PLEASE JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THESE WORKING MUSICIANS WHOSE ART AND SPIRIT CONTINUE TO UPLIFT AND SUSTAIN US. This week "Working From Home" features a fan favorite: The Sons of The Soul Revivers. Walter, James, and Dwayne Morgan grew up singing together in San Francisco. Living now in Vallejo, Ca. their love for quartet [...]
PLEASE JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THESE WORKING MUSICIANS WHOSE ART AND SPIRIT CONTINUE TO UPLIFT AND SUSTAIN US. This week we present C.J. Chenier, coming to you straight from his backyard with a short set of zydeco and blues. Behind him are some personal mementos and a photo of his famous father: the late [...]
PLEASE JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THESE WORKING MUSICIANS WHOSE ART AND SPIRIT CONTINUE TO UPLIFT AND SUSTAIN US. First in the series will feature sisters Xóchitl and Anaí Morales of Mariachi Mesitzo singing and playing from their family's home in Delano, CA, accompanied by their father Juan. Note: Xóchitl and Anaí self-quarantined for 14 [...]
WORKING FROM HOME Just about everyone has been affected by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the music world, no one knows when the box office will open again, and even as many of us return to work in the coming weeks and months, working musicians will continue to be cut [...]
Last week 34 Little Village musicians gathered online to deliver this powerful message: Music Binds Us Together Musicians everywhere have lost their means of making a living due to the pandemic. This loss of performance income has made the sale of artist's recordings more critically important than ever before. Help us [...]
The Coronavirus is leading to massive cancellations. Sporting events, concerts, schools closings, businesses big and small requiring stay at home telecommuting, all are directly affecting our lives. This has had a major impact on Little Village and more specifically it’s artists. For the past week or so there’s been a steady stream of emails [...]
A.P.U.M.E.C. HALL I’d shlep my stuff out of my broken down van and through the backdoor. I’d beg somebody to help me gorilla the Hammond B3 organ up the few steps to the stage. APUMEC Hall- it stood for something I never knew what- was a rickety old Mexican dance hall on East 14th (now [...]
Casey Van Beek and the Tulsa Groove - Heaven Forever Casey Van Beek was born in Holland but raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, and fit right in to the burgeoning local ‘60s rock scene. By his teens he was playing bass and [...]
The Mike Duke Project - ... Took a While Acclaimed Musician/Songwriter Mike Duke Unleashes Southern Soul Sounds on First-Ever CD, ...took a while, Due October 11 from Little Village Foundation NICASIO, CA – Singer/keyboardist/songwriter Mike Duke has flourished as an in-demand musician and performer for over 45 years, [...]
PURCHASE AT JUNIOR'S WEB SITE Junior Watson - Nothin' To It But To Do It “I have never heard any guitarist combine the blues with such jazz-tinged playfulness and unpredictability, and with such a seductive fat and greasy tone. Instantly recognizable and 100% original. There is no [...]
We are proud to announce the second annual Arhoolie Awards and Benefit Concert, to be held November 22nd at San Francisco’s The Chapel. Proceeds from the event will go to support the Awards program and help further the mission of the Arhoolie Foundation. This year's award recipients - who each receive $10,000 to support their [...]
MIKE DUKE PLAYS RANCHO NICASIO ON SEPTEMBER 29th! VISIT RANCHO NICASIO WEBSITE FOR INFO Hit songwriter for Huey Lewis finally has an album of his own, after 40 years West Marin singer-songwriter Mike Duke wrote some of the biggest hits of the 1980s for Huey Lewis and the News. He’s spent most [...]
Date And Time Thu, October 3, 2019 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM PDT Description: It's Really Simple Free Food Free Drink Free Music Performances By: Aireene Espiritu Aki Kumar Marina Crouse Maurice Tani and special guests All in support of Little Village Foundation JOIN US! (RSVP For Address) ATTEND
Little Village Foundation Announces Five New Albums Featuring Empowered Multi-Generational Voices of The West Coast’s Foremost Women Artists - Out August 17, 2019 Betty Reid Soskin: A Lifetime of Being Betty (Chosen as one of Glamour Magazine’s “Women of the Year 2018”) Skip The Needle: We Ain’t Never Going Back (Featuring Vicki Randle, Percussionist/Vocalist of The [...]
