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Blues Music Online Weekly Edition
T I N S L E Y E L L I S- A r o u n d M e m p h i s
- Nine CD Reviews- L i t t l e C h a r l i e B a t y
6 T INSLEY ELL IS En joy ing The R ideBy Marc L ipk in - A l l i ga to r Records
10 T INSLEY ELL IS Red C lay Sou l Man Or ig ina l l y Pub l i shed January 2017 By Gran t B r i t t
14 L ITTLE CHARLIE BATY In Memor iam By Art Tipaldi - Thomas Cullen III
16 AROUND MEMPHISPandemic E f fec ts
18 CD REVIEWS By Var ious Wr i te rs
29 B lues Mus ic S to re CDs Onsa le
B L U E S M U S I C O N L I N E - M a rc h 1 8 , 2 0 2 0 - I s s u e 6 Table Of Contents
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER TOC PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
TOC PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
Enjoying The Ride
PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER
By Marc Lipkin - Alligator Records
Ellis
Ever since he first hit the road 40 years ago, blues-rock guitar virtuoso, soulful vocalist and prolific songwriter Tinsley
Ellis has grown his worldwide audience one scorching performance at a time. Armed with blazing, every-note-matters guitar skills and scores of instantly memorable original songs, Ellis has traveled enough miles, he says, “to get to the moon and back six times.” He’s released 17 previous solo albums, and has earned his place at the top of the blues-rock world. When asked if he’d consider himself a “blue-collar” bluesman, Ellis, in his trademark wit, quips, “No. I’m part of the no-collar crowd.” His imaginative songs tell stories of common, shared experiences in uncommon ways, all fueled by his high-octane, infectious, hard-rocking guitar playing. Live, Ellis has captivated and amazed fans in all 50 United States, as well as in Canada, all across Europe, Australia and South America. Vintage Guitar says, “He delivers blistering blues-rock, soul romps, minor-key blues,
shuffles, and it all sounds great.” The Chicago Sun-Times says, “It’s hard to overstate the raw power of his music.” Ellis considers his new album, Ice Cream In Hell, the most raw-sounding, guitar-drenched album of his career. Recorded in Nashville and produced by Ellis and his longtime co-producer Kevin McKendree (John Hiatt, Delbert McClinton), Ice Cream In Hell is a cathartic blast of blues-rock power. Though inspired by all three Kings (B.B., Albert and Freddie), as well by Carlos Santana, Hound Dog Taylor and others, Ice Cream In Hell is pure, unadulterated Tinsley Ellis. The 11 Ellis originals range from the nod to Stax-era Albert King, Last One To Know, to the Peter Green-flavored Everything And Everyone to the Hound Dog Taylor-esqe romp Sit Tight Mama before ending with the hair-raising, slow-burning ballad, Your Love’s Like Heroin. Throughout the album, Ellis’ deeply emotional, lyrical guitar solos perfectly match his fervent vocals.
Tinsley
“Rugged, burning and riveting...Tinsley Ellis is a powerful and commanding presence, both on guitar and as a gruff, full-throated vocalist. He’s the hardest-working man in blues-rock...It’s impossible to not enjoy the ride.” –Blues Music Magazine
On Ice Cream In Hell, says Ellis, “there’s more guitar than ever.” His main axe during recording was his cherry red Freddie King ES-345 reissue. One of only 200 made in 2018, it instantly became Elllis’ go-to guitar. In addition, he used his 1959 Fender Stratocaster, 1967 Gibson ES-345, 1973 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, 1983 Gibson Moderne and his 1969 Martin D-35. Rolling Stone says Ellis plays “feral blues guitar...non-stop gigging has sharpened his six-string to a razor’s edge...his eloquence dazzles...he achieves pyrotechnics that rival early Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.” In addition to his legions of fans, Ellis is also revered by his fellow guitarists, with famous friends including Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Oliver Wood, Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Gov’t Mule, and members of Widespread Panic calling on him to sit in and jam. He’s recently
toured with Alligator label mates Tommy Castro and Coco Montoya. Additionally, Ellis shared stages with late blues legends including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Leon Russell, Son Seals, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins and many others. But no matter where or with whom he performs, Ellis always plays with grit, soul and unbridled passion. Born in Atlanta in 1957, Ellis was raised in southern Florida. He acquired his first guitar at age seven, soon after seeing The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. He took to it instantly, developing and sharpening his skills as he grew up. Ellis discovered the blues through the back door of British Invasion bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream and The Rolling Stones as well as Southern rockers like The Allman Brothers. One night in 1972, he and a friend were listening to Al Kooper and Michael
PHOTOGRAPHY © JIM HARTZELL
Bloomfield’s Super Session record when his friend’s older brother told them if they liked that, they should really go see B.B. King, who was in town that week. Tinsley and his friends went to the Saturday afternoon performance, sitting transfixed in the front row. When B.B. broke a string on his guitar, Lucille, he changed it without missing a beat, and handed the broken string to Ellis. After the show, B.B. came out and talked with fans, mesmerizing Tinsley with his warmth and kindness. Tinsley’s fate was now sealed; he had to become a blues guitarist. He saw Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and every other blues artist who came through town, always sitting up front, always waiting to meet the artists, take photos, and get autographs. To this day, he still has B.B.’s string. Less than three years later, Ellis, already an accomplished teenaged musician, left Florida and moved to Atlanta. He soon joined a hard-driving local blues band, the Alley Cats. In 1981, along with veteran blues singer and harpist Chicago Bob Nelson, Tinsley formed The Heartfixers, a group that would become Atlanta’s top-drawing blues band. After cutting a few Heartfixers albums for the Landslide label, Ellis was ready to head out on his own. Georgia Blue, Tinsley’s first Alligator release, hit the unprepared public by surprise in 1988. The Chicago Tribune said, “Tinsley Ellis torches with molten fretwork. Ellis takes classic, Southern blues-rock workouts and jolts them to new life with a torrid ax barrage.” His next four releases—1989’s Fanning The Flames, 1992’s Trouble Time, 1994’s Storm Warning (his song A Quitter Never Wins, a highlight from Storm Warning, was recorded by Jonny Lang, selling almost two million copies), and 1997’s Fire It Up further grew his legend as well as his audience. Features and reviews ran in Rolling Stone, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and in many other national and regional publications.
In the early 2000s, Ellis released albums on Capricorn Records and on Telarc before returning to Alligator in 2005 with Live–Highwayman, which captured the fifth-gear energy of his barn-burning live show. He followed it with two more incendiary studio releases, 2007’s Moment Of Truth and 2009’s Speak No Evil. He self-released four successful albums on his own Heartfixer label before coming back home to Alligator in 2018, releasing the fan favorite Winning Hand. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart and earned a Blues Music Award (BMA) nomination for Album Of The Year. Ellis was simultaneously nominated for a BMA for Blues Rock Artist Of The Year and for a Living Blues Readers Award for Blues Artist Of The Year. Atlanta’s Stomp & Stammer magazine went all in, saying, “Tinsley Ellis is Georgia’s finest blues picker. Ellis tells great stories through well-written lyrics and heavy doses of guitar virtuosity. He captures a level of authenticity that should inspire more than just his fellow blues players. Americana artists and garage rockers could learn a thing or two from these songs.” Over the course of his career, Ellis has featured a number of guests on his solo albums. He’s recorded with Peter Buck (R.E.M.), guitarist Derek Trucks (who, at age 14, made his recording debut with Tinsley) and keyboardist Chuck Leavell (The Rolling Stones). He in turn has made guest appearances on albums by The Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Colonel Bruce Hampton and others. Producers Eddy Offord (John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Yes) and even the legendary Tom Dowd (The Allman Brothers, Ray Charles) helped Ellis hone his studio sound. “A musician never got famous staying home,” says Ellis, who continues to perform over 150 nights a year. Now, with Ice Cream In Hell, Tinsley Ellis will again hit the highway, bringing his roof-raising, road-tested music to fans wherever they may be. “I’ve seen it all,” the Atlanta native says of his four decades on the road. “And a lot of my audience has been along for the entire time. It’s not always easy. But the payoff is the music. That’s the ice cream.” - BMM
PHOTOGRAPHY © JOSEPH A. ROSEN
TinsleyEllis
Red Clay Soul Man
Originally Publ ished July 2017By Grant Britt
Tinsley Ellis is a road dawg, a guitar gypsy wandering the world spreading the gospel of soulful, rockin’ blues.
Born in Atlanta, Ellis grew up in South Florida but came back to go to college in Atlanta and never left. Starting out in 1977 with the Alley Cats, then teaming up with harpist Chicago Bob Nelson in 1981 as The Heartfixers, Ellis soul-soaked blues and stinging Strat work has filled 19 albums with blistering blues-rock. Ellis made a living from an East Coast loop that carried him from Atlanta through North Carolina, often playing at the Rhinoceros club in Greensboro. He wasn’t there the night in ‘85 when Bruce S p r i n g s t e e n stopped after a coliseum gig on his Born in the USA tour and played “Hang On Sloopy” and “Stand by Me” with the Del Fuegos. But he did strike up a friendship and working relationship with a couple of Greensboro-based musicians, former Muddy Waters sideman Bob Margolin and saxophonist Jimmy Carpenter. “THE blues guy there is Bob Margolin,” says Ellis, who has known Margolin since the late ‘70s. “We did that Blues at the Crossroads tour (in 2013), and he was my mentor, sharing stuff he had learned from Muddy and stuff he had learned with
Son House. We did 10 shows, me and him with James Cotton and the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Jody Williams all over America. Rode in a bus, kicked back on the tour bus, had bunks and everything and Bob and I said ,‘We’d better savor this, cause it’s back in the vans we go in a coupla weeks.’” Ellis has high praise for Carpenter, (Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Eric Lindell, and
Mike Zito and the Wheel) also touring with Ellis in ‘98. “One of the greatest sax players on the circuit. I really thought when Bobby Keys died, he had a shot, or even the big man with Springsteen, ‘cause he plays that kind of sax, not a lot of scales or anything, just a lot of honkin’ tenor.” But one of the most impressive encounters Ellis ever had was with Stevie Ray Vaughan when they both were just starting out. “He came through in ‘79 the first time
and played a show at the Capri Theater in Buckhead with Bill Sheffield’s band, the XL’s, that was Double Trouble, sat in with us in ‘81 when I was in the Heartfixers,” Ellis says. “We’d never seen anything like Stevie Ray Vaughan before. We were still in a period of Southern Rock, Dickie Betts and people like that with their Les Pauls and long hair and buckskins, and here comes Stevie Ray, he’s all pimped out
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY © FRANK ZERBST
and playing a Stratocaster, that was pretty unheard of, other guys playing Les Pauls at the time, and he just blew our minds.” Vaughan did several shows and sat in, but the last time he came back and played at the Downtown Cafe, they only made $35 dollars for the night. “Slept on our floor, had no money,” Ellis recalls. “They were spozed to play there two nights, and they just said, ‘The hell with this,’ and went back to Austin.” But he did leave Ellis with a souvenir he still treasures and uses. “He got up on stage and played my Strat through my Super Reverb. I still to this day play that same guitar, that same amp, among other guitars, other amps, but I tour with that equipment, and I never changed the settings after he sat in. I could tell you the settings....” he says, with a dramatic pause for effect, “but then I’d have to kill you. People who come out and see me play, they get close enough, they can read the settings on my super reverb.” Ellis wasn’t the only guitarist influenced by Vaughan’s passage through Atlanta. “The Vaughan brothers came through Atlanta in the late ‘70s, and all the Les Paul players went out and bought Stratocasters. Pretty interesting phenomenon. And the price went through the roof on ‘em too. In the late ‘70s, that ‘59 Strat I play was $700 bucks. That was all the money I had.” Ellis’ assets have increased somewhat since then, but his Strat and a ‘60s ES-345 are still his go-to instruments on the road and in the studio. “That’s the kind of guitar that Freddie King and B.B. King made a lot of their recordings on,” he says of his vintage Gibson. “Between those two guitars, I can get pretty much all the sounds I want for a blues or a blues- rock show.” They’re not just pretty toys to hang on the wall or look at under glass. “I’m always dragging these things all over the country,” Ellis says. “I record and tour with ‘em. I don’t leave ‘em at home. They go with me and they stay with me. If I didn’t have those two guitars, seriously, I would just hang it up.
They’re irreplaceable. Like a stock car would be. So many modifications, and then you take the modification away, you restore it to stock, then you modify it again, Right now it’s pretty much restored to stock, but that’s subject to change.” Over the years, Ellis’ sound has remained pretty much the same, fiery blues backed with soulful vocals. But during his Alligator Records tenure, he wanted a change-up and label head Bruce Iglauer wasn’t agreeable. “There’s a James Taylor in me just dying to get out,” Ellis chuckles. “They wanted me to be Hound Dog Taylor, not James.” The split from Alligator resulted from an idea Ellis had in 2012 to do an instrumental album, 2013’s Get It. Alligator was skeptical, so Ellis started his own label.” He jokes that his own label was skeptical too, but he figured if the album failed he could blame it on the fact it was instrumental. But it didn’t fail, leading to three more releases, including his latest, Red Clay Soul. The title is such a perfect description of what Ellis does you wonder why he hasn’t labeled it as such before. “We don’t name albums and then make ‘em, we make ‘em and then name ‘em,” Ellis says. “We’re listening to some of the songs, and our co-producer, keyboardist Kevin McKendree, (Delbert McClinton, Brian Setzer) said, ‘Man, this stuff has a seriously Southern vibe.’ So I thought we don’t want to call it seriously Southern, but we want it to have that kind of feel. So red clay, that’s the geographic description of it, and hopefully soul is the musical description.” McKendree has been on every Ellis studio album since ‘97’s Fire It Up. “There’s never been another musician I’ve met whose playing suits me better,” Ellis says. The pianist stirs up a bit of ‘70s nostalgia on the opening cut, “All I Think About,” sounding like Leon Russell on his Mad Dogs and Englishmen period. “Finally I’m talking to a writer who recognizes that,” he laughs. “That’s exactly where it’s from, the era when
Leon Russell was producing Freddie King, Texas Cannonball (Shelter, 1972.) Leon Russell’s one of my favorite song writers, and it was about time I got busted on that one.” He says McKendree’s piano is “not quite rockabilly, kind of an amped-up Ray Charles sound, and Kevin nails it, he always knows with my recordings when I want him to do that, which is pretty much all the time.” The tune Ellis wrote with Oliver Wood some ten years ago, “Giving It Up,” sounds like a tribute to Delbert McClinton. “I definitely did a little Delbert-style harmonica playing on it, which is a nice harmonica style, sort of a Jimmy Reed,” Ellis says. “I’ve never really been an innovator, but I’m not a copycat either,” Ellis says. “Pop culture is driven by two things, driven by youth, driven by image, so I’m pretty much screwed then. I really always wanted to say that in an interview.” Ellis says that if you don’t make it in your 20s in the pop music world, then you better bring something to the table like songwriting because rock and roll is for young, long-haired skinny people. “When you start looking regular, then you
start looking like the audience’s parents, so musicianship becomes more important.” He also puts a premium on apprenticeship. “Seems like lately, people have been bursting on the scene looking like teenage underwear models in the blues world and that’s a disturbing trend, because I’m rarely entertained by virgins. I want somebody that’s gone through some shit, gotten locked up, divorced, some real life experiences. And so I’m more apt to be entertained by the Bonnie Raitts of the world, people who have been knocked around by the industry.” And once again, Stevie Ray’s influence looms large. “Lord knows we could use another Stevie Ray Vaughan. When the planets converge like they did with him, it’s a remarkable thing,” Ellis says. “He held the door open for us in ‘83, and the rest of us just walked in behind him. So we need another dude like that or woman like that. We gotta have these young people doing it, but by the same token, its gotta be an old sound and have that old sound early. We’re always looking, so many blues musicians, but so few bluesmen.” -BMM
“Incendiary...Scalding guitar and banshee solos. Ellis mixes soul and fire.” –Premier Guitar
“I love Tinsley; he’s a national treasure.” - Joe Bonamassa
PHOTOGRAPHY © ART TIPALDI
When Charlie Baty suddenly passed away two weeks ago, the music world lost one of our most inventive,
