Blog: Cahl's Juke Joint: A rock, blues and jazz blog

Monday night blues: 1) Little Milton: "Bad Luck's Falling" 2) Jimmy Rogers: "Blues Falling" 3) Elmore James: "It Hurts Me Too" 4) Earl Hooker: "I'm Going Down the Line" 5) Jesse Belvin: "Blues Has Got Me" 6) Memphis Slim: "Only Fools Have Fun" 7) Harmonica Shah: "Blues From a Lonely Dirty Mountain" 8) Wallace Coleman: [...]

It looks as if I'll be heading to southern Indiana for the Ferdinand Folk Festival this fall. There's tough competition — I think it's the same weekend as the Indianapolis Jazz Festival — but the trip will afford me a chance to return to Dubois County, where I spent three of the best years of [...]

Today's mix: 1) Alvino Rey: "My Buddy" 2) Bob Wills: "Lone Star Rag" 3) Bernie Kaai and His Hawaiians: "Steel Guitar Boogie" 4) Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant: "Two of a Kind" 5) Leon McAuliffe: "Oklahoma Hills" 6) Casey Olsen: "At the House Without a Key" 7) Jerry Byrd and the String Dusters: "Byrd's Boogie" [...]

Today's mix: 1) Ron Leary: "Long Lost Love" 2) Buddy Miller: "Sometimes I Cry" 3) Eliza Gilkyson: "He'll Miss This Train" 4) Isaac Hoskins: "Waiting on the Wind" 5) Josh Small: "Grace Inez" 6) Paul Thorn: "Ain't Gonna Beg" 7) Kasey Anderson: "My Blues, My Love" 8) Leonard Cohen: "Famous Blue Raincoat" 9) Ryan Bingham: [...]

On first listen, you might think Rhoderic Land's "King Kong Tonight" is one of the campiest love songs you've heard in years. But listen again and again — trust me, you will — and the exotic charm of the tune will swing into your subconsciousness. Land's singing is both brawny and restrained, playful and tender. [...]

Today's mix: 1) Amelia White: "Tupelo Train" 2) Ray Wylie Hubbard: "Last Train to Amsterdam" 3) George and Earl: "The Sundown Train" 4) Flatt and Scruggs: "Hear That Whistle Blow (A Hundred Miles)" 5) The Maddox Brothers and Rose: "Midnight Train" 6) Bishop Dready Manning: "Gospel Train" 7) Otis Rush: "Hold That Train" 8) John [...]

Happy Halloween: 1) Neko Case: "Things That Scare Me" 2) Eels: "Beloved Monster" 3) Neil Young: "Vampire Blues" 4) Mark Sandman: "Devils Boots" 5) John Paul Keith: "You Devil You" 6) Superchunk: "Scary Monsters" 7) The Sonics: "The Witch" 8) R.E.M.: "I Walked With a Zombie" 9) Roky Erickson: "Night of the Vampire" 10) Rowland [...]

Oh, man, The Spam Allstars are playing this week at a club in Jupiter, Fla., a couple of miles from my brother's house. If we weren't in the middle of the semester, I'd be on the next plane south. I got hooked on the band's music back in 2004 when it released "Contra Los Roboticos [...]

Today's mix: 1) John P. Strohm: "Ballad of Lobster Boy" 2) Dogs: "Danceboy" 3) The Sleepy Jackson: "Dance Me In" 4) R.E.M.: "Ghostrider" 5) Guy Chadwick: "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" 6) Madness: "It Must be Love" 7) The Fleshtones: "Pretty Pretty Pretty" 8) Graham Day and The Gaolers: "Something About You Girl" [...]

Doug Duffey's songs have charmed New Orleans music lovers and other performers for more than 40 years. On his latest album, "Traditional," the Louisiana bluesman covers some of the tunes that helped shape his own style. All 14 songs start with a blues base, but Duffey incorporates gospel, jazz, and soul into tunes such as [...]

Today's mix: 1) Gregory Alan Isakov: "Evelyn" 2) Adam Green: "Jessica" 3) Bob Schneider: "Madeline" 4) Lou Barlow: "Mary" 5) Tommy Womack: "Nancy Dunn" 6) Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane: "Annie" 7) Josh Ritter: "Kathleen" 8) Richard Thompson: "Mrs. Rita" 9) Leonard Cohen: "Suzanne" 10) Dave Alvin: "Delia"

The Washboard Chaz Blues Trio's latest recording, "On the Street," sounds dated and delightful. Listen and it's not hard to imagine playing on a street corner in New Orleans in the '30s — or, for that matter in Tupelo, Chicago or Washington, D.C., because the band blends the sounds of the Crescent City with Delta, [...]

Today's mix: 1) The Go-Betweens: "Clouds" 2) Mickey Jupp: "School" 3) Mink DeVille: "Just Your Friends" 4) Dogs: "Lost Your Way" 5) Juliana Hatfield: "My Protegee" 6) Evan Dando: "Shots is Fired" 7) Aimee Mann: "Little Bombs" 8) Frank Turner: "I Still Believe" 9) Peggy Sue: "Watchman" 10) Vic Chesnutt: "The Mad Passion of the [...]

This evening I had a chance meeting with in a bar with an old friend from college who was in town for Homecoming. Now, as I listen to The Orbans' "When We Were Wild," memories of my times with her and with many other friends from days long gone by rush back. It's easy to [...]

Today's mix: 1) Broken Bells: "Sailing to Nowhere" 2) Great Lakes Myth Society: "Lake Effect" 3) Guided By Voices: "Back to the Lake" 4) Chuck Prophet: "Shore Patrol" 5) The Ike Reilly Association: "The Boat Song (We're Getting Loaded)" 6) Fountains of Wayne: "Trains and Boats and Planes" 7) Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve: "Black [...]

Today's mix: 1) Waylon Jennings: "Six White Horses" 2) The Fox Hunt: "Four Horses" 3) Ray Wylie Hubbard: "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" 4) Johnny Cash: "All of God's Children Aren't Free" 5) Emmylou Harris: "Red Dirt Girl" 6) Kim Richey: "Lay It Down" 7) Jim Ford: "Sounds of Our Time" 8) Merle Haggard: [...]

Robyn Ludwick's voice quivers ever so prettily when she sings songs such as "Hollywood," "Out of These Blues" and "For You Baby" on her latest album. The songs — wrapped in a soulful, slightly swampy overcoat — will give you chills. They're the kind of country tunes that will break your heart as quickly as [...]

Today's mix: 1) Butch Hancock: "Where the West Winds Have Blow'd" 2) Steve Young: "We've Been Together on This Earth Before" 3) Notting Hillbillies: "Your Own Sweet Way" 4) Dave Alvin: "Black Rose of Texas" 5) Hayes Carll: "Girl Downtown" 6) Heather Myles: "The Love You Left Behind" 7) Robyn Ludwick: "Can't Go Back: 8) [...]

Today's mix: 1) Seun Kuti: "You Can Run" 2) Inemo: "Sweet Baby" 3) Keji Hamilton and The Exousia Band: "Bambiala (Beggars)" 4) Afro-Cuban All Stars: "A Toda Cuba Le Gusta" 5) Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra: "Cuban Blues" 6) Tito Puente: "El Bribon Del Aguacero" 7) Ismael Rivera: "Alegria y Bomba" 8) Mulatu [...]

On the title track of "Afrobeat Rolling, Christofolly urges his audience to dance. It'd be hard not to when you listen to the native of Togo now based in France and his band, The Afro Beat Cookers. The music's infectious and joyous. Here's a taste: