The Knickerbocker All-Stars - Go Back Home To The Blues (2015)

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The Knickerbocker All-Stars - Go Back Home To The Blues (2015)

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"Go Back Home to the Blues" is the second Knickerbocker All-Stars record, building on the enthusiastically received "Open Mic at the Knick". Once again the deep pool of New England blues talent has provided knockout versions of blues and R&B classics, this time adding some new songs which are perfect fits stylistically.

The Knickerbocker All-Stars are celebrated veterans and masters of their craft. Original Roomful of Blues members and other Roomful alumni, members of the Duke Robillard Band, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, and vocalists Willie J. Laws and Brian Templeton all make a powerful blend, and among them they've garnered literally dozens of BMA and Grammy nominations. The songs are characteristic of the ones played in the heyday of the Knick, first done by early Roomful influences Bobby Bland, Freddie King, Guitar Slim, Cleanhead Vinson, and many others, and this crew reanimates them with authority. The tenor battle on “Hokin'” could have been played at the Knick in 1953 – or 1973 – but the excitement is freshly minted, and there are new songs which could have been done by Louis Jordan and Albert King. What better place than this to celebrate a robust yet undervalued American musical genre? It may have started years ago, but its spirit is timeless, and it's found a home at the Knick.

The Knickerbocker Café, a storied music club in Westerly, RI. was built shortly after Prohibition. The club thrived as one of the leading entertainment centers in southern New England, hosting regional and national bands with an emphasis on the blues. In 1967, Roomful of Blues was born in Westerly, when guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley started a band that played tough, no-holds barred, Chicago blues. Making the Knickerbocker Café their home club, it did not take long before they started exploring the swinging, jumping blues and added a horn section. Roomful would pack the house every Sunday and still plays their great brand of blues today.
Fast forward and the Café has become the Knickerbocker Music Center, a non-profit organization formed in partnership with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music Center. The mission of the Knickerbocker Music Center is to preserve, cultivate, and grow the “Knick’s” unique brand of blues, as well as expand access to music of all kinds by transforming the Knick into both an exciting performance venue and an exceptional center for music education.
Many of the musicians who called the Knick their home over the years appear on this album. This second recording project by the Knickerbocker All Stars, which is sponsored by KMC celebrates the great blues music that put the Café on the map. Similar to our first album, Open
Mic
at
the
Knick, we wanted a live gig feel and sound. If you love the earlier guitar slingers like we do, then you have to listen and replay Monster Mike Welch’s solo work on “Somethin’ to Remember You By” and “You Know That I Love You.” ~ JP Sheerar

"I played my first professional gig at the Knick in 1973, with Roomful; we backed up Red Prysock. After the job Duke hired me and I stayed until 1975. The Knick was in its heyday and the jitterbuggers knocked us all out every Sunday. We’ve all come a long way since then, but I use Doug and Rich on my own records regularly, so with Al Copley on board here, we have a strong original Roomful presence. Mark and Brad are in Duke’s current rhythm section and have been on my last five CDs, and Gordon and Carl have been on some too – so this was a familiar mission for me, doing vintage classic R&B like we used to play, along with some of my own songs in the tradition, with guys I work with all the time. But it was also a great first chance to work with Mike Welch and Doc Chanonhouse, and a special kick for me to hear such great vocalists interpret some of my songs, each in his own personal style. In so many ways, this record is a return to our collective roots – a going back home to the Knick – for us, the home of the blues." ~ Al Basile

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The Knickerbocker All-Stars - Go Back Home To The Blues (2015)

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The Knickerbocker All-Stars - Go Back Home To The Blues (2015)

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