Bman's Blues Report

  I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release (June 25, 2021), A Sweet Relief Tribute to Joey Spampinato , NRBQ founding member and writer of all of the tracks on thie release. Opening with blues rocker, You Can't Hide , by Al Anderson on lead vocal and guitar, with Carl Minor on acoustic guitar, David Dorn on keys, Steve Mackey on bass, and Evan Hutchings on drums. Energetic opener. Los Lobos contributes Every Boy and Girl , with David Hildago on guitar, accordion and vocal, Steve Berlin on sax, Vince Hidalgo on bass and David Hildago Jr on drums. Pop tune, How Can I Make You Love Me , is performed by She and Him with Zooey Deschanel on vocal and M. Ward on guitar and keys. The Minus 5 brings us Don't She Look Good in a slightly punky rockabilly style. Scott McCaughey on guitar, piano, organ, percussion and vocal with Mike Mills on bass, Peter Buck on guitar, and Joe Adragna on drums and with a really cool guitar solo by Dave Depper. I really like Buddy Mi...

I just received the newest release, Live On , by Solomon King and it has an interesting flair. This is a soundtrack and companion cd relating to Phil Spector and his demise. The movie is really a bonus to the cd which is the primary part of the package. It reruns a possible scenario at Phil Spector's place with a young wanna be singer working Phil for a break and exploring Spector's lust for younger women and strange sexual fetishes. Let's just say it's visually interesting. The cd opens with a classic Spector tune, Be My Baby , with King on vocal and guitar and our old buddy Don Heffington on drums. It was a great track when it was written and here it is stripped down to it's basics. Next up is Shakedown , a dance track featuring mostly programmed music and King on vocals. Not bad. Baby Does Me Good has a real Bo Diddley sound with a real muffled distorted guitar sound and Heffington again on drums. Real cool track. Trouble has a period sound and is primarily K...

I just received the newest release, Live On , by Solomon King and it has an interesting flair. This is a soundtrack and companion cd relating to Phil Spector and his demise. The movie is really a bonus to the cd which is the primary part of the package. Let's just say it's visually interesting. The cd opens with a classic Spector tune, Be My Baby , with King on vocal and guitar and our old buddy Don Heffington on drums. It was a great track when it was written and here it is stripped down to it's basics. Next up is Shakedown , a dance track featuring mostly programmed music and King on vocals. Not bad. Baby Does Me Good has a real Bo Diddley sound with a real muffled distorted guitar sound and Heffington again on drums. Real cool track. Trouble has a period sound and is primarily King on vocals and Heffington on drums. This track is mostly atmospheric and sound a bit like Lou Reed in his moodiness. Don't You Love Me No More? is a loose blues along the lines of dust...

Steven P. "Buddy" Miller (born September 6, 1952 in Fairborn, Ohio) is a country singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter Julie Miller. Miller formed the Buddy Miller Band, which included singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin on vocals and guitar. In addition to releasing several solo albums over the years, Miller has toured as lead guitarist and backing vocalist for Emmylou Harris's Spyboy band, Steve Earle on his El Corazon tour, Shawn Colvin, and Linda Ronstadt. He co-produced and performed on Jimmie Dale Gilmore's 2000 album Endless Night. He has also appeared on several albums by songwriter and singer Lucinda Williams. In 2004, Miller toured with Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch, and David Rawlings as the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue. At the 4th Annual Americana Music Association Honors & Awards, the Ryman Auditorium Septembe...

Bman: How did you get hooked up with ESP Disk? Howie: In 1966 I was living in a tenement building on Broome Street on the Lower East Side. Living in the apartment above me was Michael Solden, a friend of Jordan Matthews, who was the art director for ESP Disk. Jordan was looking for an artist to do the first album covers for ESP Disk. I worked at a drawing board in his apartment almost non-stop for two years. I had total freedom to create the artwork and was never given any input. The poster shown here was designed by Bernstein and is available through Wolfgang's Vault (Bill Graham) Bman: Looks like you did quite a few covers while you were there. How long was your affiliation with ESP Disk and who else were you working with? Howie: Approximately three years. During that time I built a portfolio. Bman: I have a number of the early ESP Disk covers that you designed available for viewing here. I understand that you actually did these by hand? Howie: Yes, the...