Bman's Blues Report

I have had the opportunity to review the new recording Road Ends In Water by Turchi . It will be available for sale on March 1. This is a really interesting recording and one that should be well received by fans of the new primitive blues movement (like me). By the new primitive blues movement, I refer to bands such as the Black Keys, The White Stripes and so many other bands who have gone back to the roots of the blues and put their own spin on the style. Turchi has done a masterful job of presenting his own music, not a copy of the aforementioned bands, and it is really cool. The recording features 10 tracks, but I am unsure as to how many are originals as the interpretations are fresh. The first track, Keep On Drinkin' is great to get the groove started with Turchi's field holler type voice over slide work and backing instrumentals. On Watchya Tryin he uses the effective technique of singing along with his resonator on the melody and then steps back to play lead on what ...

Here's an honest blues musician who is obviously uncomfortable in front of the camera... but he still tells a good story! Earl “Little Joe” Ayers is a blues guitarist and singer based in Holly Springs, Mississippi. For over thirty years, he was a member of the Soul Blues Boys, Junior Kimbrough’s long-time backing band. Ayers was born in nearby Lamar and began performing at house parties in the area when he was 15. When asked what inspired him to begin playing the guitar, he replied, “It was something that other people weren’t doing.” He also saw the enjoyment that his second cousin, Lindsey Boga, and Junior Kimbrough derived from their musical pursuits, and “didn’t want to be left behind.” Boga was a contemporary of Kimbrough’s as well as the first person he performed publicly with. Ayers bought his first guitar from Boga’s father for $4 and began learning from his second cousin. “I was around Junior about every other Sunday; I was around [Boga] every other day,“ Ayers says. After ...