Charlietown Blues - All about the blues

http://loudcity.com/stations/charlietown-blues#

We would like to thanks listener Bruce K from New York for the very generous donation. If you wouyld like to help us out as well go to the homepage www.ctownblues.com and click the donate button or contact us from the homepage. Thanks Bruce !

Charlietown Blues has partnered up with Blues Train Radio, Dave Watkins will be handling this duty. The Blues Train will roll out of the station on Fridays @ 10:00AM CT and Tuesdays @ 1:00PM CT for the Blues lovers across the pond. The first airing of this show will be 11/25/2011...so gather around the computer and check it out... This will be a great Train Ride of the Blues...here on Charlietown Blues...as always..."we are all about the blues" !!!

Blues guitarist and singer Johnny Winter will pay tribute his blues heroes and, for the first time in his 42-year recording career, enlist the assistance of established younger artists on "Roots," his first album for Megaforce. The release date is Sept. 27.

Sonny Landreth, Vince Gill, Warren Haynes, John Popper, Jimmy Vivino, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, John Medeski and Johnny's brother, Edgar Winter, play on the album, his first studio release since 2004's "I'm a Blues Man." It's only his second studio album in the last 15 years.

"Every song I loved -- they're all big influences on me," Winter tells Billboard.com, speaking from Paris where he is on a short European tour. "It's way past time for me (to record an album like this)."

Johnny Winter Taps All-Star Lineup for 'Roots' Album

Noted guitarists perform with Winter on more than half the tracks. On Robert Johnson's "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom," he is partnered with Trucks, on T-Bone Walker's "T-Bone Shuffle" with Landreth, on Elmore James "Done Somebody Wrong" with Haynes, and on "Maybellene" with Gill. Tedeschi plays lead guitar and sings on Jimmy Reed's 1961 hit, "Bright Lights, Big City" and Paul Nelson, who produced the album, joins in on Larry Williams' "Short Fat Fannie."

Edgar Winter plays saxophone on "Honky Tonk," Popper takes the blues harp parts on Little Walter's "Last Night" and John Medeski is the organist on the Ray Charles hit penned by Walter Davis, "Come Back Baby."

"My brother and I used to play 'Honky Tonk' in the (Texas) clubs when we were growing up," Winter said, noting he had not recorded many of the songs that the Winters brothers played as youngsters. "We will in the future."

Recorded and mixed over a four-month period, Nelson and Winter's rhythm section learned the original version of each tune and then studied and rehearsed later recordings of the songs, doing as many as four versions of a particular tune. As they presented their versions to Winter, the guitarist would get the band to adjust according to how he interpreted the songs during his roadhouse years in the 1960s and in the years after he broke through at Woodstock in 1969.

Nelson says he "had an attack list" when he started to invite musicians to perform on the record, but he only had a three-week window to get the guest recordings completed. Haynes, Vivino and Medeski came to the Connecticut studio where Winter recorded; the rest were done at the musicians' own studios.

"Once the word got out that this was happening, the phone calls started to come to us so we were still recording (guests) after we had started to mix the album," said Nelson, who took over Winter's management nearly six years ago and watched him kick various substances to the point where his health is substantially better as well as his playing and singing.

At 67, Nelson said of Winter, "he looks younger than he did eight years ago."

1) T-Bone Shuffle (featuring Sonny Landreth slide guitar)
2) Further On Up The Road (featuring Jimmy Vivino guitar)
3) Done Somebody Wrong (featuring Warren Haynes slide guitar)
4) Got My Mojo Workin’ (Frank Latorre Harmonica)
5) Last Night (featuring John Popper on harp)
6) Maybellene (featuring Vince Gill on guitar)
7) Bright Lights, Big City (featuring Susan Tedeschi on lead guitar and
vocals)
Honky Tonk (featuring Edgar Winter on sax)
9) Dust My Broom (featuring Derek Truckson slide guitar)
10) Short Fat Fannie (featuring Paul Nelson on guitar)
11) Come Back Baby (featuring John Medeski on organ)

Hugh Laurie will release his debut album 'Let Them Talk' on Warner Bros. Records. A glorious celebration of New Orleans blues, 'Let Them Talk' unites Laurie's musical talent with a very personal selection of standards and lost blues classics performed with his band of renowned musicians and some very special guest stars. Produced by Joe Henry and recorded at sessions in Los Angeles and New Orleans, 'Let Them Talk' sees Laurie on vocals and piano heading a team of musicians whose previous collective credits include work with artists as varied as Greg Allman, Solomon Burke, Robert Plant, kd lang, T-Bone Burnett, Alison Krause and John Legend. Together, they interpret and revive songs originally recorded by NOLA blues legends such as Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Ray Charles and Memphis Slim. 'Let Them Talk' also features collaborations with the Soul Queen of New Orleans Irma Thomas and Sir Tom Jones on the little known 'Baby, please Make A Change'. Thomas also leads the vocals on 'John Henry', while Laurie's lifelong hero Dr. John provides a momentous collaboration on 'After You've Gone'. Another legend, the producer, musician and songwriter Allen Toussaint, contributes horn arrangements throughout.

Mighty Mo Rodgers (real name Maurice Rodgers) was born in Indiana where his father owned a club that featured blues performers. When Rodgers wasn't studying classical piano he was checking out the blues artists that played there. Growing up, Rodgers was deeply affected by the mid-'60s soul music from the Memphis-based Stax label. Using Stax as an influence, Rodgers started his first band while in high school called the Rocketeers. Upon entering Indiana State College, Rodgers fronted another band, the Maurice Rodgers Combo, playing Wurlitzer piano and incorporating originals with cover versions of popular songs from the era. He finally decided to quit college, move to L.A., and give music his full-time attention. There he played gigs and recorded with many blues and R&B legends; his organ can be heard on Brenton Wood's 1967 hit Gimme Little Sign. Throughout the years Rodgers has not limited himself to performing. In 1973 he produced the album Sonny and Terry on A&M records for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. After growing tired of tedious session work, he continued to write songs and became a house songwriter for Motown and Chappel Publishing. Rodgers also continued to produce sessions for other artists and decided to go back to school where he received a degree in philosophy. In 1999 he released his first solo effort, Blues Is My Wailin' Wall, on Blue Thumb. The recording contained all original material, mixing his philosophical views with blues/soul musical roots.

sena
Sena Ehrhardt is unquestionably one of the freshest and most dynamic young voices on the blues scene. Once the lights come on, her commanding stage presence and gritty, soulful vocals capture the audience, belying her youthful, demure appearance. The buzz about Sena is poised to go nationwide as word is getting out about her incendiary performances at clubs and festivals across the upper Midwest. On her brilliant debut recording, Leave The Light On, her songs are fresh and incisive, delivered in a style that moves effortlessly from sultry to declarative to passionately forceful.

At the Crossroads – the radio show – is a weekly 60-minute syndicated program that focuses upon blues music
and its various genres – Soul, R&B, Swing, Delta, Zydeco and many other styles – that fit under the umbrella of the blues.
After almost 25 years as a broadcaster, in both commercial and campus radio, I have become quite aware that a growing number of listeners
are very interested in special-interest forms of music and that live and recorded blues, in particular, is gaining in popularity.

Charlietown Blues has been selected Top Station for Windows Media Player, this is the 2nd time we have recieved this honor in the short time we have been on the air. Many more people will now know what you already know...we are all about the blues.

http://www.windowsmedia.com/radioui/home.aspx?culture=en-us

It could be said that Steven Gene Wold is a guy who has risen from the very bottom of the barrel, right the way to the top of a musician’s game – by anybody’s standard. But what a search engine, or perhaps some article dubbed as from the streets to the charts might define as the ‘bottom’, is really just a colourful and at times surreal background.

In order to reach his knee-slapping, boot-thumping, string-twanging rockabilly status that the world loves and recognises today, Seasick Steve has had to live through various incarnations as a hobo, tramp, worker, bum, hobo again, and had to travel on a hell of a lot of boats to get there.

Once the record companies caught sight of Steve’s wood-chopper style beard, trucker style cap and dungarees matched with plaid shirts, they listened to his songs about life as a down and out – and the whiskey he washed it down with – and turned him into an epitome of a kind.

But behind the Seasick Steve the music business has branded with anchors, swallows, bourbon bottles and treasure chests in the name of a ‘this is me’ identity, is a man who is all of those things but in spirit and honesty and not in commercial value.

Steve left home at 13 and lived rough, travelling by freight train until he started touring as a musician. He learnt to play guitar at the hand of a man called K. C. Douglas who worked at his Grandad’s garage. Eventually, he fell in with people of the scene such as Janis Joplin and then went on to become a studio engineer, befriending another icon from the 27 club, Kurt Cobain. After that he absconded to Europe, living in Paris for a short time and then moving on to Norway. It was during this spell where he set the motions rolling as a confirmed musician. To cut a long story short; he has a lot to sing about.

Four studio albums down the line, ‘You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks’ has been released on the Jack White label Third Man Records in the US, and London based independent record label Play it Again Sam in Europe. We’re presented with twelve tracks of super-charged uber-cool groove, to points where Steve calms down to deliver soulful and really quite romantic sentiments.

The album opens with a ‘Treasures‘; a soft forlorn ballad depicting the importance people lay on material treasures, and a judgemental society that has turned its back on those who have no notable belongings of value. The strings involved put the finesse on the melancholy of this Cash-esque wonder.

Next comes the title track all steadfast verses, intermittent with riffs and explosions, pent-up slide and exuberant vocals. On live performances Steve is joined by Zeppelin-come-Them Crooked Vultures’ bassist John Paul Jones and long-term drummer Dan Magnusson.

‘Burnin’ Up‘ is a feverish offering harkening back to the days of original rhythm and blues, ebbing inoffensively before the pace quickens and the intensity rises in true Seasick style. ‘Don’t Know Why She Love Me But She Do‘ surely could have been given a shorter title especially for such a snappy number, and plays almost as a barn dance.

Mid-album track ‘Whiskey Ballad‘ was written by Steve’s son Paul Martin Wold, and after beginning with a refreshed ‘aahh’ of Steve supposedly taking a sip of the spirit it goes into a chirpy ditty reinforced by a whistle. It’s the kind of song you’d expect to hear from a decked porch from someone swinging on a bench seat by the Mississippi. It paves the way to ‘Back In The Doghouse‘, whereby Steve busts out his three-string trance wonder guitar for this Bo Diddley style track of gutsy temperament.

The tone is lowered once again when ‘Underneath a Blue and Cloudless Sky‘ restores a poignant stirring emotion. A serenade of vows, promising to pass the years until the implicated beloved’s ‘hair turn grey’; intertwined with visions of vast corn fields and endless skies. Very likely a sentiment written for wife Elisabeth.

‘Days Gone‘ is another song pacing almost schizophrenically between quiet and explosive, the hook arriving abruptly with Steve seemingly adopting a couple of personas, voicing orders and obeying them in succession.

The final track is a reflective sing-a-long entitled ‘It’s a Long Long Way‘. It effectively evokes a folksy feel played on an ordinary acoustic guitar; capturing the simple and traditional essence of the song perfectly. The album ends on a reminiscent note confirming the idea that Steve has journeyed long enough to have earned the wisdom of a guru.

All in all the album transitions through enough diversity to make it a worthy addition to anyone’s music collection. However tracks such as ‘Have Mercy On The Lonely‘ and ‘What A Way To Go‘ may come across as lesser significant versions of other options available on the same CD, and are perhaps destined to be the skippable options. Fans are going to rave about Steve’s progression over the last decade – and the journey isn’t over yet.

(Joanne Ostrowski)

RORY GALLAGHER: NOTES FROM SAN FRANCISCO

2 CD SET INCLUDES HISTORIC, NEVER BEFORE ISSUED 1978 STUDIO ALBUM UNRELEASED LIVE SAN FRANCISCO SHOW FROM 1979

RELEASED BY SONY MUSIC ON JUNE 6TH & BY EAGLE ROCK MAY 17TH IN NORTH AMERICA

2CD / DELUXE CD EDITION / DIGITAL / VINYL

“The man who changed my musical life was Rory Gallagher, I picked up a guitar because of him.” Johnny Marr

There’s that great Jimi Hendrix story – the one where he was asked “What’s it like to be the greatest guitarist in the world - “I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher!” replied Hendrix. There is no escaping from the fact that Gallagher, up until his untimely death in 1995, was truly one of the greatest ever guitarists. Hendrix knew it which is why Gallagher stands shoulder to shoulder not just alongside Jimi Hendrix but Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Peter Green and Eric Clapton. Since appearing with his first band Taste, Rory Gallagher has held the respect of every major and aspiring guitarist on the planet. From Slash to Johnny Marr, Brian May to The Edge, Joe Satriani to Ritchie Blackmore, the admiration for Rory Gallagher is nothing short of gargantuan.

In November 1977, after completing a 6 month world tour, Rory Gallagher and his band flew straight from their last show in Japan to San Francisco to begin working on a new album, with famed American producer Elliot Mazer (Neil Young – 'Harvest', Janis Joplin – 'Cheap Thrills', The Band – 'The Last Waltz'). Mazer recalls that the sessions grew “tense”, as Gallagher wasn’t happy with the mixing process, describing them as “too complicated”, and by the end of January 1978 he shelved the whole record and broke up his band of the past 5 years.

Fast forward to 2010 and Rory’s brother and manager, Dбnal, allowed his son & Rory’s nephew, Daniel, to recover the album from the Gallagher archive and begin the process of mixing it with his engineer. Rory said in 1992 he hoped the album would surface one day but only if it were remixed and now we finally get to hear this never before issued studio album from a key period of Gallagher’s career, an album that would have been released between ‘Calling Card’ and ‘Photo Finish’. This is truly a ‘Holy Grail’ release for Rory’s fans.

CD 2 is also another fabulous discovery, a blistering live album taken from four nights at The Old Waldorf, San Francisco December 1979. In the audience Van Morrison, on stage Rory Gallagher (guitar/vocals), Gerry McAvoy (bass) and Ted McKenna (drums).

Daniel Gallagher chose to add the live side to highlight why Rory chose to shelve the studio album and reduce his band back down to a three piece. As Rory often said he wanted to get back to ‘meat and potatoes rock & roll’. Rory’s desire to get back to the stripped back, three piece line up of his earlier solo and Taste work may in part be down to his attendance at the infamous Sex Pistols show at The Winterland Ballroom. While mixing the studio record in January 1978, Rory Gallagher went along to the show and was completely blown away by the Pistols energy and fury, he described it ''As close to Eddie Cochran as you’re going to get.''

Incidentally, the album’s sleeve image is an original postcard Rory Gallagher posted to his mother while on tour. Gallagher would always send postcards back home to Ireland from wherever he was in the world. The Limited Edition Deluxe Edition of ‘Notes From San Francisco’ will include a set of personalised Rory postcards complete with ‘Rory Stamps’ which have been sourced from the original US company that produced them. Also included are reproductions of Rory’s hand written lyrics which were kept by Elliot Mazer.

Gallagher died in 1995 at the age of 47, but his genius is immortalised across the globe. A street has been named after him in Paris, a corner in Dublin’s bohemian Temple Bar; a bronze statue stands in his birthplace Ballyshannon, there’s Rory Gallagher Place in his native Cork, while the city also houses the Rory Gallagher Music Library. Annual tributes are held all over the world from Germany to Japan and The International Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival in Ballyshannon sees thousands of fans travel to his birth town every year to celebrate this brilliant man and musician.

CD1 1. Rue The Day 2. Persuasion 3. B Girl 4. Mississippi Sheiks 5. Wheels Within Wheels 6. Overnight Bag 7. Cruise On Out 8. Brute Force & Ignorance 9. Fuel To The Fire

BONUS TRACKS 10. Wheels Within Wheels (Alt version) 11. Cut A Dash 12. Out On The Tiles

CD2 1. Follow Me 2. Shinkicker 3. Off The Handle 4. Bought And Sold 5. I’m Leavin’ 6. Tattoo’d Lady 7. Do You Read Me 8. Country Mile 10. Shadow Play 11. Bullfrog Blues 12. Sea Cruise

Those who believe that traditional blues is dead, they need to be introduced to Eric Lindell. His new album Cazadero is his sixth album since 2006. The blues singer and guitarist hit the music scene by signing with Alligator Records, one of the most well known and respect blues record labels in the country. Since his first album in 2006 he has since released a new album every year but one, though he fixed that by releasing two in just one year. Lindell is the musician that everyone loves, he produces a bunch of great music and releases it as soon as he can so that he can start to write more.

On Cazadero, released on Lindell’s very own record labell Sparco Records, Lindell does not revolutionize his sound. Some might say if you have heard one Eric Lindell album you have heard them all, but many would argue that is not such a bad thing. The problem is that Lindell hit the scene with his first album Change In The Weather in 2006 and the album was as mature as if it was his sixth. Their hasn’t been a distinctive growth from album to album because there is no need. Yet album to album he has slightly changed his sound, one might be more blues based while the other might have just a little bit more soul.

Lindell’s latest release is a amalgamation of his entire music career. Sentimental Lover is a traditional upbeat jazzy classic Eric Lindell song, the next song Cazadero is very soulful and has a sweet beat that makes one want to relax on a warm sunny day and just listen to Lindell do his thing. Yet then he switches it up with Bow Wow, this funky blues song with very playful lyrics very reminiscent of what many of the blues musicians were playing around with during the heyday of the genre. If you thought that was enough genres to play around with in just one album Lindell then does his first reggae style song with Head High and Peelin, this song should make you think of long summer days in the past.

