What a fascinating set list

From left to right - Jim Lande, Eric Selby, David Bird

The Tinner Hill Blues Festival closed on Sunday, June 15 with its annual Blues Brunch. This year it was held at JV's in Falls Church VA and featured various performers affiliated with the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation. The first performers were Jim Lande on saxophone, clarinet, harmonica and bones with David Bird on guitar. The vocals were shared between the two and were also accompanied by Eric Selby on drums. I told Jim and David that they had a terrific set list and later Jim commented with the list that David put together and here is it.

Bay Rum Blues -- Ashley & Foster 1933
Floating Bridge -- Sleepy John Estes -- 1937
Boats Up River -- John Jackson 1965
Nothing in Rambling -- Memphis Minnie -- 1944
Red River -- Josh White 1933
How Long Blues -- Leroy Carr -- 1928
France Blues -- Harvey Hull with Cleve Reed -- 1927?
The World is Going Wrong -- Mississippi Shieks -- 1931
Back Door Stranger -- Brownie McGhee - 1940
Richmond Blues -- Blind Boy Fuller -- late 1930s?
Early in the Morning -- Louis Jordan -- 1947
Shake it and Break it -- Charley Patton -- 1929
Ain't Your Business -- Slim Harpo -- album 1961 (wonder if there was an earlier single?)
I like what you do -- original
Hard Time Killing Floor -- Skip James 1931
Who Do You Love -- Bo Diddley -- 1956

David later commented that he based "Red River Blues" on John Jackson's rendition and learned "Richmond Blues" from John Cephas' and Phil Wiggins rendition. I would not be surprised that many folk would be unfamilar with all but a few of these songs. I have never heard anybody interpret John Estes' "Floating Bridge" nor the Harvey Hull and Cleve Reed recording. Certainly it was a treat to listen to such a fine set of songs that it seems some who call themselves blues lovers might criticize for originality (i.e. not enough original songs).

Albert Castiglia’s new album Solid Ground is his debut for Ruf Records. Castiglia got the blues world’s attention when he toured with the legendary Junior Wells in the 1990s and after Wells’ 1998 death, toured with the Atlanta based singer, Sandra Hall. In the subsequent years he has built a considerable following with his singing, guitar playing and songwriting. On his new recording, his guitar and vocals are backed by the veteran team of Matt Schuler (bass/vocals), Bob Amsel (drums), Jeremy Baum (B3/piano/wurlitzer), Lou Bevere (guitar/vocals) and Debbie Davies (guitar/vocals) – plus Dave Gross on multi-instrumentation and production.

With Dave Gross’ production, Castiglia provides us some blues and rock that is crisply played opening with the opening Triflin’. He is an appealing, honest singer and his guitar playing displays not only his virtuosity, but a thoughtful soloist. Keep You Around Too Long is a first-rate performance with terrific ensemble playing while his guitar  grabs the listener. Have You No Shame makes adroit use of tremolo in his guitar on a soulful performance that contrasts with the strutting shuffle groove and vocals of Put Some Stank On It, a duet with Debbie Davies.

Love One Another, a message song about overcoming hate, makes use of a funky bass riff that evokes classic Memphis soul. Celebration, a departure from the blues, is an exceptional performance in the manner of a Bob Seger, and there is a nice  cover of the Stones’ Sway. Another stand-out blues here is an intense version of Lefty Dizz’s Bad Avenue, with outstanding singing and playing. Little Havana Blues (Arroz Con Mango), with a latin groove, is an crisp instrumental that allows Castiglia to stretch out.

Castiglia is a very good singer and marvelous guitarist whose talent is well displayed on the very entertaining Solid Ground that will have considerable appeal.

I received my copy from a publicist.Here he can be seen performing Bad Avenue.

Teeny Tucker Voodoo to Do You

Teeny Tucker is the daughter of a blues legend. Her father was Tommy Tucker of Hi-Heel Sneakers fame, although he passed away in 1982, long before Teeny started singing professionally. While growing up singing in church choirs, in the past two decades she has become one of the finest vocalists in the blues world, possessing a forceful and expressive voice that exhibits not simply her power as a singer, but her phrasing, vocal dynamics and controlled pitch.

Teeny Tucker's most recent album, Voodoo to Do You, is a strong collection of performances that includes her renditions of songs associated with Koko Taylor - Voodoo Woman, Howlin’ Wolf - Commit a Crime, and Christine Kittrell -a marvelous rendition of Lieber & Stoller’s I’m a Woman (many know this from Peggy Lee, but Kittrell first recorded this). In addition to Voodoo Woman, several songs (but not all) have a voodoo theme, including Love Spell, and Is Your Voodoo Workin’. Listening to her, one hears a wide range of influences including such legendary figures as Koko Taylor, Christine Kittrell, Lavern Baker and Big Maybelle, but like them she has developed into her own compelling sound.

The album also includes strong acoustic performances of Skip James’ Hard Time Killing Floor Blues and Rev. Gary Davis’ Death Have No Mercy. Both are wonderfully sung and enhanced by the playing of guitarist Robert Hughes. A final bonus track was recorded at the legendary Sun  Studios. This marvelous recording can be purchased from her at her performances or on cdbaby.com where I purchased it. Her website is teenytucker.com.

Teeny Tucker headlines the Tinner Hill Blues Festival on Saturday June 14, 2014. She will be doing a presentation on women in the blues that morning at 10AM and will be performing at around 7:15PM. For  more information on the Tiinner Hill Blues Festival, visit http://tinnerhill.org/blues-festival. To read my  preview of the Festival from April see http://inabluemood.blogspot.com/2014/04/21st-tinner-hill-blues-festival-june-13.html.

Here is Teeny in performance at the 2012 Pennsylvania Blues Festival singing "Voodoo Woman."

Blues For a Blue Monday

Here are some Blues for a Monday Morning after a long weekend.

First Eddie Boyd with his first recording of Blue Monday Blues.

Next up is Smiley Lewis with Blue Monday, later a hit for Fats Domino.

Let's not forget James "Thunderbird' Davis' Blue Monday, which was later interpreted by Andrew Brown and ZZ Hill.

While not titled Blue Monday, Detroit Junior's Call My Job is a classic about the Blue Monday blues.

Mississippi John Hurt had the Monday Morning Blues.

