Triple LP from blues legend Freddie King will have you Feeling Alright this Record Store Day

Posted on April 6, 2026 by Mike

It’s hard to believe it’s already that time of year, but Record Store Day 2026 is right around the corner (Saturday, April 18). Here’s the first of several titles we’re highly recommending you seek out at your local vinyl store.

Freddie King – Feeling Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Pulsations Concert (Elemental Music)

Just seeing that this is a previously unreleased 3-LP live recording from blues slinger Freddie King issued in cooperation with King’s estate is, frankly, enough for us to say go ahead and grab a copy of this limited edition while you can. Perusing the 16-song tracklist will only draw you further in, with plenty of familiar titles both from Freddie’s own catalog and regular repertoire (“Have You Ever Loved a Woman?”, “Sen-Sa-Shun”, “Going Down”, “Mojo Boogie”) and blues standards that include “Sweet Little Angel”, “Got My Mojo Working”, “The Things I Used to Do”, “Stormy Monday Blues”, “Sweet Home Chicago”,  “That’s All Right”, and “Messin’ with the Kid”.

For those needing a bit more convincing, we can assure you that hearing this set will only help confirm that this is one you’re going to want to add to your collection, regardless of how few or many other Freddie albums you might already own.

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Posthumous Mike Finnigan album is everything we hoped it would be, and more

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Mike

We’ve already told you about the first couple of singles off Mike Finnigan‘s eponymous posthumous album (Forty Below Records)–splendid takes on Curtis Salgado’s “20 Years of B.B. King” (featuring Joe Bonamassa on guitar) and Freddie King’s “My Credit Didn’t Go Through”–so we had a feeling that the rest of this album would be pretty special too. 

We’ve internally debated for decades what kind of songs we most like to hear Finnigan sing and play: we’d hear him do a slow blues/soul number like “Hard Times”, “Your Mind is on Vacation” or “I’ve Got News for You” and be convinced that we just heard Mike at his best, only to then hear him belting out something with a bit more tempo like “Can’t Stand It” or “Bad Blood” and think we could never possibly hear anything better from him, or anyone else, for that matter. Truth is, Finnigan did it all so damn well, seeming to give all he had on each and every song, and the good news is that you can hear it all here again on Mike’s final album (not to be confused with the first eponymous album of his career, a 1976 release from Warner Brothers Records), from slow blues numbers like B.B. King’s “Don’t Answer the Door” and the creeping “It Ain’t Fair” (Aretha Franklin) to groovers like the handclap-driven “She’s Not Just Another Woman” (8th Day) and “Let That Liar Alone” (The Staple Singers/Sister Rosetta Tharpe), with Mike’s son Kelly Finnigan joining on vocals and Curtis Salgado on harmonica on the latter.

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Friends from near and far show their love for UK blues-rocker Matt Long on new tribute album

Posted on February 28, 2026 by Mike

Today, we move from talking about a tribute album to a universally known bluesman who was around for a long time to a tribute album to a bluesman who wasn’t nearly as well known as he should have been during his far too short time on this earth, despite our own best efforts to help on that front by telling you about many of his band’s recordings. But we have no doubts that we would have seen and heard many more great things from UK singer and guitarist Matt Long had he the opportunity to live another six decades like the legendary subject of the last tribute we reviewed. 

While we can’t of course fairly compare Long (or anyone for that matter) with a world-renowned bluesman such as B.B. King, we can say that Long exhibited a far broader range of versatility in his music, with Long having fronted both the blues-rock outfit Catfish about which we’ve talked many times here (including the band’s EP tribute to King When B.B. Sings the Blues!) as well as the heavier-hitting The Revenant Ones through his years, both of which are represented in the songs selected by the guest artists for this tribute, entitled With a Little Help from My Friends – A Tribute to Matt Long.

Most of those artists are of course friends and fellow countrymen or women with whom Matt collaborated or otherwise shared a stage and/or competed for British Blues Awards through the years, or who performed at a series at benefit concerts for Matt’s medical care during his final year, including the likes of Dom Martin, Alice Armstrong, Elles Bailey, The Cinelli Brothers, Chantel MacGregor, Will Wilde, Katie Bradley, When Rivers Meet, and Brave Rival, among others. But Matt’s talents also of course caught the ears of several international bluesmen during his career, including Walter Trout and Joe Bonamassa, who both contribute guitar on different songs here, the only two tracks to feature Matt’s vocals (and let us tell you: it’s great to be able to hear Matt again!).

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The thrill lives on with star-studded Joe Bonamassa/Josh Smith-produced centennial tribute to the King of the Blues

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Mike

With much of the set having been released across five monthly EPs starting last fall, we’ve already told you, well, raved, about a good number of the tracks off the Joe Bonamassa/Josh Smith-produced B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100, including some from Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi with Michael McDonald, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, George Benson, Larry McCray, D.K. Harrell, Jimmie Vaughan, and more. But having the set’s full 32 tracks together in one place really helps show just how impressive and herculean of a project this was, recruiting 40+ guests–from legends like Guy, Rush, Benson, Vaughan, Chaka Khan, Eric Clapton, Ivan Neville and Paul Rodgers to rising stars such as Harrell, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Marcus King–to provide their own interpretations of tracks from throughout the King of the Blues’ career.

A fantastic tribute to one of the greatest bluesmen of all time, this is a collection any blues fan is definitely going to want to hear and own, regardless of whether you were a fan of B.B. King’s or are just looking for a good collection featuring dozens of the top artists in blues and blues-rock today, including a fair number of relative youngsters.

Bonamassa contributes guitar on every track, while co-producer Smith plays on all except one, with most of songs also incorporating horns in addition to the backing band of bass, drums, and keyboards/organ, including Reese Wynans on about a third of the tunes. 

