Blues Icon Charlie Musselwhite is pleased to announce the release of his new album, Look Out Highway, via Forty Below Records. Order the album Look Out Highway here.
What do you get when you mix Delta, Chicago, and Memphis Blues? The American Blues icon Charlie Musselwhite has written classic songs for nearly six decades. He writes organic, compelling stories with ease. There is real emotional depth at the core of his songs.
More than any other harmonica player of his generation, Charlie Musselwhite can rightfully lay claim to inheriting the mantle of many of the great harp players that came before him with music as dark as Mississippi mud and uplifting as California's blue skies. This singular blues harp player, singer, songwriter, and guitarist has earned and deserves to be honored as a true master of American classic vernacular music.
Recorded at Kid Andersen's Greaseland Studio in San Jose, California, and Clarksdale Sound Stage in Clarksdale, Mississippi, it's the first time Charlie has recorded with his long-time touring band, comprised of guitarist Matt Stubbs (GA-20), drummer June Core (Robert Lockwood Jr.) and bassist Randy Bermudes (James Cotton), along with Andersen who has been in and out of the band for many years. And the chemistry is undeniable.
Forty Below Records, based in Los Angeles and helmed by Eric Corne, is proud to be Charlie's new home. Corne declared, "Working with an artist of Charlie's caliber is an honor and privilege. He's one of the most iconic Blues musicians working today. And we look forward to taking his legacy to the next level."
The worldwide press has been outstanding. Americana UK declared "Legendary is a word we sometimes toss around a little too easily, but in the case of Charlie Mussewshite it is more than appropriate - a byword for musical excellence." Rock & Blues Muse effused "Lookout Highway sits firmly in the top five of Musselwhite's storied catalog. He's a national treasure", Bluebird Reviews said "Charlie Musselwhite sits comfortably on the top and ranks as one of the most talented and inspirational harmonica Blues players of the last century." In summary, Blues in Britain has called the album "An absolute knock-out."
ABOUT CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE
Charlie Musselwhite has received 13 Grammy nominations throughout his illustrious career, including his last release, Mississippi Son, and 33 Blues Music Awards. In 2014, his collaboration with Ben Harper Get Up won a Grammy, and in 2010, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Charlie's career took off quickly soon after arriving in Chicago in the early sixties, where he was an integral part of the blues renaissance along with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, both genuine proteges of Little Walter, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf. In 1967, at just 22 years of age, he released his debut album, Stand Back! , which garnered significant critical acclaim.
Charlie has also collaborated with an eclectic list of incredible artists over the years, including Ben Harper, Cyndi Lauper, Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Gov't Mule, INXS, Mickey Hart, and Japan's Kodo Drummers, George Thorogood, Eliades Ochoa, Cat Stevens, Elvin Bishop and, close friend and best man at his wedding John Lee Hooker. In 2023, Musselwhite was cast in Martin Scorsese's film Killers of the Flower Moon in the role of Alvin Reynolds.
Musselwhite's sixty-year journey has taken him from Mississippi to Memphis, Chicago, and California. He is living proof that great music only gets better with age. Sixty years of nonstop touring, 20 albums, 1 Grammy, and 33 Blues Music Awards later, his depth of expression as a singer and an instrumentalist grew more profound with each passing year.
TRACK LISTING
Look Out Highway
Sad Eyes
Storm Warning
Baby Won't You Please Help Me
Hip Shakin' Mama
Highway 61
Ready For Times To Get Better
Ramblin' Is My Game
Blue Lounge
Ghosts in Memphis
Open Road
