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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!


Please email me at Info@Bmansbluesreport.com

Monday, May 23, 2016

Connor Ray Music artist:The Mighty Orq - Love In A Hurricane - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Love In A Hurricane, from The Mighty Orq, and it's packed full of energy. Opening with Sweet In Between, a cool rocker with dynamics, quiet melodic vocals and powerful slide riffs, this is a super opener. Falling Down has a cool hook and smooth vocals by Orq, backed by Jimmy Rose on drums, Barry Seelen on organ and Terry Dry on bass. Pack It Up has a boppy funk to it, and Orq shows that he really is a tune master. With clever slide riffs and a crafty dance beat, this track is a strong radio player. Say It With Silence has a cool soul attack with Dry's bass emphasis focusing the beat and Orq again shows his solid radio appeal with smooth vocals and clean guitar solos. Title track, Love In A Hurricane, has traditional ballad lines featuring Orq's strong vocal attributes, an extremely clean acoustic guitar riff, tight drums and solid key work. The Possum Song has a low slung blues rock feeling with a driving rock guitar rhythm, nice organ work and a a driving drum beat. Carry Me Home is a quiet vocal ballad accompanied by piano and acoustic guitar. Carry Me Home is a real nice easy country rocker with a sweet melody, tight harmony and compact guitar solo. Made for the radio. You're In Love (That's Alright) has a real nice New Orleans flavor with super snare work, Seelen showing his accordion skills and a good time feel. One of my favorites on the release. Big Boat lays out the funk with cool percussion from Rose and real nice phrasing from Orq. Stepping up with a slick guitar solo and cool organ backing this track is tight! Very nice! A real rocker, Let Me Have My Fun, is driven by Seelen's piano work and a great rocking guitar riff. Very nice! An unusual take on Son House's Death Letter Blues, has as primary backing to the lead vocal, only drone note and minor atmospheric guitar sounds. Very interesting. Wrapping the release is Cannon Ball, a somber, acoustic guitar piece. It is captivating and well done.

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Tweed Tone Records artists: Tweed Funk - Come Together - New release Review

I just received the newest release, Come Together, from Tweed Funk and it's super. I've reviewed a number of Tweed Funk releases and they just keep getting better! Opening with Light Up The Night, a track with a super solid bass line from Eric Madunic giving it's funk feel and the horn work of Andrew Spadafora on sax and Doug Woolverton on trumpet punching up the R&B aspects. Joseph "Smokey" Holman on lead vocals is smooth as silk and David Schoepke is tight on drums. Don't Give Up has that Memphis sound with bountiful horns and a brassy trumpet solo from Woolverton dominate the track with solid vocals from Smokey and cool backing vocals from Crissy Dzioba and Sara Moilanen. Muse continues in that soulful vein and Smokey shows some of his best vocals on the release. Sweet Music sets up with an easy guitar rhythm from JD Optekar caressing the soulful vocals of Holman. Always filled with rich horns this release is very consistent. Come Together gets back to a more funky feel with a super bass line from Madunic and alternate horns and backing vocals. Spadafora lays out a real nice sax solo on this track keeping balance with Molman on lead vocal. Embrace digs deep into the soul sound for some of Holman's vocals on the release. Spadafora again blows a rich sax solo in balance with Holman's lead vocals giving the track a certain richness. Instrumental, Who Is This is my favorite track on the release, hands down. With a really funky bass line and punchy horns... how could you not love it! Schoepke really slaps the drums around giving it a hot bottom and Woolverton is on fire with his horn. Sexy sax work from Spadafora is flaming hot and works nicely off of the playful bass lines of Madunic. Excellent! Love Ain't Easy has a fast rolling bass line and cool rhythm guitar work from Optekar. Holman really pushes the vocal line on this track and Spadafora and Wooverton trade hot riffs giving this track a potent ending. Show style soul track, Bullet, has a dramatic feel with deep soul vocals, subdued trumpet work by Wooverton and cool keyboard work from Madunic. Wrapping the release is the hot, Soul Rockin' with it's hot bass line and Optekar flashing his funky rhythm style. This track really kicks it up with Holman's vocals and Woolverton's trumpet harmonies with Spadafora. These two are really hot when they cut loose and they do on this final track, and excellent closer.

