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Jason Buie hails from Vancouver Island where he’s said to be one of its finest guitar players. He certainly plays very well here and puts that talent to very good use on some fine rocking blues originals on this, his third CD. Keyboard ace Dave Webb provides the other lead instrument with George Fenn on bass and John Hunter on drums.

Our master of the less-is-more school of blues is back with a new collection. As you might be able to tell from the cover and the title, Morgan Davis’ latest reflects the life of a travelling bluesman. The title song opens, with Morgan singing of the motels he searches for on the road, it’s family-run operations that make him feel comfortable. It’s just him on guitar, the way he travels most often these days and it sounds like his cigar-box guitar at that.

Veteran Montreal singer/songwriter Rob Lutes treats us to another fine collection of new ones. As it says in the press release, he is ‘situated at the intersection of blues, folk, Americana & contemporary singer/songwriter genres’. It’s a place he shares with people like Ray Bonneville & Thom Swift, both of whom use his songs.

Kellylee Evans returns to the TBS Women’s Blues Revue

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

That Downchild is still with us and sounding so good is one of the wonders of our world. From those early days at Grossman’s to their concert hall & festival appearances today, the quality of those eighteen albums over fifty years is truly remarkable. A band that was (in)famous for lineup changes has now had the same one for some twenty years.

Western Canadian Music Awards: Congratulations to Winnipeg bluesman Big Dave McLean who picked up the Blues Artist of the Year.award at this year’s Western Canadian Music Awards (WCMA) in Edmonton. Celebrating the accomplishments of some of Western Canada’s best and brightest, the envelopes were opened at a concert on September 14 that kicked off a professional development-focused conference and export development showcase festival and also drew a protest by several established artists who wanted to bring attention to the fact that the only people who weren’t being paid were the musicians.

It’s been a while between albums for showman/entrepreneur Jimmy Zee. He has assembled a fine cast for his new songs, but, as usual, the gravelly-voiced Jimmy Zee is what you get and what you want. He delivers a hard-driving blues-rock set. The title song is a fine opener, imploring you to be yourself. Annabelle Chvostek is on background vocals on this one but Nadine States adds her wonderfully effective background vocals to almost every other song.

Join us on Monday, September 25 at Hugh’s Room Live to be part of the Toronto Blues Society’s “Road to Memphis” Challenge to select our representative at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Cheer on your favourite blues band as they battle on stage to represent Toronto at the IBC. Dan McKinnon, Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar, Raoul and The Big Time are amongst the musicians to compete this year.

This award-winning documentary has been making its way through the cinemas and is now available on DVD. Daniel Cross, the noted Montreal filmmaker, asked Bobby Rush to take him and his crew on a tour of the current blues scene in rural Louisiana and various parts of Mississippi beginning in 2013 and that might well be the most important part of the documentary as his connections and integrity opened doors.