I just received the newest release, Shine For All The People, from Mike Farris and it's nothing short of spectacular. This release is classified as Roots Gospel but I've got to tell you, it's simply great music. Opening with a powerful horn section Farris takes immediate control on River Jordan. Farris has one of those incredible voices that pushes the envelope and with the soul and power inside of him, he just belts it out. This track has an super R&B feel with warm vocal backing and incredible horn work bringing all of the heat you could possibly want. WOW! Up next is Jonah & The Whale with a solid Mustang Sally kind of strut. A groovy organ part keeps up the middle and with a hot bassed bottom and load of sax, Farris just cruises the melody in voice. Very cool! Sparrow opens with Farris sounding like he's standing in front of a congregation, delivering the word with spiritual like key work. Sliding into a dixie blues infused strut with piano, horns and rat a tat drums, this track has a great feel. Warm backing vocals and dixieland styling with that overlaid horn styling makes this track hard to ignore. Excellent! Mercy Now is a solid R&B /soul style featuring Farris in more of a mellow Al Green stance. A solid radio player with powerful backing vocals and instrumentation. Real Fine Day is a country style 2 stepper with twanging guitar and Farris riding the wave. With the power and carefree feel of This Note's For You, Farris just lays it out there. Very nice! The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow has a really nice groove and Leon Russell/spiritual style piano playing doubled up with Billy Preston like riffs. Farris, teamed with the incredible backing vocalists makes this one terrific track. Solid horn overtones and spiritual style singing carries this track high. Farris shows over and again his ability and sense of timing to bring it. Power Of Love is a great high stepper with Farris and crew really standing on it. Is there a spiritual message in there. I'm sure there is, but if you're alive, you can hardly missed being moved by this music just based upon it's presence. Farris keeps taking it up a notch and it really seems he's there and up it goes again! Soul ballad, Something Keeps Telling Me is a straight up radio track with a catchy melody, spot on backing vocals and well blended instrumentation. How It Feels To Be Free has the strongest relationship to a traditional contemporary spiritual track with solid vocal lead, and organ accompaniment. Farris' flawless delivery and backing vocals punctuation just floats. Wrapping the release is This Little Light, a track that most everyone has heard a million times as a child. Farris takes it on as if it has never been heard and with this girth and with occasional children vocal backing, maybe it never has been. Heavy piano soloing on the track is stellar and bluesy guitar riffs give it a rocky feel. I don't remember anyone since the early days of Leon Russell and the Shelter People who was in the broad national spotlight giving spiritual music this kind of attention and feel. Mike Farris sets himself head and shoulders above his peers with this excellent performance! This is a must hear release and a must see artist!
If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”
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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
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
Friday, April 3, 2015
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Dale Watson performs on NPR's Mountain Stage
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Labels:
Call Me Insane,
Dale Watson,
NPR,
Red House Records
Kentucky Headhunters w/Johnnie Johnson - New CD Meet Me In Bluesland - June 2
ALLIGATOR
RECORDS SET TO RELEASE MEET ME IN BLUESLAND BY
THE KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS WITH JOHNNIE JOHNSON ON JUNE 2
THE KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS WITH JOHNNIE JOHNSON ON JUNE 2
On January 25, 2003, Johnson joined his hosts, The Rolling Stones, for a rousing rendition of Honky Tonk Women at Houston, Texas’ Reliant Stadium. After hanging out all night with Keith Richards, Johnson got on a plane and flew to Kentucky. There he reunited with his good friends, brothers Richard and Fred Young, Greg Martin, Doug Phelps and Anthony Kenney, known worldwide as The Kentucky Headhunters. The plan was to have Johnnie lay down some piano for the band’s upcoming release, Soul. But the vibe was too strong and the music too good, so the tape just kept rolling. With songs and arrangements furiously being created on the spot and everything recorded live as it happened over the course of three days, a magical musical event was underway. Because the whole session was spontaneous, there were no immediate plans to release an album. After Johnnie’s death in 2005, the tapes, while never forgotten, remained unissued.
With the release of Meet Me In Bluesland, these timeless and rollicking performances are available for the first time. The record grooves from the raunchy rock of Stumblin’ to the slide-fueled Superman Blues to the roof-raising version of Little Queenie to the rocking Party In Heaven to the salacious She’s Got To Have It (the last vocal Johnson ever recorded).
Click here to listen to Stumblin', She's Got To Have It, and Party In Heaven:
https://soundcloud.com/alligator-recs/sets/kentucky-headhunters-w-johnnie/s-KrTVX
“The minute Johnnie sat down with us, the music was a kind of ecstasy,” says guitarist/vocalist Richard Young. “Johnnie made us play like real men,” adds guitarist/vocalist Greg Martin. “Playing with him, the groove got bigger and much more grown up.” Drummer Fred Young explains, “We all admired Johnnie from the start. The first time we played with him was the first time I ever felt like we were doing it right. The music we made on Meet Me In Bluesland is as good as it gets.”
The relationship between Johnson and The Kentucky Headhunters dated back to 1992. Headed to New York for a Grammy Awards party, Greg picked up the new Johnnie Johnson CD, Johnnie B. Bad, for the ride. The band listened to nothing else all the way to New York. Having no idea he’d be at the party, they were shocked to see Johnnie Johnson sitting alone at a table. After some quick introductions, the musicians talked for hours, becoming fast friends. In 1993 they released their first collaboration, That’ll Work, on Nonesuch. They took the show on the road, playing gigs from the West Coast to New England, from Chicago’s Buddy Guy’s Legends to New York City’s Lone Star Café. They performed at The Jamboree In The Hills in Belmont County, Ohio, where Johnson, with the Headhunters triumphantly jamming behind him, played to over 30,000 fans.
From their very first meeting, Johnson and The Kentucky Headhunters stayed close, getting together whenever possible. In 2003, when the band asked Johnson to record with them again, he couldn’t wait to get back to Kentucky and make music with his friends. “Johnnie’s music was spontaneous, organic, magic energy,” says Greg. “During the recordings, everything was off-the-cuff and easy; a higher power just took over. This album is special, and we’re very happy in 2015 that it’s coming to fruition.” Adds Fred, “Johnnie gave us the gift of letting us know what it was like to do something great.”
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The Kentucky Headhunters, declared “the great American rock ‘n’ roll band” by Billboard magazine, began their professional journey in 1968 when brothers Fred and Richard Young and cousins Greg Martin and Anthony Kenney formed the Southern blues-rock band Itchy Brother. The band morphed into The Kentucky Headhunters in 1986. Their first album, 1989’s Pickin’ On Nashville, was released by Mercury Records and surprised the world, becoming a bona fide hit, selling over two million copies. The album won a Grammy Award, three Country Music Awards, an American Music Award and an Academy Of Country Music Award. It spawned four consecutive Top 40 Country hits. Currently, the band is made up of Richard Young, Fred Young, Greg Martin and Doug Phelps.
Growing up on a 1300-acre family farm in Edmonton, Kentucky, the Young brothers, Martin and Kenney heard plenty of raucous R&B and deep, soulful blues courtesy of Fred and Richard’s mother, who listened to powerhouse radio station WLAC late at night. “She was real hip,” Richard says. “She was a huge influence on us.” Their father loved big band jazz, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Sarah Vaughan. “Music in our home was a mixture, unlike what most farm kids heard.” Part of their musical upbringing included their friendship with three African-American families who lived and worked on nearby farms. The boys heard gospel and blues, both sung by their neighbors in the fields and blasting out of their radios. They were reared on Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters (the name Headhunters was a nickname given to Waters and Jimmy Rogers when they came into a club ready to take on all comers). “All of these things taught us the blues,” says Richard. They loved Chuck Berry, and were especially wowed by Berry’s piano player, Johnnie Johnson. Befriending him and recording with him was a dream come true for the band. According to Fred, “We were fortunate to know him. It was a good marriage.” Richard adds, “Anyone who ever played with him became a better player.”
Johnnie Johnson was born on July 8, 1924 in Fairmont, West Virginia. He began playing piano at age five and never stopped. While serving in the Marines, he joined The Barracudas, a Marines servicemen’s band. He moved to Detroit and then Chicago, eventually playing with Muddy Waters and Little Walter. He landed in St. Louis in 1952 where he formed The Sir John Trio, playing jazz, blues and pop standards. Chuck Berry, an ambitious local guitarist and songwriter, was added to the group the same year and eventually took over leadership of the band. After Berry scored a contract with Chess Records, the hits came fast and furious. Many, including Maybellene, Nadine, Carol and School Days, were fueled by Johnson’s two-fisted piano. He was the high-octane gasoline in Chuck Berry’s rock ‘n’ roll engine. When Chuck wasn’t touring, Johnson played with Albert King, and recorded a number of singles with him for the Bobbin label. Tired of the road, Johnson left Chuck’s band in 1973 and returned to St. Louis to become a bus driver. With the 1987 release of the Chuck Berry documentary, Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll, Johnson found himself back in the spotlight, reintroduced to the world by his friend-to-be Keith Richards. After three solo recordings, Johnson joined his musical cohorts The Kentucky Headhunters for 1993’s That’ll Work. In 1996 and 1997 he toured with Ratdog, the band fronted by The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir. Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and continued to perform and record until his death in 2005. His 2003 sessions with The Kentucky Headhunters, released now for the very first time as Meet Me In Bluesland, are some of the most spirited and organic recordings of his remarkable and still influential career.
Isaiah B Brunt - Just the Way That It Goes - New release review
I just received the newest release, Just the Way That It Goes, from Isaiah B Brunt and it's unique and alluring. Opening with She's So Fine, singer, songwriter and vocalist Brunt eases into a slinky bluesy track joined by Mark Whitaker on drums, Richard Bird on bass and Mike Hood on keys. Brunt is a fine slide player and shows his finesse right out of the bag. Let Your Heart Know actually reminds me quite a bit of a 70's era of Savoy Brown with solemn vocals and a driving bass line. Again, Brunt takes a skillful solo on slide adding tension to a smooth shuffle. On boogie track The River Runs High, Kenny Claiborne adds key harp riffs giving the track an overall swampy feel. Brunt doesn't hold back delivering some eerie slide riffs making this one of my favorites tracks on the release. Precious Stone, another boogie track featuring nice piano work from Hood gives the release another dimension altogether. With A Kiss, a slower ballad has some of the most inviting guitar riffs juxtaposed against the clarity of Hood's piano. Lover's Blues, a boogie with a driving bass line has the most memorable melody making it the natural pick for airplay. Brunt's more open electric playing on this track sets it apart from the other tracks as well. On title track, Just the Way That It All Goes, breaks into a more cohesive vocal ballad with additional backing vocals. Never Give Up has a solid bass line and simple vocal structure reminding me for some reason of Dire Straits. A well written track, Brunt lays down a simple but effective slide solo leaving you wanting more. Wrapping the release is Which Way To Go featuring David Stocker on mellotron and some of the most adventurous vocals on the release. With a much broader depth and breadth instrumentally and vocally, this track is an ideal closer.
If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”
If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Aquinnah Records artist: Arlen Roth - Slide Guitar Summit - New Release Review
I just received the newest release, Slide Guitar Summit, from Arlen Roth and it definitely lives up to all the pre hype. Roth, well known for his own guitar styling, especially on the tele with the likes of Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton, has put together a group of the best known slide players on the planet for a full blown celebration of all things slide. Opening with Do What's Right, Roth teams up with Jack Pearson on vocal and slide guitar as well as Tom Hambridge on drums and backing vocal and Tommy MacDonald for a country two step rocker. This track moves along nicely with lead and harmonic sliding... a terrific opener. Robert Johnson's Dust My Broom is next featuring Lee Roy Parnell on vocal and slide and adding Kevin McKendree on piano. With the feel of Elmore James and a nice thick slide texture, this track is hot. McKendree adds significantly to the mix with hot piano riffs. Much like a live recording, Parnell and Roth take turns on lead slide making for a hot track. Clarinetist Acker Bilk wrote this next track, Stranger On The Shore, and performed it on clarinet in the early 60's. It has since been performed by a number of artists including the Beatles but none quite as sensuously as this take by Cindy Cashdollar on lap steel with just a touch of Hawaiian flare. Beautiful. Sonny Skies features Sonny Landreth and Roth joined only by Eddie Denise on upright bass. A jazzy track with Roth's signature sound, this is a great showcase for tow of today's masters to team up and show how it's done. Jackie Breston's Rocket 88's features Johnny Winter on slide (his last session) along with Roth on slide and lead vocal. Scott Spray and Tyger MacNeal join on bass and drums respectively. A bright toe tapper, the two guys blend nicely and Roth pulls out some of his trademark riffs making this a particularly cool track. Lowell George's Dixie Chicken gets the full Little Feat treatment with Tommy MacDonald on bass, Kevin MacKendree on piano, Hambridge on percussion. Leroy Parnell takes the lead vocal and shares slide with Roth. I don't know about my readers, but there are a few places that you need to tread lightly and Lowell George territory is one of them. I think that these guys did a great job of paying tribute and MacKendree really did a nice job on Bill Payne's work as well. Excellent! Jimmy Ninino brings the first delta style acoustic track with only he and Roth and their guitars on Poor Boy Blues. Possibly my favorite track on the release. Following with Laura Nyro's And When I Die made popular by Blood, Sweat and Tears again only Vivino and Roth on acoustics. Keeping it simple and playing it pure country blues style gives it a new life. Jimmie Rodgers' Peach Pickin' Time In Georgia features Roth on lead vocals and Greg Martin joining him on slide. McKendree takes a real nice piano bar on the track but the release is about sliding and in country 2 step style, the boys do bring it! Paradise Blues is a simple quiet guitar ballad with nice Les Paul like harmonics and Hawaiian style blending. Rick Vito and Roth blend their guitar vocals nicely for a really pretty instrumental track. Cindy Cashdollar is back on lap steel again on Steel Guitar Rag and Roth this makes two. A simple instrumental track with just a twist of country styling shows the chops of these two guitar super stars. Smokey Robinson's ballad, You Really Got A Hold On Me is delivered nicely with Roth and Vito playing the lead and harmony on slide with no vocals. This is a great track and these guys give it new life in this instrumental form. Roy Byrd's Her Mind Is Gone features the incredible David Lindley on lead vocal and lap steel, joined by Roth on lap steel. Everyone knows that Lindley is one of the best guitar players on the planet and especially creative on lap steel. This is a great little blues addition from the masters, jamming together in one of the tightest acoustic blues jams in a while. Wrapping the release is Roth and Greg Martin on Amazing Grace with Hambridge and Tommy MacDonald. Nicely done and heartfelt it is a really clean and creative ending to a long awaited tribute to slide guitar featuring today's modern masters.
Very nicely done.
If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”
If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
New CD from fan favorites The Cash Box Kings!
Labels:
Cash Box Kings,
Holding Court,
New release
Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Fest lineup announced: Candye Kane, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Leo "Bud" Welch, Dwayne Dopsie, more
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Otis Taylor's 'Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat' features guests Warren Haynes, Langhorne Slim, String Cheese Incident
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