Posts Tagged ‘West Coast’
SUGARAY RAYFORD
Sugaray Rayford has been the featured vocalist of the Award-winning Mannish Boys for several years now, and they have again been nominated for three Blues Music Awards in 2015. However Sugaray is the frontman for his own band, and he has also been nominated as Best Traditional Male Artist and as BB King Entertainer of…
Read MoreRICK ESTRIN
The Blues has got to make you smile once in a while, even if it is just to keep from cryin’, but a night out with Little Charlie and the Nightcats is the kind of stimulant that cures most ills, and the medicine has been available for almost forty years. The main ingredient is Rick…
Read MoreLADY BIANCA
A woman who can sing the Blues with an authentic growl a smooth, seductive contralto and a big, sweet toned range will always be in demand, and West-coast star Lady Bianca fills that bill perfectly. She is not well known around the world, or even across the nation, but her big, rounded voice has been…
Read MoreTOMMY CASTRO
With a hat-full of Blues Music Awards and a dozen good-selling albums, Tommy Castro is a consummate modern Bluesman. He sings like a 60s Soul star, plays guitar riffs that would not be out of place in a 50s Chicago club, and he has taken those talents around the world. Tommy remains a modest character,…
Read MoreLOWELL GEORGE
Lowell George was a slide-guitar player of such exquisite skill, good taste and influence, he is one of an élite group of musicians, including Bonnie Raitt, Duane Allman and Ry Cooder, who can be said to have changed the sound of modern Rock music with their mastery of lyrical ‘bottleneck’ technique. Lowell Thomas George was…
Read MoreJJ CALE
JJ Cale took relaxed, long-legged boogie rhythms, combined them with tunes that had roots in the Blues, wrote light, clever lyrics he delivered almost in a whisper, and carefully hand-crafted them into hugely influential records. His subtle, understated guitar style is cited by many renowned players as a model of quiet effectiveness. John Weldon Cale…
Read MoreDRIFTIN SLIM
Driftin’ Slim was an Arkansas Bluesman who learned his harp playing with both ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamsons, and found a degree of local fame later on the West coast as a one-man-band. Elmon Mickle was born near Little Rock AK in 1919, and when he was young, he met John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson, who kindly…
Read MoreCAL GREEN
Texan Cal Green was a talented and versatile guitarist who started out imitating his favourite local Blues players, then got a gig playing with one of the biggest R&B acts of the 50s, co-wrote a worldwide hit, then switched to Jazz in the 60s but returned to the Blues in later life. Cal was born…
Read MoreRY COODER
American popular music has its roots in dozens of diverse traditions, and most of them have been investigated by Ry Cooder as he played a wide selection of stringed instruments. A highly skilled guitar picker, his wise and amusing selection of songs on a long series of albums have broadened many horizons, and pricked many…
Read MoreTHE BIHARI BROTHERS
Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe Bihari were four brothers of Hungarian descent who were responsible for setting up a string of record labels in Los Angeles and Memphis that made a huge contribution to the success of Blues music, especially on the West Coast, in the post-WWII era. The eldest brother, Lester, had a job…
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