Cover photo © 2024 Bob Kieser

 In This Issue 

The Rev. Billy C. Wirtz has our feature interview with Curtis Salgado. We have six Blues reviews for you this week including new music from Steve Shanahan, René Huard Project, One Dime Band, Jennifer Porter, Fog Blues and Brass Band and Ndidi O. Scroll down and check it out!

Steve Shanahan – Blue Ranchero

Self Release

www.SteveShanahan.net

14 tracks: 48 minutes, 6 seconds.

Steve Shanahan fell in love with guitar and the blues at just 5 years old, going through his father’s record collection and high-fi sound system. Dedicated to traditional, electric blues, Shanahan said some of his greatest influences are BB King, Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Shanahan’s first solo release, Blue Ranchero, a collection of high energy covers from the classic blues canon and an original arrangement, comes across as a testament to the power of guitar driven blues.

“Driftin’ Blues” features high distortion, on howling, mean guitar, and a strong presence throughout the song. The entrancing, intoxicating guitar progresses up and down blues scales as Shanahan sings about how he is “drifting like a ship on the sea… I ain’t got nobody in this world to care for me.” Effective percussion adds to a pulsing, driving rhythm in this track about infidelity that led man on to an aimless course.

Another strong track, perhaps the best on the LP, “Ain’t That Loving You Baby” (J. Reed), delivers excellent storytelling, tasty melodies, and strong, emotional organ (Judd Nielsen) and harmonica (Mikey Junior). Shanahan delivers a comforting, tender voice, like honey on toast, crooning about how he would “rob, steal, kill somebody just to get back home” to his lover. The instrumentation possesses a slick, sophisticated swagger that bolsters the smooth, almost enchanting voice.

“Dangerous Mood” is clean and polished, with shimmering guitar work if a bit dry.

Strong guitar, a characteristic of the album in general, is on full display on “One Way Out” the beloved Sonny Boy Williamson song brought to mass popularity by the Allman Brothers Band. Shanahan and his band play with high energy, with dazzling keys from Judd Nielsen and buzzing harmonica coming from Mikey Junior. Shanahan sings with emotion about slipping out the back window “cause there’s a man out there, might be your man, I don’t know…” in the celebrated marital infidelity song.

Another blues-rock tune, You Got to Move”, attributed to Fred McDowell and Reverend Gary Davis, but discovered and popularized by the Rolling Stones (on Exile on Main Street), explodes into a badass, funky fervor, straight from the hot guitar intro. A hypnotic groove emanates from the electric guitar and rock solid percussion. The blistering guitar groans like a soul in agony as Shanahan almost shouts “You’ve got to move child… You may be rich, you may be poor… When the Lord gets ready, you’ve got to move.” The instrumentation is stripped down and simple here – which tends to be when Shanahan is most effective.

While this LP contains covers of great bluesmen throughout, in “The Blues Had a Baby”, Shanahan directly pays homage to some of his heroes, including Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Winters, and James Cotton.

Shanahan and his backing band come across as technically proficient, but the album sometimes suffers from almost entirely relying on cover material. Shanahan pulls songs from, among others, Willie Dixon, Sonny Boy Williamson, Fred McDowell, Reverend Gary Davis, Freddie King, and Elmore James.

The only song written by Shanahan, the titular “Blue Ranchero”, doesn’t come until the end of the LP. Shanahan should explore how he can create his own unique sound and storytelling to emerge as an excellent blues musician in his own right.

That said, there is more than enough good material to merit a listen. “Further On Up The Road” for instance, is a slow burner with a barrage of low guitar notes describing a femme fatale who “put poison in my coffee, instead of milk and cream.” Jimmy Pritchard’s bass line comes through insistent and funky and the song expresses resilience.

Shanahan’s background in jazz studies emerges in several parts of the albums giving a more improvisational feel to some classic blues songs and a welcome eclectic taste.

