I Ain't Mad At You - H Bomb Ferguson

H-Bomb Ferguson (May 9, 1929 – November 26, 2006) was an American jump blues singer from Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. He was an early pioneer of the rock and roll sound of the mid 1950s, featuring driving rhythm, intensely shouted vocals, honking tenor saxophone solos, and outlandish personal appearance. Ferguson sang and played piano in a flamboyant style, wearing colorful wigs
Born Robert Percell Ferguson in Charleston, South Carolina, he was the eleventh of twelve children. His father was a Baptist preacher who paid for piano lessons for his son, on condition he learned sacred melodies. But Ferguson had other ideas. "After church was over, while the people was all standing outside talking, me and my friends would run back inside and I'd play the blues on the piano."

At the age of 19, he was on the road with Joe Liggins and the Honeydrippers. They moved to New York, where Ferguson branched off on his own, getting a gig at the nightclub Baby Grand Club in Harlem, billed as "The Cobra Kid."

His 1951-1952 recording contract with Savoy Records produced some of his best recordings. Drummer, Jack "The Bear" Parker, who played on the Savoy dates, allegedly bestowed the singer with his explosive moniker. Other accounts credit Savoy record producer, Lee Magid, with coining H-Bomb's handle; either way, his dynamite vocals fulfilled the billing. However, it was not until 1955 that rock and roll became a sensation, when Bill Haley & His Comets' version of "Rock Around the Clock" became a hit.

Ferguson retired from touring in the early 1970s, but made a number of comebacks. Backed by the Medicine Men, he recorded his first album, Wiggin' Out, for Chicago's Earwig Music in 1993. He died in 2006 at the Hospice of Cincinnati of complications from emphysema and cardiopulmonary disease
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Don't Tell Me Nothing About My Baby - Little Joe Blue

Little Joe Blue (September 23, 1934 — April 22, 1990) was an American blues singer, and guitarist.
Born Joseph Valery, Jr. in Vicksburg, Mississippi, his music were heavily influenced by the work of Louis Jordan, Joe Liggins, and B. B. King. He played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1974, made later trips to Europe in 1982, and appeared at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1986.

He did not turn to music as a profession until the late 1950s, when he was well into his 20s, forming his band the Midnighters in Detroit, Michigan at the end of the decade. By the early 1960s, Valery had moved to Reno where he began recording as an adjunct to his performances in local clubs, before moving on to Los Angeles, California. He recorded for various record labels, including Kent and Chess' Checker Records division during the early to mid 1960s, and never entirely escaped the criticism that he was a B. B. King imitator, which dogged him right into the 1980s. The style that King popularized also happened to suit Valery, however, and he gained some credibility in 1966 when he racked up a modest hit in 1966 with the song "Dirty Work Is Going On," which has since become a blues standard. He had extended stints with Jewel Records and Chess from the late 1960s into the early 1970s, and recorded until the end of the 1980s.

There is a CD of his work in print, the Evejim Records Little Joe Blue's Greatest Hits, a reissue of two LPs, I'm Doing Alright and Dirty Work Going On, that he cut in the 1980s. His "Standing on the Threshold," featuring a powerful vocal performance and some beautifully soaring horns behind some lean, mean guitar and piano, also appears on Jewel Spotlights the Blues, Vol. 1.

On Little Joe Blue's Greatest Hits, the songs include a new version of his most famous song, "Dirty Work Going On", "Encourage Me Baby", "Don't Start Me To Talking" and Little Milton's "How Could You Do It to Me".

He died in Reno, Nevada in 1990 at the age of 55 from stomach cancer.
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A Natural Fact - Steve Strongman

2011 Maple Blues Award winner for Guitar Player of the year, Steve Strongman has a new acoustic cd, A Natural Fact, and I listened to it today. A Natural Fact has 12 original tracks written by Strongman and performed by Strongman on vocal, guitar and harmonica, Alec Fraser on standup bass, Dave King on drums, Jesse O'Brien on piano and a duet with Suzie Vinnick. This release showcases Strongmans solid vocals and clean acoustic picking style. Can't Go Back, a clever song about second thoughts also brings some extremely clean slide playing. Leaving (with Suzie Vinnick)is a country blues rocker with interesting vocal blending. Rockin' Chair Blues, one of my favorites, has some hot picking and some cool piano. Got Trouble, the standout track on the cd, is a great traditional style blues tune. Full Of You is a happy go lucky tune which could easily be the radio track from the cd. The final track on the release, Just One Thing, is accapella w/ harp. It has a spiritual overtone and is a nice wrap up of the release. I believe that this cd will be very well received.
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Lil' Cliff & the Cliffhangers - The Lovin' Kind - New Release Review

I just received and had the chance to review the new release, The Lovin' Kind, by International Blues Challenge Finalists Lil' Cliff & the Cliffhangers, and it's quite enjoyable. The Cliffhangers, a harmonica driven quartet, play primarily in a jump style but mix it up a bit and also show a bit of a sense of humor. Eight of the 15 tracks are written by the band and the flow is very even and well thought out. The title track is a jump blues and is a great start to the recording. Willie Dixon's Twenty - Nine Ways (To My Baby''s Door) is up next and look out for a great guitar solo from Dennis Phelps. Ace Don't Ace Me Out and Creole Belle both get that New Orleans feeling, the latter with a pretty cool slide solo. On Heaven Can Wait, Lil' Cliff gets a pretty unusual harp sound going (I like it) and there are some particularly nice backing vocal harmonies. The Cliffhangers put up 2 George "Harmonica" Smith tunes, Oopin' Doopin' Doopin' and Rockin'. Along of course with great harping throughout, you get some cool, unexpected guitar riffs as seen here and Rockin' is a real foot stomper. The two best tracks for me were the humorous Spank That Monkey (that's for your Ace) which also is instrumentally interesting and Walter Jacobs' Up The Line which is performed Chicago style over a Latin beat. There's a great ripping guitar solo on this track. This is a cool cd and one that you should check out!

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Search For Robert Johnson Part 1 (of 5)

The Search for Robert Johnson is a 1991 UK television documentary film about the legendary Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, hosted by John Hammond, and produced and directed by Chris Hunt. In it, Hammond travels through the American Deep South to pursue topics such as Johnson's birth date, place and parents, his early musical development, performances and travels, romances, his mythic "pact with the devil," his untimely murder in his late twenties, the discovery of possible offspring, and the uncertainty over where Johnson is buried. Throughout, Johnson's music is both foreground and background, from recordings of Johnson and as performed on camera by Hammond, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Johnny Shines.
Blues musician and "keeper of the flame" John Hammond described his journey into the American South as "the quest of a lifetime". His father, record producer and jazz impresario John H. Hammond, had planned and advertised for Robert Johnson to perform at Carnegie Hall, but Johnson died prior to the concert.

The film is loosely organized around field work by Johnson researcher Robert "Mack" McCormick. Throughout the film, Hammond travels to locations where Johnson lived, performed, recorded, and purportedly where he died, and interviews two of Johnson's girlfriends and blues musicians who knew him, as well as two noted blues researchers. Locations include the "Delta, the floodplain of northwestern Mississippi, on into Arkansas and Texas, and into southern Mississippi, where he was born and died."

The film has been noted for its presentation of new evidence, at the time, about Johnson's life.
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Rachelle Plas & Joe Louis Walker

Rachelle Plas, a Girl, her Harmonica and its Voice.

AWARDS on 2010:

GRAND PRIX CAHORS BLUES FESTIVAL
PRICE BLUES ON SEINE


TOWER 2010:

Festival Country QUATREMARE
COW OF BLUES
CAHORS BLUES FESTIVAL
COGNAC BLUES PASSIONS
NHL FESTIVAL - BRISTOL BOARD (UK)
BLUES ON SEINE
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Blues Singer - SIDNEY MAIDEN

Born in Mansfield, LA in 1923, singer and harmonica blower Sidney Maiden made his mark on the blues with the classic "Eclipse of the Sun." In the '40s, Maiden moved to California where he first met guitarist K.C. Douglas. They bonded immediately since they both had a purist attitude towards rural blues and didn't compromise that style of playing once they left the south. They played clubs on the West Coast, and recorded "Eclipse of the Sun" in 1948 for the Down Town label run by Bob Geddins. It would be the first and only hit for Maiden. Four years later a session was recorded for Imperial with the Blues Blowers (including Douglas), followed in 1953 by "Hurry Hurry Baby" for the Flash label. In 1961 Maiden participated in a recording session, set up by Arhoolie Records boss Chris Strachwitz, reuniting him with Douglas for Trouble an' Blues released on Bluesville. Since then Maiden has performed sporadically in the Fresno area in both solo and group situations. ~ Al Campbell, Rovi
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Dust My Broom - Bob Riedy Blues Band

In the midst of the massive volumes of material documenting the history of blues music and its creators in Chicago, there is a small but very unique story concerning an artisan whose apprenticeship caused a revival of Chicago blues that boosted the careers of nearly every active seminal blues artist in Chicago during the 1960s to the 1980s.

In the 1940s, born the oldest of 10 children on a working dairy farm in northern Wisconsin, Bob Riedy grew up to become for a while, one of the most active blues promoters, entrepreneurs, and piano players in the city of Chicago. While attempting to fulfill his apprenticeship among the inventors and masters of Chicago Urban Blues, his efforts helped bring new life to the whole genre.

At one time or another, every seminal Chicago Urban Blues Master who was active during the late 1960s to the early 1980s (from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to the lesser known but integral Chicago Urban Blues Artists) was either a member of Bob's band or was backed by his band at one time or another. He created jobs where there were none, putting together bands for himself and others even when it was not financially feasible to do so. He made recordings of the Chicago blues artists when the established record companies would not. Chicago Urban Blues artists played on Bob's recording sessions and he played on theirs. Many times he came to recording sessions with arrangements, backup musicians from his band, and even spare musical instruments he had repaired to make sure the session and artist had everything needed.

By the early 80s, Bob found gigging and promotion increasingly difficult. Neighborhood bars he developed into successful blues clubs over many years were now in their prime and ripe for take over by corporations and individuals who had an agenda different than his own. The result was that clubs that took years to build and become popular were now being rapidly harvested by those who did not share Bob's views on presenting blues. He realized that after nearly 20 years, he did not have the means on a musician's pay to stop the takeovers of any of the blues clubs. Also, without the jobs he created, he could not continue maintaining a fulltime band on payroll. His philanthropic effort had run its course.

Bob simultaneously gave up live performance, behind the scenes promotions and booking, left the hustle of Chicago, and ironically returned to a pastoral life in the rural Midwest. Today, even though he does continue work through his foundation; he rarely performs in public. But most every evening as you pass his farmhouse you can still hear Bob working at his craft. His apprenticeship continues.
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Who's The Fool - Little Joe Blue

Little Joe Blue (September 23, 1934 — April 22, 1990) was an American blues singer, and guitarist.
Born Joseph Valery, Jr. in Vicksburg, Mississippi, his music were heavily influenced by the work of Louis Jordan, Joe Liggins, and B. B. King. He played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1974, made later trips to Europe in 1982, and appeared at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1986.

He did not turn to music as a profession until the late 1950s, when he was well into his 20s, forming his band the Midnighters in Detroit, Michigan at the end of the decade. By the early 1960s, Valery had moved to Reno where he began recording as an adjunct to his performances in local clubs, before moving on to Los Angeles, California. He recorded for various record labels, including Kent and Chess' Checker Records division during the early to mid 1960s, and never entirely escaped the criticism that he was a B. B. King imitator, which dogged him right into the 1980s. The style that King popularized also happened to suit Valery, however, and he gained some credibility in 1966 when he racked up a modest hit in 1966 with the song "Dirty Work Is Going On," which has since become a blues standard. He had extended stints with Jewel Records and Chess from the late 1960s into the early 1970s, and recorded until the end of the 1980s.

