These are the 25 best albums to be presented to us during the pandemic era. Since early 2020 through the summer of 2022, we have been dealing collectively with the ups and downs brought by Covid -19.  Unprecedented hardships had been presented to us world wide due to this novel virus.

The world has been forced to make lifestyle adjustments. These adjustments include everything from the simple, easy and common sensible use of masks and being vaccinated to finding creative ways to make a living such as working remotely when possible.

The blues music business of course was hit hard by this turn of events. The toughest part was the loss of many artists who succumbed to this virus and died. Of course, with the closing of nightclubs and the cancelling of blues festivals, musicians have been out of work and not been able to access one of the principal venues for selling their product… the stage.

I couldn’t in good faith tell you that our industry, such as it is, even in the best of circumstances, hasn’t been adversely affected by these events. Yet, despite these hardships, musicians have found creative ways to record. For practical reasons, some of these albums have featured these artists recording in solo or stripped-down settings. The results often reflect a traditional sound which, of course in this field, is a very good thing.

Even though we are only part way through 2022, and your guess is as good as mine as to what the future holds. I thought it is high time that we shine a light on these courageous and talented people who give us such joy. They deserve our patronage.

These albums are listed randomly.

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Diunna Greenleaf I Ain't Playin'

Houstonian Diunna Greenleaf grew up in a musical family where Gospel deeply informed her singing. I Ain’t Playin’ is enriched by this pedigree. This Little Village Foundation release was recorded, mixed and mastered by Kid Andersen at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose, California. Andersen plays guitar throughout and leads a core band that includes Jim Pugh on piano, organ and clavinet. The great Derrick “D’mar” Martin plays drums and the legendary Jerry Jemmott is on bass. Trombonist Mike Rinta is responsible for the crisp horn arrangements. Greenleaf is a vocalist who seems to be imbued with a naturalistic quality in her presentation which resonates with a depth of knowledge and drips with authority. She doesn’t engage in the vocal clichés and over the top histrionics that mar so many female vocalists in the modern blues field. Greenleaf is simply a beautiful singer who knows what she wants to say. She is able to find what she’s looking for in every situation and gets right to the heart of the matter. On I Ain’t Playin' Greenleaf has found that magical combination of great material, arrangements and production to go along with her wonderful vocal chops. While Diunna Greenleaf has made wonderful albums in the past I believe that I Ain’t Playin’ is her Magnum Opus.

Balta Bordoy and the Bad Boys feat. Victor Puertas Rock My Blues Away

Balta Bordoy is a veteran Spanish blues guitarist who is a member of Los Peligroso Gentlemen. He is truly a first rate, first call guitarist in the burgeoning European blues scene. Rock My Blues Away is the first album under his own name. Borday’s Texafornia guitar stylings underscore one of the greatest truisms ever uttered by a musician or anybody else for that matter. “It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing.” Here he is paired with Victor Puertas who on this outing plays the Hammond organ and provides the lead vocal duties. Puertas also handles the bass duties on organ. The third member of the quartet is Nil Mujal who plays saxophone. Arnau Julià  holds everything together on drums. The Bad Boys employ a true ensemble sound which applies some jazz sensibilities to blues material. A wonderful selection of covers and swinging instrumentals highlight this very strong album.

Kurt Crandall Starts on the Stops

Veteran songwriter, arranger, vocalist and harp player Kurt Crandall has just released his strongest album to date. It is straight ahead blues with a swinging flair. Crandall’s Starts On The Stops delivers a healthy dose of this magic elixir. Eight of the ten songs presented here were written by Crandall. Covers include Rudy Tombs’ Home at Last and John Lee Williamson’s Blue Bird Blues. Both numbers are handled like everything else here, that is with the sensitivity and integrity that this material deserves. The entire album was recorded with two distinct bands divided by the first five tracks and then the second five numbers. Guitarist Karl Angerer appears on nine of the ten tracks on Starts on the Stops and provides very supportive accompaniment to Crandall’s superb harp playing and effective vocals.  Highly Recommended…

Constantine & the Call Operators (Self-Titled)

Konstantin Kovelev is the leader, producer, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of this Finland based band. He sounds like the illegitimate love child of James Hunter and Nick Curran. Kovelov’s voice may put you in mind of Little George Surreff. But make no mistake there is a fresh originality that imbibes the material here, making for a truly enjoyable listening experience. The album was recorded right before the pandemic in February, 2020, at Tomi Leino’s Suprovox Studios in Karkkila, Finland, and mixed by Kid Andersen at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose, California.

Rick Holmstrom Get It!

