Friday Blues Picks (11/13/26)

Here are a few new releases well worth any blues fan's time, plus one you might have missed the first time around.  We are finally getting into some cool and comfortable weather here in Far East Mississippi and I, for one, and glad to see it and feel it.  2026 has been a great year for new blues releases, so let's take a look and listen at a few more.

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. 

The Holmes Brothers were one of my favorite groups from the time I first heard them in the early 90's.  Their seemingly effortless mix of blues, soul, gospel, country, and R&B was always amazing, as were their impeccible vocal harmonies.  They released a dozen albums between 1999 and 2013, all consistently excellent, but the group was no more after Popsy Dixon passed away in January of 2015 from cancer and Wendell Holmes died in June of the same year after battling health issues for several years.  Sherman Holmes, brother and Wendell's brother, bounced back with the Sherman Holmes Project, releasing an album in 2017 and continuing to perform. 

Now 87 years old, Holmes continues the musical traditions of his brother Wendell and Dixon with his latest release, One Step Ahead of the Blues (Nola Blue Records).  The album is dedicated to both of them, and the contributing musicians include The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Muscle Shoals Horns, and The Honorary Holmes Sisters (Catherine Russell, Joan Osborne, Ada Dyer, and Amy Helm), along with bassist Paul Ossola, drummer Lynn Williams, keyboardist Harvey Thompson Jr., and guitarist Andreas Werner, who also produced the album.

Holmes penned three of the eleven tunes (one is a new version of a song from The Holmes Brothers' 2004 album Simple Truths), Werner wrote or co-wrote six (with Jon Tiven, Mark Marmore, Mickey Buckins, and Charlie Taylor), and two of the songs are previously unrecorded tunes written by Wendell Holmes.  He does a great job on vocals, his voice is as strong as it was on those Holmes Brothers albums, and the addition of the Blind Boys on a couple of tracks really works well.  This album just made me feel good because it reminded me so much of The Holmes Brothers albums that I've enjoyed over the years.  I will be enjoying this one along with the others and, hopefully, we've not heard the last from Sherman Holmes.  

Over the past couple of years, I've been listening to the music of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell.  Blues fans now may not be aware of these two, but there crafted some of the most notable, and popular, blues songs of the late 20's and early 30's.  Carr was possibly the most influential male blues singer of the early 20th Century, influencing singers like Ray Charles, Jimmy Witherspoon, Amos Milburn, Jimmy Rushing, and T-Bone Walker to name a few.  He was also a fine piano player and Blackwell was a gifted guitarist who liked to mix a bit of jazz into his blues.   They were a big factor in moving the blues to an urban setting, but Carr's death in 1935 ended their run.

Christopher Wyze & the Tellers, like Carr and Blackwell before them, are based in Indianapolis.  Wyze had been fronting blues bands for a long time as a singer and harmonica player.  He decided over the last few years to start writing his own songs and he's released a couple of fine albums over the past few years.  He and the Tellers (John Boyle III - guitar/organ, Gerry Murphy - acoustic bass) decided to make their third album together, Naptown Blues (Big Radio Records), a tribute to Carr and Blackwell and they really go all out, including a lenghty essay of the duo in the liner notes and packaging the CD as if it were an old 78 from the 1930's. 

As for the music, Wyze & the Tellers take on several of Carr and Blackwell's better known songs, but include several tunes that work really well.  Wyze does a marvelous job on vocals and harp, and Boyle III and Murphy provide excellent support.  Interestingly, there is no piano (Carr's instrument) on these tracks, but Wyze's harmonica stands in quite well and the focus is on the lyrical and melodic quality of Carr's compositions.  Carr fans might be surprised at first, but they will get over it quickly because the music is so good.  This is a fine reverential treatment to two of the pre-war era's finest and, hopefully, it will lead those unfamiliar with Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell to check out some of their music.

Murali Coryell is the son of the late jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell and he has spent most of his career exploring the blues and soul genres, in part to steer away from competition with his father and his brother, Julian.  He has released several well-received albums since the mid 90's.....I've not heard them all, but I've enjoyed the ones that I've had the chance to hear.  He's a gifted guitarist with a unique sound and a fine singer and a good songwriter as well.  

Coryell's latest release, Deep Blues, finds the guitarist going way back, taking on ten public domain blues classics.  The idea was originally proposed to Coryell by producer Larry Chesky, and they assembled quite a supporting backing band.  Bassist Tony Garnier has played with Bob Dylan and guitarist Junior Mack played with The Allman Brothers Band.  Manning the drum kit is the legendary Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, who's no doubt played on at least one of your favorite songs over the past 60-70 years.

Blues fans will be familiar with some of the tracks in their original form, but Coryell gives some of the tunes a twist of two.  He and Mack complement each other very well and Garnier and Purdie are just as wonderful as you would expect them to be.  It's hard to beat most of the classic tunes of the pre-war blues era, and I really enjoy it when current blues artists take them on and give them a fresh coat of paint, like Murali Coryell does on Deep Blues.

A few weeks back, we wrote about Bernard Allison's awesome new release, Loving You.  One of the guest artists on that album was Stevie J Blues, who's no stranger to Friday Blues Fix.  SJB has been the hardest-working man in the soul-blues business for a long time.  He's released several albums of his own since before the pandemic and produced a number of soul-blues artists that made the charts, too.  His music reminds me a lot of the music I grew up with, but with a definite nod to modern blues and soul stylings, as well.

His most recent release is the EP JukeJoint Muzik (PKMG), and if you're a fan of blues and/or Southern Soul, this seven-song set has everything that you could possibly want.  SJB assembled these songs over a period of time and each one could actually be released as a single and would certainly make the Southern Soul charts easily.  

There are several songs reworked from SJB's previous releases that improve on the original versions and one song is a funky duet with Dallas vocalist Phoenix.  There's also a cover by one of SJB's biggest musical influences, Michael Burks, that the late guitarist would surely be pleased with.  If you're interested in what modern soul-blues sounds like, I strongly urge you to check out Stevie J Blues' JukeJoint Muzik at your first convenience.  He's announced that this will be his last release as Stevie J Blues, so stay tuned because whatever direction he pursues will worth following.

As mentioned last week, Bobby Rush turned 93 on November 10.  Mississippi guitarist and singer Vasti Jackson, who has performed and recorded with him for 46 years, gave him a birthday present this week with the release of "The Chitlin' Circuit King," a single which tells the tale of Bobby Rush as clearly and concisely as possible in four minutes and truly hits most of the high points.  The music is in the funky blues style that Bobby Rush helped to develop and there's also plenty of Jackson's stinging lead guitar.  This is a nice tribute to one of the living legends of the blues from a blues artist who we definitely need to hear more from.

This week's "Blast From The Past" goes back to the early/mid 1980's.  During those years, David Evans recorded a number of blues, soul, and gospel singers across the Mississippi delta and the Memphis area for High Water Recording Company.  These albums were issued by HMG/HighTone Records over the late 90's and early 2000's.  There were releases from R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Chicago Bob & the Shadows, Hammie Nixon, Hezekiah & The House Rockers, and a number of gospel acts.

The Memphis recordings focused on a pair of recordings from The Fieldstones, The Hollywood All Stars, and The Blues Busters.  Their recordings were all great and woulld be most enjoyable for blues fans if you can track them down.  The final release from High Water's 20-CD series was Memphis Blues Bands and Singers:  The 1980's, and it gives blues fans a peek into what the Memphis blues scene was like from around 1981 - 1986, really before the blues revival truly started.

The Fieldstones (3 tracks), The Hollywood All Stars (4 tracks), and The Blues Busters (3 tracks) all have nice moments (with singer Little Applewhite handling vocals on one of The Fieldstones' songs.  The Fieldstones have garnered the most attention over the years - this version features Will Roy Sanders on guitar and vocals, but The Hollywood All Stars were a pretty formidable unit and the short-lived Blues Busters could have been the best of them all.  There are also tracks from Jane Hamilton and the Prime Tyme Band (with Big Lucky Carter on guitar) and Huebert Crawford and The King Riders Band.  This is a solid set of greasy Memphis blues, circa mid-1980's that's worth a listen, but please check out The Fieldstones, Hollywood All Stars, or Blues Busters individual releases, too.

Slippin' Through The Cracks

This past weekend, I saw Slippin' Through The Cracks - The Bobby Rush Musical during its World Premiere at New Stage Theatre in Jackson, MS (where Bobby Rush lives).  I didn't know the first thing about this show until several weeks ago, when Grady Champion, who is in the show, told me about it.  When I heard about it, I was really excited to see it.  Bobby Rush is a blues institution, the King of the Chitlin' Circuit, still doing his thing at 92 years old (93 on November 10) with no signs of letting up.

