By Michael Limnios, Blues.gr

“Way Back Home” (2026), the first album in nine long years from Reverend Raven & The Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys, brings all the fire and then some. The second album in Rik Raven’s canon with longtime co-conspirator Westside Andy on harp - and, for the first time, playing with the Rev on every track - Way Back Home celebrates 30 years of throwing down some of the finest blues the midwest (or anywhere, for that matter!) has to offer. It’s a collection of requested fan favorites from their decades of live shows, none of which have made it onto studio recordings until now. “For years now,” Raven explains, “people would be buying CDs at our shows and asking 'what record is that song on?' Originally, this was just going to be an album meant to be sold at shows, but it morphed into something else entirely.” The addition of special guest Altar Boy Dennis Wage on keys to the core quartet of Raven, Andy, PT Pedersen (bass) and Craig Panosh (drums), sends everything into overdrive and makes this record, arguably, the band’s crowning achievement.

(Photo: Reverend Raven & Westside Andy with The Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys)

“Once Dennis wanted to be on it, we realized we had to do this right and see what happens. What’s nice is we’ve been playing for so long we can just go in and know what’s going to happen. We get in one room, the baffles go up, and we just lock it in.” Across nine covers and two originals, Raven and Andy are the perfect foil for each other. There’s an unconscious synergy between the two, as they trade leads, that elevates everyone’s game and lets the music flow with a tight looseness few bands can achieve.

— Michael Limnios, Blues.gr

Source: https://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/q-a-with-guitarist-singer-reverend-raven-celebrates-30-years-of-t

Hi folks,

Thanks for listening — Way Back Home is still climbing.

On the Roots Music Report chart for the week of October 31, we're at #19 on the Top 50 Blues Albums, up from #45, and #8 on the Top 50 Blues Rock Albums, up from #18. That's the same week, two charts, and we couldn't have done it without you.

A couple of nice words, too:

“They are very, very good. That's why I keep having them back at my club.”

— Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy's Legends, Chicago

“This was an absolutely phenomenal show! So much talent on that stage.”

— Susan Wassenhove, Owner, Midway Tavern, Mishawaka, IN

New in the store at reverendraven.com: the Reverend Raven Wayback Home Poster is now up for $10, and the T-shirts are back in stock — $25, black and white, small to 4X, in the original design and the 20th Anniversary design, plus green with gold lettering. Hats are $25 too. And all the CDs are in stock, including Way Back Home for $20.

Thanks for coming out, for buying the CD, and for spreading the word.

— Reverend Raven

Ahoy shipmates, the USS Nevermore TK III is ready to sail the highways with stops at a port near you. Our recent shows at the New Glarus Blues Festival, Paramount Blues Challenge, O'Marro's Public House and The Cedar Ridge Blues Festival were a blast.  It's great to play with the band again and to see all of our long lost blues friends again.  Congrats to all the blues challengers and to the winner Cathy Grier and her fine band.  We look forward to seeing them in Memphis next year.

This weekend we play three shows with the first at:

The Barree at the cheel in Thiensville, WI on Friday, 7/9/21 at 7pm

The Bryan Lee Memorial Tribute, Central Park, Two Rivers, WI 1pm

On Sunday 7/11/21 we join our pals the Blues Disciples at Kochanski's, 1920 s. 37th St, Milwaukee, WI at 2pm in the Beer Garden.  Bring your dancing shoes

Unfortunately, CDBaby is no longer selling CDs directly to customers.  They are still distributing to Amazon.com.  Best way to purchase our cds, tshirts and hats is to use our merchandise page at www/reverendraven.com/merch.  You can purchase our cds and T-shirts  at The Exclusive Company in Greenfield, WI too.

Here's a flyer of our shows as of today's date.  We'll be at Summerfest, State Fair, Prairie Dog Blues Festival, The Big Bull Blues Festival and The Chain O' Lakes Blues Festival. 

Hope we see you at a show soon.