It's Simple. Sunday, September 8, 2019 from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Free Food. Free Drinks. Free Music. Stunning Vista Sunset. Junior Watson. (OC) Sean Wheeler. (PS) Whitney Shay. (SD) Igor Prado. (Ipanema) Attend Event
Skip the Needle to bring its joyful funk metal to debut album release show Vicki Randle was no fresh-faced ingenue when she joined Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples as a percussionist and backup singer in 2010. Well-established as a top-shelf Los Angeles studio musician with dozens of albums and major tours to [...]
AUGUST 17, 2019 FREIGHT & SALVAGE 2020 ADDISTON STREET BERKELEY, CA BUY TICKETS ARTISTS PERFORMING: Mary Flower Guitarist, singer and songwriter Mary Flower is that rare breed of American roots artist. Her devotion to the art form is both lovingly and historically accurate, yet her creativity lends it vitality and energy that it might [...]
Anaí Adina - Espérame En El Cielo 18-year-old vocalist Anaí Adina reveals a visionary mix of tradition and originality on her debut album with Little Village Foundation, Espérame En El Cielo. The youngest of three daughters of noted mariachi musicians Leticia and Juan Morales, Anaí grew up in [...]
SKIP THE NEEDLE - WE AIN'T NEVER GOING BACK On their debut album, We Ain’t Never Going Back, the formidable female powerhouse known as Skip The Needle bring a depth of personal insight and performing experience to their politically astute hard rock/funk songcraft. Throughout We Ain't Never Going [...]
SAIDA DAHIR - THE WALKING STEREOTYPE “Saida Dahir’s blistering spoken word performance about her fear of school shootings and the political hypocrisy that follows electrified the crowd at Salt Lake City’s March for Our Lives.” –Mother Jones An 18-year-old Muslim Somali refugee living in Salt Lake City, Utah, [...]
MARY FLOWER - LIVIN' WITH THE BLUES AGAIN "a world-class finger-style guitarist and lap slide player." -DownBeat "There are few musicians in the genre bringing as much creative spark and low-key mojo to this century-old music." -Acoustic Guitar "[Flower] plays the blues with the soul and wit they were created [...]
BETTY REID SOSKIN - A LIFETIME OF BEING BETTY A Glamour Magazine “Women of the Year 2018” Honoree "Betty Reid Soskin is a revelation; her story, a window into a more complicated, heroic, inclusive 20th century; her life a testament to affirmation in the face of adversity. That [...]
Congratulations to these nominees that are part of the growing Little Village Foundation family: And to those who lent their support:
MAURICE TANI - THIS IS IT! Live Acoustic Performance In-Concert Recording NEW ALBUM FROM SINGER-SONGWRITER ON LITTLE VILLAGE Singer-songwriter Maurice Tani’s second album on the Little Village label, “This Is It!”, is a live, acoustic recording capturing the excitement and spontaneity of a live concert. Known for his [...]
New album 'This Is It!' is here. Official release date 2/7 at the scene of the crime: Freight & Salvage. Pre-release copies available at mauricetani .com READ MORE BUY TICKETS
Little Village Foundation Benefit Show featuring Kevin Burt, Mariachi Mestizo (small ensemble), Marina Crouse, Maurice Tani, Sean Wheeler, The Sons of the Soul Revivers w/Marcel Smith, Raise Your Voice - The Sound of Student Protest Thu, February 7, 2019 Doors: 7:00 PM / Show: 8:00 PM Freight & Salvage Berkeley, CA This event is [...]
The students of Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are raising their voices for good. In February, the lives of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students were changed forever when an active shooter took the lives of 17 students and staff within the school. Since then, the survivors have launched the March For [...]
A new album protesting gun violence includes students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school performing the original song, 'Shine.' WATCH VIDEO AT CNN
I’d been at Kenney’s house the day before. Back then we had lived near each other out in The Richmond. He knew a secretary at Warner’s that would send him new releases every month. Like clock work. Kinda pissed me off but we would sit and listen to some stuff while we talked and drank [...]
