Toggle Switch is always excited to discover a new folk-blues artist from Virginia. This week, the fine folks at the Music Maker Relief Foundation in North Carolina brought James Arthur "Boo" Hanks to my attention. Hanks lives in Virgilina (midway between South Hill and Danville and he plays lovely Piedmont-style acoustic blues. His soft, sweet vocal tone reminds me of none other than Mose Allison (and it's people like Boo who Mose was probably trying to imitate.) I apologize for the short notice, but Hanks is set to play 1:30 p.m. today at the North Carolina Museum of History's African American Cultural Celebration in Raleigh, N.C. The Music Maker Web site has a short bio on Hanks. At the end of the bio, you can listen to three of his tunes: "Pickin' Cotton Blues," "Step It Up and Go" and "Truckin' My Blues Away." And if this sort of thing turns you on, the Music Maker site has a huge collection of MP3s of Southern folk artists to enjoy.
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