Bettie Page's Bangs (feat. Ben McLeod)

#140 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, Bettie Page's Bangs, features All Them Witches guitarist extraordinaire, Ben McLeod. I first met Ben when he came over to our house in Nashville to buy a Fizzy, one of the custom-made fuzz boxes by my then 8-year-old son, Izzy (employed here by Rich Kirch on the intro guitar figure). Ben sat down in the living room, picked up his guitar, plugged in and at just 16 years old completely blew me away. He had the touch and tone of someone twice his age. And he looked cool too (kind of like a young Joe Perry). Within a few years of that meeting, Ben went on to form All Them Witches, a super stoney, heavy rock outfit, and they began to conquer the world, signing with the German heavy-psych label Elektrohasch Schallplatten and then eventually with New West Records. They are an extremely prolific band, having released 14 albums and a bunch of singles since their inception in 2012. ATW is currently touring the US doing a series of residencies in different major cities including SF, LA, NYC, Denver, and Austin. If you haven't seen or heard them I highly recommend you do. I hope you enjoy this little nod and wink to the stoner rock of my day (Train Kept A-Rollin' anyone?). 

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Andrew Guterman (Rick Estrin) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA and diabolically mixed and mastered by the Supreme Ruler of Greaseland, Christoffer "Kid" Andersen.

A Face In The Crowd (feat. Lyle Workman)

#139 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, A Face In The Crowd, features the freakishly talented musician, Lyle Workman. A Bay Area native and long-time Angelino, Lyle is a highly respected and sought after composer and player. I had the pleasure of jamming with Lyle twenty-five years ago with Tubes drummer Prairie Prince and although I didn't know Lyle by reputation, he had already been in Bourgeois Tagg and had played on two Todd Rundgren albums, it was quite apparent that this guy was not your average rock and roll singer/guitarist. His compositions were intelligent and challenging and his playing was hyper stylized. Fast forward to 2021 and the magic of the interweb and here we have Lyle doing his thing on my thing. I was really impressed with Lyle's enthusiasm for the project and also his humility, he generously suggested other players that he was excited about for the series. Not necessarily what you'd expect from a cat whose discography contains collaborations with Frank Black, Sheryl Crow, Shakira, Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Sara Bareilles, Norah Jones & Michael Bublé as well as composing music for films such as; Superbad, The 40-Year-Old Virgin & Forgetting Sarah Marshall and tours with Sting & Beck. I hope your neighbors enjoy this as much as you do when you crank the shit out of it...you really have to!

The backing band on this track is my Bay Area comrade, Scott Amendola, (Nels Cline, Charlie Hunter) bangin' on the drums and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. Drums were tracked at Scott's house, bass & rhythm guitar at NTA in San Bruno, and guitars at Lyle's studio in LA. Mellifluously mixed and mastered by the infamous F-Bomb.

vis-à-vis (feat. Big Sam)

#138 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, vis-à-vis, features the trombone playing of New Orleans funk master, Sammie 'Big Sam' Williams. If you've ever been to New Orleans you most likely will agree that "It" is in the air. The swampy humidity and incredibly rich and often horrific history manifest a roux of art unrivaled anywhere else in this country. From Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, and the Marsalis Family to Professor Longhair, Lee Dorsey, Little Richard, and The Meters, New Orleans is the Blues, Jazz, Funk, and Soul capital of the world. Of course, credit is due to Detroit, Kansas City, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Chicago, Augusta, New York, LA, etc...but the birthplace, that's New Orleans. So, imagine the honor, pride, and childish excitement that a Jewish kid from Boston (me) feels when an alumnus of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band agrees to collaborate on a track. Big Sam and Big Sam's Funky Nation have been bringing "it" to the world for 25 years now. Dave Matthews and James Brown, Elvis Costello, and Allan Toussaint, if I was to list these acts without explanation you might think I was giving examples of opposites but, in actuality, these are all acts that have had the joyous opportunity of making music with Big Sam. I could go on, but better to let the music speak for itself. Please move the furniture out of the way, turn it way up, and get down to this almost five minutes of funky goodness. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Alvino Bennett (Dave Mason, Stevie Wonder) on drums, and myself on bass. The basics were recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA with overdubs at Sam's place in New Orleans. Mellifluously mixed and mastered by the infamous F-Bomb.

Lower East Side Blues (feat. Jim Campilongo)

#137 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, Lower East Side Blues, features a certified master of the telecaster, Jim Campilongo. Born in South San Francisco at just the right time to have his mind opened and blown by the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, Jim was deep in it and gigging by the mid '70's. He quickly became a San Francisco A-list guitar slinger but didn't really start to get national and international attention until he formed Jim Campilongo and the 10 Gallon Cats. I can clearly remember being here (SF) in the mid-'90s and everybody talking about Jim and his Roy Buchanan-esqe super tasty badassery. Being the big fish in the little pond was not enough for Jim so he pulled up stakes and bravely headed for New York City. A wise choice indeed. In 2002, his Electric Trio toured Europe and Scandinavia and recorded the album American Hips and in 2003 he formed the group The Little Willies with Norah Jones. Since then Jim has worked with artists as varied as; Big Al Anderson, Bright Eyes, Cake, J. J. Cale, Burning Spear, Nels Cline, Charlie Hunter, Peter Rowan, Martha Wainwright, Luca Benedetti & Capt. Picard himself Patrick Stewart. I can not tell you how many, great in their own right, guitarists I know that when they are in NYC make the pilgrimage to Jim's longstanding and legendary weekly residency at the Livingroom. I hope you enjoy this relatively brief example of a master at work and then venture beyond into the fifteen-album rabbit hole of Jim Campilongo. 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. Mixed by the Grammy-winning Godfather of Grunge, Jack Endino (Nirvana, Nando Reis) and masterfully mastered by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering.

Gaslighter's Ball (feat. Joanna Connor)

#135 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, Gaslighter's Ball, features the ferocious slide guitar playing of Joanna Connor. Born in Brooklyn NY, raised in Worcester MA, and then at 22 arriving in Chicago where she remains to this day, Joanna has burned her way to the top of the Blues heap. She has shared stages with legends like; James Cotton, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and A.C. Reed, made thirteen albums over twenty-five years, including her most recent, 4801 South Indiana Avenue produced by Joe Bonamassa, has toured the world, and oh yeah, she's managed to raise two kids in the process. Joanna cut this track on one of the coldest days of 2019 in Chicago and when we got the tracks back and I got done comping I sent Joanna an mp3 for her approval with a note just saying "It sure wasn’t cold in that studio" to which she replied "damn". I took that as the ultimate approval. So, here I present to you one of the stompin'est blues assaults I've ever been involved with, and remember if it isn't dangerous it probably isn't rock and roll. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Andrew Guterman (Rick Estrin) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA, Joanna's son, J Mixx's studio in Chicago, and diabolically mixed and mastered by the Supreme Ruler of Greaseland, Christoffer "Kid" Andersen.

Lizard Brain (feat. Ryan Cavanaugh)

#135 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, Lizard Brain, features the stunningly virtuosic banjo playing of Ryan Cavanaugh. A child prodigy and a protege of both legendary Jazz saxophonist Bill Evans, and THE father of fusion guitar, Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, Ryan is all about the music. The care and interest that he put into his contribution to this track was above and beyond the call of duty. And the performance that he has delivered here is at least, otherworldly. Maybe it's the combination of his North Carolina and New Jersey upbringing that informs the bluegrass meets hyperspace jazz rock shredability that Ryan possesses. I mean, WTF?...this is a five-string banjo! This quote from No Depression magazine sums it up; "the ambitious and musically relentless Ryan Cavanaugh is the most versatile banjo player in the world whose name isn’t Fleck…He can play anything, and he’s proven he’s crafty enough to impress John-Oh-My-God-McLaughlin.” Ryan has performed with Doc Watson, Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, John Popper, Victor Wooten, Dennis Chambers, Warren Haynes and Robben Ford to name a few. A relative young'n, Ryan continues to play shows and make records...we can only imagine, or maybe we can't, where he's going to take it. And Mr. McLaughlin, if you're reading this, we have a track waiting just for you! Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Oakland Born/Nashville residing, funky AF, Derrek Phillips, (Gloria Gaynor, Robben Ford, Charlie Hunter) on drums, and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. The track was recorded at NTA, South San Francisco, The Phamily Room, Nashville TN, and Ryan's home studio, also in Nashville TN. Mellifluously mixed and mastered by the infamous F-Bomb.

Windy City Blues (feat. Lurrie Bell)

This being the final release of 2022 and #134 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, we're going to pull the tether back in to feature one of the Sons of the Blues, guitarist Lurrie Bell, reminding us how it's done on the Windy City Blues. The son of legendary Chicago harp player and frontman Carey Bell, Lurrie started out in the 1970s playing with Eddy Clearwater, Big Walter Horton, Eddie Taylor, and Koko Taylor's Blues Machine. In the late 70s, Lurrie formed The Sons Of The Blues with Billy Branch (NTK#81) and Freddie Dixon leading to a deal with Alligator Records. Lurrie also began recording with his Dad, releasing 10 albums over 20 years before his Dad's passing in 2007. A highly accomplished artist in his own right, Lurrie is an international ambassador of the Blues, he's released twelve solo albums, and has won several Blues Music Awards and a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album. It was an absolute blast and a thrill to have Lurrie sitting two feet away from me playing the hell out of this track back in 2017. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Deszon Claiborne (Robben Ford) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA. Mixed by the Grammy winning Godfather of Grunge, Jack Endino (Nirvana, Nando Reis), and is often the case, masterfully mastered by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering.

Times Square 42nd Street Station (feat. Dave Liebman)

#133 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Times Square 42nd Street Station features one of the most unapologetically daring saxophonists ever, Dave Liebman. What more do you need to know, other than Liebman played in both the Elvin Jones and Miles Davis Groups in the early 70's, including on Miles', groundbreaking On The Corner. That is definitely enough for me but, there's another half-century of composing and teaching and recording and touring to add to the legacy of "Lieb" as he is often called. Dave is an NEA and a Canadian Arts Council scholar, a teacher at the Manhattan School of Music and the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he has consistently been rated in the top three soprano saxophonists in Down Beat Magazines reader's poll since 1973, he has recorded more than 500 albums including 200 as a band leader, and his list of collaborators is a who's who of jazz. Dave is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki, Finland); the Order of Arts and Letters (France); and the NEA Jazz Master award which is the highest accolade granted by the U.S. government in the jazz field. A little story I will share with you about this track; we invited Dave to guest on this track and he generously accepted. My only instructions were for him to "do his thing" so when I got his tracks back it was 4 complete passes of well, this. My immediate reaction was uh oh, this is pretty out stuff and is our audience going to dig it? So I called Dave and explained that although I thought it was awesome I thought it might be too challenging for the average listener and could he just start with something a little more simple and then build from there, to which Dave with his most classic and wonderful native Brooklyn attitude replied..."Frank, you wanted Liebman, you got Liebman". He went on to say that I probably had hundreds of guest soloists playing pentatonic blues and if I wanted more of that I wouldn't have contacted him and he was absolutely right! I shared Dave's tracks with some of my more sophisticated musician friends to confirm that Dave was actually not punking me and the general consensus was that Dave Liebman is a genius and as I stated earlier, unapologetically daring. So here's what I came up with, I used all four of Dave's tracks at once because to me it actually makes more sense this way. Ultimately, whether it makes sense or not, I hope you enjoy the result.

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 Laura De Rover's place in NYC. Mixing and Mastering duties were handled by the infamous F-Bomb. And a special shout out to Liebman's manager, Dave Love for facilitating.

