JOSERAMIREZPura Blues

LuckyPETERSONRest In Peace

06 - JOSE RAMIREZ"Pura B lues "By Jack Su l l i van

12 - CD Rev iew Here I Come By Jose Rami rez

14 - LUCKY PETERSON Res t I n Peace By A r t Tipa ld i

17 - CD REVIEW L iv ing In The Shadows By Joseph Jo rdan

B L U E S M U S I C O N L I N E - J u n e 1 6 , 2 0 2 0 - I s s u e 1 5 Table Of Contents

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY © JIM HARTZELL PHOTOGRAPHY © MIKE LANDSMAN

PHOTOGRAPHY © MIKE LANDSMAN

JOSE RAMIREZ " P U R A B L U E S "

By Jack Sullivan

PHOTOGRAPHY © MIKE LANDSMAN

For 14 years the Bonita Springs Blues Festival has become known for introducing Florida

blues fans to new and upcoming blues musicians. As a sponsor since 2011, the Blues Music Magazine team has worked this event handling artist CD sales, merchandise, and renewing subscriptions. This job requires our presence in the booths we are assigned to work in, and a view of the stage is not really a consideration. Rarely do we leave the booth during sponsored events because we are usually busy BUT occasionally a band or band member sounds so good it draws us out for a better view of their performance. The 2016 was just such a year. Hearing the unbelievable tone of the guitar player and the fact that the hair on both forearms reached for the sky like the musical notes emanating from the guitar, my first question was “Who the hell is that?”. The sound reached into my soul and like a zombie from an episode of the Walking Dead mesmerized by the sounds, ignoring the questions of “where are you going” I glided out of the booth in search of that guitarist and an answer to my question. Jose Ramirez the Tico from Costa Rica was the answer with his soaring riffs, soul touching tone, and rhythm playing “Pura Blues” shook me to my core. Thankfully, Jose has just released his long-awaited inaugural CD and we caught up with him this week.

Blues Music Online: When did you first discover the blues?

Jose Ramirez: I was around 12 or 13 and was interested in playing the guitar, my dad told me “don’t even pick up the guitar without listening to blues music first." Gratefully I followed his advice and started studying B.B. King’s masterful guitar playing. Blues Music Online: Who were the first blues artists you were listening too?

Jose Ramirez: B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, and Ray Charles were the very first ones I fell in love with. Blues Music Online: What was it about the blues that spoke to you?

Jose Ramirez: The passion! Pure and simple, the passion! The way B.B. King was able to tell a story, or the way Ray Charles would cry and moan while singing a slow blues. You could just feel it, pure passion. Blues Music Online: When did you first pick up your instrument?

Jose Ramirez: Right after I started listening, I knew playing was for me so it must have been around 12 or 14 years old. Blues Music Online: Can you explain your learning process?

PHOTOGRAPHY © MIKE LANDSMAN

Do you use records, lessons, jams, and or touring.

Jose Ramirez: I am a self-taught musician; my teachers were the records that I could get my hands on. Costa Rica was a difficult country growing up as an aspiring blues musician. Costa Ricans have no idea what blues music is and I encountered a lot of rejection and closed doors. After 10 years of trying to establish myself as a blues musician there, I finally decided to really follow my dreams and come to America. I was convinced I had what it takes to be a part of the American blues industry. It’s been a long and stony road but I’m finally here.

I have toured the U.S. in 2019 with over 25 shows all over the Midwest and South including memorable shows at The House of Blues in Chicago and Buddy Guy’s Legends. Buddy Guy himself joined me onstage and we jammed. I’ve also toured Europe twice in the past two years including over 45 shows all over Spain, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Blues Music Online: Who were some of the mentors that you were able to play with? Who were some of the mentors that you wish you could play with?

Jose Ramirez: I have been lucky and blessed to have shared the stage with people like Anson Funderburgh, Janiva Magness, Andy T, Mark Hummel, Buddy Guy, and Brian Lee. I’d love to share the stage with

Guy King, Sugaray Rayford, and Kingfish. Blues Music Online: What are some of the most important musical lessons about the blues these mentors taught you?

Jose Ramirez: I’ve learned a lot specially from my good friend and producer Anson Funderburgh. We had a great time recording my first album, and it is really an honor to have my favorite Texas blues musician be producer of my debut album. I have studied Anson’s playing since I was a kid, and I keep learning every day. What I’ve really loved about him is his kind and humble personality. This man touched the peak of success in the blues world and still, he’s the most down to earth person I’ve known. That is the way I’d like to live my career. Blues Music Online: Explain what the recording has taught you.

Jose Ramirez: How deeply personal and intimate recording sessions are. I was honored to have Anson produce it for me. Every song on the album tells a story that I have once lived through. He chose an amazing crew of session musicians for the recording, and we had a blast working on my music.

We had the incomparable Jim Pugh (The Robert Cray Band) on keyboards, Wes Starr on drums, Nate Rowe on bass, and The Texas Horns.Anson also played his signature Fender Stratocaster on a few of my

original songs. Blues Music Online: Which guitarists were your inspirations?

Jose Ramirez: If I had to make a top 5 it would look like this:B.B. King, Robert Cray, Anson Funderburgh, Jimmie Vaughan, and Chris Vachon. Blues Music Online: How do you keep the traditional

elements of the blues alive in your contemporary songs?

Jose Ramirez: I grew up listening to blues music, old school soul, and rhythm and blues so those sounds still ring in my head. I like to blend my blues with soul and R&B elements instead of mixing it with rock which is what a lot of the current blues musicians do. I’d like to separate myself from that trend.

PHOTOGRAPHY © JIM HARTZELL

Blues Music Online: As a musician from Costa Rica, how difficult has it been to relocate to the U.S.?

Jose Ramirez: It’s been a long and stony road! Lots of sacrifices and painful experiences, but it has been worth every bit of it. I am finally here to stay.

Blues Music Online: What updates would you like to share with your fans?

Jose Ramirez: After finishing in 2nd place at the 2020 International Blues Challenge in Memphis this past February and now releasing my new album, things were looking great for this year until the pandemic hit. The band is already re-scheduling my U.S., Canada, and Europe tours for 2021. So, we will play and meet new fans very soon. I am currently booking some local shows in Florida for the rest of 2020. You can find all my dates on our website: joseramirezblues.com

It was great catching up with Jose “Pura Blues” Ramirez this week and listening to his debut CD. Take a minute and read the review for Here I Come which features some fine blues, soul, and rhythm and blues on the following pages. -BMM

—bluesdoodles.com

—Downbeat magazine

—BLues music magazine

—Bill wahl/jazz & blues report

JOSE RAMIREZHere I ComeJose Ramirez Music

Not the Cleveland Indians infielder or the Atlantic League pitcher. When this Jose Ramirez swings,

he hits it out of the park wielding a guitar, while singing in a voice full of big heart and smooth soul. The 32-year-old Costa Rican won second place for the D.C. Blues Society at the 2020 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Watch his videos. The reasons for his prize are obvious. Ramirez emulates his heroes, but engages his audiences with the kind of full-throttle passion that should ultimately secure him his own place in the blues. That confidence and zeal translates vividly through the nine originals and two covers that make up his recorded debut.

Produced by Texas blues guitar great Anson Funderburgh, the album introduces Ramirez backed by a band of seasoned players including keyboardist Jim Pugh, drummer Wes Starr, bassist Nate Rowe, and the always tamale-hot Texas Horns. Funderburgh’s become quite an ace behind the boards. Ramirez says he set out to make a blues album influenced by both soul and R&B, topped with a little Johnny “Guitar” Watson funkiness. Funderburgh helped get him there with a Lone Star spit-shine. “Here I Come” sets it all in motion on a relaxed, but determined, piano-driven roll. Ramirez name-checks his heroes, and stabs beautifully at his guitar. “I Miss You Baby,” a 1950s T-Bone Walker tune by Freddie Simon, has him comfortable and convincing in a classic blues “big band” swing exhibition. The entire band plays with dazzling class, and Ramirez solos in inventive style. Funderburgh injects his own brand of rocket fuel into the sassy, rollicking “Gasoline And Matches,” as well as the grinding “Three Years.” With the latter tune, Ramirez obviously nods to Stevie Ray Vaughan in tempo and underlying guitar figure, but he and Funderburgh each play tasteful solos that open the familiar groove to new possibilities. On “As You Can See,” the mode of delivery changes to sexy, smoky R&B bathed in brass, reminding me of the music that Blood Sweat & Tears made with Al Kooper at the helm. Towards the end, they remake Robert Johnson’s “Traveling Riverside Blues” into a rubbery-tough soul/blues extravaganza, and make quite a case for it. Jose Ramirez clearly didn’t set out to revolutionize the blues, and Johnson’s tunes have certainly proved to be infinitely pliable. But Ramirez bends the old classic in a way only a true artist would. That, and everything here for that matter, makes him a new, young blues man to keep a sharp eye on.– Tom Clarke

LUCKY PETERSON R E S T I N P E A C E

By Art Tipaldi

PHOTOGRAPHY © BRIAN SMITH

The blues world suffered another devastating loss on Sunday, May 17, 2020 when shining star

Lucky Peterson passed away. Since his first appearance on the Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show as a five-year-old, Peterson exhibited an artistic life of brilliance. Born Judge Kenneth Peterson in 1964, Lucky was not like most toddlers. At three, he began pounding on the family drum set; at four he started playing the Hammond B-3 organ; by five he was guesting on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. At five, Peterson recorded a single, “1-2-3-4,” with Willie Dixon

which became a national R&B hit. That led to an album called Our Future and the aforementioned appearance with Carson. “I guess it tripped people out seeing a five-year-old kid playing organ on the Johnny Carson show,” Peterson told me years ago.” By eight, I had already cut a couple of records, been on What’s My Line, To Tell The Truth, all those national shows.” At seven, he recorded his second album, The Father, Son, And The Blues, with his guitar playing father James Peterson. At an age when most children were signing up for summer camp or joining scouts, young Lucky began touring the country as the child

PHOTOGRAPHY © BRIAN SMITH

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