New Blues Review 8-26-26
By Jack Roy
Candice Ivory – New Southern Vintage (Nola Blues)
Bio – “Born in Millington, the Tennessee town also claimed by Koko Taylor, Ivory started singing professionally on Beale Street in Memphis in her mid-teens. Mentored by veteran artists like Andy Goodrich, Fred Ford, Honeymoon Garner, Mose Vinson, Nokie Taylor, Di Anne Price, and Calvin Newborn (brother of legendary jazz pianist Phineas Newborn), she often sang into the wee hours and grabbed whatever sleep she could before heading off to school. Selected for the prestigious Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) at 18, she connected with jazz stars Terence Blanchard and Marcus Strickland (who along with Roy Hargrove urged her to make the move to New York and study jazz at the New School). Ivory first introduced her dynamic improvisation-laced sound with 2003’s path – undefined and followed up with 2005’s Questography. She more than lived up to the promise of those projects with 2015’s Love Music, another session made up entirely of original compositions. When the Levee Breaks unveils a new facet of the polymorphously creative Ivory, but she contains multitudes. Ivory is also a gifted visual artist who describes her aesthetic as “Southern Surrealism,” drawing inspiration from the renowned Memphis painter George Hunt “and my family’s history and the feeling of life in the South, shaped in part by the work of my father,” the Rev. Dr. Luther Ivory, professor emeritus of religious studies at Rhodes College in Memphis. Like her father, Ivory is also a professor—she teaches voice at Washington University in St. Louis.”
Review – Alright now! This is a master class in how to create an entertaining CD of Blues Music. A nod to the historic past of Blues, but giving it a modern take. Superb. Candice has “That” voice and really shows her flexibility on this album. The music goes in and out of Blues Genres like they are tied to the hip. Lots of one chord North Hill Country feel to straight ahead blues. Backed by the amazing band “The Blues Bloods” which includes Robert Allen Parker on Guitar, Adam Hill on Guitar, Khari Wynn on Bass and Donnon R. Johnson on Drums. She doesn’t stop there, she also has some amazing guest musicians like Jimmy Duck Holmes on “Catfish Blues” an old Robert Petway tune. Other players include Jan Hartman (who is great on this CD) on Harmonica, Ben Levin on Keys, Chris Stephenson on Organ, David Evean on Guitar and Damian Pearson on Guitar. Standouts include “Foolish Pleasure” with Candice and Yubu Kazungu trading vocals, “Strong Black Mattie”, reworded “Poor Black Mattie” and “Crown royal Bag Blues” but I think my favorite on this CD is “Blue Blood″, a hill stomp type tune, listen here. I will give this a 10+ on Blues Content and a 10++ on Music Content.
Jimi Prime Time Smith – It’s My Time (New Folk)
Bio – “Jimi “Primetime” Smith was born in 1959, smack dab in the heart of Chicago’s blues scene. The son of immensely important female blues drummer, singer, and songwriter Johnnie Mae Dunson, who partnered with Jimmy Reed, worked with the likes of Willie Dixon and ran rehearsals over her restaurant. Smith’s extended family included blues pioneers Jimmy Reed, Eddie Taylor, Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor and others. Jimmy Reed, who lived in their household, schooled young James on guitar and brought him to play at the Ann Arbor Blues Fest at the age of 14. He would go on to play with many popular Chicago musicians, including Big Walter Horton, Eddie Taylor, Big Moose Walker, Big Time Sarah and Sunnyland Slim. Jimi moved to Minneapolis at age 19, and was soon called on to back Etta James, Albert King, Otis Rush and others. He did gigs with Lynwood Slim and Big Jay MdNeely, and went abroad with Bernard Allison and Shawn Holt and the Tear Drops. When he began appearing as a bandleader, he started spelling his name “Jimi” so that he wouldn’t be confused with organist Jimmy Smith. Jimi returned periodically to Chicago for gigs with his acclaimed Mother. Jimi released two solo albums, Give Me Wings (1998) and Black On Track (2002). He was inducted into the Minnesota Blues Hall of Fame in 2014, before he relocated to Arizona, where he soon teamed up with harp player/producer Bob Corritore, doing studio work with John Primer, Johnny Rawls, Oscar Wilson, Alabama Mike, and Sugar Ray Rayford.”
