Rich Hope - Live At The ANZA Club

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2025
Time:43:13 
Size:99,9 MB 
Label:Planned Obsolescence Recording & Novelty Inc. 
Styles:Rock/Blues Rock 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. It Come Alive (Live) - 3:35
 2. 5 Cents A Dance (Live) - 3:32
 3. Can't Get No Lovin' (Live) - 5:04
 4. The Ballad Of Black Eyed Suzy (Live) - 4:54
 5. 3 Minute Song (Live) - 3:41
 6. Whip It On Ya (Live) - 4:16
 7. When My Light Comes Shining (Live) - 6:02
 8. Boxcar (Live) - 7:14
 9. Looking For Lewis and Clark (Live) - 4:52

Musicians:
Rich Hope - Vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitars;
Scott Smith - Pedal Steel & Electric Guitars, Harmonica, Backing Vocals;
Erik P.H. Nielsen - Bass, Backing Vocals;
Darryl Havers - Keys, Accordion;
Leon Power- Drums, Percussion.

Rich Hope delivers ‘Live At The ANZA Club’, a raw and electrifying testament to the power of a band at full throttle, recorded over two sold out nights in Vancouver. The album features Hope and his powerhouse band, including Leon Power and Erik Nielsen of City and Colour, with production handled by Nielsen and Howard Redekopp. Hope explains, “I have always been at my best live, and we wanted to capture what this version of the band is doing.” The set spans his career, culminating in a searing take on The Long Ryders’ “Looking For Lewis And Clark.”
For two nights this past April, Rich Hope ruled Vancouver. Setting up shop at the ANZA Club on W 8th Ave, he and his band blazed through their original repertoire of blues-rock and Americana, with the highlights now preserved on what’s increasingly becoming an endangered species: the live album.
However, making Live At The ANZA Club — officially out Nov. 21 via Planned Obsolescene — only seemed natural for Rich Hope, considering he plays with some of Canada’s best musicians, including City & Colour’s rhythm section, Leon Power and Erik Nielsen (who also oversaw the recording along with the legendary Howard Redekopp). The other band members are Vancouver scene mainstays Scott Smith on electric and pedal steel guitars, and Darryl Havers on keyboards.
After announcing Live At The ANZA Club with the stomping first single “It Come Alive,” Hope recently offered another preview in the form of his scorching rendition of The Long Ryders’ 1984 classic “Looking For Lewis & Clark,” available on all digital platforms.
Rich explains, “‘Lewis & Clark’ found its way into the set list sometime after 2010. All of us in the band are big fans of the ’80s cowpunk scene, so this song is a natural banger to play. It didn’t matter who we played it for, or whether they knew the song or not, everybody loved it. And it’s fun to play a cover at the end of the night, especially one that gives us as much of a charge as it does for the audience.”

Live At The ANZA Club

Lions In The Street - In the Wild (Live Lits)

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2025
Time:36:32 
Size:84,1 MB 
Label:Interior Castle Music 
Styles:Rock/Blues Rock 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Waiting on a Woman (Live) - 4:10
 2. Already Gone (Live) - 3:48
 3. Lady Blue (Live) - 4:47
 4. Mine Ain't Yours (Live) - 4:49
 5. Shangri La (Live) - 4:14
 6. Feels Like a Long Time (Live) - 5:30
 7. You're Gonna Lose (Live) - 9:10

Comprising the Brothers Kinnon (Chris on vocals and guitar; Jeff on drums), riff-master Sean Casey (guitar), and classically educated bass player Enzo Figliuzzi, the Canadian/California-based band has played with everybody from garage legends like the Dirtbombs to arena stars Kings of Leon, making SXSW best-of lists numerous times, and in between hanging out with the Rolling Stones’ legendary manager Andrew Loog Oldham. But putting integrity first had a cost: obscurity. 
Lions in the Street began their career by signing and then walking away from the troubled TVT Records (NIN, Pitbull, Little Jon), Nickelback’s 604 Records (Carly Rae Jepson), and legendary manager Allen Kovac (Motley Crue, The Cars, Blondie, The Bee Gees), earning them a spot on the music industry’s blacklist. Years in the wilderness resulted—working as a garbageman for almost a decade, surviving cancer, serious workplace injuries, and almost deadly car accidents, and going back to school. 
Yet, despite experiencing the best and worst of the of old music business—from hanging out with Todd Rundgren, Bob Ezrin, and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, to seeing an A&R guy almost fired just for going to see them play—the band somehow kept going, releasing music piecemeal.  
For example, Lions in the Street released an EP in 2013 on British legend Sandy Roberton's label. Roberton ran Blue Horizon, the English label that launched the 60s British Blues rock movement with John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, and Rory Gallagher.  
Never to rest on their laurels, Lions in the Street are also putting the finishing touches on a live album and a record they made with multi-Grammy-Award winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Greta Van Fleet, Brandi Carlile, Rival Sons).  
Jambase called LITS “worthy of Mick & Keith at their sticky fingered best.”  The Austinist.com asked, “What are you going to tell them, please be more rock'n'roll. This is the kind of band SXSW was made for.”  

