#736- > Janiva Magness - Back For Me (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2025 – Blue Elan Records

Release Date : Mar. 28, 2025

By Phillip Smith; Mar. 15, 2025

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

Janiva Magness has been one of my favorite blues singers for quite a while.  Her amazing talent has earned her seven Blues Music Awards including the BB King Entertainer of the Year in 2009, and a Grammy nomination for her 2016 album Love Wins Again.  Magness’ seventeenth release Back For Me shows she is still as innovative and fierce as ever.  Produced by her longtime friend and collaborator Dave Darling, this record teams the blues icon with an amazing short list of guests comprised of Joe Bonamassa, Sue Foley, and Jesse Dayton.  With a mission to shine a light on the B-sides of a few of the heavy-hitter songwriters such as Bill Withers, Ray LaMontagne, Allen Toussaint, Doyle Bramhall II, Tracy Nelson, and Irma Thomas, Magness creates a fabulous listening experience. Backing her in the studio for this release is Darling on guitar, Ian Walker on bass, and W.F. Quinn Smith on drums.    

“Masterpiece”, featuring Bonamassa on guitar and accompanied by Sasha Smith on B3, welcomes the listener with an infectious walking blues rhythm and smoking-hot guitar licks.  Her cover of Bramhall’s “November” from the 2016 album Rich Man, is beautifully performed and expertly approached in such a way which leaves me in a melancholy state.  I love the infusion of the Latin beat and Santana-like guitar from John Schroeder.  It’s great to hear Sue Foley guesting on blues-rocker “Holes”.  Magness sings this with a fearless delivery as Foley mesmerizes me with an amazing performance.  A jazz-fueled bassline, and side of masterful percussion instill a brilliant cadence for “You Can Bring Me Flowers”.  It’s a splendid slice of beat-poetry put to music with Robert ‘Chalo’ Ortiz on guitar.  Smith pours a little barrel-house over Allen Toussaint’s “Hittin’ On Nothing’”.  This selection originally sung by Irma Thomas, features guitar-slinger Jesse Dayton and brings the record to a searing end.

Back For Me is a blues album which absolutely shines in every aspect. It is sure to be an instant classic.

 

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WEBSITE & SOCIALS

 Janiva Magness

https://www.janivamagness.com/

https://janiva-magness.bandcamp.com/music

For other PhillyCheeze reviews featuring Janiva Magness follow these links  :

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2016/03/janiva-magness-love-wins-again.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2016/03/janiva-magness-live-riverside-casino.html

#648 : Sue Foley - Live in Austin Vol. 1 (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Guitar Woman Records

By Phillip Smith; Dec. 3, 2023

Release Date : Oct.27, 2023

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Sue Foley’s latest release Live in Austin Vol. 1 sunk its teeth into my heart quite quickly.  The 2020 Blues Music Award recipient of the Koko Taylor Award category plays through a mix of originals and covers on her new album, produced by Mike Flanigin.  The record nicely captures the artist her home-turf with a sold-out show at Austin, Texas’ Continental Club.  With Foley on guitar and vocals, her band consists of bassist Jon Penner, drummer Corey Keller, guitarist Derek O’Brian, Angela Miller on background vocals and tambourine, and Lauren Cervantes on background vocals.

The hounds are released as Foley tears through the title track of her 2006 album “New Used Car”.  She absolutely cooks, and her performance puts me right in the zone.  The opening licks of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Howling For My Darlin’” make my ears perk up even more.  Foley’s dreamy vocals add a whole new dimension to this song as she serves up a searing-hot platter of blues guitar.  The instrumental “Hooked on Love (AKA Lucky Lou)” from her 1992 Young Girl Blues album is exquisitely performed and played with finesse.  I dig Keller’s rumba beat and how it compliments Foleys guitar mastery.  I love her stunning cover of Bob Dylan’s “Positively 4^th Street”.  She keeps it fresh and does not stray far from Dylan’s vocal cadence.  Foley blows the dust off of Memphis Minnie’s 1941 classic “Me and my Chauffeur Blues” for a shindig of a blues jamboree.  For the closer, it was an unexpected treat to hear her break out a very deep cut from Cheap Trick “High Roller”.  Foley truly rocked the house on this one.

Sue Foley’s Live in Austin – Vol 1 gets a high recommendation from me.  The album kept me glued to her music from start to finish.  I just hope there is not much of a wait-time for Vol. 2 to be released.  

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Check out other PhillyCheeze reviews for Sue Foley -  https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=sue+foley

 

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

 

Peter Karp\Sue Foley - Beyond the Crossroads

By Phillip Smith

Maybe it’s just me, but the newest release, Beyond the Crossroads by Peter Karp and Sue Foley gets more interesting with each subsequent listen.  A common thread runs through each song, tying them all together in a neat little musical present for the listener.  This thread is the personal relationship between the artists themselves.  A follow up to their prior album, He Said, She Said, based on their back-and-forth emails and long distance calls, these songs delve a bit further into their hearts and souls, revealing a refreshing positivity.

The harmonies on this album are very nice.  Sue Foley has a sultry and slightly raspy voice that can really belt out some lyrics when she needs to.  To hear what I am talking about, check out the song “Analyze’n Blues”.  What really puts the icing on the cake for this track is Karp throwing down with his National Steel ResoRocket slide. This one ranks high on the ‘cool meter’.  I love this song.  

Karp and Foley playfully dance around several different genres while keeping the album as a whole really bluesy.  Take the song, “At the Same Time”, for example.  As Karp and Foley alternate vocals with Karp on slide, a fantastic horn section provided by the Swingadelic Horns spice up this slow-tempo Louisiana creole flavored duet.  It’s Beale Street meeting Bourbon Street.  For those who appreciate bluegrass, and have a very short attention span, check out the very fast paced instrumental, ‘Plank Spank’.  Although it clocks in at just less than two minutes in length, Karp and Foley play their hearts out and have now earned a spot on my list of performers I want to catch live in concert. 

Rating 8 out of 10