An all star lineup was made even better by a super moon to close the show! article and photos by “Sistah” Karen Nugent Published in the October/November 2014 issue #208 The talent at this year’s Gloucester Blues Festival was superb – culminating with a nine-piece band finale headed by guitarist-vocalist Ronnie Baker Brooks, son…
Discover the Arts & Artists of the Chan Dynasty Blues, Jazz, Comedy, and Culinary Delights are blended weekly in this Woonsocket institution. by Art Simas John Chan, the entrepreneur of Chan’s Fine Oriental Dining, 267 Main St., Woonsocket, RI, was honored on June 15, 2015 as the recipient of the Rhode Island Pell Award for…
C.B. Gitty’s, the Cigar Box instrument super store, one of the the world’s leading manufacturers, is located in Gonic, NH. Though you rarely see them for sale in mainstream music stores, over the last decade or so there has been quite an underground Cigar Box Guitar revival happening worldwide. https://www.cbgitty.com/ I met the mastermind behind…
Toni Lynn Washington: One of the best in the music world! Local vocalist swings, scolds and exudes Soul ‘with a capital S’ by Art Simas With apologies to Tower of Power, the group that performs “Soul with a Capital S,” this is the essence of Toni Lynn Washington. For the better part of seven decades,…
The ride up to Thornton, NH, home of The White Mountain Boogie & Blues Festival, couldn’t have be easier, no traffic and it didn’t take long to see those BIG mountains in the Presidental range, gorgeous. Nice easy highway ride from Boston, Maine, Ohio, wherever! The campers had been there starting on Thursday night, extending…
Call it what you want – deep-Mississippi-Hillbilly-Country-Roots-down-and-dirty-in-your-face-Punk Blues – it all fits for the Ten Foot Polecats… by Art Simas This trio of talented musicians, who take their inspiration from Junior Kimbrough, Robert Burnside, the North Mississippi All Stars, John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf, don’t care what you call them – just enjoy it….
Being the Bandleader Definitely Has Headaches and Heartache by Art Simas Published in The Blues Audience #216 December/January 2016 If you look up Michelle Willson’s biography in AllMusic.com, it is consists of a total of 89 words. Obviously, no one ever spoke to Michelle because she has a lot to say about being in…
