Welcome to the January/Best of 2016 edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

As always we have a series of articles which celebrate the best recordings of 2016. I know everyone else does this in December, but I like to wait for the year to be over. As a wise Yogi once said, “It ain’t over 'til it’s over.” This year I am very glad I heeded that sage advice, as numerous late year recordings made it to the JUNCTION even during that post Christmas, Funkmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and pre-New Year’s Day week.

We procured one great album after another this past December some of which, as warranted, made it into this edition of BLUES JUNCTION. They are included in our regular monthly feature entitled Recommended Listening /New Music.

We also have one of these as our Monthly Album Spotlight. It is a release from Bluebeat Music by Rusty Zinn entitled, Last Train to Bluesville. In addition, we have two other full album reviews. One is a great album and one is by the Rolling Stones. Read my thoughts on the new release by The Knickerbocker All-Stars entitled Texas Rhody Blues and the brand new all blues album by the celebrated rock&roll band entitled Blue & Lonesome.

Our Re-Visited feature takes a look back on a seminal moment in the career of one of the most popular bluesmen of all time, Jimmy Reed. We examine his 1962 release entitled Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall.

December, like every other month in 2016, saw its share of musicians exiting this stage. Most notably we lost a man who was a favorite of ours both musically and personally; that is Chuck Goering better known as Barrelhouse Chuck. Read my appreciation of this great musician. Chuck is in our Monthly Artist Spotlight for January.

Additionally on December 18^th we lost one of the most influential and revered blues musicians of the past 30 years.  His name was Sven Zetterberg. He was the undisputed Godfather of the Scandinavian blues scene, who we now take for granted as being such a vital resource of talent in the blues field.

I will try and get my thoughts together on the sudden and unexpected passing of this blues icon and share them with you in the near future.

Our Best of 2016 feature begins with The Top Ten Re-Issues of 2016. As you might suspect a whole slew of these great Re-Issues which are being released in rapid succession entered the BLUES JUNCTION library. These are my favorites. Thanks to Charlie Lange whose commentary you can read on each entry of our list. Each of these CDs is available on his Bluebeat Music website which can be accessed simply by clicking on the album cover art.

Next up is one of my favorite annual features which is entitled, Dave’s Top Ten List of Top Ten Lists. Here I have gathered ten people who are associated with various aspects of the blues music business and asked them to provide to me, in no particular order, their ten favorite blues albums which were released in 2016. I should take a moment here to thank all of our participants who take this task very seriously. I appreciate their due diligence.

We also have the Top Forty Albums of 2016. Many of our readers probably have many of these CDs in their library. For those who don’t, I urge you to seek out these titles. Feel free to contact me, if I can assist you in any way in this regard.

As we look back on last year I have to give thanks to all the folks who make BLUES JUNCTION possible. Nothing around here could be accomplished without Tracy Morgan. Please note: She is not related to the comedic actor, but like that famous SNL alum they are both carbon based life forms. For those who know us even a little, you know that when I refer to her as the brains of the operation you know I’m not kidding. She is not only our webmaster, but my editor.

Through the years I have had people tell me something to the affect, “You can’t write that. I’m not sure you want to go there.”…that type of thing. When I hear that I usually contemplate what I’m sure is sage and very thoughtful advice. Then I double down and let it rip. When I hear it from Tracy, I listen. As one, she knows me at least as well as anybody, and B) I know she has my best interests at heart. So for all those offensive, inappropriate and downright stupid things you don’t read here at BLUES JUNCTION, you now know who to thank.

Thanks as always to our readers. As I have noted here before, without you, this entire enterprise is pointless. Thanks for helping to get the word out amongst like minded individuals. Right now that is our entire advertising campaign. Well, that and t-shirts which one can procure by contacting us.

Thanks for your support. I hope each and every one of you has a happy new year. Be well and be in touch.

- David Mac



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