Area Code Greetings

RingDog Rescue February 18th

2012-02-08T00:09:00.000-05:00

E.T. Snider, Barstool Heros

Cary Street Cafe will be hosting five of Richmond's finest for the RingDog Rescue to raise money for three puppies on February 18 at 7pm. For those of you who aren't already aware, RingDog Rescue is a Richmond-based, non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and placing of Bully breeds throughout the Richmond area. RingDog has no facilities nor funding other than the homes of the generous volunteers and the donations from people like us. The pups, Beatle, Clapton, and Ville, were placed as healthy puppies but have developed some maladies for which treatments have proved costly.

Five Richmond groups have generously volunteered their time and musical genius to entertain us for this event. Music starts at 7 and goes til 1:45 in the mornin'!! The lineup is as follows:

Wake Of The Flood - For your Grateful Dead listening

pleasure.
Barstool Heroes - A little kick*ss Outlaw Country.
The Spaceheaters - Get down with some Psychedelic

Rock.
Ghost Owls - A little bit of Folk and a little bit of Rock and Roll.
The Lunes - Something for all you Jam Band fools.

Wake Of The Flood is kicking the music off at 7 so get there early. There will be a raffle for a live stage painting, some gift certificates, and other awesome things.

Bluegrass Jam For Vets On The Horizon

2012-02-06T14:13:00.000-05:00

The Third Annual Richmond Bluegrass Marathon Jam will be held February 25, 2012, at the Cultural Arts Center of Glenn Allen. The twelve hour musical event will feature local and regional bluegrass acts all to raise money for The Richmond Fisher House the “Home Away From Home” for service members and their families being treated at Richmond’s McGuire VA Medical Center.

There will be no charge to attend the jam but a generous tax deductible donation is encouraged (as a vet I can't stress that part enough). You can donate right now right here if you like. All proceeds go directly to The Richmond Fisher House. Bluegrass musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments along with a friend or two to show off your talents during some of the open stage sets. Or just find a corner and have yourself an old fashion jam session.

Cary Street Ramblers and River City Band are two of the eight bands scheduled to perform. You can find a full listing and schedule here. If there is something you wish to do to help out then just click here.

Horsehead Working On Summer Release

2012-01-31T21:10:00.000-05:00

I found myself parked on Hull St. outside of Snake Oil Recording Sunday morning with the sunroof open enjoying a bright sun that created an unusually warm January day making sure my cameras were ready for some studio time with Richmond base Horsehead (Jon C. Brown--guitar, Kevin Inge--guitar, Randy Mendicino--bass, Gregg Brooks--drums

Some background is order: I saw Horsehead for the first and only time at Ghost of Pop 7 (Gallery 5) last December and enjoyed their garage rock sound. Actually of the groups I saw at Ghost of Pop I enjoyed Horsehead the best. Now I know, trying to describe a band's sound is a can of worms but you can honestly place Horsehead in the alt-country, alt-rock, Americana, rock 'n roll, categories, which makes things even worse. I choose garage sound because Horsehead has a rough early rock and roll sound to them that is, to me, the garage sound. And while I listen to and enjoy a pretty wide variety of music as far as I am concerned garage rock is just about the purest form of rock 'n roll there is.

Well, Horsehead was just about as easy to work with as they come. After three releases, Record of the Year (2006), Welcome to Horsehead (2008), and Before the Bright Lights (2010), these guys weren't phased by me being around at all. (You can and should grab their CDs from iTunes.) So here I am at Snake Oil Recording's studio shooting a band I've heard once and whom I've never met. This can present a problem for me since its easier to photograph a band that is use to me being around. People become more relaxed and their facial expressions and body movements tend to stay natural instead of the posed after they have had a camera pointed at them while they are talking, walking, singing, playing, eating, drinking, well you get the ideal. Plus if you have photographed a group a few times you learn their movements as to where members stand, how do they stand, which direction do they look when playing, do they interact more with the announce or themselves, do they have a key move you want to capture? Knowledge like that allows the photographer to be in position to get some good shots.

The group is currently recording (at Dan Deckleman's Snake Oil Recroding--Dan is co-producer, mixer, and engineer), Sympathetic Vibrations, their fourth disc in six years which will drop sometime this summer. They have four songs tracked so far and have plenty of new original material to actually record more tracks then will make the disc.

A good place to be when your an all original band.

I've heard a good number of bands since I've been back to Richmond and the vast majority of them have been pretty good, but there are a lot--maybe too many--cover bands in town.

Saw it.

Heard it.

Play me something new.

