Various Artists – Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Nola Blue Records

https://www.nola-blue.com/

9 tracks

Nola Blue Records offers up a new Christmas album for 2024 and it’s another great holiday classic! Featuring a host of super artists, these nine tracks showcase the label’s cadre of fine artists singing and playing a mix of classic and cool holiday songs.

“I Want Some Christmas Cheer” is a very funky cut with Benny Turner on bass and vocals and Jack Miele on guitar and it’s a super opener for an excellent set of Christmas cuts. The hymn “Go Tell It On The Mountain” follows with Trudy Lynn on vocals, Steve Krase on harp and a great band backing them in this Gospel number with passionate vocals and some greasy harp. Jump blues styled “Slim Down Santa” is a cool rendition with Jim Koeppel on guitar and vocals and some cool horn and piano respectively by Gene “Daddy G” Barge and Tennyson Stephens. Mrs. C. might appreciate Santa’s slim down even more that his reindeer do!

“River” is next with Tiffany Pollack and Eric Johanson fronting the band. Johanson and Jack Miele handle axe work on this somber and soulful rendition. “Christmas On Bourbon Street” Features Gregg Martinez singing, another soulful piece, this time about the holiday in the Crescent City. Up next is “That’s What I Want For Christmas,” another soulful and reflective song. Here we have Sugar Ray Norcia on harp and vocals, Marty Ballou on bass, Ricky Russell on guitar and Bobby Christina on the skins. The harp here is emotive and slick as Norcia and company deliver a winner.

Frank Bey and Anthony Paule give a heartfelt performance here in “Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday.” Loralee Christensen adds passionate backing vocals and the horns and B3 give it their all; I think this is my favorite cut on the album. Then it’s time for “Christmas” soul with Clarence Spady on vocals and guitar. He and the band lay out a slick groove; Dave Archer on organ and piano help set the tone. The album concludes with “Funky Mistletoe” with Willie J. Laws on vocals and guitar and Roberto Morbioli also on guitar. They keep the funk going with this soulful cut that grabs the listener.

Another holiday winner is delivered by Nola Blue Records. I loved the album a will add it to my regular Christmas and holiday rotation. Download this today!

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.

Eric Bibb – In the Real World

Stony Plain Records SPCD1488

www.ericbibb.com

15 songs – 56 minutes

Acoustic master Eric Bibb earned another Grammy nomination for his stellar 2023 Ridin’ CD, and he delivers another sonic stroke of genius with this masterwork. It’s a deeply moving effort that hits you like a velvet hammer – gently but with the force of a hurricane – as the troubadour deftly explores his life experience to describe where he’s been and where he’s headed while outlining his hopes and dreams for all mankind. In many ways, it’s a below-the-skin self-portrait.

Produced, arranged and mixed by multi-instrumentalist Glen Scott at Real World and Repute Records Studios in England and LittleBIG Sound in Nashville for Repute Records and distributed worldwide by Stony Plain under an exclusive licensing agreement, the album has been released in two formats: a 15-tune CD and a 12-tune LP, which comes with a download card for links to the missing music. And every note, every phrase and every syllable is packed to the brim with powerful emotions and subtle observations.

Glen contributes percussion, bass, electric guitar, mandolin, organ and backing vocals while keeping Eric’s acoustic axe and voice high in the mix throughout. But this is far more than a duo effort. They’re joined by Robbie McIntosh and Chuck Anthony on guitars, Esbjorn Hazelius on fiddle and cittern, David Davidson and David Angell on violin and Carole Rabinowitz on cello.

Rounding out the lineup are Michael Jerome Browne and Greger Andersson on harp and Paul Robinson on drums with Sara Bergkvist Scott, Johnathon L. Mongi, Emmanuel Enwokeforo, Agnese Stengrevics, Chris McGreevy, Emilia Franklin, Shaneeka Simon, Sepideh Vaziri, Arezo Vaziri on backing vocals. And Lily James makes a guest appearance as the lead vocalist on the closing number.

“Take the Stage” opens the action and finds Bibb looking out at the world on a new day, with a new view. He announces to anyone in earshot that he’s heading home while looking back on an old world that’s crumbling with age and burning with rage and a new world – hopefully healed by love –waiting in the wings. The message continues in “Walk Steady On,” which advises “walk in a godful way – walk straight on.” The feel changes slightly with “Everybody’s Got a Right,” which speaks out about acceptance in whatever form it may take.

Eric insists he’s doing the “Best I Can” in overcoming the chains of slavery while speaking out about injustice in whatever form it takes while giving thanks for the strength that enables him to take a stand. The theme flows steadily through “Make a Change” and the uplifting “This River (Chains & Free)” before the mood changes with “Stealin’ Home.” It celebrates Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson, who swiped the plate against the Yankees in game three of the World Series and faced down racist stares. “I nearly lost my mind,” Bibb sings, “when the ump called him safe. He was like Daniel in the lion’s den…takin’ on the system with the courage of ten men.”

The mood brightens with “If There’s Any Rule,” which speaks out about the need to love one another in a world torn with strife. It gives way to the funky “King of the Castle,” which addresses the suffering of the homeless, many of whom are thrown into the streets because of forces beyond their control…the loss of a job because of the pandemic and much, much more. The mood turns somber again with “Neshoba County,” which recounts the slaying of civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman in Mississippi in 1964, before “Dear Mavis” serves up an aural letter and words of thanks to Mavis Staples for the music that’s healed Eric’s soul.

“Roll on Buddy” delivers a little encouragement to folks trying to overcome roadblocks hindering them from reaching their goals before the sweet “Judgement Day” yearns for the ability to speak out to all the war-makers in the world to remind them of the price they’ll pay. In “The Real World,” Bibb insists, music always fills the air and all is fair – something that contrasts gravely with current events. The disc closes with the duet, “Victory Voices,” which celebrates all the peaceful, loving people Eric’s met along the way.

Feeling blue? Join Eric Bibb on his musical journey. This masterpiece will raise your spirits in ways you can’t imagine!

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.

Hughes Taylor – Roasted Part One – Dark Roast

The Bent Note

www.hughestaylormusic.com

5 tracks

Hughes Taylor is a blues rocker with Dark Roast being his fifth release. Hailing from Macon, Georgia, Hughes writes his own music and has had music as his primary occupation since age 16. He played his way through college and now tours the southeastern US when he’s not bringing his music abroad.

The band is a quartet of young musicians. On guitar and vocals is Hughes Taylor. Ben Alford is on bass and Neil Gannon is on drums. Zach Wilson handles the keys. Backing vocals feature Emily Lynn along with Alford.

“From The Dark Side” is an all-out rock anthem with heavy guitar, not really a blues cut but a really nice rock song. “Midnight Angel” follows, another big rocker. The guitars blare and the vocals howl. The guitar, bass and keys intertwine into a driving medley of sound. Then it’s “Ballad of Big Bill McGuire,” another hard rocking tome with some blues hints.  It’s a western story of a shootout with guns and guitar blazing. “(In The Morning) When It’s Over” continues the barrage of rock with guitar layered over organ and backline. “When Loves Comes Home” mixes psychedelic and hard rock over a driving groove.

This album kind of reminds my of a 1970’s rock album more than a blues album. If you like wickedly hot guitars and rocking tunes, then this might be for you. It’s not really blues, but it is really good rock.

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.

Mitch Woods – Happy Hour

MoMojo Records – 2024

https://mitchwoods.com

13 tracks; 54 minutes 9 seconds

Happy Hour (2024), Mitch Woods’ latest release features his most popular original tunes, with new arrangements, backed by his long-time band the Rocket 88s playing their signature boogie-woogie New Orleans-tinged style. It was recorded during Covid at Greaseland Studios.

High-energy boogie woogie explodes from the start, with Dave Somers delivering spicy saxophone on the opening track, “Jukebox Drive”, as Woods plays groovy, syncopated piano, singing with the deep voice of a street-wise troubadour. Kid Andersen, the album producer (described as a “madman and musical genius in the liner notes”), offers blistering guitar solos. The lyrics speak of flying saucers, darkly lit bars, and Cadilac cars and the song is playful and energetic, an energy carried throughout the album.

Riotous, jovial boogie-woogie carries the LP, but one of the best songs, “Cryin’ For My Baby” begins with mournful, slow piano progressions and lingering, soulful vocals. Woods croons “Crying for my baby, cause my baby cried for me… If you don’t love me, honey set my soul free.” It is a sparse song, led by piano with saxophone and guitar notes highlighting Woods’ anguish – simple and effective.

“Broke” is powered by strong horns and a syncopated beat as a chorus of men sing “Broke, broke, ain’t got no dough.” Woods comes across as a storyteller, with a sing-rap style, telling the tale of a woman at a bar taking a man for all he is worth. Horn melodies thread throughout, in the high-spirited, punchy track.

Woods’ voice projects itself growling and gravelly in “Long, Lean, and Lanky”, a smooth, fast, classic boogie-woogie tune. The guitar work from Andersen steals the show with flavorful, skilled solos, bolstered by splashes of horn and an absolute torrent of piano, filled with emotion and passion. It’s the type of song meant to be heard live.

Two of the best tracks on the album lean into the New Orleans sound. “Hattie Green” boasts a New Orleans-drenched, funky groove, with growling, gritty vocals singing about a “hoodoo woman they call Hattie Green. Some men say she could turn water into fire… make your heart burn with desire. She’s my hoodoo queen. Down in New Orleans.” The band puts together a tapestry of funky bayou sound and Woods comes across as a mix of Dr. John and Randy Newman.

“Mojo Mambo”’s excellent piano introduction seems to be directly inspired by “Rockin’ Pneumonia and The Boogie Woogie Flu”, a track by the legendary founder of New Orleans R&B, Professor Longhair. The track is saucy, energetic, and full of fervor. The recurring piano melody is dynamite and the band is clearly loose, letting it all hang out. The band plays boogie-woogie as Woods calls the listeners to “Do the mojo mambo”, and throw down with Professor Longhair.

Charming, warm piano playing adorns “Amber Lee”, a sentimental, convivial song about a waitress at a crossroads on Route 63.

“Boogie Woogie Bar-B-Q” contains catchy, swinging horns, delicious saxophone notes, and sliding piano; a long song to barbecue with impressive blues guitar playing. It speaks to communal, simple pleasures.

Hot saxophone screams out on “Mr. Boogie’s Back in Town” as Woods shouts “Hey y’all, Mr. Boogie’s back in town. Get hip to that boogie-woogie sound.” The Rocket 88s create an undeniable beat and orchestration, forming a foot-tapping boogie-woogie tune dedicated to the genre.

While a strong album as a whole, a couple of tracks fell short of the mark. “Shakin’ the Shack”, a party song, seems forced, and “Queen Bee” is repetitive and contains an overly ambitious guitar solo.

With Happy Hour, Mitch Woods provides a high-energy boogie-woogie album, proving himself to be a playful storyteller and competent arrange. The force and energy of this music pour through – this is a riotous, jovial album sure to ease the blues and keep you dancing.

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.

A noted songwriter, Blues educator, and guitar player, Tas Cru has made his mark in a variety of ways since he began a full-time music career almost 20 years ago. This is the third time he has been featured in Blues Blast Magazine, following Marty Gunther’s interview with him in 2021.

In 2022, Cru released his tenth album, which featured a batch of rocking original tunes that highlighted his guitar work supported by a full band.

“I called it Riffin’ The Blue because the songs on there all started with musical ideas, the kind of stuff that you hear as a musician when you’re just sitting in your living room noodling on your guitar, when you should be practicing. You noodle, then you go, oh, I like how that sounds. That’s when you hit the record button on your phone. I had a whole library of those things, saved over the last several years. I went back and listened to some of them again, thinking that riff speaks to this, this riff speaks to that. It all started with a riff, and that’s how I approached it.

“I was very happy with it. I had a couple of my usual compadres on the album with me, but I always like to go and get a little bit of help. I don’t believe in all-star albums with lots of special guests That’s not me. But once in a while, I’ll bring a cat in that I’d like to play with. For example, Bruce Katz came in to play keyboards on that album. I couldn’t really go wrong there. And then I was talking to Mike Zito about some ideas at one point. We didn’t quite get to do what we wanted to, but he did play on a couple tracks with me, and I was very happy with that. I enjoyed making the album. It’s upbeat, and lived up to my expectations.

“One song, “Brown Liquor Woman,” came from a guitar riff first and then it was mentioned to me that there’s a southern saying that girls will share with each other, good southern girls don’t drink brown liquor. When I heard that phrase, I thought, okay, let’s talk about someone that doesn’t do what Mama says she should. And there’s quite a few of them. I think we know some of the same ones. God bless them all.

“Stand Up” is one of our favorite go-to songs for live shows. We do a couple of really gospel infused kind of things, and that’s one of them. The other one is “Heal My Soul,” which is always a festival set closer. Again, that started with a riff. The lyrics in it are a little obtuse, a little obscure, and I’m sure that people can attach their own meaning to it. When I introduce the song, I tell people there are a lot of things in this world to stand up for. They might be the same as mine, but maybe not. That one always goes over. It’s a crowd-pleaser for sure.

