50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music

Alligator Records – Disk 3

The final disk of this recording is the most modern of the three, and therefore many of the songs on the disk may already be within your collection.

Marsha Ball and her piano return us to New Orleans with the aptly named “Party Town”.  Keeping the party going is the wonderful slide guitar work of Lil’ Ed Williams and his Blues Imperials. “What You See Is What You Get” is representative of the 30 plus years of rollicking Chicago Blues that Ed has brought to the world and rightfully belongs in this collection.

Billy Branch & The Sons of Blues with “Blue and Lonesome”. Contribute Chicago blues to the collection. Various songs from current Alligator talent follow with selections from

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Curtis Salgado, and Selwyn Birchwood.

Recently the Blues Foundation announced the 2021 Blues Music Awards. – Alligator artists Shemekia Copeland took home 3 awards, including Entertainer of The Year; “Kingfish” took home two awards; two more for Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite’s 100 Years of Blues. Their “Midnight Hour Blues” is included on this collection. And Rick Estrin & The Nightcats won Band of The Year and appear on the CD with “I’m Running”.

The Cash Box Kings present “Ain’t No Fun”; blues rockers Tommy Castro & The Painkillers are trying to “Make It Back To Memphis” (aren’t we all!) in a live recorded version. Coco Montoya reminds us that “We Didn’t Think About That” when ending a relationship. Tinsley Ellis, the amazing Chris Cain, and Guitar Shorty also contribute recent songs.

Closing the recording is Toronzo Cannon with “Chicago Way”. Appropriately so, as for 50 years the Chicago way, no the world-wide way, for producing house rocking blues music has been demonstrated by Alligator Records. Thank you, Bruce Iglauer, for the “Bruce Iglauer Way” and for “50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music”.

You can read the review from disk one of this recording at Suncoast Blues Society, and disk two here.

Thank you for reading this three-part review.

To purchase “50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music” or recordings from Alligator artists visit Alligator Records.

• Scott Morris