Blue Heart Records artist: Willie J. Campbell - Be Cool - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Be Cool, from Willie J. Campbell and it's really strong. Opening with You Better Let Go, Sugar Ray Rayford is upfront on lead vocal, with Willie J. Campbell on bass, Brooks Milgate on keys, Kid Ramos on guitar and Jimi Bott on drums. Ramos lays out a really nice guitar solo on this somewhat funky track, nicely complimented by Condron Hampton on congas. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Can't Stay Away, featuring Janiva Magness on lead vocal and Brian Templeton on backing vocal, as well as Anson Funderburgh showing exceptional finesse on guitar. Also appearing on this track are Mike Morgan and Shawn Pittman on guitars.  Excellent! Templeton has the mic on Drone with it's droning bass line and features the harmonica wizardry of Jason Ricci. There's hardly a track that Ricci contributes to that I don't think that he improves substantially so this is another of my favorites. another Texas style shuffle, Docksidin', lets Funderburgh stretch a bit on guitar and the guy can really play. Milgate on keys as well as Pittman and Morgan on guitars really add as well. Very cool. Shawn Pittman has the spotlight on Devil On My Shoulder with super lead vocals and acoustic guitar and excellent slide work by Morgan. Milgate's piano work on She's a Twister is a standout with Templeton on lead vocals and a flurry of guitar by Ramos. Very nice. The release concludes with two equally iridescent tracks. First up, Use As Needed featuring Templeton on lead vocal and Peter Green's instrumental, Albatross, both which showcase the beautiful guitar work of Ramos and include the piano of Pat McDougall. This really is a terrific release, top to bottom and I highly recommend this release of Willie J. Campbell's work (on bass on each track). Campbell died of ALS on December 19, 2022.

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Bluelan Records artist: Janiva Magness - Change In The Weather - New Release review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Change In The Weather - Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty, from Janiva Magness and it's vibrant. Opening with title track, Change In The Weather, Magness really pushes the tempo with strong, revival like pace and featuring Dave Darling on guitar with tight riff insertions and backed by Gary Davenport on bass, Steve Wilson on drums, Zachary Ross on guitar and dobro, and Arlan Oscar on keys. Smart opener. Someday Never Comes gets a traditional British approach with Magness taking the ballad approach on the melody and with a double time beat under the chorus. I've always been partial to Wrote A Song For Everyone with it's "Band" like rhythm. Magness shines clearly on this one with excellent backing vocals by Bernie Barlow, Dave Darling and Zachary Ross. Taj Mahal sits in of Don't You Wish It Was True with his trademark vocal and overall country blues feel. Very cool. Although Bad Moon Rising isn't my favorite track on the release, I do really like Ross' reckless side guitar work giving the track a spontaneous. Wrapping the release is possibly CCR's biggest hit, Lookin' Out My Back Door and Magness plays up the underlying country feel of the original track with her best vocals on the release. Rusty Young's dobro playing is solid and Aubrey Richmond's fiddle addition is cool with focused guitar picking by Jesse Dayton and Dave Darling. Solid closer for a cool release. 

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Blue Elan Records artist: Janiva Magness - Love Is An Army - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release (February 23, 2018), Love Is An Army, by Janiva Magness and it's earthy. Opening with R&B track, Back To Blue, Janiva Magness shows authority in the shadows of Mayfield and Green with Stephen Hodges on drums, Davey Faragher on bass, Arlan Schierbaum on keys, Doug Livingston on pedal steel, Dave Darling on guitar, Phil Parlapiano on piano and Darrell Leonard, Joe Sublet and Alfredo Ballesteros on horns. Also contributing backing vocals are Kudisan Kai, Sugaray Rayford, Gary Pinto, Natasha Pinto, Thrones, Aurelia, Dave Darling and Brie Darling. Excellent opener. Another nice entry is Tell Me with strong vocals and real nice guitar work by Darling. Ballad and title track, Love Is An Army, has a strong melody with warm pedal work by Livingston and really nice vocal duet between Magness and Bryan Stephens. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Down Below with a really earthy feel and featuring Courtney Hartman on guitar and banjo. Faragher's bass line on What's That Say About You really sets the track apart with super vocal blending by Magness and tight guitar riffs from Darling. Another track with super R&B roots, but with a strong blues root is Home, with Cedric Burnside. This is a strong track and has a really firm grim on early blues. Very nice. Wrapping the release is power ballad, Some Kind Of Love featuring Magness on vocal, only backed by Parlapiano on piano. Powerful closer to a solid release.

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Janiva Magness' 'Love is An Army'

GRAMMY-NOMINATED SINGER-SONGWRITER JANIVA MAGNESS REACHES A NEW CREATIVE APEX  WITH THE POWERFUL, GENRE-SPANNING  LOVE IS AN ARMY She’s reunited with producer Dave Darling for her 14th album, which fuses the classic sounds of Memphis and Nashville with a modern focus on songs that balance love, hope and protest. Street date: February 23rd. Guests on this Americana-Soul album are Americana pillars Delbert McClinton,  Poco’s Rusty Young and Della Mae’s Courtney Hartman, as well as prolific blues artists Charlie Musselwhite and Cedric Burnside

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — After Janiva Magness added a 2016 Grammy nomination to her 26 Blues Music Award nominations — with seven wins, including Entertainer of the Year — she might have taken at least a short rest on her laurels. Instead, one of the preeminent voices in contemporary American roots music has raised the bar for herself. Magness’ 14th album, Love Is an Army, is a brilliantly crafted bridge between the past and present, blending the echoes of classic soul and Americana music with timeless themes of love and the very contemporary sound of protest. Love Is an Army’s dozen songs reverberate with the character of the enduring Memphis Rhythm & Blues patented by the Stax and Hi Records studios, especially in tracks like “Back to Blue,” which opens the album and sets its tone, and “Hammer,” which features Charlie Musselwhiteon harmonica. Another Tennessee music city, Nashville, is the geographic touchstone for the title number, a duet with Texas singer-songwriter Bryan Stephens, and for “On and On,” with Poco frontman Rusty Young on pedal steel guitar. Like Magness, both Stephens and Young are on Blue Élan Records. Other guest artists include the legendary Grammy-winning R&B singer Delbert McClinton, Grammy-nominated Mississippi hill-country blues torchbearer Cedric Burnside, and Americana Music Award-nominated bluegrass guitar and banjo virtuosoCourtney Hartman from the band Della Mae. Magness’ inspired vocal performances unify all the elements of Love Is an Army and serve as a beacon for her coterie of guests. She displays new heights in her clarion tone and elegant phrasing, which are laid bare to the soul in the stone gospel voice-and-piano arrangement of “Some Kind of Love.” But the core of the album is, of course, the songs that Magness and her cast serve superbly in their performances. And many of those songs are essentially protest numbers, so it’s fitting they take musical inspiration from the ’60s and ’70s recordings by the likes of The Staple Singers and Al Green, whose lyrics about strength and love cut through the hubris and deceit that surrounded the Civil Rights struggle and the Vietnam War like a laser. “Dave Darling and I had a real sense of urgency when we were writing and recording this album,” Magness explains. “What led the album was the lyrics, and the things that are happening right now — the division, the racism, the violence, and our leaders’ lack of concern about basic human issues like health care and poverty. The first song Dave and I wrote was ‘Love Is an Army,’ and then David brought in ‘Home,’ and the direction of the album was clear.” Dave Darling has produced six albums that garnered Grammy nominations. His collaborations include albums with Brian Setzer, Glen Campbell, Dan Hicks, and the Stray Cats.  Magness considers the title song a rallying call and an expression of her sense of purpose. “When I sing ‘you know that I will fight for you/There’s no divine inspiration/Something else calls us here/And our hearts know what to do,’ I really mean it. Now, in particular, it’s once again important for us all to do the right thing, and I’m willing to do that, regardless of the cost.” “Home,” a duet with Cedric Burnside, is equally galvanizing. “Mom and pop protect the borders,” Magness testifies over a deep groove punctuated by handclaps and tambourine. “Draw the line deep in the sand/Load the guns for sons and daughters/To steal freedom of another woman and man.” Burnside reinforces the lyrics with a heart-searing performance that balances his earnest singing with burly psychedelic guitar tones that sting like an angry bee.  “I realize that this album might be a challenge for some of my fans,” Magness says — although her singing and the album’s rich arrangements are a panacea throughout. “But I need to be honest, and I’ve always been a fighter.” As if spotlighting that, Magness carried a pair of boxing gloves on the cover of 2016’s Love Wins Again, which earned her a Grammy nomination and cemented her crossover success in the Americana music scene. That year she also performed at the Americana Music Association’s annual festival in Nashville. And, indeed, Magness fought some tough battles before she launched her career. She lost both parents to suicide as a child and was placed in a dozen foster homes. But, inspired by the encouragement of her final foster mother and a galvanizing performance by the legendary bluesman Otis Rush, she found stability and salvation in music. Since the early ’90s, Magness has built an impressive career in American roots music, brick by hard-earned brick. She has traveled millions of miles, sung on thousands of club and festival stages, and made a string of recordings — including five albums and the 2017 EP of standards, Blue Again, with Darling — that have earned accolades and awards. Beginning with 2014’s Original, she has also emerged as a talented songwriter. That album entered the Billboard blues chart — where her titles routinely appear — at number five and topped the blues radio charts, as did Love Wins Again, which remained in the top 10 for seven months and crossed over to the Americana charts. Those two albums spent several weeks each on the Americana radio chart including the Top 25.  She is only the second woman, following blues giant Koko Taylor, to receive the honor of B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, presented to her by B.B. King himself and Bonnie Raitt, and she has been keeping up with year-around touring throughout the U.S., in Europe, and even as far as Australia and India recently.  “Getting a Grammy nomination was a dream,” Magness offers. “I never thought I’d be a Grammy-nominated artist. But I guess I also feel a certain amount of pressure to follow that with an album that really makes a statement — a statement about who I am and what I believe and the music I love. Love Is an Army does all of that, and I hope it helps somebody else to be as inspired and empowered as I was when we were making it.” # # #

