Maple Blues Archive

June 2025 – Tony Holiday

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.

June 2025 – Loose Blues News

Talkin’ Blues: Mako Funasaka’s popular podcast is coming up to episode 450 which will be posted on June 21st featuring an interview with Derrick D’Mar Martin, drummer for Rick Estrin and the Nightcats (also solo artist and ex-drummer for Little Richard).

June 2025 – Top Blues

This month’s recommended listening by Brad Wheeler, music writer for the Globe and Mail Twitter: @bwheelerglobe

June 2025 – Sloth Band

The Original Sloth Band celebrate their 60th Anniversary June 20 at Hugh’s Room

May 2025 – Crystal Shawanda

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.

May 2025 – Southern Avenue

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.

May 2025 – Two-Headed Doctor: Listening For Ghosts In Dr. John’s Gris-gris

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.

May 2025 – Secondhand Dreamcar

The seemingly secluded city of Edmonton never gets its due as a mecca for music. Oh, sure…k.d. made her massive mark as has Corb Lund and others. But the city’s rich diversity and those long, cold winters have also birthed a highly creative hotbed of musicians with time and space to woodshed until they get it right. Secondhand Dreamcar gets it more than right.

May 2025 – Loose Blues News

May 2025 – Top Blues

This month’s recommended listening by Brant Zwicker, host/executive producer of At the Crossroads syndicated blues radio. Website: atcblues.ca