Bob Corritore Blues News

October 14, 2010

• Dave Riley & Bob Corritore open for Eric Bibb appear Friday (tomorrow) at the Mesa Arts Center.The masterful contemporary blues singer / songwriter Eric Bibb appears on Friday, October 15th, at theMesa Arts Center with an opening set by Dave Riley & Bob Corritore. The showtime is 7:30pm at Mesa Arts Center - Piper Repertory Theater, One East Main Street, Mesa, AZ 85211. To read more about this event, click here.
• King Biscuit name is returned to festival! In a surprise announcement broadcast on the Main Stage at the opening of the 2010 Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival, Bill Sagan, founder and CEO of Wolfgang’s Vault said, "On behalf of the whole Wolfgang’s Vault family of companies, including King Biscuit, we are pleased to announce a rekindled partnership between King Biscuit and the Blues Festival. It our pleasure to announce that beginning next year, 2011, this Blues Festival will once again be named the King Biscuit Blues Festival in honor of the great historical music legacy we share." Six years ago blues fans and organizers of Helena, Arkansas’s King Biscuit Blues Festival received a shock when they discovered that a contract had been signed that effectively turned their long-lived name over to a management group from New York. As a result, the 25-year old event was forced to change its name from the ever popular King Biscuit Blues Festival to the Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival. After several years of effort, event organizers learned that the rights to the name had been sold to Wolfgang’s Vault, a private music-focused company established in 2002 dedicated to the restoration and archiving of live concert recordings and the sale of music memorabilia. After learning of Helena’s interest in having the King Biscuit name back, Sagan negotiated a new relationship with the Festival that will see the name return for the 2011 event. The King Biscuit name is taken from the Helena based flour product that had a daily radio broadcast onKFFA that used live performances by Sonny Boy Williamson II to advertise. That program was heard throughout the south and made Sonny Boy Williamson the most popular and influential harmonica in the south., Congratulations to the King Biscuit Blues Festival for regaining its rightful name.
• Paul Oscher to release new album! Harmonica ace Paul Oscher is important not only for his rich harp sound, but because he was the first white harmonica player in the Muddy Waters band, effectively breaking the perceptions of racial barriers in the blues music idiom. Paul has announced that his new CD,Betting On The Blues will be available later this year on his Blues Fidelity record label. This release will be a limited edition pressing with un-mastered roughs and a Little Walter story with explicit language.These days Paul is a multi-instrumentalist who works primarily as a solo act. He sings and plays guitar, harmonica, and piano. For more information on Paul Oscher, and to check out his web site, click here
• Muddy Waters on YouTube! Please enjoy this spirited 1960's concert the Muddy Waters Blues Bandperforming "Got My Mojo Working." The band includes Otis Spann on piano, and Paul Oscher on harmonica! Click here  to see.