Who says the good old days of the blues are over? "This music isn't long gone; it's alive and happening right here and now in Northern California! " says blues guitar virtuoso Kid Andersen. He's talking about Tip of the Top, the San Francisco Bay Area band that has taken the blues scene by storm since 2009.

The band's musical style is reminiscent of the 1950's. Their live show delivers all the primitive pulsating rhythms, repetitive chord changes and gritty amplification that defines early American Rock 'n' Roll. But these bluesmen are no mere imitators. They feel this music to their core. They represent it with 100% authentic personal expression and deliver it with emotionally charged energy.

Tip of the Top's debut CD, Depot Street Blues, and their second release, Rock Tonight, received rave reviews from fans and blues critics alike. Their latest release From Memphis To Greaseland features some of the band's finest original work and their unique, spontaneous take on blues classics. Engineered and produced at the world-famous Greaseland Studios in Campbell, California, this album is a MUST HAVE for any serious blues afficionado!

www.tipofthetopmusic.com

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One of the many highlights on Memphis Jewel is a stone-cold soul/blues duet with Jackie Johnson and Blues Music Award-winning singer Johnny Rawls on “Love You Still,” a song that recalls the classic duets of Otis Redding/Carla Thomas and William Bell/Judy Clay in the glory days of Stax Records. Other special guests on the album include guitarist Johnny McGhee, former LA Motown studio musician (Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross) and guitarist for the group, LTD; singer Reba Russell on background vocals; and guitarist Lance Keltner (Rod Stewart). The studio band on the recording features members of The Rays, the same acclaimed musicians used on Johnny Rawls last four album releases.

For more information on Jackie Johnson, visit www.catfoodrecords.com.

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TheBluesMobile.com Website Gets a New Look

[San Francisco, Ca. USA]  – TheBluesMobile.com officially launches a newly re-designed website. TheBluesMobile.com is the companion website to the House of Blues Radio Hour hosted by Dan Aykroyd (Elwood Blues). Now music fans have easy and exclusive access to "Elwood's Briefcase Full of Blues" that features The House of Blues Radio Hour audio stream, set lists and sneak previews.

TheBluesMobile.com includes original Blues music, the Top 15 Blues Chart, the Blues Breaker and Elwood's favorite new song of the week. The site also contains Blues photos, podcasts, videos and interviews, merchandise and contests.

Fans can become members of the Blues Brethren and Soul Sisters, our online Blues community. Brethren/Sisters regularly win guitars, CDs, DVDs, signed merchandise and other prizes. Brethren/Sisters are the first to receive news about new Blues artists, Elwood's contests, the Blues industry, and everything happening on the radio series and at TheBluesMobile.com.  

Producer Ben Manilla says, “For over 19 years, Dan Aykroyd and I have been collaborating on The House of Blues Radio Hour - the longest running syndicated blues series in U.S. history. The BluesMobile.com is an active extension of the radio show and plugs into the vast library of video and audio we have amassed and still gather. We feel the new website is a continuation of our mission to celebrate this great American music”.

TheBluesMobile.com is a presentation of Media Mechanics and partners Manilla, Paul Marszalek and Mike Henry. Media Mechanics is a multiplatform consulting and production company. Media Mechanics helps great organizations expand their businesses by developing and leveraging branded content across all platforms, including radio, television, broadband internet, mobile, satellite, print and live events. www.media-mechanics.com. 

TheBluesMobile.com

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Blues fest at Blue Mountain announces expansion, artists, tickets for 2nd year

[Pennsylvania, USA] - Blue Mountain Ski Area, which July 30-31 was host for the successful first run of the Pennsylvania Blues Festival – the new incarnation of the former Pocono Blues Festival – will expand it to three days for 2012, the ski area has announced.

But there’s more: Not only has Blue Mountain already announced two of the acts that will headline what they say will be a 15-act lineup, but it’s already selling tickets.

Electric blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker, a multiple Blues Music Award winner, and his seven-piece  band, and guitarist/vocalist Michael ”Ironman” Burks of Arkansas both will play the festival, which now is set for Friday through Sunday, July 27-29, the ski area announced in a news release.

Walker and Burks both will release  new records on Chicago-based Alligator Records next spring.

A limited number of VIP tickets, starting at $175 for per person for the full festival, went on sale Tuesday at www.skibluemt.com. Those tickets offer full festival hospitality access with food and beverages, Saturday and Sunday festival tickets, Friday and Saturday jams and dinner, a T-shirt, photo pit access and VIP parking. 

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Article Link

JMAX Productions Presents BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA

Sunday, December 18^th, 2011

@ Grand Sierra ResortReno, NV

Doors –; 7:00 pm Show – 8:00 pm

Tickets On-Sale Friday 10/14/11

Tickets available at:

Grand Sierra Box Office (with no fees)

by phone at 775-789-2285Ticketmaster.com

Outlets

& online at www.jmaxproductions.net

Tickets: $27.50-39.50 advance,

General Admission / All Ages

Much in the world has changed since the original version of the Blind Boys of Alabama first raised their voices together. That was in 1939, when the members were just kids at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in Talladega, Ala. Today, more than 70 years later, founding member Jimmy Carter can look back on a career far beyond what he and his colleagues couldimagine at that time. The group has won a long list of awards, including Lifetime Achievement honors from the Grammys and the National Endowment for the Arts, entertained around the world, been profiled on 60 Minutes, sung for two Presidents at the White House and been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Yet throughout this long adventure, they kept one secret to themselves.

