Monday, August 30, 2010

Trina Hamlin - Sizzling Blues Harmonica

LastFM

Trina Hamlin is known for her sizzling blues harmonica and her energy-packed singing and guitar work. Her pure voice and unspoiled powerful presence have gained the singer-songwriter from Minneapolis a steady national following since she began playing solo shows on the downtown New York City club scene. ...... She has shared stages with Ricki Lee Jones, John Hiatt, Duncan Sheik and Paula Cole and performed on The Late Show with Conan O’ Brian with the “Suits” Her music has been heard in the CBS-TV movie “Friends at Last,” starring Kathleen Turner as well as on the WB’s “Dawson’s Creek”.







Amazon Artist Store


Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Nob Hill Boys - Traditional Bluegrass

Good honest stuff with skilled playing

Bio

The Nob Hill Boys are an established bluegrass unit whose commitment to tradition is clear in every aspect of their per- formances. This award-winning band has produced three CDs and entertained audiences all across the Midwest for the past six years in venues of all sizes from coffeehouses to festivals to a performance on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion.







Saturday, August 28, 2010

Is you is or is you ain't my baby?


My father was a big fan of Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, and for good reason. These guys could rock.

This one's my fave:


Skip McDonald (Axe) - Bought for a Dollar Sold for a Dime 2010

Little Axe is the stage name of Skip McDonald an American blues musician. McDonald played jazz, doo-wop, and gospel when young, and moved to New York as a teenager with his band of friends, called The Entertainers.

Daily Mirror 4/5

American-born Brit-based guitarist Skip McDonald is reunited with such past collaborators as Bernard Fowler and Doug Wimbush as he negotiates a sure and certain path through trippy rock, deep blues and unsettling dub. Totally on the money.







Friday, August 27, 2010

Johnnie Taylor "These Last Two Dollars"


Peter Green - In the Skies 2009

Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and best known as the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac. This is a reissue of the 1979 album - with several excellent tracks






Thursday, August 26, 2010

Robert Johnson : Traveling Riverside Blues

Wikipedia

"Travelling Riverside Blues" is a blues song written and recorded in Dallas, Texas by the bluesman Robert Johnson. Johnson's June 20, 1937 recording has a typical 12 bar blues structure (though as is common in downhome blues of this era, the length of each verse is in fact thirteen-and-a-half bars of 4/4), played on a single guitar tuned to open G, with a slide. It was first released on the 1961 compilation LP King of the Delta Blues Singers.


Robert Johnson is often considered the King Of The Delta Blues Singers.



Led Zeppelin's version


Eric Clapton's version



Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Bobby Rush - Hen Pecked 2005

Rush received recognition for his music after the release of his twenty second album Rush, when he was awarded "Best Male Soul Blues Artist" at the Blues Music Awards

I remember this song and performance - good fun


this is a nice track




Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Skip James - I'm So Glad

Lyrics here - Nehemiah Skip James)

Wikipedia

As is typical of his era, James recorded a variety of material — blues and spirituals, cover versions and original compositions — frequently blurring the lines between genres and sources. For example, "I'm So Glad" was derived from a 1927 song by Art Sizemore and George A. Little entitled "So Tired", which had been recorded in 1928 by both Gene Austin and Lonnie Johnson (the latter under the title "I'm So Tired of Livin' All Alone"). "one of the most extraordinary examples of fingerpicking found in guitar music."


Here is the original


This worthy version was recorded for the TV documentary


This is the version I remember



Monday, August 23, 2010

Andrew ''Jr. Boy'' Jones - Gettin Real 2009

Andrew 'Jr.Boy' Jones is a bluesman from Texas, a protege of Freddie King, Andrew was also the guitarist in Charlie Musselwhite's band for several years.






Sunday, August 22, 2010

Sittin on Top of the World


This features Otha Turner and his fife.


Mama's Pride & Johnnie Johnson, Oh My Soul


Lightnin' Hopkins - His Blues 2010

'this is the definitive overview of his long career and is certain to prove essential to die-hard Hopkins collectors and novice blues buyers alike.'