I guess the bottom line is if you want some original jangle in your bojangle groove go out and listen to Horsehead live (Friday at The Camel would be good) and pick up a disc, or two...

Bluesman Melvin Lee Green Dies

2012-01-24T15:48:00.000-05:00

Melvin Lee Green, Handy Park, Beale St., Memphis, Tn.,
October, 2008. Tony Scott in background.

Former B.B. King and Earl the Pearl bassist, Melvin Lee Green has passed away. Mr. Green was the brother of Herman Green, the noted saxophonist (B.B. King, Coltrane, Miles Davis). Robert Nighthawk Toomes has written a wonderful article over at American Blues News about his personal relationship with Mr. Green.

While I was living in Memphis I was constantly amazed at the musical talent one could find there. You could find Mr. Green playing in Handy Park or any number of the clubs on Beale St. as well as the older off the tourist map juke joint type of places.

Sea Level Singer/Songwriter Festival Set For April 5-7

2012-01-24T14:24:00.000-05:00

The 5th Annual Sea Level Singer/Songwriter Festival to benefit Tidewater Arts Outreach will be held on April 5-7. Tidewater Arts Outreach is a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 to bring music and arts to hospitals, retirement homes, rehabilitation centers, homeless shelters, and other facilities throughout Hampton Roads.

Seth Stainback, Jewish Mother, Jan. 2012

Headlining the show at the Naro Expanded Theater (Norfolk) April 5 will be Grammy winner Shelby Lynne. Opening for Lynee will be Tidewater's own Seth Stainback. Building on Seth's success here in 2010 (an Emerging Artist Showcase finalist) The Stainbacks (Seth and his father Keith) will be competing in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis beginning at the end of the week. Rooster Foot, as Seth and Keith are collectively know, will bring an especially charged and powerful version of Mississippi Delta Blues to the stage in Memphis and no doubt to the Naro's stage as well.

The festival is, once again, hosting an Emerging Artist Showcase searching for new local talent.

From TAO's website:

The Emerging Artist Showcase is part of the 2012 Sea Level Singer/Songwriter Festival. The winner will be featured on WHRV-FM’s “Out of the Box” and “Hunter at Sunrise.”
Submit your songs and the top 10 finalists will perform on April 7th at the Chrysler Museum of Art’s Kaufman Theatre.

Submission should include the following:
A short biography
2 MP3 files (between 128-192 kbits/s), each containing a song recording,
2 text files (Adobe pdf or Word equivalent), each containing a song’s lyrics, title,
$25 donation

There are a number rules, including a 100 miles radius from Norfolk, that you can find here. I found the TAO's web site to be well laid out and very easy to navigate so I doubt you will have any problems finding the information.

One More Saturday Night

2012-01-23T21:37:00.000-05:00

I was hooked up with a photo pass for The Trongone Band's opening set for ZoSo at The National this past Saturday night. While hanging prior to the show the boys from Psychobilly Cadillac also gave me permission to shoot them, while the ZoSo folks stayed aloof--maybe too much make believe?

John & Brett of Trongone at soundcheck.
ZoSo equipment is covered up its secret stuff you know.

Elana, Andrew, John

I was able to shame my sister and her beau into coming out to the show with the enticement of my second comp ticket freeing them to only have to buy one. It was cool getting her out of the house two nights in a row since they had come to Friday's show at The National. After coaxing her out I left early after being subjected to what I thought was a horrible mix from ZoSo (not that I've ever bee a real fan of Led Zeppelin anyway) with bass and kick just overpowering everything else. Besides, I thought "Robert Plant" looked more like Ted Levine's cross-dressing Buffalo Bill character in Silence of the Lambs more than Plant. All I could keep thinking was "Put the bass in the basket!" And just in case Jimmy got an inkling:

I parked in the city garage right across 7th Street from the National since the sign said weekends $6.00 up to 24 hours. Six bucks for parking is a pretty good rate so I pulled in found a spot beside a wall to reduce my chances of being hit by half then headed across the street. I only mention this because as I was leaving the attendant told me $16.00 dollars. "I don't know about your reading abilities but mind are pretty darn good and it says right here: Weekends $6.00." And she just slammed the window shut. When she open it to give me four bucks in change I asked: "Is that how you make pocket change, overcharging drunks leaving The National?" Then she cussed me. Perhaps there's a reason Richmond was just rated one of the least dynamic cities around.

One of the Green Rooms

Kicking the night off was Pyschobilly Cadillac a traditional power trio featuring Scott Harris (guitar) John Keef (bass) and Mark Whitesides (drums) kicking out some powerful funk rock music. I really have to give them a big thanks for letting me shoot them on such short notice. The Trongone Band is pretty much a family affair with John (bass), Andrew (drums), and Johnny (guitar) Trongone with Brett Zwerdling on keys and sax and play a lot of Dead. Not trying to mimic the Dead ala Dark Star Orchestra or ZoSo (Led Zeppelin) but to play good tunes their way, thus the sax. Both groups seemed to have brought a good number of their own fans to The National.

I would have gladly taken a couple more sets each from Pyscho and Tron over what I heard from ZoSo. But enough of the that and let's get to why you are here, the photographs:

Brett at soundcheck with his sax on the floor.

Scott Harris (Psychobilly Cadillac) at soundcheck.

John Keef (Psychobilly Cadillac)

Mark Whitesides (Psychobilly Cadillac)

Scott Harris

Trongone set list.

John Trongone

Brett Zwerdling

John (l) & Andrew (r) Trongone

Andrew Trongone (l) Brett Zwerdling (r)

John Trongone

Be on the lookout for a video from Trongone.

Johnny Trongone

Andrew Trongone

On the downside of the evening I think my EF 85 F/1.8 lens is starting to focus a little short of where it should be focusing at. This is not good.

For more photographs of PC and Tron visit ACG on Flickr.

As always everything copyrighted to me.

Valerie June Puts Cosmic Forces To Work

2012-01-20T19:34:00.004-05:00

Valerie June, Memphis Music & Heritage Festival 2009 (Previously Unpublished)

I was thinking of Valerie June earlier this week. Not in the sense that I wonder where she was playing or even about her recent move from Memphis to New York city. No it wasn't any of that. I was wondering about the photographs I've taken of her. I have photographed her three times--twice when she was not playing music (she was socializing during a couple festivals) and once during a performance.

What amazes me is that of the five photos I have posted at ACG on Flickr, three hold spots 1, 4, and 9 on my all time views ranking (click on the numbers to view the photos). Flickr also has some type of mathematical computer code that rate the interstingness of your photos and if your photo ranks in the top 500 of the this number crunch, at any given point, that photo makes the Flickr Explore list. I've placed but two photographs on their list, flying coke cans and Valerie June. And in Flickr's ranking of all my photos against themselves, June holds the top two spots.

All that led me to think that June's organic moonshine roots music flows just about as easily and smoothly out of her as her beauty flows through the photographs.

Then today June posts the following on her Facebook page: "I just made a killin', super brilliant music video at Mojo Music Club in Austria with my new band of Hungarians. I mean...y'all will not believe how straight from the western movies and a Mississippi Juke Joint this place was!!! Ok...I'm on a plane to Paris then a train to Rouen for a show tomorrow night. Tell your friends!!. ( link)"

So here's some skinny because I can't fight against the cosmic forces...

June will be playing two shows in France (Rouen on the 21st and Paris on the 23rd, yep ACG get hits from the occasional Frenchman, woman, or rebellious French teenager) before returning state-side for a tour that will keep her on the road through all of February and a good portion of March and April as well.

While she calls NYC home now...her music is pure Memphis. Go check out the photographs and go see June live if she is appearing near you. You will not regret it.

And you can check out her upcoming schedule here.

Here's some more cosmic tie ins...always remember: DON'T PANIC

You see where the video was made Mojo Music Club. So I ask, can it be mere chance the Seth Stainback and his dad Keith, better known as Rooster Foot, will be playing at Mojo Bones in Norfolk, Va., on Sunday the 22nd. I think not!

The concert is a fund raiser to help Seth and his dad pay for their trip to Memphis (there's another tie-in) to compete in the International Blues Challenge (June has also competed at the IBC) at the end of the month. Rooster Foot, who will be competing in the solo/duo category play a mean Mississippi Delta style blues (another tie-in). The doors for Rooster Foot open at two Sunday afternoon.

Seth Stainback with Larry Berwald sitting in,
Jewish Mother, Virginia Beach, Va.

All that went down just to get those of you in Virginia to go see Seth this weekend. And everybody else go see Valerie June when she comes near you.

Wammies & Veer Awards on Tap

2012-01-19T21:16:00.000-05:00

The Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) will host the 26th Annual Wammies Awards Sunday, February 19, 2012, at State Theater in Falls Church Va. Showtime 8pm. WAMA is an umbrella organization of Washington D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginian area musicians, concert promoters, lawyers, recording engineers, managers, graphic artists, and related businesses working together to address areas of mutual concern.

In addition to the standard award categories WAMA's Board of Directors votes to recognize significant career achievements of area musicians by inducting them into the WAMA Hall of Fame. The awards are presented during the Wammies event with past inductees including Charlie Byrd, Joan Jett, and Root Boy Slim.

