Blind Lemon Pledge – Lemon Live!

Self Released

blindlemon-pledge.com

13 tracks/51 minutes

The Bay Area acoustic artist Blind Lemon Pledge released his tenth album last year and now follows that up with his first live album featuring original tunes and select covers. The recording combines a pair of performances in Pacifica, California at the Chit Chat Cafe.

I have to admit that in the past I’ve not been a bog fan of his music.  Maybe it’s the vibe of live music, maybe it’s the band playing to the crowd.  I kinda liked this one.  Vocally, BLP often takes an off kilter approach to some tunes. He delivers solid vocal performances here and his guitar is well done, too, Sioux City Slim in harp gives it his all. Mr. Peter Grenell on bass and Rockin’ Juli Moscovitz on drums provide backing and a good groove throughout. I used to write it off to a bunch of California hippies creating their niche or folk, blues, rock, and country. It’s kitschy but it’s fun!

The first three cuts are a trio of originals. “Blackeyed Susie” gets a hill country=like groove going and BLP delivers a breathy performance as he plays some cool slide and Slim blows some interesting harp. ”Hard Heart Honey Bee” rocks out a bit and there’s more guitar and harp to enjoy. “Sugar Rush” is full of double entendres and eclectically fun.

BLP twists the Fenton Robinson tune “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” from the Boz Skaggs adaptation into a sad, acoustic piece.  Lonesome and low down, the vocals, guitar and harp interestingly weave their way through woe. “She’s Into Something” takes Muddy Waters and turns it into an acoustic rhumba.  It’s not too shabby! Next is more Muddy with “I Feel Like Going Home,” with slide giving us an intro and sets the tone for another downtrodden cut that works.

The classic jazzy number “Fever” gets a folky take and after I scratched ny head I didn’t dislike it. It’s different for sure! Next is “I Know You Rider,” with a bouncy and a tad off key delivery that makes you listen. Then it’s an original, “You Can’t Het There from Here” where BLP delivers a slow and deliberate blues that grabs at the listener.

Tommy Johnson’s  “Big Road Blues” is just an adaptation of Charlie Patton’s “Down The Dirt Road Blues” which is an adaptation of a traditional tune. BLP delivers it with passion, singing, playing and sliding well and Slim adds some nicely done harp. The original “Big Road Mama” follows in similar style, sans slide and with lots of harp. Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” gets BLP-ized with a breathy and slow down home delivery. That leads to the finale, the original “Junkyard Dog.” It’s a great tune in a traditional blues style starting with BLP singing and playing and the rest of the band adding their touches later. A funky dog howling session or two or three gets the crowd into it.

After listening I decided I’d have liked to have been at one of those sessions.  The band had fun and so did the crowd.  BLP can be different and eclectic, but one misses the joy he apparently exudes while playing live.  If you want something different in the acoustic blues style, then this might be up your alley.

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.

James Day – Frequencies

Neon Blue Records

www.youtube.com/UCrEaiaJff76-vYhg867k6Bw

13 Tracks – 44 minutes

This album was recorded over a ten-year period at three different studios: Sacred Cat in Sacramento, Sun Studios in Memphis, and High Rye Studios in Kintnersville, Pennsylvania. Accordingly, there is a very long list of performers on the album related to that time span and the disparity of locations where the songs were recorded. In the liner notes, James established that all of the songs “have an occult connection, and the blues and roots genre is the perfect format to explore events beyond everyday physical life. In this life, you may see apparitions, spontaneous auras, experience missing time, or witness something strange in the sky. One thing is for sure, most folks are skeptics, and no one believes this mess until it happens to YOU.”

James plays acoustic guitar and harmonica, provides the vocals and produced the album. The album is his third release in the blues and roots genre. Firecracker was released in 2009, and Southland was released in 2013. James grew up in the coastal southern towns of Biloxi and New Orleans but presently calls Philadelphia home. Regular bandmate Ron Baldwin joins him on organ and electric and acoustic piano. Seventeen other musicians fill out the list of performers on the album.

