Sittin' On Top Of The World - Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.

With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits." A number of songs written or popularized by Burnett—such as "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful"—have become blues and blues rock standards.

At 6 feet, 6 inches (198 cm) and close to 300 pounds (136 kg), he was an imposing presence with one of the loudest and most memorable voices of all the "classic" 1950s Chicago blues singers. This rough-edged, slightly fearsome musical style is often contrasted with the less crude but still powerful presentation of his contemporary and professional rival, Muddy Waters. Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Little Walter Jacobs, and Muddy Waters are usually regarded in retrospect as the greatest blues artists who recorded for Chess in Chicago. Sam Phillips once remarked, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'" In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #51 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time"
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Crawlin' King Snake - Tony Hollins

Cited as a major influence by no less than John Lee Hooker, Delta blues singer/guitarist Tony Hollins was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi around the turn of the century. Few details are known of Hollins' life; he cut his first recordings for OKeh in 1941, with his fluid, insistent performance of "Crawlin' King Snake" serving as the blueprint for Hooker's own later rendition. His "Traveling Man Blues" was also later appropriated by Hooker for his "When My Wife Quit Me"; clearly admired by his peers, Hollins never caught on as a popular favorite, and after another session in 1951, he gradually drifted out of music, focusing instead on his day job as a barber. He died in Chicago in 1959.
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Richard Johnston

In April 2005, Alabama PBS released RICHARD JOHNSTON: HILL COUNTRY TROUBADOUR, a feature documentary directed by Max Shores. The film has received 12 official selections by U.S. film festivals including two 1st place awards and one 2nd place award..... Richard, with Bradd Webb and Tony Ray Adams, recorded a small queue for the 2006 motion picture "Come Early Morning" written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams. Starring: Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Stacy Keach, Diane Ladd, Laura Prepon and Tim Blake Nelson. The film was an Official Selection for the 2006 Sundance Film Awards..... He briefly toured as opening act for THE KILLERS in 2005. They contacted him after seeing his street show. ....Richard and John Lowe designed an instrument that has made it's way into the hands of stars like Robin Williams and Lyle Lovett. They named it a HILL HARP and, as R.L. Burnside stated in Richard's documentary, "it sounds like a nuclear bomb". Featured on track 5 of Foot Hill Stomp, It's fitting that R.L.'s grandson and drummer, Cedric, accompanied Richard as he introduced the world to this ground-breaking instrument.....Continuing a tradition his father started many years before, Guy Gilchrist, artist and owner of the nationally syndicated comic-strip "Nancy And Sluggo", penned "Foot Hill Stomp" into one edition
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Cross Road Blues - Robert Lighthouse

Robert Lighthouse, a native of Sweden, first came to the United States at the age of 18, determined to learn more about the music he loves -- Mississippi Delta Blues.

For eight years he traveled around the country visiting blues Meccas like Chicago's famed Maxwell Street and New Orleans, the cradle of the blues.

He settled in Washington, DC in 1988 and established a cult following as a street musician.

He toured Belgium and Holland with the Charlie Sayles Band and then landed his own steady gig at City Blues Cafe in D.C.
Robert has represented the DC area at the Blues Foundation IBC's twice, once with his band and once as a solo.

His critically acclaimed debut CD, "Drive-Thru Love", was released in 1998.
His long awaited follow up Deep Down in the Mud was released in the summer of 2007 and also has received much critical acclaim.

Robert's simultaneous work on guitar and harmonica on has received rave reviews in major blues publications throughout the United States, Europe and Australia.
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Big Shot Reub and the Reloaders Headlining 2012 Ensenada Blues-Rock Fest

Big Shot Reub & The Reloaders Headline 2012 Ensenada Blues-Rock Fest

- Second Consecutive Year Performing at the Festival For Guitarist Reuben Vigil -

"Reuben Vigil is the Real Deal." SAN DIEGO ACOUSTIC

"Despite his obvious virtuosity, (frontman) Vigil is not a one-man show or grand-stander...the Reloaders have a cohesive sound..."Love Comes Knocking" turns up the tempo with some flashy guitar work reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughn...the gloves come off in "Survive," where Vigil channels Jimi Hendrix, complete with reverb, wah wah, and other electronic effects. Blues fans should give this album a serious listen." SAN DIEGO TROUBADOUR

(ENSENADA, BAJA CALIFORNIA) - The tasty, Latin-tinged swing/blues-rock of guitarist Reuben Vigil headlines the Main Stage at one of Baja California's most respected music events, the 2012 Ensenada Blues-Rock Fest, on Saturday, June 30. And this time, Reub is bringing his trusty band, the Reloaders, with him. 9 p.m. $10. For more information on this wonderful day of music in one of Baja California's most scenic settings, go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/V-Blues-Rock-Fest-Ensenada-2012/117855494964685.

In a recent review of Vigil's CD "Roundhouse Blues," L.A. Examiner critic Will Phoenix wrote, "the Critic's Choice here is 'Big Shot Roll'...an uptempo piece that not only pays apt tribute to the genres from which it sprung but also somehow musically personifies the band. Vigil and company blend blues, swing, and rock into their own fresh yet familiar signature sound...if they keep it up, they may soon find they will not only "survive" but succeed." Read the entire review here.

ROUNDHOUSE BLUES (Hat and Case Music) has received very positive media response since its late-2010 release. "I plopped this CD into the player and hoped for the best, and low and behold I was pleasantly surprised just how good of an album "Roundhouse Blues" turned out to be," writes BLUES UNDERGROUND. "Talk about some classy blues...this is the stuff you look long and hard for. If you like virtuoso guitar this is one album you need to get!," opines CASHBOX magazine. "On "Roadhouse Blues," Vigil moves flawlessly and tastefully across the frets to produce a very high quality product for any discerning ear to enjoy," asserts BLUESROCKERS. The album was mastered by multi-Grammy-winning Charlie Watts (renowned for his work on Fleetwood Mac's Rumors among others) and engineered and produced by Glen Laughlin (Dickies, Cherry Bluestorms).

Watch a live performance of "So Much Inside Me" by Big Shot Reub and the Reloaders from The Whiskey A Go-Go in Hollywood last summer below:
Big Shot Reub & The Reloaders (Reuben Vigil, lead guitar-vocals); Jodie Hill (bass); Ric Lee (drums) played and performed in various San Diego bands before coming together to record ROUNDHOUSE BLUES, which in Vigil's words, "is a labor of friendship and getting my friends back to work. In this effort all processes have been near seamless. I am a lucky man."

The songs on ROUNDHOUSE BLUES reflect Vigil's diverse influences - B.B. King, Elvis Costello, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix among them. From opening track "So Much Inside Me" ("a jump-swing tribute to the greats, including Wynone Harris and Louis Jordan," explains Vigil) and melodic "Love's Come Knocking" ("a song designed to comfort a mending heart...speaking what you want and not what you have"); to the Latin-flavored "Viva Bracero" ("a tribute to the unskilled laborers that helped rebuild America after the Great Depression"); and uptempo, toe-tapping "Big Shot Roll" ("a salute to the West Coast swing dancers that are an integral part of the San Diego blues scene"), there is truly something for every Blues lover on ROUNDHOUSE BLUES.

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Sleepwalk - Les Paul

Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009)—known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was the inventor of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations. Although he was not the first to use the technique, his early experiments with overdubbing (also known as sound on sound), delay effects such as tape delay, phasing effects and multitrack recording were among the first to attract widespread attention.

His innovative talents extended into his playing style, including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing, which set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the present day. He recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records.

Among his many honors, Paul is one of a handful of artists with a permanent, stand-alone exhibit in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is prominently named by the music museum on its website as an "architect" and a "key inductee" along with Sam Phillips and Alan Freed
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Who's Lovin You Tonight? - Bobby Murray Band

Perhaps you've heard his guitar work on "The Sopranos" or seen him on the Tonight Show, Austin City Limits or Late Night w/Letterman. If you've seen Etta James perform in the last twenty years, you've seen and heard Bobby. As Robert Santelli of Downbeat says,"He's the one that makes you take notice.".. ..When legendary diva Etta James was on the lookout for a blues guitarist to augment her Roots Band in 1988, it was Bobby Murray who got the call. Alternating his duties between Etta and his own band, the transplanted Californian's latest offering, "Live and Lowdown" leads his Detroit-based blues ensemble into yet another soundscape of this distinctly American genre... ..Few blues guitarists working today possess the versatility Bobby commands and fewer still have the ability to move an audience as he can. Born in Nagoya, Japan, Murray grew up in a military family whose international travels eventually brought them to Tacoma, Washington. It was there that Murray befriended Robert Cray and they played in a band together throughout high school. The entertainment at their graduation was none other than Albert Collins, who would later become both friend and mentor to the young Murray. He performed off and on with Collins for the next twenty years. Although Albert is no longer with us, he continues to inspire Murray today... ..Bobby would later record with B.B. King and Robert Cray on the aptly titled "Playing With My Friends" on King's Grammy award-winning album, "Blues Summit." Blues and soul legends Murray has performed or recorded with include John Lee Hooker, Johnny Guitar Watson, Lowell Fulson, Taj Mahal, Otis Rush, Percy Mayfield, Charlie Musselwhite, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Clay, longtime friend and musical associate Frankie Lee, Sugar Pie Desanto, Mark Naftalin and a host of others. You can check out Bobby's guitar work on numerous Etta James recordings, including Grammy winners "Let's Roll" and "Blues to the Bone." Murray released his debut album "The Blues is Now" in 1996 on the now defunct Viceroy label. He moved to Detroit soon afterward and began recording and performing with the latest incarnation of the Bobby Murray Band
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Me and the Devil - Fruteland Jackson

Electro-Fi recording artist Fruteland Jackson is a History Maker .

He is an author, storyteller and oral historian, Fruteland grew up on Chicago’s West side, and Fruteland is a three time Blues Music Award Nominee and a recipient of the Blues Foundation’s Keeping the Blues Alive award. Fruteland performs Americana; acoustic blues, folk traditional and singer-songwriter styles around the world .Fruteland Jackson created the award winning *All About the Blues Series- Blues in the School Programs.

Fruteland plays guitar with a focus on pre-war and post-war blues ranging from Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy to Etta Baker, plus his personal interpretations. His study includes ragtime, piedmont, delta, and other styles. He studies mandolin, lap steel and the bowed psaltery. He has published an instructional book on Delta Blues with

As an Oral Historian, he has taken his extensive knowledge of Blues history to schools, colleges and universities across the US . Fruteland is the creator of the award winning "All About The Blues"™ series Blues in the Schools programs where he currently presents to some 50,000 students annually, in the classroom. He has received awards and acclaim across the country for his research, innovation, curriculum and presentation of the history about the people and music that make up the blues.

Fruteland is a consistent crowd please in the performer arena. He has a style that puts people at ease and they enjoy his presentation of music and humor.
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Cummings Prison Farm - Cedell Davis

CeDell Davis (born Ellis Davis, June 9, 1927) is an American blues guitarist and singer.

Davis is most notable for his distinctive style of guitar playing. Davis plays guitar using a table knife in his fretting hand in a manner similar to slide guitar, resulting in a welter of metal-stress harmonic transients and a singular tonal plasticity. He uses this style out of necessity. When he was 10, he suffered from severe polio which left him little control over his left hand and restricted use of his right. He had been playing guitar prior to his polio and decided to continue in spite of his handicap, and developed his knife method as the only way he could come up with of still playing guitar.
Davis was born in Helena, Arkansas, United States, where his family worked on a local plantation. He enjoyed music from a young age, playing harmonica and guitar with his childhood friends.

Once he sufficiently mastered his variation on slide guitar playing, Davis began playing in various nightclubs across the Mississippi Delta area. He played with Robert Nighthawk for a ten year period from 1953 to 1963. While playing in a club in 1957, a police raid caused the crowd to stampede over Davis. Both of his legs were broken in this incident and he was forced to use a wheelchair since that time. The hardships resulting from his physical handicaps were a major influence in his lyrics and style of blues playing.

Davis moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas in the early sixties and continued his artistic work. In recent times, Davis' music has been released by the Fat Possum Records label to much critical acclaim. His 1994 album, produced by Robert Palmer, Feel Like Doin' Something Wrong, received a 9.0 from Pitchfork Media who called it "timeless."

The Best Of CeDell Davis (1995) was also released, with help from Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit. The Horror of It All followed in 1998. Davis took time away from recording after these releases, and spent the next four years writing and performing. When he returned to the recording studio, he drafted musicians like R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, R.E.M. sideman Scott McCaughey, The Screaming Trees' Barrett Martin, and soul keyboardist Alex Veley. The final results, When Lightnin' Struck the Pine, was released in 2002
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Hey Mr. President - Root Boy Slim

While attending this ivy-covered bastion of the Establishment, Root Boy hooked up with Bob Greenlee, captain of the Yale football team and a fraternity brother. (Bob, incidentally, was drafted by the Miami Dolphins, certainly a unique accomplishment among bass players, many of whom look like they could be blown over by a spring breeze.) Root Boy and Greenlee formed a band, Prince La La, Percy Uptight and the Midnight Creepers. Style-wise, the Creepers were a "seminal" part of the post-British invasion New England music scene, where there greatest achievement was in never playing the same venue twice.

Time passes–ten years in fact–a period which sees Root Boy garner the wide range of experiences which he will later sing about. He attends architecture school, studies city planning, he bums around, heís arrested in Jamaica, and again in Jacksonville. Somehow, because Fate always works in mysterious ways, he and Greenlee (now known as Rattlesnake Rattles) are reunited and begin to work on musical projects again. They are joined by hot young swamp rock guitarist Ernie "Sex Ray" Lancaster who adds tasty musical hooks to the rather bizarre, scatological songs Root Boy spews out. Quick as a Hollywood movie, the shape and design of The Sex Change Band was hammered out. A hulking, sweating (I can sweat more than James Brownî), paunchy giant of a man, Root Boy the rock star has total presence and dominance over the stage, the audiences, and his music. This charisma, combined with the tightness of his band, quickly turns Root Boy into the hottest performer in the Washington D.C. area, a headliner who regularly garners many column inches for his apocalyptic performances.

These rave notices, plus a demo tape produced by DC impresarios Joe Lee and Dick Bangham caught the attention of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and producer Gary Katz, who in turn brought the act to Warner Brothers Records. Root Boy completed his debut album, with Katz; an album that launched one of the most curious, hilarious, original, biting and outlandish careers in the annals of rock.

For fifteen years until his death in 1993, Slim toured and performed with a steady stream of top notch musicians while continuing to write and record 6 albums with Greenlee and Lancaster. His disturbing public and private personas became the stuff of urban legend in the process.
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Loan Me A Dime - Boz Scaggs

William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1960s as a guitarist and occasional lead singer with the Steve Miller Band and in the 1970s with several solo Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.
Scaggs was born in Canton, Ohio, the son of a traveling salesman. The family moved to McAlester, Oklahoma, then to Plano, at that time a Texas farm town just north of Dallas. He attended a Dallas private school, St. Mark's, where a schoolmate gave him the nickname "Bosley"; this was later shortened to "Boz".

After learning guitar at the age of 12, he met Steve Miller at St. Mark's. In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band, The Marksmen. The pair later attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison together, playing in blues bands like The Ardells and The Fabulous Knight Trains.

Leaving school, Scaggs briefly joined the burgeoning rhythm and blues scene in London. After singing in bands such as The Wigs and Mother Earth, he traveled to Sweden as a solo performer, and in 1965 recorded his solo debut album, Boz, which was not a commercial success. Scaggs also had a brief stint with the band The Other Side with Mac MacLeod and fellow American Jack Downing.

Returning to the U.S., Scaggs promptly headed for the booming psychedelic music center of San Francisco in 1967. Linking up with Steve Miller again, he appeared on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums, Children of the Future and Sailor. After being spotted by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, Scaggs secured a solo contract with Atlantic Records in 1968, releasing his second album, "Boz Scaggs" in 1969.
Despite good reviews, his sole Atlantic album, Boz Scaggs, featuring the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and session guitarist Duane Allman, performing Fenton Robinson's "Loan Me A Dime," achieved only moderate sales, as did follow-up albums on Columbia Records.

The Atlantic album (SD-8239) eventually went out of print and in 1977, it was completely remixed and reissued on Atlantic (SD-19166). This remix brought out Duane Allman's guitar in a more up-front way, which changed the original mix, drowning backing voices and keyboards (not to mention a weird volume drop at the final 30 second of "Finding Her"). This remix is the version that's currently available on CD.

In 1976, he linked up with session musicians who would later form Toto and recorded his smash album Silk Degrees. The album reached #2 on the US Billboard 200, and #1 in a number of countries across the world, spawning three hit singles: "Lowdown", "Lido Shuffle", and "What Can I Say", as well as the MOR standard "We're All Alone," later recorded by Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli. "Lowdown" sold over one million copies in the US. A sellout world tour followed, but his follow-up album, the 1977 Down Two Then Left, did not fare as well commercially as Silk Degrees.
The 1980 album Middle Man spawned two top 20 hits, "Breakdown Dead Ahead" and "Jojo," and Scaggs enjoyed two more hits in 1980-81 ("Look What You've Done to Me" from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack, and "Miss Sun" from a greatest hits set, both US #14 hits). But Scaggs' lengthy hiatus from the music industry (his next LP, Other Roads, would not appear until 1988) slowed down his chart career dramatically. "Heart of Mine" in 1988, from Other Roads, is Scaggs' latest Top 40 hit.

Scaggs continued to record and tour sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and for a time was semi-retired from the music industry. He opened the San Francisco nightclub, Slim's, in 1988, and remains a co-owner as of 2008.

After Other Roads, Scaggs took another hiatus and then came back with Some Change in 1994. He released Come On Home, an album of blues, and My Time, an anthology in the late 1990s. He garnered good reviews with Dig although the CD, which was released on September 11, 2001, was lost in the post-9/11 melée. In May 2003, Scaggs released But Beautiful, a collection of jazz standards that debuted at #1 on the jazz chart. In 2008 he released "Speak Low" which the artist described in the liner notes as "a sort of progressive, experimental effort ... along the lines of some of the ideas that Gil Evans explored."

He tours each summer, has a loyal cadre of fans, remains popular in Japan, and released a DVD and a live CD in 2004. Other releases followed. In 2008, Scaggs undertook an expanded tour across the US.

In the summer of 2010, Scaggs began a tour with Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald. They are performing together as one band billed as The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue. The show includes classic rock, soul/R&B songs by various artists and personal repertoire songs from all three headliners.
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Cleveland Blue

Blues artist from Cleveland, Ohio. No other bio found.
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Gotta Find The Blues - Rafael Tranquilino Band

Rafael is probably know locally as guitarist with The Randy Oxford Band. Now, Raf has stepped out on his own! Born in Mexico City, Rafael's father saw his talent for music at an early age and started him off on piano at age 5...by the time he was 9, Rafael was playing guitar, bass and drums. After High School he studied music at La Escuela Superior de Composicion y Arreglo and from a private teacher from the University of Music in Mexico City. Since arriving in the United States, Rafael's exciting style and notable chops have have earned him the reputation of being one of the "hottest" young guitar-slingers around!

Rafael Tranquilino is a big city kid - Mexico City - and is accustomed to subways, stadium sports (especially baseball), and lots of opportunities to hear and play live music. His father, a newspaper journalist, fostered Rafael's interest and talent in music, starting him on the piano when Raf was five years old. By the time he was nine, he was playing guitar, bass, and drums. After high school, he studied music at La Escuela Superior de Composicion y Arreglo Musical and from a teacher from the University of Music in Mexico City. Mexico has a rich tradition of music festivals, and Rafael has performed at many of them, including the International Festival Cervatino, sometimes with his own band and sometimes with well-known Mexican artists, such as legendary rock and blues singer Baby Batiz and the classic blues band, Heavy Nopal. Since arriving in the United States, Rafael's exciting style and notable "chops" have earned him the reputation as one of the hottest young guitar slingers around.
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Spider in My Web - Ronnie Earl with Diane Blue, Seth Holzman, and Gil Correia

Boston's DIANE BLUE has the “whole package” – she is a strong vocalist, skillful harmonica player and a crowd pleasing entertainer. Voted Outstanding Female Singer in The Blues Audience 2011 Readers’ Poll, Ms. Blue is a soulful and sassy performer with a strong, confident attack and energetic delivery, serving up her own spin on soul, blues and R&B.

Ms. Blue won the 2010 Massachusetts Blues Challenge, earning the honor of competing at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. She was nominated for "Best Female Singer" in the 2010 Blues Audience Readers Poll, "Best Blues/R&B Act" and "Best Female Vocalist in 2007 by the Providence Phoenix and also nominated "Best Local Blues Act" by Motif Magazine in 2007.

Ms. Diane Blue has played harmonica and/or sung with guitarist extraordinaire, Ronnie Earl, as well as international performers Luther Guitar Jr. Johnson (former sideman for Muddy Waters), Big Jack Johnson (of Clarksdale, Mississippi) and Irma Thomas (the Soul Queen of New Orleans). Juke joint legend Big Jack Johnson dubbed Ms. Blue “A Monster” on the harp after she performed as his guest star at Red's Lounge in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Ms. Blue continues to tour internationally as well as performing in the USA.
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Favorites - The Charles Burton Blues Band

Just got a copy of Favorites, the new release by The Charles Burton Blues Band. Burton has put together 11 of his favorite tunes and has created a pretty entertaining album. A tight rendition of Duke Robillard's Tell Me Why opens the recording getting started down the Texas style blues path. A rhumba version of Early In The Morning shows the bands versatility and finds Burton airing his strings out a bit... tasty. The band turns to it's jazzier side of the blues with a more traditional version of Spooky. A Texas style version of Big Bill Broonzy's Key To The Highway allows the band to stretch a bit with some pretty hot riffs. Doc Pomus is covered on Little Sister, a traditional rocker which is done with a little twang for spice. next is a cover of Sly Stone's If You Want Me To Stay which is my favorite track on the release. Arnold Ludvig does a pretty nice little bass interlude here and the basic light funk integrity is held with some real tasty guitar riffs. A cover of Little Walter's Last Night is well done with guitar solos on this slow blues number to please the guitar guys like me. last up is Johnny Guitar Watson's Gangster Of Love. The original format of this track isn't changed too much but Burton's guitar soloing is on a totally different track than Watson. Nice job Charles and congratulations on a cool cd.
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Bad Monkey - Iron Mike Norton

I have been listening to Bad Monkey, the new release by Iron Mike Norton. Norton has put together 10 tracks of music that is pretty different from the rest of the pack. He opens with an acoustic instrumental version of Amazing Grace demonstrating his prowess on slide guitar. Come To Me is an interesting track that has an cool ambiance and vocals that are very much in the vein of some of the old Hot Tuna stuff. Mike lays down some pretty clean slide work on this track as well. Got 'dem Moves has an updated but primitive juke joint sound with raw slide work. A portion of the release has some experimental rhythm sounds that are definitely out of the box. The bluesiest of these is Shake My Tree where Norton sings in concert with his slide guitar and a rhythm track is played under the mix. The Earl of Hooker is a funky instrumental giving Norton another opportunity to experiment with various sounds. Interesting!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”

Vicksburg Blues - Walter Miller

Walter Miller was born in Whiteville, TN. on February 7, 1907. The details of his life are scarce and it's not really known when he moved to Memphis to become a musician. By the time that George Mitchell recorded him for Arhoolie in Memphis, Miller was 60 years old. Mitchell recorded three solo sides by him, (one was unissued at the time), and also recorded him as a duet with the Memphis blues legend Dewey Corley. Mitchell described Miller as "An untidy man who takes to the bottle whenever he can, living in a room of one of the many dilapidated apartment complexes on the sideroads off Beale Street". Mitchell recorded him again in Memphis in 1969, the two cuts appeared on a Flyright Records LP compilation in England. Bengt Olsson recorded one more song from Miller in 1969 or 1970, that appeared on a U.S.A. Adephi Records comp, where he was backed by guitarist Willie Morris and Mose Vinson on piano. The details about Miller seem to drop off after this. Another Walter Miller recorded for Meteor Records in Memphis in the 1950's, they are not the same artist.
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Convenience Store Party Bag - James Harman Band

JAMES HARMAN was born and raised in Anniston, Alabama-quickly picked up on the black blues and soul music being played on juke boxes and the radio-sang in the church choir until age 16 when his family moved to Panama City Florida, where he found himself surrounded by like-minded blues lovers. Wearing a fake moustache, young James slipped into a still quite segregated black nightclub to see Little Junior Parker’s show. He was totally overtaken by the blues and soon became a regular, known as “That boy who sings like a man” by patrons.

While still in his teens, he started playing juke joints and dance clubs throughout the South.
Hs performances became legendary-he was “tapped” by talent scouts, signed and taken to Atlanta, Georgia in 1964 to begin his recording career at age 18. He had a series of nine singles (45 RPM records) released during the mid to late 60's on obscure southern labels. He tried several restarts in new home bases including Chicago in ’65-New York in ’66-Miami in ’68 and New Orleans in ‘69.

During his stay in Miami Harman was befriended by fellow record collectors Henry Vestine, Alan Wilson and Bob Hite of Canned Heat, who persuaded him to move to California, promising to help him get re-started. Harman made his move to SoCal in 1970, and true to their word, Canned Heat insisted on Harman’s Icehouse Blues Band as their opening act on many big shows. Ice House Blues Band became established at venues such as The Golden Bear, The Ash Grove, The Troubadour and The Lighthouse, which all booked real blues artists.

James Harman was soon in demand for his own shows, as well as backing every living blues artist who came through the Los Angeles area without a band. He also opened literally hundreds of shows for artist who did have their own band. Icehouse Blues Band was a real working blues band. In 1978 James tired of using band names and started billing his act as James Harman Band.

Some alumni include Phil Alvin, Bill Bateman, Gene Taylor, David “Kid” Ramos, Michael “Hollywood Fats” Mann, Stephen Taylor Hodges and Jeff “Big Dad” Turmes. All of these players did long stints in the Harman Band. James is often cited as a band leader who gave many now famous bluesmen their start. Harman stopped ground touring in 2000 and now only takes blues festival dates around the world. During the past dozen years Nathan James has been Harman’s regular band guitar player, as well as his favorite! Nathan is also James’ recording engineer and co-producer on his own projects, as well as projects they produce for other artists.

James Harman’s side project: Bamboo Porch features guitarist Nathan James playing rollicking, low-down, juke-joint blues over James Michael Tempo’s Afro-Cuban percussion and Troy Sandow’s sparse, pulsating acoustic bass. Through his long career starting in the early 60’s James Harman has built up an enormous song catalog and had 17 of his original songs used in movies and television. He has been nominated for 19 pestiferous W. C. Handy (Blues Foundation) awards. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, and he is the harmonica player of choice on many ZZ Top releases, as well as live with them on many international TV shows. James Harman has had over 30 releases on many different labels; he currently tours every spring, summer and fall, working in as many as 23 different countries. Harman is a one of a kind song writer, producer, musician, showman, vocalist and internationally known bluesman.
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Boogie Woogie - Meade Lux Lewis

Meade Lux Lewis (September 1905 – June 7, 1964) was a American pianist and composer, noted for his work in the boogie-woogie style. His best known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded in various contexts, often in a big band arrangement. Early recordings of the piece by artists other than Lewis include performances by Adrian Rollini, Frankie Trumbauer, classical harpsichordist Sylvia Marlowe, theater organist George Wright (with drummer Cozy Cole, under the title "Organ Boogie"), and Bob Zurke with Bob Crosby's orchestra. Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer often included it in his repertoire and recorded it in 1972.
Lewis was born Meade Anderson Lewis in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in September 1905 (September 3, 4 and 13 have all been cited as his date of birth in various sources). In his youth he was influenced by the pianist Jimmy Yancey.

A 1927 rendition of "Honky Tonk Train Blues" on the Paramount Records label marked his recording debut. He remade it for Parlophone in 1935 and for Victor in 1937 and a recording exists of a Camel Caravan broadcast, including "Honky Tonk Train Blues" from New York City in 1939. His performance at John Hammond's historic From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938 brought Lewis to public attention. Following the event, Lewis and two other performers from that concert, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson often appeared as a trio and became the leading boogie-woogie pianists of the day.

They performed an extended engagement at Café Society, toured as a trio, and inspired the formation of Blue Note Records in 1939. Their success led to a decade long boogie-woogie craze. with big band swing treatments by Tommy Dorsey, Will Bradley, and others; and numerous country boogie and early rock and roll songs.

He became the first jazz pianist to double on celeste (starting in 1936) and was featured on that instrument on a Blue Note quartet date with Edmond Hall and Charlie Christian. Lewis also played harpsichord on a few records in 1941. After the boogie-woogie craze ended, Lewis continued working in Chicago and California.

Lewis appeared in the movies New Orleans (1947) and Nightmare (1956). Uncomfortable typecast as a boogie-woogie and blues pianist, Lewis spent his later years playing rags and old-time pop songs.[2] He also appeared, uncredited, in the movie It's a Wonderful Life, playing piano in the scene where George Bailey gets thrown out of Nick's Bar.

Lewis died in a car accident in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 7, 1964, aged 58.
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Tore Down/ Pack Fair and Square - Nine Below Zero

1977-78 As punk hits the UK, Dennis Greaves and Mark Feltham form Stan’s Blues Band. They quickly develop a reputation as an excellent high energy live act.
1979 The band find management after a blistering show at The Thomas A Beckett pub, Mickey Modern, an artist with A&M. This swiftly promotes a change of name, one that preserves the Blues flavour and in tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson the guys adopt one of his song titles and are renamed Nine Below Zero.
1980 NBZ sign to A&M Records and give up their day jobs! On July 16th, they release their first album, Live At The Marquee. A&M boss Derek Green books the Hammersmith Odeon for a headline gig. It sells out. The band takes just one week off this year.
1981 Second album Don’t Point Your Finger - their first studio outing, produced by the legendary Glyn Johns. Album enters charts twice, remaining there for five weeks. NBZ play with The Who and The Kinks, and make TV appearances on The Old Grey Whistle Test, and the South Bank Show with Dr Feelgood and The Blues Band.
1982 Nine Below recording at Glyn Johns’ studio in West Sussex. The classic 11+11 is written here. NBZ appear on the first episode of BBC-TV’s anarchic comedy hit The Young Ones, performing 11+11. The new LP is completed with producer Simon Boswell and becomes Third Degree, with the legendary British photographer, David Bailey taking the photos for the cover. Probably the most under-rated NBZ album, it fails to deliver the progress the band is expecting and results in a ’time out’ for the boys.
1983- 1989 Dennis forms soul/pop outfit The Truth – keeping him busy for the rest of the 80s, producing two Top 20 singles in the UK and a Top 5 R&B hit in the US. Mark Feltham, having earned a high reputation as a harmonica player, enters the session world.
1990 10th Anniversary sold-out gig at London’s Town and Country Club. The public welcomes back NBZ with open arms, sell-out UK tour follows.
1991-93 NBZ sign to China Records. On The Road Again recorded and released in April ’91. Band tour for rest of year, establishing them once again as a top live act in the UK and Europe. Off the Hook released, getting rave reviews. Band secures support slot on Sting’s European tour.
1994 NBZ invited by Eric Clapton to join him at The Royal Albert Hall, playing the whole Twelve Nights and going down a storm. Long-time NBZ fan Ray Davies books the band for his UK tour, including a date at Wembley Arena. Brian May invites the band to play six shows during his UK solo tour.
1996 NBZ release Ice Station Zebro’. With several tracks co-written with Nik Kershaw, the album is regarded as the best they have recorded up to this point. The band are invited by Bruce Willis to play with him at Planet Hollywood in London after the premiere of Twelve Monkeys.
1997 Nine Below Zero form their own record company, Zed Records.
1998 NBZ tour Bangladesh. They take to their task with relish(!), making many friends along the way. Even in Dacca they want to learn to play Hideaway like Freddie King! Work starts on Refrigerator album, NBZ record a single for first National Curry Day with Indian artist Bappi Lahri.
1999 NBZ license A&M back catalogue to Zed Records, releasing Live at the Marquee on CD for the first time. Work on Refrigerator finished.
2000 NBZ spend the year touring Refrigerator. With 11 self-penned songs, it’s critically acclaimed by MOJO magazine. Band celebrates 20th anniversary of Live at the Marquee with two stunning shows back at The Thomas a Beckett. Don’t Point Your Finger released for first time on CD.
2001 Third Degree released early in the year. Live work and interview requests flood in. The band work constantly for the next 18 months.
2002 - 2003 On The Road Again DVD released in May, complete with interviews and a two-hour concert. Acoustic album ‘Chilled’ released - NBZ set off around Europe to tour the album.
2004 NBZ play legendary Pistoia Blues Festival in Italy. They record Hats Off, a truly analogue blues record, where the guys pay tribute to some of the great blues artists they love so much. Recorded at Ray Davies’ Konk studio in London - Ray regularly pops in to see his old mate Dennis. The band takes off for more touring around Europe.
2005-6. Two sold-out shows at The 100 Club on London’s Oxford Street. Gigs in former Yugoslavia take the blues to places that other bands fail to reach. Nine Below Zero are by now regarded as a truly international act.
2007 Two acoustic concerts, producing the DVD Bring It On Home, including a live CD. Rave reviews. Gary Moore joins the boys on stage to promote BIOH.
2008 NBZ open for Chuck Berry at The 100 Club. Work starts on It’s Never Too Late! - the first collection of new songs since Refrigerator.
2009 The band start working towards a show to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of their debut album, Live At the Marquee.
2010 arrives and a chance meeting with Glenn Tillbrook from Squeeze results in an offer to record a new record that Dennis and Mark had been busy writing all year, the offer was gladly accepted and the band go into 45 RPM studios in London to record the highly acclaimed and self-penned 'It's Never Too Late' tours followed in wider Europe and Jools Holland and Paul Jones ask the band to guest on their shows.
2011 With the critical acclaim of 'It's Never Too Late' ringing in the bands ears they are approached by Glenn Tillbrook again, but this time to make a new record together under the name of the Co-operative. All is finished in July of 2011 and one track, The Lennon McCartney song 'You Never Gave Me Your Money' is used on a Mojo magazine special celebrating the 40 year anniversary of the release of the Beatles record 'Abbey Road'. The band play a selected few dates with Glenn as a taster for what will follow in 2012 as a mini tour.
The end of 2011 sees Gerry McAvoy play his last show for NBZ and pursue a new solo career.
2012 sees the return of Brian Bethell who played on 'Third degree' and who was a natural replacement. The band set off in January to take their music to the people who they call their extended family and kick off with shows in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Nine Below Zero now enter their 35th year together and are just as vibrant and unpredictably brilliant as they have always been. 2012 is going to be a great year for the band, they hope to see you somewhere soon in a town near you.
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