Lonnie Mack – Live From Louisville 1992

The Last Music Company – 2025

https://www.lastmusic.co.uk

7 tracks; 53 minutes

A ghost has emerged from the depths of blues-rock past. The Last Music Company has salvaged a rare Lonnie Mack concert tape—restoring and remastering it into Live from Louisville 1992 (2025). Mack, long hailed as a “blues-rock wizard,” shaped the sound of giants like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page, yet spent much of his multi-decade career under-recognized. This release resurrects him in full force: dazzling solos, rowdy vocals, and marathon jams that stretch toward the ten-minute mark.

A blitzkrieg of guitar fire opens “Camp Washington Chili/If You Have to Know,” where Mack bends notes into a wild, soulful cry before dropping into a rolling, barrelhouse-piano shuffle. It’s a fierce rocker, all shaking riffs and howling solos, capped with Mack belting, “I’m a runaway engine on a midnight mile,” in a gritty inflection reminiscent of Gregg Allman.

“Oreo Cookie Blues” drips with decadent sensuality, kicked off by razor-sharp guitar licks. Mack croons, “Chocolate on my fingers, icing on my lips… I keep the night burning in the kitchen baby,” his dark, raspy vocals underlining the song’s playful, naughty edge. The lead guitar lines slide and swagger through the track’s funky, saucy groove.

“Stop” builds slowly into a smoky, atmospheric blues-rock burner, leaning into spacious improvisation and vocals that echo the best of 70s rock mystique.

Heavy, pounding guitar chords dominate “Satisfy Suzie,” a raw, primitive blues workout energized by audience shouts. The recording quality wavers here—fuzzy and rough—but the wailing guitar still cuts through, framing Mack’s call-and-response: “Suzie’s into loving any way she can… I gotta satisfy Suzie. Suzie sure satisfies me.”

A tangible sadness and the feeling of the loss of something saturates “Tough on Me, Tough on You”, as Mack sings “I tried to do it my way, I tried to do it your way. I tried to love you and you tried to love me too.” A beautiful guitar melody flows throughout with steady strumming, crafting the track into a ballad.

Before launching into “Cincinnati Jail,” Mack warns the crowd that it’s a “sad, but true” tale. What follows is a ten-minute riot of electric guitar—piercing high notes, explosive chords, and relentless energy. “They put me in a cell. Ain’t it hell?” he cries, shredding his way through a finale that takes no prisoners.

In reviving this long-lost performance, Live from Louisville 1992 doesn’t just preserve Lonnie Mack’s legacy, it reasserts his place as one of the most electrifying architects of blues-rock.

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.

Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat – Don’t Look Back

Delmark Records -2025

www.mississippiheat.net

14 tracks; 54 minutes

Mississippi Heat returns for their fourteenth album since their 1992 debut. Having heard most of their previous output, I can confirm that this is up with their very best, and all-original too. Leader Pierre Lacocque has put his own name on the billboard, but the band remains, as always, a strong combination of musicians, some of whom constitute the core band, others coming in for cameos. The album was recorded two years ago, some of the songs being influenced by the Covid pandemic which cost the life of Pierre’s father; former guitarist for the band, Carl Weathersby, also died during the creative process and Pierre dedicates the album to him. The core of the band is now Pierre on harmonica, Sheryl Youngblood on vocals, Giles Corey on guitar, Brian Quinn on bass and Jason ‘J Rock’ Edwards on drums, but many others sit in: former vocalists Inetta Visor and Daneshia Hamilton join forces on one tune, Danielle Nicole sings on two tracks, Omar Coleman sings on one cut and does a harp duet with Pierre on another and Nanette Frank, Diane Madison and Mae Koen (collectively NADIMA) add B/V’s to five tracks; Billy Flynn plays guitar on almost as many cuts as Giles Corey and keyboard duties are shared by two of Chicago’s finest, John Kattke and Johnny Iguana. In the rhythm section Big Mike Perez replaces Brian Quinn on four tracks and Kenny ‘Beedy Eyes’ Smith (a former full-time Heat member) returns to play drums on three. Finally the sax and trumpet of Kirk Smothers and Marc Franklin add their power to four tracks and percussion and handclaps are provided on three tracks by Tony Alexander and Natalie Bennison.

