Available March 16 - After seven critically-acclaimed traditional blues releases (along with two Blues Blast Music Award wins and 16 Blues Music Award nominations under his band's collectivi'~ belt), Nick Moss is taking a fresh approach and heading in an exciting new direction on Privileged. As Blogcritic Josh Hathaway writes in the liner notes, "Privileged represents a change in direction but not inspiration. Before Nick met Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Dawkins and Lurrie Bell, he met their musical offspring in the form of Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers, Free, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, Cream and other legends who drew their inspiration from Mississippi's Delta and the immortal treasures that sprang from his beloved nearby Chicago."

Moss has written some of the finest songs of his career, and by stretching beyond the traditional blues idiom, he has expanded his sound without losing his identity. That growth can be heard in the album's first track, "Born Leader" as well as new originals "Privileged At Birth" and "Tear 'Em Down." Those songs, combined with Moss' stunning covers of Cream's classic "Politician" and Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth," continue the path Moss began with his award-winning song "Mistakes From The Past" (from 200Ts Play It 'Ti! Tomorrow) to form a narrative that looks forward and back to assess current events. Perhaps Moss' greatest achievement on Privileged is creating a musical universe diverse enough to incorporate those topical songs with his more tradition­al side, represented by his cover of Howlin' Wolfs "Louise," and his original tune, "Georgia Redsnake." And what Moss album would be complete without the instrumental that puts Moss' skills as one of the top guitarists of his generation center stage7 The eight-minute album closer, "Bolognious Funk," combines his incendiary lead with one of the hardest grooves he's ever recorded.

 

Available March 16 - The Kilborn Alley Blues Band has graduated from the underground and is providing listeners a graduate course in real Chicago blues on their third Blue Bella CD, Better Off Now. Formed in April 2000 when frontman Andrew Duncanson and bassist Chris Breen were still in high school, Kilborn Alley Blues Band has thrilled listeners, combining youthful energy with veteran understanding of the traditions and nuances of pure Chicago blues.

 

KABB's first two records were nominated for prestigious Blues Music Awards, and Better Off Now makes the case that the third time should be the charm. What's more, the band recently won the 2009 Blues Blast "Scan Costello Rising Star Award" during the all-star blues gala ceremony at Buddy Guy's Legends last October.

Rounded out by guitarist josh Stimmel, harpistjoe Asselin, and drummer Ed O'Hara, Kilborn Alley Blues Band has once again taken a collaborative approach to songwriting, which can be heard in their tightly-woven grooves that eschew self-indulgent solos and unwarranted flash.

 

These guys take their work seriously but they clearly know how to have a good time, as evidenced by the rowdy Nick Moss-penned "Watch It" and the inventive "You Can Have the Tail," the fanner a shuffle with Magic Slim-like power and the latter a showcase for Asselin's stinging harp. The randy call-and-response rocker "Woah Yeah Woman" leaves no doubt as to what Andrew is so enthused about \vith his lady They change pace \vith the irresistible instrumental, "Bubbleguts," and then turn in some serious work with "FooIsville" and the tortured blues of "Keep Me Hangin'," featuring some of Duncanson's most intense vocals to date.

 

Mr. Keith Little, "The Cincinnati Blues Man" has been sharing his love for music with the world for over 35 years of performing and recording. Known as Cincinnati's "King of the Blues" he's worked his magic for crowds big and small, gaining devoted fans along the way and playing his own style of music - a mixture of blues, R&B and soul. Keith's credentials include his work as a singer/songwriter, work as a playwright, and writer and producer of the Blues/Jazz video documentary "Thanks For My Flowers," as well as producer of the CD compilation of Cincinnati music entitled "Night Lights." Keith has also served as president, vice-president and trustee of the Greater Cincinnati Blues Society, and was former chief coordinator for the Performer's Alliance For Charity.    In performance Keith has shared the stage and jammed with many other blues greats, including Kenny Neal, Pinetop Perkins, Long John Hunter, Clarence Carter, Phil Guy and Little Milton, always giving all he's got to his audience and fans.

 

The latest album by soul-blues titan Keith Little showcases some of his best work to date in a range of styles, including Blues, Soul, R&B and Funk. The album, entitled Take It Off And Get Loose With It, features 12 original songs based on Keith’s life experiences from the past, present, and a likely future with themes that include comedy, fantasy, and Keith’s own take on personal situations.

 

On May 6th, 2010 at the 31st annual Blues Music Awards, The Blues Foundation will publicly honor blues legend Buddy Guy with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The Foundation has commissioned for this special occasion a one-of-a-kind award from Patterson & Barnes, who also created the original artwork that serves as the basis for the 2010 poster. There will also be an oral and video presentation, as well as a special musical tribute, all in the legend's honor. Buddy Guy will be at the ceremony to receive this honor.

 

In speaking about this great honor, The Blues Foundation's Executive Director Jay Sieleman said "Buddy Guy has been a mentor and inspiration to five generations of musicians in multiple genres while he has continued to innovate. He has greatly expanded the blues definition while maintaining the anchor characteristics that first defined the genre, and with this distinction, we are proud to present him with this honor and tribute."

 

Buddy Guy's strikingly unique guitar style enervated his elder Muddy Waters' Folk Singer album in the early '60s, expanded on the vision of his contemporary Junior Wells on Hoodoo Man Blues in the mid-'60s, and was a beacon to the British Invasion rockers Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck in the late '60s.

 

Soldiering on through the '70s and '80s, his visibility and stature refocused through the '90s and into the 21st century with a series of recordings that underlined to the commercial pop world that he not only was the inspiration for countless musical icons from Jimi Hendrix psychedelics to John Mayer pop, but was still transforming while many of his disciples were reprising decades-old hits.

 

He obliterated the perceived chasm between blues and rock, leaving the term "crossover" to awkwardly define the efforts of lesser artists in both camps trying to bridge the racial, generational and stylistic borders of each. And he did it with a sense of dynamics and bravado that are rare in artists of any age, but which have been consistent for him throughout his career. You knew you were experiencing a Buddy Guy lick in the first few lines of any number he did in 1960, and the same can be said today. Buddy has been nominated for 41 Blues Music Awards and has received 28 such Awards.

 

Past recipients of this prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award include Bobby "Blue" Bland, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Ahmet Ertegun, John Lee Hooker, Etta James, B.B. King, Sam Phillips, Koko Taylor and Jerry Wexler.

 

Tickets are now on sale for BLUES FOR HAITI BOSTON, a concert/dance and silent auction to benefit PARTNERS IN HEALTH and their heroic emergency relief and medical work for and with the people of Haiti.

 

The concert features:
- Rock guitar legend, JAY GEILS, returning to his first loves - blues and jazz,
- Award-winning jazz and swing guitarist and arranger, GERRY BEAUDOIN.
- World-renowned, amazing-hands blues pianist, DAVID MAXWELL,
- Country blues duo extraordinaire , PAUL RISHELL and ANNIE RAINES,
- Chills-down-your-back blues vocalist, TONI-LYNN WASHINGTON, with awesome B-3 organist, BRUCE BEARS, and
- 2010 Grammy award nominees, The DUKE ROBILLARD BAND with SUNNY CROWNOVER.

These great performers will share the stage with Charlie Sawyer's 2120 SOUTH MICHIGAN AVENUE with SWEET WILLIE "D" and FRIENDS for an evening of powerful blues for a great cause!

 

Doctors and nurses from Partners in Health will also be present to share their experiences in Haiti since the earthquake and describe what they are doing to help Haiti "build back better."

 

TICKETS for Blues for Haiti Boston are $75. Admission INCLUDES wine, beer and fabulous finger foods from Eastern Standard, along with the concert, presentations, and silent auction.

 

A limited number of tickets are available at $125. This level includes a special pre-concert reception from 7:00-8:00 with the featured performers, as well as Partners in Health medical professionals, in the hotel's Commonwealth Room.

 

TO BUY TICKETS CALL  617-532-5017 or

EMAIL bluesforhaiti@hotelcommonwealth.com and state how many tickets you require. Someone from the hotel will contact you to process your order. You may pay by credit card over the phone --- or by check, payable to Hotel Commonwealth. Put "Blues for Haiti - P.I.H." in the memo space, include your email on a separate sheet, and mail to:

 

Hotel Commonwealth
Executive Office
500 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston MA 02215

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Cowtown keeps doing the steady shuffle through another dry spell.

 

Ft.WorthWeekly - The musicians at Mambo’s Tapas Cantina were recently doing what their predecessors have been doing for ages: showing off licks, telling life stories set to music, and improvising within the unspoken rules of the discipline called the blues.

 

As they are every Monday, bassist Cadillac Johnson, drummer Gonzalo “Gonzy” Trevino, and guitarist Hash Brown were at the downtown bar and restaurant, holding a steady shuffle and pumping out those once-in-a-lifetime guitar solos. Guitarist Drue Webber, just shy of his 30th birthday, was the youngest muso in the place.

 

As Webber was putting away his guitar afterward, a woman walked up to him and said she heard the music from the street. “It was like she’d been in the desert without water,” he said. “She wanted to know where the good blues had gone. She needed a hospital visit to take care of her need for the blues.”

 

A lot of other blues fans in town probably feel the same way. The Fort Worth scene these days isn’t actually a desert, despite the recent news that there would be no more regular shows at J&J Blues Bar, one of the oldest and most popular blues clubs in not just Fort Worth but all of North Texas. But, like many across the country, Fort Worth’s blues scene has dried up considerably in recent years. From the late 1940s through the ’90s, it was a truly special thing. A handful of internationally acclaimed players called Fort Worth home. T-Bone Walker, Cornell Dupree, Ray Sharpe, and several other artists and their backing bands spawned a distinct sound: The Fort Worth Shuffle, a lazy, Texas-styled beat found here and only here. (Think: the ching-ching-ching-bop-budda-bing of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood” but lazier.) And many internationally known players such as Bobby “Blue” Bland, Jimmy Reed, and Howlin’ Wolf regularly played here.

 

Though “JJ’s,” as the place was affectionately known, is gone, Mambo’s, Keys Lounge, and, in Arlington, Stumpy’s Blues Bar still carry on, offering solid live blues most nights of the week. Other venues rotate blues with rock and country. Still, the fact is, blues music is almost an afterthought here. Musicians and fans in other cities may accept that outcome as inevitable. But in Fort Worth, the tradition is too rich to be allowed to die quietly.

 

Like their counterparts from other genres and cities, many Fort Worth bluesmen (and -women) have figured out they need to adapt or see their careers and their art form fade and audiences shrink. The blues, perhaps to a greater degree than other forms of music, has always been influenced by the push and pull between old and new. Now its practitioners find themselves having to reinvent the way they market themselves and, at times, to go outside their genre and apply the basics to country and rock.

Some of them wonder how much longer there will be enough bluesicians in town to keep up that musical conversation, one that has sustained them and their kind for so long. It’s a real challenge to find blues on area radio –– only KNON/89.3-FM and KKDA/730-AM play blues and, even then, only occasionally. Local media typically ignore blues artists and events, and most young players gravitate toward rock, country, rap, or Americana, sexy genres with wide appeal. Listeners spend much less money on music these days, which is true for every genre, but especially harmful for an already struggling art form like the blues.

 

It’s a worrisome time for folks like guitarist John Zaskoda, who has always wanted to play the blues. Instead, his band, JZ & Dirty Pool, offers a mixed bag of blues, country, and rock, and it still doesn’t pay the bills. So last year he signed up to play lead guitar in the band of wildly popular mainstream country artist Casey Donahew. “It was just a job,” though, Zaskoda said. “As a guy who has been dedicated to the blues art, there is nothing more rewarding other than my passion.”

 

Via guitar improvisation, steady rhythms, and confessional or allegorical lyrics, each major player has helped shape the blues into a clearly identifiable form of creative expression.

 

Blues music was born in the Deep South sometime in the 1800s, started by slaves who had little more than guitars and voices to express themselves artistically. Several decades later, the wistful ballads and hymns buoyed by remnants of African rhythms created a new era in American music. During the ’40s, the blues spread rapidly throughout the South, catering primarily to black audiences. Here in Fort Worth, a pool of talented horn and guitar players entertained crowds of listeners in local black clubs and gatherings.

