Cover photo © 2024 Nate Kieser

 In This Issue 

Jack Austin has our feature interview with Catfish Keith. We have six Blues reviews for you this week including including a compilation/sampler of music by 9 Nola Blue Records artists plus new music from Twice As Good, Mary Lane And Her West Side Blues Band, Gopher Broke, The Pszenny Project and Derrick Dove and the Peacekeepers. Scroll down and check it out!

 Blues Wanderings 

We made it out to Anaheim Convention Center in Califirnia in January for the NAMM Show (National Association of Music Merchants). This annual music industry event put on by the Lippin Group is the largest gathering of music equipment makers on the planet. We got to see all the latest new music instruments and and sound equipment from major music companies.

The event is also attended by some of the top musicians and we got to see some great blues artists performing too including our featured artist this week Catfish Keith at the Santa Cruz Guitar booth plus others including blues master Kirk Fletcher and blues guitar rocker Josh Smith at the Martin Guitar booth. Plus we caught the amazing young harp prodigy Taro Senga and harmonica master Tex Nakamura at the Lee Oscar Harmonica booth.

We also caught some amazing performances by Italian jazz and rock guitarist from Palermo, Sicily, Matteo Mancuso.

Put this convention on you schedule next January. The 2025 NAMM Show is set for January 23-25, 2025, in Anaheim. https://lippingroup.com/

Breakin’ News: Ten Years of Blues – Nola Blue Records 2014-2024

Nola Blues Records

www.nola-blue.com

10 songs – 41 minutes

Nola Blue Records has been one of the most active labels in the industry since its founding in 2014. It celebrates its 10th anniversary in style with this skintight compilation, a sampling from nine artists from their extensive roster, a group that’s been filling the charts with award-winning sounds ever since.

The label was initiated in Pennsylvania by businesswoman/music aficionado Sallie Bengston shortly she launched her own management company and started working with Benny Turner, who was transitioning from a lifelong position as sideman – which began in the ‘50s alongside his brother, Freddie King – into a star in his own right.

Nola Blue’s debut release was Turner’s Journey CD, and three others now populate its catalog, which includes releases from rising and regional stars and established artists alike. But the spotlights shines bright on its biggest talents here. Benny contributes three of the ten tracks, one of which is a duet with Chicago great Cash McCall. And both John Németh and John’s big band, The Love Light Orchestra, Texas soul-blues giant Trudy Lynn, Keystone Staters Frank Bey and Clarence Spady, Louisiana treasure Lil’ Jimmy Reed and youthful keyboard sensation Ben Levin make welcome appearances, too.

Turner’s rock-steady “Breakin’ News” – culled from his debut Nola release – is an appropriate choice to kick off the album, announcing that he’s “finally got a life” and over the heartbreak left behind by the absence of a lady that he’d loved and lost. Billy Branch’s harmonica kicks off “It Hurts Me Too,” a number Benny tracked with McCall for their album Going Back Home in 2018. Cash powers on the mic through the Elmore James classic.

Bey – known as the Southern Gentleman of the Blues — was also at the top of his game when he recorded “All My Dues Are Paid,” a song he penned with Kid Anderson, Rick Estrin and Kathy Murray. He received BMA nominations for both the tune and its namesake album in 2021, after succumbing to a long battle with kidney disease the year before. Then McCall takes the stage again for “One Who’s Got a Lot,” a slow-and-steady number that praises a woman who always gives him everything she’s got. It was probably one of the final cuts in his life, too.

No stranger to BMA honors, too, Spady picks up the pace for the driving “If Only We Could,” a number that yearns for the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes to be able to know what they know. A seven-time nominee for the Koko Taylor Award, Lynn’s at her sassy best for “Golden Girl Blues,” a steady shuffle that features sensational guitar from Anson Funderburgh and Yates McKendree and served as the title cut for her 2022 Nola Blue release.

The Love Light Orchestra is in total command next as Németh serves as the front man to deliver the burner, “After All,” about being rejected by a longtime love and praying for a happier ending, before taking folks to church for the spirited “The Last Time,” an emotion-packed tune he recorded while facing  surgery to free him from cancer in his jaw that would save his life but possibly brought his career to a tragic, untimely end.

The mood shifts dramatically as Reed slows things down for “They Call Me Lil’ Jimmy” with Levin on the keys, recalling his long, successful career but boasting that he’s “still got what a woman needs.” Turner returns once again to close things out with “Who Sang It First,” an unhurried request that all of remember that the blues sprang from both the cottonfields and church and acknowledge the creators no matter what path the music takes today.

Breakin’ News is good news for all blues lovers. Miss out on some of these releases in the past? Give this a listen and you just might be hunting them out in the future. It’s just that good!

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.

Twice As Good – The Second Coming

2XG Records

https://twiceasgood.org

10 songs, 39 minutes

Could you work with your parent? Some people blanch at the thought. But others find guidance, support and grounding through the evolved relationship between parent and child. Just like in other family businesses, we know music can have the same familial ties. A parent passing on their knowledge, parent and progeny creating something new and unique. For father/son act Twice As Good the results are well executed Soul Blues. Added to the mix is that Paul (son) and Richard (father) Steward are Native Americans. Pomo Indians of the Elem Indian Colony, the Stewards bring their Native American heritage to bear not only in their support and fan base in the Native American community but also in the incorporation of Native American music and ideals in their work.

The Second Coming is the duo’s 7th album. These prolific musicians have been working tirelessly since 2003 to build a career. Paul Steward is a bit of a jack of all trades. A talented guitarist with a B.B. King influence and a smooth singer, Paul plays most every other instrument on this record – drums, bass, keys, accordion, saxophone, harmonica and a Pomo clapper stick. The elder Steward, Richard, is the foundational sound of the music with his rhythm guitar and background vocals.

The music of The Second Coming is solid Rhythm and Blues. Starting with the chug of the original “Clarksdale” and working through some classic material such as “Hole in the Wall,” “Midnight Friend” and “Go to the Mardi Gras” it’s easy to see why Twice As Good is a popular act in their Northern California home. Then when one digs into their web site it becomes apparent this music is being played by some characters. Dressing in colorful, almost always fedora adorned, outfits, the Stewards have a look and an attitude.

The stand out tune on The Second Coming is the original “Myanik Xe (Beautiful Music).” Incorporating chants, with added support from Leroy Smith, and lush chording into a hypnotic Native American groove that jitters and jabs, “Myanik Xe” features impassioned singing and playing. This tune, placed 7th in the 10 song order, offers a counterpoint to the more locked in polished sheen of the album.

Twice As Good is a great band. Paul Steward has talent to spare and the magic that is created when he and his father lock in exemplifies how good that family connection can be. The performances on The Second Coming are great, but it is clear from watching videos of these powerful performers that their energy is not easily captured in the recorded format. This record is a great primer for anyone discovering this great band. It also makes one wish for a live recording of this powerful group to fulfill the flames and pyrotechnics simmering under the surface.

Writer Bucky O’Hare is a slide guitarist, songwriter and singer. Based out of South Eastern Massachusetts, Bucky plays Slide Guitar Soul Jazz and Funk Blues inspired by the music of the 60’s and 70’s all around New England.

 Blues Blast Early Bird Ad Special 

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Mary Lane And Her West Side Blues Band – Leave Me Alone

Wolf Records — 2024

https://www.wolfrec.com/

12 tracks; 50 minutes

Once lost to the winds of time, the Blues Gods have resurrected Leave Me Alone by Mary Lane and Her West Side Blues Band (also known as “The No Static Blues Band”) for our listening pleasure.

Lane boasts a powerful voice and commanding presence that deserves more recognition and praise. Growing up in the Arkansas Delta, Lane started to perform with Howlin’ Wolf, with whom she followed up North to Chicago, playing in clubs on the South and West sides.

Leave Me Alone was first recorded by Kirk Whiting in 1996 after years of performing in the Chicago blues scene. Wolf Records, the Austrian label dedicated to the blues pushed the re-release of the album that features Johnny B. Moore and Robert Mell on guitar, Jeffery Labon on bass, Detroit Jr. on piano, Michael Jackson on saxophone, Erskine Johnson on organ, and Annette Allen and Anette Love on supporting vocals.

Yet, throughout her long career as a belter and crooner of the blues, Lane struggled to break through to the type of popularity and monetary success enjoyed by musicians who played with her and respected her, like Magic Sam, Elmore James, and Buddy Guy. As Katie Prout wrote in 2020: “the 84-year-old Chicago blueswoman should be a legend. She can barely pay her bills.”