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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Heartfixer Music artist: Tinsley Ellis - Red Clay Soul - New Release Review

I just received the newest release (June 3, 2016), Red Clay Soul, from Tinsley Ellis and it's got real soul. Opening with All I Think About, Tinsley Ellis shows that he is continuing to spread his wings. The rocking country blues track, features Ellis on lead vocal and guitar, joined by Kevin McKendree on organ and piano, Lynn Williams on drums and Steve Mackey on bass. With a bit more R&B styling, Givin' You Up has strong commercial potential with a solid hook and instrumentation. Callin' has an easy soul feel with an almost Al Green sound. I really like the melody on this track and Ellis alternates his blues runs with his own vocals. Very nice. Anything But Go stays in the soul vein and Ellis does a real nice job of delivering on vocals. McKendree's rich keyboard work anchors this track and Ellis' own melodic riffs are contained and well placed. One of my favorite tracks on the release, Hungry Woman Blues, is a deep soul track with a strong blues twist. Mackey creates a solid bottom on bass and McKendree's keyboards the ambiance for a very strong WW Washington/JG Watson style track. Excellent! Circuit Rider has the structure of Albert King's "The Hunter" but Ellis' version has some really nicely stylized guitar riffs giving the track a special something. Very nice job. Don't Cut It is a solid rocker reinforced by Williams tight rhythm. Really nicely phrased guitar riffs with shades of Cray and shimmering chords sets this track firmly in the top few on the release. Party Of One is a quiet blues number with Ellis' vocals up front and somber guitar work and warm riffs by McKendree setting up the track. Nicely executed guitar lead on the second verse gives this track a really memorable feel. Very nice. Spanish influenced, Estero Noche has that Latin jazz/rock flavor that carried Santana's Supernatural to great heights. This is a really nice track with moving percussion and flavorful guitar melody. Excellent! Wrapping the release is The Bottle, The Book or the Gun. This track has a nice cadence featuring possibly the most tasty solo featuring super flat bent vibrato accents. A cool track and an excellent closer for a really solid release.


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Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Joel DaSilva, Midnight Howl Launch 2016 Tour at Bradfordville Blues Club








 

 JOEL DASILVA & THE MIDNIGHT HOWL LAUNCH 2016 U.S. TOUR


    Performing Locally: BRADFORDVILLE BLUES CLUB - Friday, June 3


 






  (Tallahassee, FL) -  Top Americana/Blues, Rock 'n' Roll and Soul guitarist-vocalist, Joel DaSilva and the Midnight Howl, take to the road for their most ambitious U.S. tour yet, kicking off at Bradfordville Blues Club on Friday, June 3. 7152 Moses Lane. Showtime: 9 pm. $13. Info: (850) 906-0766 or http://www.bradfordvilleblues.com/. Complete Tour Itinerary at bottom.

  What The Media Is Saying About Joel DaSilva And The Midnight Howl


"Intense, dynamic, engaging, and real. DaSilva's music takes us on his own personal journey through a confident guitar style and voice...Joel is a fluid force of nature."                ROCKIN' BLUES TODAY


"Delivers the horny lyrics in a voice that recalls vintage rockabilly, but his lacerating (guitar) leads are as potent as any laid down by the late great Hubert Sumlin."                            WLRN 91.3 NPR RADIO



  Joel DaSilva has soul and blues running through his veins. Born in Rockford and raised in Chicago, DaSilva, who now resides in Florida, hails from a musical family. His mother and father traveled throughout Brazil, the Ukraine, and the US - mom a singer, dad on vocals and accompanying her on guitar. His father passed away when he was only 3, but Joel continues to channel that soulful energy in his live performances to this day. As soon as he was old enough to work, Joel took a job as a bar back at various blues and rock clubs. The goal was to get closer to the feel and emotion of the music, immersing in it and the scene. Eventually, he was setting up equipment for touring bands and getting to know them - lessons from the masters and lessons in Music Business 101. By the age of 18, DaSilva joined his first band, as lead guitarist for Junior Drinkwater and the Thirstquenchers. He went on to play guitar and sing in jump blues with The Regulators, psychobilly surf band The Underbelly’s, and was the front-man for  The Hep Cat Boo Daddies for thirteen Years before breaking out on his own as a solo artist.

 DaSilva's resume includes acting in independent movies and performances with heavy hitters like B.B. King, AC Reed, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Reverend Horton Heat, JJ Grey, Mofro, Nick Curran, The Smithereens, and Ray Charles, among many others. He's played festivals worldwide  - International  Jazz Festival in Canada, Tremblant Blues Fest, and Soul Live Fest in California, to name a few. In recent times, Joel DaSilva and the Midnight Howl have become one of the busiest touring bands around, playing close to three-hundred live shows each year.








                    




  JOEL DASILVA & THE MIDNIGHT HOWL - SPRING/SUMMER TOUR ITINERARY


June 3 (Fri.)          BRADFORDVILLE BLUES CLUB      Tallahassee, FL
June 4 (Sat.)          DARWINS BURGERS/BLUES             Marietta, GA
June 6 (Mon.)        THE ALAMO                                  Springfield, IL
June 7 (Tues.)       BUDDY GUY'S LEGENDS                 Chicago, IL
June 8 (Wed.)        HOUSE OF BLUES                           Chicago, IL
June 9 (Thur.)       THE INTERMISSION                        Warsau, WI
June 10 (Fri.)        SHAW'S                                          Minneapolis, MN
June 11 (Sat.)        RAMADA BISMARCK HOTEL           Bismarck, ND
June 13 (Mon.)      BUD'S ON BROADWAY                   SaskatoonSK Canada
June 14 (Tues.)     BUD'S ON BROADWAY                   SaskatoonSK Canada
June 15 (Wed.)      BLUES ON WHYTE                          Edmonton, Alberta
June 16 (Thur.)     BLUES ON WHYTE                          Edmonton, Alberta
June 17 (Fri.)        BLUES ON WHYTE                          Edmonton, Alberta
June 18 (Sat.)       BLUES ON WHYTE                          Edmonton, Alberta
June 19 (Sun.)      BLUES ON WHYTE                          Edmonton, Alberta
June 21 (Tues.)    THE LANDING BAR                         Minot, ND
June 23 (Thur.)     LEGENDS@HOLIDAY INN               St. Cloud, MN
June 26 (Sun.)       HUEY'S DOWNTOWN                     Memphis, TN
July 1 (Fri.)            FAT CATS*                                    Ft. Lauderdale, FL
July 2 (Sat.)           THE FUNKY BUDDHA                     Boca Raton, FL
July 8 (Fri.)            430 BOARDROOM BAR                  Ft. Lauderdale, FL
July 9 (Sat.)           DADA                                           Delray Beach, FL
July 11 (Mon.)       THE FUNKY BISCUIT                      Boca Raton, FL
July 15 (Fri.)          SMOKE INN*                                 Boynton Beach, FL
July 19 (Tues.)      TWO &**                                       Ft. Lauderdale, FL
July 22 (Fri.)          TERRA FERMATA                          Stuart, FL
July 23 (Sat.)         BOUGAINVILLEA'S                         S. Miami, FL
July 27 (Wed.)       THE BETSY HOTEL**                      Miami Beach, FL
July 30 (Sat. am)    WALDO'S*                                    Vero Beach, FL
July 30 (Sat. pm)    DOWNTOWN@THE GARDENS        Palm Bch Gardens, FL
July 31 (Sun.)         ROCKIN' RIVERWALK                     Stuart, FL  
Aug. 2 (Tues.)        TWO&**                                       Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Aug. 4 (Thur.)        THE BETSY HOTEL**                     Miami Beach, FL  
Aug. 11 (Thur.)      THE BETSY HOTEL**                     Miami Beach, FL     
Aug. 5 (Fri.)            SMOKE INN*                                Boynton Beach, FL
Aug. 12 (Fri.)          SMOKE INN*                                Boynton Beach, FL
Aug. 13 (Sat.)         430 BOARDROOM BAR                 Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Aug. 19 (Fri.)          CRAWDADDY'S*                           Jensen Beach, FL
Aug. 20 (Sat.)         THE BRASS TAP*                          Pembroke Pines, FL
Aug. 21 (Sun.)        TREASURE TROVE*                       Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Aug. 26 (Fri.)          REVOLUTIONS@CITYPLACE          W. Palm Beach, FL
Aug. 27 (Sat.)         HYATT PLACE*                             Delray Beach, FL


                              * Acoustic    **Acoustic Solo    

                                  


            
                                                       jdandthehowl.com
                                                               
                             facebook.com/jdandthehowl

  

       

Royal Southern Brotherhood: THE ROYAL GOSPEL: OUT JUNE 24




Royal Southern Brotherhood:
Comes A Musical Sermon
About Love, Unity, And Peace
THE ROYAL GOSPEL: Recorded at Dockside
Produced by David Z

Out June 24 On Ruf Records
“The whole record is geared towards making a joyful noise,” says Neville
Chemistry. You either got it, or you don’t. When the five members of Royal Southern Brotherhood convened in February 2016 at Dockside Studios, Louisiana, there was magic in the air. Just seven days later, the acclaimed U.S. soul-blues collective emerged triumphant with The Royal Gospel: the fourth album in their rocket-heeled rise and further proof of a lineup born to play together.

Enough has been said about Royal Southern Brotherhood’s illustrious backstory. Enough has been written about the critical acclaim and sell-out crowds that greeted the original lineup’s 2012 breakout. Right now, fans would rather hear about the questing new material and finger-on-pulse worldview of The Royal Gospel, released 2016 on Ruf Records. Amen to that.

Like all the best groups, Royal Southern Brotherhood has evolved. Having bonded on 2015’s Don’t Look Back, the MkII lineup of Cyril Neville (percussion/vocals), Bart Walker (guitar/vocals), Tyrone Vaughan (guitar/vocals) and Yonrico Scott (drums) have found another gear on bolstered by new recruit Darrell Philips (bass/vocals),and guest B3 from Norman Caesar.

“As far as the men making the music and playing the songs,” says Neville, “the mission of the band has never changed.”

Scan the credits for The Royal Gospel and you’ll recognize that while some bands operate a songwriting dictatorship, this one thrives on material penned in partnership (or even originated between three members). Neville is as prolific as you’d expect – given the fistful of projects he’s kept spinning over the decades – but so too are Walker and Vaughan, who collaborated remotely with their bandleader, trading ideas back-and-forth via the Web.

“It’s not often that you find a connection like Cyril and me,” explains Walker, whose Nashville home is some 800 miles from Neville’s base in New Orleans. “It got to the point where we were almost in each other’s heads – and we had already worked out what the other one was gonna say.”

“It’s a very spiritual thing,” agrees Neville. “I kinda laughed, because Bart was getting ahead of what I was even thinking. Last time, we actually got together in the room to do the demos. This time, it was all done by iPhone and stuff like that. But when you taste this musical gumbo, you’re gonna be very satisfied. However we approached the kitchen.”

When the band and famed producer David Z arrived at Dockside, the recording ethos was unapologetically old-school: simply cut the songs live in the room, eyeball-to-eyeball, in a minimum of takes. “We walked in not really knowing what we were gonna do,” recalls Philips. “Cyril and Bart come to us with chord progressions, tempos, and ideas, and we build together. We’d just fall right into the thing and all of a sudden, there’s the song. On this record, we came together as a band. It was a magical thing to witness.”

Likewise, it’s a magical album to hear. The Royal Gospel opens in emphatic style with “Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire”: a stinging statement of intent co-written by Neville and Vaughan, whose hard-rock riffing is tempered by a vocal addressing a woman with “the face of an angel, a body that’s divine”. That same writing duo also strikes gold on “Can’t Waste Time”, its descending guitar hook fused to a lyric about a two-faced lover (“Girl, you’re like a ship without a rudder”).

Fans of the Brotherhood’s bluesier side will relish the rolling rhythms of “Spirit Man”, and hit repeat for “I’m Comin’ Home”, with its molten slide-guitar solo and travelogue lyric (“The road just goes on and on”). Elsewhere, Walker and Neville are at their soulful best on “Blood Is Thicker Than Water”, the veteran bandleader singing that “there’s nothing more sacred than the love of a son or daughter”, over a groove sure to shake the room as the band tour the world through 2016. “It’s extremely groove-orientated, this stuff,” nods Walker.

The Royal Gospel might move your feet, but it’s not afraid to challenge your perceptions.

“The whole record is geared toward making a joyful noise,” says Neville, “but while we’re partying, we still need to be thinking about what’s going on around us. It covers what we’ve seen in our travels over the last few years, and what we’ve lived personally as citizens of the world.”

Case in point, “Hooked On The Plastic” is an irresistible funk workout with soul-drenched backup vocals, but also a razor-sharp critique of consumerism (“Livin’ way above your means… no end to the stream of green”). And stick around for closing track “Stand Up”. A joyous call-to-arms in the face of feckless modern politicians, it ends with an electrifying outro, the band building to a dizzying crescendo while Neville hollers a global message to take a stand: “Come together! Come together!”          

It’s a thrilling finale to an album that cements Royal Southern Brotherhood’s reputation as a modern band to treasure. This is The Royal Gospel. Consider us converted. Only an elite group of players can be in a band like RSB, for it calls for supreme musical chops, soul giving and a little voodoo for each night the bar is raised.

Is it spiritual? Yes. Is it hell-raising? Yes Ma’am. Is it soul-grabbing? Yes Sir.
Get in line to be healed. The holy water is ready – are you?

Follow the on all their social media platforms:
Twitter – @RoyalSouthern
Instagram - @royalsouthernbrotherhood


The Gospel Tour

06/03/16            Mandeville, LA                  Ruby’s Roadhouse        
06/04/16            Ocean Springs, MS          Ocean Springs Live!      
06/09/16            Denver, CO                        The Oriental Theater             
06/10/16            Colorado Springs, CO               Stargazers Theatre         
06/11/16            Aspen, CO                          Snowmass Free Summer Concerts           
06/14/16            Lincoln, NE                        Zoo Bar
06/15/16            Wichita, KS                        Barleycorn’s      
06/16/16            Tulsa, OK                            Shrine  
06/17/16            Topeka, KS                         Uncle Bo’s      
06/18/16            Kansas City, MO               CrossroadsKC    
06/24/16            Norfolk, VA                        Bayou Boogaloo           
07/08/16            Auburn Hills, MI                Callahan’s          
07/09/16            Kalamazoo, MI                 Kalamazoo Valley Blues Festival
07/10/16            Evanston, IL                       SPACE  
07/14/16            Madison, WI                     La Fete de Marquette   
07/15/16            South Bend, IN                 Vegetable Buddies          
07/16/16            Milwaukee, WI                 Bastille Day Festival       
07/30/16            Pomeroy, OH                    Big Bend Blues Bash         
08/06/16            Burnaby, BC                      Burnaby Blues Festival     Canada
08/12/16            Calabogie                           Calabogie Blues & Ribfest  Canada
08/13/16            Québec                               Donnacona Blues Festival             Canada
08/20/16            Calabogie, OH                   Calabogie Blues – Blues & Ribfest  
09/10/16            Las Vegas, NV                   Big Blues Bender 
09/11/16            Las Vegas, NV                   Big Blues Bender 
10/30/16            Lake Harmony, PA               Pennsylvania Music Festival