Crossroads

1. Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne – Go, Just Do It! (Stony Plain)
2. Lucky Losers – Godless Land (Vizztone)
3. Peter Parcek – Mississippi Suitcase (Lightnin’)
4. Ruthie Foster – Live at the Paramount (Blue Corn)
5. Alex Dixon – The Real McCoy (Dixon Landing)
6. Bettye LaVette – Blackbirds (Verve)
7. Sugar Ray & the Bluetones – Too Far from the Bar (Severn)
8. Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters - Rise Up (Stony Plain)
9. New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers – Vol. 1 (Stony Plain)
10. Joe Louis Walker – Blues Comin’ On (Cleopatra)
    

Friday, October 2 and Sunday, October 4

It’s “New Month/New Music” time as Crossroads teams up with Global Village and Strange Currency at the beginning of every month to feature the best in new blues releases.

Among the highlights this time:

• Blues veterans Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite together
• Soul blues hitmaker John Nemeth
• Soulman Sonny Green
• Johnny Iguana’s Chicago Spectacular
• And a raft of new titles from blues women, including Fiona Boyes, Lisa Mann, Laura Tate, Vanessa Collier, and Nora Jean Wallace.

Friday, September 25 and Sunday, September 27

Crossroads wraps up the September Piano Month feature with a special show devoted to the music of Pintop Perkins, the pianist so popular the Blues Music Awards renamed their piano award for him because he had won it so many times.

Perkins is best known for his work with Muddy Waters and then the Legendary Blues Band, made up of Waters former band members. A special in hour two will focus on that aspect of his career, while in the first hour we’ll hear Perkins featured on later albums he did under his own name and as a special guest with a wide array of artists including Koko Taylor, Earl Hooker, James Cotton, Ronnie Earl, and one of Muddy’s sons, Big Bill Morganfield.

It’s classic blues from one of the great piano masters of the style and a fitting conclusion to the Piano Month feature.

Friday, September 18 and Sunday, September 20

Crossroads is celebrating the September 19th birthday of David Bromberg with music from across his five-decade career in hour one, and with a special concert performance in hour two of the show.

Crossroads also continues the September twin feature of Piano Month and the newly announced Living Blues Critics and Readers Poll winners. We’ll hear pianists Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Bruce Katz, and also featured on piano – Aretha Franklin. Living Blues winners highlighted this time include Rhiannon Giddens and Mavis Staples.

New blues on tap in this edition of Crossroads includes Blind Lemon Pledge, John Primer & Bob Corritore, and the Lucky Losers.

 Friday, September 11 and Sunday, September 13 

Crossroads is celebrating Piano Month throughout September and this time the focus in on West Coast Blues piano in honor of the birthday of Charles Brown. His sophisticated, after hours sound shaped the scene and was a major influence on many of the artists who followed. We’ll hear early classic and great later recordings from him and other West Coast pianists in hour one, and a special featuring Brown in the second hour of the show.

Throughout the month, Crossroads is also getting to music from newly named Living Blues Awards Critics and Readers Polls winners, and there’s new music from Shemekia Copeland, Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne, the Mark May Band, and the Lucky Losers.

1. Jimmy Johnson – Every Day of Your Life (Delmark)
2. Ruthie Foster – Live at the Paramount (Blue Corn)
3. Linsey Alexander – Live at Rosa’s (Delmark)
4. Lisa Mills – The Triangle (BMG)
5. Savoy Brown – Ain’t Done Yet (Quarto Valley)
6. Maceo Parker – Soul Food (The Funk Garage)
7. Avey Grouws Band – The Devil May Care (Avey Grouws Band)
8. Backtrack Blues Band – Your Baby Has Left (Vizztone)
9. Alex Dixon – The Real McCoy (Dixon Landing)
10. Johnny Burgin – No Border Blues (Delmark)
    

Friday, September 4 and Sunday, Septemeber 6

It’s “New Month/New Music” time as Crossroads teams up with Global Village and Strange Currency at the beginning of every month to feature the best in new blues releases.

Among the highlights this time:

• The New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers, with a lineup that includes Charlie Musselwhite, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Jim, Luther and Cody Dickinson,
• A new set from veteran blues guitar master Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters,
• The Allman Betts Band, featuring the sons of Duane Allman, Dicky Betts, and Berry Oakley,
• Singer Kat Riggins with a new Mike Zito-produced album,
• Award-winning blues harmonica player Sugar Ray Norcia with the Bluetones, and special guest Little Charlie Baty in some of the last recordings he made before his sudden passing in March,
• Cornetist, songwriter, singer and composer Al Basile, with his first self-produced release,
• And the Friends and Legends of Louisiana with special guests Sonny Landreth, Wayne Toups, and Kenny Neal.
  

Friday, August 28 and Sunday, August 30

Crossroads wraps up the August feature celebrating the centennial birthday of singer Jimmy Witherspoon with music ranging from his first hit to a later album he did with the Robben Ford Band.

Crossroads also wraps up this month’s look at the 2020 Blues Blast Awards nominees; features the latest from the Phantom Blues Band, Victor Wainwright, the Backtrack Blues Band, and Savoy Brown; a remembers Peter Green, who passed away at the end of last month, with music he did with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac.

Friday, August 21 and Sunday, August 23

Crossroads continues the August feature celebrating the centennial birthday of singer Jimmy Witherspoon and highlighting nominees in this year’s Blues Blast Music Awards.

We’ll hear some classics from Witherspoon in hour one and a special about his life and music in hour two of the show.

Blues Blast nominees on tap this time include Ruthie Foster, John Primer with Bob Corritore, the B.B. King Blues Band, and Tad Robinson.

Plus new music from Lisa Mills, and classics from the Staple Singers and recently named 2020 NEA Heritage Fellow William Bell.

Friday, August 14 and Sunday, August 16

Crossroads kicks off the August feature marking the centennial birthday of singer Jimmy Witherspoon and highlighting nominees in this year’s Living Blues Awards.

The show also marks weekend birthdays of Chicago blues stalwart Son Seals and  folk blues star Eric Bibb (featured in a concert special in hour two of the show).

Plue there’s new music from Ruthie Foster, Frank Bey, Jimmy Johnson and G. Love, and a classic from Fenton Robinson.