The Soundcheck Podcast series offers up music from recent sessions, all revolving around The Blues –at the root of so much popular music, and where the roots have grown into other fruits worldwide. Listen to French-Moroccan band Bab L' Bluz and their hot psychedelic blues spiked with the Gnawa trance rhythms of northern Africa's Maghreb. There’s the “Desert Blues” of West Africa in music by singer and guitarist Mdou Moctar from Niger. He and his band combine rock and psychedelia, call-and-response and accelerating threes, and fiery guitar playing for trancey and ecstatic results. Listen to Texas-raised singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruthie Foster and her longtime bandmates who play some of their feel-good and hopeful blues. Hear the timeless sound of West Georgia Blues by singer and guitarist Jontavious Willis (along with the wicked tunings and his slide playing), in-studio. Plus, there’s the groove and swagger of Yemen Blues, and their fusion of Moroccan trance, Arab and Bedouin folk, and Western funk and rock. The American singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito plays some of his blues-stomp-and-roll music with roots in his family’s past. Plus, hear the vintage soul and blues-rock sound of Memphis and Mississippi-rooted, Brooklyn native singer Bette Smith. 

Soundcheck Special, Sept. 2025 – “Blues Is the Roots” (First aired 9/20/25)

ARTIST: Marco Benevento
WORK: Eagle Rock [1:02]
RECORDING: TigerFace
SOURCE: Royal Potato Family
INFO: https://marcobenevento.bandcamp.com/album/tigerface

ARTIST: Jontavious Willis
WORK: Ghost Woman [5:52]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Nov. 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available
INFO: https://jontaviouswillis.com

ARTIST: Fantastic Negrito
WORK: Son of a Broken Man [5:02]
RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.fantasticnegrito.com/

ARTIST: Ruthie Foster
WORK: Phenomenal Woman [7:00]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, March 2023
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.ruthiefoster.com/

ARTIST: Mdou Moctar
WORK: Imouhar [6:18]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, June 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.mdoumoctar.com/

ARTIST: Bab L' Bluz
WORK: Imazighen [4:15]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.bablbluz.com/

ARTIST: Yemen Blues
WORK: Allenby [5:26]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Sept. 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://yemenblues.com/

ARTIST: Bette Smith
WORK: Darkest Hour [3:35]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Aug. 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.bettesmith.com