Fort Worth’s blues roots date back to the late 1930s, when a club opened up in Como, a Westside neighborhood created by wealthy whites to provide nearby housing for their servants. The Blue Bird would serve as one of the main anchors of local blues for more than 60 years. Its first incarnation was extremely modest. “It was just two railroad cars joined together into an L shape,” said Sumter Bruton, a guitarist and owner of Record Town on University Drive –– and also the pre-eminent expert on Fort Worth blues. “They kept adding on to it.”

 

By the 1950s, many other blues clubs had opened and closed around town, places like Zanzibar, Barney’s Missile Club, and Jim Hotel. All were patronized by mostly multiracial audiences. The Blue Bird and a black mosque on the near South Side hosted numerous blues acts, as did TJ’s Famous Chicken and its neighbor, The Silver Dollar, both on East 4th Street just south of downtown. “The ’50s and into the ’60s were really the heyday,” Bruton said. “Black musicians were working, and all the frat parties had bands. It was a mixed crowd all the way.”

 

In the ’50s, traditional blues, which adapted left-hand piano rhythms onto a guitar, was the rage among music listeners. People all over town wanted to hear it, even if they didn’t all end up at the same venues. “It was chancy to go to the black clubs in the early ’60s,” Bruton said. “The voting rights act hadn’t happened yet, but after that, no problem. The Blue Bird was half white and half black; everyone from debutantes to hardcore Como people.”

Fort Worth was fortunate in its blues heritage. It can claim famous blues guitarists like Walker, who lived here for a stretch; Sharpe, who wrote the popular song “Linda Lu”; and Dupree, who played with many famous artists, including Aretha Franklin and King Curtis. Everyone, it seemed, loved and listened to live blues in the late ’60s and early ’70s, including Bruton, who could identify blues artists before he could read. Local artists such as Robert Ealey, U.P. Wilson, Freddie Cisneros, Ray Reed, Pearl “Lady Pearl” Johnson, Ray Flangin, Reverend Filmore, and others were flourishing.

 

After that, for the first time since its initial popularity, blues disappeared from America’s public eye, as British rock sounds took over airwaves.

 

In actuality, the British rockers had taken American blues and made it into their own music. As teenagers, Britons like John Lennon and Eric Clapton devoured American blues records. The genre’s progressions and rhythms influenced a new brand of music that included the Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and The Beatles. When they exported their music across the Atlantic Ocean to the states, people called it the British Invasion, and its new fans had little idea how the blues had evolved into something they called rock ’n’ roll.

 

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There will be a rocking celebration at Clarksdale’s Ground Zero Blues Club (GZB) this coming Sunday beginning at 8 p.m. Big Star Media’s “Down to the Crossroads—Volume 1” has been nominated for a Blues Music Award (BMA) for DVD of the Year by the Blues Foundation. 

 

 

Gary Vincent, owner of Vincent Productions and the Clarksdale Sound Stage recording studio, was nominated for a Grammy for his co-production of a song on Elvin Bishop’s record “The Blues Rolls On.”  This was the first record to come out of the Clarksdale Sound Stage studio.

 

Mickey Gilley, John Anderson, The Crickets, Chris LeDoux and Leon Redbone have all recorded songs written by Vincent.

 

“We have a joint venture with Morgan Freeman and Bill Luckett, co-owners of Ground Zero,” Vincent said. “The subsidiary of Big Star Records is called Ground Zero Blues Club Music, and that is what this [Down to the Crossroads] will be released under.

 

 

The videos in the “Down to the Crossroads” series will be distributed all over the world by Sony Red, an artist development company--widely recognized as an industry leader in independent distribution and artist development.

 

“Sony Red is one of the best world-wide distributors; we can have this product placed anywhere,” said Vincent.

 

“Down to the Crossroads” features live performances by high-profile recording artists from all genres of music, who select a living legend or an up-and-coming performer in the blues world to share the spotlight with them. 

