We’ll stray a bit from our usual fare today. Here’s Jason Isbell and Bettye LaVette taking some obnoxious show attendees to task. It’s about the music, people.
Monday Morning Video: James Booker
A friend introduced me to the music and legend of the late New Orleans pianist James Booker. The “Bayou Maharajah,” as he was called, lived a flamboyant life. While he never found true commercial success, he built gained popularity in Europe and even played a couple of shows with the Jerry Garcia Band (before being […]
Monday Morning Video: Glen David Andrews
If you can’t make it to New Orleans, the next best thing is for New Orleans to come to you. Twangville was in the house when NOLA’s own Glen David Andrews transformed a Boston club into a sweaty Frenchman St.-style dance party. Andrews and crew even took to the streets, much to the surprise of […]
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 […]
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 […]
Old Settler’s Music Fest – 2014 Edition
Every spring, a couple of weeks after the madhouse of SXSW, the music festival season kicks off with Old Settler’s Music Festival, about a half hour outside of Austin. Â Started as a bluegrass festival, Old Settler’s now embraces a broad spectrum of Americana. Â Organizer Jean Spivey has a magic touch for consistently mixing old with […]
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 […]
Mass Ave – A Special Boston Playlist
FEATURED ALBUMS Good Luck, by Girls Guns and Glory Girls Guns and Glory have always been a fun live band, mixing up originals with choice covers ranging from Elvis Presley to Hank Williams. They’ve captured that energy – and then some – on their latest release. The Boston quartet traveled to Brooklyn to record the […]