Product Description
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 20, 2026 - MIKE FINNIGAN 
During his brilliant career as both leader and sideman, it was acknowledged among the music cognoscenti that Mike Finnigan was one of the most gifted Hammond B3 players to ever touch the instrument. While his instrumental brilliance was widely acknowledged, few know that he was one of the best blues singers of a generation. Born in Troy, Ohio, a few miles north of Dayton in 1945, he taught himself how to play blues, gospel and rock 'n roll as a child by listening to Fats Domino and Ray Charles records.
Those early years of diligence would pay off when, at the age of 22, while recording with his own band, The Serfs, an artist recording in another room of the studio happened to hear his playing and invited him to sit in. That artist was Jimi Hendrix, and they wound up collaborating with Buddy Miles for the songs "Rainy Day, Dream Away, " and "Still Raining, Still Dreaming, " both of which saw the light of day as part of Hendrix's landmark Electric Ladyland album, Thereafter, Mike joined The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood who recorded a critically lauded album for Columbia produced by Tom Wilson who had worked with Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, the Animals and Mother of Invention. He then worked with guitar legend Tommy Bolin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, before forming the duo Finnigan and Wood and joined Dave Mason's band a few years later. In 1976, Jerry Wexler, who had produced Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and so many more for Atlantic records moved to Warner Bros. Where he immediately signed Finnigan. By the end of the decade Mike's solo career was supplanted by a tenure in Stephen Stills' band, and shortly became, for the next two decades, the lynchpin of the CSN and CSN&Y band. He remained one of the most sought after B3 players and session singers, recording and touring with artists like Etta James, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Michael McDonald, Tower of Power, Rod Stewart, Eric Burden, Tracy Chapman, Leonard Cohen, Alice Cooper, Ringo Starr, White Snake, Don Felder, and so many more. In 2018, producer J.J. Blair set out to make the definitive Mike Finnigan record, completion of which would be interrupted by the Covid lockdown. Tragedy struck when Mike was diagnosed with liver cancer making his return to the studio impossible. Mike succumbed on August 11, 2021, from pneumonia, a byproduct of his cancer treatments. After his passing, Blair completed the eponymous 'Mike Finnigan' album, and in 2025, blues powerhouse label 40 Below Records agreed to release it.
1 20 Years of B.B. King (Feat. Joe Bonamassa)
2 My Credit Didn't Go Through
3 Don't Answer the Door
4 Fool for You
5 The Way You Do the Things You Do (Feat. Smokey Robinson, James Gadson & Dorian Holley)
6 It Ain't Fair (Feat. Brian Ray, Josh Sklair)
7 She's Not Just Another Woman
8 All That You Dream (Feat. Stephen Stills & Chris Stills)
9 Lay Around and Love on You (Feat. Dean Parks)
10 Let That Liar Alone (Feat. Kelly Finnigan)
11 Sing Me Back Home
Review in Blues Music Magazine Issue #49 April 2026
MIKE FINNIGAN
Mike Finnigan
Forty Below Records
The music world lost keyboardist extraordinaire Mike Finnigan in 2021 and kudos to Eric Corne’s Forty Below Records for releasing the posthumous Mike Finniganto exemplify that his musical talents will continue to satisfy well beyond his lifetime.
Where to start? Here’s a mix of just some of the who’s who of musical talent that he has either recorded with or joined in their tours: Jimi Hendrix, Dave Mason, Crosby Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Eric Burdon, Don Felder, Etta James, Taj Mahal, and the Phantom Blues Band. Quite a legacy, wouldn’t you agree?
The opener, “20 Years Of B.B. King,” co-written with Curtis Salgado, calls on Joe Bonamassa’s guitar to add spice to the lyrics that includes the cool line, “I want a woman I can hold onto, just like Lucille.”
The 11 songs were initially recorded in 2018, and it was deservedly completed after his death to further Finnigan’s musical legacy. Both Smokey Robinson and Stephens Stills were brought in to add vocals to two songs with Robinson on his co-written “The Way You Do The Things You Do” and Stills on Little Feat’s “All That You Dream” as Val McCallum’s slide guitar dances around Finnigan’s B-3 organ phrasing. This is one of the stand-out tracks, although all the others have their own merit as well.
Finnigan has provided vocals, keyboards (including his captivating Hammond B-3 organ playing), and background vocals. There is an array of 32 fellow musicians, seven of which also provide background vocals. Besides Joe Bonamassa on the opening track, Josh Sklair, J.J. Blair (he’s the one who brought The Mike Finnigan Album to fruition) Brian Ray, and Val McCallum are guitarists. McCallum also plays slide and adds background vocals. Tony Braunagel, David Goldstein, Pete Thomas, and James Gadson are the drummers, Bob Glaub and Davey Farager play bass and Curtis Salgado plays harp on Rev. Clayborn’s “Let That Liar Alone.” The horn section has six other musicians that add extra depth to ten of the tracks. Just the quartet of Finnigan, McCallum, Faragher, and Thomas are heard on the Dunbar and Wilson tune, “She’s Not Another Woman.”
Poignantly closing out the CD, you can hear Finnigan gently caressing the lyrics of Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” with lovely background vocals by Faragher and McCallum. This creates a soulful and apropos legacy of Finnigan’s talent while his Hammond B-3 organ’s tones frame the words, “Sing me back home before I die.” McCallum’s guitar weaves throughout the tune creating a fitting epitaph to a musical talent whose work will continue to be enjoyed well into the future.
– Pete Sardon