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New Blues News – 5/25/2021

Dumpstaphunk – Where Do We Go From Here (Funk Garage/Mascot): “Dumpstaphunk’s founding members Ivan Neville (vocals/keyboards) Ian Neville (guitar) Tony Hall (bass/guitar/vocals) and Nick Daniels (bass/vocals) along with newest members Alex Wasily (trombone) and Deven Trusclair (drums), have built upon the Neville family’s iconic NOLA legacy, as they’ve transformed into the city’s pre-eminent 21st-century funk-fusion export, after being birthed originally from a spontaneous set during New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2003.” Raging funk that will flat domino your lame act! It sure did mine! This is a certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid of Cracks”!  Click here to check out the opening jam and more.

Chris Gill – Between Midnight And Louise (Endless Blues) : “We are happy to announce that Chris Gill is coming to Endless Blues Records. This new album is 100% Chris, the album he has wanted to do for some time. All him with his favorite guitars, sharing some great tunes with you. If you don’t understand the title of the album I ask you to look at a map of Yazoo County Mississippi – maybe that will help. The album is set to release on May 14, 2021 and available at Amazon, Apple and all your favorite streaming or download services!” (https://endlessblues.com/chris-gill-between-midnight-and-louise/) “Long time Mississippi blues artist Chris Gill has finally done the records that’s been on his mind a long time! This set of tunes is stripped down to vocals and old guitars. There are no overdubs or monkey business here! This was all done with two microphones, a little amp and a lot of love for the blues! Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Chris Gill has been lighting up stages in the mid-South for over twenty years. Armed with sweet guitar rhythms, a soulful voice and a clever, unique songwriter’s perspective, Chris is well-known as one of Jackson, Mississippi’s most entertaining performers. His songs incorporate elements of blues, rock, reggae, folk and dance music. Chris’ style is a mix of blues, island calypso and reggae, jazz, Mississippi slide, and funk. He started playing guitar in the 5th grade, but says he was really bit by the bug when he started listening to Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and the Allman Brothers Band in college. “I saw Bonnie Raitt and Merle Haggard in Jackson,” he says, “and that’s when it hit me, this is what I want to do! I love the healing power of music.” (https://endlessblues.com/artists/chris-gill/) Gill is a wonderful guitarist and  singer and songwriter. This is a certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid of Cracks”! Click here to listen to a song from this disc.

Eamonn McCormack – Storyteller (BEM): “Eamonn was born in the center of Dublin, the capital city of Ireland and was raised on a North side Suburb. He started out on the acoustic guitar at six years of age. Prompted by the acoustic performance of his school classmate Gerry Leonard (David Bowie, Susanne Vega) Earliest influences included Slade, Cat Stevens, Neil Young and Rory Gallagher. By twelve he was singing along with his guitar and performing at church folk masses. Soon, finding the church music somewhat restricting the young teenager acquired his first electric guitar… joined a local garage cover band. By now influences extending to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Thin Lizzy and Dutch group Focus….Returning to Ireland after four years traveling and performing in the States Eamonn was by now developing a very unique style and sounds all of his own. Throughout the last decade or so saw a young Eamonn play, tour and record with many of his earliest guitar influences such as Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter, Jan Akkerman (ex. Focus) Pat Travers, Walter Trout, Brian “Robbo” Robertson (Thin Lizzy, Motöread) and Nils Lofgren. Another highlight of this period was Eamonn and his Bands unforgettable performance at the Parkpop festival in Holland to an audience of around a half a million people, sharing the bill with Robert Plant and more. Eamonn also got to play the prestige Rockpalast in Germany on the bill with Lynyrd Skynyrd & The Band, that was televised and broadcast right across Europe. Eamonn and his band have most often, been described by the press as “A Modern Day Power Trio” and that is something that has not changed to this day….(https://eamonnmccormack.net/index.php/biography/) This is his seventh release. Click here to listen to “Help Me Understand” from this release.