fearless, most respected, and professional guitarist on the scene. In the world of blues guitar, Little Charlie was always about expanding the music and instrument he loved. That systematic approach to study all phases of the guitar was what set Baty in a class above most. Every musician has only a small window in time to do what he can. Throughout his life, Charlie was able to expand that window a little bit. When we talked at length over a decade ago, here are some of his thoughts. “The longer I play, the more time is required just to keep up with what I’m learning. The longer I spend multi-hour days practicing, the more epiphanies of musical knowledge I can have. I’ve been working on bop, Django gypsy jazz, and bluesy swing for years, and I’m now at the point where it seems to make sense to me. “When you’re playing a guitar you can see shapes that recur. I’m seeing more shapes on the guitar. I’m able to hear things I couldn’t hear before. When I’m home, I play different songs with different people which makes me think in a different way. These are the things that have been clicking with me and helping me to play better background and solos. “If I’m going for a swing or jazz or acoustic blues sound of a Jimmy Rogers or Robert Lockwood, Jr., I prefer to use the acoustic guitar. I tend to practice that more, so I feel more comfortable playing that. When it comes to getting a biting sound like Albert Collins or the string bending of Buddy Guy, I need to have the Fender. I’ve learned the great guitar players get their sound no matter what guitar they play out of.” When we talked four years ago, Charlie told me, “I’ve realized that the reason I was put on this planet was to play music. I’ve got so many irons in the fire. I’ve been getting together with a group of people playing gypsy jazz that I call the Little Charlie Caravan, I’ve got a group I get together with and play Brazilian music, I’ve got the organ trio with Loronzo Farrell and J Hansen,
I get together with people and play traditional jazz, and I’m on the road with Mark Hummel’s Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue. For me, music is life and the more I learn about music, the more it spills over into my life.” Little Charlie’s constant inquiry into the traditional art of all music became a primary life mission. As such, he told me that he studies every piece of music with a sense of wonder and discovery. “I can go through a piece of art or genius like a Little Walter or Charlie Parker solo and there’s always something new I can get out of it each time I revisit it. My goal is to someday leave one of those kinds of pieces of art behind.” Charlie Baty certainly left us hundreds of those pieces of musical art to remember him by. - Art Tipaldi
Like many fans I am deeply saddened by Little Charlie’s death. I knew him as a fan, friend, and one of the greatest
guitarists of all time. Bucks County Blues Society had the honor of presenting Little Charlie & the Nightcats’ first Philadelphia area performance in 1988 at one of our “Blue Tuesdays” at Jasper’s in Levittown. BCBS has had a special connection with the band as they performed for BCBS eight more times including two R&B Picnics; his last performance for BCBS was the 2007 Halloween show. Last time I saw Charlie he was touring with Mark Hummel. We had meaningful conversations over those years, mostly about music, but also about life, love, loss, and the hardships of the road. My late father was a major jazz fan and was hip to Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and T-BoneWalker. I heard these important influences of Charlie’s at a very early age and my knowledge of their music impressed Charlie. Little Charlie was my favorite guitarist. I will always fondly remember Charlie’s immense virtuosity in playing blues, jazz, swing, surf, rockabilly, and R&B, but most of all his dazzling extended solos that were inventive, playful, and always tasteful. - Thomas J. Cullen lll
Around MemphisThe Blues Music Magazine retail
location in downtown Memphis Thursday March 12, 2020. All other operations are business as usual.
The BluesMusicStore.com is up and running, shipping for all orders continues daily, production of the April issue is complete and the issue is scheduled to arrive in April.
O u r team members are working from home and will continue working from home until further notice. We will update any future infoweekly onlineregarding any upcoming changes if necessary. We wish all our members good health and best wishes. We hope you will continue to support Blues Music, Blues Musicians, and Blues Music Magazine during this unprecedented emergency and we thank you for all your amazing support!
Happening Around Memphis:
As of 2:30 PM CT on Monday, March 16, 2020, these are the known attractions curbing operations:
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art - Closed until March 30.
Backbeat Tours - Limiting tours to less than 20 people (less than half normal capacity), to ensure that those who do take a tour have plenty of room to spread out (for "social distance").
City Tastings Tours - All tours suspended until further notice.
Crosstown Arts - Offices, galleries, ArtBar, Cafe and shared art making space closed until further notice.
W here The Blues Is Hip!Earnestine & Hazel's - Closed until further notice.
Memphis Zoo - The zoo remains open, but all indoor exhibits are closed.
National Civil Rights Museum - Closed until further notice.
Old Dominick Distillery - Te m p o r a r i l y suspending all distillery tours and The Bar at Old Dominick will also be t e m p o r a r i l y closed
Stax Museum of American Soul Music - Closing 3/18 until further notice.
The Art Project - Closing until further notice, and developing take home craft kits complete with instructions and supplies (with a delivery option)
that will be ready in the next few days.
Memphis International Raceway - Test-and-tunes will remain as scheduled for now, but the 34th annual Super Chevy Show has been postponed and rescheduled to Sept. 25-27Memphis Public Libraries - All
locations will close on 3/18 until further notice. All p r o g r a m s and outreach e v e n t s have been canceled and postponed.
