“Blistering, inspired roadhouse blues and passionate Southern rock… supercharged guitar and gritty, soulful vocals.”                 –Relix

Alligator Records has set an October 6 street date for SPEAK NO EVIL, the blistering new CD from Atlanta-based blues-rock guitarist and vocalist Tinsley Ellis. Over the course of 11 albums and literally thousands of live performances, Ellis has become one of today’s most electrifying guitarists and vocalists. He attacks his music with rock power and blues feeling, in the same tradition as his Deep South musical heroes Duane Allman and Freddie King and his old friends Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes. Rolling Stone says he plays “feral blues guitar...non-stop gigging has sharpened his six-string to a razor’s edge...his eloquence dazzles...he achieves pyrotechnics that rival early Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.”

SPEAK NO EVIL is the most guitar-driven album of Ellis’ storied career. It features his fiercest, most brutally honest and hardest-hitting original songs to date. The soulfulness and expressiveness of his guitar playing are ferocious, but when the mood calls for it, can be gentle and melodic. Ellis pours his soul into each and every performance with unguarded, raw emotion. With rip-roaring songs that are both poignant and humorous, SPEAK NO EVIL is as wide-ranging and inspired a recording as Ellis has ever made, and one of the most satisfying Southern blues-rock albums in ages.

Tinsley Ellis wears his Southern roots proudly. Born in Atlanta in 1957, he grew up in southern Florida and first played guitar at age eight. He found the blues through the back door of British Invasion bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream, and The Rolling Stones. He especially loved the Kings — Freddie, B.B. and Albert — and spent hours immersing himself in their music. His love for the blues solidified when he was 14. At a B.B. King performance, Tinsley sat mesmerized in the front row. When B.B. broke a string on Lucille, he changed it without missing a beat, and handed the broken string to Ellis. After the show, B.B. came out and talked with fans, further impressing Tinsley with his warmth and down-to-earth attitude. By now Tinsley’s fate was sealed; he had to become a blues guitarist. And yes, he still has that string.

Already an accomplished teenaged musician, Ellis left Florida and returned to Atlanta in 1975. He soon joined the Alley Cats, a gritty blues band that included Preston Hubbard (of Fabulous Thunderbirds fame). In 1981, along with veteran blues singer and harpist Chicago Bob Nelson, Tinsley formed The Heartfixers, a group that would become Atlanta’s top-drawing blues band. Upon hearing Live At The Moonshadow (Landslide), the band’s second release, The Washington Post declared, “Tinsley Ellis is a legitimate guitar hero.” After cutting two more Heartfixers albums for Landslide, Cool On It (featuring Tinsley’s vocal debut) and Tore Up (with vocals by blues shouter Nappy Brown), Ellis was ready to head out on his own.

GEORGIA BLUE, Tinsley’s first Alligator release, hit an unprepared public by surprise in 1988. Critics and fans quickly agreed that a new and original guitar hero had emerged. “It’s hard to overstate the raw power of his music,” raved The Chicago Sun-Times. Before long, Alligator arranged to reissue COOL ON IT and TORE UP, thus exposing Tinsley’s blistering earlier music to a growing fan base.

Tinsley’s subsequent releases — 1989’s FANNING THE FLAMES, 1992’s TROUBLE TIME, 1994’s STORM WARNING, and 1997’s FIRE IT UP — further expanded the guitarist’s hero status. By now his talents as a songwriter equaled his guitar prowess, and critics, writers, radio programmers and fans around the country were taking notice. Features and reviews ran in Rolling Stone, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and in many other national and regional publications. His largest audience by far came when NBC Sports ran a feature on Atlanta’s best blues guitarist during their 1996 Summer Olympic coverage, viewed by millions of people all over the world.

After one album for Capricorn and two for Telarc, Ellis returned to Alligator in 2005 with the searing guitar-fueled LIVE-HIGHWAYMAN. It was the live recording his fans had been demanding for years. Recorded at a packed club just outside Chicago, the CD took Ellis’ extended soloing and heartfelt vocals to staggering heights. His return to the studio in 2007 produced MOMENT OF TRUTH, an album The Chicago Tribune called “incendiary and inspired.”

Averaging over 150 live shows a year, Ellis has played in all 50 states, as well as Canada, Europe, Australia and South America. He has shared stages with almost every major blues star, including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Son Seals, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins and many others. Whether he’s out with his own band or sharing stages with major artists like Buddy Guy, The Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule or Widespread Panic, he always digs deep and plays, as Guitar Player says, “…as if his life depended on it.” With SPEAK NO EVIL and continued non-stop touring, Ellis will bring his monumental guitar work and intensely powerful vocals to rock and blues fans all over the world, letting his songs and his guitar do the talking.

 

 

JJ Grey & Mofro, the Jacksonville, Florida-based swamp, blues, rock, funk, and soul band, have announced a major North American fall tour. In addition to headlining theatre and festival dates, the band will share four dates with blues guitarist/vocalist Susan Tedeschi and three dates with guitarist Derek Trucks. Then, in late September and running through November, JJ Grey & Mofro will embark on a co-headlining tour with country rock outlaw Shooter Jennings and special guest Earl Greyhound.

Grey's most recent CD, ORANGE BLOSSOMS, has been hailed by USA Today as “intoxicating North Florida blues-rock, with hints of Memphis, Muscle Shoals and garage-band music.” In every song he writes and sings, Grey exudes rocking, funky, melodic front-porch realism. He comes from a long tradition of Southern musical storytellers. His multi-textured music is filled with dynamic rhythms and thought-provoking lyrics. From raw funk to deep soul, blues and rock, JJ and his band, both on CD and live, are simply devastating. Debuting in 2001 with BLACKWATER, following up in 2004 with LOCHLOOSA (both albums reissued by Alligator in 2007), Grey steadily found more and more success. With his two Alligator releases (2007’s COUNTRY GHETTO and 2008’s ORANGE BLOSSOMS), and non-stop touring, JJ Grey is taking his ever-growing fan base along for the ride of their lives.

Tour dates are as follows:
8/14 - Denver, CO - Denver Botanical Gardens (with Susan Tedeschi)
8/15  - Lyons, CO - Folks Festival        
8/16 - Snowbird, UT - Snowbird Tent Revival        
8/19 - Seattle, WA - Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheater (with Susan Tedeschi)
8/21 - Portland, OR - Oregon Zoo Amphitheater (with Susan Tedeschi)
8/22 - Healdsburg, CA - Rodney Strong Winery (with Susan Tedeschi)   
8/24 - Chico, CA - Sierra Nevada Brewing Company   
8/27 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern   
8/28 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre        
8/29 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Music Festival   
9/11 - Statesboro, GA - The French Quarter Cafe        
9/13 - Charlotte, NC - Belk Theatre (with Derek Trucks)
9/15 - Oxford, MS - The Lyric Oxford (with Derek Trucks)   
9/16 - Athens, GA - The Classic Center (with Derek Trucks)   
9/17 & 9/18 - Fredericton, New Brunswick, CANADA - Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival

Co-Headlining With Shooter Jennings:
9/24 – Tampa, FL - Ritz Ybor City
9/25 – Orlando, FL -  House Of Blues
9/26 – Jacksonville, FL - Maverick's
9/30 – Birmingham, AL - Workplay
10/1 - Lexington, KY – Buster's Billiards & Backroom
10/2 - Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue
10/3 – Detroit, MI - St Andrews Hall
10/6 – Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
10/7 - Louisville, KY - Headliners
10/8 – Covington, OH - Madison Theater
10/9 – Greenville, SC – Fall For Greenville Fest
10/10 - Charleston, SC – Music Farm
10/22 – New York, NY - Irving Plaza
10/24 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
10/29 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
10/30 – Knoxville, TN – The Valarium
10/31 – Memphis, TN - Minglewood Hall

These shows without Shooter Jennings:
10/23 – Troy, NY – Revolution Hall (with Soulive)
10/28 - Wilmington, NC - Greenfield Lake Amphitheater
11/1 - New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s
11/1 – New Orleans, LA – Voodoo Music Festival

 

Alligator Records has set an August 11 street date for Hard Believer, the label debut from blues, rock and R&B singer, songwriter and guitarist Tommy Castro. Castro, winner of the 2008 Blues Music Award for Entertainer Of The Year, is famed not only for his hard-hitting, impassioned vocals, soaring guitar work and his blues-infused, rocking R&B sound, but also for his striking, original songwriting and exhilarating stage show. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, “Castro navigates seriously funky Southern soul, gritty big city blues and scorching rock…his silvery guitar licks simultaneously sound familiar and fresh.” Castro, booked by the famed Rosebud Agency, will be hitting the road hard -- kicking off his Hard Believer tour on August 9 in Duluth at the Bayfront Blues Festival -- playing festivals and clubs all across the U.S. and Canada.

Hard Believer was produced by John Porter (B.B. King, Elvis Costello, Buddy Guy, Keb Mo, The Smiths, Otis Rush, Billy Bragg, Roxy Music) and recorded in Castro’s hometown of San Rafael, CA. The album is anchored by Castro’s soul-baring songs, filled with profound emotion and fueled by Castro’s soulful vocals, powerful guitar, and propulsive rhythms. But what really drives the songs home is Castro’s telepathic interaction with his band. The group operates as a single engine, firing on all cylinders, sometimes pushing the pedal to the floor, other times slowing things down for a simmering ballad.

Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. He came under the spell of Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop, Mike Bloomfield and other blues rock players early on. As he got older, Castro moved forward by investigating the past, falling in love with the blues guitar work of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Elmore James and singers like Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett and James Brown. By his late 20s he was playing in a variety of San Francisco-area blues and soul bands.

Castro joined Warner Brothers artists The Dynatones in the late 1980s. The much-loved rocking soul band had a huge fan base and toured the U.S. constantly. He honed his chops with the band on the road for two years, performing live all across the country and backing major artists like Carla Thomas and Albert King. He formed The Tommy Castro Band in 1991 and won the Bay Area Music Award for Best Club Band in both 1993 and 1994. With his local fan base quickly expanding, he released his debut album, Exception To The Rule, in 1996 on Blind Pig. He began touring nationally with his band, picking up new fans everywhere he went. The album won the 1997 Bay Area Music Award for Outstanding Blues Album, and Castro also took the award for Outstanding Blues Musician that same year.

In the mid-1990s The Tommy Castro Band served as the house band for three seasons on NBC Television’s Comedy Showcase (airing right after Saturday Night Live), bringing him in front of millions of viewers every week. During the 1990s and into the 2000s, Castro released a series of critically acclaimed CDs for Blind Pig, Telarc and 33rd Street Records as well as one on his own Heart And Soul label. In 2001 and 2002 the legendary B.B. King asked Castro to open his summer concert tours. Castro received an open invitation to join the king of the blues on stage for the nightly finale. 

Publications across the country, from The Washington Post to The San Francisco Examiner, have sung Castro’s praises. Guitar Player called Castro “the hardest working bluesman on the scene today.” The Philadelphia Inquirer declared, “Castro plays infectious, roaring roadhouse romps with incendiary licks and a touch of New Orleans soul.” Carlos Santana, with whom Castro has performed, said, “Tommy Castro has the voice and the sound to touch everybody’s heart.” With Hard Believer and plenty of high-profile tour dates to follow, believing in the prodigious talent and unbridled energy of Tommy Castro is anything but hard.

Buckwheat Zydeco, the band USA Today called “zydeco trailblazers,” have been celebrating their 30th anniversary with the May 5, 2009 release of LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN, the album OffBeat declared “the band’s most adventurous disc yet.” American musical icon and bandleader Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr. has announced a massive North American tour by Buckwheat Zydeco, including stops at Milwaukee’s Summerfest on June 26, the Toronto Jazz Festival on June 28, Celebrate Brooklyn on July 24, The Pocono Blues Festival on July 26 and Colorado’s Copper Country Fest on September 5, among many other dates this summer and fall.

Since its release on May 5, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN has received some of the best reviews of the year for a roots/blues album. Living Blues says, “Buckwheat Zydeco returns with a new release on famed Chicago blues label Alligator Records, and the results are stunning.” Blues Revue continues, saying the album “is as steeped in blues as in the joyous Louisiana soul at the heart of this outstanding, wonderfully diverse set.” Chris Morris, writing in Sonicboomers.com, which named LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN an “Album Of The Week,” called it “a vastly entertaining and appealingly diverse package.”

Scott Simon, on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Saturday – in a nearly 10 minute feature airing shortly after the album’s release – brought Buckwheat Zydeco’s music to millions of listeners across the country. Simon called leader Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr. “the go-to guy for zydeco music…a master of accordion and organ,” and praised the new CD’s scope from “feel good, get-up-and-dance music to slow R&B grooves and brooding blues.” Simon’s far ranging discussion with Dural was heard by more than five million listeners worldwide, helping to kick-start the 30th anniversary celebration.

The album has remained on the Billboard Blues Chart for five weeks, and has landed in rotation on top tastemaker radio stations nationwide including WXPN in Philadelphia (where Buckwheat Zydeco will tape a World Café performance on July 14, which will be broadcast on over 200 stations), WYEP in Pittsburgh, WYMS in Milwaukee, WWOZ in New ORleans, KRSH in Santa Rosa, CA, and KUT in Austin, TX, with new music airplay from WXRT in Chicago and WFUV in New York City, among many others.

Buckwheat Zydeco recorded LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana in January and February with Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) producing (as well as leading the horn section). Guest stars including Louisiana slide guitar wizard Sonny Landreth, Gov’t Mule and Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes and Alligator label mate JJ Grey (on their own compositions) and New Orleans phenomenon Trombone Shorty lent their formidable talents. The album boasts five new Buckwheat originals and complete reinventions of songs by Memphis Minnie (When The Levee Breaks, made famous by Led Zeppelin), Bruce Springsteen (Back In Your Arms), Gov’t Mule (Lay Your Burden Down), Captain Beefheart (Too Much Time), Jimmy Cliff (Let Your Yeah Be Yeah) and JJ Grey & Mofro (The Wrong Side).

As Living Blues says, “The entire work is a vibrant testament to Buckwheat Zydeco’s spirit, reminding us that Louisiana’s musical heritage has taken all the hurricanes could give. This is an album that can introduce a new generation of music fans to the world of zydeco music and serve as a wonderful reminder about what a great zydeco band can do.”


MORE PRESS QUOTES:

Great New Orleans stylings, but it's also got a lot of heart and mind behind it. Dural has put together a collection of thoughtful, wide-ranging songs…that come up pulsating with the Buckwheat spirit.
– THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

An album of highlights…a great party.
– POPMATTERS.COM

A zydeco trailblazer with a soulful bayou-steeped set of originals and covers.
–USA TODAY

Buck’s most adventurous disc yet…Buck jams and slices a fat groove…slow-grinding and hypnotic.
–OFFBEAT

Buckwheat Zydeco shines on accordion and vocals, and his tight band is superbly captured by producer Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. Stanley 'Buckwheat' Dural Jr.'s in terrific form on Lay Your Burden Down.
– THE DETROIT FREE PRESS


TOUR SCHEDULE:
6/26/2009
Milwaukee Summerfest
Milwaukee, WI
www.summerfest.com

06/27/09
Urbana IL
Urbana Blues, Brews, BBQ
www.urbanablues.com

06/28/09
TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival
Toronto ONT Canada
www.tojazz.com

06/30/09
The Music Hall
London, ONT Canada
www.londonmusichall.com

07/01/09
Peter’s Place Live
Gravenhurst, Canada
www.petersplayers.com

07/04/09
Floyd Fandango Beer & Wine Fest
Floyd, VA
www.winedownthetrail.com

07/10/09
Visulite Theatre
Charlotte, NC
www.visulite.com

07/11/09
Farthing Auditorium
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC
www.farthing.appstate.edu

07/15/09
Jonathan’s Restaurant
Ogunquit, ME
www.jonathansrestaurant.com

07/17/09
Quebec City International Summer Festival
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
www.infofestival.com

07/18/09
Tremblant International Blues Festival
Quebec, Canada
ww1.tremblant.ca/blues/en/index.asp

07/19/09
Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest
Ottawa, Canada
http://www.ottawabluesfest.ca/en/

07/21/09
Regattabar
Cambridge, MA
http://www.regattabarjazz.com/

07/23/09
Stephen Talkhouse
Amagansett, NY
www.stephentalkhouse.com

07/24/09
Celebrate Brooklyn
Brooklyn, NY
http://www.briconline.org/celebrate/

07/25/09
Bearsville Theater
Woodstock, NY
http://www.bearsvilletheater.com/

07/26/2009
Poconos Blues Festival
Lake Harmony, PA
www.jfbb.com/

07/28/09
Snail Pie Lounge
Glenville, PA
www.snailpielounge.com

07/29/2009
Smith’s Old Bar
Atlanta, GA
www.smithsoldebar.com

08/19/2009
Diesel
Pittsburgh, PA
www.dieselpgh.com

08/20/2009
The Grog Shop
Cleveland Heights, OH
www.grogshop.gs

08/21/2009
Botanical Conservatory
Fort Wayne, IN
http://www.botanicalconservatory.org/

08/23/2009
The Rathskeller
Indianapolis, IN
http://www.rathskeller.com/

08/25/2009
Magic Bag
Ferndale, MI
www.themagicbag.com

8/26/2009
Gilly’s
Dayton, OH
www.gillysjazz.com

09/01/2009
Dakota Jazz Club
Minneapolis, MN
www.dakotacooks.com

09/02/2009
Beaumont Club
Kansas City, MO
www.kcclubs.com/beaumont

09/03/2009
Murphy’s Lounge
Omaha, NE
www.murphysomaha.com

09/05/2009
Copper Country (5th Annual Fest)
Copper Mtn, CO
www.coppercountryfest.com

09/12/2009
Lincoln Theater
Yountville, CA
www.lincolntheater.com

09/26/2009
PEI Jazz and Blues Festival
Prince Edward Island, Canada
www.jazzandblues.ca

10/17/2009 – 10/24/2009
Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise
San Diego, CA
www.bluescruise.com

3/10/2010 -3/11/2010
Country Music Festival 2010
Zurich, Switzerland

Many more new dates to come ... please check www.alligator.com, www.buckwheatzydeco.com or www.concertedefforts.com/artists_buck_itin.html for complete, updated tour dates and more information.

 

“QUEEN OF THE BLUES” KOKO TAYLOR 1928 - 2009

 

 

Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the “Queen of the Blues,” won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given to an American artist. Her most recent CD, 2007’s Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic.

 

Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper’s farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert “Pops” Taylor, traveled to Chicago with nothing but, in Koko’s words, “thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers.” 

 

In Chicago, “Pops” worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together they frequented the city’s blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko began to sit in with the city’s top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko’s performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums and penned her million-selling 1965 hit “Wang Dang Doodle,” which would become Taylor’s signature song.

