Tab Benoit – I Hear Thunder

Whiskey Bayou Records

www.tabbenoit.com

10 tracks/45 minutes

With his first studio album in 13 years, Tab Benoit gives us ten solid, driving tracks like only he can produce. And to make things even more delightful is that Anders Osborne appears on every track!

Tab is joined by his touring band on the album. Corey Duplechin on bass and Terence Higgins on drums lay out tight grooves than wind through each cut.

Tab had full control of the production and he was happy to finally have an album truly be his from start to finish. “It’s the first album that I don’t have anybody to answer to—except me and my audience.” I hope this continues because it’s a winner.

The title track opens the CD and it’s a hard riding cut where Tab and Anders show us what’s in store.  Great cut! Then it’s “The Ghost of Gatemouth Brown” and they stomp and shuffle through the song with ease. Benoit sings with his Cajun passion and the guitar licks are superb.

A slow and lamentful cut follows. “Still Gray” feature Tab singing with pain in his voice, making the listener feel his loss, and the guitar soloing adds to those feelings; beautifully done. Then it’s time for “Inner Child,” a mid-tempo, rocking cut where he sings about bringing out the inner child in his woman. Stinging guitars and a tight, hard groove make this one cool.

Benoit takes us back down to the bayou in “Watching the Gators Roll” where he regales in watching the alligators do their thing. It’s a romping and fun piece, and, of course, features more fine guitar. Next up is “Overdue,” a slow blues where Tab howls out the vocals and tears at the listeners soul.

“Why, Why” is a single that was released and it again evokes pain and suffering as he sings about hard times and problems in our society.  The guitar solos again are phenomenal. Then it’s “Little Queenie” is not Chuck Berry’s tune but Tab’s take on his own little queenie. The guitar rings brightly and he sings with his trademark passion.

“I’m A Write That Down” features more poignant guitar playing as Tab again sings of retribution and not letting his women forget what she said because he’s going do what the title says. He concludes with “Bayou Man;” Benoit growls out the lead and he sings of being a Bayou Man who is going to save the women he sings about. The guitars blaze, the beat is tight and the cut is an apt conclusion to an outstanding album.

It’s been too long since we got to hear a new Tab Benoit album. His return to the studio brings us a fantastic new release that will certainly garner recognition, not because he’s Tab Benoit but because he’s given us ten great new songs with partner Anders Osborne that deliver the goods. He’s won a ton of awards over the years and he may be on his way to another one with I Hear Thunder!

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 Bear Root Sheiks – Rhino & The Alligator

Self-release – 2024

www.rainer-brunn.de

www.alspuidauf.de

14 tracks: 57 minutes

Rhino & The Alligator is the debut album from an acoustic blues duo known as The Bear Root Sheiks. The Bear Root Sheiks are Rainer Brunn (guitars, vocals, and mandolin) and Al Lindinger (guitars, vocals, harp, and bass drum). According to their one-pager, these bluesmen are veterans of the German blues scene with successful solo careers.

According to his website, Rainer Brunn began playing blues and folk music at the age of seventeen eventually studying classic guitar and then gradually coming back to acoustic blues. Brunn also has a successful online guitar tutorial series through YouTube and a strong following on Facebook. Lindinger’s webpage says that he has “decades of experience in various blues styles, captivating audiences with powerful slide guitar pieces, or delicate Ragtime picking, or solemn blues ballads.” He has also made a name for himself as a songwriter…mostly for his dialect pieces, but also for some of his instrumental pieces, which are played on popular (German) radio stations.

The Bear Root Sheiks primarily concentrate on their interpretations of country blues classics of the 20s and 30s, along with some Piedmont-style blues, and a little Ragtime for fun.

The debut album was arranged and produced by The Bear Root Sheiks and recorded, mixed, and mastered at Low Tide Studios in Deuerling, Heimberg (Germany). Andreas (Al) Lindinger was responsible for mixing and mastering, and he has songwriting credits for four original songs along with one hybrid number.

Rhino & The Alligator kicks off with a spirited version of Big Bill Broonzy’s “Hey, Hey,” featuring solid vocals and terrific finger picking. The German duo keep things hopping with Tommy Johnson’s classic “Canned Heat Blues,” that late 1920s lament on the evils of drinking Sterno. Other blues classics receiving The Bear Root Sheiks unique interpretations, include: “Key to the Highway” and Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “You Got to Move.” Lindinger’s harp shines through on “Key to the Highway” and the haunting rendition of “You Got to Move” complete with traditional Delta blues slide play is definitely a highlight of the album.

“Drop Down Mama,” the “Sleepy” John Estes classic and inspiration for Led Zeppelin’s “Custard Pie,” is superbly reproduced with Rainer Brunn’s expert mandolin picking—reminiscent of Estes West Tennessee partner, James “Yank” Rachell—and the duo’s melodic harmonizing. Robert Johnson’s “Malted Milk” receives equally superb treatment with intricate guitar work much like the original. Piedmont blues and Ragtime are alive and well on Blind Boy Fuller’s “Rag, Mama, Rag,” featuring, once again, some sweet slide guitar.

“What’s the Matter With the Mill?” by Memphis Minnie (Lizzie Douglas) rounds out the cover tracks with great fingerpicking and more of those melodic harmonies.

Of the album’s original songs, instrumentals “Big Bear Root Blues” and “Schnuggi Rag” showcase The Bear Root Sheiks at their country blues best. Finally, “Oidboch Bursch” is a fusion piece—sung in German—based on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Mississippi Kid.”

On their website, The Bear Root Sheiks talk about taking their listeners on an entertaining and colorful journey through the history of the blues…transporting (the listener) to a world full of hardship and worries, but (one) in which people still had time (for) one another.

That’s a wonderful sentiment to a time and place that eventually changed the modern musical world, forever. And Rhino & The Alligator is a testament to a pair of outstanding musicians.

Writer Ken Billett is a freelance writer based in Memphis. He is a Blues Foundation member and former docent/tour guide at the Blues Hall of Fame. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Ken writes about travel, music, and the Mississippi Delta.

The Name Droppers – Starshine

Horizon Music Group – 2024

www.thenamedroppers.net

10 tracks; 33 minutes

With their 6th album in the past four years, Starshine (2024), Connecticut blues rock outfit The Name Droppers offer a mix of seedy, poetic lyrics, high energy, and gnarly solos.

In “Red Sea Blues”, one of the best tracks on the LP, engaging rhythm intertwined with guitar melody opens as Rafe Klein sings “blue is in my heart. Red all over the morning news. Has anybody heard of genocide? Think I lost my heart to the Red Sea Blues.” Klein’s vocals are earnest, straining, tender, and sympathetic in the song dedicated to loss, and that carries on with a slow patience, like the long process of grief. Ron Rifkin delivers excellent and haunting organ that send chills and pull on the heart strings. The track is the emotional core of the album.

As bar bands are want to do, The Name Droppers perform several covers. Their reinterpretation of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles, however, is something special. Bobby T Torello offers tasty drums to kick it off, complimented by Klein’s saucy guitar work. While still resembling the original, The Name Droppers leaned heavily into the blues, giving it soul, energy, and gumption. While the vocals are groovy and emphatic, the instrumentation is gritty and entrancing.

The group’s rendition of BB King’s “Sweet Little Angel”, lack the energy and feeling of the original, but stands as a fun cover showing some impressive, gnarly guitar licks.

On “Starshine”, the opening track, the lyrics come across as a mix of Tom Waits and Bob Dylan, with Klein singing “I’ve fallen for the uptown girl with diamonds on her feet.”

“Whiskey” features gravelly vocals, and a funky, blues style in the vein of Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa as a catchy guitar hook threads the song together.

For “Shades of Blue”, a smooth, well-produced track, the band takes a relaxed, melancholic approach. Klein’s voice, smooth and honey-laden, gives a general sense of calm and acceptance. Rifkin’s soothing organ flourishes contributes to a multi-layered feeling of balance in the face of blues and depression. Klein sings about the “light that shines from you” and how it “takes time to mend a soul when there’s no time to cry.”

Simone Browne, the unsung hero of the album as a backup vocalist, offers sweet, angelic vocals on “Joy, Pain, Sky” to close the album. Groovy harmonies ensue as Klein reflects on the joy and pain of life. Klein sing-speaks, grounding the track in reality as Browne’s vocals rise it to an astral plane.

A few tracks are repetitive, but on the whole, the Name Droppers produced a rocking blues album, with solid covers and exceptional lyrics.

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.

Memphis Royal Brothers

Royal Records

8 songs time – 40:00

This project was conceived by Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer Boo Mitchell, son of producer Willie Mitchell of Hi Records fame. A core group of instrumentalists and un-credited background vocalists are joined by various lead vocalists. All but one song are originals by different configurations of Gary Bolen, Richard Bolen, Wes Hamil and Paul Williams. The Memphis sound is infused with roots music, blues, rock and roll and a bit of country.

Bobby Rush lends his talk-singing and harmonica to “Good God I Got The Blues”. The powerful horn section, Rev. Charles Hodges Hammond B3 organ and the female backing singers add the Memphis vibe. “Goin’ South” gets the mellow and mild spoken tones of Memphis Charle Musselwhite along with his legendary harmonica. Electric slide guitar adds to the Southern atmospherics. Jim Lauderdale & Wendy Moten present a strong country duet on “Brand New Heart”. This could well vie for a classic country duet. These two vibrant voices gel well. Luther Dickinson plays lead guitar on this one.

Wendy’s soulful voice does a solo turn on the slow gospel inflected “Ready To Rise”. Organ, heavenly backing vocals and horns are the icing on the cake. From here on in the vocals belong to former Tower Of Power singer Marcus Scott. His voice just drips soul. He and an unidentified female singer trade jibes on “Gimme Back The Keys To My Cadillac”. Marcus keeps the soul going on “Hot Night In June”. There is also infectious electric slide guitar slithering around.

“What Mothers Do” is a tender and touching tribute to mothers. Gary Bolen’s guitar plays nicely against the horns. A slow and souled-up version of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall To Pieces” closes out the festivities. Lester Snell’s piano and an uncredited harmonica player usher in the song. Strings and the ever-present backing vocalists dress it up quite elegantly. Marcus takes the song out with an over-the-top soul ending in great style.

Bo Mitchell’s vision has rendered a well-done slice of Memphis goodness. All involved commit themselves proudly, but Marcus Scott, Wendy Moten and Jim Lauderdale steal the show. Do yourself a favor and snatch this one up.

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

Mick Kolassa – All Kinds of Blues

Endless Blues Records

http://www.mimsmick.com

14 Tracks – 49 Minutes

This the fifteenth album release from the prolific Mick Kolassa, nine of which was released starting in 2020 with four alone released in 2022. In 2023, he only released one physical album, but he also released an additional five digital only albums and one EP.  He alerted everyone in 2022 to his potential run of albums with the release titled I’m Just getting Started. The quality of his output never faltered and ran the gamut from fun, Essentially Not Serious, to a folk approach in Americana Essentials, and to a themed approach with Troutunes & Other Fishing Madness. As stated with this album’s title, he is now focused on All Kinds of Blues.

Mick now lives in Michigan where he was born but he lived in Mississippi and Memphis for over 30 years where he soaked up the environment that gave birth to the blues. That combination of locales delivered his nickname “Michissippi” Mick. Mick is the owner of his record label, Endless Blues, and was a Board member of the Blues Foundation. He declares that all of his albums are a labor of love. 100% of the profits from the sale of his albums go to the Blues Foundation and is split between two programs – The HART (Handy Artists Relief Trust) Fund and Generation Blues. The former provides financial assistance to musicians and their families that have incurred medical expenses beyond their means. The latter provides financial assistance to aspiring young blues musicians with limited financial resources.

Mick Kolassa provides all of the vocals, wrote or co-wrote all of the original songs for the album, and plays guitar on three tracks. Jeff Jensen produced the album and plays guitar on most tracks. Dexter Allen performs with Mick in concerts that feature a more blues rock sound and plays guitar and bass on three tracks on this album. Other key players are Eric Hughes on harmonica, Rick Steff on piano, B3, accordion, and mini-Moog, Marc Franklin on trumpet, Kirk Smothers on sax, James Cunningham and Tom Lonardo sharing drums, with Joey Robinson also adding drums and keyboards on three tracks, and Bill Ruffino on bass and percussion.

The album opens with “Thank You Memphis”, a love letter to the city he called home for many years and played in the style of Memphis blues with Eric’s harmonica, Marc’s trumpet and Kirk’s sax kicking up the sound with Jeff’s guitar. “Where Love takes Me” is a Mississippi styled electric blues with Dexter on guitar as Mick notes that “wherever I go, it will be because of love”. Doug MacLeod co-wrote, sings and plays guitar on “Did You Ever Wonder” which has a New Orleans rhumba beat as the two question where some names come from.

The blues rocker “Too Old to Die Young” has Mick coming to terms with his age following a birthday noting “It has been fifty years since I turned 21”.  The jazzy blues “Happy Endings” features piano of Joey Robinson as Mick asks, “Why cannot my dreams come true?” On “Amy Iodine”, Mick says, “I’ve got a new lady friend, she really loves me because she was programmed that way”, in the first love song to an A.I. creation and featuring some computer beeps in what Mick calls the first of a new sub-genre “Post-contemporary Acid Blues”.

“You Bumped Me Again” gets funky as Mick asks “What do I need to get your attention” as he cites her repeated rejections. Eric Hughes again joins on harmonica on a rocking “Does Your Mama Know” which asks why she wants to keep his love for her from her mama and papa.  Mick sinks his voice down into a deep bass on “Eating My Soul” as he asks, “How much more do I have to take?” in a brooding roll with Kirk’s sax wailing.

Mick says, “It is tearing me apart” “I Can’t Sing No Blues Tonight” as Rick’s piano dominates and Mick’s slide guitar winds through the song. “That Don’t Mean” “it just makes it worse when people know you don’t care” with Jeff’s Chicago style guitar. Mick declares “you are making yourself a fool” “Drinking Somebody Else’s Whiskey”.

Eric Hughes co-wrote the county blues “Bad Decision” and rejoins on harmonica and guitar as a lonely man in a bar tries to pick up a solo woman to “have a couple of drinks and make some bad decisions”. Mick offers an explanation of his decision to move back to Michigan after living in Memphis for so many years in “A Yankee Heading Home” which shifts into a little taste of Americana.

Every one of Mick’s albums have their own pleasures and this one is no exception. Touches of humor interspersed with despair are a common factor in his storytelling. It is easy to recommend any of Mick’s albums, including this one. He has indicated that following the barrage of albums mentioned above, Mick has cited with this one he intends to slow down now.

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.

2024 Blues Blast Music Award Winners

Contemporary Blues Album

Rick Estrin & The Night Cats – The Hits Keep Coming

Traditional Blues Album

John Primer & Bob Corritore – Crawlin’ Kingsnake

Soul Blues Album

Blackburn Brothers – SoulFunkin’Blues

Rock Blues Album

Mike Zito – Life is Hard

Acoustic Blues Album

Sue Foley – One Guitar Woman

Live Blues Album

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram – Live In London

Historical Or Vintage Recording

Magic Slim & John Primer feat. The Teardrops – Slow Blues

New Artist Debut Album

DK Harrell – The Right Man

Blues Band Of The Year

Rick Estrin & The Nightcats

Male Blues Artist

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Female Blues Artist

Sue Foley

Sean Costello Rising Star Award

Candice Ivory

Producer Of The Year

Joe Bonamassa & Josh Smith

Electric Guitarist Of The Year

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year

Sue Foley

Slide Guitarist Of The Year

Derek Trucks

Bass Guitarist Of The Year

Danielle Nicole

Keyboard Player Of The Year

Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne

Percussionist Of The Year

Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith

Harmonica Player Of The Year

Charlie Musselwhite

Horn Player Of The Year

Trombone Shorty

Vocalist Of The Year

Ruthie Foster

Blues Video Of The Year

Omar and The Howlers – No Peace in the City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTtbGTvoFoM