Blues in the Bottoms Spotlight: Southern Avenue
Southern Avenue is a twice Grammy-nominated blues and soul band that serves you high energy performances with a dazzling display of vocals and instrumentality.
In Memory of Ron Teamer
Ron was the essence of that brand of old school blues musician who isn’t loud or flashy… he knew how to showcase his skills through his vocals and instruments.
KCBS 2026 Election Notice
It’s time for the annual Notice of Election for members of the Board of Directors for the Kansas City Blues Society. This is a call for Blues lovers to step up and help to manage to this wonderful organization.
There’s still time to get your raffle tickets!
It’s the annual fundraiser for the Kansas City Blues Society as we sell a chance to win a cabin for two on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise #46. It sails from Ft. Lauderdale on January 31-February 7, 2027, for Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Tickets are STILL only $20! Such a deal!
Drawing will be live on KKFI 90.1FM, November 21
Listen to Blues Kitchen online between 9am-11am at www.kkfi.org
The cruise raffle ticket is an annual fundraiser for the KCBS. Thank you for your support!
KCBS is so sorry, but the Golf Tournament has been canceled for this year, due to the weather. We regret any inconvenience!
Album Reviews
Album Review: …Time to Go
…Time to Go (EP) is the first solo release by Howard Mahan. Released in 2020, it features Kansas City musicians Adam Hagerman (drums) and Jacque Garoutte (bass, vocals) from the band Levee Town.
Album Review: Pearl River
Zito started singing at the age of five and by his late teens he had begun his career in the St. Louis area music scene. In 2008, Zito made his international debut on the Eclecto Groove label.
Album Review: Stray Dawg and The Wolves
Stray Dawg and The Wolves are known for their intense and compelling live performances, driving songs, and bringing the Texas heat to the stage.
Album Review: Super Session
Super Session is an album by Al Kooper, with guitarists Mike Bloomfield on the first half and Stephen Stills on the second half, released by Columbia Records in 1968.
Album Review: My Labors
My Labors is a strong major-label debut that the Chicago-born San Francisco bluesman was unable to capitalize on.
Album Review: Jim Colegrove’s Panther City Blues
In 1977, Jim and Sumter Bruton, formed the Juke Jumpers. They played blues, rhythm & blues, rockabilly and jump music, all in a traditional Texas style.
Recent articles from the Blog
Check out Yesterday’s Blues
- Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the February 1995 Blues News In 1952, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton recorded a robust and raunchy number with a lot of innuendo and double entendre about a fed-up female who is telling a no-account, libidinous sporting man… Read more: Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton - Walter “Furry” Lewis
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the December 1990 Blues News Beale Street, for the first quarter of this century, was one of the roughest and toughest, most rocking and swinging, wide-open streets in the country. It was a close counterpart of Kansas City’s Eighteenth and… Read more: Walter “Furry” Lewis - Speckled Red & the Dirty Dozens
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the April 1994 Blues News “Playing at the Dozens” or “Putting in the Dozens” is a folk game in which two or more participants hurl insults and boasts at one another. These highly imaginative and metaphorical comments are… Read more: Speckled Red & the Dirty Dozens - Sleepy John Estes
By Doyle Pace, originally published in the November 1995 Blues News When the documentary filmmaker David Blumenthal rediscovered Sleepy John Estes in 1962, the former blues great was destitute and living in a tumbled down shack in the middle of a cotton field outside the… Read more: Sleepy John Estes - Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the April 1990 Blues News The Last of the Old Country Bluesmen Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins was a bluesman who carried on the old country cotton-field style of the early Texas blues. In fact, blues historian Samuel Charters has… Read more: Sam “Lightnin'” Hopkins - Professor Longhair
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the February 1994 Blues News In October of 1993, New Orleans premier music club, Tipitina’s, officially changed its name to Professor Longhair’s Tipitina to honor the legendary piano player, singer, and composer who made the club his home base… Read more: Professor Longhair - Pink Anderson
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the February 1996 KCBS Blues News In the southeastern part of the US, the decline of employment on farms in the decades following the Civil War saw a steady and increasing movement of people from the hinterlands to… Read more: Pink Anderson - Mississippi John Hurt
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the Jan. 1996 Blues News A tiny gnome of a man with the countenance of an angel took the stage at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival and freaked out the rowdy audience (of mostly young white people) with… Read more: Mississippi John Hurt - Johnny Shines
By Doyle M. Pace, originally published in the FMarch 1994 Blues News Johnny Shines was a highly gifted guitar player and a literate and poetic composer of blues lyrics. He was, as well, one of our greatest bluesmen. However, through unfortunate circumstances, he never attained the… Read more: Johnny Shines