A Trip to Muscle Shoals (Part 1 - FAME Studios)

In late September, the missus and I traveled a few hours north to Muscle Shoals, AL.  We had made the trip about five years ago, after the shutdown had eased a little bit.  My wife had been battling some health issues, so we decided to take a much-needed trip and we spent several days in North Alabama seeing some interesting sites.  Unfortunately, none of the sites we saw were in Muscle Shoals because everything was closed up tight....I'm assuming still in response to the shutdown, so we spent the night in Florence and headed toward the mountains to the east for the rest of our trip.

This trip was similar, we were in need of a few days away, but I tried to plan things a little better.  We decided to visit FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals Sounds Studio, and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, which is also in the Muscle Shoals area in Tuscumbia.  This time, I made sure everything was up and open and booked tickets, which I highly recommend if you decide to visit.  This week, we will be looking at the FAME Studios, and we'll focus on Muscle Shoals Sounds in a later post.

Ever since I read Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music, I've been fascinated with FAME Records.  There was so much great music coming out of that studio that I'd heard, but there was also a ton of classic tunes that I'd never heard that have become favorites over the years, some of which were recorded at FAME, but ended up on other labels.  At the time I read the book, I was familiar with Stax Records, but I never imagined that there were other labels responsible for producing this outstanding music and FAME was one of the strongest.

Rick Hall

FAME started in 1959, when Tom Stafford, who owned a recording studio in Florence, approached Rick Hall and Billy Sherrill the opportunity to set up a music publishing company, which was known as Florence Alabama Music Enterprises, or FAME.  The studio was located above Florence's City Drug Store, owned by Stafford's father, and was adjacent to a pawn shop where musicians would buy or sell their instruments.  By 1960, Hall split from Sherrill and Stafford and retained the rights to the studio name, moving to an abandoned tobacco warehouse in Muscle Shoals.

In 1961, Hall had recorded the first hit record from the area, Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On."  Alexander was a fine singer and songwriter whose style blended country music and soul music.  Several of his songs were recorded by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Rick Nelson, Tina Turner, and Pearl Jam, and Al Bundy spent an entire episode of Married...With Children trying to track down one of his songs ("Anna (Go With Him)").  "You Better Move On" was released on Dot Records out of Nashville and became a hit on the soul/R&B charts, paving the way for the future FAME Studios.

Hall took the proceeds from "You Better Move On" and built a new facility on the present location of Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals.  There, Hall recorded the first track, and the first hit, at the new studio, 1963's "Steal Away," by Jimmy Hughes.  Hall had originally recorded a demo with Hughes at the tobacco warehouse in 1961, but he waited a couple of years to do a full recording with Hughes, who cut the song in one take. 

The rest, as they say, is history.  FAME Studios quickly became a huge draw for recording artists and other labels.....Atlantic and Chess to name a couple.  They recorded hits for Joe Tex ("Hold What You Got"), James & Bobby Purify ("I'm Your Puppet"), Aretha Franklin ("I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You))," Etta James ("Tell Mama"), Wilson Pickett ("Land of 1000 Dances," "Mustang Sally," "Hey Jude"), Arthur Conley ("Sweet Soul Music"), and Clarence Carter ("Slip Away," "Patches," "Snatching It Back"). 

 

FAME has recorded soul (Lou Rawls, Candi Staton, Little Richard, Spencer Wiggins), blues (Bobby "Blue" Bland, Lowell Fulson, Little Milton, Elvin Bishop), country (Mac Davis, Jerry Reed, the Gatlin Brothers, Shenandoah, the Oak Ridge Boys, T.G. Sheppard), and pop artists - Bobbie Gentry recorded "Fancy" here, Paul Anka recorded "Having My Baby," and the Osmonds recorded "One Bad Apple." 

Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham

FAME boasted an impressive group of songwriters as well, including Hall, Sherrill, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Donnie Fritts, Terry Thompson, and George Jackson, along with many others.  They had not one, not two, but THREE outstanding rhythm sections that played on most of the recordings without missing a beat (no pun intended).  The first group departed after a couple of years for work in Memphis and Nashville.  The second of the three rhythm sections (later better known as The Swampers) left FAME to form Muscle Shoals Sounds Studio, which produced an equally impressive number of recordings, beginning in the early 70's.  The third group was known as The FAME Gang and recorded several cool instrumentals, also collected by Ace a few years ago.  

Guitar legend Duane Allman played on a number of tracks in the mid/late 60's and he recommended recording "Hey Jude" to Pickett and Hall and played the sizzling guitar solo that paved the way for southern rock.

FAME Studios was the first stop on our road trip.  Over the past few years, I've attended several shows by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham and have dug deep into their songbooks, thanks to Penn's self-released demo recordings and the UK label Ace's release of his FAME demos as well as compilations of tunes written by the pair, along with other composers.  I've also picked up a couple of other releases by some of the artists listed above (the James Govan set on Ace is a wonderful set by an artist who certainly deserved more than he got) and, probably the coolest collection of them all, I found a copy of The FAME Studios Story 1961-1973, which collects 75 of the best tracks recorded there, including most  of the songs previously mentioned above.  It was released on Ace's subsidiary Kent Records in 2011 and would be a fine addition to any music fan's collection.

Wilson Pickett with the 2nd FAME rhythm section

There are two tours available at the studio - the $20 tour includes both studios used and the $40 tour includes an upstairs visit to Rick Hall's office and a look at a lot of cool memorabilia that you probably won't see anywhere else.  Hall passed away in 2018, but his wife Linda still runs the studio, along with their son Rodney.  The studio continues to record artists, including Drive-By Truckers, Gregg Allman, Jason Isbell, Demi Lovato, Bettye Lavette, Alan Jackson, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, and Mike Farris, with many of the albums and singles continuing to chart.

If you're in north Alabama, I highly recommend this tour.  The tour guides were very good and very informative, and we got to meet Mr. Hall's wife Linda as she was leaving for the day.  She noticed the Dan Penn t-shirt I was wearing and told us some nice things about him.  We also met Johnny Belew of Rhythm and Belews Tours, leading one of those tours, during our visit.  

It was just a great experience all the way around and it was only the beginning of our music-packed weekend.  Below are a few pictures taken during the tour. 

A list of a few of the great tracks recorded at FAME

Rick Hall's desk

These are a few pictures from Studio 2, which we toured first.  Jordan, our guide, is pictured behind the drum set.  He did a fantastic job.

A few photos from Studio 1

A Leslie speaker...I'd never seen one before.

The studio was being used and the band took a break while we toured.

If you are a music fan and happen to be in the area, I highly recommend visiting FAME Studios.  We will be back in a couple of weeks to check out Muscle Shoals Sounds Studios.  Stay tuned.

Friday Blues Picks (10/2/26)

Your humble correspondent had some big doings last weekend that we will be discussing in the coming weeks, but in the meantime.....Friday Blues Fix offers up a few more new releases this week.....a couple of these have a New Orleans flavor.  It always put a hop in my step to hear some good ol' Crescent City music.  There's also a look at an interesting new release that puts a definitely different spin on the blues. 

As always, most of these albums have already been or will soon be reviewed in much more detail at the site where I regularly contribute, Blues Bytes, so be sure to check those out when you get a chance.  Bill Mitchell has done an outstanding job on the site for nearly 30 years.  He also does a weekly blues show on various stations, a mix of new and classic blues, that is a great listen for any blues fan, so check it out.  Stations are listed at Blues Bytes' website. 

If you like New Orleans piano, you will find a lot to love with A Night In New Orleans - Live & Solo at Snug Harbor (MoMojo Records) by the amazing Mitch Woods.  This was actually recorded just a few months ago, in late April during Jazz Fest activities, so the crowd is pretty enthusiastic and Woods is obviously having a ball himself as he rips through a mix of originals and New Orleans favorites that surely had the audience moving and grooving and will do the same for you if you have a pulse. 

Woods has been recording and touring with his band, the Rocket 88's, since the 1980's, recording for Blind Pig, VizzTone, and Club 88 Records, among others.  I've heard and enjoyed several of his previous albums, but this is the first solo release I've heard and I really like the intimate feel of this recording.  The sound is excellent and Woods' nimble keyboards and his strong vocals really stand out.

The crowd is really into it, singing along on some of the tracks, which pay tribute to Crescent City piano men like Professor Longhair, Champion Jack Dupree, Huey "Piano" Smith," and Fats Domino, along with Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner.  Woods' original tunes fit this format like a glove as well.  If you dig New Orleans piano, you definitely need to give A Night In New Orleans a spin, or a stream, or whatever you call it these days.

Another great keyboardist in the New Orleans tradition is John "Papa" Gros, who's been active for over 30 years in the Crescent City.  Gros got his start with George Porter Jr.'s Runnin' Pardners and he later formed and led Papa Grows Funk from 2000-2013, a funk/jam band who released several albums during that time.  Gros has released several solo albums, which included songs that appeared on TV shows, and he was able to earn some new fans during the pandemic with his weekly livestreams.

In 2022, he lost his home and his studio to Hurricane Ida and spent the last couple of years rebuilding both.  His Silent S Recording Studio was where he recorded his latest album, with support from the New Orleans Jazz &  Heritage Foundation and the Threadhead Cultural Foundation.  Giants (Funky Krewe Records) is a five-song EP that pays tribute to some of Gros' influences....Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, The Meters, Levon Helm, and Billy Preston.

One of the highlights of New Orleans music to me has always been the greasy, slippery funk that permeates through every note.  Gros and company have this down to a science.....he had a band called Papa Grows Funk, after all....and these five tracks really cook.  Giants will send listeners back to the funky heyday of 70's New Orleans blues and R&B.  It's a ton of fun, and funk, from beginning to end. 

I have to admit that I wasn't sure what to expect with Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience (Decca Records).  At first, the combination of the blues and a symphony orchestra seemed a little strange to me, but then as I listened, it occurred to me that several of B.B. King's most popular songs, including "The Thrill Is Gone," also incorporated an orchestra of sorts.  In fact, there were many songs in the history of the blues that used orchestras or at least strings and most of them worked rather well,

Another selling point for me was the presence of several Mississippi blues artists (Super Chikan, Keith Johnson, Anthony "Big A" Sherrod, Lady Adrena, and Alvin Youngblood Hart) in addition to Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo', Shemekia Copeland, and Tierinii Jackson. The orchestra performances are not that intrusive to the songs....really not at all, and it is augmented by the "Ground Zero Blues Club Band," which includes Johnson on harmonica, and Hart, Luther Dickinson, and Lina Beach on guitar.  

In the end, none of the songs delivered on Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience will replace the originals in any blues fan's collection....some do work better than others.  However, they are very well done and well worth checking out for longtime fans familiar with the original versions, and, hopefully, this set will also serve as an introduction to the blues for many curious new fans.

Our Blast From the Past this week takes us to the North Mississippi Hill Country, where we find Terry "Harmonica" Bean, from Pontotoc, MS.  Drop Dead In Front Of Your Door (Music Maker Foundation) was released in 2024, but I didn't even know about it until I read about it in a recent issue of Living Blues magazine.  I have loved everything I've heard from Bean, dating back to the M for Mississippi documentary/album and his later collaboration with Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, Twice As Hard, on Broke and Hungry Records, so this "new" album was the first release of his that I had actually seen, although he does have others in print.

Bean is a one-man band, handling vocals, guitar, and harmonica.  He comes from a family of Hill Country bluesmen - his father and grandfather both played.  He was a star athlete in high school until a car accident ended his athletic career. Bean continues the Hill Country tradition with his highly percussive rhythms, his powerful, enthusiastic vocals, and the sheer exuberance of his personality.

Bean has four originals on this set that are just irresistible and he also covers several tunes associated with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and even James Brown.  I think the thing that captivates me about Terry "Harmonica" Bean is his boundless enthusiasm and his warm and winning personality.  That comes through loud and clear on this recording and it has to be incredible to experience in person during one of his performances.  This is just a fun disc to play and it's hard to believe that this guy is not better known.  

Thanks for stopping by......come back next week for more blues that you can use.

Friday Blues Picks (9/25/26)

Here's another great batch of new releases, plus one you might have missed the first time around.  This has been a great summer for new blues.  I know it's not officially summer anymore, but trust me, it certainly feels that way here with temps still in the low 90's.....hopefully, we will get some relief in the next couple of weeks.  It certainly looks like we will getting top notch new material through the end of the year.  Let's look at a few more new ones that are well worth any blues fan's time.

As always, most of these albums have already or will be reviewed in much more detail at the site where I usually contribute, Blues Bytes, so be sure to check those out when you get a chance.  Bill Mitchell has done an outstanding job on the site for nearly 30 years.  He also does a weekly blues show on various stations, a mix of new and classic blues, that is a great listen for any blues fan, so check it out.  Stations are listed at Blues Bytes' website. 

Also, whenever you can, please buy physical product by your favorite blues artists.  These folks work hard and sometimes the streaming process leaves them out in the cold.  It's a hard enough row to hoe, so if it puts a little more change in their pockets, please consider doing so.

Jovin Webb first gained attention as a contestant on American Idol in 2020 and his voice led judge Lionel Richie to proclaim "this is what barbecue sauce sounds like" and Luke Bryan said that he could "sit and drink a lot of bourbon listening to that voice."  Of course, he didn't win 😑, but he gained a lot of attention from blues fans.  That voice, shaped by blues, soul, and gospel can raise goose bumps and was been heard regularly around his native Baton Rouge and the Gulf Coast.  Webb signed with Blind Pig Records, who released his first album, Drifter in 2024.  I wasn't blogging regularly at the time, but it was one of my favorite albums of the year, certainly in the Top 5.

Webb recently released his follow-up release, Son of a Sinner, also on Blind Pig Records.  Like it's predecessor, this release was produced by Tom Hambridge, who's produced releases from Susan Tedeschi, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Kingfish, George Thorogood, Mike Zito, Wayne Baker Brooks, James Cotton, Too Slim & the Taildraggers, and Joe Louis Walker to name just a few.  Hambridge also played drums and percussion, provided background vocals, co-authored four of the songs, and probably validated parking at the studio. 

Webb also wrote five of the songs, co-writing one with Hambridge and Richard Fleming and while he's a hurricane force of nature on the hard blues rockers, he's equally powerful on the more soulful tracks.  He has a most amazing voice that demands your attention from start to finish.  He's also a talented harmonica player, as shown on his cover of "Every Time I Roll The Dice," a tune associated with Delbert McClinton.  Along with  Hambridge, the backing band (Kenny Greenberg - guitar, Mike Rojas - keyboards, Tommy MacDonald - bass) are first-rate throughout.  Be sure to stick around for the strong cover of "Whipping Post," which concludes Son of a Sinner, which seems destined for my Top 10 list this year.

For a couple of years now, I've been tuning in to Rosa's Lounge's live weekend shows, where blues fans get to hear some of the best of Chicago's current blues scene.  They have great shows every week, so if you're on Facebook, join up to Rosa's homepage.  You can thank me later.  That said, one of the more exciting artists that I've seen on Rosa's stage is Jamiah Rogers and his band, Dirty Chxuch (Isaiah "Zay" Horne - bass, and Tyvon "Tank" Rice - drums).

Rogers has released a couple of albums independently, but Chicago Cowboy is his first effort for Delmark Records and it's a monster, loaded with intensity, energy, and a ton of  heart and soul.  The guitarist rips through a strong set of original tunes that mix blues, rock, soul, funk, and even a bit of reggae.  He also displays a soulful touch on the vocal side as well when needed, but this is a tough and intense ride through modern blues for the most part.

Rogers closes the disc with a pair of "Bonus Cuts," which are covers of Buddy Guy and Ray Charles standards and he makes some interesting adjustments to both songs that work really well and offer him an opportunity to bring both up to date with some sizzling guitar pyrotechnics that will leave listeners anxiously awaiting what's next for this exceptionally talented young man.

