Month: January 2019

I’m BACK and live on www.bluesmusicfan.com at 3 pm EST today Jan 31 2019!

Here’s my playlist for today’s set at 3 pm EST on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com!  Hope you get a chance to tune in and listen!

And thanks for all the well wishes as I recover from a heart attack on Jan 2nd….ugh. I am doin’ bettah and bettah!

ARTIST TITLE
Widow Blue Pow Wow Blues
Karen Lawrence and Blue By Nature I’ll Get Along Alright
Walter Trout Out Of Bad Luck
Seth Rosenbloom Come Back Around
Dr. Helander & Third Ward Woman’s Trust
Dany Franchi Run Around
Rich Hope Runnin’ Shoes
Dennis Johnson Timbale
Niecie Waiting For The Shoe To Drop
Too Slim And The Taildraggers Broad Mindeo
Jamie Lynn Vessels Don’t Look Back
Kat Danser Train I Ride
Joe Bonamassa Love Is A Gamble
Sonny Landreth Blues Attack
Dana Fuchs Ready To Rise
Ray Bonneville South Of The Blues
John Hiatt All The Way To The River
Buddy Guy End Of The Line
Mike Zito I Wouldn’t Treat A Dog (The Way You Treat Me)
Boz Scaggs Those Lies
Markey Blue Ric Latina Project Raised In Muddy Water
Tom Hambridge What You Leave Behind
Colin James Ooh Baby Hold Me
The Nick Moss Band Crazy Mixed Up Baby
Damon Fowler Ain’t Gonna Rock with You No More
Teresa James and The Rhythm Tramps Ground Zero

Best of the Blues 2018 – Ben Vee’s Roadhouse 66 Song List

Similar to the old Route 66 that wound from the heart of the United States in Chicago to the west coast and captured some of the best of what America has to offer, the Ben Vee Roadhouse 66 song list meanders world wide from Africa to Europe to North and South America.. on then to Australia and up to Asia capturing the best blues songs of 2018. The roadhouse blues is situated at the crossroads of the blues and rock genres so there are plenty of upbeat tunes and a number of belly grinders on the list. The selection includes 15 female singers..a dozen blues rockers…several roots blues tunes and numbers of hot contemporary blues recordings…I hope you download and enjoy listening to all the songs!!

As a DJ, in 2018 I played over 200 sets and 500 hours of blues music or roughly 6,000 songs for listening audiences. On my 24 hour Roadhouse blues stream, I streamed thousands more. Picking the best 66 from my broadcasts was both a labor of love and a huge challenge.  The position of the songs on the list is of little consequence…you might list them in a different order or include ones that I didn’t.  The important thing is that these 66 tunes are a “top shelf” sampling of a vibrant and growing contemporary blues market. Don’t let ANYONE tell you that the blues are dead or dying!!  I encourage you to turn your friends on to songs on the list and help spread the news that, as Buddy Guy said on his latest album, the blues is alive and well!!

1 Joe Bonamassa King Bee Shakedown
2 Anthony Gomes Whiskey Made Me Do It
3 Lance Lopez Blue Moon Rising
4 Larkin Poe Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues
5 Billy F. Gibbons Hollywood 151
6 Danielle Nicole Save Me ft. Kenny Wayne Shepherd
7 Boz Scaggs Little Miss Night And Day
8 Buddy Guy Cognac (feat. Jeff Beck & Keith Richards)
9 Shemekia Copeland Ain’t Got Time For Hate
10 Widow Blue Who’s Gonna Take Care of Lucille?
11 Bettye LaVette Things Have Changed
12 Mike Zito Mississippi Nights
13 Layla Zoe Are You Still Alive Inside
14 Ray Bonneville South of the Blues
15 Markey Blue Ric Latina Project Raised in Muddy Water
16 Colin James I Will Remain
17 Jim Allchin Voodoo Doll
18 Tinsley Ellis Nothing But Fine
19 Sean Chambers All Night Long
20 Ryan McGarvey Ain’t Enough Whiskey
21 The Nick Moss Band The High Cost of Low Living
22 Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps The Day The Blues Came To Call
23 Delta Moon Skinny Woman
24 Chris Smither Maybelline
25 Janiva Magness Down Below
26 Curtis Salgado/Alan Hager You Got to Move
27 Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats Coolin’ Out
28 The Record Company Roll Bones
29 Travis Bowlin Vicksburg Blues
30 Damon Fowler Ain’t Gonna Rock With You No More
31 Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa Give It Everything You Got
32 Dana Fuchs Ready To Rise
33 Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite The Bottle Wins Again
34 Sue Foley The Lucky Ones (ft Jimmie Vaughan)
35 Anthony Geraci Why Did You Have to Go
36 Joe Goldmark Beautician Blues
37 Mud Morganfield Oh Yeah
38 The Lucky Losers The River
39 Fiona Boyes Ember
40 Johnny & The Headhunters Watch And Chain (Hey Gyp)
41 Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones Mama Said
42 The Reverend Shawn Amos Moved
43 Dry Johnson Drunk Girl With a Tamborine (feat Snit)
44 Tom Hambridge This End of the Road (ft Sonny Landreth)
45 Anthony Gomes Take Me Back Home
46 Ally Venable Backwater Blues
47 Kat Danser Hol’ Up Baby
48 Dan Patlansky Judge A Man
49 Marcia Ball Take a Little Louisiana
50 Sari Schorr Thank You
51 Too Slim And the Taildraggers Trouble
52 Jamie Lynn Vessels Done Me Wrong
53 Lindsay Beaver Dangerous
54 Steve Krase Dirty Dirty
55 Black River Delta Keeps Me Bleeding
56 The Marcus King Band Side Door
57 Kris Barras Band Wrong Place, Wrong Time
58 Dany Franchi Wanna Know
59 Niecie Thank God for Fools
60 Eric Steckel We’re Still Friends
61 Luke Winslow King Chicken Dinner
62 John Akapo Maui Drive
63 Kat Riggins A Girl in the Boys’ Club
64 The Bob Lanza Blues Band Hey Baby
65 Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne That Raggedy Shack
66 Elvin Bishop That’s the Way Willy Likes It

John Hiatt – The Eclipse Sessions

john hiatt one

He started his recording career back in 1974 and over the course of the last four and half decades has been one of the great songwriters of his generation.  On the new album, The Eclipse Sessions, John Hiatt strips down his rootsy roadhouse sound and gives us a heartfelt view of his life and thoughts at 66. The songs on the new recording have a J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton feel from their “Tulsa period”.  Primarily acoustic, the tunes are musically sparse which only serves to highlight his gravely and unique voice and the power of his songwriting.

On Robber’s Highway, John looks at life’s end with a beauty and honesty that struck me to the core. “Can’t feel the fingers on one hand…mouth full of cotton…feet of clay…I didn’t plan on waking up today….Come and get me Jesus I don’t know…Come and get me Jesus cuz I can’t go.”

The Odds of Loving You looks at a relationship with lyrics that are just witty and penetrating. “I was up on my high horse taking notes and namin’ names….ran out like a dog in shame….Seven nights of heaven…eleven days of who shot who…..seven come eleven….I love the odds of loving you.”

john hiatt

My favorite cut of the album is All the Way to the River.  An upbeat tempo song about a woman on a downward spiral, the life images he paints in lyrics are Hiatt at his best.  “Up late with hollowed out eyes…all the way to the river…..tryin every last trouble on for size….all the way to the river.”

I also enjoyed Cry to Me, Poor Imitation of God, Over the Hill, Nothing in My Heart, and Aces Up Your Sleeve.

If anything, John’s voice, music, and songwriting have reached a new majestic plane on his 23rd album.  I hope you take the time to download and experience the music of this roadhouse icon.

John Hiatt – The Eclipse Sessions (2018 New West Records)