The Holmes Brothers - Feed My Soul

The Holmes Brothers' Feed My Soul, produced by platinum-selling artist (and longtime friend) Joan Osborne, is a joyous and moving blend of blues, gospel, soul, R&B, rock 'n' roll and country. Their amazing, signature three-part harmony singing, mixing Wendell Holmes gruff and gravelly vocals with Popsy Dixon's soaring falsetto and Sherman Holmes' rich baritone brings the soul and spirit of gospel music into everything they perform. Over the course of their 30-plus year career, The Holmes Brothers have been feeding the souls of their devoted and ever-growing fan base. Sherman's bass playing and Popsy's drumming perfectly complement Wendell's blues-soaked guitar solos and church-inspired piano playing. The band easily blends Saturday night's roadhouse rock with the gospel fervor and harmonies of Sunday morning's church service.

From winning multiple Blues Music Awards to sharing stages and recordings with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Willie Nelson, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Merle Haggard, Keith Richards, Al Green, Ben Harper, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Levon Helm, Rosanne Cash, Odetta, and The Jungle Brothers, The Holmes Brothers have seemingly done it all. Recently though, The Holmes Brothers confronted a stark reality when brother Wendell was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. Tight-knit on and off the stage, they found strength in their family, friendship and faith to overcome this setback.

With Wendell's victory over the disease, the group emerged fully energized and inspired to create the deepest, most original, most satisfying album of their career. Feed My Soul is an album born from this harrowing experience. The songs deal with friendship, loyalty, family, aging, illness, as well as politics and the current state of the world, while still maintaining the patented Holmes Brothers sense of humor.

With their deeply soulful singing, uplifting harmonies and unsurpassed musicianship, The Holmes Brothers continue to grow as artists. Billboard declares, "It seems like The Holmes Brothers get more assured and exciting with each passing year. They remain a musical force unto themselves."

Entertainment Weekly says, “The Holmes Brothers are juke-joint vets with a brazenly borderless view of American music.” Their chilling harmonies resonate with a passion and conviction matched only by their inspired musicianship and their ability to perform sanctified gospel, low-down roadhouse blues, deep soul, Americana/country and pure pop—all in one set. They’ve recorded with Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Odetta, Phoebe Snow, Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm and Joan Osborne, and have gigged all over the world—even performing for President Clinton. They joined the Alligator Records family in 2001, and their label debut—the inspirationally stirring Speaking In Tongues (AL 4877)—amazed and delighted everyone who heard it. Greg Kot of The Chicago Tribune called it a “joyous, foot-stomping carnival…a gift to the world of music.” 2004’s Simple Truths earned even more acclaim. The Chicago Sun-Times called it, “A breathtaking and heartfelt journey through gospel-drenched soul, blues, funk and country.” They won the coveted Blues Music Award from the Memphis-based Blues Foundation for Band Of The Year in 2005.

Now The Holmes Brothers return with STATE OF GRACE, produced by Craig Street (Norah Jones, Chris Whitley, Cassandra Wilson) who also produced Simple Truths. Noted for their ability to transform songs by legendary writers from The Beatles to Tom Waits to Bob Marley, The Holmes Brothers push that tradition even farther on STATE OF GRACE. They expertly reinvent songs by writers as diverse as John Fogerty (Bad Moon Rising), Cheap Trick (I Want You To Want Me), Hank Williams, Sr. (I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You), Nick Lowe (What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love And Understanding?), George Jones (Ain’t It Funny What A Fool Will Do), and Lyle Lovett (God Will, If I Had A Boat), delivering versions that need to be heard to be believed.

For the first time, several of The Holmes Brothers’ star friends add talents to the sessions. Levon Helm, drummer/vocalist from The Band, joined by his daughter Amy Helm, makes his first vocal recording since recovering from throat cancer with a heartfelt lead on I’ve Just Seen The Rock Of Ages. On the Hank Williams classic I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You, Wendell trades verses with Rosanne Cash in a mesmerizing performance. And old friend Joan Osborne (who has been touring as a vocalist with The Dead and Phil Lesh & Friends) steps out on a bluesy, storefront church version of Those Memories Of You. The Holmes Brothers interplay of their voices with their guests’ is simple, musical magic.

As incredible as they are as interpreters (OffBeat calls them “the best interpretive group working today”), The Holmes Brothers are equally talented songwriters. Exceptional originals Gasoline Drawers, Smiling Face Hiding A Weeping Heart, Close The Door and Standing In The Need Of Love showcase the same true-life stories, depth of feeling, heartbreak and humor found in the timeless songs they choose to cover. With one foot firmly planted in the secular world, The Holmes Brothers layer their songs with rich gospel harmonies and alternately rough-edged and tender vocals, producing what is undoubtedly their richest and most fully realized album.

Rooted in blues and gospel, The Holmes Brothers’ sound is all their own. The rhythmic foundation laid down by Sherman’s bass playing and Popsy’s drumming perfectly compliment Wendell’s hard-driving guitar solos. But even more gripping than their instrumental prowess is their amazing three-part harmony singing, mixing Wendell’s gruff and gravelly vocals with Popsy’s soaring falsetto and Sherman’s rich baritone creating a multi-layered and ornately textured sound, bringing the soul of gospel music into everything they perform.

In the early years, the band worked primarily at Dan Lynch’s, a New York club that featured weekly jam nights and performances by a wide variety of blues acts, most notably, The Holmes Brothers. More importantly, the club served as a meeting ground for many members of New York’s blues community, including future members of Blues Traveler, Joan Osborne and producer Andy Breslau, who brought the group to Rounder Records.

Since their debut on Rounder in 1989, The Holmes Brothers have worked virtually non-stop. In addition to their four critically acclaimed Rounder albums, they recorded Jubilation for Peter Gabriel’s Real World label in 1992, becoming the first American group to record for the standout world music imprint. In 1994 they joined Van Morrison in the studio on the song That’s Where It’s At for the Real World compilation album, A Week Or Two In The Real World. 1996 found The Holmes Brothers starring in the independent motion picture, Lotto Land, for which they also recorded the soundtrack. The albums all received massive praise. “Mind-blowing,” said the Boston Herald. “Rich and satisfying,” raved The Washington Post. In 1997, Joan Osborne asked The Holmes Brothers to be her backing band when she opened for Bob Dylan.

After signing with Alligator in 2001, The Holmes Brothers released the magnificent Speaking In Tongues, produced by multi-platinum artist—and close friend to the band—Joan Osborne, who also sings backup vocals throughout. With Osborne at the helm, along with Grammy-winning engineer Trina Shoemaker (Sheryl Crow’s The Globe Sessions), The Holmes Brothers created a contemporary album of spiritual soul music. Throughout Speaking In Tongues, the sweet gospel harmonies and classic soul shouting radiate authenticity and passion. Their interplay of voices and instruments is mesmerizing. Response to Speaking In Tongues was phenomenal. The Holmes Brothers appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman, The CBS Saturday Early Show, as well as National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, A Prairie Home Companion and Mountain Stage. They’ve been the subject of features and reviews in Rolling Stone, Billboard, Newsweek, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Examiner and countless other publications.

In 2003, The Holmes Brothers recorded versions of Trouble (Cat Stevens) and You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond (Blind Willie Johnson) for the soundtrack album for the popular television series Crossing Jordan. In addition, The Holmes Brothers appeared on the M.C. Records tribute album to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Shout, Sister, Shout!, backing Joan Osborne, Odetta, Victoria Williams and Phoebe Snow.

2004’s Simple Truths found The Holmes Brothers receiving even more attention, as reviews ran in USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, New York Post, and many other publications. They appeared on Outlaws And Angels—The Willie Nelson and Friends 3rd Annual Birthday Concert (televised on USA Network and released on CD and DVD), Late Night With Conan O’Brien, World Cafe, Mountain Stage, as well as the nationally broadcasted National Public Radio programs All Things Considered, On Point and Here And Now.

With their deeply soulful singing, spine-tingling harmonies and unsurpassed musicianship, The Holmes Brothers amaze audiences and leave them in a state of utter joy and jaw-dropping disbelief. Billboard declares, “It seems like The Holmes Brothers get more assured and exciting with each passing year. The Holmes Brothers remain a musical force unto themselves.” Their non-stop touring brings this force from concert halls to roadhouse bars, leaving their fervent fans in a state of ecstatic joy.

Freddie & The Screamers - I Ain't Crazy ( Ap 168 )

Twenty years ago I was just getting started as a music publisher. I had written a few songs that had been recorded by Blues artists like Johnny Winter and The Kinsey Report. I went looking for someone to do the administration for my publishing company and collect royalties overseas. I approached Buzz Cason at Southern Writers Group because he was outside of Nashville mainstream and understood R&B. He welcomed me aboard. Another of the writer/publishers there at the time was a very talented guy named Richard Carpenter. He'd actually had a few hit records. I was impressed, but more importantly we shared a love of Roots Rock, Soul Music and the Blues. We began writing together on a regular basis and soon were getting our songs cut by Blues artists like Koko Taylor, Sam Lay, Lonnie Brooks, Son Seals, Charlie Musselwhite and a host of others just as fast as we could write them. We also had free run of the 24 track recording studio Creative Workshop that was part of the SWWG organization. This meant that our demo recordings were actually state of the art master recordings.

Richard was a gret drummer and I played guitar and sang. We used several different bass players, but Jeff Davis quickly became our favorite. Jeff, of "Stick" as he's known to his friends, had just arrived in Nashville. He was a founding member of The Amazing Rhythm Aces and went on to work with Al Green, B.B. king, John Mayall's Blues Breakers, Bob Dylan and Ron Wood. We began playing live around Nashville ( most notably at The Ace Of Clubs on a weekly basis ) and because of our schedules bass players and drummers came and went. But the first lineup of the Screamers ( the group name was coined by Jeff Davis by the way ) was always my favorite. In 1989 I collected a bunch of our "demos" and sent them to Franco Ratti at Appaloosa Records in Milan, Italy. A few weeks later he called and offered us a record deal. The album was released in 1990. It sold pretty well and got good reviews so we decided to tour Europe. My wife, Mary-Ann Brandon, was also recording for Appaloosa so we put together a package show and spent the next few years touring relenstlessly with a revolving roster of musicians. Freddie & the Screamers recorded four albums in all.

By the mid 1990s I had gotten pretty busy as a record producer and songwriter and decided to retire the Screamers. I did a few solo albums, played with Tommy Tutone and the reunited Amazing Rhythm Aces, and bought up the catalogs of several old Nashville record labels for reissue. Mary-Ann and I continued to tour, but more and more it was in tandem with the many R&B legends we were producing and writing for. We stayed busy, life was good and I was happy. Jeff Davis and I had continued to work togegher on many projects throught the years, but afer I left Southern Writers Group in the late 1990s I lost track of Richard Carpenter. I ran into him at a Buzz Cason gig last year and we vowed to write together again, and what better excuse than a Screamers reunion ? Jeff Davis was game so we booked a gig in October 2008 at the Arkansas Blues % Heritage Festival ( aka The King Biscuit Blues Fest ). It was a resounding success and in February 2009 we went into the studio to record the new material we'd written. We're all quite pleased with it and agreed that we had to give Franco Ratti at Appaloosa Records the change to release it. He agreed and this is the result. It ain't nothin' fancy, just good, greasy, Tennessee R&B. Freddie & The Screamers are back with the back beat. We hope you dig it too.
Fred James.

Luther Dickinson & The Sons Of Mudboy - Onward adn Upward

" I refuse to celebrate death. My life has been a miracle of more than I ever expercted or deserved. I have gone father and done more than I had any right to expect. I leave behind a beautiful family and many beloved friends. Take reassurance in the glory of the moment and the forever promise of tomorrow. Surely there is light beyond the darkness as there is dawn after the night. I will not be gone as long as the music lingers. I have gladly given my life to memphis music and it has given back a hundredfold. It has been my fortune to know truly great men and hear the music of the spheres May we all met again at the end of the trail."
May God bless and keep you.
World boogie is coming,
James Luther Dickinson

Three days after the death of his father, Memphis (and Muscle Shoals and Miami) music legend Jim Dickinson, Luther Dickinson opened the doors to the family’s Zebra Ranch studio in Independence, Mississippi and recorded Onward and Upward, an album of gospel songs and hymns over the course of a few hours. Luther, one third of the North Mississippi All-Stars and now a member of The Black Crowes, was joined by an ad hoc group dubbed “The Sons of Mudboy” (an homage to his late father’s influential rock band Mudboy and the Neutrons) who were all close to Dickinson the elder and wished to address his loss in a musical way. The Sons of Mudboy include two veterans of the original Mudboy: Sid Selvidge (guitar, vocals) and Jimmy Crosthwait (washboard, vocals). Also on the session were Jimbo Mathus (guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals) formerly of the Squirrel Nut Zippers and of the South Memphis String Band, Steve Selvidge (guitar, dobro, vocals) and Paul Taylor (washtub bass) as well as vocalist Shannon McNally.

Inspired by Dickinson pater familias, Luther and company duplicated the sound of mid-Century era reel-to-reel filed recordings, using only two microphones plugged directly into a two-track ½ inch tape recorder: no mixing after the fact. Ardent’s John Fry and Larry Nix mastered the tracks directly from the two track to the lacquer masters. Most of the songs were nailed in just one take with just a few exceptions and those were completed in no more than three takes. “That’s just how we do it,“ Luther muses.

The songs are part of Luther’s musical heritage. He grew up hearing “Softly and Tenderly” and “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” at the Second Avenue Baptist Church in Memphis where his paternal grandmother played piano. He learned “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” from a hymnal that his father shared with him – his mom, Mary Lindsay Dickinson, actually sang it to him in the hospital where her husband was being treated during his last days. Mississippi Fred McDowell’s album “Amazing Grace” is the source of both “Back Back Train” and “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning” and Luther had been known to perform them with the late Otha Turner who closed every show with “Glory Glory,” also included on Onward and Upward. “Let It Roll” is an original that sprang to Luther’s mind at the moment he was loading in the analog tape machine on the day of the recordings. Another original, “Up Over Yonder” was written the day Luther’s grandmother passed away.

The inspiration for the album’s title came from the legendary Sam Phillips who wrote a heartfelt ode to Luther’s dad a while back:

“Shade of anticipation is the ever present glint in Jim D’s eye.
Hearing strange noises that others let pass by.
Music that make you shout walk the backs of gospel benches,
Makes you moan yes, even cry
it be could – it may be
it is Jim D’s soul of sound bouncing off the sky.”

David Essig - Rebel Flag ( Ap 072 )

DAVID ESSIG was introduced to Canadian audiences in 1971 as a "talented newcomer" at the legendary Mariposa Folk Festival. Now, over 30 years later, he is considered one of Canada's finest interpreters of original, contemporary folk music. Always paying homage to his roots in Bluegrass and Country Blues, David uses these traditions to create new songs that are both timely and timeless. His intense energy and incisive wit have made him a favourite with audiences around the world...

David is highly respected as a thoughtful and intelligent songwriter, with Canadian folk standards like “Albert’s Cove” and “High Ground” to his credit. His work moves from pieces as contemporary as today’s news, to songs that sound as if they were rediscovered from old country blues 78’s. These are songs that tell stories and paint portraits that will start you laughing and leave you crying.

Equally renowned as an instrumentalist and traditional performer, David is a master of the blues and slide guitar. Whether on the lap-style Weissenborn or the electric Godin guitar, his spontaneous style crosses all the borders between country, blues and the avant-garde. And with his 5/8” socket and a sound that could peel the petunias off your mother’s porcelain, he is considered one of Canada’s great slide guitarists.

David's masterful songwriting is the theme of A Stone in My Pocket, the milestone double CD project released in 2004 by Pacific Music in Canada and IRD in Europe. For this album, David recorded fresh new versions of 30 of the most popular and moving songs from his 35 years of writing, including 2 new songs recorded here for the first time. He was joined on this project by renowned musicians Oliver Schroer on violin and Tobin Frank on bass. With David adding nearly 100 guitar parts to the original trio sessions, A Stone in My Pocket has received critical aclaim as a landmark in Canadian roots music.

