This is a singer-songwriter, compilation album which is as ambitious as it is fun. It’s not surprising coming from the ambitious, non-profit record label known as the Little Village Foundation. As you might suspect these are twenty songs, written and performed by twenty different artists who have recorded on Jim Pugh’s Little Village Label. All of these songs were produced by the individual artists and recorded this past summer. These tracks were assembled and mastered by Kid Andersen at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose, California. Like much of what we got our ears around this month, not everything here is blues strictly speaking, but what is presented here is strictly good music. It is a wildly eclectic offering, as one might expect which has an organic cohesion that one might not expect. I have become familiar with many of these artists over the past few years and many more of them were not familiar. The mini bios which are included in the six-panel packaging enhanced the listening experience for me. It is the mission of the Little Village Foundation to put a spotlight on musicians who might not otherwise be heard. In doing so they are creating cultural empathy and therefore stronger relationships. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this CD go directly to the artists. I should warn you, I guarantee you will hear an artist who will speak directly to your soul and you will be moved. You will want to hear more from that person. As I have heard full albums of many of these individuals, it was great to get what is tantamount to a bonus track from them here on 20X20 in 2020. I think we all have earned a bonus in 2020 and 20X20 was the bonus I needed this year.  - D.M. 

Duke returns to the hard-core blues sound that made him popular during the 80's blues boom with a rockin' house party record. Featuring some of the original players from Roomful of Blues, it spotlights covers of Ike Turner, Lefty Bates Dave Bartholemew and more. The band plays it straight and solid.  Duke still has the tone and taste that made him a guitar icon back in the day, but with 50 years of added experience. If you liked Duke’s Blues from a couple decades ago, this one is for you. -C.L.

(Editor’s Note: This album receives a full review by David Mac in this edition of BLUES JUNCTION.) 

The man who used to perform under the alliterative sobriquet of B-B-Q Barnes and led a band called the Rib-Tones is still cooking.  The latest release by veteran bay area harmonica player and songwriter Neil Barnes is a collection of songs recorded at three separate locations over the past few years. Traditional blues grooves are featured on this fine release. Highlights include the instrumentals, two of which were recorded at Jon Atkinson’s Big Tone Studios when those facilities were based in the east bay. Six of the album's ten tracks were produced by Kid Andersen and recorded at his Greaseland Studios in San Jose. Andersen also mixed and mastered the two numbers recorded by Atkinson. His indelible prints are all over Bald Guy with a Lot on his Mind. Other album highlights include the two tracks recorded at the Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. These feature the guitar of Ron Thompson. The recently departed blues man sings on one of these tunes, a Thompson original entitled Sugar Mama. Bald Guy…has a great supporting cast. However, the star turns out to be the tasteful, understated harmonica stylings of Barnes. His playing is restrained and therefore effective. He never gets in the way of the song or the vocalists who deliver their missives with the clarity one would expect from some well written originals and carefully curated covers.  Bald Guy with a Lot on his Mind is Barnes’ finest album in several years. - D.M.

Big Harp George’s Living In The City moves and grooves as the chromatic harmonica player broadens his approach to his instrument and his songwriting. This album swings and rhumbas and thunders through New Orleans streets with the gusto of a brass band, it slinks down greasy Memphis alleys and it invigorates any Kansas City dance floor. At the same time the music that is fun and danceable is thought provoking. George understands his life is different than the the field workers who gave the blues its bones a century before. His songwriting views the world through a blues filter but wants to make music pertinent to modern-day living by reflecting his own perspective and experiences. He’s also nudging his music into international waters, highlighting scenes from a working-class beach in Brazil to the siege of the Gaza Strip. This is significant growth and maturity from an artist who made his debut with 2014’s Chromaticism. You won’t find any long-winded soloing here, just a realization that musicians playing as an ensemble can create greater dexterity for the flow of the music. By expanding his musical world, he’s enlightening ours. -M.K.

If one wishes to understand Texas music, several notions must be embraced, much of which are present in the music of Johnny Nicholas. This begins with the concept of eclecticism. You simply can’t put a wall around Nicholas’ music any more than you could erect one on Texas southern border. Any attempt would be futile and then you would be left to answer the question, as to why did you even want to do such a thing in the first place. On Mistaken Identity Nicholas rambles all over the backroads of the Texas Hill Country like a man who is not asleep at the wheel, in an old American muscle car. This Rhode Island native has been closely associated with the blues since his days in Chicago where he performed and recorded with Big Walter Horton and Robert Lockwood Jr. He returned to Providence, Rhode Island, where he led a band, Johnny & the Rhythm Rockets, which included fellow New Englanders and future Texans, reed man Mark “Kaz” Kazanoff and bass player Sarah Brown. Nicholas has lived in the Texas Hill Country for decades now where he has raised a family and set up shop. That shop is the Hill Top Café, a converted gas station which has become a restaurant and occasional music venue. On Mistaken Identity Nicholas sings ten tunes, all of which are originals save one penned by the late Steven Bruton. He delivers them with the self-assuredness of a man in his 70s who knows what he’s talking about. A wonderful assemblage of musicians gives these songs various regional accents and has helped to make the best Johnny Nicholas album to enter our library in some time. Highly recommended… - D.M. 

Lluís Coloma and Carl Sonny Leyland first met nearly 20 years ago at the Boogie Woogie Festival in LaRoquebrou, France. After that initial meeting, their paths crossed on numerous occasions and a mutual admiration and close friendship developed. Now, they have the opportunity to present this collection of duet recordings. Considered to be two of the most original and creative pianists in the blues and boogie genre, Carl Sonny & Lluís know the tradition intimately, but are not afraid to introduce new elements which they incorporate in a truly organic and natural way. While these two players and composers each have their own very defined and personal sounds, they join together seamlessly here for a musical conversation filled with creativity, spontaneity, and virtuosity. Carl Sonny Leyland & Lluís Coloma present in these recordings an innovative mix of tradition and modernity that will transport the listener to unexpected places full of magic and complexity. – C.L. 

Subtitled Rare and Unreleased Recordings this is a sixteen song compilation of recordings which includes musicians from the bands The Guilty Men, The Guilty Women, The Guilty Ones and many others. This disc is Dave and company confronting a variety of strains of American music head on with the passion one could expect from a Dave Alvin led band. Out front, as expected Dave’s low...low voice and his old guitar. - D.M.

(Editors Note: This album is given a complete album review by Tracy Morgan in this month’s edition of BLUES JUNCTION.) 

Kid Ramos & Bob Corritore's Phoenix Blues Sessions features previously unavailable and unreleased gems from the archives. Guitarist Kid Ramos and harmonica player/producer Bob Corritore collaborated on four studio recording sessions in Phoenix from the late 1990's to early 2000's. These sessions were built around some great vocalists: Henry Gray, Nappy Brown, Big Pete Pearson, Chico Chism, Doctor Fish and Chief Schabuttie Gilliame.  The original issue was a benefit CD rushed to provide relief for Kid during his cancer treatment of 2012. This time around Bob researched the vaults to find four unreleased tracks. - C.L. 

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