Spotlight on Emerging Indie Artists, Volume 4

Hello and welcome to Spotlight on Indie Artists, Volume 4. I want to recognize a few indie artists on BlueMusePublishing.com that have uploaded some very interesting blues songs. However, I would like to describe my growing interest in the blues over the years as a preface.

I began a retrospective into the blues in my teens. The interest in this style or these styles of music started out perhaps by accident as BB King opened for ZZ Top at a concert that I attended in the 70's. Surprisingly, I was able to connect the dots during this tumultuous period of my life. It was the beginning of a rather long interest as it continues for me today.

The interest in the better known guys moved into relative obscurity as my collection of blues music started to grow. It was an education for me and the beginning of my interest in musicology. I wasn't aware at the time, but musicology is the historical and cultural study of music that also involves the relationship between various styles.

For me, the early blues breaks music down to the basic elements of rhythm and structure. Like all styles, it progresses toward other styles until the lines are blurred. We find folk blues, jump blues, blues rock, country blues, rhythm and
blues and the very sophisticated blues of jazz artists such as Miles Davis. Once again, it proves that genres are not discrete or clearly bound on all sides. Rather, genres are more like zones in a multidimensional, continuous spectrum of music style that is interconnected to all other styles.

I would like to start with a song by Memphis Kenny P called Trouble Like Water Trickles Down. This song is closer to the traditional blues in the structure and the style of the lyrics. Many of the early songs would repeat the first line and resolve back to the repeated line. Kenny does a great job creating lyrical images in this song. Kenny has a great voice and I love the shuffle rhythm in this song that picks up the "and" from the previous measure.

The next song by Memphis Kenny P, called Always Something, has a very definite Allman Brothers vibe to it. I love the simplicity of the lyrics that should resonate with anyone who has struggled in a relationship. Nice signature guitar lick throughout on this song and again, great vocals.

The next song is called Bluz Get Away by Stephen Monroe. I love the intro to this song with guitar and hand clapping as it grabs me right away. Stephen has a great voice and a great ability to play guitar and sing as he likes to perform solo. I love the lyrics to this song and the scat near the end.

Smitten and Resigned is a slow blues song by Stephen Monroe with great lyrics. I also love Stephen's voice in this song. Again, this is a solo song played and sung by Stephen. This song has a great ending.

I have covered this next song called Sorry I Lost Control by Stephen Monroe before. It is a great song that demonstrates the blurred lines between styles. It is blues, folk blues, and jazz all at the same time. The lyrics and scat are great in this song. Once again, a great ending.

This next group, Pure Grain, came to me through the mail. I love the creative packaging for this cd as it was wrapped in burlap. Very cool. The first song is Truckin' Song. This song has a great Dobro intro. The lyrics and vocals are
fantastic. I love the shuffle rhythm on this song. The bass and drums are locked up tight throughout. The Dobro break is great. Volume can be an issue for guitar players playing Dobro who like to be on top. Dobro sounds great to me when it is even in the mix such as this song.

Kid N Funk Blues by the group Pure Grain is a great rhythm oriented song with prominent drums and wah guitar. Again, I really like the lyrics and the vocals on this song. The guitar break is very well done and I love the tone. The bass and drums are again very tight.

I hope you will have a chance to check out these talented artists on Blue Muse.