John Hammer Blues News

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INFORMATION www.bluemondaymonthly.com   Merchandise   Electronic Press Kit Click on artists name for link to their websites   Alice Stewart & The Formerlys 'Freedom' Tim Bastmeyer 'Tim Bastmeyer' Electro Glide Records 'The Blues, An Evolution' Dicky James & The Blues Flames 'Hard Rain'        Important Links Blue Monday Facebook Minnesota Blues Society  Bayfront Blues Festival Prairie Dog Blues Festival  Scottie Miller Sena Ehrhardt Band    Twin Cities Blues B-L-U-E-S.com  Soul Fixin' Foundation   The Swamp Kings The Mark Cameron Band   Blues Festival Guide   Bayfront Bluesfesters   Twin City Blues Santiago Shakedown    Bicycle Blues & BBQ    Boundary Waters Blues Fest    Fargo Blues Fest   Chippewa Valley Blues Society   Allan Kirk   Reverend Raven   School of the Wise II    Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival   Northern California Blues Festival   Rusty Wright Band   Aaron Williams & The Hoodoo   Pearson Lakes Art Center   Central Iowa Blues Society   Blues on Stage   Bluesdaddy Hambone Music Festival

Freedom on the Radio  Turn yer dial to that familiar spot and leave yer cares at the door. We are about to provide you the release you need. April 8th on Hammered By The Blues (every Sunday on KOWZ 1170AM at 10pm) we know you can get tied down with the everyday everyday, so we called on Alice Stewart & The Formerlys to prove it's all about attitude with a handful of joy off 'Freedom'. Reachin' 'cross the border, we prove the dilemmas we face are the same everywhere as Canadian Tim Bastmeyer introduces you to tales off his self titled release 'Tim Bastmeyer'. To provide a variety in our therapy session today, Electro Glide Records  serves up a treatise off their latest compilation 'The Blues, An Evolution'. Tiein' it all together so's it makes sense, Dicky James & The Blues Flames lay it out in fine style with a few choice tracks from their latest CD 'Hard Rain'. We know ya gots choices in this big ol' world. We are thrilled you chose us!        Freedom starts as a feelin' deep down inside; It ain't no big secret, and this I will confide;    The blues is born in struggle, makin' ya strong like they should;  If it weren't for bad times, you couldn't appreciate the good! Hammer-time!  Fresh Stuff Ya Wanna Know   April Blue Monday NOW On Line featuring exclusive LIVE show reviews, CD reviews, and events to plan yer calendar around!  , St. Paul, MN     April 1: Boundary Waters Bluesfest FUN Raiser   Wilbeski's, St. Paul, MN (See poster below)   April 2-3: Ruthie Foster, Scottie Miller & Paul Thorn  The Dakota, MPLS, MN   April 6: STAX: Lamont Cranston    Grandpa Al's, Faribault, MN April 7: John Beach The Covered Bridge, Zumbrota, MN        Struttin YOUR stuff at  'Hammered By the Blues'  Listen On Line Now: Click Here <- Show #309 Lightnin' Red's International Blues Family, Pete Herzog, Roy Roberts, and Beverly McClellan - Support Our Sponsors   Be sure to check out brand new blues on the Juke Box Page, vote for your favorite song and enter to win a Limited Edition Blue Monday Lapel Pin   'Hammered By The Blues' now on  ROCKIN U RADIO on LIVE365 11pm to 1am Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Give a listen - > CLICK HERE for LINK Print Out The 'OPPORTUNITIES LIVE' section at Blue Monday OnLine offering somethin' to do in LIVE MUSIC in Minnesota, Iowa, St. Louis, Omaha, Lincoln, Clarksdale, and Memphis at:     Blue Monday Calendar  Just click on the link above -or- type the name into your browser; right click on the Calendar page you want, save and print. Yes, it is just that easy!

