Bman's Blues Report

I just received the newest release, Greetings from Greaseland , California by Rockin' Johnny Burgin and it's spectacular! I received a lot of new releases each month with a lot of blues tracks but these are so fine! Rockin' Johnny, along with Aki Kumar (harp), Kid Andersen, Vance Ehlers (bass) and June Core (drums) have really hit it here. Opening with Love Me Like I Want it features Johnny on lead vocals and guitar with Kumar on harp is an excellent shuffle with Johnny's trademark guitar style out in the front. Did I say this track was super? Hip Linkchain's Cold Chills has that funky blues beat and Ehlers and Core set up the essential groove. Johnny has that raw looseness on guitar that is so lost from blues records today that he owns it. Excellent! She's A Hit , a conventional sauntering 12 bar track, shows Johnny's sure feel for vocal delivery in Chicago style. Sit back and listen to his expressive riffs. This man is flying! Robert Jr Lockwood'...

Audio Fidelity To Release B.B. King & Eric Clapton “Riding With The King” On Limited Edition Numbered Hybrid SACD Two Masters Produce a Contemporary Blues Gem! Camarillo, CA - In honor of the recent passing of blues guitar legend B.B. King, Marshall Blonstein's Audio Fidelity will be releasing B.B. King & Eric Clapton “Riding With The King” on Limited Hybrid SACD. This SACD should satisfy fans of King, Clapton and blues purists alike. “Riding With The King” was Eric Clapton's and B.B. King's first collaborative recording and it went on to win the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. The album reached #1 on Billboard's Top Blues Albums.  They first performed together in 1967 when Clapton was 22 and a member of Cream. Clapton looked up to King and had always wanted to make an album with him. At the time of recording Clapton was 55 and King 74. Clapton arranged the session using many of his regula...

BILL WYMAN SHARES NEW SINGLE 'WHAT & HOW & IF & WHEN & WHY'  TAKEN FROM HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM IN 33 YEARS THE ALBUM 'BACK TO BASICS' IS RELEASED ON PROPER RECORDS, JUNE 22ND LISTEN TO THE SINGLE HERE Photo credit to Judy Totton ‘What & How & If & When & Why’ is the first single from Bill Wyman’s new album, ‘Back To Basics’. The lead track on the CD, both the single and album are released on June 22nd. “I was watching the video of Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues with the song cards that he tosses aside and I thought I’d like to do something like that. Not that my song is anything like it of course but I think it inspired me. So I set about working on different sets of rhymes, sixes and fours, and it just came into being. It’s not the sort of song I usually write.” B.W. Sounding a little like a cross between Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen with a passing nod towards Ian Dury, ‘What & How & If ...

MEMBERS OF NOTED INDIE COMBOS HYMN FOR HER AND GO MAN CREATE A SIDE PROJECT DUBBED THE MIX TAPES   Band’s debut album, #1, will be released independently on June 30 LOS ANGELES, Calif. — “Sometimes out of necessity, you quickly throw something together and it turns out to blow your mind.” So says Kitty Pause , one-third of the scrappy Florida threesome the Mix Tapes . The band’s unpretentiously infectious debut album, #1, is an unexpected gem that combines playful humor and raucous power-trio energy with rousing, arena-ready tunes that reflect the members’ deep-rooted affinity for vintage pop-rock songcraft. According to Kitty, “This record is a celebration of the music we loved as teenagers.” In a parallel musical life, drummer-vocalist Kitty Pause and the Mix Tapes’ guitarist-vocalist Skool-Ejekt have already won considerable international acclaim and built a sub...

NEW RELEASE FROM VICTOR WAINWRIGHT & THE WILDROOTS! Blind Pig Records has released Boom Town , the latest CD from Victor Wainwright & the WildRoots . Wainwright has been making a name for himself in a big way as one of the most exciting keyboard performers on the roots music scene. Known for his potent boogie piano, big soul sounds, powerhouse blues, roots rock 'n' roll, and a voice that recalls Dr. John and Leon Russell, he's also a two-time winner of the coveted Blues Music Award for "Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year." Wainwright is a raucous, high-octane dynamic performer and a crowd pleaser with soul to spare. As American Blues News put it, "he is always entertaining and madly talented.  You will never see Victor play a room and not go over with the crowd in a big way."  He's backed by the firepower of WildRoots, one of the tightest smokin' bands around. Boom Town is highlighted by exc...

I just received the newest release, Putting Down Roots , from Nancy Wright and it has a nice groove. Opening with pop soul track, Sweet Soul Satisfaction , Wright takes the lead on vocal with Lisa Leuschner Andersen on warm backing vocals. Of course she plays hot sax, a signature that she is well know by. Funkin' It Up , is a smoking instrumental jazz groove with Paul Olguin on bass and Paul Revelli on drums setting the forms for a great sax lead by Wright. Tony Lufrano on keys adds the glue and cementing this cool track in place. Just Can't Put A Finger On It returns to the soul style pop format again joined by Anderson on backing vocals. The track is capped off by some sweltering sax riffs... nice! Driving paced, A Serendipity , has a Motown feel, almost like a Martha Reeves meets Jr Walker. Hot key riffs from Lufrano also add nicely to the track. Instrumental, The Big Queen has a deep throaty sax voice with a New Orleans rhythm section making this funky track one of my ...

For Immediate Release R&B Guitar Legend Shuggie Otis Hits The Road For An Extended Summer Tour! Los Angeles, CA - After the recent release of his first-ever live album, Live In Williamsburg (available on CD, vinyl and DVD), R&B legend Shuggie Otis is once again bringing his talents to the stage for a 20+ date, coast-to-coast tour starting July 5th. Nobody brings as much soul, style, and swagger to a live performance as Shug with his signature red Gibson SG, and fans who have followed this multi-talented performer’s tumultuous career know that a Shuggie Otis concert is not an event to be missed. Whether it be the fabulous grooves of “Inspiration Information” or the funkdafied rhythm of the all-time classic “Strawberry Letter 23,” Shuggie’s songs have a magical sway over audiences, both young and old, guaranteed to get them on their feet and dancing in the aisles! The son of renowned bandleader and musician Johnny Otis, Shuggie Otis began...

Little Ed & The Blues Imperials - "a bazooka assault of foot-stompin' blues and slow-burnin' knee-bucklers" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES) - appears in concert on Father's Day (Sunday, June 21) at Studio Channels Island Arts Center in Camarillo, in a concert presented by the Ventura County Blues Society. Buy advance tickets here . "Chicago Blues Royalty!" LIL ED & THE BLUES IMPERIALS IN A SPECIAL FATHER'S DAY CONCERT PRESENTED BY VENTURA COUNTY BLUES SOCIETY Sunday, June 21, 2015 - 2:00 P.M. @ Studio Channel Islands Art Center, Camarillo Also Win Tickets To Attend The Big Blues Bender in Las Vegas! Only $10. To Enter (Good for 2 Entries) - Click Here         (CAMARILLO, CA) - The Ventura County Blues Society is proud to present a very special concert with "Chicago Blues Royalty," Lil Ed & The Blu...

GRAMMY NOMINATED FUNK COLLECTIVE BLINDDOG SMOKIN’ MAKES HIGH-ENERGY ROOTS MUSIC WITH HUMOR, DEPTH AND SOUL High Steppin’ features wild-man raconteur Carl Gustafson’s epic tales plus eclectic sounds; reunites band with producer Donny Markowitz; set for July 17 release date on Silver Talon Records exclusively distributed by City Hall Records in tandem with The Orchard LARAMIE, Wyo. — Blinddog Smokin’s larger-than-life new album High Steppin’ is a kaleidoscopic romp through the wild side of roots music. The disc’s nine songs ricochet from rock ’n’ roll to juke joint blues to New Orleans jazz to raw Americana, all supported by the band’s twin pillars: hot ’n’ greasy funk and frontman Carl Gustafson’s epic storytelling. High Steppin’ follows 2014’s Decisions , a collaboration with soul-blues legend Bobby Rush that earned a Grammy nomination for Best Blues Album. Decisions includes the song “Another Murder in New Orleans,” which enlisted another legend, Dr. John, ...