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.
Guitarist/singer/songwriter Jack Semple mostly stays out west, he lives in Regina, which may be one reason he’s not so well known in these parts. He has released some ten albums and has won awards for his television and movie soundtrack work. As he says on his web site, he ‘plays modern blues without forgetting where he came from’. It’s not a bad description of this album either.
With this release Anthony Gomes wants to bill himself as a 21st Century guitar hero although, with a master’s degree from U of T, he knows the blues is much more than that. He showcased his deep knowledge of the blues on his Electric Field Holler in 2015. For album #13, he has written some very fine songs indeed. As you might tell from the album title, this is a blues rock extravaganza.
Edmonton’s Kat Danser is now Dr. Kat Danser with her PhD in Ethnomusicology, taking her study of blues music to its highest level – she has spent more time in Mississippi than she has at home. She is also a tireless performer, now releasing her fifth album, produced by Juno-award winning Steve Dawson.
Multiple MBA and JUNO Award winner David Gogo wanted to stretch the boundaries a little for album #15. He wanted to cover both his electric side & his acoustic side and he wanted to show that he listens to quite a lot of different music. I think you’ll find though that the blues is not far away.
The album title is in Tagalog, Carolyn Fe Trinidad’s native tongue in the Philippines, it translates as ‘My Wound’, the current interest in one’s roots encouraging her to recognize hers. The album, though, is in her style of blues and sung in English.
Longtime Austin, Texas resident Ray Bonneville was born & raised in Quebec, was a bush pilot in the North and worked as a sideman for years before heading out on a solo career. At King Electric is his ninth album since then, his Gust of Wind winning the Blues JUNO in 1999. King Electric is a studio in Austin and Stonefly is a new label for Ray, many of his earlier albums being on Red House but still available.
catl has been called alt blues or punk blues and we do get the unison vocals by catl and Sarah K, on guitar and drums respectively and we do get mostly uptempo songs with the boundless energy and the in-your-face attitude we associate with this duo.
After recording the highly regarded Blue Highways, Colin James continued his renewed interest in blues to the point of going back to his first guitar, a Gibson ES-335, the original of which he had to sell for rent money. According to the press release, playing this guitar, the guitar of choice for many blues players, led to the song selection here. And a very interesting set list it is, including two originals.
Denis Parker was inducted into the Newfoundland Labrador Music Hall of Fame last year to celebrate his 50 years of performing, writing and teaching. It also includes his almost twenty years as Executive Director of its Music Industry Assocation. He is originally from England where he came up with the Panama Limited Jug Band, whose two albums have recently been re-issued on Cherry Red Records.
It has been some years since a recording by these three players together. Bill Bourne, Lester Quitzau and Madagascar Slim (Randriamananjara Radofa Besata) each have separate careers loosely characterized as folk, blues and world music respectively, although each would probably be upset at being so labelled. Slim for one spent many years here in blues bands.
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