Cover photo © 2023 Kerry Langford

 In This Issue 

Marty Gunther has our feature interview with Kate Moss. We have ten Blues reviews for you this week including Delmark Record’s 70th Anniversary album plus new music from DaShawn Hickman with Charlie Hunter, Monster Mike Welch, The Özdemirs, The Hurricane Party, William Lee Ellis, Mike Guldin And Rollin’ & Tumblin’, Will James, Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip and Granvil Poynter. Scroll down and check it out!

 From The Editor’s Desk 

Hey Blues Fans,

Tomorrow is the last day to vote in the 2023 Blues Blast Music Awards. Voting ends at midnight CST Friday August 18, 2023.

With so many great artists nominated it is important because sometimes the difference is just a handful of vote out of thousands cast.

So YOUR vote really counts! Click the image to the left or click HERE to vote now!

Wishing you health, happiness and lots of Blues music!

Bob Kieser

The spotlight shines bright on folks who pump out chart-topping albums and write hit songs, but there are some individuals in the blues world who are equally deserving of your attention despite toiling diligently a footstep or two out of view. They fly under the radar despite making contributions far beyond what most folks realize or believe. Kate Moss is a prime example.

The Chicago-based guitarist who’s anchored the Smiley Tillmon Band for a decade, Kate’s a former Blues Music Award nominee as bassist and a world-class graphic artist who’s the creative force behind dozens of album covers for Delmark and other labels, press kits, logos, websites and ads for other artists and businesses – all the while keeping things together as a full-time mom and wife of blues superhero Nick Moss, too.

In her own modest way, Kate Moss is a multi-dimensional star of the first order.

Blues Blast caught up with her recently as she was catching her breath on the weekend from a life that also includes new, full-time responsibilities as the senior designer for the Windy City’s world-famed lakefront treasure, Shedd Aquarium.

As a child, Kate always had an interest in playing six-string. “In junior high, I wanted to be Chrissie Hynde (of The Pretenders),” she says. “I used to ‘play’ the tennis racket in front of the mirror wanting to be her.

“I took lessons early on,” she says, “and I always thought about it. But never really stuck with it…practicing, going to lessons. I’d take ‘em for a while then quit and try it again later. There never was anything that kept me going.

“I’d pick up little, rudimentary stuff out of songbooks, method books and things like that. I’d go to this little music store in (south suburban) Matteson. I was just learning on my own, and nothin’ really stuck until I got into the blues, really.”

But art’s another matter entirely.

As the daughter of the late Bert Hoddinott Jr. — a revered painter and illustrator who served as the longtime art director at Foote, Cone & Belding, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world – she has one of the strongest pedigrees imaginable in that field. A Clio Award winner – the top prize in the advertising game – he was the driving force behind the “Raid Kills Bugs Dead” campaign in the 1960s that launched the company to the top of the pesticide world.

For Kate, the music bug finally took hold when she followed in her father’s footsteps and was enrolled as a freshman or sophomore at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “I was wa-a-ay into (Eric) Clapton back in the day,” she remembers. “I listened to everything that he’d ever done…The Yardbirds…Derek & the Dominoes…and really dug into blues influences.

“He used to talk about ‘em a lot in his interviews…which I give him credit for…and I picked up every story I could find about him. He kept talking about one of his greatest influences, which was Buddy Guy, and I started digging into Buddy’s stuff bit by bit.”

Taking classes on Michigan Avenue, Moss paid regular visits to Rose Records a couple of blocks to the west and other vendors in the area, picking up Guy’s albums and eventually getting into Magic Slim and Freddie King, too.

A couple of years later, however, a chance encounter with Buddy would change her life forever – and provide the opportunity for a deep dive into his world. It came during her senior year in school – shortly after Guy’s Grammy-winning comeback album, Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues, and just prior to the release of Feels Like Rain, his equally stunning follow-up.

“I went to gas up at a Shell station in Olympia Fields – where my parents lived (in the south suburbs)…I was going to a print job or something,” Moss recalls. “I pull in and I see this red Ferrari, and go: ‘Damn! Nice car!’

“The driver had gone in to pay. And when he came back, I went: ‘Oh, my god! I think that’s Buddy Guy!’ I got out to put gas in my car…he circled around to leave…and something just possessed me to scream his name…‘BUDDY!’

“He stopped and rolled down his window, and I said: ‘Hey, I’m a fan of yours!’ And something possessed me to say ‘I play guitar’ when I was literally just starting. He was so friendly and so nice…with a big smile on his face…and said: ‘Come down to my club.’”

After co-owning the Checkerboard Lounge on 43rd Street for decades, Guy had opened Legends in the South Loop only a year or two earlier,  and Kate quickly became a regular, noting: “The first band I saw was Jim Liban, the great harmonica player from Milwaukee, and Legends quickly became my second home.”

Despite some reports circulating that Guy taught her how to play, she insists, it’s nothing more than an urban lesson. “But he did give me a few tips,” she says.

“I started going to the jams there and playing a little bit — and then more and more – still playing by ear and picking up different things here and there. I got to know (Delmark artists) Dave Specter and Steve Freund a little bit, and they showed me a few things.”

The Chicago blues community has always – for the most part — been a large, supportive, sometimes dysfunctional extended family connected by relationships formed in the city’s clubs on on its stages. For a novice, jams at clubs like Legends can be so frightening that a single bad night can destroy a lifelong dream. Or it can be the place an individual plants the seed for major success.

For Kate, it proved to be a springboard. Her confidence grew as she polished her skills and she also built friendships that led to greater challenges – like the invitation at the end of the decade from Mondo Cortez to join his group, Chicago Blues Angels. Her first professional gig came as his second guitarist player.

A high-energy outfit that delivers a soulful mix of blues, rock and roots, the Angels have been a top draw in the city and traveling the world since 1999. The band’s always included rising young talent in its lineup and major guest stars – including harp giant Kim Wilson, guitarist Kid Ramos and late keyboard wizard Gene Taylor – have appeared on their albums.

During that era, Kate says, she was also “kinda like the ‘self-assigned’ photographer at Legends. I got to know the staff, hang out and got to meet everybody. I went through (the club) all the time, taking a bunch of photos, and they’d put them up on the walls and stuff. It was just a great place for me.”