Jo Ann Kelly Band - Just Restless

The rock era saw a few white female singers, like Janis Joplin, show they could sing the blues. But one who could outshine them all -- Jo Ann Kelly -- seemed to slip through the cracks, mostly because she favored the acoustic, Delta style rather than rocking out with a heavy band behind her. But with a huge voice, and a strong guitar style influenced by Memphis Minnie and Charley Patton, she was the queen. Born January 5, 1944, Kelly and her older brother Dave were both taken by the blues, and born at the right time to take advantage of a young British blues scene in the early '60s. By 1964 she was playing in clubs, including the Star in Croydon, and had made her first limited-edition record with future Groundhogs guitarist Tony McPhee. She expanded to play folk and blues clubs all over Britain, generally solo, but occasionally with other artists, bringing together artists like Bessie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe into her own music. After the first National Blues Federation Convention in 1968 her career seemed ready to take flight. She began playing the more lucrative college circuit, followed by her well-received debut album in 1969. At the second National Blues Convention, she jammed with Canned Heat, who invited her to join them on a permanent basis. She declined, not wanting to be a part of a band -- and made the same decision when Johnny Winter offered to help her. Throughout the '70s, Kelly continued to work and record solo, while also gigging for fun in bands run by friends, outfits like Tramp and Chilli Willi -- essentially pub rock, as the scene was called, and in 1979 she helped found the Blues Band, along with brother Dave, and original Fleetwood Mac bassist Bob Brunning. The band backed her on an ambitious show she staged during the early '80s, Ladies and the Blues, in which she paid tribute to her female heros. In 1988, Kelly began to suffer pain. A brain tumor was diagnosed and removed, and she seemed to have recovered, even touring again in 1990 with her brother before collapsing and dying on October 21. Posthumously, she's become a revered blues figure, one who helped clear the path for artists like Bonnie Raitt and Rory Block. But more than a figurehead, her recorded material -- and unreleased sides have appeared often since her death -- show that Kelly truly was a remarkable blueswoman. ~

Chris Nickson, All Music Guide

Maria Muldaur & Her Garden Of Joy

One hesitates to call this her best album yet, because the diversity of her art renders such statements inherently unfair—unfair, that is, if so many of the others weren’t of the same high caliber. Let’s leave it at another unqualified triumph of conception and execution, with a surplus of greasy, funky soul to recommend it. This music lives.
The Bluegrass Special

If anyone can claim to have been true to his or her roots, to have never lost the faith, and has the track record to prove it, it’s Maria Grazia Rosa Domenico D’Amato, better known to the music world as Maria Muldaur, having been performing and recording under her married name even after her marriage to Geoff Muldaur ended in 1972. By any name, this product of the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City has compiled an enviable and admirable resume as a roots music acolyte, and as she proves on her wonderful, whimsically titled new jug band album, Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy, she’s just getting started. Truly better each time out, Muldaur has put a lot of distance between the sexy chanteuse who made 1973 so memorable by purring David Nichtern’s “Midnight At the Oasis” into classic status and the sexy earth mama of the past couple of decades when he exploration of the musical styles that inflamed her passions as a young girl has yielded an impressive catalogue of themed projects that have brought well deserved revitalization to some forgotten music and artists. After ending her major label career on Warner/Reprise in 1979 following five albums that were remarkably true to the spirit of her musical aesthetic even if they were mainstream slick (she, and the label, were trying for hits, after all), she made a huge personal statement in 1980 by emerging on the Takoma label with a powerhouse gospel outing with the Chambers Brothers, Gospel Nights. Since then, apart from the three years’ interregnum between 1987’s Live in London and 1990’s On the Sunny Side, she’s released an album every year or every other year, and what a ride it’s been: she’s explored jazz repeatedly, most notably on 1994’s Jazzabelle; paid tribute to Peggy Lee on A Woman Alone With the Blues (Remembering Peggy Lee) and her buddy from back in the day, Bob Dylan, on Heart of Mine: Love Songs of Bob Dylan; retooled kids’ songs in swing fashion on three albums for the Music For Little People label (highly recommended: 2002’s Animal Crackers In My Soup: The Songs of Shirley Temple); done some deep archeological digs into the blues, especially that made by the female artists she’s always admired, including her idol Memphis Minnie, whose spirit—in the form of Muldaur’s saucy, no-nonsense but tender-hearted attitude—informs much of her work these days but is heard most profoundly on 2001’s celebrated Richland Woman Blues, an album that yielded two acclaimed sequels devoted primarily to the music of female blues artists of yore, 2005’s Sweet Lovin’ Ol’ Soul and 2007’s smoky, swinging and aptly titled Naughty, Bawdy and Blue; assembled a powerhouse team of her favorite female artists—including Odetta, Joan Baez, Holly Near, Bonnie Raitt, and Phoebe Snow, among others—to raise their voices in protest against war on last year’s Yes We Can!; tipped her hat in righteously fervent passion to New Orleans on 1992’s Louisiana Love Call, with key assists from two of the Crescent City’s foremost musical practitioners, Allen Toussaint and Dr John; and even continued to evolve the folk/rock/blues sound of her Warner Brothers’ recordings on efforts such as her 1998 Southland Of the Heart, which brought her back together with the Chambers Brothers but also included covers of songs by Greg Brown and Bruce Cockburn (the title track).

Which brings us to Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy. The Robert Crumb-influenced cover art by Neil Osborne evokes both the whimsy and the sensuality of the artist and the music, and not least of all the elevated spirits of all engaged in this endeavor—even the few downbeat numbers can’t help being a bit cheery in the end. Muldaur sings it like she swings it, with authority, smoldering passion and a true believer’s conviction. Typical of her approach, the project reunites her with old friends and introduces some new, younger ones cut from the same cloth. In this case, the familiar names joining the fray loom large in her history: David Grisman and John Sebastian, who, before they became bluegrass and rock ‘n’ roll legends, respectively, were the young Maria’s compadres in the Even Dozen Jug Band back in the Village; Taj Mahal, a pronounced presence on both Sweet Lovin’ Ol’ Soul and Richland Woman Blues, is back on banjo and guitar; and Dan Hicks, Muldaur’s neighbor in Mill Valley, CA, but more important a long-time collaborator (who had a song on Muldaur’s debut album, and from whose song “Sweetheart” came the title of he second album, Waitress In a Donut Shop) contributes two original songs, including the album opening, “The Diplomat,” which features some wonderful, idiomatic (idiomatic of the ‘30s, that is) lyrical wordplay, and the suggestive laid-back blues of “Let It Simmer,” but also engages Muldaur in some of the most suggestive (and apparently extemporaneous) repartee this side of Bogart and Bacall in The Big Sleep on the by-turns warm and seductive/frantic and heated medley of “Life’s Too Short/When Elephants Roost In Bamboo Trees.” On this cut, in fact, it’s evident Muldaur still possesses that perky, innocent “Midnight At the Oasis” voice, but she’s now a vital, 66-year-old who projects, vocally and physically, a mature, worldly sexiness that says “Only Real Men Need Apply.” Not that she doesn’t have an eye for the younger generation—or an ear. Meet one Kit Stovepipe, of the Seattle-area Crow Quill Night Owls jug band (the introduction to which opened Muldaur’s eyes to a burgeoning, international jug band revival). Stovepipe, a marvelous ragtime guitar player, also sits in on jug and washboard, and beyond that introduced Muldaur to a raft of new old music through his collection of vintage 78s. You can imagine that with players such as these on board the album boasts a down-home sound, and so it does, with other players such as fiddler Suzy Thompson (who saws away so evocatively on a swaggering treatment of the Mississippi Sheiks’ “He Calls That Religion”) and horn players Bob Schwartz (trumpet) and Kevin Porter (trombone), making their mark as well. Among the other highlights: a faithful, horn-rich rendition of “The Ghost of The St. Louis Blues,” originally cut in the mid-‘20s by the blackface Minstrel Man from Georgia, Emmett Miller, otherwise known for recording the original version of “Lovesick Blues” and being cited by Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Bob Wills’s great lead singer, Tommy Duncan, as their principal vocal influence (Duncan was hired on the spot when he told Wills, a major Miller fan himself, of his high regard for Miller’s singing style); a raggedy, stomping blues powered by shambling acoustic guitar and Suzy Thompson’s energetic fiddling, “Shout You Cats,” from the pen of Hezekiah Jones in 1931; and closing the album, a pair of songs unnervingly suited to the temper of the times in blues woman Martha Copeland’s dark, brooding--and self-explanatory--“Bank Failure Blues,” written at least a year ahead of the Crash of ’29, and, signing off, another Hezekiah Jones song, 1931’s “The Panic Is On,” which could hardly be more appropriate to the current day with lyrics such as “what this country’s comin’ to/I sure would like to know/if they don’t do somethin’ by and by/the rich will live and the poor will die/doggone, I mean the panic is on…” In the final verse Muldaur updates the lyrics to, “Them greedy politicians ruined everything/but now I’m here to sing/Obama’s in the White House saying ‘Yes, we can’/I know he gonna come up with a real good plan/then doggone, hard times will be gone…,” going out on a high note of good feeling appropriate to an album chock full of same, fueled by the delightful give-and-take instrumental dialogue between John Sebastian’s baritone guitar and Kit Stovepipe’s National. One hesitates to call this her best album yet, because the diversity of her art renders such statements inherently unfair—unfair, that is, if so many of the others weren’t of the same high caliber. Let’s leave it at another unqualified triumph of conception and execution, with a surplus of greasy, funky soul to recommend it. This music lives.

Tinsley Ellis - Speak No Evil

Over the course of 11 albums and literally thousands of live performances, Ellis has become one of today’s most electrifying guitarists and vocalists. He attacks his music with rock power and blues feeling, in the same tradition as his Deep South musical heroes Duane Allman and Freddie King and his old friends Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes. Rolling Stone says he plays “feral blues guitar...non-stop gigging has sharpened his six-string to a razor’s edge...his eloquence dazzles...he achieves pyrotechnics that rival early Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.”

SPEAK NO EVIL is the most guitar-driven album of Ellis’ storied career. It features his fiercest, most brutally honest and hardest-hitting original songs to date. The soulfulness and expressiveness of his guitar playing are ferocious, but when the mood calls for it, can be gentle and melodic. Ellis pours his soul into each and every performance with unguarded, raw emotion. With rip-roaring songs that are both poignant and humorous, SPEAK NO EVIL is as wide-ranging and inspired a recording as Ellis has ever made, and one of the most satisfying Southern blues-rock albums in ages.

Tinsley Ellis wears his Southern roots proudly. Born in Atlanta in 1957, he grew up in southern Florida and first played guitar at age eight. He found the blues through the back door of British Invasion bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream, and The Rolling Stones. He especially loved the Kings — Freddie, B.B. and Albert — and spent hours immersing himself in their music. His love for the blues solidified when he was 14. At a B.B. King performance, Tinsley sat mesmerized in the front row. When B.B. broke a string on Lucille, he changed it without missing a beat, and handed the broken string to Ellis. After the show, B.B. came out and talked with fans, further impressing Tinsley with his warmth and down-to-earth attitude. By now Tinsley’s fate was sealed; he had to become a blues guitarist. And yes, he still has that string.

Already an accomplished teenaged musician, Ellis left Florida and returned to Atlanta in 1975. He soon joined the Alley Cats, a gritty blues band that included Preston Hubbard (of Fabulous Thunderbirds fame). In 1981, along with veteran blues singer and harpist Chicago Bob Nelson, Tinsley formed The Heartfixers, a group that would become Atlanta’s top-drawing blues band. Upon hearing Live At The Moonshadow (Landslide), the band’s second release, The Washington Post declared, “Tinsley Ellis is a legitimate guitar hero.” After cutting two more Heartfixers albums for Landslide, Cool On It (featuring Tinsley’s vocal debut) and Tore Up (with vocals by blues shouter Nappy Brown), Ellis was ready to head out on his own.

GEORGIA BLUE, Tinsley’s first Alligator release, hit an unprepared public by surprise in 1988. Critics and fans quickly agreed that a new and original guitar hero had emerged. “It’s hard to overstate the raw power of his music,” raved The Chicago Sun-Times. Before long, Alligator arranged to reissue COOL ON IT and TORE UP, thus exposing Tinsley’s blistering earlier music to a growing fan base.

Tinsley’s subsequent releases — 1989’s FANNING THE FLAMES, 1992’s TROUBLE TIME, 1994’s STORM WARNING, and 1997’s FIRE IT UP — further expanded the guitarist’s hero status. By now his talents as a songwriter equaled his guitar prowess, and critics, writers, radio programmers and fans around the country were taking notice. Features and reviews ran in Rolling Stone, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and in many other national and regional publications. His largest audience by far came when NBC Sports ran a feature on Atlanta’s best blues guitarist during their 1996 Summer Olympic coverage, viewed by millions of people all over the world.

After one album for Capricorn and two for Telarc, Ellis returned to Alligator in 2005 with the searing guitar-fueled LIVE-HIGHWAYMAN. It was the live recording his fans had been demanding for years. Recorded at a packed club just outside Chicago, the CD took Ellis’ extended soloing and heartfelt vocals to staggering heights. His return to the studio in 2007 produced MOMENT OF TRUTH, an album The Chicago Tribune called “incendiary and inspired.”

Averaging over 150 live shows a year, Ellis has played in all 50 states, as well as Canada, Europe, Australia and South America. He has shared stages with almost every major blues star, including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Son Seals, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins and many others. Whether he’s out with his own band or sharing stages with major artists like Buddy Guy, The Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule or Widespread Panic, he always digs deep and plays, as Guitar Player says, “…as if his life depended on it.” With SPEAK NO EVIL and continued non-stop touring, Ellis will bring his monumental guitar work and intensely powerful vocals to rock and blues fans all over the world, letting his songs and his guitar do the talking.