Showing posts with label Preston Shannon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Preston Shannon. Show all posts

Friday, July 13, 2012

Its A Hot July Fish Fry For The DC Blues Society

Enjoying the Fish fry
Tomorrow, July 14 DC Blues Society is presenting its 8th Annual Hotter Than July Fish Fry ‘n’ Blues at the American Legion Post 41, 905 Sligo Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland. The entrance is on Fenton and the parking lot and garage. The $12 admission includes a fish sandwich and the music which will start at 4PM and will include 11 bands.

Saskia of the Unruly Blues Band
The blues starts at 4PM and runs until around 11PM and the bands performing are: Almost Blue; Blues Obsession; Dave Panzer & the Bluesicians; DC Blues Society Band with Ayaba Bey; Fast Eddie & the Slow Pokes; Ida Campbell; In Lay Mans Terms; Joyce Ettingoff; Unruly Blues Band; Tan Man Blues Band; and XPress. 2 other bands are waiting if a band can’t make it.

Ida Campbell
Highlights of the bands playing include WPFW’s Ida Campbell who is a fine singer in the Ruth Brown, the Williamsburgh, Virginia band, In Layman’s Terms, with Cole (14 on guitar), sister Logan (11 on bass) and mother Sandy Laymen on drums with a repertoire of classic rock and blues; the Unruly Blues Band featuring the vocalist Saskia that tied at the 2011 DC Blues Society Battle of the Bands and mix a variety of blues styles with terrific showmanship; and David Panzer and the Bluesicians which features the vocal and instrumental skills of Panzer who spent five years with the Midnight Mover, Wilson Pickett. More information on the line-up, including the schedule can be found at www.dcblues.org. Just click on the schedule link on the home page.
Dancing and Partying at the Fish Fry'N'Blues
In addition to the music there will be a Fish Fry includes fish sandwiches, fixings and cake. This starts at 4:30PM and runs until about 9PM. Beverages are available from the Legion staff.

Its the DC Blues Society's Memphis Blues Blowout at Lamont's

Preston Shannon
Next Saturday, July 21, the DC Blues Society and Lamont’s Entertainment Complex Present a Memphis Blues Blowout headlined by Preston Shannon as well as Daddy Mack. The music starts at 1:00PM with the DC Blues Society Band with Ayaba Bey followed at 2:00PM by Dr. S.O. Feelgood and then at 3:30, Jim Bennett, lady Mary and the Unique Creation band will present their brand of Southern Soul. The Daddy Mack Blues Band goes on at 5:00PM and Preston Shannon will start at 6:30PM. Advance tickets are $18 for members and $20 for nonmembers and $25.00 at the door. For information and Ticket Sales: go to the Blues Society’s website, www.dcblues.org or call Lamont’s at 301-322-1808.

Memphis-based guitarist, singer, and songwriter Preston Shannon is well known as one of the finest contemporary Bluesmen in the U.S. He delivers deep, soul-filled vocals, atop his burning, venom-tipped guitar chords - a blend of Southern-fried soul and blues; danceable, grooving tunes; and slow, soulful ballads.

The Daddy Mack Blues Band has been the house band at the Center For Southern Folklore on Beale Street in Memphis since 1998. Daddy Mack’s natural and soulful musical blend has been on stages from BBQ dives in Mississippi to halls in Paris. He’s known for his Albert King-like biting vocals, funky guitar licks, and his uncompromising notion of real Blues.

Jim Bennett
Jim Bennett has been entertaining for 45 years, the last 22 with vocalist Lady Mary and the Unique Creation Band. Bennett, who plays vocals in addition to his warm baritone vocals that have a cool quality like Jerry Butler. Lady Mary gives a contrasting style with more than a bit of sassiness, and they are backed by a bight band that adds the right amount of funk to the southern soul stew.

Dr. S.O. Feelgood adds his own very personable blues and downhome soul style while the DC Blues Society Band features Dr. Ayaba Bey. Dr. Bey is indeed a “griot” (a storyteller, also musician-entertainers from West Africa whose performances include tribal histories). She has traveled to Guyana, Brazil, the Caribbean, and hundreds of colleges/universities across the US sharing her his-torically-based educational theater/music programs.

It’s going to be a party so come prepared to stay the day, and maybe even into the night for the indoor After-Party! Pack your coolers and your lawn chairs (yes, you can bring both, and your cooler can be packed with your favorite alcoholic or non-alcoholic brew, and food). It takes place Rain or shine.

It takes place at Lamont's Entertainment Complex, 4400 Livingston Road, Pomonkey (Accokeek), MD.

Driving Directions From the DC Beltway/I-495, take Exit 3 onto MD-210 South, Indian Head Highway; continue about 14.3 miles and make slight left onto MD-227/ Marshall Hall Rd.; after 1.3 miles, stay straight on MD-224; and after another 1.3 miles, Lamont’s will be on the left.


Friday, January 06, 2012

Billy Gibson's Southern Livin'

This is an older review from 2007 and I did select this recording to be an outstanding blues recording of 2007. It appeared in the March-April 2007 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 291). I received my copy from wither Inside Sounds or a publicist.

Born in Mississippi where he developed his distinctive soulful singing and harp, Billy Gibson has established himself as among the strongest blues acts in the Memphis area today. Gibson has a new album on Inside Sounds, Southern Livin’, that focuses on his marvelous vocals although he does not ignore his harp. Gibson’s band includes guitarist David Bowen and bassist James Jackson, both veterans of Albert King’s band along with drummer Cedric Keel and keyboardist Charlie wood along with some taut horns on several tracks and guest appearances from guitarists Preston Shannon and Daddy Mack Orr.

Bowen’s original Fireman opens with Bowen playing some guitar evoking Albert King before Gibson’s delivery of the clever lyric. Bowen & Gibson collaborated on Mississippi, a funky celebration his roots and the state’s people with a short harp break. Preston Shannon guests on guitar on Bowen’s I’m Single, a rocking shuffle about no longer being tied up and out having fun, while Too Many Times, is a soul-blues ballad reflecting on a relation gone bad as his woman tries to take two and make three with a killer line about how hard it is to forget her for as Willie Nelson says “you’re always be on my mind.”

Gibson's Hey Hey Pretty Baby. has him telling is woman he is going to rock and sock it to his woman that she’ll know it can’t be wrong, throwing in a short, focused chromatic harp-break. One of three covers included here is a tasty reworking of Sam Myers, I Got a Thing for the Voodoo Woman. Other covers include the fine rendition Booker T & the MG's classic, Hip Hug-Her, with exceptional harp, and the closing Sex Appeal (from Willie Dixon’s Pen, on which Daddy Mack takes the guitar lead), with another nice vocal.

There is hardly anything i can fault on this impressive release. The band is tight and Bowen and Wood are as impressive on their instruments as Gibson is on harp, but the focus remains on the songs and Gibson’s authoritative and convincing vocals. Highly recommended.

Here is Billy performing at the North Atlantic Blues Festival in 2007.