Donna Herula — “Cold Feet” — Self Release (Sept. 18)

Donna Herula is — among other things — a Chicago-born blues singer, slide guitarist, songwriter and Chicago Blues Hall of Fame inductee.

Those “other things” include her award-winning 2021 release, Bang at the Door, which hit No. 1 on the 2021 Acoustic Blues Album Chart and was named Best Acoustic Blues Album by the 2022 Independent Blues Awards, where she was also named Best Traditional Blues Artist. The title song won Best AAA/Alternative Song in the 2022 International Acoustic Music Awards. She leads the acoustic folk-blues Donna Herula Trio and the Donna Herula Band, a six-piece electric blues band.

Herula has taken that success, including her formidable resonator slide guitar talents and her distinctively personal songwriting, and created the eloquent music that overflows into her fourth and latest album, Cold Feet

Herula’s sparkling guitar work throughout highlights eight sharply crafted originals and two stunning covers of classic blues. No matter what the style — Delta, finger-picking, slide — she brings an effortless authenticity to her music.

In the album liner notes, Herula says: “I am particularly proud of how I stretched myself artistically and vocally. I wrote songs in genres beyond acoustic blues, utilizing electric and acoustic styles while blending soul, pop, gospel, folk and Chicago blues influences.”

Herula’s band is Tony Wittrock on guitars, Marc Edelstein on bass, Alton Smith on organ, Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith on drums. Special guests include session producer Jon Shain on guitars, Alton Smith on keys, Anne Harris on violin, John Jochem on harmonica, Steve Eisen on sax, Rick Barnes on percussion, and Candy LaFlora, Kary Ream and Rebecca Toon on backup vocals.

Herula’s acoustic virtuosity is on full display with her National Tricone slide work on the elegant instrumental opener, On My Way Home. The jaunty Cold Feet follows, a rocker sparked with electric slide and wedding-day blues: “The organ’s playing ‘Here Comes the Bride’ / I’m backed in a corner, running out of time / I got cold feet … And I’m keeping the ring.” Herula and Tony Wittrock co-wrote the country-flavored Honey Darlin’ Baby Please, with Herula’s standout vocal plea: “Honey darlin’ baby please / Pick up your phone and talk to me I know that I was wrong.”

Herula fires up her resonator and electric slide in a haunting re-creation of Skip James’ Cypress Grove Blues. A road trip with her band inspired the humor of Backseat Driver: “Backseat driver, you’re out of control / Who are you to tell me where I should go.” What You Gonna Do? features soulful sax from Eisen with Herula asking other-woman relationship questions: “I’ll wait and see what happens, you’ll have to decide / Will it be me – will it be her, that’ll be left behind.”

Wish I Could See You Again is a gorgeous acoustic guitar duet with John Shain, featuring Herula’s longing vocal: “Memories are on display / Graduation, wedding day / I’m packing all of them away / Wish I could see you again.” Things Can Change is rich with gospel overtones invoked by Herula’s commanding vocal with LaFlora’s backup, and Jochem’s flowing harp: “Only the Lord knows what will happen child / Things can change.”

Herula says her epic poetry in Float to Heaven is a “John Prine-style storytelling song that I am really proud of.” Her elegant finger-style guitar and Harris’ emotive violin create an impassioned tale of a man unable to shake his lifelong sense of blame for the death of a teenage friend: “So tomorrow I’m gonna take my boat / Down to the river and I’m gonna float / To heaven, I’m going to heaven.”

Herula shows off her deep Chicago blues influences on the rousing closer, the Elmore James/Robert Johnson classic, Dust My Broom, driven by her furious slide and Smith’s propulsive drumming.

There are no musical cold feet in Donna Herula’s sophisticated production of Cold Feet. She steps easily through a stylish blend of songs and genres that kick her eclectic influences into one artistic delight.

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Here’s a live version of “What You Gonna Do?” from the album:

Tracklist:

1.  On My Way Home
2.  Cold Feet
3.  Honey Darlin’ Baby Please
4.  Cypress Grove
5.  Backseat Driver
6.  What You Gonna Do?
7.  Wish I Could See You Again
8.  Things Can Change
9.  Float to Heaven
10. Dust My Broom

Steve Cropper & the Midnight Hour — “Watching the Tide” — Provogue

This just a brief post to alert Steve Cropper fans (everyone should be one!) about the posthumous release of his final album, “Watching the Tide,” completed just before his death in December of 2025.

It’s a splendid album, a tribute to his musical skills, his massive influence, and the longevity of his great music.

The band’s name, and of course, the album title both reflect songs written by Cropper and Wilson Pickett — “In the Midnight Hour” and “Dock of the Bay” — both giant hits for Pickett.

Here’s a Wikipedia entry about the recording of “Midnight Hour”:

Wilson Pickett recorded “In the Midnight Hour” at Stax Studios, Memphis, May 12, 1965. The song’s co-writer Steve Cropper recalls: “[Atlantic Records president] Jerry Wexler said he was going to bring down this great singer Wilson Pickett to record at Stax Studio (where Cropper was a session guitarist) and I didn’t know what groups he’d been in or whatever. But I used to work in [a] record shop, and I found some gospel songs that Wilson Pickett had sung on. On a couple [at] the end, he goes: ‘I’ll see my Jesus in the midnight hour! Oh, in the midnight hour. I’ll see my Jesus in the midnight hour.'”, and Cropper got the idea of using the phrase “in the midnight hour” as the basis for an R&B song.^[3] More likely, Cropper was remembering The Falcons’ 1962 song “I Found a Love,” on which Pickett sings lead and says “And sometimes I call in the midnight hour!” The only gospel record Pickett had appeared on before this was the Violinaires’ “Sign of the Judgement,” which includes no such phrase.

But Cropper is remembered for much more. Cropper and his now legendary band, Booker T. and the MG’s, built the foundation of Southern soul as the house band at Stax Records. Cropper was its heart and soul.

Packed with quality songs, superb musicianship and memorable guest appearances, Watching The Tide is a fitting celebration of one of music’s true greats.

Don’t just listen to this exceptional album; find more of Cropper’s legacy and enjoy. It’s American music history — and music — at its finest.

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Here’s a track from the album:

Tracklist:
01 – Tandoori Chicken
02 – Ticket First
03 – My Angels Are Calling
04 – Until Now
05 – Blood From A Stone
06 – Here & Gone
07 – It’s Gonna Get Worse
08 – Down & Out
09 – Stand Right Here
10 – Tip Off To The Rip Off
11 – House Of Cards

Mark Hummel Allstars — “Road Dog”– Rockinitus

The Mississippi saxophone — the blues harmonica — is a marvelously expressive instrument for digging deep into the blues.

One of its most talented practitioners on the contemporary blues scene is Mark Hummel, who brings the essence of traditional blues styles to his latest album, “Road Dog,” featuring the Mark Hummel Allstars.

The stars on this sparkling session of 14 songs include guitar wizards Anson Funderburgh and Junior Watson, drummer Wes Starr, Elvin Bishop sideman and Fabulous Thunderbird members Bob Welsh on piano, and Kedar Roy on bass.

The band is completed by RW Grisby on bass on three tracks. On eight of the tracks, Bob Welsh is on piano, while Brett Brandstatt and Chris Burns each play on one. Eric Spaulding is the featured saxman player on four tracks, . Other guitarists include Little Charlie Baty, Rusty Zinn, and Randy Rattray. Hummel’s razor-sharp harp and tough vocals drive all the tracks home.

Hummel says that “The Anson/Junior combo made perfect sense as a continuation of a unique pairing. Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studio was the site of all of these recordings since 2008, with spectacular results.”

There are six Hummel originals here, with eight covers from the deep well of the blues lexicon. There are recordings from 2024, with three previously unissued tracks from the 2015 sessions for Golden State Lone Star, with a pair of previously unreleased gems.

This album was engineered by the criminally talented Andersen and recorded at his Greaseland Studios, except for “Gypsy in My Soul” and “Gadjo’s Swing,” recorded at Jim Day Studios in Pacifica, Calif.

The great blues standard “Black Nights” kicks the door open with piano from Welsh, fiery guitar from Funderburgh and Watson and Hummel’s soaring harp lines. The sturdy shuffle “Jugglin’” is a Hummel original, followed by Hummel’s “Real Good Woman,” with a flashy harp intro. Hummel rocks into “I Got to Find My Baby” written by Peter Joe Clayton in 1941 and recorded by B. B. King, Little Walter and Chuck Berry, among others, fueled by a terrific harp solo.

Hummel’s sly vocal turn sparks “Why Did It Happen,” written by Willie Mabon and released in 1962. Spaulding’s sax drives it all along. Hummel’s own “Road Dog” churns along with his ode to the road featuring a fierce solo from Watson: “When a road dog starts to barkin’, he packs his bag and out he goes, / When he leaves this town, you know he might be back no more.”

Hummel reincarnates Little Walter’s “You Better Watch Yourself” from 1954 with his own harmonica fireworks, then leans into the slow-driving R&B of Johnny Otis’ 1951 “Rockin’ Blues.” “Say You Will” is another fine, stinging blues original from Hummel. Van Morrison’s “Gypsy in My Soul” gets a bite of Latin flavor, then Hummel’s “You Are Right” shuffles into view.

Hummel’s harp pierces the heart of “She’s My Baby,” written by Alex “Rice” Miller, who became Sonny Boy Williamson II. Hummel then captures the essence of Jimmy Reed’s “When You’re Doin Alright” with its trademark high-pitched harp and Little Charllie Baty on guitar. The closer is Hummel’s gypsy-flavored instrumental “Gadjo’s Swing.”

Mark Hummel and friends have dug deep into the blues on the excellent “Road Dog,” absorbing their influences and creating an outstanding session based on their traditional blues heritage. It stands on its own as simply great music from the blues highway.

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Tracklist:
01 – Black Nights
02 – Jugglin’ 
03 – Real Good Woman 
04 – I Got To Find My Baby 
05 – Why Did It Happen 
06 – Road Dog 
07 – You Better Watch Yourself 
08 – Rockin’ Blues 
09 – Say You Will 
10 – Gypsy In My Soul 
11 – You are Right 
12 – She’s My Baby 
13 – When You’re Doing Alright 
14 – Gadjo’s Swing