Blowout Sale "These Prices Are Insane"

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	It's that time of the year again…the annual end of the year Blowout Sale! This is your chance to get some of Delta Groove's most honored and acclaimed releases at drastically reduced prices. Whether you are looking to get gifts for the holidays or just expand your library of music, this is a sale not to be missed! FOR ALBUM INFO, TRACK LISTING, AND AUDIO CLIPS, CLICK ON THE COVERS BELOW. "Remembering a Legend" PHILLIP WALKER "GOING BACK HOME" "Soul At It's Best" ARTHUR ADAMS "STOMP THE FLOOR" "Randy's Favorite Album" BOBBY JONES "COMIN' BACK HARD" "Discover A Treasure" THE SOUL OF JOHN BLACK "BLACK JOHN" "Grammy Award Winning Band" PHANTOM BLUES BAND "FOOTPRINTS" "Get Your Grease On" JACKIE PAYNE STEVE EDMONSON BAND "OVERNIGHT SENSATION" "Lowdown and Dirty" JOHN LONG "LOST & FOUND" "Contemporary Favorite" FRANK GOLDWASSER "BLUJU" "Destined To Be A Classic" SEAN COSTELLO "WE CAN GET TOGETHER" "The Best of The Best Live" VARIOUS ARTISTS "LIVE AT GROUND ZERO V. 1" "The Best of The Best Live" VARIOUS ARTISTS "LIVE AT GROUND ZERO V. 2" "A Collectors Must Have" ROY GAINES "THE FIRST TB ALBUM" "Out of This Word" JASON RICCI & NEW BLOOD "ROCKET NUMBER 9" "A Real Journey " JASON RICCI & NEW BLOOD "DONE WITH THE DEVIL" "Making The Old New" MANNISH BOYS "SHAKE FOR ME" "Classic" MANNISH BOYS "LOWDOWN FEELIN'" "Bigger, Badder, Blues" MANNISH BOYS "BIG PLANS" "Harp Master" ROD PIAZZA "THRILLVILLE" "Monster Tone" ROD PIAZZA "SOUL MONSTER" "Take A Blues Cruise" ELVIN BISHOP "RAISIN' HELL REVUE" "A True Ledgend" ELVIN BISHOP "RED DOG SPEAKS" "A Cavalcade of Stars" BIG PETE "CHOICE CUTS" "20 Years In The Making" BOB CORRITORE & FRIENDS "HARMONICA BLUES" "American Roots Music" LOS FABULOCOS "DOS" "From Europe With Love" ANA POPOVIC "STILL MAKING HISTORY" "Historical Gem" HOLLYWOOD BLUE FLAMES / HOLLYWOOD FATS BAND "DEEP IN AMERICA" (2 CDS) "A Must Have CD/DVD" ROD PIAZZA & THE MIGHTY FLYERS "FOR THE CHOSEN WHO" (CD/DVD) "2 Gems For The Price of One" HOLLYWOOD BLUE FLAMES / HOLLYWOOD FATS BAND "ROAD TO RIO" (2 CDS) ONLY A LIMITED QUANTITY OF THE SELECTED AUTOGRAPHED CDS ARE AVAILABLE. THEY ARE ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS. ONCE THE LIMITED QUANTITY IS SOLD OUT THEY WILL NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE! NATHAN JAMES & THE RHYTHM SCRATCHERS "WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT" $12.99 (+s/h) CANDYE KANE "SUPERHERO" $12.99 (+s/h) LYNWOOD SLIM & THE IGOR PRADO BAND "BRAZILIAN KICKS" $12.99 (+s/h) THE SOUL OF JOHN BLACK "BLACK JOHN" $12.99 (+s/h) ANA POPOVIC "STILL MAKING HISTORY" $12.99 (+s/h) ANA POPOVIC "BLIND FOR LOVE" $12.99 (+s/h) ELVIN BISHOP "THE BLUES ROLLS ON" $12.99 (+s/h) ELVIN BISHOP "RED DOG SPEAKS" $12.99 (+s/h) ARTHUR ADAMS "STOMP THE FLOOR" $12.99 (+s/h) KIRK FLETCHER "MY TURN" $12.99 (+s/h) KIRK FLETCHER "SHADES OF BLUE" $12.99 (+s/h) MITCH KASHMAR "LIVE AT LABATT" $12.99 (+s/h) MITCH KASHMAR & THE PONTIAX "100 MILES TO GO" $12.99 (+s/h) ELVIN BISHOP "THAT'S MY THING" (DVD) $17.99 (+s/h) THE MANNISH BOYS "DOUBLE DYNAMITE" (2 CDS) $16.99 (+s/h) THE BLUES BROADS "THE BLUES BROADS" (CD & DVD) $15.99 (+s/h) SMOKIN' JOE KUBEK & BNOIS KING "CLOSE TO THE BONE" $12.99 (+s/h) RJ MISCHO "MAKE IT GOOD" $12.99 (+s/h) TAIL DRAGGER & BOB CORRITORE "LONGTIME FRIENDS IN THE BLUES" $12.99 (+s/h)

Charlie Brown/ So Fine/ Splish Splash - Ike Turner & his Kings of Rhythm

Ike Wister Turner (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk. He is most popularly known for his 1960s work with his then wife Tina Turner in the Ike & Tina Turner revue. Growing up in Clarksdale, Mississippi, he began playing piano and guitar when he was eight, forming his group, the Kings of Rhythm as a teenager at high school. He employed the group as his backing band for the rest of his life. His first recording, "Rocket 88" with the Kings of Rhythm credited as "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", in 1951, is considered a possible contender for "first rock and roll song". Relocating to St. Louis, Missouri in 1954, he built the Kings into one of the most renowned acts on the local club circuit. It was there he met singer Anna Mae Bullock, whom he married and renamed Tina Turner, forming the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, which over the course of the sixties became a soul/rock crossover success. In the 1950s, Turner was employed by Sun Studios and Modern Records as an arranger and talent scout for blues artists. Turner recorded for many of the key R&B record labels of the 1950s and 1960s, including Chess, Modern, Trumpet, Flair and Sue.With the Ike & Tina Revue he graduated to larger labels Blue Thumb and United Artists. Throughout his career Turner won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for three others. Alongside his former wife, Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Allegations by Tina Turner in her autobiography of her abusive relationship with Turner and the film adaptation of this coupled with his cocaine addiction damaged Turner's career in the 1980s and 1990s. His name became a synonym for wife beater, which overshadowed his contributions to music. Addicted to cocaine and crack for at least 15 years, Turner was convicted of drugs offenses, serving seventeen months in prison between July 1989 and 1991. He spent the rest of the 1990s free of his addiction, but relapsed in 2004. Near the end of his life, he returned to live performance as a front man and produced two albums returning to his blues roots, which were critically well received and award-winning. Turner has frequently been referred to as a 'great innovator' of Rock and Roll by contemporaries such as Little Richard and Johnny Otis. Phil Alexander (then editor-in-chief of Mojo magazine) described Turner as 'the cornerstone of modern day rock 'n' roll' Turner was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on 5 November 1931, to Beatrice Cushenberry (1909–195?), a seamstress, and Isaiah (or Izear) Luster Turner, a Baptist minister. The younger of two siblings, Turner had an elder sister, named Ethel May. Turner believed for many years that he was named Izear Luster Turner, Jr. after his father, until he discovered his name was registered as Ike Wister Turner while applying for his first passport. He never got to discover the origin of his name, as by the time he discovered it, his parents were both dead. Turner said when he was very young, he witnessed his father beaten and left for dead by a white mob. His father lived for 3 years as an invalid in a tent in the family's yard before succumbing to his injuries. Writer and blues historian Ted Drozdowski has told a different version of the story, stating that Turner's father died in an industrial accident. His mother remarried to a man called Philip Reeves. Turner said his stepfather was a violent alcoholic and they often argued and fought, after one fight Turner knocked out his stepfather with a piece of wood. He then ran away to Memphis where he lived rough for a few days before returning to his mother. He reconciled with his stepfather years later, buying a house for him in the 1950s around the time Turner's mother died. Turner recounted how he was introduced to sex at the age of six by a middle-aged lady called Miss Boozie. Walking past her house to school, she would invite him to help feed her chickens, and then take him to bed. This continued for some years. Turner claimed to not be traumatized by this, commenting that "in those days they didn't call it abuse, they called it fun". He was also sexually molested by two other women before he was twelve. Around his eighth year Turner also began frequenting the local Clarksdale radio station, WROX, located in the Alcazar Hotel in downtown Clarksdale. WROX was notable as one of the first radio stations to employ a black DJ, Early Wright, to play blues records. DJ John Frisella put Turner to work as he watched the record turntables. Soon he was left to play records while the DJ went across the street for coffee. Turner described this as "the beginning of my thing with music."This led to Turner being offered a job by the station manager as the DJ on the late-afternoon shift. The job meant he had access to all the new releases. On his show he played a diverse range of music, playing Louis Jordan alongside early rockabilly records. Turner was inspired to learn the piano on a visit to his friend Ernest Lane's house, where he heard Pinetop Perkins playing Lane's fathers' piano. Turner convinced his mother to pay for him to have piano lessons with a teacher; however he did not take to the formal style of playing, instead spending the money in a pool hall, then learning boogie-woogie from Perkins. . He taught himself to play guitar by playing along to old blues records. At some point in the 1940s, Turner moved into