News

Conjure up a list of all-time great blues harmonica players, and high up on it you'll see the name James Cotton.
--NPR

The Mississippi Arts Commission will present blues music icon (and Tunica, Mississippi native) James Cotton with the coveted Governor's Award For Excellence In The Arts in a ceremony set for February 20, 2014 at Belhaven University in Clarion, Mississippi. The Governor's Arts Awards are presented annually to outstanding writers, artists, performers, craftsmen and educators who have made significant and lasting contributions through their work as well as to corporations or organizations on the basis of their dedication to arts advancement. Previous winners include B.B. King, Little Milton Campbell, and Bo Diddley.

Cotton is currently celebrating his 69th year as a professional entertainer. His 2013 CD, Cotton Mouth Man, is an upbeat, warm blues album boasting fine musicianship and Cotton's undeniable spirit. Living Blues says, "James Cotton is one of the great harmonica innovators of his generation. Cotton Mouth Man is a star-studded affair that makes James Cotton's best recording for Alligator. It is an autobiographical narrative of Cotton's eventful life and soul-deep relationship with the blues. He plays with an authority and energy that belies his age."

Cotton Mouth Man was recorded in Nashville and produced by Grammy-winning producer/songwriter/ drummer Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Joe Louis Walker, Susan Tedeschi). The album is a trip through sounds and scenes from Cotton's long and storied career. Helping Cotton tell his stories and showcase his music are guests Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Ruthie Foster, Warren Haynes, Delbert McClinton and Keb Mo. Other vocals are handled by Darrell Nulisch, who has been singing in Cotton's road band for many years.

"Anders Osborne plays fiery anthems and tumultuous, confessional songs punctuated with glorious, raw guitar."
--USA Today

"Jesse Dee delivers authenticity with every note. The young neo-soul and R&B singer from Boston has put out an album of self-penned songs that are so well-written, so amazingly arranged and performed, you'll wonder why this guy doesn't just own the music business."
--San Francisco Chronicle

CBS-TV's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation featured Anders Osborne's Black Tar in an episode which aired on October 30. The song originally appeared on Osborne's 2011 Black Eye Galaxy CD. Osborne's new album, Peace, was released last month.

ABC-TV's Criminal Minds will feature Jesse Dee's original song Fussin' And Fightin' in an episode set to air on November 13. The song originally appeared on Dee's 2013 Alligator Records debut CD, On My Mind / In My Heart.

"More fun than a barrel of funky monkeys. Ball's awesome mélange of keyboard styles sets the tone: call it the Zydeco boogie-woogie blues. Horns chug faster and faster, guitars drop by for a rock ‘n' roll interlude."
--NPR

Singer, pianist, songwriter Marcia Ball makes her major motion picture debut in the film Angels Sing, premiering in theatres and On Demand on Friday, November 1. The film stars Henry Connick, Jr. and features Grammy-winning musicians including Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett and Kris Kristofferson. In the film, Marcia plays Great Aunt Jocelyn. Ball's latest release is the Grammy-nominated Roadside Attractions.

JJ Grey, leader of JJ Grey & Mofro, has teamed with Florida's Rock Brothers Brewery to create a custom craft beer. Grey, a Florida native, worked with the brewery to develop JJ Grey's Nare Sugar Brown. The beer will make its debut on November 1 at the JJ Grey & Mofro concerts in St. Petersburg at Jannus Live and in Ft. Lauderdale at Revolution Live on November 2. The beer, an ale named after JJ's grandfather's preferred way to drink his coffee ("nare sugar"), will only be available in Florida at the present time.

Grey was actively involved in the beer's creation. "We sat down and talked about it for a while," says Grey, "and during that conversation I was educated on how artful brew mastering really is. We all put our heads together and then these guys went out and created the beer from scratch. The whole process was amazing and I feel really lucky to have been a part of it. In the end I think they made a beer that somehow matches my music sip for sip (or chug) and note for note."

Grey and Rock Brothers Brewery will donate five percent of net proceeds of Nare Sugar Brown sales to The Snook and Gamefish Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation that serves as a platform for anglers and conservationists to preserve, protect and enhance game fish populations.

Acoustic blues master Corey Harris' version of Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel will air during the PBS television series The African Americans: Many Rivers To Cross on October 29. The song was originally released on Harris' Alligator Records collaboration with New Orleans pianist Henry Butler, Vu-Du Menz.

 

 

 

JJ Grey & Mofro, whose latest CD This River was described by Relix as "a classic, tantalizing slab of funky Florida-fried swamp rock, old school R&B and Southern-rock crunch," will appear in performance on the American Public Television music program Front & Center. The show, which was filmed in front of a sold-out crowd at New York's Iridium Club in June 2013, will begin airing on October 5 in the New York metropolitan area at 11:00pm on WLIW21. Airdates and airtimes will vary per market. For airdates in other markets check local listings here.

Since the release of This River, Grey has toured the U.S. and Europe, garnering the greatest reviews, the most radio airplay and largest audiences of his career. Grey's first video from the album, the single 99 Shades Of Crazy, has become an instant fan favorite.

The Oxford American says Grey is "the swami of swamp rock....Grey is a North Florida sage and purveyor of the funkiest swamp rock the world has ever heard." MOJO says Grey's music is "warm, horn-rich, and soulful. The quality of Grey's songwriting and delivery elevates the material."

 

JJ Grey & Mofro are currently getting ready to kick off the next leg of their tour, with shows across the East coast, the South and Midwest. Full tour dates are here:

http://www.alligator.com/on-tour/artist.cfm/aid/155/t/JJ-Grey-%26-Mofro/.

Award-winning guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Anders Osborne is set to release his new CD, Peace, on Tuesday, October 8, 2013. OffBeat magazine will exclusively premiere the song Sentimental Times at OffBeat.com beginning on Tuesday, September 3. Relix.com premiered the title track on August 30.

"It was a sunny day in New Orleans, spring of 2011," says Osborne of Sentimental Times. "I picked up my J45 with old rubbery strings on it. It had been ten years since my mother passed away. I strummed slowly and gently on my guitar and started to sing about two events (the other being Hurricane Katrina) that broke my heart. These are my sentimental times."

With Peace, Osborne continues the journey started by his previous Alligator Records releases, American Patchwork and Black Eye Galaxy, emerging from a whirlwind of emotional chaos and moving toward a sense of inner peace. Recorded at Dockside Studios in Louisiana and produced by Osborne and Warren Riker, Peace looks at the title subject from all angles. According to Osborne, "Peace is light from darkness. The songs are written from the outside looking in. They are not making any judgments. I'm just stating facts. I'm writing from a brighter perspective. There's less dusk and dark, and much more sunlight. The results are greater than I expected. The driving tones and sounds are free and natural. This is one of the coolest records I've ever made."

Between the potency of his richly detailed songwriting, his intensely emotional, soulful vocals and his piercing, expert guitar work, New Orleans' Anders Osborne is among the most original and visionary musicians writing and performing today. Guitar Player calls him "the poet laureate of Louisiana's fertile roots music scene." New Orleans' Gambit Weekly recently honored Osborne as the Entertainer Of The Year. OffBeat named him the Crescent City's Best Guitarist for the third year in a row, and the Best Songwriter for the second straight year. Osborne also won Song Of The Year for his composition, Louisiana Gold.

Since the release of his 2010 Alligator Records debut, American Patchwork, his 2012 follow-up, Black Eye Galaxy, and his critically acclaimed 2013 EP, Three Free Amigos, Osborne has earned hordes of new fans. He has toured virtually non-stop, either with his road-tested trio, as a solo artist, or as a guest with his countless musical admirers, including Toots and The Maytals, Stanton Moore, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, The Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. He's appeared on Galactic's Ya-Ka-May album, and in 2011 produced and played on critically acclaimed albums by Tab Benoit, Johnny Sansone and Mike Zito.

Osborne will bring his music to major markets this fall, including stops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Colorado. Full tour information can be found here.

For more information, go to www.AndersOsborne.com.

Award-winning guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Anders Osborne is set to release his new CD, Peace, on Tuesday, October 8, 2013. Relix magazine will exclusively premiere the title track at Relix.com on Wednesday, August 14.

With Peace, Osborne continues the journey started by his previous Alligator Records releases, American Patchwork and Black Eye Galaxy, emerging from a whirlwind of emotional chaos and moving toward a sense of inner peace.

Recorded at Dockside Studios in Louisiana and produced by Osborne and Warren Riker, Peace looks at the title subject from all angles. According to Osborne, "Peace is light from darkness. The songs are written from the outside looking in. They are not making any judgments. I'm just stating facts. I'm writing from a brighter perspective. There's less dusk and dark, and much more sunlight. The results are greater than I expected. The driving tones and sounds are free and natural. This is one of the coolest records I've ever made."

Between the potency of his richly detailed songwriting, his intensely emotional, soulful vocals and his piercing, expert guitar work, New Orleans' Anders Osborne is among the most original and visionary musicians writing and performing today. Guitar Player calls him "the poet laureate of Louisiana's fertile roots music scene." New Orleans' Gambit Weekly recently honored Osborne as the Entertainer Of The Year. OffBeat named him the Crescent City's Best Guitarist for the third year in a row, and the Best Songwriter for the second straight year. Osborne also won Song Of The Year for his composition, Louisiana Gold.

Since the release of his 2010 Alligator Records debut, American Patchwork, his 2012 follow-up, Black Eye Galaxy, and his critically acclaimed 2013 EP, Three Free Amigos, Osborne has earned hordes of new fans. He has toured virtually non-stop, either with his road-tested trio, as a solo artist, or as a guest with his countless musical admirers, including Toots and The Maytals, Stanton Moore, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, The Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. He's appeared on Galactic's Ya-Ka-May album, and in 2011 produced and played on critically acclaimed albums by Tab Benoit, Johnny Sansone and Mike Zito.

For more information, go to www.AndersOsborne.com.

On Monday, August 5, Living Blues magazine announced the winners of the 2013 Living Blues Critics' and Readers' Awards. Four Alligator Records artists received a total of five awards. Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials won both the Critics' and the Readers' Awards for Best Live Performer. Joe Louis Walker won the Critics' Award for Best Blues Album of 2012 for his Alligator Records debut CD, Hellfire. Readers' Awards went to Janiva Magness for Blues Artist Of The Year (Female) and Marcia Ball for Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboards).

LIL' ED & THE BLUES IMPERIALS: Critics' Award Best Live Performer Readers' Award Best Live Performer JOE LOUIS WALKER: Critics' Award Best Blues Album Of 2012 (New Recordings): Hellfire   JANIVA MAGNESS: Readers' Award Blues Artist Of The Year - Female   MARCIA BALL: Readers' Award Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard)

Alligator Records recording artist Curtis Salgado will receive the 2012 Oregon Music Hall Of Fame's Album Of The Year Award for his groundbreaking release, Soul Shot. The 7th Annual Oregon Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Concert will take place at Portland's Aladdin Theater on Saturday, October 5. The award-winning album was released on April 10, 2012. The Los Angeles Times says Salgado plays "soul-infused blues, funk and R&B with muscular, funky grooves" and sings with "husky, ebullient vocals. Salgado is keeping the flame of soul music alive."

According to The Oregon Music Hall Of Fame, "There were many incredible albums by Oregon artists in 2012, but the honors go to longtime Oregon artist Curtis Salgado. Soul Shot was his first solo album to come out on Alligator Records. It also proved to be the best album of his career."

Salgado recently won The Blues Foundation's Blues Music Awards for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year, and Soul Blues Album of the Year Award for Soul Shot. He also won a Muddy Award for Best National Blues Album from Oregon's Cascade Blues Association.

For additional details, a list of all the award winners and inductees or to purchase tickets to the event, go to
http://www.omhof.org/7th-annual-oregon-music-hall-of-fame-induction/ .

Soul Shot, Saldago's eighth solo release, was produced by funk and R&B guitarist Marlon McClain, drummer Tony Braunagel and co-produced by Salgado. Soul Shot speaks loud and clear to contemporary audiences, carrying on the timeless spirit of 1960s and ‘70s R&B. The album features four Salgado originals and seven carefully chosen covers. Songs by Johnny "Guitar" Watson, George Clinton, Otis Redding and Bobby Womack flow into and out of Salgado's own compositions. Each track -- the slow-burning ballads and the driving rockers -- is delivered with the vocal power and passion of a musical master. "Soul Shot was the most challenging recording of my career," he says, "and it's the solid best thing I've ever done. That's a fact."

 

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Alligator Records artists Curtis Salgado, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Janiva Magness and the late Michael "Iron Man" Burks received a total of nine 2013 Blues Blast Award nominations. Salgado and Estrin each received three, while Burks, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials and Magness each received one.

The Blues Blast Awards are presented by Blues Blast magazine, a free weekly internet blues magazine. Winners are chosen by fan voting, which will begin at the Blues Blast website starting July 15. All Blues Blast subscribers are eligible to vote. Winners will be announced at the Blues Blast Awards ceremony at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago on Thursday, October 31.

Artists and nominations are below:

Curtis Salgado:

Male Blues Artist Of The Year

Soul Blues Album Of The Year - Soul Shot
Song Of The Year - A Woman Or The Blues (by Curtis Salgado and Dave Duncan)


Rick Estrin & The Nightcats:

Band Of The Year

Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year - One Wrong Turn

Rick Estrin:
Male Blues Artist Of The Year


Michael "Iron Man" Burks:

Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year - Show Of Strength

Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials:

Band Of The Year


Janiva Magness:

Female Blues Artist Of The Year

In celebration of their 45th anniversary, Roomful of Blues, the jumping, swinging, rocking, award-winning band, will release their new live CD, 45 LIVE, on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. For the recording, the band hosted a three-day party in March of 2013 at one of their favorite haunts, The Ocean Mist, in Matunuck, Rhode Island. They packed the club to capacity, playing to roaring ovations each night. The resulting album, 45 LIVE, is among Roomful of Blues' crowning achievements. The album is a lightning-in-a-bottle blowout, showcasing the larger-than-life vocal and instrumental power of the band.

45 LIVE, produced by bandleader/guitarist Chris Vachon, features 14 songs (over an hour of music) spanning the entirety of the band's history. The tracks were carefully chosen by Vachon, who included some of the group's best known originals like Dressed Up To Get Messed Up, Turn It On, Turn It Up, and That's Right!, as well as tunes the band had previously recorded or performed with blues giants Joe Turner (Crawdad Hole), Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (Somebody's Got To Go) and Earl King (It All Went Down The Drain).

For nearly half a century, Roomful of Blues has been delivering its signature blend of swing, rock 'n' roll, jump, blues and R&B to euphoric audiences all over the world. Blues Revue says, "Roomful of Blues is a sheer joy...contagious, finger-popping, head-bopping grooves...the horns blast loud and proud...explosive and electrifying." The band has earned five Grammy Award nominations and a slew of other accolades, including seven Blues Music Awards. Twice, the prestigious DownBeat International Critics Poll selected them as Best Blues Band. With their masterful combination of jumping, horn-heavy blues and R&B, it's no wonder why the great Count Basie called them "the hottest blues band I've ever heard." Billboard simply says, "Roomful is so tight and so right."

DownBeat magazine declares Roomful of Blues "are in a class by themselves." The band has been led since 1998 by Vachon, who according to Guitar Player, "burns with explosive solos and a delightfully greasy sense of rhythm." Roomful of Blues has always maintained its signature sound through great musicianship and a stellar horn section -- featuring Rich Lataille, who first joined the band in 1970 on tenor and alto saxophone (and clarinetist on 45 LIVE's Jambalaya)  Lataille's masterful playing can evoke either the fat-toned honking sax of the glory days of early rock or the cool elegance of big band swing jazz.

While Roomful of Blues has always been one of the tightest, most joyful blues ensembles in the world, they have never sounded fresher or stronger than with the current line-up. Along with Vachon and Lataille, the band includes vocalist Phil Pemberton, long-time tenor and baritone saxophonist Mark Earley, trumpeter Doug Woolverton, bassist John Turner, drummer Chris Rivelli and keyboardist Rusty Scott.

Roomful of Blues came together in Westerly, Rhode Island in the late 1960s when guitarist Duke Robillard and keyboardist Al Copley began exploring the swinging, jumping blues, R&B and jazz of the 1940s and 1950s. They added a horn section (including Rich Lataille) in 1970. The band's ability to ignite a sedate crowd into a dancing frenzy solidified their reputation as the best "little big band" in New England and expanded their following into New York and Washington, D.C. In 1974, they performed with Count Basie, and a few years later legendary songwriter Doc Pomus helped them land their first record deal. In 1977, Roomful of Blues' self-titled debut album on Island Records (reissued on Hyena Records) brought them to the attention of fans and critics from coast to coast.

Over the years there have been more than 50 Roomful of Blues members, each bringing his or her own unique talent and vision to the mix. Famed alumni include guitarist Ronnie Earl, vocalist Lou Ann Barton, vocalist/harpist Curtis Salgado, saxist/vocalist Greg Piccolo and harpist/vocalist Sugar Ray Norcia. Recording for Rounder Records' Bullseye Blues and Varrick labels between 1980 and 2001, the band cut nine albums that won them international fame and major rock radio airplay. They've gigged with stars ranging from bluesmen B.B. King, Otis Rush and Stevie Ray Vaughan to rockers Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana. The band has performed in cities from coast to coast, and traveled abroad to 22 countries including Lebanon, Poland,Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey and Russia.

Since Roomful joined the Alligator Records family in 2003, their popularity has continued to increase. Their first Alligator CD was the Grammy-nominated That's Right! in 2003, followed by Standing Room Only in 2005, Raisin' A Ruckus in 2008 and Hook, Line & Sinker in 2010. All four albums received massive amounts of critical and popular praise and kept old and new fans flocking to see them live. Blurt magazine raves, "No group has kept the spirit of early rock and roll alive better than Roomful of Blues. The heat burns red hot...they are pure fun to listen to. They are one of America's musical treasures."

With 45 LIVE, Roomful of Blues has fully captured the frenetic energy and musical power of their live show. The band will hit the road hard once again, so people can see and hear for themselves why The Chicago Sun-Times said, "This is a band on top of its game, sliding easily from big-band jazz-blues to guitar-drenched urban blues...let the party begin."