Blues For Life Your place for blues reviews and news.

Everyone in Colorado...

Who: North Mississippi Allstars, with Hill Country Revue

When: 9 tonight

Where: Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder

Cost: $23-$25

Go you must! You still have time! They are the best young group around hands down. I've already talked about them before and how Luther is such a beast. For the rest of us we have to make due with a pretty good article about them and their new tour.

Before I get into some heavy reading for my second week of school I figured I'd drop a link to a pretty good Derek Trucks article. It's from a local paper in North Carolina and I'm finding these small papers have some really good stuff. I recomend for people to read it if they don't know anything about Derek as it is mainly a summary of his career.

The blue side of Derek Trucks - Waynesville Smoky Mountain News

MLive.com

The blue side of Derek Trucks Waynesville Smoky Mountain News, NC - In the 90's there was an explosion of talented young blues artists- Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and, of course, Derek Trucks.

It's good to be back posting after the frozen Inauguration and yesterday being the first day of the new semester. Unfortunately this is not a good time for Sonny Landreth to be coming through town even though he'll be at Wolftrap next Thursday. What is it about all the cool people coming though this time of year. I'll certainly going to go broke and still miss a few.

Too bad I can't make Sonny Landreth though. Having just read a Washington Post article on his process of producing his new album From the Reach with guests like Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, and Eric Johnson. Rather than jamming with each other on blues standards as everyone usually does to feel how everyone plays together, Sonny instead wrote individual songs for each that best suits their artistic style. Image via Wikipedia

I really like this direction to be honest. Yes it is fun to jam on blues standards to find a group connection, but I still find that producing new and unique music more interesting. Of course I'm certainly naive to the recording process but many of the duet albums I have seem to be two people playing a song that they already know. At times it seems like each person knows what part to play because they have played it before, but on a new song there is always something more original about it. Think of it as if it is a product of a more spontaneous process.

It sure is a shame that I'm going to miss all Sonny's great slide playing. I guess this means I'm just going to have to buy his new album.

Guitarist Sonny Landreth Reflects and Collaborates on 'From the Reach' - Washington Post

Guitarist Sonny Landreth Reflects and Collaborates on 'From the Reach' Washington Post, United States "When I Still Had You," another song Landreth wrote for Clapton, combines a country-music vocal with a blues guitar backing, a blend that Clapton has used ...

I can't post much tonight as I have to get some sleep before I have to catch a train tomorrow, a train to Washington D.C. to see the inauguration of Barack Obama. Enjoy this article on The Blues Music Awards.

The Blues Music Awards celebrate 30 years - Paste Magazine

Paste Magazine

The Blues Music Awards celebrate 30 years Paste Magazine, GA By Muriel Vega on January 19, 2009 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) The 2009 Blues Music Awards were announced on Jan. 8, marking the 30th anniversary of ...

Man youtube has all the best stuff. Check out this classic video of Magic Sam. I must confess that I don't now too much about Magic Sam, he didn't leave a large body of work. I did know one of his songs though "Talk to Me Baby" but it was actually Buddy Guy. I only thought it was Sam because of a mislabeled CD. Well now I'm educating myself and you should too. Oh and I like what I'm hearing.

That's right after well over 40 years playing playing Rock and Roll Jeff Beck is a 2009 inductee. But I'm going to tell you why you should not care. I'm not telling you to not care about Jeff Beck or his accomplishments but instead about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You see there are a list of reason to not care about the R&R Hall of Fame, and the two most recent ones are Run-DMC and Metallica, both of them were inducted along side Jeff.

Yes on the first year Stevie Ray Vaughan was eligible for nomination not only did he not get nominated but they inducted Run-DMC and Metallica. To some like me this is unfathomable. Run-DMC were of course were important rap pioneers but rap isn't Rock (especially when it is paired with Areosmith) and then there is Metallica that pioneered soulless overproduced metal that succeeds in only making me want to fall asleep while taking a power drill to my temple.

This is really conflicting. I really like Jeff Beck and his work; especially the album he did with Tom Jones. However I can not in good faith consider this an honor for him as I rather be inducted into my grave than that one thing in Cleveland, Ohio.

BONUS- here is a cool article on Jeff Beck form The Rolling Stone.

I'm a huge fan of Booker T. and the MGs, and of course their grooving blues tinged hit, Green Onions. Unfortunately there is something wrong with this video, namely that girls in sweaters dancing oddly doesn't stand the test of time. Seriously it just looks goofy, and why isn't this in color? It's like they only had black and white TVs!

This is pretty cool; a woman form Japan was drawn to Chicago specifically to play the blues even though she didn't speak English. Now she is a regular mainstay at Andy's Jazz Club. (I've been to Andy's, get the ribs they're insane)

Fallow the link to a report on her from ABC News 7 in Chicago.

508 Park Ave. is not an address most people will recognize. As a matter of fact I didn’t recognize it, but people seem to be up in arms about it’s pending destruction. You see 508 Park Ave. was were Robert Johnson did his “Dallas Recordings”.

The owners apparently had been trying to sell the building for years and if they couldn’t find any buyers before the credit crisis than they’re out of luck now. Thus they have filed for demolition permits, in a effort to sell the land, rather than a hopelessly under code derelict building.

Is this going to be a tragic loss? No. Of course there is a chance that outrage buy some rich white person could lead it to be saved. But what if everyone fails and the place where the songs were recorded is leveled, does that really matter? No.

Who cares where the songs were recorded when the places the songs were written still exist? Namely the roads crisscrossing the South. For people obsessed with crossroads why aren’t they getting more credit? What’s the saying, “It’s the journey not the destination.”

But I’m crazy, so if you want and more information you can check out the Dallas Observer here.

In two days Motown Records will turn the big "5 oh", marking 50 years of perhaps the most influential label ever. Motown released probably more of the best albums than any other single record company, though Stevie Wonder's albums will help any body's score. Happy Birthday Motown.

Well here is some news. Alligator records is preparing to release the final album by Saffire The Uppity Blues Women. Now I've seen Saffire live and I even held back mentioning to them that they spelled sapphire wrong. They also are starting their farewell tour, and wine festivals around the country will be loosing one of their most treasured cultural groups to leech off of.

Alright it's only held sporadically but this year and their website confirms it, on Saturday, 16th May and Sunday, 17th May 2009 in Annapolis there will be the 2009 Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival.

For people in my area this is the biggest blues festival there is (I love the the Western Maryland blues fest too). More importantly she will be there...

By she I mean Ana Popovic and by Ana Popovic I mean the love of my life. My love has previously been mentioned but wouldn't love the most beautiful and graceful musical creature to ever to meld in harmonious elegance with a Fender Stratocaster?

....

......

........

I'm sorry where was I? Oh yeah the blues festival. There are going to be some great acts and for some reason there is also going to be Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. I wouldn't know how a ska swing band gets into a blues fest but last time they booked Three Dog Night so who knows.

Well I'm certainly going to be there, and maybe I'll try and see if Blues For Life.com justifies a Press Pass (oh God please, anything to meet her)

Here is the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival's official site.

Alright I try to go to a lot of concerts but last year I found that it hit my budget too hard too fast. The $80 BB King tickets were really what did it. This time around I’m going to try and get to other shows that i would not normally have gone to. Form what I have been able to discern January through March is some of the best time to see a lot in the DC area.

First the mandatory concerts.

The Robert Cray Band
Date: Monday 3/2/2009
Time: 7:30 PM
Cost: $49.50

This is at the Birchmere which and Robert always seems come by at the same time in March.

Buddy Guy always come by in March as well but he is not currently scheduled.

Now everyone else that interests me.

The Average White Band
Date: Friday 3/27/2009 at the Birchmere
Time: 7:30 PM
Cost: $35.00

They come very well recommended and I missed them last year, and the price is right for a good Friday night concert. Who doesn’t love Funk and Soul?

Joe Bonamassa
Date: Tuesday 3/31/2009 at the Birchmere
Time: 7:30 PM
Cost: $45.00

Again well recommended but the dates aren't looking good for my schedule depending on when Spring break is.

Corey Harris is at Blues Alley February 6th for $25 but really $50 since I cant pass up ordering the Creole shrimp.

Tower of Power
Tuesday March 31 at The State Theater
Doors 7 pm Showtime 8:30 pm
Tickets $46

I love Tower of Power (I played What is Hip in my Jazz class) it might come down to a decision between them and Average White Band.

Well this is quite a list, and this is the stuff that is scheduled so far.

Lets go way back to a man who famously said "I am the blues", yes Willie Dixon the man who penned just about every blues standard of the 50s. But when it come to him I must admit I don't know all the much and now I'm finding out he was a great player as well as a song writer. Take for instance the video below, its an instrumental that is so goovie of the bass that it makes me want to actually play bass (and I hate bass). I think I'm going to certainly pick up his autobiography dubed "I am the Blues" as soon as I can.

Going through the internets I stumble occasionally on something pretty cool, and for today ( and the new year) it is the pretty cool documentary of Mississippi Fred McDowell. You can fallow the links from Blues Report to the site and download it. If you are like me and by that I mean obsessed with slide guitar than the video is certainly worth your time.