“Bluzin’ in the Catskills” brings the blues to the Villa
Roma Resort in Calicoon, NY, the weekend of March 24–26,
2017. This will be an all-inclusive weekend of great blues
Shemekia Copeland and
Bobby Rush Headline Blues-Filled
Catskill Weekend
Shemekia Copeland (photo by Ron Weinstock)
performers including Shemekia Copeland, The Bobby Rush
Revue, John Primer, Johnny Rawls, Teeny Tucker, Slam Allen,
Alexis Suter & the Ministers of sound and much more.
This blues land cruise is being produced by Michael Cloeren
who has produced Blues Festivals in the Poconos for 25
years and produced other events including the Philadelphia
Folk Festival for four years.
(John Primer)
When Bluzin’ attendees arrive Friday, March 24, they
will be greeted by keyboard wizard Dave Keyes. That night
they will feature the music of The Slam Allen Band (Slam
fronted as vocalist with James Cotton for many years and
now exciting crowds everywhere with his music); The Teeny
Tucker Band (the daughter of Tommy Tucker evokes blues
women greats like Big Mama Thornton and Etta James);
and The Bobby Rush Revue, with the Blues Hall of Famer
who has been singing and performing for over 50 years.
That Night concludes a blues jam hosted by Bobby Kyle
and the Administers with Vanessa Collier, Mikey Junior
and others.
(Teeny Tucker)
There is a full day of music on Saturday, March 25 starting
with a Centennial Celebration with Bobby Kyle and the
Administers with Teeny Tucker, Mikey Junior and Vanessa
Collier. It will be followed by John Primer & Steve Bell (Primer
is one of the great straight Chicago Blues Guitarists and
vocalists and Steve Bell is Carey Bell’s son); Johnny Rawls
& Dave Keller (the great soul-blues singer and guitarist as
well former member of OV Wright’s band is joined by strong
Vermont-based soul-blues singer-guitarist) and followed by
pianist Dave Keyes and Friends. Also happening Saturday
Afternoon, Guy Davis will perform his one-man show, “The
Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed With the Blues,” an acclaimed
mix of storytelling and musical performance.
(Johnny Rawls)
Saturday evening opens with Johnny Rawls & the Dave
Keller Band, followed by a Tribute to Johnny Clyde Copeland
with Bobby Kyle, Randy Lippincott, Joel Perry and Barry
Harrison, all former members of the late Blues Legend’s
Band. John Primer follows and Shemekia Copeland, a
consistent Blues Award nominee and winner finishes up
the main show. The late night jam that evening will feature
the Dave Keyes Band with guests including Vanessa Collier
and Mikey Junior. The Festival winds down on Sunday, March 26 with
Shemekia Copeland talking about her music and career during
the brunch. Dave Keyes will be playing solo piano later
and the powerhouse vocalist Alexis Suter & The Ministers
of Sound will be performing in the afternoon. Those still at
the resort that evening can see the Chris Bergson Band
with special guest Ellis Hooks.
(Alexis Suter)
The all-inclusive packages include Friday dinner, three
meals on Saturday and Sunday Brunch, on-site lodging,
meet and greet, a movie screening and more. The Villa
Roma has an indoor pool, fitness center, Bowling Alley and
more. The package does not include adult beverages. Deposits
to get the lowest rate must be received by December 5
with the balance due by January 23, 2017. For more information,
visit http://www.michaelcloerenproductions.com/, click
on the Festivals pull down menu and click on the Bluzin’ in
the Catskills button.
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.
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 artiststoday 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.
Teeny Tucker and Robert Hughes at 2009 DC Blues Festival.
Falls Church, Virginia hosts a weekend of Blues, Brew and BBQ with the 21st Tinner Hill Blues Festival which runs Friday June 13th through Sunday June 15. The Festival, which is a tribute to the late Northern Virginia Blues Legend John Jackson, will feature the blues talents of Shemekia Copeland, Teeny Tucker, Mississippi Heat and Ursula Ricks as well as area favorites Tom Principato and Cathy Ponton King. The Tinner Hill Blues Festival is produced by The Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation which celebrates the legacy of the first rural Virginia NAACP chapter that was founded in 1915, which they will be celebrating the centennial in January 2015.
