Being in the studio with Trout approaches temporary insanity - the excitement, the unknown, the experimentation. Truly tantalizing sounds on par with those infamous Eric Clapton licks and Stevie Ray Vaughan riffs, are testament to Trout's talent. His music speaks to your soul, warms your heart and has your foot tapping. Trout brings the blues to life and invigorates rock in a manner all too rare these days.

Whether an improvisational jam or a carefully arranged song, Walter Trout's thirst for musical satisfaction is seemingly unquenchable. Equally capable of spontaneous serendipity as well as pre-planned perfection, this guitarist is truly in the midst of an all-encompassing love affair with the music he creates.

 "The Outsider" features 13 Walter Trout originals (the title track co-written with Trout's bass player Rick Knapp). Trout's backing band on "The Outsider" includes drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp), bassist Hutch Hutchinson and pianist Jon Clearly (Bonnie Raitt), as well as Skip Edwards and Samuel Avila on the Hammond B3 and a special guest appearance by harmonica wiz Jason Ricci.


http://www.waltertrout.com/index.htm

Contemporary blues is often just a flimsey excuse for some hot shot guitar slinger to cram in millions of gnat-notes. However, when a new artist makes an audacious apperance on the scene with a larger menu of spiced and cured southern fried blues, it is a cause for celebration. Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Ricky Gene Hall servers up a steaming platter of fat back jumping and deep groove blues, country foot-tappers, sly funk and achingly tender ballads on his second release from Yard Dawg Records

 http://www.rghgoods.com/Home.html

Blues Diva Candye Kane's life story has been turned into a  stage play/workshop, called The Toughest Girl Alive – at the Diversionary Theater (San Diego. CA) on January 29,30,31 and Feb 1st!!!!

The Toughest Girl Alive is a workshop of a musical based on the life of Candye Kane, Singer/Songwriter/Activist/Diva. The no-holds-barred evening was arranged by acclaimed San Diego director/choreographer Javier Velasco and features San Diego actors Amy Bidel and Daren Scott helping Candye take us on her sometimes shocking, sometimes joyous, always colorful journey.

The show also features 23 of Candye’s songs, performed by Candye and her entire band, including the inimitable Sue Palmer tickling the ivories. So although the show is technically a “workshop”, you will certainly get more than your money’s worth of entertainment.

Due to the workshop nature of the show, Candye will be trying out different material during the run to gauge audience reaction. To that end, while all performances will feature the same script, the Saturday and Sunday shows will feature more adult imagery. This is, after all, the honest accounting of a life lived through hardship. If you are considering bringing an older teenager to the show, perhaps you may chose to attend on Thursday or Friday. The show DOES deal with adult themes, while illuminating the triumph of the positive human spirit. At times dark, at times poignant, the toughest girl alive winds its way thru the curves and pitfalls that paved the way for Candye Kane to become the survivor she is. This is, in the end, a very FEEL GOOD show.

Tickets are $15 at the door

Meanwhile, on E-Bay starting January 13th, Candye Kane (now 100 lbs. lighter than a year ago) is selling tons of her amazing gowns and stage clothes, including hard to find vintage dresses in large sizes.

Available for purchase are the dresses worn by Candye when she appeared on the television with Roseanne, Donny and Marie and Queen Latifah among other fabulous items.

FOR THE COMPLETE LINE-UP AND ALL THE DETAILS: CLICK

Memphis Blues, which sits next door to Cabo Wabo, was the next restaurant planned for Granite Park. Now the Memphis Blues brand will be expanded to include the defunct Fresno Cabo Wabo.

The concept for Memphis Blues is similar to the famed House of Blues chain, which has a dozen dining/music venues around the country in cities such as Las Vegas, New Orleans, Dallas and Chicago. 

A few concerts are scheduled for the new venue in January: A Jan. 8 date with the Tommy Castro Band, Jan. 16-17 with Skynnyn Lynnyrd, a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band and an evening with Elvin Bishop on Jan. 22. --by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers

The Grammy category for Best Historical Album was launched in 1978 to little fanfare and designed mostly for compilers of big band or opera recordings. But in recent years, as record companies mine their vaults more aggressively to repackage early recorded music in box sets, and patch together snatches of lost tape to create wholly new albums, the category has grown to represent not just the legacy of a certain era or artist, but also an important new revenue channel.

This year, the category is split among a group of independent labels that are innovating how we listen to and appreciate early-century music, some of it predating electrical recording and performed by entertainers whose names are largely forgotten. Instead of shoving the music into the marketplace and waiting for it to sell, these small operators have lovingly filtered it through an interpretive lens to discover thematic connections between where we came from and who we are today.

As a result, boxed compilations are not just bringing forgotten voices back to life, they are making them suddenly relevant. Here, African-American comedian Bert Williams and popular singer Billy Murray can finally be recognized as the greatest recording stars of the Edison cylinder era.

With technology allowing access to centuries of culture through the click of the mouse, having someone curate the past is becoming more essential.

