Blues Matters 118

Our name says it all!

John Mayall

PETER PARCEK

DOM MARTIN

JOHN FUSCO

STEFAN GROSSMAN

LISA MANN

DAVE FIELDS

ERROL LINTON

THE FIRST GENERATION PLUS & MUCH MORE!

JOANNA CONNOR ORIANTHI

Editor’s comment

WELCOME to BM 118

OK, so is it really 2021 already?? I see the number of the year has changed but not sure we’ve moved forward. As a world still coming through crisis in 2020, what the heck happened to us?! Still under lockdowns of some level wherever you are and as in my previous page we still need to do the best we can in small numbers as allocated by our relevant governments and STAY SAFE. Wear face masks shopping and whenever outdoors if you are able.

So how are you all out there? Did you make any resolutions?

We’ve got the blues but that’s ok because we all love The Blues, don’t we?!

The launch of Blues Matters! merchandise is being well received with many comments of “about time!”. If there is an item you want to see there that isn’t let us know, the range can be wider.

Music is ever more important to us as these times go on, so let’s celebrate the music and the artists we enjoywe’ve been doing it for years already and we ain’t stoppin’! Enjoy your issue.

No doubt Christmas was a quiet affair for most of us keeping busy and looking for smiles (you can’t see them behind the mask) so here are a few of the dreaded Xmas crackers jokes that caused some amusement;

What do you call a cow that plays guitar? – a moo-sician!!

Where does Tarzan buy his clothes? –Jungle sales

How do you commujcate with fish?drop them a line...

Ok let’s move on into 2021 and keep these Blues a rollin’

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Contributing Photographers:

Arnie Goodman, Jennifer Noble, Adam Kennedy, others credited on page.

COVER IMAGE: Arnie Goodman

Original material in this magazine is © the authors. Reproduction may only be made with prior Editor consent and provided that acknowledgement is given of source and copy sent to the editorial address. Care is taken to ensure contents of this magazine are accurate, but the publishers do not accept any responsibility for errors that may occur, or views expressed editorially. All rights reserved. No parts of this magazine may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise without prior permission of the editor. Submissions: Readers are invited to submit articles, letters and photographs for publication. The publishers reserve the right to amend any submissions and cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage. Please note: Once submitted material becomes the intellectual property of Blues Matters and can only later be withdrawn from publication at the expediency of Blues Matters.

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GIRLS WITH GUITARS

“This is high octane electric blues for tomorrow that keeps Muddy smiling ---- and probably wailing too. Killer stuff.”

Midwest Record

LIVE THE BLUES WEAR THE BLUES

NEW RANGE OF BLUES MATTERS MERCHANDISE OUT NOW

“…soulful vocals, burn-it-down fretwork and heart-on-sleeve songcraft of Venable has made Texas hers for the taking.”

American Blues Scene

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WORDS & PICTURES: ADAM KENNEDY

BLUES VS

DESPITE

the unprecedented obstacles and restrictions presented by the pandemic throughout 2020 artists have continued to pursue their art.

As a creative myself, I concluded that I would also have to adapt to how I work. I started an ambitious project to try and conduct portrait photography sessions online/virtually with artists from the music world to chronicle this strange time that we are living in right now. This project has now been running for over eight months

during which time I have completed almost 350 virtual photoshoots spanning every continent on earth except for Antarctica.

Since my last instalment of ‘Virtual Blues’, I’ve been catching up with musicians around the world to find out what they’ve been up to. And based upon what I’ve been told there are going to be a lot of amazing albums released during 2021. Here at Blues Matters Magazine, we bring you closer to your favourite artists during these unprecedented times.

(Nashville, Tennessee)

I love discovering new talent. And one name which caught my attention is fast rising Seattle based star, Ayron Jones.

The artist’s second single “Take Me Away” has been on constant repeat here in the Kennedy household since the start of December. Upon first listen, I found myself trawling YouTube for several hours eager to find more music from the man himself. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. Jones is described as ‘a deadly force on the guitar with blues hooks reminiscent of Hendrix and enough soul for Sly Stone’. I managed to grab a few moments with the US-based blues/rock artist in a studio in Nashville where he was working on his forthcoming album. Remember the name, Ayron Jones, he is certainly going to be one to watch out for in 2021.

< VANJA SKY

(Hamburg, Germany)

Vanja has been so supportive of my work. We’ve shot together several times this year, and what I’ve loved is how creative each of our photo sessions has become. I also love Vanja’s artistic flair. Sky went on to say that “Pushing innovation and creation to its limits, Adam managed to make the best out of the worst situation the whole world is into at the moment. I was absolutely thrilled by his idea and enjoyed the shooting a lot! Proud to be a part of the project!”

AYRON JONES > TOM KILLNER>

(Rotherham, UK)

Established name on the UK blues/rock circuit, South Yorkshire based singer, songwriter and guitarist Tom Killner has been keeping himself busy during 2020. Whilst eager to get back out on the road Tom has been working on songs for a new release as well as developing his line of handmade six-string accessories via his ‘Killner – Retro Guitar Straps’ online store.

ERIN HARPE >

(Boston, Massachusetts)

Hot off the back of the release of her exceptional new VizzTone Label album I caught up with Erin Harpe at home in Boston. The powerhouse artist had performed a holiday live stream the night before our virtual photo shoot. Subsequently, it certainly felt festive in Massachusetts, as Harpe turned the camera to her window to show me the heavy snowfall, with icicles dangling from the nearby lampposts. A white Christmas was certainly on the cards in Boston. But, if you are looking for some real-deal country/blues take a listen to Harpe’s latest offering featuring Jim Countryman – ‘Meet Me In The Middle’. You won’t be able to stop yourself from listening to it “All Night Long”, which also happens to be the opening track of the album.

< ARIELLE (London, UK)

I’ve shot a lot of interesting looking guitars during this series of portraits, but I love Arielle’s signature axe which has been developed via the ‘Brian May Guitars’ brand. Arielle is an artist who feels although she was born in the wrong generation. Her heart is set in the golden age of music, back in the 60s and 70s. Arielle is known for her distinctive two-tone guitar, but that’s not the only thing that we are getting double. A recent social media post teased ‘A new album is in the works. Actually..2’. We look forward to hearing more about these exciting new developments in the not too distant future.

(Helsinki, Finland)

If you know the story of my virtual photoshoot project you will know that Erja was the subject of the first shoot I did way back in April, and she was the one who set this whole thing rolling for me. Despite many challenges, the Finnish virtuoso and entrepreneur was incredibly productive during 2020. This includes the release of her latest concert album ‘Lockdown Live 2020’, the unveiling of an English translation of her biographical book ‘The Blues Queen’, producing two guitar tablature books as well as developing a majestic brand of blues-inspired tea.

LIZ BARAK>

(Galilee, Isreal)

I’ve enjoyed seeing the many collaborations that have taken place online during these strange times. Early in my virtual shoot project, I was inspired by guitarist, author, producer and audio engineer Liz Barak and her works. The versatile artist has undertaken many innovative collaborations with musicians across the world. To me, it felt as though we were walking a similar path in that respect. I love Liz’s work and it was so nice to chat and shoot and share our creative experiences of working in this way. Please do take a listen to the first release from the Liz Barak Project - a cover of Eric Clapton’s “Layla” featuring female guitarists from around the globe including Nili Brosh, Erja Lyytinen, Eliana Cargnelutti and Nigerian blues guitarist-Helen Ibe, to name but a few. Of course, music and technology are making the world a bit smaller and bringing us all together.

FEATURE | THE VIRTUAL BLUES

DIANA REIN> (California, USA)

This image was taken one day after Thanksgiving in the US during a shoot which took place at Diana’s studio in California. Rein’s talents know no bounds, not only is she an established musician, but Diana has also had a successful acting career. Fitting in with the holiday season the US-based artist told me how as a child she featured in the first two ‘Home Alone’ movies back in the early 90s. In a social media posting about our shoot Rein said ‘It felt awesome to get in some show clothes and feel like I was about to step on a stage. Adam has kept musicians in the spotlight during this year and has kept his creativity going and our spirits up. I am grateful to have been a part of his project and vision’.

< LAURENCE JONES

(Cotswolds, UK)

The challenge with virtual photoshoots is trying to knock down the barriers of technology to make it look like the photographer and the artist are together in the same location. I think this shot of LJ certainly achieves that. I’ve enjoyed with these virtual shoots, particularly as lockdown has progressed, getting outside and exploring new places. For this our second shoot together of 2020, we headed out into the Cotswolds, I don’t think in terms of backdrops it gets much better than this. What I love about this shot is it’s got a real bluesman vibe about it.

My virtual photoshoot project continues to gain momentum every day, as I work with new artists across the planet. If you are a musician and interested in getting involved with my project, feel free to drop me a message. You can keep up to date with my work in each issue of Blues Matters Magazine, along with via my social media pages via: https://linktr.ee/akennedyphotographer.

Our name says it all!

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“When I first started out I never expected anything like this. It’s truly a delight!”

- John Mayall

THE FIRST GENERATION JOHN MAYALL

1965-1974 Deluxe Box Set

Madfish Label through Snapper Music

Words: Colin Campbell Pictures: Supplied

Well, when you’re the Godfather of British Blues and a musical icon with seven decades in the music business, what else do you do but bring out a concise back catalogue. This however has got the boast that it is actually 35 discs including three CD singles and eight unreleased discs, a treasure trove of the blues phenomenon. Collector’s items get no better than this, limited to 5,000 copies.

Reviewing all discs would take a long time, so we have highlights of unreleased and rare material used plus anecdotes from a recent interview between John Mayall and renowned interviewer, Paul Sexton. Much has already been written, but always good to reflect on British blues history.

“It was Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies who started off the movement. Initially it was a hobby for John Mayall, he was a graphic designer. Music was his hobby and gave him an outlet outside of art to pursue.”

Asked if he had a favourite album cover in this box set, he hinted at John Mayall Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton.” I know that Eric wasn’t interested in doing it, and that’s why he picked up a copy of The Beano on the way to the photo location. The album became known as the Beano Album, so there you go.”

There are two versions on the box set, mono with twelve tracks and the stereo version with five bonus tracks. These are, Intro Into Maude, a blues jam vibe to this one. It Hurts To Be In Love is a raw ballad. Have You Ever Loved a Woman, which just drips emotion with every chord. Sonny Boy Williamson’s Bye Bye Bird is a harmonica driven tune. Final track I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man is guitar led and very experimental.

The first Bluesbreakers line up included John on vocals, harmonica, cembalett, organ and nine string guitar, Roger Dean on guitar, John Mc Vie on bass, Hughie Flint on drums and Nigel Stanger on saxophone and was recorded live at Klooks Kleek in London in December 1964, released the next year. This includes two versions of Crocodile Walk on this collection. It has a real rhythm and blues feel and surprisingly for that time, the tracks were nearly all penned by John Mayall. The

live recording just catches that moment in time when something special was happening on the music scene. I Need Your Love is a particularly solid track, ‘Howlin Wolf cry on your window sill,’ just classic hollering. In 1965 he brought out a single on Immediate records, here in CD single mode, I’m Your Witchdoctor/Telephone Blues. This was produced by Jimmy Page and featured Eric Clapton on lead guitar, sustaining one note, and lots of reverb, raw, rough, jumpy blues rhythm. The B side is a slow blues take. Another CD single enclosed is Lonely Years/ Bernard Jenkins, on Decca label in 1966 featuring John and Eric Clapton as a duo, one side harmonica and guitar and wailing vocals. On B side is an instrumental, keyboards and guitar.

Asked how he managed to find and recruit so many great musicians for his bands, John stated this was easy. “It’s personal preference and if they were available. I’d always been interested in blues, and anybody who had an inkling of what it was all about, there was somebody I could notice.”

Crusade, became his third UK top ten album and proved how well he had interpreted blues music for a British audience. This album was produced in 1967 by Mike Vernon. John said of him, “He was a very strong believer in blues and worked at Decca Records, he did his best to select people like us, who would become artists on their label. Decca didn’t really have any idea the importance of blues music that was going on in the clubs, so it was left to Mike really, to handle all that.”

Line up changed again with introduction of eighteen year old Mick Taylor on lead guitar. The same year, he brought out a solo album, The Blues Alone, where he played all instruments; guitar,harmonica,piano,bass,organ,celeste, Keef Hartley played drums on eight tracks. John wrote all the songs. This was made in a day and included Brown Sugar

and Broken Wings, a mellow album of sorts. There’s also a homage to Sonny Boy Williamson on, Sonny Boy Blow. Marsha’s Mood is a haunting instrumental, just piano and drums.

John says ”I don’t think instruments really have got any importance to me. As long as they sound good and they’re easy to manage, I think that’s always been a thing of mine that people don’t understand.”

There are unreleased live albums from 1967 here. Firstly, The Seventh National Jazz & Blues Festival from the Royal Windsor Racecourse. Line-up was John, Mick Taylor, John McVie, Keef Hartley, Chris Mercer and Rip Kant on saxophones. A thirty one minute set that exhibits the tightness of this band. Opener is the instrumental, Driving Sideways and is a blues jam. Otis Rush’s I Can’t Quit You Baby is sublime. Sonny Boy Blow, sees John leading with harmonica. Other highlights are Oh Pretty Woman and It’s My Own Fault. Encore is Ridin’ On The L And N, fuzzy recording by today’s standards but a great social history of a British blues concert, you get a real feeling of the band’s dynamics and power.

There is an unreleased concert from Gothenburg in 1968. There is a brilliant audience reaction to the band. Recording is very good and the performance electrifying. Line-up was; John, Mick Taylor, Steve Thompson on bass and Colin Allen on drums. Set was less than an hour and was a storming masterclass. Starting with, Oh Baby. The pace quickened on Baby You’re Wrong, Mick Taylor’s fret work stunning. Worried About You starts off with John playing organ to a sweet guitar groove, a mesmerising song, a slow blues classic. Somebody’s Acting Like A Child is a funky upbeat number. Ooh Wee Baby (Don’t You Know What To Do) starting with some feedback, great stuff, a toe tapper. It Hurts Me To Leave, has a fantastic rhythm section to it and Mick’s guitar licks are phenomenal. Last track,

Hey Little Girl (Walking Down The Street), starts with fine harmonica, audience clapping along so atmospheric, even a drum solo later on, the band gives their best on this track, so energising.

When asked about preferences for playing venues, John was very pragmatic. He stated “It doesn’t matter to me… as long as people would come out and listen to the music.”

There are two other unreleased live concerts in 1969. Berlin and Bremen. The line-up was unchanged. Berlin highlights include a Variation on Somebody’s Acting Like A Child but vocals are a bit fuzzy. Sound improves on Baby Child a steady rolling number. Goin’ Down The Road exhibits a band at its zenith, experimenting with sonics. Last song When I See My Baby is a real crowd pleaser. The Bremen concert has five tracks, opening with Got A Pretty Baby and a fourteen minute version of Porchman Farm, quite astonishing, such

is the quality of tones here. It finishes with 2401,from his studio album Blues From Laurel Canyon. Regarding what made Laurel Canyon special for him, John said” I had a friend who turned me on to Laurel Canyon and the way of life there…It was within sight of Hollywood Boulevard, yet like living in the country.”

In 1971 he released a double album, Back To The Roots, recorded in London and California. He brought along Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel and Jerry McGee on guitars. Bass was shared between Larry Taylor and Steven Thompson. Keef Hartley and Paul Lagos were on drums and Johnny Almond played saxophone and flute. Vocally this was possibly his best album and very improvisational for such a guitar based ensemble. The

disc is included here in its entirety and still sounds contemporary.

In 1970 another band change for a concert at Fillmore West, San Francisco. Here he brought in John Mark on guitar. Also Alex Dmochowski on bass, Johnny Almond on saxophone and flute and Duster Bennett on drums. Another unreleased concert and the last to be reviewed here. Five songs, opening with Everybody Wants To Know, that chugs along with a steady beat. What’s The Matter With You, opens with sweet harmonica and guitar notes and John’s vocals soaring in the atmosphere, and then the flute just melts into the tune, great harmonics on this. Travelling Man, has a fine bass solo, crowd really enjoying this. I’ve Got To Be With You Tonight,

exhibits John’s harmonica playing to a high level. Last song, Big Joe Turner’s Honey Hush is always a crowd pleaser.

The collection also has 41 BBC recordings including 29 unreleased tracks, these range from The Saturday club in April ‘65 to The radio One Club in ’68.These also feature, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor that are purely stunning.

Along with the discs, there is a hard bound book with rare photos and various pieces of memorabilia and full concert set lists for the included concerts. It includes a fanzine book run by Doreen Pettifer; “One of the biggest fans who wanted to put together a regular newsletter.” For his many fans this will be a

nostalgic look back on their lives, a real piece of musical history. It also includes two replica posters, also a replica press pack for the album, John Mayall Plays John Mayall, and a signed photograph.

It’s just amazing to think how many top quality blues musicians have been in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. As well as the mentioned artists, he did an album with Paul Butterfield in 1967 with the Bluesbreakers. In that year Aynsley Dunbar played drums on, A Hard Road John’s much acclaimed second studio album. John even did the art on the album cover. Jack Bruce also appeared with The Bluesbreakers on bass guitar on the 1969 album, Looking Back on the T-Bone Walker song, They Call It Stormy Monday, still one of the best interpretations of this song made.

Finally, never one to shirk from evolving his music from a blues root, he brought out a trilogy of jazz blues fusion albums, with a similar line up to the Fillmore West unreleased live album included here. The Turning Point was the first of these albums, after the break-up of the Bluesbreakers in 1969 and was a live album without lead guitar and drums. The musicianship is intense. In 1972, John Mayall’s Jazz Blues Fusion Live In Boston and New York was released. Also in that year, Moving On was another live one played at The Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. Freddy Robinson was on lead guitar this time with Larry Taylor on bass and Keef Hartley on drums, but it’s the horn section that packs most punch.

This is a must for die-hard John Mayall fans and a totally brilliant celebration of his early works. The last words belong to him and sum up his understated view of himself as a musician. “I’ve always tried to do something different.”

Pre-order Link: https://bit.ly/3894NKp

TUBMAN HARRIET

AND SONGS OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

WORDS: Dani Wilde

Today, I’d like to take a step back, to before the blues began, and introduce a truly phenomenal woman, Harriet Tubman, and the songs of the Underground Railroad.

Blues has its roots in slavery. As early as 1503, The Spanish began capturing West Africans and transporting them to America. Britain, too, was hugely responsible for this monstrosity; between 1640 and 1807, it is estimated that Britain transported 3.1 million Africans to British colonies in the Caribbean, Americas, and other countries. Due to inhuman conditions on the ships, many did not survive the journey across the Atlantic. By 1860, there were roughly 4 million black people enslaved in America.

Africans brought with them their musical heritage. A white shipmate who made voyages to Africa between 1760 and 1770 wrote that the slaves on board would “frequently sing, the men and woman answering another.” Music was a way for slaves to express their feelings.

Although the first blues songs emerged in the late 1800’s, after the abolition of slavery, the blues cannot be separated from the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Many blues attributes, such as call-and-response and improvisation can be traced back to Africa. The use of melisma (vocal runs) implies a connection between the music of West Africa and the blues. This belief is explored in Martin Scorsese’s Blues documentary which presents Malian Musician Ali

Farka Touré’s musical roots as having “the DNA of the blues”.

Ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik identifies Islamic music as having a big influence on the Blues. She attributes the origins of field holler music to African Muslim slaves. Kubik explains that:

“the vocal style of many blues singers using melisma, wavy intonation, … is a heritage of that large region of West Africa that had been in contact with the Islamic world.”

In Field Hollers, call and response arose as a lone caller would be answered with another labourer’s holler. Improvised lines called out for water and food,and expressed feelings and religious devotion. Then came work songs, which were sung rhythmically in time with the task being done as a source of motivation and community. These musical traits transcended into the blues; the call and response now between the lead singer and lead instrumentalist.

Enslaved Africans introduced a number of new instruments to America. Even when drums were banned, Africans practiced native rhythms using body percussion. From the 1840’s, slaves in the West Indies and the United States practiced the ‘ring-shout’, a passionate religious ritual in which worshipers moved in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands. Some of the rhythms made by the shuffling of dancing feet were arguably the bedrock of the blues shuffle. Africans also brought with them the bania, a fretless precursor to the banjo.

Enslaved people were forbidden to speak their native languages and were converted to Christianity. In the Bible, they discovered parallels to their own experiences; the Jews captivity in Babylon, mirrored their own captivity. As cultures collided, the ‘Negro-Spiritual’ was born. Spirituals imparted Christian beliefs whilst describing the hardships of slavery. Like the blues, spirituals were often sad and deeply expressive.

PHENOMENAL BLUES WOMEN

Unlike the blues, they tended to focus more on collective troubles, rather than specifically concerning the performer. The composers of these spirituals are mostly unknown. The songs were passed down orally through generations.

This brings me to the phenomenal woman I would like to celebrate today; a heroic lady who used spirituals to achieve greatness.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was a conductor on The Underground Railroad. A conductor of the railroad was a free person who risked their own life to free enslaved people. The railroad was neither underground nor a train track. Rather it was a network of secret routes and safe houses. Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 with the help of the Underground Railroad. It was illegal for slaves to learn to read and write and so Tubman communicated her plan of escape to her Mother and friend using a coded song. She sang “I’ll meet you in the morning”, “I’m bound for the promised land.”

Following the North star, her dangerous journey took her 90 miles north to Pennsylvania where she found her freedom, but this was not enough - Tubman wanted freedom for her loved ones too.

“I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land; and my home after all, was down in Maryland; because my father, my mother, my brothers, and sisters, and friends were there. But I was free, and they should be free.”

- Harriet Tubman

In 1850, Tubman established her own Underground Railroad and made 13 missions whereby she personally led some 300 enslaved people to freedom, including her elderly parents. With a bounty on her head, she bravely travelled at night, carrying a gun for protection.

“I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say — I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.” Harriet Tubman, 1896.

During the time of the Underground Railroad, spirituals were coded with hidden messages with route-finding strategies for slaves to escape towards freedom. Many songs contained metaphors signposting the way to the Northern States and Canada. Tubman, known by many as “Moses”, famously used music to communicate. The songs she used gave directions about when, where, and how to escape whilst others warned of danger along the way. She would change the tempo of the songs to indicate whether it was safe to come out or not.

“Go Down Moses” was a spiritual that Tubman used when helping captives to escape from plantations in Maryland. The lyrics portray the biblical tale of Moses in Exodus leading his people to freedom:

“Oh go down, Moses, Way down into Egypt’s land, Tell old Pharaoh, Let my people go.”

In the context of the Underground Railroad, the Pharaoh symbolises the slave-master. Going to Egypt means going “down” as the old testament says the Nile Valley is below the promised land. In American slavery, this coded interpretation of “down” met with the notion of ‘down the Mississippi’, where slaves’ conditions were notoriously worse. This is where the idiom “sell someone down the river” comes from.

One of the best examples of an Underground Railroad map-song is Follow the Drinking Gourd, which contains essential directions for slaves trying to escape. One of my favourite

PHENOMENAL BLUES WOMEN

blues artists Eric Bibb sings a great version of this song.

“Well the river bank makes a mighty good road Dead trees will show you the way Left foot, peg foot, travelin’ on Follow the drinkin’ gourd”

According to legend, this song was used by conductor Peg Leg Joe to guide fugitive slaves. The song suggests escaping in the Springtime as the days get longer. It also refers to quails which start calling each other in April. The drinking gourd is a water dipper, a code name for the Big Dipper constellation which points to the Pole Star - towards the North and freedom! Moss grows on the north side of dead trees, acting as a compass.

The well-known spiritual ‘Wade in The Water,’ is another example of a spiritual used by Harriet Tubman to tell fugitive slaves how to avoid being captured. Hiding in the water would conceal them and throw the dogs off their scent.

“Who’s that young girl dressed in red Wade in the water Must be the children that Moses led God’s gonna trouble the water”

Tubman would temporarily drug young children to prevent slave catchers from hearing their cries. Legend has it that the “Moses” in the lyric refers to Harriet Tubman herself, who, just as Moses had led Jewish slaves from captivity to the holy land, led hundreds from slavery into freedom on the Underground Railroad. For this reason, Harriet Tubman was known as the Moses of her people.

‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ is another spiritual full of double meaning; it is said to be Harriet Tubman’s favourite.

“Swing low, sweet chariot Coming forward to carry me home

I looked over Jordan and what do I see Coming forward to carry me home A band of angels coming after me Coming forward to carry me home”

It is said, if a slave heard this song in the South, they knew to prepare for escape. The ‘band of angels’ symbolised the conductors, and the ‘sweet chariot’, the Underground Railroad. The lyrical code told that the conductors would soon come South (swing low), to guide the slaves North to freedom (carry me home). BB King sings a fantastic version of this song on his fourth studio album BB King Sings Spirituals (1960).

Tubman’s friend, fellow abolitionist Frederick Douglass explains in his autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom 1855, how the songs sung by slaves had multiple meanings:

“A keen observer might have detected in our repeated singing of ‘O Canaan, sweet Canaan, I am bound for the land of Canaan’ something more than a hope of reaching heaven. We meant to reach the north – and the north was our Canaan.”

Slaves viewed Canaan not just as the ancient biblical land, but also as a metaphor for Canada. In 1793, Canada stated that any slave to arrive there was automatically declared free. Between 1793, and 1865, over 30,000 slaves escaped to Canada. In slavery, Canada could be seen as a heaven on earth.

There are no recordings of these spirituals being sung in slavery. Thomas Edison’s phonograph, the first machine that could record sound and play it back was not invented until 1877. In 1867, two years after the abolition of slavery, a book entitled Slave songs of the United States was published. This was the first, and most influential published collection of spirituals; in fact, it is the first published collection of African American music of any kind.

PHENOMENAL BLUES WOMEN

In 1861, when the Civil War broke out, Tubman began working for the Union Army. She saw that a Union victory would be a key step towards the abolition of slavery. At first, she joined as a cook and a nurse, tending to injured soldiers and liberated slaves. In 1863, when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Tubman saw that her dream of emancipation for all slaves was closer than ever. That same year she became the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war. Tubman guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 enslaved people. Tubman directed three steamboats around Confederate mines in the waters, leading Union troops to the shore. Once ashore, they set fire to the plantations. When the steamboats sounded their whistles, slaves throughout the area knew that they were being liberated. “I never saw such a sight”, Tubman recalled. As Confederate troops hurried to the scene, Union steamboats crammed full of freed slaves took off toward Beaufort.

Harriet Tubman is a phenomenal example of someone whose courageous vision for what needed to change in the world drove her to make her dream a reality. She shows us that we should all play our part in righting the wrongs of this world, protecting minorities and putting an end to discrimination. She shows us that with grit, creativity and strength, we can bring dreams to life.

When the war ended in 1865, the 13th amendment was passed, and slavery was abolished in the United States. Many ex-slaves felt that slave songs should be left in the past with slavery. From the deep South, a new music ‘The Blues’, was born. Blues music focussed more on the self. The blues reflected the lifestyle of free men and women, albeit a hard life of discrimination and poverty. Many blues songs for example, are on the topics of train travel which would have been no more than a dream for most slaves. After emancipation, many ex-

slaves sough work on the railroads. Train blues songs reflect this shift in culture; they demonstrate a lyrical departure from songs composed in slavery.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers

In 1866, The private and historically black Fisk University was founded in Nashville, Tennessee to educate ex-slaves and other young African-Americans. In 1871, the College’s Musical Director formed a nine member student chorus consisting of four black men and five black women. The group called themselves The Fisk Jubilee Singers.