In the Wild (Live Lits)

Mike Farris - Shine For All The People

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2014
Time:42:50 
Size:98,8 MB 
Label:Compass Records 
Styles:Gospel Blues/Christian Rock/Memphis Soul
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. River Jordan - 4:23
 2. Jonah & The Whale - 3:16
 3. Sparrow - 4:17
 4. Mercy Now - 4:50
 5. Real Fine Day - 3:56
 6. The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow - 4:31
 7. Power Of Love - 4:36
 8. Something Keeps Telling Me - 5:46
 9. How It Feels To Be Free - 3:11
10. This Little Light - 4:00

This long-awaited follow up to 2007 s critically acclaimed SALVATION IN LIGHTS includes both original material and Farris' trademark interpretations of traditional gospel steeped in the influence of rock, vintage Memphis soul and the swagger of New Orleans.
Farris musical vision has coalesced into a sound that, at once, harkens back to early soul records yet emerges completely fresh with this new studio record. The album s 10 tracks are saturated with horns, B3, and gospel backing vocals, but Farris is the star here, as his voice is one of the greatest of our time while staking his claim as sole proprietor of a musical style uniquely his own.
SHINE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE opens with River Jordan, an almost cubano, horn-punctuated groove, driven by Farris soaring vocals that form a surprising link between Havana and Hattiesburg. Two Farris originals, Power of Love and Real Fine Day, convey the album s uplifting message of survival and gratitude. The New Orleans-infused Sparrow takes a side trip to Preservation Hall, and the achingly poignant Mercy Now, from the pen of singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier as delivered by Farris stands tall as a plea of forgiveness for all mankind. This album bears witness to the determination of putting one foot in front of the other and to the power of music to get you there. I've discovered that falling is a divine thing, Mike adds. It s part and parcel of being human. The important thing is to keep the faith, get up and go on.

Shine For All The People

Highway 414 - Hellbound For The Highway

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2010
Time:55:43 
Size:131,9 MB 
Label:Self-Released 
Styles:Blues/Rockin`Blues 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Show Me the Door - 4:58
 2. All Fired Up - 3:38
 3. All Burnin' Up - 4:47
 4. Ain't That Like A Woman - 3:52
 5. Sorry Sunday (Hangover Blues) - 5:59
 6. Any Friend of Vinnie - 4:54
 7. Make Love Together - 5:32
 8. Bridge Across the Miles - 4:19
 9. I'm Callin' - 3:47
10. Bungalow Boogie - 3:13
11. Dusk Till Dawn - 4:14
12. Devil Ridin' Shotgun - 6:25

Highway 414 are a blues rock band that would feel just as at home on the streets of Chicago as they do in their hometown of Milwaukee. These four gentlemen know how to rock which they so aptly demonstrate on their  album Hellbound For The Highway. Band members include Paul Fecke (harp, vocals), S. Aaron Oliver (guitar), Dan Behrens (bass) and Eric Sorenson (drums). Inspired by artists such as Muddy Waters, Albert King, Howlin' Wolf, and others, Highway 414 has really laid down an emotional rocking blues album that really gets the blood flowing. This album never pretends to be something it's not, and as the band claims they "play working class music for working class people" and who am I to argue with that. No false pretentions here, just good old fashioned blues rock that will have you tapping your feet from the first song to the last. From the album opener "Show me The Door" with its simple bluesy rhythms and fabulous Chicago style harp to the closing "Devil Ridin' Shotgun" where classic style acoustic blues shines through with slow burning rhythms and Fecke's gritty voice and harp workout, this album has everything a blues aficionado would want. By the way, the songs in between are pretty good too.

