Maple Blues Online - Loose Blues News

Mike Goudreau will be making his way from Quebec's Eastern Townships for a Blues Summit showcase set at the Silver Dollar Room on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007.

20 Years of Saturday Night Blues: Congratulations to Holger Petersen (who is also president of Stony Plain Records) on 20 years of hosting CBC Radio One's Saturday Night Blues show. To celebrate the programme's birthday, CBC Records has released a two-CD collection of live performances recorded for the show. More than 30 Canadian artists are featured, including Ray Bonneville, Sue Foley, David Wilcox, Jeff Healey, Paul Reddick, Ellen McIlwaine, Harry Manx, Big Dave McLean, Michel Pickett, Roxanne Potvin, Jim Byrnes, Colin James and Colin Linden, Dawn Tyler Watson, Mel Brown, David Gogo and the late Long John Baldry and Dutch Mason. The recordings were cut in clubs, concert halls, CBC studios, and at blues, folk and jazz festivals from coast to coast. The two-CD set is on CBC Records distributed by Universal Music in Canada.

The TBS is also celebrating a 20th Anniversary with the release of "Women's Blues Revue Live", a collection of tracks recorded at the event over the years. It includes show-stopping performances from Rita Chiarelli, Roxanne Potvin, Alana Bridgewater, Diana Braithwaite, Sue Foley, Georgette Fry, Divine Brown, Ellen McIlwaine, Molly Johnson, Jackie Richardson, Lee Aaron, Suzie Vinnick, Suzie McNeil, Serena Ryder, and Dawn Tyler Watson. Order yours at www.torontobluessociety.com.

Blues Challenge: Ottawa's 13 year-old singer Elyssa Mahoney has been selected to represent Eastern Ontario and the Loyal Blues Fellowship of Belleville, Ontario, in the solo/duo category in the 23rd International Blues Challenge held February 1-3, 2007 in Memphis TN. Elyssa will have Peter Brown of Carleton Place, Ontario, on keyboards for the two semi-final events on February 1 and 2, and if selected, at the finals on the 3rd.

Café Campus Blues: Montreal's Café Campus has ceased its long-running blues music series. Laurier Gagnon booked the venue for many years, and the Montreal Blues Society promoted the shows.

BYOBLUES Club: There's a new blues club for beginner guitar players - non-profit, "just a bunch of old(er) guys hanging out and learning to play and enjoy the blues". For more information on this beginner blues guitar club, contact Frank Butty, Oakville, Ontario, frank@byoblues.com, 905-847-2598, or visit www.byoblues.com .

Voodoo Healin' No More: After almost 14 years at CKMS FM in Waterloo, Ontario, Kevin Doyle has ended the radio show he originated a couple years earlier in Fredericton NB at CHSR. Kevin is still involved with the blues as the Artistic Director of Blues Brews & BBQs festival in Kitchener, Ontario, as well as running the small Kitchener restaurant & music room The Boathouse.

Nominated: As we prepare to celebrate the Maple Blues Awards, we give a nod to a couple of Canadian blues labels who are having great success stateside with their American artists: NorthernBlues Blues has garnered nine nominations at this in this year's Blues Music Awards (formerly the Handys). Janiva Magness is back for a second shot at Contemporary Female Artist of the Year (she won it last year). Her recording "Do I Move You?" also received nominations for Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Album of the Year. Watermelon Slim & The Workers received nominations for Album of the Year, BB King Entertainer of the Year, Band of the Year, Song of the Year (for Hard Times), Traditional Blues Album, and Traditional Blues Male Artist. Nominations for the 2007 Blues Music Awards can be viewed at www.blues.org. The awards will be presented Thursday, May 10, 2007 at the Cook Convention Center in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. With 6, Watermelon Slim received the greatest number of nominations on the 2007 slate. Slim was also a big winner in the The 6th Annual Independent Music Awards and the lead track from his award-winning album has also been chosen for an upcoming Wim Wenders music film.

Stony Plain received a Grammy nomination for Duke Robillard's "Guitar Groove-A-Rama" in the Traditional Blues Album category. As always, the title of the category is a bit of a misnomer - other nominees include "Brother to the Blues," Tab Benoit With Louisiana's Leroux; "Bronx in Blue," Dion; "People Gonna Talk," James Hunter; "Risin' With the Blues," Ike Turner. The Contemporary Blues Album nominees are "Live From Across the Pond," Robert Cray Band; "Sippiana Hericane," Dr. John and the Lower 911; "Suitcase," Keb' Mo'; "Hope and Desire," Susan Tedeschi; "After the Rain," Irma Thomas.

Dutch Mason, 1938-2006: Norman (Dutch) Mason was born February 19, 1938 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and died December 23, 2006, at age 68 in Truro, Nova Scotia, after suffering from a number of ailments, including diabetes and severe arthritis. Friends and fans alike heralded Norman (Dutch) Mason, the legendary Nova Scotia musician, as the Prime Minister of the Blues. The native of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, made his name in the late sixties and seventies while touring Canada with the Dutch Mason Trio, along with bassist Ronnie Miller and drummer Ken Clattenburg. Mr. Mason's talents even caught the attention of blues icon B. B. King, who dubbed Mr. Mason the King of the Blues. But a band member -- thinking it would sound more Canadian -- soon changed the moniker to the Prime Minister of the Blues. He was nominated for Best Blues Album at the 1994 Juno Awards, and in 2005 was inducted into the Order of Canada for his achievements in music. "He was just the real thing," Matt Minglewood, a Nova Scotia rock-blues musician, said Saturday from Glace Bay, N.S. "There was nothing fake or phony about Dutch and the blues. He lived it like he sang it." Mr. Minglewood is among a generation of musicians influenced by Mr. Mason's style. Mr. Mason's son, Garrett, picked up a 2005 Juno for his debut blues album. But during a career spanning more than 50 years, Norman Mason was known as much for his colourful personality as for his guitar skills and distinctive voice. "I've seen him come on stage practically naked, with just a towel around him," said a chuckling Mr. Minglewood. "On a whim, he would do that. He was just very funny." Mr. Minglewood said Mr. Mason retained his sense of humour and passion for music even as his health deteriorated. Wade Brown, who played guitar alongside Mason in addition to serving as his live-in caretaker, said arthritis crippled Mr. Mason's fingers more than 15 years ago and prevented him from playing guitar. In recent years, he used a wheelchair, and singing performances became scarce. In 2005, the annual Dutch Mason Blues Festival was launched. Mr. Mason -- who spent most of his time in bed -- was too ill to attend this year's event, held in Dartmouth, N.S. Still, Mr. Brown said Mr. Mason had a love for music and his fans, although his talents never landed him on Top 40 radio. "He knew he wasn't the best singer in the world... He freely admitted that," Mr. Brown said. "You had to love him. People just loved him. He was so comfortable with a crowd of people, no matter how many there were, as if he was in his own living room and they were just dropping in for tea." In 2005, after being named to the Order of Canada, Mr. Mason was too sick to travel to the ceremony in Ottawa. Myra Freeman, then Nova Scotia's lieutenant-governor, held a special ceremony in Mr. Mason's honour in Halifax. It's "the biggest thing that has ever happened to me," Mr. Mason said at the time. Mr. Mason garnered a number of accolades in his career and was an original inductee of the Canadian Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame. His 2004 album, "Half Ain't Been Told", earned him a nomination for Best Blues Album at the 2005 East Coast Music Awards highlighting Mr. Mason's ability to capture audiences for decades. (by Melanie Patten, Canadian Press)

Pioneer Jazz and Blues Musician Jay McShann Passes. Kansas City pianist, bandleader and songwriter Jay McShann died in hospital last month after a brief illness. He was 90 years old. He was the last of the great Kansas City players, and the creator of a style that combined swing and blues and changed the course of popular music. A piano player with a unique and subtle touch, he was a bluesman at heart. His best known composition "Confessin' The Blues" has been recorded by artists like The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Little Walter, Esther Phillips, and Jimmy Witherspoon among many others. A self-taught musician, McShann was born in Muskogee, Oklahama in 1916 - although some sources list his birth year as 1909. Settling in Kansas City in the mid-'30s, he soon formed a small group, but by 1940 had a large band which included a young alto sax player called Charlie Parker. His links to Parker are widely known, but McShann's later role in building the career of singers Walter Brown (who co-wrote Confessin' the Blues") and Jimmy Witherspoon has been largely overlooked. Toronto was frequently on his tour schedules; jazz musician and Downtown Jazz Festival artistic director Jim Galloway brought him to the now-vanished Bourbon Street club in 1972 and he recorded close to a dozen albums in the city for the Sackville label. His last four albums, including the Grammy-nominated 2003 release "Going to Kansas City", were recorded for the Edmonton-based Stony Plain label; three of them were co-produced by guitarist Duke Robillard.

James Brown: The musical innovator, inimitable entertainer, and self-prescribed "Godfather of Soul," died early Christmas Day at the age of 73. Brown's agent Frank Copsidas said the singer was hospitalized with severe pneumonia on Christmas Eve. Copsidas said longtime friend Charles Bobbit was by Brown's side when he died at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. James Joseph Brown, Jr. is widely considered one of the most seminal, influential figures in 20th century music. He had a raspy, gospel-style voiced that, combined with a horn-section that punctuated his funky, frenetic rhythms, evolved into a distinct, revolutionary style of music. He recorded more than 50 albums and had well over 100 songs that hit the charts, including "I Got You (I Feel Good)," "(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "Out of Sight." His classic "Say It Out Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" became a landmark statement of racial pride when it came out in 1968. Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and won a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 1992. CTV.ca News with files from The Associated Press.

Ahmet Ertegun 1923-2006: Ahmet Ertegun, who helped define American music as the founder of Atlantic Records, a label that brought Ruth Brown and Ray Charles to the R&B scene of the 50's, before moving on to the classic soul of Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett, died last month at the age of 83.

Jimmy Payne, RIP: In his career, drummer Jimmy Payne laid down grooves for a who's who of performers including King Curtis, The Spinners, The Four Tops, Clarence Carter, and many others. Jimmy also played on Caribo-lounge recordings with Andy Nichols in the '60s, and some interesting albums from the early '70s, including one by Xaviera "Happy Hooker" Hollander, as well as Frank Motley and Bridge Crossing (with Curley Bridges on vocals). The latter was partially reissued on a CD in the "Canada's Message to the Meters" compilation. Most recently there is a CD by Jimmy's own band, the House of Payne.

Homesick James Williamson: William Henderson, professionally known as Homesick James Williamson, died resting at his home in Springfield, Missouri last month. He shared the stage with blues legends like Yank Rachell, Sleepy John Estes, Blind Boy Fuller, and Big Joe Williams and worked as a sideman for harp great Sonny Boy Williamson and his cousin, slide master Elmore James (to whom Homesick is stylistically indebted). In the 1990s he recorded albums for Appaloosa and Earwig.

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