News & Happenings

Mr. Foster sure sounds like the real thing to these ears. Here’s one (“Good Man Bad Thing”) I’ll be playing for the rest of the year.

Mike Marrone | SiriusXM | The Loft

blues bytes

I got back from this year’s IBC to find a Facebook request from D.A. Foster waiting for me and I remember thinking, who the hell is D.A. Foster? His other friends were people I knew personally and I elected to accept his friend request. Fast forward to today and I realize that D.A. is a lot like another artist I love, Bettye Lavette, and his career is literally 35 years in the making. That time has served him well though, and the resulting disc, The Real Thing, is an amazing recording. Backing by the Phantom Blues Band with Tony Braunagel and Mike Finnigan in charge of production has enabled D.A. Foster to release a disc that should garner serious consideration for the Best New Artist category of the Blues Music Awards. This a good one folks, let’s give it a spin.

wasser prawda

Translation from German. Original article link at the bottom of the article.

On the east coast of the United States is known DA Foster decades as a bandleader, Prodzent and owner of a company that rents instruments musicians for their tours. Together with longtime friend Mark Finnegan as a producer UDN pianist / organist and the Phantom Blues Band, he has released a great album full of soul, blues and a little funk.

As per their website:

We've scheduled the D.A. Foster interview for The BluesMobile to air on our affiliate radio stations the weekend of March 21-22, 2015. A short blurb about the episode will be posted on our website (www.thebluesmobile.com) on Thursday March 19. And the episode will stream on our website for one week starting Friday March 27.

We'll keep you updated with the developments on this.

Webmaster note: This review was translated from Dutch into English so the accuracy of inflection may be just a touch off.

Renewal is a beautiful thing, but diligently and passionately known path walk is often as well. That I remembered when listening to the album 'The Real Thing' Da Foster. The CD takes off blocks with Good Man Bad Thing, with a fine horn section, a roaring B3 and beautifully sounding singers. Track two, The Real Thing, is a solid blue pestle. Nothing new, but well done. That goes well, I thought. Unfortunately that is not the case. After these numbers follow too many contrived ballads, which culminated in an unnecessary version of Bill Withers "You Just Can not Smile It Away". In track three, "We All Fall Down", you hear that Foster's voice and musical approach sometimes reminiscent of Dr. John, including the ladies choir, but this number is missing pit, including the guitar solo. Everything is well maintained, neat actually.

tom marker

Check out Tom Marker and his awesome Blues Breakers Playlist!

Tom Marker’s Blues Breakers

Artist of the Week: Shemekia Copeland

B.B. KING – I’VE GOT A RIGHT TO LOVE MY BABY Get well, B.B.

SHEMEKIA COPELAND – MY TURN BABY From Shemekia’s 1998 record, Turn The Heat Up. Joe Louis Walker on guest vocals and guitar.

DAVE ALVIN AND PHIL ALVIN – KEY TO THE HIGHWAY From the 2014 release, Common Ground. A tribute to Big Bill Broonzy. *

SIEGEL SCHWALL BAND – GOT MY MOJO WORKING The Siegel-Schwall band will be performing at the Beverly Art Center this Friday. Corky Siegel, Jim Schwall, Rolo Radford. Blues Hall of Famer, Jazz Hall of Famer, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Sam Lay plays drums and does vocals on this song from the Reunion Concert album recorded at the Vic Theater in 1988.

SHEMEKIA COPELAND & ROBERT CRAY – I PITY THE FOOL Recorded at Radio City Music Hall, New York, February 7, 2003.

D.A. FOSTER – GOOD MAN BAD THING From D.A’s new record, The Real Thing. *

Our friend Matthew Socey played "Ain't Doin' Too Bad" on his program "The Blues House Party" on 90.1 FM, Indianapolis this past Saturday night (2/28/15)!

Check out his show The Blues House Party

blewzzmann review

Not being familiar with the name D. A. Foster, I decided to check out his website to see what I might learn about this stranger. As it turned out, a lot of what I learned made me realize that D. A. was not that much of a stranger at all. For nearly fifty years he's been an integral part of many parts of the music business and many of his associates, and some of his projects, were very recognizable. As a matter of fact, his bio was such interesting reading I was very tempted to just copy and paste the whole thing right here. However, I'll just stick to talking about the disc for now, and later on I'll tell you where to find that bio.

The song "Good Man, Bad Thing" has been playing on Sirius channel 70 BB King's Bluesville.

Go check up on when it's played by clicking here!

D. A. was for most of his early professional life, a promoter, although he started his professional singing career at the age of fourteen somehow or other he became detoured into the role of being the part owner of a club named the Shaboo Inn, which was a thousand seat capacity R&B and jazz nightclub, located in north-eastern Connecticut.

Over the eleven years he was there beginning in nineteen seventy-one he oversaw and enjoyed the performances of artists such as: Willie Dixon, Howlin" Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, James Cotton, Koko Taylor, Big Mama Thornton, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt and the three Kings – BB, Albert and Freddie. He also invited onto the stage the likes of; Aerosmith, AC/DC, Hall & Oates, The Police, Dire Straits, Cheap Trick and Elvis Costello but, his passion for playing the blues still burned and during those years he learnt well from the masters and in nineteen seventy-nine formed the Shaboo Allstars with Matt Murphy (who was also his golfing partner). The band toured extensively across America, during the years nineteen eighty and eighty-one and garnered rave reviews across the board.

Dear Mr. Foster:

As chair of the Awards and Recognition Committee of the Connecticut Association of
Schools, I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected by our association as
the recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Friend of Education Award! Congratulations!
This is the highest award given by our association to persons not directly involved in
public education. You were nominated for this prestigious award by Windham High
School Music Director Raymond Sinclair and Principal Dorothy Potter.

This time we are with D.A. Foster, a myth deep blues and R & B in New England. Connoisseurs know him as "The Real Thing" and steer clear of imitations.

D.A. learned the trade when he was co-owner of the Shaboo Inn, the legendary roadhouse in Connecticut. In the seventies scritturò some future rock star and all the great names of the blues. Encouraged by the masters, learned to turn to dominate the stage and founded the Shaboo Allstars, which were part of Matt "Guitar" Murphy and Harvey Brooks.

'The Real Thing' is the title of his album, a sumptuous tribute to the Old School. For the instrumental part was available the catch-Grammy Phantom Blues Band; the production is performed by Tony Braunagel and Mike Finnigan, whose credentials date back to when he played the organ in the records of Jimi Hendrix. Old school? You can bet on!

Appointment as always set for 21:00 on Thursday evening until 22.30. Edited by the great Edward Fassio.

Link to original site (in Italian)

"It's very simple, 'It's all Blues'. Everything in these music genres is all blues based. To quote Muddy Waters, 'The Blues had a baby and they named it Rock n Roll'. (Photo: D.A., Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Keith Richards, Jack Scarangella, Charles Calmese, Trax, NYC 1980)

Interview by Michael Limnios

What do you learn about yourself from the blues and what does the blues mean to you?

After 3 straight years of booking and presenting blues artists like T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Willie Dixon, B.B. King, James Cotton, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells by the week, I was totally immersed in the music forum and it simply became part of my soul.

How do you describe D.A. Foster sound and songbook? What characterizes your music philosophy?

I describe my music as adult rhythm and blues music. My music philosophy is simply music sung and played tastefully, dynamically and musically correct.

"The Real Thing" just keeps moving in the right direction! With a bullet, baby!

living blues radio chart for 2-1-2015
Chart positions as of Feb. 1, 2015

The singles "Ain't Doing Too Bad" and "Down Home Blues" have debuted in the #13 and #15 positions on the Roots Music Report Charts...

Roots Music Report

Please sign up for our mailing list and we'll keep you informed of upcoming shows, new releases, and all sorts of fun stuff!