Hellbound For The Highway

Harmonica Fats & The Bernie Pearl Blues Band - I Had To Get Nasty

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:1992
Time:47:24 
Size:113,0 MB 
Label:Bee Bump Records 
Styles:Electric Blues/Harmonica Blues 
Art:Full 

Tracks Listing:
 1. In Love With Three Girls - 4:07
 2. Put My Clothes & Shoes Back In The Closet - 4:45
 3. I had To Get Nasty - 3:12
 4. Jelly Rollin' Papa - 4:13
 5. Harmonica Fats Blows - 4:06
 6. Baby, You - 3:51
 7. Boogie All TheThe Way - 4:33
 8. Louisiana Blues - 3:45
 9. She Got Soul - 2:48
10. Slidin' Defender - 2:48
11. Low Desert - 4:06
12. Automobile Blues - 2:18
13. It's Christmas Time, Baby - 2:46

Fats is backed up by the Bernie Pearl Blues Band on this mostly electric effort, though hints of Fats' country origins stick out. On the fast-tempo numbers, Fats' driving, in-your-face energy comes out full bore, and on these songs the wit and humor of his lyrics stand out best. Pearl's attempt at lead vocals on Lightnin' Hopkins' "Automobile Blues" would have been better left off to allow Fats to expand his showman capabilties.

I Had To Get Nasty

Marva Wright - Blues Queen of New Orleans

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2004
Time:61:26 
Size:143,8 MB 
Label:Mardi Gras Records 
Styles:Blues 
Art:Full 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Bluesiana Mama - 4:20
 2. Members Only - 4:17
 3. Ghetto Woman - 6:56
 4. Fell Like Breakin up Somebody`s Home - 3:49
 5. I will Survive - 6:38
 6. Built For Comfort - 3:57
 7. At Last - 4:59
 8. Shake a Hand - 3:52
 9. Driving Wheel - 3:48
10. I`ll Take you There - 3:42
11. Heartbreakin`n Woman - 2:38
12. Mr. Big Stuff - 3:54
13. Wang Dang Doodle - 5:10
14. No Drawers - 3:19

Marva Wright, the powerhouse New Orleans blues and gospel belter who left her job as a school secretary to sing around the world was enormously popular among fellow musicians in The Big Easy. Ms. Wright was an impressive live performer who moved easily between gospel spirituals and bawdy blues romps. In her late-blooming career, she released albums on local and international record labels, and performed across Europe, in Russia and Brazil, and at blues festivals around the United States. She drew large crowds at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell, and staged an annual Christmas concert at Tipitina’s. Ms. Wright grew up in Carrollton. As a child, she listened to her mother sing and play piano at Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church on South Liberty Street. Her mother had attended McDonogh 24 Elementary School with future gospel legend Mahalia Jackson, and they remained friends. Ms. Wright graduated from Booker T. Washington High School, then left Southern University in Baton Rouge after two years to marry her first husband. While raising her children, she confined her singing to home and church. As her children grew up, she worked as a secretary at Eleanor McMain Secondary School. Encouraged to pursue singing as a profession, she wrestled with the notion of performing sacred gospel music in secular clubs. She consulted childhood friend and fellow gospel singer Jo “Cool” Davis, who urged her to make the leap. She nurtured her early career in such Bourbon Street clubs as the Old Absinthe Bar. “I love Bourbon Street,” she said in 2008. “If it wasn’t for Bourbon Street, I wouldn’t be where I’m at now. You meet a lot of people from all over the world.” In 1990, while singing at Bourbon Street Gospel and Blues, she met “60 Minutes” correspondent Ed Bradley. He became an ardent fan; up until his death, Bradley introduced Ms. Wright for her Jazz Fest performances. She released her debut album, “Heartbreakin’ Woman,” in 1990 on Tipitina’s Records. A French label issued 1993’s “Born With the Blues.” She covered a U2 song as the title track of 1995’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Her tenth album, 2001’s “Marva,” was a typically eclectic affair, featuring such guests as Bo Dollis and Terrance Simien. She covered Bob Dylan’s “Serve Somebody” and “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” In the 1990s, her audience at the Uptown club Muddy Waters occasionally included a daughter of then-Vice President Al Gore.
Marva's CD, The Blues Queen of New Orleans was released during Jazz Fest 2004! Marva Fans have been asking for these songs to be recorded for a long time. Thanks to Warren Hildebrand and Mardi Gras Records the time has come.