Living here in Mississippi all my life, and listening to the blues since the mid 80's, I couldn't help but be familiar with Bobby Rush.  He was on all of the R&B stations that I listened to and when I started working, some of my co-workers liked him as well.  I can remember listening to him, Johnnie Taylor, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Milton, Benny Latimore, Z.Z. Hill, Bobby Womack, Denise LaSalle, and so many others on the radio in my co-workers' trucks.  Bobby Rush was just all over the place.  

I never really bought any of his recordings at the time, though, because a lot of them had those electronic instruments that were so prevalent during the time.  It didn't matter because you didn't have any trouble finding and listening to his music.....WMPR-FM, 90.1 played him pretty regularly whenever I was driving in Jackson.  Even when all the other R&B stations sort of phased out these guys, WMPR always came through for those fans who really liked the old school blues and soul.

Bobby Rush's music was different though.....it wasn't exactly soul, it wasn't exactly blues, and it wasn't exactly R&B.  It was a combination of all of those styles, plus he incorporated a heavy dose of funk that really made it stand out.  Also, there wasn't really anyone else who wrote songs like Bobby Rush.  He wrote tunes that everyone could relate to, laugh about, and think about.  His brand of blues, which he dubbed "Folk Funk," makes you smile, tap your feet, and shake your booty.

Bobby Rush was born Emmitt Ellis Jr. in Houma, Louisiana on November 10, 1933.  His father was a preacher who also played guitar and harmonica, and that had to have influenced the youngster in a big way.  The family moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas when he was a teenager, where he met Elmore James, Boyd Gilmore, and Bull Moose Walker.  Eventually he formed a band, Bobby Rush and the Four Jivers which included Gilmore, Walker, Pinetop Perkins, and Robert Plunkett.

When his family relocated to Chicago, Bobby Rush began to make his mark.  Little Walter got him a gig at a club called Skins, a white club where he and the band had to play behind a curtain and he performed with all of the Chicago legends of the time, even though he really wasn't able to break through with a hit song despite several fine efforts.  

(In case you might be wondering why I refer to Bobby Rush as "Bobby Rush" instead of "Bobby" or "Rush," you just don't do that......there's only one way to refer to him and that's as "Bobby Rush."  Just listen to some of his songs above and below to see what I mean)

Bobby Rush 1969

Bobby Rush finally broke through with a song he wrote called "Chicken Heads," which was released by Galaxy Records.  It earned gold record status in 1971 and made it to #34 on the Billboard R&B chart.  He later hit with "Bow Legged Woman" on Jewel Records and subsequently recorded an album, Rush Hour, for Philadelphia International Records (produced by Gamble & Huff) in 1979 to some success, his first full lengther.

Bobby Rush 1987 (Photo by William Ferris)

In the 80's, Bobby Rush signed with La Jam Records, which is where I first started hearing his music.  Songs like "Sue," "What's Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander," "Wearing It Out," and "A Man Can Give It (But He Can't Take It)."  In the early 90's, he recorded for Urgent Records, a subsidiary of Ichiban Records, producing songs like "I Ain't Studdin' You," "You, You, You (Know What To Do)," and "Handy Man."  These songs were very humorous and very suggestive and very funky and his fans loved them. 

In the mid 90's, Bobby Rush moved to Jackson and signed with Waldoxy Records, a Malaco Records subsidiary and released One Monkey Don't Stop No Show, Lovin' A Big Fat Woman, and Hoochie Man.  These releases maintained his popularity and in 2003, he started his own label, Deep Rush Records, which ended up being some of his best albums up to that time.  He released Undercover Lover in 2003, a CD/DVD set, Live at Ground Zero later in the year (which captured his ribald live show to a tee).

 

 In 2004, Bobby Rush released what became one of my personal favorite releases, Folkfunk. This effort was a stripped-down affair, no synthesized keyboards or drums and featured backing by guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart, a young Stevie J Blues on bass, and Charlie Jenkins on drums.  I've been listening to this one for a solid 22 years and it's still great.  I think the stripped-down effect, combined with his appearance on the 2003 Martin Scorsese mini-series The Blues ("The Road To Memphis" episode) may have inspired him to dig deeper into his blues roots.....as heard in 2007's acoustic set Raw.

