Blues

A memorial celebration has been scheduled in honor of late blues guitarist Michael "Iron Man" Burks, who passed away last week of an apparent heart attack. The memorial and musical celebration of Burks' life will be held on Sunday, May 20, 2012 at Riverwoods On The Ouachita, on Bradley Ferry Road in Burks' hometown of Camden, Arkansas.

The event is open to the public, and kicks off - rain or shine - at 3:00 PM CST; guests are encouraged to bring instruments, lawn chairs, and coolers. Instead of sending flowers, the guitarist's family has asked that donations be made in Burks' name to The Blues Foundation's HART Fund, which helps out blues musicians with health care needs.

Burks was raised in a musical family, and first picked up a guitar at the age of two; by the age of five, he was learning to play songs from his father's record collection. By his early teens, Burks was fronting his own band as well as backing many of the blues and R&B talents that performed at his family's nightclub. After a lengthy hiatus from music as Burks raised his own family, he began performing again in the early 1990s, eventually signing with Alligator Records, which released three critically-acclaimed albums by the talented guitarist.

Burks earned his "Iron Man" nickname by delivering hours-long, physically-demanding performances night after night, his soulful vocals matched by a fierce, unique guitar style that would leave audiences breathless. A charismatic performer, nobody left a Michael Burks show without a smile on their face, and the artist would climb behind the wheel of his van and drive hundreds of miles to his next show. A blue-collar bluesman with immense six-string skills and a growing confidence in his songwriting ability, Burks was the living, breathing, touring embodiment of the blues, and will be missed...

Photo courtesy Alligator Records

OK, so our blog headline this week is a pretty bad pun, but as the Billboard magazine blues charts for the week ending May 19, 2012 proves, the Tedeschi Trucks Band is still holding strong. The band's Grammy® Award-winning Revelator album sits at number seven, its lowest position (I think) in the year it's spent dominating the chart, while the upcoming, yet-to-be-released live album moves up a spot to number six on the strength of pre-release sales. I thoroughly expect it to hit number one at the end of May when it actually hits store shelves.

Otherwise, there's not much happening on this week's chart. Tab Benoit's career-spanning Legacy collection drops out of the top ten, displaced by Beverly McClellan's on-and-off-the-charts album Fear Nothing. With Benoit winning multiple Blues Music Awards this week, including the huge "B.B. King Entertainer of the Year" award, I expect Legacy to bounce back up the chart. Ditto for Revelator, considering that Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks also walked away with Blues Music Awards last Thursday night...

Here are this week's Billboard Top Ten blues albums, ranked by sales:

10. Beverly McClellan - Fear Nothing (Oarfin Records)
9. Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton - Play The Blues (Warner Brothers)
8. Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk (Warner Brothers)
7. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator (Sony Masterworks)
6. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody's Talking (Live) (Sony Legacy)
5. Various Artists - Back In New Orleans (Starbucks)
4. Walter Trout - Blues For The Modern Daze (Provogue Records)
3. Gary Clark, Jr. - The Bright Lights EP (Warner Brothers)
2. Dr. John - Locked Down (Nonesuch Records)
1. Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream (Redwing Records)

New releases this week: The Mannish Boys' Double Dynamite (Delta Groove); Paul Butterfield's Better Days/It All Comes Back (Edsel Records); The Nighthawks' Damn Good Time! (Severn Records)

Photo of the Mannish Boys' Double Dynamite courtesy Delta Groove Music

The music world lost a bona fide legend this weekend with the death of bass player and songwriter Donald "Duck" Dunn. In Tokyo for a series of performances, Dunn passed away in his sleep on Sunday morning, May 13, 2012. Dunn was 70 years old.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1942, Dunn went to high school with fellow musicians Steve Cropper and Don Nix. Enamored of the rhythm and blues music they heard on the radio and in West Memphis nightclubs, the three men formed the Royal Spades with friends like Packy Axton and Wayne Jackson and began gigging in the Memphis area. Later changing their name to the Mar-Keys, the band scored a minor hit in 1961 with the instrumental "Last Night," released by Axton's mother Estelle's Satellite Records label. Cropper would be the first to jump ship, but when the Mar-Keys broke up several years later, Dunn would reunite with the guitarist as a member of the Stax Records' house band Booker T & the MGs.

With Booker T & the MGs, Dunn's fluid bass lines provided the heavy bottom end sound that was one of the band's hallmarks. Aside from their own chart hits like "Green Onions," the MGs backed up a literal "who's who" of 1960s-era R&B and soul stars, including Rufus Thomas, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, and Otis Redding, among others, including bluesman Albert King. Dunn would later get involved in production for the Stax and Volt labels, as well as contributing to the staff's songwriting efforts.

When Stax Records went belly-up in the 1970s, Dunn was one of the last men standing, and he slipped into a career as a session player almost effortlessly. Throughout the years, Dunn brought his unique bass sound to recordings by artists as varied as Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Bill Withers, and Jerry Lee Lewis, among many others. The bassist played with Cropper as part of the recently-deceased Levon Helm's RCO All-Stars, and appeared in the popular 1980 film The Blues Brothers playing himself as a member of the band. Dunn reprised his role in the 1998 movie Blues Brothers 2000 and would later tour as part of the Blues Brothers Band.

In recent years, Dunn was semi-retired, but still did occasional shows with Booker T Jones and Steve Cropper as Booker T & the MGs. Dunn was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the MGs, and received a lifetime achievement Grammy® in 2007. On his Facebook page, Cropper posted "today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live." We thank Donald "Duck" Dunn for his lifelong contribution to rock, soul, and blues music and our thoughts go out to his family, friends, and many fans.

Booker T & the MGs photo from the Frank Diggs Collection, courtesy Getty Images (Dunn at left, holding bass guitar)

The Blues Foundation held its annual awards shindig last night and in between performances, they announced the winners of the organization's 33rd annual Blues Music Awards, held at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. Guitarist Tab Benoit was a big winner at the ceremony, walking off with the coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award, among others, while Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, both alone and as part of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, earned a number of awards. See who else won a Blues Music Award this year...

Here on the About.com Blues website, we recently posted some fresh album reviews. The Reverend takes a look at Dr. John's Locked Down; produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, the album is a late-career tour-de-force for the New Orleans musical legend. The Rev says that Eric Bibb's Deeper In The Well is a "pleasant and entertaining" collection of "blues, folk, and country sounds that have their roots in the big cities and the rural back roads of the country." Guest author Steve Pick reviewed the second album from Peter Karp and Sue Foley, Beyond the Crossroads, and if you missed it, don't forget to check out our list of New Blues CDs to see what you're going to spend your money on this month!

Tedeschi Trucks Band photo by Scott Gries/Image Direct, courtesy Getty Images

What are you guys doing the weekend of June 2nd and 3rd, 2012? If you're located anywhere on the east coast, within driving distance of Augusta, New Jersey you should make plans to venture out to the Sussex County Fairgrounds for the Michael Arnone's 23rd Annual Crawfish Fest. Go ahead, you'll thank me later!

Every summer for nearly two-dozen turns of the calendar now, promoter Michael Arnone has held his unofficial "Mardis Gras North," a celebration of New Orleans and all things Cajun for exiled Louisiana natives and, well, everybody else that enjoys having a good time. There's plenty of music and food at the Crawfish Fest, and your taste buds will be delighted with a variety of Louisiana cuisine, from boiled crawfish (naturally!) and crawfish pie to jambalaya, grilled alligator sausage, shrimp creole, and authentic po-boy sandwiches of every kind. For readers of the vegetarian persuasion, the event has you covered with grilled portabella mushroom sandwiches, vegetarian red beans, and other non-meaty fare.

As for the festival's musical fare, Arnone has lined-up an impressive menu of performers appearing on four stages. The legendary Dr. John and his band The Lower 911 will headline Saturday night, with artists like Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, the Malone Brothers, and festival favorites Bonerama appearing throughout the day. Sunday night is anchored by New Orleans favorites Galactic, but the day also features two performances by the enormously-talented Marcia Ball, an anticipated set from a recently-reunited From Good Homes, and Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble, among others.

