Tag: Muddy Waters

Houston Concert Watch 12/26: George Clinton, Erykah Badu and More – Houston Press

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Thanksgiving 1976 was one for the ages in San Francisco. The 5,000 people lucky enough to score tickets for The Band’s “Last Waltz” concert attended maybe the best rock and roll party ever.

A full Thanksgiving dinner was served to kick things off, followed by ballroom dancing and readings from Beat poets like Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Michael McClure. Then came the concert itself, which began with a 12-song set from The Band. Then it was time for (musical) dessert, as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jone Mitchell, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters and others joined The Band to celebrate their shared musical heritage. In all, over four hours of incredible and historic music making.

Firing up the Martin Scorsese film which documented the event as part of your Thanksgiving celebration is a fine idea. The Last Waltz looks great, and the audio is excellent considering the era. However, don’t be sucked in by the myth that is created by Scorsese and Band guitarist Robbie Robertson. Each man wanted out of the collaboration. As a mega music fan Scorsese wanted a path into the world of rock and roll. Robertson, on the other hand, was looking to get into the movie business.

All well and good, but Robertson had unilaterally made the decision to terminate The Band’s performing career, and the other members of the group – particularly drummer / vocalist Levon Helm) were not happy about it. This accounts for their collective glum demeanor during most of the film’s interview segments, and it also explains Robertson’s desire to cast (with Scorsese’s help) The Band as musicians who had given their all for their art and were simply too depleted – physically and emotionally – to continue any longer.

In point of fact, The Band had not toured all that much during its existence, certainly not in comparison to bluesmen like Muddy Waters. Sure, business travel of any kind is taxing and not all the fun that it’s cracked up to be, but don’t buy dramatic (and probably pre-scripted) Robertson quotes like, “16 years on the road. The numbers start to scare you. I mean, I couldn’t live with 20 years on the road. I don’t think I could even discuss it.”

As a footnote, check out Scorsese during the interview segments. Remind you of anybody? If you said, “Marty DiBergi from Spinal Tap!” go to the head of the class. But – to quote the esteemed Mr. DiBergi – enough of my yakkin’. Whaddaya say? Let’s boogie!

Ticket Alert

San Angelo’s purveyors of Texican rock and roll, Los Lonely Boys, kind of wandered in the desert (maybe literally, considering their location) for several years after hitting it big with the single “Heaven.” After taking a lengthy break, the Garza brothers checked the balance in their bank accounts, got back together and released a new album (Resurrection) last year. Tickets are on sale now for their concert at the House of Blues on Saturday, February 14.

Also performing on Valentine’s Day is Houston’s own Kat Edmonson, whose “Only the Bare Essentials” tour promises intimate evenings in which “[s]ubtlety and nuance will be served up as main courses for this show, and the music, so delicately played, will leave you feeling entirely full.” Wow, that’s a lot to swallow! You can get tickets now for Edmonson’s show on Saturday, February 14, at the Heights Theater.

Wolfmother will play at the House of Blues on Monday, June 8, marking the 20^th anniversary of the band’s debut album, and tickets are on sale now. Though the band has been hounded (sorry) by accusation of classic rock appropriation, that’s a bit off the mark. Sure, you can tell that these guys listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath growing up, but is that such a bad thing?

After working behind the scenes in the music business as a songwriter and producer for several years, Meghan Trainor’s solo career took off with 2014’s “All About That Bass,” a song that flipped the gender of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and threw in some body-positivity messages for good measure. Trainor’s “Get in Girl” tour will stop at Toyota Center on Tuesday, July 28, and tickets are on sale now.

Much like the Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffett before him, Jack Johnson has made a career by creating a surf-and-sand vibe that is easy to listen to and not terribly demanding. But hey, he comes by it honestly, having been raised in Hawaii and making a name for himself as a professional surfer during his teenage years. Johnson will perform on Friday, August 28, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, so get yourself a pocketful of edibles and get ready.

Concerts This Week

While the following week will be occupied with Thanksgiving-related activities, there are a few options available if you and your cool cousins want to get out of the house for a bit. On Friday, OG funkster George Clinton will perform at the House of Blues along with Parliament-Funkadelic. George is 84 years old, so you might want to catch his act while you can. But, as “Flashlight” says, “most of all, most of all” this show represents the opportunity to experience some 100 proof funk as dispensed by the master.

