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On Tuesday, December 15, 2015, The Blues Foundation announced the nominees for the 2016 Blues Music Awards, the blues world's highest honors. Three Alligator recording artists received a total of six nominations.

Singing sensation Shemekia Copeland received three nominations, including Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year, Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year (for her recently Grammy nominated Outskirts Of Love), and for the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year. Copeland has 31 previous nominations and has won a total of eight Blues Music Awards.

Harmonicist/vocalist/songwriter Rick Estrin, of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, also received a nomination for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year. Estrin and The Nightcats received a nomination for the prestigious Band Of The Year award. Estrin has been nominated 18 previous times and holds two Blues Music Awards. Rick Estrin & The Nightcats' most recent release is 2014's You Asked For It...Live!

Next generation blues star Jarekus Singleton received a nomination for Contemporary Blues Male Artist Of The Year, the second consecutive year he's been nominated in this category. He has three previous nominations. Singleton's Alligator debut, Refuse To Lose, was released in 2014.

"One of Chicago's new greats"  —The Chicago Sun-Times

"Progressive as he is rootsy...Slow, simmering riffs and smoldering licks" —Chicago Reader

Alligator Records has set a February 26 release date for The Chicago Way, the label debut for electrifying Windy City bluesman Toronzo Cannon. The album is comprised of all self-penned songs, inspired by his deep, homegrown Chicago roots and powered by his blistering guitar playing and soul-baring vocals.

The Chicago Way was produced by Cannon and Alligator president Bruce Iglauer. Cannon’s songs — from searing blues anthems to swinging shuffles to soulful ballads to roof-raising rockers — tell timeless stories of common experiences in uncommon ways. “I’ve never worked harder,” Cannon says. “I challenged myself at every step, writing each song to connect with someone in my audience. I try to write songs that will be both up-to-the-minute and timeless.”

With The Chicago Way, Cannon knows more and more people will be hearing his message: the future of Chicago blues is in good hands. According to Cannon, “To be from Chicago and be signed to Alligator is unreal. To be part of Alligator's history...I'm at a loss for words."

According to Iglauer, "I've watched Toronzo grow as a singer, player and songwriter over the last ten years. He's now become a major blues talent, using the Chicago blues tradition as a launching pad to create his own unique, contemporary vision. His music comes right from the heart of the city."

Throughout the history of Chicago blues, the intensely competitive local club scene has served as a proving ground, where only the best musicians rise to the top. Iconic blues artists from Muddy Waters to Howlin’ Wolf to Koko Taylor to Hound Dog Taylor to Luther Allison all paid their dues in the Chicago blues bars before making their mark on the world. The same holds true today, as newcomers look to living legends like Buddy Guy, Eddy Clearwater and Lil’ Ed Williams for inspiration in taking their music from Chicago to fans across the globe. Now, Chicago-born-and-raised blues guitarist /vocalist/ songwriter Toronzo Cannon is ready to write his own story as he claims his place as one of the city’s most popular and innovative blues musicians.

Cannon’s unofficial launch from local hero to national star took place on June 13, 2015 at the world-renowned Chicago Blues Festival, where he performed as a festival headliner for the massive crowd. After announcing that he had just signed with Alligator Records, he delivered a riveting set, instantly earning tens of thousands of new fans. Original songs filled with razor-sharp solos rained from the stage, as Cannon melded the deepest Chicago blues with contemporary lyrics and soulful vocals. The Chicago Tribune lauded his performance, saying, "Festival headliner Toronzo Cannon’s extroverted, compelling guitar style and forceful singing won over a new audience."

Cannon was born in Chicago on February 14, 1968, and grew up in the shadows of Theresa's Lounge, one of the city's most famous South Side blues clubs (and a place where Iglauer was a regular patron). As a child, Cannon would stand on the sidewalk outside the door, soaking up the live blues pouring out while trying to sneak a glance inside at larger-than-life bluesmen like Junior Wells or Buddy Guy. He also heard plenty of blues growing up in his grandfather's home, and listened to soul, R&B and contemporary rock on the radio.

