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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.

34 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Van Hunt (blues): Van Hunt: Blues At Home Volume One – Field Recordings From Memphis, Tennessee (1976-1982)

Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, March 2008

IN 1984, THE Italian Albatross label released four albums of Tennessee field recordings and one of Mississippi Delta and South Tennessee Blues made by Lucio ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Jimmy Page: David Williams: The First Time I Met The Blues/Bob Brunning & Bill Smith: The 100 Club, An Oral History

Book Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, September 2009

TWO NEW additions to Nostalgia Corner, neither expensive, one a personal reminiscence from the early years of blues appreciation, the other an informal history of ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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