 

Keep in mind as you read this that Bobby Rush was in his early 70's when the above-cited events transpired.  He has continued to release albums on a regular basis, seven between 2005 and 2014.  In 2015, Omnivore Records released a mammoth 4-disc set (Chicken Heads:  A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush) that featured 74 of his best-known songs.  At 83, he released Porcupine Meat on Rounder Records in 2016, which earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues album.  In 2020, he released Rawer Than Raw, a sequel to Raw, which earned him his second Grammy Award.  

Bobby Rush won his third Grammy in 2023 with his album All My Love For You.  He was 90 years old.  He's also won 16 Blues Music Awards (with 56 nominations) over the years and has been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame, and the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame. He still continues to tour and record, having released a collaborative effort with guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Young Fashioned Ways and contributed to the 2025 film Sinners, playing the harmonica parts for the Delta Slim character.  He also published his autobiography, I Ain't Studdin' Ya:  My American Blues Story, in 2021, some of which served as background for the musical. 

Initial stage layout (no pictures were allowed during the show)

Slippin' Through The Cracks tells the story of Bobby Rush's journey from working the fields as a sharecropper to moving to Chicago and then Jackson, dealing with early financial and family struggles and tragedies, and finally coming to grips with some demons that had plagued him since he was a child.  I don't want to give too many details because blues fans really need to see and experience the show themselves, but it was a wonderful show.  There were three performers who played Bobby Rush, a young version, a version at the beginning and rise of fame, and the 93-year-old version, who narrated the musical, and they were all marvelous.  In fact, all of the performers were excellent and it was very easy for the audience to just get caught up in the events of Bobby Rush's life.  The performances in Jackson were the first for the musical and it will be moving on to other areas, with some different performers, so be sure to catch it if it gets to your area.

As for Bobby Rush himself, he didn't miss a single show during the Jackson, MS run, sitting in the audience each time and going on stage to conclude the evening each night, entertaining fans with a couple of songs and stories.  He was so gracious to everyone in attendance, taking as much time as his fans wanted before and after the show, signing programs and posing for pictures (including one with me and my brother).  It's nice to see a blues legend get his flowers while he's still around to appreciate them.

A Trip to Muscle Shoals (Part 2 - Muscle Shoals Sounds Studio and Alabama Music Hall of Fame)

After our first day's adventures in Muscle Shoals, I wasn't sure if the trip to FAME Studios could be topped for a great musical experience, but our second day's visit to Muscle Shoals Sounds Studios came mighty close.  It's just amazing that so much great music has come from this small area in Northwest Alabama.......music that has shaped not just my listening pleasure, but so many other people's.  It's just astonishing.

For some background as to how this studio came into existence, you need to go back a few blocks down to FAME, where the second rhythm section - Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson, and David Hood were gaining a reputation as one of the finest groups around, helping to craft the Muscle Shoals Sound with FAME Studios owner Rick Hall.  They had provided backing for artists like Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and anyone else who passed through the studio.

During the 1967 Aretha Franklin session at FAME, things were going great until some tension developed between Franklin's husband, Ted White, and a trumpet player, who he accused of making a pass at the singer.  It later escalated to Hall having to fire the trumpet player and a sax player who was also accused of making a pass (White had been drinking with the horn session during the recordings).  The session ended and, shortly thereafter, Hall went to the hotel where Franklin and White were staying, in hopes of making peace, but instead a fight erupted between Hall (who was also drinking) and White.

Franklin recorded with Atlantic Records and Atlantic's Jerry Wexler had brought her down to FAME to record, inspired by the success enjoyed by Wilson Pickett (also with Atlantic).  Wexler was angry about the fight (he had told Hall not to go to the hotel) and pulled everyone out of Muscle Shoals, vowing to never work with Rick Hall again.  He summoned the rhythm section to New York to record at Atlantic Studios and they completed the album with Franklin there, which produced "Respect" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man," two of her biggest hits.

