Tail Dragger & Bob Corritore / Longtime Friends In The Blues makes a strong entry!

Tail Dragger & Bob Corritore collaborated on the powerful album Longtime Friends In The Blues which was just released last week on the Delta Groove label. With promotion just started 2 weeks ago this CD has been met with an initial wave of positive reaction. To see the first 15 glowing reviews of this CD click here. To see the Roots Radio Report for this week which debuts this CD at #17 click here. The CD has been listed in the the "Top 50 Breakthrough Recordings" in the Antiquarian Librarian which lists all musical genres! To see this listing click here. Tail Dragger and Bob will headline the Stompin' At The Savoy festival in Helsinki, Finland on April 14th. To see the beautiful poster for the festival click here. There will be an official CD release party on Thursday, June 7 at B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted in Chicago which BTW is the day before the Chicago Blues Festival. Features on Tail Dragger will appear in upcoming issues of Living Blues and IL Blues Magazines. Bob just did an interview on Jim and Diane on WCTG in VA, and both Tail Dragger and Bob interviewed with Matt Kacar at Artist Connection Podcast, and Mark Wade at A1Blues.com. Thanks to all the writers, reviewers, radio show hosts, bloggers, and fans for their support!
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Mud Morganfield CD Release Party Saturday at Legends!

On March 20 Severn Records released the first national release by Mud Morganfield, the eldest son of Muddy Waters. This release is called Son Of The Seventh Son and it has already received about 20 rave reviews which you can read by clicking here. A CD release party is planned for Saturday night, March 31st at Buddy Guy's Legends with an opening set by Eddie Taylor, Jr. before Mud and band take the stage! Mud Morganfield's band that night will consist of Rick Kreher, Barrelhouse Chuck, Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith, E.G. McDaniel, Harmonica Hinds and Bob Corritore plus guest appearances by Katherine Davis and Deitra plus a few surprises! Copies of Son Of The Seventh Son will be available that night. Buddy Guy's Legends is located at 700 S. Wabash, Chicago, IL 60605. Also Mud and the band will make a live televised appearance Friday morning, March 30 on Chicago's WGN and this broadcast is available throughout the USA.

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Another Man Done Gone - Sugar Blue

Grammy Award-winning harmonica virtuoso Sugar Blue is not your typical bluesman...
Born James Whiting - he was raised in Harlem, New York, where his mother was a singer and dancer at the fabled Apollo Theatre. He spent his childhood among the musicians and show people who knew his mother, including the great Billie Holiday, and decided that he wanted to be a performer.
Blue received his first harmonica from his aunt, and proceeded to hone his chops by wailing along with Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder songs on the radio, he was soon to be influenced by the jazz greats such as Dexter Gordon and Lester Young.
Sugar Blue has used this background to his advantage, though, creating an ultra-modern blues style and sound that is instantly recognizable as his own.

Blue began his career as a street musician and made his first recordings in 1975 with legendary blues figures Brownie McGhee and Roosevelt Sykes . The following year, he contributed to recordings by Victoria Spivey and Johnny Shines before pulling up stakes and moving to Paris on the advice of pioneer blues pianist Memphis Slim .

While in France, Blue hooked up with members of the Rolling Stones , who instantly fell in love with his sound. The Stones invited Blue to join them in the studio. Besides his work on the Some Girls album, he can be heard on Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You . He appeared live with the group on numerous occasions and was offered the session spot indefinitely, but he turned it down, opting instead to return to the States and put his own band together rather than became a full-time sideman. Before returning to the U.S. in 1982, Blue cut a pair of albums, Crossroads and From Paris to Chicago.

Blue's decision to return home, despite his growing renown as a session player, was spurred by his desire to work with and learn from the masters of blues harmonica. Thus he came to Chicago and proceeded to sit in with the likes of Big Walter Horton , Carey Bell , James Cotton and Junior Wells . Blue went on to spend two years touring with his friend and mentor Willie Dixon as part of the Chicago Blues All Stars before putting his own band together in 1983. With his own band, Blue's star continued to rise. He received the 1985 Grammy Award for his work on the Atlantic album, Blues Explosion, recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

He recorded on Dixon's Grammy-winning Hidden Charms album in 1989, has performed on festival stages with classic artists like Muddy Waters, B.B. King , Art Blakey and Lionel Hampton and has also set his sights on television and the big screen. He sat in with Fats Domino, Ray Charles, and Jerry Lee Lewis for the Cinemax special, Fats Domino and Friends, and has appeared on screen and in the musical score of Alan Parker's acclaimed 1987 thriller Angel Heart, starring Robert De Niro.

Blue has played and recorded with musicians ranging from Willie Dixon to Stan Getz to Frank Zappa to Johnny Shines to Bob Dylan , he is perhaps best known for his signature riff and solo on the Rolling Stones' hit Miss You from their Some Girls album. Blue performs his own version of the song on his 1993 Alligator debut BLUE BLAZES. With his second release IN YOUR EYES Sugar Blue emerges as a singular, profound songwriter as well as a harmonica wizard.

He has appeared across America, Europe and Africa at many prestigious festivals - Chicago, Zurich, Den Haag, Antibes, Nice, Cannes, Montreal, Pistoia, Bern, Rapperswil,... Blue continues to appear in clubs and festivals around the world.

In 2008 following the release of "CODE BLUE " Sugar Blue received two nominations as Best instrumentalist - Harmonica at the Blues Awards and as Outstanding Performer at the Junior Wells Harp Award in Memphis.

He is also featured in the Spike Lee film producion "The Perfect Age of Rock'n'Roll" along with Pinetop Perkins and Hubert Sumlin . The film is to be presented at the Sundance Film Festival and is starring Jason Ritter, Kevin Zegers, Ruby Dee and Peter Fonda.

Sugar Blue appeared in the tribute video "We Are One" that played before the massive all-star Inaugural Concert at the Lincoln Memorial, in front of the millions that came to witness the historical presidential inauguration on Jan 20, 2009.

Blue comes back in 2010 with his newest recording effort: of the "THRESHOLD" album, Blue says, "I believe that the greatest threshold of all is love because it is the fount from which all human life springs. Life echoes the sounds of our interactions: joy, sadness, heartache, passion, loneliness, intimacy, celebration or solemn occasion. We have tried to give voice to these feelings in this musical offering."

Sugar Blue incorporates what he has learned into his visionary and singular style, technically dazzling yet wholly soulful. He bends, shakes, spills flurries of notes with simultaneous precision and abandon, combining dazzling technique with smoldering expressiveness and gives off enough energy to light up several city square blocks... And sings too! His distinctive throat tends to be overlooked in the face of his instrumental virtuosity - he's got a rich, sensual voice with a whisper of huskiness which by itself would be something out of the ordinary.
But oh, there's that harmonica again... !!

Why the name "Sugar Blue" ?

"I needed a nickname... all the good ones were taken! You know 'Muddy Waters','Blind Lemon','Sonny Boy'...until one night friend and I were leaving a concert - a Doc Watson concert - when somebody threw out of the window a box full of old 78s: I picked one up and it said "Sugar Blues" by Sidney Bechet...That's it! I thought it was perfect...so here I am...
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Trouble In Mind - Cortelia Clark

Cortelia Clark (c. 1907, Chicago, Illinois, United States – December 24, 1969, Nashville, Tennessee) was an African American blues singer and guitarist, known for his performances on the streets of Nashville. He won a Grammy for Best Folk Recording in 1967, for the album Blues In The Street, his only recording
Clark lost his sight after an operation in the mid-1950s, and began playing and singing blues songs on street corners in Nashville. He also sold shopping bags, on 5th Avenue between Church and Union Streets, among other locations. Around 1964, Mike Weesner, a student at Peabody College, made a demo tape of Clark at Globe Studio. This came to the attention of Bob Ferguson and Chet Atkins of RCA Nashville. Felton Jarvis, Elvis Presley's producer, was enlisted to produce the album. In December 1965, Weesner and Jarvis persuaded RCA to record Clark on the sidewalk, complete with prominently featured (but overdubbed) street noises and interactions with city dwellers. Clark performed both original songs and variations of familiar pop, country and blues tunes, including the Everly Brothers' hit "Bye Bye Love", Blind Boy Fuller's "Truckin' My Blues Away", and "Walk Right In" as popularized by the Rooftop Singers.

Despite the record selling fewer than 1,000 copies, Jarvis submitted it to the Recording Academy in the Folk category for 1966 record releases,[6] which it went on to win ahead of other nominees including Ravi Shankar, Peter, Paul and Mary and Pete Seeger. However, the success had little impact on Clark, who continued to perform on the streets and was never recorded again.[3] He died in 1969 in a house fire, after his kerosene heater exploded.
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Eighth Avenue Blues - Peanut, The Kidnapper w/ Robert McCoy

Alabama barrelhouse blues pianist Robert McCoy (born Aliceville 1908) had two rare LPs in the early Õ60s on the Vulcan label. Delmark has acquired the masters and is now re-issuing the material on CD for the first time with many previously unissued tracks. accompanying Guitar Slim, "Jaybird" Coleman and Peanut The Kidnapper. "Stomping piano solos and blues vocals played with ... vitality and authority. McCoy sets a happy and boozey pre-depression mood that is fun to share with him." - San Francisco Examiner. Bye Bye Baby contains more than an hour of pure blues piano delight!
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Reconsider Baby - Lowell Fulson

Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921 – March 7, 1999) was a big-voiced blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. Fulson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also recorded for business reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, Fulson was the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s
According to some sources, Fulson was born on a Choctaw reservation in Oklahoma. Fulson stated that he was of Cherokee ancestry through his father, but he also claimed Choctaw ancestry. At the age of eighteen, he moved to Ada, Oklahoma, and joined Alger "Texas" Alexander for a few months in 1940, but later moved to California, forming a band which soon included a young Ray Charles and tenor saxophone player, Stanley Turrentine. He recorded for Swing Time Records in the 1940s, Chess Records (on the Checker label) in the 1950s, Kent Records in the 1960s, and Rounder Records (Bullseye) in the 1970s.

Fulson was drafted in 1943, but left the United States Navy in 1945. His most memorable and influential recordings included: "Three O'Clock Blues" (now a blues standard); the Memphis Slim-penned "Everyday I Have the Blues"; "Lonesome Christmas"; "Reconsider Baby" recorded in 1960 by Elvis Presley and in 1994 by Eric Clapton for his From the Cradle album as well as by Joe Bonamassa); and "Tramp" (co-written with Jimmy McCracklin and later covered by Otis Redding with Carla Thomas, ZZ Top (on 2003's Mescalero), Alex Chilton, and Tav Falco.

"Reconsider Baby" came from a long term contract agreed with Chess Records in 1954. It was recorded in Dallas under Stan Lewis' supervision with a saxophone section that included David "Fathead" Newman on tenor and Leroy Cooper on baritone.

Jackie Brenston played in Fulson's band between 1952 and 1954.

Fulson stayed with the Checker label into 1962, when he moved to the Los Angeles-based Kent Records. 1965's "Black Nights" became his first hit in a decade, and "Tramp," did even better, restoring the guitarist to R&B stardom.

In 1993 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California a show entitled "California Blues - Swingtime Tribute" opened with Fulson plus Johnny Otis, Charles Brown, Jay McShann, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jimmy McCracklin and Earl Brown. Fulson's last recording was a duet of "Every Day I Have the Blues" with Jimmy Rogers on the latter's 1999 Atlantic Records release, "The Jimmy Rogers All-Stars: Blues, Blues, Blues."

A resident of Los Angeles, Fulson died in Long Beach, California, in March 1999, at the age of 77. His companion Tina Mayfield stated that the causes of death were complications from kidney disease, diabetes, and congestive heart failure. He was the father of four and grandfather of thirteen.
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Since You Been Gone - Big Maceo

Big Maceo Merriweather (March 31, 1905 – February 23, 1953) was an American Chicago blues pianist and singer, active in Chicago in the 1940s.
Born Major Merriweather (or Merewether) in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, he was a self-taught pianist. In the 1920s he moved to Detroit, Michigan and began playing parties and clubs. In 1941, a desire to record led him to Chicago where he met and befriended Tampa Red. Red introduced him to Lester Melrose of Bluebird Records, who signed him to a recording contract.

His first record was "Worried Life Blues" (1941), which promptly became a blues hit and remained his signature piece. Other classic piano blues recordings such as "Chicago Breakdown", "Texas Stomp", and "Detroit Jump" followed. His piano style developed from players like Leroy Carr and Roosevelt Sykes, as well as from the Boogie-woogie style of Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons. He in turn influenced other musicians like Henry Gray, who credits Merriweather to helping him launch his career as a blues pianist.

His style had an impact on practically every post World War II blues pianist of note. His most famous song, "Worried Life Blues" is a staple of the blues repertoire, with artists such as Eric Clapton featuring it regularly in concert. "Worried Life Blues" was in the first batch of songs inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame "Classic Blues Recordings - Singles or Albums Tracks" alongside "Stormy Monday," 'Sweet Home Chicago," "Dust My Broom," and "Hellhound On My Trail."

His career was cut short in 1946 by a stroke. Poor health and a lifetime of heavy drinking eventually led to a fatal heart attack. He died on February 23, 1953 in Chicago, and was interred at the Detroit Memorial Cemetery in Warren, Michigan.

His sparse recordings for Bluebird were released in a double album set as Chicago Breakdown, in 1975. They have since been reissued on a variety of labels.

In 2002 he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

On May 3, 2008 the White Lake Blues Festival took place at the Howmet Playhouse Theater in Whitehall, Michigan. The event was organized by executive producer, Steve Salter, of the nonprofit organization Killer Blues to raise monies to honor Merriweather's unmarked grave with a headstone. The concert was a success, and a headstone was placed in June, 2008.
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Piedmont Blues - Etta Baker

Etta Baker (March 31, 1913 – September 23, 2006) was an American Piedmont blues guitarist and singer from North Carolina.
She was born Etta Lucille Reid in Caldwell County, North Carolina, of African American, Native American, and European American heritage. She played both the 6-string and 12-string forms of the acoustic guitar, as well as the five-string banjo. Baker played the Piedmont Blues for ninety years, starting at the age of three when she could not even hold the guitar properly. She was taught by her father, Boone Reid, who was also a long time player of the Piedmont Blues on several instruments. Etta Baker was first recorded in the summer of 1956 when she and her father happened across folk singer Paul Clayton while visiting Cone Mansion in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, near their home in Morganton, NC. Baker's father asked Clayton to listen to his daughter playing her signature "One Dime Blues". Clayton was impressed and arrived at the Baker house with his tape recorder the next day, recording several songs.
Over the years, Baker has shared her knowledge with many well known musical artists including Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal (musician), and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Baker received the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1989, the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship in 1991, and the North Carolina Award in 2003. Along with her sister, Cora Phillips, Baker received the North Carolina Folklore Society's Brown-Hudson Folklore Award in 1982.

Baker had nine children, one of whom was killed in the Vietnam War in 1967, the same year her husband died. She last lived in Morganton, North Carolina, and died at the age of 93 in Fairfax, Virginia, while visiting a daughter who had suffered a stroke.
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RICHARD 'RIP LEE' PRYOR

Richard "Rip Lee" Pryor currently resides in Carbondale Illinois. Since 1994 he has been playing Harmonica, fronting a variety of bands and now plays in the region for countless fans.
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Evil Hearted Woman - John Lyons Band

John Lyons is a passionate, soulful American Blues / R&B musician curently living in Zürich, Switzerland. The John Lyons Band is guaranteed to get you moving. Sometimes rocking out, sometimes soulful and soft, always dynamic with a killer groove that leaves nobody standing still!

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan USA 1969. Raised as a farm boy on a fruit farm near Glenn Michigan, John picked up the electric guitar at age 12 and never put it down since! All self taught, a natural musician's ear, early influences were 60's and 70's rock like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendirx, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, and Aerosmith but also a big heap of Detroit soul & funk, Motown& Chicago Blues. As John explored music as a teenager, his tastes changed to harder rock and early electro/rap styles, by artists from ZZ Top to Motley Crüe, to Iron Maiden to Afrika Bambatta or Sugar Hill Gang. In the early 90's when most of the young people were listening to Nirvana, John had already been bitten hard by the Blues Rock bug, especially the music of Stevie Ray Vaughn for the next many years shaped his guitar practicing and playing style. Since the age of 17 John has played in Live bands of different flavors but all having one common theme - rock, blues & soul. Since 2005 in Switzerland, John has been playing under his own name and fronting his band as singer/guitarist.2006 John met and was joined at a concert by one of his heroes; Founding Robert Cray Band bassist Richard Cousins. In June 2010, John had yet another highlight when he organized a concert and was joined by Grammy nominated signer/guitarist/producer Alan ' BB Chung King and the Buddaheads' Mirikitani and again by world class bassist Richard Cousins who has performed with Robert Cray Band, Clapton, John Lee Hooker, etc.
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Dave Widow And The Lineup Layin' A Foundation (Room) At House of Blues April 4

"Dave Widow and the Lineup do an amazing job channeling the authenticity of blues, covering influential legends like Taj Mahal and T-Bone Walker without compromising their own style...Widow's guitar playing oozes with emotion and his raspy vocals hit notes with a bonafide bluesy tone. Dave Widow and the Lineup deserve a spot on the "1000 Bands To See Before You Die" list." MUSIC CONNECTION


House Of Blues Foundation Room - Wednesday, April 4th>

(WEST HOLLYWOOD) - No stranger to SoCal music enthusiasts, Dave Widow is getting his long-overdue recognition in the notoriously-competitive music business.

To wit: A recent sparkling review in highly-respected Music Connection Magazine - "If you are looking for a good time and great music, search no further than Widow and his band," writes MC reviewer Allegra Azzopardi. "Their masterful musicianship and deep understanding of the blues is a major draw, but the humble nature of each outrageously skilled player is what gives this group's music its genuine soul," he concludes. Also: A "Musical Group Of The Year" nomination for Dave Widow And The Lineup from the 2012 (22nd Annual) Los Angeles Music Awards.

Come check out Dave Widow And The Lineup in a special performance at the House Of Blues, Foundation Room (upstairs), 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, Wednesday, April 4. 8-10 p.m. Info: (323) 848-5100.

Dave will be releasing his new CD, Waiting for The World To End, sometime this Spring. Check out recent interviews with Widow in All Access Magazine and Mixalis Greek Blues Magazine.

The guitarist-singer-songwriter from Cincinnati, Ohio and his band, "The Line Up", have appeared on a regular basis at such L.A. venues as The Langham, The Mint, Café Boogaloo, The House Of Blues, B. B. King's Blues Club, and The Lighthouse, as well as venues all across America, and abroad.

Watch a live performance by Dave Widow and the Line Up (along with special guest Bill Champlin of Chicago renown ) on the song "Don't You Lie To Me" here:

With his unique style of finger picking and distinct vocals, Widow brings a fresh approach to the Blues, while also combining elements of R&B, Funk, Soul and Rock. His musical style is influenced by his relationship with many great blues and R&B talents, including Buddy Miles, Bonnie Bramlett, Bill Champlain, Lonnie Mack, and his mentor and collaborator (the late) Roger "Jellyroll" Troy, bassist and vocalist for The Mike Bloomfield Band.

Widow is excited about his new material on his upcoming CD. "One of my new songs is called, "What Did I Do, To Piss You Off, This Time"...that needs little explanation, I think....there's also "Picture Of You," a melancholy song about remembering a lost love, via an old photo I found, on a rainy afternoon, and it's an Americana/dreamy-sort of tune..."Leave A Piece Of Me" was written about an old girlfriend who broke my heart."

As for the future? "I would like to be more well known, obviously, performing at concerts, and associated with a known record label, making CD's, or whatever medium is current at that time, still writing songs, collaborating on tunes with other writers and artists, and producing some other artists as well. I like to work on other artist's music, and help bring other artists ideas to fruition."

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Who Was Charles LoBue

Charles LoBue was one of the fathers of the custom electric guitar business. Charles came to the industry after taking classes from Michael Gurian, first working in and around the guitar repair business in NYC in the mid 60's. Charles' interest in the business began by doing basic repairs on factory made guitars. These were primarily made by Gibson and Fender, the "Gold Standard" for electric guitars, as well as any guitar including acoustics which came through the door. As a professional player in the U.S. in the 60's, Gibson and Fender were the most likely choices if you wanted an electric guitar. It is well known that the Brits used European made guitars as well, primarily due to their accessibility. By the mid late 60's both companies had been sold to larger corporations which were not primarily in the guitar business. The basic perception even today is that the guitars made by these companies during this period were inferior in quality and also lacked many options. Jimi Hendrix was making all kinds of weird (wonderful) sounds and more adventurous players wanted alternatives. Charles was a guy in NYC who had a strong interest in guitars and experimentation. By luck or by design, Charles ended up in a circle of brilliant people such as "Dan Armstrong" and "Matt Umanov" (plexiglass guitar), Carl Thompson ( "CT Basses" ), Larry DiMarzio (DiMarzio Pickups), Steve Bleucher ( "DiMarzio Pickups"), Michael Gurian ("Gurian Guitars"), Sherwood Phifer ( "Phifer Designs" ), Ralph Novak ( "Novax Guitars"), "Bill Lawrence" (custom pickup inventor) among others, building custom designed electric guitars and basses. LoBue and Thompson started a repair shop in the village and quickly became known as the "go to" shop for anyone who wanted the best repairs and setup. After only about a year, LoBue and Thompson split, Thompson indicating that LoBue wanted to build guitars and he was happy with the repair business. (Thompson of course went on to make world renown basses for such players as "Les Claypool" and "Stanley Clarke").
LoBue attracted a small group of apprentices and began customizing and building standard guitars for sale, but also designed custom guitars for "Rick Derringer" (at the time with Johnny Winter), "Steve Khan" , "Paul Stanley", "Gene Simmons", "Steve Hunter" and "Alfonso Johnson" (then with Weather Report). The well recognized picture of Rick from Guitar Player magazine with his famous explorer was a LoBue Guitar. Derringer commissioned this and many other instruments initially to protect a split head explorer which had become too valuable to take on the road.

This is a short list of players who had guitars built by LoBue and his band of men. DiMarzio and Bleucher worked at Guitar Lab very early. DiMarzio was doing setups and fretwork at the shop and ventured to "Jimmy D'Aquisto's" shop learning from the master about the finer arts of fret dressing. DiMarzio had gone through an electronics course and found working with Charles was a good fit. Charles had the natural curiosity of what could be done and Larry had the practical skill. It wasn't long before DiMarzio wanted to work on the electrical components and LoBue gave him a box of "broken" pickups that they experimented with for new sounds. DiMarzio came up with some revolutionary ideas. Bill Lawrence told me that LoBue is responsible for the replacement pickup industry. Prior to this time, there weren't replacement pickups available. DiMarzio was starting to experiment in his basement and it wasn't long before he opened his own shop across town doing setups and selling pickups not only to LoBue, but other shops who were doing repairs. Woody Phifer was a college student and hobbyist wood carver who wandered into the shop by accident. What he saw excited him and he immediately asked if he could apprentice with LoBue. At the time the only builders were LoBue and college student (architecture/ sculptor) "Bob Sindorf" . Sindorf had experimented with building his own guitar in high school. These were of modeled after current styles, but he had the head start on the geometry.
Sindorf completed his work at Columbia and became a world renown sculptor prior to his passing a few years ago. Phifer brought to the shop the thought that different contours may work.
LoBue was already making custom shapes but this brought another dimension to the formula as Phifer started to learn LoBue's craft. After only a few years Phifer started his own shop and now builds custom guitars in upstate New York (Phifer Designs). Another significant builder who worked in the shop was student, Ralph Novak. Ralph chose to stay around for quite some time and eventually become LoBue's partner. An unfortunate tragedy was when LoBue Guitars (Guitar Lab) was broken in to and a number of celebrity guitars were lost. LoBue replaced the guitars from his own pocket but this put him into a substantial financial bind.

After years of fending off Alex Musical's offer to add custom guitars to his line of factory guitars LoBue finally caved and sold the business to Alex. LoBue signed a 1 year contract and at the end of the period, he and Novax moved to San Francisco... another music capital at the time. After only a few years, loneliness for NYC got to Charles and he returned. Novak became a partner at Subway Guitars in San Francisco and shortly thereafter patented fanned fret technology for guitars starting his own company, Novax Guitars in Eugene Oregon. In 1985 Charles died after a short illness.

Simon Fay Guitars, OM

A contemporary redesign of the traditional Martin OM that is heavily influenced by the elegance and beauty of the classical guitar. I build with a strong emphasis on clarity, note separation, and balance but not at the expense of tonal complexity and warmth. The response is lively and vibrant with excellent volume and projection. This design is versatile and can accommodate a wide variety of playing styles from melodic fingerstyle to heavy strumming.

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JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound “Sister Ray Charles”: - Free Download

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound are releasing the second single from their 2011 album Want More. “Sister Ray Charles” is a bouncy organ-led singalong that will its own music video in the next couple weeks. The band is currently touring across the US.

Here's a free "Download"

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New Waco Brothers & Paul Burch “Great Chicago Fire" cd to be released - Free Download

The tune combines the Waco Brothers’ Chicago blue-collar country via punk rock stomps, with Paul Burch’s Nashville stylized approach to traditional country. The collaborative group release Great Chicago Fire on Bloodshot Records on 4/24. Stay tuned for further coverage!

Here's the free "Download"

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New Recording from: Michael John and the Bottom Line - Family and Friends - New Recording Review

I just received the newest release. Family and Friends from Michael John and the Bottom Line. This cd doesn't even give you a chance to get a breath before it's holding your head under water. The first track, Mo Shuffle, is really smoldering. This is a cooker with Mikey Mo Basowski kickin' in on some serious guitar work and having Eddie Z (Zelaznik) honkin' in behind him with a great tenor solo. This song doesn't slow down from end to end and is just a terrific track. My Baby's Smokin' starts off with a great sax intro and leads into a cool R&B style song with Michael J on vocals and harp, more cool guitar riffs from Mikey Mo. I don't mean to not mention the balance of this tight band: Chuck Lee Basowski (bass),Tom T-Bone Broderick (Drums and percussion), and special guests David B Kelly on Keys, Alan Mirikitani (guitar) and Jordan Clover on Organ. Lovin' You Is A Sin has a Latin beat and gives each player a chance to show his stuff. Strong Man starts off with a real cool guitar riff by Mikey Mo leading into a swampy funk. Guilty Of Loving You is a soul ballad with a shimmering guitar solo by Alan. Tumbleweed is a nice rolling party song that will likely get you moving in your seat. Vocals on this track are particularly pleasing, Mikey Mo pulls off a laid back guitar solo and Kelly lays down some nice piano work on this track as well. Hoochie Coochie Coo most associated with Hank Ballard keeps it's honky tonk style and really gets rolling. Michael J does some strong vocals on this track as well and Eddie Z keeps up the bottom with his tenor, and of course you can't do a song like this without some rolling keys! A really funky version of Crosscut Saw. I mean you can smell the funk! The entire band gets a chance to lay it down here...even Chuck gets a bass solo and does a nice job. The guitar solo near the end of this track digs deep fro just the right amount of grit. I'll Take You There is done straight out of the soul songbook and gives the entire band a great way to close out what is a very enjoyable recording. Michael J and the Bottom Line will be playing the 7th Annual Simi Valley Blues Festival on Saturday, April 28.
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It's "All Jams on Deck" for Blues Fans on New DVD from Acclaimed Filmmaker Robert Mugge

IT’S ALL JAMS ON DECK FOR BLUES FANS WITH FREE COPIES AVAILABLE OF ACCLAIMED FILMMAKER ROBERT MUGGE’S NEW DVD SHOT ONBOARD THE LEGENDARY

RHYTHM & BLUES CRUISE

ATLANTA, GA - All Jams on Deck, the new 96-minute documentary by famed music filmmaker Robert Mugge (http://www.robertmugge.com) is now available on DVD for the enjoyment of blues fans everywhere. Produced by Mugge and his partner Diana Zelman, executive produced by CEO Roger Naber of Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, LLC (http://bluescruise.com/), and shot/recorded entirely on Naber's October 2010 Blues Cruise to the Mexican Riviera, this Mug-Shot Production is the first film ever to focus on the art form of blues jamming. It also happens to be nominated for Best DVD in the Blues Foundation's 2012 Blues Music Awards competition, with the winner to be announced at the 33rd Blues Music Awards ceremony in Memphis on May 10th.