“The closing track, “Memphis Gone,” means a lot to me. As a song, it’s part of what I call my Memphis song trilogy. The first one is called “Memphis Song”. That’s all about discovering Memphis for the first time, people that come there during the International Blues Challenge and all that. “Memphis Gone” was written after the COVID years. Perspectives changed , and I wish it was kind of back to the glory days, when everybody was excited about hitting Memphis for the first time, soaking up all the history. I have another song coming up that completes the trilogy but it won’t be on my album. I have somebody else that’s going to record it but I can’t talk about it too much yet. “Memphis Gone” is special. I think Zito does a nice job with the slide guitar on that, and Bruce Katz’s work is beautiful, and the vocal arrangements on it are something that I’m proud of.

“ I grew up a Sunday school Presbyterian kid, so there wasn’t music in that background, but I had this uncle, he was the crazy uncle in the family, had been in the Korean war, came home probably with PTSD, but they didn’t call it then. While he was in the army, he discovered music that I had never heard about. I started hanging out with him and listened to a lot of Ray Charles stuff, which he loved.

“On Friday nights, about six o’clock after supper, I’d go over and he’d be getting all set to go out for the evening, pressing his shirts, and he’d put these records on. I’d listen with him and hang out. I didn’t really listen to the records, I just enjoyed the experience hanging out. He’d break out like a little Jim Beam and some Lucky Strikes, and I’d go home and my mom would be yelling at my dad, don’t you let him go over there! So it didn’t really come from church. It came from my crazy uncle. Now, I’m the crazy uncle!

At one point, Cru traveled around the country. He spent time in Lafayette, Louisiana learning the differences between Cajun, Zydeco, and blues music

“At the Cajun jams, you sit in a circle, might be up to 20 people. Guitar players rarely get solos. They are sort of tolerated because of the rhythms they generated. Those that play the fiddle or concertinas get the solos. I saw and heard people playing the triangle down there, just unbelievable. You would have thought they were playing a grand piano. The different tones and textures and even notes they could get out of that was just amazing. I really enjoyed it down there.

“That’s one of the things I love about my early days before I really got going with touring was I would go and hang out in these different parts of the country where there was still this unique music happening. I’ve spent a lot of time in Oklahoma too, around the Tulsa area, hanging around with guys that idolized Elvin Bishop, Leon Russell and J. J. Cale. Some of them got to play with him a couple times. I remember getting to play with this piano player, Rocky Frisco, that played with J. J. Cale for a while. There are still pockets in this country of music that is very, very unique and distinctive.”

Earlier this year, the guitarist released a live in-the-studio album, billed as All Natural Cage Free and Fan-Fed, featuring songs from a number of his previous releases. The backing came from his current touring band featuring Mary Ann Casale on vocals, Tom Terry on bass, Phil Diiorio on drums, and Scott Ebner on piano and organ.

When it came to selecting the songs for the project, Cru took a unique approach.

“How we did that was I picked 16 songs, took them to the studio and we invited some people that came in from Connecticut and other areas not too far away. There was an audience of about 30 people. We played the same 16 songs four times, not all one day. We did two sets of the same 16 songs back to back on the Saturday night, and then we did it again on Sunday. It wasn’t exactly the same audience. Then we let the fans that were there in the audience pick the songs, using whatever criteria, if they just liked the song or if they thought it sounded really good.

“As musicians, we kind of felt that maybe the version of a song like “Take Me Back to Tulsa” on the third set was better than it was on the first set or the second but it wasn’t necessarily the same for the audience members. We had people do a survey, and they selected the songs. It came down to 11 songs that they picked that consistently made the cut. But one of them would just stuck out like a sore thumb. It would have been fun to put it on, but it just didn’t fit. It was a ballad while the rest of them were all pumping stuff. So we decided to go with the top 10 tunes the fans picked out. That’s our festival set now.”

The project was produced by the band leader, who wrote nine of the songs. The other he co-wrote with a long-time band member.

“Mary Ann pretty much wrote the song “Miss My Man”. She wrote the main part, got the riff, the idea and the concept. I just pretty much rocked it up, arranged it and added a couple of different pieces to it. She probably did 75 percent of the writing on that. I have written a lot of songs, that’s for sure. I just like doing it. There’s about 150 in my repertoire of written songs. And it seems like I got in a rut playing the same 20 songs for almost 10 years.

“That really started to drag me down. When I got the current band together, I’m not putting anybody else down, but this band has the vocal ability to open up a whole bunch of other stuff that I wanted to play, but I just didn’t feel we could pull it off and do it justice. So, I’m very happy with this band.

“I’ve always loved, even back when I was doing my cover band days, playing in a band where we had multi vocalists. Even if you do a new song before you’ve done the arrangement, everybody kind of knows where they’re going to sing. Everybody starts to fit their parts together. There’s nothing better than musicians or singers that grew up and played in the church. They sing a song and everybody just kind of knows where they’ve got to go. It’s just natural and it’s just amazing how some of that stuff can just quickly come together, sounding so rich. I definitely love to have songs that are interesting and melodic, with a lot of well constructed harmony.”

As Richard Bates, the musician followed a familiar path of attending college, eventually earning a PhD in Education. As the years went by, he began to search for something more.

“There’s a lot of things I love to do. I’ve been a full time musician off and on in my adult life. I worked as a side man for a band, there was one in particular out of Montreal that I worked with that started to do pretty well. I would. teach a little bit and then maybe go do something else and then come back to it. I just kind of fell into stuff as I went along. I never planned on getting a PhD or any of that, but I ended up working for this college that liked me and what I did.

“But then they told me that if I wanted to stick with them for any time, I had to get a PhD. And I said, okay. They concocted a way to keep me on the payroll and send me off for a couple years to finish up what I needed to do. It was just right place at the right time. But I always played music through all of that. But, full time music, I did it when I was really young. And then I did it again in my late twenties to like mid thirties. I was about 40 years old when I got into the teaching thing.

That band in Montreal at one point was courted by Sony Records Canada. Cru realized he was a sideman, and what the label really wanted was the band’s lead singer.

“It looked like they were interested in the band, but as soon as they could get the singer away, they shit canned the rest of us. I don’t know whatever happened to him, but for a while we were still playing around up in the Canadian Maritimes. One time there was an ice storm, where it rains, freezes, melts a bit, and refreezes. The storm can last a long time and then everything gets heavy, the trees get heavy, and the electricity gets knocked out. They couldn’t cook in the little town that we happened to be in anymore.

“There’s no electricity and they ran out of propane. That whole thing was miserable. I remember eating raw potatoes there, peeling them, actually washing them off in the snow, and eating them. My Montreal band mates were very cosmopolitan guys, like European guys. They loved having an American in the band because they thought it was going to help them in America. They also kind of looked down their nose at me as being kind of a roughneck.

“They called me the raw potato, because they thought it was disgusting that I was eating those things. It’s Quebecois French slang, and raw potato is what it means, uncooked taters. They don’t say potatoes in Quebecois French the same way that Parisian French would say it.”

“When I first started to hit some stages, I realized that there was some mix up over my real name because it was well known in the blues world at that time by another musician that had been around for a long while. It was before Facebook and all that and people would wonder if I was him, which was kind of weird. A friend of mine said, you got to change the name.

“He said, what do you got for nicknames? I thought about my high school nickname, but I said that ain’t going to work. It was kind of crude, Savage Dick by the way, and it has nothing to do with anything sexual, but relates to having your first name as Richard. So I thought about it, and finally settled on Tas Cru, raw potato. It’s a long story. I tell people about it sometimes when I do my acoustic shows. I have people in stitches about the whole Savage Dick thing, how that name came about.”

Cru has a long history of doing Blues in the Schools programs, with his career in Education giving him many insights into tailoring programs that will vividly connect with a wide age range of students. He has also authored a number of children’s books with a blues theme.

“An idea that I had stemmed from wanting to do something for the Blues Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, to raise a little money. What I decided to do is to remake some of my songs and have them be songs about dogs that get the blues. I reached out to my fan base asking, hey, you got a dog that gets the blues. Tell me why they get the blues.

“People started telling me stuff. It was usual stuff that I could imagine. Then I said, why don’t you send me a picture of your dog and why he gets the blues, what’s his name, where he’s from, and I’ll put it in an insert inside the CD, and you donate a little bit of money for that. We raised a decent contribution, But that turned into something totally unexpected, the three books that I’ve got about this dog who wants to form his own blues band. There’s a couple of the blue societies that really picked up on these books, especially up here around the Albany, New York area. They bought a bunch of them from me at cost and have been distributing them to libraries, about 90 copies of the whole trilogy.”

Happy about the current state of his career, Cru plans to continue making music as long as people want to hear what he has to say.

“I feel that I make good records. I love the studio. I think it’s a place to paint, like a painter would in their studio. They experiment with colors and textures. I love doing that. But I love playing live. That’s always been my goal, to make good records, write good songs, and get people to hear them. That’s what I’m trying to do. I just want to play. One question I get asked is, how long you been playing? And my answer to that is, without trying to sound glib, but it’s true, “Not long enough.”

View Marty Gunther’s 2021 interview with Tas Cru here:

https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/featured-interview-tas-cru-2/

Or check out Don Wilcock’s 2018 interview here:

https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/featured-interview-tas-cru/

Visit Tas’ website at https://tascru.com/

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

Glenn Marias & The Mojo Train – Red, Hot and Blue

Self Released

https://glennmaraisandthemojotrain.ca

11 tracks

Glenn and his band are a hard blues rocking group from Canada that blend blues, rock, funk, and soul in their sounds from the Delta, Detroit, Philadelphia and beyond.  It’s a hard driving and talented group of musicians who have served many a name band in their previous band lifetimes.

Glenn Marais is on guitar, harp and vocals. On bass is Manny De Grandis, on keys is Jesse Karwat and on drums is  Jeff Saulnier. They are main players of this hot Canadian blues rock foursome. Also appearing are Nick Bogoeff who plays saxophone and flute, Graham and Phil Shaw aree on [ercussion and congas and backing vocals are supplied by Quisha Wint and Selena Evangeline on “Pink Lemonade” and Hailey Marais on “Song of Love.”

“That’s Where My Mojo’s At” is a driving blues rocker with breathy vocals and greasy harp. The guitar has a big, ringing  sound and the tune drive along smartly. ”Super Funk” follows,  led by piano and organ and more hard driving guitar. Not much blues but it’s a hot rocking cut. Then it’s “Love Denied” where Marias gets a funky blues groove going and quickly builds into a big, crescendo that repeats each verse and subsequent chorus.

“Red, Hot and Blue” begins as a blues rock ballad with haunting vocals grows into a large scale production.  Ranging from sublime to in your face, this one is an interesting cut for sure. Then it’s time for the frenetic and driven sounds of “It All Went Down” where the vocals howl and guitars blaze. “Love Sweet Love” has a sort of Doobie Brothers groove going stamped with Marias’ own sound. Funky stuff with a guitar setting the pace and organ filling in behind it. The solo licks abound.

“The Song of Love” takes the pace way down with some pretty flute and a restrained guitar and vocals that exude love song. The sax provides the lead in to the vocal build ups as Marias sings what the title says, his song of love. Pretty and sublime. “Hold Me High” follows  and reintroduces the big a driven guitar anthem. Big guitar riffs and howling vocals are the order of the day here.

Next we have the funky “Pink Lemonade” where the guitar and organ lay out the funk as Marias sings this bouncy and fun number. Things stay funky with “Can You See” as Marias delivers this breathy song that switches gears to a more in your face approach. The final cut is “Professor Day” which is a hard charging and funky number when the organ, sax, bass and guitar interplay to move this along. Fast moving and intriguing stuff.

If you like your blues funky and rocking, then look no further. This is not your grandfather’s traditional blues band, but they are a hot rocking group of talented musicians delivering all new songs to enjoy!

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
Sensational Country Blues Wonders! – If I Stop Moving, I’ll Fall from the Sky

Self – released

https://thesensationalcountryblueswonders.bandcamp.com/

10 Tracks – 34 minutes

Jersey City’s Gary Van Miert muse has led him to reintroduce the sound of the 60’s psychedelic pop-songs into the cosmic consciousness.  The accompanying notes about the album reference The Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Electric Prunes, and The Chocolate Watchband as comparisons.

Gary says that he saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan when was five years old but was engaged in music even before that. As a young child he was captivated by the 45 rpm records of the day and, according to his mother, took him to bed with him. He traced the music roots backwards as many of us did in the 60’s. He cites noticing that The Beatles recorded several songs from Carl Perkins which led him back to him and from him back to Hank Williams. Similarly, The Rolling Stones led him back to Muddy Waters and thus following a path back to that era of blues performers.

Gary has always been intrigued by gospel blues and has performed as “The Gospel Wonder” and has played his classic gospel songs at many church services and events. He says that he has always been intrigued by that point where blues, country and gospel intersect. He says he uses the standard recording style of Sun Records as a basis of his music. He describes this album, his third, as “Psychedelic Americana”. No credits are provided for the album, citing that various session musicians were utilized in the making of the album.