As Pierre says in the liner notes, the songs reflect his own life and experiences, as well as looking critically at relationships and the terrible effects of addiction. New vocalist Sheryl comforts others who are in hard circumstances, “You Ain’t The Only One”, an opening track which tears out of the speakers with horns in the background and fine solos from Giles and Pierre. A rousing Chicago blues follows with Danielle Nicole guesting and not wanting to be the “Third Wheel” in a relationship; the song is driven by the rhythm section and Iguana’s rocking piano, punctuated by Pierre’s sharp harp blasts – great stuff!

Next up we have “Quarter To Three”, the time of the train departure with a one way ticket out of here, a shared vocal between the two former MH singers, another fine piece of uptempo Chicago blues. Sheryl returns to the mike for “Stepped Out Of Line”, a slow blues with Pierre’s buzzing harp and the gospel voices of NADIMA in support before raising the tempo with a tale of a guy who drinks too much, Sheryl concluding that she “Can’t Take It”: “When you start to drinking you got me thinking, you’re a hot mess that I can’t take”. Pierre nearly sets the reeds aflame with his powerful solo on this one!

Pierre then shares duties with another Chicago harp player, Omar Coleman, on an instrumental entitled “Moonshine Man” that really pounds along; under three minutes, but a great listen in the style of the Harp Attack sessions with Wells, Cotton, Branch and Bell. Pierre hits some high notes, Billy Flynn plays a delightful solo and Iguana again shines on acoustic piano on the driving, toe-tapping “Champin’ At The Bit” and the band keeps things moving for the dancers with “Love (It Makes You Do Most Anything)”, something of a celebratory lyric with horns and backing vocals adding to the tune.

Arguably the key song on the set is “Shiverin’ Blues”, a harrowing description of Pierre’s father’s passing during Covid (“There ain’t no cure in sight”), wonderfully delivered by Danielle who really brings out the sentiments, ably aided by Corey’s slide guitar and moody keys from Kattke. Perhaps deliberately placed next to provide a cheery contrast, “The Sock Hop” takes us back in time, Flynn this time providing the slide, Iguana, Pierre and Sheryl delivering a fabulous celebration of old-fashioned dance hall sessions.

The rhythm section of Quinn and Edwards bring the funk to the rhythms of “Blue Amber” and “I Ain’t Evil” hits a lighter stride with Corey’s fluid, Latin-tinged guitar underpinning the whole song. Sheryl offers advice on relationships and encourages people to move forward on the title track “Don’t Look Back”, something of a metaphor for what Pierre and Mississippi Heat always do. Omar Coleman takes the vocal on “Four Steel Walls”, a song that addresses the dreadful effects of addiction, another full production number with the horns and NADIMA in full flow, Smothers stepping out front for a storming tenor solo, making a great finale to a superb album that comes highly recommended by this reviewer.

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’.

Dave Keyes – Two Trains

MoMojo Records

http://www.davekeys.com

10 Tracks – 40 minutes

New York native Dave Keyes is a veteran keyboard player, vocalists and songwriter. Over the years, he has played with Popa Chubby, Ronnie Spector, Odetta, David Johansen, Bo Diddley and Sleepy La Beef among others. He also wrote hit songs for Loretta Lynn and Bettye Lavette. For six years he served as the musical conductor of the hit Broadway show, Smokey Joe’s Cafe.  Dave won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and has received three Blues Music Awards from the Blues Foundation. He has released seven albums prior to this one.

He says this album “is about coming home to my roots and paying tribute to all the styles that have influenced me since I was a kid.” His band for the album consists of drummers Bernie Purdy on four tracks and Frank Pagano on three, John Putnam on guitar and pedal steel, Jeff Anderson and Mike Merritt on bass, Rob Paparozzi on harmonica, Hasan Bakr on percussion, and Alexis P. Suter and Vicki Bell providing backing vocals. The album consists of nine original tracks written or co-written by Dave and one cover.

The album jumps out right from the start with Dave noting that the blues will find you, “you don’t have to worry, the “Blues Don’t Come Looking for You”. He gets his piano jumping with a boogie woogie run on “Boogie Till the Cows Come Home”. and “till Hell freezes over…till the horses fly and till the chickens have no bones”. In his liner notes, he cites that Pat Cannon, his wife of 37 years died in 2023. The title song references both the love and pain associated with life – “Two Trains” going to collide. Rob’s harmonica is a centerpiece to the song. Despite the background for the song, it is still an upbeat number perhaps punctuated by his liner notes further stating “Life goes on”.

Dave switches to the organ for a gospel styled song, “I’m Alright”. John’s pedal steel and Alexis P. Suter’s vocals give accent to his message “Life is full of joy but you got to bear some pain. Some things make sense; some you can’t explain.” but he exclaims that “I’m Alright”.  Rob’s harp and Dave’s piano drive “Long Way from Right Right Now”, which is a counterpoint to the previous song. The song is a deeply emotional slow blues as he answers “How am I doing? What can I say? Not so good, but a little better every day.” “Time is a healer…that should be alright as I’ve got nothing but time.” “What Just Happened” delivers a social message about the world we are living in now. He cites “Hateful man took off the gloves, hate those kids for those they love.”

“Boogie for Patty” is Dave’s solo instrumental love song to his wife. Chris Bergson guests on slide guitar on “Trust in Love and Fate” as Dave sings that he hopes to “Ease my hurt, bring my best, so keep moving forward even when I’m down”. Big Bill Broonzy’s 1932 song “Worrying You Off My Mind” is the sole cover featuring Dave on piano and backing vocals supporting Woody Mann on guitar and vocals. “Rest in Peace” is the final track and a quiet heart driven elegy to his beloved.

The album clearly is written by a man still struggling with the passing of his companion and now seeking comfort and a direction forward. Despite the pain he reveals, you come away with the feelings of love that he expressed and his attempts to move forward in a positive manner. Dave at the time of the writing of this album is still caught between the “Two Trains”, but his music brings us to an understanding of what he is feeling and what joys remain for all of us who have faced or will face similar situations.

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 Name Droppers – Cool Blue Shoes

Independent Release

www.thenamedroppers.net

10 tracks; 32 minutes

In a more blues-centric universe, people would be dropping The Name Droppers name instead of the reverse. Until that day, these guys are going to keep jamming and putting out good records. Originally instituted as Charlie Karp and The Name Droppers in the 1980s, the band decided to soldier on following Karp’s passing in 2019. The core band is now Rafe Klein (guitar/vocals), Ron Rifkin (piano/organ/vocals), Bobby T. Torello (drums/vocals), and Scott Spray (bass), while other guests make contributions and Vic Steffens sits in the production chair. These guys are no rookies. They’ve played with the likes of Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Grace Slick, The Rascals, Michael Bolton, and more. You can hear soul, gospel, rock, doo wop, R & B, and more in their bluesy mix.

The band wisely gets the party started with a funky, organ-driven “Killing Floor”, one of the stronger tracks on the record. Hard to go wrong with the Wolf. They also dust off Willie Dixon’s “I Cry For You”. It’s a completely different take. The original is a slow, back-alley slink. This version is quicker and slicker. The poppy 1989 Mick Jones cover “That’s The Way My Love Is” was an interesting deep-cut choice. Seven of the ten songs are originals. The title track has a memorable riff and is a testament to their stick-to-it-tive-ness, “I refuse to hang up these Cool Blue Shoes.” “Keep Pushin’” recounts all of life’s flat tires and is one of those note-to-self tunes. “Most of my friends died from the war/They never found what they were searching for/Sobriety ain’t always what it seems to be/Keep on pushin’ like my friends told me.” It also has one of the better guitar solos on the album. Most blues bands don’t have four members that can sing capably and provide harmony and sheen to their songs like they do on “Hard Way”. The novelty song “Think Yiddish” is cute and probably goes over big live. A cheeky “Hava Nagila” bridge leads into tasty bluesy soloing by both guitar and piano. “Yes I Will” has Chicago blues instrumentation and gospel-like background vocals. A lot of these songs are throwbacks to eras gone by. The spoken verses, B3 organ, sax solo, falsetto yelps, and girl-group background vocals on the final track “Out Of This Blue” give off a 50s vibe.

