29 Jun 2004

Master of Many Styles

By Jeff Ignatius
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown will not have the blues when he performs at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival this weekend and receives the RiverRoad Lifetime Achievement Award. There's too much music in him. He plays guitar, harmonica, violin, mandolin, viola, and drums, and he simply doesn't abide by any musical boundaries, comfortable in the Cajun music of his birthplace and the Texas blues and country styles of his youth, along with jazz and R&B and calypso and pretty much anything else he can get his hands on.
29 Jun 2004

New Label, New Attitude, Same Soul

By Jeff Ignatius
W.C. Clark is something of a legend in his native Austin, Texas, having been a key player in the integration of the blues scene, giving a boost to artists such as the fiery guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. But it wasn't until 2002 - after Clark dedicated himself to his music in a new way - that he started to get his due.
29 Jun 2004

A Voice That Will Not Be Contained

By Jeff Ignatius
A little time off can do wonders for an artist. Before singer Reneé Austin gave up performing music in 1999, she felt in a bit of a rut, stuck performing blues material that really wasn't her. She had an album, Dancin' with Mr.
29 Jun 2004

Musselwhite Creates a Sanctuary with New Record

By Jeff Ignatius
For Charlie Musselwhite, the blues aren't 12 bars and three chords. "It's the feeling," he said. "You can find the music of lament anywhere." The irony of that statement is that harmonica wizard Musselwhite was at the forefront of the white-blues movement of the 1960s, and - as the All Music Guide notes - he was "especially faithful to the style.
29 Jun 2004

A Guitar Hero You Can Dance to

By Jeff Ignatius
Unless you follow the developments in the world of guitar, chances are excellent you've never heard of Johnny Hiland. But if you like intense country-flavored guitar, you'd be remiss not to check him out when he headlines Muscatine's Independence Day festivities.
22 Jun 2004

Grand Excursion Steams into the Quad Cities

By Jeff Ignatius
A glance at the events slated for Grand Excursion 2004 can be more than a little overwhelming. The event's centerpiece is a six-boat flotilla that convenes in the Quad Cities on Saturday, June 26, and travels up the Mississippi, arriving at Minnesota-St.
22 Jun 2004

Grand Excursion Book Not a Souvenir, but a Good Read

By Jeff Ignatius
Edited by Curtis C. Roseman and Elizabeth M. Roseman 252 pages 2004, University of Iowa Press The new book Grand Excursions on the Upper Mississippi River should not be considered a lightweight souvenir for people wanting to remember the upcoming Grand Excursion celebration.
15 Jun 2004

River Music Experience Delivers at Grand-Opening Weekend

By Jeff Ignatius
Connie Gibbons, executive director of the River Music Experience, has said she views the new roots-music center on a par with big-city facilities such as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Experience Music Project in Seattle.
15 Jun 2004

Speed Dating Matches People Seven Minutes at a Time

By Jeff Ignatius
If Susan Esser had known what she was getting into, she might never have started the Quad Cities' speed-dating service. That first session, in April 2001, didn't go as smoothly as planned, as she was unsure how to facilitate the orderly flow of singles from one person to the next.
08 Jun 2004

Skeleton Key Comes with Another New Beginning

By Jeff Ignatius
Eric Sanko knows all about new beginnings. When the seasoned bassist and vocalist brings his "junk" rock group Skeleton Key to the Brew & View on Tuesday, he'll be embarking on yet another one. After a decade of playing with John Lurie's famous avant-garde jazz/rock band Lounge Lizards, Sanko formed Skeleton Key in 1994.

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