Tag: Blues

So yesterday as I was exploring and writing about the Blues Music Award Nominees for Blues Rock Album of the year one of the albums  on the sidebar of the website, caught my attention.because I thought it was very tastefully done….. So I went over to Spotify and found the album,road worn and ragged.by Jeff Jensen, When I looked at the track list, I saw that Brandon Santini and Victor Wainwright played on several of the tracks, now, not only are those two favorites of mine, but they are nominated for 2013 Blues Music Awards! Brandon is nominated for Contemporary Blues Album of the Year for his album  This Time Another Year (which wrote about briefly back in March) and as harmonica player of the year! While Victor Wainwright is nominated for the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player award! Now Victor I found about a year earlier in July of 2012 and several of his albums are now in my library!! Anyway all of this made it a no brainer that I was going to listen to the album and when I did I was not disappointed in the least! This is one really,really fine album!! On his biography page of his website the title reads JEFF JENSEN – PRODUCER, COMPOSER, BLUES GUITARIST and I do believe that he excels at all three jobs!! While Jeff has been playing guitar since the age of 11 and had his first gigs at the age of 19 and then fronted a blues band that played throughout Southern California, it wasn’t until after he returned from the International Blues Challenge in 2004 a member of the Blues Foundation the he was driven to form his own band. Since then the Jeff Jensen Band has released two albums “Self-Titled” and I’m Coming Home  both of the albums have been well received and made it on to the Roots Music Report Charts and the Lining Blues Charts!  The band also performed at the International Blues Challenge in 2005, 2006, and 2007! In 2011 he moved to Memphis and has spent the last two years as Brandon Santini’s guitarist and music director and together they have recorded three albums!!Man, I’m tired of just reading about all that work that has lead up to his latest release road worn and ragged, so I guess that the title of the album is very fitting!! So check it out Here’s what some folks are saying about the album: “(Road Worn and Ragged) is certainly one of the blues highlights of 2013” — Ben Bonin (No Depression) “Road Worn and Ragged enhances the listener with raw connections to a spectacular variety of blues styles on this recording. Extreme creative talents flow with diversity in vocals, lyrics and fresh instrumentation. ” — Mississippi Blues Club “Jensen delivers fluid leads and solos that meld into the rhythms and soars with melodic intent.” — Dave Ruthenbuerg (Living Blues) Read More here So let’s go “into the night hours” with Jeff performing “Raggedy Ann” from the album!! read more

So I have listened to an album over the last few days that i think is one of the best blues albums of the year, Q.E.D. by Jim Allchin. Jim is not quite your typical blues artist. How many blues artist do you know that you can say this about??….

While pursuing his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology in the early eighties, he was the primary architect of the Clouds distributed object-oriented operating system;[6] his thesis was entitled “An Architecture for Reliable Decentralized Systems”.[7] read more

So this afternoon’s soundtrack will be the new album from Kara Grainger Shiver & Sigh. Here’s some background from Amazon.com

Australia native, now Los Angeles based, Kara Grainger first picked up the guitar at age 12. She started performing in the late ’90s as lead vocalist and guitarist with the successful Sydney-based blues outfit, Papa Lips. With her brother, acclaimed harmonica player Mitch Grainger, Kara and Papa Lips enjoyed a quintessentially Australian experience. Fuelled by national ABC Radio play for their two albums, “Harmony” and “High Time Now,” the band toured up and down the sun drenched beach towns of Australia’s east coast in an old Tarago van. They blew away audiences, soaked up the outdoor lifestyle, and notched up experience at all the significant blues and folk festivals along the way. In 2006, Kara signed to Australia’s Craving Records as a solo artist who encouraged her to go to the United States to record the album. In 2008 she moved to Los Angeles, but continued to split her time between LA and Australia. Her debut CD, 2008’s “Grand and Green River” received first prize in the IAP awards in Austin, Texas and also was in the top 40 Americana charts for over 34 weeks. In 2011, she released “LA Blues” Read More. read more

So one of those early bluesman who mightily influenced blues and rock performers in the 60s  and 70s was born on December 5th! Now the year he was born that may be in question in his review at the AllMusic Guide, Cub Koda writes:

A moody, bitter, and suspicious man, no one wove such a confusing web of misinformation as Sonny Boy Williamson II. Even his birth date (stated as December 5, 1899 in most reference books, but some sources claim his birth may have been in either 1897 or 1909) and real name (Aleck or Alex or Willie “Rice” — which may or may not be a nickname — Miller or Ford) cannot be verified with absolute certainty.  Read More read more

A review of the Roots Music Blues Chart this morning led me to the blues of , Eugene “Birdlegg” Pittman and his 2013 Dialtone release Birdlegg.(#38) Since 1980 Birdlegg has been playing the blues in and around Oakland, California with his band the Tight Fit Blues Band. The band’s lineup would change from time to time but regularly included Texas-born bass player and singer Country Pete McGill and even once featured legendary Chess session guitarist Luther Tucker. Through the years he often told folks:, “I don’t do floors, windows or shoes—I play the Oakland blues!”Birdlegg was named Blues Harmonica Player of the Year by the Bay Blues Society in 2004 While a many blues harpist try to mold their playing around the sound of Little Walter. Birdlegg goes back a little further in time and his muses are Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) and Sonny Terry – two of mu favorites!! I knew I liked his playing!! A few years ago after 35 years in the Bay Area Birdlegg packed his bags and moved to Texas. He reunited with his ex-wife, who he hadn’t seen in years and started playing around town. It didn’t take long for him to establish himself as a favorite on the Austin blues scene! From KXAN  – Blues make a comeback on 6th St. read more