Bluex of texas4/8/2023 ![]() ![]() In fact, the white blues wave has created its own bar circuit in Texas and Louisiana, where acts like the Juke Jumpers, the Cobras, the Cold Cuts, Marcia Ball and Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets appear regularly.ĭallas' Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets have released their second album, "She Knocks Me Out" (Black Top 1022), revealing them as one of the harder rocking blues combos in the Southwest. The Texas rhythm and blues scene also has inspired a host of talented white blues artists from Delbert McClinton and Johnny Winter to relative newcomers like the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughan. "Texas Twist" proves Copeland is not just drawing on the Texas legacy but is writing new standards and establishing his own mix of jazz and soul-inflicted blues. His single-note solos, recalling Albert Collins and Philip Walker, often start clean and trebly before working themselves into dirty, sputtering blasts.Ĭonsistent with Texas tradition, Ken Vangel's horn arrangements allow the occasional jazz solo, and Archie Shepp has one of twisting beauty in "North Carolina." The instrumental "Jessanne" is particularly lovely with the horns drifting in mellow harmony, while Copeland plays an expressive, almost moody lead. As he shouts each lyric in his gruff, soulful timbre, Copeland's biting guitar is answered in chorus by his four-piece horn section. Many, like "Excuses" and "When the Rain Starts Fallin'," are suave urban blues reminiscent of the Duke recordings of Bobby Bland and Junior Parker. His third album, "Texas Twister" (Rounder 2040), reasserts Copeland's prowess as a harsh blues shouter and earns him new respect as a songwriter.Īside from a New Orleans-style mambo rendition of Louis Jordan's "Early in the Mornin'," Copeland wrote all the songs here. His galvanic live shows, featuring an eight-piece band and sophisticated arrangements, gave the contemporary blues scene a new hero. The album, firmly rooted in the Texas tradition of clean guitar lines riding a cushion of swinging horns, established Copeland, who performs at Adam's on Saturday, as a masterful bluesman. ![]() ![]() Guitarist Johnny Copeland had been working this blues circuit since the '60s, but he received little attention until the release of his first album, "Copeland Special," in 1981. The likes of Gatemouth Brown, Guitar Slim, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Albert Collins and the three Kings (B.B., Albert and Freddy) carved their reputations in these clubs. The juke joints, roadhouses and dance halls that made up this circuit fostered intense competition and wild showmanship. The Southwest chitlins circuit, stretching from west Texas to New Orleans and north to Oklahoma and Kansas, hosted a staggering array of talent from the '40s to the '60s. The urbane tradition of Texas guitar blues, starting with the legendary T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulsom, has proven every bit as rich and influential as the Chicago blues legacy. ![]()
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