Tech Talk - Paul Daniel McGill MKS Custom

This wonderous beast was custom built by Paul McGill using scrumptious Cocobolo Rosewood and some 40 year old German Spruce that Paul found years ago. The Headplate, heelcap, backstrip and rosette feature rare burled Box Elder with superb figure and colors. The headstock and top are bordered with Abalone. The voice is all McGill, big, bold projection thanks to Paul's unique bracing that incorporates internal struts add strength and allow for lighter top bracing. The trebles just leap out of this guitar and the bass is resounding. This is a real room filler and it's rich and beauitiful across the spectrum. This is a very special custom McGill Guitar.

Measurements
Body Size: Medium
Scale: 25.25 in. (641 mm)
Nut Width: 1 3/4 in. (44.45 mm)
String Spacing: 2 1/4 in. (57.15 mm)
Body Length: 19 3/8 in.
Upper Bout: 11 3/8 in.
Lower Bout: 15 1/8 in.
Serial #: 7
Body Depth @Neck Heel: 3 5/8 in.
Body Depth @Tail Block: 4 in.
Frets to body: 12
Woods & Trim
Back/Sides: Cocobolo Rosewood
Top Wood: Bearclaw German Spruce, 40 years old
Fingerboard: Ebony
Neck Wood: Mahogany
Bridge: Ebony with Dual Saddles
Rosette: Burled Box Elder and Abalone
Binding: Koa
Fingerboard Bindings: Ebony
Headplate: Burled Box Elder
Headstock Bindings: Koa
Headstock Inlay: Builder Logo
Top Trim: Abalone
Back Strip: Burled Box Elder
Fret Markers: None
Tuners: Nickel open-backed Gotohs
Tuner Finish: Nickel


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Monkey Man - Stones (Charlie Watts )

Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts (born 2 June 1941) is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts was born to Charles Watts, a lorry driver for a precursor of British Rail and his wife Lilian (née Eaves) at University College Hospital, London, and raised (along with his sister Linda) in Islington and then Kingsbury. He attended Tylers Croft Secondary Modern School from 1952 to 1956; as a schoolboy, he displayed a talent for art, cricket and football.

Watts' parents gave him his first drum kit in 1955; he was interested in jazz, and would practice drumming along with jazz records he collected. After completing secondary school, he enrolled at Harrow Art School (now the University of Westminster), which he attended until 1960. After leaving school, Watts worked as a graphic designer for an advertising company called Charlie Daniels Studios, and also played drums occasionally with local bands in coffee shops and clubs. In 1961 he met Alexis Korner, who invited him to join his band, Blues Incorporated. At that time Watts was on his way to a sojourn working as a graphic designer in Denmark, but he accepted Korner's offer when he returned to London in February 1962.

Watts played regularly with Blues Incorporated as well as working at the advertising firm of Charles, Hobson and Grey. It was in mid-1962 that Watts first met Brian Jones, Ian "Stu" Stewart, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards, who also frequented the London rhythm and blues clubs, but it wasn't until January 1963 that Watts finally agreed to join the Rolling Stones
Watts has been involved in many activities outside his high-profile life as a member of the Rolling Stones. In 1964, he published a cartoon tribute to Charlie Parker entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird. Although he has made his name in rock, his personal tastes focus on jazz; in the late 70s, he joined Ian Stewart in the back-to-the-roots boogie-woogie band Rocket 88, which featured many of the UK's top jazz, rock and R&B musicians. In the 1980s, he toured worldwide with a big band that included such names as Evan Parker, Courtney Pine and Jack Bruce, who was also a member of Rocket 88. In 1991, he organised a jazz quintet as another tribute to Charlie Parker. 1993 saw the release of Warm And Tender, by the Charlie Watts Quintet, which included vocalist Bernard Fowler. This same group then released Long Ago And Far Away in 1996. Both records included a collection of Great American Songbook standards. After a successful collaboration with Jim Keltner on The Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon, Watts and Keltner released a techno/instrumental album simply titled, Charlie Watts/Jim Keltner Project. Featuring the names of his favourite jazz drummers, Watts stated that even though the tracks bore such names as the "Elvin Suite" in honour of the late Elvin Jones, Max Roach and Roy Haynes, they were not copying their style of drumming, but rather, capturing a feeling by those artists. Watts At Scott's was recorded with his group, "The Charlie Watts Tentet", at the famous jazz club in London, Ronnie Scott's. In April 2009 he started to perform concerts with the ABC&D of Boogie Woogie together with pianists Axel Zwingenberger and Ben Waters plus his childhood friend Dave Green on bass.
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Slippin' Into Darkness - War

Charles Miller (July 2, 1939 - 14 June 1980) was an American musician best known as the saxophonist and flutist for multicultural Californian funk band War.
Miller was born in Olathe, Kansas, moved with his family to Los Angeles two years later, and eventually settled in Long Beach, California.

Charles was always interested in music; he played woodwinds, piano, guitar, school bands and school orchestras.

In 1967 Charles' interest in music was supplanted until, when at Long Beach City College he sustained a football injury.

Charles recorded with various groups such as: Senor Soul on the Double Shot Records: “Senor Soul Plays Funky Favorites” and “It’s your thing.” He did recording sessions with The Ray Charles Band, and toured with the Debonaires, Brenton Wood, Senor Soul and Afro Blues Quintet + 1.

In the summer of 1969 Charles was in Hollywood at the first “Studio Instrument Rentals” (located on Santa Monica and Vine) when he heard Harold Brown practicing with Howard E. Scott and Papa Dee Allen. He joined and the Night Shift was created.

Charles Miller was performing at the Rag Doll in North Hollywood with the Night Shift, when Eric Burdon and Lee Oskar came into the club. Lee Oskar went to the bandstand and that’s when that magical sound came together, the blend of his saxophone and Lee Oskar’s harp.

Charles Miller’s voice can be heard on the classic War song, “Low Rider”. It was recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, California in 1975.

In 1980 Charles Miller was murdered in Los Angeles. To this day, no one has been brought to justice for his murder. At the time of his death he was living in Hollywood, California with his family. Wife Eddie Miller, daughter Annette, son Donald, daughter Laurian and son Mark.
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I'm Gonna Walk Your Log - Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston

Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston (June 2, 1917 – August 22, 1987) was an American blues pianist and guitarist. He is best noted for the tracks "Blues At Midnight" and "I'm Gonna Walk Your Log".
Leonard Caston Sr., was born in Sumrall, Mississippi, United States, and raised in Meadville, Mississippi from age eight. He lived in Chicago from 1934 to 1936 but then moved back to Mississippi after his family relocated to Natchez. He learned to play piano under the influence of Leroy Carr and Art Tatum; he has also credited Andy Kirk and Jimmy Rogers, as well as his relative Kim Weathersby, as stylistic influences.

In 1938 he returned to Chicago, where he met with Mayo Williams, a producer for Decca Records. Williams recorded him in a trio with Eugene Gilmore and Arthur Dixon; Dixon introduced him to his brother, Willie Dixon. Willie and Caston then formed the Five Breezes, along with Jimmy Gilmore, Joe Bell, and Willie Hawthorne, a group in the style of The Ink Spots. In 1940, Caston recorded his first solo record for Decca, "The Death of Walter Barnes", which also included Robert Nighthawk on harmonica.

The Five Breezes disbanded in 1941, and Caston began playing in the Rhythm Rascals Trio with Alfred Elkins and Ollie Crawford. The group did USO tours, and in 1945 performed at a conference for Dwight Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, and Georgy Zhukov. After the war, he recorded under his own name as well as for Roosevelt Sykes and Walter Davis, and did myriad studio sessions. He also recorded again with Dixon as the Four Jumps of Jive and the Big Three Trio, playing in both groups with Bernardo Dennis as well. Ollie Crawford joined this group soon after Dennis's departure. The Big Three Trio recorded for Columbia Records and Okeh Records.

The Big Three Trio's last sides were recorded in 1952, but the group did not officially break up until 1956. Caston continued performing for decades afterwards, returning to perform with Dixon in 1984.

Caston also released an album, Baby Doo's House Party, shortly before his death of heart disease in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1987.

His son, Leonard Caston, Jr., is an R&B singer and songwriter who sang with The Radiants among other endeavors.
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Decoration Blues - Sonny Boy Williamson I

Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee Curtis Williamson, March 30, 1914 – June 1, 1948) was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.
Williamson was born near Jackson, Tennessee in 1914. His original recordings were considered to be in the country blues style, but he soon demonstrated skill at making harmonica a lead instrument for the blues, and popularized it for the first time in a more urban blues setting. He has been called "the father of modern blues harp". While in his teens he joined Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes playing with them in Tennessee and Arkansas, and in 1934 settled in Chicago
Sonny first recorded for Bluebird Records in 1937 and his first recording, "Good Morning, School Girl", became a standard. He was hugely popular among black audiences throughout the southern United States as well as in the midwestern industrial cities such as Detroit and his home base in Chicago, and his name was synonymous with the blues harmonica for the next decade. Other well-known recordings of his include "Sugar Mama Blues", "Shake the Boogie", "You Better Cut That Out", "Sloppy Drunk", "Early in the Morning" and "Stop Breaking Down" and "Hoodoo Hoodoo" aka "Hoodoo Man Blues". In 1947 "Shake the Boogie" made #4 on Billboard's Race Records chart. Williamson's style influenced a large number of blues harmonica performers, including Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells, Sonny Terry, Little Walter, and Snooky Pryor among many others. He was the most widely heard and influential blues harmonica player of his generation. His music was also influential on many of his non-harmonica playing contemporaries and successors, including Muddy Waters (who had played guitar with Williamson in the mid-1940s) and Jimmy Rogers (whose first recording in 1946 was as a harmonica player, performing an uncanny imitation of Williamson's style); Rogers later recorded Williamson's songs "My Little Machine" and "Sloppy Drunk" on Chess Records, and Waters recorded "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" in September 1963 for his Chess Folk Singer LP and again in the 1970s when he moved to Johnny Winter's Blue Sky label on CBS.
He was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex "Rice" Miller, from Mississippi, began also using the name Sonny Boy Williamson. John Lee is said to have objected to this, though no legal action took place, possibly due to the fact that Miller did not release any records during Williamson's lifetime, and that Williamson played mainly around the Chicago area, while Miller seldom ventured beyond the Mississippi Delta region until after Williamson's death. In 1942, John Lee allegedly confronted Miller, but according to Miller's friend and guitarist Robert Lockwood, "Big Sonny Boy [Miller] chased Little Sonny Boy [Williamson] away from there. He couldn't play with Rice. Rice Miller could play Sonny Boy's stuff better than he could play it!"
Williamson recorded prolifically both as a bandleader and a sideman over the entire course of his career, mainly for the Bluebird record label. Before Bluebird moved to Chicago, where it eventually became part of RCA Records, many early sessions took place at the Leland Hotel in Aurora, Illinois. Before the university's towers at Champaign were built, the Leland Hotel was for many years the tallest building in Illinois, outside Chicago. The top-floor nightclub at the Leland, known as "The Sky Room", was used for live big band broadcasts on a local radio station, was utilized during off hours as a recording studio for Williamson's early sessions, as well as those of other Bluebird artists.