That includes future hubby Nick, who was playing with Jimmy Rogers at the time. “I was shooting photos, and just happened to get him (in one of her frames),” she notes. “I got to know him after that because he knew Mondo and we ran in the same circles.

“We were friends for a long time before we actually got together. It was a good way to get to know each other.”

During their early years together, the bass player in Moss’ band, the Flip Tops, left the group and Nick – who’d started his career playing bottom for both Buddy Scott and Jimmy Dawkins – asked: “Hey, can you play bass for me?” Kate recalls. “He just literally taught me some bass, and I chilled with him, Barrelhouse Chuck and (drummer) Smokey Campbell and toured them for the next year and a half.”

As time progressed, she began designing the posters Legends has used for Guy’s annual January residency. Her typography adorns the marquee at the new location of the club, which also features a picture of Buddy captured by Paul Natkin, the legendary Windy City photographer – and she also created the Blues Blast logo at the top of this page, too.

Kate’s modest recording career began in 2001, when the Angels released Movin’ Out on Nick’s burgeoning Blue Bella label, which launched three years earlier with First Offense, his debut CD – the packaging for which was designed by Kate, who’s credited under her maiden name.

“I played around with Mondo three years or so,” she says. “And then I got pregnant with Miss Sadie Mae (the Mosses’ now college-sophomore daughter). I hung it up for a while in 2003, and she was born in ’04.”

For the better part of the decade that followed, Kate’s guitar collected dust as she concentrated on being a mom and running Moonshine Design, the one-woman graphic arts business she started after a lengthy stint at Delmark Records, a relationship that began in the early ‘90s when she joined the staff and worked alongside art director Al Brandtner, who’d been creating packaging and promotions for the company for decades.

“He took me under his wing,” Kate says affectionately. “He was old-school. He worked on LPs long before CDs became a thing, and he was very, very artistic in the way he approached design, which I love.”

It was a seamless transition when Moss assumed his duties after he retired, and she started working closely with Sue Koester — label founder Bob Koester’s wife – on the firm’s advertising. Away from the office, however, word of mouth about Kate’s talents spread, and Moonshine came into being as a steady stream of independent artists started coming to her for design services, too, and other labels, including Fuel, followed.

She currently designs for Germany’s Ruf Records, whose roster includes Kenny Neal, Eddie 9V, Ally Venable, Bernard Allison and others, and Joe Bonamassa’s two recently launched labels, KTBA (Keeping the Blues Alive) and Journeyman. And she’s cracked the Canadian market by handling packaging duties for guitarist JW-Jones, a recent International Blues Challenge winner as a member of HOROJO Trio, and Steve Marriner of MonkeyJunk – all the while, making music again, too.

Kate got the bug to play again in 2011, when she accompanied the rebranded Nick Moss Band when they played Blues From the Top in Winter Park, Colo., an annual three-day festival sponsored by the Grand County Blues Society. “Joanne Shaw Taylor was supposed to be in the lineup,” she remembers, “but got stuck in the UK for a family matter.

“At the time, Samantha Fish was just starting to make a name for herself, and John Catt (the blues society founder) gave her the opportunity to step up on the main stage. I knew a little bit more about bass at that point, and John asked if I’d play with her. That’s kinda when I started playing guitar again, too.”

In addition to running the festival, the society also operates one of the most important charities in the blues world. Founded in 2007, Blue Star Connection is a non-profit that works with music therapists and hospitals to bring live music and instruments to children suffering from cancer and other major health issues. They also sponsor fundraisers and other events around the country to promote their cause.

One of their most successful ventures was the creation in 2012 of the supergroup, The Healers. Anchored by Jimmy Hall of Wet Willie fame and former Stevie Ray Vaughan and current Bonamassa keyboard player Reese Wynans, the lineup included Fish and Kate on guitars and a rhythm section composed of two-thirds of Trampled Under Foot: Danielle Nicole on bass and brother Kris Schnebelen on percussion.

“It was a great opportunity and great project to work on,” Moss says. “We did gigs at Blues From the Top, a fundraiser in Indianapolis, a recording session at Knuckleheads in Kansas City and another there when the album came out.”

Entitled Live at Knuckleheads and featuring Moonshine Design packaging, the show was released as a CD/DVD package and was honored as a finalist for DVD of the year in the 2014 Blues Music Awards.

Still a strong Blue Star supporter, Kate says, she’s not as involved with them as she used to be. “I just don’t have the bandwidth with the new full-time gig,” she notes, “but I’m there when they need me or need something. But they’ve got a lot of great people working on it and Blues From the Top even now. They had a killer lineup this year (Blues Brothers Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia, Hall, Fish, Jimmy Carpenter, Shemekia Copeland, Larry McCray and several others).”

And her responsibilities with the Smiley Tillmon Band cut into her free time, too.

A Georgia native raised in South Florida, Tillmon’s career includes being the guitarist in Sammy Ambrose & the Afro-Beats, a calypso-based ensemble that also included members of soul great Betty Wright’s family. They toured from Miami into Canada and recorded the original version of Al Kooper’s “This Diamond Ring” for the Musicor label in 1964. A year later, Gary Lewis & the Playboys cut another version for Liberty that soared to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart on its way into inclusion in the American songbook.

A 2017 Chicago Blues Hall of Fame inductee, Smiley relocated to Chicago around the same time that tune became a hit and has remained in the Windy City ever since.

A genuine crowd-pleaser who possesses fluid skills on the six-string, a rich voice and a larger-than-life personality, Tillmon became a fixture in the city’s blues scene while backing Billy “The Kid” Emerson – a master tunesmith whose material became hits for the Beatles, Elvis Presley and dozens of others – along with future soul-blues queen Denise LaSalle and other South Siders. But he took a day job with the Chicago school district in the late ‘70s to support his wife and five kids and abandoned the stage.

Now 83, he didn’t start playing again until his 2007 retirement. That’s when he started teaming with bassist Tom Rezetko to launch the first version of the Smiley Tillmon band. The lineup’s changed occasionally, but Rezetko has remained steadfastly at his side ever since. And even though it’s been 16 years since Smiley left the school district, Moss says, he’s so beloved that former teachers and administrators regularly populate the audience whenever he plays out.

