FEBRUARY 2021

CONTACT:email: editor@bluesinthesouth.com Web: www.bluesinthesouth.com Twitter: @bluesinthesouth

LawrenceLebo’s coLumnFantasticnegrito

interview withannie raines

interview withjack jhutchinson

articLe: thejake story

reviews

viDeos

Fantastic Negrito

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BLUES GIGS: FROM EXMOUTH TO EASTBOURNE AND A BIT MORE BESIDES

Listings are provided as a guide only. Don’t forget to check the venue before you leave home to ensure that the gig is still on. The listing here is far from complete,so check out www.bluesinthesouth.com as that is updated all the time: Last date for inclusion here is the 10th of the preceding month — ie 10 Jan for

ONCE MORE, WE HAVE NO GIGS TO PUBLISH. ALL HAVE BEEN

CANCELLED OR OCCASIONALLY POSTPONED. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO

SAY WHEN THINGS WILL RETURN TO NORMAL, BUT BiTS WILL

CAREFULLY MONITOR THE SITUATION AND WHEN THINGS START

TO RETURN TO NORMAL WE SHALL LET YOU KNOW.

IN THE MEAN TIME, DON’T GO TO GIGS, MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE ANDREMEMBER:

THE CORONA VIRUS DOES NOTCIRCULATE

PEOPLE CIRCULATE IT

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BiTS and Pieces: Stuff and occasional nonsenseNew Orleans's Mardi Gras celebration willdefinitely look a bit different in 2021, butthankfully the festivities aren't completely off.

Next year, the holiday — also known as "FatTuesday" — will take place on Feb 16. Due to thefact that it's a religious holiday, it won't becanceled entirely, but parades and mass gatheringsthat New Orleans is famous for won't be happening.

"We will not be able to celebrate the Holiday thisyear as we have in the past,” the mayor's websiteread, but depending on what COVID-19 restrictionslook like in February, there may still be some smallparties allowed in New Orleans.

"I want to be very clear. Mardi Gras 2021 is notcancelled,” communications director for MayorLaToya Cantrell, Beau Tidwell, said at a press

conference this week, CNN reported on Tuesday.“It is going to look different. The mayor has beenvery consistent about saying that at every stage.”

Some Mardi Gras Krewes may hold theirtraditional Balls, with COVID-19 healthmodifications. Because the Balls are invite-only,attendance will be strictly monitored and notopen to the public.

Bars on Bourbon Street may be open dependingon current guidelines, but revelers will have toadhere to social distancing rules and wear a facemask. Capacity and hours are subject to change,based on COVID-19 statistics throughoutLouisiana at the time.

Getty images

Annie Raines (born in Massachusetts on July 3, 1969) is an American blues harmonica playerwho mostly plays in a down-home country blues duo with guitarist Paul Rishell. She also has aseries of harmonica tutorials and teaches online. She plays true blues and has even shared thestage with the late, great James Cotton.

BiTS: Let's make a start Annie. Tell mesomething about your background. Whenyou were brought up was there music inthe house then?

AR: Well my parents were more carriersthey didn't actively play music, but therewas a lot of music in the house, classicalmusic being played on the radio and onrecords and tapes and my motheractually had a few blues records in hercollection, that I didn't really pick up onuntil later. It was the 70s, so they alsoreally liked the Beatles and Stones. Ofcourse, yeah, a little Jethro Tull thrownin, I think. Then I started taking pianolessons when I was eight years old, so Iwas sometimes practising.

BiTS: When you were an undergraduate,you suddenly started to want to playharmonica. How did that happen?

AR: I was looking for a book in the store,the novelty store and they had this bookbefore, it was called 'Juggling for theComplete Klutz' because I wanted toteach myself how to juggle through thesummer and they were out of that book,but they had a very similar book called'Harmonica for the Musically Hopeless'.

BiTS: I can't believe it. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I bought a copy of that book myself to try to learnto play blues harp [laughing].

AR: I liked it [chuckles]. You tried to learn to play, did you feel like it helped?

BiTS: Not really. I'm no harmonica player. I stuck with guitar.

THE BiTS INTERVIEW: Annie Raines

AR: Actually, it helped even more than that.

BiTS: [Laughing]

AR: It directed you towards your real instrument. No, well, that's how I started to play. I hadn'treally played before. I'd played piano in grade school and then stopped with that and it was towardsthe end of high school that I found the harmonica book and I studied it over the summer and

worked on bending and things like that and thenwhen I went back to school, I was playing in thehallways and just trying to learn basic things aboutit. It was around that time that I started to learnabout the idea of different genres of music likeblues or jazz or gospel. I'd never thought about anyof that either. I just knew some pop and old rockand roll and stuff. That had to be defined for me alittle better and then when I first heard MuddyWaters, that really defined the blues for me at thatpoint.

BiTS: And that was with who as harmonica playerthen?

AR: Well, Muddy Waters had passed in 83, so thiswas 87, 86, I started to play, so another studentgave me some tapes. In fact, I didn't know thatMuddy Waters was a single entity, a single person, Ithought it was the name of a band, as in Muddy

Waters. He gave me some tape cassettes of I think mid to late Muddy era, so James Cotton was onone of those, Jerry Portnoy, not a lot of the earlier stuff at that time, so I'd say James Cotton andJerry Portnoy were two of my favourite influencers from those recordings and there was Howlin'Wolf on one of those tapes as well and that was my introduction to that whole sound.

BiTS: What was it about the sound that really attracted you?

AR: It attracted me first of all, it attracted me so strongly. I have to say that because a lot of thingscan attract you, but this was more like an epiphany. First of all, it was music that felt bothimportant and made me feel good, and at that point, I'd recognised Bob Dylan's music as beingimportant, but it made me feel like shit! Crazy because he was so judgemental. This music wasn’tjudgemental, it was very welcoming and loving. It was about feeling good and it made me feelwarm, and I was constantly cold in those days because my parents wouldn't turn the heat up in ourhouse and so I loved music that made me feel like I was warm and made me feel good about spicyfood and things. Yeah, the overall sound of it, I hadn't learned how to take it apart and understandthe group dynamics and the instrumental parts and arrangements, but something about it stillspeaks to me that I can't even explain. There's the whole sound of people listening to each otherand being in love.

BiTS: Like I said before, I'm no harmonica player, but I do know that it involves a lot of physicaleffort to get those kinds of sounds, especially because a lot of it is down to breathing in rather thanbreathing out.

AR: Sure.

BiTS: Did you have any difficulty with that sort of thing?

AR: Oh, sure. Yes, I really struggled a lot in the first few years of playing to get my wind togetherbecause until you understand what muscles to relax, you're tensing up everything all the time, andthat makes it so much more difficult.

BiTS: Have you ever had harmonicalessons?

AR: Oh, yeah. I took a few formal lessonsfrom people after I'd had the book forabout a year and Jerry Portnoy was one ofthe first people I took a lesson from. Thatwas a really vital lesson and from anotherhandful of harp players around the Bostonarea. Barbecue Bob, Chris Axworthy, ChrisStovall Brown, he might be seen playingdrums behind Watermelon Slim. Then Iwent to this blues jam even though I wasunderage, I would sneak into this bar every Sunday for a seven-hour blues jam that went on andwatched the players.

BiTS: At what stage did you start playing regularly with any bands? Did you have your own band?

AR: No, I didn't have my own band. I started playing at blues jams regularly in my senior year ofhigh school and then I went off to college and came back and I dropped out of college to join a band[laughs]. The band leader hadn't intended for this to happen. He said when you get out of school,come play in my band. He meant like in the summer come and sit in with my band, so I came to himand I said I've dropped out of school so I can play with you. I didn't drop out. I took time off and hewas a little intimidated by that, but he brought me into the band as a regular player. His name wasButch McClendon, and the name of the band was Some Blues by Butch, which was a kind of terriblename but the way he explained it was we play some blues and then we play some songs and bysongs he meant something else, for instance, ‘Stormy’, or something like that. But he was actuallyan African American musician from New York who was learning how to play the blues fromscratch and how to reclaim some part of his own musical heritage. He started out as a folk and popperformer in the city. He put together this band and at one point I was the only white musician inthe band which was great for me. I don't know how great it was for the other guys, but it benefitedme terrifically.

BiTS: So you dropped out when you were a freshman, is that right?

Jerry Portnoy

AR: Basically, yeah.

BiTS: Did you ever go back to education at all?

AR: No. Just self-education, which is the most expensive kind.

BiTS: Tell me what happened next. You obviously started gigging fairly regularly and I guesslistening to other musicians and learning from them.

AR: Oh, yeah. It's still a learningprocess. So the club that we'd beenplaying a steady gig in closed downand we started playing little gigsaround town, and I started workingwith another band called the ShirleyBullock Experience and Butch passedaway a few years later and I wasjust starting to branch out on myown as a freelance musician playingsessions and things like that when Igot a gig and I needed to puttogether a band, and at that point,somebody suggested I call PaulRishell. That was late 1992 and Paulhad a rhythm section, and he had aPA system, and I had gigs, and I hada car. When you put all thosetogether, you have some work.That's where that started and thenhe started calling me for more gigsand he started calling me moreimportantly for duo gigs. The band sounded sort of where I was coming from, listening to MuddyWaters and trying to emulate the sound of Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson and Chicagoblues artists, but with Paul, I got a chance to listen to country blues and learn so much more aboutthe history and finding ways to work in as a harmonica player in the context of some of these solopieces was a real challenge.

