Blues critic John Valenteyn brings you reviews of new blues albums every month!
- John's Blues Picks April 30, 2013
Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley Scrap Metal Blues Electro-Fi/Outside “The Blues Suite”, a TBS commission that Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley performed last October at the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio was a concert highlight of the y...
- John's Blues Picks April 3, 2013
[caption id="attachment_4478" align="alignleft" width="279"] Colin James - Twenty Five Live (EMI/Universal)[/caption] To celebrate his induction into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame during Canadian Music Week and with his last album receivi...
- John's Blues Picks March 14, 2013
[caption id="attachment_4443" align="alignleft" width="300"] Steve Hill - Solo Recordings Vol. 1 (No Label/Outside)[/caption] Montreal’s Steve Hill is the latest bandleader to go the solo route, simply by dispensing with a band - at his impromptu ...
- John's Blues Picks February 5, 2013
[caption id="attachment_4395" align="alignleft" width="300"] Harry Manx - Om Suite Ohm (Dog My Cat/Harmonia Mundi)[/caption] Harry Manx and his album titles just get better & better (Isle of Manx, Bread And Buddha, In Good We Trust, West Eats Me...
- John's Blues Picks December 27, 2012
[caption id="attachment_4338" align="alignleft" width="300"] Angel Forrest - Mother Tongue Blues (Morningstar/Select)[/caption] I was too ill to attend but you heard Ms. Forrest introduce three songs from the new disc at the Womens’ Blues Revue la...
- John's Blues Picks December 3, 2012
[caption id="attachment_4213" align="alignleft" width="300"] David Gogo - Christmas With The Blues (Cordova Bay/Universal)[/caption] With a lengthy discography culminating with Soul Bender, a charming, infectious Christmas CD may not have been the m...
- John's Blues Picks November 1, 2012
[caption id="attachment_4087" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Colin Linden - Still Live (File Under: Music/Outside)"][/caption] Colin Linden has lived in Nashville for some years now and this club recording was done at the Douglas Corner Caf...
- John's Blues Picks October 16, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3982" align="alignleft" width="298" caption="Julian Fauth - Everybody Ought To Treat A Stranger Right (Electro-Fi/Outside)"][/caption] A quadruple fracture in the shoulder is major trouble for a piano player but Julian Fauth ...
- John's Blues Picks August 30, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3870" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Fathead - Twenty Years Deep (Electro-Fi/Outside)"][/caption] At www.fathead.biz, there’s an awards page that will give you an idea of how important this band is in our national m...
- John's Blues Picks July 30, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3816" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Danny Marks - A Friend In The Blues (Self)"][/caption] Danny Marks’ announcement last year that he was going to record a tribute to Lonnie Johnson was greeted with much anticipat...
- John's Blues Picks June 28, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3748" align="alignleft" width="286" caption="Colin James - Fifteen (EMI)"][/caption] Album number fifteen by this multiple MBA winner features contributions from a couple of fellow songwriter/performers: Gordie “Big Sugar...
- John's Blues Picks June 6, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3694" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Chuck Jackson’s Big Bad Blues Band - A Cup Of Joe (Linus/Universal)"][/caption] Chuck Jackson’s day job since 1990 has been as lead singer for Downchild and many of you know th...
- John's Blues Picks April 25, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3553" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Shakura S’Aida - Time (Electro-Fi/Outside)"][/caption] Shakura S’Aida’s long-awaited third CD is actually two CDs: the first disc is entitled “Time To Rock My Soul...
- John's Blues Picks April 3, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3447" align="alignleft" width="296" caption="Sue Foley & Peter Karp - Beyond the Crossroads (Blind Pig/Stony Plain/Warner)"][/caption] This duo’s first CD was the song cycle He Said, She Said and it was very well re...
- John's Blues Picks March 8, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3371" align="alignleft" width="207" caption="Guitar Mikey & The Real Thing - Out of the Box (Earwig)"][/caption] It’s been a while since we’ve heard the name of this Hamilton native. He released a CD here and pla...
- John's Blues Picks January 31, 2012
[caption id="attachment_3268" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Al Lerman - Crowe River Blues (Self)"][/caption] At the Awards show, Matt Andersen was being accompanied to the podium by one of those wonderful stings by the band – this ti...
- John's Blues Picks December 29, 2011
January 2012 - Vol. 28, No. 1 [caption id="attachment_3209" align="alignleft" width="213" caption="Downchild Blues Band - 40th Anniversary Live At Massey Hall DVD (eOne/Koch)"][/caption] It opens with a simple graphic and Dan Aykroy...
