Band of Heysek
featuring R.L. Boyce & Kenny Brown

Juke My Joint
Indies Scope 

If you want to feel the rain, you come to the Northwest. If you want to feel the blues, you go to Mississippi. 

Which is exactly what this rough-cut band from Brno, Czech Republic, has done with their third album, Juke My Joint. 

Formed in 2015, the three-man outfit (writer, singer and guitarist Jan Svihalek, drummer Lukas Kytnar and bassist Mojmir Sabolovic) hit the ground running at the Eurotrialog festival in the Czech town of Mikulov, and they haven’t slowed down since. Their debut album, “Shovel & Mattock” (Indies Scope / 2017), turned the heads of blues aficionados around the world. Sessions for their second, “I’m Glad I Met You” (Indies Scope / 2019), yielded enough material for a double LP and added to a powerful playlist of original music as they took their shows on the road. 

In the fall of 2018, the band turned it up another notch as they toured the Czech Republic and Poland with North Mississippi Hill Country bluesmen R.L. Boyce, Kenny Brown and Robert Kimbrough. That led to an invitation to last summer’s North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, one of the world’s most revered blues gatherings. 

That, in turn, led to a two-day, live analog tape-recording session in Water Valley, Miss. The town of just over 3,000, barely 70 miles south of Memphis, is in the heart of blues country, and the place seeps into the sound on “Juke My Joint.” 

This one certainly comes from the heart. With the Grammy-nominated R.L. Boyce’s vocals and Kenny Brown’s slide work, the ache is real on raw, rangy cuts like “Angry Man,” “One More Life to Live,” “Heal Me Right Now” and “On My Knees.” The driving insistence of songs like “Let Me Take You to My Place” and “No More Boogie” maintains a tireless energy that brings the album together. 

“This is a typical recording created by the enthusiasm of the moment, the mood in the studio and the protagonists’ equipment,” the band wrote in a May 1 post on their Facebook page. 

That sense of moment is there, all right. It’s a moment you’ll want to savor. 

Total Time: 47:15 

Angry Man / Let Me Take You to My Place / One More Life to Live / Heal Me Right Now / Drive Me Crazy / Out of Here / On My Knees / No More Boogie 

by John Taylor

Sweet Little Black Spider and Other Songs From the Trenches of the Blues 
SlimByrd Records

 by Greg Johnson

There’s a lot of history behind Franck Goldwasser’s tenure as a blues musician. From his arrival in Oakland from Paris, he has proven his craft as more than just another guitar player noodling around with the blues. No, that is putting it rather mildly. He drew the attention of his blues heroes from the start and became one of their own during his years in the Bay Area. He has always been true to the sound he learned from listening to and playing alongside those musicians — which is more than evident on this new release, “Sweet Little Black Spider and Other Songs” from the “Trenches of the Blues.” 

To remain true, he went into perhaps the finest blues studio to be found on the West Coast, Greaseland Studios, along with two of the most renowned bluesmen in the country, Kid Andersen and June Core. A true blues power trio, they laid down nine tracks live in the San Jose, Calif., studio, all Goldwasser originals. It’s contemporary blues that feels like it could’ve been cut years ago by either West Coast or Chicago-based greats, with the output that can last for years to come. Songs like “Bring Me My Forty-Five” and “You Made The Wrong Choice” fall right into this mode. Goldwasser puts forth his political stance with “Tyranny Is Rising” giving no doubt of his feelings. On the instrumentals “Blues For Eddie Hazel,” “T.S.O.B.C” and “Nosluf’s Last Laugh” the guitar work is sensational, paced perfectly and complemented by the rhythms of Core and Andersen. Hell, the whole disc is a work of art when it comes to the collaboration of these guys. Or as Kid Andersen states in the liner notes: “This shit is real!” Authentic blues at its very best. 

But it doesn’t end there. A second disc is included with Goldwasser telling stories of his past encounters with people like Charlie Musselwhite, Cool Papa, Sonny Rhodes, Robert Lockwood Jr. and others with bluesy background music to each story. These memories are just as entertaining as the over-the-top music presented on the first disc and adds an extra piece of credo behind his place in the blues world. 

This is an over-the-top package. Highly recommended and just the thing you’ve been looking for as a blues lover. 

Total Time: 1:35:55 

Bring Me My Forty-Five / Tyranny Is Rising / Don’t Say You’re Sorry / Sweet Little Black Spider / You Made A Wrong Choice / She’s Hip! / Struggle In My Hometown / Blues For Eddie Hazel / Don’t Give Up On Me, baby / T.S.O.B.C. / Evil Wind Blowing’ / Nosluf’s Last Laugh / Tyranny Is Rising (Lowdown Version) / The Day I Met Sonny Rhodes / Larry Blake’s, Memphis Charlie and Nick the Greek / Kasper’s and the Blues Barrels / The Last of The Oakland Juke Joints (Cool Papa and the Deluxe Inn) / East Bay Guy / Robert Jr. and the Superfly Coat / The Mystery of the Trash-O-Caster / Ikey Renrut and Me 

Check Shirt Wizard – Live In ‘77
Universal Music Operations 

“Check Shirt Wizard” – Live In ’77 is a two-disc compilation from four Rory Gallagher shows in England during the 1977 tour celebrating the then-current release of the “Calling Card” album. Twenty tracks, many from “Calling Card” as well as his previous release, “Against The Grain,” that showcase exceptional performances filled with his pyrotechnic rock and blues guitar work.  

Rory Gallagher was perhaps the finest blues-rock guitarist to ever emerge from Ireland, if not from all of Great Britain. For those who may not be overly familiar with this claim, imagine the reverence that Americans give to Stevie Ray Vaughan. It is a like comparison not only in popularity, but also in guitar prowess and stage presence. Not to mention that the world lost both way too early. 

The first half of these performances deals with an electric approach, with tracks like “Moonchild,” “Tattoo’d Lady” and “A Million Miles Away.” But maybe it’s his ease with an acoustic guitar that really showcases his blues direction. A master slide player who doesn’t lose any of the power unplugged on a number like his cover of JB Hutto’s “Too Much Alcohol” or straight-on picking with Blind Boy Fuller’s “Pistol Slapper Blues” can surely attest to that ease. He even throws down on mandolin for “Going To My Hometown.” After a handful of acoustic pieces, he returns to the electric mode to build up the energy right to the show’s close, including “Souped-Up Ford,” “Bullfrog Blues” and the night-capping “Country Mile.” 

Rory Gallagher was a force to be reckoned with onstage. Never a drop of intensity throughout the entirety of this collection, start to finish. This is Rory Gallagher where he thrived, in front of an audience. 

“Check Shirt Wizard” follows on the heels of the 2019 three-disc release “Blues” (also from Universal Music Operations), which also made available rare and previously unreleased live tracks from throughout his career. Put together, they make a terrific combination of just how powerful this man was in a live setting and how much he has been missed since his untimely passing. As live recordings go, this one is a definite keeper! 

by Greg Johnson 

Total Time: 2:01:32 

Do You Read Me / Moonchild / Bought And Sold / Calling Card / Secret Agent / Tattoo’d Lady / A Million Miles Away / I Take What I want / Walk On Hot Coals / Out On the Western Plain / Barley & Grape Rag / Pistol Slapper Blues / Too Much Alcohol / Going To My Hometown / Edged In Blue / Jack-Knife Beat / Souped-Up Ford / Bullfrog Blues / Used To Be / Country Mile