Tag: Blues

Happy New Year’s Eve 2024 – End of Year Playlist

The end of a long year deserves a playlist to bring in the new one, and just as we did a mere twelve months ago, here’s a compilation of songs that buzzed my earballs in 2024.

Set 1 – January, February, March & April

Set 2 – May, June, July & August

Set 3 – September, October, November & December

[I omitted most of the tunes from the Halloween playlist, but you can hear them all here.]

And one more thing: Happy New Year!

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

Saturday Matinee – Snooks Eaglin, Latvian Blues Band & Clutch

Snooks Eaglin took Wilson Pickett’s Memphis classic down to N’awlins.
[h/t hotfox63.com]

In 2008, Latvian Blues Band became the first European-based group invited to perform in the Chicago Blues Festival. From Riga, Latvia, members include Jānis ‘Bux’ Bukovskis (guitar, vocals), Jonatans Rācenājs (guitar), Rolands ‘Rolx’ Saulietis (drums, backing vocals), Reinis Ozoliņš (bass), Nauris Strežs (trombone) and Artis Ločmelis (sax).

Clutch picks it up, throws it to the floor and kicks it square in the crackerbockles. From their 2007 album From Beale Street to Oblivion.

Just got a breather from the Christmas festivities, and here comes the New Year barrelling down the tracks. I’m not ready for it, but I’ve had just about enough of 2024. Porchtime? Whenever o’clock.

Saturday Matinee – Keb’ Mo’, The Mavericks, Skatune Network, & Gwen Stefani / No Doubt

Keb’ Mo’ breaks it down and throws it back.

The Mavericks are Raúl Malo / vocals, guitar; Paul Deakin / drums; Jerry Dale McFadden / keyboards, vocals; Eddie Perez / guitar. Early jump blues piano style that morphed into ska.

One man ska band JER / Skatune Network covers Otis Redding‘s cover of Charles Brown‘s 1947 hit. The guy’s amazing.

In 2003, Gwen Stefani & No Doubt spread the Oi of the season with their cover of the Vandals.

Lemme see. Christmas Eve isn’t until Tuesday, so I still have tomorrow’s porch time to make a list and check it twice, and Monday for shopping. No sweat. Stop by tomorrow and we’ll compare lists.

Saturday Matinee – Linda Teränen / RelaxTrio, The Nick Moss Band, and Shakura S’Aida

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

The Nick Moss Band gives a tribute to the late great Hubert Sumlin in fine Chicago style.

Great smoker by Shakura S’Aida, backed by Donna Grantis (guitar), Lance Anderson (B3), Roger Williams (bass) and Tony Rabalao (drums).

While posting this, an internest outage almost forced me to watch television. Fortunately it came back just in time so I could announce that tomorrow’s porch time shall commence promptly at whenever o’clock. See you then.

Dextrogyratory Hot Links

The Car Of Your Dreams, Taj Mahal (1996)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks Jr., aka Taj Mahal, has been writing, recording and performing since 1964. A true chameleon of roots music, his discography includes blues, rock, R&B, reggae, jazz, country blues, Caribbean and West African styles. He was an early pioneer of what’s now called world music.

UfoBER.

Ornaments!

“I am a pilot.”

Zombie fires.

Trouble in Bend.

Shop With A Cop.

Pah-rumpa pum pum.

The Whizzo of Gomez.

All it ever does is rain.

The 1960 Pininfarina X.

Norty Blues Episode 93.

All Chuck [h/t Corinne L.]

He saw what you did there.

“Which people would say that?”

Young Terry & the valiant effort.

This is NOT Toonces [h/t Gord S.]

Волшебник Изумрудного города.

Noodlin’ Cajun girl [via Bunkerville].

My favorite scene from Jurassic Park.

Climate Change over the past 4000 Years.

90 Animals Ranked by Eyesight [via Mme. Jujujive].

The paintings of Jules Worms [via Memo Of The Air].

A Female Science Fiction Character Written by a Male Writer.

[Top image found here. It appears to be a 1952 Chevrolet Bel Air.]

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

Saturday Matinee – Jesse Welles, The Anthony Paul Soul Orchestra w/ Willy Jordan, Curtis Salgado, and Vanessa Collier

Born and raised in Ozark, Arkansas, Jesse Welles began his career around 2012, performing as Jeh Sea Wells. “It’s obvious that Wells will always be comfortable in some dirty rock and roll kitchen where, as he says in one song, ‘everyone’s kinda ugly in that way that looks pretty.'” – NPR

60s-70s soul sounds from San Francisco: The Anthony Paul Soul Orchestra (APSO) features Willy Jordan.

