But we have to say, we certainly liked what we heard from the Ghost Hounds before the break in the action, with a nice mix of songs from past albums (including the rocking “Bad News” and their cover of Cliff Richards’ “Devil Woman” off and the catchy, soulful, part-responsibility-owning cooker “Half My Fault” off ), their latest album, the recently released blues-focused (the driving “Baby We’re Through”), and even an upcoming album, which, from this preview, sounds like the band will be very much carrying forward the momentum they’ve started to build on other recent projects. This was our fir ..read more

The EP starts with a 9+ minute, western-tinged “Broken Man” that stretches from such quiet touches as the soft staccato piano notes from Matt’s father Paul Long after the first chorus and Kev Hickman’s percussion slaps a bit later to Matt’s powerful, building vocals and guitar heard throughout the song. , which finds the band offering acoustic takes on four of its own songs along with a beautifully intense cover of Elton John’s “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” that proves that singer and guitarist Matt Long is just as talented on the tender songs as on the rockers for which the band is so ..read more

Founding member and guitarist Dennis Greaves discovered the 1/4 inch tape of the recording during an inventory of his loft earlier this year, and then passed it to UK producer/engineer and drummer Wayne Proctor to master. And, boy, are we glad he did! The result is a crisp, delightful listen to a band on the verge of hitting it big, with the quartet both changing its name to Nine Below Zero and signing with A&M Records within the six months after this session. ), this next release is from a band that’s been around for quite a few decades now, having opened for the likes of The Who, Er ..read more

We weren’t able to take in quite as much of the recent two-night at Pittsburgh’s Highmark Stadium as we had hoped, but the bit we did catch was certainly impressive, thanks to the likes of Fantastic Negrito, Shemekia Copeland, Ruthie Foster, and Walter “Wolfman” Washington and their bands ..read more

While no one will ever truly replace Finnigan in either our ears or mind, veteran keyboard player . Being that we’re still slowly getting back into the swing of things ourselves after the pandemic, we were delighted to hear that the Phantom Blues Band was dishing out another new album this summer, especially after the unfortunate passing of the band’s organist and vocalist (Robert Cray, Etta James) fills in better than anyone else ever could on the remainder of the album, sounding very much like he’s been playing with the band for years ..read more