1. Sentinmental Lover
2. Cazadero
3. Find Another Girl
4. Bow Wow
5. I Ain't Supposed To
6. 24 Mile Bridge
7. Head High and Peelin
8. To Far Gone
9. West County Drifter
10. Circle Bar Boogaloo

Not to be left out of the Allmans solo-projects derby (Brother Gregg released his album in January, Derek Trucks has one coming next month), guitarist Warren Haynes offers “Man in Motion.’’ Haynes shelved the psychedelic sprawl of the Allmans and harder edges of his other mainstay, Gov’t Mule, and credibly presents himself as a soul man. “Man in Motion’’ shifts the focus from Haynes’s guitar prowess to his broader musical sensibilities. The singing, writing, and arrangements are as vital as Haynes’s typically exemplary guitar playing (though here we get a warmer, fuzzier sounding Warren, to good effect). The album features nine solid originals, including the propulsive title track and redemptive “River’s Gonna Rise.’’ Haynes uses a cover of William Bell’s soul hit “Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday’’ to accentuate where his head is at on this project. Though old-school by design, “Man in Motion’’ is no mere throwback. Haynes modernizes the model with plenty of elongated jams that link his current stature to his earliest influences. (Out tomorrow) SCOTT McLENNAN

"Man in Motion"
"River's Gonna Rise"
"Everybday Will Be Like a Holiday"
"Sick of My Shadow"
"Your Wildest Dreams"
"Real Lonely Night"
"Hattiesburg Hustle"
"A Friend to You"
"Take a Bullet"
"Save Me"

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Gov't Mule co-founder and Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes will shows his roots as a soul man with the May 10 release of his fourth solo album, "Man in Motion" (Stax/Concord Music Group).

The 10-song set, recorded in Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio near Austin, Texas, with regular cohort Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar co-producing, finds Haynes determinedly mining an R&B approach steeped in influences from Stax, Muscle Shoals and Memphis' Hi Records.

"My first love was soul music," Haynes tells Billboard.com. "The first sound I can remember having an effect on me was black gospel music coming over the radio in North Carolina. James Brown was my first musical hero, then the Four Tops and Temptations, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave. Somewhere along the way I heard Ray Charles and B.B. King.

"So (soul) has always been there for me, and I've waited a long time to really put that across on an album. I just thought it was time to make that sort of record."

In fact, Haynes says that some of the songs on "Man in Motion" date back quite a ways -- 20 years for "Real Lonely Night," and 10 for "Your Wildest Dreams." "Through the years I compiled a few song that wanted to be captured this way," Haynes notes. "I'd resigned myself to thinking someone else would wind up recording them other than myself, but then this project came about." The album also includes a cover of Stax singer William Bell's "Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday."

Haynes recorded "Man in Motion" with an all-star band that includes several New Orleans musicians -- Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., keyboardist Ivan Neville and drummer Raymond Webber -- as well as Austin-based keyboardist Ian McLagan, singer Ruthie Foster and tenor saxophonist Ron Holloway. "It was the exact band I wanted for the record. Everybody that was first on my list was available, and we made it work," says Haynes, although he had not met McLagan before the sessions.

"Ian was a last minute add-on that Gordie suggested," recalls Haynes, who played a variety of vintage hollow body guitars in addition to his usual Gibson Les Paul on the album. "He was thinking (McLagan) would add a cool vibe, like a soul-music version of the Garth Hudson-Richard Manual thing in the Band. And it freed me up to take more of a B.B. King role, singing and playing fills. I played a little more rhythm than, say B.B., but I wasn't having to think that way all the time. We set up in the studio with everybody looking at each other and recorded live, which is what we love to do."

Haynes debuted the band at his annual Christmas Jam during December in Asheville, N.C., and he's eyeballing a tour that will start in April, most likely in Australia, and run throughout the summer. Terrence Higgins will be on the drum stool, while Neville and Foster are up in the air at the moment.

Meanwhile, with Gov't Mule taking "a well-deserved break," Haynes is also gearing up for the Allmans' annual March residency at New York's Beacon Theater, which begins March 10. "Everybody's excited to get back in," Haynes reports, adding that he's still waiting on details of a summer tour that Gregg Allman has predicted will also happen this year. "I think everybody would like for there to be one," Haynes says. "But Gregg has a record out. I've got a record coming out. So does Derek (Trucks). Getting all the schedules together is not easy, but if we can get it together it'll be great."

Album Review

Perhaps the most important thing to note about the upcoming STEVE MILLER BAND release is that it is a “companion album” to the release of ‘Bingo’, an earlier album full of blues covers performed by Miller and hit group ‘Let Your Hair Down’. So, fans should expect a musical style very similar to what they heard on the previous album, though ‘Hair’ seems to include more original material rather than just a lot of covers. Also, this album is the last one to feature material from ex harmonica player and collaborator Norton Buffalo. Listening to his harmonica work on the first several tracks will remind listeners just how talented he was in the blues rock genre and he shall be sorely missed. However, the music here isn’t just all about Buffalo. Miller is still in his prime as a guitar player and merging not only funky music such as with ‘Love The Life I Live’ but also slower and more acoustic tracks like ‘No More Doggin’.

There is even some swing jazz involved with the music from ‘The Walk’ which is a bit of a surprise for fans considering they are so used to Miller and his band performing usually the same kind of music over and over throughout an album; maybe this is partially a downfall. Despite not too much of a variety of blues music spread through this album, it still rings as a great and groovy release for 2011, even if it does feel like a rushed release of posthumous material for Norton Buffalo (who died originally of lung cancer in 2009). Some may call it just B-side material from ‘Bingo’, but those who love blues rock in general or Steve Miller’s work will probably already have this album in their sights to get on the day it comes out. Who could resist one of the legends?

