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Artiest/Band: BennyTurner
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• BLUES LEGEND BENNY TURNER TO RELEASE
MY BROTHER'S BLUES: FROM TEXAS TO CHICAGO ON JANUARY 15, 2027 ON NOLA BLUE RECORDS Album Commemorates 50th Anniversary Of Freddie King's Death
Features Special Guests Including Bobby Rush, Jimmie Vaughan, Derek O'Brien, Billy Branch And Carolyn Wonderland
On Friday, January 15, 2027, Nola Blue Records will release My Brother’s Blues: From Texas to Chicago, a newly expanded, remixed, reimagined, and remastered edition of legendary blues master Benny Turner’s 2017 tribute to his brother, bandmate and best friend, Freddie King. It is this intimate, lifelong bond—Benny and Freddie were inseparable as children and as adults—that anchors the new record.
My Brother's Blues: From Texas To Chicago marks the 50th anniversary of King's passing on December 28, 1976, at age 42. It honors King’s towering legacy while sounding very much like Benny Turner. The album will be available on CD, vinyl LP, and at all streaming and download platforms. Bandcamp will feature exclusive early access, including limited signed and numbered splatter vinyl LPs, beginning on the December 28 anniversary date.
Benny Turner is a genuine master. He’s a strong, resonant and soulful singer…deeply passionate and funky. –Living BluesBenny Turner’s story stands on its own. His voice is amazing… a smooth and soulful pleasure. –Blues Music MagazineMy Brother’s Blues is a stone cold winner…an outstanding, joyous romp. Classic soul blues…lively and funky. Killer grooves, smokey and soulful vocals. –Blues Blast |
Originally released in 2017, My Brother’s Blues continues to evolve. Now, in addition to boasting pristine, remixed and remastered audio, My Brother’s Blues: From Texas To Chicago brings a fresh perspective to the initial sessions. It features three songs not on the previous release, alongside newly recorded vocal and instrumental parts. Joining Turner on this definitive collection are his friends, blues stars Bobby Rush, Jimmie Vaughan, Billy Branch and Derek O'Brien. Additionally, Texas blues guitarist and vocalist Carolyn Wonderland, a special guest on the initial release, appears on two of the original tracks.
Among the most notable songs on the album is Sweet Home Chicago—newly recorded with both Turner and Vaughan on acoustic guitars. It is a nod to November of 1976, when Freddie and Benny performed for prisoners at Austin, Texas’ notorious Travis County Jail. This impromptu two-guitar set was reminiscent of the brothers’ earliest days together, and was forever enshrined on
grainy black-and-white video ▼shot less than two months before King’s untimely death.
From the album's hard-driving opener You’ve Got To Love Her With A Feeling to the funky Boogie Man (initially released on a long out-of-print 2011 album) to the newly recorded The Things That I Used To Do, My Brother’s Blues: From Texas To Chicago is living, breathing music from a man who has helped define the sound of the genre. The completion of this project—recorded across studios in Austin, Chicago, Jackson, and New Jersey—reflects Turner's enduring drive to keep the music moving forward. After his decades of service to the blues, Turner's creative fire remains undiminished. As for the results of the recording, he could not be happier, saying, “Having Bobby, Jimmie, Billy and Derek stand with me on this—men I respect deeply—has been a mighty high.”
My Brother’s Blues: From Texas To Chicago is a true survivor’s story in every sense, as Benny Turner continues to define the music on his own terms. The album delivers a perfect mix of Texas roadhouse grooves and deep Chicago blues all performed with contemporary urgency. Bobby Rush, as always, says it best, "This album is from the old school. Look out. It's killer!"
BIOGRAPHY:
“Freddie King was my big brother before he was anybody's blues legend,” says bassist, vocalist, arranger, frontman, and recording artist Benny Turner. “I was with him when he played his first note, and I was with him when he played his last.”
Born in Gilmer, Texas, in 1939, Benny Turner and his older brother Freddie King learned guitar from their mother, Ella Mae (King) Turner. While Freddie was finding early fame with his King Records hits, Turner had a long and successful career of his own. He was the first person to bring electric bass to Chicago’s gospel scene, and became the first bass player to join The Soul Stirrers, with whom he toured. He was an in-demand musician all over Chicago, gigging with Freddie and many of Chicago’s biggest blues stars, including harmonica giant Little Walter. Then, hitmaker Dee Clark hired Turner as bandleader for his touring group, where he played bass and then guitar. In 1969, just as Freddie King was about to explode onto the rock scene, Turner re-joined the band and remained by his brother’s side until Freddie’s death in 1976. Together they performed over 300 shows a year, sharing stages with Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival and countless others, showing them all how blues is played.
Following Freddie’s sudden death in 1976, Turner was destroyed, retreating into a two-year period of total seclusion. Fortunately, Turner’s friend Mighty Joe Young coaxed him back onto the stage, with Turner anchoring Young's band for the next eight years. Later relocating to New Orleans, he became bassist and bandleader for Crescent City blues queen Marva Wright.
And since 2010, he has stood tall as a leader, issuing two self-funded CDs before meeting his friend and manager Sallie Bengtson and releasing five critically acclaimed albums on her celebrated Nola Blue Records label. This spirit of endurance is the central theme of his life and work, as documented in his award-winning autobiography, Survivor: The Benny Turner Story. For Turner, being a "survivor" is a badge of honor earned through seven decades on the bandstand and on the road.
In 2026, the Jus' Blues Music Foundation established the inaugural Benny Turner Sideman Award in his honor—a rare tribute celebrating the essential contributions of the musicians who provide the heartbeat of the blues tradition. But still, that's only half the story. As Living Blues declared, “It’s hard to imagine Benny Turner as anything but a frontman.”
For more information: CONTACT:
- Marc Lipkin
- marc@lipkinmedia.com
- lipkinmedia.com
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