ELVIN BISHOP
“Red Dog Speaks”
(Delta Groove Music – DGPCD138)

Slide master Elvin Bishop’s second release for Delta Groove Music, following the star-studded “The Blues Rolls On” in 2008, sees the veteran paying homage to his trustee ’59 Gibson Stereo ES 345 guitar, “Red Dog”, with the 11 tracks on offer being very varied, and with some stellar guest names on board again.

Bishop was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but when arriving at the University of Chicago in 1959, he met a like-minded soul in the form of Paul Butterfield, and together they began to visit the blues clubs of the South Side – they absorbed the music of the legends such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf, and in 1963 the Butterfield Blues Band was formed, and the rest is history . . .

Elvin Bishop released four albums on Epic, and then joined Capricorn Records, and had a major chart hit with “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” in 1976. He returned to pure blues in 1988 when joining Alligator and has been a ‘road warrior’ ever since . . . now clocking up some 45 years of playing the blues.

The album kicks off with “Red Dog Speaks”, a part-spoken slow blues, basically telling the story of the afore-mentioned guitar, with trademark slide, and some rolling piano from Bob Welsh, and the nice ‘in the pocket’ rhythm section of Ruth Davies (bass) and June Core (drums), who feature on most tracks. A rousing “Neighbor, Neighbor” takes the pace up, with guest vocal from the fast-rising John Nemeth, with the great Norwegian guitarist, Kid Andersen, on board for the wry “Fat And Sassy”.

Bishop shows his playing is not just about his slide work on the instrumental “Barbecue Boogie”, with Welsh’s piano again standing out; Nemeth returns to star on a really soulful take on Jimmy Cliff’s classic “Many Rivers To Cross”, with some snaky slide from Elvin Bishop – a definite highlight here! “Blues Cruise” was recorded off the coast of Mexico on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise in 2009, where the guests are name-checked and solo, including Tommy Castro, Ronnie Baker Brooks . . . and best of all, Buckwheat Zydeco” with some fine accordion . . . also ‘on  board’ are John Nemeth and Roy Gaines.

The pace is taken down for the “Doo-Wop Medley”, a mix of “In The Still Of The Night” and “Maybe”, dominated by Elvin Bishop’s slide, and the horns of Ed Earley (trombone) and Snakebite (tenor sax); Otis Spann’s “Get Your Hand Out Of My Pocket” sees Nemeth on both vocals and harmonica, with more sterling work from Bob Welsh, and rub-board from J.C. Carrier. The gospel-flavoured traditional song “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” is a delight, some sweet guitar and a guest spot from Terry Hanck on tenor sax.

The 2:40 of “Clean Living” is just fabulous . . . just Bishop’s voice, stomping foot and dirty slide tone . . . and a lyric wondering how with the blues lifestyle he is still around! The album ends with a sweet take on Leroy Carr’s “Midnight Hour Blues”, complete with lovely guitar solo . . . a fitting end to a very fine release, and as ever with Delta Groove output, a marvellous sounding record!

GRAHAME RHODES

www.elvinbishopmusic.com

www.deltagroovemusic.com

As Facebooked by James Carlyle

The Birth of an Airline in a Delta Cotton Field
by Noel Workman

Gulf Coast Airlines? Doubtful.
Hill Country Airlines? Never heard of it.
Delta Airlines? Now that’s a different story…..

Read the full article over on the Delta Magazine site.

http://www.deltamagazine.com/delta.html

The Boot and Shoe in Nantwich is holding a bank holiday weekend festival and some blues bands are on the bill.

• The Cartellos
• Rhythm Zoo
• The Crawl

Check out the website….

http://www.thebootandshoe.com/What%27s%20On/BATB%202010%20home.htm

or download the flyer

http://www.bluesinthenorthwest.com/Media/2010BATBFlyer.pdf

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Yr0jCMM4M

Manchester Blues Jam – 1st Tues of each month

The Bull’s Head

Bury New Road, Whitefield, Manchester. M45 8QP

1st Tues of every month

Excellent house band, in Noel’s words and playing with Noel are…..

• Drums; Mark Isherwood.
  I’ve not known Mark very long so I don’t know much about him, apart from the fact that he’s a great drummer, right on the case.
• Bass; Horace Dogson from ‘The Winchesters’.
  Solid as a rock.
• Piano / Organ; Paul Minshull from ‘The Blues Blasters’.
  Paul has toured Europe with Chuck Berry………nuff said.
• Harmonica / Percussion; Clive Mellor.
  Clive’s played loads of sessions with loads of people. The last track I heard was with Ruby Turner. He’s recently been doing odd gigs (like The Albert Hall!) with Richard Hawley.
  It stays firmly in my pocket when this guy is in the DISTRICT.
  As far as I’m concerned, he’s the best harp player in Britain.Stunningly clever.

Next session 04 Aug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupcbiNHkrU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML_97DsnF38

Can’t wait!

http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/07/light-on-the-south-side

THE BIG BLUES FESTIVAL   3 – 6 September 2010

Pontin’s Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park, Prestatyn, North Wales, Denbighshire LL19 7LA

There is a NEW weekend Festival at Pontins Prestatyn with a great line-up at a fantastic value-for-money price!

Line-Up

• Sherman Robertson (USA)
• Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges (USA)
• Aynsley Lister
• The Stumble
• Nicky Moore’s Blues Corporation
• Little Stevie & The Business
• Sean Webster
• Trafficker
• Chantel McGregor
• The Jackson-Holler Band
• Chix wiv Pix
• Alex McKown
• Rhythm Zoo
• The Mustangs

with Chris Powers as MC and late night jam sessions led by Tim Aves.

Prices start from just £115 per person in self-catering accommodation, with minimum two occupants.  Don’t fancy cooking?  There are snack bars, a cafe, take-aways and an on-site shop.

As a special summer offer, for new bookings made before 13th August there’s a drinks pack included, value up to £25.  Call 0844 576 5949 to book and quote offer code BLBD.

http://www.boogaloopromotions.com/festival

Facebook

www.facebook.com/prestatynbigbluesfestival

Download the leaflet here

http://www.boogaloopromotions.com/documents/18276PrestatynBluesLeaflet_000.pdf