News

Award-winning blues guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Joe Louis Walker will appear on TBS's CONAN on Monday, March 5. Walker, along with his band, will perform the song Ride All Night from his new Alligator Records debut CD, Hellfire. Billboard says Hellfire is "one of the strongest albums in Walker's canon...gutbucket blues, joyous gospel, Rolling Stones-style rock crunch, and aching R&B... a heavenly showcase for Walker's virtues."

Walker has been releasing groundbreaking recordings since 1986, but his career goes all the way back to the mid-1960s. As a 16-year-old, he was the house guitarist at San Francisco's famed musical playground, The Matrix, where he played with or opened shows for everyone from Lightnin' Hopkins to Jimi Hendrix to Thelonious Monk. These ear-opening surroundings explain the ease with which Walker blends blues, rock, gospel, jazz and country, making it seem as if the walls between the styles never existed in the first place. The New York Times raves, "Walker is a singer with a Cadillac of a voice. He delivers no-nonsense, gutsy blues. His guitar solos are fast, wiry and incisive, moaning with bluesy despair." According to Living Blues, he is "one of today's modern musical masters." Rolling Stone simply called him "ferocious."

Since his debut release in 1986, Walker has released 23 more albums (and two DVDs) and toured worldwide. He's won four Blues Music Awards, including the 2010 Album Of The Year Award for Between A Rock And A Hard Place (Stony Plain Records), and has been nominated for 43 more. He's also recorded as a guest with some of the blues world's best-known artists, including appearances on Grammy-winning records by B.B. King and James Cotton.

Walker has played every major U.S. blues festival including The Chicago Blues Festival, The San Francisco Blues Festival, and The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He's performed at major European festivals including the Northsea Jazz Festival, Glastonbury, Notodden and Montreux, as well as festivals in Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Ireland, Turkey and Brazil. Walker has appeared on national television many times, including performances on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, The Don Imus Show and Later With Jools Holland in the UK.

Fans and critics have been celebrating Walker for years. Blues Revue calls Walker "one of contemporary blues' most dynamic and innovative musicians, releasing consistently exciting music. No matter what he's singing, Walker's approach is soulful, heartfelt and spellbinding." Living Blues said, "His fretwork is indelibly stamped with his own trademark blend of emotional heat and impeccable precision -- even at his most flamboyant, Walker sounds as if he's playing ideas, not just notes." A bluesman of immense talent and drive, Walker tours constantly playing concerts and festivals across the globe.

Early praise for Hellfire:

On Hellfire, Mr. Walker plays jump blues, slow, searing blues, Rolling Stones-style rockin' blues, electric country blues, Chicago blues and gospel blues. His raspy, powerhouse voice is out front while his stinging guitar cuts through the uncluttered arrangements.
--Wall Street Journal

Hellfire is delightful, down and dirty blues [with] influences from the psychedelic rock scene...loud Hendrixian virtuosity here, "Exile On Main Street"-era Stones there.
--Los Angeles Daily News

Hellfire is Walker's most rock-oriented release. His playing is ferocious. His wah-wah inflected solo on Hellfire digresses with the kind of fierce embellishments that Jimi Hendrix might've conjured. The slow-burn of What's It Worth spins ever wilder and wider into outer space with each solo. Walker attacks these songs like the gospel vocalist he once was.
--Chicago Tribune

Boundary-pushing blues rocker Joe Louis Walker is a legendary icon of modern blues. [He plays] powerful, gritty, heavy blues rock. Hellfire is a fierce album expertly incorporating his intense, racing solos into blues, spirituals and crashing rock jams. His playing on Hellfire has garnered comparisons to Hendrix himself.
--NPR Music

Alligator Records has set an April 10 street date for Soul Shot (AL 4947), the blistering new album (and label debut) from award-winning vocalist/songwriter/harmonica icon Curtis Salgado. Winner of the 2010 Blues Music Award for Soul Blues Artist Of The Year, Salgado effortlessly mixes R&B, funk and blues, with a delivery that is raw and heartfelt. He moves with ease from the tenderest ballads to the most full-throated stompers.

