Monday 30 September 2013

This Week's Playlist

Jo Harman - I Shall Not Be Moved
Eric Bibb - Booker's Guitar
Anders Osborne - Louisiana Gold
Heritage Blues Orchestra - Chilly Jordan
Claude Hay - Narrow Mind
Mark Harrison - Georgia Greene
Lisa Mills - My Happy Song
Wooden Horse - Mean Old Frisco
The Allen Brothers - Chattanooga Mama
Stiv Cantarelli and The Silent Strangers - Dark Time Blue
Half Deaf Clatch - Big Plans In A Small Town
Eric Bibb - She Got Mine
Jo-Ann Kelly - Boyfriend Blues
Doc Watson and David Grisman - Blue Ridge Mountain Blues
Eric Bibb - Death Row Blues
Eric Bibb - Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad
Robert Johnson - Sweet Home Chicago
Al Lerman - Close To You
Blind Boy Fuller - You Got To Have Your Dollar
Sleepy John Estes - Milk Cow Blues
Pete "Snakey Jake" Johnson - Reckless Disposition
Rory Block - Pea Vine Blues


Featured Artist: Eric Bibb

Eric Bibb 
(born 16 August 1951)
Bibb's father, Leon, was a musical theatre singer, who made a name for himself as part of the 1960s New York folk scene; his uncle was the jazz pianist and composer John Lewis, of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Family friends included Pete Seeger, and actor/singer/activist Paul Robeson, Bibb's godfather.
He was given his first steel-string acoustic guitar aged seven. Growing up surrounded by talent, he recalls a childhood conversation with Bob Dylan, who, on the subject of guitar playing, advised the 11-year-old Bibb to "Keep it simple, forget all that fancy stuff".
Bibb remembers from his early teen years:
I would cut school and claim I was sick. When everyone would leave the house I would whip out all the records and do my own personal DJ thing all day long, playing Odetta, Joan Baez, the New Lost City Ramblers, Josh White.
At 16 years old, his father invited him to play guitar in the house band for his TV talent show "Someone New". Bill Lee, who played bass in this band, was later to appear on Bibb's albums Me To You and Friends. In 1969, Bibb played guitar for the Negro Ensemble Company at St. Mark's Place in New York. He went on to study Psychology and Russian at Columbia University, but did not finish these studies. The next year, aged 19, he left for Paris, where he met guitarist Mickey Baker who focused his interest in blues guitar.
Bibb moved to Stokholm, where he immersed himself in pre-war blues and the newly-discovered world music scene, while he continued to write and perform. Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus 3 and American label Earthbeat. Bibb signed to the British-based Code Blue label, but only released one album, Me to You, featuring appearances from some of Bibb's personal heroes, Pops and Mavis Staples and Taj Mahal. This was followed by tours of the UK, US, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.
In the late 1990s Bibb joined forces with his then manager Alan Robinson to form Manhaton Records in Britain. The albums Home to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000) and Painting Signs (2001) followed, as did the 2005 releases for Opus 3, Just Like Love and Spirit & the Blues (Hybrid SACD of 1999 Earthbeat release). He now plays all over the world on tour; see Erics Website for details. After that, he made A Family Affair (2002) with his father, Leon Bibb. This was followed by Natural Light then Friends – 15 tracks featuring Bibb duetting with friends and musicians he had met on his travels such as Taj Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamdou Diabate and Djelimady Toukara.
In 2004, Eric Bibb released "Friends" as his debut release under Telarc International Corporation. Bibb has remained with Telarc Records since 2004 releasing several additional albums including, "A Ship Called Love" in 2005, "Diamond Days" in 2007, and "Spirit I Am" in 2008. Bibb released Booker's Guitar in January 2010 with music channeled from the Delta Guitar Master himself, Booker White, also known as Bukka White. In November 2011, he signed to Stony Plain Records.
In August 2011 he married his longtime partner and manager Sari Matinlassi-Bibb, whom he met while touring in Australia

Monday 23 September 2013

This week's playlist

Canned Heat "World In A Jug"
ZZ Top - "I Thank You"
Jumpin' Jack Strobel - "You Mean Everything To Me"
The Mustangs - "When God Met The Devil"
Will Wilde - "Numb"
James Harman - "Crazy Mixed Up World"
Rockin' Dopsie - "Zydeco 'Round The World"
Washboard Sam - "Let Me Play Your Vendor"
Moreland and Arbuckle - "Quivira"
ZZ Top - "Dust My Broom"
Cee Cee James - "Watermelon Lucy"
The Rolling Stones - "The Spider And The Fly"
ZZ Top - "Tube Snake Boogie"
Valerie June - "Working Woman Blues"
Spooky Tooth - "Send Me Some Lovin'"
Trampled Under Foot - "Bad Bad Feeling"
Mitch Laddie - "Paper In Your Pocket"
Ry Cooder - "On A Monday"
Mississippi John Hurt - "Nobody's Dirty Business"
Doc and Merle Watson - "Jailhouse Blues"
The Veldman Brothers - "2 Times 360"
ZZ Top - "Whiskey'n Mama"
Mill Billy Blues - "Railroad Worksong"

