Little Smokey Smothers passes away at age 71

by editorbluesmusicnow on January 30, 2011

Chicago blues guitarist and vocalist Albert Abraham “Little Smokey” Smothers, 71, died on November 20, 2010, according to Alligator Records.

Smothers, who served as a mentor to musicians including Paul Butterfield and Elvin Bishop, died of natural causes at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Chicago.

According to an Alligator news release, Smothers was born into a musical family in Tchula, Mississippi on January 2, 1939 and moved to Chicago as a teenager. His older brother, guitarist Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers became a well-known Chicago blues artist. Little Smokey took up guitar and before long was recording and performing with artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, his soul singer cousin Lee “Shot” Williams and others.

Concentrating primarily on his instrumental skills, he toured and led bands playing locally in Chicago’s South Side blues clubs beginning in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. He partially retired to raise a family, but returned to blues in 1978. He spent most of the 1980s playing small Chicago clubs and touring occasionally as a sideman, including as lead guitarist with the Legendary Blues Band.


For more information, including funeral arrangements, visit the Alligator Records Web site.

{ 0 comments }

Víctor Aneiros: medrar con engaños.

by bLuEs on January 30, 2011

Desde hace años, mi vida, y la de Víctor Aneiros, han coincidido en varias ocasiones. Es por esto que he tenido la oportunidad de observarlo y de ver la forma en que ha ido medrando como no todas las personas han podido (o querido) fijarse. Con este artículo explicaré cómo una persona musicalmente mediocre (Víctor) puede llegar a darse una cierta resonancia a base de hacerse autobombeo de forma

{ 0 comments }

Joe Bonamassa Back On The Road

January 28, 2011

Blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa

Guitarist Joe Bonamassa is one of the hardest-working guys in the blues, and after taking a few weeks off over the holidays to, presumably, recharge his batteries, he’ll be back on the road in February. The first leg of Bonamassa’s 2011 tour takes him across the U.S. and Canada as well as to northern Europe and down under to Australia.

Read Full Post

Read the full article →

Joe Bonamassa CD Preview

January 26, 2011

Joe Bonamassa's Dust BowlYou can just about set your clock by it…with the approach of every new year, expect a new album from blues-rock guitarist extraordinaire Joe Bonamassa. The year 2011 is no exception, Bonamassa announcing a March 22, 2011 release date for Dust Bowl, his 12th full-length solo album, and his ninth studio recording on his own independent J&R Adventures record label. Dust Bowl was produced by Kevin Shirley and represents the sixth collaboration between the two artists.

Read Full Post

Read the full article →

First Bluestock Festival Scheduled For August

January 25, 2011

Blues legend Buddy GuyPromoters have announced August 26th to 28th, 2011 as the dates of the inaugural Bluestock Festival, which will be held at the Hunter Mountain Ski Center in Hunter, New York. The ambitious festival is the first of its kind in upstate New York, and is being put together by Radio Woodstock and Steve & Jeff Simon Presents.

Read Full Post

Read the full article →

Alligator Album of the Month: Hound Dog Taylor & the HouseRockers

January 24, 2011

Hound Dog Taylor & the HouseRockersWith 2011 representing the 40th anniversary of Alligator Records, the Reverend has decided to celebrate the venerable blues label every month with a featured review of the “Alligator Album of the Month.” We’ll have other great things going on in honor of Alligator’s fourth decade here on the site, but we’re going to kick off the year-long celebration with a review of the label’s very first album release: the self-titled debut from Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers.

Read Full Post

Read the full article →

Blues Albums You Might Have Missed In 2010

January 21, 2011

Robin Rogers' Back In The FireYou’ve read our list of the best blues albums of 2010, but there were also a number of outstanding releases from very talented artists that you may not have heard. These were albums that were either overlooked, were self-released and under-promoted, or were just unfairly overshadowed by the wealth of great blues music that came out during 2010. As a public service to our loyal readers, the Reverend and contributing writer Steve Pick have chosen this list of blues albums you might have missed in 2010.

Read Full Post

Read the full article →

The Blues Return To The Poconos!

January 19, 2011

Homemade Jamz Blues Band

Back in December we reported on the cancellation of the 2011 Poconos Blues Festival, a year short of what would have been the event’s 20th anniversary. Peak Resorts, which owns and operates the Big Boulder Ski Area where the festival was held each year, is cutting back on all of its off-season events because of poor economic conditions and the annual blues festival was collateral damage. The 2010 festival included performances from folks like Mavis Staples, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Homemade Jamz Blues Band, and many more, and attracted fans from across the United States and Europe.

Read Full Post

Read the full article →

Maple Blues Awards 2011 Winners

January 18, 2011

Canadian blues band MonkeyJunk

The Toronto Blues Society held its 14th annual Maple Blues Awards on Monday night, January 17, 2011. The annual Maple Blues Awards ceremony honors excellence among Canadian blues artists, and in last night’s ceremony, acoustic bluesman Matt Andersen and popular band Downchild were among the many winners. The talented Rita Chiarelli was honored with the “Blues With A Feeling” award for lifetime achievement, and relative newcomers MonkeyJunk walked off with the “Electric Act of the Year” award. See who else won a Maples Blues Award….

Read Full Post

Read the full article →

Memphis Bluesman Fred Sanders Jr, R.I.P.

January 17, 2011

The Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper is reporting the death of beloved local bluesman Fred Sanders Jr, who passed away on Saturday, January 15, 2010 a week after suffering a stroke. Sanders had also been battling cancer for several years; he was 71 years old at the time of his death, but had continued performing and teaching guitar until he was hospitalized for the stroke.

Read Full Post

Read the full article →