050 - Roomful of Blues – Raisin' A (Great) Ruckus, You'll Love It [29:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview Chris Vachon of Roomful of Blues about their new CD Raisin’ A Ruckus. Listen to the Podcast to hear the interview and music of Roomful of Blues.

Duke Robillard and AL Copley started Roomful of Blues back in 1967. Even though both have long since left the band, Roomful of Blues still carries on. With around fifty personnel changes over the past forty years and fourteen records, lucky for us they just can’t stop. Chris Vachon came into the group around 1991. The first record he appears on is the 1994 Dance All Night.
Chris started out listening to his sister’s records featuring people like Johnny Cash and Roger Miller. When he was around seven the Beatles hit the scene and that really sparked his interest in music. He start playing guitar as a result of The Beatles. Then when he was around twelve he heard B.B. King’s Live at the Regal. He realized the blues is really what he liked. He kept learning more about the blues while continuing to play his guitar. For several years he tried getting into Roomful of Blues and in 1991 his dream came true. He is now one of the members that have been in the band the longest. Chris is one of those rare guitarist that can be part of the band without having to be out front. He feels his part is no more important than anyone else’s. He likes having a lot of different people in the band that can do solos because it takes some of the pressure off of him. Over the years Roomful of Blues has moved from a blues band with a brass section to more of a big band, jump, and swing sound.

Roomful of Blues Raisin’ A Ruckus is the newest cd by the band. This record is a fun upbeat swing collection of songs. This is not one of my favorite styles of music but when I hear Roomful of Blues play these songs I just fall in love with it. These guys can take the big band sound and put a lot of power behind it. These guys really rock. From the first song you start hopping and that big smile comes on your face. This is music to have fun to, you just can’t help it. Starting with “Every Dog Has Its Day” and “Lower on Your List of Priorities” the CD kicks off with the full band giving it’s all. Mark Earley’s song “Talkin’ To You Eye To Eye” has a good arrangement with some nice change ups. “Big Mamou” is more of a fifties rock sound with some great sax playing. Bet this is a song everyone joins in on when played live. The keyboardist, Travis Colby, wrote “Round It Down”. The lyrics are about how you think your going to get paid a certain amount but round it down because it probably will be less. Chris does a cool guitar solo in it too. “I Would Be A Sinner” is the first song you get to catch your breath on. “Black Night” is a slow blues song with very little brass. It’s easy to see what kind of music “Boogie Woogie Country Girl” is by the title. As you would expect there is some good piano playing from Travis Colby. For me, “Solid Jam” is one of the best songs on Raisin’ A Ruckus. The song is very solid and Dave Howard’s vocals really work good on this. Chris uses a wah wah pedal on his guitar that is great. He seemed a little apologetic about using it but is takes what would be a good song and makes it great. “Sweet Petite” is a neat swing song.

Track 11 “While I Can” is a duet with Dave Howard and Bethie Vachon (Chris’s wife). Dave is doing a good job singing on this CD but bringing in a female singer gives a real nice change in sound. Hopefully on their next CD she will sing two or three songs. This may sound strange but this song has kind of a country sound to it. Every time I hear the opening lines of “Raisin’ A Ruckus” it reminds me of Ethel Waters singing “Having a Heat Wave”. It’s just the opening line that is similiar but it really gets me into the song. “Raisin’ A Ruckus” is a really cool instrumental that Chris felt had kind of a gypsy sound to it. He also said they play this song almost every night. “Life Has Been Good” is about the day Chris and Bethie got married. This is a very beautiful, old time jazzy, slow, dance song. They really captured the feeling of being at a wedding reception, perhaps in the 40’s. It is a wonderful song.
The song “New Orleans” you may remember from The Blues Brothers 2000 movie. I went wild as soon as I heard “New Orleans”. It was on one of the very first records I ever bought which was Paul Revere & the Raiders 1966 LP Just Like Us. This is a great song no matter who records it. Chris said they have played this song almost every night as an encore since 1991 when he joined the band. Needless to say they’ve really got this song down. Actually Roomful of Blues has every song down really good. There are 8 originals and 6 covers on Raisin’ A Ruckus. Since I’m not very familiar with swing or big band music I can’t give you much of a comparison between their version and the originals. What I would like you to know is this was a really enjoyable CD for me to listen to. If you’re like me you may only want a few CDs of this style of music and Roomful of Blues’ Raisin’ A Ruckus is definantly one to include in your collectiont. Most of the songs are very upbeat, fun songs I was able to get into very quickly. If you already like this kind of music you will love this CD as well as their last two widely acclaimed CD’s on Alligator Records. Roomful of Blues is on tour right now so be sure to go to Alligator Records website to see if they are coming to a stage near you. You can be sure I’ll be there when they come to St. Louis for one of my new favorite bands.

Songs played in the podcast:
1. Round It Down
2. Solid Jam
3. Raisin’ A Ruckus
4. Life Has Been Good

Clips of “Lower On Your List of Priorities” and “While I Can”

2008 Raisin’ a Ruckus - 2005 Standing Room Only - 2003 That’s Right

Roomful of Blues Website

Roomful of Blues MySpace

Buy Roomful of Blues’ CD at their website

Buy Roomful of Blues’ CD at Alligator Records Website

Check out other Alligator recording artists like Eddy Clearwater, Michael Burks, & Smokin’ Joe Kubek. New CD’s by JJ Grey & MOFRO and Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials. Check out who is coming to a stage near you.

Thanks to Chris Vachon for taking time from his very busy day to do this interview.

Thanks to Bruce Iglauer at Alligator Records for all his help setting this up.

Thanks to James McGee at Blues in the Night podcast for more great blues & letting me know there was a problem with my feed.

Thanks to Dave Jackson at the School of Podcast for fixing my web feed.

 

 049 - Albert Castiglia - These Are The Days [34:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview Albert Castiglia about his new CD These are the Days. Listen to the Podcast with the interview and music of Albert Castiglia. His songs “Bad Year Blues” and “Godfather of the Blues” should be on major rotation on any blues station.
*

*
Albert Castiglia (pronounced “ka-STEEL-ya”) was born in 1969 in New York and at age 5 his family moved to Florida. At age 12 his uncle gave him a Bob Dylan songbook and he started playing guitarl by learning those songs. He listened to Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton and others of that time. After hearing Clapton’s live record Just One Night Albert started getting into the blues by looking into the original artists whose songs Clapton was perforning. From there he found Muddy Water’s Hard Again and really liked his voice. This really got Albert hooked on the blues. He kept playing guitar even through college and at night he’d do gigs. A friend of his knew Junior Wells and asked Albert if he would like to go to the show. Albert said “sure”. Before the night was over, Albert Castiglia was on stage playing with Junior Wells, his future boss. A few months later he was asked to fill in for a few gigs, then full time. Albert said he learned a lot from Junior Wells like having a stage presence, not just playing the guitar but having a relationship with the audience. Junior Wells also taught him how to lead a band even to the point that some of Albert mannerisms in queuing the band were from Junior Wells.
*

*
After the passing of Junior Wells, Albert Castiglia toured with Sandra Hall then played lead guitar on her record Miss Red Riding Hood. This was produced by our friend Eddy Clearwater who Albert became good friends with. To hear the podcast I did on Eddy Clearwater click here.
*

*
In 2002 Albert took the big leap into a solo career his releases are:
2002 Burn
2003 Springing The Blues Live At The Seawalk
2005 The Bittersweet Sessions – with Graham Drout
2006 A Stone’s Throw
2008 These are the Days
*
Albert Castiglia decries These are the Days as a mix of different styles of music, American post war blues, contemporary stuff, and acoustic music. He says his music is a mix of everything he has heard, rock, jazz, and blues. They have all had an influence on him. The first track “Bad Year Blues” caught my attention right away with good slid guitar and piano. The lyrics are great. They are about how everything is going wrong and there is just 12 more months to go. This is a great way to start off the CD with an upbeat song everyone can relate to. Albert doesn’t stop there, the next song is “He’s Got All the Whiskey”, again an upbeat song with a great guitar solo. Albert sings about all these things a person has but they won’t give him any of them. The next song takes us down to something slower and more heartfelt. “Loan Me a Dime” was made famous by Boz Scaggs and Duane Allman. Albert said he does this in his shows but was reluctant to release it on a record since the other version is such a classic. I agree it is a classic that no one can do a better than Duane Allman . Unfortunately Duane Allman’s version of “Loan Me a Dime” does not seem to get much airplay. There may be a large audience out there that doesn’t own it or know this song. I never bought the record for many years because I just didn’t remember the song when in the store or did not want to buy a record for just one song. If you buy this CD and you should, you will get a lot of great songs and this bonus “Loan Me a Dime”. Albert does a really good job on both vocals and guitar. The song is six not thirteen minutes long. Albert jokingly said this is for the people with attention disorder (that’s what I need).
*

*
“Godfather of the Blues” is a song about Albert’s old boss Junior Wells. Even without the lyrics this would still be a great song. Hearing about Junior Wells just makes it better. There is good harp playing Junior Wells would be proud of and good guitar playing creating good old blues. This is one of those songs that I always play a second time. “Celebration” is a nice acoustic song and it is where the title of the CD comes from. “Night Time Is the Right Time” is a Nappy Brown song. Albert does a good job of the song but I’ve heard this song to many times before. “Catfish” is a Bob Dylan song about the pitcher Catfish Hunter who went from the Kansas City Athletics to the New York Yankees. As Bob usually does, he tell a great story, but his version (probably a demo), is too slow and boring (on Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3). Albert is a big sports fan and especially baseball so this is why he chose this song. His version is still slow but much better than Bob’s with good guitar playing and a fuller sound. “Another Bloody Day” is about this crazy war we’re still stuck in. Starting off with a snare drum like you would hear at a military march, Albert goes into some good lyrics about the war and Washington’s bad design making. This is a good rocker that should get people thinking now, if only he could get the right people thinking. “Twister” is kind of a New Orleans sound about a girl that is twisting around on the dance floor with everyone but her husband but, at the end of the night she goes home with him. This is a good up beat fun song you’ll enjoy it. The last song is a blues instrumental “Blues For Evan”. Albert shows off some of his fine slid guitar talent. I really liked this CD but kind of hope Albert puts a few more of his own songs on his next CD. Out of the eleven songs Albert wrote only five. For me those are the strongest songs on the CD, you do get a great version of “Loan Me a Dime” and “He’s Got All the Whiskey”. If you don’t have Nappy Brown’s version of “Night Time Is the Right Time” this is an added bonus as well as the Dylan song that keeps growing on me more and more. Blues Leaf Records should be very happy with this really cool CD. For me, just having “Bad Year Blues”, “Godfather of the Blues”, and “Another Bloody Day” is good enough to buy These are the Days. Everything else is a bonus. If you like the songs in the podcast please buy These are the Days by Albert Castiglia and don’t forget to see him in concert.
*

*
Albert Castiglia Website
Go to buy Albert Castiglia’s These are the Days
Albert Castiglia MySpace
Blues Leaf Records
*
Thanks Albert Castiglia for doing the interview.
Thanks also to Rick Lusher, Joe Morabia and Blues Leaf Records.
*

 

 046 - JW-Jones - Swingin' Rockn' Hoppin' Jumpin' Blues [34:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview JW-Jones about his new CD Bluelisted. Listen to the Podcast with the interview and music of JW-Jones. A very talented guitarist that has a real hop to his music.
*

Bluelisted Session
*
From the very moment JW picked up the phone and said “hi Mark how’s it going”. I knew he was going to be a fun interview. JW has a real friendly way of making you feel like you’re talking to an old friend. JW stands for Josh Wynne, he’s 27 years old and lives in Canada. JW got into the blues through some friends of his. Starting off with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. This was around 1995 when he saw B.B. King live. Like so many of us he too realized these artists were drawing from other artists before them. JW started his journey through artist like The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Little Charlie & the Night Cats, Rusty Zinn, Rick Holmstrom, then back to B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, and T-Bone Walker. JW- Jones decries his music as traditional blues but with a lot of energy. Taking old school traditional styles and changing it up with some new things but not so far that it’s no longer blues. In the past JW has had the good fortune to work Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds) on two of JW’s CDs.
*

JW- Jones with The Fabulous Thunderbirds
*
Now this time around JW has taken it up a notch with adding two other great guitarists besides his own substantial talent on the guitar. Little Charlie Baty formally of Little Charlie & the Night Cats plays guitar on five tracks. For the first time on record Charlie plays harmonica on one of the other tracks. Junior Watson is the other guitarist JW got to play on his new CD Bluelisted. Junior Watson was a founding member of Ron Piazza & The Mighty Flyers and was in the band for about eleven years. He has also worked with Jimmy Rogers, Big Mama Thornton, Charlie Musselwhite and even joined Canned Heat for a few years. Let’s not forget the rhythm section bass guitarist on Bluelisted, Larry Taylor. Larry played on some songs by, dare I say, The Monkees and also he was a member of Canned Heat. Larry played Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock, the big one. Richard Innes is the drummer for one of the hottest blues bands out there today, the Mannish Boys. As you can see JW-Jones has one heck of a band for his new CD Bluelisted.
*

