CD Reviews on projects by Indie Blues Artists
John Primer & Bob Corritore The Gypsy Woman Told Me Vizztone Label Group John Primer was born in Camden, Mississippi in 1945. He moved to Chicago and was a regular at Theresa’s Lounge. He also played in both Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All-Stars and The Muddy Waters Band. After Muddy’s death he joined Magic Slim […]
Mark S. Black Wheels Keep Turning “Wheels Keep Turning”is the fourth studio album from Mark S. Black. This album sees Mark reunite with Mark Ward who hails from Melbourne Australia. Mark mixed his debut album called “The Midnight Ramblings Of A Demented Irishman “ recorded back in 2004. Wheels Keep Turning was mastered by Paul Gomersall. Paul has […]
Mike Zito Quarantine Blues Gulf Coast Records Over the year’s guitarist/vocalist Mike Zito has become a true force in the blues world. He won his first Blues Music Award in 2010 for “Song of the Year”; for the title track off his Eclecto Groove album “Pearl River” co-written with Cyril Neville. He formed “The Royal […]
Anni Piper Blow Up Doll Sugar Daddy Records Australian born Anni Piper was first influenced by listening to the blues-rock of Stevie Ray Vaughan. The bassist released her debut recording “Jailbait” in 2004. She signed with Bluesleaf Records and between 2008 and 2013 released three albums. Due to her wardrobe and pin up modeling she […]
Tyler Morris Living In The Shadows Vizztone Label Group Boston born Tyler Morris began playing guitar at the age of ten. Influenced by his father he started playing in blues clubs a year later. He released his debit recording 2015’s “And So It Begins” when he was only fifteen. The next year he followed up […]
Steve Howell, Dan Sumner & Jason Weinheimer Long Ago Out Of The Past Music Texas born Steve Howell lives near Shreveport, La. He has immersed himself in the rural blues of the south and is normally content to re-create obscure country blues with his warm vocals and finger picking. He recorded his debut album “Out […]
The Nighthawks Tryin’ To Get To You Eller Soul Records The R n’ B and roots music legends, The Nighthawks, were first formed in 1971. They recorded their debut album in 1974. My favorite recordings of theirs include 1986’s “Hard Living” with Jimmy Thackery; 1996’s “Pain and Paradise”; and 2009’s “American Landscape”. In 2014 they […]
Tom Gilberts Old School Polymerase You know this will be a different kind of blues record as it opens with the slow blues “Lady Luck,’ suggesting a confidence that few blues guitarists have as not many would dare to open with a simmering slow one. Tom Gilberts is a master of tone and nuance and […]
Andrew Alli Hard Workin’ Man EllerSoul Emerging harmonica sensation Andrew Alli hails from Richmond, VA, the same area of his mentor, the Piedmont harp master, Phil Wiggins. Alli not only blows his blues harp in an intense, county rooted style, he can sing with passion too. He’s a young cat with an old soul. Allie […]
Be Sharp Band Ashes The Blues may well have originated in the southern states of the USA, but today we all live in the modern world and the same issues effect our lives, day in day out. Because right now the Blues is global, it doesn’t matter whether the music is created in Louisiana, London, […]
Crystal Shawanda Church House Blues True North Records/New Sun Records Crystal Shawanda is an indigenous Canadian born in the Wiikwemkoong First Nation, an unceded territory, on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. She moved to Nashville and signed with RCA Records in 2007. Her debut album “Dawn of a New Day” reached the top 20 on […]
The Proven Ones You Ain’t Done Gulf Coast Records The Proven Ones released their debut recording “Wild Again” in 2018. The all-star ensemble is led by Jimi Bott, drums. Bott has twenty Blues Music Award nominations for Best Instrumentalist – Drums, winning that award in 2015. His longtime partner Willie J. Campbell has four of […]
#Bloomerangs Moments and Fragments Instru Dash Mental It’s unusual to begin your band name with the pound sign but in this age of text messaging and digital communication perhaps, it’s not odd. (and, for those who file CDs alphabetically like this writer, how do you deal with a #? Suggest you just go to ‘b’). […]
The Claudettes High Times in the Dark Forty Below Records The Claudettes were founded by Brian Berkowitz known professionally as Johnny Iguana. He had previously played organ in the Indie rock band “Oh My God” but is a highly regarded Chicago blues pianist having recorded with Junior Wells, Carey Bell, Lurrie Bell, Matthew Skoller and […]
Jay Willie & James Montgomery Cadillac Walk Zoho Music Connecticut based Jay Willie is the frontman for The Jay Willie Blues Band first formed in 2001 with Bob Callahan and Bobby T. Torello. They are a Texas styled blues band playing both traditional and contemporary blues. The JWBB released their debut recording in 2011 with […]
The Reverend Shawn Amos & The Brotherhood Blue Sky Put Together Music Shawn Amos is the son of Wally Amos founder of the Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie brand and singer Shirlee Ellis professionally known as Shirlee May. Born in New York City Amos returned and attended film school at New York University. After reading […]
John Blues Boyd What My Eyes Have Seen… Gulf Coast Records John Blues Boyd was born in Greenwood, Ms. in 1945. He began working in the cotton fields when he was seven years old. He relocated to California in 1980 where his primary occupation was that of a hot tar roofer; singing the blues whenever […]
Beano Mojohand Beano Mojohand How do I find the words to start this review, normally I’m not a person lost for them Ok ok,for those of you who know me,you have had your laugh. Seriously though the quality of this debut album is simply amazing. “Beano”delivers a level of playing ability, talent and heart that […]
Albert Castiglia Wild and Free Gulf Coast Records A young Albert Castiglia served his apprenticeship as guitarist in both the Junior Wells and Sandra Hall bands before embarking on his own solo career. He released his solo debut in 2004. In 2006 he signed with Blues Leaf Records and released four albums the last being […]
Jim Gustin & Truth Jones Lessons Learned Self-released Jim Gustin’s force-of-nature voice evokes Long John Baldry and perhaps Canadians Big Doug McLean and Jim Byrnes. There’s some Joe Cocker in there too. He has a natural smoky rasp in his baritone that’s simply perfect for the funky blues he and his band lay down. So, […]
Backtrack Blues Band Your Baby Has Left Vizztone Label Group Sonny Charles, founded the Backtrack Blues Band in 1980, while attending the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Among the first to join was his classmate “Little” Johnny Walter. The band is a Chicago styled blues band inspired by and named after the Little […]
Alex Dixon presents The Real McCoy Featuring Lewis “Big Lew” Powell Vintage Dixon Dixon Landing Music Born in 1975, Alex Dixon was raised by his grandparents Willie and Marie Dixon. Willie Dixon, blues musician and songwriter, passed in January of 1992. So Alex spent his formative years living with his grandparents in both Chicago and […]
Mark Telesca Higher Vibrations Independent Originally from New York City Mark Telesca held the “bass chair” in many Broadway productions. He attended Florida Atlantic University and now resides in West Palm Beach. His passion for the blues led him to be a member of the band “Blues Dragon” and they competed in the 2012 International […]
Clare Free Where Are You Now As a lover of music there is no greater joy for me,than the discovery of new music. It’s best described for me like uncovering a new treasure unknown to me until now. I love that feeling, it’s something that happens to me on quite a regular basis. Such is the abundance […]
Watermelon Slim Traveling Man Northern Blues Music William P. Homans III was born in Boston, the son of a civil rights lawyer. He was raised in North Carolina where the family maid would sing him John Lee Hooker songs. He rejected his family’s career aspirations and served in Vietnam. When he returned home in 1973 […]
Ryan Perry High Risk, Low Reward Ruf Records In 2007 The Tupelo Mississippi based Homemade Jamz Blues Band, comprised of sixteen-year-old guitarist Ryan Perry and his two younger siblings, fourteen-year-old bassist Kyle, and their nine-year-old sister Taya on drums; came in second place at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. The following December they became […]
Rory Block Prove It On Me Stony Plain Records When Aurora “Rory” Block was fourteen she was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene. She was introduced to the music of the Mississippi Delta by Stefan Grossman. She made it her business to learn directly from Mississippi John Hurt, the Reverend Gary Davis, Son House, […]
Leroy Ellington’s Sacred Hearts Live and Kickin’ It Infiniti Group Records This is a live record with no overdubs of a gritty, potent band. At times unpolished, and with a sound quality that isn’t always the best, this is raw live music from one of Cincinnati’s best bands. Leroy Ellington does all lead vocals and […]
Bill Blue The King Of Crazy Town Conch Town Music In the early 1970’s a young Carolina based guitarist named Bill Blue toured with Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup. It was Crudup who wrote “That’s Alright Mama” in 1946 and it became the first song released by Elvis in 1954. After Crudup passed in 1974 Blue […]
Ben Rice & RB Stone Out of The Box Middle Mountain Music This collaboration is sub-titled “A Cigar Box Guitar Project”. The two principals mix three, four and six string Cigar Box Guitars to achieve an unpredictable sound. Ben Rice was a prominent member of the Blues community in the Pacific Northwest. In 2014 he […]
Sass Jordan Rebel Moon Blues Stony Plain Records Sass Jordan is a Canadian rock singer who was first inspired by listening to The Band and songs like “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”. Other musical influences included Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, David Bowie, and soul singer Al Green. Jordan’s debut recording was 1988’s “Tell […]
Casey Hensley Good As Gone Vizztone Label Group California’s Casey Hensley started singing when she was five. Considered a child prodigy she grew up listening to Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin. She released her recording debut “Live” featuring guitarist Laura Chavez in 2017. Her drummer was her partner, Evan Caleb Yearsley, […]
Popa Chubby It’s A Mighty Hard Road Popa Chubby Productions Theodore Joseph “Ted” Horowitz a.k.a. Popa Chubby was born in The Bronx in 1960. His first instrument was the drums but after listening to the Rolling Stones he soon switched to guitar. He was mostly influenced however by Jimi Hendrix and The Cream. He won […]
Avey Grouws Band The Devil May Care Independent Guitarist Chris Avey met vocalist Jeni Grouws at a blues jam in the Quad Cities. The Quad Cities area is a region of five cities in southeastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois. They formed the Avey Grouws Band in 2017 and won the Iowa Blues Challenge sending them […]
Roomful Of Blues In A Roomful of Blues Alligator Records Roomful Of Blues, the perennial blues band was first started in 1967; fifty-three years ago. Begun by Rhode Island teens that shared a passion for straight ahead Chicago-style electric blues, they added a horn section in 1970. They released their debut album in 1977 and […]
Sister Lucille Alive Endless Blues Records Sister Lucille is a four-piece blues and roots rock band from Southwest Missouri. The band made the semifinals at Memphis’ 2015 International Blues Challenge; and was also voted “Most Promising New Artist” at the 31st Music Pioneer Awards, also held in Memphis, the following year. The band is centered […]
Mike Mattison Afterglow Landslide One of the clear highlights of the Tedeschi-Trucks Band’s great live shows is when vocalist and songwriter Mike Mattison takes his turn on a lead vocal. Through most of the set he backs Susan Tedeschi with harmonies and percussion. Most will also recall Mattison’s days as the lead vocalist for the […]
Liz Mandeville Playing with Fire Blue Kitty Music Inspired by both Koko Taylor and Luther Allison; Liz Mandeville relocated to Chicago in 1979. She started working with both Delmark recording artist Willie Kent, and Alligator recording artist Maurice John Vaughn. She started her own band in 1983. Mandeville has won numerous songwriting awards and only […]
Dave Keller Live at the Killer Guitar Thriller Tastee Tone Records Vermont’s Dave Keller is the protégé of two soul bluesmen; Mighty Sam McClain and Johnny Rawls. Keller’s album “Where I’m Coming From” won the award for Best Self-Produced CD at the 2012 International Blues Challenge. In 2014 Keller released “Soul Changes” and he received […]
Sonny Landreth Blacktop Run Provogue/Mascot Label Group Mississippi born Sonny Landreth has lived most of his life in the greater Lafayette, La. area. Landreth first played guitar as the only white member of Clifton Chenier’s Red Hot Louisiana Band. Landreth has since been nick-named “the King of Slydeco” as he plays guitar with a strong […]
Richard Ray Farrell Three Pints of Gin Blue Beet Life in Spain seems to be treating American bluesman Richard Ray Farrell well. You could almost say he is back where he belongs. Farrell was born to travel, having started as a street musician or “busker” in Paris, France in 1975. Totally fascinated with the music […]
Whitney Shay Stand Up! Ruf Records Whitney Shay began fronting a band and singing blues and jazz in 2009. In 2012 she released her debut recording “Soul Tonic”. She performs over 200 dates a year and is a four-time winner at the San Diego Music Awards. She released her follow-up album 2018’s “A Woman Rules […]
Dom Flemons Prospect Hill – The American Songster Omnibus Omnivore You might have a quick reaction to those preemptive words “The American Songster” but, in fact, that’s how Grammy winner time and two-time Emmy winner Dom Flemons is known. One wonders if there’s anything that’s beyond his immense scope of talents. He’s a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, […]
Bernard Allison Songs From The Road Ruf Records Bernard Allison was born in Chicago in 1965 and raised in the blues by his father the late Luther Allison. The elder Allison, who passed in 1997, was an 18 times Blues Music Award winner and a 1998 inductee into the Blues Hall of Fame. The younger […]
Val Starr & The Blues Rocket Lighter Side of The Blues Sandwich Factory Records Raised in Southern California Val Starr began singing and playing guitar when she was twelve. It was the bands of the 1960’s and 1970’s, and female singer/songwriters Carole King and Joni Mitchell that were her early influences. Her mom loved the […]
The Mary Jo Curry Band Front Porch Independent Springfield Illinois’ Mary Jo Curry is a classically trained singer, and pianist. In 2011 Curry heard music on the street, emanating from a small club, and the sounds pulled her in. That was the first time Curry heard the blues. She wound up becoming the band’s singer […]
Lisa Mills The Triangle Melody Place Mississippi native Lisa Mills spent ten years playing guitar and singing in the coastal areas of the south before releasing her debut recording in 2000. In 2004 she appeared as a vocalist on The Big Town Playboys 2004 album “Roll The Dice” featuring Jeff Beck and Robert Plant. She […]
PARADISE BOOGIE Eric Harabadian & Lisa Hagopian Vision 561 Prod. After you have lived in any metropolitan area for some length of time you begin to sense a certain rhythm that is the essence of the city. There are always sounds, smells, and visions that are unique experiences found nowhere else. Detroit Michigan USA is […]
Michael Doucet Lacher Prise Compass Records Louisiana born Michael Doucet is best known as the founder and leader of the Grammy winning Cajun band Beausoleil. Doucet has twenty-five albums with Beausoliel, one with the band Coteau, five with the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, and one with the Fiddlers 4. Doucet is a fiddler who plays an […]
Harper and the Midwest Kind Rise Up As soon as you hear the opening notes of “Rise Up,” the title song of Harper and the Midwest Kind’s new release 11, you will know it is something unique. After all, how many roots anthems start out with the didgeridoo? The album is coming out on February […]