BiTS: When did you get together and start working as a duo with Paul Rishell?

AR: Well, pretty much right away after that first gig in late 92, he called me up for some road gigswith the band but then he was working locally, playing solo gigs and he asked me to join him onsome of these solo shows. Usually, he would start off playing alone and then he'd bring me up forpart of that. We had two steadies every Wednesday. One was a lunchtime show at the House ofBlues, the original House of Blues, which was a small club at the time in Cambridge and then atnight he had a gig opening up for Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, at a little club out in the outersuburbs, called the Sitting Bull Pub and that was a solo thing. So he would play a few solo things and

bring me up there and then both of us would end up sitting and performing in the band later on thatnight. So Wednesdays were great and the gigs that I'd done with Butch originally had beenWednesdays and Butch had called that “Wednesday church” and that still holds true, that's still themost churchy day of the week, I think.

BiTS: I was just going to say you've made, I've no idea how many, dozens of records. Any idea howmany it is?

AR: How many records have we made together? I don't know, maybe seven. I should have thatnumber.

BiTS: You've beennominated for awards.

AR: Yes, lots ofnominations and wewon the W. C. HandyAward in 2000 for ouralbum Moving to theCountry, which cameout in 99.

BiTS: Have you gotanything on the stocksat the moment,recordings-wise?

AR: Well everything has been suspended of course, but we're in suspended animation, but we hadbeen working on a few different projects before things shut down. We have probably three half-finished albums in the studio of various different kinds. One of them was more of a solo, duoproject. We recorded a lot with various bands over the past few years, but we haven't put themtogether into any finished product at this point. You have A Night in Woodstock, right?

BiTS: Yes.

AR: That was a finished product. Talking Guitar was our last prewar release. Since Talking Guitarcame out, we've been teaching at Berklee College of Music, both of us, teaching country blues intheir American Roots music department and that's been an incredible experience and along the waywe've gotten to meet all these great young musicians, some of whom don't know anything aboutmusic history, but they're very willing to learn. Very talented and very nice people and some ofthem we've absorbed in our band. We had a band called Mojo Rodéo and started playing a variety ofdifferent styles of music, blues and rock and all these different styles of music and really enjoyingworking with some of these really talented kids, or young adults, I should say.

BiTS: When you listen to contemporary music these days, which I assume you do, who do youlisten to?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux-lQaoZewk&list=OLAK5uy_k3diykchVvtzIkvrJ_eBXYVn_U0Z5A278&index=2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o30C9NSkpJQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux-lQaoZewk&list=OLAK5uy_k3diykchVvtzIkvrJ_eBXYVn_U0Z5A278&index=2

AR: I don't listen to contemporary music these days. I try to avoid it as much as possible. Paul hastuned in a little bit more to the radio. I think the last person that was contemporary that he foundsort of interesting to listen to was Ed Sheeran. That was a while ago now. We don't have our fingeron the pulses of mainstream.

BiTS: What about contemporary blues harmonica players?

AR: Oh, contemporary blues harmonica players. Up to a couple of years ago, James Cotton was stillconsidered a contemporary player. He's one of my favourites. Kim Wilson, of course, has been ahero from day one, pretty much. Sugar Ray Norcia, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, beautiful player,absolutely beautiful player. Dennis Gruenling, I have a lot of respect for his playing. I'm always badabout lists because I'm going to leave someone out that I probably careabout, so I have to be careful. Wallace Coleman is one of my favouritecontemporary players and very under-appreciated, underrated guy. Heplayed with Robert Jr. Lockwood for a number of years and could be aharmonica player who Robert Jr. Lockwood would tolerate is no smallfeat.

BiTS: Annie, over the years you must have played in dozens and dozensof places all around the world either by yourself or with Paul. Is thereanywhere you've been playing where you've thought to yourself in themiddle of a gig, what on Earth am I doing here, this isabsolutely wonderful?

AR: Oh, every time, pretty much and every timewe've played at all, I've felt that pretty much.We've had wonderful transcendent momentson stage. I'm looking forward to gettingback on stage together because it's hard tocreate that in a vacuum, you need otherpeople there, and you need the adrenalin inthe moment.

BiTS: I believe you have been doing something about James Cotton. Can you tell me about that, please?

AR: They made a film. James Montgomery the harmonica player and showman has been helping toput together a documentary about James Cotton and they came up with tons of footage and they'veshot the footage around Boston. He put together a show with as many harmonica players as he couldfly in and bring in and he filmed that as part of it and that included Jerry Portnoy, Rick Estrin, MarkHummel, Paul Oscher, Cheryl Arena, Curtis Salgado. Some great players and it was a tribute concerttogether. Paul and I played on it and then subsequently filmed some other shows around town toacquire more footage and this was one that was a benefit to the movie. At this point, they had a lotof footage and they put together a little director's teaser and things like that, but that also remainsyet to be concluded.

James Cotton

Going back to your question about transcendent moments just because it's easy to just be generaland say that it happens all the time which it does, but some of the most memorable moments havebeen the teaching moments on stage. They haven't always been the greatest accomplishments,sometimes making terrible mistakes with music has been a great teachable moment or sometimesjust learning something that I never could have imagined has also happened on stage like playingwith Pinetop Perkins and realising how much the piano was part of Little Walter's harmonicasound. Like the Muddy Waters sound but not just based on what was happening in the vocals andthe harmonica, it was very much a group effort and had an incredible sound. You get to learn thaton the stage with someone like Pinetop Perkins. Means a lot because he's a part of their history orto play with Louis Myers and to feel that.

BiTS: Do you play chromatic harmonica as well as the straight one?

AR: I like to play on the chromatic. I do like to play songs on it, but I don't consider myself achromatic player of the calibre of anybody that you might cite as a chromatic harmonica player likeMike Turk, or Paul deLay or Toots Thielemans or someone like that or maybe Grégoire Maret. I dolove the sound of the chromatic.

BiTS: Any chance of you coming over with or without Paul to the UK, at some time in the futurewhen COVID is less virulent?

AR: I hope to be able to travel safely at some point in the future. It seems like it's a bit of a waysoff. We've always met wonderful people on our UK tours and had great experiences listening toother musicians and just having great conversations. That's something that we would love to pickup the thread of when things improve.

BiTS: That's wonderful. You have a good day, and stay safe.

AR: You too, Ian. Stay safe.

BiTS: Bye.

AR: Take care. Bye.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT JAKE LEG WAS?

Read Annie Raines’ article on the Jake phenomenon by clicking here

FANTASTIC NEGRITO – HE’S SO UNUSUALby Lawrence Lebo

Xavier Dphrepaulezz, aka Fantastic Negrito will blow your bluesmind!

Most recording artists navigate their career road making theirart to fit the current genre molds for marketing and airplay.Not Fantastic Negrito! A two-time Contemporary BluesGrammy winner, the San Francisco Bay area-based Negrito’s

music has been notoriously difficult to pin down, let alone categorize.He is not your usual contemporary blues artist by any means.

The 52-year-old father of three youngchildren has survived his share of difficulttimes. He makes no secret about being ateen-age runaway, a small-time thug and aminor drug dealer. Early in his music careerhe managed to secure a major Pop musicdeal with Interscope Records, only to windup a flop. In 1999 he got into a car crashand emerged from a three-week coma tofind out that his right hand had beenseverely injured. Xavier then stepped awayfrom music for 5 years. He ran anunderground night club, farmed medicalmarijuana, did some street busking, andre-emerged as Fantastic Negrito. Then hisluck changed. He submitted a big budgetmusic video to the tiny budget NationalPublic Radio “Tiny Desk” contest and won.The exposure from NPR catapulted him onhis way.

Negrito’s third release, Have You Lost YourMind Yet dropped in August, 2020, spentthree weeks at #1 on the Billboard Blueschart and has been nominated for aGrammy for what may be his third in theContemporary Blues category, yet onemight find it difficult to identify muchresembling what most think of as “theblues” within the album. Yes, there’s identifiable blues guitar sound and riffs sprinkled throughout.Sure, there’s Hammond B3 organ on the tracks. But if you’re looking for any kind of 8, or 12, or 16bar blues patterns, then you will have lost your mind!!! Instead, the forward-thinking blues man

returns to what he knows best and blends R&B grooves with Hip-Hop/Rap sensibilities - all thewhile paying homage to Sly Stone, Prince and The Beatles!

Fantastic Negrito says his audience is “the tribe who will keep the love in their hearts!”. I askedhim to tell us a bit about himself and Have You Lost Your Mind Yet.This is what he told me ……..

LL: Would you tell us about where you grew upand the family you grew up in? What did yourparents do? What kind of music did you comeup on?

FN: I was born in Great Barrington,Massachusetts. I lived there until I was 12 yearsold. We moved to Oakland, California when I wastwelve. This was a complete culture shock. Myparents owned and operated an Africanrestaurant. Pop music was not allowed in ourhouse. We listened to everything from Jazz,African, Indian music, Classical, anything that myfather deemed worthy of one’s salvation.

LL: You ran away from home at age 12, right?What made you do that?

FN: I left home at twelve due to my fatherinsisting I practice Islam. He was a devoutMuslim. The standard was just too high. I didn'twant to practice any religion. I wanted freedom. Iwas discovering popular culture, marijuana,alcohol and women. That was far more appealingat the age of twelve years old.

LL: How did a 12-year-old survive away from his family?

FN: I was in the Bay Area and there were so many wonderful and beautiful people from every walkof life that helped me along the way. They came from every walk of life and they were my guardianangels. They were rich people, poor people, Asian, Black, White, straight, gay, Latino, immigrants,everyone. I was trying to escape the dysfunction of my family. Eventually, a very nice familyadopted me when I was 15.

LL: I think you’d agree that you’ve graduated from the “School of Hard Knocks”. How did youlearn to play music?

FN: I learned music by sneaking into the University of California Berkeley pretending to be astudent. There I would sit in the piano practice room and imitate what was happening around me. Iwould come to find out later in life those were scales.LL: What artists have influenced your music?

FN: Everyone that was great. I like the classics. Robert Johnson, Skip James, David Bowie, Prince,OutKast, James Brown. My influences are vast and many.

LL: Could you tell us about your early career …. your path to where you are now?

FN: Earlier in my career I wasidealistic. The idea of famewas comforting to me. I signeda huge deal that ended upbeing a complete failure. Iended up getting out of thatdeal due to a near fatal caraccident that destroyed myplaying hand and left me in acoma for three weeks. Thatwas the end of one thing andthe beginning of another. Ithink the journey of FantasticNegrito was an artist thatwasn’t looking for fame. Itwas more of a midlife crisis of

busking in the streets. At that point of my life, I just wanted to contribute something. It is a muchdifferent feeling than wanting to have something.

LL: When and how did you find your “artist” voice?

FN: I think I found it on the street busking in 2014. This was the birth of Fantastic Negrito,unapologetic, bold, fearless.

LL: Let’s talk about your latest release “Have You Lost Your Mind Yet”. Could you talk yourconcept and vision for this album?

FN: This album I was trying to talk about mental health and how it affects myself and those aroundme. I like to say mental wealth. “Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?” is exploring the consequence of thesocial media era. We live in this age of mass information and disinformation. We live in this era ofmany truths which seems ridiculous. I looked around and wrote this album about my peers, myfriends and how we were coping in the age of followers, likes, proliferation of gun violence, policebrutality in an overly medicated society.

LL: I hear a lot of Prince and The Beatles in “Have You Lost Your Mind Yet”, but not muchblues! More of R&B Pop influence. Did you want to cross into that genre?

FN: I don’t think about genres. It’s really something I never think about. I just write songs and I’minfluenced by anything that is great. When I go into the studio, I am trying to produce a piece of artI am proud of. On this album it was fun to collaborate with E-40 and Tarriona “Tank” Ball of TankAnd The Bangaz, I was trying to do something different. I hear and feel Blues in everything, but I

don’t really want to keep doing the same thing that is donebefore over and over again. There’re enough people doing

twelve bar Blues. I do not wish to be confined by ahierarchical repressed fantasy of what Black music is.

LL: Please tell us about the other players on thealbum.

FN: I’ve been playing with the same people fortwenty-five years, Cornelius Mims on the bass. Heis the bass. He is a legend and has played with

artists far greater than me (Michael Jackson, TheWinans, LL Cool J, Nancy Wilson, Tupac). Masa

Kohama from Tokyo, Japan. He is a Japanese guitarplayer who can play any style. He is very well known in

Japan. Lionel Holoman who had played with 50 Cent, BustaRhymes, and more. He is a master of the Hammond B3. I was

really focused on emphasizing the Hammond B3 on this album and no one plays it like Lionel.Bomani Mosely, my nephew, played percussion.

LL: How do you see yourself and the music industry going forward in 2021 … hopefully post-pandemic?

FN: We have to take everything one day at a time. My focus is to create the most powerful,interesting music that I can create. Whether we are in a pandemic or not, that’s always what I’minterested in. I think an artist’s contribution can be so therapeutic. I think if we focus on that wewill be in a better place.

~ Lawrence LeboLawrence Lebo is an award winning, critically acclaimed Blues recording artist, living in LosAngeles, CA, USA. She can be found on the web at www.lawrencelebo.com

L L Cool J J

www.lawrencelebo.com

UK government rejects ‘musician passports’ as stars attack ‘shameful’ touring deal

Minister says UK is not pursuing a touring waiver, as stars including Elton John and Sting saymusicians ‘shamefully failed’ by Brexit

Laura SnapesWed 20 Jan 2021 08.52 GMT

Extracted fromhttps://amp.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/20/uk-government-rejects-musician-passports-as-

stars-attack-shameful-touring-deal

The UK government will not pursue a waiver scheme that would allow British musicians to tour theEU without the need for visas, customs waivers and work permits for each individual member state.

The announcement comes as more than 100 artists including Sting, Bob Geldof and Elton John havesigned an open letter published in the Times on Wednesday, calling on the government to negotiatepaperwork-free travel for British musicians touring in Europe. The signatories say musicians havebeen “shamefully failed” by the government’s Brexit deal with the EU.

Speaking at parliamentary questions on Tuesday, the digital and culture minister, CarolineDinenage, said “the door is open” for future negotiations between the UK and EU regarding touring– in which both sides have blamed the other for rejecting their respective proposals – but that anypotential solution “wouldn’t be about a waiver but about facilitation”.

The Musicians’ Union (MU) has been lobbying for the creation of a “musicians’ passport” thatwould last at least two years, cost nothing or very little, encompass all EU member states, preventany requirement for carnets or other permits, and cover road crew, technicians and other necessarystaff to facilitate touring. A change.org petition supporting the idea has reached 113,500 signatures.

Dinenage’s comments suggest the government is not pursuing the passport scheme despiterepeatedly stating it is acting in accordance with industry wishes. A spokesperson for theDepartment for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport declined repeat requests for clarification.

The deputy general secretary of the Musicians’ Union, Naomi Pohl, said: “We have always hadcross-party support for some form of exemption or special arrangement to facilitate musicians andcrew touring in the EU post-Brexit. It seems unlikely that the musicians’ passport we’ve lobbied forwill materialise at this stage but we are still keen to work with the UK government on asupplementary agreement that could work for our members and the crew and organisations theywork with.”

A DCMS spokesperson said the government would look at whether it could work with EU memberstates to find ways to make life easier for those working in the creative industries in theirrespective countries.

At parliamentary questions, Dinenage reiterated the government’s claim that the EU rejected a“tailored deal” that would have allowed musicians and support staff to tour the EU with ease, whichthe EU has said was not fit for purpose. She said the EU made a proposal that would only havecovered “ad hoc” performances, which she said did not facilitate touring, and which did not includetechnical and support staff.

https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/20/uk-government-rejects-musician-passports-as-stars-attack-shameful-touring-dealhttps://amp.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/20/uk-government-rejects-musician-passports-as-stars-attack-shameful-touring-dealhttps://www.change.org/p/government-parliament-let-touring-musicians-travel-support-musicians-working-in-the-eu-post-brexit-workingintheeu

An EU official told the Guardian the UK had turned down its standard proposal of 90 days’ work ina 180-day period at the discussion table on mobility. This proposal traditionally covers musicians,sports people and journalists but could have been expanded to include technical staff had the UKbeen willing to negotiate on freedom of movement, the official said.

“Would we have had an issue with it? Not necessarily. We were proposing our standard list [ofexemptions]. If we had begun discussions in [mobility], maybe that would have been different. Butthe UK refused to engage in our discussions at all. That’s the most important point.”

The UK had also misinterpreted the meaning of “ad hoc”, the official added. The term is standardwording in its visa agreements, used to “differentiate from the situation of being permanentlyestablished somewhere”.

Under such an ad hoc arrangement, a British footballer could “play some games in the EU but couldnot come and play permanently for a club in the EU”, they said. Under its original proposal, theysaid that touring would remain possible as long as artists worked no more than 90 out of 180 days.

A DCMS spokesperson told the Guardian it stood by its statement that the EU’s offer would not haveworked for touring musicians, but offered no additional detail.

At parliamentary questions, Dinenage promised that the government was committed to providing“clarity” for British musicians wishing to tour the EU and making the issue of negotiating workingin individual member states “as easy and straightforward as possible”.

But personnel from Britain’s world-leading touring infrastructure say they have been left in thedark regarding the complex logistics of touring the EU, despite actively seeking clarification fromthe government on their business activity once coronavirus restrictions lift and touring restarts.

Christiaan Munro, the director of the British merchandising company Sandbag, said he had recentlyasked HMRC about the logistics of moving products from the UK to the EU when touring becamepossible again. “Nobody can actually tell me how much it will cost to import goods into France,saying ‘you need to get in touch with the country you’re reporting to’, which is rather frustrating,”he said.

Prior to the Brexit trade agreement, artists visiting the non-EU countries Switzerland and Norwayduring the course of a European tour would pay sales tax in advance to cover the prospective sale ofall merchandise carried, and reclaim any disparity after the fact. Whether this would now be thecase for UK tours visiting all EU states, Munro said: “Nobody can tell us how it’s going to work. Thefreight companies are still feeling the waters. It doesn’t help that the agreement was passed intolaw four days after being agreed so no one has any idea.”

Tarrant Anderson, the director of touring transport company Vans for Bands, said haulage andtrucking companies and industry bodies were still seeking clarity on the situation regardingcabotage, which states that hauliers leaving the UK can make two journeys within the EU in aseven-day period before returning home, which would severely impede touring and threaten theUK’s leading role as a provider of touring infrastructure.

“The potential ramifications are absolutely huge,” said Anderson. “Because everything is souncertain, we may end up in a situation where once live music can happen, this situation where theUK has really been the dominant force in EU touring may just stop.”Brexit touring row: UK proposals not fit for purpose, says EU

Historically, said Anderson, international artists have “hubbed” into the UK for EU tours thanks tothe high quality of its transport, staging, lighting and sound operations. If cabotage – the transportof goods or passengers between two places in the same country by a transport operator fromanother country – remains in place, “they’re likely to stop doing that and start hubbing in throughGermany or France because it’s much easier to begin in those territories”.

The result, he said, may be Britain’s leading touring companies partnering with EU businesses ormoving out of the UK entirely, a prospect he had considered.

Emma Edgar, an Irish tour manager for bands including Hot Chip, Wolf Alice and EverythingEverything, said there “was no clear guidance” on whether days spent driving through several EUcountries en route to a gig in another country would count against the current 30-day limit forartists to work in the EU, further restricting their capacity to perform.

Many interviewees welcomed the coronavirus pandemic putting a delay between the tradeagreement becoming law and the realistic recommencement of touring. “Hopefully when we do goback they will realise it is unworkable,” said Edgar.

“We don’t need clarity,” said the MU’s Pohl. “We need a deal. Even if we get clarity, it’s still goingto be a complete nightmare.”

The open letter in the Times was also signed by Liam Gallagher, Joss Stone and Bryan May. Amongthe signatories was Roger Daltrey, who was a prominent supporter of Brexit, and Sir Simon Rattle,who announced this week that he had applied for German citizenship. It was coordinated by theIncorporated Society of Musicians (ISM).

It said: “The reality is that British musicians, dancers, actors and their support staff have beenshamefully failed by their government.

“The deal done with the EU has a gaping hole where the promised free movement for musiciansshould be. Everyone on a European music tour will now need costly work permits for manycountries they visit and a mountain of paperwork for their equipment.”

On Tuesday the ISM announced it was launching a visa and work permit advice service inpartnership with Viva La Visa.

ISM’s chief executive, Deborah Annetts, said: “We recognise the significant need for clear advice forour members who are working in the EU. International touring represents an essential part ofmany musicians’ livelihoods, with 44% of musicians earning up to half of their income in the EUbefore the pandemic.”

THE BiTS INTERVIEW: Jack J Hutchinson. Jack J. Hutchinson is a guitarist, singer and songwriter who won ‘Live Act Of The Year 2020’ from Great

Music Stories. Originally from the Midlands who is making a name for himself on the blues-rock scene. IanMcKenzie spoke to him by telephone.

BiTS: Let's make a start. Tell me something about your upbringing. Was there a lot of music? Igather you were born in Leicester, is that right?

JH: Yeah, man. I was born in Leicester andI moved to Burnley in the north-west whenI was about five or six and that's where Ispent most of my childhood. I was thereuntil the age of about, I guess 19, then Imoved to Lancaster for a little while andthen I was in London. I moved to Londonbasically just for the arts. I went toWimbledon College to do drawing, butyeah, going back to Burnley, that's wheremy roots are and where a lot of friendsstill are, so I like to get up to Burnley asoften as possible. Obviously not over thelast 12 months because of lockdown andeverything that's happened with COVID,but the north-west is still very close to myheart.

BiTS: When did you start playing musicthen?

JH: Well, I had guitar lessons, and like alot of kids, have that sort of thing forced upon them by their parents, I guess, and I absolutelydespised it. I used to go for guitar lessons every Monday evening and I actually for two or threeyears I absolutely hated guitar lessons. I wanted to be outside playing footie and that was reallywhat I was interested in at that point. It was interesting because as soon as I stopped having thelessons, and plucked up the courage to ask my mum and dad to stop the lessons, I alwaysremember that the tutor that I had, when my mum said Jack doesn't want to continue with this,and she said do you think he's got to a proficient enough standard to carry on, I remember himsaying, no? [Laughing] I think that was actually a bit of inspiration for me in that I thought well,I'm going to prove you wrong. After that point, I think the key was I was trying to learn classicalguitar and that's what he was trying to teach me, which I had no interest in at all. My dad was amassive Rolling Stones fan, Led Zep fan, so once I'd stopped having the lessons, I remember I gotfor Christmas this sort of Led Zeppelin box set of tablature to learn how to play the Zep stuff, andthat really was the kick-starter for what I then got into and all the bands I was in as a teenager, itwas getting into Led Zeppelin basically.

BiTS: How long did it take you before you were playing in a band then?

JH: I was about 15 when I played my first gig and I remember it was my dad's 50th birthday. Hesaid it would be great if you could play at my party and so that sort of scared me a little bit becauseI didn't really want to do it on my own, so I sort of recruited a bunch of mates from school to gettogether and do this birthday party which was actually at Turf Moor, at Burnley's football clubstadium, so yeah, it was a lot of fun to do that. We were actually terrible, of course. We'd had onerehearsal and could barely play a song together, but it sort of ingrained something in me, Iabsolutely loved being on stage despite the music not necessarily being the best. It was the thrill of

being on stage and performing for people,and yeah, we stuck together and like a lotof teenagers do, you sort of think thatyou're going to go on and conquer theworld with your band. It didn't quite workout like that, except it set the roots of whatI've done ever since. I've sort of donedifferent things and had different careers,but always somehow come back to music,so yeah, it was good.

BiTS: What sort of music were youlistening to then? What was the band basedaround? What kind of stuff did you play?

JH: Well, at this point, a lot of bands were,I guess, kind of into Britpop and that sort ofstuff, but we were trying to do Led Zeppelinand we were doing covers of stuff from

"Exile on Main St." and Stones stuff that was not really getting played by younger bands at thatpoint. There's been a revival in terms of younger bands getting into that for the material eversince, but yeah, we were trying to do covers of 'Ten Years Gone' from "Physical Graffiti" and thingslike that which was a bit bonkers and I guess the thing that was interesting for me around thatwhole period of about three years when I was in that band, was we really got into learning thehistory of the music and that was part of the fun with it. We'd meet up every Saturday afternoon.We'd play for about three hours and then we'd go and have a game of football afterwards and itwas something we did for three years, but we'd go and have a kick around in the field and then endup sitting around chatting about Zeppelin and looking at who'd influenced Zep and who'dinfluenced bands like Humble Pie, the Allman Brothers and that's where we started to trace thelineage back to blues artists. That's where I really got into blues in my late teens.

BiTS: And then at some stage, I'm not sure what age you were, you moved to London to go tocollege, is that right?

JH: Yes, I guess I was 21, 22 when I moved to London and there were two reasons really. One wasthat I wanted to practice art. I wanted to get an art studio in London and make drawings and dothat side of things, but I also felt like I needed to move to London to really get a proper bandtogether and pursue my music career and it was interesting because a lot of the musicians I metwere through art college, so actually some fantastic players that were visual artists as well and

that's kind of continued. I know a lot of creative people who have dipped their toes into differentthings, whether it be visual art, sound art or basically rock and roll and blues acts, so I thinkthere's a lot of people who actually, they're just creative whether they be musicians or visualartists, or whatever.

BiTS: Do you still continue with the art now?

JH: Well that's interesting man because I've not done it for a long time and then when we wereforced off the road in lockdown last year, I started making drawings again. I'd not done it in quite along time, mainly because the last two or three years prior to that I'd been so hectic with touringand it's very difficult to make artwork when you're the driver in the band as well, which I am, soyeah, I got into it again last year and I'm starting to do a bit more this year. I've found it quiterelaxing and it was a similar sort of feeling that I get when I'm on stage. It's like an adrenalinerush when you're on stage and you kind of lose yourself in the moment when you're playing guitarand singing and the same thing happens when I make drawings and without the ability to go outand gig, it's a way of getting thoseemotions out.

BiTS: Okay, so you were a year at artcollege. You're studying art and you'redoing a bit of work and playing in bandswhen you can, how did you move intobeing a professional musician? Whathappened?

