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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!


Please email me at Info@Bmansbluesreport.com
Showing posts with label Mississippi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mississippi. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Ruf Records artist: Heather Crosse - Grooving At The Crosse Roads - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Grooving At The Crosse Roads, from Heather Crosse. This is an 11 track release of pure contemporary pop/light jazz music with a twist on R&B/Blues. Backed by Heavy Suga' & The SweetTones,this release has some real bright spots. Crosse plays bass as well as performs on lead vocal and does a real nice job. On opener My Man Called Me,Dan Smith hits a real nice guitar riff and Mark Yacovone sets a perfect stage on piano. On Why Does A Woman Need A Bass Guitar, Crosse really plays heavy bass with a few hot bass riffs in addition to what I'd call lead bass under the melody. Very nice! Clarksdale Shuffle is light and easy and Crosse's vocals are sweet as mama's home made pie. My favorite track, Hurryin' Up To Relax, has a cool R&B feel and warm backing vocals by Sandy Carroll. Nice shuffle track, Walking In Their Shoes finds Smith laysing out some really tasty guitar and slide solos and Yacovone's piano work is stellar. On blues ballad, Damn Your Eyes, Yacovone's piano and keyboard contributions are clearly super. Another R&B track, penned by Crosse, Steppin' Up Strong has a real Curtis Mayfield feel with warm backing vocals by Vicki Atkins and Yacovone's organ work really dresses the track nicely. Funky pop track, Bad Boy Kiss has a strong radio hook and Crosse's bass work, nicely grounds slick soloing from Smith and Vacovone. A tasty lead guitar line opens shuffle track, Call On Me and tight drums by Lee Williams, swinging guitar riffs from Smith, beefy organ by Vacovone and warm backing vocals by Atkins make this one of the top tracks on the release. Latin influenced, You Don't Move Me No More finds Crosse grinding out her vocals with a sassy attitude. I must say that watching a performance of Ms Crosse (disabled on youtube) was quite interesting. She really appears to be having a great time which is contagious. Her bass playing is aggressive and her smile is never ending. This is a artist to keep an eye on.

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Friday, October 9, 2015

Don't miss the FREE Bukka White Blues Festival​ next weekend, October 16th & 17th!





Don't miss the FREE Bukka White Blues Festival next weekend, October 16th & 17th!
Held in Aberdeen, Mississippi at the beautiful Blue Bluff Recreation Area on Lock & Dam Road along the banks of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway

Enjoy live Mississippi Blues including Kenny Brown, Big George Brock, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Lightnin Malcolm, Duwayne Burnside, Bill "Howlin' Mad" Perry & many more!  Enter the Ribs on the River Barbecue Rib Contest with over $2,500 in prizes!
Plenty of kids activities including a petting zoo, bounce houses and an animal show featuring animals of the rain forest!  Rent a kayak or dock your boat!  Enter your pet in the Rover on the River Pet Costume Parade!  Arts & Crafts / Informational Booth applications still accepted! Beautiful Mississippi October blue skies on green grass!
Coolers Allowed!










Tuesday, August 18, 2015

DEEP BLUES FESTIVAL HEADS BACK TO CLARKSDALE, MS OCT. 15-18 FOR ITS SECOND YEAR!



DEEP BLUES FESTIVAL 2015 KICKS OFF ITS SECOND YEAR IN CLARKSDALE, MS THIS OCTOBER!

FOUR-DAY FEST TO FEATURE GREAT DEEP BLUES ACTS INCLUDING LEFT LANE CRUISER, SCOTT H. BIRAM, DALE BEAVERS, HENRY'S FUNERAL SHOE, ELEGANZA! AND MANY OTHERS! 


ADDITIONAL BANDS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
Tickets are on sale to the general public for the Juke Joint Chapel venue at the Shack Up Inn.  $150 for the four day pass ($40 individual days).
Other venues will have their own cover charge or tip jars.

FOR MORE INFO ON THE DEEP BLUES FESTIVAL 2015:

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Clarksdale, Mississippi's DELTA BUSKING FESTIVAL returns with 2 stages over 3 days!





Clarksdale, Mississippi's 2nd annual Delta Busking Festival pays tribute to blues music's street musician tradition

 
DELTA BUSKING FESTIVAL FEATURES THE HISTORIC STREETS OF CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI, AS A FREE STAGE FOR THE BLUES
 
Clarksdale, Mississippi – This weekend, the Delta Busking Festival returns for its second year in blues-historic Clarksdale, Mississippi. It is part of the tri-state area's Bridging The Blues roster of events.
 
"As far as we know, this is the only blues festival created in tribute to the Delta's street musician tradition," said festival co-organizer Roger Stolle, also owner of Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art. "From Robert Johnson to Foster 'Mr. Tater' Wiley, the blues has always been built on the tips and exposure that street performances offer hard-working musicians."
 
This year's Delta Busking Festival runs Friday-Sunday, September 26-28. It is a daytime event on two stages (plus pop-up performances around town) in front of downtown Clarksdale's iconic Cat Head blues store and world-famous Rock & Blues Museum. And, as co-organizer Theo Dasbach loves to point out, the music doesn't stop at 5pm.
 
"In Clarksdale, we are very fortunate to enjoy live blues music 7 nights a week, every week," said Dasbach, also the founder of the Rock & Blues Museum. "After you enjoy our festival stages during the day, you can go out for music at Red's Lounge, Ground Zero Blues Club and other hot spots at night."
 
The festival is a free event. The event poster was sponsored by Clarksdale-Coahoma County Tourism. Attendees are encouraged to tip the festival musicians as well as buy CDs from the artists.
 
More information:
www.blues2rock.com
www.cathead.biz
www.bridgingtheblues.com
www.msbluestrail.org
 
2014 DELTA BUSKING FESTIVAL LINE-UP (subject to change):

Friday, Sept. 26, 2014

Cat Head Stage (252 Delta Ave.)
11am - RL SUPERBAD
1pm - Libby Rae Watson
3pm - Orland Moses with BluesGate Jams

Rock & Blues Museum Stage (113 E. 2nd St.)
11am - T.D. Boogieman
1pm - RL SUPERBAD
3pm - Made In Blues

Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014
 
Cat Head Stage (252 Delta Ave.)
11am - Stinkeye
1pm - The Blues Doctors w/Adam Gussow & Alan Gross
3pm - Zakk and Big Papa Binns

Rock & Blues Museum Stage (113 E. 2nd St.)
11am - RL SUPERBAD
1pm - Made in Blues
3pm - La La

Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014
 
Cat Head Stage (252 Delta Ave.)
11:30am - Preston Rumbaugh
1pm - Deak Harp

Rock & Blues Museum Stage (113 E. 2nd St.)
11am - RL SUPERBAD
1pm - Made in Blues
3pm - Tony Mac and The Blues Connection
 
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ATTACHED:
- Bridging The Blues (logo)
- Delta Busking Festival (poster)

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Paul Thorn readies 'Too Blessed to Be Stressed' album for August 19 release.


MISSISSIPPI-BRED SINGER PAUL THORN
CRAFTS AN ORIGINAL SET OF ROCK ANTHEMS FOR HIS NEW ALBUM,

TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED,
OUT AUGUST 19 ON PERPETUAL OBSCURITY/THIRTY TIGERS

Heralded songwriter follows up his most successful release to date
— plus his AAA radio airplay-winning contribution to the
Jackson Browne tribute disc —
with 10 feel-good numbers that already have audiences singing along

MONROE COUNTY, Miss. — Paul Thorn’s new album Too Blessed To Be Stressed stakes out new territory for the popular roots-rock songwriter and performer. “In the past, I’ve told stories that were mostly inspired by my own life,” the former prizefighter and literal son of a preacher man offers. “This time, I’ve written 10 songs that express more universal truths, and I’ve done it with a purpose: to make people feel good.”
Which explains numbers like the acoustic-electric charmer “Rob You of Your Joy,” where Thorn’s warm peaches-and-molasses singing dispenses advice on avoiding the pitfalls of life. And then there is the title track which borrows its tag from a familiar saying among the members of the African-American Baptist churches Thorn frequented in his childhood. “I’d ask, ‘How you doin’, sister?’ And what I’d often hear back was, ‘I’m too blessed to be stressed.’” In the hands of Thorn and his faithful band, who’ve been together 20 years, the tune applies its own funky balm, interlacing a percolating drum and keyboard rhythm with the slinky guitar lines beneath his playful banter.Thorn’s trademark humor is abundant throughout the album, which will be released August 19, 2014 on Perpetual Obscurity/Thirty Tigers. “Backslide on Friday” is a warm-spirited poke at personal foibles. “I promised myself not to write about me, but I did on ‘Backslide,’” Thorn relates. The chipper pop tune is a confession about procrastination, sweetened by Bill Hinds’ slide guitar and Thorn’s gently arching melody. “But,” Thorn protests, “I know I’m not the only one who says he’s gonna diet and just eat Blue Bell vanilla ice cream on Sundays, and then ends up eating it every day!”
 
“Mediocrity Is King” takes a wider swipe, at our culture’s hyper-drive addiction to celebrity artifice and rampant consumerism. But like “Everything Is Gonna Be All Right,” a rocking celebration of the simple joys of life, it’s done with Thorn’s unflagging belief in the inherent goodness of the human heart.
“I don’t think I could have written anthemic songs like this if I hadn’t made my last album,” Thorn says of 2012’s What the Hell Is Goin’ On? Like 2010’s autobiographical Pimps & Preachers, it was among its year’s most played CDs on Americana radio and contributed to Thorn’s rapidly growing fan base. And Thorn followed that airplay success with his AAA radio hit version of “Doctor My Eyes” from April 2014’s Looking Into You: A Tribute to Jackson Browne. The latter also features Grammy winners Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, the Indigo Girls, Lucinda Williams, Keb’ Mo’, Ben Harper and Don Henley.
What the Hell Is Goin’ On? was also Thorn’s first set of songs written by other artists, borrowed from the catalogs of Allen Toussaint, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Rick Danko, among others.
“I lived with those songs and studied them before I recorded that album, and that changed me and made me grow as a songwriter,” Thorn relates. “Lindsey Buckingham’s ‘Don’t Let Me Down Again’ especially got me thinking. It was a rock anthem with a sing-along hook, and I fell in love with it and the idea of big vocal hooks. So every song on Too Blessed To Be Stressed has a big vocal hook in it. And it works! We’ve been playing these songs in concert, and by the time the chorus comes along for the second time people are singing along. I’ve never seen that happen with my unreleased songs before, and I love it.”
It helps that those big vocal hooks on Too Blessed To Be Stressed are being reinforced by the sound of Thorn’s flexible and dynamic band, as they have been doing for years in concert. During their two decades in the club, theater and festival trenches, the four-piece and their frontman have garnered a reputation for shows that ricochet from humor to poignancy to knock-out rock ’n’ roll. Guitarist Bill Hinds is the perfect, edgy foil for Thorn’s warm, laconic salt o’ the earth delivery — a veritable living library of glowing tones, sultry slide and sonic invention. Keyboardist Michael “Dr. Love” Graham displays a gift for melody that reinforces Thorn’s hooks while creating his own impact, and helps expand the group’s rhythmic force. Meanwhile drummer Jeffrey Perkins and bassist Ralph Friedrichsen are a force, propelling every tune with just the right amount of up-tempo power or deep-in-the-groove restraint.
“These guys really bring my songs to life,” says Thorn. “A lot of albums sound like they’re made by a singer with bored studio musicians. My albums sound they’re played by a real blood-and-guts band because that’s what we are. And when we get up on stage, people hear and see that.”
Thorn’s earlier catalog is cherished by his many fans thanks to his down-home perspective, vivid-yet-plainspoken language and colorful characters. It helps that Thorn is a colorful and distinctly Southern personality himself. He was raised in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the land of cotton and catfish. And churches
“My father was a preacher, so I went with him to churches that white people attended and churches that black people attended,” Thorn says. “The white people sang gospel like it was country music, and the black people sang it like it was rhythm and blues. But both black and white people attended my father’s church, and that’s how I learned to sing mixing those styles.”
His performances were generally limited to the pews until sixth grade. “I’m dyslexic, and got held back in sixth grade,” Thorn relates. “I didn’t have to face the embarrassment, because my family moved and I ended up in a new school. There was a talent show, and I sang ‘Three Times a Lady’ by Lionel Ritchie with my acoustic guitar, and suddenly I went from being a social outcast to the most desired boy on the playground. The feeling I got from that adulation stuck with me and propelled me to where I am today.”
At age 17, Thorn met songwriter Billy Maddox, who became his friend and mentor. It would take several detours — working in a furniture factory, boxing, jumping out of airplanes — until Thorn committed to the singer-songwriter’s life. But through it all he and Maddox remained friends, and Maddox became Thorn’s songwriting partner and co-producer.
Nonetheless, Thorn possessed the ability to charm audiences right from the start. Not only with his music, but with the stories he tells from the stage. “Showmanship is a dying art that I learned from watching Dean Martin on TV when I was a kid,” Thorn explains. “He could tell little jokes and then deliver a serious song, then make you laugh again. And he would look into the camera like he was looking right at you through the TV. That’s what I want to do — make people feel like I’m talking directly to them.”
That’s really Thorn’s mission for Too Blessed To Be Stressed, which can be heard as a running conversation about life between Thorn and listeners — a conversation leavened with gentle insights, small inspirations and plenty of cheer.   
“I wrote these songs hoping they might put people in a positive mindset and encourage them to count their own blessings, like I count mine,” Thorn observes. “There’s no higher goal I could set for myself than to help other people find some happiness and gratitude in their lives.”     

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Oxford, Mississippi's The Blues Doctors release debut CD

ROOSTERS HAPPY HOUR IS DEBUT CD FROM THE BLUES DOCTORS
 
Oxford, Mississippi — Got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu? Or perhaps a hole in your soul? Well, a new Mississippi-made blues release aims to cure it.
 
The Blues Doctors are in.
 
Leading up to their performance at Clarksdale, Mississippi's Juke Joint Festival, the Oxford-based blues duo of Adam Gussow and Alan Gross has released its debut CD as The Blues Doctors.
 
"We're really looking forward to this year's Juke Joint Festival," said Gussow. "A lot of the tracks on our new album are things we beat into shape on the streets of Oxford, so a big street festival in Clarksdale should feel just like home."
 
Named for the steady Friday gig at Rooster’s Blues House in Oxford, Mississippi, where Gussow and Gross hammered our their dynamic two-man sound, Roosters Happy Hour aims to please traditional and adventurous blues fans alike.
 
Gussow describes The Blues Doctors as "a power blues trio without the bass." The third leg of the duo is actually Gussow’s thumping kick drum. The result is a hard-swinging jump combo distilled to the bare essentials, propelled by Gross’s jangling guitar and Gussow’s over-the-top harp lines.
 
"Alan and I had crossed paths on the Ole Miss campus for ten years, but we didn't actually hook up musically until the summer of 2012," recalled Gussow. "I needed a local guitar-man to go along with my one-man band thing, and he needed a new challenge. That's how the Blues Doctors were born."
 
Describing Roosters Happy Hour — a mix of new originals and classic covers — as "down-home blues with a big-city angle of attack," the duo is always ready to take the show on the road. They headline Juke Joint Festival's Sunflower Avenue Gazebo Stage on Saturday, April 12th at 5pm.
 
For those who can't make The Blues Doctors upcoming festival show, the new album is available as a download or CD at www.thebluesdoctors.net. The album is also available via iTunes, Amazon and CDbaby.
 
BIOGRAPHIES:
 
Adam Gussow needs little introduction to blues harmonica fans. Founder of ModernBluesHarmonica.com, organizer of the Hill Country Harmonica festival, Gussow is best known for his twenty-five year partnership with Mississippi-born guitarist and one-man-band Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee as the duo Satan and Adam. Their releases include the W. C. Handy-nominated Harlem Blues (1991), Mother Mojo (1993), Living on the River (1996), and Back in the Game (2011). A longtime member of the New York City blues scene before relocating to Mississippi in 2002, Gussow has performed and recorded with many guitar-men, including Wild Jimmy Spruill, Larry Johnson, Charlie Hilbert, Robert Ross, Andrew "Shine" Turner, Bill Sims, Jr., Irving Louis Lattin, and Brian Kramer. Gussow's debut solo album, Kick and Stomp (2010), rose to the #2 position in the "picks to click" category on Bluesville (SiriusXM), America's premier satellite radio blues show. His second solo album, Southbound (2011), spent March and April 2012 at the #1 position on the Mississippi Roots Radio Airplay Chart. An associate professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, Gussow has written three award-winning books about the blues, including Mister Satan's Apprentice (1998), a memoir about his time as a Harlem street musician.
 
Alan Gross is perhaps best-known for his long association with Mississippi bluesman Terry "Harmonica" Bean — he's played guitar in his band for a decade — and work with hill country performers Kenny Kimbrough, Lightnin' Malcolm and Eric Deaton. He's also gigged with R. L. Boyce, a mainstay of Otha Turner's Rising Star Fife and Drum ensemble, and played numerous festivals across the state of Mississippi. A professor of clinical psychology at the University of Mississippi for almost thirty years, his guitar influences include Muddy Waters, Duke Robillard, Jimmie Vaughan, and Warren Haynes.


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For hi-res album art and photos, please email asgussow@aol.com

Monday, February 10, 2014

Deep Blues Bonus Lonnie Pitchford

Lonnie Pitchford (October 8, 1955 – November 8, 1998) was an American blues musician and instrument maker from Lexington, Mississippi. He was notable in that he was one of only a handful of young African American musicians from Mississippi who had learned and was continuing the Delta blues and country blues traditions of the older generations. In addition to the acoustic and electric guitar, Pitchford was also skilled at the one-string guitar and diddley bow, a one-string instrument of African origin, as well as the double bass, piano and harmonica. He was a protégé of Robert Lockwood, Jr., from whom he learned the style of Robert Johnson. His own debut album, All Round Man was released on Rooster Blues Records in 1994. In November 1998, Pitchford died at his home in Lexington, from AIDS. A diddley bow is featured on his headstone which was paid for by John Fogerty and Rooster Blues Records through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund. His grave is located near the grave of Elmore James, in the New Port Baptist Church cemetery in Holmes County, Mississippi.

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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Big Joe Shelton - I'd Never let Her Down - New Release Review

I just received the newest release from Big Joe Shelton and it's quite entertaining. Opening with Frog's Hair, a shuffle tune, Shelton rally's the troops with his ruckus vocals, Ben Ferrell responds with hot riffs on the guitar and David Reese hits the keys. On title track, I'd Never Let Her Down, Bob Damm keeps a Latin rhythm as Shelton tells the tale, Doug Thomas warms up the track with nice sax work and Ferrell steps up with stinging guitar riffs. How Good Love Could Be highlights Shelton's skills on harp with a Butterfield like blues track. Stop The Hating is a reggae style track and Damm is tight with Ed Swan on bass. Laugh Out Loud is a blues ballad with nice melodic guitar riffs from Ferrell and complimentary sax riffs from Thomas. Little Willie has a strong Bo Diddley style track reminiscent of Willie and the Hand Jive or Willie the Wimp. Shelton shows really nice story telling skills on this track and slide work from Ferrell makes this track hot. Catfish Ed is a laid back country style track with a nice intro from Susan Alcorn Lobato on steel. David Reese rools the 88's nicely on this track as well. Pity Party is a solid ballad featuring some of Shelton's best vocal work on the release. Strong Addiction, a Chicago style blues track finds Shelton back on harp and the track is rolling. Another stinging solo from Ferrell on this track is a nice compliment. Riding With The Wind has country styling with a Latin rhythm. Actually pretty cool with guitar effects. I really like Ferrell's work on this track that I can only describe as like early John Mayall in nature. Wrapping the release is Leaving Yo Behind has a feel of Evil (Going On) with a cool bottom and smokey harp from Shelton and easy slide from Farrell. This is a cool release and one that I enjoyed reviewing.

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