The always unpredictable and irrepressible Erykah Badu will play two nights, Friday and Saturday, this week at the 713 Music Hall. Badu’s “Return of Automatic Slim” tour marks the 25^th anniversary of her album Mama’s Gun, and indications are that “reimaginings” of some of the disc’s tracks will be on the set list. Hope she doesn’t stray too far from the original arrangements – they were classics.

Think you might need some honky-tonk after all that turkey and dressing? Then Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge is your spot on Friday, when Dale Watson and His Lonestars will be tending the flame of traditional country music. How rootsy is Watson? He opened a recording studio in Memphis with the original board from Sun Studio, where Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lewis produced all of their early hits. Now that’s hardcore.

This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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Tom Richards

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November 26, 2025
The Fabulous Thunderbirds Have Been “Struck Down by the Blues”

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Any musician who has labored in the trenches for 50 plus years could be excused for being burned out, jaded or just plain tired. Kim Wilson is none of these.

On the contrary, Wilson is completely psyched about the release of the album Struck Down, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of his band, the Fabulous Thunderbirds. The record captures the classic T-Birds sound, but in no way does it sound dated. Houston audiences will have a chance to hear the new material live when the band plays for two nights at Main Street Crossing on Wednesday and Thursday, August 7 and 8.

Vocalist / harmonicist Wilson founded the T-Birds – along with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan – in Austin in 1974. At the time, Vaughan described the band thusly: “We’re an encyclopedia of music from the Gulf Coast, you know, Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester, Texas shuffles, rockin’ Cajun. We are all 27, handsome motherfuckers that dress cool, and our music drives girls wild.”

Flash forward a few decades, and Wilson is the last T-Bird standing, having led the band through numerous personnel changes since Vaughan’s departure from the group in 1990. There have been many hills and valleys, but Wilson is bullish on the new album and the band’s future.

Contemporary blues acts often strike a precarious balance between “authenticity” and “relevance,” and Wilson seems comfortable with maintaining this equilibrium. “This is not a museum piece,” Wilson says via Zoom from his home in California. “This is a modern recording, but the sound of it is incredible. Shelly Yakus (John Lennon, Tom Petty, U2 and dozens of other heavy hitters) did the mixing.

“I haven’t recorded digitally in about eight years, and I found out what they’ve done with digital recording, and it’s kind of blown my mind, how good they can make it sound. They’re about ready to make me a believer. I had a couple of Grammy-nominated CD’s, and they were recorded straight to analog mono. So this is a departure from that. But, that being said, it’s an incredible sounding CD. Since the Tuff Enuff days [ca. 1986], it’s really the best thing we’ve done, by far,” Wilson says. “Between the material, the sonics, the performance, it’s the best record we’ve done. Including Tuff Enuff. It’s a true T-Birds record.”

Wilson and Yakus had never worked together prior to Struck Down, but they quickly discovered a simpatico approach to making records. “The first thing Shelly said is that you have to mix with emotion. And I said, ‘Oh. This is my guy.’ I’ve never had anyone tell me that. You have to have someone who’s a little bit old school for a band like this.”

So, the album’s title song, “Struck Down by the Blues.” What exactly does that mean? “It means you just get hit by it. It’s like a truck. And you don’t care what happens after that, you’re gonna do it,” Wilson enthuses. “You’re gonna do it no matter what. I used to say that I was either going to be a musician or a wino. But I had no choice. I was gonna do it no matter what. And it worked out great.”
From there, the conversation takes a philosophical turn, with Wilson (who would know better?) reflecting on the notion of what it takes to be a real bluesman, as opposed to a poser or a pale imitation. “You have to be you and do it to death. That’s what I learned from all those old guys that I played with. I was friends with everybody. Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Buddy Guy. And when I was I kid, I was playing with some Texas guys – Albert Collins, Pee Wee Crayton and Lowell Fulson. I was 18, 19, 20 years old when I was playing with these guys.

“And I learned from them immediately, you’re gonna do it to death, and that’s it. You’ve got to have a monstrously high standard. You’ve got to believe in yourself, because if you don’t believe in yourself, ain’t nobody gonna believe in you.

