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Chainsaw Dupont @The Water Hole (Audio, Video)

Chainsaw Dupont

Chainsaw Dupont has built a strong following in Chicago by swimming against the tide, performing original material rather than the slew of preferred “classic blues” covers that are favored on the touristy blues circuit. Updating the classic blues of his idols like Albert King and Muddy Waters with modern sounds, he still retains the soulful underpinnings that have always made the blues work. Dupont has made his mark and attracted some of the best young musicians in Chicago to his live band. His following includes both traditional blues fans and others who appreciate the musicianship of the band. Chainsaw is also one of the best practitioners of the slow blues, building tension slowly and meticulously, without resorting to pyrotechnics. He’s appearing here at The Water Hole, a roadhouse just off of a stretch of old Route 66, which has a friendly crowd of regulars drawn from the surrounding neighborhoods, and a genial owner who’s run the joint for over 30 years. Dupont’s got a new live recording coming out which was recorded during the Winter ‘07 Chicago Blues Tour. (8:30 PM to 1:30 AM )

AUDIO: Click here to listen to Chainsaw Dupont playing Saccharine

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Fantastic L-Roy & the Bulletproof Band @ Linda's Place (Audio, Video)



Fantastic L-Roy has grown on me more and more over time, as I’ve begun to see his deeper influences. He’s kind of a cross between Louis Armstrong and Sam Cooke, straddling the line between jazz and soul. He’s a master at working the crowd, roaming the retro-70s room at Linda’s Place with a wireless mike, phrasing songs conversationally, occasionally pouring a customer’s drink behind the bar while he croons. The Bulletproof Band is supple, shifting smoothly from R&B to soul to jazz, like a point guard dishing shots to L-Roy.
Linda’s Place is a sweet little haven in a neighborhood that needs more bright spots like this.  (8:30 pm. to 1:30 a.m.)

Fantastic L-Roy VIDEO:
Fantastic L-Roy Live Video 12//08/08

AUDIO: Click here to listen to Leave Our Love Alone by Fantastic L-Roy

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Vance Kelly & the Backstreet Blues Band @ Checkerboard Lounge (Audio, Video)

Vance Kelly is one of the few acts in Chicago who was able to please audiences on the South, West and North sides, with a versatile band that spans the wide spectrum of blues material, from old soul chestnuts to funk to raw down-home blues, which sometimes ventures into the “blue” topical territory, but that’s okay in a club environment where everyone’s over 21. His broad repertoire includes a version of Prince’s “Purple Rain” which is typically a show-stopper. Guitarist Kelly plays all over the world, but when he’s not touring, Checkerboard Lounge has long been his “home base”, stretching back to its years as a rough and ready landmark of 43rd St. He’s one of several guitarists with distinct styles on the Tour, which also features Toronzo Cannon, Noah Wotherspoon, Travis Feaster, Killer Ray Allison, Samantha Fish, Lewis Cowdrey , and Chainsaw Dupont.
(9:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.)

You might also want to click this link to read Frequently Asked Questions, or click this link to see the list of performers and clubs.

Vance Kelly VIDEO:


AUDIO:
Click the link below to listen to Vance Kelly singing “Joyriding in the Subway”:
Joyriding in the Subway, Vance Kelly

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WT Feaster Band @Lizzie McNeill's (Audio, Video)

Travis Feaster

Travis Feaster has built a strong following at the Slippery Noodle in Indianapolis by combining fierce guitar skills with strong original songs that feel like a blues-rock take on Southern Soul, and for a young guitarist he shows a lot of poise, rarely overplaying — which is the usual knock on blues-rock.   His band sounds something like John Mayer doing SRV,  backed by a funky rhythm section, which keeps the set danceable.  The easy, Steve Cropper-esque soul guitar of  “Out Of Time” would melt your heart all on its own, but coupled with the bittersweet chorus (“Our love done run out of time”), it sounds like nothing less than a forgotten Chicago hard-soul chestnut.

He’s part of the “Young Guns of Blues Guitar” double-bill at Lizzie McNeill’s, which also features Noah Wotherspoon, and  if you buy tickets from any of the 7:40 to 8:10 PM reserved departures, you’ll get to enjoy at least a portion of his  early solo set, stripping down some of his own songs, and almost certainly some blues classics. He’s a formidable young talent, and since a handful of the “Guitar Heroes” will drop in during this period, you never know if some interesting duos might spontaneously occur.

You might also want to click this link to read Frequently Asked Questions, or click this link to see the list of performers and clubs.

