This release by the Little Village Foundation is why the label exists in the first place. Found! One Soul Singer brings to our attention this criminally underappreciated talent.  Green, a Louisiana native and long-time Los Angeles resident went up the road to Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studios and made an album that played to his strengths, which are considerable. As producer, Andersen put the right songs and the right musicians in place and made an album that sounds like a recording from the late 60’s and early 70’s. The usual Greaseland collective of first call musicians is in place and makes marvelous contributions.  Editors Note: This album is featured in our Monthly Album Spotlight in October. -D.M. 

This is the second release of Kim's recordings done at Jon Atkinson's Bigtone Studios.  Known for its "straight to tape" sound, the entire CD has the feel of a lost 50's Cobra or Checker session.  It features many of the best blues players around including Billy Flynn, Robert Welsh, Danny Michel and Kid Andersen. Many of the songs are Kim Wilson originals along with a big helping of songs by Jimmy Rogers (who Kim refers to as his "rouge uncle"). Jon Atkinson always fills the bill on guitar when needed and marvelous Marty Dodson beats the skins on many of the sides.  This is a treasure chest of blues goodness. – C.L. 

The long awaited and much anticipated, release of the latest CD by America’s premier blues band, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones featuring Little Charlie is here…well almost. The album entitled Too Far from the Bar is slated for a September 18^th street date. The addition of Little Charlie Baty was a wonderful move. No guitarist has a more articulate vocabulary in the various blues dialects this side of Duke Robillard. Robillard produced this album. Duke even plays with Charlie on four tunes. There isn’t a clunker in this fifteen-song, sixty plus minutes of blues. From originals written by mostly Norcia, but with great contributions from Geraci and Ward, to the carefully selected covers everything here meshes wonderfully. The album is so wonderfully paced and sequenced that those sixty minutes fly. Believe it or not, it leaves you wanting more.

The man who used to perform under the alliterative sobriquet of B-B-Q Barnes and led a band called the Rib-Tones is still cooking.  The latest release by veteran bay area harmonica player and songwriter Neil Barnes is a collection of songs recorded at three separate locations over the past few years. Traditional blues grooves are featured on this fine release. Highlights include the instrumentals, two of which were recorded at Jon Atkinson’s Big Tone Studios when those facilities were based in the east bay. Six of the album's ten tracks were produced by Kid Andersen and recorded at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose. Andersen also mixed and mastered the two numbers recorded by Atkinson. His indelible prints are all over Bald Guy with a Lot on his Mind. Other album highlights include the two tracks recorded at the Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. These feature the guitar of Ron Thompson. The recently departed blues man sings on one of these tunes, a Thompson original entitled Sugar Mama. Bald Guy… has a great supporting cast. However, the star turns out to be the tasteful, understated harmonica stylings of Barnes. His playing is restrained and therefore effective. He never gets in the way of the song or the vocalists who deliver their missives with the clarity one would expect from some well written originals and carefully curated covers.  Bald Guy with a Lot on his Mind is Barnes’ finest album in several years. - D.M. 

When you have an album entitled Chicago Spectacular! which includes the dreaded exclamation point you better have a good reason for such an audacious title. Brian Berkowitz aka Johnny Iguana makes quite a case for himself…by not making it about himself.  On Chicago Spectacular!, Iguana plays a 100-year-old upright piano which yields a dark, warm sound that evokes the rich history of the music from which this album finds its inspiration. From that rich history come three vocalists in particular who elevate these proceedings: Lil’ Ed, John Primer and Billy Boy Arnold. All three have rich legacies which are tied to Chicago’s blues legacy. This is the first album as a leader for Iguana. He has been a side man for Junior Wells, Billy Boy Arnold, Lil’ Ed, John Primer, Buddy Guy, James Cotton and others, He is also known as the pianist in the popular Chicago based band, The Claudettes. Here Iguana plays tribute to seven of Chicago’s blues pianists. They are: Little Johnny Jones, Big Maceo, Memphis Slim, Otis Spann, Sunnyland Slim, Joshua Altheimer and Big Moose Walker. This Delmark Records release is packaged beautifully and includes wonderful liner notes written by the album’s producer, Larry Skoller and the great blues writer, historian and journalist Bill Dahl. If you love the blues music of this great American city you will love Chicago Spectacular! 

