Blues CDs New Releases - October 2010

The follow-up to Buddy Guy's acclaimed and award-winning 2008 album Skin Deep, with Living Proof the legendary guitarist takes a look back at a life well-lived. The album features a diverse range of blues material, from the roadhouse blues of "Much Too Soon" and the fiery instrumental "Skanky," to the autobiographical, reflective "Everybody's Got To Go." Guy's old friend B.B. King makes his first appearance on one of the guitarist's albums, the long overdue collaboration resulting in "Stay Around A Little Longer." If you buy only one blues album this month, this will probably be it. (Release date: 10/26/10)

Space Age Blues is the sophomore effort from Devon Allman's Honeytribe. The son of Allman Brothers Band frontman Gregg Allman, Devon has blues and rock music in his genetic make-up. His approach to making music is far different than that of his famous father though, the younger Allman fronting a power-trio that pursues a sound that is equal parts Muddy Waters and Sun Ra, inheriting the Delta blues mantle from the former and an experimental sense of adventure from the later, the band's unique mix of blues, Southern rock, jazz, and soul reaching a receptive worldwide audience. (Release date: 10/12/10)

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The third album for Electro-Fi by the talented duo of vocalist Braithwaite and guitarist Whiteley follows much the same tack as the pair's earlier albums, 2009's Night Bird Blues and 2007's Morning Sun. Exploring the hallowed acoustic country blues tunes of the 1930s and '40s with their eclectic original songs, Braithwaite and Whiteley expand their palette a bit with some Chicago blues-inspired tunes, including a cover of Tampa Red's classic "It Hurts Me Too." Deltaphonic is highly recommended for those listeners who enjoy hearing a true, old-school blues sound. (Release date: 10/12/10)

Blues guitarist James Kinds was born in Mississippi but hit the Windy City at the young age of sixteen. He's been shuffling a unique style of blues music ever since, first with his band Oasis during the 1960s, and later as an esteemed solo performer performing in Chicago and, since the early 1990s, from Iowa. Kinds has recorded sporadically, with only a handful of albums to his name, but Love You From The Top, his first for Delmark, promises to be a high-profile major league debut; Chicago blues sax legend Eddie Shaw guest stars. (Release date: 10/19/10)

The final album from the late blues guitarist and W.C. Handy award winner Mel Brown features a wealth of previously unreleased tracks that span from the early 1970s until 2009, when Brown performed guitar, piano, and keyboards on the lovely title track shortly before his death. Brown is joined on tracks by a couple of friends who have since passed, including blues harp greats Snooky Pryor and Sam Myers, and several tracks hail from Brown's Bluesway/Impulse era and feature additional guitar parts recorded by Brown in 2009. (Release date: 10/19/10)

Rare Genius is a ten-song compilation of previously unreleased material unearthed from the artist's archives and spanning the entirety of Ray Charles' lengthy career. The collection displays the singer and musician's incredible mastery of just about every form of American music, from R&B and soul to country and pop. Among the rarest of tracks is a duet between Charles and another American great, Johnny Cash, on Kris Kristofferson's elegant "Why Me, Lord?" that spotlights both artists' deep gospel roots. (Release date: 10/26/10)

"Spider" John Koerner isn't well known outside of Minnesota, but his influence can be heard far beyond the state's borders in the music of legendary artists like Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt. March 1963 is a long-lost tape of a 1963 Spider John performance on a Milwaukee, Wisconsin radio station. The vintage recording features ten acoustic Koerner solo performances and an interview with the station DJ that was broadcast shortly after the release of Koerner, Ray and Glover's Blues, Rags & Hollers album, the original tape hidden in bandmate Dave Ray's personal effects until now. (Release date: 10/19/10)

Another great archival find from legendary Minnesota folk-blues artist "Spider" John Koerner. Originally released in 1972 by former Koerner Ray and Glover bandmate Dave Ray's Sweet Jane Records label, Spider John was backed on this album by fellow Minnesota music legend Willie Murphy, and his band the Bumblebees. Long out of print, the CD reissue will be accompanied by a DVD of The Secret of Sleep, an independent film that Koerner produced in 1970. (Release date: 10/19/10)

Featuring fifteen scorching new songs from the one and only Studebaker John, his trio the Maxwell Street Kings captures the raw soul and electric spirit of the sounds that emanated from the open air market of Chicago's legendary Maxwell Street back in the day when giants like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf held court in the city's West Side clubs and street musicians like Blind Arvella Grey entertained passersby with vital, electrifying blues music. (Release date: 10/19/10)

Respected British archive label Ace Records delves deep into the vaults for this second volume of vintage blues, soul, R&B, and rock & roll from their 1950s-era namesake. The Ace Story, Vol. 2 features records from a veritable wish list of artists originally released by the Jackson, Mississippi-based label, including Texas blues legend Lightnin' Hopkins ("Bad Boogie"); New Orleans bluesman Eddie Bo ("I Love To Rock 'n' Roll"); and R&B superstars Charles Brown and Amos Milburn ("Educated Fool"), as well as tracks by folks like Earl King, Frankie Ford, and Jimmy Clanton, among others. This era is where the blues gave birth to R&B and rock music; essential listening. Watch for three more volumes in the series in 2011. (Release date: 10/12/10)