Artist Category: Blues | Page 5

David Champagne

David Champagne just won’t go away. His slippery blues-punk guitar playing and unpredictable lyricism was conceived out of rolling loose leaf cigarettes with pages from Old Testament in the alley behind the Stillwater, Oklahoma U-Tote-M.

David Champagne is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His most prominent band was Treat Her Right. He grew up in Kansas City, and after spending time in New York and California, he moved to Boston where he became a longtime fixture on the local music scene. Around the turn of the 1980s, he was in Shane Champagne, which Trouser Press described as being like Graham Parker’s band, the Rumour. This group issued several singles. Alcott was also in Pink Cadillac, “a sharp rockabilly-cum-rock’n’roll trio” that released one EP in 1983.

In Treat Her Right, Champagne’s “tremulous slide guitar” provided part of the band’s distinctive quality, as Nashville music journalist Robert K. Oermann put it. People magazine wrote that Champagne mimicked the moaning vocal-slide guitar interplay that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page did so well in the early days of Led Zeppelin. That article also noted how Champagne and Mark Sandman wrote “bona-fide bad luck songs with a wink.”

Whereas Sandman achieved greater fame with Morphine, Champagne was not in the limelight after Treat Her Right disbanded. Yet he continues to perform in the Boston area under his stage name. In recent years, his project has been called Agnostic Gospel. His wife Katie has been his partner in some of his musical endeavors.

Kevin Burt

For more than 25 years Kevin “B.F.” Burt has been electrifying audiences throughout the Midwest dispelling the myth that true blues has no roots in Iowa. His soul-inspired presentation is unique which consistently get him compared to a range of artists like Bill Withers and Aaron Neville, with the ability to build an audience rapport that has been compared to B.B. King.

Kevin is a self-taught musician (vocals, harmonica, and guitar) whose smooth, warm vocal presentation sets a mood of relaxed exhilaration, with a welcome mixture of serious music and infectious humor audiences of all ages seem to enjoy. His voice and presence are powerful. His unique delivery ranges from the sweetest, fullest, juiciest come-on to the most playful growl. Though he performs between 325 and 400 shows a year, he holds nothing back night after night and audiences leave knowing that.

Kerri Powers

It isn’t surprising, that Powers landed the #1 spot on the Roots Music Report’s “Top 50 Folk Albums of 2014” with zero publicity. She has charted on the Folk Music Radio charts as well as staying on the RMR charts for over 12 weeks with new single “When it Rains.” Over the years Powers has appeared at numerous prestigious venues and musical gatherings including The Boston Folk Festival, The Philadelphia Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, and Telluride Bluegrass Festival. She has toured throughout The United States as well as overseas, making appearances in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and The U.K. Her song Diamond Day was featured in the motion picture Chuck, and other tracks have made their way into the television series Rescue Me and Justified.

With ‘Love is Why,’ Powers’ latest self-penned full-length album, the New England-based artist explores the universal emotion of love and its huge influence on our decisions. In particular, she examines love in the context of holding on or letting go through human loss and grieving. The album’s original songs were written during the pandemic and after Powers lost her father, whom she calls “my best friend.”
Love is Why was recorded at Dagotown Recorders in Boston. Produced by drummer Marco Giovino (Robert Plant, Tom Jones, Norah Jones) and engineered by Sam Margolis.

The album includes musical luminaries Bo Ramsey, Luther Dickinson, Kelvin Holly, Doug Lancio, John Putnam, Regina and Anne McCrary, Brother Paul Brown, Marty Ballou, Charles Giordano, Asa Brosius, and singer-songwriter Paul Thorn on duet vocals during a transcendent cover of Gregg Allman’s “Please Call Home.”

When you catch Kerri Powers on stage, you will immediately feel the realness and rawness of her artistry. She delivers art at its purest, a musical canvas painted with all the soulful colors and emotion that will pull you into her songs and message of love.

May Erlewine

Join May Erlewine for an intimate evening of stories and song!

