Showing posts with label Bobby Rush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bobby Rush. Show all posts

Saturday, April 26, 2025

#742- > John Primer - Grown in Mississippi (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

2025 – Blues House Productions
Release Date : April 11, 2025
 
By Phillip Smith; April 26, 2025
 
Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

John Primer moved from Mississippi to Chicago with his mother in 1963 when he was eighteen years old. Shortly after landing in the Windy City, he began busking on the legendary Maxwell Street. That led to his gigs at Theresa’s Lounge which eventually catapulted him to bandleader positions for blues luminaries such as Willie Dixon, Magic Slim, and Muddy Waters. He was with Muddy when the band filmed the Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981 with the Rolling Stones (which by the way is one of my all-time favorite live blues films).  This latest album from Primer, Grown in Mississippi is a meaningful tribute to his birthplace Camden, Mississippi where he grew up in a sharecropping environment. Primer stated, “The songs on Grown in Mississippi have a lot of meaning to me.  They represent sounds from my childhood, feelings I had while singing in church, rhythms and beats I heard on the radio and while working in the fields.”. Recorded in Clarksdale, Mississippi, this album delivers fourteen blues-soaked tracks evenly split between inspired originals and influential covers. The recording features a jaw-dropping list of guest artists comprised of Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, Watermelon Slim, Eden Brent, Lightnin’ Malcolm, Gary Vincent, Lee Williams, Deak Harp, Rickey ‘Quicksand’ Martin, Harvell Thomas Jr., Billy Earheart, Steve Bell, Aliya Primer, and Rosalind Wilcox.

Primer’s performance on Leroy Carr’s “Blues Before Sunrise” is pure bliss.  When I hear those opening harmonica notes pour from Deak Harp,  I am captivated. Earheart adds another layer of authenticity on piano. His cover of “Walkin’ Blues” hits me with a timeless energy as I cozy up to the slide guitar of Lightnin’ Malcolm. and steady beat of Lee Williams on drums. I love the way Malcolm and Williams later usher the listener to North Mississippi Hill Country with “When I Met the Blues”. Primer sings “it’s not good if it ain’t got no hot sauce on it”, and I have to say, there is plenty of hot sauce slathered all over the fun and funky “Nothin’ But a Chicken Wing” with Bobby Rush on harmonica. For another solid dose of classic delta blues, Primer and Musselwhite join forces for Big Joe Williams’s “Baby Please Don’t Go”. It’s absolutely wonderful. I’m always thrilled to hear Watermelon Slim and to hear him play with Primer and Steve Bell on Louisiana Red’s “Let Me Be Your Electrician” is a plumb delight. When Slim’s dobro rings out, it sounds so damn good. Worries and troubles vanish each time I listen to the traditional spiritual “Lay My Burdens Down” featuring the beautiful vocals of John’s daughter Aliya. This magical song also features the wonderful talents of Eden Brent on piano and background vocals.

John Primer is a modern-day blues legend, and Grown in Mississippi is as pure of a blues album as one can be.  This is a recording blues fans will surely want to take note of.      

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For more information about John Primer, visit his website https://johnprimerblues.com

For other PhillyCheeze reviews of John Primer, visit this link https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=john+primer

 


Saturday, March 2, 2024

#664 : Brothers Brown - Nowhere Left to Go (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 


2024 – Woodward Avenue Records

Release Date Jan 12, 2024

By Phillip Smith; Mar. 2, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

It’s been eight years since Brothers Brown released their debut album Dusty Road. Their follow-up record Nowhere Left to Go recently landed and is very much worth the wait. Founded by Grammy-nominated keyboardist/synth-master Brother Paul Brown of the Waterboys, and two-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter/guitarist Paul Brown (George Benson, Al Jarreau, Norman Brown) the band also includes bassist/rhythm guitarist/vocalist David Santos (Billy Joel, John Fogerty, Elton John) and drummer/percussionist/guitarist Peter Young (Loretta Lynn, The Burrito Brothers). Together, they approach music much like Grateful Dead and Little Feat pushing genre-specific boundaries of rock, blues funk, and country.

