Porretta days 3 and 4

Day 3 at Porretta was not a vintage one. The highlight of the evening were the Blues Paddlers, also known as Samuel and Davis. There was an outcry earlier in the year with Sam Moore's wife criticising them for ripping off the style and performance of the great Sam and Dave. No doubt as a result of this they changed their name, although probably not their act. I saw Sam and Dave outshine everyone, even Otis himself, when the Stax Volt show played Croydon in 1967. These two are not in the same league but they are fun to watch and pretty good vocally as well. They kicked off with two Sam and Dave originals, 'Soul Man' and 'Hold On I'm Coming' wearing red shirts and dashing around the stage in a frenzy. Davis then continued solo with Wilson Pickett's 'Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You' before Samuel returned, wearing an ornate military style jacket to sing 'A Change Is Gonna Come'. Davis came back on stage, similarly dressed as they performed several Sam and Dave style numbers from their new album 'That's What We Do'. These included 'Power Of A Woman's Love', 'You Didn't Want Me To Have It' and 'Rock With Me Baby'. For their final number they returned carrying large paddles which they used to good effect on inter actions with the audience as they sang the title song from their album. This was a strong set and they were well supported by the excellent Bo-Keys, with the addition of the veteran Stax engineer and guitarist Bobby Manuel, who then received a Sweet Soul Music award from festival supremo Graziano Uliani and MC Rick Hutton (see below).

Earlier there was a brief appearance by the Over Soul Marching Band from Perugia followed by a decent set of Soul and blues by Portland, Oregon based Curtis Salgado. Curtis has a good voice, as he showed on a couple of O V Wright songs 'I Don't Need Nobody But You' and 'I Was Born All Over', P J Proby's Cajun style song 'Niki Hoeky' and several of his own including'Let Me Give You Something', 'Summertime Life', '20 Years Of B B King', 'Walk A Mile In My Blues' and 'I Got Better Things To Lie About'. Next came a song we can all relate to: "The Longer I Live The OlderI Want To Get'. He finished with some rock and roll in the form of 'Slow Down'. This was a solid set with good work from his own band which included Eamonn Flynn on keyboards.

I didn't watch much of the later acts as the packed arena was uncomfortable but from what I saw the next act Robin McKelle was more rock than Soul. And the Califfo Irish bar provided a good refuge from the busy street outside.

Sunday at Porretta always starts with a gospel performance at the local church and a press conference which as usual was rather chaotic and largely just a photo op with some of the artists. The evening show comprises short sets by most of the artists but this year it included a set by Mighty Mo Rodgers which was excellent. Backed by the Luca Giordano band with Sax Gordon, whose mural in the town was finished this weekend, the soon to be 81 year old put on a set which was varied, with blues, soul and even some reggae, and very enjoyable. He began with 'Memphis Calling' from his new album of the same name, and included several new and original songs, including 'Sing For Your Supper', the bluesy 'Love Love Love', 'Working The Chitlin Circuit', 'Bad Luck Won't Let Me Be' and 'Bring Back Sweet Soul Music' which got Mo reminiscing about Memphis in the 60s and Stax. The reggae song 'Prisoners Of War' was excellent, as was one of his earliest recording 'Blues Is My Wailing Wall'. Mo has been around for many years - in fact he played keyboards on Brenton Wood's 'Gimme Little Sign' and produced an album by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee in the 70s - but he clearly remains at the top of his game. The set was great, as was the band.

The remainder of the evening featured brief sets by Charlie Wood (3 numbers), Katrina Anderson (2 including a decent version of Dr Feelgood), the Blues Paddlers (2), Curtis Salgado (1) and Robin McKelle (2 including a melodramatic version of 'I'd Rather Go Blind'). It was good to see a couple of numbers from John Nemeth (photo below) who I missed the previous night. His voice and harp playing were very good on 'I Will Testify My Love' and 'I Can See Your Love Light Shine'.

Finally it was the turn of Bobby Rush to take the stage with 'Chicken Heads', a duet with Mizz Lowe on 'Take My Love', and a rap about the unfairness of the justice system. As a finale most of the artists took to the stage for a joint effort on 'Take Me To The River'. Once again the Bo-Keys provided great backing. Porretta is over for another year. Will I return? I'm not sure as the number of original artists continues to decline and true Soul was lacking. But it's been a great few days as ever.

Here are a few more photos of the festival. This is Eamonn Flynn and Conor Brady from the first evening.

Here's one of the great Terrie Odabi.

This is Mononeon, who I later learned is actually Dywane Thomas Jr, who was the bass player in the Marvell Thomas band which played at Porretta in previous years.

Here is Scott Bomar, leader of the Bo-Keys.

Here we have the Norman Sisters (Shontelle and Sharisse) who provided backing vocals with the Bo-Keys.

Here's another photo of the great Bobby Rush.

And here's another of Mizz Lowe.

Here's John Nemeth receiving a specially produced painting with Rick Hutton.

The Joy Gospel Choir sang at the local church on Sunday.

Here's one of me with the great Hi keyboard player Archie 'Hubbie' Turner.

Finally here's one of me with the Blues Paddlers aka Samuel and Davis. Apparently they don't have a preference about which name they are known by.

Bobby Rush on Porretta day 2

At 89 Bobby Rush remains the consummate entertainer with energy, boundless enthusiasm and humour. He played with Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and many other blues greats but is now the oldest of that blues generation still around, with Buddy Guy following on behind. His headlining show at Porretta last night was a masterclass of holding the audience in the palm of his hand. But he's more reflective these days. No more giant pairs of knickers or Elvis and Michael Jackson impersonations. Instead, among the humour and comic poses, there's an anger about how he, as a black man and a blues player, has been treated over the years.'I wonder why the world don't treat me right. Is it because I'm black?' he asks. He also gives far more of the limelight to his on stage companion and dancer of 25 years Mizz Lowe, who has recently released her first solo album 'Classy Woman'. Many of the old Bobby Rush favourites were included, such as 'Chicken Heads' his acoustic 'Garbageman' with some great harp playing, and the Grammy winning 'Porcupine Meat', with participation from Mizz Lowe, the Norman Sisters and members of the audience. There were also duets with Mizz Lowe, looking glamorous as ever, on 'Your Love Is All I Need' and 'Take My Love', and an extended blues monologue about his life which began with 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' and ended with Bobby saying he wanted to move to the other side of town. The whole set was a delight and long may Bobby keep on singing the blues as only he can.

This second evening began with the Italian band Groove City, clearly very popular with locals, whose singer Daria Biancardi gave it her all on familiar songs such as 'Proud Mary', Laura Lee's 'Dirty Man', 'You Can Have My Husband But Please Don't Mess With My Man' and 'Nutbush City Limits'.

After a break the show continued with the backing band for most of the acts this year the Bo-Keys, led by Scott Bomar with the great Hi keyboard player Archie 'Hubbie' Turner. After a vocal by regular MC Rick Hutton and a couple of instrumentals featuring Archie's excellent Hammond organ playing, he was inexplicably replaced by another keyboard player, the singer/songwriter Charlie Wood. Charlie is best known at Porretta for the festival's theme song 'Rufus Thomas Is Back In Town' and sang several of his own songs including 'Back To Where I Was Before', 'You're My Lucky Charm', 'Never Gonna Stop New Orleans', and 'To Memphis With Love'. His playing and singing was fine but the set was a bit flat and lacking in excitement. It ended with a 'One More Time' encore of Otis's 'These Arms Of Mine' which the band didn't appear to know.

There was rather more excitement with the next act Katrina Anderson, who was introduced as the (new) Queen of Beale Street. She looked great and had a lively stage act and it was a pity that three of her songs had already been performed by other acts at the festival, 'Proud Mary', 'Breaking Up Somebody's Home' and 'I Can't Stand The Rain'. Not her fault though and they were all performed well along with 'Mighty Good Man', 'I'll Take You There' and 'Chain Of Fools'. A name for the future I think.

Porretta 35th year

The Porretta Soul Festival is with us again. Another chance to spend a few days im this sleepy hill town which has been welcoming the world's best soul stars for 35 years. The line up this year is not as impressive as in the past as so many artists have passed on but there is still enough of interest to make the trip worthwhile. And then there's the weather which this year is exceptionally hot in Italy, although slightly cooler in Porretta. This time I flew into Verona with Alan Lloyd and joined floods of tourists looking at places associated with Romeo and Juliet, including Juliet's balcony (put up in the 1930s), Romeo's House and Juliet's supposed tomb. Very attractive town however with lots to see. From there we went to Trento on the edge of the Alps which was cooler and another interesting town from a historical point of view with few tourists. The huge Castello Del Buonconsiglio was worth a look round. From there we took the train via Bologna to Porretta for the first night of the festival. The highlight was Terrie Odabi with the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra who was superb. She began with 'Breaking Up Somebody's Home' and continued with her own song 'Live My Life', 'After A While', a song which the late Wee Willie Walker recorded with Anthony Paule, which included a great sax break by Charles McNeal,the Staple Singers' 'Why Am I Treated So Bad', 'Aint Nobody Gonna Turn Me Around' and a couple of positive songs 'Hate Take A Holiday' and 'Love Trumps Hate'. her version of O V Wright's 'You're Gonna Make Me Cry' was brilliant - a real tour de force - and she ended with her ode to her home town of Oakland 'Gentrification Blues'. Anthony's band was as good as ever and this set was worth the entrance money on its own.

