OK, folks, so we ran into a bit of a scheduling issue last week.
But I WILL be there this Saturday with a trio:
Saturday, Aug. 8, 10:30 pm – 1:30 am
Andy Coats Trio
Rockland Bar and Grill
7361 Six Forks Rd
Raleigh, NC 27615
(919) 848-3812
http://rocklandnc.com
Hope you’ll be there too!
Andy
www.andycoats.com
www.myspace.com/andycoats
www.myspace.com/andycoatsandthebankwalkers
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| August 6, 2009 |
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| Hey Blues Fans, We made it out to a show by New Orleans musician Bryan Lee and the Power Blues Band this week. We were thrilled to see that Bryan had Brent Johnson playing guitar with him again. Brent has not been playing with the band for the last 8 months because of illness but he was back and sounding better than ever. If you go to see Bryan Lee you will be impressed with his GREAT show. He is one of the best touring acts around anywhere. We also made it out to hear a set by the Jon Justice band last week. WOW! These guys are a GREAT band. In this young 4 piece band there is one bachelors degree and 2 masters degrees in music. OK so we normally do not associate academia and Blues music. But these guys are fantastic musicians whether or not they have some kind of paper degree to back it up. If you get the chance to hear them we think you will hear the huge talent of this band, regardless of their academic background. In this issue - Blues Reviews and MORE! James Walker reviews a new CD from Eddie C. Campbell. Eric Steiner reviews a CD by Carlos Del Junco. Michael Packer reviews a new CD by Missy Andersen. Mark Thompson reviews a new CD by J.P. Soars. Reid Doughten reviews a new CD by Davis Coen. George Fish reviews a new CD by AZ Kenny Tsak and 56 Deluxe. Our Blues Video of the Week is a clip of Lurrie Bell playing at the 2006 Geneva Blues Summit. |
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| Blues Musicians Place Your Want Ad here for FREE "workin Blues performers" ONLY can place Want Ads here for FREE. NO Commercial Ads! Blues Internet Marketing Manager Needed Why are we advertising in a Blues publication? Because of our passion for the Blues! We seek an experienced webmaster with a passion for the Blues! We don't just need a web master. This opportunity is for someone who understands the potential of the Blues music market and has experience promoting music on a local or regional level. Please send digital resumes before September 15th,2009 to the email address of Singer Looking For Band Blues& Jazz singer with original songs looking for a band, check out www.jamesvanburen.com click the bottom of home page to hear my best selling single. James Van Buren jvb25@att.net All ads submitted will be used if space allows. If space is limited, ads will be randomly selected to appear in the Blues Blast. Ads may be edited. Send your ad submission to |
Featured Blues Review 1 of 6
| www.myspace.com/eddieccampbell 14 songs; Time 61:02 minutes; Library Quality Style: Chicago Blues; West Side Chicago Blues Remember the television game show, “Name That Tune.?” “Bob, I can name that tune in five notes (or even less)!” Players would challenge. Similarly, one can play their own version, that I’ll call “Name That Guitarist.” Some guitar players are so incredibly unique that one could probably name them in just three notes. Sonny Landreth comes to mind, as does the subject of this review, Eddie C. Campbell. Campbell’s trademark reverb-drenched sound on his vintage metallic purple Fender Jazzmaster guitar is unmistakably distinctive. Eddie C. Campbell, born in Duncan, MS in 1939, is an original bluesman who is one of the last of the originators of the “West Side” sound of Chicago Blues still performing. Campbell brings his deep funk blues grooves, vibrato guitar, powerful, resonating vocals, and personal song writing style to “Tear This World Up,” a recording that will be regarded as a contemporary classic of Chicago Blues. Far from being in a rut of tradition, Eddie C. continues his “Own Man” approach with Funk and Rock and Roll as well as Blues. There are nine originals and five covers including two by early neighborhood friend Magic Sam Maghett. For his first recording in ten years, Eddie C. returned to the studio with long time friend and famed producer Dick Shurman (Johnny Winter, Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan) for his Delmark label debut. (Shurman once bought Campbell’s Jazzmaster guitar when Eddie needed the money. Mainly, Shurman wanted to make sure it didn’t fall into the wrong hands and would be available when Campbell wanted it back – which he eventually did.) There is plenty of variety here, so don’t stop at track one with its relentless North Mississippi boogie groove and clever innuendo about “Makin’ Popcorn.” Track two “Big World,” a rambunctious and humorous shuffle that is the source of the album’s title, reminds me of the old joke about the dying man telling his priest during final confession that he never “slept with women.” Incredulous, the priest insists that surely he had and to deny it would be a mortal sin. The man reasons, “Well, I suppose I might have dozed off a time or two.” Campbell covers two tunes by the legendary Magic Sam, “Easy Baby” and “Love Me With A Feeling.” Campbell’s close association with Magic Sam gives him the ability to faithfully re-work the originals but with his own stamp; "Easy Baby" is particularly great. Another of Campbell’s trademarks is his ability to use a lyrical falsetto in his vocals; here “Tie Your Time Up” gives us a prime example as Eddie laments wasted time. Speaking of old television shows, remember the theme music to “Twilight Zone?” Campbell plays a section of it on his guitar during “Voodoo,” a reverb and moan laden tale of being done wrong. A favorite is “Vibrations in the Air,” which Eddie originally cut in the early 70s. Campbell reworks the catchy mid-tempo blues ala Jimmy Reed shuffle and with Mojo Mark Cihlar outstanding on harmonica. Eddie also recorded a favorite that he performs at live shows, Gershwin’s “Summertime.” But, you won’t “Name That Tune” during the first 48 seconds in which he opens with a raucous Spanish guitar and tremolo solo. Fittingly, Campbell concludes with “Bluesman,” an acoustic shuffle in which Eddie lists famous artists with whom he played over the years. But, he says, the point is “they played with me!” So, in the next game show, “Name That Bluesman,” remember, his name is Eddie C. Campbell, and he’s a classic! Reviewer James “Skyy Dobro” Walker is a noted Blues writer, DJ and Blues Blast contributor. His weekly radio show “Friends of the Blues” can be heard each Thursday from 4:30 – 6:00pm on WKCC 91.1 FM in Kankakee, IL For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE. |
Blues Society News
Send your Blues Society's BIG news or Press Release to: Please submit a maximum of 175 words or less in a Text or Word format ONLY. Magic City Blues Society - Birmingham. AL Magic City Blues Society presents Junk Yard Juke, August 15, 2009, 3:00 p.m. at 430 41st Street South, Birmingham, AL (behind Tres' Taylor's Art Studio) featuring Spoonful, Jonny Grave and Elliott & The Untouchables. Bring your chairs and coolers. Admission: $10. For more Information, contact Lee Mitchell 205-822-1705 River City Blues Society- Peoria, IL The River City Blues Society's Wednesday Blues Series features the best traveling regional and National Blues musicians each Wednesday at 7:00pm. The shows are held at the Dragon's Dome, 3401 Griffin Ave in Pekin, IL. Admission is $4. Shows scheduled are: August 12th - Laurie Morvan Band The Arkansas River Blues Society - Little Rock, Arkansas The Arkansas River Blues Society presents a monthly Blues jam at Juanita’s, 1300 Main Street, Little Rock, Arkansas the first Tuesday of every month. The next jam will be September 1, 2009, at 8 pm. The jam will feature a different house band each month. G - Funk The Tree Trunk will be our house band. You can check this band out on our myspace site. Admission is $5 for the public and $3 for members of ARBS. Participating musicians are FREE and this is an open jam. For more information contact Babs at 501-920-7783 or check out www.myspace.com/arriverbluessociety Friends Of The Blues Shows - Kankakee IL The Friends of the Blues 2009 Blues concert Series shows for August. Tuesday, Aug 11 – Laurie Morvan Band, 7 p.m. Early Show, Kankakee Elks Country Club, 2283 Bittersweet Drive , St. Anne IL 60964 (815) 937-1228. Cover charge: only $5.00! Illinois Central Blues Club - Springfield, IL BLUE MONDAY SHOWS - Held at the Alamo 115 N 5th St, Springfield, IL (217) 523-1455 every Monday 8:30pm $2 cover - August 10th Laurie Morvan Band, August 17th Levee Town Blues Band, August 24th Todd Wolf Blues Band, August 31 Kilborn Alley |
Featured Blues Review 2 of 6
| Northern Blues Music The latest Northern Blues release from Canadian (via Havana) harp player Carlos Del Junco features 11 songs that cut across a range of harp styles. Carlos has taken home the hardware seven times at the Canadian Maple Blues Awards in that blues society’s 12 year history and he received the Best of the Blues Award from Toronto’s Now Magazine in 2005. Early on in his career, Carlos received a Juno Nomination (the Canadian Grammy) for his Big Boy release in 1998 and he was Jazz Report Magazine’s Blues Musician of the Year in 1996. In 1993, he won the Hohner World Harmonica Championship in Germany by earning gold meals in the diatonic blues and diatonic jazz competitions. That’s some serious street harp cred in my book. Awards aside, I always look for the artist’s latest CD to reaffirm a continuing commitment to the blues. On Steady Movin,’ Carlos shows me that his lifelong dedication to the Mississippi Saxophone has paid off. There’s solo, deep-South blues, post-war blues, and LA-swing blues, plus a nod to the ever-popular (I’d like to think it’s due to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack) surf blues. At first, I didn’t care much for the surf-inflected blues of “Dull Blade,” but each time I listened to how the song featured Carlos’ playing balanced against Denis Keldie’s keyboards and Kevin Briet’s all-over-the-frets guitar styles, I liked it more and more. Suffice it to say that I play it for my friends in the Washington Blues Society to shake things up at my house parties now and again. It takes a formidable blues talent to think he (or she) can update Sonny Boy Williamson’s (the second) “Cruising Down the River Rhine,” and I’m pleased to report that Carlos is more than up to the task. Like the original 1964 LP on Storyville, Carlos keeps the groove going with well-positioned solos, keeping time snapping his fingers, all a capella. The fat-toned harp of “Jersey Bounce” recalls LA-tinged swing blues rather than ol’ Blue Eyes, but it’s an example of just how versatile Carlos is with his band, consisting of Kevin Breit on guitar, John Juul Andersen and Marc Rogers on drums and bass, and Denis Keldie on keys. The set’s closer, “Diddle It,” also landed on the label’s third sampler, The Future of the Blues, Volume 3, one of the most diverse blues samplers around, like their predecessors. If “Diddle It” doesn’t land on every blues radio show touched by the Internet, I will be sorely disappointed. Full disclosure: Northern Blues’ Fred Litwin included my endorsement on a little sticker that adorns Volume 3, but don’t take my word for it. Listen to that compilation and tell me that Northern Blues isn’t stretching the boundaries of the blues. Reviewer Eric Steiner is the President of the Washington Blues Society, the proud recipient of a 2009 Keeping the Blues Alive Award from the Blues Foundation. For more information, you can email Eric at president@wablues.org and visit www.wablues.org For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE. |
Featured Blues Review 3 of 6
| Main Squeeze Records www.myspace.com/missyandersenlive Missy Andersen was born in Detroit but raised in my hometown New York City. She has performed and toured with Earl Thomas sharing the stage with the likes of Ray Charles and BB King. On her debut CD which was recorded in Copenhagen Demark is simply called 'Missy Andersen'. Missy draws four aces on the opening track with the funky in the groove track 'Ace Of Spades'. On 'New Feet', she talks about change and shows off her blues feel. There is some real nice guitar on this cut by Heine Andersen. A terrific rendition of Al Green's 'I Can't Stand The Rain' follows with Jesse Juul knocking it dead out on the Hammond. She rocks out taking her vocals to the rafters on the hot 'Tell Mama. I love the guitar intro on 'Same Old Blues' and Missy definitely has the blues as she sings with all her heart and soul. The band smokes on the blues classic 'Little By Little'. 'Pack It up' is a funky number that will have listeners wanted to grab their partners and start dancing. The final cut is a really interesting song that really is totally different from the rest of the album and happens to be my favorite track, the delta blues sounding 'Stand Up And Dance'. Missy Andersen has recorded a remarkable debut disc. Old school, soulful vocals with a classic approach. The dynamic horn section on this CD is just a thrill to listen to. Missy Andersen has achieved her girlhood dream of putting herself in the spotlight. Missy Andersen definitely shines! I am sure we will be hearing more from this lady. She is a breath of fresh air. . Reviewer Michael Packer is a singer-guitarist from NYC who fronts his own band "The Michael Packer Blues Band". He has been performing for over 40 years and has recorded on major labels Atlantic and RCA. For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE. |
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| John Primer ALL ORIGINAL Nominated for 2009 Blues Blast Music Award Best Traditional Blues Recording To Purchase the new CD CLICK HERE To Read the CD review CLICK HERE Vote for John Primer in the 2009 Blues Blast Music Awards John is also Nominated for Best Male Blues Artist To vote now CLICK HERE |
Blues Video of the Week
| This week we feature Blues Blast Music Award nominee Lurrie Bell performing at the Geneva Blues Summit in 2006. When you see him play live you can tell Lurrie plays from the heart. This direct connection between his heart and his fingers results in some real deal Blues. Check out this video to see why Lurrie is one of the great nominees for Best Male Blues Artist in the 2009 Blues Blast Music Awards. And be sure to vote for your favorite artist. To vote now CLICK HERE. To see this cool video on our website, click the play button below. . For other videos on our website CLICK HERE. |
| The Blues Blast Music Awards recognize the best Blues performers and their music. Our nominators included Radio stations, Blues DJ's, Blues Bloggers, Blues Critics, Journalists, Festival Promoters, Managers, Musicians and Blues Societies. They have nominated the BEST in Blues Music today. To vote now CLICK HERE. BE AN INFORMED VOTER - If you are not familiar with all of the 2009 nominees, GLT Blues Radio 24/7 has a created a "listening page" where you can sample the music of the nominees BEFORE you vote. To check out the website and begin listening to these great artists now, CLICK HERE Voting continues until August 31st. Details of the Awards show on October 29th, 2009 at Buddy Guy's Legends coming soon. | |
| Best Contemporary Blues Recording " At Least I’m Not With You” The Insomniacs "Love Me Tonight" John Nemeth “Live at Chan’s Vol 2” Nick Moss "Clean Getaway" Curtis Salgado "What Love Will Do" Janiva Magness "Never going Back" Shemekia Copeland | Best Blues Band Nick Moss and The Flip Tops Lil Ed And The Blues Imperials Kilborn Alley Blues Band Mannish Boys The Insomniacs Watermelon Slim and The Workers |
| Best Traditional Blues Recording "Chicago Blues: A Living History" Various Artists "Sweeheart Like You" Guy Davis "All Original" John Primer "Lowdown Feelin" Mannish Boys "Blues Attack" Shirley Johnson "One Kind Favor" BB King | Best Male Blues Artist John Primer Bobby Jones Nick Moss Lurrie Bell John Nemeth Elvin Bishop |
| Best Blues Song “Bad Year Blues” Albert Castiglia "At Least I'm Not With You" - The Insomniacs "Mr. Coffee" Chris James & Patrick Rynn "20 Years of B.B. King" Curtis Salgado "Let Life Flow" Kenny Neal "See That My Grave is Kept Clean" BB King | Best Female Blues Artist Shirley Johnson Robin Rogers Diunna Greenleaf Shemekia Copeland Eden Brent Janiva Magness |
| Best New Artist Debut "Stop And Think About It" Chris James & Patrick Rynn "White Sugar" Joanne Shaw Taylor "Austin To Chicago" Dave Herrero "2 Man Wrecking Crew" Cedric Burnside & Lightnin' Malcolm "Livin It" Guy King "Mississippi Number One" Eden Brent | Sean Costello Rising Star Award Eden Brent Kilborn Alley Blues Band Joanne Shaw Taylor Albert Castiglia Dave Gross Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm |
Featured Blues Review 4 of 6
| Soars High Productions 12 tracks/50:26 Backed by his band, the Red Hots, J.P. Soars made quite an impression at this year’s International Blues Challenge, the annual event staged by the Blues Foundation. Representing the South Florida Blues Society, Soars won the top award for Best Band as well as the Albert King award, given to the best guitar player in the competition. He started out as a heavy metal guitarist but eventually Soars discovered jazz and blues, which a ultimately led him to switch his allegiance to blues music. This independent release provides plenty of proof that the judges at the Blues Challenge made the right decision. Take a listen to Muddy Water‘s “Gypsy Woman” and revel in Soars ability to steadily build the tension in this slow blues masterpiece. Supported by Terry Hanck on tenor sax, Soars sings with an aged-in-whiskey voice that perfectly fits this tale of despair. His guitar solo is full of biting phrases and emotional wallop. “Born in California, Raised in Arkansas” is a Soars original and a jump-blues burner that clearly demonstrates that Soars has assimilated the best elements of the T-Bone Walker style into his own playing. Soars pays further tribute on a high-speed romp through Walker‘s “Low Dirty Deal”. Switching gears, Soars delivers a stellar performance on another original, “Baby, I Used to Love You”. The Red Hots, Gary Rimmington on bass and Gary Peet on drums, lay down a swinging beat and Soars displays a light touch on the acoustic guitar. The