Bman's Blues Report

We’ve had our eye on Cory for just about as long as he’s been honing his air-tight, clever version of the perfect storysong. For those who don’t know him, though, Branan is the owner of two well-crafted, kinetically charged albums - 2002’s The Hell You Say and 2006’s 12 Songs – on Madjack Records. From the two releases came standouts (“The Prettiest Waitress in Memphis,” “A Girl Named Go,” “Tall Green Grass,” and many others) that we’ve listened to in embarrassing amounts, and then probably annoyed our friends with to boot. He has garnered praise from Rolling Stone, GQ, Billboard, and performed on Late Night with David Letterman (look at that baby face, here ). Cory has a well-documented history with groups like former label mates Lucero, musicians of his ilk who trend toward the rawer end of roots music (The Loved Ones’ Dave Hause, Chuck Ragan, Two Cow Garage, Drag the River’s Jon Snodgrass), and rock stars like Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional), who has co...

Johnnie Billington was born in 1935 in Crowder, Mississippi, a small community on the Quitman/Panola county line. His father was a sharecropper and he grew up working on the farm. He first became interested in music through listening to the legendary blues show, King Biscuit Time, which was broadcast from nearby Helena, Arkansas. Billington's father bought him a guitar when he was ten years old and he began teaching himself the instrument by playing along with the King Biscuit performers. By the age of thirteen he was playing in clubs throughout the Delta with a Clarksdale-based group. In the early 1950s the other members of the band migrated to cities in the north. Billington left in 1954, first moving to Arizona, then settling in Chicago in 1959. There he reunited with his Mississippi bandmates and they began playing local clubs. Sometimes they were able to jam with some of the legendary Chicago bluesmen (and fellow Mississippi natives) such as Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and Ear...

Duwayne Burnside was born in the late sixties in Senatobia, Mississippi and grew up hearing his father, R.L. Burnside, and family, as well as neighbors play music; guitar driven Mississippi hill country blues. Along with his family and neighbors, the radio was another influence on Duwayne's evolving style. He picked up the guitar before he was old enough to hold it himself. Growing up, he played guitar behind his father, but more so backing local club owner Junior Kimbrough and the Soul Blues Boys. And with Memphis, Tennessee being as close as it was, Duwayne began playing and sitting in with seasoned and well known musicians that frequented town, such as Little Jimmy King, Albert King, B.B. King, Bobby Blue Band, and others. “Like” Bman’s Facebook page (available in over 50 languages). I will not relay senseless nonsense. In this way I can get out the word on new talent, venues and blues happenings! - click Here

Jimmy Johnson (born James Earl Thompson, November 25, 1928, Holly Springs, Mississippi) is an American blues guitarist and singer. Several of Johnson's brothers had careers in music; among them are soul musician Syl Johnson and Magic Sam bassist Mack Thompson. In his younger years he played piano and sang in gospel groups. He and his family moved to Chicago in 1950, where he worked as a welder and played guitar in his spare time. He began playing professionally with Slim Willis in 1959, changing his last name to Johnson like his brother Syl. As a guitarist he was influenced by both Buddy Guy and Otis Rush and he played with Freddy King, Albert King, Magic Sam and Eddy Clearwater among others. In the 1960s he played more R&B music, working with Otis Clay, Denise LaSalle, and Garland Green. He also had his own group from the early sixties, and by the late sixties he had released his first single. By 1974 he had returned to blues playing, working with Jimmy Dawkins and touring Jap...

Hubert Sumlin (born November 16, 1931) is an American blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions". Listed as number sixty-five in the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, Sumlin continues to tour and play blues guitar. He is cited as a major influence by many artists, including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Robbie Robertson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Albert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew (September 5, 1907 – March 17, 1995) was an American blues pianist, who was born in the Mississippi Delta and later moved to Chicago, to contribute to that city's post-war scene as a center for blues music. Chicago's broadcaster and writer, Studs Terkel, said Sunnyland Slim was "a living piece of our folk history, gallantly ...

Robert Potts was born into a large family in Greenwood, MS. In 1967, he moved to Memphis to start his career in music. His first stop was an audition at Stax Recording and Hi Records. . In, 1970 he penned and recorded his first 45 single entitled, "Funky Postman" and "Under Your Spell." These releases lead to him appearing on local television, The Talent Party and Swing Shift. In the 1980's he landed a recording contract with 8th Street Records. Several singles were released including "Lost In The County Jail", "Seven Years Blues", and several cover tunes. The recordings were jukebox favorites. He also is a successful songwriter penning the tune "Don't Make Me Late," by Johnnie Taylor, which he co-wrote with George Jackson. In 1995 Dr. "Feelgood" started his own Record label, RLP Records. He released a single in 1996 and a full length CD in 1997. The CD, entitled "Love Starved," consisted of ten songs, {a com...

Denise LaSalle (born 16 July 1939, Belzoni, Mississippi) is an American urban, R&B/soul singer, songwriter, and record producer. Most sources give her name at birth as Denise Craig, although it has also been stated that she was born Denise Allen, and that the name Craig derives from an early marriage. Raised in Belzoni, Mississippi, she sang in local churches before moving to Chicago in the early 1960s. She sat in with R&B musicians and wrote songs, influenced by country music as well as the blues, before winning a recording contract with Chess Records in 1967. Her first single, "A Love Reputation" was a modest regional hit. After establishing an independent production company, Crajon, with her then husband Bill Jones, her first major success came in 1971 when her self-penned song, "Trapped By A Thing Called Love", released on Westbound Records, made #1 on the national R&B chart and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song ranked at #85 on the 1971 y...

Dexter Allen born in Crystal Springs Mississippi, started out playing guitar at the church where his father was pastor. Traveling and performing with Bobby Rush to France, Japan, Germany, Spain, China, Finland, Iraq, Kuwait, Sweden and all over the United States, was the vehicle that headed Dexter down the road of Blues. After the Rush experience, Dexter decided to form his own band and began playing clubs and venues all over the southeast and southwest. This has proven to be successful in spreading his unique style of guitar playing, and vocal ability. His unique style landed the 2008 Jackson Music Award for Male Vocalist. His current album titled Bluezin My Way,tells stories of Love, Lust, Lies, and Allibites, which landed him the Jackson Music awards 2009 Entertainer of the Year. For Christmas of 2009 Dexter also released “Hello Ms Santa Claus” which D.J.’s predict to be a holiday standard. Dexter also lends his time and talents for blues workshops in area schools. His music and ent...

Doctor Ross (October 21, 1925 – May 28, 1993), aka Doctor Ross, the harmonica boss, was an American blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player and drummer — a one-man band — who was born Charles Isaiah Ross, in Tunica, Mississippi. Ross played various forms of the blues that have seen him compared to John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson I, and is perhaps best known for the recordings he made for Sun Records in the 1950s, notably "The Boogie Disease" and "Chicago Breakdown". In 1951 Ross began to be heard on Mississippi and Arkansas radio stations, now nicknamed Doctor because of his habit of carrying his harmonicas in a black bag that resembled a doctor's bag. Over the next three years he recorded in Memphis, Tennessee for both Chess and Sun, creating exhilarating harmonica or guitar boogies made distinctive by his sidemen playing washboard (with a spoon and fork) and broom. In 1954 Ross took a job with General Motors in Flint, Michigan, and reduced his playi...

When Eric first left the Yardbirds he had a short stint with John Mayall and then into Delaney and Bonnie. Delaney Bramlett's musical history spans three decades making it difficult to pinpoint in such a short space his contributions to the world of music. Known as a great songwriter, singer and musician, he has also been a mentor to some of the very best: Eric Clapton, George Harrison, J.J. Cale and Bobby Whitlock to name just a few. From modest beginnings in Pontotoc, Mississippi, Delaney worked his way to the top, but not before a few side adventures. Life in his hometown wasn't for the budding music man and the only way to survive was to pick cotton or join the Armed Services. Delaney joined the Navy for three years and said goodbye to Mississippi. After his release from the Navy with Mississippi in his heart and his feet in Los Angeles he moved his family to be with him, where he has remained ever since. Cliffie Stone recalls a young kid hanging around the studio watching ...

Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist. Hooker rarely sang and in a genre where the stars were vocalists or vocalists/instrumentalists, his commercial success was limited. However, he "was undeniably a virtuoso among guitar players" and has been acknowledged by many of his peers. As B.B. King commented: "to me he is the best of modern guitarists. Period. With the slide he was the best. It was nobody else like him, he was just one of a kind". In case you're wondering...yeah...JL Hookers cousin.

Unlike his contemporaries Elmore James and Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker used standard tuning on his guitar for slide playing. He also used a short steel slide. This allowed him to switch between slide and fretted playing during a song with greater ease. Part of his slide sound has been attributed to his light touch, a technique he learned from Robert Nighthawk. "Instead of using full-chord glissando effects, he preferred the more subtle single-note runs inherited from others who played slide in standard tuning, [such as] Tampa Red, Houston Stackhouse, and his mentor Robert Nighthawk." In addition to his mastery of slide guitar, Hooker was also a highly developed standard-guitar soloist and rhythm player. At a time when many blues guitarists were emulating B.B. King, Hooker maintained his own course. Although he was a bluesman at heart, Hooker was adept at several musical styles, which he incorporated into his playing as it suited him. Depending on his mood and audience reaction,...