Issue Articles
Happy Birthday, Gatemouth!
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown is a rarity: a roots musician who itches to move beyond the already known. His 50-plus year career has taken this Texas-born legend through the intricacies of […]
It Don’t Hurt No More: Shemekia Copeland Grows Up In Public
Playing the blues is not physically demanding, most would agree, but being your own man (or woman) and still ripping the joint is a rare gift indeed. Lots of people […]
Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers, Deluxe Edition (Alligator)
Call it Treble In Mind. Hound Dog Taylor was all about making the blues screech: Japanese guitars with a wicked slide, cheap amps from Sears, an extra guitar, a raucous […]
Earl Gaines, 24 Hours A Day (Black Magic), Al Garner and the Roadrunners, Leavin’ Tennessee (Black Magic)
Nashville is not the first (or second, or third) place ordinary folks think about when you mention blues and R&B towns, and probably for good reason. It’s sort of like […]
Mem Shannon, Spend Some Time with Me (Shanachie)
Those not in the tribal circle of blues enthusiasts tend to think of the genre as being all about pain: She Left Me, he done me wrong, I got no […]
The Soul of Stavin’ Chain
Legendary TV producer Hugh Wilson, while down here in the Eighties producing the much lamented Frank’s Place, was moved to say this about his location: “There are four things you […]
Choirs Will Be Singing: Charles Brown Dies at 76
New Orleans, bastion of Catholicism that it is, may have a higher cathedral-per-person ratio than anywhere outside of Europe. For its citizens, however, the coming of the Christmas holiday has […]
Cephas and Wiggins, Homemade (Alligator)
Celebrated Piedmont Country Blues duo Cephas and Wiggins return with the follow up to their Alligator debut, 1996’s Cool Down. In classic traditionalists’, well, tradition, they don’t fix anything unbroken. […]
Preston Shannon, All In Time (Bullseye)
Willie Mitchell and Memphis are practically synonyms for smooth soul, and Preston Shannon seems like he wouldn’t mind being added to that lexicon. One of the brightest stars on the […]
Iris May Tango Is On A Mission, Y’all
“Humberto and Iris May Tango,” read the headline, referring to two hurricanes about to collide. And a band was born. Thing is, the two forces out in front of this […]
