Hey y’all, and welcome to Blues Guitar News. My name is Mike Dollins, and I picked
the guitar up in 1958 at 13 years old. I’ve played in bands most of my life, and mostly a
steady diet of blues. I was privileged to play with many great blues folks, including the
late blues legend, Big Daddy Rucker back in the sixties. I am the National Heritage Blues
Hall of Fame Ambassador to Arkansas, and I was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in
2003. Enough of that, as I don’t want to bore you to tears with my own personal credits,
and I’d much rather introduce you to some of my favorite sayings.
1.Sharing the hog. This means folks like Harry Larry, Babs Bearden, Leadra LaNae,
Johnny Mannion, Chet Cannon, Joe Pitts and Terry Knott, all blues brothers & sisters,
that don’t mind shouting out about others. Too many folks are dragging top pop
culture into the blues, and the narcissistic “look at me” attitudes just don’t set well with
this old picker. You know, the ones that take an extra turn at the jam sessions with their
Strats burning your ears out of a DeVille on eight.
2. Real Deal. Just what it says.
We started out in the 80’s with “Strictly Nothing But The Blues” a little homespun
magazine, and went online around 1997. Here on this site you can find back issues to
2006, and miles and acres of blues information, and doors to endless networking. Most
of the photos, and logos are “hot shoe” where you mouse over them, and you can visit
other blues sites. To visit all the contacts would take you endless hours.
We’ve written a lot about blues folks all over the world, and due to total apathy from
most that visit looking for a big time deal, we are way to Arkansas Delta laid back, front
porch pickers for most folks. That’s the way it is. Arkansas is a real deal blues state,
and to confirm that just click on the Arkansas Blues Legends or Arkansas Blues logos to
see our rich blues heritage only matched by those folks across the mighty muddy in
Mississippi. For most of you folks with a slim geography memory, the Mississippi River
is the natural border between Arkansas and Mississippi. It is all in the Mississippi River
Valley, or Delta Plane flowing on down to New Orleans and the Gulf.
New Stuff: I had the chance to attend the Texas Guitar Show, in the Arlington
Convention Center next to the world famous Six Flags Over Texas amusement park.
www.texasguitarshows.com It is like a 100,000 vintage and working gigging guitars all
under one roof for three days. I was up none stop, and there is too much to take in. If
you haven’t been to a guitar show, you should treat yourself, that is if you are a serious
guitar picker. You can just Google “Guitar Show” and you’ll come up with shows all
over the United States, and find one close to you. See Photos Below - Great Stuff.
I shirt-tailed along with Guido Ciardetti, owner of Hot Springs Music, http:
//bluesguitarnews.com/HotSpringsMusic and bass player in our group, The Cruize
Brothers www.mikedollins.biz. I scored an older Fender Viborlux amp, at a great price
and haven’t stopped playing it since I got it back home to Arkansas. This is my main
gigging amp now. Guido and I were both honored, as Gary Hutchison, of Guitars &
More of Ft. Smith, AR www.myspace.com/guitarsandmore asked us to join in the nightly
blues jam. He has hosted the jams for years, and besides being host is one hot guitar
player in the group Oreo Blue www.oreoblue.com. With a Dallas session drummer,
Johnny Bench, Guido and Gary on guitar, I was floating on cloud nine as we ripped a
few blues tunes out. I was like a kid locked in Toys-R-Us for the weekend. Quit a
privileged to play at the Sheridan Hotel, in front of a room full of mostly vintage blues
guitar pickers.
Check out Gary’s sites, and you can say this is one blues brother that doesn’t mind
sharing the hog. www.myspace.com/garyleehutchison He is on his way to Memphis in
January, as his band is in the International Blues Challenge representing the Ozark
Blues Society. Stop on by, say hi and wish him luck.
We want to thank Babs, Jeff and the board members of the Arkansas River Blues
Society for voting “The Mike Dollins Band” 2008 CD as the best self produced recording
representing the ARBS at the IBC in January. This is quit and honor, and we humbly
thank the ARBS for selecting our CD. Also from our area of Arkansas, Port Author,
Unseen Eye, Blues Boy Jag and Ben “Swamp Donkey” Brenner will be in Memphis in
January at the national competition. You can find them all on the Arkansas River Blues
Socity MySpace site at: www.myspace.com/arriverbluessociety
That’s it this month, and God Bless and keep on jammin’ them blues.
the guitar up in 1958 at 13 years old. I’ve played in bands most of my life, and mostly a
steady diet of blues. I was privileged to play with many great blues folks, including the
late blues legend, Big Daddy Rucker back in the sixties. I am the National Heritage Blues
Hall of Fame Ambassador to Arkansas, and I was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in
2003. Enough of that, as I don’t want to bore you to tears with my own personal credits,
and I’d much rather introduce you to some of my favorite sayings.
1.Sharing the hog. This means folks like Harry Larry, Babs Bearden, Leadra LaNae,
Johnny Mannion, Chet Cannon, Joe Pitts and Terry Knott, all blues brothers & sisters,
that don’t mind shouting out about others. Too many folks are dragging top pop
culture into the blues, and the narcissistic “look at me” attitudes just don’t set well with
this old picker. You know, the ones that take an extra turn at the jam sessions with their
Strats burning your ears out of a DeVille on eight.
2. Real Deal. Just what it says.
We started out in the 80’s with “Strictly Nothing But The Blues” a little homespun
magazine, and went online around 1997. Here on this site you can find back issues to
2006, and miles and acres of blues information, and doors to endless networking. Most
of the photos, and logos are “hot shoe” where you mouse over them, and you can visit
other blues sites. To visit all the contacts would take you endless hours.
We’ve written a lot about blues folks all over the world, and due to total apathy from
most that visit looking for a big time deal, we are way to Arkansas Delta laid back, front
porch pickers for most folks. That’s the way it is. Arkansas is a real deal blues state,
and to confirm that just click on the Arkansas Blues Legends or Arkansas Blues logos to
see our rich blues heritage only matched by those folks across the mighty muddy in
Mississippi. For most of you folks with a slim geography memory, the Mississippi River
is the natural border between Arkansas and Mississippi. It is all in the Mississippi River
Valley, or Delta Plane flowing on down to New Orleans and the Gulf.
New Stuff: I had the chance to attend the Texas Guitar Show, in the Arlington
Convention Center next to the world famous Six Flags Over Texas amusement park.
www.texasguitarshows.com It is like a 100,000 vintage and working gigging guitars all
under one roof for three days. I was up none stop, and there is too much to take in. If
you haven’t been to a guitar show, you should treat yourself, that is if you are a serious
guitar picker. You can just Google “Guitar Show” and you’ll come up with shows all
over the United States, and find one close to you. See Photos Below - Great Stuff.
I shirt-tailed along with Guido Ciardetti, owner of Hot Springs Music, http:
//bluesguitarnews.com/HotSpringsMusic and bass player in our group, The Cruize
Brothers www.mikedollins.biz. I scored an older Fender Viborlux amp, at a great price
and haven’t stopped playing it since I got it back home to Arkansas. This is my main
gigging amp now. Guido and I were both honored, as Gary Hutchison, of Guitars &
More of Ft. Smith, AR www.myspace.com/guitarsandmore asked us to join in the nightly
blues jam. He has hosted the jams for years, and besides being host is one hot guitar
player in the group Oreo Blue www.oreoblue.com. With a Dallas session drummer,
Johnny Bench, Guido and Gary on guitar, I was floating on cloud nine as we ripped a
few blues tunes out. I was like a kid locked in Toys-R-Us for the weekend. Quit a
privileged to play at the Sheridan Hotel, in front of a room full of mostly vintage blues
guitar pickers.
Check out Gary’s sites, and you can say this is one blues brother that doesn’t mind
sharing the hog. www.myspace.com/garyleehutchison He is on his way to Memphis in
January, as his band is in the International Blues Challenge representing the Ozark
Blues Society. Stop on by, say hi and wish him luck.
We want to thank Babs, Jeff and the board members of the Arkansas River Blues
Society for voting “The Mike Dollins Band” 2008 CD as the best self produced recording
representing the ARBS at the IBC in January. This is quit and honor, and we humbly
thank the ARBS for selecting our CD. Also from our area of Arkansas, Port Author,
Unseen Eye, Blues Boy Jag and Ben “Swamp Donkey” Brenner will be in Memphis in
January at the national competition. You can find them all on the Arkansas River Blues
Socity MySpace site at: www.myspace.com/arriverbluessociety
That’s it this month, and God Bless and keep on jammin’ them blues.
| The underground working blues musician's on line ezine with a readership of 18,104. Focusing on working blues artists. Written by musicians, for musicians. A super networking tool to meet blues friends from all over the world. See back issues too. |
Nov 2008
By Mike "Whisker Fish" Dollins
Since 1988
I'd like to shout out about the new trio which is called Mike Dollins & The Cruize
Brothers featuring Guido Ciardetti on Bass and Brad Messer on drums. In our
second month, the group is gaining on solid ground, the gigs are coming in and
a CD recording date is in the works. The reviews and feedback are tremendous,
and we are having a lot of fun playing what we call "Roadhouse" all pure USA
music with a blues, jazz, R&B, Soul, Funk and Rock origin. Click our fancy photo
below, and check out the new edition of "The Cruize Brothers."
Brothers featuring Guido Ciardetti on Bass and Brad Messer on drums. In our
second month, the group is gaining on solid ground, the gigs are coming in and
a CD recording date is in the works. The reviews and feedback are tremendous,
and we are having a lot of fun playing what we call "Roadhouse" all pure USA
music with a blues, jazz, R&B, Soul, Funk and Rock origin. Click our fancy photo
below, and check out the new edition of "The Cruize Brothers."
| Advertise & Support the blues, and pass the word around to thousands of worldwide blues fans about your blues adventure. Cheap affordable rates, and safe, convenient PayPal, Visa, Master Card, Discover, Amex payment. This site receives up to 8,000 hits on good days and averages 3,000 hits per day with over 15,000 blues readers. Get known, exposed and passed around in the blues network. One Month $5 Six Months $20 One Year $35 Banners, graphics, or photos with link to your web site or MySpace Inquiries: Blues Guitar News POB 2077, Benton, AR 72018 mike@bluesguitarnews.com |
| Texas Guitar Show Oct 2008 |
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Get heard with a Geezer
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Welcome and thank you
for checking us out!!
please email
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any questions.
Click left photo for web
site, and the right photo
to join us in MySpace
Custom Speaker Cabs