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

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

Williamson is buried at the former site of The Blairs Chapel Church, southwest of Jackson, Tennessee. In 1991, a red granite marker was purchased by fans and family to mark the site of his burial. A Tennessee historical marker, also placed in 1991, indicates the place of his birth and describes his influence on blues music. The historical marker is located south of Jackson on TN Highway 18, at the corner of Caldwell Road.
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Friendless Blues - California Honeydrops

Digging deep into the roots of American music, The California Honeydrops embrace the traditions of Blues, Gospel, Second Line New Orleans Jazz, and early R&B. With stellar performances of traditional material as well as their own innovative music, The California Honeydrops get people out of their seats and onto the floor, dancing, sweating, and singing along.

Since their formation 4 years ago in the subway stations of Oakland, CA, The California Honeydrops have completed 6 European tours, spread honey on crowds throughout the US, and recorded 2 full length albums of original music, all without the help of a record label or major booking agency. Their secret? An irresistible sound that blends the energy and intimacy of a street performance, undeniable talent and musicianship, and the soul and fervor of a spiritual street parade.

Born in Warsaw, Poland, band leader and front man Lech Wierzynski began playing blues and jazz as a teenager at after-hours jam sessions in Washington D.C. After studying trumpet with Marcus Belgrave (Ray Charles), Lech continued his career after moving to Oakland, honing his craft with some of the biggest names in American music, such as Maria Muldaur, Dan Hicks, and Jackie Payne, allowing Lech to grow equally as a trumpeter, singer, and guitarist.

The vibrant rhythm section of The California Honeydrops is fueled by the unprecedented energy of saxophonist Johnny Bones (Eddie Palmiere, Nell Carter, Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums), and drummer Ben Malament (Terry Reid, The Marvelettes, The Jelly Roll Souls). Currently touring with The CA Honeydrops is Doug Stuart on bass, and Charles Hickox on keys.

See them perform once, and you won’t be surprised why they were voted the SF Bay Area’s “Best Soul/R&B Band”. Nominated for “Best New Artist” by the National Blues Foundation (2009), and recently receiving 5 East Bay Express Reader’s Poll awards (2011) including “Best Band”, “Best Album”, and “Best Musician”, with a highly anticipated live album due to release in late 2011 and an upcoming East Coast tour, consider The California Honeydrops to be unstoppable!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”

Whoopee Blues - King Solomon Hill

King Solomon Hill (1897, McComb, Mississippi – 1949, Sibley, Louisiana)[1] was an American blues musician, who recorded a small handful of songs in 1932. His unique guitar and voice make them among the most haunting blues recorded. Hill is speculated to have been Joe Holmes, a self-taught guitarist from Mississippi
Otherwise, little evidence exists of his life outside of music, but he was noted as a heavy drinker. Hill died of a cerebral haemorrhage in Louisiana in 1949.
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Discography

Americana/Blues Troubadour Jeffrey Halford Brings All-American Sounds To Armandos

"Hemingway With A Blues-y Guitar" - Dirty Linen

"Jeffrey Halford specializes in "swamp rock with soul," which means that Poor House Bistro, the valley's center for New Orleans food and music, is the perfect venue for the San Francisco singer/songwriter/guitarist and his band, the Healers." SAN JOSE METRO

"Jeffrey Halford and The Healers album, 'Broken Chord', does not hit your ears as much as it slinks, shutters, shakes and shimmies across the surface of your mind. Barrel roll pianos, big, fat swamp guitar notes and hard hitting rhythms push around Jeffrey's vocals. His voice comes on like a lyrical conversation as it snarls admonitions and finger points, naming names ("Louisiana Man", "Ninth Ward"), paints a picture of a hot rod pin up wife-to-be ("Rockabilly Bride") and offers a great visual of someone who looks like a barnyard feathered friend, forget about how he tastes ("Chicken Bones Jones"). THE ALTERNATE ROOT

Acclaimed Americana/Blues Troubadour Jeffrey Halford and the Healers Bring Their All-American Sounds To Armando's In Martinez - Friday, June 8 At 8:00 P.M.

(MARTINEZ) - Called "Hemingway with a blues-y guitar" by Dirty Linen Magazine, Americana/Blues singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeffrey Halford and the Healers plays a return engagement at Armando's, 707 Marina Vista, Friday, June 8. 8 p.m. $10. Info: (925) 228-6985 or log onto www.armandosmartinez.com.

Jeffrey Halford delivers a uniquely American melting pot of roots, blues, rock, and kick-ass pop - take some Southern soul, add a heap of Texas storytelling, a dash of Bay Area's freewheeling liberal spirit/literary leanings/seedier side, throw in some desert sunshine and dirt, then stir together with an architect's eye for detail and durability and you've got yourself an idea why Paste magazine recently named him to their "Ten Most Influential Artists of the Decade."

A guy who doesn't play favorites when it comes to words and music, Jeffrey Halford knows how to get his point across subtly, and he also knows when to hammer it home. But most of all, he knows how to craft music that grabs your attentionand keeps it - on record, but particularly on stage, where he and the band make you want to jump out of your seat..Jeffrey has shared the stage with Los Lobos, Taj Mahal, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, and George Thorogoodto name a few. Turns out the streets of San Franciscomight have been the best teacher of all.

Watch Halford perform an intimate acoustic version of his poignant tune about the victims of Hurricane Katrina, "Louisiana Man," here:

Jeffrey Halford has been called "An Americana heavyweight" (MERCURY NEWS) for his heartfelt songs about the conditions of the everyday man and woman in America. Among his most memorable: "Cry of Hope," about Americans' need to keep faith in America; and "Louisiana Man," about the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster and our government's slow response to it. As validation of Halford's writing prowess, he won "2009 Songwriter of the Year" at the 5th Annual South Bay Music Awards. BROKEN CHORD went as high as #8 on the Americana radio charts.

Based in San Francisco over the last 15 years, Halford's original roots rock 'n roll songs etch a uniquely American, and specifically California, landscape. Look for a new Jeffrey Halford and the Healers album to be released late in 2011.

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Catfood Records Signs Soul/Blues Sensation Barbara Carr & Will Release Her New CD on August 21

CATFOOD RECORDS SIGNS SOUL/BLUES SINGING SENSATION BARBARA CARR AND WILL RELEASE HER LABEL DEBUT CD,

KEEP THE FIRE BURNING, AUGUST 21

EL PASO, TX – Catfood Records announces the signing of soul/blues singing sensation Barbara Carr, and will release her debut CD for the label, Keep the Fire Burning, produced by Johnny Rawls and Bob Trenchard, on August 21. Catfood Records is distributed nationally by City Hall Records.

Recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, Texas, Keep the Fire Burning showcases Barbara Carr’s magnificently soulful vocals backed by musicians that provide the “old school” backing her talent deserves: the members of Catfood’s house band, The Rays. The group includes Richy Puga on drums and percussion, Dan Ferguson on keyboards, Johnny McGhee on guitar, Bob Trenchard on bass, and the soaring horns of Andy Roman (sax), Mike Middleton (trumpet) and Robert Claiborne (trombone).

Label mate, co-producer and Blues Music Award winner Johnny Rawls, along with Catfood Records owner Bob Trenchard have supplied Barbara with a solid 11 songs that allow her to showcase the essence of her vocal style to the max. The album’s opening track, “Hanging On By a Thread,” was also co-written with another talented Catfood Records artist, Sandy Carroll. Rawls even joins in the vocal fun on the tender ballad, “Hold On to What You Got,” a brilliant duet with Carr that rivals anything from the classic Stax/Hi era. Known for her sexy songs, Barbara tops them all with the sultry rendition of the title track, which will raise the heat index wherever it’s played.

St. Louis native Barbara Carr got her start singing like so many soul performers did - in church singing in the choir, before forming a family gospel group. She soon got into singing secular music, forming a popular local group called the Petites, which opened for artists such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. Barbara got her first big break when she auditioned and won the job as a singer in St. Louis legend Oliver Sain’s band, which she held until 1972.

During her time with Oliver Sain’s band, Barbara Carr also secured a solo deal with Chess Records and released several singles for the iconic label (“Don’t Knock Love,” “I Can’t Stop Now,” “Think About It Baby”). When those didn’t sell like she’d hoped, Barbara stopped recording for a time to raise a family. After a short return to Chess in the early ‘70s, Barbara and her husband eventually formed their own label and began releasing a number of singles, mostly recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama. These resulted in the release of her first album, Good Woman Go Bad, in 1989, as well as several others in the ‘90s on several other labels, including Paula, and a very successful string of singles and albums that followed over the next 10 years on the Ecko label.

