>> Click to buy it now

Blues Matters 66 - Loaded with features and interviews with great acts. It’s the magazine to showcase the Blues!

Interviews – Kirsten Thien, Ben Poole, Eric Johnson, Joe Bonamassa on Rory Gallagher, John Verity, Mitch Laddie, Dion and more!
Feature – Blues Cruise, Blues In School #3, Blues In Spain #2, Howlin’ For Hubert, Raw Guitars and more.
Red Lick:- Top 20 Chart
Top 10:– By our good friend in the States Arnie Goodman

Plus the Magazine regulars: News, Feedback, CD Reviews, Gig Reviews, Festival Reviews, Blues Blood and more.

You can  also subscribe and renew by:

Phone >> +44 (0) 1656 745628 Office Hours Monday to Friday

>> Download the subscription form

Click the banner below for details of how to subscribe to the digital edition and to browse previous issues. Our Digital Edition is now only £22.50 for a years subscription

ERIC JOHNSON
Duncan Beattie talks to the Texas Tone Ranger

Multi-instrumentalist Eric Johnson has been hailed by Guitar Player magazine as “one of the most respected guitarists on the planet”.  While he is a highly proficient acoustic, lap steel, resonator, and bass guitarist as well as an accomplished pianist and vocalist, it is his electric guitar playing he is most renowned for. He has found universal praise from his peers and fans as one of the few musicians to achieve that rarity in music—a signature sound and style.  His sound, a unique combination of clean and dirty tones coupled with a piercing yet joyous violin-like finger vibrato, has been highly influential on a range of younger guitarists including Joe Bonamassa who has hailed Johnson as “one of the greatest guitar players of all time” and fellow interviewee from this magazine Mitch Laddie. Gaining early prominence as a session guitarist for the likes of Cat Stevens, Carole King, and Christopher Cross, Johnson then experienced commercial success with ‘Cliffs of Dover’ from his 1990’s platinum selling release “Ah Via Musicom”. The song also won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and later appeared in Guitar Hero 3 – Legends of Rock. In 1996 he was invited to join Joe Satriani and Steve Vai for the original and legendary G3 tour that garnered a worldwide audience with the platinum selling CD and DVD release. Then in 2004, Eric Clapton invited Johnson to perform at his first successful Crossroads Guitar Festival.  While he’s famous for his perfectionism, Eric Johnson has presented his most spontaneous and revealing music of his career with his latest album. ”Up Close,” released in 2010 features contributions from Jimmy Vaughan, Jonny Lang and Steve Miller amongst others.  Now at the age of 57, Johnson is ready to embark on his first full UK tour. In his soft, easy going Texas drawl, Johnson took time out from the Experience Hendrix Concert Tour to speak on a range of subjects, and provide some valuable advice to young guitarists.

Read More Here

Babajack’s new album
The much anticipated third album from this amazingly different band will not disappoint, due to be launched in March anyone catching them live will be able to purchase a copy early. BabaJack have managed to capture the vitality and originality of their live show onto this studio album. BabaJack are a trio with the component parts are greater than the sum of the three as they play off each other. The rearrangements on the album, these are not covers but great songs given the BabaJack treatment especially ‘Gallows Pole’. The self-penned tracks are clever combining strong lyrics and the glorious vocals of Becky Tate, and the deep warm tones of the double bass whether played by traditional plucking or using the horsehair bow delivered with French style and panache by Marc Miletitch another layer of sound is introduced by seductive blues guitar playing by Trevor Steger whether using traditional acoustic or self made wine box guitars. The other dimension that cannot be ignores is Becky’s percussive talents on the Cajon (Spanish for box) and Djembe an African hand drum. No track is the same they all strengths and a story to tell, if pushed for a couple that stand out it would have to be ‘Gallows Pole’, ‘Skin and Bone’ and the title track ‘Roosters Blues’. For the purist this may not be Blues, yet the very essence of the blues is found in every track, from instrumentation,  lyrics and the use of African beats taking the music back to the homelands of the slaves displaced in America that created our ‘traditional blues’! This is a five star recording and could well be the CD of 2012, why? They have set the standard very high. Blues Matters (issue 65)Read More

Jo Harman

 

is not a familiar name on the blues scene at the moment but without doubt she will soon be a household name on the circuit. She is packing out shows in prestigious venues in London and recently did support on The Average White Band tour by their request for her. Testament to her talent is the seasoned musicians that are willing to play in her band. All great kudos; for any newcomer to the blues scene, many artists take years to get to this stage. But as they say cream always floats to the top. Jo is now excited to be pursuing her own artistic direction.

BM: You started out in the pop arena, what made you change tracks and start on the Blues train? Did you get disillusioned with the pop business?

JH: Yeah, the ‘pop’ thing wasn’t planned, but when you’re fresh out of music school and a Grammy winning producer comes knocking on your door you’d be silly not to invite them in, wouldn’t you? And, also to be fair, it wasn’t a shallow pop thing, it was a serious project with well written songs – and simply amazing production values, as you’d expect. It was a fantastic experience and I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity. Like I said I was just out of music school so didn’t really have a clear idea then of who I was or what I wanted to be but once I did …well,  >> Read more

“I believe the songs on Voodoo Moon are the best I’ve written since the early 70′s.  It is modern blues rock but with more song orientation than normally associated with the genre.” Kim Simmonds

This is a strong statement from one of the architects of the British Blues movement, a movement that has and will continue to influence the world’s musical landscape.  But Simmonds knows of what he speaks.
After 45-years, thousands of concerts and millions of albums sold worldwide, Savoy Brown is one of the beacons of outstanding new, original music steeped in the history of blues and rock ’n’ roll.
Voodoo Moon speaks clearly to this history and the future of what great artists can do.  Simmonds woodsheds like a journeyman, always reaching for higher ground.  He can be found in his own backyard White Cottage studio most every morning when Savoy Brown is not on the road.
Simmonds is constantly writing songs and working on his playing – both electric and acoustic.  He has taken to solo performances since 1997 which is one the greatest of artistic challenges.  He has also been painting early in the new millennium which gives him another creative challenge.  But most of all, Simmonds challenges himself to continually be a productive artist.
“My motivation is to reach for that spirit I had as a young boy,” says Simmonds.  “I think that’s always good to hold onto.  Constantly practicing, writing and playing live - raw, naked in a sense - brings creativity and perspective, as well as inspiration.”
Begun at White Cottage Studio in 2010, finished and mastered earlier this year at SubCat studio near his adopted hometown of Oswego, New York, Voodoo Moon reflects a lifetime of living and loving the blues.  His new, local line-up of talent – Joe Whiting (vocals/sax), Pat DeSalvo (bass) and Garnet Grimm (drums) – rehearse faithfully; and it shows.  Fans and promoters report this is one of, if not the best live concert versions of the band and of new music in the ever-evolving life of Savoy Brown.

Voodoo Moon has the magic mojo that shines for all to see and hear. 

Selected exclusive UK tour dates in April

www.savoybrown.com

URGENT NEWS ON BM AVAILABILITY IN SHOPS

We have been advised by one of our distributors WWMD that they have been instructed by their parent company NOT to supply any HMV stores with any magazines/products with immediate effect and this comes after ten years of trading with them.

This means that unless their situation is resolved you will not be able to buy Blues Matters in any HMV or Waterstones stores…….HOWEVER YOU CAN NOW GET BLUES MATTERS IN 351 NEW OUTLETS ACROSS THE COUNTRY – click here for the list. These outlets mean that we are now available in parts of the country where we have not been before so there is good news at the end of this.

Of course you can always >> SUBSCRIBE to ensure you get your copy safely

Don’t forget your feedback to: editor@bluesmatters.com / or use the ‘contact us’ page on the website.

We have a new Blues Matters shop for Subscriptions Back issues and Cds here > >>shop

We also have  a forum here >> Blues Matters Forum Please register and start talking to us!

First Lady Michelle Obama welcomes music students to the White House before a blues workshop

First Lady Michelle Obama welcomes music students to the White House before a blues workshop with Keb Mo, Shemekia Copeland, and Troy Andrews.