Crossroads Blues Society News: November 2014

Our Tenth Annual Christmas Party with Bobby Messano and Dave Fields and 1960's Chicago inventors of punk music's leader Jimy Sohns from Shadows of Knight!

Bobby Messano is a legendary artist who has released five contemporary Blues CDs, placed songs in major TV and Cable shows and had songs held by Eric Clapton and others. He has played guitar on over 50 Major label and Indie albums and his playing has been heard on everything from the MTV jingle to the Benny Mardones' smash hit "Into The Night" The celebrated guitarist has played on records by Clarence Clemmons, Franke & The Knockouts, Joe Lynn Turner and STARZ, and produced the 60's hit act, "THE SHADOWS OF KNIGHT". Live he has played guitar and been the music director for Steve Winwood, Lou Gramm and chart topping Country artists Jimmy Wayne, Rodney Atkins and Steve Holy. Bobby has played or headlined BAMFEST, Blues At The Beach, The Charleston Blues Festival, Smokin’ In Steel, Summerfest , Charlotte Speed Street & Blues Brews & BBQ, Blues At The Beach, Colonial Beach Blues Festival, Southern Maryland Blues Festival, Willow River Blues Festival, Ambassador’s Blues Festival, Deltaville Seafood Festival and Bay Front Blues Festival. His last four CD’s, “Holdin Ground”,“Bobby Messano Live In Madison” ,“that’s why i don’t sing the blues” and ”Welcome To Deltaville” made it into the Grammy first round balloting 19 times. "that's why i don't sing the blues" was on the American Blues Scene's Blues Top 5 Chart for 24 weeks and was named 2012 TOP BLUES/ROCK ALBUM (USA) by Blues Underground Network and “Welcome To Deltaville” was named #3 In the American Blues Scene BEST of 2013 list for U.S. Blues Rock CD. On December 22^nd 2012, Bobby was inducted into the “BLUES HALL OF FAME”.

Dave Fields: Electrifying Rock With a Blues Soul. Dave grew up in New York City the son of a noted gifted composer arranger producer Sammy “Forever” Fields. From the time Dave was a young child he grew up in his father’s recording studio being exposed to the likes of Sammy Kahn, Rupert Holmes and Stevie Wonder. Being raised by nanny who was from Waycross Georgia, an eclectic dash of southern culture was mixed into Dave’s persona. In a strange twist of fate, his sister Launa a gifted musician in her own right, lost her hearing by the time she was 14. Witnessing his sister’s struggles in a hearing world profoundly affected Dave. “After seeing my sister’s agony from being discriminated against for her condition I was determined to never let that kind of injustice happen again in my presence. I always felt that one of my missions in life was to be able to communicate with people and to listen to them. It’s one of the beautiful things about being a human being. We all want to connect with one another”. Nowhere is that feeling more evident than in Dave’s music. His gift of making his guitar talk combined with his uncanny way of weaving many different styles of music together is an example of how we as humans are a fabric of many different cultures and walks of life. Dave, “growing up in NYC I was exposed to so many different foods, music, cultures… It was truly a melting pot of humanity. I believe I am the kind of artist that reflects what I see and what I’m exposed to. As a musician I was put on this this earth to spread joy, love and life to everyone. I try to do that what every note I play, with every lyric I write and sing. If I do anything less than that I feel like I’m letting the listener down”.

Dubbed “the American Rolling Stones”, the Shadows of Knight shot to the top of the music charts in 1966 with the rock anthem “GLORIA.” Over 8 million copies later, those three famous chords and that unashamed mating chant has found immortality among fraternities, presidents, wanna-be’s, rock stars and the rest of the nubile world. “GLORIA” has become the party song of generations and the Shadows of Knight have become the legendary messengers. Chicago’s “golden boys of pop” released four subsequent hits,"I Got My Mojo Workin", “Bad Little Woman”, “I’m Gonna Make You Mine”, and the much lauded version of the Muddy Waters tune, “Oh Yeah”. In late 1968, the band left Dunwich Records (Atlantic) to sign with Team Records (Buddah) and the ” bubble gum” empire of Jerry Kasentz and Jeff Katz. They recorded anonymously on tracks such as “Quick Joey Small”, “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy (I’ve Got Love In My Tummy)”, “Chewy, Chewy” and many more hit records. The Shadows of Knight then released their final chart hit, “Shake !” culminating in another million seller.

Born in 1958, the son of famed blues harmonica player Carey Bell, Lurrie Bell picked up his father’s guitar at age of five and taught himself to play. He was clearly gifted. In addition, he grew up with many of the Chicago blues legends around him. Eddie Taylor, Big Walter Horton, Eddie C. Campbell, Eddie Clearwater, Lovie Lee, Sunnyland Slim, Jimmy Dawkins and many more were frequent visitors to his house. They all helped to shape and school him in the blues, but none as much as his father’s long-time employer Muddy Waters.
At seven years old, Bell left Chicago to live in Mississippi and Alabama with his grandparents. During this time he played mostly in the church, immersing himself in the passionate expressiveness of the gospel tradition. At fourteen he moved back to Chicago and continued to play in church as well as forming his first blues band while attending high school.

By seventeen Lurrie Bell was playing on stage with Willie Dixon. In 1977 he was a founding member of The Sons of Blues with Freddie Dixon (son of Willie) and Billy Branch. The band recorded three standout tracks for Alligator Records’ Grammy nominated Living Chicago Blues series. In 1978 Bell joined Koko Taylor’s band and stayed for several years, honing his chops and learning the ropes of being a traveling musician. He continued to work with his dad as well, recording the 1984 Rooster Blues album Son Of a Gun and several other titles for UK’s JSP Records. Not only was Bell recognized as an exceptionally talented guitarist and musician, his knowledge of different blues styles, his soulfulness and his musical maturity delivered write-ups in publications such as Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

Battling and defeating a series of personal demons kept him out of the studio and off the road for a long spell in the late 1980’s, but Bell persevered and re-surfaced in the mid-1990’s with a succession of four highly acclaimed records for Chicago’s Delmark label.

Since the onset of the new millennium, Bell’s profile has been steadily rising. 2002 saw the release of the CD Cutting Heads and in 2004 Alligator Records released Second Nature an acoustic duet record with his father Carey Bell that was nominated for a WC Handy Award Acoustic Record of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.

In 2007 Bell started his own label Aria B.G. Records and released Let’s Talk About Love, which has been called his most accomplished, deeply heartfelt album yet. On the strength of this record, he was voted Most Outstanding Guitar Player in the 2007 Living Blues Magazine’s Critic’s Poll, and in 2008 and 2012 he was named the magazine’s Male Blues Artist of the Year. Since 2007 he has received multiple Blues Music Award nominations as Best Guitarist and Best Traditional Male Blues Artist by the Blues Foundation.
2009 found him pairing up with Billy Boy Arnold, John Primer, Billy Branch on the recording Chicago Blues: A Living History which garnered him his first official Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Recording. In 2011 a follow-up was released; Chicago Blues: A Living History (The Revolution Continues) featuring Buddy Guy, Magic Slim, and Ronnie Baker Brooks.
And in 2012 came the arrival of his second CD on Aria BG Records The Devil Ain’t Got No Music, a collection of acoustic blues and gospel songs that recollect the music he often played with his dad and at church in Mississippi and Alabama as a child. In January 2013 The Devil Ain’t Got No Music was honored with the Prix du Blues award from the prestigious French L’Academie du Jazz for the Best Blues Recording of 2012 and the title song (written by producer Matthew Skoller) received a nomination from the Blues Foundation for song of the year.
In 2013 Bell re-signed with Delmark and enlisted famed Chicago producer Dick Shurman to make the record Blues in My Soul. For this project he wanted to get back to the solid foundation of Chicago-styled traditional guitar blues. Blues in my Soul features three new Lurrie Bell originals plus songs by Little Walter, T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Rogers, and Big Bill Broonzy and others.

At last count Lurrie Bell has now appeared on over 50+ recordings either as leader or featured sideman. Lurrie Bell’s elegant and intense guitar playing and passionate vocals have made him a favorite at clubs and festivals around the world and have earned him a reputation as one of the “leading lights” in the future of the blues.