Welcome to the much anticipated “Best of 2014” edition of BLUES JUNCTION. We do our “Best of the previous year edition” after the year has ended for a few obvious reasons, not the least of which…1) I like to do things a little differently. Everyone trots out their “Best of...year in review” type of publication in December; 2) I remain an optimist and up until the clock strikes twelve on December 31^st I figure, the best is yet to come; 3) Maybe I don’t want to take the limelight off the Meineke Car Care Bowl (which I probably watched); 4) I am a notorious procrastinator or; 5) Chico Blues Records is going to put out an incredible album in December. Either way I hope you enjoy this, the January 2015 edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

Through the years I have eschewed the notion of putting up our usual Monthly Artist Spotlight Feature here in January. However this month I decided that it is utterly and entirely appropriate that our “Best of…” ezine includes a feature on the man who has been widely referred to as the best blues drummer in the world, Richard Innes. He gets out from behind the drum kit to stand in our Monthly Artist Spotlight.  

As I began prepping for this interview, it occurred to me I have heard Innes perform live more than any other drummer in my many years listening to this music. It is a function, I suppose, of wanting to hear the greatest bands with the best musicians and Richard Innes has always been right smack dab in the middle of all of that. He picks his spots very carefully. I’ll bet that if one didn’t know anything about blues music and wanted to learn, they could ask, who is the drummer playing in tonight’s band. If the answer was Richard Innes than you knew it would be a top flight, no nonsense blues band performing that evening. Richard doesn’t suffer fools any more than he does mediocre blues musicians. He takes great pride in being able to play the music with the people he holds in the highest regard.

Innes doesn’t grandstand or mug for the audience. He just makes any band that he is playing with sound better. He is the ultimate musician’s musician and it is one of the joys of my life to share this interview with our readers. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. I found Richard Innes to be highly intelligent, articulate, honest as well as humble and modest to a fault. A journalist couldn’t ask for anything more.

In addition to, and as a way of illuminating, the contributions Richard has made in the blues field, we included a separate feature and what I believe to be the most comprehensive discography on Richard Innes.

In our Monthly Album Spotlight Feature we have an in depth review of the recent re-issue of one of my favorite blues records of all time, Southside Blues Jam by Junior Wells. This review was written by Mark Baier who contributes his talents to the Chicago Blues Guide. Charlie Lange of Bluebeat music hipped me to this great piece. I got in touch with Mark and he was kind enough to share this with our readers.

While discussing re-issues and Charlie Lange, the sage of Santa Cruz contributed a wonderful piece which is part of our “Best of 2014” features. Check out Charlie’s Best Re-issues of 2014.

Charlie also participated along with other distinguished individuals in the blues field on a feature I call Dave’s Top Nine List of Top Ten Lists.

The consensus of these individuals made up our albums of the year list. Each and every one of the nine nominees ranked their favorite blues albums one through ten. From there that data hit a spread sheet and we have The BLUES JUNCTION Productions Albums of the Year. The process here is entirely transparent as each vote, each choice has a person standing behind their selections and taking full credit for their picks. These individuals come from three continents and three time zones in the U.S. Please note that the majority of the nominees come from the U.S. and from those the lion’s share come from its most populous state. Is it a perfect system? No, and I can see where some refinements might be in order, however, we have rewarded true excellence in the blues recording field and take great pride in that.

Then we have The Best of 2014: The Editors Picks. Check that out as the best of the best are recognized for their exceptional contributions to the blues canon.

In addition to that we have our every other year tradition of piecing together The Best of the BLUES JUNCTION Interviews. In the newly and long overdue re-vamped, remodeled and overhauled archive section of our site you will find at the end of the “interview” section an entry entitled, “The Best of the BLUES JUNCTION Interviews.” Those interview segments are complied and extrapolated from the 2011 and 2012 interviews and appeared in our ezine in the “Best of 2013” edition.  Now, I have put together highlights from the interviews that took place over the past two years.  

As always I would like to thank our readers for their continued support of our unique, boutique style website. There aren’t too many days that pass when some very thoughtful person dispenses what on the face of it might be considered very forward thinking advice. It usually is something along the lines of...‘Hey you old fart did you know that you could link this to that? You can click on this and it will take you to that, you can have YouTube videos on your site along with sound bites…and so on and so forth.’  

I try and absorb this information and reflect on all the possibilities of which I am already aware and think, but don’t say out loud ‘Yeah and everybody from Willie Johnson to Big Jon Atkinson could play through a stack of Marshals with effect pedals, wah wah and otherwise but they don’t.’

There are many who believe the only value of blues music is to be a template for other forms of more popular music. Blues might be the model in which virtually all forms of American music finds their inspiration. I however like many of our readers have found this music to be of value in and of itself. Its beauty is there for those who are willing to slow down, take their time and absorb something that has merit, has a message that can’t be disseminated in a ten second tweet, a fifteen second sound bite or a bumper sticker, that reads, “Keepin’ Da Blooze Alive.”

Blues music is not for everybody and I am perfectly comfortable with that. Neither are we and that is fine by me as well. I continue to be astonished and grateful that BLUES JUNCTION has found a large audience of thoughtful, discerning blues fans around the world. It remains a joy to correspond with so many of you each and every day.

In a nutshell, maybe we are like the music we celebrate. Maybe, without consciously knowing it until this very moment we have strived to be like my hero, Richard Innes, “Old School” without apology.

Until we meet again, be well and be in touch...oh and Happy New Year from the entire BLUES JUNCTION Family.

- David Mac