Rick Holmstrom gets it. This all-instrumental album is a fun, danceable, groove laden affair where the brilliance of Holmstrom’s attack on the guitar does not impede the accessibility of the music. He doesn’t engage in unnecessary histrionics or lengthy improvisational side trips. He gets into each song quickly, says what he wants to say and gets out. Get It! sounds like an old-fashioned jukebox in the future. This program of all original tunes has Holmstrom with one eye focused on the rearview mirror and one looking straight ahead. 

Bob Stroger & The Headcutters That's My Name

That’s My Name by Bob Stroger and a band called The Headcutters is a first-rate example of a nearly forgotten artform. They play lo-fi, post war, Chicago blues with authority. Stroger’s vocals have a relaxed, unhurried, self-assured quality which has been all but neglected in the modern blues world. The band’s accompaniment of Stroger is nothing short of sublime. If these two musical entities sound like they fit like a very comfortable pair of old shoes, there is a very good reason. They have been playing together for years.    

The Duke Robillard Band They Called it Rhythm & Blues

With Duke Robillard, one can always count on more. Nobody has produced more albums over the past 40 years than Robillard. One can go back further than that if you want to talk about the seminal rhythm & blues band he founded and led for more than a decade before that, Roomful of Blues.  Nobody puts out more music on an album. They Called It Rhythm & Blues is 18 songs and 70 minutes’ worth of music.   There isn’t a stinker in the bunch on this Stony Plain Records release. With They Called it Rhythm & Blues, Duke has gathered up more guests than I can recall on any CD in recent years. Even the Duke Robillard Band has more players in it. The band (including Duke) has expanded from four to six musicians. In this world where we have learned to expect less, Duke gives us more and for that we should be thankful. If anyone were to suggest that Duke sacrifices quality for the sake of quantity it might be those rare occasions where the incredibly versatile guitarist hop scotches over to the wrong genre. When this National treasure lands on rhythm & blues one can be assured that everything is going to be alright. R&B of this nature is a very big tent and Duke knows how to fill it.

Sugar Ray & the Bluetones Featuring Little Charlie Too Far From the Bar

What does a blues a band sound like that has been together for forty years? There is only one way to find out and this CD is it. The addition of Little Charlie Baty was a wonderful move. No guitar player has a more articulate vocabulary in the various dialects blues this side of Duke Robillard. It is Robillard who produced this album. Duke even plays with Charlie on four tunes. When you put together musicians of this caliber with the premier vocalist in the blues, you have really got something special. Songs imbued with timeless imagery, biting satire and humor are delivered by Sugar Ray Norcia. He has sturdy pipes and the phrasing of a master. This band has enjoyed an incredibly consistent recording career but Too Far from the Bar could be the best album of their long career.                                                                                                                                         

Duke Robillard & Friends Blues Bash!                                                                      

Duke Robillard is a national treasure and he just made his best album in decades. The three original sax men from Duke’s Roomful of Blues days make very welcome contributions. They are Doug James on baritone, Greg Piccolo on tenor and Rich Lataille on alto. Roomful of Blues is a musical institution which goes back more than 50 years at this point. They added a distinctive horn driven sound to the blues that had laid dormant for some time. It is back on Blues Bash!

Kim Wilson Take Me Back                                                                                         

Wilson is as responsible for the blues boom of the 80’s and 90’s as almost anyone. Robillard and Jimmie Vaughan could also be included in that conversation among others. Take Me Back! is classic Kim. Traditional blues sung by a man who might be the most underrated vocalist of his generation, only because he is widely regarded as the best harmonica player of his generation. On Take Me Back! Wilson goes back to the future of the blues which is Jon Atkinson and his Bigtone Studios. Wilson links the generations and literally stands between Atkinson and those giants of the blues who came before and with whom Wilson has worked. I would argue that Wilson is now, and quite frankly has been for some time, one of those giants. Take Me Back! is simply the most recent evidence of this fact.          

Sonny Green Found! One Soul Singer                                                                              

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. 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.                                            

Chris Corcoran Band Coolerator                                                                                    

This U.K. based ensemble lays out some great jazz-tinged instrumentals behind their guitar slinging leader. This eight-piece little big band, sometimes augmented by a Hammond organ, demonstrates their 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. What the band does with the gospel/blues standard John The Revelator is simply sublime.                                            

Konstantin Kolesnichenko Quartet Tenderly                                                           

Like Corcoran’s Coolerator, Konstantin Kolesnichenko mines the jazz-soul sounds of the late 50’s and early 60’s but with a decidedly Prestige and Blue Note label feel to these proceedings. This Ukrainian harmonica player has been on a roll lately, Tenderly being his third release of new material since 2016. This recording is in the same vein as 2016’s Hypnotized and 2017’s Minor Differences. Tenderly, like those releases, is a highly recommended, B3 heavy, groove laden offering.        

