Blues with a Feeling - The Official Podcast

  “It's been over 30 years since world-class musicians guitarist  Little Charlie Baty  and harmonicist/vocalist/songwriter  Rick Estrin  first teamed up and took hard Chicago blues, jump, Texas swing and jazz and mixed it with rockabilly, proto-rock'n'roll, jumping jive, bebop and Estrin's sharply original lyrics, creating a sound one critic described as "Charlie Chr...

"Billed as her most personal statement, this may well be Mavis Staples’ finest solo effort to date. In 2004, the powerhouse lead singer of the famed Staple Singers released the rootsy Have A Little Faith  on Alligator. Here, producer/guitarist Ry Cooder places the reigning queen of gospel’s voice in an even more intimate setting, paring the instrumentation down to the bare essenti...

Live Focus – Mike Henderson – Last Night At The Blue Bird - Live “Mike Henderson's long musical career saw him tour with Mark Knopfler, record with Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt and Kelly Willis. His song writing skills have been showcased by the Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood and Patty Loveless, and he's played in numerous bands over the years including The Steel Drivers with Chris...

Classic Album Feature – The Paladins – Years Since Yesterday   “Hottest roots rock band on the West Coast; terrific guitar from Dave Gonzales. Minimalist and raw as hell. "Beat for beat, there's no better band than The Paladins. This lineup is lethal!"--L.A. WEEKLY   The Paladins' own way of making music has earned them fans from many quarters. They have toured often wi...

“David Johansen is a true musical chameleon. Whether fronting the influential punk band the New York Dolls, lounging it up as Buster Poindexter or invoking the blues with the Harry Smiths, he has always demonstrated his unique talent for taking a musical style and making it his own. On David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, David and his first-rate band summon the spirit of the blues through A...

The first live album from the King of Texas Roadhouses. Raw rockers, soul ballads, driving band. A best seller. "Breathtaking, hardcore roadhouse rhythm & blues"-- Rolling Stone I’ve long been a fan of this classic live set from Delbert and his amazing band and now, for the first time, I’ll be featuring it in its entirety on the show. Plus new music from Buddy Guy, Roomful Of Blues...

A favourite band of mine from back in the very early days, a copy of this incredible live show has recently made its way back into the Blues With A Feeling record library and I’m beyond excited to be featuring this album for you this week. Plus tracks from the latest releases by Buddy Guy, Jimmy Burns, Mike Henderson, Shirley Johnson, Kirk Fletcher, Bily Branch & The Sons of Blues, Fiona...

  “Blues Is My Wailin' Wall is the debut album by the American musician Mighty Mo Rodgers, released in 1999. Rodgers referred to his music as "nu bluez"; he was also working on a master's thesis titled "Blues as Metaphysical Music (Its Musicality and Ontological Underpinnings)". He initially released the album on his label, North Star Records, in December 1998. Rodgers supported the alb...

“Walter “Wolfman” Washington, a New Orleans guitarist and singer… played his mix of funk, blues, soul and jazz in the city’s clubs for six decades. A quintessential local luminary, Mr. Washington held down long-running weekly residencies at clubs including the Maple Leaf and d.b.a, where he recorded a live album with his band, the Roadmasters, that was released in 20...

“Young blues guitar slinger teams up with rough-hewn soul singer from the Motor City for a set of rockin’ blues in a kind of Stevie Ray Vaughan-meets-Rod Stewart (or maybe, more accurately, David Lee Roth) vein. Most of this will appeal more to rock fans than hardcore blues fans, although straight shuffles like “Face Down In The Blues” and Bangham’s slow blues instrum...

“The Sky Is Crying gathers ten previously unreleased tracks that Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded between 1984’s  Couldn’t Stand The Weather  and 1989’s  In Step , their final album before Vaughan died in a helicopter crash. Mobile Fidelity has released all five recordings, including the debut,  Texas Flood , on outstanding SACDs (Analogue...

Like the force of nature that she was, GRAMMY-winning Koko Taylor, the undisputed "Queen of the Blues," was in a league of her own. With her exuberant, deeply soulful, good-time style and her tough-as-nails band, she could be counted on to make the reluctant fans dance and the quiet ones jump for joy. When Taylor passed in June of 2009, the world lost a musical icon. "Koko Taylor," according...

“Recorded in Chicago's Cook County Jail on a hot fall day in 1970 and released the following year, the recording of this historic event was named #499 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, hitting #1 on the Billboard R&B charts, #3 on the Jazz charts and #25 on the Top 200. One of several live albums King released, it features a selection of his best-known songs...

“No way was Dr. John was going to let Katrina pass into history without saying what he had to say. But no way could anyone have seen this coming. City That Care Forgot is at once the most fervent, acerbic, livid music Mac Rebennack has ever made; the most eloquent and probably the funkiest, too. Dr. John has never been one for grand statements or even topicality, but he’s rightfully, r...

  “Anders Osborne “Coming Down” was his first studio recording in over five years. On Coming Down Anders sings about his two great loves, his wife and New Orleans. The CD finds Anders in a sparse setting that showcases his songwriting. One of the highlights of the CD is the song “Katrina.” Anders and his family moved backed to New Orleans six weeks after the deva...

“Known to music fans around the world as the “King of the Boogie,” John Lee Hooker endures as one of the true superstars of the blues genre: the ultimate beholder of cool. His work is widely recognized for its impact on modern music – his simple, yet deeply effective songs transcend borders and languages around the globe. Each decade of Hooker’s long ca...

“The ultimate “blues brother”, Eric Bibb is known and revered globally as a fiery singer- songwriter with true soul, grounded in the folk/blues tradition but with contemporary sensibilities. Testament to his endurance as one of the most relevant, leading bluesmen of our time, Eric’s most recent album, Ridin’, has received a Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional Bl...

“Slant 6 Mind  is Greg's thirteenth album on Red House Records and a Grammy nominee! It's got a swampy, funky, lowdown sound that ranges from driving rhythms to sensuous folk and back again. The musicians are great and the combination of guitar players Greg, Kelly Joe Phelps, and Bo Ramsey is superb. The feel of Slant 6 Mind reaches back to Greg's earlier albums, such as  Down in T...

  “Blues scholar Guy Davis is an equally adept player, singer and storyteller in the tradition of his mentor, Taj Mahal. On Skunkmello, named for a legendary chicken thief who was caught and hanged for his crimes around 1900, rootsy troubadour Davis travels from the straight country-blues of “Natural Born Eas’Man” and his Piedmont-flavored original “The Chocolate...

The roots of the style that would become Otis Taylor’s most recognizable contribution to blues can be found on  Truth Is Not Fiction  (Telarc Records) released in 2003. Music critics were both enthralled and a bit mystified by Taylor’s signature “Trance Blues” electric, psychedelic style. Truth is Not Fiction  earned a top 10 album of the year listing from th...

“Tony Joe White's 2013 album is awash in danger, spiritual uncertainty and environmental fury. Hoodoo's lyrical concerns are matched by a particularly intense strain of White's trademark swamp funk. Hence the title's double edged meaning: 'hoodoo' referring both to the songs' ominous tone and the palpable vibe that filled the studio as the songs were cut. Cut mostly live to tape - vocals and...

The return of the legendary harmonica giant from the 1950s Chicago blues scene. "A triumphant comeback"— Billboard   Billy Boy Arnold is back. With his 1992 Alligator Records debut, Back Where I Belong, Arnold firmly reestablished himself as one of the foremost practitioners of classic Chicago blues. His wailing harmonica playing and soulful vocals are a perfect match for his streetwise...

“Cotton’s long, fabled career is unrivaled in terms of its historic import….a name that is mentioned alongside some of the very best performers ever to play the instrument. Cotton’s playing has cemented his place in the top tier of blues harmonica masters: that muscular tone, those brawny wails, the stinging high note bends. …sends a shiver down the spine. Fiery, in...

Albert Collins Classic Album Feature – Cold Snap “This Grammy-nominated album features some of Albert's most popular tracks like  I Ain't Drunk ,  Lights Are On But Nobody's Home  and  Too Many Dirty Dishes . The Master of the Telecaster's last Alligator release, and his favourite, finds him backed by a hand-picked all-star band featuring organist Jimmy McGriff and...

  “Genius doesn't even begin to describe the greatness of The Genius Sings the Blues. Comprised of a dozen songs Ray Charles made between 1952 and 1960, the collection was released in 1961 by Atlantic Records to counter the singer's migration to rival ABC Paramount. What Atlantic originally underestimated is that the album contained many of Charles' greatest works, all unified by their...