This band would go over big in your local blues joint. They’ll be out there touring as Bobby T. and The Name Droppers in 2026. Several Northeast dates are in the books. Mohegan Sun on January 1 seems like as good a way as any to ring in the New Year.

Writer Dave Popkin is a Music News Reporter for WBGO FM in Newark/New York. He is a regional judge for The Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge and is a singer in the NJ-based band, Porch Rockers.

More than eight decades ago, there were a number of small labels releasing blues records, run by enterprising business men and woman in search of the elusive hit record. Labels like King, Modern, Imperial, and Trumpet were eclipsed by other labels including Chess, Sun, Excello, and Specialty. It was exciting period to be in the record business.

Producer Eddie Stout was born a bit too late to be a part of that period, which is a shame because he certainly identifies with the music and sounds from that golden era. That is apparent when you survey the extent of his career as a bass player, record label owner, record producer, and festival promoter.

He recently staged the 13^th annual East Side Kings Festival in East Austin, an event with five stages spread over several blocks with artists like Darrell Nulisch, Sean “Mack” McDonald, Kirk Fletcher, Igor and Yuri Prado, Stan Mosley, Earnest “Guitar” Roy, and local singer Jai Milano. It is a funky little festival with a laid-back feel and smaller crowds than your typical blues fest. Yet it is enough of a draw to attract blues fans from across the globe.

“The festival got started by my good friend, Jason Moeller, who was the drummer with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Now he’s just doing everything, especially Charlie Crockett. I think he’s the only shuffle drummer left. Jay gave me a call one day, and said, do me a favor. Put together one of those shows you always do where I get to play with all of these great musicians at one time.

“That’s how it started. Instead of just doing a show like we usually do, I figured let’s do a block party so you could just walk up and down and play with everybody. So 14 years ago, I picked out a block that I always frequented as a youth and had a lot of blues on it too. We threw in like $700 and got like 8-10 bands the first couple years to help out. Things just kept growing from there.

“Our foundation came along right after that because I just wanted to keep the festival going. John Paul DeJoria was a contributor. He has a foundation called Peace, Love, and Happiness. Man, that cat is soulful, and filthy, doggone rich, helps everybody. Jay knew him from years ago. We approached him about helping us out, and about 10 years ago he started donating to the East Side Kings. He’s the one that said, “man, you got to make this a foundation.”

“We came up with our mission statement, which is, “To preserve and promote the cultural heritage of African American Blues, Jazz, and Gospel.” That’s the road I’ve been on all my life. Nobody makes any money. I’m the one that comes up with concepts, ideas, marketing, booking, venues, everything. Jason helps me with spiritual advice and so does the small board that we put together. They’re all local musicians that come up with ideas or problem solving that I wouldn’t think of otherwise. East Austin is where I like to focus on, because that’s where I grew up listening to that music. There were a couple clubs right there where I’d go see blues, and as a youth after midnight, you could always pick up a half a pint.”

Stout did not start playing music until his teenage years, but once that fire ignited, he quickly fell in love with the music.

“My neighbor first led me to music, my good friend in junior high, David Murray. He played guitar like a motherfucker. He was great. That was sixth grade. Then I had another neighbor move in. His name was Billy Etheridge. He played piano in the Chessman out of Dallas. He was a vacuum cleaner salesperson, but he still played music. He picked up a gig at Nature’s, downtown in Austin. Me and David Murray went down to see him. We were teenagers, hopped on my little Suzuki 50, went down there and they actually snuck us in under their trench coats. We went to the back of the room, sat down with all the girls and drank margaritas.