 

The Destroyers will be at the party along with musical guests, Monkey Beat. Thorogood’s long time guitarist Jim Suhler fronts for Monkey Beat, who is recognized for its “flamethrower-style” of Texas rocking blues.”Monkey Beat and Suhler were nominated this year for a BMA for Rock Blues Album of the Year for Tijuana Bible.

 

Long time blues man Eddie Shaw will be in attendance. Shaw has been nominated for 10 BMA awards and has received two awards for best saxophonist.

 

Other surprise guests are expected to be attending and playing at the Sunday evening celebration.

 

Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Al Green, Isaac Hayes, and Elvis Presley all represented an area of the country that became an essential part of music in the 20th century. The Mid-South was lifted up on top of the more than capable lungs of its legends, and then… they exhaled. This historic region I refer to is, of course, Memphis, TN. Home of bright lights, bars, and one of the last refuges of the blues.

 

So what has become of the center of this once great “Birthplace of Rock & Roll”? Well, if you judge by the amount of silence that you generally get when you mention it… not a lot. Despite the annual Beale Street Music Festival that arrives with the Memphis in May festival, Memphis drops entirely off the map for the majority of the worlds’ touring artists.

 

The reason for this silence is the general public’s dependence on the image of Beale Street as “Memphis”. In years past, however, the center of musical importance has drifted slightly to the east. It settled in the arts and college district of Memphis, commonly referred to as Midtown. What caused this movement? For the most part, the city’s overly tourist friendly approach has driven away the great venues, restaurants, and city history in exchange for large basketball forums, gift shops, and commercially run restaurants.

However, in the past two years, music lovers in Memphis have had much to cheer about. Memphians Andrew VanWyngarden (MGMT) and the late Jay Reatard (RIP) have brought much indie love to a city more akin to Three 6 Mafia and Saliva.

 

The opening of Minglewood Hall a mere 11 months ago brought a light that had long been missing in the form of a mid-size, state-of-the-art concert venue. Having already hosted shows with the likes of Ryan Adams, MGMT, Of Montreal, Silversun Pickups, Robert Randolph, The Mars Volta, Dan Auerbach, Girl Talk, and The Wailers, the 1,500 capacity hall allows anyone in attendance to get within inches of their favorite artists in a way few other venues allow. Completely lit by LED’s, the venue is completely green friendly (and not to mention just plain cool looking).

 

The venue, despite its size, seems to have no problems pulling in acts that quickly sell out other cities in 4,000-5,000 capacity venues. All of this makes it all the more worthwhile to take a trip to a city once entirely dilapidated by a lack of musical hope and creativity.

 

If you are looking for that gritty Memphis feel, the Hi-Tone Café, also located in Midtown, is the place to sit down, enjoy some good grub, and grab a drink. Featuring an upcoming schedule of the Black Lips, Yeasayer, Electric 6, and Matthew Good, the Hi-Tone has at least a local show nearly every night. However, if your luck is bad enough to end up in town when there is no show, there are certainly plenty of reasons to stop by anyway. Featuring made to order pizza (down to the slice), as well as brunch and dinner menus, there are fewer places worthy of stopping by for a show and a meal.

 

As noted brilliantly by its Wikipedia article, “Beale Street is where tourists will go to hear the blues, but it is in Midtown that the authentic Memphis music scene thrives.” This couldn’t be truer; for a genuine Memphis experience, Midtown is a must. With countless comfortable bars and restaurants, amazing record stores, and state of the art concert venues, Midtown is the true soul of Memphis music today.

 

 

UNCHAIN MY HEART, The Ray Charles Musical, featuring the music of Ray Charles with a book by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Sheldon Epps will begin previews October 8, 2010 and open officially November 7, 2010 on Broadway at a Shubert Theatre to be announced.

 

UNCHAIN MY HEART will be presented on Broadway by Stuart Benjamin. Mr. Benjamin knew and worked with Mr. Charles for 15 years and produced the multi Oscar nominated and award winning film Ray.

 

The 20-member company and the theatre will be announced at a later date.

 

UNCHAIN MY HEART, The Ray Charles Musical explores the strength, humor and musical genius of the legendary Ray Charles. One of the greatest pioneering musical artists of all time, Ray Charles mastered everything from soul and rhythm & blues to gospel, jazz, country and pop. Set in his last live recording session, UNCHAIN MY HEART reveals Charles' remarkable life story through his music. Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog) weaves together true tales that reveal the spirit of the man whose life and music helped to define soul, and inspired people the world over.

 

UNCHAIN MY HEART features Charles' best-known hits including: "Georgia on My Mind," "What'd I Say," "Mess Around," "Hit The Road, Jack," "Unchain My Heart," "I Got a Woman" and "Hallelujah, I Love Her So."

 

Tickets will become available in Summer 2010 online at www.Telecharge.com or by phone at (212)239-6200.

 

 

Getting the blues is a universal experience. Playing the blues is not.

Like barbecue (with which it is often identified), blues music tends to vary slightly by region. Those variations include East Coast Blues, Chicago Blues, Texas Blues, Mississippi Delta Blues and Piedmont Blues.

 

“It depends on a lot of things,” said Gregg Kimball, a historian with the Library of Virginia, “such as what other kinds of music might have been around to serve as an influence.”

 

In the case of Virginia, a lot. Piedmont blues musicians in the late-19th and early to mid-20th centuries drew not only from traditional 12-bar blues, but also from old-time and country music. What emerged is something that might be called, “blues lite,” at least in comparison to the heavier sounds from the Delta.

 

“It’s bouncier than Delta blues,” said Kimball, who has brought the traveling exhibit, “Old Dominion Songsters: Traditional Blues in Virginia” to the Lynchburg Museum at the Old Court House, “and you’re liable to hear a banjo or a slide guitar mixed in.”

 

One of the artists featured in the show (which opened this weekend and consists of 20 large informational panels augmented by various blues relics) is Lynchburg’s Luke Jordan, a familiar downtown figure in the 1920s. Kevin Cleary, who runs a video store in Madison Heights, is perhaps the recognized expert on Jordan.

“Luke didn’t just play the blues,” Cleary said in a 2001 interview. “He was what they called a ‘songster.’ He could play anything you wanted.”

 

And he could play it in the backseat of your car. According to legend, courting couples used to pick up Jordan on Fifth Street, supply him with (appropriately enough) a fifth of liquor, and Luke would pick and sing from the back seat during a ride to the Peaks of Otter or some other popular destination.

 

At some point, a local businessman heard Jordan playing on the street for coins and got him a recording session with Victor Records. Out of that came “Pick Poor Robin Clean,” Jordan’s signature recorded tune.

 

The Piedmont blues style made popular by John Jackson and John Cephus (also included in the exhibit) is difficult to play well, Kimball pointed out.

 

“The thumb of the right hand goes back and forth in a kind of syncopated rhythm,” he said. “With some of the great players, it actually sounds like two guitars playing at once. You hear echoes.”

The best way for Kimball to explain that is hands-on — literally. An accomplished guitar player, he can not only describe the blues to his audiences, but demonstrate. Kimball, harmonica player Rick Manson and vocalist Sheryl Warner made up their blues trio Cheryl Warner & the Southside Homewreckers, which performed at the exhibit opening on Saturday.

 

“He has his intellectual side and his talented side,” Lynchburg Museum director Doug Harvey said of Kimball, a longtime acquaintance. “This project got started back around ‘04,” Kimball said, “when Jan Ramsey of the James River Blues Society and I started trying to get some historic markers placed around the state honoring some of the old Virginia blues players.”

 

One of the first markers that went up (at the corner of Jefferson and Horseford streets in downtown Lynchburg) honored Luke Jordan, and the recognition campaign began to take on a life of its own.

 

“We developed a brochure, and then started gathering information to put together this exhibit,” Kimball said. As he’d suspected, this was easier said than done. Luke Jordan was an early example.

“Like a lot of these guys, he sort of operated on the fringes of society,” said Kimball of Jordan. “The rather grainy photo we have of him is the only one anyone’s ever been able to find.”

“This exhibit is sort of like stone soup,” Harvey said, “a little bit of everything. (Lynchburg attorney) Hal Devening found an old banjo in a barn and contributed it. Jan Ramsey loaned us a bunch of things, and I rummaged around in some closets and came up with some old 78 blues recordings.”