The Swampers (L to R) Beckett, Johnson, Hood, Hawkins

In 1969, the rhythm section, later known as The Swampers, had a financial disagreement with Hall and decided to go out on their own, purchasing an old coffin showroom on 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield.  Wexler helped the group out by arranging a loan to buy equipment that was compatable with Atlantic's equipment.  Wexler then sent Cher down to record an album in 1969, also called 3614 Jackson Highway, which inspired the sign that now hangs over the front door (it was added graphically to the album cover).  The album wasn't a big seller. Boz Scagg's self-titled album, also recorded there in 1969, included the extended version of Fenton Robinson's "Somebody Loan Me A Dime," with Duane Allman on guitar....Robinson later had to go to court to regain composer credits. By the end of 1969, the first hit from the studio was released, R.B. Greaves' "Take a Letter Maria."

At the end of 1969, the Rolling Stones secretly flew into Muscle Shoals and recorded for three days.  At that time, overseas bands could either get a performing visa or a recording visa.  The Stones were on tour and had heard about the studio, so they flew in under the radar, mostly unnoticed and cut three tracks for their Sticky Fingers album, "Wild Horses," "Brown Sugar," and Mississippi Fred McDowell's "You Got To Move."  Upon initial release of the album, the Muscle Shoals sessions were not listed, but Jimmy Johnson did receive credit for his work behind the sound board although they placed him in their London studio instead of Muscle Shoals on the original release.  

There were many other songs recorded at the studio during that time that received attention, including the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There," Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" and "Loves Me Like a Rock," Bob Seger's "Night Moves," "Mainstreet," "Katmandu," and "Old Time Rock and Roll," Dr. Hook's "Sharing The Night Together," "When You're In Love With a Beautiful Woman," and "Sexy Eyes."  Rod Stewart recorded his Atlantic Crossing album there in 1974, Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded their first album there in 1971 (which went unreleased until after the band's tragic plane crash), and Seger recorded in Muscle Shoals for over a decade.

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Other artists who recorded at the studio included Pickett and Franklin, Traffic (the rhythm section actually backed Traffic on their subsequent tour), Big Joe Williams, Linda Ronstadt, Percy Sledge, Willie Nelson, Etta James, Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Cliff, Leon Russell, and Levon Helm.  

In 1979, the studio at 3614 Jackson Highway closed and operations were moved to a larger facility, also in Sheffield, which operated until 1985, when it was sold to Malaco Records.  Malaco continued to record there, with albums from Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton, and Bobby "Blue" Bland among the highlights, with most of The Swampers still providing support.  That location is now known as Cypress Moon Studio, and although they do offer tours, we weren't able to work it into our schedule this time around.

Several artists have used the 3614 Jackson Highway studio in recent years, such as the Black Keys and Chris Stapleton.  Each won Grammys for their recordings from the studio, so there's still musical magic present within those walls.

The Muscle Shoals Sounds tour was not as long as the FAME tour because there was only one recording studio, but it was a very informative tour and we learned a lot of things that we didn't previously know, especially about the Stones' three-day visit (Richards finished writing "Wild Horses" in the bathroom attached to the studio) and also Linda Ronstadt's session....her backing band, later known as the Eagles, got rowdy during the session since they were not recording and were booted from the premises.

One of the coolest things I got to hear was the original demo version of "Old Time Rock & Roll."  It was initially recorded as a demo by George Jackson, who also wrote at FAME and later Malaco Records, but wasn't released.  While I still prefer the more popular Bob Seger version (Seger altered some of the lyrics, but kept the music track from the Jackson demo for his version and left composer credits to Jackson and Thomas E. Jones III...he and the band really didn't care much for the track, so he didn't even consider adding his own composer credit, a move I'm sure he regrets now), Jackson's own take has its funky charms, too.

Here are a few pictures that I took during the tour.

The white board has autographs and other writings

Keith Richards sat here to listen to the "Wild Horses" playback

We also toured the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, which is also in the Muscle Shoals area, in Tuscumbia (right across from the hotel where we stayed).  It's still sort of a work in progress but there were some pretty cool items from many of the blues and soul artists from Alabama, such as Johnny Shines, Clarence Carter, W.C. Handy, Percy Sledge, Jerry McCain, Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, and Microwave Dave.  There's also a nice section devoted to the Muscle Shoals area musicians and composers.  If you're in the neighborhood and a music fan, whether blues, soul, country, rock, or jazz, it's well worth a visit.

