Juke Joint Boogie

Collards Greens and Gravy
Juke Joint Boogie

Black Market Music

Ding dang dagnabbit! I've always kept up with my boys from down-under, but somehow Juke Joint Boogie slipped by me this past October. That did coincide with me being up to my ears with rounds of editing RIVER BOTTOM BLUES, but darn it, I've never let anything, that Ian Collard's blowing, pass me by. As I've mentioned before, he's one of the most soulful and toneful blues harp players doing that thang--and one of my favorites. Oh, and he can sing the blues as if was born in the Mississippi Delta instead of on the coast of Australia. So, I'll just cut to the chase (since I could have written about this last Fall) and say that he and his partners get it going on with some kind of down and dirty blues of the variety that makes my heart flutter. Maybe not flutter, maybe just skip a beat or two.

Where the fellows mined the Mississippi Hill Country stompin' grooves on their last outing, Devil In The Woodpile, this time out they summon the spirit of Sam Phillips' Sun Records. Where Collard set his harp aside a few times on the latter to add some great guitar tones in tandem with James Bridges, I sure do like it when he keeps harp in mouth and goes about proving just how fat and deep he can get with his harmonica tones and that's what he's doing throughout Juke Joint Boogie, kicking it off by getting inside the skin of Willie Cobbs' You Don't Love Me. Of course, it's such a great song that a few people have recorded it, including the fabulous version by the Allman Brothers, but CC&G owns the song from the minute Collard sets the stage with his opening harp riffs and mournful cries of Ah, ah, ahah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahahh.

Doctor Ross' Cat Squirrel, which was his reworking of Catfish Blues, puts the band solidly into the type of romping Sun Records' had down pat with James Bridges' ripping the vibe with his opening guitar licks before Collard's harp echoes his lines. Drummer Anthony Shortte is in his element with the type of racous racket they want him to slap down on the skins. Shortte drives the heck out of the good Doctor's one man rave up and Collard spits out a wonderful solo break, mixing the Doc's potion with his own licks. I'd think that since Collard does a solo act with guitar and racked harmonica that he's studied methods employed by those that mastered it, such as Ross, which maybe points to how he can crawl into the material so well.

Ross did have a tune called Juke Box Boogie, but there is no relationship to CC&G's title cut, Juke Joint Boogie. Doctor Ross basically recycled Little Walter's Juke and these guys just roll and tumble a shufflin' boogie out the door and onto the porch with Collard's opening riffs sounding like a trumpet's Reville yanking everyone to their feet. Quite rollicking stuff, mate, with the blues harp rippin' the nasty (with some spot on bends) and the guitar slappin' bass lines.

 You Hear That Ramblin' has a Good Morning Little School Girl type harp riff because Sonny Boy Williamson I wrote both of them and employed similar licks to both tunes and Collard nails it down, but with full on amplified whomps as the band gets a Memphis beat loping along. They get a similar lope going on Goin' Back Home with Collard's intro sounding much like Charlie McCoy's on Roy Orbison's Candy Man, and Bridges' getting pretty twangy with thang.

Oh, I guess I can rave on and on about how good this release is. I guess I could gush as to just how much I love the low down and dirty they get on Low Down, especially when Collard pulls the nastiest notes from a ten hole diatonic that I've heard in a long time and how the hair on back of my neck bristled when he bends his notes down to the bottom of the barrel and then slams 'em around a bit before he lets them back up, and how Bridges' slid his slide guitar through the primordial muck while Shortte beat the song senseless, and then how they shift into riding a train rhythm on Out Last Night with Collard sucking on a mellow acoustic tone. I guess I could keep coming up with ways to describe what Ian Collard does with that harp in his mouth, but I would run out of superlative adjectives, so I'll just stop here and say this--if you love blues harp the way that I do, get Juke Joint Boogie.

Once I found out that this release was available, and not wanting to wait for a shipment from Australia, I sucked it off iTunes. That's also why I can't venture into which songs just might be CG&G originals mixed in with the covers. If you want a hard copy (which I'd prefer), you can venture over to http://www.collardgreensandgravy.com/ and it'll link to their Australian management site. It is available on Amazon, but don't go there--they ask $48 as an import price. 'Nuff for now.

P.S.--Please read the comment left by Speedman. He lists the songs that are originals and also points out that the CD is available at http://www.lwharpamps.com/ He also echoes my thoughts that Ian just might have used his spiffy Lone Wolf Harp Attack pedal to emphasize that gritty, cranked, small amp tone. I've touted those pedals before and have to say that they are the 'bees knees'--check out the whole array at the same website.

R.I.P. Bobby Robinson

Here's an obit for one heck of a record label master: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/arts/music/12robinson.html?_r=2&ref=obituaries

Once I got off into blues music, Elmore James was one of my go to guys. Nobody sang with more intensity or conviction than Elmo or came close to his raw slide tone, and it was Bobby Robinson who brought us The Sky Is Crying, Rollin' and Tumblin', Done Somebody Wrong, Look Over Yonder Wall, Shake Your Money Maker, Stranger Blues and a half a dozen other gems from the slidemaster. If Robinson had recorded nothing else, then, in my mind, his legacy was set. Of course, we'll all remember Wilbert Harrison's Kansas City topping the charts. Gather those angels around you Bobby and get a heavenly choir going.

My Kind of Guys

I've listed some of my favorite blues guitarist before now and a few of these cats are listed and a few others I've mentioned in prior posts, but I thought I thrown down a list of some guys who know how to back the hell out of  blues harmonica players and just may be flying under your radar. Some have made a name for themselves and some are not quite as well known. What I'm doing is just giving a shout out to these guitarists who are my kind of guys. I'm sure not dismissing the big boys like Kid Ramos, Junior Watson, Henry Carvajal, Rick Holmstrom, or Alex Schultz; just want you to google some of these fellows for some fine and tasty blues guitar playing.

1. Johnny Moeller--He's an official Fabulous Thunderbirds backing the best damned blues harp guy on the planet, but he's back up a slew of harp dudes. He blew my mind a few years back playing a gig with Rob Roy Parnell. Does (or did) a lot of session work for Severn Records, backing folks like Darrell Nulisch. He'll also slide into The Moeller Brother's act with his drummer bro (and T-Birder) on ocassion. His solo release last year, Bloogaloo, was one of my favorites.
2. Mike Keller--He's Moeller's T-Bird partner in crime at the moment. There just ain't another pair of guitarists sharing a stage, playing the blues like these two do. He kicked butt backing Gary Primich at The Big Easy in Houston, which was recorded and has yet to be released. I've confused The Keller Brothers with The Moeller Brothers more than once--both sets of siblings were impressing people like Clifford Antone at just about the same time.
3. Kid Andersen--I think that this cat's probably the man of the hour right now as one of Rick Estrin's Nightcats and having just left Charlie Musselwhite's band. Has an eclectic streak in him and runs Greaseland, one of the best danged recording studios in existence.
4. Jonn Del Toro Richardson--Got his name out there playing the IBC with Diunna Greenleaf and then touring with Otis Taylor, bands that a not harpcentric, but I've been to his jams and watched him back Sonny Boy Terry, Dave Nevling, Steve Schneider and other Houston harpers with immaculate taste, tone and talent. He's belongs in the national spotlight. Just reviewed the stupendously tasty Time Slip On By collaboration with Rich DelGrosso.
5. Paul Size--Wowed me backing Lester Butler's Red Devils on King King. Love the story that has James Harman recommending him to Lester Butler and Paul sends him a demo to get the job. He didn't mention that the demo was his Denton playmate Johnny Moeller's guitar playing. Resides out on the East Coast as one of Johnny Hoy's Bluefish.
6. James Bridges--Part of Ian Collard's Aussie trio Collard Greens and Gravy. Fabulously keeps the rhythm driving with just drums and blues harp to bounce off of. He really impresses me on their latest release Juke Joint Boogie, which channels a Sun Records vibe.
7. Nathan James--Knocked my socks off as a 19 or 20 year old touring with James Harman. Doing a duo thang with Ben Hernadez now.
8. Aaron 'Chainsaw' Moreland--Teams with harp dude, Dustin Arbuckle for some greasy rootsy rockin'/Mississippi Hillcountry stompin' stuff. They mix it up acoustically and electrically as a duo with a drummer thrown in at times.
9. Little Ray Ybarra--Got a lot of Anson Funderburgh in him, along with Jimmy Vaughn, and plays that Texas swagger blues well. Part of The Sonny Boy Terry Blues Quartet for quite awhile. His work there  can best be heard on Live At Miss Ann's Playpen. He's got his own band cookin' over in the Port Arthur area.
10. Charlie Hilbert--Only heard him play on one album--some live, street stuff with Nat Riddles as part of their El Cafe Street duo act that Adam Gussow sells from his http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/ website. His playing went every place that Riddles wanted him to go with some for real blues playing.

