Oh My Gosh!!  Can you believe that this year is now officially half over already??  Only have time for a quick note here, but check out the review section and calendar sections below for updates...

July is sizzling hot and we are busy playin' the blues... starting with our July 4th celebration at Honey Creek Resort in Moravia, IA, we are travellin' lickety-split all month long!  July 11 and 12 find us in Weston, MO, then Jefferson City, MO.  The next weekend (July 17-18) we head to Burlington, IA, then over to 
Bloomington, IL, and we wrap up the month in my hometown, Grinnell, IA on July 24th.

We've also added shows in Aug and September, so check out the calendar section below, and mark some dates to come see us.

Until we see you somewhere a little further on up the road, keep it cool, but keep them blues RED HOT!! :)

BJ & the boys

New CD - HEARTLESS

We are very excited to announce the release of our new CD, Heartless.  This is our 4th project and we are very excited for you all to hear it and to get your feedback! 

Eight of the eleven tracks on this disc are Blue Voodoo originals and we've added three songs from our live set to round out the collection.

We've posted the tracks on our MySpace page or you can go to our EPK at www.BlueVoodooBlues.com and hear all the tracks there.

Available now at:

Circle M Music - Kirksville, MO
Hastings Book Store - Kirksville, MO
www.CDBaby.com/all/bluevoodoo (CDs and/or digital downloads)
www.Itunes.com
www.Amazon.com

OR.....

You can get one directly from us for $12.... and we will even cover the postage!  This will be an ongoing special for those who buy direct from us, either via our website or at our shows. 

Paypal $12 to this address:
Heartless@BlueVoodooBlues.com

Or snail mail a check or money order to: 
BJ Allen, PO Box 480, Kirksville, MO  63501

PS - If you share this note with a friend, the same discounted price will apply... just send us the $$ and we'll send the disc... how simple is that??  :)

One short new review for Heartless that I found on ReverbNation...


BJ ALLEN & BLUE VOODOO
HEARTLESS
June 22, 2009
Kirksville Missouri musician BJ Allen and her band Blue Voodoo is certainly a force to be reckoned with. BJ has a dynamic vocal quality and range that could easily be compared to Ellen White, Liz Mandville or even Grand Rapids own Roberta Bradley. You can feel BJ pour her entire soul into each track on this fine release. The first track “Don’t Know What You’re Missin” is sure to fill the dance floor with its swinging sound. The track “Borderline” shows the funkier side of BJ and her excellent cover of Janis Joplin’s “Get It While You Can” has a certain gospel feel to it. BJ also slows things down a bit on Dinah Washington’s classic track “Sunday Kind Of Love” displaying her more sensitive side. The name of this CD is Heartless but after one listen you will discover that this Musician and her excellent band from Missouri have a whole lot of heart and lots of soul. Reviewed By: Gregg Saur
 
 
REVERB NATION
Grand Rapids Community Media Center
http://www.grcmc.org/radio/music.php


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BTW, I've FINALLY set up on Facebook... both a personal page, and a band page.  You can find me here:

www.facebook.com/bj.allen1

Send me a friend request!! :)


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We appreciate the kind comments from these writers and encourage you to check out their websites and publications to learn more about the blues and blues artists from the early days to now....

New CD - HEARTLESS

We are very excited to announce the release of our new CD, Heartless.  This is our 4th project and we are very excited for you all to hear it and to get your feedback! 
Eight of the eleven tracks on this disc are Blue Voodoo originals and we've added three songs from our live set to round out the collection.
We've posted the tracks on our MySpace page or you can go to our EPK at www.BlueVoodooBlues.com and hear all the tracks there.

Available now at:

Circle M Music - Kirksville, MO
Hastings Book Store - Kirksville, MO
www.CDBaby.com/all/bluevoodoo (CDs and/or digital downloads)
www.Itunes.com
www.Amazon.com

OR.....

You can get one directly from us for $12.... and we will even cover the postage!  This will be an ongoing special for those who buy direct from us, either via our website or at our shows. 

