Bman's Blues Report

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Live To Be This, from The Boneshakers, and it's a soul filled blues rocker. Opening with high stepping, I'll Kick A Brick (For My Man), Jenny Langer on lead vocal sings with attitude backed with the tight drum raps of Greg Bissonette, and Randy Jacobs on guitar exchanging riffs with Rodney Lee on keys, Ron Holloway on sax, Joe Sublett on sax, and Mark Pender on trumpet and solid backing vocals by Harry Bowens, and Derrick Harris. Hot opener. Funky, How Do You Spell Love is a real workout for Langer with Bissinette on drums and super vocal and horn backing. Dobro Jones has a great country blues feel with Jacobs featured on dobro and vocal with Langer. Very nice. Here I Am is downright slinky with an excellent bottom and Ron Reinhardt on keys. Jacobs distorts his guitar for a real nice guitar solo and Langers vocals paired with Bowens, Harris, Lessly Fisher jr, and Holly Montgomery and Lenny Castro on percussion makes...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release (October 15, 2021), Soul Shaker , from Robbin Kapsalis & Vintage #18 , and I really like it. Opening with Jr Wells' Shake It Baby , Kapsalis gets into a massive James Brown style groove with excellent vocals, hot guitar riffs by Bill Holter, Alex Kuldell on drums, Mark Chandler on bass and Ron Holloway on sax. Excellent opener.  With an aggressive walking bass line on  Lost Souls , Vintage #18 really grooves. Holloway and Holter really work the solo space and Kapsalis' vocal is rich and fluid. Boogaloo is another track in the JB vein and Holloway and Holter again take nice stretches and Thomas Williams adds in some real nice trumpet. Blues shuffle, Living Large really carries a lot of weight with some of Holter's hottest guitar work on the release and Kapsalis showing strong vocals end to end. Excellent! An update on classic jazz track, Fever, is steamy. Kapsalis' vocals are deep and rich, excellent ba...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Sweet Thing , from Moonshine Society and it's rich in blues. Opening with title track, Sweet Thing , lead singer, Black Betty uses her heavy, Big Mama styling to throw this track around like a rag doll with support from the likes of Jason Ricci with Joe Poppen on guitar, Wes Lanich on keys, Tod Ellsworth on bass and Rodney Dunton on drums. R&B ballad, Come On Home has great depth with the addition of Ron Holloway on tenor sax, Vince McCool on trumpet, Ken Wenzel on Bari sax and Billy Mayfield on backing vocals. Very nice. Funky, Southern Roads is one of my favorites with a super back beat and Ricci back on harp pushing Betty vocally and the excellent drum and guitar combo of Dunton and Poppen. Use Me On Guilded Splinters takes Bill Withers' classic Use Me, reinforces the funky rock bottom and hits it with a really hard dash of guitar, then rolls it all up in gumbo … Dr John style with I Walk On Guilded Sp...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Live By The Creek , by Revelator Hill with Ron Holloway and it's a smoking blues rocker. Revelator Hill is back with another super release and this time with Ron Holloway and live! Opening with Bad Luck Goodbye , front man Bobby Thompson sets the pace with fat guitar tones, rocking rhythm and solid vocals. backed by Seth Morrissey on bass and vocal, Wes Lanich on keys and Gary Crockett on drums these guys rock the joint and guest artist Ron Holloway adds some real hot sax. Great opener. Gets Me Over is certainly a crowd pleaser with it's warm melody, Cream like vocal harmonies, ultra solid drums work reminiscent of Ginger Baker and fat sax work by Holloway. Very cool. With it's driving bass line by Morrissey, excellent slide work by Thompson, articulate drums work, a super understated bass line, Look At You Now is another solid entry which of course also includes rich sax work by Holloway. Lightly funky ba...

I just received the new release, Friend , from Billy Thompson and I think it's really super! Opening with Soldier of Misfortune , a funky rocker, Thompson demonstrates not only a cool singing voice but unique arranging talent and hot guitar riffs. Backed by Chris Dominicion keys, Gene Monroe on bass, Jonathan Greenburg on trumpet, Ian Charlton on sax, Tom Tierney on sax and Eric Selby on drums Thompson really lays out nice guitar riffs making this a really hot track. Garden has a contemporary Latin rhythm and Thompson really shosw a mastery of slide guitar and vocals and is also backed by Mr Bill Payne on keys. Interlude is a deep gripping blues ballad featuring some of the best vocal work that I have heard in weeks. Mike Finnegan adds warm organ to this track and Thompson skillfully adds nice guitar backing to his own vocals like a master trimming his bonsai. A really tasty guitar solo erupts but never out of character of a contained ballad. Masterfully beautiful! Farmer Kenny...

I just received the new release, The Crux, by Cathy Ponton King. King has assembled a who's who of contemporary blues artists including Jimmy Thackery, Ronnie Earl, Butch Warren and Ron Holloway. The release features 10 new blues ballads covering the spectrum from the zydeco influenced I Want You To Be Happy to the jazz infused Little House In The Country. Opening with Sugarface, a horn filled track with cool guitar riffs from Thackery and nice key work from Bill Starks King sets the groundwork for the release. I'm Just A Woman has a bit of country blended into the blues again featuring Thackery on guitars. The riffs on this track are right out of Thackery's bag of country tricks. Cerulean Blues is a pure ballad featuring the beautiful guitar phrasing of Ronnie Earl. Blues Companion, again featuring Earl, is a standard 12 bar blues track. Tattoo On My Heart, a country folk style ballad, features some really nice acoustic guitar work from Jason Byrd. Holloway has a nice ...