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!