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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Mayne Stage/ Act One Pub Newsletter 5.2.12
Real Gone Music: Little Willie John - Complete Hit Singles A's & B's - new release review
Real Gone Music will soon issue Little Willie John's Complete Hit Singles A's and B's from the King label. If you don't know Little Willie John he was one of the absolute leaders of the R&B movement when he died at age 30. The release has 32 cuts , all gems illustrating just how talented Little Willie John was. This release includes such tracks as All Around The World (Grits Ain't Grocery); the blues crossover Need Your Love So Bad; Fever; Talk To Me, Talk To Me; Tell It Like It Is; Leave My Kitten Alone; a track that everyone knows, I'm Shakin'; the bluesy You Hurt Me and concluding with Take My Love. This is a great release for fans of the R&B movement and one of the greatest R&B singers to be recorded.
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”
Royal Southern Brotherhood show on 5/16
CYRIL NEVILLE, DEVON ALLMAN AND MIKE ZITO JOIN FORCES WITH CHARLIE WOOTON & YONRICO SCOTT TO FORM A RIGHTEOUS REGALITY OF
SOUTHERN BLUES-ROCK
NEW ORLEANS, LA – Ruf Records announces the signing of Royal Southern Brotherhood, which consists of Cyril Neville (percussion and vocals), Devon Allman (guitar and vocals), Mike Zito (guitar and vocals), Charlie Wooton (bass) and Yonrico Scott (drums), and will release the group’s debut self-titled CD on May 8. The new CD was produced by Grammy-winner Jim Gaines and recorded at Dockside Studio near Lafayette, Louisiana. Ruf Records is distributed in the U.S. by the Allegro Corporation.
Royal Southern Brotherhood unites two legendary roots-rock bloodlines along with a rising star guitarist and an in-the-pocket rhythm section for one of the most highly-anticipated albums of the past decade. What started out as a rumor and a few informal local gigs at various New Orleans venues has developed into a full-fledged powerhouse of soulful sound that’s rockin,’ funky and all-together groove-a-licious. Incubated in the heat and humidity of a New Orleans summer in 2010, Cyril, Devon and Mike crossed paths and set in motion the beginnings of what would become Royal Southern Brotherhood, beginning with jams held at a secluded studio in the city’s Garden District. When the musical sparks began to fly and the personal chemistry coalesced, the trio began to explore the real idea of forming a band to bring this new music to life. Their debut show last September at the city’s Rock ‘n’ Bowl tore the roof off the place and launched a horde of YouTube videos that burned across the internet.
Royal Southern Brotherhood has it all: incendiary playing with the twin lead guitars of Allman and Zito, coupled with Neville’s funky percussion work and the rhythm section of Wooton and Scott that literally kicks ass; lead vocals and three-part harmonies that drip with soul and passion; and a boatload of songs that deliver on the promise of what the band brings to the table with its musical chops.
Cyril Neville is a part of the first family of New Orleans roots and funk. Beginning in the 1970s, Neville soared both as a solo performer and as a member in a host of other groups, most notably the iconic band, The Meters. Cyril went on to add his percussion and vocals to such classic Meters albums as Cabbage Alley (1972) and Fire on the Bayou (1975) and joined the group when they were personally invited by Mick Jagger to open the Rolling Stones stadium tour of 1975. Also included in his long resume is work with another legend, The Neville Brothers, as well as with Bob Dylan, Bono, Willie Nelson, Galactic and his own band, Tribe 13.
Although Devon Allman grew up in St. Louis apart from his father, one listen to his smoky vocals demonstrates that apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Coupled with a guitar style that would have made his uncle Duane proud, Devon set out to create his own place in the music world, forming the band Honeytribe in 1999 and touring all over the world. His blues-rock style of guitar work and soulful singing clearly stamped him as an emerging light within the blues-rock realm. He’s had a Top 10 hit in Spain with Javier Vargas, recorded on albums with the legendary Jack Bruce and jammed with musical heavyweights Les Paul and Bill Gibbons. And he’s even been known to show up onstage with that group his daddy still leads after over 40 years, The Allman Brothers Band.
Former St. Louis native Mike Zito has been a rising star in blues for the past several years, both as a performer and a producer. He’s already picked up some hardware within the blues world, having won the Blues Music Award in 2010 as “Song of the Year” for the title track of Pearl River, which he co-wrote with Cyril Neville. Mike’s currently nominated for another BMA, this time as “Rock Blues Album” for his latest CD, Greyhound. With Zito having been a former St. Louis touring circuit contemporary of Devon Allman, the meeting of the two in the RSB was destined as an organic serendipity.
Forming the rock-solid foundation of the band and stirring up the musical gumbo sound of Royal Southern Brotherhood are bassist Charlie Wooton and drummer Yonrico Scott, both with ties to Atlanta (Wooton now lives in New Orleans). Before relocating to the Crescent City, Wooton’s snaky bass lines were a mainstay of the Atlanta club circuit, playing with his own band, as well as Zydefunk and jamming with the Wood Brothers. Yonrico Scott’s drumming was a featured part with his long-time membership in The Derek Trucks Band. He’s also played with a host of others including the Col. Bruce Hampton and Ike Stubblefield aggregations and jammed onstage with Gregg Allman, Bonnie Bramlett and The Allman Brothers Band.
Royal Southern Brotherhood will tour extensively in support of their new CD, including both club showcases, as well as festival performances, such as the Baton Rouge Blues Festival on April 14. The band is managed and booked by Reuben M. Williams of The Thunderbird Management Group (985-798-5665; thunderbird@viscom.net). To download a hi-res color photo of the band, click on this link: Mark Pucci Media - Royal Southern Brotherhood
For more information, visit www.royalsouthernbrotherhood.com and www.rufrecords.de.
ROYAL SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD TOUR DATES
4/13 The House of Blues New Orleans, LA
4/14 Baton Rouge Blues Festival Baton Rouge, LA
4/15 The French Quarter Festival New Orleans, LA
4/27 Mid City Rock ‘n’ Bowl New Orleans, LA
5/4 The Republic New Orleans, LA
5/6 Mid City Rock ‘n’ Bowl New Orleans, LA
5/11 & 5/12 Brick and Mortar San Francisco, CA
5/16 The Compound Grill Phoenix, AZ
5/17 Anthology San Diego, CA
5/19 Moe’s Alley Santa Cruz, CA
5/20 The Powerhouse Pub Folsom, CA
5/27 Party at the Point Gulfport, MS
6/7 Whiskey Roadhouse Council Bluffs, IA
6/8 Olathe Music Series Olathe, KS
6/9 Sioux City Community Theater Sioux City, IA
6/10 Li’l Memphis Rock ’n’ Blues BBQ Memphis, MO
6/12 Woodlands Tavern Columbus, OH
6/13 Riverbend Festival Chattanooga, TN
6/14 Young Avenue Deli Memphis, TN
6/15 Third & Lindsley Nashville, TN
6/17 The Arts Center Carrboro, NC
6/22 Leura Hill Eastman PAC Fryeburg, ME
6/23 The Flying Monkey PAC Plymouth, NH
6/24 Paulie’s NOLA Jazz Fest Worcester, MA
6/29 Blues, Brews and BBQ Festival Champaign, IL
Additional dates forthcoming….
Rumble - Link Wray
One of the first songs that I ever learned on the guitar was the Rumble. It always had that cool vibe. I also have what is supposedly Link Wrays Blackfaced Super.
Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer.
Wray was noted for pioneering a new sound for electric guitars, as exemplified in his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble", by Link Wray and his Ray Men, which pioneered an overdriven, distorted electric guitar sound. He also "invented the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarist," "and in doing so fathering," or making possible, "punk and heavy rock". Rolling Stone placed Wray at number 67 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time
Wray was born in Dunn, North Carolina to Fred Lincoln Wray and his wife Lillian M. Coats. Link first heard the slide guitar technique at age eight from a traveling carnival worker nicknamed "Hambone." Link's family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where his father worked in the U. S. Navy shipyards during World War II. In 1956, the family moved to Washington, D.C., and finally to a farm in Accokeek, Maryland. Link Wray and his brother Vernon went west to Arizona early 1970s, settling in San Francisco several years later.
Wray served in the US Army during the Korean War, and contracted tuberculosis that eventually cost him a lung. The doctors said he would never be able to sing again, so he concentrated on guitar work. Nevertheless, on his rare vocal numbers he displays a strong voice and a range equal to that of Clarence "Frogman" Henry.
For the TV show, they also backed many performers, from Fats Domino to Ricky Nelson. In 1958, at a live gig of the D.C.-based Milt Grant's House Party, attempting—at the urging of the local crowd—to work up a cover sound-alike for The Diamonds' hit, "The Stroll", they came up with an eleven and one half bar blues titled "Rumble" which they first called "Oddball". The song was an instant hit with the live audience, which demanded four repeats that night. Eventually the song came to the attention of record producer Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records, who hated it, particularly after Wray poked holes in his amplifier's speakers to make the recording sound more like the live version (see "Rocket 88" for Ike Turner's similar story). Searching for a title that would hit home with radio listeners, Bleyer sought the advice of Phil Everly, who listened and suggested that it be called "Rumble", as it had a rough attitude that reminded him of a street gang. (Rumble: slang for "gang fight".)
The stalking, menacing sound of "Rumble" (and its title) led to a ban on several radio stations, a rare feat for a song with no lyrics, on the grounds that it glorified juvenile delinquency. Nevertheless it became a huge hit, not only in the United States, but also the United Kingdom, where it has been cited as an influence on The Kinks, The Who, and Jimmy Page among others. Jimmy Page cites the song in the Davis Guggenheim documentary It Might Get Loud and proceeds to play air guitar to the song in the movie. Pete Townshend stated in unpublished liner notes for the 1970 comeback album, "He is the king; if it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,' I would have never picked up a guitar." In other liner notes in 1974, Townshend said, of "Rumble": "I remember being made very uneasy the first time I heard it, and yet excited by the savage guitar sounds."
Jeff Beck, Duff McKagan, Jack Rose, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Cub Koda, Marc Bolan, Neil Young and Bob Dylan have all cited Wray as an influence. Billy Childish has covered several Link Wray tracks, including "Rumble", "Jack the Ripper" and "Comanche", which he still performs in his set. The 1980 Adam and the Ants song "Killer in the Home" (from their Kings of the Wild Frontier album) is based on the same ominous, descending three-chord glissando riff that is featured in "Rumble" (Ants' guitarist Marco Pirroni, an avid Wray fan, has described the song as "Link Wray meets Col. Kurtz" — the latter being a reference to Apocalypse Now). Mark E. Smith of The Fall sang the line "I used to have this thing about Link Wray, I used to play him every Saturday, God bless Saturday" in the song "Neighbourhood of Infinity" on the album Perverted by Language. "Rumble" has also been used as an intro theme to TV shows, particularly the original incarnation of Svengoolie.
In 2003, Link Wray was ranked at number sixty-seven in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Hundred Greatest Guitarists of all time, but has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is, however, a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
The band had several more hard-rocking instrumental hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Rawhide", "Ace of Spades", and "Jack the Ripper", the latter named after a "dirty boogie" dance popular in Baltimore at the time. The dirty boogie dance was among the several dance crazes featured in the 1988 film Hairspray.
