Tommy Castro and Ruthie Foster Nominated For 2010 Blues Blast Music Awards

Both Tommy Castro and Ruthie Foster have been honored with 2010 Blues Blast Music Award nominations. Tommy is tied for the most nominations with three: Best Contemporary Blues CD for Hard Believer, Best Male Blues Artist and Best Blues Band. Ruthie is nominated for Best Female Blues Artist.

The 2010 Blues Blast Music Awards ceremonies will be held in Chicago, IL on October 28th, 2010. The Awards are presented by Blues Blast Magazine. You can vote for the winners between July 8 - August 31, 2010.

Catch both Ruthie and Tommy live on stage this Summer, please see Ruthie's Tour Dates >> Tommy's Tour Dates >>

Allen Toussaint To Join Jimmy Buffett In Concert For Gulf Oil Spill July 11, 2010

Allen Toussaint will join Jimmy Buffett for a free concert July 11th in Gulf Shores, AL to demonstrate support for the people, businesses and culture of the Gulf Coast stricken by the Gulf oil spill. The show has been rescheduled from the original July 1st date due to concerns about weather conditions caused by Hurricane Alex. Other guests include Sonny Landreth, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney and Jesse Winchester. The CMT cable network was scheduled to air the concert live and they are determining production logistics for the possibility of airing the July 11 show. The show was also scheduled to be simulcast on Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, and streamed on the CMT website.

Catch Allen live on stage for his own performances this Summer, including shows and festivals in Canada, Ireland, France and the US, please see Tour Dates >>

Trombone Shorty's "Hurricane Season" Chosen As MTV's Real World New Orleans Theme Song - Backatown Still #1 Contemporary Jazz CD for 9th Straight Week

Trombone Shorty's "Hurricane Season" from his major label debut Backatown (Verve/Forecast) has been chosen as the theme song for MTV's Real World New Orleans. The show premieres June 30, 2010 and runs for 13 episodes.

Backatown is #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album Chart for the 9th straight week since it's release! Thank you for your support! Catch the band live on stage as they tour across North America and at upcoming shows in Japan and Brazil this Summer, please see Tour Dates >>

Mavis Staples will release her new album, You Are Not Alone (Anti Records), September 14, 2010. The project was produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy at the band's studio, The Loft. Tweedy also wrote two new songs for the album, arranged a third and contributes guest guitar, bass, and vocals. The disc also features traditional gospel numbers and interpretations of songs by her father (and Rosebud artist until his passing), the late Pops Staples, fellow Rosebud artist Allen Toussaint, Randy Newman, John Fogerty, Rev. Gary Davis and Little Milton.

A Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Inductee and GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Mavis will be performing at several festivals over the Summer, including Lollapalooza and the Wilco-curated Solid Sound Festival with extensive touring to follow the release of the CD. Please see Tour Dates >>

The Weepies will release their new album, Be My Thrill (Nettwerk), on August 31, 2010. "This is the most fun we've had making a record," says The Weepies' Deb Talan, "We took as much time as we needed at every step, and taking that pressure off made the whole thing a little lighter." Joining The Weepies on the album are drummer Frank Lenz, guitarist Meg Toohey, string player Oliver Kraus and bassists Tony Levin and Larry Klein. Three tracks from Be My Thrill have already been featured on TV shows Life Unexpected, Grey's Anatomy and Ghost Whisperer, bringing their total number of TV and film placements to well over 100. The lead single "I Was Made For Sunny Days" is out now. The album is available for pre-sale and in a variety of fan packages at theweepies.bigcartel.com.

The Weepies will be performing at two shows on the 2010 Lilith Tour (July 7 in San Diego and July 10 in Los Angeles) with more dates to follow soon, please see Tour Dates >>

Trombone Shorty Featured With Jeff Beck, Plus Bonnaroo And Playboy Jazz - And That's Just 4 Days Last week - Treme and Letterman Coming Soon

Shorty with Jeff Beck at Tipitina's in May 2010.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue just completed a week that would be the envy of most any musician. On Wednesday June 9, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews joined Jeff Beck on stage at an invitation-only tribute to the late Les Paul at New York City's Iridium Jazz Club. On Friday June 11, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue opened the Which Stage at Bonnaroo to a great response, echoed by a song from the show and new CD, "Something Beautiful," getting 15,000 hits in the following 24 hours on YouTube. Flying to Los Angeles just hours after Bonnaroo, the band knocked out the crowd at the Playboy Jazz Festival at the prestigious Hollywood Bowl on Saturday June 12.