“The slave songs represented things to be forgotten... We finally grew willing to sing them privately. We practiced softly... But the demand of the public changed this. Soon the land rang with our slave songs.”

- Ella Sheppard - The Jubilee Singers - 1871

In order to raise money to keep the university afloat in tough times, the group toured along the Underground Railroad path in the United States as well as shows in the UK and Europe. The Jubilee Singers introduced slave songs to the world and were instrumental in preserving this unique American tradition.

Here are some great versions of spirituals for you to have a listen to:

• Ruthie Foster and The Blind Boys of Alabama - Lord Remember Me, 2012

• Odetta - Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. 1960 (Live at Carnegie Hall)

• BB King - Sings Spirituals - The fourth studio album by B. B. King, released in 1960

• Eric Bibb – Follow the Drinking Gourd, 1997

• Patty Griffin – Wade in the Water, 2010

• Fisk Jubilee Singers – Swing Low Sweet Chariot, 1909

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Words & Illustrations: BRIAN KRAMER

With Covid shifting focus globally, Scandinavian bluesman and Blues Matters Swedish correspondent Brian Kramer returned to an early passion for inspiration and income, a back to the future move that has yielded surprising results.

When I had dropped out from Art and Design High School in New York City just months before graduation, I already had intense ‘Blues dreams’ of becoming a professional musician, save for one thing; I didn’t have any experience what-so-ever and just a margin of basic skills.

Art and illustration was my first talent, but I just couldn’t imagine myself doing this commercially, so I pursued the path of the blues as a teen back in the 80’s and found that there was a wealth of great, legendary artists still around and touring through New York to catch and learn from.

My skills began to develop and experience came eagerly and steadily. You can easily summarize my career and accomplishments with a few google clicks and the journey was perpetually moving forward and always a satisfying adventure, with music now my passport to the world.

I never in my wildest imagination considered that it would all come crashing to a full halt in March 2020 with the advent of Covid-19 rippling outward and infecting the world as well as systematically shutting down all aspects of live performance and touring.

I can say that I was devastated and shared an empathy for all my brothers and sisters in blues, who were struggling through this phenomenon together. Hell, we still are!

I did what most have initiated in my field; trying to push my merchandise and back catalogue of CDs,

books, LPs as well as on-line performances, but it was all short lived.

One day out of the blue, a fan inquired that he was indeed interested in a selection of my CDs, but also mentioned that he noticed in the past I did some drawing and wanted to have a personalized illustration from me.

Well, I actually had not even considered that as an option at all and wasn’t even on my radar. I mentioned this to my wife who, also surprised, stated: ‘Oh yeah, you can do that too.’ I had been drawing from time to time still over the years, usually in the summers with some downtime from the music, but it always drifts to the back burner when the music starts up full time. I dusted off the sketch pad and art materials and created a drawing for this person for the first time for a little money. It was satisfying, but I was indeed a bit rusty, and as the days with no music opportunities continued to roll on, I made a decision to draw every single day, starting in the early morning and create a new piece and share it with my friends and fan-base on social media. I started with documenting a series of appreciation drawing of blues artists who directly influenced my life and music. Specific musicians I have known, worked with, or seen and met firsthand. I initially did this process for myself and sense of routine as well as sanity but as I started to post the finished images on FB and Instagram of Taj Mahal, Junior Wells, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, I started to immediately generate an interest from folks to wanted to own these original pieces, or commission a drawing. Each day that passed I would lose myself into the paper and pens, starting at 8am in the morning

and not looking up until noon, taking the time that it took to explore each subject, without the limitation or constraints of time.

Two immediate things I’d noticed with this process; I had a calm focus that took me out of feeling a sense of stress, frustration and worry over the current situation.

I was falling back in love once again with art and drawing and improving with each passing piece.

I also stopped paying attention to the dreaded news cycle as well as social media, which also took the constant worry out of my peripheral vision.

I was also extremely humbled by the fact there was an increasing interest in my art, that many took the step to want to commission pieces from me ,and orders were staring to come in internationally as well.

One month turned to two, then three, four, and I continued to draw, now also adding to this mix the choice to challenge a whole new skill; teaching myself to navigate computer art, software and using a drawing tablet. I had never been good with software skills of any form, be it art or music and I now realized I had the time to make all the mistakes I’d need to navigate through it. I had sold one of my guitars out of necessity and discussed with my

wife using some of that money to put towards a professional drawing tablet to embark in this direction and she agreed that although we could certainly use the money, it was a necessary step with the future of music gigs still uncertain. In an unexpected twist, the person who had bought the guitar; a National Tricone resonator, had generously re-gifted the prized instrument back to me!

Now I was working this new universe into my daily art routine and making 1000 happy mistakes in the process, but soon found myself becoming more natural with incorporating this as an extension to the analogue drawings.

This enabled me to refine my illustrations in the software in way that made them more ready for professional use and I was starting to generate interest in this direction as well. The local press in Sweden also picked up on this and published an article on me as well as a few of my drawings and Blues Matters Magazine was the first to publish my detailed drawing capturing the newly discovered photo of Robert Johnson for a piece I contributed.

Now eight months since the first drawing during this period and I’m still drawing every day. I have surpassed what my ability as an artist was before and refined my techniques substantially. The love and appreciation for the art had deepened and I am now attracting some serious opportunities, like being commissioned by the World Congress of Art Deco Miami 2023 to submit designs for their logo.

Every drawing of every artist is filled with the depth of understanding and great appreciation for the musicians and subjects I explore. The same depth of what I have come to understand within my journey of the blues inhabits every line and stroke of the pen.

I still focus on music and the guitar, write songs and enjoy the process, but with gigs so seldom it has shifted the focus substantially and is difficult to want to prepare for something that

does not currently exist.

I’ve had but three social distancing-approved live shows in the past eight months and I’ve had to cancel all events as they come up.

Now, as winter approaches, there is a new wave of the virus kicking in throughout the world, which is rightly making the public hesitant to go out, and stronger restrictions of only eight people in a room at a time here in Sweden. I have now just had my last two bookings of the year cancelled, gigs which I was depending on.

I won’t lie, it’s extremely disheartening to not be able to play for people at all now. To be unable to make an income from the music that I have spent my lifetime cultivating. This has brought the music industry and many venues and artists to our collective knees. The audience is the glue that keeps it all together, it is the reason why.

I’m going to be honest, it fills me with great sadness to even play the guitar right now.

Not while I’m playing, that feels good, but everything just after; when the

thoughts start to come back and the realizations that I can’t play for people, earn a living from it, work towards something with my musicians. I just sink deep down into the truth that there is no changing this well into the next year, even with the vaccine now being distributed through the world.

So, to avoid being consumed by that sadness and frustration, I don’t play much at all. And my finger tips are a bit softer and I have lost some of the finess and dexterity, the words to the songs may not come as easily, However I somehow do feel grateful and fortunate to have rediscovered an option that enables me to explore my creativity, keep optimistic, and make a little back in return.

So, until the world stage opens up again and it’s safe to go out & play; it’s back to the drawing board!

GENUINE HOUSEROCKIN’ MUSIC SINCE 1971

SELWYN BIRCHWOOD LIVING IN A BURNING HOUSE (CD/LP)

AVAILABLE JANUARY 2021

“A master storyteller and raw blues guitarist...knife-edged leads, roadhouse-rattling grooves.”

–LIVING BLUES

SHEMEKIA COPELAND UNCIVIL WAR

“A soundtrack for contemporary America...powerful, ferocious, cleareyed and hopeful. Sends shivers up your spine.” –LIVING BLUES

ELVIN BISHOP & CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE 100 YEARS OF BLUES

“Elvin Bishop is a legendary guitarist...impeccable and spirited. Charlie Musselwhite sets the standard for blues harmonica.”

–ROLLING STONE

CHRISTONE "KINGFISH" INGRAM KINGFISH (CD/LP)

“Impossible to ignore. Confident, joyous, tasty and raw...one of the brightest new stars of his generation.”” –LIVING BLUES

ROOMFUL OF BLUES IN A ROOMFUL OF BLUES

“Brawny shuffles, swinging horns, searing guitar, passionate vocals and balls-to-the-wall enthusiasm.””

–LIVING BLUES

TINSLEY ELLIS ICE CREAM IN HELL

“Incendiary...Scalding guitar and banshee solos. Ellis mixes soul and fire.”” –PREMIER GUITAR

NEW FROM ALLIGATOR RECORDS, CHICAGO, USA

FERRIS & SYLVESTER

We met in 2016 at a blues venue in Camden called Spiritual Bar. We started writing together, and Issy also joined Archie’s band as a backing singer. It wasn’t until we played some of our songs to the legendary producer, Youth that we found the confidence to go forward together as a duo. We sat in his front room and nervously stumbled through some ideas and songs. We had combined our influences and created something that sounded different, mixing light and shade. We’re very lucky to have families that love music and that was definitely the driving force in the early days for us both. Archie spent his teenage years playing in bands, making 100s of demos on his Tascam 4 track and perfecting his guitar technique by playing along to Hendrix, Peter Green and Paul Kossoff. Issy meanwhile spent her time writing poetry, singing the alto line in the school choir and driving to various local pubs with her Dad after school to play their opening slots. Then in 2016, our roads met and we formed a totally unexpected but wonderful new road, combining our backgrounds, and creating something new.

We’ve toured a lot over the past two years and have been lucky enough to see a lot of the world, from rooftops in Austin, Texas to a hidden cove in The Faroe Islands. We have always loved playing in Ireland, especially Dublin. The audiences are wonderful and we come away with the best memories. A huge career highlight for us was playing our first Glastonbury last year. We played five sets across the weekend, including the BBC Introducing Stage.

We’d say we belong somewhere between Blues, Folk, Americana and Rock n Roll. Fun-

WORDS: Supplied

PICTURE: Supplied

damentally, we’re songwriters and our focus is trying to write something meaningful, significant and from the heart. We both love the blues. A slide solo or huge raspy vocal, for instance, we like to mix it up, start a song soft and then explode into a chorus. We didn’t know it at the time, but we started writing what would become the EP in February on the road. We were on tour across Europe and wrote the first verse and chorus to ‘I Should Be On A Train’ in the back of the tour van in Vienna.

We wrote, recorded and produced the EP in our studio at home. We took our time, fleshing out ideas and playing with different sounds like the flutes and cellos on ‘Knock You Down’.

We have a UK and North America tour in spring 2021 which we’re so excited for!

www.ferrisandsylvester.com

How did I get to be featured in this iconic publication? Well, my love affair with The Blues has been a deeply nostalgic journey, more so since my close friend and mentor the late John Lee Hooker passed away in 2001. I’ve been busy writing, recording, performing and of course collaborating, moving forwards career-wise whilst raising my daughter Xaviera.

John Lee found it difficult to describe my music, saying ‘It’s a distinct sound that at times sounds like Billie Holliday’. He said ‘I was ‘More Rock’n’Roll than Blues,’ I argued with him...’No John, I’m more Blues than Rock’n’Roll’, one of my song titles that will probably feature on a future album.

Now with my tenth album HARVEST GOLD set for release on 26th February 2021, I know John would have been proud of me, and my achievements to date. John said you have to live the Blues, and I certainly have as I recall the hurdles and pitfalls, and heart wrenching times that have compelled and propelled me to put pen to paper, hands to my guitar and baby grand, and voice to mic, as a kind of journal of my life.

Yes, this new album has been lovingly put together over a period of time to reflect

ANDREA BLACK

WORDS: Supplied PICTURE: Supplied

possibly some of the best of my songs to date, and I am thrilled by the positivity and attention this album has so far received ahead of the actual release date. Before we hit this Coronavirus epidemic, I was starting to play more live dates, and a tour was in the offing. Still my loyal band members are in the wings just waiting for the green light.

It is astounding to me that in the past my music launched the MX5 sports car in Japan, and that I played worldwide festivals including an audience of 350,000 with Skatman John at The Sound of Frankfurt Festival. I have performed in Romania, Greece, the UK Jazz Café, The Purcell Rooms and Glastonbury, but somehow I have remained aloof on the outskirts, not intentionally but because my music is of the world and goes in so many directions, skipping through genres.

With the world thrown in to such chaos in 2020, I am optimistic for 2021 and hope Harvest Gold will begin to seep into the airwaves, find its way on to turn tables in to CD players, and even cassette decks for it has been produced with such loving care by Paul Hirsh, who has tenderly nurtured each song with his great musicianship. From a huge backlog of my songs, I’ve chosen the ones that I think will really mean something to people at this time. Music after all is the greatest communicator and the most powerful way to bring the world together.

www.andreablack.com

BLOODS DISCOVER THE UNDISCOVERED

RUTH PATTERSON

Ruth Patterson is best known as lead singer and multi-instrumentalist with the successful gypsy folk, blues and rock band Holy Moly & The Crackers. Earlier this year, Ruth launched her parallel solo career with the highly acclaimed single release, Sink or Swim.

Neither of my parents are musical but they’ve always had an amazing record collection which I love to delve into with the likes of Velvet Underground, Toots & The Maytals, Roxy Music, Joan Baez, Kate Bush and Nina Simone. When I was little my great aunt lived with us so some of my earliest and happiest memories are sitting on her knee at the piano and I’d sit and pretend it was me making this incredible sound. I thought she had magic powers. I was lucky enough to be able to play a few instruments when I was young – clarinet, piano, violin, drums, cello. My dad has a knack for finding old instruments which was great as I had the freedom to try lots of different things out and experiment. I went through all the usual grades and learned about music theory and began composing really early on. I knew I wanted to play music.

After a decade of performing with HM&TC, I decided to pursue a parallel solo career despite the demanding schedule of touring and recording with the band because I

WORDS: Ruth Patterson

PICTURE: Eva Edsjo

wanted a change of direction. I have a lot of influences, songs and interests that aren’t really right for that particular band and so I have been keen to branch out and really experiment outside of those parameters. Back in autumn 2018, I did a residency with singer-songwriter Nadine Shah. As Artist In Residence with Sage, Gateshead, the following year, I was given the opportunity and space to focus on my solo sound, time to write, compose music in a way I’ve always wanted to.

With regard to the future, my follow-up single Somebody Else came out in September accompanied by a video filmed by my husband/creative partner, Conrad, so I’m excited about it. I do enjoy the creative process and I’m very much looking forward to collaborating with a diverse range of new creatives in the next few months writing together, playing together and ultimately recording a new EP which will be released next spring. I have a show at Sage Gateshead booked in for February 2021 and I am hoping to build a short tour around this but we have no idea what will be able to go ahead at this point so it’s just about hoping for the best and planning alternative options and keeping positive in all the chaos - there’s nothing else to do! www.ruthpattersonmusic.com

BLOODS

RICHARD TOWNEND

into the cool sound of the Mighty Boss cats in a more relaxed incarnation.

Richard Townend is a rare thing, a professional musician, a graduate from Leeds College of Music in 1986 where he studied guitar and composition.

Leeds was one of the only colleges, at that time in the UK, which specialized in a degree in Light Music. This led Richard to play with and tour with TV stars of that time such as Ronnie Corbett, Charlie Drake, Les Denis , Dana, The Platters and Tony Christie to name but a few.

When he moved to London in the late eighties, he decided to leave the professional music field and play for fun after becoming disillusioned with the professional music scene. Soon the fun dried up and he hung his guitar up for good when he moved to Essex in 2001. Later in that decade he was inspired (after watching a jam session at the Bewick Suite in Maldon, Essex) to start playing again. With his beloved guitars out of hock, Townend formed the Boss Cats, and gigged as a hard rocking blues trio in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughn; later to morph

In 2011 he decided to write and record in a more serious nature so far culminating in 11 album releases in the period Jan 2011 –Mar 2020 with a 12th, Live in Moscow, just launched. Townend confirms he is already working on a 13th featuring Marcus Cliffe, ex-Manfred Mann, Jimmy Nail, Notting Hillbillies and Mark Knopfler. This is a seriously busy, inventive and creative musician. He also creates videos for these album songs which can be found on his you tube channel There are over 90 of these ; they also appear on his website. The albums have received critical acclaim and have a contemporary eclectic feel to them, mixing his Blues, Jazz, Country and many other musical influences. He has been nominated five times for his songs in the British Blues Awards for original song or album in 2012,13, 14 & 15, 16 and 18 . Not a bad record for any gigging musician. Since 2011, Townend has played nationaly and internationaly with his band and also as a solo artist, including work in USA, Asia, Australia most of Europe and UK. He has also run numerous song wirting workshops. He is often called a prolific writer having recorded over 100 songs in the last 9 years – and written well over 200.

A quick listen to Townend readily explains why this guy is often favorably compared to JJ Cale, Chris Rea and Dire Straits frontman, Mark Knopfler.

WORDS: Artist & Iain Patience PICTURE: Supplied

THE SOLOMON COLE BAND

“Solomon Cole is a lazy rock’n’roll appropriation of Solomon Burke (his 2002 comeback album still a big influence) and the magic of Cole Porter, whom my mother used to love” states vocalist/guitarist Solomon Cole. As stage names go “Solomon Cole” is inadvertently the fictitious character at the centre of all the songs on their debut album “Bruises”. Hailing from New Zealand, in particular, a little bohemian island called Waiheke, (situated 40 mins out from Auckland’s city centre), The Solomon Cole Band play the type of music god-fearing parents warn their children about - voodoo-drenched rock and roll blues, with trance type backbeats “riding the knife-edge of desire and desolation”. The band consists of Solomon, Lee Catlin ( a native of Leeds originally) on bass, Capetonian LJ Philander on drums and current female backing vocalist Fonnie Davies. Something must be in the water down under as their current offering ‘Lucifer’s Rising” is a classic blues tale of redemption and atonement described as “ a demon of a track drenched in blues and the sort of dark country rock that has you fearing what’s lurking beneath the cabin woodpile” Beneath that woodpile is their own strain of electrifying blues music that evokes the dark folklore of Tom Waits, marries the blues effigies of Son House, R L Burnside, embraces the spirit of Howlin’ Wolf - all the while delivering it with the rock’n’roll swagger of a Black Keys / ZZ Top voodoo inspired “mardi gras for the lonesome and downtrodden”.

The band consider themselves an alt-blues crossover act, having supported the likes of Martha Davis & The Motels (US), My Baby (Europe), The Animals (UK) and The

WORDS & PICTURE: Supplied

Supersuckers (US). Solomon Cole was also selected to open for The Marcus King Band (US) in 2020, as part of King’s planned tour of Australia and New Zealand. Their debut album “Bruises” landed at number 19 in the NZ Music Album charts, they’ve had song placements including US Fox Sports Channel scooping up their track ‘Ring your Bell” for a year-long sync in 2020 giving the band a hopeful entry into the American market. Of their style, Solomon states, “At its core is American blues and roots music, a bucket of soul and I’m as much a musical magpie as anyone that lifts, coerces and cuckolds everything I’ve ever loved into one big gumbo. I am as much Son House and Robert Johnson as I am the sonic blues trickery of Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix and Angus Young. It’s all in there somewhere”

A Little South Of Heaven, their sophomore album is set to be released in 2021, The Solomon Cole Band will hopefully no longer be NZ’s best kept little secret.

www.thesolomoncoleband.com

THE TERRAPLANES

BOTTLENECK JOHN

WORDS: Iain Patience PICTURE: Supplied

Bottleneck John is a bluesman from Sweden, a big guy with a big voice and a talent to match. His fretwork is generally acoustic driven with slide playing a major role and his preference for vintage instruments also always central to everything he does.

With a few albums now behind him, including the highly acclaimed Northern Heart, Southern Soul and All Around Man, BJ, aka Johan Eliasson, has a self-assurance and confidence that serves his live performance style very well.

He describes his love for older, vintage instruments and sounds like this: ‘The heart of BJ’s music is the genuine sound of resonator guitars. The mix of acoustic and electric we find in resophonic instruments. Tell people who haven’t one before that it’s an electric guitar without the electricity! It’s basically a mechanically amplified guitar.’ With 1930s Nationals and Dobros, he also has a huge collection of highly prized guitars from Levin and is known to mix it all together at times with harp, banjo, mandolin and even kazoo. His influences include many of the traditional, old-school blues greats – Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Charley

Patton, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lead Belly, Son House, and a few more modern masters including Muddy Waters.

Born and raised in the small riverside town of Lit, in northern Sweden, where he remains based, he was first introduced to music at a young age where his late grandfather recorded and relayed traditional music to him, ‘ol’timey folk-tunes,’ as he says. Spirituals too played a role and when he discovered the sounds of Mississippi, well that was it: ‘I’m always drawn back in time and place to the Mississippi Delta of the 1920s and 30s,’ he says. ’When I perform, it’s mostly old-timey 1920s and 30s Delta, Hokum and Country blues stuff. Spirituals too, of course are also an important part of my repertoire. I feel truly blessed that people like my music and give me the opportunity to perform it live.’

Nowadays, while busy with bookings in his homeland, Sweden, for bars, clubs and many festivals, BJ also tours throughout Scandinavia and Europe where his music has earned acclaim and universally favourable reviews.

FABRIZIO AND SOUL GARAGE EXPERIENCE

Fabrizio Grossi’s Soul Garage Experience is the latest venture from the well renowned US-based bassist/producer. Most recently seen performing as part of the star-studded line-up of the Supersonic Blues Machine, Grossi has put together a new solo project featuring himself on lead vocals and bass. The band’s forthcoming album ‘Counterfeit Blues’ includes Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, American Idol finalist Diimond Meekes on vocals/Hammond organ and a string of surprise guests.

Blues Matters Magazine caught up with Fabrizio Grossi at his studio in Los Angeles to get the lowdown on the Soul Garage Experience, their forthcoming album and the meaning of the term ‘Counterfeit Blues’.

Grossi explains that a jam between members of the Supersonic Blues Machine at the Kalamazoo Blues Festival was pivotal in the development of his solo project.

I started to jam with Stephen Perkins and Alex Alessandroni Jr. who is our keyboard player with Supersonic Blues Machine, who is a fantastic musician. He is a musical director for a bunch of artists from Nelly Furtado to Christina Aguilera, and most recently with

Paul Stanley and Soul Station. And he’s a dear friend of mine and a bunch of other musicians here in town. We started doing that after a Supersonic Blues Machine gig we had at the Kalamazoo Blues Festival a few years ago. One of the guests was Robben Ford. And that night Kenny Aronoff could not play the show because for some reason there was a contractual conflict of interest with John Fogerty and John - there was no way that he would have let him go. And Kenny, it was not apt to pay tens of thousands of dollars fees to do that. So, we asked our common friend, Stephen Perkins to replace him. So, Stephen came out with us a few days earlier because we played the night before with Kenny. So, we would jam a few times and we ended up playing.

However, it was blues great Robben Ford who suggested starting a new side project with Perkins et al.

Robben told me, Hey, I’m so used to you playing with Kenny and all of that. I mean, it’s great Supersonic, but you know, with you and Alex and Stephen together, you sound like The Doors, but funky. You should seriously consider doing something like this. And Stephen and I are looking at each other, it’s like, Hmm. So, we started a side project to go out and play and it

WORDS & PICTURES: Adam Kennedy

was called ‘Drop the Needle’. And we had a hell of a time, but then obviously people’s schedules and all of that and it got a little bit crazy.

Having written some new music for what he thought might feature on a future Supersonic Blues Machine release, Fabrizio concluded that these songs might need a new musical home.

I was thinking I was turning Supersonic into my own Sly and the Family Stone, which was not the idea. It’s like way too many white people in that band to sound like that. And it was like my will over, not that, you know, everybody in the band loves that stuff and they can play it really well, but it sounded that it was getting more like Fab than the Machine. So, I said, maybe I can use this for something else.

play it really well, but it sounded things you this then

how we started.

So, the Soul Garage Experience it’s called that because I’m starting a different band than Supersonic Blues Machine - it’s my solo band. So, at the end of the day, I still kind of make my decisions. We play the music that I want to play and all of that, but there is this great other community of friends, they are rotating. If they are not around, somebody else will come in, but we like to play music. And we’re all very connected by this love for blues, more soul than actual blues per se, soul and RNB and funk. I think it’s probably closer to a hybrid mix of Hendrix, Bob Marley and The Black Keys more than anything else. And it just came about really, really organically.

mix of Hendrix, Bob Marley and The Black Keys more than anything else. And it just came about really, really organically.

The Soul Garage Experience’s debut album is titled ‘Counterfeit Blues’. But what does Fabrizio mean by this

The term?

I started to record a few things and I liked what was coming up. And again, Kenny recorded some stuff, Stephen Perkins recorded some other things and then Derek Day came around. I’ve known Derek since he was 16, and I said, why don’t you come down and jam with some of this stuff? And some things I played. And then Diimond Meekes - American idol finalist, I’ve known him again for years and I’ve always wanted to do something with the monster singer that he is, and that’s

ican idol finalist, known to do something with the monster singer that he

with two dear friends of mine Joe Louis Walker and Eric Gales. We hotel not us. And Billy put it down very eloquently. Where that

We’re not really

We were having this conversation with two dear friends of mine Joe Louis Walker and Eric Gales. We were on the bus from the hotel to go to play at Notodden Blues Festival, that was not this summer, but the previous summer. And Billy Gibbons was sitting with us. And Billy put it down very eloquently. Where we are saying that we play the blues, this is not really the blues. bluesmen. And whether it’s Supersonic or the productions that I do with some

I consider everything that I do, or the productions that I do with some of these artists

or in this case Soul Garage Experience, it’s a tribute to blues.

Blues, just like rock and roll is a style of life. But blues, even more, it’s a history of I want to say of a race, it doesn’t sound right, but it’s a cultural background. It’s not only music it’s like, for example, in Italy, I mean in the South there is Tarantella and all of that, but it is like the Bel Canto. Classical music is a thing when you go to Eastern Europe or Celtic music if you go to Ireland and all of that. There is a specific sound and that’s part of your heritage. There’s nothing racist about it. You’re not putting over everything else. It’s just part of your DNA. Like me, for example, I never took cooking lessons, but I can kick a lot of people’s ass in the kitchen. Why? Because I grew up in that environment. And in Italy, whether it’s the moms, the dad, whatever it is, you stand around, you learn, it just becomes part of you. That happens with blues.

The great time of blues between the 1940s and late fifties, early sixties, where Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, Bobby Blue Bland and BB King and all the Kings, you know, Freddie King - all of that, that was the blues. And if you go back even earlier with Robert Johnson and all of that, that’s real blues. Now me trying to consider myself as a blues player, I was not raised on a plantation, I didn’t have to suffer one freaking single day of my life what these people went through and that’s what they were talking about. Even though necessarily, there’s a lot of love and sex and whatever in traditional blues songs - the lament, the chant, the reason why the delivery was that soulful or that felt was because of the experience that these people lived. Maybe in the first person or through their parents, or their grandparents, or through all the richness of the cultural heritage of African Americans. So, for me to embrace that, this is like, I’m a blues playerit’s like a tribute.

‘Counterfeit Blues’ is that meaning once again.

There is blues, there is soul and all of that, but it’s counterfeited. I mean, it looks like the original, maybe sometimes I have the right guys in it, but I’m not one of the original dudes. So, we kind of wanted to give it a bit of a funny and laughable title to the rest of the record. If you go into all of the lyrical content of the record, it’s not funny at all because it’s very socially motivated.

Soul Garage Experience’s debut single “Right Down Below” tackles socially motivated issues within Los Angeles. That song, funnily enough, compared to all the other songs that will be part of the record is a COVID song. That song was the first song that I wrote actually. That’s the last song that I wrote for that record and it ended up becoming the first because I think it was like a little bit of a break from everything else. The kind of reggae undertone, it’s all here and there throughout the record, but this one is probably the most predominant.

When that struck our city in Los Angeles, it’s kind of exacerbated and brought to light, even more, the diversity and the difference of how people live in the same town. I mean, we’re probably the richest country on this planet, and probably the richest state of the country, in probably one of the richest cities, and there’s no underpass in Los Angeles that it’s not populated with tents. The rent situation and the homeless situation in our city and our States is just out of control.

The first two singles to be released by the Soul Garage Experience “Right Down Below” and “I Rather Be Wrong” are out now. The band’s debut album ‘Counterfeit Blues’ will be unveiled during 2021, with an official release date to be confirmed.

www.fabriziogrossi.com

IS EVERYTHING GROOVE

WORDS: Colin Campbell PICTURES: Allison Morgan

Joanna Connor was born in Brooklyn and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. She joined her first blues band as a teenager, singing and playing electric guitar in clubs. In 1984, she moved to Chicago. She has long been recognised as a blues artist, but

Rise, her last release was so much more. Got the chance to talk to her in her Chicago home via Skype where she talked candidly about the present pandemic, touring, music philosophy and future plans. It went something like this….

Hi Joanna, thanks for taking time out to talk to Blues Matters magazine, how are things?

I’m good! Had a couple of gigs out of town, now I’m back home. Most of the gigs have been private and outdoors. One was a Festival in upper Michigan. When we got on stage, there was a thunderstorm, we played one song and had to get off!

You’ve also been doing some live streaming? The first one was at Rosa’s Lounge the first week the Chicago Mayor shut down the city. We made quite a bit of money. That was great; it went all over the world, that’s the cool part when you see people tuning in.

What have you missed out most musically during this pandemic?

I really do miss performing in front of humans. It’s one thing playing with my band but I miss the energy from the crowd. It’s inspiring and one of the things that make you do what you do! I played a minimum of three times a week. It took months to get any unemployment insurance. Nice to take a break after playing for forty years! But when I did go back playing a gig, I found out this is so much a part of me as a person and my emotional balance.

Do you think live music events will ever be the same?

I think eventually it will come back. I think some musicians will stop playing and get jobs or retire. There have been several famous venues lost in the States. We’ll see a transition about other people taking over these Clubs and putting live music in.

You are one of the best guitarists I have seen, what drives you to keep playing?

I always say, “Music drives me”. I’ve loved music since the time I was conscious. I listened to the radio and remember certain songs when I was two years old. People expect me to be this wild guitar player by the way I look. I put on the guitar and something else takes over!

When you get into that space, say playing a solo, is it hard to stop? No, it’s part of my personality. I don’t want to overplay. I want to keep people engaged. It depends on the audience, there could be ten people there, I’d still be happy playing for them. I like big audiences, when you’re at a festival you’re there for the music. At a pub or club, it could be for other reasons.

Were you self-taught or who influenced you in your decision to become a guitarist? My mother was a piano player. She played all kinds of music at home on record. She took me to concerts. One record that influenced me was a Taj Mahal one, Take A Giant Step/ The Old Folks At Home. I was five, I loved it. Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin. It’s in me!

Of course, you once played with Jimmy Page? In about 1985, when he played with the band The Firm. I was playing rhythm guitar with Dion Payton’s band. He said, “There’s some English guitar player here go and play with him”. He didn’t know who Jimmy Page was! There he was, I introduced myself and he loved the blues. We played four songs, he was kind, it was amazing, he said: “You keep playing slide like that, I’m out of business”.

Along with your guitar artistry, your vocals are constantly fresh, you had vocal training? I went back to college one time. One class was a vocal class. The Professor worked for the Metropolitan Opera House. I learned a lot from him but never taken lessons. My voice has deepened through the years!

On Rise your last album, you mixed all types of genre, jazz, hip hop, pop and blues? My son is a hip hop producer. He writes the music and is a studio engineer. He knew a lot of rappers. He got me and Alphonso Buggz to play on the song, Rise. He helped with the song, also on the track Mutha. As for the jazz thing, that’s my current band’s influence.

You got a certain songwriting technique, is it the rhythm or melody you start with?

You nailed it, it’s the rhythm, and groove is everything. Melody is tougher, it’s about the groove! When I first played the guitar I couldn’t solo at all. I played rhythm.

So how did you get into playing slide guitar?

When I had guitar lessons, I was taught how to play like Blind Willie McTell and Mississippi John Hurt. I heard slide via The Allman Brothers but not that familiar with it. He was a great slide player and taught me to play like Ry Cooder at first.

What makes a song memorable for you?

Usually the guitar riffs!! Some songs I like for the words and melody. I love guitar so I’m always looking at that angle.

Is the Chicago blues music scene still as strong as when you first played?

It’s strong but probably not like it was. When I was first here, Otis Rush, Soon Seals and Koko Taylor would be on the same bill. Still good bands about, we’ll see what happens.

Where was your first concert and how did you feel going on stage?

I was seven years old. My guitar teacher got me to do a recital. I was scared but loved every minute of it. I was always in a chorus or school band. In high school, I had my first band a weekly gig

JOANNA CONNOR

PICTURE: Maryam Wilcher

at The Sons Of Italy Lodge. We played every Friday. I was very nervous the night and day before but loved when I got on stage. The band I have now are fun and great musicians so still loving being on stage.

Is your persona on stage similar to speaking here?

No! I say to my bass player, “I’m still single! He says” That’s because you intimidate everyone when you’re on stage”, I guess I must metamorphosis into a crazy beast or something! I’m pretty shy really.

What’s the best musical advice you have had and by whom?

I’ve been so blessed. Probably when I was first on stage with Buddy Guy when he said: “Come on girl, bring it”. Also, musically my bass player comes from a blues music family. He says” Jo Jo just go out and be you”.

You’ve played with many Chicago blues legends, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy to name two; you must have a favourite story to tell about at least one of them?

The Kingston Mines has two stages and my band was on one and Junior Wells on the other. It was in the ’80s and I was heavily pregnant with my son. Junior Wells told the crowd” By the way, I just want you all to know. That’s my baby over there”. He came to me later and rubbed my stomach and sung to it.

What does the word “blues” conjure up for you?

It’s an African-American art form for sure. It’s the mother/father of all popular music, the roots. Blues is about feeling and this comes in different shades and nuances. Blues is part of the human experience. I love the earthiness and raw energy. It’s not pretentious the blues music I grew up with. It’s unique to the artist, Albert Collins, Albert King and BB King, Freddy King. You knew after two notes who you were listening to. Same with singers like

Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton. Really good blues is an individual expression.

Does blues matter in 2020?

The blues hasn’t transferred to a younger generation like it should have. Kingston Mines let School kids in free at one point. They really liked the music. I’m always hopeful that someone will come along and change this. Kingfish is great, but will he bring a younger crowd I don’t know. Somehow the marketing doesn’t connect.

Have you a preference of guitars, acoustic or electric?

I love electric; Les Paul’s are my favourite. I love Gibson’s, something about the vibe and tone. Sonically you can do lots. With acoustic, you can’t hide behind it though!

What guitarists still excite you and make you think, yes I wouldn’t mind playing with them?

I really like Kingfish, Joe Bonamassa, Josh Smith, Mike Wheeler is very soulful. Taz Niederauer Samantha Fish, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Ally Venable. I’d love to work with Ry Cooder and Jimmy Page. It’s a never-ending list.

Talk about the new album, Joe Bonamassa produced this, what did he learn from you in the process?

He said “Your quality of playing is so ferocious and you are so in the moment. Not many players have that intensity” He also said “There are times I’d like to let go like you do”,

How did the idea of joining up begin?

There was a video of me playing at Kingston Mines. It caught fire! It was retweeted then Joe Bonamassa retweeted. “She’s bad in the best of ways”. He messaged me to say he wanted to do something with me. He wanted to make an album that he wanted me to make.

Is it like Rise with differing styles?

This is the shocker; we made a traditional

blues album! I never made a full album of blues songs. It’s heavy, raw with a punk feel, very bluesy! We did some covers and I wrote a song that Josh Smith did. We dug deep to do some songs that are not usually covered.

Luther Allison tunes, Albert King tune. Twelve songs, Joe and Josh played rhythm and I mostly played slide. It’s named after an old Chicago Blues spot. It was recorded in Nashville. The tunes were rearranged. Joe guided me through how he wanted songs to be interpreted. No pedals, straight through the amp. It felt weird. I used his guitars with some strange tuning. We cut all the tracks in two days though. The singing part was great, he can sing, unlike producers I usually have! It turned out great. It’s passionate and the sound is tremendous.

Take us through the album track by track, please?

Destination: Jimmy Thackery and The Assassins tune. A good boogie drive, a dance feel. Joe tinkered with this song, putting in the stops. We sat in Joe’s Nashville Nerdville and had a go at the arrangement. The first Studio cut. We wanted to catch a live feel.

Come Back Home: Every song has its own rhythmic thing going on. That was the cut that Joe wanted me to play like a serial killer! I mastered the feeling for it.

Bad News: The bell, was Joe’s idea. He arranged it top to bottom. I played for years with Luther Allison in the ’90s. It was heart-breaking to do it. Some big shoes to fill with the vocals! I tried to tap into some strong emotion on that. Thanks for saying I pulled this off!

I Feel So Good: I suggested that one! It has a Magic Sam style boogie to it. It’s got weird timing, we did the vocals later.

For The Love Of A Man: The only song I

didn’t play slide guitar on this Albert King number. I used no pedals; it was guitar and amp, a straight lead. The amp was definitely overdriven.

Trouble Trouble: Horn section on this. It was the bass player’s arrangement. He’s a New Orleans Police Officer as well! Another great guy.

Please Help: A Hound Dog Taylor take. Joe asked me to play the slide sloppily without hitting the notes properly. We wanted this one to be raw and it came off!

Cut You Loose: I love the way this slides into slow blues, this was Joe’s and Josh’s arrangement. He’s a quiet storm; his knowledge of the guitar is exceptional.

Part Time Love: I have an almost part-time one, can relate to each lyric! It’s usually done a bit funky, a Chicago standard.

It’s My Time: When we got together at Joe’s place at Nashville, Josh had just written this! He played it; we layered it in the studio. I asked Joe to play lead with me and we both kind of did a tribute to Ry Cooder on that with the guitar parts. Joe thought about the spoken word part. I wrote some of the lyrics and made it more personal. It was the last song we recorded.

Must ask you about your cover of Eddie Son House’s Walking Blues video that went viral 8 million hits, how do you think that happened?

I don’t know, but it got me a cut in a movie! Adrien Lynn who did Fatal Attraction saw it. He wanted my band to do a scene at a pool in New Orleans in the movie. It’s called Deep Water. As to the video, I don’t know how these things become popular. It’s helped me get more attention!

If not a musician, what would Joanna Connor have liked to have been?

A teacher, I love kids. A History or English teacher. I teach guitar, that’s an income just now.

You got a philosophy in life you live by? Wow! Don’t listen to people who say this is the right thing to be. Explore all options in life, keep an open mind. Try to figure your own path.

Anything we don’t know about you that you can tell your fans and Blues Matters readers?

I’m a kind of hippy, Vegan, growing dreadlocks. I like the country, a nature person. I just want to continue playing music and making records.

It’s been a pleasure speaking to you. Thank you, it’s been very enjoyable!

More info: www.ktbarecords.com

For further information visit: www.joannaconnor.com

Joanna Connor’s new album “4801 South Indiana Avenue”, produced by Joe Bonamassa, is released by KTBA Records on February 26th.

PICTURE: Allison Morgan

BOSTON BLUES PETER PARCEK

WORDS: Steve Banks PICTURES: Margaret Lampert

US bluesman Peter Parcek has been kicking up a storm recently. Now with a new album just out, he found time to bring us up to date on his musical journey and thinking.

Hi Peter! I loved the new album. We were lucky to get it after your accident with your wrist.

Yeah, I was putting the garbage out in the ice last February. My wife said I didn’t need to, it’s slippery. I said ‘I’m a cat, I’ll land.’ I took one step and I fell. It still hurt 5 months later and I was playing gigs and playing through the pain. I saw a specialist and was in a brace for almost 2 months. It was one of the biggest challenges; not touching a guitar. Against some odds it healed and it was a case of building it back, slowly. But it’s OK again now.

I’m so pleased it is, both for you and for blues fans. It’s great to get the album from you! The opening track sounds like a lament for the situation we’re in.

That track separates people out. I’ve literally lost friends over that track! Polarised doesn’t do it justice. It’s like we’re in different countries. It’s frightening, there’s a degree of separation that in my lifetime, I just haven’t seen. You know, I lived through the sixties, which was profound, but there’s just a way in which the citizens are just not being taken care of and not being represented. We’ve lost over 210,000 citizens to the Corona virus and that’s just one issue. But I don’t think that’s just a US issue. The song is a reworking of Rollin’ & Tumblin’. I guess there’s a ferocity about it and the music matches.

And the guitars?

I think there were three on that one. The slide was a 50’s Harmony Stratotone (I own that one myself). Basically, it looks like an ironing

board with strings! It’s so small, yet so powerful. The neck is huge. There’s nothing else I have that sounds like that. Then I borrowed a ‘61 Stratocaster from a friend, which I’ve been trying to buy, but he’ll never sell it. And I believe there’s also a Tele Junior on there, which I used for the power chords.

Buddy Guy once praised your playing by saying it was “As bad as EC”

Yes, that was an incredible compliment and I adore EC. This came about at a club called Nightstage, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I went to see Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. I sat at a table with people who were following the tour and they invited me backstage during the interval. I hadn’t formally met Buddy and did something I wouldn’t ever normally dream of doing. I picked up his white ESP Stratocaster and sat playing, obviously unplugged. (If I’d thought about it more, I would NOT have touched that guitar.) I just happened to look up and Buddy, across the room, had his finger to his lips and he was really listening and he looked at me and I looked at him and he said that thing. I said, ‘Well, I stole everything I know from you.’ and he smiled.

And the next track, Everybody Oughta Make A Change, you’ve given it a Peter Green treatment?

Exactly, I’ve always loved those lyrics. I actually thought I was going to do it acoustically and I was doing it more in a sort of John Estes vein and just one day happened to plug in and stumbled across the setting and was going for that spiritual, ethereal quality that Peter had. He paved the way for that style. I was lucky that I lived in London. This was during the Vietnam war and my dad was a marine and my mom had been in the Navy, so it was a military household and yet I was a conscientious

objector, not wishing to participate in war. You can imagine that that was unusual at the time and even more unusual in my household. It caused tremendous friction with my dad, he was very hard-line. My mom wasn’t sure the war was defensible and she had a friend whose husband had offices in the UK and in France, with an apartment in London and she said you can stay there.

I had just got out of High School and when I got to London, it was still the Blues Boom and I got to see a number of greats, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart, Jimi Hendrix and, multiple times, the early Fleetwood Mac, with and without Danny Kirwan. I became a Peter Green fan or freak and I would go whenever I could and figure out a way in and I had some friends and we actually ended up playing with him. We were all Mac fans, but particularly Peter Green fans. Sometimes Jeremy Spencer wouldn’t participate and it would just be a trio. It was just unbelievable and gave me a lot more faith that I could maybe do this, if I applied myself.

Doing the blues is a huge series of mountains to climb and yet here was a guy who could write and play, but without affectation. He wasn’t pretending to be anybody but who he was. Peter Green was the reason I went to those shows. To see somebody live with that intensity and focus and purpose and clearly spiritual depth was amazing emotionally. With the ability to convey emotion in one note or in streams of notes; it just seemed he was able to do anything he wanted to do with the guitar. He was a tremendous inspiration, so if I got ‘anywhere near the neighbourhood’ that would be a huge compliment.

There’s also a version of The Supernatural on the album.

That was one I struggled over. I mean, obviously, you don’t just want to imitate it. What’s the point? He’s already done it brilliantly, as good as it’s ever going to be. So, can I do

something that has some individuality that can stand on its own, yet can be a tribute, an homage? I didn’t realise as we were doing it that he was so close to passing.

And the final track, A Headful of Ghosts, that could be one of Peter’s own.

Thank you for saying that. That really is an homage to him, without hopefully ripping off any of his songs. Yeah, I tried to play more sparely. Yeah, that’s a huge compliment, thank you.

I love the lyrics to One Way Ticket.

A friend introduced me to that track by Pleasant Joseph (aka Cousin Joe) and I’ve always wanted to try to find a way to do the song and I love those lyrics, because there’s a tongue in cheek quality and yet there’s wisdom along with that; it’s a nice combination. That’s someone who isn’t so well known, isn’t Joe. There might have been a few more verses, but I just chose the ones I most resonated with.

How did Eleanor Rigby come to be on the album?

Before I did Mississippi Suitcase, I thought I was going to put out an instrumental record and as part of that we did songs across genres. The bassist, Marc Hickox, who’s a phenomenal bass player, he and I used to do a version of that several years ago. So, we were rehearsing and we talked about it and Mark is really a significant Beatles fan, so we tried it and initially it was more like a Ramsey Lewis In Crowd groove, but it kinda morphed a bit and got a little bit more rocked out and we thought ‘Gee, it’s kinda cool!’ I have a fairly expansive idea of what constitutes blues. I don’t believe it’s limited to just one form. I know it’s a cliché, but it’s about Heart, Soul and Feeling. It’s kind of a bluesy version of Eleanor Rigby.

But Until My Love Come Down is a definite Bluesy number

I’ve wanted to do this song for a long time.

I’ve always thought that Sonny Boy 1 (John Lee Williamson) didn’t really get enough of his due in a certain regard. Sonny Boy 2 has such a commanding presence in the history of music, although I love him, but I also love Sonny Boy 1. I guess you can say it’s double entendre, but it’s pretty straight up. I hadn’t ever recorded anything like that, you know, and initially maybe I was going to do that acoustically, with string bass and mandolin or something, but that would have been a little too close to the original, sonically, not that I can sing like John Lee Williamson! I think they are actually brilliant lyrics of the type that they are. I love the analogies with fruit! Yes, I guess it’s unashamed! Sensuality is part of our nature, it’s part of who we are.

And Lou Reed doesn’t normally feature on Blues albums.

That’s the one I struggled the most with. It was produced by Marco Giovino, who is an incredible producer and drummer.

track in Nashville and he suggested that we do it. He said I think you can do a really interesting bluesy version of this. But I didn’t really want to be seen to be promoting that lifestyle, having lost friends to it and so has my wife recently. But, on the other hand, it came out really cool, so once I got the OK from my better half, we went ahead with it. It’s poetic in a certain way. It was a bit like a Derek and The Dominoes, with a slide and a straight guitar talking creatively to each other. That was the inspiration for the ending, Derek and The Dominoes.

Talking of poetry, Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ has captured a sort of romantic yet desperate tone.

We did that

not going to be here and so there is a desperation. In this version I tried to pull back the

I very much agree. I love the complexity of it. It is very romantic, but there’s a feeling that there’s limited time. (or maybe I’m projecting?) I can relate to that, because I’m getting older. I’m not sure I ever saw this as clearly before, but you can see the day when you’re not going to be here and so there is a desperation. In this version I tried to pull back the We did that

“just let the lyric speak”

guitars, in the sense of less notes, and just let the lyric speak.

I think that balance comes across on the whole album, meaningful lyrics and great instrumentals. She Likes To Boogie is a great example.

I think Johnny Winter did a brilliant version of it. It’s funny, there’s a lot of history to that song. Louis Jordan did a big version of that. The version I was most directly inspired by was Frankie Lee Sims’. I did originally do a vocal version and then we were just messing about with it and said, ‘Hey, why don’t we just play it?’ and we played it and were really happy with the way it came out, so that’s how it made it on there, but initially I was singing it as well. I love that tune; I tried to get a little bit of several influences in there, you know there’s some B.B.King and Freddie King and Peter Green and several other folks in there

in the solo. Tom West, the keyboardist, plays brilliantly on it.

Yes, you’ve got some really good names playing on the album.

Oh yeah, I was really proud to stand next to and play with these guys.

You must be really proud of the whole album. I had a lot of help from the band and Ducky Carlisle who produced it with me and also engineered it. He is a genius. He’s worked on Buddy Guy records. It’s a privilege to work with him.

I can’t believe this is just your third solo album.

Yeah, unfortunately I’m not prolific. I try to concentrate on the quality. I’m lucky to have a great team around me. It’s what it comes down to.

Hopefully, some of the Blues Matters! readers will be able to pick up on it and enjoy it as much as I did.

I really hope so. Let’s hope that the current situation is cleared up. I would love to come to the UK and play, if it’s possible. I’m really missing live playing.

RHYTHM & BLUES RECORDS

www.rhythmandbluesrecords.co.uk

BOBBY PARKER SOUL OF THE BLUES 2CD (also on LP)

Virtuoso blues guitarist Bobby Parker inspired Lennon, Clapton, Santana, Page and others yet it has taken 66 years since his recording debut for a proper compilation to be issued under his name. The one you all know, Watch your Step was played on stage by the Beatles in their Hamburg days who by their own admission, took its ri to fashion the opening to I Feel Fine. And let’s not forget Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick, which borrowed that same ri . And what a great soulful blues singer Bobby Parker was too. We bring all Parker's material from 1954 to 1970 together in this 2CD set plus an unreleased live performance from 1995. 'The CD set is superb with a sumptuous booklet…I can’t recommend (it) strongly enough' John Ridley. 'A ne start to a lovingly compiled set.' Richard Williams

AMERICAN FOLK BLUES FESTIVAL MANCHESTER 1962 CD

Manchester Free Trade Hall Sunday October 21st 1962 was the only UK date for the American Folk-Blues Festival tour and was the catalyst to the nascent British Blues & R&B boom. It was attended by blues fans from all over the country such as Paul Jones, Alexis Korner and Maccles eld-born John Mayall, plus extraordinarily a contingent of younger fans who had made the trip in a clapped out van from London. Why extraordinary? Because the van contained some of the future superstars of the British scene: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Jimmy Page. 'I was keen to join the pilgrimage to Manchester… it was also the rst time I met Mick, Brian and Keith.' Jimmy Page

'This is a record of a hugely signi cant moment in the British blues and R&B scene of the 60s, when for the very rst time a UK audience became exposed to authentic American bluesmen.' Peter Gamble Jazz Journal

Rhythm and Blues

YOU CAN TAKE THE BOY OUT OF BELFAST

WORDS: Colin Campbell PICTURES: dubbelxposure.rocks & Keery Irvine

Dom Martin has stormed the British and European music world with his distinctive vocals and guitar style. His debut album is stunningly captivating, rooted in the blues. Whilst chatting, Dom was at home fixing an amplifier, ready for an electric and eclectic discussion.

Hi Dom, thanks for taking time out to talk to Blues Matters, you been coping well through this lockdown, what have you been up to, any new material written?

I’ve been working on a new album! Been doing live online streams. They are all free shows, I don’t pressurise people into paying or anything. It’s a good platform to keep the music going. Other than that, wallowing in self-pity, looking at the walls and slipping slowly into madness! I quit drinking and

smoking, probably not at the best time to do this! That’s been a test in itself, I’m proud of that. I hit that hard for fifteen years. More time to be with my wife, son and daughter. They know me and they are still around, that speaks volumes!

What are your thoughts on live streaming events?

I guess they are like practices. It’s taken me time to get used to doing them. Don’t judge a

musician based on their online performances!! It’s good to have a platform to see people’s comments; the connection with people is still there. I miss the live vibe, but like the live streams. I get to play live and sing, that’s been my life for about twenty-five years, but it’s taken a while to get used to. Not seeing people has felt weird. It’s like learning a new instrument. It can be off putting and disarming in a way. Playing live to an audience again will feel a bit strange.

When did you first feel that you wanted to be a musician as such?

I’ve never ever thought of being a music man. I’ve always played music and the guitar. Even if I didn’t get anywhere, I would still play. The past few years have been a turn around. Red Pepper Promotions are brilliant, based here in Northern Ireland. We’ve been fighting in the dark sometimes. Before the Covid thing we were getting some interest and hopefully this will still be there when this blows over. It was nice to get some recognition, after playing ten years in pubs and bars, people falling into you and spilling their drink over your stuff, taking your guitar and running away with it and that stuff! I do miss the fights though! You don’t get that when you’re on tour nowadays…You can take the boy out of Belfast....

Do you think you’ve got the work/ family balance right when touring?

It is more difficult for my wife as she is looking after the kids when I’m away. It’s hard coming home and switching into the family mode after doing loads of shows, it’s hard to wind down. I can decompress pretty quickly and get back to normal. I do feel bad about leaving my wife to look after the family; she’s a great girl being able to do that.

Was it your own decision or were you influenced into taking your musical pathway?

I was influenced by a lot of factors, my dad being one. As a baby I remember he would

always be doing gigs. He’d go out at night and get back in the morning; it was like that for years. I remember shining his shoes before he went out. He was a great musician but it was pub gigs and drinking. It was the 90’s it was a horrible time for everyone. He was a party animal but a great musician and guitar player. He was a great songwriter. Although I have the bad traits, like the drinking, I have the good traits relating to music. They came from him. It’s the only way I got to know him through having those. I don’t try to force anything, if it comes then great.

What age were you when you got your first guitar?

Think I was five years old. The guitars were always in the house. We were always having parties. My dad taught me some chords and I gelled with it. I got my first proper guitar from an Argos catalogue an old Encore one. Probably I was thirteen then and played it every day. I listened to LPs of Led Zeppelin and learning songs, then learning that way. Moving the stylus on them scratched them to shit but I’ve still got them. Teenage years, I lived in some rough areas up here. I didn’t want to mix with anybody. I locked myself in a room and listened and played music and sang, that’s my childhood right there, it’s better than a lot of people around me had! I had nothing to compare my childhood to so don’t feel I missed out.

What music did you listen to growing up?

At the time a lot of people were listening to Oasis and the likes. This was not my cup of tea! I was brought up on Dylan, Pink Floyd. The first album I remember listening to was when my dad put on ‘The Wall.’ I was seven or eight, it blew me away! Blues influence came from Led Zeppelin. Bob Dylan songs sometimes go on for the whole side of an LP and I love that! ‘Stuck Inside A Mobile’ - what a tune to have an influence on a seven year old!

Robert

Johnson,

Skip James, Howling Wolf,

Muddy Waters, all those influenced me. My main influence then was Rory Gallagher. My father gave me a tape of Blueprint on one side and Live In Europe on the other. Learned a lot from songs like, Could Have Had Religion, I play that now in my shows and keep updating it. I always try and educate people as to who Rory was and what he stood for. Hendrix came after that and Clapton. I got into him for a while. I thought he wrote all the songs he played but when I found out later, it was well, fuck you, stealing other people’s songs and not giving them credit for it, I had enough and wanted to do my own thing.

So, no set list as such when you play a gig? I try to limit it to just the basics, the ones I want to play. I move the set about. I throw in a Ralph McTell number here, Bob Dylan one there, to keep it fresh. Some songs pop into my head just before a gig, a set list is something to think about though, thanks for that!

To people unfamiliar with your music

style, how would you describe what you do musically?

I play blues, but not constrained by it by any means. There’s not much blues on my album. I can identify with the blues that’s why I enjoy plying this. I tip my hat to the old guys. That whole mentality of I haven’t got anything and you’re taking that too. I try to be as original as I possibly can be. I don’t want to write 12 bar blues that start with an E and end with an E. I try and be a bit more obscure with it. Music is a great universal language. I guess I’m a mongrel of all different types of music! It suits me!

Your own song writing style really is first class, you are a great storyteller. Have you a technique or is it all natural ability? There is no real technique. I know people like to demystify the musician, there’s no magic. I don’t go out to write a song and this is the way I’m going to do it. It can be off the cuff and grab my guitar and play and hit bum notes and different bits of the guitar to see if I can come up with something different! If I find a tune, I

“I guess I’m a mongrel”

record it on my phone. It could be ten years later that I find that tune again, then think that could be a song for the album, and then put lyrics in. Most my stuff is written from personal experience. Nothing special about it! I doubt myself sometimes but I love doing this stuff.

How do you measure success?

Happiness and being proud of what you do. I wouldn’t measure it in any form of fame. With me, it’s being able to get up in the morning and not in pain and be able to breathe and keep myself and family happy. Also keep the heating and lighting on at home. If I can’t do this through music, I’ll go and fix the roads or something!

What has been your best advice regarding this career path and from whom?

It’s advice that no one has given me but deep in my heart I know. You’re going to meet everyone you meet again in the music thing. My advice to myself is to treat everyone equally, whether for good or bad. Treat everyone with a bit of respect! I am nice as possible to everyone and this gets back respect for me. Rory Gallagher taught me you can act a certain way on-stage but you have to be that guy off stage as well. I don’t change for anybody. I can’t be an actor. There’s no curtain call here. I have no time for the fakeness of the industry at all. I have a lot of fun. Writing songs give me freedom. I still find it hard to play Spain To Italy live. I fit it in with a five-song ensemble because I didn’t have a second guitar to tune into the way these songs are tuned. On stage it’s easier playing them back-to-back. People say I should give people time to clap in between but I’ve never taken advice, whether good or bad and I won’t apologise for that, be who you are! It pisses off a few people, but I like to cut to the chase and do what I want to do. I can take offence pretty quickly when it comes to music...I need to work on that.

Any tales from the road you could share about your experiences that people may not know about?

I don’t remember a lot of it to tell the truth. It’s one big long day. My experiences are not to drink too much, it’s not about that. It’s about the music. Eight months ago, in Amsterdam, I stopped drinking. I woke up and felt it’s not about this and I went to gigs going cold turkey but knew I was going to be okay. I got sick for a while. I’ve never been sober, it’s good challenging yourself.

What are your future plans?

To keep on learning how to play the guitar, say the musical theory. All of this is unskilled and untaught. Especially when playing with session guys they’re all classically trained. They talk to me in language I don’t understand. I will be recording a new album. I want everything finalised. I’m really pleased with the new songs, traditional blues songs. Keep evolving in my music. I want to be a variety show but with a blues flavour. That’s where my heart lies. It’s all about the people who listen to this type of music. Blues music is the only thing that matters! The stuff that keeps my heart going is traditional blues, I love all that stuff. If something happens and it gets you down don’t quit, keep going!

Sounds good advice and a good time to reflect, cheers Dom!

Thank you!

For further information see website: www.dommart.in

• Spain To Italy 2019

• Easy Way Out 2018

ORIANTHI THE EVOLUTION OF

With an RIAA certified Platinum disc for her song “According to You”. Australian blues rock singer songwriter and guitarist is world renowned. She has shared the stage with a remarkable range of players - Michael Jackson, Carlos Santana and Stevie Vai. Here she talks about her influences, her career, her many guitars and playing with the Alice Cooper band.

Hi Orianthi, thanks for taking time out to talk to Blues Matters, where are you today?

Thanks, I appreciate that. I’m in Los Angeles. Been here sixteen years now!

Let’s go right back in time, when did you first pick up a guitar to play?

When I was six years old. Thanks to my dad who was a great guitar player. He put it in my hand and I have not put it down since then! You could say I’m pretty obsessed by it.

What music were you influenced by growing up in Australia?

Definitely blues, rock. Santana were one of my biggest influences, also The Beatles, Elvis, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix, Cream, all of that good stuff.

What was your first band?

Again, when I was six years old, I performed with my friends as back up dancers, if that counts as a band? Then I started strumming and writing songs when I was at School. Show And tell was when I took my dad’s 125 beat up Gibson guitar and I wrote my first song on that. My friends thought I was a frigging freak because I wanted to form a blues band at eight or

nine years old. At eleven I started playing electric guitar. Then I got more influenced by BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In Australia, there were no kids getting into that. So folk thought I was a freak, with this hippy hat on and Bob Marley t-shirts. Every lunchtime, I went to the Music Room and listened to records and messed around. I hated all the teachers and they hated me! I didn’t like authority, plus I knew what I wanted to do. I enjoyed arts and crafts and creative writing. I was a pretty bad student, if I didn’t like the subject I wouldn’t listen. When you know what you want to do for the rest of your life, just go with it to be honest with you. I’m not saying School’s a waste of time, but sometimes having a good imagination sometimes beats knowledge. I think that’s true when you want to be an artist.

Even at such a young age, you knew you wanted to be a musician?

When I was six, I wanted to move to America and have a number one record and I wanted to drive a Cadillac. I did all that, so that was pretty wild! I kept on telling people I was going to do it. By working my ass off and getting platinum record and touring and getting to work with some of the best entertainers on the planet, I’ve done fine so far! I feel honoured to have been in their presence.

What’s the best musical advice you have had?

I get advice from all the artists I have had the honour of playing with. Whether this be Bobby Krieger, Carlos Santana, Richie Sambora. A lot of people I’m around that have amazing musical minds, I feel it a spiritual thing in a way. You open your mind

WORDS: Colin Campbell PICTURES: Chris Ace/Patrick Rivera

and keep getting better.

You opened for Stevie Vai at a young age how did that feel?

Yes I was fourteen! Pretty wild right! I was nervous, I was glad I didn’t listen to too much of his stuff at the beginning. Watching him live is a different experience all together. Stevie Vai is an insane player just like Jeff Beck, he’s an innovator.

Your vocals are strong, do you have a vocal coach or have you had in the past?

Yes, I have had vocal coaches. I recommend anyone who has had vocal problems and wants to get better, to go to one. The best I had was* Ronnie Anderson*

Michael Jackson’s guitarist?

He saw me play with Carrie Underwood at the Grammy Awards. He reached out via his Musical Director through My Space. I got the message to say I was the person they were looking for. Carlos Santana mentioned me. Don’t really know the sequence of events. Somehow I got the gig and that happened. I worked really hard. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I thought I’m no Eddie Van Halen, I’m not that kind of player, I’m more a blues-based player. I’m not a shredder although people think that because I played the ‘Beat It’ solo. I want to inspire kids to play the guitar, so this cut the mould in a way. I now refuse to play this solo! It’s been played way too many times on YouTube. When there are more videos of me hacking away at ‘Beat It’ than the people who wrote it, Eddie. It doesn’t seem cool to me! You know, after playing it with Michael, it became too gimmicky and weird!

How do you look after your voice during this time of lockdown?

I don’t think I’ve been looking after it! We’ll see when we get out playing live again. At this point everyone’s trying to get by. I’m trying to promote my new album, ‘O,’ during a pandemic; it’s a very strange time. I’m recording as well, writing and collaborating as well. I’m taking time for myself at the moment as well. I want to be with the people that matter to me just now. That’s where it’s at.

What’s the hardest thing about being in lockdown/Quarantine?

Not playing shows! It’s really weird!

You’ve played with some great musicians, what’s the story around being picked as

Also is it right that one of the first songs you wrote was A Song for Carlos, Santana? Yes, I was heavily influenced by him. He was the reason I picked up an electric guitar. I saw him play in Adelaide, he went into Europa and I just went, WOW. He has amazing tone and melody. When he plays, there is a healing frequency to his tone. It’s earthbound and universal. It makes people feel the same the world over. He’s a magical being and I’m honoured to call him my friend. I’ve played many times with him now. Last time was a jam at his residency in Vegas, it was awesome. There was a song that was a mix of a Stevie Ray Vaughan song with The Way You Make Me Feel, it was fun!

What was it like playing with Alice Cooper? It was an amazing experience! We had four years of Halloween! Dodging pythons,

“you want to move people”

guillotines, Frankenstein. The shit that happened on that tour was cray! We played in front of 100,000 people at Wacken Festival, Germany, one of my favourites. I jumped off onto my knees and the floor was like a grill. The metal went through my knees and they were bleeding! I had rings made by my fans, they had jewels in them. I lost all my rings, one was full of diamonds, skulls and stuff. Another show was where this python bit me on the bust. I was wearing a lot of perfume, snakes like that! So I was definite this python was going to eat me! I was pouring coffee and Alice’s assistant took the snake away, it was fun! I was in my twenties; I had a good time especially the after shows and some of the Zappa shows where I got lost with some German hippies in a tent! Lots of crazy shit!

Your guitar playing is phenomenal, what’s your favourite guitar?

I use PRS Guitars, I love Les Paul guitars and Stratocasters, and I have a few of them. PRS I have used since I was eleven years old. I use Orange amplifiers now and I love playing through them. I always used Marshall Amps before. I have a graveyard of amplifiers. I have a ton of amps in my Australia Studio too. Orange has the power and cuts through.

Talk about your latest signature acoustic guitar?

I knew the people at Gibson guitars a long time, through events. I got a message from them. I said I had been using PRS guitars but would like an acoustic one. Gibson offered me this chance and I really wanted to do this. I messed around with the JT 200, this guitar cuts

through. It’s the best I’ve played. The team there are incredible; all people who helped make it. Bobby John’s wife helped with putting the crystals on. There are amethysts in the pick-up guard. I wanted it to embody everything about me and my music. Amethyst is a healing crystal that can help alleviate negativity. For us as artists…I like all that, I’m a hippy!

When writing a song, what is the most important thing for you. Is it the riff or melody or lyric?

Lyrics first, they tell the story and this connects with people. Instrumentally, you want to move people so that is important too!

Talk about some of the songs on your new album, ‘O’: It’s an eclectic and cohesive record. It has a load of influences that inspired me in my earlier life, there’s some Hendrix there. It was made in twenty eight days. Marti Frederiksen and I went to the studio and got it done. Each song has a different story to it. Candy Carpenter helped me write Crawling Out of the Dark. This is about some bad relationships. We put them all together. It’s a people’s story. It’s about friend’s toxic relationships, me going through some, bad marriages; we had to write that song. The

album is a snapshot of my life; it took a few years to make. I had so much stuff to draw from. Rescue Me, is about trying to rescue yourself! We all get thrown down, it’s about picking yourself up, and I’m saying it to myself really. Impulsive track is me learning to continue to go with my feelings. Contagious was written a year ago, is a positive song, basically it’s saying don’t bring me down. It could be viewed as a political song on issues that are about just now. It was about how I felt about the world at that time, especially America. We’ve got to help each other. The way I was brought up was open hearted. I feel music is such a strong healer and that’s what brings people together. I hope there’s a change, we’re all humans and will get through this black time. Moonwalker is about running away from your problems. I’m guilty of that; it’s about facing your issues. You’ve got to heal your shit and be aware of that. I’m aware of other people’s problems. We have to be compassionate. Don’t be a dick! Projection is the worst thing you can do.

Last question, what would be your advice to up and coming musicians?

If you’re passionate about it, do it! When and if you get success that’s when the real work starts. A lot of hard work but nothing gives me more joy than creating music!

For further information see website: iamorianthi.com

Mississippi: Birthplace of the Blues

At the beginning of the last century, the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta set the stage for a musical form that would revolutionize modern music: The Blues.

The precise origins of the blues are lost to time, but one of the primal centers for the music in Mississippi was Dockery Farms. For nearly three decades, the plantation was intermittently the home of Charley Patton (c. 1891–1934), the most important early Delta blues musician. Patton himself learned from fellow Dockery resident Henry Sloan and influenced many other musicians who came here, including Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Brown, Tommy Johnson, and Roebuck “Pops” Staples.

One of the most famous and legendary Delta blues musicians is Robert Johnson (19111938). Although he recorded only twenty-nine songs at two recording sessions in 1936 and 1937, his work has been included in the repertoires of countless blues and rock musicians since. Johnson’s songs “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom,” “Cross Road Blues,” “Love in Vain Blues,” “Traveling Riverside Blues” and “Sweet Home Chicago” became well known via the recordings of Elmore James, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and many others.

To take a journey - whether in person or virtually - into the land that spawned the single most important root source of modern popular music, visit www.msbluestrail.org and hop on the Mississippi Blues Trail. The Mississippi Blues Trail takes you on a backroads journey to the juke joints and plantations that gave rise to the rhythms that have reverberated around the world many times over.

The sites you will visit run the gamut from city streets to cotton fields, train depots to cemeteries, and clubs to churches. You’ll find facts you didn’t know, places you’ve never seen, and you’ll gain a new appreciation for the area that gave birth to the blues. Each site is designated with a Mississippi Blues Trail marker which tells a story through words and images of bluesmen and women and how the places where they lived and the times in which they existed - and continue to exist - influenced their music.

We have a lot to share, and it’s just down the Mississippi Blues Trail.

Experience the blues where they were born. Mississippi.

LISA MANN PART 1

WORDS: Yvette Jenkins PICTURES: Mirifoto

West Virginia born singer, songwriter and bass player Lisa Mann, now working out of blues capital Portland Oregon, boasts an impressive career spanning three decades.

“I started working as a musician when I was 19, if I recall correctly, drinking age was 21 in Oregon, so I couldn’t stay in the bar on breaks, I had to go sit in the kitchen or lobby. I would get to know the the dishwashers, cooks and bouncers!”

Since those early days – her superb powerhouse voice, lyrics wizardry and outstanding bass playing have been recognised and rewarded with a string of much deserved music awards. Some of these career highlights include:

European Blues Award nominee for Best Live Performance (2018), Oregon Music Hall of Fame - NW Recording of the Year - Hard Times, Bad Decisions (2017), Blues Music Awards, Instrumentalist - Bass (2015 & 2016), Blues 411 Jimi Award, Best Rock/ Blues Release - Move On (2014), Blues Blast Sean Costello Rising Star Award – (2014) Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame.

Kicking off the interview we talked about Lisa’s childhood love of music.

Lisa did you have a passion for music from an early age?

Yes, I loved music at a very early age! I used to sneak out of bed in the middle of the night and listen to the radio. I would keep the volume way down low, and lay down in front of the stereo speakers. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning, still on

the floor! I loved every kind of music.

How did you get into playing bass, was it your first love? At what age did you realise you would like to perform professionally?

The thing I would gravitate toward when listening to music was the bass. I always focused on the sound of the bass guitar. I first learned to pick out bass lines on my mother’s acoustic guitar. The first song I ever learned the bass line from was Deep Purple’s Space Truckin’, from the Machine Head album. I loved that album! My parents had records from Cream, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath too, all which I later came to find out were very blues influenced. I loved those albums and wanted to play the bass - I knew that was what I wanted to do for a living at a very early age. I bought my first bass from a pawn shop in Charleston West Virginia when I was 11 to 12 years old. I spent that school year walking home from school and saving my lunch money to buy it, it’s a copy of Paul McCartney’s violin shaped bass. I was malnourished, but I needed to make the payments so I could take it home! I still have that bass to this day.

Which bass players inspired you?

Those early blues-rockers from England really inspired me - Roger Glover, Jack Bruce, Geezer Butler and John Paul Jones. In my teens I became a huge metal and hard rock fan, so I was inspired by Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, Geddy Lee of Rush, and Bob Daisley of Ozzy Osbourne’s band. Later I got into funk, and was really into Mark King of Level 42. I also started getting into soul and R&B, that’s where James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt became big influences. As far as blues goes, I am inspired

by Johnny B Gayden, Duck Dunn, Jack Myers (a very inventive player!), Louis Satterfield, as well as local musicians in my area. There really is nothing like learning from a bass player by watching them play right in front of you!

I love the bass on This bitch, you and your shadow.

Thank you! This Bitch is an often requested song at my live shows. When people request it, they often ask for “the bitch song”!

Would there ever be enough notes for you on a 4 string LOL or is it 6 string all the way? Are Warwick /Tobias your go to instruments? Having a rock/metal background do you enjoy other bass sounds?

I’ve been playing six-string bass for most of my career! I was into heavy metal early on, and learned a lot of classical music to get my chops up. But I ran out of notes! So I really wanted a six-string bass. I already had an 8-string bass, it’s like a 12 string guitar. I found a used Warwick Thumb bass at a local music store and had to have it. That was when I first started playing professionally. In my 20’s, I found a much more lightweight bass, the Tobias bass you see me playing now. It is my workhorse, I’ve gigged with it for decades and it still won’t quit. Both basses have Bartolini pickups, they’re very clean and transparent sounding, so you get the natural response of the wood. I do like the sound of other basses, but the Tobias has become like an extension of my own body.

Do you dep for other bands?

“Move on forward despite difficult circumstances, like water finding its way over rocks. It always knows where to go!”

Yes, I have done some touring with the amazing Karen Lovely, as well as guitar master Ben Rice. Both are from here in Oregon. We had a lot of fun on the road, and in Europe together. In the past I played with the late great blues harmonica player Paul DeLay. That was a real education in blues! I also play with a group of women led by Portland-based guitarist Sonny Hess, called the Northwest Women Rhythm & Blues Revue. We do an annual charity Christmas concert for a children’s cancer charity, as well as festivals in the region. It’s a lot of fun playing with other women, there’s a lot of camaraderie there. We have all gotten to be friends over the years we’ve performed together.

As a rock chick and metal head what led you to play blues, was it a natural progression given your many and varied influences?

Like I said, I became a professional musician at an early age. I was too young to stay in the bars on breaks, I had to go out in the parking lot, or in the kitchen with the cook. Mostly I worked in bar bands, so we played everything under the sun. I’ve played hard rock and metal of course, but also dance music, soul and R&B, reggae, country, even Irish drinking songs. I worked in a rock cover band in Seattle for a few years, but then moved back to Portland, where there is a huge blues scene. I wanted to work in music, and if you wanted good paying gigs in Portland, you had to know how to play blues music. Amazingly enough, I was able to settle right into it because I had played along with all those British blues influenced rock bands so early in my musical training - those bass lines that Led Zeppelin and Cream were playing, I discovered that they came from the blues! It was a real revelation. Of course I started listening to a lot of blues and fell in love with the classic music, artists like Etta James, Little

Milton, Koko Taylor, BB King, Albert Collins, Big Maybelle and more. Musically speaking there really is a straight line that can be drawn from blues to rock and roll, and even heavy metal, starting with Black Sabbath.

What’s happening in the Portland music scene at the moment, you have some amazing artists and cool blues venues! it must be difficult during the current lockdown. How is the pandemic affecting your local music industry.

It has been very difficult in Portland to work as a musician. Most venues were shut down for a long time, and a few went under. Plus the regional festivals, like the huge Waterfront Blues Festival, were cancelled. There are some amazing artists as you say, and many of us have turned to live streaming to stay connected with our audiences, like myself and Lloyd Jones. A few clubs have been able to do outdoor shows, even in the cold and rain. My friend Sonny owns the blues club the Blue Diamond here in Portland. The city allowed her to take over the entire street that runs behind the club, and construct a covered structure with half walls for airflow. She’s got tables and propane heaters she sets up, and blues shows are continuing, but at a smaller level. It’s unpredictable, because when the virus numbers go up, the state will institute weeks-long lockdowns. It’s been very hard on the music community.

Is the crisis affecting you on a personal level, would you say you are a fighter and able to use these challenging times to forge new creativity? Do you have any inventive strategies for securing an income?

I would say I am a fighter, but also I try to keep a flexible, zen-like approach to the crisis. It doesn’t do any good to complain about what we

“when something I write reaches someone, it’s a special thing”

cannot do - we have to focus on the things we CAN do. And yes, getting creative to make new possibilities happen. And there have been some wonderful unexpected results, like being able to re-connect with fans and friends worldwide via live stream shows, especially people in the UK! It’s been incredible. I do afternoon live streams on Facebook and people comment where they’re listening from. The latest had people tuning in from St Louis MO, New York City, Florida, the UK, Sweden, Greece and Germany! Last time, I had friends and fans tuning in from Brazil. This is not possible at a nightclub show!

Is the lockdown period giving you time to pursue other interests outside of music? Have you been baking cakes LOL, eating junk or are you disciplined and keeping healthy. Basically how are you staying alive and sane.

I have a friend in Leek, UK who sent me a recipe for Staffordshire oatcakes. They’re like yeasted pancakes, but savoury and a little salty. They’re amazing with cheese or jam! My husband and I take walks often in our neighbourhood to stay sane. His name is Allen Markel, he is Sugaray Rayford’s bass player and is also out of work. Both of us have been learning new technology. He learned how to use a video camera and streaming software, I have been learning how to edit video. But we have done our share of eating junk food and lazing around watching TV shows as well.

As a song writer do you see yourself as having a role as an influencer or educator. Your lyrics are not only fun, but are also deep, poignant and topical. Is this the natural way of things for you as a songwriter -- what inspires your writing, do you try to get a specific message out there?

Thank you so much for paying attention to the lyrics! It really means a lot when people hear the words. I haven’t set out to be influential, or to project any certain message. I let songs write

themselves more or less, I tune into them and listen to them in my head and they tell me how they’re supposed to go. So when something I write reaches someone, it’s a special thing. There is a woman who had a tumour behind her eye and had awful surgery. She approached me and told me she listens to some of my songs for inspiration, and it put a tear in my eye. Most of my songs are about my own experience, or about the experiences I see in people around me. My latest, Old Girl, was inspired by my adventure in creating the heavy metal project, White Crone. I had all these songs written and had to decide whether or not to record and release them, and I kept telling myself “Oh, you’re too old!” But inside I still feel like a girlso I guess I’m an “Old Girl.” Many women who are my age and older say that song resonates with them, and even some men who are young at heart. It means a lot to get that positive feedback.

Speaking of positivity, do you have any words of advice for folk in these difficult times?

My main message is to move on forward! Don’t regret the past, nor wish to shut the door on it. Move on forward despite difficult circumstances, like water finding its way over rocks. It always knows where to go!

Don’t miss the next issue –Lisa talks intimately about her latest release, Old Girl, life on the road and much more.

www.lisamannmusic.com

WORDS: Glenn Sargeant PICTURES: David Titlow

British blues harpman ERROL LINTON has been releasing records and touring for several years and even with a global pandemic, 2020 is no exception. We sat down with Errol to talk about his new album ‘No Entry’ which is out now on Bra$$dog Records.

Hello Errol, thank you for doing this. How are you doing?

Hi Glenn I’m as good as you can be right now!

Yes, this has been such a strange year for so many people. First question, your new album, ‘No Entry’, was recorded at Toe Rag Studios with Mr Liam Watson whose past credits include The White Stripes. How did that collaboration come about?

That was through someone at Bra$$dog Records who I did the first album with, ‘Packing My Bags’ in 2018. He knew Liam Watson from many years ago, so that’s how I got to know him. He was great to work with and knows what he is doing. He and Tim Bulleyment produced it but obviously Liam did the engineering. I always wanted to record in Toe Rag and many years ago I used to work with a guitarist who recorded there. It is the sort of studio that you go in and as a musician, your eyes get big because everything is vintage with the microphones and the mixing desk. It’s got a good atmosphere and it is built for live music. We recorded it in two days in January 2018 and that was ‘No Entry’. We recorded it live with a couple of overdubs on percussion and that’s about it really.

Yes, that live sound really does come through.

The energy, definitely.

What brand of harmonica did you use on this record?

I mainly use Lee Oskar, but I did use some Hohner.

Good man! Dad was a Lee Oskar guy!

A standard thirty-quid Hohner blues harmonica. I use Oskar for minor but I’ve got some minor Hohners as well.

Opener ‘No Entry Blues’ has an eerie late-night vibe and reminds me a bit of The Specials. Was that intentional?

Really? Well, I bought a new harmonica really. I got one in C minor and that’s what came out of it. It is quite a moody, atmospheric piece yeah.

‘Sad and Lonesome’ has this great lead vocal from you. How do you look after your voice?

(Laughs) Not really, no! I try and have water before a gig or a session and the usual vocal warm-ups. I would say whisky and nicotine!

I’m not a massive whisky drinker anyway.

‘Rain in Your Life’ features a really funky electric guitar. Who played on that track?

Adam Blake played all the guitar on this album. It is really funky and he is doing a bit of wah-wah. Those kind of tunes always go down well towards the end of a show and we do that one as a funky groove.

‘So Many Women’ is an upbeat number with cheeky lyrics. Is it an autobiographical?

(Laughs) No. You can hear on the third verse that it’s not! But it is a bit of a tonguein-cheek kind of tune. Again, it is one that really goes down well at gigs. We wanted to capture that feel at a gig when you get up and dance! We did an album launch gig in London and even though it was seated the energy was still there because people hadn’t been to a gig in so long.

You are right people haven’t been able to attend live music in so long that when you have the opportunity, everyone in that room has the same goal and you are all on the same team.

It was a very good night. I am very happy

“We wanted to capture that feel at a gig when you get up and dance!”

with the album ‘No Entry’ as it has a great sound, brilliant production by Liam Watson and Tim Bulleyment . Petar Živković on piano and organ, Lance Ross on bass, Kenrick Rowe on drums, Adam Blake on guitar and Tony Uter on percussion. Everyone did a great job.

‘Got To Move’ sounds like it is a man who has to get out of a situation quickly. Is that one you also do live?

I do that regularly at gigs and it is a Homesick James tune. He is Elmore James’ cousin. It deals with a breakup and all that kind of business. I credited it all on the album.

For example, the song ‘Speak Easy’ was just like pure sunshine to me. It made me think of a summer day but I also got a film noire sound. Like it would be really good in a detective drama.

It has a vibe about it definitely. Soho Radio

said that it had a ‘snaky feeling to the tune.’ It has a very Jamaican/Caribbean influence that track.

Speaking of that inspiration, I thought the track ‘Big Man Gone’ was really emotional but it still made me smile.

Yeah.

I wanted to ask, and I could be way off base here, but I wanted to ask is that a tribute to the late Toots Hibbert of Toots and The Maytals?

No, it’s about my dad who passed away a couple of years ago.

Oh, I’m really sorry mate.

I recorded that long before Toots died but it is an upbeat song with sad lyrics so it is a mix of happy and sad. A bit of both.

I love the percussion on ‘Love You True’. Was that an important component for that song?

The percussionist is Tony Uter, and they call him Grecko. He is ninety-one years old and he flavours everything and is on like six tracks.

In doing some research, I read that you like to paint – what do you like to paint e.g. portraits, landscapes, animals?

Everything. I do portraits, landscapes, from my imagination. I look at my wall now, I’ve got a picture of Jimmy Reed, John Coltrane, Muhammed Ali, a portrait of Earl Palmer. I’ve got a portrait of my mate’s mum who died. It has been good because I have made a bit of money during lockdown doing portraits. I did painting and drawing when I was younger before I did music as I went to art college for a bit. I was about thirteen/fourteen when I did a picture of Peter Tosh in a field of weed. I realised that I could draw at that moment. I never stopped really. I do a bit of carving as well.

You feature on the track ‘Lookout Man’ on Joe Bonamassa’s new album ‘Royal Tea’. How did that opportunity arise?

I met him through a mutual friend and he was in London and had a day off before recording his album at Abbey Road Studios. He came to see me perform at my regular gig at The Effra Pub in Brixton and he guested on a couple of tracks. It is on YouTube if you want to see it. Then I went into Abbey Road Studios and it was the first time I had been there and

played a harmonica in C sharp which is quite a high key for the harmonica. It was for the track ‘Lookout Man’. I did two or three takes and then it was done. I didn’t realise they were filming me during the second take for the music video! I’m glad I made the album and that they used as much harmonica as they did to be honest.

