The Axxmann & Friends - No Fancy Cover

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 41:24
Size: 95,0 MB
Label: Self REleased
Styles: Blues/Roots Rock
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. The Renegade - 3:53
 2. Ain't No Blues in Heaven - 3:29
 3. No Moore Blues - 6:19
 4. Sing My Songs - 3:34
 5. Sneakin Around - 4:05
 6. My Baby's Town - 3:48
 7. Lifes Not What You Make of It - 3:49
 8. Swang That Thang - 4:23
 9. The Storm - 4:49
10. When the Wolf Barks at the Moon - 3:11

Actually there is no cover at all for Matt “The Axxmann” MacDermaid’s latest CD. Seeing as the CD case photo supposedly shows The Axxmann trekking through the snowy woods of his home state of Michigan, perhaps his moniker refers to him maybe being a lumberjack as the guitar playing here is mostly unstructured shredding or wah-wah meanderings with only an occasional arranged solo. It isn’t specified if he sings any of the songs, as there are seven other vocalists listed without specifying who sings on which track. The nine band written originals are for the most part pretty tame featuring soul less vocals, except in the case of the three songs that feature female vocalists. In a few they sing about the blues, but there isn’t much in the way of blues songs here per se, save one cover and two originals. A nice boogie beat infuses “The Renegade”, a modern day outlaw song featuring soulful organ by Robert John Manzitti. Otherwise the delivery doesn’t ring true. “If I can’t sing the blues in heaven, there ain’t no place for me” is a line in “Ain’t No Blues In Heaven”. No place for you, because you don’t even sing them here in this song. Although Bob Tarinelli contributes some great blues harp, it’s a song about the blues, not a blues song. So far no lead guitar to speak of. On the tribute to the late Irish blues-rock guitar icon Gary Moore “No Moore Blues” we finally get some guitar soloing, mostly of the shredding variety. The female vocal is very soulful along with more great organ playing. The first blues song is a cover of Jesse Mae Robison’s “Sneakin’ Around” that features some good blues guitar. “My Baby’s Town” is a heavy blues song. Back to twiddling, shredding, directionless wah-wah and string bending on “Life’s Not What You Make Of It”. Some nice soaring guitar riffing lifts the plaintive female vocal on the strong effort of “The Storm”. Well ok, I guess “The Wolf Barks At the Moon” qualifies as a blues. Wish there was more in the way of good blues guitar elsewhere, as there is in this song and a few others. The gruff male vocal on this one is effective.
Good guitar playing on a handful of songs here doesn’t justify “The Axxmann” title, but his heart is in the right place and this CD surely has some good moments. The three songs featuring vocals by the ladies are well worth your time. Less hokey lyrics and more in the way of better arranged guitar solos would be welcome the next time around.
(http://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/the-axxmann-friends-no-fancy-cover-album-review/)

No Fancy Cover

Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Lay It on Down

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 45:22
Size: 104,5 MB
Label: Concord Records
Styles: Blues/Blues Rock
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Baby Got Gone - 3:02
 2. Diamonds and Gold - 5:17
 3. Nothing But the Night - 4:53
 4. Lay It on Down - 4:14
 5. She's SSS - 4:07
 6. Hard Lesson Learned - 4:29
 7. Down For Love - 4:10
 8. How Low Can You Go - 2:59
 9. Louisiana Rain - 3:51
10. Ride of Your Life - 4:01
11. Lay It On Down [Acoustic] - 4:14