All Jams on Deck was premiered on the October 2010 and January 2011 Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruises and is now being made available to blues fans and musicians everywhere. Aside from a shipping and handling fee of $5.95, DVD copies can be acquired free of charge by ordering from the Blues Cruise website: http://bluescruise.com/?page_id=1780. In addition, a 12-minute and 36-second trailer for the film can be viewed along with the DVD package design and liner notes at the Mug-Shot Productions website: http://robertmugge.com/all-jams-on-deck/index.html.

Featured in All Jams On Deck are dynamic performances by such major blues artists as Tommy Castro, Elvin Bishop, Marcia Ball, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Kim Wilson, Lee Oskar, Commander Cody, Coco Montoya, Lowrider Band, Larry McCray, Rick Estrin, Jimmy Thackery, Sista Monica Parker, John Nemeth, Steve Berlin, Vasti Jackson, Leon Blue, Rev. Billy C. Wirtz, Eden Brent, Mike Schermer and many more. Also included are discussions of the history, techniques and etiquette of blues jamming featuring the artists themselves, as well as SiriusXM Radio's Bluesville Program Director Bill Wax and blues and jazz historian and producer Bob Porter. .

Early reviews of the new DVD have been glowing. “Originally available as a souvenir for voyagers on the legendary Blues Cruises, All Jams on Deck is becoming known as a film all blues lovers in general should enjoy. It's also a primer for blues performers looking for tips from the pros... Every musician should see this film at least once. Odds are, you'll want to go on a Blues Cruise yourself to enjoy what hot licks sound like after-hours." - Wesley Britton, Blog Critics and Seattle Post Intelligencer

"All Jams on Deck...offers some terrific highlights from the after-hours jams that take place on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruises. It is actually also a nice primer for performers to learn from the professionals how to run jams... Quite a lot of fun..."

- Gregory Johnson, President, Cascade Blues Association

"I have had the pleasure to watch Robert Mugge's All Jams on Deck, a documentation of late night jams on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise... This is a film that anyone who loves contemporary blues would enjoy...a great documentary."

- Bman's Blues Report

Many of the performances in the film were captured during the after-hours "pro jams" that take place nightly on the ship's aft Pool Deck, each of them overseen by a different major artist or band. Among the songs recorded during those jams are "A Good Fool Is Hard To Find" and "I Feel That Old Feeling Coming On" led by Tommy Castro; "I Woke Up Screaming," led by Marcia Ball; "Last Dirty Deal," led by Coco Montoya, "Kim's Jam" and "Take A Little Walk With Me," led by Kim Wilson; and "Lowrider Jam," led by the Lowrider Band. Jams captured in other show settings include Elvin Bishop and John Nemeth leading a performance of Bishop's classic "Fooled Around And Fell In Love;" Elvin Bishop sitting in with Johnny and Edgar Winter on "Johnny's Jam;" Vasti Jackson sitting in with Coco Montoya for Jackson's "Hurricane Season;" Vasti Jackson and Laith Al-Saadi demonstrating blues guitar techniques; Kim Wilson and Lee Oskar demonstrating blues harp techniques; Commander Cody and Rev. Billy C. Wirtz demonstrating blues piano techniques; and a stageful of top keyboard players from Leon Blue and Steve Willis to Eden Brent and Kelley Hunt performing ensemble versions of "Honky Tonk Train" and "Boogaloo's Boogie."

All Jams on Deck is director Robert Mugge's second blues DVD release of 2012. The first was Big Shoes: Walking and Talking the Blues, his 90-minute portrait of Ted Drozdowski's blues band, Scissormen, now available from VizzTone as a combination DVD and soundtrack CD. All Jams on Deck is also the second film produced by Mugge and Diana Zelman with Roger Naber serving as executive producer. The first film the three made together was Deep Sea Blues, a 118-minute portrait of the January 2007 Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise to the Caribbean which is available on DVD from Micro Werks.

In the words of the The Hollywood Reporter, "Filmmaker Robert Mugge has...established himself as the cinema's foremost music documentarian." Over the past three-and-a-half decades, he has made dozens of music-related films and TV series, including such acclaimed documentaries as Gospel According to Al Green, Deep Blues, Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records, Hellhounds On My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson, Last of the Mississippi Jukes, Gather At The River: A Bluegrass Celebration, Black Wax (with Gil Scott-Heron), Blues Divas (with Morgan Freeman), and The Kingdom of Zydeco (with Beau Jocque and Boozoo Chavis). In 2005, just after Hurricane Katrina, Mugge collaborated with Diana Zelman on New Orleans Music In Exile for Starz Entertainment Group, and the two have been working together ever since.

Mugge currently serves as the Endowed Chair Professor of Telecommunications at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Four of his graduate and undergraduate production students (Joseph Vella, Andrew Bissonnette, Derek Cox and Derek Hall) served as primary crew members for the production. Mugge edited the film in Muncie and supervised post-production at The Dive in Philadelphia. In addition, Steve Savage served as music mixer in San Francisco and George Hunt created the commemorative painting incorporated into the DVD menus and package designed by Scott Burnett at the LRBC offices in Kansas City.

Executive producer Roger Naber is a blues music industry visionary, a former Kansas City club owner, a blues deejay, and a charter cruise pioneer whose first Blues Cruise sailed in 1992. His January 2012 Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise to the Caribbean was his 25th music cruise, with many yet to come. In October of 2012, he is launching a new Southeastern Caribbean Blues Cruise departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico with one of his best artist lineups ever.

In the words of Robert Mugge, "I made my 1986 film Saxophone Colossus because I wanted to know more about jazz improvisation and so chose to work with Sonny Rollins, the greatest living jazz improviser. More recently, Roger Naber proposed that Diana and I produce a film about the late-night pro jams that are the highlight of his twice-yearly Blues Cruises, and I saw this as an opportunity to make a film about jamming and improvising among top blues artists. The result of this collaboration, All Jams on Deck, serves not only as the record Roger wanted of some of his late-night pro jams, but also as the film I envisioned about all aspects of blues jamming. In the end, everyone is happy, especially blues fans and musicians around the world: the musicians because they now have an effective primer for jamming with their peers; and the fans because we're giving away DVDs of this exciting film for free. At a time when the music business and the home video business are both coming apart at the seams, we have devised a new business model to get the film out to everyone we know will enjoy it. And that crazy business model is just to give it away via the Blues Cruise website. Nothing will make us happier than if every blues fan on the planet goes to www.bluescruise.com and requests a copy of his or her own!"

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Good Gal Blues - Sonny Boy Williamson I

Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee Curtis Williamson, March 30, 1914 – June 1, 1948) was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.
Williamson was born near Jackson, Tennessee in 1914. His original recordings were considered to be in the country blues style, but he soon demonstrated skill at making harmonica a lead instrument for the blues, and popularized it for the first time in a more urban blues setting. He has been called "the father of modern blues harp". While in his teens he joined Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes playing with them in Tennessee and Arkansas, and in 1934 settled in Chicago
Williamson recorded prolifically both as a bandleader and a sideman over the entire course of his career, mainly for the Bluebird record label. Before Bluebird moved to Chicago, where it eventually became part of RCA Records, many early sessions took place at the Leland Hotel in Aurora, Illinois. Before the university's towers at Champaign were built, the Leland Hotel was for many years the tallest building in Illinois, outside Chicago. The top-floor nightclub at the Leland, known as "The Sky Room", was used for live big band broadcasts on a local radio station, was utilized during off hours as a recording studio for Williamson's early sessions, as well as those of other Bluebird artists.

Williamson's final recording session took place in Chicago in December 1947, backing Big Joe Williams. On June 1, 1948, John Lee Williamson was killed in a robbery on Chicago's South Side, as he walked home from a performance at The Plantation Club at 31st St. and Giles Ave., a tavern just a block and a half away from his home at 3226 S. Giles. Williamson's final words are reported to have been "Lord have mercy".

His legacy has been somewhat overshadowed in the post-war blues era by the popularity of the musician who appropriated his name, Rice Miller, who after Williamson's death went on to record many popular blues songs for Chicago's Checker Records label and others, and toured Europe several times during the 'blues revival' in the early 1960s.
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Betty Jean - Harold Burrage

Harold Edwin Burrage, 30 March 1931, Chicago, Illinois - 25 November 1966, Chicago, Illinois

Pianist Harold Burrage started out singing blues and R&B during the 1950s and ended up as a linchpin of the emerging Chicago soul sound of the ’60s; he made recordings in both styles and more than a few idiomatic shades in between. Burrage mentored young soul singers Otis Clay and Tyrone Davis, but never had a chance to see them fully blossom. Burrage’s first record was in 1950 with a jumping “Hi-Yo Silver” for Decca. Further singles followed for Aladdin and States before he joined Eli Toscano’s Cobra label. His spell at the label saw him recruit some sterling guitarists on his sessions. In 1956, Burrage cut the amusing “You Eat Too Much” for Cobra, backed by a solid combo featuring guitarist Wayne Bennett (Bobby Bland band) and bass legend Willie Dixon. For 1957’s “Messed Up,” he used Jody Williams while “Stop for the Red Light,” his third Cobra 45, was a novelty complete with auto-wreck sound effects. “Betty Jean,” his last Cobra single, is unabashed rock & roll, with Otis Rush on guitar. Burrage also served as a session pianist for Cobra, backing Magic Sam and Charles Clark. He moved to Vee-Jay and cut a storming “Crying for My Baby” but by the early 60’s he was with One-derful’s M-Pac! subsidiary and had moved into a soul groove. His only national R&B hit (# 31) came in 1965 with the driving “Got to Find a Way” which was later revived by one of protégés, Otis Clay.
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