Cannon bought his first guitar at age 22, and his natural talent enabled him to quickly master the instrument. Although his first focus was reggae, he found himself increasingly drawn to the blues. "It was dormant in me. But when I started playing the blues, I found my voice and the blues came pouring out." He absorbed sounds, styles and licks from Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Hound Dog Taylor, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, Al Green, Jimi Hendrix, J.B. Hutto, Lil' Ed and others. Although influenced by many, Cannon’s biting, singing guitar sound is all his own. As a songwriter, he writes about shared experiences with a keen eye for detail. "Blues is truth-telling music," he says, "and I want my audience to relate to my stories." As a singer, his impassioned vocals add muscle and personality to his already potent songs.

From 1996 through 2002, Cannon played as a sideman for Tommy McCracken, Wayne Baker Brooks, L.V. Banks and Joanna Connor. But he was determined to prove himself. In 2001, while continuing to work as a hired-gun guitarist, he formed his own band, The Cannonball Express. By 2003, he was working exclusively as a band leader. Cannon's first three albums — 2007’s My Woman (self-released), 2011’s Leaving Mood (Delmark) and 2013’s John The Conqueror Root (Delmark) — document his rise from promising up-and-comer to star-in-the-making.

Toronzo Cannon has become one of Chicago's most recognized and most popular bluesmen through the sheer force of his music, his songs, his live charisma, and maybe most impressively, his passion for what he is doing. He’s played the Chicago Blues Festival on nine separate occasions, either as a sideman, a special guest or, most recently, as a main stage headliner. When he’s home, Cannon drives a Chicago Transit Authority bus by day and performs by night. Using every vacation day and day off and working four ten-hour shifts a week, Cannon arranges his schedule to gig out of town as much as possible. He's performed in a number of U.S. and European cities and continues to build his audience one roof-raising show at a time. It isn't easy, but, like all of the Chicago greats who have come before him, blues is his calling. "I am proud to be part of a movement,” he says, anxious to hit the road and bring his music to new fans in new places. “I’m proud to be standing on the shoulders of every great Chicago blues musician who came before me."

Alligator Records is proud to announce the February 26, 2016 release of God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson. The album (to be issued on CD and vinyl) features newly recorded versions of the iconic slide guitarist/vocalist's most seminal material. Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Cowboy Junkies, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Sinéad O'Connor, Luther Dickinson, Maria McKee, and Rickie Lee Jones all deliver deeply moving interpretations of Johnson's otherworldly "gospel blues" music.

Produced by Jeffrey Gaskill (producer of the twice Grammy-nominated compilation, Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan), God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson highlights the music of one of the greatest and most influential slide guitarists and vocalists who ever walked the Earth. Johnson sang his sanctified gospel lyrics with overwhelming intensity, his deep, raspy voice accompanying his haunting, blues-drenched guitar playing. Rock fans will no doubt recognize many of his songs which have been recorded over the years by artists ranging from Led Zeppelin to Eric Clapton to Bob Dylan. Johnson's recording of John The Revelator was included in the Anthology Of American Folk Music, archivist Harry Smith's 6-LP collection released in 1952 that set the folk revival of the 1960s into motion. God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson is, according to Gaskill, "my life's work." The project was years in the making, and Gaskill is thrilled it's ready to be released. "You gotta serve somebody," he says, referencing his earlier compilation, "and I got the songs of Blind Willie Johnson."

Blind Willie Johnson recorded a total of 30 songs between 1927 and 1930 for Columbia, leaving behind a priceless legacy of the unforgettable music he created by marrying the raw, gospel fervor of his voice with the steely blues fire of his guitar. His songs were mostly traditional or came from hymnals, but when Johnson performed them, he transformed them with his soul-shaking voice and amazing slide guitar. Johnson was among the best-selling black gospel artists of the era, but the Great Depression ended his recording career.

Johnson’s life has been shrouded in mystery, but scholars, most notably the tribute album's liner notes author Michael Corcoran, have unearthed a few details. Born in Pendleton, Texas in 1897, Johnson grew up around Marlin, Texas. A legendary story has his stepmother, in a fit of rage, throwing lye in his face when he was seven, blinding him for life. He traveled the area as a street singer, moving between Dallas, Galveston, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio and finally to Beaumont, where he thundered out his street corner evangelism, spreading his sacred message through his transfixing music. He died in 1945 in Beaumont, Texas at the age of 48.

Luther Dickinson calls Johnson's music "primitive modernism," his sound opening up "a whole other universe. He touches everybody. His music is so of the earth that it still sounds completely modern. It’s timeless and like nothing else ever recorded. If we could hip anybody to Blind Willie Johnson, their lives would be enriched for sure."

Derek Trucks wholeheartedly agrees, saying, "I never heard a slide player, even to this day, play with that much emotion. I've only heard a few things that have hit me quite that strongly. There's something so honest about his recordings. He's one of the few handful of musicians whose music really feels sacred to me. Johnson's songs, lyrics and the ability to pair the slide with the voice were amazing. It feels like it came out of a different world."

According to Rickie Lee Jones, recording Dark Was The Night--Cold Was The Ground -- Johnson's best-known performance -- was life-changing. She incorporated lyrics to the tune which dated back to the late 1700s. "The blues is everyman's cry," she says. "The song is part of me now."

Blind Wille Johnson's recording of Dark Was The Night--Cold Was The Ground is now also a part of the cosmos. It was included -- along with Beethoven and the sound of a human heartbeat (among other tracks) -- on a gold disc sent into outer space on the Voyager 1 space probe back in 1977, a timeless representation of Earth's humanity for other sentient beings to one day discover.

God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson

1) The Soul Of A Man (Tom Waits)

2) It's Nobody’s Fault But Mine (Lucinda Williams)

3) Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning (Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi)

4) Jesus Is Coming Soon (Cowboy Junkies)

5) Mother’s Children Have A Hard Time (The Blind Boys of Alabama)

6) Trouble Will Soon Be Over (Sinéad O'Connor)

7) Bye And Bye I’m Going To See The King (Luther Dickinson featuring The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band)

8) God Don’t Never Change (Lucinda Williams)

9) John The Revelator (Tom Waits)

10) Let Your Light Shine On Me (Maria McKee)

11) Dark Was The Night--Cold Was The Ground (Rickie Lee Jones)

Blues/soul/roots singing sensation Shemekia Copeland's new CD, Outskirts Of Love,received a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Blues Album category from the Recording Academy on Monday, December 7. Winners will be announced in Los Angeles on February 15, 2016. This is Copeland's third Grammy nomination. Copeland, the reigning "Queen Of The Blues," also appears on Muddy Waters 100, a various artists tribute album also nominated for Best Blues Album.

The outstanding Shemekia Copeland news does not end with the Grammy Award nomination. The prestigious United Kingdom publication The Blues named Outskirts Of Love its 2015 Album Of The Year. In the magazine's review of the record, writer Rev. Keith Gordon says, "Shemekia Copeland is one of the best singers performing today. A rich blend of blues, soul and roots-rock that will astound the casual listener while rewarding Copeland's longtime fans. Pure joy." Editor Ed Mitchell calls it "a mature masterpiece of modern blues."

Copeland’s return to Alligator Records with Outskirts Of Love (she recorded four albums for the label from 1998 through 2006) finds her at her most charismatic. She mixes freshly written material with thrilling reinventions of songs originally recorded by Solomon Burke, ZZ Top, Jesse Winchester, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jesse Mae Hemphill and her father, the late Johnny Clyde Copeland. MOJO magazine says, "It is Copeland’s thrilling voice, part Koko Taylor, part Mavis Staples and capable of incredible expression, that makes Outskirts Of Love so super-special. Spectacular, stirring, sanctified and sassy…at the crossroads where funk meets blues rock. Her band, led by producer Oliver Wood, and featuring guests Billy F Gibbons, Robert Randolph, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Will Kimbrough, is faultless throughout."

Grammy-nominated blues/roots/R&B vocalist Shemekia Copeland performed live and was the subject of a feature interview on PBS's nationally televised program, The Tavis Smiley Show, on Wednesday, November 4. Host Tavis Smiley talked to Copeland about her new CD, Outskirts Of Love, and her life as, according to the Wall Street Journal, "a fresh, gripping roots music performer." For broadcast times and stations, please click here.

MOJO magazine says, "It is Copeland’s thrilling voice, part Koko Taylor, part Mavis Staples and capable of incredible expression, that makes Outskirts Of Love so super-special. Spectacular, stirring, sanctified and sassy…at the crossroads where funk meets blues rock. Her band, led by producer Oliver Wood, and featuring guests Billy F Gibbons, Robert Randolph, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Will Kimbrough, is faultless throughout."

Copeland’s return to Alligator Records with Outskirts Of Love (she recorded four albums for the label from 1998 through 2006) finds her at her most charismatic. She mixes freshly written material with thrilling reinventions of songs originally recorded by Solomon Burke, ZZ Top, Jesse Winchester, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jesse Mae Hemphill and her father, the late Johnny Clyde Copeland. The result is Copeland’s most musically adventurous album of her still-evolving career.

With a voice that is alternately sultry, assertive and roaring, Copeland’s wide-open vision of contemporary blues, Americana, roots and soul music showcases the evolution of a passionate artist with a modern musical and lyrical approach. Whether she’s belting out a raucous blues-rocker, firing up a blistering soul-shouter, bringing the spirit to a gospel-fueled R&B rave-up or digging deep down into a subtle, country-tinged ballad, Shemekia Copeland sounds like no one else.

She has performed thousands of gigs at clubs, festivals and concert halls all over the world and has appeared on national television, NPR, and in newspapers, films and magazines. She is a mainstay on countless commercial and non-commercial radio stations. She's sung with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, James Cotton and many others. She opened for The Rolling Stones and entertained U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait. Jeff Beck calls her “f*cking amazing.” Santana says, “She’s incandescent…a diamond.” In 2012, she performed at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama. Afterward, Jagger (with whom she sang) sent her a bottle of champagne. 

Copeland recently appeard on NPR's Weekend Edition and has been touring virtually non-stop. As always, she has her eyes fixed firmly on the future. "I want to keep growing, to be innovative," she says. “I’m a lifer, singing about things that are important to me, using my music to help people. My dad always said ‘we’re all connected.’ I’m an old soul marching to the beat of my own drum,” she continues, “and right now I’m making the most exciting music of my career.”

New Album Due In Spring 2016

Since first joining forces in Wichita, Kansas in 2001, Moreland & Arbuckle have created an impressive body of work, releasing six critically acclaimed albums. With a broad musical vision and a deep sense of history, the band plays smartly written contemporary songs delivered with musical muscle and fifth-gear urgency. Relentlessly merging raw Delta and Mississippi Hill Country blues, folk, and traditional country with energetic rock and soul, Moreland & Arbuckle continually take their music in new, unexpected directions. No Depression says, "These guys have kegs full of talent. Their songs will keep you driving fast and long."

From the 2005 self-release of their first album, Caney Valley Blues to 2013's 7 Cities (also produced by Bayles) on Telarc, Moreland & Arbuckle have grown from a fiery, crowd-pleasing duo to a genre-smashing three-piece band impossible to categorize but rooted deep in the blues. Together, Moreland's rhythmic and propulsive guitar work and Arbuckle's emotionally-charged harmonica and edgy vocals -- supported by Newby's tough drumming -- create a sound that is forceful enough to grab a listener's attention and nuanced enough to hold it. American Songwriter says the group's music is "swampy, sweaty and muggy....mixing a bluesy foundation with bits of country, folk and squawking American rock and roll.” WNYC's Soundcheck says the band plays "gritty blues with a thoroughly contemporary bite.”

Moreland says signing with Alligator is a perfect fit. "We are very happy to work with the Alligator team. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a single independent label on the planet who has been as successful for 45 years. That speaks volumes. One of our biggest influences ever, Hound Dog Taylor, was the very first Alligator artist. One of the reasons we have the non-traditional lineup of no bass player was inspired by listening to Hound Dog's music as we were coming up."

According to Alligator president Bruce Iglauer, signing Moreland & Arbuckle to the label known for its Genuine Houserockin' Music was an easy choice. “I’ve watched this band grow from talented interpreters of raw, traditional blues into creators of fresh, original roots-based songs. Live, the energy just pours out of them.”

Upon first meeting at an open-mic jam in Wichita, Moreland and Arbuckle made an immediate blues connection, and soon after began making music together. They formed The Kingsnakes, a four piece unit, but couldn't keep a steady bass player. They soon found they made a better sound without one, as Moreland kept the rhythm thumping on his guitar while Arbuckle took the music into overdrive with his harmonica and vocals. The band quickly became local heroes, filling clubs beyond capacity. It wasn't long before they started touring larger cities around the country, earning new fans with every performance.

After three self-released albums and countless roof-raising tour dates, Moreland & Arbuckle signed with Telarc in 2010, releasing three more critically acclaimed CDs. They have logged hundreds of thousands of road miles (they recently replaced their van after driving it over 400,000 miles), performing in the United States, Canada and across Europe. In 2008 they spent 10 days in Iraq, playing for the troops. They've shared stages with ZZ Top, George Thorogood, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Los Lonely Boys. They'll return to the road in support of the new album in 2016, with dates in the United States and Europe already set.

Newly Recorded Songs From Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Cowboy Junkies, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Sinéad O'Connor, Luther Dickinson, Maria McKee, Rickie Lee Jones

Alligator Records is proud to announce the first quarter 2016 release of God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson. The album (to be issued on CD and vinyl) features newly recorded versions of the iconic slide guitarist/vocalist's most seminal material. Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Cowboy Junkies, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Sinéad O'Connor, Luther Dickinson, Maria McKee, and Rickie Lee Jones all deliver deeply moving interpretations of Johnson's otherworldly "gospel blues" music.

Produced by Jeffrey Gaskill (producer of the twice Grammy-nominated compilation, Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan), God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson highlights the music of one of the greatest and most influential slide guitarists and vocalists who ever walked the Earth. Johnson sang his sanctified gospel lyrics with overwhelming intensity, his deep, raspy voice accompanying his haunting, moaning, blues-drenched guitar playing. Rock fans will no doubt recognize many of his songs which have been recorded over the years by artists ranging from Led Zeppelin to Eric Clapton to Bob Dylan. Johnson's recording of John The Revelator was included in the Anthology Of American Folk Music, archivist Harry Smith's 6-LP collection released in 1952 that set the folk revival of the 1960s into motion. God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson is, according to Gaskill, "my life's work." The project was years in the making, and Gaskill is thrilled it's ready to be released. "You gotta serve somebody," he says, referencing his earlier compilation, "and I got the songs of Blind Willie Johnson."

Blind Willie Johnson recorded a total of 30 songs between 1927 and 1930 for Columbia, leaving behind a priceless legacy of the unforgettable music he created by marrying the raw, gospel fervor of his voice with the steely blues fire of his guitar. His songs were mostly traditional or came from hymnals, but when Johnson performed them, he transformed them with his soul-shaking voice and amazing slide guitar. Johnson was among the best-selling black gospel artists of the era, but the Great Depression ended his recording career.

Johnson’s life has been shrouded in mystery, but scholars have unearthed a few details. Born in Independence, Texas on January 22, 1897, Johnson grew up around Marlin, Texas. His stepmother, in a fit of rage, threw lye in his face when he was seven, blinding him for life. He traveled the area as a street singer, moving between Dallas, Galveston, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio and finally to Beaumont, where he thundered out his street corner evangelism, spreading his sacred message through his transfixing music. He died in 1945 in Beaumont, Texas at the age of 48.

Luther Dickinson calls Johnson's music "primitive modernism," his sound opening up "a whole other universe. He touches everybody. His music is so of the earth that it still sounds completely modern. It’s timeless and like nothing else ever recorded. If we could hip anybody to Blind Willie Johnson, their lives would be enriched for sure."

