A Good Leavin' Alone - Eddie "The Chief" Clearwater

Clearwater is best known for being part of the Chicago blues scene since the 1950s. He performs both within the U.S. (especially around the Chicago, Illinois area, where he resides) and internationally, such as at blues festivals in France, Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Netherlands. His sound has been described as “hard-driving Windy City blues, soul-tinged balladry, acoustic country blues and gospel uplift….good natured fretboard fireworks.”

When he left the South for Chicago in 1950, he worked as a dishwasher while living with an uncle. Through his uncle he met many of Chicago’s blues masters, including fellow left-handed guitarist Otis Rush and Magic Sam. Once he heard the music of Chuck Berry, he began performing some of Berry’s material as well as writing in a Berry-influenced style. He still regularly performs songs by Rush, Magic Sam and Berry as well as his own original material. In 1953, now known as Guitar Eddy, he began working regularly in Chicago’s south and west side bars. His first single, the Chuck Berry-styled “Hill Billy Blues”, was recorded in 1958 for his uncle’s Atomic H label, under the moniker Clear Waters, a name given to him by his manager Jump Jackson as wordplay on the more famous Muddy Waters.

He recorded a few more singles and began receiving local radio airplay. Eventually the name Clear Waters morphed into Eddy Clearwater. He worked steadily throughout the '60s and '70s, and he was among the first blues musicians to find success with Chicago’s north side college crowd. He toured Europe twice during the 1970s and appeared on BBC Television. Clearwater has been nicknamed The Chief and sometimes wears Native American headdress.

Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater is the stage name of Edward Harrington (born January 10, 1935), an American Chicago blues musician. Blues Revue said Eddy plays “joyous rave-ups…he testifies with stunning soul fervor and powerful guitar. One of the blues’ finest songwriters.” The release of his 1980 album The Chief under the Rooster Blues label announced that Clearwater's ascendancy to Chicago blues stardom was officially underway. Two encores for Rooster Blues, Help Yourself (1992) and Mean Case of the Blues (1996), cemented Clearwater's reputation. He became known as a masterful blues showman whose principal goal is to provide his fans with a real good time. Cool Blues Walk followed in 1998, followed by Chicago Daily Blues the next year, with Reservation Blues released in mid 2000. In 2004, he was nominated for a Grammy Award with Los Straitjackets for their collaboration, Rock 'N' Roll City.

Vintage Guitar described his 2008 Alligator Records album, West Side Strut as “great blues. Eddy’s fat, voluptuous tone shows a masterful command of the guitar. It’s hard to believe he can reach such heights in a recording studio. One listen and you’ll wonder why Clearwater’s name isn’t respectfully spoken in the same breath as Freddie King and Otis Rush.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE
”

Tech Talk - Fender Pro-Amp (1953)

Next installment in cool blues amps.

Year:
1947-1953

Model:
Pro

Model No:
5A5, 5B5, 5C5

Config:
Combo

Control Panel:
Chrome top facing w/ white screened labels, controls numbered 1-12

Conrol Layout:
Fuse (2A), Power Sw, Pilot Lamp, Vol, Mic Vol, Tone/Power Sw, In, In, Mic In, Mic In

Knobs:
Black pointer

Cabinet:
TV Front, 19 7/8"H X 22"W X 10"D tapers to 8 3/4" (50.5 x 55.9 x 25.4 cm)

Cab Covering:
Vertical tweed (47-48) or diagonal tweed

Cab Hardware:
Leather Handle, glides

Grille:
brown mohair (47-48) or linen

Logo:
Cabinet mounted, block letter "Fender Fullerton, California" on rectangular tag

Weight:
?

Speakers/Load:
1 x 15"/8 ohms

Speaker Model:
Jensen F15N (Field Coil) or Jensen P15N

Effects:
None

Output:
18-25 Watts

Preamp:
Mic: 6SC7 or 12AY7 (later models)
Instrument: 6SC7 or 12AY7 (later models)

Power:
2 x metal envelope 6L6

Bias:
Cathode Biased

Rectifier:
5U4

Phase Inverter:
6SC7 or 12AX7(later models) (paraphase)

Comments:


A speaker jack and ex. speaker jack were installed under the chassis.
The filter choke was removed from the circuit on Model 5C5.
A separate On/Off switch was added durring the TV Front era.
A few TV front pros were covered in white vinyl as used on the two-tone champs.


Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

San Ho Zay - Kirk Fletcher Band

As a two time W.C. Handy Award nominee, who has toured with Lynwood Slim, Janiva Magness, Charlie Musselwhite and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, as well as performing with James Cotton, Pine Top Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Mojo Buford, Ted Harvey, Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Michael Landau, Elvin Bishop, Ronnie Earl, Doyle Bramhall, Michelle Branch and many more… Kirk Fletcher is considered one of the best young guitar players on the blues scene today.
Born 1975 in Bellflower California, Kirk began playing guitar at age eight after watching his brother Walter perform at their father’s church. At age twelve he attended the Long Beach Blues Festival where he saw the likes of Albert Collins, Bobby Blue Bland, (accompanied by Wayne Bennett) and the Staple Singers. This was a life changing experience for him as he realized that this was the music he wanted to play.
In the Mid 90’s Kirk met Al Blake, frontman of the Hollywood Fats Band who became a mentor to the young guitarist. Blake introduced him to wide variety of blues music,“Al hipped me to blues artists as diverse as The Mississippi Sheiks to Tommy Johnson...we’re talkin’ pre Robert Johnson stuff...that’s how far back we went..!” and it was through Blake he also met and bonded with guitarist Junior Watson, “Junior and I would get together smoke cigars, drink tequila and talk guitars...”

Around this time Kirk met and sat in with harmonica legend Lynwood Slim, “I’m grateful to Slim for giving me a stage to play on...” and it was then that Kirk released his first solo effort “I’m Here & I’m Gone” for the JSP Label. “It gave me a chance to pay tribute to my influences and to establish my solo career”. Kirk’s reputation was growing amongst harp players around town, and through an introduction, again, by Al Blake, Kirk sat in with Kim Wilson, and about a year later, got a call to join Kim Wilson’s Blues Review. “I played on and off with Kim for over 2 years....when he wasn’t working with the T-birds”, with the results being the Grammy nominated album“Smoking Joint” .

In 2003 Kirk recorded his second album “Shades of Blue” and it brought him even greater attention in the blues community,“Charlie Musselwhite found out about me through blues musician Doug MacLeod......,Charlie needed a guitar player and called me”, this gig was special for Kirk, “He gave me the freedom to find my voice on the guitar”. He spent three years touring with Charlie and feels that this is where he developed his unique style.

A year later, after another call from Kim, he joined The Fabulous Thunderbirds, where he contributed to and recorded on their “Painted On” album. “I made lifelong friends in Nick, Ronnie, Jimi, Steve and Gene”. In 2007 he gave notice in order pursue his solo career, and this is when he met up with legendary guitarist and producer Michael Landau. “ We first played together at the Baked Potato in L.A., quickly became friends and really connected musically”.

In recent years Kirk has been performing all over Europe as a headliner and occasionally touring in the U.S. with Doyle Bramhall and Michelle Branch. When home, he gives open counseling at Hollywood’s Guitar Institute of Technology. Currently he’s ready to release his third solo album, “My Turn”.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Groove - Johnny Childs

The album is called Groove and a groove it has. This cd I have to admit is like nothing I have ever heard. It has it all...quirky lyrics, unconventional delivery, experimental soloing, interesting use of effects with a traditional structure.

The title track has a very ethnic sound and was even gutsy for a concept first cd.

The guitar playing contrasted from precise and tasty to almost spastic... which isn't necessarily bad.

The standout track for me was Thumbs Boogie, a tight instrumental.

Overall "Groove' is an enjoyable recording.

I Got Me a Woman - Eric Gales

Blues guitar phenom Eric Gales was born and raised in Memphis, learning to play at age four from older brothers Eugene and Manuel in imitation of their upside-down, left-handed style (a tradition actually passed down from their grandfather, Dempsey Garrett, Sr., who was known to jam with the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf). Winning his first blues contest at 11, four years later Eric signed to Elektra to issue his 1991 debut LP, recorded with Eugene on bass; Picture of a Thousand Faces followed in 1993. Manuel (who previously performed under the alias Little Jimmy King) reunited with his siblings for 1995's Left Hand Band, credited to the Gales Brothers.

A newly matured Gales returned in spring 2001 to release his debut for MCA, That's What I Am. Often billed as the second coming of Jimi Hendrix, Gales, an adequate singer at best but a dynamite guitarist, suffered for the comparison. Always influenced by Hendrix and the power trio format, Gales' next albums, 2006's Crystal Vision and 2007's Psychedelic Underground, both released by Blues Bureau Records, seemed like facsimile Hendrix albums, right down to the album art. His next two releases from Blues Bureau, 2008's The Story of My Life and 2009's Layin' Down the Blues,Relentless, found the Hendrix influence muted somewhat, but Gales, a breathtaking guitarist at times, still seemed to be looking for a way out of the Hendrix shadow and into his own voice. Gales returned in 2010 with a collection of 13 originals.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Wondering whats up with Eric Gales?

Eric Gales Returns to Hollywood May 25th!


Sunset Live Presents Key Club Hollywood:

An Evening with Eric Gales

and El Javi and Ruben Reza

Eric Gales (aka Raw Dawg) (born October 29, 1974, Memphis, Tennessee) is an American blues-rock guitarist, originally hailed as a child prodigy. As of 2010 Gales has recorded nine albums on major record labels, and has done session and tribute work. He has also contributed vocals on several records by the Memphis rap groups, Prophet Posse and Three 6 Mafia.Gales picked up the guitar at age four. His older siblings, Eugene and Manuel ("Little Jimmy King"), took to teaching him many songs and licks at a young age, in the style of Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, B. B. King and others. In 1985, the young Gales began to play at blues competitions with his brother Eugene backing him on bass. Although Gales plays a right-handed guitar "upside-down" (with the E-bass string on the bottom), he is not naturally left-handed; he was taught by his brother who is left-handed and never second-guessed the untraditional technique

In late 1990, Eric and Eugene Gales signed with Elektra Records, and together with drummer Hubert Crawford released 1991's The Eric Gales Band and 1993's Picture of a Thousand Faces. Guitar World Magazine's Reader's Poll named Eric as "Best New Talent", in 1991. During this time he scored two rock radio hits, "Sign of the Storm" (#9 U.S. Mainstream Rock) and "Paralyzed" (#31 U.S. Mainstream Rock) and had spots on television programs such as The Arsenio Hall Show.

In 1994 Eric performed with Carlos Santana at the Woodstock 94' concert.

In 1995, Eric Gales teamed up with both of his brothers to record an album under the band name of The Gales Brothers. Left Hand Brand was released in 1996. 2001 saw Gales return with his album That's What I Am on MCA Records.

Gales has more recently released the albums Crystal Vision, The Psychedelic Underground,The Story of my Life and Layin' Down the Blues on the Shrapnel Records label. His most recent album is 2010's Relentless.

He maintains a strong friendship with record producer Mike Varney. Gales has one daughter, Jasmine (born 1992), and on August 31, 2001 he married Susan Gales.

In 2008, he, along with many other guitar greats, participated in the touring tribute to Jimi Hendrix, Experience Hendrix. the touring group of musicians included Billy Cox (of Band of Gypsys fame), Eric Johnson, Chris Layton (Drummer for Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section, Double Trouble), Doyle Bramhall II, Brad Whitford (of Aerosmith) and was the last tour that Mitch Mitchell ever played.

In the winter of 2010 Eric Gales returned to the touring circuit in Europe with TM Stevens on bass guitar and Keith LeBlanc on drums. The tour was billed as VooDoo Chile and featured works of Jimi Hendrix as well as original material from both Gales and Stevens.


Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Folksongs of the American Longhair - Dege Legg

Long awaited review of Dege's new cd. You won't be disappointed. This cd is not like anything I've ever heard so it's hard to compare it. I know I like it. 10 songs and all enjoyable. It is a mixture of blues, folk swamp and primitive. There are subtle nuances of chants in the background of some songs and foot stomping rhythm... and of course always tasty slide dobro work.

I particularly liked Hard Road to Hoe, House of the Dying Sun, Dead and Gone, World's Longest Hot Dog. Black is the Night is the most straightforward song on the cd and the one most likely to get airplay.

Here's Hard Road to Row which is being used as the Theme Song for Discovery Channels After the Catch 2010.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan

Does Bob have the blues... I really like this song and video

Five Long Years - Buddy Guy

George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation. Guy is known, too, for his showmanship on stage, playing his guitar with drumsticks, or strolling into the audience while playing solos. He was ranked thirtieth in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". His song "Stone Crazy" was ranked seventy-eighth in list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time also of Rolling Stone.

Tech Talk - Building a Cigar Box Guitar Part 2

Second installment of handbuilding a cool cigar box guitar.

Gold Tailed Bird - Jimmy Rogers - Ronnie Earl

Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924 – December 19, 1997) was a blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.
Jimmy Rogers was born James A. Lane in Ruleville, Mississippi, on June 3, 1924, and was raised in Atlanta, Georgia and Memphis, Tennessee. He adapted the professional surname 'Rogers' from his stepfather's last name. Rogers learned the harmonica alongside his childhood friend Snooky Pryor, and as a teenager took up the guitar and played professionally in East St. Louis, Illinois (where he played with Robert Lockwood, Jr., among others), before moving to Chicago in the mid 1940s.[citation needed] By 1946 he had recorded his first record as a harmonica player and singer for the Harlem record label, run by J. Mayo Williams. Rogers' name did not appear on the record, which was mislabeled as the work of "Memphis Slim and his Houserockers."

In 1947, Rogers, Muddy Waters and Little Walter began playing together as Muddy Waters' first band in Chicago (sometimes referred to as "The Headcutters" or "The Headhunters" due to their practice of stealing jobs from other local bands), while the band members each recorded and released music credited to each of them as solo artists. The first Muddy Waters band defined the sound of the nascent "Chicago Blues" style (more specifically "South Side" Chicago Blues). Rogers made several more sides of his own with small labels in Chicago, but none were released at the time. He began to enjoy success as a solo artist with Chess Records in 1950, scoring a hit with "That's All Right", but he stayed with Waters until 1954. In the mid 1950s he had several successful releases on the Chess label, most featuring either Little Walter Jacobs or Big Walter Horton on harmonica, most notably "Walking By Myself", but as the 1950s drew to a close and interest in the blues waned, he gradually withdrew from the music industry. In the early 1960s he briefly worked as a member of Howling Wolf's band, before quitting the music business altogether for almost a decade. He worked as a taxicab driver and owned a clothing store that burned down in the Chicago riots that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. He gradually began performing in public again, and in 1971 when fashions made him a reasonable draw in Europe, Rogers began occasionally touring and recording, including a 1977 reunion session with his old bandleader Waters. By 1982, Rogers was again a full-time solo artist.

In 1995 Rogers was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

He continued touring and recording albums until his death from colon cancer in Chicago in 1997. He was survived by his son, James D. Lane, who is also a guitarist and a record producer and recording engineer for Blue Heaven Studios and the APO Records label.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Railroad Story - Guy Davis

Guy Davis (born May 12, 1952) is a blues guitarist and banjo player, actor, and musician. He is the son of actors Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis.
Davis says his blues music is inspired by the southern speech of his grandmother. Though raised in the New York City area, he grew up hearing accounts of life in the rural south from his parents and especially his grandparents, and they made their way into his own stories and songs. Davis taught himself the guitar (never having the patience to take formal lessons) and learned by listening to and watching other musicians. One night on a train from Boston to New York he picked up finger picking from a nine-fingered guitar player. His first exposure to the blues was at a summer camp in Vermont run by Pete Seeger's brother John Seeger, where he learned how to play the 5-string banjo.

Tech Talk - Premier 71 (1957)

The Model 71 has a big power transformer and two 6L6 power tubes. It has a string of 12AT7 or 12AX7 tubes driving the preamp stages. It also uses a 12AT7 or 12AU7 for the tremelo. It has a 12 inch Jensen Special Speaker and two 3 inch little Jensen Specials acting as tweeters. It was made in the late 1950's and had as much power as the Fender Bassman. It is loved by harp players as well as guitar players.

Nasty Boogie Woogie - The Black Crowes

The Black Crowes have the blues? Here they are doing Champion Jack's Nasty Boogie Woogie.
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in 1989. Their discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the following year. The follow-up, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, reached the top of the Billboard 200 in 1992.

After a hiatus between 2002 and 2005, the band released Warpaint, which hit number 5 on the Billboard chart. After the release of a double album, the greatest hits-like and mostly acoustic Croweology in August 2010, the band started a 20th anniversary tour that will be followed by a second hiatus for an undefined length of time.

The band has opened for various rock acts such as Heart, Robert Plant, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Dave Matthews Band, the Grateful Dead, Aerosmith and ZZ Top,[4] and performed live with Jimmy Page and Oasis, among others. The band has sold over 30 million albums, and is listed at number 92 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock". They were also labeled by Melody Maker as "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World" and the readers of Rolling Stone voted them 'Best New American Band' in 1990.

Jeff Beck Music and Hot Rods II

Catch the second half of host Barry Meguiar’s rare interview with legendary rock guitarist icon Jeff Beck. As Jeff takes us through his stable of American Hot Rods, at his historic home in England, it becomes obvious that he is as passionate about cars as he is for his music.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Chicken Shack - Champion Jack Duprée

William Thomas Dupree, best known as Champion Jack Dupree, was an American blues pianist. His birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died on January 21, 1992.
Champion Jack Dupree was the embodiment of the New Orleans blues and boogie woogie pianist, a true barrelhouse "professor". His father was from the Belgian Congo and his mother was part African American and Cherokee. He was orphaned at the age of 2 and sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs (also the alma mater of Louis Armstrong).

He taught himself piano there and later apprenticed with Tuts Washington and Willie Hall, whom he called his 'father' and from whom he learned "Junker's Blues". He was also "spy boy" for the Yellow Pochahantas tribe of Mardi Gras Indians and soon began playing in barrelhouses and other drinking establishments.

As a young man he began his life of travelling, living in Chicago, where he worked with Georgia Tom, and in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he met Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr. Whilst he was always playing piano, he also worked as a cook, and in Detroit he met Joe Louis, who encouraged him to become a boxer. He ultimately fought in 107 bouts, winning Golden Gloves and other championships and picking up the nickname 'Champion Jack', which he used the rest of his life.

He returned to Chicago at the age of 30 and joined a circle of recording artists, including Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red, who introduced him to the record producer Lester Melrose, who claimed composer credit and publishing on many of Dupree's songs. Dupree's career was interrupted by military service in World War II. He was a cook in the United States Navy and spent two years as a Japanese prisoner of war.

His biggest commercial success was "Walkin' the Blues", which he recorded as a duet with Teddy McRae. This led to several national tours, and eventually to a European tour Dupree moved to Europe in 1960, first settling in Switzerland and then Denmark, England, Sweden and, finally, Germany. During the 1970s and 1980s he lived at Ovenden, in Halifax, England where a bronze plaque has been commissioned in his memory.[citation needed] Details of his time in Yorkshire, including the reminiscences of his family, are to be found at [www.smalltownsaturdaynight.co.uk] and in the book of the same name . A piano used by Dupree was recently re-discovered by pianist Matthew Bourne at Calderdale College in Halifax.

Dupree continued to record in Europe (with Kenn Lending Band, Louisiana Red and Axel Zwingenberger) and also made many live appearances there, also still working as a cook specializing in New Orleans cuisine. He returned to the United States from time to time and appeared at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Dupree died on 21 January 1992 in Hanover, Germany of cancer.