Blue Elan Records artist: Janiva Magness - Blue Again - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blue Again, from Janiva Magness and she taps a number of blues classics. Opening with I Can Tell, Magness has the place rockin' and Kid Ramos shows some trademark riffs backed by Matt Tecu on drums, Gary "Scruff" Davenport on bass, Zach Zunis and Garrett Deloian on guitar and Arlan Schierbaum om keys. On Al Kooper's, I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know, Magness digs deep for some of her most soulful vocals on record. Kooper being an organ player, this track leaves plenty of space for Schierbaum and he uses it nicely complimented by tasty guitar soloing. Magness teams up with Sugaray Rayford for an vibrant R&B duet on If I Can't Have You. Joe Hinton's I'm Tired Of Walking with crisp, Freddie King/Eric Clapton like guitar work. Very nice. Nina Simone's slinky,   Buck is a cool track with snappy, SRV like guitar riffs and TJ Norton on harp. Wrapping the release is funky blues rocker, Pack It Up. Magness is in the slot with super vocals, really nicely backed by Schierbaum on electric piano and low key guitar soloing by Zunis. Nice closer for a solid release. 

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Women Rule at New Blues Festival 4 Labor Day Weekend

WOMEN RULE THE MAIN STAGE AT NEW BLUES FESTIVAL IV; HEADLINING SETS BY 2017 GRAMMY NOMINEE JANIVA MAGNESS AND QUEEN OF BLUES GUITAR, ANA POPOVIC      ~In Conjunction with the New Long Beach Blues Society~

(LONG BEACH, CA) -  New Blues Festival IV is proud to present some of Blues' biggest women artists this year, when the two-day festival takes place Saturday, September 2 and Sunday, September 3 (Labor Day Weekend) at El Dorado Regional Park in Long Beach, Calif. This year's festival is also being presented in conjunction with the new Long Beach Blues Society.   Performing on the Main Stage are Janiva Magness, whose critically-acclaimed album Love Wins Again was a 2017 Grammy nominee in the Best Contemporary Blues category. Ana Popovic, the Serbian-born guitar great and six-time Grammy nominee who recently relocated to Los Angeles, is also set to perform, with other female acts including the "Queen of Steam," Michele Lundeen;  and Los Angele's own, Deb Taren Band; Shadowblue featuring Lady Faye; and Seville Street.   Other NBF IV headliners: Blues legend, Guitar Shorty; The King Brothers; Chris Cain; Zac Harmon (performing with Chris Cain); John Clifton; Reverend Shawn Amos; Atomic Road Kings; Backwater Blues Band; and Union Hobos.   As with previous years, there will be a full Vendor Village, Craft Beers on Tap, BBQ Vendors, Gourmet Food Trucks, and more. Additionally, enjoy music as well on the Golden Groove Stage featuring performances by many of the Southland's best Blues acts.  Tickets now on sale For New Blues Festival IV at http://www.newbluesfestival.com/tickets.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiEOhaUULg4&feature=youtu.be                                                             About...New Blues Festival IV      The New Blues Festival is now in its fourth big year, and was expanded to a two-day event in 2015 due to the overwhelming success of the inaugural NBF, when over 2,000 music lovers of all ages filled POA Park in Long Beach.    "Los Angeles and Orange Counties have responded very well to the (New Blues Festival) concept. We definitely hit on a pent-up demand for a long-running inter-generational tradition, and we are excited to once again share all this great music with the public", says William Grisolia, Producer of the New Blues Festival.    Past headliners at the previous two New Blues Festival events include some of the biggest names in Blues: 2017 Grammy winner, Bobby Rush; Lee Rocker; James Harman; The 44's with Kid Ramos; Brophy Dale Band; Barbara Morrison; Whiteboy James & the Blues Express; Teddy Lee Hooker; 2000 Lbs. of Blues; and Bernie Pearl, plus the best young up-and-coming blues artists, Chase Walker Band and Ray Goren.                                                       newbluesfestival.com                          facebook.com/theNewBluesFestival                                                                     http://www.longbeachbluessociety.org/

Scott Ramminger - Do What Your Heart Says To - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Do What Your Heart Says To, from Scott Ramminger and it's a gumbo of great tracks. Opening with mambo, Living Too Fast, George Porter Jr. on bass and Doug Belote on drusm set a great table for Scott Ramminger's vocal and sax work. David Torkanowsky dresses the track nicely with super piano work, joined by Eric Lucero on trumpet, Rick Trolsen and Greg Hicks on trombone and Shane Theriot on guitar. Great opener. Really slamming the New Orleans feel, title track, Do What Your Heart Says To finds local grown(Phoenix) talent Francine Reed joining Ramminger on a great duet. Scott is up front on sax and Torkanowsky's piano work is strong. Funky, Give A Pencil To A Fish, really has a serious groove with excellent key work by Torkanowsky and super punctuation by Theriot and Ramminger on sax. Ramminger's vocals are really nicely complimented by the McCrary Sisters making this one of my favorites on the release. Strong blues ballad, Winter Is Always Worse, nicely showcases Ramminger's vocal work and Theriot, guitar work is crisp leading to warm sax solos as well. Another funky track, Get Back Up, has a great drum line and cool trumpet with Ramminger again joined by the McCrary Sisters. Rich sax soloing by Scott, nicely riffed guitar work by Theriot, and cool organ work by Torkanowsky sets the main stage but it's the wildly woven trumpet, guitar, and vocal additions that really make this track sing. Janiva Magness sits in with Ramminger on It's Hard to Be Me and the track has that rolling drive that I associate with Elvin Bishop. Excellent New Orleans street style, Mystery To Me, is a terrific track featuring Tommy Malone. This track gets me just based on the excellent drumming by Belote and the trumpet work by  Eric Lucero. Wrapping the release is Stubborn Man featuring Roddie Romero on accordion. This track has just a little more Cajun flavoring due to Romero's work but this track is totally consistent and a great wrapper for an excellent new release.

