I was one of those folks who made regular trips to the record store on Tuesdays, and later Fridays to see what new albums were hitting the racks. That was always exciting for me, not so much to find what was expected but to run across something that I wasn't aware of while I was browsing.....not necessarily new, but maybe a disc or two that I missed along the way. Sadly, those days are pretty much gone and a lot of music seems kind of throwaway these days as far as things go, but I still love to get my hands on an actual recording and hold it in my hands, pop it in my CD player and just sit back and listen. I know that there doesn't seem to be many of us left who prefer to listen to music that way, but I certainly will until there aren't any more physical copies of recordings left. Anyway, here are a few new releases for blues fans to check out......however you choose to check them out.
Selwyn Birchwood - Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues (Alligator Records): Birchwood started playing guitar at 13, mostly rock, before discovering Hendrix and the legendary guitarist's blues influences. He toured with Sonny Rhodes after high school, attending college in the process and earning an MBA. He formed his own band after graduating and they won the 2013 I.B.C. and signed with Alligator. This is their fifth Alligator effort (eighth release overall), the title indicates Birchwood's description of the band's music, a mix of blues, funk, jazz, soul, and whatever else strikes his fancy. He produced this one himself and it has a more earthy, funky feel than his previous efforts. There's a little Chicago blues, a bit of the Delta, a little Piedmont flavor to one track, and deep soul as well. He's a masterful guitarist and a strong vocalist and his mix of traditional sounds with contemporary blues will appeal to every blues fan that I know. Here's the title track, which pretty much serves as Selwyn Birchwood's mission statement. It will knock your socks off!
Bob Corritore & Friends - Ernestine Blues (VizzTone/SWMAF Records): I love Corritore's collections of recordings with all the guest stars. He either releases a set "From the Vault" that he's done over the past 20-30 years, or he releases a set of more recently recorded songs. This is one of the latter collections, with songs cut between 2023 and 2025. The guest star list is most impressive, with tracks from Pat Thomas, Sugaray Rayford, Bob Stroger, Tia Carroll, Johnny Rawls, Oscar Wilson, Tony Coleman, Charles Wilson, Willie Buck, Jimi "Primetime" Smith, Carla Denise, and Teeny Tucker with instrumentalists Ben Levin, Bob Margolin, Johnny Rapp, Kid Ramos, Nick Moss, Billy Flynn, Anthony Geraci, and many many more. There's not a bad track in the bunch and it's all good old traditional blues. Corritore provides his usual superb harmonica throughout the disc and this is one that blues fans will really enjoy from start to finish. Here's the first single from the album from Corritore and soul/blues master Rawls, "I Love The South." By the way, I love the comic book-like covers that are such a cool part of Corritore's albums.
Laura Chavez - My Voice (Ruf Records): I first heard guitarist Chavez backing Candye Kane on some of the late vocalist's releases and I was impressed with her style, precision, and power. She's backed a host of artists such as Nikki Hill, Deborah Coleman,, Dani Wilde, The Mannish Boys, Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter, and Vanessa Collier, to name just a few, but she's never releases an album of her own until now. She doesn't sing, preferring to let her guitar be her "voice," and boy, does she ever do that on these ten instrumental tracks. She wrote five of them and the covers all have special meaning to her as well....a CCR track (her father's favorite band), a couple of cool Memphis-styled tracks, including a Booker T & the MGs tune, a Blasters cover, and a couple of Mexican tracks that reflect her heritage. These tracks move from Latin flavors to jazz to the aforementioned Memphis soul to rock n' roll to urban blues. Chavez won the 2023 BMA for Instrumentalist - Guitar and it was certainly a well-deserved honor. This excellent set goes even further to prove that it was a wise choice.
