Post Tagged with: "Blues"

Vinyl

Van Morrison – Down the Road (2002)

NICK DERISO: “Whatever happened,” Van Morrison, erstwhile pop singer, old-soul blues gypsy, entertainer-slash-provocateur, sings here, “to the way it’s supposed to happen? And whatever happened to me?” Much, in fact, has happened. Morrison, it’s worth noting, could have settled in as a fixture on pop music’s hit-machine dead end afterRead More

Vinyl

One Track Mind: King Curtis and Champion Jack Dupree, "I'm Having Fun" (1971)

NICK DERISO: “I’m Having Fun” arrives as advertised. That is to say, it’s a bubbly, rollicking party record, featuring King Curtis — the Fort Worth native was one of the last of the great R&B saxists — shaking a bandstand to its foundations while keyboardist Champion Jack Dupree lays inRead More

Vinyl

One Track Mind: Tab Benoit "Fever For The Bayou" (2005)

by Pico As audacious as the claim might sound, Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s own Tab Benoit is the Bayou State’s answer to Stevie Ray Vaughan. It’s a feeling I’ve had from the time I discovered his well-received debut Nice And Warm from 1992 and haven’t wavered on that after about anRead More

Vinyl

Forgotten series: Sam Cooke – Sam Cooke's Night Beat (1963)

NICK DERISO: Sam Cooke, for all his power and grace as a singer, established this strikingly brief legacy during the time of the Hit Single. Which meant Cooke’s most well-known albums of the early 1960s were often dotted with dated filler, tunes in the Broadway style of the day orRead More

Vinyl

Quickies: The Pretenders, Taj Mahal, Medeski, Martin & Wood

A mere three days after the last Quickies, and here we are back already with another one. It just goes to show how the CD release pace quickens as we round the bend toward the holiday shopping season. With pockets getting emptying rapidly in the face of an economic Armageddon,Read More

Vinyl

Gary Moore – Bad For You Baby (2008)

by S. Victor Aaron Moore never goes too long between studio releases; just last year we were here chatting up his then-new Close As You Get and now the Irish heavy blues-rocker is already back with another mixture of originals and classics, called Bad For You Baby. When Moore isRead More

Vinyl

Elvin Bishop – ‘The Blues Rolls On’ (2008)

‘The Blues Rolls On’ shows Elvin Bishop is as lively and loose as ever – and that’s enough to make it a good add to anyone’s collection.

Vinyl

R.L. Burnside – ‘First Recordings’ (2003)

R.L. Burnside’s ‘First Recordings’ was the result of a neighbor’s recommendation: “I know who that be.”

John Campbell (1952-1993): An Appreciation

John Campbell (1952-1993): An Appreciation

In the end, too-soon-gone Louisiana bluesman John Campbell boasted a short, stormy, and now storied career.

Vinyl

Something Else! Featured Artist: Soul singer Shirley Brown

NICK DERISO: One of Shirley Brown’s early hits was called “Love is Built on a Strong Foundation,” produced by Oliver Sain for the Abet label. Same with her career. Born in West Memphis, Ark., Brown started like so many great sizzling soul singers do – in church. Not until herRead More