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Secret Records artist: Paul Lamb & The King Snakes - The Games People Play - New Release Review

I have been listening to the just released (May 28) new CD, The Games People Play by Paul Lamb & The King Snakes. The recording opens with a lively medley of Ray Charles' I Got A Woman and Johnny Cash's Fulsom Blues. They roll right into an original track, Let Me In, which along with some great harp sounds has a tasty British blues infused guitar solo. Very stylistically cool. Lamb's original boogie, Come To The Conclusion, is raw and rugged and has some really authentic delta guitar work as well as nice overdriven harp tones. The band uses classic Summertime to highlight Lambs capabilities on what sounds like a chromatic harp. Harp guys tell me... but it's cool. One of the best tracks on the recording is Big Walters' Easy, an instrumental showcasing both and harp. A smooth shuffle style song it just slides along as a harp and guitar jam. Another Ray Charles track, Black Jack Game is given the slow deep blues treatment and is really a pleasure to listen to. Ryan Lamb, lead guitar player really does an exemplary job on the guitar as well as the supporting band (Dino Coccia on drums and Rod Demick on bass). It's unusual to hear a contemporary band do a classic Roosevelt Sykes tune but here comes Ida Mae done raw and dirty...I love it. On another lamb original, Mind Games, that harp is really singing and the band is really swinging. Pulling a Professor Longhair track out of the bag is a real nice touch. Ya Ya Blues is done with that Nawlans gait and you know the boys are getting ready to wrap and party. Ledbelly penned Midnight Special is given an a capella (with harp) treatment and is very effective. Nice conclusion to a pretty cool recording.
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Stay with Me - Ronnie Wood

Ronald David "Ronnie" Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock guitarist and bassist best known as a former member of The Jeff Beck Group, Faces, and a member of The Rolling Stones since 1975. He also plays lap and pedal steel guitar.

Wood began his career in 1964, when he joined The Birds on guitar. He then joined the mod group The Creation, but only remained with the group for a short time, and appeared on a small number of singles. Wood joined The Jeff Beck Group in 1967. They released two albums, Truth and Beck-Ola, which became moderate successes. The group split in 1969, and Wood departed along with lead vocalist Rod Stewart to join former Small Faces members Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenney Jones in a new group, dubbed the Faces. The group, although relegated to "cult" status in the US, found great success in the UK and mainland Europe. The Faces released their debut album, First Step, in 1970. The group went on to release Long Player and A Nod Is as Good as a Wink... to a Blind Horse in 1971. Their last LP, entitled Ooh La La, was released in 1973. After the group split, Wood began several solo projects, eventually recording his first solo LP, I've Got My Own Album to Do, in 1974. The album featured former bandmate McLagan as well as former Beatle George Harrison and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, a longtime friend of Wood's. Richards soon invited Wood to join The Rolling Stones, after the departure of Mick Taylor. Wood joined in 1975, and has remained a member ever since.

Besides I've Got My Own Album to Do, Wood has recorded several other solo efforts. Now Look was released in 1975, and peaked at number 118 on Billboard, and Wood collaborated with Ronnie Lane for the soundtrack album Mahoney's Last Stand. He released Gimme Some Neck in 1979, which hit number 45 in the US. 1234 was released in 1981, peaking at number 164. He released Slide on This in 1992, Not for Beginners came out in 2002. and I Feel Like Playing in 2010. As a member of the Rolling Stones, Wood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, and was inducted a second time, as a member of Faces, in April 2012
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At His Home - Lafayette Leake

Lafayette Leake (June 1, 1919 - August 14, 1990) was a blues and jazz pianist, organist, vocalist and composer who played for Chess Records as a session musician, and as a member of the Big Three Trio, during the formative years of Chicago blues. He played piano on many of Chuck Berry's recordings.
Leake was born in Winona, Missouri, in 1919. Information about his early years is sparse, but in the early 1950s he joined the Big Three Trio (replacing Leonard Caston) and began his association with Chess Records, where he worked closely with bassist, producer, and songwriter Willie Dixon.

Leake played piano on One Dozen Berrys, Chuck Berry's second album, released in 1958 by Chess. He was then on Chuck Berry Is on Top; Leake (not Berry's longtime bandmate Johnnie Johnson) played the prominent piano on the classic original rendition of "Johnny B. Goode". Leake played on numerous other Chess sessions from the '50s through the '70s, backing many of the Chess greats, including Sonny Boy Williamson, Otis Rush, Junior Wells, and Little Walter.

During the 1960s Willie Dixon formed the Chicago Blues All-Stars, with Leake as resident pianist. Leake toured and recorded with this group until the mid-1970s. After that he did little recording or touring, although he appeared with Chuck Berry at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1986 and recorded "Hidden Charms" with Willie Dixon in 1988.