One of the Midwest’s most prolific and passionate songwriters, May continues to share her gift for writing songs of substance that feel both new and soulfully familiar. Her lyrics offer a window into her heartbreak, her empowerment, and her emboldened spirit.

These lyrics, which are really stories crafted through May’s unique experiences, are rooted in wisdom, joy, sorrow, simplicity, and love. Musically, she carries the songwriter’s torch through many genres and sonic landscapes. The delicate arrangements seem to land somewhere between the go-to labels, making it difficult to describe and easier to enjoy.

May considers her career in the music industry as a service-oriented one and uses her platform for positive change. She stresses the importance of environmental advocacy, social justice, creative empowerment, and community building as necessary work in our world. May’s body of work has become an anthem and an example of why we need to listen to women, empower women, and why we need to hear their stories.

Todd Albright

Todd Albright is a country blues, twelve string guitar player and vocalist based in Detroit, Michigan. Grounded in the pre-war era of the blues tradition (1880-1939), Todd is a mindful purveyor of blues history. His repertoire upholds musical pillars such as Blind Willie McTell, George Carter, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Leadbelly. His life’s work continues the distinguished tradition of the very roots of American music as told by the African American musicians who created it.

Todd’s vigorous, gritty and soulful performances are accompanied by stories of the masters and a deep intuitive sense of respect for craft, providing audiences with a meaningful experience while creating a transcendent moment. One of the top blues guitarists in the world, Todd is the only contemporary twelve string player in his genre.

Todd began playing the blues while still a teenager, some twenty-five years ago. Initially, he was drawn to the sound of the finger-picked style and has since immersed himself in the foundational music and narratives of American culture. Over the years, Todd has shared the stage with artists such as Roy Book Binder, Charlie Parr, Paul Geremia, and Dakota Dave Hull.

Todd’s first full-length LP, Fourth Floor Visitor, was released by Jett Plastic Recordings out of Detroit, Michigan (2017). His latest album, Detroit Twelve String: Blues & Rags, is out now on Third Man Records (2017).

Sunny War

Sunny War (born Sydney Lyndella Ward) is more than just an artist; she is a force of nature that is tough to pin down. What exactly is her style? Is she a blues or punk artist? The answer is yes and no. You can try to place Sunny in a few boxes, but doing so would be a major disservice to the young songstress. Yes, she may be a Robert Johnson with a shot of Bad Brains, but even this description falls short. The only way to really know Sunny is to immerse oneself in the music. Easy enough, right? OK, maybe not that easy.

Sunny’s repertoire includes an expansive collection of songs exploring personal aspects of her life. Her lyrics prove she is not afraid to share her insights and philosophies on life. In her track, “Man of My House,” Sunny speaks on the trials and tribulations of living without a father in the home and inheriting the role of head of the household. Other tracks are just as powerful, but also contain a dose political philosophy as exemplified in the moving blues tracks, “Police State” and “Sheep.” There is also “Downtown–”a track that touches on the damage to one’s life drugs can cause without warning.

Sunny has indeed blown people away as evidenced by signing a sponsorship deal with Gibson Guitars and signed with performance rights organization BMI.

Porch Party Mamas

Inspired by playing and singing each others songs at their own “porch parties”, these established Boston area musicians and singer/songwriters decided to combine their individual talents and create their own brand of Urban Folk, Country and Blues. They took their act on the road and “Porch Party Mamas” was born. All are seasoned players, each with their own pervasive individual music persona and critical accolades. Between them, they have shared the stage with a distinguished litany of artists, including Willie Nelson, the Indigo Girls and Lyle Lovett.

The Porch Party Mamas are an engaging and magnetic Boston-area band of four female musicians who’ve developed a fun and moving unique blend of folk, country, Celtic, and blues repertoire. They play beautiful arrangements of lovely and whimsical songs featuring dynamic lead vocals and lush harmonies backed by virtuosic guitar, fiddle, accordion, piano, percussion, banjo, and bass playing.