She took over six-string duties in 2013, replacing Grammy winner Billy Flynn, who’d been holding down the spot on a part-time basis. “I was in Colorado for a Blue Star event,” Kate notes, “and Billy called, wanting to know if it’d be okay to refer me to Tom because they needed a female guitar player for a women-of-the-blues night at the Beverly Arts Center.”

No fly-by-night operation, the Beverly is based on the Southwest Side and regularly books major events into its 2,100-seat theater. And this was no exception. The headliners that night included Felicia P. Fields, a former gospel singer who became one of the most beloved stage actresses in the Windy City before going on to win a Tony nomination for her role as Sofia in The Color Purple, and Shirley Johnson, the vocal powerhouse who’s recorded multiple albums for Delmark and Italy’s Appaloosa and is best known for the song “Killer Diller.”

As for Kate, her role was far more than Billy indicated at first. She wasn’t filling in for him. She found herself on the marquee as one of the featured acts, and Flynn was in his usual spot beside Tillmon, Rezetko, drummer David Sims and former Black Crowes keyboard player Brother John Kattke – all of whom were providing support for the ladies in the spotlight.

“Billy thought it would be a good fit,” Moss remembers. “So I agreed to do it. I brushed up on a few songs that he and Smiley were doing, I had a great time – and Smiley loved it!”

Flynn subsequently ceded his seat to Kate, as he continued his work as a headliner and other work, which includes membership in another Windy City institution, the Cash Box Kings. Smiley’s group didn’t drop a beat with Moss in the lineup. In fact, with her help, the band actually broke out of their South Side comfort zone and started working better-paying gigs up north at Smoke Daddy, River Roast, House of Blues, B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted and Legends.

And Moss recently made her mark as an international talent, too, once again accompanying the Moss band, this time to Basel, Switzerland, for the Groove Now! Festival, where they were anchoring all three nights of the event and during which Kate and Bia Marchese, the uber-talented vocalist wife of Nick’s Brazilian bassist, Rodrigo Mantovani, shared billing as the Chicago Blues Queens.

“Nick let me tag along,” she notes. “And the promoter, Patrick Kaiser, is a very cool guy. He likes to put together different packages…in a good way…to keep people interested. The first night, Thursday, it was Nick’s band, doing stuff from their new album. On Friday, it was the same backup band, but Bia sang and I played guitar. That was a lot of fun. And Sax Gordon was there, too. He’s the best!”

Moss is now back home in Chicago and maintaining perfect balance as she juggles full time work at Shedd with gigs with Smiley and the occasional freelance assignment, too. But there is one more ball she’d like to add to the mix: an album for Tillman, who’s never had one of his own.

“We’ve been talking about it for years,” she says. “I think it’d be a great thing for him to leave his mark. But it’ll take some work because Smiley doesn’t write much. Maybe Nick could help produce and find some good material. Maybe it’ll be a matter of getting a few people to write three or four songs and add them to some of our covers. But Smiley’s 83. We need to get our rears in gear to make it happen.”

Meanwhile, she insists, “check out the Nick Moss Band featuring Dennis Gruenling’s new CD, Get Your Back into It. It rocks!”

Find out what Kate and/or Smiley are up to next by visiting their websites: www.katemossmusic.com and www.smileytillmonband.com.

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Marty Gunther has lived a blessed life. Now based out of Mason, Ohio, his first experience with live music came at the feet of the first generation of blues legends at the Newport Folk Festivals in the 1960s. A former member of the Chicago blues community, he’s a professional journalist and blues harmonica player who co-founded the Nucklebusters, one of the hardest working bands in South Florida.

DaShawn Hickman with Charlie Hunter – Drums, Roots & Steel

Little Village Foundation

www.litllevillagefoundation.com

7 Tracks 36 minutes

In the later part of the 1990 decade, Arhoolie Records released a number of releases highlighting the sacred steel music that had become a major part of the worship service in two dominions of The Church of the Living God, with talented players using lap and pedal steel guitars instead of the organ to raise a joyful noise.

Those releases created a surge of interest in artists like the Campbell Brothers, Calvin Cooke, and Aubrey Ghent. Soon a new generation of players like Roosevelt Collier, A.J. Ghent (Aubrey’s son), and the Lee Boys took the music in new directions. At the forefront were Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Randolph’s fleet-fingered excursions on the pedal steel garnered him international acclaim, moving the music beyond its gospel roots, becoming quite popular with aficionados of the jam band scene as well as a staple on the blues festival circuit.

The initial impetus for this debut release from DaShawn Hickman came from the 2019 North Carolina Folk Festival, where Hickman met Charlie Hunter, a guitarist noted for his outstanding technical skills as well as the custom built guitars with seven and eight strings that he utilizes. They stayed in touch, and two years ago decided to do a project together. Hickman had been playing with the Allen Boys, billed as North Carolina’s only touring sacred steel band.

It was Hunter’s suggestion that they create space for Hickman’s lap steel guitar, making it a focus in the mix. With that in mind, they enlisted the aid of two well-versed percussionists, Atiba Rorie and Brevan Hampden. Hunter handles the bass guitar. Hickman’s wife, Wendy, contributes vocals and plays the tambourine.

Hickman learned to play the steel guitar at a young age, listening to his mother sing, then trying to pick out the notes she sang on his instrument. You get a taste of that approach on “Shout,” a song of praise that finds DaShawn engaging in a spirited call and response with Wendy’s dignified vocal. The opening track, “Saints,” takes the classic in a new direction with a thick bass line from Hunter, swirling percussive rhythms, and Hickman’s impressive improvisations on the melody. Another gospel standard, “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” gives Hickman the opportunity to showcase his musical approach, once again taking his time to explore the melody, avoiding the impulse to fill the space with a flurry of notes. Instead, his measured approach and sensitive interaction with the percussionists offers many delights.

“Morning Train” features a strong vocal turn from Wendy while her husband conjures up images of locomotives on the lap steel. When the drummers lay down a percussive break, Hickman finally turns the heat up, his inspired playing calling God’s children home. The couple share the vocals on the solemn “Don’t Let The Devil Ride,” another lengthy track full of the guitarist’s understated variations on the melody.

The disc finishes with Hickman’s interpretations of two more gospel standards, “Precious Lord” and “Wade In The Water.” The former is centered on a loping percussive pattern that gives Hickman a solid foundation for his subtly impassioned guitar musings while the latter has soaring steel licks that threaten to explode at any second, only to give way to a percussion coda that brings the brief track to a satisfying conclusion.

Throughout the album, Hickman stays focused on the song, the melody, and the voice, creating beautifully crafted improvisations that generate expressive new dimensions in familiar songs. It may take some time for his lap steel to sink into your consciousness. When it does, you will have no doubts as to why he is nominated for two 2023 Blues Blast Music Awards, in the New Artist Debut Album, and the Slide Guitarist Of the Year categories. It is a heady mix, this seamless melding of gospel music with rhythms that spring from African and Latin traditions, anchored by Hunter’s efforts on bass. And Hickman makes it work, reminding listeners time and again about the lessons he absorbed from his mother.

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Mark Thompson lives in Florida, where he is enjoying the sun and retirement. He is the past President of the Board of Directors for the Suncoast Blues Society and a former member of the Board of Directors for the Blues Foundation. Music has been a huge part of his life for the past fifty years – just ask his wife!

Monster Mike Welch – Nothing But Time

Gulf Coast Records

www.monstermikewelch.com

14 songs – 66 minutes

One of the foremost instrumentalists of the modern era, Monster Mike Welch is back at the absolute top of his game as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, too, bouncing back in style after enduring more blues than anyone should be allowed to endure.

Still only age 44 and a former child prodigy who received his nickname at age 13 from Dan Aykroyd, Mike picked up the instrument at age eight, took a head-first dive into the West Side Chicago sounds of Magic Sam, Otis Rush and Earl Hooker and never looked back. Already an established recording artist on the Tone-Cool label before he reached driving age, he became a national presence in 2003 with the Severn recording of Sugar Ray & the Bluetones Featuring Monster Mike Welch.

For the next 25 years, he worked and record regularly with the Bluetones along with a long laundry list of world-class talents. But he truly hit the bigtime when he joined forces with Mike Ledbetter, then a member of the Nick Moss Band, for a tribute to Rush at the 2016 Chicago Blues Festival. Their resulting partnership, Welch Ledbetter Connection produced only one CD in their brief run, Right Place Right Time, captured top honors at the 2018 Blues Music Awards for traditional album of the year along with nominations for band and guitarist of the year honors – a trophy Welch took home the next year, too.

All of their success went up in smoke in January 2019, however, when Ledbetter succumbed at home to complications of epilepsy at age 33 – an event that devastated Monster Mike. He was just starting to round himself into form when coronavirus shut down the world a year later, and a case of long-term COVID left him debilitated for 18 months, derailing him so severely that he wondered if he’d ever perform again.

Fortunately for blues lovers around the world, this disc – Welch’s first on Mike Zito’s Gulf Coast imprint – proves beyond a doubt that – as hard as it is to believe – his talents have risen above anything he’s done before. His sensitive, stinging attack on the six-string sets him apart from all his peers. And, as someone who’s usually left the singing to others, his strong voice shows he deserves to be in the spotlight for it, too.

Produced by Kid Andersen, this CD was recorded at Greaseland Studios in California with a star-studded lineup. Grammy-winner Jerry Jemmott and Bob Welsh split bass and keys duties with Andersen throughout the highly personal, emotion-packed set. They’re joined by Fabrice Bessouat on drums, Eric Spaulding, Mike Peloquin, Jack Sanford and Dr. Aaron Lington on sax, John Halblieb on trumpet and Mike Rinta on trombone. Rick Estrin sits in on harp, Vicki Randle provides additional percussion, and JQ Welch, Lisa Leuschner Andersen and Jeannette Ocampo Welch contribute backing vocals.

The West Side feel sweeps over you from the opening notes of the original, “Walking to You Baby,” which opens with a fiery guitar run before Monster Mike announces to his lady that he’s on his feet again and gotten his head out of his past. His passionate, extended mid-tune solo amplifies his passion. An uptempo take on Robert Johnson’s “If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day” carries the message forward before yielding to “I’ve Got Nothing But Time,” a deliberate, funky shuffle in which Welch pledges his love and devotion to the woman at his side.

A true-blue take on John Lennon’s “I Me Mine” follows before Monster Mike delivers a nine-song run of originals. “Offswitch Blues” yearns for a way to turn off the voices speaking to him in his head before the horn-propelled, soul-drenched “I Ain’t Saying” serves up a little advice to a lady that “you could use a man like me.” The feel continues but the mood darkens with “In Case You Care” – in which Welch announces he’s lost the woman’s number and wiped from his memory…along with her address, which he hopes is far away.

“Time to Move,” delivers advice about what to do if you’ve lost everything then yields to “Losing Every Battle,” a juke-joint style pleaser in which he promises to keep coming back until he wins the fight. The Otis Rush-style blues, “Hard to Get Along With,” states that Welch wishes he could be a better man then he is today before the uptempo rocker, “Jump for Joy,” suggests leaping to see if it’s in your reach. Two more originals — “Ten Years Ago” and “Afraid of My Own Tears” – precede Johnson’s “Kind Hearted Woman Blues” to close.

I’ve putting Nothing But Time on my short list for a nomination next time awards season comes around. Give this one a listen and you will, too!

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Marty Gunther has lived a blessed life. Now based out of Mason, Ohio, his first experience with live music came at the feet of the first generation of blues legends at the Newport Folk Festivals in the 1960s. A former member of the Chicago blues community, he’s a professional journalist and blues harmonica player who co-founded the Nucklebusters, one of the hardest working bands in South Florida.

Delmark – 70th Anniversary Blues Album

Delmark Records

https://delmark.com

10 tracks

Seventy years ago Bob Koester formed Delmark Records. No blues label has produced music longer. Here we get ten classic tracks that every blues fan needs to burn into their forever memories. Who’d have thought seven decades ago back in 1953 what great music would have been given to us by Bob and his label of blues and jazz music?

Junior Wells’ classic “Snatch It Back and Hold It” with Buddy Guy on guitar opens the retrospective. This seminal work is something every old school blues fan knows and loves. Wells sings with his characteristic swagger and blows dirty harp while Guy lays out some great licks.

“All Your Love” by Magic Sam is a howling and cool rendition of this wonderful classic. Otis Rush made it his, but Sam is the man who Bob Koester produced it on Sam’s Westside Soul album. It’s another legendary tune done by the king of Chicago’s west side blues. Mighty Joe Young joins him on guitar.

And what follows that but Rush doing the same cut. Adding Abb Lock’s tenor horn, Barstool Bob Levis’ great rhythm guitar and a great overall arrangement, we get to hear and contrast the two superb versions. Otis’ guitar rings and he sings with authority.

Jimmy Dawkins follows that with “All For Business,” featuring his unique guitar tone and fretwork. It’s a beautiful piece of music with a great intro before Dawkins lays into the vocals. He shouts and growls as only he can. Dawkins and Otis Rush are both on guitar here.

“Blues For A Day” is a jazzier cut performed by Dinah Washington and a fine backing band led by Lucky Thompson. Her stellar performance almost gives me chills while the horn, piano and vibraphone give superb support.

T-Bone Walker follows with “I Want A Little Girl;” stellar vocals and his signature guitar are amazing. Nice support by the band make it even more special.

“Long Tall Daddy” by Big Time Sarah is next up. Her huge voice gives the listener their money’s worth- she has a powerhouse delivery that few can match, if anyone can.

Little Walter is up next with “I Just Keep Loving Her.” Walter sings and blows with authority in this somewhat stripped down but very cool cut. Muddy Waters’ lead guitar is there for all to enjoy, too.

“Memphis Slim U.S.A.” follows as Slim gives a big performance with his great vocals and excellent piano work and then Matt “Guitar” Murphy giving it his all adds much to the track.

Jimmy Johnson colludes the album with his superb tenor voice and inimitable guitar style. Rico MacFarland joins him on guitar for this fine song.

Every five years we get to hear some classic, old Delmark rereleased to celebrate another special anniversary. For number seventy, we get to hear some truly seminal stuff. I loved reliving these cuts. All blues fans will!

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Steve Jones is president of the Crossroads Blues Society and is a long standing blues lover. He is a retired Navy commander who served his entire career in nuclear submarines. In addition to working in his civilian career since 1996, he writes for and publishes the bi-monthly newsletter for Crossroads, chairs their music festival and works with their Blues In The Schools program. He resides in Byron, IL.

The Özdemirs – Introducing the Özdemirs

Continental Europe Records CD 96

https://lowtonemusic.com/artists/the-oezdemirs/

10 songs – 34 minutes

The world of blues comes in all shades these days, but traditionalists are really going to love this disc from The Özdemirs, a family band based out of Münster, Germany. While many of their peers prefer setting their amps on 11 and producing high-energy blues-rock, these guys do it old-school, delivering deep-in-the-pocket grooves that will be getting you out of your chair and heading straight to the dance floor.

Featuring a core ensemble that includes Erkan Özdemir, a fixture on the European blues scene since the mid-‘90s as the longtime bassist for Texas transplant Memo Gonzalez & the Bluescasters, and his sons – guitarist/vocalist Kenan and drummer Levant, trio have become one of the most in-demand backing units for visiting U.S. talent – including Johnny Rawls, Sugaray Rayford, Tad Robinson, Mike Morgan, Trudy Lynn, Kirk Fletcher and Angela Brown — since establishing themselves as major players while touring the continent themselves.

Erkan’s sons grew up listening to a mix of ‘50s and ‘60s blues along with James Brown, Al Green, The Meters and Bootsy Collins, too, and all of those influences come to the fore in the roux they deliver here. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Carlo Miori at Good Sound Studio in Rivalta di Torino, Italy, and including horns captured by Igor Prado at his studio in São Paulo, Brazil.

The lineup’s augmented by Simon Oslender on Wurlitzer and Hammond organs and Christian Dozzler on piano with Bostonian “Sax” Gordon Beadle and Brazilians Bira Junior and Bruno Belasco on horns. Illaria Audino provides backing vocals on two tracks. Texas blues legend Trudy serves as a special guest vocalist on one cut, and Duke Robillard penned the liner notes, too.

An interesting mix of nine well-reinvented covers and a single original, the action kicks off with two numbers that first saw the light of day in 1971. The action kicks off with a rousing take of guitar great Lowell Fulson’s “Teach Me.” Kenan’s bass runs add funky flair. Kenan’s six-string attack would have made the originator smile, and his vocals throughout are both powerful and delivered in perfectly unaccented English. The Özdemirs then mine a treasure with “Tired of My Tears.” Penned by R&B artist Jimmy Lewis, it’s had little play since serving as the obscure B-side for Ray Charles’ ABC single, “What Am I Living For.”

A slashing blues-rock original, Kenan’s “That’s How It Is” is delivered from the confused standpoint of a man whose lady has asked him to leave is begging him to stay as he prepares to go. The mood brights and the timbre quiets for a silky smooth take of Al Green’s “Simply Beautiful” before the band takes on “Tell Me What’s on Your Mind,” the first of two covers penned by The Meters’ co-founder, guitarist Leo Nocentelli. Delivered with horns, it contains plenty of Big Easy flair.

Up next, the Özdemirs get in the way-back machine for a take on Shorty Long’s “Burnt Toast & Black Coffee,” a stinging, but soulful rocker that first appeared on RCA Victor in the mid-‘50s. “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down,” a monster 1972 hit for Ann Peebles on Hi, works well when delivered from the male perspective before shifting to “Midnight Blues,” a horn-powered rocker recorded in 1962 by Charlie Rich. The jewel of the set, “Heap See,” is up next. An early hit for Windy City guitar legend Jimmy Johnson, it’s delivered with class by Trudy Lynn before another Meters standard, the instrumental “Tell Me What’s on Your Mind,” brings the action to a solid close.

Possibly hard to find but definitely a treat, there’s a lot to like about this one!

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Marty Gunther has lived a blessed life. Now based out of Mason, Ohio, his first experience with live music came at the feet of the first generation of blues legends at the Newport Folk Festivals in the 1960s. A former member of the Chicago blues community, he’s a professional journalist and blues harmonica player who co-founded the Nucklebusters, one of the hardest working bands in South Florida.

