John Primer & Bob Corritore — “Crawlin’ Kingsnake” — VizzTone Records If you’re a true-blues fan, there’s nothing quite like a dose of old-school blues to satisfy your soul. “Crawlin’ Kingsnake,” the fourth and latest collaboration between harp-master and album-producer extraordinaire Bob Corritore and veteran guitar-slinger/singer John Primer, is so old school that you can smell the eraser dust in the 12 vintage tracks on this outstanding collection of Chicago-style blues. Primer and Corritore get stellar help from sidemen Bob Stroger on bass, Jimi “Primetime” Smith on second guitar, Ant ..read more

Various Nola Blue artists — “Breakin’ News – 10 Years of Blues” — Nola Blue Records Blues music has been around for a long time — it’s been nourishing souls for well over a century. Nola Blue Records has been around for just ten years by comparison, but founder/president Sallie Bengston has already found plenty of great blues to keep that nourishment flowing from her Pennsylvania headquarters. In celebration of those first ten years, Nola Blue has released a compilation of some of the label’s finest tracks, designed to provide, in Bengston’s words, a “soulful selection of milestones from the ..read more

Various Artists — “The Blind Raccoon and Nola Blue Collection Vol. 6” — Blue Heart Records For the past several years, the music-loving folks at Blind Raccoon and Blue Heart / Nola Blue record labels have been releasing annual collections of music from some of the excellent new and veteran artists they represent. These collections have all been filled with exciting music from a talented array of performers. Now it’s time for another smartly curated compilation of 15 performances from this constantly expanding talent base of independent and label artists – “The Blind Raccoon and Nola Blue Coll ..read more

If you’re interested in how the Grammys deal with blues music, here are this year’s winners in the two categories (out of 94) that Grammy gives to America’s classical music. It’s the music that Willie Dixon would describe by saying, “The blues is the roots, everything else is the fruits.” I like that Bobby Rush won in the traditional category; he deserves the award for both his impressively long career and this fine album. Larkin Poe is a winner for their stylish approach to a classic genre. And just FYI, these winners are available before the awards show begins tonight, because they couldn’t ..read more

The 45th Blues Music Awards will be announced May 9, 2024, at the Renasant Convention Center in Memphis. And the nominees are …. Acoustic Album Wild Ox Moan, Catfish Keith Raw Blues 1, Doug MacLeod Sticks & Strings, EG Kight Ridin’ the Blinds, Hudspeth & Taylor Ghost Hymns, William Lee Ellis Acoustic Artist Catfish Keith Doug MacLeod Eric Bibb Keb’ Mo’ Kevin Burt Album of the Year TEARDROPS FROM MAGIC SLIM, John Primer Live In London, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram SoulFunkn’BLUES, Blackburn Brothers Soul Side of Sipp, Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman) Get Your Back Into It!, Nick ..read more

As the year ends, and I look back at what I’ve written for 2023, it occurs to me that there were albums or artists I did not write about. So here are a few thoughts about some of that music that I missed, or overlooked, or ran out of time to accomplish in the past year, but still enjoyed. So, in no particular order, which may or may not be attributed to the off-center windmills of my mind, here they are. Apologies to those I might have overlooked. It’s hard to find good help, especially when you work alone. Also, happy new year. Peace, love and blues in 2024. “Hackney Diamonds” (Polydor) — Yes ..read more

It’s time once again — just days past the winter solstice — for the Roadhouse gang (mostly me) to pause and wish everyone a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or a good day, or even week, of your choice, whatever that may be. That means I get to share my favorite Christmas song, which features special animation just for this occasion. And I also get to offer some holiday libation advice. I always recommend leaving a little something out for Santa. I find that milk and cookies do little to lift the holiday spirits, so I heartily recommend some bourbon and brownies. And I also recommend not leav ..read more

Bob Corritore & Friends — “Phoenix Blues Rumble” — VizzTone Records Bob Corritore, the master of blues harp and keeper of his blues-filled vault, is at it again. He’s brought still more fine Chicago-style blues from his vaults for our listening pleasure. This time though, he’s focused on the massive blues talent from his adopted home of Phoenix, Ariz. Corritore moved from Chicago to Phoenix in 1981, and began to make music with local bluesmen such as Tommy Dukes, Chief Schabuttie Gilliame, Big Pete Pearson and Dino Spells. He later persuaded Chico Chism  ..read more

Albert Castiglia & Mike Zito — “Blood Brothers Live in Canada” — Gulf Coast Records Albert Castiglia and Mike Zito separately are two of the best blues-rockers around these days. Put them together in an album, and you have the excellent “Blood Brothers” studio effort from last March. Put them together on stage and create a live album, and you’ve added the ingredients for this special high-energy session. “Blood Brothers Live in Canada” takes 10 of the 11 songs from the Blood Brothers album and adds two more, and when you add them all up, it’s an exciting live show, doubling down on t ..read more

Jason Ricci — “Behind the Veil” — Gulf Coast Records Jason Ricci is simply one the best harp players on today’s music scene. His latest, and very fine album recorded with his band, the Bad Kind, is “Behind the Veil,” and it provides ample evidence of Ricci’s prowess in both its musical excellence and its heady eclecticism. This edition of the Bad Kind includes Brent Johnson, who replaces John Lisi on guitar, Jack Joshua on bass and vocals, and drummer John Perkins. Singer (and Ricci’s wife) Kaitlin Dibble wrote two of the songs, handles a couple of vocals, as well as backing vocals. Joe Krown ..read more