News

USA Today will premiere blues harmonica legend James Cotton's new CD Cotton Mouth Man by streaming the entire CD from its website beginning April 29. Writer Brian Mansfield spoke with Cotton, who is currently celebrating his 69th year as a professional musician, for a story that will accompany the full album stream. The CD will be in physical and digital stores on May 7. The stream may be heard here: http://usat.ly/YgtGv9.

Cotton is featured on the cover of the current issue of Living Blues magazine. The 10-page cover story, written by blues scholar David Whiteis, takes an in-depth look at Cotton's entire career, including his learning directly from Sonny Boy Williamson, recording for Sun Records (before Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash), working with Howlin' Wolf, touring with Muddy Waters, leading his own band, and the absolute joy he had recording the new CD.

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.

The other members of Cotton's road band -- Jerry Porter, Noel Neal, and Tom Holland -- are also on board for some songs. Forming the core of the backing band on the CD are Hambridge (drums), Rob McNelley (guitar), Chuck Leavell (keyboards) and Glenn Worf (bass). Tommy MacDonald and Colin Linden each add guitar to one track. Cotton, who after a bout with throat cancer turned the vocal duties over to others, was inspired by the sessions to return to the microphone, singing his own Bonnie Blue (the name of the plantation where he was born), and making Cotton Mouth Man the most personal, celebratory and just plain fun recording of his seven-decade career.

Paste magazine is hosting the world premiere of the video of 99 Shades Of Crazy beginning Tuesday, April 23. The song is the first single from This River, the new CD from JJ Grey & Mofro. The video, filmed and directed by Spookie Daly, intercuts scenes from a little league baseball game devolving into mayhem with eerie shots of Grey and the band performing. The video may be viewed here: http://bit.ly/15GrCOY.

Grey and Daly previously worked together on videos for Orange Blossoms, On Fire, and The Sweetest Thing. Daly also directed the JJ Grey & Mofro concert film and documentary, Brighter Days

This River, including 99 Shades Of Crazy, was the most added overall record at AAA (Adult Album Alternative) radio for the week ending April 5. 99 Shades Of Crazy had its world audio premiere on The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog on April 2. Spotify hosted a full-album stream of the album for a week prior to its release. On the day of its release (April 16), This River was the #1 Best Selling Rock Album on iTunes. Relix says the CD is "a classic slab of funky Florida-fried swamp rock, old school R&B and Southern-rock crunch...rootsy and tantalizing."

Grey is a masterful musical storyteller. "Many of the new songs," he says, "are about being your own worst enemy, and about normal folks pushing themselves over the edge." The video of 99 Shades Of Crazy explores these same themes. Grey's lyrics and slice-of-life scenarios are filled with honest detail, helping to bring his emotionally complex characters to life in songs including 99 Shades Of Crazy. His gritty vocals and punchy horn arrangements add even more depth to This River. Grey's fervent delivery and the expert musicianship of the band pull the listener deep inside each track, making the album a deeply moving and engaging musical statement.

Blues harmonica legend James Cotton, whose new CD Cotton Mouth Man will be in stores on May 7, 2013, is featured on the cover of the current issue of Living Blues magazine. The 10-page cover story, written by blues scholar David Whiteis, takes an in-depth look at Cotton's entire career, including the new CD.

Cotton Mouth Man is a joyous celebration of Cotton's 69 years as a professional musician (beginning at age nine). 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.

Cotton co-wrote seven of the tracks with Hambridge (who co-wrote five additional tracks). The songs were inspired by Cotton's colorful and sometimes perilous life and his memories of the Mississippi Delta, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Memphis, Sun Records, Chicago, and Muddy Waters. Throughout the CD, Cotton's blast-furnace harmonica sound and larger-than-life personality are front and center.

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.

The other members of Cotton's road band -- Jerry Porter, Noel Neal, and Tom Holland -- are also on board for some songs. Forming the core of the backing band on the CD are Hambridge (drums), Rob McNelley (guitar), Chuck Leavell (keyboards) and Glenn Worf (bass). Tommy MacDonald and Colin Linden each add guitar to one track. Cotton, who after a bout with throat cancer turned the vocal duties over to others, was inspired by the sessions to return to the microphone, singing his own Bonnie Blue (the name of the plantation where he was born), and making Cotton Mouth Man the most personal, celebratory and just plain fun recording of his seven-decade career.

On Sunday, April 28, Alligator Records will be inducted into The Chicago Blues Hall Of Fame as a Legendary Blues Label. The ceremony will be held in Chicago at Buddy Guy's Legends and hosted by The Michael Packer Blues Band. The event will be filmed and televised by JBTV/NBC NONSTOP and broadcast on cable and satellite television nationwide. Alligator artists Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater and Corky Siegel will be inducted as Master Blues Artists.

Blues master Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater is currently featured in a television commercial touting Illinois tourism. The video highlights Chicago's rich blues heritage and features Clearwater's inviting, trademark smile.

On Sunday, June 9, Clearwater will perform on The Chicago Blues Festival's main stage, joining James Cotton, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, John Primer, Billy Branch and others in an all-star revue -- billed as Chicago Blues: Old School, New Millennium -- that promises to be a highlight of this year's event.

New Orleans' Gambit Weekly will honor guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Anders Osborne as the Entertainer Of The Year during its annual Big Easy Awards ceremony to be held on April 22 at Harrah's New Orleans. He is also nominated for two Big Easy Awards: Best Male Performer and Best Rock Band.

Osborne is currently in the studio working on a follow up to his massively successful 2012 Black Eye Galaxy CD. His most recent release is Three Free Amigos, a six-song EP recorded during a series of laid back, living room-like sessions.

Alligator Records recording artists Marcia Ball, Jesse Dee and Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials have all appeared or will appear on syndicated national radio broadcasts. Ball brought her raucous boogie-woogie blues to E-Town earlier this month (the segment can be heard in full by clicking on the link). Jesse Dee brings his original sweet soul music to World Cafe on April 17. And Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials return to Elwood's BluesMobile in a program featuring their roof raising slide guitar blues airing on June 9 and 10.

Alligator Records, in collaboration with NPR and public radio stations, will release a free, downloadable 17-song sampler to help bring attention to Public Radio Music Month. Alligator Records Presents Blues & Roots features songs selected from throughout the label's storied 42-year history. The sampler was personally curated and annotated by Alligator president and founder Bruce Iglauer, and will be available beginning April 11 at the Alligator Records Facebook page. It will remain available until May 11. Alligator is the only label with which Public Radio Music Month is collaborating on a sampler.

Artists include Marcia Ball, James Cotton, JJ Grey & Mofro, Curtis Salgado, Janiva Magness, Joe Louis Walker, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, Koko Taylor, Roomful Of Blues, Saffire--The Uppity Blues Women, Jesse Dee, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Anders Osborne, The Holmes Brothers, Charlie Musselwhite, and Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland (together).

Public Radio Music Month, held during April, is a tribute to the impact of public radio in music. The Public Radio Music Month website states, "The national initiative brings together local public radio stations, artists and music to recognize the work and importance of these cultural institutions."

According to Iglauer, "Since Alligator Records was founded over 40 years ago public radio has been one of the best friends of blues and roots music. Public radio stations have dedicated themselves to helping their listeners discover important music, whether old or new -- music of depth, complexity and intense emotion (including music that's intensely fun!), whether it's commercially popular or not.

"We've created this free sampler of some of Alligator's current and classic artists as a salute to public radio and its open-to-discovery listeners. We hope you enjoy the music, make some new discoveries, and remember that, without public radio, a lot of great blues and roots music might never have reached your ears. Happy Public Radio Music Month!"

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On Monday, March 25, Tom Marker, host of Chicago radio station WXRT-FM's Blues Breakers program, will premiere two new songs from Grammy-winning harmonica giant James Cotton's upcoming CD, Cotton Mouth Man. The CD, to be released on Tuesday, May 7,  is a joyous celebration of Cotton's 69 years as a professional musician (beginning at age nine). 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.

Cotton co-wrote seven of the tracks with Hambridge (who co-wrote five additional tracks). The songs were inspired by Cotton's colorful and sometimes perilous life and his memories of the Mississippi Delta, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Memphis, Sun Records, Chicago, and Muddy Waters. Throughout the CD Cotton's blast-furnace harmonica sound and larger-than-life personality are front and center.

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 band for many years. Members of Cotton's road band -- Jerry Porter, Noel Neal, and Tom Holland -- are also on board for some songs. Forming the core of the backing band on the CD are Hambridge (drums), Rob McNelley (guitar), Chuck Leavell (keyboards), and Glenn Worf (bass). Tommy MacDonald and Colin Linden each add guitar to one track. Cotton, who after a bout with throat cancer turned the vocal duties over to others, was inspired by the sessions to return to the microphone, singing his own Bonnie Blue (the name of the plantation where he was born), and making Cotton Mouth Man the most personal, celebratory and just plain fun recording of his seven-decade career.

Boston soul singer/guitarist/songwriter Jesse Dee's original song No Matter Where I Am will be prominently featured on FOX Television's Bones, in an episode airing on Monday, March 25. The song appears on Dee's Alligator Records debut CD On My Mind / In My Heart, which was declared a "masterpiece" by The San Francisco Chronicle.

Since the February 26 release of the new CD, Dee has been featured in USA Today, The Boston Globe, No Depression, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Popmatters, and on WBUR-FM, WXPN-FM, NPR Music and many other outlets and publications. He recently performed, with his full band, on New York's WFUV. Watch the video here: http://wfuv.org/audio/archives/words-and-music-studio/jesse-dee-words-and-music-2013

CBS Television's Criminal Minds will feature Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials' Kick Me To The Curb during the episode set to air on Wednesday, March 27. The song, written by Lil' Ed Williams, leader of the Blues Music Award-winning Blues Imperials (now celebrating 26 years together), is from 2012's Jump Start.

Living Blues says Jump Start is "high-octane, expressive, fiercely articulated, harrowingly intense and raucous. Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials hit the floor running and accelerate from there."

Guitarist/songwriter/singer Anders Osborne, whose new critically lauded EP Three Free Amigos has already become a fan favorite, will perform with Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) and Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead) at the Spring Rambles at Terrapin Crossroads on April 11, 12 and 13, in San Rafael, California. The trio will join other guests including Graham Lesh and Tony Leone for three jam-packed nights of music.

OffBeat calls Osborne "an artist who continues to grow before our eyes," and says Three Free Amigos is a "beautiful songwriter's digest."