September 23rd, 2010
- Rhythm Room All-Stars plus special guest Dave Riley appear as part of the Rhythm & Roots concert series in Tucson on Friday! The Rhythm Room All-Stars (Bob Corritore, Chris James, Patrick Rynn, and Brian Fahey) plus special guest Dave Riley appear Friday, September 24, 2010 8:00 pm, for the Plaza Palomino Concert Series at 2970 North Swan Rd.in Tucson. This event is presented by Jonathon Holden's amazing Rhythm & Roots productions. For more information on ordering tickets, and for other shows presented in this series, click here.
- The Bisbee Blues Festival happens this Saturday! The Bisbee Blues Festival happens September 25th, in the beautiful and historic border town of Bisbee, Arizona. The Bisbee Blues Festival features a great lineup that includes Tab Benoit, Shemekia Copeland, The Rhythm Room All-Stars with special guest Dave Riley, Train Wreck, and The Hounds. Gates open at 10am, and music starts at 11am. The event takes place at historic Warren Ballpark, and each year this festival is a joyous celebration of the blues. For tickets, and further information please click here.
- Bob Corritore / Harmonica Blues CD receiving much airplay and many reviews! Released by the Delta Groove record label on Aug 17th, 2010, Bob Corritore / Harmonica Blues celebrates Bob's 40th year of playing harmonica, and features a simply amazing list of special guests that includes Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Pinetop Perkins, Honeyboy Edwards, Nappy Brown, Eddy Clearwater, Louisiana Red, Carol Fran, Dave Riley, Big Pete Pearson, Tomcat Courtney, The Rhythm Room All-Stars, Chief Schabuttie Gilliame, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Eddie Shaw, Chico Chism, Bob Margolin, Kid Ramos, David Maxwell, Eddie Taylor, Jr., Bob Stroger, and more. Many thanks to all the DJs, station programmers, writers and reviewers for there great acceptance of this release. 40 reviews have come in so far and can be seen by clicking here. Thanks to everyone at Delta Groove for their strong efforts in promoting this CD and for their wonderful well placed full page color ads in Blues Revue, Living Blues, and Big City Blues magazines.
- Dave Riley and Bob Corritore interviewed in latest issue of Blues Revue Magazine! The latest issue of Blues Revue Magazine features Jimmy Hendrix on the cover and includes an in depth interview with Dave Riley & Bob Corritore by writer and reviewer Michael Cote. Also included are articles on Bettye Lavette, Moreland & Arbuckle, The South Memphis String Band (a trio project including Luther Dickinson, Jimbo Mathus, and Alvin "Youngblood" Hart), Guitar Shorty, Candye Kane and Laura Chavez, The Juke Joint Festival, and more! Thanks so much for this great honor from this great blues magazine.
- The amazing blues photo collection of Jillina Arrigo Pope posted on Facebook! Jillina Arrigo Pope was an active blues promoter in Chicago during the mid to late 1970s into the early 1980s. She encouraged, booked, befriended, and managed many great Chicago blues and soul artists in that time period. You may know her from the Big Walter Horton album, Can't Keep Lovin' You, on Blind Pig Records, where she is pictured on the back kissing a surprised Big Walter on the cheek. She kept a large archive of photos from that time period which, thanks to the great effort of drummer / producer Twist Turner, have been scanned and appear on Twist's Facebook page. Over 300 priceless photos have been posted that include images of Johnny Littlejohn, Chico Chism, Charlie Musselwhite, Big Walter Horton, David Dee, Artie White, Tyrone Davis, Jimmy Johnson, The Staple Singers, Koko Taylor, Bob Koester, Big Moose Walker, Louis Myers, Lavelle White, Little Mack Simmons, Johnny Dollar, Sunnyland Slim, Carey Bell, and many more. To enjoy these photos and to take a trip back in time, click here, then click photos, and scroll down to photo albums. Thanks Jillina, for preserving these memories.
- Dialtone Records new releases preserving the Texas blues tradition! Producer / Bassist Eddie Stout started his Dialtone Record label in the 1990s with the intention of capturing some of the great traditional blues, soul, and gospel sounds that he heard from his home base of Austin, Texas. Dialtone has released wonderful sides by Lazy Lester, Barbara Lynn, Lavelle White, Bobby Rush, Westside Horns, The Bells Of Joy, and many others. Often these releases are made in small quantity pressings with little or no promotional campaign, but each of his issues are a snapshop of the blues heritage of the region. Dialtone has recently released new CDs by Little Joe Washington, Reverend K.M. Williams, and Hosea Hargrove. Thanks to this small but mightly label for its nobel efforts to preserve the blues. To learn more about Dialtone Records, and its wonderful releases, visit their website by clicking here.
- Alligator Records releases two new CDs by veteran harmonica masters! Industry leader Alligator Records has turned its attention to the blues harmonica with 2 beautiful new releases; Charlie Musselwhite / The Well and James Cotton / Giant. These fine CDs are propelled by Alligator's powerful business machine. Alligator is no stranger to blues harmonica as the label's 2nd release was by Big Walter Horton with Carey Bell. That led to harmonica releases throughout the years by William Clarke, Billy Boy Arnold, Sugar Blue, Junior Wells, Carey Bell, Big Leon Brooks, Billy Branch, Sugar Blue, Rick Estrin, Raful Neal, and others. Thanks Bruce Iglauer and Alligator Records for helping to keep the blues harmonica tradition alive.
- A few tickets opened up for Amanda's Roller Coaster. Amanda Taylor reports that a few people who she had set aside tickets for, will be unable to attend her amazing harmonica event which was announced as sold out last week. Amanda's Roller Coaster is a spectacular 3 day harmonica happening that takes place at the Rhythm Room on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Acts include James Cotton, Billy Boy Arnold, Lazy Lester, Kim Wilson, Paul Oscher, James Harman, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Dyer, Bharath Rajakumar, Johnny Sansone, Jerry Portnoy, Al Blake, Dave Waldman, Bob Corritore, Troy Gonyea, RJ Mischo, Steve Marriner, Billy Flynn, Scott Dirks, Chef Denis Depoitre, Lynwood Slim, and Vincent Bury. The spectacular backing musicians for this event are Larry Taylor (bass & guitar), Randy Bermudes (bass), Richard Innes (drums), Jason Moeller (drums), Junior Watson (guitar), Billy Flynn (guitar), Jon Moeller (guitar), Mike Keller (guitar) & Barrelhouse Chuck (Piano), plus Hubert Sumlin will perform with James Cotton, and Dave Riley will appear with Bob Corritore. For more details, a schedule of performances, hotel information, and to order tickets, check out the Amanda's Roller Coaster website by clicking here. The pre-party on Thursday, Sept 30th, has taken on a life of its own. For the pre-party the host band will be the Nighthawks, who will perform a set, followed by a harmonica showcase that will include an ever growing list that currently includes Bill Tarsha, Martin Lange, Ronnie Shellist, Randy Chortkoff, Thomas Fiacco, Little Barry G, Dennis Gruenling, Jerry Swartz, Mark Heffington, Ed Marien, Mr. & Mrs. Alaimo, Ken Johnson, Greg Johnson, Harmonica Mike, Kim Field and more! Advance tickets to the pre-party are a separate ticket and can be purchased through Ticketmaster by clicking here.
- James Cotton blows the blues on YouTube! Please enjoy this clip of the legendary harmonica great James Cotton playing a beautiful slow blues instrumental. Click here to see