John 'blueshammer' Hammer
Blue Monday Monthly Magazine
www.bluemondaymonthly.com
Hammered By The Blues Weekly Radio
KOWZ 1170am/ 100.9fm
510 West McKinley
Owatonna, MN 55060

Bob Dorr And The Blue Band Update

So what are the odds that tonight, Leno's first guest would be Piers Morgan and Letterman's first guest would be Tracy Morgan? IT HAPPENED! And today became the first time EVAH in my (very) long life that I mowed my lawn in the month of March! (insert Twilight Zone music here) The planets are definitely aligning for the big Mega Millions jackpot. Those odds are 173,000,000 to 1. The odds are better that you will die of a heart attack or car crash ON YOUR WAY TO THE STORE TO BUY YOUR LOTTO TICKET than to win the $360,000,000 (after taxes) payout. I went ahead anyway and WALKED to the store to buy TWO Mega Millions tickets. Whew, I beat the odds again. My wife says I lead a charmed life (I prefer "putting myself in situations to be lucky") She has no idea how charming I can be with $360,000,000. If I win it, I'm gonna give away $10,000,000 to people on this list! Wish me luck! I wish you the same...
I am VERY lucky to have had access to the audio and video talents of Phil Maass (Philm Sound) and Kelsey Hammer (Kelsey Hammer Productions) Phil outdid himself on the recording/mixing/editing/mastering/producing of the audio recordings from the Sexagenarian party and Kelsey's 3-camera shoot/editing/syncing with Phil's audio/ on the video DVD of that night is really stunning. And both of them work out of their homes, as independent producers, and live LESS THAN A MILE from my house! What are the odds of that?? And we never would have gotten to know of Kelsey and her video production company, had she not auditioned for the substitute drummer gig! (more Twilight Zone music here) I'm still not sure what we're going to do with this very cool record of Sexagenarianism, but the recordings sure did turn out great! Thanks Phil. Thanks Kelsey...
We have had some good luck in adding a few more dates to the appearance calendar (unfortunately, not much before Memorial Day) (Is it time for that Spring Has Sprung party on your deck at your cabin by the river on the outskirts of town?) Our next date is the April GEEEEZER Gig at The Hub in Cedar Falls on Friday the 13th (Twilight Zone music) So bring yer black cat bone and yer mojo too, (good luck charms) Please also note that the final GEEEEZER Gig of the season has been pushed back one week to May 18. I'm thrilled that, even before we're finished with this season, The Hub has already renewed for NEXT season, so plan on the second Friday of every month at The Hub, Oct. 2012-May 2013! It's the bad luck/good luck story with Memorial Day weekend. The North Liberty Blues and Bar-b-que festival moved their celebration to the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and we are part of a private party that day, so the bad luck is that we won't be able to continue our streak of 4 years in a row at that festival this year, but the good luck is that FB & Co in Waubeek has invited us to be part of their Sunday of Memorial Day weekend celebration! I think the Blue Band played FB & Co EVERY Memorial and Labor Day for over 20 years. We're gonna do it again this year! We are also lucky to continue our long running streak of appearances at The Downtown Davenport (Bix) Street Dance. The bad luck there is that there is a new Entertainment Director who has experienced a budget cut and we will need to take a pay cut and play earlier in the afternoon (3-5pm) (Real Geeezer Hours!) I love playing that event, just 10 blocks from my high school, with people and memories of 45 years floating around. We're lucky to be included in such a cool event!...
Saturday night's Backtracks radio show is the return of Long Songs Night. Fifteen songs cover the entire three hour show, many of them suggested by listeners (http://iowapublicradio.org/studio-one/backtracks/) and Sunday evening's Blue Avenue program is 100% LIVE performances (the way the blues was made to be played) and includes vintage performances by Luther Allison in Paris France 1993, Muddy Waters at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago 1971 and some of Mr. Maass' recordings for Iowa Public Radio at last summer's Bluesmore Celebration in Cedar Rapids of zydeco master Chubby Carrier. Find the frequency in your neighborhood or listen anywhere on the planet at www.iowapublicradio.org
There is less than 19 hours until I become a $370 millionaire. I've gotta go figure out what I'm gonna do with all that dough. I know, CAKE! (dough, get it?) We are gonna have a PAR TAY! See ya on the Blue Highway (we'll all be drivin' a new car to the gig) Rub yer washboard to the tune of I'm In The Money. Even if the odds are against us, remember it's always good to be odd and, lucky or not, always know that we love you, Bob Dorr & The Blue Band

