Music is often the great equalizer. And for two and a half hours on a beautiful November evening in Chicago, it was just that as the Truckers revisited the entirety of ‘Southern Rock Opera.’ Interspersed throughout the songs, Hood was not afraid to draw parallels between the issues addressed in the 2001 album and those that still permeate through America today.

When a sprightly octogenarian saxophonist and co-founder of England’s Marshall Amplifiers releases a debut album, it is not surprising that the music world holds its breath. Over 60 years ago Terry Marshall and his dad Jim began building the guitar amplifiers which bore their name. This signature brand became synonymous with the exponential popularity of rock music and electric blues.

‘Living The Blues,’ released through his very own Marshall Records, is out now!

“My U.S. fans are expecting ‘Devil with the Blues Dress On’ and ‘Jenny Take A Ride’ or ‘Sock It to Me.’ They’re gonna hear songs they have never heard before.”

On Thursday, November 7th, The Ruf Records 30th Anniversary Tour kicks off at Carnegie Of Homestead Music Hall in Pittsburgh. Samantha Fish headlines the show that includes Mitch Ryder, Canned Heat, Bernard Allison, and Ghalia Volt.

The Owsley Stanley Foundation of Grateful Dead fame has just released ‘You’re Doin’ Fine,’ a sumptuous three-CD set capturing John Hammond at two 1973 concerts at the Boarding House, a small club in San Francisco. The sound man was Owsley Stanley who invented the Grateful Dead’s wall of sound technology.

“I didn’t know that Owsley was recording that show. I was told he was the sound man, but I didn’t understand the significance of it. I mean the sound is great.”