Author Archives: Mike

Remembering music legends James “Mr. Superharp” Cotton and Chuck Berry

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Mike

The blues world lost another legend Thursday with the passing of harmonica great James Cotton. Here’s a good obituary on Cotton from Alligator Records, with whom the harmonica player first recorded in the mid-80s and then returned for the final … Continue reading →

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Canadian bluesman Matt Andersen impresses mightily at Pittsburgh’s Club Cafe

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Mike

A little over five years back now, we introduced you to Canadian guitarist and singer Matt Andersen, about whom we said at the time: “Combined with Andersen’s recent wins at the IBC and 2011 Maple Blues awards (where he took … Continue reading →

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Mojo Risin’: UK pianist Tom Bell blends boogie woogie blues, classical on debut album Face to Face

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Mike

Here at The BluesPowR Blog, we frequently receive albums that either incorporate elements of or cross more fully into such other genres as rock, jazz, soul, or country. But it’s not often that we encounter an artist who attempts to … Continue reading →

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The Same Thing That Can Make You Laugh (Can Make You Cry)

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Mike

With February already largely in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to dig into another talk-free edition of our BluesPowR Radio Hour, this month featuring the wisdom and talents of artists such as Guy King, Walter Trout, Sugar Ray Norcia & … Continue reading →

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New recording offers glimpse of what you’ve been missing at annual International Blues Challenge

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Mike

You may have seen that the 2017 International Blues Challenge (IBC) took place in Memphis recently, with the Dawn Tyler Watson Band (Montreal Blues Society) and Al Hill (Nashville Blues Society) taking top honors in the band and solo categories, … Continue reading →

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Gary Clark Jr. and first-time GRAMMY winner William Bell deliver soulful primetime performance of “Born Under a Bad Sign”

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Mike

Okay, we’ll be honest: we spent a lot more time watching Sunday’s GRAMMY Awards pre-telecast ceremony online (waiting for the blues categories to be announced) than we did the network televised portion of the awards. Which means we missed this … Continue reading →

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Bobby Rush, Fantastic Negrito each land first Grammy award

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Mike

In case you missed it, the annual Grammy Awards took place last night, with the blues awards again among the 75 or so doled out during a live-streamed ceremony before the bright lights of the network TV cameras came on. … Continue reading →

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The King Brothers get on up with Get Up and Shake It

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Mike

You can almost tell by listening to them that brothers Sam and Lee King have blues royalty in their blood. While Lee’s guitar licks might at times sound like those from Albert King – coming, as some of them do, … Continue reading →

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Ain’t Gonna Be Easy

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Mike

With all the political and social divisions we’ve seen lately, who’s ready to escape through another talk-free edition of our BluesPowR Radio Hour? Go ahead and inaugurate yourself to the blues with new music from the likes of Omar Coleman, … Continue reading →

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Blues-rocker Devon Allman rides on with Ride or Die

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Mike

Rock legend Gregg Allman had some good things to say about his son Devon Allman‘s musical abilities in the Allman Brothers Band co-founder’s biography My Cross to Bear a few years back, perhaps none more to the point than that … Continue reading →

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