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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!
Please email me at Info@Bmansbluesreport.com
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
New Release: Bailout - Guitar Not So Slim - Review

I just received a new recording by Guitar Not So Slim called Bailout. If you're not familiar with this band it may because they are from Spain, but they definitely know their blues music. The release opens with Bailout, a Chicago style blues with harp blazing. The second track, Adaveing is a Texas style instrumental with cool guitar riffs, horns, keys and harp soloing (possibly my favorite on the release). The third track, Never Be Younger, has a distinct early 60's sound with plenty of instrumental to keep us gear head happy.The fourth track, Thank You Sir is a funky blues track. Again an appropriate amount of instrumental without being an overtly instrumental recording. The fifth track again has a distinctive vintage 50's - 60's sound over piano.The 6th track, I Wanna, stays the line with the balance of the cd. It's solid blues with harp, rhythm and vocals. Track 7, What's It Gonna Take has a distinctive blues swing. It's a pretty strong song with a decent length instrumental interlude as well. I particularly like the guitar solo on this song. Track 8, What's It Gonna Take, is a duo part harmony blues tune with stylistic harp soloing. The 9th track, You Call It Lazy has a Rhumba beat as is sometimes used in the swing blues. GNSS executes it like they were born in Chicago. The final primarily instrumental track, La Pequena Nur, has the funky beat of an early Curtis Mayfield tune.
Overall this release is very entertaining and I'm glad that I got the chance to hear it. Check it out if you get the chance!
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Beth Hart's Shepherds Bush concert follows Radio 2 A-list
www.bethhart.com
Live at London O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
Saturday 25th February 2012
24 Hour Box Office: 0844 871 8819
www.alt-tickets.co.uk - www.gigantic.com
www.seetickets.com - www.ticketline.co.uk
Following the release of Beth Hart’s “Don’t Explain” collaboration album with Joe Bonamassa, and her recent sold out concert at London Dingwall’s, tickets have recently gone on sale for Beth’s first UK concert in 2012. She’ll headline the London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Saturday February 25th.
Tickets are now on sale from the Ticket Hotline: 0844 871 8819. Tickets can be booked online from: www.alt-tickets.co.uk, www.gigantic.com, www.seetickets.com or www.ticketline.co.uk.
David Sinclair’s 4-star rave review of Beth’s sold-out London Dingwall’s concert in The Times recently said, “Her new album ‘Don’t Explain’, a collection of old R&B favourites, recorded with the guitar hero Joe Bonamassa, has lifted her to a new level of rock’n’roll celebrity and she was here to make the most of it. This was certainly a gig to be savoured to the last drop.”
“Don’t Explain” debuted at #22 on the official UK album and met with rave reviews from Classic Rock and Mojo. The single “I’ll Take Care of You” was ‘Track of the Week’ on BBC Radio 2. The second single “Your Heart Is As Black As Night” is currently getting heavy rotation on BBC Radio 2.
Live at London O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
24 Hour Box Office: 0844 871 8819
www.alt-tickets.co.uk - www.gigantic.com
www.seetickets.com - www.ticketline.co.uk
Saturday 25th February 2012
London, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
Tickets: £17.50 + £1.75 Booking Fee (£19.25) / Doors: 7:00pm / Starts: 8:00pm
24 Hour Box Office: 0845 413 4444
Venue Website: www.o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk
Venue address: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, W12 8TT
Book Online from the following outlets:
www.alt-tickets.co.uk - www.gigantic.com - www.seetickets.com - www.ticketline.co.uk
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Baltimore Buzz- Eubie Blake

James Hubert Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans. Blake's compositions included such hits as, "Bandana Days", "Charleston Rag", "Love Will Find A Way", "Memories of You", and "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The musical Eubie! featured the works of Blake and opened on Broadway in 1978.
Blake was born at 319 Forrest Street in Baltimore, Maryland to former slaves John Sumner Blake (1838–1917) and Emily "Emma" Johnstone (1861–1917).
He was the only surviving child of eight, all the rest of whom died in infancy. In 1894 the family moved to 414 North Eden Street, and later to 1510 Jefferson Street. John Blake worked earning US$9.00 weekly as a stevedore on the Baltimore docks.
In later years Blake claimed to have been born in 1883, but his Social Security application and all other official documents list his year of birth as 1887.
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Till the Cows Come Home - Lucille Bogan (explicit)

Lucille Bogan (April 1, 1897 – August 10, 1948) was an American blues singer, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson. The sexologist and music critic, Ernest Borneman, stated that Bogan along with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, was in "the big three of the blues".
She was born Lucille Anderson in Amory, Mississippi, United States, and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1916, she married Nazareth Lee Bogan, a railwayman, and gave birth to a son.
She first recorded vaudeville songs for Okeh Records in New York in 1923, with pianist Henry Callens. Later that year she recorded "Pawn Shop Blues" in Atlanta, Georgia, which was the first time a black blues singer had been recorded outside New York or Chicago. In 1927 she began recording for Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin, where she recorded her first big success, "Sweet Petunia", which was covered by Blind Blake. She also recorded for Brunswick Records, backed by Tampa Red and Cow Cow Davenport.
By 1930 her recordings had begun to concentrate on drinking and sex, with songs such as "Sloppy Drunk Blues" (covered by Leroy Carr and others) and "Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More" (later recorded by Memphis Minnie). She also recorded the original version of "Black Angel Blues", which (as "Sweet Little Angel") was covered by B.B. King and many others. Trained in the rowdier juke joints of the 1920s, many of Bogan's songs, most of which she wrote herself, have thinly-veiled humorous sexual references. The theme of prostitution, in particular, featured prominently in several of her recordings.
In 1933 she returned to New York, and, apparently to conceal her identity, began recording as Bessie Jackson for the Banner (ARC) label. She was usually accompanied on piano by Walter Roland, with whom she recorded over 100 songs between 1933 and 1935, including some of her biggest commercial successes including "Seaboard Blues", "Troubled Mind", and "Superstitious Blues".
Her other songs included "Stew Meat Blues", "Coffee Grindin' Blues", "My Georgia Grind", "Honeycomb Man", "Mr. Screw Worm In Trouble", and "Bo Hog Blues". Her final recordings with Roland and Josh White included two takes of "Shave 'Em Dry", recorded in New York on Tuesday March 5, 1935. The unexpurgated alternate take is notorious for its explicit sexual references, a unique record of the lyrics sung in after-hours adult clubs. Another of her songs, "B.D. Woman's Blues", takes the position of a "bull dyke" ("B.D."), with the line "Comin' a time, B.D. women, they ain't gonna need no men" "They got a head like a sweet angel and they walk just like a natural man." "They can lay their jive just like a natural man."
She appears not to have recorded after 1935, and spent some time managing her son's jazz group, Bogan's Birmingham Busters, before moving to Los Angeles shortly before her death from coronary sclerosis in 1948.
She is interred at the Lincoln Memorial Park, Compton, Los Angeles County, California
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Party 'Til The Cows Come Home - Porkroll Project

The Porkroll Project, from the greater Philadelphia, PA area is hard rocking 6 piece blues band who play a high energy blend of fresh covers and originals.
The music is blues, but it's done up Porkroll style. Little bit of grease, good dose of funk, whole lotta drive and grind. Throw that together with some dangerous lead guitar and harmonica, powerful organ, and rippin' piano, and you have a recipe for a night where anything can happen! The band has a collective experience that runs deep and wide, having played together in various other projects for over ten years. They've shared the stage, not only with each other, but also with such notables as Bo Diddley, Los Lobos, Mem Shannon, Michael Hill's Blues Mob, Bobby Radcliffe, just to name a few. They are well seasoned veterans of events such as the Phila. Jam on the River, the Annual Chameleon Club Blues Festival, the Phila. Folk Festival, and the always fun Bandana Blues Festival.
So if you and your crew are craving some hard rocking, foot stomping, hip shaking, earthquaking entertainment, give an ear to a heaping helping of The Porkroll Project. It's the right thing to do, and a tasty way to do it.
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Monday, February 6, 2012
Automatic - The Blu-Tones

