Get It Lit !

Now that the 2015 Oscars and in the books here's the follow up video from Doug Balmain's  newly released cut posted here last week. Looks like everyone was having some fun on this one.

Enjoy


PUSH THE BUTTON

This is Hot!

One of the best things about doing this blog is that I have been able to take it into many different directions. From blues to reggae, from surf to psych I have been able to bring what happens to be running through my mind at the time so others can get into it or pass. I have had the great fortune of getting many new artists looking for additional exposure.

One that I was contacted about the other day was from the promotion group that is working with the singer/songwriter Doug Balmain. I had not had the opportunity to hear his work before but am glad I have now. Today we are introducing the debut of the title cut from his soon to be released recording titled Burnin' Both Ends. It is scheduled for a March 3rd release.

It feels like everything about this EP is different from anything I’ve done in the past. It’s a much larger production and sound….it’s essentially a 10-piece band behind me. But that’s the sound I dig and grew up listening to: that big rock/soul sound with backup vocalists and horn sections. It’s more than just a style…when you bring all those pieces together well, and in the right context, you produce an energy and feeling that you can’t get any other way.

 

That’s singer/songwriter DOUG BALMAIN describing how his upcoming EP “Burning Both Ends,” set for a March 3, 2015 release, differs from anything he’s done before.

 

A rock ’n’ roller with the voice of a soul man, Balmain’s lyrics and vocals have all the power & tenacity of a man desperately fighting for what’s his while maintaining the honesty and sentimentality of a true storyteller. Rachelle Lacy of the Billings Gazette described his work by saying, “Balmain’s voice and guitar are extraordinary, and his songwriting ability is a super-power.”

 

Doug's musical diversity and eclectic range of influences are brought to light through his guitar work - which can echo with a haunting, acoustic sparseness reminiscent of the pre-war delta - flow with a rich, melodic voicing that’ll leave you thinking you've just heard The Edge and John Mayer’s unborn love-child caressing the fret board…while at other times it stabs through the heart of the song with a violent, electric wail evocative of an agitated, “Let it Bleed” era Keith Richards.

 

Not one to candy-coat his words, BALMAIN’s writing confronts life experience with an unyielding stare and attention to detail. “His is a very unique sound with stories that capture life from a different point of view,” said Marcus Walton - editor of L.A. based Music Arts Magazine. Having no formal knowledge of music, Doug relies on visceral instinct and his hemorrhaging vehemence to form his songs' compositions.

 

“Prior to this EP, I’ve never felt in my gut that I created something that truly expressed ‘me’ and who I am,” BALMAIN reveals. “But this time, I’ve created exactly what I wanted in voice that is my own. I think that energy and honesty will come through the speakers - the audience will hear and feel it for themselves and, hopefully, appreciate the songs even more because of it.

 

 After being asked what kind of music he plays, BALMAIN responds by saying, “I play rock ’n’ roll with soul in its veins.”

 
I liked the basic, stripped down sound along with the grit in Doug's voice. If this tune is indicative of this fellows output, we are due to hear a lot of Burnin' from Doug and company.

Give the man a listen and let me know what you think.

Video to debut next Monday.

Don't Fuck With Joe

This tasty gem come to us from the folks down south....way south - Brisbane Australia. The group's called The Blackwater Fever and this tune is from their new album, The Depths due to drop for all this coming week.

Here's what they say about that:


When you have critical acclaim, two successful albums, played festivals like Big Day Out, Bluesfest and Peats Ridge and opened for the likes of The Black Keys, Tame Impala, Birds of Tokyo, Jon Spencer and Violent Soho, how do you set yourself the next challenge?

 For The Blackwater Fever, the answer is that you take the production reins of your third album The Depths, spending almost a year evolving your sound and songwriting in ways only time and commitment will allow you to explore. Already known for their dark and brooding, yet hard-hitting sound, The Depths delivers on the promise of the band's previous releases, melting an even more diverse genre pool into their trademark garage blues sound.

 "The Depths is our best release yet and the first we have made entirely under our own steam. It was a huge learning curve with much trial and error but in the end I think the result has vividly realised our ideas and vision. This is how we will make albums from now on."
 - Shane Hicks (Vocals/Guitar)

 The 14 tracks journey through blues, soul, trip-hop, story telling, instrumental and rock n' rock, all forged together with their unique, dark, atmospheric sound. The album also marks the duo becoming a three piece, bringing bass and organ into the fold.

The Blackwater Fever have considerable radio airplay to their name with Triple J, Triple R, PBS and internationally in the USA and Europe. Their music has featured on the HBO and ABC television networks and been the soundtrack for various ad campaigns and Australian feature films, The Tunnel and The Crossing.
 


The Depths is instore and online through MGM Distribution on March 22, 2013.


I think you'll dig it the most.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cruel or Gentle?

Charlie Sexton

Cruel and Gentle Things

2005

@320

Review

by Thom Jurek

It's been a decade since Charlie Sexton issued the sprawling, ambitious Under the Wishing Tree. But Sexton has been anything but idle. He's produced recordings by Lucinda Williams, Edie Brickell, Los Super Seven, Shannon McNally, and Double Trouble. He also played guitar in Bob Dylan's studio and road bands for over three years. Cruel and Gentle Things is only the fourth album issued under Sexton's own name. It was recorded, in many sessions over a number of years, whenever he got a break from his other occupational duties. It is a close and intimate affair that finds the songwriter and producer playing nearly everything over ten songs. There are a few guests who appear -- mainly bassist George Reiff and drummer J.J. Johnson, but overall this is truly a solo affair. The set opens with "Gospel," a slippery, languid acoustic blues testament to faith in times of trouble. The sheer skeletal beauty of the track is striking, and Sexton's vocal is full of a relaxed conviction that gets right at the heart of the lyric. Daniel Lanois would kill to have written this. Rock & roll enters on "Burn," a, dreamy and seductive nocturnal groove that stands in sharp contrast to the sheer lost-love desolation in its lyrics with a killer backing vocal by McNally. The rootsy country-folk stroll of "I Do the Same for You," with its lap steel and layered acoustic guitars, inspires with its gritty sense of dedication. "Once in a While," though another broken love song about moving on after a breakup, is bright bouncy pop fueled by a simple bassline and a layer of guitars. Dobro, ringing electrics, and skittering drums envelope the other instruments in a buoyant swirl around the singer. They seem to give him the courage to step out and state his willingness and truth. "Dillingham Lane" was written with Steve Earle and features Sexton's brother Will on backing vocals. A droning, open-tuned guitar piece, it narrates a look back to the street the pair grew up on. There's no romance in the lyric -- simply a statement of what was, looking at it as it informs the present. Ultimately, Cruel and Gentle Things is a series of postcards from various places and people in the songwriter's life. It comes across as an interior kind of travel record, one that charts, exposes, lays bare, and celebrates the years as the revelations of everyday life, lived in space and time but not bound by them. It is easily the finest and most poetic and musically realized record in Sexton's catalog.

Tracklist

1 Gospel
2 Burn
3 I Do the Same for You
4 Cruel and Gentle Things
5 Bring It Home Again
6 Once in a While
7 Just Like Love
8 Regular Grind

9 Dillingham Lane

10 It Don't Take Long

Get it HERE

Just Like Mama Said, Bring Yo' Ass To The Table!

Left Lane Cruiser

Bring Yo' Ass To The Table

2008

Review

by Jo-Ann Greene

In another life, Freddie J IV could have been a good ol' fingerpickin', porch-playin' blues guitarist. Basking away in the sun, he could have whiled away his time exploring the many shades of blues, from country hit whittling to Delta swamp wading. But there was fire in his belly and a flame in his soul, and in his hands the blues were transformed into an assault weapon. Bren "Sausage Paw" Beck was perhaps every mother's nightmare, a boy who seemingly just couldn't sit still. In a world pulsing with rhythm -- from the blood pounding through our veins to the cacophony of traffic in our towns -- Beck had to drum back in response at every turn, on anything and everything available. He is a continuous tattoo, battering out the beats of his own internal drums. Fatefully, one day the two met, and so was born Left Lane Cruiser, an astounding two-man blues band. Lo-fi is a totally inadequate term to describe their sound, a sizzling mix of Beck's pusillanimous drums, claps, percussion, and hoots and hollers and Freddie J's blistering guitar and husky vocals. This is the blues in their purest form, rough and ragged, rubbed raw by too much hard living and too many tough breaks. The blues' African-American progenitors could bare the pain in their souls, but dared not express the anger that underlay it. Cruiser, however, are under no such constraints, and on the trio of songs that close the set the music bristles with barely repressed rage that immediately brings the Stooges to mind. In contrast, the exuberant crash and bash of "Wash It," the dizzy stomp of "KFD," and the gleeful hook of "G Bob" all roil with a grand joie de vivre, with the exhilarating "Set Me Down" the perfect band anthem. Then again, every track on Bring Yo' Ass to the Table ripples with energy and an electric charge of creative frisson. Whether celebrating a plate of "Pork n' Beans," "Big Momma"'s delights, or "G Bob"'s steel guitar playing, the Cruisers rumble through the back streets of life, focusing on the small details, although the scathing "Amerika" does look at the bigger picture. A thoroughly unique journey down a well-traveled road; best now to sit yo' ass down a spell and listen to this stunning album.

Tracklist

1 Wash It
2 Set Me Down
3 Pork n' Beans
4 KFD
5 Justify
6 G Bob
7 Big Momma
8 Busket
9 Amerika
10 Amy's in the Kitchen
11 Mr. Johnson
12 Heavy

Get it HERE

Greasy, Smoky and Oh So Very Tasty

Barbecue Bob and The Spareribs

The Sacred and The Propane

2002

Ripped @ a greasy 256

-

Bring plenty of napkins when you sit down with this one.

-

Biography by Steve Leggett

Barbecue Bob & the Spareribs are a hard-driving "swamp rock" blues band, veterans of the New York City and New Jersey bar scene. The classic Spareribs lineup consists of songwriter Robert Pomeroy (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Ira Spinrad (guitar), Dominick Zarillo (bass), and Scott Byrne (drums). The band has released three albums on CD on the DaDa label: After School Special, Pass the Biscuits!, and The Sacred & the Propane. AMG

Tracklist

-

  1 Burnin' Hell 
  2 Love Has Turned to Hate 
  3 Hey Little Girl 
  4 Fat of the Land 
  5 Don't Start Crying Now 
  6 Kate 
  7 Evil Twist 
  8 The Preacher 
  9 It's Too Late Brother 
  10 We Gotta Rock 
  11 The Chosen One 
  12 Remember 
  13 Time to Go 
  14 French St. Mambo

-

Get it HERE

Sweet But Won't Rot Your Teeth

Big Sugar

Big Sugar

2003

Ripped @ a sweet 256

Big Sugar officially formed in 1991 in Toronto, Ontario, consisting of vocalist and guitarist Gordie Johnson, bassist Terry Wilkins, and drummer Al Cross, though the three musicians had already played together for several years as an informal jam band with members of the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, and as a supporting band for Molly Johnson's jazz performances. After Molly Johnson returned to rock music with Infidels, she helped her former bandmates to secure a record deal; their eponymous debut album was released in 1991 on Hypnotic Records.

After Wilkins left the band in 1993, Big Sugar recorded the album Five Hundred Pounds with the help of guest musicians; including harmonica and tenor saxophonist Kelly Hoppe, also known as Mr. Chill. Hoppe brought a blues and old-school r'n'b influence into the band's sound. Hoppe would become an official member of the band in September 1994. He would later add keyboards and melodica to his sideman responsibilities. In July 1994, bassist Garry Lowe joined the band. Lowe had moved to Canada in the mid-1970s from Kingston, Jamaica. Soon after arriving in Toronto, he became an in-demand bass player for touring reggae recording artists. He often accompanied them at Toronto's famed Bamboo club on Queen St.W., among other venues. Lowe was a founding member of "Culture Shock", a popular Toronto reggae band. Johnson, an avid reggae maven (and one-time bass player), had been a fan of Lowe's and was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to join Big Sugar as a full-time member. Also in 1994, Al Cross left the band and was replaced by Stich Wynston, formerly of The Shuffle Demons.

Big Sugar had slowly built a reputation as an outstanding live band, and Five Hundred Pounds consolidated it; the album sold 10,000 copies in Canada without any real publicity or radio airplay. During this time, Gordie Johnson also recorded an album as Don't Talk Dance, with Tyler Stewart of Barenaked Ladies and Chris Brown of the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir.

In 1995, the band released two EPs; Dear M.F., which featured a cover version of Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy"; and Ride Like Hell. Following the release of these EPs, Stich Wynston left the band and was replaced by Walter "Crash" Morgan. During the band's tour that year, however, Morgan suffered an aneurysm, collapsed, and died on stage during a show in Iowa. Longtime band associate Raffa Dean was enlisted to finish the tour, and former Odds member Paul Brennan subsequently joined as the band's new drummer, appearing on their most commercially successful album, 1996's Hemi-Vision. Brennan left in 1997, and was replaced by Gavin Brown.

Hemi-Vision's single "Opem Up Baby" was a notable first for the band, who recorded a French version of that song, "Ouvres-Toi Bébé", for radio stations in Quebec. The song gained widespread airplay in the province, and for their next album, 1998's Heated, the band recorded a French version of each single they released; the French songs were collected on the 1999 EP Chauffe à bloc. Also that year, Johnson and Hoppe performed several acoustic shows as a duo under the names "Little Sugar" or "Two Fools on Stools".

Gavin Brown left the band in 1999 and Cross returned as drummer. The band also added a new rhythm guitarist, Mojah.

In 2000, the band released a dub album, Extra Long Life, under the name Alkaline.

In 2001, Big Sugar released Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready? Taking their interest in writing and performing French material to its logical conclusion, a complete track-for-track French version, Brothers and Sisters, Êtes Vous Ready?, was released the same year. Both albums concluded with a blistering blues-rock rendition of "O Canada". Towards the end of this tour, Al Cross again left the band to pursue percussion studies in New York state. He was initially replaced by Marks Lockhart (formerly of Big Rude Jake), and finally by Eric "Speedstick" Paul.

The two-CD compilation Hit & Run, featuring a greatest hits disc and a live concert performance disc, was released in 2003.

The band broke up in 2004, after, according to the band's website, Johnson became frustrated with Canadian radio programmers who claimed his single "All Hell for a Basement" was "too Canadian" (as the song makes reference to the province of Alberta). Johnson, a staunch nationalist, was disgusted and angry and left Canada to pursue music in a more "open, welcoming" environment. Big Sugar's last concert was December 31, 2003, at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton. The newly re-named "Grady" Johnson can now be found in the Austin, Texas-based band Grady. Kelly Hoppe performs with Mr. Chill & The Witnesses, a roots music group. Mojah and Garry Lowe went on to form Truth and Rights Revue, a reggae band, and have released one album to date. Eric Paul played with Truth and Rights, but has recently joined Ian Thornley (formerly of Big Wreck) in the newly-revised lineup of Thornley.

Gordie Johnson is also a producer and session musician. To date, he has produced albums and tracks for Three Days Grace, Thousand Foot Krutch, Billy Talent, Thornley, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Gov't Mule, Taj Mahal, Wide Mouth Mason, Big Rude Jake, BTK, The Trews, Chris Duarte, John Ford and Ashley MacIsaac, as well as playing with Molly Johnson, Jonny Lang and Double Trouble, the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Big Rude Jake and many others.

-
Tracklist:

1 Sleep in Late
2 Come Back Baby 
3 Motherless Children 
4 So Many Roads (For Clive) 
5 Bemsha Swing 
6 Stardust
7 Groundhog Day
8 Just About Sunrise 
9 Goodbye Train
10 Nowhere to Go 
11 'Round Midnight
12 Devil Got My Woman 

-

Get it HERE

Keepin' It Real Here Boss

B.B. Chung King & The Buddaheads

Real

2002

-

Make no mistake, BB Chung King & The Buddaheads are the original Los Angeles Version!

BB is always busy working on new Buddaheads material, but also finds time to write, record and produce for other artists. He has written songs for blues legends such as Lonnie Brooks, Coco Montoya, Shemekia Copeland and he helped Ruth Brown receive a Grammy nomination for her performance of his song, "Too Little, Too Late :. he also wrote and produced tracks with Grammy winning partner Dennis Walker, for the critically acclaimed Bettye Lavette album, A Woman Like Me".

You can hear the Buddaheads paying tribute to Lowell George. Together with Eddie Money, they perform the title track to the tribute album titled "Rock and Roll Doctor" (a song that appears as a bonus track on The Buddaheads "LIVE JAPAN" CD)

"PLAY HARD", the third full-length album, was released in Japan by Kiagan Records.

The fourth studio offering was, "GO FOR BROKE", a breathtaking collection of Rockin' Blues and power packed ballads. More great Buddaheads music can be found on their last studio release, "REAL".

