Barry Goldberg & Friends

Two of Barry Goldberg's best albums from the late '60s, Reunion and Two Jews Blues, are combined on this single disc. There's some very hot playing on these two albums, particularly from Mike Bloomfield on Two Jews Blues, but they sound a little dated and don't quite burn as hot as some blues-rock albums from the late '60s. Nevertheless, this does capture Goldberg's two best records, which makes it both a good summary of his peak and a good introduction to his sound.

Freddie Roulette is a Chicago Bluesman who started playing lap-steel guitar back in the 1940's. He's played with some of the greats including Earl Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, and Harvey Mandel. His music is known worldwide and he has played throughout Europe, Canada and Japan. He has also been playing with bands in the San Francisco Bay Area including Nightfire featuring Harvey Mandel, Michael Warren, Michael Borbridge, and Eugene Huggins; Harvey Mandel & The Snake Crew featuring Elvin Bishop, Norton Buffalo, Pete Sears, Barry Goldberg, Mic Gillette, and album drummer and producer Michael Borbridge…

It's difficult to call a guitarist who routinely shows up in the upper reaches of "100 Greatest Guitarists Ever" lists underappreciated, and yet the first impression the towering seven-disc box set Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective makes is that Duane Allman does not receive his proper due…

The concept of TALKING WITH THE BLUES is based on a view of the various US states as blues regions. Even casual blues listeners are familiar with the fact that there is Chicago Blues or Mississippi Blues and the gripping social history of the music is very much marked by its geography. But there is much more that just those two places and to this day blues music stays committed to local styles. Moreover, many US states are endowed with a unique cultural identity grown out of the prevailing social, historical and ethnic realities. Reflections of these specific identities are also expressed in the blues.