Blue Ranchero gets its name from a Ranchero– a cowboy Cadillac, half car, half truck, with a V-8 engine, a “little truck that hauls ass!” as Shanahan wrote in the album liner notes. The Ranchero seems a fitting metaphor for the guitar-powered blues on display in this album.

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.

René Huard Project – Blues Calling

Self-release

No website

12 songs – 49 minutes

René Huard is a Niagara-based singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player. A long-time veteran of the Canadian roots music scene, Huard’s latest CD, Blues Calling, offers 12 self-written blues and blues-rock tracks that emphasize his writing talents.

The opening, swampy, Thunderbirds-esque “Hard Times” feeds neatly into the heavy blues-rock of “Child’s Play” which itself leads into the rocky title track on which Huard name-checks his primary blues influences and asserts that the blues chose him, rather than vice versa. Huard lays down a neat slide guitar solo on this song. It’s a breathless start to an album that is packed with upbeat numbers.

Blues Calling was recorded live off the floor in Courtice, ON, with minimum overdubs and Jack de Keyzer (who recorded, mixed and mastered the album) deserves credit for capturing an excellent, raw sound that sounds like a band tearing up a small club on a Saturday night.

Huard provides vocals, harmonica, rhythm guitar and slide guitar on “Blues Calling”, “Ten Pound Stone” and “Hurry Up Slow”. His backing band includes de Keyzer on lead and rhythm guitar, percussion and backing vocals; Alec Fraser Jr on bass guitar; Al Cross on drums and percussion, Eric Lambier on keyboards and backing vocals and Richard Thornton on percussion and backing vocals. Together, they lay down a series of danceable, toe-tapping grooves, particularly excelling on the upbeat rock’n’roll of “Retsina”.

Huard is a smart songwriter with a neat turn of phrase in his lyrics (what man doesn’t recognise the feeling in “Favourite Shirt” when Huard sings “my favourite shirt, lip gloss on the sleeve. It looks so much better on her than it does on me”?). He also has a gritty voice that suits the music perfectly and is a fine harp player (check out in particular the solos and licks at the end of each verse in “Blindspot”). His slide guitar works especially well on dirty, gritty “Ten Pound Stone”, which closes the album.

de Keyzer lays down a series of great guitar solos throughout the album, including a nod to Stevie Ray Vaughan in the Texas shuffle of “I Do”, some serious string mangling in “Blindspot”, dreamy single note melodies in “Sharp Curves” and even an acoustic solo in “Broken Halo”, one of the quieter moments on the album, which works extremely well.

On the evidence of Blues Calling, René Huard and his band must be a great experience live. If you’re not based around the Niagara area, however, this CD is a pretty fine substitute.

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

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One Dime Band – Side Hustle

Toneblanket Records

www.onedimeband.com

13 songs – 61 minutes

A long-running project that works out of Boston and was created by the acoustic partnership of John Brauchier and Paul Gallucci, the One Dime Band steps into the limelight for the first time with this debut CD, an interesting, hard-to-define, but pleasant blending of blues, R&B and more that’s a style all their own.

Brauchier – who doubles on guitar and banjo – and Gallucci – a vocalist, harp player and guitarist – have been teaming together on stage since forming a partnership in high school in upstate New York and teaching each other songs from the catalogs of Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. They began incorporating mainstream blues into their act in 2017 and haven’t looked back.

They’ve teamed together on two CDs, Gonna Take Sweet Time and Hoodoo & Holy Water, on their own Toneblanket imprint, achieving Top 20 recognition with the latter on a couple of TV and radio charts. Winners of the 2022 Boston Blues Society Blues Challenge solo/duo competition in 2022 and the Granite State Blues Society Challenge in 2023, they made it to the semi-finals of the International Blues Challenge earlier this year.

As members of the One Dime Band, they’ve worked the New England market as a four-piece who deliver electric blues for several years. But this CD features an expanded roster that includes several key members of the Boston blues scene, including drummer Romeo Dubois, bassist Paul Kochanski, keyboard player Alizon Lissance, fiddler Ilana Katz Katz, trumpeter Johnny Blue Horn and sax player Mario Perrett. Holly Harris adds percussion, Tim Curry provides backing vocals on two cuts, and Robin Hathaway shares vocals in a duet on another.

Funky percussion and a horn run open “Side Hustle” as Gallucci describes the dilemma that all struggling musicians have to face: working other jobs to keep food on the table while struggling to achieve their dream. He possesses a strong mid-range voice that’s road-worn enough to amplify the stress. And Brauchler’s plaintive six-string runs combine with the keys and rhythm section to drive it home. It gives way to “Blackfoot Sun,” which has a Delta feel, Native American imagery and fiddle work that immediately change the mood.

It flows into the finger-picked pleaser, “Mockingbird Way,” which complains about someone who airs her dirty laundry to anyone who crosses his/her path, before an aural shift to gentle blues-rock with “What You Done,” which yearns that family members would learn from past mistakes. “Ain’t No Faker” returns the band to the blues root atop an easy-flowing beat before building in intensity prior to a mid-tune piano solo with harp accents.

The funk-driving ballad, “Dr. Shine,” follows, describing a battle raging outside the singer’s window and another raging “deep inside of me” before One Dime shifts to a ragtime sound for “Brooklyn Town,” a reverie that describes a home in the Williamsburg neighborhood, where Gallucci sings about his longing for his father’s homemade wine, his mother’s cooking and other things missed.

The uptempo rocker, “Backbell,” is up next before the sultry contemporary, minor-key blues ballad, “Soul to Keep” – a duet with Hathaway, that preaches optimism about finding happiness after experiencing sorrow. Gallucci’s opening harp run changes the mood instantly in “Babylon Clouds.” It describes the struggle to get to work in the morning atop medium tempo instrumentation built atop a driving beat. Three equally interesting numbers — “Cemetery Waltz,” “Rib Grease” and “Gator in My Pond” – bring the set to a successful close.

The One Dime Band shouldn’t have to pursue any side hustles after this one. They take listeners in a different, successful direction with each cut. Give them a listen. I’m sure you’ll agree.

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.

Jennifer Porter – Yes, I Do!

Cougar Moon Music

www.jenniferportermusic.com

8 songs – 31 minutes

Singer/songwriter/pianist Jennifer Porter has a long list of accomplishments, from being a stage actor with more than 90 professional stage credits, to holding a second-degree black belt in Tai Jujitsu and advanced training in Kali and Jeet Kun Do. She has also released nine albums before Yes, I Do!. Her new album is a delightful selection of blues and Americana songs, driven by Porter’s top drawer keyboard skills, finely-honed writing talents and a superb, airy, deeply emotional voice.

The album kicks off with the swinging jump blues of “Before We Call It A Day”, which leads nicely into the mellow title track on which Porter plays Wurlitzer and Hammond B3. There is a charming pop-soul feel to the song, with a total ear-worm of a chorus. The aching love song, “Over You” gives way to the dancing New Orleans groove of “All I Needed Was You”, which benefits from C.J. Chenier’s glorious accordion. Chenier is one of two guests on the album, with the always-awesome Cindy Cashdollar contributing pedal steel to “Don’t Worry No More”, one of album’s highlights, where the haunting horns dance around Dana Packard’s subtle drums. Cashdollar’s solo on this track is mesmerizing.

Porter’s band is first rate, featuring at different times Packard and Jonathan Truman on drums and percussion, Damon Banks on bass, George Naha and Vinne Raniolo on guitars, Steve Jankowski on trumpets and flugelhorn, Doug DeHays on saxophones and clarinet, and Randy Andos on trombone and tuba.

Yes, I Do! was produced by Jonathan Wyman and Porter, with mixing by Wyman at This Sounds Good, Portland, Maine and mastering by Adam Ayan at Gateway Studios, Portland, Maine. Different parts of the album were recorded at a variety of studios in Maine, New Jersey, New York and Texas, but the album has a consistently excellent sound and has the feel of musicians playing together live.

