Sunny and Her Joy Boys: Strictly from Dixie; You're Driving Me Crazy; That's My Desire; Stop You're Breakin' My Heart, You're My Thrill; Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea; I Don't Mind; Travelin' All Alone; Today I Sing The Blues; Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams; I Got It Bad (and that ain't good); Undecided; I'm Satisfied; A Hundred Years From Today......

Personnel: Sunny Crownover: Vocals; Billy Novick: Clarinet, Alto Saxophone; Duke Robillard: Acoustic Archtop Guitar, Conga Drums (5); Paul Kolesnikow: Acoustic Archtop Guitar: Jesse Williams: Acoustic Bass        

Introducing... Sunny and Her Joy Boys was released on the Stony Plain Records label and is another in a long list of successful collaboration arranged by Duke Robillard. Blues, jazz, and swing guitarist extraordinaire Duke Robillard should add Pied Piper to his list of attributes. Duke is always on the lookout for opportunities to feature new talent, assemble friends and fellow musicians, and render the songs of the Great American Songbook in new and exciting arrangements. With Introducing... Sunny and Her Joy Boys, the new talent was Sunny Crownover, and the Great American Songbook tracks encompassed classic jazz and swing from composers such as Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and Chick Webb, and Tin Pan Alley legends Harold Arlen, Ned Washington, and Victor Young.

The idea for this release had been bouncing around in Duke's head for over 35 years, but he had not come upon the right female voice to carry the sound, until he happened upon Sunny Crownover in 2007. Duke "The Pied Piper of music" now had his key ingredient for the concept, and he reeled in Sunny by sending her a selection of songs to listen to. Mesmerized by the songs and ready to follow the lead set by Duke, the release Introducing... Sunny and Her Joy Boys took shape.   

The release gets rolling with the swing track Strictly from Dixie and it introduces us to the Joy Boys and their instrumentation that complements the exquisite timing of Sunny's vocals. You're Driving Me Crazy lets the Joy Boys run the tune as Sunny's vocals oversee their various solos and duets as she shows her ability to let the song come to her.

That's My Desire is a bluesy ballad that brings it all together and is the perfect arrangement for Sunny's voice, and the Joy Boys, like a male dancer, frame her well. The 30's swing track Stop You're Breakin' My Heart is a playful song where everyone seems to be having a good time during the recording. You're My Thrill has a lingering melody that when combined with Sunny's sultry vocals, the result is a beautiful and unforgettable track. A classic from the 30's, Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea is all about the duet between Sunny's vocals and Billy Novick's clarinet.  Duke selected a track that has not been heavily recorded, I Don't Mind, and it was a perfect fit for Sunny and Her Joy Boys.

Other tracks include the 30's classic Billie Holiday track Travelin' All Alone, the 40's song Today I Sing The Blues originally recorded by Helen Humes, and the standard Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams that gives space to the acoustic bass of Jesse Williams. Rounding out the release are the tracks I Got It Bad (and that ain't good); Undecided with a refreshing arrangement; the 30's song I'm Satisfied, and the closing 20's track A Hundred Years From Today that will have you bobbing your head and snapping your fingers as Sunny and the Joy Boys walk off into the sunset.    

The release is very tight, so it was little surprise to read that many of the tracks were laid down on their first take; when it works, it works to perfection.    

Big Dave McLean is one of a handful of musicians who long ago earned a high ranking in the heavyweight division of the Canadian blues scene,and he continues to challenge all comers.

The guitar-and harp-wielding Winnipeg native is a force who instantly commands the audience's attention,yet the husky-voiced musician doesn't have a bombastic delivery.Instead,with one hand firmly on the microphone and his eyes searching every corner of the room, McLean connects with combinations of rhythmic crunch, heartfelt turns of phrase and slaps of stinging steel.

McLean has been praised for his encouragement of aspiring players and singers across the Prairies. He is essentially passing on what was presented to him 30-plus years ago,when legendary bluesman Muddy Waters opened up his world to the young Winnipegger.

All those links in the blues chain bring us to this six-night stand at Blues on Whyte,10329 82nd Ave.It finds McLean teamed with Guitarmageddon, an aggregation of younger players who have all made their mark on the national scene.

Between sets, McLean talked of first hearing a young Shaun Verreault in Saskatoon, when he wasn't of legal age to play the bars.

"We used to sneak Shaun into Bud's on Broadway so he could play a few tunes at the Saturday afternoon jam sessions", says McLean, suggesting that everyone understood Verreault was not your average youngster drawn to the guitar.

"Now, here I am doing this tour with Shaun, and his slide-playing is so ferocious that sometimes I almost stop playing because I get so caught up in what he is doing," added McLean. Verreault has been lifting audiences out of their seats as a member of Wide Mouth Mason, and as a solo peformer, for years.

Rounding out the ensemble are the bass-playing Curtis Scarrow, who spearheaded this tour with McLean, and drummer Scotty Hills, who just came off a European tour with Mclean as part of a package with The Perpetrators.

The foursome can come at a crowd as a full-blown, amps-turned-electric unit, ripping through versions of Got to Love Somebody, Rainin' in My Heart and Chicken Shack, which McLean humorouslyintroduces as Poulet de Chalet.

Then there's a tasty and slightly understated take of That's Alright, the Jimmy Rogers tune that was a staple in the original Muddy Waters band repertoire. In this setting, it finds Verreault slipping in effective Ron Wood-like rhythm licks between McLean's vocal lines.

Mid-song tempo changes, gang vocals on choruses and interesting combinations of guitar styles, some fusing the sting of Texas influences with the tones of sruf guitar, also had the Blues on Whyte crowd applauding appreciatively after every tune in the opening set.

"That we come out with all four of us on guitars and do a sit-down thing for the second set gives the show added depth, and that's where Shaun and Scotty also sing a few tunes. We have a huge repertoire to work with, " said McLean with a grin.

While McLean thinks of this union as a little bit of a "payback" for his time spent as a mentor, the truth is that McLean, Verreault, Scarrow and Hills simply make for a superior blues revue.

Thirty years ago, Texas tunesmith Rodney Crowell knocked off a compact and powerful recording, Ain't Living Long Like This, that included perfectly crafted songs such as Voila An American Dream and California Earthquake.

The album rocked established notions in the country music world. His beautifully chiselled approach to songwriting caused multiple cases of whiplash in publishing houses where writers had been content in serving up too much gooey pop-saturated fare that had been drawn from the same stagnating pools for far too long.

If Crowell's debut disc and subsequent efforts like What Will The Neighbors Think? and Rodney Crowell weren't climbing the charts, his songs vaulted to the top thanks to artists like Waylon Jennings, Bob Serger and Emmylou Harris taking big bites out of his catalogue.

Crowell, who was a contempaorary of Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, had the best of both worlds-artistic credibility and the kind of commercial success songwriters dream of.

"Songwriting royalties, they have afforded me a life few have," says Crowell.

Major success as a performing artist was not going to elude him forever.Twenty years ago. he racked up five No. 1 singles from his Diamonds and Dirt album-including a duet with his then wife Roseanne Cash, It's Such a Small World, and After All This Time, which won a Grammy award.

"You look back and those 15 minutes of fame were a hiccup, and I wasn't happy," says Crowell. "Call it the Elvis syndrome. You put up an image, there's this self-conscious notoriety."

In the '90s, he released three rather forgettable discs and his marriage to Cash crumbled. Crowell decided to pull back.

"I had gone to a place where the art was going to get killed and got out. I don't think I played five live shows in five years, from '95 to 2000. I built a new marriage, took long walks and my kids to school."

Crowell has just released Sex and Gasoline.It's his fourth album of the new millennium and arguably his finest work,thanks in part to pieces like Truth Decay and The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design.

Produced by Joe Henry, and released in Canada on Stony Plain Records, Crowell wanted fresh input into making records and felt the need to refocus on performing and singing.

"The sessions happened quickly with very little overdubbing; much of the playing from guitarists Doyle Bramhall II and Greg Leisz, and that great Canadian bass player of yours, David Pilch, was intuitive," says Crowell.

Much of the material is centred on his perceptions of the triumphs and struggles of being in today's world.

"There have been things written stating that I was trying to write from a woman's point of view and that's not the case. My wife, women friends and daughters would nail me to the wall for attempting that," says Crowell, who examines beauty on Moving Work of Art, and Alzheimer's in Forty Winters. "I am my own harshest critic and biggest fan, and these are my best vocal performances."

He also managed to draw Phil Everly out of retirement for a day to sing on one of the album's songs, Truth Decay.

"We had to take a shot at it and he agreed," says Crowell.

"What a gentleman, and Phil worked really hard. It was one of the highlights of my career, and my wife has made a 12 minute film out of that session."