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.
Emily Fennell is a blues singer, but her honesty and clarity mean she could choose any genre. She has a history of winning blues music awards. As a blues singer, she avoids cliché.
What is “Within Tension”, exactly? Ross Neilsen describes it as the pressure an artist feels, in-studio, as well as referring to the actual barometric pressure within the studio.
Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat has a unique approach to presenting blues music.. In the true spirit of the Blues, the leader gathers a collection of the finest male and female musicians, singers, to deliver the messages contained in his songs and creating a musical energy rich with these blended talents!
Lily Sazz, a long-time presence at Toronto Blues Society events and musical groupings, has released her first solo album, What Just Happened.
Sazz was the bandleader of TBS’ Women’s Blues Revue for over a decade, as well as a member of the band Cootes Paradise.
When it comes to singers, there’s nothing on earth quite as beautiful as a woman’s voice. Far more emotive than even the best of male voices and capable of reaching notes with the capacity to pierce you through your heart in an instant, Clela Errington is among those to be considered something very special.
With her movie-star face above and her fan-dance moves behind the washboard, Norah Spades decorates the air around the stalwart figure of the bearded Jitterbug James as he sings and plays his resonator guitar, bringing songs from the deep past into an uncertain present.
Long-time Toronto Blues Society members will already be familiar with Britain’s Steve Payne and his music. A few years back he would regularly treat Torontonians to intimate solo shows, feeling comfortable enough with the city to make it a bit of a home away from home.
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.
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TBS logo and WBR artwork by Barbara Klunder
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.