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Bobby Rush, Janiva Magness receive Grammy nominations

BOBBY RUSH, JANIVA MAGNESS RECEIVE GRAMMY NOMINATIONS  A fourth Grammy nod for Bobby Rush, whose Porcupine Meat is nominated in Best Traditional Blues Category, while Janiva Magness scores first nom with Love Wins Again in Best Contemporary Blues category. Ceremony is February 12 in Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Two of blues’ biggest names, Mississippi legend Bobby Rush and contemporary artist Janiva Magness, received Grammy nominations in the 59th Annual Grammy Awards announcements this morning. The awards will be announced at the Grammy Awards ceremony on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles.   It’s Rush’s fourth nomination, this one for his critically acclaimed Rounder Records debut album Porcupine Meat. With special guests Dave Alvin, Joe Bonamassa, Keb’ Mo’, and Vasti Jackson, and backing from the New Orleans “A” team, the release cemented Bobby Rush’s legacy as the most vital blues artist of his generation. Producer was Rounder’s Scott Billington. Rush is a 10-time Blues Music Award winner, and 41-time nominee.   Rush was previously nominated for his albums Hoochie Man (2000), Down in Louisiana (2013) and Decisions with the band Blinddog Smokin’ (2014).   “How much you wanna bet he finally wins that Grammy?” predicted Goldmine magazine of the album, while No Depression enthused: “Buckle up or if you prefer hang on tight and get ready for one of the funkiest, most jaw dropping rides you have ever been on that is going to take you down in the mud and muck of southwestern Louisiana and to heights that you didn’t think you could ever reach. Yes, already a first runner for Record of the Year.”   Responding to the announcement, Rush said, “This is the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my life, for being with the competition around me. I want everyone to win, but I certainly want to win. Just being in the race is to be a winner. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. I’m not a sore loser especially with people like this. The category is so strong.”   Janiva Magness’ Love Wins Again album on Blue Élan Records was another evolutionary step for the soulful, elegant, award-winning singer-songwriter. Its 11 core songs and two bonus tracks were built on a sonically sophisticated architecture that’s in full service of her remarkably flexible and generous voice. The album shattered genre barriers by enshrining elements of Americana, soul, rock, pop, country and blues, and helped Magness cross over into Americana (she charted Top 30 on the format’s radio chart and performed at the Americana Music Festival & Conference). The album reached #1 on Blues radio and remained in the Top 10 for seven months. Magness is a seven-time Blues Music Award recipient and a 25-time nominee. According to Downbeat, “Janiva Magness is one lucky woman: Her singing is soulful and intimate.” Living Blues called it “a knockout addition to Janiva Magness’ stellar catalog.”   On her first-ever Grammy nomimation, Magness said, “I am profoundly humbled by today's Grammy nomination announcements. Standing in very tall cotton. Love Wins Again for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Thanks so much producer Dave Darling, Blue Élan, my band, Jeff DeLia and 72 Music Management, Cary Baker and Conqueroo, John Oszajca, Leslie Rouffe, Frank Roszak, and Atomic Music Group! Wow!”   Both Rush and Magness are managed by 72 Music Management.   # # #

