Elvin Bishop, Steve Miller Band Push Into Top 10; Perkins & Smith Hold #1 At Blues Radio

Elvin Bishop continues his surge towards the top of the charts, moving up to #2 this week while Pinetop Perkins & Willie “Big Eyes” Smith retain the top spot in the Blues Power Rankings, a weekly recap of the blues albums and artists getting the most radio airplay.

There are a couple of new names in our chart this week and more reshuffling as albums that have been part of the BPR for awhile trade places with one another.  Two albums made surges into the Top 10 this week:  Les Copeland’s Don’t Let The Devil In and Steve Miller Band’s Bingo!.  It is the first album from Miller in 17 years and is a collection of blues covers, many of which he has performed live over the years.  In many cases, Miller also toured with or played with artists who made these songs famous.  I have been planning my review having picked this up a couple weeks back but this week has been unkind in terms of writing time.  I wondered if it would find an audience with blues listeners who can sometimes have a love/hate relationship with rockers who try their hand at blues. 

Elsehwere, well, some of my favorite albums continue to be favorites for other blues fans across the fruited plane.  Nick Moss’ Privileged held on to a Top 10 spot for months; he remains on the list but has fallen to #20.  I made good on my promise to review Smokin’ Joe Kukeb & Bnois King’s Have Blues, Will Travel and I’m glad to see it still in the Top 10 because that’s a really strong record I keep going back to and the same for Bettye LaVette’s wonderful Interpretations.  I’m also going to throw a shoutout to Peter Parcek’s The Mathematics Of Love and Rob Stone’s Back Around Here.  Stone hit the Top 10 a few weeks back but both have bounced around the charts a bit.  It’s good to see them both present this week.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to reflect on the sad news of yesterday when we learned guitarist Phillip Walker passed away at the age of 73 in Palm Springs, California.  Walker’s career spanned more than 50 years and during those decades he crossed paths and shared the stage with many of the greatest names in blues history, Etta James and Lowell Fulson among them, and also played alongside Little Richard.

1. Pinetop Perkins & Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith – Joined At The Hip
2. Elvin Bishop – Red Dog Speaks
3. John Nemeth – Name The Day!
4. Les Copeland – Don’t Let The Devil In
5. Magic Slim & The Teardrops – Raising The Bar
6. Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King – Have Blues, Will Travel
7. Janiva Magness – The Devil Is An Angel, Too
8. Steve Miller Band – Bingo!
9. Bettye LaVette – Interpretations – The British Rock Songbook
10. Travis ‘Moonchild’ Haddix – A Dozen Times
11. Otis Taylor – Clovis People, Vol. 3
12. Clothesline Revival – They Came From Somewhere
13. Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps – You Know You Love It
14. Anders Osborne – American Patchwork
15. Mississippi Heat – Let’s Live It Up
16. The Derek Trucks Band – Roadsongs
17. Tim Woods – The Blues Sessions
18. Walter Trout – Common Ground
19. Cyril Neville – The Essential Cyril Neville
20. Nick Moss – Privileged
21. Mitch Woods – Gumbo Blues
22. Harper – Stand Together
23. Peter Parcek – The Mathematics Of Love
24. Dave Weld And The Imperial Flames – Burnin’ Love
25. Foghat – Last Train Home
26. Various Artist – This Is The Blues Vol. 2
27. Rob Stone – Back Around Here
28. Jonny Lang – Live At The Ryman
29. Various Artists – Jimmy Dawkins Presents The Leric Story
30. Kirk Fletcher – My Turn