28-03-2019 BLUES:MiX # 33 blues(y) songs from the BLUES circle 1990-1999

28-03-2019 BLUES:MiX # 33 blues(y) songs from the BLUES circle 1990-1999 # The Jeff Healey Band, Johnny Winter, Joanna Connor, Robert Cray, Snooky Pryor, Albert King, Sue Foley, Karen Carroll, Little Mack Simmons, Tommy Castro

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1990-1999

Blind blues-rock guitarist and singer who developed a unique lap-held style of playing. What made Jeff Healey different from other blues-rockers was also what kept some listeners from accepting him as anything other than a novelty: the fact that the blind guitarist played his Fender Stratocaster on his lap, not standing up. With the guitar in his lap, Healey could make unique bends and hammer-ons, making his licks different and more elastic than most of the competition. Unfortunately, his material leaned toward standard AOR blues-rock, which rarely let him cut loose, but when he did, his instrumental prowess could be shocking.
The Jeff Healey Band
Full Circle (Jeff Healey / Joe Rockman / Tom Stephen) 4:13
I Think I Love You Too Much (Mark Knopfler) 6:27
Hell to Pay (Jeff Healey / Joe Rockman / Tom Stephen) 3:54
from Hell To Pay 1990
...Background info: This the band's second album and in my opinon their best. After their moderatly succesful album See The Light the band spent a whole year writing for this album and it shows once you actually heard it.
Best Parts
Obviously the guitar playing drives the album. Jeff's voice is very good and it perfect for the overall sound of the album. Though not paid attention to as much as the guitar the bass and drums do a great job and it can be heard between poweful guitar fills and solos in the more bluesy songs.
Worst parts
There is little not to like about this album. I guess the only bad part is Jeff's Mullet on the front cover...
Overall: This is a great album. A few sort of boring yet still good and solid songs near the end but many power tracks and brilliant guitar work.

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
Let Me In (Bo Diddley / Johnny Winter) 4:13
If You Got a Good Woman (Johnny Winter) 4:24
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...

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
Walking Blues (Robert Johnson) 4:22
Fight (Luther Allison) 3:56
from Fight 1992
To date, Joanna Connor's studio work has not lived up the live-wire energy of her personal performances. Fight takes a major step toward setting this right. This stuff wails, especially Robert Johnson's "Walking Blues" which Connor reinvents courtesy of some stinging slidework. While Connor's lack of dependence on cover material rates bonus points, not all her songs are memorable -- even if the guitar playing is.

The guitarist who brought blues back to the charts in the '80s via songs that defined blues themes but added modern and personal twists. 
Robert Cray
1040 Blues (Robert Cray) 5:03
I Shiver (Robert Cray) 5:08
from Shame + A Sin 1993
This time, Cray veered back toward the blues (most convincingly, too), even covering Albert King's "You're Gonna Need Me" and bemoaning paying taxes on the humorous "1040 Blues." Unlike his previous efforts, Cray produced this one himself. Also, longtime bassist Richard Cousins was history, replaced by Karl Sevareid.

This harmoinca player's records were harbingers of the amplified, down-home sound of post-war Chicago blues. Only recently has Snooky Pryor finally begun to receive full credit for the mammoth role he played in shaping the amplified Chicago blues harp sound during the postwar era...
Snooky Pryor
Bury You in a Paper Sack (Snooky Pryor) 4:35
Stick Way Out Behind (Snooky Pryor) 3:23
Bluebird Blues (Sonny Boy Williamson I) 5:42
from In This Mess Up to My Chest 1994
Pryor reaffirms his mastery of postwar blues harp over the course of this sturdy set, again done with the help of some fine Texas and Chicago players. Pryor's downhome vocals shine on the distinctive "Bury You in a Paper Sack" and "Stick Way Out Behind."

