Dr. Don's Double Dose feat Don Hopkins & Rob Grosser - Conjure Bag

Styles : Piano Blues, Boogie Woogie

Released : 2005

01 - Susie Q

02 - You Dont Know My Mind

03 - You Sure Can't Do

04 - It Aint Gonna Worry My Mind

05 - You've Gotta Reap

06 - Back Room Boogie

07 - Beautiful City

08 - Hush

09 - Oh' Roberta

10 - Don't You Leave Me Here
11 - St. James Infirmiry
12 - Thats a Rockin Good Way
13 - Same Thing
14 - I Was So Wrong
15 - Keep Your Hands off Her


Two men: one drum kit, one piano, and one voice.

Yet they can sound like a whole band as they tear through their earthy mix of gospel, boogies, country blues, jug band and soul numbers.
Nothing seems lacking, the bass lines are there, the easy going infectious beat, the expressive solo passages and the incessant piano riffs filling in around those blues drenched vocals of Dr. Don Hopkins.
All of this from within an effortless rootsy groove that is as solid as you get.

One advantage of this paring of piano and drums, is that it allows Don to call up any one of the vast number of songs he has gathered over the years and made his own. He doesn't have to worry about a guitarist, for example, not knowing the chord changes. And once the flow of songs gets going there's no telling where this Double Dose duo will take you. Along the way you'll be hearing a virtual history of African-American piano, drum and vocal styles: ragtime, boogie woogie, jug band, stride, jazz, gospel and funky New Orleans rhythm & blues.

Generally good time boogie and New Orleans rhythms predominate with many of the classics of Fats Domino, Leadbelly, Lonnie Johnson, Brownie McGee, Professor Longhair thrown in. All of them good-time, foot-stompin', piano boogie, party music. Double Dose are also known to launch into well known singalongs by artists like Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke, Little Richard. The track selections on their new CD "Conjure Bag" give a hint at the great variety a Double Dose performance is capable of.

Recorded live in an intimate venue in Sydney earlier in 2004, Conjure Bag sees Hopkins and Grosser deliver tunes from right across the African-American roots spectrum, as Hopkins explains: "Ain't Gonna Worry My Mind sounds like it could be country, gospel or soul ? it's from George Jones. You've Gotta Reap, that's Eddie Boyd, who is a piano player, who was big in Chicago. Susie Q is from the first Sonny Boy Williamson, from the 1930s. Then Hush and Beautiful City are two pre-Gospel, spirituals. Don't You Leave Me Here is very early country blues, which is imitating finger-picking guitar, which was actually imitating ragtime piano! There's always that interplay between guitar and piano I reckon in blues. Rockin' Good Way was Brooke Benton and Dinah Washington! Bit of a rumba feel. Same Thing - That's from the Memphis Jugband. So there's a lot of variety in sounds and rhythms.

James 'Super Chikan' Johnson - Welcome To Sunny Bluesville

Styles : Delta Blues

Released : 2010

01 - All My Yesterdays

02 - 555

03 - Do What Your Daddy Said

04 - Bluesville Blues

05 - Grandpa's Blues

06 - Birthday Boogie

07 - Mama's Milk Cow Blues

08 - Old Delta Blues Scraps
09 - Hooker Boogie

10 - Pretty Red Dress

11 - Mr. Jimmy

12 - Made You Laugh

13 - St. Blues Guitar

14 - Sunshine Boogie

Biography

James "Super Chikan" Johnson is a Blues Music Award winning American blues musician, artist and guitar maker based in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He is the nephew of fellow blues musician Big Jack Johnson.

James Louis Johnson was born in Darling, Mississippi on February 16, 1951. He spent his childhood moving from town to town in the Mississippi Delta and working on his family's farms. He was very fond of the chickens on the farm, and before he was old enough to work in the fields, he would walk around talking to them. This led his friends to give him the nickname "Chikan Boy". At an early age, Johnson got his first rudimentary musical instrument, a "diddley bow", which was simply a piece of wood with a piece of baling wire stretched from end to end. As he grew up, he came up with new ways to improve and vary the sounds he could make with it, and finally, in 1964, at the age of thirteen, he bought his first guitar, an acoustic model that had only two strings, from a Salvation Army store in Clarksdale.

As an adult, “Super Chikan” began driving a truck for a living. During the long stretches on the road, he began composing his own songs. When he showed some of the songs to his friends, they convinced him to go a studio and record them. He then started playing with some renowned local musicians, but he decided he would rather perform on his own than try to conform his style to that of his band-mates.

He did so, and in 1997 “Super Chikan” released his debut album, Blues Come Home to Roost, influenced by such musicians as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Chuck Berry. He went on to release What You See in 2000, Shoot That Thang in 2001, Chikan Supe in 2005, Sum Mo Chikan in 2008, and Chikadelic in 2009, which was awarded the 2010 Blues Music Award for Traditional Blues Album.

Welcome To Sunny Bluesville, Super Chikan's latest CD, was recorded at XM / Sirius Satellite Radio's state-of-the-art performance studio in Washington, DC. It features both Chikan solo and with his band, The Fighting Cocks.

In the Clarksdale area, "Super Chikan" is probably best-known for performing regularly at Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero blues club, and for being Freeman's favorite blues performer. “Super Chikan” has toured and performed at festivals in Africa, Iceland, Japan, UK, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, Finland, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Switzerland, and has performed for the President of the United States. He was recently nominated by the Blues Foundation, for his second year in a row, the Blues Music Awards for BB King Entertainer of the Year and Traditional Male Blues Artist.

Last year, he was honored with four nominations, including BB King Entertainer of the Year, Song of the Year for "Fred's Dollar Store", Traditional Blues Male Artist, and he won the BMA for Traditional Blues Album of the Year for Chikadelic. He was previously nominated for the Best New Artist Blues Music Award in 1998, and has received five Living Blues Critics Awards. In 2004, “Super Chikan” received the Mississippi Governor?s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

This CD Recorded during two sessions (one solo, one with a band) made in Bluesville at Sirius/XM's radio studio. Not bad at all, but somewhat hard to listen to in its entirety. Mississippi Downhome Blues. JAMES 'SUPER CHIKAN' JOHNSON - gtr/voc, LAURA CRAIG - pno/voc, HEATHER TACKETT - bass, JAMIESA TURNER - drums.

*Original CD from sussex

Graná Louise - Gettin' Kinda Rough!

Styles : Soul Blues, Modern Electric Blues

Realesed : 2011

01 - Stagger Lee

02 - Lead Foot Mama

03 - Where You Been?

04 - Learning How to Cheat on You

05 - Big Dick, M'isipi

06 - Bang Bang Ba-Bang Bang Bang Bang!
07 - Gonna Get 'Cha
08 - Wet Match
09 - Queen Bee
10 - Back Door Blues
11 - I Can't Stand the Rain
12 - Hey Joe

Graná Louise's deep rich voice belts out the kind of raw gut blues that makes your spine tingle and heart ache. She performs at the hottest blues clubs in Chicago but has rocked the house at New York's Apollo Theatre as well as European festivals

One thing is for sure about Graná Louise, and that is that she definitely knows how to belt out the Blues. As a matter of fact she is pretty good at belting out Soul and Rock N' Roll, as well, something you become quickly aware of after only listening to a few moments of her Delmark Debut Release, "Gettin' Kinda Rough!". Graná Louise' style harkens back to the older days and has been compared to Etta James, Koko Taylor, and Ruth Brown, which this icon of the Chicago Blues Scene loves to show off where ever she is performing.

"Getting' Kinda Rough " combines studio and live recordings, brand-new original songs and covers that have been personalised to make them her own.

"Gettin' Kinda Rough!" consists of a rather interesting mix of Tracks, 12 in all, of which Graná Louise gets credit for writing 4 of the tracks, with one of them being co-written with Bill Syniar. Bill Syniar is also one of the musicians on "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", and is credited with playing all the instruments on Track 7 "Gonna Get 'Cha". The other musicians on "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", included Tom Holland (Guitar), Bill Hargrave (Bass), Clarence "Curfew" Scott (Drums), Carlos Showers (Guitar, Tracks 8 - 12). Tom Holland has been a "professional musician for over 11 years now, Tom Holland has honed his craft well, and has become one of the most respected, and in demand guitarists on the Chicago blues scene." Tom Holland also regularly tours with James Cotton and plays guitar on Cotton's latest critically acclaimed release, "Giant". Tom Holland plays guitar on all 12 Tracks on "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", joining in with Guitarist Carlos Showers during the Live part of this Album.

*from Rugbymen

Olaf Giebe (O.G.) - Objection Overruled

Styles : Blues Rock

Released : 2000

01 - Stunnin' Woman

02 - Trouble

03 - Homework

04 - Hey Postosuchus

05 - Six Blade Knife

06 - Stop Breaking Down

07 - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
08 - Drift Away
09 - Devil's Right Hand

10 - On My Own Again

11 - Ridin' On The L & N

12 - Shallow Yellow

13 - Crawfish

14 - Hey Marion

15 - They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora, Arkansas

O.G. published in 2000, his first fully formed on their own CD. Title: "Objection Overruled". Has helped a select team of Hanover musicians (some from the environment by Heinz Rudolf Kunze, Reiner Schone, stone cloud, Jutta Weinhold). With them OG's some songs from his own pen and ten of his favorite songs, including "Trouble" (originally sung by Elvis) and were "They Caught The Devil ..." Tony Joe White recorded.