Little Charlie with JW Junior Watson with JW
*
To me Bluelisted is blues with a little bit of fifties rock and swinging jazz. Blues is always in the forefront but you can’t help but hear the other styles work it’s way in and out of the songs. JW said a lot of people think the blues are a slow boring music. He would like them to see there is a lot more to blues than a slow song. Bluelisted is upbeat body shaking music. If you want a slow teary eyed song you’ve come to the wrong place. This may get the tears out of you by way of dancing and having a party. JW-Jones opens Bluelisted with “Double Eyed Whammy”, a good upbeat song with three first rate guitarists. JW confessed he does not know what a double-eyed whammy is but who cares on this blues rocker. “Looking the World Straight in the Eye” is a little more laid back but has a strong beat. JW changed the lyrics in the studio from third party to first party perspective. The song is about how a lot of people seem so fake, kind of like they’re looking through you when your talking to them and not really paying attention to what you’re saying. “Can’t Play a Playboy”, “Mad About You” and “Somebody’s Got to Burn” are more upbeat fun songs. “Heavy Dosage” is a kind of bebop, swing jazz sounding instrumental. This is not a style I would normally be into but when it grabbed me it got played about three times in a row. Still this is probably one of my favorite songs on Bluelisted. Little Charlie (LC), Junior Watson (JR) and JW-Jones (JW) all taking solo’s through the song. When you listen to the podcast check this list to see who is playing the solo.
“Heavy Dosage” solos:
JW, LC, JR trading 4’s
Larry Taylor’s bass solo
JW, JR, LC,
JW, JR, LC
I greatly thank Northernblues Music and whoever made their notes on this CD. The information on who plays on what song and even where in the song is in the notes. I would like to see this on all CDs. The only thing I did not like was the text is a little on the small side for my eyes.
*
What “Out of Service Blues” may be always remembered for is the great harmonica playing of Little Charlie Baty. JW said this is the only song Charlie has ever recorded his harp playing on. It’s really a shame because the harp really fits this song, Charlie really knows what and where to play it. Hope he does this a lot more. What this song should be remembered for is the cool grove the band is in. Junior Watson adds a very nice guitar solo too. “Bogart Bounces Again” is an up dated version of a very popular song by, who else JW-Jones from his 2002 CD Bogart Bounces. This is the second and last instrumental on Bluelisted as you would guess it has a lot of electric guitars, very good. “Silent Treatment” and “Tickets on Yourself” are the last two songs on Bluelisted, both very good songs to end a CD on. “Tickets on Yourself” is my other contender for best song on Bluelisted. One problem I had with this song was I could never figure out what main line “you’ve got tickets on yourself” meant. JW explained Oh, listen to the podcast he’ll explain it there. It’s such a cool saying I’ll be using it now. Bluelisted did take me a little time to get into but once I did it was well worth it. Some songs are better than others as the case with most records but there are no so-so or bad songs. I picked out what I feel are the highlights of the Bluelisted to talk about, you may find more.
JW-Jones and his band are on tour almost all the time. Be sure to check them out when they come to your town. JW says they put on a high-energy show, with songs like these I can see why.
*

JW with our good friend Michael Burks
*
Songs in the podcast:
Looking the World Straight in the Eye
Heavy Dosage
Out of Service Blues
Tickets on Yourself
*
Guitar solo of the week is: “Bogart Bounces Again”
*

*
JW-Jones Website, you can buy the CD here
*
JW-Jones MySpace
*
More about JW-Jones at Northernblues Music, you can buy the CD here too
*
Check out Northernblues Music for other great blues artist like Moreland & Arbuckle, Mac Arnold, Homemade Jamz Blues Band and everyone’s favorite, Watermelon Slim & the Workers.
*
I would like to thank Northernblues Music, Michael McClune Media & Mktg. and of course our star JW-Jones for making this show possible.

 

 047 – Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater – The Chief of West Side Blues [29:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater about his CD West Side Strut. Listen to the Podcast with interview and music of Chicago’s best known West Side Blues Chief, Eddy Clearwater.
*

*
Eddy Clearwater was born Edward Harrington in 1935. While a teenager, his family moved from his home state of Mississippi to Alabama. It was there that he learned to play the guitar and back various gospel groups. In 1950 Edward moved to Chicago just as the blues scene was taking off. In just three years he was out performing in clubs. Towards the end of the fifties he was releasing singles. Jump Jackson who was a drummer as well as a bandleader changed Edward’s name. Jackson’s band had backed Roosevelt Sykes, St. Louis Jimmy, Robert Nighthawk, and even John Lee Hooker. By the late fifties he started his own record label and booking agency. Eddy was signed to his booking agency. Jump Jackson felt Eddy Clearwater would be easier for people to remember. Eddy was a big Muddy Waters fan so instead of muddy water he’d be Clearwater. Eddy’s style of music is a cross between Chuck Berry and Magic Sam. Eddy said his sound is a westside blues style. He describes it as a rawer blues, minor cords, heavy bass lines, guitar, harmonica orientated. The opening song on West Side Strut “A Good Leavin’ Alone” Eddy said is a good example of west-side blues. In other words good old rockin’ blues-rock with a strong beat and harmonica. Don’t get me wrong Eddy does other styles of music as you will hear on the podcast. It appears Eddy spent much of the sixties and seventies in the USA. He did go on two tours of Europe in the seventies, one of which had Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Jimmy Johnson. Wow, what a show that must have been. Eddy puts on a very high-energy show that gets everybody up on their feet and having a good time. The French record company MCM put out his first LP in 1979 called Black Night which was a live record. In 1980 the very long overdue first USA LP come out called The Chief. Many consider this one of his best records. Music reviewer Bill Dahi said The Chief was “one of the best Chicago blues LP’s of the 1980’s. Eddy has gone on to make about 15 records on several different labels including Cleartone, a label he once owned. Eddy Clearwater is now on the prestigious Alligator records, this is his first CD by them.
*

*
Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater has a new CD called West Side Strut. The first two tracks “A Good Leavin’ Alone” and “Hypnotized” are hard hitting songs. Eddy is proving a 73-year-old can play better than a lot of the kids. Eddy and the band are giving us a first class performance. “A Good Leavin’ Alone” comes from an old southern saying about if you can’t get along with someone you’re dating it is better to just give them a good leavin’ alone in other words break up with them. Both songs are hard hitting blues rockers followed by “Gotta Move On”, a softer slower blues song. This is one of my favorite songs because the brass section really does a fine job. It really creates a nice atmosphere and the sax solo is great. “Walking Through the Park” and “Blue Over You” are back to upbeat rockers. Ronnie Baker Brooks produced, wrote, and co-wrote some of the songs as well as playing guitar. Hats off to Ronnie for doing a wonderful job, first class on everything. Two good examples of this is “Come Up the Hard Way” and “Do Unto Others”. Ronnie also wrote a fun rocker called “Too Old to Get Married (To Young to Get Buried)”. Ronnie’s father Lonnie Brooks trades guitar licks and vocals with Eddy on this fun rockin’ song. This is the song you have to call your radio station to play or better yet buy the CD and call the radio station so others can hear it. This song should be a hit because it has everything that’s great. Bet you can’t just play it once. West Side Strut ends with a beautiful gospel song called “A Time For Peace”. Eddy wrote this wonderful song but could not get the last verse so Ronnie finished the song. They are very touching and meaningful words if only we would live by them. West Side Strut shows how creative Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater really is. He does blues, blues-rock, rock, a western song and R&B, the only thing Eddy cannot do is a bad song. With songs like “A Good Leavin’ Alone”, “Gotta Move On”, “Too Old to Get Married”, and “A Time For Peace” this record is a real winner. Eddy told me he had always dreamed of playing the guitar full time. Thank God Eddy’s dream came true because we are all benefiting from Eddy’s dream. If you like the songs in this podcast please buy Eddy Clearwater’s CD West Side Strut.
*

*
Songs in the podcast are:
1. Hypnotized
2. Rock-A-Blues Baby
3. Blue Over You
*

*
Eddy Clearwater’s Website
More information about Eddy at Alligator Records
Buy Eddy Clearwater’s CD West Side Strut from Alligator Records
*

Check out other Alligator artist like Roomful of Blues, Michael Burks, & Smokin’ Joe Kubek. NEW CD’s by JJ Grey & MOFRO, aslo Lil’ Ed & the Blue Imperials. Listen to great artist on their Streaming Radio.
*