Blues On Beale
YOUTUBE.COM
We start off this week with a great little tease for The International Blues Challenge. This is the world’s biggest Blues competition folks. And over 200 bands from all over the world will descend on Memphis this May to have at it. (Don’t lie, you know you want to be there.)
Eric Krasno – Always
ERICKRASNO.COM
Eric Krasno must be in a cozy personal space right now because his new album (Always) feels all warm and snugly. I’d call it easy-listening contemporary Blues, covered in soul-sauce. Ear candy with a beat you will never lose track of.
Classic Interview: Billy Gibbons – “BB King Strummed My Guitar And Said, ‘Why You Working So Hard?’”
MUSICRADAR.COM
Classic Interview: The Texan guitar great talks BB, Bo and his Big Bad Blues record. And nobody looks cooler doing it than Billy Gibbons. (So many stories, so little time.)
B.B. King Lucille Legacy
YOUTUBE.COM
Here’s a mini-tour of what it looks like in the Gibson Custom Shop when they create a guitar. In this case it’s the legendary Gibson B.B. King Lucille model. This guitar’s so beautiful it’ll take your breath away. (The price might too – $6999.00.)
Holtsø & Wittrock – Blink Of An Eye
APPLE MUSIC
How you fixed for Danish Blues? I thought so. Well, here you go then. Holtsø & Wittrock have a little, 8-song album out entitled Blink Of An Eye. It’s laid back and groove-heavy. And it just might scratch an itch you didn’t even know you had.
Larry McCray – “Arkansas”
YOUTUBE.COM
Larry McCray is the latest Blues artist to be taken under the production wing of Joe Bonamassa (and Josh Smith). Larry’s coming out with a new album this March 25th on Bonamassa’s label (KTBA Records). And if the past is prologue, it’s gonna kick butt. We get a taste in this video release, “Arkansas.”
Interview: Mike Zito
ROCKANDBLUESMUSE.COM
There’s a new album due from Mike Zito on the 18th (Blues For The Southside). It’s a double-live album so I’m a little giddy waiting for it. Martine Ehrenclou at Rock & Blues Muse interviews Mike about it so you can get a little giddy too. (Martine’s interviews are the best.)
“I’m From Britain And Grew Up Worshipping The Texas Guys”: Joanne Shaw Taylor Talks Recording With Joe Bonamassa
GUITARPLAYER.COM
British blues guitar luminary Joanne Shaw Taylor’s new record is called The Blues Album (KTBA Records), which might cause her fans to scratch their heads a bit: Weren’t her seven previous releases blues albums? “They were, but in a way they were not,” Taylor says.
Ray Beadle & The Hi Tones – Live At The Brass Monkey
AMAZON.COM
If you still can’t get out to a live show, maybe this will help. This is a live album from Aussie Ray Beadle. Recorded at a little basement club about 30 miles south of Sydney. Ray and the band can crank. The crowd’s into it. The only thing missing is the smell of alcohol. (But you can take care of that right?.)
Etta James, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan – “Ain’t Nobody Business”
YOUTUBE.COM
From 1987. A slice of the show at The Ebony Showcase Theatre in Los Angeles. Star-power galore that night. But none brighter than Etta James, Gladys Knight, and Chaka Khan. These three women have enough vocal energy to light a small city! (Oh, and that M.C. wasn’t half-bad either.)
Jon Beres
I’m one part Blues Fan and one part Digital Native (with a dash of Curmudgeon.) I’m also the publisher of AlltheWayBlue.com. If you love the Blues, I have a feeling we’ll get along just fine - cheers!
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