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December 31, 2009           

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Happy Blues New Year!

May 2010 be a great Blues year for all!

Hey Blues Fans,

Another year has gone by and we are looking forward to a great 2010. We are excited about another great year of bringing you "All News Blues" !

As we review the 2009 issues of Blues Blast Magazine we find more than 225 CD & DVD reviews and more than 75 Live Blues show reviews as well as interviews, videos, Blues links and more.

If you missed any of the past issues they are all available on line, CLICK HERE. To see the Reviews page with more than 425 Blues CD and DVD reviews, CLICK HERE.

In the New Year you are going to see some changes in Blues Blast Magazine. The magazine is going to have a new look soon and we will have a new website full of great Blues content. We have been hard at work building  an expanded staff of reviewers to bring you the best in Blues across the world.

Just like last year, our New Year's resolution is to bring you even more Blues! And just like we said last year, man we have got our work cut out for us. But we are lovin it and we hope you will too!


In this issue - Blues Reviews and MORE!

James Walker reviews a new CD from the Laurie Morvan Band that is a finalist in the Blues Foundation's "Best Self Produced CD" competition. Steve Jones reviews a new CD by Pat Pepin which is also one of the four finalists in the "Best Self Produced CD" competition.

Gary Weeks reviews a new CD from Joe Pitts. Mark Thompson reviews a new DVD from Bobby Rush. Belinda Foster reviews a CD from Shar-Baby. Our Blues video of the week is an amazing 14 year old guitar player we featured when he was 12. All this and MORE! SCROLL DOWN!!!



 Featured Blues Review 1 of 5

Laurie Morvan Band - Fire it Up!

Screaming Lizard Records

lauriemorvan.com

www.myspace.com/lauriemorvanband

12 songs; 54:28 minutes; Suggested

Styles: Blues-Rock

The circumstances surrounding my reviewing of the Laurie Morvan Band’s third CD are completely different. Normally, I review one CD per week by spending a week listening to the CD and then moving on to the next album, rarely returning. This time, I received “Fire It Up!” at a Friends of the Blues’ live show on August 11, way before its official release date. I played seven of the cuts on our radio show over the next seven weeks and then put it in the station library. In late November, I received the assignment to review this Illinois born and raised, California resident’s CD, causing me to go back and listen to it all over again – some twelve weeks later.

This return engagement has allowed me a more subjective approach, and even deeper appreciation. I thoroughly enjoyed the guitar driven CD the first time around, but this return has refreshed my memory, first, about how well rehearsed and fantastic the harmony vocals are. Laurie sings lead vocals on all twelve songs, which she wrote, and is joined on background vocals by co-producer Lisa Grubbs and Carolyn Kelley. These rich vocal arrangements and focused three-part harmonies throughout the entire CD are one of the things that set this band with rapidly-rising-stock apart from the pack. For example, check out “Good Girls Bad Girls.” Not only is this song replete with their sexy, intertwined voices, but it also has great lyrics, “...the good girls are just the bad girls that ain’t been caught.”

Secondly, I was reminded what a creative guitar player Laurie Morvan is. Just sample the opening twenty seconds of the first track, “Nothin’ But the Blues.” Laurie does some intricate, fast paced finger picking (as opposed to power chording) that demonstrates why labels, like “Blues-Rock,” are so inadequate in defining what an artist produces. This opening could be adapted to many other genres like Classical, Country, and Bluegrass. Instrumentally, Laurie plays as a power trio with the dedicated and integral Pat Morvan on bass and Kevin Murillo on drums. Studio guesting are Sammy Avila – B3 organ and David Matthews – B3 organ and piano.

“Nothin’ But the Blues” was the first track we played on the radio because it says what my co-host and I believe, “Nothin’ but the Blues can make you feel this good / And I think everybody should get to feel this good....” Across the entire set, Morvan continues to amaze and entertain with thoughtful string work achieved through intense practice and years of experiences. On her website, Laurie explains the source of her acumen: “...my ability to practice for long, long hours and never get bored. ...[when] I got my first Stratocaster: it was red and shiny and sexy, and I was home baby! ...in a road band as its lead guitarist/vocalist ... We played 5 nights a week in clubs, casinos, hotels, .... I would play guitar 4 to 5 hours every night at the shows and practice 3 to 4 hours every day in my hotel room. I was ravenous about that guitar.”

Thirdly, Morvan’s wonderful song writing and song crafting abilities were re-highlighted. I can actually understand what she is singing, and personally, I have a long history of not being able to accurately hear lyrics (you know – did Jimi Hendrix say “...kiss the sky...” or “...kiss this guy...”?). Thoughtfully, Laurie has included all lyrics in the liner notes, but I didn’t need them. From soul baring (“You Don’t Know About Me”) to social commentary (“Livin’ in a Man’s World”) to humor (“Skinny Chicks”) to sexy double entendre (“Come on Over to My BBQ”), Morvan lays it all out in the open. On her website, she explains, “A songwriter's willingness to be vulnerable is both her most important tool and most frightening responsibility. ...you are exposing your own weaknesses and hurts and trying to convey it all in a way to which others can relate. You may wonder why anyone would want to do this. I have to admit, sometimes I wonder about that myself! ... sharing the inner workings of my world is truly an attempt to reach out to others who may have had a similar experience or feeling and connect with them.”

The top quality Blues-Rock music in this set is being critically recognized. As proof, “Fire It Up!” has been named a finalist – Top 4 – for the 2010 Blues Foundation Best Self-Produced CD. The winner will be named in Memphis at the International Blues Challenge. This makes two in a row, as her second CD, “Cures What Ails Ya,” was also a finalist in the 2008 Best Self-Produced CD, and her band was a live-performance finalist in the International Blues Challenge.

Laurie says, “We are a made- in-the-USA band striving to live the American Dream, and I can feel it coming like a firestorm racing up a kindling filled hillside!” Catch the heat; this band is launching. Watch for them at festivals next summer.

Editors Note: the four finalists in the 2010 Blues Foundation Best Self-Produced CD competition are:
1. Blues Society of Tulsa - Little Joe McLerran, "Believe I'll Make a Change"
2. Colorado Blues Society - The Informants, "Crime Scene Queen"
3. Maine Blues Society - Pat Pepin, "In It For the Long Hall"
4. Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society - Laurie Morvan Band, "Fire It Up!"

Reviewer James "Skyy Dobro" Walker is a noted Blues writer, DJ, Master of Ceremonies, and longtime Blues Blast Magazine contributor. His weekly radio show "Friends of the Blues" can be heard Thursdays from 7 - 8 pm and Saturdays 8 pm - Midnight on WKCC 91.1 FM and at www.wkccradio.org in Kankakee, IL

To See James “Skyy Dobro” Walker's CD rating system, CLICK HERE 

For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE.



 Featured Blues Review 2 of 5

Pat Pepin - In It For the Long Haul

Self-Released

www.patpepin.com

12 tracks

Pat Pepin is an accomplished musician with a knack for writing some great songs and playing some mean sax. This self-released CD is her third and it is a fun and interesting set of a dozen tunes, eight of which were penned by her and another jointly authored by her and EG Kight.

She has a clear, resonant and beautiful voice to go with her strident instrumentals. In addition to vocals and the saxes, she adds trombone and acoustic guitar to the CD. Bob Colwell is on piano, organ, bass and clarinet, Steve Jones (not me, some other Steve Jones) is on guitar, bass, dobro, banjo and tambourine, Dave Thibodeau is on bass, Richard Hollis is on drums, conga and tambourine, and Angela Plato is on trumpet. Pat Colwell’s lead guitar is featured on “Long Haul Trucker”. They are a solid, cohesive and talented group.

