Kris Barras Band - Death Valley Paradise (2022)

Kris Barras Band return armed with towering anthems on the heaviest album to date; 'Death Valley Paradise', available on CD, transparent red vinyl and digitally. Produced by Dan Weller (Enter Shikari, Bury Tomorrow, SiKth) and recorded at VADA Studios in Alcester, they return heavier, darker, more introspective but enormous at the same time. Barras decided to remove all shackles and began collaborating with songwriters, such as the heavyweights; Jonny Andrews (Three Days Grace, Fozzy), Bob Marlette (Alice Cooper, Airbourne, Rob Zombie), Blair Daly (Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry) and Zac Maloy (Shinedown, Tyler Bryant). Death Valley Paradise started life as a song before it was dissected and spread across the album. Death Valley is a place of extremes, where living things are said to not be able to survive. For 18 months the world stood still and the realisation set in that there was no control of ourselves anymore. For the ex-MMA/cage fighter, there was only one way out, to re-focus, and started with no preconceived plan for the album. But now, Death Valley Paradise is ready to be unleashed upon the masses, who are yearning to rock out, fist pumping in the air.

https://album.link/i/1591591461

Phil Buckle, Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson - Custom Made (2022)

 Tracklist:

01. Phil Buckle - Mark Against Your Name (feat. Virgil Donati)

02. Phil Buckle - Custom Made (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

03. Phil Buckle - Somebody to Rely On (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

04. Phil Buckle - Slippers (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

05. Phil Buckle - Keep It Up (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

06. Phil Buckle - Just Go (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

07. Phil Buckle - Money (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

08. Phil Buckle - Get That Thing (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

09. Phil Buckle - Welcome to My Hell (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

10. Phil Buckle - She's Just Got to Win (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

11. Phil Buckle - To the Coast (feat. Virgil Donati & Jimmy Johnson)

I’ve spent most of my life writing songs for other people. I love doing that. However, over the past years I've felt a very strong call to write for myself again. So I started.

But when you get up one day and say “ok, now do what you really want to do, write what you really want to write”, it’s quite a shock to discover that you don’t really know who or what you are anymore.

It came slowly. I had many false starts. There was too much overthinking and trying to please some invisible “cool” young sector of some imaginary audience.

The songs started to flow when I decided to just be me. Warts and all. To be as honest as I can and if someone likes it then, great.

So here is my album starting with first single "Custom Made". I will then release a few more singles along with videos followed by the album........and then followed by some new singles that I'm working on right now.

I am joined by my old friend and former band mate Virgil Donati on drums and my new friend Jimmy Johnson on Bass. These guys took the tracks to another planet. If you know of these legends then I need say no more.

https://album.link/i/1609164610

B3 - New Songs, Old Socks (2022)

Tracklist:


1. Despair
2. Life Isn't That Hard (Old Socks Version)
3. So Tired (Old Socks Version)
4. Maria, Maria (Old Socks Version)
5. Fake News (Old Socks Version)
6. 27th Club
7. Trio Blues
8. I Am Crazy
9. Shuffle Drive
10. Why Do You Lie (Old Socks Version)
11. Gleb's Prelude


With their fourth album "New Songs, Old Socks", B3 are back and present both new songs and older pieces in a new guise, musically at home between blues, rock and jazz. Keyboarder Andreas Hommelsheim, guitarist/singer Ron Spielman and drummer Lutz Halfter last released the long-player "Get Up! Live at the A-Trane”. Due to the pandemic, the band had to postpone their 2020 recording plans and do without their French bassist Gérard Batrya. Without further ado, Hommelsheim took over the bass part on the electric organ, experimenting intensively with new sounds and effects. He arranged the music for a trio and expanded the band sound in the studio with a choir consisting of Ingrid Arthur (Weather Girls), Monica Lewis-Schmidt (Sarah Connor) and Simon Paterno (The Voice of Germany). He was also able to win percussionist Rhani Krija (Sting, Keziah Jones) and musical singer Veronica Appeddu (Tanz der Vampire) for some songs on the new album.


