Blues and Rhythm & Blues
1,505 articles
T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Witherspoon: T-Bone Opens to Capacity Crowd at Last Word
Live Review by J.T. Gipson, The California Eagle, 13 May 1948
Cafe Society Fetes Noted Blues Singer in High Fashion ...
Joe Liggins & His Honeydrippers: Gip Calls Peppy Prince Best Drummer of Swing
Profile by J.T. Gipson, The California Eagle, 15 July 1948
ONE OF THESE days some enterprising person may decide to write the great American novel about swing music and its personalities. If that time ever ...
Nat King Cole: Gip Interviews King Cole in Columbus, O., and California
Report and Interview by J.T. Gipson, The California Eagle, 22 July 1948
I FIRST MET Nat Cole, leader of the world famous King Cole trio, at 2 ayem in the morning standing bareheaded in front of the ...
Joe Liggins & His Honeydrippers: Downbeat Club, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by J.T. Gipson, The California Eagle, 29 July 1948
Joe Liggins And His Crew Click At Downbeat Nitery ...
Little Miss Cornshucks: Gipson Interviews Little Miss Cornshucks at Last Word Club
Report and Interview by J.T. Gipson, The California Eagle, 2 September 1948
EVER SO OFTEN an act comes along that merits our warmest praise; this week the nitelife spotlight points with pride on an energetic little lass ...
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 5 July 1952
"HOW LONG have you had that Gibson electric guitar?" I asked Lonnie Johnson when he came round to my flat to hear some of his ...
Fats Domino, Big Joe Turner: The Alan Freed "Rock-n-Roll" Ball: St. Nicholas Arena, New York NY
Live Review by uncredited writer, Cash Box, 29 January 1955
THE ALAN Freed "Rock-n-Roll" Ball held at the St. Nicholas Arena, New York, on Friday and Saturday nights, January 14 and 15, had to be ...
Ken Colyer, Lonnie Donegan, Alexis Korner: Skiffle or Piffle?
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 28 July 1956
ALEXIS KORNER tells Max Jones ...
Chris Barber, Otis Spann, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, Chris Barber: St. Pancras Town Hall, London
Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 25 October 1958
I WAS surprised to read that Muddy Waters was coolly received in Leeds. At his London appearance on Monday the applause was hot and strong. ...
Muddy Waters: This World of Jazz: Muddy Waters
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 November 1958
MUDDY WATERS, that astonishing blues artist from Lake Park Avenue, Chicago, departed for home on Monday night without too many regrets. ...
Fats Domino: Cover Personality — No Change, Fats is Still at the Top
Profile by June Harris, Disc, 9 January 1960
ROCK MAY not be dead, but it certainly has changed, and so have most of the singers. They change to try to be different but ...
John Lee Hooker: Several Styles of Blues Singing
Profile by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 7 April 1961
Genre's Wide Range Seen in Delivery of John Lee Hooker ...
Chris Barber, Blues Incorporated, Alexis Korner, Mantovani: Mr. Korner and his weird front line...
Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 26 May 1962
TOGETHER, THEY MAKE THE BEST TWISTING NOISE I'VE HEARD ...
Blues Incorporated, Alexis Korner: Alexis Korner: A.K. of Blues Inc. digs Elvis
Interview by Ian Dove, Record Mirror, 29 September 1962
ALEXIS KORNER, with a drooping moustache that gives him a slight Mongolian air, sells excitement in the unlikeliest of places. Last week he sold it ...
Little Richard: Well, look who's back — it's Little Richard
Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 6 October 1962
BOBOBALOOMBA Abimbamboom all Rootti Tutti Frutti. With this gnomic verse about ice-cream and a shriek of masochistic ecstasy, Little Richard exploded before a wondering world ...
Freddy Cannon, Alexis Korner: Freddy Cannon Raves over OUR R & B music!
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 8 December 1962
STRICTLY NON-working hours for Freddy Cannon whenever he visits Britain are spent, whenever possible, at London's Marquee jazz club, watching Alexis Korner at work. As ...
Nat King Cole: Not Even Nat Cole Can Afford To Be Without A Hit
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 15 December 1962
AFTER 25 years in show business, with TV, radio and cabaret success his for the asking, you might think that Nat King Cole would count ...
Overview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 15 December 1962
THE STORY OF THE BRITISH RHYTHM AND BLUES RIOT-RAISERS... ...
Fats Domino: The Man Who Sang Rock Before Haley
Report by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 12 January 1963
HIS first million-seller was named after himself. Until last year he had more million-sellers than Elvis, who finally caught up with him after a hard ...
Overview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 23 March 1963
EVERYONE IS talking about the Rhythm and Blues revival that's going on. But we wondered whether in fact there was a revival. ...
Cyril Davies, Alexis Korner: Cyril Davies: The Soul-Beat Revival...
Profile and Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 20 April 1963
MR. CYRIL DAVIS, purveyor of R&B is currently the white hope of Pye's new R&B campaign. With his new single, the scintillating, exciting 'Country Line ...
Bo Diddley: The Man With A Hundred Guitars... Diddley the Great
Retrospective by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 20 April 1963
ABOUT EIGHT years ago, a sound called Rock and Roll started to penetrate the music scene in a big big way, taking over completely from ...
Chuck Berry: When Chuck Shocked Jazz Fans
Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 20 April 1963
THE PROOF of the pudding is in the eating, they say. But the proof of the R&B pudding is in the after effects. How many ...
The Rolling Stones: Genuine R&B!
Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 11 May 1963
AS THE TRAD scene gradually subsides, promoters of all kinds of teen-beat entertainment heave a long sigh of relief that they have found something to ...
Ray Charles: "I Don't Know What Is The Real Me," Admits Ray Charles
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 24 May 1963
"CARY GRANT, the film star. You know, he's a friend of mine and he used to tell me to come to England. He told me ...
Chuck Berry: At Last it's the Real Thing!
Profile by June Harris, Disc, 27 July 1963
CHUCK BERRY, THE WILD MAN OF BEAT MUSIC, GETS HIS BIG CHANCE ...
Chubby Checker: What 3 years of Twisting have done for Chubby
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 17 August 1963
CHUBBY CHECKER is one of the nicer people you meet in this business. He looks nicer for a start. He has a brown friendly face ...
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 24 August 1963
A ROOM in a plush London hotel. The centre of the attraction is an American Negro, 48 years old, his face leathery and worn. Dark ...
Howlin' Wolf: The Great Unknowns No. 11: Howlin' Wolf Burnette
Profile by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 31 August 1963
WHEN PYE records launched their second R & B campaign, one of the artists involved was a gentleman by the strange name of Howlin' Wolf. ...
Profile by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 5 October 1963
CHUCK BERRY, born on October 18th, 1931, has now become an almost legendary figure to many people in this country. ...
Willie Dixon, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, Big Joe Williams: Big Blues Tour
Report by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 12 October 1963
WITH R&B getting a deep hold in this country, many of the former fans of this type of music seem to be switching to the ...
Bo Diddley: So Ethel Mae stayed — and so did the guitar
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 12 October 1963
'THE BIGGER THE CLOWN YOU ARE, THE MORE RECOGNITION YOU GET,' SAYS BO. 'WE DO EVERYTHING EXCEPT STAND ON OUR HEADS.' ...
Muddy Waters: Great Unknowns: No. 15 Muddy Waters
Profile by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 12 October 1963
MUDDY WATERS was born McKinley Morganfield, at Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on April 4th, 1915. ...
Little Richard: Gaumont Theatre, Watford
Live Review by June Harris, Disc, 12 October 1963
RICHARD IS DYNAMIC ...
Report by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 October 1963
BLUES IN Croydon may strike a funny note to enthusiasts steeped in the lore of Mississippi and Chicago's South Side. ...
Live Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 2 November 1963
THAT FESTIVAL ...
Chuck Berry: He's Running an Amusement Park in Missouri!
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 9 November 1963
IT'S ALL happening for Chuck Berry! He's come hurtling back in the British charts with 'Memphis, Tennessee', and now he's all set for his debut ...
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 16 November 1963
THE OPENING night of the Duane Eddy/Little Richard/Shirelles tour was a lot better than most people expected at the Regal Edmonton, 2nd performance on Saturday. ...
Chuck Berry: I Can't Wait To Meet My Friends In Britain
Interview by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 30 November 1963
THE RECORD MIRROR TELEPHONES CHUCK BERRY IN MISSOURI ...
Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley: Chuck and Bo May Tour Here Together in March
Report by June Harris, Disc, 7 December 1963
WHAT DO you think of having Chock Berry and Bo Diddley headline a rhythm and blues package in England? Promoter Don Arden, just back from ...
Dock Boggs, Mississippi John Hurt: Alumni Hall, New York University, New York NY
Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 14 December 1963
2 OLD-TIMERS SHARE FOLK-SONG PROGRAM ...
1963: Rhythm And Blues Made The News
Overview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 21 December 1963
THIS HAS been THE year for rhythm and blues fans. There is no doubt about it. At the beginning of the year the R & ...
1963: Year Of Rhythm & Blues #2
Overview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 28 December 1963
Part two of a series spotlighting all the important events in the R & B world this year. ...
Koerner, Ray & Glover: (Lots More) Blues, Rags & Hollers
Sleeve notes by Paul Nelson, Elektra Records, 1964
WHAT CAN I SAY about John Koerner, Dave Ray and Tony Glover that I, and other critics and folk commentators in various journals, haven't already ...
Report by uncredited writer, Pop Star Pictorial, 1964
The latest and greatest on the Beat Scene? — Yes, it's R&B groups like the Rolling Stones ...
The Rolling Stones: Pop Weirdies Set Out To Play It Grim
Profile by Chris Welch, The Bexleyheath & Welling Observer, January 1964
OF ALL the sensational groups to hit British pop music since the advent of the Mersey Sound and the rhythm 'n' blues revival, the weirdest, ...
Chuck Berry, Little Walter: Chuck Berry Tells Guy Stevens About "How I Write My Songs"
Report and Interview by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 4 April 1964
MY FIRST MEETING with Chuck Berry proved to be as exciting and interesting as I had expected. I met him in the offices of Chess ...
Jimmy Reed: Talks Like He Sings
Interview by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 4 April 1964
JIMMY REED is perhaps the most successful blues singer on the American scene today, for his music has found wide acceptance among both the white ...
Larry Williams: Heir To Little Richard
Profile by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 4 April 1964
IN OCTOBER 1958, Little Richard decided, in the words of the late Chuck Willis, to "Hang up his rock'n'roll shoes" and enter the Church. Many ...
Live Review by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 4 April 1964
ON STAGE WITH THE R&B LEGENDS ...
Chuck Berry: Chuck — King of Beat
Report by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 25 April 1964
THE STORY OF CHUCK'S CAREER AND COMEBACK, BY GUY STEVENS ...
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 16 May 1964
CHUCK'S HERE AT LAST ...
Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart: Long John Baldry: The Walking Skyscraper
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 16 May 1964
IT IS NOT often that you see a skyscraper actually walking around the streets of London. ...
The Yardbirds: The Blueswailers With The Mod Appeal
Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 30 May 1964
ALTHOUGH THE Sunday Telegraph insisted that the Yardbirds were called the Yardsticks, and also claimed they were public school boys it doesn't seem to have ...
Overview by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, 12 June 1964
WITH THE emergence of interest in blues recordings after the war, with its resultant popularity, it was only natural that there should be a multitude ...
Jimmy Witherspoon: All About Spoon — And How He Got Another Chance
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 27 June 1964
JIMMY WITHERSPOON is a gigantic man of 41 with great bristling eyebrows and moustaches and a large winning smile. Intimates and admirers call him Spoon. ...
John Lee Hooker, Long John Baldry: Long John meets John Lee Hooker
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 27 June 1964
THEY COULD hardly have been a bigger contrast in background and appearance: the young, very tall, bright white Englishman Long John Baldry, and the mature, ...
Inez & Charlie Foxx: Inez and Charlie Foxx: Gospel Voice and Lunatic Gestures...
Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 11 July 1964
CHARLES AND Inez Foxx are a handsome pair. To the initiated and fortunate few in this country who have heard them, they are known as ...
Long John Baldry: LJB sticks his neck out...
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 25 July 1964
IF YOU really want to bore Long John Baldry, ask him if it's cold up there. His height is 6ft. 7½in., which makes him — ...
Little Walter — the man who sparked off a revolution
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 September 1964
I KNOW Little Walter only from records. ...
Profile by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, 15 September 1964
From Blues Unlimited compendium, Nothing but the Blues, ed. Mike Leadbitter (Hanover Books, London, 1971). Edited version of article, first published Blues Unlimited, 15, September ...
John Lee Hooker: Your kids dig the blues...
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 10 October 1964
IT IS hardly three months since John Lee Hooker was last in Britain, but even in that short time he's noticed a change in the ...
Report and Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 10 October 1964
Long John Baldry talks to RM's David Griffiths about the Folk-Blues Festival ...
Little Walter Arrives For First British Tour
Profile and Interview by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, 16 October 1964
From Blues Unlimited compendium, Nothing but the Blues, ed. Mike Leadbitter (Hanover Books, London, 1971). Edited version of article, first published Blues Unlimited 16, October ...
Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 24 October 1964
BLUES FALL ON CROYDON ...
Sleepy John Estes, Hammie Nixon, Yank Rachell: Sleepy John Estes: Sleepy John's stock of songs
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 31 October 1964
ONE OF the significant things about Sleepy John Estes, apart from the fact that he is an engrossing singer of the old blues school, is ...
Downliners Sect, Jimmy Reed: The Downliners Quiz R&B King Jimmy Reed...
Report and Interview by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 28 November 1964
JIMMY REED sat back into his chair and contemplated the five long-haired boys sitting opposite him. A group called the Downliners Sect. The subject of ...
The Rolling Stones: 'Little Red Rooster'/'Off The Hook' (Decca)
Review by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, December 1964
TOPSIDE IS an old Willy Dixon number 'Little Red Rooster' and it's a cert for the charts. ...
Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, The Rolling Stones: From Pop Singers To Rock Bands
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 1965
Update, March 2019: I KNOW exactly when I wrote the piece below, where I was, and why I withdrew it from publication. It was January ...
Howlin' Wolf: The Marquee, London, November 26, 1964
Live Review by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, January 1965
FOLLOWING HIS performances at Croydon and elsewhere, Wolf's first visit to an English club was eagerly awaited by local blues enthusiasts, He was accorded a ...
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 15 January 1965
Olé, it's Chuck 'Crazylegs' now! Ian Dove covers latest Berry tour ...
Live Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 16 January 1965
Chuck goes down a bomb on R & B tour ...
The Groundhogs, Jimmy Reed: Jimmy Reed: The Ricky Tick, Guildford
Live Review by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, 18 January 1965
14th November 1964 ...
Sue Records: Not So Much A Label
Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 6 February 1965
STORY OF BRITAIN'S STRANGEST RECORD LABEL ...
Nat King Cole: The Lesson I Learned When They Told Me The Truth
Interview by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 12 February 1965
TALKING FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE HIS GRAVE ILLNESS TO IVOR DAVIS, HOLLYWOOD, THURSDAY. ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Flamingo Club/Bromley Court Hotel, London
Live Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 13 February 1965
STARS AND showbiz personalities rubbed shoulders with mods and even some rockers in Soho's Flamingo last week to witness a fantastic display by Screamin' Jay ...
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 27 February 1965
FROM NOW ON, many of your favourite American rhythm and blues records will appear under a label called Chess. This is owned by two brothers ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Beatles Backlash Spurs Modern Blues
Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 11 March 1965
Performers in 'Village' Influenced by Britons Paul Butterfield Band Stirs Excitement ...
Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 13 March 1965
THE GREAT T-Bone Walker opened at London's Flamingo on Friday with an hour of beefy blues. ...
Larry Williams: "I'm No Rock 'N' Roller"
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 3 April 1965
LARRY WILLIAMS talks to Norman Jopling ...
John Hammond: Folk And Blues Friends
Profile and Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 1 May 1965
"DYLAN — WELL, let's say he gave me confidence when I needed it most." The speaker was John Hammond, 22 years old blues singer from ...
Larry Williams: The Return of Rock
Report by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 15 May 1965
SUDDENLY, ROCK 'N' ROLL isn't a dirty phrase any more. ...
Eric Clapton, John Mayall, The Yardbirds: Eric Clapton: The Yardbird Who Got Left Behind
Interview by Dawn James, Rave, June 1965
His name is Eric Clapton. His nickname in the Yardbirds was "Slow-Hand" because he clapped his hands. He played on the Yardbirds' No. 1 hit ...
John Lee Hooker: The Ricky Tik, Guildford
Live Review by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, June 1965
Witnessed by John J. Broven, May 14th '65 ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: King of Rock and Horror
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 5 June 1965
EVERY ONCE in a while someone different comes along. In January, none other than the legendary Screamin' Jay Hawkins entered Britain, and established himself as ...
Jimmy Rogers (blues): Walking by Myself: a Commentary on Jimmy Rogers
Profile by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, 23 June 1965
MANY ERSTWHILE modern blues recordings are perhaps shrouded in a greater veil of mystery today than many of their earlier counterparts. That this is so ...
Bob Dylan: Beneath the Festival's Razzle-Dazzle
Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 1 August 1965
THE RAZZLE-dazzle of last weekend's Newport Folk Festival should not eclipse the quiet, unflamboyant work of enrichening American folk culture that the festival makes possible. ...
Georgie Fame: After many years Georgie realises an ambition...
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 14 August 1965
GEORGIE FAME'S latest hit ('Like We Used To Be') represents an important step forward in the career of this 22-year-old singer-bandleader-pianist-organist. It's his first composition. ...
Live Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 14 August 1965
RICHMOND RAVE-UP! ...
Comment by Jerry Wexler, Record Mirror, 21 August 1965
by JERRY WEXLER, Manager of Atlantic Records ...
Georgie Fame: Negro Blues — a Talking Point by Georgie Fame
Comment by uncredited writer, Music Echo, 21 August 1965
NEGRO BLUES is an essential part of pop music. Since the popularisation of R&B and blues music the scene has improved 100 per cent. The ...
Steampacket: The How and When of the Steampacket
Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 28 August 1965
IN A SOMEWHAT loud striped suit, blues singer Long John Baldry, with the help of organist Brian Auger, told the story of the formation of ...
The Animals, The Rolling Stones: English Artists Find 'Soul' Music Is More Than Skin Deep
Report and Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 4 September 1965
THE SOUL of today's music, the place "where it's at" is rhythm and blues. The type of music, this "soul", has been around the U.S. ...
Chris Barber: Now They Can Tell The Difference
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 September 1965
CHRIS BARBER, who has been leading bands off and on for sixteen years, still approaches the business with youthful enthusiasm. In spite of beat booms, ...
Sleepy John Estes: Brownsville Blues (Delmark DL613)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 September 1965
Estes (voc. gtr), acc. on some tracks by Hammie Nixon (harmonica) or Yank Rachel (gtr), Ed Wilkenson or Ransom Knowling (bass) on three tracks. 1964/5. ...
Live Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 21 October 1965
WHEN EIGHT blues artistes leap about a stage, blowing harmonicas, thumping drums and piano, playing guitars and singing and shouting their song, it is impossible ...
Elizabeth Cotten: Domestic, 71, Sings Folk Songs Of Own Composition in Village
Profile by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 6 November 1965
Elizabeth Cotten, Who Wrote 'Freight Train' Performs With Guitar and Banjo ...
Spencer Davis Group: New to the Charts: Spencer Davis Group Makes Stones Happy
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 December 1965
THE GROUP that every other group — from the Stones to the Animals — wanted to have a hit, that's the Spencer Davis Group, and ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, January 1966
A MISSISSIPPI cum Chicago Blues-man named Jimmy Reed is one of the original practitioners of what everybody is just discovering. He holds the thankless job ...
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 January 1966
HOOKER RECORDS abound, but the latest from Chess, John Lee Hooker Plays And Sings The Blues (CRL4500) is a more than usually satisfying set. ...
Mose Allison: A Chunk Of Indian Music In 'I Got Rhythm' Isn't A Jazz Influence
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 29 January 1966
LONDON — MOSE ALLISON, Mississippi piano player now ending a two-week cabaret season at Annie's Room in London, is not quite the figure you expect ...
Son House: Father Of Folk Blues (CBS BPC62604)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 29 January 1966
'Death Letter'; 'Pearline'; 'Louise McGhee'; 'John The Revelator'; 'Empire State Express'; 'Preachin' Blues'; 'Grinning In Your Face'; 'Sundown'; 'Levee Camp Moan'. ...
The Byrds, Reverend Gary Davis, The Dillards: Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 26 February 1966
Foul-ups Can Be Fun ...
Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 27 February 1966
An Old Folk Line On a New Label ...
The Rising Sons: Rising Sons Sing Blue Tunes
Profile by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 18 March 1966
THEY RADIATE a complete spectrum of Pop haberdashery — odd vests, coats of varying cuts, one or two neckties, assorted shirts and a miscellany of ...
Alexis Korner: Back to Square 1 With 'R&B' Korner
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 19 March 1966
ALEXIS KORNER, once regarded as the founding father of British R&B, is to be seen weekly on TV's Five O'Clock Club. He also works with ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: A band with a new tradition of blues
Interview by Tracy Thomas, Melody Maker, 19 March 1966
TO A FIVE-year-old child, the blues are several colours, one for the sky, one for his eyes, one for Daddy's new car. To a forsaken ...
Otis Redding, the Rising Sons: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1966
Otis Redding's Southern-Style Blues Band Lets Off Steam ...
Bukka White: Sky Songs (Fontana 688804ZL)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 23 April 1966
BUKKA WHITE is one of the important Mississippi blues artists, an old-school singer and guitar player admired by just about every blues collector and performer ...
"Spider" John Koerner: Spider John and the 7-string itch
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 23 April 1966
ONE OF the first things to strike you when you hear Spider John Koerner on records, is the odd double-string flavour of the guitar work ...
Ray Charles: Frost Amphitheater, Stanford University, Stanford CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 25 April 1966
Ray Charles The Whole Show ...
Profile and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 29 April 1966
THE PAUL Butterfield Blues Band is tearing audiences apart at The Living End with some of the grooviest sounds I've ever heard. The club is ...
Georgie Fame with the Harry South Orchestra: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 30 April 1966
Fame and South — what a marvellous swinging mixture ...
Jimmy Witherspoon: Ramjam Club, Brixton, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 30 April 1966
JIMMY WITHERSPOON'S appearances at R & B clubs like Brixton's Ramjam might seem out of place. But he cuts across the music barriers with his ...
Spencer Davis Group: Will Spencer Davis Go Pop?
Interview by Dawn James, Rave, May 1966
That's the question people in pop are all asking. Now that Spencer Davis and his group have crashed into pop-land will they go for all-out ...
Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 7 May 1966
It's Coleman At His Best ...
Big Mama Thornton: Big Mama Thornton In Europe (Arhoolie 1028)
Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 21 May 1966
WILLIE MAE "Big Mama" Thornton, certainly the finest woman blues singer you'll hear these days, finally has a good recording on the market. Big Mama ...
Little Richard: A Living Legend In His Time
Interview by Eden, KRLA Beat, 28 May 1966
"THEY'RE THE greatest guys I ever worked with in my life... they're down to earth! People haven't really heard the Beatles yet. They are one ...
Profile by Bill Millar, Soul, June 1966
THE YEAR 1965 saw the recognition of a young American performer who was soon to be hailed as the new Jerry Lee Lewis in the ...
T-Bone Walker: Tempo: T-Bone Walker
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, June 1966
WHEN AARON T-Bone Walker plays guitar he makes people cry and he gets response from the audience as though the performance was really a church ...
Sleeve notes by Neil Slaven, Decca Records, July 1966
IN JOHN MAYALL and Eric Clapton we have the two most dedicated blues musicians in this country. Together with John McVie and Hughie Flint, they ...
James Cotton, Muddy Waters: Tempo: Muddy Waters
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, July 1966
NOW THAT THE blues bands are on the threshold of "shaking their money maker," it's a curious fact that the original bands who have been ...
Clifton Chenier, Bob Dylan, Bert Kaempfert: Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (Columbia C2L 41 028 841)
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 1966
Playboy Hops on Dylan Bandwagon ...
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 6 August 1966
IT WAS AN historic evening at London's Marquee on Monday night when Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated made their first appearance there for nearly four years. ...
Overview by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 28 August 1966
AS THE accompanying checklist of blues LP recordings will testify, the past year has been an extremely active one for all forms of the blues ...
Howlin' Wolf: Blues '66: Howlin' Wolf
Interview by Paul Williams, Crawdaddy!, September 1966
(Howling Wolf is a well-known Chicago blues singer, who performs and records with an amplified band in the Chicago style. This interview was taped in ...
Review by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, September 1966
JOHN MAYALL'S voice may not be the greatest example of blues singing there is, but he is sincere, and with blues fans that counts for ...
Robert Johnson: King Of The Delta Blues Singers
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 24 September 1966
'Crossroads Blues'; 'Terraplane Blues'; 'Come On In My Kitchen'; 'Waltzing Blues'; 'Last Fair Deal Come Down'; '32-20 Blues'; 'Kindhearted Woman Blues'; 'If I Had Possession ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 24 September 1966
Blues-Rock Spectacular ...
Lonnie Johnson, Memphis Slim: Albums from Memphis Slim and Lonnie Johnson
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 October 1966
Memphis leads a bunch of blues ...
Lightnin' Hopkins: Bluebird Blues (Fontana 688803 ZL)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 October 1966
Lightnin' strikes again ...
Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 October 1966
Blues by three in the worst possible setting ...
Sippie Wallace: Very Much Alive And Singing...
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 October 1966
MEETING SIPPIE Wallace suddenly, after all these years of gazing at her name on ancient Okeh records, is an experience roughly comparable with running into ...
Charles Keil: Urban Blues (University of Chicago Press)
Book Review by Charlie Gillett, New Society, 13 October 1966
MOST WRITERS on popular music and the blues have approached post-1955 music with discomfort, concluding their books with despondent remarks about the commercialised depravity called ...
Dr. Ross, Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf: Albums from Howlin' Wolf, Dr. Ross and Lightnin' Hopkins
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 October 1966
RARE ITEMS FROM HOWLIN' WOLF ...
Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 15 October 1966
Temptations have got a big seller ...
Cream: Clapton Revs Into A New Gear
Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 15 October 1966
NICK JONES talks to the loner who came in from the cold. ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Butterfield's Blues Men Aim To Spread Their Gospel In Britain
Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 22 October 1966
THE PAUL Butterfield Blues Band, in London this week for an extensive tour with Georgie Fame and Chris Farlowe, aims to spread its blues gospel ...
Charles Keil: Urban Blues (The University Of Chicago Press)
Book Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 22 October 1966
THE BLUES AS AN URBAN NEGRO CULTURE ...
Dr. Ross, John Lee Hooker, Big Joe Williams: Blues Bargains from Hooker, Dr Ross, Big Joe
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 29 October 1966
SOME good rocking samples of Hooker R&B are found on Driftin' Thru The Blues (Ember EMB3371) 17s 9d, from John Lee's early recording days. A few tracks ...
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 29 October 1966
A GREAT SHOW and a puzzling audience reaction. That was the net result of the first night of the Georgie Fame package tour at Finsbury ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Mike Bloomfield: The Sad Chicago Blues Scene
Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 29 October 1966
NODDING A shock of dark curly hair, and gesticulating madly as he puts a point over, Mike Bloomfield, young lead guitarist with Chicago's Paul Butterfield ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: East-West (Elektra)
Review by uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 29 October 1966
FOR TOO long the Paul Butterfield Blues Band has been buried in deepest Chicago, its unique brand of tough, modern — but from the roots ...
Otis Rush: Talking to Otis Rush
Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, November 1966
OTIS RUSH is one of the top exponents of the Chicago style of blues guitar. His followers are many and include most of Britain's blues-influenced ...
Review by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, November 1966
FOR SOME reason, recordings of live rock and roll shows are selling very well. You can hardly hear the music above the enthusiastic audience response ...
Live Review by Hugh Nolan, Disc and Music Echo, 19 November 1966
CAN YOU TELL CREAM FROM BUTTERFIELD? ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 19 November 1966
THE PAVEMENT outside and the hallway inside were deserted. London's Marquee Club appeared dead and empty. The attraction was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band from ...
Peter Green, John Mayall: Player of the Month: Peter Green
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, December 1966
HE'S NOT yet had the pleasure of being in a chart-jumping group nor has he played with any of the very big names. But, nevertheless, ...
T-Bone Walker: Thorny Problem Of Mixing The Blues With Modern Jazz
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 December 1966
I HAVE always looked on T-Bone Walker as being more of a jazz-blues singer than a folk or country-type artist. In other words, as a ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, January 1967
BY NOW, MANY of you must have heard the Paul Butterfield Blues Band albums and marvelled over the guitar playing of Mike Bloomfield. Through Mike's ...
James Cotton: Blues Is Big At Chess Mate
Report by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 6 January 1967
Loraine Alterman looks forward to a Detroit appearance by bluesman James Cotton. ...
Reverend Gary Davis: Say No To The Devil (Xtra 5014)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 7 January 1967
THERE CAN be no doubting the emotional force of Gary Davis's music or the variety and strength of his guitar playing. He is among the ...
Review by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, February 1967
SUNSHINE SUPERMAN, Donovan's first big "commercial" success, is a beautiful, poetic, soothing, soaring, lyrical, rhythmic, groovy experience. ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, February 1967
HERE WE are back at the Cafe Au Go Go continuing the final half of our chat with Mike Bloomfield. Since last month, Mike and ...
Mose Allison: Down Home Piano (Transatlantic PR7423)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 February 1967
MOSE ALLISON and his work are both pretty well known by now to jazz and blues lovers over here. This album, to set down first ...
Nat King Cole: You're Listening To The Nat King Cole Trio (Music For Pleasure)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 February 1967
WE ALL SUFFER from blind spots, I guess, so I'll confess one of mine at once and admit that I'm almost totally proof against the ...
Lu Elliott, B.B. King: B.B. King, Lu Elliott: Gazzarri's, Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 15 February 1967
Blues Singer Conquers Opening-Night Jitters ...
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 4 March 1967
...especially it seems, at the Saville. Chuck Berry talks to RM's Norman Jopling for this in-depth interview ...
Chuck Berry: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 4 March 1967
Rockers Dominate Saville Again ...
Chuck Berry: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 March 1967
NO RIOTS, but plenty of good music were provided at London's Saville Theatre on Sunday night when Chuck Berry made a return appearance. ...
The Hollies, Paul Jones, Spencer Davis Group: Granada, Mansfield
Live Review by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 18 March 1967
HOLLIES JONES DAVIS TOUR ...
Chuck Berry... "A Legend In His Own Time"
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, April 1967
CHUCK BERRY, one of the very few "classic" names. "A legend in his own time!" That, of course, is a well-worn phrase, but there isn't ...
Fats Domino, Gerry & the Pacemakers: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 1 April 1967
FATS HAS 'EM JIVING IN THE AISLES! ...
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 1 April 1967
FATS TRIUMPH AT SAVILLE ...
Fats Domino: "I Should Have Been Here Years Ago"
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 8 April 1967
FATS DOMINO had, at last, come five thousand miles from home to visit Britain, be cheered by delirious audiences, and meet devoted fans who knew ...
Fats Domino: Fats: Man From New Orleans
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 April 1967
DOMINO BRINGS A MISSISSIPPI TANG TO BRITAIN ...
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 22 April 1967
THE AUDIENCE stole the show at London's Saville Theatre on Sunday, presenting their polished performance of Mass Idiocy — the new art form. ...
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 22 April 1967
BO and BEN: the rock-soul truce men! ...
Georgie Fame: Hit Makers behind Georgie Fame
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 29 April 1967
GEORGIE FAME had a three-day growth of stubble on his chin… an old woolly sweater on his back… and a song at his fingertips. He ...
Little Richard: The Explosive Little Richard (OKeh 14117)
Review by Jim Payne, Crawdaddy!, May 1967
Little Richard: Ripping it up, Past and Present ...
John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Otis Spann: Welcome, Bluesway Records
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, May 1967
THERE AREN'T many new blues albums around, much less a label devoted to blues product. Why, you might ask, when the demand for blues is ...
Fats Domino & His Orchestra: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, 1 May 1967
LEGENDS ARE built with comparative ease in the anonymity of a recording studio. And how easily such myths are destroyed in the harsh reality of ...
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 June 1967
WE DROVE to London Airport in Animal manager Mike Jeffery's Rolls-Royce while he dictated a few last minute instructions to assistant Tony Garland — "Ring ...
Report by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 29 June 1967
"The West is the best: Get here and we'll do the rest!" — The Doors ...
Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 8 July 1967
IT'S THE CREAM ALL THE WAY AT THE SAVILLE ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 13 July 1967
The Biggest Show in Town ...
Junior Wells: Tempo: Junior Wells
Profile by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, August 1967
YOU CAN take Junior Wells out of Chicago but, thankfully, you can't take Chicago out of Junior Wells. The 31-year-old Wells, regarded for some years ...
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 6 August 1967
The Comeback of a Potent Singer ...
Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall: Fleetwood Mac: Peter Green – The Guitarist Who Won't Forsake The Blues
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 19 August 1967
ANYONE WHO in a year has built up the reputation of being Britain's best blues guitarist, must have some interesting things to say, and therefore ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 25 August 1967
Blues from City and Country ...
Eric Clapton, Aynsley Dunbar, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Mick Taylor: John Mayall: Blues Purist
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, September 1967
THERE'S A dearth of purists in Britain. What's happened to them all, where have they got to? Most of them have "gone pop", leaving behind ...
Taj Mahal, Steve Mann: Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 2 September 1967
Taj Mahal Back With Blue Flames Band ...
Nina Simone: Nina Simone Sings the Blues (RCA Victor RD7S33)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 23 September 1967
NINA SIMONE'S singing is very much an acquired taste, and I have to confess that it is not my favourite brand. I recognise, though, the ...
John Mayall, Mike Vernon: True Blues?
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 7 October 1967
ALAN WALSH investigates the plight of the British bluesman ...
Judy White, Josh White: Josh & Judy White: Josh and his Singing Family
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 21 October 1967
SOMETIMES IT seems as though Josh White brings a different member of his family every time he visits us, and every one is a singer. ...
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 21 October 1967
IT WAS A 'soul show' at the Saville last Sunday, in the very widest sense of the term. Jimmy Cliff started off, and when he ...
John Mayall: O, Come And Join All Ye The Blues Faithful Crusade
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 28 October 1967
ROLL UP! Get your Bluesbreakers masks here. Peter Green 2s 6d, Eric Clapton five bob... ...
John Mayall: The Interesting Story of John Mayall
Profile and Interview by Wesley Laine, Record Mirror, 28 October 1967
MOST BLUES stars have interesting stories to tell about their life and career — and most of them have the ability to tell it in ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, November 1967
B.B. King has been getting some attention lately; still not enough for a great master, but it's attention anyway. Charles Keil did a chapter on ...
Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 4 November 1967
THE BLUES roll on, as we're often told, and last Thursday they rolled up to the shores of Hammersmith in the form of the 1967 ...
"Brother" Jack McDuff: Silk and Soul (Transatlantic PR 7404)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 November 1967
BENNY GOLSON arranged some of the eight tracks on Brother Jack McDuff's SILK AND SOUL (Transatlantic PR 7404) for organ and big band, complete with ...
Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band: The Jim Kweskin Jug Band: Town Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 25 November 1967
Town Hall hostto Kweskin Band — Music of a Generation Ago is Attractively Presented ...
B.B. King: Tempo: B.B. King (part 2)
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, December 1967
ANYTHING YOU want to sell nowadays, all you've got to do is advertise. I think people are just beginning to advertise blues. Aretha Franklin, for ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: According to Paul, Butterfield Blues Is Really Music
Profile and Interview by Mike Gormley, The Ottawa Journal, 8 December 1967
ASK HIM. Paul Butterfield will tell you he doesn't play blues. ...
Canned Heat, Love: Love, Canned Heat, The Hook: Blue Law, Torrance CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 18 December 1967
Blue Law Opens in Torrance ...
Interview by Charlie Gillett, Rock's Backpages audio, 1968
From Harlem in the '50s to London in the late '60s: Clyde McPhatter on Billy Ward and the Dominos, The Drifters, Atlantic Records, Alan Freed and the usual trials and tribulations of an R&B artist.
File format: mp3; file sizs: 42.1mb, total interview length: 43' 50" sound quality: ***
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard Revisited
Report and Interview by Jim Payne, Crawdaddy!, January 1968
IN DAYTONA Beach it rains every afternoon for half an hour or so. When Hank Ballard arrived, it was raining. It's hard to make a ...
Mose Allison: Tempo: Mose Allison
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, January 1968
"BLUES IS A very limited thing to play. I have to keep adding things to it to keep it interesting. I keep striving for higher ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 6 January 1968
Butterfield come-back ...
Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall: Beyond the Blues Horizon
Profile and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 13 January 1968
THE EVER-growing acceptance of blues during the Sixties has decisively affected the direction in which the popular music business has travelled in country. On the ...
Canned Heat: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Tony Leigh, KRLA Beat, 13 January 1968
CANNED HEAT, a blues oriented group that bases itself in the Los Angeles area, opened at the Troubadour to an enthusiastic audience. The response from ...
Canned Heat: Wailing With Canned Heat
Interview by Tony Leigh, KRLA Beat, 27 January 1968
CANNED HEAT plays the Blues. Not the Blues of the 1920s and '30s, but an extension of that sound, that era, brought up to date ...
Taj Mahal: Taj Mahal (Columbia)
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 4 February 1968
TAJ MAHAL, a talented blues singer who has kicked around Los Angeles for several years as a soloist and a member of the now-dead Rising ...
Big Mama Thornton: Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 15 February 1968
WILLIE MAE (Big Mama) Thornton, resident attraction at the Ash Grove through Sunday, just about outweighed her audience Tuesday night, but the barrel-shaped singer rolled ...
T-Bone Walker: Stormy Monday Blues (Stateside Bluesway SL10223)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 February 1968
FIVE T-BONE originals, including his new version of the title song, are to be heard on Stormy Monday Blues (Stateside Bluesway SL10223), latest album from guitarist-singer T-Bone ...
Big Brother & the Holding Company, B.B. King, Aluminum Dream: Anderson Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 19 February 1968
Janis Joplin Is Climbing Fast In the Heady Rock Firmament ...
Eddie Boyd Names Europe's Best Blues Guitar
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 24 February 1968
WHEN EDDIE Boyd, American blues pianist and singer, first came to Britain with the Folk Blues Festival in 1965 he was surprised to find such a ...
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 25 February 1968
Love's Third Album Out on Elektra ...
Fleetwood Mac: Rock'n'Blues Via Peter Green
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 9 March 1968
THE BIG BEAT BUG BITES BLUESMAN PETER ...
Little Walter: King Of The Blues Harmonica
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 9 March 1968
IT IS A sad work indeed to have to write of the death of Little Walter, outstanding harmonica player and fair blues singer, who came ...
T-Bone Walker: Schoenberg Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 12 March 1968
T-BONE WALKER, the Texas bluesman who composed 'Stormy Monday', treated a fair-sized crowd to an extended set of modern and traditional music for the second ...
Fleetwood Mac: How to Upset the Blues Purists
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 16 March 1968
AMONG BRITAIN'S young blues fans Eric Clapton was once hailed as a god, then discarded by the ethnics when he left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers for ...
Obituary by uncredited writer, Record World, 16 March 1968
Pioneered C&W Wax, Then R&B ...
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 25 March 1968
Rock Club Opens in Hollywood ...
Electric Flag, Mike Bloomfield: Electric Flag: Mike Bloomfield — Leader Of The Band
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, April 1968
THE FAILURE of the Electric Flag's first single, 'Groovin' Is Easy', on Columbia is by no means the fault of the Electric Flag. Lack of ...
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers: John Mayall: Briton Perks Up Moribund Blues
Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, April 1968
THE BLUES, that ugly stepsister of rock music, has finally become a commercial force in pop. Groups such as Canned Heat, the Paul Butterfield Band, ...
Interview by Val Wilmer, DownBeat, 4 April 1968
THERE'S NO experience that compares to the first time the blues get to you. The hairs on your neck stand up and an uncanny churning ...
Obituary by uncredited writer, DownBeat, 4 April 1968
SINGER-HARMONICA player Marion Walter Jacobs, 37, professionally known as Little Waller, under which name he made a large number of important late 1940s and '50s ...
Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 11 May 1968
ETTA JAMES Tell Mama — 'Tell Mama'; 'I'd Rather Go Blind'; 'The Love Of My Man'; 'I'm Gonna Take What He's Got'; 'The Same Rope'; ...
Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 18 May 1968
Loads of R&B albums including Otis' great Dock Of The Bay LP ...
Little Walter: Little Walter (Marble Arch)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 18 May 1968
Walter — guv'nor of the harp ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 7 June 1968
America's Musical Soul Shines Through ...
Albert King: Born Under A Bad Sign (Stax)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 June 1968
'Born Under A Bad Sign'; 'Crosscut Saw'; 'Kansas City'; 'Oh, Pretty Woman'; 'Down Don't Bother Me'; 'The Hunter'; 'I Almost Lost My Mind'; 'Personal Manager'; ...
John Hammond, Howlin' Wolf: Howlin' Wolf, John Hammond: Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 1968
Howlin' Wolf Brings Blues to Ash Grove ...
Albert King: Tempo: Albert King #1
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, July 1968
As Told To Jim Delehant ...
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 1968
SEVERAL THOUSAND people jammed the Shrine Exposition Hall Friday and Saturday evenings for dance-concerts featuring the Who, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Fleetwood Mac ...
Johnny Shines, Sunnyland Slim: Chicago Blues are Dying
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 6 July 1968
and Britain's Mike Vernon tries resuscitation ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 10 July 1968
Lots of Room at Fillmore West ...
Junior Wells: It's My Life, Baby (Fontana TFL6084)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 July 1968
'It's My Life Baby'; 'It's So Sad To Be Lonely'; 'Country Girl'; 'You Lied To Me'; 'Stormy Monday'; 'Shake It Baby'; 'Checking On My Baby'; ...
Report by Ian Dove, Billboard, 17 August 1968
BRITAIN'S SOUL Surge continues. ...
Canned Heat: Coming from the States in September — A Hard Blues and Rock Group
Profile by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 17 August 1968
CANNED HEAT, who crept into the bottom of the chart last week at 28 with 'On The Road Again' are a hard blues and rock ...
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 August 1968
ALAN LOMAX, assisted by Shirley Collins, made a recording expedition in the South during '59 which produced 80 hours of taped folksong and instrumental music. ...
John Lee Hooker: I'm John Lee Hooker (Joy 101)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 August 1968
JOHN LEE Hooker is a fairly basic artist, and a collection of his songs from the Vee Jay label titled I'm John Lee Hooker (Joy ...
Canned Heat: Get set to boogie with Canned Heat
Interview by Judith Sims, Disc and Music Echo, 24 August 1968
JUDY SIMS in Los Angeles interviews the new British chartbusters ...
Canned Heat — Putting Blues Back on its Feet Again
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 31 August 1968
"WE ARE a country blues band. That's our main bag," said Bob "The Bear" Hite, lead singer of Canned Heat, the West Coast blues band ...
Fleetwood Mac: Mr. Wonderful (Blue Horizon 7-63205)
Review by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 31 August 1968
WONDERFUL FLEETWOOD MAC ...
Retrospective by Charlie Gillett, Freedom Anarchist Weekly, 31 August 1968
That's All Right (Xtra 5051)Blues From New Orleans, Vol. 1 (Storyville 670119) ...
Albert King: Tempo: Albert King # 2
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, September 1968
As Told To Jim Delehant ...
Georgie Fame: Pop Singer With A Jazz Orientation
Interview by Tony Leigh, KRLA Beat, 11 September 1968
GEORGIE FAME is not very well known in America — his appeal has been sporadic at best. In 1964, with the British wave his recording ...
Canned Heat, The Group That Refused To Be A Juke Box And Got Fired
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 14 September 1968
AFTER THE tensions and hatred of America, Canned Heat, who claim they are the only white country blues group in the world, have found London ...
Canned Heat: Revolution, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 14 September 1968
"IT'S A LOW-down... dirty shame," sang big Bob Hite, lead singer with Canned Heat, when the American blues group in the NME Chart with 'On ...
Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall: Mayall Helps Mac Break Into Singles
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 September 1968
ACE BLUESMAN John Mayall went to a concert given by super ace bluesman B.B. King in America, took a tape recording of it and later ...
Canned Heat Have Sunflower, Bear & Tree Man!
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 21 September 1968
THIS IS the story of Canned Heat, a young lady, myself and the Incredible Sliding Bed (in fact, two Incredible Sliding Beds). You are invited ...
Jimmy Witherspoon: Live (Stateside SL10232)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 28 September 1968
ON LIVE (Stateside SL10232), the rich-voiced Jimmy Witherspoon is heard in a typical club show accompanied by the Ben Webster quartet. ...
Lightnin' Hopkins: Earth Blues (Minit MLL40006E.)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 28 September 1968
SAM HOPKINS, one of the great Texas bluesmen, is well represented on records but this new release of some of his early titles is an ...
Skip James: Skip James Today! (Vanguard SVRLI9001.)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 28 September 1968
IN BLUES and other Negro folksong, as in jazz, judgments are much a matter of individual taste, though certain aspects of an artist's work are ...
Albert King: Steve Paul's Scene, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 17 October 1968
Albert King, Guitarist, Gives Loud Support to Blues Power ...
Report by Charlie Gillett, Shout, 19 October 1968
IF YOU HAD 35/- to spend on the 1st week-end of September, and more than a passing interest in popular music, there was what seemed ...
Muddy Waters: Electric Mud (Cadet Concept LPS 314)
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 20 October 1968
Pop Records: Diluted Waters ...
B.B. King Sings the Blues Evra Day, Evra Day
Report and Interview by Michael Lydon, The New York Times, 27 October 1968
A COOL breeze blew in the night outside, across the Mississippi and the cane fields that press against the town of Port Allen, La. Inside ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, November 1968
WILLIE DIXON was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1915. He came to Chicago in 1935 out of curiosity and the hope of making a better ...
Live Review by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 2 November 1968
Swinging down the aisles ...
Ten Years After, Dancing, Food and Entertainment: Fillmore West, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 November 1968
New Group at Fillmore West: Jazz Is Wildly Abandoned ...
Canned Heat Adds Blues to Its Rock: Band at the Fillmore East Performs With Power
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 23 November 1968
CANNED HEAT is a soulful rock group that escaped from the psychedelic badlands of California and now is working hard to become the top blues ...
Lightnin' Slim, Slim Harpo: Slim Harpo and Lightnin' Slim: Steve Paul's Scene, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 29 November 1968
Slim Harpo Offers Authenticity In Country Blues at the Scene. Harmonica Player Joined by Lightning Slim, Guitarist, in Low-Key Performance ...
John Mayall: Blues From Laurel Canyon (Decca)
Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 30 November 1968
THIS IS John's least interesting album for a long time, and the reason is quite simple, and explained best in his own words on the ...
Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation: Doctor Dunbar's Prescription (Liberty LBL93177E)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 7 December 1968
SADLY BRITISH blues groups seem to have reached the end of their creative ability, and a short road it has proved to be. Recording quality ...
Otis Spann, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters and Otis Spann: End of the Soul Half-Brothers
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 7 December 1968
I WAS playing some records with Otis Spann and S.P. Leary in their hotel on London's Cromwell Road last week. ...
Blossom Toes, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, Blossom Toes: Revolution Club, London
Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 14 December 1968
MUDDY WATERS and his Blues Band may not have been at their magic best at London's Revolution before they left — they weren't playing for ...
The Groundhogs, John Lee Hooker: Out of the Groundswell the New Groundhogs
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 14 December 1968
IF IT'S doing nothing else, the present blues boom is drawing attention to a number of singers and players who have been around the country's ...
Elmore James: Something Inside Of Me (Bell MBLL104)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 21 December 1968
A LOT HAS been written of late about Elmore James, one of the big men of post-war blues, who died in May of '63. His ...
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 21 December 1968
"LEADBELLY is a hard name" says Woody Guthrie, "and the hard name of a harder man." The late Woody is quoted (from the book, American ...
Johnny Winter: The Making Of A Superstar
Report and Interview by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 1969
THERE WAS THE Fillmore East, the East Coast's major rock palace, located ingratiously in a heap of garbage, drunks and weekend freaks on Second Ave. ...
Amos Milburn, Fats Domino: Jump Boogie and Shuffle
Retrospective by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 1969
IT WOULD BE nice to be able to point to a man, a record, a year, and say, "There! Rock and roll started with him, ...
Chuck Berry, Johnnie Johnson: Tempo: Johnnie Johnson
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, January 1969
JOHNNIE JOHNSON, FIRST PIANIST WITH CHUCK BERRY As Told To Jim Delehant ...
Charlie Musselwhite: The Charlie Musselwhite Blues Band: The Scene, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 3 January 1969
Group at The Scene Shows It's Together. Gutsy Sound Delivered With Rock Excitement ...
B.B. King: The Men Who Make The Blues: B.B. King
Profile by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 4 January 1969
B.B. KING is among the most popular of the newer-generation blues-men; and he has certainly been the most influential. Charles Keil, who devotes a chapter ...
Johnny Winter: Blues Guitar Sound of Johnny Winter Comes North
Profile and Interview by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 7 January 1969
JOHNNY WINTER has spent years playing bars and lounges in the South and now, with fingers that fly across his guitar like a Texas tornado, ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 18 January 1969
BLONDE, GRITTY Christine Perfect not only bears the distinction of being lead singer of the famed Chicken Shack blues band, but is also married to ...
Fats Domino: Antoine Fats Domino: Fats Is Back (Reprise RS 6304)
Review by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 24 January 1969
ROCK ENTHUSIASTS sometimes like to quibble over just which rock and roll song started the whole thing: in the liner notes for this album producer ...
Chicken Shack: O.K. Ken? (Blue Horizon 7-63209)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 25 January 1969
SOLID GOOD humour abounds on Chicken Shack's O.K. Ken? (Blue Horizon 7-63209) of a British variety which makes it so more bearable and strangely authentic, compared to ...
Savoy Brown Take on a New Identity
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 1 February 1969
WHEN THE Savoy Brown first started the only other band on the British blues scene was John Mayall... but that was four years ago before ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 4 February 1969
Muddy Muddy Waters ...
Canned Heat Fight Blues Prejudice
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 February 1969
LIBERTY RECORDS took their time releasing Canned Heat's 'Going Up Country', follow-up to 'On The Road Again', and frankly I had thought that the heat ...
Fleetwood Mac, Otis Spann: Top of the chart Fleetwood Mac act as a backing group!
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 8 February 1969
WHICH TOP British group acted as a backing group for another artist while their own record was number one? ...
Buddy Guy, Albert King, King Curtis: Village Gate, New York City
Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 15 February 1969
NEW YORK — The world of music moves closer as the long-established jazz spot, the Village Gate, took a brief weekend — but possibly regular ...
Review by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, March 1969
New Albums from Jeff Beck, Freddie King et al ...
John Mayall, Ten Years After: Ten Years After, John Mayall: Fillmore East, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 5 March 1969
10 Years After and John Mayall Present Blues at Fillmore East ...
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 7 March 1969
SLIM HARPO, a harmonica-playing Southern bluesman, is headlining at the Whisky a Go Go through Sunday with the Illinois Speed Press, a hard rock quintet ...
Mississippi Fred McDowell: Church House, Farnham
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 8 March 1969
"I'M NOT a rock and roll singer. The only way you make me rock is by putting me in a rockin' chair. But if you ...
Jimmy Reed: Jimmy Reed at Soul City (Joys-127)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 March 1969
IN SPITE of its title, Jimmy Reed At Soul City (JOYS-127), and the sleevenote's proclamation that the LP "is a fine study of the man ...
Taj Mahal: The Natch'l Blues (Direction 8-63397)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 15 March 1969
AMERICAN MUSICIANS have always scored over their British musical cousins, in their ability to RELAX, and still show off their mastery of whatever medium they ...
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 17 March 1969
Poet-Singer Draws Throng With Band at Philharmonic ...
Freddie King: Freddie Takes a British Cold Back Home
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 22 March 1969
"I DIDN'T have it tonight," said Freddie King after a hard workout at Art Saunders' Wood Green club on Tuesday last week. ...
Junior Wells: Coming At You (Vanguard SVRL 19011)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 22 March 1969
A GOOD TASTE, if not a feast, of modern Chicago blues is offered by the explosive Junior Wells on his latest from Vanguard (perhaps his ...
Taj Mahal: At Last — A Welcome New Voice
Profile by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 22 March 1969
A NEW VOICE on the music scene and a very welcome one, belongs to Mr Taj Mahal a young blues singer and guitarist from Massachusetts. ...
Taj Mahal: The Natch'l Blues (Columbia CS 9698)
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 23 March 1969
Monumental Album From Taj ...
Albert Collins: The Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 28 March 1969
ALBERT COLLINS, appearing at the Ash Grove through this weekend, is an electric Texas bluesman who appears destined, for — and deserves — the kind ...
Howlin' Wolf: The Men Who Make The Blues: Howlin' Wolf
Profile by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 29 March 1969
HOWLIN' WOLF is, as his name suggests, one of the "heavy" bluesmen. A 6ft 3in singer, weighing 280 lbs or more, he is as tough ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, April 1969
Solo Jazz Stars Warm Up Chilly Night at UC ...
Howlin' Wolf: The Dave Godin Column: Howlin' Wolf
Essay by Dave Godin, Blues & Soul, April 1969
I RECENTLY READ a most scathing and critical review of the new Howlin' Wolf album which has been issued in the States on Cadet-Concept (the ...
Jimmy Witherspoon: A New Look For Spoon And Back To Authentic Blues
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 April 1969
IT WAS clear at first glance, when Jimmy Witherspoon and his wife walked into the MM offices last week, that I was confronted by a new-look Spoon. ...
Willie Dixon: The Men Who Make the Blues: Willie Dixon
Profile by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 April 1969
...
B.B. King: Blues Boy and Lucille
Interview by Ray Connolly, The Evening Standard, 26 April 1969
B.B. King didn't know anything about being black until he was 13: then the differences became obvious ...
Howlin' Wolf: The Howlin' Wolf Album (Chess CRLS4543)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 26 April 1969
ON THE front cover of THE HOWLIN' WOLF ALBUM (Chess CRLS4543) is printed the message: "This is Howlin' Wolf's New Album. He doesn't like it. ...
Lowell Fulson: The Men Who Make The Blues: Lowell Fulson
Profile by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 26 April 1969
LOWELL FULSON is one of the leading post-war blues-men, a trendsetting artist who has made and sold a great many records since he cut his ...
Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 3 May 1969
B.B. KING SPELLS OUT THE BLUES ...
B.B. King: B.B. Brings the Story of Lucille to the Rescue
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 3 May 1969
EVERYONE KNOWS — everyone, that is, who knows much about the blues of the younger generation — that B.B. King is among the most original ...
Fleetwood Mac: Away From The Dirt Of The Delta
Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 10 May 1969
THE FLEETWOOD MAC TALK TO RM ABOUT THEIR CHANGES IN MUSICAL DIRECTION ...
Review by Ed Ward, Rolling Stone, 17 May 1969
TAJ MAHAL may not be the most authentic, the most technically proficient, or the most emotionally cathartic practitioner of the blues today, but he certainly ...
Chicken Shack, Christine Perfect: The Chicken Shack — A Big Underground Breakthrough?
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 17 May 1969
THE CHICKEN Shack have broken through the underground barrier. They are the first pure specialised blues group to make a noticeable attempt on the heretofore ...
The Byrds, Albert King: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 1969
Byrds in Spotlight at Pasadena Rose Palace ...
John Lee Hooker, Earl Hooker: Mandrake's, Berkeley CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 22 May 1969
Great Blues in the Night ...
Lowell Fulson: A Name to be Reckoned With in Blues
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 24 May 1969
LOWELL FULSON has been a name to be reckoned with in blues circles ever since he began recording some 23 years ago. Oddly, though, people ...
Lee Michaels, Big Mama Thornton: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 27 May 1969
Rock Show Given at Pasadena Rose Palace ...
Slim Harpo: Tempo: Slim Harpo Talks To Jim Delehant
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, June 1969
I WAS BORN in Lobbell, Louisiana. I had to quit school to go to work and help support the family. When I was 18, I ...
Canned Heat, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter: The Blues
Essay by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 16 June 1969
"All new technologies bring on the cultural blues, just as the old ones evoke phantom pain after they have disappeared." — Marshall McLuhan, War and ...
Report by Miller Francis jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 23 June 1969
AN ARTICLE ON the Memphis Country Blues Festival in a local Memphis newspaper was headlined: "BLUES ARE REBORN IN COTTON-FIELD HEAT." ...
Interview by Mike Quigley, Rock's Backpages audio, July 1969
The Chicago gunslinger talks about his stage show; about being ahead of his time; about how, influenced by Joe Louis, he avoids being boastful, and his message to the people.
File format: mp3; file size: 1.5mb, interview length: 12' 12" sound quality: **
Lightnin' Slim: Tempo: Lightnin' Slim Talks To Jim Delehant
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, July 1969
I WAS BORN in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up like most any kid. After school I worked in a grocery store, sold newspapers. It ...
Live Review by Ray Connolly, The Evening Standard, 1 July 1969
RAY CONNOLLY at the Pop Proms ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 1969
Soul Music Presented at the Magic Circus ...
Otis Spann, Muddy Waters: Otis Spann: All Alone Otis Is Feeling No Pain
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 5 July 1969
ON OTIS Spann's last visit to this country, with Muddy Waters in November, I wrote that the Waters-Spann partnership would soon be ended. ...
Overview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 5 July 1969
THIS ARTICLE mentions a lot of singers you've never heard of. Why haven't you heard of them? (They're all very good, very important, and have ...
Buddy Guy: The Men Who Make The Blues: Buddy Guy
Profile and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 5 July 1969
BUDDY GUY is one of the younger generation of blues-men who is helping to carry the music to the younger generation of listeners. ...
Johnny Winter: He Waited, Worked and Worried; Then Overnight, Winter Was Here
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 11 July 1969
HE'S A TALL, white Texan who not only plays the blues, he lives them. ...
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 18 July 1969
THE ONLY OTHER record I possess on English Monument, is Ray Steven's single, 'Mr Businessman', which is beautiful and so is this album by Mr ...
Muddy Waters: Museum of Modern Art, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 25 July 1969
Easy Does It as Muddy Waters Plays Blues at Outdoor Concert ...
Albert King: Years Gone By (Stax STS2010)
Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, 26 July 1969
MEMO FROM: Loyd Grossman TO: Albert King Concerning: Years Gone By ...
Johnny Winter: Forest Hills Music Festival, Queens NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 28 July 1969
Agility Marks Blues By Johnny Winter At Forest Hills Fete ...
Review by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, August 1969
BAYOU COUNTRY is the second album by Creedence Clearwater Revival and they are undoubtedly the most joyful, exciting rock and roll band since Little Richard. ...
Little Richard: Schaefer Music Festival, Central Park, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Post, 7 August 1969
Little Richard Rouses Crowd At Central Park Rock Concert ...
The Groundhogs: Groundhogs: Scratching The Surface (World Pacific WPS-21892)
Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, 8 August 1969
THE GROUNDHOGS are indicative of a new trend in British blues music. Until recently most British blues bands borrowed heavily from rock (the use of ...
Wynonie Harris: Death of a Blues Shouter
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 16 August 1969
TITLES LIKE 'Good Mornin' Judge', 'Lovin' Machine', 'Bloodshot Eyes', 'Keep On Churnin'' and 'All She Wants To Do Is Rock' may not ring a bell ...
Live Review by Miller Francis jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 18 August 1969
"I'd like for them to hear the real things. I don't think yet that most of the white people like my music because it's blues. I ...
Muddy Waters: After The Rain (Chess mono and stereo CRL 4553; 37s 5d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 August 1969
NEW ALBUM FROM MUDDY ...
Live Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 29 August 1969
B.B. IS the Blues King At Meadow Brook ...
Taj Mahal: The Mind Of A Modern Bluesman: Taj Mahal
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, September 1969
I AM A crazy swamp guy. I love swamps. Brick buildings are cool too, they have their own grotesque beauty and this is a very ...
Report by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 1 September 1969
"Man, what done got into them ofays?" one asked. "It ain't nothing. They just trying to get back, that's all" "Get back?" said the ...
Little Richard: "He's Forgotten Me" — Little Richard Raps James Brown
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 2 September 1969
LITTLE RICHARD is coming to Detroit along with Jerry Lee Lewis. They'll be at Cobo Hall Sept. 6. ...
Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, 5 September 1969
FOR SOME reason Cream seems to have become the standard against which all other rock trios are judged. Not only is this unfair, it is ...
Live Review by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 6 September 1969
King of the Blues Courts Fans ...
Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 13 September 1969
THE DOORS: The Soft Parade — 'Tell All The People'; 'Touch Me'; 'Shaman's Blues'; 'Do It'; 'Easy Ride'; 'Wild Child'; 'Runnin' Blue'; 'Wishful Sinful'; 'The ...
Little Milton and The New Black Blues
Overview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 20 September 1969
THROUGH THE 1950's, men with loud voices, amplified guitars and a few noisy accompanists made a modest but sufficient living out of singing the blues ...
Bo Diddley: The Men Who Make the Blues: Bo Diddley
Profile by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 20 September 1969
BO DIDDLEY was born in Mississippi, in or near McComb, on December 30, 1928. Like many bluesmen from the South, he made the journey up ...
Johnny Winter: Living the Blues
Interview by Mike Gormley, The Ottawa Journal, 26 September 1969
Johnny Winter Tries to Live Up to His Image ...
Chicken Shack Full Of Clucking Sounds
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969
STAN WEBB was grinning evilly as he strode into a pub, but no maniacal deeds were going through his mind, he was just dead chuffed ...
Ten Years After: Ssssh (Deram mono and stereo DML 1052, 37s 6d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969
TEN YEARS AFTER VERY ADVANCED ...
Graham Bond: Commissar Bond Is Back In Business
Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 11 October 1969
"WE DON'T want any of that around here," threatened an elderly lady shaking a palsied fist from one of the ancient alleys of Cambridge, as ...
Chuck Berry, Elvin Bishop, John Mayall: Fillmore East, New York NY
Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 18 October 1969
Berry, Bishop — Musical Brothers ...
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 18 October 1969
October 3, 1969 Dear Max, Skip James died this morning after a very long and painful illness. One of his finest memories was going to Europe in ...
Cream, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall: Union Jack Blues
Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 October 1969
MEETING JANIS Joplin a few months ago, before her Albert Hall concert, I was staggered to feel how nervous she was. Then she explained. She ...
Interview by Joel Selvin, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1969
The Bronze Liberace looks back at songs like 'Tutti Frutti' and 'Good Golly Miss Molly'; the Beatles' cover of 'Long Tall Sally'; recording in New Orleans; Miss Ann Johnson and her Tik Tok club in Macon, Ga.; touring in the '50s and his outrageous stage act; appearing in movies such as The Girl Can't Help It; finding God in '57; returning to rock'n'roll in '62 and befriending the Beatles; on why young black audiences aren't interested in him; the Black Panthers, Black Muslims and racism, and his long experiences of police harassment...
File format: mp3; file size: 36.5mb, interview length: 38' 04" sound quality: **
Review by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, November 1969
CROSBY STILLS & NASH is an exquisite collection of words from this triumvirate. Steve Stills, the moody ex-Buffalo, seems to be the anchor here, as ...
Big Mama Thornton: Stronger Than Dirt (Mercury)
Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 1 November 1969
ANYBODY WHO has ever seen Big Mama Thornton perform will vouch for the fact that she is a consummate entertainer. So good, in fact, that ...
John Mayall: Turning Point (Polydor mono and stereo 583 571; 37s 6d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 November 1969
MAYALL MINUS DRUMS ...
Live Review by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 5 November 1969
THE HERO of our times is a man who plays blues guitar, and the hero of heroes is Albert King. Huge, gentle, he holds his ...
Albert King: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 5 November 1969
THE HERO of our times is a man who plays blues guitar, and the hero of heroes is Albert King. Huge, gentle, he holds his ...
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969
JOHN LEE HOOKER'S absence from the American Folk, Blues & Gospel Festival was without the consequence that at first seemed likely when the tour opened ...
Albert King: Talking to the King
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969
IT HAS taken a long time for Albert King to get to this country. But now he is among us there can be little doubt ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 November 1969
WHEN CHRISTINE Perfect was 19 and studying to be a sculptress in Birmingham, she was roped into playing bass for a local group that didn't ...
John Fahey, Jesse Fuller, Peter Grant: Giannini School, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 8 November 1969
Strange and Memorable Triple-Bill Folk Concert ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 10 November 1969
Rolling Stones End With an Uproar ...
Johnny Otis: The New Johnny Otis Show
Review by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 12 November 1969
"I'm gonna lay right here on this wall, And drink this beer, And watch her walk. You heard me call a while ...
B.B. King, Terry Reid, The Rolling Stones, Ike & Tina Turner: The Rolling Stones...
Report by Wayne Robins, The Berkeley Barb, 14 November 1969
... at Oakland Coliseum, November 9, 1969. Featuring Ike & Tina Turner, B.B. King, Terry Reid, with a special appearance by Bill Graham. Written November ...
Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 November 1969
TUESDAY OF last week was Big Blues Night at London's 100 Club where a large, good-humoured crowd was afforded almost non-stop entertainment by the Killing ...
The Groundhogs, Howlin' Wolf: Howlin' Wolf, The Groundhogs: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 15 November 1969
THERE WAS nothing new about Chester Burnett's routine at the Marquee Club on Thursday, but the Wolf, nearing the end of his third British tour, ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: What That Is! (Phillips)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 15 November 1969
THE KEY TO this album is its honesty. Producer Milan Melvin has been faithful to Screamin' Jay and his music right down to the picture ...
Taj Mahal: Giant Step/De Old Folks At Home (CBS Direction S 8-63820, S 8-63821)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 22 November 1969
Mixed bag from Taj ...
Live Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 26 November 1969
Rock's Rolling Stones Invade Olympia Stadium ...
Savoy Brown: A Step Further (Parrot PAS 71029)
Review by Gary Kenton, Fusion, 28 November 1969
IT'S PRETTY frustrating to be a victimized musician these days. It has always been, of course, but now, with all these quasi-blues heavies making it ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Butterfield Blues Band: Keep On Moving (Elektra EKS 74053)
Review by Gary Kenton, Fusion, 28 November 1969
PAUL BUTTERFIELD seems to have fallen out of public grace recently. Back in the days of East-West, he gained recognition for being a true blues ...
Keef Hartley, John Mayall: John Mayall, Keef Hartley: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 29 November 1969
JOHN MAYALL must have fell like the father figure of British blues at the Albert Hall on Thursday as he surveyed Henry Lowther and Keef ...
Live Review by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 29 November 1969
THERE AREN'T many groups in Britain who fans will queue in the rain for Taste, a trio of Irishmen formed a little over a year ...
The Band, Ronnie Hawkins: Ronnie Hawkins: Preaching Rock-A-Billy
Interview by Larry LeBlanc, Hit Parader, December 1969
LIFE ON Yonge St. in Toronto, is a crackerjack maze of flickering neon lights, honking car horns and fast people. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Maxayn: Bobby "Blue" Bland, Paulette Parker: Basin Street West, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 3 December 1969
Bobby 'Blue' Bland Is Right On ...
James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Taste: Albums from Isaac Hayes, Taste and James Brown
Review by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 10 January 1970
Isaac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul (Stax) Tremendously successful in the States, this is the first solo album from Isaac Hayes, better known as the hit songwriter with Dave ...
Taste: On The Boards (Polydor stereo 583 083. 37s 6d).
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 January 1970
IF MY memory serves me correctly, Taste is an Irish group I first saw playing in Harrods Way In boutique a few months back. The ...
Memphis Slim: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 7 February 1970
MEMPHIS SLIM would have played on all night had he not been due back in Paris earlier the following morning. For when the American pianist's ...
Mike Cooper and the bottleneck revival
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 14 February 1970
MIKE COOPER, who has, in recent years, revived interest in the bottleneck and knifestyle of playing, uses two 1930s National steel guitars, as well as ...
Savoy Brown: 'Train to Nowhere' (Parrot 45-40039); 'I'm Tired' (Parrot 45-40042)
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 21 February 1970
SAY WHAT you will about Savoy Brown, they've bestowed upon us two monstrously good singles in the last six months. ...
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup: The original rock and roller
Profile and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 14 March 1970
ARTHUR "BIG Boy" Crudup, the man responsible for firing Elvis Presley into one of the biggest crazes of all time, has been recording for over ...
Johnny Winter, Mississippi Fred McDowell: Johnny Winter And... Mississippi Fred?
Live Review by Rick McGrath, The Georgia Straight, April 1970
WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTED to go to every bloody concert that comes to town and try to reach a critical judgment (or something like that), sometimes ...
Profile by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 2 April 1970
NO ONE IN the entire world of rock has created a body of music to compare with the work of John Mayall. If the process ...
Profile by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 13 April 1970
"I don't wanna wreck nobody's soul I just wanna rock & roll!" — Johnny Winter ...
Live Review by Michael Lydon, The New York Times, 19 April 1970
'Sing Your Own Blues' ...
Taj Mahal: Still One Of The Hardest Rockers
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 25 April 1970
A FANFARE of trumpets would have greeted Taj Mahal if the artist's British reception had been judged on his success. Instead he was quietly willing ...
Eric Clapton, Howlin' Wolf: Howlin' Wolf: Wolf Gathers His Flock In London
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 16 May 1970
WHEN THE early 1960s gave birth to the R&B boom in Britain, it was artists like Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters ...
Shuggie Otis: Here Comes Shuggie Otis (CBS)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 16 May 1970
IF SHUGGIE Otis is this good midway through his teens, what's he going to mature into? ...
Christine Perfect: For Christine, Hard Work Hasn't Made Perfect
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
HARD WORK is not always rewarded, as Christine Perfect is unfortunately finding out. Since leaving Chicken Shack to spend more time with her husband, Fleetwood ...
Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, June 1970
"I felt I was doing nothing with my life because there was no challenge." ...
Taste, Toe Fat: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 6 June 1970
London likes raving Taste ...
Son House: Blues Is Getting Bigger All The Time, Says Son
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 27 June 1970
"THIS IS MY last time over here. Yes, sirree. I do this visit and that's it." The speaker was Eddie James (Son) House, a tallish ...
Lonnie Johnson — Bluesman Who Played Jazz
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 27 June 1970
LONNIE JOHNSON, who died last week, was a rarity in the blues field — a man who, though a folk artist in certain respects, played ...
Savoy Brown Start Another Chapter
Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, July 1970
NOT LONG home from their third exhausting tour of America, the Savoy Brown band were enjoying a necessary break – they have kept their British ...
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 25 July 1970
NOT ONLY were there some incredible scenes going on inside the Marquee on Tuesday when the Taste completely shattered the all-time box office record held ...
Interview by Charlie Gillett, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1970
From Little Esther to Big Mama, "The Duke Ellington of Watts" takes us back to Central Avenue: the shysters, the talent, the clubs and record labels; the hits, the misses and the rip-offs.
File format: mp3; file size: 47.8mb, interview length: 49' 50" sound quality: ***
Delivery, Carol Grimes: Carol Grimes: Whole World Blues
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 1 August 1970
FOR YEARS, girl singers were expected to conform to the pop music rules. Summed up: thou shalt not stomp around, rave, rampage or scream. Thou ...
Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 1 August 1970
RORY GALLAGHER is King, days Mailbag most weeks, and Taste are the new Zeppelin/Cream/Beatles/Shadows. The queue around the Marquee one night last week, where the ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 15 August 1970
An Old-Timer Hangs Loose ...
B.B. King: Basin Street West, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 21 August 1970
The King's Long Journey ...
