Album Reviews

I had the pleasure of enjoying Ms. Thomas’ music and learning her story at the Big Blues Bender blues festival last month. Although I knew and loved her father, Rufus Thomas’ music, and her sister, Carla Thomas, I was unaware of this Thomas family member and her music.

Shemekia’s eleventh album (all but one Telarc release in 2012 with Alligator Records) is dropping on August 30, 2024.

Who says you can’t learn things from reading and questioning what you thought you knew?

The email touted, “The new album from Grammy nominated artist and 4x Blues Music Award winner Sugaray Rayford”, and I was excited. However, as I listened to the nine cuts on this new release, I found it somewhat of a mixed bag.

After the stormy weather we’ve been having lately, I was inspired one morning to check my hard drive to see what kind of songs I had about tornadoes... I stumbled across a CD that I had downloaded from a band with "tornado" in their name, and I was really blown away.

From her soul-baring opening track “Beautiful Mistake” to the great horns on the closing track “The Lighthouse,” she will take you on a musical journey that’s well worth the ticket.

From her soul-baring opening track “Beautiful Mistake” to the great horns on the closing track “The Lighthouse,” she will take you on a musical journey that’s well worth the ticket.

In the hands of Bettye and producer Steve Jordan, you get a definite blues vibe here from end to end. One of the nice things about this song selection is that it is not old blues standards, and you probably won’t know a single one of the songs until you hear them here.

The songs tred the ground between blues/rock and blues, with powerful, gritty vocals, and Dom’s signature exquisite guitar work.

Winning a Beale Street Blues Society talent contest at 14, and putting out his first album at 16, We Can Get Together was his fifth and final album, as he died tragically young just months after its release.

The Susan Tedeschi Band released its debut album in 1995 (which includes a picture of Susan topless on the cover), but it was not until she released Just Won’t Burn under her own name in 1998 that she really made a splash on the blues scene.

The genre for the songs is 90% blues, with a little blues/rock mixed in, and the band is extremely tight, with Watts’ guitar work shining throughout.

Joyann Parker and 15 others perform on Roots, her 3rd album, which will be released in September 2023. This follows her 2021 album “Out of the Dark” and her first album released in 2018, titled “Hard to Love.”

In 2019, Gabe Stillman was a finalist at the 35th Annual International Blues Challenge and was the recipient of the Gibson Guitar Award.

On their third Alligator Records album, Chicago native guitarist Nick Moss and New Jersey native harpman Dennis Gruenling bring a hard hitting selection of new tunes that harken back to the Chicago, Texas, and West Coast blues sounds from the 1940’ through the 60’s.

If I had extra thumbs, I’d give this album more than two thumbs up, but my days as a carnival geek are over.

The 51 minute album contains 12 cuts of all original compositions. The vibe is pretty consistently in the blues/rock vein, except for a few slow burners...

Guess how many official record label Hendrix albums have been released since his passing over 50 years ago?

From Tulsa, Oklahoma, the self-taught guitarist got his start in the blues business touring in the backing band for Oklahoma legend, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown...

From Tulsa, Oklahoma, the self-taught guitarist got his start in the blues business touring in the backing band for Oklahoma legend, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown...

Steve Strongman was shut down by Covid. Don’t let the name fool you, he’s not with the circus, he’s a musician.

Here’s a couple of blues artists that have both recorded and performed as solo acts and in support of others. Annika may be described as soul/gospel, Paul as blues/rock.

There ain’t no sitting still when this is playing, you feel the energy from the horns.

Elvin Bishop and his trio are backing John up, as well as Kid Anderson and Alabama Mike, and they recorded at Kid’s Greaseland Studio... some of the best blues today come from Greaseland.