Home Music Americana Americana Archive by category "Roots Music Safari"

Category: Roots Music Safari

Tab Benoit – I Hear Music Soundtrack for a Dental Trip

Tab Benoit I Hear Thunder Cover

So, I had a 35 minute drive Monday morning to get to a dental appointment, to have a wisdom tooth extracted. It was a good time to listen to one of the three blues albums that have been in my music rotation. I chose I Hear Thunder from Tab Benoit. And I’m glad I did! The more I listen to the album the more I like it

About Tab Benoit

If you are unfamiliar with Tab Benoit he is a Louisiana-based singer, guitarist, and environmental preservationist. His music has a Cajun-inflected blues-rock sound. While he first burst onto the blues music scene with his 1992 release Nice & Warm on the Vanguard label. I think I first  found Tab Benoit’s music around 2010, when I started blogging. read more

Life is Hard – Mike Zito

Life is Hard - Mike Zito

So the other day I wrote a out one of the two songs that have been in my music rotation this month, Albert Cummings‘ latest album Strong. The other album is Mike Zito‘s new album Life is Hard. Like Cummings Zito has been a favorite of mine for many years a now. I started listening to his music back around 2010 in when I heard his album Pearl. I think that his last two albums, 2021 Blues for the Southside Live and Life is Hard have been the best of his career.

About Life is Hard

Life is Hard was recorded in September 0f 2023 at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, California. Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith produced the album, Both Bonamassa and Smith worked on the production of Blood Brothers, the critically-acclaimed album Zito recorded with fellow label guitarist Albert Castiglia,. (another favorite) Blood Brothers topped both the Billboard and iTunes blues charts after its release in March, 2023. read more

Mystery – Redemption – a Best of 2023

Mystery Redemption a best of 2023

So yesterday I decided to continue listening to new (2023) prog rock albums. I again visited the Prog Archives to review their best of 2023 album list. Rather than just work my way down the list I decided to filter the list and search for bands that are included in the Neo-Prog sub-genre. When I first started listening to current Prog I discovered that most of the albums I liked were Neo-Prog bands. A  brief review of the list revealed that many of the bands I like released new albums on 2023.  I didn’t need to look far down the list to see the name of a band that I like. Redemption from the band Mystery checks in at number to on the list and number 23 on the list unfiltered! Two spots below Karnatanka’s Requiem for a Dream. Anyway, I listened to the album and I liked it. So let’s find out more about Mystery…..

From Prog Archives….

A project of French Canadian guitarist/lyricist/producer Michel St-Père, MYSTERY took form in 1986 as a six-member outfit. They released a self-titled album in 1992 that generated quite some interest across Canada…..

…..Over the years, MYSTERY’s style has evolved from AOR (STYX, ASIA) to more adventurous art rock like that of RUSH and SAGA, but featuring delicate acoustic passages not normally heard from these two. Their music is based on St-Père’s guitar play, which is well executed yet appropriately restrained, while the keyboards remain in the background. MYSTERY won’t dazzle you with technical prowess but you will appreciate their strong melodies, outstanding vocals (Gary Savoie is often compared to JOURNEY’s Steve Perry), elegant arrangements and attention to detail. Their compilation CD “At the Dawn of a New Millenium” is made up of remastered tracks of their three albums and is a fairly good sampler of their répertoire for those wanting to get acquainted with the band. Read More read more

Coco Montoya at his Best on Writing on the Wall

Coco Montoya Writing on the Wall

It always amazes me that at one point in John Mayall’s storied career, both Walter Trout and Coco Montoya were Bluesbreakers ! (Watch Them  Here) Throughout the years, I listened to more music from Walter than Coco. However, Coco is closing the gap based on his last three  albums. And while I admit to not having heard all of Coco’s albums, his recent release  Writing on the Wall may be my favorite.

About Writing on the Wall

Throughout Writing on the Wall Montoya’s vocals are as strong as his impeccable guitar playing. Additionally, the album is the first to feature Coco’s touring band.

Writing on the Wall is the second  Coco Montoya album Grammy Award-winner Tony Braunagel (Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal) has.produced. In addition, Tony provides drums on four tracks. The band’s keyboardist  Jeff Paris (Keb’ Mo’, Bill Withers).co-produced and recorded at Jeff’s Garage. Other members of the band include bassist Nathan Brown and drummer Rena Beavers.

Musicians joining Coco and the band on the album include: guitarists Ronnie Baker Brooks, country star Lee Roy Parnell, and Dave Steen.

Of the 13 tunes that comprise the album five were  composed or co-written by Montoya. Steen wrote four and Paris one. All three together they co-wrote the title track .

The Bottom Line

The following quote found at the top of Coco’s biography on his website pretty much sums up Coco’s music:

“Blistering contemporary blues…piercing attack, funky, shivery guitar tones and aggressive, soulful vocals” -Blues Revue

While the following advice from Albert Collins seems to be taken to heart on Writing on the Wall...

’Just play what you feel, be real about it, and enjoy yourself.’ That’s what Albert Collins taught me,” 

It seems that bringing in his touring band to create this album has been a real success and produced one of Coco’s best if not the best albums. From the start of his solo career Montoya has incorporated the  lessons he learned from his mentors, both the iconic Collins (for whom he originally drummed), and UK legend John Mayall,

His first solo album in 1995 won him the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist. And from that point forward Montoya has been one of the top blues artists in the world. But he hasn’t rested on his laurals, but continues to find new ways to improve his music! And sharing the songwriting with his band along with the top-notch producing of Tony Braunage in the creation of Writing On The Wall  have  done just that!

The bottom line is Writing on the Wall is an A+, so Check It Out!  AllMusic writes the following about Coco and I totally agree!

“One of the most prodigious and gifted electric bluesmen on the planet…a deeply soulful singer and incendiary guitarist [with] a seemingly endless penchant for invention.” – read more

Grant Dermody – Behind the Sun. Great Blues Harp!

GRant Dermody - Behind the Sun

Over the last month or so there have been three blues albums in my music rotation. Each features a great blues harmonica players. The  albums are the latest release from: Bob Corritore, The Dig Three and Grant Dermody. I am going to start the discussion of these albums with Behind the Sun. The latest album from singer, songwriter and acclaimed harmonica player Grant Dermody.

Ok so I confess I am not a huge Grant Derrmody fan. I first listened to his music in 2020 when he released his fourth album My Dony. I remembered I liked the album so I was excited to hear his latest release  Behind the Sun. Well I was blown away and Behind the Sun has become one of my favorite albums of 2022.

 

About Grant Dermody

From Grant’s website…

Grant DermodyIn the hands of harmonica master Grant Dermody the harp rumbles like a freight train, sidles up like a soul singer, purrs like an electric cat, rings out in a rhythmic dance. Pair it up with his voice, a strikingly honest vocal approach that resonates in the direct center of your chest, and the intrigue just increases.

read more

Dion and other Oldies Still Going Strong!

A few days before Dion was appearing at the Keswick Theater in Philadelphia, a woman commented on Facebook post about his appearance. She said that like Grace Slick said rock stars should retire. What Grace Slick told VH1 was that she retired from the music business because…..

….all rock stars over 50 should retire as they look stupid….

While that may apply to many aging stars who haven’t recorded an album in many years it doesn’t apply to Dion! And just writing this it doesn’t apply to two of her ex-band mates Jorma Kaukonan and Jack Cassidy (Hot Tuna)

Anyway, let’s get back to the eighty-two year young Dion. While I have not seen Dion live,  I have viewed many of his recent video. In them he introduces songs from his last two albums Blues with Friends and Stomping Ground and lwhat I’ve seen is an 82 year-old having the time of his life and producing some really good music!

 The Friends on Dion’s Albums

What Dion  has done on his last two albums is write some great songs and then surround himself with all-star talent to make them come alive!

On Blues with Friends, Dion’s friends included:

Joe Bonamassa, Jeff Beck, Joe Louis Walker, Sonny Landreth, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen!

While Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Boz Scaggs and others joined him on Stomping Ground.

Now I know that all these people aren’t playing with Dion on tour but I bet he’s put together a band that can come pretty close!

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is Dion keep your music coming and I’ll keep a listening’

Now in addition to Dion there are several other rockers (mostly blues rockers) who are around 80 years old whom are still producing great music!

Oldies But Still Going Great

So while there maybe be others here’s some of my favorite blues artists Recent music…

First and foremost tracks from the great 2022 album from 88 year old John Mayall The Sun is Shing Down. This is one terrific album. Like Dion Mayallbhas surrounded himself with some great young talent! You can read a great review if the album at the following site:

Blues Rock Review: John Mayall: The Sun is Shining Down Review

ONext are a few tracks from Dion’s aforementioned Stomping Ground

Then some from Charlie Musselwhite’s June 2022 release Mississippi’s Son

Followed by John Primer and Bob Corritore’s 2020 release The Gypsy Woman Told Me.

The last track is from Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite’s 2020 release One Hundred Years of sBlues

The bottom line is, while in some cases Rockers over 50 should retire, there are many that should just keep on rocking and creating great blues! And right now Dion falls into that later group!

Links to Explore the Music of Dion

Artist’s Website
Facebook
YouTube
Amazon

Do let’s check out the music of these oldies but still goodies and thank them for their great music!

I’m

This Year’s Fastest Run! Yeah Me! Music by Damon Fowler!

Over the last six months I have made a conscious effort to manage my ADHD. Although just now as I started to write this post, I started to check the books I read in May to add to a page I made for books I’ve read in 2021!  The good thing though is I stopped myself!!

So why is managing my ADHD relevant today? Well, last night in my mind I planned to run this morning. However, in typical fashion I forgot I also needed  to take wash to the laundromat.

So should I run first then do the laundry? Do the laundry and put off running until later today or tomorrow? Or do the laundry and run while it’s drying?

In the past I would have done the wash and put off running until later. Then later in the day when it came time to run, I would ultimately put it off until tomorrow. That decision would mean I wouldn’t be able to run again until Saturday!

Anyway, I chose option three. Which actually resulted in me having a light breakfast and running around 10 o’clock. I know that doesn’t seem like much but it’s a little win for me!

As an added bonus the run was my fastest of the year! I started my run pretty well and at the half mile mark my place was right around 11 minutes per mile. Running comfortably I hit the mile mark in just under 11 minutes.I held steady and even picked up the place slightly through the second mile. Then I watched my heart rate through the last mile making sure it didn’t get over 154 bpm.

Anyway, that went out the window when I felt good over the home stretch and I finished with a good old man sprint at the end. Final average pace 10:47 min/ mile!

The Nerdy Details

Total Dist: 3.16 =&0=& 34:09 =&1=&: 11:47 min/mile

=&2=&

=&3=& 1 10:57 =&3=& 2: 10:37    =&3=& 3: 10:58 =&3=& 0.16 – 9:39!

=&7=& 146 =&8=& 160 =&9=&: 436 Cals

All in all I am a very happy camper!

The Soundtrack – Alafia Moon – Damon Fowler

Ok so rather than put off finishing this post and then not finishing it, let’s just finishing by writing I have enjoyed Damon Fowler’s music in the past and I enjoyed what I heard today. Checking past posts I see I’ve written several posts about Damon’s music. I’ll post links later!

For now though, let’s go into the evening with “Some Things Change” from DamonFowler’s =&11=&

 

Alex Lopez -Rising Up and a Good Run

=&0=&

Yesterday,  after I finished reading The Residence, I decided to go for a run rather than do my typical workout.   I was doing pretty well running last year up until November. After November 8th I didn’t run again until March3rd. After that run it was another month until I ran again on April 15th.

In my defense, I have worked out regularly almost every day over those four months. And thanks to some changes in my diet, that include focusing on reducing the amount of sugar in my diet. My weight is actually close to my optimal running weight! That actually makes starting to run again a little easier.

I told myself it was going to be a walk/run. To me that  means I would run just a little faster than walking. However,I started out jogging just a little faster than that. I finished the first mile in a slow but respectable time of 11:55. A little after the first mile Mark I made a right hand turn to follow the course I had run in my first two runs of the year.

I followed that course until I came to another street where I need to make a decision. A left hand turn would keep me on the same course, while a right hand turn would send me up the steepest hill in our town.

I felt pretty good and  while the run up the hill would be challenging I know the reward would be going down hill a little later!! I chose the hill. By choosing the hill I also knew that instead of running a 2.8 mile course I would be on a course that would probably end up being a distance of 3.1 mile or 5 kilometers. And that’s the distance I finished at near my home. Here are the nerdy details.

The Nerdy Details

=&2=&: 3.1 =&3=& 38:03 =&4=&: 12:15 min/mile

=&5=&

=&6=& 1 11:55   =&6=& 2: 12:53  =&6=& 12:02  =&9=& 11.15

=&10=& 140 =&11=& 161 =&12=&: 492  Cals

The Soundtrack – Rising Up – Alex Lopez

The soundtrack for my run was Rising Up the latest album from blues guitarist and songwriter Alex Lopez.

About Alex Lopez

 Alex was born in Cleveland Ohio. He began his musical journey playing keyboards. However, like many of his generation he was inspired by British blues/rock bands to master the guitar I His influencers  Included greats like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, read more

A New Idea leads to Stevie Ray and Bill Morrissey

You know what they say- out of site out of mind. Over the last week or so I do believe they may be right.

Recently, I decided to take the CDs I like out of storage and put them on shelves in my room. Yes I know I can play them all on my iPod or I can stream them on Spotify, but there is something about seeing and holding an album or CD that feels good and right.

I have a five disc CD player and over the last month  I have been randomly picking five CDs putting them in the changer and listening to them. And I’ve enjoyed a lot of music I haven’t heard for a while.

Right now I have around nine or ten shelves with CDs on them. So today I decided to randomly generate a number from one to ten using an on-line random number generator. I then picked an album off of the corresponding shelf. I did that twice and then had the two albums playing while I read and did some other stuff.

The two albums were Stevie Ray Vaughan’s 1989 release =&0=&and =&1=&When that album  was released in 2001 it was Bill’s first album of new songs in five years. I haven’t listened to either album in long long time, particularly the Stevie Ray album!

In Step - Stevie Ray Vaughan
In Step – Stevie Ray Vaughan

Spotify


In Step was Stevie Ray’s fourth and final studio album. It reached number 33 in the United States in 1989. It was one of his  most critically and commercially successful releases.

The first three tracks on =&3=& are: “The House is Rockin”, “Ctossfire” and “Tightrope”. They also were the three tracks most often played on the radio. “Crossfire” was his only number-one hit.

After the release of =&3=&, he became one of the world’s most highly demanded blues performers, and he headlined Madison Squaret Garden in 1989 and the Beale Street Music Festival in 1990.

In 1990, he also recorded a collaboration album with his brother, Jimmie Vaughan, called Family Style And on August 27,1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash. Like many before him he left us way too soon. He was only 35 years old.

Something I Saw or Thought I Saw - Bill MorrisseySomething I Saw or Thought I Saw – Bill Morrissey

Spotify

The. second album was Something I Saw or Thought I Saw by Bill Morrissey. When Bill released the album in 2001, it was his first release with new material in five years.

First and Foremost Bill was a storyteller. Each song is a little snippet of life with interesting characters. William Ruhlman at AllMusic writes the following about

Something I Saw or Thought I Saw…. read more

Cindy Blackman Santana – Jazz Drummer Born Nov 18,1959

Cindy Blackman Santana
Original posted Nov 2013

The first jazz artist that caught my eye when I reviewed the birthday list this morning at All About Jazz was Cindy Blackman. The reason was simple she is a drummer!!  I do believe that there are not that many of them around!!  What I didn’t know at the time, aside from who the hell she is, was that in the spring of 2010 Cindy sat in with Carlos Santana when the band’s drummer  Dennis Chambers had a previous commitment. Cindy and Carlos had first met several years earlier at a festival in Europe. At the time Cindy was touring with Lenny Kravitz. .By July of 2010 Carlos proposed to Cindy and the two were married in December! So who besides Mrs Carlos Santana is this Cindy Blackman. A stop at Wikipedia was in order……

=&0=& (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as =&1=&,[1] is a virtuoso drummer whose artistry spans the realms of jazz and rock.  Blackman is best known for recording and touring with Lenny Kravitz. Full Biography
 and at her website I read……..

=&2=&