Retrospective by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 22 August 1970
THE MOST influential singer of the last 25 years was Roy Brown. ...
Interview by Michael Lydon, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1970
When Bo's not being a boxer, truck driver, gunslinger, lumberjack etc. he's being A Man - a husband and father, dealing with life in the USA. The Gunslinger tells Michael Lydon of record company rip-offs, dealin' with the po-lice and the very meaning of life itself.
File format: mp3; total file size: 76.9meg, total interview length: 1h 20' 04" sound quality: **
Canned Heat: Future Blues (Liberty)
Review by Anne Moore, Phonograph Record, September 1970
CANNED HEAT is back with the familiar boogie blues with their new Liberty album, Future Blues. ...
Shuggie Otis: Shuggie's On His Own
Profile by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, September 1970
HIS FATHER is famous, the people he records with are famous, and now he's on his way as well. His name is Shuggie Otis. If ...
Canned Heat: Alan Kept Balance
Obituary by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 September 1970
THE DEATH of Alan Wilson at the weekend left more than a musical gap in the line-up of Canned Heat. Up against the earthiness and ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 September 1970
Cool Times On Broadway ...
Canned Heat: Future Blues (Liberty)
Review by uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 26 September 1970
Heat are as good as ever — but there's a note of sadness ...
Johnny Jenkins: Nothing But The Blues
Interview by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 28 September 1970
TON TON Macoute! was recorded in Macon, Georgia at Capricorn Records, at an 8 track studio built "in memory of Otis Redding" by Phil Walden, ...
Book Review by Greg Shaw, Who Put The Bomp!, October 1970
WITH THIS book, the study of rock & roll reaches a level of sophistication matching that of blues and jazz research. The day is gone ...
Archibald: 'Ballin' With Archie'
Profile by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, October 1970
DUE TO OUR tight schedule we had only one more day in New Orleans. It was all systems 'go' on Saturday from first light (almost) ...
Savoy Brown: Lookin' In, Lookin' Out
Profile and Interview by Dave Marsh, Circus, October 1970
IF THE BRITISH blues scene seems circular, both in terms of the way it has progressed over the last few years and in terms of ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 2 October 1970
Blues pioneer thinks Union out of date ...
Son House (part 1): Living King of the Delta
Retrospective and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 October 1970
IT WAS the final day of Eddie "Son" House's final sortie away from America. Outside, the rain was pouring down; inside the car sat Son, ...
Book Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 15 October 1970
CHARLIE GILLETT is a very likeable Englishman who recently released the most exhaustive study yet of rock and roll and the music industry. He's 28, ...
Johnny Winter, Rick Derringer: Johnny Winter: On Music, Hype and Happiness
Interview by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 15 October 1970
FOR TOO long there, it seemed to Johnny Winter like he would never be known for his music as much as he would be known ...
The McCoys, Johnny Winter: Johnny Winter Speaking
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 17 October 1970
THE IDEA of Johnny Winter, Texan albino, blues guitarist and underground legend, working with the McCoys, bubble-gum lightweights sold on their teenage looks, would have ...
Johnny Winter: Johnny Winter And... (CBS)
Review by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 17 October 1970
OH YES! Great stuff, funky, pumpy, loud and brash and damned uncouth — which is the way R&B should be played. ...
Muddy Waters: The Man Who Urbanised The Blues
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970
TOP CHICAGO bluesman Muddy Waters, still crippled from a car crash nine months ago, will be wearing a smile when he returns to England in ...
Son House (part 2): Robert Johnson Overshadowed Son and the Whole Delta
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970
SINCE 1966 Son House had only recorded once, a very poor performance for Roots which had failed to capture any of the emotion and lyricism ...
Report by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 29 October 1970
LONDON — Rain is sloshing down all the streets and windows, and when Bob Hite of Canned Heat wakes up in his hotel room in ...
B.B. King: Indianola Mississippi Seeds (Probe SPBA6255)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
HOW TIMES have changed. Gone is the harsh strident guitar of the early '50s which characterised the sound of B.B. and influenced many. Of course ...
Homesick James: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
A LARGE and somewhat over enthusiastic audience saw Homesick James with Grizelda at the 100 Club on Tuesday last week, and spurred the delighted old ...
Homesick James: Homesick Finds a Home From Home
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
HOMESICK JAMES is a likeable faintly extrovert character whose first British visit seems to have made a mockery of his nickname. For homesickness seemed to ...
Robert Johnson: King Of The Delta Blues Singers, Vol II (CBS 64102)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
THE LEGENDARY Robert Johnson showed up at the ARC Field Studios five times between November 1936 and June 1937, cutting a mere 29 sides in ...
The Jones Girls, Little Richard: Little Richard: Music Hall Theater, Detroit MI
Live Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 9 November 1970
150 See Little Richard: Music Hall No 'Apollo' Yet ...
Retrospective by Charlie Gillett, Fusion, 13 November 1970
TO START where I should, with autobiographical recollection: the only Little Willie John single I can remember hearing when it came out was 'Leave My ...
Johnny Winter And: Johnny Winter And (CBS stereo, 64117, 39s 11d)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 21 November 1970
I THINK IT'S about time that certain people stopped getting themselves hung-up on what they figure to be Johnny Winter's somewhat bizarre appearance and got ...
Little Richard: The Far-Out Little Richard
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 21 November 1970
'Bronze Liberace' Has Some Unusual Ideas About the State of Music — and the World ...
Freddie King: Ash Grove, Los Angeles
Live Review by David Rensin, The Valley State Daily Sundial, 18 December 1970
No one matches F. King ...
Transcript of audio interview by Charlie Gillett, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1971
This is a transcript of Charlie's audio interview with Ahmet. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Champion Jack Dupree: Travelling North
Report and Interview by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1971
AROUND 1920, Champion Jack Dupree left the Coloured Waifs Home for Boys, New Orleans, and started walking. He had nobody. His father and mother were ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, Oz, January 1971
MUDDY WATERS has been my favourite singer since I was twelve years old, and since that time one of my primary objectives has been to ...
Little Richard: Electric Circus, New York NY
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 January 1971
ST MARK'S PLACE, the high street of New York's East Village, hums with memories these days. Among them, at the new year, was little Richard, ...
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 20 February 1971
SIXTY-FIVE year old blues-man Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, whose songs 'That's Alright Mama' and 'My Baby Left Me' were hits for Elvis Presley back in ...
Alexis Korner: REACTION with Alexis Korner
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 13 March 1971
ALEXIS KORNER — guitarist, singer, blues fancier and scholar, and bandleader with a remarkable record as a nurseryman of young jazz talent — sat for ...
Various: British Blues Archive Series Vols. 1 And 2
Review by Loyd Grossman, Rolling Stone, 18 March 1971
IT ALL SEEMED TO happen quite suddenly when in late 1966 and 1967 the United States’ record stores were deluged with a staggering number of ...
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup: Arthur Big Boy Crudup: Roebuck Man (United Artists UAS29092)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 20 March 1971
Big Boy in Britain ...
Canned Heat, John Lee Hooker: John Lee Hooker, Canned Heat: Carnegie Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 17 April 1971
Hooker Performs With a Pop Group He Helped Inspire ...
Bo Diddley: The Second Coming Of Bo Diddley
Special Feature by Michael Lydon, Ramparts, May 1971
"A person is an individual, and being an individual person is a gas. I have my own way of expressing my soulful feelings. I never ...
Interview by Joel Selvin, Rolling Stone, 27 May 1971
SAN FRANCISCO — Otis Rush is tired. After finishing four weeks recording a new album, that's no surprise. But Otis has been tired for a ...
B.B. King: Question & Answer with B.B. King, legendary guitarist
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
IT'S NOT every day of the week that one gets the rare opportunity of meeting a legend, let alone a childhood idol. For that is ...
B.B. King: Background To A Living Legend
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 25 June 1971
B.B. KING is the undisputed King of the Blues – fact! Every press release in existence on B.B. will tell you that he is a ...
Canned Heat, Harvey Mandel, John Mayall: Harvey Mandel
Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, July 1971
RECOGNITION AS an outstanding musician hasn't come overnight for Harvey Mandel, but he prefers it that way. He's been moving up slowly and steadily and ...
Juke Boy Bonner, Freddie King: Freddie King, Juke Boy Bonner: The Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 1971
Freddie King Performs on Ash Grove Stage ...
Alexis Korner, Father of Us All
Interview by Andrew Bailey, Rolling Stone, 8 July 1971
The man who has influenced a universe of British musicians and movements ...
Book Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 22 July 1971
A Fine Text on the Rise of Rock ...
Taj Mahal: The Real Thing (CBS)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 July 1971
FOR SOME reason it all seems to have gone wrong for Taj Mahal. ...
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 2 August 1971
Raga and Rock Link 2 Cultures ...
Live Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 7 August 1971
GEORGE CREATES GREATEST ROCK SPECTACLE OF DECADE ...
Taj Mahal: Taking The Music Back To The People... But Is Taj Mahal The Real Thing?
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Sounds, 7 August 1971
ON HIS latest album (reviewed in SOUNDS last week), recorded live at the Fillmore East, Taj Mahal makes the assertive claim that he is indeed ...
Reverend Gary Davis: Rev. Gary Davis: Song of a Preacher Man
Report and Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 August 1971
MANY BLACK SINGERS draw an artificial distinction between holy music — gospel — and sinful music — the blues. ...
Cochise, Rory Gallagher: Rory Gallagher, Cochise: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 18 September 1971
LONDON'S QUEEN Elizabeth Hall bar sold out or Guinness very quickly last Wednesday. Which isn't surprising because Rory Gallagher was playing, and Rory's admirers know ...
CCS, Alexis Korner: CCS: Alexis Kornered
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 2 October 1971
CCS: with 21 people it needs to be commercial ...
Rick Derringer, Johnny Winter: Johnny Winter: Behind the Scene With Steve Paul
Report and Interview by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 14 October 1971
THE BIG dusty black Cadillac limousine comes rolling around the comer at Twenty-First Street, turns into the dimly-lighted stage-set stillness of Gramercy Park East, and ...
Obituary by Michael Lydon, Fusion, 29 October 1971
MAYBE THIS should be a collection of unrelated notes. I’m not sure how the things I’m thinking about fit together. King Curtis is dead. That ...
Johnny Otis: Doin' That Hand Jive With His Feet
Interview by John Morthland, Creem, November 1971
When the Johnny Otis Show appears on stage, it brings years and years of rhythm and blues history with it. ...
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 November 1971
DESCRIBING Larry Williams as a "great unknown" might raise a few eyebrows for he had a hit with 'Bony Moronie', a rock 'n' roll classic, ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 6 November 1971
Down Home Boogie Band ...
Report and Interview by Ian Dove, Billboard, 6 November 1971
THEY ALSO SERVE WHO ONLY LIFT AND HANDLE... ...
B.B. King: 'I Owe My Popularity To The Beatles. They Started The People Towards Really Listening...'
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 13 November 1971
GUITARIST-SINGER B. B. King, at 45 the toast of many young musicians, arrives at London Airport next Friday (19) to appear in London and Bristol ...
Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Parker: Memphis Blues: Sun Rise
Overview by Colin Escott, Record Mirror, 13 November 1971
IN 1950 WHEN Sam Phillips gave up his job as band promoter for the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and opened the studio of the Memphis ...
Interview by John Pidgeon, unpublished, 15 November 1971
This is a straight transcription of John Pidgeon's interview with Alexis Korner from November 1971 ...
Bo Diddley: Sounds of the Seventies: A Bo Diddley Revival
Profile and Interview by Mike Jahn, Baltimore Sun, 28 November 1971
LAST SUMMER at a Creedence Clearwater Revival concert there was an unannounced special, a warm-up band. Its leader was a middle-aged black man carrying a ...
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 3 December 1971
PERHAPS MORE than any other single entertainer, B.B. King has contributed a good deal to "opening the doors" for the blues and for making it ...
Big Mama Thornton, Phillip Walker: Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 4 December 1971
Big Mama Thornton on Stage at Ash Grove ...
B.B. King, Freddie King: B.B. King and Freddie King: Kings Of The Blues
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 11 December 1971
Two bluesmen who have become living legends talk about their careers and the state of the blues today. And B.B. King and Freddie King both ...
Hammie Nixon, Sleepy John Estes: Sleepy John Estes: Sleepy, Getting Sleepier
Report and Interview by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1972
THE ROAD stops at Sleepy John's house, at the top of a ploughed field, outside Brownsville, Tennessee, where the earth is thick and unyielding as ...
Willie Dixon: It's Not the Singer, It's the Song
Report and Interview by Jim Esposito, Rock, 1972
2013 NOTE: Hard to imagine today but even as late as 1972 the contributions of the old black blues masters were still not recognized by ...
Junior Parker: Junior's Last Stand
Obituary by Charlie Gillett, Cream, January 1972
WHILE I WAS in New York for a short time last April, I noticed some billposters up near Columbia University on the upper West Side, ...
B.B. King: Will Success Spoil B.B. King?
Comment by Tony Russell, Cream, January 1972
ANY ARTIST who becomes noticeably successful soon has the more inquisitive, the harder-to-satisfy, of his followers asking ‘What’s he going to do now?’. Some sit ...
Big Mama Thornton: The Hound Dog Howler Who Inspired Janis
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 1 January 1972
IN THE DEEPEST depths of Transatlantic's Marylebone High Street (London) headquarters there's a wire cage which looks like Death Row in your favourite neighbourhood prison. ...
Rory Gallagher: Music For Belfast: Rory Gallagher
Report and Interview by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 8 January 1972
BELFAST GOT A rock'n'roll concert on New Year's Day in the City's notorious Ulster Hall. Heading the bill was Rory Gallagher. It was the first ...
Jefferson Airplane, Papa John Creach: Papa John Creach: Papa John Makes It With Rock
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 22 January 1972
THE ONE-TIME phenomenon of young white rock musicians playing on records by old black blues musicians has become a commonplace thing. ...
Alan Lomax: Making a Science of Man's Music
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 23 January 1972
Alan Lomax, the man who went into the fields of the southern states in the 1930s and brought the glory of the blues to the attention ...
Profile and Interview by Tony Russell, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972
A FAMILIAR blues story is the one of the musician who held his first guitar almost before he clambered out of the cradle. As the ...
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Elvis Presley: Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup: Rock's Debt to Crudup
Report by Mike Jahn, Baltimore Sun, 20 February 1972
BLUES SINGER Arthur (Big Boy) Crudup has spent most of his 67 years staring at bad crops, worse bills, garbage trucks and empty promises. He ...
Review by Tony Russell, Cream, March 1972
EACH OF THESE bluesmen began to make his name soon after World War II, most of them profiting from the new urban audiences of blacks ...
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972
IT'S NOT surprising that there should be more than a trace of Elmore James and Muddy Waters in the playing of J.B. Hutto, described in ...
Willie Dixon, Walter "Shakey" Horton: Willie Dixon All-Stars: Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 9 March 1972
Willie Dixon Fronting All-Stars at Ash Grove ...
Savoy Brown: Kim Simmonds Makes Savoy Brown A New Group
Interview by Danny Goldberg, Circus, April 1972
SAVOY BROWN is an oddity in the rock pantheon. Never really disappearing, yet never really together they can be compared most easily to John Mayall. ...
Medicine Head: A New Kind Of Medicine
Interview by Val Mabbs, Record Mirror, 1 April 1972
JOHN FIDDLER of Medicine Head talks to Val Mabbs ...
Rory Gallagher: On the Road with Rory
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, 8 April 1972
Andrew Tyler found out just how hard life on the road is when he followed Rory Gallagher north on a couple of gigs. ...
Dr. John From Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
DR. JOHN'S contributions to pop music have been highly original and creative. Even if he claims that all the credit is due to the music ...
John Mayall: Town Hall, Auckland
Live Review by Tom McWilliams, Playdate, May 1972
Mayall: music as never before ...
Savoy Brown: Shadow Boxing with Savoy Brown's Mgr.
Interview by Andrew Bailey, Rolling Stone, 11 May 1972
LONDON — HARRY rose from the chair and his mouth went slack. His eyes rolled around and his tongue slid out like an epileptic's. He ...
Rory Gallagher: Travelling Full Circle
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 May 1972
RORY GALLAGHER admitted this week, that his new year European tour had been a tremendous morale booster.... reinforcing old favourites like 'Laundromat' and 'Sinner Boy' ...
Fats Domino: Walking To New Orleans
Profile by Martin Hawkins, Record Mirror, 20 May 1972
IN RECENT years the music of New Orleans in the 50's has been well documented on albums, but maybe now is the time to be ...
Reverend Gary Davis: Rev. Gary Davis: Farewell to the Holy Bluesman
Obituary by Karl Dallas, Max Jones, Melody Maker, 20 May 1972
THOUGH I'M not what most people would call a religious man, when I heard that at the age of 76 and after several strokes the ...
Dr. John: The Dr. John Story, Part One: Talking 'bout New Orleans
Retrospective and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 20 May 1972
DOCTOR JOHN is The Night Tripper, purveyor of Gris-Gris and Voodoo since 1967. ...
Ry Cooder: The stars' star steps out
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972
RY COODER is a familiar name to groups like the Rolling Stones and Crosby, Stills and Nash who regularly utilised — I sometimes wonder whether ...
Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker and Otis Spann: Super Black Blues
Review by Bob Fisher, Cream, June 1972
IT'S TAKEN Phillips a long time to get around to issuing this superb album, probably the only genuine spontaneous blues jam ever commited to wax. ...
Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
A survey of New Orleans, by Dr John ...
Dr. Ross, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, Dr. Isiah Ross: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
IF AUTHENTIC blues music really is dying on its feet, perhaps someone should inform the thousand enthusiasts who packed the 100 Club to see Muddy ...
The Asylum Choir, Marc Benno, Mance Lipscomb, Leon Russell: Marc Benno: More Minnows to Come
Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 22 June 1972
LOS ANGELES — Marc Benno used to be Leon Russell's musical partner; as the notorious Asylum Choir they made two albums together in Los Angeles ...
The Drifters, Clyde McPhatter: Clyde McPhatter: A Personal Tribute
Obituary by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 30 June 1972
CLYDE McPhatter is dead. I would be a liar if I said I was surprised because Clyde has been 'lost' for quite a few years. ...
Muddy Waters Now Records in London with the British Blues-Rockers
Interview by Tony Stewart, Hit Parader, July 1972
MUDDY WATERS went to Britain. Virtually unannounced. He stayed a week. ...
Ike Turner, Ike & Tina Turner: The Roots of Ike Turner
Essay by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, July 1972
IKE TURNER'S roots are blues roots. That's obvious, right? You hardly need some wise-ass young punk kid writer in good old PRM to lay that ...
Alexis Korner: Kornering The Market
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
ALEXIS KORNER has been for so long at the heart of rhythm and blues in Britain, and touched off so many groups who have gone ...
Mississippi Fred McDowell: Fred McDowell: Unspoiled Master
Obituary by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 22 July 1972
Tribute by Jerry Gilbert ...
Johnny Otis: The Godfather of R&B
Retrospective by Bill Millar, Record Mirror, 29 July 1972
I THOUGHT Johnny Otis was suffering from over-exposure Dave Wolf who has drained his life savings to bring over Johnny's entire package thinks not. So ...
Little Richard: What Richard Said
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
"UH, HOWdo you do. Mr. Penniman, it's a great..." "HALLELUJAH BROTHER it's great to be here in your wunnerful country. I want y'all to know ...
Bo Diddley: Hey! Bo Diddley: The Man Whose Sexuality Was Too Much For America
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 August 1972
Diddley Freak Charles Shaar Murray, in the presence of the main man... ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 31 August 1972
PEOPLE ALWAYS ask why Ike Turner is content to stand in the background, playing those fine guitar riffs to an audience totally oblivious to him ...
Wilf Carter (Montana Slim), Lightnin' Hopkins, Hank Snow, Lester Young: Rocking Chair
Column by Michael Lydon, Fusion, September 1972
JUNE TODAY, not busting out in Boston where the sky is as grey as the pigeons, but here. My trip has continued from Bloomington across ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Spotlighting the Man: Bobby Blue Bland
Comment by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, September 1972
THERE'S A new Bobby Bland single out ('I'm So Tired') that is both typically fine and frustrating: fine in that it is another two and ...
Johnny Otis, Shuggie Otis: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
DO YOU FEEL all right? I mean, are you ready to put yo' hands together one time and say yeah? Louder, I wanna hear you ...
Hound Dog Taylor And The House Rockers
Profile by Ben Edmonds, Creem, November 1972
CONTRARY TO whatever stereotypes have been created to cover the contemporary bluesman, there is a side to the blues that has absolutely nothing to do ...
Profile by Ben Edmonds, Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival program, November 1972
"Howlin' Wolf, man...he's the guts of America spilling out on the floor, that's all."Greil Marcus/CREEM ...
Profile by Dave Marsh, Creem, November 1972
"LUTHER ALLISON come into the picture about the middle of 1957. I needed a bass player and I met Luther Allison walkin' on Ogden Avenue ...
Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 2 November 1972
SATURDAY WAS white blues night at the Academy of Music. But the evening really began with a semi-frenzied escape from Captain Beefheart's disappointingly dull and ...
Bonnie Raitt: Music Makers: Bonnie Raitt
Profile and Interview by Michael Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 4 November 1972
ONE OF the strongest shows in recent months has been booked into the Cellar Door starting Monday. John Prine and Bonnie Raitt open for one ...
Bonnie Raitt: Troubadours: Why Bonnie Raitt Wants a Break
Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 9 November 1972
LOS ANGELES — "Freebo, my bass player, he's a jock, he sits in his hotel room watching football games on television." Bonnie Raitt gestured in ...
Little Richard: A Bizarre Interview With The Amazing, Self-Styled King Of Rock 'N' Roll
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
HE CALLS HIMSELF the Georgia Peach, the Bronze Liberace and the King of Rock and Roll. Little Richard calls himself a lot of things. Some ...
Ray Charles, B.B. King: B.B. King, Ray Charles: Circle Star, San Carlos CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 1 December 1972
Let's Call Him King of the B-B-Blues ...
Clover, Sunnyland Slim: Long Branch Saloon, Berkeley CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 22 December 1972
Clover Now a Great Sextet ...
Grand Funk Railroad, Freddie King: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 25 December 1972
Grand Funk Railroad Steams Into the Garden at Full Throttle ...
Bonnie Raitt: "I Don't Want to Be a Star," Says Blues Singer Bonnie Raitt
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 31 December 1972
DON'T LET her looks fool you. Behind that golden-haired, dimpled face lurks a lusty, rowdy blues mama. So what if she went to Radcliffe, her ...
Interview by Nick Tosches, Oui, January 1973
THREE OF Oui's finest encountered Muddy Waters in his hotel room one recent afternoon, and an interview took place. Here it is: ...
Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 11 January 1973
UNMASKED FLAVORS ...
Review by Bob Fisher, Let It Rock, February 1973
ALL THESE ALBUMS were recorded (apart from Dr. Ross) in England at the Chalk Farm studios and produced by Jim Simpson. They represent probably the ...
Mance Lipscomb: Portrait of a Texas Bluesman
Profile and Interview by Harold Bronson, Music World, February 1973
MANCE LIPSCOMB is one of those bluesmen who has been promulgated by the blues revival. It's really too bad that his status is not one ...
Retrospective by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, February 1973
AT A TIME when most receptive organs — eyes, ears, pockets — were turned to Liverpool and its Merseybeat, another (and as it turned out ...
Don "Sugarcane" Harris: Sugarcane Harris
Guide by Charlie Gillett, Fusion, February 1973
An appreciation in the form of a letter from Charlie Gillett to — I.C. Lotz c/o The Mad Peck Flash Burn Funnies Fusion 909 Beacon St. Boston, Mass. 02215 ...
Louisiana Red, Taj Mahal: Louisiana Red: It's All Blues
Report and Interview by Peter Kent, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
"I AM LOUISIANA Red and I come from behind the sun" — those words, belting out of a cheap mono record-player, introduced me to the ...
Ten Years After: Alvin Lee & Company
Interview by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, 3 February 1973
ONE OF THE most eagerly awaited albums lately was Alvin Lee & Company. "That's old material that was recorded a long time ago," Alvin stated ...
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 17 February 1973
AFTER THE success of 'My Ding-a-Ling' and the arguments about its making people go blind endlessly aired in the national press, everybody will have heard ...
Review by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, 17 February 1973
TALK ABOUT a programmed response: why is it that every time you pick up a new Savoy Brown album, the first thing you do is ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 24 February 1973
3 Bs' Rock Blues Jam Exciting ...
Clyde McPhatter: Atlantic Masters (Atlantic)
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
WELL, IS SINGING coming back or not? The signs are, maybe yes. Billy Paul, for instance, and the Chi-Lites, Stylistics, and Detroit Emeralds. ...
The Coasters: Atlantic Masters (Atlantic).
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973
HOW CRUEL fate is. At the very moment that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller are proving themselves to be perfectly tuned in to 1973, with ...
Profile by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973
IF YOU asked someone who, apart from Elvis, has contributed the most to rock and roll, he'd probably say Chuck Berry, Little Richard or Jerry ...
Report and Interview by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, 10 May 1973
2013 NOTE: A big Savoy Brown fan back in the day, much as I loved the group's transformation which produced Street Corner Talking I was ...
John Hammond, Tom Waits: John Hammond Jr. and Tom Waits: Folk-Blues — Two Times And Places
Profile by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 30 May 1973
POPULAR MUSIC generations are particularly short in recent years — styles change, young artists establish new norms, a huge maturing audience sets new standards twice ...
Dave Bartholomew, The Coasters, Fats Domino: Behind The Sun: New Orleans
Report by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, June 1973
IT HARDLY SEEMED three years ago that Robin Gosden and myself were making the same journey from his Weybridge home to Heathrow Airport. Nothing had ...
Howlin' Wolf, Larry Johnson: Howlin' Wolf: Max's Kansas City, New York NY
Live Review by Howard Wuelfing, The Village Voice, 7 June 1973
WELL, IT'S OFFICIAL now. New York is the glitter capital of the rock world and Max's is its major stronghold. That's what an article in ...
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 21 June 1973
JOHN MAYALL has been living in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, for four years now, and identifying with California and American people for longer than that. ...
Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 1 July 1973
B.B. King's Blues Barn Creates Echoes of Past ...
Professor Longhair: Longhair, the man who started it all
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
ROY CARR MEETS PROFESSOR LONGHAIR, THE WORLD'S MOST RIPPED-OFF LEGEND ...
J. Geils Band: The Boston wranglers
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 21 July 1973
THEY HAD said the J. Geils Band was a democracy, and they were right. All six of them are ranged around three sides of this ...
Freddie King: The Cannonball Blows Into Town
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 28 July 1973
WHEN THE Texas Cannonball blows into town it's quite an event, and when he's only in for a couple of days then everybody wants to ...
Interview by Nick Tosches, Creem, August 1973
Valerie's torrid flesh sings with the lyrics of passion and singes with the heat of burning desire ...
Professor Longhair: The Professor of Rock
Interview by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 8 September 1973
THE PROFESSOR, THEY SAY, influenced just about every musician in New Orleans. And it’s not a claim he’s about to deny. "I taught most of ...
Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 20 September 1973
THE FALL is upon us at last, and the theme for the season, the dreary, greasy '50s having run their course, is the revival of ...
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 September 1973
"I DECIDED I didn't believe all that tortured genius crap," Mike Bloomfield, the 30-year-old musician explained, "that some how there was a corollary between pain ...
Professor Longhair: Kenny's Castaways, New York NY
Live Review by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 17 October 1973
A myth who can make it ...
Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 21 October 1973
Solo YarrowPETER YARROW would appear to have shed all semblance of times past when he fronted an all-electric group at Max's Kansas City on Park ...
ZZ Top: Tres Hombres (London XPS 631)
Review by Bruce Malamut, Zoo World, 25 October 1973
THE TOTAL Tank. ...
Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 1 November 1973
I RAN INTO Eric Emerson (Formerly of the Magic Tramps and now playing guitar and singing with his new band Angel) on the way into ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: Ruthie's Berkeley; Club Long Island, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 7 November 1973
Bobby Bland and his brilliant band ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Blue Bland: Arrival!
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 23 November 1973
WHEN THE news was announced that the vast ABC/Dunhill Record complex had purchased the Duke-Peacock group of companies, speculation began as to what ABC would ...
Dr. John: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 29 November 1973
Dr. John: Just What Audience Ordered ...
Clarence "Frogman" Henry: Henry's Back For A Hit
Profile and Interview by John Broven, Melody Maker, 22 December 1973
CLARENCE (Frogman) Henry hasn't had a top-selling record for more than 12 years, but he is still managing to pull the crowds in to hear ...
Johnny Winter: Still Alive And Well
Review by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, Spring 1973
BY NOW EVERYONE must know the reason it took Johnny Winter such a long time to get around to recording this album was not simply ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: This Time He's Here for Good
Retrospective by Tony Cummings, Black Music, January 1974
"HE'S HAD more Hot 100 entries than the Beatles." That's the claim — a totally accurate one — in the Bobby Bland adverts being scattered ...
Louis Jordan: "Still Feeling Good"
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Lydon, Ramparts, January 1974
"DRINK SOME beer and be of good cheer!" Louis Jordan stood on the dimly lit stage of Ruthie's Inn. Before him was a crowded floor ...
Willie Dixon & his Chicago All-Stars: Brewery, East Lansing MI
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, Michigan State News, 16 January 1974
Dixon classics, band thrill blues lovers ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard: The Man Who Twisted Himself
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
COVER VERSIONS have long been the bane of the rhythm and blues field of music. During the 'Fifties, the major record companies kept their ears ...
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
SOUL MUSIC and the blues have boundaries which are largely indefinable — a factor which has allowed many artists to straddle the two. ...
Marshall Sehorn: We Had Some Good Times
Interview by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, February 1974
Marshall Sehorn of Sansu talks to John Broven about his start in the business ...
The Staple Singers, Pops Staples: MM Staple Singers special: Top of the Pops!
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 2 February 1974
THE STAPLE SINGERS, who gave one charging show in London on Friday, are one of America's most justly famed gospel groups. They have come a ...
Canned Heat: One More River To Cross
Review by John Swenson, Zoo World, 14 March 1974
CANNED HEAT is one of those groups who hang on by the skin of their teeth, jumping over a spate of mediocre albums from success ...
Paul Butterfield's Better Days: It All Comes Back (Bearsville K44517)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 March 1974
AS A FAN of most of the music that's been going on in Woodstock, the formation of Better Days looked like the perfect solution. ...
Johnny Winter: Saints And Sinners
Review by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, 28 March 1974
YOU'D THINK that anyone who's paid as many dues as Johnny Winter would just wanna sit back and collect residuals, now wouldn't you? Not Johnny, ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: Blue Eyed Soul
Profile and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 30 March 1974
BOBBY "BLUE" Bland is on stage now, smiling at Mel Jackson as he takes the microphone from him and swings into 'Reconsider Baby'. Then a ...
Review by John Morthland, Phonograph Record, April 1974
IT'S A SAD DAY indeed for guitar freaks when two of the best in the business turn out the spottiest albums of their careers. But ...
Profile by Cliff White, Black Music, April 1974
IN 1965 Nina Simone strengthened her newly-won acclaim as the High Priestess of Soul with a dramatic reworking of a unique echo from the fifties. ...
Profile and Interview by Dan Nooger, Phonograph Record, 11 April 1974
BOBBY BLUE Bland is a big, genial man, born 1931 in Rosemark, Tenn., former vocalist of the legendary Memphis "Beale Street Blues Boys," (along with ...
Graham Bond: Pioneer and catalyst
Obituary by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 18 May 1974
Chris Welch pays tribute to Graham Bond, who died last week ...
Graham Bond: The Death Of Graham Bond
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS before his death two weeks ago, Graham Bond phoned the NME offices. He sounded purposeful, optimistic, enthusiastic, and full of energy. ...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 2 July 1974
THE WELCOME revival in the musical fate of Etta James is highlighted by the release of a fine new album, produced by Gabriel Mekler and ...
Mickey Baker: l00 Club, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 August 1974
THE EPITHET "Living blues legend" has been much overworked. but in Mickey Baker's case it doesn't even begin to be adequate. He's that, and so ...
Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, September 1974
SOMEWHERE ALONG the line, guitarist Danny Gatton played in a group called Fat Chance. That name may have been appropriate for the gentle portliness of ...
John Mayall: Empty Rooms/The Turning Point
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
WHAT WE HAVE here is a shrewd exercise in marketing. Two deleted albums reissued as one double package for the apparently reasonable price of £2.99. ...
Howlin' Wolf: All The Man Wants To Do Is Sing The Blues
Report by Jim Esposito, The Gainesville Sun, 8 September 1974
Born Chester Burnett on June 10, 1910 on a plantation near Tupelo, Mississippi, Howlin' Wolf is a legendary black bluesman, ranking with the likes of ...
John Hammond: Singin' The Blues
Interview by Jim Esposito, The Gainesville Sun, 13 October 1974
JOHN HAMMOND is sitting on a black wooden box hunched over his guitar, which is balanced on a two-by-four suspended between two wooden chairs in ...
Hot Tuna, Journey: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 28 October 1974
Folk-Blues Program Offered by Hot Tuna ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, B.B. King: Soul, Man: New York Johnny meets L.A. Jane for a Medium Massage
Report by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, November 1974
L.A. IS A great big freeway they say, pay a hundred down and buy a car, if you don't you won't get very far. Tooling ...
Johnny Winter: White Lightning
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 2 November 1974
"WINTER'S HERE," well by the time you read this feature he'll be gone. But he was here last week and Pete Makowski spoke to him. ...
Rory Gallagher, If, Rush: Rory Gallagher, Rush, If: Beacon Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 6 November 1974
Rock in a gilded cage ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
IN WHICH two culture heroes find themselves well and truly on the artistic skids. ...
Freddie King: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Philip Norman, The Times, 2 December 1974
AN IMPRESSIVE crowd awaited Freddie King at the Roundhouse last night, wound about its cylindrical structure or massed on its inhospitable boards for several hours ...
John Lee Hooker: Free Beer And Chicken (ABC)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
ANYBODY WHO'S ever listened to a fair amount of John Lee Hooker will have realised that recording him with a band is a task on ...
Roy Buchanan, Howard Wales: Boarding House, San Francisco
Live Review by Tom Vickers, Midnight Sun, 12 December 1974
The old master ...
Interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages audio, 1975
The Father of British Blues talks about splitting from skiffle in the late '50s; working with such luminaries as Chris Barber and Cyril Davies; his band Blues Incorporated which, at various times, included Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts; meeting Brian Jones and wet-nursing the early Rolling Stones; and talks at length about where the Stones go post Mick-Taylor.
File format: mp3; file size: 36.6mb, interview length: 39' 36" sound quality: ****
Transcript of audio interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1975
This is a transcript of Karl's interview. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Hound Dog Taylor, Junior Wells: Chicago: Big City Blues
Report by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
How ya gonna pull a black chick, honkie baby? The answer: Don't try. You could get wasted — BRIAN CASE prowls round the rough, tough blues joints ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, B.B. King: B.B. King, Bobby Bland: Winterland, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Tom Vickers, Midnight Sun, 16 January 1975
North Beach walk ...
Johnny Winter: Will The Real John Dawson Winter III Stand Up And Rock?
Report and Interview by Dan Nooger, Circus Raves, February 1975
THE RECORD Plant, one of New York's finest recording studios, occupies a floor of an otherwise unprepossessing office building in the heart of the Times ...
Bo Diddley - Bo's a Lumberjack!
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
THE WHOLE THING about Bo Diddley was that he was by far the weirdest and craziest musician ever to come out of either blues or ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 8 February 1975
LOS ANGELES: At a time when today's music seems to be suffering from forced theatrics, and a lack of talent disguised in glitter and gold, ...
Syl Johnson: Johnson — A Rough Gem
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 February 1975
AFTER HIS first visit to Britain, guitarist-singer-songwriter Syl Johnson returned last weekend to his home, outside Chicago. His final gigs were at Barbarella's in Birmingham ...
Albert King: I Wanna Get Funky
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
I WANNA GET Funky is the best album I've heard all year. ...
Alexis Korner: Why Alexis Won't Join The Stones
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 15 February 1975
ALEXIS KORNER laughed, his suntanned face creasing up into laughter lines, his body rocking very gently back and forth. "Oh," he said. "No way." ...
Louis Jordan: A First Class Original
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 February 1975
MAX JONES pays tribute to a fine blues singer/alto player ...
Geoff Muldaur: Blues Is The Basis
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 22 February 1975
You're probably more familiar with Maria — but Geoff Muldaur has an impressive track record of his own, taking in the legendary Blues Project, the ...
Roy Buchanan: Community Theater, Berkeley CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 5 April 1975
Buchanan show, was it sabotage? ...
T-Bone Walker: T-Bone — Showman and Guitar Pioneer
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 5 April 1975
Max Jones pays tribute to T-Bone Walker ...
Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 10 April 1975
BRITISH BLUES has always been a workmanlike form, as much a job as a pleasure. Alvin Lee is smart enough to realize this, and having ...
Obituary by Jerry Wexler, Rolling Stone, 24 April 1975
LOS ANGELES — Aaron "T-Bone" Walker died of bronchial pneumonia March 16th at the Vernon Convalescent Hospital. The 64-year-old Texas blues guitarist, famous for standards ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
If you're a living blues master, are you better off dead? ...
Profile and Interview by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, June 1975
"We didn't set out to look like deranged bank clerks..." ...
Koko Taylor: I Got What It Takes
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, June 1975
ANYONE WHO maintains that blues is a dead or dying form must not be aware of Alligator Records. This tiny, dedicated company has been operating ...
Jackie Wilson said... 'Reet Petite'. And the mothers of Harlem said 'No'
Retrospective and Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
BOB FISHER traces the sometimes controversial career of 'Mr. Excitement,' currently stomping his way across Britain. ...
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, July 1975
ELVIN BISHOP'S place in the scheme of post-Beatles US Rock has been pretty much undervalued over the years. This is probably owing to his uncanny ...
Bonnie Raitt: Bonnie Comes Marching Home
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 12 July 1975
When Bonnie Raitt comes marching home to pack Carnegie Hall, Penny Valentine is there to talk to "the one woman who is a pure musician ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
MY H.A.L. PRINT-OUT on Ron Wood sez that his guitar-playing veers from the sublime to the ridiculous (i.e., his playing on Rod Stewart's solo albums ...
Obituary by Joe Nick Patoski, Rolling Stone, 31 July 1975
HOUSTON — DON D. Robey, a leading figure in rhythm & blues and gospel recordings in the Fifties and Sixties, died early Monday, June 16th, ...
Johnny Ace, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Junior Parker: Obituary: Don D. Robey, R&B Pioneer, Dead at 71
Obituary by Joe Nick Patoski, Rolling Stone, 31 July 1975
HOUSTON — Don D. Robey, a leading figure in rhythm & blues and gospel recordings in the Fifties and Sixties, died early Monday, June 16th, ...
Charlie & Ray, Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon, Valentino: Gay Soul
Overview by Tony Cummings, Black Music, August 1975
Valentino's 'I Was Born This Way' is probably the most upfront "gay" record ever to get played in the discos (where it's a big hit). ...
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 23 August 1975
HOWEVER ERIC CLAPTON spent his couple of years in isolation from the world, he returned to active performing refreshed and revitalised. ...
Jive Bombers: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
THERE'S ALWAYS A good time to be had at the 100 Club. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: Moving Ahead
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 16 September 1975
IN RETROSPECT, when the historians or whoever decide to document the music of the fifties, sixties and seventies, the omission of the name Bobby Bland ...
Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson: Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter
Review by Don Snowden, Pasadena Guardian, November 1975
Howlin' Wolf: Change My Way (CHV 418)Sonny Boy Williamson: One Way Out (CHV 417)Little Walter: Confessin' The Blues (CHV 416)Chess Vintage Series (Chess/Janus Records) ...
Freddie King: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
A NIGHT TO remember. "It's Blues time, ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome Freddie King." ...
Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
TEN YEARS AGO Britain was set to become the R&B capital of the world. Between 1962 and '67 we were visited by so many legendary ...
Victoria Spivey: Queen of the Blues
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, December 1975
HALFWAY INTO her 70th year, Victoria Spivey is a queen with a diminishing court. She is perhaps the last of the great women blues singers, ...
Climax Blues Band: Stamp Album
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
I'M SICK AND tired of bloody good bands. ...
Geoff Bradford: Jeff Bradford: Bradford Boogies Again
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 13 December 1975
ROCK MUSIC has taken its toll both of lives and careers, the victims either unable or unwilling to cope with the demands and temptations of ...
B.B. King: Lucille Talks Back (ABC ABCL 5149)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 20 December 1975
B.B. KING IS back on the lists with an album of his own production on which he plays sophisticated blues, near-blues and one religioso. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975
OVER ONE HUNDRED Santana fans coughed up the full twenty pounds for this triple live album when it first appeared on import. ...
Fats Domino: Rockin' in Your Seat
Profile and Interview by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1976
FATS DOMINO is relaxing among his half-unpacked luggage, his glass-heeled shoes, his address-book, his diamonds and his Gideon Bible. ...
Hound Dog Taylor: a goodtime "rocker"
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 10 January 1976
ALTHOUGH he was not a major figure of postwar blues, Theodore Roosevelt Taylor — known professionally as Hound Dog Taylor — was a good representative ...
Obituary by Dave Godin, Blues & Soul, 27 January 1976
"I have had my fun, even if I never get well no more. Oh my health is failing, oh yes, I'm going down slow..." ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Givin' the Blues a Shot
Retrospective and Interview by Cliff White, Black Music, February 1976
'I Don't Want To Be A Lone Ranger' recently hit the top ten of the U.S. soul charts and heralded yet another return for a ...
Mance Lipscomb: Obituary: Mance Lipscomb
Obituary by Tony Russell, Blues Unlimited, March 1976
FEW FIELD collectors can ever have felt as excited as Chris Strachwitz and Mack McCormick must have done when they stumbled, one summer evening in ...
Paul Butterfield, KGB: KGB: KGB (MCA): Paul Butterfield: Put It In Your Ear (Bearsville)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
"I saw young Vanderbilt playing down at the tennis club and he doesn't hit the ball any better than a fellow without money " — ...
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 3 April 1976
RESPLENDENT IN sharp chrome yellow suit and diamond-studded rings and things, beaming with the joys of life, and seemingly untired by the series of interviews ...
Report by John Sinclair, The Ann Arbor Sun, 22 April 1976
Well I'm going to New Orleans, I wanna see the Mardi Gras When I see the Mardi Gras, I wanna know what the carnival for. ...
Louis Jordan: The Best Of Louis Jordan/Choo Choo Ch'Boogie
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
SUFFERING FROM HEAVY metal fatigue? Bunions on your disco feet? Are you too pooped to pop, too puked with punk rock, rasta'd rigid by reggae ...
Chuck Berry, 49, Denies Knowledge of the Previous 48
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
Chuck (Crazy Legs) Berry, top ten contender for the title "King of rock and roll", has been referred to as the greatest black folk poet ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Phelps' Lounge, Detroit MI
Live Review by Frank Bach, The Ann Arbor Sun, 15 July 1976
JUST ABOUT every time a holiday rolls around nowadays, Bobby "Blue" Bland can be found singing down at Phelps' Lounge, a comfortable nightclub located in an otherwise bleak ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson albums
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 July 1976
Vivien Goldman explains why she's been drooling over Johnny 'Guitar' Watson for the past month. ...
Albert King Delineates the Blues...
Interview by Lita Eliscu, Phonograph Record, August 1976
Lita Eliscu Listens! ...
Luther Allison: Luther Dusts His Broom
Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 August 1976
HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW that Motown had a blues man on their books? Yeah that's right, blues. Amazing, is it not? Luther Allison's his ...
Albert King an' where he's comin' from
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 10 August 1976
Been stood up by your girl? Low on cash? Behind with your payments? Then you must know the blues. They'll be around as long as ...
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 28 August 1976
BOBBY BLAND and B.B. King's last collaborative recording posed the question "When is a live album not a live album?" The answer is when it's ...
Jimmy Reed: A Chicago blues great dead at 50
Obituary by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 31 August 1976
JIMMY REED, one of the great Chicago blues artists, died early yesterday morning in Oakland. He had been playing club engagements throughout Northern California in ...
Cab Calloway: Of Minnie the Moocher and a Cab with ciass
Profile and Interview by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 6 September 1976
CAB CALLOWAY, sharp, nimble, full of stories and laughs, moved through the noontime crowd at the Washington Square Bar and Grill and onto the sundrenched ...
B.B. King: Keepin' The Blues Alive
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 7 September 1976
THE WORD "blues" has become almost synonymous with the word "king", be it Albert, Freddie or B.B. The blues as a musical form has existed ...
Rory Gallagher: Calling Card (Chrysalis)
Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 2 October 1976
His first venture into the land of overdub and experimentation – and an unqualified success ...
Eric Clapton: Farther On Up The Road
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 9 October 1976
DROUGHT? What drought? The green green grass of Surrey looks so healthy you'd think the local farmers had been secretly pumping chlorophyl injections into the ...
Rory Gallagher: The Rory of the Crowd
Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 16 October 1976
RORY GALLAGHER looked ruffled, most annoyed indeed. He cast a reflective eye across the current mode of pyrotechnical wizardry in rock and was not happy ...
James Booker: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 27 October 1976
IT CAN BE argued, with, some conviction, that popular music of this century has had no true main stream, simply a complex network of tributaries ...
Victoria Spivey: Black Queen Spivey
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 30 October 1976
Max Jones pays tribute to VICTORIA SPIVEY ...
James Booker: A Winner Never Quits, A Quitter Never Wins
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, November 1976
'THE BLACK LIBERATCHI' That's what it says on the card and you can tell that it's going to be one of those interviews when you ...
Lowell Fulson: 40 Years Of Playing The Blues
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, November 1976
THOUGH his name may not be as familiar as B.B. King’s, Ray Charles’, or T-Bone Walker’s, Lowell Fulson (with an n, not an m) has ...
Live Review by Brian Case, Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
GETTIN' BACK TO IT: MUDDY WATERS, McCOY TYNER & SONNY ROLLINS brought Newport to London's New Victoria Theatre on Saturday. CSM & BRIAN CASE went ...
Muddy Waters: Muddy's Blues Power
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976
AT THE London New Victoria concerts last week, Muddy Mississippi Waters — which is the way McKinley Morganfield announced himself — proved not for the ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Maureen Paton, Melody Maker, 27 November 1976
THE GUITAR HERO stakes is such an overworked concept that it seems almost poetic justice to overact it outrageously to the point of parody. Johnny ...
James Booker: A winner never quits, a quitter never wins...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 30 November 1976
'THE BLACK LIBERATCHI' That's what it says on the card and you can tell that it's going to be one of those interviews when you ...
Cousin Joe Pleasants: Cousin Joe: 69 years young, an' the fire's still burnin'!
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, December 1976
THE ONLY reason that the Blues is dying out is that the young folk simply don't want to know about the Blues. Even Blues legends ...
Report and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
The Blues is getting old, and young black kids ain't taking over where the old-timers are leaving off. BRIAN CASE talks on the subject with ...
Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1976
The great guitar player talks about the musicians who influenced him; his friendship with John Fahey; the Rising Sons, and Ed Cassidy and Taj Mahal; his encounter with Captain Beefheart; film scores (and more) with Jack Nitzsche; other things he did and didn't do; his early Warner Bros. albums, and Depression-era songs; his unique album covers; Paradise and Lunch, and not being a songwriter; getting into Hawaiian and Tex-Mex music, and his latest album, Chicken Skin Music.
File format: mp3; file size: 51.1mb, interview length: 53' 14" sound quality: ****
Roy Brown Part 1: Good Rockin' Tonight
Interview by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, January 1977
ROY BROWN became one of R&B's first stars when his seminal recording of 'Good Rockin' Tonight' hit the charts in 1948 and 1949. In this illuminating ...
Freddie King: King of rhythm 'n' blues
Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 January 1977
SOME BLUESMEN are pure country artists, folk musicians really, others are traditional-mixed-with-Chicago, others West Coast, jazz-blues Memphis stylists soul singers and what-have-you. ...
Roy Brown Part 2: Hard Luck Blues
Interview by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, March 1977
The second part of this interview with Roy Brown takes his story from 1950, with his time at King Records, through the rock'n'roll era and ...
Interview by Ian Dove, Phonograph Record, April 1977
MUDDY WATERS, the blues singer, relaxed in the kitchen of his home in the Chicago suburbs. He likes Chicago although rarely goes into the city ...
Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter: Muddy Waters: Hard Again (Blue Sky)
Review by Gary Kenton, Circus, 28 April 1977
IT IS NEVER an easy task to record a legend. What, after all, could Muddy Waters — at the age of 60 — do on ...
Muddy Waters: The Blues Had A Baby… And They Called It Rock 'N' Roll
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 April 1977
"THE KIND OF BLUES I play there's no money in it. You makes a good livin' when you gets established like I did, but you ...
Valerie Wilmer: "Art is a luxury. Music is a functional thing."
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
Photographer-writer VALERIE WILMER opts for unlearning and the sovereignty of the heart ...
John Mayall: Falkshaus, Zurich
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
AS A TALENT scout John Mayall is a shrewd, calculating operator with few equals. Now with 26 albums to his credit and almost as many ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
Taj Me In The Morning ...
Bonnie Raitt (1977) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 28 July 1977
This is a transcript of John's audio interview with Bonnie. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
John Lee Hooker: Interview: John Lee Hooker, October 1977, at the Main Point, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, October 1977
JOHN LEE HOOKER was one of my all-time favourite blues singers. This interview was done between shows in the basement of the Main Point, a ...
The Darts: Darts: Darts (Magnet)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
THEY PROBABLY won't thank me for saying so, but there's no getting around the fact that there are marked – if only coincidental – similarities ...
ZZ Hill: ZZ and The Making Of A Soul Classic
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 3 January 1978
'Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It' is one of '77's most soulful sides. David Nathan talks to ZZ Hill about his earlier days ...
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
Although he paid a lot of dues — with Korner, Bond, Mayall, Colosseum and a handful of Rolling Stones — veteran R 'n' B tenorman ...
Johnny Winter, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters: I'm Ready
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
"If you're watching me and Johnny Winter, the show is MEANT to be in black and white." ...
Professor Longhair: Childe Harold, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 25 February 1978
LISTENING TO Roy Byrd, also known as Professor Longhair and playing at the Childe Harold through Sunday, it is almost necessary to hear between the ...
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
HALFWAY through, this chaotic gig had all the makings of one of the Great Disasters Of Our Time. ...
Professor Longhair: Late Riser
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 22 March 1978
Mick Brown talks to a survivor ...
Eric Clapton: Return Of The Reluctant Hero
Interview by John Pidgeon, Creem, April 1978
THERE WAS once a movie actor who, having made his name as a heavy, took to playing the romantic lead. But no matter how often ...
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1 April 1978
FATS DOMINO is and always has been the most unlikely looking bona fide Fifties rock and roller you can imagine. Where Elvis, Eddie and Gene ...
Professor Longhair: I'm A Little Rowdy With My Playing
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 April 1978
Professor Longhair talks to Max Jones ...
Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter: Muddy Waters: The Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 6 April 1978
Muddy Waters' mojo is still in working order ...
Professor Longhair: Live On The Queen Mary (EMI Harvest SHSP 4086)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 April 1978
LONGHAIR THE pianist, singer, songwriter and potent entertainer is something of a New Orleans phenomenon. He is (as he said himself in a recent MM ...
Professor Longhair: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
I HAVE immense admiration for Professor Longhair. ...
Alexis Korner: Korner in Blues
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 April 1978
IT IS WHOLLY fitting that the guest-list for Alexis Korner's 50th birthday party this week at Pinewood Studios should have read like a Who's Who ...
Muddy Waters: I'm Ready (Blue Sky)
Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, May 1978
IT ISN'T JUST the natural process of attribution and the creative stagnation afflicting his competitors that have made Muddy Waters the premier master of his ...
Chuck Berry, Paul Gayten, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters: Paul Gayten: I knew Leonard at the Macomba...
Retrospective and Interview by John Broven, Blues Unlimited, May 1978
Paul Gayten from an interview by John Broven ...
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 6 May 1978
That was the title of one of the influential, flamboyant R'n'B man's hits, for you punks too young to remember. But nowadays, believe it or ...
The Darts: Gaumont Cinema, Southampton
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
CLIFF WHITE CRIPPLES THE STARS! (No. 3 in an exciting, if tasteless, new series) ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Red cross for the blues
Interview by Radio Pete, Rocky Mountain Musical Express, June 1978
IN 1951, A time when older country blues was making room for its rowdy, citified cousin rock n' roll, Johnny Guitar Watson cut his first ...
Rory Gallagher: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 5 June 1978
RORY GALLAGHER'S return to London, with two shows at the Hammersmith Odeon at the weekend, emphasized the sway the eternally youthful Irish guitarist holds over ...
Etta James, Jerry Wexler: Etta James: The Queen Bee of R&B
Interview by Radio Pete, Rocky Mountain Musical Express, July 1978
IT IS almost impossible to write about Etta James and avoid clichés oft used in studies of jazz and soul artists. She's been exploited. She's ...
Etta James (1978) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 12 July 1978
This is a transcription of Cliff's audio interview with Etta. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Muddy Waters: Interview with Muddy Waters at the Temple Music Festival, Ambler, PA
Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, 31 July 1978
I GUESS I FIRST heard Muddy Waters in 1965 when my brother bought The Best of Muddy Waters. ...
Buddy Guy, Junior Wells: Buddy Guy and Junior Wells: Why Are These Guys Grinning?
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
...They've been 'between contracts' since 1969, there's hardly any such thing as a black audience for their music and on their recent visit to London ...
Smiley Lewis: I Hear You Knocking
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
WHEN FATS Domino first bounced out of the bayou with his bronze voice, gold rings, pumping piano and infectious grin, half a pace behind him ...
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
AT ABOUT 3 pm the Sunday before last, one American rhythm 'n' blues pioneer and six British beer 'n' peanut-circuit musicians got together for the ...
Etta James: Soul Punk Etta: Superstardom the Hard Way on a Dollar a Day
Profile and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
"THANKSGIVING DAY in November will be my silver anniversary: 25 years since I cut my first record and I haven't become a superstar yet. It ...
Profile and Interview by Cliff White, Black Music, October 1978
Etta James, a star of this year's Montreux Jazz Festival, visited London after her show there en route for her American home. While here, she ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
SKIP JAMES scares me. ...
B.B. King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
IF ONLY B.B.King had let his fingers, and not his likeable but oversized ego, do the talking then I would have enjoyed his return to ...
B.B. King: BB King: The Las Vegas Tax Deductible Blues
Interview by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, 28 October 1978
PETE WINGFIELD played with B.B.King seven years ago, on one of the guitarist's less celebrated albums. They met up again last week – only this ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Keystone, Berkeley
Live Review by j. poet, Creem, November 1978
AS THE FRIDAY nite police cars go drooling thru the streets the air inside Keystone, Berkeley is thick enough to cut with a chain-saw. The ...
Fats Domino: Interview: Fats Domino, November 9, 1978, Palumbo's Restaurant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, 9 November 1978
IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to escape Fats Domino's music growing up. 'Blueberry Hill', 'I'm Walkin'," and 'Walkin' To New Orleans' were staples of Top 40 radio. ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Move It On Over
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
THE BOTTLENECK that ate Delaware returns to your hearts and turntables: no steps forward, no steps back. Move it On Over is this or any ...
Roy Brown: Cheapest Price In Town
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
ALTHOUGH AT 53 going on 25, Roy Brown is relatively young for an R&B star who first recorded just after the war, there's no getting ...
B.B. King: An Audience With The King
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 14 November 1978
The King in question is Mr. B.B. King and in this exclusive interview he talks to John Abbey about the future of the blues as ...
Dr. John: Interview: Dr. John (Mac Rebennack), November 14, 1978
Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, 14 November 1978
THIS INTERVIEW TOOK place on Dr. John's tour bus right before a show at the Bijou Café in downtown Philly. I'd been a fan of ...
Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 December 1978
THE OLD Testament followed by the New (also written some while ago you will recall). For once there was hardly a vacant seat by half ...
Eric Clapton: Portrait Of The Artist As A Working Man
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 9 December 1978
IT HAS OFTEN been said that one of Eric Clapton's major problems over the years has been to find his own identity, a role in ...
Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, 9 December 1978
The late Irish blues-rocker talks about the struggles involved in recording Photo-Finish; about breaking his thumb and getting a new drummer; about the recording process; about stagecraft and songwriting; about his admiration for Bo Diddley and his experience in the studio with Jerry Lee Lewis.
File format: mp3; file size: 32.6mb, interview length: 33' 54" sound quality: ****
Muddy Waters: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
FAST TALK/hard bargain: as Mr Muddy Waters was spending a few days of his 64th year in Great Britain in the faintly congruous role of ...
Arnold Shaw: Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues (Collier)
Book Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 28 December 1978
Birth of Rhythm, Death of the Blues ...
Dr. John, Lloyd Price: Ace Records: Dealing Aces Vols. 1 and 2
Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, 13 January 1979
THESE TWO volumes, together with the indispensable Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns collection in the same series (Ace CH 9) represent the first time ...
Albert Collins: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 20 January 1979
CONFESSION: WHEN it comes to blues I don't know shit from sugar. But I know what I like. Albert Collins hails from Texas, cut his ...
Albert Collins: Ice Pickin' (Sonet)
Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, March 1979
IN THE game of guitar-hero one-upmanship during the blues boom days of the mid-late Sixties, Albert Collins' was the name to zap 'em with. Through ...
The Inmates: City Rhythms and Jailhouse Blues
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
BILL HURLEY, lead singer with The Inmates, was definitely built for the job. Bill Hurley clocks in six foot solid from the ground, a hard ...
Live Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, 17 March 1979
Diddley grandaddy ...
Albert Collins, George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Thoroughly Bluesy George
Live Review by Bill Millar, Melody Maker, 24 March 1979
George Thorogood, Albert Collins: Electric Ballroom, London ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: George Thorogood: The Delaware Destroyer!
Profile and Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, April 1979
IF RECENT REPORTS are to be believed, Beserkley Records may be in some kind of difficulties, at least as far as their English office is ...
The Blues Brothers: The Horrifying True Story!
Special Feature by Robert Duncan, Creem, April 1979
(or, Ain't Got No Love, Don't Want No Starch) ...
Live Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 19 April 1979
The J. Geils Band puts on the ritz ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Lone Star Café, New York NY
Live Review by Davitt Sigerson, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979
Two nights of Bland magic ...
Professor Longhair: An Interview with Professor Longhair
Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, 10 June 1979
MAKE NO MISTAKE about it, New Orleans R&B would not have been what it is without Professor Longhair, Henry Roeland Byrd, and there are some ...
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 16 June 1979
CLEANHEAD MAY have lost his hair, but whisps of Charlie's Wig cluster about his alto. In fact, everything about his performance preserves the flavour of ...
B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, BB King, Chuck Berry: Woke Up This Mornin'…
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1979
...Blues Giants All Round My Bed. NICK KENT meets the Three Wise Men of the Blues. ...
B.B. King: B.B King: Reds and Blues
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 31 July 1979
"I learnt the true meaning of freedom...But I also believe that music is the international denominator for bringing people together" ...
Wynonie Harris: Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll — Wynonie Harris: The Man Who Shook Down The Devil
Retrospective by Nick Tosches, Creem, August 1979
WE KNOW that rock 'n' roll, like panty hose and the sea, was not a human invention; that it was the work of the Holy ...
Taj Mahal: Recycling the Blues
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
"I'm goin to the river goin to sit down on the ground/I'm goin to the river goin to sit down on the ground/And let the ...
The Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds (Takoma TAK 7068) ***
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 25 August 1979
IT WILL not have escaped your attention that America is one beast of an extensive country. As far as it concerns rock and roll music ...
John Fahey: The Passage Of Time In Open G And Other Stories
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979
A FEW WEEKS ago, in the middle of a full week for me and a nice Saturday for Shepherds Bush, I met John Fahey, who ...
New Orleans: Crescent City's Other Legacy
Report by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 15 September 1979
NEW ORLEANS IS widely recognized as the birthplace of jazz, but the Crescent City has also played a part in rock 'n' roll. Its rhythm ...
Louis Jordan: Hep And The Art Of Alto-Sax Repair
Retrospective by Nick Tosches, Creem, October 1979
IN THE 1940's, there were two black singers who crossed over from Race Records (as Billboard called its bluegum charts until 1949, when the phrase Rhythm & ...
The Clash, Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Ritchie Coliseum, College Park MD
Live Review by Joe Sasfy, The Washington Post, 1 October 1979
ENGLAND'S CLASH brought their version of rock's civil war to Ritchie Coliseum Saturday night. By the time they ended their second encore, a hypersonic invitation ...
The Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Bayou, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 1 October 1979
THE FABULOUS Thunderbirds, who appeared at the Bayou last night, recall an era when the emphasis of rhythm and blues was definitely on the blues, ...
Overview by John Pidgeon, Melody Maker, 8 December 1979
Okay, so there isn't an R&B revival around the London clubs – but there are certainly a whole lot of bands borrowing their material from ...
Queen Ida: Zydeco Is Her Realm
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 1980
IN THE LAST 18 months, zydeco musician Queen Ida Guillory has spent more than 250 days on the road. Contributed some background music to Francis ...
Cecil Gant: Unsung Heroes of Rock'n'Roll: Cecil Gant — Owl Stew, and All That
Retrospective by Nick Tosches, Creem, January 1980
CECIL GANT was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1915. His early years are a faded stain, of which nothing is known, nor probably ever will ...
Muddy Waters: The Tide's Turning for Muddy Waters
Profile and Interview by Michael Goldberg, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 January 1980
ON THEIR first visit to America, back in 1964, the Beatles were asked by reporters what they wanted to see most. "Muddy Waters," they replied ...
Bobby Rush: Rush Hour (Philly International Import)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 February 1980
WITH A FEW honourable exceptions, the satin sounds of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's branded Philadelphia International label usually leave this writer's mojo idling. But ...
B.B. King: Thirty years on the road
Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 21 February 1980
LOS ANGELES — B.B. King sat quietly in the American Bandstand dressing room, sipping a diet soda and staring at the words to a song ...
Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, 23 February 1980
THERE WAS THIS company in Philadelphia called Sherjam and in the winter of 1979-1980 and maybe the following year they put on a series of ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Fab Funbirds
Profile and Interview by John Pidgeon, Melody Maker, 15 March 1980
Playing R & B isn't a passport to instant fame and wealth. The Fabulous Thunderbirds play R&B that makes everyone go wild. JOHN PIDGEON caught them in ...
B.B. King: B B King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 April 1980
THE QUALITY of B. B. King is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven...and I only wish Bill Shakespeare (what a fine ...
Jimmy Witherspoon: Blues Alive
Interview by Clinton Walker, RAM, 30 May 1980
THE PLAIN and simple truth is that the blues just ain't terribly fashionable in this day and age of passing fads like the mod, rockabilly ...
The Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Good Word
Profile and Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 20 June 1980
THANK GOD, I guess, for reality. ...
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 1980
DESTRUCTION OF THE BLUES ...
Billy "The Kid" Emerson: Billy 'The Kid' Emerson: Red Hot And Still Rocking
Profile and Interview by Martin Hawkins, Melody Maker, 19 July 1980
MARTIN HAWKINS talks to the 'resurrected' Billy 'The Kid' Emerson, a blues legend in his own lifetime. ...
Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 25 July 1980
THEY'RE EVERYWHERE, and it is beginning to feel a little bit like old home week as they get together to show they're still around. Ruth ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: Blue(S) Metal Flake on a Big White Fab T-Bird
Report and Interview by Don Waller, New York Rocker, November 1980
(Cue music: Juke Boy Bonner's 'Runnin' Shoes') ...
Ry Cooder: Vinyl Choice: Ry Cooder
Interview by Mick Brown, The Sunday Times Magazine, November 1980
RY COODER was once described as a "curator of American music". A fair assessment, but it hardly captures the joy and affection of his modern ...
Retrospective by Bill Millar, The History of Rock, 1981
FROM BLUES SHOUTER TO BLACK ENTREPRENEUR ...
Retrospective by Bill Millar, The History of Rock, 1981
Crude, powerful, loud… and the racing pulse of rock ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Trouser Press, February 1981
GEORGE THOROGOOD sits in a hotel room in western Massachusetts, watching television. It's a bitter cold November night; in a couple of hours he will ...
Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Mike Bloomfield 1943-1981
Obituary by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 February 1981
SLUMPED DEAD in his car seat from an apparent drug overdose was Mike Bloomfield, 37, arguably the greatest white blues guitarist of his generation. He ...
Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions: Phast Phreddie Finds His Calling
Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 27 February 1981
PHAST PHREDDIE, one of rock & roll's die-hard enthusiasts and actual true believers in the power of American jungle music to transform workaday stiffs to ...
Dave Van Ronk: Van Ronk Remembers
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 March 1981
Karl Dallas discusses asthma, cigarettes and the nature of music with blues veteran Dave Van Ronk ...
Obituary by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 16 April 1981
DEATH HAS no mercy. It's a blues line that applies to everyone, naturally, just as it did to Bob Hite, 38, leader and "Bear" extraordinaire ...
Sam Charters: Chains that Gave Birth to the Blues
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 6 June 1981
Mick Brown reports how the musicologist Sam Charters learned to stop feeling guilty about slavery ...
Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon: Roxy, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 12 September 1981
WATERS SHORTAGE ...
Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive: Savoy, New York NY
Live Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, October 1981
WHITE ROCK musicians are notorious for "borrowing" from blacks. Were it not for the inspiration of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, James Brown and so ...
The Neville Brothers, Professor Longhair: New Orleans: "The city that time forgot"
Report by Don Snowden, New York Rocker, October 1981
One City And Its Romance With R&B ...
James Cotton: Hop Singh's, Marina Del Rey CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 26 January 1982
COTTON'S BLUES AT HOP SINGH'S ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: George Thorogood Cuts Through The USA
Interview by Dave Zimmer, Creem, February 1982
YOU COULD see it coming. About a hundred yards off, an old Checker Marathon cab was roaring along the asphalt, eating up the broken white ...
Tav Falco's Panther Burns: Some Smoke Raises Burns Panther
Report and Interview by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, February 1982
A MEMPHIS BAND TAKES ROCKABILLY'S SKELETONS OUT OF THE CLOSET ...
Walter "Shakey" Horton: The Blues, for Walter Horton
Report by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 25 February 1982
WHILE MAGIC Dick of the J. Geils Band was blowing a mean harmonica for 15,000 people at Boston Garden Monday night, Sugar Ray Norcia was ...
Bo Diddley: University of East Anglia, Norwich
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982
BO DIDDLEY, as we all know, spans a 27 year career permutating a single riff to a sole conclusion: he is Bo Diddley! ...
Dr. John: Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack (Clean Cuts)
Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, March 1982
AS THE TITLE implies, this is Dr. John being himself, stretching out on the piano and doing what comes naturally. At the same time, there's ...
Eric Clapton: Farther Up The Road
Interview by John Hutchinson, Musician, May 1982
FEW MUSICIANS have been more misunderstood, more overburdened with great expectations and more erroneously worshipped than Eric Clapton. ...
Dr. John: Dr John: On Becoming Mac Rebennack
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, June 1982
The legend of Dr. John and his gumbo ragtime voodoo funk medicine, as told by the man who invented him, lived him and let him ...
B.B. King: Love Me Tender (MCA)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
"HE HAS one musical ambition as yet unfulfilled: to make a series of classic albums. These consist of one album with a big band, one ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: The Best Of (MCA)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
FIRST time I've heard Bobby Bland and it's obvious – the man's a star. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
THE BLUES speaks haltingly at first, haltingly and quietly in a darkened room. The curtains are drawn to shut out whatever passes for daylight during ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Millie Jackson: Millie Jackson, Bobby Bland: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 1982
THE WAY Millie Jackson carries on in concert would make Bette Midler blush. Jackson, who sprang to prominence in the early '70s with a batch ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Visitors: George Thorogood
Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 14 October 1982
IF GEORGE Thorogood didn't exist, a true-blue rock & roll fan would be tempted to invent him. The guy obviously believes Chuck Berry created the ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Thorogood's Blues-Rock Has Made Big Leagues
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 17 December 1982
IN 1980, GEORGE Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers, were really gathering momentum with their traditional brand of blues-based rock. Their second album, Move It On ...
Retrospective by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 23 December 1982
LET'S COME clean and confess that nowadays Christmas has about as much to do with baby Jesus' birthday as E.T. does with the Pope. Consumerism ...
Charles Brown: Brown Christmas
Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 30 December 1982
THERE ARE a lot of ways to tell when it's time for Santa's sleigh to make its annual orbit. In black nightclubs across the country, ...
Book Excerpt by John Tobler, Stuart Grundy, The Guitar Greats (BBC Books), 1983
IN CONSIDERING the dozens of potential candidates for this book, one essential ingredient was a representative of the blues/R&B heritage, for without the inspiration of ...
Profile by Tony Russell, The History of Rock, 1983
Riley King was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, on 16 September 1925. For a young black boy growing up amid the poverty and racial segregation ...
Lightnin' Hopkins: Lightnin' Strikes
Retrospective by Tony Russell, The History of Rock, 1983
When the great bluesman Big Bill Broonzy died in 1958 there were some who obituarised him as the last of the blues singers. ...
T-Bone Walker: Rare Blues and a Worldwide Reputation
Retrospective by Tony Russell, The History of Rock, 1983
T-BONE WALKER, had he been that sort of man, might have carried a chip on his shoulder the size of the Chrysler Building. ...
Willie Dixon: Hop Singh's, Marina del Rey CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 8 February 1983
DIXON HOLDS COURT AT HOP SINGH'S ...
Retrospective by Nick Tosches, Creem, March 1983
IT WAS TOWARDS the end of 1951 that Johnny Otis (born John Veliotes; he found it gainful to pass as black), the 30-year-old Savoy recording ...
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 May 1983
CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY SALUTES THE MAN WHO ELECTRIFIED THE BLUES AND PUT THE RHYTHM INTO ROCK'N'ROLL ...
Muddy Waters 1915-1983 — Let's Say He Was A Gentleman
Obituary by Dave Marsh, Record, July 1983
IT IS ALL but impossible to concisely summarize Muddy Waters' achievements, much less get a handle on mourning him. If Muddy were merely the first ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds: They're Tearing It Up Again!
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, July 1983
THIS IS WHAT we call the irresponsible rock crit at his worst, enjoying the company of the band he's talking to so much he doesn't ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Texas Flood (Epic BFE 3S734)
Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 1983
ELECTRIC STORM ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 28 July 1983
IDA GUILLORY is the nearest thing Louisiana has to offer to a housewife superstar. A 55-year-old grandmother, Queen Ida had spent almost her entire life ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Backbeat: Stevie Ray Vaughan
Interview by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, August 1983
His first album is just hitting the streets, but Vaughan and his blues guitar are already well-known among rock's elite. ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble: Texas Flood (Epic AL 38734)
Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, August 1983
STEVIE RAY Vaughan's guitar playing is designed to elicit gasps: Every cluster of notes is an invitation to amazement. This multiple-climax approach could easily prove ...
Dr. John: Dr John: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Max Bell, The Times, 5 August 1983
DESPITE AN unfortunate illness, rumours of Dr John's early retirement have been greatly exaggerated. As if to emphasize his recent recovery New Orleans's favourite white ...
Clifton Chenier: Club Lingerie, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 6 August 1983
CHENIER GETS THE LINGERIE ON ITS FEET ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble: Palace Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 24 August 1983
A TOWERING DISPLAY OF BLUESICIANSHIP ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Double Your Trouble, Double Your Fun
Profile by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 25 August 1983
AS THE irascible rhythm & blues guru of New Orleans, Ernie K-Doe, is wont to say when seized by a philosophical spirit, "It's not understanding ...
