Blues Musician SUGAR BROWN Shares Globe-Trekking Odyssey With 'Toronto Bound' Single And Album

 

Picking up and leaving for a new town or city can be a challenge at the best of times. But for Toronto-based blues musician Ken Kawashima (aka Sugar Brown), leaving Chicago -- often considered one of the blues' hotbeds -- for Toronto seems like a natural fit on the groovy and gorgeous new single "Toronto Bound," the title track of his latest studio album.
 
The song, inspired in part from the 1954 blues song "Chicago Bound" by Muddy Waters' guitarist Jimmy Rogers, is a lyrical trek of Brown's journey over the last few decades. From his hometown of Bowling Green, Ohio to Chicago to Paris to New York City to Tokyo and finally to Toronto, Sugar Brown (who was given the stage name by James Yancy Jones, better known in blues circles as Tail Dragger Jones) describes the fun-filled trip perfectly with a timeless blues foundation. Think of some fusion between John Lee Hooker, Little Walter and a ramshackle Bob Dylan on a nearly seven-minute blues binge and "Toronto Bound" becomes crystal clear.
 
In Toronto town
I got a job and pay
I got me a home
Where I can stay
But I need my baby
Or I need a new  lover
Oh, I need my baby
Or I need a new lover
 
"This song tells the story of my itinerant life as I left many places: Ohio, Chicago, Paris, NYC, Tokyo...and ended up in Toronto, where I've resided since 2002," Brown says of "Toronto Bound." The single was naturally recorded in Toronto, with Brown using all Toronto musicians for both the single and the album Toronto Bound. And nearly all of the album was recorded on one hot, sweaty late-summer day in, you guessed it, Toronto.
 
"True to my production principles, we recorded the album live off-the-floor and onto one-inch magnetic tape," Brown says of the creative process. "This is like jumping onto a fast-moving train without knowing where it is going."
 
"Toronto Bound" features Brown on lead vocals, harmonica and electric guitar while guitarist Nichol Robertson, upright acoustic bassist Victor Bateman, drummer Lowell Whitty and percussionist Derek Thorne keep things chugging down the road Brown sings about. "They are bad, bad, bad," Brown says. "That's why I like 'em. They also thrive on 'composing on the fly,' as Ornette Coleman said. And, like myself, they're all bound to Toronto in one way or another. Toronto Bound is what this city sounds like to me."
 
The child of a Japanese father and Korean mother, the musician began playing blues in Chicago when he was 19 while attending university. Playing with the likes of Tail Dragger Jones and later iconic Muddy Waters' drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Sugar Brown left Chicago to become a historical researcher and university teacher. In fact, he's currently a professor at the University of Toronto's Department of East Asian Studies. But "the blues followed me into the next stage of my life," Brown says, resulting in his 2011 debut album Sugar Brown's Sad Day. Subsequent albums included 2015's Poor Lazarus and 2018's It's A Blues World: Calling All Blues.
 
Having performed at various festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Edmonton Blues Festival, Sugar Brown has also regularly played at Toronto's Grossman's Tavern. Now Sugar Brown looks to take both "Toronto Bound" and the album of the same name to the masses. And judging by how appealing the classic-sounding lead single is, look for the song to be heard all over the place. Be it Ohio. Or Chicago. Or Paris. Or New York. Or Tokyo. Or Toronto.

Virginia's Roots/Blues Rocker Drew Gibson Releases Title Cut "Burning Horses" With Maddi Mae

There have been several timeless duets that leave a lasting mark. Whether it's Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks, Americana darlings Buddy and Julie Miller or the late Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, there is an intangible found in their duets that is mesmerizing. Now Sterling, Virginia-based musician Drew Gibson has created "Burning Horses," a beautiful new single featuring Maddi Mae found on Gibson's charming new album Burning Horses.

 

Gibson says the single was inspired by watching the recap of an episode of Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power and a rather startling, unnerving image. "It represents the heavy machine of industrialization," Gibson says of the song's genesis. "There was this scene on the Amazon Prime show, The Rings of Power. And in the scene, there was a horse on fire, running away. I was watching a breakdown of the episode on a YouTube channel and the commentator mentioned the burning horse, and how (author J.R.R.) Tolkien was against industrialization. It clicked with me. That's where I got the idea for the album theme, the album title, and the title track. The irony of this is not lost on me."

 

"Burning Horses," written by Gibson, opens with accordion courtesy of Brian Simms before the rugged, rootsy gem takes center stage. Both Gibson and Mae sing the opening verse together, and it's just magical, bringing to mind the iconic Petty/Nicks duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." Finding the groove early as Mae provides haunting backing vocals near the homestretch, bassist Kevin De Souza and drummer Ben Tufts are instantly in the proverbial pocket while pedal steel guitarist Dave Hadley accents "Burning Horses" perfectly. Gibson's electric guitar and synth work is at times subtle but emerges when needed. While almost nothing could compare to the Parson/Harris classic "Love Hurts," this song is certainly in the ballpark.

 

"Burning Horses" is the title track off Gibson's fifth studio album that was four years in the making. Like most musicians, Gibson spent much of the pandemic years working on new material, which found its way onto Burning Horses. "I recorded a lot of the guitars, keyboards, synths, some bass, and pedal steel, at my home studio," Gibson says. "It began that way because of Covid. Before, I would take a guitar solo here and there, but would mostly give the opportunity to my pedal steel player, Dave Hadley, or keyboardist, Brian Simms. This time around, I said to myself, 'You know what? I need to do more. I can do more.' So I did."

 

Gibson also says the album's creative process started deliberately in his basement studio. And while the world and daily life underwent massive restructurings, Gibson pined for simpler times. "Everything is now so connected, so tech-driven, and so hectic in a way," he says. "I pretty much miss the simple days of biking through the woods, going to a record store, and having a more communal time with family. In some ways, I feel like I'm on a different planet, and I'm homesick for that more romantic time. That's what this album is all about. It's about a different time."

 

Burning Horses, co-produced by Gibson and Marco Delmar (who also mixed and co-engineered the album) and released on Cragmont Records, features 10 songs, nine of them written by Gibson with "Gunslinger" penned by Gibson and Paul Curreri. Gibson's guitar style at times recalls Mark Knopfler on the roots rock cut "What Good Friends We Were" and "From Our Front Porch," which also brings to mind Ray LaMontagne.

 

In other moments, Gibson is just as sensational, especially on the intricate, Bruce Cockburn-ish finger picking on "How The Border Town Was Born" and "Low Country, High Wire," the latter is another ballad Mae gives spine-tingling, goosebump-inducing greatness to. If that wasn't enough, the closing cinematic instrumental "The Long Good Night: Part II" sounds like some mystical, elegant fusion of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and Daniel Lanois.

 

Burning Horses, which also includes bassist Jon Nazdin and drummer Eric Selby, was recorded at Sterling, Virginia's Letterbox Studio, the Recording Arts in Arlington, Virginia and Ivakota Studios in Washington, D.C. Gibson, Delmar, Tufts and Ben Green served as co-engineers while Mike Monseur at Nashville's Axis Audio mastered the record.

 

The studio album is Gibson's fifth following his 2007 debut Letterbox, 2011's The Southern Draw, 2015's 1532 and 2019's Shipbuilder. His critically acclaimed discography has been discussed in noted publications such as USA Today, No Depression and The Washington Post. He's also performed at venues such as The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virgina.

 

Now with a new studio album and the lead single "Burning Horses," Drew Gibson is set to offer up an exciting, elite level of roots rock and Americana to the masses. It's a signature single from what is surely set to be a signature album.

Pasha Black

The technological developments of the XXI century, along with the proliferation of the internet and digital media, have changed the face of musical practices and forms once held to be the norm. Under these shifting circumstances, Pasha Black of Kyiv (Ukraine) devotedly carries out the role of today's musician, showing both excellent songwriting and production, while striving to maintain an exceptional purity of sound and the clarity of his music's message.

A musical patchwork of pensive joy and thoughtful sadness, impressive mature melodies and deep lyrics, accompanied by richly textured instrumentation, help him to tell his picturesque story. Pasha’s commitment to every small detail of his music enables him to take his listener's minds to faraway places, allowing their spirits to soar.

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Zita

 

Zita is a four piece group that fuses classic rock, funk, and blues to create a live show that surpasses expectations. Founded on their shared love for rock & roll music the days of their youth, and an affinity for the great music history of New Orleans, their sound resides uniquely between these two worlds. Formed in 2019, the band consists of Michael Mullins on Lead Vocals, Trombone and Rhythm Guitar, Bradford Lewis II on Lead Guitar, Dylan Caillouet on Bass, and Kai Melancon on Drums. 

As of late, the band has had success with local festival appearances at Hogs for the Cause, French Quarter Fest, Gretna Fest, Oak Street Po-Boy Fest, and NOLA Crawfish Fest. Also, Zita has had high-profile sit-ins from musicians such as George Porter Jr. (The Meters), Nigel Hall (Lettuce, Tedeschi Trucks Band), Luther Dickinson (The Black Crowes, North Mississippi All-Stars), and Brad Walker (The Revivalists, New Orleans Suspects). 

From Zita, you can expect vibrant rock & roll energy, the New Orleans groove with a southern flair, and most of all, a great damn time.

The Past Unperfect

The Past Unperfect is the band created in 2024 in London by three foreigners - an Irish (Vinnie Reck - drums), a Greek (Lakis Economou - bass) and a Russian (Benny - guitar and vocals). We met in Slim Jim's Liquor Store on a blues jam and at some point decided to create a band that will play our original blues and alternative country and bring our own vision into classic songs of the both genres. I guess the band's place of birth determines to some extent our sound, vibe and lyrics. In the end of 2024 we released three singles: Time to Die, Cold Wind Blows and John the Revelator, in February of 2025 were the part of Broadstairs Blues Bash. Currently we plan to record more original songs to release them soon.

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