CRITICAL
ACCLAIM FOR ELECTRO-FI
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CRITICAL
ACCLAIM FOR ELECTRO-FI
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Electro-Fi Records, North
America's fastest growing blues and roots
labels,
continues to garner global acclaim. Real Blues magazine
proclaims
that the "Electro-Fi label has moved up the ladder to
become
one of North America's leading independent blues labels
thanks
to an imaginative agenda," and "Electro-Fi Records continues
its
ascension to the top ranks of international blues labels." In its
catalog
U.K.'s Red Lick Records declares, "Electro-Fi Records are
gettin'
dangerous!" Britain's Juke Blues magazine heralds "Electro-Fi
[as]
a label that is quickly establishing itself as a serious blues and
roots
imprint."
Electro-Fi was founded in October 1996 by blues aficionado Andrew
Galloway.
Harmonica ace Little Mack Simmons launched the Electro-Fi label
with
his critically acclaimed CD Little Mack Is Back. Living Blues
magazine
hailed Simmons' release for its "sure vocal sense and tasty
harp
licks . . . fresh and unexpected . . . From an artistic standpoint,
Little
Mack Simmons is definitely back." Blues & Rhythm called it "a
stomping
beauty . . . Mack's harp playing is very refreshing, strong
and
inventive."
Along with Simmons' second offering Somewhere On Down The Line, 
Electro-Fi
introduced the world to the rock-blues band Fathead,
whose
Electro-Fi recording Blues Weather won Canada's esteemed
Juno
Award for Best Blues Recording of 1998.
After a 26-year hiatus from the studio, keyboard virtuoso Curley
Bridges
scored top marks with his Electro-Fi CD Keys To The Blues.
The
Red Lick chart of best-selling blues albums, published in Britain's
Blues
& Rhythm magazine, listed it last spring as the third most
popular
blues CD in the U.K., and Blues & Rhythm named it Album of
the
Month. "Bridges can still shout it down like a major leaguer," Blues
Revue
applauded. "His keyboard work is fluent and assured, his
comping
is incredibly deep, and his vocal power is on par with any R&B
vocalist
you'd care to name, past or present. . . . If you're into R&B
standards,
Bridges is playing your song.
Can't Stop Blowin', the recent release by legendary harp pioneer
Snooky
Pryor, has been recognized as one of the best recordings of
his
celebrated career. It held strong at number eight on Living Blues
magazine's
radio charts for both January and February. The Red Lick
chart
in Blues & Rhythm magazine listed it as the number-one
best-selling
blues CD in Britain. Living Blues raved, "Chalk up another
win
for Snooky Pryor; he's been threatening to retire for years now,
but
from the sound of this disc, he's having too much fun to quit."
"Pryor
hollers and blows like it was his last night on earth," wrote an
enthusiastic
critic for Cadence magazine. "This is terrific stuff from a
grand
master of the blues."
Electro-Fi introduced blues fans to a slice of Chicago recording history
in
fall 1999 with the release of The P.M./Simmons Collection, the
first
reissue of the best cuts from Little Mack Simmons' own
recording
companies, which operated on the South Side from 1972 to
1982.
Featuring Little Mack on vocals and harp, the CD also includes
tracks
that Simmons produced for the late Fenton Robinson and
Arelean
Brown. It was described by Blues Beat magazine as "a
valuable
collection that demonstrates both Mack's musical and
creative
talents. . . . An important document in the history of Chicago
blues."
Also released at this time was Blues Burnin' In My Soul by
the
maestro of seductive, soul-drenched blues, Chicago's Johnny
Laws,
who presents the blues from an urban perspective, crafted into
an
irresistible groove. Blues Beat proclaimed, "Blues Burnin' In My
Soul
is an exceptional display of his enormous gifts, containing more
than
sixty minutes of the gentlest, sexiest blues you'll ever hear. . . .
One
of the year's very best!"
The millennium began stronger than ever with two new impressive
CDs:
Neck Bones and Caviar by one of the last great blues guitarists
of
his generation Mel Brown, and I Claim Nothing But The Blues by
the
exceptional acoustic singer/songwriter Fruteland Jackson. Neck
Bones
And Caviar was nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Award as
Best
Comeback Album of the year and won the grand prix de
l’academie
du jazz as best blues album in France. Blues Revue
magazine
praised it as "first-rate . . . dangerously intense . . . Just
say
it’s so good it almost isn’t fair. Track this one down and savor it."
I Claim
Nothing But The Blues received acclaim from Blues & 
Rhythm
magazine: "Jackson has a strong virile voice and is a fine
picker
. . . An album of well-crafted songs . . . A hugely enjoyable CD,
a sure-fire
winner."
In June 2000, Electro-Fi released Upside ’n’ Down Tight: Electro-Fi’s
Finest,
1997–2000, a tantalizing collection of favourite cuts from the
Electro-Fi
archives. In September the label presented Double Shot!,
a duo
CD by harp master Snooky Pryor and guitar ace Mel Brown, 
which
was nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Award as Traditional
Blues
Album of the Year. Snooky also received two Handy
nominations:
for Traditional Blues—Male Artist of the Year and for
Blues
Instrumentalist—Harmonica. Double Shot!, a two-fisted wallop
of
real-deal blues, begs the question: Is there a stronger combination
of
pure talent in the blues world today than Snooky Pryor and Mel
Brown?
Electro-Fi mourned the death of Chicago harp master—and the label’s
first
artist — Malcolm "Little Mack" Simmons on October 24, 2000.
While
his loss is deeply felt, we were proud to announce our first
release
of the year 2001: The Best Of Little Mack Simmons: The 
Electro-Fi
Years. This superb collection will do much to preserve
Little
Mack’s musical legacy and honor his memory.
With its ongoing slate of impressive CDs, Electro-Fi continues to
delight
blues fans around the world. Watch and listen as Electro-Fi
Records
claims its place in the upper echelon of blues and roots labels
by
recording an outstanding lineup of established, rediscovered and
up-and-coming
talent.
