NICK DERISO: With a tip of the hat to Z.Z. Hill, one of his clearer influences, young bluesman Lonnie Shields debuted 15 years ago with a record that kept its eye out for the head-wagging flourish. Recorded over the preceeding four-year period in Memphis and Clarksdale, Miss., “Portrait” was filledRead More

NICK DERISO: One of the first R&B hits for Shreveport-based Jewel-Paula Records founder Stan Lewis was by that juke-jointy legend Frank Frost. A take-off the Slim Harpo song “Baby Scratch My Back,” it was finally collected on CD as part of the rollicking “Jelly Roll Blues” in 1991 — andRead More

NICK DERISO: A trip through the Mississippi Delta this week had me thinking about the old Rooster Blues Records label. Located from 1988-98 inside the Delta Record Mart on Sunflower Avenue in Clarksdale, Rooser Blues releases can still be found in a riverboat-shaped downtown building called Dela’s Stackhouse. “Coahoma theRead More