It’s a difficult question but are you able to do any live shows to promote this release?

I have managed to get some gigs because I can do medium size gigs with various set ups like duos and full band. But the information is changing on a daily basis. Even though I say yes to something it might not go ahead. The whole country is all in different tiers and sectioned off and it is just so difficult. We still have some more tunes in the can from the last session so maybe we will go back in again and keep on keeping on. I will try and do as many gigs as I can but it all depends on the government really! We called the album ‘No Entry’ not because of Covid but because of Brexit really. Most of the band are from immigrant families who came over here. We had this photo of me which was taken by David Titlow and it has the sign ‘No Entry’ behind me. And it links in with Brexit and Windrush and that is why we called it that.

“I realised that I could draw at that moment. I never stopped really.”

“This album is a certified must!”

“Electrifying. It’s a great debut”

“Wheel-spinning out of Dodge like Bonnie and Clyde on a debut album that unfolds like a road movie”

“This is urban blues with the brakes off”

“A stunning album of pure alchemy”

BLUES ROCK : NEW YORK STYLE

AND BEYOND

Dave Fields is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and New York Blues Hall Of Fame inductee.

His back story includes working with Aretha Franklin, U2 and Hubert Sumlin. An extraordinary guitarist, he has been a stalwart for Fodera guitars for many years. Like many US musicians, he graduated from Berklee College Of Music before eventually releasing his debut album in 2007, Time A Wastin’. Now having just released his sixth, Force of Will, to great plaudits, Blues Matters caught up with him for a chat.

Get your health issues out the way first, you got over your bout of Covid 19?

I caught the virus on November 2nd, think I got a mild case am alright now, got over it real quick!

What has been the worst consequence of being an artist in these uncertain times?

Missing touring and being with my band, connecting with other people. I talk to people all over the world, they say the same thing. Having said that, I Produce people as well. There’s a new artist on the scene Billy J he’s doing great, been busy with his new release. I’ve been playing, just not with the band.

You had a live stream for your CD; Force Of Will though, how did that feel?

Just great a lot of fun, great reconnecting. Just the feel of playing with other musicians.

What was it like without a physical audience, so to speak?

Interesting you ask that. I always feed off a crowd. I was so excited to play with my band that kind of made up for it! I play by myself at socially distanced gigs. I created some backing tracks to my songs. I play a restaurant at Brooklyn called Tambour which is all outdoor seating. They turned the restaurant into a stage for the band opened the windows and let people outside hear. It was packed, really cool.

WORDS: Colin Campbell PICTURES: Judy Tucker

“My aim is always to inspire people”

Let’s go back in time, when did you first become involved with music and what was your first instrument?

I grew up the son of Producer, musician, Sammy ‘Forever’ Fields. He was the Musical Director at the Copa Cabana and the world famous Latin Quarter, the biggest Night Club in New York City. He took me and my sister along to see him play. I was three or four years old. He was a virtuoso piano player, Conservatory trained. My first instrument was piano, my dad insisted I play this first. I begged him to buy me a guitar! I ended up borrowing people’s guitars to play. Got into music through my dad. I was very fortunate. I had to be a musician, I had no choice. I come from a fifth generation family of musicians. My son who is fifteen plays alto saxophone. Growing up in New York City, I was surrounded by music.

What music did you listen to when growing up?

Everything! My dad made a point of letting me hear everything. He played piano; he was from the Swing era. He played Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole songs. He loved Stevie Wonder and became friends with him. Stevie used to come to our house. I listened to him. Loved 50’s rock and roll. That got me into the blues! Dad brought Jerry Lee Lewis songs home. I wanted to play like that! I listened to the radio constantly. So Motown, rock and New York radio. I swallowed up everything. I was a sponge board. Started playing piano at five or six years old.

What age were you when you got your first guitar?

Thirteen. I’m an accomplished piano player, I just don’t enjoy playing it! You heard that saying ‘The drums found me, I didn’t find the drums.’ That’s something I felt about the guitar even as a kid, never deviated. It has saved me through all dark times, having my

guitar. My dad was cool with that, we still play together, and he’s eighty four.

To people who don’t know your music, how would you describe your style?

Blues rock and beyond, New York style. There certainly is an eclectic feel to your music, you like mixing genres?

One of the hardest things to do in my musical life was what direction do I go into. You hear it on my CD’s, there are so many things I’m interested in that tickle my ear. I like sharing this with the listener. Let’s face it, blues is dynamic, it has so many different trees to it. Jazz grew out of blues. Certainly, funk and R&B did. It’s all part of our heritage as blues listeners and lovers. It’s part of my personality. I mix things up.

What’s the music scene usually like?

Sixteen million live in the New York area, so many Clubs and so many musicians and music styles. Hip hop, Broadway, it’s a vibrant scene. There are not many Blues Clubs here as such. There was a different blues jam every night though. See what happens after this pandemic. What I think will happen; I think it will be like the Roaring 20’s all over again.

What does the blues mean to you as a musician?

The blues is life! My lifeblood and the root of everything I do musically. It really is an indescribable feeling that aches in your heart, you just feel it! So many influences and you hear them while I play, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Listening to BB King and non-guitarists like Ray Charles have been huge influences. Loved Little Richard too.

Talk about your guitar playing and how you got involved with Fodera guitars especially?

Think I’m the first Fodera endorsed guitarist.

The co-owners Vinny and Joey, launched a new line of guitars, they’ve been my friends for decades. They built two and they’re incredible instruments. I’m honoured and they are built in Brooklyn, so I feel I’m representing. That’s it succinctly. Never played guitars like these ones. My first guitar was a Les Paul. I custom made some before the Fadora deal, order the parts and put them together. These are handmade guitars not like ones from the factory. Mahogany, with maple top and neck; a cross between a Strat and a Les Paul. Tonal sound and response it’s great.

Keep it real, be real, and follow your heart. John Mayall recorded one of my songs, Train to My Heart. That was one of the biggest highlights when he called. I got a call I didn’t recognise and it was him! I was so excited. Working with Hubert and John were two huge things for me.

Do you have any specific philosophy you live by?

Be kind and loving to everybody, treat people with respect. I believe music is about bringing people together and spreading love. Now more than ever, being musician New York audiences can be tough. Huge difference. In Europe, being an American from New York playing is a novelty being overseas. A lot of Clubs in New York, people are out partying, they’re not out to specifically hear music. It depends where you play. There’s so much stuff going on, it’s interesting. Audiences in general outside New York are different.

What are the demographics of your audiences?

Talk about how you got to work with the great Hubert Sumlin?

He was an angel. I loved the way he touched his guitar and his tone. I borrowed that when I play. He taught me to be gracious and loving and be a gentleman. I have a friend called Dave Hughes from Mississippi, singer guitar-player. He did a documentary Hubert was in. I ended up meeting him and his Manager and we did a bunch of gigs. Such fun! He influenced all my heroes.

What’s the best musical advice you’ve had?

Heavier on the mid-forties range. Funny you ask. With the new technologies for independent artists available I have been tracking my demographics. Through streaming platforms like Spotify I’m interested in the marketing side. A younger audience are more Instagram led. The older audiences are more Facebook. How you market is different.

Regarding marketing and streaming, on your new album, is there a song specifically aimed at the streaming market?

Yes. It’s going to be the streaming services that will be the future of our business. I’ve

been lucky with Spotify. I work with my Manager Buzz Willis. I put; The Best I Can from my new CD on Spotify because we knew what people want and it’s getting played. This is a very important issue for musicians these days. It gets my name out there. It’s about micro payments during this pandemic. No way when I started doing this could an independent artist put out music, but now you can! All my releases are self released not through a record label.

Is there a financial risk with doing it this way?

Not if you do it the right way. As a musician, the legs of your chair are the financial legs. It’s fun to focus on this side of the business. On the latest release I have a video to accompany each released song. I released a video for Why Can’t You Ever Treat Me Right, and I used my Iphone8 to shoot all the videos, the quality is so good. Tambour is owned by the lady in the video and a drummer we made it into a love triangle it was fun.

How do you measure success?

It’s a combination of music business successes, how many streams you get or CD’s I sell and how many people come to see me play .Then it’s about me being true to myself as an artist. I’m thankful for support from people.

Any tales from being on the road?

Sometimes the best gigs have the worst starts, a bit like life sometimes. So many times you walk in and no one’s there. We played The Stanhope, a legendary place in New Jersey, Stevie Ray Vaughan played, and Freddie King played there. We got there no one was there but by the end of the night it was jam packed, it was an incredible gig!

Want to say something about your new album, Force of Will?

You’ve got to get through things as an artist

with a force of will especially during these CoVid times. After my last release Unleashed, I wanted to bring out Force Of Will, that’s the theme through it. Stories about perseverance. I Love My Baby, I wrote about my wife, I recorded it 2004. I wanted that song to be on the CD. It’s all about different things I’d been going through and feeling from 2017 to July 2020 on its release. It’s a reflection on my life. I put a fusion song on near the end, Jak Ham Her, I love it. Thought blues people might not like it but looks like they love it. My aim is always to inspire people and show them it’s going to be okay. Blues is music of hope. I might have been in the fashion business when I was young, if not a musician!

Finally, any future plans?

Hopefully doing a European tour next July, will be including UK. Working on another CD and producing a bunch of artists. Thank you for interviewing me much appreciated, great chatting with you. Happy holidays stay safe.

Dave Fields proudly uses FODERA GUITARS, D’ADDARIO STRINGS, RED PLATE AMPS, ASTEROPE, HOLLOW POINT and ROCKY MOUNTAIN SLIDES.

STEFAN GROSSMAN AN INTERVIEW WITH

WORDS: Iain Patience PICTURES: Supplied

It would be no understatement to say that this guy is perhaps single-handedly responsible for creating a huge rush of interest in many of the old – sadly, now passed – acoustic blues greats, much of it stemming from his own work with them, his absorbing and mastering their widely varying styles and techniques, and sitting alongside them learning just how it was all done. And, then, where many would have been content with that, he went on to produce some of the finest guitar tablature teaching resource books, albums and videos ever seen, transmitting the skills and music to new generations of neophyte pickers and blues-lovers. Many can testify to his importance in their own personal musical journeys and, as importantly, Grossman always, without exception, provided not just a remarkable baseline to follow, but insisted that everyone must track down and listen to the original artists and their albums whenever possible. Indeed, many blues greats probably owe their own good-fortune in music at the latter stages of their lives to this very imperative.

If there’s an issue when speaking to Grossman, it’s the uncertainty of where to start. This is a man who is an astonishingly talented guitar picker, in a league of his own in so many ways roaring through virtually every type of acoustic finger-picked music from Delta slide styles through Piedmont and general country blues work to the intricacies of ragtime pieces. Add to that the fact he has worked with so many of the greats from Mississippi John Hurt and Reverend Gary Davis to Fred McDowell, Dave Van Ronk, John Fahey and virtually everyone of note in the blues music legacy world.

I start by saying how he destroyed my life in many ways and he laughs uncertainly until I explain having picked up a copy of one of his early recordings on vinyl in around 1970, Yazoo Basin Boogie, and being hooked on trying to figure out how he played that style and stuff. At that point, he laughed easily, before going on to explain that he’d been playing guitar a very long time:

‘I really kicked off aged about nine. Between say nine and eleven I was trying to play old standards like ‘Tea for Two’ and ‘Autumn Leaves.’ Really just learning how to read notes and strum a guitar from the American Mel Bay publications. There were these Mel Bay Guitar Books, Methods 1, 2 and 3 and the like. So that’s what I was doing, then I stopped when about twelve because it no longer interested me. Then I was about fifteen I thought it was time that I’d really like to pick up guitar again. My parents were lefties, they said ‘well go down to the Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park and you’ll hear music.’ They had Pete Seeger and Josh White records then. I went into Izzy Young’s shop in the Village and there was a guy working afternoons. He was playing guitar, a song and I liked it. I asked what it was, told him I really liked it. He looked down at me and said it was one of Reverend Gary Davis’s, as if I should know who that was. At Washington Square Park on Sundays from noon until sunset we could get together, play guitar, and a friend told me I should give this guy a call – Reverend Gary Davis. At that time, I had no idea who he was. I called him up and my father asked where he lived. He then told me he had to go there to buy shoes – a lie, because that area of New York was considered the most dangerous of all at that

Stefan Grossman is easily one of the most important, significant US bluesmen of his own and a few other generations. Now dividing his time for the most part between the US and Yorkshire, we managed to track him down, even pin him down, for a chat about the music he clearly loves and has been ‘instrumental’ in championing globally.

INTERVIEW | STEFAN GROSSMAN

time. So, he drove me up to the Bronx. We were living in Brooklyn at the time.’

‘Not having grandfathers, cos they’d all passed away before I was born, Gary Davis was incredibly important to me personally. David Bromberg and I have discussed it quite a bit, about going into the realm of a really poor black home like Reverend Davis’s. There was just such a warmth there. It sucked you in, besides musically but also emotionally. You just felt wonderful. In a lot of ways, he became a sort of a grandad to me. If I had problems about anything, girlfriends whatever, I’d talk to the Reverend about those and he never once tried to evangelise about Christianity. It was just straight guy-toguy. Then as far as music, he was phenomenal. You have to think of all the people he taught from Blind Boy Fuller, Larry Johnson, Brownie McGhee and so many white kids, like me. His thing was to always stay two steps ahead of his students.’

‘I never saw myself as being a ‘blues musician’ but rather as a guitar player who was focusing on the black guitar players from the 20s and 30s because they were creating something so distinctive and really new. For me it was like

delving into one player at a time, say Lightnin’ Hopkins then Blind Boy Fuller, then Blind Blake. It was their amazing guitar playing. It was like a hobby gone crazy! It was only when I came to England in 1967 and the people I knew, or rather had in my telephone book – I’d met Eric Clapton out in New York where we both did a show together. So, Eric and Ginger (Baker) were the two I knew personally. I came over knowing I could call and stay with them. I’d go out to Les Cousins club and say hello to maybe Bert Jansch or John Renbourn, Martin Carthy. I could gig then with so many folk clubs here. I could actually earn £10 a night! Then if you did two clubs a week, earning £20 a week, you were doing fine.’

I remind Stefan of how Rory Block, his old buddy and then partner, had opened the door at their place in Berklee one day to find Fred McDowell there and he immediately recalls it: ‘I remember that. He came and he actually stayed with us for about ten days, maybe two weeks. He was great, another great player in a different way.’

He also recalls how there were a number of different groups, maybe in LA, or Boston, San

Francisco, or New York: ‘There was John Fahey, he was Blind Joe Death; I was Kid Future; Rory was Sunshine Kate. We were all still learning how to play the guitar, delving into the intricacies of the art of what had been happening in those 20s and 30s. My friend Tom Hoskins, he went down and discovered, rediscovered, John Hurt. And there was Nick Pearl, he went out and discovered Son House. Everyone got to know each other and we all got to know these great people and players. We all had our own things going on.’

I raise the point about it being an exceptional time with all these guys re-emerging and having a career late in their lives that they must never have truly expected. Grossman chuckles and agrees: ‘One of the things I look back and wonder about, we were all just so niaive, I guess, but we never actually thought about what it must have felt like to them. You know, we’d all sit at their feet, whatever they said were like golden words. And whatever they showed us on the guitar was like amazing! We never thought, oh wait, this must be pretty weird for them. You know, from growing up in Mississippi or wherever and all of a sudden they have all these white kids worshipping them.’

lives

When I mention his exploits with ragtime guitar, he again has instant recall: ‘That goes back again to Washington Square Park. There was a guy, a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, Dave Laibman. He knew Bert (Jansch) and also Alex Campbell. Well, he was playing ragtime not like Blind Blake or Gary Davis, but faithful to the classic rag piano scores. I’m still doing this, the exact same thing I was doing at fifteen years old – now at seventy-five - transcribing Reverend Gary Davis, this week I’m transcribing a bunch of his instrumentals. Davis and his playing really influenced a lot of guitar players.’

Blake or Gary Davis, but faithful - transcribing Reverend Gary Daand his playing really influenced a

STEFAN GROSSMAN

“Then if you did two clubs a week, earning £20 a week, you were doing fine’”

Moving to the end, I suggest he has had an impact on so many pickers, maybe because of his own insistence that people listen to original recordings wherever possible, and his production of tablature books, cassettes, CDs and DVDs as learning resources. And with his Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop series, Grossman confirms this still plays a central role in his everyday thinking:

‘When I came over to London in 67, I’d just put together four books for Oak Publications. My idea, and I was very strident about this, was that nobody should learn this music without hearing it. They just must hear it and the way it’s usually taught is by imitation. I wanted the books without music notation but at the end of the day the publisher insisted on that! I wanted the tablature, showing where to put your fingers then to have cassettes alongside these books. Nick Pearl who set up Yazoo Records was supposed to handle the cassettes. That was to be part of his business but he wasn’t interested. I was left with these books coming out and someone had to do these cassettes so I did them myself, as Stefan Grossman.’

In many ways, we’re lucky that Grossman is still out there picking guitar and driving the music forward. A few years ago, he found himself struggling with a serious health issue that had a huge personal impact: ‘I had cervical surgery. It was real troubling, dangerous work on my spine. I’d find myself playing a gig and suddenly my left arm would go dead, absolutely numb and I couldn’t feel a thing. I thought maybe it was time to just stop playing guitar. I’d be in the middle of say Mississippi Blues and suddenly nothing, no feeling at all. I thought about it long and hard and had the surgery. Luckily it went well. I’m back picking again.’

DISCOGRAPHY

Stefan Grossman has a truly enormous back catalogue, but here’s his most recent releases:

AndyWatts

NEW ALBUM release available on this link https://ffm.to/supergroove

Watts’ guitar mastery shines brightly on this album. It’s definitely an album worthy of adding to your collection.

Philip Smith Philly Cheezes - Rock & Blues Reviews

If you are a fan of modern blues, you should certainly consider adding Supergroove to your own.

Chris Wheatley - Rock & Blues Muse

Watts is a fine guitarist and a meticulous producer. This notable recording should further establish him as an International Ambassador to the Blues.

Richard Ludmerer - Making A Scene

https://ffm.to/supergroove

Andy Watts GuitarSlinger

www.andywattsguitarslinger.com

CAN YOU SEE THE LIGHT?

John Fusco, creator of many movies and the man behind blues-favourite, ‘Crossroads,’ talks to Blues Matters about his latest project, a double CD package

WORDS: Tim Arnold PICTURES: As Credited

John Fusco ran away from home at age 17 in a fervent search for the crossroads, taking with him a rich heart and a deep soul that reflect a genuine understanding of blues, and where they came from.

The gospel church.

Gospel music and the blues share a unique relationship, “the blues and the spirituals flow from the same bedrock of experience,” as theologian James Cone has written,* “and neither is an adequate interpretation of black life without the other.”

“When I was traveling, some of the old guys were playing that stuff... and I’m like wow, this is like gospel... it exemplifies the soulful, non-secular roots of the blues,” John tells me in a recent conversation.”

“My blues education, which was an unlikely hands-on education, taught me that blues and gospel are two sides of the same coin. When bluesmen like Frank Frost (a juke joint musician in “Crossroads”) learned that this skinny white-boy runaway was in the Delta because he wanted to dig deep down into what the Allman’s and the Stones were building on, they told me to go down to the Missionary Baptist Church, down in Vicksburg. Turns out they wanted me to dig all the way on down into gospel and the kind of spirituals underneath the blues - the source!”.

He did. And he got it. And soon enough “Crossroads” (see BluesMatters! Issue 115), the semi-autobiographic screenplay he wrote while he was back in college, became a breakout hit movie in 1986 - directed by Walter Hill (48 Hours, Last Man Standing et al).

He still gets it. And his latest album, John the Revelator (John Fusco & X-Road RidersCheckerboard Lounge Records) takes us on a journey back to these roots. See our review on page 117.

Listen to the preacher man...

Tell me who’s that writin, John the Revelator. Well who’s that writin, John the Revelator. Wrote the book of the seven seal. You know God walked down in the cool of the day...

And go forth...

*The Spirituals and the Blues: An Interpretation, James Cone, Orbis, 1992.

A dark door cracks open, a wind beckons – but rhythmic, percussive beats echo off the walls, and give you pause. Then a voice emerges, “Tell me who’s that writin?” And you’re taken in with some, well, hesitation. This is about to be some blues of a whole different order. He’s starting to preach.

Then a light shines through, and his music beckons you in to his gospel tent. John the Revelator’s church tent. And there he is, up front on a short riser, in your mind’s eye, leaning into an organ, taking you in with a song first recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1930, and later made famous by Son House, and others.

Listen again. That’s Fusco callin out “Who’s that writin?” And it is Son House you hear answering him! Which they lifted from Son House’s original recording.

John Fusco’s album takes the listener on a journey, a deeply engaging adventure through the multi-layered emotions that are the blues, the rhythm that is his blues. And he slips in spiritual references throughout, peppering his original R&B lyrics with subtle – and not-sosubtle - allusions to things that stem from somebody’s bible but are wrapped in southern gospel soul and blues juke joint records.

“Revelator kicks off the album because I had been starting live shows with it, and I would tell my band to think of it as an opening ceremony, setting the right mood and vibe for the performance, for the blues music to come. Casting the spell, I like to call it. In the black gospel church the preachers call it ‘calling in the Holy ghost.’ These Baptist preachers were amazing orators, poets, and mystics, and they’d start with a sermon that warned of the wrath of God. I’ve heard this called the ‘warming up’ sermon.”

“There was this historic church down there, in Beulah, Mississippi, that had been destroyed by a hurricane a few years earlier. A massive tree still lay across the crushed church. Too bad, ‘cause we loved that church.”

“So we talked to the town, we talked to the reverend and said, ‘if our crew rebuilds that church for you - we’ve got this crew of professional construction teams and set designers - can we shoot a scene in there during a live sermon?”

“They loved the idea, so the crew went to work and we went on the road. It was like an Amish barn raising. Our first Sunday back they’re all there - their fire-and-brimstone preacher, the choir, the local worshipers, and we shot a scene where the old man, Willie Brown (played by Joe Seneca) takes my character, Eugene Martone (Ralph Macchio) to share the black gospel experience with him. That was the most meaningful bit in my story, but the studio didn’t get it, and it ended up on the editing room floor.

“But for the rest of my life I feel good that a story I wrote led to a black gospel church being rebuilt and reopened for a community that was kind and generous to me as a teenage runaway with a love for that music.”

“Lot of times they were ‘gravy sermons.’ Call and response that would create a spiritual environment in the gospel churches. Whatever it’s called, it had an unsettling vibe, and it got your attention.”

That’s where John the Revelator comes fromthe opening incantation. His producer called it ‘spooky.’ “Yeah,” John tells me. “It’s meant to be unnerving, to rattle you.”

“And that’s why I wrote a black gospel church scene into ‘Crossroads;’ why it was so important to the movie kid’s blues education.”

The album is wrapped in original art by Bobby Whitlock, who came up playing keyboard for Stax with Sam & Dave, and artists like Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and Don Nix before he left Memphis to team up with Delany & Bonnie and Derek & the Dominoes, and then went solo.

It captures the essence of the opening track and is a visual foundation for the Revelator’s revelations; graphic reflections like a view down the aisle between rows of folding chairs in a country church tent with enough stained glass windows to cast a blue glow back at you,

“It turned into a real brawl, and I left home”

highlighted by red-ish flames. “The fires of revelation... voodoo flames... a purifying fire,” as John describes it.

The opening of the second track, Baker Man, sounds like the Revelator’s workin to get all the parishioners back in their seats. Then Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing (the album’s other cover) emotes pure gospel rock when he trades lyrics with Risse Norman, a woman with pipes as big

ried man…”. Yeah. And Song for Peter asks us to consider “How did I fall so low...” “… I lost my faith.” But “In the name of the father, son and holy ghost...” and he cites Mathew 29, from the New Testament, which says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Ophelia is a hymn track with just Fusco’s keys and preacher B-3 taking you along. “Hottest

as Sister Rosetta Thorpe’s in her ‘Big Train’. In fact those two songs sound like they’re joined at the hips. Big-legged woman hips.

Bad Dog gets its arms around us with a blues vibe that sits us down in our pew, so we can close our eyes and think about what John’s preachin, “Nobody likes a bad dog, till there’s a trouble at the door….” “…messin with that mar-

Part of the Flame” is one of two tracks where Sarah Morrow brings a shining light into the tent - with her trombone! Maybe not since Ma Rainey has there been a bone in a blues thing. But here it is, and it kills. Another Fusco gem.

“Sarah tugs her big thing into the padded vocal booth, pulls off her shoes, sits down on the floor, and calls me in there. ‘So talk to me about this woman,’ she says. “It’s like, stay away from her,’ I tell her; she’s gonna destroy you... forbidden. The moth to the flame thing. At the end of the day it’s gonna burn you up.

“So Sarah’s in her padded cell, and she tells me, ‘OK, the bone is going to be the mind of this woman, the sirens that call this guy off the highway...’.” And she teases him in with muffled strokes before he’s torched by Cody Dickinson’s hot guitar licks.”

Fusco describes the two-disc album as a combination of spontaneous blues and more singer-songwriter ballads. Throughout, his key’s sing from a Hammond B-3 and his seasoned vocals leave no doubt you’ve come to the right place.

All this from a guy from Vermont who earned a master’s degree from New York University, a black sash in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, crossed Central Mongolia on horseback with his son, has written numerous movies, television shows and books and was just named True Western Magazine’lj s Westerner of the Year.

But before all that he ran away from home. He was 17 years old.

“I had convinced my father that if he would buy a Hammond organ I would play at weddings and stuff. The reason I left home was I got in a kind of tug-of-war with my old man. ‘He’s saying, when we bought this organ you were supposed to put on white shoes and go play weddings.’ It turned into a real brawl, and I left home.”

“Back then I was into stuff like the Stones, Clapton, the Allman Brothers. What’s behind this stuff, I’m wondering?” So down the rabbit

hole I go, and discover their influences, guys like Elmore James, and Howlin Wolf.”

“The stories behind these guys, these itinerant blues men, fascinated me. I wanted to touch some of this magic. It cast a spell on me.”

So he hops a Greyhound bus and heads down south.

First it’s Daytona Beach, where the Allman Brothers started. One night he’s hanging in a local bar, the Wreck, buys a pitcher of beer (yeah, at 17) and here comes a motor cycle gang. It’s Gregg Allman, who sits in with the band that night, Mama’s Pride (from St. Louis).

“On break, Gregg was hanging out over by the men’s room, he’s pretty high. So I go over and tell him why I was there - looking for the blues. ‘That’s all right man, that’s all right,’ “he says.”

“Then I got in trouble with the law, wound up on the run... took off for New Orleans.” He’s looking for some of that southern soul those rock bands were playing, “digging down into their roots; they all found old blues songs they could rock up and make their own.” He makes just enough coin blowing harp on street corners to feed his own self, then cranks it up again the next evening. And ends up spending nights in a downtown doorway, sleeping it off.

Soon enough he’s on his way up to Mississippi, Clarksdale.

“I’m looking for the spirit of Robert Johnson. I had this kind of soft focused vision that all connected to the crossroads,” he’s telling me.

“Actually, there’s several different versions of the crossroads. Most historians cite the old Dockery Plantation, right where it crosses the old Highway 8. That’s believed to be the real crossroads. And that’s why my “Hottest Part of the Flame” song says “… she lives off the exit

near Dockery and 8...

“Anyway, I came off the road, and wrote this semi-autobiographical story, you know, a white boy searching for the blues in Mississippi.”

