Lovin' the blues

Eddie 9V Little Black Flies

Rhetta Akamatsu  Atlanta blues man Eddie 9V is set to release Little Black Fies on Ruf Records May 28. While this is not Eddie ‘s first record, it is his first for an established record label. It was produced at Atlanta’s Echo Deco Studios  Eddie’s brother, Lane Kelly. Even though he is only 24 years old, Eddie is no newcomer to the stage. Indeed, he began performing in clubs around Atlanta at…

Atlanta Bluesman Eddie 9-voltto Release ‘Little Black Flies’ May 28

I first saw Eddie 9V when he was 15 years old and using his original name! . I have been following his career ever since and included him and his brother Lane in my book Southern Crossroads, Georgia Blues when they were performing as The Georgia Flood. This new album is amazing! Here is the press release: Eddie 9V (9-volt) is proud to announce that his new album, Little Black Flies, will be…

Quarto Valley Records Signs Guitarist/Singer Sean Chambers & Will Release His Label Debut, “That’s What I’m Talkin About,” a Tribute to Hubert Sumlin, on June 11

April 21, 2021 WOODLAND HILLS, CA –  Quarto Valley Records announces the signing of acclaimed blues-rock guitarist/singer Sean Chambers, and will release his label debut CD, That’s What I’m Talkin About, a tribute to legendary former Howlin’ Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin, on June 11. Recorded in March 2020 just before the coronavirus shut everything down, the Florida-based Chambers went into…

Eliza Neals – “Black Crow Moan”

Eliza Neals has a new album, Black Crow Moanand if you want to blast away your blues, this is what you need. She has a host of guitarists backing her up , including Joe Louis Walker and Derek St. Holmes who played with Ted Nugent. She also has some great back up singers including her sister, Valerie Taylor.In fact, every musician on here is terrific, And so is Eliza and her new material !She is…

Eddie 9V – Way Down the Alley

by Rhetta Akamatsu

Many of us have been craving live music these days when we can’t safely gather, so it is lovely to hear Way Down the Alley. Close your eyes and imagine you are at Atlanta’s famous Blind Willie’s Blues Club, where it was recorded, listening to Eddie 9V (pronounced 9 Volt) lay down a blistering set of authentic blues with his excellent band. Even the “technical difficulties”…

2020 BLUES MUSIC AWARD WINNERS

This year’s Blues Music Awards were different, but proved that no pandemic is going to stop the music! The awards were presented in a virtual ceremony Sunday, May 3rd in a virtual ceremony. If you missed it, you can still see it on the Blues Music Foundation’s YouTube channel!

2020 BLUES MUSIC AWARD WINNERS

BB King Entertainer of the Year

Sugaray Rayford

Album of the Year

Kingfish, Christone…

Mark Telesca has a new solo acoustic blues album, Higher Vibrations, out, and it is a smooth-sailing winner. With a total of 16  songs, 9 of which are originals while the other 7 are pre- WWII blues songs, the whole album fits together perfectly. Mark is a skilled finger-picker and an amazing storyteller, and he knows how to get every ounce of feeling out of a song.

Take his own “99 Years”…

Book review: Ray Benson: Comin’ Right at Ya, or How a Jewish Yankee Hippie Went Country

Comin Right At Ya, Or How a Jewish Yankee Hippie Went Country

Ray Benson

by Rhetta Akamatsu

As he explains in Comin’ Right At Ya, Ray Benson was indeed born a  Yankee, growing up in Philadelphia, He is also Jewish and was a hippie when he formed Asleep at the Wheel 50 years ago. Yet he fell in love with Bob Wills and Western Swing in the days when young people his age were mainly listening to…

Van Morrison Three Chords and the Truth

Van Morrison

Three Chords and the Truth

Van Morrison is a wonder. Three Chords and the Truth is his 41st album and he is 74 years old, and he sounds marvelous!

The album is all straightforward music with no fancy effects. The backing band, including Astral Weeks guitarist Jay Berliner is part of the reason why, and Morrison himself is everywhere, playing guitar, electric piano, and sax.the…

Eddie 9V Left My Soul In Memphis

Eddie 9V, pronounced 9 Volt, is a phenomenon on his own. He is only 23 years old but under a different name he has been playing Atlanta clubs since he was 15 years old. In 2014, he and his brother competed, with their band, in the IBCs. So when you learn that he is only 23 years old, don’t think he is a beginner in the blues! This January, he is headed back to the IBCs to showcase Left My Soul In…

Mike Zito: Rock N Roll: A Tribute to Chuck Berry

Mike Zito has done something very special for his 16th album. to be released on Ruf Records November 1. He invited 21 guest ll guitarists, to join him on Rock N Roll: A Tribute to Chuck Berry 111One of the guests is Charles Berry III, Chuck Berry’s grandson. Other guests include Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, Walter Trout, Robben Ford, Sonny Landreth, Luther Dickinson, Albert Castiglia, Anders…

Snave and The Third Stream – Tin Can Fish House

by Rhetta Akamatsu

In 1957, Gunther Schuller described the Third Stream as a place where jazz and classical music meet halfway. For Snave and the Third Stream, that definition expands. It is where jazz, pop, country, blues, Cajun, folk and rock come together.

And they do merge beautifully on Tin Can Fish House. The name comes from the restaurant in Sandy Springs where it was recorded. The…

Beverly “Guitar” Watkins is latest in a year of losses to Atlanta blues

She beat cancer twice. She recovered from a heart attack and a stroke. She kept on returning to her music. But in late July, she suffered a second stroke and could not recover. Now, Beverly “Guitar ” Watkins is dead.  She was a ray of joy, a bright light to everyone who saw her perform and a truly talented musician and friend to many. At 80, her spirit has finally gone home.

In April, we lost…

We had a fabulous time at the Sautee Nagoochie Center from start to end, despite the summer storm in the middle which forced us all inside.

It all started with the colorful and talented Feed and Seed Marching Band. They are all volunteer musicians who come together when they can, but after years of practice, they know how to play and how to entertain, with men and women sporting flower or flamingo hats and a wild array of clothing. They were wonderful, and some of their members continued to add sparkle throughout the event by dancing and encouraging others to do so because they were obviously having so much fun.

Next, The Andy Johnson Band took the stage. Many of us had seen Andy as part of Royal Johnson until the death of the other founding member forced the name change. The present band did a bang-up job playing over an hour of blues and Southern rock, including a marvelous version of “Georgia On a Fast Train” that seems permanently stuck in my mind.

Next up was The Kerry Hill Band.  It had been some years since we had seen him, and in that time he and the band had gotten even better.  They were excellent, in fact.

After they finished their set, the rain started so the whole crowd was bustled into a big white building that had been laid out for basketball but also had a very nice stage. We saw Markey and Ric of The Markey Blue Ric Latina Project. They are dear friends and fantastic entertainers and we were happy to get a chance to talk to them. But in minutes, the stage was set up and it was time for The Squirrelheads. We were really impressed with how prepared and organized the event staff was.

Some people let the storm scare them away, but there were still many hardy “survivors” and we were well-rewarded. We were not familiar with The Squirrelheads but now we are, and we love them! They play New Orleans-style music, and they had the house rockin’!

After their act, it was time for the Markey Blue- Ric Latina Project. The man next to me had never seen them, and it was a delight to see how blown away he was! We were too, of course, but we make a point to see them whenever they are near so we expect it. He was just discovering for the first time how magical they are! They did a mix of old and new songs and as always, Markey was in constant motion and Ric killed it on guitar. The rest of the band were perfect too, including the new keyboardist (new to us, anyway.) Markey told me that she had only had about 3 hours of sleep before they drove from Nashville, but you surely could not tell it onstage.

By this time, I was very tired, but there was no way I was missing Delta Moon. Just hearing Tom Gray’s rusty voice perked me up and listening to him and Mark Johnson spit out that amazing slide and lap steel guitar sound, ably assisted by the rest of the band, made everything worthwhile. We actually stayed to the very end and got to hear some great news from Markey and Ric and speak to Tom and buy a t-shirt from him. We didn’t have a Delta Moon oddly enough, so we remedied that!

It was a wonderful event, and we enjoyed it outside and inside. Kudos to the organizers and staff and all the performers. We loved you all!

Photos by Takesi Ken Akamatsu

This was a new venue for the Challenge and it has many positive qualities. It is big with enough room for everyone to sit and also room to dance! The stage is huge and you can see the band from wherever you are sitting. The food and drink are good but pretty expensive and waits for food were long but that may be because they did not expect such a big crowd!

As for the music, it was amazing. We had a brand new Youth Group from middle Georgia, three teenage girls and a boy who played sax.  They call themselves Menagerie. They were very good and show great potential to be even better as they gain experience and confidence. We were then entertained by Sam Chung, The Sawgrass Blues Band, and Mandi Strachota in the Solo/Dup category, and Mandi won.

Competition really heated up as the crowd got larger for the band category, with five groups, all delivering stellar performances. The Let It Rip Band, Red Sugar Blues,The Trouble Tones, The Johnny Scales Band and Eddie 9V were all fantastic but we had to leave before the last act of the night, The Garrett Collins Project and as it happens, The Garrett Collins Project won! Go figure! But we have seen them many times and know they will represent Atlanta well. Eddie 9V took 2nd place and The Johnny Scales Band took 3rd. These groups were chosen by our judges, all either musicians or musical professionals. Red Sugar Blues took the People’s Choice Award, voted by the attendees.

All of the performers deserve a lot of respect and appreciation for entertaining us so well, and all of them are winners in my eyes. It was a pleasure for us to attend and to volunteer our small part at the Membership table happily signing people up to the tremendous team effort that went into making everything go smoothly! Now it’s on to Memphis in January for GarrettCollins and his band and Mandi Strachota for the International Blues Challenge!

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