Stefan Hillesheim Band - Live at the Chicago Blues Festival (Stella Blue Music): German-born singer/guitarist Hillesheim has been in the U.S. since 2014, making his way to the Windy City about four years ago. He's always loved the blues, so the move was a perfect fit. He's also a talented songwriter and vocalist and an outstanding guitarist. This set was recorded at last year's festival and Hillesheim is backed by Dionte McMusick (drums), Darryl Wright (bass), and Sumito "Ariyo" Ariyoshi (keys). As mentioned, the guitarist's original tunes are top notch, mixing blues, soul, jazz, and funk, and the band, particularly "Ariyo" on piano and organ, provides great support. There are eight original tracks and two covers - "Big Legged Woman" and "It Hurts Me Too." I have to admit that I knew little about Stefan Hillesheim prior to hearing this release, but he impressed me enough that I'm going to follow him from now on.
I'm currently working on new album reviews for the April issue of Blues Bytes, so we will be talking about them in a couple of weeks in that issue, which should be out around mid-month. Meanwhile, let's take a look at a couple of older releases from a few years back that I completely missed the first time. I used to do a Five Discs That You Might Have Missed post occasionally here, but two will have to do this time around, so here we go.....
I'm not sure how I missed M.C. Records' 2022 Big Jack Johnson release. Johnson was one of the first blues men I listened to, beginning with his first Earwig Records release, The Oil Man, in the mid 80's. He had one of the most distinctive guitar tones and big vocals to go with it.
After hearing The Oil Man, I found his Jelly Roll Kings release on Earwig with Sam Carr and Frank Frost (Rockin' The Juke Joint Down) and loved it as well, so I tried to keep up with his career the best that I could, following him to M.C. Records in the 90's, where he released some fine albums as well, as well as his Rooster Blues sides that were released to limited distribution by P-Vine Records in Japan, and a couple of independent albums he did on his own.
Johnson passed away in 2011, but I still listen to his music a lot, so I was surprised when I saw a picture of the album cover for Stripped Down In Memphis, which M.C. Records released in 2022. It consists of sides recorded in 1998 with Wild Child Butler and 2000 with Kim Wilson and let me tell you that it warmed my heart to hear The Oil Man like I'd never heard him before in unplugged format.
There are nine tracks on the disc, Wilson and Johnson on five and Butler and Johnson on the rest. The tracks are a mix of covers and three Big Jack originals. The Butler/Johnson tracks are all original, with each writing two, and Butler provides vocals on one of his track. Their good-natured banter is a highlight.
The Wilson/Johnson tracks are all cover tunes recorded during their The Memphis Barbecue Sessions collaboration, which won a Handy Award for Acoustic Album of the Year. The pair had never played together before, but you'd never know it. Johnson plays mandolin on a cover of "Part Time Love," and Wilson plays only acoustic harmonica on these tracks.
All of these tracks are great listening and the musical interplay between the two duos is dynamite. If you did acoustic blues played right, then check out Stripped Down In Memphis.
True Blues was originally released in 2013 on Telarc Records and it's a collaboration between Taj Mahal, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Shemekia Copeland, and Phil Wiggins. It consists of thirteen tracks recorded live at multiple locations across the U.S. The set list is a mix of originals and some terrific covers and each artists appears on at least a couple of tracks.
There are a number of highlights as all of these performers are on the top of their game during these shows. Among the highlights are Shemekia Copeland covering her father Johnny's song "Bring Your Fine Self Home" (backed by Harris, Hart, and Wiggins), Harris doing Sleepy John Estes' "Everybody Ought To Make A Change," and the closer, Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' On My Mind," which features Harris, Copeland, Hart, and Wiggins.
True Blues is another one that acoustic fans should seek out and they should be on the lookout for the sequel, which will be released in a couple of weeks on Yellow Dog Records featuring Harris, Hart, and Davis. We'll be looking at that release in a few weeks and, trust me, it's really good, too!
I can't believe I missed both of these albums when they were first released. Glad I was able to backtrack and pick them up, so I didn't have to miss out on this wonderful music.
We're back again with a few new albums to look for, along with one you might have missed. As always, expanded reviews of these releases can be found in past, present, or upcoming issues of Blues Bytes.
