Henry's Funeral Shoe was formed by two brothers from South Wales, inspired and influenced by many of the albums that singer/guitarist Aled Clifford had looted from his father's vinyl collection when he was growing up. The Who, CCR, Peter Green, Robert Johnson and the Beatles were favourites, and Aled quickly became a gifted guitar player, aided and taught by Ned Edwards, a long time collaborator of Van Morrison. Aled soon played with various bands, eventually doing some recording sessions for producer Ian Grimble, and even recording at the legendary Abbey Road studios. His younger brother Brennig started playing drums at nine. At fifteen he joined a local band, learning his trade by performing covers of The Clash and Thin Lizzy before moving on to writing original material. The dexterous brothers have finally joined forces to create some of the loudest soulful rock'n'roll to come out the UK in a long time.
http://www.henrysfuneralshoe.com/

Conceived in the living room of an estate once owned by the Purple Gang, and bearing a moniker based on a painfully obscure Afro-American folk figure, The Staving Chain drags Mississippi’s 1930s Delta blues culture kicking and caterwauling into today’s Great American Rustbelt. “We informally record our practice sessions sometimes,” Wilson muses, “using some little device with a bottom-of-the-barrel condenser mic, and the shit sounds like an old Paramount ‘78.” Wilson here references one of the greatest purveyors of 78 rpm ‘race records’ of the late twenties and thirties.

The trio features Dooley Wilson of Boogaloosa Prayer and Henry & June fame providing most of the vocals and playing slide on the resophonic guitar; his long-time co- conspirator John Roundcity on harmonica, mandolin, washboard, and various other auxiliary capacities; and Todd William Albright, a.k.a. the Little Dirty Bastard, a.k.a. Baby Jesus, on strictly-vintage guitar accompaniment. “The first time the three of us got together, it was automatic: we sounded so much like Son House, Willie Brown, and Fiddlin’ Joe Martin on the old Library of Congress field recordings; moreover, we achieved it quite naturally, without a second thought,” says Wilson. “Even better,” he continues, “we present our own living identity to the music; we’re able to bring this very traditional music out without sounding like note-for-note purists pounding out museum pieces.”
“I’ve been wanting to do this since I was 19,” he continues, “and I knew right away that putting pick-ups in the mix or electrifying the sound would take all the magic away. We just have to bear through the perils and pitfalls of being truly acoustic musicians, just like our forebears... It’s the most authentic Delta blues you’re likely to find anywhere around Toledo,” he snickers. Couldn’t have put it better myself. - Casper Shines for Danger Limited, Autumn 2010
http://www.reverbnation.com/thestavingchain

http://www.myspace.com/markholdermusic

Danny Kroha - Solo deep-roots from one of Detroit's most treasured musicians.