Clarksdale’s Riverside Hotel, run by Mrs. Z.L. Ratliff. The Riverside played host to a great number of touring musicians, including Sonny Boy Williamson II and Duke Ellington. Turner associated and played music with many of these guests. In high school, a teenage Turner joined a huge local rhythm ensemble called The Tophatters, who played dances around Clarksdale, Mississippi. Members of the band were taken from Clarksdale musicians, and included Turner's school friends Raymond Hill, Eugene Fox and Clayton Love. The Tophatters played big-band arrangements from sheet music. Turner, who was trained by ear and could not sight read music, would learn the pieces by listening to a version on record at home, pretending to be reading the music during rehearsals. At one point, the Tophatters had over 30 members, and eventually split into two, with one act who wanted to carry on playing dance-band jazz calling themselves The Dukes of Swing and the other, led by Turner becoming the Kings of Rhythm. Said Turner: "We wanted to play blues, boogie-woogie and Roy Brown, Jimmy Liggins, Roy Milton." Turner would keep the name of the band throughout his career, although it went through considerable lineup changes over time. Their early stage performances consisted largely of covers of popular jukebox hits. They were helped by B. B. King, who helped them to get a steady weekend gig and recommended them to Sam Phillips at Sun Studio. In the 50s, Turner's group got regular airplay from live sessions on WROX-Am, and KFFA radio in Helena, Arkansas. Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, where in 1951 Turner and the Kings of Rhythm recorded Rocket 88, one of the first Rock and roll records. Turner would later work at the studio as in-house producer for Sam Phillips. Around the time he was starting out with The Kings of Rhythm, Turner and Ernest Lane became unofficial roadies for blues singer Robert Nighthawk, who often played live on WROX. The pair sat in playing drums and piano on radio sessions and supported Nighthawk at blues dates around Clarksdale. Playing with Nighthawk allowed Turner to gig regularly and build up playing experience. He would also provide backup for Sonny Boy Williamson II (Alex "Rice" Miller), playing gigs alongside other local blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf, Charley Booker, Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Little Walter. Performances typically lasted for about twelve hours, from early evening to dawn the next day. Turner described the scenario to an interviewer: “ We played juke joints; we'd start playing at 8.00pm and wouldn't get off till 8.00am. No intermissions, no breaks. If you had to go to the restroom, well that's how I learned to play drums and guitar! When one had to go, someone had to take his place. ” It was around this time that Turner and his band came up with the song, "Rocket 88". The song was written as the group drove down to Memphis to record at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios. Turner came up with the introduction and first verse, the band collaborated on the rest with Brenston, the band's saxophonist, on vocals. Phillips sold the recording to Chess in Chicago, who released it under the name "Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats". The record sold approximately half a million copies. In Turner's account book he recorded that he was paid $20. The success of Rocket 88 caused tensions and ego clashes in the band, causing Jackie Brenston to leave to pursue a solo career, taking some of the original members with him. Turner, without a band and disappointed his hit record had not created more opportunities for him, disbanded the Kings of Rhythm for a few years. In the weeks leading up to his death, Turner became reclusive, in contrast to his normal gregarious personality. On 10 December 2007, He told his personal assistant Falina Rasool that he believed he was dying, and would not make it to Christmas. Turner died on 12 December 2007, at 76 years of age, at his home in San Marcos, California, near San Diego. He was found dying by his ex-wife Ann Thomas. Rasool was also in the house and administered CPR. Turner was pronounced dead at 11:38am. The funeral was held on 22 December 2007 at the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, California. Among those who spoke at the funeral were Little Richard, Solomon Burke and Phil Spector. Hundreds of friends, family members and fans attended the service. The Kings of Rhythm played versions of "Rocket 88" and "Proud Mary". On 16 January 2008, it was reported by the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office that Turner had died from a cocaine overdose. "The cause of death for Ike Turner is cocaine toxicity with other significant conditions, such as hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema," Supervising Medical Examiner Investigator Paul Parker told CNN. His daughter Mia Turner was said to be surprised at the coroner's assessment, believing his advanced stage emphysema would have been a bigger factor in his death. On 5 August 2010, Ike Turner was posthumously recognized by his Mississippi hometown. Clarksdale officials and music fans gathered to unveil two markers on the Mississippi Blues Trail in downtown Clarksdale honoring Turner and his musical legacy. The unveilings coincided with the 23rd annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, dedicated that year to "Rocket 88". 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”

