thickfreakness (Fat Possum). Review by Troy Jewell.

The Best of Savoy Brown: The Millennium Collection (Polydor / Universal). Review by Hal Horowitz.

Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues (21st Century Blues). Review by Rob Walsh.

Room To Breathe (New West). Review by Joe Frietze.

The Phoenix (Black Dog). Review by Rob Walsh.

A Taste of Blues Harmonica (Telarc Blues). Review by James Mann.

America’s foremost ethnomusicologist and folklorist, Alan Lomax, passed away July 19. David Whited offers a small tribute to the man’s enormous legacy.

We Got It (Telarc). Review by James Mann.

Editor Norman Kelly takes a hard look at this business of black music in Rhythm And Business, a series of essays on the economic place of blacks in the music industry. Carl F. Gauze does the math.

Belly of the Sun (Blue Note). Review by David Whited.

Saints (Atlantic). Review by Marcel Feldmar.

Delbert McClinton’s amazing four decade career has found him backing up Howlin’ Wolf, teaching John Lennon to play harmonica, and winning a Grammy for a duet with Bonnie Raitt, to name just a few highlights. Matt Thompson catches up with the undisputed king of roadhouse rock.

Legendary bluesman John Lee Hooker passed away June 21st, and the world is a quieter place. James Mann offers a heartfelt tribute.

Carey Bell at Blind Willie’s in Atlanta, GA on October 4, 2000. Concert review by Roi Tamkin.

Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers (Blind Willie’s, Atlanta, GA, May 31, 2000). Concert review by Roi Tamkin.

Gail Worley talks with the (extremely!) lovely and talented Cristina Martinez about juggling family responsibilities and rock and roll, why getting dumped by a major was a good thing, and what it’s like to have Jon Spencer as both a husband and a bandmate.

Roi Tamkin got the blues at this year’s Music Midtown festival in Atlanta, as he caught sets from Koko Taylor and her Blues Machine, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Jeff Healey Band, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and the Allman Brothers Band.