation greeted the close of a popular set. At 10.30 although the bill listed Mumbo Jumbo it was their new Crescent city influenced blues/jazz fusion sextet called ‘Stomp and Holler’ that took the stage. Turned out in a variety of colourful clothing on a theme of sky blue reflecting the NOLA tradition for uniforms, the band struck out with ‘Crazy up in here’. Eclectic is almost an understatement for this band’s choice of music and may not be to the taste of some blues purists, however you might define purist. But clearly they went down well with the majority of the assembly and their objective of recreating the N’Oleans sound worked as far I was concerned, having sampled the delights of the city earlier this year. I also like the big band approach to blues where the brass of Oliver Carpenter’s trumpet and John Sanderson’s saxes adds an extra and authentic dimension. Keyboard gal Abby Brant, fan of John Cleary and the Dr John school, saw the influences come through her playing. Chris Thomas and Martin Ball ably ensured everyone kept on time. Lee Evans on lead guitar shared vocals with Abby, Oliver and Chris. The set also included some of their writing with ‘Lonesome Town’ and ‘Coming Home’. This new band certainly captures the fun, colour and musical diversity of the New Orleans sound so rarely heard on these shores. A reprise of ‘Crazy’ brought the set to a close and it was a happy audience that trooped to the lounge for another night of jams.

What is it about ‘I rather go Blind’ that it evokes magic moments in jams? As Val Cowell and the boys were passing the solo spots around and were about to reprise when Oliver and John smoothly segued in on trumpet and sax from the bar area and moving down through the audience to join the rest of them. It’s such spontaneity as this that is part of the appeal and essence of jams for me.

Sunday - afternoon’s acoustics was set in the main auditorium with the Mumbo Jumbo quartet drawn from Stomp and Holler performing at floor level, literally opening a bag of musical goodies. Part way through the set, kazoos and shakers were distributed amongst the audience for some public participation in the calypso ‘Man smart but woman smarter’. A jolly time was had by all. Those with kazoos were encouraged to keep them to accompany the Nimmo Brothers later that night! Some were still in evidence in the jams. Kids eh?

The happening that is Stompin’ Dave then took over from the stage. With his multiplicity of instruments it was really the only place to avoid delays between sets. Earl Jackson ably stepped to provide bass for some of the set. Dave’s mix of humour and every variation on the blues theme from blue grass to hillbilly to Cajun to roots employing vox, stomp box, fiddle, guitar, banjo, harmonica and keyboard was energetically unrolled over the 90 minute set. If you have seen him you will know what an entertainer he is, to detail it here would take many more pages. Needless to say he wrapped to much applause.

It fell to Split Whiskers to follow Dave. Stripped down acoustic in this case meant losing the bass drum, leaving drummer Chippy Carpenter a confused man. It was in the care of Brian I think. A mix of youth and experience, they had managed to find their way from Cambridge and continued the light hearted approach with much repartee in the half hour taster of traditional blues numbers.

And so to the final evening and Split Whiskers were again on stage. ‘Money Ain’t Everything’ was their opener with Gilby

Nicky Moore

Fletcher leading in on harp and vocals. In the rhythm section Chippy was ably assisted by the beaming and dreadlock flailing bassist Claudia Mc Kenzie, clearly the prettiest of the bunch. Johnny Wright was on lead guitar sharing the vocals with a selection of guitars to suit the moment. Unobtrusively in the wings Matt Wilshaw laid down some thumping riffs on keys and sharing the solo spots. Romping through a selection of blues standards viz. Play the Blues for you, Woke up this morning, Catfish, it is obviously a band that that works well together and it shows in the end result. Colin leapt in to assist in the most bizarre drum solo of the weekend. Closing the set with the good old favourite ‘Let the Good times roll’, the band had set up everyone for the weekend’s top billing.

From Glasgow yet another brother’s act in the form of Steve and Alan Nimmo blasted off in an eagerly awaited set with ‘Never Gonna Walk.’ As always their reputation for being loud was sustained but this was contrasted in ‘Slow Down’ for example in which Steve with a most delicate touch took volume to the other end of the scale and tempo. You just didn’t want the number to end. One again there is that musical bonding that siblings seem to bring to music and sustains that freshness over the years. The rhythm section provided a robust and driving support with some dextrous stick work from Dave Raeburn but I’m afraid I haven’t the bass man’s name. They simply endorsed the rave reviews given in this magazine in the past. The closer was the rocking ‘Shape I’m In’. For those with any energy left, the jams followed. A truly memorable end to a very varied weekend of blues. If you haven’t tried a Boogaloo weekender and want details, please go to http://www.boogaloopromotions.com/

Nimmo Brothers

Report by Mike Owens - Pictures by Ann Owens

BLUES AT THE FOLD, Bransford Nr. Worcester. Saturday 7th July 2012. The Swansea girls loved this one day festival last year so there were no dissenters when I proposed a return visit this July. Weather wise it was wet! Unlike last year when it was staggeringly sunny and hot we wrapped up warm this time and the organisers switched the venue to a larger solid floored and roofed area of The Fold Craft and Garden Centre. Clever thinking! MC for the day was Worcester Poet Laureate Theo Theobald who welcomed us to the festival and each band/artist to the stage with witty and pithy poetic intros! First on was Matt Woosey a young local musician playing solo acoustic guitar and singing a mix of his own excellent material such as Noah and Blues don’t Leave Me and some classic blues numbers. Included were Rory Gallagher’s version of ‘Out On The Western Plain’ and then in Slide mode with ‘Woke Up This Morning’. He played lovely solo moments and often ran from one song into another without pausing. He left the stage to much well deserved applause and returned to do an encore. Babajack were next on. You can read just about everywhere in the musical press etc about this bunch so all I shall say is that they once again gave an impeccable display of good wholesome country/folk Blues with many a hint of low down and dirty deeds done by despicable critters and so on. Well done Babajack another cracker! It was also a welcome return of Mumbo Jumbo as they too played The Taurus one day festival. Here, too, at the Fold they gave a class performance of their back porch style laid back and laconic melting pot of Blues, funk, jazz, Memphis/New Orleans, Tennessee songs styles. Steve Roux too, made another appearance and although this and two mentioned bands were duplicated from the programme at Taurus crafts festival we didn’t mind an iota as they were all so good. The only difference was that they had their own drummer back in the band and he had to play like a demon possessed as his replacement at Taurus Tony Bayliss was so good. Steve and the boys gave a storming performance and Steve’s guitar playing was a lesson in R&B excellence. Steve “Big Man” Clayton was the penultimate act on and he’s one I have missed over the years. I have heard all about him from others but never had the pleasure as they say. Well this Saturday night was about to change all that. With Chris Lomas on bass Mick Barker drums Steve entertained us with fine boogie woogie, rock and rolling, rhythm and blues piano. His vocals roaring over the beautifully hard rolling left hand lead driving machine of his eventually had the dancers up in good number. Steve’s ‘Where Did You Stay Last Night’ was followed by a selection of standards from the Jerry L.L. Chuck Berry song book as well as more traditional old timers. A breath taking performance to say the least! Now everyone was in the mood to hoof it on the dance floor the next band on gave them very little respite. Earl Green has been round many a year and does not mind telling you himself. He has earned a reputation as an excellent singer of blues R&B, soul and Gospel. He had his big band with him and it included Mike Paice Saxophonist and harmonica player. Mike has played with many great bands and singers such as the dynamic Danna Gillespie. Tonight he sounded the coolest of red hot sax to compliment Earl Greens tremendous soulful lyrics. Earl had a great night, so too the audience and some of us were dancing in the driveway when waiting for our taxi when the band played their encore for the evening. Another great little festival!

Diane Gillard Sister Feelgood

SHETLAND BLUES FESTIVAL 2012 - September 14th-16th

The most northerly blues festival in the United Kingdom and what a great time it was. The artists blew in on a force ten gale and kept the pace up all weekend!

This year the main venue was the Mareel and what an excellent hall it is. Friday night started on a mellow and laid back style brought to the stage by Danish blues acoustic guitarist and vocalist Tim Lothar. An unassuming and confident musician he played a mixed set of self-penned tunes such as ‘Tear It All Down’ and standards such as Charlie Patton’s ‘It Won’t Be Long’. The capacity crowd were appreciative throughout and certainly were very enthusiastic about the music all weekend.

Next on were Babajack, featuring award winning Becks Tate an extremely talented singer as well as musician, playing bongo drums and acoustic tea chest, a homemade invention of her compadre Trevor. From the off they had the crowd whooping and tapping feet from start to end of set “ Death Letter” going down particularly well. A very accomplished duo with a raw and vibrant blues mix left the crowd wailing for more.

This festival also showcased local talent, No Sweat a hard driving performance of mainly cover songs and self-penned songs a particular favourite “Blues Message On The Answerphone” given big licks.

Finishing the night was a blistering set from The Krissy Matthews Band. He is the real deal a fantastic young showman full of energy , can play electric gutsy guitar such as ‘Hit The Rock’ then effortlessly letting rip with acoustic Spanish flamenco style, a particular crowd pleaser.

Saturday opened up with Lincoln Durham a very different brand of blues , eclectic , eccentric , melodic and grungy styles noted in a spellbinding set, a true one man band mix testing his boundaries and his multi instruments, just brilliant a true professional .’How Does A Crow Fly’ being a poignant example. Another local band next jazz/funk Troppofunk a very young talented band average age sixteen sounded as if they had been touring for years took stage with enthusiasm and eagerness.

On to last act of night, Jon Amor Blues Group playing a typically polished performance full of positive energy by a tight group.

Pulsating r and b tracks such as ‘Make It Your Trouble’ and others from forthcoming release had the crowd up dancing throughout set and mirroring the energy and enthusiasm on stage, pure class.

Sunday saw Jed Potts and the Hillman Hunters Shetland debut and they played the crowd well with their distinctive blend of moody melancholic blues, giving out a big sound for a three piece. Other highlights were local stalwarts Pete Stack, playing blues/soul classics, Muddy Bay, Babajack and a jam with Kerry Matthews and Lincoln Durhamon Voodoo Chile, just class!

This was a much appreciated event and extremely well organised, Jimmy Carlyle and his Shetland Blues Committee have much to be proud of the bands really enjoyed playingin a new facility where the sound and lighting were outstanding. A true gem of a festival, enjoyed by all.

Colin Campbell

Jon Amor

Lincoln Durham

KrissyMatthews

TimLother

BLUES ON THE FARM SEPTEMBER 2012

After flooding in the Chichester area last June Julian had to take the decision to postpone Blues on the Farm just one week before the start date. This had a knock on effect as some of the artists had been booked by other festivals on the rescheduled dates. The search was on for more artists to fill the gaps and some acts were still being booked right up to the new date for the festival. Rescheduling costs money, time and effort you can imagine the pressure on Julian. September was the only date available, so it was then or never. As it happens the festival weekend in September was bathed in sunshine reaching some of the highest temperatures of the year.

If you haven’t been to Blues on the Farm your missing out on something really special. A friendly laid back atmosphere with cider and real ales on tap (if you didn’t know the festival is held on a cider farm) and a great choice of foods.

The crowd isn’t the usual blues festival crowd, many come along as family groups as well as lots of younger men and women who come to enjoy the music and company in the Chichester sunshine.

Well, now down to the business of the festival. Friday had a great selection Dave Kelly, Errol Linton, King King, Freddie V and the Allstars as well as my personal favourite Jo Harman and Company.

Jo also sang with Freddie V and gave everyone a taste of that Voice. Jo sang ‘Sweet Man Moses’ and there was some genuine tears in the eyes of the crowd, that’s the measure of her soulful voice.

The Mustangs started the show on Saturday with a high energy performance. They never disappoint. Following The Mustangs was Station House with legendary Sam Kelly on drums. Next up was the Jon Amor Blues Group, they really got the festival going, this band of Jon’s is really a fantastic outfit, producing a tight and distinctive sound. They have a new CD out (November 2012) I really recommend you buy this CD.

Lightnin’ Willie and the Poorboys were on next with Giles King on harp. If you haven’t seen them you need to check them out. Another US artist was waiting in the wings to rock the marquee. Earl Thomas is a massive talent who always uses the same band when he is in the

Julian Moores

Earl Thomas

Freddie V and the Allstars with Jo Harman

UK. Paddy Milner and the Big Sounds. Sexy and Soulful, Earl always excites the audience with his singing and gyrating. Great end to a wonderful day of music.

They say Sunday is a day of rest, but not for the wicked blues. There was an attempt to lull us into a false sense of serenity with the Penny Black Choir and I suppose that is the thing to do first thing on a Sunday morning after a couple of days of excess! We were then awakened by some amazing blues from Tom Attah and Frannie Eubank they absolutely stunned the crowd.

They have a band called The Treatment who I am sure will be getting some festival bookings in 2013.

The Bare Bones Boogie Band with their powerful lead singer Helen who’s voice is reminiscent of Janice Joplin meets Free followed on playing an excellent set.

Will John’s band were a revelation, they really did surprise me. I had heard Will’s CD and had enjoyed it, but you have got to see them play live. Will John’s has a great singing voice and an exciting guitar style and uncannily looks like a young Tom Waits. This band is outstanding, BM has interviewed Will in the past and you can check out his website or view him on YouTube. Definitely one to watch out for. Toy Hearts are a Birmingham based sister fronted Americana band. Not a band I have seen before but they were a joy to watch. You cant go wrong putting Giles Hedley and the Aviators on, classy blues with a wonderful line in humorous patter, always a worthy edition to any festival.

To finish the festival in style Todd Sharpville. He stormed the stage with a great performance.

I can’t wait until next year, but will it be June or September for this wonderful festival. We await the decision from

Julian Christine

Moore

Jon Amor Tom Attah

Frannie Eubank

Penny Black Choir

GWYN ASHTON

NEW ALBUM - RADIOGRAM - OUT NOW feat

World’s best ever guitar sound - Revolver NL

A full serving of power, passion and potent virtuosity - Rocks DE

A frenzied storm of maximum fortitude. UK blues bliss - Guitar & Bass UK

Radiogram proves that Gwyn’s here for good, unlike many of his contemporaries - Guitariste FR

HOOKER & WATERS Hoochie Coochie Sons

by Daryl Weale

Sons of the Blues – Hooker and Morganfield

In the 1950’s, giants of American Blues were breaking new musical ground and setting the foundations of modern popular music. John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, BB King, Albert King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf and many more bestrode the genre, ready to be picked up by white American and British artists in the 1960’s and popularised worldwide, beyond their traditional, black audiences. Now just two of those names, BB King and Buddy Guy, still grace the stages of the world with their presence and their music.

In Detroit in 1952, some four years after he released one of his greatest songs, “Boogie Chillun’”, John Lee Hooker became father to John Lee Hooker Junior. In Chicago in 1954, the very year that he released the landmark single “Hoochie Coochie Man”, Muddy Waters became father to Mud Morganfield. Both sons grew up to be fine musicians, but only after a long, long spell at their personal crossroads. Blues Matters has exclusively interviewed both men, and this is their story, their mojo, and their music.

Cold Water Flats In The Hood

Musically, Hooker and Waters senior were the cream of the Blues crop. Artists of such stature now live in mansions, sheltered behind high walls and 24/7 security, and socialise in the best restaurants, their children fitting neatly into their privileged lifestyles. Not so for Hooker and Waters senior, brought up on the wrong side of the tracks in a time of racial segregation and when the record industry was fast earning a reputation for rapaciously exploiting musicians.

As Mud Morganfield vividly recalls, “Me and John come up the same way, in the streets. In the cold water flats in the hood.”

John Lee Jr echoes Mud’s recollection, “Yes, I know what Mud is talking about. When I was growing up, people would test you out. When I was eight or nine a guy called Mickey and another three guys called me out to fight their second hardest guy. I beat him up. Then they told their biggest guy to get me. He felt he could lose his crown to me and so instead of the street he challenged me to a boxing match with gloves in a ring. I got the better of him. It was tough, but I made friends with everyone. It was tough then – but it’s tougher now. Detroit is one of the murder capitals of the world. It was where I got shot at. Like Mud says, those pockets of the hood are a mess.”

John Lee Jr started out in music young, with a radio appearance aged eight, and later playing with his father on what became the “Live at Solledad Prison” album. Of course, John Lee Hooker was away from his son a good deal, touring. That provided John Lee Jr with a fond memory relating to the United Kingdom. He says, “I can’t wait to come back to the

HOOKER & WATERS

UK. My dad practically lived there. He told me ‘I’m called Sir John over here’. I loved listening to him pick up the phone to people and say ‘Sir John Lee Hooker here.’”

John Lee Hooker Jr’s early celebrity and the people around him soon took John Lee Jr away from music. As he says, “I picked up the guitar, but I wasn’t handy with it. I took another agenda and got into drugs at an early age, and picked that up instead. I’ve got shot, I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been thrown out cars. So many times. I’ve been in a lot of prison –juvenile hall at 15 and 16 years old, County Jail at 17, 18 and 19 years of age, and more. A teenager in prison.”

His appearance at Solledad Prison with his father led to an unfortunate coincidence for the young John Lee Jr, “It was fun, but I was kind of embarrassed later. I was put in prison and people would recognise me. I was like Saint Peter denying knowing Jesus three times. I’d be, ‘No, you haven’t seen me, you don’t know me, I’m not the person you’re thinking about’. But they’d know me due to my name. It was quite embarrassing, but they didn’t laugh at me. I was treated fair, but it was odd. My old gig had turned into my living quarters.”

While John Lee Jr was descending into a personal hell within four small walls, Mud was looking after himself while facing similar challenges. In “Blues in my shoes” he sings, “I was born and raised on the west side, I kept my gun in my hand, every friend I had, was a hustler or a pusher man”.

The son of Muddy Waters and Mildred McGhee, Mud was brought up known as Larry Williams. His parents were together until Mud was six years of age. Being with his father in his earliest years and talking to him at intervals afterwards, mainly on the telephone, made a tough inheritance tougher for Mud.

As he recounts, “My brother Bill [Big Bill Morganfield] was brought up in school and all that stuff, but when I came out of my house it was pimps and whores and pushers and I had to pull away from that stuff. I think about those who’ve had the Blues in their lives, and John Lee Jr and I have the same story. It’s one thing to talk about the Blues, another thing to walk it. Muddy Waters being my daddy didn’t make it any easier for me. And it wasn’t easy for him. It was only the last two years of his life that he moved to the East side of Chicago, before that he was in a drug and crime infested area, like me. We had to come out and be friends with these people to survive. I tell you, I’m a walking blessing, a walking testimony. There’s more than a Blues Man here. John Lee Jr and I both had it pretty rough, man, but we’re doing well. I came from a broken home. Pops left at an early age. I dropped out of school in 9th grade (UK age 14/15, year 10). My mother, Mildred, had to be both father and mother to me. That’s why I love her so much.”

Both Muddy Waters and his son Mud Morganfield had to work hard to get by. Muddy’s work included jobs on Stovall’s plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, making money by gambling, and distilling moonshine whisky. When he moved to Chicago, Muddy took up truck driving. Mud too became a truck driver. He recalls, “I had a bunch of jobs. My main profession was driving trucks, but I was also in telesales. And I was a punch presser, putting the rims of the wheels of cars onto a big machine and onto cars. I always knew I could sing, because of my rhythm and soul, I beat on tables and chairs and sung ever since I can remember, maybe four or five years old.”