VIDEO: Travis Feaster on YouTube: WT Feaster Band playing Walk On

AUDIO:  Listen to Travis Feaster’s “Out of Time”:

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Noah Wotherspoon @Lizzie McNeill's (Audio, Video)

Noah Wotherspoon

Noah Wotherspoon works the blues idiom in some interesting ways. Imagine T.Rex meets Delta Blues via Beck. Add in some rough ‘n ready guitar crunch, and lyrics that ride the traditional blues themes of lost love, betrayal, and slangy observations, and you’ve got an idea of the potent mix Wotherspoon cooks up. He’s not a traditional blues artist by any means, although he’s fully capable of playing classic Delta songs, and that’s what makes his records so irresistible — there’s something comfortingly familiar about them, but the parts are put together in a way that makes it all fresh. He’s an energetic guitarist who has internalized the blues in a way that allows him to inject it into his songs without the cliche structures that turn so many people away from blues.  When a guy can write a lyric like  “Detox / I want her out of my body / Like battery acid flowing through my veins / She burns my heart“, you can’t tell me he ain’t a  bluesman.

He’s part of a “Young Guns of Blues Guitar” double-bill at Lizzie McNeill’s, which also features Travis Feaster. They are just two of many guitarists on this year’s tour, which showcases a wide variety of guitar style, and also includes Toronzo Cannon, Chainsaw Dupont, Vance Kelly, Killer Ray Allison, Samantha Fish, and Lewis Cowdrey.

If you buy tickets from any of the 7:40 to 8:10 PM reserved departures, you’ll get to enjoy at least a portion of the early solo set by Travis Feaster as well.

You might also want to click this link to read Frequently Asked Questions, or click this link to see the list of performers and clubs.

VIDEO: Noah Wotherspoon on YouTube:
Noah Wotherspoon playing Dead Mans Shoes on YouTube
AUDIO: Listen to Noah Wotherspoon’s “Black Cloud Sugar”:

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Lewis Cowdrey @Taste Entertainment Center (Audio)

Lewis Cowdrey

Lewis Cowdrey is a rare musician: a multi-instrumentalist whose skill in performance recalls the stage presence of classic masters rather than simply a versatile musician who imitates them. He worked the competitive Austin, Texas market for years before migrating to Kansas City, and here he appears courtesy of the visiting Kansas City Blues Caravan, guesting with a band fronted by fellow KC resident Samantha Fish. Cowdrey is solidly in the Texas/West Coast Swing school, and his vocal phrasings seem to channel Wynonie Harris, but with a funky nod to Chicago legend Junior Wells. As if that weren’t enough to recommend him, his harmonica playing seems to find that same Chicago-meets-Texas pocket that was so successfully exploited by George “Harmonica” Smith and William Clarke. If this were a late-night infomercial, we’d say, “but that’s not all!” Cowdrey’s guitar playing is no slack either — he conforms tightly to the T-Bone Walker Texas Swing feel, with a tasteful, subtle approach that favors rhythm, melody and release of musical tension rather than irrelevant pyrotechnics. (8:30PM to 1:30AM)

If you get a ticket for the 8:00 or 8:10 departures, they’ll drop you right at the Taste, the “southside hub” of the tour.

You might also want to click this link to read Frequently Asked Questions, or click this link to see the list of performers and clubs.
VIDEO: Lewis Cowdrey on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL0vLIq6fxY
AUDIO: Listen to Lewis Cowdrey

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Samantha Fish @Taste Entertainment Center (Audio)

Samantha Fish

Twentysomething Samantha Fish, in town with the visiting Kansas City Blues Caravan, packs a surprising double-punch. She’s a powerful vocalist in the Janis Joplin vein (which means, for those with a longer perspective, the Esther Phillips vein), but she’s also a promising blues guitarist, which still has some novelty for blues women today. What’s particularly strong about her talent, though, is that for such a young artist she has a very mature control of performance dynamics, rarely pushing a song outside its boundaries, avoiding the melodramatic pitfalls that many young blues musicians, male and female, have made into a near-cliche over the years. She’s earnest without being cloying, and has a wide range both vocally and as a guitarist, which bodes very well for her future. She performs here on a double-bill altenrating with funk-soulmeister Super Percy, partnering with her fellow KC caravan mate Lewis Cowdrey, a lineup which should mean the night at Taste Entertainment Center will have something to please everyone. (8:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.)

If you get a ticket for the 8:00 or 8:10 departures, they’ll drop you right at the Taste, the “southside hub” of the tour.

You might also want to click this link to read Frequently Asked Questions, or click this link to see the list of performers and clubs.

AUDIO: Listen to Samantha Fish recorded live

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Super Percy @ Taste Entertainment Center (Audio)

Part of a double-bill at Taste Entertainment Center, the southside hub of this year’s tour, “Super” Percy Wood was raised just up Highway 61 in Duncan, where at 13 his churchgoing grandmother noticed his interest in singing, and encouraged him to form a gospel quartet. Percy idolized Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, but also was attracted to the differently-soulful secular music of Fats Domino, a tension that continues to influence his work today. He moved to Chicago as a young man, and formed a group called The Injections in the mid-70s, performing around the Chicago area for several years until he was befriended by local bluesman Pervis Scott, and he began singing with Scott’s Oasis band. By the mid-90s had formed His Soul Clique, playing gigs all over Chicago’s south side and south suburbs, eventually landing a coveted Thursday night at Lee’s Unleaded Blues, where he grew a strong following. Like “Black-album”-era Prince, his sets occupy a space somewhere between blues, soul, funk and rock, and the band has a crossover appeal and an uncanny knack for getting audiences of all kinds up on their feet, with rhythmically-dense arrangements and Percy’s rich baritone. He’s one of three soul singers with distinct styles on the Tour, which also features Fantastic L-Roy and Shorty Mack. Also on the bill here, guitarist Samantha Fish with special guest Lewis Cowdrey, both part of the visiting “Kanasas City Blues Caravan”.
(8:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.)

If you get a ticket for the 8:00 or 8:10 departures, they’ll drop you at the Taste, the “southside hub” of the tour,  just in time for Super Percy’s first set.

You might also want to click this link to read Frequently Asked Questions, or click this link to see the list of performers and clubs.

Super Percy AUDIO:
Click here to listen to Super Percy singing Feelin Sexy

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Toronzo Cannon @Rosa's Lounge (Audio)

In a crowded field of next-generation blues guitarists, Toronzo Cannon has distinguished himself in part by writing strong originals, in part with funky, flashy guitar playing that entertains without overwhelming the songs. He was recently a finalist in the first-ever Chicago Blues Challenge, and has become a frequent perfomer on the local blues circuit and overseas. While he’s still an emerging artist, he’s got all the tools that have made Vance Kelly (who’s also appearing on the Winter 2010 Chicago Blues Tour) such a crowd-pleaser: he writes strong melodies, knows how to lay down a funky, danceable backbeat, and can quiet it down to grab a crowd’s attention. Cannon is one of a number of fine guitarists on the tour, which also includes fellow CBC finalist Chainsaw Dupont, the aforementioned Kelly, Noah Wotherspoon, Travis Feaster, and Killer Ray Allison. He’s part of an entertaining double bill at Rosa’s, alternating with the far more traditional Taildragger. (8:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.)
There are some tickets remaining, as of the time of this posting, for the 7:40 PM departure, which will drop you right at Rosa’s.

You might also want to click this link to read Frequently Asked Questions, or click this link to see the list of performers and clubs.

AUDIO: Listen to Toronzo Cannon playing, “She’s Gone“

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Taildragger @ Rosa's Lounge (Audio, Video)

taildragger

James “Taildragger” Jones received his moniker from no less than the immortal Howlin’ Wolf, with whom he played for a while – apparently with a casual sense of punctuality, earning him the nickname. Dragger is a classic Chicago blues singer, a breed that is getting more scarce every year. He borrows heavily from Wolf as well as Sonny Boy Williamson, and although he once played guitar, he now spends his time as a vocalist, often roaming down into the crowd in front of the band. His repertoire includes many classic blues, as well as some originals in the same vein, captured for posterity in Delmark Records’ “Live at Vern’s Friendly Lounge” DVD release. He was a regular at the old Delta Fish Market on the west side, but more recently has spent more time in European festivals than in Chicago.

Rosa's Lounge

He’s performing at Rosa’s Lounge, a classic blues tavern beloved by Chicago’s blues intelligentsia.  It’s a comfortable room, but seats fill up early, so getting there early is the best way to snag one of the prized tables up near the stage or a stool at the bar.

Taildragger is one of the shrinking number of performers who still hew to the classic old-school styles popularized in the 50s, so this a great chance to see a classic performer at a classic old-school lounge.  He’ll alternate sets with eclectic modern blues guitarist Toronzo Cannon, one of the finalists in this year’s Chicago Blues Challenge. (8:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.)

If you get a ticket for the 7:40 departure, you’ll go directly to Rosa’s Lounge to catch Taildragger’s first set, which often includes other blues luminaries like Eddie Taylor Jr sitting in.

You might also want to click this link to read Frequently Asked Questions, or click this link to see the list of performers and clubs.

YouTube Video: click this link to see the Taildragger trailer
Trailer for Taildragger Live at Verns Friendly Lounge

AUDIO: click here to listen to Taildragger singing “Tend To Your Business”

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