PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: BillyLee Janey

Showing posts with label BillyLee Janey. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

#478 : PhillyCheeze's Favorite 20 of 2020

By Phillip Smith; Dec. 24, 2020

PhillyCheeze's Favorite 20 of 2020
(in alphabetical order)

Bai Kamara Jr & the Voodoo Sniffers - Salone

Ben Rice & RB Stone - Out of the Box

Bette Smith - The Good the Bad the Bette

BillyLee Janey - 20 Dollar Tip

8 Ball Aitken - Swamp Blues 2

Eliza Neals - Black Crow Moan

Eric Hughes Band - Postcard from Beale

Erin Harpe - Meet Me in the Middle

Fantastic Negrito - Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?

Kevin Burt - Stone Crazy

Micke & Lefty feat Chef - Let the Fire Lead

Peter Parcek - Mississippi Suitcase

Robert Connely Farr - Country Supper

Ryan Perry - High Risk, Low Reward

Sir Rod & the Blues Doctors - Come Together

Sister Lucille - Alive

Sonny Green - Found! One Soul Singer

Tas Cru - Drive On

Tony Holiday - Soul Service

Too Slim and the Taildraggers - The Remedy

I'm including a Spotify Playlist so you can easily give a listen to each of the albums.

Click on the link below to purchase any of this terrific music from the PhillyCheeze Amazon Store. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

PhillyCheeze Pop Up Blues Store

Saturday, August 1, 2020

#456 : BillyLee Janey - 20 Dollar Tip

2020 – BillyLee Janey

By Phillip Smith; Aug. 1, 2020

It’s always exciting to hear new material from Iowa Blues Hall of Fame member BillyLee Janey (Truth and Janey). Janey’s bravado is a force to be reckoned with and his brand of electric blues is hard to beat. For his latest album, 20 Dollar Tip, Janey returns to the studio with Dan ‘DJ’ Johnson on bass, Eric Douglas on drums, and Tom ‘T-Bone’ Giblin (Lonnie Brooks, The Dynatones, Mighty Joe Young) on Hammond B3 to produce an engaging, well-crafted record. His son Bryce Janey mixed and mastered the record, and also appears on backing vocals.

Title-track “20 Dollar Tip” takes off in a dazzling fury with a wonderful display of searing guitar licks. Flexing its muscles with a hard-driving rhythm and serious B3 back-up, it’s a great song to kick things off with. Janey infuses a tasty bit of funk in his infectious tribute to delta blues in “Way Down in a Mississippi Town”. This is definitely one of my favorites. If there were a category for Best Soul Blues Song of the Year, “Love’s Gonna Stop That Train” would definitely be a contender. The song is absolutely fabulous. In “Stepping Out with the Blues”, Janey’s performance drips with Chicago-style authenticity, and sounds like perfection. This nine-track album comes to a rollicking close with “Shake My Soul”, making for one hell of a blues jam.

20 Dollar Tip is a splendid listen from start to finish, and highly recommended.

---

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

#423 : PhillyCheeze's 20 Favorites of 2019

(in alphabetical order)

Vince Agwada - Light of Day

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/06/396-vince-agwada-light-of-day.html

BB King Blues Band - The Soul of the King

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

Anthony Gomes - Peace, Love & Loud Guitars

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/01/371-anthony-gomes-peace-love-loud.html

Willie Farmer - The Man From the Hill

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/02/376-willie-farmer-man-from-hill.html

Robert Connely Farr - Dirty South Blues

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/05/391-robert-connely-farr-rebeltone-boys.html

Ghost Town Blues Band - Shine

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/09/410-ghost-town-blues-band-shine.html

Christone Kingfish Ingram - Kingfish

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/05/393-christone-kingfish-ingram-kingfish.html

BillyLee Janey - Blues Power

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/10/411-billylee-janey-blues-power.html

John Mayall - Nobody Told Me

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/02/373-john-mayall-nobody-told-me.html

Biscuit Miller - Chicken Grease

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/10/413-biscuit-miller-and-mix-chicken.html

Eliza Neals - Sweet or Mean

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/07/401-eliza-neals-sweet-or-mean.html

Sean Pinchin - Bad Things

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/05/390-sean-pinchin-bad-things.html

Johnny Rawls - I Miss Otis Clay

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/11/416-johnny-rawls-i-miss-otis-clay.html

Southbound Snake Charmers - To the Bone

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/10/414-southbound-snake-charmers-to-bone.html

Sugaray Rayford - Somebody Save Me

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/12/367-sugaray-rayford-somebody-save-me.html

J.P. Soars - Let Go of the Reins

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/09/408-jp-soars-let-go-of-reins.html

Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith and the House Bumpers - Drop the Hammer

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/04/385-kenny-beedy-eyes-smith-house.html

Alexis P. Suter Band - Be Love

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/04/387-alexis-p-suter-band-be-love.html

Sean Taylor - The Path Into the Blue

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/06/394-sean-taylor-path-into-blue.html

Matty T Wall - Transpacific Blues Vol 1

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/12/422-matty-t-wall-transpacific-blues-vol.html

Saturday, October 5, 2019

#411 : BillyLee Janey - Blues Power

2019 – Billy Rock Music / Stray Dog Records

By Phillip Smith; Oct. 5, 2019

Since moving up here to Iowa in 1992, I’ve been listening to BillyLee Janey. Inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 for Truth & Janey and inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame in 2012, he is surely a force to be reckoned with when it comes to musicianship and playing the blues. Blues Power, his latest release is a sheer delight. Featuring eleven originals and two cover songs, this album is filled to the brim with hard-driving electric blues that cuts deep to the core. BillyLee leads this trio on guitar and vocals. His son Bryce Janey who also recorded, mastered and mixed the album, appears on bass guitar, with Eric Douglas is on drums.

From the first song, “Who Let the Dog Out”, Janey is already in top-gear, delivering hot-as-hell licks and playing the blues like I love to hear it. He continues to amaze me in “Blues Alright”. “Gimme Some Blues Power” is a monster of a song too. Douglas lays down a stellar beat while Janey carpet bombs the listener with a tantalizing guitar performance. His cover of Buddy Guy’s “Mary Had a Little Lamb” puts a big smile on my face too. Janey makes this one his own.

While revisiting “Mean Ol’ Twister”, a track released on his album Got Them Iowa Blues, Janey adds an additional minute, forty-five seconds to the furious whirlwind simulation he creates with sound. It was a spectacular song to begin with, but this new mix gives it the tornado-infused ending the song deserves. Hearing Janey cut loose the way he does here, is an experience in and of itself.

An absolute must-hear for blues fans, and guitar aficionados, Blues Power delivers high-voltage blues at its best.

---

For more information about the artist, visit this website.. www.billyleejaney.com

Sunday, July 30, 2017

319 Music & Arts Festival - 2017

Czech Village
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
July 29, 2017

The 319 Festival is one of my absolute favorites. It shines a tremendous amount of light on the musical talent that surrounds us, and allows the festival-goer to experience the music and genius which flows abundantly from those creators and performers. With almost 90 acts in this one day long event, checking out every band and artist was just not going to happen. I did make it to at least 22 different performances, which may be a single one day record for me.