Theodis Ealey Sings The Blues

Those in the Atlanta, Georgia area and Blues fans in general, have long appreciated the silky smooth vocals and the slick guitar playing of singer – songwriter Theodis Ealey. He was born in Sibley, Mississippi, and grew up in Natchez, south of the Delta and he says, “I grew up listening to all of those great singers who came out of there.

“I came to realize that no matter what kind of music I played the Blues was going to come out of me.  Even if I am playing Jazz, I am going to play Blues (he chuckles).  I call myself an old hippie, because I was a young man during the sixties and I love good rock music. I listened to Jimi Hendrix and I loved him. I also used to love Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago and groups like that. I started to emulate them,” he says.  

It was while he was living in Honolulu, Hawaii that Ealey connected with Jazz organist Talmadge Grundy, who was playing a lot of legendary organist Jimmy Smith’s music and he and Grundy who played a left hand bass with his organ decided to form a group called the Triple Sounds.

Even though, Theodis Ealey says, that for the most part the music he heard on the radio while he was growing up was Pop, Country or Rock it was the Blues that captured his heart and his ears from an early age. “It is good music and my brothers played it. We went out to the juke joints and stuff. I lived on Highway 61 and across the street was a juke joint that was run by this woman named Willie Mae and I referred to it as Miss Willie Mae’s Place. Read More

Chelsea Crowell Blazing Her Own Trail

Singer-Songwriter Chelsea Crowell was on the telephone from her hotel room in Salt Lake City where she was preparing to perform in concert, both on her own and with her mother, Rosanne Cash.  In some ways, it was a continuation of a conversation that first took place when this writer met Chelsea, earlier in the year, after she had appeared on stage in Toronto Canada, performing two songs, a solo, “Where The Hell Is Robert E. Lee?” a song that she wrote and “I Want My Seven Years Back,” another of her own songs, and one that she performed as a duet with her father, Rodney Crowell.  Some people might wrongly assume that when both your parents are Grammy Award winning artists and your grandfather was Johnny Cash that getting up on stage and strumming a guitar and singing songs would come naturally, but that has not been the case for Chelsea Crowell, who although immensely talented, has dealt with anxiety throughout the early part of her career.

Crowell says that rather than being drawn to a career in music, “I wanted to own a horse farm and I wanted to write books about horses. I think I was almost finished my record, before I told my parents that I was recording it or that I wrote and played songs. I just wanted to keep this stuff to myself. Once I got to the point of putting out my record, it was wait, wait a minute. Before it was all great that it was coming together and that it worked for me and I felt good about it. Then there were a couple of months I had some anxiety about, if people were going to think that I was riding on the coattails (of her family).  Looking back, I think that anybody in my position would have thought that. I have been doing pretty well for a couple of months now and I only have little flashes of (anxiety) now and again, but it’s not a giant shadow.” Read More

Jesse and Noah

Jesse and Noah are brothers and in the three years that this writer has known them, they have surely and steadily turned more and more heads in country music circles, because of their knack for writing good songs and their splendid vocal harmonies. The sons of David Bellamy of the infamous Bellamy Brothers best noted for their number one single “Let Your Love Flow,” and “Spiders and Snakes,” a song penned by David and one which became a # 5 hit for Jim Stafford, have established themselves from the beginning based on their own talent. For their new album Landfall, Jesse served as the primary songwriter and at times it seems as though Noah plays every instrument ever invented by man.  At the beginning of December Jesse and Noah Bellamy, who bill themselves simply as Jesse and Noah, sat down with me to talk about their album Landfall.

“I think our favorite stuff to listen to is traditional country and classic rock n roll and stuff like that. I think the stuff that we personally like the best is more in that vein and we listen to modern stuff, mainly to compete,” explains Jesse. “We like to do the traditional stuff and at the same time we want to stay current.”

“The stuff that we ended up with is what we feel (reflects) the best singing and it is what we like to sing and play. We really like the songwriting part of country and then we like the great rock albums of the sixties and the seventies and the things that you could play all the way through,” Noah adds, surmising that his guitar playing draws inspiration from those sources. “When I got more into producing, I started hearing guitar parts a little differently and the kinds of tricks that people would use on albums, like layering different guitars.” Read more

Blues Interview: Billy Thompson

A Better Man seems like an apt description of Blues guitarist and singer – songwriter Billy Thompson and it is also the title of his current album, an album that is being played on radio stations worldwide and has in particular garnered favorable radio airplay in the northeast United States. The former army brat who grew up in Fort Polk, Louisiana, prior to his parents moving to New Mexico and eventually as an adult he made his home in San Diego, has served up his best album to date. In creating what has turned into a spell binding, note bending and virtuosic guitar performance, Billy Thompson collaborated with drummer and producer Tony Braunagel, who has played and recorded with Eric Burdon, Rickie Lee Jones, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal, and enlisted the services of Grammy Award winning sound engineer and producer Ed Cherney, who mixed A Better Man. Thompson who has also played with an impressive lineup of artists including, Little Milton, Albert King, Art Neville, Chuck Berry and Elvin Bishop, assembled his own cast of impressive musicians to back him on this album, including, guitarist Johnny Lee Schell (Bonnie Raitt, Renne Geyer),  keyboardist Mike Finnigan (Etta James, Crosby Stills and Nash, Peter Frampton, Rod Stewart, Tracy Chapman and Buddy Guy), guitarist Kenny Gradney (Little Feat, Carly Simon, Delaney and Bonnie, Robert Palmer, Warren Zevon), bassist James “Hutch” Hutchinson (Professor Longhair, James Booker, Garth Brooks, Elton John, Kathy Mattea, Tanya Tucker, Pattie La Belle, Bryan Adams, Stevie Nicks) and of course Tony Braunagel on drums Read more

Paula Nelson Has a Fire Below

As Paula Nelson stepped from her tour bus, she stuck out her hand, and the petite blonde haired country music singer / songwriter warmly shook mine, as she flashed a smile reminiscent of her father Willie, and then introduced me to the members of her band. While walking across the street to the Biltmore Cabaret, where she would perform late that evening, she appeared genuinely interested in making sure I felt welcomed and relaxed, and later as we sat and talked about her career, the charm which the citizens of Austin, Texas are famous for, was evident in abundance.

Whether Paula Nelson is singing, “Fire Below,” a rockin’ tune about re-entering the dating scene, her tender love song, “Overboard,” a three-part harmony, such as, “Day To Day Love,” with her father Willie Nelson and her brother Lukas, or a song of perseverance such as, “Standing Tall,” all of Paula Nelson’s songs draw the listener in, because her vocals are intimately bound to the strings of her heart, and each phrase evokes strong emotions from her fans. Nelson is one of those genuine people, authentic in every way, down to earth, and she allows those emotions to flow through her lyrics, while each bar of music, somehow seems to find the right tones and colors to reflect her moods.

Nelson talks about her songs, “They are extremely honest, and are straight from my heart. Read more

Sarah Taylor

 “When the economy tanked I became hyper focused and decided to do what I should have done ten years ago, which is to make my record,” says singer – songwriter and producer Sarah Taylor and she is right, because although music fans have enjoyed listening to Sarah Taylor sing backup vocals with an iconic array of artists spanning numerous genres this is the first time that Sarah Taylor’s vocals have been showcased when she has been a solo artist. She has recorded and performed with an iconic array of artists that include; Chaka Kahn, Melissa Etheridge, Burt Bacharach, Olivia Newton John, LL Cool J, Quincy Jones, Joe Cocker, Brian McKnight, Tanya Tucker, Kenny Loggins and Kenny G.  Her vocals and original songs have appeared in film and on television and along with her husband Paul Horabin she forms one half of what is considered to be a prolific production team, recording out of their own studio ReadMix Music, located in the NOHO district of Los Angeles.

Earlier this year Sarah Taylor collaborated on an album with Paul Horabin and her longtime friend, musician, songwriter and actor Bill Mumy to create The Cure To Everything, consisting of thirteen songs, which range from the downright swampy feel of “Bad Medicine,” to the southwest rock – bluesy feel of “Don’t Give A Damn,” and a cover of the Lennon / McCartney “I’ve Got A Feeling,” featuring incredible instrumentals and highlighting the soulful, yet edgier side of Sarah Taylor’s vocals, as she is gritty and at times her wails are reminiscent of Janis Joplin in her prime. At times, on “I’ve Got A Feeling,” Taylor trades verses with Mumy and Dave Pearlman’s guitar growls, while Gerry Beckley plays Wurlitzer electric piano and Fritz Lewak is on drums and percussion. Read more