When it comes to music compilations, phrases like “finest” and “the very best of” tend to leave a good deal of room for debate: no matter how great a collection may be, there are always going to be at least a few other songs some will argue should have been included, especially when you’re talking about a blues legend like John Lee Hooker. Sure enough, many of the songs you’ll hear on Whiskey & Wimmen: John Lee Hooker’s Finest (Vee-Jay Records) can be found on earlier compilations of the bluesman’s work, but we aren’t about to begin comparing its track listing with those already out there, choosing instead to appreciate this one — celebrating the 100-year anniversary of Hooker’s birth near Clarksdale, Mississippi — entirely on its own merits.
Truth be told, Whiskey & Wimmen is a damn fine collection, spanning a decade of the Rock and Blues Hall of Famer’s career across several labels and styles, from the machismo of tracks like the groove-laden, gruff-vocaled “Boom Boom” that opens the set with a boom, the chugging “Big Legs, Tight Skirt”, and the shuffling “Dimples”, to crawling numbers like “I’m in the Mood”, “Whiskey and Wimmen” (“almost wrecked my life”), and a short but “hard times”-filled “No Shoes” on which Hooker sings of “no food on my table, and no shoes to go on my feet”, to the soulful, swaying “Frisco Blues” with Motown’s Mary Wilson & the Andantes providing harmony vocals — many employing the driving boogie beat that helped make Hooker famous.
The music world lost another true father of the blues this weekend with the passing of Chicago blues guitarist Lonnie Brooks (born Lee Baker, Jr.). We had the pleasure of seeing Lonnie – whose most recognizable songs included the likes of “Don’t Take Advantage of Me”, “Two Headed Man”, “Eyeballin'”, “You Know What My Body Needs”, and “Cold Lonely Nights” along with other gems such as “Trading Post” and “I Want All My Money Back” – and his sons Ronnie and Wayne Baker Brooks at the Heritage Blues Music Fest back in 2012, where we snapped these photos, one of which may look somewhat familiar to you as the image that appears at the top of our website, capturing Brooks and his sons playing each other’s guitars.
By now, we probably don’t need to tell you how terrific the Tedeschi Trucks Band is. If you’ve heard any of the band’s three studio albums, you’re already aware of just how nicely the sounds of this now-dozen member ensemble meld, whether they’re belting out an intriguing original or a creative interpretation on such classics as Joe Cocker’s “Space Captain” or Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight”. And if you’ve heard their first live release 
The blues world lost another legend Thursday with the passing of harmonica great James Cotton. 
The first time we saw Cotton was a 2008 show at Pittsburgh’s Rex Theater; we didn’t take pictures and hadn’t yet founded this blog, so the only memories we have of that show is that it was a terrific one.
For a bigger taste of what you’re missing at this annual blues blowout, there’s a great new collection of songs from the 32nd edition of the competition that took place in 2016. Compiled by The Blues Foundation and 2014 Keeping the Blues Alive award-winning publicist Frank Roszak, International Blues Challenge #32 features nine mostly original tracks from among the 16 finalists (out of more than 250 acts) in last year’s challenge, ranging from such rockers as the shuffling, guitar-driven opener “I’m Your Man” from the Paul Deslauriers Band (Montreal Blues Society) and the Chuck Berry-ish riffs of the “Hound Dog” (not the one you know from Elvis or Big Mama Thornton, but a spunky original with a chorus of “The day you left the door, my hound dog cried all night” and other lyrics that include “He howl, he bark, he moan, he wail/ he don’t eat his food, he don’t wag his tail/ he fuss, he fume, he weep, he sigh/I e’en saw a tear fall from his eye”) that immediately follows from blind duo InnerVision (Columbus Blues Alliance) to the creeping, acoustic “You Make All My Blues Come True” featuring the gritty vocals and biting slide guitar of the Cincy Blues Society’s Sonny Moorman and slow, haunting “Black Sheep Moan” that closes the album from solo/duo winners Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons (Washington Blues Society), with its Chris Thomas King/Alvin Youngblood Hart-like pleading vocals and wailing harp.