Gabe Stillman – What Happens Next : Album review
This is the first time I’ve come across Gabe Stillman, and what an introduction it is. Recently signed to Gulf Coast Records, he arrives with the confidence of someone who sounds as though he has been making records for decades. In reality, Stillman has spent the last ten years honing his craft, and What Happens […]
GA-20 – Orphans : Album review
GA-20 return with Orphans, an eight-track collection of covers bringing together previous single releases, live favourites and tracks the band have long wanted to record but that did not fit on earlier albums. It also marks a new chapter, introducing Cody Nilsen on vocals and guitar and Josh Kiggans on drums to the band’s growing […]
JONATHON BOOGIE LONG, COURAGE IN THE CHAOS – album review
With his newest release, Jonathon “Boogie” Long delivers what may well be the most fully realised statement of his career to date. This is a collection steeped in hard-earned wisdom, where every note feels wrung from experience and every lyric carries the weight of miles travelled. Across twelve tracks, he moves beyond the tag of […]
PAUL FILIPOWICZ, BREAKWATER: Album review
Filipowicz is something of a throwback. He grew up in the Chicago of the mid-sixties and early seventies rubbing shoulders with Jimmy Dawkins, Son Seals, Otis Rush and Hound Dog Taylor. He lived and played in Texas as well and played extensively with Luther Allison. He has a long and successful solo career playing and […]
ROBBEN FORD, TWO SHADES OF BLUE: Album review
Robben Ford is a very well known, and admired guitarist. His singular sound has covered, blues, jazz, and folk, and he has played with household names including Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt. Two Shades of blues features a number of originals, and some choice covers, recorded by two different line ups either side […]
GARRET T WILLIE – BILL’S CAFÉ: Album review
Garret T Willie is a twenty-five-year-old guy from Alert Bay, British Columbia. Now, this is not where you would normally find a Blues artist, and especially not one so young. In his short career, he has opened for the likes of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Kingfish, John Fogerty, plus Joe Bonamassa. So even at this tender […]
B.B. KING – BLUES SUMMIT 100: Album review
CELEBRATING THE KING OF THE BLUES KTBA Records In all my years as a Blues fan and writer, I can honestly say that, hand on heart, I’ve never heard a collection of artists such as these record what, in my opinion, is the best album of 2026. There, I’ve said it. Thirty-two tracks spanning the life and career of one of, if not […]
TINSLEY ELLIS – LABOR OF LOVE: Album review
Alligator Records Labor Of Love finds Ellis circling back to the marrow of the music no frills, no polish, just wood, wire, and worn-in truth. Stripped of the studio sheen and big-band punch that coloured his recent work, this album stands as Ellis’s most soulful excavation of acoustic blues yet, raw, direct, and heavy with lived experience. It also marks […]
DUKE ROBILLARD – BLAST OFF: Album review
Nola Blue Records Duke Robillard has spent a lifetime immersed in the deep currents of American roots music, and his newest release, finds the veteran guitarist and blues historian sounding as vital and assured as ever. This is not an album concerned with reinvention or trend-hopping. Instead, Robillard leans fully into his strengths, delivering a richly played […]
ALBUM REVIEW: KIRK FLETCHER – KEEP ON PUSHING
Vizztone Alongside a career as a top sideman to the likes of Joe Bonamassa and Charlie Musselwhite, as well as stints with The Mannish Boys and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Kirk Fletcher has been steadily releasing solo albums since 1999. Keep On Pushing is his eighth solo album and his most accomplished yet. He began recording it in […]