Americana Archives - Page 12 of 67 -

Music Archive by category "Americana" (Page 12)

Exploring the Blues of Toronto Born – Anthony Gomes – Rebel Blue!!

One of the blues albums that his been in my music rotation for the last few weeks is Rebel Blue from Anthony Gomes, a seventeen track Best of album! I discovered the Toronto-born Gomes in 2012 via his album Up2Zero, at that point Gomes was 14 years and 8 albums into his career that began back in 1998. In that year Gomes formed his own band after a brief stint as a sideman with Magic Slim and the Teardrops. The band then went out and won the first annual Buddy Guy’s Legends “Best Unsigned Blues Band” competition and later that year Gomes debut CD, Blues in Technicolor was released! read more

Today in Music – Oct 28, 1937 – A Founder of the British Blues Movement – Graham Bond was born!!

So on this date in 1937 another one of those musicians whose name sounded familiar, but I was unsure why, Graham Bond was born. After reading the following at Wikipedia, I was even more unsure of why I didn’t recognize the name!! He certainly influenced the career paths of several musicians who I listened to and admired over the years, not the least of which, are Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. From Wikipedia:

Graham John Clifton Bond (28 October 1937 – 8 May 1974) was an English musician, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s. Bond was an innovator, described as “an important, under-appreciated figure of early British R&B”,[1] along with Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner. Jack Bruce, John McLaughlin and Ginger Baker first achieved prominence in his group, the Graham Bond Organisation. Bond was voted Britain’s New Jazz Star in 1961.[2][3] He was an early user of the Hammond organ/Leslie speaker combination in British rhythm and blues[4] – he “split” the Hammond for portability – and was the first rock artist to record using a Mellotron,[4] on his There’s A Bond Between Us LP. As such he was a major influence upon later rock keyboardists: Deep Purple’s Jon Lord said “He taught me, hands on, most of what I know about the Hammond organ”.[5] read more

John Gorka, and thoughts about the first song I ever heard from an artist…..

Sometime in the early 90s I picked up the CD Legacy: A Collection of New Folk Music. Through that album, I was introduced to two folksingers who became favorites from that album on, John Gorka and Bill Morrissey. I was thinking about the album and John Gorka, because I was listening for the first time to Stu Larson and his album Vagabond, about which you will be reading soon. Anyway, my thoughts revolved around the first songs I ever heard by artists.

I know that the first Elton John song I heard was “Your Song” because I can still hear the DJ on WMMR saying now here is a song from this new artist from England Elton John! The Beatles was of course “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, “Light My Fire” The Doors. If I rack my brain I can probably come up with a lot more, but back to Morrissey and Gorka. The Bill Morrissey song on Legacy was “Handsome Molly” and it’s still a favorite. The John Gorka song on the album was”I Saw a Stranger with Your Hair” it too, became a favorite, as have many of his other songs! read more

Today in Music – Oct 21st – Happy Birthday – Steve Cropper and Elvin Bishop!

Originally, posted October 21, 2012

Today we celebrate the birthday of guitarist and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Steve Cropper (1941). From Wikipedia:

Steve Cropper (born Steven Lee Cropper, October 21, 1941, Dora, Missouri),[1] also known as Steve “The Colonel” Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, and has backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor, also acting as producer on many of these records. He later gained fame as a member of the Blues Brothers band.[2] Rolling Stone lists him 36th on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[3] Mojo ranks Cropper as the second-best guitarist ever. continue reading read more

Saturday Morning Music from John Mayall – “Good Time Boogie” – Jazz Blues Fusion!!

So the other day I decided to visit an album that I haven’t listened to in a long while, Jazz Blues Fusion from John Mayall.The abum is a live album. The first side is from a concert in Boston on 18 November 1971, and the second side was selected from two concerts at Hunter College, New York, on 3 and 4 December 1971. John released two albums with this jazz fusion bent. On the albums he brought jazz musicians into his band. On this album the musicians were Freddy Robinson on guitar, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Ron Selico on drums and Clifford Soloman on tenor and alto saxophones. Larry Taylor long-time member of the band provided bass. read more

Exploring Birthdays on October 14th leads to Jazz Guitarist Garrison Fewell and Blues Artist Chris Thomas King!

Over the last several years that I have written this blog, I have used the lists of birthdays that I have found at several sites as a source to find new music. What I do is read down the lists, find names of musicians that I don’t know then go to Spotify listen and if I like the music I go and read more about the artist, then I write about them. Here is a post I wrote last year on October 14th, when I discovered Garrison Fewell, and Chris Thomas King…….

This morning I was thinking about how reviewing the birthdays everyday has given me another avenue for discovering new artists Over the last week, I have discovered Terry Gibbs, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Dave Robinson and Mark Whitfield to name a few, which to me is pretty cool! With that being said, it seems that a review of today;’s birthday’s has yielded possibly two more artist and if additional listening confirms what I heard this morning that possible will turn into a definite!! read more

Hot Rize – When I’m Free

Note to Hot Rize: 24 yrs between albums is too long!!

When I started to listen to a lot of music and collecting CDs, thanks to the used CD bins at Tunes in Marlton, in the early 2000s, I found the music of Tim O’Brien, an amazing multi-instrumentalist and singer. I also discovered the music of guitarist Charles Sawtelle. It took a while before I stumbled upon a great bluegrass album So Long a Journey (2002) from the band Hot Rize. I discovered that both O’Brien and Sawtelle were members of the band, along with Pete Wernick, and Nick Forster. Subsequently, I discovered that the album was a live album that had been recorded in 1996 and was a reunion album of the band, that had retired in 1990. In 1990, the members had parted ways and went on to have distinguished solo careers. From their biography at the band’s website. read more

Can Your Playlist Make You Happier? Let’s Test It!!

So I finally got around to making an appointment for my yearly physical and blood work, I’m only about 5 months behind. So far everything is good EKG was fine as was my blood pressure 110/64 with a resting pulse of 56! The blood work results should come back early next week so we’ll see then about cholesterol, etc.

Anyway, yesterday I went to the library and picked up two books (actually picked up four but two fit this blog) first Your Playlist Can Change Your Life and second 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart by Neal D. Bernard MD. I have read the first book, but want to look at again and try to put some of the exercises and thoughts into practice. I thought that the second book may have some thoughts and recipes that may go with the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart program which will start the first of October. I originally went to the library looking for Superfoods for the Brain but I didn’t see it. read more

My Summer Folk/Americana Playlist – Check it Out!

So on the left sidebar there is a playlist of some of my favorite songs from a variety of albums, most of which were released in July August and September of 2014. There are a couple that I’ve added from earlier months basically albums that I didn’t get around to writing about but still really enjoyed! So here’s the list of the albums that the songs were taken from to make the playlist!

1. Milltowns – Mark Erelli – September 2014 read more

“Into the Morning” with Two Bluegrass Masters – Jim Hurst and Rob Ickes – “Going Down that Road Feeling Bad”

This afternoon I was listening to the latest release from Breaking Grass Just as Strong, after listening for a while, I went and found a video of the band seems that the band has everything I like fiddle, guitar, mandolin, banjo, and bass, wait! There’s no dobro! But I listened anyway and they are a damn fine band without the dobro and I will listen to Just as Strong a few more times before I write about it…. but thinking about the dobro got me thinking about Rob Ickes, and then I came across this post and thought I’d post it again!!! read more

Category: Americana