Nick's Groove - Sons of Blues - Billy Branch - Lurrie Bell

Lurrie Bell (born Lurrie C. Bell, December 13, 1958, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is a blues guitarist and singer. His father was renowned blues harmonica player Carey Bell.

Bell started playing guitar at the age of six, and in his teens he polished his skills playing with the legends of Chicago blues scene including Eddy Clearwater, Big Walter Horton and Eddie Taylor.

In the mid 1970s, he went on to join Koko Taylor's Blues Machine and he toured with the band for four years. He made his recording debut in 1977 appearing on his father's album Heartaches and Pain and also on Eddie C. Campbell's King of the Jungle. It was around that time that he formed The Sons of Blues with musicians including Billy Branch on harmonica.[3] Three tracks of the band's recordings were featured in the Alligator Records compilation Living Chicago Blues Vol. 3 released in 1978. In 1989 he released his first solo effort, Everybody Wants To Win, on JSP Records.

Though Bell's career appeared to be headed in the right direction, drawing attention of the blues fans around the world as a young prodigy of the blues, he battled emotional problems and drug abuse for many years, which kept him away from performing on regular basis.

He began a comeback in 1995 with the well-received album Mercurial Son, his first of several from the Delmark label. A series of albums followed thereafter, and he started to perform more frequently in the Chicago club and blues festival circuits.

Bell is featured on Gettin' Up - Live at Buddy Guy's Legends, Rosa's and Lurrie's Home, a 2007 CD and DVD release from Delmark, where he plays with his father Carey. Soon after this release, Carey died and this became his last recorded effort.


Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Dave Specter and the Bluebirds - Is What it Is

Dave Specter (born May 21, 1963, Chicago, Illinois, United States)[1] is an American Chicago blues and jazz guitarist.Hailing from Chicago's Northwest side, Specter began to learn to play the guitar at the age of 18. His teacher was Steve Freund, who taught Specter between the latter's duties at Jazz Record Mart, and Delmark Records. Freund ultimately organised a concert tour for Specter alongside Sam Lay and Hubert Sumlin. Contacts made while working at the B.L.U.E.S. nightclub secured gigs as a sideman to Johnny Littlejohn, Son Seals, and The Legendary Blues Band. By 1989 Specter had organized his own backing band, known as the Bluebirds.

By 1998 Specter had released five albums on the Delmark label, combining a mixture of blues (Specter listed his influences as T-Bone Walker, Pee Wee Crayton, Magic Sam, and Otis Rush) and jazz (Kenny Burrell is another inspiration).

Specter does not sing, and he enlisted Barkin' Bill Smith as his first vocalist, performing on Specter's 1991 debut album, Bluebird Blues. Specter then made a guest appearance with Jesse Fortune, providing accompaniment on Fortune Tellin' Man (1993). Harmonica player and singer Tad Robinson took over on the Bluebirds' Blueplicity (1994) and Live in Europe (1995). Following Robinson's departure, Lynwood Slim became the band's vocalist.

Jazz influences prevailed as time passed, and Specter invited Brother Jack McDuff to play the Hammond organ on the next album, Left Turn on Blue (1996). Lenny Lynn took over vocal duties on the following release, Blues Spoken Here (1998). In 2000, Speculatin' appeared, but here Specter eschewed vocals altogether, issuing thirteen instrumental tracks. Is What It Is (2004) was followed by Live in Chicago (2008).[1]

In addition to his recordings, Specter undertakes frequent tours to Europe and beyond.

Harmonica Blues - Little Willie Anderson

Some folks called Chicago harpist Little Willie Anderson "Little Walter Jr.," so faithfully did Anderson's style follow that of the legendary harp wizard. But Anderson was already quite familiar with the rudiments of the harmonica before he ever hit the Windy City, having heard Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Nighthawk, and Robert Jr. Lockwood around West Memphis.

Anderson came to Chicago in 1939, eventually turning pro as a sideman with Johnny Young. Anderson served as Walter's valet, chauffeur, and pal during the latter's heyday, but his slavish imitations probably doomed any recording possibilities for Anderson -- until 1979, that is, when Blues On Blues label boss Bob Corritore escorted him into a Chicago studio and emerged with what amounts to Anderson's entire recorded legacy.

Worry Worry - MICHAEL BURKS

Born in Milwaukee in 1957, Michael quite literally entered the world with blues in his blood. Joe Burks, Michael’s grandfather, played acoustic Delta blues guitar in his hometown of Camden, Arkansas. A multi-talented man, Joe was a barber, carpenter and aviation mechanic in addition to playing in area juke joints. Michael’s father, Frederick, was a bass player. For years, Frederick Burks worked in Milwaukee steel mills and refineries during the day and spent his evenings performing in the city’s smoky, dimly-lit blues clubs, often backing harmonica legend Sonny Boy Williamson II, as well as other touring blues stars and local front men. Boasting remarkable natural talent and a blue-collar work ethic, Michael Burks is a musician with deep roots in the blues tradition. He performs every song he plays with intensity, conviction and soul. Even though he has been playing music since he was a child, it was the release of Make It Rain, his Alligator Records debut in 2001, that brought Burks well-deserved national recognition and made him one of the blues world’s fastest-rising stars. His 2003 follow-up, I Smell Smoke, continued his upward trajectory, as his fan base increased as quickly as his bookings. With inspiration from Albert King, Freddie King and Albert Collins, Burks’ sound and style are all his own. Blues Revue says, “Burks delivers blazing, explosive solos and outrageous tone…part rock, part soul and filled with plenty of blues sensibility.

No No No - Hamilton Loomis

From His Kickin" It cd. This guy is tearin it up. You gotta check him out!

Loomis’ first Blind Pig Records release, ‘Kickin’ It,’ released in 2003, presented his innovative approach to an audience hungry for something new in roots music. Said Blueswax, “Loomis really gets it, and he is only in his twenties! Don’t just dust off those old hackneyed Blues, create your own style of funkified soulful music.” Southland Blues raved, “’Kickin’ It’ is one of the best CDs of the year. This kid's got most all of it and then some. More than worth a listen." And the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted, “Loomis displays a polished vocal, guitar and songwriting knack that could win him the sort of crossover audience that Robert Cray and B.B. King enjoy.”

Within Loomis’ live show and thus the new record, listeners will enjoy funky rhythms, booming horns, powerful yet refined harmonica and Loomis’ soulful vocals coupled with his stellar guitar work. As has been his trademark, it’s another refreshing approach that manages to avoid blues clichés while staying true to the heart of the music.