Pat is at her best vocally here on the slower, bluesy stuff like “Ain’t What You Got”, “Sunday Kind of Love” (a cover), and “Left Me Lonely”. She emotes more of her feisty red-haired vocal self in these three tracks than in any of the others. That’s not a knock on the other nine cuts that she sings so well on, she just seems to let it all hang out far more on these three.

In “Can’t Take it With You” we get a great New Orleans funeral march sort of song with some catchy lyrics on top of her solid tenor sax and other great instrumental solos. “Long Haul Trucker” gives us an innuendo filled set of lyrics in a Dick Dale-like tune with really nice guitar work by Colwell. The covers “Why Me” and “This Dress” are just as much fun as her original stuff. She adds her own flavors to these tracks to make them bright and enjoyable. The bonus track is a hilarious novelty song entitled “Living at Wal-Mart”, and I can picture Pepin cutting up with her audiences on tracks like this.

I’ve never had the pleasure of hearing this down-Mainer live yet, but I hope to remedy that soon! She has represented her home state three times in the International Blues Challenge and this CD made the final 4 in this years “Best Self-Produced CD Competition”, so watch out for this hot, sax playing blues vocalist; she’s an act you won’t want to miss!

Reviewer Steve Jones is secretary of the Crossroads Blues Society in Rockford. IL.

For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE.


 Blues Want Ads

 Blues Musicians Place Your Want Ad here for FREE

"workin Blues folks" ONLY can place Want Ads here for FREE.  NO Commercial Ads! 

Buy or sell equipment , musicians wanted, gigs wanted, help wanted, information wanted etc. Limit 100 words. All ads submitted will be used if space allows. If space is limited, ads will be randomly selected to appear in the Blues Blast. Ads may be edited. Send your ad submission to

Magazine Seeks Summer Festival Reviewers

Blues Blast Magazine is looking for a few good men (Or Women)! Over the 2010 summer season we are looking for folks who attend Blues Festivals and take good photos for festival reviews.  If you attend multiple Blues Festivals or Blues shows and could volunteer to send us 500 to 1000 word reviews and a few good photos, please reply to .

Reviewers are needed for the Southwest and Texas area, the Florida and Gulf area, the Eastern coast area and also on the European, Asian and Australian continents. A short sample of your writing, a sample photo and info on your Blues background would be helpful. Please include your phone number with the reply.

Keyboard Player Wanted

We are currently seeking a keyboard player for our blues band. Delta blues, Chicago blues, Memphis blues and some in-betweens. We play 2x per month in N KY or the Cincinnati area.
Call Jerry, 513-505-8227.

Music Journalist Wanted

Blues Blast Magazine is seeking an experienced writer to do interviews and other writing assignments. We need a dependable person to reliably complete one or more assignment a month. Assignments include interviews with musicians and other industry professionals.

Blues knowledge and previous writing experience are required. Excellent typing and transcription skills helpful. Please reply to with your resume and a contact phone number.

Equipment Wanted

Looking for a used Victoria 4 x10 bassman amp. Send info to John lee Williamson Conjur Root jwillia100@aol.com



 Blues Video of the Week

Matt Curry - 14 year old guitar slinger
Put The Shoe On The Other Foot

In early 2008 we introduced you to an amazing young guitar player sitting in with Ronnie Baker Brooks and Tommy Castro. Matt Curry was 12 years old and in junior high. He was a shy golden long haired boy playing an amazing version of Albert Collin's "Honey Hush" and going toe to toe with Ronnie and Tommy. That video was very inspiring and made us think we should keep an eye on this kid. (To see that video CLICK HERE)

Fast forward to the summer of 2009. As a 14 year old high school freshman Matt now fronts his own band (Matt Curry & The CurFew) and scored his first two major Midwest Blues festival gigs. This video is from the Illinois Blues Fest last September.