 

Celebrating Father’s Day - Some Fatherly Influences on Today’s Blues Performers

Shemekia Copeland at 2005 Hot August Blues

The first time I saw Shemekia Copeland sing the blues, she was with her father, the late Johnny Copeland. Even as a teenager opening for her very proud father, Shemekia had a presence, poise and maturity as a singer and as Bill Wax commented that evening at Tornado Alley in Wheaton, MD, that Shemekia reminded him of a young Irma Thomas. After her father’s untimely passing, Shemekia emerged on her own as a major blues talent. She is among the most prominent women blues performers of today and the late Koko Taylor’s family were among those who anointed her as successor to Koko, a Queen of the Blues. Being a woman and solely a vocalist, Shemekia perhaps benefited from not being in her father’s musical shadow. Yet, her father was an important part of her personal and music development, and Johnny Copeland’s Ghetto Child remains a signature part of her live performances. Shemekia (who will be at the Tinner Hill Blues Festival on Friday, June 13 at the State Theatre) now records for Telarc. However, her first four recordings were for Alligator, and the compilation Deluxe Edition is a fine retrospective of the music Shemekia Copeland recorded for Alligator and serves as a welcome starting point to her powerful blues. 

 
Two sons of the legendary Muddy Waters, Big Bill Morganfield and Mud Morganfield, have established themselves as blues artists. In contrast to Shemekia, their musical performances reflect the music of their father, Muddy Waters. Also in contrast to Shemekia’s father, Muddy played a less significant role as they were growing up. In an interview with Ben Lazarus of the British newspaper The Telegraph (May 7, 2014 issue), Waters’ oldest son, Larry ‘Mud’ Morganfield noted that Muddy Waters was on the road often when he was growing up, and after his parents split up, his mother’s brothers played a great role in Mud’s upbringing. As Lazarus observed, Mud initially ran from the blues “go[ing] to business school and driv[ing] trucks to make a living, but he realized he wanted to leave his own legacy and not just live in the shadow of his father.” He has established himself as a strong performer of blues in the manner of his famous dad. The relationship was reflected in the title of his 2011 Severn Records release, Son of the Seventh Son. 

About Son of the Seventh Son, I wrote (in my review), “Mud does a strong job of conjuring up his late father’s blues and the backing band certainly contributes to the overall feel of this band. Certainly if there can be “Blues Brothers” tribute bands, the eldest son of one of the greatest blues artists can do his part in keeping his father’s sound alive, especially when he contributes a number of strong originals that he ably performs. While he may not be an original performer, Mud Morganfield certain- ly is keeping his legendary father’s sound alive, supported by an excellent band.” 

Eddie Taylor Jr at 2006 Pocono Blues Fest

Shemekia Copeland and Mud Morganfield provide two different examples of children of blues artists today playing the blues. Not all children front bands. Kenny ‘Beedy Eyes’ Smith is the son of the late Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith, who anchored the drum chair for Muddy Waters for a couple decades and then anchored the Legendary Blues Band. In his later years, Willie took up harmonica, with his son Kenny taking up his father’s drum chair. Kenny is among the most in demand drummers for straight Chicago blues recordings, having recorded with his father, Lurrie Bell, the Heritage Blues Orchestra (scheduled for the Pennsylvania Blues Festival), bassist Bob Stroger, Chris Harper, and Mississippi Heat (with whom he regularly plays and who will be at the Tinner Hill Blues Festival). 

Kenny Smith is not the only blues drummer son of a famous blues artist. Tim Taylor is another drummer who has made his mark in the blues world. Tim is the son of legendary blues singer and guitarist Eddie Taylor (best known for playing with Jimmy Reed) and along with his brother Eddie Jr, half-brother Larry, and sister Demetria, Tim has carried on the tradition of the Chicago blues. Tim has recorded with brother Eddie Jr., who plays the Delta-rooted Chicago blues style for which his father was known. Of one of Eddie Taylor, Jr.’s albums I opined, “This is a solid, traditionally oriented blues recording. He sings from the heart and plays the old school style of Chicago blues guitar that fewer and fewer still play.” Eddie Jr. brings his solid approach while playing behind Demetria on her Delmark album Bad Girl, which has a nice mix of blues songs that indicates a bit of the influence of the unrelated Koko Taylor. 

Teeny Tucker at 2009 DC Blues Festival

Like Shemekia Copeland, Teeny Tucker is the daughter of a blues legend. Her father was Tommy Tucker of Hi-Heel Sneakers fame, although he passed away in 1982, long before Teeny started singing professionally. While growing up singing in church choirs, in the past two decades she has become one of the finest vocalists in the blues world, possessing a forceful and expressive voice that exhibits not simply her power as a singer, but her phrasing, vocal dynamics and controlled pitch. Listening to her, one hears a wide range of influences including such legendary figures as Koko Taylor, Christine Kittrell, Lavern Baker and Big Maybelle, but like them she has developed into her own compelling sound. Her most recent album, Voodoo to Do You, is a strong collection of performances that includes her renditions of songs associated with Koko Taylor - Voodoo Woman, Howlin’ Wolf - Commit a Crime, and Christine Kittrell -a marvelous rendition of Lieber & Stoller’s I’m a Woman (many know this from Peggy Lee, but Kittrell first recorded this). In addition to Voodoo Woman, several songs (but not all) have a voodoo theme, including Love Spell, and Is Your Voodoo Workin’. The album also includes strong acoustic performances of Skip James’ Hard Time Killing Floor Blues and Rev. Gary Davis’ Death Have No Mercy. Both are wonderfully sung and enhanced by the playing of guitarist Robert Hughes. Teeny headlines the Saturday afternoon performances at the Tinner Hill Blues Festival in Falls Church. 
 

Billy Branch and Lurrie Bell at 2012 Pennsylvania Blues Festival

Lurrie Bell, son of harmonica legend Carey Bell, first emerged in a group, Sons of the Blues, that also included Willie Dixon’s son Freddie Dixon and harmonica wizard Billy Branch. Playing a different instrument from his father enabled Lurrie to develop his own musical persona, which has been exhibited on a number of excellent blues albums that included collaborations with his late father.
Bernard Allison also had some collaborations with his father, Luther. Since Luther passed away, Bernard plays and sings in the same high energy, rocking style of his father and has incorporated several of his father’s songs in his performances. Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks both spent time playing with their father, Lonnie Brooks (Baker is Lonnie’s real last name).

While they continue to perform with their father (who has limited his performances in recent years), they both have started their own careers with their own approaches rooted in their father’s music. One also cannot forget Eddie ‘Vaan’ Shaw, son of saxophonist Eddie Shaw. Magic Sam and Hubert Sumlin, Vaan’s guitar became a mainstay of his father’s band and has been for many years.  Vaan has recorded two albums on hisown for the Austrian Wolf label and can be heard on the recordings of his Blues Hall of Fame father. 

Vann and Eddie Shaw at 2013 Pennsylvania Blues Festival

There are, of course, more sons and daughters of the blues. In Chicago, Elmore James, Jr., plays a mix of straight Chicago blues and some of his father’s slide guitar blues, although his slide playing and vocals owes a bit to Elmore's cousin, Homesick James. In New Orleans, one can hear, Guitar Slim Jr. who also brings a personal approach to his legendary father’s songs as well as other blues tunes. Shawn Holt, son of the late Magic Slim, recently won the Blues Music Award for Best Debut album, Daddy Told Me. This is a strong recording, very much in the vein of his father, with driving medium tempo shuffles and slow-drag, bump and grind blues. On this CD, Shawn is perpetuating Magic Slim’s legacy and also shows he is, himself, a significant voice for today’s blues. In the Northern Mississippi hill country, Shardé Turner leads the fife and drum band her grandfather Otha Turner led for many years, while the children and grandchildren of Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside continue playing music extending this deep blues tradition.

One other blues child to mention is harmonica player Rip Lee Pryor. Rip Lee is the son of Snooky Pryor, who was amongst the first post-war Chicago blues artists to record. Rip played guitar with his father, but has become a harmonica player whose style is similar to his father’s. Oddly, Rip Lee’s interest in blues started in a period when Snooky had withdrawn from the music business. Rip Lee’s recent debut recording Nobody But Me, on Electro-Fi, displays a pretty straight-forward approach to the blues as he plays harmonica on a rack and lays down simple guitar backing. Significant influences on his music include his father and John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson. As Scott Bock observes in his liner notes to the release, Rip Lee has a pretty stripped down sound resulting in a straight dose of classic Chicago blues. (Rip Lee Pryor and Shawn Holt will be appearing at the Pennsylvania Blues Festival at Pennsylvania’s Blue Mountain Ski Resort in late July.)


This post has appeared in the June 2014 Capital Blues Messenger, the DC Blues Society's newsletter.

Taking the Blues Time Machine Back to June 1977

This is my blues column from the June 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had Dizzy Gillespie on the cover. I have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. This column is devoted to live performances as well as reviews of reissues by John Lee Hooker and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. These albums were reissued by Fantasy I believe and may be available today.

The Belle Starr out in Colden, NY continued to bring blues acts to the Buffalo area. Early May saw Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. I caught their opening act and wasn’tt oo impressed with their new back-up band. When both Philip Guy and Buddy started to take the spotlight things got better and things were going well till Buddy broke a string during Junior Wells stint. Buddy wasn't able to get back in tune and it was a little disappointing. Others told me that other nights went much better.
 

Son Seals' debut at the Belle Starr, and first Buffalo area appearance in a couple years, was one of the finest blues acts I've seen in awhile. Son is an acidic singer and fiery guitarist and accompanied by a tough and tight band, including the aptly named Harry 'Snapper' Mitchum on bass, Pete Allen on guitar and Tony Gooden on drums, that provided quite a full sound. Son played quite a varied set doing hot versions of I Wonder Why, Sweet Angel Child, Why I Sing the Blues as well as tunes from his two Alligator albums such as Ray Charles' I Believe, Junior Parker's Telephone Angel and his own No, No Baby and Down on My Knees. Your Love is Like a Cancer is my own favorite taken at a rocking tempo with its stinging lyrics and guitar work. Son, on the basis of his records and his live performances deserves to be better known. If you are near where he is playing, do check him out.

As far as records go Fantasy has a twofer series of blues reissues. John Lee Hooker's Black Snake (F-24722) is reissued from two sets on Riverside. Hooker is solo on one record and on the other side bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes accompany on most of the material. There is better John Lee Hooker available, but their is also a lot worse stuff to listen to by him.

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee are one of the blues most celebrated duos delighting audiences for many years. Midnight Special (Fantasy F-24721) captures Sonny's exuberant harp playing and Brownie's fluid guitar. While this isn't down home country music but rather music for a white folk audience these 960 sides show that their professional approach doesn't mean the music lacks warmth or spirit. There mastery of the rural blues tradition shines and this set provides ample testimony to their contribution to American music.

Finally the Belle Starr continues to bring blues acts to the area. June 23-26 blues singer and guitarist Mighty Joe Young will be out at Holland-Glenwood Road. Mighty Joe Young is one of Chicago's finest musicians, a fact readily seen by his being in demand as a session man. He has recorded behind the late Magic Sam, Jimmy Dawkins, Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Fenton Robinson, Tyrone Davis among others. He has four albums out including the fine Blues With a Touch of Soul on Delmark, an album on GNP-Crescendo and two sets on Ovation. Joe is a mellow singer with a clean fluid guitar attack. This will be my first chance to see him in about six years. Hope to see you there.
 

Shawn Holt & the Tear Drops Daddy Told Me

Shawn Holt is the son of the late blues legend, Morris “Magic Slim’ Holt, and after the passing of his father has taken over The Teardrops. Blind Pig has just issued the first CD from Shawn Holt and The Teardrops, Daddy Told Me, and it is a strong recording very much in the vein of his father with driving medium tempo shuffles and slow-drag, bump and grind, blues. In addition to his guitar and vocals, he is joined by Levi William on guitar, Chris Biedron on bass and Brian ‘B.J.’ Jones on drums. On two selections, John Primer, who had a long tenure playing with Magic Slim, replaces William.

The tone is set with the opening Fannie Mae, where the Teardrops groove kicks in with Holt delivering the lyrics playing stinging guitar. The title track is an original, but based on Howlin’ Wolf’s How Many More Years and Baby How Long. Holt is a terrific singer who sings a bit more directly than his late father, as heard on his rendition of A.C. Reed’s Buddy Buddy Friends. This was a staple of Magic Slim’s repertoire which might explain why is is erroneously credit to Holt and not Reed. Other standout tracks include the rollicking rendition of Jimmy Reed’s Down In Virginia, and the Junior Wells, classic Little By Little. Primer handles the vocal and lead on Bo Diddley’s Before You Accuse Me, and which incorporates  the Dust My Broom riff.

