Blasko let me in on the Charles Bradley craze last year and I had a brief opportunity to see him here in Boston. “Sadly”, I was in California at the time and, while it’s rare for me to even consider it, I would have loved to have been back east to see him sing. Bradley is […]
Category: Blues
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Spring is a time for renewal. In that vein, you should get back in touch with your inner Atlantic seaboard circa 1850 with a listen to the Carolina Chocolate Drops. You’ll get jiggy just going down to Jackson. Allocating the banjo, fiddle, harmonica, marching drums, guitar, kazoo, jugs, and beatbox between three folks also harmonizing is no small task. And if you’re anything […]
Son House: Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Son House
Couldn’t say I knew much about this Son House until I watched the outstanding documentary “It may get loud.” (post about that coming) The film asks three very different guitarists to talk about their journey through rock and roll. Throughout the film, Jack White continually points at Son House as his total inspiration for everything. Absolutely […]
Mumtaz Mahal
The most beautiful woman in the world is dead and above her sits the a grandiose white wonder. Her name is Mumtaz Mahal and Water Lilies surround her mausoleum. This is a tribute in effect to her beautiful memory. You two can pay tribute. Here’s how: Tools: 1 Particle Collider, Large Sized 1 4 HP BlendTec, […]
Justin Adams: Soul Science
Soul Science is the kind of world album that most Bay Area ramblers seek out. With lead guitar, jazzy beats, and a foreign rhythmic language, it’s the kind of music that could be telling you subversive things, but the cops would never know. [itunes id=”271852657″].
Johnny Adams: I Won’t Cry
Blues for your enjoyment. [itunes id=”2516593″].
Joe Baker And His Barefoot Brakemen: Shook, Broke, Hung
Folk stories for the Shook, Broke, and Hung. The kind of music that may help you better understand the sudden end to your bachelor days and help you move on. A good album, but kind of flat in my Grado Labs SR80s and ultimately left me wanting more sound, more stories, more energy or dispair. *Sigh. [itunes […]
Bob Brozman: Devil’s Slide
Slide Guitars vs. Slide Whistles? Both, together? I wish. Bob Brozman’s light-fair blues album Devil’s Slide (1988) could only be made better by the latter and is a perfect demonstration of the former. The album also magnifies the prohibition-model muted horns and maestro man-call music. So that’s interesting. But the blues instrumentals are the true […]
LIVE! at The 1966 Berkeley Blues Festival & Zodico Blues & Boogie (1993)
Berkeley Blues Festival (1966) & Zodico Blues & Boogie (1993) Radio KAL invites you to enjoy the sounds of nineteen sixty-six from Harmon Gymnasium at the University of California, Berkeley with Mance, Clifton, and Lightning. Mance Lipscomb: What else can be said.. he’s a Choctaw-Texan blues songster who has had the ultimate honor of being […]
Blues Heroes: Howlin’ Wolf & Robert Johnson
Today I’m listening to a pair of collections of blues greats: Robert Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf. It is hard to say what kind of an impact Robert Johnson would have had on the world had he lived longer. Johnson was killed at the age of 27 in Greenwood, Mississippi, after consuming poisoned whiskey while flirting with […]