Featured Artist : ZZ Top

ZZ Top
This sturdy American blues-rock trio from Texas consists of Billy Gibbons (guitar), Dusty Hill (bass), and Frank Beard (drums). They were formed in 1970 in and around Houston from rival bands The Moving Sidewalks (Gibbons) and American Blues (Hill and Beard). Their first two albums reflected the strong blues roots and Texas humor of the band. Their third album (“Tres Hombres”) gained them national attention with the hit "La Grange," a signature riff tune to this day, based on John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen." Their success continued unabated throughout the '70s, culminating with the year-and-a-half-long Worldwide Texas Tour.
Exhausted from the overwhelming workload, they took a three-year break, then switched labels and returned to form with “Deguello” and “El Loco”, both harbingers of what was to come. By their next album, “Eliminator”, and its worldwide smash follow-up, “Afterburner”, they had successfully harnessed the potential of synthesizers to their patented grungy blues groove, giving their material a more contemporary edge while retaining their patented Texas style. Now sporting long beards, golf hats, and boiler suits, they met the emerging video age head-on, reducing their "message" to simple iconography. Becoming even more popular in the long run, they moved with the times while simultaneously bucking every trend that crossed their path. As genuine roots musicians, they have few peers; Gibbons is one of America's finest blues guitarists working in the arena rock idiom -- both influenced by the originators of the form and British blues-rock guitarists like Peter Green – while Hill and Beard provide the ultimate rhythm section support.
The only rock & roll group that's out there with its original members still aboard after three decades (an anniversary celebrated on 1999's “XXX”), ZZ Top play music that is always instantly recognizable, eminently powerful, profoundly soulful, and 100-percent American in derivation. They have continued to support the blues through various means, perhaps most visibly when they were given a piece of wood from Muddy Waters' shack in Clarksdale, MS. The group members had it made into a guitar, dubbed the "Muddywood," then sent it out on tour to raise money for the Delta Blues Museum. ZZ Top's support and link to the blues remains as rock solid as the music they play. A concert CD and DVD, “Live From Texas”, recorded in Dallas in 2007 and featuring a still vital band, were both released in 2008. The Rick Rubin and Gibbons-produced La Futura, the band's 15th studio album, and the group's first new studio outing since 2003's Mescalero, appeared in 2012.

Monday 16 September 2013

This week's playlist

Tom Jones - "All Blues Hail Mary"
Jimmy Reed - "You Don't Have To Go"
Nighthawks - "I'll Go Crazy"
Rod Stewart - "I've Been Drinking"
Blue Eyes Cry - "What's A Girl To Do?"
The No Refund Band - "One More Drink"
Buddy Guy - "You Sure Can't Do"
Clifford Hayes and The Louisville Jug Band - "Another Fool Like Me"
Sweet Potato Pie - "Brain Cloudy Blues"
Paul Rose - "Ball And Chain"
Jimmy Reed - "I Ain't Got You"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - "Brand New Heartache"
Dave Bromberg - "Keep On Drinking"
Jimmy Reed - "I Wanna Be Loved"
The Super Super Blues Band - "Who Do You Love"
Eugenie Jones - "Sat'day Night Blues"
John Pippus - "One World"
Nick Curran and The Nitelifes - "She's Evil"
Mance Lipscomb - "Texas Blues"
Blind Willy - "Willing To Crawl"
Phil Brown - "Hour To Kill"
Duffy Kane - "Why My Road"
Jimmy Reed - "Hush Hush"
Big Maceo - "Winter Time Blues"

Featured Artist: Jimmy Reed


Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed 
(September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976)

