At this time last year, Walter Trout was still re-gaining his strength following a liver transplant the year prior. Today Trout sounds strong and happy to be alive. When a 16 year old recording of a performance at the Tampa Bay Blues Festival was brought to his attention, specifically his aside saying he was appreciating his mortality more than ever as friends and family were beginning to die, Trout took a deep breath and said "I feel right now even more that every day is a bonus, every breath

Miami bluesman Albert Castiglia returns to central Illinois early next month, and this time he's touring on what critics are calling his finest album. Castiglia says he agrees with with what his critics are saying about the album titled "Big Dog," and credits the albums producer Mike Zito. "Because Mike and I are cut out of a similar cloth musically, and we both grew up listening to blues and rock music made it a good pairing. There's an edge to this album. Mike dialed in my guitar sound. When

One of the founding members of the early 1980's Rockabilly revival group "The Stray Cats" will headline the GLT Summer Concert June 11. Double-bassist Lee Rocker has had a successful career of his own following the bands breakup. Despite being the son of acclaimed clarinetists Stanley and Naomi Drucker, and brother to country music artist Rosanne Drucker, Rocker said from an early age, his ears were tuned to rockabilly and blues music.

Boogie-woogie pianist Eden Brent will grace the GLT Summer Concert stage June 11. The Greenwood, Mississippi native has been immersed in blues music since she met the much older Aibe "Boogaloo" Ames when she was a teen. "Boogaloo was a fixture here in the delta. He enjoyed quite a successful career from the middle 1940's through the 1960's in Detroit. First as a jazz piano player, and swing player with his own band in the 40's. Up until the mid 60's he did some work with Barry Gordy at the

Corey Dennison listened to a lot of music growing up in Chattanooga TN and various other southern burgs. But he said everything changed once he heard Howlin' Wolf's "London Sessions" album. "Right then and there is when I said 'whoa ... I gotta have this.'"

Jeff Jensen was living in Portland Oregon in 2011 when he lost his marriage and house. Devastated, he packed what was left of his belongings and prepared to move to California, “I have a really supportive family and they encouraged me to move back to California, where I’m originally from. That was the plan.” The plan changed at a service station. As he was getting an oil change before departing, he said something didn’t feel right. On a whim, he drove east, instead of south.

Covering a 1972 Black Sabbath song seems an unlikely choice for a black Soul singer. “The reason I wanted to learn it is because of my Mom, and because the lyrics fit my soul. And when I hear something my soul likes, I can bring it out.”

Matthew Curry's ascent in the music business has been breathtaking. Barely out of Bloomington (IL) High School, the 20 year old has recorded two full-length albums and has opened for some of the biggest names in the music business, including Peter Frampton and the Doobie Brothers. But that steep trajectory flat-lined in late 2015. Instead of opening for rock legends or crisscrossing the country on another solo tour, he was back in Bloomington, scratching his head.

In December 1956, an impromptu recording session in the now legendary Sun Records Studio's became legendary itself. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis spent a relaxed afternoon recording mostly gospel music. An article featuring a photograph of the four who themselves would reach legendary status appeared in a local newspaper the next day. The headline simply said "Million Dollar Quartet."

Chicago’s Guy King spices his blues with Jazz & R&B, the "uptown" sounds he devoured growing up in his native Israel. When he moved to the United States in his early 20’s, those sounds became the foundation of his own music.