A memory ghost is a memory so strong that it’s left an invisible mark so it can never be forgotten. Some memory ghosts are so strong they cause an eruption of emotions. In celebration of his 62nd year as a musician, Australian Blues Griot STEVE TALLIS delivers his latest release, Memory Ghost – an audacious 3CD set comprising a monumental 66 songs and nearly 4 hours of music, recorded live first take. A limited edition of 1,000 copies and all in glorious mono, coproduced by the internationally acclaimed Rob Grant, Poons Head Studio – Fremantle. His style is unique in an Australian context with names such as Howlin’ Wolf, Dr. John, Captain Beefheart, Bob Dylan, Leadbelly and Tom Waits mentioned by way of reference points. Tallis dig deep into his spirit, incorporating Country Blues, Rock, Spirituals and Field Hollers. Complex layers that plunder the depths of the human experience: Songs of love, desire, death, politics, romance, skeletons, elephants, redemption, hobos, ghosts – challenging, intense, raw, enriching, unpredictable, fearless, restless, tender, reflective, sensitive, instinctive, radical – by a musical outlaw, a renegade observing, contemplating, reflecting and commenting on the world around him.

Now Grey is promoting her new CD, ‘The Grey Album’, which embraces no less than twenty beautiful country songs. She is definitely the perfect return to the golden age of Nashville country singers. 

An instrumental musical journey between Europe and South America with blending Brazilian choro and Venezuelan joropo.  Enjoy also the French and Italian influences.

Money may not be everything, but it does prevent you from ‘headin’ for the poorhouse’. The German Bear Family Records bundles no less than 30 tracks on this compilation, all of which have ‘money’ or ‘poverty’ as their subject.
The kick-off is given by the vocal group The Silhouettes, who immediately create a stunning doo-wop rhythm & blues with the title track of this album. More doo-wop follows later with The Penguins and ‘Money Talks’. Clyde McPhatter continues with The Drifters with the classic ‘Money Honey’. Later you will also get this song in Elvis’ version.
For a wonderful piano blues you can go to Johnny Ace and ‘No Money’. A song that also contains a lot of soul. Excello has many wonderful songs in its catalogue. One of them is ‘I Need Money (Keep Your Alibis)’, an rousing rhythm & blues by Slim Harpo. Howard Crockett was a talented songwriter who wrote hits for Johnny Horton, among others. You can hear Howard here in a harmonica-driven ‘Just A Poor Man’. Lovers of ‘old school’ country will certainly find something to their liking in ‘I’m Broke’ by Glen Paul and The Sunset Wranglers. More country comes with Faron Young and the self-written ‘I’m A Poor Boy’, including a wonderful fiddle solo, as well as with ‘No Money’ by the lesser-known Carl Runner.
‘Money That’s What I Want’ comes twice. The first time by Barrett Strong. Berry Gordy, owner of the Tamla Motown label was co-writer and this song was also the first big hit for his label. Also from Tamla Motown come the vocal group The Miracles with their version of the same song.
‘Ain’t Got No Money’ by The Rebel Guys is mainly a beautiful, sax-driven instrumental number. A magnificent rock-‘n-roll song comes with Cecil Moore in ‘My Money’s Gone’. On a boogie rhythm, Arkie Shibley presents his ‘talking blues’ in ‘I’m A Poor Oakie’.
At the time that Jessie Knight joined Ike Turner’s band, the electric bass made its introduction in rhythm & blues bands. Ike made sure that his cousin Jessie got his hands on the instrument. Here you get Jessie Knight with the formidable rhythm & blues ‘Nothing But Money’.
Well-known names that grace this compilation include Carl Perkins, blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon, The Louvin Brothers and blues harmonica player Billy ‘Boy’ Arnold. Blues pianist Sunnyland Slim is also well-known. Here he brings a pearl of a piano blues as Dr. Clayton’s Buddy with ‘Broke And Hungry’. In the middle of the previous century, Frankie Avalon was one of the many teen idols. Here he is present with the wonderfully rocking ‘I’m Broke’.
Country-wise, Al Terry and Rusty & Doug close with the emotional ‘Money’.
In the 38-page booklet you traditionally get all the information about the artists and the tracks.
Thematic albums show how certain situations or feelings inspired artists to make great songs about them. One of those compilations that certainly meets all expectations here is ‘Headin’ For The Poorhouse’.