“I really love the black gospel church. You get in there with the preacher, and you hear a B-3 hitting those preacher chords, backing his shouting... it opens your soul up. Like they say, you can hear the voice of God in the organ.”

His gospel instincts resonate with blues roots... many blues legends started out singing in gospel churches and established a monumental foundation for their emerging blues: BB King, Muddy Waters, Bukka White, Memphis Minnie, Charley Patton and many, many more.

And James Brown, who’s music built on the gospel roots he discovered in his local black church, which must be why he’s so damned good as Reverend Cleophus James in the Blues Brothers movie. Jake and Elwood were already on “a mission from God.”

“I said, can you see the light?” That’s James Brown’s character in the Blues Brothers movie, the Rev, shouting out to his gospel worshipers. Joliet Jake Blues does. “I have seen the light... The band...”

Fusco’s got a band, and they’re all wrapped up in these spirits, and like Jim Dickinson wrote, “(They’re) not gone, (they’re) just dead.”

Couple of years ago he’s back in New Orleans; this time they’re shooting his screenplay, “The Highwaymen,” for another feature movie.

“You know, John,” I’m saying, “I hear this story about going from sleeping in a doorway to staying at the Four Seasons... that’s a hell of a metaphor…”

“It really is,” he responds, “I’m thinking I can’t believe I’m back here in New Orleans, shooting a movie. I was homeless there, back then. Now I’m on a movie set, and they give you an envelope every day with some cash in it, the per diem, for your spending money. So that first weekend I walked around all those areas I remembered where I struggled, where I played street music, where I slept in doorways – I actually found one I slept in - and I handed out money, to the homeless folks there.

“I’d been out of music for a while. Being back in New Orleans re-ignited it for me. Getting back to all those blues joints...

“Talk about full circle. That was really what came out in the album. Many of the songs are about circling back to lost dreams. Like going back to the Crossroads and taking the turn I didn’t take way back then, and pursuing the music dream.”

And he did. And is. Ain’t nothin like the blues!

THE BIG

BLUES REVIEWS GUIDE

JOANNA CONNOR

4801 SOUTH INDIANA AVENUE

KTBA Records

This is Joanna Connor’s fourteenth album. It follows on from her highly acclaimed release Rise. Here she has got in tow with producer and acclaimed guitarist Joe Bonamassa. He assembled the stellar band for Joanna that has Josh Smith on guitar throughout. Her version of Josh’s It’s My Time, the finale;is spoken by Joanna with a slide duet with Joe that is mesmeric. The album was recorded in Ocean Way Recording Studios in Nashville, but is full of Chicago flavours. Other band members include Reese Wynans

on keyboards, Calvin Turner on bass and Lemar Carter on drums. There is a fantastic horn section, especially noted on Trouble Trouble. All ten tracks are reinterpreted with edginess, class and passion. Destination, cuts the scene with incendiary guitar playing and thumping drums, an old Assassins Band song with added vocals from Jimmy Hall. Come Back Home, is full on keyboard melting under Joanna’s powerful vocal. The haunting tones bring new dynamics to Luther Allison’s Bad News, a blues classic.

I Feel So Good is a boogie tune. Albert King’s, For The Love Of A Man has a wonderful groove to it. Hound Dog Taylor’s Please Help gets the full treatment. Cut You Loose is a wall of sound, Joanna’s vocals are stunning. Part Time Love oozes style. Always loved Joanna’s guitar playing and vocals, here she brings everything of herself with depth of feeling. Her best album to date, raw, pure and traditional blues.

COLIN CAMPBELL

“here she brings everything of herself with depth of feeling - her best album to date”

DARRELL SCOTT

JAROSO

Full Light Records

Darrell Scott might be a new name for many blues fans but this is a true titan in the world of modern US roots and Americana music. For many years now, Scott has been an award-winning singer-songwriter with an astonishing power and presence. His fretwork is never short of jaw-dropping and his writing abilities have made him a go-to Nashville musician. I remember catching him on his first visit and tour of the UK many years ago where I was simply blown away by his wonderful rhythmic delivery and strength of purpose. Now, many years later, Jaroso captures a live performance in a small, intimate adobe church

venue on the Colorado/New Mexico border. As expected, it features his sterling song-writing alongside a few older, well-known classics like A Satisfied Mind featuring Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller and our own rock-god, Robert Plant. After listening to this guy for a few decades now, and having most of his work to hand, I must say that I was initially unconvinced by this album which seemed to lack some of the sheer pleasure found in previous material. However, after a few spins, my view changed and I consider this to be as good as anything Scott has delivered to date. A slow-burner, Jaroso positively merits discovery and is indeed a real worthy addition to this monster-muscian’s catalogue.

IAIN PATIENCE

“As expected, it features his sterling song-writing alongside a few older, wellknown classics”

PICTURE: Maryam Wilcher

ORIANTHI “O”

Frontiers Music

This is Orianthi’s first solo release for six years. Here on her release simply entitled “O” she unleashes a pile driving album with her band consisting of, Evan Frederiksen on bass and Marti Frederiksen on percussion. Ten storming tracks, start with, Contagious, which shows a unique sound and groove, as on every track. Sinner’s Hymn starts softly to a wild crescendo; she displays her virtuoso guitar work to thrashing drums, ethereal backing makes this song a stand out and crowd pleaser. Rescue Me, slows the tone right down, there’s blues here alright, with a good groove and a looping chorus, harmonica tones noted. Blow, has tones of Jimmy Page at his best on a more soft rock approach. Sorry, is in a similar vein but musically seems more commercial. Crawling Out Of The Dark is sung with deep emotion, a slow acoustic tune, a real highlight with a smooth blues guitar solo adding to the texture. Impulsive, has bluesy soul tones with a big chorus made for a big stage. Streams Of Consciousness, has synthesisers and guitars colliding; a lot of layers to this one.

BILLY WALTON BAND

DARK HOUR

Harmonized Records

Company, has an interesting percussion mix and is totally different, more experimental, it builds up well with a steady beat. Last track, Moonwalker mixes strong vocals with pleasing guitar riffs, to give an atmospheric soundscape. Music here to please most music pallets, a great mix of songs by a talented artist on the rise, play loud and enjoy!

COLIN CAMPBELL

(make sure you check out our interview with Orianthi on page 60)

Album number five from the Billy Walton Band and it’s a hard driving set of blues rock. It is largely self-composed bar a couple of covers which we will come to later. This is certainly the place for you if you like plenty of riffs as Mr. Walton is a dab hand at knocking them out. His voice does not have the biggest range, but he growls away in fine Michael Katon style. Throw in some excellent guitar solos and this was a record I really enjoyed. It is mainly straight down the middle blues rock although he does throw a couple of acoustic and soulful moments to save you wearying from the onslaught. But as someone who likes plenty of rock, songs like Long Slow Descent are right up my street. It has got my favourite riff on the whole record and throws in some tasty keyboard licks for good measure. In fact, when the Hammond organ pops in it really adds some great texture to already good songs. The slow blues meets soul of Can’t Love No One is another song where the organ shines. But it is the rock that kept me interested and there is another stormer in the shape of Goldmine which just blasts out of the speakers. The two covers mentioned earlier come near the end of the twelve-track album and they could not be more different. A horn and backing vocals enhanced take on Cold Day In Hell from the late Gary Moore is a real treat. It does not stray too far from the original but has a couple of wee tweaks in the arrangement that show what a talented musician Billy Walton is. Then he takes on Cortez The Killer from Neil Young. It is a song I have always loathed, and nothing here changes my opinion on that. That aside, this is an excellent set of blues rock with enough light and shade to hold your attention from beginning to end.

STUART A HAMILTON

“a great mix of songs by a talented artist on the rise, play loud and enjoy!”

“the place for you if you like plenty of riffs”

HOLY MOLY AND THE CRACKERS LIVE IN EUROPE 2020 Pink Lane Records

From quirky, gypsy folksy compositions and Balkan traditions to the fire and intensity of soul, blues, indie rock, and jazz played with infectious, irresistible punk energy, these brilliant, eclectic musicians were born to entertain with a vengeance. This incendiary live set was recorded at the beginning of the band’s European tour before coronavirus struck and the concerts were cancelled.

Charismatic co-founder, singer and guitarist Conrad Bird sets the scene with powerful, gritty, bluesdrenched vocals on the funk-driven, foot stomping Sugar. For a new audience this is an unexpected theatrical performance enhanced by a Chenier-vibe accordion background wash. The pace ramps up even further with All I Got Is You, once again featuring the squeezebox wizardry of Rosie Bristow and the finger blurring violin fretwork of Ruth Patterson. Given the band’s American roots and blues influences combined with Rosie’s knowledge of rag-time piano, it is not surprising that Gravel Rag was conceived and interpreted as an excuse for dirty dancing and hard partying: its mesmeric bad-ass blues hooks and riffs are the perfect platform for Patterson to shred her strings Jimi Hendrix style. Bristow’s melodious instrumental River Neva brings a Russian dimension with its jigs and Cossack dancing rhythms leading to a fast and furious climax.

The barnstorming, mega Hollywood hit single Cold Comfort Lane courtesy of Ocean’s 8 soundtrack raises the temperature even higher, the audience now verging on the hysterical. Devil And The Danube from the band’s debut album nearly a decade ago is a nod to the Robert Johnson legend, Conrad and Ruth taking turns to communicate the narrative with style and panache. The hard rocking 2020 single Road To You makes its live debut and proves to be a sensational showstopper. Sadly, all parties have to end, this one with Whiskey Ain’t No Good, sung by special guest Rob Heron, leader of the Tea Pad Orchestra.

THE BISHOP

ANDREW RIVERSTONE ANDREW RIVERSTONE

Atlantic Highway Records

Despite the authentic American look on his album cover, and the authentic American sound of his voice, Andrew Riverstone is from Devon, and moved to London to forge a career as a session guitarist. This is his fourth album, and unsurprisingly with experience of recording three previous sets, and a successful live touring career, he arrives on this collection with his musicianship to the fore. Riverstone plays everything on this record, including keyboards, bass and percussion as well as guitar. The addition of percussion raises the overall album sound from the basic guitarist / vocalist sound, and adds some nice bounce and colour to Sunny Monday. The sleeve notes advise influences as diverse as Peter Green, Jimmy Page, JJ Cale and Tom Petty, and they shine through on the distorted vocal and guitar combination that backs Guitar Solo And Other Sins that suddenly changes tempo and tack part-way through, and then back again. In the absence of a producer credit, I’m assuming that Andrew Riverstone has done his own production, and he has made an excellent job of it. All the instrumentation is played with skill and verve, and the guitar solos, especially on When The Wind Changes, are uniformly excellent. Lyrically, Riverstone is as agile a wordsmith as he is a musician, One Foot In The Bucket shines with its clever storyline and understated guitar lines. Embers And Endless Sky is a driving instrumental with fabulous lead guitar work on it. It’s a short selection – just nine tracks, but the purchase price for this, and the other albums released previously means it represents excellent value for money. Not surprisingly, the website shows this autumn’s live dates destroyed by Covid, here’s hoping that 2021 brings Mr Riverstone back to live shows where he clearly belongs. And hoping even more that he’ll venture a little further north from his southern base, so I can get to one of his shows. Something to look forward to.

“All the instrumentation is played with skill and verve”

DOM PIPKIN C’MON SUNSHINE Hambone Recordings

The instruments that Dom Pipkin uses are minimalist, but he gets a lot of feeling out of his piano and vocals. With a sound that takes from the stride and ragtime traditions, with elements of jazz, blues, ambient classical and New Orleans style the fourteen tracks, a mixture of songs and atmospheric instrumentals take the listener on an aural journey. Proceedings start with the rolling exhortations of the title track, C’mon Sunshine, with its spirited vocals, and borrowings from George Gershwin. At the same time, Only Love is a half time shuffle with a vocal that extolls the virtues of a good relationship. The Filthy Tropics is a detailed, atmospheric piano reverie. Heading South is a Bluesy complaint, full of jazz chords, and lively piano rolls. The Lonely Plains

TERMINAL STATION

BROTHERHOOD

Hard Rain

Based on the west coast of Canada in Vancouver BC from what I can gather Terminal Station has been playing together for around twenty years and it shows. They are tight, creating a big Rock Blues sound but with other influences sneaking in as well. So you might be taking a rolling gait along to the Little Feat(ish) Chicago Calling or the twin guitar feel of Dickey and Duane on One More Bottle whilst Poor Lightnin’ starts like a cross between Three Dog Night’s Mama Told Me Not To Come and CCR’s Run

is a piece that brings to mind Scott Joplin, with its gentle folk-based melody and changes in mood and tempo. Just Like Me takes a John Lee Hooker groove and transfers it to the piano, and Take the Whole is a dramatic tale of love gone wrong. No Fishing is a tone poem of a piece, filigree piano and contrapuntal accompaniment to the fore, the type of sound so beloved of television production companies making a cerebral crime drama. The closing track, Ma Grandma is a gently rolling piece, technically one of the more straightforward sounding tunes on the album, but a great way to finish an album of this nature. Although some variety and other instruments would have added to the listener’s experience, particularly on the more upbeat pieces, there is still much to admire on this album, heavy on the piano virtuosity and characterful vocals.

BEN MACNAIR

Through The Jungle. Do not get the idea that these guys are copyists as mostly all artists draw from what has gone previously before moulding their own groove, So this four piece strut along very nicely indeed on twelve original tracks. I like the way the album builds up the tempo over the first five cuts before taking it down a bit on If You Don’t Know Me Now then cranking it up again. Pacing is all important both when playing live and also when sequencing an album and these guys have nailed the latter. Production is clean with the band clearly defined. Vocals soar leaving plenty of space for the instruments to solo or support the whole.

This is Blues for the twenty first century. Not afraid to acknowledge the past, draw from, move things forward, groove and have fun along the way and very welcome that is. Quality is an oft used word and for sure, in my opinion, this oozes that from the off. Guess you will be able tell I like this album and there’s nothing wrong with that.

GRAEME SCOTT

“heavy on the piano virtuosity and characterful vocals”

“Vocals soar leaving plenty of space for the instruments to solo or support the whole”

VARIOUS ARTISTS

IF I HAVE TO WRECK LA – KENT AND MODERN RECORDS BLUES INTO THE 60S VOL 2

Ace

Volume 1 of this series appeared earlier this year under the title, Dirty Work Going Down drawn from one of the songs included, as is the case here. The two sets contain detailed notes on the music by Dick Shurman and there are no overlaps in performers between the two sets though here the main artists are less well-known. Don’t let that put you off because there is some good stuff here, much of it remaining unreleased at the time as interest in blues faded away in favour of rock and funk. Just four of the 24 tracks here were released by Kent though several were picked up and released by Japanese label P-Vine in the late 90’s; for instance, five of Willie Headen’s eight tracks are seeing the light of day for the first time, including title track If I Have To Wreck LA which appears in two versions, the later take sounding much more ‘polished’. Vocalist Willie is heard to advantage on tracks like the driving Hey Baby and Baby You’re Wrong which could easily have been a vehicle for BB King; the impressive guitar work is thought to be Arthur Wright. Long Gone Miles started out with Lightnin’ Hopkins in the 50’s but here he is accompanied by a West Coast ensemble featuring George ‘Harmonica’ Smith, including the reluctant draftee’s lament War Time Blues, Tampa Red’s Play With Your Poodle and the Hopkins style boogie Gotta Find My Baby. The other two main artists here were both harp players as well as singers and operated under multiple aliases during their careers: Willie Garland gives us a Jimmy Reed style Address In My Hand and an original instrumental entitled Soul Blues and we get both sides of a Model T Slim 1968 single produced by the Bromberg brothers. Add in a track apiece from Big Mama Thornton, Lowell Fulson and Smokey Wilson and you have an attractive CD for fans of authentic blues.

DUKE ROBILLARD & FRIENDS

BLUES BASH

Stony Plain Records

Roomful Of Blues founder and former Fabulous Thunderbird Duke Robillard is now an elder statesman of the blues. You know the level of quality to expect and he does not disappoint on this excellent new release. Swinging into action with Do You Mean It featuring guest vocalist Chris Cote and the whole band ripping up a storm. No Time follows, a more laid-back Chicago Blues, Duke excelling on vocal, superbly supported by Mark Hummel’s harp.

The band hit the swing again with What Can I Do. A super tight brass section to the fore and the rhythm department nailing it all down. Bruce Bears adds tasty little lines throughout Everybody Ain’t Your Friend while Duke picks out the guitar runs to perfection. The instrumental Rock Alley gives the piano and sax front seats, and the guys excel.

Then it’s You Played On My Piano with Michelle Willson on slightly risqué lyrics, it is a fun song. The pace picks back up with Ain’t Gonna Do It, Duke again showing his vocal chops, and rolling piano from Mark Braun. Give Me All The Love You Got has that urban blues beat going on pushed along by drummer

Mark Teixeira and with Duke displaying more guitar highlights. The album climaxes with the ten-minute opus Just Chillin’. Real late night jazz club, blues bar fare. All in all, another high quality release from Duke Robillard that I’m sure long time fans will adore and a pretty good starting point if you haven’t already got any Duke in your collection.

JOHN MITCHELL

“long time fans will adore and a pretty good starting point if you haven’t already got any Duke in your collection”

PETER VETESKA & BLUES TRAIN

GRASS AIN’T GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE

Independent

I first came across this band about three years ago when I first started writing for BM. Straight away I knew that they would be a force to be reckoned with. This new album is blues personified. Am I Wrong Pretty Baby is a wonderful opening track. The first note of the blues harp wails at you signaling the rest of the band to join in and hit with blues en-masse. Surrounded by familiar faces and a few special guests, Peter V engulfs you in the blues from the get-go. Baby You’ve Got What It Takes, originally done by Brooke Benton and Dinah Washington, gets the royal blues treatment courtesy of Peter V and the amazing Jen Barnes. The two voices combine so well on this track, that oozes blues from every pore. The progression from this band is easy for all to see, and with this new album I think that they deliver in

ANDY COHEN TRYIN’

TO GET HOME

Earwig Music Company Inc.

spades as a bonafide blues band in every sense of the word. I’ve Been Missing You, is a stripped bare acoustic tune that is almost like a gift from the blues god’s. Mikey Junior plays a mean blues harp alongside gentle percussion and lovely acoustic guitar. Add to that, beautiful piano work from Jeff Levine, and you have a brilliant blues lament. Learning The Blues tends to lean slightly towards jazz. That’s not a complaint just an observation. The vocals and lyrics lean towards jazz, but musically it’s steeped in the blues. A perfect combination. Another cover on this album is Heartbreaker, which was originally recorded by Ray Charles and written by Ahmet Ertegun. It takes a brave man to cover a Ray Charles classic but Peter V meets it head-on and with such aplomb. Grass Ain’t Greener On The Other Side concludes this fine blues album. It’s been an immense pleasure to listen to it. Every blues lover should have this in their collection.

STEPHEN HARRISON

You shouldn’t judge an album by its cover, as the old saying goes, but looking at the image on the front of this album, it’s absolutely a case of, what you see is what you get. Which is a gentleman of a certain vintage with a guitar, also of a certain vintage, and the recording inside is the sounds of what the two of them together produce. Simply put, Andy Cohen is a living breathing, and singing and playing, encyclopaedia of vintage blues music. Throughout his life, he has collected songs from old blues masters and lovingly maintained them by playing them in concert and at festivals, and on recordings like this one. You’d fully expect a respectful curator and collector like Mr Cohen to reproduce such venerable pieces with a complete absence of polish and shine, and you won’t be disappointed. The guitar work, although highly superior in technique, is there simply to underpin the gruff and venerable vocal, telling blues tales from generations ago to a new and curious audience. The song Riley And Spencer addresses a fundamental aspect of blues, the tragic absence of whiskey availability, side-tracking into a lost romance om the way. Bad Dream Blues was written by the late Dave Van Ronk a stalwart of the American folk revival in the 1960’s, and it retains all the raw emotion and power of the original. But to add a little levity, Andy Cohen adds his own light-hearted homage to, ah, “recreational” smoking materials, complete with some breathtakingly complex guitar accompaniment. As is often the case, a collection like this can introduce newcomers to vintage blues and vintage blues musicians. A perfect example is Talkin’ Casey by Mississippi John Hurt, the gruff spoken words and the plucked and slide guitar underneath it, this is as near to the real thing as makes no difference. There are a generous seventeen tracks on this album, with genuine historic blues songs interspersed with Andy Cohen’s cheerful throwaway interludes, it’s a great introduction to the music of a genuine blues songs collector and some of the heroes, for him and us.

ANDY HUGHES

“Every blues lover should have this in their collection”

MEDICINE HEAD

NEW BOTTLES OLD MEDICINE 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Cherry Red Records

It was an honour for me to review the 50th Anniversary Edition of New Bottles Old Medicine. It is not often that I am brought to a standstill, struggling to get the words out as raw emotion takes over, but this is indeed what happened. This album has a quiet power which has not diminished over the 50 years since it was first released. The Anniversary Edition contains the original album, which was released in November 1970, a second disc that provides a rich colourful background of the time, as well as a booklet with a dedication by Brian R Banks that guides us through the history of the band. Included in the booklet are stunning photographs that capture the spirit of an era with slightly yellowing prints of soulful men with outrageous hair. Also included in the booklet are the lyrics for the original album and these show a reverent and poetic approach to the duo’s musical storytelling. John Fiddler and Peter Hope-Evans are true musicians that wrote the originals from this album from their very core and were able to bring the songs to vibrant life using at times subpar instruments. The prayer-like quality of Fiddlers voice blends beautifully with the acoustic backing in tracks like His Guiding Hand, which was one of John Peel’s “most treasured records”. Whilst not all the album is strictly The Blues, the interweaving tracks of rock and folk ballads provide an exquisitely balanced experience. However, there is still a solid true Blues contribution represented in songs such as the Son House classic Walking Blues. This whole of this album is truly greater than merely the sum of its parts and had iconic early supporters such as John Lennon and Eric Clapton. This album is a sweet reminder of a much more innocent past where music lifted love, open roads and free spirits. However, it should not only be viewed as a nod to nostalgia, the message is still as true today as when it was first written.

PHIL MANCA

DANCING SPIRITS

Tremolo Productions

The guitars go up to eleven on this album of ten tracks that range from the heaviest of rock to mellower slower moments. The guitar virtuoso, backing vocalist and songwriter Phil Manca has bought a talented cast of musicians to bring his songs to life, with Josselin Jobard on vocals, drummer Eric Latent and David Jacobs on bass. The tracks range from the heavy blues riff rocking of opening track Crying for Freedom, with its harmonised guitar passages and spirited vocals. The title track, Dancing Spirit takes from Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir and AC/DC in general to create a new track, and Talia, a love song, takes in the heaviest of guitar tones, and some very tight, driving bass and drum parts. Betty Blue is a blues ballad, the type that Gary Moore used to do so well, all emotional, crying lead guitar, Sea of Stone is a rock blues song with a slower rhythm, but which shows another side to the band’s sound, with Manca sounding like a more reserved Jeff Beck at times. Mask

of Snow is a gentle acoustic ballad, and All Around the World is an original song which quotes heavily from Grits Ain’t Groceries. Got to Know is a classic 70’s influenced stomp, bringing to mind bands such as Aerosmith. Someone Cares for Me is the stand out blues track on the album, quoting Need Your Love so Bad extensively, and the album closer Motorhead Baby is a lively stomping song, owing as much to the glam rock bands of the seventies as it does to any blues band, even though it has inspired tuneful harmony guitar moments throughout. This is an album that is for rock fans, with a leaning towards the blues, the performances are all of a uniformly high standard, and it is an album that the group can take a lot of pride in.

BEN MACNAIR

DIANNE DODSWORTH

“the performances are all of a uniformly high standard”

“an exquisitely balanced experience”

ROWLAND JONES ROWLAND JONES LIVE Independent

An album from a UK blues picker that comes as a surprising delight in many ways, ‘Rowland Jones Live’ is an eleven-track pleasure. Jones writes his own material, and it holds up well with nice lyrical flourishes as he roams loosely across the usual blues bases of love, loss, heartache, pain, and hope.

Jones’ fretwork is solid, always melodic, and nicely paced here. Having seen Jones perform a live set in England in the recent past, I know he can more than hack it, with an assured delivery that never fails to grab a listener’s attention. He comes from that oldschool blues tradition where roots music remains King and the music itself has an importance that can

JEREMIAH JOHNSON

UNEMPLOYED HIGHLY ANNOYED Ruf Records

This is the second album this year from multi-talented blues and roots rocker and is his best yet. This deals with the theme of the Covid 19 pandemic. Eight striking tunes with a familiar nod to Southern-style musicality. Starting with the visceral tones of Burn Down The Garden, this is a truly organic album. Muddy Black Water is a haunting powerful tune, his vocals rise with the rhythm section. Cherry Red Wine is a wonderful

too easily be lost in a flurry of self-important, selfindulgence and loud, competing turmoil. That Jones readily avoids that trap is a credit to his own ability and confidence, with some instantly engaging jazzyswing chording echoing through the mix and rolling steadily through the tracks. ‘Rowland Jones Live’ is an album that will immediately and easily appeal to lovers of genuinely good quality modern blues with a traditional touch and feel.

And make no mistake, this guy hits it hard but with a deft, light touch when needed. Easily an album well worth discovering from a solid, experienced blues journeyman who knows exactly what he is doing with the music.

IAIN PATIENCE

reinterpretation of Luther Allison’s tune. Some venomous guitar licks here mix with the lyrics, a blues song for this generation. Daddy Is Going Out Tonight, has a country tinge adding to the musical variation and effortless guitar work. Title track, Unemployed Highly Annoyed tells it how it is and desperation about the lockdown rules and regulations and losing civil liberty.

There’s a groove to this that bites, “you can’t call it freedom if you haven’t a choice” being the message of a very powerful song. Different Plan For Me is a plea from the heart a perfect blues song about facing unemployment. Love And Sympathy again relates to keeping his sanity in his family relationship. Rock N’ Roll For The Soul epitomizes every music lover’s desire to see and hear live music again.

The listener can relate to every lyric on this album, the band sucks you in from the start and there is no release from the honesty here. A stunning masterpiece, a testament to these troubled times.

COLIN CAMPBELL

“an album that will immediately and easily appeal to lovers of genuinely good quality modern blues”

“The listener can relate to every lyric on this album”

CLAUDE BOURBON

HOME COOKED Independent

Monsieur Bourbon is an International troubadour (actually Swiss/French) and seasoned performer at all the big festivals who utilises many influences in his music, namely, flamenco, Latin, classical, gypsy jazz, medieval, Eastern, folk and, hurrah, blues.

All this is achieved with just his trusty Gibson acoustic guitar which travels everywhere with him. Opening track Take It To Heart is a gently rolling slice of Americana which reminds me of J J Cale’s back porch approach. Nice one. Most of the material is original with a few choice covers. Roads is a gentle half-spoken paean to life as a wandering minstrel looking for the next place to lay his weary head. A flamenco flourish introduces Troubled which is a lovely finger picked instrumental. Aha!

SHAUN MURPHY FLAME STILL BURNS

Vision Wall Records

This is Shaun’s eighth studio album, fourteen tracks of traditional and contemporary blues tunes. Her vocal caliber and history is the stuff of folklore, be it her own band, or as Little Feat singer, and vocalist with Bob Seger and Eric Clapton. The band is, Tommy Stillwell and Ken Cramer on guitars. Rhythm section, John Marcus on bass, and Tom Del Rossi on drums. Eric Robert plays Hammond B3 organ and Kevin McKendree plays the piano.

