Gonna be spinning alot of roots blues today during my roadhouse blues Nooner on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com from 12-2 pm ET today. I will be starting with some new Bonnie Raitt as well as Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal, Delbert McClinton, Ray Wylie Hubbard, John Hiatt, Paula Cole, and even a Jackson Browne tune!
Here is the intended playlist:
ARTIST
TITLE
Billy Branch and The Sons Of Blues
Roller Coaster
Bonnie Raitt
When We Say Goodnight
Keb ‘Mo’
’62 Chevy
Delbert McClinton
Ain’t That Lovin’ You
Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder
Hooray Hooray
Oliver Wood
Fine Line
The Blues Against Youth
Goin’ To Chicago
Jim Kahr
Like The Way You Do
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Desperate Man (& The Band Of Heathens)
Jack Bottleneck
Halfway To Jackson
Louise Hoffsten
Asking For Mercy
Big Al and the Heavyweights
Wild Tchoupitoulas
Josh Hyde
Where to Start
Jack Broadbent
Grace
Ilana Katz Katz
Woman, Play The Blues
Jhett Black
Pecos Kid Final
Chris Mayfield
Heard My Angels Singing
John Hiatt With The Jerry Douglas Band
Little Goodnight
Albert Cummings
Got You Covered
Angel Forrest
Everything Changes (Feat. Wellbad)
Hubert Dorigatti
Bound to New Orleans
The Band of Heathens
Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone (feat. Ray Wylie Hubbard)
So you still have people on your Christmas list to shop for or maybe just a little something for yourself? No problem!! Here are some roadhouse blues albums that will endear you to your friends and help out the blues artists….all of whom have been financially struggling during this hideous year while producing some fantastic tunes!
Steve Strongman – Tired of Talking (Stony Plain Records 2020)
Steve Strongman drifts effortlessly from traditional blues to R&B and soul and then to roots acoustic music on this fine album, Tired of Talking. This Canadian artist sings, plays the guitar, dobro, and does some damn fine harpin’ also. He’s good enough to have opened for B.B. King, Johnny Winter, and Buddy Guy and that is damn sure good enough for me….and hopefully for YOU! Give Just Ain’t Right a listen!
Grainne Duffy – Voodoo Blues (2020 Independent Release)
With a powerful gritty soulful voice, this Irish lass has delivered a masterful roadhouse blues recording with the release of her seventh album, Voodoo Blues. Part roots blues, southern rock, and blues rock, overall it is representative of the talent and bright future that she has. Her style is ready made for live performances and festival appearances. As soon as the pandemic recedes, expect to hear a lot more from her! Give the title cut, Voodoo Blues, a listen….see what I mean!!
Johnny Iguana – Johnny Iguana’s Chicago Spectacular! (Delmark Records 2020)
If you love some rockin’ vibrant piano blues….have I got the album for you or someone you know! This badass blues man hails from Chicago and on Johnny Iguana’s Chicago Spectacular, he does rousing covers of 44 Blues, Down in the Bottom, Shake Your Moneymaker, and Stop Breaking Down. He was part of Junior Wells Band for a time and has toured or recorded with Buddy Guy, Billy Branch, Billy Arnold, and a number of other Chicago blues greats. Now, on his first album as the band leader, Johnny pounds the ivories through some great contemporary songs as well as blues classics. Cool tunes from a great guy!!
Brother Jon Band – Open Jam (Independent Release 2015)
I’m honored that so many independent artists choose to send me copies of their recordings. Just recently, I got one from Minneapolis that just blew me away. The Brother Jon Band has a badass roadhouse blues sound that is reminiscent of Canned Heat and the Black Crowes with hints of Guns ‘N Roses. Music like this brings back a lot of memories. Give WHEN SHE CRIES a listen (on Spotify) or BOBBY’S BLUES (on Youtube) and see if you don’t agree and then go to this link and download the album, Open Jam!
