Dear Blues Fan,

February brought the first snowstorm for 2024 but some hot blues! BBD Rhythm & Blues Band tore it up at the Blues & Brews, and the first NJBS Showcase Series with Mikey Junior and The Uptown Boogie Band was a blues extravaganza! Thank you to all the fans who came out to make both events a success! With the snowstorm, I also had the opportunity to read Blowin' Like Hell: The William Clarke Story by Paul Barry. Barry takes you through William Clarke's musical journey and personal challenges. William Clarke was a formidable harp player gone too soon. Barry has done a great job with his stated purpose: "paying tribute to my friend, reaching out to his contemporaries, and fulfilling his desire never to be forgotten." He certainly accomplished his goal -- this book belongs on every blues lover's shelf.

Springing forward to March, the next Showcase Series features Peter Karp with Tad Schaefer and the Blues Highway Band on March 24th at Muddy Waters Gastropub in Asbury, NJ. We also continue the monthly Blues & Brews series with Bees Deluxe performing at Montclair Brewery on March 10th. Stop by Blue Arrow Farm on March 15th for the TeeVee Allstars Blues Invitational featuring special guest Jonny Rosch - be sure to stop by the Blues Bazaar and visit with the North Jersey Blues Society.

Until next month, stay safe and continue to support live music!

Peace,

Cristy Benvenutti, President 

Every so often, the man behind the curtain steps out front. Blu Ja Vu offers the latest sighting since 2018’s high-stepping Nola Sessions. Plus, its 44 minutes also make a great vantage point for stargazing.

Now, if you haven’t heard of him, you sure enough have heard him. As well as his work.

Because the multitasking Tom Hambridge has been a blur ever since the 1990s, turning up everywhere: Drumming on Johnny Winter’s I’m a Bluesman and Buddy Guy’s The Blues is Alive and Well. Singing on George Thorogood and the Destroyers’ 2120 South Michigan Ave and Buddy Guy’s Born to Play Guitar. Funneling his songs into Susan Tedeschi’s Just Won’t Burn and Buddy Guy’s Living Proof. And producing all of the above, too, along with Selwyn Birchwood’s Living in a Burning House, Joe Louis Walker’s Hornet’s Nest, and Foghat’s Under the Influence. And if those four shiny Grammy awards atop Tom’s mantle for having produced Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s 662 and those three Buddy albums don’t speak volumes, then Bernard Allison, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Delbert McClinton, Shemekia Copeland, ZZ Top, and Keb Mo can personally do so.

The list goes on and on and on.

From among the mountain of Hambridge’s connections, a handful of high-profile ones return the favor by guesting on his all-original set, bringing extra firepower to an album that pretty much already roars throughout. That’s Buddy trading vocals across “Ain’t It Just Like Love” while his guitar’s manic solo fibrillates amid the rhythm’s crunch. Ingram (“Blues Don’t Care”) and Joe Bonamassa (“That’s My Home”) likewise sing and string with their anticipated showmanship. But of all the greenlights given to guitarists here to let loose within the compact space allotted, “Sick with Love” signals Rob McNelly to go the most bonkers of all. It clocks in as the album’s heaviest, loudest four minutes. Then, to ensure the adrenaline gets doled out evenly, James Cotton hyperventilates “Brother John Boogie” on harmonica, as Chuck Leavell races alongside on keyboards with the flair that earned him regular slots in both the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers Band.

Yet after all the special visitors have filed out and gone home, leaving Hambridge and his crack band to their own, the session never flags. No less sweat equity gets invested in bringing “Wear You Out” and “Automatic” to life with huge rock energy and spirit. The bottlenecked salute to “Johnny Winter” lobbies, hard, for the Texan’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Pool all that together with a hypnotically revolving “Symptoms of Love,” with Hambridge rasping out its earworm refrains at the same time as thumping out a heartbeat on concussed drums, and it goes to show that he’s as good an interpreter of his own material as anyone.

Label: Quarto Valley Records

Release Date: 9/15/23

Artist Website: http://hambridgetunes.com/

Reviewed by Dennis Rozanski 

Midnight Bluze - 24 hours a day/7 days a week

Carrot Time Music - Tuesdays, 9 am to Noon 

Trevor B Power Radio Show - Thursdays, 7 pm to 9 pm

Every Mon - Joe Taino Open Blues Jam, Stitch Bar & Blues, New York, NY

Every Tues - NY Blues Rockets w/Seth Okrend, Sour Mouse, New York, NY

Every Tues - Dean Shot Pro Level Blues Jam, Great Notch Inn, Woodland Park, NJ

3/7 - The Powertones Open Mic Night, Cypress Tavern, Kinnelon, NJ

3/27 - Be-Ro Blues Jam, Crossroads, Garwood, NJ

3/1 - The Fabulous Rhythm Aces, Sam's Bar & Grill, Ringwood, NJ

3/1 - Fish Eyed Blues, Colts Neck Inn, Colts Neck, NJ

3/1 - Big Frank & The Healers, Beal Bocht Cafe, Bronx, NY

3/1 - The Powertones, Seven Tribesmen, Wayne, NJ

3/1 - Timeless Groove, Woodbridge Brewing Company, Woodbridge, NJ

3/2 - BBD Rhythm & Blues Band, Readington Brewery, Neshanic Station, NJ

3/2 - Cold In Hand, Shillelagh Pub, West Orange, NJ

3/2 - The Fabulous Rhythm Aces, Pine Island Tap House, Pine Island, NY

3/3 - BBD Rhythm & Blues Band, Stage House Tavern, Mountainside, NJ

3/3 - The BC Combo, Weyerbacher Brewing Co, Easton, PA

3/3 - Bob Lanza Blues Brunch, Muddy Waters Gastropub, Asbury, NJ

3/6 - Seth Okrend, Stitch Bar & Blues, New York, NY

3/8 - Debra Devi Band, 902 Brewing, Jersey City, NJ

3/8 - The Uptown Boogie Band, Shillelagh Pub, West Orange, NJ

3/9 - The BC Combo, Pearly Baker's Alehouse, Easton, PA

3/9 - Billy Hector Band, The Bitter End, New York, NY

3/9 - Cold In Hand, Shillelagh Pub West Orange, NJ

3/9 - Ed Alstrom and the Wonder Trio, Townley Presbyterian Church, Union, NJ

3/9 - The Fabulous Rhythm Aces, French Oak Bar & Grill, Oakland, NJ

3/9 - Jump Back, The Chubby Pickle, Highlands, NJ

3/10 - BBD Rhythm & Blues Band, Stage House Tavern, Mountainside, NJ

3/10 NJBS Hosts Bees Deluxe, Montclair Brewery, Montclair, NJ

3/10 - BLUES People, Buon Appetito 2.0, Bayonne, NJ

3/15 - Debra Devi Band, Bernie's HIllside Lounge, Chester, NJ

3/15 - Tee Vee Allstars Blues Invitational w/Jonny Rosch, Blue Arrow Farm, Pine Island, NY

3/16 - Billy Hector Band, The Stanhope House, Stanhope, NJ

3/16 - Eliza Neals, The Iridium, New York, NY

3/17 - BBD Rhythm & Blues Band, Stage House Tavern, Mountainside, NJ

3/17 - Trevor B. Power Band, Bernie's Hillside Lounge, Chester, NJ

3/19 - BLUES People, Terra Blues, New York, NY

3/22 - Billy Hector Band, Tierney's Tavern, Montclair, NJ

3/22 - Jersey Swamp Cats, Shillelagh Pub, West Orange, NJ

3/23 - Dave Keyes w/Benny Turner, Jamey's House of Music, Lansdowne, PA

3/23 - BLUES People, South Valley BBQ Lounge, West Orange, NJ

3/24 - NJBS Hosts Peter Karp & Blues Highway, Muddy Waters Gastropub, Asbury, NJ

3/25 - Dave Keyes & Stangeland, The Bitter End, New York, NY

3/28 - Eric Heilner w/Better Off Dead, Great Notch Inn, Woodland Park, NJ

3/30 - Big Frank/Mike Smith, Stitch Bar & Blues, New York, NY

3/30 - Billy Hector Band, Bernie's Hillside Lounge, Chester, NJ

3/30 - Charie Apicella & Iron City, Triumph Brewing, Red Bank, NJ

Every Fri/Sat: Charlie Apicella & Iron City ft Madame Pat Tandy, Il Porto, Brooklyn, NY

Every Wed - Joe Taino Acoustic, 16 Prospect Wine Bar, Westfield, NJ