Big Creek Slim Twenty-Twenty Blues        

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 2021 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.                                                                                                                                        

B.B. & The Blues Shacks Breaking Point

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 2021, 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  bassist Henning Hauerken, on piano and organ Fabian Fritz, Andre Werkmeister on drums along with long time 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. 

Little Hat Wine, Whiskey & Wimmen

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.

The Lowdown Saints Hit Me Hard

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. 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.

Chris Corcoran Inferno

Inferno is the latest release 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.  

Crystal Thomas Now Dig This!

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. 

Sue Foley Pinky's Blues

As far as famous guitars are concerned it’s certainly not “Lucille”. It isn’t even the most famous guitar in the Texas Hill Country. That would be “Trigger,” but make no mistake, “Pinky” is the star of this show. That’s right, Sue Foley slings her paisley adorned, pink Telecaster all over the joint on Pinky’s Blues. Pinky’s Blues is a straight-ahead, guitar-centric affirmation of Lone Star blues traditions. Foley originals sit beside tunes penned by Angela Strehli, Miss Lavelle White, Frankie Lee Sims and others associated with Texas blues. Pinky’s Blues continues a great career renaissance that started with 2018’s Ice Queen and continues here on her sophomore outing on Stoney Plain Records. Unlike Ice Queen, which was a guest heavy affair, Foley has the spotlight to herself on this release. She is backed by bassist Jon Penner who goes all the way back with Foley to her earliest recordings. Chris Layton handles the drum duties. Producer Mike Flanigin plays B3 on a couple of tracks and brings in his musical colleague Jimmie Vaughan to play rhythm guitar on another. Pinky’s Blues' live, in-studio sound has an organic, spontaneous feel that is as meaty as a rack of ribs, hotter than a jalapeno pepper and as cool as a pint of Shiner Bock.

Corey Harris The Insurrection Blues

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, 2021. This album is an adult dose of brand new, old blues performed with verve and conviction.

Raphael Wressnig & Igor Prado Groove & Good Times

“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 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 performed a program of original tunes that 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.

Tia Carroll You Gotta Have It

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. Do yourself a favor and get hip to Tia Carroll.

Wee Willie Walker & the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra Not in My Lifetime

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 sounded 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.

Big Creek Slim & Rodrigo Mantovani Stone In My Heart

Two longtime favorites here at the JUNCTION got together to record again in 2019, and here in the spring of 2022, finally released their second collaboration. Big Creek Slim aka Mark Rune is a Danish blues man who steers mostly towards the acoustic sounds of the 1930's and 40's. Rodrigo Mantovani is a Brazilian multi-instrumentalist who is an internationally revered bass player. The fact that these two uber talented, kindred spirits have found one another is something in which blues fans from around the world can rejoice. Rune has released eleven albums over the past ten years. Each of them garnering tremendous accolades. Mantovani has stunned listeners since 2003 with his bass playing as a member of The Prado Blues Band. In recent years he has relocated to Chicago where he has become a member of The Nick Moss Band. Because this music was recorded in 2019, Rune didn’t have to address the elephant in the room which was of course the world-wide pandemic and America’s asinine anti-vax, anti-mask movement spurred on by latent Trumpism. It was a refreshing return to the more timeless universal themes of love and all the baggage that comes with that. Rune has made terrific solo albums, but benefits greatly from the double bass playing of Mantovani. It allows him to slide over to the piano bench and give the album some textural variety. The tasteful, low-key accompaniment of drummer Mikki Peltola adds even more flavor to this savory dish.

The Phantom Blues Band Blues For Breakfast

The Phantom Blues Band just released their latest CD entitled Blues for Breakfast on the Little Village Foundation label. Like ordering a chili omelet with hash browns at 11:30 at night in a 24-hour diner, Blues For Breakfast goes down good at any time. The Phantom Blues Band, which of course isn’t a blues band at all hence the “Phantom”, is in fact one of the great soul ensembles to mount a bandstand. Soul, blues, rhythm & blues, pop, gospel, world music...The Phantom Blues Band plays it all. Like so many of the great ensembles of the past, The Phantom Blues Band plays everything as if their lives depend on it. The band careens between interesting interpretations of songs originally written and performed by Curtis Mayfield, Little Milton, Isaac Hayes and Dave Porter (via Sam & Dave), Ike Turner, Sonny Thompson (via Freddy King), Sam Cooke, Jimmy McCracklin and others. These songs are taken out for a joy ride as this six-member wrecking crew rolls down the windows, revs the engine and lets ‘er rip.

Editor’s Note: For a complete Album Review see our Monthly Album Spotlight Feature in this month’s BLUES JUNCTION

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