20 Ruf Years

20 Years Anniversary
Ruf Records

Founded by Thomas Ruf in 2004 with the aim of giving legendary Chicago bandleader Luther Allison a platform to release some of the best albums of his career, Ruf Records has gone from strength to strength over the course of two action-packed decades.

This excellent two-CD set showcases the extraordinary array of talent on their books. Most of the featured artists have been reviewed here at Marsh Towers (judicious use of the search box will be of help there).

The first CD presents some of the finest cuts from Ruf's Girls With Guitars and CD2 focuses on the Guys With Guitars. Despite the nostalgia-fest, Ruf keeps one eye on the future, with a formerly unreleased song by their latest signing, Eliana Cargnelutti.

There's no point in trying to pick out highlights from this bumper collection; they are all highlights! It's an ideal set to enable listeners to ''try before they buy'' from the extensive Ruf catalogue. Simply slip a CD into your player then sit back and relax.

Track List

CD 1: Girls With Guitars

1.       Fish, Taylor, Wilde: Bitch – 03:38
2.       Dana Fuchs: Bliss Avenue – 02:58
3.       Joanne Shaw Taylor: Can’t Keep Living Like This – 05:12
4.       Samantha Fish: Down In The Swamp – 04:13
5.       Dani Wilde: Shine – 04:44
6.       Meena: Try Me – 04:59
7.       Ana Popovic: Love Fever – 04:27
8.       Eliana Cargnelutti: Stranded in Memphis – 03:29
9.       Joanna Connor: Never Been Rocked Enough – 03:26
10.     Erja Lyytinen: Skinny Girl – 03:05
11.     Sue Foley: Show Me – 03:31
12.     Candye Kane and Laura Chavez: Toughest Girl Alive – 02:40
13.     Foley, Coleman, Potvin: In The Basement – 03:26

CD 2: Guys With Guitars 

1.        Thorbjørn Risager: If You Wanna Leave – 04:12
2.        Royal Southern Brotherhood : Rock And Roll – 04:56
3.        Walter Trout: Livin’ Every Day – 04:41
4.        Oli Brown: Speechless – 04:27
5.        Laurence Jones: Temptation –04:15
6.        Mike Zito: Voices In Dallas – 04:3
7.        Bart Walker: Waitin On Daylight – 04:33
8.        Spin Doctors: Some Other Man Instead – 04:33
9.        Lister, Lyytinen, Parker: Blues Caravan – 02:43
10.      Jeff Healey: I’m Torn Down – 05:03
11.      Cyril Neville: Swamp Funk – 04:3
12.      Devon Allman: Homesick – 03:32
13.      K Simmonds and Savoy Brown: Nuthin‘ Like The Blues – 04:55
14.      Albert Castiglia: Bad Avenue – 07:00
15.      Luther Allison: You Can’t Always Get What You Want – 04:38

Incidentally, we will have reviews on new albums by Mike Zito, Devon Allman, Robbie Hill, Keith Thompson and Erja Lyytinen over the course of the next couple of week - so stay tuned.