Bman's Blues Report

I just received the newest release, The Ragpicker String Band by Mary Flower, Rich DelGrosso and Martin Grosswendt and it's refreshing. Opening with Walter Vinson's Honey Babe , Martin takes the lead on vocals and guitar with Mary on harmony and slide and Rich on harmony and mandolin. Nicely blended vocals, warm slide and clean mando work makes for a super opener. Lil Johnson's Minor Blues features Mary on lead vocals and she does a really nice job grabbing the tension of the original. A tight mando solo by Rich and Mary's guitar accompaniment enriched by Martin on fiddle rounds out the track. Contemporary Google Blues by Rich Lyons, features DelGrosso on lead vocal and mando. Martin's bottleneck slide work on this track is really sweet and Mary rounds out the track with clean guitar riffs. Very nice! A change in perspective altogether with Thelonious Monk's, Blue Monk ... rag style. Mary on guitar, Martin on slide and Rich on mando...very nice! Sleepy John...

Rich DelGrosso’s performances at clubs and festivals and the airplay of his recordings have garnered him five Blues Music Award nominations. His most recent is "Best Instrumentalist-Other" for his mandolin. Last year he was nominated for "Instrumentalist" and for "Acoustic Album of the Year," “Live From Bluesville,” a recorded jam session at XM radio’s “B.B.King’s Bluesville,”with Blues Music Award nominees and winners Fiona Boyes and Mookie Brill. This writer/teacher/performer, is widely regarded as the leading exponent of mandolin blues. According to author/historian Mark Hoffman, DelGrosso is "the greatest living blues mandoman, the best since Yank (Rachell)." For over twenty years DelGrosso has written articles for Blues Revue, Living Blues, Mandolin Magazine, Frets, and Sing Out! and he has published instruction books on mandolin for Hal Leonard. He has presented workshops on mandolin across the country and in Europe, earning him a Keeping t...