JH: A lot of work, man [laughs]. It'sweird because there wasn't a turningpoint where I was like oh, I'm going tobe a professional musician, or a daywhere I woke up and went ah, I'm aprofessional musician now. It was justlike years and years of different things and then suddenly, I guess, you do realise that you'rebasically making enough money from it and there's enough people coming to your gigs that youseem to have done alright and can, I guess, class yourself as a professional musician. But yeah, Imean when I first moved to London, I moved to London from Burnley and when I was giggingaround Burnley, it's a smaller pool of musicians and you feel like, I don't know, I was quite big-headed when I was younger. I guess I did feel like I was one of the best musicians on the local teamand then you move to London and it was like a massive slap in the face because the competition inthe capital was just ridiculous. I remember going to a couple of open-mike nights and just actuallytrying to get gigs in venues, thinking well I'm automatically going to be able to get gigs because I'mthat good and then people turning round and going well, never heard of you [chuckles]. So thenyou have to start from scratch and work your way up and I guess a big game-changer for me waswhen I started playing at Ain't Nothing But blues bar in central London. I started going down to thejams and just turning up every Saturday and Sunday with my guitar and playing some tracks and Iwas just a guitarist at this point. I wasn't a singer and then you end up in a situation at these jamswhere there ain't enough singers, so I ended up just on stage singing a few blues tunes. Then one

thing led to another and I guess I suddenly found myself being a singer as well as a guitar playerand I got offered a residency at that bar and was down there pretty much every week, someevenings playing a three or four-hour set, which is a hell of a long time to hold an audience. It wasa real learning curve for me, but I think it's held me in good stead, particularly in terms of touringwhen you're on the road for two or three months and I always think well, yeah, I might be playingshows every night, but actually, this isn't quite as taxing as when I was up on stage playing a four-hour set in front of quite a few drunk people who want to be entertained! So that was a reallyspecial venue for me in terms of my development as a musician.

BiTS: How do you describe your music? You have been described as kind of a southern blues-rock.Is that what it is you think you play, or what?

JH: Well, I think Ido two things. I'vegot a band withFelipe Amorim andLazarusMichaelides and wedo, I guess, blues-rock. It has more ofa rock vibe thanthe blues stuff, butI've always doneacoustic blues, soI've done I don'tknow how manyshows supportingalbums that arereleased under thatkind of guise. Ithink the blues will

always be at the root of what I do, but I'm a big fan of metal as well. I listen to a lot of [Iron]Maiden and that sort of stuff, but I think that’s quite interesting. I think it's a melting pot ofdifferent genres and I try not to put a label on it. I'm fully aware that some of the heaviest of whatI do that sounds I guess a little bit Soundgarden rather in parts and that sort of thing, might not bethe cup of tea of people who came across my music in terms of the softer blues stuff, the acousticstuff, but hopefully, people dig it and I do think that there is a massive crossover and there are fansof both that seem to like the blues stuff as well the blues-rock metal stuff as well.

BiTS: Yeah. You've had two big records for yourself, "Who Feeds the Wolf?" and "Paint NoFiction", but you must have made other records as well. My apologies for not having heard of them.

JH: Well, you know what, if you haven't heard of them, it's probably just they’re not very good. Idunno, I've played on loads of stuff. When I was in London initially, I was playing on variousartists’ records. I did a bit of session work for a while and it's quite removed from what I do now.There was quite a lot of pop stuff I played on, back when I had a proper haircut and the ability to

shave, I was with bands for a little while as a session player and so that taught me a lot as well interms of studio techniques and basically being a professional and so yeah, I've done loads of stuff. Idid a solo album initially, I think it was about 2013 my first solo record, but that was done on myiPad in Italy in the mountains. I went on holiday with my partner and yeah, I was just stuck upthere with an acoustic guitar and my iPad and recorded it all there, but it's not the sort of stuff thatpeople who've discovered me over the last two or three years perhaps, will know, but there's goodtunes on there. It's just my voice sounds like it hasn't broken yet, so it sounds a bit wimpy,whereas two or three years of solid gigging at Ain't Nothing But, and drinking so much whiskywhilst I'm performing, I think it just destroyed my voice in terms of that soft angelic vibe I had in2013, but I think it sounds better now.

BiTS: You don't have anangelic vibe now, Jack.

JH: Yeah, blame JackDaniel's [chuckles].

BiTS: [Laughs] You haveplayed quite literally allover the world, Brazil,Spain, Russia, France, allover the place. Is there oneoutstanding gig that youhad where you suddenlythought to yourself, goodgrief, what on Earth am Idoing here?

JH: Yeah, I mean there's been tons of gigs where yeah, you kind of go through this sort of feelingof oh, my god, this is absolutely insane and as you say, I've played in some quite interesting places.When I toured the Czech Republic a couple of years ago, that was amazing. I really enjoyed thatexperience. I played with some fantastic musicians over there and that was a really kind of, whatwould I say about that tour? It was quite relaxing. We were playing quite posh, hall venues, and wewere treated really well by the promotors over there and that was a lot of fun but in terms of thegig that stands out in my mind really in terms of my career and feeling actually the last 15 yearshave been worth it, was when we played in Brazil at the tail end of 2019. We did a tour over therethat culminated with a Biscoito Festival where there's 8000 people watching us which is thebiggest audience I've ever played to and I've played big festivals over here like BluesFest andRamblin’ Man but yeah, to play to 8000 people in Brazil and one of the weirdest things was we gotoffered this tour bus that we'd been given for the tour and I'm thinking how does anybody knowme over here, but we got off the tour bus and people were shouting my song titles at me. I justthought the promoters had done such a good job of communicating my stuff to people over thereand we did another gig in Brazil where there was this 20ft poster of me on the side of the buildingand I was thinking oh, my god, they really do love their rock and roll over there.

BiTS: What a wonderful experience.

Jack is back at Momentum Studios in Devon continuing work on his next album,'The Hammer Falls'.

JH: It was absolutely incredible, yeah.

BiTS: Tell me something about what I think is a new album, "The Hammer Falls", is that right?

JH: Yes.

BiTS: And the new track from it 'World on Fire'.

JH: Yeah.

BiTS: When does the album come out?

JH: 'World on Fire' was recorded in Brazil. Weactually recorded that track right at the end ofthe Brazil tour where we got offered two daysin this really great studio and I'd got a couple ofother songs I'd been working on and I saidmaybe we should try and write something onthe tour and record it over here, which wouldmake it quite special. We did it all in two days.We put the track together on the first day anddid all the recording on the second day andyeah, that's the first single from the next albumand that came out a couple of months back.We're in the midst of recording it right nowand I've got about seven tracks in, we've gotanother two songs to go, plus 'World on Fire'which is already recorded and I've alwayswanted to record an album where there's a sortof prog element to it that I've not really touched on before, but I've always had an interest incomplexity within song writing and most people who listen to our music would probably know thata lot of the songs are quite radio-friendly. They're three or four minutes long, they've got bigchoruses and that sort of thing, which I still wanted to retain, but with the new stuff I wanted toexplore the guitar more, so there's a lot more interesting guitar techniques. Lots more textureswith the guitar that I've perhaps used in the past when I've mainly been doing session stuff, butnever really done it on my own recordings. In a strange way lockdown last year was a really goodexperience in terms of my creativity because I was forced to basically channel what energy I hadinto song writing rather than relentless touring, so I do think that the songs that I've put togetherhave benefited from having a lot of spare time on my hands, whereas the previous records werepretty much written on the road. I remember writing my single 'Justified' in a hotel room in Russiawhen we were on tour. It was like 2 am and there's something about that. There's something reallycool about being on tour and writing whilst you're on the go but to have hours and hours to focuson the tracks and really refine the lyrics, refine the choruses and the guitar parts, I think that'sbeen a really good experience for me.

BiTS: Well, one of the strange things about COVID and the lockdown is that although people havenot been able to gig, it's been very productive in the context of people producing their own musicand some very interesting developments of people doing multi-artist performances or through theInternet. Everybody getting together and playing and performing at the same time. Fabulous stuff.

JH: I think it's forced people to be more creative and I think that for me myself, I'd never really hadmuch knowledge of things like Zoom and those sort of communication tools that everyone seems tohave adapted over the last ten, 11 months, so it made me rethink. I went into last year on tour, sowe managed to actually get out on the road in February and March and then the tour was pulledabout halfway through which initially was pretty devastating. We'd worked for about a year torecord "Who Feeds the Wolf", and we'd got this big UK tour planned and then after that actuallylast year we were supposed to be going back to Brazil. We were supposed to be going to Russia,Spain, Germany, we had loads of gigs booked in last year, but fortunately, most of them have beenrescheduled but, yeah, the first week or so I was pretty upset, and I was like oh, my god, what am Igoing to do if this goes on for, well, however long it may go on for? What am I going to do in termsof creativity? As I said, I threw myself into song writing. One of the cool things that I think I did lastyear was these weekly streams on Facebook where some of them I was basically playing brand newmaterial and testing them out with an audience in a way that was quite similar to how I used to gigat Ain't Nothing But, when I first started out, where I'd go down on a Saturday, every Saturdayand play brand new songs and you'd soon pick up which were the ones that had the most impact onthe audience and which ones you should really take forward. It kind of rediscovered that element tome and in a way that I wouldn't have been able to do if I was on a kind of polished headline tourwhere you've got no room to experiment and perhaps make mistakes because you're having to bangout a kick-ass 90-minute set every evening. Whereas with the acoustic stuff on Facebook in thatfirst lockdown, I was playing stuff that some of those songs have now ended up on "The HammerFalls" and they sound really great and that process was really important for the way that the newalbum is coming together.

BiTS: I imagine you've got some studio facilities at home, have you?

JH: Yeah, actually, that was partly what I did when we had to come off tour. I reinvested a lot of themoney I'd made on the tour into home studio equipment because I thought if we're stuck inside forthree months, I need to be able to deliver something on the Internet.

BiTS: I'm not going to take any more of your time, Jack, thank you very much indeed for talking tome. Just one thing, I'm not quite clear when your plan is to have the new album out? You say it'snot finished yet but when are you planning to get it released?

JH: We're about to announce a UK tour which is a kind of combo of some of the rescheduled datesfrom last year, plus some new ones. That's going to be in October, and the new album will becoming out around then. Yeah, we've got more studio time booked in March and then we're lookingto release a single shortly after that, but yeah, part of the reason that we want to wait is we want toget the new album out and be able to gig it. I want to take my time over this one and yeah, wethought we'd finished it and then I wrote two extra songs, so that's why we're going back in Marchto record these two extra songs which I think they sound great and I was like no, we need to havethese on the record, they sound so good. Yeah, there's no rush for it. I mean I think we want to get

out and tour properly, so hopefully, when it does come out, it will be at a point where society hasgone back to something like normality.

BiTS: Which sounds like a very good place to stop this interview. Jack thank you very much indeedfor talking to me,

JH: Awesome mate, it's been lovely talking to you.

BiTS: Look after yourself. Stay safe.

The Jake Storyby Annie Raines

This unassuming condo building in Boston’s NorthEnd is a long way from the Mississippi Blues Trail,but it has an important place in Blues History. Itwas the site of Hub Products, the company thatproduced a poisonous batch of the patent medicineJamaican Ginger Extract in the late 1920s. This“Jake,” as it was known, contained an ingredientcalled Tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate (TOCP), asolvent for improving the performance of air planepaint. It also performed well in Prohibition-eratests of alcohol-containing beverages, leavingenough solids behind to qualify as legal hooch.

The hooch in question was poured into barrels andshipped as syrup, distributed locally and acrossthe Midwest and South, to be bottled and combinedwith soda and other mixers. Before shipping theTOCP-laden beverage, Hub Products owners andbrothers-in-law Harry Gross and Max Reismanconfirmed that the formula had been tested ondogs and monkeys with no ill effects. However,when imbibed by humans, the chemical turned out

to have devastating consequences, causing paralysis of the lower limbs and a peculiar shuffling gaitthat became known as the “Jake Walk”.

The first few victims staggered into doctors’ offices in Oklahoma City. They were followed by dozensand then hundreds more across the nation, from Wichita, Kansas to Worcester, Massachusetts. Onethousand cases were identified in Mississippi. What was at first a mysterious affliction appeared tobe an emerging epidemic.

The doctors thought otherwise: Women and children seemed largely unaffected. Most victims weremen, usually of lower-class status, often middle-aged and living alone. Many did not want to admitthat they drank alcohol. While “Rummies” could obtain Jake legally, the stigma kept them closeted.Now their secret shame was revealed in their pathetic shambling, as they struggled to pick up theirfeet and slap them onto the ground to walk. The TOCP had eaten away their sacral nerves. Many wererendered impotent.

The newspapers carried reports of new cases and an investigation that had been launched to pinpointthe source of the toxin. They should have checked with blues man Ishmon Bracey, who recorded ‘JakeLiquor Blues’ only a few weeks after the first case was discovered in 1930. Soon afterwards, TommyJohnson recorded ‘Alcohol and Jake Blues’. a fitting follow up to 1928’s ‘Canned Heat Blues’, about hispenchant for the relatively safe methanol cocktail known as Sterno. Both Black and White musicians,

including the Mississippi Sheiks, Narmour & Smith,and the Ray Brothers, wrote and recorded songs aboutthe drink that caused the “limber leg.” The RayBrothers’ banjoist was said to have been so affectedby the Jake Leg that it ended his musical career.

The brothers Gross and Reisman were given probationand Gross served a 2-year jail sentence for violatingProhibition laws. The various distributors and theCelluloid Corporation, which supplied the chemical,were never charged or sued. An organization wasformed, the United Victims of Jamaican GingerParalysis, which was said to represent 35,000unfortunate Americans. This was an age when class-action suits didn’t exist, and most of the victims werepoor and had little recourse [to justice].

Their story was soon pushed aside by news of the Depression and the War in Europe [WWII] that wasgetting underway. If not for musicians like Tommy Johnson, the sufferers of Jake Leg might have beenforgotten by history altogether. As it is, the Blues has given their stories at least as much stayingpower as the bricks and granite of 65 Fulton Street.

-Annie Raines

BLUES BEFORE SUNRISE 2INTERVIEWS FROM THE CHICAGO SCENE

STEVE CUSHINGUniversity Of Illinois Press / ISBN 978-0-252-08465-2

You may recall my review of the first Blues Before Sunrise a while ago? Well, here’s Steve Cushing’s secondvolume (published 2019) which I discovered quite by accident whilst searching for something else!

The blurb on the back of the book is from Edward Komara, editor of “Encyclopedia Of The Blues”…”Rarelyare sequels better than the originals, but this is a happy exception. Cushing delivers another truly significantcontribution to the blues literature”.

This was quite an interesting read, because although there are interviews with artists such as Brewer Phillips,Roosevelt Sykes, Blind John Davis and others. Cushing has sectioned this volume into four distinct chapters:-Talkin’ ‘Bout You, Amen Corner, Bronzeville and Short Order Chicago.

There will certainly be names in here that you’ve not heard of – well I hadn’t anyway.

My initial thought was that I would not enjoy this book as much as the first, am I really going to find anythingof interest to me in the Bronzeville chapter? What has someone like Nat Cole to do with blues? Who wasBill Samuels?

Strangely enough, “Blues Before Sunrise 2”, even with the broadening of the musical content, was extremelyinteresting and certainly gives a better overall picture of the interaction between the various musicians andstyles, something which I feel ‘blues lovers’ tend to ignore or have little interest in.

Is it better than Cushing’s original? Not better, but as an addition to the first “Blues Before Sunrise” it’s mostdefinitely informative; connecting the people who made and make the music we enjoy. Yes, I actually didlike this book and feel it worthy of your investigation.

Bob Pearce

CLICK This image to hear

Tommy Johnson’ ‘Alcohol and JakeBlues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayltwUwpW04

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RESCHEDULE FEBRUARY 2021 UK TOUR TO FEBRUARY 2022TICKETS ON SALE VIA

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NEW ALBUM ‘MAVERICK’ OUT FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2021Due to the pandemic and uncertainty about when live concerts can take please, regretfully the decision has been

made to reschedule the King King February 2021 UK Tour to February 2022 . All tickets remain valid for the new

dates.

Tickets are available via www.kingking.co.uk/tour and www.thegigcartel.com .

King King , who have been going from strength to strength in recent years, release their fifth studio album“Maverick” came on Friday 27 November 2020 via Channel 9 Music – King King’s new independent label. The10-track album, released on CD, vinyl and various bundles, is available for pre-order from www.kingking.co.uk .

“ Maverick” follows 2017’s critically acclaimed album “ Exile & Grace ” and includes the new line-up featuringAlan Nimmo (vocals/guitar), Stevie Nimmo (guitar), Jonny Dyke (organ/piano), Zander Greenshields (bass) and

Andrew Scott (drums). The album was engineered and mixed by Liam McCluskey at Morsecode Studios inGlasgow.

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The Gig Cartel by arrangement with Intrepid Artists presents

ERIC GALES RESCHEDULES UK TOUR TO FEBRUARY 2021

WITH VERY SPECIAL GUEST “DANNY BRYANT”

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ALBUM ‘THE BOOKENDS’ OUT NOW VIA PROVOGUE

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Eric Gales has rescheduled his 2020 UK tour to February 2021 and has added two extra dates at theBrighton Concorde (Feb 3) and the Dover Booking Hall (Feb 4). The tour follows the release of his album‘The Bookends’ via Provogue/Mascot Label Group earlier in 2019. The album features collaborations with

B. Slade, Doyle Bramhall II and Beth Hart. Tickets for the Brighton Concorde and Dover Booking Hallshows go on sale via www.thegigcartel.com. Tickets for all the other shows that have been rescheduled are

still valid.

Special guest on all shows is the critically acclaimed British Blues rock guitarist Danny Bryant. Hailed as “ANational Blues Treasure”, Bryant recently released his 11th studio album ‘Means of Escape’ via Jazzhaus

Records to a great fanfare.

The challenge for making ‘The Bookends’ was for Gales to push himself. “As a guitar player it’s beenestablished that I can play a little bit, just a little bit”, he smiles. But for this album he not only wanted to

motivate himself as a musician, but also as a vocalist, to build up his vocal discography. “Whatspearheaded that was the artists that I have on the record”, he says.

Written over a nine month period, the album was recorded at Studio Delux, Van Nuys, California, The DogHouse, Woodland Hills, California, Blakeslee Recording, North Hollywood and the day before he was due to

fly to LA for pre—production the original producer David Bianco tragically died. It was Bianco’smanagement who then suggested Matt Wallace. “I heard his work and the kind of people he has produced

such as Maroon 5, Faith No More and all these cats. When we met up together it was just perfect. I justtrusted the guy and it ended up being great, I love Matt Wallace”, says Gales.

For more information, click here – www.noblepr.co.uk/press—releases/eric—gales/2021—uk—tour.htm

Brighton, Concorde 2Wednesday 3 February 2021Dover, The Booking HallThursday 4 February 2021London, O2 Academy IslingtonFriday 5 February 2021Southampton, 1865Saturday 6 February 2021Bristol, FleeceSunday 7 February 2021Nottingham, Rescue RoomsMonday 8 February 2021

Leeds, Brudenell Social ClubWednesday 10 February 2021Gateshead, SageThursday 11 February 2021Glasgow, Oran MorFriday 12 February 2021Manchester, Academy 3Saturday 13 February 2021Bilston, The RobinSunday 14 February 2021

www.thegigcartel.com/artists-profiles/eric-galeswww.noblepr.co.uk/press-releases/eric-gales/2021-uk-tour.htm

Layla Zoe—Nowhere Left To Go——Layla Zoe ASIN :B089D34NC1

In these very strange times Canadian singer Layla Zoe had toresort to making this album with crowdfunding and she includedsongs by friends and fellow artists including Jackie Venson,Alastair Greene, Bob Fridzema, Suzie Vinnick, Guy Smeets, BrandiDisterheft and Dimitri Lebel. Layla has a big powerful voicealthough the first song here 'Pray' is quite subdued and gospel-sounding with limited backing of just piano and organ and backingvocals with Layla soaring over the top, this is followed by the title

track which is more in the blues rock style with heavy guitar and 'Sometimes We Fight’ is a bluesballad. 'Don't Want To Help Anymore' is another strident blues rock track while 'This Love WillLast' is more subtle and melodic and 'Susan' is a slow blues again featuring piano and organ as thelead instruments. With 'Little Boy' the guitars are back and they carry into the nice slow blues'Might Need To Fly' and in 'Lies' we have a jazzy Tom Waits-style track with Layla singing over justa funky upright bass and then we finish with 'Dear Mom' a beautiful acoustic track with mandolinand fiddle. Layla can certainly belt it out in the style of Janis Joplin but I don't think that she hasthe control of say Shemekia Copeland and I thought that she was a lot better on the more subduedtracks - for me 'Dear Mom' was easily the best vocal performance here.

Graham HarrisonJimmy Regal and the Royals—Late Night Chicken—LunariaRecords ASIN: B08F3WJWC5Jimmy Regal and the Royals are a South London three-piecefeaturing not Jimmy Royal but Corin J. Williams (guitar), JoffWilliams (harp, vocals) and Sammy Samuels (drums), the sound isclassic Dr. Feelgood via Chicago blues. Opener 'Late NightChicken' sets the style with both the sound and also the feel -driving, rough and ready - as well as links to classic British old-style R&B the band also sound a bit like more modern Americanbands with limited line ups - The White Stripes and The BlackKeys. 'Sun's Gonna Rise' is pure Howlin' Wolf pounding drums,riffing guitar and dirty, distorted harp while 'Going to the Fair' is

a more laid back melodic offering that lopes along and features some nice Jimmy Reed-style harp.

'Regal Alley' is an instrumental that opens with weird distorted harmonica (?) sounds beforedescending into galloping interplay between the drums and guitar then we're back on track withthe maximum R&B of 'That's All It Took', while 'Can't Cry No More' has an African vibe with koraplayer Diabel Cissokho and Joff playing diatonic harp. The album then finishes with three covers -Junior Kimbrough’s trance blues 'All Night Long', Howlin’ Wolf’s powerful 'Commit A Crime' andfinally Jerry Byrne’s rocking 'Lights Out'. This is a fine album that is in the tradition of classicBritish R&B but isn't limited by that genre and also has touches of rock and roll and world music toadd variety and originality.

Graham Harrison

R E V I E WS

David Rotundo—So Much Trouble—Dreams We Share ASIN:B08MBY6X6Y

David Rotundo was turned onto blues after seeing harmonicaplayer James Cotton in Toronto in 1991, he bought a harmonicaand learned to play and six years later formed the band The BlueCanadians. This album was produced by harmonica virtuoso LeeOscar and we get off to a rocking start with 'She's Dynamite'which features not only David's harp but also Darian Asplund onsax and Ron Weinstein on organ. 'Funky Side Of Town' is a nicejazzy blues and 'Hard Times Coming' is an acoustic song with

David singing, playing slide guitar and harp.

The title track is an atmospheric blues ballad and 'Too Blue' continues in similar style with bothfeaturing nice backup vocals, while 'Drinking Overtime' is a classic drinking blues with a mightyHammond organ solo. 'Foolish Love' is a romantic ballad that seemed a bit out of place with the restof the material here but does add a bit of variety and allows Darian Asplund a nice breathy saxbreak. 'Long Road' is an exotic Indian-influenced track complete with tabla and David on slideguitar and we finish off with the only non-original 'Trouble In Mind' again an acoustic track withDavid on guitar and harp. I'm afraid that I found David's singing, guitar and harmonica playing alldistinctly average however, I did quite enjoy the record mainly because both the band and the songswere good, with many of the tracks reminding me of British blues from the 60s.

Graham Harrison

Catfish—Exile: Live in Lockdown—Catfish ASIN: B08NJ6VQNC

Catfish are a Sussex-based blues rock band consisting of Paul Long(keyboards), Paul’s son Matt (vocals and guitar), Kevin Yates(drums) and Dusty Bones (bass), they were approached by theMaastricht Blues Festival in Holland in summer 2020 to do a fullband live stream, which is where this recording originated. Webegin with 'Broken Man' from their first album, a very dramaticslow blues of over eleven minutes with a great lead guitar solofrom Matt, 'Break Me Down' ups the tempo and attack, while themelodic 'Ghosts' slows things down again. Like the previous two

tracks the funky 'Soulbreaker' is a track from their second album 'Burning Bridges' as is 'The Rootof All Evil' driven by riffing lead guitar and swelling organ.

More tracks from 'Burning Bridges' follow 'The Big Picture', 'Archangel', 'Too Far to Fall' and 'Exile'itself, they are very close to the original album versions with maybe a bit less effects andprocessing but they still sound very tight despite the band not being able to do gigs duringlockdown. 'Better Days' from the first album is a really catchy track delivered really well - I preferit to the album version with its stronger vocals and lovely Jeff Beck-like guitar solo. Although thiskind of blues rock is a bit too 'heavy' for me it is very well played, the agile rhythm section of Yatesand Bones power everything along and Paul Long's keyboards really fill out the sound while Matt

Long has a great blues voice and his guitar playing is surprisingly accomplished for one sorelatively young.

Graham Harrison

Liam Ward & Malcolm Thorne—You Are My Medicine—GreenBullet Records ASIN: B083RZWLN2

‘You Are My Medicine’ is a five track EP by singer/guitaristMalcolm Thorne and harmonica player Liam Ward released onLiam’s own Green Bullet records. You may think that a record bythis line up would be like Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee butthis isn’t really traditional blues, the title track opener featuresMalcolm on guitar and backup vocals with Liam singing and thencontributing a lovely acoustic harp solo in the middle. As the titlesuggests ‘Down Home Blues’ is more bluesy with Malcolm adding

a bit of slide, while ‘Crescent City Jive’ is Liam's hymn of praise to New Orleans which starts withhis delicious blow bending harmonica. ‘Bulldoze Blues’ (not the Henry Thomas song) is a slightlymore traditional blues but the instrumental ‘Song for Dennie’ is much more folkie - like somethingby Bert Jansch or even Davy Graham - very melodic, plaintive guitar with Liam’s harp very echoey.I thought that this was an original take on the guitar / harmonica line up with lots of variety andsome very nice guitar and harmonica playing.

Graham Harrison

Clarence Spady—When My Blood Runs Cold (Tribute toLucky Peterson)—Nola Blue (Single)

Born in New Jersey in 1961, singer and guitarist Clarencerecorded for Evidence and Severn Records, but had droppedoff the radar after his second album in 2009, despite beingviewed as a very promising young bluesman. Both Clarenceand Lucky began their blues careers at incredibly young ages,and this is a strong slow blues that Clarence saw Luckyperform live in New York - he does it full justice too. The twomen were long-time friends so this certainly makes sense -

even better that it is a four minutes long, smouldering performance, with a lovely cushionfor Clarence provided by the keyboards of Scott Brown, and the subtle rhythm section of JonVentre on bass and Pat Macinko on drums. An excellent track that augurs well for Clarence'supcoming album for the label.

Norman Darwen(www.clarencespady.com)

www.clarencespady.com

Sunday Wilde—Storm Is Raging—Independent

This is a rather fine download single, available on bandcamp.Sunday is a Canadian singer and pianist with eight albums toher credit (her ninth is due soon), and on this track - veryappropriately accompanied by Ari Lahdekorpi on guitar andthe bass player Mike Carson - she sounds more than a littlelike Bessie Smith with this kind of accompaniment. The lyricsdeal with homelessness and addiction, and the vocal has thatslow and deliberate approach, so that the track itself is pureblues all the way. Not exactly what you might consider

material for a “single” release these days, but this is certainly an impressive performance.

