Blues CDs New Releases - January 2010

The great Bo Diddley was an essential artist that helped transform the blues music of the 1940s and '50s into that thing we know as rock 'n' roll. This odd two-CD set features an eight-song live set from Diddley's 1983 tour of Europe, the legend accompanied by an unlikely band that included Thin Lizzy's Eric Bell on guitar, and saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith from the prog-rock band Colosseum. Disc two offers up 25 classic Diddley hits, including such barn-burners as "I'm A Man," "Who Do You Love," and "Roadrunner," among many others. (Release date: 01/12/10)

It's a story worthy of blues mythology...one night, a few years ago, noted blues guitarist Eric Bibb was approached by a fan after a London performance. Carrying a guitar case, the fan opened it up to reveal a vintage, 1930s-era Resophonic National steel guitar that once belonged to Mississippi Delta blues legend Booker T. "Bukka" White. Holding the famed instrument inspired a song, which Bibb later expanded into an entire album, Booker's Guitar. A fifteen-song collection that represents Bibb's deep connection with the Delta blues, the album-opening title track was recorded in England, with Bibb using White's powerful guitar. (Release date: 01/26/10)

The roots of the Hollywood Blues Flames dates back to the early 1970s when they were known as the Hollywood Fats Band (named for beloved blues guitarist Michael "Hollywood Fats" Mann). The original band's lone 1979 album wrote the book on West Coast blues, but after Mann's death in 1986 the band disappeared for a decade. Today four original band members are joined by guitarists Junior Watson and Kirk Fletcher, and the two-disc Deep In America features a CD of original, yet traditional blues from the new incarnation of the band, while disc two takes a trip back in time with vintage live performances from the Hollywood Fats Band. If you can afford only one blues CD this month, this is the disc you'll want. (Release date: 01/19/10)

OK, let's get this one straight from the beginning – this isn't the original London Howlin' Wolf Sessions album, but rather a collection of alternate takes, rehearsals, and jams that were originally released on the second disc of a the deluxe edition of the album that was reissued in 2002. Got that? Although this stuff has been reissued before, some of it as far back as the London Revisited album in the mid-1970s, if all you own is the original Howlin' Wolf album, it might be worth your time just to hear more from the British blues legends like Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, and the Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman that accompanied the aging Chicago blues giant on these recordings. (Release date: 01/05/09)

Johnny Winter's popular Live Bootleg Series pulls previously-unreleased material from Winter's personal archive, and the first five volumes have won universal acclaim for the scorching live houserockin' music they document. Like the previous entries in the series, Live Bootleg Series, Volume 6 includes rare musical moments from across Winter's 40-year-plus career, including covers of some of the guitarist's favorite artists and songs and live versions of a couple of Winter originals. (Release date: 01/12/10)

Although she's not very well known on the stateside blues scene, this little woman with a big voice and wildfire harmonica has appeared alongside a veritable "who's who" of American music over the past 25 years, folks like Stephen Stills, James Cotton, Warren Zevon, B.B. King, and Albert Collins. Blues Is Blues offers up Rucker's trademark blend of blues, roots-rock, and soul and, by making the jump to the respected European Blues Boulevard label, should help raise the profile of this deserving artist. (Release date: 01/12/10)

The Eclecto Groove debut from guitarist Nick Curran and his new band the Lowlifes, Reform School Girl features more original songs than any of Curran's previous five releases and a musical mix of roots-rock, blues, and old school R&B. Recorded with vintage instruments on analog equipment to capture a true throwback vibe, Curran says of the album "I wanted it to have no filler – only good stuff. All my influences are there, from old blues like Lazy Lester and T-Bone Walker to girl groups like the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las, to Guns N Roses." Well worth your time to check out. (Release date: 01/19/10)

The South Memphis String Band is comprised of guitarists Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers) and Alvin Youngblood-Hart. These three artists have gotten together with a single vision, that of revisiting the classic jug band and string music that Memphis was once known for producing. Think of the Mississippi Sheiks, the Memphis Jug Band, and Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers and you'd be in the right ballpark, and given the talents of these three, Home Sweet Home ought to be a real hoot. (Release date: 01/19/10)

Threshold is the latest album from harmonica master Sugar Blue, and his first since 2007's Code Blue. Blue's Threshold is said to represent a further expansion of the artist's blues-based sound. Leading a top-notch band of seasoned musicians, Blue contributed nine original sounds for Threshold, the material running the gamut from blues and rock to jazz and funk. Two cover tunes round out the album – Junior Well's classic theme song, "Messin' With The Kid," and the Elvis Presley hit "Trouble," written by the famed team of Lieber and Stoller. (Release date: 01/26/10)

The Ladies Man, the 7th album from Delta bluesman T-Model Ford, was recorded live during one afternoon session at the Planet Sound Studios in Wichita, Kansas. The album features Ford and his acoustic guitar bangin’ away on song after song as a group of younger backing musicians attempt to keep up. For the blues purists among our readers, the raw energy of The Ladies Man was created with no overdubs, minimal mixing, and a little Jack Daniels from the flask that ‘T’ is known to carry with him everywhere! (Release date: 01/12/10)