Five New Albums to Add to My Music Library from Tunes Used CD Store
Yesterday in the post re-introducing Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries I wrote that previously I had found a lot of music at Tunes in Marlton, NJ.That action reminded me that I still had a $15.00 Gift Card to Tunes that my son Peter had given me about a year ago.
So…. after finishing the post and no Eagles game to watch I decided to make a trip to Tunes. I really haven’t been to Tunes much since my kids have grown and online music sources like Rhapsody and Spotify have come into existence. It’s really a lot easier to check out new music from the comfort of your own house.
The trip today though reconfirmed that I really enjoy scouring the bins looking for those special bargains on great music. Sometimes the bargains are albums from musicians you know. Other times you may find an album from someone you have never heard. However, because the price is so low you can take a chance on the album.
The albums that I found yesterday are all from musicians that I am familiar. Some of the albums I have even written about on this blog. Anyway, here are the five albums that I bought with my $15.00!!
The Five Albums
Two of the albums that I found at Tunes yesterday I have previously listened to and enjoyed. However, I listened to them on Spotify, and I don’t have the physical CD. So it’s great to have them…..They are
Hot Rize – When I’m Free
Released in 2014, When I’m Free was Hot Rize’s first studio album in 24 years.
When I started to listen to a lot of music and collecting CDs, thanks to the used CD bins at Tunes in Marlton, in the early 2000s, I found the music of Tim O’Brien, an amazing multi-instrumentalist and singer. I also discovered the music of guitarist Charles Sawtelle. It took a while before I stumbled upon a great bluegrass album So Long a Journey (2002) from the band Hot Rize. I discovered that both O’Brien and Sawtelle were members of the band, along with Pete Wernick, and Nick Forster.
Subsequently, I discovered that the album was a live album that had been recorded in 1996 and was a reunion album of the band, that had retired in 1990. In 1990, the members had parted ways and went on to have distinguished solo careers Conitnue Reading
The Lonely Heartstring Band – Deep Waters
From My Previous Post
Among the albums that were released this Friday was Deep Waters the debut release on Rounder Records from the Boston-based band The Lonely Heartstring Band. Ken Irwin, a founder of Rounder Records, said
“The Lonely Heartstring Band is not only one of the most exciting bands musically we’ve heard in a while, but they combine artistry with a great attitude and commitment that makes them irresistible. Plus, they’ve just made an amazing record”
After listening to the album yesterday and today, I totally agree Deep Waters is a great album and these 2015 IBMA Momentum Award winners can flat-out bring it. Great pickin’ and singin’! Four out the five members of the band met as students at the Berklee College of Music, which says volumes about their respective musical abilities in my eyes and ears. The band was founded in 2012 by Charles Clements (bass & vocals), George Clements (guitar & lead vocals), Gabe Hirshfeld (banjo), Patrick M’Gonigle (fiddle, vocals), and Matt Witler (mandolin). Since its founding the band has built a devoted following playing and headlining at major music festivals and historic venues from Western Canada to California, from Kentucky to New Hampshire. – Read More
The other three albums are all jazz albums.
Miles Davis – Birth of Cool
I wore out Miles’s Bitches Brew when it was in college. Since then I have listened to and enjoyed a lot of his other albums. However, Birth of Cool was not in my music library until now!
From: AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
So dubbed because these three sessions — two from early 1949, one from March 1950 — are where the sound known as cool jazz essentially formed, Birth of the Cool remains one of the defining, pivotal moments in jazz. This is where the elasticity of bop was married with skillful, big-band arrangements and a relaxed, subdued mood that made it all seem easy, even at its most intricate. After all, there’s a reason why this music was called cool; it has a hip, detached elegance, never getting too hot, even as the rhythms skip and jump. Indeed, the most remarkable thing about these sessions — arranged by Gil Evans and featuring such heavy-hitters as Kai Winding, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, and Max Roach — is that they sound intimate, as the nonet never pushes too hard, never sounds like the work of nine musicians.
Furthermore, the group keeps things short and concise (probably the result of the running time of singles, but the results are the same), which keeps the focus on the tones and tunes. The virtuosity led to relaxing, stylish mood music as the end result — the very thing that came to define West Coast or “cool” jazz — but this music is so inventive, it remains alluring even after its influence has been thoroughly absorbed into the mainstream Read More at AllMusic
Here is a past post about Lee Konitz who played on Birth of Cool
Bud Powell – The Best of Bud Powell – The Blue Note Years
This album contains fifteen tracks from the following albums recorded on the Blue Note label. The tracks were recorded and released between 1957 and 1958. The critic’s rating on all of the individual albums are either 4 or 4.5 stars out of five! So, I think that I am going to enjoy this collection!
1957–58: Bud Plays Bird (Roulette / Blue Note) 1958: Time Waits: The Amazing Bud Powell (Vol. 4) (Blue Note) 1958: The Scene Changes: The Amazing Bud Powell (Blue Note)
Powell’s band mates on the various tracks include:
Fats Navaro, trumpet, Sonny Rollins, tenor sax, Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones, drums!
Yes, I think that I will really like this CD!! Here is a link to short post I wrote about Bud on his birthday!
The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughin- The Inner Mounting Flame
Columbia released The Inner Mounting Flame in 1971. I know I listened to it way back when, but somehow it never made it into my music library. Thank you Tunes and Peter for taking care of tha
From the AllMusic Review by Richard S. Ginel This is the album that made John McLaughlin a semi-household name, a furious, high-energy, yet rigorously conceived meeting of virtuosos that, for all intents and purposes, defined the fusion of jazz and rock a year after Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew breakthrough. It also inadvertently led to the derogatory connotation of the word fusion, for it paved the way for an army of imitators, many of whose excesses and commercial panderings devalued the entire movement.
Though much was made of the influence of jazz-influenced improvisation in the Mahavishnu band, it is the rock element that predominates, stemming directly from the electronic innovations of Jimi Hendrix. The improvisations, particularly McLaughlin’s post-Hendrix machine-gun assaults on double-necked electric guitar and Jerry Goodman’s flights on electric violin, owe more to the freakouts that had been circulating in progressive rock circles than to jazz, based as they often are on ostinatos on one chord. Read More
The Inner Mounting Flame is one of the 1,000 recordings in the book,1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. (Note: My son Andrew gave me this book fpr Father’s Day.. You think he was trying to tell me something?)Just joking! Anyway the next time I listen to the album I guess I’ll only have 999 to go! Of course I actually have less because I know I have herd many of the albums already!!
At the end of each article there is a box that lists various information about the album. The information listed includes: the genre of the album, its release date, along with key tracks and a catalog choice track.The final two fields are the Next Stop and After That. After The Inner Mounting Flame the next stop is King Crimson’s Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. After That –Tortoise’sTNT. I know I have heard the King Crimson album, but I don’t know Tortoise’s TNT. So I’m off to find it!
So overall, I think I got a pretty good haul for my $15.00. Actually, I have to confess that the total bill came to $17.08. Which is still almost equal to the price of one CD! So by for now I have some listening and ripping to do!!
Six String Stories – Joanna Connor – The Best Blues of 2016?
A couple of weeks ago, I spotted an album titled Six String Stories on the Roots Music Report Blues Chart. The artist was Joanna Connor. Since the title of the album was interesting and I had never heard of Ms. Connor, I went to Spotify and gave it a quick listen. Wow! It sounded great! But then my ADD kicked in and I was soon off listening to other albums and Six String Storieswas set aside.
Somehow at the end of last week the album caught my attention again and I went back to Spotify and listened to it again. Boy am I glad I did! Ms. Connor is one hell of a slide guitarist! She may even give my favorite slide guitarist Dave Hole a run for his money!
How Have I Missed Joanna Connor?
So why have I never heard of Ms. Connor? Well, it seems that her career started out way back in 1989 with the release of her debut album Believe It released on Blind Pig Records. Eight more albums followed over the next ten years. After the release of The Joanna Connor Bandin 2002, decided to take a break from recording ad touring to raise her daughter. She has continued to play live locally in her adopted home Chicago.
The reason I have never heard of Ms.Connor may be that she began he career during MY period of child rearing. In 1989 Sharon, Lois and Bram and Raffi spent more time on my turntable than blues! Additionally, she hasn’t released any albums during the time, when I rediscovered the blues, and started exploring new artists more fully. So now back to Six String Stories!
About Six String Stories
One of the things that I really liked about Six String Storieswas the variety in Joanna;s music.Joanna’s fiery slide blues licks are mixed in among some soul, gospel and funk! Of the ten tracks on the album Joanna co-wrote eight of them with Marion Lance Lewis, a multi-instrumentalist and mainstay of her live band.
In his review in Elmore magazine Jim Hynes writes….
