Keith's Blues Blog

With their second Alligator Records album, Orange Blossoms, scheduled for August 26th release, the Florida-based, country-styled blues-rock band J.J. Grey & Mofro will be hitting the road in support of the new disc. Beginning with a special in-store performance in their backyard at the CD Connection store in Jacksonville and a high-profile performance at The Blackwater Sol Revue in St. Augustine, Florida on August 30th, 2008, the band will travel out west in September with the Hill Country Revue, which features members of the North Mississippi All-Stars. Catch J.J. Grey & Mofro at a club or festival near you; complete tour dates are listed below.

J.J. Grey & Mofro photo by Eric Sutton, courtesy Madison House Publicity

Jul. 26 @ Taste Of Lincoln, Chicago IL
Jul. 27 @ 3rd & Lindsley, Nashville TN
Aug. 07 @ Summit-Fox Theatre, Boulder CO
Aug. 08 @ Magic City Blues Festival, Billings MT
Aug. 09 @ Realm Festival, New Castle CO
Aug. 16 @ Hot August Blues Festival, Cockeysville MD
Aug. 26 @ CD Connection, Jacksonville FL
Aug. 30 @ Blackwater Sol Revue, St. Augustine FL
Sep. 02 @ The State Theater, Starkville MS
Sep. 03 @ Varsity Theatre, Baton Rouge LA
Sep. 04 @ Hi-Tone Cafe, Memphis TN
Sep. 05 @ Greater Ozarks Blues Festival, Springfield MO
Sep. 06 @ George's Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville AR
Sep. 09 @ Santa Fe Brewing Company, Santa Fe NM
Sep. 10 @ Rhythm Room, Phoenix AZ
Sep. 11 @ Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach CA
Sep. 12 @ The Independent, San Francisco CA
Sep. 13 @ The Independent, San Francisco CA
Sep. 14 @ Earthdance Peace Festival, Laytonville CA
Sep. 16 @ Moe's Alley, Santa Cruz CA
Sep. 17 @ Crystal Bay Club Casino, Crystal Bay NV
Sep. 18 @ Rogue Theatre, Grants Pass OR
Sep. 19 @ Berbati's Pan, Portland OR
Sep. 20 @ Neumo's, Seattle WA
Sep. 22 @ Winthrop Auditorium, Winthrop WA
Sep. 24 @ Alive After Five, Boise ID
Sep. 25 @ Mangy Moose, Teton Village WY
Sep. 26 @ Murray Theatre, Murray UT
Sep. 27 @ Ogden Theater, Denver CO
Oct. 12 @ Loki Festival, Mills River NC
Oct. 25 @ Paradise Rock Club, Boston MA
Nov. 01 @ Sarasota Blues Festival, Sarasota FL

Memphis radio legend Cap'n Pete, the alter-ego of WEVL-FM radio deejay Dee Henderson, was found shot to death at his Southwest Memphis home on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at the age of 72. As reported by the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, Henderson hosted his blues program, "Cap'n Pete's Blues Cruise," on WEVL-FM every Friday night for 26 years, and he showed no signs of slowing down. Read more about Cap'n Pete….

Cap'n Pete photo courtesy WEVL 89.9 FM

This coming Sunday – July 27th, 2008 at 12:00 noon Eastern – tune into SIRIUS Blues (channel 74 on your SIRIUS satellite radio receiver) and catch a special edition of The Chess Records Hour featuring some of the great guitarists that made Chess the hot blues label of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Hosted by Marshall Chess, son of the label's co-founder Leonard, the broadcast will feature songs from acclaimed guitarists and blues artists like Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, Elmore James, and Chuck Berry, among others. Chess will also share stories of growing up among these blues music legends.

As mentioned above, The Chess Records Hour: The Chess Guitars will broadcast at noon on Sunday, July 27th, and will be repeated a couple of days later, on Tuesday, July 29th at 5:00 PM Eastern, and again the following week, on Thursday, July 31st at 12:00 midnight Eastern. You'll find SIRIUS Blues on channel 74; check with the SIRIUS Radio website for more information on the satellite broadcaster's blues programming.

Buddy Guy photo by Christian Lantry, courtesy Jive/Silvertone Records

It's no secret among fans that blues music giant Nappy Brown has spent better than a month and a half in a North Carolina hospital bed. The big-voiced blues music and R&B star was hospitalized in New Jersey on June 1st after he suffered from overwhelming weakness at the beginning of his set at the annual Crawfish Festival, and was unable to perform. At first it was thought that the singer was suffering from extreme dehydration, but other medical issues have since surfaced, necessitating Brown's hospital stay.

This setback comes at a bad time for the singer, who has been enjoying a recent career resurgence in the wake of his Blues Music Award twice-nominated album Long Time Coming, released in 2007 by Blind Pig Records, and his subsequent knock-down performance at the BMA show. Because of Brown's illness, however, his summer tour dates – including a number of festival appearances – have been cancelled. The doctors at the Carolinas Medical Center are unsure of when Brown might be released, and view his current condition as serious.

A lengthy hospital stay, needless to say, is stressful and lonely for anybody, and Brown could use our support during this trying time. If you'd like to try and brighten Brown's day a bit, please consider sending him a get well card or other words of encouragement and appreciation for all the great music that he's given us in care of the address below.

