Time Signatures with Jim Ervin

Season Six roars out of the gates as Erv welcomes singer, songwriter, 4 x Grammy winning producer and musician, Tom Hambridge to the show. Tom talks about his early work in music, a chance phone call from Sony that developed into an multi-year, multi-album trek with Blues legend, Buddy Guy, and Buddy’s direction to find Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram so he could back the young man’s first album. We a...

Season Five is roaring to a close with one last incredible guest. Legendary Bluesman, Curtis Salgado stopped by to talk about his early years in Eugene, Oregon and his start in music, dating back to Kindergarten, playin Air Guitar with his cardboard Strat, that swingin concert featuring Count Basie. Of course, we had to talk about the introduction and meeting with John Belushi, who was in town to...

Just two more episodes remain of Season 5, and what an incredible guest, indeed! This young lady is perhaps the most prolific violinist in the Blues genre today, but she sure doesn't limit herself to the Blues. Anne Harris joins host Jim Ervin to discuss her life in music, a recently completed tour with Taj Mahal and Keb Mo, and her privately crowdfunded NEW violin project, with African American f...

Annika Chambers and Paul DesLauriers were musicians in their own right, each with their own bands until fate took over in 2018. They met in Memphis, Tennessee, and it was the proverbial “Love at first sight” for the couple. Their chemistry on and off stage is powerful, making their music even more so. As season five winds to a close, join us for a great discussion with this power couple, about the...

Only a few episodes remain in Season Five, and this week, Erv welcomes some local Michigan music royalty to the program. Drummers, Jeff Shoup and and 90 year old Randy Gelispie (Uncle G) make a studio appearance to talk more Blues (and Jazz!) history. Be sure to listen for Uncle G’s humorous story about he and Trumpet phenom, Dizzy Gillespie…you are sure to laugh at this one! The duo also share st...

This week on Time Signatures, join host Jim Ervin as he welcomes ‘The Fallbrook Kid’, Anthony Cullins to the program. At the tender age of 10, Cullins did odd jobs around the house and neighborhood, saving up for a trip to Costco to purchase his first guitar. With the love and support of his parents, Anthony discovered he had a knack for the instrument, and he was gigging locally beginning at the...

What happens when you take the limitless dreams of a young man, add a guitar, and a chance meeting with a young Riley B. (B.B.) King? You see that young man seize the opportunity, and develop his craft, thus establishing himself as a Blues legend in his own right later in life. That is precisely what happened to Anson Funderburgh, and you will hear all about his early musical experiences, the form...

In the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s, the Greater Lansing area was abuzz with a ton of Blues music. In addition to the incredible local talent on hand, a small handful of people were responsible for doing a great deal of work, attracting out of town Blues musicians to play. Harry Oman traveled to the metro Detroit area, formed some partnerships, and brought some of the biggest names in Detroit’s Blues scene...

It’s a very special edition of Time Signatures with Jim Ervin, as Erv welcomes longtime Detroit Free Press Photographer, Wilson Lindsey for a chat about his decades working behind the lens for the Freep as well as his early stint on the Freelance side of things. It was in those early years that Wilson dabbled in professional wrestling photography, which led to a job at the Free Press where he had...

It is our 100th episode at Time Signatures, and you cannot celebrate a landmark episode without a legendary Bluesman, like Billy Branch. Billy came up in Chicago, learning harp skills in all of the local clubs, battling with the likes of James Cotton, Willie Dixon, Carey Bell, and others. Billy joins Erv to talk about all of that, plus his first recorded single with Willie Dixon and the Chicago Bl...

This week, host Jim Ervin welcomes 10 time BMA nominee, Harmonicist and Delmark Artist, Tad Robinson. Tad dropped in to discuss his early life in New York City, where he listened to Sam Cooke, The Temptations, Ray Charles and many other R&B musicians. Even at the age of 8, the young man realized music was in his blood, and the proverbial hook was set. Following an early stint with Severin reco...

Episode 98 has arrived, It’s another home run discussion on ‘Time Signatures with Jim Ervin’ as Erv welcomes a member of the next generation of the Blues, 18 year old Harrell ‘Young Rell’ Davenport. Rell has been on an absolute tear, wowing crowds in Chicago, Mississippi, and across the pond in Norway and other stops in Europe with his deep passion for those old school Blues. Billy Branch said he...

This week, join host Jim Ervin as he welcomes another Woman of the Blues. Alexandria Bailey, aka Lexie Blue, came up in Las Vegas during her early life, occasionally joining her adoptive parents on stage as they performed, and the musician bug took hold of her early on. Following her move back to Michigan, she took out an ad on Craig’s List and put her first band together. She has since gotten mar...

What do you do when you find that your longtime gig is about to be slowed to a halt, albeit temporarily? If you are Matthew Stubbs, former full-time touring guitarist with the legendary Charlie Musselwhite, you think it over…and then you form a band to keep the bills paid. On this week’s edition of Time Signatures, Erv and Matt talk about that period of time, and how it ultimately led to that band...

What happens when a local radio personality establishes a wildly popular daily radio program and then is thrust onto the national stage after an article is written about his work? Well that is precisely what happened to this week’s guest on Time Signatures, and before it was all said and done, he had been hired by Sirius XM satellite radio and tasked with helping to launch the Bluesville channel....

It’s another powerful episode this week on Time Signatures as Erv welcomes an amazing Woman of the Blues, Kat Riggins. Kat discusses her early years, with those two weeks of piano lessons, being teased as a young girl about her deeper than average voice, and being comforted by Koko Taylor, Denise LaSalle, and other female voices on the radio during that time period. She also talked about her strug...

Season Five is cruisin' along, so you are invited to join host Jim Ervin as he welcomes Jeff "JT" Taylor and Jeff Shroedl of that Blues band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Altered Five. The five piece band has been making waves since releasing their 2008 inaugural effort, but their 2021 release 'Holler If You Hear Me' reached number three on the US Billboard Top Blues Chart. Jeff and JT talked about t...

It’s a fun-filled episode this week on Time Signatures as your host, Jim Ervin welcomes a Michigan songwriter who has built an incredible long term relationship with our own Larry McCray over the past 40 years. Charlie Walmsley has had songs on Larry’s albums dating back to the 1990’s, but 2022s ‘Blues Without You’ included Walmsley’s ‘Arkansas’ and ‘Mr. Easy’, and the newest project, ‘Heartbreak...

On this week’s edition of Time Signatures, Erv welcomes a member of the up and coming generation of the Blues, Chicago native, Christopher Henderson. From his early beginnings in the genre as a young boy, to that serendipitous moment, performing a medley of songs by Bobby Blue Bland and others at “Catfish Corner”, an establishment owned by the-Chicago Alderman, Wallace Davis, Chris got a taste of...

A new week on Time Signatures with Jim Ervin and this week, Erv welcomes another legendary Blues musician. Mark Hummel is a singer, songwriter and longtime band leader of the Blues Survivors, a group he formed in 1977 with Johnny Waters. And, since 1991, Hummel has produced the annual Blues Harmonica Blowout, where is he also a featured performer. Mark dropped by to talk about his work with many o...

This week on Time Signatures, Erv welcomes an incredibly talented gentleman who spent nearly 20 years working in Nashville, alongside some of the top writers in country music at that time. He had music recorded by the likes of Roger Miller, Waylon Jennings, Patty Loveless, and the Highwaymen, to name a few. A few years ago, his song, ‘Millionaire’ was recorded by Chris Stapleton-and he took it to...

Growing up in Memphis, Charlie Musselwhite got lots of exposure to street performers of all kinds. On this episode of Time Signatures with Jim Ervin, the legendary Blues harmonicist stops in to chat with Erv about his early life on Beale, attending late night parties with Elvis, his move to Chicago at age 18, and cutting his musical ‘teeth’ absorbing and learning the Blues at the feet of the days’...

This week on Time Signatures, Erv welcomes 2024 Grammy Winner, 2014 IBC Band Category winner as well as the Albert King Guitar Award, the Jus’ Blues Foundation’s Bobby Rush Entertainer’s Award, and the Jackson Music Awards’ Blues Artist of the Year, Castro ‘Mr. Sipp’ Coleman . He started playin in local churches at the age of 6, touring at the age of 11, and for 26 years, Castro Coleman spent his...

2025 Grammy winner, Ruthie Foster drops by for our Season Five Premier to talk about her brand new album, “Mileage” and a recap of her Australian tour earlier this year. She talks about her Great Uncle singing at church when she was a little girl, recognizing the power of performance even at an early age. We also discussed her early piano and guitar lessons, knowing her worth as a woman in the Blu...

It’s the Season Four finale for Time Signatures, as host Jim Ervin welcomes an incredible woman of the Blues, Grammy nominee Janiva Magness. The Blues Foundation’s B.B. King Entertainer of the year in 2009, only the second female artist to be so honored, along with Koko Taylor, Magness shared deeply powerful stories from her youth and life in the Blues, including her father denying her to chance t...