Category: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee – Guy Verlinde, The Cinelli Brothers w/ Connor Selby, Jay Hooks, and Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Belgian guitarist Guy Verlinde covers Hound Dog Taylor. He’s best known as a solo artist and as front man for The Mighty Gators and The Houserockers. There’s not much of a bio on his website other than a link to his Facebook page where there’s not much of a bio either.

Winners of the 2024 UK Blues Band of the Year, The Cinelli Brothers (Marco and Alessandro) revive 1960s – 70s vintage electric blues, R&B and soul with a modern vibe. Guest guitarist Connor Selby is no slouch either, having been named Traditional Blues Artist of the Year (2025).

In the 1990s, Texas bluesman Jay Hooks kickstarted what promised to be a successful career, but he burned out in 2005 due to unspecified personal troubles. 15 years later he began from scratch, reinventing his music and performing in bars; Hooks returned to the studio in 2024 to make his comeback official.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band – In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph 97th in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Big news this week: this year’s Super Bowl halftime show is gonna suck again, the word tardigrade offends some people, sombrero memes are racist, and I got a chair on the porch with my name on it. There are others available on a first come first sit basis, so see you there.

Saturday Matinee – Andreas Diehlmann Band, Danny Bryant, and Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse

Andreas Diehlmann Band is a German power trio who crank out Texas blues ala ZZ Top, with vocals to match. Diehlmann is backed by Jörg Sebald on bass and Tom Bonn on drums.

Danny Bryant was born in Hertfordshire, England, was playing professionally by 18, formed Danny Bryant’s RedEyeBand with his father, Ken Bryant, on bass. His dad retired in 2013, but the band continues on.

Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse is a roots rock blues Americana country soul punk psychobilly band from California, featuring vocals by documentary filmmaker, television producer, business entrepreneur and Louisiana native Greta “Gris Gris” Valenti.

Old news is new again. Fascists are accusing their opponents of being fascists, socialists are calling their opponents socialists. Antisemites are hollering that even the Jews hate the Jews. Climate Change is back to Global Warming and this time we’re emitting too many cows. If the POTUS says it’s bad to take Tylenol during pregnancy then you mamas-to-be better start gulping them down pronto if you want to score political points. Greta & crew are suffering toxic levels of 24/7 ABBA, and cotton is racist.

Oh, well. Have a great weekend, see you tomorrow, zero-porch-thirty.

Saturday Matinee – Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia, John Primer & Billy Branch, and Mad Guz & the Mojos

Guitar rippers Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia took their powerhouse bands, crammed them together to form Blood Brothers.

John Primer with Billy Branch (harp), Johnny Iguana (keyboards), Felton Crews (bass), Billy Flynn (rhythm guitar). Unfortunately the drummer got no credit.

Mad Guz & the Mojos is a heavy rockabilly-influenced blues band from somewhere in Germany, and consists of Mad Guz (vocals, sax, guitar), Isi Mojo (double bass), Tim Mojo (drums, vocals) and Spike Mojo (lead guitar, vocals).

Not sure if hilarious, laughable or pitiful is the best way to describe the feces flying around on social media and elsewhere. Maybe we could schedule a National Day of STFU and STFD. Everyone to the time out chair.
Except for us porch sitters. See you tomorrow, porchheads.

Saturday Matinee – Ndlovu Youth Choir, Giles Robson and JW-Jones w/ Paul Pigat & Jack de Keyzer

Ndlovu Youth Choir: “An eleven-year journey has seen an after-school programme for orphaned and vulnerable children, started by the Ndlovu Care Group, transform into an international recording and touring career. Participation does not only instil values of togetherness, a work ethic and a sense of responsibility, but it develops self-discipline, self-confidence, and leadership.” [h/t Miss Cellanea]

British harp wizard Giles Robson is one of only three UK blues artists to win a coveted Blues Music Award in Memphis. The other two are Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

“This is an amazing blues band.” – Elwood Blues
JW-Jones, with Paul Pigat and Jack de Keyzer, crack open a can of Magic Sam boogie and head for the coast. Backing them is Chris Nordquist on drums, Julian Fauth / keyboards and Suzie Vinnick / bass.

Disturbing events the past few days. Two little girls lost their daddy, and a young woman has to tell them that their daddy isn’t coming home.
Charlie Kirk expressed his opinions peacefully, rarely raising his voice in anger, and for that he was assassinated. That some soulless wretches jeer and applaud the tragedy makes me want to vomit.

The porch will be closed tomorrow…

Saturday Matinee -The Firebird Trio, Mississippi Big Beat, and The Bloyet Brothers & Lourychords

Australia’s Firebird Trio takes the heart of rock and roll and nails it to your forehead with their cover of one of Lieber & Stoller’s most recorded tunes.

Mississippi Big Beat is/was a retro-future tehno-swamp blues group out of Budapest, Hungary: Founders Andor Oláh / blues harp and Csaba Gál Boogie / acoustic guitars, vocals, with Szabolcs Máté (Sab) / sound decks, turntables, and János Fekete / beatbox, drums.

The Bloyet Brothers & Lourychords are from Redon, France, play 1970s=style blues rock, they don’t have a website or bio that I could find and I have no idea who or what Lourychords is.

Guess where I’ll be tomorrow.
Yep. Good day for a porch sit. See you there.