As the major record label system continues to evolve, different sounds and different artists have become more marginalized than ever before, thanks to the never ending search for the quickest, easiest hit record possible. Songs get more and more formulaic and homogeneous sounding and artists are cast aside quickly, easily disposable in a world where [...]
MAKE A DONATION TO THE RAISE YOUR VOICE PROJECT LISTEN TO THE ROUGH DRAFT DIARIES PODCAST VARIOUS ARTISTS - RAISE YOUR VOICE The courage and moral clarity shown by the student survivors of the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida struck [...]
MAKE A DONATION TO THE RAISE YOUR VOICE PROJECT The courage and moral clarity shown by the student survivors of the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida struck an immediate emotional chord with the American public, bringing home the reality of [...]
On the Bandwagon stage earlier in the day, students from all over the country came together to perform songs and poems featured on “Raise Your Voice,” an album released nationally on Friday, Oct. 5, by Jim Pugh‘s nonprofit Little Village Foundation, written in response to the recent spate of school shootings. Madison Yearsley of New [...]
We’re very excited to share this huge musical talent to the world with this much-anticipated, stunning debut recording from Kevin Burt - HEARTLAND & SOUL out October 29th on Little Village Foundation Records! The Iowa based Burt’s vocals are absolutely amazing – extremely powerful, rich, warm, expressive and exploding with SOUL!! Another killer sounding album [...]
KEVIN BURT - HEARTLAND AND SOUL 2018 International Blues Challenge Winner in 3 categories!! 1st place Solo/Duo, best Solo/Duo guitarist, & best harmonica player award!! BIG MAN, BIG VOICE, BIG HEART, BIG LOVE! We’re very excited to share this huge musical talent to the world with this much-anticipated, stunning [...]
In 2016, Aki Kumar turned heads with Aki Goes to Bollywood, an unprecedented project that fused blues with Bollywood- style Indian pop—two genres not known for breaking with tradition. The unlikely union led Jason Ricci to lovingly pronounce it a “marketing nightmare” in the album’s liner notes, but it went on to establish the Mumbai [...]
Sacramento singer and multi-instrumentalist Marcel Smith was still in his 20s when he first recorded back in 1993 for the hometown Have Mercy imprint as a member of a group called the Soul Prophets. With Smith’s soul-searing vocals and Robert Nakajima’s fire-spitting guitar, that set, Coming From the Old School, ranks as a serious contender for the Best Album That Nobody Heard award, but [...]
After a group of students from Parkland, Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School crisscrossed the nation this summer on their "Road to Change" tour, they will now lift their voices before the November midterm elections on an inspiring collection of songs titled Raise Your Voice: The Sound of Student Protest. The 11-track album, due Oct. [...]
Jim Pugh, who many of our readers know as the longtime keyboard player in the Robert Cray Band, has recently embarked on a very exciting and interesting endeavor called the Little Village Foundation. I sat down with Jim recently and we talked about this project, his life in music and his own road to the [...]
Aki Goes to Bollywood, is an unexpected and unexpectedly wonderful meeting of American blues and Indian pop. The meeting happened, though, in California’s Bay Area. The project is part of the Little Village Foundation’s mission to uncover the hidden cultures and music of the state. Other releases have covered folk, blues, mariachi and Latin American [...]
LISTEN TO THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW Aki Kumar moved to Silicon Valley at the age of 18. His goal, like many others, was to be a successful software engineer. But, something happened along the way. Kumar discovered the blues — the music of Howlin' Wolf and of blues clubs in the San Francisco Bay area. Eventually, [...]
Little Village Foundation Releases Eclectic Series of Seven New Recordings Featuring California’s Foremost Underground Artists "Nonprofit helps worthy California musicians get wide attention.” -San Francisco Chronicle “[Little Village] label boasts some of the best musicians you’ve never heard of.” -San Jose Mercury News Now in its third year of nationally releasing critically-acclaimed recordings [...]