The album opens with a soulful “One More River” with Paige and Jamie Day providing backing vocals. He says “I got one more river to cross, gonna walk a bridge, gonna go by boat. I might swim across, just go for broke. Gonna need some help from some good, good friends”. Ron’s organ is a standout on the song and Nathan James plays slide guitar.  A funky “Work Song” again features Nathan on slide guitar, Dean Shot on rhythm guitar and Michael Tempo on congas with James on harmonica as he notes “Life is too short and nothing to show for it”. He urges “Keep on keeping on”, all dedicated to the everyday working man. “Area Gray” features the eerie sounds of a theremin played by Bill Degnan with Buddy Clark on stand-up bass, Marty Dobson on trap drums, and Michael Tempo on tympani. James again plays harmonica as he sings, he has been “…going round and round in a holding pattern, waiting for something to happen”.

“Ghost Train” features honky tonk piano from Ron as James proclaims “when you feel that rumble, it might be calling just for you. This train ain’t bound for glory, won’t call your Christian name.” “Beatnik Jam” is an impromptu avant garde jam with a beat poetry run citing “I was locked out of this world, the devil traveling by wire stood in my room with eyes like jelly fire, sparks that lit the gloom”. Greg Snyder leads the way on the jazz guitar, Mark Shewchuk on drums, Michael Mean on acoustic bass, Jamie Day on bass clarinet and Paige on sax. “Desert Song” sounds like an opener for a western movie and starts rocking like a ride on a horse with Nathan James on baritone guitar, Dean Shot on tremolo guitar, Steve Kristy on stand-up bass.

On “Unknown Country” James elaborates on the weird things that have occurred in his life starting at “3:30 in the morning, somebody shouts in my ear, I heard it fade in the wee hours as it disappears. Sat up in my bed, ain’t no one creeping in here.” “Shifting shadows like moonlight.” “Tangled Up” features James’ “menacing harmonica” run through a 1982 15″ Sanyo tube amplifier combined with a 1940 8″ Masco tube. Dean on telecaster tangles with Nathan’s rhythm guitar and Ron’s jumping piano.  James declares ” I was in love with you, mama. That is where I learned to call your name. Now we are all tangled up in this mess here, never will be the same.” At a low point in his life, James hauled a lot of his instruments and household goods down to “Pawnshop Kingdom”. “Took my toaster and guitar too.” “Look at your ticket, see what you can see. You can’t get no more money from me.” Wally Bechtold plays baritone and tenor sax on the song.

“Your Spell on Me” dips into the Louisiana swamps as James recites voodoo incantations from a book of old New Orleans voodoo spells in an easy stroll. Carl Sonny Leyland plays piano with Johnny Viau on sax, Buddy Clake on bass and Marty Dobson on trap drums. “Bean Soup” is a surf- rockabilly guitar instrumental featuring Mark Shewchuk with John Meriglano on drums and Dave Young on bass. James and Nathan trade guitar licks with Rich Delgrasso throwing in mandolin on “Anywhere USA”. The album closes with Bill Degnan dropping some Sci-Fi sounds from his self-built theremin played through a vintage 1972 tape echoplex.

In his album notes, James references the album as an “esoteric twist in modern blues…mixing traditional blues and different approaches”. Clearly “Beatnik Jam” and “High Strangeness” are well outside the realm of blues or roots music. Some of the other songs might pass through some gray areas of blues but do find a basis in a turn on the blues. “Your Spell on Me” on the surface with its voodoo spells does sound like it would be well outside the realm of blues, but in fact might be one of the album’s bluesiest, easy-going songs with its love spell. Traditional blues themes do transform in James’ hands and the talents of his many supporting musicians.

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.

The Jake Leg Jug Band – Live At Green Note

Coastal Light Records – 2025

www.thejakelegjugband.com

15 tracks; 68 minutes

For those unfamiliar with The Jake Leg Jug Band, the band makes everything clear in the opening stage announcement when they say that they play music from the 1920’s and 1930’s. The band is a trio but often plays with additional musicians, on this occasion trumpet, trombone, percussion and backing vocals by Gabriel Garrick. The regular trio is Duncan Wilcox on double bass and vocals, Warren James on guitar, banjo and vocals and Liam Ward on everything else – harmonica, washboard, jug, saw, kazoo, jaw harp, comb and paper and vocals! Since the recording Liam has left the band after eight years but will no doubt sit in from time to time.

To note also that this is not the band’s first live album: a two CD set, Live At Audley Theatre, appeared in 2022. However, the band wanted to ensure that fans would have a different experience, so no tracks are duplicated across the two live offerings and this one was recorded in a more intimate small club in Camden, North London. The album has retained a lot of the often hilarious interchanges between the musicians, some of which may not be easy to interpret for a non-British listener!

The band’s music contains elements of blues, gospel. Warren opens the show with the uptempo “Betty And Dupree”, a traditional song about a famous murder in Atlanta in 1922, later the inspiration for a Grateful Dead song though this version is probably closer to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s. Warren’s nasal delivery brings to mind the late Lonnie Donegan who was hugely popular in the late 1950’s in England with revivals of Lead Belly songs in a style known as ‘skiffle’ and a key element in the emergence of blues as a popular form of music in 1960’s England. The raucous tune fairly rattles along before Duncan slows things down with a fine version of “Someday You’ll Be Sorry” (Louis Armstrong) with an impressive trumpet feature from Gabriel. “St Louis Blues” precedes Warren’s entertaining take on “Champagne Charlie” which goes even further back, to 19th Century vaudeville.

The first gospel piece is “I’m Gonna Cross The River Of Jordan” before the band reverts to the decidedly secular “Making Whoopee”. A short “Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho” is almost acapella, just a little deep-toned harmonica at the bottom of the mix, the gospel theme continuing with “Little Black Train”, introduced as ‘that song about death that people often request’! The Mississippi Sheiks’ “Sales Tax” is claimed to be as relevant today as when it was written – “nobody likes paying tax” – and rattles along at high speed. Again interchanging the secular and the sacred, the harmonies on “Light From The Lighthouse” are delightful before Warren delivers the first of two Lead Belly tunes, an uptempo version of “Midnight Special”, later followed by “Ella Speed”. In between there is space for Gus Cannon’s “Bring It With You When You Come” and Blind Boy Fuller’s “Sweet Honey Hole” before the band concludes the show with a magnificent “Gloryland”, full of great harmonies and fine playing.

As well as their humor, the band show that they are excellent musicians: Warren is a solid finger-picking guitarist, Duncan’s double bass underpins everything, Gabriel’s trumpet and trombone add to the flavours and Liam’s multiple contributions add fun to several of the songs. This is a fine record of what must have been a terrific evening.

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.

Marcus Trummer – From The Start

Gypsy Soul

www.marcustrummermusic.com

10 songs time – 43:48

Marcus Trummer is a soul singer-guitarist from up Canada way and this is his debut album. Some blues or blues-rock in his guitar playing, but that is the extent of the blues connection. His vocals are fine and the band and horn section are adequate. Marcus wrote all the songs.

The guitar solos on “Waiting For Change” and “The Only Thing” range from blues to blues rock. The horns play in the traditional soul music style throughout. Miles Evans Branagh’s organ flourishes are a high point of the music. “Ready To Go” is in the mellow soul ballad with shimmering electric piano and organ. It has melodic and bluesy guitar solos. The horns are abandoned for a more aggressive guitar and organ attack on “Let The Devil Win”, the closest he comes to blues. Background vocals here as on most of the tunes. The lyrics, the horns, the voices guitar and the rhythm section all seem to gel on the title track “From The Start”, a tale of failed love.

The intro to “Break My Fall” calls to my mind “I Shall Be Released”. The song kind of saunters along.  If you like soul music, you came to the right place. It is basically well performed and produced.

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

Many musicians start their career working horrible day jobs or playing with not-so-talented local bands until their first break.  Others seem to fall naturally into wonderful opportunities from the beginning of their career.  Saxophonist extraordinaire, Doug James seems to be a member of the latter category, joining the extremely popular group, Roomful of Blues, at a very young age.  Doug, whose real name is Douglas James Schlecht, has since had five Grammy nominations, won a W.C. Handy Award and has had multiple nominations for Blues Music Awards. Blues Blast Magazine had the opportunity recently to learn more about this artist who was nicknamed “Mr. Low” after the song Joe Williams recorded, and also due to his preference for the lower-ranged baritone saxophone.

Doug’s father was a Lutheran minister, and his mother played organ in his father’s church.  They were initially hesitant about the idea of Doug becoming a full-time musician.  However, unlike some parents with strong religious backgrounds who tend to be wary of “secular” music, they soon became supportive of Doug’s decision to pursue a career in the blues.

“I remember sitting on a bench and watching my mother play music in church.  And I remember listening to music when I was a kid and something seemed to get hold of me from nine or ten years of age.  People told me that at age ten I was buying people blues records as gifts, and then I would borrow them back because they didn’t like them and wouldn’t return them.  I was briefly in the stage band in high school, but they fired me because I kept making up my own baritone sax parts, (which were actually pretty good).  I know one time I stole a baritone saxophone from my high school and didn’t give it back until a couple of years later.  But my parents were very supportive of my decision to go into music as a career, and I left home (Turlock, California) when I was sixteen and took off around the country.  I started in Portland, Oregon and when I got to the East Coast, I joined Roomful of Blues and just started working all of the time.”

Doug noted that Roomful of Blues had some difficulty at first being accepted because it didn’t neatly fit entirely into one genre of music.  However, they soon became a crowd favorite and earned the respect of some of the legends of the business.

“Initially there was quite a bit of resistance to us. Here was Duke Robillard in a suit playing a combination of ‘50’s R&B, Jazz and Blues.  For blues people we were too jazzy and for jazz people we were too bluesy.  I remember people throwing stuff at us when we played at a disco, and at one place the manager got onstage right before we played and said that he was sorry the band they initially hired couldn’t make it and he was willing to give people their money back if they wanted it.  But it wasn’t too long before we ended up playing with many of the greats. It was one of the best experiences of my life to get to play, record, and just hang out with Big Joe Turner.  And we played every night for two weeks with Bobby Bland, and opened up for Professor Longhair, which was amazing.  I remember one time we were playing with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, and I looked over at the door and thought, ‘gee—that guy looks just like Count Basie.’  He came in and it was Count Basie.  He had flown up from the Bahamas to hear us in a club north of Boston.”

Since playing with Roomful of Blues, Doug has released his own albums, including his debut solo album, Blow, Mr. Low, in which he played tribute to his heroes such as Paul Williams, Haywood Henry and Leo Parker.  He also has had many amazing opportunities to collaborate with others, including backing artists such as Big Joe Tuner, Freddie King, Charlie Musselwhite, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Jimmie Vaughan, Red Prysock, and Duke Robillard. Additionally, he has contributed to many artists’ albums, including Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Louis Walker, Colin James, Jay McShann, Billy Boy Arnold, Rosco Gordon, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. He found he didn’t need to adapt his style of playing even though that is a highly diverse list of artists.  And he is a believer in the music sometimes being found in the space between the notes, which is a philosophy that influences the advice he offers new, young artists.

“What I play is what I play.  Albert Collins told me not to ever show up at one of his shows without bringing my horn, and Professor Longhair offered me a job, but we were promoting our first record, so I had to say no.  Then I worked with Jimmie Vaughan for ten years.  But I sound like me no matter who I join.  The style that I play works with a lot of different types of music.  Jimmie Vaughan believed you shouldn’t play the first thing that comes into your head, just like you shouldn’t say the first thing that comes into your mind.  Take Duke Robillard—you never hear him playing too much on anything.  I think that is the most common mistake new young artists make.  They get to a certain level, and they think they should play in public, but they don’t know how to play with other people.  They might start right out playing in a song.  I say ‘stop playing—you don’t even know what the song is yet.  Calm down.’  Mac (Dr. John) told me about how, in NOLA, if you didn’t know what you were doing the whole band would just stop and they would watch you until you would have to walk out the door.  None of this warm, fuzzy stuff!”

