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.