American Blues Scene
type: channel
description: Independent roots music site
date: 2026-05-13T17:18:35Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: Pokey LaFarge Releases New Single “Rent Money” Ahead of Upcoming Album
items: Dumpster Diving, Ragas, and Juke Joints: Jesse Cotton Stone’s Musical Pilgrimage
items: What’s In A Song? Is Dave Mason’s “We Just Disagree” a song for our times?
items: Will Johns: ‘On Top of the World,’ Blues Lineage, and the Art of Keeping It Real
items: Language of the Blues: How “Gatemouth” Became a Musical Nickname
items: In Tune With The Bluz House Rockers – Popular Band From NY’s Capital District Still Going Strong After 31 Years
items: The Mavericks Announce Return to Touring Following Loss of Raul Malo
items: For Eric Andersen, The Last Show of The Last Tour Is Not The End
items: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 1978 Paradise Rock Club Show Gets Limited Vinyl Release
items: Reverend Shawn Amos Brings “The Loco-Motion” into His Dance Party Series

Pokey LaFarge Releases New Single “Rent Money” Ahead of Upcoming Album
type: item
creator: Lauren Leadingham
date: 2026-05-13T17:14:56Z
subject: Videos
description: Pokey's latest single channels back-porch revelry while grappling with working-class unease.
encoded: Singer-songwriter Pokey LaFarge is back with a rollicking new single “Rent Money,” out now alongside an official video directed by Jacob Butler. Steered by loose-limbed energy and a stomping rhythm, ‘Rent Money’ pairs its infectious swing with a harder reality underneath, as Pokey LaFarge turns his attention toward the grind of surviving lean times and the emotional toll that comes with it. The track serves as the title cut from his forthcoming album, Rent Money, due September 11 via his own Boxer Boy Records. ‘Rent Money’ is a little bit more of a tougher tune, but it’s not going to totally bum you out. It’s just a classic country blues song. The good lord giveth and Uncle Sam taketh away. Pokey LaFarge LaFarge will introduce fans old and new to Rent Money with an epic North American headline tour featuring full-band performances and solo shows beginning July 23 at Maquoketa, IA’s Codfish Hollow Barnstormers and then traveling the continent through a holiday season finale at Los Angeles, CA’s historic Lodge Room on December 19. For complete details and ticket information, head here.

Dumpster Diving, Ragas, and Juke Joints: Jesse Cotton Stone’s Musical Pilgrimage
type: item
creator: Jack Austin
date: 2026-05-12T18:58:31Z
subject: Interviews
description: “It’s the most honest music we have,” Jesse Cotton Stone says of the blues. Survival, lineage, and a cross-traditional musical vocabulary inform his work.
encoded: I. The Road as Formation Jesse Cotton Stone’s relationship to music was not built in classrooms or conservatories alone, but in motion: on roads, in temporary homes, and in the unstable geography of American life on the margins. There were years spent without stable housing in Northern California, including stretches in Marin County while he pursued classical Indian music. That paradox—formal immersion in one of the world’s most structured musical traditions while living in physical instability—became a defining tension in his development. Music, for Stone, was not separate from survival. It was survival. He describes those years less as a romantic wandering and more as an enforced apprenticeship in adaptation: learning how to carry instruments, ideas, and identity through shifting environments. “I’ve just kind of always been on the road in one capacity or another,” he reflects. “It’s been less about choosing that life and more about music requiring it.” Even in these conditions, he was studying deeply—classical Indian music at the Ali Akbar College in Marin, where discipline, raga structure, and the emotional architecture of sound are treated as spiritual systems rather than stylistic choices. That contrast between discipline and drift would become central to everything he builds later. II. Blues as a Universal Language Stone’s understanding of blues is not limited to genre. He treats it as a global communicative system, a way cultures articulate suffering, joy, identity, and time. He hears blues not as a fixed American form, but as something that reappears across musical civilizations: flamenco in Andalusia, Hindustani classical music in India, griot traditions in West Africa, Appalachian balladry in the United States. “It’s really universal for the human condition,” he says. “Every culture has its own blues.” What connects them, in his view, is not instrumentation or scale structure, but emotional purpose. Music becomes a vessel for memory, endurance, and storyte…