Rescued With The Blues

Until Mud took up singing the Blues professionally, he reflects, “I was trapped in a way of life, the same story as a bunch of people, like many artists now are in bondage to drugs. Some people are offended when I talk religion, but if it wasn’t for my God, man, I’d be a lost soul. I got on my knees and prayed and was relieved immediately. I go to schools and tell kids, if God can save me, anyone can be saved.”

John Lee Hooker Jr with his Dad

photo by Jenny Skinner

Muds Mum & Dad

HOOKER & WATERS

Mud and his mother had watched a TV show about Muddy Waters. They weren’t mentioned once. He resolved that, from then on, he would seek fame as a singer and at the same time bring attention to his beloved mother. Mud reflects, “That show was the straw that broke the camel’s back that inspired me. I didn’t want to stay being a dark, deep, hidden secret of a singer; I wanted to come out, to be the Cinderella story.”

A key moment came with his mother’s 75th birthday party. Chicago Blues singer Mary Lane was present. Mud tells the story: “Mary Lane was the first person to take me to a show to sing. I was at home, giving my mother her 75th birthday party. I’d hired a Blues band and sung a couple of numbers with them. Mary was blown away by my singing and my pictures of my dad. She contacted the co-ordinator of the Chicago Blues Festival. Normally they only put on artists with an album out. I didn’t, but I still got an opportunity to show the world ‘I am here’.”

Mud is massively grateful to Mary Lane. As he says, “She’s been at it 30 years. Been in all the clubs in the day, quite a character.” Thanks to Mary, Mud has been showing his own musical character, live and with his first studio album, “Fall Waters Fall”, since 2008. In 2012, his second album, “Son of the Seventh Son” was launched at Buddy’s Guys Legends in Chicago.

Like Mud, John Lee Jr, too, credits God for his escape, in his case from twenty-five years of drugs and alcohol, on the way to becoming a professional musician. He says, “When I was a child, I was a churchgoer, as my parents made me go. Later, I became inspired by the power from above. Then I knew I could always call on that power. For many years I didn’t really think that, but I got serious and called on Him and He reached down.”

“People who say you’re never going to make it – that’s a lie from the pits of Hell. You can. I have. Some die and don’t make it out. They are in a life of annihilation. I’m glad I can wake up in my own home, open my own door when I want, go out when I want, and I’m not still in the yard of some prison. I encourage anyone on drugs: you CAN do better, you’ve got to 2004 saw the release of John Lee Jr’s first album, “Blues with a Vengeance”. Since then, with an array of awards including a Grammy behind him, he hasn’t looked back.

Mud, too, is enjoying his increasing recognition. He says, “I’m really looking forward to my next album, I have some great people in. But it won’t be too soon, I’ve just won the Blues Blast Music Awards CD of the Year award and the Sean Costello Rising Star award. I just want to let it soak in, but not get big headed, and appreciate the fans who have helped me. I think the sky is the limit for me now!”

Fathers And Sons

Now that they are, and have been for some years, professional and award-winning musicians, both Mud and John Lee Jr can live the advice their father’s gave them.

What was that advice? John Lee Hooker told his son, “To work hard. He said it would be difficult because of my name. He said not to try to be like him, he said ‘The world doesn’t need two John Lee Hooker’s, or two BB King’s. I endorse you as authentic, you have your own style, Junior. Just love everybody no matter what their colour, background, beliefs, age, sex, religion, anything. Love everybody and treat people right. Go out there and show them, boy!’”

Mud’s most memorable advice from Muddy Waters was brief and to the point, “To be classy. Don’t be drunk or on drugs and come out to shows and fall over.”

HOOKER & WATERS

Of course, as sons of two great guitarists, it is easy to wonder why these sons aren’t playing the guitar. As we’ve heard, John Lee Jr “wasn’t handy” with a guitar, but what about Mud?

Mud explains, “I’ve played drums and I do play bass, there’s some of me playing bass on YouTube, but I don’t do that in public now. I do use the bass to help me write songs, several on ‘Son of the Seventh Son’ started that way, I have bass guitars all around my bed! But I don’t play live now; I want to be known as a great singer. If I played bass as well it would give critics more to talk about, I don’t want to be talked about as ‘Mud Morganfield, great singer, but his bass playing really sucks’.”

Keeping Their Mojo Working

It is obvious that Mud and John Lee Jr are much influenced by their fathers, but they enjoy many other, often new artists. Mud recalls, “I came from a different era from my father. Even though I heard Pop a lot, Barry White is my favourite, being a bit of a romantic myself and I like his gift for singing love songs. I like Al Green and Earth Wind and Fire, and Hall and Oates. I grew up with that sound too.”

John Lee Jr is also influenced by people beyond the Blues, “I like Macy Gray, she is phenomenal. I love lots of funky music, I love Prince. I have a guy from his band on my album. I like funk and low down and dirty, back of the alley, garbage can Blues. I like Buddy Guy – he can get funky.”

John Lee Jr also recognises that Bo Diddley’s famed “Jungle Beat” has found its way, unconsciously, into his song“ Listen to the Music”. He recalls, with warmth, “I was friends with Bo Diddley, we did shows in Australia and Alaska together. I had no idea it was that beat, but if it is, that’s a good thing! I really admired Bo. Here on my desk I have a framed photograph of the two of us together. Larry Batiste co-wrote “Listen to the Music”. He’s brilliant, it has a New Orleans groove, it’s a dancing song. It’s SO full of life. Dad did a song with Carlo Santana, “The Healer” with the lyric, “The Blues will heal you”. This song is like that.”

Healthy Blues!

These days, both men use their experiences to record and play live some heartfelt Blues, and to motivate them for what is perhaps a surprisingly healthy lifestyle. In fact, “Health” is one of the most passionately sung, spine-tingling songs on Mud’s album. Mud says, “I don’t do nothing these days. I smoked for thirty-seven years, and put them down eight years ago. It was too important to me to put down a legacy for me and my father, I have to make a difference and leave something. That’s my goal. My father was a hell of a man.” “The message of the song is we only have one life. You don’t take care of yourself, you ain’t got nothing. If you’re on your back, you can’t get up; you’re in trouble. The heart only beats so many times. The older we get, we procrastinate more. If my song helps one person its worth every word.”

This is another striking similarity to John Lee Jr, who, like Mud, doesn’t drink, and reflects, “I’m not a man for seedy after parties following gigs. I won’t go. I’ll just go to my room and watch TV even if its France or Spain and I can’t understand a word. I don’t drink or do drugs. My guys don’t even ask me to go out with them any more and when women ask them about “the boss” it’s no good, I’m true to my wife and they can “Let me be”. That he is soon to appear on the cover of Healthy Living magazine in the US is quite a turnaround for a man who so abused his body in his younger days. Like Mud, he has a health anthem on his album “All Hooked Up” in the shape of “Tell it like it is”, with the memorable lines “You can keep on smoking and drinking/ Getting drunk every day/ One of these days/ And it won’t be long/ You’re gonna wind up in your grave/ You might look good on the outside/ But what’s on the inside will blow your mind.”

Living Blues Or UnBlues?

In our July issue, Otis Grand talked about his view of the Blues and how he thinks many modern artists aren’t playing true Blues, and he explained his take on a term used by Muddy Waters, the “UnBlues”. In September’s issue, the famed studio and effects guru Roger Mayer talked about how many copyists and unimaginative musicians are

HOOKER & WATERS

succeeding today. Surely two of the best people to ask for their views on what the Blues is and what might be considered legitimate variations on tradition are the sons of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. We did exactly that.

John Lee Hooker senior was something of a Blues innovator, for example adding special percussion to some of his songs by adding coca cola bottle tops to the soles of his shoes. So it is no surprise that John Lee Jr isn’t keen on a narrowly definition of the Blues. “That’s the Blues moving from being a King to being a Dictator, or a Tribal leader to being a President. We change. A musician needs to be artistic, in every sense. Variety is what counts these days. If we play the old classic ‘Girl goes down to a corner shop, gets wine and gets picked up’ thing, that’s fine. But you can’t stick to that type of Blues alone. Younger people want to hear the Blues, but to have fun. That’s why in my singing, I sing about Facebook and bologna and texting - which makes people laugh - and the economy. We don’t need to be stuck in 12-bar type of songs. The young want other types of music, including funk. Other people than music see their thing become outdated – what would the Ford family who made the Edsel think of the Lexus and screens that tell you if you’re going to hit things when you’re reversing better than mirrors?”

“Blues isn’t just sad. It’s happiness, dancing, living. It’s about what people love. People choose Presidents and Prime Ministers and change them because they want someone new and to have change. So the Blues can still be about hardship, but also about being successful and having money, about being sad, about being broke, about making people happy.”

“You know, I had a little bitty girl on stage at a gig in Fort Knox, dancing, no more than four years old. She wouldn’t have been up there if I’d been singing sad songs. We’re there for funky songs like “Housewife” too. The Blues is about change, about modernising, and about being contemporary. My dad, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, those guys set the standard. The Delta Blues was planted, but that plant has bloomed. Like my dad said to me, “The world don’t need no two John Lee Hooker’s or B.B. King’s. Son, do your thing, boy. Do your thing boy, do it.”

So what keeps John Lee Jr writing new songs in his sixtieth year?

“Think about the times we’re in. The mail service is practically out of business because people pay for things and read online. We have to connect with the young. We have to write to what the feel is, what’s going on today, and ask musicians to stay in touch, to keep up with the Joneses. I’m always thinking about what young people like. The Blues is blooming and it can reach out to another generation, and yet another. We have to cater to everybody, and we can’t forget younger people. We have to be able to sing and identify and connect with the younger generation. We can’t alienate young kids in Junior High Schools and other schools.”

John Lee Jr talks with pride of a key moment for him, “A journalist wrote about my songs, ‘they’re right out of the front page of a newspaper’. If I don’t write songs that connect, I’m not doing my job. We need to tell people what they’re going through – like hard times. But we must make people smile, which people do with lines about bologna even in my song ‘Hard Times’. I will sing about what God gave me in my heart. I have won those awards because of my lyrics and the musicians behind me.”

Mud, too, has his own views on the Blues, and takes pride in encouraging young performers at every opportunity, “Older cats around me whine about the new guys coming through and won’t help them. I want to help younger artists and I will if I can.” Though Mud does suggest that there is an important, but not necessarily welcome, quality needed by the best Blues singers.

“I can sing about the Blues because I had the Blues all my life. Every song on my new album, ‘Son of the Seventh Son’, I’ve lived it, and that’s not even the tip of the iceberg. You can’t just go to school, go to church, have an easy life and sing the Blues, you’ve got to have had some hardship. Anyone can have it. Some have it worse than others.”

He continues, “I’ve been through the Blues, as a young man, as a teenager, and grown up. I tell you it’s taught me one lesson, to be grateful for my accomplishments, to be humble and always respect people, not to be big-headed and arrogant, I’d rather get out of the music business before that happened. I know, just as fast as I got where I am now, God can take it away.”

Photo by Alan White

We have here two Bluesmen who aren’t just qualified to play because of their exceptional parentage, but also because of the hardship and suffering that they have experienced. As a result, their thoughts on their songs become more interesting, even essential, reading.

Insights Into The Songs

We start with Mud’s album title track, “Son of the Seventh Son”. He says, “That was written for me by my friend, Studebaker John. He called me one day, “Hey Mud, I have a great song for you”. He played it to me and I recorded it. John is a great harp player and writer too.”

Studebaker John gave us his thoughts on the song. “My inspiration for the song was Muddy Waters, and Willie Dixon and all the great bluesmen -I wish I had the time to name them all. Scott Cameron, Muddy’s old manager, asked me to write a song like Hoochie Coochie Man and then I met Mud and I thought what would I write if I was Muddy’s son? So that’s how it happened and it fit Mud SO well! I was glad that Mud included it in his CD and I was glad that he’s getting out there with it.” We are much impressed by the lyrics of John Lee Jr’s album-opening track, ‘Tired Of Being A Housewife’. So we asked him, is the song that rare thing, a Feminist anthem sung by a Bluesman? He replied, my song ‘Housewife’ was inspired by my watching the news. I love politics and entertainment on the TV, including in Europe, the news, with the Eurozone crisis and all that stuff. One day, I saw a lady talking about housewives. She insulted Ann Romney [wife of the Republican Presidential candidate], said what did she know about working 9 to 5? I also heard Hilary Clinton [wife of former President Bill Clinton] say if she hadn’t been in politics she ‘could have been home baking cookies’. My mind started spinning; what’s so boring about being a housewife? So I made a housewife character for that song. She starts out as a member of the Parents Teacher Association and walks her dog around the block daily. By the end after being unappreciated by her husband who watched porn on TV and didn’t love her, she threw her cookies in the air, dropped the kids off, and got going. It’s a funky song, a fun song, a good song.”

MUD MORGANFIELD

Son of the Seventh Son

Severn Records

JOHN LEE HOOKER JUNIOR

All Hooked Up

Steppin’ Stone Records

In the issue that we have a joint feature on Mud Morganfield and John Lee Hooker Jr, appropriately we review their new albums. These sons of the Blues can really sing, and one thing their parentage must help with is the calibre of musicians who they attract. Certainly, the bands in both albums support the two sons with some truly great playing. Mud Morganfield’s album “Son Of The Seventh Son” is a rich slab of Chicago Blues sung with feeling and with a top line up of musicians who play with panache. The stand out song that deserves a high place in the canon of the Blues is ‘Midnight Lover’, a long, mesmerising slow ballad, the vocals and every single instrument just perfect. Upbeat songs, too, abound from the start and include the bouncy ‘Short Dress Woman’, through ‘Love to Flirt’, and ‘Loco Motor’ an echo of ‘the railroad themed tracks that have provided so many fun, driving Blues songs of the past. Barrelhouse Chuck’s twinkling keyboards and Bob Corritore’s fluting harmonica stand out on title track “Son of the Seventh Son”, a song where the lyrics and vocals evoke the spirit of Mud’s famous father. Fans of Muddy Waters are also bound to enjoy ‘Leave Me Alone’, another bright showcase for Mud’s talents. The album closes on “Blues in my Shoes”, one of the highly enjoyable mid-tempo songs present that could be a top track on a lesser album. Here, it has much to compete with. Mud Morganfield, who strives to live up to his father’s advice to be classy, has here served up a truly classy album. By contrast, John Lee Hooker Jr’s album “All Hooked Up” is further removed from the sound of his illustrious father, but is still a quality album throughout. The funky, refreshingly themed ‘Tired Of Being A Housewife’, opens the album with a jaunty assertion of female independence, referencing contemporary themes like porn and Facebook. ‘You Be My Hero’ is explained by John Lee Jr himself in these terms, “It’s for all the men and women in the military who fight for global peace. Guitarist Lucky Peterson helped on the song. We are both so proud of the men and women who keep us in peace, so we’re not hiding in our homes.” It also happens to be a good song. Again funky, and reminiscent of Bo Diddley, is ‘Listen To The Music’, with some flowing, subtle keyboard work by Larry Batiste. “I surrender” is Bluesman meets Motown. A delightful, danceable number with John Lee Jr’s macho tones beautifully complemented by the mercurial vocals of Betty Wright, this one is a duet to remember. ‘Hard Times’ kicks off with graceful, liquid guitar by John Garcia, whose work throughout the song is magnificent, and the younger Hooker ’s vocals are top class. This album is often funky, sometimes stately, and always interesting. The song ‘All Hooked Up’ is autobiographical, and talks about the traps that life holds for the unwary - “Been there, done that in most places”, as John Lee Jr sings. Eddie Minnfield’s sax solo is nothing short of exquisite. ‘Tell It Like It Is’ is a great song, and ‘Pay The Rent’ a jazzier song for our times of debt. “Tears in my eyes” is another swinging reminder of John Lee Jr’s vocal talents, and could come straight out of the B.B. King songbook. And a major bonus unheralded by the album cover comes in the form of the excellent track “Dear John”, on DVD, played to John Lee Jr’s animated Bluesman character. In short? This is top stuff.

Daryl Weale

HOOKER & WATERS

We also asked John Lee Jr about his Motown-sound soaked song, “I Surrender.” He replied, “Yes, that was inspired by the old days in Detroit. Record stores would have speakers and chairs outside and you could sit and listen to the latest Motown hits from The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, The Four Tops, and Smokey Robinson. They inspire me. And so did my producer, Larry Batiste. His job is to take the diamond of raw music, take the dust off the diamond and polish it to achieve it’s highest expectations, which he did. And, remembering my background, there’s a judicial theme in the song – cuffs, the jury, deliberating, jurors, a plea of insanity! The legendary Diva Betty Wright is on the song. My producer met her coming through the door at a convention and she sang for me. It’s a great song, and fun. It is amazing how in life you can take a nightmare – of being taken in and out of court and jail – and incorporate it into music.”

The highlights of Mud’s album are his selfpenned songs, particularly “Midnight Lover”. That also happens to be one of Mud’s favourites, as he says, “That’s a serious song, you can really hear the Blues in that.” As this is a great album, and “Midnight Lover” is as memorable as his fathers best output, we agree. We definitely do hear the Blues in that!

Speaking of his album as a whole, John Lee Jr says, “’All Hooked Up’ is my testimony. There’s lots of great stuff there, like ‘I know that’s right’, because we go into the jungle, like Mud said, and if you don’t protect yourself you don’t come out. I’d like to pay tribute to Sakai and Jeannie Tracey and Larry Batiste on that song. They were phenomenal; they made the songs electrifying and full.”

A Little Laurie

Mud Morganfield shared a stage with the enormously successful British actor and Blues singer, Hugh Laurie, in Chicago in August.

Our blog recalls Mud’s thoughts on the night, and here he recounts a few more, “I enjoyed playing with Hugh Laurie in Chicago recently. It would be fantastic to do something with him again. We had sodas in the dressing room. Hugh is kind of like his TV character [Dr Gregory House] in “House”, and he’s a genius with his music and works the crowd great. I met his backing singer Jean McClain. Jean is a wonderful woman.”

We asked John Lee Jr how he would feel about getting together with Hugh if the opportunity arose. He replied, “It would be a great honour. I’d love to open for him on a tour in the UK.”

Let Those Boys Boogie-Woogie

Both men greatly miss their fathers. Mud says, “My wall is loaded with photos of my mum and Muddy, and my grandma and her mother. Some of the photos are so old I can’t take them out, they adhere to the glass. The wallpaper on my desktop PC is a photo of my dad.”

And as for John Lee Jr, as he says, that is why he wrote his song, “Hard Times.” He says it “is hard emotionally, because I sing about my dad being gone.”

And as we end this double feature on these rising sons of the Blues, let us remember the words John Lee Hooker famously sung in “Boogie Chillen’”… “I heard mama ‘n papa talkin’ / I heard papa tell mama, let that boy boogie-woogie, / It’s in him, and it got to come out / And I felt so good.” John Lee Hooker Jr and Mud Morganfield may have taken their time about it, but they are proving it’s in them, and its coming out. As a result, we, the listening public, are feeling good, and both their fathers would be proud.

plus… bruce foxton discusses the Jam procul harum: the r & b Years We talk to harmony legends crosby, Stills and nash extensive news, stacks of reviews, records valued, over 5,000 records listed for sale/wanted, and much more…

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THE ROLLING STONES IN THE CITADEL

Shaped by LSD, Morocco, jail, the esoteric instruments of Brian Jones and artistic competition with “that other band”, the Stones’ dalliance with psychedelia was brief but deep

THE ROLLING STONES

In The Citadel: Shaped by LSD, Morocco, jail, the esoteric instruments of Brian Jones and artistic competition with “that other band”, the Stones’ dalliance with psychedelia was brief but deep

FAMILY

From R&B to Music In A Doll’s House: the early years of Leicester’s singular rock stars

GARY FARR

The son of a boxer who ditched his role as the UK’s hottest unsung blueswailer for the hippie trail and the Californian dream

THE DAILY FLASH

The forgotten golden boy of the ’60s and ’70s rock underground

Plus: FAMILY • THE DAILY FLASH • GARY FARR • IAN HUNTER • SIREN • THE MYNAH BIRDS • JOE MEEK and lots more!

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17. Huey ‘Piano’ Smith: It Do Me Good - Banashak/ Sansu Sessions 1966-78 (Charley 2CD)

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20. Simon McBride: Crossing The Line (Nugene CD) Red

Part 1

with Pete Sargeant

FREE AT LAST – bassist / musician / composer / singer / producer - Andy Fraser tells all to Pete Sargeant as they talk about Free, music and musicians and Fraser’s forthcoming autobiography, a no-holds-barred account of creativity, relationships, triumphs and crises Andy Fraser looks lean and fit as he arrives to accept our lunch invitation – having come through troubled times he is now in a creative nirvana that encompasses helping new artists AND running McTrax his entertainment company. We start our conversation in his mid-teens years.

BM: Andy, Welcome to Soho my favourite stamping ground. A lot of the area is familiar to you from your early years of playing. Before we setup to chat you mentioned about circumstances and you felt you were lucky to have met Alexis Korner, the grandfather of British blues in its early days. Could you expand on that for us please?

AF: Having being thrown out of school, grammar school no less, with good grades for refusing to have my hair cut. I went to Hammersmith College of Further Education to placate my mother. And learnt to roll joints and became very close with Sappho, Alexis Korner’s daughter. I used to hang out at their house a lot and he became a substitute father and you know I was really free to play guitars around the house and there was always blues music playing and he took to me and took me out on some gigs. One day John Mayall called up and said “Alexis, I need a bass player like yesterday”. Alexis said “I’ve got this kid who hangs around the house, playing guitars. Thinks he’s a bass player and you may think so too”. That was the Saturday, Sunday I goes round for an audition which was two blues songs in C. “One, two three four”. Got the gig! Monday quit college, bought me a new bass, and went to court where John Mayall swore up and down to the magistrate that being a minor I would be in bed by eight o’clock every night. Tuesday we were in Amsterdam playing our first gig. Me and Micky Taylor were getting ripped on the Amsterdam ganja which you know is good. SO Alexis was really like a substitute father and he couldn’t have done more. He got us our first management. And then when it was no good he got us off and then he got us introduced to Chris Blackwell at Island Records. He had us as an opening act at quite a few of his gigs. He did everything within his power to, like – in fact the very first time we rehearsed together at the famous Nag’s Head, Battersea, it was his birthday and they were throwing a party for him. He found fifteen minutes to run down and hear the closing minutes of us, first date, he said “I christen you “Free”- after my first band “Free at Last”. Nothing was too much for him to do to help us. Like he helped Zeppelin, Small Faces, Stones. Like he let Muddy Waters sleep on his living room floor. He was just, like, a one in a million guy.

A quick interjection here. Not being too insensitive, what about your real father?

A----hole!! He left when I was about six. And when I was in my late teens. I had that urge to find out who he was. Found him, sought him out in France. Stayed with him for a couple of weeks. Very weird with his new wife. And he wanted, when he came over to England and stayed at my house all he wanted was me to mortgage the house and give him the money. So I had this very sleepless night because I’d been chatting to him and got no kind of good sense out of him. And in the middle of the night I went and woke him up and said “YOU! OUT”. He says “what about the…” “OUT” and I just threw him out. This was like 3 o’clock in the morning. He walked the mile to the local police station who same back, came back, throwing pebbles at my bedroom window and said your father left his wallet under his pillow. I threw it out the window. And that’s the last I’ve heard of him.

OK. Sappho?

Sappho… she died. She had a hard time. Very beautiful girl. Was one of the first early loves of my life. We had a very close relationship. And it, in fact it got hard to Sappho because she wanted to be a signer, in the realms of a Billie Holiday. And it seemed her father was paying more attention to her boyfriend than her. It was very tough. And at some point she thought to be like Billy Holiday she needed to be a heroin addict. So went through all of that. Never-the-less, died in hospital from a mixed diagnosis. So, Pete - bit of a sad story there.

We get asked this a lot – what was your first bass?

Do you know what, I can’t really remember.

You were playing a Jack Bruce type Gibson SG bass in Free, weren’t you?

It was a Gibson, cherry red, I’ll think of the name in a minute. The first was by about Free, the very first was, I think, a Lucky AirStream Seven. The guitar strings tuned down an octave. There was probably a couple in between but I can’t remember.

Right, so there you are playing with Mayall and Mick Taylor in his touring band. How long did that last?

A few months before Mayall decided to get a jazz rhythym section and so me and Keef Hartley were out and John Hiseman and someone else were in. Speaking of that, last week, me Tobi and Mick Taylor went up to the British Blues Festival.

Where was that?

Newark. And it was great. Having not played with Mick since those days. And he’s got his voice together and it’s very strong. And you know when he’s on, he’s super on.

At this point let’s talk briefly about someone I first saw opening for The Doors and Jefferson Airplane and he’s Mick Taylor’s best mate. Terry Reid. He was very nearly the singer in Led Zeppelin. It was a very young Terry opening at the Roundhouse. I was spellbound by his voice. The fact he could take a song I already knew, like ‘Bang Bang’ and turn it into something new. Do you know Terry?

We played together recently, well. After each other at the [recent] Isle of Wight Festival.

A tour manager was telling me that he saw you and Terry chatting at the Isle of Wight festival. I also agree that the young Terry Reid’s voice was unbelievable.

It was actually, almost supernatural. Because he had soaked in that folk mystical thing that Donovan could do so well. But he actually, probably, one of the first British artists to really soak up the soul influence. And filter it into his music, maybe the same way Rod [Stewart] used to do it. But have you ever recorded with Terry? I’d love to hear that.

I may indeed.

He did some gigs out in Singapore with Mick Taylor. So how long was it after the Mayall gig, that you met Chris Blackwell?

He was so pleased. Chris [Blackwell] sent a case of champagne round to Alexis

On discovering Free?

Yeah.

What’s this Heavy Metal Kids name that Chris wanted you to have?

I was just going to go there! Very early on, before we’d even signed, Guy Stevens who was the nuttiest genius ever…..he thought it up.

Yeah, Ian Hunter told me that Said, “Oh, they should be called the Heavy Metal Kids”. He’s come up with titles like “Sticky Fingers” and whatever. So Chris calls us up and says we think you should be called “The Heavy Metal Kids” and we’ll manage you. So I we were all round at my mother’s house and we wrote “Free” and “Heavy Metal Kids” on a bit of paper, two columns and stuck it on my mother’s mantelpiece. It was my job to call up Blackwell and say “Nah” and he does his little cough and says “Well, if it’s not the Heavy Metal Kids, I’m not interested. So I said “OK” and slammed down the phone. 5 minutes later he rang back and said “you win”.

We know Paul. I haven’t met Simon and I didn’t ever meet Koss. I saw all the early Free gigs in London when I was about eighteen. And I think Paul was anti Heavy Metal Kids name too. We all were.

So a band decision then. You were the last member of the four to join Free. Did that affect the dynamic of the band?

Completely. They’d been through about 15 bass players when I was hired and we all knew there was a magic here. And right when we got together I’m this really cocky 15 year old saying “I’m the leader” and you could see Rodgers biting his tongue. (laughs) I think what I actually meant by that, because I’d worked with Mayall and seen how things were supposed to work. I was a go between for the band and the record company and the promoters. OK, we pay our sponsors, we put all the money in the bank and I was fairly organised. And the others couldn’t count past 4! So that was what they meant. Their original idea was to have a Jeff Beck type thing. But in comes this guy and says we’re going this way, we’re actually going to be playing songs. And it was hard for Koss. Because his true magic was blues solo playing. When it came to chords, even on Alright Now. It took him ages to learn.

When it comes to Koss, unlike say Jimmy Page, who had come through the Davey Graham/Beurt Jansch crew and people like that. When you’re a young guitar player that age, and believe me I know. Those people actually made you interested in chord sequences and artistic playing as opposed to wailing on the electric. If you took both in at an early age, you had the red and the blue. Koss was the blue. Wasn’t he?

Absolutely. Despite having classical guitar tuition he never connected that and blues, which is very strange. And he didn’t fully understand that if we were playing different chords all he had to do was keep playing the blues. If you threw in a weird chord it would throw him. No, just keep playing the blues! - as the chords move around you.

The best moments of Free was when he completely lost in solos with double stops and everything else, you actually lean out of the picture and comment on it with bass notes, like a Greek chorus. Your skill, let’s be honest, is that what you don’t play is as important as what you do play. I agree.

I had a trio where the bass player was really good and I asked him why and he used to hang around the Island offices and you used to give him (Greg Hamilton the odd bass lesson. You would take time out to help him and that’s why this bloke was a brilliant bass player. It’s weird; you weren’t like any of the acts on Island. And you weren’t like other Blues bands. Because you very early were writing songs which weren’t going to be covered by BB King. But what was the energy behind it?

I think in the early days, Paul and I both had ideas and we needed each other to complete it and make a song. And we discovered something different was happening here. And at that time we weren’t afraid to go anywhere. The horizon was always a beautiful view. And it came a time when we could write songs individually and to an extent we kind of grew apart. Especially when the pressure came in. Koss would start to get out of it. It was tough for everybody. Rodgers felt it should be more, just, Bad Company type thing and forget all the like experimentation going for the horizon stuff. I was more adamant about it not turning into a two dimensional type thing. So we became unglued.

Quick digression. When you listen to Bad Company, you can hear the good players playing strong songs, but it’s not a band you would have been part of? Is that fair?

No and for many reasons. The two main ones are I didn’t want to be a slice of Free doing what I consider a two dimensional, sort of Rock cut out all of the folk balladeer stuff that Paul was so good at. That was all gone; it was stripped for stadium ready kind of stuff. Plus if I how’ve been there it would’ve felt like Free but there was a different guitarist who didn’t measure up to Koss. Despite the fact that he [Mick Ralphs] was a great songwriter.

Because Ralphs had come from Mott the Hoople. Do you know Mick Ralphs? Nice guy. I think his strength is song writing. I mean Can’t Get Enough is what got them off the ground.

My idols were Spirit at the time and two of them left to form Jo Jo Gunne. Who were a great rock and roll band but didn’t have this jazz, mystical, folk, spiritual element that Spirit had. They were taking the meat and potatoes and ignoring the starter and dessert. Paul would probably agree, Band Company gave the audience what they wanted to hear. You and I know he’s capable of a lot more. We saw a showcase he did. Funnily enough he played a Free song acoustically. Can you guess which one?

No..tell me.

An early Free song. ‘Soon I Will Be Gone.’

Ah…..so what was the explanation?

He said it had a feeling that was very strong to him at the time, that had actually lived with him for a long time. The song had an enduring feel to him. Whereas other songs he might be so fond of. By an act that was growing and appealing to him as he got older.

I love it, I’ve always loved it. It’s those kind of things that I miss from Band Company and from where he wanted to take Fre

While we’re running along here... the very first Free album was Tons of Sobs. Do you have a favourite track on that? And I’ll tell you what mine is. [PS shows AF the album back cover]

I think I’d have to listen to it again because it’s so long ago. I think that Moonshine seems to bring something to mind.

Over The Green Hills is on it, of course.

Yeah that was clever. The idea of doing it in two parts with Guys Stevens. Hang on I didn’t see all these up here. ….

There’s an extra track they put on here. And it’s almost like a Black Sabbath without the fuzz tones. It’s called Visions of Hell. What’s the story of that? Visions of Hell... it’s quite haunting but it’s got that sort of black magicky troubled feel to it.

I think lyrically it was Paul still being adventurous and trying different things.

I used to see you at the Toby Jug, Tolworth. And may ever have seen the first ever performance of Alright Now. What I do remember was Koss breaking a string wandering off like a little gnome and the three of you launching into Every Day I Have The Blues but with no guitar. Until Koss stumbled back on. He only had one Les Paul with him and I thought “that’s not an organised band, that’s a band that can save the moment”. Yeah. We had to improvise quite a lot. I remember after we first broke up and got back together our first gig in the states was Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Kossoff looked like he had it all together, everything was going to be cool, we may have even done a sound check, he appeared totally normal. By the time it was time to leave the hotel to go to the gig we couldn’t get an answer from his room. We had to get the hotel to break down the bathroom door, he was out of his mind, had to be taken to hospital, and we went to the gig as a trio. Apologised up and down to the audience. And Paul played some acoustic guitar. I played piano with the bass pedals. And that was our first gig of the reformed Free. It was …..“Oh man”.

OK. Was Koss escaping into drugs for stage fright? What was he escaping from? The insecurity of feeling that he was not worth the adulation poured upon him. He was being spoken of in terms of Hendrix or Clapton and he just didn’t feel that he measured up. The band, were his support. When the band broke up he had no support. His drug use got worse and worse and I think somewhere in his mind, if he got on stage and he was stoned that was his excuse for being bad. As opposed to his real fear of being bad when he was straight. It was very mixed up. More stoned you get, the more twisted it gets.

With the dynamic of Free...the bubbliness of your bass playing. There’s a spring in it. It’s one of the things that makes you very distinctive as a player. It’s that against the solemn guitar that gave you the dynamic that the James Gang or whatever didn’t have. And I’m not sure how. When you play with other guitar players do you adjust your style? Are you aware of the dynamic that Free had?

Not in such specific terms. There’s got to be a groove there for me and one way or another I will find it.

At this point we talk about Glenn Hughes, who we adore. God knows how he’s still alive. And singing so well!

You and he are the people who understood the American soul bass groove. He’s from Brum you’re from South London. When did you first meet? Early in your careers?

We got his book when we met him some months ago. He told me there won’t be a Hughes/Thrall 2 because he can’t get hold of Pat Thrall. Hughes/Thrall is THE greatest rock record, for singing you can possibly get. But there won’t be a follow up. He’s a kind thoughtful bloke. He could see I was a bit disappointed that there won’t be a sequel album. He said their paths don’t cross these days. He played with Stevie Wonder and people like that. I would say, they current way he plays, that wouldn’t have happened without hearing you. Which must make you feel fantastic.

That’s well put in its place when I hear him sing. (laughs). I think he’s an amazing singer. I can’t believe I was unaware of his singing until few months ago when we met he sent me these tracks and I was like “Oh my god”

He sounds like he’s singing at the top of a mountain. It’s this fresh air in his voice. He’s like Ron Isley or something. Surrounded by sometimes just dirge. And he has this song which I think is a total smash. And I said to him “Give me a vocal and a couple of things and I’ll make that a hit”. He never got back to me about it. There may be some politics or something.

Do you not plan to meet up at this Marshall Tribute thing? We’re playing together. We’re doing Mr Big together.

To have a band name itself after your song. That’s quite a compliment isn’t it really?

Yeah

Mr Big is a frightening performance. I’ve got several live versions of it. I think the best one I heard is… can I take you down memory lane for two seconds? [PS finds details of the HollyWood Music Festival, Newcastle Under Lyme, May 23rd-24th 1970. It featured Family, Traffic, Grateful Dead, Jose Feliciano, Black Sabbath and Free among others]. I went up to that. My mates and I were discussing whether we should go to a festival, There was one in Newcastle, we though “Oh, we can’t stand Geordies” then we realised it was Newcastle Under Lyme which is in the Midlands. So we went up. We saw you, Lord Sutch and there was a jug band playing called Mungo Jerry. That cost me two and a half pounds!

You can’t even park for that, these days….

Steve Winwood. You did jam with him at one point. But I got the impression you were intimidated by his cool or whatever you call it.

Yeah. He is super intelligent and quite quiet. And he he’s not the kind of guy that would argue with anyone. He’d just freeze you into oblivion with silence. I’m not saying me, but he’s that kind of individual. He’s super talented. I think Traffic had by then broken up and I went round to his house and we jammed a bit. To me it was quite difficult because he wouldn’t sing and I’d play the songs. Tell me what the song was and I’ll do the right thing. But if there’s no song there’s nothing for me to do. You know …he was playing jazz piano. I think it was for the better because he didn’t know what he wanted to do anyway.

I’ve a feeling, I think Dave Mason was a bigger part of Traffic than anyone realised. I would agree with that. I always thought he was great. I saw him again quite recently. He looks well doesn’t he?

Yeah, singing and playing great. I saw him in Los Angeles a couple of months ago. He’s got some prodigious talent. Probably the most underrated British musician of that era. Yeah. It was probably the tension between them [Traffic] that made them so great. Which is well, I know, quite difficult to live with. I think they have as most a negative relationship between them as me and Paul do now.

In Part 2, Andy Fraser discusses Free albums, Sharks, song writing, Robert Palmer, family, coming out and where he’s headed and living life now

GO TO WWW.MCTRAX.COM for details of the autobiography, the new solo album and Fraser’s work with young artist Tobi (see Tobi’s Top Ten in this issue)

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bySuzanne Swanson

His Festivals Will Never Go Out Of Style A Look At Ted Boomer

A tall, white-haired gentleman, wearing sunglasses, rushed up to me as I stood stage-side waiting for the Bluesfest International, Windsor, Canada, to open with the first of 50acts scheduled for the weekend. “Oh, I really want you to listen to these guys”, he said excitedly. “Check out the drummer. He’s my favorite”. As the Howling Diablos began their set Ted Boomer, promoter of this Ontario festival, hurried backstage to tend to more musicians as they arrived for the evening’s performances. Peter Aubin (surviving member of Big Brother and The Holding Company), Bobby Rush, Alto Reed (Bob Seger band member), and Mark Farner (principle of Grand Funk Railroad), were all in the house preparing their set lists for each of their time slots. As the eighteenth year of this festival began, I was curious as to how it all originated. For several years, I had run into Ted Boomer numerous times at various blues events. I knew that he had produced over 4,000 shows in his 35 plus years with the likes of Bill Wyman, Yes, Ray Charles, BB King, Greg Allman, Humble Pie, Rush, Iggy Pop, BTO, Burton Cummings, The Band, Tragically Hip, Blood Sweat & Tears, Aretha Franklin, and George Thorogood. He had not only created this particular festival in Windsor, but the annual London Bluesfest (now in its 11th year), The Thunder Bay Bluesfest, Pikes Peak (Colorado) Blues Festival, the Dragon Boats for the Cure, and created the Canada South Blues Museum. With receiving numerous awards and recognition, including “2006 Promoter of the Yea

Where did your love for the blues first come from?

Oh, from playing in bands in high school and University as well as with many old Detroit blues guys.

I started several concert styled nightclubs in the 80`s and presented many of the rock stars.On Sundays

I did a blues series for a number of years and always liked promoting blues artists. They were so much easier to deal with then the rockers, and I got hooked on the blues.

Do you play an instrument?

Yes, I play guitar, bass, and vocals. What event or events in your life contributed to you forming Bluesfest Windsor, which led to London, Thunder Bay, Pikes Pike in Colorado, and now Dragon Boats?

I was asked by several festivals in the 90`s to find acts for them. I was on the board of our downtown business improvement association and they wanted new ideas for revitalization. I pitched them a bunch of ideas and one was creating a blues festival on the main street.It worked, and we grew from there. We also did a roller hockey tournament with several NHL players, a major boxing event with team USA vs. Canada. We turned our main street into a venue and the town loved it!Being a secondary market with 200,000 people, I needed a hook to grab acts from bigger centres so we started London, then Thunder Bay, so we had three festivals in a row to try to secure bigger acts in high demand.Pikes Peak was developed because a friend of a friend who hired us as entertainment consultants to start their festival. Dragon Boats for the Cure was an idea my wife came up with to pay tribute to a cousin she lost to breast cancer. It grew so fast we had to cut it away from the Bluesfest since we couldn`t manage both on the same weekend with our other festivals.

What is, (or are), the most memorable act(s) that you have booked? Why?

Any who show up are memorable! One of my favorites was Steve Marriot and Humble Pie. In the late 70`s I did a few extended tours with Buddy (Guy) and Junior Wells. I think that is a real tough act to follow. Levon Helm, with his daughter Amie, and the Barn Burners were special.Probably the most magical moment musically was when we had the Essex Kent Pipe Band with 24 pipers do the encore Sky Pilot with Eric Burdon. Burdon never played live with bag pipes. After the show Eric was crying. When the pipe band asked for autographs Eric said not until the entire pipe band signed his guitar.

Having been a part of your last two festivals in Windsor, and seeing the throngs of very happy patrons, how has your attendance grown over the years? What were this year’s numbers?

Attendance is basically around 25,000. Some years are better or worse depending on weather.

With all the many accolades and awards you have received from The Blues Foundation, 2008 Crimestoppers Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, “2006 Key to the City of Saginaw”, 2005 Keeping The Blues Alive Award Thunder Bay, 2003 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, Windsor, 1982 Chief of Police Hero Award, Windsor, do you continue to strive to create more festivals or events?

We do about twenty shows per year aside from the festivals. A new series we are starting is blues cruising for the community. We have six shows planned on a two-hundred seat boat that will cruise the Detroit River. We have great blues acts and all fundraisers for various charities like Wounded Warriors, Hospice and others being added.

You have been recognized by The Blues Foundation for your continued support of music. You regularly attend the International Blues Challenge and the Blues Music Awards. Are there other aspects of your acknowledging the importance of blues music and helping to sustain and encourage an interest in it?

I go to four or five festivals a year to pick up ideas and see new acts.

Tell us about the Canada South Blues Museum, and who has been distinguished by it?

The Blues Museum started in 2006 and to date we`ve inducted forty-one artists such as Johnnie Johnson, Kim Wilson, Honeyboy Edwards, Bobby Rush, Savoy Brown, Eric Burdon, James Hunter, and others. We do eight to ten shows per year. What is unique and special about the museum is that it is a live performance museum. Artists are inducted, their stars unveiled on the Wall of Fame then they turn their amps on to ELEVEN and show the audience why they earned their star. The shows have a cult like following and all shows sell out well in advance.

Are there any special plans you can share with our readers for Bluesfest season 2013? Booking for 2013 starts in January.We do what we always do, book the best artists available.We do bring back some festival favorites as well as many new artists our audience haven`t seen yet.

Mr. Boomer emphasised that Windsor has always appreciated music. “Blues is simple… it is heartfelt and straight-ahead. The musicians don’t hide behind technology. What you see is what you get”.

“The Blues And Nothing But The Blues”© 2012 Suzanne Swanson

The name tells ya nothin’

by Billy Hutchinson

I have mentioned The Saloon before in an interview with Ron Hacker, but I thought as one of the best Blues oases, that it deserves a spread of its own. Myron Mu the owner seems not to have email so I asked past interviewees about their take on the Saloon – namely Tommy Castro and Ron Hacker. Ron then put me on to Cathy Lemons who as well as being a fellow musician had done a story on the place. Bish bash bosh, in three emails the article is written for me. I have had the great pleasure to frequent this watering hole in San Francisco myself, and double whammed at seeing Johnny Nitro and his wife perform there too. It resembles a builder’s yard from the outside with its shed like appearance, the inside is somewhat well worn in a funky way, but the mix of characters from well heeled to bums with great music was electric! All I can say is that if you are in San Francisco, YOU GOTTA GO!

Tommy Castro.

The Saloon cannot be described with words very well. A couple of things come to mind about it. It’s a fun place to play. I spent many night s when I was still drinking ( found it necessary to stop about 8 years ago) but we sure had a lot of fun in North Beach in the early days with my band. It’s where Johnny Nitro ruled the blues scene for many years. Johnny Ace, Ron Hacker , Daniel Castro, (no relation) Barry Milton, The Bachelors , Tony Perez, Cathy Lemon Lisa Kindred, Stu Blank , Ron Thompson and many other SF Bay Area greats have played over the years. It’s a great old wooden room that has a real good sound. We recorded our first record there called “No Foolin’” in the 90’s Nitro and I would trade places when either he or I was playing down the street at the Grant and Green. The crowd known a Saloonatics are a very interesting group of drunks and / or characters that are fun to watch. Old strippers, a zoot suit guy with a long chain, people with there own moves. One guy we called the Matador would come in and act like he was fighting a bull, very serious.

Like I said it’s hard to describe the place, but there is nothing like anywhere I’ve been and I have been a lot places in my travels.

Ron Hacker.

I’ve been playing the Saloon since 1979. I was in Holland this month and two guys at two different shows came up to me with Saloon t-shirts on, the place is known all over the world. The Saloon is the oldest bar in San Francisco, it’s been right where it is since 1861, Abraham Lincoln was president when it opened.

Blues Matters! 102

The little stage has held a lot of players over the years, Charlie Musslewhite, Little Charlie and the Night Cats, Nick Gravinites, Roy Rogers, and you name just about any Blues player from the last twenty years and they have come in and jammed.

My third wife and I were standing in the packed crowed one night watching Roy Rogers when Roy’s friend John Lee Hooker came working his way through the people.

The Saloon: San Francisco’s Home of the Blues

By Cathy Lemons

The Saloon is my home away from home. Ever since I walked into that bar in 1986—walked through those two huge double doors facing the corner of Fresno Alley and Grant Avenue (and all because I had heard some bad-ass blues floating down the street to me) I knew it was THE place to be Magic. There is magic in the old place, and Myron Mu, the present day owner knew there was magic when he decided to not let the liquor license expire. Myron knew nothing about the bar business or blues when he took on The Saloon. He didn’t even have ANY business experience. He was instead a classically trained musician who played the French Horn and subbed for the San Francisco Symphony—no small feat in the classical world.

Nevertheless, Myron Mu’s family owned several buildings in North Beach and The Saloon was just one of them. The previous owner of the lease (probably Tommy Brown) didn’t keep up the lease payments and even the liquor license was about to expire. Once a liquor license expires in a busy place like San Francisco’s North Beach where there are so many contenders, there is as Myron told me “a propensity not to renew.” So for 2 months, the fate of the old bar rested on a decision made by someone in the Mu family, and Lisa Kindred. Lisa Kindred had come to San Francisco from New York City in the early 1980’s. And she had changed from folk singer to blues mama. Lisa had tons of connections—she’d made a record on Vanguard and toured the country. She knew Joan Baez, David Crosby (she is mentioned in his biography), Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Nick Gravenites, who had encouraged Lisa to get into blues, and she had even brushed against the great Thelonious Monk whom she once described as a “huge buffalo coming straight for her.” Lisa knew everyone that was worth knowing in blues, and her partner was the great bass player Geno Scaggs who had recorded and played in Chicago—played with greats like Earl Hooker, John Lee Hooker, and Jimmy Reed.

Lisa Kindred was no dummy. She wanted a place to sing and she wanted a place for her friends to play. She had found out through the grapevine that there was someone in the Mu family that was a musician. This someone was Myron, a rather short, non-descript individual, who wore a beetle haircut, and round glasses like John Lennon, and who dressed day in and day out in a dark blue wind breaker-like jacket, sneakers, and jeans. A practical sort - but definitely not from the cookie cutter. Lisa approached Myron telling him that if he took on the bar, she would teach him the ropes. That is precisely what happened. Myron had to learn the business quickly. Because from the minute he started hiring bands the people came. He had to make friends with the cops; he had to pay all kinds of fees and fines for various types of licenses; he had to learn how to bartend; he had to learn how to figure out from the pouring of the liquor what the money should be at the end of the night; he had to get an accountant for the tougher tax stuff; he had to find and hire bartenders that would not steal him blind and stay; and he had to hire the right musicians. He accomplished all of this and more. He has sustained a blues community for 28 years.

However, before I get to Myron Mu I want to describe The Saloon, and what it is like to be in it, either listening to music or playing music. Let me first touch on its history.

It is indeed the oldest bar in town—built in 1861—and the original owners, The Wagner Family, who still come to San Francisco every February 24th for the Saloon’s annual reunion, called it in the 1860’s “Wagner Beer Hall.” In 1861 if you walked through what was then 2 huge swinging double doors, you would have seen the same ornate wooden bar to your left, you would have seen the same high ceilings, the same long windowless walls that have an almost a flesh-like texture to them, and you would have squinted through half light.

Back in the 1860’s up until the 1920’s, there was a long wooden trough that followed, underneath, the length of The Saloon’s bar. It was there so that men could quickly relieve themselves—this of course was before women were even allowed to enter a bar.

Back in the 1860’s there existed a maze of underground tunnels some of which led from the very basement of The Saloon out into the cavernous passageways of China Town. The Wagner Family I doubt would have had anything to do with White Slavery but instead used the tunnels for some practical purpose. Although it was common in those days, throughout North Beach and China Town, that young women and laborers were scuttled by their captors through these underground trails, all much like the ones that have long been sealed that you can still see and trace with your hands—the bricks in The Saloon basement.

We must of course address the rumoured brothel above The Saloon. Yes, there was a brothel, and apparently a very successful one! Men of The San Francisco Fire Department frequented it so often that when the great earthquake and subsequent fire of 1906 struck the city, the fireman rushed in a pack to their favorite haunt and put out the flames. Thus the Saloon still stands—a remnant

and relic of the Barbary Coast past—and all because of the brothel. The past is the past—but it is somehow alive in the present. I was at The Saloon just two nights ago—Thursday night. I saw Wendy De Witt and Steve Freund, dear friends that I have played with and known for decades, and Kirk Harwood, a new member of our family who was on drums. I sang three songs throughout the night and I felt alive as I always do on The Saloon stage. I felt “heard.” I felt understood, and I felt an affinity with the players that I can’t describe. Because they are part of The Saloon family.

There are few posers that come to The Saloon. You can be who you are in this magical old place. And I always wait for the crazy joy that starts when a certain blonde starts to strut on the dance floor; the crazy joy that ends with everyone moving together in front of the stage, like we are all one, some dancing alone, some swaying, some two-stepping together or just locked in some crazy embrace, and some even doing pushups—30 to be precise—and some even showing their adornments so to speak—on occasion. It can happen.

That Thursday night I began to notice the details that I take for granted. When I came up to the bar I stood outside to smoke a cigarette and I studied the front stained glass picture window that faces Grant Avenue. There are tattered posters and flyers taped half-hazard from the inside of the bar to that window—and when you peer in you can only see a flicker of light that runs the length of the old bar. There are a few familiar faces like Gregory. Then I walked over to the other side, almost sliding down in my high heels from the small hump the sidewalk makes in front of The Saloon door, to see the part of the building that faces Fresno Alley. On each side of the building large, rounded hippie-like wooden letters stand out against a deep purple and say “1232 Grant.” But on the Fresno side, the letters really stand out. And I looked up at the 5 windows above from Fresno Alley—brothel windows no more. Most lights were on—small plants in one window. One white curtain was draping down, held together by a band— looked like a ponytail. It was very peaceful looking up.

I went inside and was greeted with smiling faces--there was Jessica—and old midget-like Millie in her dark blue coat at the bar—and a bunch of other regulars like Shane, the bartenders Augie and Huck, the writer John, Kristin, Greg. There was Wendy with her beautiful smile playing with her fast fingers at the piano and singing, and there was Freund playing has ass off as always, strange ornate licks, and here was Kirk back there drumming away and clearly having the time of his life. Then I took my place at the far end of the bar, crossed my booted legs, and leaned into the wood. I was there to enjoy the music just like everyone else.

I looked up at the inexplicable Christmas tree that is perched for no apparent reason way up on a shelf to the right of the bandstand. It’s been there for several years now—just a small unadorned green tree high up on a wall.Then I noticed to my right the strange long paintings of trees that transverse the windowless wall. These two paintings are covered in a smoky haze, and the willowish branches droop down and are made to look even more brackish because of the decades of dust and smoke. I noticed the great piano speakers up on the high shelves, speakers Myron picked out, above where the people dance, speakers which are rich and warm and have real punch. I also saw the framed picture of Johnny Nitro on the wall underneath the main speaker. I read the newspaper clipping taped to the wall next to Nitro’s picture saying he was “Beloved.” It’s true—Johnny Nitro was “beloved” and he was “The Ambassador of North Beach,” and he helped us all— linked us up—hooked us up—gave us ideas—gave us an image—encouraged us. Nitro is still in the walls of The Saloon. I often see him enter from the front door when I am singing—see that grin.

I began to think about all the players that have come through The Saloon to lay their souls down—letting the crowd in turn carry them into that dimension where music and people become one. On the rickety wooden plank of a stage (which is incidentally supported by 2 plastic crates) musicians like Boz Scaggs, Nick Gravenites (who wrote many of Janis Joplin’s great songs and the famous ‘Born In Chicago’ and who also played with the great Paul Butterfield), Mike Bloomfield, Luther Tucker, John Lee Hooker, John Cippolina (of Quick Messenger Service), and Elvin Bishop have all laid it down at The Saloon.

As I began to think about the highlights of my singing career—where I felt the best in my life singing—where I felt my voice soar—it was always at The Saloon. How I used to sing in the beginning with Ben Perkhoff on Sunday afternoons, “Soul Serenade,” and how it was like going back to the 1960’s—every colorful character there—how I walked down the alley and punched Lonnie Showtime in the gut because it made me and Ben, and Greg Douglass, and Bobby Rydell laugh---how the poet Jack Hirschman recited his work against the horn splayed background of Chicago Blues Power—how Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane came in on weekends to sit and listen—how Ron Bucevich and Johnny Ace walked the bar and hammed it up to the howling crowd. And still the cigarette girls come strolling in about midnight with their short skirts, their cleavage, and their colorful trays lit up with candles which frame their young faces. They make a most surreal spotlight in the dark.

Which brings me to another subject, that every house has its master? The master creates the groove—or lack of one. In this case the master is Myron Mu—and what a groove it is. Without Myron there would be no The Saloon, so I must give him the spotlight.

Myron is a jack of all trades and a master of every one.

On February 24th 1984, he re-opened The Saloon doors with the help of Lisa Kindred. For 28 years The Saloon has thrived under his stewardship. The business is so good that Myron does not need to advertise or even hire popular musicians on

the weekends anymore because the word is out—it’s the place to be for real blues. He in fact doesn’t want a big name on the weekends because the place gets so packed that he worries about the 52-person limit mandated by the SF Fire Department.

Myron Mu has steadily employed and supported in more ways than one what I consider to be the real great local blues players of San Francisco. Myself, Ben Perkhoff, Ron Bukevich, Daniel Castro, Applejack Walroth, Lisa Kindred, Steve Freund, Ron Hacker, Brent Byers, Dave Workman, Wendy De Witt, the young P.A. Slim and the irreplaceable Johnny Nitro - to name a few. All of these musicians would go completely insane unless they had a steady place to play live, and these musicians all love Myron. I am also sure these musicians will all be together marching down Grant Avenue at his funeral (hopefully 20 years from now)—Mardi Gras-like—with the big brass band spilling clumsily from the street into the sidewalks. We will be the mourners who show up and follow, crying our eyes out or silent—all stunned from the loss. Priest, banker, savior, advisor, record producer, photographer, landlord, and steady employer. Myron Mu is our priest. We confess things to him—tell him things that no other person knows about us - and we don’t know why we do this - and he listens and does not pass judgment. At 2:05 a.m. in the morning I am back there in that tiny “office” behind the bar where only “family” are allowed telling Myron things I can’t believe I am telling him. There, with the badly made counterfeit 20 dollar bills pinned to the wall as a warning; and the notes taped to the tiny glass mirror which is at the exact height of my eyes and read, “Please try and control the heavy pouring as it is costing us inventory and we all need to make a living here;” and the flyers jumbled up behind a notebook; and the pencils in the stray cup; and the aspirin bottles; and my make up bag (which I will forget); and the bottles of call liquor behind us on shelves; this is where Myron and I have the most fun in the world talking. And Myron just listens and makes a comment of pointed intelligence now and again and we count the tips from the jar - the one dollar bills - and we place the bills in tiny rubber bands - stacks of 25 - even though after 28 years he finally got a money counting machine which amuses us both greatly - and we talk and make jokes. I tell him what went wrong with the music and why, and I tell him what went right. I tell him about the crowd, the characters and any trouble. Then he hands me over a check to sign with an address on it which I have not used since 1995, and I sign it, then he pays me in cash. There is complete trust; I know Myron will do me right with the money. In addition, Myron knows I will in turn do right to my band members. We both know that it’s not about the money anyway.

Myron is our banker - most of us musicians have no concept of how to manage money and we are always broke. He has loaned me money when I have been in dire straits on several occasions over the past 25 years. I always pay him backsometimes it takes me a while, but I pay him back. He has loaned money to others.

Myron is our savior. Who do I call to pick me up at the hospital when I have a fractured ankle and I can’t afford a cab? Who do we all call? Myron Mu. Why? We don’t know why - we just do it: myself, Jo Anne (bartender of 24 years) Juice Garcia (before she got herself fired), Huck (another bartender of 25 years), Kristin (another bartender of many years), Lisa Kindred, and maybe even young P.A. Slim. Why? Because he will come.

Myron is our advisor. I always ask his opinion on band personnel. He always has insight into the dynamics of personalities, and how it all might play out on stage during a musical performance. He knows what is good for me - and what is bad for me, and he is inevitably right and it makes me mad every time.

Myron is our record producer - for many of us - 14 CD’s to date - on “The Saloon Recordings” much of the product done to perfection. And with a payoff: Ron Hacker ended up getting “Back Door Man” into a famous movie called “Twisted” with Andy Garcia, and Johnny Nitro ended up getting one of his cuts on a big beer commercial. Over the years, Myron taught himself how to purchase and work digital recording equipment, 16 tracks to be precise, how to mic the drums and other instruments. How to make sure the drum symbols are tuned, how to over dub voices, how to get a clean vocal sound that stands out, how to piece together the best vocal parts into one seamless song that sounds natural, how to correct pitch with sliders, how to create a long and perfect fade. He learned how to create a synthesis with the musician so that the product becomes the vision of the artist. Not always the easiest thing to do - it requires a certain amount of respect coming from both sides.