“All my life, I’ve loved country music,” confesses Carter. “I was raised up around it. Back in the 1940s, I remember listening to Hank Williams and so many others. Their voices were great. The writers were great. And every song had a meaning. I still have loads of country music in my home and I play it all the time. As a matter fact, I’ve got it on XM radio as we speak.”

Though the group has recorded and performed with a few country artists, along with others as diverse as Ben Harper, Tom Petty, Peter Gabriel and Prince, they never crossed the line and committed to doing a project inspired by the country genre until now, with the release of Take The High Road on Saguaro Road Records. This landmark recording draws from modern and traditional country to enrich the group’s gospel-rooted sound with fresh and illuminating insight.

For years the Blind Boys had imagined such a project. But it wasn’t until they were voted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2010 that their plans began to coalesce. The catalyst was their meeting rising country music star Jamey Johnson, who sang “Down by the Riverside” with them at the induction ceremony in Montgomery. Johnson, whose gifts as a songwriter and performer match his fierce commitment to country music’s history and tradition, is a longtime admirer of the Blind Boys. The experience of sharing the stage with him prompted the Blind Boys to seek his services to help bring their dream of doing a country gospel album to life. 

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Link

Blues festival to celebrate musical legacy

[Alabama, USA] - Eddie Kirkland spent most of his life playing the blues.

His constant touring earned him the name “Gypsy of the Blues .” He kept up his touring even at age 87, and in February he had just finished a performance when he was killed in a car accident in Citrus County, Florida. During his life, he played with blues greats like John Lee Hooker and Otis Redding. He was respected among the world of blues musicians.

Kirkland, who spent his childhood in the Dothan area, was to return to Dothan for a blues festival to be held Friday at the Wiregrass Museum of Art.

“Our goal was to get Eddie recognized in his own back yard,” said Debbie Bond, a blues musician and director of the Alabama Blues Project, which is based in Northport.

Instead, the blues festival intended to showcase his talent to an area where most people have probably never heard of him will now pay tribute to his legacy and the blues in Alabama. It will feature performances by three Alabama women blues musicians. Bond, who once apprenticed with Kirkland, will perform along with Shar Baby and Rachel Edwards. Prior to the performances, Bond will lead a discussion about Kirkland and his legacy. 

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Article Link

West Coast Blues and Roots Festival 2012 Lineup – First Announcement

[Australia] - The first bands for next year’s West Coast Blues and Roots Festival line-up have been revealed, sharing similar acts to its East Doast sibling, The Byron Bay Bluesfest 2012.

So far the line-up includes Crosby, Stills and Nash, the legendary folk rockers are known for their beautiful harmonies and political messages. Ska legends and champions of the underdog, The Specials and influential blues guitarist Buddy Guy, who is still recording and touring at the age of 75.

The event will return to Fremantle Park, on Sunday 1st April and tickets will go on sale from 9am on Monday, 5th of December, through Moshtix. There is no event that better encapsulates the great West Australian lifestyle quite like the West Coast Blues and Roots Festival.

First Release General Admission Tickets: $139 +bf

VIP Tickets: $350 +bf

Under-18 Tickets: $80 +bf

Kids under 4 years of age can enter for free. 

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Article Link

Blues Video of The Week - Jimi Hendrix

                                            Happy Birthday Jimi Hendrix. Maybe it's progressive Blues or future Blues but Jimi Hendrix is most definitely the Blues and I couldn't resist the opportunity to honor him on his birthday.

There is so much great video of Jimi we are able to give you a special treat today.  I hope you enjoy!

Full concert in Maui, 1970

Video Link on Classic Blues Videos.com 

Whittlesey mum Lexie beats blues with music career

By MATTHEW REVILLE

[Australia] - Blues caused by the grind of being a full-time mum have turned this parent into a singer-songwriter in international demand. 

Lexie Green (39), from Whittlesey, had only ever sung on karaoke girls’ nights out before one evening in the cold winter of 2006 started to sing randomly while strumming a guitar.

She wrote the Blues song ‘Bored Housewife’ as a way to express her feelings after quitting her career in IT to concentrate on raising the two children, now aged eight and 10, with her husband Phillip (38).

The song was a tongue-in-cheek dig at people who think mums do nothing but sit at home and watch TV, and gave a check-list of the many tasks she lovingly carried out every day for her family.

Lexie found that she had a talent for writing and performing, and has joined up with drummer Pete McClelland developed her own style of blues entitled ‘Tex-Lex’.

She has now entered a competition that will fly an aspiring singer 3,400 miles to Canada to perform in the prestigious Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival 2012.

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Article Link

Not just jazz, by the way...

By: Yoshita Sengupta

[Mumbai] - As young musicians incorporate jazz melodies they once heard in their grandfather's Fiats into their rock and electronica-inspired tunes, indie music around the country is all set to break barriers that set jazz aside as music for the aged and elite.

Traveling River Band played folk and alternative rock when they started out in 2009. Last year, the Mumbai band -- seen here lounging at a chai shop in Kandivli -- began to incorporate jazz and blues into their repertoire. Pic/Ashish Rane

You wouldn't look twice at this group of five guys sitting at a chai tapri in Kandivli on an unusually hot November afternoon during a busy weekday. But, if you see them perform live at a night club, you'd get a feel of their popularity -- the Traveling River Band (TRB) is a favourite among music connoisseurs and has a following that runs into a few thousands on social networking websites, including Reverbnation, a popular indie music site.

The Mumbai-based band, comprising 23 year-old Akash Sharma, 28 year-old Miklu Baruah, 32 year-old Asit Adsul, 31 year-old Rony Jose and 28 year-old Jack Saha is one of the many that have emerged in the past few years that fuse jazz and blues with their own electronica-inspired tunes.

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Article Link

Grammy Nominations Announced This Week