News
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
New compilation from Mary Flower!
Mary Flower is renowned for her springwater-clear vocals, beautiful original compositions, and above all, mastery of fingerpicking and lap-slide guitar styles. In fact, she’s the only woman to place twice at the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship in Winfield, KS.
In response to frequent requests for recordings featuring her guitar playing, Instrumental Breakdown compiles the instrumental tracks from her critically acclaimed albums Honey From the Comb, Ladyfingers, Ragtime Gal, and Bywater Dance, along with a couple of newly-recorded tunes.
These tracks feature Mary’s intricate guitar – both solo as well as with backing from a who’s who of roots notables, including Jon Cleary, Tony Furtado, Fritz Richmond, Pat Donohue, Woody Mann, and Dr. Michael White.
- More details and sound samples
- Album shipping now! Visit the Order page to get your copy.
Fiona Boyes’ Lucky 13 nominated Contemporary Blues Album of the Year!
We’re thrilled that Lucky 13, the debut album for Yellow Dog Records by Fiona Boyes, has been nominated for a Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues Album of the Year!
The Blues Music Awards (formerly known as the W.C. Handy Awards) are universally recognized as the highest honor given to Blues artists. And best of all, you can vote for Fiona in the awards process! Visit The Blues Foundation to join, and then this link to vote once you are a member.
To celebrate Fiona’s nomination and to encourage membership in the Blues Foundation, Yellow Dog Records has teamed with Maton Guitars to offer a free reward pack to all Blues Foundation members who contact us before the end of February! The reward pack includes two free sampler CDs, one free DVD, and a chance to win a Maton Mastersound MS500LS electric guitar (valued at more than $1,500) autographed by Fiona and legendary guitarist Hubert Sumlin. To learn how to request your free reward pack, please read here for instructions.
- Press release about the album’s nomination
- Hear sound samples from Lucky 13
- Read a bunch of great reviews about Lucky 13
- Get your own copy by visiting our Order page!