The album’s title 25 Years of House Rockin’ Rhythm’ N’ Blues! might lead some fans to think that this is some kind of career retrospective, compilation or a rehashing of older material. It isn’t. It is all brand new, original material which is a celebration of what makes this Stockholm, Sweden, based ensemble of international musicians so good. In the blues rich part of the planet known as Scandinavia, trickbag has emerged as heavyweight champions. 25 Years of Houserockin’ Rhythm’ N’ Blues! is the knockout punch that proves this point. This album receives my highest recommendation and is a very serious candidate for the 2019 BLUES JUNCTION Productions Album of the Year. 

This, their second offering on the Rhythm Bomb record label, is something very special. It, as the album title implies, is a celebration of the band’s 30^th Anniversary and on Dirty Thirty they celebrate in grand style. This release, which will be enjoying a December 13^th street date, is a beautiful three-disc package. The first two CDs are complete previously released albums. They are 2012’s Come Along and the 2014 release Businessmen from their days at Crosscut Records days. Both these two CDs have a bonus track of a previously unreleased song. The third disc is made up of brand-new recordings of old Blues Shacks tunes. It also includes four brand new songs written by the brothers, Andreas and Michael “Maddy” Arlt. 

This collection of vintage instrumental, guitar-centric covers of songs from the Beatles' catalog features the guitarist's signature blend of vintage jazz, exotica, blues, rockabilly, western swing and country. Here Paterson uses classic Beatles songs as a sonic template for this mid-century musical journey. Recorded in Chicago at Reliable Recorders and at Paterson's home studio, Let It Be Guitar! features Joel on guitar, pedal steel, and lap steel; Beau Sample on bass; Alex Hall on drums; and Chris Foreman on Hammond B3 organ. - C.L. 

This two-disc 29 song package is a three decades long career retrospective with a twist. There are 21 previously unreleased tracks. All of the recordings on Al Blake’s XX Large Bag of Blues Volume 1 feature Blake in solo, duo and trio settings. You, of course, can hear Al sing, play guitar and harmonica. He is joined by Fred Kaplan, the titan of the blues piano, as well as world renowned, blues harmonica master Kim Wilson on a handful of tracks. Here Wilson lends some of the tastiest harp playing in his long and distinguished career. One song features the exceptional country blues guitar of Nathan James. This package comes with a twelve-page booklet with liner notes written by yours truly and a complete song by song annotated discography by Al Blake. 

Rick Estrin is on the short list of greatest harmonica players in the world. He is also on that same list as a songwriter. Intelligence, irony and wit are his calling cards and he deals them with deft precision on Contemporary. His band, The Nightcats, remains one of the premier blues ensembles working today. They put Estrin’s material in a smart, sophisticated, uptown urban package that is distinctive. Fresh, creative and rooted in decades old blues traditions is the brand that Rick Estrin & the Nightcats have created and they remain the genres' most consistent practitioners.

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