Blues Queen of New Orleans

Reneé Austin - Songbirds & Angels

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2018
Time:64:06 
Size:147,2 MB 
Label:Self-Released 
Styles:Blues/Soul/R&B 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Songbirds & Angels - 3:30
 2. In Your Wake - 6:56
 3. My Beloved - 5:35
 4. Destiny - 5:52
 5. Funnel - 5:11
 6. Grateful - 3:34
 7. I'm a Penny - 5:31
 8. Why Oh Why - 4:44
 9. Real Good Feelin' - 3:53
10. Butterfly (7: 23) - 4:42
11. The Roses Are Crying - 7:10
12. That's What I'm Offering - 4:28
13. Aaron Blessing - 2:53

Austin released Songbirds & Angels in May 2018, with 13 Austin-penned originals. She was the executive producer along with David Grissom, who also played guitar on four songs recorded in Austin, Texas; plus piano/B3 from Joel Guzman, bass from Yoggie Musgrove and Brannen Temple (drums). The other nine songs were recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with producers Douglas A. Smith on piano/B3 and Christopher Furst as engineer and guitar, with Brian Kendrick (drums), Yohannes Tona (bass), Kevin Anderson (guitar) and Mark Arneson (saxophone).
In 2005, blue-eyed blues and soul songstress Renee’ Austin was a rising star in the music business. She had signed a record deal with Blind Big Records, shared the stage with top charting artists, and was featured in a PBS special called Blues Divas, hosted by Morgan Freeman. But finding a lump in her throat, Austin underwent surgery. The result left her with a paralyzed left vocal cord and the diagnosis that she would never be able to sing again. Heartbroken, Austin cauterized music from her life but never stopped praying for a miracle.  Lo and behold, after a while, she got her speaking voice back. Her singing voice returned, also. Ten years later, she resumed her music career. On Songbirds & Angels, her first post-surgery CD and debut Christian album, Austin employs her gutsy blues voice to eke every emotion out of the thirteen songs she wrote for the project.
Not surprisingly, Austin has plenty of praise to express. Several album tracks, notably “Destiny,” “Why Oh Why,” and “My Beloved,” highlight her love for God and God’s love for her. “Destiny,” a duet with Pastor Douglas A. Smith, illustrates God’s unconditional love through sympathetic story snippets about troubled young people. On the discipleship ballad “I’m a Penny,” Austin compares herself to the widow’s mite—insignificant but God’s penny to spend anyway he chooses. In addition to spicing up the songs with her chesty singing, Austin interpolates audio from the African American folk church, notably samples of intense preaching, shouts, and moans, to give the project extra earthiness. The album’s finest moment appears at the end. “Aaron Blessing” is Numbers 6: 24-26 set to acoustic simplicity. Here, Austin interrupts her bluesy delivery to emote like a modern folk singer. So after losing her voice and facing the prospect of never singing again, Renee’ Austin emerges, like a butterfly, on Songbirds & Angels. Thus, when she sings that God’s love is a “heart-shaped funnel,” you know she’s a witness.

Songbirds & Angels

Magnetic Gardener - The Old Angel

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2025
Time:40:44 
Size:94,0 MB 
Label:Jazzualdo Records 
Styles:Singer-Songwriter/Americana/Blues/Mix 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. The Old Angel On Highway 200 Montana - 5:52
 2. Nowhere Hotel - 3:26
 3. Halfway Home Hotel - 4:24
 4. The City That Banned The Music - 5:56
 5. My Shadow Took My Guitar - 4:22
 6. I Am Not Like The Others - 3:40
 7. Anna Lee - 4:04
 8. Old Crow Pickup - 4:16
 9. Trailer Home Messiah - 4:44

A musicians collective.The members play different indtruments and most of them are lead voices. There genres are: americana (blues, country, folk...) indie and singer-songwriter.
Musicians say that - Blues is a style that fortunately has no borders and can bring together different musical sensibilities, providing a framework where all the musicians who perform it can freely express themselves and, with their knowledge, contribute to enhance it.