Coolerater, like the Chris Corcoran Band’s 2017 release Blues Guitar Grooves, works for me in a big way. This U.K. based ensemble lays out some great jazz tinged instruments behind their guitar slinging leader. This eight piece little big band, sometimes augmented by a Hammond organ, demonstrates its affection for that place where American jazz and blues gets all mixed up in the late 50’s and early 60’s of the last century. The originals written by Corcoran and the band’s drummer fit snugly with very creatively tweaked covers, such as Jimmy Smith’s Back at the Chicken Shack and Herbie Hancock’s Watermelon Man. Check out Coolerater for a swinging good time dance party. -D.M. 

Our favorite Hungarian singer, harmonica player, band leader and occasional songwriter Mátyás Pribojszki has a brand-new release. Unlike his two previous CD releases, 2016’s My Stories and 2018’s Dressed Up, Having a Party dispenses with the little big band sound that he used to such great effect. Here Mátyás records in a duo setting with guitarist Ferec Szasz. This pair of musicians are billed as Grunting Pigs. This stripped-down affair is no less effective in delivering the goods. Pribojszki originals sit comfortably beside songs by Smiley Lewis, Jimmy Reed and others. These sessions took place in Budapest between 2018 and February of this year and were mixed and mastered by Harry Gale at his studio in Sebastopol, California. An album highlight (and there are many) includes Bill Barrett and “Lazy” Brad Lewis playing harp and guitar respectively on the Washboard Sam tune Easy Ridin’ Mama. – D.M. 

Recorded during his 2019 fall European tour at Heyman Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark, Make It Right! aptly demonstrates the power of simplicity by virtue of Shawn’s ability to squeeze out every available ounce of creative juice while working within the confines of a trio, thanks in large part to the agile rhythm section of bassist Erkan Özdemir and his son Levent on drums. Heavy overtones of Mississippi hill country blues are on display here, ala Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside, with distinct flourishes of Windy City inspiration from the likes of Eddie Taylor, Otis Rush, Magic Sam and Hound Dog Taylor, the culmination of which is keenly filtered through the prism of Pittman’s muse. -J.S.F. 

This is an impressive debut from Andrew Alli.  It was recorded at Jon Atkinson's Bigtone Studio using all vintage analog recording equipment and direct to two-track. The CD features nine original songs and three classic covers from Little Walter, Big Walter and George Smith. Featuring the talented crew of Danny Michel, Jon Atkinson and Carl Sonny Leyland, the band provides Alli with solid traditional support without any grandstanding. - C.L.                                                                                   

Just like the album title implies, this bay area-based gospel group takes on songs by one of their favorite gospel groups of all-time, the Pilgrim Jubilees. The Pilgrim Jubilees are a venerable musical institution which goes all the way back to the great depression of the mid 1930’s. 25 albums later they are the blueprint for this album and this modern-day gospel group, The Sons of the Soul Revivers. We are now in another depression which rivals the 1930’s, a worldwide pandemic which rivals the Spanish Flu of 1918, racial unrest which rivals 1968 and a President exacerbating all of these things with a level of callousness, cruelty and incompetence unprecedented in our nation's history. The soothing songs of salvation are just what we could use right about now. Thanks to The Sons of the Soul Revivers for delivering this soul massage right when we need it the most. – D.M. 

Throughout From The Patio, Thompson effortlessly toggles between traditional electric guitar stylings and slide. His slide guitar playing is at times extraordinary, as he resists the temptation to overplay his hand. His vocals are adequate. What makes this aspect of his performance work, is there isn’t even the faintest whiff of bullshit anywhere near his singing. Editors note: See our complete album review feature in this month’s edition of BLUES JUNCTION. – D.M.

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