Robin Rogers: "Treat Me Right"

Oh, mama, BlueNotes is in love. Yes, she's a blues singer. Anything else just wouldn't feel right.

I've been listening to the newest (released last week) and finest CD from Robin Rogers, who's been polishing her music for decades with a life of turmoil and pain. It's just been in the past few years that she hooked up with the Charlotte, N.C., Blues Society and began to channel her sultry pipes into a career with focus.

The album is "Treat Me Right" (Blind Pig Records), the pipes are soulful and gritty, sultry and sensual. The songs, mostly original, are all lovingly caressed by Rogers' expressive voice.

But to label her music blues might be a little misleading. And possibly understating her reach. It's blues, R&B and soul with some fine jazz sensibilities. It ranges from brooding ballads like "Dark Love" to the R&B-flavored "Treat Me Right," in which I swear I can hear a little bit of LaVern Baker, through the very soulful "Ain't No Use," a passionately moaned story of love gone wrong. As if there was any other  kind in the blues.

(A BlueNotes digression: If you've never heard of or heard LaVern Baker, look her up and listen. You're in for a real treat. Remember her giant 1954 recording, covered by everybody but me, "Tweedlee Dee"? Or perhaps you remember my personal favorite, "Jim Dandy," from 1957. Not old enough? That's your problem.) 

Then there's "Color-Blind Angel," her haunting tribute to civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, murdered in 1965. Rogers won second place for it in the blues category of the 2007 International Songwriters Competition. 

In fact, the album is consistently good -- no matter what she sings, Rogers pours herself into it. She's tough and tender, sometimes both at the same time.    

 I think what I like best about it is that it has an old R&B flavor -- tough vocals, sassy horns, clever storytelling -- that helped bring BlueNotes into the world. And I could dance to it.

No comment?

Sounds like something in a newspaper reporter's notebook, but it's what BlueNotes readers seem to be doing. Somebody out there must be thinking something. C'mon, let's use this comment function. The PG paid lots of money for it.

Watermelon Slim: "No Paid Holidays"

 There are plenty of blues nicknames in the world, and plenty of blues wannabees who adopt them -- "magic," "lightnin'," "slim" -- you know them well. 

But if your name is Watermelon Slim, you can be pretty sure no one else is ready to pick up that moniker and run with it. In fact, you might wonder why anybody would pick it up it in the first place. It became attached to Bill Homans when he found himself at the end of a long list of day jobs working on a watermelon farm in Oklahoma. Once he had the name, I'm sure everything else just fell into place.

His bio is as weird as it is long, sprinkled with melon farms and masters degrees and memories of Vietnam. You can read the fascinating story of his life on his Web site.  In fact, I recommend it.

But if you just want to listen to some great blues, and some great music that Slim has carved out of the blues, listen to his new CD, "No Paid Holidays" (NorthernBlues Music). From the opening guitar riffs of "Blues for Howard," and Slim's always-provocative lyrical wordplay, it's one musical treat after another.

Slim plays a mean, stinging slide (his bio says that he taught himself upside-down left-handed slide guitar on a $5 balsawood guitar with his Army-issued Zippo lighter as his slide.) And he plays dobro and harp, with some percussion thrown in. But his musical skills may be secondary to the way he assembles the tracks for his albums -- mixing tightly crafted originals like "Archetypical Blues No. 2" (sounds more like a Dylan title) and "Dad in the Distance" and "bloody Burmese Blues" with the likes of Mississippi Fred McDowell and  Al Perkins and Emery "Detroit Junior" Williams.

Slim's  tastes are eclectic, and his music shows the results, and he can easily mix in a harp and acapella version of "And when I Die." "Max the Baseball Clown" is another slightly oddball turn that even manges to rhyme in Willie Stargell's name.

Slim has won a bunch of awards lately, including this year's Blues Music Awards for Band of the Year (The Workers), and Album of the Year ("Wheel Man"). If you've never heard this unique bluesman, give this one a try. If you have, you'll want more.

And here's a sample of one of my favorite cutes, "Blues For Howard."

The birthday of the two Honeyboys

 I'm just going to get this post in under the wire, but today is Honeyboy Edwards' 93rd birthday, and we should all tip a glass to this venerable bluesman who's still performing, still sharing his blues life,

BlueNotes has a hard enough time just getting the computer open some days, and he's not quite 93. So let's appreciate the life and times and contributions of Edwards.

Artists like him are a direct link to the origins of the music blues fans love. Lots of other music fans owe him big, too. They just don't know it.

His picture here  is one I took at the Chicago Blues Festival earlier this month, when he was a mere 92. I've seen him a few times in the past year or so, and it never fails to amaze me that he's still out and about, playing the blues. By the way, thanks to Betsie Brown of Blind Raccoon Music for the birthday reminder. Otherwise, this would have been just another rainy Saturday night.

And some of you regular readers may remember another HoneyBoy -- the official dog of the BlueNotes blog. (that's him at right).

He was rescued a while back from a puppy mill, and it seemed fitting that after his tough young life, he should have a bluesman's name, in keeping with his sweet nature. So he became HoneyBoy Dog.

And he seemed to be about a year old, but he had no official b-day. Now he does. He's chewing a chunk of rawhide right now in honor of sharing his first birthday with his namesake.

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Some blues Friday night, and other ramblings

Warning: This is a rare admission by BlueNotes that he has not been keeping up with some of his blues duties. I'm several CDs and DVDs behind, and I want to mention a show at the Thunderbird in Lawrenceville tonight.

My excuse is that my day job has kept me busy working on a redesign of the PG website and this new blog site that will eventually be the home for all the PG blogs, and some community blogs as well (yes, BlueNotes actually works for a living). And then Wednesday night, we celebrated our progress with a few libations at the Market Street Ale House -- the best beer spot in downtown Pittsburgh. If you must know, BN celebrated with a nice micro dark beer, a German wheat, and a barley wine that a colleague suggested tasted more like jet fuel than beer.  

But back to Friday night June 27). The Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville is hosting guitar wizard Tom Principato, who treats the guitar like Stradivari treated the violin. He's deeply rooted in the blues, but as his latest CD, "Raising the Roof" (Powerhouse Records) shows, he dips into musical styles like a good cook dips into the stew.

He moves from funk to New Orleans to tender to soulful R&B with as easily as fries slip into the fryer. He should bring a nice tight band and a fresh sound for those who like a little variety in their blues. Go forth and enjoy, and let us know what you think.

BlueNotes has a new home

Jim White/Post-Gazette

B.B. King, the King of the blues at the Chicago Blues Festival June 8. I wanted a nice big photo for the new blog home, and this was it.

We've moved.

Welcome to the spiffy new BlueNotes World Headquarters. The web address is now http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/bluenotes/ And yes, that's an old photo at the top, but it's a good one, and a fine way to start a new blog life.

From now on, this is where you'll find my latest rants, reviews and reflections.

As a bonus, you can comment without having to actually e-mail BlueNotes and hope that he makes you famous. Just click the "Join" button at the top right of this page, answer a few simple questions (make checks payable to BlueNotes), and you'll be good to travel the blues highway.

It can be a blues community, if you'll share your thoughts, reviews, your band's next gig, or whatever you like.

To get us started in our new blue life here, here's a note I received a few days ago from Jim Franciscus, the veep of the Western Pa Blues Society, which is laboring mightily to keep the blues alive in the region. The group is meeting tomorrow night at Moondog's in Blawnox, and hopes to attract blues lovers to this "blues summit" to help move the organization forward.

Here's what Jim sent me: 

Are you interested in making a positive contribution to Western Pa.'s local blues scene? Do you have concerns about it's current state? Do you have suggestions on how to increase the number of attendees at local blues shows by local and national acts? Do you have suggestions about how to increase the appreciation and influence of the blues in young people? If so, please plan to attend the Western Pa. Blues Summit on Thursday June 26, 2008 7:00pm at Moondog's Pub.
   The local blues scene needs your help. The number of people who are coming out to local venues to listen to and appreciate the blues is dwindling and only we can help. The BSWPA and Ron "Moondog" Esser are putting together this meeting to put our collective efforts together and improve our local blues scene. Come with a positive attitude and your best ideas. Everyone will be heard, but we insist that everyone keep a positive vibe. We are there to talk, but we are also there to work. The blues is serious business to most of us and it's going to take some real time and effort to accomplish the things that need to be done.
      Please spread the word about this event to everyone that you know loves the blues. Of course, there will be a jam session to follow! Bring your hearts and minds, then be ready to have some fun playing both of them out onstage afterwards. Hope to see you there. 

You could do worse than check it out.

The old BlueNotes

Because of our move to this new site, you can't search for any BlueNotes before this date from this page. (I know, bad luck and trouble follow me everywhere). But you can find the old stuff here, if you want to check it out. Once on that page, you can look for headlines, or use the search function at the top.

BlueNotes is moving

Read the complete post at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08176/892315-376.stm?cmpid=bluenotes.xml

Walter Trout blends blues and rock

Blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout is not known for his shyness in expressing himself on the guitar.

That certainly applies to his new CD, "The Outsider" (Provogue Records), on which he bends the wire as well as stretches his songwriting and vocal skills.

But there's more than just fiery guitar at work here (even though there's plenty of that). The tracks often defy the standard ear-splitting blues-rock stereotype. And the thoughtful lyrics often defy the harsh, testosterone-only blues-rocker image.

Right from the start, "Welcome to the Human Race" sets the pace with a blistering guitar that knows when to lay back and let the vocals have their meaningful say.

"The Next Big Thing" is a thoughtful look at fame and fortune underlaid with tough guitar that gets its message across without shouting.

"A Matter of the Heart" is a poignant lesson in love that has a near-acoustic quality in its gentle approach and tender vocals -- well, tender for blues-rock, anyway, and that's rare and tender.

So it goes throughout. It's passionate music that Trout has under complete control, using it instead of keeping it from going over the edge into machine-gun guitar parody.

The toughest, bluesiest tracks are "Can't Have It All" and "The Outsider." Trout rips through the guitar lines and shouts the blues with passion and intensity. "Outsider" is a little more of a slow-burner, not that it will put you to sleep. But it would be just fine, very fine, for some torrid slow dancing. Yes, kids, slow dancing can be torrid. See BlueNotes FootNotes below.

Trout may not be your traditional bluesman, but he's a tough and talented singer-songwriter who takes advantage of all his musical skills, not just his ability to play the guitar like a machine gun.

FootNotes:

From Wikipedia: "Nowadays, a very popular form of partner dancing among youth is "slow dancing," and how close the partners get is up to them, although lovers are more likely to dance closely than friends. In the "hug-and-sway" version of slow dancing, the man usually puts his arms around the female's waist, while the female puts her arm on the man's shoulders. Some serious dancers do not consider "slow dancing" to be really a dance at all."

A reader's comments, and comments are coming

Read the complete post at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08175/891906-376.stm?cmpid=bluenotes.xml

Some bluesy stuff for the weekend

Read the complete post at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08172/891020-376.stm?cmpid=bluenotes.xml