TWO OF THE BEST

BRANDON SANTINI: Since relocating to Memphis Brandon Santini’s star has been on the rise and he has received multiple nominations for Blues Music and Blues Blast awards.  Brandon does a fair impression of Howling Wolf’s vocals by singing through the harp mike and plays some spirited harp. Indeed, the harp playing throughout is striking, Brandon taking a leaf from the James Cotton handbook – no bad thing!

JOEL SASILVA: Despite being a Chicagoan, DaSilva takes more of his inspiration from Texas, as my introduction suggests. However, he draws from a combination of Texas blues, rockabilly, and a little bit of swing. I never really got into Nick Curran, but this seems to be what Nick was going for. If you like Nick Curran, you will probably like Joel DaSilva. What sets DaSilva apart, though, is his big, confident tone on that hollow-bodied electric. Once you hear him play, you will be able to identify him. However, there is some surprising acoustic work here as well. Most acoustic blues musicians lean towards fingerpicking, but DaSilva keeps that plectrum handy, giving his acoustic work the aggressiveness that is missing from so much acoustic blues today.