The Old Angel

Joe Galullo - Melody in the Blues

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:1998/2025
Time:40:36 
Size:93,5 MB 
Label:Blue Melody Records Productions/Joe Galullo 
Styles:Blues 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. You Gotta Care About Me - 3:56
 2. Get out of My Head - 3:55
 3. Rainy Sunday Morning - 5:41
 4. Life Without Love - 6:34
 5. Black Day - 3:46
 6. Stay With Me - 5:19
 7. Warm Tender Nest - 4:40
 8. Lonely Woman - 6:41

Joe was born in 1950 in a Milan still torn by the wounds of war. Life in those years was not easy for anyone, and Joe spent a childhood as sad (he lost his father) as it was financially difficult. As in all good blues stories, one day he accidentally found a guitar and fell so in love with it that he taught himself to play. He would later say: "Women have often left me, but my guitar has always remained faithful to me..." He developed a maturity and musical sensitivity that made him a "protagonist" from a very young age. At just thirteen, he won a singing festival for new talents; at fourteen, he joined the Moods, with whom he achieved great success in Lombardy's most important clubs within a few months. At seventeen, he was playing regularly with Toni Dallara and other well-known figures of the time. At eighteen, he decided to leave Italy in order to obtain exemption from military service as an emigrant. He spent many years abroad, particularly in Amsterdam and London; when he returned to Italy, it was only a passing through, a stopover like any other; by then his home had become the world.
Over the years, Joe developed a highly personal style, earning praise from artists including Charlie Musselwhite, Buddy Guy, John Mayall, and others. Like the vast majority of Italian bluesmen, he became more famous abroad than in Italy.
He was thirty-one when, through a series of coincidences, he settled for a while in Bologna, where he became one of the main national blues figures. When he decided to leave Bologna, he left his band to Andy J. Forrest (whom he met by chance in a music shop) who had just arrived in Italy (see interview with Robi Zonca).
The 1980s were a decade filled with important events, such as his friendship with Ermanno Red Costa and the formation of Blues Messenger (he says, "I consider anyone who plays with me a messenger of the Blues..."), with whom he released his first album for Coast To Coast. In the early 1990s, to stay close to his children (Joe has two marriages and five relationships behind him), he decided to "stay" in the Marche region, beginning, with Blues Messenger, a surge in popularity and success.
In 1998, he founded the Blue Melody label to produce "Melody In The Blues," followed in 2004 by "The Blues Is Back!".
In 2003, he was included in two important Italian blues collections: "Maxwell Street" (Blooze People), a compilation dedicated to Guido Toffoletti, and "Sounds Good!" (Crotalo Records).
His repertoire consists exclusively of his own compositions, leaving little or no room for covers.
With a good cup of coffee and my iBook ready to record anything, the interview with one of the most iconic pioneers of Spaghetti Blues begins.

Melody in the Blues

Trowbled Ron - Snnr

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2025
Time:31:22 
Size:72,4 MB 
Label:Self-Released 
Styles:Blues/Gospel Blues/Spiritual Blues 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Burning Hell - 3:30
 2. Nobody's Fault But Mine - 3:44
 3. What Good Am I - 3:53
 4. Ain't No Grave - 3:03
 5. Deep River Lord - 3:27
 6. Have Faith - 3:20
 7. Hush - 4:02
 8. Weapon Of Prayer - 3:14
 9. Baby King - 3:04

Trowbled Ron (Amsterdam, Netherlands) blends gospel and blues, crafting soulful tunes inspired by old blues artists.Dive into the raw soul of blues with heartfelt tracks.Soulful gospel-blues tunes with true emotion and raw energy.
"While watching the series 'Out there' every episode I was struck by Tom Jones singing 'Burning Hell'. This inspired me to record some of the songs sung by Sir Tom.It was quite the challenge and I never had the illusion of being at the same level, but I managed to pour out my heart and bring emotion and energy into these recordings. Credits released November 30, 2025
A big thank you to my friend Laurent Bruning, who played the guitar parts.Years of blues in bands shaped my sound; now I bring that soul all by myself, with a little help from my friends. Lately, I've been inspired by the blues sung by Tom Jones; gospel infused blues".

Snnr

Out of Favor Boys - Love & Sorrow

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2025
Time:49:02 
Size:112,6 MB 
Label:Self-Released 
Styles:Modern Electtric Blues /Mix
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Lost for Good - 4:19
 2. Backup Plan - 5:04
 3. Good Girls Go to Heaven - 3:47
 4. American Dream - 4:18
 5. Come Home from Chicago - 2:48
 6. Sunrise on You - 4:48
 7. Swishy - 3:04
 8. Beg or Borrow - 5:02
 9. Over and Over - 4:10
10. Face Value - 5:12
11. Here She Comes - 6:27

Musicians:
Danny Ouellette – guitar and vocals;
Joel Krauss – guitar and vocals;
Tim Brouhard – bass and vocals;
Tommy Ufkes – drums and percussion;
Tony Sproul – saxophone and vocals.
"Love & Sorrow" -   the latest recording by Kalamazoo’s own Out of Favor Boys. The album features 

11 original compositions that reflect the band’s numerous influences, incorporating rock, soul and blues into a thoughtful collection of songs. 
Since coming together in 2003, Out of Favor Boys has been a blues staple in the region. OFB won the 2017 West Michigan Blues Society Blues Challenge, winning the right to represent WMBS in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2018. They represented the Kalamazoo Valley Blues Association in the 2004 IBC. For more than 20 years, the group has played festival stages, smoky bars, music clubs and private shows from Detroit to the West Michigan Lakeshore to Northern Indiana and Chicago.
OFB has recorded five studio CDs and one live double-CD. Love & Sorrow was co-produced by OFB and Pete Galanis and primarily recorded at La Luna Studios in Kalamazoo.

Love & Sorrow

The Blow Out - Version of You

Bitrate:320K/s

Year:2023
Time:67:33 
Size:155,2 MB 
Label:Salty Dog Productions 
Styles:Aussie Blues 

Art: Front 
 1. That Ain't Lovin' Me -  6:56
 2. Turn On You -  5:16
 3. Road Song -  5:24
 4. Snatch It Back and Hold It -  4:21
 5. Version of You -  4:36
 6. Busy Signal -  7:20
 7. Loving Cup -  6:33
 8. Smokin' Alone -  4:21
 9. Blues Why You Worry Me -  4:24
10. Sweet Apple Blues -  3:56
11. Get Out Of My Life, Woman -  4:01
12. Bauhaus - 10:19

Musicians:
Dennis ‘Salty’ Trevarthen - Vocals, Harmonica, Guitar;
Morgan Klose - Guitar;
Peter Beulke - Bass;
Peter Hodges - Drums, Percussion;
Daryl Roberts - Electric Piano, Hammond;
Paulie Bignell - Guitar on 'Lovin' Cup'.

Get one thing straight – The Blow Out can play the Blues with the best of them but they don’t necessarily identify themselves as a Blues band. The Blow Out’s debut album, A Version Of You, is a raucous mix of sounds, grooves and genres mashed into a soulful stew all of their own. Twelve tracks, eight originals and four covers, present The Blow Out in all their rough hewn charm.
The album’s opener, That Ain’t Lovin’ Me, is a fair representation of where The Blow Out’s Rock N Roll heart lies. Front man and harpist, Dennis “Salty” Trevarthen, lets his gruff unvarnished vocal ride over the top of the adaptable rhythm section of Pete Beulke and Pete Hodges that allows enough space for the raw energy of Morgan Klose’s guitar and Daryl Roberts’ loamy organ. The toughness continues in the narrative driven “Road Song”, a smouldering slab of craggy Country Rock channeled through Mick Taylor era Rolling Stones. Lyrically “Road Song” rises above and beyond the banal with its images of cane fields, humidity and shattered dreams. Here, The Blow Out cook up a sonic landscape that conjures up early morning hangovers, overheated engines and steam rising from the bitumen. Atmosphere and attitude to spare.
Primarily, it’s the outside material that exposes The Blow Out’s collective understanding of Blues idioms. Paul Butterfield’s Lovin’ Cup and Charlie Musselwhite’s Blues Why You Worry Me display The Blow Out’s ability to dig deep into American Blues without sounding like they’re choking on history. The Butterfield homage, Lovin’ Cup, eases out of a mid-60s Rock shuffle into a sensuous Latin groove whereas Trevarthen and band blow up on storm on Blues Why You Worry Me. The Junior Wells cover, Snatch It Back And Hold It, is all corrosive harmonica and intense blues-wailing surrounded by The Blow Out’s engaging looseness. Allen Toussaint’s ultra-funky Get Out Of My Life Woman is faithful to the Lee Dorsey original but avoids the trap of falling into an overly reverential museum piece.
Trevarthen’s own Blues informed originals crackle with a similar authenticity. Turn On You, coloured nicely by Daryl Roberts’ Jimmy Smith inspired organ, heads for the back alley and bypasses all the clichés that so often cripple contemporary Blues. The seven minute slow Blues of Busy Signal is where The Blow Out can stretch out into some Jazzy R&B feels and not wear out their welcome. Gritty but tasteful, Sweet Apple Blues settles into an uncluttered West Coast shuffle that captures all the spontaneity of the band’s live sets.
Blues might be somewhat omnipresent throughout A Version Of You but it refuses to define the album. Proud of their eclecticism, The Blow Out throw three radically different curveballs into the mix that elevate them way above standard pub Blues fare. The title track, a manic Dylanseque rant full of hidden meanings and cryptic kiss-offs, is framed in a garage punk soundscape that’s both, unpredictably, chaotic and cohesive. The Blow Out detour hard into New Orleans for the giddily infectious Smokin’ Alone – a cool concoction of rhumba –rocking piano flourishes, scattergun lyrics and street corner vocals held together with the required second line rhythm. Aural proof of a band that takes its craft seriously but not always themselves.
A Version Of You closes out with the one take ten minute instrumental Bauhaus, a place where impulse overrides technique. Swaying between noise rock and acid Jazz, Bauhaus is all abstract expressionism. The twin guitars of Morgan Klose and Dennis Trevarthen move in different directions but somehow reach the same destination while the Pete Beulke-Pete Hodges rhythm section, that isn’t afraid of freeform, keeps everything nicely anchored. A fine conclusion to a versatile album from a seasoned unit that can venture into various genres without belonging to any of them. The Blow Out make their stand and are definitely here to stay.~ MICHAEL MACDONALD, MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA.