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Lots of credit to be given on Mike Finnigan’s cover of Freddie King classic My Credit Didn’t Go Through

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Mike

In November, we told you about the first single off soul man/keyboardist Mike Finnigan‘s posthumous album, due out in late-March on Forty Below Records. Here’s a second track for you, a funky cover of Freddie King’s “My Credit Didn’t Go Through” and another barn burner of a tune that features Finnigan’s growling vocals and smoking work on organ, along with some soaring horns and backing vocals. 

We know there’s still much to be heard of this album, but, so far, it’s sounding a lot like it could be one of the best that 2026 has to offer!

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Kim Wilson delivers some scorching blues on latest release Slow Burn

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Mike

It probably comes as no surprise that, listening to the recent box set of The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ early years, it was some of the bluesier numbers from the band that most caught our ear. So we were of course delighted to read in the announcement of the latest solo album from T-Birds co-founder and frontman Kim Wilson that his Slow Burn (M.C. Records) “may be Kim’s deepest blues record ever”.

And it’s hard to argue that isn’t the case, with the album including covers of numerous classics from the likes of B.B. King, Otis Rush, Howlin’ Wolf, Robert Nighthawk, Magic Sam, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Milton, in addition to four bluesy originals that fit right into the mix, including a revisit of one from the T-Birds’ early catalog in the “Low-Down Woman” we mentioned in our recent review of the box set. 

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Box set chronicling Jimmie Vaughan’s years with The Fabulous Thunderbirds includes previously unreleased album of material recorded by Doc Pomus prior to band’s debut

Posted on January 1, 2026 by Mike

Like many, our first real exposure to The Fabulous Thunderbirds came through such tough mid- to late-80s hits like “Tuff Enuff”, “Wrap It Up”, “Powerful Stuff” and “Stand Back”.  And anyone who gave the band more of a listen at the time would’ve also heard some pretty good stuff off those same albums in such tracks as the driving “Now Loosen Up Baby”, slow, biting “Mistake Number One”, soulful, horn-soaked “Streets of Gold” and greasy, jiving instrumental “Down at Antone’s”. 

A new box set from The Last Music Company collects not only those three full albums, but also the four others that were released leading up to the band’s hits years, in addition to a long forgotten Doc Pomus-produced album that was recorded prior to the band’s debut album but never released, and that just may be the best of the group!

Titled The Jimmie Vaughan Years: Complete Studio Recordings 1978-1989, the  five-hour, four-CD set focuses on the band’s studio output from its 1974 founding by singer and harmonica player Kim Wilson and guitarist Jimmie Vaughan to Vaughan’s departure from the band in 1990. 

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Remastered classic lets Piedmont bluesman Pink Anderson shine on well beyond footnote in “Crazy Diamond” rock lore

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Mike

Speaking of old-time bluesmen (as we were in this post regarding the Record Store Day Black Friday releases from T-Bone Walker and Charley Patton)…

By now, you’ve probably heard the story of how Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett came up with the band’s name: when another band going by the same name as his The Tea Set was slated to perform at a same gig, Barrett needed look no further than his own record collection, where albums from two bluesmen named Pink Anderson and Floyd Council caught his eye. 

Now you too have the chance to include Anderson’s 1961 album debut Carolina Blues Man in your collection, thanks to Craft Recordings’ Bluesville Records, which recently made a reissue of the album available both on vinyl and digitally.

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Music from T-Bone Walker and Charley Patton among Record Store Day Black Friday blues releases

Posted on November 25, 2025 by Mike

Regardless of what shopping you may or may not have planned for this Black Friday, you might want to work in a visit to a local vinyl store or four to bag some bluesy Record Store Day (RSD) Black Friday exclusives from a few of the genre’s all-time greats. Here are a couple to look for.

T-Bone Walker – T-Bone Blues (Rhino Records)

You can’t go wrong adding this classic (originally released in 1959) to your collection, including such famous T-Bone hits as “Mean Old World”, “Call It Stormy Monday”, “T-Bone Shuffle” and “Papa Ain’t Salty”. Those songs alone would be enough to make this album worth owning, but this superb set truly is “all killer, no filler”, with other tracks including the strolling “T-Bone Blues”, swinging instrumentals “Two Bones and a Pick” and “Shufflin’ the Blues”, and a slithering “Play On Little Girl” (one of two tracks here on which T-Bone is backed by Junior Wells on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, and likely Willie Dixon on bass and Francis Clay on drums), among others. 

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Featuring guests such as Buddy Guy and Jimmie Vaughan, third installment of tracks from B.B. King’s Blues Summit project is another dynamite one

Posted on November 19, 2025 by Mike

It’s hard not to like the latest volume of tracks from the Joe Bonamassa/Josh Smith-produced B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100, with guests that include such greats as Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan, and Larry McCray. Released last week, Volume 3 kicks off with a patient yet impassioned “Sweet Little Angel” that features Buddy Guy on vocals and guitar and wraps up with singer/guitarist Larry McCray‘s soulful take on “When It All Comes Down (I’ll Still Be Around)”. 

In between, you’ll hear Larkin Poe with a swinging “Don’t You Want a Man Like Me” filled with smoky vocals and gritty lap steel guitar, a grooving “Heartbreaker” with Trombone Shorty on vocals and horns and Eric Gales on guitar, and a shuffling “Watch Yourself” with Jimmie Vaughan on vocals and guitar that’s just perfect for Jimmie.

This latest installment also brings with it news of a few other big names participating in the project, with the revelation of a Chaka Khan/Eric Clapton collaboration on King’s hit “The Thrill is Gone” for inclusion on the 32-song tribute to the King of the Blues.

Here’s a video for the Buddy Guy track that also features some terrific photos and footage of longtime friends Guy and King performing through the years.

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