The consistently solid album starts strong. Persistent, sharp guitar notes ring out as Lane’s voice comes out strong, yet composed on “Leave Me Alone”. The guitar plays a shuffle beat as Lane sings “If you don’t want me daddy, I’m going to find somebody else… Ain’t nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for you.” The rhythm and feel of the song resemble Bo Diddley’s “Before You Accuse Me.”

Throughout the record, Lane and the West Side Blues Band deliver a classic Chicago blues sound, but also venture into a soul and R&B space. Relationships occupy much of the lyric content and the band shows their chops without overplaying.

“My Friends Always Ask Me” stands out as a stellar recording, with a Freddie King type slow burning guitar sound and emotion that is palpable. The listener can almost feel the internal battle as Lane cries out “All of my life, I’ve been trying to do what’s right.. You know I’m mistreated and there’s just something I want to do.” The guitar slips in and out as the pianist hammers on the keys, giving the track an almost eerie quality.

“Ride in Your Automobile” features powerful guitar in an energetic blues-rock tune that sounds a lot like Ry Cooder’s “Speedo”, and would rock the house in a live performance.

Southern culinary culture comes out on “Candy Yams”, while a spicy, simmering guitar moves up and down the neck. The virtues of chitlins, cornbread, and yams are extolled in contrast to love, the eternal gamble.

On “Baby”, Lane’s voice is smoother and softer, a nice juxtaposition with funky grooves in a song clearly about a girl singing about being in love. The sparse, simple style is refreshing.

“Make Love to Me One More Time” and “Strong Love” carry a tinge of soul. In Lane, one can hear the voice of Sharon Jones, the more contemporary soul singer.

Lane’s lyrics come across powerful and evocative. The silky smooth “Make Love to Me One More Time” draws at the heartstrings. Even through recordings, Lane’s commanding presence shines through and a surge of energy flows through the album.

If Lane can be criticized, it should be for lingering on a tune too long, losing steam, as is the case on “My Friends Always Ask Me” and “Candy Yams”.

A strength lies in a cohesive sound, even as she explores different genres, like the bluesy, psychedelic drone in Peter Green fashion on “I Always Want You Near.” And above all, Lane’s voice does the heavy lifting, a clearly arresting and beautiful force.

On the whole, this is an album of feeling and passion that is alternately funky and smooth. This is a top notch blues album. It deserved attention in 1996. Mary deserves your ears and wallets even more so today.

Writer Jack Austin, also known by his radio DJ name, Electric Chicken (y Pollo Electrico en Espanol), is a vinyl collector, music journalist, and musician originally from Pittsburgh.

Gopher Broke – It’s About Damn Time!!

DBS Records

www.gopherbroke.org

8 tracks/33 minutes

Gopher Broke and related bands have been around in Detroit for since 1974. There was a 40 year gap in their performing as. Mike Shields moved to Vegas, but he finally moved back to Detroit in 2018. He went looking for the old band mates and reformed the band. He’s the lead singer and band leader of this fun group of musicians.

On guitar is Harold Bourlier. Darryl Clotfelter is on bass and vocals. On drums is Bob Henninger. Sax is handled by Joe Marocco who also sings. Rocco is on trumpet, guitar and vocals On harp and vocals is Mike Shields who penned six of the songs. Marocco and Rocco wote the other two.

“Gopherbroke Boogie” is a slick biographical cut with Gopher Broke telling us about themselves as they lay out a fun boogie.  “I Miss You When You Are Gone” continues the rollicking fun, with big guitar, sax and harp adding to the mix. Next is the bouncy “Gotta Get Up,” a swinging mid tempo piece. We get a guitar solo along with harp, sax and trumpet to savor. “Cloud Up And Rain” is a sultry cut with sexy saxophone laying it out for the listener. This one’s a slow blues with some nice horns and harp to flesh out the sound along with some restrained guitar and very greasy harp licks.

“Ain’t That Some Mess” is a cool shuffle with guitar, sax and harp solos to enjoy. “Ten Foot Pole” follows with lots of tasty harp licks. “Going Fishin’” features some gritty lead vocals and nice horm and harp work.   They conclude with “True To The Blues,” a jumping cut that pays tribute to the blues greats. A nice guitar solo and then sax solo are offered up.

These guys appear to be having a fun time playing together. It shows in their music. They have some interesting original cuts and the guitar, harp and horns are solid. A local Detroit band, they remain ready to go anywhere they are called to go to play!

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.

An obsession with the sounds of delta blues guitar gripped Catfish Keith for as early as he can remember. The prolific bluesman, who has released 22 solo albums, started playing guitar at 11 years old.

Catfish said that when he first heard fingerstyle guitar, he thought there were two or three guitars playing at the same time. Realizing he could play bass parts with his thumb and melody with his other fingers was a revelation.

“I was creating a magic thing because it made the guitar like a whole band, a whole orchestra,” Catfish said. “I just played all the time. This was an obsession through my teenage years, and by the time I was 16 I started doing gigs.”

In college, Catfish dived further into the blues by checking out records from the public library. Among the influential artists were Blind Blake, Memphis Minnie, Furry Louis, Fred McDowell, and Mance Lipscomb. Catfish said he was attracted to the individual sounds of country blues much more than the 12 bar electric blues.

While steeped in the Delta tradition, Catfish’s own sound stands out as singularly unique. Among the devices he employs, Catfish often tunes his guitar lower to allow powerful string bends, uses various harmonic guitar techniques rarely used within the blues, and plays with the snapping of strings for rhythmic effect. He also incorporates Caribbean influences into some of his work, a remnant of the time he spent living on a sailboat in the Virgin Islands.

Catfish, only having just graduated high school, and never having seen the ocean, took a “wild leap of faith” to join a friend from Cedar Rapids that had a boat in the Virgin Islands. As he worked as a crew member on the sailboat, in the early 1980s, Catfish said the experiences opened him up to the different ways of the world, including different styles of music.

It was also during this time that his vision of being a musician solidified.

“I was living on the ocean, and just bopping around on my own and I was playing little gigs in these outdoor cafes and really just concentrating on learning music,” Catfish said. “Those sounds of Island music there, they just added another deep and improvisational, very syncopated, jazzy sound to my playing.”

Top among influences at the time was Joseph Spence, from the Bahamas, who completely rebooted the way he approached playing guitar.

Catfish described his songwriting process as very natural, where songs simply pop up in his mind. For instance, the first track on his latest album Wild Ox Moan, “Don’t Know Right From Wrong”, emerged after a period in which he was listening to a lot of Frank Stokes. As Frank Stokes couldn’t get out of his head, Catfish wrote the song one morning.

“It’s never really premeditated, but it’s always spurred on by listening to a lot of my heroes. It’s usually something that I just can’t get out of my head. So I just go ahead and write that song,” Catfish said. “The songs come fully formed. They’ll have the words and the music, and then I’ll write down the lyrics. And usually I’ll just put it aside and come back to it later. And then, craft the song into something that sounds like the music that I had in my head originally. So it’s kind of a gift from the sky.”

Even given this gift, Catfish said that he does not consider himself a songwriter, but more a “channel-er of music.”

“When I write my songs, they all seem to have a timeless quality. So it could have been something, you know, that Johnny Shines, or Frank Stokes might have written themselves,” Catfish said. “So it really comes out of that whole tradition of (Delta) songs.”

Discussing the blues tradition lyrically, Catfish said that at their essence, blues songs are love songs.

In recent years Catfish’s music has garnered public acclaim and recognition. Catfish won the Blues Blast Music Award for Best Acoustic Blues album in 2019, 2021, and 2022. And, for Best Acoustic Blues Guitarist in 2022. He has been considered for Grammy nominations 17 times. In 2008, he was inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame.

Catfish said he appreciated the Blues Blast awards because they are a reflection of the voice of the people.

“It meant that the fans were listening, and enjoy the music. And I think that’s all any of us really want, is to know that we’re being heard, and that the songs are getting out to the universe,” Catfish said. “So it’s a jaw dropping surprise if I actually win them. It just makes you feel like maybe you’re on the right track with your music.”

In terms of his dreams as a young cat, Catfish wanted to pursue his own sound deeply inspired and resonant with the sounds of the Delta.

“My dream was always to achieve my own sound inspired by great people like Fred McDowell and Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James. A lot of my inspiration comes from those blues singers that were first recorded in the 1920s and ‘30s. It all started with Blind Lemon Jefferson. Jefferson was the first big blues star, back in the 1920s. And his music sort of opened the door to the musicians at the time to make their own style. So this is going way back one hundred years.”

The foundation of Catfish’s music remained in the individual country blues sound, which he said was his dream. In some ways, Catfish said, playing as a blues musician fulfills the American dream.

“To be able to, you know, tour the world and put out albums and have people enjoy the music. That’s realizing the dream right there,” Catfish said.

