Pinetop & Willie Still #1, Rob Stone & Bettye LaVette Surge At Blues Radio

The Blues Power Rankings — Blogcritics weekly examination of the biggest albums and artists at blues radio — finds familiar names but in some different places this week. Yes, Pinetop & Willie are still (deservedly) atop the rankings and I imagine that will continue for some time but we have a few albums that have been on the roller coaster ride yoyo-ing back up into the upper reaches of the charts.

The big thrill for me this week is seeing Rob Stone’s Back Around Here vaulting into the Top 10. Stone is the unofficial third member of blues dynamic duo Chris James and Patrick Rynn. The three write music together and Stone has played on James Aand Rynn’s two albums and they both play on Back Around Here. Also on Stone’s record are pianist David Maxwell and drummers Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and Sam Lay.

Bettye LaVette’s Interpretations is one of those records that has been up and down on the charts and this week is on the upswing. I think I can take credit for an album sale on that one as a friend checked out my review and fell under the spell of Bettye’s amazing voice and that is one of the reasons I do this.

As promised, I have acquired Otis Taylor’s Clovis People album. I’ve listened to it completely once and it has a primitive vibe and stripped down sound. I like what I heard from a overall perspective but it will take more careful listens to fully mine the record, something I intend to do soon.

Here are the albums making the big noise at blues radio this week, courtesy of the Roots Music Report.

1. Pinetop Perkins / Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith – Joined At The Hip
2. Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King – Have Blues, Will Travel
3. Janiva Magness – The Devil Is An Angel, Too
4. Otis Taylor – Clovis People, Vol. 3
5. Magic Slim & The Teardrops – Raising The Bar
6. John Nemeth – Name The Day!
7. Anders Osborne – American Patchwork
8. Rob Stone – Back Around Here
9. Bettye Lavette – Interpretations – The British Rock Songbook
10. Cyril Neville – The Essential Cyril Neville
11. Nick Moss – Privileged
12. Karen Lovely – Still The Rain
13. Tim Woods – The Blues Sessions
14. Peter Karp & Sue Foley – He Said She Said
15. Clothesline Revival – They Came From Somewhere
16. Harper – Stand Together
17. Cee Cee James – Seriously Raw – Live At Sunbanks
18. Les Copeland – Don’t Let The Devil In
19. Mississippi Heat – Let’s Live It Up
20. Little Miss Higgins – Across The Plains