DJ for The Blues Alley Show
OCEAN SHORES, Washington, United States
I started collecting music in 1962, at the age of 10. In 1973 I went to work at Budget Tapes and Records in Burien , Wa. I started as a clerk, in 6 months I was promoted to Mgr. In 1975 I became a multiple location mgr. In 1977 I became the Western Region Operations Manager over seeing 100+ stores in 10 states for the corporate office. In 1978 I added Blues buyer to my duties.
In 1983 I left the Record business and began a 12 year run in the HiFi store management... Read More
Chicago-based singer-songwriter Joanie Pallatto has been on quite a roll in the 2020’s. In 2021, she released My Original Plan, followed by Accidental Melody in 2023 and then a duo album in 2024 with fellow singer April Aloisio called April & Joanie Sing! This much musical goodness is now followed up by another duo album entitled Song with Joanie’s partner Bradley Parker-Sparrow.
Compared to the upbeat nature of the albums mentioned above, the 2025 release of Song sounds dark and mysterious. Joanie’s voice and lyrics are still excellent, yet the surprise here is the depth of quality and musical veracity of Sparrow’s songs and piano work.
Some of these tracks are pure Sparrow compositions that feature Joanie on vocals and others are co-writes in the best sense of the word with Joanie often contributing lyrics and sometimes additional
Charlie Ballantine Album: East by Midwest Label: Origin Genre(s): Fusion Posted By: Robert Silverstein
Apr 6, 2025
Review
Seattle-based Origin Records will blow the minds of electric guitar fans with their 2025 CD release of East By Midwest by recording artist and composer Charlie Ballantine. The nine-track, 40 minute album sounds quite scintillating in spaces and the guitarist does his best with effective backing by Quinn Sternberg (bass) and Dan Weiss (drums). With the artist having already released a number of albums under his name, East By Midwest is an excellent disc to approach the guitar magic of Charlie Ballantine.
The CDs starts off slow and deliberately with “Storyteller” and it quickly grooves on with eight more instrumentals that tastefully carries forth Ballantine’s guitar-centric philosophy. Although the melody of track two “Runaround” kind of echoes the 1970 Beatles classic “Let It Be”, it isn’t until later on in the album that Ballantine
Johnny Rawls Album: Make Them Dance Label: Catfood Genre(s): Soul Blues Posted By: Duane Verh
Apr 6, 2025
Review
Deep-dish soul music of this caliber becomes more rare by the day. Chitlin’-circuit veteran Mr. Rawls delivers the vocal goods track after track starting with the killer leadoff number “So Cold”. Other standouts include “Dreams of You”, “Move In My Direction” and “Costs Too Much”. Good, good stuff.
Tim Gartland Album: Right Amount Of Funky Label: Self-Release Genre(s): Contemporary Blues Posted By: Duane Verh
Mar 30, 2025
Review
Tim Gartland’s deep baritone pipes and melody-conscious harmonica play show well on his current, highly song-centric offering. A set of consistently satisfying originals is further elevated by a pair co-authored by Nashville songsmith Karen Leipziger: a distinctively present-day blues- “A Better Life”, and an ear-catching airplay candidate “Walk Away”.
Lynn Taylor and The Barflies Album: Where The Heart Is Label: Self-Release Genre(s): Alternative Country Posted By: Duane Verh
Mar 23, 2025
Review
Turning a phrase sure sounds like a second-nature effort for the likes of Lynn Taylor. The raspy-throated vocalist/guitarist’s current offering is abundantly stocked with genre-savvy fare laced with ear-catching resolutions. Standing out among them is a shuffle-beat celebration of the Big Easy- “Carnival In Hell”, a Buddy Holly-esque ballad “When I Think About You” and a haunting tale in the classic country “story song” mold- “The Twilight Years of Florence and Ebenezer”.
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