We are happy to add Blues Debut to the roster of POTD blues stations like BellyUp4Blues, The World of Blues, and Bar Legend Radio. (See all the POTD’s here.) Blues Debut adds a fresh twist to blues programming, and lives up to its name, by playing only the most recent release of any artist in the playlist. Furthermore, an emphasis system favors the newest new. The blues is as old as suffering, but this station sticks to the latest.
No back catalog means you’re not going to hear any standards, and you are going to hear the latest. It also means a wider music discovery experience than we get in the big music services when we fine-tune for blues. On those platforms we hear the same performers over and over. Blues Debut has notified us of recent releases from artists we’re familiar with, like Sean Pinchin and Debbie Davies, while introducing us to many lesser-known acts.
The site design is … blue. We get it. Functions are fairly old-school. There’s no messing around with chat rooms or registration. Mobile listening happens on TuneIn, not a dedicated app — there’s a lot to be said for that, although it’s worth noting that BellyUp4Blues has an branded phone player. Hitting the Play button opened a new browser tab for us, so moving around the site (in the first tab) didn’t interrupt the music. That’s good, because there’s interesting information, and photos, to browse.
Blues Debut boasts of a listenership spanning 200 countries. We’re not adding to the international scope, but very glad to be tuned in.