Music has been Robin Rogers' consuming passion ever since her days as a teenage street singer. Possessing a deeply expressive and soulful voice and an infectious enthusiasm for the blues, Robin and her band have developed a devoted and growing following. Her Blind Pig debut, Treat Me Right, fulfills the promise of her previous two releases, revealing an accomplished artist of rare polish and originality. It features perhaps her most powerful composition, "Color-Blind Angel", a moving account of the life and death of white civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo. "Color-Blind Angel" won second place in the blues category of the 2007 International Songwriters Competition.

This CD showcases Robin's stylistic variety and passionate vocal intensity, from the rolling R&B title track to the jazzy "Nobody Stay" to the soulful groove of Nobody's Gonna Hurt You. Blind Pig Records is truly proud to welcome Robin to its roster.

Release date: June 24, 2008

http://www.robinrogers.com/welcome.html

Bonnie Bramlett looks you straight in the eye. Then she lays it out.

"I don't do 'famous,'" she says, her voice as wise and true as a Saturday night slow-drag or a Sunday morning sermon. "I don't have an entourage. I don't ride in limos. I don't call cars. It takes a lot of work to be famous..."

And here she leans back, her eyes dancing playfully. "...and I'm just a lazy girl."

Laughter follows, as infectious and beckoning as the rhythm in her speech. Even so, it only hints at how Bramlett communicates through songs - and that case is made clear on "Beautiful", the latest and certainly one of the greatest albums this peerless singer has ever tracked.

Bramlett has followed just about every path through the landscape of American music. Go back beyond her previous release, the title-says-it-all Roots, Blues & Jazz, back through the phenomenon of Delaney & Bonnie, whose electrifying shows inspired Eric Clapton to give up his superstar spotlight and woodshed as a member of their band, earlier even than her apprenticeship as the only white Ikette ever welcomed into the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, all the way to the days when she used to sneak as a teen from her steel-town neighborhood into black blues bars of St. Louis, to hear and then to sing with the likes of Little Milton and Albert King.

All of these experiences come together on Beautiful, an album that's elegant in its simplicity and profound in its depth. It was recorded with the best of the Muscle Shoals rhythm section joined by roots-rock veterans, members of Little Richard's and Delbert McClinton's bands, and others gathered by Johnny Sandlin, whose artist-centric productions defined the Southern rock movement.

After more than 40 years in the public eye, apprenticeships as a backup singer to giants of the blues, collaborations with the greatest stars in rock & roll, appearances as an actress on the small and silver screens, and above all a lifetime marked sometimes by controversy but never marred by compromise, Bramlett ties her story into one Beautiful package, with a message that says all an artist can hope to say about his or her work.

"I'm not making blues records," she sums up. "I'm not making jazz records. I don't fit into a slot. I never have. I don't think about how many records I can sell; that's somebody else's job. For me, the question is bigger: Will I be proud for my kids, or my great-grandkids someday, to hear this? You can't unring that bell, baby. That's why all I can do is to make Bonnie Bramlett records, the best I can."

And then she leans back, her smile warmed by the ironies of experience and informed by the knowledge that, with Beautiful, she has accomplished that mission, after all.

http://www.bonniebramlett.com/

Amos Garrett, if truth be told, has been part of the roots music scene for well over 40 years, and right now he's enjoying the fruits of his labor. Laid back, and with a sense of humor so dry that one could light matches on his pants, he is marking a new level of independence and has released what his fellow musicians are already calling the best record of his long career.

"Get Way Back: A Tribute to Percy Mayfield" is a collection of songs by one of the very best - if lesser-known - songwriters in American roots music history. And Garrett, in his wonderfully contrary way, found some of the very best tunes by the man who was called "The Poet Laureate of the Blues but did not include the man's most-covered songs, "Hit the Road Jack" and "Please Send Me Someone To Love.""Well," Garrett explained, "those songs have been sung before."

Get Way Back, for once, puts the emphasis on Garrett's deep, supple voice, with his trademark guitar style perfectly complementing the lyrics, but more understated than usual. And the songs - many of them deep, dark and full of foreboding - make for a remarkably satisfying listening experience.

Produced by Garrett himself, and recorded in Toronto and Calgary, the record features long-time collaborators Ron Casat on keys, and sax player Dave Babcock, who also arranged the quietly effective horn parts, which feature trumpet player Alistair Elliott. Bucky Berger on drums and bassist Victor Bateman are also veterans of Amos' band, which he long ago christened the Eh! Team. Ken Whiteley, whose Toronto studio was used for some of the recording, plays piano.

The new CD? "Percy's songs, when I was introduced to them in the early '70s, really set my direction. I've recorded some of his songs before, but this brand new collection is my tribute to a giant songwriter. Sharing these songs is very special to me."- Amos

http://www.melmusic.com/amos_garrett/