Mississippi John Hurt - The Man From Avalon (2008) (The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings)

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The lonesome songster from Avalon

The songs on this album were released in numerous editions since 1971 under various titles like "The Original 1928 Recordings" (1971), "Mississippi John Hurt 1928 : Stack O' Lee Blues" and "1928 - His First Recordings" (1972), "The 1928 Sessions" (1979, 1988), "Avalon Blues : The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings" (1996), "Candy Man Blues : The Complete 1928 Sessions" (2004), "The Best of Mississippi John Hurt : Columbia Original Masters" (2008), "Blessed Be The Name : The Complete OKeh Recordings" (2010), "Spike Driver Blues - The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings" (2016), "American Epic : The Best of Mississippi John Hurt" (2017) and "The Rough Guide To Mississippi John Hurt" (2019).

Needless to say that Delta blues amateurs almost know these great classics inside out. But this 2008 edition, "The Man From Avalon", stands out : it makes them sound almost like you never heard them before.

James Armstrong - Dark Night (1998)

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Dark night of a dark day

This is Armstrong second album, recorded over a year after being severely stabbed in his left shoulder by a man who broke in his California house in April 1997 (1). It bears many traces of this frightening day and of the ensuing psychological trauma and long months of rehabilitation to slowly recover his ability to play guitar, his left arm having suffered serious nerve damages. With such a name, he couldn't but fight hard to get his arm strong and fit again. Friends Joe Louis Walker and Doug MacLeod offered their support by guesting on two tracks each, and the final result is a neat collection of blues by a man who learned his trade by backing such blues giants as Albert Collins, Big Joe Turner and Smokey Wilson.

Kenny Neal - A Tribute To Slim Harpo & Raful Neal (2005)

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The Neal clan's great homage

Kenny Neal is a family bluesman. On this album originally planned as a tribute to his "uncle" Slim Harpo, a close friend of his father Raful Neal and a legendary swamp blues harp player, he plays with another legend, his own father Raful on vocals and harmonica, and with his brothers Frederick Neal on keyboards, Darnell Neal on bass, and his nephew Tyree Neal on drums. Raful eventually passed away during the making of the album, but fortunately after recording most of the vocals and harmonica parts. The tribute then extended to Raful too.

Special Chicago Blues Unplugged : John Primer & Chicago Bob Nelson

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John Primer: Almost unplugged

Unusual to hear John Primer, a Chicago electric blues fixture, play acoustic (only the last four "bonus" tracks feature electric numbers with a local blues band). Ten unplugged songs which remind a reality often ignored : the Chicago electric style is directly derived from Delta country blues.

Precisely Primer was born in Mississippi just like the blues greats he played with in the 1970s-80s : Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Magic Slim… Born in 1945, he moved up north to Chicago in 1963 at age 18. His childhood dream came true in 1980 when Waters formed a new band, the Legendary Blues Band, and called him to fill the second guitar and bandleader position.
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Chicago Bob Nelson: Totally unplugged

Chicago Bob Nelson ain't superstitious : he sings about going down to Louisiana to get himself a mojo hand, but he doesn't mind having 13 songs on his album ! More seriously, Louisiana born Robert Lee Nelson was mentored by Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester, two friends of his father, during his teens. He moved to Chicago in the early 1960s and performed with musicians like Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Earl Hooker and Muddy Waters who gave him his "Chicago Bob" nickname. 

In 1965 he went to Boston and teamed up with Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson until Johnson's death in 1976. In 1980, he joined Tinsley Ellis' band The Heartfixers, played with a Memphis band named The Shadows in the late 1980s, and later in John Lee Hooker’s Coast to Coast Blues Band for the last years of Hooker’s life. CBN died in 2013 after a little dozen albums under his name.

Bill Deraime - Bouge Encore (2008)

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Blues with a French touch

Bill Deraime is the godfather of French blues, often imitated, rarely equaled. Today 75 and officially retired from music, he's been striving to establish a blues scene in France for more than fifty years with some twenty-five albums, numerous performances and tours, despite a chronic manic depression.
Scorching voice, meaningful lyrics and roots soul sound, he never hesitated to borrow from other genres, particularly reggae, but also African music, gospel, funk..., to enrich his basic blues foundations. Far from the syrupy stuff delivered by many contemporary French "pop" artists, and from the spotlights, Deraime once said that blues is "the music of the soul". The statement is quite evident but at least, it deserves to be reminded from time to time.

Seth Walker - Seth Walker (2006)

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A walk with Seth

North Carolina born, long time resident of Austin where this album was recorded, and now based in Nashville, 50 years old Seth Walker is a rather unique artist in the contemporary musical landscape : basically a bluesman, he's exploring the roots of modern American music. In this 2006 album, his third one, he extends his down-home southern gritty blues to "old" soul and R'n'B, western swing and country…

Rather than Americana, I would call it "Nostalgiana". And to make it clear that this personal conception of modern soul blues is his real musical identity, he simply titled the album "Seth Walker". The man is on a similar path to artists like Tom Waits and the likes, and even Bob Dylan whose last albums have a definite throw-back color.

The Balham Alligators - Cajun Dance Party (1997)

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When the bayou smells like Guinness
These Alligators are unique. Their Cajun music has a Guinness or old Scotch whiskey flavor, and despite its strong Welsh Celtic colors it sounds more authentic than many bayou bands from Louisiana. At the same time it wouldn't be out of place at all in any Dublin or Aberdeen pub. This Celtic touch is mostly brought by the roots sound of Robin McKidd's fiddle. Coupled with Watkins' accordion, it brings this old Celtic rural dance atmosphere. Folk music in the primary sense of the word, far from rock, be it swamp, but not from rhythm.

The result is very different from usual Cajun bands from Louisiana and still… it sounds definitely Cajun, especially when they sing in Creole French. How the hell do they manage to do that ?

Altered Five Blues Band - Ten Thousand Watts (2019)

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Exciting, groovy and kicking !

Those Altered Five guys don't joke about the boogie, no sir ! You hear it from the opening track "Right On, Right On". They don't mess around the blues either. Big rhythm section, heavy sound, groovy churchy organ, exciting guitar licks and JT's powerful vocals, the album keeps up to its title : it's all roadhouse tasty rocking blues stuff.

Taj Mahal - Taj Mahal (1968 / 2000 reissue)

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King Taj

This album is 55 years old but sounds almost as if it had been recorded yesterday. Normal, it's Taj Mahal, and Taj Mahal, a man who knows about the blues, is timeless.

This self-titled debut album, recorded during the summer of 1967 and released in early 1968, became afterwards a classic of the 1960s blues revival. Mahal straight vintage blues sound was unlike almost anything else on the blues scene at the time. It was recorded with two prestigious guitar accomplices : teenage friend Ry Cooder on rhythm and the late Jesse Ed Davis, an authentic Native American, on lead. All three were already playing together in the Los Angeles-based blues-rock band The Rising Sons since 1964.

Eric Clapton - Nothing But the Blues (Live in 1994) (2022)

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Clapton's new gem

Eric Clapton's latest release, just out from June 24, 2022, deserves a special post. This Live recorded in two nights at the San Francisco Fillmore, on November 8 and 9, 1994, during the "From the Cradle" tour is exceptional.

17 great classics, from Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf to Jimmy Rogers or Muddy Waters, masterly performed on stage by a Clapton at his best. Rarely has his guitar and vocals sounded so powerful and soulful at the same time.