Although younger than Willie by almost 30 years, Warren Haynes is maybe the last leaf on a different tree. With the recent passing of Dickey Betts, Haynes is now the elder statesman in a large group of southern rock and jam band musicians building on the legacy of The Allman Brothers Band. He just released […]
Blue Moon Marquee – New Orleans Sessions
Going to sound like my dad here, but I’ll challenge anyone not to tap your toes listening to the new upbeat, old-timey New Orleans Sessions from Canadian duo Blue Moon Marquee. The duo, which features A.W. Cardinal on vocals and guitar and Jasmine Colette on vocals and upright bass, captures a unique feel they’ve dubbed […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Fall 2024
Give It To Me One Last Time, Jeremie Albino (from the Easy Eye Sound release Our Time in the Sun) Canada’s Jeremie Albino traveled to Nashville to record an album steeped in Memphis and Muscle Shoals soul. In Nashville, Albino teamed with Dan Auerbach to create an outstanding album that has a retro feel without […]
Eric Bibb – In The Real World
Happy Halloween! All right, now that’s out of the way let me say that there are different kinds of blues musicians. There are blues rockers who make their reputations with searing guitar solos and there are blues bar bands who may be great musicians but whose focus is making sure you have a good time. […]
Ronnie Baker Brooks – Blues In My DNA
Ronnie Baker Brooks plays such a serious guitar, one might say it’s in his DNA. The son of Chicago blues great Lonnie Brooks, Brooks (whose birth name was Rodney Dion Baker), along with his brother Wayne Baker Brooks, is one of a number of gifted blues offspring, including the likes of Shemekia Copeland (daughter of […]
ZZ Ward on Tour Bus Appliances and Working at a Candy Store
Singer-songwriter ZZ Ward talks about playing her first gig, at a pizza parlor in Portland, Oregon, and the time that her tour bus got stuck in the snow.
Guy Davis – The Legend of Sugarbelly
For Guy Davis, keeping the blues alive means keeping it alive even its most stripped-down form. The Legend of Sugarbelly is a throwback to the blues’ purest, simplest acoustic form, so reminiscent of Lead Belly and the earliest masters one almost expects to hear the crackle of an old 78-inch record. Davis is a great […]
Colin James – Chasing the Sun
To say that Colin James is big in Canada is an understatement. With eight Juno Awards (Canadian Grammies) and 31 Maple Leaf Blues Awards, James might be the most prominent member of a healthy Canadian blues scene that has included the likes of Steve Dawson, Colin Linden, Sue Foley, Jim Byrnes, JW-Jones, Big Dave McLean […]
Holy Ghost Blues – a Premiere from Silas Nello
“Holy Ghost Blues”, the lead single from Silas Nello’s forthcoming From West Hollywood EP is a bit of a paradox. The song originally appeared on his 2018 debut full-length album, recorded in Dallas where he was living at the time. That version had a decidedly LA flair with its Sunset Strip swagger and snarl. Nello […]
Monday Morning Video – John Mayall, 1933-2024
John Mayall, OBE, died last week at 90. Often called the “Godfather of British blues,” Mayall was so much more than just a pioneer of British blues. By introducing a generation of rock fans to the blues, he arguably had a hand in saving blues as a viable commercial music form at a time in the […]