Booty City - Black Joe Lewis

Joe Lewis is stuffed into a van with his six bandmates and one stranger, as they hurtle across Texas to a gig in Marfa. Most of the guys are sleeping now, content in the knowledge they’ve just made the record of their lives. All killer, no filler, the fittingly titled, take-no-prisoners Scandalous (Lost Highway)—once again produced by Jim Eno, moonlighting from his main gig as Spoon’s drummer—is a churning slab of rock & roll, blues and funk, laced with a double shot of 100-proof punkitude. This band has gotten tight as a gnat’s ass through nearly two years of barnstorming without a break. “We’ve grown a lot as a band, and so has our fan base,” the lanky, enigmatic Lewis acknowledges. “Hopefully it’s still going up, but it will ultimately be what we make of it. As the shows get bigger and we get bigger, we have to keep improving to meet the demand. If we can’t do that, it won’t go anywhere.” From the look in Joe’s eyes as he glances at the one-stoplight towns and endless open country of central Texas whizzing past, you can tell he knows whereof he speaks. While on the road, they also eagerly soaked up the worldly knowledge of touring mates the New York Dolls and Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm. “The Dolls covered Bo Diddley and Sonny Boy Williamson, and so do we,” says guitarist Zach Ernst, riding shotgun in the van, as he does in the band. “That youthful, aggressive, unschooled thing is really appealing to us. That’s what we like to listen to and what we’re shooting for. We’ve had some lineup changes since the first record, but at its core, it’s still the same band, and everyone’s excited to move on to the next stage.” Like his forebears, Lewis writes from direct, often bitter experience with unflinching veracity. The songs of Scandalous are littered with the debris of age-old issues: hard times and one-night stands, lying and cheating, redemption and revenge. Gritty, raunchy and real, his music is not for the squeamish, but experiencing it fully can be genuinely cathartic. The album opens with the funky fantasia “Livin’ in the Jungle,” as Joe wails with tonsil-shredding abandon over a rhythm section erupting like a tropical storm and horns honking like hyenas in heat. “I’ve always said that if I ever got rich, I would go buy a bunch of land in the Congo or the Amazon, build a nice house and have an Amazon woman to hang out with,” he explains, straight-faced. On the following “I’m Gonna Leave You,” the band sends a jolt of electricity through a Mississippi hill country blues template. “It’s about leavin’ a girl, just gettin’ out while you can, before the shit gets too thick,” he says, punctuating the line with a wicked cackle. From there, it’s all hands on deck, as one sonic assault after another rips into the eardrums and the pelvis all at once. The instant-classic highway boogie “Mustang Ranch” recounts, in sordid detail, an overnight drive between Salt Lake City and San Francisco, Joe spinning out the narrative as a revved-up talking blues. “It was a long, ridiculous drive, and we got the idea of stopping at the Mustang Ranch,” he recalls. “We were like, ‘Let’s go, man—we got nothin’ better to do.’ So we stopped in there, and it was a really odd experience.” Here, another quick laugh escapes Joe’s lips. “We figured out that we don’t fit brothels that well, and the girls are all fuckin’ busted. But nobody caught anything. Then we left, and we stopped in Reno at six in the morning. It was a freaky experience. We went into a casino and got a cheap breakfast, and all the burnt-out gamblers were walking the town like zombies out there in the early morning. There were even weird lights hovering in the sky. That song’s a true story, pretty much.” Lewis seems to be channeling Robert Johnson on “Messin’,” which turns on his spooky, low-down vocal and acoustic guitar. “I’m just an old-style blues fan, and I’m tryin’ to do that kind of thing with it,” he says, reeling off the names of his favorite practitioners: Lightnin’ Hopkins, Junior Kimbrough, Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf and Magic Sam. The album’s biggest surprise is “You Been Lyin’,” a torrid, politically-themed workout in the tradition of Parliament-Funkadelic and late-’60s Temptations. Featured on this track are the group vocals of the Relatives, a Dallas gospel funk band that made some criminally under-exposed records three decades ago. “They’re like the greatest band ever,” says Joe, “and I’m glad we got them on there, ’cause they made the track really sweet.” Here and elsewhere, you can also pick up the influence of the Stooges, another of Lewis’ touchstones, in the confrontational physicality of the performances. “People call us a soul band, but we’re more of a rock & roll band,” he points out. “We feel like what we’re doing is different from the soul bands with horn sections that are out there right now,” Ernst adds. “We always joke that we would do that kind of music, but we’re not good enough: our guitars are too loud, we’re too primitive on our instruments, and Joe is more of a shouter and a talking-blues guy than a smooth soul singer. So we’re carving out our own thing because it’s the only way that we can do it. We can’t play it any cleaner or smoother—and we don’t want to, either.” Growing up in Austin and Round Rock, Joe took it all in—Delta and Chicago blues, Memphis soul, Detroit garage punk—and what came out the other end was, and is, unlike anything else out there. “I don’t know, man—I just kinda dove into it,” Lewis continues. “These neighbors of mine were in this country band and they got to go on tour all the time, and I had to go to work in this stupid factory. I was like, ‘Man, I gotta get in on that.’ So I pulled a guitar down off the wall of a pawn shop where I was workin’ at the time and learned stuff as I went along. The people I was playing with wanted to practice all the time, and I was like, ‘No, man, let’s get out there—I wanna try to do this shit.’ I pretty much learned on stage.” After years of struggle to get heard, things started moving fast for Lewis after he and Ernst put together the earliest incarnation of Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, naming themselves after a crusted container of honey they found on the floor of their “disgusting” rehearsal room. They went out with Spoon after Britt Daniel caught a set, and their subsequent, Eno-produced EP caught the ear of Lost Highway’s Kim Buie, who signed them to a record deal. Eno then helmed their 2009 debut album for the label, Tell ’Em What Your Name Is!, much of it cut live off the floor. “The album manages to maximize every incendiary second of sonic sexuality the band is putting out,” raved PopMatters’ Christel Loar. “Make no mistake, Lewis knows his history, but he also knows his moment, too, and it’s now. The Honeybears aren’t afraid to mine the past to make music for the future.” That spot-on assessment goes double now. “We pride ourselves on keepin’ our own style and staying true to the guys we look up to,” says Lewis. “We play the music that we like listening to. It’s always about the music first.” As night falls, the van pulls into Marfa, the musicians rub the sleep from their eyes and stretch their muscles, which will soon be put to use unloading their gear. This is what they live for—another night blowin’ the roof off a shithole in front of a houseful of boozed-up locals looking for a thrill. For the paying customers, it’s a few hours of sweet relief. For Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, it’s another long day and hot night in the life of a working band—seven hungry guys with their eyes on the far horizon. 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 favorite band!

Cordoba Bay Records artist: David Gogo - Christmas With The Blues - New release review

I just received the new David Gogo release, Christmas With The Blues, and it's really cool. Unlike many seasonal recordings where it's mostly campy redo's of traditional tracks, Gogo sets a new table with blues tracks about Christmas. Now this isn't a new concept, but one that I rarely see. This is a cd that for the most part doesn't have every familiar Christmas melody. The recording opens with a Canned Heat number, Christmas Blues. This track is given a traditional blues take and has hot guitar riffs from Gogo as well as some cool piano from David Vest. Christmas on The Bayou, a Gogo original is a funky, smokey blues jam with interlaced harp, bass, solo guitar and percussion with a spoken track over the mix. Christmas Tears is right out of the Freddie King song book and Gogo does an exemplary job on this track both with vocal and stinging guitar retort. Another Gogo original, Let's Get a Real Tree takes a Chuck Berry approach along the lines of Run Run Rudolph with some flaring rock n roll riffs. Charles Brown classic Please Come Home For Christmas gets a straight up cover with some really smooth sax work from Phil Dwyer. Gogo, sings a cool rendition of this track and lays down a nice complimentary light but tight solo. A Lieber and Stoller track, Santa Claus Is Back In Town, gets a real super blues rub and Gogo shows why he is one of the highest respected blues guitarists in the north! This is a smoker! Merry Christmas Baby, a R&B classic gets a pure R&B treatment but with a strong dose of Gogo on guitar. David has a great hand and doesn't overplay but squeezes just the right amount of blues from his instrument. The recording is completed with Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin', a Sir Mack Rice track previously recorded by Freddie King. Gogo gives it a different twist with some more adventurous soloing but keeping with the funky rhythm. This is a cd that if you want blues music any time during the year, this will work. The guitar and playing is that strong. Now if you need to hear the words and sing along...it's a seasonal recording and one that will keep the blues flowing.

  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 video is not from the cd but none were available so if you are unfamiliar with Gogo's work...here's a taste! 

 

SPINNER PREMIERES NEW ALIVE RECORDS LIVE ALBUM "ALIVE AT THE DEEP BLUES FEST" ALL THIS WEEK!

   

ALIVE NATURALSOUND RECORDS TO RELEASE LIVE ALBUM "ALIVE AT THE DEEP BLUES FEST" TOMORROW ON CD, DIGITAL & BBQ SAUCE RED COLORED VINYL!

 

AOL'S SPINNER FEATURES THE EXCLUSIVE "LISTENING PARTY" ALBUM PREMIERE OF "ALIVE AT THE DEEP BLUES FEST" ALL THIS WEEK. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!

 

ALBUM INCLUDES LIVE PERFORMANCES FROM ALIVE RECORDING ARTISTS BUFFALO KILLERS, LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES, RADIO MOSCOW, LEFT LANE CRUISER & MORE!

FREE DOWNLOAD OF LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES' LIVE TRACK "THE RED, RED DIRT OF HOME" FROM ALIVE AT THE DEEP BLUES FEST

Earlier this summer Chris Johnson (owner of Bayport BBQ in the Twin Cities' suburb of Bayport, MN) resurrected his popular Deep Blues Festival for three glorious (sold-out) days of great music, Southern-style BBQ and camaraderie between musicians, fans and friends alike. Far from the corporate sterility of many larger modern music fests, Johnson's Deep Blues Fest instead successfully revived the communal spirit of late '60s and early '70s music gatherings, evoking the vibe of a large summer picnic with family, friends, good food and great music.

The 2012 Deep Blues Fest featured 26 bands from four countries & 16 states. Out of these acts there were seven phenomenal performances from the current Alive roster. Alive At The Deep Blues Fest is the document of these incendiary and unforgettable performances. All 13 tracks were mixed by famed Detroit producer/musician Jim Diamond, who managed to capture the loose and spontaneous feel of live albums produced in the Golden Age of rock'n'roll. Buffalo Killers and Radio Moscow turned in super heavy sets soaked in psychedelia and reverb, while Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires fiercely ripped through their show with a blistering set of songs steeped in Southern rock, R&B, soul, gospel and punk from their critically acclaimed debut LP There Is A Bomb In Gilead - an album that has been helping to define the sounds of The New South. Brian Olive and his backing band melded soulful R&B with technicolor garage-pop for their early daytime set, while the Welsh duo Henry's Funeral Shoe, Left Lane Cruiser and newcomers John The Conqueror perhaps kept closest to the Deep Blues curriculum with their respectively raunchy and heavily amplified modern interpretations of rural gutbucket Delta Blues.

To get a sense of this intimate yet electrifying festival, grab a copy of Alive At The Deep Blues Fest, invite a bunch of good friends over for some food & drink, and PLAY IT LOUD.

Alive at the Deep Blues Fest will be released November 27th through Alive Naturalsound Records in the following formats: CD, Digital and Black Vinyl with mp3 download card & poster, as well as Limited Edition "BBQ SAUCE RED" Colored Vinyl exclusive to the Bomp mail-order.

Chris Johnson and Alive Naturalsound Records will be throwing a special Alive At The Deep Blues Fest Record Release Show featuring Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires on Sat. Dec. 1st at 8:00pm at Bayport BBQ, 328 5th Ave. N., Bayport, MN

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD & SHARE LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES' LIVE TRACK "THE RED, RED DIRT OF HOME" FROM ALIVE AT THE DEEP BLUES FEST

ALIVE AT THE DEEP BLUES FEST TRACK LISTING

01 River Water - Buffalo Killers  
02 It's a Shame - Buffalo Killers  
03 There is a Bomb in Gilead - Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
04 The Red, Red Dirt of Home - Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
05 Traveling - Brian Olive  
06 Bonelle - Brian Olive  
07 Hold On Me - Radio Moscow  
08 Little Eyes - Radio Moscow  
09 24 Hour Blues - Left Lane Cruiser  
10 Rambling on My Mind - Left Lane Cruiser  
11 Three More - John The Conqueror  
12 Be your own Invention/Stranger Dig - Henry's Funeral Shoe
13 Henry's Funeral Shoe - Henry's Funeral Shoe

 

 

LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES TOUR DATES
Nov. 28 The Green Lantern - Lexington, KY

Nov. 29 Firehouse Pizza - Normal. IL

Nov. 30 The Lift - Dubuque, IA
Dec. 1 Bayport BBQ, Bayport, MN (Alive At The Deep Blues Fest Record Release Show)