"One thing we strive for are the historical liner notes and photographs and trying to recreate the time period you just don't get with an MP3," says Lance Ledbetter, founder of Dust-To-Digital, an Atlanta independent whose biggest seller is "Goodnight Babylon," a six-CD collection of early Southern sacred songs and sermons, packaged with a 200-page book in a cedar box with pieces of cotton nestled inside. The box has sold 7,500 to date, a smash hit for a label with little overhead, no staff, and marketing the old-fashioned way: word of mouth and print reviews.

That kind of traditional business model works especially well, Josh Rosenthal says, when targeting the two audiences major labels tend to ignore: well-educated and culturally curious baby boomers and 20-somethings who ignore mainstream media channels and listen to college radio. Collectively they are the two groups that helped make "People Take Warning!" a hit for Tompkins Square, the New York City label Mr. Rosenthal has singly operated for three years.

Endorsed by Tom Waits, who contributes an essay, the three-CD set assembles hillbilly songs, blues, country, and general esotery between 1913 and 1938 into three categories: "Man V Machine," "Man V Nature" and "Man V Man." Followed in that order, the songs unfold like a news ticker detailing the hardships of the first half of the last century, when disease, shipwrecks, and floods shaped the nation's character in the industrial age, and created its folk heroes, like Casey Jones, Stack O'Lee, and Tom Dooley.

Some songs double as historic documents, written in the immediate wake of the event they describe. This includes "Fate of Will Rogers and Wiley Post," sung by West Virginian singer Bill Cox two weeks after the 1935 plane crash that killed the American humorist and his pilot. Seventy-eight years later, the tremors in Cox's voice remain harrowing.

"All these forgotten stories" in the box makes it "a tribute to these lost people," Rosenthal says.

The renewed interest in early recordings is connected to two landmark reissues of the 1990s: the "Anthology of American Folk Music" in 1997 and the box of complete works by the blues singer Robert Johnson, the latter which Rosenthal helped produce in 1990 in his former life as a vice president of marketing and sales at Sony Music.

Both releases benefited by arriving alongside the Internet explosion. As adventuresome music fans unplugged from the mainstream to hunt online, music that was long marginalized began to be heard by greater numbers.

Having a digital benefactor for such primitively recorded music is an irony not lost on Richard Martin, cofounder with his wife, Meagan Hennessey, of Archeophone Records, in Champaign, Ill.

Mr. Martin says the recordings on his label, which specializes in minstrelsy, early jazz, ragtime, and vaudeville singers from before the advent of electrical recording, can often be unsettling for listeners used to the sleek production standards of today. Before microphones and consoles to manipulate signal frequencies for intimacy and depth, singers were relegated to shouting into conical horns that etched physical imprints onto discs, a primitive process resulting in recordings that today can sound murky and distant.

"You don't have lows or highs, it sounds like a telephone receiver. When you're used to that, like we are, there's a certain beauty. I like the sound of a good, clean record from 1912," he says.

Younger musicians who are inspired by early century music are likewise not bothered by the primitive sound. For them, including Andrew Bird, the acclaimed fiddler-songwriter, the purity is in the performance.

"It's good to remind yourself now and then what it is to be truly naturally musical," says Mr. Bird. "A lot of that stuff is social music, it served a purpose and was not part of the recording industry. That's a big thing for me. It's not one person's headphone symphony and not a personal ego project, it's part of a living culture."

Growing listener interest has created a demand for deeper excavation of sonic antiquity. Because Archeophone deals in the earliest era of recording, that process means salvaging archaic artifacts of a lost era (wax cylinders and heavy shellac discs), transferring them to CD, and packaging them with exhaustively researched booklets. The pursuit leads Archeophone and other labels through collector vaults, flea markets, and even eBay. But no recent discovery is as special as a 10-second recording of the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune," sung by a young child in 1860, 17 years before Thomas Edison's recordings that, until last March, were considered the first document of the human voice.

Already a free stream via firstsounds.org, a site run by a collective of researchers and historians, which includes Martin, the recording will make its official public debut as a 45-r.p.m.--vinyl single on Dust-To-Digital later this year.

Using a credit card over the Internet to purchase a vinyl record of a song recorded before the light bulb may just represent how far technology has come in cross-wiring history, making it possible for Polk Miller, a Virginian bandleader who died in 1913, to receive Grammy consideration the same year as Coldplay.

"This is part of the cultural subconscious," Martin says. "Reminding us of our history is a very good thing."

Although Johnson did eventually get a real guitar, and has since performed his blues on stages around the world, he still invests the same creativity and resourcefulness into his "Chik-can-tars," functioning instruments he crafts from 5-gallon military gas cans that are painted and inscribed in a highly individual fashion.

Of course, Johnson is following a time-honored tradition of Southern "make-do" artistry, which can be seen - along with a Chik-can-tar - in the touring "Rhythm & Roots, Southern Music" show, which will set a spell at the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum in Delray Beach.

