Tag: Blues

Saturday Matinee – Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge w/ Petar Janjic, and The Riccardo Grosso Blues Band

Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials are killer.
Lil’ Ed Wiiliams (vocals, slide guitar), Ed’s half-brother James “Pookie” Young (bass), guitarist Mike Garrett (guitar) and drummer Kelly Littleton (drums) have been jamming for over 30 years. Lil’ Ed & Pookie learned from their uncle,  J. B. Hutto.

Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge (with Serbian drummer Petar Janjic). Bowers is an amazing powerhouse jammer. Born in 2006, she was only 18 at the time of this performance from 2024, and she looks like she’s having fun.

“Blues is my foundation, but I don’t want to be the next copycat. My goal is to deliver the missing soundtrack of your life – and mine.” R. Grosso
Riccardo Grosso Blues Band‘s cover of Slim Harpo’s Shake Your Hips is a steady driver. There’s an interesting interview with Grosso on Bluesmoose Radio here, and it includes more examples of his excellent harp shredding.

It’s finally here – my favorite week. Yep, we gots a lotsa LEFTOVERS!
See you on the porch tomorrow and I’ll tell you all about them.

Saturday Matinee – Eddie 9V, RelaxTrio, Altered Five Blues Band & Bywater Call

“A shot rang out in the name of love” is one hell of a lyric.
Brooks Mason was born in Georgia in 1996, focuses on classic southern soul, blues, rock and funk. “A lot of people wanted me to be the Brooks Mason Blues Band, but that’s been done. I wanted to start from scratch, and I ain’t never heard of no bluesman named Eddie 9V.”

The girl pounds bass. Finnish band RelaxTrio is
Linda Teränen (Vocals & double bass)
Oskari Nieminen (Vocals & guitar)
Vilho Voutilainen (Drums & backing vocals)

Award winning group from Milwaukee, Altered Five Blues Band features frontman Jeff Taylor with Jeff Schroedl / guitar, Mark Solveson / bass, Alan Arber / drums and Steve Huebler / keyboard.

Bywater Call is a Toronto-based group formed by singer Meghan Parnell and guitar player Dave Barnes. They were nominees for the Southern Rock & Soul Independent Blues Awards in 2021. In 2024 they were nominated for International Blues Artist of the year (UK Blues Awards).

Lotta weather this past week, but it didn’t freeze, didn’t flood and nothing important fell over. Thought about getting a hair cut, but I filled up the tank instead and fed the cat a few times. Life is good. See you tomorrow, some time around porch o’clock.

Saturday Matinee – Alastair Greene, Eric Johanson & Katarina Pejak; Nikki Hill Band, Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos, and Cam Cole

Ruf’s Blues Caravan 2024 featured Alastair Greene, Eric Johanson & Katarina Pejak. 

Nikki Hill Band:
“If Tina Turner and Little Richard had a daughter and raised her with the help of uncles James Brown and Chuck Berry, she’d be like Nikki Hill.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune

Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos mixes Delta blues, NOLA  second line funk and 60’s jams with classic rock. No self-indulgent wheedly-wheedly solos with these guys.

Cam Cole, busker, bluesman, rocker, recording artist, and the most impressive one-man band you will ever see.

Looks like the west coast is in for rain, the midwest is in for winter, and the porch has a roof with a live weather watch. See you tomorrow, rain, mud, sleet or snow.

Saturday Matinee – The Lemonheads, Evan Johns & Charlie Burton, and The Guy Forsyth Blues Band

Alt-rock punk band The Lemonheads was formed in Boston in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. There’s an obvious Ramones influence on their 1992 cover of Simon and Garfunkel‘s Mrs. Robinson (recorded in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the move The Graduate).

Evan Johns and Charlie Burton on Art Fein’s Poker Party, 1993.
Charlie Burton on vocal and rhythm guitar, seated is Grammy nominated Evan Johns (Evan Johns and the H-Bombs) on lead guitar, Dave Robel (Shithook) on drums, C. Buggs Coombs on bass. Johns passed away in 2017 at the age of 60; Burton passed on in 2024, age 73.

The Guy Forsyth Blues Band out of Austin, Texas, sounds a bit like early Fabulous Thunderbirds to me, and I like it. Forsyth’s earlier collaborations include The Asylum Street Spankers and The Hot Nut Riveters.

Cold weather moving down south, wind and water for us folks in the west, and a great big storm of stupid just passed through much of the nation. There’s some good news out there if you know where to look, and a good place to start is on the porch tomorrow. See you then and there.

HALLOWEENAGE

Miscellaneous earbone stimulation for throwing treats at the little ghosts and goblins. [Image found here.]

 

[Caveat: I don’t own the copyrights to any of these recordings. They are presented here for entertainment purposes only.]

