Sonny Landreth

Jamaican-born bluesman Kirkland has always stretched the boundaries of his music and on this outing moves further into contemporary waters. Guest stars abound on this album, and Kirkland's idiosyncratic guitar work is answered and abetted by appearances from Tab Benoit, Sonny Landreth, Kenny Neal, Cub Koda, Christine Ohlman and G.E. Smith, as well as driving work from drummer Jaimoe and organist Richard Bell. The material is all over the road, but particularly noteworthy as highlights are Kirkland's take on Elmore James' "Done Somebody Wrong," "Snake In the Grass," "Nightgirl," and the title track.

Throughout the 1990’s, Hiatt recorded a series of well-received and commercially successful albums and toured widely. Chart position by now became perhaps less relevant to Hiatt's career: he was developing a consistently supportive audience; he was nominated for Grammy awards. By the end of the decade, Hiatt was releasing albums on independent labels and achieving consistent success outside mainstream commercial structures. In this 2003 concert, Hiatt is joined by Sonny Landreth on guitar, David Ranson on bass, and Kevin Blevins on drums – the tight and virtuoso combo Hiatt dubs the Goners; these musicians had played on "Slow Turning", and "The Tiki Bar Is Open", as well as on "Beneath This Gruff Exterior", Hiatt's most recent album when this concert was recorded.

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival, which features world-class guitar players from all over the globe and has been held every three years since 2004, works as a fundraiser for the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a treatment and educational center Clapton founded in 1998 to help people suffering from chemical dependency. The first three concerts were single-day outdoor events held in Dallas in 2004, and in Chicago in 2007 and 2010, with the fourth, the concert represented by this two-disc set, moving indoors to Madison Square Garden in New York and expanding to two nights in 2013…

CDs from this collection began to appear in the sale of one after the other in early 1998. The collection was designed primarily for fans of blues and those wishing to join him in France, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as its literary part was originally made in French and it seems and has not been translated into other languages.

Mike Zito’s ‘Gone To Texas’ is both a literal and metaphorical title, reflecting the fact he’s overcome his previous drug and alcohol problems and has moved to Texas from the mid- west in search of sobriety and a fresh start. In fact the album is an autobiographical step in the career of the Royal Southern Brotherhood founder member whose song writing ability was never better showcased than here. If the award winning ‘Greyhound’ was all about his troubles and running away from his demons, then ‘Gone To Texas’ is more about finding contentment and a celebration of his current life in a musical form: ‘My Eyes have seen the glory, one step at the time, I’ve found hope in redemption and a sky as big as God.’