If catharsis is the fuel that fires the engine of blues, then singer, songwriter and harp player Brandon Santini right now is on the edge of the most intense tour of his career. He opens the tour this Friday at the Linda in Albany, New York following a series of issues that might cause the average artist to simply walk away from performing.
Author: Don Wilcock
Don Wilcock
Now into his second half century as the warrior music journalist, Don Wilcock began his career writing “Sounds from The World” in Vietnam, a weekly reader’s digest of pop music news for grunts in the field for the then largest official Army newspaper in the world, The Army Reporter. He’s edited BluesWax, FolkWax, The King Biscuit Times, Elmore Magazine, and also BluesPrint as founder of the Northeast Blues Society. Internationally, he’s written for The Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards program, Blues Matters and Blues World. He wrote the definitive Buddy Guy biography 'Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues,' and is currently writing copy for a coffee table book of watercolor paintings of blues artists by Clint Herring.
Happy Birthday to the unparalleled Buddy Guy!
John Mayall stood above the British Invasion superstars. The Rolling Stones, Animals, Yardbirds, and Cream may have used blues as inspiration for their rock music, but John stood alone among them. While they had a dotted line connection to the American blues legacies, John had a solid line connection.
Cindy Cashdollar has worked with Rod Stewart, Ryan Adams, Asleep At The Wheel, Albert Lee, Marcia Ball, Rory Block, Jorma Kaukonen, and Leon Redbone – to name a few. She is currently on tour with Sonny Landreth.
‘New Beginnings’ is his first album fronting his namesake father’s legendary Ils Sont Partis Band. It won the 2024 Grammy for Best Regional Roots Music Album. He continues a legacy of Creole music played with accordion, washboard, guitar, bass, drums and horns.
Interview with Rory: Having her interpret these songs as a woman who knew Dylan when she was still a tweenager is a unique and fascinating journey into arguably the best songwriter of the last 60 years executed by a woman who is arguably the best acoustic guitarist of either gender. The result, ‘Positively 4th Street,’ is a one plus one equaling two to the nth power, a truly mature expression suitable for the 21st century.
Charlie has produced artists as disparate as The Cars and Little Village Foundation’s traditional blues singer Candice Ivory. Recently he produced Jubu, whose self-titled album is the latest release on Little Village.
Muddy Waters was the most important link between his urban black audience in the nightclubs of Chicago and the young white fans who came to know him as a result of the folk music craze beginning in the early to mid ’60s. Blues fans have heard his story time and time again. Here’s some things you may not have heard.
His voice on the album is guttural like a Delta denizen. On the phone, he comes off as a polished executive. The Reverend Shawn Amos discusses ‘Soul Brother No. 1,’ his new album as diverse as his resume.
Interview with Rory: Having her interpret these songs as a woman who knew Dylan when she was still a tweenager is a unique and fascinating journey into arguably the best songwriter of the last 60 years executed by a woman who is arguably the best acoustic guitarist of either gender. The result, ‘Positively 4th Street,’ is a one plus one equaling two to the nth power, a truly mature expression suitable for the 21st century.