Brand New Playlist – Damn Right, 2019 Has The Blues! – Michelle S.

It’s already April and there has been some great blues tracks already heating up the charts!  Below are some of the new incredible songs from renowned and up and coming blues musicians. Let’s take a listen to ten standout blues tunes of 2019!  Also, if you like these tracks that we have highlighted be sure to check out the cool “Blues 2019 Spotify playlist” below so you can be in the loop of all thing’s blues!  We will continue to add to it as the year goes on…Enjoy!

1). Reese Wynans and Friends – Crossfire

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member and world-renowned Nashville-based keyboardist Reese Wynans is up first with the Stevie Ray Vaughan track “Crossfire” from his first ever release “Sweet Release” which features Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Double Trouble along with Reese shakin’ things up on the keyboards. It’s a Superb performance by everyone while showing some love to SRV. Not only is this album “Sweet Release” a reflection of Reese’s lifelong career but it also has a top notch list of special guests making appearances such as Joe Bonamassa, Vince Gill, Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), Jack Pearson (Allman Brothers), Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Keb’ Mo’, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Hall (Wet Willie), along with Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon of Double Trouble, and many more!

2).Tedeschi Trucks Band – Hard Case

Tedeschi Trucks Band “Signs” was recently released and is the 12-piece band’s fourth studio album.  Led by the husband-and-wife team of guitarist Derek Trucks and blues singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. Like previous albums, “Signs was recorded at Swamp Raga which is Tedeschi and Trucks’ home studio in Jacksonville, Florida. The 11-track LP also features guest appearances from guitarists Warren Haynes and Doyle Bramhall II, as well as Allman Brothers Band percussionist Marc Quinones. Hard Case is the first release from this album.

3). Joanne Shaw Taylor – Bad Love

Reckless Heart, by powerhouse singer, songwriter and guitarist, Joanne Shaw Taylor, it’s going to be released in the US on Friday, May 17, 2019. In the meantime, check out “Bad Love” which is the first is the first single off this album.

4). Leo Bud Welch – Don’t Let the Devil Ride

Leo Bud Welch’s “Don’t Let the Devil Ride,” from his Dan Auerbach produced album, The Angels In Heaven Done Signed My Name, came out on March 8, 2019. Leo “Bud” Welch was an American gospel blues musician and guitarist from Sabougla, Mississippi. He was a lumberjack for 30 years while he learned his musical craft in the Mississippi Delta, where he learned to play various instruments, including the fiddle, harmonica, and guitar. He started his musical career in 2014 after being filmed at a party. There is also a documentary on Welch called Late Blossom Blues and he makes an appearance in the Elvis inspired documentary called “The King.”  He passed in 2017 at the age of 85. Lucky for us, we at least have some music from this gifted artist for future generations. The footage for this video was taken from Late Blossom Blues, documentary.

5). Matt Anderson – Something To Lose – featuring Amy Helm

Matt Anderson is a powerhouse performer with a giant, soul-filled voice and commanding stage presence. Matt Andersen has built a formidable following the old-fashioned way, by touring worldwide and letting his stunned audiences and new devotees spread the good word of his righteous tunes all over. The world has indeed woken up and discovered him, helping him amass over 18 million views on YouTube. In addition to headlining major festivals, clubs and theatres throughout North America, Europe and Australia, he has shared the stage and toured with Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, Greg Allman, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Little Feat, Jonny Lang, and more.

6). Jontavious Willis – The Blues Is Dead (Audio)

It’s been said that the days are gone when famous musicians give lesser known musicians a leg up by having them open for them on concert tours. Grammy winners Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ are revitalizing that old school practice with Jontavious Willis, the acoustic blues singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist who’s been taking the country by storm and opening for both Mahal and Keb’ Mo’. His new album, Spectacular Class, will be released on April 5th through Kind of Blue Music.  Jontavious Willis is the future of acoustic blues. He’s the real deal, and at age 22, to be this talented and such a soulful, full-bodied singer with spunk and sass (think Muddy Waters,) something’s gotta be rumbling in the area of the blues. And in this talented, young musician’s old soul. – By Martine Ehrenclou / Rock And Blues Muse

7). Mavis Staples – “Change”

“Change” is the lead single from Staples’ forthcoming record We Get By, due out May 10th. written and produced by Ben Harper. The album will be accompanied by a North American tour which includes a Ryman show May 15 celebrating Staples’ 80-year long career.

8). Christone “Kingfish” Ingram – Fresh Out feat.Buddy Guy & Keb’ Mo…

“A rising blues prodigy… A torchbearer.” — NPR Music – The album, KingFish, is set to release on May 17, 2019 – Once in a generation, a blues artist comes along who not only reminds mainstream audiences how deeply satisfying and emotionally moving the best blues music can be, but shakes the genre to its core. With both eyes on the future and the blues in his blood, 20-year-old guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Christone “Kingfish” Ingram is set to take the music world by storm with the long-awaited release of his debut album, KINGFISH, on Alligator Records. Sprung from the same earth as so many of the Delta blues masters, Kingfish comes bursting out of Clarksdale, Mississippi, just ten miles from the legendary crossroads of Highways 61 and 49. A student of the Delta’s musical history, he is acutely aware of the musicians and the music that emerged from his corner of the world. “I do think I have an old soul, that I’ve been here before,” he says. “I’m moving forward with one foot in the past.” https://www.christonekingfishingram.com.

9). Walter Trout – Goin’ Down To The River (Survivor Blues) 2019 – Feat: Robby Krieger (Audio)

No ordinary artist. No ordinary covers album. From the day he conceived the project to the moment he counted off the first song in the studio, Walter Trout had a bolder plan for Survivor Blues. It takes a stellar lineup of musicians to reinterpret the greatest sunken treasures in the blues genre. Last September, as recording began at the Los Angeles studio of iconic Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, Trout and long-standing producer Eric Corne shared their vision with the only band who could measure up. The thunder and finesse of drummer Michael Leasure. The muscular groove of bassist Johnny Griparic. The spell-casting fingers of keyboards session god and regular Trout conspirator, Skip Edwards. “I’d play them the original,” remembers Trout, “and then I’d say, ‘Here’s how the song goes, what have you got?’ I’d give these guys a lot of freedom. The record was mostly done live, with us set up in a circle, just to get the feel of us going there together. And you can feel it, y’know?” – https://www.mascotlabelgroup.com/Walter-Trout.

10). Eric Gales – Whatcha Gon’ Do – Audio Video

Eric Gales returns with his brand new album ‘The Bookends’ which was recently released on Provogue/Mascot Label Group. It features collaborations with B. Slade, Doyle Bramhall II and Beth Hart. The challenge for making ‘The Bookends’ was for Gales to challenge himself. “As a guitar player it’s been established that I can play a little bit, just a little bit,” he smiles. But for this album he not only wanted to push himself as a musician, but also as a vocalist, to build up his vocal discography. “What spearheaded that was the artists that I have on the record,” he says. Bookend was written over a nine month period and since then, Eric has been on tour promoting it.

Here is the 2019 Spotify Playlist: