Blues
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Walter Trout
All of us are broken. However, no one is beyond repair. It’s a philosophy that Walter Trout has lived by during seven volatile decades at the heart of America’s blues-rock scene. The fabled bluesman’s latest album, 2024’s Broken, chronicles the bitter schisms of modern life but refuses to succumb to them. For the last half-century, no matter how rocky his path, hope always lights the way. The beats of Trout’s unbelievable story are well-known: the traumatic childhood in Ocean City, New Jersey. The audacious West Coast move in ’74, and auspicious, chaotic sideman shifts with John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton. The raging addictions that somehow never stopped the boogie when he was with Canned Heat in the early-’80s. Even now, some will point to Trout’s mid-’80s guitar pyrotechnics with John Mayall’s legendary Bluesbreakers as his career high point. But for far more fans, the blood, heart and soul of his solo career since 1989 is the main event. It’s a peerless creative streak underlined by the guitarist’s regular triumphs at awards ceremonies. Trout is a perennial visitor to the Blues Music Awards, SENA European Guitar Awards, British Blues Awards, and Blues Blast Music Awards. The iconic British DJ ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris spoke for millions when he mentioned Trout by name. He declared Trout “the world’s greatest rock guitarist” in his 2001 autobiography The Whispering Years. Trout could mark time and dine out on those past glories if he were a less questing artist. He could relax and leave the polemics and calls-to-arms to a younger generation. But that’s not enough, considers the still-hungry veteran. As the pandemic burnt out, Trout got back to business. In short, the career-long cycle of writing, touring and resting is still as natural to him as breathing. Recommended for fans of Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Sonny Landreth and Eric Gales.
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Walter Trout
All of us are broken. However, no one is beyond repair. It’s a philosophy that Walter Trout has lived by during seven volatile decades at the heart of America’s blues-rock scene. The fabled bluesman’s latest album, 2024’s Broken, chronicles the bitter schisms of modern life but refuses to succumb to them. For the last half-century, no matter how rocky his path, hope always lights the way. The beats of Trout’s unbelievable story are well-known: the traumatic childhood in Ocean City, New Jersey. The audacious West Coast move in ’74, and auspicious, chaotic sideman shifts with John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton. The raging addictions that somehow never stopped the boogie when he was with Canned Heat in the early-’80s. Even now, some will point to Trout’s mid-’80s guitar pyrotechnics with John Mayall’s legendary Bluesbreakers as his career high point. But for far more fans, the blood, heart and soul of his solo career since 1989 is the main event. It’s a peerless creative streak underlined by the guitarist’s regular triumphs at awards ceremonies. Trout is a perennial visitor to the Blues Music Awards, SENA European Guitar Awards, British Blues Awards, and Blues Blast Music Awards. The iconic British DJ ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris spoke for millions when he mentioned Trout by name. He declared Trout “the world’s greatest rock guitarist” in his 2001 autobiography The Whispering Years. Trout could mark time and dine out on those past glories if he were a less questing artist. He could relax and leave the polemics and calls-to-arms to a younger generation. But that’s not enough, considers the still-hungry veteran. As the pandemic burnt out, Trout got back to business. In short, the career-long cycle of writing, touring and resting is still as natural to him as breathing. Recommended for fans of Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Sonny Landreth and Eric Gales.
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Davina and The Vagabonds at Dakota
The Dakota 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN, United States“Davina and the Vagabonds combat heartache with sugar and sass.” – Downbeat Davina Sowers and the Vagabonds have created a stir on the national music scene. Their high-energy live shows feature level-A musicianship, sharp-dressed professionalism and Sowers’ commanding stage presence. Also, their influences range from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits. Moreover, the band is converting audiences one show at a time, from Vancouver to Miami and across Europe. Much like the music, the story spurns era, expectation and classification. The often unbelievable, sometimes harrowing, and wholly inspiring journey of Davina Sowers gave birth to her eponymous band in 2004. As the tale goes, she grew up in the economically depressed Allegheny town of Altoona, PA. She now describes the town as “awesome in the industrial era, but horrible for high school.” Then, she was adopted by her stepfather when he was in his 80s; he passed when she was just 13. Through him and his Edison phonograph, she first heard the music that would start her journey. For example, The Ink Spots, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many others. “Great man. He was my angel and still is,” she says. On her own, she vividly recalls hours in front of the record player at home. There, she religiously spun Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Simon and Garfunkel records belonging to her folk singer mom. To this day, Davina still refers to music as “my first and eternal love.” Despite early dalliances with classical piano and guitar, she developed a heavy drug habit in high school. Further, this morphed into heroin dependency, left her homeless, sent her in and out of jail and brought on all manner of trouble. Kicking dope on the streets, she “got clean, started the band and worked ass off every day since.” Recommended for fans of Pokey LaFarge, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Hot Sardines and Squirrel Nut Zippers.