 

After Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago’s Alligator Records in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes. She recorded eight more albums for Alligator between 1978 and 2007, received seven more Grammy nominations and made numerous guest appearances on various albums and tribute recordings. Koko appeared in the films Wild At Heart, Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She performed on Late Night With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, CBS-TV’s This Morning, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, CBS-TV’s Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs.

 

Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a “Legend Of The Year” Award and declared “Koko Taylor Day” throughout Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame. A year later, Chicago Magazine named her “Chicagoan Of The Year” and, in 1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009 Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring Morgan Freeman.

 

Koko Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago’s South Side to concert halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

 

Taylor’s final performance was on May 7, 2009 in Memphis at the Blues Music Awards, where she sang “Wang Dang Doodle” after receiving her award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year.

Survivors include Taylor’s husband Hays Harris, daughter Joyce Threatt, son-in-law Lee Threatt, grandchildren Lee, Jr. and Wendy, and three great-grandchildren.

 

Funeral arrangements will be announced.

 

###

 

 

 

Koko Taylor is the great female blues singer of her generation. Raw vocal power and blustery swagger.”

 – Rolling Stone

 

Koko Taylor is a national treasure…she packs firepower a lot of youngsters only wish they had.

– Chicago Tribune

 

Koko Taylor is the blues…a growling goddess of down-and-dirty. Sheer, unstoppable shouting power, full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes. There are many kings of the blues but only one queen. Koko’s voice is capable of pinning a listener to the back wall.

– Boston Globe

Raucous, gritty, good-time blues…Taylor belts out blues in a gravel voice with ferocious intensity. Foot-stomping music that’ rough, raw and wonderfully upbeat.

-- People

Chicago’s best blues singer…she has fire in her lungs.

--Chicago Sun-Times

 

 

 

ALLIGATOR RECORDS PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release – MAY 8, 2009
Contact: Marc Lipkin / 773-973-7736 x235
Email: publicity@allig.com
www.alligator.com

Soul and blues vocalist Janiva Magness received the coveted Entertainer Of The Year award at the Blues Foundation’s 2009 Blues Music Awards held on Thursday, May 7, 2009 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN. Magness also took the statue for Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year. Houserocking blues band Lil’ Ed And The Blues Imperials won Band Of The Year. Queen Of The Blues Koko Taylor received the award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year (her 29th career award, more than any other blues artist), and pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball won the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Of The Year award.

The Blues Music Awards are recognized as the highest honor given to blues artists. This year, Sirius XM Satellite Radio's B.B. King's Bluesville channel broadcast the event live. In addition, The Blues Music Awards were shot in HD for a DVD to be released in 2010.

Alligator Blues Music Award winners are as follows:

JANIVA MAGNESS
B.B. King Entertainer of the Year
Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year

 

 

KOKO TAYLOR

Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year

 

 

LIL’ ED AND THE BLUES IMPERIALS

Band Of The Year

 

 

MARCIA BALL
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Of The Year

 

 

###

Alligator Records has set a June 2 release date for Twisted, the debut release from Rick Estrin And The Nightcats. For more than 30 years and nine albums, harmonica master/ vocalist/songwriter Rick Estrin fronted the jumping, swinging Little Charlie And The The Nightcats, featuring guitarist Little Charlie Baty. With Baty’s recent retirement from touring, Estrin—along with the Nightcats’ longtime rhythm section of J. Hansen and Lorenzo Farrell and a new member, fiery guitarist Kid Andersen—takes the lead on his own. The band’s debut album, Twisted, while still swinging the blues, is a harmonica-driven, rocking, guitar-fueled rave-up. Featuring 14 songs (including 10 Estrin originals, two by Kid Andersen, one by Hansen, and a superb band-created instrumental), Twisted showcases Rick’s seemingly effortless command of the harmonica, his streetwise vocals and his remarkable original songs.

Rick Estrin ranks among the very best harp players, singers and songwriters in the blues world today. His work on the reeds is deep in the tradition of harmonica masters Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter Jacobs, while at the same time pushing that tradition forward. His award-winning original songs have been favorably compared with those of Willie Dixon and the team of Leiber and Stoller. And his hipster, street-smart vocals are the perfect vehicle for driving those songs home.
 
In addition to his harmonica and vocal skills, Rick Estrin is a songwriter of unparalleled talent. Critics have compared him to Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan and Willie Dixon. Blues Revue declared, “Estrin has created some of the finest blues songs of any artist on the planet. His carefully wrought lyrics penetrate human weakness with the precision of a boxer, though more often than not, he chooses to leave you laughing after the blow’s been struck.”

Besides Estrin’s songwriting and musical skills, he is among the most entertaining and colorful showmen around. His quick wit and his signature look—coifed hair, pencil-thin mustache and sharp attire—add even more color to his performances. “People don’t go out to see people who look like themselves,” says Rick. “They want to see something special. I was schooled in this business to be a showman, and that’s what you get when you come to see me perform.”

Estrin was born in San Francisco, California in 1949, and grew up following his own path. He discovered an entirely new lifestyle when, as a 10-year-old boy, he made his way to the tough Market Street area and befriended many of the neighborhood characters. He discovered another new world when his older sister gave him a copy of Ray Charles’ The Genius Sings The Blues when he was 12. Albums from Jimmy Reed, Champion Jack Dupree, Mose Allison, Nina Simone and others soon followed. By the time he was a teenager, Estrin had completely identified with the urban, African American culture surrounding him.

Rick got his first harmonica at age 15, and by age 18 was proficient enough to begin sitting in at black clubs around the city. He first jammed with blues master Lowell Fulson and almost immediately was hired to open five shows for Z.Z. Hill. He worked five nights a week for almost a year with guitar legend Travis Phillips in a band fronted by famed pimp/bluesman Fillmore Slim (who was the centerpiece of the acclaimed Hughes Brothers documentary American Pimp). Phillips introduced Estrin to Rodger Collins, the man who would become Rick’s first real musical mentor, and who schooled Rick on the finer points of songwriting and show business. He moved to Chicago and worked with Johnny Young, Eddie Taylor, Sam Lay and Johnny Littlejohn before meeting and jamming with Muddy Waters. In fact, Muddy wanted Estrin to go on the road with him, but due to nothing more than a missed phone call, it never happened.

Because of that missed connection, Rick eventually moved back to the Bay Area, met Little Charlie Baty and formed Little Charlie & The Nightcats. For the next 30 years, the band barnstormed around the globe, honing their skills and entertaining countless people. Now, as Rick Estrin & The Nightcats release Twisted and tour the country, they’ll bring their raucous, rocking blues to fans both old and new. Clubs will be packed, dance floors will be filled and a guaranteed great time will be had by all.

ALLIGATOR RECORDS PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – MARCH 4, 2009
CONTACT: MARC LIPKIN / ALLIGATOR RECORDS / 773-973-7736 x235
EMAIL: publicity@allig.com

COLOR IMAGES ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

PIEDMONT BLUES GUITARIST AND VOCALIST JOHN CEPHAS, 1930 - 2009

“Wonderfully rich vocals and jaunty acoustic guitar. Plenty of spirit and soul, humor and sorrow.”                               --The Washington Post

"Blues music is truth.”  --John Cephas

Master blues guitarist and vocalist John Cephas died of natural causes on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. He was 78. Well known as one half of the award-winning Piedmont blues duo Cephas & Wiggins, John’s remarkable and delicate finger picking and rich, baritone vocals placed him firmly at the forefront of acoustic blues artists. John received a National Heritage Fellowship Award (often called the “Living Treasure Award”) in 1989. This is the highest honor the U.S. Government offers a traditional artist. Two weeks ago, John was honored as one of eight black trailblazers as designated by the Library of Virginia's African American History Month.

John Cephas, along with his harmonica playing partner Phil Wiggins, performed thousands of concerts and festivals all over the world. Often under the auspices of the U.S. State Department, the two spent much of the 1980s abroad, playing Europe, Africa, Central and South America, China, Australia and New Zealand. In 1988, they were among the first Americans to perform at the Russian Folk Festival in Moscow. In 1997 Cephas & Wiggins performed for President Bill Clinton. In addition, John appeared on stage portraying a blind bluesman in the Kennedy Center production of Blind Man Blues. He also appeared in a production of Zora Neal Hurston’s play, Polk County, in Washington, D.C.

Among his many endeavors, John served on the Executive Committee of the National Council for the Traditional Arts, and has testified before Congressional committees. He is also a founder of the Washington, D.C. Blues Society. “More than anything else,” said John, “I would like to see a revival of country blues by more young people…more people going to concerts, learning to play the music. That’s why I stay in the field of traditional music. I don’t want it to die.”

John Cephas was born in Washington, D.C. in 1930 into a deeply religious family and raised in Bowling Green, Virginia. His first taste of music was gospel, but blues soon became his calling. After learning to play the alternating thumb and fingerpicking guitar style that defines Piedmont blues, John began emulating the records he heard by Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis and other early blues artists. Aside from playing blues, John worked early on as a professional gospel singer, carpenter and Atlantic fisherman. By the 1960s, he was starting to make a living from his music.

John first met his future partner Phil Wiggins in 1976 at the Smithsonian National Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. and the two quickly formed a duo. By the early 1980s, the international blues community recognized this marvelous acoustic twosome as the leading exponents of traditional Tidewater blues. While overseas in 1981, they recorded two albums, Living Country Blues and Sweet Bitter Blues, for the German L&R label. Cephas & Wiggins recorded their first domestic album, Dog Days Of August (Flying Fish Records), in 1987 in John’s living room, and it quickly won a Blues Music Award for Best Traditional Blues Album of the Year.