WHITNEY SHAY - A WOMAN RULES THE WORLD A two-time San Diego Music Award winner for “Best Blues Artist,” vivacious young vocal phenom Whitney Shay sings with a commanding authority that's usually associated with artists twice her age. No less an authority than soul legend Candi Staton called Shay "one [...]
MESTIZO - XX ANIVERSARIO Mariachi Mestizo is a modern ensemble that preserves and expands Mexico's centuries-old mariachi tradition. The youthful players, mentored by the veteran mariachi master Juan Morales (Los Camperos), dig deep into the music's history and timeless emotional appeal to make the music vital and current. The young [...]
ADA PASTERNAK - SWEET DREAMS Ada Pasternak is that rare artist who lives and breathes music while expressing her singular life experiences through unforgettbale art. Born in Moscow to musician parents, Ada came to the U.S. with her family at the age of six to escape persecution along with many [...]
UNITED BY MUSIC - YES WE CAN CAN “There's nuthin' like it! I love everything about it. HOPE! United By Music gives people HOPE! I can't wait to get back to playin' with them.”-Bobby Rush: GRAMMY Award-Winner, UBMNA Mentor “These guys are off the chain! I just love playin' with [...]
MARCEL SMITH - EVERYBODY NEEDS LOVE Marcel Smith's debut solo album, Everybody Needs Love, marks the belated emergence of a commanding, massively talented vocalist who’s been honing his skills on the gospel circuit for decades. Everybody Needs Loveshowcases a persuasively soulful voice that's been burnished through years of high-energy [...]
AKI KUMAR - HINDI MAN BLUES Indian-born, San Jose-based Aki Kumar, aka "The Only Bombay Blues Man," left his home in Mumbai with the intention of working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. Then he discovered the blues, and his life dramatically changed. Singing and playing harmonica, he steeped himself in the music and [...]
MARINA CROUSE - NEVER TOO SOON Opera isn't normally thought of as a path to success in the world of jazz and blues, but it's the route (with some detours) that Marina Crouse took to become one of the most notable rising talents on the San Francisco/Bay Area music scene. Her early classical training is reflected [...]
On August 1st, Little Village Foundation will celebrate the release of 7 new LVR releases at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA with a Summer Showcase performance featuring LVF artists Ada Pasternak, Aki Kumar, Marcel Smith, Marina Crouse, Mariachi Mestizo, Maurice Tani, Whitney Shay. Six singers and a Mariachi! Doors open at 6:00 and [...]
The eclectic nonprofit record label Little Village Foundation, which exists to shine a light on underground artists in and near California, has found its voice. From a young age, Marcel Smith’s dynamic vocals—transitioning from smooth, tender and soulful to raw and feverishly uplifting in short order—have electrified churchgoers for years with undeniable conviction and passion. [...]
Congratulations to all these people who have recorded/produced or performed with LVF for their 2018 Blues Music Award Nominations! Wee Willie Walker The Paul deLay Band June Core Tony Braunagel Chris Cain Christoffer “Kid” Andersen Rick Estrin Nancy Wright Jim Pugh Curtis Salgado
On January 19th, 2018 Little Village Foundation Artists gathered at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, CA featuring Aireene Espiritu (Aireene Espiritu & The Itch), Aki Kumar, Chris Cain, Howell Devine, Maurice Tani (Maurice Tani & 77 El Deora), The Sons of The Soul Revivers, and Xóchitl Morales. Watch the video here:
The Desert Sun Bruce Fessier Wheeler has led more than a dozen bands over 36 years, playing hybrid genres he’s invented, such as “political sleng teng,” “proto-emo jangle rock” and “glam-inspired punk pop.” He might have set the precedent for desert rockers such as Josh Homme and Brant Bjork to feel it’s more important to [...]
Music reviewers have had a delicious time with the name of this Bay Area-based blues trio ever since their first record came out in 2012. Their “divine howl” is official now with the Oct. 13 release of HOWL, their fourth album and debut release on renowned musician Jim Pugh’s new label, Little Village Foundation. "These [...]
