Interviews
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Blues is a genre in constant evolution. During the last 20 years, many different layers of different sounds have been infused into this genre, from Rock, to R&B, Soul and many more. A lot of different artists have tried to apply their own trademark to the new sounds they have mashed with the blues, some with successful results, others a bit less.
One of the most innovative pioneers of the new sound forms that the blues has assumed through the last decades is certainly Chicago-born guitar veteran Ronnie Baker Brooks. Son of the late great Lonnie Brooks, a symbol of the true Chicago Blues sadly passed away this year age 83, Ronnie Baker Brooks started to learn how to play guitar age six, to then follow his father's steps by touring with him for almost twenty years.
Read more: Building The Confidence - In Conversation With Ronnie Baker Brooks
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The day that Jeff Healey passed away, in that sad 2nd March 2008, it was the day when the world of music lost one of its most extraordinary and versatile artists that the music business has ever had in the last half a century. The Toronto-born guitarist's life was bookended by serious health issues, starting at the tender age of one, when he lost his sight due to a rare ocular cancer retinoblastoma going then to the last three years to his life, when he lost a even more tragic battle for life against sarcoma cancer.
Undaunted by blindness, Healey found a huge love and understanding for music and for the guitar in particular, something that allowed him to express his enormous talent. His thunderous and blazing signature guitar style made the tour of the world, giving to Healey the opportunity to sign a record deal with a major, to build his own band and lead it to global fame from the late 80's onward, with millions of records sold worldwide.
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Fulfilling your dreams and your career goals is something we all aim to in our lives. We like to dream big and we are all convinced that life is going to be just a huge piece of cake, with plenty of opportunities to show who we are and what we can do.
When this idea applies to music, no one more than a blues or blues/rock artist knows how that path is rather a difficult one, with plenty of hard work, obstacles and sacrifices to be made, in order to be able to reach for the stars, one day. Albert Castiglia, one of the most talented blues musicians of this current generation, certainly earned in the hard way the respect and the popularity from both fellow musicians and fans through a career that has seen the Florida-based artist's music growing bigger and bigger album after album, together with his eclectic and powerful guitar style.
Read more: Living The Dream - In Conversation With Albert Castiglia
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
2016 has certainly been a memorable year for one of the most respected American Blues bands, Mississippi Heat. Their 2016's stunning album Cab Driving Heat has received unanimous praises from the worldwide music press and the Chicago-based collective, through their fabulous combo of Blues, Funk, Boogie and Rumba has once again shown the quality and the charisma of one of the most eclectic and innovative bands of the Blues scene.
The last 12 months have seen the band being very busy promoting and touring incessantly Cab Driving Heat but Bluebird Reviews has being waiting patiently and finally managed to talk to Mississippi Heat's bandleader Pierre Lacocque about the band's new album and the impact that music has always had in Lacocque's personal life and career as a musician.
Read more: The Blues Family - An Interview To Pierre Lacocque (Mississippi Heat)
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It's a cold, wintery afternoon in London, United Kingdom when Bluebird Reviews goes to give the award as Artist Of The Year for 2016 for our website to Los Angeles singer/songwriter Beth Hart. The past 14 months have been certainly among the most intense and rewarding for the American artist; while still enjoying the huge commercial success of the 2015 Better Than Home album, here comes, totally out of the blue, a brand new record and perhaps one of the most inspired one that Hart has ever made in his career, called Fire On The Floor.
It's a bit of a mystery how Beth Hart could have found the time to write and record a new album shortly after the successful Better Than Home, given the intense touring that the American singer/songwriter faces every year. "Check this one out, because, hand on heart, I am telling you nothing but the truth! It took less than two weeks between meetings with Oliver Leiber and then three days in the studio to record, that was it! That was all it took to make the album. This album was made directly after Better Than Home and the reason why it was made in that time, it was because before we left the New York Studio, where we later spent about seven days for the recording of Better Than Home, we got back home in L.A. and I was starting feeling a bit of anxiety, given what was happening at the time. Better Than Home was a very painful record for me to do and I was aware that Michael Stevens, one of the producers of Better Than Home was dying (he then sadly passed away in October 2015). As a result, even before we started the mixing process for Better Than Home, I called Ed Van Zijl at Mascot (Hart's label) and I said to him: "Dude, if I don't get in the studio right now and make another record, I'll probably never go back in there ever again, after the experience I am living". He said to me "What's happening? Are you not satisfied with how things are going with Better Than Home?" to which I replied "I haven't got the faintest idea because that album has not even been mixed yet but I am positive the Team mixing the album will make a great job. The bottom line is that I need to get back again in the studio, now, please". When I then got the "Go Ahead" from Ed, I was very excited again and I couldn't quite believe I was given that chance. Then it's me back on the phone with Oliver Leiber, telling him "Man, can I come and see you? I need to talk to you". I went there and and he could spot something about me, asking if I was ok and I told him I was feeling ok but having a tough time lately. I asked him if I could make another record with him and he said "Sure, just send me the songs".
Read more: God Is In The House - In Conversation With Beth Hart