Latest Stories

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  The Road of Southern Avenue Leads to Blues, Soul, and Funk

  February 25 at 4 a.m.

  When he landed in Memphis, Tennessee in 2013 to compete in the annual International Blues Challenge and represent his native Israel, it was a dream come true for guitarist Ori Naftaly. And while victory in his category eluded him, he quickly made some contacts, formed a band, and went on...

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  Coco Montoya's Hot New Record Sparks Houston Memories

  Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 5 a.m.

  It’s a common tale in the annals of contemporary music that a newly-minted blues fan first discovers the genre not from any of the African-American originators and descendants, but through the mutations played by white, younger, and often English blues rock acolytes. That’s was certainly the case for the Coco...

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  Tedeschi Trucks Band Play Powerful Fall Tour Opener in Houston

  Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 6:24 a.m.

  Tedeschi Trucks Band November 6, 2019 The Hobby Center In music journalism, terms like “spiritual” and “soulful” get thrown around quite a bit. A good chunk of bands have neither evident in their music. Some of have one. Fewer have both. And still less have both in abundance. Count the...

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  Michael Bloomfield: The Forgotten Guitarist of Blues Rock

  Wednesday, October 23, 2019 at 5 a.m.

  Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield’s Life in the Blues By David Dann 736 pp. $39.95 University of Texas Press At one point in the mid/late ‘60s, Michael Bloomfield was considered by many as the country’s premiere blues-rock guitarist, seamlessly meshing the traditions of the genre’s past with the louder inclinations of...

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  Roundtrip Ticket To The Blues: The Mighty Orq Releases Live Album

  Tuesday, September 24, 2019 at 5 a.m.

  It’s no secret that Houston has an abundance of great blues, past and present. It has been the stomping ground for many great blues men and women. The Mighty Orq is no exception, he has been a fixture in the Houston blues scene since 2002, and even got his name...

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  Bluesman Sparky Parker Lights Up the Dark

  Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 4 a.m.

  When Eric “Sparky” Parker was 13, he began a love affair. Not with a beguiling classmate at a school dance, but with the guitar. And while there’s a noisy graveyard somewhere out there of instruments that were abandoned by teenagers, you won’t find one of his axes there. “I was...