Review – Another Killer CD for this week! Jimi is the real deal, great singer, great guitarist, great slide guitarist and showman. This CD is filled with great straight ahead electric Blues and there is not a stinker in the bunch!! Backing Jimi is John Wright on Bass, Toby Lee Marshall on Keys, Allen The Captain Kirk on Drums, Dave Foley on Horns, Bob Corritore on Harp and John Wright on Acoustic Guitar and Tambourine. Standouts for me were “Breaking My Heart”, a straight away Blues Tune, “She’s A Peach”, Slow slide guitar tune and the acoustic tune “My Time”. I think my favorite is “Don’t Let The Devil Ride″, written as a Gospel Tune in 1968 by Rev. Orvis Mays, great version here…, listen here. I will give this a 7 on Blues Content and a 7 on Music Content.
John Christopher Morgan – Right On Time (Self Produced)
Bio – “John Christopher Morgan was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the greater Detroit area. He was exposed at an early age to the R&B sounds of Motown. His father taught band and both his older brothers were in bands at an early age. John gravitated to the drums at the age of nine. In 1979 as a sideman he traveled to Europe, and also performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival on a bill that included Weather Report and Willie Bobo. Upon his return to the states he joined up with Wayne Kramer and Johnny Thunders. He and the ‘Band Gang War’ opened for The Clash. Morgan returned to Detroit and backed up guitarist Jim McCarty and the Detroit Blues Band, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, Eddie Burns of the John Lee Hooker Band, and others. In 1990 he relocated to Los Angeles and recorded with Robert Lucas, King Ernest, and Lester Butler.”
Review – This is an interesting CD, having the Vocalist and band head being the Drummer. Definitely leans towards Country or even Early Rock (I hear sounds similar to Ritchie Valens), but I really like this one. Some great musicians backing John on this one including Albert Lee on guitar, Franck Goldwasser, Zach Zunis on horns, RJ Mischo on harmonica, Martin “Nutty Brown” Gagnon on piano, Jamie Wood, Viva Vinson & Marcella Detroit on vocals. Standouts for me were “San Buenaventura” and “Ain’t We All In It Together”, both sounds like it would be on a older Spy movie soundtrack, and “The Jeweler’s Daughter”, great Alvin Lee guitar solos. I think my favorite is the straight ahead Blues of “Black Bag Blues″, listen here. I will give this a 9 on Blues Content and a 10 on Music Content.
Mike Henderson – Last Nite at the Bluebird (Qualified Records)
Bio – “Mike was a Grammy winner, a two time CMA award winner, a four time Grammy nominee, an IBMA award winner, a two time ACM nominee and a multi-platinum, #1 hit songwriter and musician.
- 2017 Grammy “Best Country Song” award for “Broken Halos”
- 2018 CMA “Song of the Year” award for “Broken Halos”
- 2021 CMA “Song of the Year” award for “Starting Over”
- 2009 Grammy nominee for “Best Country Performance by Duo or Group with Vocals”
- 2010 Grammy nominee for “Best Bluegrass Album”
- 2010 Grammy nominee for “Best Country Performance by Duo or Group with Vocals”
- 2009 IBMA award winner for “New Artist of the Year”
- 2019 ACM “Song of the Year” nominee for “Broken Halos”
- 2021 ACM “Song of the Year” nominee for “Starting Over”
- 2018 “Broken Halos” #1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay Chart
- 2021 “Starting Over” #1 on Mediabase/Country Aircheck Chart
Mike has recorded with such artists as Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Mark Knopfler, Albert King, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Lang, Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Sting, Bo Diddley, Tim McGraw, Lucinda Williams, Bob Seeger, Patty Loveless, Martina McBride, Blake Shelton, along with many others. His songs have been recorded by Adele, Chris Stapleton, The Dixie Chicks, Kenny Rogers, Daryl Worley, Patty Loveless, Travis Tritt, Trisha Yearwood, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Soloman Burke, Marty Stuart and Randy Travis among others. In the late ‘90’s, Mike teamed with Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch, Tammy Rogers and Harry Stinson to form Dead Reckoning Records, one of the first indie labels in Nashville, and released the number one Americana album “Edge of Night”, as well as two critically acclaimed blues CDs, “First Blood” and “Thicker Than Water”. After recording with Mark Knopfler in 2000 and 2001, Mike signed on for Mark’s world tour which started in Mexico City and ended in Moscow six months later just a few days before the 9/11 tragedy. In 2006, Mike formed the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed bluegrass band, The SteelDrivers, which featured his frequent co-writer, Chris Stapleton, on vocals and former Dead Reckoner, Tammy Rogers, on fiddle. Their first two albums on Rounder Records resulted in three Grammy nominations, an IBMA award plus an appearance in the Robert Duvall film, “Get Low”. Mike released a 2015 album, “If You Think Its Hot Here” on the Ellersoul Label, receiving widespread critical acclaim. He continues performances with his blues band every Monday night at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville
Mike has also been honored to receive:
- Real Blues Magazine’s “Best Slide Blues Guitarist”
- Nashville Scene’s “Best Guitarist”
- Nashville Music Awards as two time winner of “Blues Album of the Year”&“Club Act of the Year”
- Music City Blues awards of “Electric Blues Act of the Year”
- W.C. Handy (The Handys), Blues Music Awards, nomination
Mike passed away September 22, 2023.”
Review – This is a really great live album. Mike is a killer guitar player and his voice is pretty good also, but his on stage presence and showmanship is really his calling. As he says “there are only two rules, no drinking during Gospel Tunes and No Gospel Tunes”!! Backing Mike is an excellent handful of musicians comprising of Kevin McKendree on Piano, Steve Mackey on Bass and Pat O’Connor on Drums. These eight songs are very rich in texture and musically excellent. Would have love to see him live. Standouts to my ear were “Matchbox”, “Gimme Back My Wig” and “Pay Bo Diddley” but I think my favorite is “Too Much Alcohol”, his slide playing sounds so much like Hound Dog Taylor, listen here. I will give this a 10 on Blues Content and a 10+ on Music Content.
The Third Mind – Right Now! (Yep Rock)
Bio – “Legendary roots-music guitarist and songwriter Dave Alvin bring his exploratory new project the Third Mind to the Bay Area for four Northern California shows in Auburn, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and San Francisco. Alvin got his start making a unique mix of rockabilly, country, early rock and roll, blues and R&B with the Blasters, the band he started with his brother Phil in Downey, California in the late ’70s. Mentored by blues vocalist Big Joe Turner (who the brothers would follow from gig to gig in Los Angeles), the two brothers were as seasoned as a pair of musicians in their 20s could be when the Blasters came together with drummer Bill Bateman and bassist John Bazz. The new band would record it’s debut independent album American Music over two days in a living room studio, bashing out a mix of originals and songs by the likes of Billy Haley and Jimmie Rogers that wiped away the boundaries between roots-music styles. Along with country/rockabilly-influenced punk group X and East LA contemporaries Los Lobos, the Blasters brought a sense of history to the sonic stew of the Los Angeles scene. The band’s reputation as a firebrand live act led to tour dates with acts as varied as psychobilly icons the Cramps, country heroes Asleep at the Wheel and ’70s rock favorites Queen. The band would sign to Slash/Warner Bros. for their acclaimed eponymous sophomore album in 1981, a record that established the Blasters as one of the top rising rock bands in the U.S. That same year, the guitarist contributed to the seminal 1981 album by songwriter Chris Desjardins and his all-star band the Flesh Eaters — which featured X’s rhythm section of John Doe (bass) and DJ Bonebrake (playing marimba and assorted percussion) alongside Blasters drummer Bateman and future Los Lobos member Steve Berlin on saxophone — entitled A Minute To Pray, a Second to Die. Two more hit records for the Blasters — Non Fiction in 1983 and Hard Line two years later — would follow before Dave Alvin departed for his own successful solo career. He would also regularly work with other musicians, taking over as lead guitarist in X around the same time he left the Blasters, playing with the acoustic roots X side project the Knitters and touring with raunchy country/punk singers Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montana as the Pleasure Barons. ”
Review – This is a strange album to be put in the Blues Bin for this week, I think David is trying to trip me up. Ok, I can listen to this. At least once. Ok Just Once. It’s a weird blend of Mama and Papa’s and early Jefferson Airplane. It’s got some Folky stuff, a bit of Psychedelic, what it does not have is Blues. This is the New Blues Review, right?? Did I take a wrong turn at Albuquerque? David, what did you do to my excellent stack of Blues CDs this week?? My brain is so confused, so lost. I think I will go back and listen to Candice Ivory again and see if I can get this out of my head!! Think what you want, I think it is worth a listen. I think if I wasn’t expecting Blues, maybe I would have liked it??. I need to listen to Albert Einstein’s quote, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.” Not sure I can move this opposite!
