Thursday , March 28 2024
A new #1 and some new records shake up this week's Blues Power Rankings...

John Nemeth Hits #1 At Blues Radio; New Derek Trucks Band Live Album Charts For First Time

Before we get to the news I’d like to remind you all again that voting has started for the 2010 Blues Blast Music Awards and that voting is free and easy and can be done online.  If you need more information, I’ve written an article that tells you how to vote and by that yes, I mean I am telling you who you should vote for.

Now to the news: we have a new #1 album on our Blues Power Rankings.  John Nemeth’s Name The Day! has been a presence on the charts for weeks but this is his first trip to the top with this album, besting by one slot the previous #1 from Pinetop Perkins and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith.  A quick aside: Pinetop Perkins celebrated his 97th birthday this week and I wrote a brief tribute to one of the blues’ last living links to its Delta past.  The Top 5 is rounded out by Otis Taylor’s Clovis People, Vol. 3, Magic Slim’s Raising The Bar, and Janiva Magness’ The Devil Is An Angel, Too.

Derek Trucks’ latest live album Roadsongs is likely to be the last thing DTB fans hear from that lineup for a while.  I doubt blues radio is playing the 14 minute version of “Afro Blues” but it’s my favorite track on the album.  I got a hold of Mitch Woods’ Gumbo Blues just this week and talked a bit about its title track, as well.

Now let’s talk about things on this list that please me: I did a quick glance and I believe I have the Top 14 albums in my collection.  I just picked up Joe Kubek and Bnois King’s Have Blues, Will Travel and I’m impressed after a couple listens.  We’ll be discussing that album in greater detail soon.  I’m glad to see Bettye LaVette and Anders Osbourne continuing to do well.  Peter Karp and Sue Foley’s wonderful He Said She Said and Jonny Lang’s excellent Live At The Ryman continue to hang on the charts as does Rob Stone’s Back Around Here.

The Blues Power Rankings come to us weekly courtesy of the Roots Music Report.  Here is this week’s Top 25:

1.       John Nemeth – Name The Day!
2.       Pinetop Perkins / Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith – Joined At The Hip
3.       Otis Taylor – Clovis People, Vol. 3
4.       Magic Slim & The Teardrops – Raising The Bar
5.       Janiva Magness – The Devil Is An Angel, Too
6.       Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King – Have Blues, Will Travel
7.       Elvin Bishop – Red Dog Speaks
8.       Anders Osborne – American Patchwork
9.       Les Copeland – Don’t Let The Devil In
10.    Tim Woods – The Blues Sessions
11.    Bettye LaVette – Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
12.    The Derek Trucks Band – Roadsongs
13.    Nick Moss – Privileged
14.    Mississippi Heat – Let’s Live It Up
15.    Clothesline Revival – They Came From Somewhere
16.    Cyril Neville – The Essential Cyril Neville
17.    Karen Lovely – Still The Rain
18.    Foghat – Last Train Home
19.    Rob Stone – Back Around Here
20.    Mitch Woods – Gumbo Blues
21.    Peter Karp / Sue Foley – He Said She Said
22.    Cee Cee James – Seriously Raw – Live At Sunbanks
23.    Jonny Lang – Live At The Ryman
24.    Ron Hacker And The Hacksaws – Burnin’
25.    Kirk Fletcher – My Turn

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