Blinddog Smokin' - 2011 - Up From The Tracks

The latest recording project from Blinddog Smokin' in elegant packaging replete with photos, notes, lyrics. All original music covering electric blues, funk, jazz, and gospel. Blinddog Smokin’, known for its intense presentation, dynamic volume swings, and humorous storytelling, brings anywhere from six to ten performers to its shows, and often features in addition, famous guest blues artists like Bobby Rush, Carl Weathersby, Sherman Robertson and Billy Branch. For several summers, award winning British sensation, Oli Brown toured with Blinddog. The big Blinddog bus has carried on tour such notables as Zora Young, Miss Blues, Aynsley Lister, and Holland’s Coen Wolters. The shows are innovative, always colorful, and often dramatic, and in one night may feature many configurations, looks, and song styles.
Current members and years in the band:
Carl Gustafson, vocals/harmonica, 18 years; Chicago Chuck Gullens, drums/vocals, 18 years; Roland Pritzker a.k.a., Junior Bacon, bass/vocals, 12 years; Mo Beeks, Keys/vocals, 6 years; Chris White, backup vocals, 5 years; Chalo Ortiz, guitar, 2 years; Linda Gustafson, backup vocals, 2 years; Rex Amend, Sax, 2 years. (Off. Website)

Carl Gustafson is the leader and singer for Blinddog Smokin’ which has released eight CDs and forty-one original songs since 1993. The eight-piece band has performed coast to coast and internationally since 1992. They appeared three times on the main stage at the King Biscuit Blues Festival and were on the cover of the now defunct King Biscuit Time Magazine with Bobby Rush. Carl is now the festival promoter for the Snowy Range Music Festival in Wyoming, his home State.
The nine songs: Carl draws from his extensive travels during his decades-long musical career. “I bring moments to life for everybody to examine and learn from, and hopefully, be entertained by,” he says. For example, “If you give yourself to the lyrics of Miss Peggy’s After-hours Pic-a-Rib Café, which I wrote about a special lady, a unique place, and a poignant time in my life, you can actually go there with me and share my fondness of that memory. To me, that’s what it’s all about, this music business—not money, not fame, not prestige, just eloquent enlightenments."
Across the songs, we meet more real people: a prostitute who told the band to make their music sound “like money,” a preacher disillusioned by religion, Bobby Rush joining the singing about his legendary bus, a man who loves two women in an painful situation, and the ghost of Sonny Boy Williamson II telling about coming home to Helena to die. The songs are performed by a who’s who of instrumentalists and background vocalists, all Blues stars from Chicago, Mississippi, California, and Texas, including special guests Billy Branch, Sherman Robertson, Carl Weathersby, and Bobby Rush. (James "Skyy Dobro" Walker)

Track list:
01. Money
02. Angels At The Crossroads
03. Bobby Rush's Bus
04. Lace & Leather
05. Just Come Home To Die
06. Miss Peggy's
07. Funky Old Man
08. Church Of Fools
09. Cognac And Chocolate

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