Blues Deluxe
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note as well as spotlights on those titles in the aforementioned genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar.
Emma Wilson and Terry Hanck: The Simplicity of The Blues
by Doug Collette
Paradoxical as it may sound, the simplicity of the blues may be the key to its malleability. On A Spoonful of Willie Dixon, British chanteuse Emma Wilson reaches for and grasps the fundamentals of the music in homage to Willie Dixon- -one of the genre's greatest composers. Meanwhile, the title of Terry Hanck's Grease To Gravy alludes to the alchemical nature of the essential components of the style when properly ignited. Each artist intuitively comprehends the coexistence of agony and ...
Continue ReadingRick Berthod / Dom Martin / Jonah Tolchin
by Doug Collette
The fundamental appeal of the blues lies largely in its simplicity of form and humor of expression. The elasticity of its format carries intrinsic drama, the suspense resolved within each verse, with a cumulative effect carrying over to the end of the given performance. It is a rare creature indeed that can muster the patience and discipline necessary to touch and hold the essence of the blues, thus the preponderance of posers who adopt the superficials, but ultimately never grasp ...
Continue ReadingAutumn 2022
by Doug Collette
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note, spotlighting titles in those genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. Grant Dermody Behind The Sun Self Produced 2022 This roughly fifty-minute excursion into the blues, Grant Dermody's fifth solo album, is an agile mix of this harmonica master's originals, collaborations with multi-instrumentalist/co-producer Dirk Powell and selections from icons of the ...
Continue ReadingSummer 2022
by Doug Collette
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note, spotlighting titles in those genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. The Phantom Blues Band Blues For Breakfast Little Village Foundation 2022 The hyperbole of Bill Bentley's liner notes notwithstanding, The Phantom Blues band have indeed achieved something extraordinary with Blues For Breakfast. That is, the sextet has forged an identity ...
Continue ReadingWinter 2022
by Doug Collette
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note, spotlighting titles in those genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. The Ronnie Wood Band Mr. Luck: A Tribute to Jimmy Reed Live at the Royal Albert Hall BMG 2021 Never at a loss for things to do between his stints working with the Rolling Stones, guitarist/songwriter Ronnie Wood's become quite ...
Continue ReadingSummer 2021
by Doug Collette
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note. It spotlights titles in those genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. Mike Younger Burning The Bigtop Down Self Produced 2021 The backstory of an album is oftentimes more interesting that the record itself, but that's definitely not the case with Burning The Bigtop Down. Mike Younger was in the studio ...
Continue ReadingFall 2020
by Doug Collette
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note. It spotlights titles in those genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. Heathcote Hill “the stories we are told" 311 Music 2020 Roots-music artists too often sacrifice personal expression for genre authenticity, but that's not the case with Heathcote Hill. True to the title of this album, the band weaves true-life ...
Continue ReadingSummer 2020
by Doug Collette
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note. It spotlights titles in those genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. Paul Kelly/Paul Grabowsky Please Leave Your Light On Cooking Vinyl 2020 Less the blues in form than in feel, these twelve performances percolate with the yearning, despair, liberation and good humor (not to mention a palpable undercurrent of eroticism) ...
Continue ReadingSpring 2020
by Doug Collette
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note. It spotlights titles in those genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. David Clayton-Thomas Say Somethin' Linus Entertainment 2020 Circa “Spinnin' Wheel" plus “And When I Die," David Clayton-Thomas' is best-known voice of Blood Sweat and Tears. But his savvy production takes precedence over immediately-recognizable singing within the topicality of Say ...
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by Doug Collette
Blues Deluxe is a regular column comprised of pithy takes on recent blues and roots-music releases of note. It spotlights titles in those genres that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. Sugar Blue Colors Beeble Music 2020 Musiclovers listening to Colors may or may not be aware they've heard Sugar Blue in the past: his was the saucy harp featured so prominently on the Rolling Stones' “Miss You." Nevertheless, the ...
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