Version of You

Justin Saladino Band - JSB Live

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2020
Time:61:52 
Size:142,1 MB 
Label:Disques Bros Records 
Styles:Contemporary Blues/Blues Rock 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Take What You Need - 4:07
 2. Honey - 5:35
 3. Bad Habit - 3:38
 4. You Don't Know How It Feels - 6:19
 5. All You Ever Need - 5:23
 6. Put The Hammer Down - 8:23
 7. Peace With You - 6:39
 8. Purple Girl - 5:16
 9. A Fool I'll Stay - 5:25
10. Irish Bordello - 6:07
11. No Worries (Bonus Track) - 4:55

One of the pleasures I’ve sorely missed this year is live music. It has a different atmosphere than a studio album, a more daredevil, freewheeling vibe. Artists can spend hundreds of hours editing and perfecting studio releases. While LIVE, they only have one chance to get it right. Therefore,  Montreal’s Justin Saladino Band holds nothing back in showcasing their talents: smooth, heartfelt vocals from its leading man, dynamite instrumentation, on-point lyrics, and a passionate stage presence one can hear if not see in person. As determined from the photo on the inside of their CD jacket, the musicians skew toward the younger/Millennial side of the blues-rock scene. Nevertheless, all ages will enjoy the eleven tunes presented here (ten originals and one cover). There’s something for everyone: catchy mid-tempo rockers such as the first three numbers, mellow ballads like “All You Ever Need” and “Peace With You,” even a Hendrix-style shredder, “Purple Girl.” Saladino and his Quebecois compatriots entertain for over an hour in top form.
JSB LIVE was recorded over two nights in front of an audience of loyal fans at Quebec’s largest recording facility, Piccolo Studios. “Six musicians, two shows and eleven songs….I’m proud of that,” says Justin fondly. With the addition of an electric take on Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels” (the one cover), JSB Live delivers a diverse setlist of the band’s history to date.
In 2018, the 21st annual Maple Blues Awards nominated the group for New Artist of the Year in Canada. The following year, Blues and Roots Radio acknowledged JSB’s country-crossover tune, “Third Week Of June,” as 2018 Song of the Year under the group category. The band was also selected to represent Quebec and compete with over 200 other acts from around the world at the 2019 International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tennessee, hosted by The Blues Foundation.
Performing alongside Justin Saladino (vocals and guitars) are Antoine Loiselle on guitars; David Osei-Afrifa on keys; Denis Paquin on drums and vocals; Gabriel Forget on bass and vocals, and Lucie Martel on vocals and percussion.
Surprisingly, the album’s centerpiece is a contemplative one, “Put the Hammer Down,” about one’s propensity to judge one’s fellow man: “Everybody suffers; everybody cries. Not all of us wonder if we’re the reason why. I’ve met so many other people in my life…I’ve put the hammer down on others, and that ain’t right.” With melodic instrumentation backing Saladino up, such a confessional should be a required theme song for social media. Why are we collectively quick to sum other people and their lives up with hurtful labels, catchphrases and memes? Why can’t we give each other the benefit of the doubt instead of the business end of our proverbial hammer? The solo in the middle pounds this point home subtly, beautifully, without getting in your face.
On the other end of the musical and topical spectrum is “Irish Bordello, a hard-driving rocker perfect for drinking instead of thinking. Methinks the crowd especially loved this one. It gets one’s blood pumping and heart thumping. It should also top the Billboard blues-rock charts.
In the days before COVID, LIVE music was grand. Give it up for the Justin Saladino Band! (https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/justin-saladino-band-jsb-live-album-review/)

