Rory Block Blues Walkin' Like A Man A Tribute To Son House (2008)

Light in the Attic Records (LITA) proudly announces The Power Of The Heart: A Tribute To Lou Reed. The star-studded album celebrates the pioneering singer-songwriter’s enduring influence—as well as the timeless appeal of his songs—through performances by Reed’s closest friends and biggest fans, including Keith Richards, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Afghan Whigs, Bobby Rush, Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen, Mary Gauthier, and Automatic. Blending generation-defining hits (“I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Walk on the Wild Side,” “Perfect Day”) with lesser-known gems, the collection spans the artist’s five-decade-long career: from his earliest days with The Velvet Underground to his groundbreaking solo work.

Keyboardist, singer, and songwriter Skeeter Brandon was born in 1949 and raised in Goldsboro, NC. He and his band, Highway 61, made a name for themselves as a touring act up and down the East Coast and nearby in the 1980s and '90s. He began singing in the church as a six-year-old and began playing piano at age nine. Blind since early childhood, he was sent to the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, NC. He had some success as a teenager leading his own band around Raleigh and Goldsboro, NC, where he was raised. Through his youth, Brandon sang and played keyboards, trumpet, and drums. He later specialized by sticking mostly to keyboards and vocals.

Johnny Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, musician and author, born February 26, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas, USA as J.R. Cash…

Release includes superstar Lonnie Brooks, two-fisted pianist Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, gritty, down-home Magic Slim and the Teardrops, and piano legend Pinetop Perkins, - Grammy nominee.

This captures folk-blues guitarist-singer-songwriter Smither playing live in the studio for a hand-picked audience over the Christmas holidays in 1989. Smither presents 17 songs of his own derivation and others, blasting it all out in a couple of sharp sets in the time-honored folk music club tradition. His guitar work is clean and well played, and his vocals attain a sense of engagement throughout. While his interpretations of tunes by Chuck Berry, Randy Newman, Elizabeth Cotton, Willie McTell, Jimmy Reed and others are fine, the true highlights come with the originals "Lonely Time," "Don't Drag It On," "A Song for Susan," "Lonesome Georgia Brown," "I Feel the Same" and the title track.

Among musicians, Arthur Alexander was always considered one of the greatest R&B songwriters. Both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones covered his songs, "Anna (Go to Him)" and "You Better Move On," respectively, early in their careers. But they weren't the only ones – throughout the years, his work was rich source material for many blues, soul, rock, and country artists. He may have earned the recognition of his peers, but he remained relatively unknown to the general public, right up to his death in 1993. In order to raise his profile, Razor & Tie released Adios Amigo: A Tribute to Arthur Alexander in 1994, assembling a stellar and diverse lineup to record new versions of his songs. The diversity and the fresh arrangements illustrates the depth of Alexander's songs and how well they lent themselves to new readings. Like any tribute album, Adios Amigo is uneven, with a few tracks falling flat, but the best moments – Elvis Costello's "Sally Sue Brown," Robert Plant's "If It's Really Got to Be This Way," Chuck Jackson's "You Better Move On," Frank Black's "Old John Amos," John Prine's "Lonely Just Like Me," Gary U.S. Bonds' "Genie in the Jug," Graham Parker's "Every Day I Have to Cry" and Nick Lowe's "In the Middle of It All" – are affectionate salutes to a departed master, and they're damn enjoyable in their own right as well.