In 1996, Cephas & Wiggins made their Alligator Records debut with Cool Down. They followed up with Homemade, Somebody Told The Truth and Shoulder To Shoulder. Their most recent CD, 2009’s Richmond Blues, was released on the Smithsonian Folkways label.

ALLIGATOR RECORDS PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release – March 3, 2009
Contact: Marc Lipkin / 773-973-7736 x235
Email: publicity@allig.com

www.alligator.com
  

BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO’S ALLIGATOR RECORDS DEBUT,
LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN, SET FOR MAY 5 RELEASE, CELEBRATES BAND’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY!

Produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) with guests Sonny Landreth, Warren Haynes, Steve Berlin, JJ Grey, and Trombone Shorty.

Features five originals and songs by Memphis Minnie (as popularized by Led Zeppelin), Gov’t Mule, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Cliff, Captain Beefheart, JJ Grey & Mofro.

Alligator Records has set a May 5, 2009 release date for LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN, the stunning label debut from American musical legend Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural Jr. and his band, Buckwheat Zydeco. The New York Times says, “Stanley ‘Buckwheat’ Dural leads one of the best bands in America. A down-home and high-powered celebration, meaty and muscular with a fine-tuned sense of dynamics…propulsive rhythms, incendiary performances.” The Louisiana vocalist, accordion and organ master recorded the new CD at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana with Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) producing (as well as leading the horn section). Buckwheat Zydeco celebrates its 30th anniversary with the new CD and a lengthy tour, beginning with a Main Stage appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 2, 2009.

LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN is a remarkably conceived album featuring five new Buckwheat originals and complete reinventions of songs by Memphis Minnie (When The Levee Breaks, made famous by Led Zeppelin), Bruce Springsteen (Back In Your Arms), Gov’t Mule (Lay Your Burden Down), Captain Beefheart (Too Much Time), Jimmy Cliff (Let Your Yeah Be Yeah) and JJ Grey & Mofro (The Wrong Side). Guests on the album include Sonny Landreth, Warren Haynes, Steve Berlin, JJ Grey and Trombone Shorty. With LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN, Buckwheat Zydeco’s large and loyal fan base will have to make room for a massive influx of new converts.

Over the course of its celebrated career, Buckwheat Zydeco has played for President Clinton, performed at the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics (to a worldwide audience of three billion people), and gigged with everyone from Eric Clapton (with whom Buckwheat also recorded) and U2 to The Boston Pops. Buckwheat Zydeco’s music has appeared in a number of theatrical films and on too many television programs to mention, including The Late Show With David Letterman, CNN, The Today Show, MTV, NBC News and many others.

According to Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer, the addition of Buckwheat Zydeco to the label is huge. “Buckwheat is the iconic figure of Louisiana zydeco music worldwide. It’s a thrill to bring an artist of this stature to Alligator. More important, he still tears it up at every show. His energy level and accordion chops are just amazing, and he’s a terrific, soulful singer. Plus, he’s a thrilling Hammond organ player. I’m also excited to reunite Buckwheat with Steve Berlin of Los Lobos as producer. Berlin produced Five Card Stud, one of Buckwheat’s finest albums, and we believe Buckwheat’s Alligator debut is even better. Also, Buckwheat has been booked for years by Concerted Efforts, a great agency for American roots music.”

Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr. was born in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1947. He acquired his nickname because, with his braided hair, he looked like Buckwheat from The Little Rascals. His father was an accomplished, non-professional traditional Creole accordion player, but young Buckwheat preferred listening to and playing R&B. He became proficient at the organ, and by the late 1950s was backing Joe Tex, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and many others. In 1971 he formed a 16-piece funk band, Buckwheat and The Hitchhikers. Never a traditional zydeco fan when growing up, Buckwheat nonetheless accepted an invitation in 1976 to join Clifton Chenier’s Red Hot Louisiana Band as organist. He quickly discovered the joy and power of zydeco music, and marveled at the effect the music had on the audience. “I was shocked to find out how popular zydeco really was,” Buckwheat says. “Everywhere, people young and old just loved zydeco music. I had so much fun playing it that first night with Clifton. We played for four hours and I wasn't ready to quit.”

Buckwheat’s relationship with the legendary Chenier led him to take up the accordion in 1978. After woodshedding for a year, he felt ready to start his own band under the name Buckwheat Zydeco, and began his recording career with the small Blues Unlimited label. By the mid-1980s there were more offers to perform than he could possibly accept. Recordings for Black Top and Rounder followed before Buckwheat befriended New York-based journalist Ted Fox (who would later become his manager). Fox championed Buckwheat to Chris Blackwell at Island Records, and Buckwheat soon received a five-record deal.

As more doors opened, Buckwheat found himself sharing stages and/or recording with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, David Hidalgo, Dwight Yoakam, Paul Simon, and many others, including indie music darlings Yo La Tengo on the soundtrack to the Bob Dylan bio-pic, I’m Not There.