He is our photographer, and a fine one. Myron did all the photography for my “Dark Road” CD; many of the shots are just beautifully done and precise. I had a vision and he captured it after asking me about what I saw in my mind. I remember drawing him a picture on a napkin and then boom - he got it. He went with it. He did photography on almost every single CD project he has ever produced, and with great affect.

He is our landlord - well not for me - but for many over the years. There are six rooms above the Saloon and they are still being rented out. And for the most part he rents to musicians: Johnny Nitro, Zane, P.A. Slim, and also other characters like the x-stripper, Nancy Carroll, who lived above the Saloon until she died, or Rebel, the stubborn bartendress/hustler who charmed us all and lived and died on her own terms. Rebel was most certainly protected and cared for by Myron after she became ill—like so many other musicians, tenants, and employees alike.

He is our employer. I have been playing at The Saloon since 1987— that means every single month for 25 years, except once in 1997 when I went to see my father in Nebraska, I have had a gig at this magical old bar. Every single month for 25 years! How many bar owners stand by their musicians like that? None except Myron Mu.

The Saloon is indeed our home away from home.

Singer and trumpeter Oliver Carpenter talks about being both a gigging musician and a multiple festival organiser. I’m just back from playing at a really enjoyable Boogaloo Blues Weekend on the Isle of Wight where we played with both of our bands New Orleans groove six piece Stomp & Holler and acoustic trio Mumbo-Jumbo. The hotel was full, the audience was receptive and appreciative and the whole thing was really well organised. A calm, quality event that belies the vast amount of selling activity that must have gone on beforehand to make it happen. I start with this because it is one example of how ‘live blues music’ can work for the audience, the performers and the promoters, and as someone who is both a musician and a festival organiser, I’m aware that performers and promoters need to work harder together to create more real live music experiences like this weekend to bring in audiences.

Performing

I’ve been singing and playing trumpet in blues (in its broadest sense) bands around the Midlands for many years. Over the last six or seven the profile has grown rapidly, first with The Big Blues Tribe (which we called time on in March this year), then with Mumbo-Jumbo which was nominated in the British Blues Awards 2012 in the Best Original Song category for our song Nice Work, and now with Stomp & Holler, the new six piece New Orleans ‘groove thang’ which has really hit the ground running. Taking the old adage of ‘always work with people better than you’ both Mumbo-Jumbo and Stomp & Holler also feature bass player and singer Chris Lomas (currently also with Steve ‘Big Man’ Clayton Band and Tommy Allen Band) and keys and vocal virtuoso Abby Brant. Stomp & Holler then supplements this core team with guitarist Lee Evans and the Derbyshire contingent of drummer Martin Ball and saxophonist John Sanderson (himself nominated in the 2011 British Blues Awards) to create a sound all its own.

Both The Tribe and now Stomp & Holler are playing theatres as well as blues clubs and festivals which means lots of extra publicity activity, but bringing in and developing a crowd is the only way that bands can generate a living so its got to be done. Mumbo also does small theatres and is just moving into creating gigs in village halls (and running the bars) which again has the potential to generate good revenue but also means extra work around the publicity and organising sides. We’ve also started doing some school workshops which are great fun but I wouldn’t want to do them every month!

Mumbo-Jumbo is also now playing some folk and acoustic clubs with its close harmony piano-based sound sitting somewhere around the roots, acoustic, blues and folk areas.

The Organising

On the organising front we ran our first festival in 2008 and then set up a not-for-profit organisation to offer a ‘Festival In A Box’ package of bands, PA, lights, marquee and stage plus some marketing expertise to places that want to hold a festival but don’t know where to start with booking musicians etc. We now run three a year (maybe more next year) and have done 13 altogether. Our flagship festival is Blues at The Fold and next year will be our fifth.

With that up and running I’ve also become involved in the Upton Blues Festival for the last three years as part of the Volunteer Organising Committee and a trustee now it has become a registered charity. For those of you who don’t know Upton Blues Festival, it is fabulous. With nearly 100 performances ALL free to watch, three main stages and nine pub venues, 1000+ campers maybe 5000 people a day, all overwhelming the lovely Worcestershire riverside town of Upton upon Severn. If you’ve not been and you like a chilled and very happy weekend festival then please come and try it out.

Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Working on both sides of the fence as an organiser and a musician I see the two sides of the relationship and firmly believe that, while the creativity, craft and artistry of the musicians is the whole point of the entertainment, it is the organiser that plays the pivotal role in making live music successful, providing the interface between the performance and the audience. Good venues and festivals work because of the effectiveness of the organiser and the effective ones should be loved and cherished by the musicians at every level ensuring that they are appreciated, encouraged and supported at every turn.

We (the musicians) get all the applause and the kudos, while we (the organisers) get the worry of empty rooms, losing money, bands turning up late and the aggro of neighbours and noise etc. I know which side of the fence I get the most pleasure from.

In fact our festivals were initially set up to create new and interesting places to play ourselves, introduce the bands to new audiences and to try and innovate to get bigger audiences. I believe more musicians need to get involved in developing music venues and events to ensure the long term survival of live music rather than just hoping someone else will do it.

It also seems to me that it is the responsibility of all musicians to cherish the organisers and that doesn’t just mean

delivering on the fundamentals; being at the gig in plenty of time; starting and finishing at the agreed hour; being flexible and helpful around the performance; supplying all the admin stuff (posters, flyers, photos, CD’s signed contracts) on time without having to be chased; etc. I know its dull but with the festival we end up having to chase any number of bands for this stuff time and time again. And its in the band’s interest of course because if a band is hard work or is difficult we don’t ask them back.

I understand that it means us (the musicians) having to do our bit to generate audiences and to provide the tools for the venue, but as with all jobs you have to spend 75% of the time selling it to get to actually do it for the other 25%.

Why I Perform?

When it comes down to it the pleasure of creating and playing music is in the blood. The ‘Life of Riley’ album that MumboJumbo put out at the turn of the year (which contains Nice Work of course) is something that we are very proud of. Lots of lovely things have been said about it by fans, reviewers, radio people etc. and I never get tired of people buying it, or just telling us which are their favourite tracks etc. How privileged are we to be able to stand on stage and have people join in with every word of something we’ve created …. and get paid for it. reating the sound for Stomp & Holler has also been a joy, getting six talented and experienced musicians together and seeing what comes out – certainly not the sound I had in my head at the start of the process - but something that has emerged from the group, and sounds great. As with all the bands I’ve ever been involved in, neither Mumbo-Jumbo and Stomp & Holler could be described as mainstream down-the line blues and, in my opinion, are all the better for that. Blues for me is a VERY broad church with very blurry edges all around it, and moving people’s listening experience sideways isn’t going to hurt them.

The thing that attracts me to music is the voice, and particularly voices that are distinctive and individual. Voice training and development is important but it needs to bring out the personal voice and not move the sound into a place where it sounds like other people. I personally find the current trend in modern R&B to put in a hundred notes when ten will be perfect, while technically remarkable, a bit soulless – but then I prefer BB King to Yngwie Malmsteen so maybe I’m just from the ‘less is more’ school.

My personal vocal style focuses on the timbre and resonance of the voice rather than vocal gymnastics and I currently use three different voices for different types of singing. The main voice is a mid-gravel round sound while I have a simpler sound for harmonies and gentle singing and a full undervoice described as ‘the nearest thing to Tom Waits that we have’ in other blues publications. On Mumbo-Jumbo’s Life of Riley I use all three at one time or another, plus we have both Chris and Abby on lead too so it is an extraordinary mix of vocal talent and range all pulled together by the complex harmonies. Stomp and Holler also benefits from six part harmonies and four lead singers.

Why I Organise?

If live music is going to succeed and improve it needs places to play and to be publicised and promoted. If I’m getting the plaudits and the applause from playing then its also down to me to put something into the organising side too.

The Challenge

We all regularly read on Facebook and the web people bemoaning the size of audiences, of empty venues and of it being hard to make a living – I get down about it myself when a gig we’ve been promoting doesn’t reach its potential and the audience is thin on the ground.

But the truth is that the world doesn’t owe us an audience however good our music might be and we must work to win people back by providing a good show AND communicating it to people so they come along. It’s our job to attract sufficient punters away from X Factor and a night in front of the television, and not their responsibility to search for us.

In short, we (musicians and organisers) all need to innovate to succeed just like any business, creating new opportunities to perform, new ways of getting revenue from what we do to be able to commit more of our time to it. The venues that get an audience can afford to attract more bands which deliver better entertainment and create a bigger buzz – we can see this virtuous circle for the best venues whether it’s a village pub, a monthly blues club, a weekend event or a festival. If every band took responsibility for creating one new gig each year, and the whole band put the effort into promoting it and bringing in their community to an event for themselves and others to play at, then the whole scene would be transformed and more people would be enjoying live music. Lots of bands do – but the majority don’t. One gig a year can’t be too much to ask?

To find out more about Oliver’s bands:

Mumbo-Jumbo

Close harmony piano-based trio and nominees in the British Blues Awards 2012 - visit www.mumbo-jumbo.biz

Stomp & Holler

Big New Orleans groove sound, unusual and different! - visit www.stompandholler.co.uk

To find out more about Oliver’s festival activities;

Upton Blues Festival

Town swamping weekend festival in Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire - visit www.uptonfestival.org.uk

Blues at The Fold

One day sell out event near Worcester - visit www.bluesatthefold.co.uk

Jinney Ring Blues Festival

One day festival just south of Birmingham - visit www.jinneyring.co.uk Festival in a Box

How the whole concept works – visit www.jigsawcommunityfestivals.org.uk

KESSELHAUS / KULTURBRAUEREI –BERLIN (Germany) 16 – 17th March 2012

For the second year running, The European Blues community come together in Berlin to meet and participate to the European Blues Challenge. Over the weekend of the 16th and 17th of March, 24 European Blues Union country members come to attend the second EBU General Assembly.

Friday 16th of March

After a few compulsory stops such as Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate and Alexanderplatz, it is time to head off to Kesselhaus, located in the heart of the former brewery “Kulturbrauerei”, enjoy a convivial dinner amongst old Blues friends prior to getting ready for no less than nine performances!

A quick address from Tom Ruf, President of the EBU, introducing us to the Challenge, jury members and a few prestigious guests is to be followed by four and a half hours of European Blues, a lively mix of Blues, each country defending its blue colours...all in a very convivial manner!

It’s time to give it up to Finland with Ismo Haavisto Band that plays in the style of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones. The public responds very enthusiastically particularly after a superb version of ‘The Crawl’ originally from The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

It’s now up to The Downstrokes from Croatia to show us what they are made of. We are treated to an acoustic duo who dedicate their performance to the

to soon to climb the Blues stairway of heaven! And then it’s off to the Netherlands with The John F. Klaver Band. And even if the decibel level is too high, the quartet gives us a brilliant version of ‘Spoonful’ with a very subtle Hammond organ and inspired guitar!

From Slovakia, we have Lubos Beña: a true roots duo constantly alternating between acoustic and electric. Besides the jack problem, there is fun and authenticity in their play and we must mention a great rendition of the familiar‘Pick A Ball Of Cotton.’

French Blues was represented by Cameroon born Roland Tchakounté who takes us on a beautiful journey full of colours from Africa. Roland welcomes us into his African Blues roots and his guitar player, Mick Ravassat, adds a richness and energy particularly appreciated by the public.

From Switzerland comes Marco Marchi &The Mojo Workers, an atypical band that combines blues roots with country folk. A nice surprise to all!

All the way from Riga in Latvia, Cheholsis a mix of rock and rockabilly. A young and energetic band that offers a varied repertoire. The decibel level is too high but the public seems to enjoy their rendition of the famous Elvis Presley ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and their ‘Blues Brothers’ ending leaves many wanting for more!

Perhaps one of the most unexpected performances for this evening came from Poland. The sextet, Slavek Wierzcholski I Nocna Zmiana Bluesa performs a very dynamic and colourful show. Certainly unusual!

Belgium’s Lightnin’ Guy & The Mighty Gators is the last band to come on stage this evening. As they came with a large group of supporters, they had to show they meant business, some may say a little too much. Great intro with the Weissenborn!

Ben Poole

father of Croatian Blues, DrazenBuhin, who sadly left us

Saturday 17th of March

10 am and it’s time to meet for the second EBU General Assembly and discuss the various issues met by an organisation counting no less than 24 country members. The afternoon is dedicated to an Open Market which gathers bands, tour managers, festival organisers all contributing to constructive exchanges and productive international networking.

And at 8pm, it’s back to Kesselhaus to resume festivities starting with Bulgaria’s Vasco The Patch. A powerful rock blues quartet joined by another singer who with his husky voice adds another dimension to a band that proves that blues music is well and alive in Eastern Europe.

Dago Red is a reference in Italy. After starting with ‘My Babe’ on acoustic guitar, the arrival of a female singer brings a welcome freshness to an elegant and classy folk blues.

Sweden has a surprise for us all: Slidin’ Slim is a blues roots duo with resonator and harp or saxophone depending on the mood. It’s Blues with a difference, unexpected but well thought out.

With his yellow socks, Norbert Schneider from Austria starts as a solo with a beautiful rendition of ‘Hallelujah I Love Her So’ and goes on to become an electric threesome. Handsome

Norbert has a good voice and an interesting style with the guitar but the decibel level is often too high as it has unfortunately been with too many performances during this challenge.And then it’s off to Norway with Rita Engedalen & Backbone. She is all strength and energy and perfectly supported by an efficient guitar player. She dominates the stage with her gospel inspired style and gritty blues. We then leave Northern Europe for Spain’s sunshine andMingo &The Blues Intruders. They give everything they’ve got on stage. A vibrant and brilliant performance to the public’s delight ending with a nod to Little Walter. From the UK, it’s Ben Poole, a young guitar hero likened by some of our European friends to a young Bonamassa and they’re not far wrong.A great talent peppered with humility and a charismatic performance to boot. Many in Berlin will remember Mr Poole and we hope to see him soon away and not just in the British Isles.

Next up is Denmark and The Blues Express consisting of an exceptionally talented guitar player aged only 16, a keyboard player who can’t seem to help fooling around and a singer who seems to constantly pull on her very short skirt. But the music is good, energetic and festive.

Germany’s Michael Van Mervyk is a singer and guitar player who is a fine performer. He has the misfortune to break a string during the first track but he shows how professional he is by continuing to sing virtually without playing and ends up playing slide taking us to a great finish with ‘Bad Bad Blues.’

The second European Blues Challenge comes to an end with Georgia’s T.Blues Mob and a sound so high that it ends up destroying what was left of our eardrums. It’s certainly high voltage but after nearly 5 hours of music, it’s just too much.And finally it’s time to announce the winners and its Thomas Ruf who reveals the winners’ names –

First: RITA ENGEDALEN & BACKBONE (Norway) - Second: NORBERT SCHNEIDER (Austria) - Third: BEN POOLE (UK)]

After yet another great weekend, we look forward to the third edition of the EBU Challenge in 2013!

Rita Engedalen

HEGEMONY of the BLUES

In recent years we have all been spoiled by the explosion of gifted young female blues singer guitarists appearing on the scene. Joanne Shaw Taylor, Chantelle McGregor, Ana Popovic, Erja Lyytinen to mention just a few. Long before these though, when it was much harder for musically driven women to make serious breakthroughs Liz Melendez was strutting her stuff and making a name for herself. Liz began playing live onstage in the late 80’s in some of Albuquerque’s roughest biker bars like The Barn and Sonny’s Bar & Grille before she was even officially old enough to gain admittance. Playing five nights a week in these venues was an important learning curve and an experience Liz now says she wouldn’t trade for anything. Originally only playing guitar Liz found herself pushed into singing at 18 when the vocalist in her band suffered a biking accident the day before a gig. She has never looked back.

The single greatest influence on Liz as a performer is without doubt her father Dan. A well respected musician himself in the Albuquerque area where the family were based, there were always rock and blues records playing in the house or jams with visiting musicians. Liz remembers clearly hearing Freddie Kings intro on the record ‘I Wonder Why’ and becoming fascinated with electric guitar. At that point she was only five years old. Encouraged to play at this early age it soon became apparent that Liz had a natural talent. Having spotted this Dan began to pass on important lessons that Liz acknowledges equipped her to make the step from talented youngster to professional artist. On her website Liz says, ‘Probably more important to me than the guitar methods themselves, my father taught me the fundamentals of what it meant to be a great musician. He was an exceedingly intellectual man and he drove home his philosophy that becoming a great rhythm guitarist was an essential part of being a great lead guitarist and that the importance of learning to be a good support player as part of an ensemble was paramount in my pursuit of becoming a great musician’. Dan also played a key role in the selection of Liz’s most treasured guitars that she performs with to this day. These are a Gibson 1979 Les Paul, Fender ‘98 Strat, and Fender Telecaster, an armoury that enables her play an array of styles and tones.

As a teenager Liz began to discover more of the rock music that would help to shape her own style, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Santana among others. Luckily growing up Liz had tolerant and supportive parents, no record as to what the neighbours thought though. As she found herself becoming more popular as a performer, and wanting to push herself, in 1997 Liz decided the time was right to move to the musical hotbed of Atlanta, Georgia. It certainly made good sense from a touring point of view; there were numerous gigging opportunities within three hours travelling in either direction which had been more difficult from Albuquerque. Not only that, but Atlanta was home to a number of seasoned musicians and bands playing live in the many club venues across the city. Liz threw herself into the cities musical circles. She describes it as a well of opportunity to grow. It was here that the southern tinged blues rock with authentic Latin grooves developed into the fully fledged Liz Melendez live act.

Liz is regularly praised as one of the most dynamic and intensely passionate live performers in the southeast states of the U.S.A. She has proved to be not only a versatile guitarist and singer but an outstanding songwriter with real stage craft to match. As well as being an ever popular artist in the music clubs Liz has grown into an in demand performer at large festivals. She shares the honour with Koko Taylor of being the only female headliner at Chattanooga’s Riverbed Music Festival. Now an admired musician Liz is often found performing live with other top artists. Perhaps best known of these, is her contributions to the CD releases by Big Shanty, the blues playing alter ego of southern rock icon Dick Wooley. Liz provides stunning riffs and vocals on a number of tracks not least the seminal Killing Fields. Well worth checking out the YouTube footage of this one. Candye Kane and Tinsley Ellis are good friends and regular live collaborators. Other artists Liz has shared a stage with include Bob Margolin, Henry Butler, Hubert Sumlin, E.G. Knight, Albert Castiglia and Chris Duarte. Last year Liz was a part of the King Mojo Revue playing with Wet Willie as an all-star monster jam show. Big Shanty is presently recovering from heart surgery but is doing well and Liz hopes to be back recording with him on his next album soon.

2001 was to prove a bittersweet year for Liz. Her debut album “Mercy” was released to critical acclaim, but just a few months later her father sadly passed away after a series of strokes. Obviously a devastating for Liz, she later expressed gratitude that he had lived long enough to witness the release of her debut. “Mercy” is a powerfully played display of excellent song writing from a new artist. Often ahead of the crowd it was reviewed by Blues Matters, way back in issue 6. To quote Sister Feelgood, “Eight splendid tracks with fine vocals illuminating her poetic talents and superb guitar style demonstrating her artistry and mastery of both.” Can’t say fairer than that. Blues Review magazine highlighted Liz as the ‘artist to watch’ on the strength of “Mercy.”

