John Primer & Friends – Tribute To Theresa’s Lounge

Blues House Productions – 2026

www.johnprimerblues.com

13 tracks; 57 minutes

John Primer has been extremely busy in recent years, playing regularly in Chicago, touring across Europe and producing a series of excellent albums in both duo and band settings. His latest release, again on his own Blues House label, pays tribute to the club where he and many of his contemporaries got their first break and learned their craft – Theresa’s Lounge in Chicago. John certainly paid his dues there, playing with the likes of Junior Wells, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Magic Slim before forming his own band in the 1990’s. Here he reunites with a host of the great Chicago bluesmen who are still here to perform and who all started out at Theresa’s – Billy Branch on harp and vocals, Mary Lane and Willie Buck on vocals, Carlos Johnson and John Watkins on guitar and vocals, Harmonica Hinds on harp, Bob Stroger and Jeff Brinkman on bass and Twist Turner and Tony Mangiullo on drums; John himself plays guitar throughout and handles the vocals on eight tracks. The material is a blend of Chicago blues classics and four new songs written by John especially for this album.

Using a tune close to the better known “Messin’ With The Kid’, “Up In Heah” was the standard set opener for Junior Wells when he played Theresa’s and it makes an exciting start to the album, wailing harp and slide featured. Two originals follow: “7 Nights For 7 Years” is about how hard John worked at the club in his early days, the lyrics referencing Wells and James Cotton who will “make you jump and shout”; “The Blues Is King” emphasizes how important it to keep the blues alive, slide and harp in unison on this superbly sung track. Billy Branch takes over the mike for “Sugar Sweet”, the first of three songs here written by Mel London, Billy’s harp work outstanding on this fast-paced number, once performed by Muddy Waters at Theresa’s. If you want to hear someone who sings just like Muddy, try Willie Buck who delivers Muddy’s classic “Champagne And Reefer” so well that you could swear it was Muddy himself!

“We All Need Help” is John’s tribute to club owner Theresa Needham who was always willing to assist those in need: “Just keep on trying and you will succeed; have faith and courage, that’s all you need”. We then return to Muddy with Carlos Johnson handling the vocals on “She’s Nineteen Years Old” and exchanging guitar salvos with John. Mel London’s best known song has to be “Little By Little”, famously recorded by Junior Wells, and here well executed by John. Mary Lane was the only regular female singer at Theresa’s and is still going strong at age 90, so John wanted to include her own “Mary’s Song” which she delivers strongly with John and Carlos on twin guitars behind her.

John delivers the final Mel London tune, “Cut You A-Loose”, immediately followed by a song that epitomizes his latter-day career, “Blues Survivalist”, a slower tune with quite a stripped-back arrangement. “Here I Am Knockin’ At Your Door Again” was a song that James Cotton used to sing at Theresa’s, so John got its author, John Watkins, to sing it here. Another regular at Theresa’s, the late Sammy Lawhorn, always closed his sets at the club with Little Walter’s “Mean Old World”, so it is appropriate that John does the same here, his guitar and Billy Branch’s harp combining brilliantly to close this fine tribute album.

Anyone who loves Chicago blues will also love this album which comes highly recommended.

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’.

Russ Green – Stone Cold

Overton Music

www.russgreenmusic.com

10 songs – 50 minutes

Stone Cold is Russ Green’s sophomore effort, a long-awaited follow-up to his acclaimed 2018 debut, City Soul. Long story short: let’s hope we don’t have to wait eight years for his next release. Stone Cold is a serious statement of intent, a muscular, powerful slab of modern Chicago blues and blues-rock, centred around Green’s soul-soaked voice, his edge-of-abandon harmonica playing and his inventive, intelligent songs.

Interestingly, the album opens with “Lint Redux”, a dirtier, grimier, updated version of “Lint In My Pocket” from his debut album. And it’s immediately apparent that, while Green is rightly acclaimed as a harmonica maestro, his voice is as important as his harp on this release. Soulful, deep and powerful, his vocals imbue his songs with a rare emotional depth and complexity. It helps that his band is so good, so kudos to guitarists Giles Corey and Vince Agwada; Vic Jackson on bass; Felix “D-Kat” Pollard on drums and Joe Monroe on keyboards.

Given that Green cites Jimi Hendrix as a primary influence, it is perhaps not surprising that Stone Cold has some rockier moments. The title track is a roaring tale of infidelity, with Munroe’s organ nodding towards some of Jon Lord’s work in early Deep Purple, on which Green sings “Early one Sunday morning, I went down to the river to see what I could see. I heard my baby tell the preacher man that she loves everybody but me….” This is however balanced against the likes of “Waitin’ On You”, where Monroe provides a neat cod-reggae backing that blends perfectly with Corey’s Steve Cropper-esque guitar lines on one of the album highlights.

