I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Live , from Zac Harmon & The Drive and it's super! Opening with soulful, NTRO , Nate Robinson on bass and Gino Iglehart on drums set a solid foundation, with Corey Lacy building on keys and lush guitar work by Zac Harmon and Kingston Livingston really setting the bar. Terrific opener. Blue Pill Thrill has super movement and soulful vocals by Harmon. Lacy on keys works the rhythm with Robinson and Iglehart and Livingston and and Harmon play stinging riffs on guitar really giving this track some kick. Deep blues track, Feet Back On The Ground features Albert King like stinging riffs and super soulful vocals by Harmon. Keeping the music floor low allows Harmon plenty of space to go dynamically from soft to wow quickly adding real emotion to the track. Excellent! Boogie Down is a strong jam with a firm piano base by Lacy giving Harmon plenty of headroom for vocal corralling. Lacy lays in some real tasty keyboar...
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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!
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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's The Western Horizon is an easy shuffle with Kumar up front. Does Johnny take a back seat... nah...he just lets Kumar breathe. Then he rips some excellent riffs of his own. If you don't know this guy's work, this is an great place to start. Slow blues track, Telephone Angel, is up next and you know you're in for a hard run. If there is a more exciting "real blues" guitar player on the planet today, tell me who it is (Buddy Guy excepted). An instrumental version of classic, House of the Rising Sun, made popular by the Animals, has a lot of polish and excellent articulation. Another slower blues track, Empty Bed Blues, features vocal on top and tasty guitar and harp riffs under the lead. Johnny shows a much more controlled guitar delivery with dynamic attack on this track. Expressive, gutsy riffs remind me of a young Elvin Bishop who blew my sox off in the Fillmore days. Excellent! Tribute To Big John Wrencher keeps it direct with solid vocals and cool harp work from Johnny. Havana Rock gives Core the chance to really play some fancy riffs supporting Kumar on lead. Turning into a straight ahead boogie, Johnny steps up with jazzy style riffs and swinging blues bends. Shouldn't say ground breaking, but compared to anything I'm hearing on the blues scene today...it is! Perkins/Rush composition Homework, made popular by Fleetwood Mac and J Geils to mention a few has a great rocky feel. There's underlying keys by Kid Andersen who does a real nice job. Johnny settles back to mostly solid vocals but his few guitar riffs hot and stinging! Wrapping the release is Jimmy Reed's Tell The World I Do. Johnny keeps a nice even pace with expressive vocals and harp setting it up for the killer swat on guitar to slam this release shut.
This is a must hear release!
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Lucille Bogan (April 1, 1897 – August 10, 1948) was an American blues singer, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson . The sexologist and music critic, Ernest Borneman , stated that Bogan along with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith , was in "the big three of the blues". She was born Lucille Anderson in Amory, Mississippi , United States, and raised in Birmingham, Alabama . In 1916, she married Nazareth Lee Bogan , a railwayman, and gave birth to a son. She first recorded vaudeville songs for Okeh Records in New York in 1923, with pianist Henry Callens . Later that year she recorded " Pawn Shop Blues " in Atlanta, Georgia , which was the first time a black blues singer had been recorded outside New York or Chicago. In 1927 she began recording for Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin , where she recorded her first big success, " Sweet Petunia ", which was covered by Blind Blake . She also recorded for Brunswick...
Charles LoBue was one of the fathers of the custom electric guitar business. Charles came to the industry after taking classes from Michael Gurian, first working in and around the guitar repair business in NYC in the mid 60's. Charles' interest in the business began by doing basic repairs on factory made guitars. These were primarily made by Gibson and Fender, the "Gold Standard" for electric guitars, as well as any guitar including acoustics which came through the door. As a professional player in the U.S. in the 60's, Gibson and Fender were the most likely choices if you wanted an electric guitar. It is well known that the Brits used European made guitars as well, primarily due to their accessibility. By the mid late 60's both companies had been sold to larger corporations which were not primarily in the guitar business. The basic perception even today is that the guitars made by these companies during this period were inferior in quality and also l...
It is with great sadness to report that J. Blackfoot (born John Colbert , November 20, 1946) died today, November 30, 2011 at Methodist Germantown Hospital near Memphis, TN. We will keep you abreast of service information as we receive it. J. Blackfoot will truly be missed. “Like” Bman’s Facebook page (available in over 50 languages). I will not relay senseless nonsense. In this way I can get out the word on new talent, venues and blues happenings! - click Here
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