Dixon Gallery & Gardens - Closing 3/17 until 3/30.
Children's Museum of Memphis - Closing 3/17 until further notice.
American Queen Steamboat Company - Immediately suspending operations across all ships and will resume service on April 12.
NEW CD RELEASES - CLICK ANY REVIEWED CD COVER TO ORDER TODAY
ROOMFUL OF BLUESIn A Roomful of BluesAlligator
This band is as dependable – and
predictable – as Coca Cola and Colonel Sander’s Fried Chicken. Like Coca Cola, they have become a long-standing brand name trusted for their consistency with their fan base. You know every album is going to
feature well-crafted horn arrangements on songs built on a base of swing, jump, and R&B sounds of the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. And, like Colonel Sander's Fried Chicken, they may tweak the recipe now and then, but they’ve never changed that brand name to ROB like The Colonel did to KFC. Nor do they have a single recognizable “character” whose individual image makes it easy for journalists like me to write about as a figure head the way say Mark Wenner is with The Nighthawks. Yes, Chris Vachon has been the producer and guitar player for 30 years, but for a band that’s been recording and touring for more than half a century, released 21 albums including this one, and whose alumni include such seminal guitar masters as Ronnie Earl and Duke Robillard, Vachon comes across like the new kid on the block. The longest tenured member of the group is tenor and alto sax player Rich Lataille who joined the group as a teenager in 1970. The rest of the band has been filled out by an ever-changing cadre of more than 40 musicians. All that said, there is a lot new and significant about this release. It’s their first album of new material in nine years, and nine of the cuts are originals, eight of which were written or co-written by Vachon. Predictably, the other four songs include “What Can Do” co-written by Don Robey, founder of the ‘50s R&B Duke/Peacock label and “Too Much Boogie” by the prolific Doc Pomus, best known for his Elvis Presley hits. Of the new songs, “She Quit Me” and “We’d Have A Love Sublime” stand out. The first is a surprisingly contemporary sounding soul song with great smoky sax solos. The second is a cruising groover that would fit nicely into the soundtrack of American Graffiti. Vachon’s production throughout is extraordinary. Never does this eight-piece band sound busy, and the horn arrangements are as original and as important a defining element of each song as guitars are on most blues albums.– Don Wilcock
PHANTOM BLUES BANDStill Cookin’ VizzTone
Assembled by Taj Mahal in 1993 to
record Dancin’ The Blues, this band has been in business ever since, recording and touring with him (picking up two Grammys in the process) and on its own
while making a name for itself around the world. Individually, its members – Tony Braunagel (drums), Mike Finnigan (keys, vocals), Larry Fulcher (bass, vocals), Johnny Lee Schell (guitar, vocals), Joe Sublett (sax), and Les Lovitt (trumpet) – boast an impressive list of credits, having backed everyone from Bonnie Raitt to Otis Rush to Robert Cray to the Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix. Listening to Still Cookin’, this comes as no surprise. The essence of a great band – even more than each player’s command of his instrument – is its ensemble nature. At its best, it’s like ESP: solos never seem contrived or misplaced, fills don’t step on each other, and everyone stops, starts, rises, falls, and moves as one cohesive unit. This is how the Phantom Blues Band sounds on each of this album’s 12 tracks (seven of which were co-written by its members) as it mixes the horn section and chorus fueled (“Don’t Fight It,” “Stop Runnin’,” “Just In Case”) with the piano driven (“Blues How They Linger,” “Better But Not Good,” “Bad Blood”) and the more eclectic (the mambo band styled “Tequila Con Yerba,” and the Caribbean horn sounding “Shine On”). It’s tight and polished to a mirror gleam, as one might expect from a band of this pedigree and caliber, and the ensemble quality that brings its musicianship to such a high level carries over to the vocals, which are divided three ways – between the bluesy Finnigan, the country-ish Schell, and Fulcher (who, with only one full lead, doesn’t really have the chance to establish himself) – and feature a fair amount of chorus backing. Each of these singers has a unique style, as well as a musical relationship with the band that – mixed together as these songs are – might be difficult for the listener to establish, identify with, and fully appreciate. If you’re looking for a good listening time brought to you by a razor sharp group who are having a blast doing their thing, then the Phantom Blues Band is definitely still cookin’.– Matthew MacDonald
www.ampeddistribution.com
Booking Contact:
Tina Terry Agency
Phone: 336-255-7109
www.rufrecords.de
11. July Rockland, ME North Atlantic Festival17. July Winthrop, WA Rhythm & Blues Festival18. July Winthrop, WA Rhythm & Blues Festival14. Aug Thornton, NH White Mountain Boogie N Blues15. Aug Thornton, NH White Mountain Boogie N Blues18. Oct Aberdeen, NC The Roosters Wife25. Oct – 1. Nov The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise #35
RUF 1279RUF 1277 RUF 1278
NEW CD RELEASES - CLICK ANY REVIEWED CD COVER TO ORDER TODAY
JEREMIAH JOHNSONHeavens To BetsyRuf Records
If you are looking for up-tempo tunes and blues
ballads you can relate to, sung with a powerful voice and mixed with blazing chords, driving guitar and funky horns, this is the album you’ve been waiting for. Jeremiah Johnson