Friday, June 13th the Festival opens with Shemekia Copeland at The State Theatre, 222 N. 33 1/3” on Telarc which Howard Reich of The Chicago Tribune called “a gripping, stripped-to-basics release that reaffirms her position as one of the great hopes for the art form.”
Shemekia Copeland at 2009 Pocono Blues Festival
Washington Street in Falls Church. Shemekia Copeland is the daughter of Texas legend Johnny Clyde Copeland and began singing with her father while a teenager. After her father passed away, she started performing on her own and signed with the Alligator label with whom she had several award winning recordings before signing with her current label Telarc. Shemekia is a two-time Grammy nominee, multiple Handy Award-Blues Music Award honoree, winner of several Living Blues Critics and Readers Awards for Outstanding Female Blues Vocalist as well as DownBeat Award Winner for Rising Star Blues Artist. At the 2011 Chicago Blues Festival, In addition, the city of Chicago, state of Illinois, and Joyce “Cookie” Threatt, daughter of Koko Taylor, surprised Shemekia onstage with her mother’s tiara, and crowned her “The new Queen of the Blues” at the Chicago Blues Festival. Her most recent album is “
Opening for Shemekia will be Sol Roots. Sol Roots is a fine guitarist (actually multi-instrumentalist and singer that creates a blend of energetic rock, raw blues, reggae, and funk, all delivered with deep soul. Sol, who regularly plays at such venues as The Hamilton Live and JVs, has toured with many roots, funk, and blues legends around the world as a part of Music Maker Revue (and accompanied Beverly Watkins and Albert White at the 2013 Tinner Hill Blues Festival).
Saturday, June 13, the Festival moves to Cherry Hill Park on Park Avenue in Falls Church. In the morning, there will be acoustic blues played at the weekly Farmer’s Market held in the Falls Church City Hall Parking lot. There will be other events held including a panel discussion TBA before the main program begins at Cherry Hill Park.
This year’s Saturday line-up is headlined by Teeny Tucker. Teeny is the daughter of Tommy Tucker, best known for one of the great blues standards, High Heel Sneakers. Teeny has developed into a singer of great power and nuance whose performances include her salutes to some of the great blues women of the past and choice originals. Her powerful singing will conjure up memories of such legends as Lavern Baker, Big Mama Thornton and Koko Taylor. In fact, her rendition of Koko’s Voodoo Woman opens her new album Voodoo To Do You. Teeny’s band is led by an outstanding guitarist Robert Hughes, who in addition to being a terrific musician and collaborator with teeny, is an outstanding photographer who was recently named Ohio Professional Photographer of the Year. About her album Keep The Blues Alive, I wrote that the album “will certainly build Teeny’s audience. There is some exceptional material on this and Teeny is fabulous.”
Mississippi Heat is a band that is led by harmonica player Pierre Lacocque who also contributes most of the new material. Mississippi Heat has always been a band that has focused on an ensemble sound and supporting its singers and for over two decades been playing strong Chicago blues. Lacocque himself plays in the Little Walter tradition. The band has a marvelous vocalist, Inetta Visor who has been with the group since 2001. Her powerful, Etta James-like voice on Footprints On The Ceiling, Glad You're Mine, and One Eye Open are always highlights of the performances. Other members of the band include guitarist Michael Dotson, bassist Brian Quinn and crummy Kenny “Beedy Eyes’ Smith. Kenny Smith, like Shemekia Copeland and Teeny Tucker, is a child of a legendary blues artist, in this car the long-time drummer with Muddy Waters, Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith. Of the Mississippi Heat’s last Delmark recording Delta Bound, I wrote “One continues to get impressed by Mississippi Heat. Pierre Lacocque continues to write interesting and varied new blues songs which are rooted in the blues and not blues-rock. Match the material with the tight backing, strong solos and excellent vocals and he continues to bring us after 20 years first-rate and fresh-sounding, new blues.”
Baltimore’s Ursula Ricks has been a presence on the Baltimore and Washington blues scenes for a couple decades, Ursula Ricks certainly sounds poised to break out to the National music scene and her recent recording My Street (Severn Records) displays another singer of considerable maturity. She is a powerful singer, whose smoky and husky vocals are outstanding. Her controlled, unforced delivery stands out in a manner akin to Nina Simone. She never bellows, screams or sounds constipated. Rather she evokes classic sixties soul recordings by the like of Carol Fran or Betty Everett. About My Street, I wrote “The songs and her vocals ring with conviction and the backing is excellent on a superb recording that will hopefully enable Ms. Ricks to receive the recognition and rewards her talent and music deserves.” I am not the only person to notice this as she will be appearing at the Pennsylvania Blues Festival as well.
