// February 21st, 2016

BACK TO EUROPE IN MARCH! We’ve got three shows in London beginning Friday March 4th, and then on to Germany, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. We are looking forward to every one of these ten shows but have to especially single out BLUES NIGHT at The Forum in Friedrichsdorf on Saturday March 12th with our friends The Özdemirs and a band called the Pillbugz. We are really pleased to play for old London friends at the Moors Bar, the Sydenham Blues Club at the Grape & Grain, and The Effra in Brixton, and to get back to play for Trus at Roermond in the Netherlands. For much of this tour we will be joined by former Joe Cocker tour drummer John Parry. Check out all this tour schedule on the SHOWS page of this site.

MARCH IN EUROPE but APRIL IN IOWA. We’ve got a special show on April Fools Day in Iowa City, Iowa, playing on Iowa Public Radio’s “Java Blend”—listen in to KRUI-FM, better, come watch. But that is just the prelude to . . .

RONNIE SHELLIST SHOWS. We are meeting up with harmonica great Ronnie Shellist for nine shows in April—beginning on April 2nd, an event for the Lizard Creek Blues Society in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and going through April 19th at the Mercury Café in Denver, Colorado. This series of shows includes a visit to the world famous Friends of the Blues in Kankakee, Illinois, a visit to the blues mania that is the Blues City Deli in St. Louis, a thing at the Zoo Bar in Lincoln, Nebraska, and a night at Oscar’s Blues in Denver. Check out the details on the SHOWS page.

GOT A FUN ONE COMING RIGHT UP. That will be the Third Anniversary Party for the Triptych Brewery, at the Accord (formerly the Highdive) in Champaign, Illinois on Friday, February 26th. We will open for “super 80s bluegrass hits machine” Love Canon from Charlottesville, Virginia.

HAVE TO SAY, our 2016 got off to a rockin’ start when Jackie Scott joined us for two shows. We had a great night at the fantastic new Jazz Up Front in Bloomington, Illinois, and then had a really sweet show at The Iron Post in Urbana, Illinois. The latter included some walloping sax from none other than Eddie Shaw.

LOOK FOR NEW DON ODELL’S LEGENDS VIDEO. Yes, we were back in Massachusetts in early winter and recorded another session for the “Don Odell’s Legends” series. Don had a lot of sessions to edit, so we expect to be able to announce those songs are out this spring.

THE NEW ALBUM has reached the point where we have scheduled more recording. There must be some kind of emoticon we could stick on here.

MAJOR NEW ST. LOUIS HARMONICA COLLABORATION! This spring we will begin a new long-term collaboration with renowned St. Louis harmonica player Eric McSpadden. The first form this collaboration will take is monthly shows at BB’s Jazz, Blues, & Soups in StL. The first show in the series is scheduled for April 22nd.

FOR THE BLUES LISTENER WHO HAS TO COLLECT EVERYTHING, just released and already really obscure, look for Hangover Blues, Volume 1, featuring Ronnie Shellist, Gerry Hundt, Ed Kobek, and our very own Andrew Duncanson.

IF YOU LOOK AHEAD, YOU CAN SEE ALL THE WAY TO OUR 16th ANNIVERSARY SHOW, and see us joined for the celebration by soul man Tad Robinson. That would be Friday April 29th at the Iron Post in Urbana, Illinois, and Saturday April 30th at Elmer’s Old Time Inn in Decatur, Illinois. Robinson has been nominated for Blues Music Awards eight times, and is currently up for “Soul Blues Album of the Year” in those prestigious 2016 awards.

BLUES ON THE RADIO. If you are in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois area, or inclined to listen from anywhere in the world via the internet, Andy now has a regular blues show called “Grits Ain’t Groceries” on WEFT-FM, Tuesdays, 11.30a-2p Central Time. Central Illinois blues lovers should also be listening for “Very Big Blues” on WJMU-FM from Decatur—two hours of new blues, though it hops around in time some on the weekends.

READ THE INTERVIEW with our drummer Aaron "A Train" Wilson that appeared in the Champaign-Urbana News- Gazette at the end of February. It is here: http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2015-02-26/notes-worthy-aaron-wilson.html. Aaron discusses his "Soul Sunday" events and his long support for spoken word performance.

YOU GOTTA READ Josh Stimmel's Blues Blast Magazine interview-- share this with your friends. Here is the link: http://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/featured-interview-josh-stimmel/ . One tiny correction, Kilborn Alley never competed in the International Blues Challenge at any level-- we met Jackie Scott at the Blues Blast Music Awards in Chicago in 2010.

HEY! Tear Chicago Down cds are in. Get a copy or three for all your loved ones next time you see us, or from your local recorded music retailer via Burnside Distributing.

SOMEONE JERKED OUR CHAIN THE OTHER DAY to let us know you can now see the entire "Jubilee: A Celebration of American Music" episode dedicated to our most recent appearance at the 2010 W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival at Henderson, Kentucky. See this offering from KET at http://www.ket.org/jubilee/program.fwx?programid=JUBI1512 and support this fine American roots music series by asking your PBS stations to run it or keep running it.

YOU WANNA SEE ED singing and playing harp? Check out this video from our December show at Memphis on Main in Champaign, Illinois: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEkHa_xGjU

SPECIAL THANKS. Years ago in an interview we were asked about our clean traditional guitar sound and never having any effects pedals on stage, and our pithy Josh replied, "We don't play amplifiers, we play guitars." Dude. Well, the fine folks at Big Joe Stomp Box sent Andrew and Josh their "stomp box," and we are really having fun with them. Andrew especially likes to use his to punch up his guitar solos. More cracklin' tube fun for everyone.

WE REMIND our friends in Champaign County that it is time to renew your membership in the Prairie Crossroads Blues Society, and that our friends in Macon should re-up with the Decatur Blues Society, our friends in McLean should join or rejoin the Blues Blowtorch Society, that our friends in Sangamon County need to be sure they are members of the Illinois Central Blues Club, our friends in Peoria and Tazewell counties need to get up to date with the River City Blues Society, and our pals in Kankakee County need to pester James Walker about how they can make a contribution to his amazing "Friends of the Blues."

HOPE YOU LOOK AROUND the site, now you are here. The Press page has been spiffed up and now takes you to a bunch of recent reviews, The Media page has downloadable photos, our album covers, song samples, and video links. We are contemplating adding even more. Jessie Gillan, librarian extraordinaire and jill of all honorable trades in Gotham City, makes this possible.

DON'T BE BASHFUL about following us on Twitter, friending us on Facebook, or on Myspace. Myspace is usually the first place we update new shows; it has remained an exceptionally good platform for a band to present itself, even though it has lagged in general use. We can't tell you what this means, but we have over 9,000 Myspace friends, over 102, 000 profile views, and over 58,000 song plays.

CHECK THE SHOWS PAGE, and just check back often to see what we're doing!

DID YOU KNOW, or maybe you knew and forgot, Kilborn Alley Blues Band has a distribution agreement with Burnside Distribution Corporation of Portland, Oregon? What this means is, when you are looking for the four Blue Bella releases, BETTER OFF NOW, TEAR CHICAGO DOWN, and PUT IT IN THE ALLEY have your local records store contact BDC about getting the cds.

. . . it is the music which changes the place from the rear room of a
saloon in back of the yards to a fairy place, a wonderland, a little
corner of the high mansions of the sky.
---Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)