Derek Trucks wholeheartedly agrees, saying, "I never heard a slide player, even to this day, play with that much emotion. I've only heard a few things that have hit me quite that strongly. There's something so honest about his recordings. He's one of the few handful of musicians whose music really feels sacred to me. Johnson's songs, lyrics and the ability to pair the slide with the voice were amazing. It feels like it came out of a different world.

According to Rickie Lee Jones, recording Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground -- Johnson's best-known performance -- was life-changing. She incorporated lyrics to the tune which dated back to the late 1700s. "The blues is everyman's cry," she says. "The song is part of me now."

Blind Wille Johnson's recording of Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground is now also a part of the cosmos. It was included -- along with Beethoven and the sound of a human heartbeat (among other tracks) -- on a gold disc sent into outer space on the Voyager space probe back in 1977, a timeless representation of Earth's humanity for other sentient beings to one day discover.

God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson

1) Soul Of A Man (Tom Waits)

2) It's Nobody’s Fault But Mine (Lucinda Williams)

3) Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning (Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi)

4) Jesus Is Coming Soon (Cowboy Junkies)

5) Mother’s Children Have A Hard Time (The Blind Boys of Alabama)

6) Trouble Will Soon Be Over (Sinéad O'Connor)

7) Bye And Bye I’m Going To See The King (Luther Dickinson featuring The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band)

8) God Don’t Never Change (Lucinda Williams)

9) John The Revelator (Tom Waits)

10) Let Your Light Shine On Me (Maria McKee)

11) Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground (Rickie Lee Jones)

Master Texas blues guitarist Smokin' Joe Kubek died from a heart attack on Sunday, October 11, 2015. He was 58. Kubek, who performed for nearly three decades with his longtime musical partner Bnois King, died shortly before he was to appear on stage at the Pleasure Island Seafood & Blues Festival in North Carolina. Billboard says, "Kubek is one of the fiercest Texas blues guitarists [who] plays blues-rock aimed at the gut level." Living Blues describes his music as "heavy, powerful and tough roadhouse blues, punchy Texas shuffles, and mighty fine roots rock."

Joe Kubek was born in Pennsylvania on November 30, 1956 but grew up just outside of Dallas. He was leading his own bands and gigging in clubs all around Dallas when he was only 14. He first heard blues by listening to Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, Kubek soon discovered the music of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and other early masters including Freddie King, Johnny Copeland and Lightnin’ Hopkins. By the time he was 19, he was backing many famous blues players in the area, including Freddie King. In 1976, Kubek was about to head out on tour with King when King died suddenly of a heart attack.

Kubek next worked with R&B singer Al “TNT” Braggs and made a host of new friends, including Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan (with whom Kubek became close), B.B. King and many other blues icons. He often found himself jamming with these larger-than-life blues stars, while playing constantly around the Dallas area. He not only learned tips and techniques, but also soaked up stories and lessons of being a professional touring musician. One night, he even had the chance to play B.B.’s guitar, Lucille. “B.B. admired my enthusiasm and he encouraged me, which really meant a lot. When times got hard, I always remembered how B.B. King had given me some encouragement.”

In 1989, Kubek met guitarist/vocalist Bnois King at a Monday night Dallas jam session. The two became fast friends, and melded their seemingly divergent styles -- Kubek a rocking and fierce picker and slider, King a subtle, fat-chord rhythm player whose solos are spontaneous and unpredictable -- into one of the most potent guitar combinations the Southwest had ever produced. Kubek explains the relationship succinctly: “I pull the blues out of him, and he pulls the jazz out of me. Bnois knows so much about jazz it’s amazing. Bnois fires me up. We are constantly pushing each other higher, complimenting each other’s solos. But it’s not planned. We never know what we’re going to do until it’s done.”

Kubek and King signed to Bullseye Blues and released their debut CD, Stepping Out Texas Style, in 1991. After conquering the Dallas scene, the band began touring clubs, concert halls and festivals nationally and internationally. Following a successful series of eight Bullseye releases, they signed to Blind Pig Records in 2003. As their popularity continued to build on the strength of their recordings and the energy of their live shows, the band’s touring schedule grew to over 150 dates per year all across the United States, Canada and Europe (where they have toured more than a dozen times), solidifying their place in the blues world with one jaw-dropping show after another.