Green writes well-structured songs which are burnished by his harmonica playing, rather than the songs being an excuse for Green to show off.  His playing on the minor key slow blues of “I Believe” is especially outstanding. The primarily acoustic, “Nobody Knows”, is a relaxed shuffle with an unusual chord progression with a lovely message of love, while “Need You So Bad” has just a hint of jazz in some of Monroe’s chords and Green’s harp lines.  “Troubled World” is a classic Chicago uptown shuffle while the wild closing track, “Boogie Joint” does exactly what it says on the tin as Green recalls “Thinking about how blues used to be, seven nights a week and all night long.” Agwada’s dirty slide guitar meshes perfectly with Green’s harp.

Stone Cold was produced by Green and superbly recorded, mixed and mastered by Rick Barnes at Rax Trax Recording, in Chicago. It’s a cracking release and well worth investigating.

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

Chris O’Leary – Blue Collar

Alligator Records

www.thechrisolearyband.net

11 songs – 48 minutes

From time to time, one gets a sense that an artist knows their moment in the sun has arrived, and that’s certainly the case on harmonica maestro and singer Chris O’Leary’s new release, Blue Collar, his second release on the Alligator label. With a background that includes seeing combat with the Marines, serving as a Federal police officer, holding down the lead singer position with Levon Helm’s Barn Burners for six years, as well as mentorship and friendship from the likes of James Cotton, O’Leary has plenty of experiences to draw upon for these 11 self-penned numbers, wryly noting in the opening number, “Bad Decisions” that “sometimes the best stories start with a bad decision.” The result is a belting album of blazing modern blues – informed by the past but absolutely in the present.

O’Leary is a stellar harmonica player, but also a top drawer vocalist and astute songwriter of smart, modern Chicago-influenced blues. He receives first class support from a core band comprising Pat O’Shea on guitar, Shiela Klinefelter on bass and Chuck Cotton on drums, together with a whole host of guest musicians. O’Leary also produced Blue Collar, which was recorded by Kid Andersen’s at his famous Greaseland studio with mixing by Brian Leach at Joyride Studios in Chicago and mastering by Colin Jordan and Bruce Iglauer at the Boiler Room in Chicago.

Highlights abound, from the swinging, tongue-in-cheek “Justice Must Be Blind” to the Muddy Waters-esque “Ain’t Nothing But A Memory” (with stellar slide guitar from Bob Margolin) and the irresistible shuffle of “After 2 a.m.”. Lil’ Ed Williams adds his wild buzz saw slide guitar to the raucous “One More Cup Of Coffee” which feels like someone has injected a serious amount of caffeine into Taj Mahal’s “Six Days On The Road” and let it loose on an empty highway in the middle of the night.  “One Way Street” has a swaggering New Orleans edge to it (and a killer harmonica solo), while Wayne Toups’ accordion lights up the rambunctious “Live Baby Gators”.  Bronson Hoover’s keyboards feature on a number of tracks, but his playing on the slow blues of “How’d I Ever Get Along?” is particularly sublime.

O’Leary has that knack of inhabiting a song from the narrator’s perspective in a way that recalls the likes of James Harman and William Clarke, whether recounting with total sincerity a preposterous tale that beggars belief or straddling a line that leaves the listener wondering how much truth is being hidden by the dry humour in the lyrics. The closing track, “Daddy Was A Wolfman” sticks in the memory for exactly that reason.

Grab a copy of Blue Collar. No fillers. Just pure blues, played with passion and skill.

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

Tas Cru – Might Give Out…But I Won’t Give In

Subcat Records

www.tascru.com

10 Tracks – 40 minutes

Tas Cru continues his musical quest through the many styles of blues and roots music to satisfy his own soul. He identifies his dreams similar to those of Don Quixote, in that like Quixote, he dares to dream big and to have the goal of having the dreams in the form of his songs which will reach the many “who still want “music that they can savor… and dreaming that they “hold fast and dream that they will reach those very kind of people”. The cover provides the impression of Quixote preparing to tackle the windmill and like Quixote, Tas dares to dream”.

This is his eighth album on Subcat Records. In addition to Tas on guitar and vocals, he is joined by Mia Casale on vocals, Scott Eisner on keyboards, Ron Keck on keyboards, Colin Beatty on bass, Jeremy Walz om Guitar, Nick Earl Erickson on harmonica, and Andy Hearn on drums.

Ten original songs start with “Might Give Out”, which sounds like it could be a song from Mark Knopler. He offers a biographical journey citing ” knock me down, I will get back up again, I keep on fighting until the very end”. “Twenty years in and I am still playing my dues”.  He moves to a more traditional blues with Nick’s harmonica shining on “Lucky at Love” in a duet with Mia, stating, ” I got me a ticket on that miracle money ball, got a feeling that I might take it all”. Mia says, “but you are lucky at love, and you know who to thank”. He croons, that he has “Known All Along” that I would be singing this song as I am heading back home to you.” Scott’s smooth organ playing supports the song.

On his “Favorite Song”, he sings, “What she meant, I understood, there was no need to say but since her words were never spoke, hopes would make me stay. Full of things to come around, but our love is gone, but still, I want to sing to her. She is my favorite song. Every word I sing to her seems wrong”. “Pass Them Biscuits” rocks out as he begs her “to please home, I miss my favorite biscuit”.  He declares “There is nothing pretty in what I am here to do, let’s give you what you want just like you asked me to. I know you feel the heat, just like me you want to burn. Here we go again taking a “Nasty Turn”.

A roots-rock “Tulsa Tornado” number follows the path of a tornado that ultimately is about a woman “who turns my world around”. He notes he has “Two Big Feet” “One much bigger than the other. The big boy is the blues, rock and roll that’s his little brother.” “One foot rock and rolling, the other kicking out the blues”. He then says “It is time we talk it over about what’s best for you and me.  It’s tearing us apart, crushed right through the heart. I just can’t believe we let this “Come to Be”. Mia again joins on vocals with Scott delivering a tranquil piano accompaniment. The album concludes with a solo Taj and his resonator guitar telling a deeply personal tale on “Smell Like Whiskey” as he tells her “Wake up  and wash your face and hands. You smell like whiskey and the love of another man”.

The album offers very laidback and sometimes emotional stories of lost love with attempts to regain what is missing. Tas’ vocals are smooth with lyrics that express the turns that life sometimes take.  His band is an extension of the dreams he carries with his music. Taj’s liner notes on the album states “Getting rich? Becoming Famous? Not going to happen. Nor does it matter, and it never did…and this songwriter will just keep on writing his songs…and dreaming”. Thank you for sharing those dreams!

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.

Steve Louw – Traces Of The Flood

BFD

www.stevelouw.com

10 songs time – 35:09

After repeated listenings to South African singer-songwriter-guitarist Steve Louw, I can’t help but noticing his voice having a slight resemblance to the late Ronnie Lane of The Small Faces, Faces, and solo work, but I digress. From what I can gather, he wrote all the well-crafted songs. If that isn’t enough, he enlisted a top-flight band for this effort that includes Doug Lancio and Bob Britt on electric and acoustic guitar, mandolin. First call keyboard man Kevin McKendree, Greg Morrow on drums and percussion, Alan Prestwood bass, Chris Cheney and Jade Macrae on backing vocals. The music stays mainly in the blues-rock and rock lanes.

The intro to “Traces Of The Flood” recalls that of Jimi Hendrix’s to “All Along The Watchtower” as acoustic and electric guitars create tension with the organ, similar to Jimi’s. Steve’s mild but commanding voice is poignant here as elsewhere throughout the recording. “Tumbling Down” is a dramatic reading about belonging. Atmospheric weeping electric guitar cascades over strummed acoustic, reminiscent of “Exile On Mainstreet” era Rolling Stones permeates “Echo Dream”. The Stones swagger continues in the saga of a girl dreaming of being a rodeo star, “Angeline”. Kevin McKendree contributes the requisite honky-tonk piano stylings.

Thumping drums charge along with the guitars on the tale of a punk rock Christmas on “CBGB Xmas”. The Ronnie Lane vocal and delivery comparison is evident on “Light Of Day (Woody’s Blues)”. More energetic Ronnie-isms on the Brit Beat-meets-country “Across The River”. Another “Watchtower” intro, this time leading into George Harrison-like slide guitar on the urgent “Dark Pony”. A tom-tom beat percolates the night drive of “Into The Night”. A touch more Ronnie against ringing guitars on the closing “Time To Move”.

A fine effort. The Ronnie and Hendrix nuances are apparently accidental. Surely not imitation. This is a worthy recording from musicianship, singing and lyrics. I find bright outings as this to be refreshing, and it renews my faith in quality music.

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

You want blues bona fides? Roy Rogers was the right-hand man to John Lee Hooker. He’s played extensively with fellow slide guitar ace Bonnie Raitt. His Delta Rhythm Kings band has been a going concern for over four decades. He could have ridden off on Trigger into the sunset already (oh, wrong Roy Rogers). He has not. Rogers has released his first new album in a decade, The Sky’s The Limit, a strong collection of songs he has been collecting for over five years. He’s hitting the road with trio and solo shows in the western U.S. this year because that’s what he does. His playing crackles and elicits nostalgic feelings while still being fresh and in your face. He’s razor sharp and shows no signs of stopping at age 75.

To understand how he got to elder blues statesman status, perhaps we should go back to the beginning. Roy Rogers was born in Redding, California in 1950 and grew up in a musical household.

“My mother was a great pianist, wonderful, she had a great left hand. She played those great standards from the 30s and 40s when I was growing up. That’s the first musical memory I can recall. She could get very emotional when she played certain tunes. As a kid that struck me early on, that music could move you. Happy or sad, I got that from music at a very early age. That was a very important factor certainly,” Rogers said.

Yes, his parents named after the singing cowboy. Yes, he was teased by the other kids.

“To say the least. I did not wear cowboy boots. It’s worked to my advantage with my sense of humor, don’t take your stuff too seriously,” Rogers said. “It wasn’t the cowboy’s real name. His real name was Leonard Slye. I’d tell people, if there’s any confusion here, I’m the real Roy Rogers! I was nominated for a GRAMMY the same year as Roy the cowboy. I believe ’91, he was nominated with Clint Black. It was in New York. He was there with his son Dusty. I’d met him a few times before, but had an extensive conversation there, he was in his 80s. I have this great picture on my wall with his arm around me and I’m grinning ear to ear. The fact that two Roy Rogers were nominated the same year, the odds were a zillion to one.”

As a youngster, listening to records would be Rogers’ education. He relished collecting 45s, a collection he still has. Soul star Gary U.S. Bonds was a particular favorite. Rogers started playing guitar at age 12 and it didn’t take the prodigy very long to hit the stage.

“My older brother (Bill) brought home The King of the Delta Blues, the Columbia release when they released the Robert Johnson stuff. I really got into slide when I heard Robert Johnson, for sure. I had heard Muddy Waters before, but it was really the Robert Johnson record when I was 14. I was in bands at 13, but I wasn’t playing slide. I was playing Chuck Berry and B.B. King riffs. Then I got into Robert Nighthawk, all the blues guys, Elmore James, Wolf. I got to see a lot of the cats at the Fillmore as a teenager.”

Mastering the slide would be a calling card for Rogers and part of his sound.

“I think slide is one of the most evocative ways you can play guitar because it’s mimicking the human voice. That’s why those Mississippi guys would sing half a verse and then they’d split it with guitar and come back with the voice and it was interchangeable. That was very cool. Son House, guys like that, up to guys like Duane Allman. They were saying something. That’s the important thing. What are you saying?”

Living in Northern California in the 1960s was fortuitous timing for Rogers, as a wave of the original electric blues stars would start to tour and relocate from the hotbeds like Chicago to California. As a teenager, Rogers was in the audience for some seminal blues moments.

“Certainly, number one would be at the Avalon Ballroom, which would be Howlin’ Wolf. Stunning, absolutely stunning. I had no idea what he did on stage, you had to see him live. He was crawling around on stage, messing with the microphone, he’d put the whole harmonica in his mouth. Just a powerful guy. I saw B.B. King when he first played the Fillmore and he played my hometown Vallejo two weeks prior at the local Vets Hall. John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed. The irony for me is 20-some-odd years later, I’m working with John Lee and opening shows for B.B. and met a lot of them. I got to play with some of these cats. Full circle. Nice work if you can get it.”

He’d get a lot of work. In the 70s he played in an acoustic duo called Rogers and Burgin. In 1980, at age 30, he struck out as the bandleader of the Delta Rhythm Kings. 46 years later, they’re still cookin’.

“It’s been a pretty consistent lineup, but I have had different lineups over the years,” Rogers said. “My current bass player, Steve Ehrmann, has been with me a great many years. He was there at the beginning, then he left, I had another guy Steve Evans play bass for some years and toured a lot, then Steve Ehrmann came back. My current drummer Kevin Hayes obviously played with Robert Cray for many years. I’ve pretty much always blown a trio. A couple of exceptions, my dear friend, Phil Aaberg, who just left the planet, he joined me on keyboards. Incredible keyboardist, he played on a lot of my records. When you have a power trio, you can go a lot of different directions. It’s mainly blues, but there are a lot of elements that come into my playing. I don’t consider myself a traditional guy. I’m messing with it. I’ve had the good fortune to make recordings with Ray Manzarek, Norton Buffalo, with Bonnie and so forth. But live performance with the trio is what I enjoy the best. It’s the live show. You should be better live. It’s constantly a reinterpretation.”

Playing with the legendary John Lee Hooker would become a major career highlight and provide Rogers with great exposure.

“John Lee was a wonderful human being. When I first started with him in ’82, I actually took the place of a B3 organ player. I was the rhythm guitar player and I was happy with that. There was a lead guitar player in the band, Mike Osborn. A lot of times when Hooker would play, he’d being doing this rhythm and sometimes just stop and start singing, well I was there to pick up the rhythm. I was steeped in John Lee Hooker music and his whole groove thing which was deep, to say the least, not just the boogie. When you do a swing, it’s gotta be deep, not superficial. I established a really close relationship with John musically. Then friendship-wise, that’s why I was asked by John and his manager Mike Kappus from Rosebud. They asked me if I wanted to produce him. I was totally confident to do that for The Healer, which was a joy to do, and then we did three others after that. I’m happy to say that John had the confidence in me to do that. We had a lot of famous people sit in. It wasn’t about the famous person sitting in. It was about how it meshed-up with John Lee Hooker, period. That was the emphasis. With those parameters, we made some good records. Certainly, John was happy and we won a couple GRAMMYs along the way for him.”

Those records featured an absolute who’s who of stars, including Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, Los Lobos, Jimmy Vaughan, Charlie Musselwhite, George Thorogood, Johnny Winter, Albert Collins, Johnnie Johnson, Booker T. Jones, Jim Keltner, and many others. Roy had Hooker’s trust to manage the situation.

“My relationship with John was closer than close. I started doing business for him on the road, paying the band, and I was in the band. I was playing with him for four years, from ’82 to ’86. Then I started opening the shows, so he had a built-in opening act. I used the bass and drums. That’s great for the show, you don’t need to find an opening act. So that put my name out there and helped me start solo touring. My wife Gaynell just wrote a cookbook and a memoir (Down Home Cooking from a Wayward Southern Belle) and she related a meal she cooked at John Lee’s birthday party at our house in San Francisco and he’d come up and get a peach pie. We were close, it was like family. I’m delighted to have been a part of it. When John Lee did it, I don’t care if it was Keith Richards or (Robert) Cray or Bonnie or whomever, he was happy and he was up for it. I just helped put the pieces together.”

After his time with Hooker, Rogers spent significant time playing with Bonnie Raitt, an artist he also holds in high regard.

“She’s so open to how her band is performing live and so great with that wonderful voice of hers and she’s so lyrical playing, so moving. Her vibrato, a different style completely from mine. She moves people. She is a performer that’s been doing it a long time. Whether it’s big crowd or small crowd, it’s her crowd. She knows how to communicate in a way that people feel at ease and open for her music. Not everyone can do that. She listens to her band. She’s a consummate player. Every time we get together, we trade riffs. It’s a conversation and a very enjoyable one.”

When he wasn’t helping some of the biggest blues stars of our time, he was out on the road with the Delta Rhythm Kings, including serving as opening act on a tour for a Mount Rushmore blues player, Stevie Ray Vaughan.

“I did a tour with Stevie Ray about six months before he passed away. Great tour, it was great opening for Stevie Ray. What can we say, those special players don’t come around that often. That’s the great thing about these guys. You’re always going to borrow from the people that you listen to. He would just keep playing at soundchecks. He was that driven. He loved playing. It was wonderful to see a guy like that. He had such power. Gone too soon.”

Rogers has indeed borrowed from the greats to create his own indelible sound. You can hear country, Delta blues, blues rock, roots music, pop, and more in his songs.

“It’s all in the mix. I listen to everything. I love the earlier country music. It’s based on that early Mississippi stuff. I love The Temptations, jazz, Ben Webster, swing jazz. My mother had the John Hammond multi-record set From Spirituals to Swing and that was playing around the house. Count Basie. Big Bill Broonzy. The blues is a wide swath for me. Hooker said it best, ‘the blues is a feeling.’”

Reaction has been positive to the new album, The Sky’s The Limit.

“I started writing it during COVID. I don’t tour as often as a lot of people, by choice,” Rogers said. “I wanted to have songs that were self-penned. I gave it a lot of thought as to how I wanted to approach that one. I have one cover. I was a big fan of the Rolling Stones, so I included that (‘The Last Time’). It was just time to say hey, I’m here, I’m not doing as much, but I’m still hopefully a viable musician. I’m not trying to prove anything other than write some good songs. I’m 75 years old, so I started with ‘Those Bygone Days’ and there are a lot of bygone days. You start to get older, it gives you a lot of perspective on things.”

The reality of America in 2026 had Rogers also stepping out on a new limb on the album.

“I couldn’t resist the political overtone of ‘He’s a Legend’ because we live in strange times. I’m don’t get real political, but I had to just say something. I think you can say it with humor than just attacking someone, that’s my style. It led to me exploring some new territory, writing-wise.”

Writing and recording aside, you can tell that Rogers revels in art of actual live performance and trying to transform an audience.

“It’s a gift that you can hear in a lot of different cultures, you have to be open to it,” Rogers said. “The performance is what moves us. When a performer has that kind of power, they don’t even think about it, they just do it. It doesn’t work like that, they are that. Hooker was like that, he lived and breathed it. That’s what we aspire to in playing. We can all play hot licks and speed it up, but does it mean something?”

So, he’ll be out there. He may not be out there for 200 shows a year or crisscrossing the country, but he’ll be out there, looking for that connection. Roy is joined in that journey by his wife, Gaynell Rogers, who is a longtime manager and publicist. As mentioned early, she is also an expert cook and now author. Gaynell will join Roy’s solo shows this summer to share stories from the book about dinner with Taj Mahal, Raitt, Wynton Marsalis, Big Mama Thornton, and others.

As he sings in the bittersweet Stones cover at the end of the new album, “this may be the last time, I don’t know.” We certainly hope there are many miles to go for this blues treasure.

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.

The Name Droppers – Let’s Live Together

Self Released

www.thenamedroppers.net

10 tracks/37 minutes

The Name Droppers were founded by the late Connecticut based Charlie Karp and continue with this release of their sixth album. Mixing some interesting originals and fun covers, they are a tight band.

On guitar is Rafe Klein who also writes songs. Ron Rifkin is on piano, Bobby “T” Torrello is on drums, and Scott Spray is on bass. Simone Brown fills out the vocals with some nice backing vocals. Rifken and Klein share lead vocals and Brown and Torrello each front the band for a song. Crispin Cioe is on sax for a half of the tracks.

They begin with the light hearted and fun “Grey Haired Blues,” nice little song about getting old. Some honky-tonk piano and sax add to the mix and the guitar solo is well done. “Let’s Live Together” is a call to people to get along. A little funky, the song has a good groove and a little sax for fun. The keys and backing vocals flesh things out well.

“Heartbreak City” is a slick number with another sweet little groove going. The sax and organ are well done and a stinging guitar solo is offered up. “Chain of Fools” is next, was recorded live and has Brown leading the cut. She sings with passion and does an outstanding job! An organ solo is also there to enjoy, but it’s Simone’s vocals here that sell this one.

Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Someone” features Kevin Monroe and Devotion, a great choir. Rifkin’s organ takes us to church as does the choir which features Brown. There’s a few nice guitar licks there, too; well done! Then it’s “Don’t Cry Over Me,” with more saxophone and Tim DeHuff adds his guitar to the song.

Next is “Talk Dirty” and then it’s “Love Lightnin’” which are two cuts from the Charlie Karp era of the band. There’s lots of guitar to savor and both songs are jumping cuts. The keys are also up front and cool in the latter cut. “Watch Pocket” has Torrello fronting the group. His gritty vocals are a big change of pace and offer a different approach for the band; lots of guitar licks here, including Jay Willie on slide. They conclude with the classic “Mannish Boy” and do it up well.

This is a fun and enjoyable CD from these New England blues musicians!

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.

Jeff Saxon – Happy Traveling

Relevant Records – 2026

www.jeffsaxonmusic.com

13 tracks; 47 minutes

Based in the Pacific North West, this is Jeff Saxon’s sixth album, continuing the style he calls ‘Blujanova’ and there are certainly elements of both jazz and blues in this all original album. Jeff handles all the vocals and plays acoustic, electric and slide guitar and ukelele (amongst his previous albums is one entitled The Ukelele Project); he also has a side career as a professional whistler and demonstrates that ability on one track too! A few tunes are solo efforts but for the most part, Jeff is backed by a variety of musicians in small combo settings: keyboard player Abramo Riti, drummers Brian Petry, Simon Whiting and Gary Usie, bassists Hugo Olmos Iglesias, Larry McGee and Ethan Sobota, clarinettist Andres Hayes, accordion player Jason Bergeron and resonator guitarist Bart Dietvors. However, there are several instances of uncredited instruments also, so more players may have been involved.

As a singer Jeff has a light, nasal delivery but his songs are often witty and he shows a wry sense of humour on songs like “The Oops I Wrote The Wrong Thing Blues”, the clarinet adding a 30’s jazz feel to the song. Fluid piano work is a strong feature of the opening track and Jeff’s advice that you should “Get It While You Got It on your side”. Piano and organ also feature on “Habit Worth Havin’”, a pleasant and upbeat tune while the title track encourages people to get out of their comfort zone and hit the road. Jeff advises us all to “find a way to command” and “Labour As Little As You Can” and emphasises that he aims to do something with his life in a tune entitled “Nothin’”: “I don’t do too much of nothin’, too much of nothin’ never leads to nothin’ good” is a great example of his wordplay.

“I Don’t Feel Easy” is a gentle solo track with just Jeff’s guitar and voice while “Satisfied” has ukelele and resonator on another laid-back cut which also includes his whistling. Next up are two full band tracks in which Jeff wittily says that “You’re Speakin’ My Language – not everyone does” and sounds more serious as he determines to “Worry No Mo’”. Clearly resentful of empty promises, Jeff warns against someone who is “just a professional faker, Mr Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”, a track that features his ukelele playing, as does the solo track “Someone Or Somethin’”. The album closes with the instrumental “A Little Feel_Good Latin Blues” that shows what a good guitar player Jeff is, everything else played by Gianluca Bonfanti Mele (keys, bass, drums and percussion) who also produced the track which provides a very pleasant conclusion to the album.

Overall, an album of pleasant music and some amusing lyrics.

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’.

Johnny Rawls & Dave Keller – Tribute to Soul

Third Street Cigar Records

www.davekeller.com

11 tracks/36 minutes

Look at the album cover. It hearkens to Eric Clapton and B.B. King and Riding With The King. Here we have Rawls who looks to be driving the car of his signature song “Red Cadillac,” with Keller giving us a look of confidence and satisfaction in the passenger seat.

Keller and Johnny have performed with each other for decades now and it shows; they are completely in sync with this superb tribute album. It is a masterful set of tunes with soul icon Johnny Rawls paying tribute to the previous iconic soul men of yore. And then we have Dave Keller who joins his mentor again for a delightful album of soul classics that they both put their indelible stamps on.

Dave’s band of keyboardist Ira Friedman, bassist Alex Budney, and drummer Jay Gleason are stellar and solid as always. The three-piece horn section of Paul Johnson (tenor and baritone saxophones), Ben DeLong (trumpet), and Travis Geiman (trombone) are fantastic here. Rawls and Keller trade off lead vocals and play rhythm guitar. The guitar solos are all Keller’s.

“I’m Qualified” is the Clarence Carter hit from 1968 and Johnny makes it his own with a rousing, pretty performance. He smooths the cut out in Johnny Rawls fashion, and Keller adds some responses to Johnny’s calls, making it a cool rendition. Next is “I’ve Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)” which is a deep soul cut originally released by Eddie Floyd. Keller testifies with passion as the horns back him sweetly and then Rawls enters the fray with equal emotion. A slick, restrained guitar solo adds nicely to the mix.

“Walk A Mile In My Shoes” is the great Joe South tune calling for acceptance and equality. Elvis gave us a famed rendition, too. Here both Dave Keller and Rawls give us their take on it and emote with deep feeling; well done! “Neighbor, Neighbor” follows, a rocking Jimmy Hughes cut where Rawls and Keller trade off the lead. A stinging guitar lead and solo replaces the old school guitar, and the hollow organ from the original get replaced by a more modern sounding horns and organ that help to make the cut special.

Keller fronts “I Remember” first and Rawls joins in on this 1971 Tommy Tate soul classic. The piano and horns add a nice dimension, another winner! Benny Latimore’s “Bad Risk” follows. Dave gives us a spoken intro and then Rawls takes over; this is soul like it’s supposed to be done. Horns and organ flow nicely and then we get a nice little guitar solo tnear the end that adds to the mood.

Joe Tex’ “Hold What You’ve Got” is from 1964 and was first done in Muscle Shoals with their backing musicians and signature sound. This version is less raw but equally passionate with Keller and Rawls sharing the mic. Dave and Johnny give it their all and it’s a super rendition. “Make Love To Me Baby” is classic 1970 Little Johnny Taylor and Rawls and Keller hit it out of the park. Slick vocals and horns, they make it all theirs.

Next is “The Kind of Love I Want” and Johnny tells us in no uncertain terms what he desires, and then it’s Dave’s turn to also tell us. This great Z.Z. Hill song is another classic and this duo give it up to us with guts and gritty feeling; I loved it! Albert King’s sultry “Drowning On Dry Land” moves from the realm of slow and somber blues into the world of deep soul and it’s oh-so cool. Keller kills it vocally as does Rawls and by the time it’s done you’ll be emotionally spent. They conclude with “You Didn’t Know It But You Had Me,” a bouncy cut by George Jackson and Dan Greer. Rawls and Keller turn the tempo down by a small notch but it remains a cool and vibrant song. The Farfisa combo organ is gone but there is a nice funkiness to this version with Friedman’s organ and piano and a short but cool bass set of riffs along with nice guitar and horn accompaniment.

I first played this album driving into the Chicago Blues Festival this year. I was floored and I keep listening to it over and over again. I’ve seen Johnny and Dave together many times and I continue to marvel at the synergy these two have with each other. It is remarkable. If you like soul music, then this is for you. It’s an amazing album filled with classic songs that Rawls and Keller make their own. Go get it- you won’t regret it!

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.

Alex Kilroy – Break My Chains

PARC Records

www.alexkilroy.com

12 songs – 48 minutes

Guitarist and singer/songwriter Alex Kilroy has an interesting backstory.  Born and raised in Transylvania, Romania, Kilroy initially focused on classical piano before, at the age of 14, discovering Stevie Ray Vaughan and swapping his piano for a guitar. After studying at Berklee on a scholarship, he eventually settled in Florida and Break My Chains is his debut release.

The black and white photo on the cover of Break My Chains depicts Kilroy, sitting on a dirt road in a desert, leaning against a vintage Pontiac, holding a Strat and wearing a white shirt, waistcoat and ornate cowboy boots. In the background, cactus stand tall in front of arid, rocky outcrops. It’s a distilled image of the mythological American dream and – like so many immigrants or visitors to this magnificent country – it is evident that he has bought into that dream and that mythology.

Kilroy is a gifted musician, whether wailing on guitar or singing in an unaffected, countertenor voice that sounds a little like a young Robben Ford at times. He also wrote or co-wrote 11 of the songs on Break My Chains, with the sole cover being the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider.” Despite the SRV influence, however, this album falls very much into the blues-rock or even pop-rock (on tracks like “All That Matters”) category. Indeed, the aforementioned Mr Ford seems to be a more obvious primary influence than SRV, given the number of different musical styles on display. Tracks like the funky “Let Me Play The Blues For Me” are proof that Kilroy can be a fine blues player when he shows a little restraint. On the other hand, “Kilroy’s Ballad” starts like half-sibling to Michael Schenker’s “Courvoisier Concerto” before throwing in a hint of Ritchie Blackmore’s classical influences.

That’s not to say that Break My Chains is a bad album. Far from it. It’s highly enjoyable and very impressive, with great performances and an excellent sound, captured by Tres Sasser, Joe Costa and Ted Jenson and Studio Live USA, with mastering at Sterling Sound. It’s simply surprising how many genres of music Kilroy essays. His musical vision is as vast as the American wilderness he captures in the album cover photo. The opening track, “Standing Tall” is a funky soul-blues track while the title track sounds like the handsome offspring of a marriage between The Doors and The Doobie Brothers, if officiated by Alan Parsons. The closing “It’s Hard To Let You Go” is a glorious slice of classically-inspired pop-rock that Meatloaf would have loved to record. The bar-room boogie of “Let The Good Times Roll” has a guest appearance from country legend, Vince Gill, while “Answer USA” is blues-based classic rock with harmony vocals and a catchy chorus that REO Speedwagon would appreciate. “Angel” is pure mid-70s pop-rock.

Kilroy is obviously the star of the show, excelling on both guitar and vocals but also writing some fine songs. He receives top drawer support from a backing band comprising Berian Henri on bass and backing vocals, Jarquis Dolphus on drums and backing vocals and Leonard Douglas Jackson Jr on piano, organ, synth and backing vocals.

The more one listens to Break My Chains, the more there is to uncover and to enjoy. This album is the perfect accompaniment for a long road trip across the States. Check it out.

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

The Trevor B. Power Band – Two Crows

Farm 189 Records

www.trevorbpowerband.com

10 tracks/41 minutes

Trevor B. Power is a 63 year old bluesman from Northern New Jersey who, with this release, has now produced four albums. He works with New York blues guitar ace Dave Fields and writes his own songs. His style is gritty and rocking.  His vocals are just above a growl and quite interesting.

Featuring Dave Fields on guitar and occasional bass, it also includes Steve Holley on the drums and percussion. Laura Kate Marshall adds backing vocals on half the tracks. They are the core group of musicians and guests are listed below.

“Bobby Lane” opens the album.  Power growls out the lead vocals while he and Fields passionately pick acoustic guitars.  It’s just a trio and a little different than the rest of the album. He tells the story of the title character, a mean and hard drinking guy. Intriguingly cool and different.  Then it’s “Let It Ride,” a hard rocking cut with Dennis Gruenling on harp. More grit and grime, more gutsy vocals and driving guitar along with wickedly hot harp.

“Ain’t Got No Bread” follows, a throbbing and driving cut  with Will Wylde on harp. It’s wild ride with heavy electric guitar licks and down and dirty harp. Kenny Thorstenson appears on bass, helping lay out the big groove featured here. “My Neighborhood” returns to the original trio’ Fields adds keys and backing vocals. It’s a little rocking number with distorted guitar and a slick vibe.

“Speck of Life” is the same crew as the last track with electric and  acoustic guitars and Marshall helping vocally. Introspective stuff with heady lyrics and ethereal guitar licks. “Horizon” reprises the players from the prior track and adds Fields’ son Jasper on flute. The song lacks the gruffy vocals and with the added flute, nice guitar solo, some organ and good backing vocals it channels a cool 1960’s rock vibe– well done!

“The Message” is another sweet acoustic piece. Power again backs off the gruff side of his vocals and pulls off another late 60’s rocker that swings and has a slick feel to it. Another stinging guitar solo helps sell this one as does the spoken word testimonial. The foursome also handles “Puddles of Blood;” here Power bemoans the shootings and hatred in our society as he testifies to us again, and we get yet Again another nice electric guitar solo with some slide work.

The trio handles “The Fire Burns” as he hear flames licking up as  Power moans out the intro. He retains his less gruff vocal approach here as he laments the destructive  and massive fires we experienced last year. He sings with passion as he winds his way in this slow and somber cut. A repetitive guitar groove and nice slide and deep guitar licks help to set the mood here. The album concludes with “Our Time Is Short,” another lilting acoustic piece. There’s a slight bit of the growling vocal here as Power sings of his widowed mother whom he deeply misses. A singer on silver screen, he and the backing vocals give an emotive performance as they sing of meeting up in the next existence.

Overall, I was impressed with the original songs. They were all crafted well and the lyrics captured the listener’s interest. Power has a vocal style that ranges in levels of grittiness that makes the listener take notice. The accompaniment is all well done and musically the album shines. It’s bot really a true blues album, often taking us on a rock musical journey, but it’s good stuff never the less. I liked the album a lot and I think Power and company will get noticed– there’s some nice tunes to enjoy on this album!

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.