JSB Live

MacIntyre - Live At the Moontower

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2015
Time:70:31 
Size:162,4 MB 
Label:Self-Released 
Styles:Rock/Blues Rock/Mix 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Bb Shoe-Flay (Live) - 4:51
 2. Leave Me Alone (Live) - 4:39
 3. Deranged (Live) - 4:25
 4. Waitin' Achin' (Live) - 4:26
 5. Scotty's Song (Live) - 4:14
 6. Other Side (Live) - 4:58
 7. Jailene (Live) - 4:52
 8. 4th of July (Live) - 4:50
 9. Pecans (Live) - 3:26
10. Makayla (Live) - 3:04
11. Big Bottom (Live) - 4:09
12. Left Behind (Live) - 5:07
13. D'evil (Live) - 3:44
14. Ruby (Live) - 4:44
15. Revolution (Live) - 8:55

First Official 'live' album from Andy Macintyre. Recorded live at The Moontower Saloon in the heart of South Austin, Texas First release under renamed: MacINtyre. Mastered by Jerry Tubb at Terra Nova Digital, Inc, Austin, Texas.
“I think the thing that sets Andy apart from other musicians is the lack of fear to try new things and think outside the box...we think alike, as far as: knowing where you come from, where you want to take the music and having your own ideas about how you want to interpret. I think that’s what makes a truly great artist...a unique artist. I respect that.” -Gary Clark Jr.
"When it comes to the blues, I'm not a purist. I don't think being a purist is a bad thing, it just depends on the player and what they want to hear coming out of their musical voice. I would describe my music as rock and a more modern blues sound. Being around a lot of really great blues players like Gary Clark, Jr., Alan Haynes and Jimmie Vaughan made me such a better rock player. My music does pull some unexpected influences, and it's recently become more vocal and songwriting focused. It's a little less about the guitar- more about the sound of the whole band."
One of the first phrases Andy ever uttered was “go round”, in demand that his mother fire up the turntable. His musical imprints include growing up in early years of MTV, being an original “mix-tape junkie” and teaching himself to play guitar at the ripe age of 12. With a career spanning almost 20 years, his resume ticks almost every box of industry expertise, from bandleader, player, singer and songwriter, to composer, producer, and engineer. Touching almost every genre along the way, his original music straddles the lines of alternative, pop and guitar-heavy blues-rock. Tim Palmer describes him as, “a bit blues, a tad Jack White and a lot of alternative.” And Gary Clark, Jr. noted, “the thing that sets Andy apart from other musicians is the lack of fear to try new things and think outside the box.”

Live At the Moontower

The Incredible Southern Blues Band - Alive and Well

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:1991/2014
Time:55:02 
Size:126,7 MB 
Label:Newport Studios 
Styles:Blues 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Help Me -  4:11
 2. Couldn't Stand the Weather -  5:53
 3. Down in Hollywood - 10:37
 4. The Very Thing That Made You Rich Done Made Me Poor -  6:30
 5. Riding On a Pony -  4:45
 6. Melody - 10:38
 7. Blues Variation -  3:04
 8. Resurrection Shuffle -  9:21

Musicians:
Gianni Ghirardini - Guitar, Blues Harp;
Werner "Haifisch" Heidegger - Bass, Vocals;
Markus Linder - Keyboards, Vocals;
Roland Egger - Lead Vocals, Drums.

This unique band was founded in 1989 and has performed with the exact same lineup ever since. Their distinctive blend of blues and rock has garnered them a large following on both sides of the border. The Italian-Austrian group, featuring Gianni Ghirardini (guitar), Markus Linder (keyboards, vocals), Werner "Haifisch" Heidegger (bass, vocals), and Roland Egger (drums, lead vocals), has laid the foundation for its excellent reputation over the years with electrifying blues nights and a constantly changing roster of guest musicians. In these two and a half decades, the band has released three recordings: the two CDs 'Alive & Well' (1991) and 'Blues Barrique' (2001), and the DVD/CD 'Carambolage' (2008).

Alive and Well