Besides his strong singing and guitar playing, Shawn Holt also contributed several originals including the title track and the powerful Love Got Me Walkin’. The music here never sounds hurried or frantic and the medium tempos will undoubtedly appeal to dancers. Shawn Holt and the Teardrops may be perpetuating Magic Slim’s legacy with the performances on this first-rate recording, but he also shows that he is himself a promising, significant voice for today’s blues.

I received my review copy from Blind Pig Records.  Shawn will be appearing at the Pennsylvania Blues Festival in July. Here is a video clip of Shawn at Kingston Mines in Chicago with Eddie Shaw making guest appearance.

Taking the Blues Time Machine Back to May 1977

This is my blues column from the May 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had the great Roy Haynes  on the cover. My column was relatively lengthy, and included a Blues On EP segment which I will post next week. have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. Note that Southern Record sales from which I obtained some releases no longer exists, and of course Living Blues is no longer published in Chicago. Some of the recordings I reviewed are not easily found these days, but the Carey Bell, Johnny Shines and Phillip Walker should be available in some form.

March and April have been good months for live blues in Buffalo. Muddy Waters came to town with Johnny Winter and James Cotton for an entertaining show at the Shea's though Winter's contribution was strictly his name as he sang terribly and his guitar playing characterized by the typical excesses of rock guitarists. The following weeks concert of B.B. King and Bobby Bland has each do nice sets of their hits and then dueted together to close a fine evening of blues.

Johnny Shines, Big Walter Horton and the Rhythm Rockers were at the Belle Starr in Colden. The Rhythm Rockers are an excellent white blues band led by John Nicholas on vocals and guitar and Ron Levy on piano (He played with B.B. for several years). They played some fine West Coast styled blues mostly and did provide strong support for Horton and Shines. Horton proved himself the greatest living harp player alive with his warm fluid style of playing and his fat tone. Shines played some electric slide guitar and sand with his gut-tearing vibrato. The highlight of the night I saw them was the duets of Horton and John Nichols which was great stuff.

I missed Muddy's appearance at the Belle Starr with his regular group though I'm told they did well. Finally Robert Jr. Lockwood's appearance at the folk festival was marred by the sound at the Clark Hall. Robert's guitar work suffered as he and his band's other vocalist Otis Trotter sang well. Robert's white guitarist Mike Hahn did much of the soloing and displayed considerable mastery. "Hold Everything" was Robert's best number as the sound was sorted well enough for Robert's dazzling chord-work to shine. It was nice, but Robert and his band should be booked into a club where they can get a better feel. Robert is playing weekends (Thursday through Sunday) in Cleveland.

For those who caught Walter Horton and Johnny Shines at the Belle Starr I would suggest you check up on their recordings. Big Walter's album on Alligator (4702) features his fluid work backed by Eddie Taylor. Carey Bell, one of Walter's pupils on harp, also duets with his teacher on a nice set ranging from Having a Good Time, Little Boy Blue to Trouble in Mind. Johnny Shines has several fine albums out. His Advent album (2803) is stunning featuring six solo performances in the Mississippi Delta tradition and five tracks where he is backed by guitarist Philip Walker's band. One of the band tracks My Love Can't Hide is done over a smoldering band with Shine's vibrato singing creating an intensity matched only by Otis Rush. I agree with Living Blues that this is not to be missed. Both of these albums have been available for some time now but as many may be unfamiliar with these, do try to pick up on them.

Philip Walker incidentally has a solid new album, Someday You’ll Have These Blues (Joliet 6001). Philip had a now out of pr!nt album on Playboy and has done much session work (Johnny Shines and Eddie Taylor for Advent) and is a fleet guitarist and a grainy singer who comes through with strong performances. Particularly fine are Mama's Gone, EI Paso Blues and a gospel number When It Needs Gettin' Done. Definitely one to check out. If you can't find it at stores try Southern Record Sales, 42 North Lake Ave., Pasadena, Cal. 91101. Stores interested in carrying this album night write Joliet Record Co P.0. Box 67201, Los Angeles, Ca. 90067 or Southern Record Sales for information on where they might be able to acquire copies for sale.

Another West Coast bluesman is Sleepy Jim Berry who I had acquired a 45 of a few years back. That single Long Time Blues is included on his album The Berry Patch (Consolidated BR-103) an album which is mixed in material and quality but does Include some good strong slow blues notably Long Time and Dehydrated Love. Southern Record Sales can supply this.

It is great to have James Peterson back in Buffalo playing the blues weekends at the Sunset Inn on Main Street. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells are scheduled at the Belle Starr May 4-8 and of course the great Big Joe Turner and Lloyd Glenn at the Tralfamadore at the end of May (the 27-29) as a benefit for WBFO and part of Listener Support Week.

Trudy Lynn - Royal Oaks Blues Café

Has it really been over seven years since Trudy Lynn had a new recording out. Connor Ray Music issued Royal Oaks Blues Café, her first recordings since she recorded I’m Still Here (Sawdust Alley 2006) with the late Calvin Owens and his Blues Orchestra. The Houston based Lynn was among a number of artists who first came to folks attention on the Ichiban label and then for Ruf, Jus Blues and Sawdust Alley before this new recording.

The album cover bills this as Trudy Lynn featuring Steve Krase, and Krase’s harmonica is featured throughout. The studio band on most of this is guitarist John Del Toro Richardson, pianist Randy Wall, bassist Eugene ‘Spare Time’ Murray, and drummer Carl Owens. Its a solid small combo that contrasts with the Owens Blues Orchestra that supported her on her last album, and while the backing lends some difference in the mood perhaps, Trudy Lynn comes off as sassy and powerful as before.