The Buddaheads music can also be found in the following films: My Cousin Vinny, Heaven and Earth, Robocop II, Contact, Bring Down the Stars, Great Expectations, and Chuck Norris' Forest Warrior.

"I am thankful that I have the studio to work from when I am not on the road. It is the perfect place for me and the band to flesh out new ideas and it also makes a perfect living room environment for a blues-full jam when friends are in town", smiles BB.

-

Tracklist:

  1 Real
  2 911 
  3 Better Day 
  4 Bye Bye Bye 
  5 Crawlin'moon 
  6 '57 Chevy 
  7 Cold Hard Cash
  8 Tied Up 
  9 Dance Maria 
  10 Train Train 
  11 Fallin' and Crawlin' 
  12 Alana

-

Get it HERE

Classic,Stompin' Groove

Edgar Winter's White Trash

Roadwork

1972

@192

-

Before Edgar Winter had his massive commercial success that began with the instrumental “Frankenstein”, he put together an amazing array of musical talent called White Trash. Blending gospel, soul, blues, funk, r&b and rock and roll, Winter’s hard-charging combo offered blazing guitar (Rick Derringer and the amazing but little-known Floyd Radford), a killer horn section and a majestic in-your-face sound that could raise the dead.

The first studio album was a classic and the reunion record enjoyable, but the live album Roadwork is one of the best concert discs ever made. Jerry LaCroix and Edgar Winter handle most of the vocals, and you’re unlikely to find two better throaty shouters . The song selection includes classic like “Tobacco Road” and “I Can’t Turn You Loose” in addition to material from Rick Derringer and the Winter brothers.

-

Review by Michael B. Smith

The live follow-up to 1971's Edgar Winter's White Trash finds the group running through a handful of the tunes from their debut album, as well as rocking things up a bit with "Still Alive and Well" (a track later recorded by Edgar's brother Johnny) and "Back in the U.S.A." One of the most immortal lines for any live rock album has to be "People keep askin' me -- where's your brother?" The introduction of guest artist Johnny Winter by his brother Edgar sets the stage for a rousing rendition of Rick Derringer's "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo." The extended version of blues classic "Tobacco Road" is one of the finest moments on this album, which is itself a classic.
- 
Tracklist:

-
  1 Save the Planet 
  2 Jive, Jive, Jive 
  3 I Can't Turn You Loose 
  4 Still Alive and Well 
  5 Back in the U.S.A. 
  6 Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo 
  7 Tobacco Road 
  8 Cool Fool 
  9 Do Yourself a Favour 
  10 Turn on Your Love Light

-

Get it HERE

Warm Yourself By This Fire

Gwyn Ashton

Feel The Heat

2001

Blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Gwyn Ashton was born in Wales and raised in South Australia. At an early age he developed a love for blues and rock music that was fueled as a result of recordings by renowned artists like Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Rory Gallagher, Muddy Waters, and many others. At the age of 11, Ashton picked up his first guitar and began the chore of learning to play the instrument. His natural talent didn't take long to show through. When he was a teenager, he teamed up with a couple of friends to form his first professional band. He stood in as frontman. The little group often managed to land jobs at local blues clubs and bars. After building a small fan base and landing some positive press, Ashton took his act on the road across Australia. He also spent time serving as a member with other groups now and then. In 1993, Ashton finished recording his debut album, Feel the Heat. It took three long years before his sophomore full-length offering, Beg, Borrow and Steel, was released. By now he was touring and performing in countries worldwide, including finding a market in the United States for his slide guitar-filled blues-rock. Some of the musicians who have been part of his recording band along the way include drummers Brendan O'Neill, Rick Tredrea, and Michael Wiedrich; along with bassists Geoff Brown, Sambor Kansy, and Gerry McAvoy.



1 Loaded 6 Shooter
2 Ain't Got Time For That Stuff
3 Trouble's Knockin' At Your Door
4 Wastin' My Time
5 Bad Luck Blues
6 Too Late
7 Someone Like You
8 Just A Little Bit
9 Take Me Back Home
10 Wanted Man
11 We'll Find A Way


*
http://rapidshare.com/files/122217785/Gwyn_Ashton_-_Feel_The_Heat_Pt_1.rar

*
http://rapidshare.com/files/122221929/Gwyn_Ashton_-_Feel_The_Heat_Pt_2.rar