Bman's Blues Report

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 twi...

Don’t Look Back: The Muscle Shoals Sessions Produced by Tom Hambridge and Blessed by FAME founder Rick Hall Cyril Neville’s Royal Southern Brotherhood Eyes May 26 th For 3 rd Studio Album “They are not a band – they are an extravaganza” –   John Hiatt Atlanta, GA – Ruf Records recording group, Royal Southern Brotherhood (RSB) preps for their much anticipated third studio album, Don’t Look Back: The Muscle Shoals Sessions for release on May 26 th . This album was recorded at the legendary FAME Studios (est. 1960 - Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Otis Redding) in Muscle Shoals, AL with Grammy award-winning producer Tom Hambridge and the band’s new guitar line up as Cyril Neville leads the charge forward. Don’t Look Back is a spiritual journey that only Cyril Neville can lead. The elite percussionist’s experiences combined with these talented, energetic players create a new sound that remains reverent to the...

                                                                                                                                           LEFTY WILLIAMS AND TREE LEAF MUSIC ANNOUNCE AUGUST 21 RELEASE DATE FOR ALL IN Atlanta, GA --- Lefty Williams, Producer Ashley Dennis and Tree Leaf Music have annou...

Alfie Harpo (born under the name Alfredo Barranco) brought his smoking Harmonica riffs to America and immediately earned a small nomination at the 1999 Handy Music Award in Memphis, TN as part of the Glendora Harp Summit "Sonny Boy Williamson Tribute", Best Communication and Harmonica Teaching and Live Performances. This event was also nominated for a 1999 Keeping The Blues Alive Award at the W.C. Handy Awards, in the categories of education, historical preservation, and Internet communications. http://www.southernmusic.net/summit.htm With each riveting performance, Alfie proves why he is so honored. His American tour began with The Sonny Boy Williamson Tribute during which he performed with such guests as Sugar Blue, Lee Oskar, Rockin' Jake, Jumpin' Johnny Samson, Blind Mississippi Morris, Arthur Williams, Billy Gibson and Paul D'Lay. He went on to rock Florida's Tobacco Road and dominated the stage with Joey Gilmore Band. Had The Courage To Follow Paul D...

I just received the newest release, Hayride Riot , from Skinny Molly and it's a kick ass rocker. The release opens with If You Don't Care which has the explosiveness of one of my favorite southern rockers, I Ain't The One. Parallels may be drawn from Skynyrd but this band has a sound of it's own. The similarities are a solid cocky singer and blazing guitar riffs laid down on a strong rock beat. Devil In The Bottl e is more of a liad back ballad along the lines of earlier Charlie Daniels. The band is filled out by Jay Johnson on lead guitar, Kurt Pietro on drums and Luke Bradshaw on bass. Two Good Wheels is a bit of a country rocker and has a great hook. This is a track that is likely to hit the airwaves hard. Too Bad To Be True is a hard driving rocker with back to back ripping guitar solos. Judge Parker has a real southern rock swagger and Bitin' The Dog kicks dirt in your face. Lie To Me is a ballad more along the lines of John Bon Jovi (if he had any grit)...

Joe Burton, affectionately known as "Lil" Joe from Chicago, is the quintessential Blues instrumentalist in a class of his own. "Lil" Joe's career began in 1964 with the late, great Junior Wells. Joe's relationship with Junior continued for years but he also toured with other great acts such as, B.B. King, Bobby Womack, Joe Tex, Otis Clay and many others. He has appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, Midnight Special, Soul Train and a host of others. Joe is well known throughout Europe and the United States for his heart-wrenching solos and tasteful high-energy performances. His uniquely versatile approach to traditional and contemporary Blues is legendary. He effortlessly blends fat round tones of his trombone with various styles and formats of Roots Music. His recordings include (BB King's) Lucille Talks Back, Guess Who, Mississippi Seeds, L.A. Midnight, BB King & Bobby Bland for the First Time, (Junior Wells) Junior Wells Live at Buddy Guys Legends (whi...

I just got a copy of the newest Tinsley Ellis release, Get It! and it's really strong! Ellis has put together a 10 track all instrumental recording and he demonstrates that you can say a lot without uttering a word. Opening with Front Street Freeze , Ellis cranks up the funk accompanied by Kevin McKendree on keys, Lynn Williams on drums and Ted Pecchio on bass. Ellis plays smokin guitar that he is known for and adds a little Albert Collins sting. Sassy Strat is another track with a funky bottom. Speaking with his own guitar voice and a bit of wah, Ellis takes a Beck, lay back and let it come to me approach on his melodic lead. McKendree keeps the flame hot with Billy Preston like richness. The Milky Way is a very solitude track with quiet drums and organ on the bottom and single line leads not unlike those seen from Dutch guitar great Jan Akkerman. This is a really nice track with a strong melody and smart use of the fretboard. Detour is a twistin' Texas infused surf trac...

