New Releases

Howlin' Wolf and Colin Linden take pride of place this month. Tribute To Howlin' Wolf (TelarcBlues) was co-produced by Colin, he plays guitar on most of it and performs the best of the guest vocals. His own new album, Raised By Wolves (Columbia), also invokes Chester Burnett in title, artwork and spirit. He was already an accomplished guitar player and songwriter when he met Wolf at the Colonial Tavern at age eleven! Wolf was only too happy to pass on some of what he knew to the eager youngster and Colin took the tips very seriously indeed. The Tribute album has a core band of Wolf alumnae: Hubert Sumlin, guitar; Henry Gray, piano; Eddie Shaw, tenor sax; Calvin Jones, bass and Sam Lay, drums. The guest vocalists cover a wide range: Taj Mahal, Debbie Davies, Christine Ohlman, Colin James, Ronnie Hawkins, Kenny Neal, Lucinda Williams & Cub Koda; Gray, Shaw, Lay & Sumlin each get the vocal spotlight as well. James Cotton and Lucky Peterson add their expertise on harp & organ. Both Taj Mahal and Neal do their Wolf imitations but don't come anywhere near to dominating the sound the way Wolf did and no one else tries to do that either. The gems in the set are Colin's "Just Like I Treat You", Colin James' "Howlin' Wolf Boogie", Ronnie Hawkins' "Back Door Wolf" & Lucinda Williams' "Come To Me Baby". The enhanced portion of the program includes some of Hubert's Wolf stories and wonderful photos by Linda & Raeburn Flerlage for those of you with CD-ROM capability. This one will sit nicely beside Telarc's recent Muddy tribute.

Raised By Wolves is Colin Linden's sixth solo album and the songs are all by or with Colin except for one by friend and sometimes boss Bruce Cockburn. The band is Colin's regular group: Gary Craig, drums; John Dymond, bass; Richard Bell, keyboards & horn arrangements and Colin on guitars with harmony vocals handled by a stellar but large group. As those of us who saw Colin & Richard Bell back Big Bill Morganfield know, they can play blues (and R&B) and that's what they do on this album. It's not the twelve bar variety and not every song is blues but you'll like "Too Late To Holler", "Love's Like Rain", "Raging River" (written with Colin James), "Easy Rider" and "He Wasn't Fooling". The rocking "Love Everyone" has a Lou Reed riff as its starting point and is, I believe, the first single. Perhaps not surprisingly, the album has a "Band" feel to it. The not-very-obvious enhanced portion has a bit of "Big Road Blues", some nice interview clips and a catalogue of Colin's earlier releases. It also puts you one click away from his website. www.colinlinden.com

Colin James' Little Big Band album surprised a few folks I think by selling so many copies. After the Juno-winning, acoustic National Steel with Colin Linden, the obligatory and almost as good sequel, Little Big Band II (WEA) is here. The Little Big Band has a different lineup with Greg Piccolo, Kaz Kazanoff, Brian Casserly & John Wolf taking over from Roomful's horns, and George Rains, Reese Wynans and Norm Fisher handling drums, B3 and bass. The combination of some lesser-known, quality jump tunes and a couple of well-written originals again works well. What makes it slightly less valuable for me than volume one is that two songs I am familiar with don't work as well as other versions I've heard, let alone the originals: Jimmy McCracklin's "Think" and Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring It On Home" but these are minor quibbles, if you liked the first one, run and get this one.

I liked Don Johnson's first album, It Ain't Easy Being Blue, but his second one, Donald Ray (Mar Vista/Festival), is such an improved package that it's hard to believe they're by the same artist. Don Johnson was born in Texas but now lives in Calgary; he has played drums with Percy Mayfield, Big Joe Turner, Smokey Wilson and, most recently, a couple of Asian and European tours with The Philip Walker Band. He was a finalist for Drummer of the Year in The Maple Blues Awards and named Canadian Male Vocalist of the Year by Real Blues magazine last year. He shows why on this new album. The eleven songs include two originals and well-chosen covers: a rocking "Stagger Lee", a fine original "Gone So Long" with no horns or background singers, a Lou Rawls-styled "Names", Muddy Water's "Crosseyed Cat" with Rich Pollack on harp, Lightnin' Hopkins' "209" with only TimWilliams on slide guitar, a cooking take on "Tobacco Road", Al Green's "Sweet Sixteen" and a version of "Georgia On My Mind" with Jesse O'Brien on keyboards. A song that's been dying to be covered closes the album- Maurice John Vaughn's "(Everything I Do Has Got To Be) Funky". I hope Johnson and this band make it here some time soon - he's got a great calling card.

The New Talent Search made me aware of even more CDs:

Ottawa's Trevor Finlay Band brought a four-day-old CD, Morning Man, with them for their performance at the Shoe. Trevor Finlay is the former leader of The Suicide Kings and his crack three-man outfit proceeded to show why this album will be around for a while. The songs are all by Finlay and so good that two songs stayed on the promo CD. From the alarm clock on "Morning Man" to Donnie Walsh's harp guesting on "Last Saturday Night", this one smokes! The Jivewire Horns and The Voices Of Praise Choir also join Mark Rehder on drums, Ken Fahie on keyboards and Sean Burke on bass. Finlay's vocals and guitar playing were matched by his showmanship, making for a package that deserves to go far. Their website is www.tfband.com.

Fredericton's Hot Toddy also had their new CD with them. Joel LeBlanc, on vocal/lead guitar/harmonica, and Thom Swift, vocal/rhythm & slide guitars, play a wide range of blues styles but definitely show a taste for acoustic blues from the 30s & 40s. Highlights of the 12-song set are John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson's "Goodbye Red" and the four originals. There is also a "hidden" 13th song ("Peach Tree", also by SBW I). The CD was mostly recorded live to two-track in the studio along with four songs from a live to two-track recording at the Cabaret au deuxieme in Moncton in March. Their website is www.brunnet.net/hottoddy. Tim Hearsey's Close Calls (Machea) is not quite as new as the previous two but it had not made its way east yet. Guitarist Hearsey is a 25-year veteran of the Vancouver blues scene, a Juno-winning songwriter for Jim Byrnes and Amos Garrett. For his solo debut, he assembled a band of fellow vets: Bill Runge, bass/saxes; Matt Frenette, drums and Dave Webb, B3 and producer/engineer Ray Fulber. Close Calls is eleven songs, ten by Hearsey or with members of the band plus Hendrix' "Freedom". My impression of the album is coloured somewhat by Hearsey's showcase at the Dollar, where he seemed to lack the stage presence of, say, Trevor Finlay. That aside, it is a fine electric blues album and I hope you hear more of it. Ask for "Tired Life" or "LookOut". E-mail to tocan@sympatico.ca.

The Glamour Puss Blues Band from Moncton entered their self-named indie CD in the Search and their performance at the Swan and the CD showed why they won this year's East Coast Music Award for blues bands. Their humourous, good times blend of blues, gospel & zydeco is infectious and entertaining but while everyone sings, no one has yet emerged as a top rank singer. Of the 14 songs, 10 are originals by the duo of Roger Cormier on keyboards and Travis Furlong on guitar. Of these, "I Don't Need The Money That Bad" and "Cigarette Blues" are highlights. Paul Boudrais on bass, Ronald Dupuis on drums and Philippe Lucy on sax round out the line-up. E-mail is rondupui@nbnet.nb.ca. Rocket Rached & The Fat City 8 of Ottawa's huge blues scene submitted Live At Bluesfest (Soundz Good). It's not clear whether this is a working band or an all-star group assembled for special occasions. Harp man & co-vocalist Neil Barrington also submitted his band, The Bluenatix as did keyboard man Johnny Russell. Maybe this CD will push things one way or the other-Rocket Rached and the band clearly had fun, though, with fine versions of "Rocket 88", "I Don't Know Why", "Dead Presidents" and a couple of originals. Call 613-225-0886.

Rounder Records have been unavailable here for a while with Mercury/Polygram having had some trouble getting albums to radio and to the stores. In brief, some of the ones to look for: Walter "Wolfman" Washington's Funk Is In The House is his first album for Bullseye in quite a while. He recorded a couple of albums in between but nothing clicked. The band played on though, as the saying goes, and got better and better. The Roadmasters are seven strong, with three horns, and the album title is on the money-the music might be too close to contemporary R&B for many readers but if your a fan of his famous smokey vocals, this one's for you. Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones is usually placed in the front rank of young Texas guitar players and was the leader of Charlie Musselwhite's fine band for seven years. His second Bullseye release is Watch What You Say. Jones wrote nine of the thirteen tracks. Mike Welch has dropped the "Monster" tag for his third Tone Cool CD but kept the distinctive Leslie guitar playing of George Leroy Lewis (his songwriting partner). Catch Me has three longish slow blues that caught my attention. Tutu Jones is another fine young guitar player from Dallas but he's not related to Andrew. He also, though, has a second Bullseye release called Staying Power. His band from the first album is back on a program of ten originals with Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love, The Original Memphis Horns, helping out. Five of the songs are fine modern blues, the rest is a kind of soul/jazz that doesn't work for me. Sugar Ray (Norcia) recently left Roomful Of Blues citing road weariness but artistic differences might be there as well. Sweet & Swingin' (Bullseye Blues & Jazz) moves the focus to the popular music of the 30s as opposed to the tough R&B and jump blues of the 40s & 50s that Roomful has mined so well. The result is a "Lite music" typified by his version of Lonnie Johnson's "Tomorrow Night". In this kind of setting, Walter Horton's "Need My Baby" changes to something unrecognisable. It may be sweet but, for me, it doesn't swing. Geno Delafose is a young man with a pedigree in rural Louisiana music that can be matched by only a very few. His father is John Delafose, Amede Ardoin is from the same town, the Balfa family lived nearby. Geno and his French Rockin' Boogie have embarked on a journey to re-create in modern terms the sounds he heard as a child including a song that everyone recognises but no one seems to remember the title, hence La Chanson Perdue (Rounder). Christine Balfa and Steve Riley are along for the ride.

- John Valenteyn jayvee@ican.net