Bman's Blues Report

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Thanks For Tomorrow , by Harrison Kennedy , and it's refreshing. Opening with All I Need Is You , Kennedy shares the mic with Ruthie Foster, backed by Colin Linden on acoustic guitar, John Dymond on bass, Jesse O'Brien on organ and Gary Craig on drums.. With a strong melody and blues overtones, it's a solid opener. With a casual, Taj Mahal feel, Easiest Thing really is nice with Chris Caddell on guitar and slide. Warm organ backing by O'Brien adds depth on this, one of my favorite tracks on the release. Women is my radio selection on the release with a strong melody, excellent vocals by Kennedy and again cool slide work by Caddell. With a remake of Van Morrison's Crazy Love , Harrison's soulful vocals, coupled with Caddell's "Lindley Like" slide work really does the trick. Wrapping the release is Just Wanna Play with a light, springy feel and featuring Kennedy adding harmonica to hi...

  I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Solar Powered Too , from Rick Fines , and it's a soft blend of blues, tropical and folk music. Opening with Below The Surface , a smooth acoustic ballad, Rick Fines accompanies him vocal on Cuban Tres and Baritone Guitar. With it's solid melody and accomplished vocal and guitar work, this is a fine opener. With traditional blues guitar riffs and slide by Fine and Roly Platt laying in some really nice harmonica, Worry be The Death of Me is one of my favorite tracks on the release. Country style blues, Laundry On The Line , is nicely executed by Fines with tight finger patterns and warm vocals. Another of my favorite tracks on the release is Tex Mex styled, That's What Makes You Strong with Melissa Payne joining on vocal, Alec Fraser on bass, Gary Craig on drums, and Jimmy Bowskill on Mandolin. Very nice.  Slow, country style ballad, One Lone Loon has a beautiful melody and with singing pedal steel guitar by Bo...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Play It All Day , from Terry Blersh and it's a nice mix of cool tracks. Opening with Treat Me Right with it's Latin rhythm, Blersh on lead vocal flashes some real tasty guitar riffs over Shamakah Ali on drums, Collin Barnett on bass Michael Fonfara on Hammond and lance Anderson on piano. Nice opener. Charging right into R&B track, It's All Right , this track is all about rhythm with Garth Vogan on bass, Al Cross on drums, Anderson on keys, Art Avalos on percussion and smoky sax work by Gene Hardy. The vocal blending of Blersch and John Finley is really super. With a fusion of jazz and R&B and slick guitar lead, title track, Play It All Day , is a top radio choice with really nice backing vocals by Quisha Wint. The Girl Outside My Window has a cool island/reggae/tex mex feel with John Mays on vocal and Denis Keldie on accordion. Boogie track, King Creole has a super stride with solid vocals, tight b...

Jimmy Bowskill has released his 5th cd and the new one, Back Number is has all of the components of a winner. The cd is comprised of 11 band composed tracks, 9 which were composed by Bowskill alone. Linger On The Sweet Time has a distinctive sound of clean early blues rock with the kick in the turnaround. May be a hint to bands like Humble Pie and Black Crowes but this is really fresh with cool rhythm, vocals and guitars. Little Bird has a strong blues rock base with a little funk twisted in for fun. Bowskill is a talented guitar player and takes a little unpretentious stretch on this track. I don't mean to slight the rhythm section who carries a solid part of the music with Daniel Reiff on drums and Ian McKeown on bass. Spirit Of The Town is a very strong ballad which sets up for a really cool guitar solo that is sure to satisfy most slide hunger. I really like it. i want to mention again that Reiff's work on drums is particularly clean. Sinking Down is built off of soli...

Jimmy Bowskill has done a lot in his musical career. He has opened for Dickey Betts, Garth Hudson, ZZ Top, Deep Purple and The Sam Roberts Band. He has toured internationally including shows in Germany, Ukraine, France, Mexico and at the World Expo in Japan in 2005. He has also received a Juno Award nomination for Best Blues Album. All this and he's only 19 years-old. Jimmy seemed destined to be a musician. Born in Toronto on the same day as B.B. King, he was raised in Peterborough, Ontario in a household filled with the music of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. While he played hockey from the age of 3, once he picked up the guitar at 10, he put everything he had into mastering the instrument. Like any kid of the nineties, he could've been inspired by Nirvana or Radiohead, but instead he was drawn to the blues. "It just seemed so real," explains Jimmy. "It's just a really soulful music and it comes straight from the heart. There's nothing used ...