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Harp lovers especially will enjoy Kim’s controlled playing, but overall this set is a
rather fine, varied and extremely classy modern blues set, sure to appeal to blues
fans in general.

Norman Darwen

(www.kimfield.com)

Alan Arena—Deceived—Independent

Singer and guitarist Alan Arena is a new name to
me although he was previously very popular in
New England before he moved away from Boston
to be a caregiver for a friend. However, in Cape Cod
he ran into guitarist and producer Paul Nelson, who
played with Johnny Winter for 14 years and worked
with many others including Joe Louis Walker, and

this set is the result. A nice, enjoyable one it is too.

Alan is a fine songwriter, whether singing the blues
as on the autobiographical ‘Raised On Radio’ where
he details his influences, or the inspirational,
gospel-tinged ‘Believe In Yourself’. He is a fine, warm vocalist too, as on ‘Devil In The
Bottle’, a blues with just the slightest tinge of country, and he co-wrote the title track
with Paul, who sadly died in March 2024, aged 63. There is a fine version of Memphis

Slim’s ‘Mother Earth’, with excellent harp by Jerry Portnoy; other musicians on the
album include Gordon “Sax” Beadle, who appears on a couple of tracks, plus many
experienced players, and the sound throughout is clean and classy - and it’s blues,
rather than blues-rock.

This impressed me very much. I’m certainly looking forward to hearing more from
Mr. Arena.

Norman Darwen

(www.alanarenasongs.com)

Jo’ Buddy & Down Home King III—20 Years Live

Volume 1—Ram-bam Ram012

Singer and guitarist Jo’ Buddy, a.k.a. Joey Buddy

a.k.a. Jussi Raulamo has been playing the blues (and
occasionally related stuff) for many years, in his

native Finland and latterly in the UK where he is
now (mostly) based and hanging around with

like-minded people such as Big Joe Louis, Little

Victor, and Diz Watson. Yes, he knows what he’s
doing, and does it well.