Blues Pianists

Jazz Keyboards

Gospel Keyboards

Blues/Jazz/Gospel Vocalists

Blues/Jazz Instrumentalists

Book List

SR4001

CD Titles

SR5001:
I'm Not Hungry But I Like to Eat - Blues!  -- Erwin Helfer

SR5002:
Heavy Timbre   -- Chicago Boogie Piano

SR5003:
8 Hands on 88 Keys   -- Chicago Blues Piano Masters

SR5004:
Prescription For The Blues   -- Barrelhouse Chuck

SR5005:
Primitive Piano   -- Speckled Red, Billie Pierce, Doug Suggs, James Robinson

SR5006:
St. James Infirmary   -- Skinny Williams and Erwin Helfer

SR5007:
Glory! Glory   -- Reverend Dwayne R. Mason

SR5008:
Just In Time   -- Earma Thompson

SR5009:
Melancholy Serenade   -- Kimberly Gordon Trio

SR5010:
In the Right Hands   -- Chicago Gospel Keyboard Pioneers

SR5011:
Careless Love   -- Erwin Helfer

SR5012:
Heavenly Keys   -- Gospel Keyboard Trio and Reverend Mason

SR5013:
Rock This House Live   -- Katherine Davis and the Chicago Boogie Ensemble (John Brumbach, John Whitfield, and Erwin Helfer and more)

SR5014:
Got My Eyes On You   -- Barrelhouse Chuck

SR5015:
Madam Queen -- Ari Brown, Earma Thompson, John Brumbach

SR5016:
Soulful Sounds   -- Geraldine and Donald Gay

SR5017:
In Hymn I Trust   -- Shirley Smith

SR5018:
Sunday   -- Kimberly Gordon Organ Trio

SR5019:
This Is My Story, This Is My Song   -- Eddie Robinson

SR5020:
Erwin Helfer Way   -- Erwin Helfer

SR5021:
Driftin from Town to Town   -- Barrelhouse Chuck

SR5022:
Now is the Time   -- Chris Foreman

SR5023:
Lift Me Up   -- Chicago Gospel Keyboard Masters

SR5024:
Last Call   -- Erwin Helfer

SR5025:
Remembering the Masters   -- Barrelhouse Chuck

SR5026:
I Thank God   -- Elsa Harris

SR5027:
On a Glorious Day   -- Pastor Donald Gay

SR5028:
Celebtate the Journey   -- Erwin Helfer and the Chicago Boogie Ensemble

SR5029:
Just Can't Make It By Myself   -- Bishop Mason & Friends

SR5030:
Just for Me   -- Richard Gibbs

SR5031:
My Soul Says Yes!   -- Cliff Dubose

SR5032:
Two Pianos Too Cool   -- Lluîs Coloma AND Erwin Helfer

SR5033:
Beams of Heaven: Gospel Hymns & Songs   -- Reverend Scottie Williams, Sr.

Upcoming Events

♦ Celebrating Erwin Helfer and CD release party on Saturday May 4 at the Old Town School of Folk Music

The Sirens Records

Milestones - The Sirens Records

♦ 1975 - Steven Dolins, David Goldberg, and Barry Dolins founded the company and reissued the 1957 blues piano classic "Primitive Piano" with Speckled Red, Billie Pierce, Doug Suggs, and James Robinson.

♦ 1976 - Recorded "Heavy Timbre - Chicago Boogie Piano", a studio house rent party with Sunnyland Slim, Blind John Davis, Willie Mabon, Jimmy Walker, and Erwin Helfer - a blues piano dream team!

♦ 2001 - Steven Dolins restarted The Sirens Records. Recorded Erwin Helfer's "I'm Not Hungry But I Like To Eat - Blues!" which was nominated for a Handy Award and featured on NPR's All Things Considered. Hear the full review

♦ 2002 - Recorded "8 Hands on 88 Keys - Chicago Blues Piano Masters" with Helfer, Barrelhouse Chuck, Detroit Junior, and Pinetop Perkins. Reissued Heavy Timbre and Primitive Piano on CD.

♦ 2003 - Nat Hentoff, esteemed writer and jazz critic, features The Sirens in the Wall Street Journal.details...

♦ 2003 - Gospel pianist Pastor Dwayne Mason made his debut and is dubbed the Reverend of Funk by the NY Times.

♦ 2003 - Heavy Timbre is named one of the 52 greatest blues recordings by the Year of the Blues

♦ 2004/2005 - Bebop pianist Earma Thompson made her debut and is invited by Marian McPartland to appear on NPR's Piano Jazz. Listen to the Piano Jazz episode.

♦ 2004 - Recorded "In the Right Hands - Chicago Gospel Keyboard Pioneers" with the gospel keyboard dream team, Jessy Dixon, Geraldine Gay, and Nash Shaffer. Geraldine Gay accompanied her brother Pastor Donald Gay on vocals.

♦ 2005 - Geraldine Gay received the Gospel Pioneer Award at the Chicago Gospel Festival.

♦ 2006 - Erwin Helfer's "Careless Love" is featured on NPR's Fresh Air. Hear the full review

♦ 2007 - Nat Hentoff writes another column in the Wall Street Journal about Barrelhouse Chuck and "Got My Eyes on You". details... This same band, featuring Kim Wilson, is used on the soundtrack for the movie "Cadillac Records", the story of Chess Records. Hentoff includes his article about Chuck in his book "At the Jazz Band Hall: 60 Years on the Jazz Scene" published by the University of California Press.

♦ 2008 - Earma Thompson receives the Jazz Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award.

♦ 2009 - Kimberly Gordon's "Mr. Sandman" is used on a Fox TV show.

♦ 2009 - Peter Silvester's 2nd edition of his classic "The Story of Boogie Woogie - A Left Hand Like God" discussed The Sirens Records and included the cover photo from Heavy Timbre.

♦ 2011 - Eddie Robinson, who accompanied Mahalia Jackson for 17 years, makes his debut recording "This is my story" the same year as Mahalia's centennial birthday.

♦ 2013 - Barrelhouse Chuck and the Kim Wilson Blues All-Stars "Driftin' From Town to Town" is nominated for the 35th Blues Music Traditional Blues Album of the Year (formerly the Handy Awards)

♦ 2014 - Barrelhouse Chuck received Living Blues Critics' Poll Award for Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard).

♦ 2015 - Chris Foreman's "Now is the Time" is featured on NPR's Fresh Air. Hear the full review

♦ 2016 - Erwin Helfer receives the Jazz Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. Barrelhouse Chuck receives Blues Blast Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award.

♦ 2021 - Erwin Helfer's "Celebrate the Journey" is featured on NPR's Fresh Air. Hear the full review

♦ 2022 - At the Chicago Blues Festival, the Mayor of the City of Chicago proclaimed June 9th to be ERWIN HELFER DAY IN CHICAGO and encouraged all residents to celebrate this legendary artist and his indelible contributions to the blues.