….Connor sings like she wields her axe, fiercely with a “take no prisoners” approach. The opener, “It’s a Woman’s Way” and “By Your Side” feature her trademark slide. She takes the slow blues route on “We Stayed Together,” trading some verses with Lewis. She treats Jill Scott’s “Golden” with the right jazz-soul feel as it morphs into funk over her spoken part. The bayou-inspired “Swamp Swim” shows the improvisational side of her playing especially when offset by the guitar heavy “Halsted Street.” The centerpiece of the album is “Heaven” which brings in the gospel with horns and the Lewis Family Singers.. Connor says, “I wrote that as more of a political song with West African feel, but Lance gave it more of a gospel sound. His brothers are pastors and have churches so they brought that kind of feel to it.” The much covered “Sky is Crying’ sounds like a completely different tune here Read More
Bottom – Line
Six String Stories may be my favorite blues album of the year! It has everything I love in an album, Fantastic guitar playing coupled with well-written and sung songs. A couple of great covers are also thrown in the mix. .My favorite tracks so far are “It’s a Woman’s Way” and “By Your Side” and the two instrumentals “Swamp Swim” and “Halsted Street”. So Check it Out! And as per usual I have a lot of back-catalog music to explore!!
Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of Joanna Connor
Thoughts about 70s Music lead me to – Pearl Before Swine
I was thinking about music in the late 60s and early 70s this morning My thoughts quickly turned to one of my favorite bands, Pearls Before Swine and the album The Use of Ashes. During those years the underground music scene was exploding. Typically AM commercial radio stations played pop music that was singles oriented. Underground music was album oriented and the tracks played were usually much more complex and longer.
As the popularity of underground music grew several Philadelphia radio stations adopted the underground music format. Both WDAS and WMMR made the switch.To me the beauty of the format was the ability of the DJ to play just about anything HE wanted to play. WIBG’s DJ Hy Lit led the transition on WDAS and Dave Herman and his Marconi Experiment paved the way at WMMR.
This morning I read in the article on Underground Music at Wikipedia that Frank Zappa said this about the music….“mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the underground.”
Anyway new bands seemed to appear every day. Bands came together then split and reformed new bands and it was great.
Pearl Before Swine – The Use of Ashes
Pearls Before Swine founder Tom Rapp
Pearls Before Swine was one of my favorite bands from that era. The band probably received more praise by critics, than commercial success. Again from Wikipedia……
Pearls Before Swine was an American psychedelic folk band formed by Tom Rapp in 1965 in Eau Gallie, now part of Melbourne, Florida. They released six albums between 1967 and 1971, before Rapp launched a solo career…..
My first and favorite Pearls Before Swine album was their 1970 release The Use of Ashes. From Wikipedia….
……The band signed for Reprise Records in 1969, although by this time the other original members had left and the band name now referred to Rapp and whichever musicians he was recording or touring with, one of whom, Jim Fairs, was previously a member of The Cryan’ Shames. The five albums on Reprise were generally more conventional in sound, but contained a unique blend of humanistic and mystical songs, with some whimsical touches. Some were recorded in New York and others – particularly The Use of Ashes and City of Gold – in Nashville with top session musicians including Charlie McCoy, Kenny Buttrey, and other members of Area Code 615.
Wow, one of the things that I had forgotten about the album was the session musicians that played on it. Charlie, Kenny and Area Code 615 were favorites!
One thing that I think many would argue with is that Tom Rapp did not have a commercial music voice. It was quirky and lispish, but for me the musical composition and lyrics of their music more than made up for Rapp’s voice.
Favorite Songs from The Use of Ashes
My two favorite tracks on The Use of Ashes have always been, “The Jeweler” and “Rocket Man” Each of the songs create images for me, that are not soon forgotten. Hey they’ve stayed with me for over 50 years!! Through the years every time I heard Elton John’s “Rocket Man” I would think about Pearl Before Swine.
\ From Wikipedia…..
“Rocket Man ….written the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon – was credited by Bernie Taupin with inspiring his hit song with Elton John of the same title. Quote : “We didn’t steal that one from Bowie, we stole it from another guy, called Tom Rapp…”.
Listening to The Use of Ashesthis morningreminded how much I like tPearls Before Swine! So Check Them Out!