HOWELL DEVINE - HOWL “…a real King Biscuit Time vibe in sound, groove, and attitude. Joshua Howell, the band’s guitarist and harmonica player, plays wicked harp loosely in the Rice Miller tradition, with traces of Jaybird Coleman and Little Walter… emotive, straight blues, with sharp and superb guitar sliding [...]
Check out the latest video from Sean Wheeler for a track off of the album 'Sand In My Blood'.
There is a great feature on Xochitl Morales on the California Report. "Seventeen-year-old Xochitl Morales has been surrounded by music since she was in the womb. “It’s eat, breathe, sleep mariachi,” she says, as she points out trophies and event posters in her family’s music studio. On the California mariachi scene, everybody knows the Morales family of [...]
Little Village Foundation was featured in The San Francisco Chronicle today! "Listening to the radio as he drove home that night to Santa Ynez (Santa Barbara County), Pugh heard a classic ’50s Frank Sinatra orchestral track recorded at Capitol Records in Hollywood, where Pugh decided on the spot to record the young mariachis because he [...]
Featuring Bay Area, Coachella Valley and Central Valley Artists, Bringing Backroads Music from the Fringes to the Masses Santa Ynez, CA – Thursday, April 20, 2017 – Every year, thousands of North American artists release new music vying for the spotlight, trying to break through the noise to get heard and build their fanbase. Through [...]
17-year-old Central Valley high school student Xóchitl Morales is a rising voice amongst the California spoken word scene after her poetry went viral with Buzzfeed’s Pero Like Facebook page spotlighting her piece “Latin-Americans: The Children with a Dark Past.” A member of the Los Angeles “Get Lit” slam poetry group, Xóchitl has performed for California [...]
MAURICE TANI - THE LOVERS CARD Writing a sentence is hard work. One with a clean line and a nice shape. Good luck with that. So too is writing a melody that’s musical and appears original. Combining both into a song involves talent. Real talent. Like jumping from the [...]
SEAN WHEELER - SAND IN MY BLOOD Desert Legend Sean Wheeler is an American musician and singer-songwriter whose music is generally characterized by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, and theatrical, charismatic live performances. He is best known as the frontman of Throw Rag. A lifelong resident of California’s Coachella [...]
XOCHITL MORALES - DESCANSOS Xochitl Morales is a 17 year old high school student from Delano, California. She the assistant director and trumpet player for Mariachi Juvenil Mestizo, and she plays all of the instruments in the mariachi as well as sings. During the week, she teaches mariachi music to the children [...]
CHRIS CAIN - CHRIS CAIN The East San Jose rundown of Chris Cain’s youth was a full cross polination of influence. Cliff Coulter and Robin Ford. Los Tigres del Norte and Smith Dobson. Tons of bars and clubs. Arturo’s Tropical Village, The Starlight Ballroom. Twenty Grand. Hell, The Saddle Rack! On [...]
THE SONS OF THE SOUL REVIVERS - LIVE! RANCHO NICASIO For this extraordinary album, The Sons of The Soul Revivers were recorded live at Rancho Nicasio, a Marin County (Ca.) roadhouse famed for presenting roots music, during two sold out shows for the kind of mainstream audiences that don’t [...]
Little Village Foundation Musicians appeared at the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park.
Check out the feature on Jim Pugh and the Little Village Foundation in SF GATE: "Jim Pugh, the veteran keyboard player who toured the world with Etta James and Robert Cray and now roams the Central Valley and Bay Area byways looking for unknown musicians to savor and record, first heard the Filipino American singer [...]
BACK WHERE I BELONG In spite of the fact that Aireene has never been here, this is where she comes from. ARTIST BIO This album is a prequel. The missing link between the songs she never sang and everything she has done to date. On this album, [...]
AKI GOES TO BOLLYWOOD Muddy Meets Mumbai PRESS PBS NEWSHOUR - Art Beat Meet San Jose musician Aki Kumar today, and he’ll proudly introduce himself as “The Only Bombay Blues Man.” But there was a time when Kumar, while making a name for himself on the Bay Area blues scene more than a decade [...]
