PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: Ally Venable

Friday, July 12, 2019

#400 : Ruf Records - 25 Years Anniversary

2019 - Ruf Records

by Phillip Smith; July 12, 2019

To commemorate the 400^th PhillyCheeze’s Rock & Blues Review, I want to shine some light on the special 25 Years Anniversary disc from Ruf Records. This is one hell of a collection. This edition contains both a 14 track CD, and a 12 video, 62-minute DVD . The CD features a ton of music from Ruf’s most recent releases, while the DVD delightfully spans their entire era, going back to the Luther Allison days.

After seeing Ruf’s Blues Caravan last year in 2018, I was happy to see the disc containing songs by Ally Venerable, Mike Zito, and Bernard Allison who all shared the stage at the 2^nd annual Czech Village Blues festival, here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa last August. Ally rips it up on guitar and belts out the title track to her latest album, “Texas Honey”. Zito’s song is also the title track for his latest, “First Class Life”. I love the slide guitar on this one. The swampy, funky goodness of Bernard’s “Backdoor Man” is so enjoyable. Vanja Sky, who played on the European legs of the caravan, gives us the smokin’ blues in “Hard Working Woman”.

Ruf also includes the sultry “Chills and Fever” from the wonderful Samantha Fish, and Ina Forsman’s exquisitely danceable ’ “Get Mine”. For the classic blues-head, there is “Low Down“ from The B.B. King Blues Band, and hardcore soul music fans will surely dig “Deep in my Soul” from Big Daddy Wilson. Also nice to hear, is my favorite Savoy Brown song from the past few years, “Why Did You Hoodoo Me”. It definitely cuts to the bone.

The DVD begins with a spectacular performance of Denmark’s Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado fabulously performing “If You Wanna Leave”. It’s so cool to see Mike Zito, Devon Allman and Cyril Neville jam together on “Moonlight Over the Mississippi”. Oli Brown’s driving blues-rock anthem “Here I Am” is captivating. From the 2019 Blues Caravan, there’s a terrific video of Katarina Pejak, Ina Forsman and Ally Venable covering the classic Stevie Ray Vaughan song “If the House is Rocking”, and they sound great. For a wonderful song to close with, Luther Allison soulfully sings “Living in The House of Blues”.

Ruf Records 25 Years Anniversary should be in the collection of every blues fan. It is a powerhouse of a retrospective.

Associated PhillyCheeze Reviews include:

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2017/06/thorbjrn-risager-black-tornado-change.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2014/06/thorbjrn-risager-black-tornado-too-many.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/08/347-czech-village-blues-aug-11-2018.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/07/344-vanja-sky-bad-penny.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/06/395-big-daddy-wilson-deep-in-my-soul.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/03/384-bb-king-blues-band-soul-of-king.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/03/322-victor-wainwright-and-train-self.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/01/313-bernard-allison-let-it-go.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2017/09/savoy-brown-witchy-feelin.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2017/04/samantha-fish-chills-fever.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2016/02/ina-forsman-ina-forsman.html

Sunday, August 12, 2018

#347 : Czech Village Blues - Aug 11, 2018 featuring Ruf Record's Blues Caravan

Czech Village

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

All photos by Phillip Smith; Aug. 11, 2018

I am so thrilled and amazed to see how Czech Village Blues festival in Cedar Rapids has expanded and grown in just its second year. Again, the Linn County Blues Society has joined together with the Friends of Czech Village to keep this wonderful blues event going. It was incredible to see the musical talent and dedication to the blues presented on the Youth Stage by Kristopher Bries, Anderson Coates, Miles Damaso, and Matthew Burger. Accompanied by Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductees, Tom 'T-Bone' Giblin on keys, and Dan 'DJ' Johnson on bass guitar, they were quite impressive, and did a fantastic job to kick start this years festival which featured Tim@theTrutones , Shane Johnson's Blue Train, and Ruf Records' Blues Caravan presenting Bernard Allison, Mike Zito, and Ally Venable.