John’s Blues Picks is the monthly album review column originally launched by the late Toronto-based blues historian and broadcaster, John Valenteyn. Submission can be sent to the TBS office for consideration and will be circulated to a pool of journalists and others for review in the monthly Maple Blues newsletter and placed at the Spotify playlist.
This is a new live album by Bywater Call, the rock-soul-funk band that had been a touring sensation over the last few years. They have been releasing albums of new songs, and this is your chance to hear how they play those songs live.
JP LeBlanc’s album “All In My Blood”/ “Je l’ai dans le sang” on the Acadian Connection label was crafted in Canada, and recorded in Nashville with Colin Linden producing.
Our Time to Ride is the new album by Chambers DesLauriers. It’s also the name of the next-to-last song on the album. It’s a statement of purpose for the album. It swings and the guitars chug along like they mean business. The layers of the guitars pile up with increasing power and intent. Like a freight train. It certainly is an apt metaphor for what this group is doing right now.
“Little Magic” Sam Taylor is a party. His enthusiasm is unabashed. If he loves something he is going to share it, and then you’re going to love it too. That’s just how it goes. This record, true to its name, catches Sam and his band playing a gig at the Rivoli in Toronto. From the opening count of the blistering “When I’m Down,” to the soulful set closer “Kiss Me One More Time,” the blues is in the house.
Marriner’s latest recording project is Hear My Heart, with his current band Local Electric.
Charlie Musselwhite’s vocals haven’t sounded this robust and commanding in years. On Look Out Highway, the new album is mostly originals that adhere to tradition but have enough contemporary edge to keep it north of retro.
It never hurts to kick-start a soul/blues album with a certified classic. That’s how Tony Holiday’s Keep Your Head Up begins.
No matter how many times one listens to Crystal Shawanda, one will always taken with the many colours that make up her work. Although she’s considered one of the top blues vocalists on the scene today, her palette is broad and multi-hued.
The prestigious Alligator label out of Chicago is renowned for its blues roster. With the exception of Mavis Staples’ ’04 release on the label and the injection of strong elements of soul into the blues of some of their artists (Shemekia Copeland, the Holmes Brothers, Curtis Salgado), authentic Chicago blues remains its mainstay. Southern Avenue – named for the famous Memphis street that leads straight to the Stax Studios – is a marked foray into soul country. While elements of the blues are present (Southern soul is, by definition, a component of Memphis blues), this is a soul release underlining the notion of ‘family’: Tierinii, Tikyra (“T.K.”) and Ava Jackson are sisters, while the band’s fourth member, guitarist Ori Naftaly, married to Tierinii, is clearly part of the family.
David Toop is an Englishman who plays and writes about music. This is his thirteenth book. At close to 350 pages, it is a lot of writing for a 33-minute album. But it’s about right for a deep cultural examination of New Orleans and American music. The full title of the book is Two-Headed Doctor, with the subtitle Listening for Ghosts in Dr. John’s Gris-gris.
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The Toronto Blues Society acknowledges the annual support of the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council and the Department of Canadian Heritage, and project support from FACTOR< and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada’s Private Broadcasters, The Canada Council for the Arts, the SOCAN Foundation, SOCAN, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