Blue Elan Records artist: Janiva Magness - Love Wins Again - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Love Wins Again, from Janiva Magness and it has a strong soulful base. Her first release on Blue Elan Records opens with title track, Love Wins Again, a uptempo R&B style track showcasing the tight phrasing of Magness with nicely blended backing vocals and a radio hook. Real Slow has an infectious funky groove with slick guitar riffs and a solid bottom. Ballad, When You Hold Me has the pure sound of 60's R&B with nicely blended vocals. I really like the feel of this track and Magness parlays her soulful vocals into a super radio track with warm key backing by Arlan Schierbaum and stinging guitar riffs by Garret Deloian, Zach Zunis and Dave Darling. Say You Will is a prime radio track with an easy beat and a solid melody. Backing vocals by Brie Darling, Bernie Barlow, Gary Pinto and TJ Norton add considerable warmth and Phil Parlipiano on piano balances the solid bass lines of Gary Davenport and tight drum work of Matt Laug. Doorway is an mature ballad with all of the spotlight on Magness. Nicely tunes backing vocals and light guitar accompaniment rounds out this track. Moth To A Flame has a cool jazzy saunter with rich lower vocals under the lead and with Schierbaum on organ, a cool bass line by Davenport and slick guitar riffs, this is one of my favorite tracks on the release. Your House Is Burnin, is a high energy track with an almost James Brown structure but with a rock footprint. A stinging guitar riff on this track really fans the flames making this one a cooker. Just Another Lesson is a folk style ballad accompanied by acoustic. Nicely written and performed, very cool! Rain Down has strong potential for adult radio with it's somber attack and posture. Nicely presented with smooth instrumental articulation. John Fogherty's Long As I Can See The Light is my favorite track on the release and I believe the best showcase of Magness' vocal range. With a light country funk, similar to CCR's delivery, this track just hits it! Wrapping the release is Who Will Come For Me, a powerful ballad with shimmery guitar work and full coral style backing vocals. With warm sax work from Alfredo Ballesteros, this is a nice conclusion to a solid 1st release on Magness' new label.


 

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Janiva Magness' new album 'Love Wins Again' coming April 8 on Fathead/Blue Elan Records