The Hurricane Party – CAT 2

Tall and Mean Records

http://www.facebook.com/TheHurricaneParty

12 tracks – 46 minutes

A hurricane party is an event that is common to people who live along the coastal United States. The party is held when a group of individuals decide to ride out an impending hurricane rather than evacuate. The group expects power outages, which will cause food to spoil if left in the refrigerator. Instead, everyone gets together and prepares the food in advance and brings other supplies that could be needed for an extensive stay. Alcohol is noted to be a common theme in these parties, but participants are to pace themselves, both because it is recognized the storm could require a lengthy stay and to assure that everyone is cognizant and ready to react to emergency information.

It is in that framework, that The Hurricane Party works. The band from Richmond, Virginia finds themselves caught in many windy situations from hurricanes that make their way up the east coast from Florida to Maine. As might be expected from the description offered for the actual party atmosphere of these events, a band so named is going to bring high energy to any event.

The group’s lead vocals are shared by Jenny “Buttafly” Vazquez and Rocky Pleasants. Rocky shares songwriting responsibilities with Rob Marlowe from Gainesville, Florida. Rocky selected the musicians that he felt fit his vision of a party band. Matt Walton on guitar, Noah Boyle on bass, and Kelly Strawbridge on drums, keyboards and percussion rounded out the sound that Rocky envisioned.

The self-titled “Hurricane Party” opens the album with a taste of the funk and explains the purpose of the party atmosphere occurring in the middle of a natural disaster. “I’m Alive in the Night” talks about bar hopping and parties that spills into the streets all with a quiet, salsa rhythm.  “Hey, That’s My Jam” lets Buttafly jump out in a duet with Rocky while a funky piano blends in with a group of guesting horn players.

The first cover occurs with Cracker’s “Nothing To Believe in”, an all-out 80’s style rocker. The second cover, “Small Waist”, is a blues classic from The Nighthawks”. Mark Wenner guests on the song wailing on his harp. Matt Walton plays a 1939 Martin D18 acoustic guitar on a torch song, “The Flame of Love” which gives Buttafly the spotlight.

On “Monster Movie”, Rocky is rattled by perceived noises while watching a late-night scary film by himself. Rocky takes on a strained voice as he expresses terror as “The monster is coming behind you” and Rob Marlowe guests on a ripping guitar. The third cover, “Truth’ll Set You Free” comes from hard rock group Mother’s Finest and is given a funky approach with Buttafly again taking the lead vocals and Matt burning up the frets. Each of the four verses on “The Barry White Song”, a tribute to the soul singer, is alternately sung by Rocky, Matt, Buttafly and Kelli in that order. Guest Ben “Wolfe” White offers some funky keyboard on the song.

Sly and the Family Stone’s “Underdog”, found on that group’s first album, keeps the funk up as Kelli steps into the lead vocals. Buttafly moves back into the lead on another torch song, “You Gave Up on Us”. The song is noted as having been recorded on a particularly hot day with the air conditioning turned off which provided some extra intensity from the then 9-month pregnant singer. The horns return for the closing number, “The Fireplace” and features a mix of guitar and keyboards with Kelli driving a strong beat.

If funk is your thing and you need something to heat up a party, invite The Hurricane Party to your event.

Writer John Sacksteder is a retired civil engineer in Louisville, Kentucky who has a lifelong love of music, particularly the blues. He is currently the Editor of the Kentuckiana Blues Society’s monthly newsletter.

William Lee Ellis – Ghost Hymns

Yellow Dog Records

https://williamleeellis.bandcamp.com/

12 songs time – 37:44

Now for something completely different…A master Americana-Roots musician with an exotic bent and a creative mind. William Lee Ellis surely isn’t your parents’ acoustic artist. He has a way of adding unusual twists and instrumentation to his mainly original music. His father Tony Ellis was a member of Bill Monroe’s early 60s Blue Grass Boys. The instrumentation ranges from acoustic guitar, banjo, exotic stringed instruments, fiddle, harmonica, spare and sometimes exotic percussion to a string section on one song. He achieves diverse variety in acoustic settings. He is a master finger-style guitarist as well as possessing an endearing and hearty voice.

The opening number “Cony Catch The Sun” is his one of three solo pieces, this one finds him on the fretless banjo. “Flood Tale” begins life as a “picking’ and a grinning'” foot stomper to trail off into a more somber religious ending. It includes the use of a dolceola , variously referred to as a Zither or a miniature piano. Two lovely and lilting intertwining guitars give you the sensation of lazily floating down the river in “Pearl River Blues”.

They bring out various clanging percussion instruments for the happy-go-lucky “All For You”. Violins, viola and cello lend a cinematic quality to lush instrumental “Earth And Winding Sheet”. Julie Coffey adds a secondary vocal to “Call On Me (An Edidolon Air)”. Pete Sutherland provides down home fiddle. A yueqin, an Oriental stringed instrument is played alongside acoustic guitar on the mellow instrumental “Lost Heaven”. More fiddle, banjo and washboard in praise of Jesus on “Mumblin’ Word”.

The third in the quartet of instrumentals, “Goat Island”, employs Koblavi Dogah on conga and axatse, an African rattle shaker. More exotic instrumentation, Ebows and aslatua (type of African shaker) on “River Of Need”. The last instrumental “Belarus” finds William on acoustic along with Tom Clearly on piano for a lovely mellow tune. KeruBo duets on vocal on the contemplation on death, “Bury Me In The Sky”, that wraps up with an instrumental excerpt from “I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore”.

Such a well thought out and put together acoustic program is a respite from the usual electric sounds that permeate today’s music. It uplifts ones’ soul with its’ beautiful simplicity. This being is first release in over a decade, let us hope he doesn’t wait too long for more soothing music such as this.

Reviewer Greg “Bluesdog” Szalony hails from the New Jersey Delta.

