Blue Largo’s ‘Got to Believe’ is an album of sheer soulful joy, as this tight San Diego ensemble rocks, rolls, rumbles and tumbles through 11 tunes.

Through it all, John Mayall resisted the commercial call and just played a mean, authentic and very defiant British boogie-rocking and heaven-sent blues.

Their first studio album rocked. But ‘The Birth of Cactus 1970,’ recorded at the band’s very first gig, is quite simply incendiary.

Released 15 years ago this week, J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton’s ‘The Road to Escondido’ was the kind of record I would not have “gotten” in my teens.

ElectroBluesSociety and Boo Boo Davis make the perfect combination: the former supplies the groove and the latter brings the grit.

Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s ‘East-West’ was released 55 years ago this month, opening doors not just for the blues but all of rock.

That blues spirit is alive and well inside Mike Zito and with ‘Resurrection,’ he spreads that healing feeling to anyone within earshot of his music.

Barista, the recording name of Turkish musician Bahadir Han Eryilmaz, deconstructs the barriers between blues, classic and prog rock.

Patrick Ames’ ‘The Virtualistics’ encompasses the good and bad of the pandemic, but the overriding message is hope.

Ruben Blades, Nick Finzer and Joe Bailey are part of the latest edition of Five for the Road, an occasional look at music that’s been in my car lately.