Paypal $12 to this address:
Heartless@BlueVoodooBlues.com

www.Rootstime.be (a Dutch website that reviews Blues and Roots music)

01/17/09

Despite her previous amazing cd’s and a possibly even more impressive live reputation, BJ Allen and her band are still considerably unknown. Incomprehensible actually, since this band plays music that should address a broad audience. Like Renee Austin, BJ Allen plays bluesrock with quite some soul – and especially roots influences. Where the flame appears to be extinguished over the past years at Renee Austin, it’s just blazed up with BJ Allen.

BJ Allen has an incredible voice, one that rumbles over you like an ocean. Moreover she collected a fantastic band around her, existing David Daniels (drums), Jon Hurd (bass/vocals/harmonica) and Jerry Fuller (guitar/piano/vocals), a band that can play everything and doing that well also. After the very well received and by Rootstime very praised albums “The Storm” (2005) and “Hot Wire (My Heart)” (2007), here is their newest album out now: “Heartless”.

Blue Voodoo arose in Missouri, in 2003, as a rockin’ blues quartet, and this fourth independent release contains again bluesrock full of influences from country, gospel, soul and warm-blooded vocals, straight from the heart.

Since a number of covers did appear clearly on the predecessors, we find three cover tracks on this album as well, all covers that BJ Allen forces to her will piece after piece, but as well covers that belong to their favorites during live concerts.

Front woman of this band is still BJ Allen. She transmits these music styles in a very dynamic way, but moreover she is as well sweet, sultry, sexy, but mainly she puts her heart and soul in each song. Starting with the swinging “Don’t Know What You’re Missin’ “ and ending with a gospel colored version of Janis Joplin’s “Get It While You Can”, you can swing with almost every track on this amazing album. The traditional 12-bar shuffles in “Radio Song and “Take Out Some Insureance” are perfectly mixed with a somewhat James Brown-esk “Borderline”, the obstinate “It’s All About You”, and Dinah Washington’s classic “Sunday Kind of Love”.    


Third cover is “Take Out Some Insurance”, which is originally written by Jimmy Reed, but is a song that has been covered by Springsteen and J.J. Cale as well. All other songs are original, written by the duo JP Hurd and Jerry Fuller. Here JP Hurd’s “Tryin’ To Find The Groove” is very strong, where the band gives a very contemporary turn to it, together with a rather protest song, J. Fuller’s “Do Something”, a song that really shouts for social justice.

“Heartless” is not only notable for a fantastic band with a brilliance role for singer BJ Allen with her soulful way of singing, but also for its very beautiful production, for which nobody less than drummer David Daniels appears to be responsible. It seems clear to me that this is going to be the break-through cd of BJ Allen & Blue Voodoo, because as richly filled as this, albums are rarely produced these days. This is just a must-have for each fan of contemporary blues. That’s very promising for this new blues act.

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From another Dutch reviewer we received this commentary:

CD recensie: B.J Allen and Blue Voodoo - Heartless

Published 11 Feb 2009 | Recensies 
Artist(s): B.J Allen and Blue Voodoo

 Artist: B.J Allen and Blue Voodoo
Title: Heartless
Format: CD
Label: Pure Air Music
Release date: January 2009

This formation from Missouri shows with the successor to their 2007 album “Hot Wire” that they have grown again in the performance and presentation of their songs.  This album “Heartless” is not a randomly chosen title, since it contains a lot of intensive tracks, which are taking care of a lot of versatility, and therefore not fitting into one genre.  Titles as “Do Something”, “It’s all about You”, “Get it while you can” and “Don’t know what You’re Missing” speak for themselves, I think.

The first track is a combination of somewhat sophisticated Blues-rock with beautiful chord accents in it. “Borderline” is a mix of Funk and Rocky blues with small solo licks, sharp as a razor of Jerry Fuller, who plays a lot of beautiful stuff on this album anyway.

The title song is one to lick off your fingers, in the spirit of Maggie Bell from the former Stone The Crows, and a “I rather go blind”-kind of piece, with beautiful harmonies as well. So, it’s just a wonderful ballad. Then there is a Chicago-blues in “Take out some Insurance”. The next track is a funky-ish rhythm with a “Rumble” sound, with leading acts for the Bluesharp, which especially supports the drive of the song, and the hammond as well, participating in that. “Sunday Kind of Love” is a Jazzy-blues with a mellow BJ in the lead rank.

This is how all styles continue: Funk, Latin, Jazzy, Rock and traditional Blues. An album that, in my opinion, mainly radiating craftsmanship and this is yet another album that indicates that these people really should come and visit us. And that is going to happen soon, and I am really happy about that. The lead singer of the band is the nice, charismatic, modest, raw and rough BJ Allen, who very much knows what she wants and then let her voice sound in many different ways. Once like some sort of Maggie Bell and in other tracks like a modest female Jazz singer who then can burst out rawly. In short a lady who knows the ropes.

Then there is guitarist Jerry Fuller, who delivers a very big part on compositions and guitars on this album. This all is supported very competently by JP Hurd – Bass and Bluesharp, David Daniels – drums, Derek Daniels – percussion.  This is a band that sounds deliciously and live, undoubtedly, even better and more intense. In my opinion it is again a successful album, this “Heartless”. Get it when you can… I just say, that last track is a beauty!

Frank Van Englen for www.bluesmagazine.nl

(Much thanks to our friend Pauline from Utrecht, The Netherlands, for the translations from Dutch to English!  As a side note, much as we would love to play in Europe, we currently  have no plans to tour there as Frank had thought... but you just never know what we may cook up somewhere in the future!) 

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Next up is a note from our friend and noted blues critic, Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro who writes for www.Mary4Music.com...
 

B J ALLEN & BLUE VOODOO

"HEARTLESS"

PURE AIR MUSIC

BY PETER "BLEWZZMAN" LAURO  © FEBRUARY 2009

Our regular readers will certainly recognize this bands name.  "HEARTLESS", by BLUE VOODOO, is the bands third release to make it to these pages.  With all of the original players in place, the only noticeable change is the play on the bands name.  Just as bands once known as the Supremes and the Four Seasons came to be called Diana Ross and the Supremes and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, BLUE VOODOO is now calling themselves B J ALLEN & BLUE VOODOO.  Rightfully so!   

Speaking of those players, they are:  B J ALLEN on lead & background vocals, JERRY FULLER on guitar & keyboards, J P HURD on bass & harp, DAVID DANIELS on drums and DEREK DANIELS on percussion.

On the opening track, B J offers some of the best advice I've ever heard.....You just "DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSIN" till you sit down and listen to the blues.  I've always felt that there are a lot more people out there who actually like the blues - they just don't know it.  The problem is that while they're listening, they just don't realize they're listening to the blues.  On the lyrics alone, this one rates song of the year consideration.  On top of that, B J never sounded better than she does right here.  The band just locks themselves into a great groove and lets her do her thing - belting out the blues in an oh so sass-soul-sultry way. 

"RADIO SONG" starts off with a killer 30 second harp intro and features J P getting in a lot more licks throughout.  With this one being one of the real blues burners, you can bet that JERRY'S right there with him on guitar as well.   In the meantime, B J and the rhythm guys are doing their usual inspiring stuff.  I can't believe I've been listening to this disc for about 40 minutes now and I'm still on the second track.  This is the kind of stuff replay buttons were invented for.

    
If you don't agree with me that this track just reeks of emotion and intensity, then you are absolutely "HEARTLESS".  On this, the title track, B J just pours it all out, and then some.  This is the kind of song that during a live performance no one in the audience is making a peep.....and if they are, the person next to them needs to slap them upside the head.  This one defines the term "Blues with a feeling".

    
On this next track, BLUE VOODOO seem to be a little funk-strated.  While lyrically letting us know that they are frustrated with the worlds problems and pronounce that it's time we "DO SOMETHING", they're also in one hell of a funky groove.  JERRY, J P and DAVID - on organ, bass and drums - supply the heat on this smoker.

If you're musical taste includes enjoying songs sung by Dinah, Sarah, Lena and Ella (no last names necessary), then you are going to absolutely enjoy listening to B J sing "SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE".  She absolutely shines on this one.  As a matter of fact, right here in the middle of the review, I'm going to suggest that B J ALLEN & BLUE VOODOO put out a disc of some of the beautiful standards sung by the ladies mentioned.  What do you say, guys? 

Other tracks on  "HEARTLESS" include: "BORDERLINE", "TAKE OUT SOME INSURANCE", "IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU", "TRYIN' TO FIND THE GROOVE", "IRON CITY" and "GET IT WHILE YOU CAN". 

You can check out B J and the guys at www.bluevoodooblues.com. From there you'll be directed to their Sonicbids page.  That's where you're going to contact them, tell them the Blewzzman sent ya, and buy a copy of "HEARTLESS".  

Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro
Blues Editor @ www.Mary4Music.com

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The last review for this month comes from James "Skyy Dobro" Walker at http://www.illinoisblues.com......

BJ Allen & Blue VooDoo - Heartless

Pure Air Music

www.bluevoodooblues.com

11 songs; Time 45:08; Splendid

Style: Modern Electric blues; Female Vocalist

Remember pop radio of the 1960s when you could hear Blues on a regular basis? As an young teen in 1963, I received a Toshiba six-transistor, battery operated, pocket radio – with one monaural ear plug. Listening to KXOK from St. Louis and sometimes, when the signal was good, WLS from Chicago, I heard a virtual smorgasbord of Blues, R&B, Motown, Soul, Country, Rock and Roll, Surf, and Pop(ular).

Well, those days are long gone, and today it is almost impossible to find Blues on commercial air-wave radio. That sad fact is lamented by BJ Allen & Blue VooDoo in the second track, “Radio Song.” Appropriately done as a 12 bar blues with harmonica, the song features lyrics, “I wondered ‘where did all the good music go?’ / So, I turned the dial to the left and then back around to the right... / Turned it every where I could think of / And, still not a good song in sight. / Now, that made me so disappointed...I was ready for some good ole’ rockin’ Blues.” Allen’s solution: “I finally said, ‘Jerry [Fuller], pick up that old guitar and play us a little something we can use!” The moral of the story: “If you want something done right, you just got to do it for yourself.”

While the album moves from fun to funky to soulful ballads and back again, the original “Radio Song” epitomizes their fourth independent CD as the next solid Blues outing since their previous winner, “Hot Wire (My Heart).” Predominately up-and-mid tempo Blues, “Heartless” has more new music. Eight songs are original tunes written by either JP Hurd or Jerry Fuller, and the three cover tunes are favorites from the band’s live set.

BJ Allen & Blue Voodoo are seasoned players from NE Missouri, with no line-up changes from the last CD. Featured more than before in both the group’s name and performances, vocalist, BJ Allen is a sensitive and passionate singer with a dynamic range of styles. From sweet and sultry to sassy and sexy, BJ puts her all into every song.

Jerry Fuller does zinging triple duty on deft guitar, as an observant writer and arranger, and adds keyboards, helping get five instruments out of three players. Underpinning the foundation are David Daniels on drums and JP Hurd on bass. With bold bass lines and a steady groove, these boys are rock solid. JP also blows harp and writes some of the band’s original material.

Starting off with the swinging “Don’t Know What You’re Missin,’” the band becomes a competent advocate for getting off the couch and going out to hear some live Blues music. You can “come on down” to the “Borderline.”

According to track three, The “Borderline” club is “just about a mile south of the ole’ Mason-Dixon Line.” That is where dancers can get as funky as the song done James Brown style with masterful bass by Hurd and overdubbed background vocals by Allen to accompany her lead.

The heart-wrenching title track, “Heartless,” is a 6/8 groove with lush layers of soulful organ and guitar maintaining the mood of a victim of a “scam...[she was] taken by a cheating, lying, no good nothing who was posing a man.”

Other standouts: Jimmy Reed’s traditional 12-bar shuffle “Take Out Some Insurance” with added contemporary lyrics at the end, Dinah Washington’s classic, “Sunday Kind of Love,” with BJ really taking over, the group’s protest song, “Do Something” which cries out for social justice, and the ending gospel-tinged version of Janis Joplin’s “Get It While You Can.”

“Heartless” – YES! Get a clue and take my cue. Because, who do you do blue if you don’t do Blue Voodoo? Not modern radio – true?