Speaking to Liz recently she told me, “I love “Mercy” because it was my first CD and I am of course extremely proud of it. Being the first it felt like I had to introduce myself as a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer/arranger. That was a broad message to deliver as a first release and I feel I did it with that album.”

Second album “Sweet Southern Soul” was released in 2005 and is considered by many to be a slightly darker album. The song writing feels more personal and there is a definite leaning towards more of a southern feel, not surprising as Liz has always enjoyed that vibe and was now living in a southern music heartland. Some of the writing was inspired by her father’s passing and some at least by her outlaw background, ‘Justice County’ being a homage to her great, great grandfather, a member of Billy The Kids gang.

Looking back on that album Liz recently said, “By the time I was writing the songs for Sweet Southern Soul at my home in New Mexico, it was clear that it was more about telling some of the most impactful stories of my life with music, and stylistically very different from Mercy. I remember thinking people who loved “Mercy” will probably not like this. I also remember a strong intuitive feeling that that didn’t matter and I kept my commitment to the creative process that drove the album. I believe that experience is sacred and I want to remain true to it.” This commitment and integrity are part of what sets Liz apart and makes her a special talent.

In 2009 Liz released her live album. Mostly recorded from a series of concerts at Eddies Attic the CD contains many of the bands favourite tracks and popular versions of covers like Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Tin Pan Alley’ and ‘Lenny.’

2011 saw Liz become the subject of a documentary by Emmy and Peabody award winning film maker Bill Rich. Entitled Unknown Rock Star the film looks back over Liz’s formative years and takes viewers on a journey through Albuquerque to Atlanta, interviewing Liz and friends and family along the way. The sleeve blurb describes Liz as a triple threat artist regarded instantly by anyone who has heard her as one of the most formidable female musicians on the planet.

The good news is that Liz tells me she is well along the writing stages of preparing a new album for next year. She has a well settled band with her, which is made up of Eric Sanders, drummer for the last ten years and Matt Stallard, long serving bass guitarist. Described by Liz as both being phenomenal players and a joy to work with.

I asked Liz if the writing for the new album was taking a specific direction. Her reply was very interesting. “I’ve spent the past few years focused on spiritual growth. After making several changes to bring more balance to my life, I’ve found that the song writing process is reflecting the lessons I’ve learned and what overriding messages are left from my experiences. Sweet Southern Soul came as a songbook of stories from my life- the things that had happened and what I thought and felt about those things. But that was purely a reflective album. This creative process has felt much different in many ways because there is much more to risk with your heart remembering some very difficult and painful lessons from the perspective of personal growth and letting go rather than just a musical and lyrical retrospective.”

I wondered if this meant we might hear a more laid back singer songwriter style on the new album. The response from Liz was quite emphatic. “No way! Guitar driven rock is the language of my mind and my heart and that will never change. I do acoustic work also, but I believe it is in my DNA to kick in the doors and set off the cannons with an electric guitar.”

As well as being an outstanding musician, Liz is also a talented graphic designer and has designed web sites and album sleeves for other artists. She does all of her own promotional work and is an accomplished writer. In the U.K. at least Liz is one of those artists whose work and reputation has, for the most part, flown under the radar. Time for that to change I think, check her out.

These two classic concert films are best reviewed together, because there’s no point in just buying one of them – this is, after all, the late Etta James we’re talking about, and you need both of these DVDs because they beautifully complement one another. Sadly we lost Etta back in January. She was one of the greatest R&B and soul singers of her generation, justifiably included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame. This lady was born to sing the blues, and how. The full 1993 concert DVD gives us a complete show with Etta in her latter day incarnation. There are many young pretenders today, from Paloma Faith to Adele, and they’re all good, yet this big, bold, stately legend rips through her classic hits with an emotion many of today’s artistes could only dream of. Over 18 years Etta became a regular at Montreux, and you can see why they kept on inviting her back. She has every audience in the palm of her hand, and when she launches into the 1975 performance of her classic, W.O.M.A.N. you’ll be in R&B heaven, wishing to hell that you’d been in that audience. The 1993 performance includes I Just Wanna Make Love to You, the stirring I’d Rather Go Blind, plus a deliciously raunchy Come to Mama. Etta could make you laugh as well as cry – just watch her perform Beware and you’ll see why she features in every list of the world’s top singers. And, of course, there’s

the soaring At Last and Drown in My Own Tears. On all occasions (and particularly so in the 1993 performance) she’s backed by bands of truly skilled and sympathetic musicians, complete with stinging brass, who understand her depth of expression, sense of romance and funky, crucial timing. The 75-93 compilation DVD is particularly interesting as you see Etta move from a certain youthfulness into a plush, velvet and satin middle age, her image, fashion and hairstyle changing through the decades. Yet what never changes is her raw power. All her hits are here – and it doesn’t matter which of these DVDs you buy – they’re both well filmed, and the sound is impeccable. But I repeat – get them both – because when you come to the end of one show, you’ll want another straight away. Brilliant, uplifting, naughty and inspirational – that’s the indomitable Miss Peaches. There’ll never be another woman who could give you this quality in ballads, blues, funk and fun all in one package. Put these disks in your player, get the beer in, and turn up the volume – and even if it’s raining outside, you too will be there in balmy, bluesy Montreux.

Roy Bainton

B.B. KING

Live at The Royal Albert Hall 2011 DVD Shout DVD Region 1

On June 28 2011 the 85 year old Grand Gentleman of The Blues packed London’s home of the Proms for this sophisticated live excursion through his long musical career. One thing’s for sure; he seemed far more at ease in the great building than he did that same summer at Glastonbury. Needless to say, at 85 B.B. isn’t going to throw himself around much. The last time I saw him live was at the Hammersmith Odeon in the 1970s, with a band led by his long time sidekick, Calvin Owens. That was quite a night, and he was still mobile. These days, sitting like the Blues Grandfather he is on a comfy chair, the audience appears more like acolytes at the feet of some wise deity whose every utterance is to be carefully savoured. To appreciate why this is a necessity, one needs to watch the whole of this DVD, more importantly the backstage interviews – that way any newcomer (are there any?) to this great man’s brilliant catalogue might thoroughly understand his real importance to the blues. You get just ten songs here, including a couple of B.B. evergreens such as The Thrill is Gone and Rock Me Baby. The show kicks off with his well-tailored and highly disciplined band (whose combined physical weight must run into several tons) giving us that sustained, somewhat anodyne lounge blues shuffle to bring the Great Man on. He expects wild enthusiasm from his audience, then remembers he’s in England, not Illinois, and does what a showman does best – he whips the crowd up into the nearest thing a middle-aged British crowd can come up with – mild frenzy. What still stands out, despite the fact we don’t hear as many thrilling breaks from his trusty guitar Lucille these days, is the undiminished power of his voice. It may lack some of the thrust of his classic album Live at The Regal, but it still proves that the thrill hasn’t gone after all. Of course, this is one of those occasions where ‘guests’

ETTA JAMES: Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 1993

ETTA JAMES: Live at Montreux 1975-1993 Eagle Rock DVD

are involved, and they are duly wheeled on. First up is Susan Tedeschi, accompanied by fellow guitar hero Derek Trucks. By the time we’re joined by Slash and Ronnie Wood, you begin to realise that half a dozen lead guitars in one show is about four too many. Then on stage wanders an obviously thrilled Mick Hucknall. I always thought that one day he would morph into 60s TV comic Charlie Drake, and this has duly come about. Yet he makes a good stab at The Thrill is Gone and appreciates the privilege he’s been granted. Slash sits there twiddling away and we don’t really hear his playing. His hat and poodle haircut seem to have more charisma than his face, hidden as usual by those permanent shades. The best bit about this DVD is the backstage interviews, especially with B.B. himself. He’s honest, generous and amusing about his past, present and future. Ronnie Wood, Hucknall and the others wax lyrically about King’s influence, and Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi impress with their knowledge of the blues. But B.B., bless him, shines. He talks about his childhood, his first brush with the guitar, and how he sees himself at this great age. Could he give it all up? “Yes, but hey – how would I eat?” Then like the true artist he is, he explains that he’s still looking for that elusive ‘sound’ and says “When I hear what I’d like to hear I think I’d have to stop; it probably wouldn’t be as good as I think it would.” A great man, a huge influence, a giant in his field. If there is ever a Mount Rushmore of blues players, then his imperial visage will be carved from the mountain peak; these days slower, more statesmanlike, he none the less remains a living icon of the music we all love.

Roy Bainton

CYNDI LAUPER

To Memphis with Love

With love is the only way to describe this CD/DVD. Cyndi Lauper is not one I would have put in a blues genre but boy can she sing the blues! ’Shattered Dreams’ (Johnny Hates Jazz) kicks the performance off, closely followed by Little Waters ’Just Your Fool’, Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘Early in the Morning’ and Billie Holliday’s ‘Romance in the Dark’. Johnny Lang, together with Alan Toussaint’s help Cyndi out on ‘How Blue Can You Get’. A tribute to Albert King ‘Down Don’t Bother Me’ is a hard one to follow, but Ms Lauper does that on ‘Crossroads’. Charlie Musselwhite is present throughout the gig doing what Charlie does best (being as he’s one of the great harmonica players). Tracey Nelson duets on ‘Down So Slow’ and Bobby Bland’s ‘Cry No More’ is sublime. Cyndi finishes the evening with songs from her own catalogue namely ‘Who Let the Rain’ and various others including ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’. This set is one of the best blues evenings by a female singer I have seen or heard in a long while.

GARY MOORE BLUES

For Jimi DVD

Eagle Rock DVD

Bob Bonsey

Another fine sound and vision production from Eagle Rock Entertainment and sadly, yet another much missed departed star. I once attended a Gary Moore concert back in the early 80s in Grimsby. He was so damn loud that I had to leave early, even though I’ve always stood by Ted Nugent’s motto ‘if it’s too loud, you’re too old’. Well, I’m a lot older now, and my ears don’t bleed as much, and as I missed my only chance to see Jimi Hendrix live at the Skyline Ballroom in Hull on Thursday March 9 1967 (supported by Family, whose drummer Rob Townsend now keeps the beat with The Blues Band) then

this fine guitar extravaganza will give me an idea of what a treat I missed. Filmed at the London Hippodrome on October 25, 2007, this powerhouse performance by Gary Moore features 11 Jimi Hendrix songs. He has terrific backing musicians, Dave Bronze (bass), Darrin Mooney (ex-Primal Scream, Drums) and there’s an even bigger treat as the show progresses when original Jimi Hendrix Experience members Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox (Band of Gypsies) take to the stage. There are stirring, rugged recitals of classics such as Red House, Stone Free, and Hey Joe, and if Jimi was looking down from Rock’n’Roll heaven, no doubt he would have wholeheartedly approved. Moore’s interpretations, both vocally, and especially on guitar, are flawless. There are never enough adjectives with which to praise Jimi’s legacy. It remains the absolute zenith of blues rock music, and anyone attempting to replicate it has to be very, very sure of what they’re doing. In the late Gary Moore’s case, the spirit of Hendrix possessed him with an all-embracing perfection. Brilliant stuff.

Roy Bainton

MUDDY WATERS/THE ROLLING STONES

At the Checkerboard Lounge, 1981. In 1981 the Stones were touring America and arrived in Chicago. This particular evening in November they decided to see their blues hero Muddy Waters in concert at Buddy Guy’s Club, The Checkerboard Lounge. Coincidentally the fact that there was an empty table in the front of the stage and cameras were in situ one is led to believe that the ‘incident’ was pre-arranged. But nevertheless the evening was recorded and a neverto-be-repeated performance was captured for posterity. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Woods and Ian Stewart (pianist extraordinaire) took their seats and to the audience’s pleasure were invited on stage one by one, and proceeded to accompany Muddy. Later they were joined by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy.During the following hour they put their stamp on Muddy’s song catalogue. Jagger dancing like a go-go dancer with vocal accompaniment; Keith swinging his guitar like a hammer; Ronnie doing what Ronnie does, just happy to be there laying down a rhythm; Ian Stewart (God rest his soul) pumping out the keys in a style very few have been able to do since. Two years later Muddy Waters died so this amazing unique night is certainly one to be treasured.

Bob Bonsey

Purveyors of trebly riffs, tube driven Hammond organs and the odd sleazy guitar solo; Turrentine Jones have forged a sexy, modern blues sound. “It’s honest, it’s raw with swirling organ parts, rapid fire percussion and rousing harmonies” – 4Q Magazine.

Influenced by the likes of the The Animals and The Doors – Turrentine Jones have built an underground fanbase through near-constant touring of small clubs, frequent demo releases and music festival appearances, and licensing of their songs. The three-piece band (lead singer and guitarist Julian Neville, drummer Chris Carcamo and Hammond organist Thomas Scotson) have been rewarded for their hard work over the course of this year. Le Debut, their first two-track releasefound its place in the charts after its February 2012 release.

From this record, the single “Slam the Door” reached No. 13 on the Australian Music Charts, and was televised after the band performed live on Channel 4’s Hit the Road Jack programme.

The rewards continued with the band signing an endorsement deal with clothing brand OK Now and inking a deal with touring agency Spoilt Kid, which already houses the likes of Mike Joyce (The Smiths), Clint Boon (Inspiral Carpets), Bez (Happy Mondays) and Drew McConnell (Babyshambles).

Now the band look set to release a track (and music video) every two months for the next year, along with touring, to draw momentum even further.

“We want our music to be accessible, easy to digest. We want people talking about us all year and listening to us all year. It’s easier to share a track between friends than it is an album. It’s exciting. Our fans can get new material from us all year” says founding member Julian Neville. “There aren’t too many bands in Manchester with that kind of street cred at the moment.” – Sam Walker (BBC Manchester)

For more information about Turrentine Jones please contact Brett Vale at brett@ballsoutpress.co.uk or visit www.turrentinejones.co.uk

Turrentine Jones

The UK music scene of the late sixties was a melting pot from which classic Blues Rock emerged, establishing the power trio format as the driving force of the era...

At the fore front of this movement were Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Voodoo Room are a new and exciting classic Power Trio, featuring some of the U.K.s finest musicians.

Capturing the essence of this brief but momentous period in modern musical history.

Performing the best of “Hendrix” and “Cream” material, with the energy and virtuosity that is at the heart of this incredible music.

They deliver a “Full On Show” that brilliantly integrates these two massive influences on the world of classic blues/rock. The band recently formed in 2012 and already the word on the street is that Voodoo Room are a must see!!

“ This is the closest you will get to the sounds of the real thing ! As this band don’t try to be Hendrix or Cream, this makes it more of an appreciation rather than a tribute.

Wonderful music, beautifully and faithfully played and they will be back!- Charlie North Lewis, Manager and Programmer, Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne

“Absolutlely Phenomenal....If you’re a fan of Hendrix or Cream you will be blown away” - Michelle Ward. Phoenix FM. “....a very effective tribute to Jimi Hendrix and Cream without turning to pantomime. It was without doubt an outstanding performance of the songs of legend. As their website says “A celebration of pure power trio class” and indeed it was.” - Andrew Lathan- Stour & Avon Magazine

“Have to be one of the very best bands I have ever had the good fortune to see live....” - The Tropic Ruislip

The Band Members: First up is journey-man Guitarist - Peter Orr...He has been thrilling audiences throughout the UK and Europe for nearly 3 decades.

Mashing up classic riff based rock anthems, with the energy and style evocative of their time. His jaw dropping solos and epic vocal styling’s, have wowed all those lucky enough to experience this virtuoso inject new life into the classics.....

On Drums - John Tonks... A leading U.K. session musician. - His superlative touring and recording credits include: Duran Duran, Fish, Thunder, The Streets, Steve Winwood, Lulu, Chris Difford, Neneh Cherry, Paul Young, Thea Gilmore, Tricky etc etc ...

On Bass - A rising star in the business - Andy Tolman... His stunning Bass technique and sublime groove is fast making him the first call Bass-Man for visiting US artists, such as: Ben E King, The Emotions, Leon Ware, Rodriguez etc etc. He also features on recording sessions for George Martin & Michael Kamen.Together they form this mighty, retro, rocking machine that is...”Voodoo Room”

Their mission...To deliver the all time great Cream and Hendrix numbers, with the true passion and energy worthy of these classic master pieces!

This show is beyond any tribute, its a celebration of pure power trio class!!

For more information and live video footage visit: www.voodoo-room.com Or contact Jim@voodoo-room.com

GOT LIVE

IAN SIEGAL @ The West End Club, Barry. 01/09/2012

Another packed crowd for this popular venue, everyone is always confident that Mike Duggan who organises these regular blues nights that only artist of the highest quality are invited. For many ‘Ian Siegal’ needed no introduction, tonight as a solo artist delivering sharp guitar playing, beautiful songs whether original and delightful covers all given that twist of Siegal magic interspersed with insightful and witty comments. With no set list the crowds were told that the next song was going to be decided as he was playing proving men can multi task!; after requesting a kitchen knife he played, Bukka White number using the knife for a slide. The set included crowd favourites including ‘Dublin Blues’ and ‘Gallo Del Cielo or Cockrel from Heaven’, Ian admitted like many of us every time he sings the song he hopes this time the ending will be happy. The regular visits across “the pond” has had a positive effect on his guitar playing skills that have reached new heights of freedom, imagination and flair, pure pleasure to listen too. As relevant for today as when composed in 1854 ‘Steve Collins Foster’s, Hard Times Come Again No More’. He also had fun with the audience explaining that any song could be made to sound great if delivered by Johnny Cash, using all his skills as an impressionist this he achieved when he did an interesting and entertaining version of ‘Brian Adams’, ‘Summer of Sixty-Nine’. What a show, culminating in a four song encore that left the crowds wanting more of a great solo player of great songs supported by awesome guitar playing, Ian Siegal at his best.

Liz Aiken

MO’BLUES TAKES NORTH AMERICA BY STORM

On a hot evening MO‘BLUES took their audience of over ten thousand music lovers captive, and refused to let them go until after the last note had ricocheted across the Detroit River at the Bluesfest International, Windsor, Canada, festival.

The band, consisting of Sebastian Casis (bass, vocals), Federico Teiler (guitar, vocals), Gabriel De Pedro (keys, vocals), and Ruben Tissembaum (drums), impressedthe judges at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Although they did not win they did influence those in the audience to book them for future performances in New York City and Bluesfest International. Santa Fe, Argentina, is home for these musicians. They first came to the US in 2000, playing most exclusively Spanish. Returning every year they increased their fan base. As Sebastian puts it, “Music is the international language and we are the living proof of it”.They learned how to play by listening to records of the classic rock and blues masters from the 60’s and 70’s.