 

Emunctory Hot Links

Boogeyman, The Atomic 44’s (2021)
Blues/roots supergroup The Atomic 44’s formed in 2020 when Eric Von Herzen (harmp player for Walter Trout, Social Distortion, The Atomic Road Kings, Junior Watson) joined guitarist/vocalist Johnny Main (The 44’s).

Holler.

“Dance.”

“CHILL!”

MDAOES.

THIS POD.

Mr. Bubba.

Greenlight.

Monkey rain.

E-E-AH-H-H.

The East Wig.

Engagement.

Make it black.

Morel Doucet’s busts.

Differing martial arts.

About Hedwig Kiesler.

Patty was a headbanger.

Dance This Meme Around.

Mark Allen, Cardiff Busker.

Earl the Spider [via Thompson, blog].

Herman Poole Blount [via Everlasting Blört].

Nathan Vidal & Eduardo Granados are dkhds.

Don’t Fear The Reaper (medieval version) [via Memo Of The Air].

[Top image: Colorized magazine photo, unknown source, with caption
“Rich Palmer ran the nation’s largest volume hobby shop in Parsippany, New Jersey. Aurora hired him to organize its Monster Customizing Contest in 1964. Aurora received national television attention when the CBS Evening News visited his shop. Walter Cronkite and Palmer held a conversation in the “Monster Korner” of the store. Big Frankie occupies the top shelf in the Monster Korner.”
More info in this forum.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Surculigerous Hot Links

Goin’ Down South, R.L. Burnside w/ Lyrics Born (2004) Burnside recorded several versions of Goin’ Down South over the years. He was born in Lafayette County, Mississippi, learned from Mississippi Fred McDowell who lived in the next county over. Burnside and his family, tired of the life of sharecroppers, moved to Chicago in the early 50s. Subsequently his father, two uncles and two brothers were murdered there. In 1959 he returned to Mississippi, was convicted of murder himself, and served time at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, aka Parchman Farm. [h/t Suzanne P.]

Play B-22.

Haint paint.

Tower bees.

Douchebag.

200% Chinese.

Sidewalk chalk.

Freddie’s Level.

Plucking around.

Sorry We’re Closed.

Street pyrotechnics.

Elvis anti-fog sponge.

One man’s bucket list.

Maisie, Jake and Harry.

A snapshot in concrete.

“Shut up,” she explained.

Norty Blues Episode 138.

Cast aluminum farm toys.

Repairing Cow 613 [h/t Kirk W.]

WindowSwap [via Memo Of The Air].

There’s a loo in The Netty, dear Liza.

Four hours’ pay means four hours’ stay.

Stereotypical foods that few locals eat.

Even better at 1.5x speed [via Thompson, blog].

…and not very sharp [via The View From Lady Lake].

100 Years of the Photobooth [via Everlasting Blört].

“Play with and trade upon the themes of accumulation and juxtaposition.”

[Top image: 19th century Japanese octopus sculpture found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – HatFitz and Cara, Marc Amacher & The Thilo Wolf Big Band

HatFitz and Cara: “Aussie bluesman and Irish Songstress get married, form a band and make great music together. This shabby hill country blues oozes cool”. Guitar & Bass Magazine.

Swiss gravel-voiced guitarist Marc Amacher plays his mashup of roots blues, gospel, rock and funk – someone called it “dirty blues-rock of traditional style”.

The Thilo Wolf Big Band, the Thilo Wolf Jazz Quartet and the Thilo Wolf Groove Selection are all groups created by German pianist and composer Thilo Wolf. What a coincidence.

Had the house main water line replaced yesterday (weasels chewed up the old one) so we can shower and flush the toilets, then we had an internest downage last evening so this post was delayed a bit. The porch is open for business.

Saturday Matinee – Black Pumas, JP Soars’ Gypsy Blue Review & The Jimmy Vivino Band

Black Pumas is a psychedelic soul band based in Austin, Texas, led by singer/songwriter (and former busker) Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. Since forming the band in 2017, they’ve won critical acclaim, made numerous television appearances, and won their first Grammy in 2020 for Best New Band.

JP Soars’ Gypsy Blue Review plays an eclectic mix of blues, rock and southern soul, and features the amazing violinist Anne Harris. J.P. Soars is no slouch either – he also performs as JP Soars & The Red Hots.

The Jimmy Vivino Band: Jimmy Vivino on guitar; bassist Rick Reed; Tony Braunagel on drums; and, Luca Neroni on guitar. Vivino has played with artists including Al Kooper, Charlie Musselwhite, Michael McDonald and many others. He is best known as guitarist, arranger and music director for Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

This weekend is the annual church fair, and that means the missus is gonna fetch a bucket of vietnamese eggrolls. Stop by tomorrow at porch time o’clock and she might let you smell them. See you there.

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.