Black Cat Bones

 

 

The right place at the wrong time. That could be the epitaph on the gravestone of Black Cat Bones. Having acted as unofficial house band for a number of visiting US artists during the British Blues Boom of the mid to late Sixties, and survived a potentially fatal line-up change into the bargain, they finally made it to vinyl rather late in the day. This, their first and only album, reached the racks in the last months of the Sixties, just as progressive rock was in the ascendancy.

Such imperfect timing may have adversely affected their chances of commercial success and consequently their number of column inches in the history of popular music, but in no way diminishes the excellence of this disc - now available again a full quarter-century after release.

That Black Cat Bones remains a known name is due to two musicians whose names remain stubbornly absent from the credits. Celebrated guitarist Paul Kossoff would go on to superstar status as a founder member of Free, but started his musical career in earnest in these ranks. And though neither he nor drummer Simon Kirke appear here, Koss's featured replacement is Rod Price, a player of no mean ability who would later take his axe-wielding skills to Stateside fame and fortune with Foghat.

But let's backtrack now to the events that led up to November 1969, when "Barbed Wire Sandwich", was released on Decca's 'progressive' Nova label. Though retaining semi-professional status for some time, Black Cat Bones had enough going for them to catch the eye of legendary blues producer Mike Vernon. His patronage brought them their first recording session, backing Champion Jack Dupree for a Blue Horizon album, 'When You Feel The Feeling You Was Feeling'; meanwhile, they made a reputation in their own right touring Germany and Scandinavia.

Kossoff and Kirke jumped ship, in 1968 after seeing singer Paul Rodgers fronting the similarly unrecorded Brown Sugar; hence by the time Black Cat Bones entered Tangerine and Decca Studios the following year with recording stardom in mind, the existing nucleus of brothers Derek and Stu Brooks on rhythm guitar and bass respectively and vocalist Brian Short had been augmented by Phil Lenoir (drums) and Rod Price (lead guitar).

The music kicks off with 'Chauffeur', - a dead ringer in both pace and chord sequence for Free's 'Walk In My Shadow', from their debut, released mere months before. And the well-worn blues metaphor of riding, (Free rode ponies, Black Cat Bones a car - such is progress) indicates the overtly sexual inclinations both shared. Elsewhere, there's a welcome touch of acousticity (on 'Four Women') to leaven the mixture - owners of well-worn originals will thank heavens for the non-clicky CD! - but overall, the album very much reflected the electric blues of the stage set, as you'd expect from a band that played live so often.

It was left to producer David Hitchcock, who later guided the careers of Caravan, Camel, Genesis (circa 'Foxtrot') and more, to supply the studio expertise they needed to give "Barbed Wire Sandwich", that touch of the unexpected. 'Please Tell Me Baby' stands out in this respect, the band fading in and out around the barrelhouse piano of Robin Sylvester. This would have been impossible live, since BKB's line-up didn't feature keyboards (Sylvester was the sound engineer at Tangerine), so was clearly an attempt to diversify and use the studio to greatest advantage. Steve Milliner lent further ivory-tickling skills to 'Feelin' Good'. And, don't forget, Free eventually added the keyboard talents of John 'Rabbit' Bundrick to give them a route to progress.

Talking of progression, the middle section of 'Save My Love For You', along with other dramatic mood and/or tempo changes throughout the album, suggests that the growth of progressive rock had not passed them by. Rod Price was quite different in approach to Kossoff, his fast, fluid style contrasting with the howling sustain of his predecessor - but he was clearly no slouch either, as he proved on the final track. The self-penned 'Good Lookin' Woman' is the one song on which Price tackled lead vocal. More importantly, it's a guitar tour-de-force, fading out prematurely and leaving the listener wondering exactly what would have happened next.

Leaving the audience wanting more was just one of the lessons learned on the boards, so it's hardly surprising that those who saw BKB live retain approving memories. One such spectator was Stuart Booth, now a publisher, who caught a show at London's Marquee Club as the album was readied for release. 'They were a good live band who missed the boat', he recalls. 'The album came out long after other British blues bands had sunk without a trace, so no one was interested. I was pleasantly surprised to see people still playing that sort of thing. I thought it would all come around again - and, of course, it did…!'

Many years after witnessing Black Cat Bones at the Marquee, Booth had the pleasure of publishing 'Blues - The British Connection', a definitive rundown of the scene by one Bob Brunning (to be reissued by Blandford as 'Blues In Britain: The History 1960s-1990s' in February 1995). Brunning, as blues scholars may recall, was the original bass player with Fleetwood Mac, the man who deputized for John McVie until he could secure his release from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

He enters the Black Cat Bones story, albeit tangentially, at this point - because when the album flopped and the band threatened to fall apart, it was a couple of renegades from the Brunning Sunflower Blues Band, Pete French and Mick Halls, who were drafted in to make up the numbers after Price, Short and Lenoir left the ranks. (Short, incidentally, cut a hard-to-find solo album, 'Anything For A Laugh', for Transatlantic in 1971). With a new drummer, Black Cat Bones metamorphosed into Leaf Hound, Zeppelin-esque heavy rockers who, like their predecessors, produced one excellent album before disbanding. This was 'Growers Of Mushroom' - and in 1994 it joined 'Barbed Wire Sandwich', in the See For Miles CD catalogue.

So there ended the story of Black Cat Bones, a band whose mere footnote in the annals of British rock seems a mite ungenerous, given their musical legacy. Even Bob Brunning only rated them a couple of sentences - but as 'Barbed Wire Sandwich', will prove, music often speaks louder than words.

David “Junior” Kimbrough

 

David “Junior” Kimbrough, quite possibly the most important blues guitarist of the second half of the 20th century, redefined blues. Junior’s approach to music is so hugely different from anything that came before him that he ranks among the three greatest bluesmen of all: Son House, Bukka White, and Fred McDowell. An originator, Junior did more than build on certain tradition or perfect a certain style. Junior re-imagined the blues; he made a sound for himself.

If Junior’s sister had been any kind of baby-sitter he might not have picked up the guitar. When Junior was too small to help his father work the fields his eldest sister stayed home with him. She was supposedly watching him the day he took his father’s guitar “off the high shelf,” where his father kept everything he didn’t want his children fooling with. It became routine: when his father left for the fields, Junior carefully took down the guitar. He learned fast and well, well enough to teach a local white boy, Charlie Feathers, how to play.

Junior was six years old, and his sister was doing her usual bang-up job of babysitting the day he took a gallon jug of corn off the high shelf. His mother found him in an alcohol-induced coma; she thought Junior was dead. Junior’s father recognized the problem and knew the solution: his daughter needed a whipping and Junior belonged in the field. After two years of high school Junior was lured into Holly Springs by a job at the John Deere dealership.

Junior couldn’t remember the exact date he deliberately set out to create music but knew the reasons. He was still a young man and had gone as far as he could go at John Deere. If Junior was gonna make his mark in the world, he’d have to do it with a guitar. Up until then he’d been playing the same country blues standards, as well as the contemporary hits of Little Milton and Albert King, in the same jukes and clubs that his long-time friend and rival R.L. Burnside played. And then Junior stopped playing covers and stopped taking requests. Determined not to become just another “entertainer” or “performer,” Junior realized playing covers only helped the composers or the artist who first recorded the song. He wasn’t going to help anybody, ever again. From then on, Junior would only play Junior.

He might’ve been the first person in his family to work off the farm, but Junior never gave up his rural habits like throwing parties every Sunday night with his furniture dragged out in the yard so more people could fit. Before long Junior had to rent a one-bedroom apartment to get a break from the chaos he’d started at home. Junior’s old house became more than a club. It was an entity: it was Junior’s Place–and without help from a sign or telephone locals gathered on Sunday nights to drink and dance. Junior understood music, and had a gift for songwriting, and began developing the music that was first recorded in the mid-’80s for a Memphis State single.

Unfortunately, David “Junior” Kimbrough didn’t release his first album until 1992, when he was 62, but when he finally made his first album, All Night Long (produced by Robert Palmer for Fat Possum Records), the world took notice. Rolling Stone was the first to acknowledge Junior and awarded the album four stars. In addition to giving his music long overdue exposure, All Night Long gave the Fat Possum label hope. Junior, for the most part, was not physically able to tour, now that he finally had the support of a record company. There were notable exceptions: a string of dates with Iggy Pop, and several tours with the Fat Possum Circus (a package deal). But the news traveled– to hear Junior you had to go to Mississippi. Rock bands such as the Rolling Stones, Sonic Youth, and U2 made pilgrimages to Holly Springs to experience his club and hear Junior with his son Kinney Malone on drums and Garry Burnside on bass. Junior went on to record Sad Days, Lonely Nights, Most Things Haven’t Worked Out and the posthumously released God Knows I Tried (all on Fat Possum).

Junior was 67 when died of heart failure on January 17, 1998 at Mildred’s apartment in the Holly Springs public housing project, watching TV on her couch. Mildred Washington, his companion of 30 years, had been taking care of him. Junior Kimbrough still kept a one-room bachelor’s apartment at the time of his death: immaculately clean, with nothing whatsoever on the walls or tables, no pictures, no tour posters, nothing. Junior knew what he had accomplished, and didn’t need any souvenirs. In addition to the 36 children he claimed, Junior put his brand on music.

7-Time Blues Music Award-Winner RORY BLOCK Set to Release Her New Album, Ain't Nobody Worried, October 7 from Stony Plain Records

 

 

In a storied career of many accolades and firsts, celebrated seven-time Blues Music Award-winner Rory Block released perhaps her most-ambitious album yet, with Ain’t Nobody Worried, came October 7^th on Stony Plain Records.  

 

As the third volume of her “Power Women of the Blues Series,” Ain’t Nobody Worried follows the logical course of its predecessors. Produced by Rory Block and Rob Davis for Aurora Productions, Ain’t Nobody Worried was recorded and mixed by Rob Davis at Kentucky Studios, Sandy Hook, Kentucky; and mastered by Toby Mountain of Northeastern Digital. Rory Block sang all the vocals, played all the guitar parts, slide, bass and percussion.

“The inspiration for this recording was born during the dreaded shutdowns,” recalls Rory Block about the album’s genesis. “Being quarantined led us to the idea of Home Broadcasts, which soon blossomed into two concerts per week over two years with an incredible following of viewers from around the world. We were all hungry for togetherness and music and found ourselves clinging to the idea that some form of normalcy still existed, somewhere, almost certainly in music. After covering just about every blues, folk and Old Timey song I ever knew, the idea popped into my head to reach into the iconic songbook of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. That meant music that was on the radio over 50 years ago. It could be called historic, early American music. Viewer requests for their own favorites strengthened and expanded this idea, turning the concerts into a major potpourri of material. It was challenging, satisfying, and inspiring. The consensus was that it was time to hear these incredible songs again. 

“While it was challenging, and I never had enough time to really learn the songs properly, no one minded or expected my acoustic versions to be replicas of the originals. We wanted to remember, celebrate, and cling to the emotions and memories these great songs embodied. We wanted to sing along. We wanted it to be a sentimental journey with an unexpected twist. That’s what this record is all about.

“I started referring to it as ‘The Campfire Sessions.’ That meant ‘Hey, pass me the guitar... lemme try that one!’ I was the person saying pass me the guitar- and that was just alright with everyone.

“In keeping with my latest ongoing project, ‘Power Women of the Blues,’ and inspired by the enthusiasm generated by the Home Concerts, I chose hit songs performed or written by female artists whose music changed the world. I could do multiple volumes easily as there are, as always, just too many great songs to choose from. 

“There will be those who will question why I would decide to do songs by legends such as Gladys Knight, Mavis Staples, Mary Wells and others. Why attempt to resurrect such untouchable greatness? I suppose the answer is the same reason I dare to do Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith and other early blues legends. I do not do these songs to create a better version than the original. Those versions are enshrined in the halls of Musical Heaven. I do these songs because I play the music I love the most. Creating new versions honors the original artists. And, as I learned during the Home Concerts, it’s time we thought about these amazing songs again.”

  https://stonyplainrecords.com/roryblock/

Revoltone

 

Revoltone is the lovechild of everything we are, feel, hear, see, digest and defecate.

This band is our honest way to deal with anger, disbelief, sickness, love, happiness and most of all hope for the better. With and for everyone who needs strength and energy from great punk rock-tones.

All of us have a colorful history with music and different bands. We have tons of experience with playing sweaty gigs, raw tours and recording songs for various albums. Revoltone is a four peace with current and ex-members from bands like Fumble, One Morning Left, Dashbone. All this has driven us to give birth to the message and the sound of Revoltone.

We Revol against everything messed up! Our Tone is loud, catchy and melodic. The sound and attitude we want to hear in this often too disharmonic world.

Revoltone - the band loud enough for the silent voices.

 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/revoltone

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revoltone/

Bandcamp: https://revoltone.bandcamp.com/

Evie Eve

 

Evie Eve is an indie folk singer-songwriter, originally from South Wales now based in Manchester. 

 

Channelling the likes of Laura Marling, Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, Evie eve’s anthemic songs are a rich blend of evocative vocals, dynamic instrumentation and dramatic arrangements. Her ethereal mix of poetic lyrics and memorable melodies creates songs centred around vulnerability, curiosity and wonder. 

 

After two years of writing and producing during lockdown, Evie eve is now joined by a six-piece band, performing and selling out shows around Manchester. Formed late last year, the band focuses on creating a powerful acoustic sound that compliments her soulful vocals and the vibrant melodies heard in both trumpet and violin. Her latest single ‘One for sorrow’ tells a story of loneliness in a unique style that is both melancholic and uplifting. 

 

 https://linkfly.to/304041jAxrQ

 

 

Casey Maunder

 

ªI’ve poured my heart and soul into this album and both musically and lyrically I feel it is a reflection not only of my eclectic influences but also my views on the world around me.  The tracks embody my energy, confidence and unwavering positivity in the face of a world gone mad. This a raw, melodic and fresh guitar album that is unique and stands out from the crowdª.

SWND Records is proud to release the debut album from Swansea rocker Casey Maunder, whose first single for SWDN, Click Me, Swipe Me, Follow Me, Like Me, has caused quite a stir on indie airwaves. 

Casey  Maunder  was  born  and  raised  in  Swansea  and  as  the  son  of  a  local musician was immersed in music from an early age. By twelve years old he was performing  with  his  father’s  band  and  at  14  was  writing  and  performing  with local  rock  bands.    At  19  Casey  joined  The  Cherry  Thieves  and  inspired  by  the Los  Angeles  glam  rock  scene  they  toured  the  UK  extensively  and  featured regularly in music publications such as Kerrang and Melody Maker.

After the demise of The Cherry Thieves Casey linked up with a childhood friend and formed Four Stories High. The band kept the energy of Casey’s earlier rock projects  but  fused  it  with  a  more  imaginative  and  creative  approach  to  song writing.  The  band  gigged  extensively  across  the  UK  and  their  single  “Another Day” gained radio play, Welsh TV slots and was released on a compilation of thebest emerging UK talent.

2021 saw Casey decide to go it alone and take sole control of his song writing and  releases.  His  sound  is  defined  by  overdriven  guitars  and  a  dedication  to melody  that  means  every  track  has  a  huge  chorus  that  will  not  quit!    His  first three solo singles have had extensive radio play, including the track “Rolling at The Rathouse” being played on esteemed station Planet Rock. 

The  upcoming  album  “Until  Your  Heart  Stops  Beating”  showcases  Casey’s vocal, lyrical and song writing range and delivers an eclectic collection of songs that range from hard edged rock to harmony laden power pop. 

 https://www.instagram.com/caseymaundermusic/

https://www.facebook.com/people/Casey-Maunder/100082859078696/

Studebaker John Grimaldi

 

Studebaker John Grimaldi was born in an Italian-American section of Chicago and started playing harmonica at age 7. Under the spell of music he heard on Maxwell Street, Chicago’s famed blues melting pot, Grimaldi began performing as Studebaker John and the Hawks in the ‘70s. The band name referenced the Studebaker Hawk, a car Grimaldi still owns today, and was also intended as a tribute to his friend, J.B. Hutto and the Hawks. John began playing guitar after a life-changing experience of seeing Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers perform. “…Hound Dog started playing, hitting notes that sent chills up and down my spine. He was versatile and powerful and would play rhythm as well as leads. I left there knowing what I wanted to do. I had to play slide guitar.” 

 http://www.studebakerjohn.com/