DC-based blues-rockers the Nighthawks seem to be undergoing a late-career resurgence, winning their first Blues Music Award with Last Train to Bluesville (acoustic album of the year, 2011), and following that up with a solid effort on Damn Good Time! in 2012. With 444, front man Mark Wenner and the boys continue to crank out high-energy, […]
Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters – Good News
Ronnie Earl is a preacher, and the gospel that he preaches is “the healing power of blues.” A multiple Blues Music Award winner for best blues guitarist, Earl once again took home the honor this Spring at the 2014 Awards. He is a virtuoso who plays a brand of music that is largely his own invention that lies […]
John Mayall – A Special Life
A Special Life, indeed. John Mayall is often called the “Godfather of British Blues,” but his legacy may include more than just pioneering the British blues; he arguably had a hand in saving the blues as an active music form by introducing the music to a new audiance at a time in the 1960s when elderly bluesmen were […]
Eden Brent – Jigsaw Heart
After performing continuously since 1985, Eden Brent has really come into her own as one of the shining lights of blues piano during the past five years.  Her accolades have included Blues Music Awards for acoustic artist of the year in 2009, for acoustic album of the year for Mississippi Number One that same year, and the […]
Keb’ Mo’ – BLUESAmericana
Over the past 20 years, Keb’ Mo’ has been among a small group of African American next generation musicians widely considered to be the future of blues music. Along with contemporaries like Corey Harris, Eric Bibb, Guy Davis, Otis Taylor and Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb’ Mo’ has carried the torch of blues music passed on […]
The Holmes Brothers – Brotherhood
The Holmes Brothers have spread their special brand of joy for years. Brothers Sherman and Wendell, along with drummer Popsy Dixon, have established a special kind of soul-blues that is part gospel, part soul. Although the Holmes Brothers had performed together throughout the 1980s, it wasn’t until the 1990s that they started getting widespread recognition […]
Mikey Junior – Traveling South
Philadelphia, known more for its rhytm & blues than traditional blues, is nevertheless the home to some outstanding blues musicians including harmonica virtuoso Steve Guyger, the sultry young singer Gina Sicilia, and the up-and-coming, hardworking blues harp standout Mikey Junior. Mikey Junior, who often homesteads at the Twisted Tail in Philly’s South Street area, has embraced a musical style […]
Southern Soul Assembly at the Saenger Theatre, Mobile, Alabama
So I’m in Mobile, AL this week for my day job. As I’m eating lunch Tuesday I look up and see a poster for the Southern Soul Assembly, featuring JJ Grey, Luther Dickinson, Anders Osborne and Marc Broussard. And it’s that night at the Saenger Theatre about a block from my hotel. I rush out […]
Nick Moss Band – Time Ain’t Free
Nick Moss paid his dues, working as a side man for veteran Chicago bluesmen, including Buddy Scott, Jimmy Dawkins, Jimmy Rogers and former Muddy Waters drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. Those blues chops, hard earned, provided the backbone for Moss to lead his own formidable blues outfit for more than a decade. A student of […]
Steve Dawson – Rattlesnake Cage
Canadian roots music master Steve Dawson’s Rattlesnake Cage showcases Dawson’s astonishing guitar skills as they should be – intimate and acoustic. Dawson, whose passion for roots music prompted him to found the Black Hen Music label in 1995, has been a force in the Canadian music scene and now, having relocated to Nashville, his star […]