Ruf Records artist: Ghalia - Mississippi Blend - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Mississippi Blend, from Ghalia and it's got great attitude and style. Opening with, Gypsy Lady, a blues based track with a rockin beat, Brussels born Ghalia (Vauthier) Volt shows her understanding of real blues with it's raw feeling and emotion. Leading on vocal and slide guitar Volt has a lot of help from Lightnin' Malcolm on lead guitar, Dean Zucchero on bass and Cedric Burnside on drums. Easing into a swampy blues number, Meet You Down The Road has the kind of rawness you'd expect from the hill country with Watermelon Slim on harp, Smokehouse Brown on lead and slide guitar, Zucchero on bass and Burnside on drums. The dual slide guitar sound is intoxicating under her soulful vocals and the tight rhythms are perfectly punctuated by Burnside. Very cool. I really like heavy footed blues rocker, First Time I Died. It has real kick. Volt focuses on vocals and does a great job with excellent timing by Cody Dickinson on drums and a raw lead guitar by Brown. Excellent! Traditional song, Wade In The Water has a real nice spin with Volt and Watermelon Slim on lead vocal and Lightnin' Malcolm on lead guitar. Another real cool track is Shake & Repeat with a underscored boogie beat and super raw slide work by Volt. Additional lead vocal by Malcolm  and lead guitar by Brown give this track a nice edge. Super boogie, Why Don't You Sell Your Children starts off with a slower JLH style but ramps up to a full rocking boogie with Volt and Brown grinding the guitar and Volts sensuous vocals balancing the track. Very nice. Wrapping the release is I Thought I Told You Not To Tell Them, is a flat out rock 'n' roller with Berry style guitar riffs by Malcolm and Brown and the tight tight bottom by Zucchero and Dickinson. Excellent closer for a really cool release.

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Ruf Records artist: Jeremiah Johnson - Straitjacket - New Release review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Straitjacket, from Jeremiah Johnson and it's quite good. Opening with title track, Straitjacket, Jeremiah Johnson has a hot one on his hands. With a driving beat, a rolling bass line by Tom Maloney, Benet Schaeffer on drums Frank Bauer on sax and Mike Zito on rhythm guitar, Johnson on guitar and lead vocal this is a solid opener. Blues fused but with a great R&B style back beat, Getting Tired is one of my favorites on the release with a hot sax/bass lead and strong guitar fronting. another really cool track is Blues In Her Eyes with a great melody, solid vocals and crisp guitar lead. Rock and roller, Keep on Sailing has a strong boogie underpinning and slick slide work by Zito. Slow blues number, King & Queen, has some of the best vocals by Johnson on the release and an extended guitar solo on this 6 plus minute track is gold. Excellent! Zito move upfront on 9th and Russell, a slower country rocker with powerful guitar riffs and vocal duet. Sax dominant instrumental, Bonneville has a definite 60's soundtrack feel and with bent guitar soloing, a real cool flair! Wrapping the release is Rock N Roll Music To The World written buy one of my all time favorite players, Alvin Lee and a great rocker it is. With Johnson and Bauer on lead vocal and solid rock n roll style guitar work by Johnson and Zito, this is an excellent closer for the release.

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Ruf Records artist: Mike Zito - First Class Life - New release review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, First Class Life, by Mike Zito and I really like it. This is an excellent follow-up to Zito's 2017 release, Make Blues Not War that I reviewed last year and I think that he's on a great run! Opening with Mississippi Nights, a country blues flavored rocker, Zito leads on guitar and vocals, backed by Lewis Stephens on keys, Matthew Johnson on drums and Terry Dry on bass. Winding his slide out he really gets it cranking. What an opener! Title track, First Class Life not only has great style and feel, it has a real story and excellent slide work making it one of the top tracks on the release (and a super radio track to boot). Slower blues ballad, The World We Live In, has a strong melody and Zito's vocals are spot on. His guitar work, in response to his lead vocal is nicely punctuated. With the country funk of a Dickey Betts composition, Mama Don't Like No Wah Wah, has a real moving groove with Zito, joined by Bernard Allison hitting the ground running on blues riffs with tight support from Johnson. Old Black Graveyard is nicely phrased with a dark underbelly and fat, razor like slide slashes on guitar. Excellent! Back Problems has the looseness of Elvin Bishop with the drive of David Bowie and the humor and greasy sound of Mike Zito. Very nice. Slow blues, Damn Shame, has just the right tempo, giving Zito the opportunity to let the dog way out and his guitar phrasing is excellent! With tight reinforcement by Stephens, Johnson and Dry, this track is super. Wrapping the release is shuffle track Trying To Make A Living with a driving beat, hot piano riffs and country flavored, stinging guitar solos. You have probably gathered by now that I think quite highly of this release and look forward to seeing Zito in the near future.

