#725 > The Hitman Blues Band - Calling Long Distance (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – Nerus Records

By Phillip Smith; Jan. 17, 2025

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

I dig the carefree vibe which emits from The Hitman Blues Band’s tenth album Calling Long Distance. This ten-piece ensemble has been a staple of the New York blues scene since forming in 1986. Fronted by Russell “Hitman” Alexander on lead guitar and vocals, the rest of the band is comprised of Mike Katzman on keys, Mike Porter on bass, Guy LaFountaine on drums, John Kelly on alto sax, Tom Mineo on tenor sax, Eric Altarac on trumpet, Al Alpert on trombone. Also included are backup vocalists Joanna Alexander and Nancy Hampton  and Bob Stander who performs bass on two tracks.

Making contact with those who have crossed over to the other side oftentimes requires serious hoodoo. Hitman leaves no mojo or spirit-communicating device untried in the spirited, horn-infused blues of title-track “Calling Long Distance”. I absolutely love the amphetamine-fueled instrumental “Blood Alley”. Smoking guitar riffs, a singing organ, and wailing saxophone surf a caffeinated beat for smashing good time. The Hitman does a cool job of retooling Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues’ into a real-deal Chicago blues track. The smooth guitar sounds of “Foolish Pride” is riddled with funky licks and a delicious groove. It’s a great song to soak in.

Calling Long Distance is a fun and adventurous listen. I really enjoyed it.

---

For more information about the Hitman Blues Band, visit their website https://www.hitmanbluesband.com/

#720 > Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip - Outtakes (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – Hokahey! Records

By Phillip Smith; Dec. 21, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

I love the riveting energy Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip pour into their music. This Finnish band sure has a way of making the blues sound magical. Their latest album Outtakes is a nine-track collection of unleased songs ranging over their thirty-year career.  According to Bjorklof, “The album offers fans an exclusive look at these previously unreleased tracks that are still full of soul, groove and emotion”.  With Bjorklof, front and center on vocals, harmonica, and guitar, he is joined by Lefty Leppanen on slide, electric guitars, and vocals, Seppo Nuolikoski on bass, Teemu Vuorela on drums, and Timo Roiko-Jokela on percussion, malletkat and vibraphone.

Outtakes begins with the spirited and freewheeling “On Vacation”. Originally recorded during the Ain’t Bad Yet sessions in 2014, this instant-favorite sure rejuvenates my soul.  I love Bjorklof’s firey vocals and Lefty’s slide guitar performance on “Way to Go”. The song hits me like a gallop through Mississippi swampland. I’m captivated by the funky and bluesy rhythm which drives the beautiful and intoxicating 2002 track “Silver Moon”.  Loaded with delicious slide guitar, this one is absolutely brilliant.  They bring the album to an attention-grabbing end with “Spooky Ride”. This caffeinated track is loaded to the brim with smoldering musical jam. Everything fits together wonderfully tight as Vuorela guides them with his fierce and masterful drumming.

It’s a thrill to hear this Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip Outtakes album. The glimpses it provides into band’s three-decade long history makes a great listen for existing fans, and new listeners both.  

---

 

 

For more information about Micke Bjorklof, visit the website @  https://www.mickebjorklof.com/

 

Check out other PhillyCheeze reviews featuring Micke Bjorklof and visit

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=micke+bjorklof

 

#719 > Kat Riggins and Her Blues Revival - Revival (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – House of Berry Productions

By Phillip Smith; Dec. 14, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Kat Riggins has been a favorite songstress of mine for the past eight years. This Miami-based blues singer is an absolute gem and I find her music captivating. Her powerful and fearless voice lends an undeniable electric charge to every song she sings.  Revival, her sixth album release contains ten all-original songs featuring producer Tim Mulberry (bass/keys/drums/horns) and guitarist Eric Guess, and backing vocalists Shaelyn Mulberry and Mark Barner.

Smoking guitar licks surrounded by blasts of brass and bustling keys usher the album in a massive blues fashion with “Lucky”. I love Riggins’ Aretha-level vocals as they punch up the funky and riveting “Southern Soul”.  I can’t help but smile when she sings ‘When God made man, I betcha he started with a Southern soul.”.  “New Level” is a tremendous blues-rocker with an infectious riff. Topped with a tasty serving of greasy slide-guitar, this track definitely cuts to the bone. The propelling groove threaded through the heart of “Mojo Thief” sweeps me off my feet and pulls me right in. Riggins pours her magical shaman mojo into “Healer” to bring the album to a beautiful end. I admire the soothing and delicate guitar picking of Guess on this inspirational song. It really is a nice touch.

Kat Riggins and Her Blues Revival has won me over yet again with her rocking blues-soaked soul on Revival. I love it from start to finish.   

---

For more information about Kat Riggins, visit the website @  https://www.katriggins.com/music

 

For other PhillyCheeze reviews featuring Kat Riggins visit https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=kat+riggins

#689 : Sierra Green & The Giants - Here We Are (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

Release Date : June 21, 2024

By Phillip Smith; June 22, 2024

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

I’m absolutely loving this new album Here We Are from New Orleans-based Sierra Green & The Giants. Green’s vocals are heavily-steeped in the MoTown sound. Her band, The Giants are as tight as a band can be. For a bonus, J.D. Simo is somehow involved too.

