Chops Not Chaps
Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek finished his third collaboration with slide guitarist Roy Rogers shortly before he died. He and Rogers had just signed off on cover art when Manzarek left for Germany, where he succumbed to bile duct cancer May 20 at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim.
Ruf
Forget the kryptonite — Spin Doctors have scored a pocket full of blues.
During the U.K. run of the “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” 20th-anniversary tour in 2011, the blues-rock-pop band resurrected three original blues songs from early in their career. The group and their fans enjoyed them so much, more were broken out for the U.S. and European tours later that year and in 2012. Ultimately those and other reincarnated tunes from the band’s New York City blues-bar beginnings comprised a self-produced album that was recorded last summer, made available at shows during this year’s U.K./Spain tour, and is just now seeing an official release.
WildRoots
Take the riff from ZZ Top’s “La Grange,” add a solo vaguely reminiscent of Steve Howe’s from “All Good People” by Yes, and finish it off with an outro possibly inspired by Wings’ “Helen Wheels.” As incongruous as that might seem, it all works on the outrageous opening track from Florida swamp blues master Robert “Top” Thomas’ solo debut.
BR2 Music Publishing
Jason Freeman, who also is a member of Memphis pre-World War II blues cover band Bluff City Backsliders, plugs in for his first solo effort — a wild mélange of Texas boogie; Louisiana swamp; Mississippi Delta and hill-country blues; and Sun Studio-style rockabilly.
INgrooves
The Stone Foxes refined their San Francisco blues-rock sound over two albums (three if you count “Black Rolling Thunder,” a CD-R they made for friends in 2006 whose title track was reprised on their self-titled official debut in 2008). After 2010’s “Bears & Bulls,” the group lost second guitarist Avi Vinocur, added keyboardist Elliott Peltzman and decided it was time to experiment. The quartet focused on lyrics, abandoned their Fox Den garage studio in favor of a real one and brought in Doug Boehm (Dr. Dog, Drive-By Truckers) to engineer and help produce.
