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Category: Blues

Today in Music – B B King was born!!

 Riley B B King   (September 16, 1925- May 14, 2015)

So today is the  anniversary of birth of probably the greatest blues musician of all time. Certainly he was one who was at the top of his craft the longest – B.B. King!!

Here’s  the obligatory background information from Wikipedia, like he needs an introduction:

Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925- May 14, 2015), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 6 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time (previously ranked No. 3 in the 2003 edition of the same list),[1] and he was ranked No. 17 in Gibson’s “Top 50 Guitarists of All Time”.[2] read more

British Blues 2014 – Standing in the Shadows from King King

British Blues 2014 Album of the Year winner – Standing in the Shadows from King King congrats!

The British Blues Music Awards were held last Sunday night. I will review the total list at some point today and write about the winners.But for now here is a post I wrote after listening to the album Standing in the Shadows from King King, which won the award for Blues Album of the Year. I have also reviewed the two runners up Aynsley Lister’s Home and Shake the Walls from Marcus Bonfanti!!

Awards for King King

So it’s always pretty neat when I listen to an album, like I did with Standing in the Shadows from the blues band King King, are blown away.  Then go to their website and read that they were the winners of the Best Band & Best Album at the British Blues 2012 Awards!! They are also Winners of ‘Best Band’ & ‘Best Album’ – Blues Matters Writers Poll in 2011!! Hailing from Glasgow King King is fronted by guitarist Alan Nimmo, formerly of the award-winning Nimmo Brothers. As I listened to the album, I heard tracks that went from all out blues ballads to funky blues… from the band’s Facebook page.. read more

John Lee Hooker’s birthday!! (August 22, 1917)

Let’s Have One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer to Honor John Lee Hooker

On this day – August 22 –  in 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi John Lee Hooker was born. He was one of the most influential blues musicians across several generations. From Wikipedia

John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was a highly influential American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally a unique brand of country blues. He developed a ‘talking blues’ style that was his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta blues, his music was metrically free. John Lee Hooker could be said to embody his own unique genre of the blues, often incorporating the boogie-woogie piano style and a driving rhythm into his blues guitar playing and singing. His best known songs include “Boogie Chillen'” (1948), “I’m in the Mood” (1951) and “Boom Boom” (1962), the first two reaching #1 on the Billboard R&B chart. Continue Reading read more

British Blues from Marcus Bonfanti – Shake the Walls

Marcus Bonfanti – Shake the Walls – and he does!!

When I first reviewed the nominees for the 2014 British Blues awards, one of the many nominees whose name I was unfamiliar with, was Marcus Bonfanti. So I downloaded and put his most recent album, the one that is among the nominees for Blues Album of the Year Shake the Walls, on the iPhone. Where it has been in my regular rotation ever since. If I had a vote for the Best British Blues album, it would most likely get my vote! While Bonfanti may be unfamiliar to me, he certainly isn’t unfamiliar to the lovers of British Blues. Bonfanti won the award for Best Acoustic Performer in 2013 and took home the Best Songwriter award in 2012! This year in addition to his nomination for Blues Album, Bonfanti is also nominated for the following awards….. read more

Love the Way You Roll from The Alexis P. Suter Band – You’ll Love the Way She Does!!

Alexis P Suter

Some voices are made for the blues among them is Alexis P. Suter leader of the aptly titled Alexis P Suter Band!  Alexis who calls Brooklyn NY has IT when it comes to the blues and it on display in full force in the band’s sixth release Love the Way You Roll The Blues Music Association agrees, in 2012 she was a nominee for the Soul Blues Female  Artist of the Year. I don’t think that the nomination will be her last and it won’t be too long before she wins the award!! The first time she shared the stage with B.B. King he said this about Alexis… read more

Love the Way You Roll from The Alexis P. Suter Band – You’ll Love the Way She Does!!

Alexis P SuterSome voices are made for the blues among them is Alexis P. Suter leader of the aptly titled Alexis P Suter Band!  Alexis who calls Brooklyn NY has IT when it comes to the blues and it on display in full force in the band’s sixth release Love the Way You Roll The Blues Music Association agrees, in 2012 she was a nominee for the Soul Blues Female  Artist of the Year. I don’t think that the nomination will be her last and it won’t be too long before she wins the award!! The first time she shared the stage with B.B. King he said this about Alexis… read more

Love the Way You Roll – The Alexis P. Suter Band

The Alexis P. Suter Band – You’ll Love the Way She ROLLS!!