Time Slips On By

I went out on the proverbial limb last month when I proclaimed that this release by Rich DelGrosso and Jonn Del Toro Richardson oughta be a great one. Now that I have the CD in hand, I can back that up with...this is a great set of fine blues. Time Slips On By represents exactly what I love about the blues; tasteful instrumentation, heartfelt lyrics and solid vocals. It must be  the 'Del' that's a part each of their names that make them such a nice match for each other's vibe. They come at the blues from different directions, like Laurel did with Hardy in comedy, and just like the comedic pair, the blend of their talents makes for a marvelous performance.

They split the songwriting credits pretty evenly on the fourteen cuts offered here, with a couple of collaborations--one of which kicks off Time Slips On By, grooving on an infectious boogie with DelGrosso's mandolin getting the party going. Del Toro Richardson jumps in and helps drive the rhythm with his Silvertone twanging the thang. DelGrosso is a large man and his gruff, low down voice fits him and his Baby Do Wrong perfectly. When he sings, he is the blues. He and Del Toro swap leads back of forth and then in unison (as they do throughout the disc), and then they ride the groove into the Southeast Texas sunset.

The title cut, written by Del Toro R, yanks the mood into a completely opposite direction as the jumping, jiving opener...and it's an epiphany for me to hear just what a fit Del Toro R's vocals are for the soul/blues style. This song reminds me a great deal of the type of stuff that brother's Syl and Jimmy Johnson would get going when they collaborated. The vocals are solid soul, while the guitar licks are stone cold blues. Producer Mark 'Kaz' Kazanoff and his Texas Horns (w/John Mills & Al Gomez) swell up that vintage type of tonal pallette effectively, but it's the sweet vocals that really put the soulful spin on it. What you won't hear in the soul/blues genre is mandolin being picked in and around the flow of such a song, but DelGrosso sure does make it work well; along with a couple of finely picked solos.

I know that I haven't mentioned that this ain't no blues harp album, which is somewhat a departure from the usual here (not always, though). My good buddy, Sonny Boy Terry, does light up DelGrosso's Mandolin Man with fine, fine high end harp work and low end thump on this shufflling tale about Yank Rachell. The lyrics also revolve autobiographically around DelGrosso's explaining why and how such a large man came to play the smallest stringed instrument made. As far as the how, he states that it's all in my touch/ask my baby about that. Sonny Boy also helps put DelGrosso's She's Sweet smack dab into the down-in-the-alley blues with that fatbacked tone of his.

Del Toro R's Katalin epitomizes the blues of the Gulf Coast so well that you can smell the salt in the air while listening to the tune. Also it's helped along by the fact that Katalin hails from Pearland, Texas and Joel Guzman's accordion flavors the gumbo mix. DelGrosso squeezes out some nice slide licks to intro the song along side Del Toro R's chunky rhythmic chords and slips along fine and dandy throughout the cut. Del Toro R's sharp note attacks meshes well with DelGrosso's weaving slide.