Disc: 1
1. KATIE MAE BLUES
2. SHORT-HAIRED WOMAN
3. LET ME PLAY WITH YOUR POODLE
4. JAKE HEAD BOOGIE
5. SUGAR MAMA (SUGAR ON MY MIND)
6. SHOTGUN BLUES
7. HOWLING WOLF BLUES
8. MISS ME BLUES (YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME)
9. LIGHTNIN'S BOOGIE
10. TIM MOORE'S FARM
11. EUROPEAN BLUES
12. ZOLO GO (ZYDECO)
13. JAZZ BLUES
14. AIN'T NO MONKEY MAN
15. GIVE ME CENTRAL 209
16. COFFEE BLUES
17. TAP DANCE BOOGIE
18. ONE FIND OF FAVOR
19. I'M WILD ABOUT YOU BABY
20. HIGHWAY BLUES
21. POLICY GAME
22. MOANIN' BLUES


Disc: 2
1. HOPKINS' SKY HOP
2. MY LITTLE KEWPIE DOLL (BAD BOOGIE)
3. EARLY MORNIN' BOOGIE (HEAR ME TALKIN')
4. MET THE BLUES ON THE CORNER
5. THE FOOT RACE IS ON
6. MOJO HAND
7. COON IS HARD TO CATCH
8. HAPPY BLUES FOR JOHN GLENN
9. IDA MAE
10. SINNER'S PRAYER (45)
11. BLACK CADILLAC
12. MEET YOU AT THE CHICKEN SHACK
13. LEAVE JIKE MARY ALONE (LIVE)
14. I'M GONNA BUILD ME A HEAVEN OF MY OWN
15. I GOT TIRED
16. BABY PLEASE DON'T GO (LIVE)
17. TROUBLE IN MIND (LIVE)
18. TOM MOORE BLUES
19. SLAVERY
20. BUD RUSSELL BLUES
21. LONG WAY FROM HOME
22. UP ON TELEGRAPH AVENUE
23. CHANGE MY WAY OF LIVIN'








Saturday, August 21, 2010

Ray Charles - Ray Sings 2008

Evocative of his 1961 album



Wow!




Friday, August 20, 2010

Robert Cray- Cookin' in Mobile 2010

BBC

As expected, it’s an impressive set that provides further reminders of why the hard-working and versatile Cray is such a popular live performer. But his followers should check their CD collections before purchasing, for he repeats a lot of both his most recent and best-known material.







Thursday, August 19, 2010

House of the Rising Sun



There are a lot of recorded versions of this tune. Lots of people associate it with the "hit" version by The Animals, but this tune, also called Rising Sun Blues, was around in one form or another for a long time before the Animals found it.

Here's Leadbelly


And Odetta


Keb Mo - Booker's Guitar 2010

about.com

The blues of Booker's Guitar won't be to every listener's liking – this is blues music for the brain as well as the heart and soul, and if you'll take the time to thoroughly enjoy Eric Bibb's Booker's Guitar, you'll be richly rewarded.


Well can't find videos from this album but just enjoy






Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Enemy Within - Post Modern Blues 2002

An experimental sounding album - for the purists and Fleetwood Mac fans. Featuring guitarists Peter Green, Mick Green, Gypie Mayo and Ed Deane.

This is from an earlier collaboration - I'd be interested if anyone can find any tracks from the album below




Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Steven Seagal - Songs from the Crystal Cave 2008

First out in 2005. Seagal is credited with "Lead Vocals, Rhythm and Lead Guitar" and appears on the cover and throughout the liner notes emotively playing and posing with a guitar. The style can be described as "outsider country-meets-world music-meets-Aikido." Many of the songs reflect Seagal's esoteric Buddhist and spiritualist stance.






Monday, August 16, 2010

Billy Boy Arnold, Tony McPhee

Not much on the Net but they have collaborated in a new Groundhogs collaboration since 2009




Sunday, August 15, 2010

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Earl Hooker - An Introduction to (2006)

Wikipedia

Hooker rarely sang and in a genre where the stars were vocalists or vocalists/instrumentalists, his commercial success was limited. However, he "was undeniably a virtuoso among guitar players"and has been acknowledged by many of his peers. As B.B. King commented:
"to me he is the best of modern guitarists. Period. With the slide he was the best. It was nobody else like him, he was just one of a kind".




one late in his life here



"TROUBLE BLUES" by Vel Omarr & The P'zazz Band


Friday, August 13, 2010

Byther Smith - All Night Long 2010

lastfm

Byther Smith is a true Living Legend of the Chicago blues scene and during his long lasting career he worked with the greatest of the Chicago blues artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed and Otis Rush.








Thursday, August 12, 2010

Otis Rush - I Can't Quit The Blues 2010

"Otis Rush's esteemed status as a prime Chicago innovator is eternally assured by the ringing, vibrato-enhanced guitar work that remains his stock-in-trade and a tortured, super-intense vocal delivery that can force the hairs on the back of your neck upwards in silent salute."
-- All Music Guide

A compilation album with all the standards from one of the greats - it is always enjoyable to listen - don't you think?


Otis Rush - All Your Love
Uploaded by Zone19. - Watch more music videos, in HD!




Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Grace Kelly at TCAN, Boston teen jazz saxophone prodigy


Pura Fé - Full Moon Rising 2009

Live American Indian music

"With her voice soaring, foot stomping, this beautiful songbird transcends time and brings the message of our Ancestors who have sewn this beautiful seed, that makes powerful music." -Taj Mahal


Some background from Wikipedia
Pura Fé Antonia ("Toni") Crescioni is a mother, singer, songwriter, poet, musician, artist and dancer. She is best known for founding the first native women's a cappella trio, Ulali and for creating her own style and genre that blends traditional native american music and contemporary styles.

She was born in New York City and raised by her mother and gifted family of female singers that are descendants of the Tuscarora Nation that had migrated from North Carolina to New York in the early 1900’s. Her mother, Nanice Lund, whose parents are mixed-blood Indian, was a classically trained opera singer who toured with Duke Ellington and his Sacred Concert Series. Her father, the late Juan Antonio Crescioni-Collazo was from Puerto Rico, of Taino Indian and Corsican ancestry. He named her Pura Fé which translates from Spanish as "Pure Faith".




A more blues sound



Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Jan James - Limousine Blues 2003

cdbaby says

Blues with a soulful edge, sultry vocals, smokin' guitars. James' delivery is powerful, clear, unmannered and witty.


Chicagogigs
I'll be honest with you, this whole review could have been summed up in one quote. "Limousine Blues, the new Jan James CD, is a must have for anyone who loves the Blues" end quote. But that's not going to make my editor very happy, and everybody has to answer to someone. But it's true, that little quote does say it all, Jan James really did put together a CD that Blues lovers of any style will enjoy.







Monday, August 09, 2010

Lowell Fulson - I'm a Night Owl 2009

Lowell was a comtemporary of Gatemouth Brown and Pee Wee Crayton. Each of these 3 guitar titans enlarged and popularized the "Front-of-the-Bandstand" style that T-Bone Walker had carved out his reputation with on the West Coast.



one of the clean videos of Tramp - what a beautiful song



Sunday, August 08, 2010

Tam White - Keep it Under Your Hat 2001

LastFM

In an illustrious career spanning over four decades, Tam White has established himself as one of the great European blues singers. Since his early fame with the Boston Dexters in the 1960s (and as the first man to sing live on Top of the Pops!), Tam has packed concert halls and clubs throughout the world.

Tam was the voice behind Robbie Coltrane’s Big Jazza in the highly successful Tutti Frutti. In his other profession as an actor he played a major role as Clan Chief MacGregor in Braveheart.







Saturday, August 07, 2010

James Cotton - Mighty Long Time 1997

cd-universe review

This is a sort of back-to-the-roots release from the veteran blues harp wizard. Two of the songs, "Hold Me in Your Arms," which has a "Mystery Train" feel, and "Straighten Up Baby," one of several cuts here featuring guitarist Jimmy Vaughan, were originally recorded by James Cotton in the early '50s at Sun Records.

LastFM
Cotton is truly a living blues legend, with a career spanning 65 years. Some of his many accomplishments include a Grammy in 1996 (and nominated for 3 other’s); 7 WC Handy Awards/Blues Music Awards; induction into the Smithsonian Institution and the Blues Hall of Fame; The Blues Foundation’s Howlin’ Wolf Award; Honorary and Lifetime member of the Sonny Boy Blues Society; and the Premier Harmonica Player Awards for 1999 and 2000 awarded by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Record Arts and Sciences.






Friday, August 06, 2010

Charlie Musselwhite - River Hip Mama



She's long and tall she weeps like a willow tree



Thursday, August 05, 2010

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Doyle Bramhall II

Wikipedia

Doyle Bramhall II is a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist. He was born in Dallas, Texas and is the son of singer, songwriter and drummer Doyle Bramhall, who grew up as a close friend of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan. At age 16, Doyle Bramhall II toured with Jimmie Vaughan's band, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, as second guitarist. Some of Doyle's influences include, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Donny Hathaway, Freddie King, Albert King, Jimmie Vaughan, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sly & the Family Stone, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Curtis Mayfield.





Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Mama Rosin Swiss Blues/Cajun

Mama Rosin is a blues band from Geneva, Switzerland.






Monday, August 02, 2010

Mingo Saldivar

Folsom Prison Blues


Rueda de Fuego


Late Night Tales: The Cinematic Orchestra







Sunday, August 01, 2010

Chris Thomas King

Chris Thomas King (born October 14, 1962 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is an American blues musician and actor. He is the son of blues musician Tabby Thomas.

In the 2000 movie O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, he played legendary bluesman Tommy Johnson. On the “O Brother…” soundtrack he plays Skip James’ “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues”. In the 2004 movie Ray, he played bandleader Lowell Fulson.