There is a CD of his work in print, the Evejim Records Little Joe Blue's Greatest Hits, a reissue of two LPs, I'm Doing Alright and Dirty Work Going On, that he cut in the 1980s. His "Standing on the Threshold," featuring a powerful vocal performance and some beautifully soaring horns behind some lean, mean guitar and piano, also appears on Jewel Spotlights the Blues, Vol. 1.

On Little Joe Blue's Greatest Hits, the songs include a new version of his most famous song, "Dirty Work Going On", "Encourage Me Baby", "Don't Start Me To Talking" and Little Milton's "How Could You Do It to Me".

He died in Reno, Nevada in 1990 at the age of 55 from stomach cancer.
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Leaving Chicago - George Harmonica Smith

George "Harmonica" Smith (April 22, 1924 – October 2, 1983) (born Allen George Smith) was an American electric blues harmonica player
Born in West Helena, Arkansas, United States, but brought up in Cairo, Illinois, he began playing professionally in 1951. He was recruited to join Muddy Waters' band in 1954, making his presence between the short-lived Henry Strong, and James Cotton. He would rejoin Waters in 1966. He eventually made the decision to leave Chicago, and spent much of his adult life on the West Coast of America.

Smith played with the blues combo, Bacon Fat, and tutored its harmonica player Rod Piazza, and mentored guitarist (Blues Musician) Buddy Reed, before joining forces with Big Mama Thornton in the 1970s. He appeared on her album Jail (1975), and with another harmonica student William Clarke.

The few solo albums he recorded in his life reflected his admiration for the playing style of Little Walter.

George "Harmonica" Smith died in 1983, in Los Angeles, California at the age of 59.
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James Armstrong Live

In a world where TV contests promise instant stardom and post 9-11 border hassles have forced many artists to hang up their guitars, James Armstrong is still out there, earning his title as “Ambassador of the Blues.” Instead of buckling under the pressures of being a touring bluesman in the 21st century, he’s made them the topic of many of the songs on his much awaited new album, Blues at the Border. Recorded in New York and Texas for his new label, Cat Food Records, Blues at the Border manages to honor the sound of traditional blues while giving it the contemporary grit his fans have grown accustomed to hearing from James.



Born in Los Angeles, Armstrong’s mother was a blues singer and his father played jazz guitar. James started performing at the age of eight and by the time he was 17, he was touring across the country. Over the years he’s worked with Albert Collins, Keb Mo', Coco Montoya, Roy Brown,Joe Louis Walker, Chaka Khan, Ricky Lee Jones, Peter Tork, Jan & Dean, Mitch Mitchell and Tommy Castro.


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5th Street Alley Blues - Guitar Slim Green

"A great deal has been written about the blues and the people who sing them. Most enthusiasts are familiar with the names of Elmore james, Muddy Waters, Sonnyboy Williamson, Lightnin' Hopkins and Little Walter, for these are the names of artists who have won wide recognition for their talents and their contributions not only to the blues, but to Rock & Roll as well.

However, one should be aware that there were others, some still around, that were equally as talented, but not as fortunate. All too often their contributions were quickly recognized, borrowed or stolen and the artists themselves ignored and forgotten. Such was almost the tragedy that occured with GUITAR SLIM GREEN..." (Cover notes)
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Bootlegger Blues - South Memphis String Band

The South Memphis String Band, a trio composed of Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Alvin “Youngblood” Hart (Grammy-winning bluesman) and Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers), launches its first tour on April 23, 2009 in Dallas, Texas, targeting the East and South. The three friends, bound by Memphis and North Mississippi roots, will tour ahead of recording their debut album later this year. So far only two songs have been unveiled, both at the trio’s MySpace page myspace.com/southmemphisstringband. So the April and May dates will be an opportunity for fans to get in on the ground floor.
Although they’d known each other for years, the trio’s musical spirit gelled last year when they recorded a yet-unreleased album with Luther’s father, legendary producer Jim Dickinson, called New Moon Jellyroll Freedom Rockers.
The South Memphis String Band was greatly influenced by the Mississippi Sheiks, Gus Cannon & the Memphis Jug Band and other string bands and jug bands of their ilk, as well as Mississippi Delta and Hill Country blues. They will travel with a passel of guitars, mandolins, banjos, lap steel guitars and harmonicas.....
Luther Dickinson is lead guitarist and vocalist for the North Mississippi Allstars as well as lead guitarist for the Black Crowes. The son of producer Jim Dickinson was born and raised in West Tennessee, where he played concerts and gained recording experience with his father and brother, Cody. The family moved to the hills of North Mississippi in 1985. Luther befriended the musical families of Otha Turner, R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. They were the inspiration for Luther and Cody to form the North Mississippi Allstars in ‘96. The Allstars have been nominated for three Grammy Awards in the Best Contemporary Blues category. Luther produced two Otha Turner albums: Everybody Hollerin' Goat and From Senegal To Senatobia. Luther was recently featured in Rolling Stone as one of the “New Guitar Gods.” He has recorded with the Replacements, Mojo Nixon, Toy Caldwell, Billy Lee Riley, John Medeski and Robert Randolph (as The Word), John Hiatt and Jon Spencer, in addition to Turner, Burnside and the elder Dickinson. ....
Though born in Oakland, California, Alvin “Youngblood” Hart had family connections in Carroll County, Miss., and spent time there in his childhood, hearing his relatives’ stories of Charlie Patton. Influenced by the country blues, Hart is known as one of the world's foremost practitioners of that genre. He’s also a faithful torchbearer for the ‘60s and ‘70s guitar rock of his youth, as well as Western Swing and vintage country. His music has been compared to that of artists ranging from Leadbelly and Spade Cooley to Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. Hart plays acoustic and electric guitar as well as banjo and sometimes the mandolin. Bluesman Taj Mahal once said of him, “The boy has got thunder in his hands.” In 2003, Hart's album Down in the Alley was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. In ‘05, Hart received a Grammy Award for his contribution to Beautiful Dreamer — The Songs of Stephen Foster. He was featured in the Wim Wenders film The Soul of a Man, which was part of Martin Scorsese’s 2003 PBS series “The Blues,” and also appeared in the documentary Last of the Mississippi Jukes.....
Guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer Jimbo Mathus grew up in Clarksdale, Miss. He first caught the public’s ear in the 1990s with the hyper-ragtime vaudeville act the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Since then, he has released many recordings of his own in a style he describes as Mississippi Music. “Basically,” Mathus says, “I combine the myriad styles of deep roots music in a type of alchemy. Blues, country, gospel and soul all go into the equation equally.” His last outing, Knockdown South, was released on his own label and received much critical acclaim, including the No. 2 spot on Honest Tune magazine’s Best of 2005 list. He runs the Delta Recording Service, a studio based in Clarksdale, and is sought out by many artists seeking the old-school style of recording. One such artist was Elvis Costello, who recorded his Grammy nominated “Monkey to Man” single in Mathus’ studio in 2005. He has produced two blues CDs that were nominated for Blues Music Awards in 2006, Duwane Burnside’s Under Pressure and Big George Brock’s Club Caravan. Additionally, he contributed vocals on the North Mississippi Allstars’ 2006 Grammy-nominated Electric Blues Watermelon. Mathus sums it up: “I break down walls and stereotypes with my music. I confuse people. I use Mississippi music, which is renegade music at heart, as my inspiration and motivation. I use it as a tool to reach people, to express my own feelings and continue to express those that came before me. I keep the old stories alive while they help keep me alive.”....

Mathus says, “Luther, Youngblood Hart and myself have been musical co-
conspirators for over a decade. It is only fitting that we should come together with acoustic instruments and perform Mississippi music.”..


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Plakatak - Dino Haak Collective

The Dino Haak Collective came together to create music that transcends the usual and predictable. Frontman Megatar player Dino Haak shares the stage with an assemblage of talented individuals including: Chris Squires, drums; Artis the Spoonman, spoons & wisdom (Soundgarden, Zappa); Alex Westcoat, drums (David Bazan, Say Hi!); and Taiwanese scratch prodigy DJ James Ho, turntables. Former members of The Collective include Troy Glessner (guitar), Todd Gray (drums), and Sean Siner (drums). The band is also known for their unique duo performances.

German artist Dino Haak is best known for his work on the Mobius Megatar, a twelve-string touch-style instrument. The sound of the Megatar adds a powerful and eerily symphonic element to the band’s sound. Haak’s legal move to the US from Germany was supported by American musicians Trey Gunn (King Crimson), Don Schiff (Pat Benatar, Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow), Greg Howard (Dave Matthews Band), Emmett Chapman (Inventor of the Chapman Stick) and others, who helped him to be awarded an Exceptional Artist Visa in 1999 and choose the United States as his full-time place of residence since 2000.
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Earl's Boogie - Earl Hooker

Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 – April 21, 1970) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, perhaps best known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", Hooker performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker (a cousin) as well as fronting his own bands. An early player of the electric guitar, Hooker was influenced by the modern urban styles of T-Bone Walker and Robert Nighthawk. As a band leader, he recorded several singles and albums, in addition to recording with well-known artists. His "Blue Guitar", a popular Chicago area slide-guitar instrumental single, was later overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters and became the popular "You Shook Me".

In the late 1960s, Hooker began performing on the college and concert circuit and had several recording contracts. Just as his career was on an upswing, Earl Hooker died in 1970 at age 41 after a life-long struggle with tuberculosis. His guitar playing has been acknowledged by many of his peers, including B.B. King, who commented: "to me he is the best of modern guitarists. Period. With the slide he was the best. It was nobody else like him, he was just one of a kind"
Earl Zebedee Hooker was born in 1929 in rural Quitman County, Mississippi, outside of Clarksdale. In 1930, when he was one-year old, his parents moved to Chicago. His family was musically inclined (John Lee Hooker was a cousin) and Earl was exposed to music at home at a very early age. About age ten, he started playing guitar. Hooker was self-taught and picked up what he could from those around him. Although Hooker was gaining proficiency on guitar, he did not show an interest in singing. This has been explained by a speech impediment, i.e., pronounced stuttering, which afflicted him all his life. Hooker also contracted tuberculosis when he was young. Although his condition did not become critical until the mid-1950s, it required periodic hospital visits beginning at an early age.
After his California sojourn, Hooker returned to Chicago and performed regularly around the city, including the first Chicago Blues Festival on August 30, 1969, which attracted about 10,000 people. In October 1969, Hooker toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, where he played twenty concerts in twenty-three days in nine countries. There his sets were well received and garnered favorable reviews. "The journey overseas was a sort of apotheosis for Hooker, who regarded it, along with his recording trips to California, as the climax of his career." The tour exhausted him and "his friends noticed a severe deterioration of his health upon his return." Hooker played a few dates around Chicago (including some with Junior Wells) from November to early December 1969, whereafter he was hospitalized. On April 21, 1970 at age 41, he died from complications due to tuberculosis.
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Drop Anchor - Ryan Hartt & the Blue Hearts

“YOU GOT TO LIVE IT TO GIVE IT”, states the first line from Ryan Hartt & the Blue Hearts’ latest CD, “Call My Name”. In their 12 years together, Ryan Hartt & the Blue Hearts have, indeed, lived it. They’ve logged countless gigs and countless miles in a Honda minivan, playing clubs and festivals throughout the Northeast and beyond. Being in a blues band in today’s music market is never easy. Nonetheless, the band keeps moving forward, outlasting musical trends and clubs that have come and gone.