Even though the liner notes state that DelGrosso's Shotgun Blues in Yank Rachell inspired, Del Toro R's guitar and The Texas Horns puts the song onto Texas turf. The opening chorus had me imagining Albert Collins pickin' and grinnin' with a couple of saxes and a trumpet driving the tune in a Houston direction. It just has that funky blues groove that the 'Iceman' perfected so well. Del Toro R's doesn't copped Collins here, but being the Houston cat that he is, those stylistic chops just sometimes fly out , but then he'll take off into a differently blues zone from his own lick vocabulary.

Where's Laura is an instrumental that takes a left turn into more of a jazzy territory. I'm not a guitar gear type of guy, but my thought is that Del Toro R is pushing his sound through an octave pedal in order to achieve the watery tone that effectively set the mood. DelGrosso proves that he can make that old 'taterbug' get a jazz groove on and they let Gomez rip a trumpet solo.

If I caught Summertime Is Here on the radio and didn't know better, I definitely would think that David Hildago was singing the song with his Los Lobos compadres. My feelings is that Jonn Del Toro Richardson is touching base with his roots on this one. Again, Guzman's accordion really helps with the setting of the tune, along with Del Grosso's fleet mandolin picking. I could almost see the barbeque smoke drifting through the air as the song eased along.

Then Robert Cray jumps to mind once Del Toro R opens his mouth on The Real Deal and picks his guitar notes out on his fretboard. Did I mention that the man can do the soul blues thing? Yeah, he proves once again that he can sing it and sing it well. DelGrosso stretches out with some fine picking mid-song. You know, I have some of Yank Rachell and Johnny Young's stuff, but Del Grosso has taken the blues mandolin to a different level than those two--I'm way more of a fan of that little thing now.

He really wounds up the 'taterbug' on Good Rockin' Johnny, which I assume is an instrumental honoring Johnny Young. He and Del Toro R banter licks to a fro for a rollicking good time with mighty fine string bending and it sounds like they are jamming on Chicago's southside.

Del Toro R shifts his vocal timbre into blues mode on Baby Please, which impresses the heck out of me. I'd have never pegged the guy singing Time Slips By and Baby Please to be the same person. He may not have the same range as John Nemeth, but he does shed stylistic moods just as well. It's this I-IV-V, twelve bar pattern that hook me on the blues in the first place and these two guys seem to be in their element when they wade off into one and commence to sharing licks. This is fitting finale for Time Slips By and sums up the interplay between two great musicians. So, save some of that Christmas money for one of the best releases of 2011--due out on January 18.
Check 'em out here: http://www.mandolinblues.com/ and http://deltoroblues.wordpress.com/

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Texas y'all.

P.S.--Thought I'd give a shout out to promoter Mark Pucci, who sent me this disc along with fine releases by Joanne Shaw Taylor and Jim Byrnes. I'm really digging on the Byrnes' Everywhere West right now. Did I mention that Jonn Del Toro Richardson is one of my favorite guitarists and has been since his Cactus Moon jams. Well, he is.

Ty Curtis Band

Never heard of these guys until a cut came on B.B. King's Bluesville satellite radio station and I just had to find out who the harp player might be. He's Hank Shreve and plays with the Ty Curtis Band and they hail from the Pacific Northwest. Man, there sure seems to be an abundance of toneful harpmen from that part of the world. I don't post a whole lot of vids, but I had to share this one from the International Blues Challenge finals a year or so ago. They placed second.  Music starts at the 1:39 mark.

The Grammy Blues

Somewhere along the line I lost interest in the Grammy Awards. Maybe it was the year that I saw Jethro Tull nominated in the Heavy Metal category. Or maybe it was the year that Michael Jackson's glove dominated ALL the categories. I do always check out the blues nominees to see if the Grammy folks have any common sense about what is what. They never cease to amaze me, but I guess they try. Here's the 2011 lineup:

Best Traditional Blues Album

1. James Cotton - Giant!
2. Cyndi Lauper - Memphis Blues
3. Charlie Musselwhite - The Well
4. Pinetop Perkins & Willie "Big Eyes" Smith - Joined At the Hip
5. Jimmie Vaughan - Play Blues, Ballads, & Favorites

Best Contemporary Blues Album
1. Solomon Burke - Nothing's Impossible
2. Dr. John - Tribal
3. Buddy Guy - Living Proof
4. Bettye LaVette - Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
5. Kenny Wayne Shepherd with Bryan Lee, Buddy Flett, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and Hubert Sumlin - Live In Chicago

Cyndi Lauper! What the hell! Sorry, there were just waaay to many fantastic traditional blues albums released to throw down the girl just wanting to have fun in the category. I applaud her for doing the blues thang, but not for a Grammy. Not for a blues Grammy. I'll pull for my harp buddies, Musselwhite or Cotton to grab this one.

I also don't think that Dr. John nor Bettye LaVette belong on the Contemporary blues list. Again, waaay too many "real" blues licks were put down on those recording devices to choose these two efforts. Both great artists (as is Lauper), but neither album fits the genre. Never was a big fan, but since Solomon Burke passed away recently, he'd get my sympathy vote--and the man could sing the blues.

AND, I guess another reason that I quit paying much attention to the Grammy is that I recognized fewer and fewer names each time out, BUT--what the heck is going on here:

BEST SOLO ROCK VOCAL PERFORMANCE
1. Eric Clapton-Run Back To Your Side
2. Paul McCartney-Helter Skelter
3. Robert Plant-Silver Rider
4. Neil Young-Angry World
5. John Mayer-Crossroads

HEY, what happened? I know all these geezers (even John Mayer's playing a pre-war blues tune). Must mean that Rock is an ancient genre or something, huh? I dunno. Quite puzzled. THEN there's this:
Jeff Beck's name is all over the place for best instrumental, best rock duo or group, best rock album (along with Neil Young's LeNoise). And then again, there's the Robert Plant album's inclusion in the Best Americana Album slot. Well, I guess if the Brit can sing the blues, then he can sing Americana too--whatever that may be. He's up against Willie, so I don't think he'll win it. They do have The Black Keys thrown into a couple of categories, so I'll pull for those young pups.

AND, if they'd feature at least half of those blues artists, I'd tune into the show. They won't, but you can better Cyndi Lauper will be knockin' out some Rollin' and Tumblin' on prime time. Maybe she'll have Musselwhite in tow again. Let me know how it goes.

Have a Greasy Christmas

Just spotted these over at Bluebeat Music's website. They've got to be a hoot 'n a half. I'd say if they can't get a Christmas party rockin', then nothing will.

Kid Andersen & Friends- Christmas At Greaseland- RED VOLUME

[ Greaseland1225 ]

Star studded Christmas spectacular!!!!!! featuring RICK ESTRIN- PAUL OSCHER- SID MORRIS- RUSTY ZINN & LISA LEU ANDERSEN...................

1. Rudolph The Funky Reindee
2. Santa Claus (w/ RICK ESTRIN)
3. Norwegian Christmas Medley
4. IN The Barn Sits Santa With His Christmas Porridge
5. Precious Lord Take My Hand (w/ LISA LEU ANDERSEN)
6. Silent Muddy Night (w/ RICK ESTRIN)
7. Run Run Rudolph
8. Sad Sad Christmas (w/ PAUL OSCHER)
9. Cristo Redentor
10. Introduction
11. Akevitt Boogie

Kid Andersen & Friends- Christmas At Greaseland-
GREEN VOLUME

[ Greaseland1224 ]

A star studded Christmas spectacular!!!!! SPECIAL GUESTS- ELVIN BISHOP- RICK ESTRIN- JOHN NEMETH- MARK HUMMEL & RUSTY ZINN................

1. Santas Messing With The Kid (w/ Rusty Zinn- Elvin Bishop & Mark Hummel)
2. Merry Christmas Baby
3. Enebaerblues (w/ Terry Hanck)
4. Deilig Er Jorden
5. O Jul Med Din Gled
6. Whiskey Head Buddies (w/ Elvin Bishop)
7. Jingle Bells
8. Christmas Tears (W/ John Nemeth)
9. Santa Claus Is Coming To Play (w/ Terry Hanck)
10. Oh Holy Night