The King Is Dead

Wherein Sam Taylor and I come to terms with the passing of a legend…

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The Goatbox Rebel: “(S/T)”

The Goatbox Rebel has constructed a thoroughly post-modern take on the blues. Transplanted into the 21st century, the music fuses analog crunch and buzz with digital thrum to create a compelling and fascinating re-casting of one of the foundational sources of rock and roll, given a new electrical tension from the fusion of man and machine.

Interview: Sam Taylor

Roots rocker Sam Taylor of Sam Taylor & The East End Love.

Sam Taylor has had a strange and wonderful journey as a musician. He began as a professional jazz singer when he was a child, and he eventually found his way to the guitar and inevitably to the blues. Since then has been plying his distinct trade in Toronto venues and across Southern Ontario. His music is a potent mix of roots genres, which he dubs “soul rock”. With his band The East End Love, he’s been scorching Toronto bars for the last few years.

Happy Birthday, Robert Nighthawk!

Today we celebrate one of the great semi-forgotten masters of slide guitar, Mr. Robert Lee McCollum, otherwise known as Robert Nighthawk (one of the greatest pseudonyms in blues history). 

Eddie Kirkland, Gypsy of the Blues

Eddie Kirkland was a blues singer and guitarist who was born on August 16th, 1923, in Jamaica. His young mother relocated him to Alabama, where he was raised until he ran away and joined a medicine show when he was twelve.

Awesome Tune: “Hill Stomp” by Robert Belfour

Robert Belfour is a haunted man.

If tears were liquor…

With his latest album “Blues Funeral”, Mark Lanegan has created a dream world where bluesmen play synthesizers and gospel music is as loud as heavy metal.

Babes, Blood, and The Bayou

Ryan Warner is a raving lunatic of the greatest kind.

“Christmas Tears” by Freddie King

Freddie King knows the pain that the holidays can bring.

“Santa” by Lightnin’ Hopkins

Here’s another great, little-heard entry into the Christmas song canon, by the amazing Lightnin’ Hopkins.