Hollywood Fats Band
Blues By the Pound, Vol. 1
(Topcat Records)

An array of flabbergasting talents joined irreplaceable fretboard luminary Mike Mann: Fred Kaplan, Al Blake, Richard Innes, and Larry Taylor. The hip know nothing more need be said.


Recommended: "Road Camp Blues" (Fats solo), "Oakie Dokie Stomp," "Nit Wit," "She Split," "Really Gone," "Soon Forgotten," "Too Much Jelly Roll," "Tribute To T-Bone Walker," "Linda Lu"

Video: "Road Camp Blues"
                 "Oakie Dokie Stomp"
                  "Nit Wit"


https://www.facebook.com/Hollywood-Fats-Band-153294343796/

https://www.facebook.com/TopCatRecords/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/hollywoodfatsband#

https://www.facebook.com/groups/52543408590/


https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Pound-Hollywood-Fats-Band/dp/B07Q5FXMH8/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Hollywood+Fats&qid=1557617169&s=music&sr=1-1

https://open.spotify.com/album/2F8RNFshf6WMcupDijr8Wj

Mojo Martin
Livin' the Dream
(self)

Chris and crackerjacks offer dashing rock'n'roll that affirms its bluesy heritage. Lead guitarist E.B. Anderson amazes. In fact, the same can be said of all responsible.

A vision rises: Finger-popping and spinning taproom party-goers are happily lost in the topsy-turvy moment. Some swing from chandeliers by their knees, clapping along with the solid-beat merriment in bacchanaliac abandon.

Music this striking inspires images that flamboyant.

Recommended: "Got the Travelling Bug," "North Atlantic Hurricane," "Raise Up Your Voice,"  "Let's Talk Turkey," "Going Back To the Woods," "Nappin' When It Happened" (E.B. Anderson vocal), "Livin' the Daydream," "Rockabilly Blues Emergency," "Knotty Pine"

Video: "Got the Travelling Bug"
                "North Atlantic Hurricane"
                 "Nappin' When It Happened" 
             

https://mojomartin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MojoMartinMusic/

https://mojomartin.bandcamp.com/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/mojomartin1#


https://www.amazon.com/Livin-Daydream-Mojo-Martin/dp/B07QGGQM55/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Mojo+Martin&qid=1557605492&s=dmusic&search-type=ss&sr=1-2

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/mojo-martin/1041041727

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3h9RtolHHCc83MaGLspTJF

The Seatbelts
Live Bootleg Series, Vol. 
(self)

Class of 1977 Detroit punks, still adept at the crash-and-smash mayhem that credit implies. Word is "Patti Smith" was the first song they wrote. In its latest iteration, shards of "Surfin' Bird," and "Mad Daddy" are scattered amongst rude debris. 

Their CD Baby bio notes they turn up at underground parties, goth weddings, and fallen warriors' wakes. Which entirely befits their chosen life and beats all hell out of suburban repose in which memories of 1977 are mothballed.

Recommended:  "I Want To Marry Patti Smith," "No Particular Place To Go," "Dare Devil Baby," "She's a Killer"

Video: "I Want To Marry Patti Smith"
                 "Dare Devil Baby"


https://www.facebook.com/seatbeltsdetroit/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/theseatbeltsanddetroit16#



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PB21C2N/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-seatbelts-live-bootleg-series-vol-1-ep/1454687478

https://play.google.com/store/music/artist/The_Seatbelts?id=Aqksmabwi2owfosa4tqgfdfhmca&hl=en_US

https://open.spotify.com/album/7d3PPL1NS4ECvvEuPfTATC

https://ar.napster.com/artist/the-seatbelts/album/the-seatbelts-live-bootleg-series-vol-1

Bloodsucking Zombies From Outer Space
All These Fiendish Things
(Schlitzer Pepi Records)

Everything here announces distinction: economical writing, vocals of impressive range, vigorous playing, and fully abloom, atmospheric production that includes audio extras. 

Most psychobilly bands romp and rage. This one does, too. But it also illustrates the horror movie/Rock'n'Roll genre can include combos of high capacities.

Recommended: "Bela Kiss," "Good Guy Rag Doll," "This Ain't No Halloween Costume," "Janet Leigh," "Rebel Heart," "Sleepaway Camp '95," "Rock'n'Roll Vampires," "Don't Answer the Phone"

Video: "Bela Kiss"
                 "Good Guy Rad Doll"



https://www.facebook.com/BZFOS/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Schlitzer-Pepi-Records/249273221824443


https://www.amazon.com/These-Fiendish-Things-Bloodsucking-Zombies/dp/B07MMBBWZ7

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-these-fiendish-things/1449312284

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0KqznEOu3uw5H643xIvlq9

Matt Lucas
Musician's Blues
(self / Hairylarryland)

Rockabilly Hall of Fame honoree Matt is at home within a swinging New Orleans song. It's the assurance resulting from a life spent with mic in hand, throwing himself without inhibition into music that makes the world better. 

Recommended: "The M.C. Twine," "Going To Toronto," "The Mau Mau Boogie," "Key West," "San Quentin Blues," "Newspaperman Blues." "The Lonesome Traveler," "Ballad of Effie"

Video: "The M.C. Twine"
           "Going To Toronto"


https://mattlucasmusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547538752

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/MattLucas.html


https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/mattlucas23

With fellow New Orleans musical legend Fats Domino. (Credit: Please Kill Me site.)

With James Burton

Grizzly Family
Going To the Rockabilly Hop!
(Calavera Records)

Clever songcraft and muscular readings share triumph. Crisp, immediate sound with satisfying echo allows rollicking fun to make its case most powerfully.  In distinction, all instruments are accomplished; in union, they are mightiness to which you can whirl. 

Recommended: "Rockabilly Hop," "Indian Joe," "Only One," "Shotgun Wedding Theme," "Exotic Love," "A Cat Called Domino," "My Baby's Got Love," "I Fell In Love," "Jungle Love, Jungle Fever," "Big Fool," "Crazy Crazy Lovin'" (only on vinyl), "Don't Let Go" (only on vinyl)

Video: "Rockabilly Hop"


http://thegrizzlyfamily.fr/thegrizzlyfamily.fr/Les_News.html

https://www.facebook.com/GrizzlyFamily/

https://www.facebook.com/calaverarecord/

https://soundcloud.com/user-685869399/sets/rockabilly-hop-the-grizzly-1/s-fdpkB?fbclid=IwAR3D6InJ_4LuEsMeBFDC1bMKTkVYWUXO6_X6RU26A2mKi2eBBBqk3SHyUmI

Rockabilly Mafia
Signature In Blood
(Crazy Love Records)

The introductory restraint with which the title cut teases gives way to swift-footed boldness of spectacular sort.

Recommended: "Signature In Blood," "Rockabilly Beat," "Schwarze Rose," "Melancholie," "Nicht Fur Mich," "Frei," "Unchain the Force," "On the Run," "Bop Alter Mann," ""

Videos: "Signature In Blood" (live)
             "Rockabilly Beat"


http://www.rockabillymafia.de/?fbclid=IwAR2GfAaEllEXdgr3lgMte0V_S4Cgku40tlvpzVeYeUdI2lVbac9slHUpoXE

https://www.facebook.com/Rockabilly-Mafia-106655342758033/



https://www.amazon.com/Signature-Blood-VINYL-Rockabilly-Mafia/dp/B07BC2Y6QN

https://lp.reverb.com/albums/signature-in-blood-1/listings

The Dyna Jets
Greatest Hits of All Time 
(Johnny Tex / self)

Distorted guitar and echoed yelps from the same off-kilter dimension that produced the Cramps, Flat Duo Jets and a shrieking host of stitch-faced misfits. Garden of discordance. Cool, in peculiarly vernal manner. 

All tracks collected from two earlier releases.


Recommended: "The Calling," "She's My Everything," "Let Me Let Go," "You Know It's Not Easy," "Wildcat," "Oooh Eee," "Tjing Tjing," "Whistle Bait"

Video: "The Calling"


https://www.facebook.com/thedynajets/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thedynajets

https://thedynajets.bandcamp.com/releases?fbclid=IwAR0TDmLte9aze3ONWshFSVjj7lF2WCNW7lgamab8JdtJwbp6TDbHDqEgIQM




http://www.groovierecords.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1372&search=dyna+jets


https://www.amazon.com/Shes-Magnetic-DYNA-JETS/dp/B00TTCK6XG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=dyna+jets&qid=1557415139&s=music&sr=1-1-spell


https://mandingarecords.bandcamp.com/

2015's The Calling" (Mandinga Records)

2015 vinyl (Groovie Records)

In 2014

Frank Zappa
Guitar World: According To Frank Zappa
(UME)

Newly issued on vinyl, this 1987 Guitar World magazine cassette contained eight tracks, and included an unreleased solo. 

Of course, this is only a glimpse at the worth of the man. In manners peculiar, he was a composer, cultural satirist, and that rare instrumentalist who was so much at one with sounds, themselves, that there was no discernible dividing space. 

"All the great music's already been written by guys with wigs," he famously remarked. 

That's quite restrictive. Even oppressive, in its implication. (Why compose at all, if from the outset you believe your effort to be negligible?)

As only a finite number of notes and combinations thereof exists, no melody hasn't already been sung. And surely in numerous iterations. But particular expressions of limited tones at hand, ones that are choreographed by individual spirits in given moments, can make for music of unique and rewarding aspect.

Evident by listening is that Frank Zappa understood. 


Recommended: "Sleep Dirt," "Friendly Little Finger," Excerpt from "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra,"
"Things That Look Like Meat," "Down In de Dew," "A Solo From Heidelberg," "A Solo From Cologne," "A Solo From Atlanta"

Videos: "Friendly Little Finger"  (1976 Zoot Allures LP version)

1963 Steve Allen Show appearance by young "musical bicyclist" Frank Zappa


https://www.zappa.com/news/guitar-world-according-frank-zappa-record-store-day-2019


https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-World-According-Frank-Zappa/dp/B07Q2FHDKT/ref=sr_1_10?qid=1556737602&refinements=p_32%3AFRANK+ZAPPA&s=music&sr=1-10

Hot Shooters
Artichoke
(self)

It's like entering a time period that's not just past, but happier. The swing sounds of the 1930s and '40s are brought to new life by this sprightly Argentinian quartet. With clarinet, washboard, double bass, and tenor guitar -- plus urbane harmonies that wash fitting gloss across the economical whole, and comical onstage antics  -- they inspire thoughts of the Hoosier Hot Shots. 

And who else does that, today?


Recommended: "Artichoke," "Istanbul," "Coney Island Washboard," "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," "12th Street Rag," "Hit That Jive, Jack"

Video: "Artichoke" (backstage)
            "She Broke My Heart In Three Places" (non-CD Hoosier Hot Shots cover)


https://www.facebook.com/hot.shooters/

https://www.instagram.com/hot.shooters/?fbclid=IwAR1A2tRvkXPm45_fC9sI2aYpP_Irr7e3Kr0TZggu8QVRz0exOibIJ8dPmqA

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/hotshooters4#



https://www.amazon.com/Artichoke-Hot-Shooters/dp/B07R7JVG1L/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Hot+Shooters&qid=1556852326&s=dmusic&search-type=ss&sr=1-3

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/artichoke-single/1459131949

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ysnOJKYkI0bYls02QOAAr

Coop and the Chicken Pluckers
Pluck You (self)

Coop and the Chicken Pluckers were tearing it up, under the lights.

"BR5-49!" One guy pounded the bar.

"Big Sandy!" His friend insisted. 

They turned to the bouffant barmaid.

"Who do these guys remind you of?"

She was bobbing her head and drumming her fingers. She scanned the packed dance floor. Everybody was movin'.

"I think you both got ahold of somethin'." She drew another mug. "But they got their own thing goin' on, too."


Recommended: "Gimme Your Love," "Steppin' Over You,"  "I'm Ready," "Synthetically Sane," "Every Dog Has Its Day"

Video: "Gimme Your Love"


https://www.coopandthechickenpluckers.com/home

https://www.facebook.com/Coop-the-Chicken-Pluckers-190629684308563/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/coopandthechickenpluckers#


https://www.amazon.com/Pluck-Explicit-Coop-Chicken-Pluckers/dp/B07RB12LLM/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=Plucker&qid=1556919966&s=dmusic&sr=1-4

The Retrobaits
All Systems Go
(Western Star)

Familiarity is inherent in vintage-styled music. It certainly doesn't count against representative works. What makes the exercise attention-worthy is the amount of personality and spark that lend animation. Here's an illustrative example.

Recommended: "All Systems Go," "Hey, Hey, Hayley," "Heartache Comin' Your Way," "She's My Little Girl," "Hey, Mr. Bottle,"  "I Just Know"

Video: "All Systems Go" (Bopflix)


https://www.facebook.com/TheRetrobaits/


https://western-star.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=42293&fbclid=IwAR3NCkWZHWj3rL0qlKfr67d_ExqM60STFfQx5aK7TZofe43_44sEzjxtQes


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q6P39VH

https://open.spotify.com/album/1aDnne3XcUX5Q0iF2XsmPO

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-systems-go/1457046206

Big Chimney Barn Dance
Whoa Mule, Get Up In the Alley
(self)

In the 1940s, my wife's grandfather left the coal mines of Virginia to work for the Chicago Western Railroad's Iowa branch. He was part of southern blacks' Great Migration to midwest states. Unbeknownst to them, railroad bosses had lured them to replace striking white workers. 

He played banjo, guitar, and fiddle. My wife recalls he played on the porch, after supper, and she and her siblings danced to the old-timey string music.

This fine-in-all-manners rendering of common folks' Americana also made her dance. 


Recommended: "Sittin' On Top of the World," "Red Mountain Wine," "Swamp Cat Rag," "Skipping and Flying," "Hunting the Buffalo," "Lonesome John," "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," "The Golden Ticket," "I Don't Care," "Katy Did," "Chattanooga"

Video: "Skipping and Flying" (live in studio)
            "Hunting the Buffalo" (live in studio)


https://www.bigchimneybarndance.com/

https://www.facebook.com/BigChimneyBarnDance/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/bigchimneybarndance#



https://www.amazon.com/Whoa-Mule-Get-up-Alley/dp/B07PJW5V5S/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Big+Chimney+Barn+Dance&qid=1556682759&s=music&sr=8-1

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/whoa-mule-get-up-in-the-alley/1455760148

Miss Lily Moe
Wine Is Fine
(Rhythm Bomb)

Many recall the jumped-up country that came out of Sam Phillips's Sun Studios. And there was much to learn from and affectionately replicate. It deserves emulation.

But Miss Lily Moe finds inspiration elsewhere. Roomy, decisive rhythm and blues of the sort that was in the 1950s put to vinyl by Syd Nathan, Leonard and Phil Chess, Ahmet Ertegun, and innumerable others who helped forge modern American music. 

It's an old sound, yes. But one yet drawing breath. And, in these grooves, with authoritative vibrancy.


Recommended: "Rockin' On Saturday Night," "Daddy, You Can't Come Back," "Baby's Gonna Rock and Roll," "Mama's Out To Have a Ball" "Roll On," "Sammy the Rabbit"

Video: "Rockin' On Saturday Night"


https://www.facebook.com/misslilymoe/

http://misslilymoe.com/

http://www.rhythmbomb.com/miss-lily-moe-wine-is-fine-2/


https://www.amazon.com/Wine-Fine-Miss-Lily-Moe/dp/B07F3CN911

https://open.spotify.com/album/70fBHn7OASwnrVKb7Z3CTD

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/wine-is-fine/1405511646

https://www.reverbnation.com/misslilymoe/album/208448-wine-is-fine

https://www.deezer.com/en/album/67067852

Mad Man Mike and the Rhythm Devils
s/t (Katzen Music)

Beloved standards, charged anew by palpable faith and instrumental knack of double-take nature. 

Recommended: "Moonlight Ride," "Blue Jean Bop," "Cut Across Shorty," "Uranium Rock," "Just Because," "Hallelujah, I Just Love Her So," "One Sweet Letter," "Standing On a Rock"

Videos:  CD promo 
              "Cut Across Shorty"


http://www.mike-rhythm-devils.de/

http://www.mike-rhythm-devils.de/cd-shop.html

https://www.facebook.com/mikeandtherhythmdevils/


https://www.bear-family.com/mad-man-mike-and-the-rhythm-devils-mad-man-mike-and-the-rhythm-devils-cd.html

Mark Holzinger 
(feat. Simon Planting and John Waller)
Take Off Guitar!
(Mark Holzinger / Reel Zinger Records)

Jazz strings and their artful confederates stroll through magnificent landscapes, esteem their due. 

Top drawer talents joining Holzinger, Planting, and Waller, in various configurations, include Jeff Sanford, Terry Rodriguez, Conrad Diesler, Bobby Black, Jim Hurley, Jason Bellenkes, and Olan Dillingham.

Recommended: "Jammin' With Jimmy," "Caravan," "Seven Come Eleven," "Avalon," "Cherokee," "Why Oh Why," "Moonlight In Vermont," "Hot 'n' Bothered"

Video: "Caravan" (live)
           "Seven Come Eleven" (live, M. Holzinger and S. Planting)


https://www.facebook.com/mark.holzinger.5

https://www.facebook.com/simon.planting.7

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/markholzinger



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q4VQCQM/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

https://open.spotify.com/album/4V91KMjkwiVwGaBQTMa8ks

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/take-off-guitar-feat-simon-planting-john-waller/1459420480

Mark Holzinger and Simon Planting