Joe's Blues - Joe Williams

Joe Williams (born Joseph Goreed; December 12, 1918 – March 29, 1999) was a well-known jazz vocalist, a baritone singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs, and jazz standards.
Williams enjoyed a successful career and worked regularly until his death. Williams died at age 80, on March 29, 1999 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He collapsed on a city street a few blocks from his home after walking out of Sunrise Hospital, where he had been admitted for a respiratory ailment. The hospital had reported him missing several hours before his body was found. "He's an adult and chose to leave," Ann Lynch, vice president for human services at the hospital, said. "We don't confine people here. Upon finding him missing, the facility was checked, and then the police were notified to continue the search." Ron Flud, the Clark County Coroner, said Mr. Williams had apparently died of natural causes.

He is buried at Palm Valley View Memorial Park in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Smokestack Lightning - Backsliders

The Backsliders are a three piece Australian band; self described as playing "Delta blues wall of sound". The current line up (as of Dec. 2007) consists of Guitarist/Vocalist Dom Turner and drummer/percussionist Rob Hirst joined on alternating nights by either Brod Smith or Ian Collard on harmonica.
The Backsliders formed in 1986 in Sydney, Australia with Dom Turner on guitars, mandolin and vocals, Rex Hill on harmonica and Peter Burgess on washboard,drums, percussion and backing vocals.

In 1989 Hill was replaced by Jim Conway on harmonica. This line up of the band recorded several critically acclaimed albums including 1999's Poverty Deluxe which was nominated for an ARIA award in the Best Blues and Roots album category.

In 1996 Dom Turner guested on the Ghostwriters album "Second Skin". This marked the beginning of his collaboration with Rob Hirst who replaced Peter Burgess in 2000. Since that time The Backsliders have toured extensively both in Australia and around the globe. 2006 saw the departure of Jim Conway from the band. His spot has been filled on a rotating basis by either Brod Smith or Ian Collard.

In 2002 Turner and Hirst formed the "Angry Tradesmen" and began performing live in 2007 with guitarist Martin Rotsey. In 2008 guitarist Matt Walker joined as alternate guitarists in the absence of Martin Rotsey. In 2008 the band released the debut album Beat the House
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The Healer (Jam)- Frank Solari and Alex Martinho

Frank Solari was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Since 1988 he had been highly regarded by the critics. This reputation helped get him the opportunity to audition to open BOB DYLAN’s concerts, as well as play with the drummer BILLY COBHAM and share the stage with the guitarist STANLEY JORDAN. Solari received from this legends musician’s approval and respect back.

Alex started playing at the age of 13. He learned from books, videos and private lessons. One year later, he put a band together, which played a great deal and became really famous in the Rio de Janeiro area, doing hard rock cover tunes. In September, 1991, Alex went to Hollywood, California, where he studied at the Musicians Institute - GIT. There, he formed a "power trio" and started working on his instrumental tunes, playing several times in and outside school, with great success. Alex graduated with "honors" in September '92, recorded a demo, sent it to record labels and producers, and then went back to Brazil in 1993. A few months later, after some concerts and guitar seminars he had held in Brazil, he was signed to an independent label from Rio de Janeiro, called Niteroi Discos, and his self-titled debut CD came out in September '94.
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Done Changed My Way of Living - Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt

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

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

Pat Boyack (born June 26, 1967, Price, Utah, United States) is an American electric blues guitarist and songwriter. Boyack performs modern electric blues and blues rock. He has released four albums since 1994, for both the Bullseye Blues and Doc Blues record labels.
Boyack was born in Price, but grew up in Helper, Utah. At the age of fifteen he had his first guitar, and listened to a college friend's Stevie Ray Vaughan album. Inspired by contemporary Texas blues, Boyack moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1991, and played in a number of bar bands, including Rocket 88s. In 1993, Boyack formed the Prowlers with John Garza (bass) and Doug Swancy (drums). The Prowlers added Jimmy Morello (singer/harmonica) and secured a recording contract with Bullseye Blues Records (part of Rounder Records).

Pat Boyack & the Prowlers debut album Breakin' In (1994), was followed by On the Prowl (1996). By the time the third album, Super Blue & Funky, was released in 1997, a new backing band had been assembled, which took far less prominent billing. Boyack left the music industry for two years to support his wife and first child, then in 2000 Boyack's former label mate, Marcia Ball, recruited him to her backing band.
Following a change in record label, Boyack's fourth album, Voices from the Street was released in May 2004.
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Hubert Sumlin Talks About Maxwell Street

Hubert Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer.[1] He was best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing was characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions". Sumlin was listed as number 43 in the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Sumlin favored a Louis Electric Model HS M12 amplifier and a 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitarHubert Sumlin talks about playing on Maxwell Street in Chicago. For more on Hubert Sumlin, Chicago's Maxwell Street and the electric blues, check out the critically-acclaimed documentary, "Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street"
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Tamp 'em Up Solid - Blind Arvella Gray

Blind Arvella Gray (January 28, 1906 – September 7, 1980) was an American blues, folk and gospel singer and guitarist.

His birth name was James Dixon, and he was born in Somerville, Texas, United States. He spent the latter part of his life performing and busking folk, blues and gospel music at Chicago's Maxwell Street flea market and at rapid-transit depots.

Gray's only album, 1973's The Singing Drifter was reissued on the (Conjuroo) Conqueroo record label in 2005. The re-issue producer was Cary Baker, who wrote the liner notes for the original Birch Records vinyl LP.

Gray died in Chicago, Illinois in September 1980, at the age of 74An excerpt from a tribute to Chicago Blues by Jim Morrissette, Raul Zaritsky, and Linda Williams. Features a performance by Blind Arvella Gray, a 72-year-old blues musician at Chicago's Maxwell Street Market.
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Chicken Man

Chicken Man was a common sight at bus stops in Chicago during the 50's and 60's. Put down a dime watch the show.From the Mike Shea Films classic 'And This is Free'. The most complete account of a Sunday Morning on Chicago's Maxwell St.“Like” Bman’s Facebook page (available in over 50 languages). I will not relay senseless nonsense. In this way I can get out the word on new talent, venues and blues happenings! - click Here

Ball and Chain - Big Mama Thornton with Buddy Guy

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million copies. Three years later, Elvis Presley recorded his version, based on a version performed by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. In a similar occurrence, she wrote and recorded "Ball 'n' Chain," which became a hit for her. In 1965 she performed with the American Folk Blues Festival package in Europe. While in England that year, she recorded Big Mama Thornton in Europe and followed it up the next year in San Francisco with Big Mama Thornton with the Chicago Blues Band. Both albums came out on the Arhoolie label. Thornton continued to record for Vanguard, Mercury, and other small labels in the 1970s and to work the blues festival circuit until her death in 1984, the same year she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

During her career, she appeared on stages from New York City's Apollo Theater in 1952 to the Newport Jazz Festival in 1980, and was nominated for the Blues Music Awards six times. In addition to "Ball 'n' Chain" and "They Call Me Big Mama," Thornton wrote twenty other blues songs.

In the 1970s years of heavy drinking began to hurt Thornton's health. She was in a serious auto accident but recovered to perform at the 1983 Newport Jazz Festival with Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, a recording of which is called The Blues—A Real Summit Meeting on Buddha Records.

Thornton died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on July 25, 1984, at age 57.
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Heard It On The X - Mariëlla Tirotto and the Blues Federation

Mariëlla Tirotto & the Blues Federation flirts with the boundaries of Blues and are carrying the traditional form into the future.
An authentic band that plays adventurous and exciting blues of the new millennium.
They win new fans at every next concert, and they are certainly not just blues-lovers.

The musicians form an unprecedentedly tight group, but at the same time they are - each and every one of them – virtuoso soloists, the guitar player as well as the blues harp player as also the bass player/ pianist, the drummer and the guest-percussionist. Furthermore the evident pleasure that the band exudes, keeps the audience entranced from beginning to end. During a show you are swept off your feet by the extremely variable emotions, brought in a mixture of original material and adapted songs.

