Bob Corritone’s Blues Update from America

Friday, April 18, 2012

• Dave Riley & Bob Corritore appear Saturday afternoon at the Multi-Cultural Festival in El Mirage, AZ! Dave Riley & Bob Corritore will perform  tomorrow, Saturday, April 21st at the Multi-Cultural Festival 2012 in New Gateway Park, 10100 E. El Mirage Rd, El Mirage, Arizona. Dave and Bob will represent the blues portion of the proceedings and other acts, from many musical genres include Elaine Stepter (formerly of Rose Royce), Fel Davis, Denitra Champ, Carvin Jones, Pastor Wade with the MCBC Choir, Monica Castro, Two-Tone Lizard Kings, and B.Scales. The show runs from 1pm to 8pm and Dave and Bob hit at 5pm for a half-hour set. This show is put on by the AZNBHO.Org. For more information call 623-204-0959. Admission is free! To see the flyer for this event, click here.

• Hohner Harmonica’s new Blues Harp packaging! Hohner Harmonica now has a new packaging for their Blues Harp brand. The Blues Harps now come in a carton with a sharp design that includes 3 harmonica players: Dan Smith (the great gospel harmonica player), Bob Corritore, and Junior Wells. Bob is honored to be included on this packaging and to be included with such fine company. To see the new sharp design for the Hohner Blues Harp packaging, click here.

• New Mannish Boys CD  and RJ Mischo to be released May 15th on Delta Groove! New Photo Page of Mannish Boys recording session! The Mannish Boys are somewhat of a modern day blues phenomenon. Led by the vision of Randy Chortkoff, this group has become known as an amazing revue of the West Coast’s top blues players with family of special guests that represents Randy’s deep conviction to the blues. The new double CD will be called Double Dynamite and will be officially released May 15th on Delta Groove Productions. Here is Amazon’s editorial pre-review of the CD:
  (2-CD set) The Mannish Boys transcend their five previous critically acclaimed recordings with Double Dynamite – an unprecedented double studio album containing outstanding musicianship with many spectacular and notable special guests. Featured artists include Finis Tasby, Sugar Ray Rayford, Mud Morganfield, Jackie Payne, Elvin Bishop, Rod Piazza, James Harman, Jason Ricci, Bob Corritore, Randy Chortkoff, Kirk Fletcher, Frank Goldwasser, Junior Watson, Kid Ramos, Nathan James, Mike Finnigan, Fred Kaplan, Rob Rio, Willie J. Campbell, Bill Stuve, Jimi Bott and many more!
  We must also note that another highly anticipated Delta Groove CD will be out on the same release date with the label debut of harmonica master RJ Mischo and his new disc Make It Good. To see the Delta Groove artist page for RJ Mischo and to hear a sample of his music click here. Thank you Delta Groove for the commitment to traditional blues. We have constructed a web page of beautiful photos from the sessions for the Mannish Boys CD which you can see by clicking here.

• Thank you to Stompin’ At the Savoy Festival! Last weekend the Scandinavian town of Helsinki, Finland became a hub for the blues as the Stompin’ At The Savoy Festival presented a wonderful program of blues and roots at the beautiful Savoy Theater. Thanks to our friends from Stompin’ At The Savoy, the Finnish Blues Society, and the US Embassy for bringing Tail Dragger & Bob Corritore to this event. Thanks to the amazing Tomi Leino Band for their stellar backing work. Thanks to all our friends and fans in Helsinki who made the trip a memorable and positive experience! Thanks to all the great musicians for some great camaraderie and for some great after party jams! To see a cool video of Tail Dragger, Bob Corritore and the Tomi Leino Band performing at Stompin’ At The Savoy, click here.

• Radio Interview with Jimmy Rogers’ son this Sunday on KJZZ! This Sunday Bob Corritore will interview JD Mosley, the adopted son of Chicago blues architect Jimmy Rogers, who will share stories of growing up in a house filled with the blues. You can expect to hear stories of Jimmy’s Gold Tailed Bird album, Jimmy’s work with Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy’s encouragement from Johnny Littlejohn to return to music after a short retirement and much more. By the way you can see JD and the Jimmy Rogers family standing on their porch on the back of Jimmy’s Gold Tailed Bird LP on Shelter Records. Along with the interview will be lots of priceless music by the masterful Jimmy Rogers! Bob’s radio show, Those Lowdown Blues is aired each Sunday from 6 to 11pm Arizona time, at www.kjzz.org. And this Sunday, April 22, you can hear the interview in the last two hours of the show, from 9 to 11pm.

• RIP Levon Helm – May 26, 1940 to April 19, 2011 Drummer/ vocalist/harmonica player/actor Levon Helm is best known in popular culture for his work with The Band and Bob Dylan, but he had a lesser-known affiliation with the blues. He passed away yesterday in New York, after a long struggle with cancer. Levon Helm‘s musical contributions are many and well documented, and we will refer to the Wikipedia page for his bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levon_Helm. Though we will not detail his pop music activity in this obit, let’s review some of Levon’s very active blues offerings: As a native of Arkansas he was influenced at an early age by the work of Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Lockwood, Jr., and James “Peck” Curtis (who Levon credits as his early drum inspiration). In the early 1960s Levon would land a gig with Canadian blues / rock ’n roller Ronnie Hawkins, and in 1964 he would appear on the John Hammond album So Many Roads. In the mid 70s, while The Band was at the height of their career, Levon appeared on Muddy Waters‘ Grammy-winning Woodstock Album. Levon was also crucial in getting Muddy Waters (with Pinetop Perkins, Paul Butterfield and Bob Margolin) on The Band’s 1976 finale concert / documentary film, The Last Waltz, and when the organizers of that show considered a last minute cut of Muddy’s segment due to time and budget concerns, it was Levon who stood up to organizational pressure and refused to perform unless Muddy’s part of the show was honored. In his post-Band years, Levon’s work would gravitate to a blues format as he hosted regular star-studded “Barn Concerts” that were literally at the barn of his Woodstock, New York residence. His group would feature a series of harmonica player / vocalists who would serve as the frontmen including Chris O’Leary, Little Sammy Davis, and Steve Guyger. Levon was also involved in Louisiana Red’s 2002 CD, A Different Shade Of Red, The Woodstock Sessions on Severn Records. Levon’s reputation among the blues world was of the highest order. Bob Margolin refers to Levon as “an amazing musical soul.” We thank this great man who, while rising to the heights of pop stardom, always worked to better the blues. To see a great article by Bob Margolin about his recollections of The Last Waltz, click here. To see the New York Times obit click here.

• Sonny Boy Williamson II sings “Bye Bye Bird” on YouTube! Please enjoy this video of Rice Miller AKA Sonny Boy Williamson II singing and playing harmonica “Bye Bye Bird” with all sorts of wonderful rhythmic effects! This clip was filmed in the UK in 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival. Click here.