Beth Hart Front And Center Live From New York Provogue / Mascot Label Group Beth Hart has eight solo studios albums and four collaborative albums with Joe Bonamassa. Her last studio album “Fire On The Floor” has resulted in three 2018 Blues Music Award nominations; Contemporary Blues Album, Contemporary Blues Female Artist, and Best Instrumentalist […]
Savoy Brown You Should Have Been There! Panache Records Kim Simmonds formed the British blues band Savoy Brown in 1965. Their first album released in the UK was 1967’s “Shake Down”. They began to achieve success in the U.S. in 1971 with the release of their seventh album “Street Corner Talking”. The following year they […]
A Tribute To Deborah Deborah Coleman What about Love? Telarc Records Deborah has often said she is more comfortable “live” but this is her best studio recording yet and I’m sure it will be her most commercially successful album. Her effort is augmented by a crackerjack band. Per Hanson, the drummer who has played with […]
Marie Knight The Gospel Truth Live MC Records “Madame Marie Knight was born Marie Roach on June 1st, 1920 in Sanford, Fl. but she was raised in Newark, N.J.” Knight rose to fame by recording an arrangement of “Didn’t It Rain” with Sister Rosetta Thorpe in the late 1940’s. After recording with Tharpe, Knight spent […]
Paul Thorn Don’t Let The Devil Ride Perpetual Obscurity Records Paul Thorn was born the son of a preacher. The first music he was ever exposed to excited him and it was gospel music. “Thorn spent his youth singing in his father’s Pentecostal church…but his most memorable musical experiences were at an African American branch…the […]
Kid Ramos Old School Rip Cat Records David “Kid” Ramos just turned fifty-nine years old. He was born in Fullerton, California. On March 7th, 2014 Ramos received the Orange County Music Awards Lifetime Achievement award. Ramos played guitar with The James Harman Band from 1980 to 1988. Ramos came to national attention as the lead […]
Joyann Parker Hard To Love Hopeless Romantics Records The classically trained pianist Joyann Parker has a degree in music from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Parker had previously sang in church and with a wedding band but only discovered the blues four years ago. After singing Aretha Franklin’s soul classic “Chain of Fools” Parker received […]
Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps Here in Babylon Jesi-Lu Records The original Rhythm Tramps were formed in 1970 by Terry Wilson and Tony Braunagel. Teresa James is originally from the Houston, Tx. area but has long resided in Los Angeles. In 2000 she released her first recording “Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps: Live”. […]
Guitar Jack Wargo Keepin’ It Real Independent Guitar Jack Wargo has toured with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Hank Ballard, Billy Preston and Solomon Burke. He has also recorded with Preston, Ray Charles and others. His solo debut was “Guitar Jack Losin’ Hand” recorded in 2000. He has also “Recorded Live at B.B. Kings” and opened for […]
Peter V Blues Train Running Out of Time Independent Peter Veteska was born in Manhattan and grew up in Jamaica Queens. As a youngster Peter delivered newspapers in order to save enough money to purchase a used Les Paul guitar. He learned to play by listening to Eric Clapton and The Allman Brothers. He played […]
Memphis Rent Party The Soundtrack To Robert Gordon’s Book Fat Possum Records Author Robert Gordon has been nominated for six Grammy’s winning for the liner notes to the Big Star Box set “Keep an Eye on the Sky”. Gordon also won an Emmy for the 2015 documentary film “Best of Enemies” about Gore Vidal & […]
James Harman Fineprint Electro-Fi James Harman has played harmonica with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Albert King, Albert Collins and numerous other blues icons. His debut recording was released in 1987 but his most important work was four albums for the Black Top Record label including 1995’s “Black and White”. In 2013 Harman […]
Ted Hefko And The Thousandaires Gas Station Guru Onager Records Guitarist Ted Hefko was born in Madison, WI and moved to New Orleans in 1994 when he was eighteen. He studied at The University of New Orleans where he chose the saxophone as his primary instrument. Between 1998 and 2001 Hefko toured nationally with the […]
Breezy Rodio Sometimes The Blues Got Me Delmark Records Like many second generation guitarists Breezy Rodio fell in love with the blues by first listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan. He worked backwards from there to discover B.B. King, Albert King and other influences. Rodio joined The Linsey Alexander Band in 2007 and he appears on […]
Rockwell Avenue Blues Band Steve Freund/Tad Robinson/Ken Saydak/Harlan Terson/Marty Binder Back To Chicago Delmark Records The band members have previously played with one another. The concept of a reunion as The Rockwell Avenue Blues Band was the idea of Ken Saydak. Saydak is a keyboardist, writer, vocalist and producer and appears on over sixty recordings. […]
Freddie Pate I Got The Blues Independent Freddie Pate grew up in Los Angeles and learned guitar while still a child. As a youngster he played with some of Country Music’s greatest including Buck Owens, Johnny Paycheck, Lefty Frizzell, and Merle Haggard. In 1974 he moved to Texas where he played both as a sideman […]
Long Tall Deb & Colin John Dragonfly Vizztone Label Group Colin John is a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter whose influences include r & b, soul, funk, jazz, rock, pop, and traditional blues. His debut recording “Grooveyard Devils” was released in 2003. John’s music was hailed as a genre-defying mix. In 2005 John appeared on Michael […]
Myles Goodwyn And Friends of The Blues Linus Entertainment Myles Goodwyn is the Canadian singer, guitarist, and keyboardist for the band April Wine. He is a legend in Canadian rock history and a 2010 inductee in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Goodwyn has produced twenty plus albums most of them with his rock band. […]
B.B. and The Blues Shacks Reservation Blues Rhythm Bomb Records B.B. & The Blues Shacks were founded in 1989. They are a blues band from Hildesheim, Germany. Their choice of a band name was intended to express a musical closeness to B.B. King. The band’s influences include Little Walter, Walter Horton, T-Bone Walker, Slim Harpo […]
The Nick Moss Band featuring Dennis Gruenling The High Cost of Low Living Alligator Records In 1993 Nick Moss was a member of The Legendary Blues Band where he learned the old school style from Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. He later moved from bass to lead guitar and spent three years in the Jimmy Rogers […]
SUNCOAST BLUES FESTIVAL – 3/3/18 James Armstrong is an American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter who born to play the blues. His songs have been used in the soundtracks of three films; Speechless, Hear No Evil, and The Florentine. “Old Man in The Morning (Young Man at Night)” includes the lyric […]
Sue Foley The Ice Queen Stony Plain Records This album marks Sue Foley’s return to her solo career. It is her eleventh studio album and first for Canada’s Stony Plain Records. A native Canadian Foley has nicknamed herself “The Ice Queen”. Foley first appeared on a 1992 compilation called “Antone’s Women”, featuring women that played […]
Katy Guillen & The Girls Remember What You Knew Before Vizztone Label Group Katy Guillen leads this Indie Blues/Roots Rock trio that touches on the blues but is primarily into Americana. Guillen’s guitar influences include Jimi Hendrix, while her songwriting is influenced by Patty Griffin. Having played festivals including The Montreal International Jazz Festival, they […]
Mud Morganfield They Call Me Mud Severn Records Mud Morganfield is the oldest son of McKinley Morganfield better known as Muddy Waters. Morganfield grew up surrounded by music but was mostly raised by his mom and uncles. He became a truck driver and didn’t consider a career in music until after his father’s death. Morganfield […]
Wentus Blues Band Throwback Ramasound Records Finland’s Wentus Blues Band released their self-titled debut album in 1989. The band leads the thriving blues scene in Scandinavia and has twelve previous albums. 2011’s “Woodstock”, on Ruf Records, was recorded at The Levon Helm Studios. Their last album was 2016’s “Lucky Strike Mama”. They play 150 gigs […]