Kubek and King signed with Alligator in 2008 and released Blood Brothers and followed up with Have Blues, Will Travel in 2010. They released four more albums after leaving Alligator and continued to tour non-stop. Their latest CD, Fat Man's Shine Parlor (Blind Pig), came out in February, 2015.

Kubek is survived by his wife, Phyllis.

Arrangements have not yet been announced.

NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday will air an interview and performance with singer Shemekia Copeland on October 10. Host Scott Simon talks to Copeland about her new CD, Outskirts Of Love, and her life as "a fresh, gripping roots music performer." (Wall Street Journal)

MOJO magazine says, "It is Copeland’s thrilling voice, part Koko Taylor, part Mavis Staples and capable of incredible expression, that makes Outskirts Of Love so super-special. Spectacular, stirring, sanctified and sassy…at the crossroads where funk meets blues rock. Her band, led by producer Oliver Wood, and featuring guests Billy F Gibbons, Robert Randolph, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Will Kimbrough, is faultless throughout."

Copeland’s return to Alligator Records with Outskirts Of Love (she recorded four albums for the label from 1998 through 2006) finds her at her most charismatic. She mixes freshly written material with thrilling reinventions of songs originally recorded by Solomon Burke, ZZ Top, Jesse Winchester, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jesse Mae Hemphill and her father, the late Johnny Clyde Copeland. The result is Copeland’s most musically adventurous album of her still-evolving career.

With a voice that is alternately sultry, assertive and roaring, Copeland’s wide-open vision of contemporary blues, Americana, roots and soul music showcases the evolution of a passionate artist with a modern musical and lyrical approach. Whether she’s belting out a raucous blues-rocker, firing up a blistering soul-shouter, bringing the spirit to a gospel-fueled R&B rave-up or digging deep down into a subtle, country-tinged ballad, Shemekia Copeland sounds like no one else.

Copeland has performed thousands of gigs at clubs, festivals and concert halls all over the world and has appeared on national television, NPR, and in newspapers, films and magazines. She is a mainstay on countless commercial and non-commercial radio stations. She's sung with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, James Cotton and many others. She opened for The Rolling Stones and entertained U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait. Jeff Beck calls her “f*cking amazing.” Santana says, “She’s incandescent…a diamond.” In 2012, she performed at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama. Afterward, Jagger (with whom she sang) sent her a bottle of champagne.

With Outskirts Of Love and a packed tour schedule, Copeland has her eyes fixed firmly on the future as she continues to break new musical ground. "I want to keep growing, to be innovative," she says. “I’m a lifer, singing about things that are important to me, using my music to help people. My dad always said ‘we’re all connected.’ I’m an old soul marching to the beat of my own drum,” she continues, “and right now I’m making the most exciting music of my career.”

Blues Blast, the free internet blues magazine, announced the winners of the 2015 Blues Blast Music Awards at a ceremony held at The Fluid Events Center in Champaign, Illinois on Friday, September 25th, 2015. Alligator Records artists Elvin Bishop, Marcia Ball, and Selwyn Birchwood all received awards. Bishop won the Male Blues Artist Of The Year award and Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year award  (for Can't Even Do Wrong Right). Marcia Ball won Female Blues Artist Of Year. Newcomer Selwyn Birchwood, whose Alligator debut, Don't Call No Ambulance, was released in 2014, received the coveted Sean Costello Rising Star Award.

Vinyl-only Set Features Koko Taylor, Shemekia Copeland, Marcia Ball, Elvin Bishop And Many More

Alligator Records has set a November 6 street date for the vinyl-only release A Blues Christmas. The album is a new compilation featuring the best of Alligator's two previous holiday CDs, 1992's The Alligator Records Christmas Collectionand 2003's Genuine Houserockin' Christmas. All tracks on A Blues Christmashave been remastered to bring out every nuance of these classic performances.
 
A Blues Christmas is the first LP to ever be graced with the genuine holiday-rockin’ music of Koko Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite, Shemekia Copeland, Elvin Bishop, Marcia Ball, Michael “Iron Man” Burks, The Holmes Brothers, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Katie Webster, Little Charlie & The Nightcats, Roomful Of Blues and Tinsley Ellis. 

Track Listing:

Side One:

Koko Taylor - Merry, Merry Christmas

Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials - I'm Your Santa

Shemekia Copeland - Stay A Little Longer, Santa

The Holmes Brothers - Back Door Santa

Katie Webster - Deck The Halls With Boogie Woogie

Charlie Musselwhite - Silent Night

Side Two:

Little Charlie & The Nightcats - Santa Claus

Michael "Iron Man" Burks - Christmas Snow

Marcia Ball - Christmas Fais Do Do

Roomful Of Blues - Santa Claus, Do You Ever Get The Blues?

Tinsley Ellis - Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'

Elvin Bishop - The Little Drummer Boy

Legendary Chicago bluesman Eddy Clearwater will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Blues Blast online magazine. Clearwater will accept his award in person at the 9th Annual Blues Blast Music Awards Ceremonies on September 25th, 2015 at the Fluid Events Center in Champaign, Illinois.

Clearwater is an intense, flamboyant, blues-rocking showman. He’s equally comfortable playing the deepest, most heartfelt blues or rocking, good-time party music. DownBeat says, "Left-hander Eddy Clearwater is a forceful six-stringer...He lays down some gritty West Side shuffles and belly-grinding slow blues that highlight his raw chops, soulful vocals, and earthy, humorous lyrics."

Between his slashing guitar work, his room-filling vocals, and his self-defined “rock-a-blues” style (a mix of blues, rock, rockabilly, country and gospel), Clearwater is among the very finest practitioners of the West Side Chicago blues. He won the Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues – Male Artist of the Year in 2001. His 2003 CD, Rock ‘N’ Roll City (Bullseye Blues) was nominated for a Grammy Award.

WEST SIDE STRUT, released on Alligator in 2008, is an energized mix of West Side blues and old school rock injected with a tough, up-to-the-minute contemporary edge. Featuring some of Eddy’s hottest playing ever recorded, the CD burns with his stinging guitar and rough-and-ready vocals. Guests include Eddy’s old friends Lonnie Brooks, Jimmy Johnson, Billy Branch and Otis Clay as well as Ronnie Baker Brooks (who also produced) playing some scintillating guitar parts.

Born Edward Harrington on January 10, 1935 in Macon, MS, Eddy and his family moved to Birmingham, AL in 1948. With music from blues to gospel to country and western surrounding him from an early age, Eddy taught himself to play guitar (left-handed and upside down), and began performing with various gospel groups, including the legendary Five Blind Boys of Alabama. After moving to Chicago in 1950, Eddy stayed with an uncle and took a job as a dishwasher, saving as much as he could from his $37 a week salary. His first music jobs were with gospel groups playing in local churches. Through his uncle’s contacts, Eddy met many of Chicago’s blues stars. He fell deeper under the spell of the blues, and befriended Magic Sam, who would become one of Eddy’s closest friends and teachers.

By 1953, as Guitar Eddy, he was making a strong name for himself, working the South and West Side bars regularly. After hearing Chuck Berry in 1957, Eddy added that rock and roll element to his already searing blues style, creating a unique sound that defines him to this day. He recorded his first single, Hill Billy Blues, for his uncle’s Atomic H label in 1958 under the name Clear Waters (his manager at the time, drummer Jump Jackson, came up with the name as a play on Muddy Waters).

The name Clear Waters morphed into Eddy Clearwater, and Eddy worked the local circuit steadily throughout the 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s. He found huge success in the 1970s among Chicago's young rock 'n' roll fans, who responded to his individual brand of blues, his rock and roll spirit and his high energy stage show.

His first full-length LP, 1980’s The Chief, was the initial release on Chicago’s Rooster Blues label. A number of records for various labels has kept him in-demand around the globe. His slicing guitar licks and "rock-a-blues" music -- along with his uninhibited live show -- give fans a dose of the real West Side Chicago blues played by a legendary blues master.