Cut It While It's Hot: In a few days recording time with many live backing vocals and first-take solos sound groovy blues-rock record was created with lots of guitars, including Slide & Steel, and smoky Hammond organ. Dr. Will, in his "Gangsters of Love " O.G. become a permanent member, is spontaneously found the correct term: "SWAMP 'N' ROLL". Peter Pichl, bassist and co-produced with very musical ear caused by sophisticated microphone placement and skillful combination of digital and analog recording media for a fat, round sound. Motto: ". Do not make it Make it perfectly alive."

Olaf Giebe: vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar , Arndt Schulz: vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, Peter Pichl: bass, Robert "Jocky" Jocks: drums, Klaus Henatsch: Hammond B 3 Organ & Piano (3, 5, 8, 9, 11), Martin Huch: Pedal Steel Guitar (1, 8, 14, 15), Marc Hothan: harp (2), lead guitar (2, 15), Angi Baldauf: lead vocals (3) backing vocals (4,5), Anjes Borchers: backing vocals (5).

Special Guests: Dieter "Atze" Golsdorf: Lead Guitar, Vocals (12), Dr. Fritz: Vocals (12), THE BOTTLES (Ullus Steinvorth, Guitar; Roger Gierschmann, Bass, Vocals; "Toto" Korn, Drums, plus O.G., guitar, vocals): 6, 7.

*Original CD from sussex

L.C. Ulmer - Long Ways From Home

Styles : Juke Joint Blues

Released : 2007

01 - I've Been There
02 - Cleo's Back

03 - Burn Down the House

04 - Got Me Runnin

05 - I Rest My Case

06 - All By Myself

07 - Going Away To Leave You

08 - Move Them Hips

09 - Long Ways From Home

10 - Tell Me What's Wrong With You

11 - Money Blues

Multi-instrumentalist Lee Chester Ulmer from Ellisville, Miss., picked this music spot in Stringer, where he was born in 1928 and grew up. In the family fed and fourteen children, all encapsulated with music. Their father played guitar, harmonica and jew's harp and musicians walked in and out. Barely nine years old Chester Lee also took to the guitar and taught himself the slide technique. The blues never let him go. He played in juke joints, Gospel quartets, church and boat rides, festivals and symposia, regardless of religion or the color of the public. In addition he was alive and varied temporary jobs.

His restless vagabond nature brought him to Arizona, California, Illinois and Alaska. He had his own band "The Bel Air Clowns' request and withdrew the job as one man band. Among the blues greats that he played to find Muddy Waters, Howlin 'Wolf, Buddy Guy, Hound Dog Taylor. After one year long stay in Joliet, Illinois, in 2001 he traveled back to his Mississippi home.

In June 2007 he was in Italy at the festival stage. In Parma there was the "Roots and Blues Festival organized and LC sang and played more than one hour with the superb bassist Justin Showah and guitarist Eric Deaton. The latter gave himself two CDs and is equally adept in the trance music that he has perfected Junior Kimbrough. That gives this album live, with good recording quality, mix of gritty abrasive guitar, drum and bass, alongside the rusty voice of L. C. who else plays acoustic guitar. Lester Wallace also inspired drums like he never did otherwise.

Svet & Al Boogie Band - Happy With The Boogie

Styles : Piano Blues, Chicago Blues

Released : 2003

01 - Everything`s Gonna Be Allright

02 - For U My Love

03 - How Long Blues

04 - Guitar In My Hands

05 - Love Me Baby

06 - Shake A Hand

07 - Let Me Play With Your Poodle
08 - Everyday I Have The Blues
09 - Kindhearted Woman

Svet Boogie Band was organized in 2003 by Svet, a blues musician, composer and performer extraordinaire from Minsk (Belarus).

Svet Boogie Band is recognized as Belarus' #1 blues band. The band is also one of the leaders of the Moscow blues club scene. The band was a winner of the 2006 National final for the Global Battle of the Bands competition and represented Belarus at the GBOB Final in London on December 10, 2006.They played piano blues, boogie-woogie, Chicago blues.

Repertoire includes original interpretations of works by such seminal blues figures as Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf, and home-made compositions; red-hot boogie-woogie numbers (in the style of Pinetop Perkins) and melodious slow blues with soft electric harp accompaniment (Snooky Pryor etc.)

The band's leader -- Svet -- an old-style piano and harp virtuoso with an unusual bluesy voice was a well-known musician in the Western Europe and CIS Countries. He died in a traffic accident in 2008.

Other band members were:
Tikhon Zolotov (bass),
Dmitry Havrilik (guitar),

Aleksej Zolotov (percussion).

The band's discography includes two studio CD's Happy with the Boogie (2003) and Nothing but Love (2005), DVD Live at the JVL Art Club (2004, recently re-released in CD format), single Goin' to London (2007). Svet Boogie Band's latest release is DVD Live (2008), recorded in August, 2007 in Moscow. It contains the band's own music material that is yet to be recorded in studio.