The record rolls out on a funky groove with “Can You Get to That?”.  I love her buttery cover of Bob Seger’s “Come to Poppa” rewired as “Come to Mama”. Her voice sits among the Soul-singing greats. Being from New Orleans, it’s quite fitting to take on a Meters song. “Break in the Road” is that, and cooks. The way the horns tear loose on “Dreams” is a head-turner. There’s another couple of terrific back-to-back covers with “This is a Man’s World” and “He Called Me Baby”. 

I highly recommend giving this album a listen. Sierra Green & The Giants are certainly a band to keep a watch on,

--- 

For more information about Sierra Green & The Giants, visit the website at

https://sierragreenandthegiants.com/

 

 

Apologies to those who enjoy seeing who the musicians are song-writers are on the albums I review. That information was not available to me at the time of the writing of this review.  Regardless, give this album a listen.  It’s fantastic!   

#670 : Bex Marshall - Fortuna (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – Dixiefrog Records

By Phillip Smith; Mar. 30, 2024

Release Date : Mar. 1, 2024

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

Twelve years have passed since UK British Blues Award winner Bex Marshall released her previous record The House of Mercy. Her latest album Fortuna features nine all-original songs and one cover. Marshall’s guitar mastery combined with her wonderful raspy vocals and brilliant song-writing make for a captivating listen. The record is an absolute delight. With Marshall on lead vocals and lead guitar, her band on this album is comprised of drummer Richie Stevens (Tina Turner, Simply Red, George Clinton), keyboardist Toby Baker (B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Alexander O’Neal, Sinead O Connor), B.J Cole on dobro (Elton John, Coldplay, Sting, Shania Twain, Robbie Williams), Robert Eugene Daniels and Aurora Mannola on bass, with Queen Shola Adegoroye and Danny Bryan (Taj Mahal) on percussion.    

Riding atop a spirited funky groove, Marshall pulls me tightly in to the record with her cool-as-hell Tina Turner/Pink Floyd-ish cocktail “Preaching to the Choir”. A driving rhythm slathered with a delectable serving of swampy slide guitar and fearless vocals create a moment of pure listening perfection in “I Can’t Look You in the Eye”. Dining alone often draws a lot of wrong assumptions and unnecessary pity as Bex explains in her infectious tribute to the subject in “Table For One”. I love the jam-band appeal of the instrumental title-track “Fortuna”. Stevens keeps the song cooking on high-heat, as Marshall tears it up on guitar. In many ways, this track brings to mind a favorite band of mine Phish. Blues gushes out of every pore as she belts out “Lay Down and Die”. I love the closing track “When It’s Gone”. It brings the album to a freewheeling finish invoking the sounds of The Grateful Dead and Fleetwood Mac, creating a floaty atmosphere in a beautiful, lofty space.

Bex Marshall’s Fortuna is a top favorite of blues releases I have heard so far this year.  I highly recommend this record.

---

For more information about the artist, visit this website : https://www.bexmarshall.com/

#669 : Altered Five Blues Band - Testifyin' (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – Blind Pig Records

By Phillip Smith; Mar. 23, 2024

Release Date : Mar. 22, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

I was very excited to hear there was a new release on the way from Milwaukee’s hardest working bluesmen Altered Five Blues Band. This seventh and latest release Testifyin' absolutely cooks. With five all-original tracks of smokin’ blues, this EP is hitting the scene with quite an impact. With Jeff Taylor on lead vocals, Jeff Schroedl on guitar, Mark Solveson on bass, Steve Huebler on keys, and Alan Arber on drums, A5BB plays the blues with feeling and conviction. The EP was produced, mixed and mastered by Grammy award-winner Tom Hambridge. To sweeten the pot, the super-talented, multi-award-winning Jason Ricci also appears with harp in hand on three of the five tracks.

 Testifyin’ kicks off with “Don’t Tell Me I Can’t” delivered with a funky rhythm topped with a smokin’ guitar performance from Schroedl and a sweet horn accompaniment from Max Abrams on saxophone and Julio Diaz on trumpet. They roll into “Whiskey Got Me Married” a smoldering blues track that sounds great sung by Taylor’s husky voice. Ricci totally wails on the harmonica and sounds amazing. “Brand New Bone” is an outstanding track which seems to begin in the Delta and wrap up in Chicago. With Ricci in the mix, this track is a genuine winner. They slow it down to a gentle sway to sing about hard times in “I’ve Got Scars to Prove It”. Schroedl plays every note with an emotional approach. Testifyin’ wraps up in a lively positive light with “You Can’t Win (If it Ain’t Within)”. It is upbeat, uplifting, and a sheer delight to hear.

 Every song is a keeper on Altered Five Blues Band’s Testifyin’. It’s a record that I keep on heavy-rotation for a long while. 

---

 

For more information about the artist, visit this website : https://www.alteredfive.com/

 

For other PhillyCheeze reviews regarding Altered Five Blues Band, follow this link:

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2021/10/521-altered-five-blues-band-holler-if.html

#665 : Cedar County Cobras - Live at CSPS 3-2-24 (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

Cedar County Cobras

Live at CSPS

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

March 2, 2024

 

By Phillip Smith; Mar. 3, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

I’ve been wanting to see Cedar County Cobras since reviewing their Homesick Blues album in December. The opportunity finally made its way last night at CSPS in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in front of full house. That’s one of the most perfect venues in town to experience live music. The Cedar County Cobras are comprised of Tom Spielbauer (guitar/vocals) and April Dirks (upright bass/mandolin/vocals).   

The Cobras played two amazing sets of music, leaning heavily into delta blues. They kicked the show off with an infectious cover of RL Burnside’s “Poor Black Mattie” followed immediately after with Son House’s “Walkin’ Blues”. The first set also included Burnside’s “Goin’ Down South” which Spielbauer remarked he picked up while playing at Red’s in Clarksdale, Mississippi. With Dirks on mandolin, they gave a wonderful performance of Bill Monroe’s “Under the Bridge” and Mississippi John Hurt’s “Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home”. 

They started their second set with “Utah” from their Homesick Blues album. Spielbauer brought out his 1929 National Steel guitar to play for several songs of which included a fantastic of Muddy Waters’ “Trouble No More”. He then switched to his gold-top Les Paul guitar to finish the show, hitting on originals which included a couple of my favorites “Gimme Lightnin’” and “Homesick Blues”. The show concluded with the mesmerizing spiritual “Get Right Church”.

It was definitely a night of music for the soul, and I enjoyed every note played. I already look forward to seeing them again.

 

 ---

All Photos by Phillip Smith

 

·       * All photos by Phillip Smith      

T Read the PhillyCheeze review of Cedar County Cobras' Homesick Blues album : https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2023/12/651-cedar-county-cobras-homesick-blues.html

#651 : Cedar County Cobras - Homesick Blues (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Cedar County Cobras

By Phillip Smith; Dec. 22, 2023

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Cedar County Cobras, a blues and roots duo from Iowa has grabbed my full attention with their new album Homesick Blues.  Comprised by Tom Spielbauer and April Dirks, the Cedar County Cobras were formed in 2014 and have logged hundreds of shows across the state and Midwest.  In 2022, Spielbauer won the Iowa Blues Challenge for solo artists, securing a spot at the 2023 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee where he placed as a semi-finalist.  The duo’s songs are soaked with a pre-war blues essence and are wonderfully performed with Spielbauer on guitar and foot-drum and Dirks on mandolin and upright bass.

Dirks’ mandolin beautifully pairs with the Nashville-twang of Spielbauer’s guitar on the infectious “Country Records”.  I love the slide guitar on the rambling drinking song “Gimmie Lightnin’”.   There is a line in the song about seeing Cedell Davis at Gabe’s Oasis in Iowa City, and it hits me with a wave of jealousy with every listen.  I would have loved to be there.  When they take on Muddy Waters’ “Trouble No More”, they positively make it their own.  It is a wonderful re-engineering of the song and has a strong Delta Blues presence.  They also put a lot of love and attention into their cover of Son House’s “Walkin Blues”.  Spielbauer sets a quite ominous mood on his original “Voodoo Doll”.  This song about a witchy retribution is a magically unsettling and I love it.  My favorite track is their cover of Jessie Mae Hemphill’s “Shake it Right”.  This is North Mississippi Hill-Country Blues at its best.  Dirks on stand-up bass gives the song an extra punch to its hypnotic rhythm behind Spielbauer’s resonator guitar.

Cedar County Cobras’ Homesick Blues is a tasty dose of real-deal blues.  It is a fantastic recording through and through.                                   

---

    

 

For more information about the artist, or to purchase their music, visit their website : https://cedarcountycobras.com/

 

#646 : Rocky Athas at CSPS - Nov 17, 2023 (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

Rocky Athas Band

Live at CSPS – Nov. 17, 2023

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

 

By Phillip Smith; November 20, 2023

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Rocky Athas has been on my radar for over ten years now.  His mastery of guitar is quite impressive.   I first was introduced to his talent while he was playing with Black Oak Arkansas.  Then soon after I began reviewing CDs, I found his six-string skills across several John Mayall albums.  Athas’ solo albums then came my way for review, and each one kept revealing different layers of his guitar prowess.  When I saw that Rocky was playing at CSPS in Cedar Rapids, I knew it would be a show I wanted to see.  I had never seen him play live before, but I knew this would be a cool musical experience.  It most definitely was.  

Rocky Athas’ band consists of Rocky Athas on guitar, his son Rocky Athas II on bass guitar, Walter Watson on vocals and his son Jared Watson on rhythm guitar, with Gonzalo Trevino on drums.

 --

                         Photos by Phillip Smith

* all photos by Phillip Smith