“From then on, we just went straight to the blues, going to every blues show we could find. It was mostly Wednesday nights with the Cobras, and then of course Monday nights with Jimmie Vaughn, Tuesday night with Stevie Ray doing the Triple Threat band with W.C. Clark. We went to every show, hundreds of them. There was no looking back, just listening to a song, running home and learning it because we didn’t have any records.

“I started out on guitar, just plinking along trying to learn songs. Then this guy named Jimmy Raj called me up and said, we need a bass player. I’ll teach you everything, and he had a bass. I just started going over to his house every day. Around 11th grade, I  joined a band called Thrills for about a year.

“Then I started my own band with David Murray on guitar, Stevie Fulton on drums, and Keith Dunn singing and playing harmonica, called it the Dynaflows. Keith Dunn was freaking amazing. He had all that early Chess Records stuff down that we didn’t know of, like” Gold Tailed Bird”, the Jimmy Rogers and Muddy Waters stuff. I was real fortunate to be in a good band at an early age.”

After two years, the Dynaflows dissolved as Murray started working with guitarist Lewis Cowdry, one of the linchpins of the Austin scene. Stout relocated to Dallas and did a five year stint on bass with Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets.

“During that time I was up there, we did a record with Greg “Fingers” Taylor called Harpoon Man. And I thought, man, this is what I want to do. Fingers was the harp player for Jimmy Buffet for quite a spell. I had been playing with Anson, who backed Fingers on the album.

“I got a couple of bands together, like Reverend Horton Heat and Darrell Nulisch, and then right after that I produced one with the wild Texas guitarist U.P. Wilson. He used to always come out and sit in with us when we played out the Bluebird at Fort Worth. It just took off from there. I did a bunch of Paul Orta stuff on my Pee Wee Records label. He was a great harmonica player and singer.

“There were only a very few people that believed in me when I was younger. I think it was because I was very set in my way of wanting to do things, be a musician and being a producer. I didn’t think I would call myself a producer. I just wanted to do records and hang out with the guys. Lewis was one of the early ones that believed in me.

“Everybody has different ways of being a producer. I’m not a fan of guitar driven music. I like it to be like a vocalist and guitar accompaniment and mix it on down, vocal, snare, bass rhythm. I think what makes a producer is just being able to listen to the musicians, staying neutral and keeping everybody as friends. It’s really hard job to do. Sometimes it seems everybody hates each other. Part of this whole journey is keeping people together, and getting them back together.

“I do go for a certain sound, kind of like a pre-war tape thing, warm sound ,singing not screaming, guitar playing not wanking, and no synthesizer, just all real music, real Hammond B3 organ, real piano, and recorded mostly live. It used to be all live and I try to still adhere to that now.”

At a small Texas record event in a local hotel, Stout talked about the details of licensing a record. In the audience was Harry Friedman, who at the time owned Amazing Records, another Texas label that released albums by Gary Primich, Omar and the Howlers, and the Juke Jumpers.

“Harry came up to me, said, “Hey, come to work with me.” So I helped him a little bit with Amazing, and then he switched over to Antone’s Records. That’s where I started licensing, marketing, and touring in Europe. I was a really going gangbusters at first. ‘Then Justice Records wanted me to help them, followed by New West Records. So I was helping other record companies and a lot of local cats licensed their stuff over to Europe. In the early days it was really easy because Europe was hungry for music. I don’t know how many times I’ve been over there, probably over a hundred.”

Change came around again as Stout was hired by Malaco Records, a label that had a roster that included Little Milton, Johnnie Taylor, and Denise LaSalle.

“I worked for Malaco for about a year. It was very difficult for me, that Southern Soul style of music. My niche is blues, straight up, unknown artist playing blues. I can really work with that. While at Malaco I was able to work with singer Z.Z. Hill, and Bobby Rush for sure. The Japanese love Malaco. I did a really big deal for several records with Malaco in Japan.

