Bman's Blues Report

I just received the newest release, Guitar Angels (February 18, 2014) from James Armstrong and its smooth! Opening with a swinging shuffle tune, Grandma's Got A New Friend , Armstrong picks up where he left off on Blues at the Border with clever lyrics and stinging guitar work. Healing Time has a Curtis Mayfield/Wolfman Washington groove with a nice R&B feel and sweet vocals. A total redo of Glenn Frey's Take It To The Limit is actually almost unrecognizable in a good way. This track has a lot of attitude and drummer Rick King adds that drum attitude. With a real nice loping groove Armstrong lays down BB King like riffs and sings one of the coolest covers I've heard in a long time. Guitar Angels is a really nice Mayfield like R&B style ballad. Possibly my favorite track on the release, Armstrong sings in the pocket and Eric Tinsley lays down a nice bass line for Armstrong to solo over. Very nice! Moving To Nashville has a bit of a two step feel with nice sli...

ROCK-IT SCIENCE Jan 30 2014 with Greg Lewis 91.9 WNTI Hackettstown NJ Thursdays 8-10pm wnti.org MP3 download links---   hr 1 http://www.sendspace.com/file/4vronh hr 2 http://www.sendspace.com/file/aojs8z     SONG ARTIST ALBUM     8:01 PM Love From Here Spirit Last Euro Tour 8:12 PM Boom Boom John Lee Hooker Best Of Friends 8:12 PM When It's Love Time Pete Haycock's True Blues Pete Haycock's True Blues 8:16 PM I Love You Rocky Athas Group Miracle 8:29 PM She Looks Like An Angel Moloch Moloch 8:33 PM Who Is Calling Gerry Joe Weise Sydney Paris Blues 8:37 PM Burned By Love Studebaker John Howl With The Wolf 8:47 PM Hallelujah (I Love Her So) Humble Pie Performance Box Set 8:53 PM Payback Steve Marriott Pyramid Sessions 8:57 PM Let's Work Together Steve Marriott & The DTs Play The Blues Live 9:01 PM Girl Of Many Words Ana Popovic Hush 9:05 PM Ramblin...

New British Blues/Rock Power Trio. Formed when Tim Chapple (Bass) and Alan Ibbotson (Drums) formerly of 'Devils Creek' joined forces with Keith Howe (Guitar and Vox) well known for his work with his previous Band Blue on Black. Rockin' The Blues.   “Like” Bman’s Facebook page. I use Facebook to spread the word about my blog (Now with translation in over 50 languages). I will not hit you with 50 posts a day. I will not relay senseless nonsense. I use it only to draw attention to some of the key posts on my blog each day. In this way I can get out the word on new talent, venues and blues happenings! - click Here Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE  

Girls. Guitars. Blues. THE SAD SAM BLUES JAM is all that and more! These ladies are oozing with talent and have created quite a stir in Indiana and beyond. Fronted by sisters Sadie Johnson, 16, on lead guitar and vocals, and Sam Johnson, 18, on bass, these gals exude amazing chemistry and bring extreme excitement to the stage. Sadie plays guitar with the heart and passion of a much older, wiser soul, yet her original songs have a young, gritty attitude. Sam can rock a bass like NO other, giving an unforgettable performance every time. Matt Mc Carthy holds down the groove whether it is blues or funk. He is a drummer/mind-reader and keeps up with the girls every time.   “Like” Bman’s Facebook page. I use Facebook to spread the word about my blog (Now with translation in over 50 languages). I will not hit you with 50 posts a day. I will not relay senseless nonsense. I use it only to draw attention to some of the key posts on my blog each day. In this way I can get out the word on...

I just received the newest release from Big Joe Shelton and it's quite entertaining. Opening with Frog's Hair , a shuffle tune, Shelton rally's the troops with his ruckus vocals, Ben Ferrell responds with hot riffs on the guitar and David Reese hits the keys. On title track, I'd Never Let Her Down , Bob Damm keeps a Latin rhythm as Shelton tells the tale, Doug Thomas warms up the track with nice sax work and Ferrell steps up with stinging guitar riffs. How Good Love Could Be highlights Shelton's skills on harp with a Butterfield like blues track. Stop The Hating is a reggae style track and Damm is tight with Ed Swan on bass. Laugh Out Loud is a blues ballad with nice melodic guitar riffs from Ferrell and complimentary sax riffs from Thomas. Little Willie has a strong Bo Diddley style track reminiscent of Willie and the Hand Jive or Willie the Wimp. Shelton shows really nice story telling skills on this track and slide work from Ferrell makes this track hot. C...

