News

MARCIA BALL'S ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS DEBUTS AT
#5 ON THE BILLBOARD BLUES CHART

 

Alligator Records recording artist Marcia Ball's new CD, Roadside Attractions, debuted at #5 on The Billboard Blues Chart. All five of Ball's Alligator releases have debuted in the top five on the blues chart.

 

Last week, the CD was the #1 Most Added Track at Americana radio, and debuted at #25 on the Americana chart, representing her highest charting Americana debut of her career.

 

NPR Music writer Marc Silver, who selected Ball's Everybody's Looking For The Same Thing as a Song Of the Day, says, "The song should encourage America to create a Roots Music Hall of Fame and make Ball a charter member. Since her first recording in 1978 - and most likely since she began playing piano at age 5 - she's sung soulful, New Orleans-tinged music that's great fun to hear."

 

Ball is touring extensively in support of the CD, and will make her 32nd appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. She will perform in Poland in October. Tour dates are below:

 

4/6 -- World Cafe Live; Philadelphia, PA
4/7 -- B.B. King's Blues Club; New York, NY
4/8 -- Rams Head On Stage; Annapolis, MD
4/9 -- The State Theatre; Falls Church, VA
4/13 -- The Triple Door; Seattle, WA
4/14 -- The Upstage; Port Townsend, WA
4/15 -- Cozmic Pizza; Eugene, OR
4/17 -- Aladdin Theater; Portland. OR, Paul deLay Scholarship Benefit Concert
4/19 -- Yoshi's; San Francisco, CA
4/20 -- Sierra Nevada Brewing Company; Chico, CA
4/21 -- Kuumbwa Jazz Center; Santa Cruz, CA
4/22 -- Fox Theatre; Redwood City, CA. Also appearing: Tommy Castro
4/23 -- The Uptown Theatre; Napa, CA. Also appearing: Tommy Castro
4/28 -- New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Gala; New Orleans, LA
4/30 -- The Ogden Museum of Southern Art; New Orleans, LA
5/4 -- Wednesday at the Square; New Orleans, LA
5/4 -- Snug Harbor; New Orleans, LA
5/6 -- Maple Leaf Bar; New Orleans, LA
5/7 -- New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival New Orleans, LA
5/8 -- Sunday In The Park; Baton Rouge, LA
5/12 -- The Ark; Ann Arbor, MI,
5/13 -- Old Town School of Folk Music; Chicago, IL
5/14 -- McAuley Performing Arts Center; Cincinnati, OH
5/15 -- Beachland Ballroom; Cleveland, OH
5/19 -- River Ranch Institute for the Arts; Lafayette, LA
5/21 -- Blind Willie McTell Blues Festival; Thomson, GA
5/28 -- The Acoustic Cafe Amphitheater; Haleyville, AL
6/10 -- Granada Theater; Dallas, TX
6/24 -- Loose Wheels Texas; Denison, TX
6/25 -- Riverfront Blues Festival; Fort Smith, AR
7/2 -- Levitt Pavilion; Bethlehem, PA
7/9 -- Sheldon Theater; Red Wing, MN
8/2 -- KJJZ Wine & Jazz Series; Hollywood, CA
8/3 -- Belly Up Tavern; Solana Beach, CA
8/4 -- Canyon Club; Agoura Hills, CA
8/5 -- The Coach House; San Juan Capistrano, CA
8/7 -- Rancho Nicasio; Nicasio, CA
8/11 -- Vail Jazz Festival; Vail, CO
8/12 -- Louisville Street Faire; Louisville, CO
8/13 -- Pearl Street Blues Festival; Denver, CO
8/27 -- Minnesota State Fair; St. Paul, MN
8/28 -- Minnesota State Fair; St. Paul, MN
9/10 -- Music Fest By The Bay; Texas City, TX
10/8 -- Rawa Blues Festival; Katowice, POLAND

10/16 -- Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival; New Orleans, LA

 

Click the image to watch Baltimore Sun writer and WTMD DJ Sam Sessa interview Marcia in her Austin, TX home studio.

 

 

 

CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL CELEBRATES ALLIGATOR 

RECORDS' 40TH ANNIVERSARY

 

The City of Chicago will honor Alligator Records' 40th Anniversary with a no-holds-barred celebration on Sunday, June 12, 2011, as part of this year's Chicago Blues Festival. Legendary Chicago blues guitarist/vocalist Lonnie Brooks and his band will be joined throughout the evening by some very special guests, including guitarist/vocalist Michael "Iron Man" Burks, harmonica master/vocalist Rick Estrin, pianist/vocalist Ann Rabson, and guitarist/vocalist Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater.

The All-Star concert, which closes out the Chicago Blues Festival on the Petrillo Main Stage, will be preceded by a set from vocal powerhouse Shemekia Copeland, who began her career as an Alligator artist.

On February 22 the label released The Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection to widespread critical and popular acclaim. The two-CDs-for-the-price-of-one set received a glowing four-star review from Rolling Stone, and label founder and president Bruce Iglauer was recently featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, in addition to even more national and regional coverage, including a two-part, two-hour interview and feature on XM/Sirius B.B. King's Bluesville Channel 74.

To read a full history of the label, click Alligator Records.

Below is a short reminiscence from Iglauer:
When I created Alligator Records, the very first promo piece to promote that very first Hound Dog Taylor album was headed "Genuine Houserockin' Music." That became our slogan, and we wear it proudly today. "Genuine" because the music we record is deeply rooted in the blues tradition (even when it pushes the standard definition of blues) and is created by musicians who have honed their songs not on synthesizers in their bedrooms, but in front of real audiences, responding to the emotional needs of their listeners. "House" instead of "theatre" or "arena" or "stadium", because our music is ultimately intimate, even when it's big and loud. It's not meant to be presented. It's meant to be shared between the musicians and the audience, like everyone at Florence's shared the music with Hound Dog Taylor. And "Rockin'" because it's designed to move you. Most of Alligator's records will move your feet or your body, but we've tried to make records that will move that other part of you - your soul. Sometimes that can mean music that cleanses your inner pain by pulling it out of you, the "hurts so good" that is so special to the blues. And sometimes it just means the pure release and fun of musicians pouring their energy into a great groove.

Over the forty years, our definition of "Genuine Houserockin' Music" has expanded to include not only pure blues artists, but also musicians and songwriters who have taken the spirit of the blues and created their own sounds and styles, sometimes called roots rock or rockabilly or front porch soul or, in a few cases, gospel, the ultimate soul-rockin' music. But our mission has remained the same - to record honest, blues-infused music that moves the feet and soothes the soul, and hopefully makes you feel as good as a Sunday afternoon at Florence's Lounge.

 

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ALLIGATOR PRESIDENT BRUCE IGLAUER TO APPEAR ON

SIRIUS/XM RADIO

 

Alligator Records founder and president Bruce Iglauer will join B.B. King's Bluesville host Bill Wax for a special two-part interview aring on SIRIUS/XM Satellite Radio channel 74. Iglauer will discuss the label's 40-year history and play some of his favorite tracks. The special airs as follows:

Part 1:

March 13 -  2:00pm Eastern

March 16 - 12:00pm Eastern

March 19 --12:00am Eastern

 

Part 2:

March 20 - 2:00pm Eastern

March 23 - 12:00pm Eastern

March 26 --12:00am Eastern

 

JJ GREY & MOFRO ANNOUNCE UK TOUR DATES

Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/songwriter JJ Grey and his band Mofro have announced dates for a tour of the UK. Grey is coming off a wildly successful solo tour and, prior to that, the most successful full band U.S. tour of Grey's career.

 

Grey's latest album, Georgia Warhorse, which came out on CD in August, 2010, has just been issued on 180-gram vinyl. MOJO declared, "JJ breaks out with this album for Alligator. Georgia Warhorse makes an immediate impact with every track dipping back into the swamp for inspiration." UNCUT said, "With a voice as tough and gritty as the lumberyard he used to work in, Grey's take on Southern boogie, swamp rock, soul and Rhythm & Blues is proudly old fashioned with echoes of Tony Joe White. Superb". Grey has been featured on BBC Radio 2 (Bob Harris and Paul Jones) and in Q, Guitarist, Total Guitar, Classic Rock and many other UK publications.

 

Debuting in 2001 with the CD Blackwater, following up in 2004 with Lochloosa, Grey steadily built his audience one live performance at a time. Both albums (reissued by Alligator in 2007) were released under the name Mofro, a name the young Grey chose to describe his music and sound while still working his day job at a lumberyard. He has since used the word to name his band of ever-changing, world-class players. The albums were met with critical acclaim, including "one of the 10 best R&B records of the year and one of the best of the decade" at Amazon.com for Blackwater and "one of the 10 best releases of the year" in Rolling Stone for Lochloosa.

 

In 2007, with his first Alligator release, Country Ghetto, Grey reached an even larger audience, doubling both his album sales and his concert attendance. 2008's Orange Blossoms built on that energy, with even more fans, radio stations and critics coming on board. With the release of Georgia Warhorse and continued world touring, Grey is set to continue his breakout year. Commenting on his musical future, he says, "Life just makes itself up right in front of me and I just roll with it. All I know is to have the family I have, see the places I've been, meet the people I've met and to get to play music with some of the most talented folks around has got to make me the luckiest man alive."

 

The UK tour dates are as follows:

Monday 9th May
The Tunnels, Bristol
Arches 31 & 32, Lower Station Approach Road, Bristol, BS1 6QF
http://www.thetunnelsbristol.co.uk/
Box Office: 0117 929 9008

 

Tuesday 10th May
(support Simon McBride)
The Robin 2, Wolverhampton
26-28 Mount Pleasant, Bilston, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV14 7LJ
http://www.therobin.co.uk
Box Office: 01902 401211

 

Wednesday 11th May
(support Simon McBride)
O2 Academy Sheffield, Sheffield
37-43 Arundel Gate, Sheffield, S1 2PN
http://www.o2academysheffield.co.uk/
Box Office: 0844 477 2000

 

Thursday 12th May
O2 Academy Islington
O2 Academy Islington, London
N1 Centre, 16 Parkfield Street, Islington, London, N1 0PS
http://www.o2academyislington.co.uk/
Box Office: 0844 477 2000

 

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"The Sweetest Thing" More Info

Making of "Georgia Warhorse" Documentary More Info

MARCIA BALL'S ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS SET FOR MARCH 29 RELEASE

 "Based in Austin and steeped in New Orleans, Marcia Ball plumbs the richness of both musical meccas. From rootsy swamp pop and blues-drenched boogie woogie to languid ballads, Ball is equally comfortable with brash roadhouse romps and caressing love songs."                                                                                                                --USA Today

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball's new CD, Roadside Attractions, will be released on March 29, 2011. Ball's groove-laden New Orleans R&B, heart-wrenching ballads and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans all over the world. Her music mixes equal parts simmering soul fervor and rollicking Crescent City piano. Over the course of her 30-year career, Ball's infectious, intelligent and deeply emotional songs have won her a loud and loyal fan base. Roadside Attractions is Ball's fifth release for Alligator, and twelfth overall. Three of her previous four CDs have received Grammy nominations. Ball has also collected seven Blues Music Awards since 2001, including the 2009 "Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Of The Year" award, and was voted "Female Blues Artist Of The Year" and "Most Outstanding Musician--Piano" in the 2009 Living Blues Readers' Poll. Ball was inducted into the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

Recording in Austin and in Nashville, and produced by famed songwriter, musician and producer Gary Nicholson (Delbert McClinton, Wynonna Judd, T. Graham Brown), Roadside Attractions finds Marcia Ball at a creative peak. Ball wrote or co-wrote every song -- something she had never done over the course of her forty-year career. Throughout the proceedings, her stellar musicians add power and nuance to the music, perfectly complementing Ball's expert piano playing, slice-of-life lyrics and melodic, storytelling vocals.

Born in Orange, Texas in 1949 to a family whose female members all played piano, Ball grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, right across the border from Texas. She began taking piano lessons at age five, playing old Tin Pan Alley tunes from her grandmother's collection. From her aunt, Marcia heard more modern and popular music. But it wasn't until she was 13 that Marcia discovered the power of soul music. One day in 1962, she sat amazed while Irma Thomas delivered the most spirited performance the young teenager had ever seen.

In 1970, Ball set out for San Francisco. Her car broke down in Austin, and while waiting for repairs she fell in love with the city and decided to stay. It wasn't long before she was performing in the city's clubs with a progressive country band called Freda And The Firedogs, while beginning to perfect her songwriting skills. It was around this time that she delved deeply into the music of the great New Orleans piano players, especially Professor Longhair. "Once I found out about Professor Longhair," recalls Ball, "I knew I had found my direction."

When the band broke up in 1974, Marcia launched her solo career, signing to Capitol Records and debuting with the country-rock album Circuit Queen in 1978. Discovering and honing her own sound, she released six critically acclaimed titles on the Rounder label during the 1980s and 1990s. Her recordings and performances received glowing reviews in major music publications, and Marcia was featured on leading television and radio programs, including Austin City Limits and NPR's Fresh Air and Piano Jazz.

Since the release of her Alligator debut Presumed Innocent in 2001, Ball has received more popular and critical acclaim than ever before. 2003's So Many Rivers continued the push forward, with Billboard declaring, "Ball is a consummate pro -- a killer pianist, a great singer and songwriter. Powerful. Righteous." 2005's Live! Down The Road received equally impressive praise. The New Orleans Times-Picayune said simply, "Bayou boogie has a queen and her name is Marcia Ball." Billboard said, "Peace, Love & BBQ is a welcome ray of sunshine. This is a potent batch of tunes, highlighted by Ball's keyboard mastery."

Living the life she loves, Marcia has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. "Forty years of roadside attractions and the life of roaming ‘round has never worn thin," she proudly says. "I love it when the wheels start rolling, when the band starts playing, when the crowds start dancing." Now, with Roadside Attractions and a long list of high profile tour dates, Ball will bring her blend of Texas roadhouse boogie and Louisiana swamp blues to fans around the globe. "What's not to love about Marcia Ball?" asked The Austin Chronicle. "Scrumptious, Southern-fried boogies, blues, and ballads with the infectious street beat of New Orleans at the core." Clearly, in whatever city she performs or wherever her songs play, there is no better roadside attraction than the foot-stomping, soul-stirring music of the great Marcia Ball.

 

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More Info

More Info

More Info

Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Anders Osborne won two OffBeat magazine "Best Of The Beat Awards" in a ceremony held in New Orleans on Friday, January 28.

Osbone took home the award for Best Roots Rock Album for his recent Alligator CD American Patchwork, as well as the honor for Best Guitarist.

In his review of the CD, OffBeat writer John Swenson wrote, "American Patchwork is the album Osborne fans have been waiting for. The record is a focused and tuneful triumph. Osborne's gifts as a guitar player are significant. His voice is so emotionally intense it feels like an explosion. He writes with remarkable eloquence...This is the living definition of great art."

Osborne is currently taking a break from touring with his own group to play a series of dates with the Voice Of The Wetlands All-Stars, a band that includes Tab Benoit, Jumpin'  Johnny Sansone, Cyril Neville, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, and Waylon Thibodeaux.

 

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ALLIGATOR RECORDS CELEBRATES 40TH ANNIVERSARY WITH SIX RELEASES ON FEBRUARY 22!

 

Alligator Records, "the leading record label for the blues" according to The New York Times, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2011. From Hound Dog Taylor to Koko Taylor, from Albert Collins to Johnny Winter, from Shemekia Copeland to Anders Osborne and JJ Grey & Mofro, Alligator's roster (and catalog of almost 300 titles) reads like a "Who's Who" of modern blues. On February 22, Alligator will release six titles to continue the year-long celebration.

The February 22 releases are:

CD:

The Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection - 2-disc set (lovingly remastered by Alligator founder and president Bruce Iglauer) featuring highlights from the label's history. Songs on the two-for-the-price-of-one collection were chosen by fans (through an online poll) and hand-picked by Iglauer.

 

 

 

CD & Vinyl Reissue:

Showdown! - the Grammy-winning 1985 release from Johnny Copeland, Robert Cray and Albert Collins (remastered with bonus track).

 

 

 

 

Vinyl LP Reissues:

Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers - reissue of Alligator's very first LP from back in 1971; remastered with bonus track.

 

 

 

 

Alone & Acoustic from Buddy Guy & Junior Wells (first time on vinyl in the US).

 

 

 

 

Georgia Warhorse, the 2010 release from JJ Grey & Mofro (first time on vinyl).

 

 

 

 

 

In Bruce Iglauer's own words:

When I created Alligator Records, the very first promo piece to promote that very first Hound Dog Taylor album was headed "Genuine Houserockin' Music." That became our slogan, and we wear it proudly today. "Genuine" because the music we record is deeply rooted in the blues tradition (even when it pushes the standard definition of blues) and is created by musicians who have honed their songs not on synthesizers in their bedrooms, but in front of real audiences, responding to the emotional needs of their listeners. "House" instead of "theatre" or "arena" or "stadium", because our music is ultimately intimate, even when it's big and loud. It's not meant to be presented. It's meant to be shared between the musicians and the audience, like everyone at Florence's shared the music with Hound Dog Taylor. And "Rockin'" because it's designed to move you. Most of Alligator's records will move your feet or your body, but we've tried to make records that will move that other part of you - your soul. Sometimes that can mean music that cleanses your inner pain by pulling it out of you, the "hurts so good" that is so special to the blues. And sometimes it just means the pure release and fun of musicians pouring their energy into a great groove.

Over the forty years, our definition of "Genuine Houserockin' Music" has expanded to include not only pure blues artists, but also musicians and songwriters who have taken the spirit of the blues and created their own sounds and styles, sometimes called roots rock or rockabilly or front porch soul or, in a few cases, gospel, the ultimate soul-rockin' music. But our mission has remained the same - to record honest, blues-infused music that moves the feet and soothes the soul, and hopefully makes you feel as good as a Sunday afternoon at Florence's Lounge.

For a full history of Alligator, please go to:

http://www.alligator.com/index.cfm?section=story

 

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CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE APPEARING ON NATIONALLY SYNDICATED RADIO PROGRAMS eTOWN AND WORLD CAFE

Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite, whose new CD THE WELL received a Grammy nomination, will appear on the nationally syndicated radio program eTown the week of January 19 - 25. Fans can go to www.etown.org to find their local station or listen to a podcast of the show.

 

Musselwhite also appeared on NPR's World Cafe on Thursday, January 20. The show will be available for streaming at http://www.npr.org/programs/world-cafe/ beginning Friday, January 21.

 

 

JJ GREY & MOFRO TO RECORD LIVE DVD IN ATLANTA

JJ Grey & Mofro will record their very first live DVD on Saturday, January 22 at The Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. The DVD is scheduled for release later this year. In August 2010, Grey released GEORGIA WARHORSE, featuring the hit single The Sweetest Thing (a duet with reggae superstar Toots Hibbert). On February 22, Alligator, as part of its 40th anniversary celebration, will release GEORGIA WARHORSE on 180g vinyl. Grey is in the midst of a 16-date tour with the band, and will immediately follow with a 17-date solo tour of the West and East Coasts and the Midwest.

 

 

 

SHEMEKIA COPELAND TO PERFORM IN AFGHANISTAN

On April 17, award-winning blues singer Shemekia Copeland will head to Afghanistan to perform for U.S. troops as part of the Bluzapalooza tour. The 14-day tour will travel to Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Qatar with most of the time being spent at forward operating bases within the war zone of Afghanistan. This is Copeland's second trip to the region. In 2008 she performed for troops in Iraq and Kuwait.

 

Copeland's latest CD, DELUXE EDITION, featuring the greatest songs from her four Alligator albums, was released on January 18.

 

ANDERS OSBORNE RECEIVES SEVEN OFFBEAT AWARD NOMINATIONS

Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Anders Osborne received seven OffBeat (the magazine of Louisiana music and culture) "Best Of The Beat" Award nominations, including Artist Of The Year, Album Of The Year, and Song Of The Year. Osborne's 2010 Alligator Records CD American Patchwork has been universally praised as a major highlight of Osborne's career. OffBeat calls the CD "the living definition of great art."

Osborne received nominations in the following categories:

Artist Of The Year

Album Of The Year - American Patchwork

Best Roots Rock Artist

Best Roots Rock Album - American Patchwork

Song Of The Year - On The Road To Charlie Parker

Songwriter Of The Year

Best Guitarist

The Awards ceremony will be held in New Orleans at Generation Hall on January 28, 2011.

 

ANDERS OSBORNE'S MEET ME IN NEW MEXICO TO BE FEATURED ON THE ABC TELEVISION PROGRAM NO ORDINARY FAMILY ON JANUARY 4

In other Anders Osborne news, his song Meet Me In New Mexico, from American Patchwork, will be featured in the January 4 episode of the ABC television series No Ordinary Family. Paste magazine calls the CD "mind-boggingly great."