R.I.P., Louisiana Red

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Mike

Blues harmonica player and Rhythm Room proprietor Bob Corritore is reporting today that friend and fellow musician Louisiana Red has passed, another great loss to the blues music world. Here are a couple of posts we’ve done on Red in recent years, one on his Pittsburgh roots and the other on what would be his last album while alive, Memphis Mojo.

Posted in Deaths | Tagged , | Comments Off on R.I.P., Louisiana Red

Red, White and Blues at the White House

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Mike

The House was a’rockin Tuesday night when the President and First Lady hosted a Black History Month salute to the blues featuring a host of artists ranging from longtime performers such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Mick Jagger to “the future of the blues” in Gary Clark Jr. to recent Grammy Award winners Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, and the evening’s music director and bandleader, Booker T. Jones.

If you missed the live stream of the program on the web, here are a few of the night’s more memorable moments that you can look for in Monday’s edited broadcast on PBS (9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central):

  • Following opening remarks and an introduction from the President, B.B. King takes the stage, flanked by the evening’s other artists, with a “Let the Good Times Roll” that features King, Shemekia Copeland, and Susan Tedeschi on vocals, along with solos from Trombone Shorty, Jeff Beck, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks
  • After a performance of “The Thrill is Gone” from King, Trombone Shorty brings some Mardi Gras to the White House with “St. James Infirmary”
  • Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy offer a funky “Let Me Love You Baby”
  • Mick Jagger reminisces about meeting Sonny Boy Williamson in England and the Rolling Stones’ 1964 session at Chess studios between performances of Otis Redding’s “I Can’t Turn You Loose,” Howlin’ Wolf’s “Commit a Crime” with Jeff Beck, and the Stones’ “Miss You” featuring Copeland and Tedeschi on background vocals and Jagger on harmonica
  • Copeland and guitarist Gary Clark Jr. take a turn on “Beat Up Old Guitar,” followed by Clark on “Catfish Blues” and the slow blues of Leroy Carr’s “In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down).” As good as the rest of the program was, Clark’s solo performance may well have been the evening’s main highlight
  • Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, and Warren Haynes offer a tribute to Etta James with “I’d Rather Go Blind”
  • Buddy Guy, Gary Clark Jr., and Jeff Beck join Mick Jagger on “Five Long Years,” with all but Beck taking a turn on vocals
  • In the evening’s finale, the “White House Blues All Stars” (as dubbed by the Chief Executive himself) offer an especially fitting “Sweet Home Chicago” that allows Guy, Copeland, Jagger, Tedeschi, Keb Mo, Haynes, and even Obama himself a turn on lead vocals, in addition to guitar solos from Clark and Trucks

If you haven’t surmised it by now, this was nothing short of a colossal night for the blues, and we applaud the White House, PBS, and, of course, the artists for sharing it with us and the students who made up the audience.

While you have to wait until Monday to see the full concert again on PBS (you can, of course, find segments of it – particularly the President’s participation – on YouTube and a few news outlet sites), you can view the blues workshop that took place earlier in the day – led by the Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum and featuring a panel of Trombone Shorty, Keb Mo, and Shemekia Copeland – on the White House website. And here are some nice photos of the concert, courtesy of The Washington Post.

Posted in Shows | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Red, White and Blues at the White House

Joe Louis Walker unleashes some Hellfire on Alligator Records debut

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Mike

The last we heard from the guitar-slinging Joe Louis Walker, he and some friends were caught up in quite a Blues Conspiracy aboard the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise. After the switch to a new label and a little time in studio with talented producer Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Susan Tedeschi, George Thorogood, Johnny Winter), Walker has both feet squarely back on land with his Hellfire, what he describes as the hardest rocking and most deeply soulful album of his career.

jlw-hellfireOut today on Alligator Records, Hellfire includes five tracks co-written by Hambridge (two with Walker), and another five penned or co-written by Walker, in addition to one cover in Hank Snow’s “Movin’ On.” The funky title track gets the album off to a rocking start, combining powerful lyrics regarding the struggle between good and evil (“Burning down the Devil’s highway, lovin’ everyone I meet/ tryin’ to live my life the right way, but the flames are nippin’ at my feet/ Hellfire, it’s my curse/ Hellfire, that’s my church”) with a blistering guitar solo much aligned with the song’s name, along with some spunky organ from Reese Wynans. As thrilling a start as that may be, things get even better with a slow and bluesy “I Won’t Do That” that provides the perfect forum for Walker’s vocals, followed by the Rolling Stones-like “Ride All Night” with background vocals from Wendy Moten.

“I’m On To You” is another straight-ahead blues track featuring Walker on harmonica as well as vocals, while the slow, driving, at times Stevie Ray Vaughan-sounding “What’s It Worth” is one of the album’s more impassioned tunes both vocally and musically. With the exception of a boogeying take on Snow’s “Movin’ On” that closes the album, the remainder of the tracks are all Walker compositions, and find him tackling topics ranging from the religious (the Robert Randolph-like “Soldier for Jesus” with its terrific slide guitar, and “Don’t Cry,” both featuring the vocal harmonies of the Jordanaires) to inebriation (“Too Drunk to Drive Drunk”) to race (a “Black Girls” on which Walker declares “You got to have those black girls, to put the soul back up in your song” and pays tribute to such luminaries as Tina Turner, Ruth Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Shemekia Copeland, including a few lines from Turner’s classic “Proud Mary”).

It’s hard not to be entertained by the Bob Seger-ish “Too Drunk to Drive Drunk,” in which the car keys may have been taken away but Wynan’s are still in full force, buoyed further by Walker’s guitar and some terrific horns, while “I Know Why” and “Don’t Cry” are both solid R&B numbers, the former a passionate ballad accompanied by those same horns, the latter an uplifting and catchy gospel-infused track much in the vein of Mac Arnold’s “I Can Do Anything.”

Wynan’s keys are a highlight throughout, particularly on songs such as “I Won’t Do That,” “Black Girls,” and the closer, as well as those mentioned above, and Hambridge, as always, does a fine job on drums. Despite its title, this one from Walker will undoubtedly leave many fans in blues heaven, or at least wondering how it is that Hell can feel this damn good.

Posted in Albums | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Joe Louis Walker unleashes some Hellfire on Alligator Records debut

Canadian Matt Andersen mines some deep blues on latest CD

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Mike

As much as I’d like to say I accomplished everything I wanted (and more) by the ringing in of the new year, a small stack of unreviewed new releases decorating my home office might suggest otherwise. Among the albums I wasn’t quite able to get to in December was a pretty impressive one from 30-something Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Matt Andersen; if you haven’t heard of him, you may want to add checking out his new Coal Mining Blues (Busted Flat Records) to your list of resolutions.

matt_andersen_coal_mining_blues (220x200)The son of a Perth-Andover logger, Andersen has a gift for presenting songs that resonate with the masses both lyrically and musically, with sounds that range from the quiet tones of Marc Cohn and Philipp Fankhauser, to The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Joe Cocker, to the more straight-ahead blues of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Chicago’s Rob Blaine. The first Canadian to win the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge (2010), he also surrounds himself with some strong company on instruments and backing vocals. Recorded at Levon Helm’s studios in Woodstock, N.Y., Coal Mining Blues, for example, also features The Band keyboardist Garth Hudson and Helm’s daughter Amy on vocals, as well as fellow Canadian Colin Linden, who co-wrote and plays on several tracks in addition to having produced the project.

I haven’t yet been able to decide which I enjoy more from Andersen: the soft ballads such as “Home Sweet Home,” the beautiful title track, and the emotionally powerful “She Comes Down” or his more up-tempo numbers like “Fired Up,” the soulful “Heartbreaker” with its horns and intense vocals, and the swinging “Lay It on the Line,” but I’m pretty sure there’s not a thing I don’t like about this record, much of which has a pleasing country blues feel.

Kicking off with the catchy guitar and vocals of the shuffling, CCR-sounding “I Don’t Wanna Give In” and the country-rock of “Fired Up,” it isn’t long before we hear a completely different side of Andersen’s persona in the form of the album’s title track. In the style of Marc Cohn and Philipp Fankhauser, the song really couldn’t be more heartfelt, not only in its lyrics and vocals, but also in Andersen’s acoustic guitar and the accompanying keys and horns. A few songs later, the inspirational lyrics of the soft and slow “Baby I’ll Be” are further accented by the superb backing vocals of the McCrary Sisters, followed by a Rob Blaine-like performance on “Make You Stay” that includes some terrrific strumming from Andersen on acoustic guitar, joined only by Geoff Arsenault on drums.

Garth Hudson steps in on accordion for the Eric Bibb-ish “Home Sweet Home,” while Andersen displays hints of Darius Rucker, Joe Cocker, and The Band on his vocals for the quiet but commanding “She Comes Down.” The slow country blues of “Willie’s Diamond Joe” (Willie P. Bennett) ventures even further into Band territory, consisting only of Andersen on acoustic guitar and lead vocals along with Linden on harmony vocals and mandolin.

Not yet quite ready to call it a day, Andersen rips into a Fabulous Thunderbirds-like “I Work Hard for the Luxury” that credits “Some Handsome Fellers” on backing vocals before putting down the guitar for a closing, Joe Cocker-sounding take on Charlie Rich’s “Feel Like Going Home,” accompanied by John Sheard on piano.

This, of course, is not to suggest that Andersen is without a sound of his own; rather, he is to be commended for his ability to accomplish such a diverse range of styles – and do it all so damn well – in the space of only a dozen songs on Coal Mining Blues. That, combined with Andersen’s recent wins at the IBC and 2011 Maple Blues awards (where he took top prize in both the entertainer and acoustic act of the year categories), is bound to lead to a whole new world of possibilities for Andersen, and we look forward to hearing him play our part of it sometime soon.

Posted in Albums | Tagged , | Comments Off on Canadian Matt Andersen mines some deep blues on latest CD

Sean Costello Lives On with At His Best – Live

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Mike

Sadly, we’ve written quite a bit about death lately, with the passing of both Texas bluesman Doyle Bramhall and the great Hubert Sumlin in recent weeks.

It’s been three years now since the blues world lost the guitar and vocal talents of Philadelphia-born, Atlanta-bred bluesman Sean Costello, but time, it seems, doesn’t make his loss any easier, especially when reminded of his immense ability and soulfulness through recordings such as Landslide Records’ new At His Best – Live, the first completely live album from Costello.

Unlike many who’ve passed in recent months, Costello was not an octagenarian or nonagenerian winding down a multi-decade career; he was a gifted 28-year, 364-day old singer and guitarist whose star was only just beginning to rise after playing on Susan Tedeschi’s powerful Just Won’t Burn album and putting out some pretty impressive recordings of his own in We Can Get Together, Sean Costello, and Moanin’ for Molasses, among others, making his death all that more tragic. While Costello hadn’t yet achieved the fame of Stevie Ray Vaughan or Jimi Hendrix, that could easily have come in another year or two, as is all too evident on the stellar At His Best.

costelloRecorded during shows in the U.S. and Europe over the seven years prior to Costello’s death, the album opens on the swinging blues of Freddie King’s instrumental “San-Ho-Zay,” quickly reminding us of the young man’s skill in presenting, and indeed, embellishing, the works of some of the great blues masters, also heard here in his interpretation of tunes from Magic Sam (“All Your Love”), T-Bone Walker (“T-Bone Boogie”), Otis Rush (“You’re Killing My Love,” penned by Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites), and Lowell Fulson (“Reconsider Baby”). As much as we’ve always believed Costello to be at his peak playing the music of artists like these (check out, for example, his takes on Rush’s “Double Trouble” and “All Your Love (I Miss Loving),” both of which can be heard on Landslide’s earlier Sean’s Blues: A Memorial Retrospective), the 16 live tracks – only five of which were previously recorded by Costello – also do a superb job of showcasing Costello’s jazz, R&B, and soul chops with such songs as “The Hucklebuck,” Tyrone Davis’ “Can I Change My Mind,” Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s “I Get a Feeling” and “Motor Head Baby,” and the closing “Lucille” (written by Albert Collins and Little Richard). Though the crowd tends to be a bit noisy on a few of the recordings, we much prefer to put up with a chattering audience than to never have had the chance to hear these tunes from the talented Costello.

At His Best moves easily from one high point to another, shifting from the opening number to the slow shuffle of Lloyd Glenn’s “Blue Shadows,” then an impressive series of tracks in the aforementioned “T-Bone Boogie,” “All Your Love,” and the funky soul of “I Get a Feeling,” in addition to the, well, soulful funk of Bobby Womack’s “Check It Out.” Also included is an exceptionally strong take on Johnnie Taylor’s “Doing My Own Thing” (“and really, what’s wrong with Big Fat Sally doing her own thing?”) before the lively instrumental “The Hucklebuck.” But perhaps the album’s best stretch comes close to its end, beginning with a sincere and catchy “Hold On This Time” that demonstrates a bit more of Costello’s vocal abilities than many of the other songs. That’s followed by a darker and much more rocking “The Battle is Over But the War Goes On” (Mighty Mo Rodgers) and the always fantastic “Peace of Mind” – here a bit funkier and rougher than we’re accustomed, both with a number of powerful guitar solos and riffs.

Costello may never have found the peace of mind for which he was searching – or the stardom he deserved – but Landslide Records has amassed a truly fine collection of performances that does just as its title promises in capturing the young master at his best, with a portion of the sales from the album benefiting the Sean Costello Fund for Bi-Polar Research.

As Costello himself croons on one of the tracks, “all ‘ya gotta’ do is just check it out.”

Posted in Albums | Tagged | Comments Off on Sean Costello Lives On with At His Best – Live

Texas Cannonball Freddie King shoots into Rock Hall of Fame

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Mike

freddieking-160x200The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2012 inductees on Wednesday, including one pretty terrific bluesman in Texas guitarist Freddie King. Nicknamed the “Texas Cannonball,” King is this year’s sole inductee in the Hall’s Early Influence category, which recognizes “artists whose music predated rock and roll but had an impact on the evolution of rock and roll and inspired rock’s leading artists.”

And did he ever. Here’s what the Hall says about King in his profile:

Guitarists ranging from Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield, to Peter Green, Jeff Beck and Carlos Santana have all acknowledged their debt to Freddie King (1934-1976), the “Texas Cannonball.”  His ’60s classics, “Have You Ever Loved A Woman,” “Hide Away,” “You’ve Got To Love Her With A Feeling” and “The Stumble” are part of the DNA of modern electric blues. Born in Texas, a young King arrived in Chicago with his family in 1950, a perfect moment to start learning from Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Jimmie Rogers and all of the legendary post-war bluesmen. Over the next 10 years, as the First Great blues revival took shape, King developed a style all his own.  In 1961, he miraculously charted six R&B Top 30 hits on the King/Federal label that were heard from coast-to-coast and were profoundly influential on both sides of the Atlantic.

Three covers are indelibly etched: “Hideaway” featuring Clapton (on John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, the ‘Beano’ LP of 1966), “The Stumble” and “Someday, After Awhile (You’ll Be Sorry)” (both featuring Green, on Mayall’s A Hard Road, ’67) and “Have You Ever Loved A Woman” (a staple for Clapton ever since the first Derek & the Dominos album). King thrived on rock, jazz and blues scenes and at festivals starting in the late ’60s and ’70s, even getting name-checked by Grand Funk Railroad on “We’re An American Band” (“Up all night with Freddie King/ I got to tell you, poker’s his thing”). Right up through his death, all too soon at age 42, Freddie influenced Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, and the next generation of disciples who would take electric blues into the ’80s, ’90s and beyond.

Other 2012 inductees include The Small Faces/The Faces, Donovan, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N’ Roses, the Beastie Boys, and Laura Nyro.

Also being inducted this year in The Award for Musical Excellence category is record engineer and producer Tom Dowd, whose name you might recall from his decades of work, largely for Atlantic Records, with such artists as Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, Rufus Thomas, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Thelonious Monk, the Coasters, Derek and the Dominos, King Curtis, the Allman Brothers Band, Cream, and Eric Clapton, to name just a few. In addition to engineering Atlantic’s first national hit in 1949’s “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-dee-O-Dee” by Stick McGhee, Dowd also worked with such blues acts as Booker T and the MG’s, Popa Chubby, Tinsley Ellis, Colin James, Joe Bonamassa, and Susan Tedeschi during his distinguished career.

The 27th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place in April, and is open to the public. For those who can’t make it to Cleveland, look for the ceremony on HBO in early May.

Posted in Awards | Tagged | Comments Off on Texas Cannonball Freddie King shoots into Rock Hall of Fame

Nick Moss makes another bold statement on Here I Am

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Mike

Anyone who didn’t much care for the direction Chicago blues-rocker Nick Moss took on his previous album Privileged – a bit heavier on the rocking side, sans his band the Flip Tops – can probably stop reading here. For the rest of us though, the past year and a half has been one of great anticipation, as we awaited Moss’ latest gem, unleashed last week under the title of Here I Am (Blue Bella Records).

mosshere (180x180)Any question there may have been as to whether this outing would follow a similar path as the free spirited sounds of Privileged is quickly answered with the blistering guitar and piano boogie of the opening “Why You So Mean?,” followed by a gritty and powerful “Blood Runs” featuring some especially tough background vocals, and the hard shuffling title track, which has Moss boldly declaring – through both his words and guitar – that he won’t be boxed in.

Indeed, Moss is all that much deeper into his journey on Here I Am, with plenty more guitar solos and nary a track clocking in under four and a half minutes, with several in the eight to ten minute range. Backed by Travis Reed on keys, “Stumpy” Hutchkins and Nik Skilnik on bass, and Patrick Seals on drums, the disc’s ten original songs offer a rich array of sounds that span from Cream and Jimi Hendrix to the Allman Brothers Band and Delaney & Bonnie.

“Candy Nation” is a funky blues number with a few very sweet guitar licks, no puns intended, as the candy being referred to here is clearly of the medicinal variety. The first single off the album is the quieter and soulful “It’ll Turn Around,” offered both in its standard eight-minute version and as a five-minute radio edit, and one of two songs nicely accented by both male and female backing vocals.

That moves into the Cream-meets-Jimi Hendrix sound of “Long Haul Jockey,” followed soon after by the the disc’s longest cut, clocking in at nearly ten minutes, the funky “Caught by Surprise.” The slow rocking blues and psychedelic sounds of “Katie Ann (Slight Return)” and the brisk-moving “Here Comes Moses” give Moss ample time to show off more of his skill on the strings before the album closes on the fun, laughter-filled instrumental “Sunday Get Together.”

With any luck, Moss will also play well into Sunday when he visits Moondog’s in Blawnox next Saturday, December 10. It’s a show – and Here I Am, an album – well worth checking out. And now, as Moss himself points out in that title track, it’s your own damn fault if you pass him over…

Posted in Albums | Tagged | Comments Off on Nick Moss makes another bold statement on Here I Am

Louisiana Red gets Memphis Mojo working on latest CD

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Mike

We’ve talked here before about the Pittsburgh roots of the bluesman called Louisiana Red, who’s logged countless miles since leaving the Steel City for Chicago many decades ago. Having spent 20 years living in Germany, Red’s latest project actually finds him in yet another famous U.S. blues town, reunited with an outfit called Little Victor’s Juke Joint (Back to the Black Bayou) for Memphis Mojo (Ruf Records).

memphis-mojoRecorded in Memphis just two days after Red (whose real name is Iverson Minter) took home honors for acoustic artist and acoustic album (You Got to Move with keyboardist David Maxwell) at 2010’s Blues Music Awards, Memphis Mojo is precisely what you’d hope for and expect from Red and this line-up, which includes Little Victor and The Hawk sharing guitar duties with Red, Bob Corritore on harmonica, David Maxwell on piano, and Mookie Brill on bass, in addition to a few others. Even if the listener comes in having no idea of Red’s rich blues history, which has included jamming with the likes of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, and nearly every other major bluesman, it doesn’t take long to figure out that Red is the genuine article, between the album’s title and the swampy blues and plaintive vocals of the opening “Goodbye Blues” (only an experienced bluesman such as Red could even think about starting an album with a song about goodbyes).

That’s followed by a Robert Johnson-like “I Had Troubles All My Life,” with its Delta sound, lyrics about picking cotton in Mississippi, and Red’s crackling vocals making it easy to believe he knows just what it means to be troubled. A dark and gritty take on Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “See That My Grave is Kept Clean” would fit quite nicely in a True Blood episode, complete with creaking coffin and tolling church bell effects to accompany its lyrics, while the hoarse-vocalled “No More Whiskey” is a shuffling romp through the Hill country a la Junior Kimbrough.

“Just Take Your Time” is a tune more in the Windy City style, with some fine piano from Maxwell in addition to the two guitars of The Hawk and Little Victor. From there, they move to the slow shuffle of “Your Lovin’ Man” featuring Red on slide guitar and vocals accompanied by the soulful harp of Corritore, as well as a bit of boogie in “Boogie Woogie Boogie” and a shaking “I’m Gettin’ Tired” that shows Red’s only really tired in attitude.

Two slow blues numbers help to close the album, “So Long, So Long” and “Grandmother’s Death,” along with another guitar-driven shuffler in which Red pleads “why don’t you come back,” which is likely what Blues Music Awards voters will be asking Red upon hearing Memphis Mojo.

Posted in Albums | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Louisiana Red gets Memphis Mojo working on latest CD

Samantha Fish casts a wide net on Runaway debut

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Mike

fish (180x179)We’ve talked here before of the vocal and guitar prowess of Kansas City blueswoman Samantha Fish, who you may recall as one-third of Ruf Records’ Girls with Guitars Blues Caravan along with U.K. blues/soul singer and guitarist Dani Wilde and multi-instrumentalist Cassie Taylor. But today, the spotlight focuses (mostly) on Fish as a solo artist, following the recent release of her own album Runaway on the Ruf label.

SONY DSCThat’s not to say Fish is entirely removed from her Girls with Guitars colleagues on this outing: Cassie Taylor and Jamie Little join Fish on bass and drums, respectively, with GWG producer Mike Zito also returning, both behind the board and on guitar and vocals. Together, they help to create a dynamite debut from the blonde performer Taylor playfully referred to as “Guitar Barbie” during the Caravan’s appearance at this summer’s Pittsburgh Blues Festival, where we had a chance to snap these photos.

Kicking off on an edgy “Down in the Swamp” that nicely illustrates the grittiness of both the 22-year-old’s voice and guitar, Fish moves to the boogie of the album’s title track as well as the slow, sweet blues of the often-humorous “Today’s My Day.” The slow shuffle of “Money to Burn” and quiet, jazzy, Eva Cassidy-like closer “Feelin’ Alright” do particularly well in showcasing the smoky side of Fish’s voice, while the vocally-rich “Soft and Slow” and a rocking duet with Mike Zito in “Push Comes to Shove” both help to bring out the country blues in the midwestern girl.????????

Also included here are a tender take on Tom Petty’s “Louisiana Rain,” a funky, riff-heavy “Leavin’ Kind,” and the superb shuffle of “Otherside of the Bottle,” making for a fine offering from this rising young talent.

Posted in Albums | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Samantha Fish casts a wide net on Runaway debut

Johnny Winter recalls blues roots on latest CD

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Mike

There’s an old Willie Dixon adage you might have heard that “The blues is the roots, and the rest is the fruits.”

One timely example of that sentiment is Texas guitar slinger Freddie King‘s inclusion among this year’s nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (announced this week), with King’s Rock Hall bio noting his influence on such other artists as Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Carlos Santana, and Jeff Beck.

Johnny_Winter_RootsAnother case in point: fellow Texas guitarist Johnny Winter‘s latest CD Roots – out this week on Megaforce Records – which press materials describe as “return(ing) Johnny to his roots by paying homage to the iconic blues heroes whose pioneering music influenced Winter’s own signature sound and style.” Indeed, Roots finds Winter taking on (in a surprisingly energetic way, considering his recent health problems) nearly a dozen blues classics from such masters as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, Bobby Blue Bland, T-Bone Walker, and Jimmy Reed, among others, joined in his effort by special guests that include Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Sonny Landreth, Susan Tedeschi, John Popper, and brother Edgar Winter.

The album kicks off on the natural ball of a Sonny Landreth-accompanied “T-Bone Shuffle,” followed by a strong “Further On Up the Road” with guitarist/Conan bandleader Jimmy Vivino, and an Allman Brothers-sounding “Done Somebody Wrong” that includes Warren Haynes on slide.

Fellow ABB bandmate Derek Trucks joins Winter a bit later for Robert Johnson’s “Dust My Broom,” while Trucks’ wife Susan Tedeschi contributes lead guitar and vocals on a bright duet of Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights, Big City.”

A straight-ahead take on Muddy Waters’ “Got My Mojo Workin'” features some terrific harmonica from Frank Latorre, and Blues Traveler John Popper keeps the harp workin’ on the slow blues of Little Walter’s “Last Night,” before Vince Gill joins the party with a country blues run at the Chuck Berry hit “Maybellene.”

The album’s sole instrumental – Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s “Honky Tonk” – incorporates some soulful sax from Johnny’s brother Edgar, with Winter band guitarist Paul Nelson (who also produced the album) featured on the fun country boogie of “Short Fat Fannie.” John Medeski accompanies on organ for Walter Davis’ always-delightful “Come Back Baby,” complete with a particularly stinging solo from Winter to help close the album.

While it may not be entirely accurate to herald this as a return to Winter’s roots in that he’s never really strayed too far from the blues during his accomplished career, it is nonetheless a triumphant return – both on guitar and vocals – for the bluesman following his last studio album, 2004’s I’m a Bluesman. It’s always enjoyable when Winter comes at the genre with full force, and this time, it’s with the help of a few friends, who together make Roots one of the most exciting blues albums of the year.

PowR cuts: “Got My Mojo Workin’;” “Last Night;” “Bright Lights, Big City;” “Honky Tonk;” “Dust My Broom;” “Come Back Baby”

Posted in Albums | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Johnny Winter recalls blues roots on latest CD