She certainly benefits from a good mix of material from her strong rendition of the Jay McShann-Walter Brown blues standard Confessin’ The Blues, on which Krase and Richardson impress with their strong playing behind Lynn whose vocals display a clarity in phrasing and an expressive range (from a whisper to a shout). Wall’s piano kicks off the cover of a Bobby Bland recording, Play the Honky Tonks. Street Walkin’ Daddy benefits from the laid back backing with Richardson evoking the likes of Clarence Holliman and Pete Mayes behind Lynn’s soulful vocal. The tempo is boosted a few notches on the jump blues Red Light, while Lynn caresses the lyric of I’m Gonna Put You Down (“Did you ever wake up in the morning with your mind running two different ways”). Then she changes her attack for the jubilant celebration of Beale Street and the blues on the rollicking shuffle Down in Memphis.

There is fine Richardson guitar on the relaxed Effervescent Daddy with a choice harmonica solo as well. The closing Whip it To A Jelly further displays how nuanced a singer Lynn is as she brings out humor and wit of Clara Smith’s lyrics, Many blue singers today would come across as emotive or heavy-handed singing this. Her ability to convincingly deliver so many shades of blues makes Royal Oaks Blues Café such a terrific recording.

I purchased this. Here is a short video of the making of Royal Oaks Blues Café.

Janine Gilbert-Carter At Last

I was at the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival performance by Janine Gilbert-Carter which was recorded and released under the title “At Last." Carter is among a number of wonderful vocalists that can be heard in the Mid-Atlantic region, regularly performing around Washington DC and its suburbs. Carter, has toured internationally and as I write this, about to appear at the Metropolitan Room in New York City. She was mentored by the late Washington vocal legend Ronnie Wells. and brings a background in gospel, blues and jazz together with singing that is full of heart and passion delivered with humor or pathos and with her wonderful intonation and timing. On this self-produced recording, before a packed audience of friends and fans, she is backed by pianist Eric Byrd, bassist Wes ‘Sugah’ Biles, drummer Jeff Neal and saxophonist Brian Lee Settles.

She gets the audience involved in a call and response on a lively “Let the Good Times Roll,” while captures the indigo mood of the Ellington classic, “Don’t Get Around Much More,” with  tenor sax from Settles. This is a set list of favorite songs including a nice “Stormy Monday” (Byrd is outstanding on piano); a  reworking of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”; lovely ballad renditions of “Since I Fell For You” and “My Family Valentine”; and some strong scatting on “How High the Moon.” Much of her interpretation of “Fever” is a duet with bassist Biles followed by a rocking “I Don’t Hurt No More,” (with more outstanding playing from Settles) before closing with “At Last,”  a song that is always being requested by those attending her performances. Eric Byrd takes us to church during his solo here.

The performances that evening were marvelously recorded, mixed and mastered by Bluehouse Productions. Some folk might question the inclusion of so many well-known and familiar songs, but these are the songs that are her bread and butter and favorites of those who came for to see her that night. In her voice, these are not tired standards, but heartfelt renditions of classic songs. All that were at that show received this recording that stands up as more than a souvenir. This is available at cd.baby.com. Her website is http://www.janinecarter.com.

Here is Janine Gilbrt-Carter singing "Stormy Monday" at Westminster Church in Washington DC as part of their weekly Friday night Jazz series.

Taking the Blues Time Machine To May 1977 with Big Joe Turner

This is from the May 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had the great Big Joe Turner on the cover to help promote the show he did at the Tralfmadore Cafe. I believe I wrote the bio of Joe to promote the sbhow he and Lloyd Glenn did and I was privileged to emcee. While some of the specific albums may be out of print, most, if not all, of Big Joe Turner's recorded output that is listed is available today, although perhaps in different form. I will post my column from that issue next week. I have  noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. 

"Joe Turner can take the most innocuous song:and invest it with tremendous significance. He has a big, commanding voice which has served as the inspiration for many singers, from Jimmy Witherspoon downwards, and it is interesting to ob- serve that when rock-'n'-roll became popular during the nineteen-fifties Joe was able to stage a come-back without any alteration to his basic singing style." -Alun Morgan in Jazz on Record

The legendary blues shouter, Big Joe Turner, will be com- ing to the Tralfamadore Cafe Friday through Sunday May 27 through 29 along with pianist Lloyd Glenn. Big Joe is perhaps the premier blues shouter and a major figure in the histories of blues, jazz and popular music. Lloyd Glenn, if less known than Joe, is a fine pianist whose association with T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson as well as his own recordings insure a place in blues and jazz history.

Joe Turner was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911. He started singing professionally at the age of 14 and in the 1930s was associated with the late Pete Johnson, who spend his last years in Buffalo, at the Sunset Inn where Joe tended bar and sang and Pete tinkled on the ivories. In 1938 they were participants at the famed "Spirituals to Swing Concert" that John Hammond organized at Carnegie Hall. Later in 1938 Pete and Joe joined pianists Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons at Cafe Society. Besides Joe's great singing the Cafe Society was headquarters of the three greatest boogie woogie piano players.

Joe also started a recording career, that is still going strong, recording with Pete Hot Lips Page, Art Tatum and others. Joe sang with Count Basie, Any Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy with whom Mary Lou Williams was playing piano, Duke Ellington, and Joe remembers that "I sang with Benny Goodman on the air when he had the Camel Hour, with Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson, and I sang with their trio."

Joe continued to record in the forties and made sides for a variety of labels including National, Savoy, Swing Time, Aladdin and Imperial. People he worked with on those records include Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Russell Jacquet, Don Byas, Art Farmer and Fats Domino.

In 1951 Joe was signed to Atlantic where his first session produced "Chains of Love" which earned Joe a gold record. With Atlantic Joe was a monster hit maker on the R'n'B charts with "Sweet Sixteen", "Honey Hush" “Shake Rattle & Roll" (which Bill Haley would later cover). "Flip Flop & Fly" (with Elmore James' band) and "Corrine, Corrina" which Joe first did with Art Tatum. 1956 produced a reunion album with Pete Johnson Boss of the Blues which was aptly titled as they produced a great album of Kansas City Jazz and did new versions of "Roll 'Em Pete", "Cherry Red" amongst the tunes associated with Joe. Joe has continued to record and perform.

The last few years he has sung with the Johnny Otis Show and recorded several .excellent albums on Pablo. His late 1976 engagement at New York's Cookery with Lloyd Glenn was a critical and popular smash.

