A blues traditionalist and proud of it is Sugar Brown aka Ken Kawashima, who is also a Professor of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto and who comes to us from Bowling Green OH via Chicago, where he played in several blues bands. For his third album, he again shows us that there is no need to stray outside the tradition to come up with contemporary blues songs.
Myles Goodwyn, the lead singer and principal songwriter for April Wine (20 million albums sold), has apparently been a staunch blues fan all along. He has found the time to write songs and stockpile tracks for a possible album. He has also given a lot of thought to who might be suitable ‘Friends’ to help.
One of the big stories last fall was the forthcoming album from Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar, the critical success of Send The Nightingale serving to heighten the anticipation. The TBS selected the newly enlarged group after a competition at Hugh’s Room with Dan McKinnon and Raoul & The Big Time to be its representative at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Alas, that trip proved to be unsuccessful but a major record label reached a much different conclusion and the album will soon be here for us all to enjoy – the Release Party is at The Horseshoe on April 28th.
Jason Buie: MapleBlues doesn’t usually run a picture more than once, let alone within a couple of months, but we’re re-printing this “selfie” of an ecstatic Jason Buie after he was presented the Maple Blues Award for Best New Artist in January. We are sorry to report that Jason passed away on March 22 at his home in Esquimalt BC. He died just as he was getting the national recognition he deserved in the Blues Scene. He leaves behind three children who will need a lot of help and support in the coming months. A GoFundMe page has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/jason-buie-fundraiser
This month’s recommended listening by Brad Wheeler, music writer for the Globe and Mail
Monkey Junk wins Blues JUNO
This month’s recommended listening by John Valenteyn, host of John Valenteyn’s Blues on ciut.fm, 89.5 and CD reviewer for Maple Blues.
JUNO Nominees: The JUNO Awards have announced their 2018 nominees. The selections for Blues Album of the Year are: Time to Roll, MonkeyJunk; No Time Like Now, Steve Strongman; Big City, Back Country Blues, Williams, Wayne and Isaak; Better the Devil You Know, Big Dave McLean and Something I’ve Done, Downchild. The winners will be announced on Sunday, March 25 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver and televised on the CBC . For a complete list of nominees and ticket info go to www.junoawards.ca. Good luck to all!
‘The Ice Queen’ certainly does not refer to Sue Foley’s relationship with her friends in Texas, particularly the ones she made during her lengthy sojourn at Clifford Antone’s famous club. She went back to record her first solo album in some time and the result proves how smart a move that was, even if she has moved to broaden her musical palette from straight ahead blues.
Hard on the heels of a “best of” collection, Jack pays homage to the masters and Checkmate is one stomping, roaring collection. Otis Rush is represented by three songs; Howlin’ Wolf, three; Elmore James, two and Robert Johnson, two. We also get some early BB, Blind Willie McTell and Aretha Franklin. While they stick fairly close to the originals, Jack and the band don’t try to imitate any of the masters, they perform these songs as the Jack de Keyzer Band.
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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.
