Bman's Blues Report

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Fall Back Home , by Suzie Vinnick and it has a nice groove. Opening with solid radio track, Lift You Up , with just the right country blues blend and a New Orleans like rhythm, Suzie Vinnick on lead vocal and acoustic guitar is backed by Davide Di Renzo on drums, Alec Fraser on bass, Colin Linden with some signature electric guitar riffs, Jesse O,Brien on organ and Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar on backing vocals. With a stronger country overtone and real nice guitar work by Linden, Salt & Pepper has a strong melody and Vinnick shines on lead vocal. I really like ballad, City & Skies with it's simple melody, straightforward vocals and nicely crafted steel guitar work by Steve Dawson. Another real nice ballad, Let Me Make It Up To You Tonight , is a bluesy ballad with jazz overtones, but retaining it's simple, country based theme, with excellent vocals by Vinnick, tasty harmonica soloing by Carlos Del Jun...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Shake The Love Around , from Suzie Vinnick and it's light rocker with fine vocals and a poppy feel. Opening with Happy As Hell , Vinnick lays down a cool funky guitar line and with Gary Craig on drums, Johnny Johnson on sax and Dean McTaggart they really set up a tight foundation to support her strong vocal lines. Another track with a nice back beat, Lean Into The Light has a real infectious feel with nicely harmonized vocals courtesy David Leask and slick guitar work by Vinnick. A particularly cool track is Danger Zone with Vinnick accompanying herself on bass. Excellent job. My favorite track on the release is Creaking Pines with a haunting melody and some of Vinnick's best vocals and nicely stylized blues guitar riffs. Excellent. Wrapping the release is Drift Away , a strong ballad with a smart melody. With only light electric and acoustic guitar, drums and Hammond by Mark lalama, this is a sweet closer for...

    Ottawa’s MonkeyJunk, Toronto’s Suzie Vinnick and Hamilton’s Steve Strongman Win Multiple Awards   (January 21, 2013) Toronto, ON - Internationally renowned Canadian Blues Artist from Coast-to-Coast were honoured by their peers at the 16 th Annual Maple Blues Awards gala in Toronto last night as a sold out crowd of blues lovers gathered to celebrate Canadian blues at Koerner Hall.   Ottawa’s MonkeyJunk and its members took home three awards, including, Electric Act of the Year, Harmonic Player of the Year (Steve Marriner) and Drummer of the Year (Matt Sobb).  Hamilton guitar slinger Steve Strongman also received three awards including Songwriter of the Year, Recording of the Year for his recent release "A Natural Fact" and Guitar Player of the Year. Now based in Toronto, Saskatoon native Suzie Vinnick won awards for Acoustic Act of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.     Nova Scotia’s Matt Minglewood was ...

I have been listening to Suzie Vinnick's new release, Live From Bluesville. Live From Bluesville is not a traditional blues recording but is quite enjoyable. Vinnick has a solid, interesting voice and accompanies herself on acoustic guitar on all tracks. Her repertoire on this recording includes an old blues track, You'll Be Mine (Willie Dixon)which is richly interpreted; three original tracks (Looking For A Kiss, Calling Out Your Name and How'd You Know I Missed You); two spiritual tracks All Night, All Day which has been done in a pretty straightforward fashion fashion and Shelter Me which is given a very contemporary sound and Steve Winwood's classic Can't Find My Way Home. This recording is light listening for blues lovers but in general is a very strong pop album with quality writing, vocals and instrumentation. The recording should see strong airplay interest with a lot of mainstream appeal. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Faceboo...