Noting several waves of blues revivals including in the 1960s and ‘70s, and again in the 1990s, and more recently, Catfish extolled the resilience of the genre.

The blues derives part of its power from the historic time and place it comes from, according to Catfish. The guitarist said, however, it is difficult to predict if it will still be popular a hundred years down the line.

“It’s powerful music and evokes memories and feelings. Just the life-force having grown up here in the USA. I’m excited that we can keep going. A hundred more years, it’s hard to know,” Catfish said. “There’s a lot, a lot to distract people. But it’s the essence of being a human being to sing and play. And that music (blues) is the most honest and elemental of our American culture. And I really hope that can continue.”

With a recording career starting in 1984, Catfish witnessed multiple technological changes within the music industry. When he, along with his wife Penny Cahill, launched Fish Tail Records, an independent label, in 1990, they released his second album “Pepper in My Shoe!” as a cassette and CD.

Streaming eventually took hold, but Catfish professed a love for tangible music like CDs and particularly records.Wild Ox Moan is the 8th album the label will release also in vinyl format.

“I do love the big, colorful vinyl record, you really have something to hold on to. And I’m glad people have revived that. Who knows what they’ll come up with next but I’m glad people are hanging on to the physical product because it gives it more of a permanence and makes it the perfect souvenir of your time with the artist.”

According to Catfish, the couple formed Fish Tail to have total control of every aspect of the records they put out. After Cahill got burned out of a job as a psychiatric social worker doing schizophrenia research at the University of Iowa, she decided to pursue the label full time with Catfish. Cahill, who tours with Catfish around the world, acts as his manager, sound engineer, and the president of Fish Tail Records.

A guitarist herself, Penny occasionally joins Catfish onstage for duets with a repertoire that leans more into old-time country and folk music traditions.

Catfish’s unique style is over 50 years in the making. Early on, he gravitated towards ways of playing harmonics, a technique used in several other genres, most notably in jazz.

“Lenny Breau was a jazz guitar player. And he would play ballads, do whole choruses of these cascading harmonics that were amazing to hear. And so those uses of harmonics go through a lot of different genres, founders and styles of guitar, but hadn’t really been heard that much in solo acoustic blues style guitar playing. So I added that flavor.”

Catfish employs harp harmonics, his unique way of hitting the string, a harmonic, and then bending it, which gives the notes a vocal quality and expands the voice of the guitar.

Through listening to his heroes, Catfish said he learned he liked lower tunings, which made the strings physically looser on the guitar. A few developments followed this realization. He searched for lower voices on guitars, including 12 strings.

“One was tuning my acoustic guitar a whole step low. And so when I want to do those great big bends, it’s actually possible to do that. And then on the open-tuned National guitars, I ended up getting into baritone instruments. So it’s a longer scale guitar. But it’s lower, so I tuned that baritone to B flat, which is a lot lower than regular guitar standard tuning. Usually, when people play on a National, in open D or open G tuning, taking those same tuning configurations down to B flat and E flat, it gave a real satisfying lower tone that I was always searching for on the guitar.”

Catfish also became attracted to baritone guitars like the old Stella 12 strings that Blind Willie McTell and Barbecue Bob played in the 1920s.

In terms of his own playing, when he was younger he played faster and sang slightly higher. Catfish said his songs have reached a certain maturity and he feels he is a better singer and that there is more subtlety in his playing.

Throughout his career Catfish dedicated himself to covering obscure artists and lesser known tracks, in a search for “hidden gems.”

Old scratchy records remain a source of inspiration, and particularly blues artists from around Memphis, who Catfish said he enjoys listening to.Sitting on Top of the World by Johnny Shines and Feelin’ Goodby Jessie Mae Hemphill (both friends and mentors of Catfish) stood out as a couple of his favorite records on vinyl.

Catfish said the Mississippi Hill Country blues sound, pushed forward by Hemphill, RL Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and others, is a favorite style of blues.

Mentorship and relationships with other blues musicians is an essential part of development, Catfish said. Honeyboy Edwards took Catfish under his wing and the pair performed at shows together in the U.S. and Europe. Edwards knew some of the early greats that inspire Catfish like Robert Johnson, Peetie Wheatstraw and Big Joe Williams.

“You could ask him about anybody in the early blues and he would have great, vivid stories about them. And he was such a sweet guy too. He really did earn his name Honeyboy.”

