North Jersey Blues Society

Honest—this album is the work of only 10 flying fingers. Not 20.

In Bentonia, Mississippi, geography is destiny for guitar men. Heaped on top of that fate is abundant audible proof that life is even far less of a picnic in that small Delta town (Pop. 274, in 2023). But such a perfect storm makes for a profoundly surreal experience. Bentonia, in fact, is home to the bluest, badluckest blues around. They don’t come any bluer.

What if? The blues has as many such hypotheticals as John Lee Hooker has actual records (official plus bootleg). For starters: What if Robert Johnson had plugged in?

More than 20 professional musicians were present for this tribute to the late, great Joe Louis Walker.

It didn’t have to come to this. The divine magic needn’t have ended so tragically. Or, most certainly, so soon. She was only 48.

NO BEER RUN REQUIRED. Dressed comes with more than enough of its own intoxicating spirit and boozy wobble. Because these nine men are hellbent on rekindling the glorious cacophony of New Orleans brass bands: the keg party of Louisianan music.

Bobby Rush—the Chitlin’ Circuit’s most revered gladiator with 10,000plus worldwide shows and still very much counting—adds a new offering atop his mountain of 400plus credited records. Guitar ace Kenny Wayne Shepherd—whose high-powered goods have hit the road with Buddy Guy to Van Halen and the Rolling Stones to the 2025 Experience Hendrix traveling circus—also has a new record out. Both albums are one and the same: Young Fashioned Ways.

The key is not to do anything understated. Slight, nuanced and restrained have no place here either. After all, Mack Orr has long reigned as king of Memphis bruiser blues, the kind that clobbers on a few different fronts. In blunt terms, “Daddy Mack” is brute force incarnate.

“An Answer for Isaac” unleashed its full power inside a wind tunnel fit for jet turbines. Or so it sounds.

Have you ever heard Chicago bluesman Jim Brewer? Or perhaps let’s back up and start at: Have you ever heard of Chicago bluesman Jim Brewer? Granted: It’s not exactly a fair question given that Jim remained one of the city’s great insider secrets, hiding in plain sight outside at the Maxwell Street Market as well as inside the No Exit coffeehouse for decades on end.

Last Saturday, April 27th, The Stanhope House buzzed with the vibrant energy of blues music during the NJBS Blues Competition. This event...

Typically, these conditions would clearly come under the purview of blues: hearts sunken, busted, and torn by grieving loss. Not tonight, though. Definitely not tonight.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Elvis Presley, White Stripes, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty. Oh, and don’t forget Ram Jam: They all can’t be wrong in that a Lead Belly song—be it “Cotton Fields” or “Midnight Special” or “In the Pines” or on and on—is simply too hard to pass up. The temptation to translate him for rock ears is just too great.

Something is about to hit. You can sense the magnitude, its impending force. So much so that the air tensely vibrates, audibly buzzing. And then …

March 8, 2025, was a day to remember, as it marked International Women's Day and Women in Blues. The North Jersey Blues Society hosted...

Into the gutbucket we go.

Little Brother Montgomery could sniff out a piano. Any place. Any time.

The music scene is buzzing with excitement, and all eyes are on the latest album from The Bob Lanza Blues Band, titled Breadman's Blues.

In a beautiful collaboration between the NJBS and Blues Alive, a unique musical journey recently took place, celebrating MLK Jr.

Long, long, long before electricity, there was the groove. And blues came even before that. Héritage puts such prehistory back into play.