"The Blu-Tones" is a project that began in late 2010 in Madrid after the idea of JD (U.S. guitar and vocals) to raise awareness about all those classics of blues and blues-rock and English-speaking Americans to central capital of Spain.
It is really important to have all these artists from the early history of the blues to this day have written important pages in the history of music.
In this way you can hear songs from Albert King, Eric Clapton, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Robben Ford & The Blue Line, Steve Ray Vaughan, The Allman Brothers, etc
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Johnny & the Devil - Hans Theessink

We've already had an American in Paris, but a Dutchman in Vienna? And one who has dedicated himself, body and soul, to American blues and roots music? Okay, Hans Theessink (pronounced Tay-sink) did not pick the easiest way to do this, but he has done so with a certain degree of single-mindedness.
Like others of his generation, in the early 1960‘s a love of the Blues took hold of the man whom Bo Diddley described as "one helluva guitar player", and it has not let go since. Above all, the country blues with its earthy and heartfelt sound impressed Hans Theessink and played a major role in his development as a musician. His roots are unmistakeably in the blues, but has also been influenced by countless other aspects of roots music. This musical variety has become a trademark of Hans Theessink, who as a songwriter has succeeded in building bridges to the present in addressing issues which reflect the reality of the here and now.
Hans is probably Europe's blues export Nr.1 - one of the top blues and roots musicians worldwide who has entertained audiences around the globe during a musical career that spans over more than 35 years. The world's leading blues paper - US magazine Blues Revue wrote: "Hans Theessink is an international blues treasure. He is one of the world's pre-eminent country pickers and his warm baritone expresses blues".
Theessink's first recording was an EP in 1970. Since then his music has continually developed and so far Hans has released 20 albums, a songbook, a blues-guitar instruction video and a DVD. His CDs are guaranteed award winners. "Banjoman", the tribute project to Derroll Adams, that Hans produced with Arlo Guthrie, was recently nominated for a Grammy.
In 2004 Hans got the Austrian Amadeus award for "Songs from the Southland", a tribute to the music of the American South - a constant source of inspiration and companion on his musical journey. A Danish Music Award for best blues album followed in 2005. His most recent CD "Bridges" - a recording with the new Hans Theessink Band, is again nominated for the Amadeus in the category best Blues-, Jazz-, Roots-, Folk-album. Hans' latest work is a DVD "Live in Concert" - "A Blues & Roots Revue" - it shows the Hans Theessink Band in action + lots of other special features. Hans' productions are known for their excellent sound quality and are also in big demand in HiFi circles.
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Down In Mississippi - Terry Evans

His musical journey began in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the heart of the Delta, where he was born. He was in the church choir as a young person and used to sing tenor, baritone and bass. He jokes that he wasn't allowed to sing the "rough stuff" like rock and roll in those days and that he was only allowed to sing gospel. He'd have to "slip away" to sing secular songs. Terry secretly listened to people like Elmore James, Little Walter, Albert King and B.B. King, to name a few. It was then that he decided he wanted be a soul singer.
In the sixties, Terry worked with an acappella group called The Knights, touring throughout the South in clubs and juke joints. From there Terry was lured to the west coast where he first picked up the guitar, started writing music and soon became a prolific songwriter. Pops Staples as well as the late, great Louis Jordan (among others) have recorded his songs.
Long before Terry made his first recording fronting his own band, music fans were probably well acquainted with his amazing voice. For years, the soulful singer was one of Los Angeles' foremost session vocalists, receiving a gold record for his work on John Fogarty's "Eye of the Zombie" and recording with Ry Cooder, Joan Armatrading, John Lee Hooker, Boz Scaggs, Maria Muldaur, Pops Staples, and many other well respected artists.
He teamed up with singer Bobby King in the early seventies; they toured as a duo, appearing at many prestigious clubs and festivals. In 1976 when Ry Cooder was looking for background singers, Bobby King recommended Terry. Their distinctive voices became a feature of several of Ry's critically acclaimed albums, including "Chicken Skin Music," "Get Rhythm," "Show Time," and "Slide Area." Bobby and Terry were still touring as a duo during this time. Terry sang lead vocal on "Down in Mississippi" on the "Crossroads" movie soundtrack album, with Ry singing the title song. In the actual film, Terry sings the title song. Terry toured with Ry Cooder throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan and credits Ry for being a great inspiration to him in his musical efforts since being in California.
In addition to his work with other artists, Terry recorded two albums with Bobby King, as well as eight of his own. He is now touring with his own band, and is recording a new CD for 2008.
Ry Cooder has said that he always thought that his long time singer, Terry Evans, made a better "front man." To see him perform is to understand why. Terry is one of the most dynamic soul and blues singers performing today, writing and singing about all aspects of human emotion, and creating a connection with his audience in the process
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Bloodshot Records Release: Andre Williams - Hoods and Shades - Review - Release Date: Feb 28 2012

I have just received and had the opportunity to review a new release by Andre Williams called Hoods and Shades. The release consists of 9 tracks teaming up with Matt Smith and with Dennis Coffey on guitar. Andre ventures into a folk/rock/psychedelic/ R&B zone. Other guests include Jim White (Dirty Three, Cat Power), Greasy Carlisi (Robert Gordon, Chris Spedding), Jim Diamond (Dirtbombs) and Don Was. The first song, Dirt, is a straight forward uptempo blues track. It is followed up by A Good Day To Feel Bad, which is a rhythm track with spoken word and tasty guitar riffs played behind. I've Got Money On My Mind is an interpretation on Snoop with a little James Brown and jazz flavor. Hoods and Shades (the title track) again more of spoken word over a rhythmic background is interesting and has cool guitar soloing throughout. Jawdropper is back to a basic boogie. Andre uses his singing style but really is again more of a talking voice. It is a nice contrast to what I am accustomed to. Again a cool guitar riff. Hu-Matic Man, a more swampy blues tune, has nice guitar riffs and moves along at a shuffle beat. Mojo Hannah is a real swampy song almost like a Dr John Voodoo song from Lousiana. Swamp Dog's Hot Spot is a pretty cool story song again with a mystic kind of aura again with some laid back undertones. The last track, Gimme, is a bit more uptempo but again consistent with the balance of the recording. Overall I think the cd is very interesting. If you want to check out something different, this may be it!
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Although this track is not from the cd it gives you a rough idea what to expect.
Rewind Festival confirms "Adam Ant" as very special guest
For ticket info and prices, please visit: www.rewindfestival.com
Due to the outstanding success of the first "Rewind Scotland – The 80s Festival" in Perth during July 2011, the festival returns for the second year in a row. As with last year’s unforgettable concert performances and audience participation celebrations, this year’s Rewind Scotland boasts another massive live outdoor line-up of the crème de la crème of 80s recording artists/performers.
Rewind Scotland will take place from Friday 20th July until Sunday 22nd July at Scone Palace, Perthshire, Scotland (www.scone-palace.co.uk).
Full details for ticket outlets and prices are available from the official Rewind Festival website - www.rewindfestival.com.
This year’s line-up is headlined by Ali Campbell’s UB40 and Holly Johnson. Adam Ant & The Good, The Mad & The Lovely Posse are confirmed as very special guests. Other highlights include a rare appearance from Village People, Scottish icons Midge Ure, Jimmy Somerville, Altered Images and Average White Band, as well as the reformed original line-up of Five Star, Lightning Seeds, Marc Almond, Chesney Hawkes, Roland Gift and many more!
As in 2011, the organisers have announced that Rewind Scotland will once again take place at the historic setting of Scone Palace in Perthshire – the home of The Earls of Mansfield and the crowning palace of the Kings of Scotland.
The festival takes place on the weekend of the 20th-22nd July and, as well as the massive line-up of 80s artists, features loads of other festival fun from Silent Discos to Live Karaoke bars along with Camping and Glamping (Glamorous Camping) options.
Originally launched at Henley-on-Thames in 2009, Rewind The 80s Festival boasts the biggest line-up of 80s artists in the world, and in its first three years has featured such iconic 80s names as: Boy George, Tony Hadley, Rick Astley, Gloria Gaynor, Kim Wilde, ABC, Go West, Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw and many more.
2011 saw the first Rewind Festival take place north of the border and take Scotland by storm, and the festival in Henley-on-Thames sell out in advance for the very first time.
For an exclusive video preview of the artists, on Wednesday 18th January at 20:30, tune into "Fast Forward to Rewind Scotland" on Vintage TV (Sky 369 and Freesat 515).
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