"Sunny And Her Joy Boys offer a delightful trip through the
Great American Songbook. Sunny Crownover is a vocalist with
a real feel for the material. The participation of Duke Robillard
and Billy Novick is always a guarantee of first rate quality."
- Bob Porter

Award winning guitarist Duke Robillard has travelled the world over for the last 40 years playing his special blend of blues and classic jazz. He's recorded with, played with, or produced many of the most important artists of the last several decades, including Bob
Dylan, Tom Waits, Ruth Brown, Johnny Adams, Jay McShann, Jimmy Witherspoon, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. With 20 albums under his own name and many more as guitarist with countless artists, Duke has achieved what many only dream of, having worked with many of his legendary musical heroes.

This is a project that has been in the back of his mind since he heard Ivie Anderson, Helen Humes and Billie Holiday nearly 40 years ago. It celebrates the rich era of women song stylists from the 30's to the 50's-women who brought poise and class to the great American songs of the time, and who interpreted the best lyrics of the American master songwriters with depth, sincerity, and a personal flair that's all but forgotten today.

The CD also features bonus video content. This enhanced CD includes a video of "You're My Thrill" that will play on most computer systems.

Sunny Crownover was a military daughter who moved around during her childhood and spent most of her life from high school on in Texas, the last ten years of that time in Austin, where she honed her vocal chops with many of Austin's best musicians. She began singing around the Jacksboro Highway blues circuit at the age of 14 performing in acoustic blues ensembles. Since relocating in the Boston area, Sunny has been the featured vocalist with 2120 South Michigan Avenue, a Boston based blues band led by Harvard professor Charlie Sawyer. Sunny says, "Music has always been my greatest passion in life. I grew up listening to all kinds of music and knew I wanted to be a singer from a very early age."

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Flower has earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike for her natural, unassuming vocals, but it's her instrumental skill - a mastery of the difficult Piedmont blues guitar style that takes most players a lifetime to hone - for which Flower is most celebrated. Her fingerpicking forms the basis of a heavily syncopated, ragtime-based style wherein the thumb plucks a strong rhythmic base as the fingers etch out the melody. Mary also excels at lap slide guitar, allowing her to infuse her songs with a supremely delicate, plaintive sound that's hers alone while recalling the blues giants of the past.

Having finished in the top three at the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship and appeared on radio programs such as A Prairie Home Companion and played at numerous folk and blues festivals including the Kerrville Folk Festival, King Biscuit Blues Festival, and Merlefest, Flower is in demand for festivals, concerts and guitar workshops on both sides of the Atlantic.

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The brainchild of designer Chad Hurley and a brace of computer geeks Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, the business started up in an office above a Japanese restaurant in California in 2005. The first video shown featured Jawed Karim visiting San Diego Zoo.

Such humble beginnings were no indication of what lay straight ahead. Within months, 65,000 new videos were being uploaded onto the site each day and the site was receiving 100 million views on a daily basis. By the start of this year the total views had accumulated to six billion. It's been calculated that in 2007 YouTube alone ate up as much bandwidth as the entire internet did in 2000, making it the third most visited site on the globe after Google and Yahoo.

This thing is a monster.

Feargal Sharkey, former singer with Derry punk outfit The Undertones, believes that YouTube is a monster that must be stopped.

Thirty years on from celebrating teenage kicks, Sharkey is a fully integrated member of the music-biz establishment, rejoicing in the title of head of the industry body UK Music.

Representing Britain's Performing Rights Society (PRS) Sharkey has been playing hardball with YouTube, which was bought by Google in 2006 for $1.65bn.

The PRS has been demanding an increase in royalties. YouTube has replied with a flat "No". When the PRS pressed the issue, YouTube's response was to blank the videos of British acts.

Feargal Sharkey accused YouTube of employing a "blatant, cynical, manipulative" tactic to force British acts into accepting a royalty fee that's "significantly less than at present".

He claims that owners Google are "a large company thinking they're in a position to bully a little society that represents 60,000 songwriters". YouTube counter that the PRS is trying to extract "many, many times" the current rate.

YouTube's relationship with the laws of copyright have come in for criticism. Anyone uploading a video is given the following health warning: "Do not upload any TV shows, music videos, music concerts or commercials without permission unless they consist entirely of content you created yourself. The copyright tips page and the community guidelines can help you determine whether your video infringes someone else's copyright."

While this appears to cover the bases, the reality is that not everyone pays close attention and the site is infested with unauthorised clips from television shows, music videos and movies.

YouTube initially did not vet videos before they were posted online, leaving it to copyright holders to issue a retrospective takedown notice.

That policy changed after the media giant Viacom filed a $1bn lawsuit, charging that YouTube's content contained 150,000 unauthorised clips of its material. In the wake of the Viacom lawsuit YouTube introduced a policing system called Video ID to match uploaded videos against a database of copyrighted content.

The English Premier League is another body to file legal proceedings against YouTube for copyright infringement. The lawsuit, taken in New York in 2007, claimed that YouTube had "consciously encouraged people to view content on the site in order to raise its profile, violating the material's commercial value".

Two years on, there's still lots of Premiership action on the site.

The blocking of material on YouTube is a two-way street. The site has run into trouble around the globe for broadcasting content deemed inappropriate.

This month, the service was blanked in Bangladesh after army top brass took offence at footage of a fraught meeting with the country's prime minister.

In 2006, Iran blocked the site on the grounds that some of the content was immoral, while the following year it went off air in Pakistan on grounds of "blasphemy".

Other countries who've imposed bans include China, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Britain has now joined the league of blockers, with all music videos by British acts blanked. Patrick Walker, Director of Video Partnerships for YouTube in Europe, is adamant the corporation is not for moving.

He says: "Nobody wins when the music is blocked, but it's a necessary step because the amounts we are being asked to pay are many, many times higher than we've paid in the past."

His argument is that in the topsy-turvy world of new technology, pop acts cannot afford to lose exposure on YouTube.

"We're talking," says Walker. "Face-to-face meetings are planned and we do look positively towards some developments. It takes two to tango."

 Charlie Musselwhite On Tour

 4/2/2009 Caspar Inn Caspar CA

4/3/2009 Last Day Saloon Santa Rosa CA

4/5/2009 Glendale Jazz & Blues Festival Glendale AZ

4/8/2009 Knuckleheads Kansas City MO

4/10/2009 Callahan's Auburn Hills MI

4/11/2009 Rex Theatre Pittsburgh PA

4/12/2009 Sellersville Theater Sellersville PA

4/13/2009 Iron Horse Music Hall Northampton MA

4/14/2009 Strand Theatre Rockland ME

4/16/2009 Tupelo Music Hall Londonderry NH

4/17/2009 The Narrows Fall River MA

4/18/2009 Avalon Theatre Easton MD

4/19/2009 The Garage Winston Salem NC

4/22/2009 Rooster's Blues Oxford MS

4/23/2009 B.B. Kings Memphis TN

4/25/2009 Baton Rouge Blues Festival Baton Rouge LA

4/26/2009 Tipitina's New Orleans LS 

For more tour dates: CLICK 

http://www.charliemusselwhite.com/

www.myspace.com/charliemusselwhite

Looking for a place that's got everything Blues?
Want to learn about new music and win cool stuff?

Join me at TheBluesMobile.com and become a member of the Blues Brethren. You can win cool guitars, harps, CDs, DVDs, signed merch, and other prizes. So far Brethren have won signed guitars from Buddy Guy and Joe Bonamassa and even had the chance to dance on stage with me and the Blues Brothers!

Blues Brethren are the first to receive news about Blues artists, new contests, and the Blues industry, you know, basically everything happening at TheBluesMobile.com. You also get exclusive access to "Elwood's Briefcase Full of Blues" which features the House of Blues Radio Hour audio stream, set lists, and sneak previews; Blues podcasts, videos and interviews; TheBluesMobile.com merchandise; as well as original Blues music, the Top 10 Blues Chart, and the Blues Breaker, my favorite new song of the week.

It started with me and Jake, and now the Mission continues... with you.

Your Blues Brother,

Elwood

THEBLUESMOBILE.COM

At this point, no model for monetizing music (for example, advertising-based free streaming or downloading) other than traditional royalties has proven to fairly pay artists, songwriters or their patrons/financiers (the labels). So, a free track or stream with label and publisher approval? Sure. Distribution of music without label and publisher approval? Nope.

CRAWFORD POND ROAD

CASONS OLD FIELD, NORTH CAROLINA 

FOR MORE: CLICK

The evenings' line-up includes:
The Soul of John Black, The Mannish Boys Revue & guests (Jackie Payne / Steve Edmonson, Candye Kane, Lynwood Slim, J.T. Lauritsen), Jason Ricci & New Blood, Los Fabulocos with Kid Ramos, Hollywood Blues Flames with Junior Watson & Johnny Dyer, and
SPECIAL GUESTS!

TICKETS:
$30 (ADVANCE) $40 (AT THE DOOR)

DON'T MISS OUT ONTHE DISCOUNT & BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!

For more info or to buy tickets: CLICK

Like too many of his blues contemporaries, Tucker, despite earning great acclaim as a musician, died a pauper and was quickly buried and forgotten.

Music fan Steve Salter, 57, of Whitehall has spent the past decade spearheading efforts to make sure some of these music legends can rest in peace with the respect and dignity they deserve.

To help with that endeavor, Salter will host the Second Annual White Lake Blues Festival on May 9 at the Howmet Playhouse, 304 S. Mears, Whitehall. Proceeds from the fundraiser will be used to purchase a headstone for Tucker.

The event will feature several West Michigan blues artists including James Reese and The Backseat Drivers, Open Buick and the Road Masters, and an acoustic performance by Muskegon favorite Vincent Hayes.

Past fundraising efforts have been used to purchase headstones for legendary blues artists such as Otis Spann, the longtime pianist for Muddy Waters; pianist Maceo Merriweather, better known as "Big Maceo;" and Hound Dog Taylor, whose raw vocal style and searing slide guitar work made him a club and festival favorite from the 1950s until his death in the mid-70s.

"I never ask the family why there's no headstone," said Salter, referring to the ancestors of blues legends he's met since undertaking his efforts in 1999.

Luther Tucker,  who died in 1993, helped define the music genre called "Chicago Blues." How Tucker's headstone will appear, below."Most of these musicians came from so much poverty," said Salter. "They enjoyed an elevated lifestyle for a little while. But, when the hits dried up they went back to becoming second-class citizens.

"I would guess that some of them had families who said, "we can't afford to spend good money on a headstone when we can spend it on food."

Salter first made the sad discovery during a 1997 trek to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. On the way he stopped at a Chicago-area cemetery and was "shocked" with Spann's burial site being unmarked.

"I couldn't believe it," said Salter. "He was big. He wasn't unknown.

"Hound Dog Taylor was another one. I was blown away by this."

After returning from New Orleans, Salter penned his concerns to the national periodical Blues Revue magazine.

"People from all over the world started sending me money," said Salter, who used the funds to purchase a headstone for Spann.

For the next two years, Salter hounded executives at Alligator Records, a blues-based recording company that could trace its early success to Taylor popularity, said Salter. The record company finally purchased the headstone for Taylor in 2002.

Salter's continued research has unearthed an even longer list of once-great blues artists who have also been buried in obscurity.

Salter is employed by Grand Haven Stamp Products. He uses his vacation days to attend blues festivals across the country and journey to remote southern towns where many early blues pioneers were born.

For Salter, its a mission of love.

The headstone of Otis Spann, the piano player for the legendary Muddy Waters."I had a fondness for music from an early age," said Salter. "My generation was really into the British music invasion -- which was really recycled American blues.

A voracious reader, Salter noticed many of the songs being sung in the 1960s by groups like The Beatles and Rolling Stones were written by blues artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

"The first album I bought was in 1972 -- Howlin' Wolf's "Howling at Midnight," recalls Salter.

The fact that he's not a musician doesn't make Salter any less passionate about music. Although he likes all styles of music, Salter admits there's something about the blues that touches him deep inside.

He usually listens to music digitally these days, but it's not uncommon for Salter to pull out those old vinyl blues recordings he's been collecting since he was 15 years old.

"Sometimes I listen to these old, scratchy 78s," said Salter. "My wife always asks, "How can you listen to that -- it sounds like noise.

"I just filter it out. It sounds beautiful to me."

BLUES FESTIVAL

What: Second Annual White Lake Blues Festival.
When: May 9.
Where: Howmet Playhouse, 304 S. Mears, Whitehall.

Information: (231) 894-2540 or visit www.howmetplayhouse.org. For information about Steve Salter's efforts visit his website at: www.killerblues.net.

Big Town Playboy is a logical follow-up to the 2007 critically-acclaimed On the Jimmy Reed Highway CD, which teamed Dykes and guitar legend Jimmie Vaughan. That album not only charted for double-digit weeks on Billboard magazine's blues chart, but also was nominated for several Blues Music Awards. This time, Omar Kent Dykes is again joined by Jimmie Vaughan, who lends his special guitar talents throughout the album's dozen tracks, as well as seminal blues harp masters Lazy Lester and James Cotton, "first lady of Texas blues" Lou Ann Barton and stellar guitarist Derek O'Brien, who also produced the new CD. Drummer Wes Starr and bassist Ronnie James return to anchor the bottom, and rising star Gary Clark Jr. adds to the all-star ensemble with his guitar and harmonica work.

 Whereas On the Jimmy Reed Highway celebrated the music of that singular blues legend, on Big Town Playboy, Omar Kent Dykes broadens his musical palette including a number of post-war blues gems made famous by John Lee Hooker, Ivory Joe Hunter, Smokey Smothers and Jimmy McCracklin. Several additional songs associated with Jimmy Reed are represented here, along with two songs written by his guitarist, Eddie Taylor, who was a huge influence on both Dykes and Vaughan. The most-famous of those, "Big Town Playboy," jump-starts the album in stirring fashion, with the core band joined by Chicago-blues great James Cotton on harmonica. Blues legend Lazy Lester is the perfect complement to add his swampy harmonica playing on two Excello Records classics written by Slim Harpo ("Dream Girl") and Lightnin' Slim ("Hello Mary Lee"). Lou Ann Barton brings her distinctive smoldering vocals on "Think" and "Close Together," in duets with Dykes.

 Born and raised in McComb, Mississippi, Omar Kent Dykes has been based in Austin for many years. His distinctive guttural vocal style first came to notoriety as the leader of the appropriately- named Omar and the Howlers in the 1980s. Omar continues to keep that band alive today, touring throughout the U.S. and the rest of the world. The blues has always been a big part of his music, and having lived in Texas for so many years has added that extra edge to his sound which makes him a true original.  

Omar Kent Dykes is managed by Kevin Wommack of Loophole Management
(512-327-2995 / Kevin@loopholemail.com). For more information, visit www.omarandthehowlers.com 

Through storytelling, discussions, and musical demonstration, Hal and Donald will trace blues music"s history and culture from its African roots through today"s era, showing how and where the blues originated and threaded its way through all cultures in our society. The goal is that students today continue to appreciate, understand and carry their fathers" and mothers" music into the next generation.

Blues harpist, guitarist, singer and educator Hal Reed was born in Mississippi just a few miles from the Delta, where he grew up influenced by his grandfather, a talented southern folk-blues artist who in addition to inspiring young Hal"s love for the blues taught Hal the need to pass it on from generation to generation.

Blues, rock and reggae guitarist, singer, composer, arranger, producer and educator Donald Kinsey grew up in Gary, Indiana, in the family of blues legend Lester "Big Daddy" Kinsey. Donald has since become a blues star in his own right.

Free, Open to the Public Performances

Monday, Apr. 6, 11:45 a.m.-CASI, 1035 W. Kimberly, Davenport

Monday, Apr. 6, 4:00 p.m.-M.L.King Center, 630 9th St., Rock Island

Wednesday, Apr. 8, 7:00 p.m.-Mojo"s in the RME, 129 Main, Davenport

Thursday, Apr. 9, 1:30 p.m.-Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Dr.

For more: CLICK 

A YOUNG MAN NAMED MCKINLEY MORGANFIELD VENTURED TO CHICAGO FROM HIS NATIVE MISSISSIPPI, PLUGGED IN HIS GUITAR, CRANKED IT UP, AND INVENTED ELECTRIFIED CHICAGO BLUES. HE INSPIRED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN HIS LONG CAREER, INCLUDING THE ROLLING STONES, THE ALLMAN BROTHERS, AND ERIC CLAPTON. WE KNEW HIM AS MUDDY WATERS. I'M ELWOOD BLUES. A TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT MUDDY WATERS. NEXT TIME ON THE HOUSE OF BLUES RADIO HOUR.


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