“But I couldn’t get any headway with them. Their gospel stuff seemed to do good, but I just couldn’t get my hands around it all. Some of it I liked, you know, the Bobby Rush stuff. I just had to dissolve and fade away. I wanted to open a distribution unit like I did for Antone’s for a while. I was able to set up a place in Amsterdam where we could distribute records out of, you know, score ’em, pick, pack and ship PPD.

“I’ve always had a label since I started Pee Wee Records, had something going on that was mine. People come on and they say, I produced all these records. Yeah, but you didn’t pay for ’em. And where did you get the money? I do the whole thing. I’ve got to find the money, I produce the project, find the songs, put it together, hotels, transportation, flights, all tooth and nail, I guess. Producers come to me and say, “Oh yeah, I produced all this.” All I can do is bite my tongue.

“Lead, follow, or get out of the way. If people listen to everybody, we can get back to square one, when there weren’t all these solos, and people actually listened to each other, creating a sound instead of just a rhythm section with a bunch of solos. And they had to play simple because there was no amplifier that was loud enough to project. Everybody played simple, together, and it made a good sound.”

Stout started his Dialtone Records label in 1999 with the release of Second Time Around by A.C. Littlefield and the Original Bells Of Joy. The label’s catalog on extends over more than thirty titles focused on Texas musicians, including many who had been flying under the radar of the blues community.

Asked if he had any favorites, he had a quick response. “The first Little Joe Washington that we did, Houston Guitar Blues, was special. That was actually just one microphone because all of it was so loud. We just used the vocal mic and it sounded amazing with Little Joe on guitar, Bill Campbell on bass, Willie Sampson on drums, Clarence Pierce on rhythm guitar, and Nick Connolly on piano. That was the old school, a good record.

“Another was Ray Reed, Where The Trinity Runs Free. Ray was a guitar player and singe.r The guy on bass, I forget his name, but he played with Jimmy Reed. That’s why we dug him up. But Jason Moeller, and his brother, Johnny Moeller, I think are on more than half of all of my records. They are definitely part of my go-to rhythm section.

“Dialtone Records, until just recently, has all been African American releases Then I did a couple 45 rpm records with Eve Monsees, the Moeller Brothers and the Keller Brothers. I think that’s the first white people that have done a recording on Dialtone other than being side guys.”

As you would expect, Stout has learned more than a few valuable lessons over the years that have helped him navigate the twist and turns of the record business in this age of streaming and downloads.

“You’ve got to have some thick skin.  If someone has an opinion, you have to really listen to it. As a producer, certainly having a sense of humor helps, and don’t tell your wife how much money you’re spending. I think there was an interview in the Austin Chronicle some years back with her and she commented she was so fed up with spending all of our money and not making anything. So I started a non-profit.”

“I turn back the hands of time to pre-war and post-war blues. There’s a lot of stuff out there they call blues, but it’s just something with a good feel that ain’t close to blues. I just try to represent with that old school sound in mind, try to create a moment in time of what Austin was when I was growing up, with the music flowing out in the streets and the camaraderie with all the cats.

“I’m trying to keep that alive while also helping some people in the community. I think this year we’ve already given away $12,000 or $15,000 for help with funeral expenses, tombstones, paying bills, back taxes, DWI legal help, just helping the guys the best we can. We also buy them passports and help them with transportation, hotel rooms, and instruments here and there.

“And of course, we write grants request for the foundation, which has to stick exactly to your mission statement. We can only spend what the city gives me through grants that aligns with the mission statement, like the East Side Kings festival, and festival related promotion. The other money we get in from sponsors and donations, like $20 here or $10 there, I, that’s what I use to shovel to help the cats. We do a workshop at the fest, and I like to do more of those. I just need more help. I’m hoping we can expand the board with people that will be more involved. If I could clone me, I would definitely do that.

“I took like 20 people with me to the Lucerne Blues fest in Switzerland this year. A couple of them had never even been out to county. The East Side Kings makes it easier because we showcase these local guys for the Europeans. That means I do a lot of marketing. I was the international guy at all those record labels, so it’s easy for me to gravitate towards Europe. I have felt like our fest is one of the best blues festivals in the world. And nobody locally shows up.”