Good Intentions (feat. Joe V. McMahan)

#132 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Good Intentions, features one of Nashville's most toneful guitarists, Joe V. McMahan. Raised on a horse farm in rural Missouri and then schooled in Rock and Soul music in Shreveport, Louisiana under the tutelage of Dave Egan and Jo-El Sonnier, Joe landed in Nashville in his early twenties. He's produced more than fifty albums and played with a whole bunch of great artists such as; Lee Ann Womack, K.D. Lang, Allison Moorer, Shelby Lynne, Mike Farris, Webb Wilder, Sarah Siskind, Radney Foster, Shannon McNally, Kevin Gordon, Justin Townes Earle, and more. The first time I heard and met Joe was on a Patrick Sweeney gig at the 5 Spot in East Nashville. I was immediately taken with Joe's Hubert Sumlin-esque reverb drenched tone. After that gig, I heard Luella and The Sun, a short-lived super vibey project that Joe had with singer Melissa Mathes and again, the Tone! Since leaving Nashville I've watched as Joe just keeps cranking out quality music from his studio and cool projects like Thrift Wig with my old bandmates JD Simo and Adam Abrashoff. I hope you all enjoy this exhibit of the aforementioned vibeyness and tone...I most certainly do!

The backing band on this track is Oakland Born/Nashville residing, funky AF, Derrek Phillips, (Gloria Gaynor, Robben Ford, Charlie Hunter) on drums, and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. The track was recorded at NTA, South San Francisco, The Phamily Room, Nashville TN, and Joe's Studio in East Nashville, TN. Mellifluously mixed and mastered by the infamous F-Bomb.

Ode to Lynn Taitt (feat. Cindy Cashdollar)

#131 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Ode To Lynn Taitt, features one of the steel guitar greats, Cindy Cashdollar. A Woodstock NY native, Cindy came on the scene early and strong, playing with Rick Danko and Levon Helm from The Band and Chicago Blues legend Paul Butterfield. Following the music, she did what any self-respecting, hungry, badass would do, she moved to Nashville where she promptly joined Asleep At The Wheel resulting in seven albums, five Grammys, and another move, this time to Austin TX. As a side person, Cindy has recorded with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Dave Alvin, Rod Stewart, Albert Lee, Marcia Ball, Rory Block, Jorma Kaukonen, Leon Redbone, BeauSoleil, Peter Rowan, Sonny Landreth, Amy Helm…and more! She has also released two solo albums and a series of instructional videos. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2011, as well, as being inducted into The Texas Music Hall of Fame in 2012. After 23 years in Austin, she moved back to Woodstock where she continues to do her thing, including playing on this track, a tribute to one of the founding fathers of Rock Steady, Lynn Taitt. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is my Bay Area neighbor, Scott Amendola, (Nels Cline, Charlie Hunter) bangin' on the drums and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. Mellifluously mixed and mastered by the infamous F-Bomb.

Bop-A-While (feat. Joe Louis Walker)

#130 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Bop-A-While, features San Francisco Blues legend, Joe Louis Walker. This track was cut several years ago and we were absolutely stoked to get Joe, as he is not only a true badass, but he is part of the history of Electric Blues and we felt that he brought some serious "cred" to our humble little project. By the time Joe was twenty, he had already played with John Lee Hooker, Buddy Miles, Otis Rush, Thelonious Monk, The Soul Stirrers, Willie Dixon, Charlie Musselwhite, Steve Miller, John Mayall, Earl Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix! Joe was roommates with Mike Bloomfield until Mike's tragic and untimely death. Mike's passing caused Joe to reevaluate everything and he left the Blues world to attend San Francisco State University achieving degrees in both Music and English. But the call of the Blues was too strong and by the mid '80's Joe had begun what is now an almost forty year, twenty five album solo career, including collaborations with BB King, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, James Cotton, Branford Marsalis, Scotty Moore, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Steve Cropper, Tower of Power, and Ike Turner. Joe has won multiple Grammys, Blues Music Awards and is a Blues Hall of Fame inductee. All of these tracks are my "babies" and I know you're not supposed to have favorites but...this is definitely one of my favorites. (shhhhh, don't tell the others) Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Alvino Bennett (Dave Mason, Stevie Wonder) on drums and myself on bass and rhythm guitar. The basics were recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA and Joe's tracks were recorded by Scott Petito at NRS Recording in upstate New York. Mixing and mastering duties were performed by the Supreme Ruler of Greaseland, Christoffer "Kid" Andersen.