Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise #42 Raffle Tix on Sale Now
April kicks off our annual fundraising sale of cruise raffle tickets for a cabin for 2 on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues cruise #42. This event is more than a cruise and more than a festival, and it’s always the best blues experience on water or land. It sets sail from Ft. Lauderdale on January 26 – February 2, 2025, headed to Tortola, St. Thomas, and Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic.
2024 Member and Volunteer Appreciation Party
The Kansas City Blues Society is excited to present The Houserockers at our Member and Volunteer Appreciation Party for 2024. Please join us as we welcome Kansas City music legends …
International Blues Challenge (IBC) 2024 Recap
by Betty J. Berry, President, KCBS
The 2024 IBC is now in the history books and what a show! We rolled into Memphis and encountered snow-packed roads, ice-encrusted sidewalks, broken and busted water pipes in hotels, a ‘boil water advisory’ for the city, not enough bottled water, food shortages at some restaurants, and zero-degree temperatures. But we went for the music and that was RED HOT and SMOKING!
Sixty-five (65) solo/duo artists and seventy-two (72) bands entered the Challenge. They came from Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, France, Australia, Croatia, Switzerland, Norway and, of course, the good old USA. As always, it was truly an international affair.
Our Kansas City representatives Band winner, Big Luke & The Soul Disciples, and Solo/Duo winner, Drum & Dye (John Paul Drum and Bill Dye), showed up and showed out. Big Luke & the Soul Disciples performed at Club 152 on Beale Street, and Drum & Dye performed at The Pig on Beale Street. It was thrilling when they both advanced to the semifinals in the Challenge. What’s the chance that both your representatives make it that far? Also, the fact that this was Big Luke & The Soul Disciples first time at the IBC made it even sweeter. They both gave stellar performances, and I received so many compliments on both, once people found out I was from Kansas City. So many people told me they attended their performances specifically because of the word-of-mouth buzz.
The bad weather became so much more bearable when finalists were announced, and Drum & Dye reached that exalted place. Oh, happy day!
The finals are always a long show but, because of the anticipation, time passed by fast. And then, that sweet moment when John Paul Drum’s name was announced for Best Harmonica performance in the Solo/Duo category and Bill Dye’s name was announced for Best Guitar performance in the Solo/Duo category. I knew then they had won either first or second place because you must win in the overall category to win one of those awards. They were the second place winners in the Solo/Duo category. I think they were in shock, and I was just happy.
In winning the Harmonica award, John Paul received the highest score ever for an artist in this category. This was the 39th year for the IBCs, so let the mastery and depth of his talent sink in! He was also honored with a full set of 38 Lee Oskar harmonicas.
Bill Dye won the Cigar Box Award and received a cigar box guitar custom-built by Matt Isbell.
John Paul Drum and Bill Dye have been entertaining Kansas City for many years with their blues music, so it’s incredibly rewarding to see their hard work, talent, dedication, and skill result in these honors.
The next KCBS ‘Road to Memphis’ is scheduled for August 10 at Knuckleheads Garage.
Musicians, get ready!
Album Reviews
Album Review: The Love You Bleed
From her soul-baring opening track “Beautiful Mistake” to the great horns on the closing track “The Lighthouse,” she will take you on a musical journey that’s well worth the ticket.
Album Review: I AM
From her soul-baring opening track “Beautiful Mistake” to the great horns on the closing track “The Lighthouse,” she will take you on a musical journey that’s well worth the ticket.
Album Review: LaVette!
In the hands of Bettye and producer Steve Jordan, you get a definite blues vibe here from end to end. One of the nice things about this song selection is that it is not old blues standards, and you probably won’t know a single one of the songs until you hear them here.
Album Review: Buried in the Hail
The songs tred the ground between blues/rock and blues, with powerful, gritty vocals, and Dom’s signature exquisite guitar work.
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