Playing and performing music for Catfish is an uplifting, spiritual experience that he wants to share with his followers.

“I hope the audience is sent, just as much as I am. Because when I’m in that groove, it’s soul lifting. It’s hypnotic,” Catfish said. “If people can come along with me in that sort of hypno journey, then I feel like I’m doing my job.”

Catfish, at 62, has toured for most of his life and he doesn’t plan to quit. Since many of his blues heroes lived to almost 100, still delivering electric performances, Catfish said he is optimistic for his continued musical career.

Honeyboy Edwards lived to 96. Catfish also looks up to several blues musicians that lived long, who he calls his “musical grandparents.” The list includes Henry Townsend and Jessie Mae Hemphill.

With near constant touring around the world, including over 50 UK tours, Catfish could be excused for some burnout or fatigue. Yet, the slide guitarist remains as eager and energetic as he was when he was 15, he said.

“The guitar itself still has a magnetic pull on me,” Catfish said. “I just continue to have so much joy with the music. And I have endless curiosity about building more songs.”

Several such new songs were featured on Catfish’s latest album,Wild Ox Moan (2023), the 21st to be released on Fish Tail Records.

The album is unique, Catfish said, in its selection of songs he has loved for a long time. “Wild Ox Moan” is a Vera Hall song seldom covered. He picked a Nancy Wilson song, “How Glad I Am” from the jazz tradition. Catfish also selected “Cool Water” by the Sons of the Pioneers. The 15 songs on the album, almost constituting a double album, represented a bit more variety than on his typical blues album.

“Vera Hall just sings; it’s an acapella kind of moan and all of her songs were that way. You know, it was a field recording from way back. The song itself is really the essence of what being a human being is all about. And what was unique with my interpretation was that I added slide guitar to the lone voice, so it made it like a little duet with the slide voice.”

In a typical album, Catfish highlights several originals as well as covers from the blues canon. Even on the covers, however, Catfish instills his trademark style, and he said the consistent sound that emerges is the country blues.

Blues at Midnight, a 2021 album, features a collection of all original pieces from several albums over the years. Catfish’s 2011 album A True Friend is Hard to Find displays gospel songs from his canon. Reefer Hound, a 2019 Blues Blast award winner, is exactly what it sounds like; an album full of songs dedicated to cannabis.

Catfish described another bottleneck slide guitar player, Blind Willie Johnson, as his biggest slide guitar hero. Catfish discovered that, like Johnson, he could play harmony with himself on slide.

“It’s a beautiful voice and a gorgeous way to play guitar. It makes you really listen… you have to hear the intonation. It’s more like playing the violin, in that. I love that sound.”

Lyrics and instrumentation are equally important to Catfish’s music, he said. As part of his high school in Davenport, Iowa, Catfish participated in choir singing that taught him how disparate parts like bass, lead, harmony and counterpoint all fit together in a song.

“Sometimes my voice will sing the harmony part and the guitar will do the melody part. I have a whole choir in mind when I make certain songs.”

The incredible, almost universal access to music enabled by streaming services and the internet should bode well for the future of the Delta blues, according to Catfish. He said that it felt like when he started playing nobody in the world was interested in the music.

Already, Catfish sees the genre as vital today.

“I see it as flourishing. There are a lot of guitar players picking it up. What form it will take, I don’t know.”

Along with a new album to be recorded in July, Catfish has several upcoming tour dates.

Visit Catfish Keith’s website at https://www.catfishkeith.com/ to catch a live show near you.

Writer Jack Austin, also known by his radio DJ name, Electric Chicken (y Pollo Electrico en Espanol), is a vinyl collector, music journalist, and musician originally from Pittsburgh.

The Pszenny Project

Self released

www.pszennyproject.com

12 tracks/50 minutes

Mark Pszenny moved from New England to South Carolina and formed this band in 2019. Looking for like-minded musicians who can mix rockabilly, funk, R&B, rock and roll and blues into a cohesive sound. They mix up blues from Chicago, Memphis, Texas and Detroit into their sound.

Mark is the lead vocalist and guitar player for this quartet. John Bunucci  on bass and Ross Fleming III on drums are the backline. Jim “Wallstreet Harp” Couillard is on the harmonica.

“Hoochie Mama” gets the ball rolling. It’s a rocking number with lots of guitar and gravelly vocals. “Chronic” is a deep, slow blues with solid guitar and a great groove. Pszenny again growls out the vocals and some stinging guitar licks. “Trouble With The Man” follows is another driving cut with a rocking sound.  Pszenny sings more naturally as he and the band lay out some cool sounds. Another big cut with lots of guitar solo is featured here. Next is “I Told You” where the band rocks out once more. The growl returns as Mark tells off his woman and asks her to, “Stay the hell away.” Lots more big guitar lead stuff on this one.

“2 A.M. Blues” tells of the woes both trying to sleep and with his woman. A slow shuffle, the band executes the blues with precision. That is followed by “I Digress,” a swinging and rocking little piece as Pszenny asks to take his girl on a ride. The funk comes out in “What The Funk?” as he asks his woman what’s wrong with her. This one drives along smartly to a precise tempo and metered vocal delivery. Stinging guitar rings out once again. Up Next is “Knee Deep” which opens with a wicked guitar groove and harp accompaniment as the backline lays out a smart backing groove to help drive the cut.

“Up To You” is next. A Doors-like song, the rocking cut moves along to a big beat. “Tell Me Why” is a mid tempo rocker that sounds like a 1970’s rock song. She’s Long Gone” features a Thorogood-esque sound. Pszenny growls and picks as he and the band rock on once again. They conclude with “All Funked Up,” which starts out sounding like the Doobie Brothers meet Detroit. Funky, rocking guitar riffs and some vocal voice overs make this interesting.

This is a good blues rock album featuring lots and lot of guitar. Each song gives Pszenny room to flex his guitar muscles, which he does.  There are no harp solos, something I think would have added nicely to the mix. The harp was mostly lost in the background.  The vocals are good but not my cup of tea.  The grit and growls sound a bit forced at times. All in all, if you like rock that dabbles in the blues, then this is something you might want to give a spin. Lots of guitar licks and lots of rocking, driving original cuts make up this self titled album with a dozen new songs.

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.

Derrick Dove and the Peacekeepers – Rough Time

Blue Voodoo Entertainment

www.derrickdove.com

10 tracks/40 minutes

Southern rock is the order of the day with Rough Time by Derreck Dove and The Peacekeepers. Following up their inaugural 2018 album with this southern fried set of new tunes, Dove and his band have been road warriors promoting themselves for the past five-plus years.

He’s from Tifton, GA, and at 10 years of age was drumming in his dad’s oldies band.  A love of the blues became his passion and he acted on that and formed this band. Dove is lead singer and guitarist and it’s Jamie Richardson on drums, Don Hill III on bass, and Jonathan “JT” Thomas on keys. Guests are Shane Cannon on harp, La’Chelsea King on backing vocals, Harry King on sax and Chuck Hutcheson on trumpet and baritone sax.

They open with “Blindsided,” a rocking cut with amped up guitar and gritty vocals. The title tracks follows, a slow, melodic tune with pretty organ an Dove taking us to church a bit with his passionate vocals. The song builds into a rocking frenzy on guitar and vocals. Next is “You and My Guitar,” with ringing guitar lead and a bouncing rhythm.

“Daddy Is A Bluesman” is next, a howling song paying tribute to his Dad. Greasy harp and emotional vocals are what make this song cool. This ones a true blues song that Dove puts his stamp on. Guitar and piano fill out the sounds on this song. ”Farm In Tennessee” takes us down home in this country piece. Honky tonk piano and some acoustic guitar picking give it that down home feel. “Life’s Games” returns to the big Southern rock ballad sound  with slide guitar and a a great story. The sound builds into an exciting finish.

“Sweet Sadie Mae” is a big guitar rocker with gritty vocals and a driving beat. Here we get organ soloing along with guitars and later the organ goes off into a bridge piece of sorts of it’s own to conclude the song that is cool. “Sunday Coming Home” is a thoughtful cut with restrained guitar and musical support as Dove sings in similar manner. Dark, brooding stuff here. “Hard Rain” is a driving and rocking cut. Here we get big guitar accompaniment and a bouncing beat. The finale bemoans “When Did I Get Old,” something everyone eventually asks themselves. It’s an acoustic ballad that is soft and cool and flows like a river. It’s a very pretty piece showing another side of Dove and the band.

Playing Southern Rock that blends in country and blues influences is what Dove and his band excel at. The could blow away listeners in any venue, a club, honky-tonk café or stadium with their big sound and driving songs.  If you like rocking bands who dabble in the blues, then look no further.

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.