Touring non-stop since 2001, Loomis has brought his funk-i-fied Texas music to audiences all over the U.S. and the world, recently earning two "Best Artist" awards in England and Wales.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Tech Talk - Fender Sidekick 10

Latest installment in cool little amps. Check it out!

Dependable amplification for beginners and students! The very affordable Sidekick puts 10 Watts through a 6" speaker, with a pair of tone controls, a headphone jack, and an Overdrive switch for rockin' solos.

Fender amps are one of the guitarists favorite amps. This little Fender Squire Sidekick guitar amp is sure to become a favorite of the young beginner. The Fender Sidekick practice amp is dependable amplification for beginners and students.

This very affordable Fender amp puts 10 watts through a 65" speaker, with a pair of tone controls, a headphone jack, and an overdrive switch for rocking solos. Hook up and wail away.

Fender Sidekick Specifications:

* 10 Watt Amplifier
* 2 Tone Controls
* Headphones Out
* 6" Speaker
* Overdrive switch


Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Poor Boy - John Fahey

John Fahey (February 28, 1939 – February 22, 2001) was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian music into his œuvre. Fahey wrote a largely apocryphal autobiography and was known for his coarseness, aloof demeanor, and dry humour. He spent many of his latter years in poverty and poor health, but also enjoyed a minor career resurgence with a turn towards the more explicitly avant-garde. He died in 2001 due to complications from heart surgery. In 2003, he was ranked 35th in the Rolling Stone "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list.

Walter Trout and the Radicals - Slow Blues in A

Walter Trout (born March 6, 1951, Ocean City, New Jersey, United States) is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.Trout's career began on the Jersey coast scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then decided to relocate to Los Angeles where he became a sideman for Percy Mayfield and Deacon Jones. He also worked in the bands of John Lee Hooker and Joe Tex.

In 1981 he became the guitarist for Canned Heat. This led to an invitation to play in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers where he shared the stage with fellow guitarist Coco Montoya. He left the Bluesbreakers in 1989 and formed the 'Walter Trout Band' which developed a successful following in Europe.

In 1994 the official Walter Trout Fan Club for the Netherlands and Belgium was founded, followed in 1996 by the official International Fan Club who has members in 14 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. In 2006 the official International Fan club celebrated its tenth anniversary by giving fan club members an exclusive live CD recorded in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was the last performance of the late bassist, Jimmy Trapp, who died in 2005.

In 1998 Trout released his self-titled US debut album and renamed his band 'Walter Trout and the Free Radicals' (later renamed 'Walter Trout and the Radicals' and currently simply 'Walter Trout'). Since that time Trout has been recording and touring in North America, Europe and India.

In 2002, he was featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album, Hey Bo Diddley - A Tribute!, performing the song "Road Runner" and many more guest appearances on other recordings.

The 2006 release Full Circle, meant that Trout realized his dream of creating an album with some of his most admired musicians, including John Mayall, Coco Montoya, and Joe Bonamassa, among others.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Son House - Interview / Singing

If you've been following my posts you know that Son house is one of my all time favorite blues singers.

Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music. House did not learn guitar until he was in his early twenties, as he had been "churchified", and was determined to become a Baptist preacher. He associated himself with Delta blues musicians Charlie Patton and Willie Brown, often acting as a sideman. In 1930, House made his first recordings for Paramount Records during a session for Charlie Patton. However, these did not sell well due to the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity. He was recorded by John and Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941 and '42. Afterwards, he moved north to Rochester, New York, where he remained until his rediscovery in 1964, spurred by the American folk blues revival. Over the next few years, House recorded several studio albums and went on various tours until his death in 1988. His influence has extended over a wide area of musicians, including Robert Johnson, John Hammond, Alan Wilson (of Canned Heat), Bonnie Raitt, The White Stripes, and John Mooney.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Mr. Downchild - Robert Junior Lockwood - Robert Johnson - Interview

Robert Jr. Lockwood interviewed and discussing Robert JOhnson as well as his relationship with him. Playing a small segment of Mr. Downchild. This song is on a collaborative effort between Robert Jr. and Ronnie Earl called Surrounded by Love.

Robert Lockwood, Jr., also known as Robert Junior Lockwood, (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006)[1] was an American blues guitarist who recorded for Chess Records among other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known as a longtime collaborator with Sonny Boy Williamson II, and for his work in the mid 1950s with Little Walter Jacobs.

Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

San Jose - Paul Plumeri

Plumeri got hooked on the blues about a year after he began playing guitar, when he discovered blues on the radio in Trenton. Longtime Trenton-area DJ George Bannister played a role in sparking Plumeri's lifelong interest in blues and classic R&B. "His opening song would be Bill Doggett's 'Honky Tonk,' and from there I was hooked. He'd play Sam & Dave, B.B. King and he'd play all the black instrumentals. I heard it and was enamored with it." After leading a succession of blues and rock bands through high school, he attended Mercer County Community College in the early 1970s.

At that time, the Trenton-area and New Jersey's clubs scene was still flourishing. Plumeri studied business but later dropped out. The monetary pressures were simply too great: he recalls making upwards of $1,000 a week in Garden State and Philadelphia nightclubs in those days. Through the early and mid-1970s, Plumeri founded and led a band called Hoochie Cooch [taken from the Muddy Waters' song, "Hoochie Coochie Man"] and played in that band until 1976, when he joined keyboardist Duke Williams in his band, The Extremes. The band was later signed to Capricorn Records, home of the Allman Brothers, Delaney and Bonnie and countless other Southern roots-rock acts. With Williams and the Extremes, he toured the East Coast and most of Canada from 1976 until the end of 1980.

The money was good, but the band burnt itself out by the end of 1980. The first incarnation of the Paul Plumeri Blues Band made its debut on a Sunday night in 1982 at a nightclub in Trenton, the night Plumeri's son was born. With a new addition to his family, a mortgage to pay, and the need for health insurance, he decided to change gears. He worked as a housing inspector for the city of Trenton. He still played blues at night and on weekends, as he does today.

For guitar players, everything is about tone, and Plumeri figures he started developing his own tone, and style, when he was still in high school. "Somebody dug out tapes of me from the late 1960s from one of these cellar jams which were happening all the time, and this guy said, 'You know Paul, you can listen to that now and you can still tell it's you.' But my whole style developed because I was not a note-for-note copier. At the time, it was very frustrating, 'cause I wanted to play the whole solo on 'Crossroads' exactly as it was played. "I would stylize it, I could sound like the player somewhat, but just couldn't do the note-for-note thing. That turned out to be my biggest asset, 'cause I didn't rely on that to be my vocabulary. I absorbed these people," he says, referring to guitar 'gods' like Eric Clapton and Duane Allman, "but I would not mimic them to the ' T ' ," he adds.

Plumeri has been associated with the blues in the Garden State and greater Philadelphia for more than three decades, and frankly, it's an affiliation he's not willing to let go of. He never compromised his artistry for the sake of commerce, in other words, when suddenly, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, blues fell out of fashion for awhile. That is, until Stevie Ray Vaughan came along and brought everyone back to their roots. "I wasn't willing to leave my association of being a blues musician. I never became associated with some other trendy thing, I did not play top 40 music." Now, nearly two decades after the formation of the Paul Plumeri Blues Band, he presses on, and like any good bluesman, he's ready to seize the right opportunity, but not necessarily the first opportunity.

Slam Jam - Chris Vachon - Room ful of Blues

Even though Roomful of Blues’ lineup has changed over the years, the band has always been one of the tightest, most joyful blues ensembles in the world. Currently an eight-piece unit led by guitarist Chris Vachon, the band has never sounded fresher or stronger. In 2010, singer Phil Pemberton took over the vocal duties, bringing his sweet and soulful vocals and adding another bright new dimension to the jazzy, jump-blues musical roots. Their winning combination of jump, swing, blues, R&B and soul remains their calling card, as does their ability to fill the dance floor. Along with new members, bassist John Turner, trumpeter Doug Woolverton and , longer standing members keyboardist Travis Colby, drummer Ephraim Lowell, baritone and tenor saxophonist Mark Earley, tenor and alto saxophonist Rich Lataille , Roomful keeps on rockin’ in 2010.

Cold Cold Feeling - Motor City Josh

Blues Ace just sent in live from the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival that this guy is tearing the place up!

Josh is a straight up singin', guitar slingin', songwriting, crowd-pleasing Blues man. Son of a preacher man and woman, at 35 Josh has achieved incredible success and proves to be one of the most skillful yet animated Blues performers around. An absolute entertainer, Josh manages to keep everyone happy no matter what their age, race, or music taste - Everybody loves him!

Having played all over the US and in Europe since 1989, his fan base continues to grow and grow, as do his CD sales. Josh has recorded 9 albums and sold over 100,000 copies through his website motorcityjosh.com and at his shows.

Josh is popular for both his award winning - Memphis International Blues Finalist 2003 - foot stomping down-home Blues solo acoustic act, and his electrifying 'Funky Blues You Can't Refuse' 4-piece band.

The Detroit native spent 10 years working up a MCJ frenzy in the Motor City area, then moved to Atlanta in 1999 to do the same. Based in Chicago briefly and now back in Detroit - he's at it again, doing what he does best.... making people smile, dance, laugh, and on occasion pee their pants!
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click Here

It's My Own Fault - Sean Costello

Sean Costello (April 16, 1979 – April 15, 2008) was an American blues musician, renowned for his fiery guitar playing and soulful singing. He released five critically acclaimed albums before his career was cut short by his sudden death at the age of 28. Tinsley Ellis called him ‘the most gifted young blues guitarist on the scene... he was a triple threat on guitar, vocals and as a songwriter’.

On the Road With Joe Bonamassa Ep.4- Warming Up

Next Installment of Joe on the road.

Enjoy

Numbers Down - Andrew Winton

Andrew Winton (born February 1972, Perth) is an independent, solo, Australian musician, combining acoustic guitar, lap slide, dobro and seven-string lap guitar/bass (the Wintonbeast), with hollers and stomps to provide an engaging and authentic performance. Winton's sound has been likened to a cross between Ben Harper, Sting, Kelly-Joe Phelps and Harry Manx. His performances are driven by infectious rhythms, stunning slide, bluesy vocals, quirky lyrics and storytelling.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Building a Cigar Box Guitar

The cigar box guitar is a primitive chordophone whose resonator is a discarded cigar box. Because the instrument is homemade, there is no standard for dimensions, string types or construction techniques. Many early cigar box guitars consisted of only one or two strings that were attached to the ends of a broomstick that was inserted into the cigar box. Other cigar box guitars were more complex, with the builder attempting to simulate a traditional string instrument such as a guitar, banjo, or fiddle.

Cigars were packed in boxes, crates, and barrels as early as 1800, but the small sized boxes that we are familiar with today did not exist prior to around 1840.[1] Until then, cigars were shipped in larger crates containing 100 or more per case. After 1840, cigar manufacturers started using smaller, more portable boxes with 20-50 cigars per box.

Trace evidence of cigar box instruments exist from 1840 to the 1860s. The earliest illustrated proof of a cigar box instrument known is an etching copyrighted in 1876 of two Civil War Soldiers at a campsite with one playing a cigar box fiddle. The etching was created by illustrator and artist Edwin Forbes who, under the banner of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, worked for the Union Army. The etching was included in Forbes work Life Stories of the Great Army. In the etching, the cigar box fiddle clearly shows the brand ‘Figaro’ on the cigar box.

In addition to the etching, plans for a cigar box banjo were published by Daniel Carter Beard, co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America, in 1884 as part of 'Christmas Eve With Uncle Enos.' The plans, eventually retitled ‘How to Build an Uncle Enos Banjo’ as part of Beard's American Boy’s Handy Book in the 1890 release as supplementary material in the rear of the book. These plans omitted the story but still showed a step-by-step description for a playable 5-string fretless banjo made from a cigar box.

It would seem that the earliest cigar box instruments would be extremely crude and primitive; however, this is not always the case. The National Cigar Box Guitar Museum, according to One Man's Trash: A History of the Cigar Box Guitar[3], has acquired two cigar box fiddles built in 1886 and 1889 that seem very playable and well built. The 1886 fiddle was made for an 8 year old boy and is certainly playable, but the 1889 fiddle has a well carved neck and slotted violin headstock. The latter instrument was made for serious playing.

The cigar box guitars and fiddles were also important in the rise of jug bands and blues. As most of these performers were black Americans living in poverty, many could not afford a "real" instrument. Using these, along with the washtub bass (similar to the cigar box guitar), jugs, washboards, and harmonica, black musicians performed blues during socializations.

The Great Depression of the 1930s saw a resurgence of homemade musical instruments. Times were hard in the American south and for entertainment sitting on the front porch singing away their blues was a popular pastime. Musical instruments were beyond the means of everybody, but an old cigar box, a piece of broom handle and a couple wires from the screen door and a guitar was born.