is a well-known St. Louis bandleader, and with this release he gets back to his blues-based Southern rock roots. He’s like The Black Crowes meets The Allman Brothers. Check out the double leads in “Tornado,” one of 11 songs Johnson wrote or co-wrote. I really like the sax and the wah-wah on the opening track “White Lightning,” with lyrics about a struggling Southern farmer. The other trad blues ballads, “Ecstacy” and “Long Way Home,” are authentic with believable vocals and growling guitar licks. Johnson sings and plays the guitars. Frank Bauer blows the sax and sings backing vocals. Tony Anthonis is on bass, Benet Schaeffer pounds, Rick Steff plays keyboards, and former Devon Allman band member Tony Antonelli contributes percussion and sings backing vocals. Johnson on guitar dueling with Bauer on sax is the main focus in the band, and their playing around and off each other drives the music and makes this a great CD. Check them pushing each other on the bar room band beauty “Showdown,” the country-flavored “Leo Stone,” a song about his newborn son, the hard driving “Soul Crush,” “Forever And A Day,” “Castles In The Air,” the salute to the joy of driving on U.S. highways, “American Steel,” and the closing cut “Preacher’s Daughter.” “Born Under A Bad Sign” is the only cover on this release and features a cool rivalry between the funky horns and his six-stringed instrument. Johnson’s guitar playing style mixes crashing and sometimes ominous guitar chords with rural blues country picking resulting in music I fell in love with the first time I heard it. Johnson notes in the accompanying P.R. sheet, “I want this record to be something you’ll want to crank up when you’re with your friends and celebrating life. I want people to throw this record on the stereo and get a kick in the ass.” Hey, Jeremiah: ‘Mission accomplished!’– A.J. Wachtel
KING SOLOMON HICKSHarlemProvogue
King Solomon Hicks rockets out of the
chute with his debut CD filled with clean, crisp guitar bursts and a direction fueled by his energy. He doesn’t waste time letting us know he has arrived. The 24-year-old native of Harlem is
quite obviously a great talent, although one that still needs to establish his identity in the blues world. Hicks shows up with some impressive credentials. He picked up guitar at the age of six, and his mother took it upon herself to expose and educate him about African-American musical culture. He attended that Harlem School of Arts and the Harlem Center for the Performing Arts and emerged with broad exposure to jazz, blues classical, gospel, R&B, and funk. His debut album is blues, but it also has gospel and jazz influences flowing through songs. It’s modern blues, often played under the influence of Robert Cray’s antiseptic spell and filled with youthful inspiration. Here, he gives us his interesting take on Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me” and leaves no doubt that he’s reinvented this blues chestnut with his searing guitar. He also offers up an instrumental version of Gary Wright’s 1975 hit “Love Is Alive.” He converts Blood, Sweat & Tears’ soulful “I Love You More Than You Will Ever Know” into a jazz-leaning workout that Carlos Santana might have employed as well. The most fully realized of his original songs is “Have Mercy On Me,” a fast-forward gospel number and two instrumentals, “421 South Main” and “Riverside Drive.” His stated goal is not to sound traditional, but to make people feel like they are in a juke joint listening to what the blues sounds like today, with his own spin on it. Stacking Hicks up against 24-year-olds, he is a standout musician. But he no longer is a student competitor in the world of blues. He’s competing with older musicians with much wider exposure to the music and experience playing it. The true test is ahead. Will Hicks identify himself as a voice of the blues with his own spin, or will he find a contented spot rekindling the tried and true?– Michael Kinsman
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ANDREW ALLIHard Workin’ ManEllerSoul Records
Blues fans may be unfamiliar with the
name Andrew Alli. Some may recall his appearance on EllerSoul Records 2016 tribute to Big Walter Horton. Certainly there are more blues fans excited by Alli’s artistry after hearing him on the recent Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise in
an acoustic duo with Grammy-nominated Jontavious Willis. With the release of his first album, Alli undoubtedly will be garnering plenty of attention for his gripping vocals and exemplary harmonica playing. The main lessons that Alli learned from studying Big Walter Horton’s style was the importance of tone and to always remember that less is more. Those facets of his work come to light on Horton’s instrumental, “Walter’s Sun,” generating a flowing, unamplified melodic stream brimming with energy. He takes on the Little Walter legacy on “One More Chance,” his tenor voice pleading for a woman’s attention, then launching into a solo sequence that has tone to spare. He recognizes another harp great, making every note count on a cover of George “Harmonica” Smith’s song, “Good Things.” The remaining nine original tracks make it clear that Alli is also a talented songwriter. The title track finds him using fat-toned harp licks to punctuate his testimony on his desire to please. “30 Long Years” is a masterful slow blues with a mournful vocal and cutting guitar from Danny Michel and Jon Aktinson, who also plays bass throughout. The pace picks up on “Texas Woman,” a sprightly jaunt with more exemplary harp blowing, with Carl Sonny Leyland’s arresting piano runs filling out the arrangement. Alli admits to being wrong on “So Long,” giving way to a taut guitar solo before taking his harp on a brief but exciting excursion. “Going Down South” shuffles along with more captivating guitar and harp interplay while “Easy Going Man” is a swinging jump blues with Alli’s powerful blowing contrasting nicely with his smooth vocal delivery. Devin Neel and Buddy Honeycutt are the drummers of record, lacking track by track credit. Alli breaks out his chromatic for “Chrom-A-Thick,” giving the big harp a memorable workout. The instrumental “AA Boogie” is taken at a rapid pace, while “Walkin’ Down” takes a more laid-back approach, but both offer further evidence that Andrew Alli will be a force to be reckoned with on harmonica in the years ahead. It is great to see another younger blues artist showing his love and respect for the blues traditions on this disc that comes highly recommended!– Mark Thompson