band tears into Johnny Watson’s “Gangster of Love”, giving listeners a good idea of what this classic would have sounded like if someone like Muddy Waters had covered it. Billy Burns contributes some fine Chicago-style harmonica. Soars hoarse singing voice captures the swagger in the lyrics and his brief guitar solo is another example of his skill and tasty playing. Soars burns through another slow blues , J.B. Lenoir’s “Been Down So Long”, with help from Chris Kingsolver on piano. He turns in a brilliant solo that starts out soft and slow before building to an eruption of emotionally-charged playing. The disc ends with the instrumental, “Blue Drag” giving Soars the opportunity to pay homage to his gypsy jazz influences. Whether it’s a soulful original like “Will I Ever” or a cover Rev. Gay Davis’ “Cocaine”, Soars & the Red Hots never fail to deliver the goods on this very impressive release. Soars eschews the “faster and louder is better” school of guitar playing., preferring to make taste and feeling the hallmarks of his style. This disc makes it apparent that he is brimming with talent and already has developed a deep affinity for the various forms of blues music. This recording is highly recommended - give it a listen and help spread the word about the award-winning J.P. Soars !!!! Reviewer Mark Thompson is president of the Crossroads Blues Society in Rockford. IL For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE. |
| | New CD From South Side Cindy & The Slip Tones This Time To listen & purchase this CD now - CLICK HERE
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Featured Blues Review 5 of 6
| Walk an imaginary line between Carolina-men Jimbo Mathis and Pink Anderson, trace it through Holly Springs, Mississippi, ending somewhere on the ragged, beer drenched, and smoke laden carpet your band used to practice on in the garage - welcome to 'Magnolia Land,' Davis Coen's 6th and latest blues release. Known primarily for his finger-style guitar work in the veins of Mississippi John Hurt., Libba Cotton, and Fred McDowell, Coen diverges for some out of the pocket blues a la North Mississippi hill country, Muscle Shoals, Chicago, and his own strange Carolina brew. 'Magnolia Land' was recorded at the unjustifiably little known Delta Recording Studio in Como, Mississippi (Jimbo Mathis) whose treasured, old-assed ribbon mics have recorded everyone from Elvis Costello to Afrissippi to George Brock to virtually every relative of the late Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. And let me tell you, the production is probably my favorite part of this album - it's so warm and so live that you'd swear you could hear the 6L6's buzzing through your high-fi. The album opens with a very Kimbrough-esque "Tired and Lonesome," a reworking of Coen's earlier "Ain't Even got a Rock to Lay My Head On." Dark and full-bodied, this hill country blues is rounded out with some tasteful Hammond organ work by Lance Ashley. "Change in the Weather," however, doesn't quite do it for me. One might begrudgingly call it southern soul, something that Eddie Hinton might have pulled off, but here the arrangement is loose and it's a little outside of Coen's vocal range. "Anna Ann," the third track, is arguably one of the strongest on this disc - a danceable, slide-driven Coen original that might imaginatively have once been on R.L. Burnside's setlist (if he ever used one). Coen dips in the Elmore James bag for the traditional "Country Girl Blues," although the slide work is a little more reminiscient of Kenny Brown. "Nothing to Hold on to" reminds me of "Change in the Weather" - there's a lot of instrumentation, particularly drums and guitar, that could have left more room for Coen's voice, although his Guy Davis vocal stylings don't really work here anyway. What I do like about this song (credited to T. Coen, by the way) is the soulful progression and the theme imparted in some of the best lyrics on the album: "I reached out for success, my spirt burned/Everybody wants me now I've learned./I'll never go to New York looking for some city job/The concrete world is corrupt/And the business man is hard/You're the only one who cares if this boy works or if he starves/That's why I love you." "Goin' Away Baby" is a pretty stripped and straightforward cover of the Jimmy Rogers version. Except with more reverb. And "Natchez Burning" is less a straight cover and more a fairly standard Chicago shuffle. One of the coolest, most well-tracked, and best arranged songs on here is "Wrong Side of Town." If you liked "Busker's Blues" off of Coen's earlier 'Ill Disposition' you'll