Urbana Blues Brew and BBQs June 28th, 2008, Urbana Illinois

Review by Bob Kieser

Speaking of Blues FUN!....., Last Saturdays Blues Brew and BBQ in Urbana, IL was a real fun one.  Five major Blues acts were performing including opener Kilborn Alley Blues Band. The band put on a great set including several songs from their current CD, Tear Chicago Down.

The weather was great and the beer was cold as the crowd began arriving. Harmonica Player Joe Asselin and the band were joined by guest Deak Harp and their harmonica duet was really HOT!

Next up was Studebaker John and the Hawk for a power trio of heavy Blues. Later in the set Studebaker switched from guitar to harp and the crowd got to see a third amazing demonstration of how a tin sandwich is supposed to be played.

The third band was Blues heavyweight, Bernard Allison. Bernard follows in the tradition of his father Luther Allison and puts on a fiery guitar picking demonstration that is always way over the top. He wowed the crowd with his tongue attack!

Bernard brought some fresh faces in his band including a new guitar player and a sax player who doubled on congas and percussion. The band was tight and the set prepared us for another BIG Blues name in the fourth set!

This festival just kept getting better and better. The fest was produced by Fluid Events and if this is a sample of how they produce shows, they are gonna be a huge success as next up was Tab Benoit. Tab as usual played his heart out getting all the crowd fired up with his Louisiana style Blues. They were dancing in the aisles!

Most folks would agree that the first four acts for this fest gave then a huge value for their entertainment dollar ($20  admission). But the Fluid Event folks weren't done yet! The finale for this great fest was none other than Chicago Bluesman Lonnie Brooks himself!  And to make matters even better, Lonnie had his youngest son Wayne Baker Brooks playing with him. Wayne has been making quite a name for himself over the last couple years and the crowd really enjoyed the back and forth leads between Lonnie and Wayne.

If you have ever been to a Lonnie Brooks show you know he WILL get close to his audience by taking a stroll with his guitar into the crowd. And there are always a few surprises when he does. This night, Lonnie appeared in the crowd with fellow musician Tab Benoit playing his guitar. But that was just a warm up for the final fireworks that were to come! Next thing you know, Lonnie is back on stage with Tab and both of them are playing the same guitar at the same time. And if that we not enough, suddenly Bernard Allison appears on stage and he and Wayne are both playing the same guitar too! WOW! What a show.

This was all quite the show and the set ended with a rousing version of Sweet Home Chicago as the entire cast of guitar legends did a bunny hop rumba line off the stage as the crowd enthusiastically sang along. Then Lonnie came back for a encore following a rousing standing ovation by an adoring crowd. He sat down and played a couple more songs. It was also reported by a group Blues of friends that the show continued an hour or so later at the Esquire Lounge in Urbana where Tab, Wayne, and Lonnie’s bass player showed up after the show. Wayne didn’t play, but a kid who was one of Lonnie’s helpers came along a did a real good job of playing guitar while Tab played drums. They were there until 3 am.

This show was one of the best planned and executed events we have ever seen for a first year festival. I got a feeling the Fluid Events folks are going do it even bigger and better next year. Stay Tuned and be there next year!

Riot and his Rhythm Devils

Latest CD Tough Times is available now!

Get ready for THE ORIGINAL DEVIL'S MUSIC!

www.riotdevils.com
www.myspace.com/riotdevils  

To Purchase this CD CLICK HERE

 Blues Link of the Week

http://www.chicagobluesguide.com/

The Blues Blast recently had a great time covering the 25th Chicago Blues Fest.  We were pleased to get to meet some great folks who are HUGE supporters of Chicago Blues. The Chicago Blues Guide is run by contributors who volunteer their time and talent because they love the blues. Like the Blues Brothers, they’re on a “mission from God” to keep the blues alive and well in Sweet Home Chicago…World Capital of the Blues.

Their website has lots of information about Chicago clubs, bands, radio shows, record labels and more. The also promote upcoming shows and provide reviews. Chicago is the one city in the world where you can see Blues seven nights a week, 365 days a year and hear some of the best Blues musicians on the planet. If you are going to visit Chicago, stop by the Chicago Blues Guide website to plan your trip and really see what is going on.  Tell them the Blues Blast sent ya!

For more Blues links, CLICK HERE to visit the IllinoisBlues.com Links Page

Back Door Slam - Roll Away
www.backdoorslam.com
www.myspace.com/backdoorslam
 

11 songs; 48:44 minutes; Library Quality
Styles: Acoustic ballads, Electric Blues-Rock, Rock

There is truly something special going on here with this band and their debut album. From an April 2 appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to a sold out show at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago to an upcoming September date on “Austin City Limits,” three guys barely in their twenties from the Isle of Man are grabbing attention all over the US and world, well beyond their British home. They are currently on a summer long tour of the US and Canada.

Their debut CD is an impressive set full of attention grabbing, “who-is-that-singing?” vocals by Davy Knowles. With clear, distinct enunciation that is rare, Knowles’ voice is simultaneously fresh and seasoned beyond his age and completely versatile in range and power. The album features moving blues, heads up rockers, and poignant ballads that makes Back Door Slam one of the year’s most interesting arrivals capable of linking all good music across any expanse of time.

Since this is a “Blues” publication, we might as well set the record straight up front: For all the adulations, the truth is BDS will be controversial in the blues community. Clearly BDS is more rock than blues and will be considered by many to not be blues at all.

But, we may just be witnessing the beginning of a blues revival that hasn’t happened since Stevie Ray Vaughan and, before that, the 1960s. Davy Knowles, Adam Jones, and Ross Doyle are well schooled in the blues and are a generation of young lions breathing life into it. To package blues music in a pop shell recorded with reverbs and incredibly lush guitar tones is the reason they will catch on with people, especially young people.

On the other side of the coin, that creates a potential problem. While Back Door Slam creates a whole new audience for the blues, “the blues” will have meanings in the minds of many it never had before. Certain styles can fall off and have less appeal. For example, none of the younger BDS fans will know who Paul Butterfield was, but they can start reading and digging. 

In 1967, I didn’t know who Robert Johnson was either when the Rolling Stones (the hot new band of the day) sang “Love In Vain.”

Back Door Slam are Davy Knowles (acoustic and electric guitars, vocal, mandolin, lap steel), Ross Doyle (drums) and Adam Jones (bass), all brought up on an appetite of everything blues. The result is a sound reminiscent of the blues greats but with a nod to the influential modern music and songwriters they love: Clapton, Knopfler, Mayall, and Mayer. "Roll Away" was recorded at DAM Studios in Douglas, the principal city on the Isle of Man, and produced by Dave Armstrong. All songs are Davy Knowles originals except one cover of a Cream number.

The album opens with “Come Home,” a catchy all-out blues-rocker that is fast becoming a favorite on radio stations across America. This is the track they played on Jimmy Kimmel Live that second-handedly brought them to my attention. Kicking off with a creative bass hook, the song is the complete package for popularity: clicking rhythm in the quiet spaces, harmonious vocal a cappella passages, sweet repeating guitar riffs, all summing up the protagonist’s desire to reunite with his lover.

My favorite song is track 4, “Gotta Leave.” A blues number that has a slow, single note picked guitar opening, it builds in intensity and heartache. Showing off some pretty good song-writing, Knowles wails, “Ooh, you must have got me CAWN-fused with some other man... / Tell me: how can I trust you when you can’t trust your self?” Knowles’ killer mid-song guitar solo talks without words to the listener, perfectly explaining the protagonist’s anguish as he must leave a disloyal partner.

Track 5 is a Celtic-folk acoustic number, the likes of which separate Back Door Slam from mere guitar slingers. Instead of more sonic assault, here is a thoughtful and sad dedication to Richard Brookes and Brian Garvey, a rhythm guitarist who was one of the founding members of the band killed in a 2004 car crash. “Too Good For Me” is another acoustic song while “Too Late” combines acoustic and electric.

“Heavy on My Mind,” track 2, is full bodied and amplified rock which, following track 1, suggests that is all you get – until tracks 4 and 5. “Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me” becomes a catchy sing-a-long phrase by the second listen. “Outside Woman Blues,” the only cover on the album, recapitulates the boys as the power trio Cream. “Takes A Real Man” showcases more guitar hero fretwork and is also presented in an alternate version as a bonus, track 11.

The title track, “Roll Away,” is an acoustic folk-bluesy number addressing a dilemma of living in such a desirable but off-the-beaten-path locale as the Isle of Man. Knowles sings, “I’ve got to Roll away/Maybe I’ll return to this island some day.”

In interviews the boys talk about performing live as an overwhelming desire. The rest of the world is the better for it when the boys left the island and brought their music to us. Check them out yourself or just keep your ear to the ground, and you’ll hear that Back Door Slam!

Reviewer James “Skyy Dobro” Walker is a noted Blues writer, DJ and Blues Blast contributor. His weekly radio show “Friends of the Blues” can be heard each Thursday from 4:30 – 6:00pm on WKCC 91.1 FM in Kankakee, IL

For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE.

 2008 BLUES BLAST MUSIC AWARDS - Announced!

CLICK HERE to see all the Nominees!

Voting by YOU the Blues Blast Subscribers Begins July 14th, 2008

The Code Blue Band

Tight at Midnight

Intensely energetic R&B, funk, and rockin' Blues

www.TheCodeBlueBand.com

www.myspace.com/ohiocodeblue

CLICK HERE to buy the CD

Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band - Overnight Sensation

http://home.comcast.net/~edmoblues/

I liked Overnight Sensation from the first time I listened to the disk, but I was not particularly excited by anything I heard. I listened a second time, a few days later, and liked it even more. Then I read the liner notes and discovered that nine of the 13 songs are originals, and excellent originals, at that. With headphones I began to hear better how the various instruments blended together. Now I’m excited about the latest offering from the San Francisco Bay area sextet, The Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band.

The disk is an excellent combination of solid musicianship led by the guitar work of Edmonson; interesting lyrics written mostly by Payne; tight backup work from saxophone virtuoso Carl Green; Lech Wierzynski puffing away on trumpet; Bill Singletary on bass and percussion from Nick Otis, plus some guest musicians and backing vocals.

Payne and Edmonson have played together in California for the better part of a decade, but both trace their roots back to traditional blues haunts in the south and Midwest. Payne began his musical career as a teenager in Atlanta and worked with Albert Collins and Johnny Otis, among others, before settling down in San Fran. Edmonson grew up on the road with his traveling folk music father Travis Edmonson before joining forces with the likes of Buddy Miles, Van Morrison and James Cotton. Together they bring years of musical tradition to their new release.

Here’s a look at what Blues Blast found in Overnight Sensation:
The first cut, an original, is also the title cut, “Overnight Sensation,” and it’s a good one to set the tone. It’s a solid, soulful beginning with horns and guitar about how long and hard the night can be, before you become an overnight sensation. Next is “Can I Hit it Again,” a danceable funk groove original with solid trumpet work, Average White Band guitar strumming, and some cleverly suggestive lyrics. It’s chased by some B.B. King-style guitar work in a song about the one person that can give anybody the blues, “Mother-In-Law Blues.” Next, you’ll hear a hint of Percy Sledge in “Take a Chance on Me,” a blues ballad about trying to close the deal.

Move over Robert Johnson: Chicago may have a new blues anthem with “I Got a Mind to Go to Chicago,” another Payne-Edmonson original that may do for Chicago what Marc Cohn did a few years ago for Memphis. If you know anything about Chicago, you’ll recognize plenty of blues icons and fixtures in this one.

“Uptown Woman, Downtown Man,” is an original big band blues swinger about going out on the town and trying to step up a notch or two while stepping out. It’s followed by “Midnight Friend,” a horn-driven song about saying all the right things to get lucky at closing time. Then, you can almost hear Otis Redding in “Your Good Thing is About to Come to an End,” a lonely soul tear-jerker of a song originally penned by Stax masters Isaac Hayes and the underrated David Porter.

The band switches gears with “No Money, No Honey.” It’s an obvious tribute to capitalism and what a deep well of cabbage can do for you!

Do women change? Apparently so, according to the original, “Bag Full of Doorknobs,” a song that hints suspicion might have at least a little something to do with that change.

The medley, “She’s Lookin’ Good,” and “I’ve Never Found a Girl,” the latter written by two more Stax stars, Eddie Floyd and Booker T. Jones, and with a smooth transition courtesy of a sampling from “Shout,” is a cheerful coupling of two blues love songs. It leads to the instrumental “Bringin’ Me Right Back,” an up ‘til news kind of song featuring writer Edmonson on guitar, Wiersynski on trumpet, and guest musician Gail Deadrick on the B-3.

Tremolo guitar and wailing sax set the tone on the final cut, “Feel Like Going Home,” a cover of a Charlie Rich country cryin’ song that the band makes it’s own thanks to a gospel blues spin laid on by the vocal work of Payne.

Neither Payne nor Edmonson are exactly spring chickens, but they say by blues standards, they’re still pretty young. That “youthful” enthusiasm for their music is evident with Overnight Sensation. Two Anchor Bocks up for Overnight Sensation.

Reviewed By Rob Paullin

17th Annual

Pocono Blues Festival

July 25 - 27, 2008

Big Boulder Ski Area
Lake Harmony, PA
570-722-0100

Root Doctor, Teeny Tucker, Lil' Dave Thompson, Joey Gilmore, The Kinsey Report, Sharrie Williams, Michael Burks, Nappy Brown, Kenny Neal, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Jimmy McCracklin,  Michael Roach, Johnny Mars, Byther Smith, The Holmes Brothers, Lurrie Bell, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Bobby Rush, Eric Bibb, Geno Delafose

Festival Website Click Here

Live Blues reviews by Chicago Blues editor Lordy

Blues Beat: Chicago (Photos by August Lord)

Lordy will return soon with another Chicago Blues Show review

CLICK HERE to visit Lordy's website at ChicagoBluesBeat.com

To see a Chicago Area list of upcoming events CLICK HERE

Performance dates were submitted by Musicians, Club Owners, Blues Societies and Blues festivals.

IllinoisBlues.com is not responsible for errors or omissions.

or click a state to see Blues shows by State

Alabama  Alaska  Arizona  Arkansas  California  Colorado  Connecticut  Delaware  D.C.  Florida  Georgia 
Hawaii  Idaho  Illinois  Indiana  Iowa  Kansas  Kentucky  Louisiana  Maine  Maryland  Massachusetts  Michigan  Minnesota  Mississippi  Missouri  Montana  Nebraska  Nevada  New Hampshire  New Jersey
New Mexico  New York  North Carolina  North Dakota  Ohio  Oklahoma  Oregon  Pennsylvania  Rhode Island  South Carolina  South Dakota   Tennessee  Texas  Utah  Vermont  Virginia  Washington  West Virginia  Wisconsin  Wyoming   Other

 Submit your Blues performances for FREE at: http://www.illinoisblues.com/submitnews.htm