In the meantime, Trombone Shorty's Backatown CD continues to reign at #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album chart for the 7th straight week.

Catch Troy on HBO's Treme again June 20 and catch the band on The Late Show with David Letterman on June 22 and in concert across North America as well as in Japan and Brazil this Summer, please see Tour Dates >> 

Allen Toussaint joined Cyndi Lauper for her performance on the Late Show with David Letterman June 14.  

Allen Toussaint joined Cyndi Lauper for performances on the Late Show with David Letterman June 14, 2010.  

Allen is featured on three songs on Cyndi's new album of blues covers, Memphis Blues, to be released June 22, 2010.  At the end of August, Allen will be Cyndi's special guest for a show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.  A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, the legendary Allen Toussaint will also be touring on his own throughout the Summer in Europe and North America, please see Tour Dates >>

Meshell Ndegeocello Pays Tribute To Gil Scott-Heron and Named to Faculty of Bootsy Collins' Funk University

Meshell Ndegeocello's April show at Joe's Pub in New York City featured "A Night of Gil Scott-Heron Covers", where she played songs by the legendary poet-musician. Meshell plays some of her own material as well as Gil's, including her own revised lyrics to Gil's classic "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."

In addition to her other dates over the Summer, Meshell will again present this special show in a limited run on the West Coast at the end of June, please see Tour Dates >>

In other news, Meshell was named to the faculty of Bootsy Collins' Funk University. The online school is the first of its kind, bringing professional musicians in close contact with students. It will feature history lectures, lessons in technique, rhythm, style and gear, as well as teachers keeping office hours once a week in which they will answer student questions. At the end of the semester Professor Bootsy will review student tracks. Other guest professors include Les Claypool, Divinity Roxx and Victor Wooten. Classes are scheduled to begin July 1, 2010.

Bill Frisell's New CD Beautiful Dreamers Out August 31, 2010

Bill Frisell will release his new CD Beautiful Dreamers (Savoy Jazz) on August 31, 2010. Joining Bill on this project are Eyvind Kang on viola and Rudy Royston on drums. They first performed together as a trio in 2008. Produced by longtime collaborator and manager, Lee Townsend, the disc includes both original compositions and reinterpretations of songs by Blind Willie Johnson and Benny Goodman among others. A Grammy winner and perennial Best Jazz Guitarist award winner, Frisell says of the project, "I'm so fortunate having the chance to play music with Eyvind and Rudy and having an audience willing to go along for the latest adventure. I'm the luckiest guy in the world being surrounded by all these folks who have so much faith and trust in the music, helping me to make my dreams come true."

Catch Bill live on stage performing in a variety of formats, please see Tour Dates >>

Bettye LaVette's Interpretations Scores Chart Personal Bests and Media Raves

Bettye LaVette's new CD, Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook debuted at #55 on Billboard Top 200 in it's first week of release! She also charted at #26 on the digital chart, #5 on the Indie releases chart and #1 on Billboard's Blues chart! The chart numbers reflect a flurry of recent activity for Bettye as well as rave reviews from the media for her new CD.

NPR presented Bettye on their programs, First Listen, Weekend Morning Edition, Tiny Desk Concert and a very entertaining guest spot on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me". Also, on the eve of the CD's release, she performed an outstanding version of The Beatles' "The Word" on The Tonight Show (full episode at nbc.com). This was followed by a sold out show at New York's Highline Ballroom two nights later. Nationwide TV exposure continues with appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman on June 23 as well as Good Morning America and Tavis Smiley in early July.

The New York Times' Jon Pareles proclaimed Bettye "now rivals Aretha Franklin as her generation's most vital soul singer. She uses every scrape, shout and break in her raspy voice, with a predator's sense of timing, to seize the drama of a song." That is just one of scores of press raves including USA Today, Rolling Stone, Wall St. Journal, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Post and many more.

Bettye's upcoming live performance schedule is equally exciting as, in addition to her June headline shows in major European markets, she'll headline shows across the US throughout the summer including major festival appearances. She will also be featured as part of this summer's Beatles Anniversary Celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles from July 9 to 11, followed by a series of dates supporting Robert Plant on his US summer tour and extensive touring throughout the rest of 2010 and beyond. please see Tour Dates >>