P.S. My son Andrew has been a big fan of progressive rock bands. Several years ago he told me I should give the genre a listen. I did and discovered that I did like the genre. I also discussed that I had been listening to Prog from many years. Many of the bands that I listened to like Jethro Tull and King Crimson were the founders of progressive rock. Surprisingly Pearls Before Swine also falls into the Progressive Rock genre. Their music is considered Prog Folk!
Origianlly Posted January 2016 – Revised and Updated May 2026
King King’s Blues and Dave Gunning’s Folk Provide the Soundtracks for my Commute to Paulsboro
Back in 2016, I was still mostly writing straight music reviews. Looking back now, I realize these albums became attached to moments in life just as much as the music itself. These songs weren’t just albums playing in the car — they became part of my drives to Paulsboro to babysit Oliver, part of that season of life, and part of the soundtrack to becoming Grandad.
Some music pushes you forward. Some music helps you slow down and reflect.
On this particular day back in 2016, King King provided the energy for the morning drive to Paulsboro, while Dave Gunning supplied the calm for the trip home.
It seems that lately a good portion of the music I listened to is heard on my commutes to Paulsboro to babysit Oliver. Now as best as I can remember Wednesday soundtracks were a blues album Reaching for the Light from the Scottish blues band King King and the afternoon on the afternoon trip a folk album from Canadian folksinger Dave Gunning. The album was Lift his 11th album.
First Up King King – for the drive to Paulsboro
I first listen to King King in 2014 when they released the album Standing in the Shadows. It was a great album and at the 2014 British Blues Awards the band won five awards including the awards for ‘Best Album’ and ‘Best Band”
King King hails from Glasgow and is composed of leader, vocalist and guitarist Alan Nimmo,Lindsay Coulson on bass, Wayne Proctor drums and Bob Fridzema on keyboards.Nimmo says this about Reaching for the Light …
“We’re really proud of this album,” ….”It’s faster, louder, more energetic and more exciting. It’s got the potential to blow the roof off.”….
….”We couldn’t settle with another album that was only as good as Standing In The Shadows,” says Alan. “We’d have got crucified for it. We’ve made a rod for our backs, because now we need something a few steps above. We’re always trying to improve – and I think we’ve managed it.”
Ross Muir of Fabrications HQ thinks so too….
….Because Reaching For the Light is the best blues rock album you’ll hear this year – and one of the best of the modern blues rock era..
Here’s King King with “You Stopped the Rain” from Reaching For the Light
Dave Gunning- Lift Fuels the Trip Home
On the way back from Paulsboro I listened to Lift the new album from Canadian singer-songwriter Dave Gunning. Like King King, I first listened to Gunning’s music a few years ago, In Gunning’s case it was his 2012 album No More Pennies. Dave’s music fits in that niche of folksinger’s who write great story songs. Guys like fellow Canadians James Keelaghan and Gordon Lightfoot….from the Toronto Star…
Gunning is the next big thing in the True North of Song, an artist as compelling, as assured and attentive to every nuance of the writing process, as Lightfoot, Cockburn and Stan Rogers before him.”
From FYImusic,ca Dave Gunning’s Career Gets A ‘Lift’
The recording career of rootsy East Coast singer/songwriter Dave Gunning now spans 20 years and 10 earlier albums. These have netted him a total of two Canadian Folk Music Awards and eight East Coast Music Awards, plus a 2012 Juno Award nomination for his acclaimed album … a tribute to John Allan Cameron. He was the winner of the Indie International Song Contest (for his song, “Hard Workin’ Hands,” co-written with Ron Hynes) and has been a finalist in other major international songwriting contests.
Expect more awards on the Gunning trophy shelf for his brand new 11th album, Lift. Released on his own imprint Wee House of Music on July 10th, this highly accomplished and eclectic collection is sure to please his still-growing audience at home and abroad. All 13 tunes are Gunning originals, though he has recruited a heady cast of talented friends/peers to assist on co-writes. That list includes fellow East Coasters Matt Andersen, Catherine MacLellan, and Thom Swift, plus American Sally Spring. Full Article
Dave writes this about Lift .……
Gunning acknowledges that “this album has more personal and introspective songs than my past recordings. I do still love songs that are about things and tell a real story, like the songs of Stan Rogers. They inspire me.”
A fine example of that here is “I Robbed The Co. Store,” which tells the true story of a group of British settlers in Nova Scotia in the 1770s forced to steal from a storehouse reserved for troops just so they could feed their families. A more contemporary song with a Pictou County setting is “They Don’t Do That No More.” “That one is inspired by the fight we have here against a pulp mill that is just an environmental disaster,” explains Gunning. The mournful sound of the pedal steel punctuates his lament that “there’s poison on the harbour floor.” It’s a song one of Dave’s key inspirations, the late folk great Pete Seeger, would have been proud to call his own. Read More
Here’s Dave performing “Sing It Louder” from Lift– Dave says this about the song….
“Sing It Louder,” is actually a tribute to Seeger. “My goal was to write a song you could imagine him singing,” says Gunning. “As folk singers we should all aspire to carry the torch of Pete Seeger and his message of social justice.”
Ten years later, I can barely think about these albums without remembering those drives across South Jersey — morning traffic heading toward Paulsboro with blues blasting through the speakers, then quieter folk music carrying me home after a day with Oliver. That’s how music works for me now. Albums become timestamps for life.
Sonny Terry – Blues Harp – Born October 24, 1911 Greensboro, Georgia
Among the many instruments that I love is the harmonica or more specifically the blues harp, and there are few who play that instrument better than Sonny Terry from Blues Harp…..
The joyous whoop that Sonny Terry naturally emitted between raucous harp blasts was as distinctive a signature sound as can possibly be imagined. Only a handful of blues harmonicists wielded as much of a lasting influence on the genre as did the sightless Terry (Buster Brown, for one, copied the whoop and all), who recorded some fine urban blues as a bandleader in addition to serving as guitarist Brownie McGhee‘s longtime duet partner.(From Blues Harp)
Today (October 24th) we can remember that joyous whoop and celebrate the 104th birthday of acoustic blues musicians Sonny Terry. Sonny was born in Greensboro, North Carolina and started his blues career playing in the trio of Blind Boy Fuller. He played with Fuller until Fuller’s death in 1941. After Fuller died Terry began playing with Brownie McGhee and as they say the rest is folk history!!
Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry (24 October 1911 – 11 March 1986[2]) was a blind American Piedmont blues musician.[1] He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.
Terry died from natural causes at Mineola, New York, in March 1986, the year he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (Wikipedia)
IThe Best of Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry is in my music library and the memory lingers of driving down the Blue Ridge Parkway singing along to songs from Brownie and Terry like “Walk On”, “Down by the Riverside”, “Blues from the Lowland” and “Blowin’ The Fuses” ! Boy, what a great blues harp player!
So Happy Birthday Sonny- Hope you and Brownie have a nice day!!
So the other day I decided to visit an album that I haven’t listened to in a long while,Jazz Blues Fusion from John Mayall. The album is a live album. The first side is from a concert in Boston on 18 November 1971, and the second side was selected from two concerts at Hunter College, New York, on 3 and 4 December 1971.
John released two albums with this jazz fusion bent. On the albums he brought jazz musicians into his band. On this album the musicians were Freddy Robinson on guitar, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Ron Selico on drums and Clifford Soloman on tenor and alto saxophones. Larry Taylor long-time member of the band provided bass.
I wore this album out in college and throughout the years that followed. Listening to the album brought back a lot of memories, including seeing John perform at the University of Florida in 1973.
Anyway I loved listening to it the other day and I thought that a Saturday morning is a good time for a little “Good Time Boogie”…. I love Freddy Robinson’s guitar!!
If You’d like to dive a little deeper here’s the compete Jazz Blues Fusionl
Originally Posted October 2014 Revised and Updated June 2026
With the IQ test over and having done better than my wife anticipated, I now have my eyes set on my first 5K of the year, this Saturday in Delanco. Tonight was my second-to-last workout before the race, and it turned out to be my best run of the late summer early fall!
I tried to run short pickups throughout the run and a couple of times my pace dropped below 9 minutes per mile and was under 10 minute per mile pace through most of the run. I pushed it through the first 3.1 miles of the run and then backed off.
I was able to pick it back up though for a decent push at the end. Overall the time was 39:32 over 4.03 miles for a final pace of 9:48. which I am happy with!
The Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the run was Bona Fide, the latest release from Chris Thomas King who is somewhere today celebrating his 49th birthday (according to his website and 50th according to AllMusic)!
Who is Chris Thomas King?
King was born on October 14, 1964, in Baton Rouge. His father, Tabby Thomas, is a locally prominent bluesman who owned a club called Tabby’s Blues Box, which opened in 1979 and closed in 2004 following Tabby’s retirement.
As a result, King, started early toward his musical future; even as a youngster he was well known as Rockin’ Tabby’s son and a child genius. While frequenting his father’s club he performed with the late Silas Hogan, Guitar Kelly and Clarence Edwards, three masters of swamp blues.
By sixth grade, King was learning to play the trumpet and later traveling as a rhythm guitar player of famous musicians like Lowell Folsom and Joe Tex. As he matured in the musical setting of New Orleans area blues culture, King was encouraged to experiment and develop his own style. Because each blues musician had a unique playing and singing style, he was discouraged from singing others’ songs or even playing the way they did.
He told Lisa Simeone on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, “They would never sit me down and say, ‘Well, this is how it goes.’ They … told me don’t sing their songs … ‘Find your own song and sing that.'” Full Biography
About Bona Fide
After listening to Bona Fide, I wondered why I never heard of him (uh, because you never hear of anyone??) Ok here’s one reason. He came on the blues scene according to Wikipedia in the late 80s and early 90s, when I was busy raising four children!! From Wikipedia:
King is known as the pioneer of rap/blues fusion.[1] He conceived the first sample-based blues concept album in the early 1990s by writing and producing the first all-rap/blues album for RCA Records titled 21st Century Blues… From Da Hood.Read More
AHA! He Spent Many Years in Europe!
From his website, I discovered that he spent many years in the more liberal confines of Europe!!:
Like Miles Davis and Bob Dylan before him, Chris Thomas King was originally celebrated as the young savior of an aging musical culture when he first arrived on the national scene. Branded as a rebel King was banned form blues festivals across the United States.
He fled to Denmark to cool his heels in the more liberal environment that flourished in Europe. While in Denmark he recorded and released the critically acclaimed hip-hop blues album “21st Century Blues from da hood.”
The French embraced him as a major artist with vision and the rest of Europe followed. He toured with his Danish band extensively across Europe playing major festivals and theaters but longed to return to New Orleans.
Upon returning to the United States in 1995, he started his own independent production company and record label, 21st Century Blues. Soon after he found success as a film composer and actor. Winning three Grammy Awards by 2003 and several Country music CMA awards. Full Biography
I Saw Home in Movies! Who Knew?
While I may not have known his name, I did see him and hear him in the movies Ray, where he played bandleader and blues guitarist Lowell Fulson, and in O Brother, Where Art Thou? where he “portrayed a skilled blues guitarist who claims he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his skill on guitar.
The character is based on blues musicians Tommy Johnson and Robert Johnson, both of whom have been linked to selling their soul to the devil at a rural Mississippi crossroads!” (From Wikipedia) But now that I know the name and love the album Bona Fide,
Final Thoughts and The Video
I will be checking out the rest of his discography – maybe I’ll even check out the music that got him branded a rebel and sent him to Europe to ply his trade!!!
Here’s the closing track from Bona Fide, “Goodbye Chicago” I say, “Hello Chris Thomas King and Happy Birthday!!”
Post Update and Confession:
I never did get around to exploring the ten albums Mr. King released prior to Bona Fide or the four he released after. However, I did listen to his most recent release 2023’s Big Gray Sky and loved it. I’ll give you my thoughts soon!
Son Seals – Blues Born Frank Seals in Osceola, Arkansas. (August 14, 1942 – December 20, 2004)
Exploring the Music of Son Seals on his Birthday….
On this date in 1942 blues guitarist and singer Frank “Son” Seals in Osceola, Arkansas. I must say that I have never been a big fan of Son Seals I have one Seals album on cassette Live and Burnin‘ and have enjoyed it whenever I play it. A birthday is always a good tine to learn more about a musician and listen to their music.
What I learn about Son Seals today..…
His father Jim “Son” Seals owned a small juke joint in Osceola, where Son began his professional music career as a drummer with Robert Nighhawk at the ripe old age of 13! Later he switched to guitar and by 16 he was performing at the local upper echelon club T-99 beside “Little Walter” (Seals’ brother-in-law). At the T-99, he also shared the stage with the likes of Albert King, Rufus Thomas, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, and Rosco Gordon. From Wikipedia:
In 1971, Seals moved to Chicago. His career took off after he was discovered by Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records at the ‘Flamingo Club’ in Chicago’s South Side.
His debut album, The Son Seals Blues Band, was released in 1973. The album included “Your Love Is Like a Cancer” and “Hot Sauce”. Seals followed up with 1976’s Midnight Son and 1978’s Live and Burning. He continued releasing albums throughout the next two decades, all but one on Alligator Records. These included Chicago Fire (1980), Bad Axe (1984),Living in the Danger Zone (1991), Nothing But the Truth and Live-Spontaneous Combustion (1996). He received the W.C. Handy Award in 1985, 1987, and 2001. Read more
Live-Spontaneous Combustion
The album that I listened to was Seals 1996 release – Live-Spontaneous Combustion, which was recorded at Buddy Guys Legends club. For me live albums from blues artist tend to be really good, at live shows they tend to stretch songs out more, especially guitarist.
Their solos tend to be more explosive and for me that’s the case on this album…. I like it a lot and makes me want to go and check out Seals’ back catalog.
Scott Yanov at AllMusic writes this about the album…..
Son Seals is a very powerful performer. While his vocals are full of passion, it is Seals’ explosive guitar solos (egged on by a driving rhythm section along with two fine horn players who have some solo spots) that are most notable. Recorded live at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago, Seals’ interpretations of these spirited blues would certainly please the club owner. This enthusiastic set serves as a perfect introduction to the accessible and memorable blues of Son Seals.
Press about Son Seals
Seems I made the right choice. Here’s what some others say about Son’s music
“Seals’ guitar style is built on soul, speed, intensity and an unflagging sense of timing and blues invention. [He’ll] take a note and torture it, attacking a lick and repelling it five different ways, building power as he goes.” — Guitar World
“His deep, gruff, hard-edged voice perfectly matches the acid bite of his bad axe which sometimes moves up into Albert Collins overdrive, sometimes down for a peck of chicken scratch. His guitar work is searing and expressive…he strikes with no-holds-barred ferocity.” — Down Beat
Son Seals’ Death
Seals died in December of 2004, from complication stemming from the diabetes he suffered from. He had previously,in 1999, lost a portion of his right leg to the disease.
So let’s all wish Son Seals a Happy Birthday wherever he may be! And check out more about this Chicago blues legend at……
Links for the Further Exploration of the Blues of Son Seals
Last night after I came home from a run, I sat down at the computer and was trying to get back to normal, when my wife asked if I had watched the new parody video from Weird Al “Word Crimes”yet. I said that I hadn’t, she made me come out and watch the video.
The Innocent Brginning……..
The video is very funny and probably funnier if you know the Robin Thicke song, which I don’t and never will, because I can not stand Robin Thicke.
Shortly after that, my wife said, she now had the song stuck in her head. That set my mind to wondering about songs that get stuck in my head. The one that popped up was Gale Garnett’s “We’ll Sing in the Sunshine”. So I went to Youtube to find a video of the song, which I did, from the 1964 Grammy Awards, but I didn’t like the video so I didn’t post it. But if you want you can watch it here.
The Rabbit Hole Opens – No Stay Away From The Sidebar………
After I watched enough of the Gale Garnett video, I began watching some of the videos on the sidebar, which somehow lead me to Suzy Boggess and Jerry Jeff Walker performing “Night Rider’s Lament” a song that they both had recorded and since I love JJW’s version of the song I watched the video….Suzy said that the tough part of the song is the yodeling, which she had to learn to do.
Down The Yodeling Rabbit Hole
I thought she did great, you can watch that video here. My mind was still restless though and was soon thinking about other songs that feature yodeling that I like, the first and maybe only song that came to mind was Slaid Cleaves’ tribute song to Don Walser “God’s Own Yodeller”. Here’s Slaid performing the song
Down and Down I Go…..
Not one to leave well enough alone, I had to wander on and find an original Don Walser tune, so that I could hear God’s own Yodeller! Here’s Don with “A Rolling Stone from Texas
Landing in the 1950s
Now this morning as my mind continued to think about yodeling, as I prepared finhish this post since i often often dressed like this back in the 1950s……
Listening to Roy Rogrers………
My thoughts turned to singing cowboys, and probably the best, Roy Rogers. I found this video using The Cowboy Herd Song….
Happy Trials to Me!
So which one do you like best, or asking another way which do you hate least? No,I shouldn’t have stayed with Gale Garnett because then all day I’d hear…..”We’ll sing in the sunshine, we’ll laugh everyday, we’ll sing in the sunshine then I’ll be on my way” Damn now it’s there…….
Reposted – Feb 17,2024 – ten years later….I was 62 ar the time of the run!
This week has been a topsy-turvy week. Monday it was in the 80s and then was cloudy all day. Yesterday (Tuesday) it looked like it was going to rain and the temperatures were in the 60s!
Today (Thursday) it was supposed to be back into the 80s. So last night (Wednesday) I decided that I better run then or face another hot day running!
So of course today turned out a lot like yesterday. However, I’m still glad that I ran last night!! I decided to run on of my oldest routes, a slightly up and down run going up and down the highest point in Riverside on Pancoast Avenue.
The run was a good one. While I didn’t set any land speed records, I did feel fairly strong throughout the run. Well except when I was going up the steepest parts of Pancoast!! The only good thing is that I do get to go down hill for a good part of the last mile!!
The splits weren’t too bad. First mile 10:20 – Second 10:28, Third 11:04 – the uphill battle, 4 – 10:42. Total Time was 42:34. When compared to Monday’s 44:54, it even looks better!!
The Soundtrack – A Special Life – John Mayall
On my last run I ran with on of the younger blues musicians, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who by the way is celebrating his birthday today. Happy Birthday Kenny Wayne. So last night I decided to run with someone older than me, by almost two decades!! That would be “the godfather of the British Blues” John Mayall,who turned 80 last November. I ran withnbhis latest release A Special Life.
A Special Life is like Mayall’s gazillionth release since he formed the Bluesbeakers in 1965. I started to listen to Mayall during my freshman year in college with the first album that I bought being The Turning Point and it has through the years been on of my favorites.This time period in Mayall’s music is my favorite. The Turning Pointalong with Jazz Blues Fusionand Movin’Onare three of my favorite albums. I loved Johnny Almond’s sax and flute work and every body on the later two albums, Jazz Blues Fusion introduced me to the trumpet of Blue Mitchell. For most of the world John may be best know for the musicians who have been a part of the Bluesbreakers.
From Wikipedia here are of some ex-members of John’s band…..
Guitar: Eric Clapton, Roger Dean, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel, Freddy Robinson, Jimmy McCulloch, Kal David, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, Randy Resnick,Sonny Landreth, Buddy Whittington, Eric Steckel, Robben Ford
Bass: Jack Bruce, John McVie, Steven Thompson[disambiguation needed], Larry Taylor, Tony Reeves, Hank Van Sickle, Greg Rzab
Drums: Hughie Flint, Keef Hartley, Aynsley Dunbar, Soko Richardson, Jon Hiseman, Colin Allen, Mick Fleetwood.
Keyboards: Dr. John
Vocals/Harmonica: Paul Butterfield
I think that the first time I heard Coco Montoya was on John’s 1987 release Chicago Line. What I didn’t realize until a short while back, was that Walter Trout also played on that album. Looking at the list of guitarist see that both Eric Steckel and Robben Ford have recorded with John, so I will certainly look up the albums they played on.
The Current Bluesbreakers
The current lineup for the Bluesbreakers includes: Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and drummer Jay Davenport. Rocky Athas and Stevie Ray Vaughan both hail from Oak Cliff, Texas.
By the time Athas was 23, he had already established himself on the Texas Blues scene and was named one of the first TEXAS TORNADOS by Buddy Magazine’s Top Ten Guitarists. The list of Texas Tornados went on over the years to include Eric Johnson, Jimmy and Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, and Johnny Winter.
Both Greg Rzab and Jay Davenport grew up in the Chicago blues scene. Rzab has been a member of Buddy Guy and jimmy Page’s bands, and Warren Hayes’ Gov’t Mule!
Davenport has likewise played with some top blues musicians including: Junior Wells, Valerie Wellington, Pinetop Perkins,Jimmie Johnson and for the last several years he has been the drummer for west-side guitarist Melvin Taylor, where the other half of the rhythm section was? – Greg Rzab!!.
Last year, Mayall asked about his current band and he replied, “The band I have now is the best band I have EVER had. I think it would be impossible to do better than that!”
What American Blues Scene says about the album…..
Mayall is at the top of his game here, and the band comes together nicely, serving up some of the finest fare we’ve heard in a while. This music draws listeners in, and engages them on so many levels! The more we listened to A Special Life, the more we wanted to hear it. Superbly crafted and performed, it is at once earthy, elegant, and soul stirring. Listeners will wear this album out.
So Check IT out!!
The Video
Here’s “Speak of the Devil” from A Special Life – and I will say this may be my favorite track on the album and that I hope that I’m going as good as John, when I hit 80!!!
Links for Further Exploration of the Music of John Mayall
