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.
McKenna Mendelson Mainline was one our iconic bands, with famous albums like Stink, Canada-Our Home And Native Land and Bump & Grind Revue-Live at The Victory imprinted in our collective memory. There were many personnel changes over their short lifespan but by the final LP, only Joe Mendelson and Mike McKenna remained.
TG is Tim Gibbons, a Hamilton guitarist/singer/songwriter whose second disc is a quite wonderful set of songs in all four of those categories, usually all at once. He is also a groove master. ‘Swampy’ Joe Klienfiltr on bass and ‘Patch’ on drums are the Swampbusters and that’s all TG needs.
Kim Doolittle bills herself as a singer, songwriter, storyteller & musician and she’s been living in the Peterborough area for some years now. You may remember her from her time here and she’s toured the world singing on cruise ships.
Chris Antonik’s third album was born in the crucible of divorce, a fact that colours all the songs here. We also have an explosive blues-rock album, complete with horn section, strings and chorus. With the help of some high-powered help behind the glass, we have a gorgeously recorded production. “(Between) The Monarch and the Wrecking Ball (We’ll Find A Way)” lends the album its title.
Manitoba Hal (Brolund) lives in Shelburne NS and plays ukelele. He plays it very well and through some FX pedals that make him sound like several players at once, an effect known as looping. He also has a custom-made double necked ukelele and a steel strung baritone slide one in his arsenal.
Brandon Isaak produced the Klondike Blues & Roots Festival in his hometown, Whitehorse, Yukon in 2014 and featured Tim Williams & Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne, among others. At Brandon’s suggestion, they stayed a few days afterwards to record this album at brother Chris’s Blue Star Studio. The results prove that this was a stellar idea. Each gets to lead on four songs on which they all play and solo.
Old friends and veterans both, a twenty year performing partnership is documented here. The one name you might be unfamiliar with is Sam Hurrie. He was a member of The Churls, a Yorkville-era rock group that briefly made the big time in New York, opening for Muddy Waters and Blood, Sweat & Tears among others. He moved out west in the early 70’s. BC’s Doug Cox should be more familiar: he is a multi-instrumentalist who specializes in the dobro and seeks out multicultural partners like mohan veena player VM Bhatt and Rwandan-Canadian bandleader The Mighty Popo.
Shawn Hall & Matthew Rogers have long expanded the touring version of the duo with backup singers, keyboards and drums. They’ve also been adding more and more studio FX and players to the albums. It’s such a good band name, though, that they haven’t changed that. The end result here is a fascinating new disc that some might think is quite far from what we normally think of as blues. And yet one song, “Father’s Son” was the First Runner Up in the Cobalt Songwriting competition.
Steve Strongman chose his Blues Summit Showcase to introduce his new album. Much the same crew is on board, with Rob Szabo producing, playing bass, keyboards & percussion (he also co-wrote the songs); Dave King is back on drums. Alec Fraser also played bass and Adam Warner, drums, and Jesse O’Brien also adds keyboards.
Elvin Bishop keeps on rolling: he was inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame as part of the hugely influential Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall Of Fame for his lifelong contributions to the blues, both of these happening last year. You probably remember his string of recordings for the Capricorn label in the ‘70’s with his Top 40 hit “Fooled Around And Fell In Love”.
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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.
