Bman's Blues Report

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Kingdom , from Amanda Fish and I really like it! Opening with Mockingbird , a cool blues rocker, Amanda Fish on vocal and guitar gets this thing moving with solid vocals and a hot rhythm by Terry Midkiff on guitar and slide and Paul Niehaus IV on bass and guitar lays in a real nice guitar solo of his own joined by Billie Baumann on percussion, Glen James on drums and Mama Moo on backing vocals. Excellent opener. With a twist of R&B, The Hard Way is a cool radio track with a great melody and tight vocal harmonies between Fish and MM. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Country flavored, Broke Ass Blues with Dylan Farrell on guitar and Niehaus on bass. Really potent slide work by Midkiff and soulful vocals by Fish give this track just the right edge. Another favorite track is Work , featuring Richard Rosenblatt on harmonica. His riffs and tone play perfectly on this track really complimenting Fish's powerful...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Bright Shining Stars , from Danielle Miraglia , and it's a solid contemporary acoustic blues release. Opening with original track, Sounds Like Home , Miraglia on lead vocal and acoustic guitar, backed by Laurence Scudder on viola has the sound of the delta. Ma Rainey's C.C. Rider has a strong country feel on a slow, guitar driven pace and accents by Scudder adds a real nice contrast. Janis Joplin's Turtle Blues shows Miraglia's own take on Joplin's style, blended with acoustic folk styling and some real tasty guitar chops. One of my favorites tracks on the release is Keb Mo's You Can Love Yourself with it's country blues style picking and with the addition of some real nice slide work by Peter Parcek. Bob Dylan's Meet Me In The Morning has reall nice dynamics with some of Miraglia's best vocals on the release. Her tight slide riffs add significantly to the feel of the track and Richard...

A few weeks late but here is the review of Erin Harpe & The Delta Swingers newest release, The Christmas Swing and it's quite good. Opening with Jingle Bell Blues , a really bluesy twist on Jingle Bells allows Harpe great latitude in super slide work and solid vocals. Backed by Jim Countryman on bass, Matt Prozaleck on harp and Chris Arizalone on drums, this really is a super attempt at making non traditional Christmas music listenable (as opposed to the wildly played but horrible Springsteen's Santa Claus is Coming to Town). Country swinger, The Night Before Christmas , has Harpe telling the famous story in synch with country blues picking, light percussion and solid harp. Traditional 30's style, At The Christmas Ball has Harpe belting out the blues accompanied by kazoo and John Juxo on piano. Very cool. Title track, The Christmas Swing has a solid bass groove and nice vocal harmonies with harp work by Richard Rosenblatt. Chuck Berry's sixties rocker, Run R...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Free , from Amanda Fish and it's cool. Fish takes a raw pop edge with soul to create her own voice. Opening with 2020 , a funky blues track Fish kicks off her shoes and captures that southern rock Muscle Shoals" feel with Dave Hays on guitar. Cool opener. Boogie track, Not Anymore has a great driving bass line and with Richard Rosenblatt spicing up the track on harp. Boogie! One of my favorite tracks on the release is Anymore with really nice soulful vocals and Chris Hazelton joining on organ. Blessed is full blown gospel style soul with Sarah Morgan on backing vocals and Ken Valdez on guitar. Alastair Greene kicks it into high gear on rocker, Going Down with super slide guitar. Very cool. Powerful soul ballad, You Could Be shows just how gripping Fish's vocals can be when she digs down and she does dig. Coyote Bill adds some hot flashes on guitar joined by Hazelton on organ. Hot and heavy. Another boog...

I just received the newest release (11/4/14), Love Whip Blues , by Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers and it's relaxed and enjoyable. Opening with The Delta Swing , Erin Harpe leads the way on vocal and Jim Countryman plays a real nice bass line. Richard Rosenblatt on harp contributes throughout on harp and Bob Nisi hold the tempo on drums. On title track, Love Whip Blues , Harpe shows the dynamics of her vocals on a track from the linage of Memphis Minnie and Dave Gross adds some cool keys effects. Willie Brown's Future Blues is up next with a lot of spring and Sonny Jim Clifford on slide. Good Luck Baby has a R&B favor with a twist of island. A very poppy tune with a smooth melody it's a perfect track for airplay. Lucille Bogan's The M&O Blues has a real nice sway to it, highlighted by the harp work of Rosenblatt and and thick slide work of Bob Margolin. Excellent! One Way Man based on William Moore's One Way Gal is a light springy blues track and a...