Besides being a respected performer, Leake was a composer. He recorded a number of his own songs as a member of various ensembles, and others have been covered by notable musicians. Fleetwood Mac, for example, recorded his song "Love That Woman" on their album The Original Fleetwood Mac. Leake's song "Wrinkles", performed by the Big Three Trio, was featured on the soundtrack of David Lynch's 1990 film, Wild at Heart. Blues band Slo Leak was named after one of Leake's instrumental pieces.

Leake fell into a diabetic coma in his home in Chicago, where he remained undiscovered for several days, dying in hospital on August 14, 1990
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Let Us Get Together - Marie Knight

Marie Knight (June 1, 1925 – August 30, 2009) was an American gospel and R&B singer.
She was born Marie Roach in Sanford, Florida but grew up in Newark, New Jersey. Her father was a construction worker and the family were members of the Church of God in Christ. She first toured as a singer in 1939 with Frances Robinson, an evangelist. She married preacher Albert Knight in 1941; they were later divorced.

In 1946, she made her first recordings, for Signature Records, as a member of The Sunset Four. Shortly afterwards, Sister Rosetta Tharpe saw her singing at the Golden Gate Auditorium in Harlem, on a bill with Mahalia Jackson, and invited Knight to join her on tour. Tharpe recognized "something special" in Marie's contralto voice. Knight continued to record and perform with Tharpe through the 1940s, sometimes acting out the parts of "the Saint and the Sinner", with Tharpe as the saint and Knight as the sinner. Among their successes were the songs "Beams of Heaven", "Didn't it Rain", and "Up Above My Head", recorded for Decca Records. "Up Above My Head", credited jointly to both singers, reached # 6 on the US R&B chart at the end of 1948, and Knight's solo version of "Gospel Train" reached # 9 on the R&B chart in 1949.

She left Tharpe to go solo around 1951, and put together a backing group, The Millionaires (Thomasina Stewart, Eleonore King and Roberta Jones), with whom she recorded the 1956 album Songs of the Gospel. She also began recording secular R&B music in the late 1950s, for various labels including Decca, Mercury, Baton, Okeh, Diamond and Addit. Her duet with Rex Garvin, credited as Marie & Rex, "I Can't Sit Down" released on the Carlton label, reached # 94 on the pop chart in 1959. In the late 1950s she also toured Britain as a guest of Humphrey Lyttelton. In 1961 she recorded the single "Come Tomorrow", which was later a hit for Manfred Mann. Knight's version of "Cry Me a River" reached # 35 on the U.S. Billboard R&B charts in 1965. She toured with Brook Benton, the Drifters, and Clyde McPhatter, and regularly reunited onstage with Rosetta Tharpe. She remained friends with Tharpe, and helped arrange her funeral in 1973. In 1975, having given up performing secular music, she recorded another gospel album, Marie Knight: Today.

In 2002, Knight made a comeback in the gospel world, recording for a tribute album to Tharpe. She also released a full-length album, Let Us Get Together, on her manager's label in 2007. She died in Harlem of complications from pneumonia, on August 30, 2009.
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Get Your Nose Outta My Bizness - Rich DelGrosso

Rich DelGrosso’s performances at clubs and festivals and the airplay of his recordings have garnered him five Blues Music Award nominations. His most recent is "Best Instrumentalist-Other" for his mandolin. Last year he was nominated for "Instrumentalist" and for "Acoustic Album of the Year," “Live From Bluesville,” a recorded jam session at XM radio’s “B.B.King’s Bluesville,”with Blues Music Award nominees and winners Fiona Boyes and Mookie Brill. This writer/teacher/performer, is widely regarded as the leading exponent of mandolin blues. According to author/historian Mark Hoffman, DelGrosso is "the greatest living blues mandoman, the best since Yank (Rachell)." For over twenty years DelGrosso has written articles for Blues Revue, Living Blues, Mandolin Magazine, Frets, and Sing Out! and he has published instruction books on mandolin for Hal Leonard. He has presented workshops on mandolin across the country and in Europe, earning him a Keeping the Blues Alive Award from the Blues Foundation in Memphis.
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Blues da Solidão - Bêbados Habilidosos

Bêbados Habilidosos (lit. Skillful Drunk People) is an important Brazilian blues rock band.
The Bêbados Habilidosos was formed in Mato Grosso do Sul by ex-members of the band Blues Band- which was considered the first blues band of the state. The band members have a common passion for the rhythm born on the margens of the Mississippi: The Blues.

The band members have played together for more than a decade. 90% of their compositions are originals and the other 10% are blues classics with their own blues improvisation.
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Your Enemy Can't Carm You - Flora Molton

Born 1908, Virginia, USA, d. 31 May 1990, Washington DC, USA. Molton began preaching at the age of 17, not taking up guitar until 1943, when she moved to Washington DC. Virtually blind, she supported herself by playing in the streets. From 1963, she made appearances on the folk circuit, and was later signed by a European record company when she visited Europe in 1987. Her slide guitar playing in "Vastopol" (open D) was basic but intense, owing much to the blues whose verbal content she fiercely rejected. Her delivery was generally reminiscent of an unsophisticated Sister Rosetta Tharpe, particularly when Molton was assisted by more skilful musicians.
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Discography

Spoonful - Swamp Train

Swamp Train’s voyage started in the spring of 2010 when Blaze teamed up with Nikworks and Rattlebrained to form a cigar box guitar / washboard blues band. Thus, they played a couple of gigs as a trio before Cut Finger climbed aboard a few month later during a lake side pizza, blues & star filled night.

