The music of Hermanos Gutiérrez brings you to another place. It’s a place of saguaro cacti and miles of sun-baked sand. If you’re a fan of spaghetti Westerns, it may suggest a love of Ennio Morricone and perhaps even evoke images of characters named Blondie, Angel Eyes, and Tuco in Sergio Leone’s 1966 epic, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

The title of the band’s new album, El Bueno Y El Malo, is a wink at that film that gives the Ugly the day off. Brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez are an instrumental duo from Switzerland. Listen to an interview and see 3 live musical performances at WFUV Live here.

Hermanos Gutiérrez photo credit: Gus Philippas

American blues, country, and Americana singer, guitarist, and songwriter Charley Crockett is back with a new album, The Man from Waco. It’s a laconic, elegant song cycle that tells the story of a fictional character who has some things in common with the artist but who has a life of his own. Charley and I touched upon a little bit of all of that in our conversation in a WFUV Live session. Check out the interview and 3 song live performances here.
Charley Crockett Photo Credit: Gus Philippas

In September I had a golden opportunity for a lifelong fan of ZZ Top, an invitation to talk with Billy Gibbons for about an hour in front of an audience at The Iridium. The show was taped for Speakeasy TV who distribute the show through PBS. It is airing tonight on WNET/13 in New York and WGBX/Channel 44, sister of WGBH in Boston. Check local listings as the man says. Full show streaming is for limited time.

The timing of the interview coincided with the release of his second solo album Big Bad Blues on Concord Records. The new disc, as the title implies, is a return to the blues after exploring Cuban music on his first album Perfectamundo. It includes interpretations of a pair of Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley songs among fresh spiffy originals. Gibbons’ guitar tone is as muscular as ever and he plays a little harmonica too. Harmonica ace James Harmon is heard on the album too.

Billy is a wicked raconteur! He’s got a million cool stories. He spoke about some memorable run-ins with BB King and his connection with Gloversville, New York. Another great one that I asked him about was playing with Hendrix in the most psychedelic circumstances. The inspiration for the song Master of Sparks, as he explained, made him a high school legend for something unrelated to music and almost killed him. Also hanging in the Himalayas as the source for Ten Foot Pole and how the Top learned eight notes of saxophone for recording on El Loco among other mad tales. And if you can’t resist investigating evidence of a couple incidents alluded to in the interview, here you go!

Bob Margolin & The Nighthawks Salute Muddy Waters – December 11, 2016

A treat to get one of the world’s toughest blues bands at Iridium in Times Square earlier this month.  The Nighthawks are led by Mark Wenner on vocals and harmonica who formed the original group in 1972 in Washington DC.  Bob Margolin, who played in Muddy Waters’ band from ’73 to ’80, goes way  back with these guys.  They met at a show during the steady rollin’ one‘s tenure with Waters and became friends who play together when they can including a Margolin appearance on 1979’s Full House album.  The Iridium show included some original material but was billed as a tribute to Muddy and it would be difficult to find artists more prepared for the job.  The Nighthawks have recorded a generous handful of Waters’ songs atop stretching out on stage for decades with his material.   Few are more intimate with the man and his music than Margolin who revealed some fun facts between songs including that he used to work ‘security’ during interviews.  He would give reporters the boot when Waters lost patience with them!

Fortunately, Bob Margolin was able to put up with a few questions from me prior to the show.  As a fan of his work as a band leader, especially the 90’s stuff on Alligator Records like My Blues & My Guitar and Up & In, I asked if he approached playing his own stuff differently than Muddy Waters’ songs.  He said, “When I’m playing my own songs, I can’t help but think about whether Muddy would approve or disapprove.”  Over the decades Margolin has incorporated a lot of flavors into his music apart from Chicago blues and his latest album is called My Road.  Catch him as part of The Last Waltz 40 Tour this winter.  He also shared a very cool flashback to the memorable 1976 event on his website.

Keep your eyes open for the new documentary film about The Nighthawks!

American Masters BB King Documentary Premieres Friday –

American Masters is an outstanding documentary series that has offered definitive portraits of artists like Lou Reed, Woody Guthrie, and James Brown as well as masters outside the realm of music like Clint Eastwood and Mel Brooks.  BB King gets the treatment this week and the program is up to the high standards that the series has set.  Rare archival footage and interviews with Carlos Santana, Bono, Bonnie Raitt, and many others put King’s career in proper prospective.

The most rewarding bits were the interviews with King himself.  He speaks frankly about growing up in the pre-civil rights era South and humbly about honors bestowed upon him.  Narration…inevitably…by Morgan Freeman!

Joe Bonamassa Heads To Carnegie Hall –

Last January it was a pleasure to spend some time with Joe Bonamassa as he conquered Radio City Music Hall.  At the time, He couldn’t think of anything better than that.   He came up with something!  JB is heading to Carnegie Hall for shows tomorrow night January 21st, 2016 as well as the following night the 22nd.  The Carnegie Hall shows will be acoustic affairs featuring Tina Guo, the tremendous cellist and erhu player and Hossam Ramzy, the Egyptian percussionist and composer who you may remember as the percussionist with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant on the No Quarter tour.

He’s also got a new album on the way called Blues of Desperation that will be unleashed in March!

Joan Armatrading has had an amazing career… and it ain’t over yet!  The UK based singer/songwriter/mean guitarist/bass player (etc) has, however, decided to stop doing the punishing kind of 18 month treks around the world that’s she currently on and limit herself to a month on the road maximum at any one time.  Armatrading has played the occasional solo show over the years, but she’s never done a full-on world tour by herself and it’s been on her agenda, so that’s exactly what’s she doing now.  As part of her first world tour playing solo and her last major tour ever, Joan delighted her fans at City Winery for three sold out shows and spoke with me as well…

Ho Ho Ho!  Here’s some suggestions if you’d like to give (or receive) the gift of music this holiday season whether it is boxed or unboxed.

The Allman Brothers played their last show this week – at The Beacon – after 45 years of kicking ass.  It was a three set tour de force that ended well after 1 AM. Here’s what Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks had to say about their beginnings in the group as well as the end of the line when I recently spoke to them individually in this extended interview.