Bman's Blues Report

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Early Sides 1963-1973 from Linda Gail Lewis and is runs the gamut from early R&B to early rock, country and blues. Opening with CC Rider , Lewis on vocal really swings it. Joined by Scotty Moore on guitar and George Webb on bass, Morris Tarrant on drums, W R Fields on and with honking sax work by Luke Wright, this track really hums. With telling, string backing, country ballad, Small Red Diary is a solid showcase for Lewis' vocals with Jerry Reed on guitar, Harold Bradley on guitar, Bob Moore on bass and Buddy Harmon on drums. Blues rocker, Jim Dandy , has great energy with flashy guitar work by Mike Deasy and Ben Benay and Butch Parker on keys. Another solid country ballad, My Heart Was The Last One To Know . With Pig Robbins on piano, Kenneth Lovelace on fiddle and solid steel guitar work, this is a classic. Another great country entry is What Is Love with potent steel guitar work, Robbins on piano and Lovelace...

I just had the opportunity to review Memphis Rent Party , the soundtrack to Robert Gordon 's 6th book, and it's excellent. Opening with a ragged but remarkable rendition of Guy Clark's Desparados Waiting On A Train by Jerry McGill. Backed by Mud Boy and the Neutrons, this is subtly terrific with excellent piano and slide work under McGill's haunting vocals.  On Chevrolet Luther Dickinson and Sharde Thomas exchanging lead vocals and playing fife vs slide backed by snappy marching like snare drums and powerful bass drums strokes.  Junior Kimbrough is up next with his trademark sound on All Night Long , recorded in Kimbrough's living room in the middle of a cotton field in 1986. Very cool. Another unmistakable sound is the sound of Furry Lewis' vocals with his own slide guitar on Why Don't You Come Home Blues , recorded in his living room in the 60's. How does it get any better than this? The surprise track for me was Calvin Newborn on Frame for the B...

Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins (born January 10, 1935) is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life. He is considered highly influential in the establishment and evolution of rock music in Canada. Also known as Rompin' Ronnie, Mr. Dynamo or simply The Hawk, Hawkins was one of the key players in the 1960s rock scene in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Throughout his career, Hawkins has performed all across North America and recorded more than twenty-five albums. His hit songs included covers of Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" (entitled "Forty Days" by Hawkins) and Young Jessie's "Mary Lou", a song about a "gold digging woman". His other well-known recordings are "Who Do You Love?", "Hey Bo Diddley", and "Suz...

Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. He is known by the nickname "The Killer". An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis had hits in the late 1950s with songs such as "Great Balls of Fire", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". However, Lewis' rock 'n' roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to his young cousin. He had little success in the charts following the scandal until his popularity recovered in the late 1960s after he extended his career to country and western music with songs such as "Another Place, Another Time". More country hits soon followed over the late 1960s and through the 1970s. Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he embraced his rock 'n' roll past with songs such as a cover of the Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace...