Shake For Me - Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was born in West Point, Mississippi in an area now known as White Station. With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits." A number of songs written or popularized by Burnett—such as "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful"—have become blues and blues rock standards. At 6 feet, 3 inches and close to 300 pounds , he was an imposing presence with one of the loudest and most memorable voices of all the "classic" 1950s Chicago blues singers. This rough-edged, slightly fearsome musical style is often contrasted with the less crude but still powerful presentation of his contemporary and professional rival, Muddy Waters. Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Little Walter Jacobs, and Muddy Waters are usually regarded in retrospect as the greatest blues artists who recorded for Chess in Chicago. Sam Phillips once remarked, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'" In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #51 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Born in White Station, Mississippi, near West Point, he was named after Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States, and was nicknamed Big Foot Chester and Bull Cow in his early years because of his massive size. He explained the origin of the name Howlin' Wolf thus: "I got that from my grandfather [John Jones]." His Grandfather would often tell him stories about the wolves in that part of the country and warn him that if he misbehaved, the howling wolves would "get him". According to the documentary film The Howlin' Wolf Story, Howlin' Wolf's parents broke up when he was young. His very religious mother Gertrude threw him out of the house while he was still a child for refusing to work around the farm; he then moved in with his uncle, Will Young, who treated him badly. When he was 13, he ran away and claimed to have walked 85 miles barefoot to join his father, where he finally found a happy home within his father's large family. During the peak of his success, he returned from Chicago to his home town to see his mother again, but was driven to tears when she rebuffed him and refused to take any money he offered her, saying it was from his playing the "Devil's music". In 1930, Howlin' Wolf met Charley Patton, the most popular bluesman in the Delta at the time. Wolf would listen to Patton play nightly from outside a nearby juke joint. There he remembered Patton playing "Pony Blues," "High Water Everywhere," "A Spoonful Blues," and "Banty Rooster Blues." The two became acquainted and soon Patton was teaching him guitar. "The first piece I ever played in my life was ... a tune about hook up my pony and saddle up my black mare" (Patton's "Pony Blues"). Wolf also learned about showmanship from Patton: "When he played his guitar, he would turn it over backwards and forwards, and throw it around over his shoulders, between his legs, throw it up in the sky." "Chester [Wolf] could perform the guitar tricks he learned from Patton for the rest of his life." "Chester learned his lessons well and played with Patton often ." Howlin' Wolf was also inspired by other popular blues performers of the time, including the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, Blind Blake, and Tommy Johnson (two of the earliest songs he mastered were Jefferson's "Match Box Blues" and Leroy Carr's "How Long, How Long Blues"). Country singer Jimmie Rodgers, who was Wolf's childhood idol, was also an influence. Wolf tried to emulate Rodgers' "blue yodel," but found that his efforts sounded more like a growl or a howl. "I couldn't do no yodelin'," Barry Gifford quoted him as saying in Rolling Stone, "so I turned to howlin'. And it's done me just fine."[citation needed] His harmonica playing was modeled after that of Rice Miller (also known as Sonny Boy Williamson II), who had taught him how to play when Howlin Wolf had moved to Parkin, Arkansas, in 1933. During the 1930s, Wolf performed in the South as a solo performer and with a number of blues musicians, including Floyd Jones, Johnny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Johnson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Willie Brown, Son House, Willie Johnson. On April 9, 1941, at age thirty, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and was stationed at several army bases. Finding it difficult to adjust to military life, Wolf was discharged November 3, 1943, during the middle of World War II, without ever being sent overseas. Wolf returned to his family and helped with farming, while performing as he had done in the 1930s with Floyd Jones and others. In 1948 he formed a band which included guitarists Willie Johnson and Matt "Guitar" Murphy, harmonica player Junior Parker, a pianist remembered only as "Destruction" and drummer Willie Steele. He began broadcasting on KWEM in West Memphis, Arkansas, alternating between performing and pitching equipment on his father's farm after his family's move to this area in the same year. Eventually, Sam Phillips discovered him and ended up signing him for Memphis Recording Service in 1951. Matt "Guitar" Murphy played with Wolf teaching him to play on time. Matt says sometimes he played 13 bars and sometimes 14 and Murphy would cut through to show him how to stay in time, getting it down to 12 bars. Wolf regularly made up lyrics about the band on stage, sometimes in jest and sometimes hurtful. Murphy arranged for Junior Parker to join Wolf's band. Later Parker and Murphy both left to form "The Blue Flames", the name chosen by Murphy In 1950, Howlin' Wolf cut several tracks at Sun Studio in Memphis. He quickly became a local celebrity, and soon began working with a band that included Willie Johnson and guitarist Pat Hare. His first recordings came in 1951, when he recorded sessions for both the Bihari brothers at RPM Records and Leonard Chess's Chess Records. Chess issued Howlin' Wolf's "Moanin' At Midnight" b/w "How Many More Years" on August 15, 1951; Wolf also recorded sides for RPM, with Ike Turner, in late 1951 and early 1952. Chess eventually won the war over the singer, and Wolf settled in Chicago, Illinois c. 1953. arriving in Chicago, he assembled a new band, recruiting Chicagoan Jody Williams from Memphis Slim's band as his first guitarist. Within a year Wolf enticed guitarist Hubert Sumlin to leave Memphis and join him in Chicago; Sumlin's terse, curlicued solos perfectly complemented Burnett's huge voice and surprisingly subtle phrasing. Although the line-up of Wolf's band would change regularly over the years, employing many different guitarists both on recordings and in live performance including Willie Johnson, Jody Williams, Lee Cooper, L.D. McGhee, Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers, his brother Little Smokey Smothers, Jimmy Rogers, Freddie "Abu Talib" Robinson, and Buddy Guy, among others, with the exception of a couple of brief absences in the late '50s Sumlin remained a member of the band for the rest of Wolf's career, and is the guitarist most often associated with the Chicago Howlin' Wolf sound. In the 1950s Wolf had four songs that qualified as "hits" on the Billboard national R&B charts: "How Many More Years", his first and biggest hit, made it to #4 in 1951; its flip side, "Moanin' at Midnight", made it to #10 the same year; "Smokestack Lightning" charted for three weeks in 1956, peaking at #8; and "I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)" appeared on the charts for one week in 1956, in the #8 position. In 1959, Wolf's first album, Moanin' in the Moonlight, a compilation of previously released singles, was released. His 1962 LP Howlin' Wolf, which featured contributions from Willie Dixon, Jimmy Rogers and Sam Lay among others, is a famous and influential blues album, often referred to as "The Rocking Chair album" because of its cover illustration depicting an acoustic guitar leaning against a rocking chair. This album contained "Wang Dang Doodle", "Goin' Down Slow", "Spoonful", and "Little Red Rooster" (titled "The Red Rooster" on this album), songs which found their way into the repertoires of British and American bands infatuated with Chicago blues. In 1964 he toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival tour produced by German promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau. In 1965 he appeared on the television show Shindig at the insistence of The Rolling Stones, who were scheduled to appear on the same program and who had covered "Little Red Rooster" on an early album. He was often backed on records by bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon who is credited with such Howlin' Wolf standards as "Spoonful", "I Ain't Superstitious", "Little Red Rooster", "Back Door Man", "Evil", "Wang Dang Doodle" (later recorded by Koko Taylor), and others. In September 1967, he joined forces with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters for The Super Super Blues Band album of Chess blues standards, including "The Red Rooster" and "Spoonful". In May 1970, Howlin' Wolf, his long-time guitarist Hubert Sumlin, and the young Chicago blues harmonica player Jeff Carp traveled to London along with Chess Records producer Norman Dayron to record the Howlin' Wolf London Sessions LP, accompanied by British blues/rock musicians Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and others. He recorded his last album for Chess, The Back Door Wolf, in 1973. Unlike many other blues musicians, after he left his impoverished childhood to begin a musical career, Howlin' Wolf was always financially successful. Having already achieved a measure of success in Memphis, he described himself as "the onliest one to drive himself up from the Delta" to Chicago, which he did, in his own car on the Blues Highway and with four thousand dollars in his pocket, a rare distinction for a black blues man of the time. In his early career, this was the result of his musical popularity and his ability to avoid the pitfalls of alcohol, gambling and the various dangers inherent in what are vaguely described as "loose women", to which so many of his peers fell prey. Though functionally illiterate into his 40s, Burnett eventually returned to school, first to earn a G.E.D., and later to study accounting and other business courses aimed to help his business career. Wolf met his future wife, Lillie, when she attended one of his performances in a Chicago club. She and her family were urban and educated, and not involved in what was generally seen as the unsavory world of blues musicians. Nonetheless, immediately attracted when he saw her in the audience as Wolf says he was, he pursued her and won her over. According to those who knew them, the couple remained deeply in love until his death. Together they raised Bettye and Barbara, Lillie's two daughters from an earlier relationship. After he married Lillie, who was able to manage his professional finances, Wolf was so financially successful that he was able to offer band members not only a decent salary, but benefits such as health insurance; this in turn enabled him to hire his pick of the available musicians, and keep his band one of the best around. According to his daughters, he was never financially extravagant, for instance driving a Pontiac station wagon rather than a more expensive and flashy car. Wolf's health declined in the late 1960s through 1970s. He suffered several heart attacks and in 1970 his kidneys were severely damaged in an automobile accident. He died in 1976 from complications of kidney disease. 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!

The Third Eye - Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer. A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history. He worked with many famous jazz musicians, including Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Eric Dolphy and Booker Little. Roach also led his own groups, and made numerous musical statements relating to the civil rights movement of African Americans. Roach was born in the Township of Newland, Pasquotank County, North Carolina, which borders the southern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp, to Alphonse and Cressie Roach. Many confuse this with Newland Town in Avery County. Although Roach's birth certificate lists his date of birth as January 10, 1924, Roach has been quoted by Phil Schaap as having stated that his family believed he was born on January 8, 1925. Roach's family moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York when he was 4 years old. He grew up in a musical home, his mother being a gospel singer. He started to play bugle in parade orchestras at a young age. At the age of 10, he was already playing drums in some gospel bands. As an eighteen year-old fresh out of Boys High School in Brooklyn, (1942) he was called to fill in for Sonny Greer, and play with the Duke Ellington Orchestra performing at the Paramount Theater. In 1942, Roach started to go out in the jazz clubs of the 52nd Street and at 78th Street & Broadway for Georgie Jay's Taproom (playing with schoolmate Cecil Payne). Roach's most significant innovations came in the 1940s, when he and jazz drummer Kenny Clarke devised a new concept of musical time. By playing the beat-by-beat pulse of standard 4/4 time on the "ride" cymbal instead of on the thudding bass drum, Roach and Clarke developed a flexible, flowing rhythmic pattern that allowed soloists to play freely. The new approach also left space for the drummer to insert dramatic accents on the snare drum, "crash" cymbal and other components of the trap set. By matching his rhythmic attack with a tune's melody, Roach brought a newfound subtlety of expression to his instrument. He often shifted the dynamic emphasis from one part of his drum kit to another within a single phrase, creating a sense of tonal color and rhythmic surprise. The idea was to shatter musical conventions and take full advantage of the drummer's unique position. "In no other society", Roach once observed, "do they have one person play with all four limbs." While that approach is common today, when Clarke and Roach introduced the new style in the 1940s it was a revolutio nary musical advance. "When Max Roach's first records with Charlie Parker were released by Savoy in 1945," jazz historian Burt Korall wrote in the Oxford Companion to Jazz, "drummers experienced awe and puzzlement and even fear." One of those awed drummers, Stan Levey, summed up Roach's importance: "I came to realize that, because of him, drumming no longer was just time, it was music." He was one of the first drummers (along with Kenny Clarke) to play in the bebop style, and performed in bands led by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, and Miles Davis. Roach played on many of Parker's most important records, including the Savoy November 1945 session, a turning point in recorded jazz. Max Roach died in the early morning on August 16, 2007 in Manhattan. He was survived by five children: sons Daryl and Raoul, and daughters Maxine, Ayo and Dara. Over 1,900 people attended his funeral at Riverside Church in Manhattan, New York City on August 24, 2007. Max Roach was interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY. 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!

Prison Blues - Neal Pattman, Cootie Stark, Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Neal Pattman (January 10, 1926 – May 4, 2005) was an American electric blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Sometimes billed as Big Daddy Pattman, he is best known for his self-penned tracks, "Prison Blues" and "Goin' Back To Georgia". In the latter, and most notable stages of his long career, Pattman worked with Cootie Stark, Taj Mahal, Dave Peabody, Jimmy Rip, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Guitar Gabriel, and Lee Konitz. Pattman was born in Madison County, Georgia, United States, one of fourteen children. He learned harmonica playing from his father, after an accident involving a wagon wheel at the age of nine left him with only his left arm. Inspired by Sonny Terry's playing and distinctive whoops and hollers, Pattman played on the street corners of nearby Athens, Georgia. He found regular employment in the University of Georgia's kitchens, and gained further experience and local adoration for his regular live performances at various clubs and festivals. However, his more general renown was minimal until 1989, when he performed at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. A meeting in 1991 with Tim Duffy, of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, led to Pattman playing with Cootie Stark, supporting Taj Mahal, on a nationwide Blues Revival Tour. Playing with the British blues guitarist, Dave Peabody, led to Pattman releasing three albums between 1995 and 2001. He also contributed to Kenny Wayne Shepherd's album and DVD, 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads (2007). However, Pattman had already died of bone cancer in May 2005, in Athens, Georgia, aged 79. 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!

Brand New Blues - Cyril Neville

Grammy Award winning New Orlean’s Neville Brother Cyril Neville has been called a philosopher, poet, and one of the last great southern soul singers. In 1970 he released his debut solo single, “Gossip” b/w “Tell Me What’s On Your Mind,” which included backing music by brother Art’s new outfit, the Meters. It just so happened at this time that the Meters were looking to expand their lineup, and asked Cyril to join in on vocals and percussion contributing to the classic Meter’s albums such as 1972′s Cabbage Alley and 1975′s Fire on the Bayou. Later that year, The Rolling Stones invited the Meters to support the bands World Tour and Mick and Keith wouldn’t have it any other way “you guys should come on tour with us with Cyril as your singer.” is how it was put to the Meters who obliged. Cyril has co-written songs with Bono of U2, Taj Mahal, Daniel Lanois, to name a few and was the one that Lanois credits as the musical catalyst that led to the Neville’s Grammy Award winning record ‘YELLOW MOON.” Most recently he has fronted and sang for New Orleans Funk band Galactic, the Voice of the Wetlands All-stars, The Neville Brothers, and continues to do shows with his own group Tribe 13. His most resent television have been on 2011′s episode of Jimmie Kimmel LIVE and HBO’s hit series “Treme.” Cyril is featured on recordings by Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Dr. John, Tab Benoit, Edie Brickell, Willie Nelson, plus many more. He has performed all over the world including the infamous Amnesty International tour with U2 and the Police and has sung for Nelson Mandela. There is no doubt that with in the first few vocal notes it is easy to tell that musical royalty runs deep in Cyril’s blood and he remains a percussionist to be reckoned with. 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!

Down In The Alley - Ronnie Hawkins with Jeff Healey

Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins (born January 10, 1935) is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life. He is considered highly influential in the establishment and evolution of rock music in Canada. Also known as Rompin' Ronnie, Mr. Dynamo or simply The Hawk, Hawkins was one of the key players in the 1960s rock scene in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Throughout his career, Hawkins has performed all across North America and recorded more than twenty-five albums. His hit songs included covers of Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" (entitled "Forty Days" by Hawkins) and Young Jessie's "Mary Lou", a song about a "gold digging woman". His other well-known recordings are "Who Do You Love?", "Hey Bo Diddley", and "Suzie Q", which was written by his cousin, the late rockabilly artist Dale Hawkins. Hawkins is also notable for his role as something of a talent scout and mentor. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of premiere backing musicians via his band, The Hawks. The most successful of those eventually forming The Band, while other musicians Hawkins had recruited provided the makings of Robbie Lane & The Disciples, Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band, Crowbar, Bearfoot and Skylark. Hawkins was born in 1935 in Huntsville, Arkansas, just two days after the birth of Elvis Presley. At the age of nine, his family moved to nearby Fayetteville, Arkansas. After graduating from high school, he studied physical education at the University of Arkansas where he formed his first band, The Hawks, touring with them throughout Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Hawkins also owned and operated the Rockwood Club in Fayetteville where some of rock and roll's earliest pioneers came to play including Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Conway Twitty. Hawkins began touring Canada in 1958, per Twitty's advice, and his first gig there was at the Golden Rail Tavern in Hamilton, Ontario, where he became an overnight success. Hawkins decided to move to Canada, and in 1964, became a permanent resident, eventually making Peterborough, Ontario his home. After the move, The Hawks, with the exception of drummer Levon Helm, dropped out on Hawkins. Their vacancies were eventually filled by Canadians Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson, all hailing from across Southwestern Ontario. Helm and the rest of those Hawks would leave Hawkins in 1964 to form an act of their own, which eventually came to be named The Band. In December 1969 Hawkins hosted John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a stay at his Mississauga, Ontario home during the couple's Peace campaign. John Lennon signed his erotic "Bag One" lithographs during his stay at Hawkins' farm. Lennon also did a radio promo for a Ronnie Hawkins single entitled "Down In The Alley". In the early 1970s, Hawkins noticed guitarist Pat Travers performing in Ontario nightclubs, and was so impressed with the young musician that he invited him to join his band. Travers later had a very successful recording career and became one of the most influential guitarists of the 1970s hard rock genre. In 1975, Bob Dylan cast Hawkins as "Bob Dylan" in the movie, Renaldo and Clara. The following year he was a featured performer at the Band's Thanksgiving Day farewell concert, which was documented in the 1978 film The Last Waltz.[5] His 1984 LP, Making It Again, garnered him a Juno Award as Canada's best Country Male Vocalist. In addition to his music, he has also become an accomplished actor, hosting his own television show Honky Tonk in the early 1980s and appearing in such films as Heaven's Gate with his friend Kris Kristofferson and Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. On January 8, 1995, Hawkins celebrated his 60th birthday by throwing a concert at Massey Hall in Toronto which was documented on the album Let It Rock. The concert featured performances by Hawkins, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Band and Larry Gowan. Jeff Healy sat in on guitar for most, if not all, of the performances. Hawkins' band, The Hawks, or permutations of it, backed most, if not all, of the acts. All of the musicians performing that night were collectively dubbed "The Rock ‘N’ Roll Orchestra". Ronnie Hawkins' star on Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2002, October 4 was declared "Ronnie Hawkins Day" by the city of Toronto as he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, in recognition of his lifetime contribution to music and his generous support of the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario and other charitable organizations. Hawkins was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame at the Canadian Music Industry Awards on 4 March 2004. His pioneering contribution to the genre has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In recent years, Hawkins battled pancreatic cancer. His recovery, attributed to everything from psychic healers to native herbal medicine, is featured in the film, Ronnie Hawkins: Still Alive and Kicking. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary degree from Laurentian University. Also Hawkins recently has reissued most of his albums on CD through Unidisc Music Inc. 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!

Big Bang – Diez Tragos - New Release review

I have a new release, Big Bang, from Diez Tragos. This is definitely not blues but a really smokin' release. It has mixes of many styles of music which makers it difficult to describe. It opens with Dueno de mis suenos which is a very cool complex rhythmatic track with atmospheric guitar and vocals over a strong driven beat. If you know Mars Volta (or King Crimson for the earlier generation )this would be the closest comparison that I could make. I like both bands so this is a really good start. Soy Inmortal is up next with a solid single direction but still complex musical pattern. This isn't Lady Gaga! This is serious stuff. It draws comparison to some metal due to some of the vocals and over driven guitars but again to me it's about the musicality and this is really cool. No soy un angel, a much quieter track overall uses the dynamic range to create sonic impact. This track again has tastes of metal but all of the complexity of an orchestra and actually some of the characteristics of later Led Zeppelin. Sufrir has a rock track intro but definitely sounds like it is Adrian Belew influenced and these guys get the metal scream down on this track. Crucificame is another track that starts off quite quiet and builds into a rhythmic frenzy. Again I hear references to Led Zep but in a totally different direction. Like multiple bands have been torn apart and put back together in a creative way that works quite well. Descifrar los signos is a straight up rock grinder built on a classic blues boogie but then over driven with distorted vocals. Ver llorer desiertos is another different track with what sounds like a tabla and then the complexity and dynamics of Volta/Fripp/Crimson/Gunn. If you like these bands you must check this out! La eternidad opens with drumming on what sounds like oil drums and then a very cool guitar riff (not unlike Jeff Beck) but then takes it's own turn. This track has a very strong bottom and again, I really like it. Quien es quien is an uptempo rocker driven by guitar into another staggered tempo track. This track has a cool Frippertronics style guitar solo on it and again a solid refrain. The release is wrapped by Franco Is Dead. Another off kilter track with street noise, disjointed loudspeaker announcements and crowd it is a very solid completion to a very different and cool release. If you have an open mind and like something different, you must check this out!

  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”
 

Ruf Records Signs Blues Guitar Blaster Bart Walker & Will Release His Label Debut CD, "Waiting on Daylight", On March 12

Ruf Records Signs Blues Guitar Blaster Bart Walker & Will Release His Label Debut CD, Waiting on Daylight,

On March 12

New Album Produced by Multi Grammy-Winner Jim Gaines

ATLANTA, GA – Ruf Records announces the signing of Nashville-based blues guitarist/singer Bart Walker and will release his label debut CD, Waiting on Daylight, on March 12. The new album was produced and engineered by multi Grammy-winner Jim Gaines and recorded at his Bessie Blue Studio in Stantonville, Tennessee. Backing Walker on Waiting on Daylight are all-star Memphis session players Steve Potts (drums), Dave Smith (bass) and Rick Steff (keyboards), along with special guest Dave Cohen on organ.

The 11 tracks on Waiting on Daylight feature nine new songs written by Walker and such other Nashville notables as Grammy-winner Gary Nicholson and Pat McLaughlin, plus blazing covers of J. B. Hutto’s “Hip Shake It,” and the Allman Brothers Band classic, “Whippin’ Post,” which closes the album.

The timing of the new CD couldn’t have been better for Bart Walker, having won the Gibson Guitarist Award at the 2012 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, and earning glowing reviews for his first album, Who I Am, which he also produced. Coupled with some major buzz after recent appearances on Delbert McClinton’s Sandy Beaches Cruises, blues audiences are primed and ready for a new album of music from the blues guitar blaster.

"When we started out with this new record," says Walker, "I was constantly thinking about how I was I gonna top the last one. About 20 minutes into the session, Jim showed me how that was gonna happen."

A gifted guitar player, Bart Walker has been playing since the age of four and has already logged plenty of road miles as the right-hand man to country-rocker Bo Bice and collaborated in the studio with such heavyweights as Steve Gorman (Black Crowes), Audley Freed (Cry Of Love, Black Crowes) and Robert Kearns (Cry of Love, Lynyrd Skynyrd). He's played with Stevie Ray Vaughan's original back-up band, Double Trouble, and until recently had Double Trouble keyboardist Reese Wynans as a regular member of his own touring outfit.

Waiting on Daylight kicks off with the funky blues groove of "It's All Good," featuring a vocal that instantly recalls Louisiana swamp man Tab Benoit. On "Took It Like a Man," Walker’s influences from southern rock icons ZZ Top and the Allman Brothers show their colors. "Those are definitely some of my most favorite artists, along with my all-time favorite guitar player, Stevie Ray Vaughan," explains Walker. "But honestly, I have so many influences from so many genres: Guns 'n' Roses, Zeppelin, Jack White, Doyle Bramhall II, Warren Haynes … the list is 100 miles long."

As things progress through rockin' tunes like the Chuck Berry-flavored "Happy," J. B. Hutto's "Hipshake It" or the introspective "Mary and Me," it becomes harder to ignore what is unquestionably one of the album's biggest strengths: a big, fat, gritty, greasy guitar tone massive enough to take hold of your soul. Walker confirms this is no accident. "If it doesn’t have the big fat, beefy tone, then I won’t play to my fullest potential," says the self-professed "tone freak" – who then runs off a list of the roughly dozen different guitars he used to get just the right sound on each particular cut. And he couldn’t have found a better producer to bring his muscular guitar sounds to fruition than producer Gaines, who literally lives and breathes guitar tones, as evidenced by his acclaimed work with such axemasters as the aforementioned Vaughan, Carlos Santana, George Thorogood, Luther Allison and Bart’s Ruf labelmate, Joanne Shaw Taylor.

It didn’t take long for the guitarist and his producer to realize they had something special going on in the studio. “I really felt like I had accomplished something when Jim Gaines turned around in his chair and looked at me while we were listening down to some of the tracks and said, ‘Man, we got us a really rockin’ record!,’ "exclaims Walker.

With the release of Waiting on Daylight, audiences all over the world will be able to experience that blinding blues flash of creative brilliance.

Bart Walker will tour Europe with Ruf’s “Blues Caravan” roadshow starting this month along with Joanne Shaw Taylor and Jimmy Bowskill and then return to the U.S. for dates throughout the spring and summer. He’s managed and booked by Gina Hughes of The Galaxie Agency www.galaxieagency.com. For more information, visit www.thebartwalkerband.com.

Leon "Mr.Blues"Estelle

Born January 10, 1929, Leon Estelle was given The Mr.Blues of Kansas City Award by The Mayor of Kansas City! In 1958 Leon was Awarded The Best Blues Guitarist in The 5 State area.After spending a few years in Chicago hanging out with musicians such as Elmore James and others he returned to Kansas City.And it seemed like people came out of the woodwork to pick up on what he was laying down.This is a great example of some of the people that would want to see what Leon and his friends/family were up to.K.C.Kelsey and D.C.Belamy and others stop in. Glenn Patrik traveled from California to lay down some guitar work.Other musicians I recognize would be Duck Warner-trumpet,Chris Baker -sax Henry Hart -harp,Jessie "Spoon" Wilson percussion,Steve Shoemaker -trombone to name a few.One thing I would like to mention,Leon adopted 2 young guitar players and I'm proud to say I adopted him as my second Dad as well!The other is Glenn Patrik who he called Mr.Blues Jr.which he titled one of his albums so keep an eye out for my Mr. Blues III that I plan to record in the near future.And as Leon would say at the end of a phone conversation"in a minute"! 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”

Too Old To Get Married - EDDY THE CHIEF CLEARWATER

Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater is the stage name of Edward Harrington (born January 10, 1935), an American Chicago blues musician. Blues Revue said Eddy plays “joyous rave-ups…he testifies with stunning soul fervor and powerful guitar. One of the blues’ finest songwriters.” He was born in Macon, Mississippi, on January 10, 1935. His family moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1948. He taught himself to play guitar at an early age (left-handed and upside down) and began performing with various gospel groups, including the Five Blind Boys Of Alabama. Clearwater is best known for being part of the Chicago blues scene since the 1950s. He performs both within the U.S. (especially around the Chicago, Illinois area, where he resides) and internationally, such as at blues festivals in France, Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Netherlands. His sound has been described as “hard-driving Windy City blues, soul-tinged balladry, acoustic country blues and gospel uplift….good natured fretboard fireworks.” When he left the South for Chicago in 1950, he worked as a dishwasher while living with an uncle. Through his uncle he met many of Chicago’s blues masters, including fellow left-handed guitarist Otis Rush and Magic Sam. Once he heard the music of Chuck Berry, he began performing some of Berry’s material as well as writing in a Berry-influenced style. He still regularly performs songs by Rush, Magic Sam and Berry as well as his own original material. In 1953, now known as Guitar Eddy, he began working regularly in Chicago’s south and west side bars. His first single, the Chuck Berry-styled “Hill Billy Blues”, was recorded in 1958 for his uncle’s Atomic H label, under the moniker Clear Waters, a name given to him by his manager Jump Jackson as wordplay on the more famous Muddy Waters. He recorded a few more singles and began receiving local radio airplay. Eventually the name Clear Waters morphed into Eddy Clearwater. He worked steadily throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and he was among the first blues musicians to find success with Chicago’s north side college crowd. He toured Europe twice during the 1970s and appeared on BBC Television. Clearwater has been nicknamed The Chief and sometimes wears Native American headdress. The release of his 1980 album The Chief under the Rooster Blues label announced that Clearwater's ascendancy to Chicago blues stardom was officially underway. Two encores for Rooster Blues, Help Yourself (1992) and Mean Case of the Blues (1996), cemented Clearwater's reputation. He became known as a masterful blues showman whose principal goal is to provide his fans with a real good time. Cool Blues Walk followed in 1998, followed by Chicago Daily Blues the next year, with Reservation Blues released in mid 2000. In 2004, he was nominated for a Grammy Award with Los Straitjackets for their collaboration, Rock 'N' Roll City. Vintage Guitar described his 2008 Alligator Records album, West Side Strut as “great blues. Eddy’s fat, voluptuous tone shows a masterful command of the guitar. It’s hard to believe he can reach such heights in a recording studio. One listen and you’ll wonder why Clearwater’s name isn’t respectfully spoken in the same breath as Freddie King and Otis Rush. 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”

Make Me A Pallet On the Floor - Sam Chatmon

Sam Chatmon (January 10, 1897 - February 2, 1983) was a Delta blues guitarist and singer. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks and may have been Charlie Patton's half brother. Chatmon was born in Bolton, Mississippi. Chatmon's family was well known in Mississippi for their musical talents; Chatmon was a member of the family's string band when he was young. He performed on a regular basis for white audiences in the 1900s. The Chatmon band played rags, ballads, and popular dance tunes. Two of Sam's brothers, fiddler Lonnie Chatmon and guitarist Bo Carter, performed with guitarist Walter Vinson as the Mississippi Sheiks. Chatmon played the banjo, mandolin, and harmonica in addition to the guitar. He performed at parties and on street corners throughout Mississippi for small pay and tips. In the 1930s he recorded both with the Sheiks, as well as with sibling Lonnie as the Chatman Brothers. Chatmon moved to Hollandale, Mississippi in the early 1940s and worked on plantations in Hollandale. He was re-discovered in 1960 and started a new chapter of his career as folk-blues artist. In the same year Chatmon recorded for the Arhoolie record label. He toured extensively during the 1960s and 1970s. He played many of the largest and best-known folk festivals, including the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C. in 1972, the Mariposa Fest in Toronto in 1974, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1976. A headstone memorial to Chatmon with the inscription "Sitting on top of the World" was paid for by Bonnie Raitt through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund and placed in Sanders Memorial Cemetery, Hollandale, Mississippi on March 14, 1998 at a large ceremomy held at the Hollandale Municipal Building, celebrated by the Mayor and members of the City Council of Hollandale as well as over 100 attendees. 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”

Keep Precious In Your Thoughts

Please Keep Precious in Your Thoughts Precious Bryant recently collapsed during a dialysis treatment and has been hospitalized since. Her family asks for your thoughts and prayers as they gather around Precious in the ICU. If you'd like to send cards or wishes to Precious, please send them to Music Maker so we can pass them on to her. PO Box 1358 - Hillsborough, NC - 27278. It's Flu Season! Follow Drink Small's lead in keeping the germs at bay If it's one thing a bluesman needs, it's his voice. Flu and cold season can really wreak havoc on the vocal cords if you get sick, and traveling on public transportation can expose you to all those germs and more! Read Drink Small's way of keeping those germs (and strangers, consequently) at bay while traveling. Read the story. Your support ensures Music Maker is able to preserve Southern Roots music, assist elderly artists, and share the music of America with the world. Become a member with your gift today and keep the music alive. Diggin: Glory, Glory Aaron explores Bishop Dready Manning and Sister Marie Manning's "Glory Glory" for this week's diggin'. In addition to being a great song, it's also got a bit of pep that helps us shake off the post-holiday doldrums. Check out the Diggin and the track here! Keep up with Music Maker!      George Higgs' Health Improving Photo by Jimmy Williams George Higgs has been in the hospital recovering from illness. We were told this morning that he's doing better, and that he's looking forward to possibly going home at some point in the near future. He thanks everyone who has kept him in their thoughts and prayers. Cootie Stark Photo of the Week by Tim Duffy

Upcoming Shows: Click here for more info on upcoming events  1/13 - Ironing Board Sam - NC Museum of History, Raleigh, NC 1/18 - Big Ron Hunter - The Depot, Hillsborough, NC 1/26 - Shelton Powe - NC Museum of History, Raleigh, NC 2/01 - Ironing Board Sam - The Eddy Pub, Saxapahaw, NC 2/15 - Ironing Board Sam - The Depot, Hillsborough, NC 3/18 - Ironing Board Sam - The Depot, Hillsborough, NC 3/18 - Ironing Board Sam - Havelock Tourist and Event Center, Havelock, NC   Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. helps the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern music gain  recognition and meet their day to day needs. We present these musical traditions to the world so American culture will flourish and be preserved for future generations.

TWO HUGE BLUES CONCERTS & JAMS - THIS WEEK - STARRING COREY STEVENS!!! - (SUNDAY IN LONG BEACH) & (MONDAY IN TARZANA)!

CADILLAC ZACK PRESENTS

 TWO AMAZING BLUES CONCERTS   

  (EACH WITH AFTER-PARTY BLUES JAMS)    

      THIS SUNDAY & MONDAY      

STARRING BLUES-ROCK GUITAR GREAT

   *** COREY STEVENS ***    

        AND MANY MORE GUESTS!        

*****

Hello wonderful blues friends!

We are so proud to announce 2 huge, exciting blues concerts & jams taking place this week in Southern California - both featuring well-known blues-rock guitar great COREY STEVENS!  Fans of hot, sizzling Texas blues and fresh original songwriting must check him out.  You know we only book top artists and Stevens is up there with the rest.  In fact, he is one of the artists most-deserving even wider recognition.  We've included some video clips (below the poster).

The first concert & jam is THIS SUNDAY, JAN 13, 2013 at BUSTER'S BEACH HOUSE (168 N. Marina Dr., Long Beach, CA 90803).  The show starts at 4 pm and there will be two great opening acts, including THE BARRELHOUSE KINGS.  (The other act will be announced shortly!)  The jam will take place at 7 pm.  They serve great food at this place!

The next show is the following day - MONDAY, JAN 14, 2013 - at THE MAUI SUGAR MILL SALOON (18389 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356).  Concert start time is 8:00 PM.   The jam will follow this.  You are welcome to bring food into the Sugar Mill but they do not currently provide any.

You're gonna love COREY STEVENS, folks.

And we seriously can't wait to party with you!

Your blues pal for life,

Cadillac Zack

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VIDEO OF COREY STEVENS

*****

There is NO COVER CHARGE 

 at the door for these amazing shows, but a $15 or $20 donation per person is always requested to help with the costs associated with such high-quality blues events. 

*****

 WORLD-CLASS BLUES JAM 

 BEGINS AFTER THE CONCERT(S) 

This world-famous weekly blues jam has become very popular amongst the top blues musicians.  Every Monday a legendary blues artists drops by to play or just hang out, including: John Mayall, Kim Wilson, Coco Montoya, Arthur Adams, Finis Tasby, Robert "Bilbo" Walker, Barbara Morrison, Phil Upchurch, Deacon Jones, James Harman, Larry Taylor, Al Blake & Fred Kaplan, Roy Gaines, Albert Lee and many others!  If you are a great blues musician PLEASE come jam with us!

BRING YOUR WHOLE BAND:

If you would like to bring your full band to do a 15-minute showcase we'd love that, but please e-mail us first so that we can schedule you and give you the details.  We have a limited amount of these slots.

 Sign up begins an hour before each concert. Please note: Due to the popularity of this weekly event, musicians are only guaranteed to play if they sign up early.   Wait times vary from 1/2 hour up to 3 hours, depending on how early you sign up.  This past week, for example, we had 40 jammers.

Think Twice Before You Go - Dusty Roads Band

Led by singer,guitarist,composer Dustin Harder . The Dusty Roads Band is a splendid blend of great musicians and great music in which Blues, Folk, Funk, Rock, Jazz and Reggae all fuse into a unique blend of Rocking Prairie Soul Roots Music. They are currently in the Pre-Production/Arrangemet process for their highly anticipated sophomore album. Consisting of new sound and songs from  local blues heavy hitters Jeff Smook on bass, Rick Caputi- Drums, Deano Dean- Sax, Haitha Forsyth-Vocals/Back ups
 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!

Darling Forever - The Marvelettes

The Marvelettes were an all-girl group who achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson (later Katherine Anderson Schnaffer), Georgeanna Tillman (later Georgeanna Tillman-Gordon), Juanita Cowart (later Juanita Cowart Motley) and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young (later Wanda Rogers) prior to the group signing their first deal. The group was the first major successful act of Motown Records after The Miracles and were its first significant successful girl group on the label's early years after the release of the number-one single, "Please Mr. Postman", one of the first number-one singles recorded by an all-female vocal group and the first by a Motown recording act. Founded in 1960 while the group's founding members performed together at their high school's glee club, they eventually were signed to Motown Records' Tamla label in 1961. Some of the group's early hits were written by band members and some of Motown's rising singer-songwriters such as Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, who played drums on a majority of their early recordings. Despite their early successes, the group was eclipsed in popularity by groups like The Supremes, with whom they shared an intense rivalry and struggled with issues of dismal promotion from Motown, illnesses and mental breakdowns, with Cowart the first to leave in 1963, followed by Georgeanna Tillman two years later and Gladys Horton two years after that. Nevertheless, they managed a major comeback in 1966 with "Don't mess with Bill", followed by a few smaller follow-up hits. The group ceased performing together in 1969 and, following the release of The Return of the Marvelettes in 1970, featuring only Wanda Rogers, the group disbanded for good, with both Rogers and Katherine Anderson leaving the music business. The group has received several honors, including the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In 2005, the band's most successful recordings, "Please Mr. Postman" and "Don't Mess with Bill" earned them two gold-certified awards from the RIAA. In 2012, the Marvelettes were nominated for induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 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!

I Don't Know - CRIPPLE CLARENCE LOFTON,

Cripple Clarence Lofton (March 28, 1887 - January 9, 1957), born Albert Clemens in Kingsport, Tennessee, was a noted boogie-woogie pianist and singer. Though Lofton was born with a limp (from which he derived his stage name), he actually started his career as a tap-dancer. Lofton moved on from tap-dancing into the blues idiom known as boogie-woogie and moved on to perform in Chicago, Illinois. The trademark of Lofton's performances was his energetic stage-presence, where he danced and whistled in addition to singing. A conversant description of Lofton is provided in an excerpt from Boogie Woogie by William Russell: "No one can complain of Clarence's lack of variety or versatility. When he really gets going he's a three-ring circus. During one number, he plays, sings, whistles a chorus, and snaps his fingers with the technique of a Spanish dancer to give further percussive accompaniment to his blues. At times he turns sideways, almost with his back to the piano as he keeps pounding away at the keyboard and stomping his feet, meanwhile continuing to sing and shout at his audience or his drummer. Suddenly in the middle of a number he jumps up, his hands clasped in front of him, and walks around the piano stool, and then, unexpectedly, out booms a vocal break in a bass voice from somewhere. One second later, he has turned and is back at the keyboard, both hands flying at lightning- like pace. His actions and facial expressions are as intensely dramatic and exciting as his music." With his distinctive performance style, Lofton found himself a mainstay in his genre: His first recording was in April with Big Bill Broonzy for Vocalion Records. He later went on to own the Big Apple nightclub in Chicago and continued to record well into the late 1940s, when he retired. Lofton lived in Chicago until he died from a blood clot in his brain 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!

Hoodooman Blues - Silas Hogan

Silas Hogan (September 15, 1911 – January 9, 1994) was an American blues musician. Hogan most notably recorded "Airport Blues" and "Lonesome La La", was the front man of the Rhythm Ramblers, and became an inductee in the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame. Hogan learned guitar playing as a teenager and was performing on a regular basis by the late 1930s. Similar to Lazy Lester and Slim Harpo, Hogan was influenced by Jimmy Reed. He had relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana by the early 1950s, and equipped with a Fender electric guitar, Hogan put together the Rhythm Ramblers. They assisted in the development of the Baton Rouge Blues sound, and with band members Hogan (guitar), Isaiah Chapman (lead guitar), Jimmy Dotson (drums), plus Sylvester Buckley (harmonica), they stayed together for almost ten years. In 1962, by which time he was aged 51, Hogan was belatedly introduced by Harpo to the Crowley, Louisiana based record producer, J. D. "Jay" Miller. Miller, via the offices of Excello Records, started Hogan's recording career, at a time when interest in variations of swamp blues was starting to wane. Hogan did nevertheless see the issue of several singles up to 1965, when Miller's disagreement with the record label's new owners brought the recording contract to a swift finale. On some of his recordings, Hogan was backed by the harmonica player, Moses "Whispering" Smith. Hogan had to disband the group, and returned to his full-time job at the Exxon oil refinery. In the late 1970s, Hogan recorded further tracks with both Arhoolie and Blue Horizon. Hogan died in January 1994 of heart disease, at the age of 82 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!

I'm Bad - Katie Webster

Katie Webster (January 11, 1936 – September 5, 1999), born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist. Webster was initially best known as a session musician behind Louisiana musicians on the Excello and Goldband record labels, such as Lightnin' Slim and Lonesome Sundown. She also played piano with Otis Redding in the 1960s, but after his death went into semi-retirement. In the 1980s she was repeatedly booked for European tours and recorded albums for the German record label, Ornament Records. She cut You Know That's Right with the band Hot Links, and the album that established her in the United States; The Swamp Boogie Queen with guest spots by Bonnie Raitt and Robert Cray. She performed at both the San Francisco Blues Festival and Long Beach Blues Festival. Webster suffered a stroke in 1993 while touring Greece and returned to performing the following year. She died from heart failure in League City, Texas, in September 1999. 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!

Buddy Scott & The Rib Tips

Chicago guitarist Kenneth "Buddy" Scott hailed from an extended musical brood, to put it mildly. His brothers, singer Howard and guitarist Walter, are mainstays on the local scene; his son, guitarist Kenneth "Hollywood" Scott, leads Tyrone Davis' Platinum Band, and even his grandmother Ida knew her way around a guitar -- she played on the South Side with the likes of Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson back in the 1950s. Buddy Scott left Mississippi for Chicago at age seven. Both his mom and local legend Reggie Boyd tutored him as a guitarist. Like several of his brothers, Buddy was a member of a local doo wop vocal group, the Masqueraders, during the early '60s, and recorded a few singles with his siblings as the Scott Brothers later in the decade. He was best known as leader of Scotty & the Rib Tips, who were staples of the South Side and West Side blues circuit; they were featured on Alligator's second batch of Living Chicago Blues anthologies in 1980. By the time Scott caught his big major-label break with Verve in 1993 with his debut domestic album, Bad Avenue, it was too late for him to capitalize on his belated good fortune; he died from stomach cancer shortly after the album's release. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Trouble Trouble - Betty Roche

Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Roché (January 9, 1920 – February 16, 1999) was an American blues singer, who became most famous with her cover of the song "Take the "A" Train". She recorded with the Savoy Sultans, Hot Lips Page, Duke Ellington, Charles Brown and Clark Terry. Roché was born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. She settled in New York in 1939, started her career by winning an Apollo Theater amateur talent contest, sang with the Savoy Sultans from 1941 to 1942, then with Duke Ellington in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1953, she left the Ellington band and settled in San Diego, California. In 1960, she went back to New York and recorded for Prestige. Roché died in February 1999, aged 79. 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!

Railroad Bill - Franklin "Guitar Frank" Hovington

Franklin "Frank" Hovington (January 9, 1919 – June 21, 1982), also known as Guitar Frank, was an American blues musician. He played the guitar and banjo, and was a singer in the Piedmont style, who lived in the vicinity of Frederica, Delaware. Hovington was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. Later in life, on a tip from folklorist Peter B. Lowry, he was recorded by Dick Spottswood and Bruce Bastin, with an album released on Flyright Records in the UK (now available on CD), and, later, on Rounder Records in the US. Additionally, selections were recorded by Axel Küstner and Siggi Christmann for German release, most recently issued by Evidence Records in the US. He disliked travel and did not play away from his Delaware home, afraid that he would lose his welfare support payments, and so did not get the publicity from music festival appearances that his talent deserved. Franklin Hovington is also the Grand Father of Philadelphia Hip-Hop Legend and Icon Parry P who was also a Radio Personality on WPHI Philly 103.9 and WRNB 107.9. He also was a host on The 1 World Hip-Hop Championship on MTV2. Parry P's real name is Parris Ellis who is the son of Franklin Hovingtons Daughter Joyce Shirley Welsh. Franklin's Grand son is a Philadelphia Pioneer in Hip-Hop and was featured in a Emmy Award winning Documetary called The Story Of English ( Bill Cran BBC Londan). 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!