11-06-2018 12:42 BLUES:MiX # 33 blues songs from the BLUES circle 2002-1991

Guy Davis

11-06-2018 3:42 BLUES:MiX # 33 blues songs from the BLUES circle 2002-1991 # Guy Davis, Michael Coleman, John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers, Joanna Connor, Taj Mahal, Steve James, Tommy Castro, Phillip Walker and Otis Grand, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson, Johnny Winter

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2002-1991

Acclaimed American blues singer, songwriter, actor, and teacher. / Updating the rural blues tradition for the modern era, Guy Davis was among the most prominent ambassadors of African-American art and culture of his generation, additionally winning great acclaim for his work in the theater. 
Guy Davis
Good Liquor 3:06
Lay Down by My Side 5:26
Watch Over Me (Guy Davis) 5:05
from Give In Kind 2002
Guy Davis has developed into a consummate bluesman. He's listened hard to classic Delta blues and based his style on it, without ever becoming a carbon copy of the greats... This is the tradition reborn and revitalized. Davis' support is wonderfully sympathetic, but he's completely at the center of things, the motivator and mover of this music, and a purveyor of the real blues. His lineage is obvious, and he's the new generation, doing it right and keeping it real.

Before becoming one of Chicago's hottest electric blues guitarists, Michael Coleman began his career playing alongside James Cotton for nearly a decade. The guitarist joined Cotton's band in 1979 at the age of 23...
Michael Coleman
The Train (Michael Coleman) 4:38
Do Your Thing! (Isaac Hayes) 7:25
You Don't Have to Go (Jimmy Reed) 7:36
from Do Your Thing! 2000
Do Your Thing! demonstrates that a bluesman doesn't have to be a fantastic vocalist to provide a meaningful album. Best known in Chicago blues circles for his ten years as James Cotton's guitarist, Michael Coleman isn't a singer's singer. He is an adequate singer with a relaxed, laid-back vocal style that owes a lot to Jimmy Reed, but as a guitarist, Coleman obviously has sizable chops. And thankfully, he takes a lot of guitar solos on Do Your Thing!, which has as much to do with pre-1980 soul and funk as it does with electric Chicago blues...

Major British blues bandleader who, starting in London in 1963, featured some of the most successful rock musicians of the '60s and '70s. 
John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers
Don't Turn Your Back (John Mayall) 5:13
Padlock on the Blues (John Mayall) 6:59
Always a Brand New Road (Buddy Whittington / Joe Yuele) 4:07
from Padlock On the Blues 1999
John Mayall's career may be distinguished but it's also been checkered, as he's swung from a celebrated talent scout to a journeyman bandleader. At times, he's in fashion, at others he's not. The late '90s was one of the times when he wasn't in fashion. Because of this, he was one of the first artists who Cleopatra signed when they began to move into high-profile new releases. Padlock on Blues, his first effort for the label and his first album in four years, finds Mayall pulling out all the stops, contributing 11 new tunes and lining up an impressive array of guest stars, including John Lee Hooker, Coco Montoya, and Ernie Watts...

What sets Joanna Connor apart from the rest of the pack of guitar-playing female blues singers is her skill on the instrument. Even though Connor has become an accomplished singer over time, her first love was guitar playing, and it shows in her live shows and on her recordings.
Joanna Connor
Nothin' But the Blues (Joanna Connor) 4:03
Slide on In (Joanna Connor) 5:11
Pea Vine Blues (Joanna Connor / Ron Johnson / Charley Patton) 4:05
from Slidetime 1998
Joanna Connor's fourth album for Blind Pig finds her still working solidly in blues-rock territory with plenty of her blistering slide guitar work well to the fore. Connor penned all 11 of the tunes here, co-writing one of them with guitarist Ron Johnson and the other with drummer Boyd Martin; her songwriting chops show considerable added depth and improvement on this go round. Still keeping her sound in the time-honored road-band format of two guitars, bass and drums...

A guitarist and singer/songwriter who took an interest in reviving the rural blues tradition, later extending to reggae and ragtime influences. One of the most prominent figures in late 20th century blues, singer/multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal played an enormous role in revitalizing and preserving traditional acoustic blues. Not content to stay within that realm, Mahal soon broadened his approach, taking a musicologist's interest in a multitude of folk and roots music from around the world -- reggae and other Caribbean folk, jazz, gospel, R&B, zydeco, various West African styles, Latin, even Hawaiian.
Taj Mahal
Queen Bee (Taj Mahal) 4:40
Irresistable You (Luther Dixon / Al Kasha) 3:13
Señor Blues (Horace Silver) 6:43
21st Century Gypsy Singin' Lover Man (Jon Cleary / Taj Mahal) 5:44
from Señor Blues 1997
Señor Blues is one of Taj Mahal's best latter-day albums, a rollicking journey through classic blues styles performed with contemporary energy and flair. There's everything from country-blues to jazzy uptown blues on Señor Blues, and Taj hits all of areas in between, including R&B and soul. Stylistically, it's similar to most of his albums, but he's rarely been as effortlessly fun and infectious as he is here.

Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter Steve James has carved a niche for himself in the acoustic and folk-blues scene through a lot of touring. He's built his fan base the old-fashioned way, without the support of an international record company marketing machine. James, who plays National steel guitar, mandolin, and banjo, got hooked on blues as a 12-year-old...
Steve James
Ooze It to Me, Mama 3:03
Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight (Paul Mertz) 3:41
Downbound Train (Chuck Berry) 4:54
from Art and Grit 1996

James' first album was a solo effort; his second added a small combo. Art and Grit, his third, is a virtual celebration of acoustic string instruments. The Austin "jug band" of American Primitive -- James, Danny Barnes, Mark Rubin, and Gary Primich -- reunites on three cuts and forms the nucleus of three others. Guitar virtuoso Rob Brozman and Asleep at the Wheel's Cindy Cashdollar make guest appearances, and all told there are no fewer than eleven different instrument lineups on the disc, with guitars of many types (standard, slide, Hawaiian, and tenor), banjos (6- and 4-string), and mandolins presented solo and in various combinations... Recording quality is exceptionally vivid, capturing the distinctive timbre of each instrument and making Art and Grit an old-timey blues lovers' delight.

One of the brightest contemporary blues musicians, combining passionate, fiery guitar playing with powerful vocals. According to all the press and hype and hoopla for a time during the 1990s, Tommy Castro was pegged as the next big star of the blues. Long a favorite among Bay Area music fans, Castro -- in the space of two album releases -- took his music around the world and back again with a sheaf of praise from critics and old-time blues musicians alike. His music was a combination of soul-inflected rockers with the occasional slow blues or shuffle thrown into the mix to keep it honest. His vocals were laid-back and always a hair behind the beat, while his scorching guitar tone was Stevie Ray Stratocaster-approved. Crossover success did not seem out of the question.
Tommy Castro
Had Enough (Tommy Castro) 4:55
Exception to the Rule (Tommy Castro / Shad Harris) 3:28
Sho' Enough (Tommy Castro) 4:00
from Exception To The Rule 1995
EXCEPTION TO THE RULE by TOMMY CASTRO just rocks. It has a good blend of blues, soul and rock that is totally lacking from most of the music that is popular today. (Martin Lemos)

Despite recording somewhat sparingly since debuting as a leader in 1959 on Elko Records with the storming rocker "Hello My Darling," Louisiana-born guitarist Phillip Walker enjoys a sterling reputation as a contemporary blues guitarist with a distinctive sound honed along the Gulf Coast during the '50s...

Phillip Walker and Otis Grand 

b. Fred Bishti, 14 February 1950, Beirut, Lebanon. Grand has spent most of his life in the USA, although he lived in France for a few years. He began playing guitar at the age of 13, citing his influences as B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Otis Rush and Johnny Otis, and he has played with many San Francisco Bay area blues artists. Otis Grand And The Dance Kings created a sensation when they burst onto the British blues scene in the late 80s...

Dressin' Trashy (Nathaniel Dove / Phillip Walker) 3:51

She's Gone (Phillip Walker) 7:02

Play Me Some Blues (Jimmy Johnson / Phillip Walker) 8:54

from Big Blues From Texas 1994

Nice comeback set after a lengthy absence from the recording scene that was cut in London under the direction of guitarist Otis Grand (who shares axe duties throughout). Why this Louisiana-born guitarist hasn't been recorded more heavily is a mystery; he seldom fails to connect, and this import is no exception to the rule.

Indie '90 trio that bent the rules of rock while demonstrating a devotion to the music’s R&B roots. After a long and semi-successful tenure as leader of scuzz-rock heroes Pussy Galore, Jon Spencer shook up his anti-rock vision and hooked up with guitarist Judah Bauer and drummer Russell Simins to create the scuzz-blues trio the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Postmodern to the core, there was a genuine irony in the band's name; little of what they play resembles standard blues.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 

Afro (The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) 2:55

Train #2 (The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) 2:25

from Extra Width 1993

On their self-titled debut album, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion had worked out the basic framework of their sound -- lots of guitar clatter, booming drums, and wild vocal gesticulations from Spencer -- but it took a while for the pieces to really come together, and 1993's Extra Width was the first album where they revealed their true potential...

Of the three blues guitarists answering to the name of Luther Johnson, this West Side-styled veteran is probably the best known. Adding to the general confusion surrounding the triumvirate, like Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson spent a lengthy stint in the top-seeded band of Muddy Waters (1972-1979).

Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson 

Feel So Bad (Lightnin' Hopkins) 5:12

If You Love Me Like You Say (Little Johnny Taylor) 2:47

It's Good to Me (Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson) 3:31

from It's Good To Me 1992

Another barn-burner mixing the guitarist's West-side roots with soul and blues shadings to present some of the fieriest contemporary blues on the market. Saxist Gordon Beadle and keyboardist Joe Krown distinguish themselves behind Johnson.

An exceptionally talented blues and slide guitarist, beginning in the 1960s and stretching into the 21st century. When Johnny Winter emerged on the national scene in 1969, the hope, particularly in the record business, was that he would become a superstar on the scale of Jimi Hendrix, another blues-based rock guitarist and singer who preceded him by a few years. That never quite happened, but Winter did survive the high expectations of his early admirers to become a mature, respected blues musician with a strong sense of tradition.

Johnny Winter 

Illustrated Man (Mary-Ann Brandon / Fred James) 3:40

Life Is Hard (Fred James) 6:19

Blue Mood (Jessie Mae Robinson) 3:04

from Let Me In 1991

Let Me In is a star-studded all-blues set from Johnny Winter, featuring cameos from Dr. John, Albert Collins, and several others. Though the set focuses on blues material, Winters can never leave his rock roots behind -- the sheer volume and pile-driving energy of his performances ensures that. For most of the record, his enthusiasm is contagious, but there are a couple of bland, generic exercises that fail to work up a head of steam...