Welcome to the April edition of BLUES JUNCTION. As you know we have missed a couple of months. We are OK. I have been down with the flu. I should point out that (as far as I know) this isn’t related to the coronavirus which has affected all of our lives, worldwide. My ailment took the exact course that my doctor had predicted and that others who have had the affliction described to me.

As far as our world is concerned…it's closed now. It’s shut down and not functioning in any way in which we were familiar. There isn’t a single aspect of our lives that isn’t appreciably different today than it was just a couple of weeks ago. In less than a week's time, in the middle of March everything changed...everywhere.

Our biggest concern right now is the health and safety of all of you. Those thoughts, of course, extend to your family and friends as well. Like all of you, we are staying home and trying the best we can to protect ourselves, and therefore others, and hoping to  keep this world wide pandemic from spreading.

Each and every month I conclude these letters from the editor by asking you to be well and be in touch.  Now those simple words take on an urgency and gravitas that I couldn’t have imagined just a few weeks ago.   

By now everyone knows that live blues music is gone for the time being. The recording aspect of all of this left some time ago, when folks made the conscious decision to let their own greed outweigh any consideration they might have had for the artists. Maybe, we can finally get it through our skulls that YouTube, Spotify and Pandora weren’t such a great idea in the first place.

A project that I have been working on for several months, and which I had to lay down while I was down, is now ready for public consumption. It is…drum roll please…The Top 200 Blues Albums of the Past 20 years. 

Maybe this would also be the time to dust off an old piece entitled, Are CDs and Vinyl Records Obsolete? You can read that here in the brand new April edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

Since we can’t go out and support these musicians with our hard earned money in a live music setting, the least we can do is buy their CDs. This is the only source of income left to them. Hell, we are home anyway and presumably we have more time to listen to music. With all of this in mind, I offer up to you our Recommended Listening feature for April. This new music could be the last batch we get for a while…but we will just have to wait and see.

While you are picking up on some of this new music, I urge you to visit the website of our longtime friend and contributor to BLUES JUNCTION, Charlie Lange. His Bluebeat Music continues to be the greatest vintage music retailer in the world. Since 1994 Bluebeat Music has been the go-to source for rare and hard to find blues, soul, jazz, rhythm & blues and vintage rock & roll recordings. Additionally, Charlie has many CDs that are Bluebeat music exclusives.

Charlie has provided us another installment of his Re-Issue Rodeo. Again, the folks at Jasmine Records out of the UK are well represented in this roundup of old noise. Great artwork and interesting liner-notes, as well as discographic information have become the hallmark of the Jasmine label.

Our Monthly Album Spotlight shines on an album entitled Tenderly by Ukrainian harmonica player Konstantin Kolesnichenko. It has a world wide release date of April 3^rd. This is the third album from Konstantin since 2016. He has quickly become a favorite out here at the JUNCTION.

I thought it would be a nice time to revisit the interview I did with Konstantin a few years ago. This might give you a chance to get to know this individual a little better. So, he is also in our Monthly Artist Spotlight.

As we think of all the folks who are so adversely affected by this pandemic, I think of places like Austin, where a very large part of life in the Texas capital centers around live music. The social fabric and the economy of that growing metropolis, centers around the live music scene, like very few places that come immediately to mind. They are now forced, like everyone else, to do without. We visited the Texas capital three years ago, this past winter and as a tribute to a very special place we present a piece entitled, Austin: The Capital of Texas Cool.

My heart goes out to all the people who are so adversely affected by this global pandemic, starting with the musicians. I have no idea how these people, many of whom are close friends and family, will survive this economically. This isn’t even taking into account the health risks associated with this crisis.

As far as we are concerned out here at our little word factory by the sea, Tracy and I are doing just fine for now. Our lifestyle hasn’t changed as much as it has for most of you, as we have both worked from home for many years. Listening to music without the distraction of a flat screen or electronic tether is something I have always enjoyed. I still do this for hours at a time every single day. My ability to receive pleasure from this activity is something I have never taken for granted. Now, I am eternally grateful.  

Our biggest worries right now center around our mothers. Of course, one of the saddest aspects of this is we can’t see either one of them, even though they live fairly close. We are taking the shelter in place orders from our Governor here in California very seriously. My mother is 89 years old and is in good health. Frequent phone calls are all we have right now. I’m so lucky to have Tracy and glad we get along as well as we do. I couldn’t imagine having to do this alone.

For my own health and mental well-being, I have had to eschew the national cable news outlets all together. As our friend Charlie Lange said to me recently, “Cable news is like eating fast food. It is very bad for you and it is addictive. If you consume too much, it will make you sick.”  I now get my news exclusively from the variety of newspapers I read every morning online. You can pick and choose the content. You can decide for yourself when and how much of it you want to ingest. Just a suggestion…it has worked for me.  

I have always thought it important to listen to our President regardless of any political and philosophical differences we may have. Right now, that is impossible. It has been often noted that Trump has the intellect and temperament of a small child. Point well taken, but I don’t think that’s fair to small children. His recent bragging about how good his television ratings are for his daily pandemic briefings is just one example of his incompetence, callousness and cruelty.  It represents a complete disconnect with reality and decency that is unprecedented in American history. His daily comments such as these, which often contradict every expert opinion, are mind boggling and disheartening all at the same time.

What is unique about this situation is the population of the entire planet is fighting the same, unseen enemy. What our world can do as a result is yet to be seen, but I am cautiously optimistic. We can see that we have more in common than we previously thought. This virus doesn’t care on which side of any of our artificial borders we might live. It doesn’t discriminate with respect to race, social status or wealth. There is certainly more empathy and acts of charity even in my own country than many thought possible. For every asinine, selfish, divisive, self-aggrandizing, often incoherent and just plain false statement that spews endlessly out of the mouth of Trump, there are many more examples of true courage and leadership coming from all over the world and from non-Trump-cult members in my own country. There are even more stories of individuals and local business that are giving back to their communities. It is truly inspirational and heartwarming.

We have entered into uncertain times to say the least. As far as the future of BLUES JUNCTION, it is our plan to press on and do the very best we can to provide you with a thought provoking and entertaining reading experience. We have never been a “newsletter” or news driven in any way, so this won’t be a place where you have to be burdened with any more of that. In this day and age, it is impossible for a “monthly” to provide any relevant and timely news anyway. Maybe, if we can make your “sheltering in place” just a little more bearable, even if it's just for a few minutes, than it will be worth it to us. I love all of you.

BE WELL AND BE IN TOUCH.

- David Mac