LEFT LANE CRUISER TOUR DATES
Nov 29  Founders – Grand Rapids, MI
Nov 30  Cricket’s Pub – Muskegon, MI

Dec 15 O'Sillivans - Fort Wayne, IN

Jan 4 North Star - Fort Wayne, IN

JOHN THE CONQUEROR TOUR DATES
Dec 6  Gunners Run – Philadelphia, PA
Dec 27  MilkBoy Philly – Philadelphia, PA

BRIAN OLIVE TOUR DATES

Dec 28 MOTR Pub - Cincinnati, OH

HENRY'S FUNERAL SHOE TOUR DATES 

Nov. 30 Elliot's Bar - Aberdare, Wales

Dec 8 Chapter Arts Centre - Cardiff, Wales
Dec 21 Odin's Rock Club - Ebbw Vale, Wales

Tommy Marsh's Weekly Blues Jam This Wednesday Welcomes VCBS IBC Winner Preston Smith

  

Tommy Marsh & Bad Dog This Week Welcome VCBS IBC Winner
Preston Smith To Wednesday's VCBS-Sponsored Jam@The Tavern  

(Wednesday, November 28)  

   (VENTURA) - SoCal's most talked-about Weekly Blues Jam is the one hosted by guitarist-vocalist Tommy Marsh and Bad Dog at The Tavern in Ventura, where this Wednesday, November 28 Tommy and company welcome Ventura County Blues Society International Blues Challenge winner, Preston Smith. 8-11 p.m. No cover. The Tavern is located at 211 E. Santa Clara. Info: (805) 643-3264. Event link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/380800488672763/?ref=ts&fref=ts.   

     

     Preston Smith is the consummate blues singer-songwriter, harmonica and guitar player whose  resume' includes national television appearances on the Tonight Show, Star Search and  live radio broadcasts on both Coasts. Preston's original song, "Black & White", was recorded by country great Rosanne Cash and was released as a single from her top-selling greatest hits album. During the same period, he appeared on Rodney Crowell's breakthrough Columbia released CD, "Diamonds and Dirt," produced by country music legend Tony Brown: Preston played harmonica and shared background vocals with country star Vince Gill, performing his original song, "Oh, I Love You So", for Touchstone Films feature "Cocktail" starring Tom Cruise. The soundtrack went on to sell over four million copies worldwide. Smith has performed extensively at nightclub and concert venues, performing solo and with his band, The Blue Crocodiles. He has performed on bills with acts as diverse as John Mayall, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bo Diddley, Albert Collins, Asleep At The Wheel, Dwight Yoakum, k.d. lang, Marshall Tucker, Tower of Power, Eddie Van Halen, Gregg Allman, and N.R.B.Q. with Bonnie Raitt. Preston's voice, guitar and harmonica work can be heard on several national television commercials.

  

   Tommy Marsh In the News: Check out in-depth interviews with Tommy in All Access Magazine http://allaccessmagazine.com/2012/10/25/tommy-marsh-and-bad-dogs-jam-band-blues-making-their-mark-on-socal-blues-scene/   and the Ventura County Star (http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jul/05/tommy-marsh-to-help-kick-off-new-blues-series-in/?preventMobileRedirect=1).  

  

                             

                                           

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tommy-Marsh-and-Bad-Dog/187328757996121?ref=ts&fref=ts  

      

Ventura County Star - Feature  

All Access Magazine - Interview/Feature

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”

Fiddle Blues - Eddie South

Eddie South (Louisiana, Missouri, November 27, 1904 – April 25, 1962) was an American jazz violinist. South was a classical violin prodigy who switched to jazz because of limited opportunities for African-American musicians, and started his career playing in vaudeville and jazz orchestras with Freddie Keppard, Jimmy Wade, Charles Elgar, and Erskine Tate in Chicago. He studied at the Chicago College of Music alongside violinist Petrowitsch Bissing. He was influenced by Hungarian folk music and Roma music starting with a visit to Europe in the 1920s, and adapted the music to jazz. In 1927 he started his own group, Eddie South and his Alabamians, named after the Alabam club where they played in Chicago, and, along with pianist and composer Henry Crowder, toured with them in Europe from 1928 to 1930. On subsequent visits to Europe in the 1930s, he performed and recorded with guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinists Stéphane Grappelli. He also played in the big bands of Earl Hines from 1947 to 1949. and Michel Warlop. He also led bands that included pianist Billy Taylor and bassist Milt Hinton. A 1951 recording for Chess Records, Eddy [sic] South and his Orchestra, credited Johnny Pate on bass and arrangements and was also the first of a series of Chess recordings on which Pate collaborated with saxophonist Eddie Johnson 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”

Time is Tight - Booker T & The MGs w/ Al Jackson Jr.

Al Jackson, Jr. (November 27, 1935 – October 1, 1975) was a drummer, producer, and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their own instrumentals. Jackson was called "The Human Timekeeper" for his drumming ability. Jackson's father, Al Jackson Sr., led a jazz/swing dance band in Memphis, Tennessee. The young Jackson started drumming at an early age and began playing on stage with his father's band in 1940 at the age of five. He later played in producer/trumpeter Willie Mitchell's band and at the same time was holding down a chair in the popular Ben Branch Band. Future band mates Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn first saw Jackson playing in Mitchell's band at the all-white Manhattan Club. Jackson became one of the most important and influential drummers in the history of recorded music at Stax, providing an instantly recognizable backbeat behind the label's artists which included Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, and blues guitarist Albert King, who Jackson also produced. In the Seventies, Jackson co-wrote and played on several hits by Al Green, including "Let's Stay Together" and "I'm Still in Love with You". After researching the history of Stax for 10 years, Canadian Grammy award-winning musicology professor Rob Bowman wrote in Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records that four years after the last Booker T. & the MGs album, 1971's Melting Pot, the group got together and decided to wrap up all of their individual productions and devote three years to a reunion of the band. On September 30, 1975, Al Jackson was scheduled to fly to Detroit, Michigan, to produce a Major Lance session, when he heard a reminder on the radio about the Joe Frazier–Muhammad Ali fight that night. Jackson called Detroit to delay and said he was going to watch "The Thrilla in Manila" on the big screen at the Mid-South Coliseum. Though still legally married, Jackson was estranged from his wife. In July 1975, his wife had shot him in the chest. He decided not to press charges, but was in the process of a divorce and was planning to move to Atlanta, Georgia, to begin working with Stax singer/songwriter, William Bell. Jackson attended the screening with Eddie Floyd and Terry Manning, and after the boxing, he returned home to find intruders in his house. He was reportedly told to get down on his knees and then was shot fatally five times in the back. Around 3:00 a.m. on October 1, Barbara Jackson ran out in the street, yelling for help. She told police that burglars had tied her up and then shot her husband when he returned home. Police found nothing in the house out of place and Al Jackson's wallet and jewelry were still on him. The man believed to have pulled the trigger had reportedly known someone in Memphis and after robbing a bank in Florida, told them to meet him over at Al Jackson's house. Tracked through Florida to Memphis and then to Seattle, Washington, the suspected triggerman was killed by a police officer on July 15, 1976 after a gun battle. 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”

