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| Kim Simmonds |
The Anti-Freeze Blues Festival returns to the Magic Bag in
Ferndale this weekend.
The 19th annual festival opens Friday, Jan. 4, with
headliners Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown, plus Laith Al Saadi, Mark Pazman’s
Super Session, and Reverend Robert Jones and Tino. Pazman’s Super Session will
include guitarist Mark “Pazman” Pasman, singer-guitarist Motor City Josh, singer-harp player Jimmy “Pickles” Nicholls,
bassist Alex Lyon, and drummer Ron Pangborn. Tickets are $25.
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| Larry McCray |
On Saturday, singer-guitarist Larry McCray headlines. Also
performing will be guitar wizards Jim McCarty and Jeff Grand, The Rootsologists
featuring Laura Rain, and The Boa Constrictors. Tickets are $20.
A portion of ticket proceeds benefit the Detroit Blues Society.
Tickets are available on Ticketweb.com.
Lil’ Ed at Callahan’s
Alligator Records artist Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials are
coming to Callahan’s Music Hall in Auburn Hills on Friday, Jan. 11. This is
their first time through the Motor City since the release of their fine new CD,
“Jump Start.” Slide guitar master Lil’ Ed recently received two Blues Music
Award nominations, one for Traditional Male Blues
Artist, and a second for his whole group, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials,
for Band Of The Year. They recently picked up the 2012 Living Blues
Readers’ Award for Best Live Performer (they won the same award in the Critics’
Poll in 2011).
Other upcoming shows at Callahan’s include Jason Ricci (Jan. 12), and
the Detroit Blues Society International Blues Challenge fundraiser concert
featuring Detroit Blues Challenge winners Lady X and the Sunshine Band and Sweet
Willie Tea (4 p.m. Jan. 13).
Lady X and the Sunshine Band and Sweet Willie Tea will be
representing the DBS later this month at the International Blues Challenge in
Memphis. Lady Sunshine and the X Band finished second at the IBC in 2004.
DBS Meeting and Jam
The first Detroit Blues Society monthly meeting and jam will be
held Jan. 12 at Mario’s Of Troy.
The latest recipients of the DBS Lifetime Achievement Awards --
performers Sweet Claudette and the late Baby Boy Warren, and blues historian
Fred Reif -- will be honored.
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| MotorCity Tones |
The MotorCity Tones will be the host band and will perform a set
to kick off the entertainment, followed by an open jam session.
Attic Dwellers
The Attic Dwellers acoustic blues jam returns from 1-5 p.m. Jan.
13 at Paycheck’s in Hamtramck. You can
bring your acoustic instrument and join in the jam, or simply listen and enjoy
the music.
Joan Osborne gets Grammy nomination
Saguaro Road Records artist Joan Osborne has received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Blues Album
for her 2012 release “Bring It On Home.” Osborne is one of the most talented and
versatile singers around, comfortable in the blues, rock, soul and bluegrass
genres, and “Bring It On Home” is one of the finest albums I’ve heard in quite
a while.
The New York Daily News
named the album to its Top Ten music list, noting that “she recasts the blues
with her own grind and shout” and the New Yorker
delighted in her “voice containing a rich mixture of colors….now she’s come
back to the blues.” American Songwriter
magazine added, "...Osborne injects tremendous passion into sides
originally recorded by Ray Charles, Sonny Boy Williamson, Al Green, Otis
Redding and others. When she digs into John Mayall’s slow blues ‘Broken Wings,’
the emotional torrent obscured in the original is brought to the surface
through her fiery vocals."
Check it out.
Other nominees for Best Blues Album include: “33 1/3” by Shemekia
Copeland (Telarc International), “Locked Down” by Dr. John (Nonesuch), “Let It
Burn” by Ruthie Foster
(Blue Corn Music), plus “And Still I Rise” by Heritage Blues
Orchestra (Raisin' Music).
