Like seemingly everything else, with the blues; the more it changes the more it stays the same. The on-going stigma of adding to the blues versus preserving the art form is in full force. Despite the anchor of history and the rigidity of the familiar, the albums which received the most airplay on Pacific St. Blues and Americana this year includes;
1. Tab Benoit, Medicine
2. Tedeschi – Trucks Band, Revelator
3. Quintus McCormick Blues Band, Put it on me! (True soul meets Chicago Blues)
4. Roy Gaines and his Orchestra, Tuxedo Blues
5. Robin Trower, the playful heart, and (His best effort since ‘Bridge of Sighs’
6. Damon Fowler, Devil Got His Way
Blues song of 2011; Hadden Sayers, ‘Back to the Blues’ (featuring duet w/ Ruthie Foster)
Runner Up;
1. Roy Trevino, ‘Sin Ella’
2. Smoove & Turrell, ‘Hard Work’
3. Robin Trower, ‘Find Me’
Eye on the Horizon;
1. Gary Clark Jr.
2. Trombone Shorty
3. Russ Tippins Band,
4. Roy Trevino
Unsigned bands of significant note;
1. Smoove and Turrell, Eccentric Audio – New millennium Northern Soul (England)
2. Jim Stapley, Live – Paul Rogers (Free/ Bad Company) fronts Humble Pie (Steve Marriott / Peter Frampton)
3. Mitch Gettman, Worn
4. The Poorboys – (self titled) – “Englishicana” at its finest (Americana with a melody.)
Blues come-back records of 2011;
1. Hadden Sayers, Hard Dollar
2. Johnny Winter, Roots
3. Savoy Brown, Voodoo Moon