Since the late 1960’s the devotion and tradition Argentina has had of staging these music styles from North America and England has been strong. It was the first country musicians sang blues and rock and roll in Spanish. Evidenced by a set that included a slow blues ‘I Feel So Lonely (I Want to Go Home)’, a rock blues ‘Shadows of Your Love’ that was just killer, lightening solos by Ruben on the keyboard, an English/Spanish ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’/’NacidoBajo Un SignoMalo’ (which is on their album “MO’ BLUES” (2010), plus a breathtaking ‘No Aguano Mas’ (‘Can’t Stand It No More) where Sebastian and Fede do what they call “the two-headed octopus”, when they play side-by-side with hands crossed on the other’s instrument, the dynamic players captivate wherever they go. These two are the main writers in the band with Sebastian translating lyrics from Spanish to English, writing original material in both languages as well as blues classics into Spanish. The performance closed with the audience standing and cheering for Ruben’s scorching drum solo while the other band members left the stage only to return wearing red t-shirts with the Canadian maple leaf thus bringing wild cheers from the excited audience. This quartet really knows how to tap into the profound legacy of the blues and channel that energy into every gig that they do. It would be a good idea to check this band from Argentina out the next time they travel north as MO’BLUES delivers the goods. “The Blues And Nothing But The Blues”©2012

Suzanne Swanson

JON AMOR BLUES GROUP@ Monmouth Festival Blues Night. 23/08/2012

Monmouth Festival is an annual event that covers all genres and the last Thursday on the main stage is a free event dedicated to the Blues. Opening the evening was Red River Blues, a five-piece delivering rootsy blues executed with their own distinctive arrangements of a range of popular songs and their own self-penned numbers including their title track ‘Red River Blues’. Jon Amor Blues Group - the crowds were really receptive to this great band’s stellar performance. They performed old favourites from Jon Amor’s back catalogue and from the band’s début album “Jon Amor Blues Group”. Many people

Photo by Liz Aiken

in the crowd weren’t familiar with the band and Jon Amor took the opportunity to showcase an array of new numbers including ‘Wayfarer’ and ‘Good Thing Back’ having spent most of the last two weeks in the recording studio. The music was fresh, the lyrics strong with interesting instrumentation bringing the best out of the talent on show on the stage boding well for their second CD. This was a confident and talented display of what is making the British Blues scene so strong at the moment and was appreciated by the large crowds standing in a car park listening to brilliant music from a temporary stage on a rare dry evening that might have been chilly but the music was hot. Many attending the car park musical extravaganza were hearing Jon Amor Blues Group for the first time, and resulted in quite hefty CD sales after the set. Once a year the Monmouth Music Festival includes the blues and the set-up was very professional – it won’t be the last time that we venture out for this free festival.

Liz Aiken

CATCHING UP WITH THE SMOKE FAIRIES

The Smoke Fairies are two talented young ladies, Jessica Davies and Katherine Blamare who along with their band make music that is an enchanting blend of otherworldly English folk vocals mixed with Americana and blues rhythms. This magazine first ran an article on the band back in 2009 so I thought I’d take the opportunity to catch up with them when they played at Norwich Arts Centre. The band are currently touring the U.K. promoting the release of second album Blood Speaks. Debut album Through Low Light And Trees was issued in 2010 and the band have been steadily gaining recognition and fans ever since. They have played festivals and tours across Europe including support spots for Jack White and Richard Hawley. Katherine feels that the experiences have made the girls much bolder in their song writing and the tracks on Blood Speaks display a tougher blues edge. Producer Head is perhaps most well-known for his work with P. J. Harvey and

he does a great job in capturing the different influences at play here.

Friends since school, Jessica and Katherine were first turned onto blues when helping out at the Blues On The Farm festivals before moving to New Orleans to immerse themselves in that city’s rich musical heritage of funk, cajun and jazz roots. Growing up, favourite albums were mostly American artists like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and bands like America and Grateful Dead, but a covers e.p. release included songs by The Cult, Killing Joke and Abba showing the wide range of music this pair absorb.

Jessica tells me that at the end of this U.K. tour the band are joining up with Richard Hawley again, supporting him on his upcoming European tour which runs through to the end of the year. After a short break the plan is to then start preparing the next album. The girls are very strong minded about their song writing and steadfastly refuse to jump on any folk or blues bandwagon to obtain fleeting recognition, preferring to build a solid fan base to guarantee longevity. Judging by the good turnout at to-nights show they are certainly building that fan base. With Jessica looking resplendent in poncho and cowboy boots and Katherine seamlessly moving between haunting Sandy Denny-eque vocals and Skip James inspired slide guitar these Smoke Fairies are smoldering from the off. With album veteran, the multi-talented Neil Walsh on viola, banjo, omnichord and guitar outstanding and backed by a blues savvy rhythm section of Sherman Dormer (drums) and Perry Neech (bass) the whole band are soon fully on fire, never mind smoking. If you get the chance to see this unique bands blend of folk blues grab it with both hands.

Steve Yourglivch

MARCUS MALONE @ Beaverwood Club, Chislehurst, October 2012

See e-mail. Must have by line (in text below) ©www. mhpstudios.biz t:01883 344852

There was a huge contrast between the last two gigs I attended. One, with a musician who will be nameless, had a big crowd but the performance was jaded and formulaic. The second had a lighter audience, but a top performance. Thank you, Marcus Malone. Marcus and his tight band gave 100% - and 100% of Marcus is quite something. The cat in the hat from Detroit started with some Big American sounds with “Hear My Train”, and sped up through “Detroit City Blues” and by “Redline Blues Cause”, he told the crowd, “We came to Rock and you guys are going to get it.” Get it we certainly did, as the band cranked it up. By “Would it Matter”, I was beginning to realise I was witnessing a very rare thing, a Blues band that can play it loud, but stay subtle and interesting. Plenty try, but few pull it off like this. Even better, Marcus is a singer blessed with a Heavy Metal capable voice, with the versatility to do justice to slower, passionate Blues songs. To top this off, Stuart Dixon chose “Would it Matter” to play the best guitar solo I’ve heard in two years. Thank you, Stuart “astonishing virtuosity” Dixon. “Paradise” was a funkier number, and the excellent “Bluejeans” deserves to find its way onto a Top Gear driver’s album (or better!). At times, there were touches reminiscent of Santana, Thin Lizzy and other classic Rock bands, but it remained Blues and it also remained fresh in sound. Will Wilde stepped up with the band and played, to use a technical term, some stonking harmonica on a couple of tracks, which he needed to alongside what was becoming a Blues Rock

Photo by Liz Aiken

guitar masterclass. “Let the Sunshine In” was a happy Blues number with undertones of AC/DC’s “It’s a long way to the top if you want to Rock and Roll”, which are less evident on the track on the excellent album of the same name. The deserved encore of “Heart for Rent” featured a wonderful guitar solo by Marcus himself. It is a lucky band that has two such guitarists and a lucky audience that can be present to enjoy them. By now, Marcus had his hat off, and so did I. You have to take your hat off to Marcus.

Photo: ©www.mhpstudios.biz t:01883 344852

Darren Weale

DANNY KYLE & PETE SHAW (special guest Nicky Moore) @The Anchor, Sevenoaks, August 2012

The first impression of the “Blues with a Bottle Club” in the intimate surroundings of The Anchor pub in Sevenoaks, Kent, is that you are in “Cheers” TV show territory, a place “where everybody knows your name”. The Anchor is warm, friendly, a club indeed, but one welcoming to first-timers like me. Entertaining the club on this night were acoustic duo Danny Kyle and Pete Shaw, further proof of the depth of Blues talent in the UK presently. The intro song, “CC Rider” was played lovely and slowly by the two men, Danny on acoustic guitar, Pete on bass. This was the beginning of an evening of variety. From songs to make you cry into your beer penned by old greats like Mississippi John Hurt to instrumentals on a National steel guitar, through the inspired “Broke and Hungry” and “Payday” that drew great applause from the audience, this was a great set. Marc “The Harp” Houghton chipped in some sympathetic harmonica, and later on did even better work on “Perpetual Born Blues Machine”. The faster “Ride till the morning comes” was the highlight, with Danny pulling off a burst of acoustic acceleration that brought to mind AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”. The Blues Terminator himself, Nicky Moore, provided vocals with Danny on guitar on a track from their upcoming album, “The Whale and the Waah”. Their new original song “Fruit Pickers Blues” amply displayed Nicky’s famed vocal power and range. Nicky’s interpretation of Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” was magnificent and earned huge applause, and his own “That’s the Blues” probably rocked the whole street, never mind The Anchor. Once Nicky stepped down, Kyle and Shaw continued their excellent set, “Pirates Gold” from Danny’s “Wood ‘n’ Strings” album being a rousing highlight. Danny and Pete were in good, relaxed form throughout, and the sampler of the Kyle and Moore duo was a welcome

fusion of one of the best voices you can hear with one of the most subtle and clever acoustic guitarists around. Blues with a Bottle Club website: http://www.blueswithbottleclub.co.uk/

Darren Weale

HANS THEESSINK @ The Labour Hall, Abergavenny. 22/09/2012

Hans Theessink traditionally plays a gig in Abergavenny when touring the U.K. and this tour was no exception, the evening started off with a great set from Bridget And The Big Girls Blues, who pleased the crowded room with her fine traditional renditions of blues songs made famous by the likes of Bessie Smith Ma Rainey and Sophie Tucker throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s and beyond. Hans developed as usual a natural rapport between himself and the audience with great tales and brilliant guitar playing. The spoken interludes gave them an insight into his musical life, people he has met and variety of experiences, including sharing a dressing room with Johnny Cash in Vienna and the legendary Mr Cash asking him if it was okay to have a pre-concert session! The story telling was always relevant to the next song that included a wellbalanced selection from Hans’s extensive back catalogue. The audience loved him and appreciated this regular ritual of Han’s playing in this small welsh market town. We were treated to a spellbinding rendition of ‘St James’ Infirmary’ and on his twelve string guitar ‘Blind Willie’ a tribute to Blind Willie McTell played with feeling and authenticity that ensure nothing was delivered as a cover but out of respect of the great bluesmen of the past. Leadbelly’s, ‘Bourgoise Blues’ reminded everyone what senseless bigotry takes place as this was inspired as he trudged the streets of Washington looking for a bed after performing with Woody Guthry and Sonny Terry in 1948. The rootsy nature of the blues crossing all continents and linking into variety of tales and myths regarding instruments such as the fiddle and the devil a great intro for ‘Johnny and The Devil’. The evening was a pure delight of great blues, roots country music played with finger picking skill and Han’s voice is melodic with that passionate edge which makes the words ring out an the meanings touch everyone’s heart. This was a

top-notch performance by a blues musician who not only understands his craft but more importantly has a passion for the music.

Liz Aiken

STEPHEN DALE PETIT & the HIGH VOLTAGE BAND @100 Club London

‘Live at High Voltage 2010’ vinyl release is very definitely one of my picks for ‘Live Album of the Year’ but actually seeing the band play it live takes it to another place. Petit’s guitar cuts and drives and, as a foil, Lorenzo Moufflier’s harmonica is perfect while the rhythm section of Dick Taylor and young Jack Greenwood takes Blues into the 21st century with real snap and crackle – the audience was going ape from the start. The auditory orgasm that opens ‘3 Gunslingers’ is stunning on the album but here at the 100 Club it sounded as though the very air was rent by the howl of sound pouring off the stage –what an entrance! They pretty much played the album straight through with ‘3 Gunslingers’ followed by ‘It’s All Good’ and then their stunning ‘Summertime Blues’ and by this time the crowd was dancing and singing along with the band. Moufflier on ‘Juke’ was stunning and Freddie King’s ‘Sidetracked’ was pretty near perfect and when they encored with a super version of ‘Green Onions’ the place was cooking onstage and off. The bass playing of Dick Taylor was exceptional;he plays bass like a lead guitarist with all the presence of Jack Bruce and his lines almost take on melody features as they weave around the drumming of Jack Greenwood - all action and laying down a ferocious beat, seemingly hitting everything at once but he didn’t miss a single mark and the platform he gives the rest of the band allowed the music to explode out of the blocks. Moufflier is sparely used but when his harp starts howling he takes the music on and shakes it by the scruff of its neck. Ray Drury was borrowed from support band Smokin’ Benny Brown and added yet another texture to the music but, once again, Petit didn’t overuse him and the result remained tight all through. As to the main man himself, Stephen Dale Petit. I have seen him live around a half-dozen times and I don’t think anyone could deny his playing is superb or that his understanding of Blues is almost encyclopaedic but he can try a little too hard and that can come over as ‘cocksure’ but with this band he seems to have reigned himself in a touch and is actually playing better than I have ever seen him. If he is playing this well and with this much obvious enjoyment I cannot wait to hear the new album. The support for the night was a band that is new to me – Smokin’ Benny Brown from Shaftesbury in Dorset (home of the ‘Hovis Hill’). The support at the 100 Club is often a real afterthought – a roadie with a guitar sometimes – but Benny Brown is a really fine guitarist and the band rocks, hard. Any band that opens with ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’ is taking a risk but they pulled it off well and they played half an hour of top notch Blues. They probably need a few more original numbers to step up a league but the talent is all there and I’ll be keeping an eye out for them – in a world of very average Blues bands they are a heck of a lot better than average.

Andy Snipper

Kirsten Thien @ Darlington Forum 25 October 2012 OK – where to start.

Very talented singer songwriter from New York, featured on front cover of B.M., dearly wants to put on some dates in the UK. Through a fan she has only contacted via the internet a short tour of the North East is arranged. Said fan has no previous experience in putting on gigs, arranging venues or promotion. Backing band to arrange – support to

sort out, tickets to print and flyers to get out there, etc etc. The ticket said ‘Bluesman Promotions’ which turned out to be Stuart Drew, who rose to the challenge and recognisedthe need to bring Kirsten to a UK audience. Through Stuart’s hard work and with the help of friends, (Karl Edmundson on the door) advice and direction from local Blues Clubs (John Tate – Sedgefield), and promotion (Gary Grainger –Bishop FM), the gigs were arranged. Let Kirsten tell it;

“The UK tour dates were a dream, a figment of our imagination, less than three months ago. With such short lead time, we should never have been able to pull off a wildly successful leg of the tour in the Northeast UK. But due to Stuart’s tenacity, and my willingness to take the risk and put my fate in the hands of a wonderful person I’d, as yet, only met on Facebook (and one Skype chat), the UK dates went beyond our imagination and into an even better reality.

In the end, I made two solo appearances and two appearances with (different) local bands in the North-East. We have laid the groundwork for future country-wide tours (which Stuart will again be involved with for sure!). The day of the Darlington show we, the band and I, met each other and set up around 3 pm. We began running tunes at 4pm, and broke for dinner at 6pm. At 7:30 we’re back at the venue to share a pint and at 9 pm we hit the stage and never looked back!

The band is to be credited for learning my repertoire and also handling my original songs with such respect and care – it was an honor and pleasure!!! After about the third song into the rehearsal I asked them, “Wow, guys! Why are we even rehearsing!?” Of course, more time is always welcome to get the finer nuances, but there is something special about the band being on the edge and watching and listening to each other intently as we help each other through the songs and the dynamics. For me, it was a great experience! And I could tell the band really loved it too, which makes the night all the more special. It was all a big risk and looking back I think I must have

been crazy! But music and the love of sharing it with new audiences will do that to you.”

o to the gig – The Forum is an old school converted into a bar, studio, practice space and a fair sized room for performances. It easily held the eighty or so people who attended, seated at tables eager to hear the New York songstress perform. Support was provided by Gary Grainger, Blues Radio Presenter of the Year, who played a competent set mixing deftly finger-picked Blues and Americana, including his own a cappella take on ‘Mercedes Benz’ – Oh, Lord won’t you buy me a Newcastle Brown!

Gary then changed hats to act as compere introducing Kirsten and the band. Corkscrew red-haired dressed in leather trousers, black vest top and shimmering spangled bolero top Kirsten led off with the rocky and raunchy ‘Love That’s Made to Share’. This was a sure fired start to which everyone approved. The next number slowed the pace where her soulful voice was shown off to great effect with ‘Nobody’s Ever Loved Me Like You Do’. ‘Hold On To Me’, the first Blues she wrote, started with her strumming guitar before the band came in with slide guitar followed by bass and drums. It proved a toe-tapping country blues. The down dirty, funked-up, ‘Taxi Love’, needs to be heard live. With a big fat bass line powering the rhythm and the half spoken lyrics it is a number that any band could stretch and improvise on. Here a word for the great trio of musicians backing Kirsten tonight. All part of Jazz North East they are Adrian Tilbrook in the drum seat, Andy Champion on bass and Belfast’s Mark Williams on lead guitar.The guys had the benefit of music stands, but really didn’t need them once they hit the groove.A dip into Aretha’s songbook for more funk next with a familiar ‘chucka-chucka’ guitar introducing ‘Baby I Love You’. Here Kirsten put down her acoustic and moved across stage with the mic held in her hand. There followed a new song written on tour and reflecting on her special place – ‘Sweet Lost and Found’, again with a country flavour.Dylan’s ‘It Takes a Lot to Laugh’,was followed by another self-penned number‘Please Drive’, on which she had the help ofHubert Sumlinwhen recording. Tonight Mark Williams gave an outstanding account of himself on guitar. ‘Delicious’, the title track from her current CD was unabashed with her vocals clear and measured.Old time drums and that deep bass again introduced Willie Dixon’s ‘Ain’t Superstitious’ – this had a great bass break where Andy worked all along the fretboard, and an extended guitar solo where the music on the stands was ignored totally. Kirsten did the number justice with her soulful voice again.Sing-along time followed with Ida Cox favourite ‘Wild Wimmin’ Don’t Worry’. The up-tempo ‘Treat ‘im Like a Man’ from her first release, and re-worked on her latest, was given the rock treatment which showed her strength of vocals to great effect. Then followed the most personal song of tonight’s’ set, the slow confessional ‘Ain’t That The Truth’.A talk-in intro about falling in love with a bad boy lead to Elvin Bishops ‘Fooled Around and Fell In Love’ followed by theLeon Russell via Freddy King number ‘I’d Rather Be Blind’. The funky bass came in again on encore Stevie Wonders Superstitious, another crowd pleaser. The covers worked well with her own material, which is varied in style and with intelligent lyrics. Not as raw edged as Janis Joplin could be and not as mellow as Bonnie Raitt

sometimes is –pitched in between you get a mix of blues belter and soul balladeer that is Kirsten Thien.

Mel Wallace

KIRSTEN THIEN, @ Saltburn by the Sea, The Spar Hotel, Friday 26th October.

Saltburn is a very quaint town on the North East Coast which boasts a restored Grade II listed pier along with plenty of Victorian buildings, a smugglers museum and a funicular which is one of the oldest water powered cliff lifts in existence. Its certainly worth spending some time in the town before the gig and if your there on the right week you will see the towns people dressed in Victorian costumes. The Spar Hotel is very welcoming, as is the promoter Harry Simpson.

Having read about and seen Kirsten on the front cover of BM 67 I was very eager to see her live, so I was astounded that a small club in the North East had managed to book her at short notice for this gig.

Kirsten’s had popped over to the UK from her European tour to promote her album “Delicious”, which is exactly what this musical experience was for the souls who braved a night of cold and snow!

Mojo 5 warmed us up for Kirsten’s set with a commendable performance, of blues, soul as well as some of their own compositions. Well worth checking out if you see them listed on the local scene.

Once Kirsten stepped on the stage with the Pete Gilligan band, who incidentally had just met her a couple of hours before the show and had spent that time in rehearsal you would never have known, the band produced an amazing sound.

Kirsten has a fantastic voice and stage presence. She has been compared with Bonnie Raitt and I could see why, red hair diminutive figure and a powerhouse voice. She stormed her way through the first set and really did set the room on fire. Coming back after the break everyone by

Pictures on these pages by Christine Moore

now knew what to expect self penned numbers from her album as well as covers from some artist she has worked with including Hubert Sumlin. This was a performance not to forget, I kept thinking Kirsten should have been playing the Sage or some other major venue. But like all good things the show came to an end all too soon. The dance floor was by now full of “new” fans as most in the room had not heard or seen her before that night. Kirsten came down from stage to join them without missing a note or a beat and joined in the gyrations, offering her mic to the dancers for the chorus, getting a standing ovation. Kirsten is a first class act that the major festivals should be booking next year, I can’t emphasis enough what a classy act Kirsten Thien is.

Christine Moore

Artist who support Blues Matters! above Jo Harman, top right Will Johns and right Lyndon Anderson

Pirate radio was a wonderful phenomenon, recently celebrated by the movie “The Boat that Rocked”. For part 3 of our Blues DJ’s series we talk to a less piratical, but still ship-broadcast Blues show presenter, Paul Stiles, a man who’s Blues are still Rocking.

“UK Blues today is a weekly show playing Blues music from artists gigging around the UK in the forthcoming week. It started when I used to keep a diary of Blues gigs. This developed into a webpage, www.oxfordblues.info. I later added a playlist to help people choose their gigs: Bluesfromoxford.com on the Live365.com network was born. Five years later it was ranked No.1 “Contemporary Blues Station” on Live365.”

“The team behind Radio Caroline Netherlands launched Radio Seagull in August 2003. I suggested doing a weekly show featuring Blues artists/bands playing around the UK. UK BLUES TODAY radio show took to the air in December 2010. Broadcasting from the ‘Jenni Baynton’ moored in Harlingen Harbour it can be heard on 1602 KHz AM in the Netherlands, the North Sea and East Coast of England and in stereo on the internet. When you hear something you like, check the gig guide and go out and see them LIVE!”

“Initially gig information came from gig guides or surfing. It now comes from Facebook and band emails. There are complaints that Blues media are London and South East centric, but sadly some weeks it’s hard to find gigs in the North East and Scotland.”

“How did I get into broadcasting? I loved radio and in the sixties spent hours tuning up and down the dial as new “Pirate” radio stations became available. I longed to be a DJ on those ships, but still at college I settled for a Mobile Disco. Many Pubs and Universities/Colleges were putting on bands and I saw Free, Keef Hartley, Audience and Caravan. I saw Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After and Santana at the Royal Albert Hall. Music genres were simplified back in those days. It was either Folk, Soul, Classical, Pop or Rock. The Rock Artists I followed then have become the Blues Artists of today.”

“The novelty of mobile discos wore off and I moved into Hospital Radio. The Rock Machine started in December 1976 and I’ve been there ever since, racking up some thirty six years’ service. Since then I’ve presented a number of shows on RSL’s and enjoy presenting on Brill Oldies 87.9FM every six months.”

Listening links - UK BLUES TODAY every Sunday on Radio Seagull – www.radioseagull.com and www.ukbluestoday. co.uk. If you’d like to get in touch with Paul, e-mail paul@ukbluestoday.co.uk Paul adds: “To allay any confusion, the ship transmits Radio Waddenzee 1602 from 7:00am – 7:00pm CET (That’s why the ship carries that name) and Radio Seagull for the other half of the day. Radio Seagull is available 24hrs a day on the internet.”

Paul Stiles by Darren Weale

NOVEMBER 2012

UK Results:

STUDIO ALBUM:

1. Ian Siegal – The Skinny

2. = Oli Brown – Here I Am & Babajack – Rooster

3.Nimmo Brothers – Brother To Brother

In with a shout – The Producers –London Blues, Cherry Lee Mewis –Heard It Here First

LIVE ALBUM:

1. Danny Bryant – Night Life

2. Simon McBride – 9 Lives

In with a shout – Paul Lamb –The Games People Play, Eric Bell – Belfast Blues In A Bottle, Earl Green – Live At The Bronte Club, Jack Bruce & His Big Blues Band – Live 2012

SOLO ARTIST:

1. Ian Siegal

2. Lucy Zirins

3. Marcus Bonfanti

In with a shout: Cherry Lee Mewis, Larry Miller, Jon Amor, Chantel McGregor, Zoe Schwarz, Robin Bibi, Sean Taylor.

BAND:

1. Babajack

2. Jon Amor Blues Group

3. Nimmo Brothers & Hokie Joint

In with a shout: Virgil & The Accelerators, Chris Farlowe with Norman Beaker Band, Blue Commotion, King King, 24 Pesos, The Blues Band

RECORD LABEL:

1. Nugene

2. Document

3. Proper

In with a shout: Manhattan, Ace, Note, Armadillo, JSP, Krossborder, BlueTrack Records, Radioactive

In with a shout: Paul Cox, Jo Harmon, Chris Farlowe, Zoe Schwarz, Marcus Bonfanti

BASSIST:

1. Lindsay Coulson

2. = Roger Innes, Bill Wyman, Andy Graham

3. Victoria Smith

KEYBOARDS:

1. Paddy Milner

2. Jonny Henderson

3. Ben Waters

HARMONICA:

1. Giles Robson

2. Paul Lamb

3. Will Wilde

In with a shout: John O’Leary, Paul Jones, Giles King, Alan Glen.

BEST NEWCOMER:

1. Lucy Zirins

2. Babajack

3. Laurence Jones

In with a shout: The Mentulls, Grainne Duffy, Jo Harman

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT (Scroll of Honour):

1. Ronnie Wood

2. Chris Farlowe

3. John Mayall

Non musician - Monica Madgewick (Boogaloo Promotions).

BEST BLUES RADIO SHOW/STATION:

1. Paul Jones Blues show – BBC Radio 2

2. Tim Aves – Saint FM

3. Gary Grainger – Bishop FM

In with a shout: Martin Clarke’s Blues Sessions, David Freeman Blues & Boogie- Capitol, Ashwyn Smythe –Digital Blues

THOSE WE’VE LOST THIS YEAR TO BE REMEMBERED:

John Lord, Jim Marshall, Bert Weedon, Bob Brunning, Billy Allardyce, Maggie Ross, Gary Moore, Keef

Hartley…….just a few

Sam Kelly 3. Darby Todd

GUITARIST:

1. Otis Grand

2. Jeff Beck

3. Matt Schofield

In with a shout: Jon Amor, Alan Nimmo, Virgil McMahon, Ben Poole, Harry Skinner

INTERNATIONAL Results: STUDIO

1. Royal Southern Brotherhood

2. = Kenny Wayne Shepherd – How I Go, Joe Bonamassa – Drivin’ Towards The Daylight, Curtis Salgado – Soul Shot

3. Savoy Brown – Voodoo Moon

In with a shout: Keb Mo’ – The Reflection, Joan Osborne

– Bring It On Home, Warren Haynes – Man In Motion, WT Feaster – Juggling Dynamite, Gregg Allman – Low Country, Otis Taylor – Contraband LIVE ALBUM:

1. Warren Haynes – Live At The Moody Theatre

2. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Everybody’s Talkin’

3. Sean Costello – At His Best –Live!

In with a shout: Erja Lyytinen – Songs From The Road, Sauce Boss – Live At The Green Parrot, JJ Grey – Brighter Days, Eric Bibb – Deeper In The Well, Joe Bonamassa –Live At The Beacon Theatre SOLO ARTIST: 1. Eric Bibb 2. Joan Osborne

3. Otis Taylor

In with a shout: Sandi Thom, Bettye Lavette, Janiva Magness, Keb Mo’

Mule

In with a shout: The Blasters, Paul Mark & The Van Dorens, The Delta Flyers, Bobby Rush Big Band, JJ Grey & Mofro, Mannish Boys, Mud Morganfield

RECORD LABEL:

1. Alligator

2. Ruf Records

3. Provogue

GUITARIST:

1. Joe Bonamassa

2. Kenny Wayne Shepherd

3. Warren Haynes

In with a shout: Derek Trucks, Jimmie Vaughan, BB King, Kim Simmonds, Shawn Pittman, Albert Cummings

BASSIST:

1. Carmine Rojas

2. Biscuit Miller

3. Larry Taylor

KEYBOARDS:

1. Eden Brent

2. =* Jon Cleary & David Maxwell

3. Jim Pugh

In with a shout: Barrelhouse Chuck, Sammy Avila

HARMONICA:

1. Charlie Musslewhite

2. = Lazy Lester & Big Pete

3. Rick Estrin

In with a shout: Rod Piazza, Kim Wilson, Sugar Ray, John Popper, Bob Corritore, Peter Narojczyk, Harmonica Shah

BEST NEWCOMER:

1. GARY CLARK JR

2. Big Pete

3. Jimmy Bowskill

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT (Scroll of Honour):

Robert Cray, Magic Slim, Walter Trout, Jimmie Vaughan

BEST BLUES RADIO SHOW/STATION: (no outright winner)

Elwood Blues Bluesmobile on Jazz FM, Oil City Blues (internet), Bandit Blues Radio, BB King Bluesville, Bill Wax on Sirius Radio5, James Nagel the Blues Hound, Kanal Blues Stream (internet), Jabeaux –KAFM Radio. org, Leomonados Radio Station

BEST BLUES BOOK:

1. Bettye Lavette – A Woman Like Me

2.= Buddy Guy – When I Left Home & Gregg Allman –My Cross To Bear

BEST BLUES DVD:

1. Joe Bonamassa – Live At The Beacon Theatre

2. Gary Moore – Blues For Jimi

3. Rory Gallagher – Ghost Blues, JJ Grey – Brighter Days & BB King –Live

THOSE WE’VE LOST THIS YEAR TO BE REMEMBERED:

Chris Layton

3. Yonrico Scott

Louisiana Red, Levon Helm, Etta James, Michael Burks, David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards, Hubert Sumlin, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, Pinetop Perkins, Jerry McCain

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132 full colour pages, packed with the best of the Blues, from great interviews, news, features, CD reviews, to live and festival reports and much more! Blues Matters! is a bi-monthly magazine that covers every aspect of the growing Blues scene. New faces, old favourites and impassioned, heartfelt writing that lets you know who really matters in the world of the Blues.

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Blues Matters! 128

ASHWYN SMYTH – DIGITAL BLUES ON GATEWAY 97.8 - Wednesdays 21.00 to 23.00 repeated Sundays 20.00 to 22.00 – 97.8fm in Basildon, East Thurrock & surrounding areas and at www.gateway978.com

Podcasts available on i-Tunes and PodOmatic – visit www.digitalblues.co.uk for listen links, Playlists and music submission details – e-mail music@digitalblues.co.uk

BARRY-MARSHALL EVERITT - http://www.houseofmercy. net e-mail - barry@houseofmercy.nett

BLUESSHOWBOB WILLIAMS – GTFM BLUES SHOW - Mondays 20.00 – 22.00 – 107.9fm in and around Pontypridd and at www.gtfm.co.uk – e-mailbluesshowbob@aol.com

CLIFF MCKNIGHT – NOTHING BUT THE BLUES – Weekly Podcast available at http:// www.nothingbuttheblues.co.uk/ - e-mail - cliff@ nothingbuttheblues.co.uk

DAVE RAVEN – The RAVEN AND BLUES – Weekly Podcast every Friday available at http://raven.libsyn.com/ and on i-Tunes - http://www.raven.dj/ - e-mail - dave@ raven.dj

DAVE WATKINS - BLUES TRAIN – Alternate Sundays 16.30 to 17.30 on www.fromefm.co.uk podcast available at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/fromefm-blues-train/ id482994881 e-mail - bluestrainradio@gmx.com

GARY BLUE - STAR BLUES – Sundays 22.00 to 24.00 on Star FM - 107.9fm in Cambridge and surrounds - www. star107.co.uk -- NO DOWNLOADS ACCEPTED

GARY GRAINGER – BLUES SHOW – Sundays 18.00 to 20.00 on Bishop FM - 105.9fm in South West Durham and at www.bishopfm.com - repeated on www.lookerradio. co.uk – playlist & blog at http://thumbrella.blogspot. com/2011/11/blues-show-134-playlist-stream.html e-mailgarygrainger@gmail.com

IAN MCHUGHES - BLUES IS THE TRUTH – Mondays 21.00 to 23.00 -www.ukjazzradio.com – e-mail - ian. mchugh@me.com

IAN MCKENZIE – WEDNESDAY’S EVEN WORSE –Alternate Wednesdays 18.00 to 20.00 on Phonic FM 106.8 in Exeter and surrounds and at www.phonic.fm – More details at www.bluesinthesouth.com – e-mail ian@ broonzy.com

JIMMY CARLYLE – HAMBONES’ BLUES RUMSHACK podcast -http://www.therumshack.com and SHADES OF BLUE on BBC Radio Shetland. EMAIL - therumshack@ gmail.com

KEVIN BEALE - BLUES ON THE MARSH – Fridays 19.00 to 21.00 at www.lookerradio.co.uk e-mail - bealekev@ gmail.com

KEVIN BLACK - BLACK ON BLUES – Weekly Podcastwww.blackonblues.com e-mail - kevinwilliamblack@gmail. com or black.kevin51@yahoo.com

LES YOUNG – WALL TO WALL BLUES – Mondays 20.00 to 22.00 repeated Friday 22.00 to 24.00 on Penistone FM 95.7fm in the Barnsley area and at www.penistonefm.co.uk – e-mail - les.young@penistonefm.co.uk

MARION MILLER – LADY PLAYS THE BLUES - Fridays 20.00 to 24.00 on 107.9 in the Stroud, Glos. Area and at www.stroudfm.co.uk/ - e.mail - marionmiller@talktalk.net

MARTIN CLARKE - THE BLUES SESSION - Fridays 21.00 to 23.00 at www.radiowey.co.uk – e-mail - martin@ thebluessession.co.uk

NICK DOW – LANCASHIRE BLUENOTES - Fridays 21.00 to 22.00 on BBC Radio Lancashire – 95.5 and 103.9 fm and at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d74y

PAUL JONES - PAUL JONES SHOW – Monday 19.00 to 20.00 on BBC Radio 2 and at http://www.bbc.co.uk/

PAUL STILES – UK BLUES TODAY – Sundays 06.00 and 18.00 on Radio Seagull 1602AM and at http://radioseagull. com/ - details at http://ukbluestoday.co.uk/ & http:// bluesfromoxford.com/ e-mail - paul@ukbluestoday.co.uk

ROB ALLEN – MEDECINE SHOW INTERNET RADIOwww.internetradio.co.uk

STAN COCKERAM – OUT IN THE WOODS - Tuesday 20.00 TO 22.00 REPEATED Saturday 16.00 to 17.30 – on The Park FM 96.9fm in the New Forest and at http://www. thepark.fm/ - e-mail - stan@riversidebluesband.co.uk

STEVIE SMITH – RETROSMITH RADIO – AFCUK Radio – Wednesdays 21.00 to 23.00 at www.wix.com/retrosmith/ retrosmith-radio-show - e-mail - retrosmith@hotmail.co.uk

TERRY KNOTT - ROADRASH BLUESSHOW –Podcast also broadcast weekly Saturday 18.00 and Sunday 19.00 on www.coventgardenradio.com , www. radioukinternational.com , www.roadrashbluesshow. podomatic.com – e-mail - podcastalleybluesgroup@gmail. com - road_rash_blues_show@myspace.com

TIM AVES - THE BLUES IS BACK - Sunday 20.00 to 22.00 on 94.7fm in the Maldon district and at www.saintfm. org.uk – e-mail – blues@saintfm.org.ul

TONY FITTON – BLUES IN THE NITE - Sundays 22.00 to 01.00 on Phoenix Radio 96.7fm in Calderdale and at www. phoenixfm.co.uk – e-mail - bluesinthenite@live.co.uk

TONY NIGHTINGALE - BLUES UNLIMITED – Mondays 19.00 21.00 on Lincoln City Radio 103.6 in Lincoln and surrounds and at www.lincolncityradio.com EMAIL - tony. nightingale@yahoo.co.uk

Information from the On Line Blues Radio group on Facebook. Programme times and day taken from station schedules as shown on their websites April 2012.

Many of these shows or variations thereof are also available on Kansas City Online Radio – www. kconlineradio.com

We hope you all enjoyed reading issue 69. We have loads in the pipe line for this year and beyond. Read on and find out what’s coming next in issue 70.

Interviews – Bertha Blades, Matthew Curry, Sam Kelly, Robin, RobinTrower, Porter, Joe Walsh, Gary Clark JNR, Julian Sas and many more.

Features – Johnson To Bonamassa Part 6, Solloway Guitars, Red Lick

Artist Top 10 – Matthew Curry

Blue Blood – The best up and coming Blues acts.

Blues News – All the latest Blues news.

Feedback – We publish your thoughts on the Blues scene.

Plus The Magazine Regulars: CD Reviews, Gig Reviews, Festival Reviews and more!

Butlins sKEGnEss fri 25 - Mon 28 Jan 2013

tHE BluEs mattErs staGE

Friday:

8.30 - 10.00

tHE mEntulls

one of the new younger acts on our exciting scene will be performing songs from their latest amazing album. The band are booked to support Dr. feelgood, focus and Wishbone ash as part of their autumn Tour. a band not to be missed!

10.30 - 12.00

aBsOlutiOn

This three piece Blues/rock outfit have a wealth of experience across Blues/Jazz/rock influences and have a tremendous new CD is out soon.

12.30 - 2.00

rOy mEttE Band

after his astounding acoustic set last year for you we have invited roy to bring the boys in and play for you this year and he is sure eager to please. Be prepared folks!

saturday aFtErnOOn:

12:45 - 4pm

rOadHOusE Jam

sEssiOns

These ever-popular have become synonymous with this super weekend and always in great demand, including short sets by roadhouse themselves to start and close. always popular – and with many festivals under their belts, always crowd pleasers. The JaMs get packed out every year!

saturday niGHt:

8.30 - 10.00

tOny mcPHEE & tHE GrOundHOGs

The very start of their 50th anniversary year events. This is the first gig of their anniversary year so pay homage to a legend

10.30 - 12.00

liam tarPEy

one of the exciting young breed in UK Blues players with his debut album

12.30 - 2.00

rytHmn ZOO

Exciting up and coming band growing popularity at festivals around the country, featuring sax

sunday aFtErnOOn acOustic:

12.00 - 1.00

andy tWyman

a one man band, a rarity today, so stand back and enjoy!

1.15 - 2.15

lucy Zirins

Lucy is one of the countrys’ most accomplished solo acoustic Blues performers.

*To EnD 4pm or 4.30pm onLY the artists performing will join in a few numbers (noT open to public to take part)

2.30 - 3.30

JO Harman

This young lady is certainly getting noticed where-ever she plays, here performing her brand of acoustic Blues with accompaniment by acoustic guitar and keyboards. What a fabulous afternoon this is set to be!*

sunday niGHt:

8.30 - 10.00

rOadHOusE

Staple of so many events and ever popular here!

10.30 - 12.00

rOBin BiBi Band

To expand on last years’ excellent acoustic set we bring robin back with his band to blow you away once again, but differently!

12.30 - 2.00

KEitH tHOmPsOn Band

This UK act are very popular in Europe, so this is a rare chance to see them on home turf. The Live album ‘Snapshot of reality’ is a damn good taster for this act!