I open this month’s set of jukebox favorites with an instrumental tune from east coast guitarist Ivan Applerouth. The song Drivin' with Ivan is from the former Big Joe and the Dynaflows guitarist 2011 album entitled Blue & Instrumental…I like it like that.

Big Joe and the Dynaflows keep rolling down the road with their new guitarist Rob McNelley. The tune I’m to Blame comes from Joe Maher’s most recent album on Severn Records. This outstanding 2011 release from drummer/vocalist/songwriter “Big Joe” features this song written by birthday boy Jimmy McCracklin.

Steve Cropper’s album on 429 Records entitled, Dedicated: a Salute to the 5 Royales is due out August 9^th. One of Cropper’s biggest and earliest musical influences is the 5 Royale's guitarist, Lowman Pauling. From this record we have been grooving to the song, Think. The album is full of guest vocalists and instrumentalists. I chose this tune because it’s all Cropper, all the time. He turns this classic song into a guitar instrumental. Play it Steve!

Tramp is the only song I am aware of co-written by Jimmy McCkracklin and Lowman Pauling. There is a great version out there by Lowell Fulson that I love. I, however, chose to play the Stax record by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas that features Steve Cropper on guitar. This tune is from the 1967 release King and Queen, the last Otis Redding album to be released before his death later that year.

The Jimmie Vaughan album that came out on the 26^th of July is, as he says, a bookend to his 2010 release entitled Blues Ballads and Favorites. More Blues Ballads and Favorites was recorded to sound like an old jukebox. With Vaughan, it has always been about the song. Jimmie and his outstanding band breathe new life into some old gems. We have been grooving to the Jimmy Liggins tune Teardrop Blues from this Shout Factory release.

Blow Mr. Low is the great 2001 solo album by Doug James who is a member of Jimmie Vaughan’s band. James is a baritone sax man who has spent much of his long career on stage and in the studio with another one of the great guitar players of our generation, Duke Robillard. His 2001 solo album features Duke playing guitar on a handful of tracks. From this album I chose one of my favorites, the old Smiley Lewis tune Dirty, Dirty People. This tune features another east coast blues stalwart, Sugar Ray Norcia on vocals.

Heavy Juice was the first solo album by Greg Piccolo after the tenor saxophonist left Roomful of Blues. The album features a roomful of musicians who passed through that great Rhode Island based musical institution through the years including baritone sax man and fellow member of Jimmie Vaughan’s band, Doug James. This 1990 release on Black Top records has been long out of print and is no longer available. From this great record I chose Greg’s take from one of my favorite tenor players of all time, Gene Ammons. The song Brother Jug’s Sermon has Greg Piccolo preachin’ the good word on his tenor.

Mill Block Blues is the 2011 album by the Ruff Kutt Blues Band. This is not a band in the true sense of the word but an all star assemblage of Texas musicians who were tapped to play on this record by the album’s producer and principal guitarist, Anson Funderburgh. Proceeds from the sale of this album go to the HART (Handy Artist Relief Trust) Fund. To date 4,000 dollars has been raised for this worthy cause which assists blues musicians with their medical expenses. The song This is the Place is about a place where a party going on. In this case, vocalist Dempsey Crenshaw is singing about Don Cates’ annual Fish Fry and Blues Bash in North Texas.

One of my favorite Joe Houston tunes is the 1957 single on the Combo label All Night Long. It is a swinging upbeat number with Joe blowin’ his big earthy tenor all over the joint.

Wynonie Harris is one of the rock & roll pioneers we have been celebrating in this month’s issue of BLUES JUNCTION. The song Here Comes the Blues is a gorgeous ballad which features the beautiful tenor sax of Illinois Jaquet. Jaquet has been cited as being a huge influence of the honkers of the era including the subject of our August Monthly Artist spotlight Big Jay McNeely. This tune, co-written by Harris and Jaquet, comes from a wonderful four disc box set entitled Rockin’ the Blues.

Ron Dziubla of the Hollywood Combo, who backed Big Jay McNeely on July 30^th in a rare Southern California performance by the saxophone icon, has a 2010 solo album out entitled Some Strange Blues. Ron is a first call sax man based out of Los Angeles. He is joined by a whole host of Southern California heavyweights on this 12 song instrumental journey. The tune PCH Hit and Run and the rest of this CD have a retro rock feel that at times sounds like a cross between Link Ray and King Curtis.

The tune Juice Head Baby comes from Cootie Williams and his Orchestra featuring Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. I pulled this from the 103 song, 2006 reissue, box set box set entitled Honk for Texas. That’s right, 103 tunes with the great Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. This box is the sh*t!

The title of Pennsylvania’s own Richard Ray Farrell’s 2011 release called I Sing the Blues Eclectic gives you a sense of what to expect on this fine album…and that is the unexpected. Farrell is all over the blues map here with a dozen originals. I chose to visit a tune with a tasty Texas T-Bone flavor to it, Steady Eatin’ Woman. This record has country blues, gospel, Chicago, West Coast and, as mentioned, Texas style blues idioms covered with an original voice from this East Coast songwriter, harmonica player, guitarist and singer.

Sugar Pie DeSanto makes it onto the jukebox with a song entitled, In the Basement. It is a duet with the great one, Etta James I pulled this from a fantastic 2009 reissue on AMG entitled, Go Go Power: The Complete Chess Singles 1961 – 1966. This album also features the tune Slip in Mules (No High Heel Sneakers) Sam Andrew referenced in his piece entitled Bay Area Blues Women you can find in this month’s edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

Big Jay McNeely's album Big Jay in 3-D features one of my favorites the “title” track 3-D. This song combines McNeely's musical sophistication and jazz chops with wild changes, that are just plain fun. I saw a vinyl record of this recording (in very sub mint condition) on EBay selling for $799.00. You can find this album in the popular CD format on a 1994 King label reissue for a lot less.