Now we're shaking things up a bit, with the Billboard magazine blues charts for the week ending May 12, 2012 offering up two exciting debuts, one not unexpected, the other a total surprise. First of all, blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout's excellent Blues For The Modern Daze debuts on the charts this week at a very respectable, and not totally unexpected number five. With Trout's work ethic being as strong as his fretwork, I expect the lengthy touring supporting the album to help keep it fresh in record buyer's minds for quite some time.

This week's surprise comes courtesy of the beloved duo of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks...no, not the Tedeschi Trucks Band's Revelator, which has dominated the chart for the better part of a year, and earned the hard-working band a Grammy® Award. No, I'm talking about the band's upcoming Everybody's Talking live album, which has evidently sold enough pre-release copies to debut in the top ten two full weeks before its actual release date. I don't think that I'm going out on a limb here to predict that, eventually, the budget-priced two-disc live set will unseat Bonnie Raitt from the top spot, and will virtually live in the top ten for the next, say, 52 weeks or so...or until Tedeschi and Trucks release their next album!

Here are this week's Billboard Top Ten blues albums, ranked by sales:

10. Tab Benoit - Legacy: The Best Of (Telarc Records)
9. Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton - Play The Blues (Warner Brothers)
8. Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk (Warner Brothers)
7. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody's Talking (Live) (Sony Legacy)
6. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator (Sony Masterworks)
5. Walter Trout - Blues For The Modern Daze (Provogue Records)
4. Gary Clark, Jr. - The Bright Lights EP (Warner Brothers)
3. Various Artists - Back In New Orleans (Starbucks)
2. Dr. John - Locked Down (Nonesuch Records)
1. Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream (Redwing Records)

New releases this week: Giles Robson's Crooked Heart of Mine (Blues Boulevard Records); Muddy Waters Blues Band's Mud In Your Ear (Douglas Records); Royal Southern Brotherhood's Royal Southern Brotherhood (Ruf Records); Steve Cochran's Changes (Blues Boulevard Records)

Photo of Giles Robson's Crooked Heart of Mine courtesy Blues Boulevard Records

We've received word from Alligator Records that blues guitarist Michael "Iron Man" Burks passed away on Sunday, May 6, 2012 from an apparent heart attack. The popular bluesman had just returned to the states from a European tour, and collapsed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He was rushed to South Fulton Medical Center but could not be revived. Burks was 54 years old.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July 1957, Burks was raised in a musical family - his grandfather was a blues guitarist in Arkansas, his father a bass player who often performed with Sonny Boy Williamson. Burks first picked up a guitar at the age of two, and by the age of five he was learning to play songs from his father's record collection motivated, no doubt, by the $1 per song reward that his father paid if he learned a song by the time he got home from work. The elder Burks moved his family to Arkansas in the early 1970s, where the family built and operated the Bradley Ferry Country Club, a 300-seat juke-joint. By his early teens, Burks was fronting his own band as well as backing many of the blues and R&B; talents that performed at the family's club.

The Bradley Ferry Country Club closed in the mid-1980s, and Burks went to work as a mechanical technician for Lockheed-Martin as he raised his own family. By the early 1990s, however, he was getting the itch to perform again, and he formed a new band in 1994 and began playing clubs and regional festivals. Burks' energetic performances and blistering guitar style quickly earned him a reputation, and he received offers to perform at festivals from one side of the country to the other. Burks released his self-produced debut album From The Inside Out in 1997, the disc receiving critical acclaim and leading to bigger and better bookings. Burks would sign with Alligator Records, releasing his label debut Make It Rain in 2001 and following it up with his I Smell Smoke album in 2003. Burks' 2008 album Iron Man earned the guitarist a slew of Blues Music Award nominations and placed him on the verge of blues superstardom.

Burks earned his "Iron Man" nickname by delivering hours-long, physically-demanding performances night after night, his soulful vocals matched by a fierce, unique guitar style that would leave audiences breathless. A charismatic performer, nobody left a Michael Burks show without a smile on their face, and the artist would climb behind the wheel of his van and drive hundreds of miles to his next show. A blue-collar bluesman with immense six-string skills and a growing confidence in his songwriting ability (he wrote or co-wrote seven of the twelve songs on Iron Man), Burks was working on a new album for Alligator Records at the time of his death. Burks was the living, breathing, touring embodiment of the blues, and will be missed. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends, and many fans around the world.

Photo courtesy Alligator Records

Guitarist Sonny Landreth is well-known as a talented instrumentalist, receiving particular acclaim for his wicked slide-guitar skills. Over the course of ten solo albums, as well as woven throughout his session work with people like John Hiatt, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, John Mayall, and Dr. John, among many others, Landreth's amazing fretwork has earned him a reputation as one of the roots-n-blues' world's best musicians.

Surprisingly, Landreth has never released an "all instrumental" album, until now...on May 22, 2012 Landreth will release his 11th album, titled Elemental Journey, on his own independent Landfall Records label. Elemental Journey is notable not only because it stands as Landreth's first instrumental-only album, but also because it represents his most adventuresome work to date, the guitarist mixing elements of rock, blues, jazz, and zydeco music with some, shall we say, more exotic influences?

