Song Premiere: “Blues For Yesterday” Roots Supergroup New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers (Ft. Charlie Musselwhite)

New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers (Ft. Charlie Musselwhite)

We are pleased to premiere the song, “Blues For Yesterday” by the New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers featuring Grammy Award winner Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica, from their upcoming album New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Vol. 2, set for release on March 26, 2021 on Stony Plain Records.

New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Vol. 2 is the second edition of music from roots supergroup New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers that includes Charlie Musselwhite, Grammy Award winner Alvin Youngblood Hart, Jimbo Mathus, the Late Jim Dickinson, Grammy nominees Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars).

Charlie Musselwhite says, “’Blues for Yesterday’ is a tune I made up going down the highway and I think it speaks for itself. I’m sure many of us these days experience some form of blues for yesterday. Luther, Cody and I had been doing this tune on the road touring together, so it was a natural to include it here. There was such a wonderful and strong resonating vibe between all of us in the studio and I think that strong vibe comes through on this tune.”

The New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers put down some percolating old-school boogie blues on the group’s new track “Blues For Yesterday (ft. Charlie Musselwhite)” It’s a cool, chilled-out shuffle that spotlights Musselwhite’s harp and vocal skills as well as the deep blues cred of this veteran crew. If you like it lowdown and real, it doesn’t get any better than this!

Listen to “Blues For Yesterday”

Recorded at the Zebra Ranch Recording Studio in Coldwater, Mississippi, the 11 blues-drenched tracks on New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Vol. 2 give fans even more bang for their buck than the first volume’s 10 tracks of sublime roots music. New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Volume 1, released in September of 2020, was greeted with universal acclaim and became a Top 20 Billboard and Top 10 Living Blues chart album.

As on the first volume, New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Vol. 2 crosses the generations of new blues-rockers and classic blues statesmen. It is a testament to the great experience and talent of these esteemed performers that they could casually conjure a recording of this quality out of the ether in a casual jam session — sounding as if you are right there in the room with them with between-song banter and commentary, the classic structures of the blues, being pulled together and teased apart by some of the most award-decorated members of the blues elite.

About New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers
In November, 2007, musician brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson sat down for a guitar jam with ex-Squirrel Nut Zippers leader Jimbo Mathus, along with blues greats Charlie Musselwhite, Alvin Youngblood Hart and the late Memphis pianist, producer and all-around musical stylist Jim Dickinson, and gathered for a roots music extravaganza recording under the group name of the New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers.

For more than 12 years, those recordings’ existence was mentioned only obscurely in interviews, and referenced as a great old-school recording by those few witnesses. It was recorded live off-the-floor over several days, where the musicians all sat in one big circle in the studio and played quietly amongst the microphones, taking turns singing out in the room and improvising on the spot. Since Jim Dickinson’s passing in the summer of 2009, the recordings just hung out in the archives – waiting. When Stony Plain founder Holger Petersen heard about the sessions in 2019 and expressed his enthusiasm to release it, Luther Dickinson and his partner/engineer Kevin Houston finished the production of the albums.

The New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Vol. 2 repertoire is a mix of righteous takes on such musical chestnuts as Doug Sahm’s “She’s About a Mover,” Junior Wells’ “Messin’ with the Kid” and Jimmy Reed’s “Can’t Stand to See You Go,” sidled comfortably alongside original songs that make for a beautifully soulful listening experience.