like this one. All in all, Coen assembles a veritable A-team of Mississippians north of Vicksburg including Jimbo Mathis himself, Afrissippi's Kinney Kimbrough (Junior's son) and Justin Showah, Olga on washboard, Lance Ashley, and Darren Dortin for an album that is decidedly unique and laudably old-school. There is a loose, sort of disjointedness that you find throughout a lot of these songs, sometimes working in Coen's favor and sometimes not. But there's plenty of soul and an undeniable honesty coming from someone who is pushing the boundaries just a bit farther. If you're familiar with Davis Coen, this is worth checking out if for no other reason than it's different. If you're not familiar with Davis Coen, this is worth checking out if for no other reason than it's different. Reviewer Reid Doughten is a Delaware native and Blacksburg, Virginia transplant where he plays in a Roanoke-based blues band and tries to avoid working for a living. For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE. |
Featured Blues Review 6 of 6
| Self Release www.myspace.com/azkennytsak56deluxe 11 tracks Total time: 46:20 The CD case and sleeve notes artwork of Like I Do, featuring AZ Kenny Tsak in a paisley shirt surrounded by comely, scantily clad young women with guitars in hand, and with the Guitarus Maximus bravado graphic embedded in the sleeve notes, might make one feel this is a guitarslinger rock or blues-rock album. But that’s definitely not the case, for this critically acclaimed CD by Tsak and his band, 56 Deluxe, is straightforward roadhouse blues that, while certainly rocking, is solidly blues, not rock. Kenny Tsak first took up guitar in the 1970s, but had to abandon it in the 1980s to run a business. He reunited with his friend Avery T. Horton, Jr. in 2005 to form 56 Deluxe, which was soon performing regularly across southern Arizona and on the East Coast. Like I Do is the group’s debut CD. Tsak fronts the band with gravelly bravura vocals and excellent, straight-ahead guitar solos with no extraneous flash, following in the tradition of Lonnie Brooks, Luther Allison , Hubert Sumlin and other masters, the tradition that captured young white players on both sides of the Atlantic and gave birth to rock ‘n’ roll and rock. But Tsak has two other fine soloists on hand in 56 Deluxe—piano and organ man James Holt, and saxophonist Frank Perez, both of whom get appropriate space on Like I Do to strut their stuff. Bassist Avery T. Horton, Jr. is an able songwriter as well, co-writing one of the songs of the CD with Tsak, track 9, the exuberant celebration of a woman, “My Tastee Cake;” and writing solo two of the others, track 10, the bass-dominant shuffle “All It Takes,” and track 5, a “sober” warning about the killjoy perils of sobriety, “12 Step Boogie,” that admonishes, “Now that we got sober/All the fun is over.” Rounding out the band is Andy “G,” drummer, and guest players Joe Beard, Jr. on drums and Bernie Rose on back piano. Six other songs are written by Kenny Tsak himself, which are a solid and variegated mixture of traditional blues themes and approaches, which I list here. The opening title track, “Like I Do,” sets off the roadhouse flavor of the CD well with a sax-opening traditional city blues of doubt about one’s woman. Track 2, “Full Time Lover,” comes in as a ruminative slow number with a piano-and-organ backdrop, while track 4, “Blues Attitude,” is another slow number, this time about getting through tough times. Track 3, “Walkin’ Shoes,” is a vigorous leaving-a-bad-woman sax-driven rocker with solos from both Holt and Perez, and track 7, “Down South Florida, “ celebrates the Sunshine State with a rhumba beat. The final track is actually two tracks combined: “I’ll Take You With Me,” a rockin’ jump with an elemental vocal line and extended guitar and piano work, followed by an untitled “bonus track,” a short guitar-bass-and-drums medium-tempo ruminative instrumental coda. There are two covers of classics—track 8, Willie Dixon’s “I Just Wanna Make Love To You,” and track 6, Chick Willis’s risqué “Stoop Down Baby,” sung by Florida bluesman Joey Gilmore, who adds two original verses, one celebrating Tsak, the other himself. Gilmore also engages Tsak in a guitar solo duel on the track, where both are in top form. Like I Do, AZ Kenny Tsak and 56 Deluxe re-create the classic blues sound of the late 1950s and early 1960s in a most convincing way, with real fealty not just to the music itself, but also to its raucous spirit. This review is an extended version of one that originally appeared in my July 26, 2009 “Blues and More” column for the Bloomington (IN) Alternative. Reviewer George Fish lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, home of blues legends Yank Rachell and Leroy Carr, and writes a regular music column, “Blues and More” for the online Bloomington (IN) Alternative. He’s also published in the regional Indiana blues and alternative presses as well as Living Blues and Blues Access, and wrote the notes for Yank Rachell’s Delmark album, Chicago Style. He has also published on blues and pop music for the left-wing press as well, and has appeared in Against the Current and Socialism and Democracy, as well as the online Political Affairs and MRZine. For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE. |
