From a musical standpoint, the year 2021 was a byproduct of 2020. The shock of being locked down in a world-wide pandemic led to people making music in modest, stripped down settings. It also led directly to songwriting that reflected the angst and hardship brought by Covid-19. If you have followed the career of the man known as Big Creek Slim over the past few years then you realize that few artists, if any, are better equipped to translate these hard times into great blues.  That is exactly what he did in 2021. This vocalist and guitar player is also an incredibly gifted songwriter. It is the latter which makes Big Creek Slim aka Mark Rune such a treasure and his 2021 release, Twenty-Twenty Blues, the BLUES JUNCTION Productions Album of the Year. The entire thirteen song program was written by Rune. He plays exceptional finger picking acoustic guitar as the only accompaniment on his outstanding vocals. 

The 2021 offering by B.B. & the Blues Shacks is the best collection of new material by this great band from Hildesheim, Germany, in several years. While I have, and continue to, enjoyed virtually every album that they have produced over the past thirty years or so, this album recorded between June 28th and July 2nd of this past year has really recaptured the past glory of the late 90’s formula of their Great Blues and Big Swing releases. This production is led by co-producers, the brothers Arlt, Andreas on guitar and vocalist/harp player Michael, who also wrote all 12 of the original tunes on this 15-song collection. Breaking Point is the band’s third release on Rhythm Bomb records. The band includes Blues Shacks' veterans Fabian Fitz on piano and organ, Andre Werkmeister on drums along with long time bassist Henning Hauerken. Their rich ensemble sound is enhanced by the sax and trumpet of Tom Muller and Stefan Goosinger respectively. B.B. & The Blues Shacks are not only one of the leading European exponents of blues music, they are at the top of the heap world-wide. Breaking Point simply drives this point home with great clarity. 

This album sounds like Hound Dog Taylor and Jimmie Reed playing in the back of a 1957 convertible, hurtling down a swampy back road with Iggy Pop at the wheel. It sounds like lots of fun, if not a little dangerous.  Songs by Jerry “Boogie” McCain, Papa Lightfoot, Clarence Garlow, Doctor Ross and others are taken out back and beaten to a bloody pulp. What’s not to like about that or this little band with a big sound from Holland? Little Hat is comprised of three men who like to wear big hats. These rapscallions from Rotterdam are Machiel Meijers on vocals and harmonica, guitarist Willem Van Dullemen and drummer Paolo de Stigter. What could be lost on some listeners is that despite this trio’s frenzied attack and unconventional dynamics, they are three very talented musicians. They understand what they are doing and why they are doing it.  This 2021 release on Rhythm Bomb Records was produced by Little Victor. Wine, Whiskey & Wimmen has a tough and pungent sound that is reminiscent of an over cooked chunk of liver.

While enjoying the debut album of the band called The Lowdown Saints it occurs to me what a terrific vocalist Tommy Moberg has become over the years. Our readers may be familiar with the strong pipes of Moberg, as he was the long-time front man of Trickbag. Now Moberg takes the back seat behind the drum kit in The Lowdown Saints. Stylistically, the 2021 Lowdown Saints album Hit Me Hard hits almost as hard as Trickbag’s 25 Years of House Rockin’ Rhythm & Blues. On that program it was the original material that highlighted that Swedish based international ensemble of musicians. Hit Me Hard is full of mostly covers, but good covers, with no less than four tunes penned by Californians Kim Wilson, Jeff Turmes, Rusty Zinn and Jimmy McCracklin and his blues tune de jour Georgia Slop. This powerhouse ensemble also features Felix Matthiessen and Hannes Mellberg on guitars and double bassist Karl Ivert. While a handful of guests make fine contributions throughout, Torbjörn Eliasson should be singled out here, as he plays piano on seven tracks, organ on two others and plays sax on three of these. The punch delivered on Hit Me Hard would not pack the wallop without him.

This Oakland area native and long-time East Bay resident first hit my radar back in 2012, when she appeared as one of several guests on the Igor Prado Band’s Blues & Soul Sessions. While better known guests including vocalists J.J. Jackson and Curtis Salgado likely garnered more notice, the voice and vocal delivery of Tia Carroll was a revelation. Then in 2014, she released a full album under her name with the same cast of characters entitled The Brazilian Sessions. That effort garnered Carroll a BLUES JUNCTION Productions Award for “Best Soul Blues Album of the Year.” Now, all these years later, it is a thrill to hear her back in the studio. This time she strikes it rich (musically speaking) by mining the same territory without having to travel as far. San Jose, California, and Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studios is where this material was recorded, mixed and mastered for Jim Pugh’s Little Village Foundation label. With the gospel group the Sons of the Soul Revivers lending support and a five-piece horn section led by trombonist Mike Rinta, You Gotta Have It, is a gut punch of vintage soul done right.