The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band have announced the release of their new album Lay It On Down. The album is the follow-up to 2014's Goin' Home, and will be released on July 21. The album was written in Nashville and recorded at Echophone Studios in Shreveport, Louisiana.
"We’re still breaking new ground, not just repeating ourselves,” says Sherpherd. “Every album is representative of the things that are going on with me right now. Every album is another page in the book.”This album is somewhat of a window into my soul. But it’s also a window into my observations. Hard Lesson Learned, that’s a painful song. It’s a guy who falls madly in love with this woman, and she’s just bad news for him. Baby Got Gone, that’s just about this whimsical girl. The guy is kind of infatuated with her. She’s beautiful, she’s fun to be around, but she can’t stay in one place too long. She’s just kinda beyond commitment, a free spirit."
"Lay It On Down is written about people I know that carry a burden in life and don’t feel they’re good enough," says Shepherd. "It’s about the beauty you see in someone that they can’t see in themselves. That can be sad to me sometimes, and I always want to let that person know. Your mother. Your daughter. Your son. Your wife. At some point in life, we all feel that we’re not good enough. So that album title – Lay It On Down – you can interpret in a couple of different ways. It could be about letting go of life’s struggles and not trying to carry the load by yourself. Or it could be like when a band is really cooking and really doing what they do best and laying it down.
“Every song is on there to tell a good story. And I think if you listen to the album in its entirety, each song takes you on a different journey."
Lay It On Down is released on July 21.

Lay It on Down

Scott Holt - From Lettsworth to Legend: A Tribute to Buddy Guy

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2007
Time: 59:09
Size: 136,0 MB
Label: Audio Fidelity
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Intro - 0:12
 2. First Time I Met The Blues - 3:45
 3. Damn Right I've Got The Blues - 6:26
 4. My Time After Awhile - 5:31
 5. Nice And Clean - 3:44
 6. I Dig Your Wig - 3:31
 7. She Suits Me To A T - 5:22
 8. Ten Years Ago - 4:36
 9. Nobody Understands Me (But My Guitar) - 4:57
10. When My Left Eye Jumps - 5:01
11. My Mother - 4:17
12. Too Many Ways - 2:22
13. One Room Country Shack - 5:17
14. You've Been Gone Too Long - 3:47
15. Outro - 0:15

Guitar virtuoso Scott Holt first came to national prominence as part of various high energy bands led by legendary Chicago blues guitarist and singer Buddy Guy. He was just 23 when Guy took him under his wing and taught him how to travel intelligently while accommodating the rigorous nature of blues touring. Holt stayed with Guy on the road and in the recording studio for a decade, earning his post-graduate education with one of the true blues guitar masters.
Holt was raised in Tennessee, and hearing Jimi Hendrix for the first time proved to be a revelatory moment in his life. His parents bought him a guitar for Christmas when he was 12. Like a lot of kids, he took piano lessons, because he had to, but he quit after six months. He didn't get serious about playing the instrument until he was 19, when his parents bought him an electric guitar. When he was 20, his father took him to hear Buddy Guy one night. That night, he met Guy and got an improvised guitar lesson from the master. He would frequently sit in with Guy on stage when he was touring around Nashville. One day in 1989, Guy called Holt out of the blue and asked him to join his touring band. Holt began writing his own songs while on the road with Guy and eventually began to record his songs, back home in Nashville, during breaks from Guy's international touring schedule.
In a record company biography accompanying "Dark of the Night," his first nationally distributed recording, Holt argues: "Every genre has its purists, but blues doesn't start and stop with Muddy Waters." Indeed, through the 1990's and into the new millennium, Holt and his various touring bands have been expanding the parameters of the form, and thanks to his decade on the road with Guy, he's been able to share stages and learn from the likes of Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Albert Collins, Jack Bruce, Carlos Santana and Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora.
Holt's albums under his own name, which showcase his abilities as a songwriter and singer as well as his fiery, passionate, high energy guitar playing, include his debut, "Messing with the Kid," in 1998, "Dark of the Night," a 1999 release for Mystic Music, "Chipped Front Tooth," for Lightyear Entertainment in 2003, and "From Lettsworth to Legend: A Tribute to Buddy Guy."
More recently, he's released "Angels in Exile" for Blue Storm Music in 2001 and "Revelator" for Rockview in late 2005. Holt continues to tour the U.S. and Canada. ~ Richard Skelly

From Lettsworth to Legend: A Tribute to Buddy Guy

Mel Brown and the Homewreckers - Blues - A Beautiful Thing

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2006
Time: 51:30
Size: 119,2 MB
Label: Electro-Fi Records
Styles: Blues/Modern Electric Blues
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Take Your Time - 4:32
 2. Blues - A Beautiful Thing - 4:30
 3. Ruby Mae - 5:34
 4. Snap - 4:34
 5. I Wouldn't Treat A Dog - 4:54
 6. Red Cross Store - 5:44
 7. Sundown - 2:38
 8. Make Love To Your Mind - 4:35
 9. I Wanna See My Baby - 3:52
10. Master Blaster - 7:08
11. Karansa's Boogie - 3:25

Musicianas:
Mel Brown - Guitar and vocals - keyboards on tracks 1, 2, 8;
John Lee - Keyboards on tracks 3, 4, 5, 10;
Al Richardson - Bass on tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9;
Leo Valvassori - Bass on tracks 1, 10;
Jim Boudreau - Drums on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11;
Randall Coryell - Drums on track 9.

Guitar Legend and W.C. Handy Award winner Mel Brown returns with his first studio album in 5 years. Backed by his super tight band The Homewreckers, Mel performs an incredible range of blues music - 9 of the 11 tracks are originals. Mel has previously recorded with T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and John Lee Hooker, but this new CD is all Mel. He calls it "Blues - A Beautiful Thing" - and they truly are when Mel Brown plays them. "Mel Brown is Funky, Primeval and Perfect." - Rolling Stone.

A Beautiful Thing

Rita Chiarelli - Breakfast At Midnight

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2001
Time: 47:56
Size: 113,4 MB
Label: NorthernBlues Music
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Woman In Blue - 4:05
 2. Horse Of A Different Colour - 4:57
 3. Never Been Loved Before - 3:55
 4. Memphis Has Got The Blues - 4:02
 5. Midnight In Berlin - 3:27
 6. I Can Change For You - 5:20
 7. Since I've Had You On My Mind - 4:31
 8. Loving You (Is Killing Me) - 4:30
 9. If You Were Crying Over Me - 4:16
10. Last Train - 4:11
11. Eggs Over Easy - 4:37

Rita Chiarelli is one of the most exciting new singers in Canada. Her unique blend of rock and blues has been compared favorably to Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge, and Susan Tedeschi. In 2000, she was named the "top blues singer" at Canada's Maple Leaf Awards. The world's discovery of Chiarelli comes after years of her paying dues. Singing with Hamilton, Ontario-based group Tempest at the age of 15, she toured throughout North America with a nine-piece R&B band, Battleaxe, after graduating from high school. Chiarelli continued to sharpen her chops as a member of Toronto-based rockabilly pioneer Ronnie Hawkins' group. After a year, however, she moved to Italy, where she worked as a studio vocalist for six years. Returning to Canada in the late '80s, Chiarelli had her first success when her tune "Have You Seen My Shoes?," which was featured in the film Roadkill. Releasing her debut album, Road Rocket, in 1992, she took things a step further with her second effort, Just Gettin' Started, three years later. Produced by Jane Siberry-producer John Switzer, the album showcased Chiarelli's hook-laden songwriting, with all but one song -- a cover of Elvis Presley's "Love Me" -- original. Long John Baldry covered Chiarelli's song, "Midnight in Berlin," on his 1996 album Right to Sing the Blues. Breakfast at Midnight, released in 2001, includes such guests as ex-Band keyboardist Richard Bell and guitarist Colin Linden. ~ Craig Harris

Breakfast At Midnight

Mel Brown - The Wizard/Blues For We

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2011
Time: 63:19
Size: 146,2 MB
Label: The Verve MG
Styles: Soul Blues
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Ode To Billie Joe - 4:24
 2. Swamp Fever - 6:08
 3. Blues After Hours - 6:36
 4. African Sweets - 3:12
 5. Stop - 4:22
 6. Chunk a Funk - 4:56
 7. Miss. Ann - 4:11
 8. W-2 Withholding - 2:17
 9. Twist and Shout - 2:41
10. Blues for We - 2:58
11. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da - 3:37
12. Son of a Preacher Man - 3:34
13. Set Me Free - 2:38
14. Freaky Zeke - 4:20
15. Indian Giver - 3:42
16. Stranger on the Shore - 3:36