The opener, Leon Russell’s Living In The Palace Of The King is stunning. Big Momma Thornton’s Sweet Little Angel is a band showpiece. Willie Dixon’s I Can’t Quit You, is delivered strongly. The Elmore James classic, Cry For Me Baby is full-on emotion. Little By Little, Junior Wells cover is well toned. Denise LaSalle’s, Man-Sized Job is big and bold. Stay With Me, a cover of Jerry Ragovoy hits the mark. Contemporary is brought via Soul Shaker, sung by

Next up is a version of the much covered J J Cale classic Same Old Blues. Bird Song is a fittingly pretty light fingered instrumental and Davey’s Farm has a classical feel. His guitar playing is, versatile, dextrous and fluid and his vocals are pleasing.

Last Train To Arkansas is an infectious bluesy tale of murder and a man on the run. Plaisir D’amour is a classical piece with a familiar tune (a certain Mr Presley used it for I Can’t Help Falling In Love). Closing track is a cover of Reverend Gary Davis’ classic Death Don’t Have No Mercy.

It’s a long time since I saw Claude in concert so this album fills the gap nicely.

Shaun and Tommy homage to Delaney and Bonnie. The rocking tones of Love Me Like A Man a take on Chris Smother’s tune is direct and true. Huge highlight is Shaun’s take of Greg Allman’s It’s Not My Cross To Bear, just gorgeous vocally. Bob Seger’s Ain’t Got No Money has a humorous vibe. Old Love, by Clapton and Cray, is a great interpretation. Am I Losing You, the Cate Brothers song is brilliant.

The final song is Charlie Rich’s, Don’t Put No Headstone On My Grave a true blues winner. A compelling compendium of well-crafted blues songs.

COLIN CAMPBELL

DAVE DRURY

“A compelling compendium of well-crafted blues songs”

“His guitar playing is, versatile, dextrous and fluid and his vocals are pleasing”

Photo by Melissa DelRossi

NINE BELOW ZERO LIVE AT ROCKPALAST 1981 & 1996 Made In Germany Music

It’s hard to believe that this band has been around for 43 years. They formed in 1977 as a pub rock band and have blossomed ever since. They are famous for their original material and also for their brilliant covers in their live set. This 3 CD and 2 DVD box-set is testament to that. Nine Below Zero took their name from a song by Sonny Boy Williamson II. A mixture of rock and blues are at the very heart of their recordings and wonderful live gigs. This particular box set was recorded at open-air festivals in Germany in 1981 and 1996.

Don’t Point Your Finger

At The Guitar Man is the first track and it’s appropriate because this is the first tune that they recorded. Straight in your face hard R n B with the harp blowing as the major instrument. Mark Feltham is a proper harp player in every sense of the word, but that together with the guitar of Dennis Greaves and you have some serious playing going on.

MIG90042_NineBelowZero_LiveAtRockpalast1981&1996_CD3_Label.indd

for one minute that these guys are a one-trick pony. The rest of the band can play rock/blues with the best of em. Ridin’ On The L & N is blues at its unparalleled best. There is something about the blues and trains that makes them fit so well together. The band hit their stride here blowing and wailing the blues at such a blistering pace. What did strike me about this band, having had the pleasure of seeing them play live many years ago, is their boundless energy. Straight from one song into another. Then, we have Helen. A much softer almost middle of the road type of tune, highlighting the dexterity that the band has. Sugar Mama delves deep into the blues. This is a brilliant version of the classic originally done by Howlin’ Wolf. Harp and guitar merge to make this Wolf classic such a marvelous tribute to a blues icon. Another cover that I certainly wasn’t expecting is Rockin’ Robin. You may remember that The Jackson Five did a version of this in the early 70s. But, the original version was recorded by Bobby Day in 1957. This version is better than both of the aforementioned ones.

Nine

True Love Is A Crime, continues in much the same vein. What is very obvious with Nine Below Zero is that the harp is the primary instrument of many of their songs. This is somewhat unusual. Of course, the

MIG90042_NineBelowZero_LiveAtRockpalast1981&1996_CD1_Label.indd

CD 2 fasts forward to the 1996 gig. Joining the band are a few guests, including Robbie McIntosh and Brian Robertson. This CD has more of the covers that Nine Below Zero does so well.

On The Road

harp has always been and always will be a major part of the blues, but with this band, it’s even more prominent than the guitar. But don’t think

Again, done in 1968 by Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker, is brilliantly done here. The harp of Mark Feltham and the gravelly vocals of Dennis Greaves are so good. Tattoo’d Lady and Mewssin’ With The Kid are just two more examples of how good this band is. Taking their name from a Sonny Boy Williamson tune, the guy’s produce a storming version of the great man’s Don’t Start Me Talkin’ Simply magnificent. This box set of 3 CDs and 2 DVDs is a must for anyone’s collection. Trust me.

STEPHEN HARRISON

“There is something about the blues and trains that makes them fit so well together”

ERIN HARPE

MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE Vizztone

This is the sixth release from Erin in the blues genre. Meet Me In The Middle is a collection of 10 finger picking old style blues songs, four of which were written by Erin and the others are either traditional or written by Blues artists from the past. Erin is a master of finger-picking blues, having been taught by her father Neil Harpe, also a blues artist. She lists John Cephas & Phil Wiggins amongst her tutors. The ease with which she plays the blues on this recording is clear from the start. The opening track, All Night Long, is a great example of her bluesy slide guitarwork. There is no double entendre as Erin suggests various nocturnal activities. (The laughter at the end of the track implies that these might already have commenced.) Hard Luck Woman could well have been written in the twenties but is just another example of Erin “working the blues”. The title track Meet Me In The Middle is a collection of antonyms, representing opposite characteristics, a problem to which Erin cleverly offers the solution, in the form of the song title. This is a clever, yet simple tune. The track Women Be Wise is credited to Sippie Wallace, who was born Nov 1st, 1898 and was active on the blues scene until her death in 1986. (A staggering 68 years as a performer!) Erin does a great version of the song and includes that marmite of an instrument, the kazoo, which adds a touch of authenticity to the proceedings. The whole album has a feel of authentic blues, which is further enhanced by the inclusion of a cheeky Memphis Minnie song. My favourite on the album is Rollin’ & Tumblin’. Erin somehow manages to infuse this much played (and loved) number with a spirit of freshness and a bit of joie de vivre, which is what we desperately need at the moment. I really enjoyed all 10 tracks. Thank you, Erin, and partner, on bass, John Countryman.

SOLOMAN COLE BAND

BRUISES

Independent

I heard of this act last year from a cousin in New Zealand and now I get to review their debut album. Plain simple cover with pic of the band of four (2 male, 2 Female), ten tracks. Ten powerful voodoo drenched blues / rock tracks make no mistake. For a debut album they’ve hit the ground running and stomping, moody, soaring, spellbinding.

Great hooks and rhythms, harmonies, and fine soloing with some stinging guitar and fine slide all backed by a chunky rhythm on bass and drums and topped with doses of fine singing (you can read more about them in our BLUE BLOOD section). Opening with Ring Your Bell that strides in and grabbing you from the off with repeated hook that bursts in and out you have a full sound and alternating vocal, you know this album is going to be special! After that you’d think they’d give you a break but no, the intro to Shiver teases you into it’s spell, the vocals weave and the pulse is unforgiving with fine soloing. The

title track, Bruises has some haunting, subdued slide and you feel the repeated guitar building the spoken lyric holds it back before it begins to stomp and you know it is going to let go and still it builds and builds, atmosphere is bursting but they hold on, phew, a fine track. Lazy Boy full of hooks and that wormy riff that gets stuck in your head!. Little Sister romps along with nice mid interlude. Often you find an album will have a track or more that doesn’t bother you but be prepared to be bothered by all these ten super ones here.

This band are going to be burning up the stages at many gigs and festivals!

ALAN PEARCE

STEVE BANKS

“a spirit of freshness and a bit of joie de vivre”

“Ten powerful voodoo drenched blues/rock tracks, make no mistake”

LARKIN POE KINDRED SPIRITS Tricki-Woo Records

US-based duo Larkin Poe deliver a covers album with a twist as the Lovell sisters rework an eclectic mix of rock and blues anthems. Looking down the track listing you may be surprised to find songs originating from both hip-hop artist Post Malone and blues legend Robert Johnson on the same record. Of course, this is an unlikely mix, but I digress. At just 30 seconds in duration, a cover of Hellhound On My Trail by Robert Johnson is the perfect introduction to this unique blues album. On the other hand, you would never think that a stripped back arrangement would work for a recording of Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz, but it does, and it is stunning. The duo reimagines the Neil Young classic Rockin’ In The Free World and make it their own. Gone are Young’s crunchy distorted riffs and rock tempo, but this incarnation is a lot slower with folky undertones and a sublime slide guitar solo. Now when I saw the anthemic In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins on the track listing, I immediately wondered how the pair were going to pull this one off in this format. All I

RICHARD TOWNEND

LIVE IN MOSCOW

The Recording Booth

could think about was those powerful drum parts. But rather than trying to replicate the track like for like, they put their own stamp on it, to great effect. Larkin Poe’s cover of Nights In White Satin by the Moody Blues is one of the standout tracks of the album. The vocal harmonies are spellbinding, whilst the guitar interplay sitting just beneath them is intoxicating. With blues standard Who Do You Love by Bo Diddley, southern rock anthem Ramblin’ Man by the Allman Brothers Band and a magical rendition of Bell Bottom Blues by Derek and the Dominoes, Larkin Poe grapple with the greats and do these timeless hits justice. Throughout the eleven-song album, both the track selection and the arrangements are exquisite. With Kindred Spirits Larkin Poe have proven that they are not afraid to push the boundaries of blues into new territories, their talents know no limits. ADAM

Like a lot of musicians at the moment Richard Townend has taken a look back at previous recordings, fun gigs in far off places and a catalogue of songs that he identifies with and decided that Live in Moscow is the gig he wants to release as a live album of his music. If you like your albums live and raw then this is for you! With the introduction to the audience of the band and Richard in Russian, this is as authentic live as you are going to get. Sounding much like it’s been recorded in a hall the beauty of the sound is all in the quality of the musicianship, they are the ones who give the depth to the sound here not the acoustics. Personally I prefer my albums a tad more polished in production and sound but for those of you that love raw, live music with accompanying introductions to each song and with a vocal that rather tells stories than sings with great passion or power, then this album will be exactly what you are looking for.17 tracks on the album with all of them written by Mr Townend himself, this for me is a sit and listen album and if you are a fan of Townend and his voice you will, no doubt, recognise some of the songs from previous albums. Like a lot of musicians currently the environment and what we have gone through in 2020, and are still going through, is playing a part in the stories that Townend wants to tell. Just like the other album I reviewed this time around. Walking in the Sun is Townends ode to what is happening to us and the world around us, if a slightly more cheerful version than some I’ve heard! With a country feel to some of the songs Ticket of Life, track 7 for instance, the stand-out for me is The Blues, a sexy sound reminiscent of a bar in New Orleans on a Sunday afternoon, if only we were so lucky. Nothing is going to get you on your feet with this album but if you are looking for something to sit and chill to, an album that will keep you company of an evening, this is it.

JEAN KNAPPITT

“they are not afraid to push the boundaries of blues into new territories”

KERRY KEARNEY

TALES FROM THE PSYCHEDELTA

Highlander Records

Doing reviews for Blues Matters Magazine is a complete joy for a seasoned music lover like me, mostly because I get to hear albums from artists I’ve not listened to before and each new one opens up a whole new world. So, Kerry Kearney, wow. First track opens with Five time Man. If a guitar could sound like a rocket ship going off, this is it, a massive blast of slide without even a count-down, whoosh and we have take off. Twelve blistering new songs from this veteran of the New York blues scene. There’s nostalgia in these tracks of course, but also the present and the future, all mixing like the star cocktail in your favourite blues bar and it goes down lovely. Apart from Kerry there are sixteen musicians named on the album and they are in so much harmony that I was on track eight in what seemed

SAINTS AND SINNERS GOING OVER HOME

Scratchy Records

The blues and gospel are close relatives, both born in hard times when expressing pain with one and asking for redemption with the other were the foundations of the music we loved then, and still love now. This set of songs comes from the collaboration of Spikedrivers and Fran McGillivray & Mike Burke, and it harks back to the early days of both genres. The great thing about blues and gospel is, you do not need to be sad or religious to really enjoy either or both, and in this case, a clever amalgamation. This, paradoxically, is a genuinely joyous collection of songs, the musicianship is understated but perfect for the underpinning of the songs, which is what the musicians wanted to highlight in making the album. The voices are completely individual, and each singer highlights the vocal strengths with their choice of lead vocal. Fran McGillivray’s voice on Here Me Talkin’ To Ya is careworn but feisty, and the light touch with the guitar solo is the proverbial icing. Tackling a genuine diamond-hard classic like

like the blink of an eye. I won’t name them as they will take up all the review but when you have the great Charlie Wolfe on harmonic you can bet this is a blues orchestra of the highest quality. As for Kerry, he has been performing for many years and won some of the highest accolades as well as performing along-side such greats as BB King, Robert Cray band and the Allman Brothers Band. One of the outstanding tracks for me is Lawdy Mama where he makes the guitar sound like a violin on steroids. Throw in titles like Voodoo Down The River and Mississippi River Stomp and you have the perfect combination for slide music enthusiasts, this is New York Central Park if it was a swamp.

Crossroads is never easy, but Ben Tyzack has the blues chops in his voice and guitar to create another arresting version here. It has elements of the Cream interpretation, and the band are right on the money behind him. The aching vocal from Constance Redgrave on St James Infirmary Blues underlines the simple fact that underlines the way these songs are played and sung – that everyone on here has a deep and heartfelt understanding of the medium they are working in – and hopefully they will join up together next year to tour this album, the blues (and gospel) community needs to hear these wonderful interpretations live on stage. The additional words have been added with taste and care, adding to the magic already in place. The individuality of the re-workings of some well-known pieces is an absolute joy to hear, this is one of the finest albums I have heard all year. I urge everyone to obtain this album, you will be really pleased you did. Do not thank me, just send money.

ANDY HUGHES

BARRY BLUES BARN HOPWOOD

“the re-workings of some well-known pieces is an absolute joy to hear”

“If a guitar could sound like a rocket ship going off, this is it, a massive blast of slide without even a count-down, whoosh and we have take off”

DANA GILLESPIE WEREN’T BORN A MAN Hawksmoor

It was a real pleasure to receive this book and well worth the wait for Dana to get down and get it done when so many in the business have said to her that she really should write her story. And what a story she has to give us!

An illustrious career started in London’s swinging 60s and still going strong. Dana has lived a wow-factor life. Including relationships with David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Keith Moon, and the cream of 1960’s rock royalty to recording with Jimmy Page and Elton John, amongst many other stars. She was the original Mary Magdalene in the London production of Jesus Christ Superstar and acted in films directed by Nicholas Roeg, Mai Zetterling and Ken Russell to name but three famous Directors. Dana performed Shakespeare with Sir John Gielgud and Arthur Lowe. She has seen and done it all. Now, at last, her full story comes to print, in her official autobiography

Numerous high-level star comments appear in the foreward to this great read including Rick Wakeman saying of Dana “A real talent with everything she has ever done - a beautiful, artistic lady in every sense of the word.”

This multi-award-winning Blues Diva has been touring the world as the true ambassador of the risqué blues. She has over 60 albums to her credit, a Music Festival in Mustique, support to Bob Dylan, hit shows in London’s West End, the Edinburgh Festival, and many other Festivals throughout Europe, Middle East, India, and more, Dana is an International Blues legend.

Mr Reg Dwight aka Elton John has this to say “Spending time with Dana was very special. She was magical and helped me overcome my shyness. She knew my story before I did! All the memories I have of her are fond ones. So much laughter and kindness which helped me enormously. Those brilliant times will never be forgotten”

And outside of the career we know she was also British Junior waterski champion for 4 years!

The book title is taken from her 1973 album on RCA: Weren’t Born A Man

Alan Pearce

“She knew my story before I did! All the memories I have of her are fond ones”

Roots Music Report’s Blues album chart

PAUL LAMB & ROOSEVELT HOUSEROCKERS FT. CHAD STRENTZ KEEP ON WALKING LIVE 2019

Austro Mechana

Anyone who has been around the UK Blues scene in the last thirty years will surely have heard Paul Lamb’s harmonica whether it is with Kingsnake or guesting with a hundred other bands, he is the harmonica guvnor. Add to that a very strong blues scene in Holland and it is no surprise that he is hooked up here with the Roosvelt Houserockers, nor that the result is some classic Blues albeit with a Dutch twist. This album was recorded in the Czech Republic in 2019 with tracks culled from performances in Lazne Tousen & Zasava. What

JOHN FUSCO & THE X-ROAD RIDERS

JOHN THE REVELATOR

Checkerboard Lounge Recordings

This triple fold-out double album, with a somewhat modern art impression on the cover that looks like distorted and stretched vaguely human forms, sure made me want to open up and play the discs. John Fusco is the man who created the classic 1986 Blues movie Crossroads, (check out his film history!) screenplay written and directed by Walter Hill and featuring Steve Vai and Ralph Macchio. During the filming Jim Dickinson, legendary blues and session musician, was one of the musical advisors and his son, Cody produced and plays on this fine album where John, vocals and keyboards, is accompanied by an array of top-notch players including trombone master Sarah Morrow (aka ‘the bone doctor’) who played with Ray Charles, Dr.John and George Walker Petit and she brings fun to these blues with her trombone that filters in and out.

you get here is some standard 12 bar played to a very high standard by Timo Brunnbauer (guitar), Jorg Brunnbauer (drums), Chad Strentz (Guitar & Vocals), Domenic Gaito (bass) & Paul Lamb (harmonica & vocals). It will not get any awards for innovation, but it could for the sheer quality of the playing all through the seven tracks. Timo’s guitar solo on Adopted Child (Chad Strenz & Paul Lamb) is chilling and Lamb’s harp on the same track has a haunting howl to it. Mr Lambs Slow Blues Walk shows his qualities as a harp player with lots of pace variation as well as tone shifting. One of my favourite numbers here is a fine version of Chuck Berry’s Wee Wee Hours with brilliant guitar from Chad Strentz as well as a tasty vocal performance. It is good listening and the whole band works well together.

ANDY SNIPPER

The music here is straight-ahead, breath of fresh air, unpretentious, plain, honest Blues roots. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed both the CDs presented here. You are not overpowered, not blasted... but absorbed by what you hear. John’s voice is well worn and suits Blues for sure and his Hammond B3 and piano just flow in all the right places. Risse Norman vocals appear frequently while Cody Dickinson provides guitar, bass, drums, dobro and more to the whole body of work here. it takes a while for the opening track to gain volume as it eases in, kinda gospel moving to tangy acoustic, and grows and absorbs you. Baker Man is full of lowdown atmosphere.

Bad Dog is a slow-building ten-minute tasty workout where you can almost smell the dirt on the floor of a downhome bar. Snake Oil Man’s intro has you wondering what is going on but it is all revealed in time. The words are important throughout and the musicianship is top class. Catch the interplay between slide guitar and trombone on Hottest Part Of The Flame around the vocal and Hammond - what a track! There is melancholy in Language Of Angels, piano, violin are tasty accompaniments to John’s worn, gritty vocal. Wonderfully tuneful slide is so good on Fools Fire and it counters the vocal so well with bursts of harmony. I feel this is going to remain one of my favourite albums for a long time. There are no fillers over these two ten-track albums. It is a sheer joy to behold. A bluesy musical landscape of an album and highly recommended!

ALAN PEARCE

“shows his qualities as a harp player with lots of pace variation as well as tone shifting”

HENRY GRAY & BOB CORRITORE

COLD CHILLS SESSIONS

VOLUME 2

Swmaf Records

Reviewing blues records is mostly a rewarding experience, but sometimes you hanker after more authentic-sounding blues, blues that grabs you, like traditional down-home blues should. So, putting this album on the CD deck has really rounded this disastrous year off like a pint of Jack Daniels.

This is fifteen tracks of blues heaven with no less than 24 superb musicians sharing the honours. Last year, the legendary blues piano man, Henry Gray, died just before his 95th birthday. Harp player Bob Corritore would annually invite Henry to play at the Rhythm Room, Corritore’s nightclub in Phoenix. T his CD represents many of those meetings and the quality of the recording is amazing. When Gray’s piano kicks in on the opening track, Cold Chills, you know you are in for some real blues. There’s

DANNY BROOKS & LIL MISS DEBI

ARE YOU READY? THE MISSISSIPPI SESSIONS

His House Records

Now don’t get me wrong but listening to these twenty trackers is a bit like taking a breathless whistle-stop tour of the south, centered on Mississippi and music from south of the Mason - Dixon line. Conversely though, the opener (which is also the title track) is inspired by vocalist Paul Rodgers, with a solidly grooving southern rock approach and even a slight nod to Free’s All Right Now. It makes for a memorable start, but the quality of the set never lets up, from the excellent moody modern blues of Jesus Had The Blues and the swampy No Easy Way

Out to the relaxed, reggae-tinged gospel-blues of Jamaica Sun, Lil Miss Debi’s showcase version

John Brim here making a phone call, after which he performs Moonlight Blues. Every track in a jewel. Mother In Law Blues, The Mojo, Javelina Jamboree, all this topped off with Henry Gray performing a prescient Going Down Slow. The whole CD has a close ambience, as if you are just two metres from the stage (which would be fine these days anyway…) and Gray’s voice is powerful, cutting between Corritore’s deft, weaving harmonica.

So, congratulations gentlemen. This is a proper blues album and one of the verry best to end a very worrying year, so Bob, if you have any more stuff like this in your archive, we’d love to hear it.

ROY BAINTON

of John Prine’s folky Americana classic Angel From Montgomery and the raw Hill Country sound of One More Mile (To Mississippi). It is not surprising then to learn that this Texanadian (as they put it) husband and wife duo recorded this set in Raymond, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson, and it was produced by former Malaco Records engineer Tom Easley. Danny sings most of the leads, and plays guitar, harp and stomp board whilst Miss Debi takes the occasional lead, adds heavenly harmonies and thumps the cajon. They are aided and abetted by the likes of gospel-steeped rhythm section Joel and Micah May out of Jackson (drums and bass respectively), vastly experienced keyboards player Chalmers Davis, guitarist Greg Martin of The Kentucky Headhunters and many others. If you are looking for an individual and vastly entertaining set of blues, soul, R’n’B, gospel, southern rock, Americana and folk, guaranteed to put a smile on your face, you won’t go wrong with this.

NORMAN DARWEN

“putting this album on the CD deck has really rounded this disastrous year off like a pint of Jack Daniels”

“an individual and vastly entertaining set”

SNOWY WHITE AND THE WHITE FLAMES

SOMETHING ON ME

Snowy White/ Soul Food Music

Snowy White is a classic blues orientated British electric guitar player who developed his own style of English blues. In 1987 putting together a blues-orientated outfit, the Blues Agency, releasing two albums. Between 1993 and 2000, he toured and recorded with two brilliant Dutch-Indonesian musicians, Juan Van Emmerloot (drums/percussion) and Walter Latupeirissa (bass and rhythm guitar) as the White Flames releasing several albums. In later times the band was augmented by Max Middleton on keyboards. Something On Me the latest release features Thomas White on drums, Rowan Bassett on bass and appearances by various White Flames members. The eleven original tracks start with title song Something On Me, the percussion and worldly rhythm are overlaid with dark electric guitar strums, gentle harmonica notes and Spanish guitar picking as Snowy’s bluesy voice weaves a tale of apprehension on nearly eight minutes of exquisite blues playing.

This is followed by Another Blue Night, a mid-tempo soulful blues with swirling organ and more restrained guitar solos. Snowy pours out poignant feelings with both vocals and guitar on the slower blues of Another Life. The percussion gives a slight Latin feel to the mid tempo beat driving the social comment that is Get Responsible, next with its bluesy rhythmic beat and melodic guitar soloing Snowy wants to escape the rat race on Cool Down. Following on the slide guitar opens Ain’t Gonna Lean On You a great funky blues number that will surely have you up dancing, this leads nicely into the wonderful slower blues of It’s Only The Blues providing quality organ and guitar interplay., The diving instrumental Commercial Suicide takes us to the upbeat I Wish I Could with some sprightly boogie piano from Ferry Lagendrijk, written by the band. Whiteflames Chill is a relaxing blues stroller. The blues of One More Traveller closes the album in the same exquisite playing as the opening track with some excellent guitar and keyboard harmony. A superb guitar playing maestro that makes this an unmitigated delight

DAVID ROTUNDO BAND

SO MUCH TROUBLE Dreams We Share

This is modern electric blues at its best. It is also great to have a leader who can compose a good song and play a fine harmonica. David Rotundo hails from Canada and has worked with harp wizard Lee Oskar. The album opens with a sizzling roadhouse boogie, She’s Dynamite. There’s a lyrically fine song for the time we live in, Hard Times Comin’, and the mood continues with So Much Trouble. The recording is bright and clear, with the vocals just right in the mix with fine guitar from Milky Burgess and Rotundo himself, plus atmospheric organ, and piano from Ron Weinstein –especially his powerful solo on So Much Trouble, which leads into a stunning, high-pitched harp solo from Rotundo. The whole menu is complemented by some impeccable backing singers. The range of moods covered displays Rotundo’s versatility and lyrical skill. For example, the slow track Foolish Love is a genuine tear-jerker, with a beautiful sax solo from Darland Asplund. This is followed by the moody Long Road, which even has a cello in the mix. The CD is nicely packaged with a smart 12-page booklet containing all the lyrics. All in all, this album is a perfect illustration of how far the blues has come whilst at the same time losing none of its power to impress and inspire. If we ever get rid of this damned virus, I will be first in the queue to see the David Rotundo Band.

ROY BAINTON

“a perfect illustration of how far the blues has come”

Vizztone

DANIELLE MIRAGLIA BRIGHT

SHINING STARS

USA Boston based singer and guitarist gets into the Blues on this album which mixes originals songs with some covers by the likes of Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Robert Johnson although she is not an out and out Blues performer as there are strong Folk and Country influences across this mainly acoustic based album. While a solo album a couple of musicians offer support most notable are Laurence Scudder on Viola and Harp player Richard Rosenblatt but Danielle is the shinning light with her aggressive but sweet Guitar playing and crystal clear vocal and stomp, not sure what part of the body is creating “the stump” but it is very effective and saves her having to employ a bass player. Danielle has a fairly honed vocal style

THE STEVE MILLER BLUES BAND

LIVE FROM FILLMORE WEST 1968

Floating World Records

People who only know his hits may not even know that Steve Miller started out as a bluesman. After an early dalliance with the legendary Barry Goldberg in the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band he headed off to San Francisco where he put together this band. Their first album and the tracks they contributed to the documentary Revolution were top drawer sixties psychedelic blues and anyone with an interest in that sound really needs to hear them. It did not last long though and their second studio album saw the start of the shift to the mainstream rock he is known for. This show was recorded while they were on a four-night run at the Fillmore West and as a period piece of a moment in time it works well. I am guilty of forgetting just how much great guitar work was on the first record and this puts that right. According to the sleeve notes this was a Boz Scaggs-less performance, but I remember listening to these shows online and reckons Scaggs was there and the online Miller history seems to agree. It certainly sounds like a two-guitar lineup.

so cannot really get down and dirty on some of the Blues covers but does an excellent job on Janis Joplin’s Turtle Blues where her stark vocal works well and she even slips in some low key electric slide, on her own song Pick Up The Gun where she sounds very similar to K T Tunstall, especially as the song has almost identical phrasing to the Black Horse & The Cherry Tree song. While this album will appear in the “file under Blues” category it offers more than just Blues as it could just as easily fall into the Americana field, either way there is no getting away from the fact that Danielle Miraglia is a fine musician who will be putting Bonnie Raitt under pressure for the queen of Americana crown, Danielle has laid down a marker here with this release, so let the battle commence!

