This week's playlist

Hobart Smith - "Soldier, Soldier"
T-Bone Walker - "Play On Little Girl"
Sean Pinchin - "Broke Down Automobile"
Sean Pinchin - "High Heel Shoes"
Steve Martin - "Daddy Played The Banjo"
Jimmie Rodgers and The Louisville Jug Band - "My Good Gal's Gone Blues"
Bo Diddley - "Mona (I Need You Baby)"
T-Bone Walker - "Strollin' With Bones"
John Oates Band - "Deep River"
Walter Trout - "Deeper Side Of Blue"
T-Bone Walker - "I'm Still In Love With You"
Roomful Of Blues - "Dressed Up To Get Messed Up"
Skip James - "Devil Got My Woman"
Vargas Blues Band - "Rolling In Trance"
Jack Derwin - "Bone House Blues"
Bob Cheever - "North Of Baton Rouge"
Camille! - "Desperate"
Rattlin Bone - "Rain On My Footsteps"
The Some X 6 Band - "Curveball"
T-Bone Walker - "Get These Blues Off Me"
The Mustangs - "Didn't I Say"

Featured Artist: T-Bone Walker

T-Bone Walker
(May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975)

Modern electric blues guitar can be traced directly back to this Texas-born pioneer, who began amplifying his sumptuous lead lines for public consumption circa 1940 and thus initiated a revolution so total that its tremors are still being felt today.
Few major postwar blues guitarists come to mind that don't owe T-Bone Walker an unpayable debt of gratitude. B.B. King has long cited him as a primary influence, marveling at Walker's penchant for holding the body of his guitar outward while he played it. Gatemouth Brown, Pee Wee Crayton, Goree Carter, Pete Mayes, and a wealth of other prominent Texas-bred axemen came stylistically right out of Walker during the late '40s and early '50s. Walker's nephew, guitarist R.S. Rankin, went so far as to bill himself as T-Bone Walker, Jr. for a 1962 single on Dot, "Midnight Bells Are Ringing" (with his uncle's complete blessing, of course; the two had worked up a father-and-son-type act long before that).
Aaron Thibeault Walker was a product of the primordial Dallas blues scene. His stepfather, Marco Washington, stroked the bass fiddle with the Dallas String Band and T-Bone followed his stepdad's example by learning the rudiments of every stringed instrument he could lay his talented hands on. One notable visitor to the band's jam sessions was the legendary Blind Lemon Jefferson. During the early '20s, Walker led the sightless guitarist from bar to bar as the older man played for tips.
In 1929, Walker made his recording debut with a single 78 for Columbia, "Wichita Falls Blues"/"Trinity River Blues," billed as Oak Cliff T-Bone. Pianist Douglas Fernell was his musical partner for the disc. Walker was exposed to some pretty outstanding guitar talent during his formative years; besides Jefferson, Charlie Christian - who would totally transform the role of the guitar in jazz with his electrified riffs much as Walker would with blues, was one of his playing partners circa 1933.
T-Bone Walker split the Southwest for Los Angeles during the mid-'30s, earning his keep with saxophonist Big Jim Wynn's band with his feet rather than his hands as a dancer. Popular bandleader Les Hite hired Walker as his vocalist in 1939. Walker sang "T-Bone Blues"with the Hite aggregation for Varsity Records in 1940, but didn't play guitar on the outing. It was about then, though, that his fascination with electrifying his axe bore fruit; he played L.A. clubs with his daring new toy after assembling his own combo, engaging in acrobatic stage moves -- splits, playing behind his back -- to further enliven his show.
Capitol Records was a fledgling Hollywood concern in 1942, when Walker signed on and cut "Mean Old World" and "I Got a Break Baby" with boogie master Freddie Slack hammering the 88s. This was the first sign of the T-Bone Walker that blues guitar aficionados know and love, his fluid, elegant riffs and mellow, burnished vocals setting a standard that all future blues guitarists would measure themselves by.
Chicago's Rhumboogie Club served as Walker's home away from home during a good portion of the war years. He even cut a few sides for the joint's house label in 1945 under the direction of pianist Marl Young. But after a solitary session that same year for Old Swingmaster that soon made its way on to another newly established logo, Mercury, Walker signed with L.A.-based Black & White Records in 1946 and proceeded to amass a stunning legacy.
