Two-fisted Double-Jointed Rough & Ready Man - Alberta Hunter

Alberta Hunter (April 1, 1895 - October 17, 1984), was a celebrated African-American jazz singer, songwriter and nurse. Born in Memphis, she left home while still in her early teens and settled in Chicago. There, she peeled potatoes by day and hounded club owners by night, determined to land a singing job. Her persistence paid off, and Alberta began a climb through some of the city’s lowest dives to a headlining job at its most elegant night spot, the Dreamland Café. Her career flourished as both singer and writer (her songs include the memorable double-entendre number “(My Man is Such a) Handy Man” in the 1920s and 1930s, and she appeared in clubs and on stage in musicals in both New York and London. She was active as a volunteer during World War II. Following the War, her career lost momentum. By the early 1950s, the death of her mother and career frustrations caused Hunter to abandon the music industry. She prudently reduced her age, “invented” a high school diploma, and enrolled in nursing school, embarking on what was apparently a highly fulfilling career in health care. She was working at New York’s Goldwater Memorial Hospital in 1961 when record producer Chris Albertson asked her to break an 11-year absence from the recording studio. The result was her participation (four songs) on a Prestige Bluesville album entitled “Songs We Taught Your Mother. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band!

I'm Sittin' On Top Of The World - Beale Street Rounders

There are no photos of the Beale Street Rounders as a group. They were a Memphis, TN. group that only cut two sides, resulting in one 78 RPM record.

On this release the song was credited to Davenport. The song was actually composed by Walter Vinson & Lonnie Chatmon of The Mississippi Shieks, even though the original lyrics have been altered.

Jed Davenport:Harmonica

Unknown:Piano

Henry L. Castle (Too Tight Henry):Vocals & Guitar

Recorded in Chicago, IL October 13, 1930
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Why Things Happen To Me - Big Sam

Big Sam Clark of Memphis, Tennessee, on his own label.
Big Sam Clark: vocal/piano.
The Wonder Boy: guitar
Melvin Lee: bass
Homer Jackson: drums
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Stax / Concord artist: Booker T.& The M.G.s - Green Onions - Remaster Review

I just received the new remaster of Green Onions from Booker T. & the M.G.s. It's hard to put into perspective all of the contributions this band jointly and individually did for the evolution of music. This album is a classic with of course Green Onions being it's centerpiece. Some of the songs are definitely signature of the era that they were made. A number of others like I Got A Woman (Ray Charles); Twist and Shout (made popular by the Beatles); Stranger On The Shore (used as a BBC theme song and rerecorded by numerous artists); Lonely Avenue (Doc Pomus); The One Who Really Loves You (written by Smokey Robinson and made popular by Mary Wells); You Can't Sit Down(a contemporary pop song by the Dovells); A Woman, A Lover, A Friend made popular by Jackie Wilson and Comin' Home Baby (by the Donald Bailey Quartet). This cd is literally Jones and company 's interpretation of the days hits. Jones brought the organ to new popularity in pop r&b music and Steve Cropper came to notoriety with his signature riffs. The recording also includes a fresh bonus version of Green Onions and Can't Sit Down recorded live at the 5/4 Ballroom in LA in 1965. Pretty cool trip in the 60's machine.
Of special note is that this was the house band used to back many of the more significant Stax artists of the time including Albert King,Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus and Carla Thomas.
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Lonesome Bedroom Blues - Willie Nix

Willie Nix (August 6, 1922 — July 8, 1991) was an American Chicago blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in the 1940s and 1950s
Born in Memphis, as a child he learnt to tap dance, later working as a teenager as part dancer, part comedian, with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. This led to work in various variety shows in the 1940s, and Nix later became a part of the blues scene that grew up around Beale Street (see Memphis Blues). His musical work saw him appear on local radio with Robert Lockwood Jr., and work alongside Willie Love, Joe Willie Wilkins and Sonny Boy Williamson II, billed as the Four Aces, who toured the Deep South. Further Memphis based radio work in the mid 1940s, saw Nix appear with both B.B. King and Joe Hill Louis, and later the same decade Nix worked with the Beale Streeters. In 1951, Nix made his first recording for RPM Records in Memphis, and a year later he later recorded for Checker Records.

He recorded for the Sun Records label and others in the 1950s, including the Chicago, Illinois based duo of Chance and Sabre. Nix wrote the songs "Nervous Wreck" and "Try Me One More Time", and reworked others such as Catfish Blues and Curtis Jones' Lonesome Bedroom Blues. He variously worked with Big Walter Horton, Elmore James, Johnny Shines, and Memphis Slim during his active years.