Earlier there was some fairly run of the mill Soul from Irish duo Eamonn Flynn and Conor Brady who were on the soundtrack of 'The Commitments'. Soul standards such as 'Try A Little Tenderness' and 'Mustang Sally' formed the bulk of their set but Eamonn's rather limited vocal ability made it all a bit dull. The other first night acts didn't really appeal but I did have a quick look at them. French band the Lehmanns Brothers seemed to be a young rock band without a lot of Soul, and I didn't really know what to make of the final act Mononeon who was dressed in a garish lime green hoodie and seemed to veer towards electronic music. Not for me. Plenty more to come though over the next three days.

River view in Verona.

Castle in Trento.

Recent music deaths

It's time to catch up on a few musicians who have died recently. The most recent is Robb Shenton, a mainstay of Tales From The Woods shows who appeared in 2013, 2014 and 2015 at the Borderline dedicated to the 2Is coffee bar and Joe Meek. At the 2013 show (pictured) I wrote: 'First act on shortly after 5pm was Robb Shenton, not a well known name but a man who was in demand as a session man with Joe Meek and who has recently made an album of rock and roll covers. Starting off with 'Down The Line' (one of many Jerry Lee songs on the night), his set included several tracks from the CD, including 'Be Bopping Baby', 'Cincinatti Fireball', 'Lonely Blue Boy', the Jesse Belvin original 'I'm In Love', 'Pretty Little Love Song' and the title track 'We're Gonna Rock', before signing off with 'Mean Woman Blues'. Robb has a strong voice and his interesting choice of songs set the night off to a rocking start.' The following year he did 'I'm A Hog For You', 'Boppin' The Blues', 'Please Stay' (the Joe Meek/Cryin' Shames version), 'Little Baby' (one of Joe Meek's finest moments when recorded by the Blue Rondos) and 'Down The Line', and he acted as MC in 2015. RIP Robb.

Another death at the age of 87 is that of Kentrick Patrick, known professionally as Lord Creator. Born in San Fernando, Trinidad, he was originally a calypsonian but later recorded R and B, ska and rocksteady. His first calypso hits were 'The Cockhead' and 'Evening News' in 1958 and 1959 but he became more widely known when he recorded 'Independent Jamaica', the island's official independence song in 1962 which became the first UK release on Chris Blackwell's Island label. Other hits included 'Big Bamboo', produced by Coxsone Dodd with Tommy McCook on saxophone, 'Jamaica farewell' and 'Kingston Town', produced by Clancy Eccles, which was covered by UB40 in 1989. leading to a revival in Lord Creator's career.

There have been two deaths in the world of soul. The first is Steve Calloway, a member of the Professionals who appeared at the Detroit A Go Go in 2019 (pictured above). The second is Vicki Anderson, who was a singer with the James Brown band from 1969 to 1972. Married to Bobby Byrd, she recorded solo under the name of Vicki Anderson and her original name of Myra Barnes. Her most famous song was the feminist anthem 'The Message From The Soul Sisters'. She is the mother of UK based soul singer Carleen Anderson.

Lee Fields & Acantha Lang at the Jazz Cafe

There can be few, if any, more exciting soul singers currently performing than Lee Fields, who tore up a packed Jazz Cafe last night. Backed by his top notch band, the Expressions, Lee has a stage act which is as energetic and watchable as James Brown combined with a voice not dissimilar to that of Otis Redding. Now aged 73, Lee made a colourful impression with a sparkly jacket and purple trousers. He first recorded in the sixties with a song called 'Bewildered' and made some funk styled records in the seventies, including his first album, 'Let's Talk It Over'. He really made his name when he joined Desco, the same label as fellow retro soul star Sharon Jones, which eventually became Daptone, and had several singles released plus duets with Sharon and the Dap-Kings. Albums for 'Truth and Soul' followed, including 'Problems' in 2002, 'My World' in 2009, 'Faithful Man' in 2012' and 'Emma Jean' in 2014. Last night's tour de force at the Jazz Cafe featured exciting performances of 'You Can Count On Me', 'Ladies' and 'Standing By Your Side' before he slowed things down with the title track of his 2022 album 'Sentimental Fool', with vocal backing from three members of the Harlem Gospel Travellers. Lee sounded remarkably like Otis on the bluesy 'What Did I Do' and moved on to 'Forever', which was played, he said, at the Superbowl final. 'Two Jobs' was a mighty performance and 'Money Is The King' featured an excellent sax break and built to a big climax, as did 'Faithful Man', from the album of the same name. His encore, 'Honey Dove' began slowly but again built up to a climactic ending. The enthusiastic crowd swayed along throughout and it's clear that there is a big demand for genuine soul among the mostly young audience.

Setting the tone for a truly soulful evening was the support act, New Orleans native Acantha Lang. A UK resident for the last 12 years, Acantha's first album 'Beautiful Dreams' is being released this week and she clearly has a big future. She began with the title track and other songs included 'Lois Lang', a song dedicated to her mum, the upbeat 'It's Gonna be Alright' and the excellent 'He Said, She Said'. Acantha has a great voice and looks good and her material is strong. Her acoustic backing last night was fine, but I would love to see her with the nine piece band that she says usually backs her. Definitely one to watch.