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Mark opens up on recording his new record and touring with legends.
Anson Funderburgh
Wes Starr
Kedar Roy
Randy Bermudes
Oscar Wilson
Joe Beard
Billy Flynn
Tag Archives: Mark Hummel
Special Guest Dick Shurman – Blues Hall of Fame Producer
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#johnnywinter #chicagoblues #grammywinners #aligator
Richard L. Shurman He has produced numerous recordings by notable musicians including Johnny Winter, Lurrie Bell, Eddie C. Campbell, Albert Collins, Little Smokey Smothers, Jody Williams, Roy Buchanan, Big Bill Morganfield, Larry Garner, Robert Cray, Hip Linkchain, Magic Slim, Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush, Johnny Heartsman, and Fenton Robinson. Shurman has also written many liner notes, and is the publisher of Chicago Blues News. In 2005, he was the recipient of the Blues Foundation’s “Keeping the Blues Alive” award.[6] He co-produced Showdown!, an album which won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1987.
Shurman was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2014 for his multitudinous contributions as a ‘non-performer’.
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Special Guest: Lady Bianca
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:22 — 49.8MB)
Lady Bianca is an American electric blues singer, songwriter and arranger. Lady Bianca has worked as a session singer, depicted Billie Holiday on stage, and since 1995 released six solo albums, three of which were nominated for a Grammy Award. Born Bianca Thornton, in Kansas City, Missouri, her first exposure to music was through gospel, and she studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Her first professional gig was with Quinn Harris and the Masterminds, when she was aged 17. Harris dubbed her ‘Lady Bianca’, and the combination contributed two tracks to a compilation album released by Reynolds Records in 1970.
In 1972, she played the role of Billie Holiday in the San Francisco stage production of Jon Hendricks’ Evolution of the Blues. In the mid 1970s, she worked in various clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she met bass guitarist Henry Oden. They were subsequently married for 15 years. She then joined Sly and the Family Stone as backing vocalist and keyboard player, and appeared on their 1976 album, Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back. Starting in October the same year, she toured for one month with Frank Zappa in North America, and a recording of her singing “Wind Up Workin’ in a Gas Station” appeared in 1992 on You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6. The complete concert of 29 October 1976 in The Spectrum, Philadelphia (with Lady Bianca singing on several tracks) was published on two CDs by the Zappa Family Trust in 2009, entitled Philly ’76, on which she is credited as Bianca Odin. The release included the previously released version of “Wind Up Workin’ in a Gas Station,” as well as “Dirty Love” and “You Didn’t Try To Call Me.” She is also heard employing the technique of multi-phonics with her voice on a wordless solo in “Black Napkins.” After November 11, she left the band because of conflicts with Zappa.
When not touring, she performed locally in the recording studio, backing musicians such as Lee Oskar, Merle Haggard and Taj Mahal. In 1977, she co-founded the short-lived ensemble Vitamin E, and they released the commercially doomed Sharing album on Buddah Records. Lady Bianca then joined another group, Zingara, which was set up by Lamont Dozier in 1980. The trio included James Ingram, Wali Ali and Lady Bianca, but again, it did not have any lasting appeal. Between 1981 and 1986, Lady Bianca toured with and recorded backing vocals for Van Morrison, appearing on recordings such as Beautiful Vision (1982), Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983), Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast (1984), A Sense of Wonder (1985), and No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986). Lady Bianca also worked with John Lee Hooker and Willie Dixon.
In 1984, she met Stanley Lippitt, a songwriter and her eventual husband. She continued to perform locally and undertook more low-key recording work. After recording demos with Lippitt, she was noticed by Joe Louis Walker who helped arrange a recording contract. Her debut solo album, Best Kept Secret was released in 1995 on Telarc Distribution. Her backing vocals work continued in the 1990s, when she worked with Frankie Lee and Maria Muldaur. Lady Bianca’s next solo effort was the critically acclaimed Rollin’ (2001), which was released on the Rooster Blues label. Bianca formed her own record label, Magic-O Records, and with Lippitt have their own production and publishing company. Further albums were recorded and issued on Magic-O. These included All by Myself (2004), Let Love Have Its Way (2005), Through a Woman’s Eyes (2007), and A Woman Never Forgets (2009). In April 2007, at the Bay Area Black Music Awards, Lady Bianca was awarded as Best Blues Performer.
In March 2008, she was voted into the West Coast Blues Society Hall of Fame. In 2009, she appeared with Van Morrison at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Lady Bianca and the Magic-O Rhythm Band have appeared at many blues music festivals, including the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1987, the Sarasota Blues Fest in 1996, and the Monterey Bay Blues Festival in 2008. Three of her albums have been nominated for a Grammy Award: Best Kept Secret, Rollin’, and Through a Woman’s Eyes.
Austin de Lone – Elvis Costello, Boz Scaggs, Nick Lowe, Bonnie Rait
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#elviscostello #lindaronstadt #bozscaggs #bonnieraitt #nicklowe Austin de Lone is an American keyboardist who records and tours with his own bands as well as with other artists, such as Bill Kirchen, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs, Nick Lowe, Commander Cody, and Loudon Wainwright. De Lone grew up in suburban Philadelphia, taking piano lessons at age 12. His early influences included Ray Charles and George Shearing. After stints as a student at the New England Conservatory of Music, Harvard University, and University of California, Berkeley, he moved to Greenwich Village.[3] While at Harvard, de Lone composed the song “One for One,” which was the first single released by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. Eggs over Easy In 1969, de Lone formed the band Eggs over Easy with Jack O’Hara and Brien Hopkins.[4] In 1970, Chas Chandler persuaded the band to record in London, but those recordings were not released. A four-night-a-week residency at a pub called the Tally-Ho in Kentish Town lasted more than a year. Eggs over Easy played a blend of blues, country, and rock that became known as pub rock. Regular attendees of their shows included members of Brinsley Schwarz and BBC disc jockey John Peel. In 1972, they returned to California and released their first album Good ‘N’ Cheap produced by Link Wray. The Moonlighters De Lone moved to Marin, California in 1972, where he met Bill Kirchen, who had been performing with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. In the late 70s, de Lone joined Kirchen’s side-project band, the Moonlighters. Their 1983 album Rush Hour was produced by Nick Lowe. Both de Lone and Kirchen later worked with Lowe and Elvis Costello. De Lone and Kirchen still record and perform together. In 2016, they released their duet album Transatlantica. The Christmas Jug Band De Lone is a member of the Christmas Jug Band, a collection of musicians who have been touring locally each holiday season since 1976, and releasing albums since 1987. The band has included musicians such as Dan Hicks, Tim Eschliman, Jim Rothermel, Lance Dickerson, Brien Hopkins, and Norton Buffalo. Richard de Lone Special Housing Project De Lone coordinates an annual fundraiser for eventual construction of the Richard de Lone Special Housing Project, a residential facility for people with Prader-Willi Syndrome, which de Lone’s son Richard is afflicted with. As part of the 2007 event, Elvis Costello reunited with Clover, the band who backed him on his first album My Aim is True.
Bill Champlin – Sons of Champlin | Chicago
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Bill Champlin was born in Oakland, California on May 21, 1947 to a musical family. His grandparents, mother and sisters have all been singers. After forming the Sons of Champlin in 1967, he focused his songwriting talents on material for the Sons. “They were breathing fire. They were the most talented of all the San Francisco bands”, said Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. The Sons’ first album, “Loosen Up Naturally,” was released in 1969 and followed by six more albums before the Sons disbanded in 1977. After the breakup of the Sons, Bill moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session vocalist on numerous recordings from 1977 to 1985. The artists he worked with included Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls, Elton John, Boz Scaggs, Donna Summer, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, Jimmy Smith, Amy Grant, Neil Diamond and Kenny Rogers. In 1978 he released his first solo album, “Single.” In 1979 he won his first Grammy award for co-writing “After the Love is Gone,” which was later recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire. During the Chicago/EWF tours in 2004 and 2005, Champlin was asked to perform this song with them, as lead singer. In 1982 he joined Chicago to record “Chicago 16.” His unique and expressive voice can be heard on “Hard Habit to Break” from Chicago 17. Bill’s 1988 recording of the song “In the Heat of the Night” was picked up as the show opener by the TV show of the same name. The following year Chicago released what turned out to be it’s biggest-selling single and their last No. 1 hit, “Look Away,” once again with Bill on lead vocal. Four more solo albums followed from Bill’s fertile mind: “Burn Down The Night” (1992), “Through It All” (1994), “He Started To Sing” (1995) and “Mayday” (1996). In July 1997 Chicago topped the adult contemporary chart with “Here in My Heart,” as the band once again turned to Bill for lead vocals. That same year also rendered the release of “West Coast All Stars,” an a cappella project he did with Jason Scheff of Chicago and Toto’s Bobby Kimball and Joseph Williams. The Sons of Champlin reunited in 1997, with a loyal group of enthusiastic fans traveling great distances to see them perform. They recorded “Live At The Luther Burbank Center” in 1998, as well as “Secret” (CD and DVD) and “Hip Lil’ Dreams” in 2002. Bill’s solo release “No Place Left To Fall” (CD and DVD), recorded at The Barber Shop Studios in Hopatcong, NJ for the Dream Makers Music label. It was first released by JVC Japan in September 2008, as well as being released for digital downloading, and later released in Europe by Zync Music in December. The U.S. release by Dream Makers came in August 2009. On the heels of that US release and after 28 years with Chicago, Bill parted ways with the band to focus more on his solo career. “This music is callin’ me,” he said.
Johnny Nicholas: Blues Guitar Legend
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Nicholas grew up in Rhode Island, United States, where he formed his first band, The Vikings. The band performed cover versions of popular rhythm and blues hits of the time, along with songs by the Rolling Stones. In the mid-1960s, he formed the Black Cat Blues Band with Duke Robillard, Fran Christina and Steve Nardella. Around 1970, he formed the Boogie Brothers with Nardella. After attending the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1970, the band eventually moved on to San Francisco, California in 1972 per-request of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
By 1974, Nicholas had moved to Chicago, Illinois and began playing with Big Walter Horton. During his time in Chicago, he would record music with Horton, Boogie Woogie Red and Robert Lockwood, Jr. In 1974, he created his own single, “Too Many Bad Habits” for Blind Pig Records. Moving to Providence, Rhode Island, he formed his own band, Johnny Nicholas and the Rhythm Rockers, which included Kaz Kazanoff on saxophone, Terry Bingham on drums, Sarah Brown on bass guitar and Ronnie Earl on electric guitar.
Nicholas began his stint with Asleep at the Wheel in 1978, when the band asked him to perform with them. During his off time, he would travel to various cities for solo shows, but would often visit Louisiana to play with Link Davis and Cajun accordion player Nathan Abshire.
By 1980, however, Nicholas decided to take time off from music in order to raise a family. in 1991 Nicholas returned to recording blues music with Johnny Shines and Snooky Pryor on the album Back to the Country. After returning to music, Johnny has released one studio album and three live albums on Topcat Records while also returning to regular live shows.
Bill Kirchen of Commander Cody’s Lost Planet Airmen
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In 1969, Kirchen took Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen to California and they developed a reputation as musical “outlaws” that were praised by other outlaw musicians and bands like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band.Kirchen’s band “played a collection of rock ‘n’ roll, hard-core country, boogie and rockabilly sounds produced in a “high-octane mix” that made them a “happening” group in the San Francisco Bay area.
Kirchen began to develop as guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and performer. He became known for his vocal and guitar work on such songs as “Mama Hated Diesels”, “Down to Seeds and Stems Again Blues” from the band’s albums, Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers’ Favorites and Lost in the Ozone. His live performance work was captured on the 1973 album Live From Deep in the Heart of Texas, recorded at the Armadillo World Headquarters in 1973.Kirchen’s Commander Cody band broke apart in 1976 and he formed a “swing orchestra” called the Moonlighters and began a decades-long collaboration with British musician Nick Lowe. Lowe produced the Moonlighters’ second album Rush Hour, and Kirchen toured with Lowe and joined him in the studio from time to time. During this period Kirchen also worked on albums with Elvis Costello, Gene Vincent, and Link Wray.
Kirchen was one of the musicians that pioneered the Americana movement in the 1980s, and also with being a founding father of “twangcore,” along with Dave Alvin, Wilco and Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys. Kirchen’s signature sound has been dubbed “dieselbilly” and incorporates elements of country, blues, rockabilly, Western swing and boogie-woogie, laced with themes of American truck driving music. Kirchen’s work in the early 1970s with Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen helped set the stage for the singers like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson and other outlaw country bands with his recordings of songs like “Seeds And Stems.”Kirchen is said to have “one of the most distinctive, pure-Fender Telecaster tone guitar sounds in modern music”.
Kirchen was named “The Titan of The Telecaster” by Guitar Player magazinefor his musical prowess on the Fender Telecaster guitar. He played a 1959 model with a maple fretboard and sunburst finish that he calls the “coal burner” and acquired in 1967 when he exchanged his Gibson SG with a stranger on a bus.He retired that guitar in the early 2010s in favor of a Telecaster with a wider neck.
Kenny Neal
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Kenny Neal is an American blues guitar player, singer and band member. Neal was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Raful Neal, and he comes from a musical family. He has often performed with his brothers in his band. Neal preserves the blues sound of his native south Louisiana, as befits someone who learned from Slim Harpo, Buddy Guy, and his father, harmonica player Raful Neal.In 1987, Neal cut his debut album for the Florida record producer Bob Greenlee — an updated swamp feast initially marketed on King Snake Records as Bio on the Bayou. Alligator Records picked it up the following year, retitling it Big News from Baton Rouge!!In 1991, he proved to be a talented actor in the Broadway production of the folk musical Mule Bone (by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston), singing numbers written by Taj Mahal.
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Harmonica Great: Corky Siegel
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Corky Siegel is known internationally as one of the worlds great blues harmonica players, blues pianist, singer-songwriter, creator of CHAMBER BLUES and the sole pioneer/composer of award-winning revolutionary works that weave blues and classical forms together. Co-founder of the SIEGEL-SCHWALL BAND, and Blues Hall of Fame Inductee, Corky Siegel has a catalogue of recordings on RCA, Vanguard, Alligator, and million selling blues/classical recordings on the iconic classical label Deutsche Grammophon. His close associations with the blues masters in the earlier days of Chicago blues, his essential part in the blues rock revolution, and his surprising success in bringing together blues and classical audiences make him a pivotal (though inconspicuous) figure in modern music history. “under appreciated national treasure” – DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE.
Special Guest – John Primer
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John Primer is an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer and guitarist who played behind Junior Wells in the house band at Theresa’s Lounge and as a member of the bands of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Magic Slim He recorded with Muddy and the Rolling Stones at Buddy Guy’s Checkerboard Lounge in 1981, a concert that was eventually released as an award-winning DVD, before launching an award-winning career as a front man, carrying forward the traditional Windy City sound into the 21st century.