Walk That Mess - TINY BRADSHAW

Myron C. ("Tiny") Bradshaw (September 23, 1907 – November 26, 1958) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues bandleader, singer, composer, pianist, and drummer from Youngstown, Ohio Bradshaw was born to Cicero P. Bradshaw and his wife Lillian Boggess. Bradshaw graduated from high school in Youngstown. After graduating from Wilberforce University with a degree in psychology, Bradshaw turned to music for a living. In Ohio, he sang with Horace Henderson's campus oriented Collegians. Then, in 1932, Bradshaw relocated to New York City, where he drummed for Marion Hardy, the Charleston Bearcats (later the Savoy Bearcats), and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, and sang for Luis Russell. In 1934, Bradshaw formed his own swing orchestra, which recorded eight sides in two separate sessions for Decca Records that year in New York City. The band's next recording date was in 1944 for Manor Records, at which point its music was closer to rhythm and blues. He recorded in 1947 for Savoy The band recorded extensively for the rhythm and blues market with King Records between 1949 and early 1955. Bradshaw's best known recording was "Train Kept A-Rollin'" (1951), which passed from rhythm and blues into rock. The song was recorded by Johnny Burnette in 1956 and The Yardbirds in 1965. It was covered again by Aerosmith in 1974 and by Motörhead in 1978. Bradshaw's later career was hampered by severe health problems, including two strokes that left him partially paralyzed. His last session in 1958 resulted in two recordings, "Bushes" and "Short Shorts" (King 5114), which proved an unsuccessful attempt to reach out to the emerging teenage market. Weakened by the successive strokes as well as the rigors of his profession, Bradshaw died in his adopted hometown of Cincinnati from another stroke in 1958. He was 53 years old. 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 favorite band!

A Fool in Love - Ike and Tina Turner

Anna Mae Bullock (born November 26, 1939), better known by her stage name Tina Turner, is an American singer whose career has spanned more than half a century, earning her widespread recognition and numerous awards. Turner started out her music career in the mid-1950s as a featured singer with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, first recording in 1958 under the name Little Ann with the song, "Box Top". Her introduction to the public as Tina Turner began in the early 1960s with Ike as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.Success followed with a string of notable hits including "River Deep – Mountain High" (1966) and "Proud Mary" (1971). Turner later revealed several severe instances of domestic abuse on her autobiography, I, Tina, against her by Ike Turner prior to their 1976 split and subsequent 1978 divorce. Raised a Baptist, Turner converted to Buddhism in 1974, crediting the religion and its spiritual chants for getting her through difficult times in her life. Following her divorce from Ike Turner, she rebuilt her career by constantly performing, eventually launching another series of hits starting in 1983 with the single "Let's Stay Together" and the 1984 release of her fifth solo album Private Dancer. "What's Love Got to Do with It," the most popular single from the album, would later serve as the title of a biographical film about Turner that was adapted from her autobiography. In addition to her music career, Turner has also experienced success in movies, including a role in the 1975 rock musical, Tommy and a starring role in the 1985 Mel Gibson action flick, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, later appearing in a cameo role in the 1993 film, Last Action Hero. One of the world's most popular entertainers, Turner has been called the most successful female rock artist, and was named "one of the greatest singers of all time" by Rolling Stone. Her combined album and single sales total approximately 180 million copies worldwide. She is known for her energetic stage presence, powerful vocals, career longevity, and widespread appeal. In 2008, Turner left semi-retirement to embark on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. Turner's tour became one of the highest selling ticketed shows of 2008–2009. Rolling Stone ranked her at 63 on their 100 greatest artists of all time and considers her the "Queen of Rock and Roll" 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 favorite band!

My Babe - Manda Mosher

Not many can claim they are a sixth generation Californian, let alone Angeleno. Manda Mosher can. Still what does that mean? It’s not as easily defined as saying you are a sixth generation New Yorker, or Bostonian for that matter. Manda’s first ancestor to settle in the region came to Downtown Los Angeles in the 1800’s from Delhi, New York after the Civil War; additional family followed establishing a chicken farm in the Valley in 1911. Manda Mosher grew up in the town of La Crescenta, just outside of Los Angeles. A sleepy and secluded community located at the foot of the mountains just North of Pasadena. Close enough to the city of angels that Manda was well versed in the Hollywood music scene, but just far enough away that she could peek over the fence and gaze upon it from a safe distance. The title track of Manda’s last EP release “City of Clowns” was written about her relationship with Los Angeles, which she describes as a love/hate sort of affair, as depicted in the song. Although the lyrics can relate to any city to some degree, Manda admits she has often thought of leaving Los Angeles, but it is her family that has continued to keep her here. “I’ve always felt sadness for this town. I’ve watched all these people come and go, taking what they can, getting famous, getting rich, with little regard for the community and the people that call it home. On the other hand the opportunities are endless here.” Manda grew up in a musical household, picking up her grandfather’s Gibson ukulele at the age of five. Her father played flamenco guitar and her mother sang, so music was an integral part of her daily family life. Learning her father’s flamenco tunes from memory, she quickly developed her ear and interest in music. Intently studying her parent’s musical library, Manda spent many an afternoon lying on the floor reading Neil Young liner notes with her ear to the stereo speakers listening to the likes of Bob Dylan, The Doors, The Beatles and Leo Kottke. Writing and singing would prove to be a more natural form of communication than talking for Manda. Often feeling tongue-tied, “I found I would leave encounters thinking ‘I wish I would have said…’ and this would give me the impetus to sit down and compile my thoughts along with images and poetry and set it to song. This was and still is my most powerful form of communication,” Manda explains. After high school, Manda sought to leave the distractions she found in Los Angeles behind to find a serious place for her to study music. Seeking out like-minded musicians to play with, she enrolled in Boston’s Berklee School of Music. There she would hone her talents playing guitar and piano, learning theory and reading and writing music. Manda returned to Los Angeles after graduation, the pull of her family and the city brought her home. However she soon learned that touring could also provide a good escape from Los Angeles when she needed. ‘The best part of touring is getting out to realize how big the world is while making new connections with people you may never have met otherwise. Being on the road naturally puts miles between you and everything at home, bringing with it a new freedom that allows you to break your everyday routine and just live in the moment.” Manda’s EP City of Clowns is the follow up to her critically acclaimed debut album on Red Parlor Records, Everything You Need of which All Access Magazine remarked, “This hurricane blows you away with her mighty skills on harmonica, her magnificently haunting alto and inspired songwriting.” Along with the original title song, “The Only One” is a straight up love song that reflects that desire to be the only true love in your partner’s life. “State Trooper” is a Bruce Springsteen song from the Nebraska album that Manda expresses she has “always felt a connection to lyrically and the melodic sense of isolation and running from imminent capture.” After playing the song live, Manda decided to record it for the EP on which she wanted to take a more stripped down authentic approach to recording and production. She aimed to reproduce what the band sounds like playing live, without the slick bells and whistles, again attempting to leave Hollywood behind. Searching for that sense of community, that realness that is often elusive in Los Angeles, Manda found it in her label Red Parlor Records whom she signed with in September 2008. It was through her profound love of Chris Whitley’s music that Manda would discover Red Parlor Records, as they were the label to release Chris’ last album Reiter In. Manda organically found a business partner in Red Parlor’s Steven Goff who then led her to meet her manager Gregg Bell. “Having a team on board has been so inspirational to me, to not feel like I am going through this alone all the time,” Manda explains. Last year with the release of her first album on the label Everything You Need, Manda performed on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson and opened for and sang with Jackson Browne. “These were childhood dreams come true for me.” In spite of her complicated liaison with Los Angeles, the city has long laid claim to Manda and her talent. She has received multiple Los Angeles Music Awards including “Female Singer-Songwriter of the Year” and “National Touring Artist Of The Year”, has garnered airplay on KCRW and NPR/AAA/Americana stations across the country, and worked for the GRAMMY organization for several years. 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 favorite band!