Displays for Clarence Carter and Johnny Shines

That's Jerry "Boogie" McCain's harmonica case at bottom right

Displays for Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett

W.C. Handy's trumpet

Spooner Oldham's keyboards

It was a great couple of days spent in the Muscle Shoals area.  If you're a music fan, it needs to be a future destination.  As stated above, it's just amazing to consider the amount of great music that has come from this area since the late 1950's. 

Five Discs You Might Have Missed (Volume 18)

Here's another long-running FBF topic that we haven't visited in a while.  Most of these releases came out during a time when I really didn't have the budget to buy everything I wanted to buy, or they might have slipped through the cracks for me the first time around.  I still love to be able to plug a new disc into a CD player and one of my vehicles has a CD player in it, plus I also have a portable player that I can connect in my new (to me) car.  That said, here are a few "new" finds that I've been playing quite a bit that are well worth your listening time and pleasure if you missed them.  

Some of these may not be available for streaming (darn), but can be found at Amazon or Discogs pretty easily.

I have been a fan of the Tail Gators since the late 80's.  If you're not familiar with one of the coolest bands of the 80's and 90's, I plan to correct that issue in a future post, but before we had the Tail Gators, there were The LeRoi Brothers, who have been around in various incarnations since 1981.  They were founded by Mike Buck (original drummer for The Fabulous Thunderbirds), guitarist/singer Steve Doerr, bassists Alex Napier and, later, former T-Birds bassist Keith Ferguson, and Don Leady, who left the band with Ferguson in the mid 80's to start The Tail Gators.  

Several years ago, I found a copy of The LeRoi Brothers' debut full-length album, Check This Action, on Rounder Records, which was a great enough listen, but a few years back, Jungle Records re-released Check This Action as a "Deluxe Reissue," which includes the 4 tracks from their intial release, the EP Moon Twist, plus two other tracks, one previously heard on the Rounder releases and one previously unheard.  These releases are still pretty impressive for their raw, rocking energy and power.  Both the Rounder release and the Jungle release are worth having, but I give the nod to the Jungle edition because there's definitely more bang for your buck.

The LeRoi Brothers continued to release albums sporadically over the next few years, but they really earned their reputation as a live band, one of Austin''s finest.  Doerr and Buck have remained through most of the band's lifetime, but other "LeRoi's" over the years have included Jackie Newhouse, Sarah Brown, Evan Johns, Rick "Caspar" Rawls, "Speedy" Sparks, Joe Doerr (Steve's brother), and Eva Monsees. The band was eventually inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame.  If you love raucous blues, soul, zydeco, rockabilly, soul, and R&B, this disc fill fill the bill.

One of my favorite harp players was Carey Bell.  Born Carey Bell Harrington in Macon, MS, he learned to play harmonica at a young age and traveled with his godfather, piano man Lovie Lee, to Chicago in his late teens.  He learned to play bass to offset the decrease of harmonica players used in band during the late 50's, playing with Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Lowell Fulson, Eddie Taylor, Louisiana Red, Jimme Dawkins, and others.  His harmonica influences were Little Walter, Big Walter (his mentor), DeFord Bailey, and the two Sonny Boy Williamsons.

Bell embarked on a solo career in 1969, but continued to play with Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All-Stars.  All of his solo recordings, at least the ones I've heard, are great, but I think Deep Down, released in 1995 by Alligator Records, might be his very best.  It's got some of his best original songs with some lesser-known covers songs that are well chosen.  I think his backing band (Bell's son Lurrie and Carl Weathersby on guitar, Lucky Peterson on keys, Johnny B. Gayden on bass, and Ray "Killer" Allison on drums) is possibly one of the finest ensembles gathered during that time.

Bell recorded a few more albums after this one, including a couple with Lurrie and even a Superharps effort with Raful Neal, Lazy Lester, and Snooky Pryor.  He passed away at 70 in 2007 from heart failure, around the time Delmark Records released a live CD/DVD set by Bell with Lurrie.  You can't go wrong with any of Carey Bell's releases, but Deep Down definitely checks all the boxes for blues fans.

You may not know who Cornell Dupree is, but chances are better than average that you've heard an album or song that the legendary guitarist has played on.  He played on over 2,500 recording sessions, mostly R&B and blues, but he also played jazz.....fusion or soul-jazz.  At 20, he was playing in King Curtis' band and later played on Brook Benton's "Rainy Night In Georgia."  He also played on recordings by Lou Rawls, Paul Simon, Miles Davis, Bill Withers, Lena Horne, Roberta Flack, Joe Cocker, and so many others.  He toured with Aretha Franklin and was part of the outstanding studio-band supergroup Stuff during the 70's, who recorded several albums during that time and appeared on SNL.

Dupree also released several albums over a nearly-forty year period.  One of his best was released in 1991 on the Austin, TX label Amazing Records.  Can't Get Through was mostly instrumental, with 9 tracks that touch on blues, soul, jazz, and funk.  There is one vocal track from Windell Capel, who has a lot of Al Green in his vocal style and certainly should have had more opportunities to record (I only found a self-released cassette from him listed on Discogs).

However, you don't buy a Cornell Dupree album for the vocals.  He is a fantastic, endlessly inventive guitarist and he recorded this set with his working band at the time.  This is one of those albums that I searched for a long time before finally tracking it down this summer (along with one of his later release, the more jazz-oriented Bop 'n' Blues from 1994).  Dupree stayed pretty active until shortly before he passed away from emphysema in 2011.  Can't Get Through is a great set that any blues guitar fan would want to own.

Another album that I spent a long time trying to track down was Rediscovered (Private Music) from the legendary soul singer Howard Tate.  Tate charted three times in the late 60's with "Ain't Nobody Home" (covered by B.B. King), "Stop" (covered by Jimi Hendrix) and "Look at Granny Run Run" (covered in the late 70's by Ry Cooder), but many rock fans will remember one of his songs made famous by Janis Joplin, "Get It While You Can."  Tate's own recordings didn't gain him a lot of commercial success and he dropped off the scene in the early 80's.  He battled and beat a drug habit, was reportedly homeless for a spell, and eventually became a drug counselor and later a preacher.

In the early 2000's, he was persuaded to give music another try and he was able to reconnect with his longtime producer Jerry Ragavoy, who also wrote most of his material in the 60's.  He wrote or co-wrote 11 of 12 tracks on Rediscovered and played piano.  Tate sounds just like he did on those earlier recordings, down to those falsetto fills and he has a warm, understated delivery that made the best soul records back in the day.  

The album's only cover tune is Prince's "Kiss," which works quite well, and Tate revisits the Joplin tune to close out the album.  Rediscovered led to a nice comeback for Tate, who recorded three more well-received albums before passing away at 72 in December of 2011.  If you've never heard Howard Tate, you're in for a nice surprise with Rediscovered.

Several years ago, FBF did a post about a three-volume set of recordings from 1967 by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, featuring three future members of Fleetwood Mac - guitarist Peter Green, bassist John McVie, and drummer Mick Fleetwood.  Unfortunately, that crew never made a studio recording during their short time together, but 2/3 of the group (Green and McVie) did join Mayall (plus drummer Aynsley Dunbar) for the 1967 studio album, A Hard Road (London/Polygram Records), a session recorded in late 1966 before Fleetwood briefly replaced Dunbar.  

The supporting cast of the Bluesbreakers was pretty much been a revolving door from the band's inception.  Green had replaced Eric Clapton as guitarist for a brief tenure after Clapton disappeared for a bit, but when Clapton left the band for real in 1966, he became a full-time member.  The band recorded a 45 before A Hard Road, but this album represents Green's only studio effort with the band.  Back in the late 80's, I was a fan of Clapton and Jeff Beck and one of my friends told me that I really needed to listen to Peter Green, but I had no idea where to listen to him at the time.  If I had heard this album back then, I definitely would have tried to find more of his music, including his early Fleetwood Mac.

As it is, A Hard Road mostly consists of original tunes from Mayall with a couple of tracks written, one sung, by Green which includes a haunting instrumental, "The Super-Natural," that was definitely a precursor to his later tunes like "Black Magic Woman" and "Albatross."  Mayall is great as always, playing piano, harmonica and five and nine-string guitar on selected tracks, while McVie and Dunbar are rock-solid in support.  There's a three-piece horn section on several tracks as well.  There are some fine covers of songs from Willie Cobbs, Elmore James, and Freddie King as well.  Following Bluesbreakers tradition, this band only stayed together until the middle of 1967, releasing one other 45 after the album.  There have been several reissues of this album, one including the two 45's, and one that included several taken from radio sessions.