During the 1990s Buckwheat continued recording for his own Tomorrow Records label and never slowed down his touring schedule. With his new relationship with Alligator and LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN, his massive instrumental and vocal talents and boundless energy, Buckwheat remains the most popular zydeco artist in the world, and will find the largest and most enthusiastic audience of his long and storied career.

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Passionate blue-eyed soul smothered with a big heap of New Orleans funk makes you feel like dancing all the way down Canal Street.      --Los Angeles Daily News

Alligator Records has set a March 24 street date for Gulf Coast Highway, the new CD from soul, rock and blues singer, songwriter and guitarist Eric Lindell. Only a few short years ago, Lindell was known only to a small but enthusiastic group of fans in his native Northern California and his adopted home town of New Orleans. Once he hit the national music scene with his 2006 Alligator Records debut Change In The Weather, critics and fans around the world celebrated the arrival of a roots rocker with dozens of unforgettable original songs. His combination of sweet, blue-eyed soul with groove-laden R&B, swamp pop, funk and blues won him critical and popular acclaim across the country. Writers and disc jockeys made comparisons to Van Morrison and Delbert McClinton. With his 2007 release Low On Cash, Rich In Love, his popularity increased exponentially. A February 2008 appearance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien put him in front of an audience of millions of people worldwide.

Recorded at Balance Studio in Mandeville, Louisiana, Gulf Coast Highway features 12 original songs and three inspired covers. The CD finds Lindell reaching new performing and songwriting heights. His soul-drenched mix of roots-rock, sinewy blues, swampy R&B and a hint of honky-tonk soul permeates every song. With musical help from some of the Crescent City’s finest players, including the Galactic rhythm section of Robert Mercurio and Stanton Moore on some tracks, Lindell has created his most fully realized lyrical and musical statement yet.

Born in San Mateo, California in 1969, Lindell spent countless hours in San Francisco, soaking up the musical sounds of the city, eventually leading him to pick up first the bass and then the guitar and harmonica. Lindell listened to the music of The Impressions as well as Buddy Guy. He discovered blues greats Junior Wells, Jimmy Reed and Albert King before drifting toward the R&B sounds of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, soaking up the soul and learning how to craft a song. After performing at bars on the West Coast with a few short-lived bands, Eric formed his own group in 1993 and quickly gained a loyal California audience thanks to countless performances and many late-night jam sessions. Established stars like Charlie Musselwhite and Tom Waits attended his gigs, as did overflow crowds of music fans.

Lindell left for New York in 1998, gigging there regularly before heading down to New Orleans in 1999, where he quickly discovered the roots music scene. He gravitated toward the West Bank dive bars of Gretna and Algiers, Louisiana, where he befriended many older swamp pop musicians who helped him get more regular gigs. Before long he met up with Galactic’s Stanton Moore, and the two jammed together often. Some of New Orleans’ finest players, including keyboardist Ivan Neville and drummers Harold Brown (War) and Johnny Vidacovich, often joined him on stage. Galactic bassist Rob Mercurio began sitting in as well, and word of Lindell’s immense talents quickly spread around the city.

Lindell’s 2006 Alligator Records debut, Change In The Weather, delighted and surprised music fans hungry for a truly original artist. Lindell’s deceptively simple sounding songs, laid back grooves and hook-laden melodies were fueled by guests including Brown, Neville and Moore. Critics across the country went wild, with reviews and features in Relix, OffBeat, Harp, Guitar Player, Down Beat, The New Yorker, The New York Press and many other national and regional publications. Singer And Musician magazine put Eric on the cover and many newspaper entertainment sections did the same. The Chicago Sun-Times said, “Eric Lindell is a tremendous raw talent with a poet's soul. He writes from the heart with a fully realized musical vision.”

The 2007 release of Low On Cash, Rich In Love pushed Lindell farther into the spotlight. Appearances on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, his return to Mountain Stage and reviews in USA Today, Relix, Down Beat, Harp, Living Blues, Blues Revue and many other national and regional publications solidified Lindell’s stature as an artist who simply could not be ignored.

Lindell’s live shows draw as much attention as his material. Fun, funky, high-energy and set-list free shows keep fans clamoring for more and coming back again and again. His unstoppable grooves, rocking, deeply rooted, original songs and excellent musicianship never fail to fill the dance floor. Guitar Player says, “Impressive, super slinky classic blues and rock with a taste of country twang. Lindell is bound to win over roots music fans for years to come.” The Philadelphia Inquirer simply called his music, “timeless blue-eyed soul.” The Boston Herald calls him “a ferocious talent.” With the release of Gulf Coast Highway, and a full slate of tour dates around the country, Eric Lindell’s talent and soul will shine brightly from the Gulf Coast to stages all over the world.

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