Bman's Blues Report

 SMOKIN' JOE KUBEK  (1956 - 2015)   Acclaimed blues guitarist Smokin' Joe Kubek passed away suddenly on October 11, 2015, in North Carolina. His long-time musical partner Bnois King said, "He loved the blues. He was always very serious about the music and the presentation of the music.  He had a modern style but he really studied those old cats.  And, he would literally give you the shirt off his back.  He was a great friend." Visitation Hours This Sunday, October 18, visitation hours for fans who want to pay their last respects will be from 3-5 pm at Donnelly's Colonial Funeral Home, 606 West Airport Freeway in Irving, Texas (972-579-1313).  The following graveside service will be private, restricted to family and very close friends only. Thanks to Music Cares, The Blues Fou...

  NOTED GUITARIST "SMOKIN'" JOE KUBEK PASSES AT AGE 58 Acclaimed guitarist Smokin' Joe Kubek passed away yesterday while on tour in North Carolina.   He was 58.  There's no question why he was given the nickname "Smokin’."  He was one of the hottest electric guitar players on the blues scene, with the technique and the chops to burn up any stage. Kubek was born in Grove City, Pennsylvania in 1956 but grew up in Irving, Texas. He was leading his own bands and gigging in clubs all around Dallas when he was a teenager.  By the time he was 19, he was backing many famous blues players in the area, including playing rhythm guitar behind legend Freddie King for a while, until King's death in December 1976. Kubek next worked with R&B singer Al "TNT" Braggs and made a host of new friends, including Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan (with whom Kubek became close), B.B. King and many other blues icons. Kubek didn...

Johnny Main of the 44's has posted that Smokin Joe Kubek has suffered a heart attack in his room before his show. He is reportedly passed. I will provide more information as I have it. It is a sad day indeed. Born in Grove City, Pennsylvania, Kubek grew up in the Dallas, Texas area. In the 1970s during his teen years, he played with the likes of Freddie King and in the 1980s began performing with Louisiana-born singer, Bnois King. In 1985, Kubek released his first record on Bird Records, a 45 RPM single with the tracks "Driving Sideways" (written by Freddie King and Sonny Thompson) and "Other Side Of Love" (written by Doyle Bramhall, Sr.). The single was executively produced by Clint Birdwell and co-produced by Charley Wirz and Kubek. The two tracks reappeared on Kubek's 2012 album, Let That Right Hand Go, produced by Clint Birdwell and issued on Birdwell's label, Bird Records Texas. The album is a collection of mostly unreleased material recorded ...

NEW VIDEO FROM SMOKIN' JOE KUBEK & BNOIS KING! Blind Pig Records has released a video of "Cornbread," the second track on Fat Man's Shine Parlo r , the new album from Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King , one of the most talented guitar tandems in any genre.  To watch the video, please click HERE . The latest addition to the duo's prolific discography just jumped to #1 on the Living Blues Radio chart for February.  Kubek and King have been thrilling music fans all around the world with what Billboard called their "hard-hitting original Texas blues-rock" for twenty-five years, and have developed into a dynamic musical tour de force, with Joe's flame-throwing guitar work complemented by Bnois' cool, jazz-inflected playing and soulful vocals.  Their incendiary live shows feature two top flight guitarists intuitively locked in with each other and backed by a firepower rhythm section, making for a powerful an...

"FAT MAN'S SHINE PARLOR" #1! Latest Kubek & King Release From Blind Pig Tops Living Blues Radio Chart Fat Man's Shine Parlor , the latest release from Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King , jumped to the top of the Living Blues Radio chart for the month of February.  The album is also #2 on the Contemporary Blues radio chart from Roots Music Report. Joe and Bnois are one of the most talented guitar tandems in any genre, known for their red-hot Texas rockin' blues.  The dynamic musical tour de force features Joe's flame-throwing guitar work complemented by Bnois' cool, jazz-inflected playing and soulful vocals.  Their incendiary live shows feature two top flight guitarists intuitively locked in with each other and backed by a firepower rhythm section, making for a powerful and irresistible combination. Here's a list of their upcoming shows in support of the album: March 6 Phoenix, AZ The Rhythm Room March 7 Tuc...

KUBEK & KING RELEASE DEBUTS ON BILLBOARD CHART! "Fat Man's Shine Parlor" at #11 in First Week! The new Blind Pig release from celebrated guitar tandem Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King - Fat Man's Shine Parlor - debuted at #11 on this week's Billboard blues sales chart. Besides fans at retail, the album is being well received by critics and radio programmers.  Living Blues magazine said, "For a heavy dose of heavy-hitting Texas blues-rock, a visit to Fat Man's Shine Parlor is definitely in order." Blues Blas t magazine added, "The new album finds Kubek and King doing what they do best, rocking out in Texas roadhouse style on a series of tough blues, boogies and rockers...another solid album with much to enjoy." At radio, the release was #7 on the Roots Music Report's Blues Radio chart, and jumped into the Top 20 on Living Blues' radio chart for January, despite being released on Fe...