Napolean Culp
c/o Carolinas Medical Center
1000 Blythe Boulevard
Charlotte NC 28203

Nappy Brown photo by Gene Tomko, courtesy Blind Pig Records

Blues guitarist Maynard Silva died on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, reports the Vineyard Gazette Online. The 57-year-old blues musician lost his three-year battle with cancer. Born of working class roots on Martha's Vineyard, Silva attended college in St. Louis, but felt the lure of blues music drawing him to Memphis. He began hanging around Beale Street clubs on the weekend, and subsequently began performing with country blues legend Bukka White in 1972.

Through the years, Silva played with blues music giants like White, J.B. Hutto, and Buddy Guy, launching his own Maynard Silva Band in 1982. Though he largely retired from touring in the late-1980s, Silva continued to record and to perform regionally. During a career that spanned five decades, Silva recorded six solo albums along with two albums with his band the New Hawks – the best known of which is Howl at the Moon – and his songs have appeared on a number of slide guitar anthologies. Get the full story on this overlooked blues guitarist from the Vineyard Gazette Online….

On August 5, 2008 Music Video Distributors will be releasing Johnny "Guitar" Watson's Live In Concert, the DVD featuring a 1993 performance by the legendary guitarist at the North Sea Jazz Fest, held each year in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The DVD release features over two-and-a-half hours of music and special features, including interviews with Watson, a biography of the artist, and a complete discography of the acclaimed blues musician. Find out what else will be included on Watson's Live In Concert DVD….

DVD cover photo courtesy Music Video Distributors

Blues music legend B.B. King has come full circle: beginning in September 2008, King will be hosting a radio program for XM Radio. King's program will feature favorite blues and gospel songs hand-picked by the guitarist; King will also share stories from across the six decades of his lengthy and acclaimed career. In honor of King's upcoming show, the satellite radio network is renaming their dedicated blues music station "B.B. King's Bluesville" (XM 74).

When King moved to Memphis in 1948 to pursue what would become a storied career in the blues, he landed a job with radio station WDIA, performing his own music and spinning blues and R&B platters for listeners. Originally dubbed "The Peptikon Boy" (an alcohol-based elixir competing with the better-known Hadacol), King would later adopted "Beale Street Blues Boy" as his on-air name, shortening it to "Blues Boy," and, finally, "B.B." The following year, King cut his first sides...in the nearly 60-years since, B.B. King has released 50 albums, won 14 Grammy™ Awards, and been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of the Fame and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

We'll be eagerly anticipating King's return to the radio to hear what tunes the blues icon has to share!

B.B. King photo courtesy Geffen Records

In spite of having their gear stolen while in Canada a couple of weekends ago, sources have informed the Reverend that the live recording sessions planned for July 18 and 19, 2008 featuring blues musicians Nick Moss and The Flip Tops and Lurrie Bell will take placed as planned. The collaboration between Bell and Moss and The Flip Tops will take place at Chan's Eggrolls & Jazz in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the site of an earlier Moss session that resulted in the Blues Music Award nominated Live At Chan's album in 2006.

This weekend's recording sessions, featuring the six-string talents of second-gen Chicago bluesman Lurrie Bell, will be released on CD this fall as Live At Chan's: Combo Platter #2 on Moss' Blue Bella Records label. Bell's most recent album is 2007's critically-acclaimed Let's Talk About Love, while Moss and The Flip Tops' latest is the equally acclaimed Play It 'Til Tomorrow, also released in '07. East Coast blues fans are urged to swarm Woonsocket and deliver Bell, Moss, and The Flip Tops a rowdy audience for the recording of the album. Check with the Chan's Eggrolls website for more information on the club, tickets, etc.

CD cover photo courtesy Blue Bella Records

Scheduled to play the Ottawa Blues Festival last weekend in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, blues guitarist Nick Moss and his band The Flip Tops had their van and all their gear stolen from the parking lot of their hotel. Although the parking area was supposed to be under surveillance, the film in the camera had not been replaced, so no photos of the crime are available to police, making it unlikely that the idiots that did this will ever be caught.

The loss of instruments, accessories, and sound gear can be a devastating blow to any touring band…aside from the cost of arranging for new transportation to continue the tour, and the replacement of their instruments, etc, there is also a sentimental aspect to go along with the emotional impact of being ripped-off. Most of the rock and blues musicians that I've had the honor of meeting or interviewing through the years have a favorite guitar or some piece of equipment that they've used faithfully for years, and it sucks to have it stolen….

Anybody that has any information about this crime is urged to contact Moss either through the artist's website or through the Blue Bella Records website.

Nick Moss photo by Kate Moss, courtesy Blue Bella Records

What has a little bit o' soul, a whopping measure of funk, and a whole lotta blues? Why, that sounds like the Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band, of course! On July 22, 2008 the dynamic duo will be releasing their sophomore album, Overnight Sensation, on the Delta Groove Records label. Featuring the electrifying soul-blues vocals of Mr. Jackie Payne, and the fretwork of guitarist Steve Edmonson, Overnight Sensation promises to be a red-hot collection of soulful blues music and R&B stompers. Read more about the Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band and Overnight Sensation.

CD cover photo courtesy Delta Groove Productions