Much can be said about the late Amy Winehouse, one of the U.K.'s flagship vocalists during the 2000s. The British press and tabloids seemed to focus on her rowdy behavior, heavy consumption of alcohol, and tragic end, but fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals. Her platinum-selling breakthrough album, Frank (2003), elicited comparisons ranging from Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan to Macy Gray and Lauryn Hill. Interestingly enough, despite her strong accent and vernacular, one can often hear aspects of each of those singers' vocal repertoires in Winehouse's own voice. Nonetheless, her allure had always been her songwriting – almost always deeply personal but best known for its profanity and brutal candor.

During the last quarter of the 20th century, and thanks largely to Eric Clapton's remarkable devotion to his memory, Robert Leroy Johnson posthumously became the most celebrated Delta blues musician of the pre-WWII era. Among numerous editions of his complete works and various anthologies that combine his recordings with those of his contemporaries and followers, J.S.P.'s The Road to Robert Johnson and Beyond combines many of his essential performances with those by dozens of other blues artists from Blind Lemon Jefferson and Henry Thomas to Muddy Waters and Elmore James. 105 tracks fill four CDs with several decades' worth of strongly steeped blues that trace the African American migration from the deep south on up into Chicago. This is a fine way to savor the recorded evidence, as primary examples from Blind Blake, Charley Patton, Son House, Charlie McCoy, Walter Vincson, Skip James, Ma Rainey, Tampa Red, Kokomo Arnold, Scrapper Blackwell, Leroy Carr, Lonnie Johnson, and Peetie Wheatstraw lead directly to early modern masters like Big Joe Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Bill Broonzy, Johnny Temple, Leroy Foster, Johnny Shines, Homesick James Williamson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Snooky Pryor, Little Walter, and David Honeyboy Edwards, among many others.

This three-CD set documents some historic country-blues performances by the likes of Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Bukka White, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mance Lipscomb. The urban side of things is well represented by Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters with Otis Spann, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Chambers Brothers turning in a riveting rendition of “See See Rider.” Included here are 11 previously unreleased tracks. A must for acoustic-blues fans.

Muddy Waters had his second coming 30 years ago, when longtime friend and disciple Johnny Winter and his Blue Sky label returned him–after a series of listless recordings aimed at the rock audience–to the raw, powerful authenticity of his timeless Chess material with a series of powerful albums. Beginning with 1977's acclaimed Hard Again, a subsequent tour produced Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live, recorded onstage in Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia with Muddy's band, Winter, and harmonica player/vocalist James Cotton. Enough live material remained for Legacy to release an expanded version with an entire second disc of unissued concert material. It seems even that wasn't the end. This collection returns again to those remarkable concerts, featuring Muddy on five tracks, among them a rousing "I Can't Be Satisfied," "Trouble No More," "Caldonia," and the closing "Got My Mojo Workin'." Winter and Cotton are no less powerful, Cotton redoing Jackie Brenston's hit "Rocket '88'" and Winter ripping up John Lee Hooker's "I Done Got Over It" and "Mama Talk to Your Daughter."

Dot Time Records is thrilled to announce the August 23, 2024 release of My Ideal, a breathtaking new album from acclaimed GRAMMY®-nominated vocalist Catherine Russell and prodigious pianist Sean Mason. This modern classic marks a significant milestone in both artists' careers, capturing a powerful and intimate musical dialogue. My Ideal is a very special project even in the very rarified strata where Catherine works; this is not only her first complete set of voice-and-piano duets, but her partner on this project is a remarkable piano prodigy whose technical skill is only rivaled by his soulfulness.

The first-ever full length set from Blues Queen Sylvia - both a singer and a bassist, working here in a small combo with Jimmy Dawkins on guitar!
Sylvia Embry began playing piano as a child and sang in church choirs, moving to Memphis at the age of 19. In the 60s she settled in Chicago, where she met and married blues guitarist Johnny Embry, who taught her to play bass guitar. In the 70s she worked for several years with Lefty Dizz and she can be seen playing bass and singing one song with his band in the film Mississippi Delta Blues. She shared the credit with her husband on an album for Razor Records, was part of Alligator Records’ Living Chicago Blues project, and had an album released under the name Blues Queen Sylvia on the German L&R label…

Here is yet another Peter Green collection comprised mainly of material from 1979 through 1983, with the thoroughly enjoyable Fleetwood Mac A-side "Man of the World," from 1969, included for some inexplicable reason. The material here is culled from Green's first return to recording after a six-year hiatus for personal and mental health reasons. The Peter Green who returned to the scene on In the Skies was a leaner and meaner player. His concern was more with the atmospherics of playing blues-inflected material than with the attack of the blues themselves. The opening track from that album, "Slabo Day," with its four-chord repetitive minor-key figure and organic hand percussion, is an anomaly in the Green discography, with the possible exception of "Albatross." Like that track, "Slabo Day" is a showcase for Green's deeply lyrical and mysterious phrasing: taut, open-ended, and razor-sharp…

After a string of mediocre albums throughout most of the 1970s, Muddy Waters hooked up with Johnny Winter for 1977's Hard Again, a startling comeback and a gritty demonstration of the master's powers. Fronting a band that includes such luminaries as James Cotton and "Pine Top" Perkins, Waters is not only at the top of his game, but is having the time of his life while he's at it. The bits of studio chatter that close "Mannish Boy" and open "Bus Driver" show him to be relaxed and obviously excited about the proceedings. Part of this has to be because the record sounds so good. Winter has gone for an extremely bare production style, clearly aiming to capture Waters in conversation with a band in what sounds like a single studio room. This means that sometimes the songs threaten to explode in chaos as two or three musicians begin soloing simultaneously. Such messiness is actually perfect in keeping with the raw nature of this music; you simply couldn't have it any other way.

Best known world-wide for her 1973 pop mega-hit "Midnight at the Oasis," which received 2 GRAMMY nominations, Muldaur's 62 year career could best be described as a long and adventurous odyssey through the various forms of American Roots Music. In Sept. 2019, The Americana Music Association awarded her "The Lifetime Achievement Americana Trailblazer Award" for her lifelong work of covering the depth and breadth of American Roots music.

Tom Waits’ Glitter and Doom Live doesn't fall into the various traps that many other concert recordings do, though it does have its problems. This double-disc set marks his third live effort in his nearly 40-year career, each one summing up his career to the point of its release. The first, Nighthawks at the Diner, issued in 1975 on Asylum, is regarded by many as one of the greatest live albums of all time. Big Time, released during his tenure at Island in 1986, is hotly debated in fan circles. It is likely that Glitter and Doom Live will be too, but for different reasons. The musical performances here were culled from Waits’ historic sold-out tour of the U.S. and Europe. He compiled and sequenced the tracks himself, intending to make them sound like a single show…

Eric Clapton’s lifelong passion for the blues burns brightly inNothing But The Blues. The CD of the soundtrack features 17 previously unreleased live performances recorded in 1994 during the legendary guitarist’s tour supportingFrom The Cradle, his GrammyÒ-winning, multi-platinum blues album. Clapton’s longtime co-producer, Simon Climie, has remixed the audio from those performances from the original multi-tracking recordings. -The previously unreleased live performances onNothing But the Bluesserve as a vital counterpart toFrom The Cradle, which was recorded in the studio.