Gone are the long haired golden locks and the shyness of a 12 year old in awe sitting in with his guitar heroes. What we see here is a confident mature sounding guitar player and singer strutting his stuff on another great Albert Collin's tune. Truly an amazing transformation!

We are confident the Blues world is going to hear much more from this young man. Stay tuned!

To see this cool video on our website, click the play button below or click the photo above.

.

For other videos on our website CLICK HERE.


 Featured Blues Review 3 of 5

Joe Pitts - One More Day

Kijam Records

www.joepitts.com

www.myspace.com/joepittsband

Joe Pitts' latest studio release One More Day is the perfect anecdote for a Southern sunny day. The music is warm and inviting and played without pretense.

You can tell this was recorded virtually live with little overdubbing. The end result is something more organic and presented in a laid back fashion.

Joe's guitar work bears the imprints of Govt Mule and the Allman Brothers. Title track "One More Day" comes with a short slide solo and lead fills reflecting a Warren Hayne's personality. Opening track "Lowdown, Mean and Dirty" chews a healthy gristle of hard rock from early Govt Mule. And the tones remain sturdy in the mid-tempo rocker of "Midnight Blue."

In a live setting some of these cuts can come to life with the amps dialed to 11. "Soul Satisfying" would be best cranked up with the windows opened and the magnolias in full bloom. The riff is catchy and just stays in your head.

Pitts' caressing of jazz lines in "Lie to Ya' Mama" is sweet without degenerating into saccharine doodling. The trio format suits Joe best as evidenced in the ferocious rock nugget of "Voodoo Trane."

Final cut "Hellhounds on Rose Hill" would be a good way to end it. But it's better to let the song play into hidden track "Down Along The Cove." An obscure and forgotten number by Bob Dylan, Joe colors it with slide licks that sound so close to Duane Allman, you would think old Skydog was guesting on it.

This isn't a straight blues CD. But there are enough blues notes in the songs to make them palatable to buyers who might want to grasp the essence of what true Southern Rock once was. At least Pitts gives some hope that good music can still come from the Dixie line.

Review by Gary “Wingman” Weeks.

For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE.


 Blues Society News


 Send your Blues Society's BIG news or Press Release to:  

You can submit a maximum of 175 words or less in a Text or MS Word document format.


Wichita Blues Society - Wichita, KS

The Wichita Blues Society presents the 12th Annual Blues Ball Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at the Cotillion , 11120 West Kellogg Street in Wichita. The event features the Blues Masters of Wichita including Berry Harris, Ray Drew, Henry Walker, Rudy Love, D.D. Dunn and Mr. Lee with Big Clyde Sheely and Rib Bone (Beau Jarvis, Shawn Kail and Jeff Stidham) on the backline. The WBS Blues Challenge Winners Rachelle Coba and Jimmie Lewin & The Kingtones will open the show.

Doors open at 7pm and show starts at 8pm. Tickets $12 in advance at Select-a-seat, $15 at the door. WBS members pay $12 at the door. For more information visit www.wichitablues.org   

Mid North Michigan Blues Society - Petoskey, MI

Mid North Michigan Blues Society is holding a fundraising event for Thornetta Davis to send Her to Memphis TN to compete in the 2010 International Blues Challenge. The event is at 7:00pm December 31, 2009 at UAW Local 21 Hall, 703 Rose St. at Hannah, Traverse City MI. Thornetta Davis will provide entertainment after an opening set by Juke. Tickets are $30 per person or $50 per couple. Bring your own food and drink. For more information go to www.mnmbs.org or call (989) 370-8334.

The Blues, Jazz & Folk Music Society - Marietta, Ohio

The Blues, Jazz & Folk Music Society will hold its 18th Annual Blues Competition on February 19 and 20, 2010, at the historic Lafayette Hotel in Marietta, Ohio. Blues Bands and Solo/Dou blues acts will compete for cash prizes and BJFMS sponsorship to the International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis.

First-place will receive $1,000. dollars in cash and BJFMS sponsorship to the IIBC in January, 2011. Second place wins $200 and third-place wins $100. NO geographic restrictions apply. Any serious blues musician is invited to apply. Winning this preliminary competition gets your ticket punched to Memphis. Gain valuable exposure to record labels, A&R representatives, blues industry professionals and festival promoters capable of providing real career advancement.

Complete information, format, application & rules are available online at www.bjfm.org. Deadline for application submission is January 9, 2010. More information: contact Steve Wells at 304.295.4323 or bluesphotog@yahoo.com

Illinois Central Blues Club - Springfield, IL

BLUE MONDAY SHOWS - Held at the Alamo 115 N 5th St, Springfield, IL (217) 523-1455 every Monday 8:30pm $2 cover.  Dec 28 - Sally Weisenburg


 Featured Blues Review 4 of 5

Bobby Rush - Standing the Test of Time

Sagebrush Productions, Inc

www.bobbyrush.net

52 minute DVD

With a career that has spanned five decades, one would think that Bobby Rush would be a household name. He has had hit records like “Chicken Heads”, released in 1971. His salacious and ribald live shows, featuring a number of female shake dancers, have been the hit of blues festivals across the country for the last ten years. Yet most blues fans remain unfamiliar with Rush’s work.

Sagebrush is attempting to garner some more well-deserved attention for Rush with its latest DVD documentary. Interspersing live concert footage with interview segments, the Rush story is told from his birth in Homer, Louisiana in 1940 through the accolades and awards for his 2008 solo acoustic recording, Raw. A number of segments feature comments from some of Bobby’s fellow musicians like Lonnie Brooks, Eddie Clearwater and Bobby Blue Bland.

Rush tells about the first blues song he ever heard, played by his father. The song recounted the tale of a large woman falling down and her dress flying up to reveal all of her secrets. Rush admits that it was strange to hear his father playing the devil’s music, as his father was a practicing preacher. Rush later moved to Chicago and became a fixture on the Chicago blues scene. Originally working on guitar and bass, Rush later took up the harmonica after seeing the trunk of Little Walter’s car filled with cash and hearing how the harp player is the one who makes the money from Walter and Junior Wells. He also talks about a lesson in the value of entertaining that he received from Jimmy Reed. Rush also discusses his embracing the “chitlin’ circuit” down South, wanting to play for his people and not worrying about gaining the attention of white listeners.

There is no question that Rush is a dynamic live performer and you get a sense of his stage persona from the clips throughout the dvd. There isn’t one complete performance anywhere but viewers get a chance to see Rush on guitar, harp and singing his sexually suggestive material with help from his dancers. There is also footage from Rush’s induction ceremony to the Blues Hall of Fame. Another telling moment is the clip with Bobby’s current minister, who relishes praise on Rush while side-stepping Bobby’s profession.

It is difficult to summarize such a lengthy career in fifty minutes. This release does give you a closer look at Bobby Rush, the human being and the entertainer. He comes across as a warm, generous man who can tell a good story and has plenty of them to tell. Adding some complete performance segments would have made this a stronger feature but by the end of the dvd, you will agree that Rush deserves all of the attention and awards he has received in recent years.

Reviewer Mark Thompson is president of the Crossroads Blues Society in Rockford. IL.

For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE.


 Featured Blues Review 5 of 5

Shar-Baby - The Blues Is Here To Stay

www.myspace.com/sharbabysbluesparty.com

www.cds.bandvillage.com/SBABYCD0002

8 tracks; 32 mins 54 seconds

Style: Traditional Down Home Delta Blues

Ready to go jukin’ in the Delta without ever leaving your home? You want that authentication that true-blues lovers crave from time to time? Here it is: Shar-Baby’s The Blues Is Here To Stay, recorded at Dales Studio in Alabama and produced by James Newport.

I once wrote that some say there’s a ‘lady blues revival going on’. Yet, there have always been pioneering African American female blues singers paving parallel roads with the men. Our female veterans aren’t going through a revival; they’ve never stopped. And add to that list, Shar-Baby Newport, who at age 57 is still bringing it like one of the boys! She’s been influenced by and playing with ‘the boys’ since her 1960s-70s youth.

Another product of the 60s-to-present day gospel-soul-traditional blues movement, Shar “Baby” (a nickname her aunt gave her at the age of 6) is perhaps a name less familiar than those who’ve had greater commercial success. Notice I used ‘commercial success’ vs ‘fan-favorite appeal’ because Shar-Baby’s music and personal stylings definitely may have more appeal than some whose commercial success makes their names more familiar. It’s just that--unless you’ve been jukin’ your way through clubs and festivals from Chicago to Florida to Michigan to Beale Street to Europe--you may not have heard of or seen her. She’s true street savvy real world blues, the kind you’d have to travel to the flatlands and cotton fields of Northern Mississippi or Alabama to replicate.

From her beginnings in the ‘projects’ of South Bend, Indiana to her own band in Pensacola Florida ,Shar-Baby demonstrated early audience appeal by becoming a Pensacola Blues Festival favorite. Next came ‘new’ blues artist nominee, live CDs, more festival circuits and Ground Zero Blues Club—followed by feature articles in Big City Blues Magazine. Overnight success? Not hardly. Then again, neither were Hubert Sumlin and Howlin’ Wolf, her earlier inspirations. Her success is much like theirs—authentic straight-forward honesty with simplistic spine-tingling style that’ll leave one saying, “oh yeah, now THIS is blues and I need more.” And we all know Europe loves our authentic blues talents—so they want to see her too! She’s going on tour there in April & May 2010.

From Track 1’s “Mercury Ford”, Shar sets the tone of a juke joint jam with friends Clarence Bluesman Davis on lead guitar, Jock Webb on harmonica, Albert Billups on drums, and Kenny Webber on bass guitar. Tracks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8 were written by Rosie Brittain and all tracks were arranged and sung by Shar-Baby. Now, having listened to all tracks and as odd as it sounds for me to say this, the slightly out of key ensemble is reminiscent of what you get in the late-night Delta; that’s what makes it familiar and honest (that is, you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever had that ‘Delta Experience’). I’m fortunate to have survived my share of Delta nights in Mississippi, so I’m good with it.

Track 2 is “Alabama”—written by Shar-Baby (as are Tracks 4 and 6). With her deep alto voice, Shar-Baby opens the song with a statement, “This song, called Alabama I wrote, is dedicated to my friend Mr. Willie King” and the harmonica laden 12 bar blues starts a steady rockin’ drive.

Tracks 3 through 6 continue to deliver the same home-style road-experienced Chicago-Delta blues, until you hit title Track 7’s “Blues is Here to Stay”, an emotional dig deep delivery about lost love, accompanied by Tommy Carter on steel guitar and Dale Hicks on sax. The final Track 8 “Harmonica King” is a nice reminder of why you enjoyed Tracks 1-7.

Free of power-chording screaming electric rocking guitar rifts, blues fans know that what might be technically lacking is made up with an abundance of the sound and soul of the original blues musician jams. So if you have a day where you’re missing Chicago, Memphis or Clarksdale, take 32 short minutes for a magic carpet ride with The Blues is Here to Stay.

Reviewer Belinda Foster is a Columnist and Contributing Writer for Greenville SC Magazine “Industry Magazine” and former manager of Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues. She books blues-rock-jam musicians and is a devoted promoter and supporter of live blues roots music and history, making frequent trips to “The Crossroads” and Clarksdale Mississippi, birthplace of the blues. Her column “The Upstate Blues Report” can be found on line at www.mega-scene.com.

For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE.


 Live Blues Calendar


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