My Favorite 2014 Blues Albums
January-February 2015 by Steve Jones
2014 Crossroads Recap
tened to a lot of music in 2014, but I did not listen to every album released. I’m guessing I heard over 200 new CDs this year, but there are still some I missed. I did not include any of the really huge names out there. Actually, I would not have included them as they were not my favorites anyway! Everyone has their Top Ten Lists. I was going to try to identify the ten best 2014 blues albums, at least in my mind, but as I got into it the list grew to about 30 CDs and was getting bigger. So then I decided, “Why not break it down into categories?” So I broke down albums into ten different styles of blues. Some will be familiar to you, others I created as a matter of convenience. Hey, it’s my list, after all! No list is perfect and everyone’s list is different, so the big thing is to have fun. At least by covering different categories I might get something out there that most every blues fan might like. I lis-
Acoustic Blues. This is a tough category because there were some very outstanding records this year that I loved. I went back and forth on the ones I liked best, but I must say Steve Dawson’s Rattle Snake Cage was my favorite. Some honorable mentions include Jim Byrnes with St. Louis Times, Lisa Biales with Belle of the Blues and Eric Bibb’s recent release Blues People; they were also some of my favorites this past year but check out Steve Dawson; he is an amazing guitar player! Traditional/Chicago Blues. My favorite Chicago blues album is really in the soul blues category, but that then
cleared the way for me to recognize others for their great 2014 releases that topped my Traditional/ Chicago blues category. It was close but it was between Jim Liban with Joel Pattersona and Linsey Alexander; Liban’s I Say What I Mean topped my list nosing out Alexander’s Come Back Baby. Mississippi Heat and Warning Shot was right up there, too, as was Ronnie Earl’s Good News and Madison Slim’s self-released Close But No Cigar was also superb and it deserves mention on any 2014 list of great CDs. Sean Costello’s In The Magic Shop probably belongs in this category, too, and is another fine effort by a young man who left us too soon. Rock Blues. There is so much out there in this category now that finding one to top the list is near impossible. But the one that made my CD player the most and
Membership grew to about 200 members 20 continuous years of newsletter publication 11 BITS programs completed in 2014 making 134 total for over 40,000 students and the ir teachers ands school staffs Held the 2nd Annual Field of Blues Festival in June and the 6th Annual Crossroads Blues Festival in Lyran Park in August 12 monthly shows plus an extra 13th held at the Hope and Anchor for Saturday Night Blues Scheduled 10 blues acts to open Friday home games for the Rockford Ice Hogs 2014-2015 season Supporting Lyran Fish Fries on a monthly basis with blues acts Held benefit for Bob Levis Held 2nd Annual Crossroads Blues Challenge to send artists to IBCs Held many shows at Mary’s Place and at Leombruni’s; see inside
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2014 Crossroads Year in Review Issue Wow! The New Year is here and we are already having our first event on Friday, January 2nd. Inside this issue you can see many of the things we’ve got planned already for 2015. Monthly shows were held all year at the Hope and Anchor in Loves Park to great crowds. The Jimmy’s kicked it off, then Alex Wilson, Rev-
erend Raven, Bobby Messano, Tweed Funk, Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo, Dave Specter with the Birddog Blues Band, Toronzo Cannon, Nick Moss, The Cash Box Kings, the Jimmys and Bobby Messano with Dave Fields closed out the regular shows and then we continued on page 2
Inside this issue:
Lurrie Bell at H&A
News Music Reviews Playlist, Members Membership Application Upcoming Events
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