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 JP LeBlanc’s first album in 15 years, and man, was it worth waiting for. The native of Bathurst, New Brunswick was somewhat of a young prodigy, infected by the blues at the age of 11, picking up guitar and joining high-powered jams as a teenager and recording his first CD at the age of 21.
There are not enough words in the English language to explain the incredible impact Gary Kendall has had on the Canadian Blues Industry. His work with Legendary Downchild Blues Band is just the tip of a very deep ice berg.
Two Austin residents, drummer, vocalist Lindsay Beaver and guitarist, vocalist Brad Stivers have teamed up to present a pretty impressive debut duo disc.
When Bruce Iglauer started Alligator records in a neighbourhood on the south side of Chicago back in 1970, little did he realize the giant impact his tiny label would have on the world of blues. In the years since, the label would release a compilation called Genuine Houserockin’ Music every 5 years, that I would snap up as soon as I could get my hot little hands on it. It all started when Bruce used his savings to finance a recording by his favorite windy city blues band, Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers. It was that album that created the necessity of the label, so it is only fitting that the first cut on this 50th anniversary compilation is from that classic band.
There’s a new guitar hero on the horizon — Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. His first album, Kingfish, held at number one on the Billboard Blues Chart for 91 weeks and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Rolling Stone wrote, “Kingfish is one of the most exciting young guitarists in years, with a sound that encompasses B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and Prince.” Guitar World declared him “the future of the blues.” All this for a twenty-two-year-old from Clarksdale, Mississippi, the cradle where so much of that music was born.
Brandon Isaak’s new release, Modern Primitive, is a highly listenable, highly air-playable album of gems. The ultra talented songwriter and musician has outdone himself with 11 songs that are honest, genuine and distinctly different from one another.
On first glance at the front cover of Hope Dies Last, one could be excused for wondering if Steve Marriner’s new solo album might be a complete departure from the raucous and righteous sounds he’s been whipping up with his MonkeyJunk bandmates for more than a decade now.
Ghalia Volt honed her skills busking on the streets of her native Brussels, singing and playing guitar, while a foot tambourine marked the beat. Growing up, she was influenced by garage rock and punk music, then came to blues though Skip James and J.B. Lenoir. Now, on the heels of two acclaimed albums — Let the Demons Out and Mississippi Blend — where she was supported by other musicians, she’s back with a twist. In her new release, One Woman Band, Volt returns to her original format and decisively demonstrates that she won’t be silenced by the limitations of the pandemic.
A true stalwart of the Toronto blues scene, Gary Kendall is best known as the longtime bassist in Downchild, former co-leader of the Kendall Wall Band, and music director of the ace Maple Blues Revue. He is also a highly talented songwriter and producer, skills that were showcased on his only solo album to date, 2004’s Dusty & Pearl.
Kendall recently returned to the material on that compelling release, selecting four highlight tracks that have been Remixed & Remastered by award-winning engineer L. Stu Young (Downchild, David Wilcox, Prairie Oyster).
Legendary producer Christian Mousset of France’s Musiques Metisses festival in Angouleme provides a quote on the jacket of the new release by the unlikely duo: “Haunting and melancholic melodies delivered with subtle and spicy elegance, Piment Bleu, Tao Ravao and Vincent Bucher’s new album takes us on board for a trip to landing on the shores of southern creole Blues, Malagasy infectious beat and African echoes. An authentic and unique blend of today’s musical landscape.”
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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.
