Browsing: Interview

Jostein Forsberg, a musician and former steel worker born and raised in Notodden, has served as the festival’s director since 1990. In his conversation with American Blues Scene, Jostein explains how the festival became a mainstay of the local economy after the industrial jobs vanished.

There’s no question Jerry Phillips has his daddy’s genes. “Do something different or don’t do anything at all.” Debut solo record out now via Omnivore Recordings!

“I just feel that music and song can be so much more than entertainment, and maybe that’s really what it’s supposed to be about.”

Mary Gauthier is a very unique contemporary artist whose music has proven what she says in her performances, her recordings, and placements of her music in the soundtracks of TV shows like ‘Yellowstone’ on Paramount Plus, ABC’s ‘Nashville’, Masterpiece Theatre’s ‘Case Histories,’ Showtime’s ‘Banshee,’ and HBO’s ‘Injustice.’

Bobby Rush’s praise for DeLia underscores the crucial role he provides for such a unique legacy artist. “His insight and what he brings to the table convinced me he was the right kind of partner I needed. I’ve gone through many managers and labels in my career, Jeff is one of the first guys to help me reach my goals,”

Shemekia Copeland’s new album ‘Blame It On Eve,’ out now via Alligator Records, sustains a level high enough to which other contemporary blues albums struggle to reach. The list of musicians who sat in is a who’s who of talented headliners in their own right: Americana superstar Alejandro Escovedo, guitarists Luther Dickinson and Charlie Hunter, lap steel master Jerry Douglas, and young sacred steel wizard DaShawn.

Interview with BlackAmericana Fest co-founder Dusky Waters! Free-admission festival open to all ages takes place on September 28 at Broadside Nola!

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.

New album ‘Ghosts’ out now via Pravda Records!

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.