Big Joe Turner and Lloyd Glenn are being brought to the Tralfamadore by PubIic Radio Station WBFO-FM as a benefit for the station. The concerts wiII launch Iistener support week at WBFO al)d besides great music you wi II be helping WBFO to expand its service to the community and to continue imto expand its service to the community and to continue improving its programming. As Benny Green has written "Joe Turner is one of the very few who sing the blues as though born to it.”

(Joe Turner quote from Paul Clinco's interview with him, Living Blues, Autumn, 1972)

Partial Joe Turner Discography
Rock in' the Blues .~ Atlantic Big Joe is Here - Atlantic
Big Joe Rides Again- Atlantic Boss of the Blues - Atlantic Best of Joe Turner - Atlantic
Joe Turner: His Greatest Recordings - Atlantic
BIues - Savoy
Careless Love - Savoy
Jump in' the Blues - Arhoolie (with Pete Johnson)
Roll 'Em- Bluesway
Super Black Blues - BluesTime (with T-Bone Walker and Otis Spann) 
The Bosses - Pablo (with Count Basie)
Meets the Trumpet Kings - Pablo (with Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry and Roy Eldridge '
Nobody in Mind -Pablo (with Milt Jackson and Roy Eldridge)

Toby Walker - What You See Is What You Get

Toby Walker is amongst the finest living solo blues guitarists alive today and he has a new self-produced recording which displays his considerable talents, What You See Is What You Get. It is a marvelous recording with Walker employing a variety of guitars and even playing slide on an electric as he plays in a variety of older blues styles covering songs from Big Joe Williams, Rube Lacy, Louisiana Red, Mississippi John Hurt, Rube Lacy, Blind Willie Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson and Blind Willie McTell as well as performs several originals.

Walker’s gravelly vocal style does strain sometime and is less convincing to these ears on the opening Baby Please Don’t Go Do and Blind Willie Johnson’s God Moves On The Water, than it is on the able interpretation of Louisiana Red’s Dead Stray Dog, with some lively picking and slide. There is a jaunty Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, and a nice interpretation of Statesboro Blues, with splendid twelve-string playing. It is a delight to hear someone revive Rube Lacy’s Ham Hound Crave, with some guitar in the manner of such folks as Charlie McCoy and others. The rendition of John Hurt’s Got the Blues, Can't Be Satisfied is delightful.

Originals include a terrific finger style guitar feature dedicated to the legendary Blind Blake Putting On the Blakes, which cleverly mixes together pieces from various Blake recordings into a marvelous whole. I am unfamiliar with his previously recording but his playing is stunning here. Similar styled guitar is heard on the humorous Everything I Want, where he sings about chewing off more than he can financially handle. This has a fun lyric with marvelous playing. There is more wonderful playing on “Highway,” with a bit of country-folk flavor, while  driving slide playing on the amusing Put Something Stupid On The Tube, suggests it could be a vehicle for a group playing southern rock or country-rock.

The strong performances on What You See Is What You Get, make this a release to appeal to anyone who enjoys acoustic blues. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone playing better solo guitar today. In addition to music on the CD, a link is provided that gives access for three more downloads, 4 videos of interviews; stories and songs; 3 video guitar lessons; and more. More information on Toby Walker and this CD can be found on www.littletobywalker.com/.

I received my review copy from Toby Walker. Here is a video of Toby providing a bit of instruction on Mississippi John Hurt’s Got the Blues, Can't Be Satisfied.

Cathy Lemons Black Crow

Bay area singer Cathy Lemons brings a rich plate of musical gems including blues and blues-infused rock in a fashion that might suggest Bonnie Raitt. She perhaps a bit more grit in her vocal textures than Raitt, but communicates with perhaps a bit more understated approach and than Raitt. Her no album Black Crow (VizzTone) is a wonderful recording comprised mostly of her thoughtful originals ranging from rocking shuffles Texas Shuffle, strutting funk of I’m a Good Woman to soulful country-laced laments as on Kiernan Kane’s Ain’t Gonna Do It.

Her vocals strike the listener with their natural, relaxed and soulful quality. She is backed by a fine band with co-producer Steve Gurr on guitar, Paul Olguin on bass, D’Mar or Robbie Bean on drums, and Kevin Zufti on keyboards on three tracks. Doug James adds sax on three selections, Volker Strifler plays guitar on two, while Kid Andersen, another co-producer (who also recorded mixed and mastered this), adds organ to one selection and sound effects to another.

The title track is a country-rock number with a evocative lyric and her moving, smokey vocal supported by understated atmospheric backing as she weaves a lyric if a maimed black crow with her relationship to her man with the lament, “You’re my maimed black crow; All I ever wanted was your wings around me; I swear we both got to burn; But I’ll take you with me.” The laid back feel of this performance is followed by the Hip Check Man with  nifty guitar and harmonica from Gurr on a rocker with a driving groove and an understated, almost spoken, vocal. You’re in My Town, a slow blues, has echoes of Boz Scaggs in Gurr's guitar and the backing, as Lemons warns her man to take that woman from out of his eyes, or it will be the last thing he ever does. A gem is her cover of Earl King’s It All Went Down the Drain with the restraint of her vocal and Volker Strifler’s guitar adding to the atmosphere. There is a pleasant cover of James Brown’s The Big Payback with James  on baritone sax followed by another slow blues lament I’m Gonna Try.

Strifler adds a bit muscle to his guitar backing on the rocking Texas Shuffle as Lemons sings about give her an old time Texas Shuffle as she tries to get out of town. The album closes with The Devil Has Blue Eyes, with Gurr’s acoustic guitar and harmonica, is her reworking of Skip James’ Devil Got My Woman. It is a lament about how the devil took her man away, “Heart has no say; The heart has no say; This devil has taken my love away,” It has an austere and haunting quality and completes what is a memorable and recommended recording.

I received my review copy from VizzTone. Here Cathy performs Black Crow.

Oran Etkin - Gathering Light

Israeli born Oran Etkin is among a number of distinctive voices (others include Chicago’s Jason Stein and Baltimore’s Todd Marcus) specializing on the bass clarinet. Etkin’s music has long incorporated elements from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere and his new recording Gathering Light (Motéma Music) continues in this vein taking inspiration in part by tours the past few years in Indonesia, China, Japan, Israel and Europe. On this he is supported by his trio of bassist Ben Allison and drummer Nasheet Waits along with Curtis Fowlkes on trombone and long-time collaborator Lionel Loueke on guitar and vocals.