Duke Robillard – Blues Bash with Duke Robillard & Friends (Stony Plain Records 2020)
Photo by David Lee Black
I absolutely love 1950’s style upbeat blues. It was an era when the blues was in the process of giving birth to rock ‘n roll and the Duke captures the essence of that golden era for music with the new Blues Bash with Duke Robillard & Friends recording. It is an excellent album to have playing for small Christmas party gathering. The tunes are danceable, bright, and energetic. (Try Do You Mean It! This Grammy nominated artist and five time winner of the Blues Music Award as best guitarist has been thrilling audiences all over the world since 1967 and this recordings demonstrates why he won’t be stopping anytime soon.
Kerry Kearney – Tales from the Psychedelta (2020 Highlander Records)
A slide guitar player who I would put up against the likes of Sonny Landreth and Derek Trucks, Kerry Kearney is a Long Island native who released his 18th recording this year, Tales From The Psychedelta. It is actually a compilation album that includes tracks that are no longer in print making it a nice gift for those familiar with him as well as new fans. Listen to his vocals and the badass guitar licks on Voodoo Down The River and I think you will understand why I named this album one of the 40 best blues rock albums of 2020 earlier this week.
Michael “Iron Man” Burks – Show of Strength (2012 Alligator Records)
Michael Burks’ Show of Strength album is one that I place among the pantheon of stellar blues recordings alongside works by Luther Allison and Buddy Guy. Tragically, Michael never got to hear the final mix of his work. He died suddenly of heart failure while returning from a tour of Europe. A son of Arkansas, Michael was the complete blues man; a showman, stellar guitar player, and he possessed a powerful voice that dripped with the soul. There isn’t a bad song among the 12 tracks and my personal favorite is Storm Warning. You can’t go wrong with this as a stocking stuffer for a friend or family member.
Ben Vee started out spinning songs on terrestrial radio and at nightclubs back in the 1970’s in his home state of Louisiana. After a career in the construction business, he returned to DJing in 2011. He now hosts two shows each week on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com and writes about the blues at http://www.benveeblues.com from his home in Connecticut.
The term “roadhouse blues” refers to modern contemporary blues that are primarily upbeat in nature and incorporate the influence of rock, roots music, soul, and R&B.
Join me this afternoon for new songs by Savoy Brown, Kirsten Thien, Eric Johanson, Mojomama, and Lucinda Williams on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com. The show runs from 3 to 5 pm ET….hope ya can make it.
Kind of an eclectic set of the roadhouse blues today with contemporary blues, roots blues, some soul, and a bit of blues rock. A number of tunes are by artists that won awards at Sunday night’s Blues Foundation award ceremonies for 2019.
Hope ya have a chance to tune in from 12 to 2 pm EST today on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com. And since most of us are at home, freshen up your coffee or whatever you are drinking….kick back….and enjoy the tunes.
The year 2019 was an exciting and invigorating one for blues lovers with the largest number of new albums released that I can recall since at least 2012. Amongst all the songs that I heard and spun for the year (and that was thousands!), these five struck me as the most creative in terms of the sound or lyrics or voice or a combination of all three!! (Links to the songs on Spotify or Youtube are shown in blue.)
With lyrics that are Shakespearean in terms of the pathos and images created for your mind to wrestle with, If I Loved You Hard Enough is about a dysfunctional love that has spanned the lovers lives since they were kids. The opening lyrics portray a shocking scene at a Piggly Wiggly parking lot and it just gets better from there!
The song was written by Rob Robinson, the leader and front man for the Leipers’ Fork Tennessee soul blues band and is just one of many great tunes on the album Holywater. Rob also owns and operates a roadhouse style eatery south of town calledPuckett’s…..mhmm…fine food and great roadhouse blues..I gotz to get there soon!
Amnesia Blues Band hails from Gippsland, Australia. Paul “Buck” Buchanan is the lead vocalist and primary songwriter and they have penned an incredible song, Fast Johnny Cool, on their latest album Hailstone. An infectious bass driven beat and a great voice frame a song about a battle of guitar players at a low down roadhouse.
I got to chat with them a couple of months ago and they warned me not to visit them “down under” with a great voice or guitar. Listen to the song…you will know what they mean!
Jason Ricci & the Bad Kind – Break in the Rain(My Chops Are Rolling 2019 on EllerSoul Records)
A transplant from Maine to my hometown of New Orleans, Jason Ricci is one of the great harmonica players of the blues genre. Break in the Rain has an insistent beat with fabulous guitar licks, some awesome harmonica riffs, and lyrics about a day jumpin’ in puddles and layin’ in the tall grass… naked! Hell yeah!
The song was written by band member and guitarist John Lisi. The Bad Kind band also includes Jason’s wife, Kaitlin Dibble, on backing vocals on the song. I hope to see them perform tunes from My Chops Are Rolling the next time I am back down in the Big Easy!
One of traits of some blues lovers is a kind of conservatism about what is and is not the blues. There are any number of blues purists out there that I respect but don’t agree with. As B.B. King stated once in an interview that I saw, it was only natural for the blues to evolve as more and more people were exposed to it and began to play and interpret it from their own individual perspectives. First it was the delta acoustic blues. Then it was electrified when it moved into urban areas like Chicago. Eventually it was rocked up by the British blues bands of the last sixties. And now we have the wide variety of contemporary blues that I love and spin regularly. I use the term “roadhouse blues” to describe this fascinating mix of modern blues with rock, soul, rhythm and blues, gospel, swing, roots music, and, yes…even a bit of rap influence!
On their latest album, Shine, Ghost Town Blues Band out of Memphis includes an original and creative song entitled Dirty. It’s a southern blues rockin’ tune about dealin’ with the life that fate sometimes deals and includes the tasteful use of rap. It is just such a natural fit for the song and blues in general. Kudos to the band for having the creativity (and bravery to face the blues purists) with such a fine recording! And people certainly love the album. It rose to number one on the Billboard Blues Charts soon after it’s release this past October.
Left Lane Cruiser – Smooth Commander (2019 Shake & Bake on Alive Records)
Left Lane Cruiser hails from Indiana and is a duo consisting of singer/guitarist Joe Evans IV and Pete Dio on drums/percussions. One of the songs on the new album SHAKE & BAKE is entitled Smooth Commander and it is about a sojourn across the world and his father’s love for the blues. The use of a resonator guitar is awesome and Joe’s voice is distinctive. And as he sings in the song, the blues will bring everybody around…..that it will surely do!!!
And kudos to the renown illustrator William Stout for providing such a creative album cover!
Ben Vee is an internet DJ and writer from New Orleans that now lives in Connecticut with his wife Annette. He started spinning records back in the 1970’s and has been writing about the roadhouse blues since 2011. He does two roadhouse blues shows each week on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com and he writes about the blues when the urge strikes on http://www.benveeblues.com.
It’s a fabulous Tuesday for the Roadhouse Blues! Join us at High Noon EST for my Roadhouse blues Nooner featuring a mix of contempory and roots blues tunes by John Hiatt, Bob Dylan, Omar & the Howlers, Miss Bix and the Blues Fix, Popa Chubby, Eric Johanson, Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, and many more. Plug in at http://www.bluesmusicfan.com.
Oh….and a big GEAUX TIGERS for all the football fans that watched LSU win the national championship last night! I know there was alot of roadhouse bluzin’ goin’ on in the French Quarter afterwards!!!
Tune in for new tunes from CW Ayon, Sean Poluk, Janiva Magness and a bunch of other contemporary blues artists of 2019 on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com at 3 pm EST! Hope you have time to grab your favorite beverage and kick back and enjoy the music!
During a stellar year of new recordings by blues artists, I have kept returning to songs off two 2019 albums: The Longshot and Tennessee Redemption. Both these great recordings (one is a solo album while the other is a group recording) feature the voice and harmonica playing of Brandon Santini. He is my 2019 Roadhouse Bluesman of the Year!
Brandon Santini at Black Eyed Sally’s in Hartford CT
Brandon is a 37 year old resident of Memphis who has plied his trade on Beale Street for almost 20 years. He made the move to Memphis at the age of 19 and over the ensuing years, he refined his harmonica playing to the point where he was nominated for Blues Harmonica Player of the Year by the prestigious Blues Foundation in 2014. And this past October, he received the Blues Blast Magazine 2019 award for The Longshot as Best Contemporary Blues album of the Year.
Brandon’s years in the Memphis clubs taught him the golden rule for performing music which is in part: Be Kind to Musicians. It is one that I practice also. I do not write bad reviews of artists; if I don’t enjoy a recording I simply don’t write about it. It is a practice that I wish some fellow DJs and bloggers, as well “mainstream” critics, would follow also.
His Beale street years also have taught him that you have to be an entertainer, not just a singer or musician. Music is in large part an experience of feelings. How does the song make you feel? Does the singer move you emotionally? Brandon delivers on both counts. He has a deep gravely voice reminiscent of Dr. John and his song writing is engaging and evocative. Take a listen to Drive You Off My Mind from The Longshot and you will see what I mean.
For his second recording of the year, he teamed with long time friend and fellow Beale Streeter, Jeff Jensen (guitar & vocals), and formed the group Tennessee Redemption. They released their self titled debut album this past September. The album is a fusion of southern style blues, Americana, and Memphis R&B and is absolutely delightful. Give See About Me and Back to Tennessee a listen. I know you will enjoy them!!
Brandon Santini represents the next generation of blues men and women who are coming into their own. He has paid his blues dues with hundreds of performances in small clubs in Memphis and elsewhere around the country. And he has earned and deserves the accolades that are now beginning to flow in. Receiving my 2019 Roadhouse Bluesman of the Year award is no big thing but I hope he, as I often do on special occasions (well hell…any event really) , lights a cigar after one of his gigs and smiles. I’ll be lighting one after finishing this article….Here’s to you Brandon for having a great year in 2019 and for the many more that are sure to come!
Ben Vee is an internet DJ and writer from New Orleans that now lives in Connecticut with his wife Annette. He started spinning records back in the 1970’s and has been writing about the roadhouse blues since 2011. He does two roadhouse blues shows each week on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com and he writes about the blues when the urge strikes on http://www.benveeblues.com.
The holiday season is upon us and my hope is that one of the tunes during today’s Roadhouse Blues Nooner will inspire you to download the album and gift it to a friend! Join us at High Noon EST on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com for a mix of the best in contemporary blues including a new promo single from Albert Cummings plus some vintage Bob Dylan and an “almost the blues” Creedence Clearwater Revival tune that I love.
Hope you have time to join us today, November 5th, at 12 PM EST for my roadhouse blues Nooner on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com. I have some Nordic blues by Lollo Gardman and Lena & the Slide Brothers, a new song from the Reverend Shawn Amos, some Aussie Blues from Lloyd Spiegel, and much more.
The intended playlist is shown below.
ARTIST
TITLE
Johnny Burgin
The Leading Brand
Tino Gonzales & Los Reyes Del KO
I Ain’t Gonna Pray
The Russell Barber Band
Midnight Hour
Larry Griffith Project
I Know
The Reverend Shawn Amos & The
Brotherhood
Counting Down The Days
Lollo Gardtman
Chasing The Wind
Lena & The Slide Brothers
Right Train, Wrong Track
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado
I Used to Love You
Kerry Pastine And The Crime Scene
Down Down
Marc Cohn
Talk Back Mic
Ghost Town Blues Band
Shine
Mike Goudreau
The Blues Is Killing Me
The Bluesland Horn Band
Keep It In The Shadows
Kelsey Miles
Show Me
Lloyd Spiegel
Christina
Brandon Santini
Drive You Off My Mind
Steve Miller
Killing Floor
Lightning Hall
That Joker’s Wild
Omar & The Howlers
Down To The Station
Left Lane Cruiser
Smooth Commander
Southfield
Bypass to Nowhere
The Mike Duke Project
I’m Not Sad Tonight
Johnny Burgin
I Got To Find Me A Woman (Feat. Rae Gordon & Nancy Wright)
Ben Vee Blues 