The immortal "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)" was the product of a 1947 Black & White date with Teddy Buckner on trumpet and invaluable pianist Lloyd Glenn in the backing quintet. Many of Walker's best sides were smoky after-hours blues, though an occasional up-tempo entry -- "T-Bone Jumps Again," a storming instrumental from the same date, for example -- illustrated his nimble dexterity at faster speeds.
Walker recorded prolifically for Black & White until the close of 1947, waxing classics like the often-covered "T-Bone Shuffle" and "West Side Baby," though many of the sides came out on Capitol after the demise of Black & White. In 1950, Walker turned up on Imperial. His first date for the L.A. indie elicited the after-hours gem "Glamour Girl" and perhaps the penultimate jumping instrumental in his repertoire, "Strollin' With Bones" (Snake Sims' drum kit cracks like a whip behind Walker's impeccable licks).
Walker's 1950-54 Imperial stint was studded with more classics: "The Hustle Is On," "Cold Cold Feeling," "Blue Mood," "Vida Lee" (named for his wife), "Party Girl," and, from a 1952 New Orleans jaunt, "Railroad Station Blues," which was produced by Dave Bartholomew. Atlantic was T-Bone Walker's next stop in 1955; his first date for them was an unlikely but successful collaboration with a crew of Chicago mainstays (harpist Junior Wells, guitarist Jimmy Rogers, and bassist Ransom Knowling among them). Rogers found the experience especially useful; he later adapted Walker's "Why Not" as his own Chess hit "Walking by Myself." With a slightly more sympathetic L.A. band in staunch support, Walker cut two follow-up sessions for Atlantic in 1956-57. The latter date produced some amazing instrumentals ("Two Bones and a Pick," "Blues Rock," "Shufflin' the Blues") that saw him dueling it out with his nephew, jazzman Barney Kessel ( Walker emerged victorious in every case).
Unfortunately, the remainder of Walker's discography isn't of the same sterling quality for the most part. As it had with so many of his peers from the postwar R&B era, rock's rise had made Walker's classy style an anachronism (at least during much of the 1960s). He journeyed overseas on the first American Folk Blues Festival in 1962, starring on the Lippmann & Rau -promoted bill across Europe with Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, and a host of other American luminaries. A 1964 45 for Modern and an obscure LP on Brunswick preceded a pair of BluesWay albums in 1967-68 that restored this seminal pioneer to American record shelves.
European tours often beckoned. A 1968 visit to Paris resulted in one of his best latter-day albums, “I Want A Little Girl”, for Black & Blue (and later issued stateside on Delmark). With expatriate tenor saxophonist Hal 'Cornbread' Singer and Chicago drummer S.P. Leary picking up Walker's jazz-tinged style brilliantly, the guitarist glided through a stellar set list. A 1970 release on Polydor, won a Grammy for the guitarist, though it doesn't rank with his best efforts. A five-song appearance on a 1973 set for Reprise, Very Rare, was also a disappointment. Persistent stomach woes and a 1974 stroke slowed Walker's career to a crawl, and he died in 1975.
No amount of written accolades can fully convey the monumental importance of what T-Bone Walker gave to the blues. He was the idiom's first true lead guitarist, and undeniably one of its very best.

This week's playlist

Cyril Davies & His R&B All Stars - "Country Line Special"
Queen Ida and Her Zydeco Band - "My Girl Josephine"
Fats Domino - "Korea Blues"
Michael Jerome Browne - "Doin' My Time"
Michael Jerome Browne - "At It Again"
Lee Rocker - "Black Cat Bone"
Clarence Williams and His Jug Band - "Chizzlin' Sam"
Eric Bibb - "Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad"
Mike McGuire - "Leaving New Orleans"
Queen Ida and Her Zydeco Band - "My Tu Tu"
The Howling Brothers - "Delta Queen"
The Paul Garner Band - "Never Make A Move Too Soon"
Queen Ida and Her Zydeco Band - "Hey Negress"
CC Bronson - "Why I Sing The Blues"
CC Bronson - "Thank You"
Richard Bennett - "Working Man's Blues"
Mike McGuire - "Cumberland River Blues"
Little Walter - "Last Night"
Buster Brown - "Crawling King Snake Blues"
Queen Ida and Her Zydeco Band - "Frisco Zydeco"
Charlie C - "Cat Call"

