Buddy (& Julie) Miller
Steven Paul “Buddy” Miller is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter Julie Miller
. Wikipedia
Check out : The first new album from Buddy & Julie Miller in 10 years, Breakdown On 20th Avenue South
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Ronnie Baker Brooks
Ronnie Baker Brooks is a prominent American Chicago blues and soul blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter who has carved out a unique identity while honoring his “blues royalty” lineage as the eldest musical son of the late legendary Lonnie Brooks. Born in Chicago in 1967, he has emerged as one of the most electrifying and innovative bluesmen, blending traditional Chicago blues with elements of soul, electric blues, rock, and funk.
Brooks began his musical journey at an early age, first performing on stage with his father at just nine years old. He initially joined his father’s band as a roadie, working his way up through hard work and determination before becoming the full-time second guitarist. He learned not only from his father but also from blues greats such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, and Koko Taylor. Koko Taylor notably told him, “You learn from your daddy everything you can. And one day, it’ll be up to you to carry the blues forward,” a mandate he took to heart.
Embarking on a solo career in 1998 with his debut album Golddigger, Brooks established his own sound and label, Watchdog Records, which also released Take Me Witcha (2001) and the critically acclaimed The Torch (2006). His music is often described as witty, soulful, and ferociously energetic, with “astonishing guitar work” and a powerful stage presence. He views his role as a bridge between the traditional blues of his mentors and the younger generation, incorporating modern musical influences like hip-hop to ensure the genre’s continued evolution.
Ronnie’s 2017 album, Times Have Changed, produced by Steve Jordan, featured collaborations with an array of talent, including Bobby “Blue” Bland in one of his final recorded works.
Blues in My DNA, released in October 2024 on Alligator Records, marks his debut on the prestigious label that was home to his father. The album has been a major success, earning Brooks three 2025 Blues Music Awards: “Song of the Year” for the title track, “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year,” and “Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year”. This recognition solidifies his place in the upper echelons of the blues world, an honor he now embraces with pride rather than obligation.
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Peter Wolf
A Cure for Loneliness manifests the same vibrant passion for music that’s motivated Peter Wolf for most of his life. Growing up in an artistic, politically engaged family in the Bronx, he became an early rock ‘n’ roll convert after attending an Alan Freed rock ‘n’ roll revue that included performances by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Frankie Lymon. His thirst for new and old sounds drove him to exploring blues, soul, country, folk and jazz, inspiring weekly visits to Harlem’s Apollo Theatre and leading to acquaintances with many of the music’s surviving originators.
Wolf’s talent as a painter won him a grant to study at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. While a student there, he experienced a life-changing epiphany after jumping on stage to sing with a blues band at a loft party. He soon talked himself into membership in that band, The Hallucinations.
“I didn’t join a band to meet girls,” Wolf recalls. “I joined my first band to meet musicians. Painting was a fascination for me, but I was a music fanatic, and sitting in with that band was a born-again type of experience for me. I was transfixed, and myself and some of the guys in the band would check out performances by the musicians we admired so much, like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker and John Coltrane and Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers. Those roots stayed with me.”
Wolf’s natural loquaciousness won him a job as an all-night DJ on the fledgling FM rock station WBCN. Adopting the persona of “the Woofa Goofa,” he spun raw rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm ‘n’ blues, channeling the spirit of the flashy, fast-talking DJs he’d grown up listening to.
Wolf’s encyclopedic musical knowledge came in handy when he and some like-minded Boston players formed the J. Geils Band, much of whose early repertoire was drawn from Wolf’s vast record collection. The band soon became a local favorite injecting a much-needed jolt of raw, uninhibited rock ‘n’ roll into the ’70s scene and was soon signed by Jerry Wexler for Atlantic Records. Between 1970 and 1983, the J. Geils Band released 13 influential albums, topped the pop single charts with 1981’s “Freeze Frame,” “Love Stinks,” “Centerfold,” and earned a reputation as one of rock’s most exciting live acts, thanks in large part to Wolf’s flamboyant, hyperactive stage presence.
After going solo with 1984’s Lights Out, Wolf continued to stake out new musical territory with the subsequent releases Lights Out, Come As You Are, Up to No Good, Long Line, Fool’s Parade, Sleepless and Midnight Souvenirs, and A Cure For Loneliness. His solo work has seen him collaborate with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Merle Haggard, John Lee Hooker, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Little Milton, Wilson Pickett, Shelby Lynne and Neko Case. Wolf temporarily reunited with his J. Geils Band cohorts for live shows on several occasions between 1999 and 2015, but his solo career has remained his creative focus, as A Cure for Loneliness makes clear.
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The Wood Brothers
The Wood Brothers are an American roots band consisting of brothers Chris and Oliver Wood, as well as multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix. Their music is a combination of folk, gospel, blues and jazz. Wikipedia
Check out this track from their latest recording — Puff of Smoke
The Wood Brothers have learned to trust their hearts. For the better part of two decades, they’ve cemented their reputation as freethinking songwriters, road warriors, and community builders, creating a catalog of diverse music and a loyal audience who’ve grown alongside them through the years. That evolution continues with Heart is the Hero, the band’s eighth studio album. Recorded analog to 16-track tape, this latest effort finds its three creators embracing the chemistry of their acclaimed live shows by capturing their performances in real-time direct from the studio floor with nary a computer in sight. An acoustic-driven album that electrifies, Heart is the Hero is stocked with songs that target not only the heart, but the head and hips, too.
The video embedded above shows them clever and joyful.
Try a couple of Live videos for more flavor……When I Was Young
and Luckiest Man
A few years back The Wood Brothers’ sixth outing, ‘One Drop of Truth,’ dives headfirst into a deep wellspring of sounds, styles and influences. Whereas their previous outings have often followed a conceptual and sonic through-line, here the long-standing trio featuring brothers Oliver and Chris Wood along with Jano Rix treat each song as if it were its own short film. The plaintive, country-folk of the album’s opening track “River Takes The Town” gives way to the The Band-esque Americana soul of “Happiness Jones.”
They have several new recordings since and continue to create wonderful music and tour the country.
