It is a fascinating phenomenon that certain discerning musicians are drawn away form the big bang of a band and back to the primal roots of the blues. Guitarist, singer and songwriter Chris Gill along with drummer Derrick "D'Mar" Martin have come together as a duo in mythical Mississippi to prove conclusively that "less" can be "more".

 

Nine originals and a cover of Little Walter's classic "My Babe" show a wide range of expressive and moody blues within the parameter of guitar and drums. The results are nothing short of astonishing as every track presents a completely enriching musical experience cut live in the studio. 

 

It is a feat accomplished by few to acknowledge past musical styles without descending into sentimental nostalgia. Master bluesmen Chris Gill and Derrick Martin effortlessly build upon past glories to create vital new music that is ultimately timeless, timely and rewarding in every way. 

 

"Real Good Friend" the slow country blues title track begins and ends with martin listing famous blues "friends" like Honeyboy Edwards and Robert Johnson before Gill launches into a slide-driven slow drag about his "real good friend", his old guitar. 

 

In 2007, vocalist, rhythm guitarist and flautist Rachel Fields met guitarist and songwriter Larry Brick, forming a personal and professional partnership based around music and their Christian faith. Within weeks of forming a band in 2010 they won first place at the 2010 Ozark Blues Society of NWA Blues Challenge and were off to Memphis for the 2011 International Blues Challenge, where they were chosen as the pick of Club 152.

 

GOSPEL BLUE contains nine originals overflowing with pure soul and an innovative cover of "Amazing Grace". 

 

Like a modern day Pops and Mavis Staples, Brick and Fields blend guitar and vocals beautifully. Fields acknowledges Brick as "...a very gifted songwriter...always seems to write the perfect songs for me to sing." It should also be added that she is the perfect singer for the songs to go along with his unwavering instrumental support.  Back by a group that plays, lives and breathes in sync, they acknowledge body and soul by imbuing the blues with the same glorious spirit of love and hope as their gospel songs.

 

In in the song "Cryin'" Fields adds her haunting blue to slow minor blues while pouring out her pain in a heart-rendering tale that is frighteningly convincing, her rich alto a dramatically exdpressive instrument.

 

The sixth annual Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival (www.crescentcitybluesfest.com) takes place Oct. 14-16 at Lafayette Square Park in New Orleans. Admission is FREE.

 

The outstanding lineup includes Shreveport guitar shredder Kenny Wayne Shepherd, legendary soul singer Bettye LaVette, R&B soul man Mel Waiters, Louisiana blues activist Tab Benoit, honky tonk piano queen Marcia Ball, sacred steel heroes The Campbell Brothers, roots supergroup the South Memphis String Band and Mississippi blues original Super Chikan, along with many others.

 

 

 There will also be dozen vendors with the greatest assemblage of home-style barbecue to be found in New Orleans. A huge crafts fair showcases the hand-made works by artisans from throughout the Gulf South. And an interview stage gives fans an opportunity to hear from our performers about their influences.

 

The festival also features a “sports bar,” where fans can keep up with all the latest action on large-screen TVs while enjoying the music. Community radio station WWOZ-FM will broadcast the festival live on the air and on the internet at wwoz.org.

 

 

 

On Friday, Oct. 14, locals and visitors will have the chance to pitch in to the rebuilding of the Crescent City, with a house-building work day organized by the St. Bernard Project.

 

There’s also a contest to submit drawings of original artwork that will be used to grace the festival’s official t-shirt.

 

For complete details, see the festival web site, www.crescentcitybluesfest.com.

 

The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation (www.jazzandheritage.org), the nonprofit that owns the world-famous New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell (www.nojazzfest.com). The Foundation uses the proceeds from Jazz Fest, and other revenues, for year-round programs in education, economic development and cultural events. For info, see www.jazzandheritage.org.

 

The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is sponsored in part of the Louisiana Office of Tourism. Visit LouisianaTravel.com. 

The Blues Brothers began as a sketch on Saturday Night Live in 1978, released an album of their music that year and by 1980 became the iconic Blues figures they are today after the film.

 

Here is some amazing concert footage of the original band in 1979.

 

 

Did you know that I do Custom Comic Strips and Comic Pages as gifts?

 

 

 

 

Although Wynton Marsalis comes from the worlds of jazz and classical music, and Eric Clapton is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Marsalis says their recent collaboration wasn't that unusual because they both have something that unifies them -- their love of the blues.

 

"Eric Clapton, he's from England, but he's a part of the blues tradition because that's what he studied, and that's what he wanted to learn how to play, much like I'm a part of the tradition of the German trumpet when I play the Haydn trumpet concerto, or the baroque trumpet, because I studied it and I wanted to play it," the New Orleans native said in a recent interview.

 

"Most of the musicians I've worked with, we come from the same kind of music, which is the blues, so I don't really have to do anything," added Marsalis, who has also performed with Willie Nelson and Norah Jones, among others.

 

 

Like the Droid Bionic of the guitar world, the Firebird X was announced almost a year ago, packed with piles of impressive technology, and delayed so many times that practically everyone forgot it existed. Well, on September 30th the Firebird X will finally start filtering into retail channels for the rather excessive price of $5,570, in your choice of either Redolution of Bluevolution finishes.

 

On board are a boatload of effects as well as an automated tuner, which we've come to expect from the so-called "robot guitar" series. The Pure-Analog sound processing engine is also open to developers, allowing owners to add on new effects and sounds down the road.

 

SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival!
Music and eats sure to satisfy your soul!

 

WHERE:
Elmwood Park
Downtown Roanoke, VA
(Inclement weather location
Roanoke Civic Center - Special Events Center)

 

WHEN:
Saturday
October 1, 2011
2:00pm - 9:00;pm
Music All Day

 

ADMISSION:
$24.00 – Advance Ticket available online and at regional SunTrust branches.
$28.00 - Day of Show at the gate
Children 12 & Under FREE

 

 

Readmission into park will be permitted. The 2011 Line-Up is Sizzlin' Hot!
For more info: http://www.biglickblues.org/

Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King were playing in Crosby, TX September 24th and their trailer got broken into and all their equipment stolen - it was at the La Quinta Inn in Baytown, TX. - Here is the list -

 

*White Charley model Guitar--with Smokin' Joe Kubek on pick guard

*Cat 5 Camille amp in road case all of our CD's and DVD's and the CD road case with CD's and DVD's inside

*Mesa boggie 750 big block

*Black Yamaha drums

*all the Sabian cymbals

 

If you see any of these items listed anywhere or see them in a pawn shop please contact phyllis@smokinjoekubek.com or joe@smokinjoekubek.com

 

The following appeared in recent non-blues magazines.   Curious who appears with the girl in the nail polish advertisement...anybody know?

 

 

 

 

Guitarists ranging from Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield, to Peter Green, Jeff Beck and Carlos Santana have all acknowledged their debt to Freddie King (1934-1976), the “Texas Cannonball.”

 

His ’60s classics, “Have You Ever Loved A Woman,” “Hide Away,” “You’ve Got To Love Her With A Feeling” and “The Stumble” are part of the DNA of modern electric blues.

 

Born in Texas, young Freddie arrived in Chicago with his family in 1950, a perfect moment to start learning from Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers and all of the legendary post-war bluesmen. Over the next ten years, as the First Great blues revival took shape, Freddie developed a style all his own. In 1961, he miraculously charted six R&B Top 30 hits on the King/Federal label that were heard from coast-to-coast and were profoundly influential on both sides of the Atlantic. Three covers are indelibly etched: “Hideaway” featuring Clapton (on John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, the ‘Beano’ LP of 1966), “The Stumble” and “Someday, After Awhile (You’ll Be Sorry)” (both featuring Green, on Mayall’s A Hard Road, ’67) and “Have You Ever Loved A Woman” (a staple for Clapton ever since the first Derek & the Dominos album).

 

Freddie King thrived on rock, jazz and blues scenes and at festivals starting in the late ’60s and ’70s, even getting name-checked by Grand Funk Railroad on “We’re An American Band” (“Up all night with Freddie King/ I got to tell you, poker’s his thing”). Right up through his death, all too soon at age 42, Freddie influenced Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, and the next generation of disciples who would take electric blues into the ’80s, ’90s and beyond.

 

 

The Delta Blues Museum will host a reception and book signing for Roger Stolle, author of Hidden History of Mississippi Blues on Wednesday, October 5, from 5 to 7 pm. Meet the author, buy a signed book, and enjoy music and refreshments. 

 

Free, open to the public. 

 

Travel through the hallowed juke joints and cotton fields with author Roger Stolle as he recounts the history of Mississippi blues and the musicians who have kept it alive. Some of these bluesmen remain to carry on this proud legacy, while others have passed on, but Hidden History of Mississippi Blues ensures none will be forgotten. 

 

"Placed together, the words and photos of Hidden History of Mississippi Blues bring a music, history and people to the printed page in a purposely intimate way leaving readers rooting for the bluesmen and pondering the future of music." -DeSoto magazine 

 

"If you don't know a lot about blues music and the Delta musicians who birthed it, lived it and kept it alive--in spite of the more popular modern American musical genres spawned from it--then Hidden History can rectify that in as little as 119 pages of easy-to-understand text." -Amazon 

 

Roger Stolle owns Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, a blues store in Clarksdale, Mississippi, as well as his own music and tourism marketing service. He is a Blues Revue magazine columnist, WROX radio deejay, XM/Sirius radio correspondent, and Juke Joint Festival cofounder. Through his Cat Head Presents record label, Stolle has produced several critically acclaimed blues CDs/DVDs; he coproduced the award-winning film M for Mississippi: A Road Trip through the Birthplace of the Blues. Hidden History of Mississippi Blues is his first book. He was educated at the University of Cincinnati and worked for thirteen years in the advertising and marketing world prior to entering the music business.

 

Lou Bopp is an award-winning commercial location photographer who has traveled the world on assignment for clients such as Time Warner, Deutsche Bank, McCann-Erickson, Amex, Sports Illustrated, Y&R and many more. His subjects range from celebrities to CEOs, musicians to technicians. 

 

For more information contact the Delta Blues Museum 662-627-6820.  The Delta Blues Museum is located at #1 Blues Alley in downtown Clarksdale.