Blues Country From July 2016

Like Mick Jagger before him, Steven Tyler itched to launch a solo career, but where Mick struck while the iron was relatively hot – 20 years after "Satisfaction," true, yet the Rolling Stones still packed arenas – the Aerosmith singer took the better part of a decade to figure out what he wanted to do on his own. Stumbling through a starring gig on American Idol and an accompanying flop single that led to an awkward 2012 reunion with Aerosmith, Tyler finally resurfaced as a country singer – a surprise, because the closest he ever came to country was the Desmond Child co-write "What It Takes," a power ballad that provides a good touchstone for 2016's We're All Somebody from Somewhere.

Ultimately comprising members from Sweden, the U.S., and France, this retro-flavored blues-rock quartet were originally founded as a trio in 2011 when the former rhythm section of Iowa act Radio Moscow – Zack Anderson and Cory Berry – recorded a demo with vocalist Elin Larsson in her Swedish hometown of Orebro…

Don't Turn Me From Your Door comprises a set of 1953 sessions that were originally released in 1963 and later in 1972, under the title Detroit Special. Despite its twisted historical background, this is fine, first-rate Hooker. A few tracks feature the support of guitarist/vocalist Eddie Kirkland, a few others, an unnamed bassist, but this is pretty much pure John Lee Hooker – just him and a guitar, running through a set of spare, haunting blues that include such tracks as "Blue Monday" and "Stuttering Blues." There are none of his best-known tracks on the album, but it's one of his most consistent original records.

Limited 29 disc (28 CDs + DVD) box. As a tribute to the one and only Dutch Blues legend Harry Muskee, 2016 will see the release of Alles Uit Grolloo. The box set contains all the original studio albums by Cuby + Blizzards plus the official live albums and all other projects of Muskee. Especially for this release the first albums are mastered in their mono versions. Even releases that have long been deleted, such as Kid Blue, Old Times Good Times, Forgotten Tapes, Afscheidsconcert and Red, White & Blue, are present here. Next to the 27 albums the box set contains a disc with rarities and a DVD with the Classic Albums documentary on the legendary "Groeten Uit Grollo" album…

Originally recorded in 1957, these sessions turned out to be the last the legendary Big Bill Broonzy would record; only a little over a year later, he succumbed to lung cancer. This collection consists not of fan or producer favorites, but Broonzy favorites, and includes a variety of blues, folk, and devotional music. Though he was instrumental to the development of the blues and the Chicago sound, much of the material on this three-disc set reaches back to the music that the blues came from, with a lot of drop-in help from Broonzy's friends, of which there were many. That makes these recordings not only recordings, but documentation, a testament to a bluesman who was at once musician and historian.

The Real…Blues is a collection of 50 blues classics across 3CDs, housed in a fold out card digipack case.

Although he shared the same rockabilly roots as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison went on to pioneer an entirely different brand of country/pop-based rock & roll in the early '60s. What he lacked in charisma and photogenic looks, Orbison made up for in spades with his quavering operatic voice and melodramatic narratives of unrequited love and yearning. In the process, he established rock & roll archetypes of the underdog and the hopelessly romantic loser…