 

 

By Elizabeth Pearson - In the land where musician Willie Dixon said, “Blues is the roots and the music is the fruits,” Vicksburg is hot on the trail of tapping toes and rockin’ souls — or wants to be.

 

A problem is that a sustainable business centered on performing blues music has remained elusive, despite the facts such legendary artists as Dixon and Milt Hinton were born here.

 

Shirley Waring, president of the Vicksburg Blues Society, is among those who believe that because Mississippi is widely known as the birthplace of America’s music, the potential is real.

 

“People interested in the blues do not just want to come here to look at a blues monument or a blues marker,” she said, indicating three Blues Trail markers erected around the city are a starting place, not an ending place.

 

Music tourists, especially international visitors making the trek between New Orleans jazz venues and Beale Street and Elvis’ Graceland in Memphis, have a wide variety of accents. One phrase they’ve all mastered in English is, “Where can we hear the blues?”

 

“This is why Vicksburg’s heritage is so important,” she said. “If we can embrace what we were and rebuild it to its glory then we will be recognized as a music city.”

 

Her ideas come in two forms. One is an annual festival, perhaps themed to match the instrument of preference for both Dixon and Hinton.

 

“We want to embrace the idea of how we have two very famous upright bassists from Vicksburg and how unique it is for such a small town,” Waring said.

 

Adopting the slogan of “Tune Up for Tourism” in Vicksburg, Waring, who is also president of the Vicksburg Heritage League, said her second goal is working to get clubs to offer live blues music, even if it’s just one day a month.

 

Part of the appeal of the blues is atmosphere. To that end, Waring says, Vicksburg needs a “juke joint.” The closest thing today might be a venue such as the Bottleneck Blues Bar at Ameristar. That venue is decorated in a blues motif, with the names of performers painted on the walls, but live performers there are of all musical stripes. Actual blues artists are rare.

 

That could be because the music has evolved and is not performed by as many artists — and the fact that there are fewer blues performers means preservation is a priority.

 

“The Jacqueline House has a lot of memorabilia that they are prepared to make a part of a museum,” Waring said. “It is really more than the music, it is the appreciation of the culture and how it all got here.”

 

The Mississippi Blues Trail markers honor performers who frequented the neighborhood clubs in Marcus Bottom and the Red Tops, a dance band. One is at the gateway to the Mississippi Delta, where black laborers created the sound known as the blues.

 

While Vicksburg’s location is ideal, Bill Seratt, executive director of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau said, music must be part of, but isn’t enough to sustain future tourism in the area.

“You cannot live off blues pilgrims,” he said. “You’ve got to have the greater mix. The blues is very important to our cultural heritage, but you cannot just be the blues. You have to offer other entertainment, great accommodations, great food, great cultural heritage experiences and a friendly attitude,”

 

Waring agrees and says she thinks the city already has a great deal to offer any visitor.

 

“Vicksburg encompasses not only the live entertainment but the opportunities to observe and see a part of what I call ‘The Delta Experience,” she said. “There are different perspectives of why people come here, whether it is touring homes, seeing our museums or shopping. I think that is important — not to forget why people come here. It is our job to show them the real Vicksburg.”

And, she said, that includes the blues.

 

* Elizabeth Pearson is a student at the University of Mississippi.

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 While BETTYE's Grammy-nominated 2007 disc "The Scene Of The Crime" went to the source to find triumph over her own anguish, "INTERPRETATIONS" looks to the past this time for inspiration and uncovers common ancestry in seemingly divergent musical paths.

Produced by BETTYE, Rob Mathes and Michael Stevens, the album is a 13-song journey through compositions by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd among others, before concluding right where the very idea for "INTERPRETATIONS" started: BETTYE's visceral show-stopping rendition of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" from the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors, which appears here as a bonus track.

 

That performance -- which first brought BETTYE together with Stevens (the event's producer) and Mathes (its musical director) -- served notice that BETTYE is no mere singer. As an extraordinary interpreter of song, she doesn't merely mold a piece of music to suit her tastes; she is a conjurer of deep, emotional truths: "Bettye LaVette punched a hole right through her version of Pete Townshend's 'Love Reign O'er Me,' letting all the song's emotion pour out in a way that its creators never conceived," observed the New York Daily News. Townshend himself came up to Bettye after her performance, took her hands into his and said, "You made me weep."

 

Throughout "INTERPRETATIONS," her performances are a revelation not just of raw emotion, but of the inexorable ties between British rock 'n' roll and the American blues and R&B, which when combined, catalyzed popular music. That Lennon, McCartney, and so many others who crossed the Atlantic in their wake, were deeply influenced by American music is no great secret. What BETTYE demonstrates here so convincingly is the degree to which rock 'n' roll and American soul remain bound by bloodlines.

 

The glowing reviews for Nick Curran's first new album in five years, "Reform School Girl," are pouring in. Recorded with his band The Lowlifes and released by Eclecto Groove, the record features 14 tracks of explosive rock n' roll, early R&B, and punk-laden rockabilly lead by Curran's screeching howl.

 

Congratulations Nick! The rave review in People Magazine awarded “Reform School Girl” 3 ½ out of 4 stars – higher than anyone else! We support you 100% and are really excited to see that everyone else agrees that “Reform School Girl” is an absolute knockout!

 

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Stony Plain Records announces an April 6 release date in the U.S. and Canada for Jeff Healey’s final jazz  studio album, Last Call, which showcases the beloved legendary musician performing the music that was his true passion in life: the classic jazz, swing and pop sounds of the 1920s-1940s. Released with the participation and support of Jeff Healey’s widow, Cristie, Last Call is a 14-track collection on which Healey plays multi-tracked guitar parts, trumpet and sings. On several of the songs, he’s accompanied by Ross Wooldridge on piano and clarinet and Drew Jurecka on violin.

 

Concurrent with this CD in Canada, Stony Plain will also release, Beautiful Noise, a concert DVD featuring Jeff Healey and The Jazz Wizards, his regular jazz performance band, originally recorded for the Toronto-based TV show, “A Beautiful Noise,” in January, 2006. In the U.S., the Beautiful Noise DVD will be released on March 23 and distributed by MVD Entertainment Group.

 

Last Call was Jeff’s last jazz/swing recording before his death in March, 2008 of cancer. Mess of Blues, an album of his fan-favorite blues and roots songs released shortly after he passed away, won the Blues Award for “Best Rock/Blues Release” in 2009; and the Songs from the Road live CD, released in September of 2009, won the “Recording of the Year” at the 2010 Maple Blues Awards.

 

Last Call was recorded and mixed by long-time Healey friend and bandmate, Alec Fraser, and the package includes extensive liner notes by Colin Bray. The album features swing guitar instrumentals first recorded by Lonnie Johnson, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, to interpretations of songs originally done by Fats Waller, Sidney Bechet and Hoagy Carmichael. The material ranges from such standards as “Deep Purple,” “Pennies from Heaven” and “Autumn in New York,” to more obscure songs from the past, including “I’m Holding My Honey’s Hand” and “You Can’t Pull the Wool Over My Eyes.”

 

Jeff Healey even covers some tunes originally heard during the golden age of cinema, including “Hong Kong Blues” and the haunting them from the motion picture, “Laura.”          

 

The new CD also includes a bonus video of “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” that is playable on most computers, recorded live at Healey’s Roadhouse in Toronto on July 21, 2007.

 

The Beautiful Noise concert DVD features 11 tracks with the Jazz Wizards complete six-piece lineup, none of which are included on Last Call, plus an additional interview and musical footage. Beautiful Noise was directed by Daniel K. Berman and produced by Daniel K. Berman and Paul McNulty.

 

 

RBA Publishing Inc is based in Reno, NV with a satellite office in Beverly Hills, Florida. We produce the annual Blues Festival Guide magazine (now in its 7th year), the top-ranking website: www.BluesFestivalGuide.com, and this weekly blues newsletter: The Blues Festival E-Guide with approximately 20,000 weekly subscribers. We look forward to your suggestions, critiques, questions, etc.

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