Seth Walker Live At Mauch Chunk Opera House Royal Potato Family Greenville, North Carolina native Seth Walker recorded his debut album “When It Rains It Pours” in 1998. In 2006 Walker released his self-titled fifth album to critical acclaim. His most successful album was 2009’s “Leap of Faith”. This is Walker’s third album for the […]
Chris Smither Call Me Lucky Signature Sounds Recordings Chris Smither’s vocals are accompanied by guitar techniques he learned from blues masters Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mississippi John Hurt. His 1970 debut recording “Devil Got Your Man” included the song “Love You like a Man”. In 1972 the song was recorded by Bonnie Raitt and helped establish […]
Nina Simone Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Singles BMG/Bethlehem Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina in 1933. The sixth child born to a preacher she aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a few friends she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. […]
Ghost Town Blues Band Backstage Pass Independent The Ghost Town Blues Band has one foot in Memphis and the other in New Orleans. The GTBB represented The Memphis Blues Society at The International Blues Challenge in 2013; and again in 2014 when they finished in second place. The GTBB’s last album, and most successful, was […]
Reverend Raven & The Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys Twentieth Anniversary My Life Nevermore Records Reverend Raven is currently a resident of Appleton, Wisconsin. He was born and raised in Chicago and began playing guitar after seeing Freddie King at The Kinetic Theatre in 1971. He spent the rest of the seventies playing clubs on the […]
Janiva Magness Love is An Army Fathead Records/Bluelan Records Janiva Magness has been nominated for twenty-seven Blues Music Awards. She won the BMA for “Contemporary Female Artist of the Year” five times. Magness is also the only female artist other than Koko Taylor to win a BMA as “Entertainer of The Year”. Currently Magness has […]
Johnny Tucker Seven Day Blues Highjohn Records Johnny Tucker was born to a sharecropper, the tenth of nineteen siblings. He is a self taught musician and learned by listening to Lowell Fulson and James Brown. He started singing with Phillip Walker and soon switched to the drums. He plays drums on Phillip Walker’s 1973 recording […]
Danielle Nicole Cry No More Concord Music Group “Trampled Under Foot”, Danielle Nicole Schnebelen’s family band formed with her brothers Nick and Kris, won the 2008 International Blues Challenge. In 2011 they released their fourth album “Wrong Side of The Blues” produced by the Grammy winning Tony Braunagel and Danielle received her first Blues Music […]
The Reverend Shawn Amos Breaks It Down Put Together Music The Reverend Shawn Amos was born the son of Wally Amos founder of the Famous Amos cookie brand. Amos attended film school at New York University and discovered the blues by reading Peter Guralnick’s book “Feel Like Going Home”. He traveled the south and fell […]
Bernard Allison Let It Go Ruf Records Bernard Allison was born in Chicago in 1965. He was introduced to the blues by his father, the late Luther Allison. He started playing guitar at the age of ten and played on a live recording of his father’s when he was just thirteen. After graduating high school […]
John Mayall Three For The Road Forty Below Records This new album is John Mayall’s sixty-eighth and that doesn’t include re-issues. Mayall is the influential British bluesman who formed his band The Bluesbreakers in 1963. A great guitarist, keyboardist, harmonica player, singer, songwriter and bandleader he is still going strong after more than fifty years. […]
Rocky Athas Shakin’ The Dust Cherryburst Records Rocky Athas was born in Oak Cliffs, Texas, a Dallas suburb, in 1954. He and Stevie Ray Vaughan were schoolmates long before either became known. By 1977 Athas was already listed as one of the ten best guitarists in Texas. In 1984 Athas appeared on Jim Dandy’s Black […]