B3 mastermind Andreas Hommelsheim played with Alphonse Mouzon, John Lee and Gerry Brown, shared the stage with Kool & the Gang and worked with stars like Nena, Nina Hagen, Jan Delay, Smudo, Max Raabe, Ofrah Haza, Ute Lemper and Jennifer rush As musical director of the German version of countless famous film productions, he worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Hans Zimmer, among others. For "The Lion King" he received the gold record as producer of the original German soundtrack.


The band's guitarist and singer is Ron Spielman, whose distinctive and virtuoso playing between blues, rock, jazz and funk has long enjoyed cult status among the specialist press and fans. Spielman has played with Tommy Emmanuel, Beth Hart, Bootsy Collins, Chick Corea Electric Band, Climax Blues Band, Johnny Guitar Watson and has been a touring guitarist for Andreas Kümmert, Flo Mega, Ivy Quainoo and many more.


Drummer Lutz Halfter studied at Berklee College in Boston, among others, worked for numerous Berlin orchestras and theaters and drummed for Jocelyn B. Smith and Precious Wilson, among others. He has shared the stage with Hommelsheim since the 70s.


https://album.link/i/1599513942

Bernard Allison - Highs & Lows (2022)

Tracklist:

1. So Excited (3:22)

2. Highs & Lows (3:31)

3. Strain On My Heart (4:03)

4. My Way Or The Highway (3:59)

5. Side Step (4:20)

6. Hustler (4:00)

7. Now You Got It (3:49)

8. I Gave It All (4:56)

9. My Kinda Girl (4:00)

10. Satisfy Her Needs (4:24)

11. Last Night (4:40)

There's nothing like the sound of a world-class bluesman getting back to business. Last October, when Bernard Allison returned to his old haunt of Bessie Blue Studios, Tennessee, to be greeted by fabled producer and career-long collaborator Jim Gaines, it felt like coming home. And when Allison fired up the amps, counted in the band and embarked upon his latest studio album, Highs And Lows, everything felt right with the world. "Just to be able to create music again after the pandemic," he says of that long-awaited rebirth, "was incredible."

For 56 years, music has been Bernard Allison's essence. As the youngest son of the much-missed Chicago bandleader Luther Allison, he was a bluesman from birth. One week after graduating high school, Bernard cut his teeth on the road with Koko Taylor's Blues Machine lineup and ended up staying for most of the '80s. By the close of the decade, however, he assumed a twin identity, leading and writing for his father's band, while forging a solo career that exploded in Europe off the back of early albums like The Next Generation (1990), No Mercy (1994) and Funkifino (1995).

Now, released in February 2022 on Ruf Records, Highs And Lows sees Bernard acknowledge his lineage through two classic songs by his father Gave It All and Now You Got It while offering nine originals. Try the irresistible groove of Hustler: a funk gem written by Bernard with Andrew Thomas, whose horn-and-harp groove evokes the strut of the title character. Or the masterful Last Night, which shifts tempo from an upbeat chop to a weeping slow-blues, capturing the changing moods of a man chasing his runaround woman. As for the title track, Bernard says it speaks for anyone left bemused by life's rollercoaster: "It's a part of life, the ups and downs that everyone deals with."

Right now, with a new album of stellar material to take out on his New Year tour, Bernard Allison is back in the ascendency and the man can't wait to return to his natural habitat. "The song So Excited is basically about the excitement of being able to be back on the road again," he says. "I think everyone can relate to that."


https://album.link/i/1610019492

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Elles Bailey - Shining in the Half Light (2022)

Tracklist:

1. Cheats and Liars (3:49)
2. The Game (3:04)
3. Stones (3:25)
4. Colours Start To Run (3:28)
5. Different Kind of Love (4:00)
6. Who's That (3:41)
7. Sunshine City (4:17)
8. Halfway House (4:49)
9. Riding Out the Storm (4:39)
10. Shining in the Half Light (3:38)


Bristol-based singer, songwriter and bandleader, who has powered her way to the-forefront of the British blues and roots scene in recent years, unveils her eagerly-awaited third album 'Shining in the Half Light'. Crammed with vibrant originals brought to life with her A-list touring band, it's yet another significant step forward in a career already feted with awards and acclaim.


