Don’t Worry, Buddy Guy. The Blues Ain’t Dead.

06-Aug-2015 By Shannon Duvall

Buddy Guy is worried about the blues. The legendary blues guitarist and singer recently sat down with NPR Music and told of his fears that the genre – so deeply entrenched in not just the American, but the international music scene – would die out before too long. Spooked by a conversation with musical peer Muddy Waters, shortly before Waters’ death, Guy says he’s made it his personal mission to ensure blues remains important to future generations of musicians and listeners.

Dwindling live audiences and a shift to more electronic sounds in pop music have been cited by older blues musicians and fans alike as the “downfall” of the sound. But a little research turns up blues’ massive influence across the modern musical spectrum – from rock and folk, to soul and hip hop, and beyond. Simply put, the blues ain’t dead. Here are fifteen examples of artists keeping the train a-rollin’. Hit play on the playlist below and get the scoop while you listen.

The Soul Crossovers

Leon Bridges

http://www.leonbridges.com/

Bridges’ debut album Coming Home was released in June 2015. Hailing from Fort Worth, TX (and many would agree, it almost seems, another era entirely), his performances (in which he dons exclusively vintage clothing) have been likened to great soul and blues legends such as Sam Cooke. And if that’s not bluesy enough for you, here’s this: the first song he ever wrote, “Lisa Sawyer”, was about his mother’s baptism. In a river.

St. Paul & the Broken Bones

http://stpaulandthebrokenbones.com/

A seven-piece band out of Birmingham, AL, complete with a crazy tight brass section, St. Paul & the Broken Bones are often classified as Southern Soul. There’s no denying the blues element here, though, strongly heard in member Browan Lollar’s lo-fi guitar sounds and raw, humid vocals. The band are signed to Single Lock Records, a label based in the blues-rich Shoals region of Alabama. They gave the label their first Billboard 200 entry with “Half The City” in 2014.

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

http://www.blackjoelewis.com/

Black Joe Lewis mixes the blues with old school soul.

Now performing as simply Black Joe Lewis, this band has been making bluesy waves out of Austin, TX (a city that has long been a hotbed for the blues) since 2007. Inspired by blues linchpin Howlin’ Wolf, with soul inspiration from Wilson Pickett and the funk sparks of James Brown, Black Joe Lewis’ guitar sound is vintage and moody, just as the best blues should be. Currently touring the US and Canada.

The Purists

Jack White

http://jackwhiteiii.com/

Perhaps obvious, but not to be overlooked, the popular and prolific White has been finding ways to sneak the blues into every musical project, from the White Stripes punk-blues, to the Raconteurs psychedelic version, to his country-blues collabs with superstar Loretta Lynn (which helped revive Lynn’s career). Some of the musician’s earliest influences – Son House and Blind Willie McTell – are clear throughout the body of his work, but come through strongest on his own, unfiltered solo albums.

Dan Auerbach

http://www.nonesuch.com/artists/dan-auerbach

Another famous band refugee, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys fame (a band also featured on this list) is a blues powerhouse in contemporary music. After the large-scale success of the Black Keys over several years, Auerbach built his own studio in Akron, OH, to focus on his own pure expression of blues-influenced sounds. His debut solo album, Keep It Hid, was released by Nonesuch Records in 2009.

Gary Clark, Jr

http://www.garyclarkjr.com/gcjsosbs

Another Austinite to make it onto the list, the 31-year-old guitar player, singer, writer, and arranger has been widely lauded as one of the great blues artists of the new generation. After learning to play at age 12, Clark became a regular feature at Antone’s, Austin’s chief blues club, and from there went on to gain serious momentum on the international scene. Eric Clapton himself hand selected the musician for the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2010. His latest album, The Story of Sonny Boy Slim, is now available on preorder.

The Rockers

The Black Keys

http://www.theblackkeys.com/

With no introduction needed, The Black Keys are perhaps one of the most influential blues-rock outfits on the scene today. Originally happy to self-produce their records in basements and the like, the duo’s sound emerged raw, taking the radio by storm and ushering in a new wave of interest in the genre. Influenced cited include Junior Kimbrough, Howlin’ Wolf, and Robert Johnson.

The Heavy

http://theheavy.co.uk/

Their first album was released in 2007 after members bonded over Jim Jarmusch films, and much like their artistic preferences, this garage-blues band’s sound is eclectic and sample-loving, with homages to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and others on key tracks like “Sixteen”.

The Irish

Hozier

http://hozier.com/

It’s not only found in the USA, you know. American blues sounds share quite a few similarities with Irish trad music, and the genre has long been loved across the sea. The music of darling-come-lately Hozier is a forceful example of how the blues are shaping sounds abroad. His first band at age 15 included blues persuasions, natural, perhaps, for the son of a Bray blues musician. The viral “Take Me To Church” has received international acclaim, and at 25 years old, he’s gaining momentum fast.

Davy Knowles

http://davy-knowles.squarespace.com/about/

The hotly-tipped 28-year old musician from the Isle of Man has been teaching himself to play the blues from a young age. His original blues-rock band Back Door Slam was formed in 2003, with sounds shaped by prior generation luminaries like Rory Gallgher and Eric Clapton. In 2014, Davy was selected to serve as the Isle of Man’s official Cultural Ambassador for “…Island of Culture 2014, the biggest cultural celebration in the country’s history.” His sound tends toward the pure end of the blues spectrum, a true tip of the hat to a special musical breed.

(*Note: The Isle of Man is not actually part of the Republic of Ireland, but is located in the Irish Sea, midway between Ireland and England. It is a self-governing Crown dependency.)

The Unsigned

Castle Creek

Castle Creek – The Blues/Rock You’ve Been Waiting For!

One of our favorites, we recently had the pleasure of hosting Castle Creek at this year’s youbloomDublin 2015 Music Festival & Conference. We also had the chance to talk with them a little about their musical background, which featured in youbloom: HEADROOM #4. These ambitious New Yorkers incorporate the blues into their unique sound with panache.

The Contemporary Barnshakers

J Roddy Walston & The Business

http://jroddywalstonandthebusiness.com/

Uh...sir? You're on in five? — Uh…sir? You’re on in five. Sir?

Originally from Tennessee, with live shows which “make James Brown look lazy” (Baltimore City Paper), these guys take the blues to the its most rowdy, scrappy, and danceable. Quite the sensation, they can currently be found touring all over the eastern United States.

Cage The Elephant

http://www.cagetheelephant.com/

A band from Kentucky whose first success was in England (hey, the Brits have a real fondness for the blues; just look at the Rolling Stones!), these four young guys toured for nearly five years off the back of their self-titled debut, released to critical acclaim.

The Bleeding Hearts

Goodnight, Texas

http://www.hiwearegoodnighttexashowareyou.com/about-us

Self-described as “American in every sense of the word”, Goodnight, Texas write songs reminiscent of a time when the blues were vital and necessary, and the back of a boxcar was the perfect place to sing them. Named after the geographic midpoint between members hometowns in San Francisco and North Carolina, they feature chugging, steady rhythms and plaintive, nostalgic lyrics which call to the dark, sentimentalism of your escapist daydreams.

Delta Spirit

http://deltaspirit.net/

A feature on the American music scene since 2005, Delta Spirit have a lot of work under their belt. History From Below, the follow-up to their warmly reviewed debut EP, featured collabs with blues lover Bo Koster of My Morning Jacket, as well as bass player & producer Elijah Thomson. Their latest release was 2014’s Into The Wide, and they are currently on tour in the northeastern United States.

What do you think? Know a modern blues band people should be grooving to? Let us know in the comments below.

youbloom artist spotlight: James Houlahan

03-Aug-2015 By Amy Van Daele

Pull up a chair and kick back with us as we chat with youbloom artist James Houlahan about his new album, Multitudes, which is set to release this October.

“I aim to release the new album in October of this year, and I launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance the release of the album. Hopefully there will be enough support for a vinyl release. I’d really love to present my music to the world in that format. But we’ll see how it goes…”

Can you tell me more about Multitudes and how it compares to the two previous albums?

“My first album Seven Years Now contains mostly songs that reflect personal experiences. And the second album “misfit hymns” contains songs about characters, some of which were fictional and some who were real, like Janis Joplin. For some reason, I thought there needed to be a line drawn there. Between the personal and the fictional/imagined. But the more I write, the more these two elements are blending together. To the point where I no longer care what is actually true in a historical sense (e.g., whether something actually happened to me personally or not). I find myself getting lost in the stories of other people, of experiences I can only imagine, of dreams where I’m not sure where reality begins and ends…and I’m inextricably bound up within these songs to the point where I’m no longer interested in how they relate to me, personally. I hope that makes sense! In short, I don’t really know who I am anymore, and I absolutely love it.

“I wasn’t sure how to choose songs for the new album until I remembered the lines from Walt Whitman: “Do I contradict myself? Very well then. I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.” And those lines made perfect sense to me (as well as provided me the album title!) So the new album has songs that combine the personal with the fictional in this multitudinous way. It’s also a little darker, a little more rock than the other two. There’s much less acoustic guitar, and there’s a lot of drum sounds! I was really interested in pursuing multiple textures of percussion. I’ve gotten much better at singing too, but I’ve still got a long way to go there. Anyway, there’s lots of differences, but I think it’s all for the best.”

What does your creative process look like when writing songs/recording an album?

“I tend to hear completed songs in my head. Like from a radio somewhere… Often the signal is not coming in perfectly, and I only get fragments. Sometimes I’ll write those down and work them later into a more complete shape. But the best songs tend to hit me all at once. Usually the chorus first, if I’m lucky. (Choruses are harder to write than verses). Sometimes they just appear in my head at the worst times, like when I’m driving on a crowded freeway or in line at the supermarket. But thankfully my iPhone is usually handy and I record them as voice memos. I find that the songs I end up recording more formally, in the studio, are generally the most insistent. Their presence in my inner ear is not to be denied. If all songs are like children, then the ones I record on an album are those that are crying loudest for my attention.

“When it comes to recording, I want to bring in other musicians and let them get inspired. I do tend to offer some guidance here and there, but I think what we’re really searching for is to capture a moment of magic. Something that sounds both spontaneous and composed at the same time. Lightning in a bottle. It’s really hard to set up the environment in which that happens, but it helps to keep an open mind. And to surround yourself with very talented players who can see your ideas and take them even further than you imagined. It’s good to have a plan or a map, but then be prepared to throw away that map when you no longer need it.”

What is it like to be in the studio with you?

“It’s like we are hunting something, searching for something, everyone together. It’s dark, and we’re not really sure where we’re going. But we’ve been hunting before and we know what it’s like to pick up the scent of something worth pursuing. But sometimes things get really weird and we’re not sure anymore that we are the ones doing the hunting. Maybe after all, we are the ones being pursued! Ha ha… But really, it’s a kind of strange blend of craft and magic, being in the studio. All of your past experience bubbles right back to the surface. But at the same time, it’s challenging and even a little disconcerting. Overall though, I love being in the studio, chasing those sounds. If I have ever experienced anything like a true sense of belonging in this world, it has been during moments in the studio. I know that might sound grand and mystical, but to me it’s just plain fact. I just love making music!”

How long did the album take to create and record? Tell us a bit more about that as well.

“I was writing and planning the record ever since I moved to L.A. from Boston about three years ago. Some of the first few songs actually appeared to me on the trip across the U.S., so it’s been in the works for a while. But late last year (November), I went in to Veneto West studio in Santa Monica with producer Ronan Chris Murphy. We brought in the amazingly talented Mike Gattshall on drums (The Letters Home, Rivermaker, Hot Sauce Holiday) and the musical maven Fernando Perdomo (Dreaming in Stereo, Linda Perhacs, The Dirty Diamond) on bass. We cranked out a bunch of basic tracks and started there. Due to the difficulties of my schedule and the others involved, we had to space out the tracking over many months. We ended up bringing in a whole bunch of other great players like Danny Frankel (Lou Reed, K.D. Lang) on percussion, Kaitlin Wolfberg on violin, and Danny Levin on horns. But now we’re in the mixing process and I hope to have it mastered before September.”

What advice can you give to emerging artists beginning the process of recording an album? What have you picked up along the way through your experience?

“Whether you’re making a whole album, or just recording a few tunes, I think the most important thing is to have good songs. I ended up not attempting a debut album until several years after I had started writing and performing, and I think that made the eventual album a better collection of songs. I was able to kinda process and discard a lot of material along the way…basically I had to write maybe 10 bad songs to get one good one! And then I grew loyal to those tunes and played them for people as much as I could. So I think it’s good to get the songs out there and get audience’s feedback.

“The other thing I would say is that, regardless of budget, it really helps to know how you want the music to sound in terms of production. If you don’t know, then just keep it simple. And be careful with who you work with in terms of engineers, producers, etc. It needs to be a good creative collaboration. When that relationship is not well developed, the music can suffer badly. Where, at the end, one is dissatisfied with all the artistic choices made along the way…it really pays off when you’re working with people who inspire you and who you can trust. Did you ever hear how Leonard Cohen got locked out of the studio during “Death of a Ladies’ Man” by crazed producer Phil Spector? They could not agree on anything and Spector started threatening Cohen with a gun. Eventually, Cohen was shut out of the production of his own album. Yeah, that’s an extreme case, but it highlights the need for that relationship to be productive. Having the right people around you is crucially important.”

Check out some of James’s tunes: “New World Blues” and
“The Party Goes On”

Learn more about James, listen to his music, and see his gig schedule on his official website. Any of his prior albums can be purchased here.

From youbloomLA to major management deal — Keith Cullen gets signed

21-Jul-2015 By Ciara Sheahan

It’s less than nine months since Dublin singer songwriter Keith Cullen graced the stage at youbloom LA last November. In that nine months Keith has been working the scene in Dublin, London and LA . He’s juggling time zones and body clocks to be in the right place at the right time. Thankfully, it all worked out. So far.

The big news from Keith is that he has signed a management deal with Phil Quartararo – Former CEO at Virgin records, Warner bros and EMI. Phil is credited with numerous musical legends like Madonna, Smashing Pumpkins, Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, Eric Clapton, Red Hot chilli peppers. He was the guy who was instrumental in breaking U2 into the American market.

Keith managed to get double Grammy winner Bob Cutarella to produce his new album. Bob has worked with musical heroes like Chaka Khan, Michael Jackson, Sheena Easton, Air Supply, Melissa Manchester, Whitney Houston, Michael Henderson, Diana Ross, Deborah Allen, Dolly Parton, The Police, Elton John, REM, Culture Club, Human League, ABC, Linda Rondstadt, Frank Sinatra to name but a few. This heavy hitter has produced records with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Joss Stone, Sting, Billy Gibbons(ZZ TOP), Allison Krauss, Joe Perry (Aerosmith), John Rzeznik (The Goo Goo Dolls), Keith Richards and Cyndi Lauper He won two Grammys in 2005 and currently is soliciting music for American Idol, X Factor, and the Voice.

The KC dream team is ready. Keith, Bob, Phil and the woman behind it all Jennifer Cullen. Jennifer is Keith’s sister and manager. They both ran a highly successful commercial business back in the boom, they have both given it all up to follow the dream to see Keith succeed as an artist. Keith lists off his highlights since youbloom LA as having his song “ Say Something” placed into the film “High Strung”, signing the management deal with Phil, working with Bob and his longtime sonic companion JJ Daly and hanging with Hozier during Grammy season in LA.
“It’s really weird hearing your music on a film, like sitting there watching the movie, then your song comes on. It’s amazing, don’t get me wrong but it takes time to actually take it in, when it materialises. I still can’t believe it when I think about it”. Keith found himself in the artistic company of Jayne Seymour and “Inception” and “Batman” actor Andrew Pleavin, both of whom starred in the film.

2015 has been really productive for Keith so far, but it didn’t happen overnight. Keith has been chasing his musical ambitions since 2010. He quickly realised that the music scene in Ireland was too small for him to succeed. Controlled by a few key players with a significant challenge to get airtime on Irish radio, it’s a story many Irish artists will relate to. Keith and Jennifer began sussing out the scene in LA and London.

Funding trips to conventions, meetings and festivals they both networked every opportunity. Wading through the swamps of bullshit to eventually find key people and big chances to make an impression. The impression seems to be working, but as Keith will tell you “ we treated it like a business. We quickly understood who could deliver and who was bullshitting. You can bluff all day, but it’s the ones who deliver to make the grade”. And the grade has been made. There’s no big label news yet, but I get the feeling… it won’t be long now.

If you have a musical niggle that won’t go away, take a look at the apply to play form for #youbloomLA2015. You never know, it might be you we are writing about in 2016.

Keith-Cullen-with-Hozier — Keith with Hozier in L.A.

youbloom artist spotlight: Jamey Geston

19-Jul-2015 By Amy Van Daele

Jamey Geston is another successful artist who was chosen to play at youbloomLA last year. Based in Santa Barbara, this teenage singer/songwriter was no amateur to performing at festivals prior to coming to ours. Just last year, in addition to youbloomLA, she has played at BandFest (Carpinteria, CA), Fusion Music Festival (Paramount Ranch, CA), Los Olivos Arts Festival (Los Olivos, CA), Meiner Oaks Summer Solstice (Ojai, CA), and the Santa Barbara Int’l Women’s Festival (Santa Barbara, CA)… just to name a handful.

Jamey began playing guitar at ten years old and then self-taught herself the piano, ukulele, and bass. She began songwriting at eleven, inspired by artists such as Elliott Smith, King Krule, The Mamas and the Papas, Joni Mitchell, and Mac Demarco.

For having such a short career, she has been incredibly successful and noticed by industry professionals like Bob Leggett of the LA Examiner who calls Jamey “a dynamic performer and a prolific songwriter” or Judy Collins who says “Jamey is a darling and so talented, a beautiful young artist and singer.”

Jamey has shared the stage with talented artists including Jeff Bridges, Kenny Loggins, and Will Champlin as well as opened for award-winning folksinger, Judy Collins, legendary musician, Peter Frampton, and Grammy-winning guitarist, Albert Lee. She has played in venues across California and Arizona, some notable venues include the world-famous Roxy and Whisky A Go Go.

Already by 2013 she was a featured artist in Santa Barbara Band Guide as one of “The 805’s Next Great Music Makers.” Two of her songs have been chosen to appear in films, earning her two IMDb composer and music credits and she is currently endorsed by Daisy Rock Girl Guitars, Steve Clayton Guitars Picks, Shubb Capos and Capturing Couture Guitar Straps.

This year has been no less eventful for this young musician. She was invited back for the third consecutive year to play at the Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. She was also selected to work with Mary Amato, an award-winning children’s book author, poet, playwright, and songwriter, on an audio/video rendition of her book, Get Happy. Jamey will be the voice of the main character as well as a contributor on the six ukulele songs included.

She also worked this year on creating a teen band for a ‘Notes for Notes’ fundraiser sponsored by Seymour Duncan. At the show this past June, the band opened for Peter Frampton and featured her original song, Malibu. Within the same month, a Bob Dylan compilation cd (Dylan, By A New Generation) Jamey contributed on was released.

Now that school is out for the summer, Jamey is able to focus more on her music and on the EP she hopes to complete within the next year. When she isn’t recording, she will be playing various different shows and festivals. Take a look at what she has scheduled so far:

More details and music over here.

How to be a music superfan in 2015!

16-Jul-2015 By Shannon Duvall

Hey there, you hot mess, it’s 2005, MySpace messaging you crunk peeps from the past with a totally hott message, so listen up.

If you’re a music lover in 2015 – and you’re here, reading this, so it’s safe to assume that you are, fo sheezy – then there are a few things you should know about your, ahem, current status.

First of all, you – yes you, the one reading this – are directly responsible for the absolute interplanetary, warp-drive, ‘let’s-tear-this-space-time-continuum-a-new-one’ success that most of the music superstars in your day are right this minute enjoying. In a freakish turn from expected events, the openness of the internet has not, as we here in 2005 were certain would happen, resulted in the dismantling of the Record Label as we know it, freeing the market and balancing the scales. Au contraire.

