Blues Award Winners

Samantha Fish Wins Big at the Independent Blues Awards

By Peggy Stevinson Bair on
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Samantha Fish performed Thursday, May 4, 2017 at Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS. Fish was the recipient today of two Independent Blues Awards. Photo ©2017 Peggy Stevinson Bair
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Samantha Fish plays her Signature swamp ash custom guitar by Delaney while performing with her band May 4, 2017 at Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS. Photo ©2017 Peggy Stevinson Bair

The 2017 Independent Blues Awards winners were announced and Kansas City’s Samantha Fish won two well-deserved awards this year:

• Best Independent Female Blues Artist – Samantha Fish
• Road Warrior Award – Samantha Fish

According to Making a Scene, the Best Independent Female Blues Artist is awarded to the best of the female artists who tour and record as individuals under their own name.

The Road Warrior Award “goes to the artist whose lifestyle is on the road. This award honors those who spend the countless hours on the road driving from town to town performing. This is to honor those hard working musicians,” according to Making a Scene‘s website.

Ms. Fish is one of Kansas City’s treasured musicians and has clearly earned this recognition as she toured the United States this past year, dazzling thousands of fans (and no doubt making many more) in stops near and far, road houses large and small.

Thank you to Making a Scene for creating this forum for bringing enthusiastic support to the many blues musicians who work hard to make the work.

Congratulations, Ms. Fish, from Blues Insights!

 

 

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Blues News History of the Blues

Blues author Paul Oliver passes away

By Peggy Stevinson Bair on

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From left to right: Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Jump Jackson, Paul Oliver, and Little Brother Montgomery, Chicago, 1960. (1.) [O’Connell]
All I can do is pass along what was relayed to me via the Blues Foundation just now:

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Oliver’s contributions cannot be understated. His book, Conversation With the Blues, is still available on the used market and, if you’re lucky, you’ll find one with the CD included.

If you are a blues lover,  it’s a golden nugget of blues history:

It is through the efforts of writer/enthusiasts like Oliver that there are invaluable preservations, interviews and conversation on blues history and its innovators.

A deeply, heartfelt thank you to Paul Oliver and blessings to his family.

1.) Acknowledgement to Re-Imagining The Blues: A Transatlantic Approach to African-American CultureBY CHRISTIAN O’CONNELLOCTOBER 6, 2014 Please click this link to see another wonderful article.

2.) I am not the owner of the youtube video and do not claim copyright to it but share as an honor memory to Paul Oliver’s work.

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Kansas City Concerts

Jeremiah Johnson – Missouri Bluesman with St. Louis Roots Makes New Fans In Kansas City.

By Peggy Stevinson Bair on

Jeremiah Johnson and his band hit Kansas City last weekend in the Gospel Lounge at Knuckleheads. A sold out crowd stuck around throughout the evening to past the midnight hour swaying and dancing to Johnson’s beckoning guitar slides and saxophonist’s Frank Bauer’s tantalizing solos. Between sets, drummer Benet Schaeffer built new friendships by engaging in friendly banter with fans lining the outdoor patio just off the Gospel Lounge stage as everyone seemed to enjoy the perfectly balmy atmosphere of an unseasonably perfect Kansas City August night.

The easy-to-approach Johnson seems to have found one of those perfectly matched groups of musicians who not only match him musically but personality-wise as well. Every single one of them are great musicians in their own right with a confidence that requires no egotistical showboating but plenty of room to showcase their individuality. They share the limelight with seemingly mutual appreciation and affection for their individual talents in addition to that satisfying feeling of tight unison. For musicians, this may seem like par for the course but for audiences, the feeling is magic. 

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©2017 Peggy Stevinson-Bair   Jeremiah Johnson, shared center stage with saxophonist Frank Bauer at the Gospel Lounge Friday, Aug. 4, for a sold-out crowd at Knuckleheads.
Jeremiah Johnson Band 8-4-2017 at Knuckleheads Gospel Lounge.
©2017 Peggy Stevinson-Bair  Jeremiah Johnson on lead guitar/vocals with his band of extra-ordinary musicians Tom Maloney, left, bass, Frank Bauer, on sax and Benet Schaeffer, drums, entertained a sold-out crowd Aug. 4, 2017 in the Gospel Lounge at Knuckleheads.

 

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Day 3 of positive posts about my home state of Missouri: Knuckleheads Gospel Lounge in Kansas City, Mo. was the scene of birthday fun for Deborah Finnell Friday (Aug 4) as St. Louis, Mo. native Jeremiah Johnson and his band brought some homegrown blues to a sold out crowd. Finnell said she went with her friend Rebecca Nielson to kick off her birthday month celebration.
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#missouripeople #missouriplaces #heartkc

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History of the Blues

Rollin’ Stone and the Rolling Stones

By Peggy Stevinson Bair on

What’s great about going to live music shows is you never know who might drop by: here’s a great one from 1981 at the Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago when Jagger and company dropped in on Muddy Waters. Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there for that jam?

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Continue reading “Rollin’ Stone and the Rolling Stones”

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Uncategorized

Kansas City’s Knuckleheads #16 Yelp

By Peggy Stevinson Bair on

Knuckleheads on Yelp

Well, according to Yelp, Kansas City’s Knucklehead music venue rates in the top 20 in the United States!

People having fun with other fun people and seeing great music – what’s not to like?

Knucklehead's Merle Jam
Brandon Miller and Danielle Nicole put on a rousing show for the Merle Jam benefit Saturday, May 6, 2017 at Knuckleheads.
Knucklehead's Merle Jam
Chubby Carrier (with his Bayou Swamp Band out of Louisiana) was joined on stage by Kansas City’s own Jo Burke during the Merle Jam Friday, May 6, 2017 at Knuckleheads.
Merle Jam at Knucklehead's
A nice crowd turned out for Merle Jam Saturday, May 6, 2017 at Knuckleheads. where Kansas City blues artist Danielle Nicole and her band were part of several performances taking part in the charitable event. Merle Jam is an annual event to benefit heart transplant recipients in the Kansas City area with an additional goal of raising awareness for organ donation.

DSC_9489MerleJamLorel Ranney Hoffman brought her own tamborine to join in the Knucklehead’s Merle Jam May 6, 2017 during the Chubby Carrier show . Hoffman is an elementary art teacher in the Lee’s Summit School District.

 

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Kansas City Concerts

Blues Insights: What’s hopping, Kansas City?

By Peggy Stevinson Bair on

Kansas City’s blues scene has been sizzling nicely this summer with lots of great acts chilling out the local music venues.

Kansas City’s steadfast blues venue BB’s Lawnside BBQ has seen bassist Patrick Recob releasing a new CD, Perpetual Luau, this spring – and it’s been doing really well. Patrick could be seen accompanying several visiting acts, such as Adrianna Marie, The 44s and Orphan Jon and the Abandoned as these groups hit the Midwest for late spring/early summer tours.

Knucklehead’s was hopping several weekends including a great fundraiser for organ donation that brought in performances by Kansas City performers Danielle Nicole and Brandon Miller; Amanda Fish; The Santiago Brothers; and Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band from Louisiana.

Marcus King, the 21-year-old phenomenon out of Mississippi, blew on stage July 1 and staked a claim for the millennial crowd as one of the most promising up-and-comers yet. Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps opened for Marcus and Walter Trout wrapped up the evening with a solid blues veteran showdown.

Then there was Knuckleheads packed in to hear Robert Cray on July 11 and, out of Memphis, a young blues band with a new debut album by the same name: Southern Avenue, July 14.

I have picked up a couple of new song favorites this summer: One is “Don’t Give Up” from Southern Avenue. And the other is just getting pressed at press time and that’s from Bakersfield blues crooner Jon English of Orphan Jon and the Abandoned: “Leave My Blues Alone”

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