Hear Alvin Jett talk about their new CD Honey Bowl as well as songs from this new record.
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Alvin Jett was born in the early sixties, in East St. Louis to a family of music lovers. His father was a postal worker, who also played drums for blues bands that would come through town like Little Milton or Albert King. He also played a little guitar and gave a young Alvin pointers on the instrument. With thirteen kids in the family, there were always different kinds of music being played in the house. Alvin picked up on all the different styles of music, but blues always seemed to be what he related to. Even though Alvin was a big guy he never played many sports in school, and his guitar was not getting used much either. Then after high school he joined the Navy. When he got out, he picked up the guitar again. This time, at twenty, he really started taking the guitar seriously. His hard work at learning the guitar paid off by getting him a job with St. Louis blues legend Tommy Bankhead. This gave Alvin a chance to learn more about playing in a band, as well as advance as a guitar player. After a few years with Tommy Bankhead & the Blues Eldorados, he moved to California for a while. When he returned to St. Louis, Alvin went back to working for Tommy Bankhead, and then went into a band called Hired Help. They played a mixed set with blues and rock, doing things like Hendrix and Cream. Later Alvin and saxophonist Frank Bauer left the band to start Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band. Frank had his own band back in the mid-nineties called Blues Attitude for about five years before joining Hired Help with Alvin. A short time later Matt Davis joined as the bass player, song-writer, and singer. Corey Woodruff replaced the original drummer in 2007.

What really struck me about Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band is the huge sound a four-piece band can have. Much of this is the result of having Frank play the saxophone. Without Frank they’re just a good three-piece blues-rock band like so many others. Frank adds another sound that is not heard much in rock these days. In the fifties a rock solo was not done by the guitarist, but by the sax player. Blues bands used harp players in part to substitute an expensive brass section. Frank can deliver either of those or give the song a jazz tone. On a record this may not seem as important with all the side men that are added to records now-a-days, but when you see them live this makes a huge difference. At first you just keep looking at this four piece band wondering why they sound so big and phat. The answer is simple, Frank is on the Saxophone. He also wrote some of the songs on Honey Bowl and sings on at least one of them. Alvin is of course the lead singer and guitarist he also wrote or co-wrote most of the songs with Frank. Matt Davis (bass) also sings on a few of the songs as well as writing a few. With three different voices and writers this helps to add a little diversity to Honey Bowl.

The songs chosen for this show will give you a nice overview of what this band is like. With only twenty minutes to play music it’s hard to play everything you should hear from a record that is an hour long. The opener “Make Me Blue” is a good hard hitting blues song with good lead guitar, and I really hated leaving it and “Lay My Burden Down” out of the show. “Lay My Burden Down” is a blues/rock/gospel song with great lyrics about the problems going on around us in the world. “Lucky Charms” is a very beautiful instrumental similar to “Me, You & Cydnee,” which I only had time to play a small part of. “Dem Haters” and “Alone & Drinkin’” are both upbeat songs with some stellar sax playing in them. The CD Honey Bowl is available in Europe now, but is not yet on sale in the United States till May 12th 2009. You may find places like Amazon.com that will let you Pre-order the CD though.

If you live in the United States near St. Louis, Missouri, you may wish to attend their Cd release party on May 2nd 2009 at BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups

The CD will officially be released on May 12th 2009.

Songs played in the show are:
Bluesman’s Hat –harp by Arthur Williams
The Wreck
Graveyard Shift
Me, You & Cydnee (only part)
Zombie Land
Honey Bowl

Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band’s Website

Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band’s MySpace

To buy Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band’s CD Honey Bowl from Amazon.com

To buy Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band’s CD Milk & Cookies from the CD Baby Website

To buy Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band’s CD Wet My Beak from the CD Baby Website

I would like to thank Alvin Jett for taking the time to do this interview as well as Allison Davis for setting everything everything up.

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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by  A1 Mark

Congratulations to Jason Ricci, The Blues Foundation has nominated him for a 2009 Blues Music Award in the category of “Instrumentalist-Harmonica”.
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This week you will get a triple threat. You get to hear songs form the two-day-old CD Done With The Devil before it ascends to the top of the blues charts. You will also get to hear guitarist Shawn Starski talk about how he got interested in music and landed the job as guitarist in Jason Ricci & New Blood. Last but certainly not least you will hear Jason Ricci talk about their new Eclecto Grove CD Done With The Devil.

Shawn Starski is the guitarist for Jason Ricci & New Blood. He was born in Detroit, but moved to Southern Florida when he was nine. Around the age of eleven Shawn asked if he could play guitar in the church band. They didn’t need another guitarist but asked him to switch to bass. Which is exactly what Shawn did. Even though he was suppose to be learning bass, Shawn spent most of his time learning Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix on the guitar. While in high school he joined the school jazz band, which taught him a lot of music theater. This really helped later in understanding how to play different kinds of music. Through the late nineties and early two thousands, he played in different bar bands playing rock, blues, and even one band kind of like Squirrel Nut Zippers. During this time period Shawn and Jason met in Florida but had never played together. Jason needed a fill in guitarist for a few shows in North Carolina, so Shawn filled in. A few weeks after the shows Jason asked Shawn if he’d like to join New Blood. Shawn said, “Hell yeah.” At that time they just jammed on songs they all knew, yet it was some what like the style of the current day band. Just not as well defined. As time went on they started writing their own songs. In 2004 they recorded a live CD called Live at Checkers Tavern (out of print) with all original material. Shawn said they were in the middle of a tour in 2005 with two days off and needed a new CD, so they popped in a studio and recorded Blood On The Road.

Then in 2007 Delta Groove Records signed the band to their sister label Eclecto Groove Records. The band finally had a record label that would record them with a good budget and people that really know how to make a good record, as well as promote the band. This produced their first ground-breaking masterpiece Rocket Number 9. Now this past Tuesday you probably felt the ground-breaking tremors that went shooting through the blues community as Eclecto Groove Records released the follow up record Done With The Devil. As you probably recall from the last show A1Blues.Com did on Jason Ricci & New Blood’s CD Rocket Number 9. Jason’s innovative harmonica playing was compared to Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix’s innovations on their respective instruments. With Done With The Devil, those comparisons are still true, however now the whole band is growing in sophistication. This record is over flowing with creativity that you will pick up on the on first listening but days, weeks, even months later you will still be finding new things you had not found before. Jason said this was recorded over a two-week period instead of just a few days as the case had been in the past. They also had producer Phillip Wolfe working with them who filled in with some very nice keyboard work too. Jason also said this was the first time they went into the studio with out the idea of reproducing their live sound on a record. This time they went in with the idea of exploiting the art form in the studio. The opening song “Done With The Devil” has kind of a Steven Tyler/Aerosmith rock sound to it. The next song “Sweet Loving” is a fun, up beat song about getting over problems couples have to achieve something higher. “Broken Toy” may be Jason’s most heart-felt vocals. In the show you will hear Jason explain why he feels like an outsider or a broken toy. Todd Edmounds, their bassist, co-wrote the song with Jason, as well as playing upright bass on this one. “Pteryptophan Pterodactyl” is a cool jazz instrumental also written by Todd. This one took a little longer to get into but was well worth the extra time spent on the song. Jason’s harp solo is really good as well as the unfortunately too short solos by Phillip Wolfe on keyboards and Shawn’s guitar solo. They do the punk rock song “I Turned Into A Martian” originally by The Misfits. This version is much more powerful, twice as long and has to be in their live set, great job. Drummer Ed Michael wrote and sings this fun rocker “Keep The Wolf From The Door.” This is just another example of how talented this band is, and you’ll get to hear this in the show.

There are three covers that you will have to buy the CD to hear. Willie Dixon’s “As Long as I Have You,” probably the best blues song they have recorded so far. Ramon Santamaria’s “Afro Blue” which Jason said is more based on the John Coltrane’s version than Ramon’s. You may remember in the last interview Jason said he wants to put a Sun Ra song on all his records. This time we’re treated to their interpretation of Sun Ra’s “Enlightenment”. This is an out standing peace of music to close the record with, but Phillip Wolfe almost steals the show with his accordion playing. With these three covers, plus The Misfits cover, and “Done With The Devil”, “Broken Toy”, “Sweet Loving” and “Keep The Wolf From The Door”. This is a must have CD, that you will be playing over and over again for many years to come.

There is one thing I did not like. The inclosed pamphlet has three pages that Jason wrote. I literally used a magnifying glass to read the first page, and then gave up, even though it was interesting. Maybe Jason or Eclecto Grove Records could post it at their website. Everything else I loved. Good front cover and back cover, also who plays what instruments on what songs is well documented.

Jason Ricci is up for the 2009 Blues Music Award for Instrumentalist-Harmonica player. Next year he should also be in the album of the year category for Done With The Devil .

Songs played in this week show:
Keep the Wolf from My Door
Sweet Loving
Broken Toy
Done with the Devil

Jason Ricci’s Website

Jason Ricci’s MySpace

Go to buy Done With The Devil from Eclecto Groove Records

Go to buy Rocket Number 9 from CD Baby Website

Check out other great Eclecto Groove records by artists like
Ana Popovic, Mike Zito, and The Soul of John Black

Check out some great Delta Grove records by artists like
The Insomniacs, Bobby Jones, The Mannish Boys, Mitch Kashmar,
Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm, Elvin Bishop
& many more of today’s top blues artists.

Thanks to Jason Ricci and Shawn Starski for taking time out of their tour to talk to me.
Thanks to Jody Best at Eclecto Groove Records for all her help in putting all this together.
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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark

Hear Big Shanty talk about starting out in a rock band. Then switching to working behind the scenes for people like Derek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton) and the Allman Brothers. He never stop writing songs or playing the guitar though. Now he has his own record label King Mojo Records and his third CD Sold Out…
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Big Shanty was born in 1942. His father was in the army, so they traveled around the country a lot. As he was growing up he would hear different radio stations playing blues. This got him interested in starting a rock band, around 1963, called the Fabulous Serpent. They toured all over the south and cut a 45 that got quit a bit of radio play. Later after the band broke up he decided to work behind the scenes, which he had been doing already with The Fabulous Serpent. Mac Davis was his roommate at the time, so he got Big Shanty a job working at Liberty Records. Later he worked for Atlanta Records and rubbed shoulders with a lot of great artists. One time while in Florida doing some promotion work with a Miami DJ, a friend of the Big Shanty’s, Tom Dowd (engineer and producer of people like Rod Stewart, The Allman Brothers, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and many others), invited Big Shanty to Criteria Studios to watch a band he was working on called Derek and the Dominos. Later Big Shanty would find him self on the road with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock of the Dominos. They were going from town to town in the mid-west promoting the band on radio stations and recorded stores. Big Shanty had a funny story to tell about traveling with Bobby Whitlock. One day in a cab Bobby asked the cab driver if he could smoke in the cab. The driver said sure, Bobby lit up a big joint, the cab driver turned around to look at Bobby then said that smells pretty good. You should try this one, he handed them the joint he had in the cab. By the time they got to the hotel they were both quite buzzed. Big Shanty went into the hotel to get their rooms, and found his wallet had fallen out in the cab. He had over a thousand dollars in the wallet not knowing what to do he wondered out side. Just then the cab pulled up “Hey man, you dropped this”.

Later he worked with Otis Redding and the Allman Brothers. When Phil Walden and Frank Fenter started putting together Capricorn Records, they had Big Shanty come down and become the promotions man for Capricorn Records. They got the Allman Brothers, Wet Willie (who is now on Big Shanty ’s record label) as well as other southern rock bands on Capricorn. Big Shanty worked with promoting these bands and even got to jam with them from time to time. While all this was going on he had never stopped writing songs and playing the guitar. The promotions went on for many more years, with many artists. Fast forward to 2004, Big Shanty launched an Internet based King Mojo Records to showcase emerging artists in Contemporary Blues and Rock. In 2004 he released World of Trouble, then in 2006 his second CD Ride With The Wind came out. Ride With The Wind was CD of the year in Real Blues Magazine. One of the songs on Ride With The Wind called “The Killing Fields” was number one for five weeks on Contemporary Blues Radio. There is a good video if Big Shanty doing “The Killing Fields” at MySpace page.