Reed was born in Dunleith, Mississippi, in 1925, learning the harmonica and guitar from Eddie Taylor, a close friend. After spending several years busking and performing in the area, Reed moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1943 before being drafted into the US Navy during World War II. In 1945, Reed was discharged and moved back to Mississippi for a brief period, marrying his girlfriend, Mary "Mama" Reed, before moving to Gary, Indiana to work at an Armour & Co. meat packing plant. Mama Reed appears as an uncredited background singer on many of his songs, notably the major hits “Baby What You Want Me To Do”, “Big Boss Man” and “Bright Lights, Big City”.
By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular musician and joined the "Gary Kings" with John Brim, as well as playing on the street with Willie Joe Duncan. Reed failed to gain a recording contract with Chess Records, but signed with Vee-Jay Records through Brim's drummer, Albert King. At Vee-Jay, Reed began playing again with Eddie Taylor and soon released "You Don't Have to Go", his first hit record. This was followed by a long string of hits.
Reed maintained his reputation despite his rampant alcoholism; sometimes his wife had to help him remember the lyrics to his songs while recording. In 1957, Reed developed epilepsy, though the condition was not correctly diagnosed for a long time, as Reed and doctors assumed it was delirium tremens.
In spite of his numerous hits, Reed's personal problems prevented him from achieving the same level of fame as other popular blues artists of the time, though he had more hit songs than many others. When Vee-Jay Records closed down, Reed's manager signed a contract with the fledgling ABC-Bluesway label, but Reed was never able to score another hit.
In 1968 he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival.
Jimmy Reed died in Oakland, California in 1976, of respiratory failure, eight days short of his 51st birthday. He is interred in the Lincoln Cemetery in Worth, Illinois.
In 1991 Reed was posthumously inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Monday 9 September 2013

This week's playlist

Blind Boy Fuller - "Untrue Blues"
Todd Wolfe - "It's All Over Now"
Paul Orta and The Kingpins - "Up The Line"
Johnny Copeland - "Houston"
Louise Hoffsten - "I Pity The Fool"
Anthony Gomes - "Voodoo Moon"
Cannon's Jug Stompers - "Viola Lee Blues"
Otis Harris - "Walking Blues"
Hugh Laurie - "The St. Louis Blues"
The Todd Wolfe Band - "Against The Wall"
Jimmy Rogers - "Walkin' By Myself"
Jo-Ann Kelly - "Walking The Dog"
Lead Belly - "Cow Cow Yicky Yicky Yea"
Todd Wolfe - "Evil"
The Todd Wolfe Band - "Locket Full Of Dreams"
B.B. King with Irma Thomas - "We're Gonna Make It"
William Moore - "One Way Gal"
Frank Frost - "Pocket Full Of Money"
Janiva Magness - "Wasn't That Enough"
Albert King, Steve Cropper and Pop Staples - "What'd I Say"


Featured Artist: Todd Wolfe

 
Todd Stewart Wolfe
(born January 22, 1957, Queens, New York)
Todd began playing on the New York scene back in 1979 with his band Nitetrain, a trio that clearly reflected Todd's influences—60s bands like Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Fleetwood Mac and other bluesy-rocking-jamming bands. The wave of guitar players that included Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Bloomfield were and are influential and evident in Todd's style and approach to guitar-playing. His next venture was Troy & the Tornados, a band based in the New York metro area. Todd met two women in this time period that would eventually play a part in his guitar-playing and song-writing experience: Carla Olson of the Textones and Sheryl Crow, at the time an unknown back-up singer. By the late '80s, Sheryl had sat in several times with the Tornados in New York City. Eventually Todd decided to fly to Los Angeles and write with Sheryl and showcase their new band in hopes of a record deal. Nothing came of this particular venture, but these two would find each other again on the same stage just a few years up the road!
After relocating to Los Angeles with a revamped line-up, Todd began to perform in clubs in southern California, while also scoring music for the Playboy Channel and connecting with old friend Carla Olson and her latest band. But it wasn't long before Todd was back with Sheryl Crow, who had just completed her about-to-be-released debut album, the multi-platinum Tuesday Night Music Club. Crow needed a touring band, including a lead guitarist that could add some extra excitement to the live shows, and Todd filled that role from 1993 until 1998.

Todd eventually went on to form several bands, including a talented bunch dubbed MojoSon that were signed to A & M Records and included alumni of Sheryl's band along with alumni of Sun 60 and Five for Fighting. With parent companies swapping ownership of A & M Records, the MojoSon album sadly was never released. Always active, always playing, Todd has never slowed down. Todd has had many excellent partnerships with fine musicians from coast to coast. Todd has also worked as a duet with famed Mountain guitarist Leslie West, touring and recording on two of Leslie's solo albums as well as recording on Mountain's tribute to Bob Dylan, "Masters of War" album!
Todd is especially proud of his current lineup with Roger Voss on drums and Justine Gardner on bass. Roger is a powerful pocket drummer. The young Ms. Gardner plays a deep groove. And they both back Todd on soulful vocals. This lineup recorded Todd's upcoming summer release “Miles to Go,” his eighth album since departing Sheryl's band. The new album is mostly originals that range from swampy grooves to all-out rockers and even a wistful ballad from which the title of the album was derived called, I Stand Alone. The band was joined by John Ginty (keyboards), Steve Guyger (harmonica) and Sweet Suzi (backing vocals). The Todd Wolfe Band is keeping busy with tours criss-crossing North America and Europe through 2013!
The Todd Wolfe Band recall the days when "Men were men and amps were amps," real tubes crackling with a bluesadelic sound reminiscent of the best rock and roll bands of the '60s. This band jams and rocks, but their music is deeply soaked in blues. Todd Wolfe, Roger Voss and newcomer, bassist Justine Gardner have established themselves as one of top power trios by relentless touring and spreading their legend from coast to coast and beyond.

