Party Blues & Oldies
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Tail Dragger "Live At Rooster's Lounge"
The personable but controversial blues singer Tail Dragger has new album out — his second live album in a row, "Live At Rooster's Lounge." Tail Dragger is strongly influenced by Howlin' Wolf, and sings as convincingly as some of the greats of the postwar blues era.
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Eric Bibb "Booker's Guitar"
Folk bluesman Eric Bibb was inspired after coming into possession of a guitar owned by blues great Bukka White to write a song about it and develop an album around it. Bibb is a consummate singing storyteller.
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Eric Bibb "Booker's Guitar"
Folk bluesman Eric Bibb was inspired after coming into possession of a guitar owned by blues great Bukka White to write a song about it and develop an album around it. Bibb is a consummate singing storyteller.
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Super Chikan "Chikadelic"
Super Chikan (James Johnson) is one of the most entertaining blues artists around. He offers humor, social commentary, and high energy on his latest album "Chikadelic" recorded in Norway, where he has performed annually for seven years.
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Johnnie Bassett - The Gentleman Is Back
Detroit bluesman Johnnie Bassett's latest album "The Gentleman Is Back" is a high-class blues album with a lot of smarts and soul.
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Johnny Jones - A Remembrance
Nashville bluesman Johnny Jones has died at age seventy-three. Jones was a mentor to Jimi Hendrix and a major figure on Nashville's often overlooked blues scene.
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Zora Young "The French Connection"
Blues singer Zora Young's new album "The French Connection" was recorded in France, a country she has toured more than twenty times. It features Young accompanied by French musicians, and a number of surprise selections.
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Samuel James "For Rosa, Maeve, And Noreen"
Samuel James is a thoroughly contemporary traditional blues artist. At first he may sound like a folk-blues revivalist, but his sensibility is fully 21st century. His songs require some degree of attention for full appreciation, but they are well worth it.
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Joe Louis Walker "Between A Rock And The Blues"
"Between A Rock And The Blues" is the latest album from bluesman Joe Louis Walker. It includes songs in collaboration with Jay Leno's guitarist and bandleader Kevin Eubanks.
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Marie Knight 1925-2009
A remembrance of singer Marie Knight, who worked for years with the great Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and relaunched her own career at age 82 with her 2007 album "Let Us Get Together" a tribute album to Reverend Gary Davis.
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John Lee Hooker, Jr.
An encore presentation of the feature from last year of John Lee Hooker, Jr.'s story — and a review of his album "All Odds Against Me."
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M For Mississippi: More Music From The Motion Picture
A review of the second soundtrack album from the award-winning film "M For Mississippi: A Road Trip Through The Birthplace Of The Blues." The album offers a fine selection of contemporary Mississippi blues, most of it rough-hewn rural blues music.
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Robert Cray
A look at the music of Robert Cray and his influences.
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Johnnie Temple, a truly great blues singer
Johnnie Temple was one of the greatest blues singers ever. His mastery of intonation, timing, texture, and phrasing made him one of the very best, and he enjoyed major popularity in the 1930s— far more than blues artists who today are larger than life, but were obscure in their day, like Robert Johnson. Temple was a clear influence to Johnson, and many others, but his importance has been overlooked by collectors and those who have told the story of the pre-war blues. There is no mythology...
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Eric Gales: Blues Behind Bars
Eric Gales, an extraordinary guitarist and talented bluesman is serving time in the Shelby County Detention Center in Tennessee. This Blues File looks at his life, his talented and tragedy-afflicted family, and his situation as a prisoner, using clips from the videos "Blues Behind Bars" from the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
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One String Blues recorded by Frederick Usher
Frederick Usher has died. The noted induistrial designer was a collector and scholar of many sorts of art and music, and in 1960 he recorded one of the most intriguing blues albums ever made, "One String Blues" featuring two homeless street musicians he encountered in Los Angeles, Eddie "One-String" Jones and Edward Hazelton. Jones made his own "one-string" from objects salvaged from the trash. Usher lost track of Jones and Hazelton shortly after recording them in 1960, but their chance...
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Otis Taylor - Pentatonic Wars & Love Songs
If there is such a thing as a "blues avant-garde," the key figure in it is Otis Taylor, who writes surrealistic songs that draw on a minimalist composing approach. "Pentatonic Wars & Love Songs" continues his experiments, with pianist Jason Moran, and with ethereal vocals from his daughter Cassie Taylor.
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Koko Taylor - In Memoriam
Remembrance of the late "Queen Of The Blues" Koko Taylor, who died June 3, 2009. Taylor was a vocalist of singular talent, who had the last great blues hit on Chess Records, "Wang Dang Doodle," and was one of the leaders of the "post-postwar" blues scene in the 1970s and after.
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B. B. King - Live At The BBC
Review of B. B. King "Live At The BBC." This album of live and studio recordings of the King of the Blues in Britain reveals how King has changed, and how he has stayed the same, over the years.
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Chuck Berry - You Never Can Tell (Boxed Set)
Review of the Chuck Berry boxed set "You Never Can Tell: His Complete Chess Recordings 1960-1966." This set reflects Berry's diverse musical styles, his blues recordings, and his showmanship.
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Muddy Waters -- Authorized Bootleg
The album "Authorized Bootleg" by Muddy Waters isn't really a bootleg. The album features the famed bluesman in concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco in 1966 with a great band. It was issued by Geffen Records in collaboration with the web site Wolfgang's Vault.
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Pat Thomas - His Father's Son
Pat Thomas carries on a family blues and folk art tradtion. His father was James "Son" Thomas who received world wide acclaim. Pat's first album "His Father's Son" is very reminiscent of his father's recordings. In this Blues File we hear his father's music and his own, and clips from the film "M For Mississippi" featuring Pat Thomas.
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Howlin' Wolf - Rockin' The Blues
The album "Rockin' The Blues" features a Howlin' Wolf performance recorded in Germany in 1964. Despite the presence of a top-notch band (Hubert Sumlin, Willie Dixon, Sunnyland Slim) the performance often falls flat. The album was issued in the U. S. in November 2008 and has already gone out of print, giving it collector value.
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Chicago Blues: A Living History
"Chicago Blues: A Living History" is a tribute to classic Chicago blues by some of today's best Chicago bluesmen. While it suffers from some of the general shortcomings of tribute albums, it is a solid offering and a very worth-while listen.
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Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport - a remembrance
Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport has died at age 77. Davenport was a Chicago blues stalwart from over a half century. He recorded with Bo Diddley and made two excellent albums as band leader.
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Mel Brown - a remembrance
Bluesman Mel Brown has died at age 69. Brown was a funky blues guitarist and a keyboard player, and a guy who became a homebody in Ontario in his later years.
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Willie King - a remembrance
Bluesman Willie King has died at age 65. This spirited rural bluesman saw no boundary between his music and his social commentary and community activism.
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John Cephas - a remembrance
Bluesman John Cephas has died at age 78. He was one half of the world's best-known country blues act, Cephas & Wiggins, a tireless player, promoter, and educator of the blues tradition.
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Piney Brown - In Memoriam
Bluesman Piney Brown has passed away at age 87. He was a soulful singer, and a writer and performer with a wonderful sense of humor.
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Snooks Eaglin - In Memoriam
New Orleans bluesman Snooks Eaglin has passed away. His seemingly infinite repertoire led to his being called a "human jukebox" though that description, while complimentary, fails to account for his interpretive and improvisational talents.
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Snooks Eaglin - In Memoriam
New Orleans bluesman Snooks Eaglin has passed away. His seemingly infinite repertoire led to his being called a "human jukebox" though that description, while complimentary, fails to account for his interpretive and improvisational talents.
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Guy Davis "Sweetheart Like You"
Guy Davis's new album "Sweetheart Like You" is an excellent contemporary "traditional blues" album. It includes strong new material and fresh interpretations of classics from Leadbelly and Muddy Waters. Davis talks about the music and his life as the musical son of noted theater actors in this Blues File. His own son Martial Davis joins him on one song on the new album.
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Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials "Full Tilt"
The latest album from slige guitarist Lil' Ed Williams may not be his best ever, but there's some good blues on it.
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Saffire's Final Album
Saffire The Uppity Blueswomen are disbanding. The group will bring its career to a conclusion following a final tour this Spring, and they have released a final album called "Havin' The Last Word." The album is proof that the band is still funny, entertaining, thought-provoking, and vital.
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Sam Taylor - In Memoriam
Bluesman Sam Taylor has died at age seventy-three. Early in his career he played with Joey Dee & The Starlighters of "Peppermint Twist" fame. He wrote songs for BT Express and others. Later he put out half a dozen of the finest blues albums of the past two decades. Taylor was a smart social observer and a man of passion and compassion — and despite much personal adversity, an incurable optimist.
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A Jazz & Blues Christmas from Putumayo Records
Putumayo Records offers "A Jazz & Blues Christmas," a ten-song sampler of holiday music from B. B. King, Charles Brown, Ramsey Lewis, Ray Charles, and more.
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Delmark Records Celebrates 55 Years Of Blues (and Jazz)
Delmark Records celebrates 55 Years of Blues (and Jazz). The CD-DVD combo release "55 Years Of Blues" draws on the label's extensive catalog of vital blues recordings of many varying styles, reflecting the critically important role Delmark has played in getting the blues out to new audiences and giving blues artists a chance to develop their art.
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Pristine Audio restores the sound of old 78s
Andrew Rose, a British sound engineer living in France is getting remarkable results restoring the audio of 78 rpm records by blues and jazz artists. He uses modern technology for sure, but much of his method relies on what may be called "digital elbow grease." His blues reissues on his Pristine Audio imprint include Robert Johnon's complete recordings, and works from Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Charley Patton.
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Willie "Big Eyes" Smith "Born In Arkansas"
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith's new release "Born In Arkansas" is a solid blues album; Smith plays some great harmonica on it, though he leaves his drums to his son Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith. "Big Eyes" Smith became famous as the drummer in the Muddy Waters band for almost two decades. Smith plays both the ten-hole marine band and the chromatic harmonicas, and, with a strong band in fine form, there's lots of good harmonica blues to enjoy on this one.
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Llu?s Coloma "Boogie Portraits"
Spanish boogie woogie master Llu?s Coloma shines on a new album called "Boogie Portraits." Except for one track, all the pieces feature piano duets, and the strength of the album rests as much on the close working relationships between the duet partners on each song as on Coloma's considerable virtuosity.
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M For Mississippi - A Road Trip Through The Birthplace...
The film "M For Mississippi" takes us on a seven-day trip through Mississippi. Roger Stolle and Jeff Konkel talk with a wide variety of blues artists and bring us some of their performances at home or in local clubs. The film paints a thought-provoking picture of contemporary Mississippi blues.
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Super Chikan "Sum' Mo' Chikan"
James Johnson of Clarksdale MS is better known as "Super Chikan." His unorthodox spelling of "Chicken" is hardly the only unusual thing about him. Chikan has a unique sense of humor and is a keen obsever of human nature, even though he is often politically incorrect. His latest album "Sum' Mo' Chikan" is highly entertaining.
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Memphis Minnie, Queen of the Country Blues
Memphis Minnie was one of the greatest blues women. Unlike many of her female contemporaries, who sang in front of uptown, jazzy bands, Minnie played guitar - very distinctively - and gave us raw, improvised country blues. She was one of the original inductees into The Blues Hall Of Fame at its inception, and deservedly so.
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Alberta Adams "Detroit Is My Home"
Alberta Adams is somewhere between 80 and 90 years old — various copies of her birth certificate don't agree on her year of birth. But she stays young by singing the blues. "Detroit Is My Home" finds her in the company of a number of talented blues pianists and singing some very convincing blues.
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John Lee Hooker, Jr. "All Odds Against Me"
John Lee Hooker, Jr.'s new album "All Odds Against Me" offers volcanic emotion, telling observation, and incisive wit — qualities rarely found on recent blues releases.
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Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways
The Folkways label brought the music of many blue artists to new listeners and larger audiences. This collection of blues piano music by such greats as Meade "Lux" Lewis, Memphis Slim, and Speckled Red, is an excellent sampler of the large body of piano blues that Folkways recorded in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
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Tomcat Courtney debuts at age 79
If you can play the blues, you're never too old to make your debut album. 79-year-old Tomcat Courney has been a fixture on the San Diego blues scene since the 1960's. Now he reaches out to the wider world with an enteryaining album called "Downsville Blues."
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Kenny Neal "Let Life Flow"
Kenny Neal comes from a big musical family from Baton Rouge. A set of family tragedies, notably the murder of his sister a few years ago, underlies his new album "Let Life Flow," his first album in five years.
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Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials "Full Tilt"
"Full Tilt" is the seventh album from Chicago's Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials. Ed Williams, known as Lil' Ed because of his diminutive stature, is one of the leading blues slide guitarists, schooled by his late uncle J. B. Hutto. This album includes a few very strong songs, and a good number of unexceptional tunes, though the band plays wonderfully throughout.
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B. B. King "One Kind Favor"
On his new album "One Kind Favor" B. B. King, with help from producer T-Bone Burnett, recaptures the sounds of the late '40s and early '50s, with a set of songs from artists who influenced him. The King of the Blues maintains a regal bearing throughout the album "One Kind Favor," with soulful singing and his classic guitar style, applied with the subtlety of performance that only the greatest masters of an art form can offer.
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Pristine Audio - Old Blues Never Sounded So New
Andrew Rose, a British sound engineer now living in rural France, has applied the most modern technology, and lots of hard work and meticulous attention to detail, to restore the sound of old records. His Pristine Audio label inlcudes remastering of the complete recordings of Robert Johnson, and albums by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Mississippi John Hurt, and Tampa Red, as well as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and other jazz artists. This Blues File...
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Byther Smith "Blues On The Moon"
Byther Smith's blues is dark, brooding, and often unsettling. He writes songs by tapping his unconscious mind rather than carefully crafting an idea that's on his mind at the moment. "Blues On The Moon" is a live album, available both on CD and DVD, that offers Byther's actual show in Chicago. On some of his out-of-town shows, Smitty uses pick-up bands, and he does blues standards, not his own songs. This album offers the real Byther Smith, with all of his rough edges and contradictions. It's...
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Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson with Blues Anatomy
A Philadelphia blues band called Blues Anatomy has put out an album called "Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson" that pays tribute to the pioneering blues guitarist. Lonnie Johnson was the first artist to play a guitar solo on a commercial recording. Headed up by guitarist Jef Lee Johnson (no relation to Lonnie), the group offers some innovative new interpretations of some of his great songs.
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Eric Gales "The Story Of My Life"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews the album "The Story Of My Life" by Eric Gales. Gales is a blues-rock guitarist from Memphis whose career started at a young age. His music remains connected to his Delta Blues origins though it is a rock style of blues.
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Super Chikan "Sum' Mo' Chikan"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Super Chikan's new album "Sum' Mo' Chikan." James Johnson, better known as Super Chikan, is a one-of-a-kind blues artist whose songs offer humor and social commentary. Like his spelling of "chikan" for "chicken," his music is refreshingly unorthodox.
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Gaye Adegbalola "Gaye Without Shame"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Gaye Adegbalola's new album "Gaye Without Shame." Adegbalola, who maintains a solo career and also works with Saffire The Uppity Blues Women, takes on the struggle for equal rights for gays and same-sex couples. She notes similarities and differences between this challenge and the struggle for civil rights for African-Americans. She also manages to drop in some great blues love songs on the album as well.
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Buddy Guy "Skin Deep"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Buddy Guy's album "Skin Deep" and finds a forward-looking album from an artist who is both in touch with his roots and in tune with the times.
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Mac Arnold - Backbone & Gristle
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Mac Arnold's album "Backbone & Gristle." The former Muddy Waters band member seems to be emerging from retirement from the music business, and he's making some great new blues.
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Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews "Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways." The album includes tracks recorded for Folkways Records from the 1940's into 1960s by Memphis Slim, Speckled Red, Little Brother Montgomery, James P. Johnson, Meade "Lux" Lewis, and many others.
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Solomon Burke - Like A Fire
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews "Like A Fire," the latest album from Solomon Burke.
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Tomcat Courtney
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews the debut album of 79-year-old San Diego bluesman Tomcat Courtney.
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Bo Diddley - a remembrance
Blues File host Jonny Meister the career of the late Bo Diddley.
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Eddy Clearwater "West Side Strut"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews "West Side Strut" by Eddy Clearwater.
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Blind Boys Of Alabama "Down In New Orleans"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews "Down In New Orleans" by The Blind Boys Of Alabama.
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Kenny Neal
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews "Let Life Flow" by Kenny Neal.
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Alberta Adams
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews "Detroit Is My Home" by Alberta Adams.
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Eric Gales
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews "The Story Of My Life" by Eric Gales.
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Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews the album "Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson" by Blues Anatomy and talks with producer Aaron Levinson.
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Mannish Boys "Lowdown Feelin'"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews the album "Lowdown Feelin'" by The Mannish Boys.
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Henry Butler "PiaNOLA Live"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Henry Butler's album "PiaNOLA Live".
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Eric Bibb "Get Onboard"
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Eric Bibb's album "Get Onboard."
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Mac Arnold
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Mac Arnold's album "Backbone & Gristle."
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Little Walter - Induction Into Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
Blues File host Jonny Meister offers commentary on the recent induction of blues harmonica player Little Walter into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
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Otis Taylor - Recapturing The Banjo
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews the new Otis Taylor album "Recapturing The Banjo" that calls attention to the banjo's African origin and highlights several African-American banjo players.
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Sleepy John Estes
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Sleepy John Estes's album "Sleepy John Estes On The Chicago Blues Scene."
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Blues File EXTRA: The John Coltrane Reference
Blues File host Jonny Meister talks with Lewis Porter, editor and lead author of the 800-plus page book The John Coltrane Reference, a new exhaustive resource on John Coltrane's music, recordings, and performances.
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Honeyboy Edwards
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Honeyboy Edwards's album "Roamin' And Ramblin'."
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Eddy Clearwater
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews Eddy Clearwater's new album "West Side Strut."
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Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews the album "Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen" which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album at the 50th annual Grammy Awards. Included are some comments from the album's co-producer Mike Dyson of The Blue Shoe Project.
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Leni Stern
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews guitarist, composer, and vocalist Leni Stern's album "Africa" and interviews the artist.
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Adam Gussow's "Journeyman's Road"
Blues File host Jonny Meister talks with blues player and author Adam Gussow about his book "Journeyman's Road."
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Willie McBlind and Tuning in Just Intonation
Blues File host Jonny Meister reviews the album "Find My Way Back Home" by Willie McBlind, and discusses the band's use of Just Intonation tuning.
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- Blues, Oldies
- English
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