Though the band will always be rooted in the Chicago and West Coast blues they have built their reputation on, “Call My Name” expands their sound with soul, proto-rock & roll and even ska. Their songwriting has matured equally. Certainly the common blues themes of love lost and found are here, but the songs on “Call My Name” also reflect the changes and growth of the band members over the last seven years with topics ranging from depression to choosing music over a relationship to the grind of a gigging blues band. Yet no matter what, as the last line of the of the last song says, Ryan Hartt & the Blue Hearts “will be back next Friday night”.

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Boogie Bill Webb & Harmonica Slim

Boogie Bill Webb (March 24, 1924 – August 22, 1990) was an American Louisiana blues and R&B guitarist, singer and songwriter. Webb's own style of music combined Mississippi country blues with New Orleans R&B. His best known recordings were "Bad Dog" and "Drinkin' and Stinkin'". Despite a lengthy, albeit stuttering, career, Webb nevertheless only released one album
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Webb's first guitar at the age of eight was stringed with screen wire and made from a cigar box. His greatest influence was Tommy Johnson. With a real guitar obtained whist a teenager, in 1947 Webb won a talent show, and subsequently briefly appeared in the musical film, The Jackson Jive, before settling in New Orleans in 1952.

Webb obtained a recording contract with Imperial Records, after his friendship with Fats Domino led to his introduction to Dave Bartholomew. In 1953 Webb released his debut single, "Bad Dog," a non commercial slice of country boogie-woogie. Frustrated by lack of recognition, Webb relocated to Chicago, where he worked in various factories. In Chicago, Webb met and sat in with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, and Chuck Berry.

Webb returned to New Orleans in 1959 to work as a stevedore, performing music infrequently. However, in 1968 he recorded several songs for the folklorist David Evans, which eventually appeared on the Arhoolie Records album Roosevelt Holts and His Friends. The 1972 compilation album, The Legacy of Tommy Johnson contained five tracks performed by Webb.

A combination of the exposure at home and in Europe led to visits to Webb from blues fans, and invitations to tour. In 1982 Webb appeared at the Dutch Utrecht Festival. Finally in 1989, with financial assistance from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Webb released Drinkin' and Stinkin'. His experience of encountering three drunken women, who had been out drinking for three days without bathing, inspired the lyrics for the title track of the album.

Boogie Bill Webb died in New Orleans in August 1990, at the age of 66
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Disaster Blues - Tomcat Courtney

The rest of world is about to discover what San Diego has known for 35 years; Tomcat Courtney is an authentic bluesman in the best of Texas country blues tradition. At the age of 78, Tomcat Courtney made his national debut on May 20th, 2008 with the release of “Downsville Blues” on Blue Witch Records.

A bittersweet return to his old hometown prompted the recording of "Downsville Blues", where his marvelously spare, down-home guitar style and full vocals ring with riveting authority. With mastery earned through years of honing his craft, fans and critics describe Tomcat’s guitar and vocal work as “real”, “authentic”, “distinctive” and “amazing.” An extraordinary songwriter, his gift for writing topical songs grabs the essence of time and place, and shines on as captured in “Downsville Blues”, a wistful hometown remembrance, "Disaster Blues" deploring Hurricane Katrina and "Railroad Avenue", a tribute to visiting an ex-girlfriend who lived along the railroad tracks.

“It isn’t about flash, it is about feeling,” recalls San Diego Entertainment writer Robert Hawkins. “Tomcat is a showman, but he doesn’t shred chords. He heals busted dreams by singing the blues.” Tomcat’s soulful voice resonates with the depth and strength of a man who has lived his lyrics; the old blues come alive in his guitarwork. The songs are rooted in a simpler time, purified by a musician who sanctifies the blues.
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Tube Snake Boogie - ZZ Top

I needed some ZZ Top...You need ZZ Top!! Enjoy! 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”

Tech Talk - Lakewood M-54

This Brazilian Rosewood and Adirondack Spruce Lakewood M-54 is a versatile OM guitar that is outfitted with a dual source B-Band pickup system. The 54 series is a top-of-the-line instrument from the Lakewood shop in Germany. The top on this one is exquisite, even grain and lovely red streaks. This guitar is bright and clear with abundant headroom. The neck is slender and fast with its satin feel. Measurements Body Size: Medium Scale: 25 1/2 in. (647.7 mm) Nut Width: 1 3/4 in. (44.5 mm) String Spacing: 2 5/32 in. (54.8 mm) Body Length: 19 3/4 in. Upper Bout: 11 in. Lower Bout: 15 1/2 in. Serial #: 14855 Body Depth @Neck Heel: 3 1/2 in. Body Depth @Tail Block: 4 5/8 in. Frets to body: 14 Woods & Trim Back/Sides: Brazilian Rosewood Top Wood: Adirondack Red Spruce Fingerboard: Ebony Neck Wood: Mahogany, 1 Piece Bridge: Ebony Rosette: Abalone & Wood Binding: Koa Fingerboard Bindings: Flamed Koa Headplate: Brazilian Rosewood Headstock Bindings: Flamed Koa Headstock Inlay: None Top Trim: Maple Back Strip: None Fret Markers: None Tuners: Waverly with Ivoroid Buttons Tuner Finish: Nickel 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”