The Porch Party Mamas are:

Felicia Brady-Lopez
(vocals, accordion, piano)
Elizabeth Burke
(vocals, fiddle, guitar)
Ksenia Mack
(vocals, guitar, banjo)
Katrin Peterson
(vocals, percussion)

Geoff Muldaur

Geoff Muldaur is one of the great voices and musical forces to emerge from the folk, blues and folk-rock scenes centered in Cambridge, MA and Woodstock, NY. During the 1960’s and ’70’s, Geoff made a series of highly influential recordings as a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and the Paul Butterfield’s Better Days group, as well as collaborations with then-wife Maria and other notables (Bonnie Raitt, Eric Von Schmidt, Jerry Garcia, etc.).

He left the stage and recording world in the mid-1980’s for a working sabbatical but continued, however, to hone his craft, albeit ‘flying beneath radar’. He composed scores for film and television, and produced off-beat albums for the likes of Lenny Pickett and the Borneo Horns and the Richard Greene String Quartet. Geoff’s his definitive recording of “Brazil” provided the seed for – and was featured in – Terry Gilliam’s film of the same title.

With his magical voice and singular approach to American music in tact, Geoff is once again touring the world. He performs in concert halls, performance spaces, clubs and festivals througout the US, Canada, Japan and Europe. Geoff may be heard from time to time as a guest on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion and has been featured on a variety of National Public Radio shows, including Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and The World with Lisa Mullins.

Jim Kweskin

Jim Kweskin is probably best known as a singer and bandleader. He also created one of the bedrock guitar styles of the folk revival, adapting the ragtime-blues fingerpicking of artists like Blind Boy Fuller to the more complex chords of pop and jazz.

He has maintained a remarkably consistent musical vision since his jug band days, continuing to explore traditional folk and blues with the sophisticated sensibility of a jazz musician and jazz with the communal simplicity of a folk artist. He has recorded solo ventures, as a member of the U and I band, and with U and I bandmate Samoa Wilson, and continues to perform widely in various formats. In recent years he and Geoff Muldaur have often appeared as a duo, revisiting and expanding on their Jug Band repertoire.

Alice Howe & Freebo

Alice Howe and Freebo present a unique study in contrasts, bringing together a rising voice in Americana music and a venerable rock, folk, and blues icon. Each a compelling performer in their own right, they both lead and support each other in their well-crafted songs with flawless harmonies and tasteful instrumentation. They have worked as creative collaborators in the studio and on stage since 2017. Freebo weaves his unique fretless bass stylings into Alice’s superb vocals for a presentation with undeniable chemistry.

To hear Alice Howe sing is to be enraptured by the natural, unaffected beauty of her voice. There’s no artifice, no histrionics — just honest, authentic, emotionally resonant singing in the tradition of the roots music that shaped her. On Circumstance, her second and latest album, the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter guitarist displays her vocal prowess and introspective writing in abundance, mining both her heart and her musical tastes for a deep, personal journey across an Americana soundscape dotted with blues, folk, country, soul and rock. Recorded in two sessions at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Etta James and Wilson Pickett once shook the walls, the record channels their spirits with 11 stirring tracks that pull no punches diving into the vagaries of the heart and her own personal journey. As an old soul inside a 30-something millennial, Alice puts her stamp on Americana’s venerable strands with 10 standout originals evoking both the classic singer-songwriters and the seminal music that once filled airwaves, roadhouses and juke joints.

Freebo is best known for his decade of touring and recording with Bonnie Raitt, and has distinguished himself as one of the great bassists of our time, playing on records with CSN, Maria Muldaur, John Mayall, Ringo Starr, Dr. John, and Neil Young as well as appearing on Saturday Night Live, The Midnight Special, The Muppet Show, and in concert with the legendary Spinal Tap. Not willing to simply rest on those achievements, Freebo delved more deeply into his creativity and has become a highly regarded singer/songwriter, now working on his 6th full-length solo CD. A multi award winner and finalist in numerous songwriting contests, Freebo’s music reflects his compassionate concern for the world and people around him, and his lyrics and open stage banter have helped him connect with listeners worldwide. A live musical experience with Freebo is astute, insightful, clever, and truly melodic.

https://www.alicehowe.com
https://www.freebomusic.com