A niece once pronounced to me that all the great blues musicians are dead. Alvin Youngblood Hart, Guy Davis and Corey Harris show that’s not true, as they are among the best blues masters of my own generation. With Fight On! True Blues Vol. 2, these masters have created an acoustic blues timepiece that is […]
Bill’s Blues-Based Best of 2020
Well, it’s over. We got through it, and, while it 2020 was a monster in so many ways, there were some choice blues albums that hit the street. Below is a dozen of my favorite blues (or ‘bluesy’) albums of 2020. Sonny Landreth – Blacktop Run. It’s a great album for when you’re on the […]
Luther Dickinson – Blues & Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook Volumes I & II)
When I caught Luther Dickinson’s show last month in Philadelphia, it was in the smaller of the two halls at World Cafe Live. There were maybe 100 or so patrons there, and the tickets were reasonably priced under $20. He and his “Cooperators” couldn’t have walked away with more than $2,000 from the evening. After […]
Otis Taylor – Contraband
Otis Taylor and Corey Harris may be the most creative blues musicians active today. And with Harris spending much of his time exploring other musical avenues, that leaves Taylor pretty much in a class by himself as an avant-garde bluesman. His moody, atmospheric yet beautiful recordings are a welcome change from the many younger musicians trying […]