Backtrack Blues Band Make My Home in Florida Harpo Records Harp ace Sonny Charles met guitarist “Little” Johnny Walter in Chapel Hill, North Carolina while they were both attending the University of North Carolina. Charles founded the Backtrack Blues Band in 1980 and Walter was among the first to join. The Backtrack Blues Band is […]
Johnny Fink And The Intrusion JFI Independent Johnny Fink and The Intrusion is a band based out of Cincinnati Ohio. The four piece unit was originally formed in 1992 and called The Blue Intrusions. They jammed on everything from the Allman Brothers to Lonnie Mack. After several years guitarist Fink took over and they became […]
Johnny Feds & Friends Pinky Gets The Blues Independent John Federico has been part of the NY/NJ blues scene for twenty years always running an open blues jam. For the last seven years he and his band Johnny Feds and the Bluez Boyz have hosted the Monday night jam at the Bayou Restaurant in Mt. […]
Curtis Salgado and Alan Hager Rough Cut Alligator Records Curtis Salgado was born in Everett, Washington but grew up in Eugene, Oregon. By 1980 he was already a member of The Robert Cray Band and he plays harmonica on Cray’s debut recording “Who’s Been Talkin”. He befriended John Belushi and gave him a transforming appreciation […]
Tinsley Ellis Winning Hand Alligator Records Tinsley Ellis was born in Atlanta, Ga. in 1957. He was raised in south Florida and discovered the guitar at a young age. One night while listening to records by The Yardbirds, The Animals, and The Rolling Stones his friend’s older brother offered to take them to see B.B. […]
Jay Willie Blues Band Jay Walkin’ Zoho Music The Jay Willie Blues Band was formed in 2001 by guitarists Jay Willie and Bob Callahan; and former Johnny Winter drummer Bobby T Torello. Although based out of Newton, Connecticut they are a Texas Blues band with one foot in the traditional and the other in a […]
David Maxwell & Friends Max Attack A tribute to David Maxwell (March 10, 1943 – Feb. 13, 2015) David Maxwell has apprenticed and is the most in demand blues piano player today. David appears on albums by James Cotton, Ronnie Earl, Joe Louis Walker, Louisiana Red, Luther Guitar Jr. Johnson, Jimmy Rogers, Bob Margolin, Paul […]
Mama Spanx State of Groove Ideal Scene Music Mama Spanx is a seven piece soul, rock and funk band. They derive their inspiration from the old school soul and funk of Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, James Brown and Tower of Power. The band is led by New York Blues Hall of Fame vocalist and songwriter […]
Bobby Kyle It’s My Life Juicy Baby Records Bobby Kyle has been serving the blues for some forty years. He mentored with Lonnie Mack in the seventies; and played in Bill Dicey’s band from 1979 – 1981. Between 1983 and 1989 he toured with Eddie Kirkland. Kyle joined Blues Hall of Famer Johnny “Clyde” Copeland’s band […]
Richard Ludmerer and Making A Scene Top Fifty Indie Blues Albums of 2017 YES, You Need these in your collection! (Artist albums only and not in any particular order) Ronnie Baker Brooks – Times Have Changed – Provogue John Mayall – Talk About That – Forty Below Records Thornetta Davis – Honest Woman – Independent […]
The Blues Foundation International Blues Challenge #33 From January 31st until February 4th, 2017 The Blues Foundation’s 33rd International Blues Challenge was held in Memphis. The annual showcase is the world’s largest gathering of blues musicians. “The IBC makes careers, forges relationships between artists and industry veterans, and unites blues fans in their love for […]
Ilya Portnov Strong Brew Independent The twenty-eight year old Ilya Portnov grew up in Russia and started playing piano at the age of four. His father exposed him to British rock but he mostly studied classical and folk music. His first harmonica teacher introduced him to the music of Jason Ricci, Howard Levy, and Carlos […]
The Blues This Christmas a reprint by Richard Ludmerer I always look forward to the holiday season as a time when I can break out my Christmas albums. This is a ritual that began years ago when my wife and I were first dating. She wanted to listen to some Christmas music and I began […]