Monday 2 September 2013

This week's playlist

Savoy Brown - "Taste And Try (Before You Buy)"
Bukka White - "Fixin' To Die Blues"
Amos Garrett - "Get Way Back"
The Paul Garner Band - "Never Make A Move Too Soon"
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - "Tennesse Stud"
Grainne Duffy - "Test Of Time"
Mississippi Sheiks - "Tell Me What The Cats Fight About"
Lil Ed Williams and Willie Kent - "Who's Been Talking?"
Guitar Mikey and The Real Thing - "That's No Way"
Bukka White - "Strange Place Blues"
Dr. Feelgood - "The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock And Roll"
Mistabluesman - "Freddie's Blues"
Bukka White - "Sleepy Man Blues"
Eddie Boyd - "Blue Coat Man"
Wesley Pruitt Band - "Thief In The Night"
Debbie Davies - "The Fall"
Jo-El Sonnier - "Cajun Blood"
Steve Earl and The Del McCoury Band - "The Graveyard Shift"
Shurman - "Apartment #9 Blues"
The Some X 6 Band - "The Hoodoo Shake"
Bukka White - "Parchman Farm Blues"
Earl Hooker - "The End Of The Bles"

Featured Artist: Bukka White

Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White
(November 12, 1909 – February 26, 1977
Born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi White was a first cousin of B.B. King's mother (White's mother and King's grandmother were sisters). White himself is remembered as a player of National steel guitars. He also played, but was less adept at, the piano.
White started his career playing the fiddle at square dances. He claimed to have met Charlie Patton early on, although some doubt has been cast upon this; Regardless, Patton was a large influence on White. White typically played slide guitar in an open tuning. He was one of the few, along with Skip James, to use a crossnote tuning in E minor, which he may have learned, as James did, from Henry Stuckey.
He first recorded for the Victor Records label in 1930. His recordings for Victor, like those of many other bluesmen, fluctuated between country blues and gospel numbers. Victor published his photograph in 1930. His gospel songs were done in the style of Blind Willie Johnson, with a female singer accentuating the last phrase of each line.
Nine years later, while serving time for assault, he recorded for folklorist John Lomax. The few songs he recorded around this time became his most well-known: “Shake 'Em On Down” and “Po' Boy”
Bob Dylan covered his song “Fixin' To Die Blues”, which aided a "rediscovery" of White in 1963 by guitarist John Fahey and ED Denson, which propelled him onto the folk revival scene of the 1960s. White had recorded the song simply because his other songs had not particularly impressed the Victor record producer. It was a studio composition of which White had thought little until it re-emerged thirty years later.
White was at one time managed by experienced blues manager Arne Brogger. Fahey and Denson found White easily enough: Fahey wrote a letter to "Bukka White (Old Blues Singer), c/o General Delivery, Aberdeen, Mississippi" Fahey had assumed, given White's song, "Aberdeen, Mississippi", that White still lived there, or nearby. The postcard was forwarded to Memphis, Tennessee, where White worked in a tank factory. Fahey and Denson soon traveled to meet White, and White and Fahey remained friends through the remainder of White's life. He recorded a new album for Denson and Fahey's Takoma Records, whilst Denson became his manager.
White was, later in life, also friends with fellow musician Furry Lewis. The two recorded, mostly in Lewis' Memphis apartment, an album together, Furry Lewis, Bukka White & Friends: Party! At Home.
"Parchman Farm Blues" was about the Mississippi State Penitentiary (also known as Parchman Farm) in Sunflower County, Mississippi, was released on Harry Smith's “Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 4” The song was covered by The Traits/aka Roy Head and the Traits with Johnny Winter in the late 1960s. His 1937 version of the oft-recorded song, "Shake 'Em On Down," is considered definitive, and became a hit while White was serving time in Parchman.
White died in February 1977 from cancer, at the age of 67, in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1990 he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame (along with Blind Blake and Lonnie Johnson). On November 21, 2011, The Recording Academy announced that “Fixin' To Die Blues” was to be added to its 2012 list of Grammy Hall Of Fame recipients.