Another project that occupies Stout’s time is documentary film he is calling Rosewood Soul, a historic neighborhood on Austin’s east side that had a major African-American influence.

“There’s some stuff in the can where these people are ready to get on board, Eureka Properties. They own properties on 12th Street, really like what we’re doing, and they love blues. Every year they’ve been supporting us, but I think they want to come on board and really help us out.

“We started working on it in March, filming Delanie Pickering, Stephen Hull, Harrell Davenport, and Xavier Shannon. They are all fine young blues artists and guitar players. We did a live show and took them to the studio to record two songs, plus we interviewed each of them. So we got all that in the can and I’m just waiting for my videographer to put it all together to make a nice little documentary film. I’m ready to go to the next one after that, got a lot of plans in my head to video. I think video is the best way for these artists to be able to sell themselves in Europe and to festivals.”

Stout still plays an occasional gig on bass with the East Side Kings band, but gigs are few and far between as Austin has plenty of musicians looking for work.

“I just don’t have the passion anymore for playing like I used to. So much BS involved. I’ve got too much to do anyway, like staying home and raising my daughter, living life with my wife, that’s a priority. This business is a labor of love, something you’re born with. It’s in your genes, like American music. This is what I do, and there’s no money in it. There’s nothing. While you’re doing it, you don’t see it. But at the end, now I can look back and go, that’s amazing, doing all these records, producing TV shows and records, and  plenty of tours in Europe.

“When I get enough money to do a record, I just pick up somebody and record them for you. Always trying to get some of that mailbox money! I hope there is something good around the corner here for all these cats and our Foundation. I’m bucking 70 years old, so I ain’t got much longer to keep it going. Hopefully there is somebody out there to follow in my footsteps to keep this thing shaking.”

Check out the East Side Kings Foundation and Festival at https://eastsidekingsfest.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!

Steve Howell & Fats Kaplin – Know You From Old

Out Of The Past Music

13 songs – 52 minutes

Between them, Steve Howell and Fats Kaplin are a walking encyclopaedia of early American music. Texan Howell started his journey in the mid-1960s, tracing a path from Mississippi John Hurt to Blind Willie McTell and Leadbelly and on to Robert Johnson, Son House, Rev. Gary Davis and a host of other black acoustic guitar players and singers. Nashville-based Kaplin is a freakishly talented multi-instrumentalist, known primarily for his fiddle playing but also more than adept on guitar, button accordion, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, the Arab oud and the Turkish cümbüs. On Know You From Old, he plays fiddle, mandolin, 5-string banjo, tenor banjo and bouzouki in combination with Howell’s finger-picked acoustic guitar.

Beautifully recorded by Jason Weinheimer at Fellowship Hall Sound in Little Rock, Arkansas, Know You From Old is a glorious collection of traditional blues, ballads, gospel spirituals and early jazz, played with reverence and respect by two master musicians. But this is no mere homage. The duo breathe life and wit into everything they do.

Opening with “Black Dog”, a rollicking Kentucky rag first recorded in 1930, it is immediately apparent that listeners are in for a treat. Instruments subtly combine to create momentum and drive and Howell’s weathered, seasoned voice fits the music perfectly.

Well-known classics sit happily side by side with a number of lesser-known gems. On the jazz side, Gershwin’s “But Not For Me” benefits from a stripped-down, melancholy reading while the plaintive fiddle on Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” injects an additional layer of pathos to the famous melody. Folk fans will appreciate “The Cuckoo”, a centuries-old English ballad with a history stretching back to the thirteenth century, while “The Escape Of Old John Webb” recounts the tale of a 1730 jailbreak in Salem, Massachusetts. Likewise, “Buffalo Skinners” is a traditional American folk song telling the story of an 1873 buffalo hunt on the southern plains.

Howell and Kaplin dip into the well of sacred songs with “Gospel Plow”, the traditional African-American spiritual also known as “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.” A Civil Rights anthem about perseverance, linking biblical faith (Luke 9:62) to the struggle for freedom, the track was perhaps most famously covered by Mahalia Jackson but Mavis Staples has also produced an incendiary version in 2007.