Inferno is the latest album by British guitarist Chris Corcoran.  Here, the very talented and tasteful plank spanker uses a stripped-down ensemble to deliver a program of all original tunes. Corcoran told me recently that the song titles are all based on the text of Dante’s Inferno. Having heard the album several times before becoming armed with this information, I had already drawn my own conclusions as to the material contained within. I didn’t divine anything remotely as dark as the nine concentric circles of hell but the album does offer some soundscapes with contemplative thematic elements. The album’s eleven tracks hold together conceptually where the poetic vision of the auteur is fulfilled. Five of the tracks feature the Hammond B3 of Claudio Corona. These have a Barney Kessel meets Jack McDuff vibe that is a lot of fun.  Others tracks have a surf feel that sound like Duane Eddy driving to Lower Tressles in a Tesla.  

If you died during our recent world-wide pandemic then I’m guessing you won’t appreciate what I am about to tell you. That is, some real good came from the horrors visited upon us. One of these things is that Corey Harris returned to the recording studio for the first time in three years and, just as significant, he returned to the solo acoustic blues in which he excelled early in his career. Fifteen tunes written and/or arranged by Harris cover the 100 plus year spectrum of the blues. From traditional tunes written by Charlie Patton, Skip James, Blind Blake and others to the album’s title track, this is a welcome reprieve from the “blues adjacent” acts that have come to dominate the landscape. Harris himself seemed lost in that world for the better part of the last several years. I welcome him back. The Insurrection Blues was recorded on May 21st, 2021, and was released by MC Records on November 5th. This album is an adult dose of brand new, old blues performed with verve and conviction.

“Playing it deep, playing for keeps. Live long, party strong!”  is the motto of Raphael Wressnig. That message couldn’t be delivered with more enthusiasm, verve and conviction than in the music of Groove & Good Times. The latest album by this Austrian Hammond organist was released on September 17th on the German based Pepper Cake Record label. He is joined by Brazilian musicians Igor Prado on guitar and his brother Yuri on drums. It picks up where Raphael’s 2018 collaboration with Alex Schultz and James Gadson entitled Chicken Burrito left off. Wressnig is a multi-genre artist who combines instrumental soul/funk/jazz and blues in various quantities and combinations which are irresistible. On Chicken Burrito, Wressnig and company perform a program of original tunes which had a decidedly 70’s soul and funk sensibility with a contemporary edge. Here they go directly to the source material in that niche, sub-genre for inspiration. Songs by James Brown, the Meters, Johnny ‘Guitar” Watson, Bill Withers and others are given the Wressnig/Prado treatment. Groove & Good Times was recorded by the Sao Paulo based blues impresario Chico Blues. Chico, along with Igor Prado, mixed and mastered the entire album. They sound like they were held hostage by the almighty groove and trust me, that’s a very good thing. They have created an entire album which sounds dedicated to and specifically designed for forty plus minutes of booty shaking good times. 

Eddie Stout’s Dialtone Records has just released an honest to gosh vinyl record album. That’s right, a niche subgenre of a niche market is making available a retro way to listen to brand new vintage music.  All kidding aside, Crystal Thomas’ album, Now Dig This is so good you will want to buy a turntable. Before you can ask a friend to blow on your stylus, you should know what you are getting into here. This Louisiana native has some serious pipes and knows how to use them. She is simply an outstanding vocalist and plays the trombone as well. On Now Dig This she fronts a band who delivers the goods. They are guitarist Johnny Moeller, the legendary Chuck Rainey on bass whose recording credits are just plain ridiculous, Jason Moeller is on drums and the late Lucky Peterson plays the Hammond B3 organ. This combo is lethal. This great vinyl record is now available on CD. 

The human voice is the ultimate musical instrument. This made Wee Willie Walker the ultimate head cutter. His final album was released in 2021. It is entitled Not In My Lifetime and it is a beauty. Walker, who passed away back in November of 2019, is backed by the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra. They offer very sympathetic support to Walker who, as always, is in exceptional form. Walker’s performances here leave no doubt that he was a soul singer who was in a class by himself. As for guitarist Anthony Paule, he sounds like he had found the perfect vehicle for his talents. He, along with Christine Vitale, lead a formidable songwriting team. As far as the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra is concerned, they are an eight piece “little, big band” which includes a four-piece horn section and the wonderful keyboard work of Tony Lufrano who employs a piano, a Wurlitzer or a B3 depending on the song. The use of three backup singers fills out the soundscape to an even greater degree, helping to create a lush bed of music where Walker can really stretch out and share with us the humanity that lives in his voice. 

Of course, you can find the BEST of the best on Bluebeat Music

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