For ten years, Iowa singer Jeni Grouws has fronted the Avey-Grouws Band, who released several fine releases during that time and advanced twice to the I.B.C. semi-finals (2018 and 2020).  Recently, Grouws stepped out on her own as a solo artist with her debut release, Music House (Navy House Productions).  Grouws has a marvelous voice that is a great fit in a variety of music styles and her backing band consists of Johnny Duke - guitar, Brian Allen - bass, Mike Hicks - keyboards, and Grammy-winning producer Casey Wasner - drums.

There are a host of guest stars on these eleven tracks written or co-written by Grouws (with Wasnder and David Abdo), including slide guitarist Drew Smithers, violinist Anne Harris, guitarist Matt Fuller, Avey Grouws keyboardist Nick Vasquez, backing vocalist Kyshona and a horn section that includes Emmanuel Echem, Roy Agee, and Evan Cobb.  However, the spotlight is appropriately on Ms. Grouws and her charming vocals.

These songs cover a variety of genres.....rock, pop, soul, roots, and southern rock.....but it's all planted firmly in the blues and Music House will truly satisfy fans of any of these genres.  Jeni Grouws has a wonderful voice that listeners won't be able to get enough of.

You might remember Moreland & Arbuckle from several years back.  They were a formidable band for about 15 years, releasing several albums for Northern Blues, Alligator, and Telarc Records and making the finals at the I.B.C., while also winning numerous awards and nominations.  The band broke up in 2017 because Moreland got tired of life on the road and Arbuckle soon formed Dustin Arbuckle and the Damnations.  The band consists of Arbuckle (vocals/harmonica), Brandon Hudspeth (guitars), Caleb Drummond (bass), Colby Aiken (drums) and they've released three full-length albums and a pair of EP's.

Their latest release is Fight Like The Devil (Or Run Like Hell), and it's a gritty mix of blues, rock, roots, and soul.  Arbuckle is an energetic and soulful singer and blows harp like a force of nature, while guitarist Hudspeth (who also plays with Levee Town and Hudspeth & Taylor) is a superb guitarist who seamlessly fits all of those styles and Drummond and Aiken are a rock-solid rhythm section.  There are eleven tracks, seven by the band, two by Ryan Taylor of The Rounders, and covers from Bob Dylan and Gillian Welch, so obviously this is a diverse set of tunes.

I've enjoyed everything that I've heard from Dustin Arbuckle, whether with this band or his previous band, because of his boundless energy and enthusiasm.  He plays the music like his life depends on it and Hudspeth compliments him perfectly.  To be honest, I enjoy everything I've heard from Brandon Hudspeth as well.  This is a potent set that stays with you for a while.

Our Blast From The Past this week ventures over to the soul side of the blues, via Bobby King and Terry Evans.  The duo began performing together in the 70's, playing the chitlin circuit and specializing in Stax-flavored soul and gospel.  At the same time, they appeared on multiple albums for Ry Cooder, beginning with Paradise and Lunch, and also toured with him for a number of years.  They also appeared on Cooder's Crossroads soundtrack in the mid 80's, with Evans singing lead vocals on the title track. 

In 1988, King and Evans released Live and Let Live! (Rounder Records), which was produced by Cooder, who also played his inimitable slide guitar throughout.  I actually bought this one when it was originally released, not really being familiar with them, other than their vocals on the Crossroads soundtrack and a couple of Ry Cooder albums, but I was pleasantly surprised with this album.  Even though there are only nine tracks, five written by the duo and Cooder, the quality of the music is just spectacular.

King and Evans share lead vocals with spirit and soul, not unlike Sam & Dave a couple of decades before them.  In addition to Cooder, the backing band includes Darryl Johnson (bass), Jim Dickinson (piano), Jorge Calderon (bass), Jim Keltner (drums), and Spooner Oldham (keyboards), while fellow Cooder backing vocalist Willie Green, Jr. also lends a hand.  The pair released a solid second disc in 1990, but Evans embarked on a successful solo career, eventually teaming up with Dutch blues artist Hans Theessink for several excellent albums before passing away in 2018.  King continued to provide backing vocals for other artists, including Cooder, Aaron Neville, Colin James, John Lee Hooker, Richard Thomspon, and Bruce Springsteen.  Live and Let Live! is a release that deserves to be heard if you missed it the first time around.

There's even more reviews of great new releases coming up, so check back with Friday Blues Fix next week!

Friday Blues Picks (9/18/26)

Friday Blues Fix returns with a few reviews of new blues that you can use.  As always, most of these albums have already or will be reviewed in much more detail at the site where I usually contribute, Blues Bytes.  I have been contributing reviews there for 26 years (this month) and Bill Mitchell has done an outstanding job on the site for nearly 30 years.  Bill also does a weekly blues show on various stations, a mix of new and classic blues, that is a great listen for any blues fan, so check it out.  Stations are listed at Blues Bytes' website.  

This week, we have a nice collection of new releases that deserve to be heard, so let's check them out!

I discovered Iowa blues man Kevin Burt several years ago via his 2018 release Heartland & Soul.  Burt won the 2018 I.B.C. Solo/Duo Award, the Cigar Box Guitar Award for best guitarist, and the Lee Oskar Award for best harmonica player.  In addition to being an excellent guitarist and harmonica player, he has a wonderous voice that fits snugly in the blues and soul categories with a quality that will remind listeners of Bill Withers at times (Burt actually released a Withers tribute album a couple of years ago).

His latest release, This Trip, is his fifth release overall and his third for Gulf Coast Records.  Recorded in Waterloo, Iowa, the album is a solo effort by Burt.....voice, guitar, and  harmonica.  It's his most personal release to date, with songs that focus on love, heartbreak, jubilation, fear, resolve and determination.  These are songs that will speak to anyone who listens because they've experienced these same feelings in their lives....several of these songs hit home to me in a powerful way.

Even though it is a solo effort, the album has a huge sound.  Burt's commanding vocals, guitar, and harmonica are all that's needed on these superb songs, impeccably recorded, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael Cutsforth.  Burt's musical approach incorporates blues, soul, roots, and folk and I have to admit that I've listened to this one pretty regularly since it arrived.  Chances are pretty good that Kevin Burt's music will speak to you like it spoke to me.  It's a trip worth taking!

The Gerry Hundt Trio is made up of multi-instrumentalist Gerry Hundt (John-Alex Mason, Nick Moss, The Cash Box Kings, Corey Dennison, The Dig 3), Belgium bassist/harmonica player Renaud Lesire (Bobby Rush, John Primer, Johnny Dyer, James Harmon, Junior Watson, Candice Ivory, Sean Mack McDonald), and Luxembourg drummer Tom Lehnert (The Nightcrawlers, Pugsley Buzzard, Big Dave, Fred Baretto).  Pretty impressive portfolios for all three of these guys for blues fans, so their latest release, One More For Me,  is highly recommended for blues and roots fans.

The album was recorded live in the studio in Luxembourg during a recent tour, with ten tracks, five written by Hundt, two by the trio, and three covers.  The whole album sounds like it was a blast to record, just three friends having a good time playing the blues, with songs that bring to mind Chicago blues artists like Lil' Ed Williams, Magic Slim (listen below), Earl Hooker, and Bo Diddley.  The covers are tunes by Eddie C. Campbell, Tampa Red, and Johnny Young, so you can see that the band covers a wide variety of blues styles.

This is a very enjoyable album with great instrumental work and solid original songs.  It sounds like a very loose session that feels very relaxed and that feeling carries over to the listeners.  If you enjoy listening to this album, be sure to check out Hundt's recent work with The Dig 3.

Walk That Walk is one of the more prominent bands on the Boston blues scene.  Their core sound touches on Chicago and Detroit blues.  The band spent years serving as the touring band behind Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, and also backed harmonica ace Carey Bell for a time.  Led by Poppa C DeSnyder, who plays guitar, slide, dobro and handles vocals, the band has a potent attack, as evidenced by their recent release, The Lifer.