By the end of the 1950s, Nix returned to Memphis, and spent a short time in prison before the 1960s started. The next twenty years saw Nix perform sporadically, and as his health declined, his behaviour became more eccentric. He did not record again, although his mid 1950s work is held in high regard for his lyrical dexterity and compelling beat.

Nix died in Leland, Mississippi, in 1991
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Bright Eyes - Big Bill Broonzy and Washboard Sam with Big Crawford

Standing 6'5" and weighing 300-plus, Ernest "Big" Crawford loomed large in Chicago's explosive postwar blues scene. Crawford's slapped upright lines pushed recordings by the likes of Little Walter, Big Bill Broonzy, and Memphis Slim, but his work with former plantation hand Muddy Waters carved Crawford's name for all time in the blues bass hall of fame.

In April 1948, fellow South Side denizens Waters and Crawford recorded "I Can't Be Satisfied" for the Chess brothers' Aristocrat label. (Seven years earlier in Mississippi, Waters had recorded the song as "I Be's Troubled" for musicologist Alan Lomax.) On the'48 track, Crawford's slap-bass accompaniment begins with a simple root-5 pattern that hangs on the I chord's G and D notes even when Waters goes to the IV. On the turnaround, Crawford pedals an A under the V chord (and tosses in a non-chord E), and on the IV he introduces a chromatic lick with a syncopation that returns on the next bar's tonic G. Crawford plays the pattern on the intro and first verse, but then on the second verse he shifts the syncopated figure to the first two bars . It's all a buildup to the guitar solo, where Crawford lays into wildly syncopated riffs that fully match the virtuosic intensity of Waters's slide lines . Throughout the tune, Crawford keeps his rhythms crisp as his slapped acoustic drives the track in the twin roles of bass and percussion.

Spurred by the local success of "I Can't Be Satisfied" and its straight-from-the-Delta sound, Phil and Leonard Chess paired Waters and Crawford on classics like "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Rollin' Stone" before Waters began filling out his studio band with local aces like harp man Little Walter and guitarist Jimmy Rogers. Then, in the early '50s, Waters teamed with the musician who would create blues history as a bassist, songwriter, and producer: Willie Dixon.

March 7, 1956. Big Crawford died in Memphis, TN, USA. Age: 64
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You Don't Miss Your Water - William Bell

William Bell (born July 16, 1939) is an American soul singer and songwriter, and one of the architects of the Stax-Volt sound. As a performer, he is probably best known for 1961's "You Don't Miss Your Water" (his debut single); 1968's "Private Number" (a duet with Judy Clay, and a top 10 hit in the UK); and 1976's "Tryin' To Love Two", Bell's only US top 40 hit, which also hit #1 on the R&B charts. Upon the death of Otis Redding, Bell released the well-received memorial song "A Tribute To A King".

As a songwriter, Bell co-authored the Chuck Jackson hit "Any Other Way" (itself a cover, since Bell issued it first, as a follow-up to "You Don't Miss Your Water"), Billy Idol's 1986 hit "Got To Be Your Lover", and the blues classic "Born Under A Bad Sign", popularized by both Albert King and Cream.
Bell was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He took the last name "Bell" as a stage name in honor of his grandmother, whose first name was Belle.

After releasing a few scattered singles in the late 1950s as a member of the vocal group The Del-Rios, Bell began recording for the Stax label in 1961. He scored a minor hit (#95 pop) with his first Stax single, the country-flavored "You Don't Miss Your Water". Further singles followed, both as a solo artist and (for one single) as a member of The Del-Rios. National chart success for these singles was non-existent, but Bell was successful enough as a regional artist that Stax stuck with him for seven straight non-charting singles. In 1966, Bell finally broke through with his first substantial R&B hit, "Share What You Got (But Keep What You Need)"

In 1967, Bell co-wrote the song "Born Under a Bad Sign" with Booker T. Jones which became a signature song for blues musician Albert King. It was later popularized by the power trio Cream. A year later, in 1968, Bell's collaboration with Judy Clay yielded the memorable hit, "Private Number."

Further U.S. hits followed with "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" (1968),In early 1969 Bell caught the eye of New York Soul DJ Herb Hamlett and was the opening act at Hamlett's 50 Acre Club in upstate NY. They became instant friends and when Hamlett moved to Atlanta in 1979 the pair renewed their friendship with Bell giving Hamlett a autographed copy of the album. which was remade into a U.S. Top 10 pop hit by Billy Idol in 1986 as "To Be a Lover." It had previously been covered by the Jamaican singer George Faith and was the (amended) title tune for his 1977 album To Be a Lover, and has since been sampled by Ludacris on his song "Growing Pains" from Word of Mouf and Jaheim on "Put That Woman First" from Still Ghetto.

Bell continued to record for Stax through the label's dissolution in 1975, with modest commercial success. He then switched to Mercury, and in 1977 topped Billboard 's Hot Soul Singles chart with his polyamorous soul song "Tryin' to Love Two".

In 1985 Bell founded the label Wilbe and issued Passion, which found its most receptive audiences in the UK (although "I Don't Want to Wake Up Feeling Guilty," a duet with Janice Bullock, was a minor U.S. hit). In 1986, The single "Headline News" entered the UK Singles Chart.

Bell's recording career extended to 2006, when his most recent LP, New Lease of Life, was released on his own Wilbe Records label. The 2010 Sci-fi Thriller,Repo Men, Featured Bell's 1967 "Every Day Will Be A Holiday" in an important scene where a famous singer was mixing this song, as well as in the soundtrack.
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Baker Shop Boogie - Willie Nix

Willie Nix (August 6, 1922 — July 8, 1991) was an American Chicago blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in the 1940s and 1950s.
Born in Memphis, as a child he learnt to tap dance, later working as a teenager as part dancer, part comedian, with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. This led to work in various variety shows in the 1940s, and Nix later became a part of the blues scene that grew up around Beale Street (see Memphis Blues). His musical work saw him appear on local radio with Robert Lockwood Jr., and work alongside Willie Love, Joe Willie Wilkins and Sonny Boy Williamson II, billed as the Four Aces, who toured the Deep South. Further Memphis based radio work in the mid 1940s, saw Nix appear with both B.B. King and Joe Hill Louis, and later the same decade Nix worked with the Beale Streeters. In 1951, Nix made his first recording for RPM Records in Memphis, and a year later he later recorded for Checker Records.

He recorded for the Sun Records label and others in the 1950s, including the Chicago, Illinois based duo of Chance[4] and Sabre. Nix wrote the songs "Nervous Wreck" and "Prison Bound Blues", and variously worked with Elmore James, Johnny Shines, and Memphis Slim.

By the end of the 1950s, Nix returned to Memphis, and spent a short time in prison before the 1960s started. The next twenty years saw Nix perform sporadically, and as his health declined, his behaviour became more eccentric. He did not record again, although his mid 1950s work is held in high regard for his lyrical dexterity and compelling beat.

Nix died in Leland, Mississippi, in 1991
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DO YOU CALL THAT A BUDDY - CHRIS CAIN BAND

Chris Cain's jazz-tinged, blues soaked guitar and deep, warm vocals have the maturity and authenticity of bluesmen many years his senior. His expressive style is the result of a lifetime of study and the relentless pursuit of music mastery. His passion and intensity are a blend of his mother's Greek ancestry and his father's soulful black heritage.

Cain was raised on stories of his father's childhood upbringing on Memphis' Historic Beale Street and attended his first B.B King concert at the tender age of three. Blues music played continuously on the home stereo and family outings were often trips to concerts. Cain recalls, "I remember when I was a kid, my Dad would be mowing the lawn with the stereo blasting Muddy Waters. When I look back, that was pretty cool! There was always music playing at our house, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, all the greats."

Chris Cain and GuitarAt the age of eight, Cain taught himself to play guitar and began playing professionally before he was eighteen. Chris studied music at San Jose City College, and was soon teaching jazz improvisation on campus. Over the next twenty years, Cain would also master piano, bass guitar, clarinet, alto and tenor saxophone. The combination of his blues upbringing and his jazz studies melded to form the searing guitar style that sets Chris Cain apart and has moved him to the top ranks of the blues music scene.

Cain's debut recording, Late Night City Blues (Blue Rock'it Records-1987) garnered four W.C. Handy Blues Award nominations, including Guitarist of the Year." Dan Forte of Guitar Player wrote, "An impressive debut album by a top notch guitarist." Cain's next two releases; "Cuttin Loose" (Blind Pig Records-1990) and "Can't Buy a Break" (Blind Pig Records-1992) collected a long list of awards and accolades. In August of 1995 Blind Pig released "Somewhere Along the Way" his 4th compilation of his unique brand of original music sophisticated blues, funk, jazz and gospel.

In 2003 Patrick Ford produced Chris's latest CD, "Hall Of Shame" (Blue Rock'it Records-2003). "...this is now the sixth Chris Cain solo release I have produced, not to mention his work with me on projects like the Ford Blues Bands' "In Memory Of Michael Bloomfield" CD, and I continue to be in awe of his incredible talent. As a guitarist/singer, Chris has been praised by mentors like Albert King and peers like Robben Ford."

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Future Blues - Patrick Dodd Trio

Seeing the Patrick Dodd Trio is like going on your first date with your soul mate. They stand out in a crowded room. You’re attracted at first listen by the solid rhythm – then by lyrics that are more than superficial conversation about the weather. You’re more interested in the songs as you find every sentence clever and hope the night never ends.

That’s exactly the experience hundreds of listeners have had from catching the band live on world famous Beale Street. Seasoned musicians Patrick Dodd, Harry Peel and Landon Moore are the breed of artists who take their craft seriously, but ensure the music lover will enjoy the trip just as much as the band.

Dodd, a favorite on Beale Street for years, took a break from music to focus on his young family. A decade passed and the music was calling him back. Blues legend Bobby “Blue” Bland called Dodd to deliver fate’s final affirmation: “Son, you got an old soul,” he told him. “You just got to let go and play from your heart. Don’t worry about finding someone to help you – play from your soul, and they will find you.”

Patrick started hitting the clubs to see live music again and a chance late night discussion with session player Harry Peel (Little Feat, Loretta Lynn, the Oak Ridge Boys, Greg Dulli) transformed into a musical collaboration that infused a new fervor into Patrick and his musical storytelling. Their jamming became serious when the pair added highly sought-after bassist and session musician Landon Moore.

Best described as classic rock with blues accents, The Patrick Dodd Trio combines soulful vocals, whispering lyrics and knee-bouncing bass and drum beats for perfectly timed full throttle progressions. The band is influenced by gifted players like Mississippi Fred McDowell and Derek Trucks, musicians who consider songwriting an art and never incidental to the music. Not only can the band please the international crowd on Beale Street, but they also satisfy hard-to-please Memphis locals.

The Trio’s debut release Future Blues is a contrast of simplicity and lushness as their blues center flourishes in the embellishments of southern-style rock and jam music. Recorded at Memphis’s Music+Arts Studio, the EP was produced by North Mississippi All-Star Cody Dickinson (Lucero, Hill Country Revue) with engineering by Kevin Houston (Buddy Guy, Irma Thomas, Amy LaVere).

Get ready for your first date and a lifelong relationship with The Patrick Dodd Trio.
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Stop Breakin Down - Baby Boy Warren

Baby Boy Warren (August 13, 1919 - July 1, 1977) was an American blues singer and guitarist, who was a leading figure on the Detroit blues scene in the 1950s
He was born Robert Henry Warren in Lake Providence, Louisiana in 1919, but moved with his parents to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of three months. He was interested in music from an early age, and was working occasionally as a musician from around 1931, when he dropped out of school, having learned to play guitar from two of his older brothers. During the 1930s he worked in W. C. Handy Park, Memphis, with Howling Wolf, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Little Buddy Doyle and others, and he appeared on the Helena, Arkansas based King Biscuit Time radio show with Sonny Boy Williamson around 1941. In 1942 he moved to Detroit, where he worked for General Motors while also performing as a musician
Warren was mostly inactive in music during the 1960s, but revived his career to play the Detroit Blues Festival in 1971 and the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1973, and to tour Europe with Boogie Woogie Red in 1972. From 1974 to 1976 he was also a featured performer, along with Willie D. Warren, with the Progressive Blues Band, a popular blues band that played in many of Detroit's best blues venues.

He suffered a fatal heart attack at his home on July 1, 1977, and was buried at Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery, Macomb County, Michigan
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Discography

Don't Tell Me Nothing On My Baby - Big Sam Clark

Born July 1, 1916 Good, solid 1970s blues from Big Sam Clark of Memphis, Tennessee, on his own label.
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Mean Old World - Luther Tucker

Luther Tucker (January 20, 1936 — June 18, 1993) was an American blues guitarist. While soft spoken and shy, Tucker made his presence known through his unique and clearly recognizable guitar style. Tucker helped to define the music known as Chicago Blues, but played everything from blues to soul, rock, jazz and gospel, when given the chance. While never achieving the fame and notoriety of some of his contemporaries he was considered a great guitarist whether playing his own lead style or playing on the recordings of B. B. King, Mel Brown, Pat Hare, or Elmore James. He is considered one of the most prominent rhythm guitarists of Chicago Blues along with Eddie Taylor, Jody Williams and Freddie Robinson. Tucker was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His father, a carpenter, built Tucker his first guitar, but his first real guitar was a Sears Silvertone that his mother got him to keep him out of trouble. His mother, who played boogie-woogie piano, introduced him to Big Bill Broonzy and to Robert Lockwood Jr., the stepson to Robert Johnson, usually acknowledged as "King of the Delta Blues". Tucker went on to become Robert Jr.'s protégé, a guitarist and an individual for whom he had the greatest admiration and respect. In fact, Tucker always referred to him as "Mr. Robert Jr. Lockwood". Tucker's family moved from Memphis to Chicago when he was a teenager and his teenage contemporaries and friends with whom he traded licks, shared ideas and played included Freddie King, Magic Sam and Otis Rush. In 1952 he began playing with his uncle, J.T. "Boogie" Brown, saxophonist, studio musician, and sideman to slide guitarist, Elmore James. Tucker was soon back with Mr. Robert Jr. Lockwood, who was one of the most sought after sidemen and studio guitarists on the Chicago blues scene. Robert Jr. went to the musician's union asking that Tucker be allowed to play in clubs, and reassured the Union that he would act as a guardian to him and keep the 16-year old Tucker out of trouble. Robert Jr., who was capable of playing Delta Blues had been B.B. King's rhythm guitarist in 1948-1949 and brought a unique jazz style to (the new style known as) Chicago Blues. A tough task master, Robert Jr. drilled in to Tucker everything from minor diminished ninth and thirteenth chords to big bar-chords and the subtle nuances of jazz guitar. Initially, Robert Jr. played lead guitar and Tucker played bass on a tuned-down six-string guitar (the Fender bass had not yet been invented) or Tucker would play rhythm guitar. Tucker learned to read music and began working as a studio guitarist at an early age. If someone wanted Robert Jr., they also got Tucker as part of the package. They worked with Little Walter off and on for seven years. First, as part of a twosome with Robert Jr., and later as a lead guitarist, Tucker recorded on numerous classic sides behind [(Little Walter)], Sonny Boy Williamson II, Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, and [(Howlin' Wolf)]. He also recorded with Otis Rush, Snooky Pryor, and after moving to the West Coast, John Lee Hooker, Robben Ford, and Elvin Bishop. In the late 1960s Tucker had been working in Muddy Waters' band along with harmonica player, James Cotton, and drummer, Francis Clay. In 1968, a cooperative band was put together composed of Tucker on guitar; drummer, Sam Lay (best known for his work with Paul Butterfield); bassist and alumni of Howlin' Wolf's band, Bobby Anderson; Alberto Gianquinto, a pianist equally comfortable playing jazz, blues or classical music; and harmonica man and singer, James Cotton. First night out, the emcee at the club asked the band's name so he could announce them. For lack of a name, one of the band said, The James Cotton Blues Band. The name stuck. After a while, Sam Lay was replaced by Francis Clay. Clay, a veteran of Dizzy Gillespie's and Cab Calloway's big bands, Jay McShann's group and Muddy Water's band, brought a new dimension to the band and Tucker further developed his skills, playing soul tunes and jazz arrangements, utilizing the octave, minor and diminished chords he had learned from Robert Jr. The group traveled the country from Fillmore West, in San Francisco to Fillmore East in New York, and on to Great Britain, Europe and other points, sharing the stage with the biggest rock acts of the 1960s and 70's. The band spent a great deal of time in Northern California and in 1973 Tucker left The James Cotton Blues Band and relocated to the town of San Anselmo, California. For several years he worked with John Lee Hooker's band, Grayson Street, L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson, and as a house musician at Clifford Antone's club in Austin, Texas. He finally formed the Luther Tucker Band where he also became known as a very competent and soulful singer.[1] He played in clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area until his death. Tucker played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1973, 1976, and 1979. He would also play as part of supporting bands behind visiting friends and bluesmen including Fenton Robinson, Freddie King and Jimmy Reed. Luther Tucker died of a heart attack in June, 1993 in Greenbrae, California, at the age of 57.[3] His body was returned to Chicago, where he is buried in Restvale Cemetery in an unmarked plot. He recorded two albums, one incomplete, both released following his death. On May 9, 2009 the second annual White Lake Blues Festival took place at the Howmet Playhouse Theater in Whitehall, Michigan. The concert was organized by executive producer, Steve Salter, of the nonprofit oganization Killer Blues to raise monies to honor Tucker's unmarked grave with a headstone. The event was a success, and a headstone was placed in June, 2009. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

When You've Got No Place to Go - Eric Gales

Eric Gales (aka Raw Dawg) (born October 29, 1974, Memphis, Tennessee) is an American blues-rock guitarist, originally hailed as a child prodigy. As of 2011 Gales has recorded ten albums on major record labels, and has done session and tribute work. He has also contributed vocals on several records by the Memphis rap groups, Prophet Posse and Three 6 Mafia.
Gales picked up the guitar at age four. His older siblings, Eugene and Manuel (Little Jimmy King), took to teaching him many songs and licks at a young age, in the style of Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, B. B. King and others. In 1985, the young Gales began to play at blues competitions with his brother Eugene backing him on bass. Although Gales plays a right-handed guitar "upside-down" (with the E-bass string on the bottom), he is not naturally left-handed; he was taught by his brother who is left-handed and never second-guessed the untraditional technique.

In late 1990, Eric and Eugene Gales signed with Elektra Records, and together with drummer Hubert Crawford released 1991's The Eric Gales Band and 1993's Picture of a Thousand Faces. Guitar World magazine's Reader's Poll named Eric as "Best New Talent", in 1991. During this time he scored two rock radio hits, "Sign of the Storm" (#9 U.S. Mainstream Rock) and "Paralyzed" (#31 U.S. Mainstream Rock) and had spots on television programs such as The Arsenio Hall Show.

In 1994 Eric performed with Carlos Santana at the Woodstock 94' concert.

In 1995, Eric Gales teamed up with both of his brothers to record an album under the band name of The Gales Brothers. Left Hand Brand was released in 1996. 2001 saw Gales return with his album That's What I Am on MCA Records.

Gales has more recently released the albums Crystal Vision, The Psychedelic Underground,The Story of my Life and Layin' Down the Blues on the Shrapnel Records label. His most recent album is 2010's Relentless, with a new album for 2011 entitled Transformation due in August.

He maintains a strong friendship with record producer Mike Varney. Gales has one daughter, Jasmine (born 1992), and on August 31, 2001 he married Susan Gales.

In 2004, he contributed a cover of "May This Be Love" to the album Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. In 2008, he, along with other guitarists, participated in the touring tribute to Jimi Hendrix, Experience Hendrix. the touring group of musicians included Billy Cox (of Band of Gypsys fame), Eric Johnson, Chris Layton (drummer for Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section, Double Trouble), Doyle Bramhall II, Brad Whitford (of Aerosmith) and was the last tour that Mitch Mitchell played on.

In the winter of 2010, Gales returned to the touring circuit in Europe with TM Stevens on bass guitar and Keith LeBlanc on drums. The tour was billed as VooDoo Chile and featured works of Jimi Hendrix as well as original material from both Gales and Stevens.
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Wolf Call Boogie - Coy "Hot Shot" Love

Coy "Hot Shot" Love was a renaissance man, of a kind, in blues: sign-painter, street denizen, and a magician with a harmonica, who liked to adorn his leather jacket and his bicycle, and other personal items with messages regarding his outlook on life. He lived on Gayoso Street in Memphis, an itinerant musician and sometime sign-painter who got his one moment of glory in the recording studio on January 8, 1954, when he entered Sam Phillips' Sun Studios to record "Wolf Call Boogie" b/w "Harmonica Jam," backed by Mose Vinson at the piano, Pat Hare on guitar, Kenneth Banks on bass, and Houston Stokes on the drums. The A-side, of which an outtake exists, is practically a monologue with musical accompaniment, set at a tavern and filled with insults directed at a bartender and wry observations on life and love. The B-side is a duet between Love and Pat Hare, with the former getting the better of the guitar player, vocally and blowing some Sonny Terry-style harp, in a mismatched competition. Love never cut another single for Sun -- accounts suggest he was juggling relationships with as many as seven women at once, indicating that he had better things to do than go into the recording studio -- but "Wolf Call Boogie" is one of the most anthologized of all Sun blues tracks, appearing on numerous compilations from Rhino, Rounder, Charly, and Bear Family, and is regarded, at least in its freewheeling style and raunchy subject matter, as a step forward on the road from country blues to rock & roll. Love survived for decades after his one claim to recorded music legend, and died in a car accident in Interstate 55.
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Me And The Devil - Keith B. Brown

Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Keith B. Brown carries the flame of this Musical Mecca with him as he continues on what he calls ‘The Journey’. A truly gifted composer and extraordinary singer, his original compositions are a powerful mixture of Soul, Folk, Rock, Pop and Blues elements. His high energy and emotionally profound live performances are a musical journey into the heart of American music. Having absorbed the various musical styles, from jazz to country, deep blues to rock and soul, r&b to pop, and forging this wealth of experience into a completely original voice, Keith B. has emerged as an Artist of indisputable musical excellence. Working with highly talented Jazz, Pop and R&B musicians from the US and Europe, the concerts of Keith B. have become legendary for their sheer power, musical integrity and extraordinary emotional impact.
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Donald "Duck" Dunn Passes