- John's Blues Picks December 26, 2011
December 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 12 [caption id="attachment_3170" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Layla Zoe - Sleep Little Girl (Cable Car)"][/caption] An earlier disc paired Layla Zoe with only an acoustic guitarist. This ...
- John's Blues Picks November 4, 2011
November 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 11 [caption id="attachment_3106" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Treasa Levasseur - Broad (Slim Chicken/Outside)"][/caption] The Women’s Blues Revue will soon be upon us and Treasa Le...
- John's Blues Picks October 4, 2011
October 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 10 [caption id="attachment_3060" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Ray Bonneville - Bad Man’s Blood (Red House/Outside)"][/caption] Montreal-born Ray Bonneville’s ability to create evocative images with very f...
- John's Blues Picks September 2, 2011
September 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 9 [caption id="attachment_2955" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Matt Andersen - Coal Mining Blues (Busted Flat/Sonic Unyon)"][/caption] A double Maple Blues Award winner this year, Andersen’s new release is ...
- John's Blues Picks August 5, 2011
August 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 8 [caption id="attachment_2877" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Susan Wylde - In The Light (Sun, Moon & Stars)"][/caption] Torontonian Susan Wylde aims to explode blues myths and by starting with cons...
- John's Blues Picks July 7, 2011
July 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 7 [caption id="attachment_2770" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="MonkeyJunk - To Behold (Stony Plain/Warner)"][/caption] A more meteoric rise for a new band would be hard to imagine. The buzz had already been buildi...
- John's Blues Picks June 14, 2011
June 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 6 [caption id="attachment_2701" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Morgan Davis - Drive My Blues Away (Electro Fi/Outside)"][/caption] Morgan Davis is a bluesman with a penetrating, uncompromising view of his field ...
- John's Blues Picks April 29, 2011
May 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 5 [caption id="attachment_2598" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Rita Chiarelli - Music From The Big House - Mad Iris/Outside"][/caption] The movie documents Rita working with the inmates at the Louisiana Stat...
- John's Blues Picks April 7, 2011
[caption id="attachment_2549" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Suzie Vinnick Me ‘n Mabel Outside"][/caption] April 2011 - Vol 27, No 2 Multiple Maple Blues Award winning vocalist Suzie Vinnick’s latest project is a (mostly) solo ac...
- John's Blues Picks March 18, 2011
January 2011 - Vol. 27. No 1 Angel Forrest Come Alive Wonderland/Select Quebec vocalist Angel Forrest has received much acclaim for promoting the music of Janis Joplin, culminating in the album Sings Janis Live. She has moved on from that now to...
- John's Blues Picks March 17, 2011
March 2011 - Vol. 27, No. 3 [caption id="attachment_2424" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="T-Bone Little & Steve Burnside - No Cover Charge (Prospect)"][/caption] I usually think of Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks as the Ground Zero of T...
- John's Blues Picks February 11, 2011
Carlos del Junco | Nicole Christian | Kat Danser | The 24th Street Wailers | Brian Blain
- John's Blues Picks February 11, 2011
January 2011 - Vol. 27. No 1 (download issue) Angel Forrest Come Alive Wonderland/Select Quebec vocalist Angel Forrest has received much acclaim for promoting the music of Janis Joplin, culminating in the album Sings Janis Live. She has move...
- John's Blues Picks December 16, 2010
Porkbelly Futures The Crooked Road | Bill Johnson Still Blue | Alan Black Happy As A Monkey | Arsen Shomakhov On The Move | Donald Ray Johnson It's Time
- John's Blues Picks November 5, 2010
CD REVIEWS: Bob Walsh Inside I Am Blue | Guy Belanger Crossroads | Various Artists The Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concert |Jim Byrnes Everywhere West | Buddy Guy Living Proof
- John's Blues Picks September 30, 2010
CD REVIEWS: Mel Brown Love, Lost And Found | Kellylee Evans Nina | Johnny Max Band It’s A Long Road | Brian Cober Real Far Gone | Chris Antonik Chris Antonik | Terry Gillespie Big Money
- John's Blues Picks September 1, 2010
CD REVIEWS: JW-Jones Band Midnight Memphis Sun | Ken Whiteley Another Day's Journey | Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne/Julian Fauth/Bobby Dean Blackburn/Curley Bridges Blues Piano – Rama | Rockit 88 Band Sweet Sugar Cane | Duke Robillard Passport To The Blues | Charlie Musselwhite The Well