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NEW RELEASE RUF 1253: Mike Zito - First Class Life

Mike Zito First Class Blues-rock is a tightrope – and Mike Zito has never lost his footing. At times in his storied two-decade career, the Texas bandleader has rolled up the amps and rocked as hard as anyone. Yet his lifelong fascination with the blues has always reeled him back in. And now, having shaken the rafters with 2016’s acclaimed Make Blues Not War, First Class Life finds Mike diving deep into the only genre that can do justice to his hard-won true stories of hardship and redemption. “Make Blues was pretty extreme and rocking,” he reflects. “This time, I was definitely thinking more blues.” Released in 2018 on Ruf Records, First Class Life is a fitting album title from a man who remembers the hard times. “The title track is a nod to where I’ve come from and where I’m at,” explains the songwriter whose promising early career was almost destroyed by addiction. “It’s a rags-to-riches story, and it’s certainly true. I grew up poor in St. Louis, and now I'm travelling the world to sing my songs. In the world of excess America, I may not look ‘rich’, but in my world, I most certainly am. I have a beautiful family, I’m clean and sober, and I get to play music.” And what music. Since Mike’s debut album, Blue Room (1997), there have been countless creative peaks, from 2011’s confessional Greyhound, through his world-conquering contributions to US supergroup the Royal Southern Brotherhood, right up to recent solo triumphs like Gone To Texas (2013), Keep Coming Back (2015) and Make Blues Not War (2016). Last November, as the band tracked live at Mike’s new backyard recording facility – dubbed Marz Studios – there was an unspoken mission to raise the bar. “We planned three days for the session,” he reflects, “but had all the tracks finished the first day. The band was really on fire and it just had this really fun vibe that we were in my backyard making a first class record.” On his 14th album release, Mike’s socially charged observations and candid soul-searching have never been sharper. There’s the punchy call-to-arms of Time For A Change and the exquisite ‘one-note’ slow-blues, The World We Live In. The electrified blues bounce of Dying Day swears lifelong allegiance to his wife, while the sinister Old Black Graveyard growls with Hendrix-esque flourishes as it salutes the fallen. “That’s about a forgotten cemetery of poor black Americans that has not been kept up near my home in Beaumont, Texas,” he says. “Blind Willie Johnson is buried there. It’s a sure sign of racism in America and how the poor aren’t treated with dignity. That song is a ghost story that those buried there wreak havoc in the night.” Yet the record’s darker moments are offset by cuts like Mama Don't Like No Wah Wah, the crash-bang-wallop gem written with Bernard Allison. “Bernard told me about his first gig as guitarist for Koko Taylor,” laughs Mike. “Koko didn’t like any effects on the guitar, she wanted it to sound natural. She also didn't know what effects were, she just called them ‘wah wah’. So when Bernard made an attempt to use an effect on his guitar after playing with her for months, he got caught. ‘Mama don't like no wah wah’ is what he was told. That’s a song to me!” Of course, the most captivating story of all is the dazzling upward curve of Mike Zito’s unfolding career. In 2018, First Class Life doesn’t just capture the past glories and setbacks – it points a signpost at the peaks to come. “With this album,” he concludes, “I had this idea of ‘stepping up’. I want the world to know I can play this music with conviction and style. I think it’s really the next step…”

NEW RELEASE RUF 1247: Big Daddy Wilson - Songs From The Road

Big Daddy Wilson Songs From The Road

No matter where Big Daddy Wilson travels on this big, beautiful, mixed-up planet of ours, he takes the South with him. Listening to the soulful storytelling of the man born Wilson Blount in a small town in the Inner Banks region of North Carolina, it's impossible not to conjure images of dusty back roads, cypress groves, a Saturday night juke joint or Sunday morning revival meeting. It's a nostalgic and – some might say – glorified image of rural America. Yet in an age of ruthless demagogues and divisive politics, Big Daddy Wilson chooses to celebrate the simple things that bond us as human beings – a smile, a shared meal, a helping hand – along with cherished values like faith, perseverance and devotion to family. For more than two decades, he has been carrying his message of hope and unity to each and every show, whether in New York, Paris, Auckland or – in the case of his new live album Songs From The Road – the village of Rubigen in central Switzerland. The concert recorded at the Mühle Hunziken exemplifies Wilson's uncanny ability to connect with an audience. The key ingredients are honesty, his natural charisma and the sheer power of his voice. This performance from the fall of 2017 is a testament to just how far the American ex-pat and former soldier has come since answering a newspaper ad and summoning the courage to sing "Stormy Monday" for a group of young German blues musicians way back in the 1980s. He's ably supported by a tight and versatile four-piece unit comprising Cesare "Smokestack" Nolli (g), Paolo Legramandi (b), Nik Taccori (dr) and Enzo Messina (k). A band that backs Big Daddy Wilson always has to be at the top of its game, because his music isn't any one thing. From song to song, it may transform into something hard-driving or laid-back, funky or bluesy, joyful or brooding, stripped down or supercharged. "I tried to give my listener a small view of the journey, the good, the bad, the highs and the lows," explains Wilson in the liner notes to the album. He and the band open the set sounding figuratively uptown: "Wake Up" is a steady grooving call to action, "Drop Down Here" a reggae-tinged plea for help from the man upstairs, "Miss Dorothy Lee" a guitar-fueled tribute transported on a Bo Diddley-like rhythm. The bawdy blues of "Texas Boogie" gives way to the dead serious testifying of "Ain't No Slave." Then it's time for a little side trip to the countryside: "Anna Mae" and, later, "Cross Creek Road," are sun-drenched and pastoral. The band picks up steam again on "Neckbone Stew," ultimately climaxing with the earthy "Baby Don't Like." The twelve-song live CD closes with the eloquent simplicity of "I Just Need A Smile." As usual with the long-running Songs From The Road series, there are visuals as well. The accompanying DVD in the two-disc set includes 15 songs in all and offers a good long look at Big Daddy Wilson in action. It opens with the familiar gospel blues of "John The Revelator" and closes with something he revealingly calls his "Country Boy Medley." But don't expect to see him standing onstage in overalls and work boots. As always, Wilson is nattily attired in fine threads, a short-brimmed hat and the ubiquitous pair of dark shades. Some years ago, Big Daddy Wilson told an interviewer that the main reason he wears sunglasses onstage is his inherently shy nature. "I'm no entertainer," he claimed at the time. Songs From The Road delivers some pretty strong evidence to the contrary. And yet, in a certain way, he's right. Wilson's music – like Wilson himself – is real. It's honest. At no point is this man ever putting on a show. "I’m just interested in singing, getting my message out and feeling the people – and hoping I can make them feel me."

Ruf Records artist: Bernard Allison - Let It Go - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release (February 2, 2018), Let It Go, from Bernard Allison and it's quite good. Opening with Cruisin For A Bluesin, Allison is strutting tall with solid vocals, tight guitar riffs and a solid back up band featuring John T. McGhee on rhythm guitar, George Moye on bass, and Mario Dawson on drums. With a funky feel, Backdoor Man is a cool track. Allison has great vocal phrasing and his slide work if fresh and greasy. Another track with a springy beat is Night Train with super tight drums from Dawson and a super groove. Well paced vocals by Allison and nicely stylized blues riffs give the track a strong overall presence. With a low slung jazz vibe, Jose Ned James on sax and Allison on vocal and guitar balance nicely on a cool cross radio track. Sure footed and lumbering, Leave Your Ego has a heavy bottom and smart guitar reinforcement. Allison really gets to grips with his guitar on this one laying down some real nice fiery riffs. Excellent! On Elmore James styled Blues Party, Allison continues to open up more on guitar and his vocals are spot on. One of my favorite tracks on the release is You're Gonna Need Me, a slower paced blues number with a solid bass line. Allison is at his best when he sitting back, singing the blues and throwing hot riffs and this is it. Very nice. Wrapping the release is Castle, a quiet acoustic ballad featuring Allison on guitar and vocal. A strong closer for a super release.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

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