30 November 2016

#565 :: Nate's Hot Picks From 2016

The Blues Room #565
Wednesday 30 November 2016
9pm-10pm NZ time, FreeFM89.0
LIVE stream: http://tunein.com/radio/The-Blues-Room-p446677/

Some of Nate's hot picks from music released in 2016. Enjoy.

Fantastic Negrito - Last Days Of Oakland (Intro) & Working Poor
Santana - Blues Magic
Mavis Staples - MLK Song
John Long - Stand Your Ground
Dennis Gruenling - If You Wanna Rock (You Gotta Have That Roll)
Bonnie Raitt - Unintended Consequence Of Love
Trickbag With Friends Vol. 2 - She's A Killer (Feat. Kim Wilson & Kid Ramos)
Lino Muoio - Bald Man's Stomp (feat. Mario Donatone)
Fiona Boyes - Love Me All The Way
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Let Me Get By
Jane Lee Hooker - Mean Town Blues (Johnny Winter)
Seasick Steve - Walkin' Blues
Kenny Neal - Thank You B.B. King

23 November 2016

#564 :: LIVE Blues Recording :: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

The Blues Room #564
Wednesday 23 November 2016
9pm-10pm NZ time, FreeFM89.0
LIVE stream: http://tunein.com/radio/The-Blues-Room-p446677/

Sharon Lafaye Jones (May 4, 1956 – November 18, 2016) was an American soul and funk singer. She was the lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough success relatively late in life, releasing her first record when she was 40 years old. In 2014, Jones was nominated for her first Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album, for Give the People What They Want. Among Jones' influences are James Brown, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Thom Bell, Otis Redding, Ike & Tina Turner, Marva Whitney and everyone from Motown. In addition, Jones also cites more recently known artists, such as Michael Jackson, Prince, Erykah Badu and BeyoncĂ©. It was announced on June 3, 2013, that Jones had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer and underwent surgery, which forced her to postpone the release of the group's fifth album, Give the People What They Want. The diagnosis was later changed to stage II pancreatic cancer, for which Jones had surgery on her liver and underwent chemotherapy. The chemotherapy caused hair loss, and for a time she performed bald, refusing to wear wigs.


During the screening of her documentary at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, Jones revealed that her cancer had returned, and that she would be undergoing chemotherapy again. She suffered a stroke whilst watching the 2016 United States presidential election results, blaming Donald Trump, and suffered another stroke the day after the election.

Jones suffered a stroke on election night 2016 and after a second stroke days later died on November 18, 2016 in Cooperstown, New York, aged 60. According to bandmate Gabriel Roth, "She told the people that were [at the hospital] that Trump gave her the stroke. ... She was blaming Trump for the whole thing." 

Some artists shine brighter than their contempories. Sharon Jones was one of those artists. This is a tribute to one of the finest soul-sisters this side of originators. We miss you already Sharon. Thank you for sharing your soul with us.


Live recordings used for this episode come from Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings Live on KEXP & Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Tiny Desk Concert.

100 Days, 100 Nights
People Don't Get What They Deserve
Slow Down, Love
Natural Born Lover
Every Beat Of My Heart
Road Of Broken Hearted Men
These Tears
Stranger To My Happiness
Silent Night
8 Days Of Hanukkah
Big Bulbs
I'm Still Here


16 November 2016

#563 :: Another Belly Fulla Blues With Fatt Max

The Blues Room #563
Wednesday 16 November 2016
9pm-10pm NZ time, FreeFM89.0

Fatt Max brings us another great selection of blues tracks, so kick back, relax and turn this one up. This episode of dedicated to all those effected by the New Zealand earthquakes this week. 
You brave, wonderful people, we keep you in our hearts and prayers. 
Donate to those effected by the quakes here.

Colin James – Boogie Funk 
JJ Grey – 99 Shades of Crazy 
R L Burnside – Boogie Chillin’ 
Buddy Guy & Gary Clarke Junior – Blues Don’t Care 
Ben Harper & Charlie Musslewhite – She Got Kick 
Sammy Hagar & Taj Mahal – Winding Down 
Shane Spiel’s Snake Oil Band – Judy Got A Boogie 
Son Seals – Cotton Pickin’ Blues 
W-O-M-A-N – Eta James 
Koko Taylor – Never Trust A Man 
Liz Mandeville – Bad Blues Habit 
Cris Jacobs – Shine Your Weary Light 
Frank Bang & The Cook County Chiefs – Till The Day I Die 
Buddy Guy – Meet Me In Chicago 
Jimmy Reed – You Got Me Dizzy 

9 November 2016

#562 :: Big Road Blues with Jeff Harris (Jookin' – Honkin' Sax From New York Pt. 1)

The Blues Room #562
Wednesday 9 November 2016
9pm-10pm, FreeFM89.0, Hamilton, NZ.

For many years Nate has been following a vintage blues radio show hosted by Jeff Harris called Big Road Blues. Jeff presents his 2-hour show each Sunday from 5 to 7 PM (EST) on WGMC Jazz90.1 (Rochester, NY) and it streams live on the web from http://www.jazz901.org/listen-live/. Jeff has kindly given permission for Big Road Blues to be re-run on The Blues Room each month, on the second Wednesday. This episode here is a classic example of what you'll hear from Jeff; superb tracks, great commentary, and a taste of classic and often rare and forgotten blues. As Jeff's shows are two hours long, Nate will post a link for listeners to check out the second half of his show. For archived shows of Big Road Blues please check out http://sundayblues.org/. So a big thank you goes out to Jeff and we look forward to sharing some of his outstanding shows on The Blues Room.


"Today's show is a part one of our look at some great New York based sax men who's honkin' sound was heard on hundreds of records in the 40's and 50's. This show is one of several sax based shows this year starting a few months ago with a two-part show of Chicago horn men , followed by two spotlighting some great L.A. Horn blowers. Illinois Jacquet is cited as the one who kicked off the era of honkin' sax in 1945 with his famous solo on "Flying Home" while working with Lionel Hampton's band. As Big Jay McNeely said of of the song, "every time we picked up our horns we were just elaborating on that, trying to make it bigger, wilder, give it more swing, more kick. If you want to know where rhythm and blues began, that's it brother." Today we spin some great honkin' sax records, some cut by the horn men themselves and others featuring their raucous playing behind some great blues singers, both well known and obscure. The records were issued on a myriad of small New York independent labels labels such as Atlas, Derby, Coral, Apollo, Groove, Fire/Fury, Savoy and bigger players such as King and Atlantic. Along the way we'll hear some exciting instrumentals and hear them back some terrific blues singers, both famous like Wynonie Harris, Big Joe Turner and Ruth Brown, to the obscure such as Eddie Mack, Mr. Bear and Edna McGriff. Among those featured today are legendary horn men such as Hal Singer and Freddie Mitchell who played on countless sessions as well as recording some exciting sides under their own names. Then there were sax men primarily know for their session work such as the prolific Sam “The Man” Taylor, Budd Johnson and Big Al Sears. There were the sax men who led their own bands and were stars in their own right such as Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams, Red Prysock, Earl Bostic and Bullmoose Jackson. Others heard today include the incendiary Noble “Thin Man” Watts, the rising star King Curtis, Willis “Gator” Jackson, Buddy Lucas, Frank Culley and others. On part two we'll spin more great tracks by theses sax men as well as hearing form others such as Sil Austin, Buddy Tate, Charlie Singleton and more. We'll provide some background on some of today's artists and fill in details about the rest next week." Read more at Jeff's site: Sunday Blues

Big Road Blues Show :: Jookin' – Honkin' Sax From New York Pt. 1
And check out Pt. 2 here

1. Hal Singer & Carl Davis - I Feel So Good
2. Hal Singer - Disc Jockey Boogie
3. Wynonie Harris w/ Frank Culley & Hal Singer - I Feel That Old Age Coming On
4. Ruth Brown w/ Freddie Mitchell - I Would If I Could
5. Eunice Davis & Freddie Mitchell Orchestra - Rock Little Daddy
6. Freddie Mitchell - Rockin' With Coop
7. Big Joe Turner w/ Sam Taylor - In The Evening
8. Bull Moose Jackson w/ Sam Taylor - Cherokee Boogie
9. Bull Moose Jackson w/ Red Prysiock - Big Ten Inch
10. Wynonie Harris w/ Red Prysiock - Down Boy Down
11. Red Prysock - Jump Red, Jump
12. Willis Jackson - Good To The Bone
13. Eddie Mack w/ Willis Jackson - Mercenary
14. Big Joe Turner w/ Al Sears - Ti - Ri – Lee
15. Nappy Brown w/ Big Al Sears - Well Well Well Baby
16. Big Al Sears - Marshall Plan 

#561 :: Another Hour Of Blues Power With Darcy Perry

The Blues Room #561
Wednesday 2 November 2016
9pm-10pm, FreeFM89.0, Hamilton, NZ.

1. Bobby 'Blue' Bland - I Wouldn't Treat a Dog
2. Cream - Crossroads (Live)
3. George Thorogood & the Destroyers - Bad to the Bone
4. Darren Watson - It'll Come to Ya'
5. Bob Dylan - Maggie's Farm
6. Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Dr. Bones
7. Henrik Freischlader - Nothin' to Lose
8. Jimmy Thackery & Tab Benoit - Strange Things Happen
9. Bo Diddley - Bring it to Jerome
10. G. Love & Special Sauce - This Ain't Living
11. Bex Marshall - Too Much Rock n' Roll
12. Hound Dog Taylor - Goodnight Boogie
13. Chris Rea - You Can Go Your Own Way
14. Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - I Love You Baby