I’m captivated from the beginning as the record rolls in on a super-melancholy wave of regret and loneliness with “Wrong Side of Town”. The way the guitar notes seem to float in mid-air with a Mark Knopfler-ish way sounds amazing as they naturally join forces with the keys. “Junior’s Back” puts me in a happy space with every listen. Once the bridge hits, I am thrown into the Phish-zone, and relish every bit of its expansive and wonderful jam. The Brothers Brown zero in on the Sixties Chicago blues sound with “My Baby”. It hits the bullseye dead center. “Chitlin’ Pickin’” is a grateful instrumental which fills the sky with sunshine and smiles. A driving rhythm slathered with grease and a cookin’ pulse pulls me into the delectable blues-rock anthem “Black and Blue”.      

The great Bobby Rush joins the Brothers Brown on title-track “Nowhere Left to Go” making for a soulful, funky treat.  Rush’s history of working with Brother Paul Brown stretches back for over twenty years, culminating in four albums, three Blues Music Awards, a Grammy nomination, and multiple concert tours.

Nowhere Left to Go receives a high recommendation from me. It’s a terrific album that just gets better with every listen.                                     

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For more information about the artist, visit this website : https://wbaentertainment.com/brothers-brown/

 

Read the PhillyCheeze review for Brothers Brown’s Dusty Road album 

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2016/03/brothers-brown-dusty-road.html



Saturday, January 15, 2022

#537 : Bernard Allison - Highs & Lows

 


2022 – Ruf Records

By Phillip Smith; Jan. 15, 2022

 

Bernard Allison is one of those artists who I totally admire, and I’m absolutely thrilled to hear fresh music from him.  Highs & Lows, his latest album is hands-down fantastic.  Produced by Grammy Award winner Jim Gaines, this eleven-track blues album is a slice of perfection.  The core of Allison’s top-notch band consists of George Moye on bass guitar, Dylan Salfer on rhythm guitar and Steve Potts on drums.

Energy levels are high as Allison fearlessly hits the ground running on “So Excited”.  It’s great to hear him blaze full-throttle on guitar.  This is exactly what I was hoping for on an opening song.  Title-track “Highs & Lows” rolls out with its funky, infectious riff and pulls me right in.  Guitar in hand, Canadian blues artist Colin James joins Allison in a juicy duet of Texas-style electric blues on “My Way or the Highway”.  The swampy sounds of the Mississippi delta are quite infused into “Side Step”, making it one of my favorite songs on the disc.  What a pleasant surprise it is to hear Bobby Rush accompany Allison on “Hustler”.  His distinctive voice and harp playing are delivered in his usual suave approach and it’s fun to hear him collaborate with Allison. 

I love that Allison pays tribute to his father, Chicago blues legend Luther Allison by recording two of his songs.  The first up is the 1974 single “Now You Got It” off the album Luther’s Blues.  This is Seventies soul-blues at its best.  Immediately following is “Gave it All”, from Luther’s 1994 album Soul Fixin’ Man.  It swoops me right up in its cozy warm arms for an intoxicating horn-infused listen.  Allison's performance on this is downright breathtaking.

Lows & Highs ends with a blast of funky downhome blues with “Last Night”.  Lyrically timeless, this song hits on every cylinder, and I dig every bit of it.  Allison pours everything he has into this guitar performance, making it a huge standout. 

This is an album that delivers the goods with each and every song.  It’s terrific through and through.       

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

 

Past PhillyCheeze reviews featuring Bernard Allison :

PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: #313 : Bernard Allison - Let it Go (phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com)

 

PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: #347 : Czech Village Blues - Aug 11, 2018 featuring Ruf Record's Blues Caravan (phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com)