Soundcheck Special – “Blues Is the Roots”

The Soundcheck Podcast series offers up music from recent sessions, all revolving around The Blues –at the root of so much popular music, and where the roots have grown into other fruits worldwide. Listen to French-Moroccan band Bab L' Bluz and their hot psychedelic blues spiked with the Gnawa trance rhythms of northern Africa's Maghreb. There’s the “Desert Blues” of West Africa in music by singer and guitarist Mdou Moctar from Niger. He and his band combine rock and psychedelia, call-and-response and accelerating threes, and fiery guitar playing for trancey and ecstatic results. Listen to Texas-raised singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruthie Foster and her longtime bandmates who play some of their feel-good and hopeful blues. Hear the timeless sound of West Georgia Blues by singer and guitarist Jontavious Willis (along with the wicked tunings and his slide playing), in-studio. Plus, there’s the groove and swagger of Yemen Blues, and their fusion of Moroccan trance, Arab and Bedouin folk, and Western funk and rock. The American singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito plays some of his blues-stomp-and-roll music with roots in his family’s past. Plus, hear the vintage soul and blues-rock sound of Memphis and Mississippi-rooted, Brooklyn native singer Bette Smith.  Soundcheck Special, Sept. 2025 – “Blues Is the Roots” (First aired 9/20/25) ARTIST: Marco Benevento WORK: Eagle Rock [1:02] RECORDING: TigerFace SOURCE: Royal Potato Family INFO: https://marcobenevento.bandcamp.com/album/tigerface ARTIST: Jontavious Willis WORK: Ghost Woman [5:52] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Nov. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available INFO: https://jontaviouswillis.com ARTIST: Fantastic Negrito WORK: Son of a Broken Man [5:02] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.fantasticnegrito.com/ ARTIST: Ruthie Foster WORK: Phenomenal Woman [7:00] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, March 2023 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.ruthiefoster.com/ ARTIST: Mdou Moctar WORK: Imouhar [6:18] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, June 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.mdoumoctar.com/ ARTIST: Bab L' Bluz WORK: Imazighen [4:15] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2025 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.bablbluz.com/ ARTIST: Yemen Blues WORK: Allenby [5:26] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Sept. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://yemenblues.com/ ARTIST: Bette Smith WORK: Darkest Hour [3:35] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Aug. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.bettesmith.com