Later that year the band locked themselves in a “High Vallais” chalet for a week and survived.

The blues covers vast territories of styles and traditions and the fact that each member of the band comes from a different corner within the blues has given it’s own special flavor to the band. Qualified as “Juke Joint Cigar Box Guitar Blues”, which basically means loud, energetic, raise hell and get up and dance contemporarily primitive blues music.
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Blues Leaf Records artist:Albert Castiglia - Living The Dream - New Release Review

Got a copy of Living The Dream, the new release from Albert Castiglia and it appears that come Jume 12th, Albert may be! His new CD is really strong. It opens with the title track, Living The Dream, which is a funky blues track geared toward airplay but with plenty of hot guitar riffs. The Man, is a cool Latin Rhythm blues track which of course sets up nicely for Castiglia to demonstrate his guitar prowess. Freddie King's Freddie's Boogie is just a flat out guitar boogie in the likes of that little old band from Texas ...what's not to like. Public Enemy #9 is a blues rocker with some incredibly hot slide work... I mean hot! Paul Butterfield's Loving Cup gets a update treatment with Sandy Mack blowing harp and Castiglia runs some hot licks throughout the track. Did I mention he can sing. Oh Yeah. Castiglia has a really strong voice. Fat Cat is a really hot instrumental in the jump blues style and one of my favorite tracks on the release. Everyone in the band gets a whack at showing their chops. The band includes Bob Amsel on drums, A.J. Kelly on bass and features special guests John Ginty on keys, Mack on harp Juke Joint Johnny Rizzo on acoustic slide and Emedin Rivera on percussion. Walk The Backstreets is a slow contemporary blues track and sets Castiglia on a large romp of the fretboard. This is a track that is sure to please most any blues or guitar enthusiast that listens to it. This band is tight and the flames are flying. Very rippin! The release is concluded with Mose Allisons Parchment Farm. My first couple of times through the CD this track didn't strike me but I have listened to it more I have found it more and more attractive. It has always been a strong track but Castiglia really gives it a pretty good workout and it's a hot track. I think I can easily say that this is a really strong CD and that it will be very well received.
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Robert Lee Coleman's new album available now!

Robert Lee Coleman's One More Mile available now! One More Mile is the culmination of Robert Lee Coleman's lifetime of blues that has included touring with James brown and Percy Sledge. "Robert Lee Coleman is among the guitarists that invented funk. But in this album you hear him playing stinging rock blues, showing his musical versatility," Says Tim Duffy, Music Maker's founder. One More Mile is filled with the driving blues that Coleman has brought to the scene ever since he started over fifty years ago. This is his second album in partnership with Music Maker. Check out the album here! Diggin': Rollin' and Tumblin' First recorded by George Mitchell in the 1970s, John Lee Zeigler lived his life in the vibrant musical community of Kathleen, Georgia, right down the road from MM artists James Davis, Rufus McKenzie and Essie Mae Brooks. We've done a Diggin' on him before, mentioning how we were interested in his guitar style that pre-dates the blues and seems influenced by old African-American banjo rhythms. This track from the album that Music Maker will be releasing this summer, "Rollin' and Tumblin'", is what we were listening to yesterday, as Tropical Depression Beryl rolled over North Carolina, making it a rainy and sleepy day. The slow, dreamy quality certainly matched the mood of the day, though we had to make sure to follow it up with some Robert Lee Coleman to keep alert! Enjoy the track, and keep an eye out for Zeigler's upcoming release! -- Aaron and Corinne Mount Airy Festival this weekend! The 41st Mount Airy Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddlers Convention takes place June 1 - 2nd at Veterans Memorial Park in Mount Airy, NC. The Fiddlers Convention is a family friendly event, bringing together musicians and fans for two full days of competition, jam sessions, dancing, singing, education, and entertainment! MMRF Artist Benton Flippen, who passed away last year, won the Mt. Airy solo fiddle competition many times, and he will be sorely missed at this year's festival. MMRF Artist Services Coordinator Aaron Greenhood will be competing, and we wish him luck! More information- mtairyfiddlersconvention.com. Captain Luke gets a visit from Intern Mike Artist Sam McMillan, Captain Luke and Intern Mike Capodiferro He was sitting in his kitchen listening to a mix CD when we arrived. Chomping at the last bit of his cigar Captain Luke welcomed Aaron and I into his home. Since it was memorial day we all sat in his living room retelling crass jokes we've heard in our lives while we drank a little moonshine. Friends of Luke passed through on and off saying hi and stopping by. Captain Luke recalled jokes that Whistlin' Britches and John Dee Holeman had told him. Above Luke's head I noticed two VHS cassettes sitting on top of the television: Triple X starring Vin Diesel and Hard To Kill. Captain Luke graced us with a rendition of Lou Rawl's "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" and told us that his next batch of songs he's working on will be of the lovely romantic type... Read more of Mike's story and see more photos here! Mike Capodiferro is a Music Maker summer intern helping us with everything from writing to running shows. Mike is a Dramatic Writing and Literature major at Hampshire College. Listen: John Lee Zeigler - Rollin' and Tumblin' Benton Flippen by Tim Duffy Quick Links: Website Merch Music