The bands and solo artists making the big bucks in the industry have only ended up making more money, getting more media attention, and becoming more popular, and thus immeasurably more valuable to the record companies representing them.

And. The same power you wield to bestow such wild, unbridled, never-before-witnessed prosperity upon those lucky few hundred entertainers has also resulted in the widening of the pay gap between them and, well, every other musician out there.

Seriously.

It’s a sizeable chasm of unprecedented size: MIDiA Research is one company that has been using analytics to track the progress of digital music, and a report released by them last year showed a staggering 77% of all the money in the industry gracing the bank accounts of the top one percent of global superstars.

In short, fancy future folk, you probably don’t realize how influential you are in this, the new music business battle royale.

It’s your choices: your likes and dislikes, your skips, saves and shares, that determine who makes it, and who flakes it. If you’re in any doubt about how true this is, take a look at viral victim/sensation Justin Bieber – discovered singing humble covers on youtube; promoted like there was no tomorrow – and you’ll see what I mean. What you are capable of.

Look at your eyes. You’re already drunk with power.

So how should you flaunt – I, ahem, mean, responsibly apply all this newfound sway?

Click (or swipe, or tap…) wisely. Intelligent analytics are scoping out every aspect of everything you do online, and there’s big money in being able to predict what people are going to want next. If you have a favorite unsigned band, follow them on social media, like their posts, and share their videos. Check in, tweet, Instagram and Snapchat from their gigs.

If they’re on Spotify, even better. Add favorite tracks to your shared playlists, that way other people can discover them on their own time, rather than caving in to your constant OMG ballyhoo.

Interaction is EVERYTHING. Websites like WeDemand allow you to act much like an old village council, telling venues and promoters what bands are wanted where. IndieGogo and other crowdfunding sites let you pitch in when it comes time for an artist to create something, like an album or a run of t-shirts. You can even help send them on tour. And there’s usually a sweet, VIP bonus for digging into your pockets and getting involved.

Other sites, such as Patreon, let you give them money – just because you like them.

One word: collabs. If you’re the creative type, why not get in touch with an artist you really like and offer to work together for mutual benefit? After all, they’re looking for fresh ideas and constant exposure as much as you are.

Are you an artist? Offer to design gig posters, t-shirts, or use your likeness in some rad graffiti somewhere strategically placed. If they like your work, they might end up asking you to design some album art, which would be dope AF.

Musician yourself? How about a remix or mashup? Heck, even a cleverly executed cover of one of their songs can be a great way to show support and appreciation for the work and inspiration of others in your genre or location. This can sometimes lead to working together – on a track, perhaps, or, if you have really good chemistry, an album, split seven- inch (yep, people still do this; vinyl is the top selling purchased music format after digital, and sales are up 54%!), or bill sharing at gigs and on tours.

Can you write? Offer to review songs or albums, then submit your work to blogs and websites that might publish your work as a guest blogger. Exposure for everybody!

Travel blogger? Seek out new bands in places you travel to and blog your heart out to your followers. Take photos and videos and show the rest of the world what they’re missing.

Surfer, skater, or parkour perfectionist? Ask for permission to feature a song in one of your promos. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a song while watching a surf video and Shazammed the crap out of it so that I could add it to my “How to Get Through This Workday Alive” Spotify playlist. This approach is equally great for animators, videographers, and anyone with a smartphone/GoPro and a vision.

Actually go to their gigs. I know it’s hard, but you can do it.

So what we’re saying is this: the millenial music lover has so much opportunity to be connected to the up and coming artists he or she loves. With all that say at your fingertips (literally), and no end in sight to the innovation which continues to break down walls between observer and observed, there’s never been a better time to have your say. Like a true music superfan.
Take it from me, your old pal, 2005, champion of MySpace, the one who started all this internet band business in the first place.

Don’t Worry, Buddy Guy. The Blues Ain’t Dead.

youbloom artist spotlight: James Houlahan

From youbloomLA to major management deal — Keith Cullen gets signed

youbloom artist spotlight: Jamey Geston

How to be a music superfan in 2015!

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