RYAN PERRYHigh Risk, Low RewardRuf Records
With age comes maturity and
with maturity comes confidence. When we last saw Ryan Perry, he was the teen frontman of the Mississippi family band, Homemade Jamz. Their last CD, Mississippi Hill Country in 2013, featured a dozen originals penned
by Perry. In the ensuing years, the siblings have grown up and branched into new ventures. For Ryan Perry, it continues to be music and cars. So for these five years, life and its uncertainties have given Perry much to ponder and write. His debut CD, recorded in December 2019 on Ruf Records, includes eight originals and three covers. The CD opens with four originals. On “Ain’t Afraid To Eat Alone,” Perry shows off his furious guitar riffs, while “Homesick” follows with Southern California transplant Perry yearning for a return flight to the modest gifts of his Tupelo home to recenter his soul. After two relatively upbeat offerings, “Pride” slows the groove to a languid pace, with Roger Inniss’ bass overpowering the arrangement and Perry trading his gritty voice for unvarying gloss. Thankfully, Perry recovers nicely with “A Heart I Didn’t Break,” where his guitar is more assertive in augmenting the lyrical message. Later, “Changing Blues” offers a stripped down look at how the genre has changed. Perry’s moody conclusion is that as long as it “makes me feel fine…I got room to grow.” The title cut has Perry returning to the Hill Country rhythms he previously explored. Here, with grit and commitment, Perry’s voice is at its best. His jammy, distorted guitar and coarse voice offer a look at what Perry can become in this genre. The closing original, “Hard Times,” follows a similar Hill Country lament of today’s underclass. For covers, Perry chooses B.B. King’s “Why I Sing The Blues,” Wilson Blount’s “Oh No,” and Willie Dixon’s “Evil Is Going On.” The King tune has Perry affirming his right to the blues; on “Oh No,” Perry uses a Tinsley Ellis-styled, slow blues arrangement sounding like “A Quitter Never Wins”; and on Dixon’s tune, Perry and his trio turn the reading into a Hendrix, machine gunning frenzy. The smoking muffler, LED guitars might be gone, but Ryan Perry has come to discover, as a musician, he needs no gimmicks. His guitar and writing chops are as good as ever. With a few tentative vocal efforts, my only recommendation is to find the same vocal power in the studio that Perry possesses in live settings. – Art Tipaldi
11 GUYS QUARTETSmall Blues And GroovesVizzTone
A generation ago during the ‘80s, The 11th
Hour Blues Band was one of the top Boston blues groups performing regularly on the New England circuit. Their first album was titled Hot Time In The City Tonight and was released in 1985 on
Tone Cool Records. More recently, but more than a decade ago, they went into the studio to lay down these all instrumental, all live tracks. No screaming solos, just 14 band written songs showcasing their remarkable chemistry and tremendous talents. After considering all possibilities for the past decade or so, they picked up the eight track master from collecting dust on one of the band member’s closet floors and decided to release their old music to the world. There are traditional blues and up-tempo blues and R&B songs on this collection of inspiring and impressive tunes. Nothing new, just a tight group of friends in their heyday doing what they do best, making good music. Paul Lenart (guitar), Bill “Coach” Mather (bass), Chuck Purro (drums), and Rosy Rosenblatt front and center on harp. Rosy’s style is more James Cotton/Sonny Boy Williamson I/James Montgomery than Jerry Portnoy, with a lot of chords and notes and huffing and puffing rather than holding one note and bending it for ten measures. For slower Chicago inspired blues check out “Sleepless,” “Down And Dirty,” “Doggin’ It,” and “Midnight Streetcar.” For shuffles listen to these stellar songs, the opening melody “Road Trippin’” is pretty much a cover of Freddie King’s “Hideaway.” But it’s now a very cool harp song instead of a guitar driven one. “Amateurs Imitate, Professionals Steal” has been attributed to Pablo Picasso, one of the most original artists of all time. Picasso would have loved this version. Hear the passion in the harp interacting with the other instruments on “Jackrabbit,” “Four Maypops,” “Swing Low,” “Speakeasy Serenade,” “Hey Daddio,” and the closing cut, “Swamp Ride.” These cats still play together as a group from time to time on the local scene. The familiarity and intuition heard on this CD is the icing on the cake. You don’t have to know that they’ve been in a group together forever to appreciate the fantastic feel that comes across on every note they play. This is a great rocking blues release that I really dig and so will you.– A.J. Wachtel
WATERMELON SLIMTraveling ManNorthern Blues
Among his insights into the human psyche,
William Shakespeare proffered that “All the world’s a stage/And all the men and women merely players.” It’s clear from that statement that Bill S. never met any real bluesmen. William Homans III, aka Watermelon Slim, is living
evidence of that. While actors make an appearance in every profession – even the music business – they just don’t last long in the blues. Blues music has a way of stripping performers naked, to be judged exclusively on their ability to bare their souls through their music. Actors do not pass this blues litmus. Watermelon Slim is genuine in every musical performance he gives, but that is particularly evident in his solo performances. Traveling Man is a collection of more than 90 minutes of Slim alone stage, with only his quavering voice, stinging and sliding guitar, and bold-faced harmonica to relay his feelings. Culled from 2016 shows at The Depot in Norman, Okla., and The Blue Door in Oklahoma City, the music is deceptively disarming. Slim’s unabashed courage fills this double-CD as he reveals what’s under his weathered skin. Much of his music comes out of his life experiences of trying to find a job he could live with. As it turns out, truck driving was Slim’s longest occupation and one of his life’s true romances. He loves the road and a fistful of his songs here spring from his lonely hours driving, whether it is paying the cost for an overweight load or trying to wish away the last 300 miles of route or simply his adroit popping and breathing that replicate the airbrakes of his truck coming to a halt. There is no faking that. He even pays homage to the hard travels and lives of other bluesmen through Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “Highway 61 Blues” and “Frisco Line,” Muddy Waters’ “Two Trains Running,” Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lighting,” and the traditional “John Henry.” All are informed by the bumps and speed traps on Slim’s own roadways. Through all of his travels, he’s managed to create a musical sub-genre on his own, witnessed by his song “Truck Driving Songs Never Go Out Of Style.” Slim’s also pulled out some his favorites from past albums, notably “Jimmy Bell,” “Devil’s Cadillac,” and “Archetypal Blues.” But his stark and raw vocals on songs such as “Blues Holler” and “Last Blues” catch Slim pondering his own mortality. In the former song, he proclaims, “I believe it might be time for them to put me on the shelf/Well I’ll die just like I lived harder than old death himself.” No acting here. This is music from the depths.– Michael Kinsman
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"I can’t believe how seamlessly Bey synthesizes so many styles of music, keeping them recognizable while also maintaining a singular personal voice. It feels a bit early to be talking about best albums of 2020, but I’m ready to commit to Bey.” - Steven Ovadia, American Blues SceneWritten and produced by Jim
Koeppel for his friend and mentor, the late Cash McCall, this
posthumously-released single is a musical buried treasure.
19 year-old Charlie Bedford is no stranger to the blues community, having performed in the IBC Youth Showcase in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Mentored by some of the biggest names in Australian blues, Charlie assures us he is "Good To Go" with the release of his debut originals album, a fresh mix of 12 tunes.
"This woman has a voice that is strongand sultry, yet compellingly vulnerable ... this is one of those recordings I �nd myself going back to on a regular basis. Bixler is an accomplished guitarist, a powerful vocalist, and one hell of a songwriter. - Re�ections In Blue
“Who Sang It First” is an homage to the legendary blues musicians who have strongly in�uenced today’s music. Don't miss the new video, now available on YouTube!
NOLA BLUE RECORDS
BLUE HEART RECORDS
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VICTOR WAINWRIGHT & THE TRAINMemphis LoudRuf Records
Grammy Award nomination in hand, Victor Wainwright is ready for another journey through
his musical vision, aided by his superb band, The Train, and a host of friends from the Memphis community. The cover makes it clear that they are coming at you with locomotive force, offering an invitation to climb on board and join the party! Through 13 original songs, Wainwright showcases his deep understanding of American roots music. His partner in crime, co-producer Dave Gross, creates a dazzling sonic landscape, painstakingly built by adding layers of vocal and instrumental accompaniment, details that come to light with each listen. Wainwright gets the trip off to rousing start with “Mississippi,” belting out what he loves about life in the Magnolia State, with
Pat Harrington shining on guitar. The Train keeps the pace up on “Walk The Walk,” as Wainwright delivers an exuberant tribute to his parents. The title track serves notice that the party is commencing, Memphis based and proud of it. The propulsive force generated by Billy Dean (drums) and Terrence Grayson (bass) is magnified by the mighty blasts from Mark Early (sax) and Doug Woolverton (trumpet) while Wainwright delivers a message of musical salvation with gospel-like fervor. He extols the virtue of self-expression as the path to happiness on “Sing,” which plays out like a quirky stroll down Bourbon Street. “My Dog Riley” is a buoyant tribute to Wainwright’s best friend, with plenty of rollicking piano runs from the leader. The down-home feel on “South End Of A North Bound Mule” is a perfect backdrop for Wainwright’s amusing take on life’s twists and turns, highlighted by the fine guitar interchange between Harrington and auxiliary Train member Greg Gumpel. Wainwright’s touching portrayal of a man struggling with heartbreak, “Disappear,” is one of the disc’s highlights, as Gross surrounds him with a intricate backing that rivals the finest Brian Wilson productions. “Golden Rule” rolls along with a “Time Is Tight”-style groove, the horns swelling behind the leader’s urgent petition for love and understanding in a fractured world. That theme continues in “America,” a solemn discourse on the strife enveloping our nation, with Wainwright reflecting, “I think we might be losing our minds.” Monster Mike Welch adds to the tension with a searing guitar solo, while also making another appearance on “Recovery,” a rocking track that finishes with Early trying to blow the house down. The closing number, “Reconcile,” came from Wainwright’s contemplation on the deaths of Robin Williams and Anthony Bourdain. The arrangement steadily builds as Wainwright pours out the pain and heartache, seeking solace through his music, then Harrington bares his soul with a scorching guitar soliloquy. An unlisted bonus track, “History Of Boogie,” finds Wainwright treating listeners to a brief history on the roots of boogie piano. Track by track, Victor Wainwright and The Train will captivate you with soaring vocals, stunning arrangements, and top-notch musicianship. Get ready to punch your ticket for Memphis Loud!– Mark Thompson
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