“Here’s the thing about blues,” Wilson says, as the master class continues. “All these guys who originated it – and the women – they’ve all got their take on things, they’ve all got their own personality, they’ve all got their own style, they’ve all got their own quirks. It’s an amazing thing to gather all that stuff in. Now it’s more like everybody’s singing church music and calling it blues. It’s very generic. When they mixed rock with blues – not rock and roll, rock – that’s when things got really muddled.”
Happily, old-school T-Birds fans don’t need to worry about those sorts of things. Wilson makes it clear that he and the collection of musicians that he has assembled are staying true to the spirit and the essence of the blues. “What I love about these guys is that they have their own take on things,” Wilson says. “No matter what I tell them, it’s going to translate and come out of their soul in a whole different way, their own way. That’s very important.

“In this homogenized, generic world that we live in, it’s really good to have your own identity. And this band is expounding on the past of this band [the T-Birds], which was expounding on the past of music. If you expound on the past, you can hear the past, you can hear the present, you can hear the future. I think there’s a true future with this band. And people are going to realize that when they hear this record.”

The Fabulous Thunderbirds will play at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, August 7 and 8, at Main Street Crossing, 111 W. Main in Tomball. For more information, call 281-290-0431 or visit MainStreetCrossing.com.

For more information on the Fabulous Thunderbirds, visit FabulousThunderbirds.com

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Tom Richards

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August 5, 2024
TipRanks’ ‘Perfect 10’ Picks: 2 Top-Scoring Stocks for the Second Half of 2024

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Now that the first half of the year is fully behind us, we can take its measure – and what we see illuminates both hopes and risks. On the positive side, the stock markets have posted strong first-half gains; the S&P 500 is up nearly 17% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ has gained 24%. On the negative side, the gains are narrow, and concentrated in the tech sector; semiconductor maker Nvidia, up more than 150% so far this year, alone accounts for approximately one-third of the S&P gains.

The narrow base alone might not spook investors – it’s based on the latest AI technologies, which are rapidly proving their worth in new products and services. But it’s also an election year, and as we all know, anything can happen at the polls in November. The recent debate between President Joe Biden and former President Trump, the presumptive challenger, only served to muddy those waters further.

We can filter out some of those muddy waters with the right tool – such as the Smart Score, from TipRanks. This AI-based data collection and collation algorithm gathers and sorts the accumulated data of the stock market – and uses it to rate every stock according to a set of factors that have proven accurate forecasters of future performance. The result is given as a simple score, on a scale of 1 to 10, with the ‘Perfect 10s’ being stocks that deserve a closer look.

So let’s give two top-scoring stocks – ‘Perfect 10s’ – just that close look that they deserve. According to the TipRanks database, the Street’s analysts recognize these shares as Strong Buys and are predicting plenty of upside for both. Here are the details.

Janus International Group (JBI)

We’ll start with a construction-related company, a firm focused on a product that most of us never even think about, although we use it every day: doors. Janus, a design and manufacturing company, provides solutions for doors and entryways to the commercial, industrial, and construction sectors. The company works with builders and contractors, offering a variety of doorway solutions, ranging from basic to high technology. Janus incorporates leading technologies in materials, electronics, and sensors, making sure that its doors are more than simple portals.

Getting to specifics, Janus offers lines of doorways and entry systems for self-storage facilities, light industrial structures, and commercial buildings. These product lines include rolling steel doors, smart entries, hallway systems, and a range of doors made from varying materials and with varying levels of weatherproofing and security protection. Janus typically deals with enterprise clients.

Janus is also noted for its Nokē system, a smart entry system designed to enhance doors and entryways in the self-storage niche. The Nokē system provides benefits for both storage facility owners and customers, including improved security, automated lock checks, and overlocking processes. Janus advertises this system as one of many it can offer to bring new technological innovations to its best-in-class self-storage door systems.

In addition to its commitment to providing the best quality in top-end doorway products, Janus is also committed to expanding its footprint in the business. In late May, the company announced that it had acquired Terminal Maintenance and Construction, or TMC, a leading provider of terminal maintenance services in the trucking industry. TMC operates primarily in the Southeast US, and its acquisition will provide support for the expansion of Janus’ Facilitate business division, which provides a full range of facility maintenance services.

Earlier in May, Janus beat expectations when it reported its financial results for 1Q24. The company’s earnings release showed a top line of $254.5 million. While up only 1% from the prior year period, this revenue total was $1.6 million better than had been anticipated. At the bottom line, Janus’ non-GAAP EPS of 21 cents per share was 2 cents above the estimates – and the total net income of $30.7 million was up more than 18% year-over-year.

This stock has been covered by Jefferies analyst Philip Ng, who sees plenty of potential here for continued growth. He notes that Janus is executing well on its business, and writes, “Despite a mixed backdrop for self-storage REITs, JBI has seen continued momentum particularly in new construction and its backlogs have remained stable. JBI is delivering solid growth & strong margins, and capital deployment provides good optionality. With the stock trading at 7.0x 2025E EV/EBITDA, we see a path for JBI to re-rate higher now that its float has improved, and it becomes discovered by a broader shareholder base.”

The five-star analyst goes on to give these shares a Buy rating, with a $20 price target that indicates room for a 63% share appreciation on the one-year horizon. (To watch Ng’s track record, click here)

While Janus has only 3 recent analyst reviews, they are unanimously positive – for a Strong Buy consensus rating from the Street. The stock is selling for $12.25, and its $20.50 average target price implies a one-year gain of 67%. (See JBI stock forecast)

Atmus Filtration Technologies (ATMU)

Next on our list, Atmus, is an industrial firm offering a portfolio of high-quality, differentiated filtration solutions on the global market. In short, the company offers a full line of filter and filtration products to a variety of industries, including customers in the fields of agriculture; power generation; rail, marine, and truck transport; mining, oil, and gas extraction – it is a long list, as Atmus boasts hundreds of thousands of end users.

Atmus started out, and for a long time remained, a subsidiary of the major diesel engine firm Cummins. In May of 2023, Cummins began the process of spinning Atmus off as a fully independent entity; that process was completed earlier this year, when Cummins sold off its remaining interest in the filtration firm.

As an independent operator, Atmus can boast a market cap of $2.38 billion. The company is a leader in filtration technology, and protects its product portfolio and intellectual property with more than 1,250 patents – active or pending – worldwide, as well as some 600 trademark registrations and applications. The company’s filtration tech is used in a wide range of fuel, lubricant, and air systems, connected to a variety of engines and power plants. Atmus has 5 technical centers and 10 manufacturing facilities, and saw more than $1.6 billion in sales last year.

Atmus recently reported its 1Q24 results, its fourth financial release since its stock first went public last year. At the top line, the company reported $427 million in revenue, while at the bottom line it reported non-GAAP earnings of 60 cents per share.

Northland analyst Bobby Brooks covers Atmus, and he explains why investors should pay attention here: “ATMU’s Fleetguard is the premier brand for emission/efficiency parts in medium/heavy duty, on/off-highway vehicles. ATMU split off from CMI (NR) last year, with CMI exiting its remaining stake this March. Ultimately, we think ATMU’s extremely macro-resilient business, upside to accelerating top-line growth, margin expansion opportunities post-split, and clean BS create a compelling investment case.” (To watch Brooks’ track record, click here.)

To this end, Brooks gives the shares an Outperform (Buy) rating, with a $36 price target that implies a one-year upside potential of 26%.

Zooming out a bit, we find that ATMU shares have acquired 6 recent analyst reviews – and that they are all positive, giving the stock its Strong Buy consensus rating. The shares are priced at $28.55, and their average price target, $36.17, suggests that the stock has room to gain 27% over the next 12 months. (See ATMU stock forecast)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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July 7, 2024
Legendary Bluesman Goes Rogue on New Album

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The phrase, “If you know, you know,” certainly applies to musician Nick Gravenites. While the name may not be familiar to some casual fans, hardcore music geeks are well aware of his contributions.

The son of Greek immigrants, Gravenites grew up in Chicago, where he haunted the city’s blues clubs with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield and Elvin Bishop, soaking up the music directly from the greats. Artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy. He wrote “Born in Chicago,” recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. A few years later, in 1967, Gravenites and guitarist Mike Bloomfield formed The Electric Flag, an outfit that fused rock, soul and blues.

After moving to San Francisco in the mid ‘60s, Gravenites wrote songs for Janis Joplin, produced the debut album by Quicksilver Messenger Service and scored the 1967 Roger Corman film The Trip, written by Jack Nicholson and starring Peter Fonda. He also produced Brewer and Shipley’s hit single “One Toke Over the Line,” but let’s not hold that against him.

Over the years, Gravenites has made many friends in the community of musicians, and now they are turning out to help their old compadre. At the age of 85, Gravenites has just released a new album, Rogue Blues, produced by longtime friend and fellow Bay Area musician Pete Sears, with other musical pals pitching in.

Despite poor health, Nick Gravenites recorded Rogue Blues with the help of musical friends including guitarist Jimmy Vivino, drummer Wallly Ingram and harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite.

Photo by Kathleen McCallum

Sears has quite an impressive resume himself, playing bass and keyboards with Jefferson Starship and Rod Stewart, among many others. That’s him on “Every Picture Tells a Story” and “Maggie May.”

Due to recent health issues, Gravenites is not currently able to speak with members of the media, so Sears has jumped into the fray. Speaking from his recording studio at his home in San Francisco, Sears explains that the album was assembled over the course of the past two years.

“We did three sessions, two in 2022 and one in 2023. I laid the groundwork here. We recorded Nick’s vocals and the piano tracks,” Sears says. Though not in the best of health, Gravenites was enthusiastic about the recording sessions.

“Nick showed up here,” Sears recalls. “He made it up the stairs somehow. He came up the front steps and just gathered himself. The first take, he just went for it. And he’s such an amazing vocalist, because he knows how to sing around the beat naturally. He’s always been that way. That’s what he’s kind of known for.”

“He’s getting medical care and everything, but he would rather be home in his own bed smoking dope.”

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Other musicians’ contributions were recorded elsewhere. “[Harmonica player] Charlie Musselwhite was recorded in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he lives now. I sent him the track with Nick singing and my piano and Wally Ingram [Sheryl Crow, Timbuk 3, David Lindley] on drums. [Guitarist] Jimmy Vivino [Conan O’Brien] and Wally Ingram were recorded down in Los Angeles. And, of course, I was on the phone with them while it was being done, in the producer role.”

Gravenites and Sears have worked together on music projects for over 50 years, and during that time, they have developed a long-lasting friendship. “We used to go fishing together,” Sears recalls. “And he used to come over for poker nights at our house. It’s a deep friendship. He’s a man who will tell people what he thinks. He’s upset people over the years, including [San Francisco concert promoter] Bill Graham, famously. Bill told him he’d never work in this town again. He’s very honest that way. But Nick is a fiercely loyal friend.”

Multi-instrumentalist Pete Sears produced Rogue Blues, recruiting a variety of contributers.

Photo by Bob Minkin

A number of Gravenites’ musical friends, including Maria Muldaur (“Midnight at the Oasis”), recently organized a benefit concert to raise funds to help with his medical expenses. “We’re trying to improve his situation,” Sears says. “To get him into some facility where he can have his own room. Right now, he’s sharing a room with three other guys. He’s getting medical care and everything, but he would rather be home in his own bed smoking dope.”

The impetus for Rogue Blues came from a somewhat unlikely source. “Thomas Yeats, he’s a comic book illustrator of some renown,” Sears says. “He does the Prince Valiant comic strip in the Sunday newspaper. He’s also a blues fan, and he loves Nick. He’s been a good friend of Nick’s for some time. He drives him around and that sort of thing. Very supportive of Nick.

“Thomas came to me and asked if I’d make an album with Nick, just piano and voice, because Nick is no longer able to play guitar because of arthritis. I was resistant at first. I didn’t feel comfortable doing it that way, so I started adding friends.”

In addition to Musselwhite, Vivino and Ingram, Sears recruited harmonicist Larry Chambers (Chambers Brothers), guitarist Barry Sless (Bob Weir and the Wolf Brothers) and drummer Roy Blumenfeld (The Blues Project).

“Thomas chose the songs, because he had done a lot of research on live gigs with Nick, many of them that I was playing on,” Sears says. “He was looking for songs that hadn’t been recorded. That’s how it went down. Just trying to give it that old-time early blues recording on the porch type feel.”
The musicians’ level of experience and familiarity with Gravenites’ style contributed to a smooth recording process. “Everybody that played on the album has been around the block. Each person I’ve played with in other settings. They’ve been doing it for a long time. But there is a freshness coming from the fact that everybody loves the blues and they enjoyed doing it. And everybody likes each other.

“The whole thing was a labor of love for everybody involved,” Sears says. “Nobody was paying me to do it, and I had no idea it would turn into something.”

For more information on Rogue’s Blues, visit MC-Records.com. For more information on Nick Gravenites, visit NickGravenites.com.

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Tom Richards

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April 26, 2024