Out of the Past Music artist: Steve Howell & The Mighty Men - 99 1/2 Won't Do - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, 99 1/2 Won't Do, from Steve Howell & The  Mighty Men and it's a cool, stripped down blues rocker. Opening with I'm A Little Mixed Up, Steve Howell keeps the rocking feel of the James/Johnson composition but ads his own flavor. Leading on vocal and guitar and backed by Chris Michaels on guitar, Dave Hoffpauir drums and Jason Weinheimer on bass and keys. Nina Simone's Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood is covered instrumentally, led by Howell on guitar melody. Traditional blues, God's Gonna Cut You Down, is my favorite on the release with a Hot Tuna or Gary Davis feel. Very nice. Wrapping the release is Apache made popular by The Shadows and The Ventures. With it's solitude guitar melody and reverb, it's a cool closer. 

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Out Of The Past Music: Steve Howell - Gallery of Echoes - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Gallery of Echoes, from Steve Howell and it's a traditional look at traditional blues. Opening with Blind Lemon Jefferson's Stocking Feet Blues, with Howell on vocal and guitar. Howell's vocal style is ideal for this music and his picking style, steady and clean. On Blind Willie McTell's Statesboro Blues, only true blues aficionados are likely to have heard this highly popularized track, stripped down to this acoustic version. Very nice.  All My Friends Are Gone is a somber track and a strong addition to this release. Howell's vocals are sincere and his playing sensitive. Gary Davis', Sit Down On The Banks Of The River is one of my favorite tracks on the release with a great vocal delivery and fluid guitar work. Wrapping the release is Dallas Rag, a cool little guitar ditty giving Howell a cool closer for a solid acoustic blues 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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Blind Racoon Nola Blue Collection Volume 3 - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Volume 3 from Blind Racoon Nola Blue Collection and it's chocked full of tasty tracks. Opening with Time To Forget You, from Willie Bo Walker and Danny Flam, a slow paced blues track with screaming slide and fat horns is always a great start. John Nemeth's contribution, I Can See Your Love Shine, has a cool modified reggae beat with some tasty guitar and harp work with a poppy feel. Clarence Spady's, Surrender is a warm, slow blues with cool, soulful vocals, tight, nicely phrased guitar riffs and crystal clear piano. Laura Tate's I Need A Man, features solid vocals and with punchy horns and snappy drums, and really nice piano work, commands attention. CD Woodbury performs classic, Can't Eat That Stuff No More, with plenty of humor and spunk. Dudley Taft blends blues and rock for The End Of The Blues, with his own stylistic boogie rock and rock guitar styling. Rocker, Memphis Hotline, is Brigitte Purdy's contribution  with plenty of spunk and a driving pace. Acoustic blues, Riverbend Blues is a strong entry with strong vocals and resonator guitar work by Eric Johanson. Mildly funky Red Walls, by Miss Bix, featuring Keeshea Pratt is one of my favorites on the release with real nice vocals and strong blues guitar work. Lisa Mann's It's the Monkeys or Me is a cool blend of country and blues by Lisa Mann. Her vocals are terrific and the guitar work is tight and ripping. Boogie rocker, Pretty Kitty is a strong entry by Paul Boddy & the Slidewinder Blues Band. With it's call and response between lead vocal and guitar and the sailing harmonica, it's hard not to like. Harmonica blues, Blow Fish Blow! is a cool guitar/piano instrumental featuring Elena Keto and Hiroshi Eguchi. Wrapping the release is Skylar Rogers and Back To Memphis. With it's classic bass line and power vocal lead, supported by clean electric guitar riffs, this is a solid closer for NOLA Blue. 

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Out of the Past Music artists: Steve Howell, Dan Sumner & Jason Weinheimer - Long Ago - New release review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Long Ago, from Steve Howell, Dan Sumner & Jason Weinheimer and the title aptly describes the musical journey. Opening with 20's song, Singin' The Blues, Howell on lead vocal and guitar, backed by bassist Jason Weinheimer and with the addition on lush jazz chords and runs by Dan Sumner sets the stage for this easy paced release. Jobim's Dindi has a real nice arrangement with Howell and Sumner playing guitar runs over a Bossa Nova backing. Very nice. Johnny Mercer's ballad, I Thought About You, gets a finger picked overlay by Howell giving it a bit of a country styling but the warm chords of Sumner maintains the jazz richness under Howell's understated vocals. Another jazz standard with  Bossa beat is I'll Remember April and the beauty of the melody is enhanced by the poise of Howell, Weinheimer and Sumner on this instrumental remake. Horace Silver's Song For My Father is another jazz track with a Latin rhythm and Howell's singing of the track pulls your attention more to the lyrics and away from the melody, for me giving it more personal meaning. A very nice track with especially nice guitar work. Wrapping the release is Dave Frishberg's pop track, Z's and the band's lighthearted cover. 

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Out Of The Past Music artists: Steve Howell & Jason Weinheimer - History Rhymes - New Release review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, History Rhymes, from Steve Howell & Jason Weinheimer and it a cool acoustic blues feast. Opening with There'll Be Some Changes Made. an early jazz (blues) style with excellent finger picking by Howell who also sings, with Wenheimer on bass. Very cool. On Blind Lemon Jefferson's Shuckin' Sugar, Howell lays down a basic boogie guitar line with Weinheimer and sets it afloat. Jack Of Diamonds, a traditional folk tune has a really great feel and with the addition of David Dodson on mandolin is a terrific song a features some of Howell's best vocals on the release.  Another terrific track and a known fiddle tune, Frosty Morn, has terrific instrumental traction with Howell, Weinheimenr, and Dodson. Excellent. The richness of Don Sumner's archtop shines through on I Got A Right To Sing The Blues, as he plays a nice guitar duet with Howell, backed by Weinheimer on bass. Howell's vocals are solid and the track very smooth. Wrapping the release is Pine Bluff, Arkansas, a cool old Bukka White track with an old style blues feel and subtle mandolin fill by Dodson. This is a real nice contemporary cover of some classic old tunes. Very nice. 

