Bman's Blues Report

 I just had the opportunity to review the mot recent release, Eye Of The Storm , from Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin and it's strong. Opening with gritty Ray Wylie Hubbard's blues rocker, Snake Farm , Murray Kinsley on lead vocal and cigar box guitar slides in with thick overdrive and bluesy finesse. Dave Tettmar on drums pairs with Laura Greenberg on bass and backing vocal, setting a rock solid bottom and Steve Marriner adds great harmonica riffs making this a dynamic opener. Driving rocker, Dressed In Black , is led by Jesse O'Brien on organ, Greenberg on bass  and Kinsley on vocal and guitar but features hot harmonica riffs by Marriner. With Britsh blues overtones, this track has a great flair. Shuffle, Friday Blues , has a cool, easy pace ana features Marriner on harmonica and Kinsley on vocal upfront. O'Brien on piano lays in a real nice solo followed by Marriner making this track the most logical radio track. Wrapping the release is Blues For Sorrow , a solid, ...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Murder Creek , from Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin ( cool name by the way ) and it's a solid blues rocker. Opening with 70's Brit style blues style rocker, This Old Dawg , featuring Murray Kinsley on lead guitar and vocal, Rod Williams on harp, Leigh-Anne Stanton on bass, Tom Bona on drums, Sonny Del Rio on horns & Jesse O'Brien on keys this band is standing on solid footing. Latin rhythms permeate Dance The Blues with cool, floating harp work by Williams working nicely with flowing guitar lead by Kinsley. Very nice. Electrifying slide work opens heavy bottomed, Trouble Coming , a cool, deep rocker with solid vocals and loose guitar and harp work. Interesting. Traditional blues styling on So Long, Too Soon , makes it the likely candidate for top track with soulful vocals and Kinsley's bluesiest guitar soloing on the release. Very nice. Bass driving rocker and title track, Murder Creek has a grea...

Ottawa’s JW-Jones Releases First Live Album on September 28, 2018 Canadian and USA tour dates announced New Video:  JW-Jones - LIVE (Official Promo Video) here The improv magic you hear on JW-Jones’ 10th album, Live, is the spark that has awakened new sonic frontiers for the veteran Maple Blues Award-winning Ottawa bluesman.  “I cranked up my overdrive in concert one night for fun, and it opened up this new world of ideas for me,” admits the JUNO-nominated Jones, whose searing axemanship has been praised by Blues Revue Magazine as “a fluid amalgam of T-Bone Walker’s big, bright chords; Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson’s slashing leads and Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown’s jazzy sting.”  “I felt a new sense of freedom.” That sense of freedom resonates through Live, an exciting collection of 11 previously-unreleased songs lovingly recorded over two nights at a sold-out Gatine...

I just received the newest release, Stormy Water , from Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin and it's a great stripped down blues rocker. Opening with Dance Pretty Mama , Kinsley on lead guitar and vocal, joined by Rod Williams on harp gets this train rockin. Leigh-Anne Stanton on bass and vocals and Liam Melville on drums and vocals show that this band knows how to boogie. Kinsley rips loose with a raw guitar solo capping a super opener. By My Side is another solid rocker with a new wave touch but never falling far from it's blues roots with blues based guitar riffs, blues harp and a blues bottom. Shine opens with a cool tom tom rhythm and almost John Doe like vocals. Kinsley definitely experiments with his guitar and Williams as well on harp with Melville nailing them to the ground solid. Very cool! Sleepy John Estes', Everybody Oughta Make A Change gets a great rock beat with a taste of surf and a taste of the Eagles of Death Metal. I really like this track. Excellent...

Canada's National Blues Awards Land in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Hamilton Maple Blues Award Nominations Led by MonkeyJunk, Downchild and Steve Hill (October 30, 2014) Toronto, ON - The Toronto Blues Society will be celebrating the 18th annual Maple Blues Awards by honouring nationally and internationally recognized Canadian blues artists from across the country on January 19th, 2015.  Toronto artists lead with twenty seven nominations, followed by Montreal (15), Vancouver (9), Ottawa (8) and Hamilton (7). Ottawa’s MonkeyJunk and Toronto’s Downchild each received five nominations followed by Montreal’s Steve Hill with four. There are plenty of other acts each with multiple nominations including Fathead, Raoul & the Big Time , The 24 th Street Wailers , Brandon Isaak, Steve Strongman and Harrison Kennedy. Quebec blues artists are well represented with nominations for Jordan Officer, Angel...

  MonkeyJunk Is Hitting On All Frequencies with New Stony Plain Records CD, Coming September 24 Follow-Up to Band’s Juno Award-Winning Label Debut Pushes the Boundaries of Its Blues/Roots Music EDMONTON, AB – Stony Plain Records announces a September 24 release date for All Frequencies , the new CD from Ottawa-based blues/roots rockers MonkeyJunk. Comprised of Steve Marriner (vocals, harmonica, keyboards, baritone guitar), Tony D (lead guitar, background vocals) and Matt Sobb (drums, percussion, background vocals), MonkeyJunk plays a mix of swamp blues and funky roots rock ‘n’ roll. Produced by Steve Marriner and Ken Friesen (Blue Rodeo, The Tragically Hip), the new album includes nine original songs, plus a scorching version of the Bobby Charles classic, “Why Are People Like That?” For the uninitiated, the band takes its name from a chance remark by legendary bluesman Son House: “I’m talkin’ ‘bout the blues. I ain’t talkin’ about monkey junk.”...

Sue Foley (born March 29, 1968, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian blues singer and guitarist. Foley has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. She has recorded ten albums, for both Antone's Records and Shanachie Records. She has spent over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and manager of her own band. In addition to her own touring, she has also shared the stage with blues musicians, such as Back Alley John, B. B. King, Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker. Her initial career began in Ottawa, Canada, at the age of sixteen where, in addition to solo work, she sang with the Back Alley John Revue. Foley sent a demo tape of herself to Clifford Antone's label (Antone's Records) in 1990. Impressed, the record label arranged an audition for the guitarist. She moved to Austin, Texas and soon signed a recording contract with Antone's. Foley appeared on the bill at the 1992 San Francisco Blues Festival. In 2000 Foley won a Juno Aw...

Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM (born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian comedian, singer, actor and screenwriter. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers (with John Belushi) and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter. Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952, at the Ottawa General Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He grew up in the Canadian capital, where his father, Samuel Peter Aykroyd, a civil engineer, worked as a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. His mother, Lorraine Hélène (née Gougeon), is a secretary, of French Canadian descent. His brother, Peter, also became a comedy actor. Aykroyd was born with syndactyly (webbed toes), which was revealed in the movie Mr. Mike's Mondo Video and in a short film on Saturday Night Live (Don't Look Back In Anger). He was also born with heterochromia – his right eye is green and his left eye is brown. Aykroyd was good friends with Jo...

I just received a copy of JW-Jones new release Seventh Hour . Jones is taking a slightly different approach to this release and it could garner larger appeal. The 10 track release starts off with Ain't Gonna Beg which is rooted in R&B styling but actually bringing to mind early Yardbirds recordings. Of course there is a healthy scoop of blues guitar staying to JW's roots. Let It Go , a poppy tune, comes out with a jazzy step and produces some really tasty riffs on guitar. In A Song begins with a heavy tom tom rhythm and defines the pace of the tune but JW changes it up for the chorus with the full band breaking to more a rock beat. The guitar solos are all blues, double stops and bends, in reference to Jones' roots and pushing the track into a full rocker. You Got Caught has it's roots in the early R&B blues tracks and really gets a good groove going. I especially like the guitar solo on this with the surf tremolo sustains and articulate picking. All Over A...

OTTAWA BLUES SOCIETY’S LIZ SYKES WINS THE BLUES BOOSTER OF THE YEAR AWARD (January 9, 2012) Toronto, ON -- The Toronto Blues Society is proud to announce the recipient of the Blues Booster of the Year award, a very special Maple Blues Award honouring outstanding contribution to the Canadian blues music industry. This year, the Blues Booster of the Year Award goes to Liz Sykes , President of the Ottawa Blues Society. Sykes, who has been president of the Ottawa Blues Society for ten years, started out as a volunteer writer and editor on the newsletter committee after becoming passionate about blues music through her son. “My older son Marc is the one who got me interested in blues, which would have been in late 1994 - early 1995. He was 18 at the time, too young to be going to the bars to hear blues, but he somehow managed!” she recalls. The Ottawa Blues Society was formed in 1997, and is led by a small dedicated Board of Directors. The society’s ...