Music To Listen To

Lee Oskar has a new CD (Feb. 2022), Passages Through Music: Never Forget, inspired by his family's story. His mother and his aunt were Holocaust survivors who at the end of WWII ended up in Denmark as refugees. Lots of Oskar's great melodic sense, and the liner book is thought-provoking and inspirational. Available from lots of sellers, but best bet is the link on the Lee Oskar website. Both Oskar and the justice non-profit established by his late aunt are worth all musicians' support.

Who doesn't love "free" stuff? When I can, I sign up for Dennis Gruenling's Saturday Q&A Zoom sessions. Registrants are entered into Dennis' drawing after each Q&A for door prizes. Recently I got an email from Dennis that I'd be receiving a copy of a Rod Piazza CD. I let Dennis know that I already had that particular CD in my collection, so after checking to make sure I didn't already have it, Dennis sent me a copy of The Nick Moss Band's 2019 "Lucky Guy!" CD, featuring on harp, of course, Dennis. continue reading...

"Oh Baby" Lauren Williams on Harp.

https://youtu.be/5FBxjWYhjOE

Adam Gussow's Post on Lauren's Tone & Playing

https://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/5481741.htm

Bought a copy of Charlie Musselwhite's latest, Mississippi Son. Really nice stuff, with some originals of Musselwhite's, and some classics, going back to Charlie Patton. Musselwhite is at his most relaxed, and makes it all sound deceptively easy. I had the privilege of catching up with Musselwhite when he visited The Harmonica Experience blues harmonica camp in Clarksdale last month, and his joyful enthusiam for not only music, but life itself, is the same today as it was when I first got to meet him at a show in Palo Alto CA 54 years ago!

Even if you know a whole lot about Paul Butterfield, there's still more to learn from Neil Warren's interview of writer and harp fan Tom Ellis. Check it out at https://happyhourharmonicapodcast.buzzsprout.com/995536/10692734-paul-bu... (Great links in the show notes, too.)

I was in Clarksdale Mississippi last week (for the first time in five years), and had fun chatting with Deak Harp. (www.deakharp.com). Piicked up his 2020 CD "Clarksdale Breakdown." Harmonica doesn't get any grittier than this. Great stuff.

Picked up a vinyl copy from a secondhand record shop.  Listening on an old Pioneer PL112D turntable hooked up to an old amp and not so good speakers and completely blown away by this album.  

Blues Blast Magazine sent out an ad for a new Blues Album for a band called Mississippi Heat.  I normally ignore ads but somehow, I got suckered in, and clicked on the streaming option.  What I heard was some great harmonica played by Pierre Lacocque.  I don’t know the man, but before the day was over, I purchased several of their albums.  Pierre Lacocque has a fantastic Chicago blues sound. 

https://mississippiheat.lnk.to/MadeleineNE

Brian in Tennessee

Spurred by a recording of "Summertime" by Mark Hummel, I just bought a 2-CD set of wonderful stuff not previously in my music library: "Still Here and Gone, 1993-2007; Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowouts." Live recordings from the earlier years of the Blowouts, on this set featuring a number of artists who are no longer with us. William Clarke, James Harman, Lazy Lester, Paul DeLay, Johnny Dyer, Carey Bell and Sam Myers. And a few who, fortunately, still are. Magic Dick, Rick Estrin, Lee Oskar and Billy Boy Arnold. And, of course, Mark. Good listening! continue reading...

This one popped up at random on my playlist from my own music library. Some great performances by Howlin' Wolf, backed up by Brits that include Clapton, Watts, Starr, Winwood, and a host of others. Most interesting was something I hadn't looked at before. While the Wolf plays harmonica on some cuts, most of the harp playing is by Jeffrey Carp, a Chicagoan who played with a lot of Chicago blues greats, and toured with Earl Hooker for a bit. Sadly, Carp died of drowning in a boating accident while on vacation in 1973. He was only 24. continue reading...