The shutdown of venues during the pandemic was devastating to many musicians, and “sidemen” often found it the most difficult, as bandleaders/singers had an easier time doing some livestream performances online.  While recognizing the tragedy of the many losses during that time, Doug noted that surprisingly he did not find that to be a terribly challenging time for him personally and noted that the biggest challenge for him was when he got sober 29 years ago.

“I had been traveling and playing so much my whole life that if people had seen my schedule, they would have thought it must be a misprint.  So, although we all missed playing, I just used that time to recharge my battery.  The biggest challenge in my career was no longer getting loaded 24/7.  I had been doing that for 28 years and thought it made things sound better, so trying to learn to play without it was interesting.  Finally, there was no way around it—I had to stop because I would get high and still feel like shit.  Being straight is the way to go for me now, and paying bills is the way I get high these days.”

Doug is a strong believer in the healing effects of the music, which is beneficial both to the musician and to the audience.

“I absolutely believe in the healing effects.  It is cathartic and therapeutic to compose music and to play, so much so that I don’t even consciously think about it anymore.  And I believe that we, as musicians, offer an important service to the fans in that we can make them forget about their troubles and everything going on in the world for a short period of time.  With all the issues going on today, it is our responsibility to help them put those concerns aside for a while, and if we can help them do that and not make people angrier with each other, that is a very good thing.”

Doug is highly in demand to play tours and festivals and recently played in Switzerland with Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Allstars.

“That was just a ball.  I got to work with Diunna Greenleaf and Tia Carroll, and Curtis Salgado.  Also, Sean “Mack” McDonald—he is just incredible!  I told Duke, ‘watch out for this guy.  He knows all of the styles and puts it together!’  That Greaseland thing was just a blast.  I was the oldest person there.  I remember when I used to always be the youngest one.  And I always love just dropping in on people, getting to join them and trying to figure out what to play.  I just recently sat in with Curtis Salgado, my former roommate from touring with Roomful of Blues.  We’ve known each other for so long, so that was really special.”

Doug was asked about new projects that his fans might anticipate.

“At the moment I’m about to get something under my own name, but I’ve had a few medical problems that have delayed that.  But I’ll be on the next Duke Robillard album.  That must be the eight thousandth Duke record. Duke knows what he wants me to do, and I know what he wants me to do, so it all works out very well.  It’s always great to come home and play with Duke!  But then, I am just lucky to have been able to make enough money to live on playing music.  I stayed incredibly loaded for over 25 years and made it through that.  So, I am truly glad to be anywhere!”

Duke Robillard was quick to respond when asked about his work with Doug. “Doug James and I have worked together on and off since the beginning of the three-horn version of Roomful of Blues in the ‘70s. His knowledge of classic rhythm & blues styles, blues and swing is vast and inexhaustible. He’s the premier blues baritone saxophonist working in blues today and became equally great at tenor also. He’s played in my bands for decades and is in demand nationally and internationally. His quick wit is always entertaining, and I’m happy to have him on most of my recordings over the years and to call him a longtime friend.”

If you didn’t think you were familiar with Doug James, you probably realize now that you’ve seen him many times, frequently making many great artists sound even better.  Unfortunately, he does not have a website, but you can keep an eye out for him at festivals everywhere, see him play with his own band if you live in the New England area, and should soon be able to purchase his upcoming album.  You can also follow him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doug.james.984

Writer Anita Schlank lives in Virginia, and is on the Board of Directors for the River City Blues Society. She has been a fan of the blues since the 1980s. She and Tab Benoit co-authored the book “Blues Therapy,” with all proceeds from sales going to the HART Fund.