Porter wrote six of the tracks on Yes, I Do!, adding choice covers of Leroy Carr’s 1928 classic “How Long Blues” (with a great solo from Jankowski on flugelhorn) and Bessie Smith’s wry acknowledgement of the ageing process, “Good Ol’ Wagon”. This latter song, featuring just Porter’s voice and piano and Andos’ tuba, is a lovely way to finish a highly enjoyable album.  Indeed, Carr and Smith are good starting points in thinking about this album. There is a lightness and joy to Porter’s music, aligned to a deep emotional connection, that echoes the music of these two giants, albeit in a modern musical setting.

Yes, I Do! is one of those albums where you want to play it again as the last note of the last song fades.  Very impressive stuff.

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

Ever since Milton Mezzrow sang “Really the Blues” (back in the 1930s), popular music has featured the next crop of white singers trying to sound “authentic”. Most of them miss the mark, some tend to oversell, and many become bad caricatures. But every now and then, someone like Curtis Salgado comes along.

The story begins in the town of Eugene, Oregon. Eugene was a university town surrounded by railroad and lumber yards. Curtis Ellsworth Salgado was born on February 4, 1954.

His father was a baker and his mom a housewife. Curtis describes his parents as “open-minded, wonderful people” and the home as ‘a fertile ground for an aspiring musician’.

“My parents were both big into Jazz like Fats Waller, Earl Hines and Erroll Garner. “My fathers’ brother was also way into Ray Charles. My dad would reach out to me, and he’d point out how Count Basie utilized the space, he’d be talking to himself about the record and then go ‘Listen to this guy’. So that’s literally what I grew up on. It was great. My mother could play piano, and she could play Stride piano.”

Curtis began performing publicly at a very young age, and he was indeed a natural.

“I came home from Kindergarten with a note pinned to my shirt and the teacher was asking my mom to teach me ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and ‘I’ve been working on The Railroad’.”

He sang it at the assembly and received the first of many positive reviews. He kept singing, and by high school was singing in all-star glee clubs, including a very prestigious one hosted by gospel music legend, Jester Harrison (author of the camp favorite Amen.)

Not everyone appreciated him, and his parents’ lack of church attendance would serve as an invitation for harassment.

Between sixth and seventh grade the tormenting began in earnest; his books got dumped in the hall, and worse.

“It freaked me out bad, I cried hard and then I got Mono.”

Fortunately, music intervened in the form of a Fender Mustang guitar and an amplifier, both gifts from his father.

He also bought that all-important first record. In this case, it was the comedy classic Ahab the Arab by Ray Stevens. Along with Ahab, his dad bought a set of records that would help to chart the future career choice. One of them was Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall. His father pointed out not only the incredible solos, but he also told Curtis, “Count Basie had to come in through the back door due to the racism of the time.”

Eugene might not be New York City, but the town did have some good record stores.

“I had an older brother and sister, and they started bringing home James and Bobby Purify (“I’m Your Puppet”) and Little Richard. I started taking guitar lessons with a guy named Gary Beck while I was trying to learn how to read music. He wanted to play old standards, but I wanted to learn the current hits like “Gloria” and “Little Black Egg”. I would ask him how to play “Gloria” and he would kick me in the shins and say, ‘No, pay attention!’”

Tired of being a target, Curtis tells his mom, “Mom, this guy kicks me, and this is no fun.” The guitar lessons stopped, but not the journey.

He continues: “My mom was so cool. She brought home a harmonica and an instructional book on how to play the harmonica. “Blues Harp” by Tony ‘Little Sun’ Glover, published in 1965 was, for many years, the only instruction book on blues harmonica available. Virtually every harmonica player who ever attempted to play “Blues with A Feeling” read this book. Also, my brother had the Paul Butterfield album and I listened to that as well.”

An epiphany would occur when his sister brought home a Little Walter record. The light switch was turned on when he heard Marion Walter Jacobs. ‘Little Walter’ Jacobs was a genius. His brilliant playing and inventive technique caused a quiet revolution and changed the way that the harmonica was viewed. Everyone from Kim Wilson to Mark Hummel to Mark Wenner was heavily influenced by him. Curtis was also a member of that club:

“My sister brought me home that Little Walter record and the first song that hit me was “Mellow Down Easy”. It’s genius. It’s still genius. He just like, pulls your heart out.”

Back then there was no YouTube, no TikTok, or sources for instruction, Due to the primitive techniques used in making these magnificent records, it was hard to hear what Walter and other soloist were doing, and there was only one way to learn. Curtis remembers:

“You drop the needle on it, and you went for it, until you met someone a little better than you.

He kept dropping the needle, putting a quarter on it when the grooves were worn out and he also began to broaden the musical horizon.

“Get Away Jordan,” by Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes, had the same gut-wrenching effect that Little Walter did. He was beginning to find music that touched the depths of his soul, and it made his high school year almost bearable. At the age of eighteen he began playing and singing with local bands. He played with Three Finger Jack and Harold and the Nighthawks. (Not the DC band.) They became well known locally and all was running smoothly,

“One day I’m walking down the street with the sax player from Jack, and he tells me, ‘Hey there are these two Black guys in town, and they are really into Blues. They have a band, the guitar player is some guy named Cray, and he’s good.’ At the time, the blues had declined in popularity among Blacks, as it was seen as old fashioned and reminiscent of hard times. So, we went over there and it was Robert Cray and Richard Cousins. We started jamming and hit it off right away, Robert wasn’t all that into it at first, but Richard (his bass player) and I became fast friends right away. I was still playing with the Nighthawks, so I was in two bands at the same time.”

The connection with Cray also became cemented as the result of mutual hero worship for a Southern Soul powerhouse singer/ testifier named O.V. Wright.

Overton Vertis Wright led a crime ridden, calamity filled personal life that ended in the back of an ambulance at the age of 41, but his vocal abilities were heart stopping. He sang Black Music for Black people–no “Mustang Sally” here. OV was too busy spittin’ game in “Ace of Spades” and begging for mercy in “Nickel and a Nail”. He recorded for the notorious Duke record label and the two-fisted gun-toting boss Don Robey.

Robey didn’t go after the Motown crossover buck. His biggest stars were Bobby “Blue” Bland and OV. They made tough, hard-edged Soul with a ferocious back beat and razor-sharp horn lines. Texas guitarist Sonny Rhodes introduced Mr. Wright to Curtis and the guys. They listened to Soul, Blues and drew from numerous sources for their sound. Things were moving fast, and no one was looking back.

Curtis found himself playing in two bands until he realized that the Nighthawks were only going to go so far. Robert Cray was something else entirely.

“Robert hasn’t changed one iota since then. He was just as good then as he is now. He was a natural. He’s brilliant and could pick any song out of the air and play it, and he sang just like you hear today.”

The band started picking up gigs around town and word got out very quickly that these guys could really play. There was a hotel in Eugene called the Eugene Hotel and it has a ballroom and a lounge that’s still there today.

Curtis remembers the night the next chapter began:

“So, I’m sitting on a couch in our apartment and Richard comes in and says that Robert got a part in a movie, and they want to use our instruments. We didn’t have a T.V., so it’s 1977 and I have no idea what Saturday Night Live is, and so I have no idea who any of these people are, but the next Saturday we are playing at the hotel and these people show up and this one guy wants to meet me. Turns out his name was John Belushi and we ended up smoking a joint and talking music. Five days later I got a phone call and it was him. I ask him how he got my number, and he whispers, ‘I have my ways.’ He then tells me to come over a have dinner with him and Judy and adds, ‘Bring your records.’”

“So, we sit and watch Gunsmoke, and he copies every actor on the show. I turned him onto all this great music and artists like Floyd Dixon and Willie Mabon, and he starts putting together the ideas that will lead to the Blues Brothers.”

The two of them began a friendship and professional relationship with Curtis mentoring the young comic. He would be at home or at a gig, the phone would ring, and it was Belushi. When the flabbergasted Curtis would ask him: “How the hell did you find me, the answer would always be, “I have my ways.”

One night John asked him quite seriously: “What can I do for you?” Curtis answered: “When it comes time, you can give credit to this music where its due.”

There was also the night (actually night becoming morning) when the actor told Curtis, “You know if you got a good lawyer you could certainly get some creative consultant points.” Curtis noted, “I had no idea about that stuff, I guess he might have been feeling guilty.”

After that, Animal House exploded in American movie theaters, followed by The Blues Brothers. Every college frat suddenly had a guy named Bluto, bands were playing “Louie Louie” and “Shout,” and The Blues Brothers was the most popular Halloween costume everywhere. Belushi called him one night and said, “I’m going to mention you on Saturday Night Live this week.”

April 22, 1978  – Sure enough, Curtis and the Band were playing a gig and on a break turned on the bar TV. SNL comes on and Paul Schaeffer is doing an impression of Don Kirshner host of the show “In Concert.”

In his best nasal twine Paul introduces the Blues Brothers as being there “With the support of fellow artists Curtis Salgado and the Cray Band.”

The reaction was mixed. There were those in the club who felt that Curtis’ act and style had been stolen. There would even be Curtis’ friends in later years who wanted to confront Belushi and Akroyd, but Curtis passed on it and played it forward. Says he, “I played a major part and never felt like I got ripped off.”

He played it forward with the Robert Cray Band till 1982 when he joined Roomful of Blues from 1984 to 1986. In 1988 Curtis was at the crossroads once again, this time behind the substances.

In October 1988 he checked in to rehab, got clean and stayed the course ever since. If that wasn’t enough, he’s also had bypass surgery and liver cancer, and beat them both. Over the years he has toured with his own bands and received success all over the world. Having played every major blues festival stateside he has brought the “blue eye testify” to Guam, Canada, Europe, Brazil, the Philippines and Hong Kong. He’s come a long way from Eugene, but still maintains a very approachable small town lumber yard superintendent demeanor that endears him to the fans. His writing stands out as every bit as formidable as his singing. The combination of the two of them have garnered him major awards, including BB King Entertainer of the Year, Soul Blues Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.

Recent years have found Curtis continuing to tour, but also to be in great demand on the Blues cruises. The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise features him almost yearly. He laughs when he remembers one of the early cruises when it was still the Ultimate Rhythm and Blues Cruise. “We ran out of food and for pizza we were eating hot dogs with pizza sauce on toast!”

Like everyone in the music business, COVID put his life on hold. He remembers getting on a flight from Seattle to Portland and it was empty, and the gigs did dry up. However, he was able to get unemployment and keep rolling. Through good times and the bumps, he has continued to mature musically in both style and substance. And his latest album is a testament to that.

The album was recorded in three separate studios, and the players read like a who’s who of heavy hitter bad ass studio men. Among them is Jim Pugh on organ, Tony Braunagel on drums, Johnny Lee Schell on guitar, (the late) Mike Finigan on piano, and Kid Anderson. And the writing matches the quality of the playing.

I asked him if he had a daily writing schedule and he just laughed and said: “That’s waaay too professional!!” However he does it, the songs are all top notch and well crafted, something you see so little of these days.

The Album is titled Damage Control, and opens with the Gospel voiced chords to “The Longer I Live” and roars out twelve tracks later with a Larry William classic. In between it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet of classic R&B and Blues grooves that never gets old or repeats itself.