After his initial hits, Wray's career had periods of retirement followed by renewed popularity, particularly in Europe. While living in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970s, Link was introduced to Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Cipollina by bassist James Hutchinson. He subsequently formed a band initially featuring special guest Cipollina along with the rhythm section from Cipollina's band Copperhead, bassist Hutch Hutchinson and drummer David Weber. They opened for the band Lighthouse at The Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles from May 15–19, 1974. He later did numerous concerts and radio broadcasts in the Bay Area including KSAN (FM) and the Bill Graham venue, Winterland Ballroom with Les Lizama later replacing Hutchinson on bass. He toured and recorded two albums with retro-rockabilly artist Robert Gordon in the late 1970s. The 1980s to the present day saw a large number of reissues as well as new material. One member of his band in the 1980s, drummer Anton Fig, later became drummer in the CBS Orchestra on the David Letterman show. Inspired by the use of his songs in various feature films, the 1997 Shadowman album is generally regarded as the Rumble Man's return to his raw rock 'n' roll roots. Backed by a Dutch band consisting of Eric Geevers on bass and Rob Louwers on drums, Wray toured Europe and Australia as well, documented on a live album and DVD. Link's last new recording was 2000's Barbed Wire, again recorded with his Dutch rhythm section. He was generally accompanied on tour by his wife Olive Julie, and since the late nineties his "colorful" Irish born road manager John Tynan. His regular backing band in the USA from 1998 until 2003 were bassist Atom Ellis and drummers Danny Heifetz (Mr. Bungle, Dieselhed) and Dustin Donaldson (I Am Spoonbender, various). He continued to tour up until four months before he died.
His music has been featured in numerous films, including Pulp Fiction, Desperado, Independence Day, Twelve Monkeys, The Warriors, This Boy's Life, Blow, Johnny Suede, The Shadow, Breathless, Roadracers, and Pink Flamingos. His instrumental "Rumble" is featured in It Might Get Loud (2008).
Link Wray is among the many Wray/Rays mentioned in the 1998 Top 40 hit "Are You Jimmy Ray?" by singer Jimmy Ray (along with Johnnie Ray and Fay Wray).
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”
Done Somebody Wrong - ELMORE JAMES
I found Elmore James like most of you probably did, from listening to the Allman Brothers Band live at the Fillmore. The Fillmore album has to be one of the most significant contemporary blues albums ever cut having introduced an entire generation of listeners to the sound of the original blues. Sure there were other players out there especially from England like John Mayall and eric Clapton, Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, but in America... it was the Allmans.
Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.
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”
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Bluesman Sonny Landreth to Teach and Perform At 3rd Annual Crown of the Continent Guitar Workshop & Festival August 26 – September 2, 2012
Bluesman Sonny Landreth to Teach and Perform
At 3rd Annual Crown of the Continent Guitar Workshop & Festival
Held at the Flathead Lake Lodge in Bigfork, MT
August 26 – September 2, 2012
Sonny’s gearing up for the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation’s workshop and festival as the Blues Artist in Residence, August 26-September 2, 2012. This is an exceptional occasion to study closely with and spend time with Sonny at one of the world’s premier dude ranches. He’ll also be performing. Sonny will be joining renowned faculty members, Matt Smith and Dennis McCumber of National Guitar Workshop, both seasoned NYC educators and blues players in small intimate workshop settings. www.cocguitarfoundation.org <http://www.cocguitarfoundation.org>
Sonny will be teaching two not to be missed master classes during the week where you can see up close and personal his own unique slide and right hand playing techniques.
The weeklong event includes 6 days of workshops, master classes, playing with professional rhythm sections, jamming, and nightly concerts. Participants and their family members will have a wonderful week of music and Montana activities. Also available for family members during the week is a watercolor workshop <http://cocguitarfoundation.org/watercolor-workshop.html> taught by renowned western artist Nancy Cawdrey.
There are eleven workshops offered in seven guitar genres with leading faculty from the National Guitar Workshop and additional Artists in Residence: Chris Hillman, Julian Lage, Patty Larkin, Dennis Koster Herb Pedersen and Lee Ritenour. In addition to the Blues workshop with Sonny and faculty Matt Smith and Dennis McCumber, there are: Classic Rock, Jazz, Classical, Acoustic, Singer-Songwriter and Beginners. A new course has been added this year for Bass players featuring Clipper Anderson, Melvin Davis, Jorge Roeder, and Dave Overthrow.
Jazz pianist and composer, Dave Grusin (recipient of one Academy Award and twelve Grammy Awards) will be a special featured artist.
In addition, Lee Ritenour’s 3rd Annual Yamaha Six String Theory International Guitar Competition will be held during the workshop week on August 29th.
What a rare opportunity this is to study with Sonny and share a passion for guitar and bass with fellow participants in an inspirational and personalized setting. All surrounded by Montana’s famous western hospitality.
The 2011 workshop sold out. The 2012 workshop has limited availability, so early registration is advised! For more information and to register go to www.cocguitarfoundation.org <http://www.cocguitarfoundation.org> or call (406) 837-2574.
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”
Please view video highlights of the 2011 workshop & festival:
Straight Line - Tickled Pink Electric Trio
Tickled Pink is a trio of long-time friends and respected Cincinnati musicians, playing both original and cover material. All are former members of the Raisins - one of Cincinnati's most influential and prolific original music bands of the 70's-80's. You've also heard all of these guys on TV and radio advertising- they are premier local session players. Scott Covrett is a full time guitar instructor and has been playing professionally since the early 70's. He has lent his talents to Johnny & the Hurricanes, the Raisins, Nashville's Sweetheart, & Stagger Lee. Comfortable in playing rock, blues, jazz, & country. you'll hear all of those elements in his playing during a typical Tickled Pink set. Bob Nyswonger has a long track record with the Raisins, The Bears (featuring internationally acclaimed guitarist Adrian Belew) , and Psychodots, contributing material to all of the several CDs released by these groups. Bob plays somewhat aggressive fretless and electric upright bass in Tickled Pink. Drummer Bam Powell has toured with LeBlanc & Carr, played with well known fusion guitarist Scott Henderson, and in addition to drumming has been a singer and song contributor to the Raisins & the Bluebirds Bam's soulful and powerful voice and creative drumming are the icing on the Tickled Pink cake.
