Michael Pickett

Michael Pickett - Conversation With the Blues - 2000 - Wooden Teeth

If one is searching for some tight, well-presented blues music by an artist who has experience and talent, Michael Pickett's, Conversation With the Blues is the album to pick up. Pickett presents blues music with the finesse and charisma which comes from years of study and soulful admiration of what the genre is all about. Blues music is a genre of music which contains a small percentage of composition and a large portion of emotional improvisational expression. Michael Pickett pours himself, body and soul, into each tune on the album, sending the listener on a unique refreshing journey within his conversation with the blues. Each tune on the album, with the exception of one that is a solo effort from Pickett, finds Pickett's expressive and melodic vocals and mind-blowing harmonica complimented by Shawn Kellerman's extensive blues guitar work. "Junk Thang," a blues instrumental done in the key of E, is sure to hook many a blues fan to Pickett's magnetic harmonica playing. Shawn Kellerman and Teddy Leonard shine on "Junk Thang" with some exhilarating electric lead-guitar jamming. "Look out at the Weather" gives one the impression that Pickett has experienced the blues with the same force felt by Stevie Ray Vaughan and others who have gained the respect of blues fans worldwide. Michael Pickett is a talented musician and an amazing artist who breathes a new life into the blues by bringing it back with original energy and charisma. His style is very much his own, but one can hear and feel early influences in his music lending the comfortable quality and familiarity so often associated with true blues at it's finest. So if in search of a real blues sound, call on Michael Pickett and have a conversation with the blues as never before. © Larry Belanger © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfexqy0ldke

Through the 70s, 80s, and 90s Michael Pickett was already well known as an innovative, dynamic singer/songwriter/harmonica player, leading bands like Whiskey Howl, Wooden Teeth, and the Michael Pickett Band, all of which which played some great blues and funky roots music. "Conversation with the Blues" which won a Canadian Music award for Blues Album of the year, continues in the tradition of the three aforementioned bands. A B.Pulford on Michael Pickett's website made a couple of very relevant comments about Michael Pickett. He describes Michael's music as a "unique fusion of sensibilities, driven by his thumping delta guitar rhythms, muscular harmonica and gravel and chains voice which is, at once, traditional and relevant". He also says that "Never content to merely be a musical archivist, Pickett effectively deconstructs and reconstructs those seminal blues, born on the delta, to serve his own singular purpose; writing songs that are authentic both in substance and performance." Great comments which aptly describe the music on "Conversation With the Blues". The album is dedicated to two late members of the Downchild Blues Band, Richard "Hock" Walsh, and Tony Flaim. Michael's gospel influenced song "When I Lay My Burden Down", is dedicated to Blanche and Tony Flaim. The album is VHR by A.O.O.F.C. Buy Michael Pickett's great "Solo" album, and promote this great Bluesman

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Big Train - Shawn Kellerman/Pickett, Micheal
2. River - Michael Pickett
3. Love Don't Mean It - Michael Pickett
4. When I Lay My Burden Down - Michael Pickett
5. Look Out at the Weather - Michael Pickett
6. Conversation with the Blues - Kobrin, Slavka/Michael Pickett
7. Cecil & Spadina - Michael Pickett
8. It Don't Matter to Me - Michael Pickett/Doug Romanow
9. Bad Love - Michael Pickett/Doug Romanow
10. Junk Thang - Chadwick/David Cordrey/Leonard/Pickett
11. Mother Earth - Peter Chatman/Simpkin, Lewis
12. Night Comes - Molly Johnson/Doug Riley

MUSICIANS

Michael Pickett - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Guitar (Resonator)
Shawn Kellerman - Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Leslie)
Steve Chadwick - Guitar, Bass (Electric), Guitar (Bass)
Kevin Breit - Guitar (Electric), Mandolin
Teddy Leonard - Guitar (Electric)
Leo Valvassori - Guitar (Bass)
Doug Riley - Piano, Fender Rhodes
Bill McCauley - Keyboards, Hammond B3, Organ (Hammond)
Doug Romanow - Keyboards
Gary Craig, Paul Brennan, Marty Cordrey - Drums
Rick Lazar - Percussion
John "Woog" Johnson - Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone), Sax (Tenor)
Dave Dunlop - Trumpet
Gord Myers - Trombone
Richard Armin - Cello
Norman Hathaway, Lenny Solomon - Violin
Troy Adams, Louise Pickett, Jackie Richardson, Liz Tilden - Vocals (bckgr)

BIO

Michael Pickett has had a musical career that has spanned more than thirty years. He is an award-winning recording artist who has always embraced the blues. As the lead vocalist and harmonica player for two pioneering bands, Whiskey Howl and Wooden Teeth, during the '70s and '80s, Michael Pickett successfully pushed the envelope for blues roots music in the Toronto area. He formed the Michael Pickett Band in 1981, employing an ever-changing roster of some of Toronto's finest blues musicians. With Pickett as their driving force, the band developed a reputation for delivering soulful and dynamic performances of both original and classic blues material. Their 2001 inaugural tour of Germany and Austria was a major success. 1998, a banner year for Michael Pickett, was when he released his long-anticipated debut CD, Blues Money. The completely original recording was nominated for a Juno award and received a Jazz Report and Real Blues award for Blues Album of the Year. He was also presented with the coveted Maple Blues: Blues With a Feeling Award in recognition of his passion and commitment to the blues. Conversation With the Blues, released in 2000, earned him another Juno nomination and won a Canadian Indie Music award for Blues Album of the Year. The recording is an eclectic mix of ten original compositions comprised of multiple styles. His lengthy career has included extensive recording, film, radio, and television credits. He has shared the stage with John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Koko Taylor, John Hammond, and Sunnyland Slim, and has opened for James Cotton, Taj Mahal, Muddy Waters, and Son Seals at venues ranging from Massey Hall to New York's Village Gate. Performing in clubs, as well as on jazz and blues festival stages across the U.S.A., Michael Pickett continues to mesmerize audiences with his vocals, harmonica, and pure musical genius. © Larry Belanger © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:k9foxqegldke~T1