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Febuary 18, 2011 www.bluesfestivalguide.com Volume # 6  Issue # 6

Special Announcements
CD or DVD Releases
News Flash
Record Label News
Blues Society News
House of Blues Radio Hour
Roots Blues Airplay Charts
Blues Festivals
About Us
Attn: FESTIVAL PROMOTERS
Post your 2011 festival info to the Blues Festival Guide Website by following this link: 
 
Yes it's still FREE! Get listed on our Website; our annual Magazine, the E-guide and Facebook.  All you gotta do it is take 5 minutes to provide your dates, and your location. 
 
You'd be crazy to miss out.  The Website gets 30,000+ unique visitors per month, the Magazine reaches 100,000 hard copy readers, (plus thousands more who view the magazine digitally), Facebook fans exceed 9,000+, and the weekly E-Guide newsletter has 24,000+ subscribers.  If somebody is a fan of Blues...we reach 'em.
 
How's that for FREE!
 
Post your festival information as soon as you know it.  Blues Fans are ready to make their 2011 festival travel plans.

Los Fabulocos Featuring Kid Ramos : : Dos
Los Fabulocos was first established in 2004 by its two founding members - singer/accordionist Jesus Cuevas and drummer Mike Molina – who initially formed their musical bond while working together as members of the East Los Angeles roots-rock band The Blazers. When bassist James Barrios signed on the following year in 2005, his passion for Bakersfield country music began to seep into the ever evolving musical gumbo that was already simmering on an even heat. When the final ingredient of blues guitarist Kid Ramos was added to the mix in 2007, the carefully crafted, home-brewed stew had unquestionably reached a boiling point.
 
As the title implies, Dos is the highly-seasoned second helping by Los Fabulocos, the sizzling, white-hot Cali-Mex quartet from Southern California featuring the trail-blazing guitar work of blues sensation Kid Ramos. On their sophomore effort, the band shows considerable growth and diversity with an expanded repertoire of original material augmented by special guests Big Manny (vocals, rubboard & timbales) and Raul Medrano (percussion) from The Blazers, along with saxophonist extraordinaire Rod Dziubla. Dos serves up a tantalizing combo platter of vintage rock 'n' roll, interspersed with intensely energized and spicy Latin rhythms, guaranteed to turn the heat up faster than a bowl of fire-roasted habanero salsa!

Big Joe and the Dynaflows : : You Can't Keep a BIG MAN DOWN
You Can’t Keep a Big Man Down reunites veteran blues singer/drummer Big Joe Maher with Severn Records, which released both his 1998 album, I’m Still Swingin’ (winning a Washington Area Music Association award for “Best Blues Recording”), and his 2000 release, All Night Long. You Can’t Keep a Big Down showcases Big Joe’s bluesy, swinging vocal style and rock-solid drumming on 12 tracks, evenly split between originals and covers. Whether it’s the rollicking Chicago blues of the title track, the New Orleans influenced “Evangeline,” the Texas blues sound of “Bad Case of Love,” or the Kansas City jump style of “Confessin’ the Blues,” Big Joe always delivers the goods on arguably his strongest album ever in a critically-acclaimed career.
Big Shanty : : Collection *Two Disc Set*
Collection is a 2-CD compilation of tracks from Big Shanty, whose blistering sound has been described as everything from "death metal blues" to "heavy metal funk." The double-disc set also includes five previously out-of-print live tracks.
 
Big Shanty's sonic rain of acid guitars and incendiary beats has captivated fans in search of something outside the blues/rock mainstream.  Big Shanty's renegade style of blues is hard to cagegorize.  He is truly alternative blues.


Blues Grammy Winners, 2011
Best Traditional Blues Album: 
Pinetop Perkins and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Joined at the Hip
 
Contemporary Blues Album
Buddy Guy, Living Proof
 
Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album
 
Chubby Carrier And The Bayou Swamp Band
Other news of note to blues fans would be the win for the Carolina Chocolate Drops for Genuine Negro Jig and Jeff Beck's win for  Best Pop Instrumental Performance for Nessum Dorma.
 
Congratulations to all.
 

VOICE OF THE WETLANDS ALLSTARS
 

 
B.B. King Museum welcomes new Executive Director, Dion Brown!
Dion Brown is the new Executive Director of the B.B. King Museum & Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi. He comes to the job from Wichita, Kansas where he has been Chief Operating Officer at Exploration Place, a hands-on science and children's museum which draws over 180,000 visitors a year.
Brown was hired by the Indianola museum after a seven-month search for a new director. His five-year experience at the Wichita museum has included all aspects of its operations. He has been leading a staff of 42.
Brown, 46, who grew up in Decatur, Illinois, retired from the Air Force in 2002 after serving 21 years.  
 
"I'm looking forward to working with the excellent team at the B.B. King Museum," said Brown. "It's an incredible museum and it has a remarkable reputation, and I hope to help lead it to even greater successes. I am equally looking forward to learning the rich history of the Delta and working alongside the people in this community."
 
Click for more
 

BLUES FOUNDATION AWARDS GERMANY'S GEORG SCHROETER & MARC BREITFELDER & COLORADO'S LIONEL YOUNG BAND WITH TOP HONORS AT 27TH INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE
The Blues Foundation - Media Alert
 
 
 
The Blues Foundation's 27th International Blues Challenge ended on Saturday February 5th, 2011 with two packed shows at the Orpheum Theatre. Out of 220 acts from 40 states and 13 countries that competed for top honors throughout the weekend only two can be called winner in the solo/duo and band competition.
 

For the second consecutive year a non-American act won the solo/duo category thus solidifying the global scope of the event. The solo/duo winner was Germany's Georg Schroeter & Marc Breitfelder, sponsored by the Baltic Blues Society in Eutin, Germany. The second place honors went to Canadian Harrison Kennedy from the Canal Bank Shuffle in Thorold, Ontario, Canada.
 
 
For the first time in event history, the top prize in the band competition goes to a former solo/duo category winner. 2008 IBC solo/duo winner Lionel Young returned with The Lionel Young Band to win on behalf of the Colorado Blues Society. Second place honors were earned by Mary Bridget Davies of the Kansas City Blues Society, and the third spot went to Rob Blaine's Big Otis Blues hailing from the Windy City Blues Society.
 
Another event first was the bestowing of IBC's Best Harmonica Player. Yet another international participant, Stephane Bertolino from the French band AWEK, won for Blues Sur Seine.
 
 
The Best Guitarist Award was given to Rob Blaine of Rob Blaine's Big Otis Blues. He walks away with beautiful blue custom Gibson guitar featuring The Blues Foundation's logo and a Category 5 amp.
 
 
In the Best Self-Produced CD contest, the judges crowned 'Get Inside This House'by Joe McMurrian of the Cascade Blues Association in Portland, OR.
The finalists in the solo/duo category were: Back Porch Stomp -(Washington Blues Society, WA), Izzy & Chris (West Virginia Blues Society), The Juke Joint Devils (Massachusetts Blues Society),  The Mighty Orq (Houston Blues Society, TX), Big Jim Adam & John Stilwagen (Colorado Blues Society) and JT Blues (Billtown Blues Association, PA).

The finalists in the band competition were: Randy Oxford Band (South Sound Blues Association, WA), Stevie J & the Blues Eruption (Central Mississippi Blues Society, MS), Grand Marquis (Topeka Blues Society, KS), Alex Wilson (Grafton Blues Association, WI), The Sugar Prophets (Illinois Central Blues Club),

Blues societies all over the world will soon be starting all over again as they begin their own competitions to determine who they will send to the 28th International Blues Challenge, the finals of which will be staged January 31 - February 4
, 2012.
 
For more info visit www.blues.org.
 
 

Robert Cray Leads Blues Hall of Fame Class of 2011
February 18th 2011
 
The Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee, announced its 2011 inductees for the Blues Hall of Fame. The class of 2011 is led by Robert Cray, who helped to reignite the blues on the national scene in the 1980s and whose soulful guitar work has been a dominant force in blues ever since. Other inductees include singer-guitarist John Hammond, singer-songwriter Denise LaSalle, vocalists Big Maybelle and Alberta Hunter, and singer-songwriter J.B. Lenoir.
 
