98 Cents in the Bank: The New Blues Artists of the 90s and Beyond

by Various Artists

In the 1990s and early 2000s the UK experienced a third blues boom. UK and European reissue record companies were researching the vaults of US Blues and R&B record labels from the pre-war era and the 1940s, '50s, '60s and '70s - with new album releases appearing almost weekly. Long forgotten and obscure blues artists were rediscovered. Importantly, new names were also emerging on the US blues scene - many of them featured on this JSP compilation from the era. Listening to a demo of this compilation the memories came flooding back: a self-produced cassette from Larry Garner, then a part-time blues musician in Baton Rouge arriving in the post; an 'out of the blue' phone call from Otis Grand hustling for his new R&B band; seeing Joe Louis Walker play jaw dropping slide guitar at the Half Moon in Putney; and being blown away by the unknown Larry McCray on BBC2's 'The Late Show' in 1990. Steve Coleridge sent demos from Baton Rouge and interviews with local blues artists including Oscar Davis and T-Bone Singleton. A Dallas correspondent pushed a young blues guitar hot shot Tutu Jones who debuted for JSP in 1994. Talented musicians kept in contact including California singer and guitarist Kirk Fletcher who cut his debut for JSP in 1999 and guitarist, singer and producer Andrew 'Junior Boy' Jones - who also debuted for JSP in 1997. Junior Boy - who had played in bands behind Freddie King, Bobby Patterson, R.L. Griffin and Charlie Musselwhite - had been a long time correspondent sending 45s issued on his own Galexc label. But it wasn't plain sailing. There were risks - tours had to be booked (sometimes in untried venues); publicity had to be distributed; backing musicians, transport and accommodation arranged and money was always too tight to mention. John Stedman put his money where his mouth was, single-handedly running tours, getting artists to venues, into studios and releasing a stream of excellent contemporary blues albums on JSP. ~Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm