News
Mark Lemhouse produces new album from Black Francis
Black Francis, aka Frank Black, aka Charles Kitteridge Thompson IV… whatever you call him, the Pixies alum has tapped Yellow Dog Records artist Mark Lemhouse to produce his newest effort Bluefinger. Described as having “some of the most aggressive, decadent songs Thompson has written under any of his aliases,” Bluefinger is set to release Sept ’07 on Cooking Vinyl. Recounting the experience, Mark says, “That session was a lot of fun. Everybody was really loose and just happy to work on whatever idea Charles would come up with.”
Blackolero, a French Frank Black fan e-zine, has released an in-depth interview avec Lemhouse. (Click here for the english version via the Frank Black forum)
- Reviews, sound samples, and more information about Mark Lemhouse
- Two albums by Mark Lemhouse available! Visit our Order page to get yours
Yellow Dog Records artists winners in Australian Bluestar Awards
In this year’s “The bluestar Awards,” Australia’s premier blues nod, YDR artists Fiona Boyes and William Lee Ellis both were both recognized with awards.
William Lee Ellis, as part of the the ‘Industry Choice’ categories, was awarded the “Best International CD Release – Solo” for his latest, God’s Tattoos.
Fiona Boyes, an Australian native, cleaned up with three nominations and three awards! Fiona’s latest, Lucky 13, was acknowledged as “Album of the Year” and “Best Australian CD Release – Band,” while she was also given the honor of “Best Australian Vocal – Female“.
Congratulations to them both!
- Reviews, sound samples, and more information about Fiona Boyes and William Lee Ellis
- Visit our Order page to get yours copies of Lucky 13 and God’s Tattoos!
We’re Gonna Miss You, Joe
Blues piano legend Big Joe Duskin passed away at home Sunday morning at age 86.
A boogie-woogie piano player, Duskin may have been part of the generation that produced legends like BB King and Muddy Waters, but his background was far from typical: he fought as a soldier in World War II and became a Cincinnati Police Officer before becoming a professional musician at age 43.
His relatively late start in professional music was due to a promise made to his father, the Reverend Perry Duskin, who believed that blues was “the devil’s music”. Joe promised to stop playing blues and boogie until after the death of the elder Duskin, who lived to age 105.
But in the early 1970s, at the urging of a young Ohio blues scholar, Steve Tracy, Big Joe began playing again and was soon a hot ticket at festivals around the US and Europe. He released his debut LP, Arhoolie’s Cincinnati Stomp, in 1979.
Joe is beloved in his hometown as a mentor who never refused any musician’s request to sit in. In 2000, he received a Lifetime Achievement Cammy (Cincinnati Area Pop Music Award), and in July 2004 the Mayor of Cincinnati presented him with a Key to the City, proclaiming “The City of Cincinnati acknowledges and honors Big Joe Duskin for giving his hometown – and the world – a lifetime’s worth of great music.”
The release of Duskin’s last studio recording, Big Joe Jumps Again! by Yellow Dog Records in 2004 brought further recognition. The album was nominated by the Blues Foundation for “Comeback Blues Album of the Year” in the annual Blues Music Awards, and Duskin was featured in June 2005 with the cover story in Living Blues Magazine. Later that year Duskin became the first African-American honored with the Ohio Heritage Fellowship Award from the Ohio Arts Council.
Big Joe’s remarkable legacy and sharing of his talent in his aging years, in spite of pain and poor health due to complications from diabetes, continues to be an inspiration to us all.
- Free Download: The Preacher and The Devil’s Music from Big Joe Jumps Again!
- Free Download: Just A Closer Walk With Thee from Big Joe Jumps Again!
- Video story: Fox 19, Cincinnati
- Interview of Big Joe Duskin by Jeff Harris of Bad Dog Blues