51 Delta

This 52-disc (no, that is not a typo) comp, ABC of the Blues: The Ultimate Collection from the Delta to the Big Cities, may just indeed live up to its name. There are 98 artists represented , performing 1,040 tracks. The music begins at the beginning (though the set is not sequenced chronologically) with Charlie Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson, and moves all the way through the vintage Chicago years of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, with stops along the way in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, New York, and all points in between. Certainly, some of these artists are considered more rhythm & blues than purely blues artists: the inclusion of music by Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Bo Diddley, and others makes that clear…

This 52-disc (no, that is not a typo) comp, ABC of the Blues: The Ultimate Collection from the Delta to the Big Cities, may just indeed live up to its name. There are 98 artists represented , performing 1,040 tracks. The music begins at the beginning (though the set is not sequenced chronologically) with Charlie Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson, and moves all the way through the vintage Chicago years of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, with stops along the way in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, New York, and all points in between. Certainly, some of these artists are considered more rhythm & blues than purely blues artists: the inclusion of music by Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Bo Diddley, and others makes that clear…

Like her signature song "Ode to Billie Joe," Bobbie Gentry is an enigma by choice. "Ode to Billie Joe" deliberately leaves out details that would spell out the story and Gentry removed herself from public view sometime in the late '70s for reasons that have never been fully disclosed. Many have tried to track her down because her cult not only persisted into the 21st century, it even grew – so much so that an observer would be forgiven if they believed Gentry was something of an outsider artist instead of a mainstay on television who hosted a variety show of her own…

This three-CD set documents some historic country-blues performances by the likes of Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Bukka White, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mance Lipscomb. The urban side of things is well represented by Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters with Otis Spann, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Chambers Brothers turning in a riveting rendition of “See See Rider.” Included here are 11 previously unreleased tracks. A must for acoustic-blues fans.

Phil Collen, lead guitarist of British rock band Def Leppard and alternative roots/rock band Manraze, started Delta Deep as an extreme blues project. The band has been likened to "Aretha Franklin & Chaka Khan performing with Led Zeppelin", thanks to the soulful vocals from singer Debbi Blackwell-Cook.. Phil's love and appreciation for the blues since childhood enabled him to move forward quickly with the band's inception in 2012. "Blues was created out of something completely different from what we hear today. I grew up listening to rock music but then I found out it was all based on blues. Jimmy Page, Hendrix, all of those guys-they got it from blues.

"Thieves & Yesterdays" is a collection of songs that put a contemporary spin on soulful roots music. The bands first full length studio album and Dan's 3rd in the past 5 years. The Delta Struts are driven by the dynamic guitar playing duo of Dan Bubien and Shawn Mazzei, along with Bubien’s soulful gritty vocals. Their signature sound is highlighted by the precision playing and deep toned-full sound of drummer Mark Pollera and glued together by Christian Caputo’s steady, groove oriented bass playing. Rooted in soul versed in styles from blues to funk, roots-rock to reggae, alt-country to singer/songwriter, Dan and the "Delta Struts" are constantly refining and redefining their craft with a wide palette of tones and textures, sounds and styles, to express their songwriting through an open, honest and wide catalogue of real songs. The album was recorded and mixed over a year long process in Youngstown, OH at Amperon Recorder by Pete Drivere and mastered at Cauliflower Audio by Adam Boose.

With the arrival of Delta Lady: The Rita Coolidge Anthology, one can only remark: what took so long? No other singer – not Maria Muldaur, Bette Midler, Bonnie Bramlett, Carly Simon, or Linda Ronstadt – more perfectly embodied the wide range of changes that popular music underwent from the late '60s through the mid-'80s, and continues to seek new means of expression today. This two-disc anthology on Hip-O offers the first complete portrait of this complex and multivalent talent on CD (though a box set would have been nice). Rita Coolidge scored her first chart hit with friend Donna Weiss' "Turn Around and Love You" in 1969. That song earned her a studio spot where she fell in with Delaney & Bonnie, Leon Russell, and a huge cast of musicians. Being a background vocalist on Delaney & Bonnie's classic Accept No Substitute earned her a place on Russell and Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen revue and the rest is history, including a handful of chart hits and guest appearances that stagger the mind.