Campers and "King Crawfish Krewe" members get an extra treat. The campgrounds open up on Friday, June 1st and Arnone provides exclusive entertainment to his "captive audience." Friday night you can check out performances by Grayson Capps and Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk while Saturday night campers can enjoy Walter "Wolfman" Washington and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. There are also instrumental workshops throughout the weekend for the kids. For more information, or to find out about ticket availability, check out the Crawfish Fest website.

Dr. John photo by Michael Wilson, courtesy Michael Arnone's Crawfish Fest

Although Chuck Rainey may not be a household name, the odds are better than good that you've heard the prolific bass player's fat strings on some of your favorite music. Rainey first became a star during the early 1960s, performing and recording with the great King Curtis. Since that time, Rainey has had his fingers in nearly every style of music, from blues and soul to rock 'n' roll, and among jazz fans he's often mentioned in the same breath as legends like Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius. Over the course of better than five decades, Rainey has performed and recorded with artists like Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Albert King, Al Kooper, Paul Butterfield, and many others.

On November 4th, 2011 Rainey suffered a stroke at his home near Dallas, Texas. He is currently back at home and undergoing therapy, but as anyone who has had a stroke, or has known somebody that had a stroke, knows all too well, the road back from such a devastating event is long and filled with obstacles. While Rainey is at home and undergoing treatment, he is unable to work, and it doesn't take long for the medical bills to start adding up.

A medical fund has been set-up to help Rainey during his recuperation. All donations go directly to Chuck and Susan Rainey, and will be used exclusively for Rainey's treatment and living expenses. You can donate directly through the ChipIn! website that has been set up for Rainey, or if you'd prefer to send a donation by mail, you can do so through the address below. All checks or money orders should be made payable to Charles Rainey.

Charles Rainey
c/o John Files
1720 W. Anderson Lane
Austin, Texas 78757

Photo courtesy Chuck Rainey

Now we're shaking things up a bit, with the Billboard magazine blues charts for the week ending May 12, 2012 offering up two exciting debuts, one not unexpected, the other a total surprise. First of all, blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout's excellent Blues For The Modern Daze debuts on the charts this week at a very respectable, and not totally unexpected number five. With Trout's work ethic being as strong as his fretwork, I expect the lengthy touring supporting the album to help keep it fresh in record buyer's minds for quite some time.

This week's surprise comes courtesy of the beloved duo of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks...no, not the Tedeschi Trucks Band's Revelator, which has dominated the chart for the better part of a year, and earned the hard-working band a Grammy® Award. No, I'm talking about the band's upcoming Everybody's Talking live album, which has evidently sold enough pre-release copies to debut in the top ten two full weeks before its actual release date. I don't think that I'm going out on a limb here to predict that, eventually, the budget-priced two-disc live set will unseat Bonnie Raitt from the top spot, and will virtually live in the top ten for the next, say, 52 weeks or so...or until Tedeschi and Trucks release their next album!

Here are this week's Billboard Top Ten blues albums, ranked by sales:

10. Tab Benoit - Legacy: The Best Of (Telarc Records)
9. Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton - Play The Blues (Warner Brothers)
8. Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk (Warner Brothers)
7. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody's Talking (Live) (Sony Legacy)
6. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator (Sony Masterworks)
5. Walter Trout - Blues For The Modern Daze (Provogue Records)
4. Gary Clark, Jr. - The Bright Lights EP (Warner Brothers)
3. Various Artists - Back In New Orleans (Starbucks)
2. Dr. John - Locked Down (Nonesuch Records)
1. Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream (Redwing Records)

New releases this week: Giles Robson's Crooked Heart of Mine (Blues Boulevard Records); Muddy Waters Blues Band's Mud In Your Ear (Douglas Records); Royal Southern Brotherhood's Royal Southern Brotherhood (Ruf Records); Steve Cochran's Changes (Blues Boulevard Records)

Photo of Giles Robson's Crooked Heart of Mine courtesy Blues Boulevard Records

We've received word from Alligator Records that blues guitarist Michael "Iron Man" Burks passed away on Sunday, May 6, 2012 from an apparent heart attack. The popular bluesman had just returned to the states from a European tour, and collapsed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He was rushed to South Fulton Medical Center but could not be revived. Burks was 54 years old.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July 1957, Burks was raised in a musical family - his grandfather was a blues guitarist in Arkansas, his father a bass player who often performed with Sonny Boy Williamson. Burks first picked up a guitar at the age of two, and by the age of five he was learning to play songs from his father's record collection motivated, no doubt, by the $1 per song reward that his father paid if he learned a song by the time he got home from work. The elder Burks moved his family to Arkansas in the early 1970s, where the family built and operated the Bradley Ferry Country Club, a 300-seat juke-joint. By his early teens, Burks was fronting his own band as well as backing many of the blues and R&B talents that performed at the family's club.

The Bradley Ferry Country Club closed in the mid-1980s, and Burks went to work as a mechanical technician for Lockheed-Martin as he raised his own family. By the early 1990s, however, he was getting the itch to perform again, and he formed a new band in 1994 and began playing clubs and regional festivals. Burks' energetic performances and blistering guitar style quickly earned him a reputation, and he received offers to perform at festivals from one side of the country to the other. Burks released his self-produced debut album From The Inside Out in 1997, the disc receiving critical acclaim and leading to bigger and better bookings. Burks would sign with Alligator Records, releasing his label debut Make It Rain in 2001 and following it up with his I Smell Smoke album in 2003. Burks' 2008 album Iron Man earned the guitarist a slew of Blues Music Award nominations and placed him on the verge of blues superstardom.

Burks earned his "Iron Man" nickname by delivering hours-long, physically-demanding performances night after night, his soulful vocals matched by a fierce, unique guitar style that would leave audiences breathless. A charismatic performer, nobody left a Michael Burks show without a smile on their face, and the artist would climb behind the wheel of his van and drive hundreds of miles to his next show. A blue-collar bluesman with immense six-string skills and a growing confidence in his songwriting ability (he wrote or co-wrote seven of the twelve songs on Iron Man), Burks was working on a new album for Alligator Records at the time of his death. Burks was the living, breathing, touring embodiment of the blues, and will be missed. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends, and many fans around the world.

Photo courtesy Alligator Records

Guitarist Sonny Landreth is well-known as a talented instrumentalist, receiving particular acclaim for his wicked slide-guitar skills. Over the course of ten solo albums, as well as woven throughout his session work with people like John Hiatt, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, John Mayall, and Dr. John, among many others, Landreth's amazing fretwork has earned him a reputation as one of the roots-n-blues' world's best musicians.

Surprisingly, Landreth has never released an "all instrumental" album, until now...on May 22, 2012 Landreth will release his 11th album, titled Elemental Journey, on his own independent Landfall Records label. Elemental Journey is notable not only because it stands as Landreth's first instrumental-only album, but also because it represents his most adventuresome work to date, the guitarist mixing elements of rock, blues, jazz, and zydeco music with some, shall we say, more exotic influences?

"From day one on the guitar, many genres of music have had an impact on me," says Landreth in a press release for the new album. "For these recordings, I drew from some of those influences that I hadn't gone to on previous albums with my vocals. Trading off the lyrics this time, I focused solely on the instrumental side and all this music poured out. Then I asked some extraordinary musicians to help me layer the tracks in hopes of inspiring a lot of imagery for the listeners." To help record this landmark album, Landreth enlisted the help of friends like fellow guitarists Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson, and steel drum virtuoso Robert Greenidge. Backing up these six-string wizards are members of Landreth's band, including bass player Dave Ranson and keyboardist Steve Conn, along with drummers Brian Brignac, Doug Belote, and Mike Burch.

"One of the things I've always loved about a good instrumental song is that it can be more impressionistic and abstract," Landreth notes in his press release. "Though melody is always important, it's even more significant with an instrumental. So what I wanted to achieve was something more thematic with lots of melodies and with a chordal chemistry that was harmonically rich. That's when I got the idea to treat the arrangements with more layering and to have the melodies interweave like conversations. I also wanted it to be more diverse, to not adhere to any categories. I wanted to leave it wide open to possibility."

Related content: Sonny Landreth - From The Reach CD review

Photo courtesy Landfall Records

Blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout is hitting the road hard in support of his recently-released new album, Blues For The Modern Daze, which the Reverend says "is Walter Trout at his very best." Offering a little insight into the new album, in a press release for Blues For The Modern Daze, Trout says "my main inspiration for this album was the country bluesman Blind Willie Johnson, an early blues innovator who recorded such timeless gospel informed blues numbers as "Soul of A Man" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine." His music is so beautiful, primal, direct and deeply spiritual that I wanted to feel it at my back when we were cutting these songs."

Trout continues, adding, "this album captures my interest in exploring a side of my music that's rooted in my first musical love, and it reveals something about me too. It sums up the thoughts and attitudes of somebody who is getting a little older and is feeling a little like he's a part of another era, with different values and a different perspective on life than often seem to be prevalent today. And I stand behind those values, like compassion, authenticity and honesty, as strongly as I stand behind my music."

As good as the record is, however, no mere magnetic tape can capture the energy and vitality shown by the man on stage, and if you like your blues somewhat edgy, guitar-driven, and with an intelligent populist slant, Trout is your man. Check him out when he comes roaring through your hometown (tour dates listed below)!

Walter Trout Tour Dates

5/05 @ Bixby Blues Festival, Bixby, OK
5/06 @ Knucklehead's Saloon, Kansas City MO
5/09 @ Bridge Street Live, Collinsville CT
5/10 @ River Jazz Festival, Bethlehem PA
5/11 @ Bull Run, Shirley MA
5/12 @ Stanhope House, Stanhope NJ
5/14 @ The Tralf, Buffalo NY
5/16 @ Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River MA
5/18 @ Iridium Jazz Club, New York NY
5/19 @ Iridium Jazz Club, New York NY
5/20 @ Iridium Jazz Club, New York NY
5/21 @ Iridium Jazz Club, New York NY
5/23 @ Double Door Inn, Charlotte NC
5/24 @ Orange Peel, Asheville NC
5/25 @ Smith's Olde Bar, Atlanta GA
5/26 @ MS Gulf Coast Music, Art, Craft & Seafood Festival, Biloxi MS
5/27 @ MS Gulf Coast Music, Art, Craft & Seafood Festival, Biloxi MS
5/30 @ Gilly's, Dayton OH
5/31 @ Callahan's, Auburn Hills MI
6/01 @ Moondog's, Blawnox PA
6/02 @ Western Maryland Blues Festival, Hagerstown MD
6/05 @ The Adriatic Cafe, Rockford IL
6/06 @ Redstone Room, Davenport IA
6/07 @ Shank Hall, Milwaukee WI
6/08 @ Canton Blues Festival, Canton OH
6/09 @ Famous Dave's Blues Festival, Minneapolis MN
6/10 @ House of Bricks, Des Moines IA
6/12 @ Zoo Bar, Lincoln NE
6/14 @ Old Rock House, St. Louis MO
6/15 @ House of Blues, Chicago IL
6/16 @ W.C. Handy Blues Festival, Henderson KY
6/30 @ Irvine Lake Blues Festival, Silverado CA
8/10 @ Skyline Bar & Casino, North Sioux City SD
8/11 @ Famous Dave's, Minneapolis MN
8/12 @ Bayfront Blues Festival, Duluth MN
8/18 @ White Mountain Boogie & Blues Festival, Thornton NH
8/26 @ North River Blues Festival, Marshfield MA
8/31 @ Illinois Blues Festival, Peoria IL
9/02 @ Snowy Range Music Festival, Laramie WY

Photo by Austin Hargrave, courtesy Provogue Records