Out now!
Issue 262: October 2023
Somewhere off the coast of Dubrovnik, Croatia, it’s third time lucky for Blues In Britain as our rescheduled interview with Joe Bonamassa finally goes green on the Keeping The Blues Alive At Sea’s summer Mediterranean cruise. We’ve been shoe-horned into the guitarist’s hectic schedule to talk about his new album, Blues Deluxe Vol. 2, performing at the Hollywood Bowl with a full orchestra and, well, anything else that time allows. Friendly and courteous, the hardest-working man in blues always has something to say: “If it’s too easy, what’s the point?”
They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend and that much is certainly true for Erja Lyytinen. The guitarist releases her fourth live album Diamonds On The Road: Live 2023 on her own Tuohi Records. When it comes to live, there’s no safety net, and there’s none better than the firebrand Finn for capturing that blues power lightning in the bottle. “The blues is still my music,” she tells Nicholas John.
Described by Planet Rock Radio as a British blues legend and by his friend, mentor and blues patriarch Walter Trout as “one of the best ever”, Danny Bryant has spent the last twenty years touring the world, with packed-out club shows and world-famous festivals in China, the USA, Canada, Europe and all points in between. Recorded at Lincolnshire’s famed Chapel Studios, Rise is his new record, undoubtedly another in a succession of album releases to hit the top spots of blues charts across Europe, as Paddy Wells finds out.
“Just play what you feel, be real about it, and enjoy yourself. That’s what Albert Collins taught me,” says left-handed guitar virtuoso Coco Montoya, who mastered his craft under the tutelage of both Collins and John Mayall. Since his first solo album in 1995, Montoya’s inventive guitar work and hard-hitting vocals have kept him at the top of the blues tree. With a new album, Writing On The Wall already being called one of the best records he’s ever made, John Mitchell talks to Coco Montoya at home in California.
We lost the great Tony TS McPhee this year, but many are possibly unaware of a teenage friend of his, a close musical collaborator who sadly died over thirty years ago. Together they’d released an album together, Same Thing On Our Minds. The late, great Jo Ann Kelly was that friend and collaborator, a serious lady of the blues, an often-bespectacled young English girl who sang like a blues veteran from the Delta. In the first part of our appreciation, Moz Copestake looks back at her life and career.
Blues In Britain spoke to Layla Zoe last month: just about to begin a short UK tour, the Canadian singer (who’s currently based in the Netherlands) has just released a double live album, Back To The Spirit of 66. In this second part, Simon Green talks to The Firegirl about the album.
More Tales From The Road with Alabama’s Debbie Bond who’s been clocking in the road miles on the European mainland and is now in the U.K. Influenced by raw juke joint blues and the famed sounds of Muscle Shoals, she found her feet playing with legendary Alabama blues musicians Johnny Shines, Eddie Kirkland, Willie King and Lil’ Jimmy Reed. Check out her Road Diary Part Two.
It would make a great question for a pub quiz. Which British musician played in all of these British groups? UFO, Glenn Cornick’s Wild Turkey, Cozy Powell’s Hammer, Babe Ruth, Paice Ashton Lord and Whitesnake – whoever it was must surely have been at the very centre of the blues rock music firmament. And he was; that musician was Bernie Marsden, who sadly passed in August. We pay our respects to Bernie in this issue, a man of whom B.B. King (when asked if white musicians could play the blues) said, “Some can; Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Jonny Lang, John Mayall, they feel the blues, oh and that Whitesnake guy, Bernie, he got it.” RIP Bernie.
High Hopes this month features a wonderfully eclectic foursome: wild water, paddle-boarding ex-busker Dave Acari, northern blues harp, guitar duo Dust Radio, young Korean-American folk blues player Nat Myers and southern soul, Canadian roots sensations, Bywater Call (touring here as the ink dries on this edition). It all starts here, folks.
PLUS: Associate Editor, Mark Stratford is Walking In Memphis with Mississippi MacDonald, there’s Becc’s Blues by Rebecca Downes, My Top Ten, Reconsider Baby, A Shot Of Rhythm & Blues and your monthly album and gig reviews.
JOE BONAMASSA plus
ERROL LINTON, MIKE ROSS, KIRK FLETCHER, THE 251s, MARK HARRISON
October 2020 - 226
KING KING plus
ERJA LYYTINEN, CONNOR BRACKEN, SAMANTHA MARTIN, SCOTT ELLISON, SYLVIE SIMMONS
November 2020 - 227
WHEN RIVERS MEET plus
CATFISH, ALLMAN BETTS BAND, SUSAN SANTOS, JUSTIN ADAMS, RUZZ GUITAR
December 2020 - 228
CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE plus
MARCUS KING, NORMAN BEAKER, CHRIS SMITH, GRAHAM PARKER, BONNIE BISHOP
January 2021 - 229
GRAINNE DUFFY plus
GEORGE THOROGOOD, JOHN MAYALL, DANA GILLESPIE, THE CADILLAC THREE, KATIE BRADLEY
February 2021 - 230
JOANNA CONNOR plus
KIM WILSON, RONNIE GREER, SHAUN MURPHY, MUDDY MANNINEN, TREV TURLEY
March 2021 - 231
BAI KAMARA plus
SELWYN BIRCHWOOD, IMELDA MAY, MIKE SANCHEZ, LAURA B, NICK WATERHOUSE
April 2021 - 232
THE DAMN THRUTH plus
KAI STRAUSS, GARY MOORE, WILL JOHNS, ARIELLE, BRAVE REVIVAL
May 2021 - 233
ELLIS MANO BAND plus
DR. FEELGOOD, CURTIS SALGADO, STEVE CROPPER, DAVE SPEIGHT, FIVE POINTS GANG
June 2021 - 234
ELIANA CARGNELUTTI plus
MIKE ZITO, MOBY, HITMAN BLUES BAND, JULIAN TAYLOR, SCOTT McKEON
July 2021 - 235
TROY REDFERN plus
BERNIE MARSDEN, TITO JACKSON, CLARENCE SPADY, WATERMELON SLIM, SUITCASE SAM
August 2021 - 236
RORY GALLAGHER plus
ERIC BIBB, BERNIE MARSDEN, CONNOR SELBY, ROBERT JON, PAPA GEORGE
September 2021 - 237
JOE BONAMASSA plus
JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR, TERESA JAMES, REV. GARY DAVIS, JIMMY REGAL & THE ROYALS, BRIGITTE DeMEYER
October 2021 - 238
WHEN RIVERS MEET plus
DION, SUE FOLEY, COLIN JAMES, MARK PONTIN, MISSISSIPPI MACDONALD
November 2021 - 239
KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS
plus
SNOWY WHITE, DANNY BRYANT, THE COLD STARES, WARREN HAYNES, MARK HARRISON, MISTY BLUES
December 2021 - 240
SAMANTHA FISH
plus
ERJA LYYTINEN, GUY KING, WALTER PARKS, STEVE GIBBONS, REBECCA DOWNES, THE JIVE ACES
January 2022 - 241
ELLES BAILEY
plus
ERIC GALES, JOHN MAYALL, CHRISTONE KINGFISH INGRAM, WILLE & THE BANDITS
February 2022 - 242
DAN PATLANSKY
plus
BETH HART, JETHRO TULL, STEVE BAILEY, THE 251s, ADAM NORSWORTHY
March 2022 - 243
DOM MARTIN
plus
EDGAR WINTER, THE BLUES BAND, THE CINELLI BROTHERS, LARRY McCRAY, DAVE KELLY
April 2022 - 244
ROBIN TROWER
plus
ROBERT CRAY, EMMA WILSON, BRAVE RIVAL, BEAUX GRIS GRIS, THE LOVE LIGHT ORCHESTRA
May 2022 - 245
THE BAD DAY
plus
CATFISH, KARA GRAINGER, MATT PEARCE & THE MUTINY, VANEESE THOMAS, THE TERRAPLANES BLUES BAND
June 2022 - 246
BERNIE MARSDEN
plus
WILKO JOHNSON, ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW, LAURA EVANS, XANDER AND THE PEACE PIRATES, TINSLEY ELLIS
July 2022 - 247
TROY REDFERN
plus
BONHAM-BULLICK, DELBERT McCLINTON, ROBBEN FORD, KIRK FLETCHER, SUPERSONIC BLUES MACHINE
August 2022 - 248
TOMMY McLAIN
plus
WALTER TROUT, BAD LUCK FRIDAY, THE MILK MEN, JO HARMAN, BEN HEMMING
September 2022 - 249
250th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
with
LAURENCE JONES, PETER FRAMPTON, SUNJAY, JIMMY HALL, ALBERT CASTIGLIA, DAVE THOMAS, MALAYA BLUE
October 2022 - 250
ERJA LYYTINEN
plus
LARKIN POE, DON McLEAN, JASON RICCI, THE COMMONERS, OLIVER DARLING, STEVE HILL
November 2022 - 251
JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR
plus
RORY BLOCK, CLIMAX BLUES BAND, DONNA HERULA, JOHN VERITY, ROB KORAL, JO CARLEY & THE OLD DRY SKULLS
December 2022 - 252
TYLER BRYANT & THE SHAKEDOWN
plus
REBECCA DOWNES, CAROLYN WONDERLAND, GERRY JABLONSKI & THE ELECTRIC BAND, TREVOR BABAJACK STEGER, PETE SEARS
January 2023 - 253
MISSISSIPPI MACDONALD
plus
AYNSLEY LISTER, JARED JAMES NICHOLS, BOB ANGELL, THE CADILLAC KINGS, ANGELA STREHLI
February 2023 - 254
CONNOR SELBY
plus
ERIC BIBB, MARCUS KING, RUTHIE FOSTER, THE COLD STARES, MARC BROUSSARD
March 2023 - 255
KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE AT SEA
plus
GA-20, MARY STOKES BAND, THE ZOMBIES, HENRIK FREISCHLADER, ARIELLE, GERAINT WATKINS
April 2023 - 256
SAMANTHA FISH and JESSE DAYTON
plus
ANA POPOVIC, MARK HUMMEL,JIM KIRKPATRICK, MARTIN McNEILL, JOHNNY MARS & THE COLD HEART REVUE
May 2023 - 257
LUKE MORLEY
plus
PAUL JONES, CHRIS DUARTE, MIKE ROSS, THE STUMBLE, DOUG DEMING
June 2023 - 258
LAURENCE JONES
plus
GRAINNE DUFFY, STEFAN REDTENBACHER, JIMMY REGAL & THE ROYALS, BISON HIP, ASHLEY SHERLOCK, IVY GOLD
July 2023 - 259
WHEN RIVERS MEET
plus
ROBERT JON & THE WRECK, RUBY TURNER, FANTASTIC NEGRITO, IVAN NEVILLE, STEVE ‘WEST’ WESTON, SUGAR RAY NORCIA
August 2023 - 260
DOM MARTIN
plus
ALBANY DOWN, BETTYE LAVETTE, LAYLA ZOE, DEBBIE BOND, DADDY LONG LEGS, BRYN HAWORTH
September 2023 - 261