R&B soul singer Curtis Salgado won the  Blues Music Awards’ Soul Blues Male Artist Of The Year two years in a row (2021 & 2022). Salgado was the inspiration behind John Belushi’s creation of the Blues Brothers characters in the late 1970s. They met in Eugene, Oregon, and became friends while Belushi was filming the movie Animal House [Wiki].

Nice Louisiana dixiefunk. Vanessa Collier fronts an 11 piece band that includes Laura Chavez (guitar), Doug Woolverton (trumpet) and Mark Earley (sax).

Gonna take my hatchet and get a Christmas tree tomorrow. Not gonna cut it, I just get a better price with a hatchet in my hand. Don’t know why, I just do. In the meantime, help yourselves to the porch and I’ll be back soon enough.

Saturday Matinee – Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, BIG DEZ, Joe Louis Walker, and Jackie Venson

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, featuring Victor Wooten on fretless bass, his brother Roy “Futureman” Wooten on Drumitar. Alto saxman  Jeff Coffin joined the trio in 1996.

Nice laid back groove. BIG DEZ was formed in 1996 by Phil “Big Dez” Fernandez (guitar) and Bala Pradal (keyboards). They spent most of their time rehearsing in a cabin in the suburbs of Paris, and after adding Lamine Guerfi (bass) Archibald Ligonnière (drums), graduated to the bar scene, then moved on to the big time. [More here.]

Joe Louis Walker, a Blues Hall of Fame inductee and six-time Blues Music Award winner, NPR described him as “a legendary boundary-pushing icon of modern blues.”

Jackie Venson: “Singer-songwriter Jackie Venson’s version of the blues – with its R&B, psychedelic rock – has invigorated Austin’s music scene with its refreshingly electric sound.” — Rolling Stone

Dang. It’s almost December already. Porch time has been scheduled for whenenever you get here. See you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – The Walkers Blues Band, Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters, Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado

The Walkers Blues Band cover Slim Harpo’s Te Ni Nee Ni Nu. I couldn’t find details about the group other than they made their debut in 2015 at the Festival Internacional de Blues de Asunción, Paraguay.

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters need no introduction. Fun fact: Ronnie Earl (aka Ronald Horvath) was born in Queens, NY, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education & Special Education from Boston University.

Since their beginnings as a Copenhagen bar band, Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado have been dubbed Denmark’s premier roots-rockers. The septet has performed in Scandinavia, Europe, Canada, the US and Asia for the past twenty years.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and right after that comes the best part: leftovers. The porch shall open promptly at noonish tomorrow for weather observation. Be there.

Saturday Matinee – Solon Fishbone, The J R Clark Band & Toronzo Cannon

Armed with vintage Fender gear, Solon Fishbone has spread the blues throughout Brazil and South America for 20 years.

The J R Clark Band includes Johnny B. Gayden (bass), Randall Willis (drums), Willie “Styles” Phipps (keyboards), and J R Clark (guitar & vocals), all of whom have excellent resumes.

Chicago bluesman Toronzo Cannon didn’t pick up a guitar until he was 22, but he picked it up fast:
“Gary Clark, Jr. declared, ‘Toronzo is a beast. He lights the room up,’ and Joe Bonamassa rightly pronounced, ‘Toronzo’s a great guitar player, excellent vocalist and an amazing personality.’ “

It’s been a week since my eyeball work got done, and I think the missus is getting tired of me pointing out things that I could never see before. Stop by the porch tomorrow and I’ll explain the benefits of depth perception.

Saturday Matinee – Mitch Woods, The Bruce Katz Band & Tas Cru

Born in Brooklyn in 1951, Mitch Woods began playing classical piano at eleven, but his real initiation into blues and boogie piano had already been assured at age eight. “My mom would hire this superintendent of the building, a black man, Mr. Brown, to take me to school, and we stopped off at his cousin’s house, where somebody was playing boogie-woogie piano. It really hit me.”

Mitch Woods (without his Rocket 88s) makes it look easy on the streets of New York.

The Bruce Katz Band features Bruce Katz on Hammond B3, Aaron Lieberman on guitar and drummer Liviu Pop (whose snare mic got disconnected in this song).

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Tas Cru is an eclectic, performing original songs that mix roots rock, blues and gospel. Good stuff.

Some interesting historical events transpired this week, and now we’re in the danger zone – a lot can happen between now and January 20.

Good news on the home front. I attended a laser show that lasted two minutes, cost me a few clams, and now my left eye can spot a red tail hawk before it spots me. The porch will be open for business tomorrow as usual, see you there.