Having passed this way several times before, the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue gives both old fans and newbies a reason to show up. The band has freshened up the bill with talents new to the lineup who are firmly established among the contemporary blues/R&B elite. Anchored as always by Bay Area guitar ace Tommy Castro and his band, this edition is additionally armed with two more outstanding axe-wielders. Blues greats like John Lee Hooker inspired John Mayall, who — in turn with fellow British blues purists — ignited the flame in L.A.-bred Debbie Davies. Those influences as well as that of the legendary Albert Collins (whom Davies played with in the early ’90s) can be heard in Davies’ taut, pinpoint lead work. Her latest album, Holdin’ Court, is a tribute to the classic all-instrumental efforts by Collins and Freddie King. Like Castro, Joe Louis Walker came up in the San Francisco blues scene, making his recording debut on 1985’s Cold Is the Night. Since that time, he’s turned out a dozen-plus records, most recently bolstered by the 2009 release of Between a Rock and the Blues, cultivating a blues style that, thanks to his powerhouse vocals, is never too far from a soul-music connection. Castro himself remains one of the great triple-threats of the contemporary blues/R&B scene. Both a dynamite player and singer, he completes the hat-trick collaborating on killer material, well-evidenced on last year’s Hard Believer. The Revue plays the Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124, beachlandballroom.com) at 7 p.m. Tickets: $20 advance, $22 day of show. — Verh