In addition, several non-musicians are being recognized as well for their work in the field, including Vee-Jay Records pioneers Vivian Carter and Jimmy Bracken, noted African American educator John W. Work III, blues historian and revivalist Samuel Charters and producer Bruce Bromberg.
 
Influential works are also being celebrated with inductions, including John Broven’s celebrated book, Walking to New Orleans: The Story of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues. The singles, “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” (Supreme, 1947) by Jimmy Witherspoon, “Five Long Years” (J.O.B., 1952) by Eddie Boyd, “Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues” (Paramount, 1931) by Skip James and “Love in Vain” (Vocalion, 1937) by Robert Johnson will also be inducted, as will the albums Night Beat by Sam Cooke, False Accusations by Robert Cray, and The Real Folk Blues by Howlin’ Wolf.   
 
The induction ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May 4, at the Memphis Marriott Downtown in Memphis, the night before the 32nd Blues Music Awards. The event is sponsored by the Gibson Foundation.
 
 

Truth and Tribute in The Blues
 
February 16th 2011
 
Blues music may be timeless, but when one of the genre's most iconic artists turns 100, it's still a cause for celebration.
 
Tonight, at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, Big Head Blues Club celebrates the genre and commemorates what would have been the 100th birthday of blues music legend Robert Johnson with the Blues at the Crossroads: The Robert Johnson Centennial Concert tour.
 
Strathmore is just one of the stops on the national tour that coincides with the Feb. 1 release of Big Head Blues Club's album, 100 Years of Robert Johnson.
 
Big Head Blues Club is an ensemble of prominent blues musicians who together perform renditions of Johnson's iconic music for modern audiences.
 
The CD features 10 tracks of some of Johnson's best-known songs, including "Come On In My Kitchen," "Ramblin' On My Mind" and "When You Gotta Good Friend." Artists B.B. King, Charlie Musselwhite and Ruthie Foster are also featured on the record but are not part of the touring group.  
 
"It was a magical part of my life," said Todd Park Mohr, the lead vocalist and guitarist of Big Head Todd and the Monsters, who are featured on the record. "It only took three days in Memphis [to make the album]. There's just an overwhelming musical feeling in that place."
 

Festival Set To Expand
February 16th 2011
 
The organiser of the Australian Blues Music Festival said he is happy with how this year’s festival panned out but was looking to improve some aspects of it for next year.
 
“There is always room for improvement as far as I’m concerned but nothing needs to be fixed,” Geoff Bell from Laing Entertainment said.
 
“We’re getting there - we are growing. We have to evolve and find new ways of doing things, but personally - I had a ball and a lot of money was spent in town.”
 
He said next year he would like to see a jumping castle and rides for children in the park.
 
“I am looking to expand it next year and would like to get a corporate sponsor to put more attractions in the park for kids. To me the festival has to be inclusive for everyone,” he said.
 
Mr Bell said he was pleased with the overall quality of the acts and the turnout of people in the city.
 
“There was a lot of diversity for festival goers,” he said.
 
“I know that people came from New Zealand and the Northern Territory, but that numbers from Queensland and Victoria were down, understandably because of the floods.
 
“But there was a big increase in numbers from the ACT. We were targeting that area. It would be crazy not to market to Canberra with such a big population only an hour away.”
 
He said he had received a lot of feedback from festival goers.
 
“One suggestion I kept hearing was whether we could close the main street off in front of Belmore Park and to close Montague and Market streets as well and I will pursue this with Goulburn Mulwaree Council,” he said.
 
Mr Bell said there was plenty of variety on offer for punters.
 
“The stand out act for me was Dreamboogie. They were phenomenal. Also Halfway to Forth, Shaun Kirk, the Chris Harland Blues Band and Diana Wolfe and The Black Sheep,” he said.
 