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Future Soul (Fantasy): I've followed Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi since they were in their formidable years and truly enjoyed their individual work. That being said, some of their collaborative work has not really clicked with me as much as their early efforts. As TTB, they have been very prolific, and I have to say that I've enjoyed most of their releases, especially their live albums, but to be honest, there are a couple that I don't really go back and play much once I've heard them. However, this release is one that I will play again and again, and already have. Everything really seems to fall into place perfectly with this album. I think this is their best set of tunes overall, and they're delivered in the band's usual mix of blues, rock, and soul. None of the tunes clock in over five minutes, but not to worry..... I'm sure they would stretch out nicely in live performances. Trucks' guitar work is phenomenal as always (there's just never enough of it for me), Tedeschi has one of the best voices in the music world (and she's a great guitarist as well), vocalist extraordinaire Mike Mattison even gets a lead vocal, which is always a good thing, and the band is marvelous.
Pontchartrain Shakers - Love, Peace & Chicken Grease (Southland Records): This group's self-titled debut release was one of my favorite releases in 2024, and this one looks to be one of my choices for 2026. The Shakers are out of Louisiana and they play a tasty mix of Louisiana blues and soul with a touch of Mississippi Delta thrown in for good measure. Led by singer/guitarists Amadee "A5" Frederick and Jojjo Wight, both of whom come from musical families, the Shakers turn out a potent mix of blues and soul that will make you smile, tap your toe, or shake your groove thing. Frederick's father, Amadee Frederick IV, sings one tune and Wight's parents add cornet and trombone to one track. A5 is a really soulful vocalist who sells everything he sings 100%, Wight is a prodigious guitarist, and their rhythm section is first rate. Their first two releases include fun original songs about family, food, fishing, and love, so after you check this one out (by the way, the album title is how they usually sign off to the audience after their shows), you might want to check out their debut. You can thank me later.
Charlie Barath - Issaquena Getaway: Barath, from Pittsburgh, worked as a carpenter for years, playing harmonica on the side, but retired a while back to focus on his music. He has developed a sound that encompasses blues, roots, and Americana and he also works as an educator in addition to performing and recording. This is his second release and it was recorded in Clarksdale, MS. He wrote 12 of the 14 tracks, with two instrumentals written by Ike Turner and Stanley Turrentine. The tunes touch on Delta blues, swamp blues, Chicago-styled shuffles, Latin-flavored numbers, urban blues, and jazz. Barath's harmonica work and vocals are outstanding and he gets great support from a superb band that includes guitarists Johnny Burgin and Andrew Sherer. Barath also released a 2021 album, Just Me and My Friend(s), that's worth your time as well.
Brother John - Black Crow: Brother John is the duo of singer/guitarist Johnny Never and harmonica player John Colgan-Davis, both based in Philadelphia. Never specializes in Delta and Piedmont blues styles, while Colgan-Davis has played and recorded with Bonnie Raitt. Their new release is acoustic blues, 12 originals from Never and a cover of his favorite Charley Patton song. there are some guest musicians, including Chicago Carl Snyder on piano, on selected tracks, but this is pretty much a duo album. Never's songs are powerful, sometimes playful and sometimes poignant, and one could easily hear the blues artists of the 20's and 30's recording them. Never has a weather-worn voice that's a snug fit with the songs he writes and you really get the feel of those century-old recordings with his new tunes. I think anyone who digs country blues of the pre- or post-war variety will enjoy this album.
Luther Dickinson with Datrian Johnson - Dead Blues Vol. 1 (Strolling Bones Records): Our "older" release is actually not that old....it came out last fall, but I wasn't aware of it until a couple of months ago after listening to a podcast where Dickinson was discussing it. He and his brother Cody were invited to play with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh in Lesh's Phil & Friends group. The longer they performed together, Dickinson realized how many old blues songs were part of the Dead's repertoire. Inspired by Lesh, he began working on an instrumental album during the pandemic and brought in friends to help flesh out the tracks. Keyboardist John Medeski introduced Dickinson to North Carolina singer Datrian Johnson and Dickinson was inspired to let Johnson sing the lyrics of some of those classic blues songs over these instrumental tracks. Other musicians appearing on the tracks are Cody Dickinson, Lesh's son Grahame, Boo Mitchell, Steve Selvidge, and fellow Allstar Ray Ray Hollomon. These are really cool tracks and while they were inspired by the Grateful Dead's repertoire, they don't really sound like Dead tunes.... Dickinson has re-interpreted these tunes in a way that would probably make Phil Lesh smile. Similar to Dickinson's work with North Mississippi Allstars, these tunes fuse blues, R&B, funk and soul in equal measures and I can tell you that I'm hopeful that there is a Dead Blues Vol 2 in the works sometime soon.
Thanks for stopping by! Come back for more blues reviews next week!
Where
I'm from, the name “Jimmie Rodgers” is a name that's heard
frequently. I live about thirty minutes from Meridian, MS, where
Rodgers was born. There's a music festival named after him that's a
big part of the East Central MS region and has been for many years.
There's a museum dedicated to him and his music, as well as some of
his family who helped him along the way. There are roads named after
him in the Meridian area (I was involved in the field work leading up
to the Jimmie Rodgers Parkway during my working days), and in the city's Highland Park,
there's a monument dedicated to him that's been there many years.
All
that being said, I really didn't pay much attention to the music of
Jimmie Rodgers during my youth or for most of my adulthood. I
attended the Jimmie Rodgers Festival several times, including this
past year when they presented a couple of shows at the Mississippi
Arts + Entertainment Experience (details below) in Meridian, but his
music, and his legacy in a variety of musical genres, really didn't
click with me until the last couple of years.
Rodgers monument - Highland Park, Meridian, MS
Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933) is recognized as the “Father of Country Music,” and is in the
Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. However, did
you know that he is also in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an
early influence? Not only that, but he is also in the BLUES Hall of
Fame, having been inducted in 2013. I guess that was really when I
started paying attention. I'd heard bits and pieces of his music
over the years, but really sort of disregarded it. I wasn't a big fan of modern country music, so even going to the Jimmie Rodgers Festival, there were only a few of the artists that I really liked.
Over
the years, though, I've heard lots of blues artists talk about growing
up listening to the Grand Ol' Opry on the radio....country music and
gospel music (on the radio or at church) really being the only music
they had access to for a long time, so it only made sense that their own music would be influenced somewhat by the music they heard on the radio.
Then
I started digging deeper into the Pre-War music of the Mississippi
Delta. I discovered that some of the blues artists of the area played with Rodgers, either
on stage or as co-workers on the railroad. A lot of the Pre-War
artists that I began to listen to....Houston Stackhouse, Robert
Nighthawk (then Robert Lee McCoy), Hammie Nixon, Frank Stokes, Rubin Lacy, Ishmon
Bracey, the Mississippi Sheiks, and most notably, Tommy Johnson knew, influenced, were influenced, and even played with him . Just about every blues
performer from Mississippi was influenced either by his recordings or
his performances.....Mississippi John Hurt has some Rodgers influence in his playing (check out "Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me") and Howlin' Wolf claimed that his howl was
influenced by Rodgers's yodel.....and Rodgers even recorded with
black blues musicians like Louis Armstrong, St. Louis guitarist Clifford Gibson, and
the Louisville Jug Band.
Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian, MS
During
my recent visit to the Mississippi Music Museum, I noticed a display
dedicated to Rodgers, which sort of rekindled my interest in him and
his music. A couple of months later, I had a doctor visit in Meridian
and the Jimmie Rodgers Museum is located a couple of blocks away, so
I decided to stop by and check it out. It's a nice little museum
with a lot of Rodgers memorabilia....some of his clothes, a few
guitars and a piano, plus other items donated from his family. It's
a good 45 – 60 minute tour and the museum has free admission
(donations are welcome).
