BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info
This month we have for your consideration a brand new batch of brand new and soon to be released CDs. Remember, you can find many of these titles, along with a massive inventory of blues recordings new and old, at Bluebeat Music. In this age of digital downloads, file sharing (stealing) and streaming services (stealing) we are staunch advocates of purchasing new music. If you stop buying it, these talented artists will stop making it and that, my friends, would be a tragedy.
The seminal blues band of our time and place delivers with the consistency of a Clayton Kershaw fastball. Now thirty five years down the road, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones remind us what it is about blues music we love. Seeing is Believing is filled with great story telling delivered with an urgency, potency and the panache of true masters of the form. Sugar Ray Norcia is on everyone’s list as one of the premier singers and harp players of his generation. Joined once again by the Bluetones who are Anthony Geraci on piano and Hammond organ, drummer Neil Govin and bassist Michael “Mudcat” Ward as well as Monster Mike Welch on guitar, this represents the longest running line-up in the blues field. Seeing is Believing is a worthy addition to the band’s prodigious catalogue and a must have for any real blues fan. Highly recommended...
From deep in the swamps of San Diego comes the third release from these proponents of southern swamp blues. Low down grooves and a down home feel are the calling cards of this band. Terrific covers of some old gems highlight this set. You Got Your Voodoo Working and Frank Frost’s Back Scratcher are standouts here. Fortunately Alligator is the name of the album and not the record label. If you like your blues with that deep southern greasy feel The Fremonts are for you.
West Coast Toast represents the triumphant return to the studio for the consummate blues musician Mitch Kashmar. It also signals the latest triumph from Delta Groove Music. This is their third release of 2016 and continues a marvelous trend, following on the heels of their stunning spring offering from John Long and the tremendous collaboration between Big Jon Atkinson and Bob Corritore. Mitch Kashmar’s West Coast Toast is a masterpiece. For a full album review, see our Monthly Album Spotlight.
Johnny Nicholas is a New England native who moved to the central Texas Hill Country and became the proprietor of the Hill Top Café. It is there he has held court for decades offering up an occasional recording. This latest self released CD is a thirteen song program featuring eleven Nicholas originals with a Sleepy John Estes and a Willie Dixon penned numbers thrown onto the mix for good measure. Everything Nicholas touches turns to gold as the singer and multi-instrumentalist adds deep soul and a down home feeling to each and every song. Fresh Air is just that, as this legend in his spare time hits it out of the park.
Barrelhouse Chuck is a master of blues piano and is carrying on the tradition that he learned directly from Little Brother Montgomery, Pinetop Perkins, Sunnyland Slim, Detroit Junior and others. Barrelhouse Chuck melds these disparate styles into his own and is joined by his long-time collaborator Billy Flynn, who is one of the best blues guitarists practicing the craft today. Lluis Coloma, who is Europe’s leading exponent of blues and boogie woogie piano, and Scott Grube, who plays traditional pre-war blues piano in Chicago also make fine contributions to Remembering the Masters.
Crandall’s long overdue third release was worth the wait. The writing on this ten track program features some original ideas which are imbibed with the kind of wit often missing in a modern blues release. The well traveled Richmond, Virginia, based Crandall is fine harp player. It is made clear that he has attended the William Clarke school of the west coast, jazzy blues. His instrumentals are his strength and he, along with a great backing band, turns out a fine CD. The great pianist and organist Bill Hied also makes wonderful contributions to Take it Off.
French guitarist Thom Hirsch, whom I’ve never met, made an album specifically for me. That probably isn’t the case since well...we’ve never met. Yet Rhythm Shot sure sounds like it. This all instrumental affair features some of my favorite sounds, swinging guitar blues with, as the album title implies, a big shot of rhythm. Hirsh of The Blues Eaters fame, with whom he recorded four albums, just released this, his first project outside that group. It has some great covers which include a couple of Mickey Baker numbers, tunes by Earl Hooker and Pee Wee Crayton and even a Nick Curran favorite, Stompin’ at the Fort. The band even visits the world of Ellingtonia for an exciting rendition of Things Ain’t What They Used To Be. These go along with some Hirsch originals. Hirsch and this fine band demonstrate a real feel for American music. I now own a brand new album that has eleven songs and forty three minutes of my all-time favorite music. Thanks my friend. Au revoir...or until we meet again..for the first time...
Hungarian harp man Maytas Pribojszki is a member of The Blues Fools. They have made three albums which feature west coast William Clarke inspired music. Pribojszki just released this solo album, My Stories. The entire album was recorded in Hungary over two days last February, but mixed and mastered at Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studios in San Jose, California. Pribojszki is joined by a wonderful three piece backing band and eleven special guests from around the globe. Eleven of the twelve tracks are Pribojszki originals and the young Hungarian seems to have a real knack for this often elusive aspect of the music. This is a real talent on the rise.
For those who have followed the long career of Kim Wilson and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, it has long been obvious that this band is more of a brand in search of a brand. This particular iteration of the band sounds like they are a direct byproduct of their label, Severn Records. These T-Birds are made up of the label’s house band, which happens to include long time T-Bird (Wilson sideman) Johnny Moeller on guitar. Blues for the 21st Century is the label’s slogan. I happen to like my blues sounding more like music from the previous century, but that’s just me. Strong Like That is an extremely well executed, well crafted album that will appeal to fans of Wilson’s last T-Birds record, On the Verge. That offering was on the verge of being a good record. This time out Kim plays to his strengths and actually plays a little harmonica. He also demonstrates why he is placed in the upper echelon of contemporary vocalists. Motown and Stax covers sit alongside some Wilson originals. It turns out the consummate blues man is also a soul man. Remember this ain’t your daddy’s T-Birds. If you can get past that, you might enjoy Strong Like That.
Copyright 2022 BLUES JUNCTION Productions. All rights reserved.
BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
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