Showing posts with label PhillyCheeze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PhillyCheeze. Show all posts

Saturday, May 17, 2025

#746- > Charlie Musselwhite - Look Out Highway (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 


2025 – Forty Below Records
Release Date : May, 16, 2025
 
By Phillip Smith; May, 17, 2025
 
Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com
 

With nearly sixty years of recording experience behind him, Charlie Musselwhite continues to push forward and produce critically acclaimed blues to stand the test of time.  His latest album Look Out Highway is an instant favorite. Recorded at Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studio in San Jose, California with Matt Stubbs (GA-20) on guitar, June Core (Robert Lockwood Jr.) on drums, Randy Bermudes (James Cotton) on bass, and Kid Andersen sitting in on guitar, piano, and keys, this eleven-track album is plumb fantastic.

With an unescapable groove, the record kicks off with title-track “Look Out Highway”. It’s downright hypnotizing, and I love every bit of it. “Hip Shakin’ Mama” is an immediate hit for me. Sometimes one just can’t escape the blues, as Musselwhite sings with one foot in Tennessee and one in Mississippi on “Baby Won’t You Please Help Me”.  Flavored with Memphis-style soul featuring Andersen on organ, this one surely cooks. Being a drifter on the road, sets the stage for the slow blues of “Highway 61”.  Having traveled that highway back and forth from Arkansas to Iowa countless times over the past thirty-three years, I can surely identify with Charlie when he states ‘Sixty-One Highway is the longest road I know’. Topping out at number one on the US Country charts in 1978 for Crystal Gayle, “Ready For Times To Get Better” lands as the only cover on the album.  Featuring Edna Luckett joining in on a duet with Musselwhite, this absolutely fabulous version of the song cuts right to the bone. It surely seems to be even more relevant today than when it was released. The attention-grabbing surprise on the record is the “Ghosts in Memphis”. This intoxicating track about Memphis-borne spirits and haints features Musselwhite’s haunting harp licks blended in an innovative way with rap vocals from Memphis-based artist Al Kapone. It is an extraordinary track.  

Look Out Highway is destined to be a hit record. This cocktail of Delta Blues, Chicago Blues, Memphis Soul and Country makes for a memorable listen each and every time I hear it.       

  

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Photo © Michael Weintrob

Photo © Michael Weintrob

For more information about Charlie Musselwhite, visit his website https://www.charliemusselwhite.com/

 

For other PhillyCheeze reviews of Charlie Musselwhite, visit this link https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=charlie+musselwhite

 

 

Monday, May 12, 2025

#745 : Pinetop Boogie & Crawfish Boil 2025 (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)




Ground Zero Blues Club
Clarksdale, Mississippi
May 10, 2025
 
By Phillip Smith; May 12, 2025
 
Original source: phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

It was indeed a pleasure to attend the 2025 Pinetop Boogie & Crawfish Boil at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. This event benefits the Pinetop Perkins Foundation whose primary mission is “ to provide encouragement and support for youth and young people at the beginning of their musical career; and help provide care and safety for elderly musicians at the twilight of their career”. Before the festivities began, I made my usual stop down the street to my favorite store Cat Head to listen a bit to Terry “Harmonica” Bean and purchase a few CDs. Afterward, I pushed off to Hambone Gallery to hear a great set of music from Guitar Frenchie before returning to Ground Zero for the brunt of the day.

Acts at Ground Zero included Bob Stroger, Bob Corritore, Billy Flynn, John Primer, Tas Cru, Johnny Burgin, Kevin Burt, Tony Braunagel, Jim Pugh, Billy Price, Anthony Geraci, Thornetta Davis, Oscar Wilson, Billy Gibson, Wyly Bigger, David Julia, Heather Crosse, Lee Williams, Lala Craig, Anthony Sherrod, Deak Harp, Six String Andrew, Liz Lottmann & Delta Divas, Steve Kolbus & the Clarksdale Blues Revue, The Pinetoppers. Christone Kingfish even made an unexpected appearance. It was an extraordinary show!

 

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For more information about the Pinetop Perkins Foundation, visit their website at https://www.pinetopperkinsfoundation.org/organization/

 

 All Photos by Phillip Smith


Terry "Harmonica" Bean @ Cat Head

Stan Street @ Hambone

Guitar Frenchie @ Hambone

Guitar Frenchie & Cricket @ Hambone



Pinetop Boogie & Crawfish Boil @ Ground Zero Blues Club

Deak Harp

Deak Harp

David Julia & Walt Busby

Steve Kolbus & the Clarksdale Blues Revue

Six String Andrew

Kevin Burt

Delany Burt, Kevin Burt, and Phoebe Burt

Jim Pugh

Heather Crosse and Josh Parks

Josh Parks




Thornetta Davis

Tina Cossey & Six String Andrew

Tina Cossey

Josh Parks and Tina Cossey

Heather Cross, Josh Parks, and Lectric Liz Lottmann

Lala Craig

Lala Craig

Heather Crosse

Gabe Stillman

Gabe Stillman

Six String Andrew, Gabe Stillman, Anthony Geraci, Tony Braunegal  


Johnny Burgin

Bob Stroger

 Jimi "Primetime" Smith & Bob Corritore

Bob Stroger

Bob Corritore and Johnny Burgin

Jimi "Primetime" Smith, Bob Corritore, & Johnny Burgin

Lee Williams

 Jimi "Primetime" Smith & Bob Corritore

Bob Corritore, Lee Williams, and Johnny Burgin

Bob Corritore and Johnny Burgin

Jimi "Primetime" Smith, Johnny Burgin & Bob Corritore

Bob Stroger and Johnny Burgin

Bob Corritore & Bob Stroger

Bob Stroger, Bob Corritore, Johnny Burgin & Lee Kanehira 
 

Oscar Wilson, Jimi "Primetime" Smith & Bob Corritore

Billy Flynn & Lee Kanehira

Oscar Wilson

Bob Corritore & John Primer

Bob Corritore

Jimi "Primetime" Smith

Bob Corritore & John Primer


Heather Crosse & Tas Cru



Tas Cru

Tas Cru & Six String Andrew

Tas Cru & Heather Crosse

Tas Cru, Heather Crosse, Six String Andrew

Tas Cru

Marcel Smith

Pinetop Perkins youth band

Six String Andrew

Pinetop Perkins youth band with Christone "Kingfish" Ingram

Six String Andrew & Christone "Kingfish" Ingram

Six String Andrew & Christone "Kingfish" Ingram


 Christone "Kingfish" Ingram

Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod

Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod & Heather Crosse

Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod

Heather Crosse & Brady Roseberry

Heather Crosse & Brady Roseberry

Brady Roseberry and Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod

Brady Roseberry and Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod

Anthony "Big A" Sherrod

Brady Roseberry

Heather Crosse, Brady Roseberry and Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod

Brady Roseberry and Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod


* All photos by Phillip Smith