Blood Brother's released next week.

SJK overdubbing acoustic guitar in the studio.

The album cover art.

Bruce Iglauer and myself at the console during the Blood Brothers sessions.

Blood Brothers, the new album from The Smokin Joe Kubek Band featuring Bnois King will be released Tuesday March 4th. This is our first album on Alligator Records. I suggested the title "Used Pizza" but it did not stick. The album can be pre-purchased at www.alligator.com/. I am very excited as this is the first real album i have ever drummed on. The album was produced by SJK and co-produced by Bruce Iglauer, Alligator Records owner.I dug working with Bruce and it was cool to get to know this Blues Icon (photo above at console). It was recorded at Audio Dallas by Paul Osborn. Paul is a drummer and he helped me feel comfortable and he knew how to get the sounds we wanted on the drums. I am looking forward to hearing it played on the radio. A friend Nadja called me yesterday to tell me she was listening to it on the radio. I was surprised because i was told it would not be played till the release date. This is another dream come true for me. I need some new dreams....fast. We will have a CD release party in Dallas on March 7th and in Ft Worth on March 8th. We will have a busy April and may touring to support the album. Check our site for a date near you. Big thanks to Joe and Bnois for including me in this project. We will see you all at the Blues foundation Awards and the Grammies..... Hey, new dreams already.

1st Intternational Costa Rica Blues Festival

That's right... Blues in Costa Rica. We just got back and had the honor of headlining their first Blues Festival. The citizens "Ticos" of this counrty are really friendly and i met a slew of Americans that live there. We were taken care of VERY well by the promoters, Moe (above on TV with Joe & Bnois) and Darin (above, always in black with his "daughter" Twiggy). Our security staff was headed up by Roy (tough guy with beer above) and his able bodied motorcycle club. Our TV host was a hoot!!! (above with headband). The opening bands way exceeded my expectations, many musicians being in there teens. One standout Blues Teen was Jose Ramirez, whos band rocked and we had the honor of having him sit in with us (above with Bnois looking on). His family was there and there were all very nice. Moe's band was one of the hifghlights and Moe sat in with us also. I met a dude from Austin that was on the bill with us. His name is Robbie Clark and he lives down there. He called me up to sit in with him on 2 songs and we had a blast (above with me and his bass player). Our set was a blast. The crowd was ready and we gave it to them. The energy was incredible and the language was no barrier. Blues is blues and they tottaly got it. The security had to keep them off the stage. It was a great age mix of spectaters also. The venue was very cool with a great view down to the city lights below. It is a Cuban Club with a great party area and a pool. The bands were on 2 stages, one insude and the main stage outside. They fed us some very interesting Cuban food for lunch. The hotel we stayed at was right in the heart of the city of San Jose. This is a huge city with nearly 2 million people living in this "Central Valley". That is almost 2/3 of the people in the nation living there. It is certainly bustling. Prostitution and gambling is legal theer and there was very nice brothel right next to our hotel. I did get some pricing info but did not go sample the product. There are some interesting non specific gender ones on the street corners also. The people are very willing to help and are very friendly. I took a great tour and met some very cool people including Monica from Bogata and Lisa and Laura from the US. We saw a coffee plantation, an active volcano, a private park with animals and waterfalls and we took a boat ride through the rain forest. We saw a bunch of animals along the way. I can not wait to go back.