Published on the West Coast of the USA
February 2012
a music webzine by and for real musicians and artists

Follow @damngoodtunes  



Good-bye Etta James 

Etta James sang some of the finest blues we will ever know. This legendary music icon who gave us a lifetime of extraordinary music passed away last week at the age of 73 after a battle with leukemia. Her legacy includes a long list of chart topping pop, rock, soul, and jazz in addition to the blues. She did it all. Her signature was that unmistakable style and sound that could pull the life right out of every note she sang. And she sang to us for literally decades with a singing career that spanned more than 55 years. Her music wowed my parent’s generation in the 1960’s just as it does today for my own children who always have her music on their I-Pod play lists. Her sound simply transcends time.

A long list of awards recognizes the achievements for her many years of hard work. The Blues Foundation of Memphis, TN, supporting blues music and its heritage, have nominated James for a Blues Music Award nearly every year since their beginning in 1980. And she has received some form of their Blues Female Artist of the Year award 14 times since 1989 and she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001. Her sound was recognizable even as she crossed music’s genre of styles for which she also holds 6 Grammys and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as well as the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2001. The list of awards goes on and on.

Her recorded music will help sooth our soul as her sound lives on. But Etta James, we will miss you terribly.

Kris Edem


###


SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION IN
"THE NEWS"

Photo by John Russell / CMA

The Train Ride Home
An Interview with Malynda Hale
New York City singer-songwriter

Click here for Malynda Hale feature story 

LAW DOGG MUSIC
by Law Ebert - founder
with Jonn Gold

Five words. "Help my band do something." These words, spoken from a drummer to her boyfriend, is what first started Law Dogg Music. Law became the manager for her band OFFTRAK to help them "do something." He made connections with local venues and promoters. It started with a show here and there, then more shows started coming. The venues began asking Law to put entire bills together and Law started making connections with other bands. He began working with a few other bands booking shows for them as well. Soon after, Law was approached by a young but hungry band called Far From The Genuine. They were looking for a manager. Law saw something in this band and took them under his wing and became their manager. They lost a couple of drummers along the way and finally Alicia (Law's fiancée' and former OFFTRAK drummer) transitioned and became their drummer.
Continued Here in Page One

What's going on in Nashville? We've got the latest from James Dean Fisher in Music City !

   Brandon Maddox
in the James Dean Spotlight

LEARN THE BASICS
by Linda Harborth

click here