A modern revival of these instruments (also known as the Cigar Box Guitar Revolution) has been gathering momentum with an increase in cigar box guitar builders and performers. A loose-knit tour of underground musicians tour the East Coast (US) each summer under the banner "Masters of the Cigar Box Guitar Tour." These musicians include Doctor Oakroot, Johnny Lowebow, Tomi-O and many others. Also, there is a growing number of primitive luthiers adding cigar box guitars to their items for sale.[citation needed] Of the more noteworthy cigar box guitar makers is Shane Speal, the so-called "King of the Cigar Box Guitar."

Modern revival is sometimes due to interest in jugband and the DIY culture, as a cigar box is relatively inexpensive when considering other factors, such as strings and construction time. Many modern cigar box guitar can thus be seen as a type of practice in lutherie, and implement numerous personal touches, such as the addition of pick up and resonator cones into it.

The modern revival of cigar box guitars is documented in the 2008 film, "Songs Inside The Box" which was shot primarily at an annual Huntsville, Alabama event called the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza

This is the first in a series of how to build a cigar box guitar.

Tech Talk - Silvertone "1432" (1960)

The 1432 was the midline amp in this space-age series, coming on the heels of Sputnik and ushering out the ducktail '50s. The cool, angular design contained essentially the same guts as previous amps in the same power/feature range and gave budding musicians everywhere a solid mid-price, mid-power sound box to power their 'Telstar' and surf rock twangfests. As rockabilly faded and rock began its first round of 'maturing,' so did the look of the amps that powered the sound.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Guitar Rag - Peter Lang

Peter Lang (born 1948) is an accomplished acoustic guitarist, from the same genre, American Primitivism, as the better-known guitarists Leo Kottke and John Fahey. All three artists shared the Takoma Records label, and a joint-titled album released in 1974 features a selection of songs from each.Peter Lang was discovered in 1972 by legendary guitarist John Fahey. Lang's first solo album, entitled The Thing at the Nursery Room Window, was released in 1972. Along with Lang, Fahey launched the careers of other notable artists on Takoma Records, including Kottke, George Winston, Robbie Basho, Bola Sete and others. Peter Lang toured, and recorded for nearly ten years, developing a reputation as one of the nation's top acoustic players. In the 70's he was in good company, having recorded or performed with Ry Cooder, John Fahey, Jerry Garcia, Chet Atkins, John Hartford, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Emmylou Harris, Leo Kottke, Freddie King, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, John Hammond, Keith Jarrett, Phoebe Snow, Maria Muldaur, The Yellowjackets, Robben Ford, and many others.

Lang's musical career was postponed in the 1980s, to allow him to pursue a career in animation and special effects production. He took time out from this position in 1999 to pursue music once again, culminating in the release of Dharma Blues in 2002. This was followed by Guitar in 2003. Both Lycurgus and Prime Cuts were re-released in 2003 with bonus tracks.


Peter Lang, a fixture in traditional American Music for forty years, was involved in an Automobile Accident in May of 2008. He suffered neck and back injuries including nerve impingement which has affected the use of his left hand. His no fault insurance provider has refused to cover medical expenses that continue to accrue. His medical insurer will not cover his expenses as they consider them the result of the Automobile Accident. The auto insurer has taken the position that the problems are due to preexisting conditions. Unfortunately it has headed to the court system. In the meantime Lang’s expenses continue to mount. The purposes of this fund are to help defray costs until there is resolution. To compound this problem Lang also had surgery in February of this year to have infected bone removed from his skull coupled with ear surgery following a protracted illness. In May he also underwent hip replacement surgery. Needless to say his performance schedule has been severely impacted (and may continue to be based on the continuing issues with his auto injury and the insurance issue). Whatever you might consider will be greatly appreciated by Peter and his family.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click Here

Gulfport Boogie - Roosevelt Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906 – July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player whose rollicking thundering boogie was highly influential.
Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on the road playing piano with a barrelhouse style of blues. Like many bluesmen of his time, he travelled around playing to all-male audiences in sawmill, turpentine and levee camps along the Mississippi River, gathering a repertoire of raw, sexually explicit material. His wanderings eventually brought him to St. Louis, Missouri, where he met St. Louis Jimmy Oden.

In 1929 he was spotted by a talent scout and sent to New York to record for Okeh Records. His first release was "'44' Blues" which became a blues standard and his trademark. He quickly began recording for multiple labels under various names including 'Easy Papa Johnson', 'Dobby Bragg' and 'Willie Kelly'. After he and Oden moved to Chicago he found his first period of fame when he signed with Decca Records in 1934. In 1943, he signed with Bluebird Records and recorded with 'The Honeydrippers'.

In Chicago, Sykes began to display an increasing urbanity in his lyric-writing, using an 8-bar blues pop gospel structure instead of the traditional 12-bar blues. However, despite the growing urbanity of his outlook, he gradually became less competitive in the post-World War II music scene. After his RCA Victor contract expired, he continued to record for smaller labels, such as United, until his opportunities ran out in the mid 1950s

Roosevelt left Chicago in 1954 for New Orleans as electric blues was taking over the Chicago blues clubs. When he returned to recording in the 1960s it was for labels such as Delmark, Bluesville, Storyville and Folkways that were documenting the quickly passing blues history. He lived out his final years in New Orleans, where he died from a heart attack on July 17, 1983.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

BOOM BOOM OUT GO THE LIGHTS - Pat Travers

Patrick Henry "Pat" Travers (born April 12, 1954) is a Canadian rock guitarist, keyboardist and singer who began his recording career with Polydor Records in the mid-1970s. Pat Thrall, Nicko McBrain, Mick Dyche, Tommy Aldridge, Peter "Mars" Cowling, Jerry Riggs, and Carmine Appice are some of the noted musicians who have been members of the Pat Travers Band through the years. Kirk Hammett of Metallica has cited him as one of his favorite guitar players.

Big Block - Jeff Beck

If you haven't seen the "Live at Ronnie Scott" video you owe it to yourself. It is absolutely amazing!!
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE




Two videos here...enjoy!

Hot Rods Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top

A nice little clip on Billy and hot rods! This is a pretty cool book about Billy, his rods and his gear!

Imagine stepping out of an air-conditioned Kwik-E-Mart and into the hot summer sun, cold soda in hand, when a long-and-low baby blue ‘62 Chevy Impala slowly trolls into the parking lot. How about rolling to a stoplight in West Hollywood and spying a bearded motorist with an 8-ball logo on the louvered and striped hood of his BMW? There’s no mistaking the common thread in these remarkable scenarios—Billy F Gibbons, be-shaded axe-man extraordinaire from ZZ TOP and certified Texas Grade-A gearhead. As with many rockers, Gibbons’ jones for hot rods and customs is the stuff of legend. But beyond this bona fide bluesman’s mastery of the six-string and unrepentant love for internal combustion is a noted collector whose own designs have manifested themselves in his cars and in hundreds of mind-bending custom guitars. In Billy F Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead, Gibbons riffs on his Texas youth, four-decade recording career, and life on the road, but also reveals the tales behind dozens of guitars, including the Famed Pearly Gates, the red Gretsch given to him by Bo Diddley, and the Muddywood guitar commissioned as a fundraiser for the Delta Blues Museum. Also profiled are 10 of Gibbons’ outstanding rods and customs, including Kopperhed, CadZZilla, and the Eliminator coupe. In addition to exclusive photography by Bay Area shooter David Perry, the book is illustrated with dozens of images from Gibbons’ personal archive.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

She Caught the Katy - Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks (born May 17, 1942), who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an internationally recognized blues musician with two Grammy Awards to date who folds various forms of world music into his offerings. A self-taught singer-songwriter and film composer who plays the guitar, banjo and harmonica (among many other instruments),
Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his almost 50 year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa and the South Pacific.

Bonnie Lynn Raitt (born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer-songwriter, born in Burbank, California. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially accessible recordings in the 1990s including "Nick of Time", "Something to Talk About", "Love Sneakin' Up on You", and the slow ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me". Raitt has received nine Grammy Awards in her career and is a lifelong political activist.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Hand Me Down My Walkin Cane

I heard of this guy through "Tonequest Magazine". If you're into gear...you gotta check it out!

Kal David (born 1943) is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter whose 50-year musical career in Illinois, New York and California extended through various phases, including a highly-regarded stint with Columbia Records in early 1970s.



Born in Chicago, David Raskin began using the performing name "Kal David" in his late teens as the frontman of his neighborhood band, Kal David and the Exceptions, formed in 1962.[1] Its other members were Peter Cetera (bass, vocals), Denny Ebert (drums, vocals), and Marty Grebb (saxophone, keyboards, guitar, vocals). Cetera later joined The Big Thing, which became Chicago, and Grebb joined The Buckinghams.

Kal David left the group to sign a recording contract with King Records and, later, with Vee-Jay Records. In 1965, during his stint at Vee-Jay, he formed a new duo, The Rovin' Kind, with guitarist Paul Cotton, and the two transferred to Dunwich Records. Following a name change to Illinois Speed Press and a move to Los Angeles in 1968, the duo recorded two albums for Columbia, the self-titled Illinois Speed Press and Duet.

In late 1970, as Cotton joined the band Poco as its lead guitarist, David decided to leave the West Coast for the East and moved to Woodstock, the small-town/rural New York area, in the vicinity of previous year's iconic Festival. His new group, The Fabulous Rhinestones featuring ex-Electric Flag bassist Harvey Brooks and ex-Buckinghams' keyboard player Marty Grebb, recorded three albums: Fabulous Rhinestones, Freewheelin' (on Paramount Records) and Rhinestones (on 20th Century Records). Friends advised him to visit a club in Woodstock and it was there that he met his future wife, vocalist Lauri Bono, who subsequently accompanied him back to Los Angeles for the next phase of their career, doing sidework for Etta James and Johnny Rivers.

In the early 1980s, David played lead guitar for John Mayall on an album which would be released a decade later. Two albums for SoulCoast Records, Never a Dull Moment and Double Tuff each met with critical acclaim and worldwide record sales coupled with numerous television appearances, including a one-hour special featuring David in Germany.

At Hollywood's China Club, the Kal David Band headed up the weekly Pro-Jam which drew celebrity performers such as Stevie Wonder, Bobby Brown, John Entwistle, Larry Carlton, Brian Wilson, Stephen Stills, Joe Walsh and Paul Young, as well as blues musicians Sam Taylor and Floyd Dixon.

The early 1990s saw David and Bono move to Palm Springs and form yet another band, Kal David and the Real Deal. This group featured both David and Bono on vocals, along with former Chaka Khan musical director Tony Patler on Hammond B-3 organ and drummer Alan Diaz, formerly with Sérgio Mendes. David tried local radio, hosting the late night "Blue Monday" blues show on Palm Springs soft rock station KEZN.

On July 14, 1998, the couple opened the Blue Guitar blues club above the Plaza Theatre in Palm Springs, which lasted six years, closing in 2004.

David and Bono continued to tour and frequently played at B.B. King's Blues Club in Los Angeles and the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Connecticut.

David is the voice of Sonny Eclipse, a singing alien audio-animatronic, who resides at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. He did another performance for Disney World at Epcot, where he performed the "Unhealthy Living Blues" for the Goofy About Health exhibit at the Wonders of Life pavilion.

Oh Captain - Otha Turner - Singing and Interview...Great!

Othar "Otha" Turner (June 2, 1907 – February 26, 2003) was one of the last well-known fife players in the vanishing American fife and drum blues tradition. He was born in Madison County, Mississippi, and lived his entire life in northern Mississippi as a farmer, where in 1923, aged 16, he learned to play fifes fashioned out of rivercanes.

Turner's Rising Star Fife and Drum Band (which consisted of friends and relatives) primarily played at farm parties. They began to receive wider recognition in the 1990s. They appeared on Mississippi Blues in Memphis Vol. 1 in 1993, followed by inclusion in many other blues collections. They released their own critically acclaimed album Everybody Hollerin' Goat in 1998. This was followed by From Senegal to Senatobia in 1999, which combined bluesy fife and drum music with musicians credited as "the Afrossippi Allstars".

The title, Everybody Hollerin' Goat, refers to a tradition Turner began in the late 1950s of hosting Labor Day picnics where he would personally butcher and cook a goat in an iron kettle, and his band would provide musical entertainment. The picnics began as a neighborhood and family gathering; it grew over the years to attract musical fans, first from Memphis, Tennessee, and later from all over the world.

The song, "Shimmy She Wobble", from Everybody Hollerin' Goat was featured in the 2002 film Gangs of New York. Martin Scorsese, the film's director, featured Othar Turner in his 2003 PBS mini-series "The Blues" as a link between African rhythms and American blues. The concept was continued on the 2003 album Mississippi to Mali by Corey Harris. The album was dedicated to Othar, who died a week before he was scheduled to record for the album. His granddaughter and protégé Shardé Thomas, then 12 years old, filled in for the recording sessions.

Othar Turner died in Gravel Springs, Mississippi, aged 95, on February 26, 2003. His daughter, Bernice Turner Pratcher, who had been living in a nursing home for some time suffering from breast cancer, died the same day, aged 48. A joint funeral service was held on March 4, 2003, in Como, Mississippi. A procession leading to the cemetery was led by the Rising Star and Fife Band, with Shardé Thomas, then 13 years old, at its head playing the fife.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE