From: "The Devil Is An Angel Too" - Janiva Magness - 2010 Also featured within 'Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection' - 2 Disc Set / Track 13 - Disc One

  From their self-titled debut - "Ark Angels" - 1992
    Doyle Bramhall II – lead guitar/lead vox
    Charlie Sexton – lead guitar/lead vox
       & SRV's Double Trouble:
    Tommy Shannon - bass
    Chris Layton - drums

  Formed in the musical hotbed of Austin, Texas,
the Arc Angels consist of some of the finest musical
talents to ever play an instrument. With a devoted
and adoring fan base, the Arc Angels are known
as a tremendous band with an equally tremendous
story. That story began in 1992 after the devastating
loss of their friend and fellow musician
Stevie Ray Vaughan. The miracle that came from that
loss was the unique sound of four musicians aptly named – The Arc Angels: drummer Chris Layton and
bassist Tommy Shannon (the veteran rhythm section
of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble) coupled with
musical wonders Charlie Sexton and Doyle Bramhall II
sharing lead vocal and lead guitar duties.

From: "Home" - Aynsley Lister - 2013

From: "Cotton Mouth Man" - James Cotton - 2013
  James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band. Although he played drums early in his career, Cotton is famous for his work on the harmonica. Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 1950s. In 1965
he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, utilizing Otis Spann on piano to record between gigs with Muddy Waters' band. In the 1970s, Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters' Grammy Award winning 1977 album "Hard Again", produced by Johnny Winter.
  I reviewed This Album for The Blues Society of Tulsa's Bi-Monthly Newsletter "Blues News" (Summer 2013) & was immediately impressed & blown away the very first time I heard it, and, although, this seems to rarely happen these days, I was subsequently moved to grab my own guitar & play along halfway through the album,
and then back through the entire album again !!  It's become one of my favorite new blues albums of 2013 !!

- c.f.

From: Susan Tedeschi's Awsome Blues Debut:
"Just Won't Burn" - 1998
She's now married to Derek Trucks - The Derek Trucks Band - Check out the live performance of Susan w/ The Derek Trucks Band from Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival within my "Videos" pg. You can also hear a cut from the new 11 piece Tedeschi Trucks Band Debut Album within my Music pg.

From: "Pimps And Preachers" - Paul Thorn - 2010
 Paul Thorn is an american Blues/Rock Singer/Songwriter
& Guitar Slinger - born in Wisconsin, as an infant his family moved and he was raised in Tupelo, Mississippi. He is also the cousin of Stan Thorn, a keyboardist for the band 'Shenandoah' and Kay Bain's Saturday Mornin' Band on the WTVA Saturday morning series, 'The Mornin' Show'.

  Paul writes witty, semi-autobiographical tunes, with equally interesting titles, that have drawn comparisons
to John Hiatt and John Prine, the critically acclaimed
singer/songwriter - is hailed as the "Mark Twain of Americana"

 I discovered this song on a Blind Racoon Records Artist Sampler that I won from the Blues Society of Tulsa's Monthly $1 Raffle & immediately thought it was Kim Wilson & The Fabulous Thunderbirds. I was not familiar with Paul Thorn & his well written & often very witty music at that time. I'm now a Big Paul Thorn Fan !!! - c.f.

 Before his professional music career began, he was briefly a professional boxer, having fought a nationally-televised fight against former world champion Roberto Durán, and also won the Mid-South Middleweight Championship in Memphis, Tennessee.
After a few years of working in a local furniture factory and playing in local clubs, he was discovered by music professional Miles Copeland (brother of The Police drummer Stewart Copeland), was signed to a
recording contract with A&M Records and recorded his first album, "Hammer & Nail" in 1997, followed by seven more albums. In early 2008, he enjoyed national TV performance appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

 His album "Pimps and Preachers", debuted at No. 83 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album was released on June 22, 2010. It is the highest position he has had on these charts.

 From: "Trouble Is" - Kenny Wayne Shepherd - 1997

"Trouble Is" ... is the second album by American blues solo artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
It features the No. 1 Mainstream Rock Tracks hit "Blue on Black". The album also spawned three further hits including "Slow Ride", "Somehow, Somewhere, Someway", and "Everything is Broken", a Bob Dylan cover. It also features a cover of "I Don't Live Today"
by Jimi Hendrix. It is the first of two albums featuring Noah Hunt on vocals. "Trouble Is" was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1998 and certified Platinum in 1999. The track 'Trouble Is' ... appeared in the EA Sports video game NASCAR 2001. Kenny Wayne Shepherd is my kind of guitar slinger, like me he's "completely self taught", and does not read music or sing on his chart topping albums. - c.f.

 Growing up, Shepherd's father (Ken Shepherd) was a local radio personality and some-time concert promoter,
and had a vast collection of music. Shepherd got his first "guitar" at the age of three or four, when his
grandmother purchased a series of several plastic guitars for him with S&H Green Stamps, which Shepherd
has said he would "go through like candy". Shepherd stated in a 2010 interview that he began playing guitar in earnest at age seven, about six months
after meeting and being "pretty mesmerized" by Stevie Ray Vaughan, in June 1984, at one of his father's
promoted concerts. His self-taught method employed a process of learning one note at a time, playing and
rewinding cassette tapes, using "a cheap Yamaha wanna-be Stratocaster...made out of plywood, basically", learning Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Albert Lee licks from his father's vast music collection. At the age of 13, Shepherd was invited on stage by the New Orleans bluesman Bryan Lee. After proving his abilities, he decided on music as a career. Demo tapes were made and a two-camera video was shot at Shepherd's first performance at the Red River Revel Arts Festival in Shreveport. It was this video
performance that impressed Giant Records chief Irving Azoff enough to sign Shepherd to a multiple
album record deal.

 From 1995 on, Shepherd took seven singles into the Top 10, and holds the record for the longest-running album on the Billboard Blues Charts with "Trouble Is"

 Shepherd married actor Mel Gibson's eldest daughter, Hannah, on September 16, 2006, and they have three children, a daughter born 2007, and sons born 2009 and 2011.

From: "Man In Motion" - Warren Haynes - 2011
 Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American
rock and blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter of
Gov't Mule, a long time member of the Allman Brothers
Band and is a member of the Dead. Haynes also founded
and runs Evil Teen Records.
 Warren began to play the guitar at age 12. His primary
guitar is a Gibson Les Paul '58 Reissue Electric Guitar
(he often plays a Gibson Firebird as well, though his
choice of a '58 is most likely because of Duane Allman's
famed '58 Les Paul and the tone he achieved with that,
rather than a more so commonly used '59 Les Paul model,
popularized by guitarists such as Eric Clapton and
Jimmy Page).                                                                        From Editorial Review - CDNOW:   "Warren Haynes continues to be one of the most lauded straight-ahead rock lead guitarists performing today. But with his latest album his superior vocals are also at the forefront. Haynes' bold and emotive delivery, shimmering with his smoky vibrato is not to be missed. On the legendary 'Stax' label - This new album features Ivan Neville on organ and background vocals, Ian McLagan on piano, Ruthie Foster on background vocals, George Porter Jr. on bass and Ron Holloway on saxophone. The album was recorded LIVE - in studio to capture all of the emotion, passion and spontaneity at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studios on two-inch tape with vintage tube microphones." ...And the jams at the end of almost every song are incredible. A great bluesy, 'Otis Redding' kinda' collection of outstanding music. - c.f. (Check out the video of 'The River's Gonna Rise' within my Videos pg.)

From: "Things We Do" - Indigenous - 1998
 In the late 1990s, a whole slew of young guitarists emerged, all making a grab for the Stevie Ray Vaughan mantle. In this group, one must include Mato Nanji, guitarist for the family venture: "Indigenous". Mato Nanji's always provided the heartbeat of the band Indigenous - along with the warm dusty voice and the soaring, spirited guitar fireworks that have earned the group from South Dakota's Nakota Nation a place
among roots rock's elite. Check out their new - 7th album: "The Acoustic Sessions"

 "Red House" written by Jimi Hendrix and originally recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966. The song, a slow twelve-bar blues, "is one of the most traditional in sound and form of all his official recordings". It was developed during his pre-Experience
days while Hendrix was performing in Greenwich Village and was inspired by earlier blues songs...& recognizable from the very first note. I just love this lyric:
"Well, I ain't been home to see my baby in about ninety nine and one half days..." - c.f.

The Title Cut From: Mike Zito's latest 2009 Rockin' Blues Album "Pearl River" - that I reviewed in the Jan./Feb. 2010 issue of the Blues Society of Tulsa's bi-monthly newsletter - The Blues News - c.f.

Bill Perry was an American blues musician. The guitarist, songwriter and singer toured throughout the U.S. and Europe. In the 1980s, he was the main guitarist for Richie Havens; he also toured with Garth
Hudson and Levon Helm around the same time.
Bill was a legend among guitar players known for his unique ability to play guitar solos while simultaneously singing the lead vocals. (Thanks Buffalo Bill Barrett for filling me in on this Bluesman !)

From: The INCREDIBLE Double Album "Rhythm & Blues"
Buddy Guy - 2013
77 yr. old George "Buddy" Guy - Born July 30, 1936 - is an American blues guitarist and singer, critically acclaimed, & a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation, including Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In the 1960s Guy was a member of Muddy Waters' band and was a house guitarist at Chess Records. He can be heard on Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" and Koko Taylor's "Wang Dang Doodle" as well as on his own Chess sides and the series of records he made with harmonica player Junior Wells. He was Eric Clapton's favorite inspiring guitarist way back in the 60's and BB King recently named Buddy - one of the new young cats that still - greatly inspires him!!  

  Ranked 30th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", Guy is known for his showmanship on stage: playing his guitar with drumsticks or strolling into the audience while playing solos (Which he started doing decades before guitar cords were even long enough, which meant he had to create his own). His song "Stone Crazy" was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

From: His 3rd & Self Titled Album "Howlin' Wolf" - 1962, which featured contributions from Willie Dixon, Jimmy Rogers & Sam Lay among others, is a famous and influential blues album, often referred to as "The Rocking Chair album" because of its cover illustration depicting an acoustic guitar leaning against a rocking chair. This song features the Wolf's favorite guitarist and the guitarist most often heard on Howlin' Wolf recordings - Hubert Sumlin.
 Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist & harmonica player. With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of their wits."
 A number of songs written or popularized by Burnett—such as "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful"—have become blues and blues rock standards. At 6 feet, 6 inches and close to 300 pounds he was an imposing presence with one of the loudest and most memorable voices of all the "classic" 1950s Chicago blues singers. This rough-edged, slightly fearsome musical style is often contrasted with the less crude but still powerful presentation of his contemporary and professional rival, Muddy Waters.
 Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Little Walter Jacobs, and Muddy Waters are usually regarded in retrospect as the greatest blues artists who recorded for Chess Records in Chicago.  Sam Phillips once remarked, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'"
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #51 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
 Burnett died at The Hines VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois on January 10, 1976 and was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Hillside, Cook County, Illinois in a plot in Section 18, on the east side of the road. His large gravestone, allegedly purchased by Eric Clapton has an image of a guitar and a harmonica etched into it.