Soul Shot was produced by funk and R&B guitarist Marlon McClain, drummer Tony Braunagel and co-produced by Salgado. "I wanted to make a soul record that you can listen to and dance to," says Salgado. And that's just what he and members of The Phantom Blues Band, along with additional guest musicians, did. 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."

Born February 4, 1954 in Everett, Washington, Salgado grew up in Eugene, Oregon. His home was always filled with music. His parents' collection included everything from Count Basie to Fats Waller, and his older brother and sister turned him on to the soul and blues of Wilson Pickett and Muddy Waters. He attended a Count Basie performance when he was 13 and decided then and there that music was his calling. Curtis began devouring the blues of Little Walter and Paul Butterfield, fell in love with the harmonica and taught himself to play.

Salgado played his first professional gigs when he was 16, and by 18 he was already making a name for himself in Eugene's bar scene. Salgado quickly developed into a player and singer of remarkable depth, with vocal and musical influences including Otis Redding to O.V. Wright, Johnnie Taylor, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson I and II, Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Spann and Magic Sam. With his band The Nighthawks, he became a must-see act in Eugene and throughout the Northwest. Salgado earned a reputation for high-intensity performances and a repertoire that was informed by his encyclopedic knowledge of blues, soul and R&B music.

In 1977, comedian/actor John Belushi was in Eugene filming Animal House. During downtime from filming, Belushi caught a typically balls-out Salgado performance. Afterwards the two got to talking and a friendship grew. Before long Salgado began playing old records for Belushi, teaching him about blues and R&B. Belushi soaked up the music like a sponge and soon developed his idea for The Blues Brothers, first as a skit on Saturday Night Live and then as a major motion picture and a best-selling record album and concert tour.

As Salgado was getting more serious about his career, he realized some of his band mates were not. It was then that Salgado joined forces with his friend Robert Cray and began playing together as The Robert Cray Band. As the stature of the group grew, Salgado found himself sharing stages with blues icons like Muddy Waters, Bobby Bland and Bonnie Raitt. The band performed a transcendent set at the 1977 San Francisco Blues Festival to thunderous ovation before backing up the great Albert Collins.

After Salgado and Cray parted ways in 1982, Curtis went on to front Roomful Of Blues, singing and touring with them from 1984 through 1986. Back home in Oregon, he formed a new band, Curtis Salgado & The Stilettos, and was once again tearing it up on the club scene. He wrote many new songs, and honed his band to a razor's edge before releasing his first solo album in 1991. His friend and fan Steve Miller invited Curtis and his band to open for him on a summer shed tour in 1992. Two years later, Salgado spent the summer on the road singing with Santana. In 1997 he performed in front of an audience of millions on NBC television's Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Salgado then joined forces with Shanachie Records in 1999, putting out four critically acclaimed albums over the next nine years and finding his biggest audience yet.

In 2006 Salgado was sidelined when he underwent a successful liver transplant and then shortly afterwards was diagnosed with and then beat lung cancer. Like so many musicians, Curtis had no health insurance. His medical expenses were paid for in part by a huge outpouring of love and money from his fellow musicians and his huge Northwest fan base. He bounced back with a perfect bill of health in 2008, releasing Clean Getaway.

Now, with Soul Shot, Salgado is ready for more, tougher and more focused than ever. He will again hit the road hard, proving his reputation as a fire-breathing live performer night after night. And that's just how he likes it. "Always give it your best," he says. "Be honest and be real. Treat every show like it's the biggest night of your life."

Blues master Joe Louis Walker's Alligator Records debut Hellfire reached  number 38 on Billboard's Heatseekers Chart for the week ending February 5, 2012. It also hit number 11 on the magazine's Blues Chart. The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot declares Hellfire is Walker's "most rock-oriented release," bringing "the kind of fierce embellishments that Jimi Hendrix might've conjured" and that his guitar playing "spins ever wilder and wider into outer space with each solo." The Wall Street Journal's Jim Fusilli says, "Walker's raspy, powerhouse voice is out front while his stinging guitar cuts through the uncluttered arrangements."

Radio response has been equally enthusiastic. SIRIUS/XM's Bill Wax produced a one-hour interview/album feature for his B.B. King's Bluesville radio show which aired on street date, January 31, and re-aired multiple times. On February 17, NPR.org will broadcast Walker performing from the venue World Café Live in Philadelphia, in a program hosted by WXPN-FM. He'll also be featured on the nationally syndicated  program, World Café, with the airdate to be announced in the coming weeks. In addition, on February 25 and 26, Elwood's Bluesmobile (formerly known as The House of Blues Radio Hour) will host Walker for a wide-ranging discussion and plenty of music.

Guitarist Chris Vachon told the local Valley Breeze, "After 22 years of traveling the world and receiving numerous music awards, being inducted in the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame's inaugural class is a huge honor for Roomful. We'd like to thank all of our friends in Rhode Island for their support over the years." The band performs at the induction ceremony on Sunday, February 26 at The Met in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Roomful of Blues, according to DownBeat magazine, "are in a class by themselves." Since 1967, the group's deeply rooted blend of swing, rock ‘n' roll, jump, blues and soul has earned it five Grammy Award nominations and a slew of other accolades, including seven Blues Music Awards. The band was voted Blues Artist Of The Year at the 2011 Boston Music Awards.Their latest CD is Hook, Line & Sinker.

Blues harmonica master James Cotton will join Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Shemekia Copeland and many other musicians live at New York's famed Apollo Theater to pay tribute to the late guitarist Hubert Sumlin. The event will take place on Friday, February 24 and is a benefit for the Jazz Foundation Of America.

Other artists scheduled to appear are Doyle Bramhall II, Gary Clark, Jr., Billy Flynn, Barrelhouse Chuck Goering, David Johansen, Steve Jordan, Danny Kortchmar, Dr. John, Keb Mo, Todd Mohr, Ivan Neville, Robert Randolph, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Larry Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Jimmie Vaughan, Jimmy Vivino, Willie Weeks, Jody Williams, Kim Wilson and special surprise guests.

Cotton's latest CD is the Grammy Award-nominated Giant.

For more information, go to:

http://www.apollotheater.org/calendar/details/240-howlin-for-hubert-hubert-sumlin-tribute

For the second year running, he was named Best Guitarist. He also won for Best Roots Rock Artist. According to Osborne, winning is "a miraculous experience. It's hard to believe where I was just three years ago. The gratitude and love I feel for all the people who held me up and supported me is great. I am a blessed man. I would like to thank OffBeat for arranging the award show in celebration of what the [New Orleans] music community does every year. And most of all, a huge 'Thank You' to all the fans voting for me. It's an honor."

Osborne is currently finishing work on his follow-up to 2010's best-selling American Patchwork. Tentatively titled Black Eye Galaxy, the album will be available later this spring.

Alligator Records has set a March 13 release date for award-winning vocalist Janiva Magness' powerful new album, Stronger For It. Magness is among the premier blues and R&B singers in the world today. Her voice possesses an earthy, raw honesty born from her life experience. Through her passionate vocals and, for the first time, through her own original songs, Magness, with Stronger For It, delivers the most moving and intimate album of her career. 

Produced by Dave Darling (Brian Setzer, Meredith Brooks, Dan Hicks, John Waite), Stronger For It is Janiva's declaration of independence. Having recently come through an intensely difficult period in her life, Magness has found new strength in her music. On these performances, she lays her soul bare, singing of loss and recovery, pain and redemption, hurt and healing, looking back and moving forward. Recording Stronger For It was as cathartic for Magness as listening to it will be for her fans. "Every human being goes through times of huge upheaval and personal transition," Magness says. "I think everyone can relate."

Known primarily as a musical interpreter, Magness co-wrote three remarkable, autobiographical songs for the album, including the poignant and melodic Whistling In The Dark, the riveting I Won't Cry and the take-no-guff showstopper There It Is. In addition to her outstanding originals, Janiva tells the rest of her story through her inspired reinventions of songs by Tom Waits, Grace Potter, Shelby Lynne, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Matthew Sweet, Buddy and Julie Miller and others. According to Magness, the ultimate message of the album is clear: "You can get through just about anything and come out better because of it. The title says it all."

Born in Detroit, Magness was inspired by the blues and country she heard listening to her father's record collection, and by the vibrant music of the city's classic Motown sound. By her teenage years, though, her life was in chaos. She lost both parents to suicide by the age of 16 and lived on the streets, bouncing from one foster home to another. At 17, she became a teenage mother who had to give up her baby daughter for adoption. One night in Minneapolis, an underage Magness sneaked into a club to see blues great Otis Rush, and it was there that she found her salvation and discovered that the blues were her calling. She began going to as many blues shows as possible, soaking up the sounds of her favorite artists, including Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins. She immersed herself in records by James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Etta James and all the other R&B greats.

Watching these artists live and listening to their recordings sparked Janiva and gave her life new direction and purpose. Her first break came several years later, while studying engineering and working as an intern at a recording studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was approached by her boss to sing some supporting vocals on a track. Finding her voice, she soon began working regularly as a background singer. By the early 1980s, Magness made her way to Phoenix and befriended Bob Tate, the musical director for the great Sam Cooke. With Tate's mentoring, she formed her first band, Janiva Magness And The Mojomatics, in 1985 and soon after the influential Phoenix New Times named her group the city's Best Blues Band. She moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and slowly began finding work.

She recorded a series of successful solo albums prior to joining Alligator in 2008, gaining notoriety through the strength of her music and the power of her live performances. Her Alligator debut, What Love Will Do, was released to massive critical acclaim. The Chicago Sun-Times raved, "A master of the lowdown blues who is equally at ease surrounded by funk or soul, Magness invigorates every song with a brutal honesty." Fueled by all the positive press, National Public Radio's Weekend Edition profiled Magness, putting her in front of an audience of millions and expanding her ever-growing fan base. Her 2010 follow-up, The Devil Is An Angel Too, brought even more acclaim. The album was the #1 CD of 2010 on the Living Blues radio chart. The Wall Street Journal said she plays "hard-hitting blues and soul." 

Throughout her career, Magness has been recognized as one of the great blues and R&B singers today. She received the coveted 2009 Blues Music Award for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year (she is only the second woman to ever win this award, Koko Taylor being the first). She also won Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year, an honor she also received in 2006 and 2007. She has received a total of seventeen Blues Music Award nominations, including one for 2012's Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year. 

In addition to her musical accomplishments, Magness reaches out to help others. She is a Spokesperson for Casey Family Programs National Foster Care Month Campaign (her sixth consecutive year) and an Ambassador for Foster Care Alumni of America, promoting National Foster Care Month. "It is a huge honor and a daunting responsibility. But I am very excited to be a part of this important work, and I look forward to carrying the message of hope for youth in the foster care system, and to alumni," says Magness. "Casey Family Programs does groundbreaking work, and I am deeply honored to work with them again. Foster Care Alumni Of America is an amazing organization that focuses on adult alumni of the system." Magness has also reconnected with her daughter, and is now a proud grandmother. "Our fate doesn't have to be our destiny," she says. "I'm living proof of that. And I'm so very grateful."

With Stronger For It and non-stop touring, Magness, along with her world-class road band, will bring her dynamic live show to fans across the country and around the world. Live and on record, Magness' level of intimacy and depth of emotion infuses her music with a power impossible to deny. Rather than succumb to hard times, with Stronger For It, Magness has created an album loaded with creativity and imagination, turning her own personal pain into timeless, exhilarating, soul-healing music.

The Chicago Tribune has named Alligator Records president and founder Bruce Iglauer one of nine 2011 Chicagoans Of The Year. Iglauer's selection, made by longtime Tribune music critic Greg Kot, is the icing on the cake of Alligator's 40th anniversary celebration. The celebration kicked off in February, 2011 with the release of the 2-CD set The Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection. The album received rave reviews from Rolling Stone, NPR's Weekend Edition and many more national and international outlets. In addition, Iglauer was featured in a two-part, four-hour interview on XM/Sirius B.B. King's Bluesville. 

Among the many other highlights of the label's 40th anniversary, one of the most significant came in June during the Chicago Blues Festival, when Iglauer received a proclamation from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Mayor Emanuel honored Iglauer's contribution to the city's musical heritage on a night dedicated to the label's anniversary, featuring performances by blues icons Lonnie Brooks, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, Michael "Iron Man" Burks, Rick Estrin and Shemekia Copeland.

In October, Poland's Rawa Blues Festival hosted a 40th anniversary celebration, inviting Iglauer along with stars Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Marcia Ball, C.J. Chenier and Corey Harris. Closer to home, SPACE in Evanston, IL, hosted a six-part concert series featuring Tinsley Ellis, The Siegel-Schwall Band, The Tommy Castro Band, Lonnie Brooks, Charlie Musselwhite, Michael "Iron Man" Burks and hometown favorites Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials.

In addition, the band was named The Most Outstanding New England Band Of 2011 by Blues Audience magazine.

Since 1967, the group's deeply rooted blend of swing, rock ‘n' roll, jump, blues and soul has earned it five Grammy Award nominations and a slew of other accolades, including seven Blues Music Awards. USA Today says, "Excellent...marvelous wall-to-wall grooves...between the wicked guitar work and the brassy horn section, things never stop swinging."

In 2011 he produced Mike Zito's Greyhound, Johnny Sansone's The Lord Is Waiting And The Devil Is Too, and he co-produced Tab Benoit's Medicine (on which he also co-wrote seven songs with Benoit). Together, the three albums received a total of eight Blues Music Award nominations.

Osborne recently finished a short tour with Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars and continues to do selected dates with Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, performing The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers in its entirety. Osborne's as-yet-untitled new album will be released in Spring 2012.

In addition to next year's new album, Osborne will appear in the upcoming third season of HBO's hit series, Treme.

Coming in 2012:
-- JJ Grey & Mofro's  "A Woman" will be in the feature film Baytown Disco, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Eva Longoria.

-- Eric Lindell's  "Low On Cash" will be in the feature film Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg. His song "See Me Through" will be in Showtime's Californication series (episode airs early Spring 2012).

-- Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials' "Tramp On Your Street" will be in the feature film Highland Park, starring Parker Posey and Danny Glover. Their "Dying to Live" will be in the feature film The Samaritan, starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Recent Placements:
-- Hound Dog Taylor's "Kitchen Sink Boogie" and "Let's Get Funky" were featured in the Johnny Depp film The Rum Diary.

-- Michael "Iron Man" Burks' "Don't Let It Be A Dream" appeared in Showtime's Homeland in an episode originally aired on October 23, 2011.

-- Koko Taylor's "Big Boss Man" was heard in the Sarah Jessica Parker film I Don't Know How She Does It.

 

 

###

Tommy Castro received four, including one for the coveted B.B. King Entertainer of The Year Award. Harmonica legend and Blues Hall of Famer Charlie Musselwhite received two nominations. Chicago slide guitar hero Lil' Ed Williams also received a nomination for Entertainer of the Year, and Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials got the nod for Band of the Year. SingerJaniva Magness , pianist/vocalist Marcia Ball, guitarist Michael "Iron Man" Burks and harmonica master Rick Estrin each received one nomination. Newly signed Alligator artists Joe Louis Walker and Curtis Salgado also received one nomination apiece, as did Keith Crossan, saxophonist of The Tommy Castro Band.

Many of the nominated Alligator artists will have releases in 2012, including new albums from Walker, Magness, Salgado, Burks, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials and Rick Estrin & The Nightcats.

The 33rd Annual Blues Music Awards will be presented in Memphis on May 10, 2012 at the Cook Convention Center. 

Artists and nominations are as follows:

TOMMY CASTRO:

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year

Band of the Year - The Tommy Castro Band

Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year - Tommy Castro Presents The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue - Live!!

Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year

KEITH CROSSAN (of THE TOMMY CASTRO BAND):

Instrumentalist - Horn

LIL' ED WILLIAMS / LIL' ED & THE BLUES IMPERIALS (New CD set for 2012 release):

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year

Band of the Year

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE:

Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year

Instrumentalist - Harmonica

JANIVA MAGNESS (New CD, Stronger For It, set for March 13, 2012 release):

Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year

MICHAEL "IRON MAN" BURKS (New CD set for 2012 release):

Gibson Guitar Award

RICK ESTRIN (OF RICK ESTRIN & THE NIGHTCATS) (New CD set for 2012 release):

Instrumentalist - Harmonica

MARCIA BALL:

Pinetop Perkins Piano Player

JOE LOUIS WALKER (New CD, Hellfire, set for January 31, 2012 release):

Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year

CURTIS SALGADO (New CD set for 2012 release):

Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year