Mike Guldin And Rollin’ & Tumblin’ – The Franklin Sessions

Blue Heart Records – 2023

www.mikeguldin.com

This album is a follow-up to Mike’s 2022 release Tumblin’ which was this reviewer’s first exposure to the Pennsylvania guitar player and his music. This time around Mike travelled to Kevin McKendree’s Rock House studio in Franklin, Tennessee, the first session in 2021 featuring Mike with a band assembled by Kevin for the session, a second session in 2022 involved Mike’s regular band, Rollin’ & Tumblin’. That first session was Kevin on keys, James Pennebaker on guitar, David Santos on bass and Yates McKendree on drums; the later session was Bill Sharrow on bass, Tim Hooper and Kevin on keys, Billy Wear on drums and Yates on guitar and lap steel. Guests include Mikey Junior on harp on one track, Su Teears duet vocals on one, The McCrary Sisters backing vocals on one and the Philadelphia Funk Authority Horns on two (Dale Gerheart on trombone, Kyle Hummel on baritone sax, Neil Wetzel on tenor sax and Andrew Kowal on trumpet). Mike’s gruff vocal style and solid guitar work is featured throughout, plus he wrote eight of the songs, five in collaboration with Bill Sharrow.

Three tracks come from the first session, all originals. “The Franklin Shuffle” celebrates the influence of Kevin’s studio which provided a relaxed place to record. Mike is “heading down to Franklin, looking for a groove”, aided by Kevin’s terrific piano and the catchy shuffle rhythm laid down by the rhythm section, a great start to the album. Later in the set we get “Prisoner Of Love” which has a soulful feel, courtesy of the horns, Kevin’s piano/organ and Yates’s overdubbed guitar, and “Sad And Lonely”, a Southern-tinged tune with more of Kevin’s piano and James Pennebaker’s guitar.

Five more original tunes come from the later session with Mike’s own band. “Gettin’ Over You Is Workin’ Over Me” is a driving shuffle in which Mike is finding it tough to get over a relationship; more great piano on this one, this time from Tim Hooper, and a fine guitar solo by Mike. “Two Hearts” is another soulful tune with the horns on board as Mike shares the vocals with Su Teears, a winning tune with infectious rhythms that get your toes tapping. The McCrary Sisters add their gospel harmonies to “The Right Thing” as Yates lays down a lovely lap steel solo behind what is undoubtedly Mike’s best vocal of the album, the whole enhanced by fine piano and organ work from Tim and Kevin – a definite highlight, and who could disagree that “there is no wrong time to do the right thing”? Drummer Billy lays down a New Orleans rhythm on “Sometimes You Gotta Roll The Dice”, a song that would not be out of place on an album by Delbert McClinton. We get back to the blues with “Smokin’ Woman” that bears some similarity to Otis Rush’s “She’s a Good ‘Un” and the blues quotient is also significantly raised by three covers of blues classics. Muddy’s “Blow Wind Blow” has Mike and Yates on guitar and Kevin providing the groove on organ as the Rollin’ & Tumblin’ rhythm section lays down a solid rhythmic base; Mikey Jr wails on harp on an uptempo version of Sleepy John Estes’ “Divin’ Duck Blues” and Mike does a great job with the signature riff of Howling Wolf’s “Killin’ Floor”, both piano and organ also featuring strongly.

Another good album from Mike and his collaborators, plenty of variety and solid musicianship – check it out!

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer John Mitchell is a blues enthusiast based in the UK who enjoys a wide variety of blues and roots music, especially anything in the ‘soul/blues’ category. Favorites include contemporary artists such as Curtis Salgado, Tad Robinson, Albert Castiglia and Doug Deming and classic artists including Bobby Bland, Howling Wolf and the three ‘Kings’. He gets over to the States as often as he can to see live blues.

Will James – Sundancer

Self-release

www.willjamesmusic.com

10 songs – 44 minutes

Will James is a guitarist, singer and songwriter hailing from the south of England and Sundancer is his debut solo album.

Recorded at Steakhouse Studios in Los Angeles and produced by John Wooler, Sundancer is an intriguing collection of 10 self-composed blues-rock songs with a heavy late 60s/early 70s influence. There are very few songs on the album that fall easily with the broad genre of blues, but the blues is clearly at the heart of everything James does, combined with varying degrees of jazz, soul, funk, R’n’B and rock. The tracks stretch out (but never overstay their welcome) and there is a sense of relaxed music making about the entire project – a facet that is often missing from modern recordings.  No doubt they are a treat to hear (and play) live.

The closing track on the album, “Sundance”, hints at a slightly different potential future direction for James, being based around a heavy, repetitive single note riff, distorted guitars, feedback and a half-spoken vocal, all of which recall a certain Jimi Hendrix.

James is fine, soulful singer, sounding alternatively (and appropriately) weary then furious on the funky “Grindstone”, then despairing on “Prisoner”

His guitar playing is subtle and clever, often weaving between and adding emphasis to the vocal line, as on “6up”, which features a nice double-time ending.  “Pack It Up” has an irresistible funk groove and neat guitar riff and a reverb-laden solo that sounds like a jazz master playing blues over a funk song.

“Q Blues” highlights James’ electric slide guitar playing, while the galloping “Where’s My Baby?” features a scorching sax solo from McConkey.

James is backed by a crack band, comprising Jon Gilutin on organ and keyboards, the always-top-notch Randy Jacobs on rhythm guitar, Nathan Brown (Coco Montoya Band) on bass and Sergio Gonzalez on drums. Dan McConkey on sax and Tim Quicke on trumpet make guest appearances.  Together they provide superb support to James’ musical vision. Gilutin’s organ washes in “Home” give the song a distinctly early 70s feel, matched by James’ laconic vocal and airy guitar playing.

At times, there is a sense that the musicians are making the songs up on the spot,  particularly on the dreamy, Van Morrison-esque “Still Blue” or the opening rocker, “Shadowman”, but this is not intended as a criticism, more an acknowledgement of Sundancer’s influences.

With pristine engineering and mixing by Sam Madill, Sundancer is an aural delight. This is an album with a lot going on under the surface and is all the more enjoyable as a result.

Reviewer Rhys “Lightnin'” Williams plays guitar in a blues band based in Cambridge, England. He also has a day gig as a lawyer.

Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip – Colors of Jealousy

Hokahey! Records

http://www.mickebjorklof.com

11 Tracks – 44 Minutes

At age twelve, Micke started playing drums. As time passed, he added guitar and harmonica to his instruments and started stepping forward for vocals. In 1991, the Finnish born musician formed the band Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip. Bass player Seppo Nuolikoski and guitarist Lefty Leppanen on guitar, slide guitar, mandolin and backing vocals joined in with him. As is common with a band, a few line-up changes occurred in the initial band, but the current group including Teemu Vuorela on drums and Timi Roiko-Jokela on percussion and malletkat (a midi percussion controller) have remained in place since 1998.

The group has traveled exclusively throughout Europe with side trips to the U.S. and Japan. Micke states in his background material “It’s all the blues for me!  We are five guys with very different backgrounds. I think that’s our strength also to our distinct sound. We try to do our best to follow the path of Muddy and Howlin’, they did not sound like anything that had been in blues before. You have to keep that kind of fire and spirit going.”

Micke and Lefty also formed a side band, Micke & Lefty featuring Chef. This band was formed to allow the twosome to play acoustic delta and country blues rather than the blues-rock that the main band was currently playing. Micke was also scheduled to join the 2021 RUF Records Blues Caravan with Ghalia Volt and Eliana Carnelutti, but that tour like so many others was canceled as a result of Covid.

This album is their eighth release and features eleven original songs. the album partially recorded in 2017 was intended to be released in 2021, but as with the RUF tour, the final production of the album was also stopped by the pandemic. As the pandemic ebbed and surged, so did the production of the album and finally six years later, the album was finally completed.

“Highway Highway” kicks off the album with some tasteful Texas styled blues with the call of the highway studied. “Feel It in My Bones” features Micke’s harmonica as he states that “I don’t need no blue pill, just my wife” but notes that “I am at a crossroads”. Lefty’s slide guitar also jumps into the mix. The title song addresses a lost love as he begs “Let me hold your hand. Don’t you understand.  The man you call your friend if I see him around it’s gonna be his end.”

On “Missing That Woman”, he identifies that his traveling just makes him miss his wife and notes “Stuck in this town. Nothing I can do. Maybe I sit down and write a song about you.” “Are you Real” slows things down as Lefty makes his guitar cry and Micke relates a dark story about his own insecurities and religious uncertainty and asks “Oh Lord, should I believe in you. Are you real, should I believe in you?” “Long Ago” moves into Memphis soul as Micke notes “There was a time I wanted to be your man. I almost lost my mind tryin’ to understand” “But that train left the station long ago.” That theme moves forward in “I thought You Were Mine” as Micke says “The day I met you was too good to be true. Now that I know better there’s nothing I can do.” “I’m standing at the station feelin’ chill down to the bone”.

The mandolin takes on a bit of a sitar feel on “Good Times Somehow” as Micke states “Good Times might take fat lies coz good times gotta come somehow.” Lefty’s slide guitar again holds court as Micke tells a former lover to “Get Out” of my life”. ” At the end of an affair, Micke declares that everything must go “Into the Fire”, a rocking guitar driven number.  The album concludes with “It Takes Two” starting with a slow moan, a snare drum and a Hammond organ roll by Harri Taitonen that slowly builds into a bursting guitar solo as Micke advises “It takes two in love to make it work.”

While it easy to focus on the instrumental work and the stories told in the lyrics, it must be noted that Micke has a strong, compelling voice that draws you into the songs and certainly makes the album stand out in the mix of other similar recordings.

Writer John Sacksteder is a retired civil engineer in Louisville, Kentucky who has a lifelong love of music, particularly the blues. He is currently the Editor of the Kentuckiana Blues Society’s monthly newsletter.

Granvil Poynter – Cigarettes and Gin

Self-Released

http://www.granvilpoynter.com

14 tracks – 53 minutes

Arkansas native Granvil Poynter got his start playing in the roadhouses in his native state. But then he relocated to San Antonio where he was won that city’s Best Blues Artist. His sound was originally based in the blues rock of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton, but he extended his interest in the blues with an appreciation of John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Albert King and others of the old masters. Billy Gibbons recognized his talent and has included him on both his solo shows and on ZZ Top bills.

Granvil’s band includes him on guitar and vocals with Raul G. Garcia on drums, and Davis Meissner on drums on eleven tracks. Tracks 1,3 &4 has George Rains on drums and Jack Barber on bass. Armen J. Chakmakian also adds B3 and Wurlitzer organ to tracks 2,4, & 12.

The album comes out rockin’ with “Hot Rod Baby”, which he says is “the fastest thing in town”. An easy-flowing guitar follows in a slow blues that says it is “just another night of “Cigarettes and Gin”” as “my baby tells me to just come on home and quit messing around with that guitar”.

He then moves to a slow rockin’ cover of Rory Gallagher’s “Texas Girl”. “The Hurt” is another slow groove blues with the organ providing an undercurrent as Granvil sings “When the hurt is over, there will be no more pain”.  New Orleans’ “Rockin’ Sidney” Simien’s “Tell Me” is the next cover and again is given some tasteful guitar fills. That is followed with another cover, Little Walter Jacob’s well-known “Blues with a Feeling”.

“Cadillac Love” gets everything rocking again as he says he is “living in luxury and the glamorous life for me” and will be “cruisin’ all night with my baby and me” with a slight 60’s style surf sound. The traditional “This Little Light” follows. On “Real Tuff”, he says “Baby, you’re not so big, but you’re real tuff. ” While not similar in approach, I cannot shy away from thinking of The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ “Tuff Enough”.

He calls for someone to bring me a bottle of “Whiskey”. “I found out yesterday that my baby ain’t my baby no more”. On “T-bird A Go Go” he brings in an array of guitarists for a series of guitar flash. Jimmy Spacek, Sam Massy, Dennis Fallon, and Van Wilks join Granvil for an instrumental interlude. On “Tacoland”, Granvil sings “it is three o’clock in the morning” and “You know you are going to get yours, one day the axe is going to fall, and I hope I am around”.

A cover of Peter Green’s “Looking For Somebody” which notes that “I Have a feeling that blues is going to be my only way.” “You are looking for somebody and I am looking for someone too”. He ends the album with his obvious vehicular obsession with “Fast Car” in another rockin’ boogie.

Granvil’s guitar is never flashy, but instead in his terms, he is known as the “master of the less is more approach to blues”. An apt description of his easy picking guitar style that makes the album comfortable ear candy. His vocals are also smooth with a slight wear to them.

Writer John Sacksteder is a retired civil engineer in Louisville, Kentucky who has a lifelong love of music, particularly the blues. He is currently the Editor of the Kentuckiana Blues Society’s monthly newsletter.