How did the Matt Taylor and Motives end up marooned in the middle of a lake in Holland?

Why did Ry Cooder scream when he shook Hans Theessink’s hand?

Why are Hokie Joint definitely going by boat next time they play in Holland?

Which Howling Wolf track turned Marcus Bonfanti onto the Blues?

All these questions are answered in Issue 124!

And there’s more:

Tommy Allen helps you build your must-have album collection, Walter Trout features in ‘Gig-of-the-Month’, Les Back picks the Gibson ES-5 as a ‘guitar that made the blues’, there are reviews of festivals in Banbury and Shrewsbury, of gigs from North Wales to North London and of blues CDs from around the world.

You can even win a 1966 ‘Dennis the Menace’ Annual!

Michael Ford

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UK blues veteran, John Mayall now lives in California but he is a regular visitor. On his tour in October and November he has the Oli Brown Band opening the show. John talked about what he is doing and a bit of UK blues history. His one time guitarist, Walter Trout is also touring on a double header tour with Popa Chubby. I called Walter, who also lives in California, to ask what he is up to.

Beth Hart has made an album of soul standards with Joe Bonamassa, Don’t Explain, which may account for why some of her UK gigs have sold out in advance of her tour forthcoming. Another date, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in February 2012, has been announced. Moray Stuart interviewed her for Blues In Britain, when she was in London recently.

Rising star Marcus Bonfanti will also be touring with his band in November. We met up at my local pub. Marcus told me that he is recording a six-track CDEP, which will only be available at his gigs. A Marcus Bonfanti gig, be he with his own band, Paddy Milner & The Big Sounds, St Jude or P P Arnold, is not to be missed!

Also on the home front, Gary Boner, singer and guitarist from Roadhouse, has sent us an e-letter. The band, which features three girl singers, has a new album out called Dark Angel. The band has been running for twenty-one years now.

We could have run interviews with other artists such as Paul Lamb and Joanne Shaw Taylor, who are also touring, but time and space prevent it. The festival reviews, of which there are many, are also piling up. Thank you everyone who has contributed words and photos! Keep them coming, as we will publish them when space allows.

Fran Leslie

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London R&B singer and guitarist, James Hunter has had mainly the same band for twenty years and has recently begun to gain fame in the US. I managed to track him down for an interview, partly by email but also on the phone. His new album is called The Hard Way, perhaps indicative of how long it has taken him to achieve success.

Walter Trout has been a bandleader for around twenty years, too. He talked to me on the telephone from his home in California. Walter also released another album this year, called The Outsider, and he and his band have fifteen mainland UK dates, including two in Scotland and one in Wales.

Trevor Hodgett interviewed influential US singer, songwriter and performer Eric Andersen, when he played in Belfast this year. Eric hung out in Greenwich Village with the young Bob Dylan and has co-written songs with Townes Van Zandt.

Acoustic singer and guitarist Eleanor Ellis has a few dates in the Southeast. She has sent Blues In Britain an e-letter from Maryland, where she now lives. We also have e-letters from Rob Fleming of BluesMix about the band and its new album Biding My Time, and Ooh-Bop-Sh’bam, which is a great band to dance to.

Bob Ayre who runs Shades of Blue, a monthly club in St Albans, has written an article about it for our Blues Venue series. It takes place in the purpose built Maltings Arts Centre in the shopping mall, a lovely venue well worth trying to find.

I am trying to get out more this Autumn and one of the events I am looking forward to is the free Festival New Orleans at the O2, in Greenwich on 24th and 25th October. Dr John and Allen Toussaint are among the many stars from the Crescent City and there will be Mardi Gras Indians and southern food. This is swiftly followed by London Rhythm ‘N’ Roots dates at Dingwalls 27th to 30th October, with Geraint Watkins, Matt Schofield and Ian Siegal listed. So many good gigs we are spoilt for choice; I will see you out there!

Fran Leslie – October 2008

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