The compositions range from an Indonesian folk song to Louis Armstrong’s theme song and indicate the range of musical flavors heard here. The opening Gambang Suling is the Indonesian folk song referred to with just the trio as Etkin displays his mastery of the bass clarinet's full range from the deep woody low reaches to  saxophone like horn lines as the rhythm duo of Allison and Waits provide the groove and complement Etkin’s serpentine playing that sugests a klezmer clarinet. Taxi Dance has an African flair with Loueke’s guitar contributing with his chords and single run accents while Fowlkes adds color behind the leader’s clarinet. Loueke also solos with his mix of distorted staccato runs and rhythmic accenting before the three take off with some collective improvisation. The lovely Israeli song Shirim Ad Kan has lovely clarinet and a brief bass interlude from Allison.

African flavor characterizes the joyous, Gratitude, with the quintet that opens with Etkin's’s woody tone punctuated with squeaks while Loueke adds some prickly guitar and a vocal as the ensemble gets into an energetic groove. Takeda (Homesick Blues) has a more subued feel with Etkin’s clarinet (with Fowlkes’ trombone’s embellishments) casting a melancholic flavor on a composition based on a traditional Japanese song.

Tony’s Dance with its unusual structure is a performance in the spirit of some of Eric Dolphy, while Guangzhou Taxi is a fascinating  performance with changes in tempo and temperature of the performance as Loueke sets off some fireworks during his solo. Louis Armstrong was Etkin’s first inspiration and a rendition of When it’s Sleepy Time Down South is full of lyricism It is a marvelous performance that concludes a superb recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. His website is www.oranetkin.com. Here is a video of Gambang Suling.

Taking the Blues Time Machine to April 1977

This is my blues column from the April 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had the great Roy Haynes  on the cover. My column was relatively lengthy, and included a Blues On EP segment which I will post next week. have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. Note that Southern Record sales from which I obtained some releases no longer exists, and of course Living Blues is no longer published in Chicago. Many of the recordings I reviewed are not easily found these days. Also the scheduled Jimmy Dawkins' performances mentioned did not happen as Jimmy was fed up with the music scene at the time. Big Joe Turner and Lloyd Glenn were replacements. I have corrected typos and spelling errors in the original review.

After a month that brought Muddy Waters, Bobby Bland and B.B. King legendary blues artist, Robert Jr. Lockwood, will be appearing at.the University of Buffalo Folk Festival Friday evening, Ap i I 15. (The festival runs through Sunday the 17th). Lockwood, the stepson of Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson has played and recorded with many of the greats such as Sonny Boy WiIIiamson (with whom he appeared on the famous King Biscuit Time radio program in the early 1940s), Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Eddie Boyd, Willie Mabon, Otis Spann and Roosevelt Sykes. One of the blues finest guitarists, his fluid chord-work should also appeal to jazz enthusiasts. He has influenced many other guitarists including B.B. King and the late Freddie King.

A number of new albums came my way this month documenting the less well known of America's folk traditions. Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Band is heard on Zydeco (GNP Crescendo GNPS 2101) a fine collection of musical gumbo. Queen Ida is the only zydeco artist to have an album other than Clifton Chenier. Playing a push-pull diatonic accordion (as opposed to a piano accordion) behind her brother AI Lewis' guitar and vocals, a set of very relaxed enjoyable music results. The music is more traditional cajun though about half the album is in a bluesy frame. Very infectious.

Live recordings document blues from Fort Worth/Dallas and Saint Louis. Robert Ealey and His Five Careless Lovers Live at the New Blue Bird Nite Club is an infectious and rock-ing set recorded in Fort Worth (Blue Royal BR 300) as singer Ealey, tough keyboard player Good Rocking Ralph and a mostly young white band go through a series of blues and boogie. Highlights include a nice Sweet Sixteen, Black Night and a hot Further on Up the Road. Good party music.

Clayton Love, once pianist for Ike Turner, turns in a bluesy, if somewhat short, set, Mississippi Music, Mud & Misery (Flash Back Records), recorded at the Carousel in St. Louis. Love, a very mellow singer and strong pianist, plays as producer Sid Wallace raps for over seven minutes about Mississippi and the blues and the various people from there (emphasizing his (Sid Wallace's) home town of Tunica. This goes into a nice rocking blues Big Question. A fast Worried Life Blues opens the second side which also includes a really nice St. Louis Blues and a nice treatment of Tore Up, an Ike Turner song that Otis Rush has also recorded. Key to the Highway closes with some harp backing. The only reservation of this album is the playing time, as the music is fine.

Barrelhouse Records has a small catalog of blues and rockabilly records. Of the three latest releases one is a sure winner, the other two are plagued by some recording problems. Bring Me Another Half a Pint (BH 09) features some of the lesser known Chicago harp players. Drummer Kansas City Red is heard with harpist Nate Armstrong to fine advantage on Money Tree and sounds like Robert Jr. Lockwood on Lockwood's tune Mean Black Spider. Nate Armstrong's Red Light Boogie is a fine chromatic harp feature. Easy Baby has gentle vocal and strong harp on his Good Morning Mr. Blues. Sonny Boy McGhee turns in two strong performances, sounding very much. like his mentor John Lee WiIIiamson. Earl Payton's tracks are pleasant but recorded when he had a broken arm and don't allow him to show his ability. Billy Branch turns in an assured vocal on Hootchie Kootchie Man and brilliant harp work recalling Walter Horton. Billy currently travels with Willie Dixon and is a name to remember. Steve Wisner recorded these sides and the sound is good. Special note must be made of Walter 'Big Red' Smith's guitar work. Steve also produced the fine Good Rockin' Charles album on his own Mr. Blues label.

George Paulus own productions for his label, Blind Joe Hill's Boogie in the Dark (BH-08) and Joe.Carter's Mean and Evil Blues (BH-07) feature what is interesting music, but the vocals of both are poorly recorded making it difficult to estimate their abilities as vocalists. Blind Joe Hill, a one-man band from Akron, Ohio is less affected as his abilities in the Jimmy Reed mode are well preserved. Through a wide range of material, Boogie in the Dark, Tin Pan Alley, Hideaway, Manish Boy, Sweet Home Chicago and She Gotta Go, he proves adept on harp guitar and keeps the beat with bass drum and high hat cymbal. As Tim Schuller's liner notes claim, Joe Hill is an artist of 'incredible singularity'!

