Portland Street Blues (1998) Wai Man Yip, Sandra Kwan Yue Ng, Kristy Yang, Alex Fong

This Rough Guide traces the development of the Texas blues during its 1920s / 30s heyday and features many blues legends including Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Blind Willie Johnson & T-Bone Walker - plus the slide guitar wizardry of blues pioneers Black Ace, Oscar Woods & Ramblin' Thomas and classic tracks by blues divas Victoria Spivey and Bessie Tucker.

Alex started playing guitar and singing at age 7. Influenced by his brother, who opened him the doors to all kinds of music. After playing with several local outfits in Barcelona, an 18 year old Alex joined harp bluesman Hook Herrera (Gov’t Mule, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Kid Ramos, Denny Freeman). Hook was Alex’s first mentor and also introduced him to the start of a music career by teaching him how to understand the music, specially the blues, and opening the doors into the profesional bussiness. With Hook Alex had the chance to play in the best festivals and clubs all over Europe.

Born in 1949 Oscar Benton had a long career in the blues. His worldwide break through came when actor Alain Delon used a song, recorded by Oscar Benton, in the movie 'Pour la peau d'un flic' in 1981. Originally written by Artie Kaplan and Artie Kornfeld, the Bensonhurst Blues was recorded by Oscar almost a decade earlier. Catching dust ever since. The movie would change that instantly. An almost sixty year blues career, with the inevitable ups and downs, ended abruptly after an accident and a coma, causing Oscar to fight his way back, just to live a normal live. His struggle to overcome the effects of the coma resulted in a farewell concert in 2010. After this show, performing and singing were history.

Clarksdale, Mississippi: birthplace of Ike Turner, Sam Cooke, John Lee Hooker and Son House and home to five taverns visited by Library of Congress researcher Lewis Wade Jones in 1941. In each of these taverns a jukebox. In each jukebox, a choice of records, painstakingly listed by Jones, who figured it was worth it. And now, sitting down in the comfort of your own home, you can pull yourself a beer and listen to the sounds that a 29 year-old Muddy Waters from nearby Stovall might have heard on a night out in Clarksdale, 1941.

Unlike some other bluesmen now leading their own bands, guitarist and singer/songwriter Doug MacLeod spent many years as an apprentice before forming his own group. MacLeod has worked as a sideman for many different artists from the Los Angeles-area blues scene, including Big Joe Turner, Charles Brown, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and George "Harmonica" Smith.

Clarksdale, Mississippi: birthplace of Ike Turner, Sam Cooke, John Lee Hooker and Son House and home to five taverns visited by Library of Congress researcher Lewis Wade Jones in 1941. In each of these taverns a jukebox. In each jukebox, a choice of records, painstakingly listed by Jones, who figured it was worth it. And now, sitting down in the comfort of your own home, you can pull yourself a beer and listen to the sounds that a 29 year-old Muddy Waters from nearby Stovall might have heard on a night out in Clarksdale, 1941.

Church Street Blues is the 1983 album from bluegrass legend Tony Rice. Featuring Rice alone on all but four tracks, the album showcases Rice’s guitar prowess and eclectic musical style. Church Street Blues features standards as well as songs written by Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot and more. Noting the album’s intimacy, Bluegrass Today wrote “It’s like you become closer to Rice as a person with every note that is sung or played.” The album is now available in hi-res audio.