09-02-2020 > BLUES:MiX # 33 blues(y) songs from the BLUES circle 2005-1994

Shemekia Copeland

09-02-2020 > BLUES:MiX # 33 blues(y) songs from the BLUES circle 2005-1994 # Shemekia Copeland, Detroit Jr., Robert Belfour, Tom Waits, John Hammond, Alvin Youngblood Hart, B.B. King, Colin James, Taj Mahal, Joanna Connor, The Jeff Healey Band, Chris Duarte Group

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2005-1994

A powerful blues singer and daughter of blues guitarist Johnny Copeland whose award-winning recordings run the gamut from electric blues to soul and Americana.

Shemekia Copeland 

Breakin' Out 3:33

Poor, Poor Excuse 3:02

from The Soul Truth 2005

Shemekia Copeland can sing the heck out of the blues, but she isn't necessarily a blues singer, and on The Soul Truth she makes what would seem like a sure-fire move into Memphis soul territory, even working with Stax great Steve Cropper, who produced the album and adds his trademark guitar economics to most of the tracks...

Emery Williams Jr. is a living link to the great Chicago blues piano players of the 1940s and 1950s. Born on October 26, 1931, in Haynes, AR, Williams was given the name Detroit Junior when be began recording on his own in the 1960s...

Detroit Jr. 

Rockin' After Midnight (Lowell Fulson) 3:34

Blues on the Internet (Emery Williams, Jr.) 6:53

from Blues On The Internet 2004

Veteran blues pianist (and longtime Howlin' Wolf sideman) Emery Williams Jr. -- known professionally as Detroit Junior -- has had a renaissance of sorts in the past decade, releasing three albums on Blue Suit Records, and now this one, Blues on the Internet, on Delmark Records. Williams is a throwback to the classic Chicago blues piano style, and his warm, expressive vocals fall somewhere between a hoarse Ray Charles and a latter-day Bob Dylan, while his songwriting, although hardly innovative, is solid and workmanlike, avoiding most of the obvious blues clichés. His intent isn't to move blues into the 21st century so much as preserve the way it was played in Chicago in the 1950s (where Williams played alongside the likes of Jimmy Reed, Eddie Boyd, Eddie Taylor, and Little Mack Simmons)...  Fans of vintage Chicago blues piano will find this collection a delight...

Robert 'Wolfman' Belfour is a little-known but very powerful blues guitarist and singer based in Memphis, Tennessee. Born to sharecropper parents on a farm in Holly Springs, Mississippi, he began playing guitar in the late '40s after the death of his father who left the instrument to him. He learned by emulating the sounds of such greats as John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and his idol, Howlin Wolf, as they were being broadcast on his mother's battery-operated radio. He was also influenced to some extent by his neighbor, Junior Kimbrough. Belfour's style is deeply-rooted in the sounds of his North Mississippi birthplace. It is a highly rhythmic and riff-oriented type of playing that can also be heard in the work of other players from the region, like Jessie Mae Hemphill, R.L. Burnside, and the late Fred Mcdowell.

Robert Belfour 

Crazy Ways (Robert Belfour) 4:17

Breaking My Heart (Robert Belfour) 5:01

from Pushin' My Luck 2003

Robert Belfour's sophomore effort for Fat Possum -- at 63, he is one of the youngest artists on the roster and is by far the most "polished," if the Delta blues can ever really be called that -- proves his debut was indeed only a beginning. In stark contrast to his labelmates, Belfour strictly plays acoustic blues, but he plays them with the same dark, trancelike feel of Junior Kimbrough, haunting spookiness of Fred McDowell, rhythmic intensity of John Lee Hooker, and sprawling drawl of Lightnin' Hopkins. Ted Gainey aids Belfour on a drum kit. While the first album was all of a piece, and everything but the vocal seemed to be recorded at the same level (and even then, Belfour couldn't always be understood among the ringing guitars and shuffling drums), Pushin' My Luck is nervier, a bit more edgy. Belfour's truly nearly unbelievable singing is a bit more in the foreground, enough to add to the hypnotic repetition in his music, while the drums -- played no more elaborately than Meg White's in the White Stripes -- are mixed just a tad higher, bringing it extremely close to the punch this stuff has when played in front of a live audience... I hope this guy lives to be a 100 and makes a record every year he's on this planet. Forget everything you just read: This record is amazing; just buy it.

A neo-beatnik songwriter who grew weirder and wilder in the '80s, earning a cult following that only grew larger as the years passed.

Tom Waits 

Misery Is the River of the World (Kathleen Brennan / Tom Waits) 4:25

God's Away on Business (Kathleen Brennan / Tom Waits) 2:59

Everything Goes to Hell (Kathleen Brennan / Tom Waits) 3:45

from Blood Money 2002

Tom Waits has said: "I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth." When it comes to the material on Blood Money, I don't know if I can call Waits' mouth pretty, but he certainly offers plenty of bad news in a very attractive, compelling way. Released simultaneously with Alice, a recording of songs written in 1990, Blood Money is a set of 13 songs written by Waits and Kathleen Brennan in collaboration with dramatist Robert Wilson. The project was a loose adaptation of the play Woyzeck, originally written by German poet Georg Buchner in 1837. The play was inspired by the true story of a German soldier who was driven mad by bizarre army medical experiments and infidelity, which led him to murder his lover -- cheery stuff, to be sure. Thematically, this work -- with its references to German cabarets and nostalgia -- echoes Waits' other Wilson collaborative project, Black Rider. Musically, however, Blood Money is a far more elegant, stylish, and nuanced work than the earlier recording. With bluesman Charlie Musselwhite, reedman Colin Stetson, bassist and guitarist Larry Taylor, marimbist Andrew Borger, and others -- Waits plays piano, organ, marimba, calliope, and guitar -- this is a theater piece that feels like a collection of songs that reflect a perverse sense of black humor and authentic wickedness in places...

John Hammond, Jr. is one of a handful of white blues musicians who was on the scene at the beginning of the first blues renaissance of the mid-'60s. That revival, brought on by renewed interest in folk music around the U.S., brought about career boosts for many of the great classic blues players, including Mississippi John Hurt, Rev. Gary Davis, and Skip James

John Hammond 

Heartattack and Vine (Tom Waits) 4:40

Jockey Full of Bourbon (Tom Waits) 3:32

Big Black Mariah (Tom Waits) 4:09

from Wicked Grin 2001

After 35 years into a career that spans 35 albums recorded for seven labels, you'd think John Hammond might get a little complacent. Thankfully the opposite is true, as 2001's Wicked Grin is the artist's most daring musical departure and arguably greatest achievement to date. Mining the rich Tom Waits catalog for 12 of its 13 tracks (the closing is a traditional gospel tune) and bringing Waits himself along as producer has resulted in a stunning collection that stands as one of the best in Hammond's bulging catalog. Never a songwriter, the singer/guitarist/harmonica bluesman has maintained a knack for picking top-notch material from the rich blues tradition without resorting to the hoary, over-covered classics of the genre. It's that quality that transforms these tunes into Hammond songs, regardless of their origin. His history of working with exceptional session musicians is also legendary, and this album's band, which features Doug Sahm sideman Augie Meyers on keyboards, harmonica wiz Charlie Musselwhite, longtime Waits associate Larry Taylor on bass, and Waits himself poking around on various songs, is perfect for the spooky, swampy feel he effortlessly conjures here... An experiment whose success will hopefully yield another volume, this partnership of John Hammond and Tom Waits brings out the best in both artists' substantial talents.

Tom and John

Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Alvin Youngblood Hart is continuing in the path laid down by acoustic blues practitioners like Taj Mahal, Guy Davis, and other '90s blues revivalists, but his roots go back much further than that, to the classic stylings of Bukka White, Charley Patton, Leadbelly, and Blind Willie McTell.
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Fightin' Hard (Alvin Youngblood Hart) 2:55
Back to Memphis (Chuck Berry) 3:06
Will I Ever Get Back Home (Traditional) 4:44
from Start With The Soul 2000
Guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart dedicates his third release Start With the Soul to, among others, the late Thin Lizzy leader Phil Lynott. This isn't just lip service, as you can immediately hear when the opening roar of "Fightin' Hard" comes blaring through. Hart doesn't go out of his way to appeal only to blues followers. He has the natural ability to fuse twangy country, Hendrix, funk, and reggae into his Delta blues style without regard to genres... Credit should be given to the legendary Memphis producer Jim Dickinson for capturing the gritty sound critical to this kind of undertaking.

