Joe Louis Walker is the John Henry of the blues, a guy who works hard and isn't afraid to put his back into his music. Hornet's Nest is the man's tenth studio album since the dawn of the 21st century, and not a few journeyman bluesmen would be very, very happy to come up with a session this strong and diverse with twice the time to prepare. Walker and his band are in tight, ferocious form on Hornet's Nest, with Walker's blazing lead guitar work supported by Reese Wynans' rollicking keyboards, Rob McNelley's able second guitar, Tommy MacDonald's rock-solid bass, and Tom Hambridge's aggressive but tasteful drumming. The song list is eclectic, ranging from the hard-edged rock-leaning sound of the title cut, the psychedelic flourishes of "Not in Kansas Anymore," and the soulful, horn-fortified strut of "All I Wanted to Do" to the gospel-influenced moods of "Keep the Faith" and the down-home slide guitar showcase "I'm Gonna Walk Outside." And Walker's taste in covers is commendable, adding doo wop-style vocals to Jesse Stone's "Don't Let Go" and turning the Rolling Stones' "Ride On, Baby" into a roadhouse rocker whose twin-keyboard attack recalls Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band.

One of America's best known, most beloved roots artists, releases a career-defining album produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. Marcia is simply on fire throughout 'Shine Bright', with a rollicking array of piano-fueled roadhouse romps seasoned by her incomparably soulful balladry. Tracks include nine new Marcia originals, plus brilliant takes on the music of Ray Charles, Ernie K-Doe and Jesse Winchester. Producer/saxophonist Berlin guests on five tracks. "Rollicking, playful, good-time blues and intimate, reflective balladry…her songs ring with emotional depth."

Epic's The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble gathers two discs' worth of the late blues guitarist's work, including many live performances and a few tracks with the Vaughan Brothers. The collection presents Vaughan's material in roughly chronological order, from the 1980 live recording "Shake for Me" to 1989's "Life by the Drop." It also touches on most of Vaughan's definitive songs and performances, including "Tightrope," "Wall of Denial," "Couldn't Stand the Weather," and "Cold Shot," and live versions of "The Sky Is Crying," "Superstition," and "Rude Mood/Hide Away." Though this album doesn't offer anything that hasn't already been released in some form or another, it does go into slightly more depth than several of the other Stevie Ray Vaughan retrospectives by presenting both his greatest studio hits and some of his best live work.

Arhoolie's Texas Sharecropper & Songster is a recording made in 1960, during the blues revival. Prior to the blues revival, Mance Lipscomb was an unknown, and his discovery was one of the positive byproducts of the revival. He was a great country-blues man, and this is perhaps his greatest effort, capturing him running through a number of traditional songs. Most of the songs are augmented by his jackknife slide guitar, and all feature his raw, haunted vocals, which make these classic songs sound timeless.

The Robert Shaw recordings on this Document Records CD features a selection of Mac McCormick recordings, live concert recordings, radio sessions and the recording by Ben Conroy, on a reel-to-reel recorder at a house party of his making, in 1971. The party went on for at least 4 hours, capturing a whole evening with Robert Shaw, his music and many personal recollections of his earlier performing years.
By the time he was a teenager, Robert Shaw would slip away from the farm to hear Jazz musicians play in the clubs and roadhouses in and around Houston. As soon as he was able Robert sought out a piano teacher and paid for the lessons out of his own earnings…

Stunning solo Texas blues and barrelhouse piano by the late pianist. The most amazing material, produced by Mack McCormick in Austin, dates from 1963 - the rhythmically and technically complex "The Cows" is a tour de force, and "The Ma Grinder" and "The Clinton" aren't far behind. Later numbers from 1973 and 1977 prove that Shaw's skills didn't degenerate with time.

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.

Pee Wee Crayton, a popular L.A.-based blues singer and guitarist, recorded frequently between 1947-57 but this 1970 session was his first full album and ended an eight-year drought in the studios. At 55, Crayton performed some country-flavored tunes and soul ballads but is at his best on the simpler straightahead blues such as a spirited "Let the Good Times Roll," the atmospheric instrumental "Blues After Hours," "Things I Used to Do" and "S.K. Blues" which at 6:24 is easily the longest performance of the brief 41-minute set. Although not a major stylist, Crayton is in good form throughout his date.

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.

A previously unissued album recorded in 1967 at Gold Star studios, Houston, Texas. This session teams up Johnny Winter with local Dallas bluesman Calvin "Loudmouth" Johnson on 13 loose blues jams. This record presents a real blues band playing exactly the way they played - raw and to the bone.

Recorded live in Hamburg and Bremen, Germany, 1975.
Hardcore filthy electric Texas Blues affair with Freddie firing on all cilinders; just a whopper of a show, with probably the funkiest rendition of "Big Legged Woman" he ever gave. The whole band is on fire here.
Sizzling work-outs of Blues standards mixed in with some of his more soul-inclined material ("Woman Across the River") make for a fantastic slab of live electric Blues by one of the genre's (also literal) giants.
Also: where there are a host of live King CDs that feature horrendous sound and dubbing, this jam right here is crystal clear and sharp.

This Atlanta concert wasn't issued in recorded form for two decades. Archival releases of this sort tend to be for collectors only, but this is a cut above the standard. The sound is very good, the band is pretty tight, and Freddie King solos with fire and sings with conviction, sticking mostly to covers of warhorses like "Dust My Broom," "Key to the Highway," and "Sweet Home Chicago." It's a better deal, in fact, than his studio albums for Shelter in the early '70s, boasting a no-frills small-combo approach that is far more suitable. As a neat bonus, it also contains two solo acoustic performances recorded at a Dallas radio station in the 1970s.

Brothers Lee and Sam King bring us this splendid flaming CD. Their blues will burn and rip deep inside you with a tremendous passion. This Texas blues is very much influenced by legendary Texan musicians who unfortunately have passed away like Freddy King and Albert King, but also they pay homage to Big Joe Turner or Shakey Jake Harris.

Double-CD compilation that includes all three of the albums King recorded for Leon Russell's Shelter label in the early 1970s, as well as some other cuts (half a dozen of which were previously unissued) recorded around the same period. King's vocal and guitar-playing skills remained intact when he joined Shelter, but these recordings aren't among his best. That's partially because he was playing with rock-oriented sidemen, and partially because the material - divided between covers of blues standards, contemporary rock and soul items, and songs written by Leon Russell - wasn't especially exciting or sympathetic. Most crucial was the near-total absence of material from the pen of King himself. Although this set isn't bad, when you want to turn to classic King, you'll go elsewhere, particularly to the sides he recorded for the King label in the '60s.