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Speaking of some night soon, how 'bout TONIGHT? (Fri.) marks our return to Old Settlers Days in Corydon (straight south on Hwy 65, 13 miles from the Missouri border) (boyhood home of the famous DuBay Brothers) This year we're on the concert stage, (don't worry, we'll make sure there's some kind of dancefloor space for you) 7:30-9:00pm. Blue Band alum Bob Thompson will join Al in the horn section. Mark has the flu, so Tom Cooper III will join us on bass (fortunately his band Soul Fusion is only working on Sat. night) (have I ever told you what a BIG fan I am of Soul Fusion? I'm such a big fan that I invited them to join us for the New Years Eve bash this year!) (and they accepted!) It looks like the storms will stay to the north, see yas in Corydon!...
Saturday night, we return to the center of the universe, Sparkle City USA, aka Cedar Falls, for our (hopefully) annual show at the Cedar Trails Festival. We're the pre nightride entertainment, so peddle on down to Gateway Park (you can paddle down the Cedar River too) (just don't piddle and make a puddle) We play 7pm to dark when the nightride begins. All ages are welcome to ride or just come for the band. Bunky will join Al in the horn section. Our sincere thanks to The Hearst Center For The Arts for their support of our band at this event over the years. For more information on this celebration of the fabulous trailway system we have in the Cedar Valley, try: www.americantrails.org/resources/advocacy/cedarfest.html...
Next week we play a private wedding on Saturday, so there probably won't be a Blue Note. I'll be busy being a State Fair go-er, gorging myself on Food On A Stick, and enjoying the people-watching, prior to The Blue Band weekend at The Fair, August 21/22. I'm pretty sure that this year is the 25th anniversary of our first appearance at The Fair. There's nothing like it. These days it's like a five generation reunion for us on that stage. Get your reduced price admission tickets at HyVees and Fairways and we'll see yas at the AE/TV8 stage, two shows nightly 7 & 9pm. Bring funnelCAKE!...
There was a retirement party today for Wayne Jarvis, one of my mentors and coworkers at KUNI for 30+ years. His encouragement and mentoring often inspired me to persevere in both my radio and band careers. All of this makes me think too much! I "officially" leave UNI employment in 20 weeks. YIKES!...
Speaking of KUNI, all my shows are brand new this weekend and the Backtracks rock'n'roll history show is 3 hours of previewing some of the compilation CDs that I've been acquiring during the summer months for use in the upcoming Fall production season. It airs 7-10p Sat. night and the new blues show Blue Avenue happens Sun. evening 5-6:30p. Find your frequency or listen on line at www.iowapublicradio.org...
Lots of time on the road tomorrow. It's about a 3 1/2 hour truck ride to get there, so seven hours round trip, in order to play for 90 minutes! Wasn't it Ethel Merman who said THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS LIKE NO BUSINESS I KNOW!!!....
And speaking of business, keep spreadin' the word that we have LOTS (way too many) of open dates for the Fall and Holiday seasons. A Holiday House Party at your acreage on the outskirts of town would be fun, don't ya think? Call me babies...
Anyway, I've got a kabillion things to do before heading to Corydon. See ya on the Blue Highway, remember to bring yer washboard tie (somebody's got to rub it with me!) USE YER DAMN TURN SIGNALS, wear yer helmet on the nightride (I'm not sure what that means) and always remember we love you... Bob Dorr & The Blue Band
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Eddie C. Campbell - Tear This World Up
Carlos Del Junco - Steady Movin’
Missy Andersen – Missy Andersen
Lurrie Bell - Five Long Years
J.P. Soars - Back of My Mind
Davis Coen - Magnolia Land
AZ Kenny Tsak/56 Deluxe - Like I Do