WITH ANY LUCK BUT BAD Fireside songs from the cowboy trail sung by someone who's lived them PRESS MIDWEST RECORD RECAP Dave Ellis/With Any Luck But Bad: When it comes to cowboy music, if you aren't really into the culture, which runs pretty deep, you only really [...]
THE REAL DEAL A retired roofer and migrant farmworker from Mississippi, singing his own compositions PRESS **** All About Jazz- James Nadal For those who love the blues, the thrill of discovering a new artist is still special. Blues singer John “Blues” Boyd just released The Real [...]
THE THREE FRIENDS FROM WHERE THE CLOUDS DESCEND Rare instrumental tales from indigenous Mixtec tradition by musicians living in California PRESS NPR ALT LATINO KQED FM (California) MIDWEST RECORD RECAP NEW CLASSICS UK ARTIST BIO Los Tres Amigos De Snukivo means “the three friends from where the [...]
TE DOY LA LIBERTAD Youth Mariachi From Delano, Ca. PRESS “The youthful Mariachi Mestizo, mentored by the seasoned mariachi master Juan Morales, dips deep into the well of tradition to make mariachi music their own. A special bonus is the recording technique used, an inviting story unto [...]
IF NOTHING EVER CHANGES Slow-burning blues and soul sensation with a voice rich in experience PRESS Nominated for 3 Blues Foundation Awards Featured on Dan Akroyd’s Elwood’s Bluesmobile Radio Show No Depression Review Blues Music Magazine Editors Top 10 Pick for 2015 Living Blues Magazine Feature ARTIST [...]
SON OF BOOGIE WOOGIE Nimble guitar that growls with rocky, raucous blues PRESS BLUES JUNCTION LIVING BLUES MAGAZINE MIDWEST RECORD RECAP KDHX RADIO ST. LOUIS ALLABOUTJAZZ ARTIST BIO Coming from the poor neighborhood of East Oakland, Ron Thompson has lived a true blues life, working hard at [...]
What We Do We bring music from next door to the world. Strawberry pickers in California who hail from a village in Mexico where the clouds touch the earth. A lightning-fast roadhouse guitarist who exemplifies Oakland biker mayhem. An old hand with horses who sings cowboy songs with true depth. A hard-working retired machinist with [...]
Paul Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal Thursday, March 2, 2017 For those of us who don’t get to hear traditional gospel quartets very often, if ever, the fact that the Sons of the Soul Revivers are breaking out of the four walls of the church to perform for secular audiences is something of a musical blessing. [...]
PAUL DELAY - LIVE AT NOTODDEN '97 Paul deLay's untimely death a decade ago at the age of 55 seemed a cruel trick of the cosmos. His death stilled one of the most original voices in all of blues, an artist at the height of his powers, who transcended notions [...]
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I had the good fortune to have played on a recording for BB King back in the early 90’s. Honor to have done it but for sure it’s a cred that lots and lots of musicians can claim. Mister King made 100’s of recordings and probably hired 1000’s of musicians. As I recall Albert Collins [...]
The blues is a beguiling art form. Tangled up in this country’s legacy of slavery and oppression it is first and foremost a folk tradition. It requires no formal training to play and can be sung without instrumental accompaniment. And yet, its simplicity often obscures its power and scope. Though it is most certainly a [...]
… More recently, I’ve learned that the greatest musicians and songwriters may live right across the street. That’s also the view of veteran blues keyboardist and founder of Little Village foundation Jim Pugh, who told me that great talent is too often hidden in our towns and cities, far from the spotlight so often reserved [...]
(Luna Soleil dances with a hula hoop during the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016.) Little Village Foundation Presents ... Veteran keyboardist and producer Jim Pugh brought out some of the Bay Area’s finest to not one, but two stages for three hours [...]
Aki Kumar was sure the whole idea was a big mistake. Born and raised in Mumbai, he discovered the blues after moving to the United States, and quit his day job as a software engineer three years ago to focus on his burgeoning career as a harmonica player and vocalist on the South Bay blues [...]