Jesse Fuller’s “San Francisco Bay Blues” has been recorded by a multitude of artists. Howell and Kaplin smartly take the pace down a little to accentuate the sadness of the lyrics. Meanwhile, Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “One Kind Favor” is one of the highlights of the album, with Kaplin’s delicate mandolin meshing perfectly with Howell’s guitar.

Know You From Old is a glorious celebration of the traditional American songbook, played by two superb musicians, highlighting how the threads of folk, blues, gospel and jazz can be combined and entwined to create a singular all-encompassing tapestry of American music. Quite mesmerising.

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

Zeno Jones – Butcher Shop Blues

White Diamond Records

www.zenojones.com

13 Tracks – 41 Minutes

Louisville, Kentucky’s Zeno Jones delivers another top-notch effort. Zeno is a three-time semi-finalist at the IBC in Memphis His previous album, Disillusion Blues was one of the five albums selected as finalists for the 2024 IBC’s Best Self-Produced Album. For those who have not seen Zeno perform, He is a one-man band playing his guitars, foot suitcase drum, cymbals and tambourine. What you hear on the album, is a one-time live take on each song which he would duplicate in front of an audience.

The album develops a concept that he develops throughout the album, each song interlinking to previous songs. From the title, you would surmise this is a story about someone who sells meat at your local grocery, but is it? Remember that the definition of a butcher is also “a person who kills indiscriminately or brutally”. This underlying play on the term leaves in doubt where the subject character actually lies. The opening cut establishes “The Butcher” with a mixture of a dialogue from a man going to the meat market and the butcher’s eyes on him as he says he “will sell you some twine and paper- keep your soul from spilling out on the floor”. “I’ll leave behind a killing floor – you can lick it clean – you gonna pay me rent on my floor or I’m bound to get mean”. Zeno’s guitar and vocals get more intense and even frenetic as he shifts to the butcher’s voice. On “Block” he notes “there’s too many bull cows, they all over this town…I can’t see nothing but that bloody Butcher man – he raises the cleaver whenever I raise my hand”. Send my body down river, have that steamboat bring me home.”

He takes a brief respite with an instrumental “Cut” before shifting into the title track as he notes that these “Butcher Block Blues” “are killing me”. “Nothing thrills me like burning fancy clothes, breaking chandeliers, and stained- glass windows.” “Don’t rag on me, I’ll burn your house down”. Next comes “I’m in the backdoor hanging waiting to be sold – this is the last time “I’ll ever feel so cold til they “Smoke Me”. Are these the imposed thoughts of a dead animal? On “Bled Dry” the man cites “I can’t walk no bridge, can’t look down no well – my children cry I sit up on that shelf too much whiskey drink.” and notes “this cleaver is killing me real slow – one more chop I swear it will be done tomorrow”.

“Chop” provides another instrumental interlude. “10c Nickel” finds the man now “living in the engine room of a gas- powered steamboat that butcher man paid my fare”. So, is this an accomplice or the man running from his past? “Steamboat” tells of the sinking of the steamboat requiring the require crew to escape in a lifeboat. “Lockman’s Toll” is another brief slow instrumental leading into “Knife”. He states, “I got this knife in my hand, I’ve been keeping this edge for years “I’m gonna carve my name out of something on somewhere so somebody knows someone was here”.

As life as a farmer selling burley and working on a steamboat failed, things increase in intensity again on “Honing Steel” as he proclaims “I can hear it – that scraping sound – that steel is coming down “. He laments the life that never was as he cries “you’ve been “Gone So Long” I can’t feel your touch – I used to dream about you, but it’s gone”.

And we leave this deeply cinematic, and dark tale of an obsessed man who certainly had dark thoughts if not actions. Zeno’s music is embedded in the Hill Country sound of R.L Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Charley Patton with consummate guitar, powerhouse vocals and underlying percussion.  Zeno tells a dire, but totally intriguing, story that will keep you invested and perhaps produce an occasional shudder as the story unfolds.

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.