Featured Artist: Queen Ida

Ida Lewis "Queen Ida" Guillory  

(born January 15, 1929 in Lake Charles, Louisianna)

She was the first female accordion player to lead a zydeco band Queen Ida's music is an eclectic mix of R&B, Caribbean, and Cajun, though the presence of her accordion always keeps it traditional
Born Ida Lee Lewis to a musically talented family in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Queen Ida learned to play accordion from her mother after she spent a few years learning the piano. Her family moved to Beaumont, Texas, when she was ten and eight years later moved to San Francisco, California. Her first language is French, and wherever they went, took their Creole culture and music with them.
Queen Ida and her band played at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1976 and 1988, and the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1975, 1978, and 1991. In 1988, Queen Ida toured Japan, becoming the first zydeco artist to do so. She toured Africa the following year and in 1990 went to Australia and New Zealand.
On the album “Back on the Bayou” (1999), Queen Ida got together on the bayou in Louisiana with her brother, Al Rapone, for a zydeco reunion. Rapone often wrote and produced for her and formed the Bon Temps Zydeco Band, which later became Queen Ida's backup group. Doubling up on accordions with her oldest son Myrick "Freeze" Guillory, they are joined by Terry Buddingh on bass, James Santiago on guitar, Bernard Anderson on saxophone, Erik Nielsen on drums, and her youngest daughter Ledra Guillory and son Ron "The Rock" Guillory on rub board and vocals. As "Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band," the ensemble was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on November 23, 1985, with Paul Reubens as host.
Queen Ida also co-authored a cookbook, “Cookin' with Queen Ida” in 1990, which featured Creole recipes.
Queen Ida continued to perform live through the 2000s, and though she did not release any albums during this period, she has joined her son Myrick and his band onstage. She officially retired from playing in 2010 and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she enjoys cooking for her friends and family.

This week's playlist

Connie Lush - "Morning Blues"
Keb' Mo' - "Last Fair Deal Gone Down"
Scott Holstein - "Boon County Blues"
T-Bone Walker - "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)"
Jim Allchin - "Stop And Go"
The Rides - "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love"
Jack Kelly and His South Memphis Jug Band - "Red Ripe Tomatoes"
Bare Bones Boogie Band - "Passion And Pain"
Keb' Mo' - "Keep It Simple"
Sunday Wilde - "Captured Me"
Funkyjenn - "Boom Boom"
Keb' Mo' - "Muddy Water"
Sugaray Rayford - "I'm Dangerous"
Sugaray Rayford - "Two Times Sugar"
David Shelley and Bluestone - "When I Was Your Superman"
International Blues Family - "Cavern Crawl"
Cyril Neville - "You Can Run But You Can't Hide"
Otis Taylor - "Sit Across Your Table"
Keb' Mo' - "Love Blues"
Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown - "Choo Choo Boogie"

Featured Artist: Keb' Mo'

Keb' Mo'
(born Kevin Moore, October 3, 1951)

Guitarist/vocalist Keb' Mo' draws heavily on the old-fashioned country blues style of Robert Johnson while keeping his sound contemporary with touches of soul and folksy storytelling. A skilled frontman as well as an accomplished sideman, he writes much of his own material and has applied his acoustic, electric, and slide guitar skills to jazz- and rock-oriented bands. Born Kevin Moore in Los Angeles to parents of Southern descent, he was exposed to gospel music at a young age. At 21, Moore joined an R&B band that was later hired for a tour by Papa John Creach; as a result, Moore played on three of Creach's albums. Opening for jazz and rock artists such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeferson Starship and Loggins & Messina helped further broaden Moore's horizons and musical abilities.
Moore cut an R&B-based solo album, Rainmaker, in 1980 for Casablanca, which promptly folded. In 1983, he joined Monk Higgins' band as a guitarist and met a number of blues musicians who collectively increased his understanding of the genre. He subsequently joined a vocal group called The Rose Brothers and gigged around Los Angeles. In 1990 Moore portrayed a Delta bluesman in a local play, Rabbit Foot, and then played Robert Johnson in a docudrama entitled Can't You Hear the Wind Howl? He released his self-titled debut album as Keb' Mo' in 1994, featuring two Robert Johnson covers, 11 songs written or co-written by Moore, and his guitar and banjo work.
His second album, “Just Like You” saw Keb' Mo' stretching his legs by working with a full band and tackling several rock-based songs. The gamble paid off, as “Just Like You” won the artist his first Grammy Award. “Slow Down” followed in 1998 and netted Mo' another Grammy, and “Door” was issued two years later. “Big Wide Grin” followed in 2001, while 2004 saw the release of two albums, “Keep It Simple” and “Peace...Back By Popular Demand”. “Suitcase” was issued in 2006 on Red Ink Records. The self-produced “The Reflection” appeared five years later in 2011; the first release on his own label, Yolabelle International, the album featured guest spots from India.Arie, Vince Gill, Dave Koz, Marcus Miller, Mindi Abair, and David T. Walker.

