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Blues & Rhythm

Blues & Rhythm

Launched in 1984 and edited since 1986 by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, the Gospel Truth is published from the UK 10 times a year. Blues & Rhythm publishes research, articles, discographies, (including updates/revisions to The Blues Discography 1945-1970 3rd edition) label listings, interviews, rare records, obituaries, letters, news and reviews and comment as well as unique photo features on pre-war and post war blues, R&B, vocal groups, vintage soul and gospel music as well as supporting contemporary Afro-American blues talent, and covering other roots music including western swing, bluegrass, hillbilly, rockabilly, vintage country music, Tex-Mex, and Ska.
Blues & Rhythm reviews CDs, vinyl albums and 45s, books, DVDs and downloads. Regular contributors, writers, reviewers, photographers and collectors include Mike Atherton, Chris Bentley, John Broven, Norman Darwen, Dave Penny, Dan Kochakian, Opal Louis Nations, Fred Rothwell, Howard Rye, Robert Pruter, the late Paul Harris, Steve Propes, Neil Slaven, Brian Smith, Chris Smith, Ray Templeton and Billy Vera as well as editorial board members Tony Burke, Tony Watson, Phil Wight, Byron Foulger and Mike Stephenson.

32 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Lee Dorsey 1924-1986

Obituary by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, January 1987

LEE DORSEY, who died on December 1st, 1986, after a long and brave struggle against cancer and emphysema, will be best remembered in the UK ...

Memphis Slim: Obituary: Memphis Slim

Obituary by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, May 1988

FOLLOWING RECENT reports of his serious illness, it came as little surprise to many blues fans that Memphis Slim sadly passed on of February 24th ...

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson: "Goodbye Mr. Cleanhead – things ain't what they used to be…" A Tribute to Eddie Vinson

Obituary by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, August 1988

EDDIE "CLEANHEAD" Vinson, who died on July 2nd at the California Hospital in Los Angeles after suffering a coronary and cancer of the throat and ...

Robert Cray: Young Bob's Blues

Interview by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, February 1989

ON OCTOBER 24th, 1988, Robert Cray played a sell out gig at the Manchester Apollo. He was riding high and on this extensive UK tour ...

Johnny Ace, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Big Mama Thornton, O.V. Wright: Galen Gart and Roy C. Ames: Duke/Peacock Records – An illustrated history with discography (Big Nickel Publications)

Book Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, August 1990

BIG NICKEL PUBLICATIONS continue their unsurpassed service of providing a mine of information to R&B record collectors with another addition to its catalogue of books, ...

Champion Jack Dupree: The Joe Davis Sessions 1945-1946

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, December 1990

IT IS PERHAPS fitting that the last CD of the Month for 1990 features a bluesman who began his recording career half a century ago ...

Louis Jordan: John Chilton: Let The Good Times Roll – The Story Of Louis Jordan And His Music (Quartet Books)

Book Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, February 1993

YOU'VE HEARD the records, maybe even bought the recent Bear Family nine-CD box set (The Complete Decca Recordings) – now read the biography. ...

Eddie Boyd, 1914-1994

Obituary by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, September 1994

BLUES PIANIST and singer Eddie Boyd died on July 13th in Helsinki aged 79 on July 13th, in Helsinki, Finland, a city in which he'd ...

Ella Mae Morse, 1924-1999

Obituary by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, December 1999

ELLA MAE MORSE, whose 1942 hit 'Cow-Cow Boogie' became the first million selling disc for Capitol Records, died on October 16th at the Western Arizona ...

B.B. King: Behind the B.B. King Box

Essay by John Broven, Blues & Rhythm, March 2001

The Ace Records 4-CD B.B. King box set The Vintage Years was released in June 2002. This is the story behind the production of this ...

Charley Patton: Paramount Records and the Blues Twilight Zone

Report by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, December 2003

DISCOVERIES MAGAZINE in the USA has called it "the single most significant blues music related discovery – ever. It is so deep and vast there ...

Desperate Man Blues – Discovering The Roots of American Music

Film/DVD/TV Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2007

JOE BUSSARD, "King Of Record Collectors", would be an excellent contributor to the UK television series 'Grumpy Old Men'. ...

Bo Diddley: Bo Meets The Maker

Obituary by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, August 2008

Neil Slaven turns up the volume as his hero refuses to go quietly into the night. ...

Elizabeth Pepin & Lewis Watts: Harlem Of The West, The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era

Book Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, August 2008

I PICKED UP this little item a few weeks ago at my local FOPP, one of the stores that survived the chain going bust, and ...

Jimmy McCracklin: The Mercury Recordings

Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, September 2008

WHEN CHRIS BENTLEY reviewed this set's first appearance in Blues & Rhythm fifteen years ago, his enthusiasm for one of his favourite artists was tempered ...

Washboard Sam: She Belongs To The Devil

Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, November 2008

IF YOU WANTED the complete Washboard Sam, you'd be looking at seven CDs (DOCD-5171-7) but they wouldn't tell you any more about the artist than ...

Ernest Stoneman: Ernest R Stoneman: The Unsung Father Of Country Music 1925-1934

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2009

JIMMIE RODGERS is normally identified as the "father of country music". However, in the booklet notes to this two-CD, 46-track set, Hank Sapoznick argues a ...

Various Artists: Take Me To The River – A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2009

"WHILE MOTOWN targeted its super-slick beat at teenagers, the much tougher Southern soul issued on labels such as Stax, Hi and Goldwax from Memphis; Fame ...

Various Artists: Gastonia Gallop – Cotton Mill Songs & Hillbilly Blues

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2010

Piedmont Textile Workers On Record, Gaston County, North Carolina 1927–1931 ...

Roben Jones: Memphis Boys – The Story of American Studios (University Press Of Mississippi)

Book Review by Mike Atherton, Blues & Rhythm, 2011

"THOSE SEVEN MUSICIANS, the American rhythm section, are the most creative and innovative studio musicians I know," said Memphis promotion man Marty Lacker, who, having ...

Robert Johnson: The Very Last Fair Deal Gone Down? A preview of the "ultimate" Robert Johnson reissue package

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, May 2011

ONE HUNDRED years ago, on 8th May, 1911, Robert Johnson was born – so expect to read a lot about Po' Bob, especially in the ...

Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings – The Centennial Collection

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, October 2011

THIS IS THE complete Robert Johnson on one double CD – the lot, all 42 Robert Johnson recordings – including all thirteen alternate takes plus ...

Bill Sykes: Sit Down, Listen To This! – The Roger Eagle Story/Pat Long: The History Of The NME

Book Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, October 2012

THE LATE Roger Eagle was an enigma. Born in Oxford into a middle class family during the Second World War, like many others of his ...

Norman Jopling: Shake It Up Baby – Notes From A Pop Music Reporter, 1961-1972 (Rock History Ltd.)

Book Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, May 2015

IN THE EARLY 1960s the U.K.'s music press was dominated by a small group of weekly papers, notably the New Musical Express, (aka NME), the ...

Richard Carlin: Godfather of the Music Business – Morris Levy (University of Mississippi Press)

Book Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, October 2016

MORRIS LEVY WAS born in 1927 and rose through the ranks of the U.S. music business starting by running a hatcheck concession in New York ...

Wilson Pickett: Tony Fletcher: In The Midnight Hour – The Life And Soul of Wilson Pickett (Oxford University Press)

Book Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, December 2017

BACK IN THE mid-1960s, Wilson Pickett was one of my main men. A series of great singles waxed for Atlantic, including 'In The Midnight Hour', covers of ...

Lazy Lester, Lightnin' Slim, Slim Harpo: Randy Fox: Shake Your Hips – The Excello Records Story

Book Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2019

FOR MANY UK blues fans, Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon Records opened the door to Excello Records. ...

Various Artists: Texas Hillbillies – 1922-1937 Restored and Remastered

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, April 2019

NINETY-THREE sides of vintage and rare old-time music from the Lone Star state (mostly instrumentals) on a four CD set – culled from the record ...

John and Colin Mansfield: As You Were – The True Adventures Of The Ricky Tick Club

Book Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, February 2020

THE RICKY TICK Club has a permanent place in the development of British rhythm and blues and rock music. I can't recall any decent history ...

Fats Domino: The Return Of The Big Beat: Fats Domino's I've Been Around – The Complete Imperial and ABC Paramount Recordings (Bear Family)

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2020

WAY BACK IN Blues & Rhythm 85 (published in January 1994), Tony Watson – in a special feature on the original Fats Domino Bear Family ...

Doris Duke, 1941–2019

Obituary by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, April 2020

THE GREAT DEEP soul singer Doris Duke passed away on 21st March, 2019. The only mention I could find about her death is a reference on ...

Various Artists: Barrelhousin' Around Chicago – The Legendary George Paulus 1970s Blues Recordings

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, October 2020

BACK IN THE early 1980s John Stedman purchased a number of recordings made by George Paulus and released many of them on his JSP label. ...

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