Joe Carter is a fine slide guitarist who can recall both early Muddy Waters and Elmore James: With just Big Red's second guitar and drummer Johnny Junious he produces rocking music. I can't make any judgment on his singing because of its distorted character, though on the Elmore James tunes I'm Worried, It Hurts Me Too, Shake Your Moneymaker and Dust My Broom a certain enthusiasm is apparent. A nice treatment of Robert Jr. Lockwood's Take a Little Walk With Me is also included. Only one tune.really falls apart and that is Muddy's Blow Wind Blow. Despite its flaws an enjoyable set that makes one wish more care had been shown to the details. If George Paulus is trying to get a down home sound, he perhaps succeeded too much.

I have seen the Queen Ida in local stores, the others I ordered from Living Blues, 2615 N. Wilton Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60614, (Southern Record Sales, 42 North Lake Ave.. Pasadena, Calif. 91101 can also supply). The new Living Blues should be available when you read this and includes an obituary article on Freddie King (with interviews) and big feature on Son House; Willie Dixon currently has a column and extensive reviews and news is also included. Single copies now cost $1.00 and a six issue (1 year) subscription runs $5.50. Serious blues fans should check it out if you haven't already.
Finally, WBFO will be bringing in Jimmy Dawkins to the Tralfamadore Cafe the last weekend in May (May 27-29). Jimmy is the most original guitarist to emerge in the blues in the past 10 years and will be bringing some tough West Side Chicago Blues to Buffalo. More details next month.

Jim Byrnes St. Louis Times

While living in Canada for a number of years, Jim Byrnes grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and his new CD, St. Louis Times (Black Hen) is a salute to the blues music and artists who influenced him during his youth and adulthood. Subtitled Songs From and About St. Louis, this recording provides his take on music from such St. Louis icons as Chuck Berry, Albert King, Little Milton and “Stump” Johnson, as well as the likes of Lonnie Johnson and W.C. Handy, and several originals by Byrnes and producer Steve Dawson. In addition to the vocals and guitar of Byrnes and Dawson’s guitar, Dawson brought together a rhythm section of Daryl Havers on keyboards, Jeremy Holmes on bass and Geoff Hicks on drums. John Hammond ( a long-time friend of Byrnes) guests on four selections adding harmonica to three selections, slide guitar to one and shares a vocal on one, while Colleen Rennison shares the vocal on one selection.

The material includes songs associated with Albert King, Little Milton, Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure, Chuck Berry, W.C. Handy, Peetie Wheatstraw and Lonnie Johnson along with four Byrnes / Dawson originals with the performances ranging from pretty straight renditions of Albert King’s I Get Evil and the Bass/McClure You’ll Miss Me (When I’m Gone), to the traditional jazz inflections added to James ‘Stump’ Johnson’s The Duck Yas Yas Yas, St. Louis Blues, and Wheatstraw’s recording of Cake Alley. Dawson’s use of pedal steel adds an usual flavor to the cover of Chuck Berry’s Nadine, while Little Milton’s That Will Never Do is rendered in a somewhat austere stripped down setting.

Byrnes’ grainy vocals appeal with their sincerity and natural, thick molasses delivery helped by the understated backing from the rhythm section. He delivers the lyrics in an unforced matter, often with a bit of humor as on his duet with Hammond on The Duck Yas Yas Yas, with some nice clarinet from Jim Hoke and trumpet by Steve Herrman. He displays the most urgency on the duet with Rennison on You’ll Miss Me (When I’m Gone), while indicating a touch of Peetie Wheatstraw’s on Cake Alley where he employs the Devil’s Son-In-Law’s “oh well well” vocal embellishment. Tom Colclough plays the fine the clarinet on Handy’s famous St. Louis Blues, along with Dawson’s fine National slide guitar to support Byrnes of-the-beat vocal. The originals are solid tunes with The Journey Home being exceptional with recollections of the Mississippi, listening to the Dodgers and the Cardinals over the radio, and the Illinois Central trains with Dawson’s telling guitar responses to the latter.

An affectionate salute to his home town, Jim Byrnes St. Louis Times delights with his heartfelt, and fresh, renditions of some vintage blues and originals The varied settings add to the listening enjoyment of the amiable performances on this engaging CD.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here Jim Byrnes in is recent performance doing St. Louis Blues.

The Holmes Brothers Brotherhood

The Holmes Brothers, Wendell, bassist/songwriter/vocalist, Sherman Holmes and drummer/vocalist and brother-in-spirit Popsy Dixon, have a new Alligator album Brotherhood. It is the 5th for the label and 11th overall since they had their first Rounder album in 1991. Since the days at Dan Lynch’s in New York City, the trio have been spinning a mix of blues, soul and gospel for thirty-five years with an ever increasing fan base.

Brotherhood opens with Wendell’s original Stayed At The Party, a secular gospel number with Wendell’s lyrics very telling about he would not have done some wild things when younger if he knew he would live so long. It bookends the performances on this CD with the Brothers fervent rendition of Amazing Grace that closes this CD. There are many performances to savor including the wonderful harmonies on Ted Hawkins’ I Gave Up All I Had, and the cover of a Earl Hooker recording of Ike Turner’s You Got To Loose, with Glenn Patscha on Wurlitzer piano echoing Big Moose Walker’s piano on Hooker’s late sixties recording. There is a terrific sax solo (from John Ellis) on this and nice use of backing vocals.

The soulful country-tinged lament, Loving You From Afar, is a marvelous duet between Wendell and daughter Felicia. The jaunty shuffle My Word Is My Bond has a terrific vocal from Wendell and nice guitar, while Sherman is featured on Drivin' In The Drivin' Rain, where he wants get back to his woman’s arms. Popsy provides the soulful rendition of William Bell’s My Kind of Girl. There is much more to enjoy about this.

One must acknowledge producers, Glenn Patscha, Chris Bruce, and Hector Castillo who helped produce another excellent blues and roots stew by The Holmes Brothers. Alligator Records, on its web page devoted to the trio, correctly state that “The Holmes Brothers …are true treasures of American roots music.” Brotherhood is yet another treasure by them.

I received my review copy from Alligator Records. Here is a video of The Holmes Brothers in performance.