It’s been more than a decade-and-a-half since the passing of blues great Koko Taylor, but her old friends at Alligator Records, the label with which she spent three-and-a-half decades after getting her start on Chess Records, aren’t about to let her be forgotten, having just released a 12-track compilation of remastered versions of what the label calls Taylor’s “most-requested fan favorites”.
Titled Crown Jewels in reference to Taylor’s “Queen of the Blues” moniker, the collection includes all of the tough blues tracks that jump to mind when you hear Taylor’s name, appropriately kicking off on her signature “Wang Dang Doodle”, one of a handful of songs here that features a backing band of Pinetop Perkins on piano, Sammy Lawhorn and Johnny B. Moore on guitar, Abb Locke on tenor sax, Cornelius Boyson on bass, and Vince Chappelle on drums. And a wang dang doodle this collection indeed is, with the same band backing Taylor on the shuffling “You Can Have My Husband”, a romping “Hey Bartender”, the bouncy closing “Let the Good Times Roll”, and an especially growling-vocaled “I’m a Woman” that also features Harmonica Hinds on the instrument for which he was nicknamed.
Guitarist and singer Larry McCray has long been one of the most underrated, or at least under-discussed, bluesmen out there. McCray’s sturdy, soulful vocals and chops on guitar are among the very top in the business, and have been for quite some time, if you check out some of his earlier gems such as “Soulshine” and the booming “Blues is My Business”. Or you can just start at the present and give a listen to McCray’s new album, Heartbreak City (Keeping the Blues Alive Records), almost any of the tracks from which are also destined to be classics.
We’ve already told you about one of those tracks, the smoldering “Bright Side” that was originally penned for the late, great Bobby “Blue” Bland, but there’s a whole lot more here that you’re going to want to check out, from the smooth, swaying soul of “Bye Bye Blues” and bluesy, piano-accented (courtesy of Reese Wynans) “Stop Your Crying” to the opening simmering rocker “Try to Be a Good Man” and hard shuffling “Keep on Loving My Baby” that features fellow guitar slingers Kirk Fletcher and (album co-producer) Josh Smith along with Wynans on piano before McCray declares “my toin” and delivers his own monster solo.
Here’s another great single from that upcoming Antone’s anniversary box set about which we’ve been telling you: a newly recorded, stop-you-in-your-tracks performance of the Bobby “Blue” Bland classic (co-written by Lavelle White) “Lead Me On” by the great Ruthie Foster, backed by an all-star band of Antone’s regulars in Derek O’Brien and Anson Funderburgh on guitar, a six-piece horn section, and the late Lynn August on organ, in what would be his final recording session before his passing earlier this year.
Give it a listen!
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Okay, one more from Chicago before we move on (now you see why they the celebrate the blues the way they do there!)… this new single from Billy Branch and his Sons of Blues is a powerful one both musically and lyrically, touching on not only the issue of homelessness to which its title refers in the most literal sense but also broader issues demanding attention such as poverty, addiction, and hate.
To help strengthen their appeal, Branch and the band are joined by second-generation blues artists Shemekia Copeland, trading lead vocals with Branch, and Ronnie Baker Brooks (who co-wrote the song with Branch) on guitar, all combining to make this one of the most impactful blues songs we’ve heard in some time.
It’s currently available as a single from the newly established Rosa’s Lounge Records label, which we’re sure will be bringing us lots more great stuff in the coming months and years.
We’re keeping things focused on Chicago after our last post with a look at the latest collaboration from harmonica ace Bob Corritore, who, although he’s called Phoenix, Arizona, (where he owns and frequently plays at the legendary Rhythm Room blues club) his home since the early 1980s, originally hailed from and got his start in the Windy City before relocating to the warmer climate of the desert, and this time out teams with longtime Chicago bluesman Willie Buck (who moved to the big city from his birthplace of Mississippi before his 20th birthday). From his arrival in Chicago, Buck was strongly influenced by Muddy Waters, something you’ll notice immediately here on the stellar Oh Yeah! (VizzTone Records), not simply because of the two Waters songs that kick off the album, and/or backing by former Waters guitarist Bob Margolin on a majority of the tracks (including two of the three Waters covers), but because that’s so much a part of Buck’s overall style and sound, something we appreciate more with each new recording we hear from Buck, particularly with Muddy having been gone so long now.
An enthusiastic take on Waters’ “Oh Yeah” opens the album, featuring especially fiery vocals from Buck on the chorus. Some of that fire also carries over to the gritty “She’s Alright” that follows, the first number to feature Margolin on guitar, with other highlights such as the shuffling original “Went Home This Morning” and third Waters song “Baby Please Don’t Go” — with the gruff-vocaled Buck sounding a lot like a more uptempo version of David “Honeyboy” Edwards — also showing some great energy from the 88-year-old Buck, while the gritty, creeping closer “Let Me Find Out Your Name” is another track well worth checking out, featuring some fantastic guitar from Billy Flynn and Jimi “Primetime” Smith.
