Mahal
We weren’t able to catch much of the inaugural edition of the Highmark Blues & Heritage Festival that took place at the August Wilson Center in downtown Pittsburgh this past weekend, but the few acts we did manage to see Saturday afternoon were certainly good ones, with Deva Mahal finishing up the outdoor portion of the day before the Rev. Shawn Amos and Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton helped get things started on the intimate indoor stage.
Here are a few pictures we snapped during those sets, any of whom would be well worth checking out, hopefully not if, but when they return to the ‘burgh to play slightly longer engagements or at least on their recordings. You can read more about the debut album from Mahal, whose father happens to be a pretty famous blues guy by the name of Taj Mahal, here, and about Paxton, who we last caught at the Lancaster Roots & Blues Fest a few years back, here.
Amos
Mahal & Ingram
Although we’ve heard one or two of his albums, this was our first time seeing the Rev. Amos live, and were definitely impressed by his energetic, entertaining set, with blues legend Bobby “Blue” Bland’s son Rodd Bland on drums.
Paxton
Among the acts we were disappointed to miss at the festival this weekend were headliners Bettye LaVette (Saturday) and John Scofield (Sunday) as well as earlier Saturday afternoon acts Billy Price, Teeny Tucker and Christione “Kingfish” Ingram, although we were fortunate to see the latter join Mahal for her set’s closing number, an always soulful take on Carole King’s “Take a Giant Step”. Not too shabby of a line-up for a first-time effort, one that we hope will have a long, rich history here in the Steel City!
Amos
Ingram
Amos w/ Bland
Everything here is solid, although we probably would have appreciated more of a straight-up blues take on the title track, a cover of a Koko Taylor tune on which Blue is joined by rapper Al Kapone. While we have to give Blue props for taking such a creative approach to the song, and it certainly works, there’s a part of us that really would have loved to hear Blue belting this one out just as Koko did (and as Blue herself does on other tracks like the tough driving rocker “Accidental Theft” that features former Gregg Allman Band guitarist Scott Sharrard and a New Orleansy “Wild Women” with horns, piano and female backing vocals), especially with so much of the project tending toward the swaying side.
This includes one more track for their father from Lurrie and his brothers (accompanied again by Eddie Taylor Jr. on guitar), who display every bit the fire here on “One Day You’re Gonna Get Lucky” as throughout their own recording, with other real gems coming from the likes of Omar Coleman (a funky take on Junior Wells‘ “Train I Ride” that gets the album off to a great start), Jimmy Johnson and Dave Specter (an “Out of Bad Luck” that honors Magic Sam), Linsey Alexander and Billy Flynn (a soulful, swaying tribute to Jimmy Dawkins in “All for Business”), and Lil’ Ed and Dave Weld (who present a stinging “Speak My Mind” in memory of Ed’s uncle J.B. Hutto).
Early last year, we told you how good Canadian guitarist and singer Matt Andersen 
Appropriately available on the same Delmark Records label as on which Carey released his debut album (Carey Bell’s Blues Harp) almost 50 years ago and two collaborations with Lurrie in the 1977 Heartaches and Pain (Lurrie’s debut recording) and 2007’s Gettin’ Up, released just weeks before Carey died at age 70, Tribute to Carey Bell features a dozen tracks honoring their father. This includes the band’s take on a number of originals and classics performed by Carey throughout his career, as well as a pair of originals from the band in James’ dragging “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” — one of three tunes on which James (who also plays drums on the project) handles vocals, along with “What My Momma Told Me” (Junior Wells) and the funky “Break It Up” (Little Walter) — and a shuffling, Billy Branch-penned “Carey Bell Was a Friend of Mine” that features Branch on vocals and trading some nice licks with Steve on harmonica.
We could easily go through this album for you track by track, but the truth is that 1) absolutely everything here is solid and 2) doing that will really only delay you from going out to get a copy, which is something you’re definitely going to want to do. If, however, you’re looking for suggestions on a track or two (or four) on which to start, we might recommend the uptempo “Tell Me Mama” (Little Walter) that features Oscar Wilson on vocals, Jimi “Primetime” Smith and Johnny Rapp on guitar, and Henry Gray on piano; a creeping “Laundromat Blues” that combines high, raspy vocals from Alabama Mike with some haunting harmonica from Corritore, guitar from Big Jon Atkinson, and piano from Bob Welch to make for a tune that’s so gritty, you might really actually need a laundromat; a shuffling “Steal Your Joy” with booming vocals from Sugaray Rayford, guitar from Chris James and Mojo Mark, and bass from Patrick Rynn; and the funky grooves of “Blues Why You Worry Me?” with its screechy Hill Country style vocals from Alabama Mike as well as guitar from Atkinson and Danny Michel.
With each person having already distinguished himself as an individual performer, sideman, or member of such accomplished blues bands as The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters, The Mannish Boys, and Sugar Ray & the Bluetones, it should come as no surprise that the new soul-blues-rock supergroup The Proven Ones can make some great music together. But what may surprise you is just how great the music on the band’s debut album Wild Again (Roseleaf Records) is, with the recording quickly becoming one of our favorites of 2018.