In the more than three years of their existence they have played a lot of successful gigs during blues- and jazz festivals in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, as well as numerous club gigs and a few theatre concerts. For 2010, concerts are scheduled in clubs and for festivals in the Netherlands and Germany. In addition, other European countries are in the pipeline.
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I Don't Get The Blues - Neal Black and the Healers

Since the deaths of Screamin' Jay Hawkins and John Campbell, Neal Black has been the king of the voodoo blues. Dark, occult themes have always resided in Black's songs, and "Handful of Rain" is no different, with tales of New Orleans black magic running through the album. Now based out of Europe much of the year, Black's incendiary guitar work and powerful vocals place him among the most powerful straddlers of blues and rock going – seat him alongside Ronnie Earl and Johnny Winter. With his distinctive, Howlin' Wolf-inflected singing voice and his Texas-styled lead guitar , Black is one of the most intriguing listens in the blues today. Whether you're an old fan who lost track of him or new to his brand of swamp blues
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If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day - Dallas Frasca

After winning the 2010 MUSICOZ 'Artist Of The Year' Awards, Dallas Frasca and her songwriting partners in crime, Jeff Curran and Pete McDonald are working on their second full length record in New York. After the success of their debut album in Australia they look forward to putting out their second release
Dallas released her debut album Not For Love or Money in August 2009 and has spent the last 12 months touring locally and internationally in support of the release. In early 2009 Dallas was invited to perform as one of seven artists from seven continents of the planet for International Earth Day in Montreal. Since then she has played in France with blues legend B.B. King as well as local festivals including the Big Day Out, Woodford Folk Festival, Pyramid Rock Festival and Australia Rocks held at the Rocks in Sydney. ……... Not For Love or Money introduced a heavier, more rock flavoured sound to Dallas' trademark stomp and features an all-star cast of guests including Melbourne luminaries Liz Stringer and Jess McAvoy playing alongside Dallas and Jeff Curran. It was produced by Forrester Savell (who has worked with Helmet, Karnivool and Cog) at Sing Sing studios in Melbourne.
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Voodoo Child - Adam Hole

The Adam Hole and Marji Curran Band are an independent Canberra based blues/ roots band consisting of Marji Curran on guitar/ vocals, Adam Hole on slide guitar/ vocals and Phoebe Juskevics on drums/ percussion.

The band formed in 2004 and have played sell out performances at The Bay Of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival in New Zealand, The Toyota Gympie Muster in QLD, and regularly tour Tasmania, WA and the east coast of Australia.

Based upon their live shows, they have been described as “one of Australia’s most exciting new roots acts”

The band has played alongside some of Australia’s top artists including Jeff Lang, Angry Anderson, Jenny Morris, and Dallas Frasca.

The band has been described as "getting audiences stirred up all over Australia and beyond with their high energy, foot stomping roots, blues and rock. White hot raunchy slide, powerful vocals and driving beats get people up on their feet with an uncontrollable urge to move every part of their bodies" and "a fusion of different genres (that has) created a new sound of their own which is refreshingly unique".
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Updated Information: Hacksaws Downsouth Blues - Richard "Hacksaw" Harney

Richard 'Hacksaw' Harney was born in Money, MS, on July 16, 1902. He passed away on Christmas morning in 1973 of stomach cancer.

Thanks to Billy Hutchinson and Marcia Weaver for this contribution.

"The interest on Richard "Hacksaw" Harney is great. He's buried in a pauper cemetery at the Hinds County Farm (corrections) near Raymond MS. He was serving time at that location". This information has now been clarified and corrected. "Hacksaw was not serving time. I made a wrong assumption. I've been told he was the last who would do such wrong. I regret that this is in print but want to set the record straight". When he died he was buried there as no one came for the body as I understand. There are no markers at the cemetery, just numbers I think.

The operation of the cemetery is under the sheriff's department. Just lately we had an election and now have a new sheriff to be put in office soon. I could start discussions with the county commissioners that are now in office and the new ones who will be seated soon. They have ultimate authority.

As you likely know, MS has a blues trail. Would we want to get a blues trail marker for Hacksaw, if possible? It could be placed at the Hinds County location near the cemetery. The location is a rather peaceful location as I recall from a few years ago when I went to the "county farm" to get info and see where they logged Hacksaw into the records. They spelled his name wrong.

I will copy Scott Barretta as he writes the copy for many of the markers. Copy will go to Alex Thomas who runs the state blues markers project. They work through a non-profit group. The unveiling of the markers is always a great tribute to the person or place. It's so good to have MS state and the local governments interested in lifting up the blues history. The state always has to have matching funds for the markers."
A resolution was adopted on December 5, 2011 to create access to his site and allow markers to be placed on or near the grave site. I was pleased all five board members voted for the resolution.
Singer Dorothy Moore played some of Hacksaw's music. As a child Dorothy lived around the corner.
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The Things That I Used To Do - Guitar Slim

Eddie Jones (December 10, 1926 – February 7, 1959), better known as Guitar Slim, was a New Orleans blues guitarist, from the 1940s and 1950s, best known for the million-selling song, produced by Johnny Vincent at Specialty Records, "The Things That I Used to Do". It is a song that is listed in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
His first recording session was in 1951, and he had a minor rhythm and blues hit in 1952 with "Feelin' Sad", which Ray Charles covered. His biggest success was "The Things That I Used to Do" (1954).[ The song, produced by a young Ray Charles, was released on Art Rupe's Specialty Records label. The song spent weeks at number one on the R&B charts and sold over a million copies, soon becoming a blues standard.

He recorded on a few labels, including Imperial, Bullet, Specialty, and Atco. The recordings made in 1954 and 1955 for Specialty are his best.

His career having faded, Guitar Slim became an alcoholic, and then died of pneumonia in New York City at age 32. Guitar Slim is buried in a small cemetery in Thibodaux, Louisiana, where his manager, Hosea Hill, resided.
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Nobody Looks Ugly After Midnight - 8 Ball Aitken

Australia’s best-loved banana picker (turned full‐time guitar picker) 8 Ball Aitken is touring with his award winning third album, ‘REBEL WITH A CAUSE’.

8 Ball Aitken is authentic ‐‐ a real‐deal character who rattles the roof, stomps the planks, and gets his audiences whooping and hollering along in a frenzy of pure exuberance. He plays a sizzling hot blend of original blues, roots & country music. Coming from a farming community in Far North Queensland, 8 Ball Aitken is the oldest son of an impoverished family of twelve children. 8 Ball spent his adolescence on a banana plantation, living in a rough tobacco shed with resident rats, bats, snakes, and spiders as his sleeping companions.

He started work as a farm labourer aged fifteen, doing back‐breakingly hard work on the mango and banana plantations of the Atherton Tablelands, a man's work for a boy's pay. A life‐changing conversation with an Aboriginal elder, who told him he should pursue a career in music, convinced 8 Ball to pack his bags, grab his guitar, and leave the farm to meet his destiny.
8 Ball has taken his unique blues & roots sound to festivals and clubs across the world, including Australia, Europe, Japan and Canada, including Canadian Music Week 2009 and the Stan Rogers Festival. He’s toured in Japan four times, where he headlined the popular Rokko Sun Music Festival. He has played a string of dates in Singapore, the UK (including a live appearance on the BBC), Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
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Walkin' Blues - Sonny Landreth with the Billy Hector Band

Sonny Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, but soon after, his family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, before settling in Lafayette, Louisiana. When he is not touring and performing, he resides in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.
Landreth is best known for his slide playing, having developed a technique where he also frets notes and plays chords and chord fragments behind the slide while he plays. Landreth plays with the slide on his little finger, so that his other fingers have more room to fret behind the slide. He's also known for his right-hand technique, which involves tapping, slapping, and picking strings, using all of the fingers on his right hand.

Early in his career, Billy Hector identified himself as a deeply-grounded and versatile player drawing his influences from important predecessors including T-Bone Walker, Freddie King, Jimi Hendrix, Roy Buchanan and a host of others across musical style and genre. But, as with all truly great musicians, recognizable influences are interesting only insofar as they provide a departure point for the musician's spirit. It falls on the musician to shape his predecessor's ideas into music that does not simply replicate but engagingly adds to the whole. Most can only aspire to this level of creation; Billy Hector generates it in spades and it happens every night.

In the late 70s, Hector’s first stop was as the guitarist for The Shots, a horn-driven R&B group that took over the house band role from Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes at the renowned Stone Pony. He moved on as lead guitarist for Hot Romance, a band based at the infamous Mrs. Jay’s biker bar in Asbury Park that also began receiving New York City radio airplay for its original songs.

In the mid-80’s, drawn back to earlier musical roots, Billy Hector formed the five-piece blues/rock band The Fairlanes and, co-wrote and released three independent albums on the Blue Jersey label.

By early 1993, Hector regrouped as a power trio and renamed his band The Billy Hector Band. The band’s present lineup is guitars/lead vocals Billy Hector, drummer Rich Scanella and bassist Fred Saunders. The Billy Hector Band also performs acoustic blues in multiple personnel configurations.
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Rocket 88 - Harpdog Brown

Harpdog Brown was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. The Dog started playing Blues in 1981 and never looked back. Some influences include Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton, and Tom Waits.

Having been in the business as a touring recording artist for close to thirty years, he has shared the stage with such greats as Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Pinetop Perkins, Tim Williams, Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne, The Powder Blues Band, Willie MacCalder, Jack de Keyzer, Fathead, Donald Ray Johnson, Morgan Davis and the late Dutch Mason.

In 1994, Harpdog won the prestigious Muddy Award – the only Canadian to receive this honor - and in 1995 was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Blues Album, “Home Is Where the Harp Is”.

Harpdog Brown is one of Canada’s truly gifted blues artists. He’s a lifer in the world of musical gypsies, travelling near and far to share his substantial talents in story and song.

A gifted singer and an imaginative harp player, he brings traditional blues into the 21st century. With five CDs under his belt, working with two different duos as well as with his band The Bloodhounds, the Dog puts his individual stamp on everything he does.
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Instrumental #1 - David Barrett

David Barrett is the world's most published author of blues harmonica lesson material (over 60 book/CD sets and videos published through Mel Bay Publications). Having played saxophone and trumpet for many years, David already had a solid musical background before playing the harmonica at age fourteen. By age sixteen he was already performing in blues jam sessions and harmonica shows in the California Bay Area. By age eighteen he was studying music theory in college and started teaching harmonica at local music institutes. By age twenty he released Building Harmonica Technique (Mel Bay Publications), the first serious blues harmonica method to be released in the market.

David is the founder and owner of the Harmonica Masterclass Company (HMC). HMC specializes in educational workshops held around the world for blues harmonica. David is the program director and master instructor of these classes. For a single class 20 to 250 participants attend depending on program type and location. David also teaches, judges and performs at other prestigious events, such as Hohner's World Harmonica Festival and Steve Baker's Harmonica Masters Workshop in Trossingen, Germany.

David is also the founder of School of the Blues in San Jose, California, the first school in the world for the specific study of blues music. David and his instructors (Guitar, Bass, Organ, Keyboard, Piano, Vocals, and Drums) teach private lessons and workshops as well as fly-in lessons. David teaches on average 60 private students a month as well as home correspondence courses. He is also active in working with local hospitals teaching his Harmonica for Fun & Health classes to people with COPD (commonly Emphysema), asthma and heart disease.
David is a Grammy Nominated harmonica player (for his work on John Lee Hooker Jr's recent release) and performs regularly in the California Bay Area (San Francisco Blues Festival, Monterey Bay Blues Festival, etc.) and abroad (Chicago, Germany, etc.). Recently David played in the Mark Hummel Blues Harmonica Blowouts featuring James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, Mark Hummel and David. Through the years David has worked or played with Charlie Musselwhite, Mark Hummel, Lee Oskar, Rod Piazza, James Harman, James Cotton, Gary Smith, Andy Just, Mark Ford, Billy Boy Arnold, Jason Ricci, Rick Estrin, Paul deLay, Jerry Portnoy, Gary Primich, Howard Levy, Magic Dick, Tom Ball, Sonny Jr., John Mayall, Annie Raines, Paul Oscher, Phil Wiggins, Brendan Power, Sam Myers, Snooky Pryor, Rob Paparozzi, Dennis Gruenling, Carlos del Junco, Mitch Kashmar, Joe Filisko, Lazy Lester, Kenny Neal, Jr. Watson, Nick Moss, Steve Freund, Johnny Cat and John Garcia. He now fronts the School of the Blues All-star Band featuring John Garcia on guitar and vocals. His latest CD is Serious Fun and We Are The Blues.
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New Release: Live In Shanghai - Moonshine Society - Review

I've just been listening to the new Moonshine Society release, "Live in Shanghai" and overall it really rips. It's a 9 track release and includes some standards like "Bright Lights Big City" and "Big Boss Man" but it's the treatment and instrumentation on a number of the tracks that really interests me. The opening track, "Breaking Up" has a great guitar interlude that got me to lift my head... nice!
The third track, "Love Me Like a Man" is a remake of the Bonnie Raitt song but done with a totally different arrangement and again with some stellar harp and guitar work.
Another cover of "Rock Me" has nice harp and guitar backing taking it places that haven't been explored by other artists.
The final track, " Do What You Wanna Do" is a nice slow blues highlighting the entire bands talents and a great ending to an enjoyable recording.
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