Devon Allman Exclusive Video Premiere April 15 th on Relix.com “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” From Solo-Debut CD: Turquoise Atlanta, GA- Relix.com presents the exclusive premiere of the Devon Allman video, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, from his Ruf Records release, Turquoise , on Monday, April 15. A five day exclusive run will coincide with him and his band, Royal Southern Brotherhood and their appearance at the Wanee Festival on April 18 th , ending on Friday, April 19 th . This rock classic is a duet with label mate and Blues Music Award winner, Samantha Fish, whose vocals are sassy and smart; melding with Devon’s strong rich voice. “Tom Petty has always been one of my favorite artists,” says Devon. “This song totally takes me back to my youth. I'm really pleased Samantha and I get to turn on a new generation to this classic tune. We slowed it down a bit and made it a little sexier.  New Orleans is the most photogenic city in America, so the vide...

Harold "Chuck" Willis (January 31, 1928 – April 10, 1958) was an American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll singer and songwriter. His biggest hits, "C. C. Rider" (1957) and "What Am I Living For" (1958), both reached No.1 on the Billboard R&B chart. He was known as The King of the Stroll for his performance of the 1950s dance The Stroll. Willis was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Willis was spotted at a talent contest by Atlanta radio disc jockey Zenas Sears, who became his manager and helped him to sign with Columbia Records in 1951. After one single, Willis began recording on a Columbia subsidiary, Okeh. During his stay at Okeh, he established himself as a popular R&B singer and songwriter. In 1956, he moved to Atlantic Records where he had immediate success with "It's Too Late (She's Gone)", "Juanita" and "Love Me Cherry". His most successful recording was "C.C. Rider", which topped the US Bill...

Edwin Leon Chamblee (24 February 1920 – 1 May 1999), known as Eddie "Long Gone" Chamblee, was an American tenor and alto saxophonist, and occasional vocalist, who played jazz and R&B. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in Chicago where he began learning the saxophone at the age of 12. After leaving Wendell Phillips High School, he studied law at Chicago State University, playing in clubs in the evenings and at weekends. He played in US Army bands between 1941 and 1946. After leaving the army, he joined Miracle Records. He played on Sonny Thompson's hit record "Long Gone" in 1948, and on its follow-up, "Late Freight", credited to the Sonny Thompson Quintet featuring Eddie Chamblee. Both records reached no. 1 on the national Billboard R&B chart. Two follow-up records, "Blue Dreams" and "Back Street", also made the R&B chart in 1949. From 1947, he led his own band in Chicago clubs, as well as continuing to record...

Perry Bradford (14 February 1893, Montgomery, Alabama – 20 April 1970, New York City) was an African-American composer, songwriter, and vaudeville performer. Perry Bradford grew up in Atlanta, where his family moved when he was six, and in 1906 started working with minstrel shows. He played in Chicago as a solo pianist as early as 1909 and visited New York City the following year. Through extensive experience with traveling minstrel shows and theatre companies, Bradford obtained huge exposure and experience to African American folksongs. A huge feat of Bradford’s was severing the walls of racial prejudice that kept African-American singers from recording. He is, too often, unrecognized for this accomplishment. Prior to Bradford’s influence, African-American artists recorded in a style that was closely similar to those of white dance orchestras. There was little to no trace of African-American musical characteristics present in their recordings. Bradford persevered in getting the recor...

Highly regarded by Thomas A. Dorsey, Clara Ward, and Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer Georgia Peach was born Clara Hudman in Atlanta on October 10, 1899 to Esther Hudman, a devoutly religious woman who raised three children by herself. While they were quite young, Clara and her brothers Ralph and Luther formed a trio and sang for the congregation at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church. Clara became well known throughout Atlanta's African-American religious community as a talented, impromptu vocalist who specialized in "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" and "Daniel in the Lion's Den." Among her friends at that time was a boy nearly ten years her junior who would eventually sermonize and make records as Rev. C.J. Johnson. At the age of 16, Clara quit school and, with permission from the deacons of Mt. Moriah, moved in with the family of Rev. T.T. Gholston, serving as a nurse for Mrs. Gholston, who eventually succumbed to an incurable disease. Only six months after losing...

Michael Allman - Biography Michael Allman is the eldest son of Southern Rock Legend Gregg Allman. That doesn't mean that his musical path has been paved with gold. Born in Daytona Beach, Florida, he led the “Michael Allman Band” throughout most of the 1990's before he traded it in for the serenity of domestic life. It was during this period that he faced his greatest obstacle, testicular cancer in 2002. After a full recovery, Michael decided to give music another attempt and in mid 2007 began singing and writing again. In 2008 he started recording his debut CD. During that year he kept busy while working on his CD, by making over 100 guest appearances with many different bands and musicians from coast to coast. In January 2009 he formed the “Allman-Tyler Band” w/ guitarist Tony Tyler. After the Spring 2009 ATB tour, he went back to work on his debut CD. In the Fall of 2009, he completed and released “Michael Allman’s Hard Labor Creek” on his own All-Skinn Music Group label. ...