Track Dogs are celebrate 20 years together in 2026 and they thought to get the party started early, why not!? So, the band compiled our first six albums as Track Dogs into this collection, based mainly on the songs we regularly play live. Some of the tracks are appearing in album format for the first time, such as “Brandy” and “Easy”, which were previously released on EPs. We’ve also added an LP’s worth of new recordings, brand new tunes as well as live favourites “Ruby”, “This Old Heart” & “All of The Above”. 

With ‘Oh Yeah’ we have already reached the eighth volume in the ‘Hi-Strung R & B’ series. What is striking again is that a large number of artists who recorded excellent rhythm & blues during the fifties and sixties of the last century nevertheless did not make it into the spotlight. In addition, this edition also contains a number of resounding names. The album kicks off with Beverly Wright and the swinging ‘Shake Till I’m Shook’, which is followed by the cheerful and playful ‘Whoa-Ho (Let’s Get Together)’ by Kitty & Clay. Then Little Richard announces the first big name. His ‘Taxi Blues’ is still firmly anchored in rhythm & blues, in contrast to his later recorded rock-‘n-roll. When Little Richard decided to become a dominee, Larry Williams was seen as his successor. Although pianist Williams had the same raw voice, he did not quite live up to it. What Williams can put behind his name is that many of his songs, such as ‘Bony Moronie’ and ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’ were covered during the ‘British Invasion’. Here he is present with ‘Oh Baby’, which partly proves that he missed out on a few things as a successor to Little Richard.
Ear King spent his entire life in New Orleans and that typical sound is clearly heard in ‘Funny Face’. That sound also sounds in small doses in ‘I Got A Rock And Roll Gal’ by Billy Lamont, as well as in ‘You’re So Good Looking’ by Otis Smith. The odd one out comes in the form of Willie Joe. Backed by René Hall’s orchestra, he conjures up ‘Twitchy’ from his one-string electric guitar. For Bill Haley, ‘Shake, Rattle And Roll’ was a mega hit. Here you get the unedited and, to me, better version by grandmaster Joe Turner. Exciting rock-‘n-roll is also presented by Steve Gibson’s Red Caps with vocals by Dave Patillo in ‘Rock And Roll Stomp’. It would be Patillo’s only recording. Guitarist Guitar Slim is no stranger to blues fans. Here he provides the title track of this release, a serious rocking rhythm & blues that ends in a somewhat gospel-like manner. Annie Laurie continues on the path taken by Slim with the equally great ‘Rockin’ And Rollin’ Again’. Ike Turner’s Kings Of Rhythm always guarantee quality. Here they are the backing band of Billy Gayles, who unleashes a gem of a song with ‘Sad As A Man Can Be’. When you talk about the pioneers of rock-‘n-roll, you can’t ignore Chuck Berry. Not only was he an example for many artists, but his songs were and still are eagerly covered. This also applies to ‘Come On’, which can be found on this album and was once entrusted to vinyl by The Stones. Little Milton made great recordings in both rhythm & blues and soul. He shows that he could combine both genres in a very special way in ‘Long Distance Operator’. Del Thorne then presents a beautiful piano blues in ‘I Let Him Move Me’. Two greats who often shared the stage together were guitarist Earl Hooker and harmonica virtuoso Junior Wells. Here they make the most of the instrumental ‘Universal Rock’.
Doo-wop comes with Don Julian and The Meadowlarks in ‘Oop Boopy Oop’, as well as with Bill Pinky and The Turks in ‘After The Hop’ and by The El Dorados singing wonderfully together in ‘At My Front Door’. As we are used to from them, ‘Bark, Battle And Ball’ by The Platters also contains excellent harmonies. We would like to close with the instrumental ‘Quarter To One’ by Roy Hawkins…..but don’t stop your player, because with ‘Fun Fun’ by Lloyd Nolen you can expect a bonus track.
Series like ‘Hi-Strung R & B’ bundle quite a few songs that would otherwise not reach lovers of rocking rhythm & blues. Another plus is that the KokoMojo label always does full justice to their philosophy ‘killers and no fillers’.