Blues Album of the Year

Al Blake’s XXL Bag of Blues Vol. One / Jimmie Vaughan Baby, Please Come Home

For the first time in our history we have a dead heat tie for album of the year. Two blues veterans released career defining masterpieces in 2019. Both men were founding members of bands who released debut albums which came out exactly 40 years ago. Both the Hollywood Fats Band and the Fabulous Thunderbirds' 1979 releases are now considered essential entries into the blues libraries of even the most casual blues music fan. These two 2019 albums bear little resemblance to those sounds of 40 years ago. While both of the new albums fall under the general heading of traditional blues, the similarities end there. In their own way they demonstrate just how diverse and varied blues music can sound without pandering to commercial tastes.  Al Blake’s XXL Bag of Blues Vol. 1 and Jimmie Vaughan’s Baby, Please Come Home show two artists making musical statements that reflect exactly who they are. It is as if both men are saying, 'This is me, this is who I am and what I’m all about. This is the music I love. Take it or leave it.' Then they executed their visions to near perfection and in doing so, raised the bar as high as can be imagined. 

Soul-Blues Album of the Year

Mavis Staples We Get By

From the moment you pick up this CD you are greeted with the cover photo, which speaks volumes before the great Mavis Staples even says one word. It is the famed 1956 photograph by Gordon Parks entitled Outside Looking In. Since her first recordings in the very early 1950’s with her famous family, Mavis Staples, who turned 80 this past July, has never stopped delivering her message songs. Mavis still has something to say and on We Get By, she says it. She sings in an intimate way that is made possible by the stark and haunting backing of her longtime band led by guitarist Rick Holmstrom. He is joined by multi-instrumentalist Jeff Turmes who plays electric bass on this release and Stephen Hodges on drums. Holmstrom’s playing is always interesting. In this context, he uses the sounds of Roebuck “Pops” Staples' guitar playing, not only as kind of a template which evokes his memory, but as a jumping off point to explore his own ideas. As you listen to We Get By, at times it is as if Mavis is still singing with “Pops.” The close mic sound where Mavis’ breathing is audible at times makes me feel like she is actually inside looking out.

Acoustic/Country Blues Album of the Year

Al Blake’s XXL Bag of Blues Vol. One

This two-disc, twenty-seven song package features the timeless imagery, relaxed down home feel and stellar musicianship which is the hallmark of blues music at its very best. All of the recordings on Al Blake’s XXL Bag of Blues feature Blake in solo, duo and trio settings. You can hear Al sing, play guitar and harmonica. He is joined by Fred Kaplan, the titan of the blues piano, as well as world renowned, blues harmonica master Kim Wilson on a handful of tracks, where he lends some of the tastiest harp playing in his long and distinguished career. One song features the exceptional country blues guitar of Nathan James. Al Blake’s XXL Bag of Blues is certain to remind listeners why they fell in love with blues in the first place. This blues music does not have any artificial sweeteners or additives. It is not pre-processed fast food for the masses. It isn’t watered down, diet blues for the blues-light crowd either. This package contains a double extra-large portion of the real thing.  

Best Jazz-Blues Album of the Year  

Joe Restivo Where’s Joe?     

Joe Restivo is the long-time guitarist of the Bo-Keys. We most recently heard from this Memphis musical treasure as a member of the Love Light Orchestra, which backed up vocalist John Nemeth on his return to form by way of their live 2017 CD.  He has been part of the band the City Champs and Detective Bureau among other Memphis ensembles. Here he is under his own name and asking the musical question, Where’s Joe? Since I’ve heard this all instrumental record, I have the answer. Joe is hanging out in that world where jazz and blues get lost in each other’s soul. Joe is with three like-minded individuals, sax man Art Edmaiston, bassist Tim Goodwin and Tom Lonardo on drums. These four musicians sound like they have just released a Blue Note album produced by Alfred Lyons and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder back in the halcyon days of that label. To hear that here in the second decade of the new millennium is a real joy. Thanks Joe. I’m glad I found you.

Best Blues Instrumental Album of the Year

Big Tone Records InstruMENTAL

This one is easy; it is the Big Tone Records' release entitled InstruMENTAL. Here blues giant Big Jon Atkinson rounds up his usual posse, who just happen to be the best blues musicians on this planet; they include Danny Michel, Troy Sandow Billy Flynn, Kid Ramos, R.J Mischo, Rusty Zinn, Kim Wilson, Dean Shot, Kedar Roy, Malichi Johnson and Marty Dodson. They play the straight natural blues as it was meant to be played…and heard.  This record, as one might expect, comes with that vintage Big Tone Records  house sound we love out here at the JUNCTION.  Congratulations to Big Jon for keeping it real.

Roots-Americana Album of the Year

Joel Paterson Let It Be Guitar!

This Chicago based guitar phenom has cast himself in many musical situations through the years and this album is just the latest showcase for his immense talent. Paterson uses Beatles songs for his musical template to make his Mid-Century Modern sounds come alive. He applies blues, vintage jazz, western swing, country, exotica and bachelor pad cool to 16 Beatles tunes. Here the Paterson guitar army doesn’t evoke the stylings of Beatles’ guitarists George Harrison and John Lennon as much as it does Hank Garland, Buddy Merrill, Jorgen Ingmann, Barney Kessell and Les Paul, among others. For this joy ride he is joined by his familiar wing men Beau Sample on bass, Alex Hall on drums and Chris Foreman on the B3.