Author: EKKARN

Old Man Luedecke – Proof of Love

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At the end of this post I wrote that people should check out the music of Old Man Luedecke. Well, this old man didn’t heed his own advice and it seems he missed out on a lot of great music between the time he wrote the following post in 2010bqnd 2026!

Old Man Ludeecke a Second Listen Pays Off

So a while back I wrote that I had listened to Old Man Luedecke’s 2008 release Proof of Love. While I liked that banjo playing and the vocals were ok, it wasn’t what I was looking for that day! Well, after hearing a few of his songs on shuffle and liking them, I gave the album another listen last week and now I think that awarding the 2009 Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) for Roots Solo Album to him was the right thing to do!!

From his website:

…., Proof of Love won the prestigious 2009 Juno Award (the Canadian Grammy) for Roots Solo album and won legions of new fans at home and abroad. The album is a gathering of musicians making music in a room (Vancouver’s famed Factory Studio) with Luedecke’s tunes. It’s nothing fancy but is an exciting and unique roots album combining OML’s trademark clawhammer style, compelling originals and full ballads.

About Old Man Luedecke and Proof of Love

Old Man Luedecke is the performing name of young man with an old soul Chris Luedecke, of Chester, Nova Scotia. There are a lot of great tracks on the album Proof of Love. duh. It won a Juno Award, Edward!

My favorites include the tracks, “Ain’t Goin’ My Way”, “Wake Up Hill” , “Big Group Breakfast”, and “Johnny Gone to Soldier” but like many albums everything is good in it’s own way!

So check out Old Man Luedecke

The Video

Here’s Old Man Luedecke perfprming “Thr Rear Guard”

What We Lost Ben Bedford – Let’s Go Into the Night

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What We Lost - Ben Bedford

So to enjoy most singer-songwriters you don’t need to be all that Culturally Literate, not so with Ben Bedford. With Bedford it’s always a good idea to have Google or Wikipedia  fired up so that you can find out more about the subject of many of his songs.

Take the song “Cahokia”  from his latest album What We Lost , when Ben sings…

Cahokia what secrets do you keep, your bones buried deep inside the hills,
Cahokia the river runs it course, Mississippi’s swollin force is never still.

I wasn’t quite sure what he was singing about the first time I heard the song,  but a search on Wikipedia revealed.

About the Cahokia Mounds

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site ( /kəˈhoʊkiə/) is located on the site of an ancient Native American city (c. 600–1400 CE) situated directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in Southern Illinois between East St. Louis and Collinsville….

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in the Mississippian culture which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the Southeastern United States, beginning more than 500 years before European contact.[4] Cahokia’s population at its peak in the 1200s was as large, or larger, than any European city of that time, and its ancient population would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until about the year 1800 Read More at Wikipedia

The American Portrait Songwriting of Ben Bedford

And so it goes, on the album Bedford presents songs about the poet Vachel Lindsay, blues legend Charley Patton and the 1973 standoff between members of The American Indian Movement and federal agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation. 

You see Bedford is a songwriter whose songs start with an idea for a story that he would like to tell, a literary approach influenced by two of his favorite authors, John Steinbeck and Toni Morrison.

“Usually it starts with something that I’m inspired by in some way. A person and their life in general, or a certain aspect of their life. I’ll have a line in my head and it will materialize and take off from there,” Bedford said. “The hardest thing about writing a song, for me anyway, is getting that first line. Once I get that first line it can start flowing out.”

Bedford refers to his style as American Portrait Songwriting. Over the course of three albums, the Springfield resident has addressed contemporary issues such as homelessness, but his work mainly focuses on historical subjects and figures — not surprising given that he was a history major in college. He has written songs about John the Baptist, poet and artist Vachel Lindsay, and aviator Amelia Earhart. More

Thoughts About Ben Bedford

What We Lost is Bedford’s third album and each one of them is outstanding! In 2010 Rich Warren of  the “Midnight Special” broadcast of WFMT-FM 98.7 listed Bedford on his most significant singer-songwriters of folk in the last 50 years! Being on this listen with one of his main influences Townes Van Zant must have been a thrill for Bedford!

So if you’ve never heard Ben Bedford’s music be sure to check him out, but remember to have  Google or  Wikipedia near by!!

The Video

Here’s the title track of the album “What We Lost” a song about his Grandfather.

Weekend Retreat – Tim O’Brien – The Hackensaw Boys

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Tim O'Brien - Rock in My Shoe

So this weekend I went back in time to revisit some of the earlier work of Tim O’Brien. O’Brien recently received a nomination by International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) as Male Vocalist of the Year for his latest album Chicken and Egg. Unfortunately he did not win the award. The winner was Russell Moore of IIrd Tyme Out.

Anyway the album that I listened to this weekend was Tim’s 1995 album Rock in My Shoe. The album was produced by Jerry Douglas. I listened to the first several tracks so that I could hear my favorite track on the album “One Girl Cried”. A great track about what music is all about, making music that moves someone. Here’s the great chorus:

And one girl cried to a melody that turned around her soul
One girl cried amazed at how the lyric took it’s toll
There beside a little table she thought she was safe alone
But the music hit it’s mark when one girl cried

Tim O'brien and Hot Rise So Long of a Journey

Revisiting Hot Rize – So Long of a Journey

After Rock in My Shoe I listened to was Hot Rize. Tim co-founded Hot Rize in 1978 with guitarist Charles Sawtelle, bassist Nick Forster, and banjo player Peter Wernick.

I listened to a live album that was originally recorded in 1996 and released in 2002, So Long of a Journey . There’s a lot of great picking on this album from a great group of musicians, obviously including the multi-instrumentalist O’Brien!

Hot Rize also started touring again in 2002 with Bryan Sutton taking the place of Charles Sawtelle. Charles unfortunately passed away in 1999 at the age of 52 from complications related to a bone marrow transplant in his fight against leukemia.

Anyway if you’ve never heard Tim OBrien’s music there’s about 16 solo albums that you can check out along with a bunch of Hot Rize albums! Oh, and if you only listen to one song listen to “One Girl Cried”

Next Revisit the Hackensaw Boys and Look Out

The second band that listened to this weekend was one that doesn’t come up much on the iPod so their music gets a little lost. The Hackensaw Boys I listened to their 2007 album Look Out

At first, The Hackensaw Boy’s CD Look Out sounds like standard issue bluegrass but it doesn’t take long to realize that these guys aren’t pining for the good ol’ days of yesteryear, but are instead diving head-first into the hear and now and crowd-surfing into the future. – Taprootradio.com

These guys play it fast and furious and good and I don’t know why I don’t listen to them more!! You check check out some of their music

Tim O’ Brien

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and the Hackensaw Boys!

Sierra Hull and Highway 111 on a “Twang Tuesday”

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sierra hull - secrets album

Originally published Nov 2010 Revised and Updated July 2026


So a while ago I wrote about the great young fiddler Amanda Shaw. When the post was on No Depression one of the comments was that maybe she could team with equally young Sierra Hull, who plays mandolin to form a wunderkid band!

So never having heard of Sierra Hull I visited her website and one of the first things that stood out were these quotes”

“Sierra Hull is without doubt my favorite mandolin player!” – Adam Steffey – pretty high praise from a great mandolin player!

“Every so often, a talent comes along that makes us sit up and take notice. That time is now for Sierra Hull.” -SAM BUSH – again some greater praise from a great picker!

Award Nominations for Sierra Hull

Then I see that Sierra and her band Highway 111 were nominated for two IBMA awards in 2010 first for Emerging Artist Of the Year – Sierra & Highway 111 and then *Mandolin Player Of the Year – Sierra!

Finally, I see that her latest album and first national release Secrets was co-produced by Ron Block,(who’s worked with Alison Kraus and plays on the album along with Barry Bales, Dennis Crouch, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Clay Hess, Rob Ickes, Chris Jones, Jason Moore, Tony Rice, Dan Tyminski, Jim VanCleve, and the remarkably hard-driving seventeen-year-old banjo phenom Cory Walker, who has already played alongside Sierra for several years.

My Thoughts

So needless to say I quickly downloaded the album and have been listening to it for the last week or so and it is a great album. Sierra voice reminds me of a young Alison Kraus. It’s never over powering and fits perfectly with the music, which as expected is very very good.

While I like the whole album the two tracks that do keep catching my attention are the two instrumental tracks “Smashville” and “Hullarious” both dynamite tracks!

So check out the phenom from Byrdstown Tennessee. Oh by the way this young woman who started playing mandolin at eight she just finished high school this year and will be going to Berklee College of Music next year on a full scholarship!

2026 Update

Since this post was written in 2010 Sierra Hull has released four additional albums

  • Daybreak – 2010
  • Weighted Mind (2015)
  • 25 Trips (2020)
  • A Tip Toe High Wire (2025)

In addition she has won numerous awards and honors.