Big Shanty’s new CD Sold Out… came out January 6th 2009. The CD took about a year to make. A few songs came pretty quickly, while the others he worked on in the studio with Scott T. Robertson. The CD kicks off with a rocking story about Big Shanty’s life. “Big Shanty, From Lower Alabama to Hollywood” tells the listener you should never give up on your dreams because things can change. “Love Train” come about as a result of a guitar riff he couldn’t get out of his head, we should all be that lucky. “They Say Its Rain” is about someone who has lost a lover and just can’t get them out of their head. “Rolling Thunder” has a good driving bass line that keeps the song moving. All the songs have a rocking feel with solid distortion, even a bit of a retro synthesizer in there. The only exception is the song “Tybee Town” which is a soft acoustic finger picking guitar song. Tybee Town is by a white beach that Big Shanty lived at “where the beer is free and they say the women are too”. It’s a shame this is the only song like this, but it does make the song stand out a lot more. Its a great song. The highlights are the five songs you will hear in the show, but if you like them you will love this whole CD. Below is a link to where you can buy Big Shanty’s CD Sold Out… Count on rocking out all night, lots of good stuff here.

Songs in the podcast:
Big Shanty, From Lower Alabama to Hollywood
Kiss the Eight Ball
Walking Shoes
Tybee Town
Uncle Sam Go to Rehab

Big Shanty’s Website

Big Shanty’s MySpace

Go to the CD Baby Website to buy Sold Out…

Go to the CD Baby Website to buy Ride With the Wind

Check out some other great bands on King Mojo Records

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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark

Hear the interview with Big James as he talks about his CD Thank God I Got the Blues.
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Big James got to see James Brown in concert around 1968 when he was only 7 years old. From then own James was hooked on music. He started off taking guitar lessons in grade school but the teacher moved. James was never able to find another guitar teacher. In high school they needed a trombone player so James took that up. One day while working in his dad’s tavern a man came in looking for a trombone player. James said that he was a trombone player and they asked if he would try out for Little Milton’s band. James said sure, went down to the tryouts and landed the job. For the next two years Big James was on tour with Little Milton’s.

Later Big James moved back to Chicago where Johnny Christian hired him to play in his band Johnny Christian & the Playboys. This was around 1989, Big James stayed with the band till Johnny Christian passed away from cancer 1993. Johnny had made it know that he wanted the band to continue on after his passing. So Big James became the leader if the band that has continued on till today. In 1996 Big James joined up with Buddy Guy’s band for a world tour that lasted for three years. Big James said some of the highlights of the tour was getting to be on the Jay Leno Show as well as having Eric Clapton join them on stage in England. Other artists that Big James has performed with over the years are Lou Rawls, Albert King, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic and Larry Coryell.

Records Big James has put out:
Funkin’ Blues
If It Wasn’t 4 Da Blues
Now You Know
Thank God I Got the Blues

Big James current record Thank God I Got the Blues is a nice blend of soul, blues and a little jazz. This is not a trombone record. Big James and Producer/Mixer Andrew Garver knows how to mix all the elements of this upstanding band The Chicago Playboys into a spectacular sound. With seven members in the band it would be easy for them to make wrong turns or have a clutter of sound. No, that is never the case this is a professionally done record, as you will hear in the podcast. The title track kicks the record off with up- tempo beat and beautiful horn arrangements. Speaking of beautiful horn arrangements this is a good place to thank Kenny Anderson and Big James for doing a very appealing job through out this record. Mike Wheeler’s guitar playing on “I’m Done This Time” is beautiful. “Don’t Take Your Coat off…” is even more special when you hear Big James tell you how it came about in the podcast. I could go on and on about how spectacular this record is but what you need to do is listen to the show. Once you hear the songs you will see what I’m talking about. There is only one thing that I might change, that’s the title. I feel the title of track six would better describe this record, “Awesome”.

This may not only be my feeling as Blind Pig Records has singed Big James to their label. Congratulations Big James you have certainly earned this. Big James and the Chicago Playboys are hard at work on their new CD. The title will be Right Here, Right Now, look for a May 2009 release date. Till then please buy Thank God I Got the Blues it will have you thanking God for Big James having the blues because now you have an awesome record.

The songs played in the show:
Thank God I Got the Blues
What It Is…
Awesome
Don’t Take Your Coat off…

Big James & the Chicago Playboys
Big James – Vocals & Trombone
Mike Wheeler – Lead Guitar & Vocals
Joseph Sylvester Blocker – Keyboards & Vocals
Larry Williams, Bass
Cleo Cole – Drummer
Charles Kimble – Saxophone & Vocals

Big James Website

Big James MySpace

Buy Big James CD Thank God I Got the Blues from CD Baby Website

Buy Big James CD Now You Know from CD Baby Website

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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark

Congratulations to Delta Highway, The Blues Foundation has nominated them for a 2009 Blues Music Award in the category of “Best New Artist Debut” for the CD The Devil Had a Woman.

Hear the interview with Delta Highway’s, Brandon Santini, harmonica player, vocalist, and songwriter for this great blues band.
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Brandon Santini started playing the harp when he was 15 years old. This came about after hearing John Popper of Blues Traveler playing harp. This also got Brandon into Paul Butterfield, Little Walter, Kim Wilson, and Junior Wells. In next few years he played in several different bands. Justin Sulek had been playing guitar in different bands also, which is how he met Brandon. The two became friends while playing in different North Carolina bands. Justin’s interest in music was more tuned to guitar players like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, and R.L. Burnside. In 2003, Justin wanted his band to move to Memphis but the other members were not interested. Brandon ran into Justin one day, and thought moving to Memphis was a good idea, so off they went. After several rhythm sections they found one they really liked. As you will be able to hear in the show this is the ideal band.

They call their music high octane. Listening to their CD The Devil Had A Woman you will hear different styles of blues mixed within the CD. Styles like Mississippi Hill Country, Memphis, Delta, Chicago, and West Cost Blues. They all work together very nicely to make up what I’m calling an electric deep-south blues sound. Most bands that try something like this come off with more of a blues-rock sound. The Devil Had A Woman is electric, but it is not rock. It’s blues all the way. Justin’s guitar playing is very good, but not always the main focus of the songs. There is plenty of room for other instruments to share the spotlight. Brandon’s harp is really keeping the songs grounded in the blues. His voices really works perfect with the sound the band has created. Two of the big surprises are the keyboard players. Victor Wainwright on piano, and Chris Stephenson on organ. Both are special guests on the CD. I could not imagine how Delta Highway would sound with out the great sounds they add to this record. Brandon said he is hoping that they will be able to afford to have them tour with them this year. As you know, last year was very hard on blues artists trying to tour with the very high price of gas. Let’s hope this works out. The CD consists of ten original songs written by Justin or Brandon or by both of them. There are no filler songs on The Devil Had A Woman, every song is good. This will be interesting to see who will win the 2009 Blues Music Awards for Best New Debut Artist. With Chris James & Patrick Rynn, Homemade Jamz Blues Band, and Delta Highway one thing is for sure the listeners will be the real winners this year.

Below is a link to where you can buy Delta Highway’s The Devil Had A Woman. If this is what their next CD is going to be like we will be seeing them up for the Album of the Year, not just Best New Debut Artist, next year and for years to come.

Songs heard in the show are:
We Got a Thang Goin’ On
Shake It Just a Little Bit
23 Hours
Devil Had a Woman

Delta Highway’s Website

Delta Highway’s MySpace

Go to Buy Delta Highway’s The Devil Had A Woman CD

Thanks to Jenn Ocken for the photos

Thanks to Sara at Washboard Productions for all her help.

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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by  A1 Mark