Seasick Steve returns with The Last Season of America. In 2024, Steve and his wife Elisabeth took a road trip across America where he witnessed the poverty and divisiveness in the context of the upcoming election. They were in a New Orleans club where a house band leader welcomed two Belgian musicians on stage by saying “welcome to the last season of America.” This became the theme for the rest of their road trip and led to him writing the title track to the new album. A deeply personal, heartfelt reflection on the state of his home nation, The Last Season of America is a protest record in the truest sense.
The new single off The Last Season of America is its title track, a searing indictment of the current administration.
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Crescent City jump blues pianist 
For over 20 years now, 
…10th anniversary deluxe remaster features the original 9 tracks (remastered) along with 5 previously unreleased bonus tracks.
The Rolling Stones have a new album, Foreign Tongues, out, much to their fans’ delight. Audiences have long craved the raw blues-rock sound of Mick Jagger’s vocals, Keith Richards’ slashing riffs, and the band’s pugnacious attitude. Critical reception to the new record has been mixed, but there is ample desire for such unvarnished manly sounds. As evidenced by the reviews, fans of the new Stones record weren’t looking for a return to the courtly baroque pop of “Lady Jane” or “As Tears Go By”. They wanted the loud, aggressive energy of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” or “Tumbling Dice”.
…The album has been newly mastered for the reissue and the 2CD edition includes a selection of rarities appended to CD 1 including a newly discovered ‘Cricklewood Jam’ instrumental demo. CD 2 includes a newly mixed version of the band’s second set at the Fillmore East on 27 February 1970, which includes an 11-minute version of ‘Going Home’.
Powerhouse vocalist, Grammy-nominated, ten-time BMA winner, singer-songwriter, and bassist Danielle Nicole returns with Fireflies, following her highly acclaimed 2024 album 
The opening commentary about Ruthie Foster’s new record brings this author back 20-plus years to SXSW to see Ruthie perform in a small alley in Austin before only 50 or so curious onlookers. She had the blues and gospel chops then. It was clear to me that her future was promising, though her folk-blues approach was fairly elementary at the time. We all know what has transpired for her – the BMA Koko Taylor Award in 2015, two Grammy nominations, and a Grammy win in 2025 for her album Mileage.
Kindhearted singer-songwriter 
As impressive as blues rocking guitarist Joanna Connor’s studio albums are, it’s onstage where she burns the brightest. Perhaps that’s why she has released a handful of live recordings after 1989’s debut, the first being Living on the Road (1993). But it has been sixteen years since 2019’s Live 24, and even though Connor’s most recent releases shepherded by longtime fans Joe Bonamassa (2021’s fiery 4801 South Indiana Avenue) and Mike Zito (the terrific 
Artists who lack 
The contemporary blues community is densely populated with posers long on affectation and short on authenticity. Not so Peter Parcek for whom the blues carries truths that resonate in such a deep and abiding way that his own musical articulations, plus those of kindred spirits within and without the genre, become expressions straight from the heart and the soul.
There is no questioning actor Morgan Freeman’s lifelong dedication and connection to deep, organic blues. Even before co-founding the now iconic Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 2001, Freeman has been an outspoken proponent of the music. The club is also home to the Ground Zero Arts Foundation, which helps local blues artists with healthcare and other economic support. Freeman spearheaded this effort combining the rugged, raw blues he promotes, with full orchestrated accompaniment. Even though there doesn’t appear to be much common ground between the classical orchestra’s strict adherence to printed music and the blues’ more earthy freeform tendencies, the concept is unique and challenging. Some may remember…
Multiple BMA winner, vocalist, songwriter, and song interpreter 
In the mid ’60s, Chess Records released a series of 
Fondly referred to as “The Rockin’ Chair Album” due to the depiction of a rocking chair on its cover,