Two stone killers from an ultra-hip guitarist! The Wizard is one of the key records in Mel Brown's legendary run for Impulse Records – a set that's grittier than most other sides recorded for the label in the 60s, but which also has the tight funky undercurrent we've come to expect from groovy Impulse too! Brown's got a strong blues lineage in his instrument, but he plays it here with a lean, mean style that's mighty nice – no cliches at all, and some of the funky jazz vibe you'd hear from Melvin Sparks or Grant Green on their late 60s work for Blue Note. The group's small, too – which helps keep things tight – and other players include Terry Evans on rhythm guitar, Mack Johnson on trumpet, Clifford Solomon on tenor, Ronald Brown on bass, and Paul Humphrey on drums. Titles include a monster version of "Ode to Billie Joe", plus "Swamp Fever", "African Sweets", "Stop", "Miss An", "W2 Withholding", and "Chunk a Funk". Blues For We is a record that's a lot more jazz than you'd guess from the title – a seminal set from the mighty Mel Brown! The "blues" here are hardly the familiar kind – and instead, the album really stresses the more soul-based sound of Mel Brown's work – thanks to some very groovy arrangements from Artie Butler! Tracks have a vamping, stomping sort of sound that's all-soul all the way through – using both Mel's guitar and some of his vocals to top some wonderful grooves from Artie – all done up in the best mix of soul jazz and more conventional vibes that was going down at Verve and Impulse in the late 60s. The tunes are all plenty hip too – with titles that include a great version of Tom Scott's "Freaky Zeke", plus Mel's own takes on "Son Of A Preacher Man", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", "Indian Giver", and "Set Me Free". © 1996-2011, Dusty Groove America, Inc.

The Wizard Blues For We

Mel Brown - Chicken Fat

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1967
Time: 40:08
Size: 92,3 MB
Label: The Verve MG
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Chicken Fat - 4:16
 2. I'm Goin' To Jackson - 5:53
 3. Slalom - 6:34
 4. Hobo Flats - 2:31
 5. Sad But True - 2:18
 6. Home James - 4:40
 7. Shanty - 5:01
 8. Greasy Spoon - 4:24
 9. Blues For The Big Bob - 4:25

Musicians:
Mel Brown - guitar;
Arthur Wright - guitar;
Ronald Brown - electric bass;
Gerald Wiggins - organ;
Paul Humphrey - drums.

Guitarist Mel Brown's 1967 solo debut is a perfect soul-jazz workout. Although Gerald Wiggins contributes saucy work on organ, and bassist Ronald Brown and drummer Paul Humphrey provide endless easy-flow beats, Chicken Fat is guitar paradise -- twisting, twirling beneficence from not just Brown but Arthur Wright and veteran Herb Ellis, as well. Add Brown's deep-South blues shouts and his head-down testifying among the choppy, primeval funk rhythms of "Greasy Spoon" and the countrified shuffle of "Sad But True," and you have something truly gooey and succulent - one of the best hunks of barbecue you ever ate in your life.

Chicken Fat

Mel Brown - Love Lost and Found

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2010
Time: 57:39
Size: 132,3 MB
Label: Electro-Fi
Styles: Blues
Art: Full

Tracks Listing
 1. Love Lost And Found - 5:42
 2. My Baby Wants To Boogie - 4:46
 3. You Were Wrong, Pretty Baby - 3:40
 4. Red Wine And Moonshine - 6:40
 5. Little Girl From Maine - 5:48
 6. Pattern B - 4:06
 7. Blues In The Alley - 3:12
 8. Feel Like Jumping - 4:51
 9. Come Back Baby - 5:35
10. Slow Moan - 3:21
11. Blues In A Plain Brown Wrapper - 4:28
12. Hoochie Coochie Man - 5:25

The final album from the late blues guitar legend and W.C. Handy Award winner Mel Brown. Features previously unreleased tracks of Mel at his very best with his close friend the Chicago harp legend Snooky Pryor, fellow Mississippi mojo master Sam Myers (Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets), Miss Angel and his protege emerging guitar star Enrico Crivellaro. Also includes unreleased vintage tracks from his Bluesway/Impulse era heyday in the early 1970's with additional guitar solos recorded by Mel in 2009. The haunting and achingly beautiful original instrumental title track Love, Lost and Found on which Mel played guitar, piano and B-3 organ may be the pinnacle of his incredible career.

Love Lost and Found