"From day one on the guitar, many genres of music have had an impact on me," says Landreth in a press release for the new album. "For these recordings, I drew from some of those influences that I hadn't gone to on previous albums with my vocals. Trading off the lyrics this time, I focused solely on the instrumental side and all this music poured out. Then I asked some extraordinary musicians to help me layer the tracks in hopes of inspiring a lot of imagery for the listeners." To help record this landmark album, Landreth enlisted the help of friends like fellow guitarists Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson, and steel drum virtuoso Robert Greenidge. Backing up these six-string wizards are members of Landreth's band, including bass player Dave Ranson and keyboardist Steve Conn, along with drummers Brian Brignac, Doug Belote, and Mike Burch.

"One of the things I've always loved about a good instrumental song is that it can be more impressionistic and abstract," Landreth notes in his press release. "Though melody is always important, it's even more significant with an instrumental. So what I wanted to achieve was something more thematic with lots of melodies and with a chordal chemistry that was harmonically rich. That's when I got the idea to treat the arrangements with more layering and to have the melodies interweave like conversations. I also wanted it to be more diverse, to not adhere to any categories. I wanted to leave it wide open to possibility."

Related content: Sonny Landreth - From The Reach CD review

Photo courtesy Landfall Records

Blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout is hitting the road hard in support of his recently-released new album, Blues For The Modern Daze, which the Reverend says "is Walter Trout at his very best." Offering a little insight into the new album, in a press release for Blues For The Modern Daze, Trout says "my main inspiration for this album was the country bluesman Blind Willie Johnson, an early blues innovator who recorded such timeless gospel informed blues numbers as "Soul of A Man" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine." His music is so beautiful, primal, direct and deeply spiritual that I wanted to feel it at my back when we were cutting these songs."

Trout continues, adding, "this album captures my interest in exploring a side of my music that's rooted in my first musical love, and it reveals something about me too. It sums up the thoughts and attitudes of somebody who is getting a little older and is feeling a little like he's a part of another era, with different values and a different perspective on life than often seem to be prevalent today. And I stand behind those values, like compassion, authenticity and honesty, as strongly as I stand behind my music."

As good as the record is, however, no mere magnetic tape can capture the energy and vitality shown by the man on stage, and if you like your blues somewhat edgy, guitar-driven, and with an intelligent populist slant, Trout is your man. Check him out when he comes roaring through your hometown (tour dates listed below)!

Walter Trout Tour Dates

5/05 @ Bixby Blues Festival, Bixby, OK
5/06 @ Knucklehead's Saloon, Kansas City MO
5/09 @ Bridge Street Live, Collinsville CT
5/10 @ River Jazz Festival, Bethlehem PA
5/11 @ Bull Run, Shirley MA
5/12 @ Stanhope House, Stanhope NJ
5/14 @ The Tralf, Buffalo NY
5/16 @ Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River MA
5/18 @ Iridium Jazz Club, New York NY
5/19 @ Iridium Jazz Club, New York NY
5/20 @ Iridium Jazz Club, New York NY
5/21 @ Iridium Jazz Club, New York NY
5/23 @ Double Door Inn, Charlotte NC
5/24 @ Orange Peel, Asheville NC
5/25 @ Smith's Olde Bar, Atlanta GA
5/26 @ MS Gulf Coast Music, Art, Craft & Seafood Festival, Biloxi MS
5/27 @ MS Gulf Coast Music, Art, Craft & Seafood Festival, Biloxi MS
5/30 @ Gilly's, Dayton OH
5/31 @ Callahan's, Auburn Hills MI
6/01 @ Moondog's, Blawnox PA
6/02 @ Western Maryland Blues Festival, Hagerstown MD
6/05 @ The Adriatic Cafe, Rockford IL
6/06 @ Redstone Room, Davenport IA
6/07 @ Shank Hall, Milwaukee WI
6/08 @ Canton Blues Festival, Canton OH
6/09 @ Famous Dave's Blues Festival, Minneapolis MN
6/10 @ House of Bricks, Des Moines IA
6/12 @ Zoo Bar, Lincoln NE
6/14 @ Old Rock House, St. Louis MO
6/15 @ House of Blues, Chicago IL
6/16 @ W.C. Handy Blues Festival, Henderson KY
6/30 @ Irvine Lake Blues Festival, Silverado CA
8/10 @ Skyline Bar & Casino, North Sioux City SD
8/11 @ Famous Dave's, Minneapolis MN
8/12 @ Bayfront Blues Festival, Duluth MN
8/18 @ White Mountain Boogie & Blues Festival, Thornton NH
8/26 @ North River Blues Festival, Marshfield MA
8/31 @ Illinois Blues Festival, Peoria IL
9/02 @ Snowy Range Music Festival, Laramie WY

Photo by Austin Hargrave, courtesy Provogue Records