NEW RELEASE FROM SMOKIN' JOE KUBEK & BNOIS KING NOW AVAILABLE!   Blind Pig Records has released Fat Man's Shine Parlor ,  the latest studio album from Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King , one of the most talented guitar tandems in any genre. Joe and Bnois have been thrilling music fans all around the world with their red-hot Texas rockin' blues for twenty-five years, and have developed into a dynamic musical tour de force, with Joe's flame throwing guitar work complemented by Bnois' cool, jazz-inflected playing and soulful vocals.  Their incendiary live shows feature two top flight guitarists intuitively locked in with each other and backed by a firepower rhythm section, making for a powerful and irresistible combination. Regarding the CD title - as a young musician, Smokin’ Joe Kubek would venture in the wee hours after a gig to a declining, somewhat unsavory Dallas neighborhood in search of fried chicken. A comme...

I just received the newest release (February 3, 2015), Fat Man's Shine Parlor by Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King . This reunion release with Blind Pig is long overdue and really grooves. Opening with boogie track, Got My Heart Broken , King and Kubek keep it simple (like Hooker intended) with only Shiela Klinefelter on bass, Eric Smith on drums and Kim La Fleur on guitar taking it above a basic two man boogie. Very cool. On Cornbread , a quick paced boogie, King leads the way on vocal and Kubek rips some really tasty riffs trading with King and LaFleur. Diamond Eyes slows things down a bit to a basic blues rock ballad with a nice guitar bridge. Crash and Burn has a cool early rock beat and structure. Clean simple guitar solos and drum riffs carry this track. River Of Whiskey is built over a "Crossroads" like riff and each man steps up with his own guitar riff. Don't Want To Be Alone has an R&B sway and King always shows his best vocal work on tracks...

I just received the newest release from Cleopatra Records, A Tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival . Opening is a rousing Fortunate Son with Mike Zito and Sonny Landreth on slide guitar. These guys tear it up...nuf said! The Mynabirds are up next with Bad Moon Rising , a female interpretation of the track sounding like a blend of U2 and Crissy Hines with a Bo Diddley rhythm. Proud Mary is covered by Blitzen Trapper . An easy rocker with light drums, vocals, a few tidy guitar riffs and keys. Down On The Corner is covered by Spirit Family Reunion with a solid Cajun flavor. A raspy but solid lead vocalist, nicely blended backing vocals and accordion cover most of the melody with addition of banjo and harmonica as well as assorted percussion instruments. Have You Seen The Rain is covered by Dead Man Winter . This is a simple vocal track with minimal instrumentation (tambourine and acoustic guitar) and I think that it's one of the purest tracks on the release. Looking Out My...

SMOKIN' JOE KUBEK AND BNOIS KING RE-SIGN WITH BLIND PIG RECORDS Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King , one of the most talented guitar tandems in any genre, have signed a recording agreement with Blind Pig Records.  The pact marks a reunion between the veteran music duo and the label, which issued the group's CD entitled Roadhouse Research in 2003 and released Show Me The Money the following year.   In 2006, Blind Pig released a live full length concert DVD and a CD titled My Heart's In Texas that was recorded in Fort Worth on New Year's Eve. Kubek and King, who have been playing together for twenty-five years, have developed into a dynamic musical tour de force, with Joe's flame-throwing guitar work complemented by Bnois' cool, jazz-inflected playing and soulful vocals. Their incendiary live shows feature two top flight guitarists intuitively locked in with each other and backed by a firepower rhythm section, making for a...

I've had the opportunity to review Hal Leonard's release, Smokin' Blues Guitar featuring Smokin' Joe Kubek. This is a well prepared and clearly illustrated instructional video and accompanied lesson book. The chapters are Licks, Riffs, Turnarounds, Rhythm, Slide and a section aimed directly at capturing the essence of some of the best blues players. I personally went through the book and video and found some of the lessons quite easy and some very challenging. This is a book that you could play with for a long time and continue to learn something each time through. Although no instructional program has all of the answers, this is a very interesting lesson which has keys that could assist any player trying to develop your blues and guitar skills. Kubek illustrates each of his points clearly and even shows you a number of his secrets. The last portion of the program is a feature which looks at the style of the following players: T-Bone Walker, Gatemouth Brown, John lee ...

I just received the newest release (September 17, 2013), Road Dog's Life , from Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King and it may be their best yet! Opening with Big Money Sonny , King tells the story sounding more and more like Curtis Mayfield (a high compliment from me) and playing a high stepping R&B style blues track, Kubek plays some really nice riffs joined by Willie J Campbell on bass and Jimi Bott on drums. On Come On In , King plays a cool double stop rhythm under the melody and Kubek slips in some crisp blues riffs making this a cool track. On Nobody But You , a cool shuffle tune, Randy Chortkoff joins on vocals and Kim Wilson trades riffs with him on harp. On the title track, Road Dog's Life , the band sets up a more straight forward blues rock track with riffs traces to the Yardbirds. Kubeck steps forward and spits some hot riffs on the guitar adding quite a different flavor for a nicely rounded track. On one of my personal favorites on the release, K9 Blues ...

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TO VIEW THIS MESSAGE AS HTML - CLICK HERE   Voting is underway for the 2013 Living Blues Awards . It's that time of year again…time to vote for your favorite Delta Groove artists in the Living Blues Awards !Delta Groove artists have received a total of 6 nominations this year, including The Mannish Boys "Double Dynamite" , Tail Dragger & Bob Corritore "Longtime Friends In The Blues", and Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King "Close To The Bone" for Best Blues Album of the Year (New Recordings), Kirk "Eli" Fletcher for Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar), Bob Corritore for Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica), and Elvin Bishop for Best Blues DVD of 2012 for "That's My Thing" . ...