Bman's Blues Report

Blues Guitar Legend Kenny Neal Receives Grammy Nomination  for Best Contemporary Blues Album. “Bloodline” Los Angeles - Cleopatra Records would like to proudly congratulate Kenny Neal on his Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album. for his “Bloodline” album released through the Cleopatra Blues imprint. Kenny Neal is an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and is widely renowned as a modern swamp-blues master who also is a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and a multi-award winning talent. Born in 1957 in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge, Neal began playing music at a very young age, learning the basics from his father, singer and blues harmonica player, Raful Neal. Family friends like Lazy Lester, Buddy Guy and Slim Harpo contributed to Kenny's early musical education. At 13, he joined his father’s band and, four years later, he was recruited and toured extensively as Buddy Guy’s bass player. Through the years, Neal has shared the stage...

I just received the newest release, Bloodline , from Kenny Neal and it has strong blues and R&B roots. Opening with country blues influenced, Ain't Gon Let The Blues Die with it's Elvin Bishop/country flavored gospel flavor. This track is off and running with Kenny Neal on slide guitar and lead vocals, Tom Hambridge on drums, Tommy Macdonald on bass and Syreeta, Tyrell, Jazzy, Brine', Kaydence Bates, Tahj Mosby and Darien Neal as well as the McCrary sisters. Title track, Bloodline , has a deep groove with a funky bottom and Kenny on lead vocal and harp. Cool loping Plain Old Common Sense is one of my favorite tracks on the release with great guitar work, supeer vocal phrasing, nice piano lines and strong horn backing from Quentin Ware on trumpet, Billy Huber on trombone, Tyler Summers on sax and Dana Robbins on sax. Very cool. On Willie Nelson's Funny How Time Slips Away , skillful piano work and crafty vocals give this track the weight of a serious R&B/c...