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good news! well deserved too!

yeah, what can i say? my brother thinks the new disc is my best ever. i don't know. the cd only stayed in the charts here for one month although it's been in the roots music report charts for 12 weeks now. at this moment in time and after so many years of playing gigs ( 1st gig was in '76) i know what is good and what is excellent, and the cd is way more than good. raimundo amador is simply a genius, the bireli lagrene of spain. pepe bao is the same way on bass. the cd is very modern but it's still very bluesy. i can see traditionalists viewing as "too modern" but then again, when i see some of the bigger names out there doing purely rock cd's and calling it blues, i cringe. critics sometimes don't even read the liner notes.
i got one review of the "stuck on the blues" cd that said, "it's not evident" how marco and i were paired together for the disc. it says plain and clear in the liner notes that i met marco in italy in the early '90's while on tour with frank frost and that marco and i have been touring together since 97. i also know that there is a definate prejudice against european musicians. this is one of the reasons i was able to do so well in europe. i was an american and therefore immediately respected more than my european counterparts. very strange in my opinion.
i feel for the many great european musicians that have to put up with this type of discrimination. on the other hand, i also had experiences in europe where i could not get the gig because of being white. that's just the way this crazy business is.
david earl told me i would be a sensation if "i were black" . well, who knows, that's just the way it is sometimes. i am a sensation to my fans and they are the people i care about. it would just be nice to have a few more! thanks to people like you (rene), blindman, and the other bbf'ers , i find a way to keep my head up and move on. mick rainsford of blues in britain called me the "most underrated musician in blues" which made me feel good. andy grigg of real blues called the cd i did with guyger , " the best acoustic blues duo since sonny terry and brownie mcghee" these are the things that keep me going. there ain't no turnin' back now!
on a lighter note: i'm going to see madeleine peyroux this friday. i can really relate to her as a musician. she started playing on the street in paris, just like i did. she has played with friends of mine and knows a lot of people that i know for back in the busking days. i'm just glad to see someone make it really big that actually has some soul.