We’re no fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball club (still maintaining loyalty to the team firmly entrenched at the complete opposite end of the National League Central standings, and thus forced to glory in championships of a far more distant time, when giants with names such as Clemente, Stargell, Mazeroski and Parker graced the field, but we digress) but we can cheer for the Cubs’ recent collaboration with Delmark Records, a fresh take from the Delmark All-Stars on a blues classic that pays homage to the city’s blues roots like no other can: “Sweet Home Chicago”.
Mike Wheeler and Buddy Guy’s daughter Carlisle Guy take the lead on vocals, with nonagenarian Bob Stroger also chiming in on the chorus, backed by a truly all-star band of others that includes Dave Specter on guitar, Roosevelt Purifoy Jr. on keys, Larry Williams on bass, and Melvin “Pooky Styx” Carlisle on drums, with Wheeler also on guitar.
Rising bluesman D.K. Harrell keeps on rolling with his sophomore album–and Alligator Records debut–Talkin’ Heavy. Released last week, the album includes another dozen extremely impressive original tracks that demonstrate why the 27-year-old Harrell is one of the hottest acts on the blues scene right now.
Picking up right where he left off from the energy and sophistication of his first, Blues Music Award-winning album The Right Man (Little Village Foundation), Harrell kicks off this follow-up with a grooving “A Little Taste” that does indeed provide a nice little taste of what’s ahead, including some Albert King-style licks from Harrell on guitar as well as some terrific horns and playing from Jim Pugh on keys.
We know we just spotlighted a cover of Robert Petway’s blues classic “Catfish Blues” and had every intention of going a different direction with this week’s featured single, but then this happened… New West Records this week released another couple of singles from their upcoming box set Antone’s: 50 Years of the Blues, and we just had to bring you this one right away: a terrific, previously unreleased 2004 live track of “Catfish Blues” from a then-rising 20-year-old blues artist named Gary Clark Jr. that exemplifies the raw sound that first drew us to Clark’s music. Joined here by James Bullard on bass and Jay Moeller on drums, Clark’s smoking playing on guitar and youthful yet confident vocals as demanded by the song make this another “Catfish” you’re going to want to keep!
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Ryan Lee Crosby may not be from Mississippi, or anywhere near it, but that didn’t stop the under-45-year-old Rhode Islander from packing up his bags and equipment and heading there to record his latest album At the Blue Front, due out in August. Here’s the first single from that album, a haunting take on the popular blues classic “Catfish” that, like the rest of the album, was recorded at Bentonia’s Blue Front Cafe, a juke joint dating back to 1948 and owned and operated by Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, one of the last living links to the Bentonia-style of blues made famous by Skip James (who performed often at the Blue Front).
You can watch and hear the Lou Reed-sounding Crosby trading verses and licks with the 77-year-old Holmes (as they pass the microphone back and forth for their respective vocal parts) in this video, on which they’re also joined by Jay Scheffler on harmonica and Grant Smith on calabash, a West African drum fashioned from a gourd that adds some neat texture, but it’s hard not to love the entrancing sound of that 12-string guitar from Crosby in combination with Holmes’ 6-string!
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There’s simply no better pairing in the blues today than when Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ get together, as we heard and saw back in 2017 with their Grammy Award-winning debut collaboration TajMo, which also captured both the Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Album honors at the annual Blues Music Awards (where Mahal additionally was named B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and best Acoustic Artist, while Mo’ was crowned best Contemporary Blues Male Artist). With their second album Room on the Porch (Concord Records), Taj and Keb’ invite everyone to continue to celebrate the music with them, with another delightful collection of tracks and a chemistry unlike any other artists can offer.
Although this TajMo album might be slightly mellower overall than their debut, it certainly isn’t any less captivating, inviting you in with the swaying Americana title track that opens the album with guest vocals from Ruby Amanfu, violin, and welcoming lyrics such as “all of our friends are now your friends, that’s how we do it here/ stay as long as you like, that’s alright, we got plenty of beer” and chorus of “come on up, there’s room on the porch for everyone”, and never letting you go, from such other swaying numbers as the “My Darling, My Dear” (with Keb’ on primary vocals as well as acoustic and slide guitar, banjo, octave mandolin, and percussion) that immediately follows; smooth, jazzy tracks such as the blues classic “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” with its soulful, gospelish backing vocals, and the sax-laced “Blues’ll Give You Back Your Soul” (“they say jazz’ll give you back your mind/ reggae, give you back your body/ I know you like rock/ and I know you like to roll/ but, the blues, these blues will give you back your soul”) that features Taj on ukulele as well as most of the vocals; and all the way through to a breezy “Better Than Ever” that finds Billy Branch on harmonica and Wendy Moten on backing vocals (and Taj even busting out some French!), and the Jontavious Willis-penned straightahead acoustic duet “Rough Time Blues” (our favorite track) that close the album, the latter with such lyrics from Taj as “at one time, you could take a hundred dollars, and you’d need help takin’ your groceries back/ you could take one C-note and you would need help takin’ your groceries back (Keb’: I remember, I remember) /you know, with that same old Franklin now, you could put everything you bought in one sack”. That’s the blues, baby, and, as advertised, these blues will indeed give you back your soul.
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