Bman's Blues Report

McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues". He was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s, and was ranked No. 17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time Although in his later years Muddy usually said that he was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in 1915, he was actually born at Jug's Corner in neighboring Issaquena County, Mississippi, in 1913. Recent research has uncovered documentation showing that in the 1930s and 1940s he reported his birth year as 1913 on both his marriage license and musicians' union card. A 1955 interview in the Chicago Defender is the earliest claim of 1915 as his year of birth, which he continued to use in interviews from that point onward. The 1920 census lists him as five years old as of March 6, 1920, suggesting that his birth year may have been 1914. ...

With his superb guitar work, blending both the retro and the contemporary, (think Otis Redding plays Robert Cray playing Stevie Ray Vaughan!), Robbie King is considered by many in the music world to be the very essence of the modern classic bluesman. In this collection of rocking, soulful and inspired recordings you will hear the unmistakable influence of some of the greatest R&B and Blues artists of all time. Robbie’s love for his craft and those who came before him is more than evident here in his first solo effort, “Classic Case of the Blues”. Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, RK grew up listening to and learning to admire artists like Ray Charles, Albert Collins and BB King. A desire to play that kind of music for appreciative fans became a powerful obsession and this boyhood dream of a Blues man’s life has, after decades of hard work and dedication, indeed come true. Robbie has had the privilege of sharing the stage with Bonnie Riatt, Johnny Neel (song writer and keyboard player f...

Soloist of the delta blues of the Mississippi, as the pionerios, Robert Johnson, Are House, Blind Willie Johnson, Charlie Patton. Dobro of wood, national steel (dobro of Steel), harmonica, voice and many slide. For 5 years it formed a band of blues " Open Eyes ". After this dissolution it was ten years without touching, for private motives. After this period it shut itself up for almost three years, five daily hours perfecting the style deep south, I authenticate blues, blues of the delta of the Mississippi (thing not easy at all) After this period he started trying to "forget" the style Robert Johnson, to be able to be to if same musically speaking. Today it has all the espectativas put in spreading this music. Here in Argentina and opened to proposals of the exterior, it comes 2011 with five discs recorded in study, one in alive and two dvd for a channel of television of Dark-haired person. To bearing it in mind. From Argentina: Goyo Delta Blues If you like what ...

Larry Garner was comfortable in the 9-to-5 routine of commuting to his day job, and making a good salary working for Dow Chemical. On his drive home one night, he was forced to take an alternate route. “There was an accident on the interstate, and I took a detour to avoid it,” remembers Garner. “I drove by this place that had a sign outside on wheels, with a couple lights that said, ‘Blues Jam Tonight.’ I went in, and they said to be back at 10 that night. I went home and told my wife about it. She said, ‘You know you’ve got to go to work tomorrow.’ I went anyway, played, and got home at 2:30 in the morning. That was Tabby’s Blues Box.” The scene at the legendary Baton Rouge blues hotbed was a marked contrast to the occasional weekend gigs Garner was playing at the time. It was the early 1970s, and Garner had just returned from an 3 year tour in the army. “There were no gigs,” he remembers. “It was all disco. There were occasionally American Legion gigs or weddings or rent parties. I p...

Lisa Biales “Lisa’s soul stirring voice and unique guitar has created her signature sound.” - The Cincinnati Enquirer Upcoming Shows Monday, May 7 at 6:45 pm - It's Blues Night on Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour. Lisa Biales shares the hour with Chicago great - Lurrie Bell. The show tapes each Monday at the historic Kentucky Theatre, 214 Main St, Lexington, KY. Audience must be seated by 6:45PM. PLEASE REMAIN SEATED UNTIL 8:15 pm. Log on to our webcasts each Monday at 6:59pm EST. Sign up for our FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER - the best way of staying informed for upcoming shows! Subscribe to our free MP3 & MP4 Podcast . For Tickets or reservations call 859.252.8888. Friday, May 11 at 8pm - Lisa Biales and Doug Hamilton (The Dynamic Duo) at the beuatiful Holland Theatre , 127 E. Columbus Avenue, Bellefontaine,...

BLUES 1st PLACE Tommy Castro, Bonnie Hayes Belvedere Tiburon, CA, USA 2nd PLACE Matthew Curry - Matthew Curry and The Fury Normal, IL, USA 3rd PLACE Leeann Atherton Austin, TX, USA Here's the top 3. Matthew and the Fury are opening for Kenny Wayne Shepherd on May 8. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

I have been listening to a new self titled release by Jeff Powers . Powers is a classically trained guitar player who has spent more than 7 years out of the country teaching classical guitar and refining his blues guitar styling. Now back in Cleveland for the past 15+ years Powers has been playing with his Blues bands, Dead Guy Blues and Clarksdale. He also performs other sets with more of a folk/rock/blues styling. This recording, is made up of 13 original tracks strongly influenced by singer song writers like Jeff Buckley, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. One track, Wild Child really hops off of the recording as a butt kicker. Ragged singing and rag tag style guitar playing it has a unique charm. Just Because He's Wrong poses an interesting question in life and allows Powers and his band, Steven T. Winston on bass, Mark Tiffault on Drums, Mark Nanni on keys, and Powers vocals and guitars to shine. Ray Of Hope has a haunting quality and is strongly constructed. Hitchhike In The Rain ...

Unlike many of his Chicago blues contemporaries, Jimmie Lee Robinson wasn't a Mississippi Delta emigre. The guitarist was born and raised right in the Windy City -- not far from Maxwell Street, the fabled open-air market on the near West side where the blues veritably teemed during the 1940s and '50s. Robinson learned his lessons well. He formed a partnership with guitarist Freddy King in 1952 for four years (they met outside the local welfare office), later doing sideman work with Elmore James and Little Walter and cutting sessions on guitar and bass behind Little Walter, Eddie Taylor, Shakey Jake, and St. Louis Jimmy Oden. Robinson cut three singles for the tiny Bandera label circa 1959-1960; the haunting "All My Life" packed enough power to be heard over in England, where John Mayall faithfully covered it. Another Bandera standout, "Lonely Traveller," was revived as the title track for Robinson's 1994 Delmark comeback album. Europe enjoyed a glimpse o...

Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, (April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972) was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica. His finger-picking guitar style influenced many other artists and his students in New York included Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Roy Book Binder, Larry Johnson, Woody Mann, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Tom Winslow, and Ernie Hawkins. He has influenced the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Townes van Zandt, Wizz Jones, Jorma Kaukonen, Keb' Mo', Ollabelle, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and Resurrection Band. Gary Davis was born in Laurens, South Carolina, and was the only one of eight children his mother bore who survived to adulthood. He became blind as an infant. Davis reported that his father was killed in Birmingham, Alabama, when Davis was ten, and Davis later said that he had been told that his father had been shot by the Birmingham High Sheriff. He recalled being poorly treated by hi...

Planet Rock 48-Hour ticket pre-sale from Wednesday 2nd May Tickets on sale to the general public from Friday 4th May Mid-priced mini album “LA?” released to coincide with UK Tour Straight off the back of their first triumphant headline UK tour in April 2012, Australian power metal rock trio TRACER return for their second UK headline tour, starting at the Wolverhampton Slade Rooms on Wednesday 26th September . A 48-hour ticket pre-sale will kick off on Planet Rock on Wednesday 2nd May , followed by a 24-hour ticket pre-sale with www.ents24.com on Thursday 3rd May . Tickets go on general sale on Friday 4th May from the 24 hour box office: 0844 478 0898 . Tickets can be booked online from www.thegigcartel.com . Tracer’s official announcement for their September UK Tour TRACER - "SPACES IN BETWEEN" SEPTEMBER 2012 UK TOUR 24 Hour Box Office – 0844 478 0898 www.thegigcartel.com Wednesday 26th Septembe...

J. B. Lenoir /ləˈnɔːr/ (March 5, 1929 – April 29, 1967) was an African American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, active in the 1950s and 1960s Chicago blues scene. Although his name is sometimes mispronounced like the French "lan WAH", Lenoir himself pronounced his name a "la NOR". The initials "J.B." had no specific meaning; his given name was simply "J.B." Lenoir's guitar-playing father introduced him to the music of Blind Lemon Jefferson, whose music became a major influence. During the early 1940s, Lenoir worked with blues artists Sonny Boy Williamson II and Elmore James in New Orleans. Lenoir would eventually find musical influence in Arthur Crudup and Lightnin' Hopkins. In 1949, he moved to Chicago and Big Bill Broonzy helped introduce him to the local blues community. He began to perform at local nightclubs with musicians such as Memphis Minnie, Big Maceo Merriweather, and Muddy Waters, and became an important part of the cit...

On this track: Pinetop Perkins ~ piano Harmonica Smith ~ harp Pee Wee Madison ~ guitar Sammy Lawhorn ~ guitar Calvin Fuzz Jones ~ bass Willie "Big Eyes" Smith ~ drums Sammy David Lawhorn (July 12, 1935 – April 29, 1990) was an American Chicago blues guitarist. He is best known for his membership of Muddy Waters band, although his guitar work accompanied many other blues musicians including Otis Spann, Willie Cobbs, Eddie Boyd, Roy Brown, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, and Junior Wells. He became the most frequently recorded blues sideman of his generation Lawhorn was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. His parents soon separated with his mother re-marrying, leaving the young Lawhorn cared for by his grandparents.[2] Nailing some baling twine to the side of their home he made his own diddley bow. Frequently visiting his mother and stepfather in Chicago, they bought him a ukulele to play, followed in turn by an acoustic and finally electric guitar. By the age of f...

A Life in the blues, best describes 84-year old Louisiana delta blues man Willie Houston. Willie was born to perform and his life-long love of the blues has never faltered. From his humble beginnings in the delta cotton fields to the blues stages of America, the blues have been a way of life for Willie Houston. We are pleased and excited that Willie calls Colorado his home. Willie has played his delta blues in thousands of juke joints, clubs, bars, and event halls for more than 60-years. With the release of his 2001 CD "Bluesman Willie Houston" he has a newfound popularity that has opened many ears to this grand electric delta style of an art form that has a very limited number of surviving alumni. It is well known that for every bluesman like BB King, John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters there were literally hundreds of delta bluesmen from that same era that didn't go to Memphis or Chicago. They were never heard by the likes of Alan Lomax or had a chance...

Leroy Carr (March 27, 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928 Carr was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Although his recording career was cut short by an early death, Carr left behind a large body of work. He had a long-time partnership with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell. His light bluesy piano combined with Blackwell's melodic jazz guitar to attract a sophisticated black audience. Carr's vocal style moved blues singing toward an urban sophistication, influencing such singers as T-Bone Walker, Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Jimmy Witherspoon, Ray Charles among others. Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing used some of Carr's songs and Basie's band shows the influence of Carr's piano style. His music has been covered by n...

Smokey Wilson (born Robert Lee Wilson, July 11, 1936, Glen Allan, Mississippi)) is an American West Coast blues guitarist. He has spent most of his career performing West Coast blues and Juke Joint blues in Los Angeles, California. He has recorded at least eleven albums for record labels such as P-Vine Records, Bullseye Blues and Texmuse Records. His career got off to a late start, with international recognition eluding him until the 1990s. Wilson played alongside Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes, Big Jack Johnson, and Frank Frost, before his move to Los Angeles in 1970. He opened the Pioneer Club in Watts, where he was the frontman of their house band. In addition his duties included booking blues musicians to appear at the club, which included Big Joe Turner, Percy Mayfield, Pee Wee Crayton and Albert Collins. His down to earth guitar playing is typical of his Mississippi Delta background. "I bring the cotton-field with me," he said, "and I got the juke-joint inside....

Since the age of 15, Walton has plied his craft in the Asbury Park/New Jersey shore music scene – most notably as the guitarist/vocalist for Boccigalupe & the Bad Boys which features Tony Amato a veteran of the Asbury scene since the 70s (the nickname ... Boccigalupe was actually given to him by Bruce Springsteen & Little Steven Van Zandt). During his time with Boccigalupe, Walton has played countless gigs in both the United States and Europe and sat in with numerous of rock luminaries including Springsteen, Gary US Bonds and Stevie Ray's backing band, Double Trouble. The 30-year old Walton's talents are no secret among everyone in the Jersey shore music scene and with the founding of the Billy Walton Band there's little doubt his reputation will grow far beyond the Garden State. The Billy Walton Band's sound is a combination of hard blues reminiscent of Hendrix, Clapton and Vaughn mixed with a healthy dose of Warren Hayes and Derrick Trucks. Live, Walton has al...

Son Lewis (born Andrew Lewis, December 11, 1951, Paterson, New Jersey) is an American blues singer and guitarist. He was nicknamed "Son" or "Sonny" by his family, to differentiate him from his father, Andrew Lewis Sr. Although not coming from a musical family, he was influenced by his cousin Carl Lewis, who exposed him to Delta and Chicago blues at a very young age. Lewis started playing guitar in 1964, studying under the R&B guitarist Dennis Gorgas, and later with Danny Kalb, founder and leader of The Blues Project. During that time, Lewis performed with The Avlons (on bass guitar) and fronted The Strangers and The Love Merchants (vocals and rhythm guitar) performing covers of "Blue-eyed Soul", Motown and STAX hits. By late 1968, Lewis had begun visiting the folk and blues clubs of New York's Greenwich Village. After witnessing a performance by John P. Hammond at Gerde's Folk City, he was determined to begin performing as a solo acoustic perfo...