Cry Baby - Garnet Mimms And The Enchanters

Garnet Mimms (born Garrett Mimms, 16 November 1933, Ashland, West Virginia) is an American singer, influential in soul music and rhythm and blues. He is best known for the hit "Cry Baby" (later recorded by Janis Joplin) and "A Quiet Place," a popular song in the Carolina Beach Music community. Mimms grew up in Philadelphia, where he sang in gospel music groups such as the Evening Stars, the Harmonizing Four, and the group with which he would record his first record in 1953, the Norfolk Four. He returned to Philadelphia after serving in the military and formed doo-wop group, the Gainors in 1958. In 1961, Mimms and Sam Bell from the Gainors left to form a new group, Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, with Zola Pearnell and Charles Boyer. The group moved to New York and began to work with the songwriter and record producer, Bert Berns. Berns signed them to the United Artists label and wrote the hit, "Cry Baby" for them with songwriting partner Jerry Ragovoy. The song topped the R&B chart and went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1963. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Mimms and the group had a follow-up double sided hit, "For Your Precious Love" and "Baby Don't You Weep", both tracks entering the Billboard Top 30, before he went solo in 1964. In 1966, Berns and Ragavoy produced another big hit for Mimms, "I'll Take Good Care Of You", which climbed to #15 in the R&B chart and #30 in the Hot 100. He worked with Jimi Hendrix in the UK the following year. He did some recording on the MGM and Verve labels. In 1969, Led Zeppelin performed an extended version of Mimms' "As Long As I have You" at various stops on their U.S tour. In the 1970s, he released a few funk songs as Garnet Mimms and the Truckin' Co. He had his only hit in the United Kingdom at this time, when "What It Is" reached number 44 for one week on the UK Singles Chart in June 1977. Mimms was given a Pioneer Award in 1999 by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In the 1980s, Garnet found his calling ministering to lost souls in prison, but in 2007, returned to recording and a year later, released a new gospel album Is Anybody Out There? on the Evidence label, produced and (primarily) written by Jon Tiven. 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 favorite band!

Blind Pig Signs Jimmy Vivino!

BLIND PIG SIGNS JIMMY VIVINO!

Leading American roots music label Blind Pig Records has announced the signing of Jimmy Vivino and the Black Italians.   For the recording sessions Vivino will reunite his R&B influenced band The Black Italians for two shows in front of live audiences at Levon Helms Studios in Woodstock, New York. The shows will take place on Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1. In addition to Vivino on guitar the band features Mike Merritt (bass), James Wormworth (drums), Felix Cabrera (harp/vocals), Gov't Mule's Danny Louis (keys), Catherine Russell (vocals), Fred Walcott (percussion) and Mike Jacobson (percussion).
For the past two years guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader Vivino has enjoyed a high-visibility gig as the musical director for Jimmy Vivino and The Basic Cable Band, the house band for the TBS late night program "Conan."  Vivino has been a consistent element in Conan O'Brien's late night TV career, starting with the first episode of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in September 1993.  In June of 2008 he moved from New York to Los Angeles to work on "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien."
When not appearing weeknights on TBS, Vivino divides his time between recording sessions and live gigs throughout the country.  In addition to his solo work, Vivino plays with the successful Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux. He has also recorded and played with such legends as Johnnie Johnson, Hubert Sumlin, Son Seals, Levon Helm and Al Kooper. Earlier in his career Jimmy got his start producing, playing and arranging for such artists as Phoebe Snow, Laura Nyro, John Sebastian, Donald Fagen and Felix Cavaliere.  Prior to landing in television, Vivino worked on Broadway and in film.
The Black Italians were originally formed twenty years ago around a residency at the legendary Downtime Music Bar on W. 30^th Street in New York City.  Vivino, Merritt and Wormworth, who had been serving as the band for the legendary pianist Johnnie Johnson, started attracting local and national touring musicians to their shows eager to participate in impromptu jams of what Vivino describes as "Third World blues with New Orleans swagger."   Vivino jokingly dubbed the communal group of musicians of various ethnicities "The Black Italians," which he says was really "about being soulful cats."  The aggregation lasted about two years, until Vivino became too busy with his television gig.
Jerry Del Giudice of Blind Pig recently suggested to Jimmy that he get the band back together for a recording.   Says Vivino, "I was taken by surprise when Jerry asked, but it was the perfect thing, because it really excited me."
The group has only made a few select appearances in recent years (including a notable gig at New York's Cutting Room in 2008).  While at Helm's barn, The Black Italians will host a public rehearsal on Friday, and record a live album on Saturday. The Black Italians' Friday show is described as an interactive rehearsal.

THE MESSIAH WILL COME AGAIN - Carole Pellatt & BONEYARD

CAROLE PELLATT is a freelance guitarist from Montreal CANADA, currently living in Phoenix, Az. She plays all styles of guitar, from acoustic fingerstyle to rock lead guitar. She performs with many different groups, both freelancing and in bands of her own. She is available for hire in all styles of performance; in ensemble, and solo playing, as well as recording. she's worked as a musical director for awards shows, musical consultant for films, and she also teaches privately. Carole conducts "Jamming Worshops" designed to help people of all ages learn how to play in bands. She has had three musical groups associated with the Arizona commission for the arts and is also Phoenix director for the national Rock Camp, "CAMP JAM". In addition to freelancing, Carole has several musical projects that she plays with on a regular basis. On the “my projects” page you will see a link to each of her bands. there will Also be a place to either hear or see the band or project listed on that page. Please check out her YOUTUBE CHANNEL to listen to Carole's guitar playing. And be sure to go to the "contact info" page of this site if you'd like her for your next project, gig, or lesson- or if you just need someone to fill in. All the bands on this website are available for performances, public or private, personal or corporate, and Carole is available for private lessons, online lessons, band coaching, and group teaching. 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”

Bettye LaVette plays London JazzCafe on Tuesday December 11

Celebrates 50 Years in Music

New Album: "Thankful N' Thoughtful"
UK Release Date: Monday 1st October 2012

December 2012 European Tour Announced

R&B legend Bettye LaVette is set to mark her 50th anniversary in the music world with the upcoming release of her new album, Thankful N’ Thoughtful, released by ANTI-Records in the UK on Monday 1st October.
Produced by Craig Street (Norah Jones, Joe Henry, k.d. lang, Meshell Ndegeocello, John Legend, Charlie Sexton, etc.), Thankful N’ Thoughtful features a selection of contemporary tracks written and previously recorded by Bob Dylan, The Black Keys, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Patty Griffin, Gnarls Barkley and others.
Bettye consumes the songs in their entirety, rearranges them deep within her soul and exorcises them as her own, through her voice filled with longing, rage, desire, despair, survival and victory.
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” Bettye’s voice is rough, tender, and sensuous. Her voice is her instrument of inspiration; her dynamic power seethes throughout each song, wringing out the pathos, sharing her hard earned wisdom and story throughout these tales of her reinvention.
Bettye will support the European release of the album with a string of concerts in the UK and Europe during December 2012. She will perform one date in the UK only at the London’s JazzCafe.

JazzCafe, London
Tuesday 11th December 2012
Tickets from: £22.50 / Doors 19:00
Table Reservations: 0207 688 8899
Ticketmaster: 0844 847 2514, See Tickets: 0870 0603 777
HMV Tickets: 0843 221 0100, JazzCafe Box Office: 0207 485 6834
Email: boxoffice@jazzcafe.co.uk / www.jazzcafe.co.uk
JazzCafe, 5, Parkway, Camden Town, London, NW1 7PG

Thankful N’ Thoughtful opens with the funk injected Bob Dylan cut Everything Is Broken and when Bettye moans and howls the title refrain you have no doubt as to the trouble she’s seen.
On Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, she slows it down just a bit, then wrings every drop of sweat and blood from each and every syllable till your spine tingles, with Dirty Old Town (The Pogues/Rod Stewart), Bettye reworks the lyrical setting to Detroit - singing about her first love at Northern High and the Detroit race riots.

When she takes on The Black Keys’ I’m Not The One, the sensual grit of the song sizzles with her all-knowing rasp. “I’m Not the One” is now available at all digital outlets and the video can be seen below.

Bettye LaVette sings The Black Keys' "I'm Not The One"

Every song here is a testament to her life and her unrivaled skill for interpretation. By the time Bettye’s finished recording a track, she has fully inhabited the body and soul of the song. From Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, to Savoy Brown’s I’m Tired to the title track Thankful N’ Thoughtful, a lesser known gem by Sly & The Family Stone, Bettye expels every word with such visceral passion, you can feel her in the present moment.

From my ankle to the top of my head
I’ve taken many chances, Lord
And I could have been dead
I started climbing from the bottom
All the way to the top
Before I knew it I was up there
Ya’ll can believe it or not
And that’s why I’m so thankful
Lord and I’m thoughtful
I think about it all the time
I’m trying to tell ya that I’m thankful
And I’m thoughtful”

Bettye LaVette - Thankful N' Thoughtful

Track Listing

1. Everything is Broken (Bob Dylan)
2. I’m Not the One (Daniel Auerbach/Patrick Carney)
3. Dirty Old Town (Ewan MacColl)
4. The More I Search (The More I Die) (Kim McLean)
5. I’m Tired (Chris Youlden)
6. Crazy (Brian Burton/Thomas Callaway/Gian Piero Reverberi/Gian Franco Reverberi)
7. Yesterday Is Here (Tom Waits)
8. Thankful N’ Thoughtful (Sly & The Family Stone)
9. Fair Enough (Beth Nielsen Chapman)
10. Time Will Do the Talking (Patty Griffin)
11. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (Neil Young)
12. Dirty Old Town (slow version)

Musicians

Bettye LaVette – vocals
Chris Bruce - guitars
Jonathan Wilson - guitars, banjo
Glenn Patscha - piano, keys, backing vocals on "Crazy"
Jennifer Condos - bass
JJ Johnson - drums, percussion
Steven Bernstein - brass on "Yesterday Is Here"
Douglas Wieselman - reeds on "Yesterday Is Here"

Bettye LaVette - UK/European Tour Dates 2012

05 Dec – Paris (FR) - The Alhambra
07 Dec – Bordeaux (FR) - Casino de Bordeaux
08 Dec - Conflans-Saint-Honorine (FR) - Theatre Simone Signoret
09 Dec – Lille (FR) - Casino de Lille
11 Dec – London (UK) – London JazzCafe
14 Dec – Leuven (BE) - Depot
16 Dec – Amsterdam (NL) – MC Theater
17 Dec – Utrecht, (NL) – Tivoli Oudegracht

Bettye LaVette Web Links

Betty LaVette - Official Website
www.bettyelavette.com

Betty LaVette - Official Facebook
www.facebook.com/bettyelavette

Betty LaVette - Official Twitter
https://twitter.com/BettyeLaVette

Betty LaVette - ANTI-Records Page
www.anti.com

Bettye’s explosive autobiography, A Woman Like Me, will be available from Amazon and iBooks on 27th September 2012

 

GLA Records artist: Gary U.S. Bonds - Christmas Is On - New Release Review

I just received a copy of the new release, Christmas Is On, by Gary U.S. Bonds. Bonds wastes no time whatsoever getting the party started with a Chuck Berry like track called Christmas Is On. Second up is Santa Claus is Coming To Town done swing rock style with juicy sax work by Joey Stann. It's Christmas In Nu Awlins has the real flavor of Bourbon Street with strong sense of rhythm and tight little guitar riffs. We Wish You A Merry Christmas, an original track by Bonds, has a a strong R&B sound and again strong sax work by Stann. Christmas Is A Phone Call Away again has a strong New Orleans sound and solid sax work reminiscent of Boots Randolph. Classic White Christmas gets a 50's take with wife Laurie Anderson and daughter Laurie C. Anderson on lead vocals. Santa Bring My Baby Home To Me gets the full boat reggae treatment and keeping with the light party flavor. Why Don't You Spend Christmas With Me is a straight up rock and roll track with some hot guitar riffs from songwriter Mark Leimbach. 'Tis The Season To Be Loving You, written by bandmate and guitar player Paul Zunno, is a relatively clean rock track which has the musical sophistication of a non seasonal song but of course with seasonal lyrics. baby, Baby It's Christmas, another Zunno composition is another sophisticated track with a nice melody. This is overall a very cool Christmas package. If you're looking for a new cd to listen to for the season or just need to add some variety to your existing stash, I think you'll find this a great addition.

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!olor: #cc0000;"> -  ”LIKE”

The following track is not from the cd but a sample of Bonds on seasonal work. 

  

The S A Blue Cats featuring Curley Mays

San Antonio, Texas, where old Spanish architecture meets concrete, glass and steel, is one of the most pleasant cities in the United States in appearance. It is centered around its mecca, the fascinating Alamo. Just a few blocks away, a story below street level on the River Walk, gondolas loaded with tourists float past scores of restaurants, clubs and specialty boutiques rising above the banks of the winding San Antonio River. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketCurley Mays circa1954 East of the downtown area, across the tracks in the older black section of town, is Curley Mays' house, a few blocks from one of the old main drags, Cherry Street. Curley is an earnest, thin man who comes from a musical family. In addition to his famous uncle, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and first cousin Phillip Walker, there is singer and drummer James "Widemouth" Brown; Gatemouth's other brother, Wilson "Gapmouth" Brown, who Curley said was not a singer; Phil's younger sister Violet; Curley's younger brother Winfred Mays (a jazz guitarist who still lives in Beaumont, Texas); and Curley's father, Jessie Mays, who played unamplified guitar in small clubs, and said Curley, had a sound like Muddy Waters. Somewhere in this picture, Gatemouth's guitarist Pete Mays and bassist Willard Mays, also fit in. Born in Maxie, Acadia Parish, Louisiana (out from Crowley) on November 26, 1938, Curley grew up in Beaumont, Texas. Inspired by the success of Gatemouth, Curley took up the guitar at age 14 or 15. He never learned to read music, and plays by ear. Curley Mays circa 1954 Curley's first public appearance was at a street dance in Beaumont when he was about 15. He appeared at the local Chaney's Club while he completed 10th, 11th and 12th grades at high school in Beaumont. He finished school in 1957. By l958, Curley had moved to Dallas, where he was booked by Howard Lewis through 1960. Curley recalls working with Jerry Butler and Jackie Wilson's drummer, sometime in 1958. Dissatisfied with progress under Lewis' wing, Curley joined Etta James' group in the latter part of 1959 and stayed with her until 1963. During this time. they based mainly in Chicago, but they spent a great deal of time on the road, touring the U.S. and performing one-nighters. A studio group was used on her albums, however, and Curley did not record with her. At that time he was also booked by Universal Attractions, and appeared in his own right in the Curley Mays Show, in which he intrigued audiences with his repertoire of guitar tricks. The three years with Etta form one peak in Curley's career: He appeared at the Apollo Theater in New York in two separate shows. One included Etta, Curley, Jackie Wilson, and the Duals; the other featured Etta and Curley with Joe Henderson and the Isley Brothers. With Etta's band when she and Curley appeared at the Hideaway Supper Club in Los Angeles were: Plas Johnson, Clifford Scott and Robbie Robinson on saxes, Bert Kendrix on organ, and Wayne Robinson on drums. Jo-Jo Adams was also featured. Curley also recalls working with saxman Garneil Cooper at the Palladium Ballroom in Texas. After leaving Etta's band, Curley appeared at Seguin, Texas in August 1963, before spending a few years based in Houston. By February 1964 he was appearing at Ray Barnett's Cinder Club on Dixie Drive in Houston, with Carolyn Blanchard and Lobi-Siki, a one-legged torch dancer. In April '64 JET magazine ran a picture of Curley together with Barbara Lynn, and in July he was still at the Cinder Club, this time with Carolyn Blanchard and Joy Ann Tobin. Around that time, Curley made a tour of Oklahoma and Texas with the Five Royales. He also opened for James Brown, Willie John, Tina Turner, L. C. Cooke (Sam Cooke's brother), comedians Clay Tyson (later with James Brown) and Redd Foxx, the Nicholas Brothers, Billy Eckstine, Fats Domino, Ruby and the Romantics, Nat King Cole and others. Curley also traveled extensively with the Houston-based band Julia Jones and the Rivieras. He was still based in the Beaumont-Houston region in 1965, when Beaumont DJ "Boogie" Belton arranged publicity for him in the Forward Times of Houston. In February, Curley was back at the Cinder Club, this time with Mickey Mosely, Sandra Smith and Little Rickey Williams. Later in the year, Curley played Las Vegas in a show featuring the Nicholas Brothers, Sally Blair, Steppin Fetchit, and Mimi Delores (of FBI fame).Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketCurley Mays at home in the 60's Curley at home in the '60s In 1966, Curley struck out as far north as Montreal, Canada before returning to Texas. This time he concentrated on San Antonio, appearing at King Arthur's Court on the North Side and Johnny Phillips' Eastwood Country Club. Curley's band at the Eastwood at that time was Herman Adams on tenor sax, the late Chester Douglas (also on tenor), "Ralph" on electric bass, Mary Parchman on organ, and Sokol Richard, who later became Ike and Tina Turner's drummer. Like a number of other Texas bluesman, Curley played rock and Country Western songs for his audiences. Although his personal preference is for the blues, long stints at the Eastwood Country Club (where the audiences were predominantly white) markedly shaped his song list. For example, he played "Help Me Make It Through the Night," "Easy Lovin'," "Cotton Fields" and "Oh, Susannah." Curley's blues and soul repertoire included "That's What Love Will Do," "Two Steps from The Blues," "Do What You Set Out to Do," "Where Did Our Love Go" and B.B.'s "I Don't Want a Soul Around My Door." Curley interrupted his stay at the Eastwood in 1968/69 and returned to Houston, again appearing at the Cinder Club. But he came back to San Antonio, where he and his wife, Lula Mae, had a son in 1970. Curley was planning a tour around the state and possibly further for the summer of 1972 but was in the meantime still at the head of the Eastwood house band, "The Brothers Seven," on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. During one '70s Eastwood show, Curley played a Fender Stratocaster in his act, which lasted about 30 minutes. When he first came onstage, he warmed up with some guitar tricks. While singing "How Blue Can You Get" he bent the bottom four strings up about halfway up the neck, then let them go singly, still keeping them in tune. Having won the crowd's attention, he sang a slow, then usually a fast blues, before going into the most unusual part of the act. Curley took off his shoes, revealing that he wore socks with the toes cut out of them. He then played the instrument with his toes!Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketCurley Mays in 70's Curley in the '70s Depending on the mood of his crowd, Curley ended his blues segment with a slow or fast blues. The next part of the act found him in cowboy hat, singing a Country Western medley, followed by a Spanish set (in a sombrero, of course). Curley had more up his sleeve: if the audience wanted pop or soul, he would it sing it. There were other tricks, too, such as making the guitar sing ("false" or "fake" singing, as he called it), playing it behind his head, and so on. After a long period of retirement, Curley has begun frequenting San Antonio blues spots, listening enthusiastically and intently, and sometimes, with a great deal of encouragement, even sitting in for a song or two with several local bands. Curley recently dusted off his classic Strat and performed for his boss' retirement party. Fans who remember him from the glory days of the Eastwood look forward to his comeback 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”

Hosea Leavy

Guitarist-vocalist Hosea Leavy hails from a small crossroads town called Althermer, Arkansas, located out about 26 miles from Little Rock. Born in 1927, he learned how to play guitar at an early age from his father, also a blues player in the 1920s and '30s, and soon started performing at house parties and work camps in the late 1940s. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950, Leavy honed his guitar skills performing at USO shows. In 1954 he formed a blues group featuring his younger brother, Calvin Leavy, who was a notable singer. In 1968 fame came to the Leavy brothers when Calvin recorded the blues classic "Cummins Prison Farm," based on the notorious prison work camp in Arkansas, and later made into a film called "Brubaker," starring Robert Redford. The record, released on Soul Beat/Blue Fox, sold over one million copies. The group toured extensively through much of the south with the success of the song. In 1969 Hosea released solo efforts on Riceland Records, backed by Mississippi harp player Willie Cobbs. In 1977 Hosea moved to West Fresno, California and continued his blues career. He has appeared on a number of CDs, including "You Gotta Move," on the New York-based label Fedora. He has performed at blues festivals in Europe. 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”

Driftin & Driftin - Jerome Arnold w/ The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Jerome Arnold is an American bassist, known for his work with Howlin' Wolf and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s. His playing appears on the albums The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and East-West. He was a member of the Butterfield Band at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, and was among the musicians who supported Bob Dylan for his controversial performance at that Festival. Butterfield dropped out of college to devote himself full-time to music. His first break came when Big John’s, a Chicago blues bar, invited him and Bishop to play regularly. They accepted, and put together the Butterfield Blues Band, luring bass player Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay away from Howlin Wolf’s band with promise of more money. The band was one of the first racially mixed blues groups. In 1965, they brought Michael Bloomfield, who was also playing around Chicago at the time, in to play lead guitar. The group’s energy stunned the Chicago blues scene and it wasn’t long before they had a recording contract with Elektra Records. While they were making that first album, Mark Naftalin sat in on Hammond organ. His contribution—to eight of the album’s eleven cuts—was so impressive that he stayed in the group after the sessions were finished. The band was renamed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Jerome Arnold, a year younger than his more famous harmonica-playing brother Billy Boy Arnold, was born in Chicago on November 12, 1936. He was playing bass guitar in the city in the 1950s and from around 1957 played in HOWLIN WOLF’s band (though he didn’t play on Wolf’s records till the 1962 session that yielded ‘Tail Dragger’, to which the lyric of Dylan’s 1990 blues ‘Cat’s In The Well’ slyly alludes.) He and SAM LAY were poached from Wolf in 1963 by PAUL BUTTERFIELD, who was forming the pioneering Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Arnold and Lay were the bi-racial band’s black members, and the authentic Chicago blues rhythm section on which the band’s white soloists built. Arnold kept things solid when MIKE BLOOMFIELD introduced Indian music into the band on their second album, East-West, yet while reportedly uneasy with the ‘progressive’ organ-playing of Mark Naftalin (who joined in 1964), he was more than capable of laying down jazz-rooted bass lines flowing around behind Bloomfield on the 8-minute-long ‘Work Song’, which emerged on the Bloomfield compilation Don’t Say That I Ain’t Your Man: Essential Blues 1964-1969. He continued to play on Howlin’ Wolf records after joining the Butterfield outfit. Arnold, described by Butterfield Blues Band enthusiast Charles Sawyer as ‘quiet and unassuming; a conservative dresser given to double knits and loafers’, was nevertheless one of those who played behind Dylan - with Bloomfield, AL KOOPER, BARRY GOLDBERG and Sam Lay - at Dylan’s controversial electric début at the 1965 NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL. It was the only time he played behind Dylan; he continued with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which Butterfield disbanded in 1972. By 1978 he had changed his name to Julio Finn and moved to London. Now playing more harmonica than bass, he played with jazz acts, including Archie Shepp (for instance on the album Black Gipsy) and the Art Ensemble of Chicago (Certain Blacks, recorded in Paris in 1970). On the 1970 eponymously-titled album by Archie Shepp & Philly Joe Jones, Finn is credited as composer of the 21-minute-long ‘Howling in the Silence’, on which he contributes vocals as well as harmonica. In 1981 he was asked to write the sleevenotes for the UK label Charley’s album Crying and Pleading, by his brother Billy Boy Arnold.  In 1998 he played harmonica on the Linton Kwesi Johnson album Independent Intavenshan; in 2000 he was the respondent at a panel discussion on ‘The Blues as Individual and Collective History’ at a conference on ‘The Blues Tradition’ at Penn State University and inducted into the Rok N Roll Hall of Fame on April 18, 2015,. 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”