See the people - Listen to the music - Feel the community
Seven old-school Sugar Pie DeSanto songs, three Filipino folk songs and a lot of traditional blues. Out of Delano, Calif., youth mariachi band Mariachi Mestizo, led by Juan Morales, will release “Te Doy La Libertad.” Sixteen boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 18 sing and play their hearts out for a vintage [...]
One of my favorite new albums is Oakland folk singer Aireene Espiritu’s “Back Where I Belong,” a project focusing on songs by or associated with Bay Area R&B great Sugar Pie DeSanto. It’s one of four new roots-music-with-a-twist projects released by the pianist Jim Pugh’s Little Village Foundation. The CD that’s gotten the lion’s share [...]
Lil Easy Backyard Party Sunday September 18, 2016
3 1/2 STARS Aki Kumar, a smart Chicago-style harmonica player born in Mumbai but long based in San Jose, dovetails Indian pop songs from Bollywood with the rhythms and spirit of the blues. He whets his imagi-nation on hear-it-to-believe-it “Eena Meena Deeka” and 10 other tunes recorded with help from friends like guitarist (and sitar [...]
Like the subject of “Bag Woman,” a song she wrote and recorded in 2014, Aireene Espiritu has no house or apartment of her own. She does have a car — a 2005 Prius — that she uses to travel from gig to gig along a route that includes Northern and Southern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho [...]
Meet San Jose musician Aki Kumar today, and he'll proudly introduce himself as “The Only Bombay Blues Man.” But there was a time when Kumar, while making a name for himself on the Bay Area blues scene more than a decade ago, would intentionally downplay his Indian heritage. He wasn't so forthright about immigrating from [...]
There are critics out there made so uncomfortable by how foreign music is marketed to Western listeners, especially Europeans, that they’ve sworn off any sort of foreign style — charming music, maybe, but to like it would contribute to imperialism, colonialism, fetishization of the Other, and such. One shouldn’t blame the music for its marketing, [...]
That’s how many of them there were standing with him outside Mother’s Cafeteria. We shook hands but one of his buddies had to remind me that we’d met before. More than once. I hate when that happens. Anyway, Tulane coeds. More than 10 but not 20. And all of them were drunk. More than a [...]
2016 Living Blues Awards Wee Willie Walker wins Comeback of the Year and Best Blues / Southern Soul Album Awards! Critics’ Poll Blues Artist of the Year (Male) Buddy Guy Blues Artist of the Year (Female) Shemekia Copeland Most Outstanding Blues Singer Otis Clay Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar) Lurrie Bell Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica) Sugar [...]
Mississippi-born musician John "Blues" Boyd is The Real Deal when it comes to blues music. The soulful septuagenarian, now based in California, just released a new album staked on this swaggering attestation of showmanship. Boyd plays the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest this month to back up his artistically audacious claim. The Real Deal, recorded [...]
I wanted to be bigger than Bill Gates — but I fell in love with the blues Credit: Ola Carlvik This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview. DOWNLOAD HERE Aki Kumar moved to Silicon Valley at the age of 18. His goal, like many others, was to be a [...]
Though the official start of the final day of the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival doesn't happen until noon, bands and fans were there very early. The Mariachi Mestizo group arrived early and showed their style and support. It also isn't hard to find people who regularly attend all 4 days of the Safeway Waterfront Blues [...]
HARD TIMES LVF NIGHT AT THE FREIGHT & SALVAGE 2018 SEAN WHEELER "I'M GLAD" XÓCHITL MORALES INTERVIEW MARIACHI MESTIZO AT CAPITOL STUDIOS, HOLLYWOOD, CA JOHN BLUES BOYD INTERVIEW AIREENE ESPIRITU “DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE” MARIACHI MESTIZO (JUVINAL) MARCH 2016 WEE [...]
California-based troubadour Aireene Espiritu has been a favorite on the folk circuit for some years, releasing several acclaimed CDs of her own original music and touring extensively throughout the US and in Europe. Now she's putting her mark on the blues, having been tapped by Jim Pugh, founder of Little Village Foundation, a non-profit producer [...]