What’s In A Song? Is Dave Mason’s “We Just Disagree” a song for our times?
type: item
creator: Bill Graham
date: 2026-05-12T00:04:09Z
subject: Column
description: In the wake of Dave Mason’s passing, “We Just Disagree” resurfaces as a reminder that not every divide needs a verdict—just the recognition that some differences don’t find closure.
encoded: Dave Mason’s “We Just Disagree” has been popping up a lot recently on some of my random playlists. Perhaps it is because the noted English singer/songwriter/guitarist passed away on April 19, 2026, just weeks short of his 80th birthday. As American Blues Scene’s Lauren Leadingham recently noted, Mason liked to deal mostly with timeless themes because they were personal to him and would likely be personal to others. Dave Mason, Traffic Co-Founder, Dies at 79 <iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="“Dave Mason, Traffic Co-Founder, Dies at 79” — American Blues Scene" src="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2026/04/dave-mason-traffic-co-founder-and-we-just-disagree-singer-songwriter-dies-at-79/embed/#?secret=WVJsbNwpPY#?secret=BPAgw7OgmC" data-secret="BPAgw7OgmC" width="600" height="338" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"> As Lauren also noted, “We Just Disagree” is a strong example of that timelessness, perhaps because of its emotional directness. It is about two people who realize they have too many differences to continue their relationship. They part ways without assigning blame. There ain’t no good guys. There ain’t no bad guys. There are just the two of them who can no longer agree on things. Many see “We Just Disagree” as either a tragic love song or a mature breakup song. The lyrics certainly can be read that way. Yet, like many songs, there is more than one interpretation. According to journalist Bill DeYoung, Mason related to the song on several levels. Mason is known to have had numerous conflicts with band members, love interests and record labels. I have reconnected with numerous friends I knew in a former life thanks to social media. It has been a good experience overall. Social media has also given me insight into how my newer friends view life. And as so many people before me have experienced, that insight has not always been pleasant. I have found some friends who share my vie…

Will Johns: ‘On Top of the World,’ Blues Lineage, and the Art of Keeping It Real
type: item
creator: Lauren Leadingham
date: 2026-05-11T21:17:29Z
subject: Interviews
description: Will Johns talks through 'On Top of the World,' where blues lineage and collaboration feed into a broader search for truth, soul, and what the music genuinely represents.
encoded: Fresh off a morning walk among alligators, dragonflies, turtles, fish, and birds, singer-songwriter/guitarist Will Johns sounded genuinely taken with Florida life so far. Newly arrived in the Greater Tampa Bay area from his native England, he’s still experiencing the brief stretch of mornings before summer turns them into bathwater. I asked Will about the textures across his new album On Top of the World, particularly the guitar phrasing on songs like “Bull Cow Blues,” “Loneliest Man on Earth,” and “Moondog,” and the sonic language tying the songs together. His response aligns with Willie Dixon’s philosophy of the blues as being “the true facts of life expressed in words and song.” “I have to just say the truth. Blues is the truth. Just being true to what the album is about and what it represents, and sticking to the purest essence of it. The inspiration for it was being on top of the world in the mountains and volcanoes of Guatemala, and having a bit of an epiphany: what good is it to have all these accolades, to try so hard and achieve so much success, and find yourself at the top if you are all alone with no one to share it with? There’s also my song ‘Loneliest Man on Earth,’ which is the ultimate realization of that feeling — being up there, but alone, and you can’t take anyone with you on that path, really.” With “Mannish Boy,” Will takes on one of the most timeless standards in the Muddy Waters repertoire, driven by a cyclical groove that finds its power in momentum rather than resolution. “I’ve always played ‘Hoochie Coochie Man,’ which is a very similar riff. And this one doesn’t resolve. So, musically, it’s still blues and it’s very simple, but in ‘Hoochie Coochie Man,’ it goes to the four chord and then the five, and it resolves, whereas ‘Mannish Boy’ just goes on and on and on. It just is. It’s like the endless day that never turns into night, or the endless night that never turns into day. I did start with a version of ‘Smokestack Lightning,’ and as it d…

Language of the Blues: How “Gatemouth” Became a Musical Nickname
type: item
creator: Debra Devi
date: 2026-05-08T14:59:24Z
subject: Column
description: In this installment of Language of the Blues, author and rocker Debra Devi traces the slang term “gatemouth” from early jazz and blues vernacular to the larger-than-life musicians who carried the name.
encoded: A “gate” is 1920s slang for a fellow, a guy. In the original version of “Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer”, composed by Wesley Wilson, the line was “Send me, daddy,” but when Bessie Smith recorded it in 1933, she sang: “Just at the break of day you can hear old Hannah say / “Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer / Send me, gate.” Gate might be an abbreviation of gatemouthed, which means gator-faced, and Gatemouth came to mean a jazz musician or any hip male. Louis Armstrong reportedly claimed to have been the first to have used gatemouth this way. The most famous gatemouth in the blues is Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, the virtuoso multi-instrumentalist who played some of the most fiery and musically sophisticated blues around until his passing in 2005 at age 81. Born in Louisiana and raised in Texas, Gatemouth Brown freely mixed the blues with bluegrass, country, swing, funk, and zydeco. Brown’s brothers were nicknamed Widemouth and Gapmouth, by the way. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="450" height="563" src="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/A-640280-1553224924-8704.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-74914" srcset="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/A-640280-1553224924-8704.jpg 450w, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/A-640280-1553224924-8704-240x300.jpg 240w, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/A-640280-1553224924-8704-150x188.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /> Clarence Gatemouth Brown Brown could play guitar, violin, harmonica, mandolin, viola, and even the drums. “In the forties, it was Gatemouth Brown and T. Bone Walker,” Texas blues artist Jimmie Vaughan told me, adding: “They were great rivals. Gatemouth Brown was like the Jimi Hendrix of that time.” “What a great resource, as fascinating as it is informative. Debra’s passion for the blues shines through.” – Bonnie Raitt “Debra’s book will teach you what you really need to know ab…

In Tune With The Bluz House Rockers – Popular Band From NY’s Capital District Still Going Strong After 31 Years
type: item
creator: Bill Graham
date: 2026-05-06T18:13:40Z
subject: Interviews
description: Longevity isn’t accidental. After 31 years, the Bluz House Rockers point to respect, consistency, and the work of staying ready to play.
encoded: Longevity is an elusive commodity when it comes to music groups. Seven years is often cited as the average life of a band, though some claim two years is closer to the truth. Even bands that change personnel do not typically stay together for the long haul. Changing trends, financial strain, personal conflicts, creative differences, and the intense pressure of constant togetherness eventually will cause the downfall of even the best groups. So the fact that the Bluz House Rockers have been making music together in New York’s Capital District and beyond for 31 years is no small achievement. They are seven veteran musicians from upstate New York, six of whom sing lead and harmonies. Several have been inducted into the NYS Blues Hall of Fame. The current lineup has been together for a number of years now and features Trish Anderson on vocals, Tony Perrino and Matt Donnelly on keyboards, Rick Rourke on sax, Denny Dwyer on guitar, Chris Peck on bass, and drummer Jeff Prescott. I spoke to Trish, Tony, and band manager Jim Anderson about the longevity of BHR, among other things. Jim said, “I think that, first of all, there’s the respect that each one in the band has for the other members. I think when everybody shows up to play they want to be at their peak.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="273" src="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Trish-1-300x273-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-74905" srcset="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Trish-1-300x273-1.jpg 300w, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Trish-1-300x273-1-150x137.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> Denny Dwyer/guitar and Trish Anderson/vocals “We started out at Park West,” Trish said. Park West was a club in Clifton Park, NY, just north of Albany. “There’s been a bunch of different lineups,” Jim added. “But I think that the current lineup, which has been together for a long time, is the best lineup …