Eric Street Band - The Route to The Blues

Styles : Blues Rock

Released : 2009

01 - All I Wanted

02 - The Wrong Road

03 - The Habit

04 - Mr. Fat Cat

05 - I Need A Lover

06 - Sweet Cocaine

07 - Reconsider Baby

08 - Ride with Me

09 - The Reality Show

The name of the band comes from a street in East London. Dennis was up in London in a traffic jam on the Mile End Road when he looked up and saw a sign saying Eric Street.That was it, the name of the band.

 Dennis met Neil when The Southside Blues Band went in to No Machine Studios to record some demos. Dennis asked Neil if he would help him produce a song as a tribute to a man who had helped the band.

 The association didn't stop at one song and with three albums under his belt and spending most of his time in the studio, Dennis thought it best to disband The Southside Blues Band.

 With similar musical tastes, Dennis and Neil decided to get some like-minded musicians together to play some of their favourite blues songs.They decided to get some gigs and as an experiment record one of them just to see what it sounded like. It turned out so well that they decided to release an album of the material.

 The Route To the Blues followed this as the bands first studio album, acclaimed by Blues Matters magazine as " mature, polished and well produced."

 The next album, "The Journey" received great reviews, Blues in Britain said,"The Journey is a masterpiece of punchy, tobacco stained blues rock."

 Looking at the personnel, this is presumably some kind of offshoot of the well known Reading based Southside Blues Band. I would have to say that this is the most mature, polished and well produced piece of material I have heard thus far from vocalist and co-writer of eight of the nine featured tracks, Dennis Siggery.

 Only nine tracks, but, with a playing time of over fifty minutes, its good value. For the most part it’s slow to medium paced and fairly gritty, contemporary stuff, all dominated with an earthy vibrato vocal style that reminds you of a certain Roger Chapman. Also on his best form is fellow scribe and lead guitarist Neil Saddler.

 The album title could be a bit misleading to some. Although there is undoubtedly a Blues influence to the album, much of the music has moved into a more mainstream position. As well as a handful of songs concerning relationships, we have a bit of social commentary on drugs, with ‘The Habit’ and ‘Sweet Cocaine’; a little political jibe with ‘Mr Fat Cat’; and a swipe at TV in ‘The Reality Show’.

The Soul Of R&B Revue - Live At The Lonestar Roadhouse

Styles : Blue-Eyed Soul

Released : 1993

01 - Rhapsody In Blue

02 - Things Ain't What They Used To Be

03 - Room With A View

04 - If I Were A Magician

05 - If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time

06 - It's A Man's World

07 - Groove Me

08 - If Lovin' You Is Wrong

09 - Lookin' For A Love

10 - Any Day Now

11 - I Don't Wanna Cry
12 - To Love Somebody
13 - I Can't Stand It

Recorded live at The Lonestar Roadhouse, New York on December 5, 1992.

Personnel: Cornell Dupree (guitar); Crispin Cioe (alto saxophone); Arno Hecht (tenor saxophone); Laurence Etkin (trumpet); Bob Funk (trombone); Dave Weckl (drums); Steve Moss (percussion); Chuck St. Troy, Diane Garisto, Tommy McDonnell, Amanda Homi (background vocals).

Beppe Semeraro & Massimo De Bernardi - Stories We Can Tell

Styles : Acoustic Blues (Diatonic Harp)

Released : 2001

01 - Every Day In The Week

02 - Fishin' Blues

03 - Lawdy Mama

04 - Come On In My Kitchen

05 - Blues When It Rains
06 - One Meat Ball
07 - Ragtime Millionaire
08 - Keep It Clean
09 - I Can't Be Satisfied
10 - Baby Please Gimme A Break
11 - Writin' Paper Blues
12 - Railroad Blues
13 - Somebody's Been Playin' With That Thing
14 - You Can Shake It You Can Break It
15 - Goin' Down This Road

 Beppe Semeraro (harmonica) and Massimo De Bernardi (vocals, guitar), namely the Blue Steam is a duo active for many years, known for their concerts and dissemination. The disk in question was registered in November 2001 by Cris Live Music, a music shop in Milan, and is self-produced and self-distribution. The sound quality suffers a bit 'of the situation "craft" in the sense that the voice comes out a little' dark and sometimes it is very low (we do not know if problems related to direct contact or whether Maximus would sometimes raise the hue the piece).
 The Blue Steam show great harmony and great love for the authors and tracks away from the mainstream. There are only very few pieces known to have already been proposed in numerous cover the rest of the lineup includes blues belonging mostly to the tradition of the Piedmont style, characterized by a hopping picking (often with low-alternate) with hooks to ragtime, a relaxed and harmonious singing and embroider incessantly following the work of guitar and voice.

*from smod