Donald "Duck" Dunn (November 24, 1941 – May 13, 2012) was an American bass guitarist, record producer, and songwriter. Dunn was notable for his 1960s recordings with Booker T. & the M.G.'s and as a session bassist for Stax Records, which specialized in blues and gospel-infused southern soul and Memphis soul music styles. Dunn also performed on recordings with The Blues Brothers, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Albert King, Neil Young, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Guy Sebastian, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Roy Buchanan and Arthur Conley.
Dunn was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was nicknamed "Duck" while watching Disney cartoons with his father one day, Dunn grew up playing sports and riding his bike with fellow future professional musician Steve Cropper. After Cropper began playing guitar with a friend named Charlie Freeman, Dunn decided to pick up the bass guitar. Eventually, along with drummer Terry Johnson, the four became "The Royal Spades". The Messick High School group picked up keyboardist Jerry "Smoochy" Smith, singer Ronnie Angel (also known as Stoots), and a budding young horn section in baritone saxophone player Don Nix, tenor saxophone player Charles "Packy" Axton, as well as trumpeter (and future co-founder of The Memphis Horns) Wayne Jackson.
Dunn died in his sleep this morning of May 13, 2012. He was in Tokyo after finishing two shows at the Blue Note night club
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Wouldnt Mind Dying - Blind Mamie Forehand

Having made only a handful of recordings in the company of her presumed husband A.C. Forehand, the ’20s performer Blind Mamie Forehand joins a class of recording artists whose uniqueness is not in name only. While it many not have been that common for women to sing the blues professionally in the ’20s, Forehand was one of many who did sing gospel and also one of the few who did manage to leave compelling documentation behind. She was an active singer of spirituals on the streets of Memphis, a venue that logically led to the stylistic classification of street-corner or storefront gospel. “Honey in the Rock” is one of the titles she recorded in 1927, and these tracks have endured not just because hazy copyright status has led to overlapping reissue documentation on an international level. In fact, due to the efforts of labels such as Wolf, it is easier to find a Blind Mamie Forehand recording in Austria than a jar of peanut butter. The actual music content is something that once heard is never forgotten; the robust singers accompanying themselves on cymbals so old one can imagine clouds of dust bursting forth with each crash.
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Bootlegger Blues - South Memphis String Band

The South Memphis String Band, a trio composed of Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Alvin “Youngblood” Hart (Grammy-winning bluesman) and Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers), launches its first tour on April 23, 2009 in Dallas, Texas, targeting the East and South. The three friends, bound by Memphis and North Mississippi roots, will tour ahead of recording their debut album later this year. So far only two songs have been unveiled, both at the trio’s MySpace page myspace.com/southmemphisstringband. So the April and May dates will be an opportunity for fans to get in on the ground floor.
Although they’d known each other for years, the trio’s musical spirit gelled last year when they recorded a yet-unreleased album with Luther’s father, legendary producer Jim Dickinson, called New Moon Jellyroll Freedom Rockers.
The South Memphis String Band was greatly influenced by the Mississippi Sheiks, Gus Cannon & the Memphis Jug Band and other string bands and jug bands of their ilk, as well as Mississippi Delta and Hill Country blues. They will travel with a passel of guitars, mandolins, banjos, lap steel guitars and harmonicas.....
Luther Dickinson is lead guitarist and vocalist for the North Mississippi Allstars as well as lead guitarist for the Black Crowes. The son of producer Jim Dickinson was born and raised in West Tennessee, where he played concerts and gained recording experience with his father and brother, Cody. The family moved to the hills of North Mississippi in 1985. Luther befriended the musical families of Otha Turner, R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. They were the inspiration for Luther and Cody to form the North Mississippi Allstars in ‘96. The Allstars have been nominated for three Grammy Awards in the Best Contemporary Blues category. Luther produced two Otha Turner albums: Everybody Hollerin' Goat and From Senegal To Senatobia. Luther was recently featured in Rolling Stone as one of the “New Guitar Gods.” He has recorded with the Replacements, Mojo Nixon, Toy Caldwell, Billy Lee Riley, John Medeski and Robert Randolph (as The Word), John Hiatt and Jon Spencer, in addition to Turner, Burnside and the elder Dickinson. ....
Though born in Oakland, California, Alvin “Youngblood” Hart had family connections in Carroll County, Miss., and spent time there in his childhood, hearing his relatives’ stories of Charlie Patton. Influenced by the country blues, Hart is known as one of the world's foremost practitioners of that genre. He’s also a faithful torchbearer for the ‘60s and ‘70s guitar rock of his youth, as well as Western Swing and vintage country. His music has been compared to that of artists ranging from Leadbelly and Spade Cooley to Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. Hart plays acoustic and electric guitar as well as banjo and sometimes the mandolin. Bluesman Taj Mahal once said of him, “The boy has got thunder in his hands.” In 2003, Hart's album Down in the Alley was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. In ‘05, Hart received a Grammy Award for his contribution to Beautiful Dreamer — The Songs of Stephen Foster. He was featured in the Wim Wenders film The Soul of a Man, which was part of Martin Scorsese’s 2003 PBS series “The Blues,” and also appeared in the documentary Last of the Mississippi Jukes.....
Guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer Jimbo Mathus grew up in Clarksdale, Miss. He first caught the public’s ear in the 1990s with the hyper-ragtime vaudeville act the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Since then, he has released many recordings of his own in a style he describes as Mississippi Music. “Basically,” Mathus says, “I combine the myriad styles of deep roots music in a type of alchemy. Blues, country, gospel and soul all go into the equation equally.” His last outing, Knockdown South, was released on his own label and received much critical acclaim, including the No. 2 spot on Honest Tune magazine’s Best of 2005 list. He runs the Delta Recording Service, a studio based in Clarksdale, and is sought out by many artists seeking the old-school style of recording. One such artist was Elvis Costello, who recorded his Grammy nominated “Monkey to Man” single in Mathus’ studio in 2005. He has produced two blues CDs that were nominated for Blues Music Awards in 2006, Duwane Burnside’s Under Pressure and Big George Brock’s Club Caravan. Additionally, he contributed vocals on the North Mississippi Allstars’ 2006 Grammy-nominated Electric Blues Watermelon. Mathus sums it up: “I break down walls and stereotypes with my music. I confuse people. I use Mississippi music, which is renegade music at heart, as my inspiration and motivation. I use it as a tool to reach people, to express my own feelings and continue to express those that came before me. I keep the old stories alive while they help keep me alive.”....

