toots - (tʊts) - rhymes with "foots", not "boots".
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Their latest record has received excellent reviews and continues to be featured on some of the finest blues radio programs across the nation and worldwide, reaching audiences from Hawaii to Australia! Read Reviews Here
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You gotta’ hear this one!
This CD isn’t just good, it’s spectacular... ~ Smoky Mtn. Blues Society
Every blues fan knows you have listen to the “old” to find something “new”. It is a precious rarity when the opposite is true and such is the case with Toots Lorraine & The Traffic. The band delivers a focused blend of classic vibe that will drench your soul with the vintage sounds of West Coast Jump Blues and Swing as you board the train for destination “way back” where everything is, well… easy.
Toots Lorraine's brand new album, Make It Easy, is available now! Recorded in the blues hub of California at the infamous Greaseland Studios, this record is a phenomenal follow-up to their first and pays tribute to the ancestry of American Roots music. From Chicago style blues to that west coast jump, you’ll hear a combination of classic blues covers and gripping new originals.
This husband and wife team share the purest of love for the preservation of the blues. Toots Lorraine expertly layers her powerful yet velvety voice amongst the band’s vintage instrumentation and gut bucket grooves. Along with classic blues covers of Big Mama Thornton, Howlin’ Wolf and Big Joe Turner, you’ll also find new originals with a huge story to tell.
Toots will take your ticket, let you on board and, as you roll down the tracks, the band will keep your glass filled with just the right measures of hollow body guitars, reverb tanks, upright basses, harmonicas, pianos and organs. And, you will swear to yourself, “I ain’t getting off this train”.
Smokin' hot blues, jazz and swing that will move your spirit and leave you beggin' for more! Toots sang her heart out while the band behind her rolled out some of the hottest blues heard in these parts in a long time. ~ Florida Times Union
Torch Song Toots
She could be nick-named 'Torch Song Toots.' Toots Lorraine & The Traffic deliver up the blues with a strong dose of swing and jazz.” ~ Springing The Blues Festival - Jacksonville, FL
Toots demonstrates that she can belt out a song
This is a thoroughly enjoyable album which provides a variety of settings, all of which demonstrate what a fine singer Toots is... ~ Blues Blast Magazine
#2 on Living Blues Charts (April 2015) #6 (March 2015) #2 on BluesDebut.com (March 2015) #8 on BB King's Bluesville "Rack of Blues" SiriusXM Ch. 70 #8 on Roots Music Report (May 2015) Featured Artist on House Party KFAI 90.3 Featured New Release on Cha Cha Cha In Blue (Montréal, Québec) Featured "Wonderful Ladies of the Blues" Digital Blues Music digitalblues.co.uk
International & Online:
CKUT 90.3 (Montréal, Québec) Blues Boogie & Bop 92.5 FM (Kamloops, British Columbia) CHMR 93.5 (St. Johns, Newfoundland) Warwick,s"BLUES ROOM" (Australia) Blues On The Hill (Australia) Sweet Home Music (France) Biker Street Radio Show (France) Collective of Francophone Radios Blues (France) Nothing But The Blues (UK) RADIO HOLSTEBRO (Denmark) Blues Train (Norway) Purple Haze Radio Show (Netherlands) KCOR Roxy Perry Show kconlineradio.com Coastal Travel US Radio live365.com MojoWax Radio live365.com Top Blues live365.com Chicken Shack Alley kdhx.org Caldonia's Crossroad Radio caldoniascrossroad.com Full-Time Blues Radio fulltimeblues.com Jefferson Public Radio ijpr.org XPN Playlist xpn.org Rock 'n' Blues Today radiorcc.com Radio Nowhere radionowhere903.com
Toots Lorraine & The Traffic’s new CD “Make It Easy.” I’m caught. Hook, line and sinker, this one is a keeper! Toots Lorraine’s silky Supernova voice, and her excellent band just nail it. Playing that West Coast Blues and Swing this is just outrageously good. With 12 cuts and about 7 originals, this CD isn’t just good, it’s spectacular! The originals are something to behold, and no doubt a few soon to be classics. Throw in an old Civil War ballad “Wade In The Water,” Willie Dixon’s “Built For Comfort,” and some Big Joe Turner you got the gamut of great blues and music. The band is simply stellar. With Toots on vocals, that’s about all you need, but then you also have Chad Dant on guitar and vocals. Chris “Kid” Andersen adds his brilliant guitar, vocals bass, and some piano. Harmonica player Aki Kumar is just wonderful. There are no weak cuts on this CD. Lorenzo Farrell lays down some great piano and organ with Mike Phillips on bass, and June Core on drums and percussion. I love to hear every instrument and here it is. A beautiful blend of blues, swing, past, and present, and let’s face it……no doubt the future! Everything is tasty, smooth, relaxed, never over the top, just right. Toots is something to behold, and the band compliments her every note and song. Check it out at www.tootslorraine.com. Great stuff! No kidding, just great stuff! Toots has the soul, the heart, the blues, and the band. The sky is the limit! This is it, pick up a copy. I hope I didn’t gush too much, but man….this is good! One love, Blue Barry – Smoky Mtn. Blues Society
...a mind blowing experience
If nobody out there remembers Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Lorraine and her hubby are going to be a mind blowing experience for people that like it old school and bluesy. Putting more neuvo in the retro-neuvo mix than Smith did, this set of mostly originals sound like Memphis Minnie sides you just don't remember hearing. Tipping her hat just a touch to the real old school, Toots Lorraine (what a great name for a swinging, bluesy thrush) teases you just enough on record to make you want to see here when she comes rolling into your town. Modern west coast blues sounds like a great place to be if this is any evidence. Hot stuff throughout.
