The latest releases on Fedora Records!

	TOMMY BANKHEAD Message to St. Louis Fedora Records - FCD 5017
Tommy Bankhead makes his debut on Fedora Records via a long, circuitous route. From his humble beginnings playing house parties and fish fries in rural Mississippi and Arkansas, through a series of ups and downs with the likes of Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson, to the "six-week gig" in St. Louis that has lasted nearly two decades, Tommy Bankhead can at last say he has "arrived". Unbelievably, this is only Bankhead's second recording the first being made for an obscure label in 1983 but it certainly proves the adage, "Goods things come to them that wait." Surrounded by Erskine Oglesby, whose tenor enlivened the Ike & Tina Turner revue, Charles 'Nephew' Davis, a veteran of the James Brown and Little Milton aggregations, and the barroom piano of Bob Lohr, Bankhead rips into ten originals and the classic "Goin' to Chicago" in what may be the first great blues record of 2000.
MOJO BUFORD Champagne & Reefer Fedora Records - FCD 5015
A veteran of the Muddy Waters' band, Mojo Buford is one of the legendary second generation of Chicago Blues harp players. Having played literally thousands of gigs with Muddy, this Mojo is still working and sounds better than ever! This was a live session at the hip Phoenix club, The Rhythm Room and is completely spontaneous and unrehearsed - the way the Blues was meant to be. Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin, himself a Muddy Waters' alumni, along with the dynamic Chicago blues drummer, Chico Chism. This is great, from-the-heart blues and a perfect example why Fedora Records was named Best US Blues Label of 1998 by Real Blues Magazine.
	BIG AL DUPREE Positive Thinking Fedora Records - FCD 5007
Big Al Dupree has been a fixture in the Dallas blues scene for over thirty years now. Having learned the blues ropes from such illustrious names as T-Bone Walker, Buster Smith, Pee Wee Crayton and others. An eclectic musical personality, Dupree is a master of both piano and saxophone, and he is featured on both instruments on the current release. Fedora went back to Dallas and the famed ASC-Sumet Studio and employed the talents of legendary engineer Bob Sullivan, who was at the soundboard for notable sessions with Zuzu Bollin, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Bob Wills. The great Texas blues guitarist Hash Brown, an expert in the stylings of (appropriately enough) T-Bone Walker, joins Big Al on the session for a little glimpse of blues history.
FILLMORE SLIM Other Side of the Road Fedora Records - FCD 5016
If being born in New Orleans, making R&B 45's in the 50s, backing T-Bone Walker and doing a stretch in a Federal Penitentiary in Texas fits your idea of what a legendary bluesman should be, then Fillmore Slim is your guy. Working out of the West Coast for the past 40 years or so, Slim's life mirrors that of the archetypical blues artist. Over the years Slim has proven to be an evasive character, changing his stage name frequently to suit his "circumstances", but he has surfaced long enough to record this CD for FEDORA. Along with a fiery group of West Coast veterans, including Paris Slim and J.J. Malone, Slim takes a no-holds-barred approach with aggressive guitar playing, soulful singing and some of the best original blues song writing heard in ages. Think that modern blues is at a standstill? Check out Fillmore Slim, he'll make you a believer once again.
	ARTHUR WILLIAMS Ain't Goin' Down (featuring Sam Carr) Fedora Records - FCD 5019
After 40 years as a sideman, Arthur Williams is now looked up to as one of the last of the great juke-joint harp blowers. Born in Mississippi and raised in Chicago & St. Louis, Arthur's music represents the last generation of that true down-home blues of the Delta. The sounds of Sonny Boy II and Little Walter can be heard in Arthur's playing along with a heavy dose of rugged individualism. Arthur is backed on this, his second Fedora outing, by a cast of St. Louis, Memphis and Mississippi musicians, that includes, on drums, the one and only Sam Carr (with whom Arthur played in the 1960s). So if you are looking for the real thing, look no further: Arthur Williams is a genuine as they come. No pretense, no BS, just pure, good-timin' blues laid down as they were meant to be.
U.P. WILSON On My Way Fedora Records - FCD 5014
Ask Stevie Ray Vaughan, Cornell Dupree, Zuzu Bollin, Frankie Lee Sims, Lowell Fulson and just about any other Bluesman to put together their short list of MONSTER guitarists and you will invariably see the name U.P. Wilson. Wilson teetered on the brink of a major career on a number of occasions but chose to be near his growing children and remain at home. Wilson's aggressively powerful axework is well to the fore on this great 1988 session, with him dominating the ensemble not only with his guitar playing, but also with his vocal prowess. Also included as a special bonus are two tracks from a recently discovered recording of U.P. Wilson caught live at one of the legendary "Rent Parties" which are part and parcel of blues/jazz history. U.P. Wilson was nicknamed the 'Texas Guitar Tornado' for, like a Tornado, he is an unforgettable force.