One of the most important post-war blues guitarists, renowned for his massive tone and unique way of squeezing bends out of a guitar string. Albert King is truly a "King of the Blues," although he doesn't hold that title (B.B. does). Along with B.B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues and rock guitar players. Without him, modern guitar music would not sound as it does -- his style has influenced both black and white blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Albert King
Blues Power (Albert King) 10:16
Match Box Blues (Albert King) 7:12
Born Under a Bad Sign (William Bell / Booker T. Jones) 4:27
from Blues Power 1995
This budget reissue delivers big performances in live versions of "Born Under a Bad Sign" and the title track. Sandwiched in between are studio versions of "Sun Gone Down (Take 1)," "Match Box Blues," and "Angel of Mercy." Prime string-bending and soulful singing in a budget package that really gets the job done.

This highly touted vocalist/guitarist originally hails from Ottawa, Canada, although her home base shifted to Austin, Texas, when she signed with Antone's Records and cut her debut set, Young Girl Blues, in 1992 (an encore, Without a Warning, quickly followed). Foley's wicked lead guitar makes her a rarity among blueswomen.
Sue Foley
Try to Understand (Sue Foley) 5:03
Train to Memphis (Sue Foley) 4:40
Long Distance Lover (Sue Foley) 4:57
from Walk in the Sun 1996
Walk in the Sun isn't quite typical Sue Foley. With her first three albums, the guitarist demonstrated that she had a firm grasp on searingly electric Chicago blues and high-voltage blues-rock. With Walk in the Sun, she expands her sonic palette somewhat, taking in gritty R&B, reverb-drenched surf and down-home country, among other styles of blues and roots music. Throughout the album, she demonstrates that she is gifted enough to effortlessly bring in these other styles without losing her distinctive identity.

...at 18 Karen Carroll struck out on her own, cutting her teeth in tiny South Side blues joints and developing a deep vocal style heavily influenced by jazz phrasing as well as the intensity of gospel...
Karen Carroll
Ain't It Nice (Lefty Dizz) 4:13
Talk to the Hand (Karen Carroll) 3:04
Neked J Blues (Karen Carroll) 9:11
from Talk To The Hand 1997
While her debut Had My Fun featured Carroll's thunderous, gospel-influenced vocals in a live setting, this studio recording also spotlights her burgeoning songwriting skills.

"He was one of the top harp blowers (and at times the best) in Chicago. - REAL BLUES Magazine
Malcolm "Little Mack" Simmons, came up from Twist Arkansas and earned his formidable harmonica chops in the southside jukes and in the blues clubs along Rush Street in the windy city. In a remarkable almost 50-year career, this childhood friend of James Cotton later performed with the some of the brightest lights of the blues world, including Robert Nighthawk, Sunnyland Slim, Luther Allison, Magic Sam, and Howlin' Wolf. 
Little Mack Simmons
Leaving in the Morning (W. Jacobs) 3:48
The Things I Used To Do (E. James) 3:50
You Mistreated Me (M. Simmons) 4:18
from The Best of Little Mack Simmons: The Electro-Fi Years
After a long battle with cancer claimed the life of harp legend Malcolm “Little Mack” Simmons on October 24, 2000, at his South Side Chicago home, blues music lost not only a brilliant innovator but another link to its storied past.
With the release of this recording, we at Electro-Fi are honored to preserve and present to you the musical legacy of a true original of Chicago blues—Malcolm “Little Mack” Simmons.

Contemporary blues star known for his passionate, fiery guitar playing and 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.
Tommy Castro
Lucky in Love (Tommy Castro / Billie Lee Lewis) 3:57
Right as Rain (Tommy Castro) 4:21
I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby (Isaac Hayes / David Porter)
from Right As Rain 1999
Young guitar slinger Tommy Castro came back with his third Blind Pig album in early 1999, again produced by veteran Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray, Santana, Huey Lewis, etc.), and it's another bid for mainstream blues-rock success. From the opening notes of the kickoff tune, "Lucky in Love," Castro is in the driver's seat with a set of blues-rock originals that give him plenty of room to spray his Stevie Ray-inspired guitar licks in between his soul-man vocals. Dr. John makes guest keyboard appearances on "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" and "Don't Turn Your Heater Down"...