There's always room for another quality blues label on the scene, and on September 21, 2010 the Chicago-based Swississippi Records launches with its initial slate of three album releases. Formed by Zurich, Switzerland native and blues musician Chris Harper, the label will be managed by the born in Chicago blues biz vet Dave Katzman. The label's first trio of albums includes Rob Blaine's Big Otis Blues, Peaches Staten's Live At Legends, and Swississippi label CEO Chris Harper's Four Aces And A Harp.

Guitarist Rob Blaine makes his album debut with Big Otis Blues, the Chicago-born, Michigan-bred instrumentalist raised on a steady diet of blues, soul, R&B, and rock 'n' roll. Blaine began playing at the age of 15, and two years later was steady gigging around the Grand Rapids area. Blaine returned to Chicago seven years ago, and after a stint touring with the late, great Little Milton, he currently plays with the Chicago Rhythm & Blues Kings as well as pursuing his own guitar-driven blues sound.

Blues singer Peaches Staten is one of those unheralded artists that Swississippi hopes to record. Born in the Mississippi Delta, but raised in Chicago on the sounds of gospel, soul, and blues, Staten is an old-school blues belter in the vein of Koko Taylor. Staten has kicked around the Chicago scene for better than a decade now, performing with folks like Billy Branch, Katie Webster, and Carl Weathersby, and she has developed a significant European following. With the release of Live At Legends, the last album to be recorded at the old location of Buddy Guy's Legends club, Swississippi hopes to introduce American blues fans to Staten's singing talents.

Label CEO "Swississippi" Chris Harper was a successful businessman in Switzerland for over 20 years before selling his company to pursue his first love - blues harp. The culmination of this dream can be found on Four Aces and A Harp, where Harper brings his Little Walter/Big Walter inspired harp blasts to bear on a fine selection of blues and R&B covers from artists like Willie Dixon, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Muddy Waters. Harper includes a couple of well-crafted original songs, and recruited talents like guitarist John Primer, bassist Bob Stroger, and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, among others, to play behind him.

"Yes, there are all kinds of good reasons for not starting a record label, but there's one major one that really influenced both of us," says Katzman in a press release for Swississippi. "There are a lot of outstanding traditional blues musicians who aren't being recorded for whatever reasons." As for the label's musical philosophy, Katzman says, "we're looking for people who want to have fun with the music while still celebrating and treasuring the importance of the art form...we're also looking for artists with their own style, people who don't sound like anyone else, yet are definitely connected to the tradition." Keep your eyes open for these first albums from Swississippi Records!

Photos courtesy Swississippi Records

Blues guitarist Lucky Peterson returns to the blues world with his first album in seven years, You Can Always Turn Around. Scheduled for September 28, 2010 release by Dreyfus Records, You Can Always Turn Around was recorded in Woodstock, New York with a gifted set of musicians including guitarist Larry Campbell, bassist Scott Petito, and drummer Gary Burke. Peterson, a talented multi-instrumentalist, plays a duolian resonator, piano, and acoustic and electric guitars on the album.

One of the most interesting aspects of You Can Always Turn Around is Peterson's eclectic choice of material, which includes songs from Delta blues legend Robert Johnson, Piedmont bluesman Blind Willie McTell, and folk-blues artist Rev. Gary Davis, as well as skilled contemporary wordsmiths like Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Ray LaMontagne, and Gil Scott- Heron. You Can Always Turn Around closes with Peterson's soulful take on the Curtis Mayfield song "Think."

Although only 45 years old, Peterson's lengthy career began in the early 1960s, when he was discovered by Chicago blues great Willie Dixon at the age of three. The son of a Buffalo, New York nightclub owner, Peterson grew up on the blues and R&B performed by artists like Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed who performed at his father's Governor's Club. Peterson was barely six years old when he scored a national R&B hit with the Dixon-produced song "1-2-3-4," and by the age of eight he had developed his skills as a keyboardist and guitarist. Peterson would play behind legends like Little Milton, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Etta James, and Otis Rush before launching his solo career in the late 1980s.

"This album is very different for me - it's more from the heart," says Peterson in a press release for You Can Always Turn Around. "The songs were picked by (co-producer) Doug Yoel, and he knew my heart. I feel like all these songs were for me." The album would be the last co-production of label owner Francis Dreyfus, who passed away on June 24, 2010.

Photo courtesy Dreyfus Records

If you've ever thought about learning to play blues harmonica like the big boys, then this is your chance! Instructor Jon Gindick will be holding his Blues Harmonica Jam Camp in Clarksdale, Mississippi from September 28 through October 2, 2010.

A full-time musician and writer with a background in education, Gindick has sold better than 1.5 million books and CDs on learning to play the harmonica since 1984, leading blues great B.B. King to call him "the world's foremost instructor of blues harmonica." The Blues Harmonica Jam Camp will be held on the historic Hopson cotton farm, where Pinetop Perkins once lived and played, Gindick assisted by a hand-picked crew of six harmonica coaches.

"We put on the seminar in a 150-year-old dance hall called the Hopson Commissary, and we stay next door at the Shack Up Inn," says Gindick in an email about the camp. "Over five days we make a lot of music on stage, in back rooms and on front porches. We get beginners playing blues riffs, bending notes, tongue-blocking, amplifying, understanding theory, and getting past stage fright. You can't believe the look on people's faces when they jam the first time - playing and singing with the band."

This will be the fifth harmonica camp that Gindick has held in the Mississippi Delta, and his 39th camp overall, the event pulling in students from across the United States as well as from as far away as Norway, Japan, and Australia. "Our Mississippi Delta Jam Camp brings together people, music, history and encouragement in a five-day blues adventure dedicated to learning to play," says Gindick. "Doing this in the Delta, with the ghosts of the greats looking on, really puts it over the top." Check with the Blues Harmonica Jam Camp website for more details and availability.

Photo by Doctor Bob, courtesy www.morguefile.com

Blues singer Robin Rogers is sick and needs our help. Rogers suffers from hepatitis C, a particularly difficult form of the disease, and was admitted to Gaston Memorial Hospital in Gastonia, North Carolina on August 18th, 2010 after experiencing internal bleeding and low blood pressure due to the hepatitis. According to her website, she is currently sedated while undergoing tests, and may have to undergo surgery.

Rogers, like too many musicians, doesn't have medical insurance, and doesn't qualify for unemployment, i.e. if she doesn't work, she doesn't make any money. Medical expenses are piling up for Rogers and her husband Tony, who is the guitarist in her band, with no end currently in sight. This is where we come in...while some fundraising events will be held in the Gastonia area to help with these bills, an account has been set up with Bank of America to accept donations. Any blues fans that want to donate to the Robin Rogers Medical Trust Fund can do so by making a deposit at any Bank of America, using the account number 0006-5617-0126. Checks may also be mailed to Rachel Pickard, Attorney at Law Trustee, at P.O. Box 547, Gastonia, NC 28053. It might be a good idea to write "Robin Rogers" in the subject line.

An extremely gifted vocalist as well as a talented guitarist and harp player, Rogers was honored with a Blues Blast Award for "Best Female Artist" of 2009 and received a 2009 Blues Music Award nomination as "Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year" on the strength of her 2008 Blind Pig Records debut, Treat Me Right. Rogers recently finished up a 40-day tour of the western U.S. with guitarist Debbie Davies, and her new CD Back In The Fire is scheduled for September 11, 2010 release by Blind Pig. You can purchase all of Rogers' CDs through through the Robin Rogers website, which also helps with her expenses. Rogers is the real deal, folks, a blues singer with great power and emotion who has overcome a troubled past and addiction to rise to the top of the blues world. Let's help get her through this illness and back on stage where she belongs!

Thanks and a tip of the hat to reader Marty Gunther for bringing this story to our attention!

Photo courtesy Blind Pig Records