Mathus says, “Luther, Youngblood Hart and myself have been musical co-
conspirators for over a decade. It is only fitting that we should come together with acoustic instruments and perform Mississippi music.”..


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Johnny Shines

Johnny Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist. According to the music journalist Tony Russell, "Shines was that rare being, a blues artist who overcame age and rustiness to make music that stood up beside the work of his youth. When Shines came back to the blues in 1965 he was 50, yet his voice had the leonine power of a dozen years before, when he made records his reputation was based on"

He was born John Ned Shines in Frayser, Memphis, United States. He spent most of his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee playing slide guitar at an early age in local “jukes” and for tips on the streets. He was "inspired by the likes of Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, and the young Howlin' Wolf", but he was taught to play the guitar by his mother. Shines moved to Hughes, Arkansas in 1932 and worked on farms for three years putting his musical career on hold. It was a chance meeting with Robert Johnson, his greatest influence, that gave him the inspiration to return to music. In 1935, Shines began traveling with Johnson, touring the south and heading as far north as Ontario where they appeared on a local radio program. The two went their separate ways in 1937, one year before Johnson's death. Shines played throughout the southern United States until 1941 when he settled in Chicago. There Shines found work in the construction industry but continued to play in local bars. He made his first recording in 1946 for Columbia Records, but the takes were never released. He recorded for Chess in 1950, and was once again denied release. He kept playing with local blues musicians in the Chicago area for several more years. In 1952, Shines recorded what is considered his best work for the J.O.B. Records label. The recordings were a commercial failure and Shines, frustrated with the music industry, sold his equipment and returned to construction. In 1966, Vanguard Records found Shines taking photographs in a Chicago blues club and had him record tracks for the third installment of Chicago/The Blues/Today! The album has since then become a blues classic and it brought Shines into the mainstream music scene. Shines toured with the Chicago All Stars alongside Lee Jackson, Big Walter Horton and Willie Dixon. Shines moved to Holt, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa County, in 1969. When a University of Alabama student, Natalie Mattson, learned that he was living in the area, she invited him to play at a coffee house, known as the "Down Under," that she ran on campus. Shines played on several occasions, and also brought his friend, blues artist Mississippi Fred McDowell to appear with him at Down Under. These were some of his earliest appearances in Alabama after his move there. He continued to play the international blues circuit while living in Holt, Alabama. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Shines toured with Robert Johnson's stepson, Robert Lockwood, Jr. as the last remaining original delta blues musicians. In 1980, Shines' music was brought to a standstill when he suffered a stroke.[2] He would later appear, and play, in the 1991 documentary The Search for Robert Johnson and release one last album, Back To The Country, which won a W.C. Handy Award. It featured playing from Snooky Prior and Johnny Nicholas. In 1989, Shines met Kent DuChaine, and the two of them toured for the next several years until Shines' death. Shines died on April 20, 1992, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame later the same year. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”