Tracklist

01. Snatch It Back And Hold It 4:00
02. I Got Love If You Want It 2:32
03. Just A Little Bit 2:58
04. Close Together 2:55
05. No More Doggin' 2:53
06. Pretty Thing 2:57
07. Can't Be Satisfied 3:42
08. Sweet Home Chicago 2:42
09. Love The Life I Live 3:24
10. The Walk 3:00

Line-up

Steve Miller- vocals, guitar, keyboard
Norton Buffalo- harmonica

Website

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Damon Fowler made quite a splash with his 2009 Blind Pig debut Sugar Shack, charming critics with his mature and polished mix of blues, Southern soul, and roots-rock. Truth is, by the time that Fowler hooked up with the good folks at Blind Pig, he was already a veteran artist with a decade of experience in the trenches of Florida's competitive music scene, as well as a couple of indie albums under his belt.

The final proof, as they say, is in the grooves, and Fowler's big-league sophomore effort, Devil Got His Way, has grooves a plenty. Fowler still pursues his singular blend of Dixie 'n' Delta, but with a little more shine and assuredness, and a quantum leap in his already impressive songwriting chops. It's Fowler's warm, twang-filled vocals and stellar fretwork that draw you in, where his lyrical tales of hard times, misfortune, and romance sucker-punch you into submission.

Damon Fowler's Devil Got His Way

The mid-tempo "We've Got A Good Thing" sets the table for much to follow on Devil Got His Way. A rocking lil' sucker with a hint of swamp-blues guitar and a funky, swaggering rhythm, the song perfectly fuses blues and soul with rock 'n' roll, coming out all the better for the effort. The title track slows down the tempo and amps up the audacity, Fowler's drawled vocals and vibrant six-string work tearing through the tale of malevolent influence with reckless aplomb.

Written by Chuck Prophet, "After The Rain" is an old-school styled Muscle Shoals soul ballad with plenty of emotion and Fowler's elegant guitarplay, with minor instrumental backing to get in the way of the singer's tear-drenched vocals. An inspired cover of Leon Russell's late-1970s hit "Tightrope" is entirely apropos, the song's fantastical lyrics delivered with a twang reminiscent of Russell's, with just a few shards of rattling guitar thrown in for good measure.

Cypress In The Pines

Fowler's "28 Degrees" is a power-blues number that reminds of Jeff Healey, with soulful vocals matched to an odd rhythm and punctuated by a circular riff and squalls of dark-hued notes. The song has its own menacing swagger, but it's Fowler's imaginative fretwork that adds the edge. The blustery "Cypress In The Pines" is cut from similar cloth, Fowler's Southern drawl adding to the rattle 'n' buzz of his swampy, Sonny Landreth-styled guitar, Chuck Riley's serpentine bass line, and drummer James McKnight's crashing drumbeats and cymbal play.

"Don't Call Me" picks up where Delaney & Bonnie & Friends left off all those years ago, Fowler fusing Memphis soul and roots-rock with gospel overtones to create an earthy, organic, entirely Southern style of blues-infused rock that sooths your tired eardrums and still manages to get your feet to moving. The spry "American Dream" is somewhat of an anomaly, the song kicking off with a ska-like rhythm atop which Fowler delivers an intriguing lyrical theme, the staccato rhythms matched by his insightful tale of stardom brought low by drugs and money.

The Reverend's Bottom Line

Damon Fowler's Devil Got His Way is a fine affair, the artist sounding more at home in his skin, more seasoned than his already mature-sounding debut album. Fowler's vocals are stronger, and while he is in no way a powerhouse shouter on the microphone, he brings the right amount of enthusiasm and soulfulness to each performance. His guitar-playing continues to improve, as does that intangible sense that makes everything sound 'right' when it's done.

While not a fretburner, not a soulman, and not a literary wordsmith, Fowler combines everything in equal measures, the result being an entertaining and impressive mix of music that will thrill any blues and blues-rock fan. (Blind Pig Records, released January 18, 2011)

Now you can listen on your Blackberry or Android device, just download this app to your phone.
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The Scottish songstress Sandi Thom has come a long way since her dreams of becoming a punk rocker got her to number one in 2006.

Thom first shot to fame with her webcasts from her flat in London, which is quite a unique way to gain media attention. She got the idea from a show she had played in Scotland. “I played one particular show in Edinburgh at a venue called the West Bank… the whole thing was webcasted.“I was pretty intrigued by it all to be honest, and went and investigated and asked the people there, you know, ‘how exactly do you do this’ and took it back home and said to my manager ‘this could be something that we could do and it might actually be a really great promotional tool’.”

To Thom it made sense to use the internet in this way to gain publicity: “When you don’t have money you’ve got to kind of come up with these things to do something else that’s going to catch peoples attention.”

She admits that they didn’t know how the idea would go down with the public – all they knew was that it was a good idea. “It was a great idea and we didn’t really know if it was going to be successful or not… nobody knew if it would work and it did work.”

The reason it worked, she believes, was because it was such a change from the norm. “It was something that was quite new at the time, quite revolutionary, and there was so much going on and there was a dangerous shift in the industry, digital music and selling music digitally and promoting music digitally was quite a hot topic of discussion… it wouldn’t work now, it’s too outdated. Someone comes along and webcasts something and it’s like ‘who cares’.”

Thom has come a long way in the four or so years since then. Having released two albums with Sony RCA, she was released from the label and went to forge her own label Guardian Angels with whom she released her third album Merchants and Thieves. The album has a much deeper blues vibe about it and is a definite change from the punkrocker days of “Smile… it confuses people”.

“I consider this last record to certainly have definite blues influences, much so more than the first and second. The first and second are more kind of country influence, it’s still a rooty record, and the first and second albums, they were rooty records, they were proper old school songwriting you know.

“I think in that respect the third record was the same but I think the difference was that it was less tampered with. The second album was released and that was the only record really that we did that was produced under the umbrella of Sony so that one was churned over and over again because people weren’t happy with this and somebody wasn’t happy with that.