Flippin' Out - Studebaker John

Studebaker John Grimaldi was born in an Italian-American section of Chicago and started playing harmonica at age 7. Under the spell of music he heard on Maxwell Street, Chicago’s famed blues melting pot, Grimaldi began performing as Studebaker John and the Hawks in the ‘70s. The band name referenced the Studebaker Hawk, a car Grimaldi still owns today, and was also intended as a tribute to his friend, J.B. Hutto and the Hawks. John began playing guitar after a life-changing experience of seeing Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers perform. “…Hound Dog started playing, hitting notes that sent chills up and down my spine. He was versatile and powerful and would play rhythm as well as leads. I left there knowing what I wanted to do. I had to play slide guitar.” 1978: After playing at various Chicago clubs, John records his first record, Straight No Chaser, released on Retread Records. His second recording, Rocking the Blues, is released in 1985 on Avanti Records. John continues to work clubs and concerts in Chicago and the mid-west region. 1988: Nothin’ But Fun is released in Europe on Belgium’s Double Trouble label. A European tour follows in support of this recording. Due to the success of this release, Born to Win, also on Double Trouble, is released in 1990 resulting in more European tours. At home, John continues to play throughout the Midwest. The Chicago Tribune hails John as “a blues classic”. 1991: John joins the Yardbirds & Pretty Things to record a St. George and Demon Records’ release of classic Chicago Blues. This recording leads to another Demon Records’ release Wine, Women & Whiskey. 1992: Rockin’ The Blues is re-released on the Double Trouble label. 1993: Canadian filmmaker, Atom Egoyan, selects three songs from Nothin’ But Fun and Born To Win to include in his film, Calendar. 1994: John records Too Tough, his 1st release on Blind Pig Records. Also in 1994, Atom Egoyan produces another film, Exotica, featuring two songs from Too Tough. 1995: Nothin’ But Fun is renamed Outside Lookin’ In and becomes John’s 2nd Blind Pig Records release. 1996: John collaborates with record producer Jim Gaines on his 3rd Blind Pig release, Tremoloxe. Studebaker John & the Hawks tour throughout the USA, Canada & Europe in support of this new release. 1997: Time Will Tell, John’s 4th Blind Pig recording, is released. Songs from the CD are featured in the 2001 film Cowboy Up, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Darrel Hannah. John’s music is also used for a CNN/NASCAR Raceway break-theme and in a Ford Thunderbird commercial shown during the 2002 season premiere episode of Fox TV’s “24”. 2001: Howl With The Wolf, released on Evidence Music, revisits John’s roots, one last look at the past before looking exclusively to the future. 2004: The Avanti Records’ release, Between Life & Death, showcases John’s unique songwriting talents, and his blazing guitar and harmonica technique, creating a new sound that transports the blues genre into the 21st century. CD 2006: Avanti Records’ Self-Made Man contains nearly 80 minutes of all original steamy blues and smokin’ blues-rock, incorporating Chicago, boogie, swamp, swing, and harmonica blues, all recorded with a live-in-the-studio sound that is true to Studebaker John’s stage performances. As a songwriter and musician, Studebaker John has emerged as a major creative force in the world of the blues today. Ahead of the pack, with vision and foresight, creating a new standard and landscape for this music’s future… with John at the wheel, the future is now! 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”

LA GUARIDA DEL BLUES

David Gwynn: Guitarra http://www.myspace.com/davidgwynnguitar Troy Nahumko: Guitarra y Voz https://www.facebook.com/TroyNahumko Älberto Gulias: Cajón y voz Reinaldo Rivero: Guitarra Jimmy Barnatán: voz http://www.jimmybarnatan.com/ Caterina Di Placido:Voz Simon Honeyboy Hickling: armónica 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!