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”
He Knows How Much We Can Bear - Smokey Hogg
Andrew 'Smokey' Hogg (January 27, 1914 - May 1, 1960) was an American post-war Texas and country blues musician.
Hogg was born near Westconnie, Texas, United States and grew up on the farm and was taught to play guitar by his father Frank Hogg. While still in his teens he teamed up with a the slide guitarist and vocalist, B.K. Turner aka Black Ace and the pair travelled together playing the turpentine and logging camp circuit of country dance halls and juke joints that surrounded Kilgore, Tyler, Greenville and Palestine in East Texas.
In 1937 Smokey and Black Ace were brought to Chicago, Illinois by Decca Records to record, and Smokey had his first gramophone record ("Family Trouble Blues"/"Kind Hearted Blues") released, as by Andrew Hogg. It was an isolated occurrence - he did not make it back into a recording studio for over a decade. By the early 1940s Hogg was married and making a good living busking around the Deep Ellum area of Dallas, Texas.
Hogg was drafted in the mid 1940s and after a brief spell with the U.S. military, he continued working in the Dallas area where he was becoming well known. In 1947 he came to the attention of Herbert T. Rippa Sr, boss of the Dallas based record label, Bluebonnet Records, who recorded several sides with him and leased the masters to Modern Records.
The first release on Modern was the Big Bill Broonzy song "Too Many Drivers", and this racked up sufficient sales to encourage Modern Records to bring Hogg out to Los Angeles, California to cut more sides with their team of studio musicians. These songs included his two biggest hits, "Long Tall Mama" in 1949 and another Broonzy tune "Little School Girl" (#9 U.S. R&B chart) in 1950.
Some blues fans tend to revere his two-part "Penitentiary Blues" (1952), which was a remake of the prison song, "Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos".
Hogg's country blues style, influenced by Broonzy, Peetie Wheatstraw and Black Ace was popular with record buyers in the South during the late 1940s and early 1950s. He continued to work and record until the end of the 1950s, but died of cancer, or possibly a ruptured ulcer, in McKinney, Texas in 1960
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”
Crippled & Crazy - Latvian Blues Band
The roots of the Latvian Blues Band (LBB) go back to year 1997, when three young Latvian guys decided to form a band. They started out by listening to different blues masters, such as Elmore James, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter. While working hard on their blues skills, LBB received first local and international recognition by participating in several music festivals in Latvia and Lithuania. In the beginning of 2000, Johnny V, a well known Canadian blues player, came to Riga to record his CD "Blues Party" together with LBB. Johnny V also helped LBB to find their way to Canada, where they participated in several blues festivals ("Blues Fest International", Windsor and London, "South Country Fair", Fort Macleod) and played in different blues clubs, e.g. "Silver Dollar Room" in Toronto. Just before their trip to Canada, LBB went to Lithuania to participate in the international blues festival "Bliuzo Naktys" ("Blues Nights"), where they've played as head-liners every year, starting from 1998. LBB has also had the pleasure to play the opening shows for Joe Cocker (Riga, 2002), Coco Montoya (Vilnius, 2003), and Victor Bailey Band (Riga, 2003); they have been on tours in Croatia ("Century of Blues" Festival, Zagreb, 2004), Greece (Athens — "Euro Jazz 2004", Thessaloniki, Preveza), Poland (Suwalki, 2003, 2005), Lithuania (with Keith Dunn, 2005), and Spain (Madrid, 2006). In 2005, LBB went to Chicago, where they played at the "Chicago Blues Festival" and several Chicago blues clubs — "Buddy Guy's Legends", "Kingstone Mines", "B.L.U.E.S.", "Artist's Lounge", "Puffers" and others. LBB has also received recognition from the France Blues Society, which nominated them as the best blues band of Europe in 2005. In Latvia, LBB plays at the Bite's Blues Club (the only blues club in the Baltics) almost every weekend — here you can enjoy their own shows, as well as see them perform with highest rank blues artists from the U.S.
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”
Hard Times - Heritage Blues Orchestra
The grit of low-down country and urban blues to the bold brass of New Orleans; the hand-clapping, hustle and bustle of gospel to fiery postmodern, jazz-infused horn arrangements; the haunting cries of work songs to pulsating drums that reach back to the roots of it all—if you are lucky enough to hear the Heritage Blues Orchestra, you’ll experience this and more.
From the first of the twelve tracks on their debut album And Still I Rise, Junior Mack’s propulsive rendition of Son House’s Clarksdale Moan, Heritage Blues Orchestra unapologetically stomps onto the scene and digs in with both heels—taking us from Bill Sims’ hard-shuffling version of the immortal Muddy Waters classic, Catfish Blues, to the solemn dirge of Chaney Sims’ interpretation of Leadbelly’s Go Down Hannah to magnificent three-part harmonies against a slippery slide guitar in their head-nodding version of Get Right Church.
The group is driven by the powerful rhythms of Grammy-awarding winning blues drummer Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith; buttressed by the churning, precise and percussive rhythms of harmonica virtuoso, Frenchman Vincent Bucher; and ablaze with some of New York City’s heaviest horn players who have worked with everyone from Wynton Marsalis to Sting and Springsteen.
Heritage Blues Orchestra also boasts contributions from Bruno Wilhelm, the group’s highly esteemed tenor saxophonist and horn arranger. A native of France, Wilhelm is influenced by an extensive palette of jazz styles. Whether with ethereal musings or hard-hitting section work, his arrangements punctuate every song they touch.
This combined with Bill, Chaney and Junior’s collective history in jazz, R&B and gospel help articulate and underscore the Heritage Blues Orchestra’s striking voice. At the heart of the group is a broad spectrum of the blues and the longstanding musical mingling between America and Europe that brings together African-American music, Modern Jazz and Western European harmony.
Nowhere is the breadth of Heritage Blues Orchestra’s vision and reach better evidenced than on the album’s closing piece, Hard Times. This song, in 3 movements, demonstrates it all: the traditional call-and-response between a lone voice and guitar; a bewitching horn composition peppered with Miles Davis’ A Silent Way; and a final transition to a roof-raising funk jam that leaps out and shoves you onto the dance floor.
This group is an inspiring testament to the enduring power, possibilities and boundless beauty of African-American music. It drives us down Highway 49 from Clarksdale to New Orleans, journeys across the Middle Passage, takes us from chain gangs and juke joints, to orchestra pits and church pews, and even to back porches.
Their loving celebration of tradition gives rise to a new adventure in music with a singular sound. Please welcome the exciting arrival of the Heritage Blues Orchestra.
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”
Jimbo Mathus' 'Blue Light' EP due on Big Legal Mess Records July 20
JIMBO MATHUS TO RELEASE BLUE LIGHT,
A SIX-SONG EP ON BIG LEGAL MESS RECORDS JULY 20
Mississippi musician, veteran of Squrrel Nut Zippers
and South Memphis String Band, will tour in May
OXFORD, Miss. — The late Memphis producer Jim Dickinson once called Jimbo Mathus “the singing voice of Huck Finn.” Outside the South, Mathus is likely best known as the ringleader of the defunct hyper-ragtime outfit Squirrel Nut Zippers, or as the catalyst for Buddy Guy’s breakthrough Sweet Tea in 2001 and Guy’s Grammy-winning Blues Singer album.
This July, Mathus will soon release a six-song vinyl EP on the Big Legal Mess label titled Blue Light, which he recorded with producer Bruce Watson at Watson’s Water Valley, Miss., studio, Dialed Back Sound.
Blue Light perfectly captures Mathus’ style of Southern musical alchemy. From the proto garage rock of “Haunted John” (“up and down Saint Charles/rides the streetcar all night long”), to the sideways-with-the-law Southern rock of “Blue Light” to the dead-end gospel-fueled country weeper of “Burn the Honky Tonk,” Mathus shows the diversity of his vision. The conviction of his singing and storytelling will make you believe every word is true. “I’m singing from absolute experience on this recording. Raw stories of real events,” he says.
Engineer Lynn Bridges and Dial Back Sound enhanced the artist’s raw, rough and tumble approach, adding warm textures and mournful pedal steel to make a sound akin to a late ’60s roadhouse jukebox.
In his native Mississippi, and throughout the South, Mathus is recognized as the prolific songwriter of born-in-the-bone Southern music, the torchbearer for Deep South mythology and culture. Think Delta highways, bowling-pin Budweisers and “interplanetary honky-tonk” for the masses.
His credits include the North Mississippi Allstars’ Electric Blue Watermelon, and he was Grammy-nominated as a member of Luther Dickinson & the Sons of Mudboy for the Jim Dickinson memorial album Onward and Upward. Mathus also recently joined forces with Luther and Alvin Youngblood Hart, forming the retro-roots “supergroup” the South Memphis String Band.
Beyond his solo work, Mathus hit paydirt with fans and critics alike in 2011 with the release of Confederate Buddha, on which he’s backed by what he says is “the best band in the land,” the Tri-State Coalition. Featuring solid talent cut from the same Delta cloth, the band’s sound is “ . . . a true Southern amalgam of blues, white country, soul and rock ’n’ roll,” according to bandleader Mathus. The group formed when Mathus was living in Memphis, Tennessee, and for nearly a decade, he’s been working with these same players — fellow Mississippians Justin Showah (bass, vocals), Eric Carlton (keyboards) and Arkansan Matt Pierce (guitar). They brought in drummer Ryan Rogers last year, and together the boys laid down the sound that is White Buffalo, the forthcoming 2012 release from Jimbo Mathus & the Tri-State Coalition, produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (Steve Earle, The Bottle Rockets, Del Lords).
Of the band’s recording, Mathus says, “White Buffalo is a collaboration with our producer, ‘Roscoe’ Ambel, who brought a fierceness, a keen edge to our sound. I’ve never been prouder of any recording.” Ambel offers, “There is an effortless, natural feeling that comes from Jimbo & Tri-State’s music that in today’s times cannot be mistaken for anything less than ‘great.’”
And this from Chris Robinson (The Black Crowes), writing in the liner notes for Confederate Buddha: “The Confederate Buddha, the Katfish King, people have a lot of names on a riverboat. Just a little time to dream, dark and murky, only to emerge fire and brimstone. Lightning and kudzu wisdom and wine oh . . . He’s feeling fine, besides either you look cool with a gold tooth or you do not. So listen to the Mississippi mystic and believe . . .”
JIMBO MATHUS TOUR DATES
Fri., May 4, 6:15 p.m. MEMPHIS, TN FedEx Blues Tent
Sat., May 5, 9:30 p.m. COLUMBUS, MS (downtown)
Sun., May 6, 4:30 p.m. WATER VALLEY, MS (downtown)
Thurs., May 17, 7 p.m. OXFORD, MS The Powerhouse
Fri-Sat., May 18-19, TBD MARKSVILLE, LA Chief Joseph Alcide Pierite Pow Wow Grounds
Sat., May 26, 7:30 p.m. MEMPHIS, TN Levitt Shell at Overton Park
Fri., June 8, 10 p.m. LITTLE ROCK, AR Whitewater Tavern
Sat., June 9, TBD HELENA, AR Levee Stage
Fri., June 15, TBD ATLANTA, GA Star Bar
Fri., June 22, TBD NASHVILLE, TN Grimey’s Basement
Sat., June 23, TBD CHARLESTON, SC The Pour House
Sun., June 24, TBD ATHENS, GA The Melting Pot
Thurs., June 28, 9 p.m. OXFORD, MS Rooster's Blues House
Sat., June 30, TBD WATERFORD, MS Hill Country Picnic Stage
Fri., July 6, TBD MOBILE, AL The Shed-Mobile
Sat., July 7, TBD OCEAN SPRINGS, MS The Shed-Ocean Springs
Sat., July 21, 7:30 p.m. MEMPHIS, TN National Ornamental
Sat., July 28, TBD PHILADELPHIA, MS Neshoba County Fair
Sat., Aug. 11, TBD CLARKSDALE, MS Delta Blues Museum Main Stage
Sat., Aug. 11, 9 p.m. HOPSON, MS Hopson Plantation Commissary
Thurs., Aug. 23, 8 p.m. BRADFORDVILLE, FL Bradfordville Blues Club
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J & R Adventures artist: Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight - New Release Review and Free Download
Well, Joe's done it again! Joe Bonamassa has a new release, Driving Toward The Daylight, coming out on May 22 and it is really consistently good. Although I have enjoyed Bonamassa's work since I first heard it, many of the releases has really strong tracks mixed with a few lesser tracks which were carried by the strength of his mastery of the guitar. This release,with only 4 original tracks is very consistent with the addition of Aerosmith's Brad Whitford on guitar, Blondie Chapman on guitar, Anton Fig on drums and percussion, Arlan Schierbaum on keys, Michael Rhodes on bass Carmine Rojas on bass, Jeff Bova and the Bova Brass, Pat Thrall on guitar and Whitford's son Harrison on guitar. This album has a more 60/70's rock/blues/r&b sound due to each players influence... but it's still Joe. The cd opens with Dislocated Boy, a blues rocker with a cool back beat. This song is constructed more along the lines of classic rock design (Lez Zep) where it's a great tune but you never lose track that's it's really about the guitar with a few blistering guitar solos. Next up is Robert Johnson's Stones In My Passway which is given given an update which sound quite modern but follows the footsteps laid by the British blues rockers of the earlier days. I really like it. The composition shows it's definite roots in the early blues and only tipping of the hat to the sons who brought the fathers of the blues to light... with a fresh approach. The title track, Driving Toward Daylight, is a ballad crafted to fit into airplay formatting again with a strong guitar interlude. Howlin' Wolf's Who's Been Talking? is well done with shimmery Peter Green like chords. It's delivered in a Wolf no messing around style and has a solo that compliments the track very well. Destined to be a crowd pleaser, Willie Dixon's I Got All You Need takes the format of a number of Bonamassa tracks from the past with the contemporary swing. A Place In My Heart written by Bernie Marsden, is a soul style blues track with a "singing guitar" solo like you might expect from Steve Hunter, Ronnie Montrose or David Gilmore but it's Joe behind the wheel and he has his own sound ....very nice. Bonamassa interprets Bill Withers' Lonely Town Lonely Street in a very cool fashion with alternating shredding and ripping guitar solos trading with the drums over a strong driving rhythm. Bonamassa's Heavenly Soul has clues to an old country western song by Stan Jones but done by over 50 artists through the years. Tom Wait's New Coat Of Paint is transformed into one of Bonamassa's great guitar showcase songs with some really cool guitar riffs played under the music as well as the strong lead guitar component. Certainly one of the strongest tunes on the recording. Bonamassa's Somewhere Trouble Don't Go turns on a straight up blues rock style track. There are some really nice guitar riffs on this track that may get past you if you're only looking for the extended solos. Slide work is nice and clean with some chicken pickin added in. Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes sings lead vocals on this last track, Too Much Ain't Enough, a 1987 hit by Barnes. This gets back to the R&B sound. Barnes has a great voice and gives Bonamassa a solid vehicle to play his guitar at will. Overall this may be Bonamassa's best complete release to date. I can't say that there is any one song that carry's the load like in previous releases as much as the cd is well balanced and enjoyable.
Get your FREE Download of Joe Bonamassa's single
"Slow Train"
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Blues Singer Johnny Rawls is A Soul Survivor On New CD Coming June 19
BLUES SINGER JOHNNY RAWLS IS A SOUL SURVIVOR ON NEW CD COMING FROM CATFOOD RECORDS ON JUNE 19
EL PASO, TX – Catfood Records announces a June 19 release date for Soul Survivor, the new CD from Blues Music Award–winning singer Johnny Rawls, with national distribution by City Hall Records. Soul Survivor is the follow-up to Johnny’s 2011 CD, Memphis Still Got Soul, which has received three nominations for the upcoming Blues Music Awards to be presented in Memphis on May 10. Johnny is nominated for Soul Blues Male Artist and Soul Blues Album, as well as Song of the Year for the title track from that CD. Living Blues magazine called it “an unabashedly roots-rich outing, featuring Rawls’ voice at its meatiest and his guitar work at its most elegant and understated.” A previous album, Ace of Spades, won the BMA in 2010 as Soul Blues Album of the Year.
Soul Survivor is Johnny’s strongest album yet. The CD was produced by Johnny Rawls and Bob Trenchard and recorded primarily at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, Texas; with one song recorded at Soul Tree Recording in Helena, Montana. Most of the musicians on each of the sessions also played on Johnny’s last three albums. Included on the Texas sessions are members of The Rays, a band Rawls discovered in 1999 and subsequently produced for his own Deep South Soul Records. The band includes Richy Puga on drums and percussion, Dan Ferguson on keyboards, Bob Trenchard on bass, Andy Roman on sax, Mike Middleton on trumpet and Robert Claiborne on trombone. They are joined once again by Johnny McGhee, former LA Motown studio musician (Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross) and guitar player for the group, LTD, who has now become the studio guitarist for The Rays. Jessica and Jillian Ivey sing background vocals.
Of the 10 songs on Soul Survivor, nine are originals, mostly written by Rawls and Bob Trenchard, with some contributions from other band members, as well as Catfood Records singer, Sandy Carroll, who co-wrote one tune. As always, Johnny pays tribute to his mentor, the late, great O. V. Wright, by including one of the soul music legend’s songs on every Rawls album. In this case it’s the powerful soul blues ballad, “Eight Men, Four Women.”
Along with his recent three nods, Johnny Rawls has now received eight BMA nominations for his last four CDs. The previous ones came for his albums Heart and Soul in 2007; and Red Cadillac in 2009. Both Red Cadillac and Ace of Spades were nominated for Album of the Year by Living Blues and won the Critics' Choice Southern Soul Album of the Year Award. Red Cadillac also reached #1 on the Living Blues Radio Play Chart, while Ace of Spades hit the #4 spot, remaining in the top 20 for three months.
“Johnny Rawls has carved a niche for himself as a master of soul-blues, delivering uptempo songs with solid pop hooks, as well as smooth vocals with just the right touch of grit and Stax-style horns,” said Blues Revue.
Born in the southern Mississippi town of Columbia, and raised in Purvis and Gulfport, Johnny Rawls - while still in high school - was already backing such stars as Z.Z. Hill, Little Johnny Taylor, Joe Tex and The Sweet Inspirations when they toured in his area. In his early 20s, Rawls was hired by the legendary deep soul singer, O.V. Wright, as his band director. After Wright died in 1979, Rawls kept the band together and toured for several years with Little Johnny Taylor and others.
By 1985, Johnny Rawls was touring as a solo artist and had made his first solo recording. In 1994, he recorded the widely acclaimed album, Down to Earth, with L.C. Luckett on the Rooster Blues label. After a second Rooster Blues album with Luckett, Rawls recorded a number of albums for JSP before starting his own label. Rawls first met Catfood Records president Bob Trenchard in 1997 and have worked on a number of projects together since then, culminating when he released his first album for the label, No Boundaries, in 2005
As always, Johnny Rawls continues to tour consistently, performing 150 dates a year, both in the U.S. and overseas.
For more information, visit www.catfoodrecords.com and www.johnnyrawlsblues.com.
Little Walter
Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. Little Walter was inducted to the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 in the "sideman" category making him the first and only artist ever to be inducted specifically for his work as a harmonica player.
Jacobs was born in Marksville, Louisiana and raised in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, where he first learned to play the harmonica. After quitting school by the age of 12, Jacobs left rural Louisiana and travelled around working odd jobs and busking on the streets of New Orleans, Memphis, Helena, Arkansas and St. Louis. He honed his musical skills on harmonica and guitar with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Sunnyland Slim, Honeyboy Edwards and others.
Arriving in Chicago in 1945, he occasionally found work as a guitarist but garnered more attention for his already highly developed harmonica work. According to fellow Chicago bluesman Floyd Jones, Little Walter's first recording was an unreleased demo recorded soon after he arrived in Chicago on which Walter played guitar backing Jones. Jacobs reportedly grew frustrated with having his harmonica drowned out by electric guitarists, and adopted a simple, but previously little-used method: He cupped a small microphone in his hands along with his harmonica, and plugged the microphone into a public address or guitar amplifier. He could thus compete with any guitarist's volume. However, unlike other contemporary blues harp players such as Sonny Boy Williamson I and Snooky Pryor, who had also begun using the then-new technology around the same time solely for added volume, Little Walter purposely pushed his amplifiers beyond their intended technical limitations, using the amplification to explore and develop radical new timbres and sonic effects previously unheard from a harmonica, or any other instrument. Madison Deniro wrote a small biographical piece on Little Walter stating that "He was the first musician of any kind to purposely use electronic distortion."
Jacobs made his first released recordings in 1947 for Bernard Abrams' tiny Ora-Nelle label, which operated out of the back room of Abrams' Maxwell Radio and Records store in the heart of the Maxwell Street market area in Chicago. These and several other early Little Walter recordings, like many blues harp recordings of the era, owed a strong stylistic debt to pioneering blues harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson I (John Lee Williamson). Little Walter joined Muddy Waters' band in 1948, and by 1950, he was playing acoustic (unamplified) harmonica on Muddy's recordings for Chess Records; the first appearance on record of Little Walter's amplified harmonica sound was on Muddy's "Country Boy"/"Too Young To Know" (Chess 1452), recorded on July 11, 1951. For years after his departure from Muddy's band in 1952, Little Walter continued to be brought in to play on his recording sessions, and as a result his harmonica is featured on most of Muddy's classic recordings from the 1950s. As a guitarist, Little Walter recorded three songs for the small Parkway label with Muddy Waters and Baby Face Leroy Foster (reissued on CD as "The Blues World of Little Walter" from Delmark Records in 1993), as well as on a session for Chess backing pianist Eddie Ware; his guitar work was also featured occasionally on early Chess sessions with Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers.
Jacobs had put his career as a bandleader on hold when he joined Muddy's band, but stepped back out front once and for all when he recorded as a bandleader for Chess's subsidiary label Checker Records on 12 May 1952; the first completed take of the first song attempted at his debut session became his first hit, spending eight weeks in the #1 position on the Billboard magazine R&B charts – the song was "Juke", and it is still the only harmonica instrumental ever to become a #1 hit on the R&B charts. (Three other harmonica instrumentals by Little Walter also reached the Billboard R&B top 10: "Off the Wall" reached #8, "Roller Coaster" achieved #6, and "Sad Hours" reached the #2 position while Juke was still on the charts.) "Juke" was the biggest hit to date for Chess and its affiliated labels, and one of the biggest national R&B hits of 1952, securing Walter's position on the Chess artist roster for the next decade. Little Walter scored fourteen top-ten hits on the Billboard R&B charts between 1952 and 1958, including two #1 hits (the second being "My Babe" in 1955), a level of commercial success never achieved by his former boss Waters, nor by his fellow Chess blues artists Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson II. Following the pattern of "Juke", most of Little Walter's single releases in the 1950s featured a vocal performance on one side, and an instrumental on the other. Many of Walter's vocal numbers were originals which he or Chess A&R man Willie Dixon wrote or adapted and updated from earlier blues themes. In general, his sound was more modern and uptempo than the popular Chicago blues of the day, with a jazzier conception and less rhythmically rigid approach than other contemporary blues harmonica players.