'Shining in the Half Light' is Bailey's first full length album recorded in the UK & feature's Joe Wilkins on Guitar, Jonny Henderson on Ivories, Matthew Waer on Bass duties and Matthew Jones on drums. It was recorded in deepest Devon in December 2020 at Middle Farm Studios and produced by Dan Weller, best known for his long working relationship with Enter Shikari. Elles wanted this record to feature 'gospel style vocals' so in steps Izo Fitzroy, an incredible artist in her own right, who arranged the stunning background vocals on 'Shining In The Half Light', and performed them alongside Jade Elliot and Andrusilla Mosley.

An exciting team of co-writers feature with three credits for Ashton Tucker & Will Edmunds, who both wrote with Elles for 'Road I Call Home', plus she teamed up with longtime guitarist Joe Wilkins to write the slow-flowing, philosophical 'Riding Out The Storm'. Other kindred spirits include guitar maestro Martin Harley, for the gentle and romantic 'Different Kind Of Love' and Matt Owens, co-founder of the hugely successful indie-folk outfit Noah and the Whale, on the aforementioned 'Sunshine City'. The album comes to a striking conclusion with its title track, co-written with Nashville's Craig Lackey, written over Zoom in May 2020.

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https://album.link/i/1606130220

Dan Patlansky - Shelter Of Bones (2022)

 


Tenth studio album by the award-winning South African blues rock guitarist. For Patlansky, 'Shelter of Bones' covers a three-year period of many ups and downs between 2019 and 2021, and, as a result, the South African guitarist believes the process has been a very interesting journey. 'My goal is always to try make a record that I would want to listen to,' says Patlansky. 'I'm very happy and proud of this album. I produced it myself because I wanted a very particular sound. On three of the tracks, I enlisted a good friend and ex-keyboard player from Hamburg, Tom Gatza, who brought a fresh feel to these songs, especially the ballads ('I'll Keep Trying' and 'Shelter of Bones').' ''Shelter of Bones' is an accurate representation of who I am currently as an artist, which is a modern twist on what I love most, the blues.'

Tracklist:
1. Soul Parasite (3:31)
2. Snake Oil City (4:26)
3. Selfish Lover (3:14)
4. Lost (4:14)
5. Bad Soul (4:06)
6. Presence (4:13)
7. I’ll Keep Trying (5:42)
8. Devils Dopamine (3:19)
9. Sweet Memories (4:51)
10. Hounds Loose (3:44)
11. Shelter Of Bones (5:20)

https://album.link/i/1591414948

Gunn - Hand in the Fire (2022)

1971. A talented group of teens assemble, like minded, ambitious, driven. Form a cohesive unit. Hard work, honing skills, an upward trajectory. On the road, building a following. Concerts, record company interest. Life lessons. A heartbreaking break up.

2010. An accomplished, sought after B3 player joins forces with the blazing hot guitarist. GUNN is born.

2021. 50 years fast forward. Reunited, older, wiser. Alchemy, creativity, friendship, joy. Mastery, skill built by years. The long held dream, acute focus.

Tracklist:

01 - I Just Wanna Know
02 - Man with the Bucket
03 - Hoppin” Blues
04 - Wrong with My Heart
05 - It’s a New Game
06 - Crawlin’ Back to You
07 - Blind Ambition
08 - Once I Was Alive
09 - I’m a Real Woman
10 - Way to Go
11 - The House
12 - Crummy Blues


https://album.link/i/1609675028