Billy Branch is excited to announce the forthcoming release of The Blues Is My Biography on November 7th. This largely autobiographical album will be the first release for Rosa’s Lounge Records, a Chicago-based label.
Billy’s latest single, unveiled today, is “Hole in My Soul.” It’s Billy’s statement about the essential importance and effect of connecting with the Blues, and features Bobby Rush contributing vocals and harmonica. “Hole In Your Soul” is an expression I’ve heard countless times over the years,” Billy states, “there was a Blues deejay in Chicago at WVON who used to say it all the time, and other artists have said it as well. It was time to put it into a song because I believe it to be true.”
The highly anticipated album, The Blues Is My Biography, was produced by Larry Batiste and recorded at Infinite Studios in Alameda, California, and JoyRide Studio in Chicago, IL. In addition to Bobby Rush, the album also features Shemekia Copeland, who adds guest vocals to “Begging For Change.” Billy’s band, The Sons of Blues, provides the instrumental accompaniment, while Larry Baptiste arranged the horns.
The music on the album runs the gamut from the soulful strains of “Toxic Strain”” and the rugged R&B that identifies “All Your Bluff,” to the propulsive pacing of “Roaches,” the resolve and reflection shared in the title track, and the tell-tale call of “The Harmonica Man.” There’s an emphatic emotion echoing through “Toxic Love,” while “Real Good Friends” comes across as a good-time, upbeat romp. “How You Living?” is a pure hip-hop gem, an ideal companion piece to “The Ballad of the Million Men,” which finds Branch and company incorporating a solid reggae rhythm. The most telling song on the album may well be “The Harmonica Man.” “It’s as autobiographical as you can get, ” Billy insists.
“Every song on this album has special meaning to me in terms of my journey,” says Billy, “This is the most important work I’ve ever done, and it’s the best work I’ve ever done as well.”
At the age of 10, Billy bought his first harmonica at Woolworth’s and taught himself to play. A few years later, he delved into the Chicago blues scene and was mentored by such iconic individuals as James Cotton, Junior Wells, Carey Bell, Willie Dixon, and Big Walter Horton. In 1975, he gained his first high-profile experience performing with the Willie Dixon Chicago Blues All-Stars, a role he held for seven years. It eventually led to his signing with Alligator Records, where he performed on 1978’s Living Chicago Blues Volume Number 3 and 1990’s Harp Attack, featuring him alongside Carey Bell, Junior Wells, and James Cotton. He calls that album “My diploma and my PhD.”
In 1977, Billy became a band leader for the first time when he formed the group The Sons of Blues. This ensemble currently includes drummer Dionte “Musik “Skinner, keyboardist Sumito Ariyoshi, aka Ariyo, bassist Ari Seder, and guitarist Giles Corey. The prestigious Chicago Blues Festival honored the band in 2007 on their 30th anniversary and again ten years later, for their 40th.
In addition to recording 15 albums with The Sons of Blues, he’s contributed harmonica playing to over 300 albums by such notables as Vince Gill, Billy Gibbons, Stephen Stills, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Lou Rawls, Johnny Winter, Taj Mahal, Son Seals, Mike Mills of REM, Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, and scores of others.
As an ambassador for the blues, he has taken his music to the People’s Republic of China a dozen times, to the halls of Parliament in Turkey, to South and Central America, Mexico, Israel, throughout Europe, Africa, and Australia. He has also performed at numerous high-profile festivals, including the Chicago Blues Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Long Beach Blues Festival, and the San Francisco Blues Festival.
Billy is an award-winning musician, actor, and educator who carries the torch for the promotion and preservation of the blues. He’s been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his 50-year career. He’s received an Emmy, three Grammy nominations, three Blues Music Awards, two Living Blues Awards, a pair of Keeping the Blues Alive Awards, the JJus’Blues Willie Dixon Lifetime Songwriters Award, and the Charles Walton Award for Outstanding Contribution to Black Music, to name just a few. HHe’salso served on the Grammy Board of Governors, the Board of Directors of the Little Walter Foundation, and the Blues Foundation Board of Directors.
Billy’s work has also been included in the Grammy Museum’s Woody Guthrie installation, “Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom.” And he’s also received two proclamations from the City of Chicago acknowledging his ongoing commitment to maintaining the legacy of Chicago Blues.
“My wife, Rosa, keeps saying that my life is like a movie,” Billy nods. And indeed, the variety of music and messaging on the album fully reflect Billy’s commitment to craft and communication.”
