Fl color promo a img fl color promo (Free subscription) | 04/10/2008
But don’t let the price fool you Birnbaum’s songs veer from trancy organ drones to Vincent larusso acoustic folk, even as his low register croon cracks and. He started seeing his name on various critics best of lists and finding others like Secretly Canadian, Arts amp. S landfall in Texas this weekend, as [...]
A.V. Club (Free subscription) | 02/10/2008
The “rules” for whether a musician qualifies for one of these Great Vintage Blues posts are just loose guidelines, to keep myself...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 14/05/2008
The NorthernBlues Music release The Wheel Man wins "Album of the Year" over peers Koko Taylor, Bettye LaVette and Jimmie Vaughan. Watermelon Slim and the Workers won a pair of awards at the Memphis-based Blues Foundation's 2008 Blues Music Awards (formerly W.C. Handy Awards) on Thursday May 8, 2008 at the Grand Casino Event Center in Tunica, Mississippi...
Providence Journal (Free subscription) | 28/02/2008
Magic Slim and the Teardrops bring the blues to Chan's in Woonsocket tonight. The band picked up an award in 2003 as Blues Band of the Year, The Journal's Seize Today listing says in the Lifebeat section. It's $15 for...
BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues) (Free subscription) | 13/12/2007
Magic Slim knows how NOT to overdo a good thing - a rare feat in modern blues. It's as if he was still constrained by a 78 RPM disc. The guitar solos on "Hard to Handle" and "Gravel Road" are tasty, leaving you wanting more. He's got a funky strum technique visible on "Slims Hideaway" and "Mustang Sally" - subtle and very effective. A superlative artist who has not outstayed his welcome in the least!...
nongseynyo (Free subscription) | 09/11/2007
John Primer is one of the driving forces in helping to keep alive the more traditional Chicago blues sound. Born in 1945 in Camden Mississippi John was raised on share-cropper land. "I went to school in the morning," he said, "and worked in the fields in the afternoon and night." After moving to Chicago in the early 60’s one of the first things John did was put together a band. By the end of that...
nongseynyo (Free subscription) | 22/10/2007
John Primer is one of the driving forces in helping to keep alive the more traditional Chicago blues sound. Born in 1945 in Camden Mississippi John was raised on share-cropper land. "I went to school in the morning," he said, "and worked in the fields in the afternoon and night." After moving to Chicago in the early 60’s one of the first things John did was put together a band. By the end of that...
BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues) (Free subscription) | 22/09/2007
I was at this show. It was an excellent show. It was recorded during ChicagoFest on Navy Pier in Chicago. Muddy played on one of the smaller stages and he drew an immense crowd. He drew more than the band which played the Main Stage that evening. The band was Cheap Trick. This band was far from a "pick up" band. This was the final version of the Muddy Waters Blues Band and included: Mojo Buford, John...
BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues) (Free subscription) | 16/09/2007
Nowhere has blues been so transformed as in Chicago. To this day, gritty, electric blues fills its night air. Alligator's Living Chicago Blues series was created to record and bring attention to the city's overlooked or undiscovered talent. The hope was blues would "not be resigned to mere history". In Jim O'Neal's excellent liner notes, originally written in 1978, it is interesting to observe how...
nongseynyo (Free subscription) | 07/09/2007
By any yardstick, Chicago guitarist John Primer has paid his dues. Prior to making The Real Deal for Mike Vernon's Atlantic-distributed Code Blue label, Primer spent 13 years as the ever-reliable rhythm guitarist with Magic Slim & the Teardrops. Before that, he filled the same role behind Chicago immortals Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. All that grounding has paid off handsomely for Primer. His sound...
BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues) (Free subscription) | 03/09/2007
Mississippi-born guitarist Morris "Magic Slim" Holt, an occasional accompanist to Magic Sam Maghett in the 1960s, paints Chicago blues in flat, broad colors that complement the coarse-grained intensity of his performances. This 1982 Alligator release, one of the sleepers in the label's catalog, gathers seven studio tracks from two French albums. -- © Frank John Hadley 1993 Track Listing 1. You Can't...
