Blues in the Bottoms Spotlight: Southern Avenue
Southern Avenue is a twice Grammy-nominated blues and soul band that serves you high energy performances with a dazzling display of vocals and instrumentality.
In Memory of Ron Teamer
Ron was the essence of that brand of old school blues musician who isn’t loud or flashy… he knew how to showcase his skills through his vocals and instruments.
KCBS 2026 Election Notice
It’s time for the annual Notice of Election for members of the Board of Directors for the Kansas City Blues Society. This is a call for Blues lovers to step up and help to manage to this wonderful organization.
Best Self-Produced CD Award
Best Self-Produced CD submissions are due November 1, 2026, to the Blues Foundation.
Acoustic Sounds – 40th Anniversary Vinyl Summit
This will be a landmark gathering at the center of the analog universe, inviting you into an immersive, four-day experience at the helm of high-fidelity sound.
Let’s Golf for a Great Cause!
Golfers needed! Here’s your opportunity to support the Michael Shannon Musicians’ Fund created by Lindsay and the late Jo Shannon to honor their son, Michael. Michael was a fun-loving person who counted many musicians among his group of friends and loved helping his parents at BB’s Lawnside BBQ.
Registration, and catered lunch from BB’s Lawnside BBQ, start at noon; tee time is 1:00 p.m. Drinks are provided. It’s a 4-person scramble, $100/person with all proceeds (minus golf club expenses) going to the fund. Each entrant receives swag. There are multiple contests with great prizes! SIGN UP HERE!
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Hole Sponsorships are also available – it’s another easy way to contribute to this worthy cause, and show that your business supports this fund. Learn more here.
This golf tournament benefit is the only mechanism for raising the funds necessary to provide support to musicians who are experiencing financial hardship due to medical issues.
The Michael Shannon Musician’s Fund Golf Tournament is generously supported by these sponsors:
Fourth Annual Blues in the Bottoms
Featuring Southern Avenue, Kent Burnside Band, Lightning Malcolm
Blues in the Bottoms Spotlight: Lightnin Malcolm
Lightnin Malcolm is a cutting-edge Mississippi bluesman who fuses delta blues and soul music with his unique bass, rhythm, and lead guitar style. He’ll be playing the fourth annual Blues in the Bottoms!
Blues in The Bottoms
The fourth annual Blues in The Bottoms features Lightnin Malcolm, The Kent Burnside Band, and Grammy-nominated Southern Avenue!
Hey Cruise Lovers! It’s raffle ticket time!
It’s the annual fundraiser for the Kansas City Blues Society as we sell a chance to win a cabin for two on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise #46. It sails from Ft. Lauderdale on January 31-February 7, 2027, for Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Tickets are STILL only $20! Such a deal!
The cruise raffle ticket is an annual fundraiser for the KCBS. Thank you for your support!
Album Reviews
Album Review: Pearl River
Zito started singing at the age of five and by his late teens he had begun his career in the St. Louis area music scene. In 2008, Zito made his international debut on the Eclecto Groove label.
Album Review: Stray Dawg and The Wolves
Stray Dawg and The Wolves are known for their intense and compelling live performances, driving songs, and bringing the Texas heat to the stage.
Album Review: Super Session
Super Session is an album by Al Kooper, with guitarists Mike Bloomfield on the first half and Stephen Stills on the second half, released by Columbia Records in 1968.
Album Review: My Labors
My Labors is a strong major-label debut that the Chicago-born San Francisco bluesman was unable to capitalize on.
Album Review: Jim Colegrove’s Panther City Blues
In 1977, Jim and Sumter Bruton, formed the Juke Jumpers. They played blues, rhythm & blues, rockabilly and jump music, all in a traditional Texas style.
Album Review: Louisiana Spice: 25 Years of Louisiana Music on Rounder Records
For those new to the genre, this compilation introduces the listener to a good cross section of artists and styles – Country side review
Recent articles from the Blog
Check out Yesterday’s Blues
- Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the February 1995 Blues News In 1952, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton recorded a robust and raunchy number with a lot of innuendo and double entendre about a fed-up female who is telling a no-account, libidinous sporting man… Read more: Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton - Walter “Furry” Lewis
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the December 1990 Blues News Beale Street, for the first quarter of this century, was one of the roughest and toughest, most rocking and swinging, wide-open streets in the country. It was a close counterpart of Kansas City’s Eighteenth and… Read more: Walter “Furry” Lewis - Speckled Red & the Dirty Dozens
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the April 1994 Blues News “Playing at the Dozens” or “Putting in the Dozens” is a folk game in which two or more participants hurl insults and boasts at one another. These highly imaginative and metaphorical comments are… Read more: Speckled Red & the Dirty Dozens - Sleepy John Estes
By Doyle Pace, originally published in the November 1995 Blues News When the documentary filmmaker David Blumenthal rediscovered Sleepy John Estes in 1962, the former blues great was destitute and living in a tumbled down shack in the middle of a cotton field outside the… Read more: Sleepy John Estes - Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the April 1990 Blues News The Last of the Old Country Bluesmen Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins was a bluesman who carried on the old country cotton-field style of the early Texas blues. In fact, blues historian Samuel Charters has… Read more: Sam “Lightnin'” Hopkins - Professor Longhair
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the February 1994 Blues News In October of 1993, New Orleans premier music club, Tipitina’s, officially changed its name to Professor Longhair’s Tipitina to honor the legendary piano player, singer, and composer who made the club his home base… Read more: Professor Longhair - Pink Anderson
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the February 1996 KCBS Blues News In the southeastern part of the US, the decline of employment on farms in the decades following the Civil War saw a steady and increasing movement of people from the hinterlands to… Read more: Pink Anderson - Mississippi John Hurt
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the Jan. 1996 Blues News A tiny gnome of a man with the countenance of an angel took the stage at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival and freaked out the rowdy audience (of mostly young white people) with… Read more: Mississippi John Hurt - Johnny Shines
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the FMarch 1994 Blues News Johnny Shines was a highly gifted guitar player and a literate and poetic composer of blues lyrics. He was, as well, one of our greatest bluesmen. However, through unfortunate circumstances, he never attained the… Read more: Johnny Shines