Author Archives: Mike

New releases: Billy Branch delivers Blues Shock; Damon Fowler shares Sounds of Home

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Mike

They say we’re in the Year of the Horse, but so far 2014 is looking a lot more like the year of a whole different kind of animal to us, like maybe an Alligator – with the recent release of … Continue reading →

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Tommy Castro & the Painkillers put on devilishly good CD release party at Moondog’s

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Mike

Any Pittsburghers who chose to spend their Sunday night watching figure skating from Sochi or the GRAMMY salute to the Beatles missed a show of olympic proportion from another fab four up in Blawnox, when Tommy Castro & the Painkillers returned to … Continue reading →

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True Blues in photos

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Mike

We’ve added an album of photos from last weekend’s True Blues show to our BluesPowR Gallery. If you missed our recap of the show, you can read it here, or head straight over to the gallery to view the pics.

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Corey Harris, Guy Davis, and Alvin Youngblood Hart bring True Blues to Pittsburgh

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Mike

Last summer, we told you about a multimedia blues project called True Blues featuring the likes of Taj Mahal, Shemekia Copeland, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Phil Wiggins, and Guy Davis. In addition to the true gem of a CD (of which everyone should … Continue reading →

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With The Devil You Know, Tommy Castro & the Painkillers deliver one hell of a treat

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Mike

Having spent the past few decades toiling in the blues, San Francisco singer and guitarist Tommy Castro is something of what you might call a “devil you know” in the genre. Whether seeing him live or listening to one of … Continue reading →

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Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite Get Up for Grammy win

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Mike

Gary Clark Jr. wins for best traditional R&B performance Moments after performing “I’m In I’m Out & I’m Gone” from their Get Up! CD during tonight’s Grammy Awards pre-telecast, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite got back up to the stage … Continue reading →

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Nowhere but up for Sweden’s Julia & The Basement Tapes

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Mike

With more than 250 acts from around the world converging on Memphis over the next few days for the annual International Blues Challenge (IBC), we’re looking forward to hearing about – and hopefully seeing a few videos from – some … Continue reading →

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Rediscover the magic of Magic Sam on Live at the Avant Garde

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Mike

Last week, we told you about Royal Southern Brotherhood’s latest, the live Songs from the Road CD/DVD set Live in Germany, recorded in Bonn in the fall of 2012. Here’s another terrific “new” live album – albeit of a much … Continue reading →

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Royal Southern Brotherhood keeps rockin’ with live two-disc set

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Mike

With members whose surnames include Allman, Neville and Zito, it’s no surprise that Royal Southern Brotherhood‘s 2012 self-titled debut album was such a standout. After some pretty terrific solo releases from each of the principals (Cyril Neville‘s Magic Honey, Mike … Continue reading →

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All routes lead to Lancaster for city’s inaugural Roots & Blues festival

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Mike

There’s an old saying from blues great Willie Dixon that “the blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits”. Regardless of whether you happen to personally agree with that statement, you can rest assured that there’ll be … Continue reading →

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