Some voices are made for the blues among them is Alexis P. Suter, leader of the aptly titled Alexis P Suter Band!  Alexis who calls Brooklyn NY home, has IT when it comes to the blues. That  it is on display in full force in the band’s sixth release Love the Way You Roll The Blues Music Association agrees, in 2012 she was a nominee for the Soul Blues Female  Artist of the Year. I don’t think that the nomination will be her last and it won’t be too long before she wins the award!! read more

Son Seals – Live – Spontaneous Combustion

Son Seals – Blues  Born   Frank Seals in Osceola, Arkansas. (August 14, 1942 – December 20, 2004)
Exploring the Music of Son Seals on his Birthday….

On this date in 1942 blues guitarist and singer Frank “Son” Seals in Osceola, Arkansas. I must say that I have never been a big fan of Son Seals I have one Seals album on cassette Live and Burnin‘ and have enjoyed it whenever I play it. A birthday is always a good tine to learn more about a musician and listen to their music.

 What I learn about Son Seals today…..

His father Jim “Son” Seals owned a small juke joint  in Osceola, where Son began his professional music career as a drummer with Robert Nighhawk at the ripe old age of 13! Later he switched to guitar and by 16 he was performing at the local upper echelon club T-99 beside “Little Walter” (Seals’ brother-in-law). At the T-99,  he also shared the stage with the likes of  Albert King, Rufus Thomas, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, and Rosco Gordon. From Wikipedia: read more

The Safari Rediscovers British Blues Music Award Nominee Aynsley Lister’s Home!

Coming up on August 24th is the British Blues Music Award Ceremony….one of the nominees for blues Album of the Year is Home from Aynsley Lister.

Here’s my post from earlier this year about the album……   So in 1984 across the pond in Leicester, England an eight year old Aynsley Lister was given his first guitar. By the time 1989 rolled around the 13 year-old played his first gig and had a band. When he turned 18 he opened for Buddy Guy and had self-released two albums of his own material. He also caught the eye of Thomas Ruf and he was signed to Ruf Records a union that would produce seven albums and two DVDs over the next ten years! Now the rising young guitar slinger was playing along side of Walter Trout, John Mayall and Robert Cray, not bad eh? His music appealed not just to blues fans but he also started to gain rock music fans that allowed him to play festivals with bands like Fun Lovin’ Criminals. So while firmly rooted in the blues, his branches reached the rock crowd. This led to his being the only British artist to be named in  in Classic Rock magazine’s “Top 10 Contemporary Blues Artists”, alongside John Mayer, Derek Trucks and Joe Bonamassa!! In 2008 he left Ruf and moved to Manhaton Records and released two more highly acclaimed albums Equilibrium and the Tower Sessions. The later album was  voted ‘Best Live Album’ in the 2011 Blues Matters Writers Poll!!  Now with all that said I want to know why did it take so long for me to find this guy? And yesterday when I did it took a recommendation from Spotify to point him out!! I know all the people he’s played along with, well except, for the Fun Lovin’ Criminals, but yet he has remained hidden from me! Anyway, Home is a great album. His guitar playing blends so nicely with his fine vocals. His guitar work is what I call “tasty” just a the right level, enough that you can see he’s great, but it’s not there just to be there, but there to complement the music! So check him out – As for me I have about twelve albums of his back catalog to check out because i think this is the start of a great audial friendship!! any recommendations as to where to start? Here’s Aynsley performing the title track from the album Home read more

This Date in Music – August 7, 1937 – Blues Guitarist Magic Slim was born!!

On this date August 7th in 1937, Morris Holt, better known as Magic Slim was born at Torrance, near Grenada, Mississippi. Magic Slim followed Muddy Water and Howlin’ Wolf to Chicago and became a force in the Chicago blues scene. I discovered his music when I started the blog Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries. Here’s my post about Magic Slim from 2o1o…..after this post Slim released one more album Bad Boy (2012) prior to his passing in February of 2013. From Wikipedia….

Slim died at a hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 21, 2013 at age 75. He had health problems that had worsened while he was on tour several weeks earlier.[8] His manager had stated bleeding ulcers had sent Slim to the hospital, but that he also suffered from heart, lung and kidney problems read more