Slide Guitar Maestro Brian Cober Releases "Austin Wired" February 11, 2014             Brian Cober is the best friend that the slide guitar ever had. He has given the slide guitar a voice and range of capabilities and harnessed them to drive his own brand of streetwise, road-wise blues. He has captured the soul that makes one actually enjoy, in a sympathetic way, his songs of heartbreaks and excesses. Cober began playing lap steel at age 8, and invented his "Double Slide" style at age 15 to give him more versatility. With his band The Nationals, Brian Cober released three acclaimed CDs and has played with Bo Diddley, King Biscuit Boy, Long John Baldry, Jeff Healey, and Eugene Smith - he’s also opened for Johnny Winter, James Cotton, Blue Rodeo, John Mayall, Roy Buchanan and many others.   When The Nationals' founding member Paul McNamara passed away in 2008, Cober began his solo career with a new ...

Legendary guitar musician and singer-songwriter Robert Cray releases " In My Soul" in the UK on March 31, 2014 on the Provogue label. This will be the seventeenth studio album for the 5x Grammy winner, 15x Grammy nominee and multi-platinum selling artist. The release of the album will be followed by an extensive UK and European tour that kicks off at the Anvil in Basingstoke, UK on May 2nd. Produced by American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director, Grammy Award-winning artist and longtime Cray friend Steve Jordan (John Mayer, Keith Richards), " In My Soul" captures Cray at his finest with an outstanding 10 song collection of Stax and Chess influenced soul and blues that showcases his trademark guitar playing and his extraordinary vocals. A bonus track "Pillow" is also be included on the limited edition CD. From the driving original classic Cray "You Move Me" with its scorching guitar leads, t...

I just received a copy of the debut release, Double Crossing Blues , from Adrianna Marie and her Groovecutters . Opening with I Want a Tall Skinny Papa , Adrianna Marie lets you know right up front that she means business with her 40's style. LA Jones is on hand playsing some extremely wicked riffs on guitar and Ron Dziubla is wild on sax, pushed by nice trumpet work by Lee Thornburg. On I Ain't In The Mood , AM has a real bluesy feel but never crossing over from classic ballad style singing. Jones throws out hot riff after riff and Larry Big House David Cohen carries the weight on piano and smokin harp. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby maintains a clear 40's style with muted trumpet and nice upright bass work from Dave Deforest. Ron Felton (drums), along with Thornburg and Dziubla really hit that big band feel on the head. Cherry Wine is a twistin rocker with cool rolling piano by Cohen and AM swinging away. Dziubla and Jones both rip it up on this one! Sugar has...

I just received the newest release (February 4, 2014), Blues With Friends , from Dixie Peach and it's actually quite smooth! I didn't realize it when I first received this release, but I had this band's first LP in my vinyl collection for many years (bought by a collector as a part of a atlas van sized purchase a few years back). I bought this release one day from a store called Record Rama in Etna, Pa based purely on the hopes that their version of Paint My Mailbox Blue would be decent. I really liked the release.  Opening with the woody sound of a slide guitar, Too Much Trouble sets a solid path of southern rocky blues. Ira Stanley knows his way around the slide and delivers warm luscious tones. Complimented by Tony Paulus on keys and his own vocals this is a nice track. Next up is Pork Chop Blues , a blues track with Latin rhythm. Stanley takes the first solo with a little chicken pickin' and shows he knows how to strum the strings too. He is joined by Jack Pea...

Twenty feet from stardom . . . SANDRA RHODES SANG BACKUP ON AL GREEN’S CLASSIC HITS; HER 1972 SOLO ALBUM, RECORDED AT SAM PHILLIPS’ STUDIO, REISSUED ON OMNIVORE RECORDINGS ON MARCH 18 On CD for the first time, Sandra Rhodes’ Where’s Your Love Been contains seven bonus tracks. MEMPHIS, Tenn. — While Sandra Rhodes made a name for herself singing behind Al Green on his classic Hi Records sides and writing songs including Conway Twitty’s #1 single “The Clown,” her best work missed the public eye. And ear. Where’s Your Love Been , Rhodes’s 1972 album for Fantasy Records, was recorded at the Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis (founded in 1960 as a roomier successor to the legendary producer’s Sun Studio). Just as her backing vocals (usually performed with sister Donna and then husband Charlie Chalmers) appeared on recordings of every genre, the disc reflects the Memphis native’s extraordinary musical flexibility. Much of the se...

WE HOPE YOU'RE AS EXCITED AS WE ARE! Boy do we have a great year of music for you. For those of you who ARE familiar with Provogue, you already know that we are an international favorite in the blues world. With artists like, Robert Cray, Walter Trout, Beth Hart, Popa Chubby, and Leslie West it's no surprise that we took home 7 honorable mentions in The Blues Magazine's Best of 2013 edition, not to mention 2 Blues Foundation nominations, and a Grammy nomination!  That's why it's no surprise we plan on making a lot of noise in 2014!    WHAT'S NEW? Fresh Artists + Brand New Releases Whether you're into classic blues, Chicago blues, a good ol' shuffle or even your new-age progressive blues there's a big buzz coming from Matt Schofield. His latest release "Far As I Can See" serves an entree of well thought out songs that take you for a journey. The albu...