The Mavericks Announce Return to Touring Following Loss of Raul Malo
type: item
creator: Lauren Leadingham
date: 2026-05-05T22:32:02Z
subject: News
description: In a message to fans, The Mavericks speak to grief, gratitude, and the decision to continue performing
encoded: The Mavericks are preparing to return to the road. In a message shared with fans, the band confirmed plans to tour again following the loss of frontman Raul Malo, while acknowledging the weight of moving forward without him. “The immeasurable loss of our leader, friend and irreplaceable brother Raul has been as difficult as you can imagine,” the band wrote. “We know that we can’t replace Raul.. but, we can still, in bold spirit, continue to play this joyous music and celebrate The Mavericks legacy together.” Remembering Raul Malo: The Mavericks’ Voice, Heart, and Great Unifier <iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="“Remembering Raul Malo: The Mavericks’ Voice, Heart, and Great Unifier” — American Blues Scene" src="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2025/12/remembering-raul-malo-the-mavericks-voice-heart-and-great-unifier/embed/#?secret=mOHMcBkvA1#?secret=joQg6KVhY6" data-secret="joQg6KVhY6" width="600" height="338" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"> Malo, whose voice and songwriting defined the band’s sound for decades, died in 2026. In their statement, band members Eddie Perez, Paul Deakin, and Jerry Dale McFadden also expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support from fans, friends, and their extended community. “Your words of love and show of support for the Mavericks and our dear brother Raul over these past couple of years has been nothing short of amazing, heartfelt and much appreciated,” they wrote, noting that Malo and his family were aware of how deeply he was loved. Looking ahead, the band emphasized healing through music. “We are all wanting to find a way to heal and in the best way we know how to. Music is the medicine.” The group will be joined on tour by guest vocalists James Otto and Emily West, who previously appeared during tribute performances at Ryman Auditorium. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="819" height="1024" src="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/…

For Eric Andersen, The Last Show of The Last Tour Is Not The End
type: item
creator: Don Wilcock
date: 2026-05-05T19:00:06Z
subject: Interviews
description: Six decades after Greenwich Village, Eric Andersen is still resisting the idea of endings: “I just do what I do when I do it,” he says ahead of his final tour stop at Caffè Lena.
encoded: Dylan calls Eric Andrsen a great ballad singer. The New York Times refers to him as “a singer and songwriter of the first rank.” For more than six decades he’s earned his place among the greats to emerge out of the Greenwich Village and Harvard Square coffeehouse scene. Friday night (5/8/26) he plays Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs. New York in what is being billed as the last stop on his last tour. Andersen is often lumped together with artists of the mid-’60s folk scare. He was discovered by Tom Paxton and spent two winters in Boston taking night courses at Harvard on subjects like James Joyce, French symbolist poetry, and eastern religions. But he really found his home in Greenwich Village where he played his first gig at Gerde’s Folk City opening for Detroit blues boogie man John Lee Hooker in 1964. “(Hooker) played music that scared those little girls,” Eric once told me. “They wanted to run and hide under their mom’s apron strings under their house dresses, hugging their knees. He was very nice, and we shared a dressing room. I was just nervous to be on stage. You got Bob Dylan in the audience. You got Dave Van Ronk and all these people looking at you. You know, it’s scary!” Eric has toured the world and released more than 30 CDs of original music including a 2022 three-CD tribute album was released with contributions from Bob Dylan, Janis Ian, Richard Shindell, Linda Ronstadt, Happy Traum, Dom Flemons and others interpreting and covering his songs. “I don’t think of myself as a creative person,” he says today. “It’s not what I do. It’s like a planter knows where to put the seeds and where to pick up the plants later. No preconceptions. I get a song. I write it down. I have tons of paper, just scribbles all over the place, ideas — ‘where did I put that paper?’ I try to keep them on the piano.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/EricAndersen_7449_cPaoloBrillo-1024x683.…

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 1978 Paradise Rock Club Show Gets Limited Vinyl Release
type: item
creator: American Blues Scene Staff
date: 2026-05-04T21:54:04Z
subject: News
description: A newly restored 1978 broadcast finds Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in full early-flight form, now pressed as a 3,000-copy split dye collector’s vinyl.
encoded: In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Tom Petty Estate unveils the release of Live at the Paradise Rock Club, 1978. A total of just 3,000 copies pressed on 180g pink and green split dye color vinyl will be available; purchase <a href="https://wld6k8hbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0018GrRmTmjilKSZH0eZmwg5v0WzpvC94DZTNrbTfMLTMr5xFi9sxvAOzPUBhwe3dH0D0YhSlLrIk2UDhkWrTakMcNxnpo9NacFe3VkLGlCOOYmn1W-IJyR9ZaJ02pfzSS2ok2Uy-jWH60SHw2_3vg3WxDAn18b46we7Tsj0rcg8DD5VGo--wMqgUHshm8qsjyhrYfZoorYUHlw4guopEpxpA==&c=SVAJV2nXGhLcmULBlWGPhnuzGTZAZ95CLyuOlYKp_DRj46hyZuBpIA==&ch=6ijsLfGM2ufvz-UvatP4sbA9ftVZI0E7oib3K5ZLTdfQ5ouMrPe7_A==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here. This bootleg-style recording captures the punk rock energy and raw talent of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the very beginning of their explosion into stardom. This recording takes fans back to the Heartbreakers’ earliest days as the band marks its 50th anniversary, a celebration that will extend throughout the coming year. Recorded live on two-track during a wild stop in Boston on the “You’re Gonna Get It!” tour and broadcast by WBCN-FM, the Paradise Rock Club show captures that electricity in real time, the sound of a band the world was just beginning to discover. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-74882" srcset="https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed-1024x576.png 1024w, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed-300x169.png 300w, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed-768x432.png 768w, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed-150x84.png 150w, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed-450x253.png 450w, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed.png 1200w" sizes="(m…

Reverend Shawn Amos Brings “The Loco-Motion” into His Dance Party Series
type: item
creator: Lauren Leadingham
date: 2026-05-01T16:34:21Z
subject: News
description: Seventh installment in his 'Dance Party' series connects music and forthcoming novel in a cross-disciplinary project around themes of dance, joy, and shared expression.
encoded: Today, acclaimed songwriter, author, and blues & soul revivalist Reverend Shawn Amos shares his new single “The Loco-Motion,” the latest release in his ongoing Dance Party series. Originally recorded by Little Eva and released in 1962, the song arrived as an early example of the era’s shift toward dance-driven soul—a shared invitation to move and take part. Known for his inventive reinterpretations of classic material, Amos applies his signature harmonica-driven style to the song’s familiar melody. Now in its seventh installment, the series serves as a companion piece to his forthcoming novel Franklin & the Fabulous 5ive, with both projects sharing a central idea: that dance, celebration, and communal joy are acts of resistance and connection in troubled times. Now more than ever, we must dance with each other. Dance is medicine. Dance is rebellion. Dance is community. Dance is joy. Shawn Amos The son of Wally “Famous” Amos, he grew up in Hollywood, an experience reflected in his storytelling for young readers. His young adult novel Cookies & Milk won the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, and alongside Ellis Johnson Might Be Famous, established him as a distinctive voice in children’s and young adult literature. His fourth novel, Franklin & the Fabulous 5ive, is set for publication by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in January 2027. The Dance Party series continues a career that has moved across creative lanes. Before establishing himself as a blues & soul artist with a devoted following, Reverend Shawn Amos worked behind the scenes in the music industry as an executive at Rhino Records and Shout! Factory, building a deep familiarity with American music history. As American Blues Scene previously noted in an interview with Reverend Shawn Amos on his 2024 album Soul Brother Brother No. 1, he approaches music as a deeply collaborative exchange—one that, in his words, creates “the most direct connection from my head to my heart to my spirit.” …