Home Archive by category "Roots Music Safari" (Page 119)

Category: Roots Music Safari

Blues Wednesday – Sean Costello

So like Joe Crookston, I’ve always seen the name Sean Costello as a hot new bluesman but I’ve never really sought out his music.  So the other day as I was thinking about what I would listen to today his name popped into my head. So I went to emusic to see what they had there and they had most of his releases. Then I did some research and discovered that he died from an accidental drug overdose on April 15, 2008 the eve of his 29th birthday. His family later revealed that he suffered from bipolar disorder and set up The Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research. So this morning I downloaded Cuttin’ In his second album released in 2000 when he was let’s see 21! In an obituary posted on Jambands.com on April 16,2008, Tinsley Ellis a favorite of mine called Costello: Read More

Mid-day Report Twangy Tuesday

So today we will visit the land of bluegrass. Bluegrass music has one job to set my feet a tappin’ and make me feel good. I first visited the bluegrass charts on  Roots Music Report and looked for names that looked interesting… ah number one Michael Murphey’s new CD Buckaro Blue Grass, yes the Michael Martin Murphey of “Wildfire” fame though my favorite is “Geronimo’s Cadillac” and number 27  Last Train to Kitty Hawk Balsam Range ah Front Range is one of my favorite bluegrass bands so I’ll try this one. So I put both on the mp3 player via Rhapsody “on the go” and have listened to parts of both this morning. Both sound pretty good the first track on the Balsam Range album “Julie’s Train” had my foot a tappin’ so that’s a good start. I’ll listen to the rest of both CDs this afternoon and report tonight! Read More

Monday Folk – Joe Crookston

So I have heard his name on Gene Shay’s radio show and heard him in passing but never really listened to Joe Crookston until today and in the words of Christine Lavin “What Was I Thinking!”  This guy is great and his album Able, Baker Charlie and Dog is wonderful and I am not alone in my opinion. The album was   “Album of the Year” by the International Folk Alliance. and  Joe was a 2008 Falcon Ridge Folk Fest Most Wanted Artist and a Rockefeller Foundation Songwriting grant recipient. Joe is originally from Ohio and attended Kent State. He lived in Seattle for several years and now calls  Ithaca, New York home. The Rockefeller Grant was part of the “Fingers Lake Project” and Joe wandered the Finger Lakes area and collected stories and four of those story songs appear on this album. I love story songs and Joe’s story songs are fantastic.  The songs that appear on this album from stories Joe collected  are some of the best tracks on the album and include: “John Jones”  The story of a slave who escaped to Elmira, NY and became part of the underground railroad. “Red Rooster in the Mash Pile” tells the story of a family  making  liquor during prohibition and the roosters who imbided along with the distillers. “Blue Tattoo” tells the story of an Aushwitz survivor explaining to her daughter her blue tatoo and finally “Able, Baker, Charlie and Dog” tells Joe’s grandfather’s story about building the airstrip on Tinian Island that would be used to launch the nuclear attacks on Japan. These songs aren’t the only great songs on this album, heck, I already said the whole album is fantastic! So I am glad that I picked Joe Crookston and if you like good music and like me enjoy good story songs check out Able, Baker, Charlie and Dog. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! Read More

New Friends – Hot Buttered Rum

So a couple of months ago I was scrolling through stations on XM Radio and stopped at Jam On. Now I was never a big Grateful Dead or Phish fan, but I did find myself enjoying many of the bands. Unlike my wife I like instrumentals and long jams of good music are fine with me. One of my favorite albums is John Mayall’s Turning Point album, with long solos by Jon Mark and Johnny Almond on” California” and “Thoughts About Roxanne”! Seemed like many times when I heard a band I liked and looked to see who it was, and it was Hot Buttered Rum. So the other day, I loaded the mp3 player with their second and third studio  albums Well -Oiled Machine and Live in the Northeast and yesterday I added their most recent release Limbs Akimbo and I have some new friends! Read More

Blues Wednesday – Mike Zito

So I was thinking about what to listen to yesterday on blues Wednesday a little Tab Benoit, Dave Hole, Buddy Guy – well maybe I’ll check out the Blues Radio Chart and see what looks good number 23 looks interesting Mike Zito so I went to Rhapsody and downloaded his 2009 release Pearl River and was not disappointed!  Pearl River is Zito’s second major record release following on the heels of his first Eclecto Grove Records release Today. The St. Louis native Zito has had several independent releases and toured and shared the stage with some of my favorites  Tab Benoit, Walter Trout, Bernard Allison, Coco Montoya, and Joe Bonamassa along with many others!. Read More

Old Friends Found – Goose Creek Symphony

The other day I was thinking about lost and forgotten music, well, maybe just not listened to in a while and I thought about Goose Creek Symphony. I first heard Goose Creek in the early 70’s and I think,  I was introduced to them by my wife! Anyway, in my vinyl collection I have their first three albums., Est. in 1970, Words of Earnest and Do Your Thing but Don’t Touch Mine. They are a good time country rock band that travels just a little beyond the norm. From their website: Read More

Blues Wednesday – Moreland and Arbuckle

So, I was on the No Depression website the other day and on the sidebar was an advertisement for a new CD  Flood by Moreland and Arbuckle, it looked interesting so I headed over to emusic.com and searched for the CD and found it and downloaded several of the songs and all I can say is WOW! Mississippi Delta Blues at its finest! The trio consists of leaders Aaron Moreland on guitars, Dustin Arbuckle on harp and vocals and drummer Brad Horner. You can read the band’s bio at their website. While they are from Wichita, Kansas they live in the Mississippi delta in spirit. Their songs and playing are great! Moreland plays Telecaster and Les Paul guitars and a Cigar Box guitar consisting of four strings, one of which goes to a bass amp and the other three to a guitar amp. This guitar really adds to the great original sound of the group. Dustin Arbuckle’s vocals are top notch but his harp playing is extraordinary and would make his heroes Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson proud. His playing takes the band to another level for me. Read More

Belated Blues Wednesday – Corey Stevens

So I started Wednesday thinking about the blues musician I was going to listen to and choose Corey Stevens. A couple of weeks ago I had downloaded Corey Stevens  new live CD called Myth Live. Actually a two disc CD/DVD of a concert at a new state of the art venue the Myth in Maplewood Minnesota. The album is a good mix of some of the tracks from his early albums which are the two I have Blue Drops of Rain and The Road to Zen. On the CD he plays both of the these title tracks.  They have always been my two favorites. There is one track on the CD  “Another Pretty Face” from his most recent CD Albertville, which is an album of covers of Albert King songs. I listened to that album today and thought it was really good. There are also some tracks from Bring on the Blues Stevens 2003 release. I listened to that CD briefly today and enjoyed it also. Stevens sounds a lot like Stevie Ray Vaughan and actually started out playing Vaughan covers but he can play guitar and that’s that counts. His band consists of Mark Johnson on bass, Jim Stark on guitar, Norm Stiffen on drums, Melody Gilbert background vocals and percussion and Paul Testa on Hammond organ. Testa is outstanding on the Myth Live CD. All in all it was a good two days listening to a good blues musician and his bandmates and if you’ve never heard Stevens give him a try! Check out the videos on the left sidebar! Read More