(If You're Going to the) Dog House - Doug MacLeod

Doug MacLeod is a singer-songwriter in the American tradition. He is a traveling artist that writes and sings original songs that are based on his own life and experiences. He learned from the old masters, lived the music, survived the life and carries forward a valuable tradition. MacLeod is known for his superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit and unforgettable live performances. At the heart of this is his knack for storytelling, bringing characters-from the faceless to the legendary-to strikingly real life. While he developed his rich, soulful voice MacLeod also worked out a unique, unorthodox and powerfully rhythmic acoustic guitar style. His distinct style of playing was a byproduct of pent-up rage from his turbulent childhood and the segregation drama in his new home of St. Louis. The rage of his youth was eventually channeled through his guitar, using his relentless right hand to pound out an insistent, churning beat to complement his intricate bottleneck and finger-style technique. MacLeod's playing landed him sideman gigs with George 'Harmonica' Smith, Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, Lowell Fulson and Big Mama Thornton. Under their tutelage, he learned how to thrill and enrapture a crowd. Over 28 years, 18 studio albums, several live records, compilations, a blues guitar instructional DVD and a live performance DVD, MacLeod has consistently earned raves. His songs have been covered by many artists including Albert King, Albert Collins, Joe Louis Walker and Eva Cassidy. He has co-written songs with Dave Alvin and Coco Montoya. MacLeod's songs have been featured in many TV movies and the hit show In the Heat of the Night. Two of his songs are on Grammy nominated albums by Albert King and Albert Collins. 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”

Love Her With A Feeling - Eddie King

Eddie King (April 21, 1938 – March 14, 2012) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Living Blues once stated "King is a potent singer and player with a raw, gospel-tinged voice and an aggressive, thick-toned guitar sound". He was noted as creating a "straightforward style, after Freddie King and Little Milton" King was born Edward Lewis Davis Milton in Talladega, Alabama, United States. His parents were both musical, with his father playing guitar and his mother a gospel singer. King learned basic guitar riffs from watching from outside the window of local blues clubs, and was inspired by the playing of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. He grew up playing alongside Luther Allison, Magic Sam, Junior Wells, Eddie C. Campbell, and Freddie King. He relocated to Chicago, Illinois, in 1954, and his diminutive stature and the influence of B.B. King led to him being referred to as 'Little Eddie King'. Given a break by Little Mack Simmons, he first recorded under the tutelage of Willie Dixon and, in 1960, played on several tracks recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson II.[1] He also recorded with Detroit Junior. Also in 1960, King had a single released by J.O.B. Records, "Shakin' Inside" / "Love You Baby". He then became the guitarist backing Koko Taylor, a role he undertook for two decades. Separately forming Eddie King & the Kingsmen in 1969, King moved to Peoria, Illinois, in the early 1980s. Since the early 1990s, King's backing ensemble were known as the Swamp Bees, and his output has incorporated Chicago blues, country blues, blues shouter, and soul. His debut album, The Blues Has Got Me (1987), was issued by the Netherlands based record label, Black Magic, and later re-released by Double Trouble. It featured one of his sisters, Mae Bee May, on vocals. In 1997, King recorded Another Cow's Dead, which got a Blues Music Award for 'Best Comeback Blues Album'. It was arranged by Lou Marini. King died in Peoria, Illinois, in March 2012, at the age of 73 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”

Statesboro Blues - Paul Geremia

For almost forty years, Paul Geremia has survived solely by the fruit of his musical labours. Having abandoned all other means of support in 1966, he has been travelling far and wide ever since, performing in every capacity from street singing to club and concert bookings, throughout the U.S.A., Canada and Europe. In the years since, Geremia has built a reputation as a first rate bluesman, songwriter, a "scholar" of early jazz and blues, and one of the best country blues fingerpickers ever with his tools - six and twelve-string guitars, harmonica, piano and a husky soulful voice - and with an innate sense of the humour as well as the drama of the music, he keeps traditional blues fresh and alive with his performances. Combining his interpretation of the earlier music of people like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Scrapper Blackwell and Blind Blake, with his original compositions, he has created a style which is very much his own and which has received accolades in the U.S.A. and Europe, too numerous to mention. Geremia's background isn't typical for a bluesman. He is a third generation Italian-American who, as he laughingly puts it, "was born in the Providence River Delta". Growing up in a family that moved across the country and back numerous times weaned his appetite for music, history and travel, which served him well later on. During the sixties, Paul noticed that the music he had enjoyed playing on harmonica (his first instrument) was now referred to as "Folk Music" and was enjoying popularity. During his short time in agriculture college, he was mostly occupied with learning guitar and hitch-hiking to where the music was. He soon left college and hit the road permanently. He found paying gigs in coffee houses and "basket houses" in cities and at college campuses and made occasional forays South and West in search of the music he loved and what gigs he could find. During these years, Geremia crossed paths with people whose influences were beneficial to his development and understanding of the tradition. He worked as opening act for some of the early blues "legends" thereby gaining an immeasurable depth of knowledge from people like Babe Stovall, Yank Rachel, Son House, Skip James, Howlin' Wolf, and many others, especially Pink Anderson whose career he helped revitalize. Geremia has recorded ten solo albums, and has appeared on numerous anthologies and compilation discs. His superb recordings have made him a critical favorite and place him firmly among the legends who inspired and influenced him over the past four decades. 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”

Johnny Shines

Johnny Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist. According to the music journalist Tony Russell, "Shines was that rare being, a blues artist who overcame age and rustiness to make music that stood up beside the work of his youth. When Shines came back to the blues in 1965 he was 50, yet his voice had the leonine power of a dozen years before, when he made records his reputation was based on"

He was born John Ned Shines in Frayser, Memphis, United States. He spent most of his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee playing slide guitar at an early age in local “jukes” and for tips on the streets. He was "inspired by the likes of Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, and the young Howlin' Wolf", but he was taught to play the guitar by his mother. Shines moved to Hughes, Arkansas in 1932 and worked on farms for three years putting his musical career on hold. It was a chance meeting with Robert Johnson, his greatest influence, that gave him the inspiration to return to music. In 1935, Shines began traveling with Johnson, touring the south and heading as far north as Ontario where they appeared on a local radio program. The two went their separate ways in 1937, one year before Johnson's death. Shines played throughout the southern United States until 1941 when he settled in Chicago. There Shines found work in the construction industry but continued to play in local bars. He made his first recording in 1946 for Columbia Records, but the takes were never released. He recorded for Chess in 1950, and was once again denied release. He kept playing with local blues musicians in the Chicago area for several more years. In 1952, Shines recorded what is considered his best work for the J.O.B. Records label. The recordings were a commercial failure and Shines, frustrated with the music industry, sold his equipment and returned to construction. In 1966, Vanguard Records found Shines taking photographs in a Chicago blues club and had him record tracks for the third installment of Chicago/The Blues/Today! The album has since then become a blues classic and it brought Shines into the mainstream music scene. Shines toured with the Chicago All Stars alongside Lee Jackson, Big Walter Horton and Willie Dixon. Shines moved to Holt, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa County, in 1969. When a University of Alabama student, Natalie Mattson, learned that he was living in the area, she invited him to play at a coffee house, known as the "Down Under," that she ran on campus. Shines played on several occasions, and also brought his friend, blues artist Mississippi Fred McDowell to appear with him at Down Under. These were some of his earliest appearances in Alabama after his move there. He continued to play the international blues circuit while living in Holt, Alabama. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Shines toured with Robert Johnson's stepson, Robert Lockwood, Jr. as the last remaining original delta blues musicians. In 1980, Shines' music was brought to a standstill when he suffered a stroke.[2] He would later appear, and play, in the 1991 documentary The Search for Robert Johnson and release one last album, Back To The Country, which won a W.C. Handy Award. It featured playing from Snooky Prior and Johnny Nicholas. In 1989, Shines met Kent DuChaine, and the two of them toured for the next several years until Shines' death. Shines died on April 20, 1992, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame later the same year. 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”

Hey Joe - Alex Miksch & Band

For many years the singer coming from the forest quarter and guitarist inspires his audience with wonderfully touching dialect songs and a strong slope to blues. His songs treat in frank and urgent kind of stories of the failure. Somewhere in the last corner of an alcohol-watered bar there originates a soundtrack wrapped in bluesige sounds of a life which knows how to touch the listeners by his thick atmosphere. Nevertheless, with all darkness the texts and the music are earthy, full lives and poetry. They come along with a winking and black humor. Musically Miksch is open after many sides what makes an unequivocal categorization heavy. The autodidact walks on his quite own way. 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”

Sweet Little Angel - B.B.King & Raimundo Amador

The son of a local traditional musician, Spanish contemporary flamenco guitarist Raimundo Amador started playing live in Sevilla's streets under the name of Sargento Platillo at the age of 13. Soon, he began participating in a project called Los Gitanillos, forming Veneno in 1977, who recorded a self-titled album that was released by CBS. After teaming up with his brother, Rafael Amador, a new flamenco band called Pata Negra was born, issuing four albums. When Raimundo Amador decided to start a solo career, he sent a demo to B.B. King, who invited him to New York. The two were playing songs together such as "Bolleré" and "Ay Morena" soon after. In 1995, the talented guitarist formed Gerundina, recording En la Esquina de Las Vegas in 1997 and Noches de Flamenco in 1998. Two years later, Universal released Un Okupa En Tu Corazón. 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”

Feel The Heat - Jimmy Thackery and The Drivers - Review

I promised you a review on the new Jimmy Thackery cd as I hear it is a barn burner but I received his most recent studio release, Feel The Heat, so I'll give it a spin while we're waiting. Ain't Gonna Do It is a jump blues giving Thackery the opportunity to demonstrate his fleet fingers and enviable style. Blind Man In The Night begins with a very clean Strat playing solo with echo as an intro but slowly turns into a full blast gritty anthem. Thackery has great control and never overplays. Hang Up And Drive is a great blues rocker that gives Thackery a great opportunity to show what he's got in his bag of riffs. This is a great tune and one likely to be on most blues rocker play lists. Bluphoria is a cool track that reminds me of another regional guitar player, the great Danny Gatton. Thackery coaxes all kind of obtuse jazzy tones out of his guitar on this definitely blues track. Everyone knows that Thackery is a great player and this is a nice change up for the recording. Bomb The Moon is another change up looking back to the surf movement. It funny that I had just made a comment a few weeks ago that's it's always nice to see artists throw a tribute to the surf scene now and again. Thackery takes it a few steps further and away from the standard ventures template. I think that you'll like it. The recording concludes with a ballad, Fading Heart with some interesting vocal arrangement and of course cool guitar interludes.


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”

Bluesman Tommy Marsh Hosts New Ventura County Blues Society Jams Starting May 2

Bluesman  

Tommy Marsh 

To Host, Perform @ Ventura County Blues Society "Blues Jam" Series  <<Every Wednesday Starting May 2 - At The Tavern In Ventura>>   

    (VENTURA) - One of the newest-formed  Blues societies in Southern California, the Ventura County Blues Society, has tapped bluesman Tommy Marsh and Bad Dog to host their weekly "Blues Jam" series, at classic Victorian-era mansion The Tavern, 211 E. Santa Clara, launching Wednesday, May 2 and happening every Wednesday thereafter.  8-11 p.m. No cover.  Info: http://www.venturacountybluessociety.org/ . Guitarist-vocalist John Marx joins Marsh as the first week's special guest.      

     Marsh also has the honor of performing at the first-ever VCBS's Sunday Blues Matinee Concert Series,  at the High Street Arts Center Theater,  45 E. High St. in Moorpark, on Sunday, July 8.  The rest of his busy itinerary can be viewed below.

      

<<<About Tommy Marsh & BAD DOG>>>

  

     Tommy Marsh and BAD DOG have been together as a band for a little over a year and are already heavy hitters in the Ventura Music Scene. Blending and bending the Blues, Southern Rock and Jam band genres to a unique hybrid, the band has become extremely popular with fans of all three.

