In 1995, septuagenarian Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown moved from the independent blues label Alligator to Verve, then to the jazz division of PolyGram, part of Universal. In his five albums for the label (the last two of them released on the Blue Thumb subsidiary) – The Man (1995), Long Way Home (1996), Gate Swings (1997), American Music, Texas Style (1999), and now Back to Bogalusa – he has been able to pursue his eclectic inclinations more fully than he did when his label bosses were trying to emphasize his blues guitar playing. The center of Brown's taste is post-World War II jump blues and R&B with a distinctly Southwestern feel. Tasty as his guitar playing is, he likes to add horns and even a bit of country fiddle to the mix. As its title indicates, Back to Bogalusa particularly investigates the Louisiana influences on this Pelican State native, notably on the tracks "Going Back to Louisiana," "Breaux Bridge Rag," "Bogalusa Boogie Man," and the Cajun-styled "Louisian'".

Steve Miller had started to essay his classic sound with The Joker, but 1976's Fly Like an Eagle is where he took flight, creating his definitive slice of space blues. The key is focus, even on an album as stylishly, self-consciously trippy as this, since the focus brings about his strongest set of songs (both originals and covers), plus a detailed atmospheric production where everything fits…

If you're talking about packaging, the flaws of this disc are considerable. Comprised of 14 songs from 1960-1990 (most from 1960-71), the unifying theme is that all of them are taking from Houston recording sessions. But while recording dates and some personnel are noted, the original labels and dates of release are not. Furthermore, although the liner notes give a reasonable overview of Copeland's career, the tracks on this specific compilation are not discussed. And, putting the boot in, the cuts are not sequenced chronologically, but arranged almost as if someone had pressed the random button on a CD remote. Now, having aired all those complaints, the music is very good. These are fiery, committed performances in which the songs and arrangements often veer as much toward soul as toward blues. That's something that works to Copeland's advantage, both because he was versatile enough to combine styles well, and because it made him stand out from legions of other journeymen bluesmen.

This is a good collection of piano-accompanied vocals sporting bluesmen who worked the lumber camps and oil fields of rural Texas, as well as the red-light districts of cities like Galveston and Houston. Big Boy Knox shows a strong city influence in his decorative right-hand work, as does Robert Cooper, whose playing points to the influence of Fats Waller. Joe Pullem is on board with his hit, "Black Gal," which is perhaps overstated by three takes and a variation. The vocals are good, however, and the piano playing is uniformly excellent. Stylistically, this music falls somewhere between ragtime, blues, and vaudeville.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: The Complete Epic Recordings Collection includes the group s original four studio albums, five electrifying live releases (including the commercial debut of A Legend In The Making Live At The El Mocambo, a rare Canadian radio promo album) and a double-disc set of killer studio outtakes from throughout Stevie Ray Vaughan s incredible career, including recordings from previous reissues, box sets and posthumous compilations.

Taking inspiration from Charlie Christian and Lonnie Johnson, T-Bone Walker plays with an exceptionally elegant and relaxed style, the perfect foil for Charles Brown's piano. An innovator of this caliber could only spark emulation. T-Bone Walker's influence can be heard in B.B. King, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown or Buddy Guy. Even Jimi Hendrix confessed his indebtedness. Today guitarists, like Duke Robillard, Pete Mayes or Otis Grand, still perpetuate his legacy. In 1962 he toured with the very first American Folk Blues Festival (with John Lee Hooker). T-Bone Walker subsequently performed in Europe on a regular basis, with a marked preference for France. In November 1968, Black & Blue took advantage of one of his tours to have him record the album "Feelin’ The Blues," rightly considered to be one of the best he made at the end of his career. We thought it appropriate to add a few titles from his sessions with Jay McShann and Eddie Vinson, recorded a few months later while T-Bone was doing a stint at the Trois Mailletz club in Paris. T-Bone Walker is surely the most jazzy blues musician, while McShann and Vinson are among the most bluesy jazz musicians! It was impossible for this confrontation to produce anything but success.

Lightnin' Hopkins' plaintive, soft-rolling blues style is exemplified on "Let's Go Sit on the Lawn," "Just a Wristwatch on My Arm," "I'm a Crawling Black Snake," Willie Dixon's "My Babe," and others. Accompanied only by himself on guitar (and oh what a guitar he plays), Leonard Gaskin (bass), and Herb Lovelle (drums), Hopkins' seductive, intricate guitar picks and strums will dance around in your head long after this CD has played. His voice, which sounds like it's aged in Camels and Jim Beam, conveys his heartfelt sagas to the fullest. A prolific songwriter, Hopkins wrote every song except the Dixon tune.

On Blues Is a Feeling, the late guitarist-vocalist Jesse Thomas delivers straightforward, rural-sounding blues in an intimate, drumless session from 1992 with pianist Jodie Christian and second guitarist John Primer. Thomas was 81 years old at the time of this recording, just three years before his death. And though his voice sounds somewhat frail here-and probably would’ve been overwhelmed by the sound of drums-Primer and Christian provide light, elegant accompaniment that puts Thomas’ soft yet expressive vocals in the foreground. And Thomas proves to be a humorous storyteller on tunes like “Married Woman Blues,” “She Throwed Me Clothes Outdoor” and “Santa Claus.”

Similar to his first Shelter outing (Getting Ready), but with more of a rock feel. That's due as much to the material as the production. Besides covering tunes by Jimmy Rogers, Howlin' Wolf, and Elmore James, King tackles compositions by Leon Russell and, more unexpectedly, Bill Withers, Isaac Hayes-David Porter, and John Fogerty (whose "Lodi" is reworked into "Lowdown in Lodi"). King's own pen remained virtually in retirement, as he wrote only one of the album's tracks.

It is so cool to find an album that was cut by professional musicians that sound like they are having a blast and doing what they were born to do, and a perfect example of this is Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King’s Fat Man’s Shine Parlor, a killer disc from their recent return to the venerable Blind Pig Records label!

Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King first hooked up in 1987, and their musical association has lasted nearly 20 years. Their albums are dependable affairs that stick close to good old barroom Texas blues, and if they seldom deviate from that, well, that's fine, because they do it as well as anyone this side of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Road Dog's Life is the pair's second album for Delta Groove Music, who they signed with in 2012, and it follows the unplugged Close to the Bone, marking a return to plain old electric Texas blues. That's what you get here, plain and simple, with ten originals and an impressive pair of covers, the Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire" and the Beatles' "Don't Bother Me," both among the albums highlights. The sound, recorded by Prince's long-time engineer David Z, is warm, full, and makes intelligent use of stereo separation to give everything a broad, powerful kick. There's nothing new here – Kubek and King aren't trying to expand Texas blues as much as they simply revel in it – which is a good thing, since they do it so well.

Texas bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins career was both long and fruitful. He performed live for six decades and recorded for over 30 years amassing a catalogue that was larger than almost any of his contemporaries. Not only was he prolific but he was also a great raconteur and a very good live performer with an ‘act’ honed to perfection at pre-war dances and parties. His guitar playing was unconventional, some have even called it ragged, but it is not as a guitarist that he will be remembered. Somehow the way he set his songs seemed totally apposite and it gave everything he did an authenticity that few others were ever able to match.

Rap is considered today's modern urban music, but its roots reach far into the past as this provocative project shows. The rapping technique has been present in many American musical genres, for 100 years or more, including early rural music, both black and white, religious songs, blues, ragtime, vaudeville, and hokum. This album features rap precursors by such legendary figures in American music as Blind Willie Johnson, Pine Top Smith, Memphis Jug Band, Butterbeans and Susie, Seven Foot Dilly & his Dill Pickles, Dixieland Jug Blowers, Jimmie Davis, Blind Willie McTell and more! A highly entertaining and provocative exploration into early American musical history.