Blues Festival Unlikely to Return to Downtown This Summer
February 15th 2011
 
After a 12-year run, there may not be a Riverhead Blues Festival this year – at least not in the parking lot by the Peconic River, where the event has been held on a weekend in July since 1998.
 
Bob Barta, president of the board of the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall – the non-profit organization which has run the event for the past four years – said he is “95 percent certain” that the festival will not return to downtown Riverhead.
 
Vail-Leavitt’s treasurer, Vince Tria, was even more emphatic. “It would take a miracle, and at this point, I don’t see it coming,” he said Tuesday.
 
Tria said, however, that the idea of holding the festival somewhere else is still very much on the table – promising, in fact, to have an announcement shortly.
 
“I’d say that within the next two or three weeks, we will have agreed on something,” Tria said. “We have a couple of alternatives. It’s a question of logistics, like parking accommodations and the like.”
 
Like Barta, Tria complained about the badgering he says he’s been getting from the town and the Business Improvement District.
 
“They’ve picked on us from day one about us hiding the money,” said Tria, whose music hall took over the festival in 2007 after the BID itself had been accused of financial irregularities.
 
Ray Pickersgill, president of the management committee of the BID and himself a former member of the Vail-Leavitt board, has long called on Barta and Tria to open the books. He has also been critical of Vail-Leavitt’s decision to start charging admission to the festival –  which used to be free – starting with $5 per person four years ago and increasing it to $10 two years ago.
 

Remembering the Life and Music of Michael Bloomfield
February 15th 2011
 
In the summer of 1965, Bob Dylan made music history when he plugged it in. The folk hero played a set with electric instruments at the Newport Folk Festival. So who gave Dylan this bright idea? A kid from Chicago named Michael Bloomfield. After that pivotal moment Bloomfield went on to experience both the highs and lows of the music business.
 
Eight Forty-Eight's Jason Marck shared his story:
 
Growing up on Chicago’s North Shore, Michael Bloomfield never really fit in. His only refuge was a guitar, and a transistor radio tuned to the blues on WVON. If Bloomfield’s radio opened a window to the blues, learning that his maid actually knew some of these blues legends blew open a door. Soon she was taking him to South Side clubs and introducing him to greats like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter and Otis Rush. Muddy became like a father to him. By the time he was 15, this pudgy, smart-aleky Jewish kid was on stage jamming with his idols.
 
Harmonica virtuoso Corky Siegel remembers it well.
 
"First time I met him, I was playing saxophone, and I sat in with him. And my partner Jim Schwall was his first harmonica player-that’s how far back I go with Bloomfield!" Siegel remembered, "But the scene, we were playing in this club, we didn’t know how wild it was-two little white kids playing in a black club till 3:00 in the morning…and the fact that all of these blues icons are coming in and out-but now I’m going 'Oh My God, what a thing!' Not only were we sitting in with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, they were sitting in with us! While we were learning how to play the blues! it was unbelievable!" delighted Siegel.
 
Michael Bloomfield was learning to play the blues and then some. By 1963 he was bringing the blues to the North Side, playing in various combos and booking artists in The Fickle Pickle and Big John’s. Blues-harp great Charlie Musslewhite was right there as it was all happening.
 
"Eventually they had live blues there every night of the week. You could see Little Walter, or Muddy, or the Wolf, and that started the whole thing of blues coming to the North Side. These clubs could pay more money and other clubs on the North Side were seeing the business that Big John’s was doing, and they started hiring blues," Musslewhite explained.
 

This Day in Music Spotlight: The Blow That Finally Killed Little Walter
February 15th 1968
 
The greatest harmonica man to ever blow the blues, Little Walter died in his sleep on this day in 1968. He was only 37 years old, but Walter looked much older, his body and soul battered and bruised from hard loving and too many defeats.
 
Just exactly how he died is another of rock and roll’s great mysteries. And the rumors were always going to spring up surrounding Little Walter, one of the more colorful characters in the tough world of Chicago blues.
 
Well-known for his quick temper, Little Walter was a fighter and a brawler who took more beatings over the years then he ever delivered. Some say the final straw was a head-blow from the brother of one of Walter’s many lady friends. Others say he was smacked over the head with a lead pipe over a bad gambling debt.
 
Muddy Waters, whose common sense and level headedness rivaled his prodigious musical talent once said, “He’s real tough, Little Walter, and he’s had it hard. Got a slug in his leg right now!”
 
Little Walter’s face grew increasing scarred from fights and beatings in the ’60s. It wasn’t a kind decade as he saw the blues surpassed in the pubic consciousness by rock and roll. Bitter and angry at the demise of his musical career, he sometimes waved a pistol onstage. Such was his temper and erratic behavior that band members would rarely stick around for more than a few shows.
 

“Rollin’ and Tumblin’”: The Story of a Song
October 30 2010
 
Search “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” at www.youtube.com, and more than 300 versions pop up. You’ll find recent performances by Bob Dylan, Jeff Beck and Imogen Heap, Imelda May, Cyndi Lauper, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Gov’t Mule, to name just a few, as well as older readings by Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Johnny Winter, Cream, The Yardbirds, Captain Beefheart, Canned Heat, Bonnie Raitt, R.L. Burnside, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, and many others. Over at www.archive.org you can hear 1920s renditions and an array of live covers by the Grateful Dead, Steve Kimock Band, Derek Trucks, and the North Mississippi Allstars – some recorded as recently as last month.
Seldom has one song connected so many musicians. With its mesmerizing riff, distinctive structure, and catchy melody, the song first appeared on 78s by some of the earliest bluesmen on record. Variations soon showed up in the repertoires of Mississippi-based Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. The song journeyed north to Chicago with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James. It crossed over into British blues and rock via covers by the Yardbirds and Cream. It was injected into mainstream American rock and roll by Johnny Winter, Canned Heat, and others. A century after its creation, the song still fills dance floors and provides an unsurpassed avenue for self-expression.
 

Warwick Guitarist Cory Bellucci is a Red Hot Bluesman at 14
 
Even 14-year-olds get the blues.
Warwick guitarist Cory Bellucci is still in middle school, and it hasn’t even been three years since he picked up a guitar for the first time. But his electric take on blues and blues-rock has so far been making the right kind of noise on stages around Rhode Island, as well as with some of the state’s blues royalty.
Dave Howard, a family friend who has sung with Roomful of Blues, Young Neil and The Vipers and more, says that there’s a knack, a feeling for the blues, that you can’t teach someone. “And some people never get that. But I got the sense that he was born with it. He gets it on some kind of subliminal level that other people don’t get.”
On a recent Friday night at Nostalgia, in Warwick, Cory sat in with Gary Gramolini and his band, The Grinders, adding demonic bends and swoops and an impressive speed and clarity to a mix of blues ballads, burners and shuffles. The crowd, composed of family friends and regulars, went wild, and so did Cory, with an array of stage moves largely borrowed from his heroes but with an intensity that belied not only his age but his quiet nature.
Afterward, Gramolini said, “I’m privileged to have Cory sitting in with us. He’s a talented kid and we play well together.” He was introduced to Cory through Dave Howard, and when he saw the youngster play with Rhode Island blues-rock heroes Black and White, “he always brought the house down. I was impressed. He’s got a lot of skill.” He gave him about a half-dozen lessons, but it was more like a meeting of peers: “I turned him onto a few things and he turned me onto a few things.”
 

Hidden History of Mississippi Blues -- new book by Roger Stolle coming soon from The History Press
NEW BOOK IS AN ENTERTAINING JOURNEY TO THE CROSSROADS OF AMERICAN MUSIC 
 
February 14, 2011 (Clarksdale, Mississippi) -- As the world celebrates the 100th birthday of Mississippi Delta blues legend Robert Johnson this spring, a new book about the blues genre and the land where it was born is set for release. 
  
Hidden History of Mississippi Blues, published by The History Press (available April 2011), begins and ends in the land of cotton and juke joints -- the land that introduced the world to Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, B.B. King and so many others lesser known but just as inspiring. 
 
"Hidden History of Mississippi Blues is an overview of the music's earliest days, height of popularity and current state of things," explained author Roger Stolle, adding, "One 'hidden' aspect of Mississippi blues is that in addition to the past history, there is much that's still present. Mississippi blues survives just under the radar in the juke joints and house parties of the Delta. It occasionally sticks its head out and gets on TV or goes on tour, but even then, it is such an archaic art form that many of the uninitiated aren't really sure what to do with it once they've experienced it. You need to either find it where it still lives naturally or have a tour guide to help you make a virtual journey. This book attempts to do a bit of both." 
 
 If anyone would know about blues in Mississippi, it would likely be Stolle. For most of the past decade, he has called Clarksdale, Mississippi -- the heart of the blues Delta -- his home. Owner of the Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art store there, Stolle also books Mississippi blues acts for major clubs and festivals in the region, contributes to radio shows like XM/Sirius' Bluesville, writes for magazines like Blues Revue , and produces indie blues films and albums. 
 
The book came about after months of conversation and a bit of a search, according to Will McKay, the commissioning editor for the project. 
 
"At The History Press, we had been talking about publishing a volume on Mississippi blues for some time," said McKay. "With a book of this scope and magnitude, we really felt like it required an author with just the right voice and background to make it work. We wanted to try to cover a massively important and influential genre in just one book, and we wanted it to be immediately accessible to a mainstream audience. So, we were thrilled when Roger agreed to come on board." 
 
Telling the Mississippi blues story through important historical happenings, fascinating (sometimes humorous) interviews, and personal anecdotes, Stolle weaves together an addictive story that could only come from a land as rich in history and mystery as the cotton-fueled Delta. 
 
"There's a reason why rock musicians from the Rolling Stones to Jack White love the blues and continue to go back to the well for inspiration time and time again," said Stolle. "It is the foundation, the dictionary. It is the root of all modern, popular music. A lot of younger rock, rap, R&B and soul musicians these days don't even realize that their sounds and stage shows have been informed by the blues." 
 
Hidden History of Mississippi Blues begins with Stolle's own personal journey from Midwestern white suburbia and big-city corporate America to a fascinating foreign land so close to home -- the Mississippi Delta. Then, through both ancient and recent history, it tells the compelling story of the blues -- sometimes in Stolle's own voice, other times in the words of the men who were there and lived to tell about it. 
 
To enhance this story, McKay and Stolle also invited another contributor into the loop -- photographer and blues fan, Lou Bopp of St. Louis. 
 
"When Will asked if I knew any good blues photographers, I told him I knew several," recalled Stolle. "But the more we talked about the project, we decided that we wanted to feature photos of Mississippi's living blues, not just archival shots. I met Lou in a juke joint when he was documenting just that -- living blues -- so he seemed like a natural. His photos capture both the musicians and the environment in which they thrive." 
 
Over forty photographs -- some black and white, some color -- help to put a face on Hidden History of Mississippi Blues. From the withered stare of an 83-year-old blues veteran to the playful expressions of a 27-year-old juke joint prodigy, Bopp's photos add texture and life to an already engaging story. 
 
Blues music producer Jeff Konkel of St. Louis-based Broke & Hungry Records contributed a Forward to the book as well -- providing yet another experienced voice to the project. 
 
Placed together, the words and photos of Hidden History of Mississippi Blues bring a music, history and people to the printed page in a purposely intimate way -- leaving readers rooting for the bluesmen and pondering the future of the music. 
 
Hidden History of Mississippi Blues will be available at book stores nationwide beginning in April. The book will also be available via The History Press web site at www.historypress.net, where it will be available for pre-order very soon. 
 
Roger Stolle and Lou Bopp will hold their first book signing event at Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art (www.cathead.biz) in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on April 15th at 3pm -- also the weekend of the Juke Joint Festival (www.jukejointfestival.com).
 
 

  
Soul Man in the Spotlight: Grammy Tribute for Philly's Solomon Burke
February 14th 2011
 
WITH THE likes of Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Eminem scheduled to perform at last night's Grammy Awards wing-ding at Los Angeles' Staples Center, it's understandable that Mick Jagger's first live performance at the music industry's annual orgy of self-congratulation may not have meant much to younger fans. But for devotees of classic rhythm and blues, the scheduled turn by The Most Stoned Roller of Them All (as the late Daily News gossiptista Larry Fields would have written) and Raphael Saadiq was probably the show's highlight.
 
Jagger - who had never before performed live at a Grammys ceremony - and Saadiq were slated to pay tribute to Philadelphia native Solomon Burke, the acclaimed soul singer who died at age 70 in October of natural causes while sitting on a plane at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
 
A contemporary of such R&B titans as Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, Burke, who grew up in West Philly, never reached those artists' commercial heights. Nonetheless, those in the know consider him as good as any soulster of his time.
 
"I remember when he came out with the song 'Cry to Me.' I knew then Solomon was a voice to be reckoned with," said "Sound of Philadelphia" songwriting icon Leon Huff.
 
"I always thought he was a powerful singer," continued Huff, who is working on an album to be called "Groovy People." "I always loved those baritone voices. And Solomon had one, and so did [the late] Teddy Pendergrass. They were the two most powerful baritones in Philadelphia R&B."
 
According to Kal Rudman, publisher of Cherry Hill-based Friday Morning Quarterback, which tracks music for the pop-music radio industry, Burke is "up there in the pantheon of all-time greats. You could put him in a class with Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson and Wilson Pickett. He had a God-given voice."
 
Like so many soul singers, Burke developed his vocal chops singing gospel music. At age 7 he became a preacher.
 
"They gave me a fish box to stand on and a cape and two pieces of chicken - and I was preaching," he told the Philadelphia Weekly in a 2002 interview. "[I] gave my first sermon when I was 7, had a radio ministry when I was 12 on WHAT-AM" (then the city's trendsetting R&B and gospel station).
 
According to his entry in Wikipedia, Burke's move from sacred music to the pop realm began at the end of 1955, when, after entering a management deal with local promoter and DJ Kae Williams, he signed with Apollo Records.
 

 

CATFOOD RECORDS
Catfood Records announces an April 5 release date for Memphis Still Got Soul, the new CD from Blues Music Award winner Johnny Rawls, whose last album, Ace of Spades, won the BMA in 2010 as Soul Blues Album of the Year. The new album features 10 original songs, plus a testifyin’ take on “Blind, Crippled and Crazy,” a song best-known for the version recorded by Rawls’ musical mentor, O.V. Wright. 
 
 
Memphis Still Got Soul was produced by Johnny Rawls and Bob Trenchard and recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, Texas; and at Soul Tree Recording in Helena, Montana. Most of the musicians on each of the sessions also played on both of Johnny’s last two albums. Included on the Texas sessions are several members of The Rays, a band Rawls discovered in 1999 and subsequently produced for his own Deep South Soul Records. The Rays continue to back Johnny Rawls for some of his tour dates. Special guest on those sessions was guitarist Johnny McGhee, former LA Motown studio musician (Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross) and guitarist for the group, LTD.
 
Click for more


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Tri-County Blues and Boogie Club
Our Mission - To enjoy and promote upbeat blues and blues rock entertainment in the Tri-County, FL area...Lake, Marion and Sumter Counties
 
Go pig-out on blues! Here is this weekends schedule
 
Friday (tonight), Feb. 18
 
…at McCall’s, Spanish Springs, The Villages
From Brooksville, FL
Gordon Bulcock and
Deja Blues
8 – 11
$2 Admission gets you two 50/50 raffle tickets
$3 gets you six tickets
 
…at Ruby Street Grille, Tavares
Nightly Blues
8 – 12
 
Saturday, Feb.19
 
...at Leesburg Mardi Gras, on the Square, Historic Leesburg
Beautiful Bobby Blackmon
& B3 Band
8 – 11
 
