It’s 2013, and most of the blues and R&B performers who once recorded for labels like Vee-Jay, Specialty, Chess, Aladdin, Duke and Peacock have departed for hopefully happier shores. However, the music that once emanated from these…

On another part of this site, Joanna Colangelo posits a poetic appreciation of the quintet of 1960s-70s Canadian and American…

Even if the playing on Sterling Koch’s Slide Ruler CD wasn’t so good, the artist’s oddball selection of some powerful cover tunes is a welcome surprise.  For example, the last time we heard steel guitar duo Santo and Johnny…

Precious Bryant passed away this week on January 12th, 2013 at the age of 71.  She was on a par with Etta Baker as a virtuoso performer, interpreting everything from trad tunes to classic…

When he wrote, “You’ve Got To Suffer If You Want To Sing The Blues,” bluesman David Bromberg wryly addressed the ostensible need for long (and preferably sad) life experience to play blues. However, if you’re 22 years…

For a long time now, Pennsylvania has been home-growing fine blues bands like Bad Influence and the electrifying Del Ray Blues. Now comes Midnight Shift, a rocking, versatile group of thinking bluesmen led by a fine songwriter and blues…

Michael Packer has had a long history as a solid blues sender. Born in New York City in 1950, he began playing guitar in the early 1960s. His first “real” gig was at Greenwich Village’s Bitter End when he was a youngster of 15, after…

Stacie Collins has been called, “a country fried version of Joan Jett.” While the latter may no doubt figure as an influence, blues harp player Collins’s gritty voice, distinctive phrasing, and relentless energy show her hometown that…