This performance also sees Paul Butterfield turning up with his harmonica for a few numbers, the two of them having performed together back in Chicago. But a word of warning for the unwary. There is a lot of jamming going on! Which I like but it is not for everyone. They kick things off with a fiery Steppin’ Stone which is no relation to the Monkees tune before heading off into the wild and wonderful Mercury Blues before Paul Butterfield arrives and the jamming really begins. Away from the spaced out jams the closing two numbers sees the band sticking closer to the blues with a take on Drivin’ Wheel from Roosevelt Sykes and the closing slow blues of Bad Little Woman. It is a soundboard recording from over 50 years ago, but it is of decent quality with only the vocals lacking slightly. But if fiery, experimental, psychedelic blues gets you all a quiver you’ll want to give this a shot.

STUART A HAMILTON

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

“Danielle is the shining light with her aggressive but sweet Guitar playing and crystal clear vocal and stomp”

DENNIS JONES

SOFT HARD & LOUD Blue Rock Records

This is Dennis Jones 7th album release and he’s performed across the world at leading festivals, usually with his power trio. The band went straight into recording this album after their last European tour and the road forged tightness shines through. First track Revolves Around You is a bit funky with some interesting rhythmic twists, at the mid-way point Dennis adds some crisp soloing showing what a first-class guitarist he is, no note is wasted. Bennett Payslinger guests on second track I Love The Blues providing Hammond to great effect, he is best known for playing with Beyonce and Snoop Dogg so its nice to hear him in blues mode. The band hit their rock stride on Like Sheep, an observational song about world affairs. Jones plays around with the blues phraseology of Back Door Man on track 4,

JOHNNY RAWLS

WHERE HAVE ALL THE SOUL MEN GONE

Third Street Cigar Records

Johnny Rawls is an old school soul/blues man who has played with O.V. Wright, B. B. King, Little Milton & Bobby “Blue” Bland and released 19 albums. This CD was recorded in Copenhagen and Ohio and kicks in with title track Where Have All The Soul Men Gone which name checks all the greats and states “I’ve got to keep the dream alive”. The pleading vocals, crooning backing singers and softly moaning horns make this a great opener. Bottom To The Top is an uplifting song with a catchy horn riff and gospel influenced vocals and Can’t Let It Go features good work from Travis Geiman on trombone. Rawls penned all the material and handled the crisp, clear production duties. Keep On Doing My Thing is a mid-tempo groover and Love, Love, Love is a soul ballad with Rawls crooning softly. Money is a familiar tale of shortage of cash but Town Too Small is an infectious romp featuring a bluesy guitar solo from Larry Gold. The band and backing singers are superb throughout and Rawls versatile vocals, sometimes gritty and other times sweet, light

Front Door Man, a fast paced blues rocker, ‘I ain’t sneakin’ round the back’ state the lyric and this is in your face for sure. Nothin’ On You is more RnB, and is an unashamed love song showing the breadth of Dennis song writing abilities. We even have some reggae on I Hate Hate, a song that could easily have been a cover from Island Records back catalogue but is a Jones original. Back to rock mode for Gonna Be Alright, some super interplay between lead guitar and rhythm section. It’s on When I Wake Up that Dennis allows himself to indulge in some guitar pyrotechnics but never overindulgent and the rhythm guys hold it down to the floor. Penultimate track I’m Not is a slow blues. The band sound like they are having fun on this with Jason Freeman adding tasteful Hammond. Burn The Plantation Down closes the album and is a defiant slab of blues rock. This is a high-quality diverse album from a top-class performer and is highly recommended.

up the album. Time is a real toe-tapper featuring a catchy horn riff and Baby, Baby, Baby is a late night smoky ballad with Rawls singing sweetly and great keyboards from Alberto Marsico. I’ve never been to a service in a Southern Baptist Church so closing track Calling On Jesus is probably the closest I’ll get. A churchy organ riff leads into a gospel infused stomper with a thumping backbeat and Rawls proclaiming “Johnny Rawls feels like having a little church right now”. WOW.

What a finish to a great album. The dream is still alive… and kicking

STEVE YOURGLIVCH

“The band and backing singers are superb throughout and Rawls versatile vocals, sometimes gritty and other times sweet, light up the album”

“a high-quality diverse album from a top-class performer”

KOKOMO ARNOLD COLLECTION 1930-1938

Acrobat

This is a fascinating and historic double CD package that covers circa 60% of the recorded work of Kokomo during the period between 1930-1938, all but one track was originally released on the USA Decca label; Kokomo Arnold is certainly not a household name in the Blues world but he should be as he was a prime influencer for Robert Johnson and even wrote and performed a song Old Original Kokomo Blues which with some tweaking Robert Johnson turned into Sweet Home Chicago, he was also the songwriter who first created the phrase “Dust My Broom” during his song Sagefield Woman Blues. When Kokomo recorded this material, he was already into his mid-thirties having spent his earlier years running a bootlegging business during the prohibition although he had developed a unique left-handed slide guitar technic which along with his song writing and laconic vocal made him a true solo performer. There are forty-nine tracks across

HENRY GLOVER THE HENRY GLOVER STORY

Rhythm And Blues Records

this double CD set which are in chronological order which highlights how he did progress during his recording career, even better are the comparisons of the song Milk Cow Blues which he recorded four times, each version different, the sound quality is not perfect but given the age of the original recordings this has to be expected but it does not impact the listening experience. From my perspective this collection highlights how the immerging Slide Guitar sound was incorporated into Country Blues which laid the foundations for the later electric use of this style, fittingly his final recorded track in 1938 My Well Is Dry ends the package and maybe this is the sentiment that Kokomo had about the Recording Industry, as he never went into the studio again deciding he would be better off getting a proper job in a Steel Mill. These CD’s provide an opportunity to hear some authentic Blues played by one of the originals.

ADRIAN BLACKLEE

This four-CD Box Set contains over 120 songs spanning a career that last over 50 years. Now, Henry Glover may not be a name that immediately trips off your tongue, but when you delve into his work, you will find some of the best-known performers singing and playing his tunes. He was born in 1921 in Arkansas and has influenced people such as Phil Spector and Lieber& Stoller among many others. He is credited as a songwriter, arranger producer, and trumpet player. He formed RCO Productions in 1975 alongside Levon Helm. Of course, with so many tunes on this release it would be impossible to try and review each song, so here is a sample of a few tunes that artists have recorded and are contained within this package. I Can’t Go On Without You, recorded by Ella Fitzgerald in 1947 is simply astounding. Ella is widely regarded as one of the finest voices and performers of all time. Whether it be jazz, swing, or blues, Ella trumps them all. This particular track is jazz/blues at its finest. Her vocal is so sweet and the arrangement by Glover is impeccable. Lonesome Train, recorded by Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson in 1952 is another example of the range that Glover had in his repertoire. Vinson has long been associated with songs about one kind of train or another throughout his career, and this classic epitomizes just how good Vinson was. Whatever you need to know about Vinson and Glover are here in this tune. Drown In My Own Tears, recorded by Ray Charles in 1955 is one of my all-time favourite Ray Charles songs. The eloquence of his unique voice and delivery has never sounded better than they do on this version. Feeling and emotion are what Charles pours into this outstanding song as if his life depends on it. The final song on the compilation is by Glover himself. Boarding House Blues has the ambiance of a lonely house and a man with the world on his shoulders. A great collection of songs from an extraordinary man.

STEPHEN HARRISON

“These CD’s provide an opportunity to hear some authentic Blues played by one of the originals”

IKER PIRIS & HIS DUAL ELECTRAS ELECTRA El

Toro Records

Iker comes from Tolosa. Look it up and you will find it lies about 30 miles to the east of Bilbao in Northern Spain. His influences, however, are not Spanish, but firmly rooted in the blues. He lists Johnny Guitar Watson, B.B. King and Robert Cray as the three first blues artists he listened to. He recorded the album Electra assisted by his French backing group, consisting of Abdell B Bop on upright bass and Andy Martin on drums. As with all non-native English-speaking blues artists, the vocals can be a matter of taste. I do not think Iker is trying to hide behind an awkward, fake American accent, just singing in his own style, which I find quite endearing. The whole album feels like having serendipitously popped into a Spanish bar somewhere and spending a very pleasant evening drinking cerveza after coming across 3 blokes playing the blues and enjoying themselves in the process. The album contains 10 original tracks and opens with a little traditional blues style number called The Bolt, which displays some nice harp playing from special guest Greg Izor. Good Husband has an early 60’s Stones feel to it and a slight Rockabilly feel, partly due to the slapped upright bass. Dance is in a slightly jazzy style, along with a lot of zip. Out Of Control keeps the steady beat going, complete with Chuck Berry style solo. Helpin’ Hand has a honky tonk sound, courtesy of the piano from Victor Puertas. Ain’t Just The Same could be a track by The Stray Cats, with its Rockabilly groove. I’m Gonna Move is a slower number and the longest track on the album. Let Me In picks up the pace again and is a stripped back early 60s style song. Lament is a bouncy shuffle style number, with a lovely guitar break. The final track The Hunter is not a cover of the rock classic, but a jolly instrumental, which rounds off a nice bit of Iberian Blues.

STEVE BANKS

400 BEARS

400 BEARS Independent

400 Bears sounds like a band but is rather the name chosen by Paul Wilkinson of US New Country outfit Mason Porter for his first solo project. And if the death of JJ Cale has left a hole in your musical life, Wilkinson might just help you fill it. Be warned from the get-go that this is not a blues album proper, but rather an album with substantial blues content along with music of other genres. The country and Americana content sounds damn good, as far as my untutored ears can discern. But given this magazine’s target audience, let us concentrate unashamedly on what is going to rock our side of the aisle. Memories is an understated minor blues suitable for late night consumption by anyone suffering a sudden bout of existential angst, with some tasteful guitar and organ soloing to sustain contemplation of the

meaning of life. Cold Situation is a modernised Delta-style acoustic number, in which Wilkinson has obviously got ramblin’ on his mind, while 80s Mercedes updates Ry Cooder’s Crazy ‘Bout An Automobile over a funky 12-bar grove, testifying to the enduring value of cars as an aid to men on the pull. Small Town features that classic truckerbilly riff and the inevitable lyrical paean to small town USA. That is four out of ten, which will not satisfy the purists. But if you are not a member of the Blues Police and your tastes run to adjacent genres, this is quality stuff.

DAVID OSLER

“And if the death of JJ Cale has left a hole in your musical life, Wilkinson might just help you fill it”

LE GARAGE

BOUGIE

Spoonbill Records

Despite the French name and album title (‘bougie’ is a spark plug in French), this trio hails from Utrecht in the Netherlands and describe their music as “high energy stomping blues straight from the Dutch Delta”, maybe the title is a play on words with ‘boogie’? The six tracks here, 22 minutes, are certainly high energy, with no holds barred. Maarten Bruns is on lead vocals, guitar, and harp, Pim Vugteven guitar, bass and B/V’s, Maria Postema drums/B/V’s; the material is credited to the whole band. Opening track Active Man has plenty of dirty slide over a constant rhythm, Maarten describing himself as being so active that he has no time for fun. He certainly does keep busy as he doubles on harp on Crossing Over which opens with Maarten’s exhortation to “make it dirty, guys” and the pounding rhythm is maintained throughout although several listens failed to reveal to these ears what the song is

THE AMAZING RHYTHM ACES

MOMENTS: LIVE IN GERMANY 2000

Mig Records 2 CD set

Russell Smith, vocalist, and guitar player with the ARA died in 2019.So after many years together, the band decided to call it a day. This double album recorded live 20 years ago, is really a kind of memorial or legacy. I would describe AMA as country rockers, with a portion of blues. They were what we now call ‘Americana’ long before the term was fashionable. The line-up tells you everything about their talent; they are all Grammy winners, led by Billy Earhart; Jeff ‘Stick’ Davis, (ex-John Mayall and Burritos) Bryan

about.Bang Bang slows the pace a little as things go badly wrong in a relationship before the title track Bougie which rocks along with lyrical borrowing from familiar blues songs like Walking Blues and Diving Duck, Maarten’s harp dubbed over his constant guitar riff. The slide is back for another song about difficult relationships though why the song is titled 43 escaped me. We close with Super Mario which bounds along as Maarten states that he wants to “groove all night”, so it seems that the song is more about playing music than the well-known video game. Those who like their blues raw and raucous will find much to enjoy here.

Owings (Burrito Deluxe) Fred James, (Flying Burrito Brothers). This German recording was made by Radio Bremen and judging by the audience reaction on the night of March 20, 2000 at the Moments venue in Bremen, this sounds like a memorable gig. 25 tracks reveal a variety of down-home, rocking styles. This is not entirely a blues album, but the blues runs through it like veins in a stilton cheese. Dancing the Night Away, The Rock and I just Know What to Say are great numbers delivered with verve and energy, and the jaunty Rednecks Unplugged and Jerry Fontaine and his Jammin’ Guitar will have you up on your feet. There are lots of bands today who cover this Americana territory, but it is nice to hear the legendary originals. They had rhythm, they were amazing, and they really were aces.

ROY BAINTON

JOHN MITCHELL

“not entirely a blues album, but the blues runs through it like veins in a stilton cheese”

“Those who like their blues raw and raucous will find much to enjoy here”

MARTIN BARRE

50 YEARS OF JETHRO TULL

The Store For Music

Jethro Tull released their debut album in 1968 but Martin Barre joined in time to feature on the follow up album Stand Up in 1969 and was a prominent member of the band throughout the most productive and successful periods to 2012. What we have here is a double CD release featuring new and different versions of Martins favourite Tull tracks, 24 studio recordings plus 4 live recordings from a forthcoming DVD. As you would expect all the fan favourites are here and given a update to greater or lesser extents. At 74 Martin is still an accomplished guitarist and has worked tirelessly to keep the Tull legacy alive and meaningful. Personally, although many of the tracks are great to hear again it sounds odd for them not be delivered by Ian Anderson, that is not to say John Carter who I think handles most lead vocals isn’t extremely competent but many of those songs are etched into our psyches.

Of course, the guitar work by Martin is superb and the rhythm section super on it. I am sure all fans will have their own favourite tracks and space limits a comment on all 28 here. Disc One is recordings from Live At The Factory Underground, my pet preferences on here were Song For Jeffrey and Back To The Family, both true to the originals. Disc Two I found better, recorded in the studio with female vocalists Alex Hart and Becca Langsford really giving the songs a new twist. Wond’ring Aloud, Under Wraps and especially Locomotive Breath sounding fresh and vibrant. On the review copy I was sent the info could have been more comprehensive, particularly who was preforming on which track etc, but I have seen the album with an alternative cover online so maybe that has been addressed.

I think this is a worthy inclusion to Jethro Tull fans collections.

STEVE YOURGLIVCH

LOUIS JORDAN

THE LOUIS JORDAN FIFTIES COLLECTION 1951-1958

Acrobat Music

Maybe people have made the argument that Louis Jordan was one of the founding pillars of rock’n’roll with his jump blues sound. Back in the late forties / early fifties he notched up fifty odd hits with his band The Tympany Five. But as the fifties progressed the hits stopped coming which means that this collection highlights material that is not so well known. That is not to say it does not match up to his peak years as there is plenty hear to enjoy. It is not a complete collection as that would make up a hefty box set as he could easily knock out a dozen singles every year. I must admit that some of the songs are, to my ears, over-orchestrated. A song like If You’re So Smart How Come You Ain’t Rich would really have benefitted from a more stripped down approach but it’s still a rambunctious jazz meets jump blues number with the obligatory blast of alto sax. So, it is numbers like (You Dyed Your Hair) Chartreuse that really grab my attention. There are a few incarnations of the Tympany Five here but when you have got names

like Wild Bill Davis, Josh Jackson, Eddie Byrd and Jesse Simpkins backing him up then you’re listening to music that is good as it gets. There are a few well known songs here as the record company demanded remakes of some of his earlier hits, so you get fifties versions of forties hits like Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens and Choo Choo Ch’Boogie. This is not a collection for the casual passer by looking for a way into the music of Louis Jordan as not all his later material is up to the standards of his peak years. However, if jump blues is your thing then you will certainly want to hear this as the 52 tracks on offer pull in a few B sides you might not have heard before. Newcomers might want a slimmed down best of from his classic years where you are guaranteed to have a jumpin’ jivin’ good time.

STUART A HAMILTON

“you are guaranteed to have a jumpin’ jivin’ good time”

KELLY’S LOT

ANOTHER SKY Independent

Singer Kelly Zirbes, the leader of Kelly’s Lot, understands the meaning of the phrase “blues-based”. On the evidence of this CD, she is as happy to turn her hand to Americana, southern rock, roots music, singer-songwriter-ish sounds, and country as she is the blues. The band name also may reflect a sense of fun and informality that also comes across noticeably here. OK then, blues-based? Let’s pick the beautifully melodic Foolish Try, with its Spanish verse and Phil Parlapiano’s TexMex accordion playing. It reminds me of Ry Cooder with Flaco Jimenez. Based on a jig, The Irish Luck pushes it even further. Though, this fine set needs no other associations. Wikipedia describes the group as “blues-rock” and yes, there are blues. Try the quirky Simple Man, with its clarinet solo (!), lend an ear to the spooky Took It Back, a roots-rock/ blues-rock mash-up, and take a listen to the roots-rock of the closing Hurricane, which builds up an appropriate head of steam (and has some fine blues harp in there too). Lock Me Up sounds more than a little like an early

THE MCKEE BROTHERS

A TIME LIKE THIS Independent

The McKee Brothers is led by producer and multi-instrumentalist Denis McKee who is backed by a collection first-class musicians and vocalists for the third release including Maxayn Lewis (Ike & Tina Turner), Bobby Watson (Michael Jackson) on bass, Steve Stephens (Glenn Hughes) and Vincent Fosset Jr. (Kirk Fletcher) on drums, Chris Stevens adding percussion, Bobby West (Keyboards) Lee Thornburg (Supertramp) on horn arrangements and brass, Doug Webb (Stanley Clark) on reeds AND guitar contributions from Larry McCray, Joey Delgado and Stan Budzynski

60s number and has both country and Rhythm and Blues tinges. So no, this is not a straight blues set, but it is blues-inflected - quite strongly so in places, whilst maybe the more modern definition of Americana covers it better. And of course, if you have a taste for all the styles referred to in this review, just go out and get it.

adding some fluid slide guitar! Opener How Can I Miss My Baby? Transports the listener to New Orleans complete with harmonica by Tim Douthit and if you like the sound of the late Dr John than this kicks things off nicely. The silvery horns on Whistleblower Blues blend beautifully with McCray’s crisp funky electric guitar. It Is What It Is reminds this writer of Steely Dan with its Memphis soul vibe and is a highlight that would sound great live which is followed up by the Al Green inspired A Time Like This as Lewis’s voice shines. If it is a Gospel sound complete with a dynamic guitar solo from Denis McKee, you want then look no further than Realize and A Scene From Sunday. The Legend of Luther Stringfellow to my ear sounds like a bluesy take on Bobbie Gentry’s Ode To Billie Joe and Back To Love would not be out of place on an 80s film soundtrack like Caddyshack or Back To The Future. Closing track Surreal Love is an emotional pop sounding tune complete with textured piano and relaxed vocal which makes it perfect for radio airplay. If you ever wondered what a blues-influenced U2 might sound like this is the answer. if the Overall, A Time Like This is an interesting release because it does offer something for everyone whatever their music tastes. The sixteen-track album length is bit on the long side but the musical talent can be heard on every single one of them.

GLENN SARGEANT

NORMAN DARWEN

“If you ever wondered what a blues-influenced U2 might sound like...”

“this is not a straight blues set, but it is blues-inflected - quite strongly so in places”

SWINGADELIC BLUESVILLE

Zoho

“Jazz people often call us a blues band, and blues people will call us a jazz band” notes bass player and bandleader Dave Post in his booklet notes to this CD. Never mind, New York-based big band Swingadelic most certainly plays the blues here, not the raw, down-home blues, or the electric Chicago blues, but the sounds of Count Basie (remember Jimmy Rushing fronted them for many years), the late, great Mose Allison, come on, he is even represented on Mayall’s ground-breaking “Beano” album but here none other than Mitch Woods handles the cool vocal and piano duties, and of course Ray Charles.

Brother Ray is a major influence on the band sound, as the excellent covers of Lonely Avenue and Mary Ann prove beyond doubt. Then there is the classy, sophisticated blue-tinged jazz approach of Mary Lou Williams and Ella Fitzgerald via Vanessa Perea’s sultry vocal on What’s

CATFISH

EXILE-LIVE IN LOCKDOWN Independent

Catfish have changed their line up. On drums is the talented Kev Hickman adding some strong rhythm. Esteemed award winning guitarist and vocalist Matt Long still leads the band. Paul is dynamic on keyboards and vocals; Andy Pyke on bass guitar adds the glue

The Story, Morning Glory (did you think Oasis dreamed that title up?), in contrast to the strong Charles Brown styled blues of Johnny Fuller’s Fool’s Paradise, well sung by pianist John Bauers, or the swampy rock and roll of Rocket Morgan’s You’re Humbuggin’ Me. Then there is the cover of Harlem Nocturne, the big hit for buzzsaw saxman Earl Bostic, and done full justice here by the full Swingadelic 18-piece band, or the cool, organ-based soul-jazz of Riff’n On McGriff’n. It really does not matter what you want to call them - Swingadelic have in Bluesville a thoroughly classy, entertaining release, easily able to satisfy both Blues and jazz lovers…

to this awesome band. Matt and Paul had a few online live streams during lockdown which were very good but lacked the full band sound. The band had not met for five months. After a brief sound check it was down to business and recorded at Crauford Arms Music Venue in Wolverton, Buckinghamshire. This ten track album, is just fantastic and without an audience just shows their potential to rack up an atmosphere themselves. Most songs are from the lauded Burning Bridges release from last year, including a mesmerising ten minute version of Exile to end on. It opens with Broken Man which is sung with bitter tones by Matt, and then keyboards explode on the scene, just superb. Brilliant riffs, on Break Me Down.

Ghosts, has a stunning guitar solo by Matt soaring to a stunning climax. Archangel their most recent release is sung brilliantly by Matt, with great interplay on keyboards. Too Far To Fall has a great blues shuffle with fine harmonies. Soulbreaker, is just spellbinding, vocals sharp and a bassline that drives the song. The Big Picture, keeps the big sound going. Better Days is a more up-tempo tune.

A brilliant live album, from a top-class band.

COLIN CAMPBELL

NORMAN DARWEN

“New York-based big band Swingadelic most certainly plays the blues here”

“A brilliant live album, from a top-class band”

JOE BONAMASSA GUITAR MAN DOCUMENTARY

the talking, instead of my mouth. I feel comfortable”. This still seems the case, especially as he has recently had his twenty-fourth number one album, Royal Tea, that was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. His first real band was Bloodline who were signed onto EMI label, the first album was released in 1994. Joe Hardy produced this and said of Joe’s guitar technique “ Plays guitar like a cat on its hind legs”. But Smokin’ Joe had a different work ethic to the rest of the band. Joe always felt he was “An old man in a kid’s body”.

When Kevin Shirley became Joe’s Musical Producer, he got Joe to find out what it was like to go into a studio with top musicians. A highlight being the 2007 album Sloe Gin. Roy stating this was “ the first time I got paid through the project since meeting Joe”.Joe went on to meet a girl from Georgia, who consequently broke his heart. The theme of love and heartache runs through the album Ballad Of John Henry. There is great video footage of the song “Happier Times”.

This features the rise of blues-rock sensation Joe Bonamassa to legend status. At a fraction less than two hours, this is a must-have for any blues music lover. Full of clips from live shows through the ages and narrated throughout mainly by Joe himself reflecting on his life in music. He is also joined by Roy Weisman, who has worked with Joe since 1991 and is founder of J&R Adventures, Joe’s record label. Acknowledgement also goes to the input of his Musical Producer Kevin Shirley.

So many highlights in this documentary chronicling when he first started to play at four years old to the present day. His parents Len and Debra are featured. His dad knew Joe could play and bought him his first guitar at age five and a half, from then he has never looked back.

Initial footage shows Joe’s persona is different on stage. By day he’s an ordinary Joe with baseball cap and rucksack but if he has an 8pm performance, by 7.25pm he puts on his shades and shiny suit and becomes Joe Bonamassa the musician and entertainer. Anyone that has been to one of his concerts will recognise this factor. There’s input from John Lee Hooker stating Joe was “Fantastic”. There is also the breakthrough he got via opening for BB King at twelve years old. Even at thirteen he” Felt secure with a guitar in my hand. My hands are doing

Moving to May 4th 2009, the first time he played Royal Albert Hall. Joe got to play with his idol Eric Clapton on, “Further On Up The Road” to a packed audience. This was the turning point in his career. From then, he mixed a World music album in Greece, Black Rock. This incorporated Kevin’s feeling of “A universal language of music”.

There are more interviews and backstage scenes a plenty as he finishes off by going to Mississippi and paying homage to the blues forefathers. Of special note, Joe says about blues music, “This is passed down and takes a different form. Very interested in how blues will be interpreted in ten, twenty, forty years” Then looks straight into the camera and laughs, “After I’m Dead I don’t care”.

A very insightful documentary about one of the finest guitar players around music today, it captures the honesty and integrity of this workaholic!

COLIN CAMPBELL

Joe Bonamassa’s “Guitar Man” documentary is released on video-on-demand and digital by Paramount Home Entertainment from December 8th. The documentary is now available to order from https://paramnt.us/GuitarManSite

‘Dom brings the whole New Orleans thing to the UK’ Zigaboo Modeliste, The Meters

‘An album of unique quality, a stunning release. Just soak in its quality and pure pleasure’ Blues in Britain

‘Filigree, detailed atmospheric piano reverie. There is much to admire on this album’ Blues Matters

‘Dom proves that there is more to playing piano blues in the New Orleans tradition… a nuanced and subtle creative delight!’ David Freeman Jazz FM

DOMPIPKIN.CO.UK

THE BLUES QUEEN TEA

SMOKY BLACK TEA BLEND WITH FINNISH CALLUNA

This unique blend consists of a smoky lapsang paired with aromatic Earl Grey and a hint of Finnish calluna. This tea can be consumed whilst listening to your favourite blues artist, creating a space where the classics meet.

Guitar

35 DISC DELUXE BOX SET FROM THE GODFATHER OF BRITISH BLUES

• The complete original recordings 1965-74

• Two discs of BBC Recordings

• Seven discs of unreleased live material featuring Eric Clapton, Peter Green & Mick Taylor

• 168 page Hardback Coffee Table Book

• 128 page Fanclub Book

• 2 Replica Posters

• Replica press pack

• Photograph individually signed by John Mayall himself

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madfishmusic.com

Bare as Bone, Bright as Blood

The new studio album of rootsy blues from the cult heroes of 1st wave British R&B

“A profoundly moving final statement and epitaph”

RECORD COLLECTOR

“An elegiac tribute to a lamented if often under appreciated talent”

THE TELEGRAPH

Parachute

“Often overshadowed by SF Sorrow, its strong richly harmonic conceptual 1970 successor (now neatly expanded) fi nds bassist Wally Allen stepping up creatively for the absent Dick Taylor”

CLASSIC ROCK

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