November 12 was the one hundredth anniversary of Jackie Washington’s birth. Ken Whiteley, who is largely responsible for the late career success of the Hamilton legend, has assembled an impressive package to celebrate.
Now in her 50’s, Angel Forrest has decided to confront her age Hell Bent with Grace. Partner Denis Coulombe is right there with her along with lead guitarist Ricky Paquette as the songwriting trio.
This month’s recommended listening by Greg Torrington, programmer of Stingray’s blues channels.
“Almost” to be inducted into Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame: The first Canadian blues recording ever to sell gold, “I’ve Got Everything I Need (Almost),” written by The Legendary Downchild Blues Band’s leader and co-founder, Don Walsh, was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on Friday, November 29, 2019. The song skyrocketed to international fame when it was covered by The Blues Brothers’ Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi, who were heavily influenced by the Canadian group founded in 1969. The song induction will take place during the band’s 50th Anniversary Party in Ottawa on Nov. 29, featuring special guests Dan Aykroyd, Tony D (MonkeyJunk), Suzie Vinnick and Andy J Forest.
Brian Blain will receive the Blues Booster Award at the Maple Blues Awards, February 3 at Koerner Hall.
Sue Decker is a singer/songwriter/guitarist from Victoria. She specializes in lap steel slide guitars and her set list goes from blues to folk to outlaw country.
Guy Bélanger continues his journey to take the humble harmonica to new places, to Eldorado, and he takes a superb band with him: Rob McDonald on lead guitars, Marc-André Drouin on bass and Michel Dufour on drums.
The premise of the Cobalt Prize is to reward songs that ‘creatively utilize blues traditions within the broad contemporary musical landscape’. Son Roberts has taken this to heart for his third album. He certainly has stretched the boundaries with his song structures and his subject matter is very much in the here and now: he’s very concerned about some of the things he sees around him here in Toronto.
Wide Mouth Mason impressed a lot of people in the mid 90’s when this young trio from Saskatoon emerged. I remember a packed house at the Horseshoe Tavern for their CD launch, a self-titled release on Warner Music. They soon left the blues part of their blues rock behind for six more albums, earning several JUNO nominations along the way. They are back now as a duo and diving deep into the blues.
It’s been ten years since the passing of Mel Brown in Kitchener. The legendary guitarist found a home here after a lengthy career as a solo artist for the Impulse label and a mainstay in the band of Bobby Blue Bland, an in-demand session guitarist and the leader of the house band at Clifford Antone’s famous club in Austin TX. He also found a home with Electro-Fi Records, where the guitarist made a late career move as a vocalist with a warm, expressive baritone voice.
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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.