“Whereas this record, and the first one actually, are much more sort of simplistic and rootsy because nobody was really putting any pressure on me to do and sound the way they wanted me to sound so this record now is just a true reflection of who I am now, musically,” Thom said.

A key to success is to basically hard work, in her opinion, and shortcuts like reality TV are not worth sacrificing the creative control. “That’s really just down to dedication and that’s all I can ever really say, because that’s the truth. You can take a shortcut and go and do something like X Factor or whatever, which I don’t rejoice in or I don’t condone it at the same time, I don’t have any feelings about it, it’s just a personal choice.

“I think that if you take the harder path then you might find that at the end of it all it’s so much more rewarding and you might find the chances are you’ll be able to stick it out for the rest of your life. Whereas if you take the shortcut you might find that the rise is pretty quick, but you fall just as fast. I would say don’t be sucked in by it and don’t think it’s the answer because it’s certainly not. I think that really the only real way to make it work and keep it going is to just work hard.”

Thom is currently working on a new album, planning to write from “now until the end of the year and record in January” and hopes to release the new album by May 2011.

“Gods” I told them. It was 1976 and we were debating great guitarists. It was a lazy Saturday night. Here we were in the first semester of college, all of us nearly penniless and all a long way from home.

The sixth floor residents were thrown together by College Housing because we all had some form of musical talent. My Rush-crazy roommate played electric bass through a full stack. He also played tuba in the university’s marching band. He practiced both in our 12 foot by 18 foot room. Across the hall were two guys that played every known Allman Brothers song like Dwayne Allman and Dicky Betts, note for note, at ear-splitting volumes. There were also a few piano players on the floor until the baby grand got tossed out a balcony window - but that’s another story.

The top level guitarists would be considered “Gods” I indicated. Thus, we had to decide whether a certain guitarist was a God or could become a God. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Dwayne Allman, Carlos Santana, Django Reinhardt, Andres Segovia, Carlos Montoya, Chet Atkins, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia and Joe Pass were all designated “Gods” without objection. Then the game got interesting. The debate centered on whether Alex Lifeson, Al Dimeola, Brian May, Roy Clark, Billy Gibbons, Earl Klugh and George Benson were or could become “Gods.” It was 1976 and, as silly as this might sound today, very few of us had great music experience outside of mainstream FM radio. We had never even heard of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Larry Carlton or Tom Principato.

I bet I know what you’re thinking.You just read that last sentence and thought to yourself who in the H E double hockey sticks in Tom Principato? If you don’t know who Tom Principato is I suspect you will after his eight track album A Part Of Me is released on January 11, 2011. Principato has been around since my days in the university dorms. Based in Washington D.C. he has confined much of his considerable talent to the East Coast. He plays well with others - ike blues legends Big Mama Thornton, Sunnyland Slim and James Montgomery. In 1984 he started a solo career and he has released 16 albums and 2 DVD’s. He is also the author of music publisher Hal Leornard’s book "Open-String Guitar Chords."

You may think, “okay, he may be good but good guitarists are a dime a dozen. Sixteen albums and 2 DVD’s and I still haven’t heard of him. Must not be that special.”

While you might be able to make that argument with regard to some of his other work, A Part Of Me is “that special.” On it Principato wrote all of the music. Then he went out and added a few amazing guest performers - Sonny Landreth (the legendary blues guitarist), Chuck Leavell (keyboardist for Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones), Brian Auger (the legendary Hammond organ master), Wayne Jackson (Memphis Horns’ sideman to Otis Redding, Albert King and Al Green), Jim Brock (percussionist and drummer for Joe Walsh and Joe Cocker) and Willie Weeks (Eric Clapton’s bass player). Principato also recorded with his personal band- Steve Wolf and Jay Turner on bass, Joe Wells on drums and Josh Howell on congas and percussion.

The album commences with a very Allman Brothers-like song, “Don’t Wanna Do It” that contains a hot Sonny Landreth slide solo and a wonderful, but controlled, Principato counterpoint. Principato’s voice gives the song just the right amount of southern drawl. “Sweet Angel” is a smooth blues with a great little Chuck Leavell Hammond organ lead. “Part Of Me” follows - a slow ballad with a nice blues rhythm, Hammond organ, and a wonderful horn section that consists of trumpet, sax and trombone. However, it is Principato’s soulful lead guitar solo that really shines. “Down The Road” is a syncopated country jazz instrumental that shows off Principato’s crossover chops. Brian Auger’s keyboards also get a workout. “Down In Lou’siana” is a hot, dirty, creole jambalaya mix of a party song. Principato plays a wonderful electric guitar throughout the stompin’ with fantastic lead interludes and Leavell’s Hammond work makes the entire effort a veritable Mardi Gras. “Back Again & Gone” is a fingerstyle guitar jazz instrumental where Principato shows off another aspect of his guitar virtuosity. It is as close to a George Benson/Larry Carlton type vibe as Principato gets. “Stranger’s Eyes” is a smooth blues with the feel of a Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers/Dave Mason/Van Morrison mixtape. Sort of “Moondance” meets “Spooky.” “Stranger’s Eyes Pt. 2” instrumentally reprises “Stranger’s Eyes” with a much nastier distorted lead guitar. Bottom line - this is great stuff.

So here I am some 35 years since that Saturday dormitory conversation. Looking back I have come to one ultimate truth that arose from our attempt to categorize guitarists. We all must find our own guitar “Gods.” This week Tom Principato is mine.

- Old School

We welcome all of our new listeners from Windows Media Guide, where we are a Top Editors Pick, stick around we have your blues for you.

DUST BOWL is Bonamassa’s 9th studio release on Provogue Records in Europe and his J&R Adventures label (which he created with long-time manager Roy Weisman) in the US and his 6th collaboration with Dust Bowl’s producer, Kevin "Caveman" Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Crowes, Black Country Communion). Shirley most recently produced Bonamassa’s 2010 release, Black Rock, which entered the UK album chart at #14 and 2010's self-titled debut album from Black Country Communion, the Bonamassa-helmed, British-American rock supergroup with Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath), Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Foreigner) and Derek Sherinian (Billy Idol, Dream Theatre).