He declares on the opening track “my stomach is rumbling, churning deep inside, the whole world is crumbling right before my eyes, holding the universe in the palm of my hand, I look into infinity and now I understand, “We Are Made of Stardust” in a touch of cosmic folk rock with a bit of sitar thrown in. He asks, “Why Did I Eat the Whole Bag of Mushrooms?”, which is inspired by his tendency to overdo things and by the Billy Wilder movie “The Lost Weekend” and describes the feeling of tripping out on the psilocybin-laced “shrooms”. 

The title song is a metaphor for addiction as he advises “my feet were once on the ground, but now I’m skyward bound, I’m soaring high and for what it’s worth, I don’t want to come back to this earth”. The sitar again is a major feature of the song. “Golden Teacher” is about a specific strain of shrooms and describes the experience of its experiencing the effects for the first time. On “Head in the Clouds” he says “it makes me feel so very calm and can never do me harm”.

“I Rode the Bus with Joey Ramone” is about a very vivid dream Gary had about getting on a bus and sitting next to Joey. He says he remembers that he was offering him much advice, but he cannot remember anything that was said. “One More Cup of Mushroom Tea” was influenced musically by Donovan’s 1968 song, “Hurdy Gurdy Man”. He sings “This is a story about a boy named Tim, he drank some mushroom tea on a whim, around and around he swirled, now he is headed into a strange new world.” “Magic Glasses” rocks out as he sees the “darkness turn to light, see the sun begin to rise, see the color in the sky, see the world with brand new eyes” as he describes a transformation in his perception of the universe.

He says “Gravity” was inspired by Brian Wilson’s “Heroes and Villains”. The song is described as a humorous meditation of the chaos that would ensue if Earth no longer had gravity. A bit of barroom piano leads into this song with a kazoo filling in at its conclusion.  “Sky Songs” completes the album with a discussion of how songs come to artists. Gary cites when bluesman Bukka White was asked how he made music, he said “I just reach up and pull them out of the sky – call them sky songs – they just come to me.” He further cites Keith Richards who said, “I’m an antenna, I just pick up an instrument and if there are any songs out there, I receive them”.  Gary plays off both of these quotes in this song.

This is certainly a throwback album to the 60’s psychedelic era, preaching the use of drugs, a laidback humanity, and reaching out with love. Gary has a very pleasant, although somewhat twangy voice that constantly reminded me of someone whom I could never quite trigger. While an enjoyable listen, particularly if you grew up in the era that these types of songs were prevalent, the album as cited is ultimately a throwback pop album. There are no touches of blues anywhere in the album, if you are predominantly seeking the genre.

Reviewer 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.

Jerry McCain – Jerry McCain’s Blues Party

Wolf Records – 2024

www.wolfrec.com

17 tracks; 70 minutes

This release from Austrian label Wolf brings together a range of recordings made by The King Bees, a band from North Carolina who backed a lot of black artists over 40 years in the music business. Of all the guys with whom they played, the band rated Alabama harp player Jerry ‘Boogie’ McCain as the top of the tree. Led by guitarist Rob Baskerville and bassist/vocalist Penny Zamagni, these tracks feature three different drummers, Russ Wilson, Mike Rhodes and Dave Barbour. The material contains both studio and live recordings, most involving Jerry McCain on harp and vocals, some with the King Bees, some solo. The exceptions are four live recordings of the King Bees, two with Nappy Brown, two with Chick Willis. There are no dates given for the recordings but, Jerry passed in 2012, Chick in 2013 and Nappy in 2008, so it is probably safe to assume that they span the 1990’s and early 2000’s.

Jerry wrote twelve of the songs presented here. There are three solo tracks, all quite short: Jerry pays tribute to his “Hotrod Ford” on a toe-tapping tune, mainly vocal with touches of harp; the slower paced “Let Me Tell You Pretty Baby” is just over a minute of slow blues with harp interjections between all the vocal lines; Jerry has a girl that is not so good round the house, but “You Knows How To Love”, so all is well! On “Mama’s Pride” Jerry performs a mainly spoken vocal with string accompaniment, certainly a different feel to the rest of the tracks here, his ethereal harp towards the end of the track sounding almost like a flute. Jerry and Rob combine on the leisurely-paced “I Got The Blues All Over Me” and “I Got To Go Home”, the latter featuring some excellent harp playing set against Rob’s solid guitar work.

