Atlanta blues musician and comedian Tommy Brown died Saturday, March 12. He was 85. Last year, Tommy was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis, TN. In his g career, he made a number of both blues and comedy albums. His big hit was in 1951, “Weepin’ and Cryin’,” and that, along with […]
Gracie Curran brought her High Falutin’ Band to Darwin’s Saturday night an what a great time that was! Gracie is such a funny, warm and entertaining person who also happens to have an amazing voice. She was ably accompanied by her band, brothers Mike and Nick Hern on bass and lead guitar respectively, and for […]
Celtic Thunder has just released Legacy: Volume 1 on DVD/Blu-ray and CD. You need both the visual and the audio, the DVD or Blu-ray to bask in the spectacle and the pure performance bliss provided by these talented and handsome young men backed by the marvelous eight-piece Celtic Thunder Band on whistles, strings, guitars, percussion, […]
Bruce Katz brought his band Darwin’s in Marietta, GA Friday, Feb. 19 and played for a large and appreciative crowd. The crowd had been well warmed up by Catfish and Co., headed by Hill Roberts. They put on an excellent opening show., although there were so many people on stage they could hardly move! But […]
Picture us, The Atlanta Blues Society ,a strong an friendly group of music lovers who, when they get together monthly, always have fun, with a lot of music from a host group and a member jam, and a little bit of business in the middle. But when February rolls around and it’s time for the […]
Saturday night at Darwin’s Ted Drozdowski was performing with his Scissormen, Sean Szwick and Pete Pulkrabek. Our friends George and Betty were sitting at the table next to us. About an hour into the show, Betty came and leaned into to me between songs. “I’ve been looking at you off and on but you were […]
If you have ever seen Mudcat and the Atlanta Horns, then your eyes light up and your heart lifts a bit just hearing their name. Being in the same room with them is like being touched by a very special sort of musical magic. Atlanta magazine, in an excellent article this month by Barry Yeoman, […]
David G Smith is a singer/songwriter who, on his 3rd studio album, First Love, delivers 10 original songs.He sounds very much like James Taylor. But on First Love, there is a theme running through the recording of learning to face and deal with the unknown which, on the lighter sounding songs especially, gets a little creepy […]
We took my husband Ken’s sister and brother-in-law to Darwin’s with us for the International Blues Challenge fundraiser to raise money to help our representatives get to the challenge in Memphis at the end o the month. The competitors were playing – Blind Cadillac,, No Solution and Markey Blue – and everyone was celebrating Darwin’s […]
We ventured out Friday night to a new club in Kennesaw, Suboubon Grill, tohear one of our favorite groups, The Breeze Kings. It was a pleasant surprise to also get to hear about an hour of Roger “Hurricane Wilson’s set. We knew he was playing earlier in the evening, but since we could not arrive […]
Charlie Wooten said that the name of his new band, Zabadodat, a word he made up, but throughout the show and Laura Reed mentioned that it basically means “love.” And that was a good theme for the evening, as the band and Reed sent love out to the audience and got it back in abundance. […]
R.B. Stone is back with his 3rd blues-based release, a follow-up to his successful “loosen Up.” It’s a non-stop, entertaining recording from the first notes of “Hill Country Stomp,” to the last notes of the ending jam, “Sstandin’ on Top of she World.” R.B. handles vocals, harmonica and guitar, including cigar boxguitar on a couple […]
Pinetop Perkins and Jimmy Rogers knew and liked each other. They were fishing buddies. They had a lot in common, both having been born in Mississippi and made their way to Chicago, although by different paths. But they had never played together on stage until Little Mike brought them together in the 80’s. It turned […]
by Rhetta Akamatsu It’s time to look back at 2015 and pick some don’t miss albums I was going to do 5 but I just couldn’t choose. So here are 10 albums every roots music lover should have in their collection, in random order. Voo Davis – Midnight Mist Voo Davis was born in Alabama […]
Santa Barbara blues group Crooked Eye Tommy has only been around since 2013 and Butterflies & Snakes is their debut album. Yet the band delivers a professional, smoking and very entertaining recording. Of course, this is not Delta blues. California blues tend to have a lot of Southern rock roots and owe more to The […]
Lola, just back from Europe, played Darwin’s Saturday night and proved herself in absolute top shape! She was not originally scheduled to play but the group who were to come could not make it and Lola stepped in. Not a soul was disappointed! Any blues lover in the Atlanta area and beyond jumps at the […]
Markey Blue is one dynamic and unstoppable group and they blew the crowd at Darwin’s Burgers and Blues in Marietta away Saturday night. Beautiful Markey danced and sang her heart out. She never stopped moving! She is so tall that with her heels on she kept bumping her fist on the ceiling henever she raised […]
Due to technical issues I was not able to write reviews last week of two great events, the Little G Weevil Band at Darwin’s Blues Club in Marietta and the Atlanta Blues Society Holiday party. Both of these events deserve reviews and so I am combining them in this article. Friday,, December 5, was Little […]
Blues Thunder is a bit misleading as this CD from Brad WIlson is not all that stormy for the most part. The California blues singer and guitarist is cool, polished and very entertaining. Wilson wrote all the songs and produced the album at three different studios. He is backed by a band which is very […]
Back in the 60’s, there was a gret band called The Youngbloods who had a great lead singer called Jesse Colin Young, another guy named Joe, one called Jerry, and a curly-haired fellow they called “Banana” who allegedly inspired the Donovan line in “Mellow Yellow:” “Electrical Banana’s gonna be a sudden craze/ Electrical Banana’s gonna […]
Back in the 60’s, a lot of British groups were playing blues…Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin…and Savoy Brown. How many of them are still playing the blues? Well, a case could be made that the Stones sometimes do, but the one indisputable group still playing the blues is Savoy Brown. True, the group […]
Oh.The Mavericks! Don’t get me wrong..Los Lobos opened the show at Atlanta Botanical Gardens with a very strong set that mixed Southern rock with their iconic Mexican-flavored rock. They did an excellent version of “No Way Out,” for instance, that had the crowd singing along enthusiastically. You can’t go wrong with ah Allman Brothers song […]
This is how tough Jay Gordon and Blues Venom are: The song “Chainsaw Boogie” features a guitar made from a real working chainsaw. It’s a party song with a sound like nothing I’ve ever heard, pure mad genius! The rest of the song is great, raw powerful blues as well. The opening number, “The Stinger,” […]
It is proof of what a great blues mans Jay Stollman is that he was chosen to be the lead vocalist and front man with The Johnny Winter Band for the Johnny Winter Remembrance Shows. On Room for One More he offers even more proof. On this album, the band features Debbie Davies, a solid […]
The Mavericks are a party band. They define everything there is to say about “feel-g99d” music. Aside from that, while they are usually classified as country, they are a marvelous mix of roots music, with heavy doses of Latin, rockabilly and Tex-Mex. On the new album, Mono, things get started with “All Night Long,” with […]
Let’s just say right away that Bobby Long is not feel-good, dancing music. But it is powerful, strong music, on which American-based English musician Long uses elements of soul, folk, rock and blues to tackle some serious emotions and tough subjects. With this, his third releases, he has proved himself a proficient musician and guitar […]
Angela Easterling’s voice reminds me of Emmylou Harris. It has that same range and purity. Her new album, “Common Law Wife” finds her backed by some great Nashville musicians and proving that she is, indeed, “a bright new star on the horizon,” as the legendary Roger McGuinn recently proclaimed. Eaterling lives in the area of […]
Voo Davis was born in Alabama and moved to Chicago as a child. Although he is based in Chicago now, the South obviously has filled a huge part of his soul. His voice evokes Joe Cocker and other growly-voiced rockers and the sound may have a bit of Chicago grit but it has large doses […]
Note: This article originally appeared at examiner.com. Warren Haynes has strong Southern roots and he uses them all on his new album, Ashes & Dust, which will be out July 24. He has long been a favorite in the Atlanta area and has performed here many times.Haynes is best known for his 25 years with […]
John Ginty’s “No Filter” showcases Ginty’s keyboard virtuosity, especially on the Hammond B-3,and the vocal and musical skills of some of his very talented friends. The themes are are pretty dark, while the music is a powerful mix of blues,, jazz and Southern Rock. It all kicks off with the powerful “Fredo,” a densely layered, […]
What a lovely relaxing and fun time we had at Johnnie MacCracken’s in Marietta, GA Saturday night listening to our old friend Marc Gunn entertain. For full disclosure, we have known Marc for years. We first met him as half of The Brogdingnagian Bards with Andrew McKee, After the Bards broke up in 2008, Marc […]
Slam Allen proves that his nine years playing lead guitar and singing with James Cotton have honed him into one fine songwriter and musician as he slams the soulful blues on “Feel These Blues.” Here he is accompanied by Jeff Anderson on bass, Dan Fadel on drums and the great john Gintry on Hannond B3 […]
Atlanta singer/songwriter Brian Perry describes his music as “at the intersection of James Taylor and Garth Brooks with Bruce Springsteen directing traffic.” He is firmly in the folk tradition, but with a very contemporary twist. His uncomplicated acoustic guitar and clear, pleasant vocals allow his sensitive and heartfelt lyrics to shine. And, in true singer/songwriter […]
Tiffany Huggins Grant has an amazing voice, perfect for Americana with its mix of “crystal and honey” as the press release accurately describes it. Grant grew up in Smyrna, GA, thus explaining the title, Jonquil Child. Smyrna is known as the “Jonquil City” due to the springtime proliferation of the bright yellow flowers. The song […]
Lazer Lloyd is not your typical blues man. How did a Jew who was born in New York and raised in Connecticut end up playing the blues in the Holy Land? On his self-titled album, Lloyd explains it all in a song: “Rockin’ in the Holy Land” tells how he played a concert with a […]
Tad Robinson is a soul singer worthy of compare to greats like Al Green and Marvin Gaye. He is also a talented songwriter just as capable of writing and performing his own songs about the many nuances of relationships as he is of doing a great c0ver like the one on Day Into Night of […]
There is a welcome trend in blues music lately, of people wanting to get back to basics, to create music that is as authentic and natural as possible on record, so that the listener feels as though he or she were right there with the band listening as the music goes down. That is the […]
Delta Moon has been setting the bar high for a long time now, but they reach new heights with the just-released Low Down. They offer nine original compositions here and three fantastic covers. Frankly, the cover of Bob Dylan’s “Down In The Flood” was enough to send this reviewer into raptures. There are few better […]
My husband and I had the privilege of seeing Too Slim and The Taildraggers Saturday night and he gave me a copy of his CD, Blue Heart, which actually came out before last year’s Anthology, but which I somehow missed. If you did, too, you need to get this CD in your collection right way! […]
This is what happens when you put a group of legendary guitar players together to make a live recording called Guitar Heroes. You get gold. Originally this performance was supposed to be just a souvenir for the players, who were performing at the Vancouver Island MusicFest in 2013. But when James Burton, Albert Lee, Amos […]
Jimbo Mathus is such fun to see in concert. He is a skinny guy and he and the TriState Coalition have a very down-home look. In concert, at least in Duluth, he skews considerably more straight country than he does on most of his CDs (with the exception of 2008’s Jimmy The Kid. His laid […]
Jimbo Mathus is almost impossible to categorize. This Mississippi native’s music is a combination of all sorts of Southern styles from gospel to blues to country to rock, fueled with mysticism and given a psychodelic twist. Add Mathus’s growling vocal and masterful storytelling and you have something strange and wonderful. You feel at times as though […]
The Blues Hawks out of New Jersey are a rocking blues band! They just released an EP, Bad Ass Blues consisting of 5 very solid songs and I was lucky enough to receive a copy to review. The group consists of Frank Sonsini (Guitar), Mike DiFrank (Vocals and Bass Guitar), Dave Brodnick (Drums), and Jacqueline […]
Bobby Messano lives on the road. Music is the one constant in what can be best described as a turbulent life. He’s been playing for decades and even did a stint as Steve Winwood’s guitar player and music director. He is an amazing guitar player and a passionate and powerful vocalist. With every album he […]
For all of the legions of fans who have missed Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women since they split in 209, you will be happy to know that former member Gaye Adegbalola is still making the same sort of smart, honest, usually sassy but sometimes profound music that she made with that group, only now with three […]
In In Tune: Charley Patton, Jimmie Rodgers and The Roots of American Music, Ben Wynne has written an important book that supplies a great deal of information about two key figures in American popular music and the blues, country and rock ‘n roll music they fostered. The book is well-researched and for the most part […]
Vanilla Fudge was one of the most interesting groups of the late ’60s, with a sound that was definitely psychedelic but also heavy enough to verge on the later heavy metal. Amazingly, almost 50 years later they still have the same sound! Not only that, but all but one of the original members are recording […]
I remember seeing Rev. Peyton and His Big Damn Band open for Flogging Molly in 2008. I was completely befuddled: “What is this?” But by the end of the kinetic set I was loving it. That has not changed with the release of “So Delicious.’ Rev, Peyton’s Big Damn Band is not like any other […]
Willie Dixon will be inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame at the 46th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner in New York City June 18 He will be joined by Cyndi Lauper, Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia, Toby Keith, and Linda Perry. It is wonderful to see this bluesman recognized by this prestigious organization, as […]
The Blues Foundation has announced three living performers to be inducted into its Blues Hall of Fame. The three are Tommy Brown, Eric Clapton and Little Richard! What a wonderful thing for Atlanta blues fans, to see our own Tommy Brown honored in this fashion! The press release states, “In the early ‘50s Tommy Brown […]
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