     Presently they are preparing to record their first compilation of songs primarily written by their namesake. Tommy Marsh is lead singer, and one of two lead guitarists in the band. Before coming to Ventura 2 years ago, Marsh was the front man for the The Tule Devils in Central California. The Tule Devils were a very popular original Southern Jam band and performed a weekly show at The Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino for over a year and a half. Opening up for War before a crowd of over five-thousand cheering fans, The Tule Devils brought them to their feet with Tommy's originals "Father Time" and "After The Burn."

     Marsh moved to Ventura for love, having met his soul mate (and Ventura County resident) Tammy at a show in Three Rivers, Ca. "It was a defining moment for me" says Tommy. "For me, love is the only road worth taking." His original song "Love Divine" clearly echoes this sentiment.

     After arriving in Ventura Marsh started going to local Jam sessions to play and meet local musicians.  He became a regular at The All-Star Blues Jam at The Bombay Club every Wednesday.  Last year Tommy was asked to begin hosting this show every week and under his leadership it has become a goto destination in the Southern California Blues scene, attracting amazing players every week. Alastair Greene, John Marx, Guy Martin, Teresa Russell and many others are regular guests at this tremendous show.

    When Marsh began to look for players to fill out his band BAD DOG he drew from great players he had met at the local Jam Sessions. Michael Katnik is an astonishing keyboardist and vocalist who was playing with the Great Ashford Gordon when they met. There was an immediate connection because Marshy loves Hammond Organ and was specifically looking for an organ player. Ashford had just recently moved to Arizona and Michael was looking for a new opportunity. Michael's scorching organ solos, lead and harmony vocals coupled with his amazing energy are a key part of BAD DOG's vibe.

     Tommy met Stan Taylor at The All Star Blues Jam when he was playing with the house band. Stan is a Gibraltar-esque bassist. Taylor toured extensively with Led Zepagain, a premier Led Zeppelin tribute band, for several years. His abilities are astounding and his attitude is awesome - and he makes it easy to play with his solid as a rock groove and his great soloing.  

     John Lacques auditioned for Teri and The Tornados, a band Marsh plays with in Ventura. The Tornadoes chose a different player for their opening but Marsh saw something electric in John's playing, hiring him almost immediately. John is endorsed by Paiste Cymbals and is a crazy good player. He not only has an amazing sense of humor, but brings flair to both his conversation and to his performance.

    Smokey Steve Hinojosa was the last member to join BAD DOG. Smokey is a regular at The All-Star Blues Jam and Marsh had played with him many times as host of the show. "There was always a magic when Steve and I jammed and each time we played together the bond between us grew." Not only is Hinojosa a great guitar player and singer; he is a marvelous human being and is someone I just needed to be around...So I asked him to join the band," asserts Marsh.

     Tommy Marsh and BAD DOG are regulars in and around Ventura County and they are a band you can't see without saying something like  DAMN or Holy Crap... Tommy's strong vocals and guitar playing along with BAD DOG's tight-as-a-drum skills make for a musical experience that is both rare and fills the senses.  

      

Tommy Marsh & BAD DOG - Upcoming Live Shows & Special Events Itinerary

May 2 (Wed. ) & Every Wed.      THE TAVERN                                          Ventura, CA   

May 3 (Thur.)                                ZOEY'S CAFE'                                      Ventura, CA 

June 7 (Thur.)                              ZOEY'S CAFE'                                       Ventura, CA

July 5 (Thur.)                               ZOEY'S CAFE'                                       Ventura, CA

July 8 (Sun.)                                 HIGH STREET ARTS THEATER          Moorpark, CA July 21 (Sat.)                               THE VILLAGE JESTER                          Ojai, CA       

         https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tommy-Marsh-and-Bad-Dog/187328757996121     

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”

Gary Primich with Nick Curran on Guitar

Blues harmonica player, vocalist, and songwriter, the late Gary Primich was among a rare breed of musicians on the blues scene today — those who learned directly at the feet of the masters and proved themselves on the mean streets and ghetto club stages of Chicago. A dedicated musician who not only revered tradition but forged his own innovative sound, Primich honed his meaty, fat-toned harmonica chops and energetic R&B vocal style at Chicago's storied and legendary Maxwell Street Market. Performing there in the late '70s and early '80s along greats like Big Walter Horton, Johnny Littlejohn, Sunnyland Slim, and John Henry Davis, Gary received a first-hand blues education that could never be taught in a classroom. Although a resident of Austin, Texas for over 20 years, Primich still embodied the characteristic blue collar work ethic of his Midwest stomping grounds, recording eight albums, and relentlessly playing over 200 nights per year nationally and internationally. Gary was also held in high esteem by his peers. Juke Logan says "Gary Primich scares the bejesus outta me. As a harmonica player's harmonica player, that is." The late Cub Koda echoed that sentiment with "He's always willing to lay his heart on the line for the music." In addition to his solo efforts, Gary was an in-demand sideman, gigging and recording with notables such as Omar & The Howlers, Tish Hinojosa, Steve James and Libbi Bosworth. Humble, ever a bluesman and "a regular Joe," he envisions his epitaph. "He changed his oil every 3000 miles." 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”

Don't Slam That Door - Johnny Fuller

Johnny Fuller was a West Coast bluesman who left behind a spate of 1950s recordings that jumped all kinds of genre fences with seemingly no trace of his Mississippi born roots. He was equally at home with low down blues, gospel, R&B, and rock & roll, all of it imbued with strong vocals and a driving guitar style. Although his Mississippi roots were never far below the surface of his best work, Johnny is usually categorized as a West Coast bluesman. Making the Bay Area his home throughout his career, Fuller turned in classic sides for Heritage, Aladdin, Specialty, Flair, Checker, and Hollywood; all but one of them West Coast-based concerns. His two biggest hits, “All Night Long” and the original version of “The Haunted House,” improbably found him in the late ’50s on rock & roll package shows, touring with the likes of Paul Anka and Frankie Avalon! By and large retiring from the music scene in the ’60s (with the exception of one excellent album in 1974), Fuller worked as a garage mechanic until his passing in 1985. 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”