Rev

Ahoy shipmates.  This old sailor's been vaccinated and feeling optimistic.  Lot's of shows coming in for the summer.  Not like usual but that's okay too.  It'll take awhile for everyone to get back into the music world.  We're planning some rehearsals and looking for new wheels for the band.  Our first show will be in the middle of May somewhere on the way down to Florida.  I'm updating the calendar as they come in.  

The Bayfront Blues Tent Party has been cancelled for this year for both Friday and Saturday nights.  Hopefully we'll be back next year.  However we plan to play in Duluth during the festival and will keep you posted on the date.

T-shirts, CDs, hats and other swag are available and all donations to our Church of Discount Happiness are appreciated.

Rev

It's been a long summer of great weather amidst the Pandemic.  The band is still together, I'm working up a new set of tunes and trying to recover from my recent medical procedures.  Our first new show won't be until the VA lets me out to mingle and perform,  I'm optimistic that our scientists will come up with something and we can all get back together again.  I'm hoping for a Virgin Islands tour in the late winter and a Florida run too.  Most of our summer shows have been moved to 2021 including Bayfront Blues Festival, State Fair, Summerfest etc...

 We still have copies of our Live at the Big Bull, My Life and Shake Your Boogie for sale.   T-shirts, hats and stickers.  If you want some swag then please order here on the website.

Thanks 

Rev

We are safely home from Florida.  Thanks to all of our friends that reached out to help us the last few days.  We had a great run before we left.  Villages was big fun, as were Englewood's on Dearborn, The Blue Rooster, Seville Quarter, Bonita Blues and Take Tiki's.  The USS Nevermore II is off to the shipyard and we're on hiatus until this levels out and everyone feels safe to go out. 

Helping each other through this is paramount right now.  I'm trying to keep the band members afloat.  No gigs, no income so if you'd like to purchase a cd, t-shirt, hat, sticker or posters then please go to www.reverendraven.com/music to look at and listen to clips from our cds.  Original T-shirts come in black, red and white.  20th Anniversary T-shirts come in black and grey.   Women's Tank Tops are ribbed and come in teal, red and black.  Sizes for all are small to 4x for us big sailors.  Everything is $10 plus $2.50 per item for shipping and handling.  All profits will be use to pay my band mates during this hiatus.  Donations are always welcome lol. 

Thanks 

Rev

Welcome to our new and improved website (thanks to Jen Taylor at Vividpix.com).  It's a good way to start the new year.  We have a great year's worth of gigs lined up that are posted on this site.  2019 was a good year for us and I'd like to thank our agents, Lance Shellman, Rico Andersen and Doug Tackett for their hard work.  Thanks to Kris Raymond at Recordevents.com for handling our publicity and media relations.  

We're headed to the Virgin Islands on January 22nd for a three week tour.  We're bringing the whole band for the first time in 15 years.  Thanks to our friend Paul Koch for putting us up at his home in St Thomas which made it possible.  Before we go we have two more shows this week.

1/17 - The Flatted Fifth, Bellevue, IA 8p

1/18 - The Cherokee Jazz & Blues Festival, Cherokee, IA 9pm

Ahoy Shipmates, 

We're batting down the hatches for the winter by cutting our playing schedule to weekends or touring in Florida and the Virgin Islands.  Lot's of good gigs to come though. 

This weekend 

Fri  11/8 Harbor Lights, Racine, WI 8:30pm featuring Big Al Groth 
Sat 11/9 The Hope & Anchor, Loves Park, IL 8pm 

Fri  11/15 Wisconsin Harmonica Festival, VFW Post 5716, New Berlin, WI 6pm 
Sat 11/16 Cimarron Bar, Neenah, WI 9pm 

Fri  11/22 Wilebski's Blues Saloon, St Paul, MN 6pm 
Sat 11/23 Fat Seagull, Manitowoc, WI 7pm 

Fri  11/29 The Slippery Noodle Inn, Indianapolis, IN 8:30pm 
Sat 11/30 The Slippery Noodle Inn, Indianapolis, IN 8:30pm 

CDs and t-shirts are available on our website at www.reverendraven.com as well as hoodies, jackets and hats.

Thanks 

Rev

Now for a commercial break from Nevermore Records

Our CD "My Life" is still in the Top Ten Chicago Style Blues cds on The Roots Radio Report.  Three of our most recent cds are in the Wisconsin Top 10 on The Roots Radio Report. 

“My Life” sat at # 1 on the Roots Music Reports Top 50 Chicago Blues Albums for 8 months and ended 2018 at # 4. 
It’s was  # 14 on the Living Blues Magazine Chart 
It’s was # 1 on the Wisconsin Top 50 Chart for 7 months 
# 2 on Gil Anthony’s Blues Power Show 

Get your copy at:  CDBaby.com.  It features Westside Andy, Madison Slim, Cadillac Pete, Benny Rickun, Big Al Groth, Pork Chop Moore, Jimmy Voegeli, Ron Kovach, Vic Span, Bobby Sellers Jr, Spencer and Craig Panosh, PT Pedersen, Brad Bill, Andre Maritato and yours truly.  Engineered  by Steve Hamilton at Makin Sausage Studio. 

You can purchase our cds from the following retailers: 

The Exclusive Company in Greenfield, WI (they also carry our t-shirts) 
DWM Music, 3 Bedford Court, Iowa City, IA 52240 
iTunes.com 
Amazon.com 
CDBaby.com

Our live cd from 2016 "Live at the Big Bull" is still on the Roots Radio Chart's Chicago Blues list at # 8. 

Featuring Westside Andy, Big Al Groth, Benny Rickun, Pork Chop Moore, Bobby Sellers Jr and PT Pedersen. 
"Best Live CD of the Year" Blues Blast Magazine 
"Best Live CD of the Year" Independent Blues Scene 

Get a copy along with our new cd "My Life" for only $20 plus $5.000 sh. Send your order to Nevermore Records, 3851 E. Holmes Ave, Cudahy, WI 53110 

Add a copy of our CD Shake Your Boogie for another $5.00.  This CD features Big Al Groth on sax and Madison Slim on harmonica.  Still a top seller at CDBaby.com

Westside Andy's "Blues Just Happen" A 2015 Top 30 Blues CD that features the late Barrel House Chuck, Billy Flynn, Dave Wood and Steve Dougherty.  An excellent cd by some of the best players.  Go to www.westsideandy.com to check it out and buy a copy or two.  This CD is also sold at all CSAB shows too.

We've had a good summer run, Bastille Days, Summerfest, State Fair, Bayfront Blues Festival (we'll be back next year too) Lucius Woods, Three Lakes PAC, Crossroads Blues Festival, Paramount Blues Festival and the rest were good and we've got some steam left before the long winter begins lol. 

September is a busy month for us and here's a quick recap as a reminder. This week...

9/6 - Wilebski's Blues Saloon, St Paul, MN 6pm 
9/7 - Short Branch Saloon, Neenah, WI 6pm 
9/8 - The Smiling Moose, Osman, WI 3pm 
Road Trip: We leave 9/11 to play a few dates out east. Please pass the word. 
9/11 - Buddy Guy's Legends, Chicago, IL 9:30pm 
9/12 - The Tip Top Deluxe, Grand Rapids, MI 9pm 
9/13 - Wilbert's, Cleveland, OH 9pm 
9/14 - The Strand Theater, Fremont, OH 8:30pm 
9/15 - The Midway Tavern, Mishawaka, IN 7:30pm 
9/16 - The Alamo II, Springfield, IL 8pm 

We're throwing together a benefit for Cadillac Pete on Sunday, August 26th at Kochanski's Concertina Beer Hall, 1920 S. 37th Street, Milwaukee, WI from 2:30pm to 6:30pm.  $20 Cover charge, donations are encouraged.  Guitars and other swag will be raffled and auctioned off.  Here's a flyer witht he lineup.