Anthony Gomes Live In Memphis

Anthony is performing in Memphis the evening prior to the BMA's. Here are the details: Date – Wednesday, May 6 @ 8 p.m. (Doors open @ 7 p.m.) 3 45-minute sets Venue – Purple Haze Night Club, 140 Lt. George W Lee Avenue, one block south of B.B. King’s on Second.

ROBERT "WOLFMAN" BELFOUR September 11, 1940 - February 26, 2015

                                  

Story By Roger Stolle

 

    Sad news in the blues world today. Mr. Robert "Wolfman" Belfour — RIP. Arguably the deepest of the surviving, old-school, Mississippi bluesmen was found deceased at his home in Memphis this morning by relatives. He had been suffering from various health issues (mainly diabetes and mobility related) for over a year but had recently been doing better. He had not performed since last June but was slated to play at Juke Joint Festival in April.

 

    Mr. Belfour's family is in desperate need of money for funeral services. The Memphis Blues Society is trying to raise money to help the family with funeral costs. Those wishing to donate can do so through The Memphis Blues Society Benefit link: Click here. For now… if you knew the blues legend, tell your friends a story about him today… if you didn't know him, then stop what you're doing and spend a little time on the web exploring his life and music.

 

Read Roger Stolle's interview with Robert Belfour and watch enjoy some great video: Click Here

 

Catfood Records artist: Daunielle Hill - Daunielle - New Release Review

I just received the newest release (February 18, 2014), Daunielle, from Daunielle Hill and it's quite entertaining. Opening with Runaway Train, a full blown chuggin train with Andy Roman on sax, Mike Middleton on trumpet, Robert Claiborne on trombone and Nick Flood on bari sax. Early Grave is a cool R&B infused track with Johnny McGhee playing great punctual guitar riffs complimenting Hills vocals nicely. Damn Your Eyes has all the soul of the original and is well executed with Will McFarlane on guitar, the great Bob Trenchard on bass and Richy Puga keeping the drums tight. I Got A Voice has more of a pop feel with a driving bass line by Trenchard. McFarlane again steps up on guitar with some cool riffs on guitar. Biloxi has a Latin rhythm driven solid by Puga on drums. A happy go lucky island feel complimented by Ferguson on keys and accordion. Higher and Higher, the R&B standard is given new life here by a springy vocalist in Hill and backing vocals by Big Baby Goodman. Roman, Middleton Claiborne and Flood also add substantially to the overall feel as does the organ work from Ferguson. Fallen Bird, a straight up ballad really gives Hill the opportunity to deliver on vocals and with precision key work from Ferguson, deliver she does. Nobody Cared has a real solid feel and could be one of my favorite tracks on the release. It has a Mayfield groove and great instrumentation giving Hill the floor for a stellar performance. McGhee also gets the opportunity to step forward with some smokin guitar riffs which really highlight a super track. Romeo and Juliet is a definite radio play track with a catchy melody and instant hook. Goodbye Kiss wraps the release with cool guitar riffs in tremelo and horns. Hill does a superb job of vocal execution on this particular track and it is certainly understandable why this is saved for last. Ferguson lays down a nice organ bed that the backing vocals by Reba Russell float over while Hill lays out the lead. Very cool. A nice sax solo from Andy Roman is also a  treat on this track.

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Russell Jackson

Russell Jackson, born in Memphis TN, 1954. Toured with the B.B. King Orchestra six and a half years. I played in some of the most prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall,The Grand Ole Oprey, Smithsonian Institute. I also played the Moscow Theatre in the USSR in 1979. During the years in the BB King Orchestra, I had a chance to play with some of the music industries' greats. Everybody sat in, toured, and played with him. After BB King's band, I went to school to study music. LA was the place to go, so I went to Dick Grove School of Music and received an Associate Degree in Music. While living in Vancouver I joined forces with Kenny 'Blues Boss' Wayne, and recorded a Juno award winning CD.

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Dave Prater - Tribute To Dave

Dave Prater (May 9, 1937 – April 9, 1988) was an American Southern Soul and Rhythm & Blues (R&B) singer who was the deeper, baritone and second tenor vocalist of the soul vocal duo Sam & Dave from 1961 until his death in 1988. Dave Prater is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1992), the Grammy Hall of Fame (1999, for the song "Soul Man"), the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame (1997), and was a Grammy Award-winning (1967) and multi-Gold Record award-winning recording artist. Sam & Dave were the most successful and critically acclaimed duo in soul music history, according to Rolling Stone magazine, and brought the sounds of the black gospel church to pop music with their string of call-and-response hit records. Primarily recorded at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1965 through 1968, these songs included "Soul Man", "Hold On, I'm Coming", "I Thank You", and other Southern soul classics. Other than Aretha Franklin, no other soul act during Sam & Dave's hitmaking Stax years (1966–1968) had more consistent R&B chart success, which included 10 consecutive top 20 singles and 3 consecutive top 10 LPs. "Soul Man" has been recognized as one of the best or most influential songs of the past 50 years by many organizations, including the Grammy Hall of Fame, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone Magazine, and RIAA Songs of the Century. "Soul Man" was used as the soundtrack and title for both a 1986 film and a 1997–1998 television series. Nicknamed "Double Dynamite" for their energetic and sweaty, gospel-infused performances, Sam & Dave were also considered by critics to be one of the greatest live performing acts of the 1960s. The duo has also been cited as musical influences by numerous artists including Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, and Stevie Winwood. The Blues Brothers, which helped create a major resurgence of popular interest in Soul, R&B, & Blues music in the 1980s, was heavily influenced by Sam & Dave (their biggest hit was their top 20 cover of "Soul Man", and their act and stage show was patterned after Sam & Dave's). The seventh of ten children, Prater was born in Ocilla, Georgia where he grew up singing gospel music in the church choir, and was a veteran of the gospel group The Sensational Hummingbirds where he sang with his older brother, J. T. Prater. Prater met future partner Sam Moore in The King of Hearts Club in Miami in 1961, signing to Roulette Records shortly thereafter. Sam & Dave released six singles for Roulette, including two songs that Prater co-wrote with Moore. Prater was typically featured as the lead vocalist on these records, with Moore typically singing harmony and alternate verses. They were signed in late 1964 by Jerry Wexler to Atlantic Records. who structured an agreement for them to record in Memphis with Stax Records. While their first two singles failed to chart, the duo's November 1965 single, "You Don't Know Like I Know," started a series of ten straight top twenty Billboard R&B hits that included "Hold On! I'm Comin'" (1966), "You Got Me Hummin' (1966), "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" (1967), "Soul Man" (1967), and "I Thank You" (1968). Starting with "Hold On, Im Coming", Moore was typically given the lead vocal(first verse and lead voice in chorus) on most of the future Sam & Dave singles. Prater sings the tenor lead first verse on Sam & Dave's only ballad hit single, "When Something is Wrong with My Baby", demonstrating a very impressive vocal range in the upper register. All of their biggest hits were written and produced by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. In addition to Hayes-Porter, Sam & Dave's Stax records also benefited greatly from working with the Stax house band and Rock Hall of Fame members Booker T. & The MG's, and the Stax horn section, the Mar-Keys. These highly regarded musicians co-wrote (often without credit) and contributed greatly to the recordings. Sam & Dave's Stax recordings through 1967 were engineered by Stax founder and Co-owner Jim Stewart, who created the "Memphis Sound" at Stax records by recording sessions essentially live in a single take. The combination of all of these respected talents contributed to the unique sound and commercial success of Sam & Dave's Stax recordings. When Stax and Atlantic severed their distribution agreement in 1968, Sam & Dave became Atlantic recording artists, and shortly thereafter they lost the ability to work with Hayes, Porter and the Stax musicians. The records made by Atlantic did not have the same sound and feel as the Stax recordings, and most only placed in the lower ends of the music charts if at all. The ending of their association with the Stax record label and their frequently volatile relationship contributed to their first break-up in June 1970. After the break-up with Sam, Prater went back to their early Miami Label, Alston Records, where he recorded one single, "Keep My Fingers Crossed/Love Business" (Alston A-4596), and also performed sporadically over the next year. Sam & Dave reunited in August 1971 and performed throughout most of the 1970s through 1981, and enjoyed a brief resurgence in popularity due to The Blues Brothers's 1979 recording of "Soul Man". Sam & Dave also recorded "Come On, Come Over", which appeared on the debut LP of jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius. Dave also appeared in the Paul Simon's movie One Trick Pony as part of Sam & Dave. Their last performance together was on December 31, 1981, at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. "The New Sam & Dave Revue" and last performance (1982–1988) In 1982, Prater started touring under the Sam & Dave name with Sam Daniels, who performed with Dave from the middle of 1982 until Dave's death in 1988. Moore attempted to legally block Prater from using the group's name without his participation and permission, but was generally unsuccessful in stopping the act from performing. The Daniels/Prater incarnation of Sam & Dave played as many as 100 shows per year, including gigs in Europe, Japan and Canada. In 1985, Prater and Sam Daniels released a newly-sung medley of Sam & Dave hits recorded in Holland, which peaked at #92 R&B and was credited to "Sam & Dave". Sam Moore made the label recall the single for using the "Sam & Dave" name without permission, and the record was re-labelled and re-issued as being by as "The New Sam & Dave Revue". Dave Prater had his last performance with Sam Daniels on April 3, 1988 at a Stax Reunion show at the Atlanta Civic Center, which also featured Isaac Hayes, Eddie Floyd, and Rufus and Carla Thomas. Six days later, on April 9, 1988, Prater died in a car crash in Sycamore, Georgia, while driving to his mother's house. Prater summed up his thoughts on his career for author Jeri Hershey in her book Nowhere to Run (1984, Southbank Publishing): "I'm a workin' man. Been gettin' down so long. I don't be thinkin' about will I make it up again. Now, what's a music man like me gonna do? What's he do, 'less he entertains till he dies?" (Dave Prater Jr. of Sam & Dave) Prater was married to Annie Belle Henderson from March 1962 to November 1969, and had five children with her. On December 25, 1969, he married his second wife, Judith T. Gilbert. Prater was a resident of Paterson, New Jersey, from 1974 until he lost his life in a single-car accident in Sycamore, Georgia on April 9, 1988. He was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey

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The Fieldstones/The Thing - The Fieldstones

The Fieldstones are something of a local legend in Memphis, and this, their second album, was a very long time coming. Its content was recorded at various times and in various places between 1981 and 1983. The Fieldstones: Willie Roy Sanders (vocals, guitar); Little Applewhite (vocals); Wordie Perkins (guitar, piano); Bobby Carnes (organ); Lois Brown (bass guitar); Joe Hicks (drums); Clarence Nelson. Personnel: Will Roy Sanders, Joe Hicks (vocals); Clarence Nelson, Wordie Perkins (guitar); Bobby Carnes (organ)






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Yank Rachell & Jimmy Walker

Pianist Jimmy Walker, associated with the blues scene in Chicago, should not be confused with James "Jim Daddy" Walker, linked likewise to the blues scene in Kansas City. The former was actually born a few years earlier than the latter, 1905 rather than maybe 1912, and also outstrips in a variety of fame markers such as having an actual agreed-upon date of birth as well as several releases under his own name. Rough and Ready The latter would be where the real interest would lie for blues fans used to the vigor and spark of the Chicago scene. Several complete sessions have been released in which this artist held forth in great freedom, playing as a soloist or with drum accompaniment that approaches perfection. Walker uses the recording medium to express his desires, "Getting Out of Town" in a shuffle of a hurry, inquiring like a lot of other people as to "Where's the Money," rotting away in a "Small Town," and even urging the typical blues couch potato to "Come on, Get Your Morning Exercise." The excellent Testament label was the first to track Walker with the superb 1964 album entitled Rough and Ready.  

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Amsterdam After Dark - George Coleman

George Edward Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He taught himself to play the alto saxophone in his teens, inspired (like many jazz musicians of his generation) by Charlie Parker. Among his schoolmates were Harold Mabern, Booker Little, Frank Strozier, Hank Crawford, and Charles Lloyd. After working with Ray Charles, Coleman started working with B.B. King in 1953,at which point he switched to tenor saxophone.In 1956 Coleman moved to Chicago, along with Booker Little, where he worked with Gene Ammons and Johnny Griffin before joining Max Roach Quintet 1958–1959. Coleman recorded with organist Jimmy Smith's Houseparty (1957), with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Burrell, and Donald Bailey. Moving to New York with Max Roach in that year, he went on to play with Slide Hampton (1959–1962), Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, and Wild Bill Davis (1962), before joining Miles Davis Quintet in 1963–1964. His most famous albums with Davis (and the rhythm section of Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Tony Williams (drums)) are Seven Steps to Heaven (1963), A Rare Home Town Appearance (1963), Côte Blues (1963), In Europe (1963), My Funny Valentine (1964) and Four & More, both live recordings of a concert in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York in February 1964. Shortly after this concert, Coleman was replaced by Wayne Shorter. He played with Lionel Hampton (1965–1966), also in 1965 and performed on Chet Baker's The Prestige Sessions, with Kirk Lightsey, Herman Wright and Roy Brooks.Charles Mingus (1977–1978), Shirley Scott (1972), Clark Terry, Horace Silver, Elvin Jones (1968), Ahmad Jamal (1994, 2000), and many others. Coleman also appeared in the film Freejack, the 1992 science-fiction film with Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, and Anthony Hopkins; and 1996’s The Preacher's Wife with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston.[6] Coleman is still recording. His CD as co-leader, Four Generations of Miles: A Live Tribute to Miles, with bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jimmy Cobb and guitarist Mike Stern was released on Chesky Records in October 2002 and it concentrates almost exclusively on the 1950s repertoire of Miles Davis. Tracks include: "There Is No Greater Love," "All Blues," "On Green Dolphin Street," "Blue in Green," "81," "Freddie Freeloader," "My Funny Valentine," "If I Were a Bell," and "Oleo." He was featured on Joey DeFrancesco's 2006 release Organic Vibes, along with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, Billboard's Top Jazz Album, peaked to No. 17  

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Walking By Myself - Big Crawford with Jimmy Rogers

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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Rukus Juice and Chittlin' - Memphis Jug Band with Robert Burse

The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the 1920s and 1930s. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles. Between 1927 and 1934 various African-American musicians in the Memphis, Tenn., area grouped around singer, song writer, guitarist, and harmonica player Will Shade (also known as Son Brimmer). The personnel of this jug band varied from day to day, with Shade booking gigs and arranging recording sessions. Among the recorded members were (at various times) Will Shade (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Charlie Burse (pronounced Bursey) (guitar, mandolin, and vocals), Charlie Nickerson (piano and vocals), Charlie Pierce (violin), Charlie Polk (jug), Tewee Blackman (vocals, guitar), “Hambone” Lewis (jug), Jab Jones (jug, piano, vocals ), Johnny Hodges/Hardge (piano), Ben Ramey (vocals and kazoo), Casey Bill Weldon (guitar and vocals), Memphis Minnie (guitar and vocals), Vol Stevens (vocals, violin, and mandolin), Milton Robie (violin), Otto Gilmore/Gilmer (drums and woodblocks), and Robert Burse (drums). Vocals were also provided by Hattie Hart, Memphis Minnie, Jennie Mae Clayton (Shade’s wife), and Minnie Wallace, with Charlie Burse often contributing beautiful harmony parts to Shade’s lead vocal lines. In the case of Memphis Minnie, the Memphis Blues Band accompanied her on two sides for Victor Records, recorded in 1930 when the band’s career was “winding down”.

To add, Alan Balfour, noted music historian kindly adds the following:

Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band (1933-1939, BDCD-6005)

Twenty years have passed since Bengt Olsson's monograph, 'The Memphis Blues", was published. To this day our knowledge of the city's musical development is largely based on his research. As Olsson noted, Memphis boasted a preponderance of jug bands and when record companies finally got around to recording the genre there were at least six formally organised bands working in the city. Four of those, Will Shade's Memphis Jug Band, Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, Jed Davenport's Beale Street Jug Band and Jack Kelly's South Memphis Jug Band, enjoyed fairly flourishing recording careers. Of those Cannon and Shade's became the most commercially successful, Davenport's managed just one session, while Jack Kelly's aggregation only seemed to find favour with record companies as Shade's popularity began to dwindle.

Little is known of Kelly and the few biographical details available come from the reminiscences of others. It is thought he was born in northern Mississippi at the turn of the century (1905 has been suggested) , moving to Memphis in the twenties where he remained until his death around 1960. He is remembered as a street musician who worked with guitarists Frank Stokes, Dan Sane and fiddle player Will Batts. Later Kelly, Sam and Batts augmented their sound with a jug player, DM Higgs, forming a group called the South Memphis Jug Band. Their repertoire tended to favour blues based material and the combination of two guitars, violin and jug produced a decidedly "country blues" sound, more so than that of a conventional band, the line-ups of which, usually included instruments like banjo, harmonica, kazoo, washboard and washtub bass.

The uninhibited music of the country juke joint and southern township hall is evident in Kelly's first recordings in 1933.  The all pervasive impression being one of musical excellence rather than originality of lyric. Jack Kelly's basic chording and medium tempo picking, perfectly complemented by Dan Sam's buzy bass run flatpicking, the heavy rhythm of the two guitars underscored by Will Batt's plaintive fiddling and sonorous jug blowing of Dr Higgs add new dimension to fairly standard themes like "Highway 61" or "Ko Ko Mo Blues". However, when Jack Kelly and Will Batts returned to the studio six years later they underwent a metamorphous, dropping Sam and Higgs ‑ along with the "South Memphis Jug Band" tag - and in their place an unidentified guitarist (whom Olsson has always insisted was Little Son Joe) providing the foil. This change of personnel had a marked effect on their sound, almost taking their music back to the decade that produced the fine partnership of Frank Stokes and Dan Sane. Also the material took on a more lyrical, profound or topical air as in, for example, "Joe Louis Special" ("Steak and gravy is his favorite dishes"), "Diamond Buyer" ("Somebody, somebody, somebody been trimming my horses mane") or the post depression "Neck Bone Blues" ("times got so hard well it made many men to eat kneckbones").

Throughout the forties and fifties Jack Kelly remained playing in Memphis finally teaming up with harmonica player Walter Horton. In 1952 they recorded two numbers for Sun records, as Jackie Boy and Little Walter, but that was the last contact Walter Horton had with Jack Kelly

and when questioned about him many years later Horton couldn't even put a date to his death.

                                                                                                                    Alan Balfour August 1991

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Bluer Than Blue - Lil Hardin Armstrong

Lil Hardin Armstrong (February 3, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader, and the second wife of Louis Armstrong with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s. Hardin's compositions include "Struttin' With Some Barbecue", "Don't Jive Me", "Two Deuces", "Knee Drops", "Doin' the Suzie-Q", "Just For a Thrill" (which became a major hit when revived by Ray Charles in 1959), "Clip Joint", and "Bad Boy" (a minor hit for Ringo Starr in 1978). She was born as Lillian Hardin in Memphis, Tennessee, where she grew up in a household with her grandmother, Priscilla Martin, a former slave from near Oxford, Mississippi. During her early years, Hardin was taught hymns, spirituals, and Classics on the piano. She was drawn to popular music and later blues, but could only listen to or play these styles occasionally and covertly, because her mother, Dempsey (Lil called her "Decie"), a deeply religious woman, considered them "sinful" In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Hardin worked mostly as a soloist singing and playing piano. In the late 1940s, she decided to leave the music and become a tailor, so she took a course in tailoring. Her graduation project was to make a tuxedo for Louis. It was displayed prominently at a New York cocktail party she threw to announce her new field of endeavor. "They looked at Louis' tux and all the other things I had made and they were very impressed", she recalled, "but then someone asked me to play the piano. That's when I knew that I would never be able to leave the music business." Louis wore Hardin's tuxedo and she continued to tailor, but only as a sideline and then only for friends. Her shirts, which friends received regularly on birthdays, proudly bore a label with her mother's name, "Decie", and beneath that, "Hand made by Lil Armstrong." Hardin eventually returned to Chicago and the house on East 41st Street. She also made a trip to Europe and had a brief love affair in France, but mostly she worked around Chicago, often with fellow Chicagoans. Collaborators included Red Saunders, Joe Williams, Oscar Brown, Jr., and Little Brother Montgomery. In the 1950s, Hardin recorded a biographical narrative for Riverside's Bill Grauer, which was issued in LP form. She would again appear on that label in 1961, participating in its "Chicago: The Living Legends" project as accompanist for Alberta Hunter and leader of her own hastily assembled big band. At that time, her favorite living pianists were Thelonious Monk and Billy Taylor, which helps to explain why, when Riverside producer Chris Albertson approached her about these recordings, her immediate reaction was, "Who's going to listen to that old stuff?" The Riverside recordings led to her inclusion in a star-studded 1961 NBC network special, "Chicago and All That Jazz," and a follow-up album released through the Verve Records imprint. In 1962, Hardin began writing her autobiography, in collaboration with Albertson, but she had second thoughts when she realized that such a book could not be done properly without including material that might discomfit Louis Armstrong, so the project was shelved with only five chapters written.[citation needed]In 1969, Hardin told a University of Alabama professor that she wanted to work on the book alone and self-publish it When Armstrong died, in 1971, Hardin was deeply shaken by the loss. She traveled to New York for the funeral and rode in the family car. "I think Louis would have found a way getting back at me if I hadn't put Hardin in that car", his widow, Lucille, told Albertson.[6] Returning to Chicago, Hardin felt that work on her autobiography could now continue, but the following month, performing at a televised memorial concert for Louis, Lil Hardin Armstrong collapsed at the piano. She died an hour later, aged 73.[citation needed]In the aftermath of her funeral, her letters and the unfinished manuscript of her autobiography disappeared from her house 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 favorite band!

Memphis Train - Ghost Town Blues Band

Ghost Town Blues Band is a 6-piece Memphis-based group with an intimate knowledge of blues and improvisational jams. This energetic band can turn on a dime from hill country stomp to New Orleans-inspired funk. These Beale St. regulars feature the tastefully gritty, Matt Isbell, on guitar/lead vocals, and a funky, rock solid rhythm section made up of Preston McEwen (drums) and Colton Parker (bass). The recent additions of Suavo "Silky Smooth" Jones (trombone), Coleman "The Professor" Garrett (saxophone), and Jeremy "Mr. 88" Powell (keyboards) has risen GTBB's energy level to new heights. 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 favorite band!

I Walk The Line Medely - Johnny Cash with Luther Perkins

Luther Monroe Perkins (January 8, 1928 – August 5, 1968) was an American country music guitarist and a member of the Tennessee Three, the backup band for singer Johnny Cash. Perkins was an iconic figure in what would become known as rockabilly music. His creatively simple, sparsely-embellished, rhythmic use of Fender Esquire, Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars is credited for creating Cash's signature "boom-chicka-boom" style Perkins was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of a Baptist preacher. He grew up in Como, Mississippi, and taught himself to play rhythm guitar. Perkins started his career in 1953 as a mechanic at Automobile Sales Company in Memphis. He specialized in electrical systems and radio repairs. Roy Cash, Sr., older brother of Johnny Cash, was service manager at the dealership. At the time, the younger Cash was stationed in Germany with the US Air Force. At Automobile Sales, Perkins met co-workers Marshall Grant and A.W. 'Red' Kernodle. Grant, Kernodle and Perkins began bringing their guitars to work, and would play together when repair business was slow. When Johnny Cash moved to Memphis after returning from Germany in 1954, Ray Cash introduced him to Grant, Kernodle and Perkins. The four began to get together in the evenings at Perkins's or Grant's home and play songs. It was during this time that they decided to form a band, with Grant acquiring a string bass, Kernodle a six-string steel guitar, and Perkins buying a somewhat-abused Fender Esquire electric guitar from the O.K. Houck Piano Co. in Memphis. The guitar had been modified by a previous owner, and the volume and tone controls were dysfunctional. Perkins was married twice. He and his first wife, Bertie, separated while they were living in southern California in 1959. Perkins had three daughters from this marriage: Linda, Vicki and Claudia. He later married Margie Higgins; they had one daughter, Kathy. Margie Perkins Beaver still appears at Johnny Cash reunion events. His hobbies were knitting, fishing and guitar. Examples of his knitting are on display at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. He was a close friend of singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. At the time of his death, he was planning to open his own music publishing company and give Kristofferson his first break. Perkins’ younger brother, Thomas, was a successful rock ‘n’ roll singer in the 1950s and 1960s, under the name of Thomas Wayne. In his autobiography, Johnny Cash wrote that Perkins was mildly addicted to amphetamines. They started taking drugs together in the late 1950s. Perkin's nickname was "L.M", the initials of his first and second name "Luther Monroe". Singer-guitarist Carl Perkins, who was also a member of Cash's touring show, was not related to Luther Perkins During the early morning hours of August 3, 1968, Perkins returned from fishing on Old Hickory Lake to his newly-constructed home on Riverwood Drive in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He apparently went to sleep in the living room while holding a lit cigarette. His daughter awoke around 6:00 am to find the living room in flames and Perkins collapsed near the door. An emergency crew rushed Perkins to Vanderbilt University Hospital, where he was kept in intensive care until finally succumbing on Monday, August 5, 1968. His grave is near the graves of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash at Hendersonville Memorial Park in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Luther Perkins was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Perkins and Marshall Grant, as The Tennessee Two, were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. In 1980, Perkins's daughters from his first marriage filed suit against Johnny Cash for embezzling funds that were to have provided retirement income for Perkins. This lawsuit was filed coincidentally with actions taken by the other founding Tennessee Three member, Marshall Grant, against Cash for wrongfully firing Grant and embezzlement of Grant's retirement funds. Both lawsuits were eventually settled out-of-court 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! -  ”LIKE”

Try a Little Tenderness - Otis Redding & The Bar-Kays

The Bar-Kays are a popular soul, R&B, and funk group who began performing in 1966 and continue to perform today, although with only one original member. The group had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" (U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in 1972, and "Boogie Body Land" (R&B number 7) in 1980. The Bar-Kays began in Memphis, Tennessee as a studio session musician group, backing major artists at Stax Records. They were chosen in 1967 by Otis Redding to play as his backing band. On December 10, 1967, Redding, his manager, and band members Jimmy King (born 1949; guitar), Ronnie Caldwell (born 1948; electric organ), Phalon Jones (born 1949; saxophone), and Carl Cunningham (born 1949; drums) died in a plane crash in Lake Monona while on their way to a performance in Madison, Wisconsin. Trumpeter Ben Cauley survived the crash and bassist James Alexander was on another plane, since there were eight members in Redding's party and the chartered plane could only hold seven. Cauley and Alexander rebuilt the group. The re-formed band consisted of Cauley; Alexander; Harvey Henderson, saxophone; Michael Toles, guitar; Ronnie Gorden, organ; Willie Hall, drums and later Larry Dodson (formerly of fellow Stax act The Temprees), lead vocals. The group backed dozens of major Stax artists on recordings afterwards, including Isaac Hayes's Hot Buttered Soul. Cauley left the group in 1971, leaving Alexander, Dodson (vocals, vibes), Barry Wilkins (guitar), Winston Stewart (keyboards), Henderson (tenor sax, flute), Charles "Scoops" Allen (trumpet), and Alvin Hunter (drums) to create the 1971 Black Rock album. Lloyd Smith joined in 1973 and the band changed musical direction during that decade to have a successful funk music career. With the Stax/Volt label folding in 1975, the group signed with Mercury Records. In 1976, Dodson (vocals), Alexander (bass), Lloyd Smith (guitar), Allen (trumpet), Henderson (saxophone), Frank Thompson (Trombone), Stewart (keyboards), and Mike Beard (drums) brought their Shake Your Rump to the Funk track into the R&B Top Five. In the Fall of 1977, the group came out with Flying High on Your Love, an album that featured Shut The Funk Up as a "near-perfect disco song punctuated by the funky horn triumvirate of Charles "Scoop" Allen." In 1983, Sherman Guy and Charles Allen left the group just before the group took a more commercial direction. Nonetheless, the Bar-Kays continued to have hits on R&B charts well into the 1980s. Marcus Price was also a member of the Bar-Kays, until he was murdered coming from rehearsal in 1984, a crime never solved by the Memphis police. The band took a hiatus in the late 1980s, but regrouped in 1991, with Alexander once again being the only original member involved. Since 1991, Larry Dotson, Archie Love, Bryan Smith, and Tony Gentry has been added to the group. Alexander's son is the award-winning rapper and record producer, Phalon "Jazze Pha" Alexander, who was named after deceased band-member Phalon Jones.[citation needed] Bryan Smith's son is concert promoter T.J. Smith. 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 favorite band! Please click Video to watch Viceo

Messin' With The Kid - Junior Wells

Junior Wells (December 9, 1934 – January 15, 1998), born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist. Wells, who was best known for his performances and recordings with Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker, and Buddy Guy, also performed with Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison Junior Wells was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and raised in West Memphis, Arkansas, though other sources report that his birth was in West Memphis. Initially taught by his cousin, Junior Parker, and Sonny Boy Williamson II, Wells learned how to play the harmonica by the age of seven with surprising skill. He moved to Chicago in 1948 with his mother after her divorce and began sitting in with local musicians at house parties and taverns. Wild and rebellious but needing an outlet for his talents, he began performing with The Aces (guitarist brothers Dave and Louis Myers and drummer Fred Below) and developed a more modern amplified harmonica style influenced by Little Walter. In 1952, he made his first recordings, when he replaced Little Walter in Muddy Waters' band and appeared on one of Muddy's sessions for Chess Records in 1952. His first recordings as a band leader were made in the following year for States Records. In the later 1950s and early 1960s he also recorded singles for Chief Records and its Profile Records subsidiary, including "Messin' with the Kid", "Come on in This House", and "It Hurts Me Too", which would remain in his repertoire throughout his career. His 1960 Profile single "Little by Little" (written by Chief owner and producer Mel London) reached #23 in the Billboard R&B chart, making it the first of two Wells' singles to enter the chart. Junior Wells worked with guitarist Buddy Guy in the 1960s, and featured Guy on guitar when he recorded his first album, Hoodoo Man Blues for Delmark Records. Wells and Guy supported the Rolling Stones on numerous occasions in the 1970s. Although his albums South Side Blues Jam (1971) and On Tap (1975) proved he had not lost his aptitude for Chicago blues, his 1980s and 1990s discs were inconsistent. However, 1996's Come On in This House was an intriguing set of classic blues songs with a rotating cast of slide guitarists, among them Alvin Youngblood Hart, Corey Harris, Sonny Landreth and Derek Trucks. Wells made an appearance in the film Blues Brothers 2000, the sequel to The Blues Brothers, which was released in 1998. Wells continued performing until he was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 1997. That fall, he suffered a heart attack while undergoing treatment, sending him into a coma. Wells died in Chicago, after succumbing to lymphoma on January 15, 1998, and was interred in the Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago. Wells was mentioned in the Steppenwolf song, "Tighten Up Your Wig", in which the lyrics explicitly state that they copied the music from Junior Wells' tune, "Messing with the Kid". 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 favorite band!

Little Jimmy King

Little Jimmy King (December 4, 1964 – July 21, 2002) was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. A left-handed guitarist who played the instrument upside down, he concocted his stage name in deference to his two musical heroes, Jimi Hendrix and Albert King. He is best known for his tracks "Win, Lose Or Draw" and "Upside Down and Backwards", and was the frontman of Little Jimmy King & the Memphis Soul Survivors. He variously worked with Albert King, and his brothers Eric and Eugene Gales. He was born Manuel Lynn Gales in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. At the age of six, and along with his twin brother Daniel, Jimmy received an acoustic guitar. Naturally left-handed, he learned to play with the guitar upside down, and in his early teens graduated to an electric model. His musical career commenced with him playing rock and roll, although in the 1980s his allegiance switched to playing the blues. Nevertheless, as was later noted, King often merged both genres in his playing. He joined Albert King's backing band in 1988, and the twosome gained such a friendship that Albert referred to Little Jimmy as his 'adopted' grandson. At the end of this period, the latter formally changed his name to King. After leaving Albert King's band, Little Jimmy King formed his own ensemble, called Little Jimmy King & the Memphis Soul Survivors, and released his debut album in 1991 on the Bullseye Blues label. The Allmusic journalist, Thom Owens, described the disc as "an exciting, promising debut". In 1993, King had a small cameo role in the film, The Firm, playing a street musician based in Beale Street, Memphis. King's next album was Something Inside of Me (1994). It was produced by Ron Levy. On the recording King used various musicians, billed as the King James Version Band, and also utilised Tommy Shannon (bass guitar) and Chris Layton (drums), who were formerly part of Stevie Ray Vaughan's backing ensemble, Double Trouble. One music journalist noted that the album was "caught between traditional blues and its rock equivalent", and that King himself was an "uneasy amalgam of both disparate elements, which he struggled to mould into a recognizably individual sound". In 1995, King recorded with his brothers, Eric and Eugene Gales. The resultant album, Left Hand Brand, was billed as by the Gales Brothers, and released on the House of Blues label. In addition, King played guitar on Ann Peebles' 1992 album, Full Time Love; and appeared backing Otis Clay on his album releases, I'll Treat You Right and On My Way Home. In 1997, Willie Mitchell produced King's third Bullseye Blues release, Soldier for the Blues. Cub Koda noted that the collection had a "more pronounced soul blues feeling than his two previous efforts". In September 2000, at Bobby Bland's receiving of the Blues Ball Pyramid Award, King played at the benefit tribute event. King died on July 21, 2002 in Memphis, after suffering a heart attack. 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! -  ”LIKE”

Baker Shop Boogie - Willie Nix - the Memphis Blues Boy

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 behavior 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. 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 favorite band!

Five Long Years - Eddie Boyd

Edward Riley Boyd known as Eddie Boyd (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994) was an American blues piano player, born on Stovall's Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States Boyd moved to the Beale Street district of Memphis, Tennessee in 1936 where he played piano and guitar with his group, the Dixie Rhythm Boys. Boyd followed the great migration northward to the factories of Chicago, Illinois in 1941. He wrote and recorded the hit songs "Five Long Years" (1952), "24 Hours" (1953), and the "Third Degree" (co-written by Willie Dixon, also 1953). Boyd toured Europe with Buddy Guy's band in 1965 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival.[2] He later toured and recorded with Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Tired of the racial discrimination he experienced in the United States, he first moved to Belgium[1] where he recorded with the Dutch band, Cuby and the Blizzards. He settled in Helsinki, Finland in 1970,[2] where he recorded ten blues records, the first being Praise to Helsinki (1970). He married his wife, Leila, in 1977. Boyd died in 1994 in Helsinki, Finland, just a few months before Eric Clapton released the chart-topping blues album, From the Cradle that included Boyd's "Five Long Years" and "Third Degree". 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 favorite band!

Green Onions - Steve Cropper & Donald 'Duck' Dunn

Donald “Duck” Dunn (November 24, 1941 – May 13, 2012) was an American bass guitarist, session musician, 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 which became known as Memphis Soul. At Stax, Dunn played on thousands of records including hits by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, and many others. Dunn also performed on recordings with The Blues Brothers, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Isaac Hayes, Levon Helm, Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Wilson Pickett, Guy Sebastian, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Roy Buchanan, Steely Dan, Tinsley Ellis and Arthur Conley. Dunn was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His father nicknamed him "Duck" while watching Disney cartoons with him one day. Dunn grew up playing sports and riding his bike with fellow future professional musician Steve Cropper. After Cropper began playing guitar with mutual friend 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, and trumpeter (and future co-founder of The Memphis Horns) Wayne Jackson. Cropper has noted how the self-taught Dunn started out playing along with records, filling in what he thought should be there. "That's why Duck Dunn's bass lines are very unique", Cropper said, "They're not locked into somebody's schoolbook somewhere". Axton's mother Estelle and her brother Jim Stewart owned Satellite Records and signed the band, who had a national hit with "Last Night" in 1961 under their new name "The Mar-Keys". The bassist on "Last Night" was Donald "Duck" Dunn, but he left the Mar-Keys in 1962 to join Ben Branch's big band. The Booker T and the M.G.s group was founded by Steve Cropper and Booker T. Jones in 1962; Al Jackson, Jr. served as the band's drummer. The original bassist, on early hits such as "Green Onions", was Lewie Steinberg; Dunn replaced him in 1964 Stax became known for Jackson's drum sound, the sound of The Memphis Horns, and Duck Dunn's grooves. The MGs and Dunn's bass lines on songs like Otis Redding's "Respect" and "I Can't Turn You Loose", Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'", and Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" influenced musicians everywhere. As an instrumental group, they continued to experiment with McLemore Avenue (their reworking of The Beatles' Abbey Road) and on their final outing, 1971's Melting Pot, which featured basslines that to this day serve as a source of inspiration for hip-hop artists. In the 1970s, Jones and Cropper left Stax, but Dunn and Jackson stayed with the label. He worked with Elvis Presley on his 1973 RCA Album Raised On Rock. Dunn went on to play for Muddy Waters, Freddie King, and Jerry Lee Lewis, as well as Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart. He was the featured bass player for Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty's "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" single from Nicks' 1981 debut solo album Bella Donna, as well as other Petty tracks between 1976 and 1981. He reunited with Cropper as a member of Levon Helm's RCO All Stars and also displayed his quirky Southern humor making two movies with Cropper, former Stax drummer Willie Hall, and Dan Aykroyd, as a member of The Blues Brothers band. Dunn was the bassist in Eric Clapton's band for Clapton's appearance at Live Aid in 1985. Dunn played himself in the 1980 feature The Blues Brothers, where he famously uttered the line, "We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline!" He appeared in the 1998 sequel Blues Brothers 2000, once again playing himself. Dunn & the MGs were the house band for Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary in the music business concert at Madison Square Garden playing behind Dylan, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, Sinéad O'Connor, Eddie Vedder, and Neil Young who recruited the MGs to tour with him and recorded with Dunn several times since. In the 2000s Dunn was in semi-retirement, although he still performed occasionally with Booker T & the MGs at clubs and music festivals. In June 2004, Dunn, Cropper, and Jones served as the house band for Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. The group backed such guitarists as Joe Walsh and David Hidalgo on the main stage at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. In 2008, Dunn worked with Australian soul singer Guy Sebastian touring The Memphis Album. Dunn and Steve Cropper arrived in Australia on February 20, 2008, to be Sebastian's backing band for an 18-date concert tour, The Memphis Tour. Dunn is credited with performing on a version of the standard "I Ain't Got Nobody" alongside Booker T Jones, Steve Cropper and Michel Gondry in Michel Gondry's 2008 film Be Kind Rewind. On the morning of May 13, 2012, Dunn died in his sleep after finishing his fifth double show at the Blue Note night club in Tokyo with Steve Cropper the night before. He had been in the country as part of an ongoing tour with Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd. He is survived by his wife, June; a son, Jeff; and a grandchild, Michael 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 favorite band!

Rock Me Baby - Shirley King

Shirley King "High energy, get down, get funky, jump up and jiggle your business Chicago blues." Being the blues singing daughter of B.B. King has earned Shirley King the title “Daughter of the Blues,” but she is an outstanding singer and performer in her own right. Her father's career exposed her to the company of great singers. Born and raised in Memphis, Shirley began singing in the church choir at age nine. When she was 13 she met another music legend – Etta James. Young Shirley was so impressed by Etta's performance that she made Etta her musical role model. Ruth Brown and the late Mahalia Jackson also greatly influenced the fledgling singer. She says, "I grew up around the stage watching my dad become famous, but I never imagined I'd become a blues singer too." Ms. King came late to the blues, first trying it on in 1990. Within six months, she was a regular performer at the Kingston Mines. Two years later she saw the release of her first CD, "Jump Through My Keyhole" on the Japanese GBW label. Once her father caught her act he lent his full support to Shirley's efforts at carrying on the blues tradition. She admits that having a legendary father helped her get through doors, but it was her talent, charisma and high-energy stage presence that got her invited back. From traditional blues to gospel to funky R&B to smooth soul, Shirley defies genre and her singing and stage antics will fire you up! Shirley has sung at major blues clubs and festivals worldwide. She toured the U.S., Canada, Italy, France and Iceland as “The Daughter of the Blues.” She has performed with B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Albert King, Little Milton, Tyrone Davis, Otis Clay, Jerry Butler, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Eddie Clearwater, Billy Branch and many others. 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! -  ”LIKE”