Norman Darwen(www.sundaywilde.com)

Randy Casey—Record Time—Independent

Just when I had this release pegged as an Americana set – albeit agood Americana set with a folky tendency - along comes trackfour, and out comes Minneapolis-based singer/ guitarist Randywith the bluesy rocker ‘I Don’t Like You Anymore’, which changedmy opinion a little. Then there is the jazzy item, ‘Lucky’, whilst‘Dead Wrong’ is a nicely upbeat blues, a little like Arthur “BigBoy” Crudup or his disciple Mr Elvis Presley in his early days. ‘IGot Lucky’ is boogie-based, ‘This Train’ is a fine fingerpickingsong with just a little hint of Mississippi John Hurt, and

‘Graceland Kiss’ a nice guitar instrumental. ‘It’s About Love’ keeps to the roots side of things, anold-fashioned country number played and sung straight. OK, so maybe this isn’t a blues set, butreaders with a taste for Americana and roots music should try to give it a listen. And some of themoney from this set goes to the Equal Justice Initiative which is a nice and socially consciousgesture.

Norman Darwen(www.randycasey.com)

John Fusco and the X-road Riders—John the Revelator—Checkerboard Lounge Recordings Jfxrr-001

Singer, keyboards player and acoustic guitarist John Fuscowas a new name to me - at least until I found out he wasresponsible for the music in the blues-themed movie“Crossroads” back in 1986, which I used to have on video.This set is a double CD release, with the first ranging acrossmore or less straight blues styles, from the imaginativesound-scape reworking of the Son House’s title track (Fusco

www.sundaywilde.comwww.randycasey.com

is better-known as a script-writer and producer than a blues performer, though he did thatbefore working on “Crossroads”) to the slow menacing ‘Bad Boy’. The only exception is aDoctor John-styled solo outing ‘Ophelia (Oh, I Feel Ya)’. Some tracks give a prominent roleto trombonist Sarah “The Bone Doctor” Marrow, who actually used to fill the same role forMr. Rebennack. She adds a rather different edge wherever she appears..

Maybe this is a good place to mention the musicians. They are split between the “SouthernChapter” - the well-known multi-instrumentalist Cody Dickinson, the excellent femalevocalist Risse Norman (who has also worked with Samantha Fish), and the aforementionedMs. Marrow—and the “Northern Chapter” from John’s home-base in Vermont. The latterincludes harp player Magic Mark Lavoie, fiddler Patrick Ross, the guitarist bassist anddrummer on ‘Bad Dog’ and four backing vocalists.

The set is also similarly split, with the second CD for the most part much more Americana-based, albeit a very bluesy Americana - and the Ray Charles-ish blues of ‘Good Money AfterBad’, a soulful blues with contemporary edge in ‘Baby Let’s Not Borrow’ or the Eagles-ishcountry-rock of ‘Motel Laws Of Arizona’. To be honest, I came to this not knowing what toexpect, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Certainly worth checking out if you like themore nuanced side of today’s blues.

Norman Darwen

EB Davis—Treasures from the Vault—Rockwerk

Ignore the label name - this is top-notch straightforwardblues with the occasional soul-inflected blues such as theopening track, ‘One Way Ticket’ or the funky ‘Tried Tested,Found True’, from this Arkansas-born but long-time Berlin,Germany-based vocalist. Maybe when gigs start up again,some enterprising promoter will bring him to the UK, itwould certainly be good to see him and his tightly-drilled“Superband” over here.

On this set he has an impressive list of guests, including bass player Aron Burton, andharmonica player Keith Dunn. Try particularly the slow drag ‘This Woman, The Devil, AndMe’ for the latter, and the horn section also is right on top form here - though that is not tosuggest they are anything less elsewhere.

The tracks are previously unreleased items from the past, though all are top quality. All areDavis originals (or at least collaborations, including a couple with the vastly experiencedBurton, who was formerly also based in Europe for some years), with the sole exception of astrong cover of Larry Garner’s ‘Shack Bully’ (sic), and the last three numbers of the set arelive recordings. EB has a strong but flexible voice, and listen to the way he rides across thebeat on ‘Sleeping In The Ground’ (not the Sam Myers song) - or try the slow ‘Same Old

Blues’ - or just pick any track at random. EB has even solved the problem of how to do theband introductions and keep it interesting.

So, an excellent release then. I’ll just repeat - why doesn't someone get this guy over to theUK - and soon?

Norman Darwen(Available from: bluestown.davis@gmail.com)

Dieter Kropp—Bis Auf …, Aber Sonst …!—Spareribs Records

This is the tenth album from the fine singer and blues harmonicaace Dieter Kropp, based in Detmold in Germany. He sings inGerman, yes – he hasn’t always, as those who have followed himsince he recorded the album “Red Hot Cookin’” with R.J. Mischowill know, though he has been professional since the mid-80s.However, Dieter has a nicely traditional musical approach, withhis influences including Walter Horton, Little Walter and CharlieMusselwhite. That nicely traditional flavour is certainly apparenton all the tracks here: try the skipping instrumental ‘Ganz Lässig

Und Bequem’ (“Cool and Comfortable” it translates as, and the band achieve the sound of The Acesquite effortlessly – at least, so it sounds), or the deep Muddy Waters styled ‘Vierzig Grad ImSchatten’, with a notable slide guitar solo. Others who come to mind as the set progresses are SlimHarpo, Jimmy Reed, Jerry McCain,and others, and the band is certainly equal to the leader’s talents,with guitarists Tomi Leino and Jimmy Reiter, bassist Jaska Prepula and drummer Mikko Peltola allshowing a strong understanding of just what this music needs. If you want your blues with aslightly different accent, then this handsomely-packaged CD fulfils that role more than admirably.

Norman Darwen(www.dieterkropp.com)

Catfish Keith - Blues At Midnight - Fish Tail Records

Catfish Keith is an award winning American acoustic bluesman.He is well known on the British blues scene for his lively soloperformances and amazing acoustic blues guitar technique. ‘Bluesat Midnight’ consists of his original songs and is Keith’snineteenth album.

The album opens with ‘Xima Jo Road’ a foot stomping blues with agreat snap to the strings which really drives it along. ‘Pack MyLittle Suitcase’ has a nice country blues feel about it, reminds meof Mississippi John Hurt. The title track ‘Blues At Midnight’ has a

trace of John Hammond about it, this is my favourite track on the album.

One of the appealing features to Catfish Keith’s guitar work is how he adds subtle little single stringmelodic fills to his playing and this can be heard at its best on ‘Your Head’s Too Big’. ‘Roll You In

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My Arms’ with some slide guitar is actually a live track which means it has a different overall soundto it than the rest of the album. ‘West Indian Waltz’ is an interesting resonator slide blues waltzinstrumental whilst ‘Move To Louisiana’ features Randy Sabien with some lovely fiddleaccompaniment giving off a more Americana feel.

The album closes in fine style with ‘Oh Mr. Catfish’ a John Lee Hooker style boogie with some superharmonica playing from Peter Madcat Ruth, makes for a grande finale.

When you only have an acoustic guitar, vocals and a footstomp it can be hard to add dynamics andbuild intensity into the songs and although these songs are self penned they all have the feel oftraditional acoustic blues both in terms of structure and lyrical content. Catfish Keith is withoutdoubt an accomplished guitarist and a great blues troubadour. This album is well produced andcaptures some fine guitar playing. My only reservation is that sometimes it can be hard to capturein an album of this kind that wow factor that he brings in his live performances but this is a solidacoustic blues album none the less and worth checking out.

Ged Wilson

Chris Dover—Volume 1—Independent Release

Chris Dover is a singer/songwriter from Bradford. Having had noprior knowledge of Chris I was keen to hear this five track E.P.entitled ‘Volume 1’.

The opening track is ‘Last Night Insecure Blues’ with some niceacoustic guitar and a gentle country blues style vocal. ‘I’m Tired’is more of a minor blues with that stray cat strut style of guitarabout it. ‘I Don’t Mind Dying’ is more of a traditional blues hollerin style with some nice delicate folky blues finger picking guitar.Instead of the blues shout Chris goes for a softer vocal delivery.

‘Another Prison Song’ has been recorded in a Lo-Fi style to give it that retro feel and its countryvibe brought to mind shades of Kenny Rogers. ‘His Last Words’ is more a country feel once againand is probably the best constructed song on this E.P. with Chris doing it justice with a great vocalperformance.

This E.P. is essentially Chris on vocal and acoustic guitar with contributions from Tsar Nicholas IIIon drums and Joel Smith on bass. Just a note on the backing vocals from Tsar Nicholas III andAnneka Latta, whilst they seem to work ok on ‘I Don’t Mind Dying’ they seem to distract rather thancompliment and enhance on the first two tracks but only a minor quibble from me.

Overall Chris is an accomplished acoustic guitarist with a nice precise style of playing and a lovelygentle voice. His songwriting is good with lyrics that help deliver the message and no more so thanon ‘His Last Words’ when all these factors come together.

This E.P. probably leans more towards Country than the Blues but is still worth a listennonetheless.

Ged Wilson

Chad Strentz—Acoustically Yours Volume 1—IndependentRelease

Chad Strentz is probably best known for his work as a singer a