On his Facebook page, Peter
Guralnick had recently mentioned a new book about Rodgers, a biographical novel written by musician Paul Burch titled Meridian Rising
that sounded interesting. The museum had this book for sale, so I
picked up a copy. It's an imagined autobiography of Rodgers (Burch also recorded a fascinating album dedicated to Rodgers with the same title in 2016) that incorporates several blues artists and movers and shakers of the time within it's pages, including Charley Patton, H.C. Spier, Rallph Peer, Sam Chatmon, and even a young Howlin' Wolf (listed here as "Chester"). It's a thoroughly enjoyable book, especially if you're familiar with Rodgers, his music, or the blues....actually, it's enjoyable even if you're not familiar.
It would appear that people are starting to
remember and appreciate Rodger's contributions to not just country
music, but just about every other popular genre as well, and he gave and received a lot of influence to the blues that I never really knew about.
Keep
in mind that when Rodgers started playing music, there was NO style
of music called Country.....or Blues. Back in those days, genres were not
as big a deal as they are today, where even blues gets
compartmentalized into ever smaller sub-genres. Traveling musicians in Rodgers' era, black and white, had to be able to play a pretty diverse repertoire to satisfy whatever audiences were listening, black and white.
I've always thought it was ridiculous to have SO many different genres of music. When I was growing up in the 70's, you actually had radio stations that played MULTIPLE musical genres over their air waves and, lo and behold, we all managed to survive this. Even today, my playlist on my mp3 player in my car includes blues, jazz, gospel, country, rock, pop, reggae, Cajun/zydeco, soul, R&B, and even world music. Clinging to one genre will certainly deprive music lovers of a lot of great music.
Working on the railroad, Rodgers crossed paths with a lot of different people, black and white, and he also absorbed their influences in his music. His singing style replicated a lot of blues singers and his songwriting also focused on subjects that rang true with anyone who listened to the blues, so his music appealed to both white and black listeners at the time. He recorded 13 "Blue Yodels" during his career, which served as an influence for how blues songs would be structured in future recordings, so whether white country music fans were listening to Rodgers, they were also hearing the blues.
There are a lot of Jimmie Rodgers recordings out there that collect his work, but I was interested in finding one that provided a good sampling of his more blues-related material to see if I could pick up
what influenced a lot of these older blues artists and also what he
might have picked up from those older blues artists, maybe some who
never had the opportunity to record.
Happily, I found just the recording via the UK record label Catfish. 2001's Brakeman's Blues captures 24 of Rodgers' blues songs (about 40 of his 110+ recordings are considered blues), and all 13 of his "Blue Yodels." Listening to these tracks, you can't help but notice the similarities in song structure, lyrical content, and vocal delivery. It also shows how vital the blues were in the formation of early country music and much of that is due to Jimmie Rodgers.
All 13 of the "Blue Yodel" songs are worth hearing, but here are three noteworthy examples that can be linked to the blues genre directly. The first is, of course, "Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)," a number that has been covered in multiple genres. Another one is 1930's "Blue Yodel No. 9 (Standing On The Corner)," which features Louis Armstrong on trumpet and Armstrong's wife Lil Hardin on piano, and his last one recorded just a couple of days before his death, "Blue Yodel No. 13 (The Women Made A Fool Out Of Me)."
Rodgers also recorded "Let Me Be Your Sidetrack" in 1931 with St. Louis blues guitarist Clifford Gibson, but his label didn't release it at the time because they feared backlash with Rodgers recording with a black musician (Armstrong and his wife were not credited on "Blue Yodel No. 9") and had him re-record it performing solo. Here is the unreleased version (listed as Take 2), with Gibson officially listed as guitarist.
Other standout Rodgers' blues tracks include "In The Jailhouse Now," "My Good Gal's Gone Blues" (with the Louisville Jug Band), "Pistol Packing Papa," and "TB Blues." Rodgers' lyrics are pretty raw and direct, compared to the standard fare of the day, but there's also some good humor in his words as well.
I spent most of my life more or less disregarding the music of Jimmie Rodgers. Little did I know how much of an influence he was not just to country music, but eventually rock n' roll and, yes, the blues. If you are a blues fan, especially of the older pre-war blues recordings, take a little time and give Rodgers' recordings a listen, especially the "Blue Yodels," and you'll discover that the connection between blues and country music is a pretty close one.
