Nothing Left (feat. Will Kimbrough)

#114 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Nothing Left, features the beautifully lyrical guitar playing of Will Kimbrough. Born in Mobile Alabama, Will gained entry into the "club" early on in his career with his band Will and the Bushmen and then the Bisquits who were signed to John Prine's Oh Boy Records. He's an incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist, writer, producer, and performer. His list of collaborations is a who's who of Americana and Roots music, including; Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider, Kim Richey, Garrison Starr, Matthew Ryan, Josh Rouse, Jimmy Buffett, Little Feat, Jack Ingram, Rosanne Cash, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, The Jayhawks, Mark Knopfler, Buddy Miller, Billy Joe Shaver, Mavis Staples, and a whole lot more. Will won the 2004 Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year Award. The previous year it had gone to Jerry Douglas and the following year to Sonny Landreth. Will replaced Audley Freed in Joan Osborne's Trigger Hippy and is a member of Emmylou Harris' Red Dirt Boys. He's made ten albums as a solo artist and continues to be the envy of mere mortals. You can find out more about Will and join his Patreon campaign here. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Andrew "the kid" Guterman (Rick Estrin) on drums, and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA and Will's place in Nashville TN. Mixing and Mastering duties were handled by the infamous F-Bomb. 

Mephistopheles' Blues (feat. Jerry Goodman)

#113 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Mephistopheles' Blues, features the instantly identifiable electric violin of Jerry Goodman. Yes!, The Mahavishnu Orchestra's Jerry Goodman! Okay, I'm a little excited. Fusion, in my opinion, had a very small window of cool, and Jerry and The Mahavishnu's were at the absolute epicenter of that moment. That was 50 years ago and Jerry has kept very busy since. He has played with a myriad of legendary acts including; Toots Thielman, Hall & Oates, Derek Sherinian, Dixie Dregs, and Dream Theater. He has done soundtracks including Billy Crystal's Mr. Saturday Night and Steve Martin's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He was also a member of Billy Cobham's Spectrum 40 Band. Musical virtuosity is somewhat of the Goodman family business, Jerry's parents were both string players in the Chicago Symphony and his uncle was the noted composer and jazz musician Marty Rubenstein. Having Jerry play on this track is a thrill and honor, (maybe he can get his old buddies John and Jan to join us). Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Andrew "the kid" Guterman (Rick Estrin) on drums, and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA. Mixing and Mastering duties were handled by the infamous F-Bomb. 

Must Be Jam (feat. Scott Sharrard)

#112 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Must Be Jam, features a real modern-day soul rocker, Scott Sharrard. A second-generation professional guitarist (his Dad was also a guitarist) out of Michigan, Scott cut his teeth playing with the "local" (Milwaukee and Chicago) cats like Clyde Stubblefield, Buddy Miles, Luther Allison, and Hubert Sumlin. Then in the mid '90s, he headed to New York City with his band the Chesterfields, and quickly caught the attention and tutelage of Ahmet Ertegun. The Chesterfields cut three albums and Scott followed with another three solo albums. In 2008 Greg Allman recruited Scott into the Greg Allman Band after Scott had unknowingly auditioned by sitting in with the Allman Brothers. That relationship lasted until Allman's passing in 2017 and included several albums, co-writes, and a Grammy nomination. Scott is currently writing, performing, and producing as well as taking over guitar duties for the late Paul Barrere in Little Feat. This one's a quick little joy ride, enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Marcus David (Nick Gravenites, Clover) on drums, and myself on bass. It was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA. Mixed by the Godfather of Grunge, Jack Endino (Soundgarden, Nando Reis), and as almost always, masterfully mastered by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering.