American Folk-Blues Festival: The British Tours 1963-1966

Undoubtedly the 1960's saw a huge boom in Blues Music - there were various occurances of Classic stars from the US visiting the UK touring and on the odd occassion recording with a pick up band of session musicians (Howling wolf for example recorded a great session featuring Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, etc). For those interested in the tours be sure to check out "American Folk-Blues Festival: The British Tours 1963-1966".

This DVD features some great performances, recorded for TV and include artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson Muddy Waters Lonnie Johnson Big Joe Williams Lightnin' Hopkins Sugar Pie DeSanto Howlin' Wolf - the film quality is great and in finding the footage we've unearthes some great gems enabling some for the first time to see artists that have only been heard on record.

For anyone interested in the genre and especially those interested in the context of the concerts - this is a great buy (also if your just checking out authentic Blues) - this is well worth looking into.

Africa does U2 and turns out a blues gem

U2 have a recording career that spans back to 1980 and apart from a duet with BB King ("When love comes to town") they havent really had to much to do with the blues so perhaps it's a surprise that in recognition of Bono's tireless campaigning for Africa a new record featuring some Africa's best musical exports doing covers of U2 hits includes one of the blues gems of the year.

Well check out the cover of "Bullet the Blue Sky" by Vieux Farka Toure - think Africa chanelling John Lee Hooker - absolutely sublime - its the sort of haunting gutteral blues that'll stay with you for days - great guitar - great voice.

As for the other tracks - we'll there' a little hit and miss (the highs include the excellent version of "Sometimes you can't make it on your own") but if your into world music and looking for a taste of what africa has to offer - give it a try and you shouldn't be disappointed.

Blues festivals site

If you love your live blues, and lets face it who doesnt - be sure to check out http://www.bluesfestivalguide.com/, there you can find all the lates news on live blues concerts from small to large they've got some great links to some great gigs be sure to check it out.

John Lee Hooker biography

John Lee Hooker is a musical rarity - within a matter of seconds of hearing a JLH track his sound was unmistakeable and you knew it was the man.

For those looking to get under the skin of this great bluesman -

"John Lee Hooker became an overnight sensation in the '80s after more than 40 years at his craft. The springboard for his "discovery" was the Grammy-winning album The Healer, which featured Bonnie Raitt and Carlos Santana among other younger musicians. This gambit, too, was not new, for Hooker had recorded Hooker 'n' Heat with Canned Heat in the late '60s--a truly seminal album. Hooker is one of the last surviving bluesmen with a direct lineage from the Delta blues tradition and for years was king of Detroit's blues scene. Murray's extensive bio goes all the way back to the beginning in a sprawling literary effort worthy of Hooker's lengthy career. Like many American blues artists, Hooker was revered by the early '60s English rockers, yet unlike Muddy Waters, widespread pop music interest in Hooker was slow to build. Nevertheless, Hooker's music is a national treasure; anybody who has ever boogied to George Thorogood's recording of Hooker's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" or rocked out to ZZ Top's early recordings has heard the man's influence. Now they can read his life story in depth and celebrate Hooker and his music in a way that many of his contemporaries never lived to enjoy"

Frozen guitars - guitar shaped ice trays

OK so just how cool do these look - OK no pun intend but I think these just look great! Guitar shaped ice tray for perfect icy guitars!

Accompanied by 4 guitar necks the ice cube tray featuers cavaties in the shape of guitars - simply add your water - add the guitar neck and freeze and hey presto guitar shaped ice!

Looks like there shaped like a Gibson Les Paul so they'll be great for a bluesy cocktail!

BB King Live

A reminder for all those BB King fans that he has a new Live album out (titled BB King "Live") - the cd captures the BBK magic from 2 shows recorded back in 2006 - as a Live act BB King is great - so be sure to check out the new record (visit www.BBking.com for more details).

If you to see the great man in person check out www.bbking.com/events/ for details of tour dates.


For a great BB King greatest hits record be suer to check out BB King The Ultimate Collection

New stones film features Buddy Guy

A reminder for Buddy Guy fans - the latest Scorcese flick the concert film of The Rolling Stones "Shine a Light" features Blues great Buddy Guy.

The films garnered some great reviews and alongside Guy features a number of special guests.

Aside from Buddy Guy lets face it the with Ronnie Woods and Keef the stones have got two of the best guitarists around anyway - what more could you want!