Sunday, Feb. 20
...at Lakeridge Winery, Rte. 27 South of Leesburg, Clermont
Beautiful Bobby Blackmon
& B3 Band
2 - 5
 
...at Koolkat Saloon, CR 25, Belleview
OPEN BLUES JAM
With
Jimmy Sparks
2 - 6
 

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SMOKEY ROBINSON SONGS:
    
 
 Smokey Robinson, front man for the Miracles, the heart and soul of Motown Records, and amazingly prolific songwriter (thousands of songs, some claim): he is Elwood’s guest this week. His songs will be heard, as done by the Stones, the Beatles, the J. Geils Band…. Motown memories will be shared. Also: some Miracles, of course, early influence BB King, Carlos Santana, and Rufus Thomas. You will hear a taste of what Smokey is up to today. Plus: new music from up and coming guitar man, Shane Pruitt. And a chance for you to win a copy of the new record from England’s answer to Etta James. She is Adele. The CD is called 21.
 
 For a list of stations where you can find House of Blues Radio
 


Click on festival name to click through to festival website.
VISIT THE BLUES FESTIVAL GUIDE WEBSITE FOR ALL THE FESTIVALS
Over 500 festivals are listed on the website www.BluesFestivalGuide.com
Roslyn Winter Blues Festival
Friday-Saturday,
February 18-19
Roslyn, WA, U.S.
www.theroslyncrawl.com
The 3rd Annual Ship-less Blues Cruise
Friday-Sunday,
February 18-20
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
www.bouldershomeoftheblues.com
Sighisoara Blues Festival
Thursday-Saturday,
February 24-26
Sighisoara, Sighisoara, Romania
www.blues-festival.ro
Calgary Mid-Winter Blues Festival
Monday-Saturday,
February 21-26
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
www.calgarybluesfest.com
Saskatoon Blues Festival
Thursday-Sunday,
February 24-27
Saskatoon, SK, Canada
www.saskatoonbluessociety.ca
Phuket International Blues Rock Festival
Friday-Saturday,
February 25-26
Karon Beach, Phuket, Thailand
www.phuketbluesfestival.com
Colorado River Music Fest
February 26 
Parker, Arizona, U.S.
www.coloradorivermusicfest.com
Dry Bones Blues Festival, VI
Saturday, March 5
St.Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
festival link
Mississippi BluesFest
Saturday, March 5
Greenwood, Mississippi, U.S.
www.mississippibluesfest.com
Centenary Mini-Blues Festival
Friday-Saturday,
March 11-12
Hackettstown, NJ, U.S.
www.centenarystageco.org
Bonita Blues Festival
Friday-Saturday,
March 11-12
Bonita Springs, FL, U.S.
www.bonitablues.com
Costa Rica Blues Festival
Saturday, March 12
San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
www.crbluesfest.com
St. John Blues Festival
Wednesday-Sunday,
March 16-20
St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S.
stjohnbluesfestival.com
2011 Texas Bluesfest-Corpus Christi
Sunday, March 20
Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.
www.TexasBluesfest.com
International "Blues & Arts Fiesta"
Saturday, March 26
San Felipe, Baja Norte, U.S.
www.bluesandarts.com
Giving Hunger The Blues
Sunday, March 27 
Sarasota, Florida, U.S.
www.givinghungertheblues.org
RBA Publishing Inc is based in Reno, NV with a satellite office in Beverly Hills, Florida. We produce the annual Blues Festival Guide magazine (now in its 7th year), the top-ranking website: www.BluesFestivalGuide.com, and this weekly blues newsletter: The Blues Festival E-Guide with approximately 20,000 weekly subscribers. We look forward to your suggestions, critiques, questions, etc.

Reach the E-Guide editor, Gordon Bulcock, gordon@bluesfestivalguide.com

or contact our home office at 775-337-8626, eguide@bluesfestivalguide.com

 
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Information - both editorial and advertising - in the Blues Festival E-Guide - is believed to be correct but not guaranteed - so check it carefully before you attend any event or send money for anything. We do not write the news... just report it.
 
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