About as close as trumpet player Herb Alpert ever came to the blues was signing artists like Joan Armatrading and Quincy Jones to A&M Records, but his role as a renaissance artist, record executive, painter and sculptor could fill a book on how independent artists can make it out of the bush leagues that so many blues artists seem to get stuck in.

Recording with a label like Sun that practically invented rock and roll when they recorded Elvis singing Arthur Big Boy Crudup’s “That’s All Right Now, Mama” is a solid move into blues. “For me, it’s just such a magical highlight. Everything I’ve been through in my career and personal life, I think to decide to take a risk and really kind go back to a love of the blues with some of my new music, to have Sun work with me — I could never have imagined this could happen at this point in my career.”

He last played Albany, New York on March 29th. Six days later he had two heart attacks in one day. He plays the iconic Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY with fellow NGDB founding member on Friday, August 9.

If catharsis is the fuel that fires the engine of blues, then singer, songwriter and harp player Brandon Santini right now is on the edge of the most intense tour of his career. He opens the tour this Friday at the Linda in Albany, New York following a series of issues that might cause the average artist to simply walk away from performing.