Louis Jordan 1946

Highly influential guitarist with a precise yet effortless sounding soft-fingered style, as well as the longest career in blues.
B.B. King
Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens (Alex Kramer / Joan Whitney) 2:52
Ain't That Just Like a Woman (Claude Demetrius / Fleecie Moore) 3:30
Let the Good Times Roll (Fleecie Moore / Sam Theard) 2:39
from Let The Good Times Roll: The Music Of Louis Jordan 1999
Even if B.B. King is the King of the Blues, some might find it strange that he chose to record Let the Good Times Roll, a tribute album to Louis Jordan, the King of Jump Blues. King's work was never as boisterous or enthusiastic as Jordan's, but his debt is apparent from the first cut of the album. King may have never done straight jump blues, but his sophisticated urban blues -- complete with horn sections and an emphasis on vocals -- shows as much jump influence as it does Delta. Let the Good Times Roll brings that home with a quiet, seductive insistence. Backed by a stellar band -- featuring Dr. John on piano, drummer Earl Palmer, alto saxophonist Hank Crawford, and tenor saxophonist Dave "Fathead" Newman, among others -- B.B. King sounds loose and natural...

This guitarist, singer, and songwriter is Canada's answer to the U.S.'s Chris Duarte or Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Colin James Munn grew up in Saskatchewan, listening to folk and blues. After learning the penny whistle and mandolin, he quit school and worked with a succession of bands, among them the Hoo Doo Men.
Colin James
National Steel (Colin James, Daryl Burgess, Christopher Ward) 4:52
I Live the Life I Love (Willie Dixon) 3:39
Kind-Hearted Woman (Robert Johnson) 2:41
from National Steel 1998
National Steel is a blues album by Canadian musician Colin James, released in 1997. The album was recorded at Rat's Ass Studios and Mushroom Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia and mastered at MasterDisk in New York City.
National Steel earned James the 1998 Juno Award for "Best Blues Album".
Colin James – vocals, guitars
Colin Linden – acoustic and slide guitars, mandolin, background vocals
Norm Fisher – bass
Chris "The Wrist" Norquist – drums and percussion
Johnny Ferreira - tenor saxophone
Campbell Ryga - alto saxophone

A guitarist and singer/songwriter who took an interest in reviving the rural blues tradition, later extending to reggae and ragtime influences.
Taj Mahal
Irresistable You (Luther Dixon / Al Kasha) 3:12
Señor Blues (Horace Silver) 6:43
21st Century Gypsy Singin' Lover Man (Jon Cleary / Taj Mahal) 5:44
from Señor Blues 199
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.

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
Big Girl Blues (Joanna Connor) 3:47
Sister Spirit (Joanna Connor) 4:28
Heart of the Blues (Joanna Connor / Marcus Roberts) 6:01
from Big Girl Blues 1996
The comparison of Connor to Bonnie Raitt is unavoidable, considering the similarities of their vocal style and skill at slide guitar. But Connor offers a more savage guitar approach, akin to George Thorogood, and she comes on as a bit nastier. The album is filled with impressive guitar work...

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.
The Jeff Healey Band
Yer Blues (John Lennon / Paul McCartney) 4:31
Angel (Jimi Hendrix) 4:29
Communication Breakdown (John Bonham / John Paul Jones / Jimmy Page) 3:16
from Cover To Cover 1995
One likes the covers concept espoused by blues-rockers The Jeff Healey Band in a kind of backhanded way: as much as one admires the chops displayed by Toronto's blind guitarist whiz-kid, the group's songwriting is somewhat lyric-challenged. Cover to Cover works to circumvent the combo's main limitations... Mind you, if any of these point new listeners in the direction of the original, then a valuable public service has been performed.

Austin-based guitarist, songwriter, and singer Chris Duarte has often been compared with the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's heady stuff for the musician, who plays a rhythmic style of Texas blues-rock that is at times reminiscent of Vaughan's sound, and at other times reminiscent of Johnny Winter.
Chris Duarte Group
My Way Down (Chris Duarte) 4:36
What Can I Do? (Chris Duarte) 5:03
Big Legged Woman (Leon Russell) 5:15
from Texas Sugar Strat Magik 1994
Guitarist Chris Duarte's Texas Sugar Strat Magik is an impressive debut album, showcasing his fiery, Stevie Ray Vaughan-derived blues-rock. As a songwriter, Duarte is still developing but as an instrumentalist, he's first-rate, spitting out solos with a blistering intensity or laying back with gentle, lyrical phrases. And that's what makes Texas Sugar Strat Magik a successful record -- it's simply a great guitar album, full of exceptional playing.