Some highlights include:

1)“You’re Gonna Miss My Sorry Lee Ass,” which sounds like Dr. John and Jerry Lewis having some fun.
2) “Count Of Three”, which sounds like a lost tune by General Norman Johnson.
3)”Hail Mighty Caeser”- A direct homage to Huey “Piano” Smith—a Classic.
4) “Damage Control”- A real Randy Newman feel to this one.
5) “Slow Down” – one of the great nasty Rock and Roll songs of all time. Covered by the Beatles and a group called Crow, the Salgado version reeks of Dixie Peach and Thunderbird, as it should.

And finally, when John Belushi asked what he could do, Curtis asked him to not forget the guys who made this music. Apparently, the comic icon arranged that for at least some of the artists on the album.

Several years after that night Curtis was at the Chicago Blues Festival, a woman in a golf cart approached him, and asked him to go with her. She took him to another stage and there sat Floyd Dixon, author of “Hey Bartender,” the song featured prominently on Saturday Night Live.

He jumped up and hugged Curtis while thanking him profusely for using the song and seeing that he got royalties for it.

Curtis asked him if it was a decent check, to which Floyd replied, “Oh, hell yes, Seventy eight thousand dollars to be exact.!!!!”

Curtis was ecstatic. He asked:” Did you buy a house or put it in savings?” Floyd took off his shades, he looked off into distance and smiled and said, “Oh no, I spent it all on the horses and I had a wonderful time”.

Curtis just laughed and thought, “Now that’s the blues.”

Writer Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a performing artist, teacher and radio personality and recovering addict. He is a former Special ED Teacher and Pro wrestling manager. The Rev is the author of two books and numerous articles on music and culture. He lives in Florida with his wife and a houseful of animals.

Fog Blues and Brass Band – Twelve Bar Prescription

Independent Release

www.fogblues.com

6 Tracks – 23 Minutes

Kitchener Ontario’s Fog and Brass band were semi-finalists at the 2020 International Blues Challenge in Memphis following the 2019 release of their debut album, Into the Fog. But although the band is new, the performers are all seasoned professionals. Hilliard “Hills” Walter performed with the Waterloo Oxford Jazz Choir in 1983 and joined his first rock band around that same time while still in high school. He joined his first professional band at age 19 and performed with numerous acts over the twenty years both as a band member and as a session musician. All of which led him to join Fog. Hills provides the lead vocals and plays harmonica. Guitarist Tim Palser has been performing with various bands for 45 years but prefers not to discuss his personal life. Al Hosack started playing guitar at age 12, but switched to bass, He played in the band Fallen Angels, which included musicians from Bad Company, Uriah Heep, Klaatu, and David Gilmour Band. Drummer Domenic Di Nino has over 40 years’ experience playing for groups in very diverse genres.  Keyboardist Bobby Becker got his start playing for The Rembrandts while he was still in high school and formed Yukon which had a minor hit, “Understanding is Sorrow” in 1971 and reached #73 on the Billboard charts. Alto sax player Joe Dublanski started singing in a Quebec boys’ choir at age four. Like the other players, he has performed with a large number of other bands before he landed in Fog. Dan Jancar started playing sax at in grade 7 after hearing Clarence Clemons play with Bruce Springsteen. Again, a large number of bands later, he joined Fog playing tenor and baritone sax, and has recently been nominated for the 2024 Maple Blues Award for Horn Player of the Year.

Together the seven-piece band forms a tight knit group with powerful blues as their focus. This is the band’s second album release following a single release of “Why Get Up” in 2023. Robi Banerji on lap steel also guests on the album. The title song kicks off the six original songs on the album in style as Hills sings that he has “Got the blues and needs a twelve- bar prescription” ” with brief blasts of individual guitar, keyboard and sax leads. Tim Palser’s guitar leads “Two Deep” in a classic blues rock song with strong backing vocals and Hills’ harmonica dropping in followed by Bobby’s honky-tonk piano.

Hills declares he has the “Seven Year Itch” and has to cure it. “Beaterland” is a “short little fellow people say is a someone who has your back”.  Bobby pulls out the organ on this one. Next up, “Hey Lucy”, is a funky horn-driven rocker with Hills’ questioning his wife of a short time “who is already acting strange”.  On “Who’s Gonna Suffer” Hills declares that “I’ve got a girl you know the type. She’s got it good when she loves me right. When things go wrong it’s her right to make me pay all day and all night”.

Hills has a great driving baritone voice. The band blends a great mix between each of the instruments in some fine rocking blues rock.

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.

Ndidi O – Simple Songs for Complicated Times

Factor

www.ndidio.ca

11 tracks/40 minutes

Ndidi O is Ndidi Onukwulu, a Canadian singer-songwriter who was born in British Columbia. Onukwulu combines several genres in her jazz and blues; these include surf music, electric blues, gospel, and country. She ventured from BC to NYC, dabbling in hip hop and blues. Then she was off to Toronto and joined a rock band and later an electronica group.

At age 18 in 2006 she moved back towards the blues and released her first album. She hooked up with Canadian blues musician Steve Dawson and released her second album in 2008. She then decided a move to Europe was in order, so she was off across the Atlantic. She released two more albums in 2011 and 2014 while there.

Another move, this time to America’s West Coast and a return to her blues roots resulted in her fifth album in 2018, another solo effort. Then in 2022 she worked with Trish Klein and released a  blues album entitled The Blue and the Gold. Here we are four years later and she’s back working with Steve Dawson on her latest blues endeavor.

Ndidi’s voice is powerful, yet ethereal. It is raw, yet refined.  Her vocal prowess is amazing; she has a sound that is quite unique. I have a hard time quantifying how she sounds.  Breathy and wispy at times, and then she lets loose to be a force to be reckoned with. Her songs are blues and there is a lot of other things going on in there with the blues, but the blues are the core of her music.

The band here in support of her vocals are, of course, Steve Dawson on guitars, pedal steel and all things stringed,  Sam Howard on bass, Gary Craig on drums and Chris Gestrin on keys. Backing vocalists are Khari McClelland, Dawn Pemberton, and Keri Latimer.

“Get Gone” is cool song with a primal groove and dark bluesy sound. Haunting pedal steel guitar, nice keys and great vocals are the order of the day here in this cut about leaving toxic folks behind. “Ode To Death” is a dark cut with resonator and electric guitar and a breathy vocal lead that grows as the song progresses. More ghostly pedal steel adds nicely to the feel here. Next is “Light On,” a lighter cut with interesting guitar and keys. “So Cold” has a throbbing opening bass line and passionate vocals with stinging guitar, electric and slide.

“Don’t Come Back” is a song about dumping someone who has been nothing but huge problems.  Gutsy vocals and poignant pedal steel make this one quite cool. “In May” is a happier cut, evoking Spring and having a country feel to it with acoustic guitar and pedal steel setting a sweet mood. Next is “Change In This Like” has a cool spiritual feel to it. Ndidi pledges to make a change even if she’s got to get dirty doing it.

“Too Late” is a middle-aged despair piece about a music industry culture that favors the young. The song sounds bouncy and hopeful as Ndidi navigates the music biz. “Grief” follows, taking the emotions down. Her lilting and amazing voice softens the blows of life’s miseries for the listener as she gets back with her love. The guitar works is equally spectacular. “Working Girl” has a down home sound with acoustic guitar laying out a nice groove for Ms. O. It’s a cool blues with nice backing support by the band.  The album concludes with “Worth,” another cut about the “ravages” of approaching middle age. All the things up to now have no bearing as life goes forward with no life, no car, no man and not wanting some other guy’s kids. The organ solo is sublime as Ndidi stands up to what life as promised and not delivered on.

I was enamored with Ndidi O’s vocals. Her singing and simple yet moving original tunes that she and Dawson created collectively give us a geat new album to savor and enjoy over and over again. I really enjoyed this one and must go find some of her earlier music to listen to, too! She’s a fantastic singer!

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.