Big Jay McNeely (born Cecil James McNeely, April 29, 1927, Watts, Los Angeles, California, United States) is an American rhythm and blues saxophonist. Inspired by Illinois Jacquet and Lester Young, he teamed with his older brother Robert McNeely, who played baritone saxophone, and made his first recordings with drummer Johnny Otis, who ran the Barrelhouse Club that stood only a few blocks from McNeely's home. Shortly after he performed on Otis's "Barrel House Stomp." Ralph Bass, A&R man for Savoy Records, promptly signed him to a recording contract. Bass's boss, Herman Lubinsky, suggested the stage name Big Jay McNeely because Cecil McNeely did not sound commercial. McNeely's first hit was "The Deacon's Hop," an instrumental which topped the Billboard R&B chart in early 1949. The single was his most successful of his three chart entries. Thanks to his flamboyant playing, called "honking," McNeely remained popular through the 195...

Frankie Lee Sims (April 30, 1917, New Orleans, Louisiana – May 10, 1970, Dallas, Texas) was an American singer-songwriter and electric blues guitarist. He released nine singles during his career, one of which, "Lucy Mae Blues" (1953) was a regional hit. Two compilation albums of his work were released posthumously. Sims was the cousin of another Texas blues musician, Lightnin' Hopkins, and he worked with several other prominent blues musicians, including Texas Alexander, T-Bone Walker, King Curtis and Albert Collins. Sims is regarded as one of the important figures in post-war Texas country blues. Frankie Lee Sims was born on April 30, 1917 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Henry Sims and Virginia Summuel. He claimed he was born on February 29, 1906, but 1906 was not a leap year and April 30, 1917 is generally accepted as his birth date.[4] He was the nephew of Texas blues singer Texas Alexander, and the cousin of Texan guitarist Lightnin' Hopkins. Both Sims's parents...

J. B. Hutto (April 26, 1926 – June 12, 1983) was an American blues musician. Hutto was influenced by Elmore James, and became known for his slide guitar work and declamatory style of singing. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame two years after his death. Joseph Benjamin Hutto was born in Blackville, South Carolina, United States, the fifth of seven children. His family moved to Augusta, Georgia when Hutto was three years old. His father, Calvin, was a preacher and Hutto, along with his three brothers and three sisters, formed a gospel group called The Golden Crowns, singing in local churches. Hutto's father died in 1949, and the family relocated to Chicago. Hutto served as a draftee in the Korean War in the early 1950s, driving trucks in combat zones. In Chicago, Hutto took up the drums and played with Johnny Ferguson and his Twisters. He also tried the piano before settling on the guitar and playing on the streets with the percussionist Eddie 'Porkchop' Hines. Afte...

For a period of time in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it appeared that Queen Sylvia Embry was going to emerge as one of Chicago’s leading blues women. After she emerged from her role as basswoman for Lefty Dizz and the Shock treatment in the late 1970s, she began fronting her own small band in South Side clubs and making guest appearances on the North Side circuit. Everywhere she went, her big smile, warm stage presence, rich gospel-rooted voice and solid bass playing won her new fans. There were (and are) only a few professional-quality instrumentalists among the city’s blues women, and only one other playing bass. “I played piano when I first started out as a kid,” Sylvia recalled, “and I got away from it because my grandmother was very strict. She demanded I play gospel, and I wanted to play a little boogie-woogie. I was crazy about Chuck Berry and Lloyd Price; I didn’t care for blues then. My grandmother and her friends would drink white lightning and play blues records at their little outdoo...

Queen Sylvia Embry bass, Ralph Lapetina piano, others are Ed Madden trumpet, Woody Williams drums. at the Checkerboard. Born Walter Williams in Arkansas in on April 29,1937, Dizz (the nickname was bestowed on him by Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, appropriating it from drummer Ted Harvey, who used the name when he was “playing jazz in the alley”) started playing guitar at age 19 after a four-year hitch in the Air Force. Entirely self-taught, he played a standard right-handed model flipped upside down, without reversing the strings. His sound was raw and distorted and his style owed more to the older bluesmen than to the hipper West Side players like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy working in the B.B. King mode. By the time he came to Chicago, he had honed his craft well enough to become a member of Junior Wells’s band in 1964, recording and touring Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia with him until the late ’60s. At various times during the ’60s and early ’70s, he’d also moonlight as a gu...

Charlie Patton (between April 1887 and 1891 – April 28, 1934), better known as Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", and is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man (Palmer, 1995). Musicologist Robert Palmer considers him among the most important musicians that America produced in the twentieth century. Many sources, including musical releases and his gravestone, spell his name “Charley” even though the musician himself spelled his name "Charlie." Patton was born in Hinds County, Mississippi near the town of Edwards, and lived most of his life in Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta. Most sources say he was born in 1891, but there is some debate about this, and the years 1887 and 1894 have also been suggested. Patton's parentage and race have been the subject of minor debate. Although born to Bill and Ann...