Recorded in sessions at Black Rock Studios in Santorini, Greece, Ben’s Studio in Nashville, TN, The Cave in Malibu, CA and The Village in Los Angeles, CA, "Dust Bowl" combines the gritty, blues-based tones of Bonamassa’s first albums with the fluid, genre-defying sounds he’s mastered in the years since, plus a dose of Nashville in duets with legends John Hiatt and Vince Gill.

Shirley most recently produced Bonamassa’s 2010 release, Black Rock, which entered the UK album chart at #14 and 2010's self-titled debut album from Black Country Communion, the Bonamassa-helmed, British-American rock supergroup with Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath), Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Foreigner) and Derek Sherinian (Billy Idol, Dream Theatre).

"This is the best album we’ve ever done," adds Bonamassa. "I’m finding more inspiration in storytelling in my 30s, in writing songs that are about something more profound than ‘my baby left me.’ I like albums that are made with the right intentions and sound organic and a little rough around the edges, like a great band playing live in the room, and that’s what we accomplished with Dust Bowl."

Artist: Joe Bonamassa
Album: Dust Bowl
Year: 2011

01. Slow Train
02. Dust Bowl
03. Tennessee Plates (feat. John Hiatt)
04. The Meaning Of The Blues
05. Black Lung Heartache
06. You Better Watch Yourself
07. The Last Matador Of Bayonne
08. Heartbreaker (feat. Glenn Hughes)
09. No Love On The Street
10. The Whale That Swallowed Jonah
11. Sweet Rowena (feat. Vince Gill)
12. Prisoner

Gregg Allman's first solo album in 14 years consists almost entirely of vintage blues material from the '40s, '50s and '60s. And yet it's more than just a salute to the music that formed the backbone of the Allman Brothers' Southern rock aesthetic. Electrifying throughout, the record's 12 performances testify both to the durability of deep, down-home blues and to how completely the Brothers' keyboardist and lead singer -- still in fine, if craggy, voice -- has made them his own.

A gutbucket version of country bluesman Sleepy John Estes's "Floating Bridge" kicks off the proceedings, followed by a reverb-heavy take of Chicago harp player Junior Wells's "Little by Little." The latter features smoky organ fills and fat, dirty-toned guitar. Otis Rush, Bobby Blue Bland, Muddy Waters and Skip James get their due here as well, Waters with a nasty, slide guitar-laced version of "I Can't Be Satisfied," James with a wraithlike take of the Delta blues classic "Devil Got My Woman."

Produced in hands-off fashion by the ubiquitous T Bone Burnett, the album also boasts Dr. John on piano and Doyle Bramhall II on some of the most lacerating electric guitar this side of Chicago big axe Hubert Sumlin. Allman recorded the project last year, not long before receiving a liver transplant after years of suffering from hepatitis C. With nods to his landmark "Midnight Rider," "Just Another Rider," the sole Allman original on the album, finds the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer pondering his personal and artistic legacy.

Recommended Tracks: "Little by Little," "I Can't Be Satisfied," "Devil Got My Woman"

We are now listed on Windows Media Guide under the blues genre, we are excited about another method of being "all about the blues" check us out

I regret to report that Mississippi bluesman Big Jack Johnson, 70, has died. His condition was serious enough over the weekend that there had been an erroneous report of his death on Saturday, which I repeated here yesterday, then corrected.

Sadly, Johnson did not recover, and died early this morning in Memphis, according to several sources close to the Johnson family. There's not a lot of information available yet about his death, but he had apparently had some health issues for a while.

Johnson was one of the last of the deep-blues musicians out of the Clarksdale area of Mississippi. He's probably most widely know for being a part of the Jelly Roll Kings, a Mississippi trio made of of Johnson, Sam Carr and Frank Frost. But he also had a local reputation as a tough, hard-working singer and guitarist in the best of the deep blues tradition, and didn't really tour much beyond the Clarksdale, Miss., area until the mid-'90s or so.

He also played bass and blues mandolin, and was nicknamed the "Oil Man" because his day job for years was driving an oil truck.

Johnson was the sole survivor of the major blues artists featured in the 1992 movie, "Deep Blues," based on the fine blues book by Robert Palmer.

Johnson had worked and recorded most recently with the Cornlickers, a band with roots in both Harrisburg and Clarksdale. In a phone call this morning, Cornlickers drummer Dale Wise asked that I pass on the information that the proceeds from Big Jack's last two CDs and a third yet to be released will all go to the Johnson family. Johnson, like many old bluesmen, had no real health insurance, or funds for burial, so these kinds of sales are important. The last two CDs, "Katrina" and "Juke Joint Saturday Night," can be found on CD Baby.

When I started working on this information about Big Jack yesterday, he was a distant blues figure, but now he seems a lot closer. I wish I'd had the chance to meet him.

Here's a nice tribute from the Bob Corritore Blues Newsletter:

RIP Big Jack Johnson - July 30, 1940 to March 14, 2011. Sad news came in from Dave Riley and Amy Brat that legendary Mississippi guitarist/mandolinist/vocalist Big Jack Johnson has passed away this morning at 6am in his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi after a long battle with heath issues. He was 70 years old. Note that there were some disturbing premature false announcements of Big Jack's passing 3 days before his actual passing. Big Jack's inventive, energetic, Delta-rooted guitar, rich confident vocals, down home songwriting, and larger than life stage presence made him one of the most celebrated bluesmen of Mississippi. His long music career included much national and international touring, many amazing record releases, and a huge amount of praise and respect. Big Jack was born in Lambert, Mississippi in the summer of 1940, and learned guitar from his father at age 13. He rose to prominence in the early 1960s working as a key member of the legendary Jelly Roll Kings, a champion blues band which also included Frank Frost and Sam Carr. Big Jack first appeared on record in the 1960s as the guitarist on two famous Frank Frost albums; Hey Boss Man on the Phillips International label (an offshoot of Sun Records) from 1962, and My Back Scratcher on Jewel from 1966. In the late 1970s, Michael Frank debuted his Earwig Music label with The Jelly Roll Kings / Rockin' The Juke Joint Down which also was a recording debut for Big Jack's great vocals. Soon afterward, Big Jack Johnson would start a solo career for himself, independent of the Jelly Roll Kings. His solo debut album, Oil Man (Big Jack used to hold down a day gig delivering oil barrels in Mississippi) on the Earwig label was released in 1987. This led to additional CDs for Earwig, a nice run with M.C. Records, and additional recordings for Rooster Blues, P-Vine Records, Right Coast Recording, and Big Jack Music. There was also a nice Jelly Roll Kings reunion album called Off Yonder Wall that came out in 1997 on the Fat Possum Records. Additionally, Big Jack appeared in the influential 1992 documentary movie Deep Blues. He was a popular festival and club entertainer, a warm and hospitable person, and an amazing musician. Big Jack Johnson was the last original member of the Jelly Roll Kings. His passing leaves a gap in the blues that will never again be filled. To see his amazing performance of "Catfish Blues" from the movie Deep Blues, click here. Thanks for all the great music Big Jack. You are loved!

The Robert Johnson tribute album is nearly a rite of passage, a way to signal your deep love and understanding of the blues. Certainly, when Eric Clapton cuts a record of Johnson, it signals his roots -- and when Todd Rundgren dabbles, it smacks of a prank -- but when Big Head Todd & the Monsters do a centennial celebration of the legend, it feels something like a bid for credibility. To that end, the group has some heavy-hitters in its corner, with cameos by the legends B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, Charlie Musselwhite, and Honeyboy Edwards lending this a blues authenticity that the group never quite managed previously, but 100 Years of Robert Johnson isn’t anchored with a blues beat; it swings with some supper club soul-jazz and just a hint of clean popping funk, everything relaxed enough to allow for some solos that never last long enough to lose a listener’s attention. There’s not a lot of grit here, not even when the Big Head Blues Club strips down to acoustic guitars for “Kind Hearted Woman” or “All My Love’s in Vain,” and if there is no trace of a haunted soul in Todd Park Mohr’s vocals -- something that does hamstring “If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day” and “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” -- his singing suits the smooth, easy spirit of the sessions, one where the songs are an excuse to jam, not a reason to dig into the depths of a soul.

1. Come On In My Kitchen
2. Ramblin On My Mind
3. When You Gotta Good Friend
4. Crossroads Blues
5. Preachin Blues
6. Kind Hearted Woman
7. If I Had Possessions Over Judgment Day
8. Last Fair Deal Gone Down
9. All My Love's In Vain
10. Sweet Home Chicago

Eric Clapton Raises Money for Crossroads Center
Social science was right: Eric Clapton raised $2.15 million at a New York auction of 75 guitars and 55 amplifiers on Wednesday, more than triple the pre-sale expectations, Reuters reported on Thursday. The proceeds from the sale at Bonhams – at which every lot sold — will go to the 65-year-old rock star’s Crossroads Center drug and alcohol treatment facility in the Caribbean. The auction – the proceeds of which totaled around $1.8 million without the buyer’s premium – also included instruments donated by Mr. Clapton’s musician friends Jeff Beck, J.J. Cale and Joe Bonamassa. Among the top lots was a 1948 Gibson L-5P, which was expected to bring $20,000 to $30,000 but raised $82,960; a 2005 Zemaitis S22BP 3S, estimated at $12,000 to $18,000, which sold for $75,640; and a pair of 1997 Fender Twin Amps, estimated at $9,000 to $12,000, which sold for $42,700. A team of Yale University psychologists studying people’s desire to own things once possessed by famous people recently concluded that “celebrity contagion” was the most important factor in such purchases.

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Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and their band mates are very pleased to announce that their group will now be performing under a new name. After much careful deliberation, we are proud to re-introduce Tedeschi Trucks Band!

Yes, it’s two less words, one less ampersand, 13 fewer letters, and a full 50% reduction in syllables! Plus it makes for a much cleaner acronym, TTB, thus continuing the grand tradition of previous band acronyms like DTB and STB. We look forward to making many memories as Tedeschi Trucks Band over the years to come.

With the band name in place and an unparalleled lineup of musicians on-board, Tedeschi Trucks Band is set to tour the world and support their debut album, to be released in early June. Check out the Tour page for the full schedule of concerts, which already includes performances in three continents and six countries, with many more to come.

We’ll have much more info to share about the album in the coming days and weeks. Be sure to check the official website, www.TedeschiTrucksBand.com, for the latest announcements. (If you currently use www.DerekAndSusan.net, it is the same website, and that address and all user accounts will still work going forward.)

Tedeschi Trucks Band can’t wait to hit the road for the first leg of their 2011 World Tour, which features special one-night-only performances at a series of highly intimate venues throughout the Eastern Seaboard. Remember to check www.TedeschiTrucksBand.com/Events for concert and ticket information, and be sure to sign up for the newsletter for updates as new concerts are being added regularly.

The touring lineup for Tedeschi Trucks Band will be announced soon. In the mean time, here are the musicians who were primary contributors to the TTB debut album:

Susan Tedeschi – Guitar/Vocals
Derek Trucks – Guitar
Kofi Burbridge – Keys/Flute
Oteil Burbridge – Bass
Tyler Greenwell – Drums/Percussion
J.J. Johnson – Drums/Percussion
Mike Mattison – Background Vocals
Mark Rivers – Background Vocals
Ryan Shaw – Background Vocals
David Ryan Harris – Background Vocals
Kebbi Williams – Saxophone
Saunders Sermons – Trombone
Maurice Brown – Trumpet

Special guests:

Eric Krasno - Acoustic Guitar
Alam Khan - Sarod