Featured Artist: Odetta

Odetta Holmes
(December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008)

One of the strongest voices in the folk revival and the civil rights movement, Odetta was born on New Year's Eve 1930 in Birmingham, AL. By the time she was six years old, she had moved with her younger sister and mother to Los Angeles. She showed a keen interest in music from the time she was a child, and when she was about ten years old, somewhere between church and school, her singing voice was discovered.Odetta's mother began saving money to pay for voice lessons for her, but was advised to wait until her daughter was 13 years old and well into puberty. Thanks to her mother, Odetta began voice lessons when she was 13. She received a classical training, which was interrupted when her mother could no longer afford to pay for the lessons. The puppeteer Harry Burnette interceded and paid for Odetta to continue her voice training.
When she was 19 years old, Odetta landed a role in the Los Angeles production of Finian's Rainbow, which was staged in the summer of 1949 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. It was during the run of this show that she first heard the blues harmonica master Sonny Terry. The following summer, Odetta was again performing in summer stock in California. This time it was a production of Guys and Dolls, staged in San Francisco. Hanging out in North Beach during her days off, Odetta had her first experience with the growing local folk music scene. Following her summer in San Francisco, Odetta returned to Los Angeles, where she worked as a live-in housekeeper. During this time she performed on a show bill with Paul Robeson.
In 1953, Odetta took some time off from her housecleaning chores to travel to New York City and appear at the famed Blue Angel folk club. Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte had both taken an interest in her career by this time, and her debut album, The Tin Angel, was released in 1954. From this time forward, Odetta worked to expand her repertoire and make full use of what she has always termed her "instrument." When she began singing, she was considered a coloratura soprano. As she matured, she became more of a mezzo-soprano. Her experience singing folk music led her to discover a vocal range that runs from coloratura to baritone.

Odetta's most productive decade as a recording artist came in the 1960s, when she released 16 albums, including "Odetta at Carnegie Hall", "Christmas Spirituals", "Odetta And The Blues", "It's A Mighty World" and "Odetta Sings Dylan".

In 1999 she released her first studio album in 14 years, "Blues Everywhere I Go". On September 29, 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Odetta with the National Endowment for the Arts' Medal of the Arts, a fitting tribute to one of the great treasures of American music.
The next few years found Odetta releasing some new full-length albums, including "Living With The Blues"and a collection of Leadbelly tunes, "Looking For A Home". She toured North America, Latvia, and Scotland and was mentioned in Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary, No Direction Home. That same year Odetta released "Gonna Let It Shine", which went on to receive a 2007 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album. In December 2008, she died of heart disease in New York.

This week's playlist

Big Woody - "Blues This Morning"
Odetta - "Deep River"
Fats Domino - "Boogie Woogie Baby"
Eric Clapton - "Mean Old Frisco"
Pete Johnson - "Boogie Woogie Man"
Jimmy McCracklin - "He Knows The Rules"
Leyla McCalla - "When I Can See The Valley"
Earl McDonald and His Original Louisville Jug Band - "Louisville Special"
Wily Bo Walker - "I Want To Know"
Chris Rea - "Boss Man Cut My Chains"
Odetta - "Go Down, Sunshine"
Chris Dair - "Leavin' Town Blues"
Jimmy Reed - "Bright Lights, Big City"
Odetta - "Make Me A Pallet On The Floor"
The Angel Band - "Bring It On Home To Me"
The Black Keys - "I'm Not The One"
Roomful Of Blues - "You Don't Know"
Jack Derwin - "Chemistry"
Odetta - "Believe I'll Go"
Detroit Memphis Experience - "Just A Little Bit"
Solomon King - "Bad To Me"
Solomon King - "Train"

This week's playlist

Dr. Feelgood - "Because You're Mine"
The Yardbirds - "I'm A Man"
Snake Mary - "Lay By The River"
Blind Lemon Jefferson - "Black Snake Moan"
Jimmy Dawkins - "Made The Hard Way"
JP Blues - "Keep On Walkin'"
Carolina Chocolate Drops - "Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine"
Charlie Patton - "Going To Move To Alabama"
Doc Watson and David Grisman - "Blue As I Can Be"
The Yardbirds - "Jeff's Blues"
Drew Holcomb and The Neighbours - "Nothing Like A Woman"
The Yardbirds - "Steeled Blues"
The Rolling Stones - "Ventilator Blues"
Robert Johnson - "When You Got A Good Friend"
Led Zeppelin - "When The Levee Breaks"
Bobby Blue Bland - "Blues In The Night"
Little Willie John - "Talk To Me"
Soulstack - "Stone Cold Man"
No Refund Band - "One More Drink"
The Yardbirds - "You Can't Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover"
The Elmores - "Little Stevie's Shuffle"

Featured Artist: The Yardbirds

  The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds are mostly known to the casual rock fan as the starting point for three of the greatest British rock guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Undoubtedly, these three figures did much to shape the group's sound, but throughout their career, The Yadbirds were very much a unit, albeit a rather unstable one. And they were truly one of the great rock bands; one whose contributions went far beyond the scope of their half dozen or so mid-'60s hits. Not content to limit themselves to the R&B and blues covers they concentrated upon initially, they quickly branched out into moody, increasingly experimental pop/rock. The innovations of Clapton, Beck and Page redefined the role of the guitar in rock music, breaking immense ground in the use of feedback, distortion, and amplification with finesse and breathtaking virtuosity. With the arguable exception of The Byrds, they did more than any other outfit to pioneer psychedelia, with an eclectic, risk-taking approach that laid the groundwork for much of the hard rock and progressive rock from the late '60s to the present.
The Yardbirds made their first recordings as a backup band for Chicago blues great Sonny Boy Williamson, and little of their future greatness is evident in these sides, in which they were still developing their basic chops. (Some tapes of these live shows were issued after the group had become international stars; the material has been reissued ad infinitum since then.) But they really didn't find their footing until 1964, when they stretched out from straight R&B rehash into extended, frantic guitar-harmonica instrumental passages. Calling these ad hoc jams "raveups," The Yardbirds were basically making the blues their own by applying a fiercer, heavily amplified electric base. Taking some cues from improvisational jazz by inserting their own impassioned solos, they would turn their source material inside out and sideways, heightening the restless tension by building the tempo and heated exchange of instrumental riffs to a feverish climax, adroitly cooling off and switching to a lower gear just at the point where the energy seemed uncontrollable. The live 1964 album “Five Live Yardbirds” is the best document of their early years, consisting entirely of reckless interpretations of U.S. R&B/blues numbers, and displaying the increasing confidence and imagination of Clapton's guitar work.
While Beck's stint with the band lasted only about 18 months, in this period he did more to influence the sound of '60s rock guitar than anyone except Jimi Hendrix. Clapton saw the group's decision to record adventurous pop like "For Your Love" as a sellout of their purist blues ethic. Beck, on the other hand, saw such material as a challenge that offered room for unprecedented experimentation.
It took years for the rock community to truly comprehend The Yardbirds' significance; younger listeners were led to the recordings in search of the roots of Clapton, Beck and Page, each of whom had become a superstar by the end of the 1960s. Their wonderful catalog, however, has been subject to more exploitation than any other group of the '60s; dozens, if not hundreds, of cheesy packages of early material are generated throughout the world on a seemingly monthly basis. Fortunately, the best of the reissues cited below (on Rhino, Sony, Edsel and EMI) are packaged with great intelligence, enabling both collectors and new listeners to acquire all of their classic output with a minimum of fuss and repetition.
Thirty-five years after their break up in 1968, original members Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty pulled together a slew of new musicians to record a new album under the Yardbirds moniker, titled “Birdland”, and followed it with a tour of the United States.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.