Tickets are available at various prices and can be order here.

After a long absence in the Hampton Roads area a local awards show will be hosted by Veer Magazine on February 15, 2012, at the Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk. The production will be a multi-media experience, making use of the Naro's movie screen and stage.

An expert panel of local music industry players will served as the nominating committee for each category with winners being selected by a 50-50 split between the judging panel and your votes. Click here to vote.

Ticketing information for the Veer Awards is currently unavailable.

Bobby BlackHat Walters 2012 Veer Award Nominee--Blues

Blues, Neo-soul, Blues: That's This Week Review

2012-01-17T16:32:00.000-05:00

Bush League kicked off my weekend at the mainly weekly Blues & Brews hosted at the Capital Ale House and sponsored by the River City Blues Society. As a reminder to all you folks out there, the Bush League will be competing at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis at the end of the month. Bands competing at the IBC perform in B.B. King's Blues Club, Rum Boogie Cafe, both the new and old Daisy Theaters and all they other joints on historic Beale St.

As you can imagine the cost of transporting a band and stay in Memphis for the five day competition is rather expensive. Bush League is accepting donations to help defer the cost of the trip. Share a buck then when the international superstars you can say "I did that!" Here's some pics, enjoy.

Geo's Axe

Pete Turpin sittin' in on harp

Andrew Alli sittin' in on harp.

JohnJason Cecil

Tip Case

Shane Parch

Saturday found me back at Capital Ale House (they put on good music but the service is somewhat lacking) for the Bryce McCormick CD release party. I hadn't listen to any of Bryce's music before the show but had done some background research. Sometimes I like going in cold without knowing what to expect, which can lead to some bad music but that was far from the case Saturday night. I would call Bryce's music neo-soul but that's just me, and no matter what you call it, it was good without a guitar in sight. Jeff Carl started us off....Enjoy:

Jeff Carl

Mike McSherry

Djembe

Bryce McCormick up next:

Bryce McCormick

Jason Scott

Marcus Tenny

Bryce McCormick

Daniel Clarke

Scott Clark

Sunday I ventured down to Virginia Beach for the Bobby BlackHat Walters CD release part at the Jewish Mother for Magazine 33. So look for an article coming soon from Ryan Mason on Mag33's website. Here's some photos from the opening acts, Incognito Brothers, and International Blues Challenge bound Rooster Foot with a tease of Bobby. (Unfortunately I do not have the names of the IB musicians so if you can finger one or two of them let me know.)

Larry Berwald

Seth Stainbeck and his dad, Keith, will be heading to Memphis later this month to compete in the International Blues Challenge on historic Beale St. If you would like to help Rooster Foot cover their bills while they are in Memphis a fund raiser is being held at Mojo Bones in the Ocean View area of Norfolk on Sunday, January 22, from 2pm to 6pm.

Seth Stainback

Keith Stainback

And finally we've got BlackHat on Black:

Bobby BlackHat Walters

Coming up next week: The Shack Band, Trongone Band, and more. As always you can visit Area Code Greetings on Flickr right here for more tasty morsels of visual music.

Dark Horse by Ghost Town Blues Band

2012-01-12T18:53:00.000-05:00

My bud Matt Isbell and his group Ghost Town Blues Band (Preston McEwen --Drums, Dusty Sikes--Bass, Dr. Dabbo--Keys) based out of Memphis have a brand spankin' new CD entitled Dark Horse. Release of Dark Horse will coincided with the International Blues Challenge held in Memphis the first week of February.

You can pre-order the disc at GTBB's website right here. Matt also makes cigar box guitars starting with fine hand picked cigar boxes with hand crafted red oak, poplar or cypress necks, your choice of cane or burlap f- hole covers, and either plugged in or unplugged varieties. Check out right here.

Matt Isbell, Ghost Town Blues Band, Beale St., Memphis, April 2010.
(previously unpublished)

3Borne, Jim O'Ferrell Band, and Guitar Slinger Hunter Wolfe

2012-01-11T15:02:00.000-05:00

Only three shoots this past week but they were good ones.

Blues & Brews at Capital Ale House feature 3Borne on Friday night. These things are a lot of fun. If you work downtown stop by for dinner, a brew or two, and some blues.

Dwayne Cabaniss

Mark Henderson

John Sneazy Grigg

I was lucky enough to hook up with Jim O'Ferrell (The J.O.B.), Jay Smack (102.1 The X), Dan-O Deckelman (Snake Oil Recording), and Robin Marschak (Magazine 33) for The X's Studio B Sessions and upload photographs of the session to Magazine 33's FB page during the radio broadcast. If you missed the live show you can catch the podcast right here on 102.1 The X. Look for an upcoming article from Robin and Magazine 33 hittin' on Jim, Dan-O, Jay, and the Studio B sessions right here.

Jay Smack

Jim O'Ferrell

Jay Smack (l) Robin Marschak (r)

I will be joining Richmond's own People's Blues of Richmond (PBR) for a Studio B session at the end of the month, the 29th I believe, so tune in to 102.1 or stream it online at 1021thex.com and park on the Magazine 33 FB page for photos of the session as it airs.

The finally shoot of the weekend was Hunter Wolfe & ARE again at the Capital Ale House. The 2008 National Slide Guitar Champion, at 16 the youngest winner ever, and two time International Blues Challenge competitor threw down. You really need to check this Mississippi delta blues brother sister duo out. They aren't just pushing the wall back they are knocking it down. Amazon has sold out of their new CD "The Go," but digital downloads are still an option.

Hunter Wolfe (l) Oleatha "Lee Tee" Braxton

ARE

Hunter Wolfe

As always you can find additional photographs over at ACG on Flickr. Go. Enjoy.

ACG on Flickr Nears 200,000 Views

2012-01-10T19:19:00.001-05:00

Let's surpass 200,00 today!

Just click on the chart and go check out some mighty fine music photography.

SWEET! Made it in just over two hours!

Opening Slot Available For Society's Plague Tour

2012-01-04T13:20:00.000-05:00

Metal band Society's Plague's opening slot for their Richmond (2/8) and Virginia Beach (2/10) shows are open and available for your band to fill.

For all the information go here and fill out the form.

Society's Plauge FB, Twitter, website.

I Stalked Star & Micey: True Confession of a Music Photographer

2012-01-01T00:26:00.000-05:00

Another year has passed and I am still astonished I've lived this long. What the hell, heh?

This year found me photographing stuff (mainly music, music fans, and the occasional zombie) from the bars of Memphis, to a radio studio in Ft. Worth, to the frozen blizzard of Tulsa and the sun baked Gulf Coast beaches, a blues joint in Mobile, festivals in Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, and, finally, as the year ends Richmond, Va..

Tulsa, Feb. 1, 2011, Photo being used in Yahoo's
weather app.

Pass Christian Area, Gulf Coast, Ms.

I've been fortunate enough to photograph a number of Memphis legends (even if some of them are underground) such as funk guitar maestro Charles Pitts, song smith Mabon Lewis "Teenie" Hodges, garage /punk rocker Jack Oblivian, along with up and comers like Victor Wainwright, Grace Askew, and Will Tucker, not to mention some home town Chester boys in their first band.

Charles Skip Pitts, Memphis Muisc & Heritage
Festival, Memphis

Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, Center For Southern Folklore, Memphis

Grace Askew, The Buccaneer, Memphis

Will Tucker, B.B. King's, Memphis

Jack Oblivian, Beale St., Memphis

Will Tucker, B.B. King's, Memphis

Victor Wainwright, Blues Tavern, Mobile, Al.

I have photographed inside and out, in good light and bad, big music rooms, small bars, living rooms, and a garage, (with better lighting then any of those small bars, living rooms or most of the big music rooms) all in an attempt to capture the perfect note with my picture taking device.

Hunter Pease, Shack Band, Cary St. Cafe, Richmond, Va.

The Quintessential Jazz Ensemble, The Camel, Richmond

Reverend D-Ray, Garage Mahal (a two car
garage at a private home), Richmond

Adam MacDougall, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, The Canal Club, Richmond

Load In, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, The Canal Club,
Richmond

George Sluppick, The City Champs, The Buccaneer, Memphis

Alijca Trout, River City Tanlines, Memphis Music & Heritage Festival,
Memphis

Grog, A guys living room, Memphis

Without seeming to weird I stalked one band through five cities and four states popping up with my eye in the viewfinder, my best "I'm Wyatt Fuckin' Earp" mustache, and the trusted phrase "I'm with the band" on my lips as I brushed past the doorman mumbling about how bad the lighting sucks and there is no way I'll ever get any good shots out of this dive.

Richmond, Va.

Bay St. Louis, Ms.

Ocean Springs, Ms.

Memphis, Tn.

Pass Christian, Ms.

Memphis, Tn.

KTCU Ft. Worth, Tx.

Ft. Worth, Tx.

I've been involved in major zombie uprisings in three cities in two states barely escaping with my life (see bottom photo) but have found zombies take really good portraits...when their not eating your brains. Maybe its because they have no soul to steal or perhaps its since they move really, reallly, realllly, slowly.

Top two Fredricksburg, middle two Richmond, bottom an unfortunate
Memphis soul.

The photos that accompany this article are a few my favorites from this past year. The new year is shaping up pretty well so far with a radio studio shoot scheduled with the Jeff O'Ferrell Band this coming week to start it off right. You can hear the shoot and the JOB Band's latest EP on WRXL 102.1, January 8 at 8pm it will be streamed online.

With ACG on Flickr averaging around 275-300 hits a day and being roughly 3,000 hits away from 200,000 views and the original Area Code Greetings blog averaging around 100 hits a day the new year is poised to be good to the Area Code Greetings platforms. Stay tuned for more eye pleasing music photography as the year unfolds.

Here is the link to ACG on Flickr check it often.

Christmas/New Year Week In Review

2011-12-31T14:52:00.001-05:00

Not much happening this past week with the holidays and all just kinda of took it easy. Did meet some of the members of Whisper to Baxwell in studio this week and caught Proverbial last night at Mulligan's Southside. Music good. Lighting (had to go 1.8/3200 @ 1/100--not good for a moving target) and all the smoke sucked so I didn't really get any real good snaps, but here's a couple. Looking forward to seeing Proverbial again in another setting. I got a decent one of the keyboardist, Phil Walker but there's a big Pepsi logo in it and I don't promote Pepsi at all.

I just hope Mulligan's not serving rum and Pepsi (Bleech!) over rum and Coke.

Garrett Kovalik, Sinewave Studios

Mike Ketter, Proverbial Band

Kevin Condrey, Proverbial Band

Whisper to Baxwell In Studio

2011-12-29T18:32:00.000-05:00

Had the chance to hang out for a few hours with some young Chesterfield County based musicians today at Sinewave Studios as Damian Winn and Jansen Wooton of Whisper to Baxwell (there's a regal cat involved with the name) worked on some guitar tracks for the group's upcoming and first EP "Post Production." A short tour is in the works for around March. It's kinda of hard to hit the road when you still have high school to deal with. But, the boys are hoping for a longer sojourn this summer.

Whisper to Baxwell will open up the Richmond Music Showcase II: The Winter Solstice! on January 28, 2012, at the Kingdom on Walnut Alley and should go on stage around 7 (ESRRT--Eastern Standard Rock and Roll Time).

(l) Garrett Kovalik (Producer) (r) Damian Winn

Jansen Wooton

Studio Kitty

Damian Winn

Jansen Wooton

Visit ACG on flickr for a few more pics of Whisper to Baxwell and a whole slew of other good photos.

Grace Askew Scores Best Debut Album

2011-12-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

Grace Askew

Victor Wainwright

Grace Askew & The Black Market Goods, based out of Memphis, picked up Blues411. com's Best New Debut Album with their self titled release. Along with Grace, Victor Wainwright, ivory tickler extraordinaire and also out of Memphis, was selected as Blues411.com's piano player of the year for his CD Lit Up!. Lit Up! was also up for album of the year but lost out to Hadden Sayers' "Hard Dollar." There's still time to download this great music for Christmas, and it just goes to show ya, Memphis Means Music!

Related articles

Week In Review Part II: Blues in The Bottom & Richmond Music Showcase

2011-12-20T16:39:00.000-05:00

Saturday afternoon found me at the Canal Club waiting for the sound guy or manager to open up for load in around 4:15 and I think the boys started loading in around five. Knock out some sound checks, Sarah knocks out interviews with Seth and Bush League, then wait, wait, wait, music! I like load ins and sound checks, but to be honest I don't normally stick around for load outs. Hope the bands don't catch on.

Blues in the Bottom featured The Mike Lucci Band, Pigfoot Riot, Seth Stainback, and Bush League, all performing to help raise funds for Seth and Bush League to travel to Memphis (so jealous) for the International Blues Challenge.

Shelly Thiss, Mike Lucci Band

Rick Manson, Mike Lucci Band

Ron Winston, Mike Lucci Band
(soundcheck)

(l) Rod Hyner (c) Shane Parch
(r) Seth Stainback

(l) Shane Parch (r) JohnJason Cecil

Keith Stainback, Rooster Foot

Geo Jacopec, Pigfoot Riot

Brandon Martin, Pigfoot Riot

JohnJason Cecil, Bush League

Seth Stainback, Rooster Foot

Surprise birthday cake for Shane Parch of Bush League.

My middle niece arrived in town Sunday afternoon from Texas after qualifying for the women's wrestling Olympic trials early next year. To celebrate a little bit we headed to the Tobacco Company and a RVA Magazine sponsored showcase featuring Ghost Owles, The Kindling Kind, Dream Machine, and PBR. We arrived early enough to catch the last bit of The Trongone Band's acoustic cover set of the Dead. Having been up till past three the last two nights and Schuyler Rae having wrestled seven matches in one day we both were a little worn out and stayed only for the Ghost Owles and The Kindling Kind.

Andrew Trongone, Andrew Trongone Band

Ghost Owles

Miriam, The Kindling Kind

There are more photographs over at ACG on Flickr from a week's worth of music, and be on the look out for an upcoming slide show on Girls Rock! And there will be more photographs with some written word from Sarah Freiseis on the Magazine33 website on Bush League, Seth Stainback, and their upcoming trip to the 2011 International Blues Challenge in .Memphis.

Week in Review Part I: Girls Rock! The Shack Band!! Farm Vegas!!!

2011-12-19T11:46:00.000-05:00

Been a busy week with three performers on Tuesday night, two groups on Friday, four on Saturday, and a couple on Sunday.

Tuesday Girls Rock! RVA held a friend-raiser at GCCR featuring Constance Sisk of Blue Line Highway, Eli Conley, Berkley Ca., and B. Steady from Washington D.C..

Constance Sisk

Eli Conley

B. Steady

(r) K. Steady, (l) B. Steady

Gal Tesler

Friday evening I ventured down to Cary St. Cafe for the first of a two night run with Farm Vegas. The Shack Band, with a CD "Songs From The Train" coming out on the new year, opened. Unfortunately, the stage set-up put the drummers way in the back and in the dark, which is not unusual for drummers

Andrew Gillespie, The Shack Band

Mason Owen, The Shack Band

Hunter Pease

JL Hodeges, Farm Vegas

Farm Vegas Fan

Boot Cut

Jesse Wells, Farm Vegas Soundcheck

Justin Paciocco, Farm Vegas

You can find more photographs from Girls Rock! RVA friend-raiser and the Shack Band/Farm Vegas show at ACG on Flickr right here.

Stayed tune for Part II covering Saturday and Sunday. As always everything copyrighted yours truly.

Victor Wainwright Nominated For the Pine Top Perkins Award.

2011-12-13T18:03:00.000-05:00

Victor Wainwright, Wet Willies, Beale St., Memphis, April 29, 2011

My buddy Victor Wainwright (pictured above) has been nominated for the Pine Top Perkins Piano Player Award for next year's Blues Music Awards to be held in Memphis on Thursday May 10, 2012. You can find the full list here and you can vote by joining the Blues Foundation. Here are some previously unpublished photos of mine of a few of the nominees.

Charles "Skip" Pitts, Bo-Keys, Memphis Music & Heritage Festivel
September 3, 2011.

Ruthie Foster, Levitt Shell, Memphis
September 17, 2010.

Bobby Rush, Memphis Train Station, May 7, 2010.

Jackie Johnson, Reba Russell Band, Levitt
Shell, Memphis, June 19, 2009.

Janiva Magness, Beale St. Music Festivel,
May 2, 2010.

New stuff even if its old stuff is good stuff.

As always every thing is copyrighted P. Chandler Moulton

PJ Bottoms & Ghost of Pop 7

2011-12-12T21:09:00.006-05:00

I trekked out to Starky's from Chest Thursday night to catch PJ Bottoms, a recently expanded hip-hop country type of thing band. Their originals were, at least for me, more enjoyable then the covers. Only playing their third or fourth gig as a sextet leaves plenty of room for growth.

Saturday, I made my first foray to Gallery 5 for a portion of Ghost of Pop 7. Horsehead proved very entertaining, and worthy of a second listen, perhaps with a little better sound.

So here we go:

Kenny Parker, PJ Bottoms, Sharky's

Kenny Parker & Jeff Richardson, PJ Bottoms, Sharky's

Ben Harsel, Young Adult Fiction, GoP7, Gallery 5

Kevin Inge, Horsehead, GoP7, Gallery 5

John C. Brown, Horsehead

GoP 7, Gallery 5

Joe Paulk, Young Adult Fiction
GoP 7, Gallery 5

Curtis Patton, My Old Ways
GoP 7, Gallery 5

Ghost of Pop 7, Gallery 5

As always there are more photographs over at ACG on Flickr, and everything is copyrighted as mine.

Ghost of Pop 7

2011-12-09T19:03:00.001-05:00

Image by Chandler Moulton via Flickr

Hey Richmond! Ghost Of Pop 7 with The Druthers, Kid Is Qual, Goldrush, The Trillions, Horsehead, Young Adult Fiction, and My Old Ways, $5 to see some of the best talent this town's got to offer at Gallery 5, 200 West Marshall. This will be the craziest year yet! Bring your thirsty selves to Gallery 5 to kick off the holidays right!! Music starts at 8 sharp...dress sharp...be sharp...sharp dot sharp. See you all there.

www.facebook.com/ghostofpop

Play It Cool

2011-12-07T18:49:00.001-05:00

For Jazz Night At The Camel

Finally, finally, made it out to the Tuesday jazz night at The Camel. I made it for the the first set of The Quintessential Jazz Ensemble, but couldn't hang long due to my recurring and yet to be explained abdominal pain. At least I was able to gut out the first set. The Ensemble is a sextet consisting of Tyrone Onley on drums, low end held down by Sam Craddock, guitar strumming is handled by Hannon Lane, ivories are tickled by Keith Wallace, sax/flute by William Prentiss with trumpet and fugal horn taken care of by Chris Moseley.

I'm not sure if she is a regular member of the group but nonetheless Patrice Crenshaw provided vocals for one song during the first set.

The Camel continues to offer the occasional chance at some decent pics but lighting pretty much eliminates the back line for consideration. For a couple more you can venture over to ACG on Flickr.

Sam Craddock

William Prentiss

Chris Moseley

Patrice Crenshaw

William Prentiss

The Shack Band @ Tobacco Company

2011-11-25T20:51:00.001-05:00

I've been gone from Richmond for awhile and even during my last stay here I don't believe I went to the Tobacco Company. So I felt a little strange--in a surprisingly comfortable leopard skin pill box hat chair, jotting down notes by candle light, on a marble table top while Bruce Hornsby drifted over the gentle din of the crowd in the old cigar smoking room--as I waited for Mason Owen, Andrew Gillespie, Hunter Pease, and Bobby Hudson--collectively known as The Shack Band--to take the stage.

I'm not sure I've ever been totally sold on the Tobacco Company, but I am sold on black cocktail dresses and keeping around cigarette girls even though you can't smoke inside any more.

Originally, I planned on only staying for one set , but I ended up staying for two sets of very good rock and roll. The boys have been in the studio (Red Amp at 9WG) recording and their first CD comes out on New Year's Day with a CD released party to be held at The Camel on January 18th. Check 'em out at their website and check out a few more photos from the show at ACG on Flickr.

Now for the photos:

Hunter Pease

Mason Owen

Andrew Gillespie

Bobby Hudson

Introducing the ABS Blues Top Five Chart

2011-11-21T22:42:00.001-05:00

Reprinted from the American Blues Scene website:

BY MATT MARSHALL
– NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Blues musicians! Does your album have what it takes to make it to the top of the blues charts? The American Blues Scene is proud to announce the Blues Top Five Chart, a weekly gauge of blues albums’ popularity, with much of the decision being placed in the hands of those that truly matter; the fans.

Blues fans can vote on their favorite album once per day, and at the beginning of every week, the five most popular albums will receive prime placement in the Blues Top Five chart on the ABS website, as well as winning nationwide radio play, an article, and mentions on ABS’s exceptionally strong social network presences.

How to enter:

Bands may submit their album information to the ABS staff. Submissions must include the following: a quality cover image in .jpg or .png form, the album name, date of release, the artist/band name, musicians that played on the album, website (if applicable), and a brief description of the album. The decision to place bands in the voting ranks is made by the American Blues Scene staff, along with several members of a blues panel. Of course, social media and word of mouth is almost always the best way for bands to coax their fans to come vote every day.

We do have a few rules for placement:

You must be a blues band. This means you must bill yourself as a blues band. We don’t like to be the ones to try and decide what is or isn’t blues. Blues has fused with a wide array of styles and influences to create vibrant unique sub-genres, and we welcome all entries in these categories. If you describe yourself as a metal band, however, we may have to exert our best judgement.
The album must have been released within the past twelve months from the date of submission. This means that it must be a product that has been released for public consumption.
You must include your album artwork, (in jpg or png format,) with your submission.
Voting placement on the site may take up to 72 hours. Thanks for your patience!
Albums will be eligible for voting for ten weeks from the day of placement.
The method for selecting each week’s winner is 100% automated. Our algorithm calculates a winner on Sunday night of each week, taking particular consideration from fan votes, comments on album’s pages, views, and other aggregate, outside data.
E-mail all submissions to info@americanbluesscene.com. Omitting any of the required information will result in a delay in posting your album.