Tom Principato
Other performers on Saturday include Baatin, Tom Principato and Cathy Ponton King. Tom Principato is one of the most celebrated, blues and roots performers in the Washington DC area. An able singer, he is a fabulous guitarist rooted in blues but who incorporates rockabilly, swing jazz and country boogie into an irresistible sound. One of the few guitarists who could spar with the late Danny Gatton, Principato always puts on some energetic performances. watching him perform, one will understand why he is in demand in Europe. Of a recent recording A Part of Me, I wrote that it “is a typically strong album by Tom Principato with a varied collection of material, superbly and imaginatively performed and sung straight from Tom’s heart.” Cathy Ponton King is another local favorite who brings plenty of warmth with her heartfelt vocals and guitar playing. She always has a terrific band and you never know whether saxophonist Ron Holloway or pianist Daryl Davis might show up to play with her this day.
I will be updating this blog post with more information as it becomes available on the Festival including the Sunday, June 15th, Blues Brunch. For more information on this year’s festival, check out http://tinnerhill.org/blues-festival.
Winner of the 2007 International Blues Challenge, The Sean Carney Band is no Johnny come lately. Carney has been an important part of the Columbus, Ohio blues scene for many years and participated in the IBC several years ago backing up finalist Teeny Tucker. Carney has recorded several times and his CD, Life of Ease (Nite Owlz Records), demonstrates the appeal of his music that led to his winning in Memphis.
Carney is a terrific guitarist with a crisp, swinging attack, a solid songwriter and his band is a terrific band that can cover a lot of territory from uptown jump blues and swing to a more downhome groove as on Pennies & Teardrops. As a vocalist Carney evokes Jimmy Witherspoon on the title track and at other times suggests Duke Robillard, like on the atmospheric I’ve Got a Gypsy Woman. Solid remakes of T-Bone Walker’s I Know Your Wig Is Gone and Pee Wee Crayton’s When It Rains It Pours, shows that Duke Robillard isn’t the only one who can channel Walker’s pioneering and still influential style.
The guest spots include the late Joe Weaver’s marvelous updating of Casey Bill Weldon’s Outskirts of Town (credited to Louis Jordan), Willie Pooch’s fine treatment of Lowell Fulson’s Tramp and Teeny Tucker, daughter of Tommy Tucker, filling up the room with the fine I Live Alone. Special note should be made of the fine playing of saxophonist Gene Walker, a King Curtis protege on three selections.
Thirteen track are studio recordings, and three are live recordings, including two renditions of two songs among the studio recordings and this is an excellent disc that is available from www.cdbaby.com.
This review originally appeared in the March/April 2007 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 291). I believe I may have purchased the CD. Sean continues to be active and among the most interesting persons involved in the Columbus Ohio blues scene and this CD and others by him are available at cdbaby.com and other stores and as downloads. Below is a video of Sean at the 2007 International Blues Challenge.
Teeny Tucker will be at this year's Pennsylvania Blues Festival
Michael Cloeren, and the others involved with the Pocono Blues Festival found a new location to carry out the tradition of bringing the best blues to the Pocono Mountains with last year’s “1st Pennsylvania Blues Festival” at the Blue Mountain Ski Area in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, not far from Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, Pennsylvania. They have put together the “2nd Pennsylvania Blues Festival” at the Blue Mountain Ski Area that will take place the weekend of Friday July 27 through Sunday July 29.
Eugene 'Hideaway' Bridges
Once again they will be presenting a variety of top-draw blues acts to appeal to diverse blues tastes. Friday night they will host a blues jam featuring Mikey Junior & the Stone Cold Blues Band. Saturday, July 28 they present the first of two full days of blues on the main stage and tent stage. Acts scheduled for the main stage include Marquise Knox; Big Sam’s Funky Nation; Joe Louis Walker and Billy Branch & the Sons of the Blues with Lurrie Bell, Carlos Johnson & Demetria Taylor. In the Tent Stage will be the Canadian duo of Dawn Tyler Watson & Paul Deslauriers; Wallace Coleman along with an acoustic set from Billy Branch & Lurrie Bell and another set of New Orleans Funk by Big Sam’s Funky Nation. Saturday Night will feature Steve Guyger and the Excellos.
The main stage on Sunday will open with Daptone Records artists Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens. Others up include Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges; Teeny Tucker; Earl Thomas and the Brooks Family Blues Dynasty with Lonnie, Ronnie and Wayne Baker Brooks. Corey Harris will be featured in the tent along with an acoustic set from the Brooks Family, and sets by Hideaway Bridges and Teeny Tucker.
Joe Louis Walker returns to play blues in the Pocono Mountains at the Pennsylvania Blues Festival
As can be seen by the list of performers, the Festival promises a full weekend of real deal blues. I have my hotel reservations already and I know folks from as far away as San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest that have there plans for this as well. They are offering last years pricing for tickets until June 8th. For more information and on the festival, directions and the festival schedule, check out the Festival website, http://www.skibluemt.com/SkiBlue/special-events/pa_blues_fest.aspx. The Festival also has a Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pennsylvania-Blues-Festival/195740310453821.
Michael Burks was originally scheduled to play at the Festival on Saturday, July 28, but passed away very tragically. He is being replaced by Otis Taylor and his very distinctive and original approach to the blues.
Daughter of Tiny Tucker, who was best known for the smash “High Heel Sneakers,” Teeny Tucker has been establishing herself as a blues vocalist of the first order. She has just issued her fourth album, “Keep the Blues Alive,” (TeBo Records) and it displays her continuing maturation as a vocalist on a set of mostly original music. Her band is led by the fine guitarist Robert Hughes (also an exceptional photographer), who also collaborated on many of the originals here with her.
“Ain’t That The Blues,” kicks this set off and is about the circumstances that give folk the blues. This track shows her poise and how she can go from a soft passage to belting out without any annoying mannerisms. She cites the great Big Maybelle as an influence, and her ability to caress a lyric as well as shout it out suggests that blues legend. “Make Room For Teeny,” is a lively number as he announces its time for her to take her place in the blues world, recalling her roots and that she is here to stay. “Daughter to the Blues,” is a slow Chicago styled blues with harmonica in the backing as she recalls her father telling her to just sing the blues and it won’t go wrong. “You’re the daughter of the blues, and that’s the part of me I left to you.” “Old Man Magnet,” is a humorous look at dressing up and attracting older men who stick to her like glue. “I Wish We Could Go Back,” is a slow blues where she reflects about the relationship falling apart and going back before the storm began with Hughes contributing some fine guitar here. The title track is a gospel styled performance (with backing singers) about singing and preaching about the blues with another fine guitar solo, but the rhythm is pretty stiff here.
One of the standout tracks is the acoustic tribute, “John Cephas” written by Hughes and Tucker as a tribute to the late Piedmont blues master. It was performed at the 2010 DC Blues Festival that was dedicated to Cephas’ memory. This performance is hauntingly beautiful as Teeny lovingly sings “It looks like John Cephas with his guitar in his hand, don’t worry he ain’t sad, because he is playing with all of his friends.” I am not sure how well Teeny and Robert knew John, but this performance is simply stunning. It’s followed by a spirited rendition of Jon Thomas’ 1960 hit, “Heartbreak,” although one wishes the rhythm section swung it more. Not sure that a new recording of “Got My Mojo Workin’,” was needed, but it is strongly sung. The set closes on a back porch, acoustic note on “Respect Me and Respect the Blues,” starting as a talking blues and Teeny notes how people have differing tastes in food, cars and music. People keep telling her, she should stop singing the blues, because she sings a great R&B song and a gospel tune to which she asks them “respect me and respect the blues.”
“Keep The Blues Alive” will certainly build Teeny’s audience. There is some exceptional material on this and Teeny is fabulous. I wish the rhythm was on the same level as her and guitarist Hughes, as it would have made the exceptional singing sound even better. This quibble aside, “Keep The Blues Alive” is highly recommended. Burnside Distribution is handling it and it is available on cdbaby.com, and amazon.com.
For FTC regulations, I received a review copy from the PR firm handling this recording.
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