Nothing In This World - James Peterson

Alabama-born and Florida-based guitarist, singer, and songwriter James Peterson played a gritty style of Southern-fried blues at times reminiscent of Howlin' Wolf and other times more along the lines of Freddie King. He formed his first band while he was living in Buffalo, New York and running the Governor's Inn House of Blues in the 1960s. He and his band would back up the traveling musicians who came through, including blues legends like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Big Joe Turner, Freddie King, Lowell Fulson, and Koko Taylor. Peterson was born November 4, 1937 in Russell County, Alabama. Peterson was strongly influenced by gospel music in the rural area he grew up in, and he began singing in church as a child. Thanks to his father's juke joint, he was exposed to blues at an early age, and later followed in his footsteps in upstate New York. After leaving home at age 14, he headed to Gary, Indiana, where he sang with his friend John Scott. While still a teen, he began playing guitar, entirely self-taught. Peterson cited musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett), Jimmy Reed, and B.B. King as his early role models. After moving to Buffalo in 1955, he continued playing with various area blues bands, and ten years later he opened his own blues club. Too Many Knots In 1970, Peterson recorded his first album, The Father, the Son, the Blues on the Perception/Today label. While he ran his blues club at night, he supplemented his income by running a used-car lot during the day. Peterson's debut album was produced and co-written with Willie Dixon, and it featured a then-five-year-old Lucky Peterson on keyboards. Peterson followed it up with Tryin' to Keep the Blues Alive a few years later. Peterson's other albums included Rough and Ready and Too Many Knots for the Kingsnake and Ichiban labels in 1990 and 1991, respectively. Don't Let the Devil Ride The album that put Peterson back on the road as a national touring act was 1995's Don't Let the Devil Ride for the Jackson, Mississippi-based Waldoxy Records. Throughout the '90s and up to the mid-2000s, Peterson was also an active live presence on the Tampa, Florida blues scene, and the 2000s also saw Peterson record another duo album with son Lucky, 2004's If You Can't Fix It on the JSP label. Peterson returned to Alabama in the mid-2000s, and died of a heart attack there on December 12, 2010. A master showman who learned from the best and knew how to work an audience, James Peterson left a legacy not only as an accomplished blues guitarist, but also as a crafty songwriter endowed with a deep, gospel-drenched singing style. 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!

The Man Won't Work - Lillian Offitt

b. 4 November 1938, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. On the evidence of her half dozen releases, Lillian Offit was a plain but lusty blues shouter, of small stature and commensurate talent. She was still attending college when she visited the offices of Nashboro Records in the hope of making a gospel record. Owner Ernie Young suggested that she try secular music, and ‘Miss You So’ was issued on Excello in 1957. It was successful enough for her to turn professional, and two further singles were issued, with diminishing success. In 1958 she moved to Chicago to become featured singer with the Earl Hooker band at Robert’s Show Lounge. Through Hooker, she met Me London, owner of Chief Records, and cut her first record for the label in February 1960. ‘Will My Man Be Home Tonight’, heavily featuring Hooker’s slide guitar, became a hit in the Chicago area. ‘My Man I A Lover’, recorded in May 1960, and ‘Troubles’ from a year later, repeated the downward curve of Excello releases. She left music to start a family, preventing her from joining the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival tour, her place taken by Sugar Pie DeSanto. She was last sighted in 1974 as part of the Streakers Rated-X Revue in St. Joseph, Michigan. 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!

Chain Gang - Ry Cooder, Bobby King

The duo of soul singers Bobby King and Terry Evans first teamed on the Los Angeles club circuit of the early '70s; both also enjoyed prolific session careers, and in 1974 lent their distinctive harmonies to Ry Cooder's Paradise and Lunch, the first in a series of collaborations with the acclaimed guitarist. Sessions with artists including Boz Scaggs, John Fogerty, and Bob Dylan followed and in 1988, King and Evans cut their first headlining effort, Live and Let Live!; Rhythm, Blues, Soul & Grooves followed two years later. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi 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!

Car Machine Blues/ Hard Working Man Blues - Memphis Willie B.

