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!

"Rock Awhile" by Goree Carter - The First Rock n' Roll Song?????

Everyone is aware that rock n' roll has deep roots in the blues.  For a long time, I've heard that the first rock n' roll song was "Rocket 88," recorded in 1951 and credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, a.k.a.  Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm (Brenston played sax in the band and provided vocals), but there have been others that have also received consideration over the years, such as Roy Brown's "Good Rockin' Tonight," recorded in 1947, Jimmy Preston's "Rock This Joint" from 1949, and "Saturday Night Fish Fry," recorded by Louis Jordan in 1949.  

Those three songs were released a couple of years ahead of "Rocket 88," but the latter tune is usually acknowledged as the "first" song, based on the distorted guitar (guitarist Willie Kizart's amplifier was damaged during the drive to Memphis to record and wadded-up newspaper was stuffed into the amplifier, causing the distorted sound unintentionally) added to the rollicking Ike Turner piano-driven rhythm, which is similar to the Brown and Jordan tunes.  Sam Phillips recorded "Rocket 88" and licensed it to Chess Records and the record reached #1 and sold around a half million copies.  Phillips used profits from the record to start Sun Records in 1952.

All things considered, there's a good argument for "Rocket 88" as the first rock n' roll song, but what if I told you that there was an even earlier candidate for rock n' roll's first song.

Goree Carter

In 1949, 18-year-old Houston native Goree Carter recorded "Rock Awhile" for the Houston label Freedom Records.  Like many guitarists of his time, Carter was heavily influenced by T-Bone Walker, who was also a Texas native, but was also the top electric blues guitarist in the country during that time.  The Freedom label was owned by Solomon Kahal, who also owned the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston.  Carter and his band, The Hepcats performed frequently there, and Kahal, like most R&B label owners at the time, was looking for a guitarist to match the popularity of Walker.

Carter's first couple of sides for Freedom were more or less in the style of Walker, but for his second session he decided to move in a different direction, much to the chagrin of Kahal.  "Rock Awhile" included a guitar introduction that would be used by Chuck Berry from the mid-50's onward.  The guitar had a mean, distorted quality and his band provided a propulsive driving rhythm behind it with piano, horns, and drums giving the feeling of a runaway train.  Now, this sound may have been a part of other Texas guitarists' musical approach at the time, but Carter was the first to put it on record.

Here's what the late author Robert Palmer said in his 1995 book Rock & Roll:  An Unruly History:

“The clarion guitar intro differs hardly at all from some of the intros Chuck Berry would unleash on his own records after 1955; the guitar solo crackles through an overdriven amplifier; and the boogie-based rhythm charges right along. The subject matter, too, is appropriate — the record announces that it’s time to ‘rock awhile,’ and then proceeds to show how it’s done. To my way of thinking, Carter’s ‘Rock Awhile’ is a much more appropriate candidate for ‘first rock and roll record’ than the more frequently cited ‘Rocket ’88’.”

Despite his and the label's efforts, "Rock Awhile" didn't chart nationally, but Carter and his band remained a popular attraction in the South, and he continued to release singles for Freedom until the label folded in 1950, later cutting sides for Imperial, Bayou, Sittin' In With, Jade, and Coral.  He was drafted in 1953 and served a little over a year in Korea.  When he returned, he signed with Modern Records, where he released several more fine sides before leaving the business altogether in 1954.  

Carter with Joe "Guitar" Hughes - 1984 (photo by Alan Govenar)

Despite the quality of his recordings, nothing ever hit the charts or attracted any attention outside of the South, which may have accounted for his leaving the music business, never to return to performing.  In the late 80's, I saw a short article about Carter in Alan Govenar's excellent book Meeting the Blues:  The Rise of the Texas Sound, which was later revised and expanded into the even-better Texas Blues:  The Rise of a Contemporary Sound, He was pretty bitter in the interview, done by Govenar in 1984, as can be seen from the quote below, so it more or less explains why he gave up the music some thirty years earlier.

“Then I had a lot [of songs] that I just tore up, and they were good songs. I tore them up because they wouldn’t let me cut them. They said I was ahead of myself. So I destroyed them. If I can’t perform them, then I’ll do like Moses did with the Ten Commandments. Can’t live by it, die by it.”

