"victorville Blues"

Wild & greasy blues at its best, a two-song session for an anthology turned into an all-night, live-in-the-studio jam. Sounds like it was great fun.
Signing to Alligator in the mid-'80s, they released their debut album, Roughhousin', in 1986 and found themselves receiving national attention. They began playing urban clubs and festivals all over the country and eventually toured Canada, Europe, and Japan.

Sometimes the bloodlines show up and at other times they explode with a fanfare that shows itself to the world. Lil' Ed Williams traces his heritage back to his uncle, one of the Chicago blues legends, slide guitar master J.B. Hutto. He was tutored by his uncle, and the West Side Chicago blues scene that nurtured him, and readily gives J.B. much of the credit for his prowess. He captures some of that same raw street energy that was his uncle's trademark on many of the tracks on this, his fifth Alligator release. Listen to "The Creeper" to get an idea of the savage fury that he can channel through his slide guitar work. This disc manifests that feel for the blues that can't be taught, but must be both lived and seen from the inside…

Wild, raw, rough-edged Chicago slide guitar blues, this is jumpin', partyin' music in the tradition of Hound Dog Taylor and J.B. Hutto (Lil' Ed's uncle). Recorded live in the studio with no overdubs, it includes nine original compositions plus covers of Hutto and Albert Collins tunes.

Chicago Urban Blues 1923-1945 is a concentrated anthology of historic recordings by individuals with ties to communities all across the southern United States. This collection includes well chosen examples by pianists Meade "Lux" Lewis, Bob Robinson (of Hokum Boys fame), Roosevelt Sykes, Clarence "Pinetop" Smith, and Jimmy Yancey, who played on one of only two recordings known to have been made by vocalist Faber Smith. Amos Easton, also known as Bumble Bee Slim, was backed on the ivories by Myrtle Jenkins, who also made records with Priscilla Stewart, Mary Mack, and the State Street Swingers. There's enough female energy in here to settle anybody's business. You hear Ida Cox accompanied by pianist Lovie Austin; Bertha "Chippie" Hill by Richard M. Jones, and Hannah May, who might have been Victoria Spivey's sister Elton Spivey, with Georgia Tom Dorsey and Tampa Red. Lil Johnson sings "My Stove's in Good Condition" backed by pianist Black Bob and guitarist Big Bill Broonzy. "Squat It" comes from a large body of works generated by the team of Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy. Sippie Wallace sings the "Bedroom Blues," and her little brother Hersal Thomas performs his own "Suitcase Blues," which became a staple of the piano blues repertoire and received its best reinterpretation on a 1939 Blue Note recording by Albert Ammons.

Eric Clapton’s lifelong passion for the blues burns brightly inNothing But The Blues. The CD of the soundtrack features 17 previously unreleased live performances recorded in 1994 during the legendary guitarist’s tour supportingFrom The Cradle, his GrammyÒ-winning, multi-platinum blues album. Clapton’s longtime co-producer, Simon Climie, has remixed the audio from those performances from the original multi-tracking recordings. -The previously unreleased live performances onNothing But the Bluesserve as a vital counterpart toFrom The Cradle, which was recorded in the studio. While several songs appear on both (“Motherless Child,” “Standing ’Round Crying,” and “I’m Tore Down”), the performances are entirely different. The release also includes songs that did not appear onFrom the Cradle, including Jimmy Rogers’ “Blues All Day Long” and Robert Johnson’s “Malted Milk,” as well as the standards “Every Day I Have The Blues” and “Forty-Four.”

Javier Vargas is a Spanish blues guitarist. Born in Madrid to Argentine parents who had emigrated to Spain from Buenos Aires, he founded the Vargas Blues Band in 1991, the year they released their first recording, All Around Blues. Since 1992, he has recorded on the Dro-Atlantic (Warner Music Group, Spain) label. He leads the project Vargas, Bogert & Appice + Shortino, with bassist Tim Bogert, Carmine Appice on drums, and singer Paul Shortino. He has collaborated with musicians like Paco de Lucía, Buddy Guy, Frank Marino, Carlos Santana, Pat Travers, Glenn Hughes, Prince, Devon Allman and countless more. He regularly tours Europe and Spain with his band and appeared at the 30th Anniversary Montreux Jazz Festival.