Blues Historian Review: The 44s, Americana

The 44s from southern California has a new release called Americana.  The cd is produced and features Kid Ramos (who is no kid anymore:-)  I remember the first time I saw Kid Ramos playing with James Harmon, not sure if it was a full time gig, or if he was setting in, but the Kid was on fire.  In fact the 44s remind me of James Harmon from the bad old days. Tight band, playing a nice selection of songs, and styles, yet  sounding like themselves. Slow blues, shuffles, slide guitar, just about anything you want to hear.  All but two of the 13 songs are original.  The guitar playing is exceptional and seamless.  The harp playing by Tex Nakamra is exceptional.  Great collection of blues for any occasion. Their cd is available on both Amazon and Itunes.

Blues Historian Review: Sean Costello, We Can Get Together

Sean Costello is a young man with an old mans soul. His newest disc, We Can Get Together, is a nice combination of blues, soul, and even some old time spirituals, that to my ear comes from an artist much more mature than a guy who hasn't even hit his 30th birthday. His opening song Anytime You Want, is a classic. A Rollicking blues tune with smoky vocals that just screams like some honky tonk/ juke joint hit from the 50s to the 70s. Same Old Game follow the same path with some gritty vocals and tasty guitar work. After two great blues tunes Costello follows up with a nice soul tune called, Can't Let Go. Just like any working blues band today, Costello and company knows that you can't live on the blues alone, and Can't Let Go delivers some sweet, sweet soul music. Told Me A Lie, is a funky song with a sousaphone, and accordion! The chorus has a nice spiritual feel to it, and the sousaphone, which is very much like a tuba gives the song almost a New Orleans funeral/second line sound. Returning back to the blues is the song Hard Luck Woman, raunchy, smoking and a great guitar line, make this a great tune. How In The Devil is classic Chicago Blues, and the band even does the odd count at the turn around, just like a classic Muddy or Wolf tune. Costello returns to Soul music with a nice melodic tune called, Have You No Shame. It reminds me of some classic Clapton tunes from the mid 70s. Finally a slow blues tune Going Home follows. Going Home is a traditional spiritual song, but this is played much more like a grooving slow blues in the tradition of the old Malaco sides. All This Time is a return to classic soul, while Feel Like I Ain't Got A Home, is a blues rock tune. Costello ends his CD with Little Birds. The song starts off with slide guitar and has a delta feel to it. This is a great CD that features a tight band. Costello also has great tone on his guitar. His ability to jump from style to style is remarkable. Many player are good at one type of blues, but Costello seems to be able to incorporate many different ways of playing the blues, and yet he maintains his own unique style. If you are into classic blues, or you are a hardcore blues fan than this is the disc to buy.

Interesting Blues Theater Review In NY Times

The New York Times has a review of an off Broadway show that is devoted to the life of Bessie Smith. The review is sort of so, so, but for blues fans it sounds like a must see. If you live in the New Jersey area you might want to catch the show. Click Here for the review and venue details.

Blog Critic: Bassekou Kouyate And Ngoni Ba, Sequ Blue

Interesting review from Blogcritic, about Bassekou Kouyate And Ngoni Ba, and their new release, Sequ Blue. Bassekou is considered one of the best Ngoni (a precursor of the Banjo) players in the world. You could also compare this music as pre-blues, or perhaps prototype blues:-) Either way it is an interesting read. Check out the review HERE.

Blogcritic: Sleepy John Estes, Sleepy John Estes On The Chicago Blues Scene

Blogcritic has a review of a Delmark Reissue of Sleepy John Estes. This recording features Carey Bell, Sunnyland Slim, and Jimmy Dawkins. For more info check out the review from Blogcritic HERE.

Blues Historian Review: Robben Ford, Truth

This is the first review of a blues disc here at Blues Historian, so lets start!

Robben Ford's Truth, is an outstanding disc for your CD collection. It is a nice mix of blues rock, soul, and jazz/blues/rock/fusion. Perhaps blues purists use to shuffle, shuffle, slow blues wont find something here for them, but for the rest of us who like good music, this disc is great.

The disk really takes me back to the late 70s when bands were still experimenting with combining blues, jazz, and rock. This disk is very much like Climax Blues Band's Reel to Reel, or any of the great albums put out by Blood Sweat and Tears after the mid 70s. This disc, and those albums features complex arrangements, with incredibly tight bands that could make seamless transitions from blues to jazz to rock. Ford has a great mix of Musicians that truly know how to craft a song, and mix it up with something more than the old standby shuffle, followed by a slow blues.

I like Lateral Climb, which is probably the only real blues song on the disc. It is a contemporary blues shuffle, that rocks out with the best of them. I imagine that Lateral Climb is probably the cut for the blues radio shows. If not it should be. A song that I really like that for some reason has been panned by the critics, is Riley B King. This is a nice mellow blue eyed soul tune. I can even imagine James Taylor singing this one in his hey day. I have never understood why a good pop tune can be panned so universally, and yet be so good. I suppose that critics and their tin ears just don't get it. Most of them have never played an instrument, and have no clue what goes into making music, but they have listened to hours of music so I guess that makes them an expert. I think it is too bad, because Riley B King, is a nice song, and a heartfelt tribute to BB King. One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor is an old Paul Simon song, that also features the vocals of the amazing Susan Tedeschi. I must admit that my current upstairs neighbors have made this song almost a theme song of my current situation:-) Tedeschi vocals really add a lot to the song. Her voice just bleeds soul! Moonchild Blues ends up the set of songs. It starts out as a pretty typical blues tune, but towards the end it veers into more a jazz fusion song, which is pretty interesting. It really is a lot like the whole album a pleasant mixture of some great music.

So does this album rate in the top of the blues pantheon of blues recordings. Nope, probably not, but is this the type of CD that you want in your car or CD changer at home on high rotation. YUP!! This CD sits in my car and I listen to it as I travel all over Iowa. It is one of those albums that may never get any real recognition, or a lot of airplay, but it will probably be one of your treasured albums (if it they were still vinyl that is:-) that you will play until the groves wear out:-)

Blues Reviews From The Kansas City Star

The Kansas City Star has a handful of blues reviews HERE. The Star features review of Marcia Ball, Joe Bonamassa, Robben Ford, Gary Moore, and a cool old recording of Johnny Winter with Muddy Waters, and James Cotton.