New Blues & Soul News – 3/3/2020
By Dave Rogers
New Blues and Soul News – 3/3/2020
Cindy Cashdollar – Waltz For Abilene (Silver Shot): “Cindy Cashdollar is an American non-pedal steel guitar and Dobro musician. She grew up in Woodstock, New York, where she perfected her skills by playing with bluegrass musician John Herald, blues musician Paul Butterfield, and Levon Helm and Rick Danko of The Band.” (cindycashdollar.com) Cashdollar has played with numerous musicians and has rounded up several famous guests for this release: Albert Lee, Rory Block, Sonny Landreth, Floyd Domino, Ray Benson, Omar Kent Dykes, Marcia Ball, Arlen Roth, John Sebastian and Amy Helm among others. The songs range from Reverend Robert Wilkins’ “That Ain’t No Way To Get Along”, Mercer and Carmichael’s “Skylark”and Howlin’ Wolf’s “How Many More Years” to Bill Doggett’s “Peacock Alley”, Bob Dylan’s “Ring Them Bells” and two of her own compositions. This is a great set from beginning to end. Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Robert Cray Band – That’s What I Heard (Nozzle Records): Release number 20 for Mr. Cray offers five new originals of his own, one from bass man Richard Cousins and Hendrix Ackle and covers of soul and blues tunes from Don Robey, Deadric Malone, Curtis Mayfield, Don Gardner among others. Cray’s groove is as magnetic as ever: solid blue soul! If you’re not familiar with Cray, you’re either very young or you have been in isolation for a long time! But don’t be alarmed – the Cray sound is as enticing as ever. The backing players are Richard Cousins (bass), Dover Weinberg (keys), Steve Jordan and Terence F. Clark (drums), Trevor Lawrence (sax) and Chuck Findley (trumpet, valve trombone) and a guest shot by Ray Parker Jr (guitar) on the closing song. Click here to catch the opening track.
Bob Girard – The Gladstones, Volume Two (casualRAMA): Bob Girard (vocals, guitar, percussion) is back with cohorts Charlie Pastorfield (guitar, vocals), James Ralston (drums, vocals) and Tim Ryan (bass, keys, percussion, vocals) with Aaron Spring (sax on five songs) and Rebecca Bauer (trombone on two songs). All of the songs are Girard’s compositions and they’re newly recorded. All but two – “Little Misunderstanding” and “Do It Again” are new to disc. The songs are presented as they would typically done if you heard them live. Girard’s lyrics are often unique and straight to the point. One of the great musicians of Charlottesville! Ten years ago, the jamming went like this! Tap your toes and click here for a brief memory!
Lisa Mills – The Triangle (Melody Place/BMG): “Originally recorded by Little Richard in the early 1970s in Muscle Shoals, Mills’ rendition of “Greenwood, Mississippi” is the first single release off of her upcoming album, The Triangle, and is a tribute to the incredible sound and feel of the great southern soul music of the 60s and 70s. Mills recorded the track with some of the original musicians in the same studio where it was first recorded….We wanted to make a traditional R and B/Blues album that preserved the spirit of the original songs, while giving them a fresh new life and point of view”. (http://lisamills.com/) The recordings were made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis and Jackson, MS. and cover a wide range of musicians, including Clayton Ivey (keys), Leroy Hodges (bass), Michael Toles (guitar), Steve Potts (drums), Reverend Charles Hodges (Hammond B3) and others. Click here to listen to the opening song on this release.
New Soul:
David Brinston – I’m an O.G. (Ecko): Vocalist David Brinston offers one original song and ten more of the synth style dance songs. John Ward (B3, guitar) and Gerod Rayborn (guitar) also create the rhythm tracks. Mostly sweet sound and synth for mid-tempo hustling. Click here to listen to a song on this disc.
Kopasetically,
Professor Bebop
