“In the studio, Sam Cooke was a consummate pop crooner, whose delicate, caramelized voice charmed the reserved and mild. By the early sixties, his success and stature as a groundbreaking R&B crossover sensation loomed large in the music business.

But when Cooke stepped into Miami’s Harlem Square Club on the warm night of January 12, 1963, he let his hair down. He delivered a blistering 37-minute set that showcased his raw, gospel-rooted R&B spark before a predominantly African American audience.

Backed by late great saxophonist King Curtis and Cooke’s road band, which notably included guitarists Clifton White and Cornell Dupree, bassist Jimmy Lewis, drummer Albert “June” Gardner, pianist George Stubbs, and saxophonist Tate Houston, Cooke exudes a burst of hell-raising, down-home energy that feels neither measured nor rehearsed. The interaction between the performer and the enlivened Miami audience is natural and uninhibited all at once, as Cooke’s candor shines with each phrasing he sings and interjection he utters. If that quality isn’t enough to prove how dynamic his showmanship was, his distinctive voice and the peerless musicianship certainly is. Cooke attains a delectably gritty timbre that compellingly matches the fire and precision of his backing band, as they prowl through a reinvigorated run of his hit singles.

When this storied Miami show finally surfaced in 1985 as Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, it garnered universal reverence not only as a watershed in soul music history, but in the realm of famed live recordings as well. It best represents Sam Cooke as one of soul music’s undisputed progenitors. One full listen to it and you’ll never want the feeling to end. You’ll most likely repeat it.” Brandon Ousley

With one show remaining for the year, I‘ve gone deep into the Blues With A Feeling record library to feature for you, possibly the greatest live recording of all time.

Plus songs from the very best of the years new releases, including Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush & Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Maria Muldaur, Janiva Magness, Charlie Musselwhite, Mike Henderson, Southern Avenue Monster Mike Welch, Jo Harman, Tommy Castro, TajMo, The Alexis P Suter Band, Tad Robinson, Jon Cleary and Tad Robinson.

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“It's been over 30 years since world-class musicians guitarist Little Charlie Baty and harmonicist/vocalist/songwriter Rick Estrin first teamed up and took hard Chicago blues, jump, Texas swing and jazz and mixed it with rockabilly, proto-rock'n'roll, jumping jive, bebop and Estrin's sharply original lyrics, creating a sound one critic described as "Charlie Christian playing in Little Walter's band." Their utter mastery of American roots music is fueled by Baty's jaw-dropping guitar acrobatics and driven by Estrin's captivating original songs, cutting vocals and brilliant harmonica playing.

The story of Little Charlie & The Nightcats began back in the early 1970s when Baty--a harmonica-playing UC Berkeley student--first met Estrin. With Rick already an accomplished harp player, Baty decided to switch to guitar full-time and the two formed a blues band. After relocating to Sacramento, Baty quickly reinvented himself as a take-no-prisoners, one-of-a-kind guitarist. With the addition of a drummer and a bass player, Little Charlie & The Nightcats were born.

In 1986 the band sent an unsolicited tape to Alligator Records. Alligator president Bruce Iglauer was blown away. He flew to Sacramento to see the band perform and was sold. Their debut album, All The Way Crazy, was released in 1987 to overwhelming success. Almost immediately they went from playing small Sacramento blues clubs to performing concerts and festivals around the country and around the world.”

I’m beyond excited to feature for you this groundbreaking record this week. And to add context, my guest this week is the bands singer, songwriter and harp player Rick Estrin, who was kind enough to turn his memory back to 1987 and share all sorts of stories about the bands earliest years.

Plus new releases from Eric Bibb, Roomful of Blues, Tinsley Ellis, The Alexis P Suter Band, Darren Watson and Sally King & the Repeat Offenders.

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"Billed as her most personal statement, this may well be Mavis Staples’ finest solo effort to date. In 2004, the powerhouse lead singer of the famed Staple Singers released the rootsy Have A Little Faith on Alligator. Here, producer/guitarist Ry Cooder places the reigning queen of gospel’s voice in an even more intimate setting, paring the instrumentation down to the bare essentials.

But it’s the repertoire that makes the album so personal, not to mention riveting. She goes not just back to the church but back to the type of “freedom songs” that made the Staple Singers an inextricable part of the Civil Rights Movement of the ’60s – as Rep. John Lewis writes in the liner notes, “the soul of that revolution.”

Just as her family band had something to say then – with songs like “Why Am I Treated So Bad,” “Long Walk To D.C.,” and the hit “Respect Yourself” – Ms. Staples mixes traditional gospel tunes and originals to comment on the state of things in 2007.

The program opens with the biting social commentary of unsung blues poet J.B. Lenoir’s “Down In Mississippi,” with Ladysmith Black Mambazo providing vocal backing to Cooder’s guitar and mandolin and the heavy backbeat of his constant collaborator, Jim Keltner. Mike Elizondo, who played on Cooder’s Chavez Ravine, is back on bass and keyboards, with Ry’s son, Joachim, who provided percussion on the acclaimed Buena Vista Social Club.

Cooder’s big-toned slide leads off a version of “Eyes On The Prize” that will make the hair stand up on the back your neck. But the autobiographical “My Own Eyes” – recalling her father, Roebuck, and Martin Luther King (singing, “If he can preach it, we can sing it”) is perhaps Mavis’s finest hour.

Sure to be on numerous Top 10 lists for 2007." Vintage Guitar

A particular favourite of mine, it’s a thrill to feature for you this week, this sublime record.

Plus new releases from Buddy Guy, Eric Bibb, Roomful Of Blues, Kim Wilson, Bobby Rush & Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Billy Branch & The Sons Of Blues, Tinsley Ellis, Eddie 9VT, Sally King & The Repeat Offenders, Darren Watson, The Alexis P Suter Band and John Primer &Bob Corritore.

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