  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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Out of the Past Music artists: Steve Howell & Jason Weinheimer - A Hundred Years From Today - New Release review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, A Hundred Years From Today, by Steve Howell & Jason Weinheimer, and it's quiet and soothing. Opening with Fats Waller's Lulu's back In Town, Howell shows his clean acoustic finger work and holds down lead vocal while Weinheimer is on bass. Rag style Kansas City Blues has smooth flow and nice tempo. Lightning Hopkins' Going Back To Florida is somber and bluesy with solid vocal emphasis staid guitar accompaniment. Mississippi John Hurt's Louis Collins has super tempo and tight guitar riffs. Blues standard, Basin Street Blues, has an easy pace and nicely articulated guitar lead. Limehouse Blues / After You're Gone has a 20's sound with springy pace and light vocals. Wrapping the release is Hoagy Carmichael's Rocking Chair with a light jazzy sound. Nicely presented chords and lightly peppered fingering by both men make this a cool closer for this 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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Out Of The Past Music artist: Steve Howell & The Mighty Men - Yes, I Believe I Will - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Yes, I Believe I Will from Steve Howell and it is really hauntingly good. The release opens with I Had A Notion, a simple acoustic country rocker not unlike contemporary Eric Clapton on JJ Cale tracks. Walk On Boy is a cool track written by Mel Tillis and long covered by Doc Watson having a distinctive Hot Tuna/ Gary Davis sound. Very cool. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning has long been one of my favorite acoustic blues with spiritual overtones. I was first introduced to this track on the first Hot Tuna release and it has always stuck with me. Howell, who plays most of the acoustic guitar on this release is joined by Chris Michaels on electric guitar on this track and he adds some really cool riffs that are almost unworldly in tone. Love it! Another real eerie sounding track, Country Blues originally written by Dock Boggs is performed here with a lot of authenticity and feeling. There is a real humble but warm feel conveyed by this type of track that makes it hard not to like. Again the acoustic work by Howell is complimented by Michaels and Dave Hoffpauir on drums. Willie Brown's Future Blues is up next with a contemporary beat. Wasted Mind, a Danny Barnes penned track, deserves more exposure. It's a great track with great lyrics and a great melody. This is a track that may not see the airwaves... but it should. The liner notes comment "A mind is a terrible thing to waste as any age"... I like to quote my sarcastic friend Sandy Peterson... A mind is a terrible thing.... :) A pop ballad has crept in here and after now listening to it a few times, it has grown on me. It is Mr Blue written by DeWayne Blackwell of the Fleetwoods in the 50's. Devil's Side has a nice simple blues feel with nice electric guitar accents. This band, though not very polished (a good thing) manages to take just the right note and place it in just the right location to tweak the sound. I really like it! Catch the simple understated guitar work on this track... really nice! You will hear traces throughout this release that sound like the Dead or Hot Tuna but not more than on this track, I Know You Rider, which has been covered by both bands as well as other notables. Rake and Rambling Blade has a very pure sound like those folk tunes left us by our founding fathers and the simple country folk tunes. It is a beautiful melody and nicely executed. If you like simple mostly acoustic country blues and traditional folk music... this is a nice one!

 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”

This track is not on the release but respective of Howell's work.

St. James Infirmary - Steve Howell

Born in Marshall, Texas, Steve lived in Kilgore, Texas, until the age of seventeen, when his family moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. Upon Steve's graduation from Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport, he lived in Dallas, Arlington, Austin, and spent some time in Pennsylvania during 1972-1973. Late 1973 brought the beginning of a hitch in the U.S. Navy which took him to Key West, Florida, and then to Havorfordwest, South Wales, for 3 1/2 years. During this time, he played folk clubs in South Wales, as well as in the South of England with his partner, fingerstyle and slide guitarist and mandolinist, Arnie Cottrell. They also played several folk music gatherings including the Pembroke Castle Folk Festival in the spring of 1976.

Upon his return to the United States in 1977 and his return to Shreveport, Louisiana, he attended Louisiana State University in Shreveport and graduated in 1980 with a degree in Communications. During this time he played on the Shreveport club scene through the late seventies and the eighties, with numerous gigs around East Texas, initially as a duo with guitarist David Dodson in 1977 and then with his partner, Shreveport restauranteur Jim Caskey, beginning in 1978. Steve and Jim have been regular performers at Shreveport's Red River Revel Arts Festival, having played the festival every year, except three, since its inception. Their duo, Howell & Caskey, has opened for Country Joe and the Fish, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, Bugs Henderson, Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones, and shared the stage with blues legend Brownie McGee. They have also played together in rock 'n' roll and blues bands over the years, most notably The Deadbeats and The Movers, with musicians from the Shreveport and the Ark-La-Tex area such as Dave Hoffpauir, Mark Roberts, Chris Michaels, Steve Ramey, and Randy Guynes. They also played traditional jazz and blues as a trio with Kathryn Hobgood singing and playing mandolin for about two years.
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