Jacobs was frequently utilized on records as a harmonica accompanist behind others in the Chess stable of artists, including Jimmy Rogers, John Brim, Rocky Fuller, Memphis Minnie, The Coronets, Johnny Shines, Floyd Jones, Bo Diddley, and Shel Silverstein, and on other record labels backing Otis Rush, Johnny Young, and Robert Nighthawk.
Jacobs suffered from alcoholism and had a notoriously short temper which led to a decline in his fame and fortunes beginning in the late 1950s, although he did tour Europe twice, in 1964 and 1967. (The long-circulated story that he toured the United Kingdom with The Rolling Stones in 1964 has since been refuted by Keith Richards). The 1967 European tour, as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, resulted in the only film/video footage of Little Walter performing that is known to exist. Footage of Little Walter backing Hound Dog Taylor and Koko Taylor on a television program in Copenhagen, Denmark on 11 October 1967 was released on DVD in 2004. Further video of another recently discovered TV appearance in Germany during this tour, showing Little Walter performing his songs "My Babe", "Mean Old World", and others were released on DVD in Europe in January 2009, and is the only known footage of Little Walter singing; other TV appearances in the UK and the Netherlands have been documented, but no footage of these has been uncovered. Jacobs recorded and toured only infrequently in the 1960s, playing mainly in and around Chicago.
In 1967 Chess released a studio album featuring Little Walter with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters titled Super Blues.
A few months after returning from his second European tour, he was involved in a fight while taking a break from a performance at a nightclub on the South Side of Chicago. The relatively minor injuries sustained in this altercation aggravated and compounded damage he had suffered in previous violent encounters, and he died in his sleep at the apartment of a girlfriend at 209 E. 54th St. in Chicago early the following morning. The official cause of death indicated on his death certificate was "coronary thrombosis" (a blood clot in the heart); evidence of external injuries was so insignificant that police reported that his death was of "unknown or natural causes", and there were no external injuries noted on the death certificate. His body was buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, IL on February 22, 1968.
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You Better Be Sure - Lacy Gibson
Lacy Gibson (May 1, 1936 – April 11, 2011) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He most notably recorded the songs, "My Love Is Real" and "Switchy Titchy", and in a long and varied career worked with Buddy Guy and Son Seals.
One commentator noted that Gibson "developed a large and varied repertoire after long stays with numerous bands, many recording sessions, and performances in Chicago nightclubs"
Gibson was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, United States, but relocated with his family to Chicago, Illinois, in 1949. Initially, he was taught guitar playing by his mother.
His early influences included Sunnyland Slim, Muddy Waters, Lefty Bates, Matt Murphy, and Wayne Bennett. Gibson's earliest work was as a session musician, playing mainly rhythm guitar. In 1963 alone, he recorded backing for Willie Mabon, Billy "The Kid" Emerson and Buddy Guy.
Gibson's own recording debut was also in 1963 with Chess Records, who recorded his song "My Love Is Real", with Buddy Guy on guitar. The track remained unreleased at that time, and when it was finally issued, initial pressings credited the work to Guy. Two self-released singles followed, before Gibson recorded his debut album, Wishing Ring in 1971. It was released on El Saturn Records, which was partly owned by Gibson's then brother-in-law, Sun Ra. The family connection continued when Ra recorded Gibson's co-written song, "I'm Gonna Unmask the Batman".
In 1977, Ralph Bass produced another Gibson album, although this was not released until Delmark Records did the honors in 1996. His following work with Son Seals was heard on Seal's 1978 Live and Burning album. Alligator Records then included four tracks by Gibson on their 1980 Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 3 compilation album.
Gibson released Switchy Titchy in 1982 on the Netherlands-based Black Magic Records label. His appearances after the release were reduced due to health problems, but he performed locally around Chicago, both on his own or backing Billy Boy Arnold and Big Time Sarah. Despite the reduction in his engagements, Gibson played at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2004. Gibson also operated the Chicago after-hours nightclub "Ann's Love Nest" with his wife, for whom it was named.
Gibson died of a heart attack in Chicago in April 2011, aged 74.
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I Ain't Mad at You - Big Maybelle
Mabel Louise Smith (May 1, 1924 – January 23, 1972), known professionally as Big Maybelle, was an American R&B singer and pianist. Her 1956 hit single "Candy" received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.
Born in Jackson, Tennessee, United States, Big Maybelle sang gospel as a child and by her teens had switched to rhythm and blues. She began her professional career with Dave Clark's Memphis Band in 1936, and also toured with the all female International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She then joined Christine Chatman's Orchestra as pianist, and made her first recordings with Chatman in 1944, and with the Tiny Bradshaw's Orchestra from 1947 to 1950.
Her debut solo recordings, as Mabel Smith, came for King Records in 1947, backed by Oran "Hot Lips" Page, but she had little initial success. However, in 1952 she was signed by Okeh Records, whose record producer Fred Mendelsohn gave her the stage name Big Maybelle. Her first recording for Okeh, "Gabbin' Blues", was a number 3 hit on the Billboard R&B chart, and was followed up by both "Way Back Home" and "My Country Man" in 1953. In 1955 she recorded "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On", produced by Quincy Jones, two years before Jerry Lee Lewis' version. More hits followed throughout the 1950s, mainly for Savoy Records, including "Candy" (1956), one of her biggest sellers.
She made the stage of the Apollo Theater in New York City; the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival; and she appeared in Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960), filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival, along with Mahalia Jackson and Dinah Washington. After 1959 she recorded for a variety of labels but the hits largely dried up. She continued to perform in person into the early 1960s, when drug addiction and health problems took their toll on her. Her last hit single was in 1967 with a cover of "96 Tears" by Question Mark & the Mysterians
Big Maybelle died in a diabetic coma in 1972, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her final album, Last of Big Maybelle, was released posthumously in 1973.
The album The Okeh Sessions on the Epic label, won the 1983 W. C. Handy Award, for "Vintage or Reissue Album of the Year (U.S.)." In 2011, she was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame.
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