Bob Corritore Blues News

March 29, 2012

• Mud Morganfield CD Release Party Saturday at Legends! On March 20 Severn Records released the first national release by Mud Morganfield, the eldest son of Muddy Waters. This release is called Son Of The Seventh Son and it has already received about 20 rave reviews which you can read by clicking here. A CD release party is planned for Saturday night, March 31st at Buddy Guy's Legends with an opening set by Eddie Taylor, Jr. before Mud and band take the stage! Mud Morganfield's band that night will consist of Rick Kreher, Barrelhouse Chuck, Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith, E.G. McDaniel, Harmonica Hinds and Bob Corritore plus guest appearances by Katherine Davis and Deitra plus a few surprises! Copies of Son Of The Seventh Son will be available that night. To see the flier for this event click here. Buddy Guy's Legends is located at 700 S. Wabash, Chicago, IL 60605. Also Mud and the band will make a live televised appearance Friday morning, March 30 on Chicago's WGN and this broadcast is available throughout the USA.
• Tail Dragger & Bob Corritore / Longtime Friends In The Blues makes a strong entry! Tail Dragger & Bob Corritore collaborated on the powerful album Longtime Friends In The Blues which was just released last week on the Delta Groove label. With promotion just started 2 weeks ago this CD has been met with an initial wave of positive reaction. To see the first 15 glowing reviews of this CD click here. To see the Roots Radio Report for this week which debuts this CD at #17 click here. The CD has been listed in the the "Top 50 Breakthrough Recordings" in the Antiquarian Librarian which lists all musical genres! To see this listing click here. Tail Dragger and Bob will headline the Stompin' At The Savoy festival in Helsinki, Finland on April 14th. To see the beautiful poster for the festival click here. There will be an official CD release party on Thursday, June 7 at B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted in Chicago which BTW is the day before the Chicago Blues Festival. Features on Tail Dragger will appear in upcoming issues of Living Blues and IL Blues Magazines. Bob just did an interview on Jim and Diane on WCTG in VA,  and both Tail Dragger and Bob interviewed with Matt Kacar at Artist Connection Podcast, and Mark Wade at A1Blues.com. Thanks to all the writers, reviewers, radio show hosts, bloggers, and fans for their support!
• Louisiana Red remembered with new photo page! We remember  and celebrate the life of the recently deceased Louisiana Red with a beautiful photo page. Red was a gloriously talented down-home blues artist and his musical contributions will live through eternity. Thanks to all the folks who sent in photos of Red upon the news of his passing. Some of those are included on this page, which you can see by clicking here.
• RIP Jerry McCain - June 18, 1930 to March 28, 2012 Harmonica master Jerry McCain passed away yesterday at age 81.  He was born in Gadsden, Alabama which remained his home town throughout his life. He became a harmonica player at an early age and made his debut recordings for Trumpet in 1953. This would be followed by brilliant recordings for Excello, Rex, Okeh, Jewel, Romulus, GAS, Ichiban, Cedar, and Music Maker. McCain is worshiped by blues harmonica lovers for his great sense of phrasing, some wonderful trademark licks, and a beautiful full-bodied tone. He was also a great singer and a brilliant and often humourous songwriter, and on some of his classic recordings are considered the bedrock of early rock & roll. He will be best remembered for his now classic double single on Rex Records of "She's Tough" with it's catchy vocal break, and the flip of the evergreen harmonica instrumental "Steady." Both of these songs are often covered band-stand favorites. The Fabulous Thunderbirds re-popularized "She's Tough" with a version on their 1979 debut record which brought wider attention to McCain's original version. We thank Jerry McCain for his many great and timeless recordings and the profound infuence he had on the blues.

               For Jerry McCain's bio by Larry Benicewicz click here

To read about his passing in the Gadsden Times click here
To hear Jerry McCain's "Steady" click here
To hear "She's Tough" click here  
To hear his version of "Red Top" on the Okeh label click here
To hear "My Next Door Neighbor" click here  
To hear Jerry first record "Wine-O-Wine" on Trumpet, click here .

• Alan Lomax field recordings available online at no charge. Alan Lomax in his tireless work as a folklorist for the Library Of Congress, went around the USA with portable recording equipment to capture and historically archive American folk music, including many great recordings of the blues. His contributions to preserving and exposing musical traditions are nothing short of amazing. The Lomax recordings are becoming available online for free some 10 years after the folklorist's passing. Click here for the NPR story:
• Son House On YouTube! Please enjoy this powerful A Capella performance of Son House singing his classic "Grinnin'  In Your Face" which you can click here to see.