Hull has won ten International Bluegrass Music Association awards between 2010 and 2023, including winning best mandolin player in 6 out of the past 8 years (2016-2023).[13]

Hull received the Bluegrass Star Award, presented by the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation, on October 19, 2013. The award is bestowed upon bluegrass artists who do an exemplary job of advancing traditional bluegrass music and bringing it to new audiences while preserving its character and heritage

The young woman has done really well – now if I had listened to my adivice I’d know those four albums listed abovr! Instead of needing to listen to them now!

Memories Monday – John Mayall – Chicago Line

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Chicago Line= John Mayall


So a few weeks ago as I was researching for a post about Walter Trout’s latest album Common Ground ,I discovered or rediscovered that Walter had played on John Mayall‘s 1988 release Chicago Line.

I say rediscovered because I probably knew in 1988 that Walter played on the album, but by the time I listened to Walter’s solo albums a few years ago, it was something I didn’t remember!

Anyway I went to the CD shelf and pulled out Chicago Line and listened to it. I haven’t listened to it for a while because it currently is not on the iPod. It was ripped a long time ago and now resides on one of the external hard drives that think it is a CD drive!

About Chicago Line

Chicago Line was an old time John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers type album like the albums when Eric Clapton and Peter Green were the guitarists. This time the lead guitar duties were shared by Coco Montoya and the aforementioned Walter Trout. Coco has the first lead guitar solo on the opening track “Chicago Line” a great number to open the album!

On the second track “Gimme One More Day” John shares guitar with Coco. On the third track “One Life to Live” about John’s experiences in the Korean War. Walter takes over lead guitar duty.  

On the cover of Jimmy Rogers’ “The Last Time” Coco takes the first solo and Walter the second. Track 5 “Dream About the Blues” Coco plays lead and Walter provides rhythm and harmonica. Walter takes the 1st solo on “Fascinating Lover” and Coco the 2nd. On one my favorite tracks “Cold Blooded Mama” Coco plays lead and Walter provides finger picking and rhythm guitars. On “The Dirty Dozens” they share guitar duties with Coco in the lead spot on the next track “Tears Came Rolling Down”.

The closing track is a Walter Trout tune “Life in the Jungle” (I used a video of Walter’s version of the song on the Common Ground post) which sounds a little different than Walter’s version!

My Thoughts

Overall it was a great listen to a really good Mayall album with the overall strength of the album coming from the guitars of Coco Montoya and Walter Trout! I must confess that I haven’t listened to much from John since his 2005 release Road Dogs. I see that his latest album Tough is his 57th album and his band is now composed of Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and Jay Davenport on drums. Guess I have to check it out! Oh, and by the way Chicago Line is now on the iPod! And while it doesn’t make any difference to you it does to me!

Here’s a Mayall performance of “One Life to Live” with Walter on lead and Coco playing rhythm and drinking! Filmed at Iowa State in 1987.

Common Ground- Walter Trout on a “Blues Wednesday”

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Common Ground Walter Trout

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Walter Looks for Common Ground

“If there’s a place where the truth can still be found, Lord, lead us to the common ground.” so sings one of my favorite blues artist Walter Trout on the title track of his new album Common Ground. Common Ground is Trout’s 20th album and only a few are in my collection, but those that are get listened to a lot!

From his website Trout says this about the song

“I am blown away by the polarization and cruelty in the world today,” Trout explains. “It goes beyond my understanding. I wrote the lyrics to that song as an attempt to come to terms with that, and as a wish that somehow — regardless of our faiths and nationalities and politics — we can find a place where truth and compassion can take us beyond our differences.”

Thoughts About Common Ground

Common Ground is another winner of an album by Trout full of great guitar licks and some great songwriting. To me it seems that there my be a little more acoustic guitar intros. Trout says this about making the album,:”I’d play each song for the guys on acoustic guitar, and then everybody would pitch in ideas and we’d cut the tracks while the excitement level was high,”

The guys in this case are band mates Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Elton John, etc.) on drums, Hutch Hutchinson on bass and pianist Jon Cleary (both of Bonnie Raitt’s band), and famed producer John Porter, whose credits span from Brit-pop legends the Smiths to John Lee Hooker and B.B. King to Santana. These are the same guys that played on Trout’s 2008 release The Outsider

Walter’s Influences.

In researching this piece I found this tidbit from Trout’s biography at his website, yet another guitarist influenced by Mike Bloomfield:

For Trout the journey began in 1965 when his brother brought the first album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band into his family’s New Jersey home. “On the back cover it said, ‘Play this album loud,’ so we cranked it up and we literally had to sit down and stay there with our jaws on the floor.”

The twin guitars of Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, and Butterfield’s juggernaut harmonica and voice, worked their magic. And the direction of Trout’s life was determined. Of course, it helped that his parents were musically informed; raising their kids on a diet of sounds that included Hank Williams, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, John Coltrane, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles and more.

Like I said this is one of Trout’s best albums and all the songs from the opening track “Maybe a Fool” to the closing track “Excess Bagge are good. I particularly liked “Hudson had Help” which is not you typically blues number!

What Others Say….

Blues Matter says this about the album: “Walter just keeps getting better….a CD full of master class guitaring, with the signature Trout, gritty impassioned vocal and composed of well structured songwriting. Another cracker!”

Final Thoughts!

So check it out! Oh, and another thing that I learned about Walter he played with John Mayall on several of John’s albums in the 1980s including one of my favorites Chicago Line and I thought that Coco Montoya was the lone guitarist on that album!! and another thing he was born in Ocean City, NJ!!!

The Video

Walter Trout performs” Common Ground” in Stanhope NJ in 2011

Blues Wednesday – James Cotton – Giant

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James Cottom Giant

So sometimes artist fall into that category of you know their name, you know they’re great and yet you’ve never listened to their music. An artist like that for me is the great James Cotton. I’ve known the name since the 60’s then the James Cotton Blues Band, but never really sought out his music only hearing it now and then on the radio’

So when I saw that the 75 year old Cotton had released a new album Giant a few weeks ago I said in my best Toyota Commercial Voice “Now is the Time!” and downloaded the album on to the player and after listening I had one of those “What was I thinking” moments! “Superharp” at 75 has made a great blues album! You can read the press release from Alligator News here

About James Cotton-Giant

Of the 12 tracks on Giant four are new Cotton originals and co-writes. The other tracks include songs made famous by Muddy Waters (with whom Cotton playeds for several years), B.B. King, Ivory Joe Hunter and others. Cotton has always had great bands throughout his career. On Giant his band mates are Slam Allen and Tom Holland who share guitar and vocal duties, Noel Neal on bass (except for one song where Ronnie James Weber plays bass) Kenny Neal, Jr is the drummer.

Throughout the album from the opening track “Buried Alive in the Blues” to the closing track “Blues for Koko” Cotton’s harp work is outstanding. On several of the tracks like, “How Blue Can You Get?” the guitar work also stands out!

So if you like blues harmonica, like I do, don’t put off listening to James Cotton, like I did. Check out Giant, well, because James Cotton is and at 75 he’s still blowing strong!

Thinking about not listening to James Cotton makes me think about the author and book I’m reading now Greg Iles’ True Evil. Iles is one of those authors that when I pick up one of his books and read it I end up saying “wow!” and thinking why don’t I read this author’s new books as soon as they come out!!

Anyway here’s “How Blue Can You Get?” featuring Slam Allen’s guitar work!

Twang Tuesday – John Cowan – The Massenburg Sessions

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John Cowan - The Massenburg Sessions

Originally Post September 2010 Revised and Updated July 2026

Ok so these last few months I’ve spent so much time looking for new musicians that I missed a new album by a favorite! Back in April, John Cowan released a new album The Massenberg Sessions. Originally Posted Swptember 2010 revised and Updated July 2026

About The Massenburg Sessions

For this album John worked with mastering engineer George Massenburg known for his work with folks like Little Feat, Dixie Chicks, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Newman and others. The album was recorded live in the studio. There was no overdubbing or editing, and the musicians didn’t even use headphones. There was no mixing and the sound on the album came from the placement of the microphones and the instruments in the studio! The result is a great album!!

The album opens with a jump blues classic that I know from B.B. King “Caledonia”! All the tracks are great in their own way, some highlights for me  include: “Black Blizzard” a song where  Cowan’s voice soars accompanied only by  Shad Cobb’s fiddle,  a  cover Paul and Linda McCartney’s ” Heart of the Country” (What that wasn’t a bluegrass song?).  The Del McCourey Band joins John for a cover of  Bill Monroe’s “Can’t You Hear Me Callin'”.

The Voice of John Cowan and Some Great Friends Help Out

I’ve said before that for me there a few voices as great as John Cowan’s!! I loved it when he sang with the New Grass Revival and also his own band !  It’s one of those things, yes, he could sing the phone book and I’d probably love it!!

Anyway thankfully, he has some great songs to work with and musically some help from friends including, Del McCoury, Reese Wynans and Maura O’Connell.

I usually don’t like gospel tracks but again anything John sings sounds great and the a cappella version of “Jesus Gave Me Water” is great. Maura O’Connell joins John on a Cajun, Celtic version of the traditional song “Lakes of the Ponchartrain”  The album ends with the beautiful Cowan and Jon Randall Stewart song  “Soiled Dove”.

Final Thoughts

The album features some good picking but the center of it all is Cowan’s voice and on this album it is at it’s best. I know that the album is going to stay around on the player for a long time. So if you don’t know John Cowan’s voice do your self a favor and listen to what may be Cowan’s best album yet!!

Hey, I’m listening to “Long Road Back to You” another great track! Did I cover every track yet?? No I missed this one “Carry On”!

The Voice

Here’s John performing “Jesus Gave Me Water”

Blues Wednesday – Hubert Sumlin

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About Them SHoes-Hubert Sumlin

Near the end of the day today I put on some Hubert Sumlin from his two albums from the 2000’s About Them Shoes and Heart and Soul and both of the albums have the later heart and soul! Sumlin played guitar for Howlin’ Wolf in the 60’s and is till going strong as a matter of fact he was the winner of The Blues Music Award for Best Tradition Artist of the Year!  You can check out his gallery here with pictures of Hubert with a boat load of stars! Ok so now I’m listening to The London Howlin’ Wolf  Sessions which I think I had on vinyl at one point but don’t know where it is now! Anyway I think I’m going to give that and some other Howlin’ Wolf music a listen tomorrow. Maybe even some Muddy Waters!

Here’s Hubert with one of my favorites “Killing Floor”

Albert Castigilia – Keepin On on a “Blues Wednesday”

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Albert Castigilia - KeePim' On

Originally posted Aug 2010 Revised July 2025

The one blues album that I listened to this was the soon to be released album by Albert Castiligia pronounced (“ka-STEEL-ya)” Keepin On.

This is how it happened

So, we’re at The College of William and Mary sweating and moving my daughter into her new dorm room on the third floor with no air conditioning and thankfully we’re done!

Yesterday was the trip down and tomorrow the trip back a little bit of music listening! The one blues album that I did listen to was the soon to be released album by Albert Castiligia pronounced (“ka-STEEL-ya)” Keepin’ On.

Discovering Albert Castiglia

I had never heard Albert Castigilia’s music until the other day when I turned on the Blues station on XM Radio and they were playing some tracks from an XM live performance and it sounded great. So I came home and listened to his release before his new albumThese are the Days and really liked it, particularly his cover of a favorite of song on mine “Loan Me a Dime”.

About Keepin On

From his website about the new album:

Most of his new CD release, Keepin On, was recorded live with very few overdubs. He enlisted five session musicians to help on the project, including harmonica master Sandy Mack, who played on “I Could Not Ask for More,” a Peter Green song. 

Mack had played on “Ghosts of Mississippi,” a track from Albert’s A Stones Throw album in 2006. According to Castiglia, “He kicked butt then and he picked up where left off on this session.

”Keepin On features five new original tunes, plus other covers of songs by John Lee Hooker, Mack Rice, T-Bone Walker, Robert Nighthawk and Bob Dylan

Castigilia met blues legend Junior Wells in 1996 and became his lead guitar player until Junior’s death in 1998. After Junior’s passing he toured with Sandy Hall and then started a solo career in 2002 with the release of his first CD Burn.

Since then he’s released  three other albums making his new album his fifth. His album These are the Days earned him a Blues Music Award nomination for “Song of the Year” for his original, “Bad Year Blues.” 

Castiglia was nominated again by the Illinois Blues Blast Awards and this time walked away a winner for “Song of the Year” for “Bad Year Blues,” as well as being nominated for the “Sean Costello Rising Star Award.”

I enjoyed Castiglia’s vocals and guitar work throughout the album. Standout tracks include the opening track “Cadillac Assembly Line, the title track “Keep On, Keepin’ On” and the closing track “Closing Time”.  But there’s good work on every track. This CD will be on the player with a while along with These Are the Days when I get home!

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The Video

Here’s “Cadillac Assembly Line” from Keepin’ On by Albert Castigialia