Legends help celebrate Delmark's 55th

By Steve Sharp
CHICAGO -- A frail-looking Delmark Records founder Bob Koester greeted admirers near the front of the stage throughout the evening of March 7, 2008 at Buddy Guy's Legends, enjoying his label's 55th anniversary celebration. The marathon concert featured performances by Delmark's still-impressive stable of talent, including Taildragger, Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch, Aaron Moore and Byther Smith. These and many other artists were backed by a superb rhythm section including drummer Kenny Smith and bass legend Bob Stroger.

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Get on the blues bus

Our latest installment of "Scenes from the Road" takes us back to Chicago's Maxwell Street, circa 1992. Today's photo features the blues bus, a fixture on the street back in the day.

Photographer Steve Sharp writes this about the bus: "Painted blue, it was operated each weekend at the Maxwell Street Market in the 1980s and 1990s by a couple of old gentlemen from Mississippi. They sold crusty blues tapes by everyone imaginable -- from Isaac Hayes to Muddy Waters, from Lightnin' Hopkins and John Lee Hooker to Poonanny."

For more about the blues bus, visit Blues Music Now.com.

And the blues GRAMMYS go to...

If you're a blues fan, you don't have to bother to watch tonight's GRAMMY telecast, as both blues album winners were announced in the infamous "pre-tel" awards ceremony earlier in the day.

The best traditional blues album went to "Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas." The recording, released on the Blue Shoe Project label, featured Henry James Townsend, Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, Robert Lockwood, Jr. and David "Honeyboy" Edwards.

Other nominees in the category included "Pinetop Perkins On The 88's - Live In Chicago" by Pinetop Perkins [Sagebrush Productions/Vizztone Label Group], "10 Days Out: Blues From The Backroads" by Kenny Wayne Shepherd Featuring Various Artists [Reprise Records] and "Old School" by Koko Taylor [Alligator Records].

The GRAMMY for best contemporary blues album was awarded to JJ Cale & Eric Clapton for "The Road To Escondido" [Reprise Records/Warner Music Group]. The duo beat out "Into The Blues" by Joan Armatrading [429 Records], "Is It News" by Doyle Bramhall [Yep Roc Records], "Truth" by Robben Ford [Concord Records] and "The Scene Of The Crime" by Bettye LaVette [Anti].

GRAMMY Web site

Boston bluesman dies in house fire

"Weepin'" Willie Robinson, an elder statesman of Boston blues, died Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007, in a house fire. He was 81.

According to The Boston Globe, Robinson died in bed in a fire caused by his own cigarette in his Boston rest home.

A fixture on the Boston blues scene since 1959, Robinson didn't record his first solo album until 1999 at age 72. "At Last, On Time," released on the APO label, featured Mighty Sam McClain, Susan Tedeschi and Jimmy D. Lane.

Boston Globe article

APO Records

AllMusic.com

Help save Internet radio!

Blues fans -- and fans of music typically not heard on commercial radio stations -- should be alarmed by a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB).

On March 2, 2007, the CRB, which oversees sound recording royalties paid by Internet radio services, increased royalties for Internet radio stations. According to Jason Fry of the Wall Street Journal, an online radio station would pay .08 cent per song per listener for 2006 (the rates are retroactive), .11 cent in 2007, .14 in 2008, .18 cents in 2009 and .19 cents in 2010.

Currently, under a deal brokered in 2002, small Webcasters are paying artists and record labels 12% of their revenue, but the new rules would do away with that exemption. The new system could increase royalties for Internet radio stations by between 300 and 1200 percent.

So, why does this matter to the blues? Quite simply, these higher fees would bankrupt many Internet radio providers, as the proposed royalties would exceed revenues for most independent net radio providers. Some of these providers feature music typically not heard on regular, over-the-air radio stations, includes blues. The surviving Internet radio stations would be run by larger, commercial interests that are less likely to play diverse styles of music.

This all seems grim, but there is a glimmer of hope. The Internet Radio Equality Act has recently been introduced in both the House (H.R. 2060) and Senate (S. 1353) to save the Internet radio industry.

This bipartisan effort is being led by Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.). Their legislation would set Internet radio royalty rates at 7.5 percent of revenue, the same as those of satellite radio.

If you'd like to support the effort, please consider calling your representatives in Congress and tell them that you support the legislation. You can get more information, including contact information, from SaveNetRadio.org, a coalition of artists, labels, listeners and webcasters in support of Internet Radio.