Johnny Blas King Conga

Percussionist/bandleader/composer Johnny Blas is a New York native who has performed and recorded in the world of Jazz and Latin music for over 25 years. He is one of the few conga players on the West Coast who leads his own band. "Indestructible Spirit", Johnny's first record in the 21st century, swings hard in places, is funky throughout, and never stops grooving whether on an uptempo mambo or a jazz ballad with layers of percussion.

Guitarist Johnny Whitehill has been a fixture on the British blues scene since the 1970s, emerging as a star while a member of the Blues Burglars, the band he formed with harpist Paul Lamb in the early '80s. As a guitarist, his inspirations and influences came from the likes of B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, T-Bone Walker, Albert Collins, Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Lightnin' Hopkins, et al., and, later on, fellow British bluesman Peter Green, among others. He has recorded albums of his own intermittently, amid two decades working mostly with Paul Lamb & the King Snakes – the successor band to the Blues Burglars – and since the opening of the 21st century has toured England with his own group, Johnny Whitehill's Real Deal.

Chicago blues mainstay guitarist Johnny B. Moore delivers more raw electric energy on Rockin' in the Same Old Boat. Working a similar approach to many of his recent Delmark releases, Moore covers a wide swath of stylistic territory, from old-style Southern classics like Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues" to more contemporary covers like Samuel Maghett's "Lookin' Good." Moore's hard-driving lead guitar lines are well intact as is his off-hand, sometimes slurred vocal delivery. This can be a jarring aesthetic combo depending upon your blues tastes, but shouldn't dissuade longtime fans from enjoying the proceedings.

In 1986, after almost 30 years on Columbia Records, Country music legend Johnny Cash released his first album on Mercury Records – Class Of ’55, in collaboration with fellow Sun Records alumni Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Seven years later, his last recording before signing with Rick Rubin’s American Recordings would be another collaboration, “The Wanderer”, with U2. In the years that span those recordings, Johnny Cash released a total of six albums for Mercury Records. The highlights of that output are presented here, on the brand new compilation Easy Rider: The Best Of The Mercury Recordings. Now remastered for the very first time, using the original Mercury master tapes, the 24 tracks that make up the set feature Cash’s updated interpretations of classics songs “Get Rhythm” and “Tennessee Flat Top Box”, the rare B-side “Veteran’s Day”, Elvis Costello’s “The Big Light”, and his collaboration with U2, “The Wanderer”.