Upcoming Shows: Click here for more info on upcoming events 6/01 - Boo Hanks - The Eddy Pub, Saxapahaw, N.C. 6/08 - The Branchettes and Bishop Dready Manning - The Music Academy of the South, Winston-Salem, N.C. 6/08 - Captain Luke, Cool John Ferguson, John Dee Holeman - Music Maker Roots and Leaves, Chapel Hill, N.C. 6/09 - Music Maker Revue - Tinner Hill Music Festival, Church, V.A. 6/15 - Boo Hanks - Music Maker Roots and Leaves, Chapel Hill, N.C. 6/22 - Pat "Mother Blues" Cohen, Essie Mae Brooks - Music Maker Roots and Leaves, Chapel Hill, N.C. 6/27 - Beverly "Guitar" Watkins - Sweet Georgia Juke Joint 6/29 - Pura Fé Trio, Lakota John Locklear - Music Maker Roots and Leaves, Chapel Hill, N.C. Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. helps the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern music gain recognition and meet their day to day needs. We present these musical traditions to the world so American culture will flourish and be preserved for future generations.

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Moby Dick - John Bonham

John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music by many drummers, other musicians, and commentators in the industry. Over 30 years after his death, Bonham continues to garner awards and praise, including a Rolling Stone readers' pick in 2011 placing him in first place of the magazine's "best drummers of all time"

Bonham was born on 31 May 1948, in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, to Joan and Jack Bonham. He began learning to play drums at the age of five, making a drum kit out of containers and coffee tins, imitating his idols Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. His mother gave him a snare drum at the age of ten. He received his first proper drum kit from his father at fifteen, a Premier Percussion set. Bonham never took any formal drum lessons, though as a teen he would get advice from other Redditch drummers. Between 1962–63, while still at school, Bonham joined the Blue Star Trio, and Gerry Levene & the Avengers.
Bonham attended Lodge Farm Secondary Modern School, where his headmaster once wrote in his school report card that "He will either end up a dustman or a millionaire". After leaving school in 1964, he worked for his father as an apprentice carpenter in between drumming for different local bands. In 1964, Bonham joined his first semi-professional band, Terry Webb and the Spiders, and met his future wife Pat Phillips around the same time. He also played in other Birmingham bands such as The Nicky James Movement and The Senators, who released a moderately successful single "She's a Mod," in 1964. Bonham then took up drumming full-time. Two years later, he joined A Way of Life, but the band soon became inactive. Desperate for a regular income, he joined a blues group called Crawling King Snakes, whose lead singer was a young Robert Plant.

In 1967, A Way of Life asked Bonham to return to the group, and he agreed—though throughout this period, Plant kept in contact with Bonham. When Plant decided to form Band of Joy, Bonham was first choice as drummer. The band recorded a number of demos but no album. In 1968 American singer Tim Rose toured Britain and invited Band of Joy to open his concerts. When Rose returned for another tour months later, Bonham was formally invited by the singer to drum for his band, which gave him a regular income.
On 24 September 1980, Bonham was picked up by Led Zeppelin assistant Rex King to attend rehearsals at Bray Studios for an upcoming tour of the United States—the band's first since 1977. During the journey, Bonham asked to stop for breakfast, where he drank four quadruple vodkas (sixteen shots, between 400–560 ml). He then continued to drink heavily after arriving at the rehearsals. A halt was called to the rehearsals late in the evening and the band retired to Page's house, the Old Mill House in Clewer, Windsor. After midnight on the 25th, Bonham fell asleep and was taken to bed and placed on his side. Benji LeFevre (who had replaced Richard Cole as Led Zeppelin's tour manager) and John Paul Jones found him dead the next afternoon. Bonham was 32 years old.

Weeks later at the coroner's inquest, it emerged that in the twenty-four hours before he died, John Bonham had consumed forty shots of vodka which resulted in him vomiting and subsequently inhaling his vomit causing asphyxiation. A verdict of accidental death was returned at an inquest held on 27 October 1980. An autopsy found no other drugs in Bonham's body.[18] John Bonham's body was cremated and his ashes were interred on 12 October 1980, at Rushock Parish Church, Worcestershire.
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Despite media rumours that drummers including Cozy Powell, Phil Collins, Carmine Appice, Barriemore Barlow, Roger Taylor, Simon Kirke or Bev Bevan, among others, would join the group as his replacement, the remaining members decided to disband Led Zeppelin after Bonham's death. They issued a press statement on 4 December 1980, confirming that the band would not continue without their drummer. "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were." It was simply signed "Led Zeppelin"
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