ChicagoBluesTour™

Chainsaw Dupont @The Water Hole (Audio)

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:44:04 +0000

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

Jan. 15, Friday Chicago Blues Shuttle

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:43:33 +0000

If you can’t go on the Chicago Blues Tour on Saturday, you can try out the Blues Shuttle, which departs from the Congress Hotel on Friday night. It’s a mini-tour version of the Blues Tour, departing from the Congress Hotel Tap, 520 S. Michigan Ave.

BLUES WOMEN, GUITAR, & HARMONICA:
NORTH SIDE/WEST SIDE
JAN. 15 — 3 CLUBS, 3 BANDS, 1 DRINK
departs 8:50, 9:50, 10:50 PM (returns you to Congress Hotel)

All participants receive the new Chicago Blues Records album, “The Real Guitar Hero“, by Chainsaw Dupont, included in the tour!

3- 1/2 hour Blues Shuttle departs from the Congress Hotel and includes admission & transport to the following shows:

The Kansas City Blues Caravan

@ ROSA’S LOUNGE, “Chicago’s Friendliest Blues Lounge”

Blues guitarist Samantha Fish

The world-renowned Rosa’s Lounge hosts a special traveling Showcase of Kansas City blues talent, featuring KC’s young sensation, blues guitarist Samantha Fish with special KC guests Lewis Cowdrey (guitar & harmonica), John Drum (harmonica)

Lewis Cowdrey

(INCLUDED: admission, your first beer, wine, or well drink)

Blue Chicago

Big Time Sarah & BTS Express, @BLUE CHICAGO, 536 N. Clark (INCLUDED: admission) Blue Chicago showcases the Chicago blues-belting women renowned the world over.
WALLACE’S CATFISH CORNER, 2800 W. Madison
(INCLUDED: admission)

Catfish Corner has hosted live blues every weekend for years, with a cast of performers drawn from all over the west side. Shorty’s West Side All-Stars run the gamut of blues styles, and you can’t beat the catfish flllet or the fried okra there either!

JAN. 15 — 3 CLUBS, 3 BANDS, 1 DRINK

Tips to Get the Most out of the Blues Tour; Weather Outlook

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:47:52 +0000

SOME TIPS ON HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THE BLUES TOUR:

1. If you wait 20 minutes at a club and there’s no music, get on the next bus and come back later.

2. If there’s an empty seat — get on the bus!

3. If the club you’ve arrived at is overcrowded — get on the bus!

4. If your friends couldn’t get tix for the same departure as you, of if they arrived late — meet up later at Rosa’s, Lizzie’s, or Taste, where there are two bands, and which are “hubs” of the shuttle routes

5. Don’t try to outsmart the tour — the bus schedules are intended to move people around, but NOT for point-to-point travel. If you just keep moving, you will get to a lot of clubs, but if you try to “force” going to the clubs in a specific order, you may end up seeing less music and spending more time riding on buses.

6. Around midnight, start figuring out where you want to end the night. You should try to start working you way toward your final destination at midnight. At the end of the night, all buses return downtown, but if everyone is jammed into the same locations, there will be delays while buses shuttle back and forth, so help us out by keeping the crowd distributed. (see #3 and #2 above).

WEATHER OUTLOOK

We are getting pretty damn lucky for January in Chicago — it’s going to be mid-30s, i.e., above freezing (!), and there is no precipitation in the current forecast. Evening low of mid-20s means all in all, pretty good for this time of year in this latitude.

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

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:12:18 +0000

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

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

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:30:55 +0000

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

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

admin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:15:37 +0000

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”:

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

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:14:56 +0000

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”:

Lewis Cowdrey @Taste Entertainment Center (Audio)

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:18:00 +0000

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

LAST CHANCE: Ticket Mail-Out deadline – 8PM Jan. 6

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:30:29 +0000

If you want to get tickets by mail, get ‘em today…Ticketweb’s mail-out deadline is 8PM tonight for phone orders, midnight for orders placed online. Order today to avoid will-call surcharges.

The earliest departure available is 7:40 PM to Rosa’s, available at Ticketweb, and those are nearly sold out, so beat the rush and order them now. Call 866-468-3401 before 8PM CST to order, ask for the “Chicago Blues Tour” on January 16. You can also click the button below to order online until midnight and still receive tickets by mail.

Samantha Fish @Taste Entertainment Center (Audio)

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:38:16 +0000

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