Profile by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 8 September 1983
IF MUSICAL pioneer Roy Milton had never put soul to sound, we might all have had to become insurance salesmen. And though that may be ...
Albert King: Full Circle For Albert King
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 11 September 1983
Albert King is no stranger to passing pop fashions. ...
Slim Gaillard: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
FOR ABOUT the tenth time that evening, Slim Gaillard spotted a camera pointing in his direction and stopped a song mid-way to pose. "Yes, I'm ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: The Venue, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
SIX MONTHS ago Stevie Ray Vaughan couldn't have sold out a telephone box east of the Azores. Now, a comfortably full Venue has gathered to ...
ZZ Hill: Z.Z. Hill Is Happy He's Got The Blues
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 2 October 1983
Z.Z. Hill's most recent blues albums have surpassed the sales of those recorded by bigger names. ...
Robert "Bumps" Blackwell (1983)
Interview by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages audio, 15 October 1983
Songwriter and producer 'Bumps' Blackwell looks back at his illustrious career in pop and R&B: on Sam Cooke and 'You Send Me', Specialty Records and the West Coast indie scene, and at great length about his major discovery Little Richard.
File format: mp3; file size: 41.3mb, interview length: 45' 08" sound quality: ****
James Booker, 1939-1983 — "Piano Prince" of New Orleans
Obituary by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 1 December 1983
JAMES BOOKER cut a broad swath. As a piano-playing fool, he had no equal in New Orleans — which is somewhat like saying there wasn't ...
James Booker: R&B's Invisible Great
Obituary by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 4 December 1983
The late James Booker fit comfortably into the New Orleans R&B piano tradition of Fats Domino but he also was a contemporary equivalent of the ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Life For Jay Hawkins Is Still A Scream
Profile and Interview by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 25 December 1983
"MAN, I WAS 20 years ahead of my time," says rocker Screamin' Jay Hawkins, whose early '50s recording of 'I Put a Spell on You' ...
B.B. King: A True Blues Christmas
Memoir by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 29 December 1983
HOW MANY memories can one man have? My own mind often feels like an overworked runway at LAX, with a million details buzz-bombing the brain, ...
Alexis Korner: Man of the Blues
Obituary by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 2 January 1984
THE DEATH of Alexis Korner at the age of 55 from cancer marks the closing of a chapter in British music. Korner's role as one ...
Alexis Korner: Blues For Mr Korner
Obituary by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
BOB FISHER, who worked with Alexis Komer on a TV history of rock, pays tribute to the man who was the chief architect of British ...
Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey: New Orleans R&B Hits The Club Lingerie
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 15 January 1984
Bill Bentley and Harold Battiste hope to trigger renewed local interest in New Orleans music at Club Lingerie. ...
Dr John: The Brightest Smile In Town (Demon)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 4 February 1984
THERE WAS an interview with Mick Jagger in some magazine or other recently in which the ageing plutocrat titteringly told of how Dr John had ...
Guide by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 12 February 1984
PERSONNEL: Brooks, lead guitar/vocals. Dion Payton, guitar. Tom Giblin, keyboards. Lafayette Evans, bass. Earl Howell, drums. ...
B.B. King: King B Stings: B.B. King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
A GIANT of a man and a giant of the post-war blues boom, B.B. King is the figure most prominently placed to express the essential ...
Roy Head: Club Lingerie, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 1984
YEAAHHH, MAH man. As a semi-legend, Joan Rivers has nothing on Roy Head, whose '65 smash 'Treat Her Right' remains one of the toughest, most ...
Ruth Brown: Miss (Ruth) Brown To You
Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 28 June 1984
IT HURTS the heart to have to drive by the remains of the Parisian Room, festering in the summer sun like some fenced-off sore on ...
Big Mama Thornton: Willie Mae Thornton: Big Mama to the end
Obituary by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 16 August 1984
WILLIE MAE Thornton, called Big Mama by friends and fans, sang the sort of boisterous blues that made one want to roll around in the ...
Big Mama Thornton: Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton 1926-1984
Obituary by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
ONE OF the founding careers in rock and roll ended on Wednesday, July 25, when a heart attack took the life of Willie Mae ‘Big ...
Robert Cray Band: Bad Influence (Demon)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
LOOKS LIKE a blues album, but this is some of the tightest, earthiest soul music of the '80s. A beautiful record, originally out on the ...
Preview by Clinton Walker, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 5 October 1984
MOSE ALLISON is the sort of artist who is less well-known himself than the influence he has exerted. His songs have been recorded by acts ...
Little Richard, Earl Palmer, Bruce Springsteen: Earl Palmer: Palmer Days
Profile by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 1 November 1984
WAY BACK when rock & roll radio was first coming into its own, stuffing listener's ears with the likes of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Fats ...
Bull Moose Jackson: A Bull Moose Party
Profile by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 30 December 1984
Personnel: Jackson, vocals, backed by the Flashcats: Cindy Sotak, vocals, guitar; Dave Kent, vocals, guitar; Pete Loria, trumpet; Phil Brontz, saxophone; Jim Fanning, bass; Carl ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 1985
The legendary New Orleans studio owner and producer talks about Crescent City race relations; NOLA vs. Memphis; the indie record business and, at length, about Aaron Neville, Professor Longhair, and the inability of the city's artists to sustain careers.
File format: mp3; file size: 44.7mb, interview length: 48' 47" sound quality: ****
Overview by Pete Grendysa, Collecting Magazine, 1985
IT WOULD BE HARD to imagine a stranger combination of factors than those that brought about the formation of rhythm & blues. Crucial to the ...
Magic Sam: Bluesman Magic Sam: His Legend Lives On
Retrospective by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 6 January 1985
WHAT IF HE HADN'T died so young? Among rock fans, that kind of speculation usually centers on icons like Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Holly. Among ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 15 February 1985
The legendary session drummer looks back at his time in Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio backing the likes of Fats Domino and Little Richard, through his time in the L.A. studios where he played behind just about everybody!
File format: mp3; file size: 15.2mb, interview length: 16' 36" sound quality: ***
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 5 March 1985
Little Richard on the demonic nature of Rock'n'Roll of which, nonetheless, he is King; on how he came out of the American South; on Otis Redding and much more. Hear him sing!
File format: mp3 File size: 50.3mb Interview length: 52' 23", sound quality: ****
Little Richard (1985) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 5 March 1985
This is a transcript of Barney's audio interview with Little Richard. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Roy Buchanan: Dominion, London
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 7 March 1985
TO THE majority of rock enthusiasts, Roy Buchanan may be remembered as little more than an American guitarist who achieved one minor British chart success ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard (1985)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 8 March 1985
The chief Midnighter talks about his 'Twist' royalty legal entanglements, a loan from the notorious Morris Levy and his current musical activities.
File format: mp3; file size: 17.7mb, interview length: 20' 29" sound quality: * (phoner)
Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Can Blue Boys Play The Whites Revisited?
Retrospective by Don Snowden, The Boston Phoenix, 19 March 1985
ANYONE WHO TAKES the crapped-out lethargy of his recent output as proof positive that Eric Clapton never played a worth while lick in his life ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, April 1985
FROM THE beginning, the real "news" about rock & roll has been the way it's ransacked, revitalized, and rearranged the musical styles that gave birth ...
Otis Rush Singing The Blues About Obscurity
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 17 April 1985
THE IMAGE OF THE under-appreciated blues artist laboring in obscurity has almost become a cliche, but Otis Rush genuinely fits that description. ...
Robert Cray: The Robert Cray Band: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Bill Black, Sounds, 20 April 1985
ROBERT CRAY is to blues what Wynton Marsalis is to jazz. That is, a young, mercurial talent who's arrived on the scene with a fresh, ...
Slim Harpo: The Best of Slim Harpo (Rhino Records)
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1985
THIS IS actually a 1983 release, but I just bought it a few weeks ago; it took two years to find, so you might want ...
Johnny Copeland, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Stevie Ray Vaughan: Montreux Jazz Festival, Casino de Montreux
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
AS WITH limpid Blue Eyes there's always a ready-made market for or'nery-looking electric guitar slingers. The sight of devotees in the audience holding aloft large ...
Robert Cray: The Robert Cray Band: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 3 August 1985
Cray of Sunshine ...
Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Knight: Jimi Hendrix: Curtis Knight's Encounter With The Divine Light
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, September 1985
As told to Gene Santoro ...
Linda Hopkins Sticks To The Gospel Truth
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 13 September 1985
GOING FROM the glitzy glamour of opening four shows for Joan Rivers to the down-home atmosphere of the Long Beach Blues Festival this Saturday afternoon ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1985
The New Orleans master talks about the music of his youth; the Second Line; the piano and Professor Longhair; black music in the south; the musicians he worked with, and what makes New Orleans music different.
File format: mp3; file size: 36.3mb, interview length: 39' 36" sound quality: ***
Ry Cooder, Frank Frost: Ry Cooder's Crossroads Blues
Report and Interview by Tony Scherman, Rolling Stone, 10 October 1985
THERE'S NO MONEY IN BEING A ROOTS-MUSIC VIRTUOSO, BUT THIS GUITARIST'S CAREER TURNED THE CORNER WHEN HE STARTED WRITING SOUNDTRACKS. ...
Robert Cray Bringing The Blues Up To Date
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 17 October 1985
YOU CAN UNDERSTAND why Robert Cray felt uncomfortable about the stir he created among blues fans two years ago. The arrival of an accomplished young ...
Etta James: Her Voice Can Get A Hold On You
Interview by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 26 October 1985
"WHAT'S HAPPENING now is that all the kids who grew up listening to me on their transistor radios in the '50s and '60s are now ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1985
Speaking at the Friars Club in midtown Manhattan, the great Atlantic producer recalls the black bands he loved as a kid and talks about Louis Jordan, Tiny Bradshaw and the birth of R&B. "Wex" also holds forth on the growth of urban black America; the influence of gospel on black pop; the importance of Western Swing; the other labels and white entrepreneurs involved in black music; discovering Stax and Muscle Shoals in the dog days of the early '60s; tying the knot with Stax... and getting back in the studio with Wilson Pickett.
ile format: mp3; file size: 43.7mb, interview length: 45' 30" sound quality: ****
John Lee Hooker: King of the Boogie
Interview by Dave Zimmer, Buzz, November 1985
JOHN LEE Hooker is a prideful man. When he looks back over his lengthy blues career – more than five decades old now – he ...
Johnny Winter: The Bluesman Do Play Rock and Roll...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1985
...and Cajun-style, and country ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Hip Deep in the Blues
Review and Interview by John Swenson, Record, December 1985
STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN IS ABOUT NOTHING BUT MUSIC, WHICH SETS SOUL TO SOUL DRAMATICALLY APART FROM ITS COHABITANTS ON THE 1985 ALBUM CHARTS ...
Big Maybelle: Blues, Candy & Big Maybelle
Sleeve notes by Dan Nooger, Savoy Jazz, 1986
BIG MAYBELLE has been called a legend, one of black music's tragic figures and one of the greatest blues shouters of all time. And she ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, January 1986
If you consider yourself a vibrato-bar player, you owe a huge debt to Lonnie Mack ...
Dr. Ross: Blues – What The Doctor Ordered
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 16 January 1986
SAM PHILLIPS' Sun Records has a special place in rock history as the musical birthplace of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: Members Only (Malaco)
Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 1 February 1986
MEMBERS' ENCLOSURE ...
Review by Max Bell, The Times, 1 February 1986
Irish quirkiness and venom ...
Roy Buchanan on turning down the Stones and being flattered by Beck
Interview by Steve Newton, The Georgia Straight, 7 February 1986
NOT MANY guitarists can say they were invited to join the Rolling Stones. Not many can say they turned the offer down either. But Roy ...
B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf: Various Artists Sun Records: The Blues Years 1950 — 1956
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 February 1986
"The blues is a chair, not a design for a chair, or a better chair… it is the first chair. It is a chair for ...
Interview by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 February 1986
The 'Louie Louie' man on pre-rock'n'roll R&B, the relationship between black music and white singers and fans, the double entendre in black music, indies v the majors, and that song.
File format: mp3; file size: 62.2mb, interview length: 1h 07' 55" sound quality: *****
Johnny Adams, Earl King: Earl King, Johnny Adams: Nugget Club, Long Beach CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 3 March 1986
KING: ORIGINAL LICKS ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles
Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 4 March 1986
GEORGE THOROGOOD & the Destroyers have added a few wrinkles, but the quartet hasn't changed much since Thorogood first danced on local tabletops seven years ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Denise LaSalle, The Rose Brothers: Saenger Theatre, New Orleans
Live Review by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 31 May 1986
THE DEEPER you go into the heart of them ol' United States, the deeper the soul, and way down yonder in N'awlins this kind of ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, June 1986
FROM RIB JOINTS TO MOVIES, THE T-BIRDS MAKE IT TOUGH ENOUGH ...
Charles Brown: Music Machine, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 1986
BROWN: SMOKY BLUES ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, July 1986
DO YOU have any aliases? KIM WILSON (vocals, harmonica): I was Galita Slim once, as in Galita, California. And I was also Chesterfield King. ...
Nick Cave, Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Screamin' Jay Hawkins: The Man Who Ate Nick Cave
Interview by Lynden Barber, New Musical Express, 19 July 1986
The bats screech, and inside a rockin' coffin, something stirs...up fly the nails and out pops SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS, longtime voodoo swamp beast back to ...
Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 1986
"THE BARRELHOUSE used to be right down there on the northeast corner of Wilmington," Johnny Otis said Saturday afternoon, referring to the nightclub – a ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Greek Theater, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 1986
YA-HOO! STEVIE VAUGHAN AT GREEK ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, August 1986
LATELY A lot of folks have been going back to school again studying the roots of the music they're making so they can grow their ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Tuff Enuff, Were They Actual Meat
Interview by Karen Schlosberg, Creem, August 1986
THE FABULOUS Thunderbirds have been something of a musical anomaly; their current well-deserved success, after four albums and roughly 12 years of playing steel-packed, blues-drenched ...
Howlin' Wilf & The Vee-Jays: Cry Wilf! (Big Beat)
Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 23 August 1986
YOU COULD be mistaken into thinking this record is a joke. From the name, the nearly-trendy old-fashioned line-up (guitar and skirt, stand-up bass and cap, ...
Jimmy Johnson: Johnson At Peace With His Music
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 19 September 1986
LARGE EGOS are common in the music world, but Jimmy Johnson is one performer who doesn't believe in loudly trumpeting the virtues of his music. ...
Little Milton: Long Beach Blues Festival, Long Beach
Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 22 September 1986
IF SOMEONE HAD distributed a checklist following Little Milton's set Saturday afternoon – rating his performance for singing, instrumental solos, arrangements, set pacing, use of ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 4 October 1986
A COUPLE OF minutes before the lights came on were almost worth the price of admission. Already steaming with the sweat of an audience that ...
B.B. King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 October 1986
AFTER 30-ODD years in the trade, in which he's travelled millions of miles and used up lord knows how many sets of guitar strings, it's ...
Little Richard: This Man Invented Rock'n'roll
Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 22 October 1986
Little Richard was wearing make-up and singing pervy songs and shocking audiences before Prince or Sid Vicious or Martin Degville were even born. "I'm a living legend!" ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, November 1986
Ask the besuited patriarch or the bedenimed young turk. Charles Shaar Murray talks to B.B. King and Robert Cray. ...
Joe Louis Walker: Dark Is The Night (High Tone)
Review by Don Snowden, The Boston Phoenix, 11 November 1986
OVER THE YEARS, persistent claims that a blues renaissance is at hand have sunk to the credibility of the little boy who cried howling wolf. ...
Sam Charters on Folkways Records' Moe Asch (1987)
Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1987
Charters talks about his friend, colleague and mentor Moe Asch: about starting to release his field recordings through Folkways; the importance of the label; the Harry Smith anthology; Sam Goody's support for the label; the label's bankruptcy and tax problems; Asch's brilliance, but being a difficult man to work with; the magnificent catalogue, and the scene surrounding the label.
File format: mp3; file size: 56.8mb, interview length: 59' 08" sound quality: **
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 10 January 1987
300 nights a year, Lucille-loving BB KING is the world's premier blues ambassador, still carrying the standard for black heroes long gone. GAVIN MARTIN swings ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard: The Original Twister
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 20 January 1987
B&S TALKS TO ONE OF THE TRUE UNSUNG HEROES ...
Joe Louis Walker: Blues With A Gospel Tint
Profile by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 25 January 1987
Band: Joe Louis Walker & the Boss Talkers.Personnel: Walker, guitar and vocals; Kevin Zuffi, keyboards; Henry Oden, bass; Sieve Griffith, drums. ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, February 1987
Arhoolie Records' Chris Strachwitz is Still Finding Great Music in Out-of-the-Way Places ...
Joseph Spence: The King Of Sling
Discography by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, April 1987
THE VERY bedrock of an entire school of folk and rock guitar is the idiosyncratic work of Bahamanian guitar great Joseph Spence. ...
Robert Cray: New Twist On The Blues
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 26 April 1987
"IT'S REALLY FUNNY now, because when you're really down and out, nothing comes to you," reflected Robert Cray. "But when things start going for you, ...
Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Paul Butterfield 1942-1987
Obituary by uncredited writer, Rolling Stone, 18 June 1987
ON MAY 4TH, bluesman Paul Butterfield was found dead in his North Hollywood, California, apartment. He was forty-four. Though he had been in a Pittsburgh ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan Overcomes Double Trouble: Alcohol and Drugs
Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 25 June 1987
NEXT WEDNESDAY, Stevie Ray Vaughan plays Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts, a concert co-sponsored by Miller Genuine Draft. That's about as close to ...
Charles Brown: Still Deep in the Blues
Profile and Interview by Jon Young, Musician, July 1987
"PEOPLE WHO come to see me play say, 'Are you Charles Brown or are you his son? After all these years, you should be walking ...
Albert Collins: Town And Country Club, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 18 July 1987
LADIES AND gentlemen, it's showtime for the blues. Which means that everybody in the band gets a solo and the crowd get a chance to ...
Overview by John Morthland, High Fidelity, August 1987
The rehabilitation of the accordion: American pop's got a squeeze-box. ...
Profile and Interview by Mike Atherton, The Wire, September 1987
Our blues section opens with a profile of the man who put a chill on the heart of the music. ...
Snooks Eaglin: The Eclectic Blues Of Unpredictable Eaglin
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 19 September 1987
WHAT DO WASHINGTON'S Go-Go masters Trouble Funk, California instrumental rockers the Ventures and New Orleans R&B singer Smiley Lewis have in common? ...
Little Milton: Touring Little Milton Still Big On The Blues
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 2 October 1987
LITTLE MILTON'S set was the clear highlight of the 1986 Long Beach Blues Festival, and it turns out that performance was just as memorable for ...
Albert Collins Puts The Blues On The Map
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, November 1987
THE MASTER of the Telecaster. The Ice Man. The Houston Twister. The Razor Blade. Those are just a sampling of the titles that have hung ...
Living Colour: Blindfold Test: Vernon Reid
Interview by Gene Santoro, DownBeat, December 1987
VERNON REID first hit the scene in Ronald Shannon Jackson's swaggering harmolodic adventure, the Decoding Society, where his role rapidly expanded as he evolved different ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, i-D, December 1987
With the highest charting blues album ever under his belt, soulful Robert Cray is laughing as he brings "my parents' music" into the '80s, and ...
Clifton Chenier: Remembering Clifton Chenier, the King of Zydeco
Obituary by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 20 December 1987
THE ONLY WAY Angelenos could get a true glimpse of the musical world of Clifion Chenier, who died last weekend at 62, was to attend ...
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 ...
Buckwheat Zydeco Happily Plays to the Younger Set
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 1988
STANLEY (BUCKWHEAT) DURAL Jr. played organ with Clifton Chenier from 1976 to 1978 – a stint that left more than a musical mark on the ...
Interview by Roy Trakin, Rock's Backpages audio, 7 July 1988
An avuncular (if occasionally inaudible) John Lee talks about making The Healer, doing Iron Man with Pete Townshend, his roots, and the state of the world today
File format: mp3 File size: 24.9mb Interview length: 27 minutes 12 seconds Sound quality: ***
Bo Diddley, Ronnie Wood: Bo Diddley & Ron Wood: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cathi Unsworth, Sounds, 9 July 1988
AND WHAT a delightful pair they made, Bo 'Jesus' Diddley and Ron 'Not Exactly Picasso' Wood. The main difference between them, I suspect, is that ...
John Lee Hooker: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 16 July 1988
EVERYONE SHOULD have three favourite bluesmen. It should be made compulsory. Like not wearing clothes in Central London. Or scraping the sides of Porches with ...
Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 16 July 1988
Fast and furious ...
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 Johnson: Demons on the Delta
Retrospective by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 14 August 1988
Standing at the crossroadsI tried to flag a rideNobody seemed to know meEverybody passed me by.– 'Crossroads Blues' by Robert Johnson ...
Howard Armstrong: Louie Bluie Still Plucking Away at Strings of His Heart
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 20 October 1988
HOWARD ARMSTRONG may be the music world's leading 79-year-old rapscallion. ...
Bo Diddley: The Note For Note Interview
Interview by Steve Roeser, Note For Note, Summer 1988
IT IS A Monday morning in March, in the coffee shop of a hotel located on Highland, near the Hollywood Bowl. ...
Nelson George: Nelson's column
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 January 1989
American Black Music writer Nelson George talks to Andy Gill about the "death of Rhythm and Blues" ...
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, The Daily Texan, 26 January 1989
Legendary John Lee Hooker to bring Delta blues, classic tunes to Antone’s ...
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 ...
Jeff Healey Band: Jeff Healey: Have Guitar, Will Sit
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, March 1989
JEFF HEALEY is the most unorthodox guitarist since Stanley Jordan. He plays seated, most of the time, with his guitar flat on his lap. As ...
Dr. John: Dr John: In A Sentimental Mood (Warner Bros LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
FUNNY OL' game the record business! First, we have the triumphant return of the Neville Brothers to the A&M stable after a ten year absence ...
Doug Sahm: He's About A Rocker
Interview by Luke Torn, Austin Chronicle, 9 June 1989
DEFINING DOUG Sahm is no easy task. The original Texas Tornado. Doug Saldana. Sir Douglas. Talk to a dozen different people and you'll get a ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 13 July 1989
Etta James tells Barney Hoskyns about her struggles with addiction, meeting Billie Holiday, making Seven Year Itch and staying contemporary.
File format: mp3 File size: 40.4mb; Interview length: 44 minutes 5 seconds Sound quality: **
Charles Brown: The Rebirth Of Charles Brown And His Blues
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 1989
A resurgence of interest in a big man of the post-World War II era ...
Interview by Pippa Lang, What Hi-Fi?, September 1989
Don't go to record company parties or mix with producers to catch a glimpse of Robert Cray. As he tells Pippa Lang, making music is ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 October 1989
Ol' Slowhand on the perils and pressures of success; on drinking and addiction; on blues; on his romance and emotional immaturity; on those endless Albert Hall shows; on his love of the Band, Little Feat, the Stones and Jimi Hendrix; on punk rock and cricket; and on voting for Thatcher and why he still thinks racist demagogue Enoch Powell had a point...
File format: mp3; file size: 80.5mb, interview length: 1h 23' 53" sound quality: ***
John Lee Hooker: Nothin' shakes a true blue legend
Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 27 October 1989
David Sinclair talks to rugged, illiterate bluesman John Lee Hooker, at 69 sounding like a man who breakfasts on iron filings. ...
B.B. King: Mississippi Homecoming
Report and Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 30 November 1989
RILEY B. KING, a son of the Mississippi Delta and by everyone's admission but his own the King of the Blues, stands by a two-lane ...
Live Review by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, Spring 1989
Bonnie rebounds with the blues ...
Eric Clapton: Journeyman (Warner Bros.)/Homeboy (Virgin soundtrack)
Review by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 18 January 1990
SOMEBODY EXPLAIN this to me – why do so many venerable rock icons keep coming up with album or song titles that just beg for ...
John Lee Hooker: The Voodoo Guru
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, February 1990
ON 74TH & BROADWAY, the Gotham fog freezes your lungs with every breath, but inside the Beacon Theatre, Van Morrison has just spent something under ...
Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages audio, 24 February 1990
'50s R&B King Otis talks about the songs: 'Willie and the Hand Jive', 'Hound Dog'; the artists: Little Esther, Etta James; his son Shuggie and music education; and he rails against the ravaged black ghettos, and the lie of "integration".
File format: mp3; file size: 31.4mb, interview length: 34' 17" sound quality: ****
Johnny Otis (1990) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 24 February 1990
This is a transcript of Steve's audio interview with Johnny. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Muddy Waters: Chess Records Round-Up
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, April 1990
THE NAME OF Chess Records spells "Chicago Blues" just as clearly as Levi's spells jeans, Zippo spells lighters and Special Brew spells headaches. ...
Review by Mat Snow, Q, April 1990
ROBERT PLANT'S ALBUM Now And Zen was one of 1988's more delightful surprises: whilst quoting in jest from his own proud past in Led Zeppelin ...
Pussy Galore: Kittens of Distinction
Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 2 June 1990
THEIR NEW ALBUM, HISTORIA DE LA MUSICA ROCK, CONTAINS SONGS LIKE THE QUAINTLY-NAMED 'ERIC CLAPTON MUST DIE' AND PROVES THAT PUSSY GALORE ARE STILL THE ...
Albert King: An Old Blues Artist Is Easing Away
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 28 June 1990
"It's Time to Quit," Says Famed Guitarist Albert King, 67 ...
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, July 1990
British Blues legend John Mayall looks back to the start of the Blues Boom; on his guitar players Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor; revisits the Flamingo in Wardour Street; harp lessons from Sonny Boy Williamson and through to living in the USA and that house fire.
File format: mp3; file size: 107.3mb, interview length: 1h 51' 45" sound quality: ***
Sleeve notes by Barney Hoskyns, Charly, July 1990
LITTLE WILLIE JOHN's is one of the saddest stories in the book of soul. A pintsized hipster from the Motor City, he notched up 14 ...
Esquerita: The First Wild Man of Rock'n'roll
Retrospective by Miriam Linna, Spin, August 1990
ONE OF THE truly enigmatic characters in rock'n'roll history, Eskew Reeder (AKA Esquerita) falls somewhere between the Phantom and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, although he could ...
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, ...
Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1990
The hirsute guitar wonder starts off with memories of recently-deceased fellow Texan Stevie Ray Vaughan, then discusses the new ZZ Top album Recycler... plus the trio's return to a rootsier sound; the technology used on preceding albums Eliminator and Afterburner; the place of the blues in today's music; and getting to play cards with Muddy Waters.
File format: mp3; file size: 23.8mb, interview length: 24' 48" sound quality: ***
Interview by Steve Newton, The Georgia Straight, 30 August 1990
THE INFLUENCE of the blues on British supergroups is well documented. The Stones, Zeppelin, Cream – they all lapped up the seminal works of people ...
Robert Johnson: Peter Guralnick: Searching For Robert Johnson
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, September 1990
THE POWERFUL FASCINATION which the legend of Robert Johnson still exerts over virtually all blues fans is derived, in almost equal proportion, from his genius ...
Interview by Paul Elliott, Sounds, 1 September 1990
Robert Cray has gotten himself hitched to a girl from Leicester and gone back to the Stax and Volt labels for inspiration on his new ...
Koko Taylor: A Blues Belter Bounces Back From Adversity
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 6 September 1990
Pop music: Koko Taylor was injured in a van accident and then suffered the death of her husband-manager. ...
Robert Cray: Wedded Bliss Blues
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 15 September 1990
Mark Cooper asks, can contented men sing the blues? I do, says Robert Cray ...
T-Bone Walker: The Complete Recordings of T-Bone Walker, 1940-1954 (Mosaic)
Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 16 September 1990
The Complete Recordings of T-Bone Walker, 1940-1954 display the bluesman's seminal influence on the genre ...
Charles Brown: His Blues Get a New Audience
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 29 September 1990
Comeback: The low-key, urbane music of veteran singer-pianist Charles Brown fell out of favor during the rock era, but he is winning new fans opening ...
Robert Cray: The Robert Cray Band: Midnight Stroll
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, October 1990
ANOTHER ROBERT CRAY album: we all know what to expect by now, right? ...
Essay by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 4 October 1990
RJ Smith on Living Colour and pop's buried history ...
Obituary by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 4 October 1990
STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN has died, and with him goes the spirit of Jimi Hendrix once again. Vaughan was linked to Hendrix throughout his playing life. ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Lost and Found and Lost Again: Stevie Ray Vaughan 1954-1990
Retrospective by Tony Scherman, Musician, November 1990
"STEVIE WAS on it. Playin' great, kickin' butt," says Robert Cray, and when Double Trouble was done, everybody — the Vaughan brothers, Cray, Buddy Guy ...
The Vaughan Brothers: Family Style (Epic)
Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 1 November 1990
Brothers Beyond Tears ...
Robert Johnson: Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, December 1990
And the days keeps on worryin' me There's a hellhound on my trail ...
The Rolling Stones: Bill Wyman: Stone Alone
Book Review by Mat Snow, Q, December 1990
UNTIL HE WAS 26, Bill Perks was a suburban South Londoner, married with a kid and a secure job, having done his National Service rising ...
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 ...
Robert Lockwood Jr.: Blues From The Delta
Profile by John Sinclair, Detroit Metro Times, Summer 1990
THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA, that fertile strip of silt-rich land stretching south from Memphis to Jackson on the east and Vicksburg on the river, has for ...
Albert King, Otis Rush: Albert King/Otis Rush: Door To Door
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Chess Records, Fall 1990
CERTAINLY IT made sense for Chess to release an album combining the handful of songs recorded by Albert King and Otis Rush during their short-lived ...
Robert Johnson, ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons on Robert Johnson (1990)
Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1990
The ZZ Topper talks about his enduring love for bluesman Robert Johnson: on first hearing Columbia's 1961 release King of the Delta Blues Singers; the dark impact of his music; the aspects of mystery surrounding Johnson; his favourite songs; Johnson's superb technique and delivery; the "pact with the Devil" myth, and being given dirt from that crossroads; the newly discovered photograph of Johnson, and his hands; his impact on ZZ Top, and the blues psychogeography of the Mississippi Delta.
File format: mp3; file size: 32.9mb, interview length: 34' 18" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Birth of the Blues: Touring the Mississippi Delta
Guide by Ira Robbins, unpublished, 1991
"YOU MAY BURY MY BODY DOWN BY the highway side...so my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride." ...
Koko Taylor: What It Takes - The Chess Years
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Chess/MCA Records, 1991
IT'S ALTOGETHER FITTING that Koko Taylor's first Chess single was ‘I Got What It Takes’. Nearly three decades in the blues business--years punctuated by a ...
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Chess Records, 1991
HUNG DOWN HEAD was a profoundly shocking record when it was first released in 1970 as Chess LP 408. ...
Professor Longhair: Mardi Gras In Baton Rouge (Rhino)
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Rhino, 1991
AHH, YES, THE virtues of the repertoire.Admittedly, it's a foreign concept these days, when artists are almost universally expected to write and perform fresh material ...
T-Bone Walker: The Complete Imperial Recordings, 1950-1954 (Imperial/EMI)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Guitar World, 1991
CONTEMPORARY BLUES guitar starts here. True enough, everything has its origins in something else: Aaron Thibaux "T-Bone" Walker (1910 – 1975) had hung out in ...
Various Artists: The Blues Guitar Box
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, January 1991
FORTY-THREE tracks featuring 39 guitarists for over three hours of music: if this bouncing, bulging blue box demonstrates anything other than the blues' current high ...
Jimmie Vaughan, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Jimmie Vaughan: Picking Up the Pieces
Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 7 February 1991
After the death of his brother, Jimmie Vaughan carried on ...
Rory Gallagher: In The Midst Of A Blues Boom, Rory Gallagher Roars Back
Interview by Susan Whitall, Detroit News, March 1991
WHEN RORY Gallagher decides to take a flyer, he doesn't mess around. After years of soul-numbing touring up and down the American continent, the Irish ...
Dr. John: New Orleans is Rising
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, HMV Magazine, April 1991
DR. JOHN AND New Orleans. Although the legendary pianist has made New York City his home for almost a decade now, his name still conjures ...
Charles Brown: Jazzin' the Blues with Charles Brown
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, April 1991
Sneaking something extra between those three chords ...
The Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Collection (Alligator)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, May 1991
REMEMBER THOSE Lowery Organ displays that were once a staple of every suburban shopping mall in North America? The ones where some weenie in a ...
Sleeve notes by Kirk Silsbee, Fantasy Records, June 1991
FRANK OWENS, arranger/pianist and strawboss of the music on this album, was running down his chart to the band at Sage and Sound in Hollywood ...
Albert King: An Interview with Albert King
Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, July 1991
2003 note: Just days after I became the Guitar World Managing Editor in February 1991, I sat at my desk listening two of my colleagues ...
Robert Johnson: The Devil's Work: The plundering of Robert Johnson
Special Feature by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 4 July 1991
THE SUN did not shine but it was hot as hell the day a memorial stone was unveiled for bluesman Robert Johnson near a country ...
Danny Gatton: The Fastest Guitar in the East
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 11 August 1991
The fastest guitar in the East. Or the West, or the South — or anywhere on the planet, really. A lot of people think Danny ...
Chris Whitley: His Moody Blues Burn at Candlelight Sessions
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 18 August 1991
WHEN SINGER-guitarist Chris Whitley talks about house, he's not referring to the neo-disco dance style known as house music. He means the New Orleans home ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, October 1991
TALK ABOUT COOL: it's as if John Lee Hooker is so relaxed he can afford to be late for his own album. ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Walk That Walk, Talk That Talk (Epic)
Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 3 October 1991
IT'S HARD TO imagine the fabulous Thunderbirds without founding member Jimmie Vaughan. ...
Report by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 4 October 1991
BIG JOE Turner's powerful vocals on the original version of 'Shake, Rattle & Roll' propelled the late blues shouter into the Rock and Roll Hall ...
Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, December 1991
Before Storyville, before the Band, a Toronto street punk headed down the Crazy River. ...
Sleeve notes by Pete Grendysa, Bear Family, 1992
JOHN GREER, one of the forgotten men of rhythm & blues, had all the talent necessary to succeed, and a few extra advantages besides. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby “Blue” Bland: I Pity The Fool – The Duke Recordings, Vol. 1
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Chess/MCA Records, 1992
AN ENDURING IRONY of the periodic blues revivals that rear their heads is that each and every one has managed to pass by the immense ...
Sleeve notes by Pete Grendysa, Bear Family, 1992
A LINE OF golden saxophones held carefully aslant over the showy blue and white "BJ" bandstands catches the eye first. Arrayed behind are trombones flanked ...
Bob Dylan, Eric Von Schmidt: Eric Von Schmidt on Bob Dylan (1992)
Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992
The venerable folkie looks back to the Yale folk scene, and first meeting Dylan; discusses who actually wrote 'Baby Let Me Follow You Down' — the Rev. Gary Davis? Blind Boy Fuller? Von Schmidt? — and Dylan's magpie tendencies; he also recounts meeting Dylan in London in 1963 with Richard Fariña, and drinking gin and smoking pot.
File format: mp3; file size: 37.8mb, interview length: 39' 47" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Howlin' Wolf: Live and Cookin' at Alice's Revisited
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Chess/MCA Records, 1992
BY 1972, HOWLIN' WOLF was on the downhill side of his fabled career as one of the twin titans of Chicago blues. ...
Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992
The blues veteran talks about his roots outside Clarksdale, Mississippi; the influence of his stepfather Will Moore; how his style evolved into the "boogie" rhythm; his memories of B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, and Sonny Boy Williamson; his first big hit 'Boogie Chillen’; hanging out with Bob Dylan in early ’60s New York; his latest album Mr. Lucky and his experiences in the studio; covering ‘I'm in the Mood’ with Bonnie Raitt; his friendship with Van Morrison... and what he's up to next.
File format: mp3; file size: 46.1mb, interview length: 47' 59" sound quality: ** (phoner)
King Curtis: Blow Man, Blow! (Bear BCD 15670)
Sleeve notes by Pete Grendysa, Bear Family, 1992
"BLOW MAN, BLOW!" The big man with the glittering horn sent showers of squeals and shrieks out over the heads of his ecstatic shouting audience, ...
Ray Charles: Rapping with Ray Charles
Interview by Robert Gordon, Interview, 1992
IN THE 1950s, Frank Sinatra tagged Ray Charles "Genius," an appropriate nickname for one of American music's most innovative figures. Charles brought a sophistication to ...
Buddy Guy: The Complete Chess Studio Recordings
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Chess Records, January 1992
THE BEST measure of Buddy Guy's talents as a bluesman could well be the fact that he's been presiding over the most distinguished fan club ...
Earl Palmer the Rhythm Bomber, the Funk Machine from New Orleans
Retrospective and Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, January 1992
From Bessie Smith to Elvis Costello, the Amazing Life and Perfect Time of a Great Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer ...
Chuck Berry, Johnnie Johnson: Johnnie Johnson: From 'Johnny B. Goode' to Johnnie B. Bad
Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 25 January 1992
LOTS OF musicians would consider it a career highlight to play with a musical legend, but pianist Johnnie Johnson has done it at opposite ends ...
Willie Dixon: Dixon Wrote His Blues With an Eye to the Future
Obituary by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 1 February 1992
The late, great songwriter saw his craft as a fountain of wisdom for people to draw upon. ...
Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 20 February 1992
MUSICIANS WHO live in New York City have often learned the hard way that the music industry can he short-sighted when it comes to recognizing ...
Review by David Sinclair, Q, March 1992
IN 1990, IN A REGULAR feature called "The Experts' Expert", The Observer canvassed a cross-section of guitarists (David Gilmour, Hank Marvin, Brian May and others) ...
Buckwheat Zydeco: On Track (Charisma) ***½
Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1992
STANLEY DURAL JR. made an error in choosing the stage name Buckwheat Zydeco. ...
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: But Don't Fence Me In
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, DownBeat, April 1992
WHEN CLARENCE "Gatemouth" Brown visited Washington, D.C., recently, the 67-year-old Texan presided over his eight-piece band like a professor leading a survey course in American ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, April 1992
MONDAY IS TRADITIONALLY a slow night in the music calendar, especially the first Monday in January in clubs like the Sweetwater, a small but chic ...
Dinah Washington: Mad About The Boy (Mercury)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 9 May 1992
IF THE LIFE STORIES of Billie Holiday, Loretta Lynn and Pasty Cline were interesting enough to inspire major Hollywood movies, it's surely only a matter ...
Louis Jordan, Forefather of Rock 'N' Roll
Retrospective by Nick Tosches, The Village Voice, 18 August 1992
He made some of the greatest music that has ever been made; if any one man is to be given credit for siring rock 'n' ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, October 1992
BOOM BOOM boom boom – gonna shoot you right down… The blues is always the blues, even when it's advertising copy. Right off your feet. ...
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 1 November 1992
Etta James has sung and lived the blues, but these are good times for the R&B matriarch bound for the Rock and Roll Hall of ...
Rory Gallagher: Town & Country Club, Leeds
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 2 November 1992
IT WAS ALWAYS likely to be a heavy onus for the guitarist Rory Gallagher to bear when it was confirmed that he would be the ...
Etta James: Town And Country Club, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 1 December 1992
ETTA JAMES is a big, big lady, with a big, big voice — and she certainly made full use of her lung-power in wowing her ...
Robert Cray, B.B. King: B.B. King, Robert Cray: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 15 December 1992
KING BY name, King by nature — B.B. of that ilk was certainly well named. ...
Albert King: Blues Guitarist Albert King Left An Indelible Legacy
Report by Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News, 27 December 1992
AT LEAST as it applied to blues and rock artists, Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns got it right when he said the late Albert ...
Little Walter: The Essential Little Walter
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Chess/MCA, 1993
LITTLE WALTER was a singular figure among the Chess artist roster by virtue of the fact that he was the only one whose popular appeal ...
Sleeve notes by Pete Grendysa, Rhino, 1993
HE LOOKED LIKE he just stepped off the top of a wedding cake – a dapper, smooth-faced little man in a tailored suit topped off ...
Sleeve notes by Pete Grendysa, Bear Family, 1993
FOR TEN of the most crucial years in the history of American black music, Louis Jordan was the main man, the solid sender, the hep-est ...
Magic Sam, Otis Rush: Various Artists: The Cobra Records Story
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Capricorn Records, 1993
STRANGE THAT The Cobra Story marks the first time that these late '50s recordings culled from three short-lived Chicago labels run by Eli Toscano have ...
Obituary by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 7 January 1993
ALBERT KING performed in overalls to the very end, even when he wore a tux. Like his music, King was urban but not ashamed of ...
B.B. King: Uneasy Lies The Head That Wears The Crown
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, February 1993
From the no-horse town of Ita Bena, Mississippi, to the planet's most prestigious culture palaces, Riley "Blues Boy" King has spent half a century as ...
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. ...
Obituary by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 4 February 1993
Blues master dies at age sixty-nine ...
John Lee Hooker: Boom Boom (Pointblank/Charisma) ***½
Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 29 April 1993
JOHN LEE HOOKER is the last ofthe classic Mississippi Delta blues guitarists, the unaccompanied bards who could generate more energy sitting on a low stool ...
Review by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 27 May 1993
BOTH THESE albums go to great lengths to take listeners to new places. Producer Robert Palmer fabricated a studio environment in the former sanctified church ...
Billy Boy Arnold: Back Where I Belong (Alligator)
Sleeve notes by Kirk Silsbee, Alligator, August 1993
SPEAK FACE to face with bluesman Billy Boy Arnold and you have the feeling that something about him doesn't quite add up. He looks to ...
Paul Rodgers: Muddy Waters Blues (Victory)
Review by Mat Snow, Q, August 1993
Whoever declared that new art is created when somebody gets old art wrong may well have had blues-rock in mind. ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard: A Talk With Mr. Twister
Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Los Angeles Reader, 13 August 1993
If you not movin' your hips, it just ain't happenin'. – Hank Ballard on dancing ...
Bo Diddley's Bar Mitzvah Beat Box
Report and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Guitar Player, October 1993
BO DIDDLEY GETS into rap and even whips up tropical flavors on his first major-label release in 20 years, A Man Among Men. But he's ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 7 October 1993
The 'Louie Louie' man looks back at his youth in Los Angeles, cutting his first records, the crooks and the rip-offs, and his battle to regain the rights to his most famous song.
File format: mp3; file size: 42.1mb; Interview length: 45' 56"; sound quality: ****
James Booker: The Unsung Piano Genius with Star-spangled False Teeth
Profile by Ben Thompson, MOJO, January 1994
"IF ALL AMERICAN PIANO PLAYERS LINED UP IN A ROW, each knowing the other’s abilities and talents, all would take a step back to recognise ...
Ben Harper: Crossroads at Sunset: Ben Harper speaks to strangers
Interview by Sara Scribner, L.A. Weekly, 24 February 1994
BEN HARPER stands beside a palm free on Pasadena Avenue in a navy thermal shirt, royal-blue Adidas and the green chinos he always wears. "I ...
Ben Harper: Welcome to the Cruel World (Virgin)
Review by Jon Young, Spin, March 1994
STILL PONDERING his options, Ben Harper raises an array of tantalizing possibilities on this confident, sometimes inspired debut. His spicy guitar work and Dobro licks ...
Eric Clapton: The Odyssey: The Making Of Eric Clapton
Retrospective and Interview by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, March 1994
Of all the legends of the land of Greece, few are as epic and ill-starred as the tale of Eric Clapton, his five mates and ...
The Platters: Four Platters and One Lovely Dish
Sleeve notes by Pete Grendysa, Bear Family, March 1994
GOING FROM complete unknowns to classics of American pop music took the Platters only two short years. ...
Interview by Don Snowden, Escape, 12 April 1994
THE 18-WEEK run atop the Billboard World Music charts enjoyed by Ali Farka Touré's album The Source added the sweet touch of popular success in ...
Interview by Andy Schwartz, Rock's Backpages audio, 18 April 1994
The erstwhile Night Tripper on writing his autobiography Under a Hoodoo Moon; on the New Orleans music business — the rip-offs, lousy studios, useless Musician's Union, Jim Garrison; on his new album Television; on drugs and recovery; on moving to New York City; on the modern recording scene (and being sampled by Beck); on his early involvement in N.Y. hip hop... and how he started out just playing for fun.
File format: mp3; file size: 72.1mb, interview length: 1h 15' 03" sound quality: ****
Retrospective by Colin Escott, Goldmine, 29 April 1994
B.B. KING'S misfortune is that we too often take him for granted. He has been there as long as most of us can remember, and ...
Ry Cooder, Ali Farka Toure: Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder: Talking Timbuktu (Hannibal)
Review by Richard Gehr, Spin, May 1994
DE BLUES is a harsh mistress. So what a pleasure when someone like Mali guitar giant Ali Farka Touré comes along to let us off ...
Duke Henderson: Get Your Kicks (Delmark)
Sleeve notes by Kirk Silsbee, Delmark Records, May 1994
ASK THE handful of remaining African-American performers and entertainers who were active during Los Angeles' Central Avenue heyday in the 1940s about blues singer Duke ...
John Hammond: The Long Road Leads Back To L.A.
Profile by Bill Wasserzieher, Southland Blues, May 1994
"If John Hammond put the same intensity that he puts into his guitar into something like, say, levitating, I suspect we'd all be looking up ...
Profile and Interview by Sara Scribner, L.A. Weekly, 9 June 1994
Ted Hawkins faces down the next hundred years ...
Canned Heat, John Lee Hooker: Canned Heat: Still On The Road Again
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Gabriel, DISCoveries, August 1994
"I BELIEVE WE had the biggest response, of any group [at Woodstock]," says Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra, Canned Heat's drummer, who appeared with them ...
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 ...
George Benson, Buddy Guy: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 15 November 1994
Blues for Guy as Benson frets ...
Leadbelly: The Long Goodbye: Huddie Ledbetter’s Living Will
Essay by Carol Cooper, L.A. Weekly, 24 November 1994
According to their most recent videos, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and Madonna all aspire to the power, wisdom and durability ...
John Lee Hooker: Chill Out (Point Blank VPB 22)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1995
John Lee Hooker: an Old Testament prophet for modern times. ...
Obituary by Chris Welch, The Independent, 16 June 1995
RORY GALLAGHER was the People's Guitarist. Unassuming, but tenacious, the Irish blues man devoted his life to touring and playing his beloved Fender Strat to ...
Review by Tony Russell, MOJO, July 1995
WHEN BLUES PEOPLE WAS PUBLISHED in 1963, LeRoi Jones became the first black American to have written a book about the blues. It did not ...
Robert Cray: Blues Pour L'Homme
Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, July 1995
MOJO catches up with handsome devil Robert Cray in that traditional milieu of the blues hero: on the road in Anchorage, Alaska… ...
Obituary by David Sinclair, Rolling Stone, 10 August 1995
BONO CALLED him "one of the top 10 guitar players of all time," and there is no doubt that Rory Gallagher, who died in a ...
Excello: It Came From the Swamp
Overview by Kirk Silsbee, Huh, September 1995
ONE OF the hallmarks of a great regional record label is the ability to define a time and place in the mind's ear. Think of ...
Profile and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Southland Blues, January 1996
GUITARIST LUTHER Allison, after a long apprenticeship in the clubs of Chicago's West Side, first came to national prominence with electrifying performances at the Ann ...
G. Love & Special Sauce: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 13 January 1996
A whiter shade of blues ...
Profile and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Los Angeles View, 9 February 1996
FOR A MUSICIAN with a Grammy nomination for best traditional blues album of the year, pianist/vocalist Charles Brown is quick to say he is more ...
Bo Diddley: He's Fighting Mad and Mad That He Has to Fight
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 27 February 1996
Q&A with Bo Diddley ...
Archie Edwards: Jumpstartin' the Blues: Piedmont Bluesman Archie Edwards
Profile and Interview by Jerry Zolten, Living Blues, April 1996
Talks About Roots, Rights, and Rhythms ...
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 4 April 1996
AS A GUITARIST, Brownie McGhee was a master of the intricate, ragtime-influenced patterns that define the blues of the South's Piedmont region. As a singer ...
Comment by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 6 April 1996
John Lennon thought The Beatles were bigger than IT, some people think Elvis is/was IT and Michael Jackson seems to think he is IT. So ...
Bo Diddley: Godfather Back On The Beat
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 11 May 1996
If guitar rhythms could be copyrighted, Bo Diddley would be a millionaire. As it is Mark Cooper finds him warily hitting the comeback trail again ...
Jimmy Witherspoon: 'Ain't Nobody's Business': The No Rollin' Blues of Jimmy Witherspoon
Retrospective and Interview by Steve Roeser, Goldmine, 24 May 1996
"I'D RATHER open up a show than to close it," Jimmy Witherspoon said emphatically. "'Cause I know whoever follows me is gonna have to sing." ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: The life and death of a guitar-slinger
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 May 1996
With his fedora and his Gibson, his pimp-chic style and his flamboyant playing, Johnny "Guitar" Watson lived and died, on stage, for the blues. Andy ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, June 1996
BACK IN THE EARLY '60s, in their Golden Eagle residency days, The Spencer Davis Group played the whole gamut of American R&B from John Lee ...
Retrospective and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Eye Weekly, 18 July 1996
TAJ MAHAL was deep into the pan-African diaspora long before anyone dreamed up the term "world music." Blues, ragtime, calypso, reggae, Mandinka soul from West ...
Keb' Mo': Kevin Moore Makes A Name For Himself As Blues Singer Keb' Mo'
Interview by Charles Bermant, Mr Showbiz, August 1996
JUST LIKE YOU, the second album from singer-songwriter Keb' Mo', raises a question: why is a forty-four-year-old, who's been playing music all his life, just ...
ZZ Top: Crazy 'bout a kitsch-dressed man
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, August 1996
ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons has reconnected his blues roots with African rhythm. Can he really be giving up trash in the interests of good taste, ...
R.L. Burnside, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: R.L. Burnside: A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey (Matador) **½
Review by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 22 August 1996
...
Ike Turner: It Didn't Work Out Fine — Ike Turner: Tramps, New York NY
Live Review by Amy Linden, New York Daily News, 26 August 1996
Ike Turner still can light fires with his guitar, but new Ikettes lack the spark to keep it going ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: "I'm Peter Green"
Interview by Cliff Jones, MOJO, September 1996
OUTSIDE IT'S RAINING, THE KIND OF slick, greasy rain you only get in cities. The atmosphere is oppressive. Inside the Brewer's Inn, Wandsworth – a ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: The Shape I'm In: Peter Green
Profile by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 1996
IT'S MID-WINTER 1968. The five members of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac are huddled together, holding hands on the floor of the Gorham Hotel on West ...
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Now I Got Worry (Mute)
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, October 1996
• Spencer et al recently backed Holly Springs bluesman R.L. Burnside on his superb A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey — a Hooker'N'Heat for the '90s. • ...
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Astoria, London
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 9 October 1996
Out of the blues, onto the rack ...
Billy Boy Arnold: Back Where Billy Boy Arnold Belongs
Retrospective by Bill Wasserzieher, Southland Blues, December 1996
WHAT TO MAKE of one Billy Boy Arnold? First there's that nickname "Boy." Has anybody, other than John-Boy on The Waltons, ever liked being called ...
Buddy Guy: The Complete Chess Studio Sessions
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, Chess, 1997
THE BEST measure of Buddy Guy's talents as a bluesman could well be the fact that he's been presiding over the most distinguished fan club ...
Mother Earth, Tracy Nelson: Down So Low: Tracy Nelson's Long Hard Climb Into Obscurity
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Carpenter, Goldmine, 1997
EVERYTHING ONE should do to get a big name in showbiz seems to be the opposite of what Tracy Nelson does. No fancy duds to ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: My Lunch with the Blues Guys
Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, unpublished, 1997
IT'S NOT NEWS that Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds is a good harmonica player. But he also cuts it as raconteur with stories about ...
The Groundhogs' Tony McPhee (1997)
Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1997
McPhee takes us back to the early days, turning down a gig with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers when Clapton left; his various bands between Groundhogs #1 and reviving the band; the early albums: Scratching the Surface and Blues Obituary; breakthrough album Thank Christ for the Bomb; the mental issues behind Split; subsequent albums, the sacking of drummer Ken Pustelnik, and his path to the present day.
File format: mp3; file size: 72.9mb, interview length: 1h 15' 57" sound quality: *****
Interview by Bill DeYoung, Goldmine, 28 February 1997
ELLAS BATES McDaniel, a.k.a. Bo Diddley, has lived the life of a rural squire in North Florida since 1983, when a dentist, making small talk, ...
Earl Palmer, Dave Bartholomew and Alvin "Red" Tyler (1997)
Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1997
Three giants of New Orleans R&B — bandleader Bartholomew, drummer Palmer and sax player Tyler — look back on the days on the bandstand and NOLA studios: on recording with Fats Domino and Little Richard; on the characters — Lightnin' Slim, the unlucky Smiley Lewis and more; on hassles with the Musicians' Union; on Palmer leaving for L.A.; on squeezing in bebop; on the beloved Dew Drop Inn... and what made the Crescent City sound. [NOTE: The most audibly prominent voice belongs to Tyler, with Palmer's the most distant. Bartholomew's is somewhere in the middle, with the deepest register.]
File format: mp3; file size: 94.7mb, interview length: 1h 38' 35" sound quality: ***
Review by Tony Russell, MOJO, April 1997
CHICAGO IN THE FIRST DECADE after World War II spawned record labels like a salmon on fertility drugs. Many of them dealt with blues, some ...
ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: Rhythmeen & Blues
Report and Interview by Mike Mettler, Guitar, May 1997
SEEING ZZ TOP'S Billy Gibbons without his trademark shades on is like viewing the emperor with no clothes: it's a startling vision. Yet here's the ...
Peter Green: Things are rosier for Peter Green, but does he still have the blues?
Report and Interview by Colin Harper, The Scotsman, 5 May 1997
"I JUST took too many LSD trips," says Peter Green. "I couldn't get back from it – I didn't want to get back ... I ...
Alan Lomax: Outstanding In His Field
Profile by Matt Hanks, Memphis Flyer, 24 July 1997
I AM AN American citizen," he muttered, glaring around. "These Memphis cops call me vagrant, but I'm a musician. These Southern laws don't recognize a ...
King Cotton: Bad Acid, the Bonedaddys and the Blues! King Cotton Has Lived Through 'Em All
Profile and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, BAM, 25 July 1997
IF YOU happen to find yourself at B.B. King's at the Universal Citywalk on a Sunday night, you'll encounter an unusual musical aggregation. ...
Charles Brown: Honey Dripper: Charles Brown caresses the blues
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 31 July 1997
THE MAN locking eyes with you from the cover of Charles Brown's last album is the kind of rogue so elegant he barely cocks his ...
Bumble Bee Slim: A Rough Rugged Road: From Georgia to Chicago to Hollywood with Bumble Bee Slim
Retrospective by Jerry Zolten, Living Blues, September 1997
MY ENTREE into the world of bluesman Bumble Bee Slim came not by choice, but by chance. It happened a few years ago in the ...
Live Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, September 1997
Dr John: organic groover ...
Jackie Brenston, Ike Turner, Ike & Tina Turner, Joe Louis Walker: Pop Quiz: Q & A With Ike Turner
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 September 1997
ONLY A HANDFUL of ex-husbands have been as publicly vilified as Ike Turner, but what Tina Turner's undoubtedly justified public excoriations have obscured is the ...
Ruth Brown Keeps Deep R&B's Fire Blazing
Profile and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 27 October 1997
MISS RHYTHM is on stage working the blues, and she's got the audience on a string. Sashaying up to the microphone in the ballroom of ...
Chess Records: The Original Blues Brothers
Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, November 1997
"WOW, YOU guys are really getting it on!" exclaimed Chuck Berry, observing the Rolling Stones cut 'Down The Road Apiece', a track he'd recorded himself ...
Dick Heckstall-Smith: Sax Blue
Interview by Harry Shapiro, BluePrint, December 1997
DICK HECKSTALL-Smith is one of the greatest R&B saxophonists in the world. His musical career started at university, in Cambridge, and he has played with ...
Chess Set Still Sings The Blues: Marshall Chess and Chess Records
Interview by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, 1998
JUST OVER 50 YEARS AGO, brothers Phil and Leonard Chess, two industrious Polish immigrants in Chicago, tentatively established what would become the most famous blues ...
Howlin' Wolf, Hubert Sumlin: Hubert Sumlin: The Wolf’s Man
Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, 1998
INTRODUCTION: I had heard that Hubert Sumlin was a genuinely nice guy. But before I ventured uptown to a Manhattan club to interview him, there ...
John Lee Hooker: The Sound of Teardrops: John Lee Hooker
Profile and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 5 January 1998
HOW DEEP IS John Lee Hooker's blues? "You can't go no deeper than me and my guitar," he says. "I open my mouth, and it's ...
Georgie Fame: Fame at the Flamingo: Golden years in Soho
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, 16 January 1998
Georgie Fame and his band were regular performers at a nightclub that was a catalyst for British music in the early '60s. He looks back ...
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 5 March 1998
DAVID "JUNIOR" Kimbrough didn't release his first album until 1992, when he was 62, but when Fat Possum Records issued All Night Long, Rolling Stone ...
Obituary by Robert Gordon, Rolling Stone, 5 March 1998
JUNIOR WELLS, one of the greatest harmonica players in blues history, died of lymphatic cancer on January 15th in Chicago. He was 63. ...
B.B. King, Lowell Fulson, Robert Lockwood Jr.: B.B. King: Bright Lights Big City
Report and Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, May 1998
Fifty years ago B.B. King arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, and found himself in the eye of a musical hurricane. Today he celebrates the giants who ...
Honeyboy Edwards: Delta Delight: Honeyboy Edwards, Country Bluesman
Profile and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 18 May 1998
THE BLUESMAN Honeyboy Edwards got arrested in Greenwood, Mississippi, in 1936. His crime was being a black man. ...
Interview by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 28 May 1998
THE ORIGINAL Mack Daddy, John Lee Hooker represents the funkiest lowdown essence of the blues. Born in the Mississippi Delta in 1917, Hooker was a ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Love Throat: Bobby "Blue" Bland
Interview by Robert Gordon, Rolling Stone, 28 May 1998
BOBBY BLAND'S people seat me at a table, make sure I'm comfortable. An effective entrance demands the proper set-up. ...
Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker: Buddy Guy/John Lee Hooker: Temecula, Ca.
Live Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, June 1998
TO GET TO Temecula, Calif., head southeast from Los Angeles, traverse a ring of mountains, skirt a lake and then stop, mercifully, before Arizona. ...
Down-home delights: The soulful blues of Malaco Records
Report by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 29 June 1998
THIRTY OR 40 YEARS AGO, the Jackson-based Malaco Records would have been called a "race" label. That was the tag for outfits like Specialty, King, ...
Interview by Robert Gordon, Oxford American, July 1998
THE FINGER-POPPING, head-bobbing joie de vivre that Dave Myers exudes all over his new CD is not readily apparent when I call him up to ...
Hal Blaine, Earl Palmer: A Vote for the Hired Guns of Rock-and-Roll
Comment by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 26 July 1998
EVER SINCE the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame gave itself the ticklish job of anointing a rock-and-roll pantheon, one of its stated goals has been to ...
John Fahey: Blood on the Frets
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, August 1998
The original American Primitive, John Fahey's raw mixes of blues, folk and musique concrete embody the spirit of American alternative music. But during the 60s ...
Review by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 10 August 1998
THE TORCH OF electric blues has burned no brighter than in the gritty clubs and studios of Chicago in the '50s and '60s. It was ...
Mr. Airplane Man: Mississippi Queens: Mr. Airplane Man's Delta dreams
Profile and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 31 August 1998
A RAIN’S PEELED the edge off a steamy August night in the Mississippi Delta. But a two-piece jukehouse band are roaring on stage in Clarksdale's ...
B.B. King: The Day B.B. King Went to Jail
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 11 September 1998
ON A SUBLIME autumn day in 1970, B.B. King performed for 2,117 prisoners in Cook County Jail. Against the sound of B.B. King's musicians ...
Essay by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 20 September 1998
ALTHOUGH THE great blues singer and guitarist Robert Johnson died 60 years ago, swallowed up at 27 by the rural Mississippi demiworld of juke joints ...
R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough: Blues Chaos Theory: Burnside and Kimbrough file absentee albums
Review by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 21 September 1998
"OH SHIT, I can't see," said the great Mississippi hill-country bluesman R.L. Burnside as he stepped toward the microphone – just loud enough that it ...
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, October 1998
DeuceIrish TourCalling CardPhoto-FinishFresh Evidence Random selection of work from late Irish guitar hero ...
Rory Gallagher: Ballad of a Thin Man
Retrospective by Colin Harper, MOJO, October 1998
"HE SUFFERED A LOT. His health was bad. He had a problem with drink. His relationships with women were all messed up because of his ...
R.L. Burnside: Stuff you really shouldn't do in public
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 2 October 1998
R.L. Burnside has boogie in his shoes, among other things. And where better to walk the blues than in front of "the young people"? ...
Taj Mahal: The Birth Of His Blues: Taj Mahal
Review and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, November 1998
Tracks: Leaving Trunk / Statesboro Blues / Checkin' Up On My Baby / Everybody's Got To Change Sometime / E Z Rider / Dust My ...
Jools Holland, Squeeze: Jools Holland: Coolest cat on the tube
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 7 November 1998
He's played piano with BB King and learned chords from Ruben Gonzalez — but deep down he's a rock 'n' roller who likes his nan's ...
Taj Mahal: In Progress and Motion (Columbia/Legacy)
Review by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 29 November 1998
EMERGING IN THE late '60s as an anomaly – one of the few young black musicians to embrace the folk-blues revival – Taj Mahal flirted ...
Geoff Muldaur: The Secret Handshake
Review by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 13 December 1998
"THE WHITE MAN cannot vocal the blues,'' said the blues singer Muddy Waters with grave finality, and his maxim has only rarely been disproved. ...
Gary Moore Goes Back to the Blues
Profile and Interview by Ian Fortnam, bol.com, 1999
CURIOUSLY UNDERVALUED, and rarely lauded in similarly hushed tones to the likes of Clapton, Beck and Page, Belfast-born Gary Moore is unequivocally one of the ...
Myth and the Mississippi: PBS explores the songs and heart of Middle America
Report and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 4 January 1999
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER covers a lot of history along its 2,350 miles. Sometimes literally. There are communities that have been washed under its high waters, ...
Adam Gussow: Mr. Satan's Apprentice: A Blues Memoir (Pantheon)
Book Review by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 25 January 1999
NO, AUTHOR Adam Gussow hasn't sold his soul to Ol' Nick for wealth, fame, and power. Just the opposite, in fact, is the usual blues ...
T-Model Ford: Huntin' Possum: T-Model Ford's You Better Keep Still
Review by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 25 January 1999
IF T-MODEL FORD had the wings of a beautiful dove, he would fly to the gal he loved. If she spurned him, he would find ...
Eyewitness: March 1952 — The First Rock'n'Roll Concert
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, February 1999
10,000 people smashed down the doors to get in, none of the bands were paid and one man was stabbed in the arse. After the ...
Geoff Muldaur: Nightstick: Geoff Muldaur
Profile by Kirk Silsbee, New Times Los Angeles, 4 February 1999
AN UNSUNG GIFT from a bygone era, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band had many things to recommend it: Kweskin's anachronistic, roughhouse vocals; Mel Lyman's stirring, ...
Roy Rogers & The Delta Rhythm Kings: Roy Rogers: King of the Console (Production, That Is)
Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, March 1999
IT'S NIGHT TIME and a yellow moon is up over nearby Mexico. There are perhaps 20,000 people jammed into a cordoned off section of San ...
Luther Allison: Moonshine Blues: Luther Allison Revisited
Retrospective by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 29 March 1999
THE GREAT blues guitarist and singer Luther Allison once told me about an incident from his childhood that he carried as close to his heart ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Repackaging Stevie Ray Vaughan
Review by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 19 April 1999
YEAH, HE NEVER played alternative rock, and to him hip-hop was something the Easter bunny did. He also wore his influences like a neon suit. ...
Review by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 7 June 1999
HERE'S MUD IN your ear: a dozen new or reissued blues albums that capture the gritty spirit of the music in a passel of different ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: Peter Green: The Man of the World Returns
Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, July 1999
THERE IS A FILM from the late 1960s called The Hallucination Generation that purports to be, as the poster declared, the "Shocking Story of a ...
Backbeat — Earl Palmer's Story By Tony Scherman (Smithsonian Institution; 196 pages; $24.95)
Book Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 July 1999
Earl Palmer Laid Down the Rhythm of Rock 'n' Roll ...
Dr. John: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 7 August 1999
If it wasn't for the beard and white suit, you might mistake Dr John for the warm-up act. Tom Cox waits in vain for something ...
B.B. King: Waterfront Hall, Belfast
Live Review by Colin Harper, The Irish Times, 24 September 1999
CAREFULLY-PACED is the byword for the B.B. King show these days: he's 73, a little frail and vocally not as powerful as he once was. ...
Rick Holmstrom: Gonna Get Wild (Tone Cool)
Sleeve notes by Kirk Silsbee, Tone Cool, October 1999
IF YOU'VE partaken of the thriving blues scene in Los Angeles in the last 15 years, you've probably crossed paths with guitarist Rick Holmstrom. ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Mordue, Madison, November 1999
IT COULD BE the definition of what an artist does when he sets out to make something. ...
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 ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 3 December 1999
HERB ABRAMSON, who has died aged 82, was one of the architects of Atlantic Records, which in the 1950s and 60s was the most creative ...
B.B. King: Talk to the Boss: His Majesty Mr. King
Interview by Wayne Robins, Blues Access, Spring 1999
THE BLUE Note may be the most upscale of expensive jazz and blues clubs in New York and a major stop on the itinerary of ...
It Don’t Matter if You’re Dead … as Long as You’re Keepin’ the Blues Alive!
Report by Bill Wasserzieher, musicblitz.com, 2000
IT’S A HOT NIGHT in Memphis, the humidity thick enough for similes about wading neck-deep through steamy water, but inside the grand old Orpheum Theatre ...
Paul Butterfield's Better Days: Bearsville Anthology
Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Rhino Bearsville, 2000
PAUL BUTTERFIELD was a legend long before he ever set foot in Woodstock. Perhaps the first authentic white voice in the blues, his legendary '60s ...
Otis Rush: Peoples is Peoples: The Otis Rush Interview
Interview by Kirk Silsbee, House of Blues Online, January 2000
THERE WERE three young guitarists in 1960s Chicago who moved the blues forward to new areas of expression: Buddy Guy, the late Magic Sam (Samuel ...
Don "Sugarcane" Harris, 1939-1999
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 3 January 2000
THE JAZZ, BLUES and rock violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, who has died of pulmonary illness aged 61, played on four of Frank Zappa's albums, including ...
Hall-of-Fame Hitter: Drummer Earl Palmer gets his due
Retrospective and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 31 January 2000
LIKE ANY GOOD GRANDFATHER, Earl Palmer has tried to find interests to share with his grandkids. So far, coin collecting has been a favorite. It's ...
Obituary by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, March 2000
FOLLOWING A STRUGGLE with cancer, legendary saxophonist Fred Ford died on November 26, 1999. He was 69. Ford, a pillar of the Memphis music community, ...
Retrospective by Bill Millar, unpublished, March 2000
"WHY NOT BE at London Airport to welcome Jay?" That was the invitation in the late Roger Eagle’s R & B Scene. And so, on ...
Susan Tedeschi's Old-Fashioned Success Story
Profile and Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 2 March 2000
"YOU SAY you haven't been rocked in a long, long time/ And good hard rockin' is so hard to find."The opening lyrics to Susan Tedeschi's ...
Live Review by Jeff Calvin, Blues Revue, April 2000
THE STORY GOES that Elvin Bishop left a small town in Oklahoma for Chicago in the early '60s. Once there, drinking in the sounds and ...
Etta James, Johnny Otis: Johnny Otis on the early days of R&B
Retrospective and Interview by Jeff Calvin, Blues Revue, April 2000
IN ADDITION to the various musical hats he's worn over the past half-century, Johnny Otis is a painter, a sculptor, a conservationist, a businessman, a ...
Johnny Otis: The Complete Savoy Recordings (Savoy Jazz)
Review by Jeff Calvin, Blues Revue, April 2000
THIS THREE-CD set, which spans the years 1945 to 1951, marks Johnny Otis not just as a great bandleader and prescient talent finder, but as ...
Report and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 24 April 2000
IT WAS A Saturday night in Clarksdale, Mississippi. And blues were pumping through the door of the Rivermont, a low-ceilinged club tucked tight against the ...
Holy Toledo: The Hines Farm Blues Club
Retrospective by Paul Gorman, MOJO, May 2000
Midnight movers, Ohio players, Gypsy Angels and Atomic Pirates gathered at the Hines Farm juke joint. Paul Gorman pays a visit. ...
Profile and Interview by John Swenson, Offbeat, 1 May 2000
ON AN UNSEASONABLY warm December afternoon, Wardell Quezergue walks carefully into the Musicians Union meeting hall on Esplanade Avenue. ...
Interview by Harry Shapiro, BluePrint, June 2000
"I've never been on a plantation but I have been on a kibbutz." Peter Green completes the Robert Johnson songbook, tours with John Mayall and ...
Retrospective by Mick Farren, MOJO, July 2000
ON JANUARY 7, 1980, THE BODY OF LARRY WILLIAMS WAS FOUND lying in a pool of blood on the garage floor of his Laurel Canyon ...
Lonnie Johnson: The Unsung Blues Legend (Blues Magnet)
Review by Kirk Silsbee, New Times Los Angeles, 20 July 2000
SO THOROUGHLY has the myth of the hell-bound Mississippi Delta bluesman captured the public's imagination that it's narrowed the definition of just what constitutes a ...
Ali Farka Toure: Connections: Ali Farka Touré's Cross-Cultural Blues
Profile by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 31 July 2000
THE BLUES CAME to America in chains, contained within the hearts of the enslaved people of Africa. Two hundred odd years later it went back, ...
Hubert Sumlin: Guinness Spot, Belfast Festival
Live Review by Colin Harper, unpublished, November 2000
HUBERT SUMLIN – best known as guitarist for the late Howlin' Wolf – is one of the bona fide legends of modern blues. At a ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: SRV
Review by Joe Nick Patoski, Texas Monthly, November 2000
SRV BREAKS OUT of the gate with Little Stevie Vaughan before he was Stevie Ray. A member of Paul Ray and the Cobras, the kid's ...
Gregg Allman: Midnight Riders: Gregg Allman
Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 9 November 2000
YOU WOULDN'T normally associate the phrase "jacket required" with a concert titled "Gregg Allman and Friends," but the gravelly-voiced singer and keyboardist hopes to find ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble: SRV
Review by J.D. Considine, Revolver, Winter 2000
CARLOS SANTANA was on British TV the other night, talking about those wondrous moments in a musician's life when conscious control dissolves and something just ...
Elvis Presley and the Impulse Towards Transculturation
Essay by Rob Bowman, Crawdaddy!, Spring 2000
ELVIS WAS A hero to most but he never meant shit to me/You see straight out racist the sucker was simple and plain/Motherfuck him and ...
Jimmy Reed, Emancipator of the South: An Oral History
Retrospective and Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, Blues Access, Summer 2000
IT BEGINS WITH the discovery of a black-and-white photograph dated 1961. The setting is Walker's Auditorium, a chitlin' circuit showcase for touring black musicians in ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 1 April 1926, Houston, Texas, USA, d. 13 January 1980, Houston ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Mabel Louise Smith, 1 May 1924, Jackson, Tennessee, USA, d. 23 January 1972 ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 5 May 1901, Thomson, Georgia, USA, d. 19 August 1959, Milledgeville, Georgia ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. William Thomas Dupree, 4 July 1910, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 21 January 1992 ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001
b. George Frayne, 19 July 1944, Boise, Idaho, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 24 December 1920, Edgard, Louisiana, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 1899, Carthage, Tennessee, USA, d. July 1982, Nashville, Tennessee ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 25 April 1913, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, d. 28 October 1965, Rochester, New York ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 18 December 1917, Houston, Texas, USA, d. 2 July 1988 ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Walter Lewis, 6 March 1893, Greenwood, Mississippi, USA, d. 14 September 1981, Memphis, Tennessee ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 5 March 1929, Monticello, Mississippi, USA, d. 29 April 1967, Urbana, Illinois ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001
b. John Alvin Ray, 10 January 1927, Dallas, Oregon, USA, d. 24 February 1990, Los Angeles ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. John Marshall Alexander Jnr, 9 June 1929, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, d. 23 December 1954, Houston, Texas ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 27 March 1937, Haynesville, Louisiana, USA, d. 3 July 1997 ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
September b. 11 February 1915, Greenville, South Carolina, USA, d. 5 1969, Manhasset, New York ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Huddie Ledbetter, 29 January 1889, Mooringsport, Louisiana, USA, d. 6 December 1949, New York ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Milton Campbell, 7 September 1934, Inverness, Mississippi, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 9 March 1933, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 8 July 1908, Brinkley, Arkansas, USA, d. 4 February 1975, Los Angeles, California ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Gertrude Melissa Nix Pridgett, 26 April 1886, Columbus, Georgia, USA, d. 22 December 1939, Georgia ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Samuel Maghett, 14 February 1937, Grenada, Mississippi, USA, d. 1 December 1969, Chicago, Illinois ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 9 April 1895, Navasota, Texas, USA, d. 30 January 1976, Navasota ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 11 November 1927, Tippo, Mississippi, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 29 April 1934, Philadelphia, Mississippi, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 21 March 1930, Jackson, Mississippi, USA, d. 24 April 1970, Chicago, Illinois ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 12 August 1920, Minden, Louisiana, USA, d. 11 August 1984, Los Angeles, California ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. William Lee Perryman, 19 October 1911, Hampton, Georgia, USA, d. 25 July 1985 ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 16 April 1929, Leesburg, Georgia, USA, d. 20 July 1969 ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Ruth Weston, 30 January 1928, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. John Adam Estes, 25 January 1899, Ripley, Tennessee, USA, d. 5 June 1977, Brownsville, Tennessee ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Fird Eaglin, 21 January 1936, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA ...
Sonny Boy Williamson I, Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller): Sonny Boy Willamson
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
Sonny Boy Williamson I, b. John Lee Williamson, 30 March 1914, Jackson, Tennessee, USA, d. 1 June 1948, Chicago, Illinois; Sonny Boy Williamson II, b. ...
Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
Brownie McGhee, b. Walter Brown McGhee, 30 November 1915, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, d. 16 February 1996, Oakland, California; Sonny Terry, b. Saunders Terrell, 24 October ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Henry St Clair Fredericks, 17 May 1942, New York City, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 15 October 1906, Houston, Texas, USA, d. 3 October 1976, New York ...
Buddy Guy: A Bluesman for All Seasons
Profile and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, January 2001
FOR THE SOUTHERN rail traveler, The City of New Orleans runs from the Crescent City on the Gulf up through the Mississippi state capitol of ...
Review by Tony Russell, MOJO, January 2001
Ten years after his death at 35, Vaughan's blues legacy is commemorated by four hours of his music on three CDs and a DVD. ...
Purple Prose From The Many Voices Of The Blues
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 12 February 2001
David Dalton: Been Here And Gone: A Memoir Of The Blues (Methuen, 386pp; £10.99) ...
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 ...
Retrospective and Interview by Jeff Calvin, Blues Revue, March 2001
THE LONG-DISTANCE call came on a spring day in 1965, from Chicago to the Lone Star State – from blues present to blues past. Leonard ...
Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield: Mike Bloomfield: Bloomfield's Doomed Field
Memoir by Al Kooper, Gadfly, March 2001
FOR SOME strange reason, we referred to each other by our "proper" names, Michael and Alan. To everyone else, it was Mike Bloomfield and Al ...
Chicken Shack: Stan Webb: What Can A Poor Boy Do?
Interview by Harry Shapiro, BluePrint, March 2001
Stan Webb has every right to be cynical about the music business and how the sharks in suits come on strong as your best friend ...
North Mississippi Allstars: Shake Hands with Cody: North Mississippi Allstars
Interview by Josh Rinkoff, Rock's Backpages, 7 April 2001
Josh Rinkoff meets one o’ the Dickinson boys ...
Rudy Ray Moore: 'I Ain't Lyin'!'...The Unexpurgated Truth about Rudy Ray Moore
Retrospective and Interview by Jerry Zolten, Living Blues, May 2001
2008 Prologue: RUDY RAY MOORE, a.k.a. "Dolemite," the "Godfather of Rap," the "World's Greatest X-Rated Comedian," and "Blaxploitation" filmmaker, passed away at age 81 in ...
Current 93: Invisible Jukebox: Current 93
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, May 2001
Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...
Review by Ben Edmonds, Rolling Stone, 24 May 2001
A BOUNTY OF classic blues albums has recently become available on CD, fortified with bonus tracks and unissued material. ...
Charley Patton: The Definitive Charley Patton
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, June 2001
THERE'S 'DEFINITIVE', and then there's definitive. This complete collection – 58 performances on three CDs – of the recorded works of Charley Patton certainly earns ...
John Lee Hooker: Goodbye Boogie Man
Obituary by Cleothus Hardcastle, Rock's Backpages, 23 June 2001
"Woke up this morning..." ...
Ike Turner: The Redemption Of Ike
Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, Stereotype, July 2001
ROCK AND BLUES trailblazer Ike Turner celebrates a new outlook, new album and his 50th year in music. ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 10 July 2001
IN 1961, into pop charts dominated by the likes of Elvis Presley, Connie Francis and Dion and the Belmonts came the novelty song, 'Mother-In-Law', whose ...
Interview by Harry Shapiro, BluePrint, August 2001
Dick Heckstall-Smith: the unbearable lightness of being...or how one of the great unsung giants of jazz inspired a blues album, by Harry Shapiro ...
John Lee Hooker: The Boogie Man
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 2001
JOHN LEE HOOKER DIED peacefully in his sleep on June 21, 2001, two months and one day short of what would have been his 84th ...
Andre Williams: Bait and Switch (Norton)
Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 24 August 2001
R & B LEGEND Andre Williams first achieved acclaim the mid-'50s on Detroit's Fortune Records with classics like 'Bacon Fat' and 'Jail Bait' on which ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 August 2001
The least driven man in rhythm and blues has somehow produced another album. Adam Sweeting gets the lowdown ...
Etta James: Matriarch Of The Blues
Review and Interview by Tony Russell, MOJO, September 2001
Magisterial readings of blues and soul classics from the folios of Otis Redding, Al Green, and O.V. Wright, with a dash of Dylan and a ...
Charley Patton, Skip James: The Spooky Blues Of Skip James
Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 20 October 2001
Mystical, otherworldly sounds from the '30s ...
Review by Marc Weingarten, Slate, 25 October 2001
TO READ THE reviews of Bob Dylan's new album, Love and Theft, you would think the rock legend had returned to the salad days of ...
Yank Rachell: Richard Congress: The Blues Mandolin Man – The Life And Music of Yank Rachell
Book Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, November 2001
PREVIOUS (AUTO)BIOGRAPHIES of Honeyboy Edwards and Henry Townsend have established the format followed by this one and like the editors of the above works, Richard ...
Charley Patton: Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues (Revenant)
Review by David Dalton, MOJO, December 2001
HIS PEERS weren’t exactly trying to flatter him when they called him a rascal, a drunkard, a clown, a squabbler, a glutton, and hustler of ...
Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 2001
Tenor-man Heckstall-Smith takes us on a trip through the Brit blues boom with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, Alexis Korner, Graham Bond and Cyril Davis, through to Colosseum.
File format: mp3; file size: 38.7mb, interview length: 42' 18" sound quality: * (phoner)
Jerry McCain: Absolutely the Best – The Complete Jewel Singles
Review by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, Summer 2001
BLUES HARMONICA fans beware: Jerry "Boogie" McCain's harp-blowing is anything but conventional, and this collection, featuring material cut a decade into his career, during the ...
John Lee Hooker: An Appreciation
Memoir by Peter Stone Brown, Gadfly, Summer 2001
JOHN LEE HOOKER'S death is tragic not so much for the loss of one of the greatest blues artists, but because there are so few ...
Review by Peter Stone Brown, Gadfly, 2002
EARLY IN 1963, two blues collectors, Tom Hoskins and Richard Spottswood, pulled into a town in Mississippi that wasn't on the map, called Avalon. ...
B.B. King: King Of The Road: On The Road With B.B. King In The Mid-1950s
Sleeve notes by John Broven, Ace Records, 2002
First published in the book accompanying the box set B.B. King: The Vintage Years (Ace Records), 2002. ...
Report and Interview by Mike Atherton, Echoes, 2002
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, has been a music town for over half a century. In the early 1950s, Lillian McMurry's Trumpet label made Sonny Boy Williamson into ...
Mel Brown: Whaddya Mean You've Never Heard Of… Mel Brown?
Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, 2002
"WITH THE GUITAR outselling all other musical instruments today," declared a Down Beat editor confidently in 1967, "it's good to have Mel Brown around to ...
North Mississippi Allstars: North Mississippi All Stars: 51 Phantom (Tone-Cool)
Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, January 2002
EARLIER THIS YEAR, the North Mississippi All Stars received a nomination for a Grammy (Best Contemporary Blues Album), the LB Critics' Awards for Best Debut ...
R.L. Burnside: R. L. Burnside: Burnside On Burnside (Fat Possum)
Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, January 2002
IN THE LAST decade R.L. Burnside, the best-known purveyor of Mississippi hill country blues, has become almost an anti-hero of the blues scene. His label, ...
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: The Lion in Winter: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown
Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, January 2002
IT IS 10:15 on a Saturday morning, and I am banging on a motel room door in San Juan Capistrano, having driven down from Los ...
Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 18 January 2002
California's No Doubt stay up with the pack, while P.O.D. have seen God. David Sinclair is awed ...
Lazy Lester: Blues Stop Knockin’
Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 24 January 2002
ONE OF THE LAST of that great fraternity of Excello bluesmen – and a throwback to the days when harp-blowers like Little Walter Jacobs, Jimy ...
Ike Turner: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 February 2002
IF YOU didn't know Ike Turner was 70 before this show, you certainly did within minutes of his swaggering entrance. ...
Report and Interview by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 2 March 2002
The musical genre finally gets its day in the sun with an intimate and detailed documentary that's a coup of sorts for the lower-profile station. ...
North Mississippi Allstars: The North Mississippi Allstars: Irving Plaza, New York
Live Review by Kandia Crazy Horse, PopMatters, 22 March 2002
AT THIS POINT, going to witness the North Mississippi Allstars live in performance is somewhat akin to seeing god. Now a four-piece including guitarist/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist DuWayne ...
Dave Van Ronk: Folk's Missing Link
Retrospective by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 4 April 2002
I WAS IN HIGH school in the 1960s when I first saw Dave Van Ronk at the Gaslight, one of those little cellar clubs that ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, July 2002
The Chairman of the Board of Blues Singers looks back at his early days in Memphis, and on the observational nature of his songs, and their universal subject matter.
File format: mp3; file size: 10mb, interview length: 10' 55" sound quality: ****
Transcript of audio interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, July 2002
This is a transcription of Barney's audio interview with B.B., conducted on a cold summer's evening in Liverpool. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Muddy Waters: Robert Gordon: Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters (Jonathan Cape)
Review by Tim Clifford, Rock's Backpages, September 2002
MUDDY WATERS STANDING at a mike hollering "I’m a man", giving those three simple words a world of meaning – invitation, warning, primal statement and ...
W.C. Clark: From Austin With Soul
Profile and Interview by Jeff Calvin, Blues Revue, September 2002
A profile of Austin, TX bluesman W.C. Clark ...
The West Side Horns: West Side Horns: San Quilmas (Dialtone)
Review by Joe Nick Patoski, Austin Chronicle, 13 September 2002
WITHIN THE FIRST few bars of 'Rainbow Riot', the opening track of the West Side Horns' San Quilmas, three great revelations came to me while ...
Retrospective by Paul Gorman, MOJO, October 2002
FOR MANY A PUNK CHANCER, CRED comes with claims of attending the Sex Pistols' brace of gigs at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in the ...
Review by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, October 2002
THE BLUES NEEDS a new messiah, a musician who can prove the style's vitality by exploding it across the barriers of age, culture and taste, ...
Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Bluebird/RCA, 2003
"DOWN IN TUPELO," Elvis Presley famously remarked in June 1956, "I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way I do now, ...
Ray Charles: 10 Questions for Ray Charles
Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, January 2003
Meeting Nat Cole, crafting genius songs on the spot and tips on sartorial cool. Bill DeMain gets the word from the emperor of soul. ...
Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Stephen Stills: Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills: Rock's First Supergroup?
Retrospective by Bill Wasserzieher, ICE, January 2003
MIKE BLOOMFIELD, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills were between gigs at the time they recorded Super Session for Columbia Records in 1968, with Bloomfield having ...
John Sinclair: Invisible Jukebox: John Sinclair
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, January 2003
John Sinclair — poet, journalist and former manager of 60s revolutionary rockers The MC5 — was born in Flint, Michigan in 1941. His father worked ...
Roy Gaines: Backside of the Blues: Roy Gaines at the Chalkboard
Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Senior Life, March 2003
IF EDUCATORS WERE to design a college course on the history of the blues, they could do a lot worse than study Roy Gaines. ...
Profile and Interview by Jeff Calvin, Blues Revue, May 2003
"THEY HAVE THIS saying," explains Joe Louis Walker. "While we're making plans, God's laughing." ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, 23 May 2003
DESIGNATED DRUMMER. IF YOU'RE GOING to hang a tag on the able shoulders of Ernesto "Ernie" Durawa, that would be the one. For almost 50 ...
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World Acoustic, June 2003
"WHEN I FIRST heard of the electric guitar, I thought somebody was bullshittin' me," says George "Buddy" Guy. "We lived so far in the country ...
Preview by John Lewis, Programme notes for gig at Barbican Hall, 13 July 2003
CASSANDRA WILSON's voice can startle you the first time you hear it. It's down, deep and bassy, almost androgynous, with a hint of menace that ...
Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, August 2003
B.B. KING ALREADY had a career dating back 20 years - first playing to chitlin circuit audiences and then at the Fillmores and other psychedelic ...
Memoir by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, August 2003
Tracks and artists: Mississippi John Hurt: Candy Man/Coffee Blues/Stagolee. Brownie McGhee: Long Gone/Key To The Highway. Rev. Gary Davis: Samson And Delilah/I Won't Be Back ...
Retrospective and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Classic Rock, August 2003
Woodstock made Ten Years After into world stars, but instead of capitalising on their new-found fame they lost the plot. ...
ZZ Top: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 3 August 2003
IT WAS A STROKE of genius, when you think about it. Call it the Clive Dunn Factor, if you will. When Billy Gibbons and Dusty ...
The Blasters: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, October 2003
TONIGHT, DAVE ALVIN looks like a man out to settle an old score. With his gunslinger necktie and low-slung guitar, he fires off endless streams ...
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, November 2003
It's 100 years since the discovery of the blues. Charles Shaar Murray Hails the Legacy of WC Handy, the man who changed music ...
James "Blood" Ulmer: James Blood Ulmer: No Escape From the Blues
Interview by John Swenson, Offbeat, 1 November 2003
THE SEPTEMBER release of James Blood Ulmer’s No Escape From the Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions is a milestone event in this centennial Year of ...
Overview by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 16 November 2003
In September 2002, the US Congress officially designated 2003 as 'The Year Of The Blues.' Why this year of all years? ...
Omar & the Howlers: Omar: Last of the Miss'ippi Howlers
Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Southland Blues, December 2003
TOO BAD "road warrior" has been done to death as a descriptor for every long-haul job-wrangler on Earth because it works so well for musicians, ...
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 ...
Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson: Memphis Slim & Sonny Boy Williamson: Live In Europe
Sleeve notes by Bill Wasserzieher, Reelin' in the Years/Hip-O/Experience Hendrix DVD, 2004
MEMPHIS SLIM AND Sonny Boy Williamson - even their names, their performing aliases, have a bigger-than-life aura. And though both passed away decades ago, time ...
Buddy Guy Brings It All Back Home
Report and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, January 2004
LEGEND HAS IT that when novelist William Faulkner, who sometimes did hack work in Hollywood, was writing the screenplay for Land of the Pharaohs, he ...
Robert Johnson: Elijah Wald: Escaping the Delta - Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues
Book Review by Anthony Heilbut, Los Angeles Times Book Review, January 2004
WHOSE BLUES is it anyway? On his first trip to the Mississippi Delta, Elijah Wald found himself performing a Robert Johnson song at the Mt. ...
Howlin' Wolf: The Howlin' Wolf Story
Film/DVD/TV Review by j. poet, Paste, 23 January 2004
THE DEBATE ABOUT precisely when the blues became rock'n'roll will go on forever, but the footage of The Howlin' Wolf Story makes a good case ...
Essay by Adam Blake, Cosmik Debris, 22 February 2004
FOR THE RECORD, I would like to state that my favourite bluesmen are Sonny Boy (Aleck 'Rice' Miller) Williamson and Professor Longhair, neither of whom ...
Profile and Interview by Wayne Robins, The Bergen Record, March 2004
FREE ASSOCIATION test for the musically informed: I say "Keb' Mo'", you say "blues". And that's the right answer, to a certain degree. ...
Elijah Wald: Escaping The Delta: Robert Johnson And The Invention Of The Blues
Book Review by Tony Russell, New Humanist, May 2004
FOR A MUSIC that has always been resolutely secular, the blues has attracted a remarkable crowd of hierarchs and hierophants. Scholars, musicians, record collectors and ...
Eric Clapton, Dogs Die In Hot Cars: Eric Clapton: Royal Abert Hall, London
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 9 May 2004
WOKE UP this morning, got those "I'm going to see Eric Clapton" blues. Said I woke up this morning, and… OK, let's be honest. For ...
Taj Mahal: A Living Edifice To The Blues
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 10 June 2004
Taj Mahal/Tinariwen, Barbican, London **** ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 12 June 2004
DURING THE 1960S, a generation of teenagers discovered America's hidden music of black blues, gospel and soul, and many of them promptly fissured into followings ...
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page: The Guv'nors
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 2004
"Big loud chords, fuck-off guitar sound — we started it all. GOOD MORNING!" chimes Jeff Beck. "Now it's time to do something new and unexpected!" ...
George Thorogood & the Destroyers: Raiders of the Lost Axe
Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, September 2004
Bluesman George Thorogood is celebrating 30 years of 12-bar brilliance with a new Best Of… and a global tour. He talks to Terry Staunton. ...
Jimmy Reed: At Carnegie Hall (Fidelity)
Review by Jeff Calvin, Blues Revue, September 2004
WHILE THIS IS a most welcome reissue for several reasons, it probably would have been good to note somewhere on the package that this is ...
Review by Joe Nick Patoski, Harp, September 2004
WHEN IT COMES to defining American music over the past quarter century, no band comes close to Los Lobos. ...
Ray Charles: I Believe to My Soul
Essay by Dave Marsh, Harp, September 2004
One of these days, and it won't be longYou gonna look for me, and I'll be gone ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, September 2004
THE 1967 departure of BB Band axedude Mike Bloomfield provided fellow Windy City man Elvin Bishop with the chance to come in and revamp Paul ...
Jimbo Mathus, Squirrel Nut Zippers: Jimbo Mathus Is No Longer a Squirrel Nutter
Profile and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, October 2004
"JIMBO MATHUS is a link in what I call the 'crazy Mississippi white boy' chain of music that goes all the way back through Elvis ...
Report by Michael Gray, Daily Telegraph, 24 October 2004
Michael Gray follows the trail of some great American musicians who moved from the rural South in the early 1900s. ...
Book Review by Eric Weisbard, The New York Times Book Review, 31 October 2004
THE IMAGE OF the bluesman Robert Johnson standing at a crossroads in the Mississippi Delta, selling his soul to play guitar as though he had ...
Big Joe Turner: Shout Rattle & Roll (Proper)
Review by Neil Slaven, Proper Records, 2005
ROMANTICS CALLED it "The Paris Of The Plains" but no one ever decided which arrondissement of France's capital Kansas City actually resembled. The red light ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: Fleetwood Mac: The Making of Then Play On
Retrospective and Interview by Toby Manning, unpublished, 2005
IN 1969, FLEETWOOD Mac's prime mover had begun acting very strangely. First of all this East End Jew found Jesus, and began trying to convert ...
Robert Johnson: Travelling Riverside Blues (Clarksdale, Mississippi)
Book Excerpt by Graham Reid, Random House, 2005
Travelling Riverside Blues is a chapter in Graham Reid's Postcards From Elsewhere collection of travel stories (Random House) and is available through his website: www.elsewhere.co.nz ...
Al Kooper: Al’s Big Deal/Unclaimed Freight
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, February 2005
Unsung hero's anthology of solo work and collaborations ...
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 18 February 2005
THE FIRST TIME Samuel Charters came to Memphis, it was in the fall of 1956. "I bought a car for a hundred and fifty bucks ...
Report and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, LA CityBeat, 24 February 2005
THE BAR AT THE RITZ-CARLTON in South Pasadena has hand-rubbed wood on the walls and a copious amount of plush sofas and chairs. Bookcases ...
Ray Charles: O-Genio: Live In Brazil 1963
Film/DVD/TV Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, March 2005
AFTER LAST YEAR'S duets album became the best-selling release of his career, coupled with the Oscar buzz surrounding the new biopic, it was inevitable that ...
Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin' – Live 1966 (MVD)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Wasserzieher, ICE, 22 March 2005
FOR DECADES, Spencer Davis has taken heat for having named his British Invasion band the Spencer Davis Group. One critic likened it to calling the ...
Cream: Royal Albert Hall, London, 5 May 2005
Live Review by Richard English, Rock's Backpages, May 2005
THIRTY SEVEN YEARS ago my Mum wouldn't let me go to the Cream Farewell Concert. She didn't want me to mix with all those ...
Alvin Youngbood Hart: Alvin Youngblood Hart: His Way
Profile and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 20 July 2005
Ignoring the "blues Nazis", Alvin Youngblood Hart patches rock, blues, and country into a musical crazy quilt. ...
The White Stripes: The Truth In Red And White: The White Stripes' Romanticised Reality
Comment by Stevie Chick, The Stranger, 4 August 2005
"I SAW THIS documentary about a classical guitarist," Jack White told me recently. "He was playing Bach and Mozart, these really ridiculously complicated pieces, but ...
North Mississippi Allstars: In the Footprints of Giants
Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 7 September 2005
The North Mississippi Allstars salute hill-country blues as the culture loses a titan. ...
Mose Allison: Mose And His Muse
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 October 2005
MOSE ALLISON can be summed up in two words – Mose Allison. ...
Stefan Grossman, Danny Kalb: Danny Kalb and Stefan Grossman: Crosscurrents
Review by Bill Wasserzieher, ICE, 22 November 2005
AL KOOPER WAS surely the ultimate "super session-er" in the late 1960s – all those star turns with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, ...
Dion: The Wanderer Walks with the Blues
Interview by Gene Sculatti, ICE, Winter 2005
IT'S A SHAME that, these days, a singer this good needs a qualifier. Until the arrival of Celine, there was only one Dion — Dion ...
North Mississippi Allstars: The Real Deal
Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, Spring 2005
EVEN GOOD BANDS play bad shows. Equipment malfunctions, guitars don't stay in tune, somebody has a cold or a hellacious hangover. Maybe the vibe is ...
Overview by John Sinclair, Honest Tune, Spring 2005
WHEN YOU hear the word "blues" you're bound to think of Mississippi. The phrase "Mississippi blues" leads at once to thoughts of Clarksdale and Greenwood ...
Booker T & The MGs, Booker T. Jones: Booker T. Jones (2006) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Joel Selvin, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2006
This is a transcript of Joel's radio interview with the great M.G.s mainmain. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Buddy Guy: Can't Quit The Blues **** ½
Review by Jeff Tamarkin, AllMusic.com, 2006
LEGEND STATUS CAME LATE to Buddy Guy, so it shouldn't be surprising that this is the first box set devoted to the blues giant's work. ...
Freddie King, Howard Tate: Freddie King and Howard Tate are the Soul of Gospel and Blues
Report by Kirk Silsbee, Pasadena Weekly, 16 February 2006
TOO OFTEN we're reminded that soul – the fundament of black gospel and blues—is fast slipping away from us. Losing Wilson Pickett and Lou Rawls in ...
Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women: Deluxe Edition
Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 24 March 2006
IF YOU BUY only one acoustic blues album this year, why not a best-of from a self-affirming trio of feisty females? ...
Review by Larry Jaffee, The Audiophile Voice, April 2006
IN 2000, CAPITOL Records' imprint The Right Stuff released King of the New York Streets, which it deemed the "Ultimate Dion Collection", comprising 65 tracks ...
Otis Rush: All Your Love I Miss Loving – Live at the Wise Fools Pub, Chicago
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 April 2006
FOR A VARIETY of reasons, ranging from producer/label interference to his own notorious mood swings, Otis Rush has probably made fewer great recordings than any ...
Blues In The Bottle: American Vernacular Music and the Medicine Show
Book Review by Tony Russell, Catalyst, May 2006
A review of the compilation Good For What Ails You: Music of the Medicine Shows, 1926-1937 (Old Hat Records) ...
This Be an Empty World Without the Blues – So Clifford Antone filled it
Retrospective by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, 26 May 2006
THE FIRST TIME I met Clifford Antone, he sold me a sandwich. He had opened a shop on Guadalupe, right around the corner from the ...
Obituaries: Mercury Records' Irving Green, co-founder, and Art Talmadge, first vice president
Obituary by John Broven, Now Dig This, August 2006
BY PURE COINCIDENCE, two founding members of the first management team of Mercury Records have died within weeks of each other: Irving Green, co-founder and ...
Profile by Jason Gross, Creative Loafing, 3 August 2006
ARE THERE ANY active old-school divas that we can still look up to? Cher? Retired. Tina Turner? Retired. Barbara Streisand? Her too. Joni Mitchell? Yep. ...
Marvin Sease: Candy Licker – The Sex And Soul Of Marvin Sease
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 31 August 2006
YOU'VE PROBABLY never heard of Marvin Sease, but from 'Candy Licker' in 1986 until 2005, he was the only artist in the contemporary southern soul-blues ...
Obituary by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, October 2006
CLIFFORD ANTONE liked to say he was "the blues in Austin." He was and then some. From 1975, when he opened his namesake club, until ...
Fleetwood Mac: The Return of Jeremy Spencer
Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, October 2006
This the complete interview with (ex-Fleetwood Mac) Jeremy Spencer. The edited version will be published by Blues Revue in October 2006 ...
North Mississippi Allstars: South Toward Home
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 12 October 2006
When the Allstars come home and play blues all night long, it's a family tradition. ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: The Whamee 1953-55 (Rev-Ola)
Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, November 2006
Born bad: early recordings for Grand, Mercury, Wing, Timely and Gotham. ...
Report and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, LA CityBeat, 3 November 2006
FLYING INTO Kansas City, Missouri, you see a huge patchwork landscape of eccentric green and brown shapes that is farmland acreage. These are both separated ...
Johnny Winter: After A Long Drought, Winter Blows Into Town
Interview by Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News, 10 November 2006
THE CALL comes just before midnight on election night — a Texas accent thick as T-bone steak and as lived-in as the frets on T-Bone ...
Gnarls Barkley, Jonny Lang, John Legend, Robin Thicke: The Nu Sincerity
Guide by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 12 December 2006
JAMES TAYLOR'S early-'70s status as the king of sensitive male vocalists is mere VH1 countdown fodder now. Yet in 2006, more than a few male ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Richard Williams, The Guardian, 16 December 2006
A mogul who nurtured the careers of stars such as Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield ...
The Artwoods: Art Wood: An interview
Interview by Alan Clayson, Record Collector, 2007
Alan Clayson summarises the late R&B vocalist's career and conducts the final interview with him. ...
Eric Clapton: Clapton Is God...The Cream Of Early Eric
Sleeve notes by Neil Slaven, Castle Music, 2007
A VIGNETTE from the days when "God" walked the streets of London: Mike Vernon and I are making our way down Wardour Street towards Shaftesbury ...
Joan Armatrading: Into The Blues (429 Records)
Review by Jeff Tamarkin, AllMusic.com, 2007
RECORDING Into The Blues, writes Joan Armatrading on the back sleeve of her first-ever blues album, "has given me so much pleasure," and that pleasure ...
Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 29 January 2007
WHEN LED ZEP covered Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie's 'When the Levee Breaks', they thought they were making "rock 'n' roll." When the Pointer Sisters ...
Ray Charles: Ahmet Ertegun, 1923-2006
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, February 2007
AS MUSIC BUSINESS people go, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun was a giant amongst pygmies, a mover and shaker whose colossal impact on the course ...
Robert Lockwood Jr.: Remembering Robert Lockwood Jr.
Obituary by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, February 2007
WHEN ROBERT LOCKWOOD JR. passed away at age 91 on Nov. 21, the obituaries in the major daily press made much of his connection to ...
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 15 February 2007
Legendary producer Joe Boyd hits Memphis. ...
Junior Wells: Live At Theresa's 1975
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 28 February 2007
IN A SENSE, blues harpist Junior Wells wanted across-the-board stardom so bad after he left Muddy Waters to go solo that it undermined his music, ...
Ruthie Foster: The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 30 March 2007
WHEN RUTHIE FOSTER performed at the South by Southwest Music Conference two weeks ago, the short, dreadlocked singer demanded attention with the sheer power of ...
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 April 2007
SEVEN YEARS SINCE her last album, three and a half years after a life-threatening illness, Koko Taylor comes roaring back with an album meant to ...
Book Review by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 17 August 2007
AS MICHAEL Gray makes clear from the outset, Blind Willie McTell confounds every popular stereotype of the southern blues man. McTell was no "roaring primitive, ...
Maria Muldaur: Sweet and Sassy, Bawdy and Blue
Profile and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Detroit Metro Times, 29 August 2007
WHEN SINGER Maria Muldaur takes the stage at this week's Detroit Jazz Festival, it will be a culmination of a chain of events that run ...
Various Artists: Vee-Jay – The Definitive Collection
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 31 August 2007
VEE-JAY RECORDS of Chicago was not the first successful black-owned label – Duke-Peacock of Houston stakes a better claim to that title – but until ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, September 2007
FUNNY HOW things change. A little over a decade ago, Ike Turner was rock'n'roll's terminal pariah. Damned by 1993's What's Love Got To Do With ...
Elvin Bishop: An Interview with Elvin Bishop
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 13 September 2007
HOW DO YOU write a blues song? Elvin Bishop, a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band before launching a successful solo career, is ...
Eric Clapton: The Autobiography (Century)
Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 14 October 2007
IT IS HARD to believe that the first book to spill the beans on Eric Clapton should arrive more than 40 years after the graffitied ...
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2007
TOM WAITS owes it all to his wife, Kathleen Brennan. The one-time raggedy man and barfly, a sartorial amalgam of Frank Sinatra's Capitol covers, Be-Bop ...
Gov't Mule: Guitar wizard Haynes leads Gov't Mule to Fillmore
Report by Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News, 9 November 2007
BLUES GUITAR that doesn't insult the intelligence is a dying art these days, but some, like Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers, ...
Book Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 16 December 2007
HOW BETTER to salve the pangs of remorse induced by a season of over-indulgence than by voraciously consuming the reminiscences of those whose lifestyles make ...
Bill Wyman: "I can't live off the Stones royalties"
Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 10 January 2008
BILL WYMAN IS sitting in a booth at the back of his Sticky Fingers restaurant cuddling a beautiful young girl called Matilda. ...
Obituary by John Broven, Now Dig This, February 2008
CLYDE OTIS died on January 8, 2008, in Englewood Hospital, New Jersey at the age of 83. He was famous amongst NDT readers for writing ...
Memoir by Andria Lisle, MOJO, March 2008
Demonised during his lifetime, Ike Turner left a musical legacy that matched his fearsome reputation. Andria Lisle, a former associate, pays her respects to one ...
Seymour Stein: Shellac in My Veins
Retrospective and Interview by Jason Cohen, Cincinatti Magazine, March 2008
A New York City record man recalls his dearest mentor. ...
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 ...
Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 26 March 2008
ON THEIR FIRST studio release since re-forming in 2005, the Black Crowes show how a little time off from each other can work wonders. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Wayne Robins, eMusic.com, 21 April 2008
BILLED AS THE posthumous music of a wilfully obscure musician named Marvin Pontiac, The Legendary Marvin Pontiac: Greatest Hits package came with a photo purported ...
Interview by Graham Reid, Elsewhere, June 2008
AT 46, JAMES Hunter from Colchester in Essex is an overnight soul-singing sensation who took a couple of decades to get to where he is. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Simply Red: Mick Hucknall meets Bobby "Blue" Bland
Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, June 2008
He revolutionised soul in the early '60s, sings like an angel in anguish, and has influenced everyone from Otis Redding to Van Morrison. Now Bobby ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 June 2008
American pioneer of rock'n'roll who influenced the Beatles and the Rolling Stones ...
Bo Diddley and the Beat Surrender
Retrospective by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 June 2008
Bo Diddley has shuffled off, but his trademark rhythm, and his part in the creation of rock'n'roll, will remain. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Simply Red: Mick Hucknall: From Red To Blue
Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, July 2008
As the multi-million-selling figurehead of Simply Red, Mick Hucknall found himself in a creative cul-de-sac. On his debut solo album, a tribute to his idol ...
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. ...
Profile and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, September 2008
To the faithful, Eric Clapton's guitar playing has always been sacred. But in 2008, from a Blind Faith reunion to a host of blazing session ...
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 ...
Various Artists: Lost & Found – The Blues Legacy Volumes 1, 2, 3
Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, September 2008
THE WEIGHT OF history compensates for the incidental failings some of these recordings contain. ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 26 September 2008
1950s blues and R&B singer resurgent in the 80s and last year. ...
Jerry Wexler: Appreciating Jerry Wexler, the Supreme Atlantic Record Man
Memoir by John Broven, Now Dig This, October 2008
AS SOON AS Jerry Wexler's death was announced on August 15, 2008, daily newspapers and rock magazines had their already-written obituaries ready to go in ...
Bo Diddley: Road Runner – The Chess Masters, 1959-1960
Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, October 2008
YOU KNOW THE stuff that pigs are happy to be in? Well, here I am, up to my armpits in slurry, slapping the surface with ...
Robert Johnson: The Death of Robert Johnson
Book Excerpt by Tom Graves, DeMers Books, October 2008
Excerpt from the book Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson (DeMers Books) ...
Seasick Steve: I Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most Of It Left
Review by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 6 October 2008
ORGANIC TO the foot of every blue soaked note. Here we meet the real deal. 40 years in a hobo hell (well, mostly) this 60-something ...
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 ...
Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood: Mick Fleetwood in Blue Hawaii
Interview by Kris Needs, Record Collector, December 2008
On the eve of a UK tour, Fleetwood Mac's "spiritual father"' Mick Fleetwood talks to Kris Needs about his new blues band and rediscovering his ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Sing The Blues
Review by Steve LaBate, Paste, 4 December 2008
Embattled husband-and-wife duo's last independent-label recordings ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Holdship, Metro Times, 10 December 2008
Hollywood's version of the Chess Records story combines the best and worst of the classic rock 'n' roll biopic ...
Led Zeppelin: Down the Tracks: The Music That Influenced Led Zeppelin (dir. Stephen Gammond)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 6 January 2009
EVEN THE MOST naïve and surface Led Zeppelin listener tell you at least that they were influenced "by the blues." But this insightful and surprisingly ...
Cyril Davies, The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones at the Ricky-Tick, January 1963
Memoir by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages, April 2009
THE FIRST TIME I hear Cyril Davies blow his harmonica is January 1963 at Leo's Jazz Club in Windsor. As I approach, shoulders hunched against ...
Sunny War: Songstress-Musician Sunny War
Profile and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 15 July 2009
ON THE TINY YouTube screen is a close-up of a diminutive black woman who looks about 12 but is, in the video, 16. Her hair's ...
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 ...
Alexis Korner, Blues Incorporated, Cyril Davies: Blues Incorporated: How British R&B Trashed Trad
Retrospective by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages, 24 September 2009
ALEXIS KORNER'S Parisian birthplace, Austro-Greek parentage, noble features and languid growl endowed him with an aura of exoticism unreflected in his musical partner Cyril "Squirrel" ...
Chris Barber: Father of British R&B
Retrospective by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages, 28 September 2009
BY 1963, EVERYONE I knew had a TV. Two black-and-white channels: the one that was on and "the other side". So when the Rolling Stones ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Oil City Rockers
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, October 2009
A fierce, gritty riposte to early-'7Os excess, Dr Feelgood weren't just trailblazers for punk but, fleetingly, the biggest band in England. With a new Julien ...
Retrospective and Interview by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages, 2 October 2009
THE FIRST PUBLIC appearance of what would one day be touted as "the greatest rock and roll band in the world" was hardly headline news, ...
Jim Dickinson: "I'm Just Dead: I'm Not Gone"
Memoir by Bob Mehr, MOJO, November 2009
A Sun Records artist who played with Dylan, the Stones and Aretha and produced key albums by Big Star and Ry Cooder, Jim Dickinson was ...
The Blues Band, Paul Jones, Manfred Mann: Paul Jones
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2009
SELDOM HAS the descriptive shorthand "long-awaited" been more apposite than in the case of Starting All Over Again, a rare Paul Jones solo album released ...
Seasick Steve: Man From Another Time
Review and Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, November 2009
More hobo blues, ruthlessly pared on fourth LP. ...
Valerie June, Whispering Pines: In the Whispering Pines
Report by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 25 February 2010
THIS IS THE YEAR when your scribing cowgirl returns wholly to the barn — or at least the fabled Cabin-in-the-Pines where folks used to pick, ...
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 ...
Tom Jones: Why Applause Is The Greatest Drug Of All
Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 13 May 2010
Living legend and Wales' finest son talks exclusively to Julian Marszalek about his life, work and loves... and why a round of applause and a ...
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Dirty Shirt Rock'n'Roll
Review by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 19 May 2010
THE JON SPENCER Blues Explosion? Well, it's all kinda … ...
Delbert McClinton: Tarrytown Music Hall, New York
Live Review by Kris DiLorenzo, Rock's Backpages, 21 May 2010
IT'S BEEN A WAAAY too long time, but I'd be stupidly remiss if I didn't rave about Delbert McClinton's show at the Tarrytown Music Hall ...
Retrospective and Interview by John Broven, Now Dig This, July 2010
WHEN BOBBY Charles recorded 'Later Alligator' for Chess at Cosimo Matassa's J. & M. Studio in New Orleans in autumn 1955, he was not only ...
The Black Keys: The Ongoing Adventures Of Two Complete Knuckleheads
Interview by Johnny Black, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2010
"WE DIDN'T KNOW what the hell we were doing," laughs the Black Keys' frontman Dan Auerbach, in a not entirely successful attempt to sum up ...
The Black Keys: "It's ridiculous to say that we play the blues"
Report and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 9 July 2010
FOR EIGHT MONTHS NOW, since the end of a relationship, the Black Keys drummer Pat Carney has been living in New York's Lower East Side. ...
Little Axe: From blues to hip-hop and back
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 July 2010
SKIP MCDONALD was playing a gig in Portugal, billed as just him and guitar. A fair portion of the audience had seen the billing and ...
The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmie Vaughan: Beacon Blues: Jimmie Vaughan's Lifelong Song
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, 16 July 2010
THE ONE KNITE was an oasis of soul. The room was a little box, sitting at the corner of Red River and Eighth Street. Cut ...
Dave Bartholomew, Fats Domino: Dave Bartholomew
Sleeve notes by Bob Fisher, unpublished, August 2010
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In 2010, I put together a 4-CD box set for JSP Records which was never actually released. Year later, I produced a new ...
Sleeve notes by Bob Fisher, unpublished, August 2010
ON CHRISTMAS EVE 2016, Dave Bartholomew celebrated his 98th birthday and over 65 years as a professional musician. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: For Members Only: Bobby Bland on Malaco
Sleeve notes by Barney Hoskyns, Malaco Records, October 2010
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, searching for the extant spirit of southern soul, I made my way to a former Pepsi-Cola warehouse in a decidedly unlovely industrial ...
Blazers, the: The Blazers: East Side Soul
Sleeve notes by Don Snowden, New Rounder, 5 October 2010
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA – the first weekend of March, 1995. Mudslides wiped out nine homes in a town near Ventura while OJ trial junkies debated the ...
Stephen Dale Petit: Like a rolling stone
Interview by Robin Eggar, The Sunday Times, 19 December 2010
Stephen Dale Petit is a bluesman who has lived the life, with a little help from his famous friends ...
Sleeve notes by Neil Slaven, JSP Records, 2011
LET SHIRLEY COLLINS set the scene. In her fascinating autobiography, America Over the Water, she tells of her first meeting with Fred McDowell at the ...
Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, January 2011
Now in new hands, Rounder Records looks back after four decades of progressive signings in country, blues and folk. ...
Leadbelly: John Szwed: The Man Who Recorded the World – A Biography of Alan Lomax
Book Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 8 January 2011
Richard Williams hails the man who devoted his life to recording the songs and soundscapes of America and beyond. ...
Book Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 8 January 2011
Richard Williams hails the man who devoted his life to recording the songs and soundscapes of America and beyond. ...
Captain Beefheart: Booglarized Wonderland
Memoir by Mike Barnes, The Wire, February 2011
IN EVERY PERSON'S experience of listening to music come certain crucial challenges in learning how to actually hear. ...
Gregg Allman: Low Country Blues
Review by Andy Gill, The Word, February 2011
T-Bone Burnett brings Gregg Allman back from the brink with a blues injection. It's the best solo album he's ever made. ...
Obituary: Bobby Robinson, Harlem record man
Obituary by John Broven, Now Dig This, February 2011
MORGAN CLYDE "Bobby" Robinson, the longtime Harlem record man and record shop owner, died on January 7, 2011, at the grand age of 93 while ...
Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood: Saving the 100 Club
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2011
"RONNIE WOOD was one of the first musicians I ever met," says Mick Taylor, seated deep in the murk of the 100 Club. "The Cherry ...
Junior Kimbrough, Ali Farka Toure: African Connections
Comment by Don Snowden, Rock's Backpages, 16 February 2011
LISTENING TO Junior Kimbrough again recently brought it all back home—how much that guitar tone had nagged and nagged at me, so damn familiar you ...
Belated Props: Arhoolie Records at 50
Comment by Don Snowden, Rock's Backpages, 20 March 2011
DON'T IT FIGURE that Arhoolie's 50th anniversary just happened to overlap with the publication of John Szwed's biography of Alan Lomax? An unfortunate but appropriate ...
Review by Lloyd Bradley, bbc.co.uk, 25 March 2011
Vintage touches and modern twists combine on an irrepressible soul record. ...
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 Centennial Collection
Review by Andy Gill, The Word, June 2011
Robert Johnson used a variety of tricks to hide his remarkable technique from copyists, even dancing while he played. ...
The Coasters: Carl Gardner, 1928-2011
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 13 June 2011
Singer and founding member of the R&B hitmakers the Coasters. ...
Benny Spellman: New Orleans R&B stalwart Benny Spellman
Obituary by John Broven, Now Dig This, July 2011
BENNY SPELLMAN, the New Orleans R&B singer, died of respiratory failure on June 3, 2011, in Pensacola, Fla., at the age of 79. He was ...
Rory Gallagher: Blues for the Muse
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, The Word, July 2011
A lost studio album is out – by Rory Gallagher, the man who put all he had into his music and took nothing back in ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Charles Farley: Soul of the Man – Bobby "Blue" Bland
Book Review by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 22 July 2011
I HAVE TWO REASONS to vividly remember the first occasion I saw Bobby "Blue" Bland perform in a Los Angeles nightclub 35 years ago. ...
David "Honeyboy" Edwards, 1915-2011
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 30 August 2011
Blues singer and guitarist with an enthralling style, he played with Robert Johnson. ...
Chris Rea: Santo Spirito Blues
Review by Luke Turner, bbc.co.uk, September 2011
As blues homage this can't be faulted, but Rea doesn't allow his great voice to shine. ...
Book Review by Andy Gill, The Word, September 2011
FORGET JAMES BROWN: the hardest working man in show business is surely bluesman Bobby "Blue" Bland, who played over 300 shows per year, for decades ...
Profile and Interview by Holly Gleason, Relix, 9 September 2011
TWO JUBILANT kids are dancing amid a gaggle of homegrown hippie girls in the wings of the Savannah Civic Center in Georgia. The Civic has ...
The Coasters, The Drifters, Ben E. King, Big Mama Thornton: Jerry Leiber, 1933-2011
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, October 2011
The man who made "15-minute radio plays" into hits. ...
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 ...
Howlin' Wolf, Hubert Sumlin: Hubert Sumlin, 1931-2011
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 5 December 2011
Revered blues guitarist who combined musically with Howlin' Wolf "like gasoline and a lit match" ...
Gregg Allman: Low Country Blues
Review by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, Fall 2011
BEFORE YOU EVEN HEAR a note, the coupling of Gregg Allman produced by T-Bone Burnett seems like a match made in heaven. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Two Steps From The Blues (Soul Jam)
Review by Mike Atherton, Echoes, 2012
WHEN BOBBY BLAND'S debut LP Two Steps From The Blues crept out over here on Vogue in the early '60s, one reviewer, whether through bitchiness, ...
Obituary by Kirk Silsbee, L.A. Weekly, 19 January 2012
BANDLEADER, drummer/pianist, talent scout, club owner, broadcaster, recording executive, writer, and recording artist Johnny Otis passed away Jan. 17 at the age of 90 in ...
The Black Keys: Black Keys: Keys to the Kingdom
Interview by Andy Gill, Uncut, February 2012
How an unassuming garage blues duo from Akron became the biggest new rock band of the decade. With a little help from Danger Mouse, two ...
Various Artists: 100 Years Of The Blues (Universal)
Review by Mike Atherton, Echoes, February 2012
BLUES HAS BEEN an integral part of popular music for decades, and this new 4CD set celebrates its birth, its growth and its ever-widening influence. ...
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, March 2012
JOHNNY OTIS was relaxing in his San Francisco hotel room one afternoon in 1954 when his manager called from the lobby and said he was ...
Jack White: What's Jack White made of?
Comment by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 2 May 2012
White never stops working and everything he works with turns to gold. ...
Buddy Guy on his autobiography
Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, June 2012
"A LOT OF people have the blues and don't even know they got it," says Buddy Guy. "But just keep living and you'll figure out ...
Retrospective by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, August 2012
NOTE: This is an expanded version of a piece that was in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's induction program in 2012: the lengthier ...
Robert Plant: How I got my "big voice" out again
Report and Interview by Paul Sexton, Daily Telegraph, 22 August 2012
ROBERT PLANT stands on a small stage 4,500 miles from his birthplace, and yet he's never been so close to home. ...
Review by Stevie Chick, bbc.co.uk, September 2012
Canadian turntablist goes to meet the devil down by the crossroads. ...
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Times, 3 September 2012
RIPLEY... EPSOM... WALLINGTON. The names hardly resonate in the way that Clarksdale or Greenville or Natchez do. Yet in their way these Surrey towns are ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 22 September 2012
IN THE 1970s, ZZ Top broke through with a regional sound – simmering Texas blues – and then, in the next decade, reimagined their sound ...
The Black Keys, ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons and Dan Auerbach
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, October 2012
MISSISSIPPI FRED McDowell's haunted, woody voice sails through the air as the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach nurses a cup of coffee and flips through a ...
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, October 2012
BILLY GIBBONS AND Dan Auerbach are standing shoulder to shoulder on Easy Eye Studio's checkerboard floor, trading lazy blues licks through a battered old Gibson ...
Tav Falco's Panther Burns: Tav Falco: Talking with a Panther
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Record Collector, 6 October 2012
FEW FIGURES to emerge from post-punk's anarchic musical battle-boudoir have charted such an intensely idiosyncratic or enigmatic path as Tav Falco, a.k.a. Panther Burns. Roaring ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 2 December 2012
Versatile American guitarist who had a million-selling hit with 'Love Is Strange' ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 28 December 2012
Versatile blues singer and songwriter whose compositions included 'Tramp', recorded by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. ...
Elmore James: How Elmore James Invented Metal
Retrospective by John Morthland, Wondering Sound, 25 January 2013
ELMORE JAMES is often demeaned as a one-trick pony — or, in his case, a one lick pony. That would be the swooping, stinging slide ...
Retrospective by Lois Wilson, MOJO, February 2013
Abandoned as a child, addicted as an adult, Etta James lived a life punctuated by self-destruction and "wrong-headed men". Then came redemption. As the first ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 24 February 2013
Singer and guitarist considered an icon of Chicago blues ...
Alvin Lee: Finally Going Home: Alvin Lee
Interview by Roy Trakin, Rock's Backpages, March 2013
This tribute piece is based on an interview conducted on the release of Alvin's 2012 album Still on the Road to Freedom, a sequel of ...
Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, April 2013
Two nights. Nine-and-a-half hours. Thirty-three guitar players (more or less). Ninety-one songs. ...
Mud Morganfield: Blues scion stands up at last
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, April 2013
"LIFE WAS ROUGH," says Mud Morganfield, the 57-year-old blues singer and son of Muddy Waters. "Pop left us when I was seven, we were poor, ...
Comment by Gene Sculatti, Rock's Backpages, 18 April 2013
IS IT JUST ME? Or has anyone else who's seen the PBS special Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones Live found the whole affair cringe-worthy ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2013
SOMETIMES, JUST sometimes, the good ones win out. Ask Bonnie Raitt. In a career now into its fifth decade, and which once appeared to be ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 24 June 2013
BOBBY "BLUE" BLAND, who has died aged 83, was among the great storytellers of blues and soul music. In songs such as 'I Pity the ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Caught by the Reaper: Bobby "Blue" Bland, 1930-2013
Obituary by Tim Tooher, Caught by the River, 26 June 2013
FIRST GEORGE JONES, and now Bobby "Blue" Bland. If Billie Holiday were still alive, she'd be feeling very nervous right now. Jones and Bland were ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 19 July 2013
Mississippi blues guitarist who captivated audiences with his hypnotic playing and random storytelling ...
The Rising Sons: Scions of the Times: Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, August 2013
Doubly slept-on in the annals of the unlauded, two guitar masters' fleeting fusion of ancient and modern. ...
Valerie June: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, August 2013
Memphis singer follows the gravelled road to Camden Lock. ...
Profile and Interview by Wayne Robins, Billboard, 14 September 2013
NOTE: This is an unedited version of the Billboard article that appeared on 14 September, 2013. ...
Howlin' Wolf's London Sessions
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blues, November 2013
NOW REVERED AS a lynchpin moment in the history of the blues, Howlin' Wolf's 1970 London Sessions with a superstar assemblage of England's rock royalty, ...
The Birth Of The Blues and The Myth Of Authenticity
Essay by Mick Gold, Rock's Backpages, November 2013
Film-maker Mick Gold on the blues, authenticity and Blues America – broadcast by BBC4 on Friday 29 November and Friday 6 December at 9pm. ...
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, Spring 2013
WHEN HURRICANE KATRINA devastated New Orleans in 2005, resulting in the deaths of some 1,833 people and causing property damage estimated at £1,300 billion, a ...
Steve Miller (2014) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Holger Petersen, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2014
This is a transcript of Holger's audio interview with Steve. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2014
DR JOY DEGRUY coined the term Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome to describe the multi-generational trauma experienced by African Americans as a consequence of slavery. In ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blues, January 2014
PETER GREEN IS, arguably, the most underrated lead guitarist of the British mid-'60s blues boom, consistently relegated to a position somewhere below the holy triumverate ...
Retrospective and Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, March 2014
British blues band Fleetwood Mac rose to fame on the strength of Peter Green's playing and writing. Their success as an Anglo-American AOR act is ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blues, April 2014
LEGEND HOLDS that on October 22, 1962, a van set out from London, headed north. In that van were Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian ...
Interview by Holger Petersen, Rock's Backpages audio, 6 April 2014
From a childhood with Les Paul and T-Bone Walker as family friends, through to his recent Bingo! album, Miller looks back at his career: his first bands at school; the revelation that was Paul Butterfield, and his own involvement in the Chicago blues scene; San Francisco, the Haight and the Fillmore; legendary bluesmen such as John Lee Hooker and James Cotton; hitting big with The Joker; and the death of dear friend Norton Buffalo.
File format: mp3; file size: 46mb, interview length: 50' 15" sound quality: *****
Mike Bloomfield: Michael Bloomfield: From His Head to His Heart to His Hands (Columbia/Legacy)
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 13 April 2014
Anthology captures the titanic legacy of the late talent who inspired Clapton, Dylan and more. ...
Bill Medley: Still Having the Time of His Life
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 22 April 2014
BILL MEDLEY IS speaking to Rocks Off from the back of a car somewhere on the streets of New York City, on the way to ...
The Black Keys: Turn Blue (Nonesuch)
Review and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, June 2014
Following the triumph of El Camino, Auerbach, Carney & Danger Mouse roll the dice, play it where it lays. ...
Joe Bonamassa: He remembers opening for BB King in 1989
Memoir by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 26 September 2014
The guitarist recalls supporting the King of Blues at just twelve years old ...
Book Excerpt by Harvey Kubernik, 'Turn Up The Radio! Pop!' (Santa Monica Press), October 2014
NO ONE IN the history of Los Angeles radio did more to promote the music throughout Southern California – and indeed, the world – than ...
Dr. John: Welcome to the Big Easy
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, October 2014
FROM HIS 1968 DEBUT ONWARDS, THE MUSIC OF DR. JOHN HAS BEEN MARINADED IN THE PSYCHEDELIC VOODOO OF NEW ORLEANS. NOW, WITH A TRIBUTE TO ...
The Derek Trucks Band: Derek Trucks Keeps It All in the Family Band
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 12 November 2014
FOR MANY A bluesman, standing at the Crossroads is a mostly apocryphal experience, the stuff of myth and legends. ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Essay by Bill Bentley, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, December 2014
THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD Blues Band rocketed the blues straight into the stratosphere. One of the first integrated blues bands with mass appeal, the Paul Butterfield ...
Retrospective and Interview by Alan Clayson, unpublished, 2015
If known chiefly as a blues paladin, Mike Vernon plunged headfirst into many other – often unexpected – musical waters. Alan Clayson investigates. ...
Canned Heat: The badass blues band that death couldn't kill
Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, Classic Rock, January 2015
PICTURE THE SCENE: April 4, 1981, outside the World Famous Palomino Club in North Hollywood. The members of Canned Heat and their friends are smoking ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, January 2015
"It is interesting to look back to the birth of the British blues scene when one man pioneered a sound that was to give incentive ...
Report and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 1 January 2015
From the spirituals of the deep south to the White Stripes, it's a music that has constantly reimagined itself. But is anyone really ready for ...
Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Glendale News-Press, 12 March 2015
EPIPHANIES can be spurred by the most unlikely occurrences, and that can certainly hold true for practitioners of the blues. ...
Leadbelly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection
Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, May 2015
The last word on the convicted killer and extraordinary musician who shaped the future of white music. ...
The Rolling Stones: Norman Jopling: Shake It Up Baby! Notes From A Pop Music Reporter 1961-1972
Book Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, May 2015
ON MAY 8,1963, an issue of New Record Mirror hit the London streets with a lead story that had enormous unforeseen consequences. ...
Blind Boy Fuller: Piedmont Blues' Notorious B.I.G.
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 13 May 2015
WHERE DID the Rolling Stones get the title for their 1970 live album, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out? From Blind Boy Fuller's 1938 single of the ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 15 May 2015
Self-deprecating but with a magisterial stage presence, King developed a style that was both innovative and rooted in blues history. ...
Jimi Hendrix and the Birth of Heavy Blues
Retrospective by Johnny Black, Blues, July 2015
LIKE ALL THE great overnight sensations, Jimi Hendrix took years to get off the ground. His was a long road to fame, from the little ...
Little Richard: Directly From My Heart – The Best Of The Specialty & Vee-Jay Years
Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, July 2015
Richard & Bumps had a baby and they called it rock'n'roll... ...
Susan Tedeschi's "Wheels of Soul" Speed On to Houston
Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 9 July 2015
DURING THE SUMMER months, audiences in recent years are used to seeing multi-act package tours, especially of the classic-rock and '80s vintage. The format allows ...
Doug Sahm: Joe Nick Patoski on Doug Sahm
Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, stephenkpeeples.com, 25 July 2015
Totally true tall tales from Texas about Biblical floods, Doug Sahm, Texas music, Texas Tornados, rednecks, cowboys, hippies, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Huey P. Meaux, ...
B.B. King: The Making of B.B. King in London
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blues, August 2015
AFTER FIFTEEN years as the undisputed King Of The Blues, B.B. King's career seemed to have sailed into some kind of doldrums when the '60s ...
B.B. King: Vinyl Icon: B.B. King's Live at the Regal
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, August 2015
ON NOVEMBER 21, 1964 Chicago's historic Regal Theater became the recording location for B.B. King's incendiary in-concert album Live at the Regal, which would not ...
Blick Bassy: "I want to expose the dangers of the immigration dream"
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 9 September 2015
The Cameroonian singer-songwriter draws on figures from Miles Davis to African freedom fighters to produce his soulful, melodic sound — but it wasn't until he ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Black and Blue: Keith Richards interviewed
Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 16 September 2015
Julian Marszalek meets the Rolling Stones guitarist and living legend to talk race, drugs and persistence. ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis and Black Music
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, October 2015
SO THE STORY goes that Elvis stole black music, exploited the influences he absorbed while growing up on the blurred edges of the coloured line ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Classic Rock, December 2015
WITHOUT PRODUCER and label boss Mike Vernon, the history of British blues would look very different. In the first part of a feature charting his ...
Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 29 December 2015
WELL, AS Guralnick clarifies shortly into his foreword, if Sam Phillips didn't exactly "invent" rock and roll, he at least discovered it. Or so it ...
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2016
THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL were NYC's Beatles. Lillian Roxon, in her indispensable Rock Encyclopedia, called them "our own little moptops, born, bred and raised right here ...
Sleeve notes by Neil Slaven, JSP Records, 2016
THE ROUTE TO the West Coast guitar skills so influential in the development of blues-and rock-guitar is a well-travelled one that can't avoid its well-spring, ...
Professor Longhair: Live In Chicago
Review by Michael Simmons, MOJO, January 2016
Previously unreleased live set of the New Orleans R&B pianist at his best. ...
Joe Bonamassa: Blues Of Desperation
Review by Hugh Fielder, Classic Rock, March 2016
THE INDEFATIGABLE Joe Bonamassa shows no sign of easing up any time soon. The past four years have seen him involved in a dozen releases. ...
Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 4 March 2016
BONNIE RAITT HAS ALWAYS BEEN a pilot light, powering hard love, broken love, lost love and yes, unrequited love. In the valley of the unfulfilled ...
Review by Hugh Fielder, loudersound.com, 13 May 2016
WHILE HIS live albums have maintained a remarkable degree of consistency and professionalism, Eric Clapton's studio albums have sometimes wavered in comparison. Essentially, Clapton needs ...
Robert Finley: At 63, Louisiana bluesman Robert Finley living musical dream
Profile and Interview by Bob Mehr, The Commercial Appeal, 29 September 2016
Sixty-three year old singer Robert Finley marks the release of his debut album with a show at Lafayette's Music Room on Oct. 6. ...
Mose Allison: Who Is... Mose Allison?
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Music Aficionado, October 2016
THE LEGENDARY British organ player Georgie Fame once described his hero Mose Allison as "the jazz version of Bob Dylan." When an interviewer asked Fame's ...
Seasick Steve: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Observer, 16 October 2016
The artist may have been a session musician rather than a hobo, but only a harsh critic would deny that he has the blues. ...
Nina Simone: What happened, Miss Simone?
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Williams, Uncut, November 2016
The often harrowing life and times of a musical and political force. ...
Rag'n'Bone Man: Electric, Brixton
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Evening Standard, 25 November 2016
FAR FROM slender, festooned with tattoos which suggest he's spent the past few years at her majesty's pleasure, the wrong side of 30 and blessed ...
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2017
GOING SOLO IS an ancient musical tradition. Probably there was a Gregorian monk whose yearning for the spotlight made him think, "I can do this ...
Manfred Mann: Why Manfred Mann Is the Most Underappreciated Group of the British Invasion
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, January 2017
MANFRED MANN were one of only two British groups to have a #1 single in 1964 without a Lennon-McCartney song. They were endorsed by Bob ...
Big Mama Thornton: Big Mama's Blues
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, November 2017
BIG MAMA THORNTON – alias Willie Mae Thornton – knew how it worked. Like her black R&B contemporaries, male and female (but especially female), she ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Talking Blues: Bobby Bland in 1973
Interview by Dan Nooger, Record Collector, December 2017
Bobby Bland was one of the most beloved blues (and soul) singers of the '60s and '70s, an influence on rock vocalists from Rod Stewart ...
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2018
"IT NEVER FELT like it was going to be a life-changing moment," says Robert Finley. "It was just an ordinary Saturday morning, and I was ...
Obituary by Bill Millar, Now Dig This, March 2018
Bill Millar raises a glass to the well-known and highly respected record industry veteran, long-time R&B, rock 'n' roll, soul and blues fan who passed ...
Dan Auerbach:"I don't think I'm that much of a control freak any more..."
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, May 2018
Musician, label boss, entrepreneur, empire builder... Will the real Dan Auerbach please stand up? As Jaan Uhelszki joins Auerbach and his Easy Eye Sound crew ...
Tav Falco's Panther Burns: Tav Falco
Book Excerpt by Robert Gordon, 'Memphis Rent Party' (Bloomsbury), June 2018
TAV LOOKED at me and said, "Our show was great. We cleared the room." A pal of mine was at the smallish San Francisco club ...
Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: The Songfacts Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 31 August 2018
Billy Gibbons on his solo album The Big Bad Blues, the hidden gem in the ZZ Top catalog, and how he feels about having a ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 6 September 2018
A look at new work by Nathaniel Rateliff, Anderson East, Shemekia Copeland and other artists playing AmericanaFest ...
Obituary by Ted Drozdowski, Premier Guitar, 1 October 2018
FOR GUITARISTS, seeing Otis Rush in peak form was like grabbing a lightning rod as it was struck. ...
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, November 2018
MANY NEW ORLEANS pianists are better known — Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Harry Con- nick Jr., Professor Longhair, Fats Domino and Art Neville — but those ...
The Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood: Ronnie Wood: "These men were dangerous…"
Interview by Henry Yates, Classic Rock, November 2018
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my original version, as submitted to the magazine. ...
Van Morrison: The Prophet Speaks
Review by Stevie Chick, Metro, 4 December 2018
NOVEMBER MARKED the 50th anniversary of Van Morrison's masterpiece, Astral Weeks, but for the longest time, the artist formerly known as Van The Man might ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Spellbound
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, Summer 2018
FOR SOMEONE whose live performances involved climbing out of a coffin, it came as no surprise that Screamin' Jay Hawkins resurrected his career in the ...
Bessie Smith: How Bessie Smith Really Died
Book Excerpt by Tom Graves, 'White Boy' (Devault-Graves), 2019
THE LONGEST AND best job I had during the 1980s not long after I got my college degree was as the copywriter for a major ...
Book Excerpt by Maud Berthomier, 'Encore Plus De Bruit' (Éditions Tristram), 2019
"Because in the end to me, even today, it's never entirely clear exactly what any interview is about. Sometimes, the most important thing in an ...
Les Fancourt and Bob McGrath: The Blues Discography 1943–1970 (Third Edition)
Book Excerpt by Tony Burke, Eyeball Productions, February 2019
WELCOME TO the expanded and revised third edition of The Blues Discography 1943–1970. It is now 50 years since Mike Leadbitter and Neil Slaven first ...
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. ...
Book Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, May 2019
THOUGH HE only made 40 recordings, US blues artist Robert Johnson's legacy has endured for over eight decades and his songs are now part of ...
Dr. John: Revisitation Rights: Some People Call Me "Professor Dr. John"
Retrospective by Don Snowden, Rock's Backpages, 21 June 2019
"SOME PEOPLE call me Professor Dr. John…" No, that doesn't work. ...
Book Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, 24 June 2019
BIG BEAR BOSS Jim Simpson holds a unique place in UK music business. A promoter, record producer, festival director, rock band manager and photographer, his ...
Tinariwen, Ali Farka Toure: Various Artists: The Rough Guide To Mali Blues
Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, 8 July 2019
THE CONNECTION between blues music and the African continent and how African slaves carried their music to the Americas has been well documented for almost ...
Donnie Fritts, 1942-2019; Jimmy Johnson, 1943-2019; Larry "The Mole" Taylor, 1942-2019
Obituary by Tony Burke, Record Collector, November 2019
SINGER, SONGWRITER and piano player Donnie Fritts – a key member of the session musicians who shaped the sound of soul music recorded in Muscle ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard: A Simple Twist of Fate
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Vintage Rock, November 2019
Chubby Checker may have become synonymous with 'The Twist', but that didn't bother the song's composer. "It was a blessing for me," said Hank Ballard ...
The Animals, Manfred Mann, The Rolling Stones: The History of the Blues-Rock Press: Part 1
Retrospective by Don Armstrong, Music Journalism History, November 2019
Based on a series of posts published in Music Journalism History from November 9, 2019 to March 13, 2020. ...
Book Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Ugly Things, Summer 2019
WHAT CAN BE said about the artist known as Screamin' Jay Hawkins? Perhaps that he did more to promote over-population than any other American, fathering ...
Various Artists: The Rough Guide To Country Blues/The Rough Guide To The Roots Of Country Music
Review by Tony Burke, Vintage Jazz Mart, Fall 2019
Two 25-track CD sets containing an excellent cross section of artists representing the best in 1920s and 1930s country blues and hillbilly music. ...
Big Bill Broonzy: The Midnight Special – Live in Nottingham, 1957
Sleeve notes by Larry Jaffee, ORG Music, 2020
IF BLUES LEGEND Big Bill Broonzy (1893-1958) plied his trade in the 21st century, he'd probably be an Uber driver. A gig-economy practitioner in his ...
Little Richard, Billy Vera: Billy Vera: Rip It Up – The Specialty Records Story
Book Review by Tony Burke, Record Collector, January 2020
ONE OF THE most important independent post-war record labels, Specialty is up there with Chess, Modern/RPM, King, and Atlantic. ...
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 ...
Retrospective by Don Armstrong, Music Journalism History, March 2020
Based on a series of posts published in Music Journalism History from November 9, 2019 to March 13, 2020. ...
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 ...
Count Basie: How Count Basie Brought Big Band Jazz Into the Atomic Age
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, April 2020
POST-WORLD WAR II America was a bleak period for the big-band business. It was the sound that accompanied the country during the Depression and through ...
Retrospective by Jason King, Pitchfork, 11 May 2020
Remembering the undisputed architect of rock'n'roll ...
Peter Green: The End Of The Game (R.I.P.)
Memoir by Gary Lucas, Please Kill Me!, 3 August 2020
Peter Green, inheritor of Eric Clapton's spot in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, was, said B.B. King, "the only guitarist who gives ...
Jimi Hendrix: Philip Norman: Wild Thing – The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix
Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 11 September 2020
Wild Thing: the Latest — and best? — look at the Life of Jimi Hendrix ...
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. ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 7 October 2020
THE TITLE OF the first album featuring Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite as co-leaders is called 100 Years of Blues. That's a reference to the ...
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 3 December 2020
PETER GURALNICK didn't set out to be a music journalist. The occupation didn't really exist at the time when a combination of luck and bluster ...
Book Excerpt by Kieron Tyler, unpublished, Spring 2020
ASTONISHINGLY, Bear Family Records celebrates its 45th year in business in 2020. During that time, the label has never stopped producing the ultimate in reissues ...
Review and Interview by Wayne Robins, Copper, Summer 2020
THE FIRST ALBUM I ever bought with my own money was Presenting Dion and the Belmonts (Laurie LLP 1002). In faded red ink from a ...
John Mayall: The First Generation, 1965–1974
Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, 7 January 2021
JOHN MAYALL turned 87 recently, and the Godfather of the British Blues – a national treasure – has a new 35-CD box set out featuring ...
Buddy Guy: My Time After Awhile: Buddy Guy's Long Apprenticeship
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Coda Collection, February 2021
BUDDY GUY turned 84 in 2020, and he's been a blues legend for a long time. It's a good thing he's lasted so long, because ...
Earl King: Poet Laureate of New Orleans
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, The Bitter Southerner, 2 February 2021
Earl King's lyrical blues and electric stage presence set him apart. But he's never been properly honored as a Louisiana writer who penned songs for ...
Rag'n'Bone Man: Back from the brink
Profile and Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Sunday Times, 7 February 2021
The singer tells Lisa Verrico why he went to Nashville to reinvent his bluesman image. ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 28 May 2021
Owner of Chicago's influential Jazz Record Mart and Delmark label, which recorded many of the city's blues greats ...
Ellen McIlwaine passes away at 75
Obituary by Holger Petersen, CKUA, 23 June 2021
LOCAL MUSIC legend Ellen McIlwaine passed away today at the age of 75. McIlwaine earned the nickname the "Goddess of Slide" for her slide guitar ...
Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Roy Milton, Billy Vera: Specialty Records: An Interview with Billy Vera
Interview by Tony Burke, Record Collector, September 2021
As the Specialty label celebrates 75 years, Tony Burke talks to Billy Vera – singer, songwriter, and the author of Rip it Up: The Specialty ...
Tina Turner: Regal, Fierce & Divine: Tina Turner Roars into the Rock Hall on her own terms
Retrospective and Interview by Holly Gleason, Pollstar, October 2021
TINA TURNER in a chain mail dress… Tina Turner in a black leather mini skirt, denim jacket, seam up the back of those legs… Tina Turner in ...
The Pretty Things: The Pretty Things: Live At The BBC, 1964-2018 (Repertoire)
Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, 11 November 2021
DURING THE 1960s British R&B boom the Pretty Things were the band the UK press loved to hate. Lead singer Phil May's shoulder-length locks were ...
Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, T-Bone Walker: Various Artists: The Rough Guide To Texas Blues
Review by Tony Burke, Vintage Jazz Mart, Spring 2022
ROUGH GUIDE/WMN have issued some excellent pre-war blues sets recently. This set features 26 sides cut between 1926 and 1937 from the Lone Star State – ...
Elvis Presley, Ike Turner: Peter Guralnick: Here Comes The Sun
Interview by Tony Burke, Record Collector, February 2023
Peter Guralnick, co-author of the history of Sun Records, tells Tony Burke about the book. ...
Book Excerpt by Tony Burke, Hardinge Simpole Books, June 2023
This is Tony's foreword to Derek Coller's biography Big Joe Turner – Feel So Fine ...
Keef Hartley, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Frank Zappa: Neil Slaven, 1944-2023
Obituary by Tony Burke, Rock's Backpages, January 2024
RECORD PRODUCER, researcher, author and discographer Neil Slaven, who died on December 23rd aged 79, was one of the leading lights of the 1960s British ...
Val Wilmer: Deep Blues 1960–1988 (Café Royal)
Book Review by Stewart Smith, The Wire, January 2024
Photographer Val Wilmer's chronicles of the blues over three decades capture both celebrated musicians and the everyday lives that make up blues culture ...
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