The Lifer features seven songs written or co-written by DeSnyder, plus one cover.  The originals are a pretty diverse set, ranging from blues shuffles to blues rockers to old school rock n' rollers and the splendid cover tune is a classic Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green-era) tune that features guitarist on lead vocals. 

The entire set offers well-crafted, well-played tunes that show that Walk That Walk certainly deserves their acclaim as one of the New England area's finest blues bands. 

I was a late arrival to the music of the Grateful Dead.  My first real experience was their In the Dark album in '87 or so, but I'd heard a few songs on the radio, such as "Sugar Magnolia," "Casey Jones," and "Truckin'."  I guess their catalog intimidated me a bit because I wasn't sure where to start listening, but about ten or twelve years ago, my friend Joe, who has done guest posts a few times here at FBF, sent me a mix CD with some of their tunes, deep cuts if you will, that really showed the band's love of blues as well as soul, jazz, country, folk, bluegrass and just about every other genre of music.

Guitarist J.P. Reali began listening much sooner than I did, hearing his babysitter's copy of Shakedown Street when he was a kid and attending multiple Dead concerts during high school and college.  It didn't hurt that his parents were Grateful Dead fans, and other genres as well, including blues, so it does make sense that  he was drawn to their music.  Reali recently released Grateful Blues (Reali Records), a six-song EP that gathers a few fan favorites as well as a couple of deep cuts that really show the band's blues roots.

I knew a few of these songs, most date back to the band's heyday in the early/mid 70's and, like the band, Reali plays around with these songs, venturing into Delta blues, Piedmont blues, and even Texas blues with his stellar guitar work, but all of the songs are still reverential to the Dead's versions.  Reali's vocals are a good fit, too...he reminds me a bit of Bob Weir on several tunes.  There are not any real marathon jam tunes like usually associated with the Dead....this is an EP after all.....but there's plenty here to satisfy Dead fans and maybe lure a few newcomers to dig into the Grateful Dead's catalog, and Reali's impressive catalog while they're at it.

Our Blast From The Past review doesn't go too far back into the past, actually the summer of 2025, but it's an album that deserves some attention.  For some reason, it escaped me that Clifton Chenier's 100th birthday would have been in June of 2025.  Chenier, who passed away in 1987, is still regarded as the King of Zydeco nearly 40 years after he left this mortal coil.  He pretty much invented zydeco, taking the Creole house dance music called "La La" and giving it a boost with horns, organ, blues, and R&B and kept the train rolling with his masterful accordion.  It is almost impossible to hear a Clifton Chenier song and not smile or move your feet.

How big was Clifton Chenier, you ask?  Well, Velcour Records released A Tribute to the King of Zydeco last June and nowhere to be found on the front cover is Chenier's name, only his picture.  That really says it all.  Steve Earle, Joel Savoy, and John Leopold gathered an all-star ensemble to pay tribute to the king.  Their names are listed on the cover, including The Rolling Stones, Charlie Crockett, Taj Mahal, Tommy McClain and Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Jon Cleary, Kam Franklin, Shannon McNally, David Hidalgo, Jimmy Vaughan, Johnny Nicholas, Ruben Ramos, Marcia Ball, and Sonny Landreth are just a few of the artists who participated.

Joining them were many of the current Cajun/zydeco artists, such as accordionists Steve Riley, Nathan Williams, Keith Frank, Anthony Dopsie, Curley Taylor, Roddie Romero, and Chenier's son C.J., who also sings on one track.  The late Lee Allen Zeno plays bass on several tracks, as does drummer Robert St. Julien.  This is a marvelous set of tunes, all written by or associated with Chenier over his lengthy career.  Like the Grateful Dead tribute mentioned above, this set should get new listeners interested in the timeless music of Clifton Chenier (if you can find a copy of the Rhino Records retrospective Zydeco Dynamite, you will just about have it covered) as well as a lot of the current group of zydeco artists.  Trust me, if you ever start listening, you will not want to stop!

We are just getting started here at Friday Blues Fix.  There are even more exciting new releases to check out, so come back next week!