BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
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This is the fifth album offered up by this veteran British outfit. Led by singer, harp man, slide guitarist and principal songwriter Mike Thomas, the Cadillac Kings give listeners a healthy, fourteen songs and fifty eight minutes of mostly original blues. What is refreshing about this versatile band is that they vary their instrumentation. Thomas does not pull his harmonica out of his pocket on every song. He is also a gifted slide guitarist who puts that aspect of his arsenal on display very judicially. As a result both instruments make a statement. The band’s pianist Tim Penn also plays accordion on a few numbers. This gives this band the flexibility to visit many stops along the blues highway from New Orleans, Chicago, Texas and Los Angeles. Mostly up tempo numbers highlight this fun set.
This is the debut solo album from the veteran Southern California based bass player. The enigmatic Pedersen has been heard playing with William Clarke, Johnny Dyer, San Pedro Slim and was a member of the legendary band known as The Big Rhythm Combo led by Lynwood Slim. That band also featured Kid Ramos on guitar, Fred Kaplan on keyboards and Richard Innes on drums...not bad company to keep. In 2016, Pedersen emerges with an eleven song program of instrumentals produced by Nathan James at his Sacred Cat Studios in Oceanside, California. All songs were written and arranged by Pedersen who wields a four string guitar ala Tiny Grimes. As the album title implies, this album is full of some very swinging and adventurous material.
French guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Nico Duportal has long been one of the world’s great purveyors of vintage American music. He and his band are fun, hip, swinging and soulful. Here they offer up thirteen original tunes, mostly penned by Duportal. His Rhythm Dudes are upright bassist Thibaut Chopin, drummer and percussionist Pascal Mucci, tenor sax man Sylvain Tegerizo and Alex Berntein handles the baritone sax duties. All the members of this band provide backing vocals. Original ideas, rooted in several musical traditions including, but not limited to the blues, flow out of Duportal and his bandmates like a Parisian fountain. Nico & His Rhythm Dudes continue to be a lot of fun. Dealing With My Blues may be their strongest offering to date.
Before the legendary blues band The Red Devils caught the attention of producer Rick Rubin, and then subsequently Mick Jagger and Johnny Cash, in the early 90’s, there was The Blue Shadows. That band came about as a result of the breakup of the original Blasters. They were also a precursor to The Knitters and as mentioned The Red Devils. Various incarnations and iterations of all these bands have come and gone through the years but The Blue Shadows brand remained mostly dormant until this release by Rip Cat Records. The band consists of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Javier (Jake) Matos. He is joined by drummer Bill Bateman and bassist Johnny Bazz of The Blasters. A whole slew of special guests appear on this 2016 release, most notably, Dave Alvin and Kid Ramos, who both play guitar on a couple of tracks. From scorching rockers to down home traditional blues and everything in between this self titled release is as ambitious as it is fun. Matos’ originals highlight this interesting slice of Americana.
This collection of outtakes, demos and unissued recordings dates from the 1990's when Rusty was the new prodigy in traditional blues. Working with Jimmy Rogers, Snooky Pryor, Kim Wilson and Dave Myers, Rusty learned what not to play at an early age and this set proves it. The twenty tracks feature many of the finest players on the West Coast as well as Chicago stalwart Dave Myers, from Little Walter's band The Aces. Kim Wilson, Ronnie James, Steve Lucky and Richard Innes are featured throughout. The entire set has that unique Chicago/West Coast sound that continues to evolve here in the Golden State. – C.L.
For several years American blues musicians have been traveling to South America to play at blues festivals in Brazil and Argentina. To keep expenses to a minimum they often travel sans their own bands. They have found that they can find great musicians who have a deep understanding of how to accompany a blues singer. One of these is the Argentine harp player Cesar Valdomir. For the past twenty years Valdomir has been, as his album title suggests, working at the blues. His latest album features three Valodmir originals to go along with some blues standards. He is joined on a couple of tracks by John Primer. Valdomir is a very strong instrumentalist who is still working at mastering the vocal nuances of a foreign language.
This Santiago, Chile, based blues band continues to make one solid blues album after another. However, at the very end of 2016 they have uncovered the secret formula and have produced a real winner. Politically Incorrecto is their strongest album to date. Guitarist and vocalist Nicolas Wernekinck leads the charge of this four piece ensemble. Harmonica man Erwin lost also makes fine contributions to this album. It’s one thing to have original tunes...it is quite another to have good originals. The Blues Swingers write excellent material which is the most elusive missing ingredient in the blues world. This album is like a dance party that will also put a smile on your face.
This late 2016 release represents the first solo album by the veteran Twin Cities based harmonica man, Paul Barry. Barry has been playing professionally since the 70’s. In the 80’s he befriended the great William Clarke and became a protégé of the late blues man. In the 80’s and 90’s, Barry played in two of the Twin Cities best blues bands, Bobby Johnson and the Crowns as well as with Dave McCrae and the Blues Exchange. Early last year Paul Barry released an album’s worth of material where he backed the great Otis “Smokey” Smothers shortly before Smothers’ death in 1993. The album That’s Alright was a wonderful surprise. On this brand new CD, Barry is joined by guest vocalist Lila Ammons. She is the granddaughter of the great pianist Albert Ammons and niece of tenor sax great Gene Ammons. Barry is also joined by the cream of the Minnesota blues scene including guitarist Jeremy Johnson. This self produced album was mastered by Kid Andersen at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose, California.
The latest release (their third) by this ensemble, as the album’s title suggests, pays homage and explores the connection and mutual affection of the Rhode Island blues scene and their counterparts in Texas. Roomful of Blues co-founder and guitarist, Duke Robillard, plays and sings on three tracks which feature the guitar playing of the T-Birds co-founder Jimmie Vaughan. Vocalists Sugar Ray Rayford, Brian Templeton and Willie J. Laws make great contributions. The rhythm section of bassist Brad Hallen and drummer Mark Teixeira on loan from the Duke Robillard Band are terrific and exhibit just the right amount of swing that this music requires. The big star on Texas Rhody Blues may be “Monster” Mike Welch of Sugar Ray and the Bluestones fame. His guitar playing holds its own with his extremely accomplished and much senior counterparts Robillard and Vaughan. To put it simply, the entire album is a beauty and one of the best releases of this past year. Highly recommended...
In December we lost two blues men whose music we admire very much. Both Barrelhouse Chuck and Sven Zetterberg left this mortal coil during December. These men had prolific careers and were making music right up until the time of their passing. Both these albums were released earlier in 2016.
The Godfather of the modern European blues scene, Sven Zetterberg has, by my count anyway, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 releases under his belt and his batting average (please excuse a baseball metaphor) is extremely high. For fans of this Swedish hep cat Something for Everybody has something for southern soul-blues fans. He, along with co-producer and guitarist Anders Lewen, offers up original tunes mixed in with some covers from that music fertile I-10 corridor between San Antonio and New Orleans. Lewen, formerly of Knockout Greg and Blue Weather, has been a ubiquitous presence on the Scandinavian blues music scene and his longtime association with Zetterberg has always yielded great results and Something for Everybody is no exception.
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, 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.
Editors Note: Barellhouse Chuck is in this month’s artist spotlight feature.
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BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info