Five tracks featuring Jerry are band performances with The King Bees. “Boogie Buzz” is an instrumental written by Rob and lives up to its title with exciting harp from the main man, the rest of the band filling out the sound really well. Four live cuts start with “I Used To Have It”, Jerry playing to the crowd in his spoken intro about his first wife who “took it with her the day she walked out the door”. Jerry’s best known song is “She’s Tough”, famously covered by the Fabulous Thunderbirds and he revisits it here in a slower version than the T-Birds’, to the acclaim of the crowd, as he plays around with it and states that his version must be the best, as he wrote it! There is some tough guitar as Jerry sets the scene for how he believes we should deal with the drug problem – “Burn The Crack House Down”! Finally “Blues Tribute” wraps up a few lines from familiar sources such as Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Junior Parker and, of course, his own “Tough Enough” gets a reprise amongst them! Bassist Penny handles the vocals on two of her own songs. Jerry plays a storm on “Cool It”, a stop-start R&B number, while “Back Door Lovin’” has Rob playing slide with Jerry stepping out from sideman duties to nail the central solo.

The four remaining tracks do not involve Jerry at all, but are The King Bees backing Chick Willis and Nappy Brown. All are covers, the Chick tracks being Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Hello Central”, a slow blues with plenty of good guitar work from both Chick and Rob, and Elmore James’ “Look On Yonder Wall”, clearly played as an intro to Chick’s arrival on stage where he plays some fine guitar, backed by Rob’s solid rhythm work. Big Maceo’s “Worried Life Blues” is the longest cut here, Nappy Brown giving a solid vocal performance, as he also does on “Who Told You”, written by Bernard Roth; shame that Jerry was not on hand to add some harp, as this one was originally a success for Little Walter.

Jerry McCain was an interesting character and the extensive liner notes give a good account of his personality, but what interests us most is the music: the recording quality is good and allows us to hear not only Jerry in his element but also some snippets of Chick Willis and Nappy Brown. Well worth your attention, especially for fans of Jerry McCain.

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

Kelly’s Lot – The Blues Remind Me

Self Released

https://www.kellyslot.com

10 tracks

Kelly’s Lot began in 1994, founded by Kelly Zirbes. Her background in  a folk  music and love for the blues has produced 16 CDs. She and her band have toured the US and Europe over the last 30 years. Originating in Los Angeles, Kelly met Perry Robertson in 1996 and produced her first . He then joined the band and they composed music together, mixing her folk and blues roots with his southern rock and Texas Blues background. Perry has produced most of Kelly’s Lot’s music and they celebrate 30 years of music making with this album.

Kelly fronts the band, Perry handles the guitars, Matt McFadden is on bass, and Mike Sauer is on drums except for the first track which features Art Mendoza. Mo Beeks joins in vocally on the first cut and adds keyboards throughout. A variety of horns and instruments abound. Bill Johnston, Aviva Maloney, Paulie Cerra, Didier Reyes, and Chip Tingle are on the horns. Maloney adds flute to a track, Rob Zucca guitar to the same one, Frank “Cisco” Hinajosa plays harp on another, Gary Bivona is on flugelhorn on another and, Tomislav Goluban is on another track with harp.

The opening cut is “I Gotta Sing The Blues,” a somber cut with Zirbes and Beeks singing with passion and Beeks laying out some cool organ licks. Next is “Boogie Bus: with some delightful harp by Cisco and a slick boogie beat. Slow blues is the order of business for “Mama’s Blues.” Kelly lays her heart out and the horns set the mood. Pretty tenor sax (Cerra) is featured here.Things get jumping with “It Ain’t Always” as Kelly and the band give it their all. Horns and piano and a baritone sax solo by Johnston help to sell this one.

“Man In The Moon” follows. Reyes’ trumpet and the piano help define the darker blues feeling here. Upright bass gets some time to shine, too. “Without You” is a mid tempo rocker that is fun.  “Just Tell Me The Truth” is a has a bit of a jazzy feel with flute and a little rock with stinging guitar. Horns and organ add nicely to the mix.

Up next is “Blessings,” a torch song of sorts with Kelly and Mo’s organ passionately giving emotive performances. Some more harp is featured on “Aces” with Goluban blowing the Mississippi Saxophone on a cut with a jumping beat. The guitar switches to acoustic for the finale. “Love and Understanding” had a down home, front porch feel to it and some nice slide to make things even better. Add a cool piano solo and the album wraps up sweetly.

This is a fun and tight recording with a sweet team of musicians working together. You can tell these folks have worked together a long time as they deliver ten all-new songs for the listener to savor. This one is well worth a spin to enjoy!

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.