This is a bit of short week since I'm wrapping up reviews for the October issue of Blues Bytes at the end of the week. It should be live in a few days, so in the meantime, here are a couple of new releases that are definitely worth keeping on your radar. As always, expanded reviews will appear of these albums, and most of the others covered here at Blues Bytes....THE site for blues album reviews. You can also check out Blues Bytes' weekly radio show at the stations listed on the website.
My favorite album so far this year is probably Loving You (Ruf Records) from Bernard Allison. Allison has been a favorite of mine since I first heard his Cannonball Records release Keepin' the Blues Alive in 1997. I was a huge fan of his father, the late Luther Allison, and that release, which came out about a month before Luther passed away made me feel a lot better about what was to come in the music. Bernard's brand of blues incorporated rock, funk, and R&B and it really hit me where I lived. I had the feeling that we both grew up listening to the same music in high school. I've been able to follow his career pretty closely and I feel like he has really hit his stride in the past ten years.
A couple of years ago, Allison and soul-blues master Stephen Johnson (a.k.a. Stevie J Blues) on a blues cruise and they discussed writing some songs together and it eventually led to SJB joining the band for this album, providing rhythm guitar and backing vocals. The pair wrote five of the ten songs and they have SJB's soul-blues touch and would be a snug fit in either artist's individual catalog. Allison decided to make this album a family affair, so he invited his niece and nephew to sing background vocals on a couple of songs and he also welcomed guitarists Larry McCray, Devon Allman, Matthew Curry, and Matthew Mwangi, keyboardist Victor Wainwright, and violinist Heather Hardy to play on seleccted tracks.
If you didn't know, I'm a big Bernard Allison fan and a big Stevie J Blues fan (SJB's regular release of singles and albums during the pandemic made things a lot better) and both Allison and SJB very graciously sat down for Ten Questions with us many years ago (We ALL grew up listening to the same music!!). I think their collaboration on Loving You is a wonderful thing and I hope they do it again soon. Their songs are marvelous and so are the rest of the tracks, including Allison's cover of one of his father's tunes, a regular occurance on his albums. I think this is a release that every blues fan should hear.
Mark Hummel has played with so many blues legends that it's easier to list who he hasn't played with. He's appeared on numerous recordings since the mid-'80s and in 1991, started Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowout, which has featured virtually every harmonica legend still playing and many up-and-comers. His own albums always feature a host of blues allstars and, in fact, his latest album, Road Dog (Rocinitis Records), is credited to the Mark Hummel Allstars and features tracks recorded between 2008 and 2025.
On these 14 tracks, six originals by Hummel and eight covers, the singer/harmonica player is backed by guitarists Junior Watson, Anson Funderburgh, Rusty Zinn, Randy Rattay, and the late Little Charlie Baty, along with drummers Wes Starr and Willie Parker, bassists Kedar Roy and RW Grigsby, keyboardists Bob Welsh and Brett Brandstaff, and Eric Sapulding on sax. Most of the album was recorded at Kid Andersen's Greaseland Studios, so you know it's going to be a great listen.
The songs are a great mix of modern and old school blues and it's certainly a nice thing to hear Little Charlie on guitar once again, especially teamed up with Funderburgh (see below). Hummel is a fine frontman and his harmonica chops are always a pleasure to hearl. Any blues fan who digs harmonica needs to have some Mark Hummel recordings in their collection and Road Dog is an excellent place to start if you're a newcomer.
No Blast From The Past this week..... my brother and I attended the North Mississippi Allstars show at the Ellis Theatre in Philadelphia, MS on September 24th. The Ellis has developed into a great place to hear all kinds of music in our area. We saw Kingfish and Matthias Lattin there during the spring and I've seen Dorothy Moore, Webb Wilder, Paul Thorn, and Marty Stuart, and my daughter and I saw Mavis Staples perform last night (10/15/26).
NMAS had performed here previously and they were outstanding on this night. Currently they are a three-man ensemble with Luther Dickinson and Joey Williams playing guitars and bass and Cody Dickinson playing drums, percussion, and keyboards. They all took vocals and the set list ranged from some of their reimagined takes on Mississippi blues as well as a few gospel tunes. There were also elements of hip-hop with some of Cody's electric washboard playing and plenty of Luther's wonderful slide guitar. I was really impressed with Joey Williams' contributions as well.....he sang several inspirational tunes and also displayed his instrumental talents on guitar, bass, and drums. It was a really good show and I'm looking forward to seeing them again soon. If you haven't already, you need to check out their latest album, Still Shakin', which celebrated the 25th anniversary of their first album release, Shake Hands With Shorty.
The Mavis Staples performance was also a great show. She moved about a bit gingerly, after all she's 87 years old, but that voice is still magnificent as she performed with a tight band and two backing vocalists. Ms. Staples is quite amazing.....she enjoyed carrying on with the audience (who loved her performance) and sang a mix of soul, blues, and gospel that spanned her seven decades of performing. Her vocals were just so powerful and potent, as much as they've always been. It was really cool to see Dorothy Moore in attendance as well. Again, the Ellis Theatre is a fantastic small venue.
This afternoon, I found out that the legendary publicist and blues advocate Mark Pucci passed away. He founded Mark Pucci Media and his career spanned over half a century. He worked at Capricorn Records two different times and did publicity for an amazing array of artist there, including The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, Lynryd Skynyrd, Delbert McClinton, Elvin Bishop, Wet Willie, Sea Level, Dixie Dregs, Widespread Panic and many others. With Mark Pucci Media, he served a host of artists, including Johnny Cash, Taj Mahal, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, John Mayall, Duke Robillard, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Derek Trucks, Charlie Musselwhite, Maria Muldaur, The Nighthawks, Jimmie Vaughan, Ronnie Earl, Sue Foley, Tinsley Ellis, and so many more.
The main thing I remember about Mark was how nice he was. When I started writing reviews for Blues Bytes around 2000, I always made a point to send draft copies of the reviews to the publicists that send me CDs to review. He was always so nice, so professional, and just so classy in his responses to me. I was pretty much a nobody starting out, and still am some 26-27 years later, but he was always willing to take up time with me and answer any questions that I had about his artists (even going back to the Capricorn days) and he even helped me set up a couple of interviews for this blog. He treated me like somebody and I always appreciated him, but I know he did that for everyone he encountered during his career. He will certainly be missed in the blues community because he was one of the genre's strongest advocates.
Come back next week for more blues news and reviews that you can use!!
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