Blues review today. We have new music from John Paul Keith over in Memphis and we also check out the new stuff from Seasick Steve from around the same area. Also, we hear recent works from Tal Wilkenfeld and Terry Allen (with Shannon McNally). Jeffrey Foucault pays a tribute to Rainer Ptacek. Over in France, Théo Charaf has a new record. We introduce Shawn Pittman from Dallas TX and Johnny Mastro (and Mama’s Boys) from New Orleans, LA.
R.L. Burnside – Goin’ Down South;
Johnny Mastro & Mama’s Boys – Elmore James for President;
John Paul Keith – How Can You Walk Away;
John Mayall – Unanswered Questions;
Shawn Pittman – Leanin’ Load;
Seasick Steve – Goin’ Down South;
North Mississippi AllStars – Goin’ Down South;
Mud Boy and The Neutrons – Carl’s Blues;
Rainer and Das Combo – Mellow Down Easy;
Jeffrey Foucault – Here Comes Rainer;
Th̩o Charaf РDevil got my woman;
Chris Whitely & Jeff Lang – Twelve Thousand Miles;
Trixie Whitley – Strong Blood;
Tal Wilkenfeld – Killing Me;
Terry Allen and Shannon McNally – All These Blues Go Walkin’ By;
Leyla McCalla – Love Again Blues;
Dommengang – Happy Death (Her Blues II).
We bring you some cool new stuff. Daughter of Howe Gelb and Paula Jean Brown (of the original Giant Sand line up), has a great band called Patsy’s Rats. Impulsive Hearts from Chicago are also fronted by a lady: Danielle Sines. Miriam Linna of Norton Records has made another new album this year Down Today. We also introduce Green Hornet from Netherlands and Sloming Moops from Zagreb, Croatia. Also from there, Thee Melomen have a new single. Peter Buck of REM is back with a nice solo record. An interesting tribute came out recently in Tucson AZ for Rainer Ptacek.
Today we review my favorite reissues and various artists compilation records in the past season. This year was particularly interesting because more and more reissues also come out on vinyl, often with extra material. Compilations are also cool, tributes are always interesting, new and old materials equally. I always value carefully crafted compilations from which you can learn new things.
Today we take a roundtrip from Tucson and back via many different places. We start off with Rainer and Das Combo. His legendary first album Barefoot Rock was reissued together with a bonus cd. Also, recall that earlier this year also Ptacek’s old tape Mush Mind Blues also saw the light of day in form of a bandcamp download. The we go to Las Vegas where we check out the new blues rock band called The Lucky Cheats. Than we land all the way down under where we check out the new band called The Straight Arrows form Sydney and a duet of two ladies Super Wild Horses from Melbourne. Both bands were released on the new volume of the comilation record New Centre of The Universe. Then we fly to Europe. Sweden’s Plastic Pals had a wonderful album this year called A Turn of The Tide and we finally get to hear it in this show too. Then we go to Chicago. Phil Agnotti played the entire Zombies Odessey and Oracle, only months after Ben Mason did a similar thing earlier this year. And then, via Chicago, where I recorded his new song, we go back to Tucson and Rainer’s old friend, Howe Gelb from Giant Sand.
We begin today with some new bands for us. Mexican Knives come from Detroit and A Place to Bury Strangers come from Brooklyn. A Place… lead by Oliver Ackermann is not a new band, but their recent EP is a tribute to Dead Moon, and it’s impossible to ignore. Boston legends Big Dipper, a band that had some very nice albums in the late 80s, reunited last year and today we check out their new alvum Big Dipper Crashes on the Platinum Planet. After a new album last year, dB’s are back with the new ep Revolution of the Ming. And finally, a rare 1983 cassette tape The Mush Mind Blues by the legendary dobro player from Tucson, Rainer Ptacek and his Combo, came out as 
New supergroup today: David Hidalgo from Los Lobos, Luther Dickinson from North Mississippi Allstars and Mato Nanji join forces on a new album together called Three Skulls And The Truth. We have also the new non-album single from Natural Child and a track from a new LP for Suzi Chunk. The new names today are The Shivas from Portland and Forty Nineteens from LA. Famous tribute to the great late Arizona guitarist Rainer Ptacek called The Inner Flame has been reissued with some tracks missing and some new tracks. We check it all out today.
The third part of our “Best of 2011” series brings you the best short forms in the past year in the first half of the show. I mean by that eps, singles, mini albums and so on. The second half of the show is all about reissues and albums that were issued last year, but were recorded much earlier. The absolute stand out in that batch last year was in my mind one of the last recordings (if not the last recording) of Rainer Ptacek mere weeks before his death back in 1997. Best short forms and reissues are otherwise lined up in a random free-form order. I did not attempt to chart them.
And… we’re back from our usual Summer break. The break was long, but without huge shakes in musical world. Also, not too many great records happened in the past two months while we were gone. My favorite record this summer is definitely Rainer Ptacek session with Calexico members that came out now, but it was recorded way back in 1997, mere months before Rainer passed away. The cd is called Roll Back The Years, and I really wish I could. We lost a lot when Rainer left 14 years ago. From Austin, we have new records for The Krayolas and John Wesley Coleman. From Memphis, we have new records for Jack Oblivian and Bo-Keys. We also have new Brian Wilson, whose new record is centered around Disney movies.
May 8 marks hundred years of birth of the famous bluesman Robert Johnson. At least officially, as the exact date of his birth is unknown. But, the man’s influence on rock’n’roll and all other blues related music genres is impossible to measure. The majority of Johnson’s music was recorded between 1936 and 1937, long before rock’n’roll really had its name. But in 1961 his music was reissued on an LP and the young rockers embraced Johnson as a great precursor of their music. Black blues musicians of the 50s, like Howlin’ Wolf and Dinah Washington were a link, as they were playing Robert Johnson’s songs even before the 1961 LP. British rockers like Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones followed and brought Johnson’s music to the masses. Still, two of my favorite Johnson’s rock’n’roll covers belong to the 80s underground era: Rainer Ptacek’s version of If I Had Possession Over The Judgment Day and Gun Club’s Preachin’ The Blues. But indisputable strength of Johnson’s quality as a songwriter and guitar player is not the only link to the rock’n’roll. His entire short life is filled with mysticism, charisma and myth that also became an essential fabric for a decent rock’n’roll biography. Today, we pay a tribute to that.