Saturday Matinee – The Tarbox Ramblers, Fred Wesley & The New JBs, and Taj Mahal w/ Gregg Allman, Chris Stapleton & Little Bigtown

The Tarbox Ramblers: “If the Rolling Stones had happened 10 years earlier, hailed from Memphis and been produced by Ike Turner, they might have sounded like The Tarbox Ramblers. The way the Ramblers lay down their backroads grit and raw hillbilly-rock jive, you’re unlikely to hear a more genuine blast of sandpaper rhythm and roots.” – The Boston Herald

Fred Wesley & The New JBs is comprised of: Fred Wesley / trombone, Gary Winters / trumpet, Phillip Whack / saxophone, Bruce Cox / drums, Dwayne Dolphin / bass, Reggie Ward / guitar and Peter Madsen / keyboards.

Taj Mahal, with Gregg Allman, Chris Stapleton and the members of Little Bigtown do the Elmore James‘ classic.

Hot days… warm nights… the rat in the garage couldn’t sleep so he left on his own. I’ll have the house to myself tomorrow night which means pizza for me and leftover steamed vegetables for the possum. Porch time tomorrow is at porch time o’clock. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – The Too Bad Jims, Albert Cummings Trio, and Lachy Doley w/ Adam Wendt & The Big Blues Orchestra

The Too Bad Jims pay tribute to R.L. Burnside (even their band name came from the title of one of his albums). Little Victor, Son Jack Jr. and Nick Simonon play a mix of North Mississippi Hill Country blues and boogie.

Albert Cummings, Warren Grant and Scot Sutherland make a great power trio, and there’s proof.

Australian musician, singer and songwriter Lachlan “Lachy” Doley, best known for playing the Hammond organ and whammy clavinet, teams up with with saxman Adam Wendt and The Big Blues Orchestra at the Blues In The World Festival, Poland, 2018. Killer cover of Junior Walker‘s 1965 hit.

Got some heat waving happening around these parts, but it’s not the three-digit kind that some of you out in cactus country have to put up with. A wet shirt, a breeze, a cooler and a porch is all I need. Stop by tomorrow and we’ll talk about crackers and barrels.

Saturday Matinee – Igor Prado Band, Davey Knowles and Gerry Joe Weise

Igor Prado Band‘s cover of  Camille Bob’s 1965 hit. These boys from Brazil play blues, R&B and west coast swing/jump, and funk. Lefthander Igor Prado leads on guitar with brother Yuri Prado on drums, Rodrigo Mantovani on acoustic bass and Denilson Martins on baritone sax. Their website igorpradoband.com was AWOL at the time of this posting.

Playing solo or with his band Back Door Slam, award-winning songwriter and guitarist Davy Knowles plays Telecaster, American Steel and mandolin to cover various genres including classic rock, blues, and folk.

Singer, songwriter, composer, pianist and guitarist Gerry Joe Weise‘ repertoire includes classical, jazz fusion and blues. He was recently named 5th best jazz guitarist in Australia, and creates land art installations as well.

Amazing. This week we saw people protesting in support of criminals, people protesting a peace summit, and people complaining about improvements in the economy, all while Governor Pantload gripes about everyone else in order to distract from his own incompetence. Pheew.

I dunno, Babs, but I do know this. I had an appointment with my onkydoc this week, and I’ve got nothing to complain about. I’ll be on the porch tomorrow taking suggestions and requests. See you there.

Saturday Matinee – Lefthand Freddy, Yates McKendree & Carl Weathersby w/ The Alex Zayas Band

Seasoned Dutch guitarist Lefthand Freddy mixed up a hot bowl of ska-flavored blues at the Nuenen Blues’m Festival.

“Born in Nashville and raised in a recording studio, multi-instrumentalist Yates McKendree grew up hearing and playing with some of Music City’s greatest musicians. […] During Yates’s teenage years, he played on and engineered dozens of recordings in his father’s (Kevin McKendree) studio, The Rock House; most notably for Delbert McClinton and John Hiatt, who told Rolling Stone Magazine, ‘Yates was our secret ingredient.’”

Born in Mississippi but raised in Chicago, Carl Weathersby was a teenager when his father’s friend became his tutor. That man was Albert King. Weathersby played rhythm guitar in King’s band before joining up with Billy Branch & The Sons Of the Blues, aka The SOBs. Weathersby passed away in 2024 at the age of 71.

The Alex Zayas Band: Zayas’ website is down / defunct, so his story is a bit tricky to find. He was born in Barcelona and has been on tour for about 30 years playing classic blues and blues rock; his band often backs other big-name blues performers.

With everything else going on in the world, the biggest news story this week involves fluorescent phalli and women’s basketball. At least the MSM seems to be reporting on it honestly and without obvious bias, and that’s a bit of fresh air.
Speaking of fresh air, stop by tomorrow at porch time and guess what the neighborhood skunk did to the neighbor’s little yappy dog.

Saturday Matinee – Flaco Jiménez, Big George Brock & Dan Patlansky

Flaco Jiménez (1939-2025) began playing the bajo sexto at the age of seven with his father, Santiago Jiménez Sr., a pioneer of conjunto music. He later adopted the accordion after being influenced by his father as well as zydeco musician Clifton Chenier.

Big George Brock was born in Grenada, Mississippi on May 16, 1932. By the time he was eight, he was working as a sharecropper picking cotton. He moved to Mattson, Mississippin, while in his teens, met and performed with Muddy Waters. In the late 1940s he moved to Walls, Mississippi where Howlin’ Wolf hired him as a roadie and sideman, and while in Walls he jammed with Memphis Minnie at house parties.

Dan Patlansky was voted the #4 Best Guitarist in the world and (besides Joe Bonamassa!) remains the only artist in the world with two worldwide No. 1, and two worldwide No. 2 Best Blues Rock Albums as voted by Blues Rock Review USA.

Got a lotta stuff to think about getting around to planning to do one of these days, but not tomorrow because I’ve got an appointment on the porch around porch time. See you there.