The exhibit examines the various cultural and regional strands woven into the Southern musical tapestry, from blues and gospel to Cajun and Appalachian styles. Native Americans, as well as transplanted Asian, Caribbean and Latin communities, also added their sounds to the mix, thus influencing all manner of musicians living below the Mason-Dixon line.

In addition, the show looks at the unique contributions of pioneers such as Delta blues great Charley Patton, gospel composer Thomas A. " Georgia Tom" Dorsey, banjo virtuoso Earl Scruggs and Cajun-music maker Dewey Balfa. Their music spread far beyond their individual bailiwicks and were crucial components in the development of jazz and rock 'n' roll. The exhibit also presents a number of instruments, from a goombay drum to a cigar box fiddle, which are accompanied by sound samples.

"Rhythm & Roots, Southern Music" is on display today-March 29 at the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, 170 NW Fifth Ave., Delray Beach. $5; 561-279-8883 or spadymuseum.org.

"The story behind the king of rock 'n' roll begins with deep roots in the blues," Gov. Haley Barbour said. "It was the sounds of gospel and country found in the blues music that helped to vault a native son of Tupelo into a worldwide music icon."

As a boy, Presley lived adjacent to the African American neighborhoods of "Shake Rag" and "On the Hill." Shake Rag, located east of the old M&O (later GM&O) railway tracks and extending northward from Main Street, was one of several historic African American communities in Tupelo.

By the 1920s blues and jazz flowed freely from performers at Shake Rag restaurants, cafes, and house parties, and later from jukeboxes, while the sounds of gospel music filled the churches. The neighborhood was leveled and its residents relocated during an urban renewal project initiated in the late 1960s.

Mississippi is well known as a destination for music lovers. Gov. Haley Barbour created the Mississippi Blues Trail to recognize the talents of the state's countless musicians in the Birthplace of America's Music. When completed more than 100 sites will offer an unforgettable journey into Blues history.

The Mississippi Blues Commission and the Mississippi Development Authority Tourism Division continues to honor music with new sites and features. For more information, visit the Mississippi Blues Trail on the web at msbluestrail.org or the official Mississippi tourism site visitmississippi.org.

Julie Black is a brilliant artist whose rich, soulful voice conjures up raw emotions. Black released her debut album Call Me Angel for Blues (BOJA) in 2007. The album, containing all original music and artwork, has earned Black a spot on several music charts including those on XM Satellite Radio & Roots Music Report. Blues Critic Radio lists Call Me Angel for Blues as one of the Top Ten Contemporary Blues Albums of 2007.

Black's songwriting reflects a passion for Blues while incorporating flavors of other genres. Blues Revue Magazine has called Julie Black "a major singing and songwriting talent". Her unique sound has won her the loyal support of music lovers everywhere.

Julie Black & her band immerse themselves in music, amazing audiences at major events, music festivals & performance halls. During a recent television appearance, the host of the popular show NBC Daytime said "Your music is very strong, your vocals are incredible...the band is just fabulous!" Black's original music, dynamic vocals & diverse band of talented musicians deliver live performances that are creative, passionate & powerful!

Instrumentation:

Julie"Angel for Blues" Black- Singer/ Songwriter
Michael Johnn- keyboards/ backing vocals
Dave Eichenberger- electric guitar/ backing vocals
"Father" Bill Spicuglia - bass
Mike LaSala- drums


If your heart is craving something rich, if your soul is looking for solace, if your mind needs something fresh & intoxicating... open your ears to the original sounds of Julie Black. This is music you can feel!

What's happening with Julie Black:

• 22 consecutive weeks on Roots Music Report's Roots Blues Charts ‘08!

•Named one of the Top 5 Contemporary Blues Albums of 2007 at Blues Critic Radio!

•Hits #3 on XM Satellite Radio charts at Bluesville!

•Celebrates International CD Release in Japan

To see and hear Julie Black & Band performing "Broken Hearted Baby"

CLICK


 http://www.angelforblues.com/index.html

On Sunday, Jan. 19th, you can experience this year's local International Blues Competition entrants and help raise funds for their trip to Memphis in February. The music goes from 7:00pm to 11:00pm

Jimmy D. Rogers - Cincy Blues Society solo/duo Winner
Ricky Nye Inc. - Cincy Blues Society band Winner
Cheryl Renee w/ Them Bones - Kentuckiana Blues Society band Winner
Piano Mayhem, with Jimmy, Ricky and Cheryl tearing up the keys

All at the Play By Play Cafe, 6923 Plainfield Road in Silverton
Just $5 for card-carrying Blues Society Members, $7 for all others

 http://cincyblues.org/

She has been called the female James Brown, and for thirteen years she has been fronting one of the premiere soul bands in America. Now, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are starting to reap what they sewed. Join Elwood Blues this weekend with Sharon Jones as his guest as we listen to her great new album, 100 DAYS 100 NIGHTS

visit www.TheBluesMobile.com
for times and stations in your area