Category Archives: Albums

Blues GRAMMY Award-winning duo Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite return with No Mercy in This Land

We weren’t the only ones who really liked Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite‘s 2013 collaboration Get Up!, judging by the GRAMMY Award it received for best blues album. Now the duo is back with another real kicker in No Mercy … Continue reading

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Tune into the Weekend: Deva Mahal, daughter of legendary Taj Mahal, shows blues Run Deep on debut album

Last week, we told you about new albums from two real-life sons of the blues, Mud Morganfield and Bernard Allison, also promising to visit upon one from an offspring of Grammy Award-winning musician Taj Mahal soon. We’ve had the chance … Continue reading

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Second-generation bluesmen Mud Morganfield, Bernard Allison help keep genre groovin’ with stellar new releases

There are few artists we look as forward to hearing new music from as those literal sons and daughters of the blues who have devoted their lives to helping to carry on the music — and thus the legacies — … Continue reading

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Mojo Risin’: Mike Ross explodes onto blues/roots scene with help of Dark Powder

We haven’t had the chance to check out UK roots musician Mike Ross‘ solo debut album Spindrift, but we certainly like what we hear on the follow-up to it in Jenny’s Place (Taller Records), out tomorrow. While the slow blistering … Continue reading

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Keb’ Mo’, Bettye LaVette, Warren Haynes and others pay tribute to King of the Slide Guitar on Strange Angels: In Flight with Elmore James

Recently, we told you about a 100th birthday set celebrating blues singer and guitarist John Lee Hooker. While that extensive collection consisted of Hooker’s own recordings from throughout his career, this centennial tribute to blues slide guitarist extraordinaire Elmore James … Continue reading

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The Original Blues Brothers Band hits on Last Shade of Blue Before Black with latest recording

Although it’s been decades now since the Blues Brothers Band played together in its original and most popular form (with the death of John Belushi, a.k.a. “Joliet Jake” Blues, in 1982), the Blues Brothers legacy has carried on through a … Continue reading

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Artists from around world rise to challenge on International Blues Challenge #33

Blues promotion and preservation member organization The Blues Foundation puts on a couple of big programs in Memphis each year: in May, a Blues Music Awards (BMA) gala celebrates the best of the blues from the past year, including performances … Continue reading

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Kim Wilson delivers old-school Blues and Boogie on latest solo release

Harmonica player and singer Kim Wilson has done a lot of fabulous stuff through the years, not only as a founding member of the long-running Thunderbirds band whose name includes that same adjective and for which he continues to serve … Continue reading

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John Lee Hooker again proves undisputed King of the Boogie on 5-disc centennial retrospective

This spring, we told you about a 16-song collection purporting to contain the finest recordings of guitarist and singer John Lee Hooker, a bold claim considering the multitude of recordings the native Mississippi bluesman made during his lifetime. As solid … Continue reading

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Former Howlin’ Wolf players Tail Dragger, Henry Gray join star-studded tribute to the Wolf on Howlin’ at Greaseland

For longtime bluesmen Henry Gray and Tail Dragger, the late, great Chester Burnett — a.k.a. Howlin’ Wolf — didn’t just serve as an inspiration. For them, he was a band leader and mentor, and the inclusion of these now senior … Continue reading

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