Big Chief Monk Boudreaux – Bloodstains and Teardrops (Whiskey Bayou): “Joseph “Monk” Boudreaux is the oldest living Mardi Gras Indian Chief, the Elder of Elders in a tradition dating back to the 1800s. As such, he sees himself as the guardian of a spiritual discipline that involves gnostic customs and beliefs shared by members within the New Orleans Black community over the course of multiple generations. He is one of the best-known and loved local culture heroes, a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Award recipient, the subject of murals on city walls and documentaries about New Orleans, and the inspiration for characters in television dramas like the HBO series Treme. He comes by his status as a Mardi Gras Indian chief through bloodlines of both African and Native American ancestry.” (https://bigchiefmonkboudreaux.com/bio-1)  Click here to listen to a sample from this release.

Maria Muldaur with Tuba Skinny – Let’s Get Happy Together (Stony Plain): “When Maria Muldaur discovered the music of Tuba Skinny she learned that just like herself, these musicians study, play and immerse themselves in early blues, jazz and jug-band music of the 20s and 30s. Listening to their albums, Maria came to the conclusion that “they were not just playing a marvelous repertoire of cool tunes with great skill and authenticity, but somehow channeling the very atmosphere and vibration of that bygone era.” Just prior to the Covid Pandemic in January 2020, Maria asked Tuba Skinny to collaborate in a showcase performance at the International Folk Alliance Conference in New Orleans. It was so well received that an album was immediately conceived and recorded later that year, with the title track summing it all up: Let’s Get Happy Together. Performing 12 songs as close as possible in feeling to the original recordings, Tuba Skinny and Maria Muldaur breathed life into rarely heard gems from this incredible era. Maria Muldaur’s 55-plus year career is a long and adventurous odyssey through the forms of American Roots Music: Blues, Jug Band, Bluegrass, Jazz and Appalachian “Old Timey” Music. Over 42 albums Maria has been nominated 6 times for Grammy Awards, as well as for Blues, Folk and Roots awards. She has been recognized at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis for many of her Stony Plain releases over the years, and is the 2019 recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement Americana Trailblazer Award” from the Americana Music Association.” (https://stonyplainrecords.com/lp/happytogether/) Everyone is in great form and you will be too once you hear it. Time to strut! Click here to listen to the songs on this release!

Tony Joe White – Smoke From The Chimney (Easy Eye Sound): “Fans of Tony Joe White will delight at hearing him deliver one more set of dogs in his characteristic drawl on Smoke From The Chimney…..nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 “Polk Salad Annie” and for “Rainy Night in Georgia”, which he wrote but which was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970. He also wrote “Steamy Windows” and “Undercover Agent for the Blues”, both hits for Tina Turner in 1989; those two songs came by way of Turner’s producer at the time, Mark Knopfler, who was a friend of White. “Polk Salad Annie” was also recorded by Joe Dassin, Elvis Presley, and Tom Jones.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Joe_White) This is a terrific set and honors White in the best way. Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this recordings.

Tommy Z – Plug In And Play (South Blossom): “Tommy Z hails from Buffalo, NY. His award-winning and acclaimed guitar playing, singing and songwriting combines the best in classic and contemporary blues with pop, rock, jazz and funk influences. He has toured extensively around the world fronting his own group as an international/national festival headliner, and as sideman to the likes of Grammy winner Pinetop Perkins. In 2019 Tommy headlined festivals in Denmark, Colombia, and South America…. “Tommy is a triple threat on guitar, vocals and also songwriting. His newest album will easily be one of the best roots rock albums of 2021.”  (Tinsley Ellis) “It was long overdue for these two Buffalo boys to get together and cause a righteous ruckus! Tommy Z’s been lighting fires with his guitar playing for a
long time and I’m grateful for the opportunity to stoke the flame!” (Tom Hambridge) Jamming blues! Click here to listen to “Tommy Guns” from this release.  

Kopasetically,

Professor Bebop