Carter never attempted a revival beyond playing a few local gigs in Houston, including sitting in with B.B. King.  His last known live performance was in 1970.  There were some efforts by others to get him started up again in the mid 80's, but he never could be convinced to return to the stage or the studio.  He died in 1990 in Houston, at the house where he was born.  Even during his recording and performing days, he never gave up his job working at the Comet Rice Mill in Houston, staying there until the company shut down in 1986.  In 1999, part of the old mill was converted into an indoor/outdoor venue that hosts music events, called The Silo.  

For a good taste of Goree Carter's recorded work, including "Rock Awhile," blues fans are encouraged to check out the Jasmine Records collection, Let's Rock Awhile 1949 - 1951, which gathers sides from Freedom, Bayou, Imperial, Sittin' In With, Jade, and Coral Records.  Carter's musical approach was influenced by T-Bone Walker, but his guitar work had a rougher edge that Walker's smooth, almost jazzy style, and it indirectly paved the way for the sounds to come.  There's also a two-volume set on Blue Moon Records.  The first volume captures most of the Jasmine set and the second volume, which is divided between him and Texas guitarist Lester Williams ("I Can't Lose With The Stuff I Use"), has nine songs by Carter, a few that are on the Jasmine set as well.

"Rock Awhile" is usually not recognized as the first rock n' roll song.  More than likely, it's due to the fact that it was recorded and released by what would be considered a regional label (Freedom Records), so it didn't receive the attention or sell on the scale of other records that are usually associated as the first songs of rock n' roll.  

Therefore, while it might not be recognized as the record that put rock n' roll on the map, it should definitely enter the discussion of being the FIRST rock n' roll record.  

 

Friday Blues Picks (9/4/26)

 

Friday Blues Fix returns with a couple of brand new releases, plus one you might have missed the first time around.  

As always, these albums will be reviewed in much more detail at the site where I usually contribute reviews, Blues Bytes.  I have been contributing reviews there for over 25 years 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.

The Austin blues club Antone's has been celebrating its 50th anniversary for a bit now, releasing a massive box set last year (Antone's:  50 Years Of The Blues), which included The Last Real Texas Blues Album (also sold seperately and reviewed by FBF here).  They recently released Antone's 50th Presents:  Chicago Bound:  Honoring Muddy, Cliff & Blue (Blues Till 2 Recording Co./Select-O-Hits), which collects ten more songs from the Antone's 50th Allstars that continue the commemoration of the big 50th anniversary, plus an audio clip from Clifford Antone, who says "The blues is so big that no one person could ever learn it in a lifetime."

There are some really cool tracks here, several associated with Muddy Waters and Bobby "Blue" Bland, from an all-star cast....John Primer, Lil' Ed Williams, Doyle Bramhall II, Kim Wilson and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Anson Funderburgh, Lurrie Bell, and 95-year-old Miss Lavelle White.  Also contributing are drummer Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith, vocalist Kam Franklin and drummer Rodd Bland (Bobby's son).

Everything here is a winner, but two tracks are very interesting.  Billy Gibbons and the BFG's perform the brand new Gibbons original "Hangin' on a Cliff," a gritty blues rocker dedicated to Antone, that was released as the first single.  There's also a cool Clifton Chenier track called "One Step at a Time" that features quite a band.... Ivan Neville, C.C. Adcock sharing vocals, with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood on guitars, Steve Riley on accordion and, get this, JIMMIE VAUGHAN on harmonica.  There are a lot of wonderful moments on this release.  Trust me, you need this in your collection!

Anyone who's visited this site over the past 16 years probably knows what a big Eddie Cotton fan I've been since I heard his amazing Live at the Alamo Theatre release in the early 2000's.  He is really the total package....an outstanding vocalist, a masterful guitarist, and a great songwriter.  His roots are in the church, where his dad was a preacher, and that's where he developed his style.  He won the 2015 I.B.C. and was the recipient of the 2025 Mississippi Governor's Arts Award for Excellence in Music.  

His brand new release (out today) is Bubble Gum Lover on Malaco Records and it's as good as any album he's cut.  I've always been amazed at the quality of his work.....there's never been a downswing at all on any of his releases.  They're as good or better than their predecessors.  Bubble Gum Lover is no exception.  Cotton cut this album with his band and he continues to explore and expand upon blues subjects that are familiar, but he always adds his own personal touch to his songs.

He's a great guitarist and songwriter, as mentioned, but his vocals have always been the real deal as far as blues or soul music goes.  He really applies those gospel roots to his voice and he sells every song to the utmost.  You really can't go wrong with any of Eddie Cotton's releases...any of them are a great starting point....and Bubble Gum Lover is as good a place to start as any of them, but trust me when I say you will want to dig deeper once you've heard this talented blues man.  The album can be picked up from the platform of your choice at this link, or you can possibly grab a CD by contacting the Malaco Records site.  Below are a couple of preview clips, along with "Feet on The Floor," the album's opening cut.  You can also enjoy a recent Eddie Cotton track from the Jacktown USA album that ties in with the book of the same title (all reviewed by FBF here), which includes a chapter on Cotton.

Our Blast from the Past selection dates back to my earliest days listening to the blues.  One of the earliest blues albums that I loved was Talk to Your Daughter (Warner Brothers Records) by guitarist Robben Ford.  When I picked it up at the record store, one of the workers told me that I needed to buy it, so I did.  I didn't know anything about Ford, but he'd been playing the blues since the age of 18, backing Charlie Musselwhite and recording two albums with his brothers (The Charles Ford Band).  He also recorded with Jimmy Witherspoon, and recorded for jazz fusion bands L.A. Express and the Yellowjackets.  He also worked with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Bonnie Raitt, Kiss, and many, many others.

Talk to Your Daughter was his second solo album and it was released in 1988.  It was a return to his blues roots with nine songs, including several blues classics that he reshapes with his crisp, concise fretwork.  His guitar playing is a wonder throughout the disc and he also provides fine vocals.  This album was one that came at an opportune time for me.  I had listened to a lot of jazz guitar over the previous five or six years and started listening to the blues for real around 1986.  Ford managed to straddle blues, rock, and jazz with his sound and it really hit me hard..... I still love to hear this album on a regular basis.  I think anyone who wants to learn to play guitar would do well listening to a Robben Ford album, and Talk to Your Daughter is a great place to start.

Being a late 80's release, a few songs have synthesizers on them, but they aren't the really cheesy type that were prevalent back in those days, and the album really doesn't have a dated sound to it.  His brother Mark plays harmonica on a couple of tracks and Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne and Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro guests on a track apiece.  My favorite track is a cover of Charlie Singleton's "Help the Poor," that's irresistibly funky and should put a hop in any listener's step.  Ford's guitar solo is just superb and there's plenty more great guitar to be heard on Talk to Your Daughter.

Friday Blues Picks (8/28/26)

This week, Friday Blues Fix will take a look at several different items that blues fans should definitely check out.  FBF will be looking at a couple of great new albums, a cool new single that's an appropriate fit for the current season, an excellent release from last year that you might have missed (I certainly did!), and a wonderful new book, all of which are worth any self-respecting blues fan's time.  

Way back in late 1986, nearly 40 years ago, yours truly attended his first blues concert.....The Fabulous Thunderbirds at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, MS.  I was a fan because I'd heard them on Carlos Santana's wonderful album Havana Moon when I was in college and that led me to pick up their most recent album at the time, the outstanding T-Bird Rhythm.  However, once I saw them perform in person, I was hooked.  Kim Wilson was such a charismatic front man and masterful harmonica player, and drummer Fran Christina and bassist Preston Hubbard were a rock solid rhythm section, but guitarist Jimmie Vaughan was the epitome of cool and I got to hear so much more of his guitar work live than I did on their recordings.  It was still one of my favorite performances.

In recent years, The Last Music Company has been reissuing a lot of Vaughan's solo work and all of The Fabulous Thunderbirds' catalog, but a few months back they released a performance that took place just before their breakthrough release Tuff Enuff, which earned them plenty of radio play and MTV appearances (back when the "M" stood for "Music").  The band was in England working with producer Dave Edmonds on the album and in April of 1985, they performed at London's Camden Palace Theatre.  The show was professionally filmed and recorded and is now available as a CD/DVD combo.  I have recently discovered that the show was available on VHS or DVD years ago, but I've never seen it anywhere until now.....this is the first time it's been available on CD.

Live in London 1985 is very similar to the show I heard a little over a year and a half later, with several songs that eventually appeared on Tuff Enuff, including the title track, "Two Time My Lovin'," "I Don't Care," "True Love," and an instrumental, "Jimmie's Song," that was retitled "Down at Antone's." on the finished album.  There are also several favorites that the band still plays in their current incarnation, such as "Can't Tear It Up Enuff," "My Babe," "She's Tuff," and "Full Time Lover" (a slow burner which I remember from the Jackson show, thanks to Vaughan's fabulous guitar work).

The CD and DVD have the same song list and both sound amazingly clear considering they were done over 40 years ago.  The DVD camera work is excellent, unlike many concert videos, there's plenty of focus on the artists playing their instruments.  If you were a fan of The Fabulous Thunderbirds back in the day, or even now....Kim Wilson continues to lead the band, most recently with Johnny Moeller in the guitar seat, then you definitely need to pick up this CD/DVD set.  (Note......the video on the DVD is much clearer than the video below, which was put on YouTube 13 years ago, probably off the original release)

Albert Castiglia has been one of the brightest stars on the blues rock scene for a number of years.  He started out in Florida as singer/guitarist for Miami Blues Authority before serving as guitarist for Junior Wells until the blues man's death in 1998.  Since 2002, he's been turning out quality releases one after the other, whether as a solo artist or teaming with fellow guitarist Mike Zito as the Blood Brothers on several successful collaborations.  

Castiglia's latest release is Grits & Glory (Gulf Coast Records) and it may be his most powerful release yet.  The album was recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London.  He grew listening to British blues rockers like John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, moving in that direcction after he heard The Beatles' Rubber Soul on 8-track (remember those?). Based on that background, making an album where the Fab Four made most of their recordings seemed like a natural move for the guitarist.

One thing I've always liked about Castiglia's releases is that his musical approach is pretty diverse and each track makes you pay attention....there are no lulls to speak of, or musical ruts.  His songwriting is rock solid, too.  He takes a pointed look at current affairs, but he also focuses on familiar blues topics like relationships and determination to achieve a goal.  There are bits of funk and even a touch of jazz interspersed.  He covers Albert King, Mongo Santamaria, and The Beatles....now that's diverse!  Blues fans for sure need to check out Castiglia on this release, then backtrack because he has some excellent releases in his catalog.

Alan Arena has issued what might be considered a perfect summer blues anthem with his single "Cape Cod Girl" (Alan Arena Records), which will have blues fans longing to dig their toes in the summer beach sand and maybe even do the Watusi while they're at it.  It's a great feel-good track with support from Monster Mike Welch on guitar, Brad Hallen on bass, Marty Richards on drums, Brooks Milgate on piano and "Sax" Gordon Beadle providing, well, tenor and baritone sax of course.  I know summer will be over soon, hopefully.....but this fun tune just might make the higher temperatures a little more bearable for the rest of the season.  There's no video on YouTube for the song, but here's a promo from Alan with details about how to grab the single.

For our Blast From The Past, it's the not-too-distant past this week.....I happened across Mike Farris' new release, The Sound of Muscle Shoals (Malaco/FAME Records), a couple of weeks back when someone shared one of the songs on Facebook.  Farris developed addiction issues as a youngster, was sent to reform school and nearly overdosed before turning to the guitar and songwriting, which helped him get back on track.  He formed the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies back in the early 90's, a hard-driving, hard-living, hard rock band with a bit of blues and soul mixed in, thanks to Farris' powerful vocals.

Enjoying success with SCW and later the band Peaceful Knievel, and serving as vocalist for the Double Trouble rhythm section, Farris eventually fell off the wagon until 2004 when, at the funeral of a friend, he decided to give up drugs and alcohol and embrace Christianity.  He's released several solo albums since 2002, all of which put his wonderful mix of blues, country, and soul on display.  

The Sound of Muscle Shoals, released in 2025, is his first release since 2018 and it's just fantastic.  Farris' music has always reminded listeners of Muscle Shoals, so why not go directly to the source.  Rodney Hall (FAME Records founder Rick Hall's son) served as Executive Producer and several musicians from the area contributed, including guitarist Will McFarlane and Kelvin Holly, and keyboardist Clayton Ivey, to name a few.  Farris wrote or co-wrote most of the tunes, with a couple of nice covers from Tom Petty and William Bell/Steve Cropper included.  

This is an album that should be in any music fan's collection...the songs are well-crafted, the musicianship is first-rate, and Ferris' vocals are awesome.  Can you tell I really dig this one????

Finally, your humble fellow blues fan has been reading a lot over the past few months and one book that I've really enjoyed reading is Austin Blues:  The Austin Blues Monthly & Lone Star Interviews, by Randy "Tex" Hill.  Hill is a professional musician of over 40 years and he's hosted Roadhouse Revival Radio Show and the Lone Star Revival Radio Show in Austin.  He was also a graphic designer and began publishing the Austin Blues Monthly in 1994 to bring attention to the burgeoning blues scene in Austin.  Part of the magazine was an interview with some of movers and shakers of that scene.

What Hill did, intentionally or not, was provide a vivid picture of the Austin blues scene of the mid-90's.  The magazine only lasted a few years, but Hill was able to interview many inportant figures, nineteen interviews are included here - Clifford Antone, T.D. Bell, Marc Benno, W.C. Clark, Sue Foley, Billy Gibbons, Omar Dykes, Gary Primich, Tommy Shannon, Kim Wilson, and B.B. King are just a few of the interviewees.  

The interviews are pretty informative, most are four to five pages, and readers will gain a lot of insight as to how these musicians work and think.  Since Hill himself was a musician, he does a fine job with the questions and the artists really seem at ease with him.  I have to say that I learned a few things about some of these musicians that I didn't know and it was really interesting to read some of their thoughts.  Most of them came to Austin from other places, so they describe how they came to love the music and how they ended up in Austin.  For blues fans, especially fans of the Austin blues scene, this is a fascinating read and I'm glad that Hill compiled these interviews for us to read and enjoy.  

More blues to come, so be sure to come back next week!

Friday Blues Picks (8/21/26)

 

Once again, Friday Blues Fix looks at a few new releases that will be well worth any blues fan's time.  This has been a good summer for new blues releases and these should be on any blues fan's radar.

I have to apologize, sort of, for the banner I created to signal new releases to your left.  I have somewhat mixed feelings about AI…..I do see where it can be very useful and beneficial and I have used it a few times just playing around with it, asking general questions about blues artists and styles and songs.  It does provide me with links to where it gathers its information, so that's what I refer to instead of just what AI is telling me.  It actually misled me on a couple of blues songs, but fortunately, I was able to catch the mistake and I gave ChatGPT a good scolding.  😉

I also started playing around with logos and such, just goofing off, but I really love the Bill Steber picture that's featured here with his permission and really didn't want to change it, so I won't.  However, I figured it would be nice to have a logo just for Friday Blues Picks week, so we'll go with this one right now until I find something better.  

One day, I plan to do a post on the frequently awful AI blues music that's being generated out there, but I just really don't like having to listen to it that much for a number of reasons.  My daughter was telling me that some of the most popular blues tunes on whatever platform she listened to were AI-generated.  I don't like anything that takes money or credit away from the real past or present blues artists, but more about that later.....

Every couple of years, blues fans are treated to a new release from The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra, which is led by Bay Area-based guitarist/bandleader Paule.  The band is always great and fronted by a top notch singer, beginning with Frank Bey and later Wee Willie Walker.  Sadly, both have passed away and the last two albums have featured singer Willy Jordan, who fills the bill nicely, thank you very much.  

Jordan's second album with the band, What Can We Do? (Nola Blue Records) offers the usual superb original tunes written by Paule, Christine Vitale, Jordan, and Larry Batiste, with contributions from Marcel Smith and Tony Lufrano.  This is a fun set of blues that really puts the versatility of the band on full display as well as Jordan's powerful, soulful vocals.  Paule gets ample time in the spotlight to showcase his fretwork as well....check out the instrumental "Bigger Guitar." 

Batiste duets with Jordan on one song and The Sons of the Soul Revivers provide backing vocals on the topical title track.  There's also another instrumental, "Blue Mood Indica," that to allow listeners to hear how good this band really is.  The lone cover on the disc is the pop standard "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You," which is given a nice blues coating with Jordan's vocal.  There's really not a bad album as far as any releases from The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra, but the excellent What Can We Do? is certainly near the top of the heap.

The last few releases by GA-20 have been very exciting to hear and the band manages to top itself with each subsequent release.  The band (Matthew Stubbs - guitar, Cody Nilsen - guitar/vocals, Josh Kiggans - drums, with Marty Ballou playing bass on several tracks) invited harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite on board and the results are as explosive as anything they've released so far.  Blues Now (New West Records) is an appropriate title because the ten songs are sizzling, updated version of classic blues tunes, bringing the songs from the 20th Century to the 21st.

This is a raw, ragged, and raucous set that will satisfy any blues fan.   The band is truly inspired on this set of tunes originally recorded by Buddy Guy, Elmore James, Tampa Red, Earl Hooker, Otis Spann, Jimmy Reed, Eddie Taylor, and Muddy Waters, plus two tracks originally recorded by Musselwhite on his 1968 debut, Stand Back, including a wonderful reading of "Christo Redentor."  

The twin guitar attack of Stubbs and Nilsen is a marvel, while Musselwhite is spectacular on harmonica and vocals throughout as well....this certainly appears to be a match made in Blues Heaven.  Stubbs played guitar on tour with Musselwhite for years and so there's definitely a rapport there, but the whole album sounds like it was a blast to make and it serves as both a tribute to the great Musselwhite and as notice that the 82-year-old still has plenty left in the tank!!  Fans of blues with a modern edge need to grab Blues Now at once!!

Several years ago, I met Tim Lothar, a drummer from Denmark, on the old Blues Access message board, where we were discussing the legendary drummer Fred Below.  We struck up a long-distance friendship and I found out that he was the drummer in a band called Lightning Moe.  Tim eventually stepped away from the band and did something remarkable, at least to me.....he learned to play guitar.  

Tim has released several fine albums of acoustic blues over the years and he's also collaborated with several other European musicians, too, for some wonderful recordings.  About ten years ago, he joined up with Hungarian harmonica player Tomas Szabo and his band, The Mojo for a live album called Traveling Blues Nights, and later on the group, now called Traveling Blues Nights, recorded a great studio album called Old Cinema Sessions in 2019.  They also added Danish guitarist/singer/songwriter Jesper Theis to their ranks in 2018.  

Their latest release, Crossing Borders, is taken from a 2024 performance in Denmark with one song recorded earlier in Szolnok, Hungary, where Lothar and Szabo first met at a festival.  The set includes nine tracks, seven originals and two tasty covers.  The band shares vocals throughout and the instrumentation is intriguing as well, with acoustic, electric, and resonator guitars, diddley bow, electric mandolin, drums, harmonica, and tuba.  Tim has never ceased to amaze me over the years with his uncanny grasp of this American music called the blues and his bandmates are equally impressive.  If you like acoustic blues with a vintage feel, I highly recommend this marvelous set.

Our Blast From The Past review this week is a volume of the 1986 four-volume box set Atlantic Blues (Atlantic Records).  When I first started listening to the blues, I picked up various anthology collections to hear as much music by as many artists as I could.  The Atlantic Blues volumes were also sold separately, which was great for blues fans like me with a limited budget at the time.  I picked up a couple of the volumes on cassette back in the late 80's, including Atlantic Blues: Guitar, which I finally tracked down a few weeks ago on CD.

The set covers a lot of ground from a late 40's recording by pre-war guitar legend Blind Willie McTell and Texas Johnny Brown, 50's recordings from Mississippi Fred McDowell, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Guitar Slim, Big Joe Turner (with Elmore James playing guitar), and Mickey Baker, plus later recordings from Cornell Dupree, Albert King, B.B. King, Ike Turner (with Tina), John Hammond (with Duane Allman), and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The main reason I wanted to track down this set was because I became a fan of Texas Johnny Brown via his late 90's recordings, his first in nearly 50 years.  While he wasn't a great singer, he hailed from Ackerman, MS (despite his nickname), which is not far from where I live and he was a great guitarist.  I had never been able to track these Atlantic recordings of his on CD anywhere....they were only released previously as singles, and one of the three tracks had never been released prior to this collection.  Brown played guitar in Amos Milburn's band and Milburn backed him on piano on these songs.  "There Go The Blues" was his signature tune.  Anyway, Atlantic Blues: Guitar is an outstanding collection of blues guitar that covers a lot of ground from Blind Willie McTell to SRV with some fascinating stops in-between, so it's definitely worth a listen.

We'll be looking at more new blues releases soon, so please stay tuned.

Newton County Blues

Photo by Mark Hilton

(A couple of years ago in my post about Lake, MS blues man Johnny Littlejohn, I promised to do this post, so here goes….)

In late 2018, the Mississippi Blues Trail installed a blues marker in Newton, MS at the old railroad depot.  The Newton County Blues Marker was the 202nd marker placed and it really hit home for me because I call Newton County my home.  Sadly, I don't really think a lot of local residents realize that this county has a pretty cool background in the development of the blues....actually, I'm pretty sure that 90% of Newton County residents are not even aware of this blog.  Today, we are going to look at some of the people, places, and events that inspired the placement of this marker.

The Mississippi Blues Trail was created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to place markers at the most notable historical sites related to the birth, growth, development, and influence of the blues in the state of Mississippi and beyond.  There are over 200 markers already placed, most within the state, but there are markers in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and New York as well as Memphis, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and even several spread throughout Europe.  

The marker lists musicians and influencers from the area including Andrew Brown (1937-1985), who was born in Newton County, even though he claimed Jackson as his hometown.  I've been told he was born outside of Decatur by a few people and in Newton from others.  I know he was related to one of my high school classmates in Decatur.  Brown was a talented musician and singer with a strong, resonant voice that was a solid fit in the blues and soul genres.  He moved to Chicago as a pre-teen and learned some guitar from Earl Hooker.  He was able to wax a few tracks in the 60's for labels like U.S.A. (check out "You Better Stop" below) and 4 Brothers.  

I first heard Brown when I picked up Volume 4 of the Living Chicago Blues anthology set, which was released in 1980.  That exposure allowed him to make two albums, both released on European labels and produced by Dick Shurman.  They are both excellent and Brown seemed ready to earn some well-deserved recognition.  Sadly, he  passed away from lung cancer shortly after the second album was released.  The majority of Brown's recordings (minus the 3 Alligator sides) are available in the box set Big Brown's Blues, also released in Europe by Black Magic Records.  It is well worth a listen.  Andrew Brown is one of my favorite blues artists and it's a shame he never got the attention he deserved.  Hopefully, he will someday.

Another Chicago-based blues man from Newton County was bass player and singer Kenneth “Prez Kenneth” Kidd, who was born Kennis Kidd in Decatur in 1933.  He began playing music, first trying to play guitar but soon switching to bass.  He recorded a few very good 45's in the 60's (as Prez Kenneth), including "Devil Dealing," which was later retitled "I Am The Man Downstairs," and served as a prototype of sorts for G.L. Crockett's "It's A Man Down There."  Those are considered to be collector's items in blues circles today.  He later formed his own label, Kenneth Records, but only recorded sporadically, once in the mid-70's with another Mississippi/Chicago transplant, Hip Linkchain, and a few sides of his own, one of which later appeared on the compilation Chicago Blues:  Rockin' After Midnight on St. George Records in the late 90's.  He passed away in 1995.  He continued throughout his life playing the various clubs in Chicago, backing many of the blues greats who came through town. 

Drummer Willie Nix (his legal last name was Nicks) was born in Union, MS in 1918, though he always claimed he was born in Memphis....census records indicate otherwise.  He began performing as a tap dancer at age 12 and toured with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels as a dancing comedian in the late 30's, performing on streets and parks around Memphis throughout the 40's.  He later performed with Robert Lockwood Jr on a radio show in Little Rock, AR and later worked with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Love, and Willie Wilkins as the Four Aces around the south.  He also worked with B.B. King and Joe Hill Louis on Memphis radio stations and made his first recordings for RPM in Memphis and Checker (a Chess Records subsidiary), subsequently signing with Sun Records in 1953 and later for Chance Records and Sabre Records in Chicago.  He worked with Elmore  James, Big Walter Horton, Ike Turner, Johnny Shines, and Memphis Slim before heading back to Memphis, where he ended up serving time in prison.  As his health declined once released from prison, his behavior became erratic, so he didn't record any more and performed only occasionally.  He settled down in Leland, MS and passed away there in 1991.  Though he didn't record very much, what he did record was very good, even though he didn't enjoy much success.

Lamar Williams was born in Decatur in 1949.  He grew up around Gulfport and sang with his father's gospel group before teaming up with his friend Johnnie Lee Johnson (A.K.A. Jaimoe) to play in various soul bands on the Gulf Coast.  He later joined Jaimoe in the Allman Brothers as bass player after Berry Oakley's death in 1972, playing on most of the tracks of their album Brothers and Sisters and all of Win, Lose or Draw, and the live album Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas.  His bass playing was different from Gordy's, with more of a funky feel.  After the group disbanded temporarily in the mid 70's, Williams joined fellow Allman Brothers Chuck Leavell formed the band Sea Level, where he stayed until 1980.  Williams and Jaimoe joined their longtime friend Wayne Sharp in his band The SharpShooter Band, but Williams died from cancer in 1983.  He had served in Vietnam and believed that exposure to Agent Orange caused his illness.  His son, Lamar Williams, Jr. is a singer in the Allman tribute band Trouble No More, and has appeared on a couple of North Mississippi Allstars albums.

There's also a photo on the back side of the marker about Leamon Boler.  He was a trumpet player with Earl Bostic in the 1940's and Cousin Joe on some blues recordings, and later led his own  group, Leamon Boler and His Lemon Drops, recording sides like "Boler's Boogie" and "Just Plain Blues" for Bermar Records.  There's not many details about his life other than he was born in Newton County in 1923 and died in Detroit in 2007.  Sorry, I wasn't able to find a video on YouTube of any of his songs or a picture of him.

Also mentioned on the marker were several other contributors to the blues born in Newton County. Charles Evers was born in Decatur in 1922. The brother of Medgar Evers, he enjoyed a wide-ranging career as a politician (longtime mayor of Fayette, MS), civil rights figure (field director for the NAACP), and a businessman. He worked as a DJ at WHOC in Philadelphia, MS, the first black DJ in the state and later served as station manager for WMPR in Jackson, MS.  He died in Brandon, MS in 2020 at the age of 97.

Henry C. Spier owned a record store in Jackson, MS and served as a "talent scout" for several record companies in the 1920's and 1930's, helping launch the careers of Tommy Johnson, Charlie Patton, Son House, Skip James, Robert Johnson, Bo Carter, Willie Brown, the Mississippi Sheiks, Ishmon Bracey, and many others. Spier was born in the Prospect community in 1895 and died in Pearl, MS in 1972.

Photo by Craig Baird

The marker also acknowledges the much-missed Chunky Rhythm & Blues Festival, which ran for about six or seven years, beginning in 1985.  This was the first blues festival that your humble correspondent ever attended, back in 1987.  The setting was a big field a few miles north of Chunky, MS.  It served as a natural amphitheater and was held on the third weekend in July.  It was, in part, funded by the University of Mississippi, which also funds Living Blues magazine.  It was a great event, always attracted a big crowd, and you could take a lawn chair and buy the beverage of your choice, multiple food items, and just sit back and enjoy the blues.  There were a number of great acts that played there during its brief lifetime.....some of the ones I got to see were Chick Willis, the Kinsey Report, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets with Sam Myers, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Mack, Lucky Peterson, Tinsley Ellis, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Omar and the Howlers, Lonnie Brooks, and Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials.  As you can see, Alligator Records sent quite a few bands to Chunky. It was a great experience every year that I attended.  

I'm not sure what happened to the festival.....I heard that the university withdrew its funding and so it was unable to carry on, but I never got that verified by anyone.  It actually moved to nearby Meridian, MS for at least one year, but I think it was sparsely attended, out in the sun near a lake and the heat was brutal.  Anyway, the key figure behind the festival was Ted Richardson (it was held on his property in Chunky) and he was recognized by the Newton County Board of Supervisors for his contributions to the local economy.  I sure wish it was still there.  The sign stood at the edge of the road until a few years ago.

Newton County, MS produced quite a few blues artists and contributors and while they may not be names that are on every blues fan's lips, all of these people did their part to help keep these blues alive for us fans to enjoy today.