Billy Wright (May 21, 1932 – October 28, 1991) was an American jump blues singer. Billy Wright was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout his career, he was known as the "Prince of the Blues." He was a key figure in Atlanta blues after World War II and had a major influence on rock and roll pioneer Little Richard, whom he helped get his first recording contract. He recorded his last recordings in 1959. He continued to do shows around Atlanta until he suffered a stroke, and then died of a pulmonary embolism, just before his 1991 Halloween Show at the Royal Peacock in Atlanta. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band!

Trixie Smith (1895 – September 21, 1943) was an African American blues singer, recording artist, vaudeville entertainer, and actress. She made four dozen recordings. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, she came from a middle class-background. She attended Selma University in Alabama before moving to New York around 1915. Smith worked in minstrel shows and on the TOBA vaudeville circuit, before making her first recordings for the Black Swan label in 1922. Amongst these were "My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)" (1922), written by J. Berni Barbour, of historic interest as the first secular recording to reference the phrase "rock and roll". Her record inspired various lyrical elaborations, such as "Rock That Thing" by Lil Johnson and "Rock Me Mama" by Ikey Robinson. Also in 1922, Trixie Smith won first place and a silver cup in a blues singing contest at the Inter-Manhattan Casino in New York, sponsored by dancer Irene Castle, with her song ...

Kevin Scott - Bass Derek Trucks - Slide guitar Duane Trucks - Drums Jacob Deaton - Guitar, Backing Vocals Eric Fontaine - Saxophone Spencer Pope - Keyboard Gregory "Wolf" Hodges - Guitar, Lead Vocals Ben Williams - Drums Born in St. Petersburg, FL, on Christmas Day, 1984 bassist Kevin Scott hails from Dothan, AL, the peanut capital of the world. Kevin was born into a very musical family that has supported and nurtured his talent from the beginning. Kevin was attached to his bass all through high school and was active in the Alabama music scene. In 2001, Kevin was awarded a scholarship to the International Association of Jazz Educators summer program in New Orleans. Here, Kevin studied under and played with the great New Orleans drummer, Johnny Vidachovich and New Orleans bassist Jesse Boyd. In search of broader musical pastures, Kevin settled in Atlanta, GA, at the age of 19. He soon was caught up in the music scene in the city and became a bass player of great demand. Kevin...

The latest Luther Johnson (born July 15, 1939) to add his name to the blues directory is an adept singer/guitarist who is a current favorite on the Atlanta blues scene. Proficient in various shadings of the electric blues idiom, Johnson has recently extended his repertoire from covers of blues standards to his own material, performed with the same '50s/'60s flavor. Johnson taught himself how to play guitar when he was a teenager in Atlanta by listening to records. Soon, he began playing guitar in pickup bands, which gave him the opportunity to support such touring musicians as Johnny Winter. After several years playing in bar bands, Johnson formed his own group, the Houserockers. Takin' a Bite Outta the Blues the Houserockers played bars and clubs around Georgia for several years, eventually landing a record contract with Ichiban in 1989. The next year Johnson released his debut album, Takin' A Bite Outta the Blues. Two years later, his second record, Houserockin' D...

Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author. She is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest. Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods) and Merald Woodlow Knight, Sr., a postal worker. She first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour TV show contest at the age of 7 in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called The Pips (named after another cousin, James "Pip" Woods). By the end of the decade, the act had begun to tour, and had replaced Brenda Knig...

Larry Johnson (born May 15, 1938, Atlanta, Georgia, United States) is an American electric blues singer and guitarist. Johnson's father was a preacher who traveled extensively. This led to Johnson being exposed to blues records by Blind Boy Fuller, who inspired Johnson to learn the rudiments of guitar playing. He served in the Navy between 1955 and 1959, before relocating to New City. After his befriending Brownie and Stick McGhee, Johnson found employment recording with Big Joe Williams, Harry Atkins, and Alec Seward. The latter gave Johnson an introduction to Reverend Gary Davis. Johnson's first single release was "Catfish Blues" / "So Sweet" (1962), plus he made numerous live appearances with Davis over that decade. In 1971 Johnson released Fast and Funky, but his live playing gradually reduced. A couple of low key albums appeared in the 1980s, before Johnson received more regular live work in the 1990s, particularly in Europe. Whilst there his output inc...

Roy Dunn was one of the last links to the rich Atlanta pre-war blues scene; he had played with Curley Weaver., Buddy Moss and Blind Willie McTell. Know'd Them All is his only album. "This, his only album", Lowry wrote, is as complete a representation of the talents of Roy S. Dunn (a/k/a James Clavin Speed) as could be compiled, and his talents deserve another listening." Dunn passed in 1988. 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”