Toots Lorraine is the Streisand Of The Blues
Toots Lorraine is the Streisand Of The Blues. Her self-released “Make It Easy” features her elegant soaring vocals on material by Big Mama Thornton, Howlin’ Wolf and Big Joe Turner as well as a slew of originals by her and her guitarist/co-producer husband Chad Dant. The band is called Toots Lorraine & The Traffic and there should be plenty of traffic on her website once this thing gets popular. From West Coast Jump Blues and Swing to Chicago-Styled Urban Blues and Soul, she heaves and moans with style and class. Backed by keyboards, bass, drums, harmonica and guitar, “Make It Easy” is a party. Let’s have some horns next time!
Toots Lorraine sings soulful blues on 'Make it Easy'
When you regularly get a lot of new music, sometimes an artist can catch your attention before you even hear a note of the music. That was the case with the new Toots Lorraine album Make it Easy. A look at the track list on the back of the jewel case showed that Lorraine covers the blues classic (written by Willie Dixon and made famous by Howlin' Wolf) "Built for Comfort." Ordinarily your humble narrator listens to an album from beginning to end. However, in this case "Built for Comfort" (track seven on the album) was the first in the queue. Loyal reader, this is a great version of the song. Lorraine's vocals are both strong and easy, and the melody is thoroughly enjoyable - especially with the harmonica solo and the piano throughout the song. Oh, and the guitar solo is pretty good too.
When you hear the title track of this album, it's easy to imagine the band (with Lorraine at the center) on an elaborate bandstand like you see in old movies. There is an elegance to this song that brings that image to mind. The bassist has a good walking bass line going throughout the song, the guitar is clean and bright, and the beat has a real jazzy feel. It's a great way to kick off the album, and definitely gets you in the mood to hear more.
While some of the songs are slower in tempo, the band shows it can also pick things up and get people moving. "Let Your Tears Fall Baby" is a great example. It's easy to imagine a dark room full of people swinging to this song. "Satisfied" is another one that can definitely get people dancing. This song features Kid Andersen on guitar, and it proves that anytime you can add Kid Andersen to a song, it's a good thing.
Lorraine is a talented vocalist. Her voice is full of soul and never strains. She sounds a bit like a torch singer in some of the songs like "When Did You Stop Tryin' " The band is obviously a talented group. Chad Mo is a master of guitar tone and while Aki Kumar has some chops on the harmonica, his parts are usually an accent to the song rather than a focus. If you like your blues slow and soulful, Make It Easy is an album you should add to your collection.
This is a wonderful set for all the real blues lovers in the house!
Now this is a straight blues album – unusually for a contemporary album, there is no rock influence at all, but there is a strong Chicago or West Coast club blues feel, with guitarist Chad Mo exhibiting a strong Otis Rush/ Magic Sam/ Freddie King/ T-Bone Walker feel whilst vocalist Toots gives it all she’s got, singing the blues – not soul or rock.
Take a listen to the slow and moody ‘Hindsight’ for a good example. A little oddly, Toots does not change the gender of the lyrics for her storming version of Howling Wolf’s ‘Built For Comfort’; the only other borrowed items are the closer, Jimmie Vaughan/ Mac Rebennack’s gospel styled ‘Love The World’, with a slight Hill Country approach, the old spiritual ‘Wade In The Water’ revived in the 60s and the basis for this version, Big Joe Turner’s ‘Low Down Dog’ on which Toots reveals a mighty powerful set of lungs, and a rollicking cover of Big Mama Thornton’s ‘Let Your Tears Fall Baby’.
This set was recorded at Kid Andersen’s famous Greaseland Studios in California and indeed, Kid helps out guitar, vocals and piano occasionally here; all credit to the band themselves though, this is a wonderful set for all the real blues lovers in the house!