INCENDIARY SINGER-SONGWRITER JANIVA MAGNESS CREATES AN EMOTIONALLY CAPTIVATING, SONICALLY LUSH TESTIMONTIAL TO THE POWER OF LOVE Award-winning performer’s 12th album, out April 8, continues her heralded partnership with Grammy nominated producer Dave Darling, and is her first release via Blue Élan Records Love Wins Again comes following a Blues Music Award and 2014’s top Billboard-, blues radio-, and Americana radio-charting album Original Photo by Jeff Dunas LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Janiva Magness’ new album, Love Wins Again, out on April 8, 2016 on Fathead Records/Blue Élan Records, is yet another evolutionary step for the soulful, elegant, award-winning singer-songwriter. Its 11 core songs and two bonus tracks are built on a sonically sophisticated architecture that’s in full service of Magness’ remarkably flexible and generous voice — which can flow smoothly as champagne or churn up gravel on command. Love Wins Again shatters genre barriers by enshrining elements of Americana, soul, rock, pop, country and blues. The album’s title is a mantra that resonates throughout: the concept of love as a physical, psychic and spiritual force that has the strength to conquer negativity, sadness and personal demons. “Love is a bigger power than hate and darkness,” Magness explains. “It’s easy to forget that when we’re struggling or when the world often seems frightening and out of control. But love can transcend barriers between people and cultures, and bring us closer in ways we might not have imagined. Love can also be frightening. It requires opening yourself up and taking risks, but in the end, love will always win.” Love Wins Again marks Magness’ fifth collaboration with four-time Grammy nominated producer Dave Darling, whose credits include Glen Campbell, Brian Setzer, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, John Waite and Stray Cats, and whose instincts compel Magness to tap her deepest creative powers and lead her songs to unpredictable places. He has become her key songwriting foil and is the primary architect of the album’s gorgeous textural sound, which blends acoustic and electric instruments, flourishes of Latin percussion, horns and an enlightened approach to the studio to create perfect settings for her vocal prowess. More than just expert range and craft, Magness’ voice rings with sincerity. With songs like “Love Wins Again,” “Doorway” and “Say You Will,” Magness has proven that she is an accomplished storyteller and diviner or the heart, whose songs reveal life’s potent truths. “Love Wins Again” begins the album with a zesty, groove-propelled message that’s part manifesto and part testimonial. Magness’ joyful melody soars above the song’s bed of percolating percussion and ringing R&B guitar. Love won again in multiple ways in Magness’ own life last year, through the completion of her memoir, launching a musical based on her life story and again when she married English bluesman and singer-songwriter T.J. Norton. Even when Magness is sending a warning flare in her state-of-the-world address “Your House Is Burnin’ Down,” she does it with grace. The tune’s “get up” call to action, sung with a handful of gravel in her voice, and its punching horns and high-energy beat invoke the urgency and drama of early James Brown.  Following up her last album is no easy task. Original, from 2014, marked her debut as a songwriter and raised the creative bar for her collaborations with Darling. It entered the Billboard blues chart — where her releases routinely appear — at number five and topped the blues radio charts. Original also scored her seventh Blues Music Award, for Contemporary Blues Female Artist. In addition, the album received a Best Song nomination for “Let Me Breathe,” co-written with Darling.  The same honor was bestowed upon the songwriting team in 2013 for “I Won’t Cry.”  Altogether, Magness has been nominated for 25 Blues Music Awards and follows the legendary Koko Taylor as the second woman to win the highly coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award. Original also revived her own label, Fathead Records, after a six-year stint with the internationally respected blues imprint Alligator Records. “It was really time to get out on my own again and take full control of my music,” Magness says. That change also reflected her rising status in the Americana music scene — where Original climbed into the Top 20 on the radio chart — alongside such similarly tough, soulful and literate artists as Mavis Staples, Sharon Jones, and Bettye LaVette. Love Wins Again is being released via Blue Élan Records, an artist-friendly label headed by Kirk Pasich, who shares Magness’ interest in working on behalf of at-risk youth. Magness is an alumnus of the foster care system and is a spokesperson for Casey Family Programs National Foster Care Month as well as an Ambassador for both the Foster Care Alumni of America and the Child Welfare League of America. Magness explores her own turbulent youth, her rise to stardom and more in her just-finished, as-yet-untitled memoir — a book that took three years to write that has already inspired an in-the-works musical. Her various trials — losing both parents to suicide as a young girl, traversing through 12 foster homes and giving up a child for adoption at age 17 — left Magness in the deepest despair. But ultimately, inspired by the encouragement of her final foster mother and a galvanizing performance by the legendary bluesman Otis Rush, she found stability and salvation in music. Today Janiva Magness is one of the most beloved figures in the Americana, blues and roots music world. She’s reached a larger and more diverse audience with each succeeding album and developed a reputation as a live entertainer that’s made her a staple of the international festival circuit. http://janivamagness.com Janiva Magness Tour Dates March-May 2016 Sun., March 13   BETHLEHEM, PA  Blast Furnace Blues Fest Tue., March 15 CLEVELAND, OH  Beachland Ballroom Wed., March 16  DAYTON, OH  Jimmy’s Ladder Thur., March 17  CHICAGO, IL  City Winery Fri., March 18  INDIANAPOLIS, IN  The Jazz Kitchen Sat., March 19  RIVERSIDE, IA  Riverside Casino & Resort  Thurs., Sat.-Mon., March 24-28  BYRON BAY, Australia Byron Bay Bluesfest  Fri., April 15 SUTTER CREEK, CA SUTTER CREEK THEATRE Sat., April 16  SAN FRANCISCO, CA  Biscuits & Blues  Tue.-Wed., April 19-20  SEATTLE, WA  Jazz Alley Fri., Sat. April 22-23  PORT WASHINGTON, WA  Upstage Wed., April 27 SELLERSVILLE, PA  Sellersville Theater  Thur., April 28  SHIRLEY, MA  Bull Run   Fri., April 29  FALL RIVER, MA  Narrow Center for Performing Arts Sat., April 30  MANHATTAN, NY  The Cutting Room  Sun., May 1  WARRENDALE, PA Jergel’s Tue., May 3  WASHINGTON, DC  The Hamilton Sat., May 7 - MEMPHIS, TN - Rum Boogie   http://www.conqueroo.com