Memphis Willie B. (November 4, 1911[1] – October 5, 1993) was an American Memphis blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was known for his work with Jack Kelly's Jug Busters, the Memphis Jug Band, and his resurgence in the 1960s after years away from the music industry. He recorded "The Stuff Is Here" and "Stop Cryin' Blues". His 1961 song, "Overseas Blues", retrospectively expressed the fear of World War II servicemen who had survived the conflict in Europe, of joining the Pacific War William Borum was born in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. He was taught to play the guitar by his father, and busked with Jack Kelly's Jug Busters in his teenage years. He quickly moved on to work with the Memphis Jug Band, who played both locally and at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He extended his repertoire after being taught to play the harmonica by Noah Lewis. Willie B. slowly developed away from a disciplined jug band style, and played at various locations with Robert Johnson, Garfield Akers, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Willie Brown, who periodically travelled up from the Delta to play. Willie B. first recorded at the age of 23, in September 1934 in New York, for Vocalion Records. However, that part of his career was brief as he returned to working locally, in the company of Little Son Joe, Will Shade and Joe Hill Louis. He signed up with the U.S. Army in January 1942, and served in the North African invasion (Operation Torch) in December 1942, and later in Italy. When demobilized he discovered musician's work hard to find, and eventually took up regular paid employment. He only returned to the music industry in the early 1960s, and recorded sufficient material for two albums for Bluesville Records in Memphis in 1961. This provided the impetus for a resurgence in his musical career, and Willie B. played at various music festivals and in coffeehouses. Often he worked alongside Gus Cannon and Furry Lewis, reliving their mutual early Memphis days. Willie B. once stated, "A blues is about something that's real. It's about what a man feels when his wife leaves him, or about some disappointment that happens to him that he can't do anything about. That's why none of these young boys can really sing the blues. They don't know about the things that go into a blues". However, Willie B. abruptly stopped playing in the late 1960s, and little was heard of him prior to his death in 1993 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!

Dennis Gruenling - one of the BADDEST harp players!

 

VIZZTONE NEWS — IMPORTANT STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW! 

NEW DENNIS GRUENLING CD Rockin' All Day!

click the CD to listen or buy at VizzTone.com   ;-)

VizzTone Proudly Welcomes Dennis Gruenling!     DENNIS GRUENLING is without a doubt one of the baddest, swingingest, most innovative harmonica blowers on the planet.  His dynamic style draws inspiration not only from Blues icons like Little Walter, but also from great jazz horn players like Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet. Equally adept at chromatic and diatonic harmonica, Dennis rocks and swings with a vengeance — snapping his fingers,  blowing cool and soulful lines with a natural ease as the band drives with a steady, swinging beat.       “ROCKIN’ ALL DAY” is a solid house party record.  It features Gruenling’s touring partner, singer/guitarist DOUG DEMING, who is also a recently-signed VizzTone artist.  Serious road dogs, in August 2012 Dennis, Doug and the band embarked on an East Coast tour of 28 shows in 26 days!  Doug shares Dennis’s passion for the jump blues that once dominated the airwaves.  He can turn heads with his tasty guitar licks, as his scintillating vocals are punctuated by Gruenling’s potent harp fills. Half the tracks feature Doug’s regular band, The Jewel Tones –the rest of the cuts feature players Dennis has worked with over the years in his road band.  The record was recorded in Sarasota, FL, by Ed Kinder, and in Glen Ridge, NJ, by frequent collaborator and VizzTone labelmate DAVE GROSS.     In his spare time, Dennis can be found teaching other harp players, and every Thursday afternoon you can hear his “Blues & the Beat” radio program on WFDU-FM in New Jersey, with Dennis playing a host of rare records from his vast  collection.

Awarded “Best Modern Blues Harmonica Player” 3 years in a row from REAL BLUES MAGAZINE “Dennis Gruenling has become the new harp player’s harp player…one of the most critically acclaimed of his generation” – JUKE JOINT SOUL “Gruenling is a spectacular harmonica player, easily one of the best recording today…” – BLUES BYTES “Dennis Gruenling is a leading light among a new generation of blues harp players...a true innovator... Gruenling stands poised to claim a spot in the pantheon of blues harp greats” - BLUES REVUE

A Harp Player's Take on Dennis Gruenling's Technique             —by Richard Rosenblatt   (Non harp-playing readers beware:  Turn back now, read no further, lest you catch a glimpse into the dark recesses of a harmonica player's brain.  It's not pretty, and you may turn to salt.)      ROCKIN' ALL DAY by DENNIS GRUENLING is, among other things, a very advanced Blues Harmonica Master Class.  Dennis is above all things MUSICAL, never letting his technical prowess overshadow the feel of the song — nonetheless, his technique is nothing short of monstrous.  He favors third position, chromatics and low-tuned harmonicas (some VERY low), not using anything above a standard Bb diatonic harp on the entire album.  He kicks it off playing "Rockin' All Day" in the key of Bb - 3rd position on a G chromatic (button mostly IN.) He uses that same harp and position on "Saturday Night Fish Fry" and "The Rev", which starts in A (button mostly out) and modulates up to Bb. For the Wynonie Harris classic "Bloodshot Eyes", Dennis blows 3rd position on a Bb chromatic. While Dennis totally nails the big, tongue-blocked chromatic tone pioneered by Little Walter and George Smith, he moves up and down the big harp with a supple, fluid feel that recalls the great Big Band horn players.       Hohner has been custom-manufacturing low-tuned harps for Dennis Gruenling for some time.  Now that they're distributing them to the general public as “Thunderbird” harmonicas, Dennis's picture is on the box, and it's no surprise — he totally OWNS the lower octaves of this instrument.  It takes a special embouchure to control the harmonica's reeds once they go below a "standard" tuning, and Dennis hits every bend with precision, every note with clarity and punch.  "Roll Your Money Maker" begins with Dennis playing a Bb harp, 2nd position in the key of F, then halfway through the solo it drops a full octave as he switches to a LOW Bb harp.  I never even knew these things existed!  He plays a low D in "You Can Do No Wrong", a LOW low G on "Actin' Crazy", and a SUPER LOW F on "What's Wrong With Me."  When he picks up a regular Low F harp for a gorgeous 3rd position take on "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer", it seems positively midrange.       Believe me, this is no novelty act.  Dennis works the lower registers with power and grace, but he also breathes significant new life into the "standard" harmonica tunings. "She's So Pretty", cross harp on a standard Bb, has a classic Chicago attack, much like Walter or Cotton behind Muddy Waters;   "It Went Down Easy" is a cool, down-tempo swing played in 2nd position on an Ab harp; "2:22 A.M.", 2nd position on a Bb harp, gives a nod to Walter's "Sad Hours" (and it IS a couple hours past Quarter to Twelve…) with gigantic tone and tongue flutters; and "Hotso" is a rockin' 3rd position romp on a standard A harp. Dennis blazes new ground with taste and substance, avoiding show-offy riffs for the perfect, swinging groove.       As a harp player, listening to this album is a humbling experience…  but if your ego can take the blow, repeated listens will make you a better player, and a better MUSICIAN.

 

John Henry Barbee, Sleepy John Estes & Hammie Nixon

John Henry Barbee (vocal & guitar), Sleepy John Estes (guitar) and Hammie Nixon (jug) John Henry Barbee (November 14, 1905 – November 3, 1964) was an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born William George Tucker in Henning, Tennessee, United States, and changed his name with the commencement of his recording career to reflect his favorite folk song, "The Ballad of John Henry". Barbee toured in the 1930s throughout the American South singing and playing slide guitar. He teamed up with Big Joe Williams, and later on, with Sunnyland Slim in Memphis, Tennessee. Travelling down to Mississippi he also came across Sonny Boy Williamson I, and played with him off and on for several years. He released two sides on the Vocalion label in 1939 ("Six Weeks Old Blues" / "God Knows I Can't Help It"). The record sold well enough to cause Vocalion to call on Barbee again, but by that time he had left his last known whereabouts in Arkansas. Barbee explained that this sudden move was due to his evading the law for shooting and killing his girlfriend's lover. He later found out that he had only injured the man, but by the time this was discovered, Barbee had moved on from making a career out of playing music. Barbee did not show up again in the music industry until the early 1960s, whereby this time the blues revival was in full swing. Willie Dixon searched out for Barbee, and found him working as an ice cream server in Chicago, Illinois. In 1964 he joined the American Folk Blues Festival on an European tour with fellow blues players, including Lightnin' Hopkins and Howlin' Wolf. In a case of tragic circumstances, Barbee returned to the United States and used the money from the tour to purchase his first automobile. Only ten days after purchasing the car, he accidentally ran over and killed a man. He was locked up in a Chicago jail, and died there of a heart attack a few days later, November 3, 1964, 11 days before his 59th birthday. He is interred in the Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. On May 11, 2010 the third annual White Lake Blues Festival took place at the Howmet Playhouse Theater in Whitehall, Michigan. The concert was organized by executive producer, Steve Salter, of the nonprofit organization Killer Blues in order to raise monies to honor Barbee's unmarked grave with a headstone. The event was a success, and a stone was placed in June, 2010. 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! Discography

Texas Blues Project - Dr Wu

Band mates JIM ASHWORTH and BRYAN FREEZE formed Dr. Wu’ in 2002 after growing up and playing in various bands starting in the late 60’s. The name was taken from a favorite Steely Dan song that encourages us to live life to the fullest and strive to be the very best that we can be. With this as their goal, they set out to record their “Texas Blues” Project Volume I “Fort Worth Artists”… a long ov erdue recorded history utilizing guest appearances by musicians who have made Fort Worth a global mecca of top players… especially great “guitar slingers”. The first being BUDDY WHITTINGTON , a multi-talented guitarist and singer with an endless bag of guitar licks, sounds, and tricks that are always refreshing and are inspiring. Buddy is a permanent member of blues legend, John Mayall’s BLUESBREAKERS band. Buddy lends his talent to three tracks on the CD, including a live version of the popular Gary Nicholson song… “JACKSBORO HIGHWAY” an infamous strip on the Northside of Fort Worth which in the 50’s and 60’s was lined with nightclubs like THE SKYLINER BALLROOM where under aged teens could get in to see their blues heroes like Jimmy Reed, Ray Sharpe, Delbert McClinton and countless others on any given Saturday night. After a chance meeting at The 6th Street Bar & Grill, a local Fort Worth blues venue, long time friend STEPHEN BRUTON instantly agreed to add his creativity to a track. Stephen, a “star” in his own rite, has been a player early on with the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Delbert McClinton, Bonnie Raitt, and countless other greats. Home-grown JAMES PENNEBAKER added his tracks from his home studio in Nashville due to his busy schedule and much sought after talent as a guitar, fiddle, and pedal steel master. James has been a member of the Delbert McClinton, Leroy Parnell and more recently….Big & Rich bands. James is now the Artist Representative for FENDER GUITARS, NASHVILLE. Hammond B-3 master, “RED YOUNG" lends his “classic” B-3 sound on two tracks, teaming up with Stephen Bruton on “Come Back Baby” and guitarist Danny Hubbard on the Charlie Bassham scorcher, “Storm Watch Warning.” “Red” is currently on the road with Eric Burden and the “Animals” and has also toured with Linda Rondstadt, Sonny and Cher, Joan Armatrading, Tanya Tucker, Delbert, and is the front man for his own band, the ever popular.... RED and the RED HOTS. Long time friend CHARLIE BASSHAM, original drummer for THE ATOMIC CLOCK and LEE PICKENS GROUP was enlisted as the third member of DR. WU' after it was apparent that he was the "voice" that was needed to give the "TEXAS BLUES" PROJECT that special magic that would push the project to new levels of "BLUESDOM". The core element of DR. WU' music is is established with the help of MIKE KENNEDY on drums (early on with FREDDY KING), DANNY HUBBARD on guitar, and JERRY HANCOCK on bass...collectively a popular FORT WORTH group, "THE SIDEMEN." Other GREAT musicians who added their individual talents to the project inlude: "MOUSE MAYES" guitarist for BLACK OAK ARKANSAS and POINT BLANK in the 80's and later THE VOODOO KINGS...more recently teams up with BUDDY WHITTINGTON when not on tour with JOHN MAYALL. LEE PICKENS of “D.O.A.” and BLOODROCK fame, adds his licks on two tracks “ROLLO” SMITH laid down a tasty traditional slide guitar on “I DON’T CARE BLUES” BOBBY COUNTS…..Fort Worth’s “OFFICIAL BLUES AMBASSADOR” and bassist extraordinaire contributes on two tracks and….. RANDY CATES the bass man on the popular “LIVE” version of “JACKSBORO HIGHWAY” GARY "OWA" OWEN ...an original member of The LEE PICKENS GROUP...plays his vintage '66 Fender Precision bass on two tracks including the theme song of the album...NOTHIN' LIKE TEXAS BLUES RUSTY BODEN , an original member of THE LEE PICKENS GROUP and THE PARTY CRASHERS plays KEYS on two cuts Drummer DANNY COCHRAN “Fort Worth Shuffles” his way on “HIGH MAINTENANCE BABY” MICHAEL HAMILTON grooves on the keyboards along with THE SIDEMEN on “JACKSBORO HIGHWAY" RODNEY BOWENS of PROFESSOR D fame, blows sax on the new dance craze... “THE FOOL AROUND” YOLANDA WALKER sings soulful backup on “ STOP YOUR LYIN’ ” ...and Last but not least….. “THE WORLDS GREATEST BLUES HARMONICA PLAYER".. GARY GRAMMER plays on three.. Quite the collection of “World Class Musicians” to come from FORT WORTH and be featured on The first Volume of “TEXAS BLUES” PROJECT ! 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!